Injuries as bus slams into restaurant

A bus has crashed into a popular Indian restaurant in Brisbane's West End, injuring ten people.

A BRISBANE City Council bus has plowed into three cars and a popular Indian restaurant in Brisbane's West End, leaving nine people injured and three taken to hospital.

The bus, which was out of service at the time of the incident, remains lodged in the front of Punjabi Palace on Melbourne Street.

Fire crews, tow trucks and Energex are at the scene of the crash.

It appears the bus was travelling southbound along the busy street when it hit a Lexus, Subaru and Mercedes before mounting the footpath outside the restaurant.

IN PICTURES: Bus crashes into Punjabi Palace at West End

A Queensland Ambulance spokesman said nine patients were treated with three taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Punjabi Palace, where a Brisbane City Council bus crashed through the front entrance.

It is believed the bus driver was one of those injured.

Tony Neville and his family arrived shortly after the accident to eat at the damaged restaurant.

"This is our favourite Indian restaurant. We've come from Toowoomba for dinner," he said.

"Half an hour later and we would have been in the middle of it."

Melbourne Street remains closed between Cordelia and Manning Streets.

Ambulance officers treat patients at the scene of a bus crash at Punjabi Palace, West End. Picture: Felicity Sheppard

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Pakistan bus crash kills 17, police say

PAKISTANI officials say a bus carrying a wedding party has veered off a narrow road and plunged into a canal in the country's northwest, killing at least 17.

Police officer Asif Sharif said on Saturday 11 people were still missing since Friday's accident, near the city of Peshawar.

The dead included nine women and five children.

Sharif says all the victims were relatives of the bride, and were on way to the nearby city of Mardan when the bus ran off a road made slippery from rain.

He says rescuers were still trying to recover the bodies of 11 missing people.

Pakistan has one of the world's worst records for traffic accidents.

Roads and vehicles in the country are poorly maintained, and there is little respect for traffic rules.

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One dead after WA wheatbelt town fight

ONE man is dead and another has been charged with murder after a fight in Western Australia's central wheatbelt.

Police say two men had started fighting in a home in Koorda, a township about 240km northeast of Perth.

A 46-year-old man, identified by police as Gavin John McMaster, died at the scene at about 1.30am (WST) on Saturday.

Police arrested a 64-year-old man and later charged him with murder.

He will appear in the Northam Magistrates Court on Monday.

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20 killed as bomb blasts hit India

At least 20 people have been killed after bombs exploded in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Source: AAP

INDIAN police have revealed they had been warned of a possible attack by Islamist militants in a bustling shopping area of Hyderabad where twin bombings killed at least 14 people and wounded scores.

The near-simultaneous attacks on Thursday night outside a cinema and a bus stand in Dilsukh Nagar district were the first deadly bombings in India since 2011 and triggered international condemnation, including from rival Pakistan.

They also raised questions about whether Australia's cricket team would go ahead with a scheduled match against India in Hyderabad starting on March 2, although the sporting team said the Test was still on for now.

As investigators sifted through the wreckage in their hunt for the perpetrators, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said those responsible for the "dastardly act" would be punished.

No group has claimed responsibility but newspapers pointed the finger at Indian Mujahideen.

A senior detective said two of the group's militants had spoken of a possible attack in the area during interrogation last October.

"We interrogated two militants who said they had recced various spots in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune for a possible attack," said SN Shrivastava, a Delhi police commissioner with responsibility for anti-terror operations.

"One of the places they mentioned was Dilsukh Nagar, which was hit last night," he said on Friday.

The main opposition Bhartiya Janata Party seized on the revelation as a sign of intelligence failure by the Congress party-led government.

"If they had specific information, what was the central government and the state government doing? Why was nothing done to prevent such an incident?" Sushma Swaraj, the BJP's leader in parliament, told MPs.

Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings in recent years, and is often listed as a suspect in attacks across the country.

While Hindus form the majority of the population in Hyderabad, there is a sizeable community of Muslims living in the old quarter.

The attacks came at a time when India was on alert after the recent hanging of a separatist unleashed protests in the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.

Questioned about Indian Mujahideen's possible involvement, Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde said it was too early to say.

While authorities had received intelligence of a possible threat of attack, "it was not specific", he added.

A report on India's NDTV network said the cables of closed circuit television cameras had been cut days before the blasts.

Shinde put the death toll at 14 and the number of injured at 119.

N Rao, a senior police official in Hyderabad, gave the toll as 16, with 80 wounded.

Police said three of the dead were college students while one of the most seriously injured was a pregnant woman.

Sambaraju Shylaja, a receptionist who was in the area at the time, told how the blasts triggered panic as people feared there could be yet more attacks.

"Everything was flying around, everything was so threatening and horrible, bodies were lying around everywhere. Everyone was rushing for their lives," she said.

Hyderabad is one of the main hubs of the country's computing industry and hosts local offices of Google and Microsoft.

Meanwhile, it's been confirmed Hyderabad will host the second cricket Test match between India and Australia beginning next weekend despite the twin bombings.

Rajeev Shukla, spokesman for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said federal and government officials had given assurances about security in the wake of Thursday night's deadly attacks.

"So the Test match should not be shifted out of Hyderabad," he said in comments broadcast on Indian TV.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said earlier he was taking advice from authorities.

"As far as I'm concerned we are playing the second Test in Hyderabad next week. That's where we are at," said Sutherland, who is with the team in Chennai for the opening Test which began on Friday.

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Spate of Syrian blasts kill at least 83

A SPATE of car bombings in Syria's capital has killed at least 83 people, including more than 60 in an attack near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party, activists say.

The most lethal attack, in central Damascus, was by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives-laden car near the entrance of the Baath party's main offices, said the opposition British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The majority of the 61 people who died in the powerful blast were civilians, including many children from a nearby school, the Observatory said on Friday, adding 17 were members of the security forces.

The attack was the deadliest in Damascus since bombers first began targeting the city about a year ago.

Twin suicide bombings killed 55 people in the Syrian capital on May 10, 2012.

Another 22 people were killed in an apparently co-ordinated triple bombing targeting security headquarters in the northern Damascus district of Barzeh on Thursday, including 19 members of the forces, said the Observatory.

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Potential cylcone for far north Queensland

A CYCLONE could form off north Queensland as early as next week as a monsoonal trough hits the region, the weather bureau says.

Senior forecaster Pradeep Singh says low pressure systems are developing in the Indian Ocean and are expected to move across the Gulf Country to the Coral Sea.

He says there is a greater chance of a cyclone if these coincide with the return of a monsoon trough, which travels east to west across the tropics during the monsoon season.

Normally at this time of year the monsoon trough would be across central Australia but it has stayed in north Queensland.

"At this point it doesn't look very strong, although storm showers and the storm activity will start to increase in the north," he told AAP.

However, there is a possibility a cyclone could build in the Coral Sea area towards the end of next week.

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Hong Kong stocks open 1.41% lower

HONG Kong shares have tumbled 1.72 per cent on concerns the US Federal Reserve will wind up its huge monetary easing program sooner than expected.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 400.74 points to 22,906.67 on turnover of HK$81.14 billion ($A10.27 billion).

Minutes from the Fed's most recent policy board meeting showed some members were in favour of cutting short the $USA85 billion-a-month bond-buying introduced last year to support the economy and which has helped lift global shares.

A number of board members said an ongoing evaluation of the easing "might well lead the committee to taper or end its purchases before it judged that a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labour market had occurred", according to the minutes.

On Wall Street the Dow fell 0.77 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 1.24 per cent, with both markets having closed at more than five-year highs on Tuesday. The Nasdaq dropped 1.53 per cent.

In Hong Kong property stocks fell on fears finance secretary John Tsang will announce further tightening measures in his budget on Wednesday.

New World Development dropped 2.5 per cent to HK$13.38 and Sino Land fell 1.7 per cent to HK$13.74.

Commodity stocks were also hurt by news of a possible scaling back in US monetary easing.

Chalco fell 2.5 per cent to HK$3.46 and Shenhua Energy declined 2.2 per cent to HK$29.35.

Mainland footwear retailer Belle International slumped 16.8 per cent to HK$15.28 after saying it will only see slight net profit growth in 2012.

Chinese shares lost 2.97 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.97 per cent, or 71.23 points, to 2,325.95 on turnover of 126.6 billion yuan.

Developers were reportedly hit after China's State Council, or cabinet, said late on Wednesday it would continue to strictly implement property control measures and expand property taxes to keep home prices in check.

"The State Council's comments on the property market hurt investor confidence, while profit-taking in banking stocks also dragged the index lower," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.

Among developers Zhejiang Dongri lost 5.00 per cent to 9.89 yuan while China Enterprise dropped 2.61 per cent to 5.22 yuan.

And China Minsheng Banking fell 5.97 per cent to 9.77 yuan and China Everbright Bank fell 4.65 per cent to 3.28 yuan.

Resources stocks eased on weak commodity prices caused by the Fed fears. Shanxi Coal International Energy slumped 6.47 per cent to 19.37 yuan, Jiangxi Copper dropped 5.92 per cent to 24.32 yuan and Xiamen Tungsten lost 4.70 per cent to 37.91 yuan.

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No Walsh St police killings retrial

CONSTABLE Damian Eyre's father will never give up hope his son's killer will be brought to justice.

Police concede there isn't enough new evidence to retry the men acquitted of the 1988 Walsh Street killings of Const Eyre and Constable Steven Tynan.

Frank Eyre admits at the moment the families of the two officers seem to be out of options.

But he believes a miracle could happen.

"There's somebody out there, even with it being 25 years. There is someone who can put a cap on this matter," Mr Eyre told AAP.

Mr Eyre said it was vital police were confident they had a strong case before attempting a retrial.

"You've got to have the evidence because you only get one shot," Mr Eyre said.

"But it's not going to go away."

A review of the case by the head of the homicide squad has found insufficient new evidence to warrant a retrial, after the Victorian government changed the double jeopardy law in late 2011.

Assistant Police Commissioner Stephen Fontana said the Victorian Government Solicitor's office had concurred with the findings of a review by Detective Inspector John Potter, completed last year.

"The evidence isn't quite enough to push on with another investigation," Mr Fontana told the Seven Network.

Mr Eyre, a former policeman, says he understands why the decision has been made.

He takes comfort from the fact the case will remain open.

He has urged anybody who may have information about the evening of the incident to contact Crime Stoppers, saying the smallest thing could help.

"They may not think it's important. They may have heard a little something in a pub," Mr Eyre said.

Const Tynan, 22, and Const Eyre, 20, were gunned down on October 12, 1988, after being lured to an abandoned car in Walsh Street, South Yarra.

Victor Peirce, Peter McEvoy, Trevor Pettingill and Anthony Farrell were found not guilty of the murders by a jury in 1991. Peirce died in 2002.

Peirce's widow Wendy was a key witness in the prosecution case and had given evidence rebutting her husband's alibi while in witness protection, before recanting.

The constables' families had sought a new inquest into their deaths but Victorian State Coroner Jennifer Coate ruled there is no new evidence available that would warrant holding an inquest.

Judge Coate said Ms Peirce, who served a jail term for perjury, continued to change her account of the events.

She also said evidence about comments Mr McEvoy made to police officers in April 2010, while they were conducting a search, also did not amount to sufficient new facts.

Media reports suggested Mr McEvoy told the officer: "The sweetest thing I ever heard was the police officer's last words while he was dying".

Judge Coate said she had listened to a DVD containing the alleged statement and found "there is a good deal of doubt that those precise words were used".

Under the double jeopardy changes, a fresh trial can be ordered where there is compelling new evidence that a person previously acquitted of a serious crime is in fact guilty.

The findings of Det Insp Potter's review, which was completed in October, will not be released, Mr Fontana said in a statement.

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French hostages seized in Cameroon found

THE seven members of a French family seized in northern Cameroon earlier in the week have been found in northern Nigeria, a Cameroonian military source says.

"The hostages are safe and sound and are in the hands of Nigerian authorities," the source told AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity.

"They were found abandoned in a house in Dikwa" in northern Nigeria.

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Trawler salvage like MacGyver, union says

A bid to refloat a 50-foot trawler stranded off a beach in Sydney's south has failed. Source: AAP

A DELICATE salvage operation off Cronulla became more like the TV show MacGyver when the incident controller stripped down and swam out to a stricken trawler with a rope and knife between his teeth, a union says.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says the failed bid to refloat the stranded fishing trawler is "woefully inadequate" and if mismanaged, could cause an "environmental disaster".

The MUA compared the salvage effort by Sydney Ports to the cult TV show MacGyver in which a secret agent solves complex problems with everyday materials like his swiss army knife.

"You have the incident controller stripping down to his budgie smugglers and swimming out to the boat with a coil of rope, some duct tape and a knife between his teeth," MUA Sydney Branch secretary Paul McAleer said in a statement on Wednesday.

But Sydney Ports has completely rejected what it said were false and malicious claims made by the MUA.

It said it is "very satisfied" with the salvage team's efforts to safely remove the vessel.

"Right from the outset Sydney Ports Harbour Master Philip Holliday insisted the salvors take a softly softly approach to refloating the vessel to protect the integrity of the hull," the authority said in a statement.

It said it had been "quickly established" that there had been no breach of the fuel tank, following the initial grounding of the vessel.

The authority dismissed the comparisons of the incident controller with MacGyver, saying his boarding of the vessel was anything but reckless.

"Police divers actually boarded the vessel first to ensure it could be done safely and only then did they call on our incident controller to wade through knee-deep water to the vessel," it said.

"He was wearing trousers, boots, tee-shirt and a Sydney Ports Emergency life vest."

The 50-foot fishing boat Challenge ran onto the rocks off Cronulla Point in Sydney's south after midnight on Monday.

Four Indonesian crew members were rescued after they tried to escape the choppy water in a small boat.

Sydney Ports says the boat will stay where it is for another day.

An investigation continues into why the trawler ran aground.

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The Bundy spirit to help flood victims

BUNDABERG is known for its spirit. Now that spirit is giving back to the flood-hit city.

Bundaberg Distilling Company is launching a special edition of its Bundy Rum to help rebuilding efforts after the city was ravaged by its worst floods ever last month.

Each flood-affected household will be given a free bottle of the new Road To Recovery Series rum bearing the name of the street it is on.

The remaining bottles to be sold for $60 each and will only be available at the distillery gate, in a bid to attract more visitors to the city.

All proceeds, along with part of the sales from other Bundaberg Rum products, will go towards raising $250,000 to support flood recovery efforts.

Bundaberg Distillery manager Graham Wrigglesworth says the company has been a part of the community for 125 years.

"It is our privilege to bring some enjoyment back to the local community in the wake of this latest flood crisis," he said.

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Scientists pursue suicide blood test

AUSTRALIAN scientists are helping to develop a blood test that could determine if people are suicidal.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) hope their research will also help with the development of a new generation of anti-depressants.

Until now the focus for depression has been on the neurotransmitter serotonin. However, it has been discovered that severely depressed people have high levels of another neurotransmitter, a chemical called quinolinic acid.

The Australian team have been asked to help a Swedish team that, according to research published in the US, found the chemical "was significantly higher in suicide attempters than in healthy controls".

"We now know the mechanism and the molecule involved, so we have to find a simple way of testing it," said Associate Professor Gilles Guillemin from UNSW Medicine.

"We think it will take about 12 months to develop a test that could give doctors results in 24 to 48 hours," he told AAP on Wednesday.

The aim was for doctors to be able to use the blood results to complement other diagnostic work.

The NSW team, who are world leaders on the chemical, had previously demonstrated quinolinic acid is involved in several brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, autism and schizophrenia.

Ultimately, it's hoped that doctors in the future will be able to stop the production of quinolinic acid by using specific enzyme inhibitors to block its production.

Bob Goldney, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide, said the concept of a blood test was exciting.

However, "all too often over the past 30 years we have been disappointed".

"The prediction of suicide is difficult. A blood test would be interesting but probably not very useful in terms of it being a specific predictor because so many factors influence suicidal behaviour."

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.

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Abbott insisted on Nestor reference

TONY Abbott insisted on providing a character reference for a Catholic priest later struck off the clergy list by the Vatican following a child abuse case, the former priest says.

John Gerard Nestor, who attended Sydney's St Patrick's Seminary with Mr Abbott in the 1980s, was a priest in the Wollongong diocese in NSW when he was charged with the indecent assault of a 15-year-old altar boy in 1991.

Mr Abbott, who in 1997 was a parliamentary secretary in the Howard government, later provided a character reference in court for then Father Nestor, describing him as "a beacon of humanity".

While a Wollongong magistrate found Fr Nestor guilty and sentenced him to jail, he won an appeal against the conviction in October 1997.

But the Catholic church never allowed him to return to ministry and about five years ago he was struck off the clergy list, or "laicised", by the Vatican after lengthy inquiries.

In a letter sent to the Wollongong diocese in 2009, the Vatican said it made the decision on "grave reasons".

Mr Nestor told AAP at his home in rural NSW that Mr Abbott agreed to provide the character reference in 1997 after being approached by his barrister.

"When the lawyer approached Tony Abbott, he said look, 'I know you're a parliamentary secretary and you may feel that because of your position you don't want to get involved in this case'.

"Tony said, 'no, I'm coming down,'. He insisted on coming down and giving the reference, because he's a man of integrity."

Mr Nestor said while he was "grateful" for Mr Abbott's reference, he did not believe it pulled any weight in having his conviction quashed.

"The magistrate took no notice of it at all, or the other three (references).

"I think he would do the same thing if I was Joe Blogs, because he's a man of great integrity."

Mr Nestor said he wasn't "great friends" with Mr Abbott at the time of the case.

"He knew me well enough to make that statement, but that doesn't imply that he was my closest friend or anything like that.

"His entire character reference related to 1984. He didn't say anything about my character at the time (of the case).

"He said 'this was the way he was at the seminary'.

"It was entirely what he knew of me then, and his insistence once he found out about (the case) ... says something about his character."

The two had become friends at the Manly seminary studying to become priests in the 80s, but their life paths diverged sharply not long after their days at St Patrick's ended.

While Mr Abbott decided the priesthood wasn't for him, Mr Nestor started work as assistant vicar for education at the Catholic Education Office in Wollongong.

The pair have kept in "vague contact" since the court case, Mr Nestor said.

"I haven't seen him for many, many years," he said.

"I'm in a very different area of life to him.

"But I must say, I think he feels good about me, and I feel good about him.

"He has shown himself as a good friend to me."

Mr Abbott has previously said he had provided a character reference for Mr Nestor.

"In 1997, Mr Abbott provided a reference for Mr Nestor in an open court. He was subsequently acquitted by a District Court Judge," a spokesperson for Mr Abbott said.

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Bushfire threatens two Vic towns

A LARGE, fast moving and out of control bushfire is now 30 kilometres north of Dunkeld in Victoria's southwest and an emergency warning remains in place for residents as hot, dry conditions continue to fuel blazes across the state.

The blaze, which has now expanded to cover four hundred hectares of land and is burning in the Grampians National Park, is also expected to impact the township of Mirranatwa on Sunday evening.

The blaze, which was started by lightning on Thursday night, is one of 387 new bush and grassfires that ignited between 3pm on Thursday and 11.30am (AEDT) on Sunday, many sparked by lightning, the Country Fire Authority says.

"It has been a very active fire period in many areas of the state and the emergency services have been kept very busy," Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said.

"This activity has been driven by four days of hot, dry weather and tomorrow (Monday) is expected to be the worst day of the past week."

Mr Lapsley said it was important for Victorians to remain vigilant as the hot weather was expected to continue for some while.

He said up to 1075 firefighters, 240 vehicles and 64 aircraft had been active each shift over the past four days.

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Two die, 18 injured in Thailand blasts

A SERIES of blasts in a town in Thailand's restive south has killed two people and wounded up to 18, authorities say.

The latest incidents, which began with two fire bombings of shops in Pattani on Saturday night, came just days after a major attack on a Thai military base in the insurgency-plagued region.

In total, three bombs have exploded in the provincial town since late Saturday, while police said four more devices had been defused, in the latest attacks to rock the Thai south, where thousands have died in nine years of deadly unrest.

A blast around noon on Sunday in the centre of Pattani killed a local security volunteer instantly, police said.

Hospital staff said another defence volunteer later died of his wounds, while about 18 people, including civilians, were wounded.

Thailand's southern provinces near the Malaysian border suffer almost daily gun and bomb attacks by shadowy groups fighting for greater autonomy.

More than 5500 people, both Buddhist and Muslim, have been killed in the bloody conflict since early 2004.

On Wednesday, scores of heavily-armed gunmen stormed an army base in the neighbouring province of Narathiwat but the Thai military repelled the assault, killing 16 militants in one of the most deadly incidents of the insurgency.

Members of Thailand's security forces and civilians accused of collaboration with the authorities are frequently targeted with ambushes and roadside bombs.

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