A WOMAN has died after a head-on collision in Victoria's southwest.
Police say the woman's car collided with a van in Brucknell, about 45km from Warrnambool, at about 3pm (AEST) on Saturday.
She died at the scene.
A female passenger in the woman's car and the male driver of the van were injured.
The death takes Victoria's road toll to 171, compared with 197 at the same time last year.
TWO teenagers travelling on a train have been arrested after police found them allegedly carrying graffiti tools and ecstasy.
Police say that, at 10.20pm on Friday, officers spotted two males acting suspiciously on a train travelling from Unanderra to Dapto, south of Wollongong.
Police allegedly found graffiti implements in an 18-year-old man's bag and eight ecstasy tablets in a 17-year-old boy's bag.
The 18-year-old was charged with possessing graffiti implements and the 17-year-old was charged with drug supply and possession.
Both were granted bail.
The boy will appear in Children's Court on November 11, while the man will appear in Wollongong Local Court on November 19.
POLICE vow to do whatever it takes to ensure bikies "no longer feel safe in their beds", planning a further crackdown following a violent brawl on the Gold Coast.
POLICE are hunting a man after a hit and run left a 54-year-old fighting for his life near Brisbane.
MICHAEL Tucker cast his eyes skyward to capture Riverfire for those who couldn't see it for themselves.
HOW greed, lies and stupidity led to a wasted life and the pointless death of a brave young police officer.
SHE AND her three foster siblings helped transform Queensland's child protection system, but Sarah Davison is the sole survivor.
PATIENTS are spending less time waiting to be unloaded from ambulances after being transported to Queensland hospitals, a new report shows.
The government last year outlined 15 recommendations to curb the practice of ramping or bypassing, where patients are left on stretchers on hospital ambulance ramps while they wait to be treated.
A Department of Community Safety 2012-13 report, released on Friday, says between January and June this year it took on average 19 minutes to unload patients from stretchers at busy metropolitan hospitals.
During the same period last year the average time was 28 minutes.
"This means ambulances are being returned back into the system ready to respond to emergencies, rather than being stuck in a hospital ramp," the report said.
The report also compared the performance of the fire service and parole and probation services.
It showed response times for both fire and ambulance services went unchanged in June 2012-June 2013 compared to the previous year.
Firefighters respond to 000 calls within 7.4 minutes, while ambulance staff attend to patients with potential life-threatening injuries within 8.2 minutes.
The report noted that response times could be reduced once an Emergency Vehicle Priority System is in place, giving green light priority to emergency vehicles.
The number of assaults against correctional officers by prisoners fell from seven to four over the same period.
A GOLD Coast businessman behind the collapse of an investment company responsible for $750 million has had his assets frozen and surrendered his passport.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission is investigating the fall of LM Investment Management, which managed funds for 12,000 international and domestic investors before it went into administration in March.
The Queensland Supreme Court on Friday made an order restraining company founder Peter Drake's international travel and freezing his assets.
The order prevents Mr Drake from selling any assets except for his Mermaid Beach home.
The beachside property is expected to be sold on Sunday, with surplus sale proceeds going into his solicitor's trust account.
The proceeds cannot be used without a court order, ASIC said in a statement on Friday.
Receivers appointed to Mr Drake's property will be required to secure all assets held by the businessman and report to the Supreme Court, ASIC stated.
The case will come before court again on October 9.
IT gets hot and dusty in the Aboriginal desert community of Mutitjulu and for seven years the kids near Uluru have had nowhere to cool down.
That has changed with a community investment of $1.6 million of rent money from the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to partly fund a swimming pool.
Opened on Tuesday, the pool should help improve both the health and welfare of the children.
"There's a number of sites around (neighbouring) Yulara with swimming pools but the kids weren't necessarily welcome there and were moved on, on many, many occasions," director of the Central Land Council David Ross tells AAP.
"There's all sorts of reasons: tourists, paying guests, maybe they didn't like the behaviour of the kids. Kids are pretty noisy, and people are there for their vacation."
Not everyone has access to a car in that southwestern corner of the Northern Territory, and it is hard for the children to get around.
"The kids were looking for something to do in the community, and were swimming and playing in muddy sewer water," Mr Ross says.
So in 2006, the traditional owners put $100,000 of the national park's annual rent toward the construction of the Mutitjulu Tjurpinytjaku Centre pool, with a $3 million grant coming from the Aboriginals Benefit Account.
The traditional owners also added another $1.5 million to ensure the pool operates until 2017.
Mr Ross says it will benefit the community in innumerable ways, by providing employment and lifting social, health and educational standard.
"We hear all sorts of anecdotal evidence that, if you have a pool, it'll improve long-term health and welfare for children with breathing problems, eye problems, ear, nose, throat, all those issues," he says.
"People are in water, so they're going to be much cleaner and they're physically doing something in that water rather than breathing in dust all the time."
A 'no school, no pool' policy will keep kids attending classes, he says.
"It's an improvement not just to the Commonwealth but the Northern Territory government's bottom line in terms of how much they spend on health and welfare and whatnot in communities," Mr Ross says.
After 2017, the community will need additional funding, so Mr Ross hopes the economic argument will sway the government to invest in an area.
However, he knows of three other community pools at Areyonga, Kintore and Santa Teresa in Central Australia that have had to close because they aren't receiving any funding.
Mr Ross said that costs would ideally be shared so traditional owners can invest their rent money in other community projects.
The Labor party promised to fund them all if re-elected, but Mr Ross says the CLC is still waiting on word from the new coalition government on whether it will support what he says is a great asset to the community.
"If you'd seen these kids jumping in the pool, they don't need to tell you (how happy they are)," he says.
A defence report questions the protection give to three Australian diggers killed in Afghanistan. Source: AAP
A DEFENCE inquiry into a rogue Afghan soldier's murder of three Australian soldiers is highly critical of the "relaxed" security at the time of the attack.
Vice Chief of the Defence Force Air Marshal Mark Binskin says there were shortfalls in protection and decisions made on the ground, but acknowledged that greater security still may not have prevented the deaths of Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, Sapper James Martin and Private Robert Poate.
"No matter how much you put in place you can never, 100 per cent, stop someone trying to commit a crime like this," he said.
"You can mitigate the risk as best you can but I don't believe you could ever stop someone who is intent on doing this."
Air Marshal Binskin said insider attacks remained a complex and evolving threat.
The three men died and two other diggers were injured when Afghan sergeant Hekmatullah fired 10 to 15 automatic rounds at Australian soldiers who were playing cards inside a patrol base 20km north of Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan province on August 29, 2012.
Air Marshal Binskin said the inquiry into the attack highlighted serious issues and made six recommendations to which defence has agreed.
Four relate to possible administrative action against three ADF members, including the patrol commander, which the chief of the defence force has referred to the chief of army for consideration.
The fifth concerns instant response capability that has been implemented and the sixth is that a commission of inquiry was not warranted.
Air Marshal Binskin said the decisions and actions made at the time were at the minimum level of authorised force protection to provide security for the soldiers.
"However, they did not adequately address the specific situation at the patrol base, that potentially placed personnel at significant risk to the threat of fire."
The inquiry officer found the decision to adopt a relaxed level of security was not in accordance with orders and meant the troops were not ready.
Some soldiers were dressed in gym gear and not wearing body armour. Two soldiers have since been disciplined over their inappropriate dress.
Air Marshal Binskin said it wasn't possible to make a link between protection arrangements and the reasons behind the insider attack.
"There were no weaknesses or deficiencies in our intelligence preparation and no information to Australian or coalition forces to suggest Hekmatullah was a threat to Australians," he said.
"In fact, his existence was unremarkable from a personnel or intelligence perspective."
He said they may never know what prompted the attack but bringing Hekmatullah to justice remained a key focus.
"Let me assure you, we will not let this go."
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says the 30 Greenpeace activists arrested in Russia over their open-sea protest in the Arctic were not "pirates" but they did break the law.
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PAPUA New Guinea prime minister Peter O'Neill has asked the nation's Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) to consider scrapping the Westminster system of government in favour of federalism.
Under the proposal, first raised by former prime minister Sir Julius Chan in parliament last week, the prime minister would be directly elected by the people, Mr O'Neill said.
Sir Julius, one of PNG's founding fathers, has been campaigning strongly for a federal system and argued it was fair and representative for PNG and it's more than 850 cultures.
Mr O'Neill said on Tuesday the change will consolidate political stability.
"I fully share (Sir Julius') views because if we are to progress as a nation, we must continue to find ways to improve and consolidate what we have," Mr O'Neill said in a statement on Tuesday night.
"We must never be afraid of change that will bring stability and prosperity for the future."
Mr O'Neill urged the CLRC to undertake a year-long nationwide consultation and report their findings to Parliament.
The Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc has been asked to liaise with the CLRC to work out the Terms of Reference for the consultation.
PNG last week celebrated its 38th year of independence from Australia.
Since then the country has been run by a single House of Parliament, where no one party has achieved the numbers enough to rule outright.
As a result, PNG's parliament has been periodically rocked by sudden and unexpected votes of no confidence as shaky coalitions realign.
In mid 2011 Mr O'Neill came to power by unseating PNG's longest serving PM, Sir Michael Somare, in a vote of no confidence while the veteran MP was in Singapore undergoing heart surgery.
The Supreme Court declared that move illegal, a decision that sparked a prolonged period of political unrest which included a failed military mutiny by supporters of Sir Michael.
At the end of the mid-2012 national election Mr O'Neill returned to the prime minister's chair, at the head of a coalition that included former prime ministers and former enemy Sir Michael.
Mr O'Neill earlier this year used his massive parliamentary majority to ban votes of no confidence in his government for 30 months.
Last week he convinced 82 of his 101 backers to pass constitutional amendments requiring a month's notice by a fifth of parliament to bring a vote of no confidence.
He pledged to resign as PM if ever lost the confidence of 56 of PNG's 111 parliamentarians.
The opposition, which currently number seven, have vowed to fight the vote of no confidence laws in the courts.
ANNA Bligh agreed to have her bald head photographed in a revealing interview about her "gruelling" chemotherapy experience.
The striking photographs will appear alongside an honest account about her cancer battle in an upcoming Woman's Weekly article.
Ms Bligh, 53, said it was a tough decision to open up about her battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma - but she has no regrets.
"I've just been through a very gruelling experience with chemotherapy and I guess I just wanted to be honest about what that was like," Ms Bligh told Nine Network Brisbane.
"It was a big decision to be part of it and a very difficult decision for me."
In June, Ms Bligh revealed she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The former Queensland premier had undergone surgery to remove a pea-size lump on her face two days after flying to Brisbane to front Queensland's health payroll inquiry in May.
She said she dreaded to think what would have happened if she didn't ask about the lump when visiting her GP for a niggling foot injury in late March.
Ms Bligh said she hoped her story would encourage others to express any health concerns to their own GP.
"Having lived with cancer now I know a little bit about what it's like and I just say to anybody - if you've got anything you're worried about, any lump or bump, go get it checked out," she said.
AN interim administrator has been appointed at the Wangaratta Rural City Council after its council was sacked for rampant bullying, intimidation and wasting $1.5 million in ratepayers' money.
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Ex-Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to a patient. Source: AAP
THE Crown is expected to open its case against former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel on Tuesday following delays in selecting jurors.
Patel, 63, is accused of unnecessarily taking out the colon of patient Ian Vowles while he was a director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital in 2004.
He pleaded not guilty in the District Court in Brisbane on Monday to causing grievous bodily harm.
Several jurors were discharged and replaced after raising matters privately with Justice Terence Martin during a lengthy empanelling process.
Justice Martin warned the process would be more complicated than usual because of the extensive media coverage surrounding the case.
Once empanelled, jurors were required to answer a questionnaire assessing their ability to be impartial.
The trial continues.
UPDATE: A jury has found two people guilty for the shooting murder of a Gold Coast police officer following an armed robbery at a tavern.
UPDATE: A man shot in a road rage attack in Queensland told the gunman "go ahead and shoot me" because he thought the man was bluffing.
UPDATE: A jury has found two people guilty for the shooting murder of a Gold Coast police officer following an armed robbery at a tavern.
Labor's Rob Mitchell has retained the Victorian seat of McEwen by 345 votes. Source: AAP
THE ALP may have lost the election, but it has managed to hold onto the final undeclared Victorian seat of McEwen.
Counting is complete in the central Victorian seat and Labor MP Rob Mitchell has held onto it by about 345 votes.
Mr Mitchell will let the Australian Electoral Commission officially declare the seat, but said "it is just a formality now".
His Liberal opponent Donna Petrovich has contacted him and released a statement conceding defeat.
"It has been a long, challenging and extremely close count since election day, however as the final ballots are tallied I concede that Labor has retained the seat," she said in the statement.
Labor suffered a swing of about 10 per cent against it in McEwen and Mr Mitchell blamed this on the ALP's "internal issues".
Ms Petrovich gave up her upper house Victorian seat to contest the federal seat.
SEVERE Typhoon Usagi is barrelling towards Hong Kong, shutting down one of the world's busiest sea ports and throwing flight schedules into disarray from Europe to the United States.
Usagi - which means rabbit in Japanese - packed winds of 165 kilometres per hour as it closed in on China's densely populated Pearl River Delta, forcing some residents in vulnerable areas to tape up windows and stock up on supplies.
The storm, described by meteorologists as the most powerful anywhere on Earth this year, killed two people in the Philippines and unleashed landslides in Taiwan en route to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Observatory, issuing the second of a five-step tropical storm warning, said it was likely to bring "severe" disruption to the city with transport systems affected and expectations of high waves and flooding in low-lying areas.
At the Chek Lap Kok airport, airline counters were besieged by anxious passengers hoping to rebook their flights after the Cathay Pacific group said it was cancelling all its flights from 6pm (2000 AEST)on Sunday.
With many other airlines following Cathay's lead, only a handful of flights were still scheduled to land or take off after 6pm.
Incoming flights from London, Sydney and Chicago among other cities were cancelled, and thousands of people risked being stranded at their point of origin or in Hong Kong.
Operators at Hong Kong's maritime cargo port, one of the busiest in the world, ceased work late on Saturday, stranding many giant tankers in sea channels not far from shore.
The financial hub is well versed in typhoon preparations and enforces strict building codes, so rarely suffers major loss of life as a result of tropical storms.
But the observatory warned against complacency, saying that Usagi was set to become the strongest storm to hit Hong Kong since 1979 when typhoon Hope killed a dozen people and injured 260.
On its way to Hong Kong and southern China, Usagi forced the evacuation of some 3400 people in southern Taiwan, dumped more than 70 centimetres of rain on Hualien city, and forced more than 100 flights to be cancelled to and from the island.
FRIGHTENING details of attempted child abduction reports have been revealed as police investigate suspicious incidents in Brisbane. FIND OUT WHERE
DEBATE over whether Brisbane needs a famous landmark was reignited last week with the release of City Hall's draft City Centre Master Plan.
Country music star Keith Urban has scored his second No.1 album in Australia with Fuse. Source: AAP
KATY Perry has reclaimed No.1 on the ARIA singles chart with her track Roar.
Having been superseded by Redfoo last week, Perry returns to the top for a fourth week.
Redfoo's Let's Get Ridiculous has dropped to No.3, behind Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball.
At No.4 this week is Jason DeRulo with Talk Dirty, featuring rapper 2 Chainz.
Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness remix is steady at No.5.
Climbing to a new peak of No.6 is Something I Need for OneRepublic.
Avicii is back up one spot to No.7 with Wake Me Up, while Love Me Again by John Newman drops back two spots to No.8.
Drake's Hold on, We're Going Home has shot up five places to No.9 ahead of Eminem's Berzerk at No.10.
The top three albums in the country are all new entries this week, with Australian country music star Keith Urban taking out the top spot with his ninth studio album Fuse.
This becomes his second No.1 album in Australia after 2012's The Story So Far.
The debut album for Tom Bergling, better known as Avicii, enters at No.2.
Jack Johnson, who is heading to Australia for a national tour in December, has debuted at No.3 with his sixth studio album From Here to Now to You.
With three big new entries, it pushes last week's top four albums down three places each, with AM for The Arctic Monkeys down to No.4, If You Wait by London Grammar at No.5, The Truth About Love for Pink at No.6 and Fleetwood Mac's 25 Years - The Chain at No.7.
Passenger is back up one place to No.8 with All the Little Lights, followed by Loud Like Love from Placebo at No.9
Bruno Mars returns to the Top 10 at No.10 with Unorthodox Jukebox following the release of his new single Gorilla.
