Severe thunderstorms forecast for NSW

A SEVERE thunderstorm warning has been issued for large swathes on NSW's central west.

Damaging winds are forecast to hit parts of the central west slopes and plains and parts of the upper western forecast districts on Friday evening, the Bureau of Meteorology saysd.

Locations which may be affected include Dubbo, Parkes, Wellington, Condobolin, Coonamble, Nyngan, Bourke, Brewarrina and Enngonia.

The State Emergency Service (SES) is advising people to move their cars away from trees and secure loose items around homes.

People are also being urged to stay indoors and away from windows.

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Student injured in Melbourne uni explosion

A MELBOURNE university student has been taken to hospital following a campus lab explosion.

The student, believed to be in his 20s, had been working in the chemical engineering research lab at the University of Melbourne when an explosion caused glass to shatter, severely cutting his hands.

Paramedics took the student to hospital while firefighters evacuated the Parkville campus building.

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said the student was in a stable condition.

Firefighters were still at the scene, monitoring air quality before they would let people back inside the building, a Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman said.

The cause of the explosion is not known.

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Ken Levy re-appointed CMC chair

THE Queensland government has extended the contract of the head of the state's crime and corruption watchdog despite criticism he was biased.

The opposition wanted Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) Chair Dr Ken Levy to resign after he penned an opinion piece that said the new bikie laws reflected the will of Queenslanders.

His contract has been extended to May 22, 2014.

Dr Levy has written to the head of the parliamentary committee which overseas the CMC, in a letter tabled on Friday, to insist he wasn't pressured to write the article.

When asked last week whether he'd consulted anyone about the article, he said: "No, it's my composition".

But Dr Levy's revealed the head of the government's media unit, Lee Anderson, called the CMC media unit a week before the article was published to ask if the CMC was going to do any media interviews on the legislation.

At the time, Dr Levy told his staff "we would not be spooked" by the call as they were already discussing doing broader media on the issue.

"I certainly have never had any pressure from the Premier or the Attorney General, or anyone else from government for that matter, trying to pressure me about any issue," Dr Levy wrote.

In his letter to parliamentary crime and misconduct committee chair Liz Cunningham, Dr Levy expresses regret and apologises for not remembering the contact the CMC had with Mr Anderson when he was grilled last Friday.

"In the embarrassment on Friday afternoon, I indicated to you that perhaps I should consider standing down, particularly in light of the call by the leader of the opposition," he wrote.

But Dr Levy says Mr Anderson's call only referred to the broad area of the CMC's powers to deal with the outlaw bikie gangs and there was no pressure to write the opinion piece.

Instead, Dr Levy was inspired by imbalanced press, which was pitting judges and lawyers against politicians and ignoring the community.

"My article was not politically motivated," he wrote.

"As I said to the Committee last Friday, Criminal motorcycle gangs are really criminal cartels. The Government was being responsible in legislating."

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says he is supportive of the CMC being more open with the public, but any decisions regarding media is clearly a matter for them.

"The Newman government respects the independence of Queensland's judiciary and statutory bodies," Mr Bleijie said.

The acting role is effective up to and including May 22, 2014 and a permanent appointment is expected next year.

In a statement released on Friday evening, Dr Levy said the letter tabled in parliament on Friday outlined previous contact made to the CMC by staff in the government's media unit.

"This contact occurred a week before I sent my comments to the Courier-Mail and did not influence me in any way to write the opinion piece," he said.

"I did not consult with the part-time commissioners, senior management or the CMC's media unit before sending my comments to the Courier-Mail."

Dr Levy says both he and the CMC remain independent.

"I look forward to continuing to lead the CMC through a period of change," he said.

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Police charge 21 Rebel bikies in blitz

POLICE have arrested 21 members of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang in a week-long blitz.

As part of the Attero National Task Force, state and federal police worked together to disrupt, disable and dismantle the criminal activities of the Rebels.

They charged 21 Rebels on 35 offences, including drugs, burglary, and assault.

Police said none of those arrested were high-ranking members and none had been charged under the state's new bikie laws.

Most of the arrests took place along the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane.

Detective Superintendent Mick Niland said police would continue to target the Rebels, which he described as a "high risk threat".

He said the Rebels were the largest criminal bikie gang in Australia with 1600 members or associates across the country.

Deputy Commissioner Brett Pointing says arrests over the past week offer a snapshot into the level of criminality carried out by the Rebels.

"They started in Brisbane 44 years ago and they're a sophisticated criminal network," he told media on Friday.

Mr Pointing says leaders of criminal bikie gangs are harder to prosecute because they are protected by associates and members.

"(We're) just as interested in associates as we are in the leadership, because it's the lower level associates that sustain the leaders," he said.

Mr Pointing also says criminal bikie gangs may be consulting with public relations experts to shape public perceptions about the gangs.

"It's in the interests of these organisations to try and convince the public that they're in fact not criminal gangs," he said.

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Nestle sells Jenny Craig

NESTLE, the world's biggest food and drink company, says it has sold off its weight management business Jenny Craig in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

The Vevey, Switzerland-based company says the business was sold to North Castle Partners, a US private equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, focused on companies that promote health, wellness and active living.

Nestle's statement on Thursday said the Jenny Craig business in France was not part of the transaction. Jenny Craig, founded in 1983, had been part of Nestle's nutrition portfolio since 2006.

Nestle says the new owners will take over the businesses and offer employment to Jenny Craig staff, but the financial details of the deal - subject to "customary closing conditions" - will not be disclosed.

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Asylum seeker boat helped after call

AN asylum seeker boat has been assisted off the coast of Indonesia after issuing a distress call while making its way to Australia.

A spokesman for the Indonesian search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, confirmed to AAP that a distress call was received from a vessel in the Sunda Strait earlier on Thursday.

The Australian naval vessel, HMAS Ballarat, responded to the distress call, and was escorting the asylum seeker boat to Christmas Island, the spokesman said.

It was unclear how many people were aboard the boat which reported having engine trouble.

The BASARNAS spokesman said, however, that an inspection by an Australian boarding party had subsequently revealed the boat's engine was in working order.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the minister would comment on the incident at his weekly Operation Sovereign Borders media briefing on Friday.

He refused to provide further details.

Both Customs Border Protection and Australian Maritime Safety Authority declined to comment.

The Abbott government has ended the previous government's practice of detailing asylum seeker boat arrivals as they happen.

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Details of abuse aboard navy ship emerge

A WOMAN claims the "inappropriate behaviour" that prompted the navy to launch an investigation into sailors involved sexual assaults on young male sailors on HMAS Ballarat.

The Navy has confirmed the ship involved in the allegations is Anzac Class Frigate HMAS Ballarat, which is currently deployed on border protection operations.

Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, said the navy was being as open and transparent as it could within the limits of its investigation processes.

"Allegations such as these are serious and it is critical that the investigative process is properly followed. As such I will not speculate on any aspect of the allegations," he said in a statement on Thursday.

"We have dealt with the allegations swiftly and I reiterate that inappropriate behaviour is not consistent with our values and is not tolerated in Navy."

The woman who made the sexual assault claims is a former navy member who alleged younger male sailors were set upon and sexually assaulted by their crewmates.

"People were set upon by other members, stripped off and had things essentially put in their bums," the woman, identified only as Bridget, told Network Ten on Thursday.

In one instance, a sailor was left with a bleeding rectum after being anally penetrated by a whiteboard marker, she claimed.

Bridget said her friends still serving in the navy had asked her to get the truth out, because people were scared.

"If it happened in a normal workplace, the police would be called, charges would be laid," she said.

The Australian Defence Force opened a formal investigation on Tuesday after allegations against some members of an unnamed ship's company were made by a sailor.

However investigators will not be able to join the ship for several days.

HMAS Ballarat responded to a distress call from an asylum-seeker boat off the coast of Indonesia.

Australian Customs and Border Protection and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority could not comment on Thursday. The federal government is not scheduled to brief the nation on border protection until Friday.

However Indonesian search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, has confirmed to AAP that a distress call had been received from a vessel in the Sunda Strait earlier on Thursday.

The Indonesian spokesman said HMAS Ballarat had responded to the distress call from the boat.

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Mystery Dublin woman was a drifter

A court was told the Australian woman found on a Dublin street has a history of psychiatric issues. Source: AAP

THE young Australian woman found wandering in a distressed state on a Dublin street was reportedly a drifter who was convicted several times in Queensland and used up to 40 aliases.

The woman, known as Samantha, is being cared for by Irish health workers after a court heard she had a history of psychiatric issues and her life would be at risk if she was released.

The 25-year-old is believed to have lived in NSW and Queensland where she was convicted on deception charges.

Court documents reveal that on September 15, 2010, Samantha was convicted in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on two charges of making false representations, one charge of possession of a thing with intent to forge documents and one charge of contravening directions.

If she reoffended in the following 12 months she would have been fined $500.

Less than a month later, on October 11, she was convicted of further false representation offences.

At the time, her address was listed as Douglas Park, west of Sydney.

A Douglas Park neighbour on Thursday said Samantha was lovely, but had issues.

"But she was always a bit different, I thought maybe she was impaired but I didn't know how to ask that," Jessie Blackwell told Network Ten.

"She was always drifting around."

She lived for a period at the home of Pastor Brad Blacker and his family after she asked to join his Blackheath Baptist Church in the Blue Mountains in February 2011.

Samantha told him her name was Dakota and that she was 14 and opened up about some "serious allegations about what happened in the past" and was fearful about going home, he told the ABC.

After taking her in, Pastor Blacker said Samantha developed a strong emotional dependency on his wife.

"She loved that emotional dependency which for us showed there must be some really serious issues."

He followed her online since 2011 and saw her using various names and identities.

Pastor Blacker said he was shocked to see she had been the subject of such intrigue in Ireland since being discovered outside the Dublin GPO in O'Connell Street on October 10.

After initially fearing she may have been a teenage victim of sex trafficking and receiving no leads for nearly a month, Irish police released a photo of her this week.

They were quickly contacted by family connections in county Tipperary who confirmed she was an Australian and had been staying with them.

"We can now confirm that the lady was not trafficked here and had in fact travelled here some months ago," a senior police officer said according to the Irish Independent newspaper.

The Independent reports that she had stayed with her mother's former boyfriend Joe Brennan, who lives in the town of Clonmel in Tipperary.

Irish police contacted their Australian counterparts who verified her identity and her brushes with the law.

A High Court judge in Dublin on Wednesday ruled that an initial care order imposed when it was believed the woman was a minor should stay in place until a further hearing on Thursday morning to give medics a chance to further assess her condition.

A lawyer for the woman's court-appointed guardian told the court: "If the consequences of today is that door is open and this vulnerable person walks out on the street we could have a life at risk."

It's been reported her family will travel to Ireland from Australia.

When Samantha was found last month, police were unable to get any substantive information from her for weeks and she communicated on a number of occasions by drawing.

The Irish Independent reported she was "fretful of any engagement with officialdom" and "extremely nervous around anyone in a uniform."

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Huawei director says no concerns raised

An Australian director of Huawei says the government hasn't raised issues with the telecoms giant. Source: AAP

AN Australian director of Huawei says no one in government has ever formally or informally suggested there were issues with the Chinese communications giant.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott ruled out last week overturning the Labor government's ban on Huawei tendering for work on the national broadband network.

The ban is understood to relate to security advice from Australian intelligence agencies, but Huawei has insisted it has no ties to the Chinese state.

Mr Abbott's decision came despite cabinet members, including Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Trade Minister Andrew Robb, believing the Labor policy should be reviewed.

Huawei director and former Victorian premier John Brumby said the company respected any government's right to make decisions about which companies they used and did not use.

But he said the decision was "disappointing", given that Huawei was involved in eight of nine national broadband networks being built around the world.

The company was soon to be the world's biggest telecommunications carrier and 50 per cent of Australians used a Huawei product rebadged for other telcos such as Telstra, Vodafone and Optus.

"From all of the discussions our company has had at all levels of government, past and present, and all levels of the public service and at all levels of agencies - formally and informally - no one ... has ever suggested there is any issue with our business," Mr Brumby told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

He said Huawei did not depend on having a role in the NBN to be a successful business and it was in Australia "for the long haul".

The fall in the price of mobile phones and phone bills was due in large part to the global competition that Huawei had generated, he said.

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Jail for WA mum over false drug test

A MOTHER involved in a custody battle has been jailed for a year after convincing her daughter and a friend to falsify the results of a hair drug test she was required to submit to the Family Court.

The 47 year-old admitted to fabricating evidence with intent to mislead a court after the scheme was uncovered by Western Australia's corruption watchdog.

The Corruption and Crime Commission accused the woman of submitting the false hair strand drug analysis as part of a custody battle over her 10-year-old son.

Perth's District Court was told the woman was worried the test would show she had recently used marijuana, which might impact on her ability to retain custody of her son.

So, she recruited her adult daughter to provide a hair sample and asked her 37-year-old friend to take it to her workplace at PathWest to be certified.

The hair and the test was sent to South Australia to be completed and then sent to the Family Court - but the scheme unravelled when her ex-partner discovered PathWest did not routinely do drug tests on hair samples.

In sentencing the trio, Judge Michael Bowden said the offence struck at the heart of justice.

"Everybody is entitled to rely on tests being honestly conducted," Judge Bowden said.

The 37-year-old, who was subsequently sacked by PathWest, was sentenced to 12 months jail, suspended for 18 months.

The daughter, 24, was fined $5000, with the judge accepting she had initially declined to help her mother and felt "compelled" to assist even though she knew her actions were wrong.

The mother will be eligible for parole in six months.

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General strike shuts down Greek services

SERVICES across Greece have been shutting down as unions hold a 24-hour general strike to protest further austerity measures in the cash-strapped country.

Wednesday's strike disrupted public transport, halted ferry and train services, shut down courts, state-run schools and left state hospitals and the ambulance service functioning with emergency staff.

Dozens of flights were cancelled or rescheduled as air traffic controllers were to walk off the job for three hours from noon in support of the labour action. Two separate protest marches were scheduled for central Athens midmorning.

Greece has been surviving on international rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European countries that use the euro since 2010, after a combination of dismal financial stewardship, loss of investor confidence and the global recession brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.

Successive governments have passed repeated rounds of deep spending cuts and tax hikes to secure 240 billion euros in bailout loans.

The strike is taking place as the government holds talks with debt inspectors from the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission, known collectively as the troika, over what measures are needed to plug a budget gap next year.

Greece and the troika differ over the size of the gap. Athens maintains the shortfall will be around 500 million euros ($A714.75 million) and can be plugged relatively easily, but Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras has conceded creditors expect the gap to be five times as big.

At stake is Greece's next bailout instalment of 1 billion euros ($A1.43 billion).

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Trade deficit shrinks, surplus on the way

Australia's trade deficit stayed in the red in September and is expected to move to surplus in 2014. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S trade deficit shrank for the second month in a row and is expected to move to surplus in 2014 as mining exports rise.

Australia's trade deficit narrowed to $284 million in September, from $693 million in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

During the month, exports were mostly flat, while imports were down 1.0 per cent.

Despite exports barely rising in the month, shipments of metal ores and minerals had a solid rise.

Macquarie senior economist Brian Redican expects resource export volumes to steadily increase and continue to provide support for economic growth.

Mr Redican predicts the trade balance will shift into surplus over the next 12 months, as more mining and resources projects go on line and start producing and exporting.

"Basically, what's going to drive exports higher is iron ore exports going on stream," he said.

"I think we're going to be in for a small surplus in 2014 but the big move is going to be in the following year."

St George Bank senior economist Jo Horton said a goods and services trade surplus was getting closer and closer.

"Exports of metal ores and minerals have increased for three consecutive months and are up 57.5 per cent for the year to September," she said.

"The greater export volumes should help underpin export values and offset lower levels of mining investment.

"We expect to see this trend in exports continue and it should help move the trade gap back into the black and boost economic growth."

September's smaller trade deficit was also helped by a three per cent drop in imports of capital equipment, and a three per cent fall in consumption goods imports.

But Ms Horton expects those imports to increase as consumer confidence increases.

"The trend remains encouraging and suggests the improvement seen in retail sales in September could continue in coming months," she said.

"For the Reserve Bank, this trade data is unlikely to be a key consideration in its next interest rate decision.

"We continue to expect the RBA to leave official interest rates on hold for an extended period and expect the next move in interest rates from the RBA will be a hike."

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Search for missing Bondi swimmer continues

The search for a man missing off Bondi Beach has resumed, 12 hours after he was hit by a big wave. Source: AAP

THE search for a man feared drowned off Sydney's Bondi Beach will continue into a third day after authorities failed to uncover any sign of him.

The 22-year-old man was one of two Japanese nationals who got into trouble after going for a swim in rough conditions about 5.30pm (AEDT) on Monday.

Lifeguards pulled one of the men to safety, but the second man failed to resurface after being hit by a large wave.

A water and air search for the man continued on Tuesday but strong swells made it too dangerous for divers to become involved, a police spokesman told AAP.

The search was again wound down on Tuesday evening due to fading light.

It is set to continue again on Wednesday at first light.

Police would not comment as to whether the search and rescue operation would move to a recovery effort.

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Former police chief starts WA poll probe

Former federal police chief Mike Keelty has begun a probe into the 1375 missing WA Senate votes. Source: AAP

FORMER federal police chief Mick Keelty has begun his investigation into 1375 missing votes from the West Australian Senate ballot.

Mr Keelty was in Canberra on Tuesday ahead of travelling to Perth to gather evidence and interview witnesses.

The investigation is expected to take two weeks.

An AEC spokesman said all evidence would be given to Mr Keelty and his independent advice would be an "important input" into whether the commission petitions the Court of Disputed Returns in the next 40 days.

The court could decide on a fresh election of WA senators.

A number of parties, including Labor, the Palmer United Party and Wikileaks, are also considering taking the matter to court.

The 1255 above-the-line ballots and 120 informal votes disappeared during a recount by the Australian Electoral Commission after the September 7 federal election.

The formal recount began at the central senate scrutiny centre in the Perth suburb of Northbridge on October 17.

The recount took a fresh look at informal ballot papers plus about 1.2 million ballot papers where voters marked the ballot paper above the line.

The votes counted including not only those cast at WA polling places but other voting centres around Australia, overseas and by post.

Up to 120 AEC staff were involved in the count, which used a computerised system called EasyCount Senate.

When it was discovered some ballots were missing, the AEC conducted what it described as a "very thorough" search before publicly admitting the error.

On Monday, the AEC declared the WA Senate result as three Liberal, one Labor, one Green and one Australian Sports Party.

The AEC plans to run a "model" of the missing votes to see if they would have changed the result.

The writ for the WA Senate election will be returned on Wednesday.

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Woman 'disappeared' over Sydney balcony

A Sydney man accused of throwing his girlfriend off a balcony has told a court he didn't do it. Source: AAP

IN the seconds before her death, Lisa Cecilia Harnum looked straight at her accused murderer, Simon Gittany.

She then disappeared over the edge of a balcony, as Gittany screamed out her name "in shock and despair", he told his murder trial.

Two weeks into a Supreme Court murder trial which has heard allegations of Gittany's controlling nature over Ms Harnum, he took the stand to tell his version of events.

The crown alleges he threw the 30-year-old Canadian off their balcony at the Hyde building in Sydney's CBD in a fit of rage on July 30, 2011.

Gittany, 40, has pleaded not guilty.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, he painted a picture of a tumultuous relationship, in which he said Ms Harnum frequently got annoyed over small incidents and occasionally jumped out of moving cars.

He emphatically denied he forced Ms Harnum to submit to him, discouraged her from making friends, or ordered her not to leave the apartment except to buy groceries.

But he admitted he was very jealous and installed a computer program that allowed him to covertly monitor her text messages.

He said he did so because Ms Harnum had a secret and wouldn't tell him what it was.

"I was confused, upset, frustrated because my partner was hiding something from me and she was ashamed to tell me what it was," he said.

The court has previously heard Ms Harnum suffered from bulimia, something Gittany was unaware of.

Two days before her death, the pair had an argument during which Gittany revealed he had been monitoring Ms Harnum's texts.

The rows continued over the next day, although the pair watched a film - Romeo and Juliet - at home together "arm in arm" the night before her death, Gittany said.

But when he discovered Ms Harnum had changed the password on his text monitoring program, he said he told her to pack her bags and leave the following day.

The row escalated the next morning, with Ms Harnum eventually running for the front door.

The trial has seen CCTV footage of Gittany dragging Ms Harnum back into the apartment and covering her mouth as she screamed out of embarrassment of what the neighbours would think.

During the next minute, Gittany asked her to tell him her secret.

"It would all be easy if you'd just tell me," Gittany said he told her.

Then he said he saw Ms Harnum running for the balcony but, by the time he reached it, he said she was almost entirely over the other side.

He said she "released herself" onto an awning below as he reached out both his hands and tried to grab any part of her.

Ms Harnum lay across the awning and looked at him as he screamed at least twice, he said.

"After I couldn't reach her it was like she disappeared or let go," he said, adding she then went into freefall.

"I pushed myself out as far as I could to keep my eyes on her, which was all I could do.

"I kept my eyes on her until she hit the ground."

Gittany said he felt like the entire incident was a dream.

"The first person I witnessed die was my fiancee in a tragic circumstance that I just did not know how to process," he said.

The trial continues.

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Man charged with shooting murder in Sydney

A MAN has been charged with murdering a man who was shot in the back in western Sydney.

Raymond Pasnin, 27, was shot a number of times as he walked to his car at a unit block in Pendle Hill last Wednesday.

He later died in hospital.

Following an investigation, a 26-year-old man was arrested at Parramatta on Tuesday and has since been charged with the murder of Mr Pasnin.

He has been refused bail to appear at Fairfield Local Court on Wednesday.

Police have previously said the shooting was believed to be linked to a domestic dispute involving Mr Pasnin's girlfriend.

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