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.

The pilot and three passengers died in the Friday night crash, spokeswoman Megan Peters said on Saturday.

Peters had no immediate word on the six survivors' condition.

The single-engine, turboprop Cessna 208 was a Hageland Aviation flight from Bethel to Mountain Village and Saint Marys, said Kathy Roser, a spokeswoman for Era Alaska airline.

The wreckage was found about six kilometres east of Saint Marys.

An emergency locator beacon signal helped pinpoint the crash site, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson said.

There was no immediate word on what might have caused the crash. The NTSB plans to send two investigators to the scene Saturday.

The temperature in the area Friday night was about minus eight degrees Celsius.

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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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No Aussies caught in helicopter pub crash

IT appears that no Australians were in a Glasgow pub when a police helicopter crashed into the roof on Friday night killing at least one person.

There were more than 100 revellers in the Clutha pub when the incident occurred and the death toll is expected to rise.

Thirty-two people had been taken by ambulance to three Glasgow hospitals. Rescuers are still searching through the ruins of the pub.

"We are not aware of any Australians involved," a spokeswoman for the Australian High Commission in London said on Saturday morning.

"We remain in contact with the Scottish authorities."

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called it a "black day" for Scotland as he sent his condolences to the bereaved on Saturday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said UK authorities had not advised it of any Australians affected "at this stage".

"The rescue operation is still underway," a spokeswoman told AAP in a statement.

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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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French tax protests rumble on

THOUSANDS of trucks blocked highways and roads across France in ongoing protests over an environmental tax that continue to smoulder, despite the government putting the levy on ice.

The Interior Ministry said around 2200 trucks were taking part in the protest over the proposed tax on trucks of over 3.5 tonnes - slightly more than the last protest by transporters two weeks ago. A transport union put the figure at 4500 trucks.

Tens of thousands of small business owners and workers have demonstrated over the tax in the past month, calling it the last straw after a string of punishing tax increases, particularly on business.

Further protests were planned later on Saturday in Brittany, where the revolt was started in October by a group of farmers and food producers known as the Bonnets Rouges (Red Caps).

To defuse tensions the government has suspended the implementation of the tax, which had been due to come into effect in 2014.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said on Friday it would not take effect until at least 2015.

The OTRE transport union and Brittany's Bonnet Rouges are demanding that the tax be scrapped altogether.

The protests are seen as the expression of deep frustration with the Socialist government's economic policy.

Faced with a bloated budget deficit, the government's response has mainly been to raise taxes, avoiding the deep spending cuts seen elsewhere in Europe.

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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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Abbott backs Bishop over China dispute

Tony Abbott says Australia will speak its mind on China's territorial dispute with Japan. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says Australia will speak its mind on China's territorial dispute with Japan, after his foreign minister was accused of finger-pointing over the East China Sea stand-off.

Julie Bishop expressed concern this week over China's moves to impose an air-defence zone over what it calls the Diaoyu Islands, saying the provocative action was done without consultation and could increase tensions in the region.

That strained diplomatic ties with China, which has described her comments as irresponsible.

But the prime minister says while the issue has to be treated reasonably and proportionately, it is important for Australia to speak out when its interests are at stake.

"We believe in freedom of navigation, navigation of the seas, navigation of the air, and I think there is a significant issue here - that's why it was important to call in the Chinese ambassador to put a point of view to him," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

"We're a strong ally of the United States, we're a strong ally of Japan, we have a very strong view that international disputes should be settled peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law and where we think that's not happening, or it's not happening appropriately, we'll speak our mind."

Mr Abbott dismissed suggestions trade relations with China could be damaged.

"China trades with us because it's in China's interests to trade with us," he said.

"I think China fully understands that on some issues we're going to take a different position to them."

Ms Bishop said Australia was not taking sides in the territorial dispute, but pointed out other countries had expressed concerns about China's actions.

"This is a matter of long-standing Australian policy. We've raised it before and the response from China was to be expected," she told Sky News.

"Australia has a key stake in the region and we would oppose action by any side that we believe could add to the tensions or add to the risk of a miscalculation in disputed territorial zones in the region."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government had a "rocky start" to foreign affairs after China emerged as a new diplomatic hot-spot as it also tried to rebuild trust with Indonesia following spying revelations.

"We accept that they've had a rocky start in foreign affairs, we want them to get it right," he told reporters in Canberra.

Chinese Ambassador to Australia Ma Zhaoxu issued a statement overnight criticising the federal government's "finger-pointing" and defending Beijing's actions.

"The move is aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and security of territory and territorial airspace and maintaining the order of flight," he said.

"It is not directed against any specific country or target. China does not accept Australia's groundless accusations."

The United States has also criticised Beijing's establishment of the air-defence zone and Vice President Joe Biden will address the controversy during a trip to Beijing next week.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera that China's move "is a potentially destabilising action designed to change the status quo in the region, and raises the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation."

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Tears, cheers for shark victim

Shark attack victim Chris Boyd (R) has been remembered in an emotional service in the WA waves. Source: AAP

CHRIS Boyd - the surfer killed by a shark in the waters off Gracetown - has been remembered in an emotional service in the West Australian waves.

Mr Boyd's parents and his partner Krystle Westwood were joined near the spot where he died last weekend by dozens of well-wishers and mourners who remembered the 35-year-old's life.

About 100 surfers paddled out into the ocean at Gracetown Beach, where there were cheers and tears.

Mr Boyd's parents Charlie and Barbara set off a flare in their son's memory, while a wreath sent from his friends at the Coolum Boardriders Club in his native Queensland was laid.

A paddle-out in Mr Boyd's memory is planned in Queensland for December 8.

Through Christian Surfers Australia, an appeal has been launched to raise money to help cover Mr Boyd's funeral costs.

Donations can be made through the Christian Surfers Australia Facebook page.

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

TV chef Nigella Lawson has been described as a 'habitual criminal' in a London court. Source: AAP

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".

Rahul Gajjar said he first became aware that Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo were using credit cards loaned to them by the celebrity couple on themselves at the beginning of last year.

While Francesca's average monthly spend was STG48,000 ($A86,564) and Elisabetta's was STG28,000, the other personal assistants employed by Saatchi spent a maximum of STG8000.

Asked by prosecutor Jane Carpenter why he did not go to Saatchi and Lawson with his suspicions straight away, Gajjar said: "It was on the back burner. We were dealing with more corporate matters - more serious corporate matters - and Mr Saatchi and Miss Lawson normally didn't have time for what we thought were trivial matters."

On Wednesday, jurors at Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard the sisters were alleged to have spent the money on luxury goods and lived the "high life" as "portrayed in glossy magazines".

Gajjar said both defendants had been given credit cards in Saatchi's Conarco Partnership account with Coutt's bank to buy items for the household.

While 35-year-old Francesca's credit limit was STG25,000 in June 2008, it went up to STG50,000 in February 2010 and rose to STG100,000 in June 2011.

Gajjar said he had been employed as finance director of Saatchi Gallery Group, part of Conarco Partnership, since June 2002.

He told jurors the couple, who went through a high-profile divorce earlier this year, had a number of personal assistants who worked "flexible" hours for them.

Asked what their roles were, he told the court: "It could be personal matters, looking after the home. It could be some work-related matters very close to Charles and Nigella."

Saatchi and the TV chef broke up after pictures were published in a newspaper showing him holding his wife of 10 years by the throat.

The court previously heard that Saatchi alleges that Lawson was so high on drugs that she was unaware of what she had or had not permitted the sisters to spend money on.

The Grillos deny the charge against them.

It is alleged that between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012, they committed fraud, abusing their positions as PAs by using a company credit card for personal gain.

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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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Vitamins, minerals help AIDS patients

A DAILY dose of multivitamins and minerals in the early stages of HIV infection can delay the disease's progression by as much as 54 per cent in people who are not receiving antiretroviral drugs, a US study reveals.

Researchers from Florida International University (FIU) and Harvard University followed 878 HIV-infected patients in Botswana and tracked the progression of their disease for two years, finding that patients who received daily supplements of vitamins B, C and E plus selenium had a lower risk of depleting the number of immune response cells in their bodies.

The supplements also reduced the risk of other measures of disease progression, including AIDS symptoms and AIDS-related deaths, of which there were four in the study group.

Vitamins B, C and E are essential for maintaining a responsive immune system, and selenium may play an important role in preventing HIV replication, said FIU professor of dietetics Marianna Baum, the study's lead investigator.

"The disease impacts metabolism and increases the requirement for vitamins and minerals and if people don't take additional vitamins and minerals they become deficient, which in turn impacts immunity," Professor Baum said.

She said the findings were significant in countries such as Botswana, where HIV-infection rates were among the world's highest and healthcare systems struggled to provide antiretroviral medications to low-income populations.

Over-the-counter multivitamins and minerals, Professor Baum said, were "a low-cost alternative" and easily accessible therapy that proved safe and effective in delaying HIV progression.

Patients participating in the study received three to five times the recommended daily amounts of the vitamins, and about 200 micrograms of selenium every day.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Church dissent over abuse approach

Dr Philip Aspinall says the Anglican church needs an external compensation scheme for abuse victims. Source: AAP

ANGLICANS in Australia would take a dim view if the church sold off its multi-million dollar assets to settle with abuse victims, the head of the church says.

The primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Phillip Aspinall, told a royal commission the church needs a mandatory compensation scheme imposed on it so it can deal fairly with sex abuse victims.

Dr Aspinall said the only way a compensation scheme would work was if it was imposed from outside.

The Anglican Church of Australia is not a unified structure, dioceses have primary power and can reject or adopt laws passed by the General Synod, Dr Aspinall told the final day of public hearings into how the Diocese of Grafton dealt with victims of sex abuse at a church orphanage in northern NSW.

"Many confuse our structures with the Roman Catholics and presume the primate has coercive powers akin to the pope," he said in a statement submitted to the royal commission.

"The belief that the primate of the Anglican Church is effectively the CEO of Australian's Anglicans is wrong.

"It may well be helpful if the royal commission were able to achieve a uniform mandatory compensation scheme which would ensure parity, not just between Anglican dioceses, but across government organisations, so that we don't have different classes of victims.

"It would be much quicker and simpler for us if that were imposed on us from outside and dioceses would not fall into the trap that Grafton did in terms of focusing on financial matters to the detriment of victims."

The commission has learned that Grafton is asset rich with properties valued at approximately $200 million, but had a debt of between $10 million or $12 million dollars because it built a private school that was not attracting students.

Dr Aspinall told the commission that across 23 Anglican dioceses their wealth would be in assets, not cash.

Justice Peter McClellan asked if there had been any church discussion that it might need to sell assets to make settlement payments.

Dr Aspinall said there might have been, but every diocese would find it hard to achieve as the assets were houses and churches and the people who had raised funds to build them would take a "dim view" if they were being sold for this purpose.

He went on to say that with a mandatory compensation system a diocese would simply be given a determination by a statutory body and be required to find the money.

"Then they could focus on the financial aspects and be forced to deal with it."

He also said it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the church to implement that kind of system itself, as it would require every diocese to agree.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard Grafton diocese tried to deny liability for the North Coast Children's Home when more that 40 former residents alleged horrific physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

After years of legal wrangling, a without-prejudice settlement was reached in 2007 which saw 39 victims accept what has been described as a paltry payment of about $10,000 each.

The commission also heard that the then Bishop of Grafton, Keith Slater, was focused on the diocese's debt problems.

Bishop Slater has apologised for his handling of the affair.

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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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UK man spared jail for Venables tweet

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.

The term was handed down at London's High Court for a flagrant contempt of court on the part of 27-year-old security guard James Baines.

Baines, who is from Liverpool and close to the Bulger family, will also have to pay STG3000 ($A5,360) in costs.

He admitted disobeying a January 2001 injunction binding on the whole world that prohibits the publication of any information purporting to identify the appearance, whereabouts, movements or new identities of Venables or Robert Thompson, who were convicted of the two-year-old's murder in November 1993.

It was made on the basis that the pair would face an acute risk of serious physical harm or death upon their release.

The case was referred by Attorney General Dominic Grieve after Baines put images purporting to identify Venables as an adult on his Twitter profile on February 14 this year - the 20th anniversary of the crime.

One image showed Venables in a school photograph as a child while below and alongside were different images of an adult male.

They were accompanied by the tweet: "Its on bbc news about the jon venables pic on twitter saying its been removed eerrm no it hasn't."

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Lilley revives Summer Heights delinquent

ABC's 2014 line-up includes another Chris Lilley offering, and the return of Spicks and Specks. Source: AAP

CHRIS Lilley goes back to school and Spick And Specks returns after more than two years with a fresh look as part of ABC TV's 2014 line-up.

The network released its programming on Tuesday for the next 12 months, which included several new dramas, comedy shows and documentaries.

Lilley will revive his Summer Heights High character Jonah Takalua in a stand-alone series, following in the footsteps of his creation Ja'mie.

Killing Heidi frontwoman Ella Hooper will be a team captain in the revival of music quiz show Spick And Specks, which stopped production in 2011.

Veteran actors Bryan Brown and Sam Neill team up for the drama Old School, about a retired cop and a retired crim who solve crimes, unravel scams and make some cash on the side.

The letters and diaries of five Australian and New Zealand nurses during WWI forms the basis for the show Anzac Girls, while Carlotta tells the tale of the Australian transgender pioneer, starring Packed To The Rafters actress Jessica Marais.

The controversial Chaser team returns with We'll Have To Leave It There, while documentary and factual shows include Afghanistan: The Australian War and The Flying Miners.

There will also be a 60-minute documentary on the day The Beatles arrived in Australia in 1964.

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'Excited' tiger bit trainer: Qld zoo

A tiger has attacked its trainer, biting his neck, during a show at the Australia Zoo in Queensland. Source: AAP

A SENIOR tiger handler is in a serious but stable condition after being attacked by a tiger at a Queensland zoo.

The big cat became "overexcited" during a play session in a tiger show on Tuesday afternoon and bit its 30-year-old male trainer on the neck and shoulder.

Australia Zoo director Wes Mennon says a group of co-workers nearby saw the attack and helped drag the trainer away from the tiger.

"At the time of the incident, our emergency response team were on the scene immediately. They acted professionally and calmly. My hat goes off to them," he said in a statement.

The Department of Community Safety says the man suffered two large puncture wounds and was flown to a Brisbane hospital in a serious but stable condition.

He was conscious and breathing when he was loaded into the helicopter.

Mr Mennon said the trainer had nine years experience with big cats and raised the tiger since it arrived at the zoo as a cub.

"Our priority is the wellbeing of the handler, who is a valued member of our Australia Zoo family," he said.

"Our full support is with the handler and family."

Mr Mennon said Australia Zoo was conducting a full investigation in conjunction with workplace health and safety authorities.

The Australia Zoo keeps three Bengal and eight Sumatran tigers.

RACQ Careflight doctor Andrew Haggerty said the trainer was lucky his injuries weren't more serious.

"The neck is a very complex area and contains lots of serious structures including blood vessels, and perhaps most importantly the airway ... any bleeding in the area itself could cause significant complications," he told reporters on the Sunshine Coast.

For helicopter pilot Alan Carstens it was a very strange afternoon.

"I honestly thought someone was kidding me, they said it's a tiger attack, I said 'no', but it was," he told reporters.

"We landed just outside the African (enclosure) area, right next door to where the tigers are.

"I waited with the chopper, I was looking at a tortoise straight opposite me, I thought it was a rock initially, then it started moving."

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UNHCR slams Aust asylum seeker treatment

The United Nations Refugee Agency has slammed Australia's treatment of asylum seekers. Source: AAP

EDS: Not for use before 2100 (AEDT) Tuesday, November 26

CANBERRA, Nov 26 AAP - The United Nations Refugee Agency has slammed Australia's treatment of asylum seekers as constituting arbitrary, mandatory and indefinite detention in unsafe and inhumane conditions.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials inspected processing centres at Nauru and PNG's Manus Island in October, encountering harsh conditions they say failed to meet international standards.

Those conditions impacted profoundly on the men, women and children housed there, UNHCR regional representative Richard Towle says in a statement.

"In particular, they constitute mandatory detention that is not compatible with international law," he says in a statement.

"They do not provide a fair and efficient system for assessing refugee claims, do not provide safe and humane conditions of treatment in detention, and do not provide for adequate and timely solutions for recognised refugees."

Director of international protection Volker Turk said UNHCR understood Australia's determination to respond robustly to the challenges of people smuggling and dissuade people from dangerous sea voyages.

"Those responses must not neglect the compelling protection needs, safety and dignity of the individuals affected," he said in a statement.

UNHCR acknowledged some improvements, including better facilities and the start of processing on Manus.

It also noted efforts made to improve conditions on Nauru, which was hot, had little privacy for people in tents following riots, cramped conditions and mosquitoes.

Nauru was unsuitable for children who lacked access to adequate education and recreation facilities, UNHCR said.

"UNHCR is of the view that no child, whether an unaccompanied child or within a family group, should be transferred from Australia to Nauru," it said.

At Manus, the UNHCR officials observed what they termed a "pervasive" climate designed to encourage asylum seekers to choose to return home.

The report said UNHCR supported voluntary return for those fully informed and not in need of protection.

But it said it was concerned that some bone fide refugees might consider return because of the harsh conditions, long delays in processing and uncertainty about the final outcome.

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Strong Asia Pacific sales help Tiffany

TIFFANY and Co's third-quarter net income climbed 50 per cent, buoyed by strong sales in the Asia-Pacific region.

The company's results topped Wall Street's view, and the luxury retailer raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast.

Its shares climbed 6 per cent in premarket trading.

The jewellery chain earned $US94.6 million ($A103.6 million), or 73 cents per share, for the three months ending on October 31.

That compares with $US63.2 million, or 49 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 7 per cent to $US911.5 million from $US852.7 million, with Asia-Pacific sales up 27 per cent.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 58 cents per share on revenue of $US888.4 million.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer's health, increased 7 per cent.

Analysts projected a 4.5 per cent increase.

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Pyne says Gonski scheme 'bastardised'

The education minister is under pressure from the states to honour school funding agreements. Source: AAP

EDUCATION minister Christopher Pyne says the schools funding system he wholeheartedly backed in the election campaign was "entirely bastardised" and he'd be irresponsible to now try to implement it.

Mr Pyne denied he and Prime Minister Tony Abbott misled electors by declaring they were on a unity ticket with Labor on the Gonski schools funding program.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said that now appears to have been a tactic to negate an area of the election campaign where the coalition was vulnerable.

Mr Pyne on Tuesday announced he would deliver on the Gonski school reforms in 2014, but introduce a new funding scheme for the nation's more than 9400 schools from 2015.

He said he'd been advised by Treasury of a $1.2 billion hole in Labor's funding plan, putting existing agreements with most states in jeopardy because the funding cupboard is bare.

That's prompted an outcry from states and territories which signed onto the program. Mr Pyne said the agreements weren't legally binding.

He said as education minister he now had to sort out the "Shorten shambles" he had inherited.

"Firstly we were told five jurisdiction had signed up to it plus the Catholics. Now we discover that in fact only three jurisdiction had signed up to it and the Catholics hadn't," he told ABC television.

Mr Pyne said the only place this model applied in its purest form was 900 independent schools. Every state and territory had their own scheme.

"The side deals that Kevin Rudd and Julia and Kevin Rudd did with a number of states and territories meant the system was entirely bastardised to the point where there is no national school funding model," he said.

Mr Pyne said it was also entirely incomprehensible and before the election Mr Shorten ripped $1.2 billion from the funding.

"It's not a great model to go forward with and I would be irresponsible as education minister to implement something that is incapable of being implemented," he said.

Mr Shorten said the government had broken its promise.

"With the government system there is a national agreement," he told ABC television.

"Then there are heads of agreement as well, signed between the jurisdictions. In the case of the non-government sector their funding base is outlined in the act. The act went through parliament."

Mr Shorten said during the election, the then opposition declared there was a unity ticket on education and whatever the funding envelope Labor agreed to would happen under the coalition.

"Now 10 weeks later, this is not the government that people thought they would be. They are now breaking a promise to every school parent in Australia," he said.

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Extend domestic violence leave: ACTU

THE national union peak body wants special leave for domestic violence victims to be included as a minimum workplace award entitlement from next year.

To coincide with White Ribbon Day, Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Dave Oliver said unions will support a special resolution on the issue at an ACTU executive meeting on Tuesday.

He said 1.2 million workers already have access to domestic violence leave but it should be extended to cover more people.

"Victims of domestic violence are often vulnerable, traumatised and left with little support," he said.

"The last thing they need is to risk losing their jobs."

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Yemen court delays elopement case verdict

A YEMENI court has postponed a verdict in the case of a Saudi woman accused of eloping with her Yemeni boyfriend, as the couple's supporters demonstrated outside.

Prosecutors say they need time to see if 22-year-old Huda Abdullah Ali can be registered as a refugee with the UN, which would allow her to remain in the country and marry.

She has become a cause celebre with some youth in Yemen, a traditional society not normally associated with public demonstrations in the name of romance.

Prosecutors say her boyfriend, 25-year-old Arafat Mohammed Taher al-Qadi, told investigators Ali's father rejected his marriage proposal, and the two were forced to elope.

Ali is charged with illegally entering Yemen while al-Qadi is accused of helping her.

"My only demand is to grant Huda humanitarian refugee status so that I can marry her," al-Qadi said as police led him outside the court.

He thanked the people who have come out in his support.

The Yemen Organisation for Defending Human Rights, HOOD, said earlier they have provided the court with all necessary documents for Ali to be registered as a refugee.

HOOD's lawyer Abdul-Raqeeb al-Qadi said the Interior Ministry was still refusing to let the UN's refugee agency see Ali, who is in detention.

The couple's supporters outside the court chanted, "The sit-in continues until the pair are wed."

A group who had been bussed in from the city of Taiz to the south carried banners reading, "Taiz supporters respond to the call of love."

The court has postponed its verdict until December 1.

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Vatican puts St Peter's bones on display

THE Vatican has for the first time publicly unveiled a handful of disputed bone fragments said by some to belong to the first pope, St Peter.

The eight or so pieces of bone sat nestled like rings in a jewel box inside a big bronze display case on the side of the altar during a mass commemorating the end of the Vatican's "Year of Faith".

The "Year of Faith" is a Benedict XVI initiative which began on October 11, 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vatican II Council, which approved key Catholic Church reforms.

Pope Francis prayed before the fragments, blessing them with incense, at the start of Sunday's service.

No pontiff has ever definitively declared the fragments to belong to the Apostle Peter, but Pope Paul VI in 1968 said fragments found in the necropolis under St Peter's Basilica were "identified in a way that we can consider convincing".

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ACT house shatters Christmas lights record

CANBERRA'S Richards family have turned on more than half a million Christmas lights, reclaiming a Guinness world record they first held in 2011.

Their 331,038-bulb effort was eclipsed a year later when 346,283 lights were powered up at a home in the hamlet of LaGrangeville, New York.

But on Sunday, they took back the title in style.

David Richards says he and his wife Janean and their three kids installed the 502,165 multicoloured streamers, icicles, candy canes, reindeer and other candescent decorations - some more exotic, some less - to raise funds for SIDS & Kids ACT.

"The charity is very close to our heart. We lost a child and SIDS looked after us many years ago," he said on Sunday.

Setting up the lights takes enormous effort and time but Mr Richards had a lot of help this time from family and friends, and when the power comes on and the tent-like streams of lights under a massive tree are revealed it is spectacular.

He says his six-year-old daughter Madelyn thinks everyone has a world record house with lights on it, and his other two kids, Caitlin, 10, and Aidan, 13, just enjoy it "a bit like me".

"I have always loved Christmas. Having the Christmas lights with the community coming in and sharing it is a time when you get to know people you probably should know better, I guess."

But SIDS and Kids is the main reason he does the time-consuming task, to raise money for the work they do.

"It was very important for us," he said.

"Anyone who has been through that sort of loss will probably tell you the worst thing that can happen to you is losing a young child."

People can visit the lights after dark from Nov 30 to December 26 at 3 Tennyson Crescent, Forrest. Entry is via a gold coin donation.

The Richards' last effort raised $78,000 and helped pay for two part time counsellors.

This time, though, they hope to break $100,000.

Trudy Taylor from SIDS and Kids ACT said they get 20 per cent of their funding from the ACT government and donations support the rest of the work they do with people who have lost a child aged six and under for a range of reasons.

About 150 young children die in the region, which includes parts of NSW and Victoria, each year.

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Treasurers to discuss online shopping tax

MOVES to slap GST on overseas online shopping purchases worth less than $1000 will be on the agenda when Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey meets his state and territory counterparts this week.

The treasurers will meet in Canberra on Wednesday from 8.30am (AEST) for the Standing Council on Federal Financial Relations, the first since the change of government.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey said the meeting will focus on economic growth and ways to increase productivity.

The $1000 threshold at which the GST is collected on goods and services purchased from abroad will be on the agenda.

The treasurers will consider potential options on collecting the GST on online transactions if the threshold was to be lowered.

Australian businesses argue that while online shopping from foreign outlets may comprise a small component of the overall retail sector, it's a fast-growing trend being supported by an effectively GST-free status on less expensive items.

The previous Labor government argued that significant reforms were needed within the tax system to handle the job otherwise the cost of collecting the tax would outstrip the revenue collected.

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird said his state had been pushing for reform on the low-value threshold on GST for online overseas purchases for a long time.

"It is about time we had a genuine discussion on the issues that matter and it's clear that under the new federal government this is what we are going to see," he told AAP.

The treasurers are also expected to discuss infrastructure partnerships and the economic and fiscal outlook.

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