Union warned about WA dock's safety issues

A KARRATHA man's arm was crushed as he worked at the dock supplying Chevron's massive Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia on Saturday, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says.

The man was airlifted to a Perth hospital after his arm became trapped between the dock and a barge at the Mermaid Marine Supply base in Dampier, which is used exclusively by Chevron.

MUA WA secretary Chris Cain described Chevron and its contractor as "cowboys", saying poor safety standards had been a problem at the Mermaid Marine Supply base for months.

"It's becoming clearer and clearer that Chevron and their contractors like Mermaid are cutting corners to make up time and money on the Gorgon project," Mr Cain said.

The union said WorkSafe WA had been warned that poor training and management made an accident "inevitable".

Safety representatives had arranged for WorkSafe WA inspectors to visit the site on Friday.

"We've got serious issues when the day after WorkSafe says there's no problem, ambulances are called to an accident of the type exactly predicted by health and safety representatives," Mr Cain said.

The union said the accident raised serious questions that need to be answered, such as why WorkSafe was called to investigate the accident hours after it happened.

WorkSafe and Mermaid Marine have been contacted for comment.

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Grassfire 'out of control' near Young

FIREFIGHTERS are battling an out-of-control grassfire burning near properties in southwestern NSW.

The fire, covering 4600 hectares, is burning at Geegullalong Road, around eight kilometres east of Murringo, near Young.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman Ben Shepherd said 140 firefighters, 43 fire trucks and six aircraft were trying to bring the fire under control.

He said fire crews were working to protect a number of rural properties in the area but no residents had been evacuated from their homes.

Locals were being advised to stay in their homes as the fire-front approached, he said.

"A lot of people have done some preparation around their property and we are moving crews into those properties as the fire-front arrives," he told AAP.

He said the Lachlan Valley Way was closed in the area because of the fire.

Strong winds were pushing the fire in a north and north-easterly direction, and it was unlikely the blaze would be brought under control on Sunday night, Mr Shepherd said.

The RFS have issued a watch and act alert for the area.

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US school victims mostly six years old

Police say the gunman who shot dead 20 school children at a US school forced his way in. Source: AAP

SHATTERED families and grieving residents are devastated that most of the 27 people shot dead by a US school gunman are children aged just six and seven.

President Barack Obama is due to join the vigils in the small Connecticut community of Newtown on Sunday, to lead national mourning after this latest massacre that has revived calls for a debate on gun control.

But the political ramifications of the tragedy are far from the minds of most in this picturesque town, where parents of the survivors and the dead are struggling to come to terms with the stunning loss.

Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old hospital assistant who cares for sick newborns, says the death of his loving six-year-old Emilie should "inspire us to be better, more compassionate and caring toward other people."

He included the family of the apparent shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, in his condolences, addressing them through the news media to say: "I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you."

Robert and Diane Licata described how their six-year-old son Aiden ran past the shooter in his classroom doorway to escape after seeing his teacher gunned down - and recounted their desperate search for him.

Diane Licata told CNN she had rushed to the school to see her daughter led out of the building but there was no sign of Aiden.

"So the kids start to come out and when I saw her, you know, the sense of relief is incredible, but it's really short-lived because I still have one in there. And I'm waiting for him to come. And he didn't come out," she said.

"When you're standing there waiting....it's an indescribable feeling of helplessness."

Licata eventually received a text that her son was safe at a nearby police station.

Aiden was later able to explain his escape.

She said his class heard noises that initially sounded like hammers.

"Then they realised that it was gunshots."

"Aiden's teacher had the presence of mind to move all of the children to a distance away from the door... and that's when the gunman burst in," Licata said.

The gunman had "no facial expressions" she said, adding that he "proceeded to shoot their teacher."

Many US children are taught how to react during an emergency, so Aiden and his classmates quickly made their way to the door where the gunman was standing and ran past him. Some of them survived.

"He (Aiden) really, really, really cared about his teacher. He knows that she's been hurt but he doesn't know the end result. He knows the kids that he saw getting shot."

A police spokesman said Lanza is believed to have shot his mother at the home they shared before launching his attack at the nearby school.

He had two handguns but the coroner told reporters that most of the children and staff were killed by multiple gunshots from his assault rifle, a .223 calibre Bushmaster, a civilian version of the US military's M4.

Lanza's father Peter expressed shock and grief at the horror caused by his son.

"No words can truly express how heartbroken we are," he said in a statement vowing to continue co-operating with law enforcement.

"We, too, are asking why?"

Connecticut State Police released the identity of the victims, aged six to 56. They included 16 six-year-olds and four seven-year-olds.

Twelve of the 20 slain children were girls and eight were boys.

The six adults killed were all women, including the school's principal and its psychologist.

The motives of the shooter are still the biggest mystery.

Asked whether any suicide note, emails or other clues to the killer's mind had been found, Connecticut State Police spokesman Lieutenant J Paul Vance said investigators have gathered "some very good evidence."

Lanza was a shy, awkward and nerdy boy but hadn't apparently given any warning sign that he was a mass murderer.

The weapons, news reports said, were registered in his mother's name but she was widely seen as an upstanding resident in the town.

The tragedy drew messages of support from around the world, and candlelight vigils are being held.

Of all US campus shootings, the toll was second only to the 32 murders in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech University.

The latest number far exceeded the 15 killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which triggered a fierce but inconclusive debate about gun control laws in the United States.

However, the White House has scotched any suggestion that the politically explosive subject would be quickly reopened.

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Troops should quit Afghan villages: Karzai

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai says the US and NATO troops transferring security to Afghan forces should leave Afghan villages as soon as possible.

Karzai spoke on Saturday on the opening day of a conference to develop Afghanistan's foreign policy strategy for the next three years.

He said international forces will end their combat mission at the end of 2014 but said that before that - in 2013 - Afghan forces would take charge of securing the entire country.

Karzai said the sooner that transition could be completed, the better.

He said he wanted the international troops to leave Afghan villages, draw back to their bases and slowly withdraw from there.

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Car rolls off Coronation Drive to river

Car nearly into the river (off Coronation Drive) just down from the Regatta Hotel at 6.35pm today. Picture: Chris Rutherford Source: The Courier-Mail

TRAFFIC has reportedly ground to a halt after a multiple-vehicle crash on Coronation Drive at Toowong this evening.

Witnesses reported seeing a car rolling backwards into the river but police media said the vehicle came to rest on the embankment.

The spokeswoman said police and emergency services were trying to reach the crash scene "but traffic was a bit like a car park".

It is believed there some of the passengers have received injuries but there is no further information available.

The accident happened before 7pm, near the Regatta Hotel, and delays are expected for some time.

More to come.

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Philippine cops kill Malaysian 'terrorist'

Philippine police say they have fatally shot a suspected Malaysian terrorist. Source: AAP

PHILIPPINE police have killed a suspected Malaysian terrorist who was allegedly planning a bomb attack in one of the largest cities in the country's south, police say.

The suspected terrorist, identified as Mohd Noor Fikrie Bin Abud Kahar, was shot dead by police on Friday following a scuffle inside a hotel in Davao, a bustling port city and a regional commercial hub on the main southern island of Mindanao.

As the man and his Filipino wife were checking out of the hotel, he tried to grab a backpack from his wife containing a homemade bomb, Davao city police chief Ronald de la Rosa said.

Officers tried to seize the man, who broke free and threatened to detonate the device.

"You want the bomb? You want the bomb? Shoot me! Shoot me! I will explode the bomb," de la Rosa quoted the man as saying.

The threats prompted officers and people in the hotel lobby to scamper out for safety, the police chief said.

The man and his wife then ran into the street, where they hugged each other as the man raised a mobile phone, threatening to use it to trigger the bomb.

The man grabbed the backpack from his wife and ran toward a park full of revellers while his wife was arrested by police, de la Rosa told The Associated Press by telephone from Davao, about 980 kilometres south of Manila.

Guards locked the park's gate to keep the man out.

Still raising his hand that held the mobile phone, he then ran into a packed restaurant where a sniper shot him twice in the chest. Other officers then fired at him and killed him, de la Rosa said.

The bomb, which was subsequently defused, was fashioned from a mortar shell.

The police chief said intelligence reports indicated terrorists planned to explode a bomb in Davao.

Intelligence agents had received a tip from a "very reliable source" that the couple were staying at the hotel, de la Rosa said.

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Vic water usage up as restrictions ease

VICTORIANS made a splash as water restrictions were lifted, with the state's usage going up for the first time in five years, official figures show.

The Essential Services Commission's (ESC) annual report, released on Friday, showed the average household used 150 kilolitres (kL) of water in 2011-12, an increase of seven kL on the previous year.

The average had been on the slide for the previous four years, but Victorians seemed to enjoy the lifting of restrictions last year.

Consequently, average water bills also increased, up $115 to an average of $885 per year.

The figures show country households used more water than their urban counterparts, with averages of 174kL and 142kL respectively.

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Scrap metal yard on fire in Sydney's west

A LARGE fire has broken out at a scrap metal yard in sydney's west.

A fire and rescue spokesman said six firefighting crews were sent to the scrap yard in Greenacre just after 6.30pm (AEDT) on Friday.

The fire will burn for a long time time, the spokesman said.

"It's scrap metal so it has oil, plastics, paint ... but then once you heat up aluminium then it will burn as well," he told AAP.

"We may end up having to keep a fire engine there all night."

One person has suffered burns and been taken to hospital, the spokesman added.

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Strike likely at Fremantle port

A PLANNED strike at the busy Port of Fremantle appears likely unless there's a breakthrough over the weekend, the operator says.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has threatened six days of industrial action, starting at 5.30am (WST) on Monday and concluding at the same time on Sunday, December 23.

While Fair Work Australia (FWA) intervened last week in a largely pay-related dispute between the MUA and Fremantle Ports, facilitating a compromise between the parties and preventing threatened industrial action, the union is now concerned about the possibility of the port being privatised.

Fremantle Ports chief executive Chris Leatt-Hayter said it was disappointing that negotiations to date, including on Friday, had not reached a positive conclusion.

"An extended interruption to shipping in Western Australia's capital city port at this busy time of the year would deal a severe blow to importers and exporters, with the community bearing the costs of the significant flow-on effects," Mr Leatt-Hayter said.

"Fremantle Ports will continue to negotiate in the hope of averting the stoppage but if it goes ahead as notified, we will endeavour to minimise the impacts."

The dispute involves more than 130 workers.

Services affected by a strike would include mooring of ships, security, quarantine collection in the inner and outer harbours where these services are provided by Fremantle Ports, and stevedoring operations at the Kwinana Bulk Terminal.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell said the MUA was "unapologetically blackmailing WA retailers and consumers again in the lead-up to Christmas", and dismissed its concerns.

Mr Buswell said privatisation "quite simply isn't going to happen".

"Our ports will remain state-owned ports," he told Fairfax Radio on Friday.

"It is a fact there are some private operators that currently operate in Fremantle Port, some of the stevedoring businesses, and that happens in ports right around the state, but they are still public ports and there is no intention to privatise the Fremantle Port."

The MUA's insistence on a clause in the employment agreement guaranteeing permanency of employment for the life of the agreement was "not something that we will be conceding under any circumstance", Mr Buswell said.

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Japan scrambles jets in disputed airspace

JAPAN scrambled eight fighter jets after a Chinese state-owned plane breached its airspace for the first time, over islands at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.

It was the first incursion by a Chinese state aircraft into Japanese airspace anywhere since the country's military began monitoring in 1958, the defence ministry said.

The move on Thursday marks a ramping-up of what observers suggest is a Chinese campaign to create a "new normal" - where its forces come and go as they please around islands which Beijing calls the Diaoyus, but Tokyo controls as the Senkakus.

It also comes as ceremonies mark the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese Imperial Army troops embarked on an orgy of violence and killing in the then-Chinese capital.

F-15 jets were mobilised after a Chinese Maritime Surveillance aircraft ventured over the islands just after 11am (1300 AEDT), Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters.

"It was a fixed-wing Y-12 aeroplane belonging to the Chinese State Oceanic Administration. We confirmed that this aeroplane flew in our country's airspace," he said.

"It is extremely regrettable. We will continue to resolutely deal with any act violating our country's sovereignty, in accordance with domestic laws and regulations."

The Y-12 is a twin-turboprop.

Japan mobilised eight F-15 jets and an E2C early-warning aircraft, the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing a defence ministry source. But the incident appeared to have passed off without any direct confrontation.

In Beijing, China's foreign ministry termed the flight as normal.

"China's maritime surveillance plane flying over the Diaoyu islands is completely normal," said spokesman Hong Lei.

"China requires the Japanese side to stop illegal activities in the waters and airspace of the Diaoyu islands," Hong said, adding they were "China's inherent territory since ancient times".

The coastguard said its regular patrol had spotted the plane.

"At about 11.06am today, a patrol boat from the Japan Coast Guard confirmed the flight of a fixed-wing aeroplane, which belongs to the Chinese Oceanic Administration, in our country's airspace around Uotsuri Island. It was confirmed at a point about 15 kilometres south of Uotsuri," said a statement.

"The patrol boat immediately informed the fixed-wing aircraft: 'Fly without intruding into our country's airspace'. It replied to the effect that 'this is China's airspace'."

The State Oceanic Administration is part of the Ministry of Land and Resources. Its roles include law enforcement in Chinese waters.

Chinese government ships have moved in and out of waters around the islands for more than two months, but there have been no reports of any airborne action.

Four maritime surveillance vessels were logged there earlier in the day, the coast guard said, adding it had ordered them to leave.

Such confrontations have become commonplace since Japan nationalised the East China Sea islands in September, a move it insisted amounted to nothing more than a change of ownership of what was already Japanese territory.

But Beijing reacted with fury, with observers saying the riots that erupted across China had at least tacit backing from the Communist Party government.

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