UK may freeze for another month

THE big freeze gripping the UK could last until almost the end of April, weather forecasters predict.

Temperatures are unlikely to recover to normal averages for the time of year until the latter part of next month, the Met Office suggested through its 30-day forecast.

Sub-zero temperatures look set to bring misery to thousands of people for the rest of the week and throughout Easter weekend as the dangerous wintry weather shows no immediate signs of abating.

Thousands of people in western Scotland face a sixth day without power on Wednesday after electricity pylons were damaged last week, and many transport routes across the UK remain impassable because of deep snow drifts.

Farmers have been left counting the cost of the blizzard conditions, with many having to rescue stranded livestock at the height of the lambing season.

An RAF Chinook helicopter was called in yesterday to help as part of an emergency operation in Northern Ireland as farms and families were cut off by huge snow drifts.

The severe weather has also been blamed for the deaths of a number of birds, including puffins, razorbills and guillemots, which have washed up on Britain's beaches.

The Met Office has issued a cold weather alert for much of England, with a 100 per cent probability of severe cold weather and icy conditions until Friday.

Its outlook for Sunday to April 9 predicts cold, dry weather, with a few light snow flurries and widespread frost and icy patches overnight.

And the Met Office predicts temperatures are unlikely to recover to nearer normal values until the latter part of April.

While there are no forecast for more big snow falls, temperatures as low as minus 6C are predicted overnight.

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No apology over NT forced adoptions

NORTHERN Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles has expressed regret to the victims of forced adoption in his jurisdiction, but stopped short of saying he was sorry.

"To all those Northern Territory families past and present who were separated by an adoption that was forced upon them, on behalf of this assembly I express our heartfelt sympathy," Mr Giles told the NT parliament.

"To all those affected by the policy of forced adoption please accept this statement of deepest regret in the spirit in which it is offered," he said.

Mr Giles said modern social services could not rescue people from the events of the past and the "dark practices" that changed lives forever.

Earlier Mr Giles told journalists he did not think it appropriate to apologise on behalf of the NT government, because the jurisdiction was not self-governing when the forced adoptions occurred.

"I find it abhorrent personally, but the point is we were not an NT government until 1978," Mr Giles told reporters.

"None of these adoption practices were undertaken post-1978."

Last week Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a national apology to women who had children taken from them.

From the 1950s to the 1970s an estimated 150,000 unwed Australian mothers had their babies forcibly adopted under a practice sanctioned by governments, churches, hospitals, charities and bureaucrats.

Some women were tricked into signing adoption papers, drugged and physically shackled to hospital beds.

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Linc hopes to raise $200m for development

LINC Energy hopes to raise $200 million to explore and develop oil and gas prospects following strong drilling results.

Shares in the company were placed in a trading halt on Wednesday ahead of an announcement about raising capital through a convertible bond issue.

Brokers say Linc is looking at issuing bonds for between $3.40 to $3.50 per bond, with the ability to convert them into shares in 2018.

The company's shares have more than tripled in the past four months following a series of strong drilling results and speculation that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is interested in Linc's oil reserves.

Linc chief executive Peter Bond, who owns 40 per cent of Linc shares, last year confirmed he had dined with Mr Abramovich, who is also a Chelsea soccer team owner, to discuss his interest in Linc's energy business, which produces diesel and jet fuel from gas released from underground coal.

Since November 29 last year, shares in the company have surged from 69.5 cents to $2.67 on Tuesday.

Late last year the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) asked Linc to explain a spike in the company's share price between December 7 and December 11.

Linc said it was not aware of any explanation for the price change.

IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas said the upcoming capital raising would allow the company to continue developing its oil and gas projects in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.

"The whole idea is to develop their exploration platforms," Mr Lucas said.

"The stock has rallied very hard, with their oil fields looking like they're on the way up."

Linc's recent drilling updates and speculation about its reserves had helped the stock.

Mr Lucas said $200 million could be used to take a feasibility study to a proposal and then into construction.

"The rumour about Abramovich being interested is a side issue," he said.

Linc owns traditional oil and gas assets in the United States and Australia, and also has separate clean energy and coal divisions with interests in China, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine.

Unless the ASX decides otherwise, Linc shares will remain in a trading halt until trading commences on Tuesday, April 2 or when the announcement is released to the market.

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Man in custody after Sydney siege

A MAN is in police custody after a brief siege in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

Police in bulletproof vests locked down part of Devonshire Street near a housing commission block after 4.25pm (AEDT) on Wednesday when it was feared a man with a gun was holed up inside.

Around 6.25pm police said the man had been taken into custody and would be taken to the Rocks police station to be charged.

A police spokeswoman told AAP at the scene that the 36-year-old man was arrested without incident around 6pm.

It was alleged he had threatened another man with a firearm.

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Schapelle Corby's sister bashed in Bali

Mercedes Corby (pic), sister of Schapelle, has suffered a bone fracture during an assault in Bali. Source: AAP

SCHAPELLE Corby's sister Mercedes has undergone surgery in a Bali hospital after she was assaulted by a large group of men in Kuta.

The 39-year-old suffered a severely broken nose when a gang of up to seven men tried to snatch her bag last Thursday night as she made her way home.

Mercedes was released from the Kasih Ibu hospital in Denpasar on Tuesday after having surgery to correct her broken nose, leaving with her Balinese husband Wayan Widyartha.

"It was one against seven. They pulled her purse and she's trying to hold on to it and fought back," Wayan said as the couple left the hospital.

"She has undergone surgery. At the moment, she's resting."

He also vowed to track down the men involved in the attack.

"I will look for them until I find them. I will hit them. I've asked help from the village security people to also look for them."

An Australian man who witnessed the incident said Mercedes "had blood all over her face and her eyes were closed".

Mercedes and Wayan live in central Kuta with their two children.

The compound where they live is where her sister Schapelle would likely stay if granted parole.

Wayan has provided a letter confirming his sister-in-law would be able to live with them if released, and that they would provide her with financial and moral support.

Schapelle was sentenced to 20 years jail for smuggling four kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia in 2004.

Her prison term was slashed by five years after she was granted clemency last year.

Earlier this month the Australian government offered a guarantee to Indonesia that if she was granted an early release she would not breach parole conditions.

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Gillard seeks 3% school funding rise

Julia Gillard has challenged all states and territories to commit to a 3% rise in school spending. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has challenged all states and territories to commit to a three per cent rise in school spending each year.

Visiting a Catholic college in Perth on Tuesday, Ms Gillard said her national plan for school improvement needed the co-operation of premiers and chief ministers.

Federal education officials have been in talks with Catholic and independent school chiefs ahead of the Council of Australian Governments meeting in April which is expected to sign off on the plan.

"During all of those discussions it is becoming increasingly clear that in too many states around the nation we have seen cutbacks to funding going into schools," Ms Gillard told reporters.

"Those cutbacks not only hurt directly but they actually affect the indexation funding formula for the future.

"So I've got a clear message to state governments around the nation and that is to stop the cutbacks and it's also to properly index their funding for the future. They should be offering an indexation arrangement of at least three per cent for the future."

Ms Gillard also dismissed concerns that a Canberra-based bureaucracy would be running the school system, which varied from state to state.

"Our drive here is not for a national uniform model, but a nationally consistent model, recognising the flexibility that jurisdictions need to get on and manage their schools," she said.

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Suspend live export scheme: WA farmer

A PROMINENT West Australian farmer wants the federal government to suspend its live export supply chain system, saying it has damaged relationships with key markets and threatens to cause an animal welfare disaster in Australia.

Saudi Arabia's agriculture minister Fahad Balghunaim said last week during a visit to Perth that the key Middle Eastern export market would remain closed while the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme (ESCAS) remained in place.

The scheme places responsibility for the animals' welfare on Australian exporters, right up until the point of slaughter - and has closed doors in Saudi Arabia.

WA Farmers member and its former president Trevor De Landgrafft said the intent of ESCAS, to protect exported livestock, was admirable but it had offended the Saudis considerably.

"ESCAS has smashed our trade as farmers," Mr De Landgrafft told AAP.

"You can't tell a customer what to do."

Mr De Landgrafft said WA farmers were now stuck with too many sheep that the domestic market could not absorb, while the Saudis were doing everything they could to avoid buying Australian livestock, instead turning to north Africa.

"The Middle Eastern states have got money and they are apparently prepared to pay even more so they don't have to trade with Australia," he said.

A spokeswoman for federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said he held talks with his Saudi counterpart last week, which was a step in the right direction.

"Both Saudi and Australia support high standards of animal welfare and our aim is to ensure that is reflected in the trade," she said.

The federal government was committed to the livestock export trade, which would be made more sustainable through ESCAS, the spokeswoman said.

But Mr De Landgrafft said livestock producers probably needed to protest more about the scheme, as they were "going to go to the wall".

"We're going to end up with a livestock welfare issue because we can't get rid of all the animals," he said.

Mr De Landgrafft said it was reasonable that the federal government wanted trading partners to improve their animal welfare practices but this needed to be done over time and with Australia providing assistance.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be confronted by both sides of the live export debate outside a community cabinet in the Perth suburb of Thornlie on Wednesday night.

Boyup Brook farmer and Save Live Exports group member Gemma Lee-Steere says she will hand a submission to Ms Gillard.

Stop Live Exports will also attend.

The last time the groups crossed paths, the animal welfare advocates said they were pelted with eggs.

They say they're not calling for an immediate end to the trade, as this would cause economic hardship to farmers. Instead they want it phased out over years, to be replaced with processing in Australia.

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Immigrant wins $US338m jackpot in US

A 44-YEAR-OLD immigrant from the Dominican Republic is the winner of a $US338 million ($A324.5 million) Powerball lottery jackpot in the US, and he's telling reporters in Spanish that he's "very happy".

Reporters were at the New Jersey liquor store where the ticket was sold when Pedro Quezada entered on Monday and had his ticket validated.

A lump-sum payout would be $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes. It's the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.

Quezada told reporters his first priority would be helping his family.

His wife, Ines Sanchez, told the Bergen Record that Quezada called her with the news on Monday afternoon.

"I still can't believe it," she said. "We never expected it but thank God."

The family's apartment is in Passaic, part of the working-class suburbs sprawling from New York City. Neighbours stood in the rain on Monday night and spoke with pride that one of their own had struck it rich.

Eladia Vazquez described Quezada and his wife as "quiet and not overly talkative" but sensed that they seemed to be working all the time.

"This is super for all of us on this block," she said. "They deserve it because they are hardworking people."

Alberto Liranzo, who lives two floors below Quezada, said the lottery winner had five children and owned a bodega in Passaic.

Dominican immigrant Jose Gonzalez said he barbecued and played dominoes with Quezada in the summers in a backyard on their street.

"He sometimes would work from six in the morning to 11 at night, so I did not see him much," Gonzalez said in Spanish.

Neighbours said the Quezada family has suffered bad luck in recent years. Two years ago, thieves broke in and stole everything from clothing to jewellery. The year before, a fire destroyed much of their bodega.

Their Powerball success was a blessing for the neighbourhood, resident Daphne Robinson said. "It gives people hope that there is a blessing somewhere, for somebody."

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Fiery gas buses to stay on Perth roads

PERTH'S fleet of gas buses will remain on the road despite another being destroyed by fire, as transport bosses demand answers from manufacturer Mercedes Benz.

A month after Perth drivers threatened to walk off the job unless answers were given about the cause of several gas bus fires, another caught fire at a depot in Welshpool on Sunday night.

The bus was not in service and there were no passengers or staff on the bus at the time.

But the blaze destroyed the bus, worth around $550,000, and damaged another.

It sparked more fears about the potential safety risks to drivers and passengers, and prompted more urgent action from the Perth Transit Authority (PTA).

The PTA's David Hynes said there was still no possibility of gas buses being taken off the road, because they represented about 40 per cent of Perth's total bus fleet.

"To take them off the road would absolutely cripple the bus service and public transport," Mr Hynes said.

"I can understand the drivers would be (concerned).

"We are doing everything we can."

In February, a Transperth bus driver ordered about 20 passengers off a bus after seeing a warning light on the dashboard.

The driver turned off the gas valve, but the back of the bus soon caught fire.

On December 14, another gas bus was engulfed in flames and almost destroyed.

Mr Hynes said urgent requests were being made to Mercedes in Germany in a bid to discover the cause of the fires.

"I would expect we are making some fairly robust phone calls at the moment asking them to be involved further," he said.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell had previously implemented a five-point plan, including doubling inspections and examining the capacity to improve fire suppression systems.

An upgrade of those systems, costing about $1.5 million, will be fast-tracked to begin this week.

A report on the possible causes of the previous fires is due to be released within a week.

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Govt seeks feedback on company tax change

THE federal government is seeking feedback from business on its plan to make company tax payments monthly instead of quarterly.

The proposal was announced in last October's mid-year budget review, raising an additional $8.3 billion in government revenue in the first three years.

Releasing the government's exposure draft legislation on Monday, Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said the changes would make the tax system more responsive, efficient and consistent by better matching tax collections with the economic conditions faced by business.

"This change continues the reform of the company tax instalment system that began in the late 1980s," Mr Bradbury said in a statement.

Consultation on the exposure draft will close on April 12.

The changes are expected to be implemented in three stages.

Companies that meet or exceed a $1 billion annual turnover threshold will migrate to the new system from January 1, 2014.

Those that meet or exceed annual turnover thresholds of $100 million will change from January 1, 2015, and those of $20 million will be a year later.

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