A 58-YEAR-OLD man is dead and a teenage girl is in hospital after a motorcycle crash on the Brooker Highway in Hobart.
Police say the motorcycle, which had earlier been involved in a toy run event, was travelling north when it crashed about 200m south of the Claremont Link Road off ramp.
The driver, from Old Beach, died at the scene, while his passenger, a 17-year-old girl, was taken to Royal Hobart Hospital in a stable condition.
A SURFER who showed up at a NSW mid-north coast hospital with cuts to his hand and leg has received a surprising diagnosis: shark attack.
Police say the 26-year-old was in the water at Port Macquarie about 6.15pm (AEDT) on Thursday, when he felt something hit his right hand.
When the man discovered cuts to his right hand and blood on his leg he took himself to Port Macquarie Hospital, where doctors told him his wounds were consistent with a shark bite.
"He did not see a shark and was unaware at the time that he could have been bitten by one," NSW police said in a statement.
The man was treated for puncture wounds to his hand and a laceration to his leg, but was expected to be released.
Police said the northern end of Shelley Beach, where the suspected attack happened, was isolated and not widely used.
Officers could not find anyone else in the water when they visited the beach.
An expert is now set to visit Port Macquarie to try to identify the species of shark involved.
The suspected attack came just five days after Port Macquarie teenager Zac Young was killed by a shark while body-boarding further up the NSW coast.
The 19-year-old was in the ocean with three friends at Riecks Point, near Coffs Harbour, on Saturday when a shark bit off his legs.
He died shortly after his friends managed to drag him to shore.
AUSTRALIA'S manufacturing sector has faced difficult economic conditions over the past decade but new research has pin-pointed a sharp downturn in overall productivity to just three key areas.
A staff working paper by the Productivity Commission found that while investment in manufacturing has risen over the long term, hours worked and employment in the sector have declined.
The report found no "overarching systemic reason" for the decline in manufacturing's rate of multi-factor productivity growth.
It declined by 1.4 per cent a year between 2003/04 and 2007/08 compared with 1.3 per cent productivity growth a year between 1998/99 and 2003/04.
"However, three of its sub-sectors - petroleum and chemicals, food and beverages, and metal products - collectively accounted for two-thirds of this decline between cycles," the report released on Friday shows.
One influence has been from the appreciation of the Australian dollar and changing competitive conditions.
It also noted that there has been a lag between new capital investment in these sub-sectors and the output from that investment.
In particular, additional investment in petroleum refining to meet new environmental standards, while improving the quality of outcomes, did not raise output.
Changes in consumer preferences have also had an impact on productivity, such as significant growth in smaller-scale bakeries that use more labour-intensive processes.
TRADE, not aid, should be Australia's policy when it comes to assisting Asian neighbours, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, as the opposition called for an inquiry into his government's $4.5 billion aid program cuts.
Speaking in Melbourne on Thursday night, Mr Abbott said foreign aid should be better targeted and Australia should help developing nations stand on their own feet.
He said the growing economic strength of the region needed to be matched in Australia by strengthening of the economy.
Australia's international clout doesn't rest on the size of its aid budget, but on the size of its economy, Mr Abbott said.
"As far as possible, Australian aid should be designed to enable other countries to stand on their own two feet as quickly as possible," Mr Abbott said.
"Trade, rather than aid, is the best way to sustainably boost poor countries' prosperity."
He said reducing the rate of increase in the aid budget would enable the government to ensure it was being targeted effectively.
His comments followed an announcement by Labor senator Ursula Stephens the opposition would be referring plans for $4.5 billion of cuts to Australia's international aid program to a Senate Committee for inquiry.
The matter will be moved in the Senate on Monday.
Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said Australians deserved to know why the government had decided to slash aid funding and where the cuts would be made.
"We know Australians support a strong international aid program. Australia is a rich, generous country that can afford to lend a helping hand," Ms Plibersek said.
Mr Abbott also spoke about the importance of fostering strong relationships with the booming economies of China, India and Japan and in particular, Indonesia, which he said was Australia's, "important overall relationship."
He said the media made the relationship with Indonesia difficult.
"Being Indonesia's "trusted partner" is easier said than done, given the media's tendency to play to stereotypes and past disagreements over East Timor," Mr Abbott said.
On Thursday, the government agreed to a six-point plan aimed at repairing relations with Indonesia two weeks after the suspension in co-operation on November 26.
A LAWYER representing East Timor in its spying case against Australia has accused ASIO of raiding his home and office, seizing documents and "muzzling" a key whistleblower days before the case is due to begin.
Attorney-General George Brandis has confirmed the spy agency conducted raids in Canberra, and agents took documents and electronic media.
But Senator Brandis denied it was to impede the East Timor case that starts in The Hague on Thursday.
"The warrants were issued by me on the grounds that the documents contained intelligence related to security matters," he said in a statement.
"I have seen reports this evening containing allegations that the warrants were issued in order to affect or impede the current arbitration between Australia and Timor-Leste at The Hague. Those allegations are wrong.
"I have instructed ASIO that the material taken into possession is not under any circumstances to be communicated to those conducting those proceedings on behalf of Australia."
The statement was issued on Tuesday night after lawyer Bernard Collaery told the ABC that people identifying themselves as Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) agents raided his office and home in Canberra, taking electronic and paper files.
Mr Collaery is working for East Timor, which accuses the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) of secretly recording East Timorese ministers and officials during delicate oil-and-gas negotiations in Dili in 2004 for the Timor Sea resources treaty.
East Timor is pursuing international arbitration in The Hague to have the 2006 treaty overturned.
Speaking from Amsterdam later on Tuesday, Mr Collaery said a former Australian ASIS employee who had direct knowledge of an operation to bug East Timorese politicians and had been slated to testify in The Hague had been questioned and had his passport seized.
"This witness was the director of all technical operations at ASIS. We're not talking about some disaffected spy," Mr Collaery said.
"Muzzling the oral evidence of the prime witness is so crass."
He has called for a full inquiry and for the conduct of David Irvine - the current ASIO director-general, who was head of ASIS in 2004 - to be closely scrutinised.
"What it requires is a full judicial inquiry into the conduct of ASIS in this matter," Mr Collaery said.
Father Frank Brennan, a professor of law at the Australian Catholic University, told the ABC the case in The Hague was to begin on Thursday with the parties determining how to deal with the witnesses, particularly the key whistleblower.
"The allegation of the Timorese being that this whistleblower is able to provide credible, direct evidence of the bugging of the cabinet room, and that that was done for commercial gain and would require the approval not only of the director-general of intelligence but of the requisite Australian minister," he told the ABC.
The 2006 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) equally divides spoils from the vast oil and gas assets found in waters between the two countries.
PRINCESS Elisabeth, the 12-year-old daughter of Belgium's new king, has been threatened with kidnapping.
An anonymous letter sent to the newspaper La Derniere Heure and addressed to King Philippe contained the threat, along with racist remarks with neo-Nazi overtones, the daily reported.
"I am going to abduct Princess Elisabeth. This is not a joke," the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.
The publication said it had notified the police and the royal palace.
It said police officers had been deployed outside Elisabeth's school.
Philippe ascended the throne in July when his father abdicated.
Elisabeth is the eldest of four children Philippe has with Queen Mathilde.
VETERAN folk and rock performer Roy Harper is set to be tried next year over allegations he committed a string of sex offences in the 1970s in England.
The singer-songwriter, who has performed with Pink Floyd and influenced rock band Led Zeppelin, was not required to appear for a short preliminary hearing held at Worcester Crown Court.
Harper, of Rossmore in the Republic of Ireland, faces nine charges, including two counts of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 13.
The singer also faces three charges of indecent assault and four of gross indecency relating to the same alleged victim.
Police announced last month that Harper had been charged with the offences, which are alleged to have occurred in the mid-1970s in the Herefordshire area.
The 72-year-old is on unconditional bail and will next appear at the court on March 24, 2014 for a plea hearing.
A trial date has been set for August next year.
The prolific performer has produced more than 30 albums during his career.
Harper had been due to play on a bill alongside the likes of Eric Clapton and Robert Plant at London's Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday night, but has now withdrawn from the line-up.
He was among the acts who had agreed to appear at a tribute to folk guitarist Bert Jansch, who died two years ago.
His most recent release Man & Myth was named album of the month by music magazine Uncut earlier in the year, and was released by the label behind acts such as The Flaming Lips and Fleet Foxes.
LLOYDS Banking Group PLC has named Norman Blackwell its chairman, succeeding Winfried Bischoff when he retires next year.
The bank said in a statement on Monday that Blackwell, who has been a non-executive director, will succeed Bischoff as chairman beginning in April.
He is currently chairman of Lloyd's Scottish Widows Group and has experience in insurance, banking and public policy.
Blackwell was also partner in the management consultancy McKinsey & Company.
The part-nationalised lender has said its recovery is ahead of schedule and is profitable - a fact enabling the government to begin the process of selling its stake back to private investors.
THE Israeli prime minister's reported penchant for scented candles is setting off a stink.
Maariv daily on Monday slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for spending $US1700 ($A1870) on scented candles, $US23,300 on flower arrangements and $US31,600 on gardening at his official residence in Jerusalem, among other costs totalling about $US909,000 in 2012.
Netanyahu's alleged expenses have been detailed in a document released by a civil liberties group following a freedom of information request.
Israelis have long accused Netanyahu of leading a lavish lifestyle while failing to address the middle class' economic woes.
He came under fire in the past for spending $US127,000 on a special sleeping cabin on a flight to London and for $US3000 spent on ice cream.
Asked about the document, Netanyahu's office said expenses decreased this year.
THREE young men will appear in a Sunshine Coast court on Monday charged with murder after allegedly killing a man in an early morning bashing.
The 45-year-old victim sustained head injuries when he was attacked outside the Factory nightclub in Maroochydore just after 3am (AEST) on Saturday, police say.
He was rushed to Nambour Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A 25-year-old North Arm man, a 27-year-old Coolum man and another 27-year-old man from Buderim will face Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday.
The men reportedly attacked the victim following an argument.
He was knocked to the ground, then kicked and punched in an attack that lasted less than 20 seconds and was captured on CCTV cameras.
THE body of a second victim has been removed from the Glasgow hotel which collapsed when a police helicopter crashed through its roof.
At least eight people were killed when the helicopter crashed into the Clutha Vaults pub in Scotland's largest city on Friday night, including the civilian pilot and two police officers.
Work to remove the chopper from the site is under way.
Police Scotland said on Sunday it would be a "painstaking process" expected to take some time, stressing the need to ensure the safety of the operation and emergency workers.
The body was removed from the crash scene at the same time as a service to remember the victims was being held in the city.
Hundreds of people were at Glasgow Cathedral, where prayers were said and candles lit.
Police Scotland have so far named only one of the victims as Gary Arthur, 48, from the Paisley area.
His daughter, Celtic and Scottish women's footballer Chloe Arthur, 18, wrote on Twitter: "RIP dad. you'll always mean the world to me, I promise to do you proud, I love you with all my heart.
"'Thanks to everyone who has tweeted me, text me etc, means so much, I have the most amazing friends ever."
John McGarrigle, 38, said an eyewitness told him his father, also John McGarrigle, 59, had also been killed.
Reports have also named helicopter pilot David Traill and police officer Kirsty Nelis as among the dead.
A post on the Facebook page of Mr Traill's cousin Heather Lawson read: "RIP David Traill my lovely big cousin away far to soon xxx"
Many of Mrs Nelis' friends on the social networking site changed their profile pictures to a black square cut across by a thin blue line in remembrance.
Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick said on Sunday: "We hope to make further formal identifications as the operation continues today.
"Our casualty bureau has already handled more than 600 calls and we are working hard to piece together information that will allow us to progress that.
"Clearly the processes involved take time."
THEY'VE been reaching out to the homeless for 130 years, but for the first time the Salvation Army is releasing data on the people they help.
The Salvation Army on Monday released its first National Homeless Report, revealing how many people are accessing its help and their circumstances.
The largest provider of homeless services in Australia, the Salvos provide around 25 per cent of the support available for people living on the streets.
Dr Bruce Redman says it's hoped the data can reveal the extent of the homeless crisis in Australia and help plan a response.
"It's important to pinpoint the determining factors behind homelessness," he told AAP.
"From that we can then tailor our response in collaboration with the governments."
Dr Redman, who has been working with homeless people for more than 35 years, says the face of homelessness is changing.
While many Australians still figure the typical homeless person is an elderly man, perhaps with mental health or alcohol issues, the Salvos are actually seeing many types of people.
Dr Redman is particularly concerned about the number of young children arriving at Salvos centres with their mothers.
"They aren't able to settle into school or get any sort of stability in their lives and that's a real concern," he said.
The homeless reports will be released annually.
The inaugural report shows the Salvos helped 22,594 people in the six months from July 1 2012 to December 31 2012.
