THE driver of a car that had five passengers inside climbed out the window and stood on the roof of his moving car on a major Melbourne freeway, police allege.
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FOUR hikers have been found after a search and rescue was held in Tasmania's south.
The group, which included three teenagers, had been walking since Saturday morning (AEST) and became lost on the Snug Tiers track near Pelverata Falls.
A search and rescue team from Tasmania Police found the party and they were transported via helicopter.
The group is being checked by ambulance personnel but there are no injuries.
A dog was also rescued in the party.
A TRAIL bike rider has been killed after hitting a tree south of Newcastle in NSW.
The man, 21, was riding in bushland at Freemans Waterhole when he lost control of the bike and smashed into a tree about 2.15pm (AEST) on Saturday, police say.
Police did CPR on the man, from Beresfield in Newcastle, but he died at the scene.
Muslim community spokesman and polygamy supporter Keysar Trad is releasing a book of love poetry. Source: AAP
OUTSPOKEN Muslim community spokesman Keysar Trad is making a foray into the literary world, releasing a book of love poems.
Mr Trad, who has previously said polygamy should be recognised, will launch his book Forays of the Heart at Glebe, in Sydney's inner-west, on Sunday.
The poems are described as "paeans of unrequited love directed at women other than his wife".
The well-known Australian Muslim said the poetry was written in a "sense of fantastical lyrical compulsion".
"I felt the need to share them so that others can benefit from these journeys," Mr Trad said.
The book is due to be launched by Liberal MP Philip Ruddock.
The government will decide on the takeover of Australia's largest grain handler by December 17. Source: AAP
TREASURER Joe Hockey has given the new federal government more time to consider the implications of a takeover of Australia's largest grains handler, GrainCorp.
A decision on a $3.4 billion offer from US grain giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will now be made by December 17, Mr Hockey said.
"Given the size of this transaction and the complex nature of the issues involved, I have decided to extend the statutory time period," he said.
"This will allow sufficient time for the new government to carefully consider all the relevant issues and advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board before making a decision."
The Nationals are opposed to the sale, as it would mean ADM, Cargill and Glencore would control almost 60 per cent of Australia's wheat shipments and put most of the nation's grain export infrastructure in foreign hands.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in June it would not oppose the $3.4 billion takeover.
IT'S a business model, bikie-style. First, sell you drugs to get you hooked and in debt.
SERIAL rapist Robert John Fardon could be back in jail tonight after a Court of Appeal Judge granted a stay of an order that released him.
YOU know you're a Brisbane local when you nod along to this funny video and can name half the places on this list of hidden gems.
CORONER says fatal pilot shouldn't have been in air, but it's cold comfort to passenger's partner.
A SECURITY guard was injured, an attendant locked himself in an office and a suspect was chased by residents in separate robberies overnight.
AN out-of-control bushfire burning near a small town on the NSW mid-north coast has been downgraded, the Rural Fire Service says.
The scrub fire is burning in the Crowdy Bay National Park, north of the town of Harrington in the Greater Taree region.
The RFS late on Thursday night downgraded the blaze from "watch and act" to "advice".
Earlier, the blaze crossed containment lines and was burning close to properties at Coralville and Diamond Head Roads.
More than 80 firefighters and six aircraft battled the blaze through the day.
The fire has so far burned through around 3000 hectares of scrub, the RFS said on its website.
Firefighters are back-burning where they can, including at the back of some streets in the township.
About 40 holidaymakers had to be evacuated from a camping area at Diamond Head earlier on Thursday due to the blaze.
A number of roads in the area are closed.
AN early morning stroll and an unfortunate encounter with a sprinkler has sparked a huge claim against a Queensland council. Find out where, and how much.
SECOND man charged with planting a golf ball bomb that maimed a teenager's hands near Brisbane. He was charged after coming out of a coma.
BUDGET cuts and changes to Australia's official aid program to Asia threatens to undermine child vaccination programs in the region, a senior children's health advocate warns.
Helen Evans, deputy chief executive of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), says the recent federal government decisions to restructure the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) raises fears over future support for programs in the region.
"Australia has had for a long time a very strong investment in the region and AusAID has been a very strong supporter of the development of health services," Ms Evans said.
"It's been a very strong supporter of the GAVI Alliance that I work for because it sees the obvious value in immunisation," she told AAP.
"I'm certainly aware of the fact that the new Prime Minister (Tony Abbott) has made an announcement in terms of reducing AusAID's budget and we're waiting to see the impact of that," she said.
AusAID has played a key role in the GAVI Alliance initiatives in Indonesia under a pentavalent vaccination program to protect children against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis, and influenza.
The GAVI Alliance partners developing countries, donor governments such as Australia, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children's Fund, World Bank, the vaccine industry, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In Myanmar, AusAID had earlier this year committed more than $82 million in 2013-14 and had been set to grow the assistance to more than $100 million a year by 2015-16, prior to Australia's federal election in September that swept Mr Abbott and the coalition to power.
But Ms Evans, an Australian, says she remains hopeful the federal government would continue "to see the value (in) making an investment in these sorts of health initiatives".
But she acknowledges the challenges in delivering programs if the budget cuts to Australia's aid program are carried through.
"It would certainly make it harder if there is a reduction; yes, there's no doubt about that," she said.
The GAVI Alliance programs have supported the immunisation of about 370 million children in developing countries since its inception in 2000 amid signs of flagging support for vaccination programs and has helped prevent more than 5.5 million deaths from diseases ranging from hepatitis B to polio.
"Vaccination is perhaps the best investment a country can make in their children's health," and seen as supporting healthy development towards adulthood, Ms Evans said.
"So it's (about) poverty reduction, it's social, economic development investment."
In Laos this week, Ms Evans oversaw the launch of a new GAVI Alliance program to vaccinate girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV) to curb rising rates of cervical cancer in the country. Each year in Laos about 500 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer triggered by HPV. As many as half are expected to die from the cancer.
"This is a vaccine that's incredibly effective and can prevent about 70 per cent of the cancers," she said. Cervical cancer is now the leading killer of women globally as maternal mortality rates decline.
MICROSOFT handed Australian government agents personal information about more than a thousand users in the first half of 2013, a transparency report reveals.
Between January and June, authorities made 1219 requests for access to data relating to 1462 accounts.
Microsoft granted 1050 (86 per cent) of those requests - handing over information such as email addresses, names, locations and internet protocol (IP) addresses.
However, the company did not disclose user-generated "content data" - which includes emails, documents and photographs.
Six requests did not meet legal requirements and were rejected, while the company was unable to find the requested data in 163 cases.
The report is the second Microsoft has released on government data requests.
The first revealed the company received 2238 requests from Australian authorities last year.
Globally, 64 governments made 37,000 requests concerning 67,000 accounts. More than 70 per cent came from the US, UK, France, Germany and Turkey.
Microsoft provided information 80 per cent of the time but only one in fifty requests led the company to release sensitive "content data".
The requests usually relate to criminal investigations but some involve "imminent emergencies" such as suicide threats.
The company sought to reassure users, stating on its website that fewer than one in every 10,000 users were affected by law enforcement requests during the reporting period.
Microsoft was unable to confirm the number of active Australian users.
"We place a premium on respecting and protecting the privacy of our users," the company said in the report.
"At the same time, Microsoft recognises that law enforcement plays a critically important role in keeping our users and our technology safe and free from abuse or exploitation."
Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo! have all released similar reports in recent months.
Transparency has emerged as a sensitive issue this year in the wake of leaks by former US government contractor Edward Snowden, which revealed that nine companies had turned over user data to the US National Security Agency.
Last month, Yahoo! released its first global transparency report, which revealed it had received 704 requests from Australian agents in the first six months of 2013, regarding 799 accounts or users.
The company granted full access to "content data" in response to 11 requests - handing over information such as the content of emails, uploaded files and Yahoo address, calendar and notepad entries.
It handed over "non-content data" in response to 305 of the requests, rejected 242 and found no data in 146.
Facebook's first transparency report, released in August, reported the social networking site received 546 requests regarding 601 Australian-held accounts in the first six months of 2013.
It granted information in response to 64 per cent of the requests.
In the same month, Twitter revealed it received 58 information requests from Australian authorities in the first half of the year, compared to fewer than ten in the second half of 2012. The microblogging site responded with information in a quarter of cases.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) recently confirmed to AAP that it made requests for data from Facebook but would not disclose the number or their nature.
PASSENGERS onboard the first A380 to land in Brisbane say the world's largest airliner is a quiet, smooth ride.
FIRST it was unseasonal heat. Now farmers on the Darling Downs are predicting a mouse plague - just days before the wheat, barley and chick pea harvests.
Members of rival bikie gangs have appeared in court after a series of Melbourne drive-by shootings. Source: AAP
MEMBERS of the rival Comanchero and Hells Angels bikie gangs will face separate court hearings following a number of drive-by shootings in Melbourne.
Police charged eight men after raids across Melbourne on Tuesday night, during which guns, explosives and cash were seized.
The raids came a day after the Hells Angels Seaford clubhouse in the city's south was sprayed with bullets.
Hells Angels member Dennis Basic, 33, of Frankston, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with 13 offences, including making explosives and illegally possessing seven guns.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic was told the members of the two gangs would require separate dates for their committal mention hearings.
Comanchero members Gemino Aloia, 26, of Glenroy, Bemir Saracevic, 26, of Cranbourne North, Emir Jaha, 27, of Mt Martha, and Mark Balsillie, 29, of Gladstone Park also faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Additional police and security officers were present in the court room and outside the building.
Basic's charges were adjourned until December 20, while the other four men were remanded to appear on the previous day.
None of the five applied for bail.
Police say the Seaford attack was in retaliation for a suspected Hells Angels shoot-up of two businesses owned by a rival Comanchero member.
High-powered military weapons such as AK-47s or M1 carbines were used in both shootings, police say.
Also charged after the raids are Bashkim Gashi, 30, of Dandenong North and Mohammed Khodr, 26, of Balwyn North.
All three are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
A ninth man, aged 22, was charged late on Wednesday with drugs, weapons and explosives offences.
Police said the man, with alleged links to the Hells Angels, was arrested in Carrum Downs by Special Operations Group officers.
The man, from Carrum Downs, has been bailed to appear at the Frankston Magistrates Court on November 27.
IF nine out of 10 doctors said unless you underwent chemotherapy you were going to die, what would you do?
That's how former prime minister Julia Gillard tried explaining the importance of pricing carbon to individuals when it came to fighting climate change.
"We've got an overwhelming majority of scientists telling us our planet needs to do this. Are you really going to be the one who bets that the vast majority of them are wrong with something as important as the planet's future?" Ms Gillard said during a forum with Anne Summers in Melbourne on Tuesday.
"If you could get them one at a time, you could make a difference."
However, she came unstuck when faced with the task of explaining its importance to groups.
"There is this weirdness that goes around climate change science," she said.
"In groups brought together, the toxicity that can be in social media, it just got this bizarre and explosive carry on around it that I think was hard to explain and is still hard to explain."
In just her second major public appearance since being dethroned on June 26, Ms Gillard admitted she also made a political error in conceding the scheme she had introduced was a "carbon tax".
"It is an emissions trading scheme with a fixed price for the first three years, and any iteration of an emissions trading scheme basically starts with a price that someone fixes," she said.
Ms Gillard also touched on the infamous "Ditch the Witch" anti-carbon tax rally featuring Tony Abbott outside Parliament House in 2011.
She said while the crude signs at the rally did offend her, it was the benign media response to the incident that she found really amazing.
"If someone was there with a sign that said 'Ditch the black -insert bad word here-', if that happened there would be a huge outcry about how disgusting that is," she said.
"Yet when it was gender, it just didn't get that reaction and that shocked me as much as the signs themselves."
Ms Gillard also expressed frustration at the coalition having just one woman in the current cabinet, saying it was not only disheartening, but hopeless.
"Here we are having gone back, back decades in time," she said.
"What made me a little bit more optimistic than that statistic was that the reaction to it happened in the media and the community conversation for days and days."
With the majority of the questions focused on misogyny and sexism, Ms Gillard had to laugh when an 11-year-old girl asked her if she actually had any fun while serving as prime minister.
"I don't want the whole thing to sound Dickensian, like I was in some dark, satanic mill," she said.
"I wasn't. I was living at The Lodge, surrounded by wonderful people and we had a lot of laughs."
She singled out retired independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, as well as retired Nationals whip Kay Hull, as giving her the most support from outside the Labor Party.
PALADIN managing Director John Borshoff had his pay packet halved to $2.5 million in the 2012/13 financial year after the uranium miner doubled its full year loss.
Mr Borshoff's pay, including bonuses, was down from $5.2 million in the previous year, Paladin's annual report shows.
Paladin Energy recently said it plans to boost production and push ahead with the partial sale of its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia, after its annual loss doubled to $US420.9 million.
The company managed to achieve its 2012/13 production targets but it continues to slash costs due to weak global uranium prices.
Managing Director John Borshoff said forecast cost reductions for the 2012/13 year were exceeded at both mine sites, Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera mines.
"Further gains are expected for fiscal 2014," Mr Borshoff said.
A minority interest sale in Langer Heinrich offered the only opportunity in the world for a party to acquire a valuable equity-level participation in an operating uranium mining project, he said.
It was almost impossible for the mining industry to meet the projected demand over at least the next decade and a half, he said.
Chairman Rick Crabb said the Paladin board remained committed to asset sales.
"The company has moved to reduce costs throughout the organisation such as significantly deferring exploration and, unfortunately, making redundant a number of our staff," he said.
UPDATE: Firefighters have been praised for containing a ferocious blaze before it could destroy a second home in Brisbane's southeast.
UPDATE: Serial troublemaker and accused footy field penis biter Anthony Watts has been questioned over today's bikie brawl at a Coast smoothie shop.
THICK smoke is causing delays on the Bruce Highway, only hours after it was re-opened following a semi-trailer smash.
BREAKING: Phones services restored after a major outage across Australia today but Telstra admits it can't pinpoint the cause.
QUEENSLANDERS are being called on to join the State Government's war on bikies.
About 500 party members and supporters gathered in Perth to hear ALP leadership contenders speak. Source: AAP
BILL Shorten came to a Labor party members' forum sausage sizzle in Perth dressed in a smart-casual shirt and trousers, while Anthony Albanese wore a Rip Curl shirt and jeans.
Perhaps that says something about their different approaches to tackling the federal Labor leadership contest.
Despite their differences, the pair have kept their rivalry friendly and as each addressed the 500 people gathered at Hyde Park on Monday - a public holiday in Western Australia - both agreed to work with whoever won the leadership battle.
For the first time, rank and file party members will have their say in choosing Labor's leader and both contenders were given 10 minutes to convince members why they should be leader.
Mr Albanese said he believed he could unite the party, reminding members that he was leader of the house when it was a "fairly difficult" parliament that still managed to pass 596 pieces of legislation.
"I think I'm in a very strong position to advance Labor's cause, to defend our legacy, hold the Abbott government to account, but also help develop Labor's new agenda," he said to cheers from the crowd.
Mr Albanese also used part of his speech as an opportunity to remind Western Australians that the new coalition government had slashed the amount of federal infrastructure funding going to the state.
He said Prime Minister Tony Abbott had left a $500 million hole in the WA government's plans to build a light rail network through Perth's northern suburbs and a new rail line to the city's airport.
Mr Abbott had also withdrawn funding for other projects including $140.6 million for three new interchanges along the Tonkin Highway, $307.8 million for upgrades to the Great Northern Highway between Muchea and Wubin, and $174 million for improvements to the North West Coastal Highway, Mr Albanese said.
Mr Shorten was more impassioned during his address, telling members he wanted to make Mr Abbott history and present a brave Labor party.
"We need to be a party who people want to vote for because they like us, not because they just don't like the other mob," he said.
"We need to make it clear that we're not anti-mining.
"I just don't confuse people who own mining companies with miners. The miners do the work."
Mr Shorten said he also wanted to tackle domestic violence and promised that factions would not run Labor.
The former union boss also drew applause when he said Australia should be pro-immigration.
"We should not shy away from saying the refugees are a legitimate part of the Australian population," he said.
Among the attendees was WA Labor leader Mark McGowan and opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt.
Mr McGowan told reporters the event gave people a feeling of empowerment and made sure leadership aspirants were in touch with members.
The leadership contest will be decided by a nationwide ballot of party members before the caucus meets for a vote on October 10.
Clive Palmer's lead has shrunk to just three votes in the Queensland federal seat of Fairfax. Source: AAP
CLIVE Palmer's lead has shrunk to just three votes in the Queensland federal seat of Fairfax.
A recount of preferences is under way in the Sunshine Coast seat after Mr Palmer finished 36 votes ahead of Liberal National Party candidate Ted O'Brien when the Australian Electoral Commission completed initial counting after the September 7 poll.
Margins less than 100 trigger a recount.
UPDATE: Bikies deliberately targeted policewomen in an unprecedented restaurant brawl and siege on a Gold Coast police station, a senior officer claims.
A SERIAL child sex offender has been released from an indefinite prison term despite a history of flouting the law.
THIRTY of Queensland's bravest, most generous, most selfless, most caring and most inspirational have been honoured in the Pride of Australia Medal in Brisbane.
FORMER Racing Queensland director tells inquiry there was an opportunity to mount legal challenge over deal with gaming giant Tatts.
A VIDEO producer has created a hilarious video to deliver a very special message to her boss. Watch what she did here.
Kings of Leon have landed their third consecutive No.1 album on the ARIA chart. Source: AAP
KINGS of Leon have landed their third straight No.1 on the ARIA albums chart after their new album Mechanical Bull debuted at the top.
The Nashville rockers' sixth studio release bumps off Keith Urban's album Fuse, which drops down two spots to No.3.
Another new entry is Drake's Nothing Was the Same at No.2, which becomes his first Top 10 entry and highest charting album all in the same week.
Jason Derulo's third album Tattoos has debuted at No.5, becoming his third Top 10 album.
Jack Johnson is down three places to No.6 with From Here to Now to You, while the fourth Top 10 debut is Jessie J with Alive at No.7.
Pink's The Truth About Love has dropped two spots to No.8 and Rudimental's Home moves up five places to No.9.
Avicii's album True plummets eight places round out the Top 10.
Meanwhile Katy Perry's Roar has spent another week at No.1 on the singles chart.
The top three all hold steady this week, with Miley Cyrus at No.2 with Wrecking Ball and Redfoo at No.3 with Let's Get Ridiculous.
The big mover is John Newman with Love Me Again, which charges up four places, pushing Derulo's Talk Dirty down to No.5.
OneRepublic spends a third straight week at No.6 with Something I Need, Lana Del Rey is down a couple of places to No.7 with her Summertime Sadness and Drake climbs a place to a new peak of No.8 with Hold On, We're Going Home.
Avicii has slipped to No.9 with Wake Me Up, while Lorde is back up two places to No.10 with her EP The Love Club feat Royals.
AUSTRALIAN SINGLES CHART
1(1) Roar - Katy Perry (CAP/EMI)
2(2) Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus (RCA/SME)
3(3) Let's Get Ridiculous - Redfoo (INR/UMA)
4(8) Love Me Again - John Newman (ISL/UMA)
5(4) Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz (WAR)
6(6) Something I Need - OneRepublic (INR/UMA)
7(5) Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais (INR/UMA)
8(9) Hold on, We're Going Home - Drake Feat. Majid Jordan (UNI/UMA)
9(8) Wake Me Up - Avicii (UNI/UMA)
10(12) The Love Club Feat. Royals - Lorde (UNI/UMA)
AUSTRALIAN ALBUMS CHART
1(-) Mechanical Bull - Kings Of Leon (RCA/SME)
2(-) Nothing Was The Same - Drake (UNI/UMA)
3(1) Fuse - Keith Urban (CAP/EMI)
4(3) AM - Arctic Monkeys (DOM/EMI)
5(-) Tattoos - Jason Derulo (WAR)
6(3) From Here to Now to You - Jack Johnson (UNI/UMA)
7(-) Alive - Jessie J (UNI/UMA)
8(6) The Truth About Love - Pink (RCA/SME)
9(14) Home - Rudimental (WAR)
10(2) True - Avicii (UNI/UMA)
AUSTRALIAN STREAMING CHART
1(1) Roar - Katy Perry (EMI)
2(2) Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus (SME)
3(3) Wake Me Up - Avicii (UMA)
4(4) The Love Club EP - Lorde (UMA)
5(6) Counting Stars - OneRepublic (UMA)
6(5) Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz (WAR)
7(9) You Make Me - Avicii (UMA)
8(7) Burn - Ellie Goulding (UMA)
9(8) La La La - Naughty Boy Feat. Sam Smith (EMI)
10(10) Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke Feat. T.I. & Pharrell (UMA)
AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY CHART
1(1) Fuse - Keith Urban (CAP/EMI)
2(2) The Very Best Of Slim Dusty - Slim Dusty (EMI)
3(-) The Buegrass Album - Alan Jackson (SME)
4(3) The Great Country Songbook - Troy Cassar-Daley & Adam Harvey (SME)
5(-) A.M - Chris Young (RCA/SME)
6(6) Red - Taylor Swift (BIG/UMA)
7(3) 40 Years Of Pride - Charley Pride (RCA/SME)6 (WAR)
8(6) A Hell Of A Career! - John Williamson (WAR)
9(7) Crash My Party - Luke Bryan (CAP/EMI)
10(8) The Story So Far - Keith Urban (CAP/EMI)
ITALY is mired in a fresh political quagmire after Silvio Berlusconi pushed his party's ministers to quit the fragile coalition government, a move Prime Minister Enrico Letta has called a "crazy act".
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THE state should back institutions such as schools and courthouses that require individuals to remove face-coverings worn by some Muslim women, British Prime Minister David Cameron says.
Cameron said he did not believe there should be a ban on wearing the niqab - which conceals the whole face except for the eyes - in the streets.
But he made clear he was "happy" to look at the issue of whether the state needed to do more to back up institutions which choose to implement a ban.
"We are a free country and people should be free to wear whatever clothes they like in public or in private," Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.
"But we should support those institutions that need to put in place rules so that those institutions can work properly.
"So for instance in a school, if they want that particular dress code, I believe the government should back them. The same for courts, the same for immigration.
"I think we should back those institutions that want to have sensible policies that actually have a particular purpose."
Asked if he would respond to a judge's suggestion that there should be guidelines for the country on the wearing of the niqab in court, Cameron said: "I'm very happy to look at that.
"Obviously, in court the jury needs to be able to look at someone's face. I've sat on a jury, that's part of what you do.
"When someone is coming into the country, an immigration officer needs to see someone's face.
"In a school, it's very difficult to teach unless you can look at your pupils in the eye.
"It's a free country and I think a free country should have free and independent institutions. No plans for anything on the street, but if the government needs to do more to back up institutions, then I would be happy to look at that."
