Voters chose 'hope over fear': Baird

A JUBILANT Mike Baird has thanked voters for choosing "hope over fear" following his NSW election victory.

THE premier arrived at the upscale Sofitel Hotel party in Sydney's CBD on Saturday night grinning and with his right arm outstretched, his wife at his side and his children fanned out behind him.

Government staffers hugged on the sidelines as the delirious party faithful erupted into cheers of "four more years".But the most optimistic among their number were ready for another eight."I love this state," Mr Baird announced as he took the stage."The reason I love this state is because of its people and friends, tonight they have chosen hope over fear."He thanked Opposition Leader Luke Foley for his concession speech but accused Labor of the "biggest scare campaign" in NSW election history.Mr Baird said the government had lost some good MPs because of the campaign against his electricity network leasing plan, but added he now had a mandate to push ahead.His father Bruce Baird - himself a seasoned politician - said the election result showed that the Australian voter was smart enough to see things through."I'm very proud of my son," he told AAP."I think he did a phenomenal job. It's been a tough call, but he followed something that he believed in."He dismissed suggestions that his boy could be headed for Canberra next.Though supporters in the front rows of the function chanted Tony Abbott's name, the prime minister was a notable absentee from the celebrations.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop arrived only moments before the premier himself and was the only other federal cabinet member to receive a mention from Mr Baird.And although Liberal insiders were confident of a win even before the poll booths closed, the mood shifted when the TV screens that flanked the stage flashed up the news that the coalition would be returned to government.Liberal supporters cheered and sang "Goodbye" as Mr Foley appeared onscreen, having phoned the premier to concede defeat moments earlier.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Death toll in Mogadishu hotel attack rises

At least 10 people have died in an attack by Somalia's Shabab militants on a hotel in Mogadishu. Source: AAP

THE death toll in a gun and bomb attack by Somalia's al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants on a Mogadishu hotel used by the country's leaders has risen to 14, police say.

THE war-torn country's ambassador to Switzerland was among the dead in Friday's dramatic assault on the Maka al Mukarama hotel, which is used by politicians, diplomats and businessmen, officials said on Saturday.

Police said that in addition the last of five rebels who had barricaded themselves into the first-floor of the hotel, where security is usually tight, was killed early on Saturday.Officials had said Friday that at least 10 people died after a car bomb went off outside the hotel before it was stormed by heavily armed gunmen.Police later claimed to have the situation under control, although spokesman Kassim Ahmed Roble said Saturday that fighting had gone on all night."The operation to eliminate the attackers which took all night is now over," he said. "The last five attackers barricaded into the first floor were killed this morning.""Fourteen people were killed and 13 others wounded in the attack," Somali Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Heyr Mareye told reporters at the scene on Saturday."The terrorists attacked the hotel with a car filled with explosives and five to six rebels got into where the leaders and diplomats were," he added.Al-Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab confirmed that the militants were behind the attack and said they had managed to quickly seize control of the hotel."The mujahedeen fighters are conducting an operation targeting the heads of the apostates in Mogadishu," he told AFP on Friday, adding that members of Somalia's internationally backed government were meeting inside at the time of the raid.A car bombing followed by an armed raid has become a trademark tactic of the hardline Islamists, who are fighting to overthrow the Mogadishu government and eject African Union forces supporting it.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Golden boy Baird claims NSW victory

A TRIUMPHANT Mike Baird claims he's been handed a mandate for his controversial power sell-off plan after being comfortably returned as NSW premier.

MR Baird confirmed his status as the Liberal Party's golden boy by securing the coalition a second term in government despite the Labor reclaiming lost ground.

"We sought a mandate to make NSW great and tonight the people of NSW have given us that mandate," Mr Baird told supporters at the Sofitel Hotel in Sydney."Tonight they have chosen hope over fear."The coalition lost 16 seats across the state with Labor picking up at least 13 - making it far more competitive for the 2019 election.Opposition Leader Luke Foley said the result "breathed new life into state Labor"."We've gone from a rump in the state parliament to a real opposition," he told supporters at the Lidcombe Catholic Club.Labor regained a number of seats in its traditional western Sydney heartland and enjoyed big swings towards it in the Hunter and Illawarra.The Greens were perhaps the big winners of the election, picking up Lismore and Ballina off the back of anti-coal seam gas campaigns, while fending off the ALP in inner city Sydney seats of Balmain and Newtown.Mr Baird's victory gives the coalition a vital morale boost after recent first term defeats for conservative governments in Victoria and Queensland.He faced a tricky campaign amid ongoing leadership speculation in Canberra, strong anti-CSG campaigns in rural NSW and a raft of attack ads against his privatisation plans.Labor even suggested in the dying days of the campaign that the electricity assets could end up in Chinese hands, risking the state's security.Mr Baird accused the ALP of waging the "biggest scare campaign" in NSW election history.He said the government had lost some good MPs because of that campaign against the leasing plan, and warned Labor that it would not have it easy at the next election.Meanwhile, Mr Baird's campaign seems to have withstood the much talked about "Abbott factor", with the unpopular prime minister keeping a low profile on the hustings.Tony Abbott continued that trend on Saturday, spending the day in Victoria and Tasmania.Senior federal MP Julie Bishop said the Liberals would be studying the NSW election result "very closely".Debate will now turn to whether Mr Baird has in fact won a mandate for his poles and wires plan.Mr Foley on Saturday night made no mention of the leasing plan despite previously indicating he'd continue to oppose if he lost the election.Labor elder Michael Egan, the state's longest serving treasurer, earlier urged Mr Foley not to block the privatisation legislation in the upper house of parliament."I think (Mr Foley) should take a couple of weeks to reflect because the government will clearly have a mandate," Mr Egan told ABC TV."Privatisation was a central issue of the campaign."It can't be argued that they don't have that mandate and I think the Labor Party has to look long term."

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Earth Hour kicks off around the globe

THE ninth annual global Earth Hour event to highlight climate change has kicked off in Samoa.

HUNDREDS of millions of people are expected to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday as part of the event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Australia with 2.2 million people taking part, and since then the event has grown exponentially into what WWF calls "the world's largest grassroots movement."In 2014, hundreds of millions of people in 162 countries took part in Earth Hour, according to a report from WWF. The term Earth Hour - and the eponymous hashtag - was mentioned 1.2 billion times on Twitter.Each year, participants turn off all the lights in their homes for one hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm local time. WWF describes this as "the symbolic act of lights off around the world to inspire and unite people behind a common purpose."More than 1200 landmarks - including the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and the Acropolis in Athens - will participate, the WWF said.The event also aims to raise money for environmental projects as well as awareness about the threat of climate change. In 2014, WWF Singapore's Stop The Killing project raised $US21,346 dollars "to combat wildlife crime in South-East Asia".Other projects in 2014 included one by WWF India to help reduce energy use and the carbon footprint of 15,000 schools, and 17 million trees were planted in Kazakhstan.This year, Earth Hour-related action includes a 100,000-name petition against oil exploration in the Russian Arctic and a project to reduce the use of firewood in Uganda. There are also crowd-funded climate-resilience projects happening in India, Indonesia, Colombia and Portugal.Ambassadors for the event include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and global celebrities like British singer Chris Martin, Italian designer Giorgio Armani, US actor Edward Norton and Taiwanese singer, dancer and actress Jolin Tsai.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Search for two missing in NY collapse

NEW York emergency workers are searching for at least two people still missing after an apparent gas line explosion levelled three apartment buildings and injured 22 others.

SPECIAL canine units on Saturday will sniff for anyone possibly trapped beneath the heap of loose brick and rubble.

Detectives have issued posters seeking information on the whereabouts of two men believed to have been in the sushi restaurant on the ground-floor of one of the now-collapsed buildings: a 26-year-old worker at the restaurant and 23-year-old bowling alley worker who had been there on a date.Authorities also were exploring whether a third person was unaccounted for, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said."There's a lot more we need to learn," Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday, a day after the blast in Manhattan's East Village neighbourhood.It's possible someone improperly tapped a gas line amid ongoing work in one of the destroyed buildings, though investigators need to get into the basement to learn more.Consolidated Edison utility inspectors had visited the work site about an hour before the blast and determined the work didn't pass inspection.They locked the line to ensure it wouldn't be used before leaving, officials said.But 15 minutes later, the sushi restaurant owner smelled gas and called the landlord who called the general contractor, Boyce said. Nobody called emergency services or Con Ed.The contractor, Dilber Kukic, and the owner's son went into the basement and opened a door, and then the explosion happened, burning their faces, Boyce said.Kukic, who is facing an unrelated bribery charge, declined through his lawyer to comment.The building had an existing gas line intended to serve the sushi restaurant; the work underway was to put in a bigger line to serve the entire building.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aust-born tennis coach convicted of rape

AUSTRALIAN-BORN former tennis champion Bob Hewitt has been convicted in a South African court of rape and sexual assault decades after the alleged assaults.

JUDGE Bert Bam said he is satisfied the two women, who had accused the veteran tennis player of rape, and a third woman, who had accused him of sexual assault, were telling the truth.

The charges stemmed from events in the 1980s and 1990s, when Hewitt coached the women as young girls. Hewitt, 75, denied all three charges.The judge said the striking similarities among the three womens' testimonies showed that Hewitt's conduct was calculated.Bam described the evidence against Hewitt as "overwhelming", the SAPA news agency reported.During the trial, his victims said Hewitt assaulted them during private tennis lessons when they were young girls."Time did not erase the crimes. A guilty person should not go unpunished. The scales of justice tip against the accused," Bam said.One woman testified that Hewitt had told her "rape is enjoyable" as he assaulted her.Another victim told the court he had touched her inappropriately 34 years ago and forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 12 and 13.Hewitt won numerous Grand Slam events during his career in the 1960s and 1970s and was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.But his name was removed from the hall of fame in 2012, following allegations that he sexually abused girls he coached.Hewitt was born in Dubbo, NSW, but has spent much of his life in South Africa.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japanese PM to visit US for talks in April

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will travel to the US for an eight-day visit in late April to strengthen economic and military ties.

ABE is scheduled to visit Washington from April 27 to 30, during which he will meet with President Barack Obama and attend official events, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

"Last April, we invited President Obama as a state guest. The following official visit to the United States by Prime Minister Abe, we believe, will be significant to show the robust Japan-US alliance to the world," Suga said.The two leaders are likely to meet on April 28, a day after planned security talks by the defence and foreign ministers of the two countries.Abe is expected to become the first Japanese PM to address a joint session of the US Congress on April 29, the Kyodo News agency reported.The trip will also take Abe to Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK cancer boy in 'miracle recovery'

THE parents of five-year-old Ashya King said he had made a "miracle" recovery from a brain tumour after proton therapy treatment in the Czech Republic that UK authorities had tried to block.

ASHYA'S family said the Prague-based centre where he was treated had declared him cancer-free, The Sun newspaper reported.

"It has justified everything we have gone through because things are working out for Ashya," his father Brett King told The Sun.The Kings sneaked Ashya out of Britain because they were told the proton therapy, which directs beams directly at a tumour and causes less damage to other organs, was not available under Britain's National Health Service."If we had left Ashya with the NHS we don't think he would have survived," Brett King said.Ashya's mother Naghmeh said: "We have saved his life. It is a miracle we thought we would never see."The Kings' decision to take their son away from a hospital in Southampton without doctors' consent led to their arrest in Spain.They spent several days in police cells before their release and a High Court judge later approved their application to be allowed to take Ashya to Prague's Proton Therapy Centre for treatment."We were arrested for child cruelty and neglect," Brett King told The Sun. "But leaving Ashya in the NHS would have been far more cruel."

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Asylum seekers 'turned back to Indonesia'

FIFTEEN asylum seekers say they spent three days on Christmas Island before being turned back to Indonesia.

THE six Iranians, two Nepalese and seven Bangladeshis were found off Sukabumi, West Java, on Sunday.

Sukabumi Immigration officer Irfan Sapari says the group claims Australian authorities sent them back to Indonesia on the same fishing boats they arrived on.They say they spent three days on Christmas Island first."We don't know for sure what happened, but that's what they say," Mr Irfan told AAP."When they were there for three days, they were sheltered."They were given logistics, fuel and then they were told to sail back."Sukabumi Immigration office chief Markus Lenggo told Indonesian wire service Antara the group includes three young Iranian girls."From the testimony of the immigrants, they reached Australia three days ago after leaving from Pameungpeuk, Garut, on March 17 and stayed there for three days," he said.One of the asylum seekers from Bangladesh, Muhamed Baleyet Husain, told Antara the group reached Australia three days ago."We arrived in Australia, in Christmas Island to be exact," he said."But the government sent us back to Indonesia by boat, escorted by the Australians."He reportedly spoke fluent Indonesian after living in the country for six months.Another passenger, Kamal, was quoted by Indonesian news website viva.co.id saying they were sent back to Indonesia in two fishing boats."Then the boat captains who brought us left us after we reached land," he said.Immigration authorities were liaising with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Ministry.Of the 15 asylum seekers, nine had letters from the UNHCR declaring their refugee status but the other six said their letters were missing.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Federal Labor increases lead: Morgan poll

JUST days before NSW goes the polls, federal Labor has increased its lead over the coalition in the latest Roy Morgan poll.

ACCORDING to the survey held over the last two weekends, primary support for Labor rose two percentage points to 40 per cent, ahead of the coalition's 38 per cent, which was down one point.

On two-party preferred terms, the ALP leads the coalition 56 per cent to 44 per cent.Support for the Greens and Palmer United Party went down, while the independents remained unchanged.Gary Morgan said federal Labor had increased its strong lead over the coalition on a two-party preferred basis despite what looks like the certain re-election of NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird at the weekend.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hunt on for third Tunisian museum attacker

A THIRD attacker in the deadly assault on the Bardo museum is on the run, Tunisia's president says.

"THERE were certainly three attackers... there is one who is on the run, he won't get far," President Beji Caid Essebsi said on Sunday.

The Islamic State group claimed Wednesday's attack on foreign tourists in Tunis, the deadliest since Tunisia's 2011 revolution which sparked the Arab Spring regional uprisings.Australian-Colombian dual national Javier Cameloan, 28, and his Colombian mother were among 21 people killed when two gunmen stormed the National Bardo Museum.Essebsi said it was clear there had been three attackers, because they had "been identified and filmed on surveillance cameras".Tunisia's Interior Ministry released security camera footage of Wednesday's attack showing two gunmen walking through the museum, carrying assault rifles and bags. At one point they encounter a third man with a backpack walking down a flight of stairs. They briefly acknowledge each other before walking in opposite directions.Police responding to the attack shot and killed the two gunmen. They were identified as Tunisians in their 20s who had trained in Libya.Essebsi said the extremists who have recruited about 3,000 Tunisians to fight in Iraq and Syria have no credible connection to Islamic belief. He said his country was at war with them."When war is brought upon us, we will wage war," he said.Essebsi added that a monument would be erected in memory of the victims.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia's Vanuatu support tops $10m

Australia's support for cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu has topped $10 million so far. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S SUPPORT FOR CYCLONE-HIT VANUATU SO FAR:

* More than $10 million in relief funding.

* $5 million to help Australian non-government organisations, the Australian Red Cross and UN partners, including the World Food Program for urgent food aid and UNICEF.* Deployment of RAAF transport planes with emergency supplies.* HMAS Tobruk will arrive on Monday with supplies for a further 2500 people.* An initial deployment of humanitarian supplies from Australia to assist up to 5000 people, including water and sanitation and shelter kits.* Deployment of a Crisis Response Team to provide consular assistance to Australian citizens and to coordinate Australia's humanitarian assistance.* Deployment of Australian Urban Search and Rescue personnel.* Deployment of Australian Medical Assistance Teams.* Deployment of an Australian disaster expert to the UN Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination team.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bishop visits Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is set to fly to Vanuatu today to assess the damage from Cyclone Pam. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA will support Vanuatu for as long as it needs, Julie Bishop says, as the cyclone-devastated nation recovers from the biggest disaster it has faced.

THE foreign minister made a flying visit to Vanuatu from Brisbane in a military aircraft on Sunday, to see the effects of cyclone Pam first-hand.

She will return to Canberra later on Sunday for the final parliamentary sitting week before the May budget."The people of Vanuatu have been through a very devastating experience," she told the Nine Network."But they are resilient and they are stoic."During her tour Ms Bishop met with government staff and volunteers, and Australia's medical team operating in the Port Vila hospital.Ms Bishop was also briefed by Vanuatu's National Disaster Management Office, and held meetings with the country's Prime Minister Joe Natuman and Foreign Minister Sato Kilman."We will be here for as long as it takes to respond to short term needs," she said."And we will also be here for the long term recovery."Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam barrelled into the South Pacific island nation on March 13, bringing sustained winds of some 250km/h which devastated entire communities.Australia is providing more than $10 million in relief funding to help Vanuatu recover.Women's rights groups welcomed Ms Bishop's visit to Vanuatu, describing the situation as dire.Senior program and policy coordinator at ActionAid Australia, Carol Angir, said the cyclone's aftermath was heavily impacting on women and issues of family violence resulting from food and water shortages had been largely overlooked."Pregnant women are sleeping on thin mats on the ground," Ms Angir said in a statement on Sunday."Evacuation centres have little, if any, light in the night time, and the women have told us they don't sleep because they're afraid of violence at night."

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW police dog Marco saves man's life

POLICE dog Marco is being hailed a hero after finding a missing man clinging to a tree above a river on NSW's Central Coast.

THE 65-year-old was reported missing from an aged care centre in Mardi late on Saturday night.

Police and centre staff searched a nearby railway station, local streets and the edges of Wyong River, but couldn't locate him.Early on Sunday morning, Marco led Dog Unit Senior Constable Patrick Summers down a steep embankment near Wyong River.Initial searches around the embankment failed to find the man."When Marco continued to point the officer to the same area of the river, the police officer looked through extensive foliage, where the man was located clinging on to a tree branch above water," police said.He was rescued and treated for minor injuries.

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Jihadi Jake had 'death wish': father

AUSTRALIAN suicide bomber Jake Bilardi craved attention and had a death wish, his father says.

SPEAKING publicly for the first time since his son's death, John Bilardi said he shouldered much of the blame for his son's actions.

It's been reported the teenager died last week during a series of deadly co-ordinated Islamic State suicide bombings in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.At least 17 people were killed, and dozens injured in the attack, which Mr Bilardi says was orchestrated by the militants."He was a prize, a trophy - they used him for their own cause," he told the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program."He had a death wish."Describing him as a shy and lonely boy, Mr Bilardi said he ignored his son's obvious mental and psychological issues when he was a child."The buck stops with me," he said."He was my son, I knew something wasn't right."The youngest of six children, Jake was a difficult child who didn't fit in; he craved attention and had many violent outbursts.Following a messy divorce, Mr Bilardi lost touch with all of his six children but reconnected with Jake soon after his mother died.Despite growing up an atheist, Jake converted to Islam and quickly became radicalised, watching Islamic State propaganda on his laptop.Already one to keep to himself, Jake became increasingly withdrawn spending most of his spare time alone in his bedroom.He soon joined the fight in Syria, and became the poster boy for the terror group.The 18-year-old's family now struggles with overwhelming sadness and anger about his death.And despite not having a body to bury, Mr Bilardi says he will create some kind of memorial for his son."For Jake my son - not the jihadist, not the terrorist," he said."The rest of it can go to hell as far as I'm concerned."

22.24 | 0 komentar | Read More