Use everything against violence: NSW oppn

MORE police on the beat and public transport throughout Sydney's Friday and Saturday night hot spots are initial steps in battling alcohol-related violence, the NSW Opposition says.

The call for action to tackle drunken violence on Sydney streets comes after Kieran Loveridge was sentenced for delivering the king hit that killed a teenager in Kings Cross.

Loveridge was sentenced to serve four years behind bars for Thomas Kelly's manslaughter in July 2012 - a sentence Mr Kelly's family labelled a joke.

The sentence has reignited debate over how the NSW Government can deal with alcohol-related violence on Sydney's streets.

Opposition leader John Robertson said everything should be on the table.

He said George St in the CBD and Kings Cross needed to be treated as "major events" on Friday and Saturday nights.

"The second thing you do is you put more police on the streets and the third thing you do is you increase public transport options to get young people out off those streets," he told reporters on Saturday.

'More than 100 dead in typhoon'

A CIVIL aviation official in the Philippines says he's received a report that more than 100 bodies are lying in the streets of a central city ravaged by Haiyan.

Fire destroys Kingsford electrical store

A PETROL station and a church were saved from a roaring inferno that destroyed a neighbouring shop in Sydney's east this morning. SEE IT IN PICTURES

"Nothing should be ruled out and everything should be on the table because we just can't allow these sorts of tragedies to continue."

While sentencing of those behind alcohol-fuelled violence was important, the government needed to be proactive, Mr Robertson said.

He labelled Loveridge's sentence as "appalling".

NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith said on Friday he had asked the DPP to consider appealing the manslaughter sentence.

Earlier this month a Brazilian man died in hospital after he was punched in the head outside a bar in Haymarket.

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Emma Thompson gets Hollywood honour

BRITISH actress Emma Thompson has cemented her place in Hollywood, by adding her hand and shoe prints to the fabled pavement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The Oscar winner was overcome with emotion at the ceremony on Thursday, recalling a childhood visit to the tourist attraction with her father.

She said, "When I was 14 I came to Hollywood with my dad, who was directing the Norman Conquests, and he brought us here, to the Grauman's, and showed us all the people's hands and feet and the signatures and it was so other-worldly that for me to be here now feels not at all real!"

The 54-year-old was joined by her Saving Mr Banks co-star Tom Hanks at the ceremony and he used the occasion to jokingly try and convince Thompson to give up her British citizenship and become an American.

He quipped, "We wish to convey the following message to Emma - Please Emma, leave England, come here, live with us, live amongst us! Los Angeles and Hollywood needs your sense and sensibility. England, they don't appreciate you like we do."

'More than 100 dead in typhoon'

A CIVIL aviation official in the Philippines says he's received a report that more than 100 bodies are lying in the streets of a central city ravaged by Haiyan.

Fire destroys Kingsford electrical store

A PETROL station and a church were saved from a roaring inferno that destroyed a neighbouring shop in Sydney's east this morning. SEE IT IN PICTURES

The ceremony didn't go completely to plan - Thompson took a tumble from an elevated box just as she was about to place her hands in the wet cement, but laughed off the moment and continued chuckling as she was immortalised outside the iconic cinema on Hollywood Boulevard.

And she was more than a little upset about the fact she would have to throw away the designer black shoes she wore to the ceremony, explaining, "They were covered in cement."

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United allows wider use of e-devices

UNITED Airlines is allowing passengers to use portable electronic devices throughout domestic flights.

The move by United, the world's biggest airline, matches new policies at Delta, JetBlue and American.

United Continental Holdings said on Wednesday it expects to expand the gate-to-gate use of electronics to passengers on United Express regional flights by the end of the year.

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it was relaxing rules that had required passengers to turn off devices while planes were below 10,000 feet.

Voice calls from mobile phones are still prohibited during flights including during taxiing, takeoffs and landings.

Chicago-based United said it will let passengers on its mainline planes use lightweight, handheld devices including tablets, e-readers and smartphones unless a crew member tells them otherwise, such as during low visibility. Laptops must still be securely stowed away during takeoff and landing, the airline said.

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Man arrested over 1990 SA murder

A MAN has been arrested for the murder of a 16-year-old girl last seen more than two decades ago in the South Australian outback.

Police said the 42-year-old man was arrested on Thursday in Mount Gambier, was refused bail and will appear in court on Friday.

Karen Williams, whose body has never been found, was last seen in the early hours of August 4, 1990, after spending the night with friends at the Opal Inn in Coober Pedy and at a local restaurant.

More than 115 statements were taken at the time and police enquiries extended to the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

Police acted on new information in July and excavated a series of old mines at Coober Pedy in renewed efforts to find her remains.

Detectives have since interviewed people from Sydney, Adelaide, Mt Gambier and Coober Pedy, and major crime boss detective superintendent Des Bray said they received valuable information that had progressed the investigation.

"We believe Karen's body was left in the boot of a burnt-out white Ford on the edge of town," Supt Bray said in August.

"Information is leading us to believe that Karen's body was removed from this car and placed down a mine shaft about 20 metres away."

A $200,000 reward was offered last year for information leading to an arrest in the case.

Police said on Thursday they will be returning to the town within weeks to recommence the search for Ms Williams' remains.

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Ender's Game blasts to top of box office

Sci-fi film Ender's Game, starring Harrison Ford, has topped the US weekend box office. Source: AAP

WEEKEND moviegoers chose sci-fi over slapstick.

Ender's Game scored the No. 1 slot at the weekend box office, earning $US28 million ($A29.69 million) in its opening weekend and sending Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa into second place, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Lionsgate's Ender's Game, based on the novel by Orson Scott Card, stars Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford as intergalactic soldiers.

Comments made by Card expressing opposition to gay marriage led some to call for a boycott of the film. But a strong first-place opening met the studio's pre-weekend expectations.

However, ticket sales didn't come close to the opening weekends of other young-adult science-fiction adaptations such as Twilight and The Hunger Games. It did fare better than Beautiful Creatures and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

A representative for Lionsgate declined to be interviewed for this story.

Paramount's candid-camera comedy starring Johnny Knoxville disguised as an old man brought in another $US20.5 million in its second weekend, with a domestic total reaching more than $US62 million.

Other films opening this weekend didn't generate as much enthusiasm.

Last Vegas, featuring an all-star cast of silver screen veterans including Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, opened in third place, with $US16.5 million.

Relativity Media's 3D animated kiddie flick Free Birds, with characters voiced by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler, debuted in the fourth spot, with $US16.2 million.

After its fifth weekend at the box office, the Warner Bros. 3D stunner Gravity is still holding in the fifth position. It banked $US13.1 million over the weekend, bringing its domestic total to $US220 million.

Overseas, Disney's Thor: The Dark World, starring, earned an impressive $US109.4 million in its first international weekend. The Marvel superhero sequel opens domestically next weekend.

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A hundred TVs stolen in Melbourne

TWO brazen thieves have driven away with more than 100 televisions from a Melbourne shopping centre.

The 111 TVs were delivered to a loading area at Chadstone shopping centre on Friday morning and were to be transferred to a warehouse at Oakleigh South.

Two men turned up in a white truck about 5pm (AEDT) under the guise that they would deliver the TVs to a large retail store.

They loaded up the truck and took off with the loot, worth more than $200,000.

Detective Senior Constable James Howden said the thieves were very brazen and seemed to be well organised, knowing the delivery times.

"They were very confident," he told reporters on Monday.

"They did it during the day. They didn't try and mask their faces or disguise themselves."

Det Sen Const Howden said the thieves will be looking to offload the large flat-screen TVs of varying sizes, all still in their boxes.

"If someone's trying to sell one to you in the pub I'm sure you'll be aware it's stolen," he said.

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Climber dies after fall on NZ's Mt Cook

An experienced climber has plunged 600 metres to his death in NZ's Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. Source: AAP

AN experienced climber has died after falling 600 metres in New Zealand's Aoraki Mt Cook National Park.

A climbing companion raised the alarm on Sunday morning.

Members of the Department of Conservation alpine rescue team responded quickly but the foreign male climber died as a result of the fall.

The name and country of origin of the dead climber are yet to be released.

Rescuers returned with the uninjured climbing partner and the body was recovered.

The climbing pair went into the park on Saturday with the intention of climbing Aoraki Mt Cook and were skiing and traversing at 3700m towards the lower summit of the mountain when the accident happened.

Climbing conditions were good and the weather was fine.

The climbers were very experienced and had earlier successfully scaled the east face of the mountain.

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Max Redden's cheeky smile remembered

THE grieving family of a boy who was killed when a slide fell on him has remembered the six-year-old as "being the last one ready for school in the morning" and "the highest one up the tree".

Max Redden died on October 26 when an unsecured slippery dip tipped on him at a rural park at Farrell Flat, about 20km west of Clare, in South Australia.

It happened during a gathering of families at the Mintaro Tennis Club.

Max's distressed family has not spoken publicly about his death, but they remembered him in personal notices placed in The Advertiser on the weekend.

His parents Tom and Jessica, who have three other children, said it had been an absolute joy and privilege to watch "our little Maxy boy" grow during his six-and-a-half fun-filled years.

"We will miss your cheeky smile, your non-stop energy, being that last one ready for school in the morning or the highest one up the tree.

"We have so many special memories that we will hold close and you will live on in our hearts forever."

Notices from other family members and friends included one which said described him as living every day "to the Max", just like his name.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner.

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