Buildings destroyed in Sydney fire

AN overnight fire in Sydney's south west has caused $2 million worth of damage after burning down a mobile phone tower.

The blaze in Lansvale also destroyed two communications rooms.

Firefighters and police were called to the fire, near Hollywood Drive and Howard Street, at 1am on Saturday.

The buildings had already been razed to the ground by the time they arrived.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire, which they believe may have started in scrub between the street and the phone tower.

A report is to be prepared for the Coroner because of the high cost of damages.

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US senators want Libya video declassified

US Republican senators are demanding that the Obama administration make public the surveillance video taken during last month's deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya.

The US ambassador and three other staff members were killed in the attack.

Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte wrote to President Barack Obama's defence secretary, CIA director and attorney general demanding that the video be declassified.

In the run-up to the presidential election, Republicans have accused the Obama administration of distorting the account of the attack on September 11 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

Officials first blamed it on a mob set into motion by an anti-Islamic film.

Obama administration officials have pointed to US intelligence reports that showed conflicting information.

Administration officials did not respond to requests for comment.

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Shot Malala's family arrive in UK

RELATIVES of teenager Malala Yousufzai, who was shot and wounded by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan, are reported to have arrived in the UK to be with her as she recovers.

Ziauddin Yousufzai, her father, is believed to be among those who have arrived in Birmingham, where the 15-year-old is being treated for wounds received in the October 9 shooting.

He had previously told Pakistani state television she will return to Asia after she recovers in Britain.

She was shot for her role in advocating education for girls and was airlifted to the UK on October 15.

Her medical team at the hospital said she was comfortable and was responding well to treatment.

She has received thousands of goodwill messages from around the world.

Malala was travelling home from school with two classmates in northwest Pakistan when she was shot at point-blank range. The bullet hit her just above the back of her left eye and she was lucky to survive.

The bullet travelled through the side of her jaw, damaging her skull and jaw joint on the left-hand side, and went through her neck and lodged above her shoulder blade.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has described the shooting as a "barbaric attack".

The Taliban have vowed to kill her, raising questions about whether it would be safe for her to return.

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Newman must release Caltabiano's CV: Labor

THE Queensland premier must release the CV of a senior bureaucrat accused of misleading a parliamentary committee, the Labor opposition says.

Michael Caltabiano on Thursday stood down on full pay from his $500,000 a year post as transport and main roads director-general.

The parliamentary ethics committee will investigate concerns he may have misled a budget estimates hearing about his relationship with departmental liaison officer Ben Gommers - the son of Arts Minister Ros Bates.

Mr Gommers, who earns up to $105,000 a year, is currently the subject of a Crime and Misconduct Commission investigation into his employment with Mr Caltabiano's department.

During a transport estimates committee hearing last week, Mr Caltabiano said he had known Mr Gommers personally, not professionally.

But media reports allege Mr Caltabiano was named, alongside Mr Gommers, on the register of lobbying firm Entre Vous.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says there's a stench of scandal.

"I call on the premier to immediately release this CV to the media and the public," she told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.

"This CV will clearly state yes or no if Michael Caltabiano worked at Entre Vous."

Ms Palaszczuk said the government had moved at a "snail's pace" on the matter, and only took action after intense media attention.

"The premier didn't have to wait for a week to take action," she said.

"He had four hours during that ethics committee hearing ... all the premier had to ask was, 'did Michael Caltabiano work at Entre Vous?'"

Asked if the matter should be referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Ms Palaszczuk said she was confident in the bipartisan ethics committee.

But she said it probably should not be a private investigation.

"If it's the public interest it can be public, and there is a lot of interest at the moment," she said.

Earlier, the LNP MP who heads the ethics committee said he wasn't in a position to detail the specific allegations against Mr Caltabiano.

Alex Douglas said the matter involved an element of privilege, which could mean a lot of things.

"It could mean anything from that a question was answered incorrectly to elements of deliberately misleading our people," Dr Douglas said.

"It has to be confidential. You can prejudice any matter at any point in time by declaring exactly what may or may not occur."

He said the committee would take submissions on the matter, and would report back to parliament, which would make a decision on what action, if any, would be taken against Mr Caltabiano.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the government was determined to investigate any claims of wrongdoing in a fair and open way.

"I heard Dr Douglas this morning, who is the chair of that committee, and it's obvious that we're making sure we uphold the standards that we always said we would in opposition," he told reporters on Friday.

"I think Dr Douglas pointed out this morning that the government does not have the numbers on the ethics committee, with an independent in there as well.

"I'm also confident the proper processes will be followed."

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Renewable energy target succeeding: report

AUSTRALIA'S renewable energy target (RET) has driven $18.5 billion of investment in clean power and eroded wholesale energy prices since it was introduced a decade ago, a new report suggests.

The Clean Energy Council analysis released on Thursday finds wholesale prices are as much as $10 per megawatt hour lower as a result of the RET being in place since 2001.

The target is meant to ensure 20 per cent of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.

It's currently being reviewed by the Climate Change Authority amid speculation that softer demand and the popularity of rooftop solar panels means the 20 per cent target may be exceeded.

Critics say overshooting the target would unnecessarily drive up retail power bills.

But the council-commissioned report by SKM MMA states the RET is doing its job and if left unchanged will result in 12 per cent less coal-fired generation between now and 2030.

Gas-fired generation is estimated to drop 13 per cent.

"Retaining the current RET will also mean we can meet the bulk of our target for reducing carbon emissions with renewable energy projects right here in Australia," council chief executive David Green said in a statement on Thursday.

"But all this is under threat if governments succumb to pressure to tinker with or drop the renewable energy target."

Thursday's report suggests that without the RET Australia would not have met its Kyoto emission-reduction goals.

It suggests the target could deliver an extra $18.7 billion in renewable energy infrastructure by 2030, on top of the $18.5 billion already invested.

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Seniors jump in Australian skydiving first

A 74-YEAR-OLD Queensland man has leapt out of a plane with 12 other seniors in an Australian skydiving first.

The group, aged 60 to 74, accomplished the first sequential formation skydive by people over 60, succeeding 14,000 feet above the town of Toogoolawah, northwest of Brisbane, just after noon (AEST) on Thursday.

Even with 29 years of skydiving experience Gordon Turner, 74, says it's not so easy when you get older.

"But it went very smoothly. There's a lot of very happy old people here," he told AAP.

"It was excellent."

The Ramblers skydiving centre has been buzzing all week with people attending the biennial Post Equinox Skydiving and Music Festival.

Mr Turner said the group, some members of which only met on Thursday morning, could make a second attempt.

"There's some debate on whether we should all have a nap this afternoon, but we could easily be back up there," he said.

"We think it's a good advertisement for old people not to sit on the lounge chair, get out there."

It was the first time a group of people aged over 60 had performed the feat in Australian skies.

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Cancer patient set Taiwan fire: prosecutor

AN elderly man has been arrested and detained in Taiwan on suspicion of starting a fire at a hospital that killed 12 people and injured 60.

The blaze erupted before dawn on Tuesday at Beimen nursing facility in southern Tainan city, whose 115 patients included people in their 90s, with several left on their own to escape dense smoke that filled the building.

The 67-year-old man, surnamed Lin and also a patient at the hospital, said he lit tissue papers and threw them into a storage room full of clothes, said prosecutor Tseng Chao-kai on Wednesday.

Lin said he was feeling upset because he had been suffering from serious illness, the prosecutor said, adding that an initial evaluation found that he did not appear to be mentally ill.

Prosector Tseng said Lin was located by the police several hours after the fire in an empty house near the hospital with a lighter in his pocket and was later arrested after questioning.

Tseng said the man, considered a flight risk, apparently tried to destroy evidence and would face murder and arson charges if his statement was proved to be true.

The China Times newspaper said Lin was suffering from colon and bladder cancer.

Closed-circuit TV footage taken moments after the blaze broke out showed hospital staff scrambling to put out the fire, while elderly patients struggled to escape in their wheelchairs.

Fire officials have said that the blaze possibly started in a storage room on the second floor of the five-floor building mainly housing bed-ridden seniors.

The cause of all the deaths was smoke inhalation. The injured were rushed to a dozen hospitals for treatment, officials said.

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