UK teacher tells of Kruger elephant attack

A BRITISH teacher who suffered a serious leg injury when an elephant tore through her car in South Africa has told how she desperately tried to drive away.

Sarah Brooks, who works at the Sir John Gleed School in Lincolnshire, and her South African fiance Jans de Klerk, were attacked by the elephant as they drove through the Kruger National Park on December 30.

The couple have now returned to England after Brooks spent more than a week recovering from a pelvis fracture and stitches to her right leg after the elephant's tusk pierced it.

The pair have received death threats since footage of the attack - which they say was heavily edited to make it look as if they drove towards the animal - went viral.

The 30-year-old science teacher told the Daily Mail she "completely freaked" as the elephant stormed towards them and in her panic was unable to find reverse in the hire car.

The couple then resorted to stopping, turning off the ignition and looking at the ground, but seconds later the elephant rammed into them.

"The next thing I heard was Jans screaming at me: 'Drive! Drive!'," Brooks said.

"I somehow managed to turn the engine on, Jans found reverse, but just as I got it going, the elephant tipped us up.

"Then he crushed the undercarriage by ramming it with his head, and the key snapped out of the ignition. 'I remember thinking, 'We're never going to be able to drive away now' - and the next thing I knew we were rolling.

"At that moment, your life flashes through your head. I thought, 'We've only been together a year-and-a-half, life's good. Why now? Why the hell now? It just isn't fair.' I didn't know if either of us would live."

She recalled how the bull elephant twice missed her when his tusks ripped through the car before one pierced her leg leaving her streaming with the blood.

De Klerk, who was left unhurt, managed to pull her across to his side of the car, from which the elephant finally walked away only after pushing it up against a tree and smashing the windscreen.

The incident was captured on film by tourists in a car behind, but they drove off after the attack believing the pair to be dead.

The distressed couple, who feared attacks from other animals, waited for help after phoning de Klerk's brother but it was 25 minutes before a helicopter landed.

"They took me to a doctor, where I was patched up before being taken to a hospital to check for internal injuries," Brooks said.

"In the back of the ambulance, I said to Jans: 'I don't want ever to spend another day apart from you.' He said: 'Marry me then?' I said: 'Yes.'"

She told the newspaper that she pleaded with the tourists not to publish the footage, but days later an edited version went viral.

The male elephant, who was believed to be a risk to other tourists, was destroyed after the incident.

The animal had been "on musth", a periodic condition where testosterone levels rise and elephants become more aggressive, and had fought with another elephant earlier that day.

The couple said park rangers told them they were "just unlucky" and had done nothing wrong.

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Jury sides with Love in trial over tweet

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Govt 'creating' welfare crisis: Labor

LABOR has accused the Abbott government of "manufacturing" a welfare crisis ahead of a planned crack down on young people claiming the disability pension.

Under federal government plans to overhaul the welfare system, young people who are deemed partially fit to work will no longer be able to claim disability welfare payments, News Corp Australia reports.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said under the previous Labor government, young Australians were able to claim the disability pension despite their condition being minor.

Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite rejected the claim, saying the number of people on the disability pension actually decreased between 2012 and 2013.

He said there was no need for a planned overhaul of the welfare system because Australia didn't have a welfare problem.

"They are creating and manufacturing a crisis to ensure they look like they are a government that is doing something," he told Sky News on Saturday.

The federal government is facing criticism for excluding aged pensioners, who make up the majority of the welfare expenditure, in its welfare payments review as it grapples with a budget deficit.

Finance Minister Mathias Corman said increasing workforce participation among younger people claiming the disability allowance was part of the government's agenda to reduce the budget bottom line.

"We don't think that people with temporary health conditions should be put onto the Disability Support Pension for the remainder of their working lives," he told Sky News.

"We want to help people who are able to work back into the workforce. We think that is good for them and it's obviously good for the country."

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United Airlines posts 4Q profit of $US140m

United Airlines posted a growth in fourth quarter earnings with an increase in passenger numbers. Source: AAP

THE parent of United Airlines has earned $US140 million ($A158.60 million) in the fourth quarter, as more passengers flew and paid more for their tickets.

The airline's fuel bill also shrank.

Net income at United Continental Holdings Inc was $US140 million, or 37 US cents per share. A year earlier it lost $US620 million, or $US1.87 per share.

Not counting special charges, United would have earned 78 US cents per share - well above the 66 US cents expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue rose more than seven per cent to $US9.33 billion, also higher than analysts had expected.

Passengers paid three per cent more per mile to fly compared to a year earlier. They paid more in add-on fees, too. United said so-called ancillary revenue, which covers items such as baggage fees, rose 15 per cent in the quarter to nearly $US21 per passenger.

Fuel expenses fell four per cent to $US2.97 billion for the quarter.

United said in November that it intends to cut $US2 billion in annual costs. The company is still working to integrate Continental after their 2010 merger. Although all the paint on the planes and the signs at the ticket counters read "United," the company still has to schedule flight crews and planes separately for the two airlines, reducing the savings from the merger.

"Our goals for 2014 are to provide even more reliable operations, great customer service and materially better financial performance," chairman and chief executive Jeff Smisek said in a written statement on Thursday.

For the full year, United earned $US571 million, after losing $US723 million in 2012.

Shares of Chicago-based United Continental fell 3.4 per cent in premarket trading to $US47.50. They set a new 52-week high on Wednesday at $US49.20.

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Church official amends commission evidence

A Catholic church official has revised his evidence to the Royal Commission on Child Sex Abuse. Source: AAP

A SENIOR church official has revised his evidence to the Royal Commission on Child Sex Abuse following a flurry of late night emails with a law firm representing the Catholic Church.

Michael Salmon, director of the Catholic Church's NSW/ACT Professional Standards Office, said on Friday he wanted to submit a supplementary statement to assist the commission.

He was contacted on Thursday evening by law firm Gilbert + Tobin and asked to clarify statements he made about a mediation session with an abuse victim who had concerns the Marist Brothers knew of and did nothing about abuse at a Cairns college.

A string of emails between the law firm and Mr Salmon, which culminated in him agreeing to a revised statement at about 9pm (AEDT) on Thursday night, were examined by the commission on Friday.

During a public hearing into Towards Healing, the internal church process for dealing with abuse complaints, it became an issue whether a Marist brother lied at a mediation session for a man referred to as DK about what he knew about a brother who has since been jailed.

Mr Salmon facilitated the 2010 session with DK, who was sexually molested when he was a student at the St Augustine's Marist College in Cairns in 1976.

Evidence from Mr Salmon on Wednesday and Thursday suggested that the conversation DK had with former college principal Brother Gerald Burns and another clergy member covered what they knew of inappropriate behaviour by Ross Murrin in relation to DK and other boys.

Murrin was jailed in 2008 for offences against children at Sydney schools. He had been moved to Rome by the order in 2002 but voluntarily came back in 2007 to face charges.

In his evidence on Thursday, Br Burns told the commission DK never asked him about offences against other boys but only about his own situation.

Br Burns also said a file note from Mr Salmon written after the mediation session which suggested otherwise was inaccurate.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan asked Mr Salmon if lawyers told him during the Thursday night exchanges whether there was an issue as to whether Br Burns had told DK the truth.

Mr Salmon said he had not been told that.

He said that he wracked his brains for further recollections of whether the discussion had been about just DK, or other students and could only remember the discussion was all about DK.

Justice McClellan reminded Mr Salmon that he had asked him twice during his original evidence about the context of the conversation between DK and the brothers.

"I put it to you it was beyond DK and you said 'Yes, Yes'," he said.

He said DK was also concerned that the brothers had not helped Murrin, who he saw as a sensitive person, and this was the context of his "beyond DK" responses.

Mr Salmon said he was aware DK had broader concerns about whether the brothers had knowledge of the abuse at the school but left it to him to raise it at the mediation meeting because DK had come to the session with detailed notes and was "not a shrinking violet".

DK had left the mediation happy and on good terms with the brothers, he said.

Mr Salmon told senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness he had taken the advice of the lawyers when they rejected his suggestions for amendments as not relevant to the statement because it did not alter what he was trying to say.

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Swastika on Austrian tombstone defies ban

THE marble tombstone looks like others dotting the main cemetery of Graz, Austria's second city - but only at first glance. Carved into it are a swastika and the inscription: "He died in the struggle for a Great Germany."

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'Asylum-seeker burns issue for Australia'

BRUTALITY claims levelled at the Australian navy by asylum seekers could go unquestioned, with both Australia and Indonesia seemingly reluctant to investigate.

The ABC this week broadcast footage of asylum seekers receiving treatment for burns they claim they suffered when Navy personnel forced them to hold hot engine pipes as they were towed back to Indonesia's Rote Island.

The images surfaced at the same time as non-government group Human Rights Watch criticised Australian government border policies as cruel and demonising.

The Australian government has rejected the claims of mistreatment, and offered to assist an Indonesian police investigation if it means the allegations can be quickly ruled out.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Washington she didn't believe Australia's navy would behave in such a manner.

"But of course if there is any co-operation we can extend to ensure that these allegations are scotched then we'd be prepared to do it," she said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also dismissed the claims, saying he would take the word of the Australian navy personnel over "people who were attempting to break Australian law".

The police investigation into the claims on Thursday night appeared to be in limbo.

East Nusa Tenggara provincial police say officers are investigating the smugglers, and the boat crew is still at large.

The claims against the Navy were handed to the Indonesian National Police, where spokesman Boy Rafli Amar argued it was really a matter for Australia.

"This case is related to Australia and the one to do the investigation should be Australia because it happened in their territory," he told AAP.

Boy confirmed his officers were co-ordinating with the Australian police attache and were in communication about whether they wanted to run the investigation.

Ms Bishop reiterated Australia's support for the probe on Thursday night, telling the ABC that although the government does not believe its armed forces are above being questioned, the claims go against the navy's reputation for professionalism.

The ground-level co-operation between the two police forces comes despite reports of escalating tensions between the neighbouring nations.

Australia has apologised to Indonesia for naval incursions into its territory but, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Mr Abbott said stopping asylum-seeker vessels was a "matter of sovereignty" that Jakarta ought to understand.

Following Mr Abbott's comments, Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, said Indonesia would continue to bolster its security forces at sea, to prevent any future breaches.

He said it was also incumbent on Australia to "comprehend the meaning of Indonesia's sovereignty as well".

Ms Bishop told the ABC she and her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa had progressed to step "three or four" in the six-point plan put forward by Indonesia to restore bilateral relations following last year's spy furore and they were arranging a time to meet.

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Bushfire downgraded but threat remains

A bushfire continues to burn out of control in the City of Kwinana, threatening lives and homes. Source: AAP

THE danger from a bushfire in Perth's southern suburbs has been downgraded but authorities warn there is still a threat to lives and homes with conditions expected to change.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) downgraded the emergency warning for Medina, Calista and Leda in the City of Kwinana to a watch-and-act alert at 5.45pm (WST).

While it has been downgraded, DFES says people need to leave the area or prepare to "actively defend their homes" from a fire that has burnt through about 49 hectares.

The blaze is moving northwest and is out of control and dangerous.

"There is a possible threat to lives and homes as a fire is approaching the area and conditions are changing," DFES warns.

"Burning embers are likely to be blown around your home. Spot fires are starting up to 100 metres ahead of the fire."

People who have left the area should not return and those staying to protect their homes shouldn't rely on mains water as pressure may be affected.

"Close all doors and windows, and turn off evaporative air conditioners, but keep water running through the system if possible," DFES advises.

A watch-and-act alert has also been issued for people in Kwinana Beach, east of Rockingham Road and Patterson Road to the railway line in the City of Kwinana.

A bushfire advisory has been issued for people in Orelia, Kwinana Town Centre and Parmelia.

Aerial support has been sent to assist ground crews.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

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Cops search for escaped detainee in shops

Police are still looking for a detainee who escaped from Serco guards in Perth's city centre. Source: AAP

POLICE have locked down a large part of Perth's city centre as they continue to search for a detainee who escaped from Serco guards while being transported.

A police spokesman told AAP it was not a Corrective Services matter and the person on the run was not a prisoner.

It is understood the detainee was being transported by Serco guards, possibly from Royal Perth Hospital, and escaped custody, running west along Murray Street.

Police have cordoned off the area and are searching for the detainee inside shops including the Myer department store and the Perth Cultural Centre.

Comment is being sought from the Immigration Department.

It has been a difficult time for Serco following a string of embarrassing escapes for the company contracted by the state government for prisoner transport and by the federal government for the transportation of detainees.

There have been four break-outs from the Yongah Hill detention centre in the past five months.

Two men also recently escaped from a prison van in Geraldton and a third man escaped from a Joondalup hospital while under the guard of Serco officers.

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2 bodies found after migrant boat sinks

GREEK officials say the bodies of a woman and an 11-year-old boy have been found a day after a fishing boat crammed with immigrants capsized in the dark, leaving 12 people feared drowned in the Aegean Sea.

A coastguard statement says the two bodies were found on Tuesday by authorities on the nearby Turkish coast.

The crippled vessel, whose engine failed as it was trying to reach Greece illegally, was being towed by a Greek patrol boat when it overturned.

Wednesday's statement says photos of the bodies were identified by some of the 16 survivors. Their nationalities were not announced.

The United Nations refugee agency has expressed dismay at the accident, urging Greece to investigate the circumstances.

Greek authorities say the boat capsized during a panic after two passengers dived overboard.

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Teen charged over attempted home invasion

A TEENAGER accused of threatening a middle-aged couple with a shotgun during an alleged attempted home invasion on the NSW south coast has been charged.

The 16-year-old allegedly pointed the gun at a man, 54, and a woman, 53, when they answered his knock on their Wollongong door in the early hours of Saturday.

"The male tried to gain entry, however, the occupants managed to close the door," police said in a statement.

On Tuesday police arrested the teenager at a Wollongong home.

He was charged with offences including special aggravated break and enter.

Bail has been refused for the teenager, who is due before Port Kembla Children's Court in late February.

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Big issues to deal with in Aust: Buttrose

AUSTRALIA has come a long way since Federation, but there are still many important issues to resolve, outgoing Australian of the Year Ita Buttrose says.

Attitudes towards the elderly, Aborigines, refugees and those suffering dementia could be improved, as could education, social reform and opportunities for women to make Australia a better and fairer nation, Ms Buttrose said during a half-hour speech on Tuesday in Sydney.

Australia should celebrate its development as a society and "the great social policies of which we should be so proud", she told a packed auditorium at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Ms Buttrose was optimistic about the future but she also expressed some worries during the 18th Australia Day address.

"I worry that our preoccupation with balanced budgets will lead to the chipping away of the things which protect the most vulnerable."

"As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, this would be unforgivable."

Ms Buttrose, the first female editor of a major metropolitan newspaper and the first woman director of News Limited Australia, reiterated her support for a legislated "quota system" to ensure a fairer representation of women on company boards.

A law should be introduced in Australia, similar to that passed in Norway in 2003, requiring companies to have women comprise at least 40 per cent of their senior executive, she said.

A passionate advocate against ageism and discrimination against dementia sufferers, Ms Buttrose said she would continue her work despite losing the "influential platform" of being Australian of the Year.

"I've never not found a way to make my point of view heard," she told reporters after the speech.

"It's very handy if you're on television. It's also handy if you're able to write for a living."

And after a busy year with formal duties and a busy media schedule, Ms Buttrose isn't slowing down.

She's working on a new book, but wasn't letting any details slip.

"No author worth their salt reveals their book beforehand," she said.

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UN makes 'mistake' on Iran: Russia

THE UN chief's decision to rescind the invitation to Iran to join this week's Syria peace talks was a mistake but not a catastrophe, Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday.

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SA fires continue, but Barossa gets Tour

Firefighters are continuing to battle SA blazes, which have destroyed 16 homes and 33 buildings. Source: AAP

FIREFIGHTERS are still battling blazes across South Australia, which have been estimated to have caused $10 million worth of property damage.

But the Country Fire Service (CFS) says that only the Bangor fire in the Southern Flinders Ranges remains subject to a watch and act alert.

Premier Jay Weatherill on Monday afternoon visited the firegrounds at Eden Valley in the Barossa.

After being briefed by the CFS, he told journalists that property losses included 16 homes, 33 other buildings, about 18 vehicles, kilometres and kilometres of fencing and about 1700 head of stock.

Preliminary estimates put the damage loss at around $10 million, the premier said.

State forest loss in the state's mid-north was in the order of $7 million, he added.

The government was providing assistance and support to people at the 200 affected farm properties.

He repeated his thanks to the volunteer firefighters, saying their extraordinary and courageous effort meant many losses were averted in the face of a very frightening fire.

"There have been some incredible saves, but also some tragic losses," Mr Weatherill said.

Tour Down Under organisers earlier confirmed that stage one of the race would go ahead after earlier fears it might have to be cancelled due to the bushfires.

The two races are in the Barossa region and will finish at Angaston.

The premier said this was great news for people in the Barossa who had put up with a "very frightening and, in some cases, damaging experience" and who would now get to celebrate the race.

"It would have been a cruel thing if it was taken off them, just at a time when it was going to bring a lot of money into the economy," he said.

The race also would give them something happy to focus on, he added.

More than 445,000 hectares of grass, scrub, forest and bushlands has been burnt since fires started last Tuesday.

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Firefighters escape serious injury in NSW

FIREFIGHTERS in northern NSW have had a lucky escape from one of their trucks that caught alight in a sudden wind change.

Crews were protecting properties around Moree on Monday evening when a sudden wind change blew a fast-moving grass blaze towards a truck parked between homes and the fire front.

"The truck was engulfed in a matter of seconds, with firefighters quickly abandoning their vehicle and seeking refuge nearby from the fire," Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins said in a statement.

"Trucks and equipment can be replaced but people cannot and I am thankful that no one has been injured in this incident."

There have been no confirmed property losses in the area.

A replacement vehicle has been sent from the New England region.

Firefighters will continue to battle the three-hectare fire throughout Monday night.

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World-first Vic fire station-refuge opens

RESIDENTS would be protected from a bushfire inferno more intense than Black Saturday at a dual fire station and refuge in an at-risk Victorian community, according to the premier.

The Blackwood community fire refuge and Country Fire Authority fire station is a first-of-its-kind concept that packs a double punch - fighting blazes and shielding locals forced to flee.

Opening the centre on Sunday, Premier Denis Napthine said he hoped it would never need to be used as a last-resort refuge, but said it was built to cope with hellish conditions.

"We're advised this would withstand as a refuge for people to save lives in the extreme conditions of the ilk of Black Saturday," he said.

"This is a facility that will survive Black Saturday-plus.

"We emphasise this is a last-resort facility. People should have their local fire plans, they should leave early and live but if they're trapped, if there's no other alternative, this will ... save the lives of people here in Blackwood."

The facility is one of three refuge centres set up in fire-prone Victorian regions, along with Warburton East and Ferny Creek, following a recommendation from the bushfire royal commission.

The Blackwood centre is the only one that serves a dual purpose, in what Dr Napthine said was a world first.

He said emergency services chiefs from California had toured the Blackwood station as they looked to cope with their own intense fire season.

The opening of the refuge, north of Melbourne, comes days after the state sweltered through 40C-plus days.

Dr Napthine said the response of Victoria's emergency services, health department and its citizens to the heat spell was far superior to a similar stretch in 2009.

"That is because of the changes that have been made in emergency management with an all-agency approach, with the team working together to provide better information to the community," he said.

"It's a better response which has saved lives this last week, I've got no doubt about that."

The Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 killed 173 people.

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Hundreds gather at Phil Everly memorial

ABOUT 200 people have listened to songs and tributes at a memorial service for Phil Everly in Kentucky.

Several singers including country musician Marty Brown performed songs by the Everly Brothers with a band, and others gave tribute speeches.

Phil Everly died on January 3 at age 74. With his brother, Don Everly, the duo had 19 Top 40 hits between 1957 and 1962. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Before the memorial, Diana Sue Taylor, a cousin of Everly's, perused memorabilia from the duo's career.

"I'm so happy to see so many family, friends and fans of my cousins come together for such a joyous occasion. Looking at all the memorabilia brings back so many fond memories," she said.

Carol and Phil Brammer, two fans and memorabilia collectors from St Louis, also came to the service. They were donating 12 posters to the Muhlenberg County Music Museum, which is dedicated to musicians who have ties to the area.

"I'm just such a big fan of the Everly Brothers and have been collecting their stuff for many years," Carol Brammer said.

"As I get older I want it to be somewhere that it will be cherished and loved."

The memorial service was held at the Merle Travis Music Centre in Powderly near Central City, where the Everly Brothers entertained for years at a homecoming benefit. Their family had deep ties to the area.

The Everly Brothers began the homecoming concerts in 1988 and continued through 2001 to help raise scholarship money and funds for other projects.

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