Vic's 'kid'-napped goats found safe

IT'S a kidnapping with a twist and a happy ending for Victorian kids Duey and Hazel.

Abducted from a Mornington school over the weekend, the baby goats have been found safe and seemingly unfazed by their little adventure.

Mornington locals came across Duey munching flowers on Wednesday night while Hazel was found not far away on Thursday morning while loitering near residences in the area.

The kidnappers had to cut through a cyclone fence to steal the bleating duo from their home at Padua Secondary College's agricultural compound.

However it was not all smooth sailing, with police saying the evidence at the scene showed the feisty goats put up a fight before being carried off.

Both goats have since been returned to their anxious owners and police are seeking the driver of a white Ford BA ute which was seen in the vicinity of where Duey was found.

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Emergency waiting times improve

THE time patients spend in hospital emergency departments is falling, with half of Australia's major facilities recording improvements.

National Health Performance Authority (NHPA) figures show 26 of 52 major metropolitan hospitals have recorded higher percentages of emergency department patients who leave within four hours.

Between 43 per cent and 80 per cent of patients were treated within the timeframe in the first quarter of this year, reflecting improvements of at least five percentage points from a year ago.

But hospitals in most states still need to make further improvements to reach the nationally agreed 2015 target for 90 per cent of patients to leave emergency departments within four hours.

NHPA chief Dr Diane Watson said the performance numbers allowed managers to see which hospitals were making the biggest strides.

"It can be difficult to know what is possible if you don't know how you compare to your peers," she said on Thursday in a statement.

The hospital that recorded the biggest improvement was Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

It met the waiting time target 62 per cent of the time, up from 33 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Out of 11 major metropolitan hospitals that improved waiting times by more than 10 percentage points, seven were from Queensland, three from NSW and one from Victoria.

But three major metropolitan hospitals - including two in Western Australia - went backwards, recording a performance decline of nine percentage points.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek declined to comment on individual hospital performance but told journalists in Sydney most hospitals were doing better "on most measures".

However it was important to continue to strive for improvement, she added.

"We do see that some hospitals have already reached, for example, the 90 per cent mark for treatment of people within that four hour time limit," she said.

"But in most cases it's one, or two, or three hospitals in a state."

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Nose-first landing injures eight in NY

EIGHT people have been injured after the front landing gear of a Southwest Airlines plane with 150 people on board collapsed on landing at New York's La Guardia airport.

The accident left the Boeing 737-700 with its nose resting against the runway and forced the temporary closure of the airport, which mostly handles flights to and from other US cities.

The airline confirmed that emergency services had helped with the evacuation of the passengers and crew of flight 345 from Nashville.

"Eyewitness reports indicate the aircraft's nose gear collapsed upon landing," it said in a statement on Monday.

"Initial reports indicate local responders are caring for five customers and three flight attendants who have reported injuries at this time. Southwest is co-operating with local authorities, and the (US aviation safety body) NTSB has been notified."

Television images showed the plane with its nose angled down to the ground and its evacuation slides out. The fuselage was surrounded by emergency vehicles.

Passengers on board the plane saw sparks flying as the nose scraped along the runway, according to accounts given to waiting relatives and friends.

All take-offs were suspended for more than two hours after the incident.

Three people were killed and 180 were injured earlier this month when an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed while landing in San Francisco.

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Brain study debunks sex addiction

IT'S bad news for Tiger Woods, Russell Brand and others who blame their wild behaviour on sex addiction.

A new study by brain researchers at the University of California Los Angeles suggests that sex addiction is not a real disorder.

The study, published in the scientific journal Socioaffective Neuroscience and Psychology, examined the neural responses to pornography of 39 men and 13 women who reported having difficulty controlling their desires.

The study found that the neural responses were different to the way drug addicts' brains respond to images of drugs.

"Their brains did not respond to the images like other addicts to their drug of addiction," study author Dr Nicole Prause told Psychology Today.

"If our study is replicated, these findings would represent a major challenge to existing theories of sex 'addiction'."

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Rudd has more work to do before election

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd says the government has more policy challenges to deal with before he calls an election.

Asked about the timing on Monday, Mr Rudd said his government had spent the few weeks since he reclaimed the Labor leadership dealing with issues like asylum seeker policy and economic challenges.

"In this period of government we've been focused on the outstanding policy challenges that we face and there are still a number to address," he told reporters after a caucus meeting in Sydney.

"These are big challenges for government, we still have other challenges to deal with."

Today was the last day Mr Rudd could have visited the governor-general if he wanted an early August 24 election.

The following Saturday, August 31, is firming as favourite but Mr Rudd's latest comments suggest he could be planning to go later.

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Brisbane school fire destroys labs

FIRE crews have put out a huge blaze that badly damaged a Brisbane school's science block.

Students and staff evacuated Mitchelton State High School after fire broke out about 8.30am (AEST) on Monday.

No one was injured, the Department of Community Safety told AAP.

Firefighters were still dampening down hot spots.

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

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NSW man charged with drug supply

BEAT police in Sydney's southwest have charged a man with supplying drugs after a street search revealed ice and possibly heroin.

Officers were patrolling Gladstone Street, Marrickville, when they stopped and spoke to a man and woman standing on the footpath about 11.20pm (AEST) on Friday.

They searched the pair and allegedly discovered an amount of methylamphetamine, cash and a substance believed to be heroin.

The man, 41, has been charged with supplying a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug, holding goods in custody and dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime.

He was refused bail and will appear in Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.

The woman, 30, has been released pending further inquiries.

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