Gunmen attack Greece prison

AT least 11 inmates escaped from a Greek prison after gunmen brazenly attacked the site with grenades and automatic weapons, kicking off a nightlong standoff between police and prisoners. Two guards were injured, one of them seriously.

A senior police official told the Associated Press on Saturday that 11 inmates were missing after the gun battle and standoff, which ended at dawn when police special forces entered the prison. He spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement was still pending.

The incident occurred near the town of Trikala, in central Greece, some 320 kilometres northwest of Athens. As many as six gunmen attacked the prison after driving up to the site in a van and pickup truck, according to officials.

Prison authorities were investigating reports that weapons had also been fired from inside the facility. At least five grenades exploded, while army experts were expected at the prison to dispose of two unexploded grenades.

The attack started at around 8:30 pm local time on Friday, when a police patrol jeep was fired upon.

"It was like a war was going on. There was so much gunfire," said Trikala city councilor Costas Tassios, who lives in the village of Krinitsa, near the prison.

A bullet fired at the village damaged a coffee shop window in an incident also being investigated by police.

The escaped prisoners used ropes to climb down from a guard tower that had been attacked. Police set up roadblocks near the prison and searched vacant homes and farm buildings, as well as using two helicopters, in the manhunt. Officers from evidence units were also scouring the jail perimetre after dawn.

Police said the escaped inmates were mostly Albanian but gave no other details. An inmate from Argentina was arrested but the circumstances of his apprehension were not immediately clear.

The attack was the latest dramatic incident at Greek prisons, which are suffering from serious overcrowding and staff shortages as the country struggles through financial crisis and a recession that started in late 2008.

Last month, guards foiled a breakout attempt by four inmates who tried to escape by helicopter from Trikala prison, including notorious Greek inmate Panagiotis Vlastos, who is serving life for murder and racketeering. Gunmen in the helicopter had fired on guards in the Feb. 24 incident and lowered a rope in to the courtyard, but the chopper was forced to land after being hit by returned gunfire.

In a separate incident on March 17, a convicted contract killer, Albanian inmate Alket Rizaj, took several prison guards hostage in an attempt to escape from another prison in central Greece. The attempt was unsuccessful and the hostages were released unharmed following a 24-hour standoff.

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Sydney icon glows green for Earth Hour

Australia has turned the lights out for Earth Hour, as part of similar climate change awareness. Source: AAP

THE Sydney Opera House has glowed green while much of Australia plunged into darkness as the country united for the Earth Hour campaign on climate change.

Thousands of households and businesses across Australia switched off their lights at 8.30pm local time in an hour-long show of symbolic support for the planet.

And in a break from the usual Earth Hour protocol, selected venues - including the Opera house and the Arts Centre Melbourne - glowed a dark green to represent the campaign's push for people to embrace renewable energy.

The Australian event will trigger a global switch off, with hundreds of millions of people in more than 150 countries set to turn their lights off.

Organisers say Earth Hour, now in its seventh year, has captured the imagination of environmentalists everywhere.

"What started as an event in Sydney in 2007 with two million people has now become a tradition across the country and across the world," Dermot O'Gorman, head of the World Wildlife Fund-Australia, said.

"It's now an organic, people-powered movement... which is fantastic."

In addition to dimming the lights, Australian Earth Hour celebrations included various community events, such as street festivals in Sydney's Newtown, large concerts in Perth and bushwalks in Canberra.

With restaurant diners eating by candlelight, outback communities going dark and iconic buildings standing in shadows, Mr O'Gorman believes Earth Hour has played a part in drawing attention to energy use.

"We've always heard anecdotally that it has made people change their actions and look at their impact on the planet in a more considered way," he said.

"Earth Hour has always been about empowering people to realise that everybody has the power to change the world in which they live, and thousands of people switching to renewable energy is a perfect example."

Sydney's lights out example will be followed by countries across the globe.

Newcomers to the event this year include Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda and Russia, while famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and the Empire State Building will again take part.

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Bangladesh storm kills 20

The death toll from a tornado that hit villages in Bangladesh has risen to 20. Source: AAP

THE death toll from a tornado that ripped through 20 villages in eastern Bangladesh has climbed to 20 people, with another 200 hurt, a government official says.

Initial reports said at least 10 people were killed and a newspaper put the toll for the injured at 500 in the storm that lashed the distant villages in Brahmanbaria district on Friday.

On Saturday, local chief government administrator Noor Mohammad Majumder said the death toll had climbed to 20 people died, with another 200 injured in the powerful storm.

The local Prothom Alo newspaper reported that the 15-minute storm destroyed many homes and shops, and toppled a large number of trees and electricity poles.

Villagers and emergency personnel took the injured to hospitals, the reports said.

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Teen foils own getaway with car crash

A TEENAGE thief's getaway was foiled in Ipswich on Friday morning when he managed to crash the stolen vehicle into another car and then roll it.

The 17-year-old unlicensed driver, who was allegedly intoxicated at the time, had used the stolen car to flee after robbing two homes in Ipswich between 2am and 7am on Friday.

Police said the boy allegedly broke into a home in Aspinall Street, Leichardt, where he stole an iPad, before gaining entry to a home in Flint Street, North Ipswich, where he stole a set of keys.

He drove off in a stolen car from the home but his getaway hit a snag when he veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit a parked car at the intersection of Chubb and Cafferky streets around 7.45am.

The thief was forced to ditch the vehicle 15 minutes later after it rolled near the intersection of Wills St and Flinders Drive.

Police said he tried fleeing the scene on foot but was found and apprehended by police a short time later.

The Nambour teenager has been charged with one count each of enter dwelling with intent by break, enter dwelling with intent, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, fail to comply with duties of driver involved in a crash, obstruct police, driving motor vehicle without a license and drink driving.

He will reappear in Ipswich Magistrates Court on March 27.

Anyone with information which could assist this matter should contact Crime Stoppers via 1800 333 000 or crimestopers.com.au 24 hours a day.
 

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Teen hit by car in critical condition

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy is in a critical condition in hospital after being hit by a car in Home Hill, 98kms south of Townsville.

According to initial information, the boy was at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 14th Street around 3.45pm when he was struck.

Police say he has been flown to Townsville Hospital in a critical condition with serious head and leg injuries.

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Consumers warned about funeral contracts

CONSUMERS are being warned to beware of "push advertising" for pre-paid funeral arrangements on daytime television.

In a statement, NSW Fair Trading commissioner Rod Stowe said daytime TV was experiencing a "renaissance" in marketing around the issue of death and dying that "could play on people's insecurities about such matters".

"People need to shop around and go for products without the pernicious aspects of escalating costs with age," Mr Stowe said on Friday.

The Fair Trading boss said consumers needed to be aware that with some products there was the potential to lose payments if a contract or a scheduled transfer was cancelled.

Mr Stowe stressed to consumers considering buying funeral products that refunds were "not generally provided if a payment is missed or the policy is cancelled".

Consumers should read the product disclosure statement (PDS) that outlines what happens if the policy is cancelled, he said.

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24 dead as tornado, hailstorms lash China

AT least 24 people died and scores were injured after a tornado carrying huge hailstones lashed southern China, causing widespread devastation and a ferry to capsize, domestic media reported.

The ferry overturned in a river in the south-eastern province of Fujian, causing the deaths of 11 people with four missing, web portal qq.com reported.

Nine people were killed in Dongguan, in Guangdong province in the south, according to the report.

It showed images from the city of a car windscreen which appeared to have been smashed by egg-sized hailstones.

Many of the dead in Dongguan were trapped in collapsed buildings. Another 148 people were injured, including 11 who were critically ill, the report said.

The website put the death toll at 24, as did state-run news agency Xinhua.

Other provinces affected by storms and torrential rain on Wednesday were nearby Jiangxi, Hunan in central China and Guizhou in the southwest.

A total of 1.53 million residents have been affected by severe weather and 215,000 people were forced to relocate, Xinhua said, citing the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

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Mali soldier killed in suicide car bomb

French troops will begin pulling out of troubled Mali at the end of April, France's PM announced. Source: AAP

A MALIAN soldier was killed and two others wounded when a suicide bomber set off an explosives vest inside a car near the Timbuktu airport in northern Mali, a military source said.

Ayrault said a meeting next Monday between MPs in France's National Assembly and Senate would assess the involvement of French troops to help flush out Islamist rebels in the west African country "even if our troops will begin coming home from the end of April".

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius first said the 4,000-strong French contingent would be withdrawn from March. President Francois Hollande then promised a troop reduction from April.

In his speech to parliament, Ayrault paid tribute to the French forces, which have been in Mali since mid-January.

They are France's "honour" and "proof that France can be up to its ambitions... and will be so wherever necessary", he said.

Five French soldiers have died in combat since the start of the operations to drive out the rebels from areas they control in the north.

Currently about 1,200 troops are still deployed in the northeast carrying out clean-up operations.

There are still pockets of resistance in areas such as Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, which has been hit by stray attacks and suicide bombings since the Islamists fled.

The French troops in the region are backed up by African forces.

Soldiers from Chad, whose experience and training have made them key in the French-led offensive, have also suffered casualties, with at least 26 deaths.

Paris deployed the forces on January 11 to help stop al-Qaeda-linked fighters who had controlled northern Mali since April 2012 from moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.

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Obama receives frosty welcome in Ramallah

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, March 21 AFP - US President Barack Obama arrived in the West Bank to a more prickly welcome from Palestinian leaders than the warm embrace he won in Israel the day before.

Obama flew by helicopter over the barbed wire fences and walls of the Israeli separation barrier, before meeting Palestinian leaders dismayed by his failure to live up to expectations that he could help deliver them a state.

As Marine One touched down under a blazing sun in the courtyard of the Muqataa presidential compound, a military band began playing and Obama was warmly greeted on the red carpet by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

The US president, on his first visit to the Holy Land since taking the White House in 2009, was expected to restate his vision of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite years of delays and disappointments.

Obama was to hold talks with Abbas and then prime minister Salam Fayyad, in a less than five-hour diversion to the occupied territories on the second day of a visit primarily engineered to ease tensions with Israel.

Despite the tight cordon of security around the Muqataa, around 150 Palestinian protesters could be seen trying to get near, shouting "Obama, you're not welcome here!" and "Obama, get out of Ramallah!"

Hours before leaving for Ramallah, the complications which would test any new US peace effort were underlined when two rockets fired by militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel.

In only the second such attack since November, the rockets hit in Sderot, a border town which Obama visited in a previous visit to Israel while a presidential candidate in 2008.

There was no immediate comment from the White House, and a senior Israeli official said the government would be watching closely to see if Abbas condemned the rocket strike during his news conference with Obama.

Earlier on Thursday, Obama went to the Israel Museum to view the Dead Sea Scrolls dating back more than two millennia and which include some of the earliest text from the Bible, in a move seen as a nod to the ancient roots of the Jewish state.

The visit was seen as a way of making up for Obama's comment in a 2009 speech to the Muslim world in which he said the Jewish homeland was rooted in the "tragic history" of the Holocaust.

Obama says he has come "to listen" to both sides about how to resume peace talks frozen for two-and-a-half years.

He decided against coming with a comprehensive peace plan that might not gel with current political conditions.

"Ultimately, this is a really hard problem," Obama said during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

"It's been lingering for over six decades. And the parties involved have, you know, some profound interests that you can't spin, you can't smooth over. And it is a hard slog to work through all of these issues."

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Obama departs Washington for Israel visit

US President Barack Obama is en route to Israel for a four-day trip to the Middle East. Source: AAP

BARACK Obama has landed in Israel for the first time as US president, on a mission to ease past tensions with his hosts but facing scepticism about his plans to thwart Iran's nuclear threat.

Air Force One landed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv to kick off a three-day trip on which Obama will meet Israeli leaders and make a short visit to the West Bank, before heading to Jordan to consult with King Abdullah II.

The plane rolled to a stop to the peal of trumpets from a military band and Obama smiled broadly as he embraced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then President Shimon Peres, saying: "How are you, my friend?"

They then stood to attention for the US and Israeli national anthems.

Obama's long-awaited visit, the debut overseas trip of his second term, may be marked more by symbolism than serious diplomatic substance and will expose diminished US ambitions of forging peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The president says he is carrying no new peace plans and instead plans to listen to the new Israeli government and Palestinians disaffected with his approach, leading some experts to question why he is coming at all.

He must also navigate the treacherous regional politics of the Middle East, amid new scrutiny over his wariness of deeper US involvement in Syria as government forces and rebels accuse one another of using chemical arms.

Obama will come face-to-face with Israel's security challenge at the airport by viewing a mobile battery of Israel's US-funded Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Then he will head to Jerusalem for talks with Peres before sitting down with Netanyahu, with whom he has had a prickly relationship.

During his visit, Obama will pointedly court the historic symbolism of the Jewish State when he inspects the Dead Sea Scrolls and visits the tomb of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism.

The choreography is intended to show Israelis, Arabs and political foes back home that Obama is deeply committed to Israel's security and future, despite some scepticism about his motives.

He is on tricky political ground: a survey by the independent Israel Democracy Institute showed that while 51 per cent of the Jewish Israeli respondents considered Obama neutral in his attitude toward Israel, 53.5 per cent did not trust him over Israel's vital interests.

So, mounting a charm offensive, Obama will deliver a speech to hundreds of young Israelis on Thursday.

Obama and Netanyahu will have to smooth over an often difficult personal chemistry following previous spats, but the visit is unlikely to narrow differences over how soon Iran will have a nuclear weapons capability.

Obama told Israeli television that Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon for "over a year or so."

Netanyahu warned last year that Iran would have the capacity to produce a bomb much earlier, within months from the current date, and questions whether sanctions will change Tehran's calculations.

The difference in "red lines" on Iran may reflect each side's differing capacities to launch meaningful action against Iran - but Obama will likely caution Netanyahu against an early Israeli strike.

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