Poor light halts search for missing plane

A SEARCH will resume on Monday morning for an ultralight aircraft and its pilot missing north of Brisbane.

Police said the aircraft, piloted by a woman in her 50s, left Caboolture around 9.15am Sunday on a trip to the Glass House Mountains.

Police received a report about 12.30pm that the plane had failed to return.

An extensive air and land search was launched but had to be called off on Sunday evening due to poor light.

The search will resume at first light on Monday.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Etch A Sketch creator dies

ANDRE Cassagnes, the French inventor of the Etch A Sketch, a toy beloved of children around the world, has died at the age of 86.

His death in France in mid-January was announced by the Ohio Art Company, which has been making the Etch a Sketch since 1960, according to media reports.

The Etch A Sketch, a grey screen with bold red frame, allows children to draw a picture using a stylus and then erase it with the turn of two buttons.

It has sold more than 100 million copies around the world.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gillard's new ministers to be sworn in

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is wasting no time getting her new ministers straight into the job with the official swearing-in by the governor-general to be held in Canberra on Monday.

With last week's surprise resignations of Senator Chris Evans and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, the prime minister took the opportunity to reshuffle the cabinet and bring in new blood.

Mike Kelly gets his first ministry being appointed minister for defence materiel.

Chris Bowen will replace Senator Evans as minister for tertiary education, skills, science and research with responsibility for small business.

Mark Dreyfus will replace Ms Roxon as attorney-general and minister for emergency management, relinquishing the role of cabinet secretary to Jason Clare, who retains home affairs and justice.

Brendan O'Connor will become minister for immigration and citizenship and Mark Butler takes on housing and homelessness.

Ms Gillard said the departure of Senator Evans and Ms Roxon opened the way for fresh talent, new ideas and new energy.

"It means a rejuvenated team who will keep building a smarter, fairer modern Australia," she said in a statement.

New parliamentary secretaries Yvette D'Ath (climate change and energy efficiency), Kelvin Thompson (trade) and Melissa Parke (mental health, homelessness and social housing) will also be sworn in.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fiat boss eyes Chrysler merger in 2014

FIAT boss Sergio Marchionne says he expects the merger of the Italian car giant and its US partner Chrysler will take place in 2014.

"We will succeed in doing it," he said in an interview with the editor of the Repubblica newspaper. "We and VEBA (the United Auto Workers pension fund - a Chrysler shareholder) have different opinions on the value of Chrysler but we will resolve the problem in 2014."

Macchione, who heads both companies, had said on January 30 that the ties between the two automakers were "irreversible" and would merge "as soon as I can afford it" but did not put a date on the merger.

Asked on Sunday if Fiat would keep its Turin headquarters, Macchione said: "We are a big group presence throughout the world; it will depend on access to financial markets and the choices of the Agnelli family" who founded Fiat.

He had "not thought" about the future name of the new entity, he said.

The deal will ultimately give Fiat a 65 per cent stake in Chrysler and full ownership by 2015.

Boosted by increased sales at Chrysler, the Italian giant on Wednesday reported a profitable 2012, announcing a fourth quarter net profit that rose to 388 million euros ($A508 million) from 265 million euros the year before.

The company said it was aiming for profits of between 1.2 and 1.5 billion euros this year.

Fiat took a 20 per cent stake in Chrysler in 2009 as the third largest US automaker emerged from a government-financed restructuring under bankruptcy protection.

It has since steadily expanded its stake by purchasing shares owned by the US government and the VEBA fund.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Libyan TV crew 'assaulted' in parliament

SECURITY guards at Libya's parliament have beaten up a crew of Alassema, an independent television network, the channel says.

"A team from (Alassema TV) went to cover a meeting of the national assembly on Friday, entering as they were permitted to," the channel's press office director Fethi Ben Aissa said.

"After interviewing an MP, the team was assaulted by plain clothes guards of the General National Congress," he said, adding that "the public prosecutor has decided to open an inquiry into the incident".

A video posted on the internet, purportedly of the same incident, showed a cameraman being pushed and hit by men in civilian clothing, provoking an online uproar.

A joint statement by dozens of journalists said "this act of aggression essentially constitutes an attack against freedom of the media and is a return to the era of the stifling of the press".

It called for "the creation of a journalist union ... to ensure the defence of people's rights to obtain correct and timely information from different media outlets".

Under the regime of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted by a popular uprising in 2011, independent media outlets and any criticism of government were banned.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK police use stun gun on man at palace

A MAN waving large knives outside Buckingham Palace in the presence of tourists has been shocked with a Taser stun gun and arrested, police say.

The Queen and Prince Philip were at one of their weekend retreats, in Sandringham, eastern England, at the time of the incident just before noon (2300 AEDT) on Sunday.

"A man was seen outside the (palace's) centre gate in possession of two knives," said a spokesman for the capital's Metropolitan Police force.

"He was not making threats to members of the public but he was challenged by police. He acted aggressively and a Taser was discharged.

"He is thought to be in his 50s. He was arrested on suspicion of affray and has been taken to a central London police station," the spokesman added.

A video on YouTube showed the man placing a large blade to his neck before waving it about. Moments later he fell to the ground after being shocked with the Taser gun and was quickly surrounded by police officers.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man charged over fatal shooting of ex-SEAL

A 25-YEAR-OLD man has been charged with murder over the deaths of former Navy SEAL and American Sniper author Chris Kyle and another man at a Texas gun range, the Texas Department of Public Safety says.

Sergeant Lonny Haschel said in a news release that 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster was arraigned on Saturday night on two counts of capital murder.

Haschel said Erath County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call about a shooting at the Rough Creek Lodge, west of Glen Rose, late Saturday afternoon.

They found the bodies of Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, at the shooting range.

Police said Routh opened fire on Kyle and Littlefield about 3.30pm, then fled in a Ford pickup truck. At about 8pm, Routh arrived at his home in Lancaster, about 27km southeast of Dallas. Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and took him to the Lancaster Police Department.

The motive for the shooting was unclear.

Kyle wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History, detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009.

A news release from Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares, a non-profit Kyle helped start, said Kyle served four tours of duty.

"Chris died doing what he filled his heart with passion - serving soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD," Cox said in the release. "He will be forever missed."

Kyle is survived by his wife, Taya, and their children, the non-profit's release said.

Kyle was sued by former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura over a portion of the book that claims Kyle punched Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Ventura says the punch never happened and the claim by Kyle defamed him.

Kyle had asked that Ventura's claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by August 1.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

One dead in Egypt clashes

A TEENAGER has died and more than 400 people have been hurt in Egypt's Port Said as rioting sparked by death sentences handed to supporters of a local football team rocked the canal city for a second day.

Crowds attempted to storm three police stations and others torched a social club belonging to the armed forces, looting items inside, security officials said.

An 18-year-old male died of gunshots to the chest and another 433 people were injured, medical sources told AFP.

Earlier in the day, shots rang out as thousands of mourners marched at the funeral of people killed in clashes on Saturday.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW land valuations to be examined

MORE than two million official land valuations in NSW will be examined by a new inquiry, prompted by concerns that property owners are overpaying land tax and council rates.

The concerns have been sparked by reports indicating the system used by the Office of the Valuer-General is out of step, Fairfax Media reported on Monday.

It said the inquiry would examine confidential data for all 2.4 million land valuations between 2000 and 2012 to pinpoint council areas with the biggest discrepancies between official estimates and market values.

A land valuations analysis conducted by a private firm hired by competitive tender will help the inquiry by parliament's joint standing committee on the Office of the Valuer-General decide whether to recommend changes to the system.

The consultant will be asked to test whether official valuations have outstripped market values and if property owners have lost out in particular local government areas.

The inquiry opens in Broken Hill on Thursday and will take public submissions until March 8.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mozambique flood toll rises to 40

THE death toll from heavy flooding in Mozambique has climbed to about 40 after four more bodies were discovered in the worst-hit southern town of Chokwe, its mayor says.

"They found four bodies in the last 24 hours," Jorge Makwakwa told AFP, adding that Chokwe's flood-ravaged streets were littered with rotting animal carcasses.

"I am mobilising workers to remove the bodies but we need masks and gloves," he said.

According to a toll from the United Nations on Friday, the severe flooding in the impoverished country had killed at least 36 people and displaced nearly 70,000, most in the southern province of Gaza.

The deadly floods, which have also hit neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe, are the result of days of torrential rains this month that swelled the Limpopo river.

UN agencies said on Sunday that 23,000 families had sought shelter in camps in Gaza and the World Food Program had begun feeding some 75,000 flood-affected people.

UNICEF said it had set up three field hospitals and was broadcasting radio messages urging locals to take basic hygiene measures to ward off diarrhoea and cholera.

While the Limpopo river started to recede in Chokwe on Sunday, the 9000 residents who had stayed behind were in urgent need of clean water and food, mayor Makwakwa said, as a major clean-up operation got under way.

While some tried to salvage what they could and laid their possessions out to dry, others walked through the streets inebriated, having helped themselves to alcohol in flood-damaged stores, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

With relief efforts focused on the camps, some locals said they were struggling to get their hands on emergency supplies.

In the village of Guija, children told AFP they had had no water or food since Wednesday, while a doctor said two mothers had given birth on rooftops after they were marooned by the rising waters.

Mozambican authorities were also scrambling to protect the partly inundated coastal tourist city of Xai-Xai on the Limpopo river, where some 45,000 people were thought to be at risk from the deluge.

Helicopters would be dispatched to try to rescue those trapped by the floodwaters, Disaster Relief Management Institute spokeswoman Rita Almeida told AFP.

"Our biggest priority is to reach the people (who have taken refuge) in trees," she said.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More