Abbott to Russia: uranium ban on the table

PM Tony Abbott has warned Russia that Australia will consider further sanctions. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has put Moscow on notice, warning that Australia will consider banning uranium sales in the event of a Russian incursion into Ukraine.

MR Abbott said on Saturday Australia would not accept that any Russian troop movement across the border could have a humanitarian purpose.

"Everything's on the table," he said when asked about the prospect of extending sanctions to include uranium."Our message to President (Vladimir) Putin is, `hold your forces back'," Mr Abbott said."Any move by Russian forces across the border would be an invasion, pure and simple..."The business of Ukraine should be left to Ukrainians to sort out."The comments come three days after Russia slapped an embargo on agricultural imports from Australia, the European Union, the United States, Canada and others.Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government was working with affected Australian agricultural producers to try to get access to other markets.But he said the $400 million of trade hit by Russia's sanctions represented only about 0.4 per cent of exports."It is not a significant amount of trade," he said.

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Family escapes flaming 40-foot cruiser

FIREFIGHTERS will scuttle a Sydney family's 40-foot cruiser after it caught fire out on the water.

THE young family made it to safety after a blaze broke out on the vessel on Saturday afternoon near the waterside suburb of Drummoyne.

"When fire crews arrived, the family on board the vessel had escaped safely and at this stage we believe no injuries have been advised," Fire & Rescue NSW Superintendent Ian Krimmer said."The vessel is now half-submerged - the order has been given to sink the vessel to ensure that there is no chance of any re-ignition."Once the vessel is sunk, determinations will be made in terms of pollution control."As one Twitter user who witnessed the fire observed: "A lot of $$$ up in flames."Though there were no injuries on board the boat, Supt Krimmer said the smoke plumes did cause a minor car prang on nearby Iron Cove Bridge.

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Britain braced for tail of hurricane

MORE than a month's rain has fallen during an overnight downpour across parts of Britain, causing flash floods.

AND further damp and windy conditions are expected, with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha due to hit the UK on Saturday.

Eastern England has been worst affected by the big wet, with some areas seeing more than 50 millimetres of rainfall in 24 hours.Several streets in the Lincolnshire town of Louth were left under water and residents were evacuated, while downpours also led to waterlogged roads in Maidstone, Kent.Some towns saw more rainfall in one day than in the whole of an average August, Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts said on Friday."[The town of] March in Cambridgeshire had 68.8mm of rainfall in 24 hours, while the average rainfall for that region in August would normally be 53.6mm," she said.The effects of Hurricane Bertha, which is crossing the Atlantic after hitting the Caribbean with gusts of more than 145kmh, would be felt on Saturday, Roberts said.Forecasters said southern parts of the country were most at risk from "heavy rainfall, strong coastal winds and large waves", followed by areas of northeast Scotland on Monday.A spokesman for the Met Office said the transition of Bertha from a tropical to an extra-tropical storm was a "particularly hard one to forecast" but it was increasingly expected to affect the UK on Saturday."There is still some uncertainty surrounding this weekend's weather, with the potential for heavy rainfall, strong coastal winds and large waves on Sunday," chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said.Environment Agency flood risk manager Craig Woolhouse said: "On Sunday and Monday a combination of high spring tides and strong westerly winds bring a risk of large waves and spray and possible flooding to the southwest coast of England and along the Severn estuary.

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Abbott warns of long wait for MH17 victims

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has warned Australians who lost loved ones in the MH17 disaster that the process of bringing bodies home may take time.

MR Abbott leaves on Saturday night for talks in the Netherlands with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte.

He will also meet disaster victim identification experts and some of the 500-strong team involved in Operation Bring Them Home.Mr Abbott said he would formally thank Rutte for his country's leadership in the wake of the plane tragedy, in which 298 people died.But he has also warned the bereaved in Australia to brace for a long wait.It took months for the final Australian victim of the Bali bombings to be identified and brought home, he said.The identification process will take place as quickly as possible, but it would regretfully and of necessity be a very slow process, Mr Abbott said in Sydney on Saturday."The bodies are inevitably very badly damaged by an explosion at 33,000 feet, the subsequent deceleration, decompression and fall ... I hate to talk in such terms but that's what we're talking about," he said.The government has already offered to fly victims' next of kin to the Netherlands to accompany the bodies back to Australia."It's very important that we accord to these people, so cruelly cut down, dignity and respect in death that they certainly weren't accorded by the Russian-backed rebels who shot their plane out of the sky," Mr Abbott said.The prime minister will then head to London for talks with the British government and officials about counter-terrorism operations and the deteriorating situation in Iraq.On Friday forensic experts said they had identified a further 21 victims of flight MH17 to add to the two already identified.The latest group comprises 16 Dutch, including a dual British national, two Malaysians, a German, a Canadian and a Briton.The search for remains at the crash site has been suspended due to escalating clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists.Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government should be whole-heartedly focused on repatriating Australian bodies and ensuring the safety of investigators."If Tony Abbott believes that travelling to the Netherlands will help that, then of course he should and we support him being there," he said in a statement to AAP on Saturday.

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Overseas AFL players flock to Vic

Woman 'dragged by hair through streets and raped'

A MAN has been charged after allegedly raping a woman he met at a house party in Wagga Wagga, dragging her by her hair through several streets, forcing her into a car before raping her again.

Bribe paid my tax bill, MP tells ICAC

ANDREW Cornwell, who was suspended by the Liberal Party after revelations yesterday, has told ICAC he used the proceeds to pay his tax bill.

Homicide squad probes death of boy, 3

Joey Woodcock, the three-year-old boy found critically injured in an Oberon house at the weekend, has died in hospital.

'Chilling past' of Westfield murder accused

KAZEM Payam charged with stabbing to death his partner's ex-husband, blew kisses to her as the court heard about his violent history.

Small airport 'used to import guns, drugs'

A TINY regional airport 80km south of Sydney was used by a major international crime syndicate to ­import guns and drugs, police ­allege.

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Egypt court dissolves Brotherhood party

AN Egyptian court has dissolved the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) of the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets seized.

THE Supreme Administrative Court in Cairo issued the ruling on Saturday in response to several lawsuits that accused FJP of involvement in illegal acts, judicial sources said.

The verdict is irreversible and cannot be appealed.FJP was licensed in June 2011- four months after a popular uprising forced president Hosny Mubarak to step down.Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013 after the army deposed president Mohammed Morsi, a senior leader in the Islamist group.In December, the government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, blaming it for deadly violence.The group has repeatedly denied any link to violence, accusing authorities of oppression.

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Indon girl found 10 years after tsunami

AN Indonesian girl swept away in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has been reunited with her parents 10 years after she was given up for dead, her mother says.

RAUDHATUL Jannah was four when she and her brother were swept away by tsunami waters from her home in West Aceh district in Aceh province on December 26, 2004, Jamaliah, her mother, said.

Jamaliah said she and her husband stopped searching after a month, and believed she was dead until Jamaliah's brother spotted a girl who looked like her long-lost daughter in June.They later found that the girl had been under the care of an elderly woman in nearby Aceh Barat Daya district.The family were reunited on Wednesday."My husband and I are very happy we have found her," Jamaliah said by telephone from Meulaboh, the main town in West Aceh."This is a miracle from God."Jamaliah said she had no doubt that the girl was her daughter as soon as she saw her."If anyone is in doubt, I'm ready for DNA tests," she said.Jamaliah said after the tsunami hit her house, Raudhatul and her brother, then seven, slipped from her and her husband's grasp as they held on to a floating plank of wood.Raudhatul, now 14, had told her parents that her brother was likely to have survived after the two were stranded on Banyak Island, her mother said."We will look for him on Banyak Island because we believe he is still alive," she said.The sparsely inhabited island group is around 40 kilometres off the coast.The Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off Sumatra island, killed 230,000 people in 14 countries, including 170,000 in Aceh.

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Pistorius branded 'deceitful witness'

The Oscar Pistorius murder trial has almost finished with lawyers yet to give their final arguments. Source: AAP

SOUTH African Olympian Oscar Pistorius has returned to the dock for the finale to his gripping murder trial as lawyers present closing arguments in a case that has captured the world's attention.

STATE lawyer Gerrie Nel kicked off a two-day showdown between the country's top legal minds, insisting Pistorius deliberately murdered his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013 and declaring him a "deceitful witness".

Pistorius, a double-amputee star sprinter known as the "Blade Runner", has denied the charge in the months-long trial in which he has at times sat weeping and vomiting in the dock as grisly details of Steenkamp's death were presented to the judge.His legal team - led by top defence lawyer Barry Roux - has sought to convince Judge Thokozile Masipa that the 27-year-old Pistorius shot his girlfriend by accident, believing her to be an intruder.The defence has sought to portray Pistorius as a "highly-vulnerable individual" obsessed with safety - a result of a difficult childhood and his disability - in a country with a sky-high crime rate.During the trial Pistorius underwent psychiatric evaluation and an ensuing report said he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, but was not suffering any mental illness that could prevent him being held criminally responsible for his actions.The athlete appeared at Pretoria High Court for the start of closing arguments wearing glasses and a dark suit, clenching his jaw as Nel accused him of concocting an alibi to avoid justice."It is the state's case the accused was a deceitful witness," said Nel, describing Pistorius's testimony was "absolutely devoid of any truth."He said there are "glaring contradictions" in the Paralympic gold medallist's story.Initially, Pistorius said he shot Steenkamp by mistake through a toilet door in his upmarket Pretoria home, believing her to be an intruder.However, under intense cross-examination, he said he accidentally shot his girlfriend as a result of deep-seated anxiety caused by his disability and did not mean to kill anyone.Nel also said Pistorius had anxiety "on call", suggesting the runner manufactured a fear of crime to suit his version.Legal analysts watching the case say the runner, once revered for his triumph over disability, did damage to his case by appearing to offer two different defences.Nearly 40 witnesses ranging from a jilted ex-girlfriend of Pistorius to a forensic geologist testified, creating a hefty record with thousands of pages.Such was the intensity of the public gaze that some witnesses, including Pistorius, refused to testify in front of cameras, while according to defence lawyers, some refused to testify at all.Thursday saw Barry Steenkamp, Reeva's father, and Henke Pistorius, Oscar's father, make their first appearances in court as the five-month long and emotion-filled trial reaches its finale.The court fell silent as Barry entered court and Henke hugged his daughter Aimee before taking a seat in the first row of the public gallery behind his son.Pistorius faces a minimum of 25 years in jail if he is convicted of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend.He also faces three separate gun charges.Even if he is not found guilty of premeditated murder, Pistorius could still be convicted and jailed on alternative charges of murder or culpable homicide.Defence lawyer Barry Roux is expected to give his concluding arguments on Friday.Pistorius, a gold medallist Paralympian, rose to international fame when he competed alongside able-bodied runners at the 2012 London Olympics.Once a poster boy for disabled sport, he has been stripped of his lucrative endorsement deals by global brands and has withdrawn from all competitions.Once concluding arguments are finished, Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to adjourn the case for a couple of weeks before delivering her verdict.

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Two Blue Mountains mines a step closer

THE NSW environment department has recommended that two Blue Mountains mining projects go ahead, despite environmentalists' fears the plans will threaten unique rock formations.

IN a statement, the Department of Planning and Environment stressed that Coalpac's Invincible Colliery and Cullen Valley Mine modification applications were "significantly smaller" than the expansion plans the company put forward last September.

That application, which proposed mining to within 50 metres of rock formations known as pagodas, was rejected by the department soon before Coalpac went into administration.But the department on Thursday recommended the company's latest applications be approved, under the condition that the company maintain a 300-metre buffer between open-cut mining operations and large pagodas or a 100-metre buffer for smaller rock formations."The two projects are around 150 hectares in size combined, compared to the 800 hectare proposal which we knocked back last year," the department said.The Nature Conservation Council of NSW says the new plans will risk a large area of the Ben Bullen Forest near Lithgow being destroyed and unique pagoda rock formations being destabilised."One of the company's arguments for resubmitting plans was that it needed to continue mining to pay for rehabilitation of the areas it had already despoiled," Council CEO Kate Smolski said."(This) raises serious questions about the adequacy of the environmental bonds that large coal mining companies are required to post to cover the costs of rehabilitation if they go bust."The Coalpac proposals will now be considered by the Planning Assessment Commission, which will have the final say.

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Carwash chain, bosses fined $90,000

THE men behind a Sydney carwash chain that shortchanged hundreds of vulnerable workers have been fined a total of $90,000.

THE Crystal Carwash Cafe was slapped with a $70,000 fine and its two executives, director Anthony Sahade and manager Peter Khouri, were fined $10,000 each in the Federal Court on Thursday.

An investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman revealed more than 300 carwash employees had missed out on their full hourly wages and overtime entitlements between January and September, 2010.The Ombudsman alleged the operators had set up a series of "sham" companies which purported to employ the car-washers and that these front companies had confused employees, most of whom came from non-English speaking backgrounds."In my view, the employees concerned were particularly vulnerable given the asymmetrical bargaining power that existed between them and the respondents," Justice Robert Buchanan said."The respondents took advantage of that circumstance ... I see no evidence of contrition."Justice Buchanan also dismissed the carwash operators' argument that they had made good on all underpayments before court proceedings commenced, saying these back-payments "were made only after the applicant had begun to investigate and when it must have been apparent that resistance was probably futile".

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Prince William to be air ambulance pilot

Woman 'dragged by hair through streets and raped'

A MAN has been charged after allegedly raping a woman he met at a house party in Wagga Wagga, dragging her by her hair through several streets, forcing her into a car before raping her again.

Bribe paid my tax bill, MP tells ICAC

ANDREW Cornwell, who was suspended by the Liberal Party after revelations yesterday, has told ICAC he used the proceeds to pay his tax bill.

Homicide squad probes death of boy, 3

Joey Woodcock, the three-year-old boy found critically injured in an Oberon house at the weekend, has died in hospital.

'Chilling past' of Westfield murder accused

KAZEM Payam charged with stabbing to death his partner's ex-husband, blew kisses to her as the court heard about his violent history.

Small airport 'used to import guns, drugs'

A TINY regional airport 80km south of Sydney was used by a major international crime syndicate to ­import guns and drugs, police ­allege.

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Freddie Mac earns $US1.4b in 2Q

MORTGAGE giant Freddie Mac posted net income of $US1.4 billion ($A1.5 billion) for the April-through-June period, aided by a strengthening housing market.

THE government-controlled company has turned a profit in each of the past 11 quarters.

Freddie's second-quarter profit reported Thursday declined 72 per cent from $US5 billion in the same period of 2013.Freddie said its earnings can fluctuate widely due to changes in the value of its holdings of derivatives, investments used to hedge against swings in interest rates.That can create "mismatches" in quarterly earnings that may not reflect the economics of its business, Freddie said.McLean, Virginia-based Freddie said it will pay a dividend of $US1.9 billion to the US Treasury next month.Freddie will have paid $US88.2 billion in dividends, exceeding its government bailout of $US71.3 billion.

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Gold miner cuts jobs as it expands

AUSTRALIA'S second largest gold miner has cut more than 200 jobs over the past six months after purchasing a series of gold mines.

NORTHERN Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said the West Australian company had reduced its workforce at its operations in Kalgoorlie plus its Plutonic mine, but no redundancies occurred at its recently acquired Jundee mine.

"At this point in time we don't see anything else changing," he said.Around 90 voluntary redundancies occurred at Kalgoorlie while staff numbers at Plutonic had been reduced by about 140.Northern Star recently beat its quarterly production target and said it expects to produce between 550,000 and 600,000 ounces of gold at between $1,050 and $1,100 an ounce during the 2014/15 financial year.The company's latest acquisition, the Jundee mine, produced an additional 75,000 ounces of gold during the June quarter, but was not included in the quarterly result.The company plans to reduce costs by about ten per cent over the upcoming year, through supply and productivity improvements.Mr Beament said the company planned to install another director on the company's board over the next six months, as the company expands."We're very quickly and rapidly growing," he said.He said key investors such as investment manager Blackrock were driving a push towards higher margins rather than volumes."We can't control the gold price, but we can control our costs," he said.Mr Beament said labour costs across the industry were around 10 to 15 per cent lower than recent years.He added that Northern Star's wages were in line with major global miners such as Barrick Gold and Newmont.

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Business confidence hits 11-year high

BUSINESSES confidence has hit its highest level in 11 years, as the services sector and retailers become more optimistic about their sales outlook.

FORTY six per cent of businesses expect higher sales in the December quarter, while only nine per cent are predicting a fall, the latest Dun and Bradstreet's Business Expectations survey shows.

The services sector was the most optimistic about sales in the fourth quarter of the year, followed by the transportation, utilities and construction sector.Retailers also expect a recovery from the recent slump in sales.Dun and Bradstreet chief executive Gareth Jones said there has been a steady improvement in business confidence since the end of 2013."While there has been a recent pullback in the profits and capital investment indices, there's a clear upward trend developing this year and all of the surveys measures are above their 2013 level," he said."The sales outlook is particularly solid through to the end of the year, providing encouragement for those businesses concerned that the federal budget had knocked the wind out of consumer confidence and spending."Dun & Bradstreet economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said the surge in business confidence should boost economic growth later in the year."The continued resilience in the outlook for employment suggests that the pace of job creation will move to a point where the unemployment rate edges lower over the next couple of quarters," he said."The dip in expected selling prices indicates that the inflation rate probably peaked in the June quarter and will ease to the middle of the Reserve Bank of Australia's two to three per cent target band."The report said that two out of three business are more optimistic about increased economic growth in the months ahead, but some parts of the country aren't so upbeat.When asked to rate local business conditions, Tasmanian business were the most pessimistic, with 39 per cent saying `very bad' and only eight per cent saying `very good'.In Western Australia, more than half of businesses described conditions as `average'.The survey comes a day after the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's latest business expectations study showed business confidence and hiring intentions were down for the June quarter.ACCI found business expectations weakened after the release of the May budget after touching the highest level in four years earlier in the year.

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CSG firm admits health impacts: activists

ACTIVISTS claim a coal seam gas firm's buy out of properties near its Queensland operation is an admission the gas is harmful.

HOWEVER, the Queensland Gas Company (QGC) says it has purchased 60 properties in the Surat Basin over the past decade to build infrastructure and to minimise the impact on residents.

Lock the Gate president Drew Hutton says the firm has been "quietly" buying properties from residents at Tara, west of Toowoomba, who have complained of health impacts."The buy outs are a tacit admission by this foreign owned company that coal seam gas is harmful to human health," he said in a statement."Finally QGC has admitted responsibility and bought some people out."We are waiting to see if the company will do the right thing for the remaining residents who have been suffering a range of health effects from air pollution and black rain."A QGC spokesman says sellers approached the firm and the purchase of properties didn't relate to health impact claims."QGC sometimes purchases properties in the Surat Basin to support development of long-term infrastructure and to minimise impact on residents," the spokesman said."These purchase decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and all the properties have been offered for sale by the sellers."Residents have reported nose bleeds, chronic headaches, nausea and rashes among children and adults living in the Tara residential estate.They believe CSG mining in the area is contaminating the air and poisoning potable groundwater.The health department last year reported a recent study could not determine whether any of the health effects reported by residents was linked to exposure to CSG activities.

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NSW govt whip Cornwell to face ICAC

NSW government whip Andrew Cornwell is due to give evidence when the state corruption watchdog's inquiry into the alleged funnelling of illegal funds into the Liberal Party resumes this week.

THE NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) Operation Spicer will restart on Wednesday morning.

It was suspended earlier in the year to further investigate allegations against former police minister Mike Gallacher and other Central Coast Liberal MPs.As part of the public hearings, the ICAC will look at whether Mr Gallacher and former resources minister Chris Hartcher used their positions to do favours for the developers and businesses accused of illegally contributing to the Liberals' 2011 election campaign.Mr Hartcher has already stepped down from the Liberal Party and will announce whether he's contesting next March's election after the ICAC investigation is completed.Operation Spicer has already claimed a number of scalps, including Barry O'Farrell. who resigned as premier in mid-April after misleading the ICAC over a $3000 bottle of Grange.During the hearing, due to run for at least three weeks, corrupt former Labor minister Joe Tripodi will enter the witness box again.Rodney Boswell, a Liberal party campaign manager, and developer Brien Cornwell, father of Andrew Cornwell, are due to give evidence on Wednesday.

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Hockey still learning art of dealing: LDP

Brother sees twin die in holiday prank

ALEX D'Aleo, a tradie from Sydney, was killed after trying to jump on to a boat during Croatia's yacht week while on holiday with his twin brother.

Is your relative in this famous photo?

IT'S an iconic image, haunted by stories about a hidden corpse and a secret signal among the married men. The truth is more enthralling. Was your ancestor there?

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Lawyers criticise Vic coronial changes

PROPOSED changes to Victoria's coronial system seem to be more about trying to help the system cope with inadequate resources, rather than achieving justice for families and avoiding preventable deaths, lawyers say.

THE reforms are set for debate in parliament as early as this week and the Federation of Community Legal Centres (FCLC) fears they will hurt, rather than strengthen the system.

The organisation has criticised moves to narrow the time frame within which families can appeal the refusal to hold or reopen an inquest or to challenge inquest findings.FCLC senior policy advisor Dr Chris Atmore said the changes would place stricter time constraints on families who are already without adequate information or legal help.She feared the proposed changes were an attempt to help the system cope with inadequate resources."There is no substitute for properly funding the system to do its job," she said.Another change proposed would see inquests into deaths in care or custody no longer mandatory if the death occurred due to natural causes.Dr Atmore said deaths in care or custody should remain mandatory if they were to receive the appropriate level of scrutiny.While she welcomed broadening grounds for appeal, she wanted better legal resources to help families take advantage of this.Six families who have gone through the Coroners Court system will join the FCLC to speak at a press conference about their concerns on Tuesday.The Federation has also written to Attorney General Robert Clark, expressing its concerns and urging further discussion before any amendments proceed to debate in parliament.

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