New test may help with Bladder cancer

A SIMPLE urine test may be able to distinguish between aggressive and low-grade bladder cancers, allowing doctors to tailor personalised treatments, say scientists.

Researchers measured levels of a protein shed by bladder tumours in 600 patients. They found that higher amounts of the protein, EpCAM, in the urine were associated with more aggressive cancers.

Study author Dr Douglas Ward, from the University of Birmingham, said: "This protein could be used to help doctors to decide what the best course of investigation or treatment for the patients is, and may prevent unnecessary delays.

"We've known for some time that the protein EpCAM is released from some tumour cells but it wasn't clear whether it would be useful as a way to decide the best investigation and treatment for patients suspected of having bladder cancer. We are now planning further studies to test the benefits of urine biomarker testing to patients and the NHS."

Each year around 10,300 bladder cancers are diagnosed in the UK and 5,000 people die from the disease.

In many cases, the tumours are superficial and do not pose a significant risk to life. Invasive cancers that spread into the surrounding muscles of the bladder are less common but can be fatal.

Martin Ledwick, head information nurse at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: "This research has shed new light on a protein that we've known for some time is linked to certain types of cancer. Developing a urine test to work out how aggressive or advanced a patient's tumour is could replace the need for more invasive and costlier tests used by doctors at the moment."

The research is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

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Haiyan rebuilding to take five years

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has soared past 5600 and continues to rise. Source: AAP

REBUILDING areas devastated by a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines will take up to five years and cost more than two billion dollars, officials said.

The comments came as the death toll from Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the country, continued to rise.

On Saturday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 5,632 people had been confirmed dead while 1,759 were still missing following the category five storm earlier this month.

"The total rehabilitation will take three to five years, depending on the pace of our support system and the projects we implement," Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the NDRRMC, said.

He told reporters that President Benigno Aquino did not want to merely repair the damage but wants the new structures to be better than those that were standing before the storm.

"Our president wants the rehabilitation to be 'build-back better communities," so they can withstand future storms," del Rosario said.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said: "We are looking at over a hundred billion pesos ($A2.42 billion) of reconstruction, from livelihood, commerce, social services," as well as infrastructure and power facilities.

That figure does not include the huge amounts already spent on immediate relief for the millions of people who were injured or left without food, water or shelter.

About 15 to 20 billion pesos will go to providing shelter with some 60,000 to 80,000 families to be re-settled in two to three years, said Singson.

This will include the people whose homes were destroyed by the storm as well as those who will have to move out of a recently-declared 40-metre "no-build zone" from the coastline, Singson added.

The zone is intended to prevent a repetition of the large number of deaths that occurred after Haiyan brought massive storm surges that flattened seaside communities.

A spokeswoman for the local UN office, Orla Fagan, told a news conference on Friday that donors had forked out $US164 million ($A180.41 million) so far.

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Plane crash in Alaska, four dead

A PLANE crash near the remote western Alaska village of Saint Marys has killed four of the 10 people aboard, including a baby boy, an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman said.

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UN report on trauma of Syrian refugee kids

The UN warns Syrian refugee children are paying a cruel price as civil war rips their country apart. Source: AAP

SYRIAN refugee children are paying a cruel price as civil war rips their country apart, the United Nations warns in a report with heart-rending testimony from youngsters driven from their homes.

"This is impossible to forget. It's like someone has stabbed me with a knife when I remember," 15-year-old Taha, who saw seven corpses near his house in Syria, told interviewers with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

He and scores of other Syrian refugee children in Jordan and Lebanon were interviewed for a 60-page UNHCR report, starkly laying out the trauma of young exiles from a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.

The children's last names were not revealed, to protect them and their families.

"It is important that this human face of the refugee crisis is not forgotten," Volker Turk, UNHCR head of international protection, told journalists in Geneva on Friday.

"And if you look at what children face, they illustrate very strongly what this crisis is all about," he said.

Children make up about half of the more than 2.2 million Syrians who have fled their homeland, according to UN numbers of registered refugees.

Syria's neighbours meanwhile estimate some three million Syrians have already left the war-ravaged country, which means around 1.5 million Syrian children are living as refugees.

"Looking back over the last 20 years, the Syria refugee crisis for us is unparalleled since the Rwanda crisis," Turk said, referring to the 1994 genocide in the African nation.

He pointed out that children also represent about half of the 6.5 million people driven from their homes but who remain inside Syria.

In the report, the children describe in words and with drawings the horrors they have witnessed and the turmoil within.

"There is blood up to people's knees in Syria," said 17-year-old Sala.

And 16-year-old Maher, who was tortured in Syria and whose father remains missing there, said: "My first wish would be to go back to Syria and to have my father released."

Some of the children also drew pictures of weapons of war and bodies.

"The idea of home and warmth is gone with a stroke," said Turk.

"There is a lot of psychological scarring and a lot of trauma ... You see it in sleeplessness, children being very withdrawn, there is stuttering, bed-wetting."

Anger was also common, with some boys wanting to return to Syria to fight.

Other scars are physical: 741 Syrian children were treated for war wounds in Lebanon in the first six months of this year, and 1000 cared for in the vast Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan.

The massive influx of Syrians has stretched food, water, healthcare and accommodation resources to the limit in the host countries, and also overwhelmed their education systems.

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German policeman kills, mutilates victim

Baby, family allowed to stay

AN asylum-seeker family from Myanmar with a sick newborn baby will be allowed to stay in Australia for the time being.

14 reasons we hate cyclists

THEY'VE been described by some haters as "cockroaches of the road'' and a threat to civilisation. We uncover the reasons cyclists are loathed.

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Toddler found walking down NSW road

A TODDLER has been found wandering along a main road on the NSW mid-north coast.

A driver spotted the one-year-old boy while heading through Edgeworth, near Lake Macquarie, on Friday night, police said.

The boy is in good health and has been taken to the Toronto police station.

A door knock is underway as police search for the toddler's parents.

Anyone with information about the child or his parents is asked to contact police.

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Russian court releases Aussie activist

Jailed Australian activist Colin Russell is set to appeal his detention in Russia on Friday. Source: AAP

GREENPEACE activist Colin Russell has been released on bail from a Russian jail.

The Australian was the last of the Arctic 30 being held in detention in St Petersburg, Russia, after his fellow activists were released in the past week.

A Russian court on Thursday released Mr Russell, with Greenpeace tweeting: "Excellent news! Colin Russell from Australia is granted bail."

Mr Russell's wife Christine, who departed Australia for Russia this week, said this was wonderful news.

"My daughter and I are one step closer to being in the arms of my darling Col. I am so relieved that my beautiful, peaceful man will soon be out of detention," she said in a statement released by Greenpeace.

Mr Russell, from Tasmania, was the radio operator aboard the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise. He and the other 29 activists were detained in September following a protest against Russian oil drilling in the Arctic Sea.

He was the last to be released on bail after 71 days in detention.

Like those already released, Mr Russell will have to post bail of two million roubles ($A66,190).

Greenpeace International will put up the bail with the expectation that Mr Russell will be released by the weekend.

However, he and the others still face charges of hooliganism, downgraded from the initial charges of piracy.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief executive David Ritter said this was an enormous relief.

"We will not rest until Col and the rest of the crew no longer face these ridiculous charges for what was a peaceful attempt to hang a banner off an oil platform," he said in a statement.

"The crew was there to raise awareness of the risk of spills to the pristine Arctic and for this they should be congratulated, not punished."

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the government welcomed the decision to grant Mr Russell bail and looked forward to his early release from detention.

"Australian officials are seeking urgent clarification of the bail conditions that will apply to Mr Russell," he said.

"The government will continue to urge that Russian authorities extend due legal process to Mr Russell during the remainder of the investigation period."

The spokesman said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would continue to monitor developments in the case.

If necessary, she will follow up her recent representations to her Russian counterparts.

Officials from the Australian Embassy in Moscow are continuing to provide consular support to Mr Russell and are planning to visit him as soon as practical, he said.

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Rio approves $400m for iron ore expansion

Rio Tinto has allocated $400 million to increase its iron ore production to 360 million tonnes. Source: AAP

MINING giant Rio Tinto will spend $400 million to expand its Pilbara iron ore production capacity to 360 million tonnes per annum.

Mine production capacity will increase by more than 60 million tonnes a year between 2014 and 2017.

The rapid expansion is expected to be achieved through boosted production at existing mines, productivity gains and the development of the Silvergrass mine.

"The majority of the low-cost growth will be delivered in the next two years with mine production of more than 330 million tonnes in 2015," Rio said in a statement.

Rio plans to reach a run-rate capacity of 290 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by the end of the first half of 2014 after completing the first phase of its expanded port rail and mine operations.

The second phase of expansion of the port, rail and power infrastructure to get to 360 mtpa is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.

Rio recently said it was confident of hitting its 2013 iron ore production target of 265 million tonnes.

But Rio has deferred an investment decision on Silvergrass until the third quarter of 2014, and a decision on the proposed Koodaideri mine has been deferred until 2016.

It comes after Rio targeted a reduction of $US5 billion ($A5.49 billion) in its overall operating cost cuts by the end of 2014.

Chief executive Sam Walsh said the expansion of the company's Pilbara operations represented the most attractive investment opportunity in the sector.

"It's in line with my commitment to be totally focussed on only allocating capital to opportunities that will generate the best returns to shareholders," Mr Walsh said in a statement.

The expansion would be delivered at an estimated capital cost of more than $3 billion below previous expectations, he said.

Analysts were expecting $US5 billion to be allocated on an iron ore expansion to achieve 360 million tonnes a year.

The expansion is subject to government and joint venture approvals.

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Nigella's PA spent $86,000 monthly on card

MILLIONAIRE art dealer Charles Saatchi's accountant has told a London court he did not tell his boss and his ex-wife, Nigella Lawson, his suspicions that their personal assistants were spending thousands of pounds of their money as he did not want to bother them with "trivial matters".

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Indigenous smoking falls but still high

SMOKING rates among indigenous people have fallen by 10 per cent in a decade, but are still far higher than the rest of the community.

New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show 41 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 or over smoked each day in 2012-13.

That's a significant decrease from 51 per cent in 2002.

But the smoking rate in the rest of the community was 20.4 per cent of men and 16.3 per cent of women in 2011-12.

Close the Gap co-chairs Mick Gooda and Kirstie Parker said the figures show measures to improve the health of indigenous people could work, but sustained long-term commitment was needed.

"The decline in smoking is good news but health outcomes for our communities will continue to reflect the long-term damage caused by the high level of smoking. And it will take time for the closing the gap initiatives to be reflected in health data," Mr Gooda said in a statement.

Ms Parker said improving the health of indigenous people had to remain a national priority.

"Our people are significantly more likely than other Australians to experience major health problems such as heart or circulatory disease (twice as likely), diabetes (three times more likely), and almost one-third of participants reporting psychological distress," she said.

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East Timor again raises Aust spying claim

East Timor has again raised allegations that Australia bugged its leaders during talks in 2004. Source: AAP

AMID the furore over allegations of spying on Indonesia's leaders, East Timor has repeated claims that Australia bugged its leaders during delicate negotiations on the Timor Sea resources treaty in 2004.

East Timor is pursuing international arbitration to have the 2006 treaty overturned, a process it launched last December after the Australian government failed to respond to the bugging claims.

But it says it would halt this process if the Australian government gave a detailed response to their spying allegations.

Agio Pereira, president of East Timor's council of ministers, said his country's development depended on revenue from the Timor Sea Greater Sunrise gas field.

"When you bug the negotiation team's evaluation of the impact of their negotiations, you do have an advantage. It's more than unfair," he told ABC television on Wednesday.

"It actually creates incredible disadvantage to the other side."

Former Labor MP Janelle Saffin, now a legal adviser for East Timor, said there had to be protocols around spying.

"If spying has been taking place and somebody is able to gain a commercial advantage, that is certainly of deep, deep concern," she told the ABC.

East Timor claims Australian intelligence bugged the East Timor cabinet room where their negotiators discussed tactics.

Canberra journalist Paul Daley, an adviser to the East Timor government during the negotiations, told the ABC they were advised that all their communications would be monitored.

To avoid eavesdropping during negotiations in 2005, East Timor negotiators left the foreign affairs building in Canberra and held their discussions in the nearby National Gallery sculpture garden, leaving all their phones 100 metres away.

Mr Pereira said compelling evidence would be presented at a preliminary hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague next week.

"It's not about money. It's about sovereignty, it's about certainty and it's about the future of our future generations. It's really important for Timor," he said.

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UK man spared jail for Venables tweet

• From: AAP
• November 27, 2013 11:00PM

A UK man who tweeted images purporting to be of James Bulger's killer Jon Venables as an adult has been given a 14-month suspended prison sentence.

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Tiananmen leader denied in bid to return

THE second most wanted student leader from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests has been turned back from Hong Kong in his latest attempt to surrender to Chinese authorities and return home.

It was the fourth such attempt by Wu'er Kaixi, who said his lack of success so far was the result of the "absurd" actions by the Chinese government.

Wu'er, who has lived in exile for more than two decades, is stuck in a situation where he's both wanted for arrest and, like many other dissidents who have fled, prevented from returning to China.

Wu'er confirmed in a text message that he was being sent back home to Taiwan.

He had tried to turn himself in to authorities in Hong Kong as his flight from Taipei, Taiwan, transited through the semiautonomous Chinese city on Monday on the way to Bangkok.

He wanted officials in Hong Kong to extradite him to mainland China.

Wu'er was accompanied by Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Albert Ho, who also assisted Edward Snowden as the National Security Agency contractor tried to clarify his legal situation while hiding out in Hong Kong in June.

Wu'er said in a blog post that he wants to go back to China to see his ailing parents and other family members, whom he hasn't seen since he fled into exile 24 years ago.

His parents have also been denied permission to visit him.

"What I'm doing today is a result of the Chinese government's absurd act of ordering my arrest, while at the same time refusing to allow me to return," he wrote.

He added that he wants to be reunited with his relatives "even if the reunion would have to take place behind a glass wall".

In 2009, he was denied entry to Macau, which, like nearby Hong Kong, is a specially administered Chinese region.

Last year, he tried to turn himself into the Chinese Embassy in Washington. In 2010, he was arrested when he tried to enter the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo.

Wu'er rose to fame as a pajama-clad hunger striker haranguing then-Chinese Premier Li Peng during a televised meeting during the Tiananmen protests in Beijing.

He was named No. 2 on the Chinese government's list of 21 wanted student leaders after the military crushed the protests, killing at least hundreds.

He has lived in exile in the United States and the self-ruled island of Taiwan since fleeing China.

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Syria peace conference set for January 22

SYRIA'S government and opposition will on January 22 sit down at the negotiating table for the first time since the country's civil war erupted in 2011.

In a statement announcing the date on Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the warring sides would finally meet for the long-elusive Geneva II peace negotiations which repeatedly have been postponed.

"The conflict in Syria has raged for too long. It would be unforgivable not to seize this opportunity to bring an end to the suffering and destruction it has caused," he said.

Ban hailed efforts by the United States and Russia, and UN and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi to pave the way for the conference.

"We will go to Geneva with a mission of hope. The Geneva conference is the vehicle for a peaceful transition that fulfils the legitimate aspirations of all the Syrian people for freedom and dignity, and which guarantees safety and protection to all communities in Syria," he said.

The announcement came as Brahimi held closed-door meeting in Geneva with senior US and Russian officials to pin down details for the conference.

"The purpose is to finalise all the preparations and agree on details for Geneva II," Brahimi's spokeswoman Khawla Mattar told AFP.

The international community has struggled to broker talks between the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels battling him since a bloody March 2011 crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests.

The increasingly sectarian civil war had claimed more than 120,000 lives, driven more than two million people from the country and left millions more within Syria reliant on international aid to survive.

The so-called Geneva II conference is meant as a follow-up to one held in June 2012, where world powers issued a call for a Syrian transition government.

But Syria's warring sides failed to agree on whether Assad or his inner circle could play a role in the process, and amid spiralling fighting plans for Geneva II have repeatedly been put on hold.

Russia, Assad's key world-power ally, has been pressing the Syrian government to co-operate on the conference. The United States, Britain and France have been working on the fractured Syrian opposition.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition has agreed to attend a peace conference.

But its authority is threatened by Islamist and other militant groups which have warned that anyone taking part in talks will be deemed a traitor.

The coalition has also demanded that Assad stand down, while the government, in turn, has insisted that the president's future cannot be a matter for discussion.

Ban said the goal was "full implementation" of the 2012 document, "including the establishment, based on mutual consent, of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, including over military and security entities".

He said he expected all Syria players to come to Geneva with a "clear understanding" of that aim, and a "serious intention" to end the war.

Iran is also a key supporter of Assad, and Russia has sought to have Tehran involved in any peace talks, raising hackles in the West and in Saudi Arabia, a key opposition supporter.

But hopes of new headway were raised after world powers on Sunday reached a landmark deal with Iran to rein in the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear program, after almost five days of intensive talks in Geneva.

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More spy revelations could be on way

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott could be constrained in responding to Indonesia over spying claims because of concerns there could be more damaging revelations still to be revealed, it's been suggested.

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