'Not to publish' Diana photo sells in US

A PREVIOUSLY unseen press photo of a teenaged Princess Diana that a London tabloid deemed too hot to publish has sold for $US18,306, the American auctioneers handling the sale said Friday.

The black-and-white image from the dawn of the 1980s shows Diana, possibly in a ski chalet, smiling at the camera as she lies comfortably in the lap of a like-aged but unidentified young man reading a book. The photo was taken before she became princess of Wales.

By the window stands a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky, but more intriguing are the words "not to be published" scrawled across the photo with the kind of grease pencil used by newspaper picture editors at the time.

On the back, the photo is dated February 26, 1981 - two days after Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Charles and the commoner then known as Diana Spencer.

RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire, which handled the sale, said the photo came from the private Caren Archive, which acquired it seven years ago when it bought out the photo library of Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper.

The auctioneers did not identify the buyer.

British media have said the young man is Adam Russell, the great-grandson of former British prime minister Stanley Baldwin.

Internet bidding on the photo and others - including a rare autographed portrait of Albert Einstein by a New York society photographer - ran from January 17 through to Thursday.

Diana died in a Paris car crash in August 1997, a year after her divorce from Charles. She was 36.

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Homes spared from flooding for now

Emergency flood alerts have been issued for several Queensland towns, officials say. Source: AAP

HUNDREDS of homes in low-lying areas just south of Gladstone have been spared from flooding for now, but the emergency is far from over.

An emergency flood alert for evacuations had been issued before Saturday morning's high tide, with residents in Tannum Sands and Boyne Island, at the mouth of the Boyne River, asked to leave.

Almost five metres of water is gushing over the spillway of the Awoonga Dam upstream and that is expected to increase to six metres later in the day and to 7.5 metres on Sunday.

Gladstone Mayor Gail Sellers says it's not over for locals who have so far escaped flooding despite the once-in-a-century river levels.

"We are quite pleased none of our 400 houses had to evacuate," she told AAP.

"So we're now getting ready for the next time when we think we'll have the biggest problem and that's at the high tide on Sunday morning."

The downpour has not let up and the ex-cyclone remains west of the city, where massive rainfalls have been recorded.

Over 370mm of rain fell at Boolaroo Tops, 347mm at Kroombit Tops and 307mm at Captain Creek.

Flood warnings have been issued for the Calliope, Boyne, Baffle and Kolan Rivers.

The Callide and Kroombit Dams are experiencing unprecedented outflows.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has warned Goovigen residents, west of Gladstone, that properties are likely to experience flooding and they should take to higher ground.

The SES has received more than 650 requests for assistance since Friday morning, including more than 130 for Rockhampton, and more than 35 jobs each for Gladstone and Yeppoon.

Community Safety Minister Jack Dempsey said there were six swift water rescues overnight.

"Thankfully they were all very successful outcomes," he told ABC radio.

One of two fisherman reported missing off Rockhampton earlier in the week has been found.

The skipper of the 38-foot fishing vessel made a distress call on Thursday, saying the boat was taking on water in the Casuarina Passage off Port Alma.

A 60-year-old man was found on Balaclava Island about 11am Saturday, and a water and air search is under way for the second man.

The Bruce Highway is closed in several places between Rockhampton and Gladstone and the train line is cut near Rockhampton, stopping all services between Brisbane and Cairns.

Ergon Energy says thousands in central Queensland remain without power and staff will be flown to inaccessible areas to reconnect it.

The low pressure system is almost stationary and hasn't tracked to the southeast as predicted on Friday.

It expected to slowly move south to the southeast and bring heavier rain, dangerous surf, abnormally high tides and strong winds on Sunday and Monday.

"With all that heavy rain, flash flooding is definitely expected," Ken Kato from (Bureau of Meteorology) BoM told AAP.

SeqWater has increased its releases from Wivenhoe Dam as a precautionary measure.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued flood warnings for the Fitzroy, Dawson, Don, Mackenzie, Connor and Isaac rivers.

Meanwhile, the state government announced that residents affected by flooding in Rockhampton and surrounding areas can now seek financial help.

Individuals may be eligible for amounts of $180 up to a maximum of $900.

The federal government also announced the Burdekin, Lockhart River, Hinchinbrook, Banana, Gladstone and Rockhampton councils will receive financial help under the natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements.

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Man lashes out at police

A Brisbane man has violently lashed out at five police officers investigating a hooning incident. Source: AAP

A BRISBANE man has violently lashed out at five police officers investigating a hooning incident.

The 19-year-old was allegedly doing donuts in the Central Queensland town of Roma on Friday evening.

When four officers approached him at a Charles Street residence, he became violent, police said on Saturday.

Police said the officers were pushed, one in the face, and two spat at during the struggle to arrest him.

The four officers, two women and two men, were taken to Roma Hospital where they were treated for bruising and grazes, and for blood tests following exposure to bodily fluids.

The fifth officer, a man, was also taken to hospital for blood tests following exposure to bodily fluids.

The man is due in the Roma Magistrates Court on Saturday.

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Australians warned of Benghazi threat

The federal government has urged Australians to immediately leave the Libyan city of Benghazi. Source: AAP

TWO Australians have been told to leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi as soon as they can due to a "specific and imminent threat" against Westerners.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issued a travel alert on Friday morning following similar warnings from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, describing the threat as specific and imminent.

"All Australians in Benghazi should leave immediately," DFAT said on its website.

A spokeswoman for DFAT says Australia's embassy in Rome has contacted the two Australians who are registered as being in Benghazi, telling them the city is "not the best place to be".

The department earlier reminded Australians its travel advisory for Libya was still at its highest "do not travel" level "due to the high threat of terrorist attack, the ongoing threat of kidnapping and the unpredictable security situation throughout the country".

"Australians who choose to remain in Libya should ensure that they have appropriate personal security measures in place," DFAT said.

There are 22 Australians registered as being in Libya.

The warning comes a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified to Congress about the September attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya.

It also comes as French troops battle al-Qaeda-linked militants in Mali, and follow the deaths of dozens of foreigners taken hostage by Islamist extremists in Algeria - though it remains unclear if those two events are linked to the new Benghazi concerns.

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Vic Catholic teachers will join strike

VICTORIAN Catholic school teachers will join their state school counterparts in a mass strike next month if a long-running pay dispute with the government continues.

The government and the state teachers' union have agreed to resume talks on Thursday, January 31, in a bid to resolve the bitter dispute.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) Victorian branch said the move was positive, but plans for a mass teacher strike on February 14, as well as a ban on working beyond the 38-hour week, remain in place.

The Independent Education Union (IEU) says it has written to its members in Catholic education calling on them to join in the strike.

The IEU said the wages of Catholic school teachers were directly linked to the wages outcome in the government sector.

"We are hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved on January 31, but the track record of this government so far has taught us not to hold our breath," the union's general secretary Debra James said.

"Despite promising to make Victoria's teachers the highest paid in Australia, the government has not yet moved from a policy of 2.5 per cent pay rises, contrary to outcomes negotiated for other public sector workers.

"It is insulting to our members to be starting the 2013 school year with no resolution to the stand-off, and a pay offer from the state government that devalues the work of all educators."

AEU Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said the union put a significantly revised offer of 4.2 per cent per year over three years to the Baillieu government in November but has yet to receive a formal response.

The government has long stood by its offer of an annual pay rise of 2.5 per cent with any further increases to be offset by productivity gains.

"The Baillieu government has dragged this dispute out for over two years by refusing to listen to the concerns of education staff, parents and the broader community," Ms Peace said in a statement on Thursday.

The Baillieu government, which has previously threatened legal action against the union, has been approached for comment.

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Japan's Algeria survivors, dead flown home

The nine Japanese survivors from last week's hostage siege in Algeria have arrived home in Tokyo. Source: AAP

THE seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis, and the bodies of nine of the 10 dead, have arrived back in a shell-shocked Japan as the prime minister spoke of the nation's "deepest grief".

Emotional reunions away from the glare of publicity awaited those who made it out of the In Amenas complex alive, amid a renewed national sense of the perils of doing business in resources-rich but unstable parts of the world.

A government-owned plane with its red sun livery touched down at Haneda Airport shortly before 7.00am (0900 AEDT) on Friday in warm winter sunshine.

Airport officials used black umbrellas to shield those getting off the plane from the glare of cameras feeding blanket media coverage in a country baffled by what happened half a world away.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida stood alongside officials from engineering firm JGC, which employed - directly or indirectly - all Japanese caught up in the siege, bowing deeply after the coffins were brought out from the plane's cargo hold.

Three cargo trailers, each with three coffins, lined up near the plane's tail as the assembled dignitaries laid on them bouquets of white flowers, a common offering for the deceased in Japan.

Tokyo on Thursday said it had now accounted for all 10 men who had been out of contact since Islamist gunmen stormed the desert gas plant over a week ago.

Dozens of foreigners were killed during a four-day standoff that ended in a bloody showdown with Algerian commandos on Saturday, with reports of summary executions.

Japan's body count of 10 is the highest of any nation whose citizens were caught up in the crisis in the Sahara in an unusual taste of jihadist anger for a country that has remained far from US-led wars in the Muslim world.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a meeting of his senior ministers on Friday, said the nation was in mourning for those killed.

"As a government, we again express our deepest condolences for the pain of the bereaved families," he said.

"It is with deepest grief we have learned that 10 Japanese nationals who worked on the front lines of international business have become casualties."

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ASIC interviews Whitehaven Coal hoaxer

THE corporate watchdog has interviewed the man who issued a press release falsely claiming that the ANZ Bank had withdrawn funding for Whitehaven Coal.

Jonathan Moylan, from the anti-coal mining group Frontline Action on Coal, has admitted to sending a press release to media outlets in early January claiming that the ANZ Bank had pulled its $1.2 billion loan to the miner.

Frontline Action on Coal accuses Whitehaven of planning to destroy 1360ha of koala habitat and forcing farmers off their land through soil damage from its flagship Maules Creek project in NSW.

The false media release bore the ANZ Bank logo.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is investigating if any laws were broken after the hoax temporarily wiped $314 million from the value of Whitehaven Coal in the trading of the company's shares on the Australian Securities Exchange.

"He (Mr Moylan) has walked into the (ASIC) building in Sydney. We will be interviewing him today," an ASIC spokesman told AAP on Thursday.

The ASIC spokesman said the interview would be conducted in private and that ASIC would not be issuing any comment on it.

Mr Moylan told AAP after his interview by ASIC that he could not comment on what was said during the meeting.

"Unfortunately, that would be illegal," he said.

Asked how he was feeling after the ASIC interview, Mr Moylan said: "Well, I'm still determined to campaign, and win the campaign on the Maules Creek mine.

"I've said it before that any consequence for me pales in comparison to that on our farmers, our forests and our planet."

Anyone convicted of disseminating false information to the share market that could impact on market securities faces a maximum fine of almost $500,000 or a potential 10-year jail sentence.

Mr Moylan said in an article that he wrote and which was published in Fairfax media outlets on Thursday that the federal government's verdict on whether to approve the Maules Creek mine was more important than the risk he faced of going to jail.

Meanwhile, The Nature Conservation Council of NSW on Thursday called upon the federal government to reject Whitehaven Coal's Maules Creek mine proposal.

The Council also urged the federal government to investigate whether Whitehaven had provided correct information as it seeks approval for its proposal under federal environmental law.

Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said Whitehaven Coal planned to clear more than 500 hectares of critically endangered white box-gum woodland, which requires offsets of the same ecosystem type to be protected elsewhere.

"However, the areas that the company has mapped as endangered white box-gum woodland in their proposed offsets are in fact a totally different vegetation type," Mr Clarke said in a statement.

Comment was being sought from Whitehaven.

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NSW minister defends outsourcing road jobs

OUTSOURCING maintenance on Sydney roads will provide the NSW government with the "best bang for our buck", says NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay.

The government is preparing a business plan to outsource maintenance of most Sydney roads to the private sector.

Mr Gay on Thursday said the government indicated some time ago it would press ahead with the plan and held talks with the Australian Workers Union (AWU) this week.

He said the private contractors would need to provide ongoing employment for hundreds of Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) workers.

"They certainly have to provide employment for the people if they wish to be employed and that's a guarantee for two years," Mr Gay told reporters in Sydney.

"We want to provide the best roads for this state and we want to get the biggest bang we can for our buck so we're heading down that track.

"It's early days, we still have to develop a business case and put that before cabinet."

Mr Gay said the government believed the proposal was a "good one and a fair one" and would deliver government savings of up to 20 per cent.

But the AWU believes the plan will disadvantage motorists and cause traffic chaos.

"The biggest losers of this recommendation will be motorists and the taxpayers of NSW," AWU NSW state secretary Russ Collison said in a statement on Thursday.

"RMS employees provide a public service and respond to emergency situations that are different every day.

"Cutting back service levels in road maintenance... will inevitably leave Sydney motorists stuck in gridlock."

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Oswald to bring Qld rain on Australia Day

SOUTHEAST Queenslanders need to rethink their Australia Day plans with ex-tropical cyclone Oswald expected to dampen celebrations, forecasters warn.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there's a fair chance any outdoor event planned for Saturday will be a washout.

Forecaster Andrew Cameron says the low-pressure centre currently overland between Cairns and Townsville is tracking south along the Queensland coast and will bring up 20 to 40mm of Australia Day rain in some districts.

"Certainly I'd recommend planning for the worst and preparing some sort of contingency," he told AAP.

Torrential rain generated by the ex-cyclone has lashed coastal north Queensland, causing rivers to break their banks and flood the towns of Ingham, Halifax and Tully, and some areas of Townsville.

Halifax, north of Townsville, is cut off and water has entered the main street.

Sandbags have protected businesses from being inundated so far, according to Hinchinbrook Mayor Mansell Bow.

Ingham, southwest of Halifax, has been cut in half by a swollen creek and water is running into yards and under houses but hasn't entered homes.

"We've all been receiving rain since Monday and people have been stocking their pantries with food so everyone was ready," Mr Bow told AAP.

Wildlife was on the move, with an Ingham policeman photographing a two-metre crocodile on the Bruce Highway near the Seymour River on Wednesday.

Floodwater at Tully is slowly receding and the road to Cairns has reopened, according to Cassowary Coast Regional Council's deputy mayor Bryce Macdonald, who travelled to work on Thursday by boat.

The mood in the town is good, he told AAP.

"It's a normal wet season up here for us. There's nothing unusual about it," he said.

"Last year wasn't very wet, so people are saying it's back to normal."

A miniature tornado reportedly swept through the township of Grasstree, near Hay Point, on the north Queensland coast about 4am (AEST) on Thursday.

Hay Point Hotel owner Dean Williams said there was some damage to roofs and trees, but no one was hurt.

Meanwhile, towns between Bowen and Gladstone are expecting heavy rain, with up to 300mm forecast in some areas over the next 24 hours.

Gladstone has already received 118mm in the past 24 hours which has caused local flooding and some roads to be closed.

The Bureau of Meteorology is watching Oswald closely and says there is a 50 per cent chance it will reform somewhere off the coast of Gladstone and Rockhampton on Saturday.

About 6000 homes in the Cairns region were without power on Thursday morning after fallen trees hit power lines.

Rail services between Mackay and Cairns have been closed because of localised flooding over tracks.

Oswald crossed the western coast of Cape York Peninsula near Kowanyama as a category one cyclone on Tuesday and is now a low-pressure system.

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Dad in court after boy took gun to school

A GUN owner should not be made the scapegoat for his bullied son, who took his dad's revolver to school and fired a shot, an Adelaide court has been told.

The man's lawyer, Octavia Henson, said her client believed he was the only person who knew the location of the key to the gun safe, but his 13-year-old son found it in his father's underwear drawer.

Ms Henson asked Judge Paul Rice not to record a conviction against her client or take away his firearms licence, as he wanted to continue hunting on his brother's rural property.

The man, who cannot be named as it would identify his son, appeared in the South Australian District Court on Wednesday.

The 42-year-old has pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered .32 calibre Smith & Wesson without a licence and failing to store its ammunition away from the revolver.

Last year his son was put on a good behaviour bond and was spared a conviction, after taking the revolver to school and firing it at a fence.

Ms Henson said the father, who was "very remorseful", ashamed and embarrassed, had firearm licences for other weapons but not for the Smith & Wesson because of financial reasons.

He had a "sentimental attachment" to the revolver which he inherited from his grandmother.

He acknowledged he should not have kept the ammunition in the safe with the revolver.

"This was a once-off, a bad error of judgment," Ms Henson said, adding that he should not be made a "scapegoat for another".

But Judge Rice said he would not divorce the father's actions from his son's, as his keeping the gun separate from the ammunition would have avoided "something like this happening".

The crown prosecutor said general deterrence was an important factor, submitting that the man should receive a suspended jail term.

She also called for his firearms licence to be suspended indefinitely, a move Ms Henson opposed.

While the man was happy to surrender his guns, he bonded with his family by going hunting on his brother's property, she said.

If the licence was suspended, she said it should be for a set time.

He will be sentenced on February 1.

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PM unveils new national security strategy

PM Julia Gillard says the first Australian national security strategy will focus on Asia. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has unveiled a new vision for Australia's security, with a focus on enhanced regional engagement and stronger defences against the rising cyber threat.

Ms Gillard said the terror attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 launched the decade of national security, a time of rapid ramp-up of resources.

Now is a period of consolidation and national security arrangements have to adapt and respond, harnessing information, ideas and capabilities from all sources and prioritising spending in a clear-headed way.

Ms Gillard said this would be an era in which the behaviour of states, not terror groups, would be the most important driver and shaper of Australia's national security thinking.

The Prime Minister released the new 48-page strategy document at the Australian National University National Security College, an institution created by her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

In 2008, Mr Rudd presented the first national security statement.

Ms Gillard said the new strategy built on that statement, guiding Australia's response to risks and identifying the main challenges and threats to national security.

"Our principal national security focus will be on our own region, as the global economic and strategic centre-of-gravity continues to move east, bringing great opportunities but also risks and challenges that must be managed," she said on Wednesday.

Ms Gillard said the move for enhanced regional engagement acknowledged the shift to this region and the need for security as the indispensable foundation of prosperity.

That meant the strategic landscape was becoming more crowded and complex.

"But it also remains true that it is the relationship between China and the United States that more than any other will determine the temperature of regional affairs in coming decades," she said.

Ms Gillard said Australia was an attractive target for a range of malicious cyber threats, from politically-motivated hackers and criminal networks to nation states.

The government has already contributed substantial funding towards cyber security. As a next step, the government will create a Cyber Security Centre.

That will combine existing cyber security capabilities across the Attorney-General's Department, Defence, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission in a single location.

"Malicious cyber activity will likely be with us for many decades to come, so we must be prepared for a long, persistent fight," she said.

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Two more arrested over attempted murder

TWO more men have been arrested over an attempted murder in Sydney's southwest in which a man was shot in the leg.

Police were called to a unit in Harrow Rd, Auburn, about 6.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday following reports of a shooting.

A 23-year-old was found out in the street with a gunshot wound to his leg and was treated in hospital and later released.

On Wednesday, police raided a unit about 11am in the same street and arrested a 31-year-old man.

About two-and-a-half hours earlier, officers raided a home in Miller St, Chester Hill, and arrested a 26-year-old man.

Both men are expected to be charged over the shooting.

Just before midday on Tuesday, a 33-year-old was arrested at his Sefton home.

He has been charged with shoot with intent to murder, discharge firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and robbery while armed with dangerous weapon.

He was refused bail to appear in Burwood Local Court on Wednesday.

A fourth person, a 24-year-old Sefton man, is already before the courts facing the same offences.

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Parents baffled by YMCA processes

THE parents of boys molested by a YMCA childcare worker are upset about the organisation's conflicting accounts about whether it checked the man's references before hiring him.

One boy's parents said it was hard to believe the non-profit organisation may not have checked that the pedophile had been dismissed from a previous job for similar behaviour.

Jonathan Luke Lord, 26, was sentenced on Friday in Sydney's District Court to 10 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years for molesting 12 boys aged between six and 11.

The offences occurred from 2009, when he was first hired by the YMCA in southern Sydney, up until the day he was stood down in September 2011.

"I find it hard to believe they don't check references," the father of the boy who was Lord's main target told AAP.

The father agreed that if the YMCA had looked into Lord's employment record, it might have been more alert to warning signs he was grooming boys.

"It's like any criminal," said the man.

"He can be a drug dealer and sell drugs for 20 years before you get caught."

Lord worked in before- and after-school programs and in a YMCA creche and found private babysitting clients through his job.

Some of the abuse happened on bus trips to and from YMCA daytime activities and at YMCA events.

YMCA state chief executive Phillip Hare told AAP three times in an interview on January 10 that no one had checked any references before hiring Lord. He also said it wasn't a practice of the YMCA.

But a week later, two other YMCA representatives said two references in relation to Lord's babysitting work had been checked, although they gave no further details.

Mr Hare said the YMCA learned later that Lord had been dismissed as a camp counsellor in the United States over an allegation of similar behaviour.

Lord listed the US camp job on his resume but did not specify where he had worked and did not provide contact information for the employer, the YMCA later told AAP.

Mr Hare also said no references were checked in relation to Lord's babysitting experience, the only Australian employment listed on his resume, and it was not necessarily practice to make calls to referees.

"No, we would not necessarily ring," Mr Hare told AAP.

"We wouldn't necessarily ring randomly because even that tends to be generally a breach of confidence.

"You need to say to people, 'Who are the referees?' and then you provide referees. We wouldn't do that."

Hours after Friday's court proceedings, a letter was sent to about 600 YMCA parents that included the same information. It was issued by Mr Hare who was on leave at the time.

"They're just covering their own bases, aren't they?" another father of a young victim told AAP.

When contacted on Tuesday, the YMCA declined to explain the backflip and why it wasn't suspicious about Lord's US employment, about which he gave scant information and had no referees.

But a YMCA spokesman said the organisation was standing by its statements that two references were checked in relation to Lord's employment in Australia and that the organisation did check references from referees in the country.

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Single mum prostitution 'hearsay': govt

REPORTS that some single mothers had turned to prostitution and stripping following welfare cuts to sole parents were "hearsay", the federal government says.

The benefit cuts came in at the start of 2013 and will affect about 84,000 single parents, mostly mothers who receive parenting payments.

AAP revealed on Sunday two brothels in Melbourne and Brisbane have since experienced an "influx" of applications from single mothers looking for work, while others sought work at strip clubs.

Under the welfare changes, single parents are being shifted from parenting payments onto the Newstart unemployment allowance when their youngest child turns eight years old, which means a drop in weekly income of between $60 to $100.

Minister for the Status of Women Julie Collins dismissed the reports as "hearsay", but added that the government was looking at providing more support for low-income Australians.

"It was hearsay in a newspaper article. I don't know where the evidence is or what it says," she told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"When it comes to low-income families, we understand they have been doing it tough and we as a government are looking at what we can do to support them."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said reports of single mothers resorting to prostitution and stripping are "fairly lurid".

"I certainly would hope that there's nothing in them," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"I understand the concerns people have here, particularly given the government's winding back of employment services."

Mr Abbott said it was important to have the right services to help adjustment back into the work place.

"But on the fundamental principle, I want to make this very clear, the best form of welfare is work," he said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she would endorse Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris as Labor's number one Senate candidate for the Northern Territory.

Ms Peris was a single mother for many years, raising her daughter Jessica and juggling the demands of training and work.

Asked if she supported the welfare cuts, she replied she understood they were being made to support young mothers back into the work force.

"I understand whole-heartedly how hard it is to be a single mother," Ms Peris told reporters in Canberra.

"I've been down that road before."

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Social media new tool for fire warnings

FIRE and emergency authorities may soon use sites like Instagram and Facebook to warn people about bushfires, an information systems expert says.

Katina Michael, associate professor at the school of information systems and technology at the University of Wollongong, says people are increasingly using micro-blogging sites, like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, to record bushfires.

"These unofficial channels are extremely useful during a crisis situation," she told an Australian Science Media Centre briefing on Tuesday.

"In the future we might even have emergency service organisations tapping into this social media capability ... and using this user-generated content to respond to disasters more effectively."

Prof Michael said location-based SMS alerts are also being employed to keep people updated in disaster areas.

"That's a real innovation to the Australian capabilities which I think is among the first in the world to actually venture into that kind of mandated approach.

"This also allows people who are visiting a location, who may be working in a location ... or who may be enjoying recreation activities in a location to be warned about a hazard."

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'Missing' asylum boat found at sea

A BOAT carrying asylum seekers which was feared to be missing has been intercepted off Christmas Island this afternoon.

Afghan Hazaras in Australia had raised concerns a boat had vanished in poor weather between Indonesia and Australia.

The vessel was intercepted by Australian authorities near Christmas Island where passengers will be taken for initial health, security and identity checks.

Passengers on the vessel had endured rough monsoonal weather after leaving Indonesia days ago.

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CPI figures unlikely to trigger rate cut

ECONOMISTS believe consumer prices rose modestly in the December quarter, but not slowly enough to lock in another interest rate cut for Australian homeowners.

AAP's survey of 14 economists reveals a median forecast for December's Consumer Price Index to show an average increase of 0.5 per cent in prices over the December quarter.

Underlying inflation, which excludes the most volatile price movements and is the Reserve Bank of Australia's preferred measure, is expected to be at 0.65 per cent for the quarter.

Over the 12 months to December, consumer prices are expected to have risen 2.5 per cent and underlying inflation is expected to be 2.4 per cent, around the middle of the RBA's target range of two to three per cent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release official CPI figures on Wednesday.

AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver says the figures will show a considerable slowdown in price rises compared to the September quarter, which saw headline inflation of 1.4 per cent, which was partly attributed to introduction of the carbon tax in July.

He said the impact of the carbon tax on prices in the December quarter would have been minimal.

"It'll be adding something but it is probably less than 0.1 of a per cent, and probably less than 0.05 of a per cent," he said.

But he said inflation was unlikely to be weak enough to prompt the RBA to cut the cash rate again at its February 5 board meeting.

"If the underlying rate comes in at 2.2 (per cent) or less then I think that could well clear the way for a rate cut," he said.

"But if it comes in around 2.4 or more its probably not enough for a rate cut." The RBA cut the cash rate a quarter of a percentage point in December, bringing it to three per cent.

HSBC Australia chief economist Paul Bloxham agreed the CPI figures were unlikely to be weak enough to secure another rate cut.

"If there is a low enough number the RBA would probably cut in February but if we get the numbers we are expecting we think they will stay on hold," he said.

Westpac senior economist Justin Smirk said the biggest price rises in the quarter were likely to be in housing costs, especially rent.

But he said that would be partially offset by falls in food prices, especially fruit and vegetables.

He agreed the inflation figures were unlikely to prompt another rate cut, though he believes the RBA will move again in the next few months.

"There is no real urge for the RBA to go in February. We think they are more likely to go in March," he said.

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Teen attacks hearing impared NSW pensioner

A TEENAGER has allegedly attacked a hearing impaired pensioner who confronted him for doing burnouts north of Newcastle.

The 18-year-old suspended driver was performing burnouts in a Holden Commodore at the intersection of Poilus Parade and Clemenceau Crescent, Tanilba Bay, about 9.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

When he lost control of the Commodore and mounted a kerb, a 56-year-old man from a nearby home walked up to speak to him.

After a short conversation, the 18-year-old allegedly struck the hearing impaired pensioner, knocking him to the ground before performing further burnouts.

He then lost control of the car for a second time, and is accused of again approaching by the man and assaulting him.

The older man suffered a bleeding left ear, a swollen right foot and grazing to his right arm.

His two hearing aids were also damaged, police said.

They arrested the teenager about 3.15am (AEDT) on Sunday at a home address in Tanilba Bay.

He has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, burnouts and drive whilst suspended, and granted strict conditional bail to appear before Raymond Terrace Local Court on February 13.

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Brisbane housing precinct not floodproof

QUEENSLAND'S acting planning minister says a residential development precinct under construction on the Brisbane River waterfront is not flood proof even though it was spared the devastation of floods in early 2011.

Tim Nicholls, who is also acting deputy premier, has opened a new 500-metre section of a river walk at Hamilton, on the Northshore banks of the river.

Asked if the adjacent residential precinct in his Clayfield electorate was in a flood-prone area, Mr Nicholls said planning authorities had taken flooding into consideration.

"During the floods in 2010 and 2011, I came down and inspected this part of the river and fortunately, the floodwaters didn't rise up over the banks here," he told reporters at the site on Sunday.

"That's not to say that it's flood proof, it's just to say that in that flood ... it didn't flood here.

"Obviously those things are taken into account by the planning authorities and by the builders."

Another 15,000 residents are expected to move into the area during the next decade as the former port land is redeveloped, Mr Nicholls said.

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Rinehart urges Rio to move HQ to Perth

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has urged Rio Tinto to move their headquarters back to Australia. Source: AAP

MINING magnate Gina Rinehart has urged Rio Tinto's new boss Sam Walsh to move the headquarters of the Anglo/Australian resources giant back to Australia - and then join the fight against Julia Gillard's mining tax.

In a shock move late last week, Rio Tinto boss Tom Albanese stepped down after the global miner announced a multi-billion dollar writedown of its aluminium and coal assets, to be replaced by Mr Walsh, the head of the company's iron ore arm.

In a statement released on Sunday, the supremo of Hancock Prospecting, who co-owns the massive Hope Downs joint venture with Rio, said she was disappointed Mr Albanese had been replaced.

But she said the appointment of Mr Walsh, who has managed Rio's iron ore business from Perth, was a chance to bring the headquarters of Rio to Western Australia where she says "it logically belongs".

"In congratulating Sam on his promotion to such an important position within Rio Tinto, we have urged him to take this opportunity and also move the Rio Tinto headquarters from London to Perth where given most of Rio Tinto's revenue is generated in Australia, it logically belongs," Ms Rinehart said in a statement.

"We also hope other Australians will join our call that now that there is an Australian CEO for Rio Tinto, and given the history of mainly success for Rio Tinto's projects in Australia, a renewed emphasis will be undertaken by Rio Tinto to reinvest more of the profits it earns in Australia.

"(That will) benefit ... its shareholders who have seen much diminution in value via investments in risky countries, and for the benefit of Australia, which given its increasing debts, greatly needs."

A long-time vocal opponent of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, Ms Rinehart called on Mr Walsh to make his own immediate and loud submissions to the federal government.

"We hope Rio Tinto and Sam will lose no time in advising the Australian government in clear and straightforward terms, what it would wish to make the decisions to increase its investment in Australia," the statement, released to the Australia Financial Review, stated.

"No uncompetitive carbon tax springs to mind as one example to help interest in investment and reduce the increasing problem and very great concern of Australia's diminishing cost competitiveness."

The stock market reacted positively on Friday to Mr Walsh's appointment, despite Rio revealing a $US14 billion ($A13.30 billion) writedown of Rio's aluminium assets and Mozambique coal assets alongside the departure of Mr Albanese.

After announcing Mr Walsh as Mr Albanese's successor, it was said he would relocate to London in his new role and receive a base salary of $A1.9 million.

Ms Rinehart said Rio's best investments in recent years had been their joint venture in the Hope Downs project, which Mr Walsh had been "intimately involved in".

"We look forward to Sam providing the leadership and adding to the great success Hope Downs has been for the Rio Tinto group by committing to develop other Hope Downs resources in a timely manner," the statement said.

"These much earlier Rio Tinto decisions to invest in West Australia have not only transformed Rio Tinto from a small miner to one of the world's largest mining houses, but also saved Rio Tinto group from going down the gurgler late last decade."

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PM attends Greig memorial service

Tony Greig's wife has given a tearful tribute to the former England cricket captain at the SCG. Source: AAP

WITH a tearful tribute, a lot of laughs and a smattering of broad-brimmed hats, Tony Greig was given a fitting farewell at the SCG on Sunday.

The former England cricket captain and respected commentator died on December 29 in Sydney after suffering a heart attack during a battle with lung cancer.

On Sunday, he was given a touching memorial led by his wife Vivian, who broke down during her goodbye speech.

"He could make anything sound special and make anyone feel special," Vivian told the audience of 300.

"He gave us confidence when we faltered, he gave us strength when felt drained.

"He gave us laughter when we felt like crying. But most of all he gave us love.

"It's a great privilege and honour to have been Tony's wife."

Greig was a man whose stature was not limited to his imposing frame and whose impact extended far beyond his achievements on the cricket pitch.

In the stands of the SCG, commentary doyen Richie Benaud sat side by side with Greig's old sparring partner Bill Lawry, who delivered the eulogy - and drawing large applause for his Billy Birmingham-inspired impressions of Greig and Benaud.

Highlighting the influence Greig had on a varied cross section of the international game, England champions Ian Botham and David Gower recorded messages, while letters were passed on from Indian legend Ravi Shastri and Sri Lankan hero Arjuna Ranatunga.

They all painted a picture of a genuine cricket tragic born on the eastern cape of South Africa, who became a champion England allrounder before settling in Australia.

But above all they described a man who had a deep appreciation of the game.

"Where did his allegiance lie? His allegiance lay with the sport of cricket," Vivian said.

"He loved watching attacking cricket. He loved watching the Aussies every summer.

"He loved watching Arjuna Ranatunga lead his side in the early '90s.

"He honoured any side that honoured the game."

Greig was remembered as one of the game's great innovators who spearheaded the World Series cricket movement alongside Kerry Packer and embraced technology - to much amusement on occasion.

Vivian recalled a story she felt encapsulated the bravery - and stupidity - of her husband's love of the new.

"He loved innovation," she said.

"Firstly as a player wearing a leather scrum cap, and later a crash helmet as a sensible form of protection.

"Quite early on, I asked him why he didn't wear a helmet in his career and he patiently explained that he felt it took away from the test of courage to face a fast bowler.

"Then came (Australian pace duo Dennis) Lillee and (Jeff) Thompson and he reconsidered the helmet.

"I was appalled. (I said) 'You mean to tell me that it took over 100 years after someone had invented a box before you came along to think about protecting your head?.

"That told me a lot about male priorities but it also showed me Tony was pretty smart, and brave, to wear a helmet."

Lawry described Greig's ability to spend hours in front of his laptop keeping up to date with every seemingly insignificant match report from the corners of the planet - much to the amusement of his less thorough ally, Lawry.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended the service, lauding Greig, who died in December after battling lung cancer, as "a towering cricket figure".

Both the Australian and Sri Lankan squads were in attendance, as were current and former Australian stars Shane Watson, Brett Lee and Andy Bichel.

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