Cyclone could reach NT border

Tropical cyclone Laurence has weakened as it tracks towards central Australia however residents are still being warned to be expecting flooding from heavy rain into Wednesday morning.

According to Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), the gusts up to 100km/h from the downgraded category two cyclones can reach the Northern Territory and South Australian borders on Wednesday.

Heavy rain lashed the Pilbara region in northwest WA on Tuesday night, with the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) caution of flash flooding.

"Very heavy rainfall has been reported in the Yarrie Station area and upstream due to Cyclone Laurence," a FESA statement said on Tuesday night.

"Heavy rainfall has continued in the catchment and more is expected all night above Warrawagine Station, including the Oakover River catchment." About 150mm of rain was expected to fall on the east Pilbara region, the BoM said.

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Death camp Auschwitz sign found, 5 charged

POLISH police have recovered the metal sign that hung above the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz and detained 5 men suspected of the theft that sparked worldwide condemnation, the state news channel said.

The sign, which reads "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free"), was cut into 3 pieces after being stolen on Friday, the broadcaster reported.

The motivation for the theft was not immediately known.

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All kids must read the Bible - federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says

BIBLE classes must be compulsory so children have a fundamental understanding of Christianity on leaving school, Tony Abbott says.

"I think each one should have some familiarity with the great texts that are at the core of our civilization," said Tony Abbott, the Federal Opposition leader. "That includes, most importantly, the Bible.” I think it would be impossible to have a good general education without at least some serious familiarity with the Bible and with the teachings of Christianity. "That doesn't mean that people have to be believers."

However ex- Howard government Islamic advisor Dr Ameer Ali, said Mr Abbott's remarks were "over the top". "It's one thing to say all children need a good knowledge of history and geography or science," Dr Ali said.

"But it’s something else to say all children should have knowledge of the Bible. That may hurt other people who have their own holy scriptures," he added. Australian Education Union's federal president, Angelo Gavrielatos, said that religion was not a priority for schools.

"There is a place for comparative studies of religion in the curriculum, but eventually we consider it a private matter for parents and their children," he added.

Queen dropped from Victoria’s criminal cases

From New Year's Day, Victoria's legal system will experience a small but symbolic change - the removal of the Queen's name from criminal court cases.

From January 1, the criminal prosecutions will be made in the name of the Director of Public Prosecutions slightly than in the Queen's name, The Age newspaper said.

Victorian Attorney-General Mr. Rob Hulls says the move is "a further step to bring our legal system into the 21st century" that reflects Australia's independence from Britain.

In the year 2000, Victorian government introduced the term "senior counsel" as an alternative to the term "Queen's counsel", and dropped the requisite for new lawyers to swear allegiance to the Queen.

The move was also reliable with the Australia Act, passed by the federal parliament in the 1980s, that prevented the ruler from disallowing or suspending Australian laws and terminated the UK parliament's ability to legislate for Australia, Mr. Hulls said.

"Our justice system should be based on modern, accessible, coherent, understandable laws, rather than just tradition," Mr. Hulls said.

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Three people injured in Canberra explosion

The ACT Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service received reports of an explosion at healthcare company Stericorp's offices in Sandford Street, Mitchell, just before 1pm (AEDT).A spokesman for the ACT Emergency Services Agency said crews arrived to find 3 men suffering severe burns.

"They were stabilized on scene by intensive care paramedics, and then transported to the Canberra Hospital in a serious condition," he said. About 1000 people were evacuated from two buildings at the site.

District Officer Martin Lloyd says that the explosion was believed to have occurred after aerosol cans were placed into a compactor. "There were no toxic substances released as a result of the incident," he said.

"Three injured males are believed to have been the only people within the area at the time."

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Alcohol rehab numbers outstrip hard drugs

ALCOHOL has again outstripped illicit drugs like heroin and ice as the number one reason for admissions at a major Australian rehab service.

Problem drinking topped Odyssey House's 2009 admission list, because 26 per cent of those seeking care over the year named it as their "principal drug of concern".

It was fractionally down from the 29 per cent of Odyssey House admissions last year, and 28 per cent in 2007, but it still headed the list for the third year running.

Alcohol has done so since 2007 - when Odyssey House's drinking-related admissions exceeded those for illicit drugs for the first time in 30 years.

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Barnaby Joyce looking for lower house move

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce wants to move to the lower house if his new boss Tony Abbott promotes him to the coalition frontbench.

The newly installed opposition leader on Wednesday said he would like Senator Joyce to be a part of his frontbench team and was considering his options.

Senator Joyce said he was all for the promotion.

"I'm strongly considering it and that means I'm more than likely to do it,'' he told ABC TV.

"It's not really a decision for me, it's a final announcement for Tony.''
Senator Joyce said if the appointment was confirmed, he'd be looking to move to the House of Representatives.

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Expert urges Australia to pass ETS

IT is in Australia's interest to pass an emissions trading scheme before global climate change talks in Copenhagen, British climate expert Nicholas Stern says.

His comments come as the Coalition looks set to vote down the Federal Government's carbon pollution reduction scheme in the Senate today.

Lord Stern, speaking just before releasing a report on what rich countries need to do to reduce emissions and make this month's Copenhagen forum a success, said Australia was extremely vulnerable to climate change consequences like sea level rise.

"It is in Australia's interests to have a strong international deal and by acting strongly, Australia will be able to promote (that)," he told ABC TV last night.

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Melbourne train operators Metro cancel more than dozen services

Melbourne's new train operator has cancelled more than a dozen services in its first morning in the job.

Hong Kong-based consortium Metro Trains Melbourne took over the troubled network from French-owned Connex Trains and Yarra Trams has been taken over by French-owned Keolis (KDR) at 3.01am.

Metro's chief executive Andrew Lezala admitted it was not a great start.

"We've had too many cancellations this morning," he said.

They are liability faults with rolling stock, so clearly we ve got a lot of work to do to address those and put some long-term fixes in place.

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Swine flu epidemic 'escaped from lab'

"It could have happened in a lab where somebody became affected and then travelled with it," virologist Dr Adrian Gibbs said yesterday.

Conjuring up a vision of Frankenstein's fictional monster fleeing the laboratory, he added: "Things do get out of labs and this has to be explored. There needs to be more research done in this area.

"At the moment there is no way of distinguishing where swine flu has come from."

The research, published in the Virology Journal on Tuesday, was compiled by two former researchers at the Australian National University - Dr Gibbs and programmer John S. Armstrong.

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Train driver excused from inquest

Hayden Duncan, 10 and his brother Glen Duncan, eight, of Mount Gravatt East, and their nine-year-old cousin Reggie Fisher, of Carole Park, died instantly when they were struck by a passenger train between Goodna and Redbank stations in Brisbane's west on March 11, 2006.

Coroner Michael Barnes today ruled that Dennis Smith, the driver of the 10M1 Brisbane-bound special service train transporting fans to a football match, would not have to give evidence.

Trauma specialist Dr Patrick Wong told the court it was possible Mr Smith could take his own life if he had to give evidence.

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Self-harm a factor in youth car crashes

Road crashes involving young Australians have an often overlooked cause - the important number of teenagers who deliberately harm themselves.

A major NSW-based study has found those young people who admit to self-harming behaviour were also at a much higher risk of being involved in a serious car crash.

"Self-harm is a significant issue for young people in Australia," said Dr Alexandra Martiniuk who led the study at The George Institute for International Health.

"We know that this also impacts significantly on young driver safety, as we found those drivers who engaged in self-harm were at a 40 per cent increased risk of a crash."

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Startled roo tries to drown man, dog

A Victorian man was almost drowned by a kangaroo after he dived into his farm dam to save his pet dog.

Chris Rickard, 49, of Arthurs Creek, is being assessed by Austin Hospital surgeons after being mauled by the 1.5m roo at 9am (AEDT).

He only managed to end the attack when he elbowed the kangaroo in the throat as it tried to hold him under water..

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Homes lost as bushfire rages out of control

AS many as five homes were destroyed in a bushfire in Tasmania which was still burning out of control last night.

Residents of Dolphin Sands, near Swansea, were evacuated and in emergency accommodation overnight as fire crews battled to save the seaside settlement.

A police roadblock was keeping residents away from the fire scene because authorities feared a change in wind direction overnight could claim more property, The Mercury reports.

At least one home was reduced to ashes and locals reported as many as four more were destroyed.

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Two men killed in Rally

The two competitors who died in the Classic Adelaide Rally yesterday were from Melbourne.

Organisers named them as Gary Tierney, the 60-year-old driver, and co-driver David Carra, 43.

Their 1974 Porsche 911 RS skidded off a right-hand bend and struck a tree on Norsworthy Road, Forreston, about 40 kilometres north-east of Adelaide.

A police spokesman said it was unclear if the deaths would be included in the state's road toll.

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Your chance to create product new Australia

Advertising agencies are being asked to put up their hand to extend the new brand that will make Australia's by tradition ocker image a bit more highbrow.

The Federal Government is trying to reposition the nation's image to focus more on its cultural and intellectual possessions, rather than just shining the light on its value as a tourist destination.

As part of the $20 million Building Brand Australia promotion, the Government is calling for ideas from creative agency within the next month.

Agencies can bid for a agreement worth $4 million over four years.

Trade Minister Simon Crean said the aim was to build a contemporary national brand that captured the spirit of Australia.

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Wilson Daniel Lee jailed over servo assault

A Father of six who king hit and almost killed a man in a road rage attack over claims he jumped a petrol station queue has been locked up for three years.

Brisbane District Court was told Wilson Daniel Lee, 38, punched expectant dad Tal Naor, 30, in the head causing him serious bodily harm - at a Caltex Service Station on Creek Rd, Carindale, southeast of Brisbane, on August 17 last year, The Courier-Mail reports.

Prosecutor Stacey Coker said Lee was a passenger in a Jeep Cherokee lined up in a queue for fuel when a car driven by Israeli-born Mr Naor reversed next to a petrol bowser ahead of others waiting to fill up.

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MP to quit political affairs, takes shot at party

Outspoken Labor MP Julia Irwin has fired a parting shot at the party machine while announcing she will not be contesting the next federal voting.

Ms Irwin said branch-stacking in her western Sydney seat of Fowler had become rampant, leading to the devastation of an effective local Labor branch.

"Despite the broader representation of women and a more outward looking party of gender, Labor, at least in the part of western Sydney that I am familiar with, can no longer claim to be a party with a strong grassroots organisation,'' she said.

"For the whole of my four terms in this place the Fowler voters has been a factional battleground.''

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A male contracts swine flu resistant to Tamiflu

A Perth man has become the first person in Australia to contract a damage of swine flu which is resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

WA Health confirmed the 38-year-old man, who has a damaged immune system, initially responded to the drug but developed a resistant strain of the virus when his illness relapsed.

There have been 13 cases of Tamiflu-resistant infections reported around the world.

WA's Chief Health Officer Dr Tarun Weeramanthri said in a declaration this was a exceptional and isolated case and did not pose a risk to the public.

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Two cars blast in fiery five-car crash

Two cars have explode in a fiery five-car crash in Melbourne's inner southeast.

Police say a Hyundai sedan struck the rear of a Holden sedan that was stopped at traffic lights at the corner of Nepean Highway and Susden Street in Elsternwick about 10pm (AEST) yesterday.

The crash forced the Holden into three other stationary vehicles.

The Hyundai and Holden burst into flames on crash.

The Holden driver, a 20-year-old Edithvale woman, suffered non-life threatening damage and was helped from the burning car by two witnesses.

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