Rider critical, man charged after SA crash

A MOTORCYCLIST has been critically injured in a collision with an alleged drink-driver in Adelaide.

Police say the driver performed a burnout in his Holden sedan in a service station at Seaview Downs on Saturday afternoon before colliding with the motorcycle on the road.

The rider was taken to the Flinders Medical Centre in a critical but stable condition.

The driver, a Dover Gardens man, 62, was breath-tested at the scene.

Police allege he returned a reading of .178, more than three-and-a-half times the legal limit.

He has been charged with aggravated driving without due care, drink driving and causing injury by dangerous driving.

It's expected he will be bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court at a later date.

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Rebels kill 12 in anti-election campaign

Police say Maoist rebels have killed 12 people in two separate attacks in India. Source: AAP

POLICE say Indian Maoist rebels killed 12 people in two separate attacks in the central state of Chhattisgarh as they continue a campaign of violence aimed at disrupting a five-week national election.

Police Director General A.N. Upadhyay says a land mine set by the rebels exploded Saturday and killed five election officials and two bus drivers travelling from Kutru to Bijapur before planned balloting there next week. The blast also injured four people.

In another attack, the rebels killed five paramilitary soldiers travelling in the remote Darbha Forest.

The rebels have also asked voters to boycott the polls. They have been fighting since the 1960s for a greater share of natural wealth and more jobs for the poor. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called them India's greatest internal security threat.

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NT by-election win for Country Libs

THE Northern Territory's Country Liberals government has held on to the seat of Blain, ensuring it won't have to govern from a minority position.

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Abbott briefs President Xi on MH370 search

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has detected a new signal that is being analysed. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has briefed Chinese President Xi Jinping about the search for missing aircraft MH370, warning him there could be a long and painstaking road ahead.

Mr Abbott on Friday updated President Xi on the Australian-led search effort for the Malaysia Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean during a bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The prime minister said Australian authorities had very much narrowed down the search area to some kilometres after receiving "strong detections" from what they're confident is the plane's black box.

But he didn't mince words, warning his Chinese counterpart there was still a long way to go.

"This will be a very long, slow and painstaking process," he said.

Mr Abbott's comments came after a day of somewhat mixed messages from authorities leading the search for MH370, which has been missing for five weeks, since March 8.

The prime minister told business leaders in Shanghai on Friday that the search in the Indian Ocean was narrowing.

"We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres," Mr Abbott said.

However, those comments appeared to be contradicted a short time later by Australian search coordinator, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who indicated there was little change in the search area.

"On the information I have available to me, there has been no major breakthrough in the search for MH370," Mr Houston said.

He said signals apparently detected by an Australian search aircraft on Thursday were ruled not to have come from a black box flight recorder.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre issued a statement on Friday morning saying the search area still totalled 46,713 square kilometres - vastly different from Mr Abbott's statement.

Nonetheless, there remains strong hope that the flight's all-important black box recorder could be found.

Its batteries are expected to expire soon, so time remains critical.

The Australian vessel Ocean Shield has to date recorded four signals that are believed to have come from at least a black box recorder.

The Ocean Shield on Friday was in an area about 2200km northwest of Perth continuing sweeps of its pinger locator to detect further signals.

Orion aircraft were also continuing acoustic searches.

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Cyclone Ita makes landfall

DESTRUCTIVE winds are battering far north Queensland after Cyclone Ita crossed the coast at Cape Flattery, more than 300km north of Cairns.

The category four cyclone made landfall around 9pm with winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour at its core.

Gales stretched 185 kilometres from the centre and powerful wind gusts of more than 125km/hr are expected between Cape Melville and Cooktown on Friday night and as far south as Port Douglas by Saturday morning.

Residents have been warned that properties built before 1985 may not withstand the powerful winds.

Hundreds have left their homes for cyclone shelters.

About 800 people - more than half the town's population - in Hope Vale, 50km northwest of Cooktown, have sought refuge in the local cyclone shelter.

Hope Vale Mayor Greg McLean thinks the eye of the storm passed over the town.

"The wind has been picking up and it's started going for it over the last half an hour," he told AAP after Ita crossed the coast.

"It's like the wind is roaring."

At least one roof has been torn from a house in Cooktown, which is being battered by strong gales and heavy rain.

Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott says winds up to 125km/h are ripping though the small town.

"Here's hoping we don't see any more damage," he said.

Queensland's Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Alasdair Hainsworth said Cooktown can expect stronger winds soon.

"The average wind speed has not yet reached gale force but it's not far short and we're seeing very heavy rain, 40mm in the last couple of hours," he said.

The power has been cut and about 320 people are gathered in the town's cyclone shelter, while some have taken refuge in local pubs.

There's a possibility that Ita could track south close to the coast, bringing wind gusts of 150km/h to Cairns on Saturday.

Coastal residents between Cape Flattery and Cape Tribulation, including Cooktown, are being warned of the dangerous storm tide.

"The sea is likely to rise steadily up to a level which will be significantly above the normal tide, with damaging waves, strong currents and flooding of low-lying areas extending some way inland," the bureau says.

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Prosecutor grills Pistorius over testimony

Brumbies win to leave Reds on brink

THE Brumbies have withstood a second-half onslaught by a transformed Queensland pack to put the Reds' Super Rugby finals hopes on the brink.

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New signal detected in plane search

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume with up to 14 planes and 13 ships. Source: AAP

AN Australian aircraft involved in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has picked up a possible fifth signal in the search zone where previous signals consistent with the plane's black box were detected.

An RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft, which had been dropping buoys dangling microphones, detected a signal in the vicinity of the vessel Ocean Shield on Thursday afternoon.

"The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight but shows potential of being from a man-made source," retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said in a statement from the Joint Agency Coordination Centre.

Royal Australian Navy Commodore Peter Leavy said each sound-locating buoy was dangling a hydrophone listening device about 300 metres below the surface.

The naval ship Ocean Shield detected two signals on Tuesday after another two were picked up on the weekend.

Thursday's search of 57,923 square kilometres by 14 planes and 13 ships was the smallest yet in the month-long hunt.

Ocean Shield meanwhile continues to tow a special US Navy "towed pinger locator" slowly through the water hoping to find the signals again and get a fix on the location.

The black box batteries are due expire as they have about a 30-day life and the flight disappeared on March 8.

Earlier this week, Mr Houston said once the battery was declared expired, the automated underwater vessel Bluefin-21 would be deployed to relaying side-scan sonar data and images from the silty sea floor some 4.5km from the surface.

The search continues for debris on the surface of the ocean, although none of the objects found so far have had any connection with MH370, which disappeared with 239 people on board.

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Copyright allegations 'false': Dotcom

Megaupload's Kim Dotcom says claims that his website encouraged copyright infringement are false. Source: AAP

ALLEGATIONS made by six major Hollywood film studios that file-sharing website Megaupload was designed to profit from copyright infringement are "completely false", its New Zealand-based founder Kim Dotcom says.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced earlier this week that 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros had filed a lawsuit against Megaupload and its key operators - including Dotcom - in a US court.

It's alleged the now defunct website facilitated, encouraged and profited from massive copyright infringement of movies and television shows before the website was shut down by US authorities in January 2012.

MPAA global general counsel Steven Fabrizio says Megaupload was never designed to be a cloud storage website and users were rewarded for uploading popular content.

The MPAA says Megaupload users were paid based on how many times the content was downloaded by others.

But Dotcom told Radio New Zealand these allegations are "completely false".

Megaupload wouldn't allow rewards to be paid for files that were bigger than 100MB and movies and television shows that were downloaded were much larger than this, Dotcom said.

Mr Fabrizio denied that the MPAA is making an example of Dotcom and Megaupload.

"We are trying to bring some justice to a site that existed for the purpose of engaging in massive copyright infringement," he said.

Dotcom is already facing extradition to the US on charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering relating to Megaupload.

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More relocatable units for Vic prisons

MORE shipping container-style "relocatable units" are being rolled out to boost the capacity of Victoria's prison system.

The Victorian government has announced another 27 units will be installed by August at two correctional facilities near Geelong, a gain of 81 medium-security beds.

"Relocatable units are already providing an important, immediate boost to capacity in Victoria's corrections system, and today's announcement will build on this," Corrections Minister Edward O'Donohue said on Wednesday.

"The security and design of the units will be consistent with the standard security accommodation already at Fulham and Marngoneet prisons."

The government has previously likened the units - which each house three inmates - to mining camp accommodation and has also pointed to their use in prisons in Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand.

Expansion plans for Victoria's Loddon Prison, announced in March, include 15 of the units.

The government says it has added 1000 prison beds since 2011 with another 2500 in the pipeline, including the 1000-bed prison under construction at Ravenhall in Melbourne's west.

However, Community and Public Sector organiser Andrew Capp said the use of relocatable units, known as "dongaS", was inadequate because the doors could be prised open.

"The government is increasing the escape risks at the prisons that use these dodgy Dongas putting officers the community and other prisoners at risk," he said.

Mr Capp said Corrections Victoria had re-classified medium-security prisoners in walled prisons to those in lower security levels so they could be shifted to the units without fences at Dhurringile, Beechworth and Langi Kal Kal, and issued with monitoring bracelets that were not reliable.

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Great Wall's SUVs to be made in Malaysia

Premier ditches trade trip to meet cyclone threat

UPDATE: Premier Campbell Newman is abandoning his Asian trade mission to return to Queensland and help the State prepare for Cyclone Ita.

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'Drug kingpin' extradited to Coast

THE alleged kingpin of a massive drug operation smashed by Gold Coast police has landed in Queensland to face charges.

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Seeney: 'No case' in $5k scandal

DEPUTY Premier Jeff Seeney has defended Premier Campbell Newman, saying he has no case to answer over a $5000 donation scandal.

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Morcombe killer appeals conviction

LAWYERS for Brett Cowan, the man convicted of Daniel Morcombe's murder, have filed a notice of appeal.

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Man shot in leg in Vic home invasion

A VICTORIAN man has suffered a minor gunshot wound during a home invasion.

A man and a woman were in their East Geelong home when two men, one armed with a firearm, burst in and shot at the man, police said.

The men them left the house.

The motive for the attack is unclear.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said the man, aged in his 20s, suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of his upper thigh and was taken to Geelong Hospital in a stable condition.

Geelong police are investigating.

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Collombet murder suspect before Qld court

Thorpe could lose use of left arm

THERE are fears swimming great Ian Thorpe may lose the use of his left arm, with reports he is receiving treatment for a serious infection.

'Nothing will survive this weapon'

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Post-mortem in unexplained Geldof death

Bob Geldof says his family is "beyond pain" at the death of his daughter Peaches at the age of 25. Source: AAP

BRITISH police say they are investigating the unexplained death of media personality Peaches Geldof and will hand their findings to a coroner.

A post-mortem will be performed in the next few days on 25-year-old Geldof, who was pronounced dead by paramedics at her home in Wrotham, southeast of London, on Monday.

Kent Police said on Tuesday officers were investigating the "unexplained sudden death", but did not consider it suspicious.

Peaches Geldof was the daughter of Irish musician and Band Aid founder Bob Geldof and TV presenter Paula Yates, who died of a drug overdose in 2000. She grew up in the glare of Britain's press, which revelled in the late-night antics of her teenage years.

More recently, she married for a second time, to musician Tom Cohen, had two children and worked as a broadcaster and writer. She said her drug-taking years were behind her.

Bob Geldof said the family was "beyond pain".

"What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable? We loved her and will cherish her forever," he wrote in a statement.

Cohen said: "My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day. We shall love her for ever."

Peaches Geldof was just 11 years old when her mother Paula Yates, died from an accidental heroin overdose aged 41.

Yates divorced Bob Geldof in 1996 after forming a relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney, Australia, in 1997, and Yates went on to lose custody of the three daughters she had with Geldof - Peaches, Pixie and Fifi - the following year.

Bob Geldof later adopted Yates and Hutchence's daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.

Geldof's death came as a shock to Britain's entertainment and fashion circles. She was a frequent attendee at fashion shows in London and New York, and was photographed just last week at a London show for the Tesco brand F&F.

Geldof was a prolific tweeter and the final message she sent on Sunday was a picture of her as a child with her mother, with the message "Me and my mum".

A host of celebrities including Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Simon Cowell and Lily Allen paid tribute.

Model Daisy Lowe posted a picture of a broken heart on Twitter.

Geldof's death was the lead story in many British newspapers on Tuesday, with several using the last photo she posted on Twitter - of her as a toddler with her mother.

Commentators noted the tragic parallels to the life and death of Yates. In The Guardian, columnist Hadley Freeman said "the shock of Geldof's death comes from the loss of a young woman - still only 25 - who many of us had followed since her birth, who seemed so close to finding the stability that had eluded her mother."

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Nicole Appleton, Liam Gallagher divorce

NICOLE Appleton's six-year marriage to Liam Gallagher has ended on the grounds of his admitted adultery.

The couple were not at the Principal Registry of the High Court's Family Division for the brief hearing.

The 39-year-old All Saints singer and the Oasis star were the second in a "quickie divorces" list of 12 who were granted a decree nisi by District Judge Anne Aitken.

The former couple, who have a 12-year-old son, married at Old Marylebone Town Hall on St Valentine's Day in 2008 and lived in Hampstead, north London.

Among the documents made public on Tuesday was a sworn statement signed by Appleton last December in which she said that Gallagher "admitted adultery to me prior to it becoming publicised in national newspapers", adding that the woman with whom Gallagher committed adultery "now has a child" by him.

She said that she first knew about the adultery on July 17, 2013 and had not lived with Gallagher since as she found it "intolerable".

In papers acknowledging the proceedings, Gallagher replied "yes" when asked if he admitted the alleged adultery and said he did not intend to defend the case.

The marriage foundered after reports that Gallagher, 41, had fathered a daughter with an American journalist.

In the decree nisi document, the judge held that Appleton had "sufficiently proved" the contents of her petition and "is entitled to a decree of divorce, the marriage having irretrievably broken down, the facts found proved being the respondent's adultery".

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Viewers riveted to The Block

Nine's The Block: Fans v Faves has topped Sunday's television ratings with 1.829 million viewers. Source: AAP

THE Block: Fans v Faves had its highest rating episode this season on a night when audience numbers were heavily compromised because My Kitchen Rules (MKR) was shelved.

The fourth-last episode of The Block: Fans v Faves attracted 1.829 million viewers to be the runaway winner on Sunday from Nine News (1.550 million) and 60 Minutes (1.372 million).

Normally, MKR would screen in direct opposition to The Block: Fans v Faves, but the Seven Network held the elimination episode over until Monday because of its AFL coverage.

That meant Seven's programming was split around the country, producing heavily diluted figures and allowing Ten's Sunday News to sneak into the top 10 with just 504,000 viewers.

Nine also had diluted figures with the final episode of Fat Tony & Co coming in 19th with 381,000 viewers after airing in only Brisbane and Sydney.

The final episode screened in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth last week, but was held back in Sydney and Brisbane because of Nine's NRL commitments.

In MKR's absence, Seven ran a special about MKR judge and chef Manu Feildel and his native France.

My France With Manu, which did not air in Melbourne or Adelaide, still attracted 813,000 viewers to be sixth overall.

Seven's British series Downton Abbey also did not air in Melbourne and Adelaide, yet was eighth with an audience of 694,000 viewers.

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Fate of European bees better than feared

THE decline in European bee populations is not as bad as feared, the European Union's executive says, as it published a report into bee health in 17 EU member states.

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Malta PM, activists blinded by poor light

MALTESE Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and 40 Labour Party activists have been hospitalised suffering acute pain in the eyes most likely cause by excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays, Times of Malta reports.

All patients, including Muscat, were present at a political event in a village tent at the weekend. Faulty light filters were the most likely cause of the eye irritation, the news portal said on Monday. Police have opened an investigation.

"I could not even open my eyes and tears were flowing like tap water," said Labour Party politician Cyrus Engerer.

Muscat, 40, left hospital on Monday. Doctors recommended that he rest for a few days.

Some of the hospitalised party activists suffered temporary blindness.

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Queen's soldier in palace rifle drama

A Queen's Guard left his post to intervene in an altercation between a police officer a civilian. Source: AAP

A QUEEN'S Guard, wearing the distinctive red tunic and tall bearskin hat that tourists come from all over the world to see, has proved he's more than a pretty face.

The soldier left his post to intervene when a member of the public refused to stop shouting at a police officer stationed outside Buckingham Palace gates on Friday.

A photograph published in The Sun on Sunday shows the guard pointing his bayonet-fixed rifle towards the man's face while he stood next to the police officer.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were made aware of a disturbance at the North-Centre Gate of Buckingham Palace at approximately 5.50pm on Friday, April 4.

"Officers from Royalty Protection spoke to a man and he was given words of advice and there were no arrests."

The Queen's Guard is not believed to be facing any action over the incident.

An Army spokesman said: "We are aware of an incident outside Buckingham Palace on Friday and while no one came to any harm and there were no arrests, we are very clear that the Metropolitan Police lead on Royal Security arrangements including outside the Palace itself."

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

The North-Centre Gate is now the everyday entrance to the Palace.

The Queen's Guard are a contingents of soldiers charged with guarding the Palace but carry a largely ceremonial role.

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Afghan officer shot journalists in revenge

Authorities say the Afghan police officer who shot two journalists, killing one, did so in revenge. Source: AAP

THE Afghan police officer who shot two Associated Press journalists did so in revenge for air raids by NATO forces on his village, police said Saturday.

German photographer Anja Niedringhaus and Canadian reporter Kathy Gannon were shot on Friday by a police officer in the eastern province of Khost while in their car.

Niedringhaus died on the spot and Gannon was injured.

"Naqibullah, commander of a police checkpoint, said in his confession that he shot the journalists to take revenge for the NATO air raids on his village in Ghorband valley," said Khost police official Baryalay Rawan.

The two were covering the country's presidential elections in Tanai district, on the border of Pakistan's tribal areas, and which is under the heavy sway of the Taliban.

The shooter was arrested by his colleagues.

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Guinea Ebola treatment centre attacked

A medical aid team treating patients suffering from Ebola virus in Guinea were attacked. Source: AAP

A CROWD of people angry about an Ebola outbreak that has killed 86 people across Guinea have attacked a centre where people were being held in isolation.

The violence took place in the southern town of Macenta, where at least 14 people have died since the outbreak emerged last month.

The mob of people who descended upon the clinic accused Doctors Without Borders health workers of bringing Ebola to Guinea, where there had never previously been any cases.

Guinea's government swiftly condemned the attack, saying that Doctors Without Borders and other international aid groups were key to stopping the spread of Ebola.

"The international community has rapidly mobilised to help us in these difficult moments with considerable medical support and specialists on the ground at the disease's epicentre," the statement said.

"That's why the government is calling on people to stay calm and allow our partners to help us eradicate this epidemic."

There is no cure for Ebola, which causes fever and severe bleeding, and up to 90 per cent of patients die from the strain that has been detected in Guinea.

A total of 86 people have died so far from Ebola in Guinea and two other confirmed deaths have been reported in neighbouring Liberia.

Authorities in Mali are also investigating three suspected cases of Ebola, and have sent samples overseas for testing.

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