Wife prays for miracle for missing husband

Barefoot challenge for father and son

Barefoot water skiing champions Ken Derry and son Keenan will defend their world championships next week at Mulwala, in the state's Riverina district.

10 things you missed this weekend

The plot to bomb a prince, Sam and Cam's romance and Sydney's rudest cabbie. The news, gossip and features you missed this weekend.

The f-bomb that changed vibe

LET this be a lesson: swear once on live TV and you'll become a web sensation. Just ask Volvo's Scott McLaughlin.

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Thoughts with those on Malaysia flight: PM

PM Tony Abbott says Australians' thoughts are with the families of those on a missing Malaysia jet. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says Australians' thoughts are with the passengers and families of those on a missing China-bound Malaysia Airlines jet.

Queensland couples Catherine and Robert Lawton and Mary and Rodney Burrows, and Sydneysiders Li Yuan and Gu Naijun, are among 239 people on board flight MH370, which disappeared between Malaysia's east coast and southern Vietnam.

Mr Abbott on Sunday described the tragedy as a "horrible, horrible business".

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and their families on that ill-fated aircraft, particularly to the six Australian passengers and their families, that have now been confirmed to be on board," he told reporters in Adelaide.

"We're looking at ways in which we can help with the search and recovery operation."

Opposition leader Bill Shorten echoed Mr Abbott's comments.

"I believe the Australian nation's thoughts go out to the families of those Australians and New Zealanders that are on this plane, and indeed the families of everyone," he told reporters in Melbourne.

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Australian found with amnesia in Cambodia

AN Australian man who went missing in Thailand more than a month ago has been found across the border, reportedly suffering from memory loss.

Financial consultant Nathan Hansford had last been seen leaving his home in the Bangkok suburb of Thungkru on January 31, prompting Thai police to launch an investigation last week.

Late on Sunday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed Mr Hansford had been located in Cambodia.

"Consular officials in Cambodia are in contact with Mr Hansford's family," a DFAT spokeswoman told AAP.

A family statement released to Fairfax Media said Mr Hansford had been involved in a motor vehicle accident and was suffering from amnesia.

"It is time for us to focus on helping Nathan in his recovery," the statement said.

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Thai case against Aust journalist delayed

AN Australian journalist facing criminal defamation and computer crimes brought by the Royal Thai Navy says the case is being delayed until April, raising hopes the charges may be dropped.

Alan Morison, originally from Melbourne and editor of online news website Phuketwan, along with Thai reporter, Chutima Sidasathian, were due to face the Phuket prosecutor on Monday and be formally charged.

But Morison told AAP the prosecutor's office informed them Friday the hearing of the case was being delayed until next month.

"We actually (still) have to front down there (at the prosecutor's) office on Monday at 9.30 but we're not expecting the case to proceed because of this delay that the prosecutor now says is necessary until April," he said.

The office did not clarify reasons for the delay.

"There was no reason given and there was no date set in April either," Morison said.

But AAP has learnt the charges against Morison and Chutima had also been raised by diplomatic sources at senior levels within the Thai government.

The Navy's charges relate to a report in "Phuketwan" last year of a Reuter's news story into alleged trafficking and other mistreatments against Muslim Rohingya who flee ongoing persecution in western Myanmar hoping to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.

The report alleged that members of the Thai security forces in the southern provinces were corruptly involved in the human trafficking of the Rohingya.

Morison and Chutima say they have been willing to go to jail over the charges, which if convicted could face up to seven years jail.

Both journalists have received significant support from media outlets, the United Nations, as well as the US-based Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch said on Friday the Thai Navy's response to the reports in the Phuketwan covering the Rohingya had been "heavy handed".

The Rights group called on the Navy to "cease its efforts to silence the journalists and instead permit civilian authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into alleged trafficking and other serious mistreatment of Rohingya boat people."

Morison said the delay gave hope authorities may drop the charges altogether.

"We think that maybe the 'roots' finally seeped that this is quite a significant case; we hope so anyway," he said.

"But we're happier to have a delay than suddenly be forced to make the choice between bail or jail."

"We just hope that some of the support and influence that has sprung up in Bangkok has actually seeped through to Phuket and they are getting the message," he said.

But a street protest in Melbourne outside the Thai consulate on Tuesday is still expected to go ahead.

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Council demands action after record summer

THE Climate Council says Australia experienced "another angry summer" this year, with more than 150 temperature records broken.

The environmental group's report Angry Summer will be released by Professor Tim Flannery on Monday, who said Australia witnessed substantial heat records, heatwaves and extreme weather events over the season.

According to the report, Sydney had its driest summer in 27 years, and Melbourne experienced its hottest ever 24 hour period with an average temperature of 35.5 degrees celsius.

Perth had its second hottest summer and its hottest ever night, and Adelaide suffered through a record 11 days of 42 degrees or more.

Meanwhile, towns from Tamworth to Mount Gambia to Roma all broke records for the daily maximum temperature.

Professor Flannery said the scorching summer was part of an overall trend of more extreme weather events in Australia, and called for action on cutting carbon emissions.

"The latest summer was an another example of climate change tearing through the record books," he said in a statement.

"If we want to stop them getting worse this is the critical decade for action."

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NSW inquiry into Ellis case opens

A PUBLIC hearing into the Catholic Church's handling of a child sexual abuse claim that ended up in the NSW courts opens in Sydney on Monday.

John Ellis, a lawyer who was abused as a child by a priest in the Sydney parish of Bass Hill, sued the Archdiocese of Sydney as well as the trustees of the church in 2005.

The case ended up in the High Court, which decided a trust could not be held liable for abuse.

The same court upheld a lower court decision that Archbishop George Pell could not be sued over abuse that occurred decades before he became archbishop of Sydney.

The case has become known as the Ellis defence and it is alleged the church uses it to persuade abuse victims to settle complaints through the internal process called Towards Healing.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing will focus on Mr Ellis's experiences in the Towards Healing process and in civil litigation.

The hearing will be the second commission case study examining the application of Towards Healing.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said the hearing will be an opportunity for the commission to examine the response of the Catholic Church to Mr Ellis's claim, including "the circumstances in which the Catholic Church raised what is commonly referred to as the Ellis defence".

Cardinal Pell, who has just been appointed to a senior position as head of Vatican finances in Rome, will give evidence during the hearing, which may run for two weeks.

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