US military aircraft hit in South Sudan

TWO US military aircraft responding to the outbreak of violence in South Sudan have been hit by incoming fire, wounding three US service members.

Two officials said the aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.

One of the wounded service members was reported to be in a critical condition.

Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda.

From there, the service members flew on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.

Both officials demanded anonymity to share information not yet made public. Both officials work in East Africa and are in a position to know the information.

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Saudi Arabia reports death from new virus

SAUDI Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 56 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said Saturday that a 73-year-old, chronically ill man had died in a Riyadh hospital.

He was among 136 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.

The ministry also says three new cases have been detected, including two foreign women working in the kingdom's health care services and a Saudi man.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

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Security scare at NSW parliament house

Police have rushed in and grabbed a man from a car after a stand-off outside NSW Parliament. Source: AAP

A DISGRUNTLED former taxi driver who sparked a two-hour stand-off outside NSW Parliament has been charged.

Abdula Ganiji has been charged with threatening sabotage and possessing an explosive or article to damage property.

He has also been charged with threatening to destroy or damage property, police said.

It comes several hours after Ganiji sparked a lockdown of Macquarie Street in Sydney's CBD when he drove his white Chrysler sedan onto the footpath outside parliament at about 11.40am (AEDT) on Friday.

A large part of the street was quickly cordoned off and MPs and staff in parliament house were warned to keep clear of the front of the building.

For over two hours the 58-year-old from the Wollongong area passed lists of demands from inside the car to plain-clothes police negotiators.

Hundreds of city workers gathered at the police cordon and parliament went into partial lockdown, before the siege ended dramatically just before 2pm (AEDT).

There were loud bangs and flashes as up to a dozen heavily armed tactical officers swarmed the vehicle, smashing the car's windows and firing a canister of gas inside before dragging Ganiji into custody.

Police later said he had made threats of self harm, was known to police and was a regular visitor at parliament.

After he was handcuffed and dragged off for medical checks, police officers and firefighters removed a device from the car before conducting tests on the vehicle.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters the man had a container of flammable liquid, which AAP understands was petrol, which he was threatening to set alight.

Mr Murdoch praised the quick actions of police.

"When that man attempted to light a cigarette lighter, wind the windows of the car up with what we believe to be a container of flammable liquid in the vehicle, those officers put their lives on the line this afternoon and they resolved the situation in a peaceful manner," he said.

The man was receiving medical attention for minor cuts suffered in the struggle with police, Mr Murdoch said, but compared to the threats he was making those injuries were "very, very minor in the scheme of things".

"The mere fact we're in front of our state parliament, in the middle of Sydney in the middle of the day - certainly that posed a risk," Mr Murdoch said.

"(But) at no time was any member of the community at risk, no one in any building was at risk and importantly no members of parliament were at risk because of this incident.

"We were very comfortable at all times that we had the measure of the fellow."

Mr Murdoch could not confirm reports the man had sought a meeting with Premier Barry O'Farrell, who stayed inside parliament throughout.

"He was making certain demands of the police but we weren't in a position to meet those demands, nor were we ever in a position to entertain them," he said.

"Our whole tactic was to contain and negotiate with the man.

Ganiji last year staged a hunger strike for several days outside parliament about a $200 fine he received 15 years ago.

He had called on Mr O'Farrell to solve a dispute with his employer, Wollongong Radio Cabs.

Ganiji told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper last year he was fined by the company for misusing his taxi radio by clicking the buttons unnecessarily, causing problems on the communications network.

He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

Police said investigations into the incident were continuing.

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Man refused bail for cold-case murder

THREE decades after Sydney nurse Mary Louise Wallace went missing, a 61-year-old man has been charged with her murder and refused bail.

Ms Wallace, 33, went missing from Sydney's north shore in the early hours of September 24, 1983.

On the night she disappeared Ms Wallace had dinner and drinks with nursing colleagues at the Alpine Inn, in Crows Nest.

A 2010 inquest into her death heard she was last seen getting into a car with a man.

Ms Wallace was never seen again, and her body was never found.

Following three decades of investigations, including a 2010 coronial inquest and excavations at Lane Cove National Park, Robert Adams was arrested on Friday at his Gladesville home and refused bail at Parramatta Local Court.

Detective Chief Inspector John Lehmann said the man was known to police and had been the subject of intensive investigation.

"The evidence against him is quite comprehensive, which we'll be putting before the court," Det Chief Insp Lehmann told reporters.

He said police would put physical, forensic and DNA evidence before the court as well as witness statements he labelled "very important to our brief of evidence".

Homicide Squad Detective Superintendent Michael Willing said on Friday that police would continue searching for Ms Wallace's body.

Det Chief Insp Lehmann said Ms Wallace's friends and family were glad to hear an arrest had been made.

"They're very pleased with the result. They know it's just the start of a long court process," he said.

He called the arrest a "credit to the investigators who have put in tireless hours and an enormous amount of effort and dedication to this particular case".

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Xenophon wants new data-interception laws

FEDERAL independent Nick Xenophon wants changes to Australian telecommunications interception laws following calls for a narrowing of National Security Agency (NSA) powers.

A review board, set up by President Barack Obama in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaking of NSA secrets, has recommended a wide-ranging overhaul of its practices while preserving "robust" intelligence capabilities.

The panel issued 46 recommendations, including an end to retention of telephone "metadata" by the spy agency.

Senator Xenophon said the report was a "wake up call" and he would introduce legislation to curtail telecommunications interception powers in Australia.

The South Australian, who has previously called for a review of Australia's data surveillance practices, said if it was good enough for the US "then it's time we did the same thing".

"In the US legislation, there are safeguards for non-US citizens to avail themselves of the same procedures and judicial review as US citizens," he told AAP on Thursday.

"If the legislation doesn't pass it will be indeed ironic that Australian citizens will have more protection under US law than under their own laws."

Australia's domestic spy agencies have been under scrutiny after Snowdon leaks revealed the Defence Signals Directorate had tapped the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.

"All I'm asking for the prime minister and opposition to do is to support what our closest ally is doing," Senator Xenophon said.

Attorney-General George Brandis said he would not comment on the recommendations on the NSA's powers.

"We work with the intelligence agencies of our closest partners given the common threats we face, including terrorism," Senator Brandis said in a statement.

"We are committed to maintaining these relationships and protecting Australia's security interests and the safety of Australians at home and abroad.

"The Australian Government is committed to maintaining an appropriate balance between national security and privacy considerations."

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Strip club spruiker hit with drug charges

TWO women and a strip club spruiker have been charged with supplying drugs in Sydney's Kings Cross.

Following an investigation into the supply of prohibited drugs in strip clubs and licensed premises on the late night strip, detectives arrested a 31-year-old woman at her home in Glebe at around lunchtime on Wednesday.

Then, on Thursday morning, police arrested a 40-year-old woman.

Police allege the two women were supplying cocaine from strip clubs in the Potts Point area.

The pair have been charged with supplying prohibited drugs and have been granted bail to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court in January.

A a 20-year-old man was also arrested at Kings Cross Police Station on Thursday and charged with three counts of supplying a prohibited drug.

Police allege the man, who works as a spruiker for a strip club, was supplying cocaine outside the venue.

He was also given bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court in January.

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NSA spying needed to fight terror: Putin

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin says the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance is necessary to fight terrorism, but added that the government must "limit the appetite" of the agency with a clear set of ground rules.

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Britain to move to plastic banknotes

PLASTIC bank notes are to be issued by the Bank of England for the first time when the new STG5 ($A9.19) note featuring Sir Winston Churchill appears in 2016.

A STG10 ($A18.39) note featuring Jane Austen to follow around a year later will also be made from polymer rather than the cotton paper currently used, the Bank said.

It follows a three-year research program that concluded plastic notes stay cleaner for longer, are more difficult to counterfeit and are at least twice as longer-lasting.

A public consultation across the UK, giving people the chance to handle the notes, found 87 per cent of 13,000 individuals who responded were in favour of polymer.

Bank governor Mark Carney said: "Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of bank note design to meet that objective.

"The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at a lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."

The new notes will retain their familiar look, the Bank said, including the portrait of the Queen and a historical character.

Meanwhile, the Bank announced new guidelines on how it chooses historical figures to feature on bank notes, which include the aim that they should "reflect the diverse nature of British society".

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Saatchi assistant 'not a fantasist'

A FORMER personal assistant of Nigella Lawson and her art dealer ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who is accused of defrauding the couple, has denied she was a fantasist and a "shopaholic".

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are alleged to have spent STG685,000 ($A1.26 million) on credit cards belonging to the TV cook and the multimillionaire Saatchi.

On Wednesday, the court heard that the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

The younger sister was accused by prosecutor Jane Carpenter of lying about her expenditure on a work credit card having been authorised by Saatchi and Lawson, who divorced earlier this year.

"I haven't lied to this court," said Grillo. "I don't think I'm a fantasist as Ms Lawson suggested. I would have to disagree."

Carpenter said Grillo had admitted being a "shopaholic" in a phone call after the allegations of fraud came to light, but the defendant said of that claim: "I don't think so."

Addressing claims that she took advantage of her position and felt she was "on to a good thing", Grillo replied: "I didn't have to feel like I was part of a good thing.

"They were my family. I was very, very lucky. They loved me, I loved them back. Despite being here defending myself ... I still have feelings for them."

The seven men and five women on the jury were shown pages from Lawson's latest cookbook, Nigellissima, for which Grillo said she and her sister contributed a recipe for lasagne which was published.

"She refers to two friends from Calabria, or two sisters," added Grillo.

She claimed that during her trips to her native Italy while employed by the family, she would use the company card to buy food items and props for Lawson which were used in the book.

Asked why she offered to pay back money to the Saatchi-Lawson family when she was confronted with allegations of misusing the credit card, Grillo said she had hoped things would get back to normal.

She added: "It's difficult for people to understand how close I was to these people ... It's not like any person down the street. You want to make things better."

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Merkel says EU must be ready for changes

Why 2013 is the year of Jessica Hart

YES, we know she criticised Taylor Swift, but it's time to move on. If you ever doubted Aussie model Jessica Hart's star power, just wait until you see her Vogue cover.

Card signature is dead and buried

HANDWRITTEN signatures on credit cards used to purchase goods are dead after the ACCC approved a bid by major card companies to phase it out.

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'White powder in Nigella's handbag': PA

A London court has heard TV cook Nigella Lawson was unhappy in her marriage to Charles Saatchi. Source: AAP

NIGELLA Lawson's former personal assistant "frequently" found rolled-up banknotes with white powder on them in her handbag, she has told a court.

Francesca Grillo, who along with her sister Elisabetta is on trial accused of defrauding Lawson and former husband Charles Saatchi, said she never saw Lawson taking drugs although she did find evidence of drug use on many occasions.

She said she first saw the rolled-up notes at the food writer's Shepherd's Bush home, in the kitchen after a party and also in a guest bedroom.

One of her jobs as Ms Lawson's aide was to exchange items between her handbags, and she would find rolled-up banknotes in those, she told Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Tuesday.

Asked how often she found the banknotes, Grillo said: "Frequently. Every time I went through her handbag there was some notes. It was very frequent."

Asked if she ever raised the issue of drugs, she replied: "No. I didn't think it was my place."

Lawson would tell Francesca "you're good at finding things" and ask her to look for belongings in her handbags, the jury heard.

Lawson would sometimes come downstairs with white powder on her nose and Francesca would point it out to her, but would be told by the cook it was make-up.

Asked by defence counsel Karina Arden if the substance could have been make-up, Grillo replied: "Too white to be make-up."

She also noted that the TV cook often had a runny nose, the court heard.

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are accused of defrauding the celebrity couple by spending 685,000 euros ($A1.06 million) on credit cards belonging to them.

The court has heard the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

Francesca also recalled how she improvised an excuse to protect her employer when a child discovered a hollow book containing what the employee thought were drugs.

The defendant told the court: "She (the child) said 'Look what I found in (the) book!'.

"It was a small plastic bag with white powder. I made up something."

Grillo said the clandestine book also contained items of jewellery belonging to Lawson's late husband John Diamond.

She said she found cannabis in a child's room in the home, and the television cook would swig from bottles containing liquid medication.

She told the court: "Tazepam, Xanax ... Ms Lawson had medication for depression.

"She would take it directly from the bottle."

Asked by Arden how frequently she would see Lawson take medication in this way, Francesca said: "Very often. She had one bottle in the kitchen and one bottle in the bedroom."

She told the court she did not originally mention the alleged drug use in her first statement to police, but did so after photographs of Saatchi and Lawson at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair emerged in the press during the year.

"The one that stuck in my mind was the one of him picking her nose. Maybe he found something relating to drugs.

"I maybe thought if he didn't know that, he probably didn't know about the authorisation - the allowance - of the signatures (by Ms Lawson, on personal expenditure)."

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Knox 'afraid' to front Italian court

US murder suspect Amanda Knox has emailed an Italian court to say she is "afraid" to show up for her trial on charges of killing British student Meredith Kercher, judge Alessandro Nencini says.

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Helicopter maker issues safety alert

HELICOPTER manufacturer Eurocopter has issued a worldwide safety alert after a fault was found in the model of craft that crashed into a Glasgow pub, killing 10 people.

The company said there was a problem with the fuel indication system on some of its EC135 aircraft, the same type as the police helicopter involved in the Clutha bar tragedy in Glasgow last month.

Operator Bond Air Services temporarily suspended flights of its 22 EC135 helicopters last week after a fuel gauge fault was discovered on an air ambulance in the North West of England.

The suspension affected air ambulance and police helicopters across the UK, many of which have now resumed flights.

Eurocopter has now issued a safety information notice after tests revealed other aircraft may be affected by similar issues.

A statement said: "Eurocopter has been informed by Bond Air Services of an issue involving the fuel indication system experienced during normal operations by one of its EC135 EMS aircraft.

"Following this incident, fuel system functionality tests performed by Bond Air Services and two other EC135 operators in Europe have revealed possible similar supply-tank fuel gauging errors on some aircraft.

"This incident is currently under in-depth investigation by Eurocopter. The first analysis shows that the indication of the fuel quantity in the supply tanks could be over-estimated."

The safety notice warns crews that in the "worst case" scenario, a red low fuel warning could appear without any amber fuel caution beforehand.

In a statement, Bond said: "We note that Eurocopter has today issued a safety information notice to operators of the EC135 across the world confirming that some of their aircraft have a fault in the fuel indication and alert system which means that warning system may not work properly.

"This was a fault discovered by Bond during normal service operations on Wednesday 11th, which we immediately reported to Eurocopter and the appropriate authorities.

"We understand other operators have since conducted similar tests and found similar problems with their aircraft.

"As soon as we discovered this issue, in line with our commitment to the highest standards of safety, we took the prudent decision to temporarily suspend service operations whilst we conducted checks on our fleet of EC135s.

"The results of these tests were subsequently validated by Eurocopter, and appropriate repairs made before returning the aircraft to service."

The company said it had ordered that all its EC135s should have a minimum of 90kg of fuel on board at all times.

An initial report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the Glasgow crash said there was "no evidence of major mechanical disruption of either engine" of the Police Scotland helicopter.

In addition, the helicopter still had 95 litres of the 400kg of fuel that it had taken off with from Glasgow City Heliport.

The three people on board the Bond-operated aircraft and seven people in the pub died when it crashed on November 29.

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Aurizon to cut rail fleet, cancel project

FREIGHT and coal haulage operator Aurizon will take a hit of almost $200 million as it cuts the size of its rail fleet and cancels a major Queensland project.

The company, previously known as QR National, is reducing its locomotive fleet by 28 per cent and cutting the number of wagons by 12 per cent in a bid to bring down fuel and maintenance costs.

Aurizon's downsizing will appear as an asset impairment expense of $130 million to $150 million in its accounts for the first half of the 2013/14 financial year.

The company will also incur a $47 million impairment on recent changes to several projects, including Glencore Xstrata's decision to stop the Wandoan project because of weakening thermal coal prices.

Aurizon had proposed a 210 kilometre Surat Basin rail corridor from the Wandoan mine in a joint venture with the Swiss multinational.

"There's not any job losses that are related to that," chief executive Lance Hockridge told reporters on Monday.

In July, Aurizon launched a second voluntary redundancy program in a bid to save $230 million by 2015.

Some 248 voluntary redundancies have since been accepted.

"I think the bulk of it is done," Mr Hockridge said.

More than 2,000 employees have left the company since it was privatised by the former Queensland Labor government in 2010.

Mr Hockridge said he was "cautious but confident" about the thermal coal sector, as well as the future of projects in Queensland's Galilee Basin, where Aurizon has agreed to develop a rail project for the GVK-Hancock joint venture involving billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Aurizon shares dropped two cents to $4.68.

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Wesfarmers sells underwriting operations

DIVERSIFIED conglomerate Wesfarmers is selling its Australasian insurance underwriting operations to Insurance Australia Group (IAG) for about $1.85 billion - its biggest ever divestment.

Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder said the sale followed approaches by a number of parties that were interested in the underwriting business.

Wesfarmers had spent a lot of money in recent years getting the Australian and New Zealand insurance underwriting business into much better shape.

"But it hasn't delivered satisfactory returns on average over the last five years to Wesfarmers," Mr Goyder told reporters.

"And over a period of time, if any of our businesses don't generate satisfactory returns, we'll look and see what we do with it."

Mr Goyder said the sale of the insurance underwriting business also reduced some of the risk in Wesfarmers' portfolio of industrial, mining, retail and financial businesses.

There was inherent volatility in the insurance business because of catastrophic events like earthquakes in New Zealand, and Cyclone Yasi.

The sale does not include the insurance division's broking operations in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and its Australian and New Zealand premium funding businesses which will remain part of Wesfarmers.

Wesfarmers expects a pre-tax profit of about $700 million to $750 million from the transaction, which will be included in the financial results for the second half of the 2014 financial year.

Mr Goyder said Wesfarmers had not yet decided what to do with the proceeds from the sale.

The sale is subject to regulatory approval, which is expected to take several months.

The acquisition comprises Wesfarmers' underwriting companies trading under the WFI and Lumley Insurance brands, and a 10-year distribution agreement with Coles.

IAG chief executive Mike Wilkins said the acquisition was a compelling strategic fit for IAG.

"Acquiring these businesses supports the group's strategic priorities of accelerating profitable growth in Australia and sustaining our market-leading position in New Zealand, and we expect attractive EPS (earnings per share) accretion," Mr Wilkins said.

IAG expects the acquisition will lift earnings per share by a modest amount in the first full year of ownership and by at least five per cent in the second year.

The acquisition will be partly funded from a $1.2 billion placement of shares to institutional investors, at $5.47 per share.

The integration of Wesfarmers' underwriting businesses is expected to generate pre-tax net benefits of about $140 million a year, with a significant proportion derived from reinsurance.

The integration process is expected to be substantially complete within two years, with pre-tax integration costs of $120 million.

Shares in Wesfarmers were 20.5 cents higher at $41.51 at 1515 AEDT. IAG shares are in a trading halt until the start of trading on Wednesday, December 18. They last traded at $5.70.

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Police assaulted at NSW soccer game

A POLICEMAN had to use "defensive strikes" to force a man to release his grip on his groin during a brawl at a Newcastle A-League soccer match.

Another police officer was punched in the head by another man in the melee, which saw a spectator punched in the face three times on Saturday night.

Police from the Public Order and Riot Squad and local officers were patrolling the match between the Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers at the Hunter Stadium when a fight broke out and objects were thrown at 9.40pm.

They say the crowd turned hostile towards them when they intervened.

During a scuffle, a 21-year-old man allegedly grabbed the policeman's groin and refused to let go.

The man, police say, had been hindering police when he was pushed out of the way and fell on the ground.

He was arrested and charged with assault police.

He will appear in Newcastle Local Court on January 16.

At the same match police spoke to three spectators who were allegedly causing trouble.

One man refused to follow a police direction to return his seat.

Police allege he punched another spectator in the face three times before turning on the officers who tried to arrest him.

The 41-year-old is accused of punching one officer in the side of the head.

He was charged with assault police and behave in an offensive manner.

He will also appear in Newcastle Local Court on Monday.

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Missing Qld man found after four days

A MAN who went missing for four days in southwest Queensland, sparking a massive air and land search, has been found.

Two aircraft, police and State Emergency Service volunteers helped search a property south of Quilpie after the man, in his 50s, was reported missing on Saturday morning.

But he had not been since Thursday, December 12, police said.

The man had been working on his property and went to check bores but did not return.

His bogged vehicle was found on a neighbouring property on Saturday.

Police said the man was found at 5.20pm on Sunday on a property near Eulo, in the area they'd been searching.

He was airlifted to Roma Hospital for treatment.

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