Taylor Swift trespasser gets profanation

Last Updated: July 19, 2014

A MASSACHUSETTS man has been sentenced to probation after being found guilty of trespassing at singer Taylor Swift's seaside mansion in Rhode Island.

Sydney teen kills 5 in suicide bombing

A WESTERN Sydney teenager has become Australia's second suicide bomber, blowing himself up in a brutal terrorist attack which killed at least five people in a Baghdad market.

7 salary negotiation mistakes

EVERYONE wants more money right? But we might be going about it the wrong way. Here are the mistakes to avoid when negotiating your pay.

Maguire masterstroke seals victory

IF Michael Maguire is ever crowned a mastercoach, he can point to the 66th minute of Friday's match as the moment those exalted stripes were earned.

This guy is not using Tinder for sex

ROBERT Townley gets 100 matches a day on Tinder. But this 25-year-old isn't using the dating app to get laid. He's using it for an awesome social experiment.

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Aust gets royal praise at statue unveiling

The Duke of Cambridge has spoken about the special place Australia holds for him. Source: AAP

PRINCE William has sung Australia's praises, dubbing it "young, innovative, caring and cool" as he unveiled a statue of the man who literally put the country on the map.

THE life-size bronze figure of British explorer Matthew Flinders, the first man to circumnavigate the country and pen the name Australia, was unveiled by the Duke of Cambridge in a ceremony at Australia House in London on Friday morning.

After uncloaking the statue, which will take pride of place at London's Euston Railway Station, William spoke about his recent visit Down Under with wife Catherine and son George."Australia is a very dear country to me and Catherine, and so I am particularly honoured to have been invited today to celebrate a man who did far more than anyone to place Australia - quite literally - on the map," he told guests at the ceremony.Flinders is particularly important in South Australia where the Flinders Ranges, Flinders Chase National Park, Flinders Street in Adelaide, and Flinders University are named after him, and it was South Australian government officials in the UK that led the two-year project to have the explorer immortalised.William spoke specifically of his trip to South Australia, and his visit to the Northern Sound System organisation."There, we met young people - some from very difficult backgrounds - who were turning their lives around through the power of music," he said."The place was Australia at its very best: young, innovative, caring, cool ... it was a truly uplifting place."South Australia's Agent General to London, Bill Muirhead, said Flinders, who was 27 when he completed the map of Australia, was an example of what one could achieve when they held fast to an idea."I hope that from today his story becomes much more widely appreciated in his home country," he said.The statue, which shows the British navigator at work over a stylised map of Australia, accompanied by his cat Trim, will be installed at Euston on Saturday morning.It was also announced at Friday's ceremony that money left over from the project will be used for a Matthew Flinders Memorial Statue Scholarship, which will fund British students to study at Flinders University, and students of Flinders University looking to study in the UK.

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Outcry grows as world mourns downed MH17

A Malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in the Ukraine. Source: AAP

GLOBAL demands are mounting to find those responsible for apparently shooting down a Malaysian airliner over rebel-held eastern Ukraine as relatives around the world mourn the deaths of the almost 300 people aboard.

LOCAL emergency crews are picking through terrible carnage at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, placing dozens of sticks with white rags in the ground to mark where bodies lay.

The Boeing 777 was carrying 28 Australians together with Dutch, Malay, Indonesian and other nationals when it came down in cornfields in the separatist-held region on Thursday, spraying debris and body parts for kilometres around, with the United States claiming it was shot down in a missile attack.Kiev accused pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces of committing a "terrorist act" as stunned world leaders urged a full investigation into the disaster, which could further fan the flames of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.The United States demanded an "unimpeded" international inquiry into the tragedy and rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's charge that Ukraine's crackdown on separatist rebels stoked tensions that led to the crash."While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fuelled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, material, and training," the White House said in a statement.News of the crash sent world stock markets tumbling. Shares in Malaysia Airlines, still afflicted by the trauma and global stigma of flight MH370's disappearance four months ago, plummeted almost 18 per cent on Friday morning.In the Netherlands, tears welled up in the eyes of Sander Essers, who lost several relatives in the crash, as he said he had spoken to his brother just 20 minutes before he boarded.Malaysia Airlines said 283 passengers and 15 crew were aboard the plane - including at least 173 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 28 Australians and 12 Indonesians - many on board delegates heading to Australia for a global AIDS conference.Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the crash was "not an accident, but a crime" and blasted Russia's response to the downing of the jet as "deeply unsatisfactory".Local rescue workers at the scene said at least one of the plane's black boxes had been found and mediators said rebels had committed to allowing international investigators "safe access" to the site, as US President Barack Obama has warned against tampering with evidence among scattered debris.Interpol offered its "full assistance" to help identify and repatriate corpses.The UN Security Council called an emergency session on Friday to discuss the disaster and British Prime Minister David Cameron called a crisis meeting of top officials.Comments attributed to a pro-Russian rebel chief suggested his men may have downed the plane by mistake, believing it to be a Ukrainian army transport aircraft.Ukraine released recordings of what they said was an intercepted call between an insurgent commander and a Russian intelligence officer as they realised they had shot down a passenger liner.However, the rebels accused the Ukrainian military of shooting down the plane and Russia's defence ministry said Friday it had data indicating that a Ukrainian missile system was operating in the area.Putin has said Ukraine bears responsibility for the crash and said it underscored the need for a "peaceful settlement" to the Ukraine crisis in talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.The disaster comes just months after Malaysia Airline's Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 with 239 on board.That plane diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight path and its fate remains a mystery despite a massive multinational aerial and underwater search."This is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia," Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters early on Friday after announcing an "immediate investigation".Najib added that a team of disaster response specialists had been dispatched to Kiev and that authorities in Ukraine had agreed to try to establish "a humanitarian corridor to the crash site".German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged an immediate ceasefire to allow what Obama demanded should be a "prompt, full, credible and unimpeded international investigation."Top separatist leader Alexander Borodai agreed to allow investigators access to the crash site but said there was "no question of a ceasefire."Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk alleged that the rebel's Russian backers had gone "too far" and called for those behind the tragedy to be tried in The Hague.

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Honour AIDS workers on MH17: UN AIDS chief

Delegates to attend a Melbourne AIDS conference were aboard a plane that crashed in the Ukraine. Source: AAP

THE tragic loss of delegates killed on the way to an AIDS conference in Melbourne should be used to push the life-saving agenda of the meeting, the UN AIDS chief says.

THE 20th International AIDS Conference was nearly cancelled after it emerged many of the 298 who died when Flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine were delegates and their family members.

The former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and "giant" of HIV research, Joep Lange, was on board.Organisers still don't know how many of the 12,000 researchers coming to Melbourne for the five-day conference were aboard MH17.Media reports put the number at 108, but a spokesman for the International Aids Society said there had been no confirmation of that figure.UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe said the tragedy should be used to bring the dreams of the delegates into reality."We should use this day, which is a very difficult day for us, to transform it," Mr Sidibe said in Melbourne on Friday."We should use this moment of sadness as a moment for us to push our agenda; our agenda for saving lives of millions of people."His sentiments were echoed by International AIDS Society president Francoise Barre-Sinoussi."The decision to go on, we were thinking about them because we know it's really what they would have liked us to do," Prof Barre-Sinoussi said.She said the number of delegates on the flight remains unknown."We don't have the confirmation (of numbers)," she said."We don't know how many were on that flight."US-based IAS president-elect Chris Beyrer told reporters in Melbourne it was not yet known how many "friends and colleagues" had been lost, but the death of Prof Lange meant "the HIV/AIDS movement has truly lost a giant".Delegates held a candle-lit vigil on Melbourne's Yarra Bridge on Friday evening.HIV worker Andrew Lesa, a delegate from New Zealand, said many of those who died were "giants in the industry"."Their loss will be a big loss to the movement," Mr Lesa told AAP.He said continuing with the conference was the best way to honour those who died."I don't think they would want it to be cancelled."The conference is the major scientific event for HIV, and speakers include former US president Bill Clinton and Sir Bob Geldof via video link, and UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe.The City of Melbourne cancelled a fireworks display that was to mark the opening of the conference.A spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) was also among those killed.Glenn Thomas was headed to Melbourne for the AIDS conference on Flight MH17, WHO communications official Gregory Hartl has told reporters in Geneva."It is with deep sadness that WHO lost one of our colleagues in the Malaysia crash," Mr Hartl said.No other UN staff were on board the doomed flight, Mr Hartl said.

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Kia recalls nearly 52,000 Souls

KIA is recalling nearly 52,000 Soul small SUVs to fix a problem that can cause steering failure.

THE recall covers vehicles from the 2014 model year built from July 21, 2013, through January 17, 2014.

The Korean carmaker says a plug that secures a pinion gear to the steering assembly can loosen and cause the gear to separate.That can cause a driver to lose steering and increase the risk of a crash.Kia says in documents filed with US safety regulators that it has three warranty claims and no reports of crashes or injuries due to the problem.Dealers will replace the plug and apply thread-locking adhesive at no cost to owners. The recall is expected to start this month.

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MH17 AIDS experts' deaths 'sicken' Clinton

THE 108 Australia-bound AIDS researchers, activists and health workers killed when the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down over the Ukraine are "martyrs" in the fight against the disease, former US president Bill Clinton says.

CLINTON, who will deliver an address to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, said he personally knew some of the victims aboard the plane.

"It's awful," Clinton told CNN."Those people are really in a way martyrs to the cause that we are going to Australia to talk about."Clinton has been one of the global leaders in the fight against AIDS and he described the deaths of so many AIDS experts as "sickening"."They were doing so much good," Clinton said."This gathering, we do this on a regular basis, have these international AIDS conferences and I try to go to all of them because I'm always so inspired by what other people are doing and what we can learn from them."Thinking about those people being knocked out of the sky is pretty tough."The AIDS conference, the largest of its kind in the world with 14,000 attendees, is scheduled to begin on Sunday.There were 298 passengers and crew on MH17, which took off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur.The passengers attending the AIDS conference were scheduled to catch connecting flights from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne.

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ADM to buy Swiss flavouring maker

Agribusiness giant ADM is to buy Swiss flavouring company Wild Flavors for about $US3 billion. Source: AAP

AGRIBUSINESS giant ADM will pay about $US3 billion ($A3.25 billion) to buy the privately held Swiss company Wild Flavors, which supplies natural ingredients to the food and beverage industry.

THE all-cash deal will total about $US3.13 billion counting debt, or 2.3 billion euros.

Archer Daniels Midland Co processes corn, soybeans and other crops to make everything from animal feed to ethanol. Its food and wellness group also provides products for the beverage, meat, snack and bakery markets.The Decatur company said on Monday that the acquisition will allow it to better serve the evolving needs of its customers.Wild Flavors sells full flavour and ingredient products, as well as fruit juice concentrates and ingredients like natural flavours and extracts.It has production sites in Europe, the United States, Asia and South America. Its estimated revenue for this year is about $US1.36 billion, or 1 billion euros.Wild is the last name of company chairman and owner Dr. Hans-Peter Wild, whose father founded the business. ADM will pay the purchase price to the owner and funds tied to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.Shares of ADM closed at $45.77 last week, a new high point for the year and they are within striking distance of a new record, set just as the recession began, of $48.95.Originally published as ADM to buy Swiss flavouring maker

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Defence to close Pistorius case

The prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial has challenged the objectivity of a witness. Source: AAP

THE defence team for Oscar Pistorius plans to close its case after its last witness, a physician who has treated the athlete, completed his testimony at the murder trial on Monday, a lawyer said.

THE end of testimony signals a new phase in the months-long trial of Pistorius, who killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home in what he has described as a mistaken shooting.

It is expected to lead to a break during which the defence and prosecution prepare final arguments as the high-profile legal battle moves toward a conclusion.Barry Roux, the chief defence lawyer, indicated that he would wrap up on Tuesday morning after final consultations with his team."We plan to close the case," Roux told Judge Thokozile Masipa.Pistorius, 27, has said he fatally shot Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, through a closed toilet door after thinking there was an intruder in his home. The prosecution says Pistorius fatally shot Steenkamp after a Valentine's Day argument last year.Earlier on Monday, chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the last defence witness, physician Wayne Derman, could not be objective about the double-amputee runner because he was too familiar with the Paralympian, having treated him over many years and travelled with him extensively.Derman had testified that Pistorius had an anxious nature linked to his disability, bolstering the defence case that the runner's allegedly deep sense of vulnerability was a factor in the killing because, according to his version, he believed he was under threat.Under questioning, Derman acknowledged that his testimony did not amount to a "forensic report" but disputed Nel's assertion that he could not be objective.On Sunday, an Australian broadcaster showed video footage of Pistorius participating in a re-enactment of how he says events unfolded on the night he killed Steenkamp.In the video, Pistorius is seen walking on his stumps with an arm outstretched and fist clenched, as though holding a gun. It also shows Pistorius carrying a woman. It is unclear where the re-enactment was filmed.The broadcast by the Seven Network prompted criticism from a lawyer for Pistorius who said the re-enactment was made with the help of a US-based company last year as part of the defence team's trial preparations. The video has not been shown at the trial, and it was not mentioned in court on Monday.Pistorius, who is free on bail, faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of premeditated murder, but he could also be sentenced to a shorter prison term if convicted of murder without premeditation or negligent killing. Additionally, he faces separate gun-related charges.Pistorius was born without fibulas, the slender bones that run from below the knee to the ankle. His lower legs were amputated when he was 11 months old.Originally published as Defence to close Pistorius case

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Delays on Eurotunnel after breakdown

Hundreds of passengers have been evacuated from a train broken down in the Channel Tunnel. Source: AAP

HUNDREDS of passengers have been evacuated from a shuttle train and thousands more are experiencing delays after an electrical fault brought a train to a halt in the Channel Tunnel.

THE shuttle train carrying passenger vehicles was travelling from Britain to France and was a quarter of the way through the tunnel when it encountered a problem with an overhead power line.

Eurotunnel says travellers will encounter delays of between two and four hours as traffic is re-routed around the train.Problems in the tunnel also led to some cancellations for the high-speed train company, Eurostar, which cancelled eight services by early afternoon.Eurostar says it expects delays throughout the day and that it recommends that passengers booked on Monday exchange their tickets for another date wherever possible.Originally published as Delays on Eurotunnel after breakdown

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Aussie sorry for Indonesian crash victim

AN Australian man in Indonesian custody after a fatal motorbike crash says he hopes he can befriend the victim's family and return to the country after the ordeal is over.

JAKE Drage, 23, has been in custody for a week since the collision in West Java, where he was on a surfing holiday.

The West Australian personal trainer has not been charged, and police say even though the family of the victim want him released, that doesn't close the investigation.Mr Drage's mother Tiena has joined her son in Indonesia where she is speaking to authorities and hopes to secure his release.In a statement she released to local news website Everything Geraldton on Monday, Ms Drage said it was a relief to hug her son and see he had been treated well.Police are still investigating the crash but Ms Drage says it happened when Mr Drage nudged the nose of his motorbike into an intersection, and was clipped by another motorbike.A woman on the back of the second bike - ridden by her teenage daughter - died of her injuries.In the statement, Mr Drage extended his sympathies to them."The accident leaves me with a sadness that is very difficult to describe and I want to thank her family for all the kindness and goodwill they have shown me," Mr Drage said in the statement."My family will be providing support to them and I hope we can be warm and close friends in the future."More than $3000 has been donated to aid Mr Drage's release and any funds remaining are to be donated to the victim's family.The Australian also wanted his supporters to know he didn't have any ill feelings towards Indonesia."I love Indonesia and its people and I'll be coming back," he said.West Java police wouldn't comment on the case on Monday, except to say Mr Drage was in good health and spirits after seeing his mother.Originally published as Aussie sorry for Indonesian crash victim

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