Four charged with severing US man's penis

FOUR people are accused of torturing a California marijuana dispensary owner with a blowtorch and cutting off his penis in an attempt to force him to reveal where he had buried piles of cash in the desert.

Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and his wife Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, were arrested on Friday in Fresno, a day after the FBI arrested 34-year-old Hossein Nayeri in Prague in the Czech Republic.

Another man, Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 34, was arrested in October 2012.

The four have been charged with kidnapping for ransom, aggravated mayhem, torture, burglary and a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.

Prosecutors said the victim was a prosperous medical marijuana dispensary owner who took some of his pot suppliers - including Handley - to Las Vegas last year for an extravagant weekend.

Authorities allege that after the trip, Handley told some friends that the dispensary owner was extremely wealthy and they came up with a plan to kidnap and rob him.

Gangs pay blood money to avoid jail

CRIMINALS are making secret "blood money" settlements with victims and their families in a back-channel justice system designed to help them avoid jail.

Adult flu shot left boy brain damaged

A TODDLER taken to the doctor for a child's flu shot was left unable to walk or talk after being given a version of the drug banned for under fives.

Orange County authorities contend that on October 2, 2012, Handley, Nayeri and Ryan Kevorkian went to the man's Newport Beach home, stole cash, bound and beat him and kidnapped him along with his room-mate's girlfriend, then drove them out to a desert spot in a van.

Throughout the drive, they allegedly burned the dispensary owner with a blowtorch.

At the spot where the men believed the victim had hidden money, they cut off his penis, poured bleach on him in an effort to destroy any DNA evidence and dumped him and the woman on the side of the road, authorities allege.

It is alleged the three men then drove away with the penis so it couldn't be reattached.

The man survived his injuries.

Handley pleaded not guilty to the charges last month.

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Thousands flee Dreamworld after fire alert

Thousands have been evacuate from Dreamworld on the Gold Coast due to a grassfire. Source: AAP

MORE than 7000 people fled Australia's largest theme park on Saturday after a grassfire started nearby.

The fire, sending a huge plume of smoke towards the 85-hectare Dreamworld on the Gold Coast from nearby Coomera, prompted an evacuation.

Visitors described how the smoke started drifting into the park, also home to the Big Brother house, prompting rides to be closed one-by-one.

Sam Gilchrist was at the theme park with daughters Alannah, 14, Megan, 9, and Holly, 6, on the last day of a Gold Coast holiday when the smoke started to drift in.

She said Dreamworld staff started shutting down rides one at a time as the smoke started to thicken.

While some people moved to rides that were still open, the Melbourne family left just before the park was evacuated because one of the children started getting upset by the smoke.

Gangs pay blood money to avoid jail

CRIMINALS are making secret "blood money" settlements with victims and their families in a back-channel justice system designed to help them avoid jail.

Adult flu shot left boy brain damaged

A TODDLER taken to the doctor for a child's flu shot was left unable to walk or talk after being given a version of the drug banned for under fives.

"The kids were on a ride and I could see a mist of smoke and I could smell it," she told AAP.

"It started getting really black and blanketing the whole area.

"There was a little bit of ash falling, I think asthmatics would have had a bit of a difficult time."

She said she didn't know whether people would be compensated for having to leave.

The park will open as usual on Sunday.

A Dreamworld spokeswoman said the evacuation of guests and zoo animals had been a precaution.

"We evacuated for the safety of guests, staff and the animals," she said.

She said park visitors whose details staff had managed to obtain before they left the park would be contacted regarding possible compensation.

A Queensland Department of Community Safety spokesperson said the fire covered four hectares on Saturday afternoon, having broken out near Foxwell Road about 1.30pm (AEST).

The spokesperson said there was no immediate threat to homes but advised people to keep their doors and windows closed.

Firefighters had contained the blaze by 7pm (AEST) but the Department of Community Safety said crews would remain on scene "for some time", backburning and monitoring the fire.

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Aboriginal artist's work on Qantas 737

A painting by Aboriginal artist Paddy Bedford has inspired the latest aircraft for Qantas. Source: AAP

ABORIGINAL artist Paddy Bedford would often tell his daughter his work was going to end up on a plane.

"'I'm going to have a painting on a jet'," he'd tell Kathleen Watson.

She dismissed the idea at the time but is proud that the late West Australian artist's wish has come true.

Bedford's 2005 painting Mendoowoorrji - Medicine Pocket inspired the livery for Qantas's new 737-800 aircraft, the fourth in its indigenous art series.

Watson, in Seattle with Gija elders from the East Kimberley for a ceremony to bless the plane, said it was an honour to share the Aboriginal culture in this way.

"I'm proud to keep his legacy alive and sharing and promoting Aboriginal art through the world, Australia, Western Australia and the Kimberley," she said.

Medicine Pocket, which has been gifted to the National Gallery of Australia by Bedford's estate, depicts part of the artist's mother's country.

Gangs pay blood money to avoid jail

CRIMINALS are making secret "blood money" settlements with victims and their families in a back-channel justice system designed to help them avoid jail.

Adult flu shot left boy brain damaged

A TODDLER taken to the doctor for a child's flu shot was left unable to walk or talk after being given a version of the drug banned for under fives.

It's taken 18 months to get the aircraft ready with Boeing painters for the first time using brush and other hand painting techniques to translate the work's shading and textural elements on to the fuselage.

The white areas feature a lot of grey shading and the iconic Qantas tail has been included in the design, albeit with its trademark red changed to match the painting's earthy tones.

National Gallery Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art senior adviser Franchesca Cubillo said the Australian designers Balarinji and Boeing's painters had managed to capture the essence of the original painting.

"The team of painters here have actually worked closely with Balarinji to ensure that lovely painterly effect, the texture, even the gradient of the colours that are in the original painting have been replicated," she said.

Mendoowoorrji will arrive in Sydney on Monday before joining the Qantas domestic network from mid-November, flying east-west and intra-WA routes.

William Mora Galleries director William Mora said Bedford would have been incredibly proud to see the spirit and story of his painting on a plane.

"I think he'd want to be the first person to leave it when it landed and stand at the top of the stairs and say 'not only am I the number one painter, I have my own plane'."

* The writer travelled to Seattle as a guest of Qantas and Boeing.

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Syrian rebels launch counteroffensive

SYRIAN rebels have launched a counteroffensive in the northern city of Aleppo, recapturing a base near its international airport hours after the army had advanced into the area, activists say.

Saturday's fighting came as the main Western-backed opposition group was to begin a two-day meeting in Istanbul to decide whether they will attend a proposed peace conference the US and Russia are trying to convene in Geneva.

The Syrian National Coalition has demanded that President Bashar Assad step down in any transitional Syrian government as a condition for its going to Geneva. Syrian officials say Assad will stay in his post at least until his terms ends in 2014 and that he may run for re-election.

In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters upon arrival from Geneva that the UN-Arab League's top envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will hold a new meeting in early December with concerned parties to decide on a new date and the attendees of the Geneva conference.

Gangs pay blood money to avoid jail

CRIMINALS are making secret "blood money" settlements with victims and their families in a back-channel justice system designed to help them avoid jail.

Adult flu shot left boy brain damaged

A TODDLER taken to the doctor for a child's flu shot was left unable to walk or talk after being given a version of the drug banned for under fives.

"We were saddened and depressed because of the failure of the latest meetings to decide on a date and participants for the conference," Elaraby said, referring to a meeting in Geneva earlier this week that many had hoped would call for holding the talks later this month.

The League had wanted the peace conference to lead to a ceasefire and secure means to deliver humanitarian aid to Syrians, Elaraby added.

In Aleppo, rebels were able to fully recapture the military base of "Brigade 80" after government troops seized parts of it early on Friday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Centre said.

The main job of "Brigade 80" was to protect the government-held Aleppo International Airport, which has been closed due to fighting for almost a year.

Rebels captured the base in February and now government troops are trying to get it back.

The Observatory said 40 rebels and more than 20 troops were killed in the latest fighting, which began Friday and continued early Saturday.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said a rocket fired by opposition fighters hit near a health centre in Aleppo's Ashrafieh neighbourhood, killing six children and wounding six others.

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Strangers to pay respects to war hero

HUNDREDS of people are expected to attend the funeral of a British war veteran they never knew after it emerged he died with no close friends or relatives.

Harold Jellicoe Percival helped with the famous Dambusters raids during the Second World War.

He died last month aged 99 in a nursing home in the UK but had lived much of his life in Australia.

Poignantly for the ex-military man, his funeral service will be held at 11am on Armistice Day on Monday.

But Percival never married, had no children and has no close family members able to attend the service.

Those involved in organising the funeral say they have been contacted by veterans' groups and other military supporters keen to acknowledge Percival's career.

Funeral director Edmund Jacobs said: "We're hoping a few faces will turn up and show their support for a war hero.

Gangs pay blood money to avoid jail

CRIMINALS are making secret "blood money" settlements with victims and their families in a back-channel justice system designed to help them avoid jail.

Adult flu shot left boy brain damaged

A TODDLER taken to the doctor for a child's flu shot was left unable to walk or talk after being given a version of the drug banned for under fives.

"It doesn't sit well with me that somebody who has served their country can be forgotten about, that his service can go un-noted.

"I am sure he would have had a few stories to tell."

Mr Percival was one of four siblings but lived a "nomadic lifestyle" after leaving the RAF at the end of the war.

His nephew, David Worsell, said: "He was a private man, he worked in Australia for a number of years as a decorator and would visit England for holidays.

"He travelled around England with only his backpack.

"He didn't have a postal address, he just used to get everything sent to my mother's address and would go through it when they met up."

Percival was based in the north west of England and became part of the ground crew which helped with the Dambusters, the squadron which was initially formed to destroy dams in the Ruhr valley in Nazi Germany.

After working in Australia, he later retired to England.

He was a distant relative of former British prime minister Spencer Perceval, who was shot dead by a bankrupt broker, John Bellingham, as he entered the House of Commons, in 1812.

"My uncle would be very surprised at the attention this seems to have received and the number of people wanting to attend," Worsell said.

"What with him being a very private person, forming long-term relationships didn't seem to be part of his make-up.

"He didn't really speak about his military career but he perhaps wished he didn't leave the RAF at the end of the war.

"But he was a free spirit."

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Rickets makes a comeback in Britain

RICKETS, the childhood disease that caused an epidemic of bowed legs and curved spines during the Victorian era, is making a shocking comeback in 21st-century Britain.

Rickets results from a severe deficiency of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. Rickets was historically considered a disease of poverty among children who toiled in factories during the Industrial Revolution.

Last month, Britain's chief medical officer Sally Davies proposed the country give free vitamins to all children under five.

Most people get vitamin D from the sun, oily fish, eggs or dairy products. Rickets largely disappeared from Britain in the 1950s, when the country embarked on mass programs to give children cod liver oil. But the number of reported cases of rickets in hospitalised children has increased from 183 cases in 1995 to 762 cases in 2011. With no official surveillance system, experts said the actual number is probably even higher.

"Children come in with bendy legs, swollen wrists and sometimes swollen ribs," said Dr Mitch Blair, an officer for health promotion at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Blair cited several reasons for the rise in rickets cases, including children spending more time playing indoors, the stringent use of sunscreen and religious beliefs that mean skin is covered.

In the US, doctors say there has also been a rise in rickets, though there are no solid national figures to confirm it.

"Kids with rickets are children who don't have exposure to safe places to play and (who) stop drinking milk as soon as they're weaned," said Dr Laura Tosi, an orthopedic surgeon in Washington, DC.

"If the vitamin D deficiency is ongoing for a long time, these kids come in with horrific bowing of the legs and I have to think about breaking the bones to straighten them," she said.

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Rommel, son of German field marshal, dies

MANFRED Rommel, the longtime mayor of Stuttgart and only son of Germany's most famous World War II military commander, has died aged 84.

The City of Stuttgart said Rommel, who served as mayor from 1975 to 1996, died on Thursday of unspecified causes.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday she considered him a "remarkable" politician and notable member of her party.

Rommel was born in 1928 to Lucie-Maria Rommel and Erwin Rommel, who eventually rose to Field Marshall rank and was widely known as the "Desert Fox" for his deft command of Nazi Germany's troops in North Africa.

Field Marshall Rommel, who was respected by both his own troops and his enemies, committed suicide when Manfred was 15 after being implicated in the plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

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Severe thunderstorms forecast for NSW

A SEVERE thunderstorm warning has been issued for large swathes on NSW's central west.

Damaging winds are forecast to hit parts of the central west slopes and plains and parts of the upper western forecast districts on Friday evening, the Bureau of Meteorology saysd.

Locations which may be affected include Dubbo, Parkes, Wellington, Condobolin, Coonamble, Nyngan, Bourke, Brewarrina and Enngonia.

The State Emergency Service (SES) is advising people to move their cars away from trees and secure loose items around homes.

People are also being urged to stay indoors and away from windows.

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Third suspect chemical haul found in WA

A THIRD suspicious package has been discovered in the same region south of Perth where highly volatile explosive chemicals were recently found.

Bomb squad technicians are at a disused caravan park at Peppermint Grove Beach in the Capel region working to render the area safe, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said roadblocks were in place around the caravan park.

The discovery comes after a Tactical Response Group dawn raid of a Bunbury home on Friday, which led to a man being taken into custody for questioning over the chemicals.

Last Tuesday, a member of the public discovered about 3kg of the substance - TATP - hidden underwater near a jetty at Leschanault Estuary, Australind.

A second package was found at the same site 36 hours later.

Both packages were destroyed in controlled detonations.

On Friday, police resumed scouring the waterway, having previously scaled back the search for more of the chemicals.

Four jetties were cleared on Friday, Deputy Commissioner Chris Dawson said.

Road blocks have been put in place at the raided house on Moore Street and at an industrial facility in Harris Road, Picton, which is believed to be the workplace of the man in custody.

Police guards are at both locations, which are not at this stage considered unsafe and have been declared 'protected forensic areas'.

Homes in the Peppermint Grove Beach area may be evacuated while the package is detonated, police say.

"The only location that we are presently concerned about is the Peppermint Grove caravan park," Mr Dawson said.

He said the four jetties were not considered unsafe, but divers would search the entire estuary on Saturday.

"That will be an ongoing operation," Mr Dawson said.

"We have no reason to believe at this point there are any matters that will cause any immediate (risks) to the safety of the public, but we are broadening our search and that's because we need to be thorough."

He said no charges had yet been laid against the man in custody.

TATP, also known as "Mother of Satan", was used in the London terrorist bombings in 2005.

It is created through the chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and acetone, is highly volatile, and particularly susceptible to heat, friction and shock.

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Clergy inquiry to call for reporting laws

VICTORIA'S landmark inquiry into child sex abuse by clergy is expected to demand priests and religious leaders be forced into reporting abuse allegations against their colleagues or face jail themselves.

A final report from the state's parliamentary inquiry into institutional responses to child abuse is due to be released within days.

The inquiry's report will recommend the state government create a criminal offence "for ministers of religion who fail to report physical or sexual abuse of children by other clergy", News Corp Australia says.

Clergy who don't pass on abuse allegations they have heard within their organisations "should face jail", the report recommends, according to News Corp on Saturday.

Victoria's parliamentary committee heard evidence from dozens of victims, church leaders, police officers and other officials.

Mandatory reporting laws were suggested several times during a years' worth of public hearings.

The committee's final report is expected to be tabled in parliament by November 15.

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