NSW Greens criticise park hunting plans

THE Greens say it's no surprise the bureaucrat overseeing the introduction of recreational hunting in NSW's national parks had previously criticised such a plan.

Office of Environment and Heritage head Sally Barnes recently issued assurances about the controversial change, which the government says will be strictly regulated to ensure safety for park visitors.

But in 2008, when she was deputy director-general of the Environment Department's parks and wildlife group, Ms Barnes wrote in a report that hunting would "annihilate" wildlife management rules.

She also said it would damage NSW's environmental credentials and questioned how recreational hunting for feral pest control could be compatible with opening parks to visitors, Fairfax reported on Saturday.

The introduction of recreational hunting follows the O'Farrell government's deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party last year over passage of its electricity privatisation laws.

On Saturday NSW Greens environment spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said it was not surprising Ms Barnes had slammed such a move.

"I doubt you could find anyone who works for the Office of Environment and Heritage who could say recreational hunting in National Parks is a great idea while passing a lie detector test," she said.

"Anyone who cares about conservation knows in their heart that this is a rotten deal for the people of the NSW and for national parks. Sally Barnes is no exception."

Ms Faehrmann said the focus needed to be on the government, "which has sold out the people of NSW by doing deals with gun-loving extremists".

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Police appeal for clues to Sydney fires

POLICE are hunting a firebug or bugs who set fire to rubbish bins at four different unit blocks in Sydney's west.

Firefighters extinguished the blazes outside the units on Guildford Road in Guildford early on Saturday morning.

The first started about 4.50am (AEDT) in bins that were moved to the front of a unit block, damaging an area of grass and a small tree.

At 5.30am bins at another unit block were found on fire and almost immediately a third fire in bins was found in the garden of another unit block.

The fourth fire was found just after 6am in bins in the underground car park of a unit block.

Investigators have seized CCTV footage from several locations.

Police have appealed to anyone with information on the fires to contact them.

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US cinema reopens after Batman shooting

THE Colorado cinema where 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting rampage last year has reopened with a sombre remembrance ceremony and a screening of the latest Hobbit film for survivors - but the pain was too much, the idea too horrific, for many Aurora victims to attend.

"We as a community have not been defeated," Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan told victims, officials, and dozens of police officers and other first responders who filled half the theatre's seats at the ceremony on Thursday.

"We are a community of survivors," Hogan declared. "We will not let this tragedy define us."

Pierce O'Farrill, who was wounded three times in the shooting, said: "It's important for me to come here and sit in the same seat that I was sitting in. It's all part of the healing process, I guess."

O'Farrill walked to an exit door inside the cinema where he remembers the shooter emerging. "The last time I saw (the gunman) was right here," he said.

James Holmes, a former neuroscience PhD student, is charged with 166 felony counts, mostly murder and attempted murder, in the July 20 shooting at the former Century 16 - now called the Century Aurora. A judge has ordered Holmes to stand trial, but he won't enter a plea until March.

Several families boycotted what they called a callous public relations ploy by the theatre's owner, Cinemark.

They claimed the Texas-based company didn't ask them what should happen to the theatre. They said Cinemark emailed them an invitation to Thursday's reopening just two days after they struggled through Christmas without their loved ones.

"It was boilerplate Hollywood - 'Come to our movie screening'," said Anita Busch, whose cousin, 23-year-old college student Micayla Medek, died at the theatre.

The remembrance was followed by a private screening in the former theatre nine of the fantasy film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

"We certainly recognise all the different paths that people take to mourn, the different paths that people take to recover from unimaginable, incomprehensible loss," Governor John Hickenlooper said at the ceremony.

"Some wanted this theatre to reopen. Some didn't. Certainly both answers are correct," Hickenlooper said.

Cinemark planned to offer free movies at the multiplex to the public over the weekend, then permanently reopen it on January 25.

Vanessa Ayala is a cousin of Jonathan Blunk, a 26-year-old Navy veteran and father of two who was killed. Ayala said she believed the multiplex should have been torn down and, perhaps, turned into a park. At the very least, she said, the auditorium where the shooting occurred should have become a memorial.

Cinemark reportedly spent $US1 million on renovations. Before it did, it allowed survivors and families to visit the theatre. Jacqueline Keaumey Lader, a US Marine and Iraq war veteran, did so.

"It does help significantly," Lader said. "It's taken the power away from the place."

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Victoria's Licola still cut off by fire

THE bushfire threat facing the eastern Victorian town of Licola has been downgraded, but the community remains isolated.

Licola was placed under an emergency warning when a large bushfire threatened the town on Friday morning, but it was downgraded to a watch and act advice on Friday afternoon.

The town's only access route, Licola Road, remains closed to all traffic.

A spokeswoman at the State Control Centre said firefighters were now focusing on the town of Glen Falloch, around seven kilometres south of Licola.

"The fire is still creating spot fires approximately one to two kilometres ahead of the fire front," the spokeswoman told AAP.

Licola, 254km east of Melbourne, is a small village at the southern gateway to the Alpine National Park.

The township is owned entirely by the Lions Clubs of Victoria and southern NSW, the club says.

Licola Wilderness Village program manager Cherry Wake said the village, which operates a school adventure camp and caravan park, evacuated visitors on Thursday night.

"Last night we evacuated about 61 children and 15 adults," she told AAP on Friday.

About 10 staff and 20 caravan park residents remained in the village, Ms Wake said.

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Pakistan calls for India talks on Kashmir

Pakistan's foreign minister has called for talks with India to ease tensions in the Kashmir region. Source: AAP

PAKISTAN'S foreign minister has called for talks with her Indian counterpart to ease tensions over deadly clashes in the disputed Kashmir region.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in New York that 10 days of fighting over the unofficial border had "created questions" but added that Pakistan was "open" to dialogue between the foreign ministers to end the dispute.

Khar spoke as India's military said it had reached an "understanding" with Pakistan to "de-escalate" tensions in Kashmir, which has been the cause of two of the three wars between the neighbours since 1947.

Pakistan says three of its troops have died in three incidents since January 6.

India says two of its soldiers have been killed, one of them beheaded, in hostilities along the Line of Control (LOC) frontier in the Himalayan region.

Khar, who on Tuesday accused India of "warmongering", was again critical of tough Indian statements made as tensions have risen again. But she again called for dialogue.

"Unfortunately this LOC incident has obviously created questions, but we still believe that dialogue must be the means to resolve this or any issue," Khar said at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.

"We will be open to a discussion, a dialogue, at the level of the foreign ministers to be able to resolve the issue of cross-LOC incidents and to re-commit ourselves to the respect for the ceasefire."

Khar added that "Pakistan is fully committed" to a Kashmir ceasefire agreed to in 2003.

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Third man charged over NSW drug murders

TWO more people have been charged over the murder of a suspected drug dealer from the NSW Illawarra region.

Darko Janceski, 32, was shot multiple times in the front yard of his Berkeley home on April 14 last year and died in hospital.

A 27-year-old man was arrested just after 9am (AEDT) on Wednesday at a home at Horsley and charged with being an accessory before the fact to murder and participating in a criminal group.

He was refused bail to face Wollongong Local Court later on Thursday.

A 24-year-old man was arrested earlier in the day at Horsley and charged with the same offences. He will also face court on Thursday.

On Tuesday, police charged Matthew Paul Wiggins, 24, from Blackbutt, with Janceski's murder and charged Robert Nikolovski, 38, from Cordeaux Heights, with organising the alleged hit.

Wiggins was refused bail and will reappear in Wollongong Local Court on January 23, while Nikolovski was expected to appear in court on Thursday.

Police allege Wiggins rode to Janceski's house on a trail bike and spoke with him before firing three shots into his chest and torso.

Police are also investigating the fatal shooting of two of his rivals who, like Janceski, were believed to have been involved in standover activities and the distribution of amphetamines and cocaine.

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Popularity written in Rudd's tea leaves

POPULAR sentiment might not have returned Kevin Rudd to the Labor leadership but it is keeping his tea blend on supermarket shelves.

While he turned out not to be the caucus' cup of tea, a year ago the people voted Mr Rudd's blend the winner of Twining's Australian afternoon tea competition.

His campaign included tweeted reminders to vote and a video featuring his cat Jasper, now dead, taste-testing the aromatic blend.

The teabags hit the shelves soon afterwards, with a portion of the profits going to RSPCA, Mr Rudd's charity of choice.

Now the company has announced the blend will continue to fill tea cups around the country.

"We're thrilled to announce that we did listen to your many pleas and can confirm it is here to stay due to popular demand," Twinings said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Rudd said he was pleased sales of his blend would continue supporting the RSPCA.

But he also reflected that "a man's got to have some success some time".

Asked to describe his blend as a sitting federal politician, Mr Rudd said it was a mixture of shadow treasurer and Rudd mate Joe Hockey and Health Minister Tanya Plibersek.

"It's probably described as a masculine-feminine tea," he told reporters in Sydney.

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