Three in hospital after Brisbane bus crash

THREE people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries after a bus crashed into three cars and an Indian restaurant in South Brisbane.

The Brisbane City Council bus mounted the curb on Melbourne Street and crashed into the front of the Punjabi Palace Indian restaurant at about 4.40pm (AEST) on Saturday.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman told AAP that no passengers were on the bus and no customers were in the restaurant at the time.

She said paramedics assessed 10 people at the scene for injuries, including the driver, and three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The front of the restaurant was extensively damaged by the bus which wedged underneath an awning.

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Flood rescue prompts police warning

A 68-YEAR-OLD man's narrow escape from his rapidly submerging ute in NSW's Northern Rivers region has prompted police to repeat warnings to motorists not to drive into floodwaters.

Police said that at about 6am (AEDT) on Saturday the man ignored signs warning of water over a causeway at Ellangowan, 20km south of Casino, and drove his utility in, flooding the vehicle up to the bonnet.

The force of the water pushed the ute off the causeway and it began to float downstream.

Police said the man managed to get out moments before the ute submerged and he was swept about 100 metres downstream before he managed to grab a tree.

At about 8.30am a passerby heard his cries for help and called a nearby resident, who waded towards the man but wasn't able to reach him because of the current.

Police and Casino Volunteer Rescue Association officers were called and conducted a swift water rescue of the man who was treated for mild hypothermia before being taken to hospital.

The rescue came only hours before the body of a man was found in his submerged car on a flooded road at Mylneford, about 20km northwest of Grafton on the NSW north coast.

That death prompted a warning to motorists from Deputy State Emergency Operations Controller, Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke, and he repeated the warning after learning of the Ellangowan rescue.

"Roads are closed for a very good reason - they are flooded and dangerous," he said in a statement.

"We are again appealing for motorists and members of the public to never enter floodwaters or cross flooded causeways.

"It is dangerous for them and for those who have to rescue them."

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16 sites for new nuclear plants in Iran

IRAN has selected 16 locations for the contruction of nuclear power plants as part of a plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity at multiple sites over the next 15 years.

State TV says that experts at the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran have finished studies to select the best locations across the country.

It added the sites were chosen in part for their resistance to earthquakes and military air strikes.

The Islamic republic says it needs 20 large-scale plants to meet its growing electricity needs over the next one-and-a-half decades.

State TV also says that Iran has discovered new uranium resources in the country that will put its reserves at 3990 tonnes compared to 1385 tonnes three decades ago.

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Manhunt for kidnapped French family

NIGERIAN security forces are in a "massive manhunt" for seven members of a kidnapped French family after Paris said the abductors had likely separated the victims into two groups.

"As long as there are rumours of their cross-border movements, then security agencies must be intensely searching for them," said police spokesman Frank Mba on Friday, adding that there was a "massive manhunt" under way.

He however could provide few other details on the operation to free the family, which includes two parents, four children aged 5 to 12 and an uncle, including who may be the suspects behind the abductions on Tuesday.

The family was abducted while visiting a national park in the West African nation of Cameroon by six armed suspected Islamists on three motorbikes.

On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said that the family were probably being held in two groups.

Cameroon authorities said the victims were then taken over the border into Nigeria's northeast, a restive region where insurgents from Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and criminal gangs have long operated.

While French officials have named Boko Haram as the likely culprits, a splinter faction of the group known as Ansaru, which has risen in prominence in recent weeks, appears to have focused on targeting foreign hostages.

Ansaru claimed the December kidnapping of a French national in northern Nigeria and the abduction of seven foreigners from a construction site in Bauchi state at the weekend.

In statements, Ansaru has protested against France's efforts against Islamist rebels in Mali.

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Volunteer firefighter dies after WA blaze

A 60-YEAR-OLD volunteer firefighter has died after a bushfire about 150km southeast of Perth.

Early reports suggested the man was killed while battling a blaze, but police later said he appeared to have been hit by a falling tree branch while cleaning up an area at Quindanning, near Williams, after the overnight bushfire.

The man was taken to Narrogin Hospital but was pronounced dead, a police spokeswoman said.

A report was being prepared for the coroner, she said.

The ABC reported Terry Hunter from the Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades said the man was helping the Quindanning fire brigade when the accident happened.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said the cause of the fire would be looked into, but it had not posed a threat to the local community, so no alerts had been issued.

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Major flooding hits Athens

TORRENTIAL rain has caused widespread flooding and major damage in many parts of the Greek capital, inundating homes and motorways.

Several main highways and roads were flooded, causing massive traffic jams as people could be seen trapped in their cars, with residential areas in the west of Athens such as Aegaleo, Nikaia and Peristeri the worst hit.

"We received more than 700 calls to help people with flooded homes or to rescue stranded drivers," Deputy Fire Chief Vassilis Papageorgiou told Greek state television.

Dozens of parked cars were swept away after the rivers of Ilissos and Pivrodafni broke their banks and electricity was cut in several parts of Athens.

The city's railway was temporarily closed due to fallen trees.

Meteorologists said the amount of rain Athens received in six hours was the average for the entire month of February.

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Pokies ACT precommitment trial sunk

ACT clubs have voted against participating in a pokie precommitment trial until after the election. Source: AAP

AN ACT trial of precommitment technology for poker machines is dead and has been an expensive "thought bubble", the federal opposition says.

The Canberra pokies trial appears sunk after Canberra clubs on Thursday voted against participating in the trial until after the federal election.

Clubs ACT boss Jeff House said 23 of the organisation's members unanimously agreed not to start the trial until after the September 14 poll date.

The coalition, which doesn't support mandatory precommitment measures for pokies, is likely to dump the trial if it wins government.

Mr House said Clubs ACT would continue to work with the current government on preparations for a trial, while admitting it may never happen.

"It would be a folly to expend the money and resources on starting the trial if it was only going to be cut halfway through by an incoming coalition government," Mr House told AAP.

"Far better to wait until the election result is known."

Under the watered-down anti-gambling measures passed by parliament last year, there was only a passing reference to the trial and no powers to compel clubs to participate.

Mr House blamed Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie and the Greens interference for delaying the trial, which was originally due to start in February, 2013.

Opposition families spokesman Kevin Andrews says the trial is completely dead.

"Labor's betrayal of Andrew Wilkie is complete," Mr Andrews told AAP.

"The question Labor must now answer is how much money has been wasted on this thought bubble."

Anti-gambling campaigner and independent senator Nick Xenophon described the clubs' decision as a "cynical self-serving move to stall reform".

"They were the ones that ran an hysterical fear campaign that caused the delay in the first place," he told AAP.

"I've got to give Clubs ACT full marks for sheer brashness. They're reinventing history."

Senator Xenophon said there could be a silver lining, with focus now shifting to the alternative $1 maximum bets concept.

"The industry doesn't tell tall stories; they tell stall stories," Senator Xenophon said.

A spokesman for communities services minister Jenny Macklin said the ACT trial had been "delayed" because of stalled negotiations to pass the federal legislation.

The spokesman said the government and Clubs ACT had started critical preparation work for the trial.

"We look forward to continuing to work with Clubs ACT and the ACT government on the trial," the spokesman said.

Mandatory precommitment technology requires gamblers to nominate the amount of money they are prepared to lose on high-loss machines, which can chew through $1200 an hour.

Greens senator Richard Di Natale hopes the government can salvage something out of the wreck.

"This goes to show that the clubs were never serious about reform. They played the government for fools, just like the mining companies did," he told AAP.

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Northern NSW towns put on flood watch

HUGE parts of NSW, stretching from the Queensland border to the Hunter Valley, are on "flood watch" with heavy rain due to drench the state's north.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says residents should be ready to move to higher ground if flooding develops on Thursday night in areas near the Tweed River, Brunswick River, and Richmond and Wilsons Rivers.

It lists six other areas as being on flood watch from Friday morning, including Coffs Harbour and the Bellinger and Nambucca River valleys.

The Manning River valley and Hunter River valley will also likely be on flood watch from Friday night, the BoM website says.

The forecaster noted there was a 75 per cent chance of floods developing in the areas at risk, with its next flood watch update due on Friday morning.

It also warned of severe weather for the Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast and Northern Tablelands from Thursday evening into Friday morning.

It predicts strong winds and heavy rain to hit those areas, as well as very heavy surf to develop.

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European stocks drop at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets are sliding at the start of Thursday trading, with London's FTSE 100 index of top companies down 0.62 per cent to 6,355.41 points.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 0.61 per cent to 7,681.61 points and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 0.62 per cent 3,687.04.

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British unemployment rises to 7.8%

BRITAIN'S unemployment rate edged higher to 7.8 per cent in the three months to the end of December from 7.7 per cent in the three months to the end of November, official data shows.

The number of unemployed people rose to 2.50 million from 2.49 million over the same period, the Office for National Statistics added in a statement on Wednesday.

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Anti-Islam campaigner 'lost' his freedom

FOR the past nine years, right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders has needed 24-hour police protection wherever he has travelled because the anti-Islam campaigner says he is never safe to walk the streets alone.

After flying into Perth on Wednesday, where he'd been forced to cancel a press conference and speaking engagement after a hotel scrubbed his booking, Mr Wilders said he had to have heavy security around him at all times.

He was dogged by people who wanted to kill him, which was hard on his family because they were not free, he said.

"I lost my own freedom. I haven't been able to walk alone on any street in the world for almost nine years," Mr Wilders told Fairfax Radio.

"But still, I know why I am doing it. I know that it needs to be done."

In 2002, during the Dutch election campaign, anti-Islam politician Pym Fortuyn was assassinated by a man who said he wanted to stop him scapegoating Muslims.

Mr Wilders, who says he is agnostic but ascribes to Judeo-Christian values, claims he does not have anything against Muslim people.

But he's against extreme Islam, he says, which has a "totalitarian ideology" like communism and fascism.

"I feel that we should stop it from coming to our free societies because Islam and freedom are incompatible," he said.

The controversial politician, who wants a ban on Islamic immigration, received a standing ovation on Tuesday in Melbourne, where up to 300 people dodged a large group of rowdy protesters to hear the first speech in his Australian tour.

Mr Wilders said it was "very sad" he could not find a venue willing to host him in WA after Premier Colin Barnett said he would not be allowed in any state government building.

"It's sad that I was not welcome in his state," Mr Wilders told Fairfax Radio.

He said in a democratic society like Australia, he should be able to express his opinions freely.

"Let's be happy we live in a democracy," he said.

"If people don't like my message then they should advocate their own message."

His next speaking engagement in Sydney on Friday is still planned to go ahead, event organisers Q Society of Australia told AAP.

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WA nurses dispute reaches stalemate

THE Industrial Relations Commission has recommended West Australian nurses lift work bans at public hospitals but the Australian Nurses Federation (ANF) is standing firm in its bid for higher wages and less menial tasks.

The ANF says the commission did not order nurses to open beds but did recommend the lifting of all work bans, which have closed one in five beds in many wards.

But that wouldn't happen unless it was agreed to by a majority of union members at a mass meeting, ANF state secretary Mark Olson said.

"I have also said to the commission that I will not be going to a meeting of our members empty-handed," Mr Olson said.

He called on the government to make an acceptable offer to nurses before the ANF and commission resume talks at 9am (WST) on Thursday.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said no agreement could be signed during the caretaker period, although negotiations at an administrative level could continue.

Mr Barnett said he had the highest regard for nurses but was appealing to them to stop the work bans.

"I don't think there is any justification for closing beds in our hospitals and it is affecting patient care," he told Fairfax Radio.

WA Labor leader Mark McGowan said the party would treat nurses better than the current state government if it won the March 9 election.

"In the course of an election campaign, I cannot be making pay offers to one group or another," he told ABC Radio.

"But I don't think nurses are being treated well. It's very unusual for nurses to take industrial action - the last time it happened was 12 years ago, again under a conservative government.

"They don't do it lightly. They only do it when they feel they are being poorly treated or provoked."

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WA whistleblower arrested in Vic

DISCREDITED whistleblower Ashton Foley has been arrested in Victoria for extradition to Western Australia to face allegations including extortion.

Victorian police have confirmed that a 40-year-old Hawthorn woman was arrested at a residential address in Lindamay Court, Lake Bunga about 10am on Tuesday.

Police said she was arrested on a warrant for breaching a Community Based Order and has been remanded to appear at Bairnsdale Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The woman is understood to be Ms Foley, who made headlines last year by claiming doctors at Peel Health Campus, south of Perth, were being paid 'incentive' payments to admit patients through the emergency department.

The former chief executive of the hospital testified to a parliamentary committee and then left WA with her family to become chief executive at Orbost Regional Health in Victoria.

But she quit that job about a fortnight ago after media reports revealed she had been jailed in the US in 2008 on fraud and identity theft charges.

Records in the US show Ms Foley, under the alias Michelle Marie Foley, is still wanted in the state of Georgia over charges of theft and identity fraud.

WA police have also investigated claims she falsified information on her application for the Peel Health Campus job, and she's even had allegations of bigamy levelled at her.

She also faces legal proceedings in Perth after being sued by her former employers, Health Solutions WA.

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Pistorius charged with murder

Olympian Oscar Pistorius (R) has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Source: AAP

A SOUTH Africa prosecutor has charged Olympian Oscar Pistorius with the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The 26-year-old appeared in the dock at the Pretoria court in a black suit, blue shirt and grey tie and stared straight ahead anxiously.

Oscar Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius and siblings, Aimee and Carl, were in court at the start of his bail hearing on Tuesday, seated behind the defence in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court.

The prosecutor argued Pistorius committed premeditated murder.

The double-amputee Olympian and Paralympian "Blade Runner" is seeking bail

at the hearing.

State prosecutor Gerrie Nel said that Pistorius killed an "innocent and unarmed woman" in a premeditated murder.

"There is no possible explanation to support his report that it was a burglar," Nel told the court.

The prosecutor said that Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his home in a guarded and gated complex in the South African capital.

Nel told the court the door had been broken open.

Nel said Pistorius put on his prosthesis, walked seven metres and fired three shots through a locked bathroom door at Steenkamp.

Nel said the victim arrived at the house between 5pm and 6pm the night before she was killed at 3am.

The prosecutor also said the athlete, who broke down in tears during the hearing, had not provided investigators with his own version of what happened.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux said Steenkamp was not murdered, and there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.

"There's no agreement there, not even concession that this is

murder."

He also suggested that Pistorius broke the bathroom door down to help Ms Steenkamp after the shooting.

After the shooting Pistorius informed his sister that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder, the court heard.

Nel said the killing was premeditated because the defendant planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.

He added: "It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?"

Nel said: "He prepared. He armed himself. The motive was, he wanted to kill.

"We have the facts. There were two people in the home. (One) was shot dead."

Four bullets were fired through the bathroom door - three hit Steenkamp, Nel said.

"There is no possible explanation to support his report that it was a burglar," he said.

Pistorius was emotional as the state read out the first parts of its case against him, at times holding his head in his hands.

Judge Desmond Nair ruled that Pistorius will face a charge of premeditated murder over the death of Steenkamp.

The magistrate ruled that Pistorius faces the harshest bail requirements available in South African law. He did not elaborate before a break was called in the session.

Pistorius spoke only to confirm he had no previous convictions.

"Yes, your worship," he said in a shaking voice.

Nair asked Pistorius to speak up and he repeated the phrase louder.

The judge ruled that, for the purpose of the bail hearing, the case was a schedule six offence - meaning premeditated murder - rather than the less serious schedule five.

Pistorius' family huddled in prayer at the court after the judge's ruling, and the his father Henke was comforted by family members outside the court.

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Germany approves troops for Mali mission

THE German government will send up to 330 soldiers to help train the Malian army and support the French deployment in its battle against Islamists.

Up to 180 German soldiers have been earmarked for the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), formally approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Forty of the German contingent will train Malian forces. Another 40 will act as medical support staff, according to a government statement.

The other 100 will be available to provide logistical support, dealing with water and energy supplies.

The deployment will make Germany the second-biggest contributor to the EUTM mission behind France, according to European sources.

Germany will make another 150 soldiers available to back up the French army in Mali via air transport for French and African troops and help in the refuelling of planes.

Combat troops will not be sent to Mali.

The EUTM has a 15-month mandate to assist the ramshackle Malian army in its effort to fight Islamist rebels who last year seized control of the country's vast arid north.

The 27 EU nations first approved the idea of a training mission in December but its deployment was accelerated after the surprise intervention of France in its former colony on January 11 to halt the insurgents' march on the capital.

About 16 countries from the EU as well as Norway have agreed to take part in the EUTM, which will have a budget of 12.3 million euros ($A16.07 million).

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Fire threatens Kangaroo Island homes

A WIND change on Monday could put several properties at risk on South Australia's Kangaroo Island where a fire is burning at a woodchip mill.

The Country Fire Service said the blaze was sparked late on Saturday night and was expected to burn for several more days.

It posed no immediate threat to nearby homes but CFS regional officer Brenton Hastie said that could change on Monday with high temperatures and a wind change forecast.

"Tomorrow winds will turn northwesterly and could potentially result in several properties coming under threat from thick smoke and embers," he said.

The CFS has about 40 firefighters at the scene who have been using foam to suppress the blaze.

A community meeting for local residents has been organised for Monday morning to provide updated information.

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Vic bushfire downgraded but still a risk

THE Country Fire Authority (CFA) has downgraded the bushfire threatening the community of Mirranatwa in Victoria's west to Watch and Act but warns the rating could change with the conditions.

The large, fast-moving fire, about 30km north of Dunkeld, is travelling in a southwesterly direction.

It's expected to impact Mirranatwa any time in the next two to six hours.

The CFA says with fire behaviour being very unpredictable, communities may see the advice on this fire move between 'Emergency Warning' and 'Watch and Act' during the night.

It says residents in Mirranatwa need to keep aware of the fire situation through local radio and the CFA website.

Surrounding communities, like Dunkeld, need to remain aware of the fire activity in the southern Grampians area but there's no threat to these communities at this time.

A relief centre has been established at the Senior Citizens Hall in Lonsdale Street, Hamilton.

More than 200 firefighters from the CFA, the Department of Environment and Sustainability and Parks Victoria have been working on the fire, which was started by lightning on Thursday night.

Fourteen aircraft, including the Elvis Skycrane, have also been involved.

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Attackers hack hand off Tanzanian child

ATTACKERS collecting body parts of albinos for witchcraft have hacked off the hand of a seven-year old boy in Tanzania, in the latest in a series of bloody assaults, officials say.

"The boy was attacked on Saturday by three people as he walked home with his four school friends," said Apolinary Macheta, the local government leader in Tanzania's southwestern Milepa district.

The boy, Mwigulu Magessa, is recovering in hospital, Macheta added.

The attack came just days after an albino mother of four had her arm chopped off by machete-wielding men. Police on Saturday said they had arrested five men after discovering the decomposing limb hidden in a field.

In Tanzania, albinos are killed and dismembered due to a widespread belief that charms made from their body parts bring good fortune and prosperity.

Albinism is a genetic condition characterised by a deficiency of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes which protects from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

People suffering from the condition are discriminated against and persecuted in many African countries.

Albino body parts are sold for thousands of dollars.

Last month an albino child died in Tanzania's Tabora region after attackers hacked off his arm with a machete.

Kijo Bisimba, of Tanzania's Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) described the rise in attacks as "alarming" and said there was a renewed spate of assaults after months of calm.

Such ritual killings have also occurred in neighbouring Burundi and some of the attackers are suspected to be from Tanzania.

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