Nudgee students lucky after NT crash

A QUEENSLAND teacher and seven students are lucky to have escaped serious injury after their four wheel drive rolled at least three times on a remote Northern Territory road.

The year 10 students from St Joseph's College, Nudgee were on a school excursion about 230km west of Alice Springs when the accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon.

Police say the teacher, who was driving, lost control of the 4WD and it rolled at least three times on the Mereenie Loop Rd.

Nudgee principal Daryl Hanaly says the teacher and students were treated for bruises and scratches in hospital, but the most serious injury is a suspected fractured ankle.

"We are indeed a very fortunate community to have this accident and not to have any significant injury or fatality," he told AAP.

"We've done all the things which you'd expect us to, we've contacted all parents at the school and started bringing the boys involved home."

When asked if the school would investigate the accident, the principal said they were obliged to do so.

"It's a workplace health and safety issue, we certainly met all the requirements prior to the trip, we went thought a risk assessment and so on," Mr Hanaly said.

"We currently are awaiting the police report."

"But we will conduct our own investigation, absolutely.

Police were investigating the cause of the crash, but said that alcohol and speed were not factors.

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'Cruelty' behind preference deals: Milne

THE major parties have moved closer together on "cruelty" and that will be reflected in their preference deals, Greens leader Christine Milne says.

The coalition is reportedly considering an agreement with the ALP that would put the Greens last in the minor party's most winnable lower house seats, Melbourne and Grayndler.

The move would mean Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt facing an uphill battle to hang onto his party's only House of Representatives seat.

The Greens are also given a chance in Anthony Albanese's Sydney seat of Grayndler, which the deputy prime minister holds by 4.2 per cent.

Senator Milne said the major parties were moving closer together on policy.

"They are close together on cruelty to refugees and their horrible solution of warehousing people on Manus Island and at Nauru," she told reporters in Hobart.

"They're very close together in terms of destroying the Tarkine (wilderness in Tasmania).

"They are close together in terms of refusing to lift Newstart, they're refusing to support single parents.

"They have moved together on all those things so it wouldn't be surprising if they preferenced each other ahead of a progressive alternative."

Senator Milne said voters should make their own decisions about who to give their preferences to on polling day.

"If you want to have an Australia that is respected internationally, which is a caring society and which looks after the environment, then the Greens are the obvious choice," she said.

The Greens are meanwhile urging independent Senator Nick Xenophon to do a preference swap in South Australia to head off a coalition bid to take control of the Senate.

SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is fighting to retain her seat with the final SA spot likely to go to her or the third candidate on the Liberal ticket.

Former Greens leader and party heavyweight Bob Brown was in Adelaide on Thursday urging Senator Xenophon to do a preference deal to ensure both the "progressive" senators were returned.

"I'm calling on Nick Xenophon to make it clear that he will be giving preferences to Sarah ahead of the coalition," Dr Brown said.

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China fines baby formula firms

CHINA has fined six mostly foreign baby formula companies a total of $US108 million ($A120.7 million) for price-fixing, the official Xinhua news agency reports.

The firms fined were Mead Johnson and Abbott from the US, Dumex, a subsidiary of France's Danone, Friesland of the Netherlands, New Zealand giant Fonterra - at the centre of a health scare this week - and China's Biostime, Xinhua said on Wednesday, citing the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

In a corporate statement, Mead Johnson said it had been handed a penalty of 204 million yuan ($A36.88 million).

Biostime said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange that it had been given a 163 million yuan ($A29.47 million) fine.

Fonterra, which has had to recall products in several countries this week over a botulism scare, was fined 4.5 million yuan ($A813,000), it said.

It cooperated fully with Chinese authorities and accepted their decision, it said.

"The investigation leaves us with a much clearer understanding of expectations around implementing pricing policies which is useful as we progress our future business plans," Fonterra's president for Greater China and India, Kelvin Wickham, said in a statement.

He added that Fonterra's fine was "in the lowest range" of the penalties handed out.

The NDRC, China's top economic planner, launched the investigation into high prices it said resulted from a monopoly-like situation, mostly targeting overseas firms. Several of them announced price cuts last month.

Xinhua said that three companies - Wyeth, which is owned by Swiss giant Nestle, Japan's Meiji, and Chinese firm Beingmate - had been exempted from punishment in the inquiry.

The NDRC said they provided important evidence and carried out active self-rectification, it added.

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Qld jail worker accused of raping inmates

A QUEENSLAND prison worker accused of raping female inmates has been granted bail.

Police allege the 51-year-old trade instructor forced himself on prisoners at the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre.

He's been charged with three counts of rape and 12 counts each of sexual assault and abuse of office.

He also faces charges of attempted sexual assaults and attempting to procure a sexual act by intimidation.

The man was granted bail in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday and his case was adjourned until August 28.

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al-Qaeda sparked US embassy closures

INTERCEPTS between al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri and the leader of the group's Yemen affiliate sparked Washington's closure of US missions overseas and a global travel alert.

The New York Times said in its online edition on Monday that the electronic communications last week revealed that Zawahiri had ordered Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to carry out an attack as early as last Sunday.

CNN, meanwhile, reported that Zawahiri told Wuhayshi to "do something", causing officials in both Washington and Yemen to fear an attack was imminent.

As a result, roughly two dozen US diplomatic posts were closed across the Middle East on Sunday.

The State Department, acting "out of an abundance of caution" has extended some of the closures, saying 19 diplomatic outposts will remain shut until Saturday.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is seen by Washington as the most active branch of the jihadist network.

Several US allies, including Britain, France, Germany and Norway have also announced closures of some of their missions in the region.

The US closure list includes 15 embassies or consulates that were shut on Sunday - the fifteenth anniversary of Al-Qaeda's attacks on US embassies in East Africa - as well as four additional posts.

Lawmakers in Washington described the threat level as very serious.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee dubbed the intelligence "probably one of the most specific and credible threats I've seen, perhaps, since 9/11".

Saxby Chambliss, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the level of chatter among alleged terrorists was "very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11".

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News the threats were "more specific" than previous threats, although the exact target was unknown.

ABC News cited an unnamed US official as saying there was concern Al-Qaeda might deploy suicide attackers with surgically implanted bombs to evade security.

The posts to be closed include Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis.

New closures were announced in Madagascar, Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius. The outposts that are reopening include those in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Mauritania, Iraq and Israel.

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Victorians heed anti-smoking messages

Victoria's smoking rates have hit an all-time low with fewer young people taking up the habit. Source: AAP

ANTI-SMOKING advertising, bans on tobacco marketing and increased education have helped drive Victoria's smoking rates to a record low.

Cancer Council research shows the number of people smoking regularly - either daily or weekly - has dropped to 13.3 per cent for 2012, down 1.1 per cent on 2011.

Cancer Council Victoria CEO Todd Harper was pleased with the downward trend, but said continued efforts could result in decreasing the regular smoking rate to nine per cent in the near future.

"What's pleasing in recent years is that rates of decline are continuing - in fact they have stepped up," he said.

"The fact that we are not seeing any slowing shows the impact of the things that we are doing; increasing price, reducing tobacco industry marketing, smoke-free environments and public education are all having their impact."

Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said they were working hard to put themselves out of a job, and praised the federal and state governments on their anti-tobacco measures.

"We are keeping the price of cigarettes high, continuing to run anti-smoking television advertisements and providing more smoke-free areas. That's the key to bringing the smoking rate down," she said.

Victorian Health Minister David Davis recommitted to the government's promise to outlaw smoking at children's playgrounds, skate parks and children's sporting events later this year.

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Bowen says revised budget strikes balance

TREASURER Chris Bowen says the government has struck the right balance between savings and spending in the budget but admits finding savings is getting more difficult.

"A lot of the low-hanging fruit is gone," Mr Bowen said in releasing Labor's mini-budget in Canberra on Friday.

"The task of government continues to be to drive efficiencies and to find savings which are real and sustainable."

He said spending as a percentage of GDP would come down over the next four years and tax as a proportion of GDP would remain lower than under the Howard coalition government.

"We've made revenue decisions and we've made spending decisions ... we've struck the right a balance."

Mr Bowen defended the methodology of Treasury's forecasts in light of revenues falling by $33 billion since the May budget.

"The world economy is more volatile than it's been for a long time and that makes forecasting more difficult," he told reporters.

Treasury's projections in the May budget were "professional and well researched", he said.

Former treasurer Wayne Swan commissioned an independent review of Treasury forecasting which found it was using every tool available.

"It was a good an economic forecaster as was possible," he said.

"I've not seen any methodology or any approach which is superior to the Treasury's in a volatile and difficult economy."

Mr Bowen said the 2016/17 surplus could be at risk if global economic circumstances changed, but it was the government's intention to deliver it.

"We may have further challenges, we may have further difficulties," Mr Bowen said.

"We will respond to changing economic circumstances as necessary but we are outlining our strategy today and the strategy we would intend to stick to."

Mr Bowen said that by world standards Australia's performance was still impressive with lower unemployment and stronger growth.

"But we are being realistic and laying out that there is a softening that affects both growth and employment," he said.

Mr Bowen said the reduction in GDP growth from 2.75 to 2.5 per cent was modest, with Treasury looking to the end of the investment phase of the mining boom.

"Exporting minerals soaks up nowhere near as many workers as building mines," he said.

"You will continue to see strong economic growth compared to the rest of the world in real terms because of the fundamental resilience and strength of the Australian economy."

Mr Bowen said some of the measures in the mini-budget would have their "political costs and political downsides".

But he said the Australian people appreciated the government being upfront and honest about its economic plans.

"We are saying to the Australian people we are calling it as we see it," Mr Bowen said.

"There are challenges in this economy, the transition in the economy ... requires careful management and it requires tough decisions and we will tell you about them now."

Questioned about the 5.7 per cent growth in real spending for 2013/14, Mr Bowen denied the government was engaging in a "spendathon".

He pointed to other figures across the four-year forward estimates, which showed 1.6 per cent spending growth in 2014/15, 0.8 per cent growth in 2015/16, and 2016/17 growth of 1.8 per cent.

"I don't think those figures would bear that out," Mr Bowen said.

"These are relating to revenue decisions, and spending decisions, that we have taken responsibly to ensure the budget returns to surplus."

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