Duo beat Vic man in street robbery

A Melbourne man has been beaten by two men during a late night street robbery, police say. Source: AAP

A MELBOURNE man has been beaten by two men during a late night street robbery.

The 28-year-old had been walking along Sydney Road in Brunswick when two strangers started talking to him.

Police say one of the men then grabbed him from behind while the other punched and kicked him before fleeing with his phone.

The man is recovering from head injuries sustained during the attack, which happened last Tuesday evening.

The two robbers are described as young men of African appearance with skinny builds.

One of them was wearing a grey beanie, pink long-sleeved top, jeans and brown shoes.

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UK kids most scared of spiders and bugs

A fear of creepy-crawlies is most likely to give children sleepless nights, a British survey shows. Source: AAP

A FEAR of creepy-crawlies is most likely to give children sleepless nights, according to a British survey about what scares them most.

Researchers found one in four children said they were scared by spiders and bugs, with a similar number, or 23 per cent, admitting to a fear of the dark.

Other worries highlighted in the survey of 2000 parents, commissioned by Sky Movies to mark the launch of its TV special Toy Story of Terror, included being bullied (22 per cent), ghosts (20 per cent) and doing badly at school (14 per cent).

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Couple win holiday, then become drug mules

A PERTH couple who believed they had won a holiday to Canada were actually being tricked into becoming unwitting drug mules, federal police have revealed.

The cruel scam was uncovered by the AFP and Australian Customs officials earlier this month, who seized $7 million worth of methamphetamine in rock form.

The alleged elaborate con involved a Canadian-based website targeting elderly Australian couples with the potential to win the all-expenses paid trip.

Authorities on Friday detailed how the WA couple, a man aged 72 and woman, 64, were the "lucky" winners, being handed two tickets to Canada, seven nights accommodation and new luggage.

After the week-long trip, the couple returned to Australia, but on arrival reported to Customs that they had concerns about their bags.

On examination, 3.5kg of the drug was found hidden inside each case.

The AFP will allege their luggage was swapped while in Canada, with the couple having no clue they were then being duped into carrying the drugs home.

The couple were due to be met on arrival, which set AFP officers into an investigation which led to a search warrant of a car and a room in Scarborough, where documents related to the con, more bags similar to the ones seized, and $15,000 in cash were found.

A 38-year-old Canadian man was arrested at Perth airport, and has subsequently been charged with drug importation offences.

He has already appeared in a Perth court, and will appear again later this year.

David Bachi, the AFP's Perth Airport Commander, said the alleged scam was one of the most elaborate federal officers had come across.

"The organisers of this scam went to great lengths to provide a facade of legitimacy. Thankfully the travellers contacted Customs and didn't dismiss their concerns, allowing us to make the arrest," said Mr Bachi.

"We will continue working with local and international law enforcement partners, targeting all elements of this drug syndicate."

Mr Bachi said the scam - through a bogus Canadian tour company called AusCan Tours - appeared to be targeting older Australians.

The Canadian-based website has now been shut down.

"Any persons who have been contacted with similar offers of travel should contact the AFP immediately," Mr Bachi said.

Jan Hill, the Director of Customs' Airport Operations in Perth, warned travellers about carrying luggage on behalf of someone else, no matter what the circumstance.

"If you've been asked to carry something on behalf of another person, make the right choice and alert local authorities," Ms Hill said.

"Do not allow another person to pack your bag and do not carry luggage on behalf of another person."

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TAFE supporters protest in Sydney

TAFE teachers and supporters have gathered in western Sydney to protest against cuts to the sector ahead of a national letterbox drive next month.

The small band of protesters huddled outside NSW Liberal MP Geoff Lee's Parramatta's office on Friday, waving banners and chanting "Wake up Geoff" and "No ifs, no buts, no more TAFE cuts".

NSW Teachers Federation assistant general secretary Maxine Sharkey said the sector was facing up to 800 job losses over the next four years and had already seen more than 100 teachers take voluntary redundancies.

Course times were also being slashed in a bid to cut costs, she said.

"So basically if you went to TAFE for two seven-hour days they are now coming for two six-hour days," she told AAP.

The union is running a national letterbox drive from November 11 where they hope to drop 60,000 leaflets in NSW alone, she says.

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Port of Tauranga expects flat earnings

PORT of Tauranga, New Zealand's biggest export port, expects annual earnings to be broadly in line with a year earlier and has experienced a lag in dairy shipments after the false botulism scare in August.

The company forecasts annual earnings of between $NZ77 million and $NZ80 million ($A67.89 million-$A70.54 million) in the 12 months ending June 30 2014, chief executive Mark Cairns told shareholders at Thursday's annual meeting in Tauranga.

That compares to underlying earnings of $NZ77.2m in 2013.

Mr Cairns said first-quarter net profit was about the same as a year earlier, as a 13 per cent increase in log exports and a six per cent gain in trade was offset by a 13 per cent drop in containers, "largely due to the lag in dairy exports associated with the botulism scare and also the loss of the import container service".

The Kotahi freight alliance between Fonterra and Silver Fern Farms told the port it anticipates a significant increase in export volumes in the coming months, he said.

Port of Tauranga posted a record annual profit in 2013 as it readies for a dredging project to prepare for larger ships.

The port is pushing for supremacy in the port sector with dredging expected to start next year, and after investing in its MetroPort facilities in Auckland and taking a 50 per cent stake in PrimePort Timaru.

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Crews on edge as NSW blaze flares up

FIRE crews remain on edge after a flare-up of a bushfire burning out of control at Springwood in the Blue Mountains.

An air crane is being sent to the fire, one of three blazes currently at "watch and act level" in the mountains west of Sydney along with fires at Lithgow and Mt Victoria.

"It's starting to flare up around Linksview (Road Fire) again," the Rural Fire Service's Ben Shepherd told reporters, adding that RFS officials were assessing whether to lift the alert for the fire to "emergency".

Deputy Fire Commissioner Rob Rogers said while Thursday's conditions in the Blue Mountains were much more favourable than Wednesday, there was still work to be done.

"The immediate high risk danger has passed, but by no means has the danger passed completely," he told reporters in Faulconbridge.

Mr Rogers said emergency crews were also on the way to the NSW Shoalhaven area after a fixed-wing aircraft contracted to the RFS crashed while a fighting a fire near Ulladulla.

Grave concerns are held for plane's pilot, the aircraft's sole occupant.

The accident highlighted the dangers of fire fighting, Mr Rogers said.

"Firefighting is an inherently dangerous task, whether you're on the ground or flying through the air," he said.

"You've got something that can't be controlled, limited visibility, multiple aircraft working in the area, there's always danger."

Meanwhile, the RFS has been at pains not to apportion blame after a report found the State Mine Fire burning at Lithgow was caused by a defence explosives training exercise on army land at Marrangaroo.

Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said whatever defence did to start the fire was clearly unintentional.

"It wasn't deliberate. It was a side effect of a routine activity ... and clearly there was not intention to see fire start up and run as a result of that activity," he told reporters at RFS headquarters on Thursday.

Mr Rogers said it would be "prejudging" to suggest negligence was a factor.

"When fires start, where there's human intervention, there's carelessness and then there's just simply accidents happening," he said.

A watch and act warning remains in place for a fire at Gateshead, southwest of Newcastle.

A fire at Minmi, also in the Newcastle area, has been downgraded, but remains uncontained and is causing spotting along the M1.

The RFS said a fire burning in the Hawkesbury near Colo had also flared up and was headed east towards isolated communities in Upper Macdonald and Perrys Crossing.

"They will be able to see this thing and it will look like it's bearing down on them," RFS spokesman Ben Shepherd told reporters.

It was not near many homes, he said.

Premier Barry O'Farrell praised the "superb team effort" from everyone involved in responding to the fires.

"It will take literally weeks of work from firefighters and hopefully heavy rain to ensure this situation is brought under control and those fires extinguished," he told parliament.

"Attention is now turning to the rebuilding task, which is clearly both heartbreaking and daunting."

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Qld CSG water to be used for drinking

BRISBANE Oct 23 - Queensland deputy premier Jeff Seeney says water created as a by-product of coal seam gas exploration is a "resource" that could be used for drinking and irrigating farmland.

He was in Chinchilla in the state's south west on Wednesday for the official opening of the Kenya Water Treatment Plant.

The plant, built for gas company QGC, will desalinate millions of litres of salt water released as a byproduct from coal seam gas extraction every day.

The water is to be used via a 20km pipeline as drinking water for Chinchilla and to irrigate 6000 hectares of farmland in the area.

Mr Seeney says it is a vital resource for agriculture and local communities in drought-racked areas in south east Queensland and Australia.

"There is a huge resource, a huge potential for the replication of this sort of investment," he told reporters.

In a speech at the opening, said a lot of regional communities' concerns about CSG centred on the water issue and it was "always imperative" to find a way to deal with the huge amounts of water produced in the industry.

Ninety seven per cent of the water from the plant is to be reused, QGC says, and 20 farmers have signed up to receive the water.

It is the other three per cent of the water that has environmentalists concerned.

QGC is proposing to evaporate the remaining water and store millions of tonnes of salt crystal in landfill, but is also looking at commercial applications for the salt.

Australian Greens Senator Larissa Waters said if the salt ends up in landfill it could be disastrous for downstream communities, particularly in flood-prone areas within the Murray Darling basin.

Lock The Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton said the long-term effects were unknown.

"It is basically an uncontrolled experiment on the Queensland landscape with a product (salt) that we have known for a hundred years is an anathema to the landscape," he said.

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Radio group defends chairman's prank words

Southern Cross Media's chairman says his comments about the royal prank were taken out of context. Source: AAP

SOUTHERN Cross Media's chairman has accused a British MP of relying on sensationalist media reports to condemn his language about a tragic royal radio prank.

British MP Keith Vaz says Max Moore-Wilton's comments, playing down last year's incident on Sydney radio station 2Day FM as "s*** happens", were an insult to the memory of Jacintha Saldanha, who committed suicide after being a victim of the prank.

But Mr Moore-Wilton says Mr Vaz was basing his criticism on selective Australian media reporting.

"Mr Vaz should look at the transcript of my comments and take it in context rather than listening to the truncated and sensationalist reports of the Australian media," he told AAP.

"What the media commentary focused on was a one sentence that I made and presumably that's what Mr Vaz is focusing on."

Mr Moore-Wilton defended the comments he made on Tuesday to shareholders at Southern Cross Media's annual general meeting in Melbourne.

"It's in the eye of the beholder. It's entirely Australian. I don't know whether it's British but it's certainly ... been used by many Australians to express a point of view," he said.

"I'm not here to be censored for my use of a word which is common in everyday parlance in Australia.

"If you don't like it, or the media don't like it, well that's fine."

Mr Vaz, who has been speaking on behalf of Ms Saldanha's family, called on Mr Moore-Wilton to apologise for his comments.

"This is an insult to the memory of a loving mother and wife," the Labour MP said in a statement.

"The radio station has clearly not learnt the lessons from this incident.

"Mr Moore-Wilson must apologise for his comments immediately."

While Mr Moore-Wilson remained defiant, Southern Cross Media's Austereo division on Wednesday issued a statement to "clarify" what was said.

"Mr Moore-Wilton would like to emphasise that his words should not be read as his or the company's lack of concern or sympathies towards those who have been involved in the royal prank call issue," it said.

The company also criticised other media outlets for taking its chairman's comments "out of context" after a shareholder asked if there was a cultural problem.

In December 2012, 2Day FM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian rang King Edward VII's Hospital in London, posing as the Queen and Prince Charles, inquiring about the health of a then pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.

Ms Saldanha, 46, transferred the call to a duty nurse who gave out information about the Duchess, and later took her life.

A British coronial inquest is investigating the matter, which Mr Moore-Wilton said was an unfortunate incident.

"This happened and there was nothing that we could have done to prevent it," he said.

* 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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Southern Cross hit over executive pay

SOUTHERN Cross Media's shareholders have delivered a first strike against the broadcaster for its executive pay policy.

Just over 30 per cent of shareholders voted against the company's remuneration policy at its annual general meeting on Tuesday.

A first strike occurs when more than a quarter of shareholders vote against the remuneration.

If a similar result occurs at next year's meeting, the company faces a spill of several board positions.

Chief executive Rhys Holleran's total pay in the 2012/13 financial year rose by more than $350,000 to $1.66 million.

The company's profit in that time rose slightly to $96 million, despite a 6.5 per cent fall in sales revenue during the year.

But the total amount paid to senior executives in 2012/13 was lower than the previous year.

Southern Cross owns the Today and Triple M radio networks, and a regional TV network.

Radio revenues and market share fell during the year due to scandals involving 2DayFM presenter Kyle Sandilands and a prank call that took in a British nurse, who later committed suicide.

TV revenues were down nearly 13 per cent, mostly due to the weak performance of Southern Cross' affiliate Ten Network.

Mr Holleran told Tuesday's meeting that radio revenues had improved in the three months to September, compared to a year ago, though television revenues remained flat.

The company is also hoping an increase in consumer sentiment will provide a boost to the retail sector, which should flow into higher advertising revenues.

"There presently seems to be more positivity surrounding consumer sentiment and when that will translate in to the broader retail economy," Mr Holleran said.

"Whilst forever hopeful, we are yet to see this positivity translate into our business activity."

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Rio to cut jobs as it outsources to IBM

MINING giant Rio Tinto is likely to axe hundreds of back office jobs after signing an outsourcing deal with US technology company IBM.

Rio has signed a $100 million, 10 year deal with IBM that will allow the miner to cuts costs in areas such as human resources, finance, information technology and procurement.

The agreement is expected to lead to around 800 job losses across the company's global operations.

Rio has not disclosed how many Australian jobs will be affected.

A spokesman said the company was facing increasing costs and seeking ways to reduce costs and improve productivity.

"Our core business is mining and it makes sense to partner with other companies for back office and transactional work," he said.

"We are working with our partners to find opportunities to reduce our costs in support functions like HR, finance, IT and procurement across Rio Tinto's global operations."

But he said it was too early to talk about any impact on roles.

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SA Gov unveils $36 billion transport plan

THE South Australian government has unveiled a $36 billion, 30-year integrated transport plan for Adelaide and regional SA.

The plan includes an extensive network of trams across the suburbs, underground train and bus services for the city centre and more outer suburban rail and bus services.

It also proposes to complete the north-south road corridor through the city and a big increase in the number of bike paths.

Premier Jay Weatherill says the plan is the most sophisticated and detailed transport plan ever undertaken in South Australia.

"Over the past decade we have made an enormous investment in our state's transport infrastructure," he said.

"This plan builds upon this momentum and provides a vision for the future."

The plan also includes duplicating the Dukes Highway to Victoria, sealing a road link in the state's north-east to the Queensland border and other regional road projects.

About 65 per cent of the expenditure will be allocated to Adelaide with 35 per cent to regional areas.

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Laos remembers air crash victims

Investigators believe they have found the black box from a plane that crashed in southern Laos. Source: AAP

LAOS has called for a minute of silence to pay tribute to the 49 people, including six Australians, who died last week in a plane crash into the Mekong River, state media say.

The government instructed state officials to arrange for the minute of silence at 2.15pm (1815 AEDT) on Monday, the Vientiane Times reported.

A separate ceremony will be held near the site of the crash in Pakse, Champasak province, to commemorate the dead, more than half of whom were foreign nationals.

Lao Airlines Flight QV301 from the capital Vientiane to the southern city of Pakse crashed on Wednesday after hitting turbulence.

As of Sunday, 43 bodies had been retrieved by Lao and Thai rescuers.

French air crash investigators are working at the crash zone along with a team from the aircraft manufacturers.

Navy divers from Thailand are also helping the search.

Yakua Lopangkao, director-general of Laos' Department of Civil Aviation, says investigators using sonar and other equipment picked up signals from underwater and have narrowed their search to the area "we believe might be the location of the black box".

"We can identify the general location of the plane, but have not yet been able to find it," he told the Vientiane Times.

"But the search teams still cannot retrieve it because the water was deep and muddy and the current was very strong," he said.

The aircraft's flight data recorder has not yet been found either.

The twin-engine turboprop ATR 72-600 had been delivered from the French-Italian aircraft maker in March.

Experts from ATR arrived in Laos over the weekend to assist with investigations into the crash.

There were 44 passengers aboard including 16 Lao, seven French nationals, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, three Vietnamese, one American, one Chinese, one Canadian, one Malaysian national, and one person from Taiwan.

It was the worst crash for the national airline since 1999.

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Real test of new NSW train times

The NSW government says people will be pleased with changes to Sydney's public transport services. Source: AAP

PEAK-HOUR commuters will put Sydney's sweeping public transport changes to the test on Monday.

While the changes mean an extra 2700 ferry, bus and train services across the network, authorities admit some will miss out under the new integrated timetable that started on Sunday.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian says the real test will come on Monday morning.

"Chances are, depending on where you are catching your train, you will spend less time on the train because there are more express services in the network," she said.

"The new system makes sure, where we can, we are managing overcrowding.

"So you can expect to have less people on your train as well when you have to make those journeys."

There will be 600 extra express services per week, including 125 for the South Coast train line and 70 new weekly express services between Newcastle and Sydney, in the timetable that was two years in the making.

Extra staff will be on hand at transport stations across the network to help travellers with the changes.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Penny Sharpe says many people are in for nasty surprises and disruptions because the NSW government didn't consult about the timetable rewrite.

"The new timetable cuts some peak-hour services right across the network and will instead require people to drive to major stations," she said in a statement.

The overhaul has been led by Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins, formerly the chief operating officer for the London Underground.

Mr Collins concedes there will be losers, but says most people will get a better deal.

"You can never ever satisfy everybody," he said on Sunday.

"There are a million customers out there (but) ... 90 per cent of those customers will get a better deal."

Mr Collins added that some customers could smooth the change to their routine by "interchanging, just checking your timetable and making an adjustment to your travel pattern so you get that stopping service".

Western Sydney receives the biggest boost in bus services with 1284 extra services each week.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson says a cut in peak-hour services in Como and Jannali in Sydney's south contributed to the Liberals' defeat in Saturday's Miranda by-election.

"Anger at the cuts to train services and the strong campaign against them by Labor's Barry Collier were a big part of the massive swing in Miranda," Mr Robertson said.

The opposition claims Jannali has lost 11 peak-hour train services a week, while Como has lost seven.

But Ms Berejiklian says there are 149 extra weekly services on the line into the electorate.

"For anybody that doubts that, look at the timetable and count them," she said.

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Khloe Kardashian to return to Australia

KHLOE Kardashian must be having mixed feelings about returning to Australia in November.

Last time she visited, in 2011, she and her older sister Kim flew into a media storm. They arrived in Australia in the wake of Kim's announcement that she was divorcing her husband Kris Humphries, a mere 72 days after their much-hyped wedding.

Now News Corp Australia is reporting Khloe will return to Australia in November to promote the Kardashian family's fashion empire.

Khloe, 29, has been the subject of recent headlines about the state of her own marriage, to basketballer Lamar Odom.

The trip follows the launch of the Kardashian Kollection's ready-to-wear Spring/Summer line at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival in Sydney in August.

Khloe and Kim, who rose to fame with the TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, visited Australia in 2011 to promote their handbag line.

Hundreds of fans, journalists and photographers followed the stars on their two-day visit. The sisters cut short the trip and cancelled their scheduled appearance at the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Khloe's November visit is likely to be more subdued.

It's unlikely Odom will join his wife in Australia.

The couple are reportedly estranged amid rumours the basketball player is battling addiction to cocaine.

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