Telehealth rebate cut will hurt Vic: Davis

THOUSANDS of Victorians face longer waits and travel times for health services because of a change to a federal rebate, the state government says.

The telehealth rebate, introduced in 2011, now only applies to remote patients, rather than those in outer suburban and regional areas.

Victorian Health Minister David Davis said those on Melbourne's fringes would now face longer waits for services.

"There is an acute shortage of many specialists in these outer metropolitan areas, forcing many Victorians to travel further and wait longer for specialist advice and care," he told The Age on Thursday.

Mr Davis's criticism is the latest in a running stoush between the levels of government over health care.

The state has accused the Commonwealth of ripping hundreds of millions from the budget, while federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says the state will actually receive an additional $1 billion over the next four years.

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Man killed in Adelaide crash

A MAN has been killed in a two-car collision in Adelaide's western suburbs.

Two cars collided before one hit a power pole at Rosewater about 6.15pm (CDT) on Wednesday, police said.

The person is the sixth person to die on South Australian roads during the holiday road toll period.

* The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2012, until 2359 January 3, 2013, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.

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US shares soar on fiscal-cliff deal

US stocks shot up overnight in opening trade on news of a fiscal-cliff deal in Congress that prevented most tax increases and delayed sharp spending cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.8 per cent in the first minutes of trade, while the Nasdaq Composite topped 2.8 per cent.

The broad-market S&P 500 gained nearly 2 per cent.

In the first trading day of the new year, Wall Street joined a global equities rally celebrating the passage of a bill that avoids the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases.

While markets were closed on Tuesday for the New Year holiday, lawmakers approved a compromise bill that raises taxes on the rich and puts off automatic $US109 billion ($105 billion) federal budget cuts for two months.

If they had failed, Americans would have been hit by sweeping tax hikes, and spending cuts would have kicked in across the government, in a combined $US500 billion shock that could have rocked the fragile recovery.

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Call to widen inquiry into child sex abuse

THE scope of the royal commission into child sex abuse should be extended to include physical assault and neglect, child welfare advocates say.

The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect says the scope of the royal commission needs to be broadened because it is inequitable.

According to The Australian newspaper, the group wants Prime Minister Julia Gillard to expand the terms of reference of the commission to include all forms of abuse against children by churches, institutions and government.

The newspaper reports the call has split child welfare advocates, with some arguing it would mean the commission would go on for years, making it harder to get "concrete recommendations".

The federal government last year announced the royal commission to investigate child abuse in Australia, including in the Catholic Church.

It follows claims abuse by clergy was covered up by Catholic Church hierarchy in Victoria and NSW.

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Twin mums give birth on New Year's Day

AIDEN and Donavyn didn't wait until New Year's Day to come screaming into the world, but the circumstances of their births are still pretty special: The babies were born about two hours apart to Ohio mothers who are identical twins.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that the 19-year-old mothers - Aimee and Ashlee Nelson weren't raised to do things alike and did not plan the births to come at the same time. In fact, their due dates were about a week apart.

But Donavyn Scott Bratten was born just after noon on the last day of 2012. Aiden Lee Alan Dilts made his appearance at about 2pm local time.

They were delivered by the same doctor at Summa Akron City Hospital.

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School massacre survivors ready for class

STUDENTS at the elementary school where a gunman massacred 26 children and teachers last month were returning to class for the first time overnight in a new building adapted to look exactly like their old one.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has been closed since the December 14 tragedy in which a 20-year-old local man shot 20 small children and six staff members before committing suicide.

Families were invited to inspect the new school in the nearby town of Monroe, where a disused facility has been prepared to resemble the old one, right down to the pictures on the walls and crayons on desks, US ABC television reported.

In a message to parents on the school website, acting principal Donna Page, who replaces the slain school head Dawn Hochsprung, insisted "the facility is safe, secure and fully operational."

Ms Page said parents would be allowed to stay in the school when it opens for classes today, to provide reassurance to their children, many of whom witnessed to the bloodbath.

"We understand many parents may need to be near their children on their first day(s) of school and you will be welcome. That being said, we encourage students to take the bus to school in order to help them return to familiar routines as soon as possible," she wrote.

The shootings, in which Adam Lanza wielded a semi-automatic assault-style rifle, provoked a major national debate on gun control and a promise from US President Barack Obama to back a bill outlawing military-type weapons.

The killer, Adam Lanza, was laid to rest over the weekend after his father, a tax executive, retrieved his body from the authorities last week, a family spokesman said.

Lanza's mother, whom he shot at their home just ahead of the school massacre, was buried in New Hampshire last month.

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60 dead in Ivory Coast New Year's crush

AT least 60 people died and dozens more were injured in the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan as crowds stampeded overnight during celebratory New Year's fireworks, rescue workers say.

The head of military rescue workers, Lieutenant Colonel Issa Sako, told public television that "60 people" died and 200 were injured based on a preliminary toll. Another rescue official told AFP the toll was "61 dead and 48 injured".

The rescue official said the injured had been taken to hospitals in Abidjan.

An AFP journalist saw many injured children.

The flow of people coming to the entrance of the city's main stadium to watch the fireworks caused a "very large crush", Sako said. "In the crush, people were walked over and suffocated by the crowd."

Images broadcast by RTI television showed bodies stretched lifeless on the ground. Piles of abandoned shoes and clothing could also be seen at the stadium, where soldiers and police were deployed.

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Man stabbed in throat with sword

A MAN who allegedly stabbed another man in the throat with a sword in southeast Queensland on New Year's Day has been charged by police.

Police said the 34-year-old stabbed the man in the throat with a small sword during an altercation in Pialba about 5.30am (AEST) on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old victim was taken to hospital with a serious cut to his throat and remains in a stable condition.

The alleged attacker was charged with unlawful wounding, police said in a statement.

He is due to front Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

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Beattie calls for states to be 'abolished'

FORMER Queensland premier Peter Beattie has called for the abolition of the states, saying they could be replaced by larger councils.

Mr Beattie has told The Australian newspaper the states needed to be redefined or abolished given a 2006 High Court decision that upheld the Work Choices laws.

He said in the wake of the federal industrial relations laws the states had become "hand maiden of the Commonwealth".

Mr Beattie is reported as suggesting that larger regional councils could in the long term erode the power of the states and lead to a new structure of government for Australia.

This would reduce duplication and provide better government services, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Mr Beattie said one of the reasons he quit state politics was because he thought the future of state governments was "dim".

The call comes after recent urgings from former prime minister Bob Hawke for state governments to be scrapped.

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Rohingya boat people found near Thailand

A BOAT carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Myanmar's (Burma's) beleaguered Rohingya minority has been found adrift in the Andaman Sea off the Thai resort of Phuket.

Thai navy, police, health and other officials have supplied medicine and food and water to the asylum seekers, along with fuel for the boat so it could continue its journey without landing in Thailand.

Thai policy is to not accept boat people but to aid them in reaching a third country.

The passengers include about 10 children.

The exodus of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh, where many are also confined to refugee camps, has become seasonal, peaking in December and January.

Their fate became an international issue in 2008-2009, when predominantly Buddhist Thailand towed broken-down boats crammed with refugees back to sea, where they were cast adrift. Hundreds are believed to have died when the boats later sank.

The latest batch of asylum seekers told officials they had been at sea for 13 days and were headed for Malaysia, Thailand's southern neighbour.

Malaysia is seen as a welcoming destination because its own Muslim population is dominant, though it too considers the Rohingya undesirable.

On Sunday, about 450 asylum seekers from Myanmar landed in Malaysia after a similar boat journey that left one dead, a man who tried to swim to shore.

It was one of the largest groups of Rohingya this past year to reach Malaysia, where about 25,000 Rohingya are registered with the UN refugee agency.

The UN estimates the Rohingya population in Myanmar at 800,000, but the government does not recognise them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and most are denied citizenship.

Rohingya speak a Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, with darker skin than most people in Myanmar. They are widely regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and heavily discriminated against. But Bangladesh also refuses to accept them as citizens.

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