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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