Five women die in limousine fire in US

A LIMOUSINE taking nine women to a night on the town to celebrate a newlywed bride erupted in flames, killing five of the passengers who were trapped inside. Relatives said the bride was among the dead.

The other four escaped with burn and smoke inhalation injuries, authorities said on Sunday.

The driver - 46-year-old Orville Brown - was the only person to escape unhurt.

Brown told investigators he was driving the women on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge on Saturday night when one of them complained of smoke inside the passenger compartment, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.

Brown said he pulled over, got out, and saw the back of the 1999 Lincoln Town Car fully engulfed in flames, Foucrault said.

By the time firefighters rushed to the scene and put out the fire, authorities found five badly burned bodies huddled near the partition that separates the driver from the passengers.

"My guess would be they were trying to get away from the fire and use that window opening as an escape route," Foucrault said.

He said other motorists helped three women get out of the rear right door, and a fourth woman managed to squeeze through the partition.

The San Mateo Fire Department was investigating the cause of the fire, while the coroner's office was working with the California Highway Patrol to determine whether a crime occurred.

Relatives told the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News that one of the dead was Neriza Fojas, 31, a registered nurse from Fresno who recently wed and was planning to repeat her marriage vows in the Philippines next month.

Brown's brother told the Chronicle the flames spread before he could help the women escape.

"He tried to get everybody out," Lewis Brown Jr said. "He told me, 'Man, it was so fast.' He said, 'I've never seen anything like it in my life'."

Autopsies of the five women were being conducted, and medical examiners will try to identify them by using dental records, Foucrault said.

The four other women who escaped the fire, Mary G. Guardiano, 42, Jasmine Desguia, 34, Nelia Arrellano, 36, and Amalia Loyola, 48, were being treated at nearby hospitals, the highway patrol said.

Desguia and Loyola were listed in critical condition, said Joy Alexiou, a spokeswoman for Valley Medical Center. The condition of Arrellano, who was taken to another hospital, was not known.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Coalition to targets union in crackdown

A COALITION government would reinstate the building commission, set up a new body to deal with union corruption and extend individual work agreements, but leave unfair dismissal laws relatively unchanged.

Opposition workplace spokesman Eric Abetz outlined the themes of the opposition's soon-to-be-released industrial relations policy during in a 30-minute address to business executives in Canberra on Monday.

Ahead of an official announcement, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has been careful to distance himself from the controversial Howard-era Work Choices policy.

He flagged instead "careful, cautious, responsible changes" to the Fair Work Act and appeared to rule out tinkering with unfair dismissal laws because business weren't agitating for an overhaul, although the issue remained under review.

Senator Abetz told the Australian Industry Group forum a reinstated Australian Building and Construction Commission would stamp out union thuggery, while a new Registered Organisations Commission would prosecute corrupt union officials.

"When trade union bosses can rip off their members to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and the maximum penalty is a $10,000 fine, whereas a company director can go to jail for five years and face a fine of $220,000, you know something is seriously out of balance," he said.

But he said employers needed to stand up to union officials seeking money for "slush funds", often sold as safety initiatives or drug and alcohol rehabilitation schemes, and stop offering higher wages to buy industrial peace.

"I always find it interesting when employers knock on my door to complain of the industrial tactics of a trade union, to find that the same employer has made very generous donations to union slush funds," he said.

Senator Abetz said coalition policy would also improve flexibility, while the current "one-size fits all" approach stifled innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

He said Labor's individual flexibility agreements (IFAs), which have a 28-day termination date, needed to be extended to at least 90 days and made more accessible, particularly for parents seeking to balance work and family.

Senator Abetz also signalled a change to unions workplace access, saying while Labor had promised not to change right of entry provisions, it had actually "dramatically expanded" them.

The Liberal frontbencher cited the case of the Australian Workers Union making more than 330 site visits to BHP's Worsley aluminium site in 2011 and 2012.

"The vast majority of these visits are either a blatant membership fishing expedition or designed to intimidate," he said.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten seized on Mr Abbott's comments about unfair dismissal laws, saying the coalition's industrial policy "remains in witness protection".

"Mr Abbott has revealed that whatever business asks for, they shall receive under a Liberal government," he said.

ACTU President Ged Kearney accused Senator Abetz of an "ideological attack" on unions and workers rights.

"When Mr Abetz talks vaguely about improving 'flexibility', he needs to spell out exactly what this means," Ms Kearney said in a statement.

"Australian workers were burned once at the 2004 election when the coalition did not mention Work Choices."

Australian Greens workplace spokesman Adam Bandt said his party would use its numbers to try and stop a reinstated ABCC.

"We are yet to see the coalition's full policy, but Eric Abetz has given us a taste and it doesn't taste good," Mr Bandt said in a statement.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man dies in Gold Coast factory

A MAN has collapsed and died after running into a Gold Coast factory covered in blood.

The man ran into a cement factory on Hinde Street, Ashmore, about 3.40pm (AEST) on Monday.

Police and an ambulance were called but the Queensland Ambulance Service says the man was dead by the time paramedics arrived.

Police say they can't release any information yet about the nature of the man's injuries or how they may have been caused.

CIB detectives are at the factory.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syrian rebels used sarin gas: UN

SYRIAN rebels have made use of the deadly nerve agent sarin in their war-torn country's conflict, UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte says.

"According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas," del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, said in an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday.

"We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas," she added.

She stressed that the UN commission of inquiry on Syria, which she is a part of, had far from finished its investigation.

The commission, which is set to present its latest findings to the UN Human Rights Council during its next session in June, might still find proof that the Syrian regime was also using this type of chemical weapons, del Ponte said.

Sarin is a powerful neurotoxin developed by Nazi scientists in the 1930s.

Originally developed as a pesticide, sarin was used to deadly effect in the 1988 raid on the Kurdish village of Halabja in northern Iraq. A Japanese cult also used sarin in two attacks in the 1990s.

The gas works by being inhaled or absorbed through the skin and kills by crippling the nervous system.

Symptoms include nausea and violent headaches, blurred or tunnel vision, drooling, muscular convulsions, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness and then death, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

In high doses, sarin paralyses the muscles around the lungs and prevents chemicals from "switching off" the body's secretions, so victims suffocate or drown as their lungs fill with mucus and saliva.

Even a tiny dose of sarin - which, like other nerve gases such as soman, tabun and VX, is odourless, colourless and tasteless - can be deadly if it enters the respiratory system, or if a drop comes into contact with the skin.

The Turkish authorities meanwhile are carrying out blood tests on Syrians who have fled the fighting at home to determine if they have been victims of chemical weapons, a medical source said Monday.

"Samples have been taken from people wounded in Syria who have been transported to Turkey," the source said, adding that the results were not yet known.

Western nations have raised concerns about the use of chemical weapons in the escalating conflict between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting to oust him.

US President Barack Obama has refused to rule out any options, but has said he did not foresee deploying US troops if Assad's regime is proved to have used chemical weapons.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a one-time Syria ally, on Sunday branded Assad a "butcher" and a "murderer" who would pay a heavy price for the killings in Syria.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man charged after Melbourne drug bust

A MAN has been charged and another two have been arrested after drug-making equipment was found in a house in Melbourne's northwest.

Scott Hamilton, 41, of Hillside, was arrested at the home on Saturday morning following a raid by police.

He has been charged with several drug-related offences including possessing equipment for the manufacture of drugs.

He is also charged with possessing pre-cursor chemicals for drug manufacturing.

A 34-year-old Sunshine man and a 37-year-old Hillside woman were arrested later on Saturday at a business in Sunshine North, which has also been searched.

They have been released pending a summons application over drug-related offences.

Hamilton will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

US soccer referee punched by player dies

AN amateur league soccer referee who was in a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game in the US has died.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, died in hospital following the assault during a soccer game in the US state of Utah last weekend, police spokesman Justin Hoyal said.

Police have accused a 17-year-old player of punching Portillo after the referee called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.

"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Hoyal said in a press release.

The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault.

Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since Portillo has died.

The victim's family, who spoke publicly of Portillo's plight last week, has asked for privacy as they deal with his loss, Hoyal said.

Last week, Johana Portillo, 26, spoke about her father's condition. She said she wasn't at the April 27 game, but said she's been told by witnesses and detectives the player hit her father in the side of the head after he issued the yellow card.

"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said.

His friends who were there told Johana her father seemed fine at first, but then asked to be held because he felt dizzy.

They sat him down and he started vomiting blood, prompting his friend to call an ambulance.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sydney's first NBN connection drops out

Broadband minister Stephen Conroy will flick the switch to connect Blacktown in Sydney to the NBN. Source: AAP

THE first day the national broadband network was turned on in Sydney, the connection dropped out.

At Blacktown's Max Webber Library on Sunday, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy turned the NBN on for Sydney's first 1,300 premises in the area.

But while Melbourne-based children's author Andy Griffiths was reading from one of his books via videolink, the connection failed.

"There was obviously a technical glitch there," Senator Conroy said.

"Technical glitches happen. You'll have to ask Optus, but they were able to restore it."

An NBN Co spokesman said the fault was due to a glitch in the audio-visual software rather than the NBN itself, and the connection was restored in seconds.

Optus, which provides the library's internet, said the loss of connection was not an Optus issue.

Despite the inauspicious start, Senator Conroy said the government's NBN was superior to the coalition's proposal.

"Tony Abbott wants to take Labor's NBN and turn it into the equivalent of building the Sydney Harbour Bridge with just one lane," he said.

Though he admitted rollout targets had been missed, he said construction would begin or be completed for 1.3 million additional premises by June 2016, taking the total to 4.8 million across the country.

But opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the NBN would be lucky to meet 15 per cent of its June 30 target.

"It's proceeding at a snail's pace," he told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"So far this year it's been passing 5,000 premises a month. On that basis it would take centuries to complete the job."

If elected, the coalition says it would offer all households and businesses minimum download speeds of 25 megabits a second (Mbps) by the end of its first term in 2016.

But Labor's current NBN offers download speeds of up to 100 Mbps and aims to give Australians access to speeds of up to one gigabit per second.

Mr Turnbull said speed wasn't the point.

"(25Mbps) is a quarter of the top speed the government is offering but ... it's not the actual speed that matters, it's what you can do with it," he said.

"The government is fixated on very high speeds, but they can't deliver."

NBN Co forecast that high-speed fibre-optic cable would pass 341,000 premises by June 30, but in March it downgraded that figure to between 190,000 and 220,000.

Mr Turnbull said it was critical to get all Australians' connectivity speeds up to a high level to enable them to do everything they wanted online today, and then upgrade the network over time according to demand.

The coalition's NBN plan is projected to cost $29.5 billion and be completed by 2019, while Labor's plan is expected to cost $44.1 billion and be finished two years later.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cancer drug review 'won't affect patients'

Minister Tanya Plibersek will announce a review into chemotherapy pricing and funding for drugs. Source: AAP

CANCER patients will be unaffected by pricing changes to chemotherapy drugs, federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says.

The government has announced a review of the way chemotherapy medications are funded and a $30 million one-off boost for cancer drugs in the May budget.

The review follows discussions with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia about appropriate subsidies for dispensing chemotherapy, after the key drug Docetaxel came off patent last year, allowing generic substitutes to enter the market.

Some chemotherapy providers had been using the inflated price the government had been paying, to cover the cost of delivering the treatment to patients.

But after a government decision to drop the price late last year, some providers said they wouldn't be able to afford to keep treating cancer patients without additional funding.

Ms Plibersek told reporters on Sunday at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney the cost to patients would remain unchanged.

She said concession patients would only ever pay $5.60 for a dose of chemotherapy medication, while general patients would continue to pay $36.10.

"The cost to patients has never varied and won't vary. This is about how much the government pays pharmacies for the medications they're delivering," she said.

Kathy Smith, of patient advocacy group Cancer Voices, said the previous pricing system was opaque and confusing.

"Consumers didn't know what was being paid, didn't know where the funding was going to come from for new medications, and at times didn't understand why these new medications couldn't be subsidised to help them when they had cancer and knew the drugs were available," she said.

"Hopefully at the end of this we'll have a publicly transparent and accountable system that can reassure cancer consumers that everything that can be done is being done."

into correct pricing is underway, the government has committed to an interim measure from July to December to increase the amount paid to pharmacists from $76.37 to just over $136 to prepare chemotherapy medications.

Some treatments might run to the tens of thousands of dollars, Ms Plibersek said.

"When you're subsidising new medications to that extent, it's important that we pay the right amount for old generic medications."

But opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said the December end date for the funding boost left patients in limbo.

"Vulnerable patients requiring these services do not need the stress of being caught in the middle of a stoush over funding that continues to drag on," he said in a statement.

CanSpeak chair Ian Roos welcomed the review and praised those pharmacists who protected patients from having their treatment disrupted by absorbing the funding shortfall of up to $1 million a week.

The Cancer Council's CEO Ian Olver said rural chemotherapy providers had been concerned they would have to close if government subsidies for the drugs continued to drop.

"We've got to make sure no patient is disadvantaged. This extra $60 will actually solve that problem while a proper pricing review is carried out," he said.

"It will be business as usual for cancer patients and we think that's a fantastic outcome."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Belgian town ponders fate of missing money

ON a Saturday evening two weeks ago in Zedelgem, townsfolk were disturbed by the wail of a siren and the shriek of tyres, the din of a high-speed car chase that broke the tranquillity of their sleepy city.

Suddenly, cash was flying through the air like confetti at carnival.

Dozens of people rushed out of homes or cars to grab a share of the accidental bounty: about a million euros ($A1.28 million) in all. The small fortune had flown from a safe that cracked open when the fleeing robbers panicked and threw it out the window.

"It was," recalled Mayor Patrick Arnou, "a rainstorm of money." Everyone from kids to the elderly ran out to take part in the free-for-all.

Now, the cops want the money back, and the townspeople face a thorny dilemma: play things badly, and you could face two years in jail. Keep a poker face, and the money could be yours to keep.

A veil of suspicion has fallen over the town: Neighbours watch neighbours as police go door to door, questioning townsfolk about what they did - and what they saw others do.

"People talk about nothing else any more in this town," said Arnou. "In the street itself, there is an atmosphere of bitterness."

Some Zedelgem inhabitants who missed the windfall said they understood the actions of their fellow townsfolk, but insisted the size of the cash pile should have made them think twice. "If it were a 20-euro note," said 77-year-old pensioner Hector Clarysse, "I'd pick it up, too, and join in."

But he added: "If you pick up so much money, you know it's not normal."

It all started when the robbers broke into a home in a neighbouring town, and made off with the safe. The getaway car was soon identified; by chance a motorcycle police officer spotted it and gave chase.

When the cop and robbers hit Zedelgem's Ruddervoordsestraat, a street lined by simple red-brick row houses, the thieves tried to shake off the officer by throwing the safe in his way. As it careened down the asphalt, the box shot open: A cloud of bills - some worth as much as 500 euros - swirled through the air and drifted down.

Dozens of wide-eyed people flooded the street, grabbing handfuls of cash. Drivers got out of their cars, snatched money and sped away. One lady even came out of her house with a broom, Arnou said, and swept the money inside.

Police quickly returned and literally plucked cash from the hands of people who were too slow in stashing it away.

Arnou says authorities have secured nearly half of the million euros that were originally in the safe. But the rest of the cash has disappeared into the hands of those who happened to be on that street in Zedelgem. As for the robbers, they have still not been caught - as police attention was diverted by trying to retrieve the money.

A disheartened Arnou says his citizens should have known better. After all, he points out, the money belongs to innocent people who are now out of 1 million euros.

"What we have seen is beyond decency," said the mayor.

Once the adrenalin rush subsided, some people reached the same conclusion and handed back what they found. Late on Wednesday, a couple drove from Antwerp, some 100 kilometres away, to hand over 16,200 euros they had picked up driving through town.

Arnou designated the mailbox outside city hall as a spot for people to hand over money - no questions asked. One contrite individual wrapped a big wad of money in an envelope and deposited it there.

Not a good idea.

Once word got out, thieves tried to unhinge the heavy stone letterbox over the weekend and make off with its contents. It didn't work and, the postbox stood there half-cracked for days - a sad testament to human greed. On Thursday, Arnou watched as workmen repaired the postbox and encased it deeper in concrete.

The case has triggered a passionate debate in Zedelgem.

"There is a major discussion between people who think it should be given back and those who say 'keep what you got'," Arnou said.

But for local prosecutor Jean-Marie Berkvens, things could not be clearer: "Fraudulent concealment," he said, "carries a maximum jail penalty of two years."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aust shares flat amid profit taking

THE Australian sharemarket closed flat as investors reap profits from booming bank stocks and some worries about global growth.

The market was up 0.6 per cent for the week despite it posting losses from Wednesday onwards.

Despite some profit taking in the banks on Friday, Shaw Stockbroking senior dealer Jamie Spiteri said there was more substance in the market currently than there had been in recent years with the right stocks being rewarded.

"Liquidity has actually come back into the top-tiered sector of the market and become increasingly concentrated on those delivering reliable earnings and sustainable distributions to shareholders," he told AAP.

"The banks and financials are in the news because of their record performances in recent times and results that have come out this week, validating some of those uplifts in price."

Westpac posted an 11 per cent lift in first half net profit to $3.304 billion and announced a special dividend of 10 cents per share for shareholders, in addition to an 86 cents per share interim distribution.

Its shares fell 35 cents, or 1.03 per cent, to $33.55.

However the stock is up $7.51, or 29 per cent, for the year.

Of the other retail banks, ANZ rose 10 cents to $31.60, but NAB fell 10 cents to $33.74 and Commonwealth Bank was $1.44, or two per cent, lower at $71.06 after having traded above $73 earlier in the year.

Investment bank Macquarie Group reported a full year net profit of $851 million, up 17 per cent from the prior year and a little above market expectations.

In percentage terms, Macquarie Group rose the most of all stocks on the S&P/ASX200 on Friday, jumping 10.9 per cent, or $4.23, to $43.11.

JB Hi-Fi shares leapt up after the retailer said it expected full-year profit to increase by up to 11 per cent to between $112 million and $116 million.

Its shares closed $1.25, or 8.06 per cent higher, at $16.75.

The big miners made gains amid some commodity price rises overnight.

BHP Billiton recovered some of its losses this week closing 18 cents higher at $31.97 and Rio Tinto gained 58 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $54.49.

KEY FACTS

* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down half a point at 5,129.5 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was 1.3 points higher at 5,105.4 points.

* The June share price index futures contract was six points higher at 5,127 points, with 23,146 contracts traded.

* The price of gold in Sydney was $US1,475.90 per fine ounce, up $US20.60 on Wednesday's closing price of $US1,455.30.

* National turnover was 1.27 billion securities worth $4.33 billion.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More