Just two minutes to graffiti a wall

Graffiti artists Saphire and Danny. Source: The Sunday Times

IT took just two minutes. Armed with spray cans and wearing hoodies to conceal their faces, six members of a tagging "crew" covered the wall of an old bank building in graffiti.

Young, brazen, reckless and utterly without fear of the law, these teenagers worked methodically to cover the entire wall in their tagging nicknames and crew names just 100m from the carpark of the Westfield Carousel shopping centre in Cannington last week.

Motorists drove past, some flashed their high beam, but when the spray cans ran out and the damage was done, there was still no sign of police.

The Sunday Times has chosen to run the pictures to highlight how quickly and easily graffiti vandals can trash public property and why they feel compelled to do so.

"It's not hundreds, it's more like thousands of our tags all over Perth," one 15-year-old boy said.

"Trains, cars, buses, taxis, entire walls, toilets, buildings ... we tag everywhere and anywhere, day or night. You want us to go tag a police station? We'll do it."

With a used spray can in her hand, a 17-year-old girl said: "I tag because it lets all the anger out. I got schizophrenia and bipolar. Other people go for a run to let the anger out, but I go tagging."

Another crew member, a 16-year-old boy, said his crew was on a mission to do as much graffiti as possible to convince authorities to set aside places where tagging was legal.

"We need an area. An old building or a space where we can do it legally. It's a form of art. We're doing this to express ourselves," he said.

Many of the teens, aged from 14-17, said they smoked cigarettes and cannabis. They admitted running from police was part of the thrill.

Members of other crews said they formed organised gangs because they wanted to be accepted and to feel safe.

In Armadale, the True Brotherz, made up of Maori teens, said they didn't commit crimes and weren't violent.

"But if anyone starts on us, look out. It's over. We've got each others' backs," one member said.

The Central Crew hold sway around Central Park in the city with about 40 street kids led by homeless woman and former prostitute "Storm".

She said she recently slashed herself with a broken bottle, inflicting serious wounds, when the Centrals were confronted by a large group of African youths who wanted their "turf".

"They were going to mess me up pretty bad so I smashed a bottle I was holding and started cutting myself to get in first. It freaked them out and they left us alone," Storm said.

Another Armadale crew known as the Armadilians mainly hang out at the local skate park, though some said they did graffiti and smoked cannabis.

Richard, a former member of a Fremantle crew, said he had seen organised fights between crews where "people were smashing the s--- out of everyone left, right and centre".

"We used to get into street fights, break into cars, houses. We never robbed or assaulted old people we didn't believe in that," he said.

"The main reason people join a gang is kinship, being part of something together with the people who protect your back."

Drew, a former member of the Kids on Smack crew, said boredom meant teenagers turned to illegal thrills.

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Naked man braves crocs for booze

This man stripepd off, jumped ona log and braved the crocodile-infested waters of the Daly River so he could win a bet. Source: Northern Territory News

A FISHERMAN has risked his life for what he considered a good cause - booze.

He won two cases of bourbon for jumping on to a log racing down a flooded, crocodile-infested river - in the nude, The Northern Territory News reports.

The tiler, who didn't want to be named, rode the makeshift raft for about three minutes before clambering back into a boat.

"I'd enjoyed a few beers and it seemed a good idea at the time," he said.

Witness Billy Innes said his mate thought nothing of the dangers of drowning or being eaten by a saltwater crocodile, which inhabit the river in large numbers.

"It was hilarious," he said.

The daredevil was camping at the Daly River on Sunday when he accepted the bet.

"Huge trees were hammering down the river," Mr Innes said.

"It was quite a sight. Someone dared him to get on to one of the logs and row across the river."

Keith Parry, 20, was killed while swimming across the Daly River in April 2009. He was crossing the river because he wanted more beer.

Read more on the naked man braving the crocodile-infested Daly River at The NT News

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Viral mugshot woman's wedding offers

This mugshot portrait of Meagan Mccullough nee Simmons has led to marriage proposals and declarations of love. Picture: Hillsborough County Source: Supplied

A MUGSHOT of a woman has gone viral, prompting declarations of love from across the world and even marriage proposals.

Yet the mugshot of the "attractive convict", arrested for allegedly drink driving, is not a model or actress as people presumed. It's a mother-of-four, who is a medical assistant, from Florida, US.

Meagan Mccullough, 27, of Zephyrhills, as she was then known, was arrested for DUI in July 2010 leading to her mugshot being taken in an orange jumpsuit. Her natural good looks meant yesterday, three years on, it caught the attention of the sharing website Reddit and soon spread around the internet like wildfire, MailOnline reported.

Men fashioned memes adding captions to the mugshot such as 'GUILTY - of taking my breath away', 'Arrested for breaking and entering - YOUR HEART' and 'Tell me what she did so I can end up in the same jail'.

Social media sites were overtaken by comments from men wanting to marry her, looking for her phone number and asking if she is a model.

Even on the arrest site men have written of instant love for her mugshot.

Love and marriage... Meagan Mccullough nee Simmons. Picture: Facebook

"The eyes of the sky. And hair like woven silk. I have taken photos of thousands of woman and never seen one with what you have in those eyes breath taking you are.

"I hope if you have a man he takes care of you and showers you with love and tenderness. If we were together you would need for nothing . I would go to the ends of the earth just to make you happy," a man posted.

Another asks her to move to Ireland.

"What's up with that surname, you must have Irish heritage? You got bar work experience?

"Come to Ireland, I'll put you up for a while and you can work in my friends pub while you find your feet, look up your family history and then move on to something better.

A driver's complaint about an inflated service quote and unnecessary repairs has gone viral on social media.

"Over here, we don't call you a criminal for driving drunk (unless repeatedly caught). I'm not joking by the way."

Meagan, now separated from her husband and going by her maiden name Simmons, is baffled by the sudden interest and bemused by the obsession with the mugshot picture she thinks "is terrible".

"I had just been crying when the photo was taken and I was drunk. I knew I'd caused a lot of trouble and my parents were really upset and I was really upset. I wasn't thinking about how I looked at all," she told Mail Online.

"I don't think it's that good a picture - there are other ones I would prefer."

Meagan said the interest was overwhelming and said had to block a lot of users.

Viral footage from Channel 7’s Highway Patrol of Clinton telling Victoria Police he's 'waiting for a mate'

She is single and dateless, although she says her two daughters and two sons, all of school age, are part of a package.

"Guys may find me attractive but they don't want a relationship and it's disappointing," she told Mail Online.

"I am single and I'm a hopeless romantic and I'm really picky. If it was just a nice normal guy who happened to come across the picture - but I'd have to do a background check because who would do that?'

"I think its weird, you can't be serious about someone if it's based off their mugshot and that mugshot is something I'm ashamed of - I'm not happy about it."

Meagan, who used to work at Hooters, is not unaware of her good looks.

Nick Bertke’s funky remix of a trip through central Australia on the Ghan.

"I never know what to wear to my kids school functions...dress like a mom or the sexy woman I am #hotmomproblems," she recently wrote on Twitter.

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Hopes fade for lobster fishermen

HOPES are fading for two lobster fishermen missing in wild weather on Tasmania's remote southwest coast.

No trace has been found of the two men, both aged about 30, since their upturned dinghy was discovered near Port Davey yesterday afternoon.

The pair are experienced professional fishermen and police believe they were probably wearing life jackets.

But a cold front and swells of four metres have police fearing the worst, while the conditions have also prevented divers from being deployed.

"As time goes on it is increasingly unlikely we'll find them alive," Inspector Stuart Scott said.

The two men had been in the dinghy picking up lobster pots, having left their larger boat moored at Port Davey on Sunday afternoon.

A helicopter, police vessel and two fishing boats were searching the area, while two officers were on the shore.

"It is theoretically possible that if you managed to get to the shore you could walk around and get back to the inner bay which is where the original boat was moored," Insp Scott said.

"Once you are on shore then a different set of calculations apply ... but there is no evidence that that is the case at this point."

The men, who have not yet been named by police, are from Launceston and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel south of Hobart.

They were working in a remote area which is adjoined by Tasmania's World Heritage Area wilderness and is accessible only by boat or on foot.

"The nearest permanent residence is Melaleuca which is still some distance away from this area and you wouldn't walk there in a week," Insp Scott said.

"It is very remote and in certain weather conditions it's pretty bleak and wild."

One of the men is from an established fishing family, reportedly of four generations.

"That always is an additional factor in considering people's chances but the reality is now that time is getting on," Insp Scott said.

More bad weather is expected for tomorrow, when the onshore search will be expanded.

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WA duo star at Moulin Rouge

Perth performers Ashley Swinbourne and Aaron Smeding who are both performing in the most famous cabaret in the world, Moulin Rouge. Picture: Sandie Bertrand Source: PerthNow

Perth performers Ashley Swinbourne and Aaron Smeding who are both performing in the most famous cabaret in the world, Moulin Rouge. Picture: Sandie Bertrand Source: PerthNow

AARON Smeding is getting a big kick out of his first job dancing at the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris.

Not only did the 21-year-old WAAPA graduate make the cut physically, male dancers have to be at least 1.98m, females 1.73m and professionally, he is also the youngest man in the 100-strong troupe.

"It's quite surreal to be honest," he told The Sunday Times. "I still have moments when I have to pinch myself while onstage and go, 'I'm actually dancing at the Moulin Rouge'. It's a crazy experience, but I love it."

Smeding first caught the eye of the company's ballet mistress two years ago when he auditioned in Perth, at the age of 19.

When a spot became available in October he moved to Paris and was joined by Ashley Swinbourne, of Ocean Reef.

The pair, who both went to Fremantle's John Curtin College of the Arts, are among a small group of Aussies who are helping to keep the French cancan alive. Smeding said the troupe, which consists of 14 different nationalities, performs two shows a night, six days a week.

And while he is happy to remain at the Moulin Rouge for the time being, he said he would one day like to join a contemporary European dance company.

"Plus there's always companies in Australia that I would love to dance for in the future, like the Sydney Dance Company or Expressions Dance Company," he said.

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$5.8m gold found in family car

Italian police found millions in hidden bullion - 12 ingots under the seats of this family car during a routine Swiss border stop. YouTube/Guardia Di Finanza (no audio).

Italian police found $5.8 million of gold ingots hidden in a family car. Source: AFP

ITALIAN police say they found gold ingots worth 4.5 million euros ($A5.8 million) hidden in a car headed to Switzerland on what appeared "an ordinary Easter day out with the family''.

Police stopped the car on a routine check on Easter Sunday but became suspicious as the man driving it, his wife and three children became increasingly nervous.

Police then found two hidden compartments under the seats.

"It looked like an ordinary Easter day out with the family,'' the financial police said in a statement, adding that the couple had given "evasive answers'' and were therefore taken to a police station for a full-scale search.

A total of 12 ingots were found wrapped in old newspapers and tied together with cellotape, according to video images released by the financial police in Ponte Chiasso in northern Italy, close to Lugano in southern Switzerland.

The 53-year-old driver, an Italian man resident in Switzerland, has been charged with money laundering and the gold has been confiscated.

An investigation has been launched into where it could have come from.

The man, a legal representative of a Swiss company, "did not provide an explanation or demonstrate the legitimate provenance of the large quantity of precious metal,'' the police said, without giving further details.

The phenomenon of gold smuggling across the Alps from Italy into Switzerland has increased sharply in recent months as Italian authorities have multiplied investigations against tax evasion and money laundering
 

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Protesters swamp Hong Kong streets

Thousands of protesters take to the streets chanting slogans against new Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in Hong Kong. Source: AFP

Hong Kong's Chief Executive-elect Leung Chun-ying, right, and his wife Regina. Source: AP

HONG Kong's biggest protest for nearly a decade has packed the former British colony's streets in a defiant reception for its new leader and a show of popular anger after 15 years of Chinese rule.

The rally came after Leung Chun-ying, a millionaire property consultant seen as close to China's communist authorities, was sworn in as chief executive in front of Chinese President Hu Jintao - who had his speech interrupted on Sunday.

Hu's visit and Leung's inauguration have become focal points for growing discontent towards Beijing, which has surged to a new post-handover high amid soaring housing costs, limited democracy and perceived meddling by China.

"Hong Kong has become much worse off," Eric Lai of the Civil Human Rights Front told the marchers. "Our rights are under serious threat."

Organisers put the crowd at 400,000, their largest claimed turnout for eight years.

A poster with a picture of Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying reading "Guard the values of Hong Kong, tell Hong Kong people to say no to communist authority" is burnt by protesters. Source: AFP

In sweltering heat the last of the marchers reached their destination almost six hours after the first set out, and along the way they blocked streets far across the city, stranding buses and trams as they surrounded them.

Hong Kong does not yet choose its leader by universal suffrage, and Leung was elected as chief executive in March by a committee stacked with pro-Beijing business elites.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said it "fully respected" freedom of expression and the right to "take part in processions", and would listen to the demonstrators' views "in a humble manner".

Earlier, as President Hu began his speech to around 2300 guests at Leung's inauguration, a protester inside the harbour-front venue repeatedly shouted "End one-party rule".

A protester hits a cut-out picture of wolf which represents new Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying during a pro-democracy protest march in Hong Kong. Source: AFP

The man also referred to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, and was rapidly bundled away by security personnel, while the audience drowned him out with extended applause for Hu.

Beijing's support for "one country, two systems" and the right of Hong Kongers to rule the territory was "unwavering", said Hu.

"We will follow the Basic Law ... to continue to advance democratic development in Hong Kong," said the president, who will step down as part of a once-in-a-decade leadership transition in Beijing starting later this year.

Late on Sunday some 300 protesters held a demonstration outside the Beijing representative office in Hong Kong, burning copies of the city's mini-constitution before dispersing around midnight.

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That's not a croc, Australia ... THIS is a croc

In a file picture taken on September 4, 2011 villagers look at the 6.17m saltwater crocodile caught in the town of Bunawan, Agusan del Sur province on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

• Crocodile nicknamed "Lolong" measured 6.17 metres
• Weighs more than a tonne; It was captured last November
• Guinness World Records says it's the largest in captivity

GUINNESS World Records has declared that a huge crocodile blamed for deadly attacks in the southern Philippines is the largest in captivity in the world.

The giant reptile has brought pride, fear, tourism revenues and attention to the previously little-known town where it was captured last year.

Guinness spokeswoman Anne-Lise Rouse says the saltwater crocodile nicknamed "Lolong" measured 6.17 metres and weighed more than a tonne. It was captured last November in Bunawan town in Agusan del Sur province,

Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde told The Associated Press today that he was notified by Guinness of the giant reptile's new distinction last month.

The news sparked celebrations in his town of 37,000 people and concerns that more giant crocodiles might be lurking nearby.

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Fortescue chief keeps iron grip

Fortescue Metals group chief executive Nev Power has said the rapid urbanisation of China would continue. Picture: Nirme Marie Source: Herald Sun

FORTESCUE Metals Group chief executive Nev Power says there is no looming oversupply of iron ore and the price of Australia's single largest export item will not drop below $US110 ($A105).

Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia in China yesterday, Mr Power said the rapid urbanisation of China would continue.

Predictions of steep falls in the price of iron ore were based on faulty analysis and an extremely bearish position on the health of the world's second largest economy, Mr Power said.

He said iron ore's natural price equilibrium was between $US110 and $US130 it would remain there "for quite some time".

Some mining analysts have predicted the price of iron ore will decline sharply from its current level of about $US136 per tonne to as low as $US60 per tonne.

Last week investment bank Morgan Stanley said global iron ore production would overtake supply for the first time in at least a decade from 2014 onwards as iron ore players including Rio Tinto, Fortescue and BHP Billiton rolled out new mine expansions.

"I just don't see this wall of supply that is being talked about coming into the market," Mr Power said.

"Supply comes on at a much more moderate pace than what has been predicted."

He said many iron ore projects that have been announced had not secured funding yet and would go ahead only if the iron ore price remained where it is.

He also said any fall in the price would see smaller producers in China and East Africa significantly cut back on production, which recent reports on the global iron ore supply and demand position had failed to take into account.

"There is a self-regulation here," he said.

Mr Power said the Pilbara was perfectly positioned to supply iron ore to growing markets in China, India and East Africa.

But he warned against Australia thinking China could not source iron ore from elsewhere.

"There is no shortage of raw materials around the world ... particularly iron ore," he said.

"The key is getting it out of the ground efficiently, productively, competitively and reliably and getting it into these markets."

The Boao Forum of international political and business leaders, ends tomorrow.

john.dagge@news.com.au

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Hitler's mad plan for death star

The Life magazine article from 1945 detailing the German 'sun gun'. Source: Supplied

• Huge mirror in space would concentrate sun's rays
• Nazis wanted to use it as a weapon
• Also had plans for space station

IT sounds like something only a Bond villain would propose, but the Nazis planned a mile-wide "space gun" powered by the sun.

The giant mirror could be used to focus the sun on a target - like the magnifying glasses used by children to create fire.

A long-forgotten article from Life magazine in 1945 revealed how "US Army technical experts came up with the astonishing fact that German scientists had seriously planned to build a “sun gun".

The giant orbital mirror would "focus the sun’s rays to a scorching point on the Earth’s surface". The German army, readers were told, "hoped to use such a mirror to burn an enemy city or to boil part of an ocean".

The idea came to renowned rocket scientist Hermann Oberth in 1923.

The Life magazine article from 1945 detailing the German 'sun gun'.

With an estimated cost of three million marks and taking 15 years to construct, the original purpose of the space mirror was to provide the people of Earth with sunshine on demand, anywhere on the globe. But Oberth later described it as the "ultimate weapon".

"My space mirror" he wrote, "is like the hand mirrors that schoolboys use to flash circles of sunlight on the ceiling of their classroom. A sudden beam flashed on the teacher’s face may bring unpleasant reactions."

In 1945, when the victorious Allies began sifting through captured war plans, it emerged that the Nazis had updated Oberth’s proposals and begun looking into the possibility of the Third Reich building a mirror weapon in orbit 22,236 miles above the Earth.

Details of the sun gun emerged again after they were discussed by US military experts and appeared on internet forums.

TRAILER: An army of Nazis from the dark side of the moon launch an all out attack on planet Earth in Iron Sky.

Life magazine believed it would be put into orbit in pre-assembled sections. It would also contain a manned space station, with 10m holes in which supply rockets could dock, hydroponic gardens to provide oxygen and solar-powered generators for electric power.

Once in orbit, the "master rocket" for the project would unreel six cables. Spinning the rocket on its axis would extend the cables radially, allowing construction to begin.

The Germans are not the only nation to look into harnessing the power of the sun. In 1999, the Russians unveiled a plan to use a mirror to reflect sunlight to Earth during winter.

And in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, Christopher Lee's villain, Scaramanga, unveils a powerful solar-powered laser gun which can destroy almost anything.
 

By 1945, German scientists were working on ever-more destructive weapons to help Hitler try to win the war. Image digitally enhanced.

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Residents return to burnt homes

The US is in the grip of weather-related disasters from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Coast.

Homes are destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs in the US. Source: AP

UPDATE: PEOPLE who fled the most destructive fire in Colorado's history have visited the most devastated neighbourhood, and many found their homes among the nearly 350 burned to the ground.

Two bodies were found in the ruins lifting the death toll to 17.

Residents marvelled at the random path of disaster.

Nothing remained of CJ Moore's home but the concrete, but the letters in her mailbox were unscathed.

''It's just unreal. Unreal,'' she said.

''Good Lord! I've never seen anything like this. And thank God there was nobody there.''

Nearby cars were burned to nothing but charred metal, but three neighbours' homes were untouched.

Frank Baker visits the remains of his brother's home which was burnt to the ground in the High Park Fire, June 30, 2012 in Bellvue, Colorado west of Fort Collins. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK Source: AFP

Melted bowling balls were scattered in Moore's front yard.

About 7000 people will be allowed to return to their homes for good on Sunday night local time.

That would leave about 3000 still evacuated, down from more than 30,000 at the peak of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs.

The fire was 45 per cent contained late on Sunday night local time after a long week of shifting winds that frustrated firefighters.

It was one of many burning across the West, including eight in Utah and a fast-growing blaze in Montana that forced residents in several small communities to leave.

Authorities at the Colorado Springs fire said they are confident they have stopped flames from spreading.

A destroyed home is viewed in a neighborhood affected by the Waldo Canyon fire on June 30, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

''We're cautiously optimistic,'' incident commander Rich Harvey said on Sunday.

''We still remain focused on things that could go wrong.''

The two victims' names haven't been released.

Police Chief Pete Carey said on Saturday an estimated 10 people who had been unaccounted for had been located.

Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the fire that broke out on June 23, and which so far has cost $US8.8 million ($A8.61 million) to battle.

Dangerous conditions had kept them from beginning their inquiry.

Meanwhile, more than three million people in the eastern US are facing a second day of 40 degree temperatures without electricity after storms ripped through the region.

A burned truck is viewed in a neighborhood affected by the Waldo Canyon fire on June 30, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

It could be several days before all power outages in Washington, DC, and elsewhere are restored, officials say and the National Weather Service says more thunderstorms are possible.

"Unlike a polite hurricane that gives you three days of warning, this storm gave us all the impact of a hurricane without any of the warning of a hurricane," Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said.

Mobile phone and internet service remain affected, petrol stations were shut down and residents have been urged to conserve water. Some major online services also saw delays and disruptions.

In Colorado, firefighters have contained about 45 per cent of the Waldo Canyon fire outside Colorado Springs, according to the Denver Post.

Temperatures shot back above 37C in many areas, prompting the US National Weather Service to warn of the prospect of severe thunderstorms including large hail and damaging winds.

"Cities from St. Louis, Missouri to Washington DC are forecast to approach or break daily record high temperatures for yet another day and there may be more all-time records broken," added AccuWeather, a private weather service.

A crew clears a fallen tree felled by strong winds from a row of homes in Washington, DC after power cuts caused by a record breaking heatwave in the eastern USA. Pictures: AFP Source: AFP

Pepco, the utility that serves Washington and some of its suburbs, said it may be a full week before service is restored to all its customers by teams of linesmen that included reinforcements from as far as Oklahoma and Florida.

"The devastation is extensive and while we expect to have the vast majority of customers restored by the end of day Friday, restoration for some customers may extend into the weekend," Pepco regional president Thomas Graham said.

Local authorities in Washington put out a hyperthermia alert, saying the heat index - which is the thermometer reading adjusted to take humidity into account - in the afternoon was 101 degrees fahrenheit (38C).

"Cooling centers" remained opened in many urban areas as refuges for those - notably the elderly - unable to cope without air conditioning, and at least one major supermarket chain gave away free ice to all comers.

The District of Columbia's emergency management agency suggested going to a movie or a museum in order to beat the heat. "Bottom line is, stay (as) hydrated and cool as possible," it said on its Twitter feed.

Some 3.7 million homes lost power in Friday's storms and four states - Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio - declared states of emergency.

"The power is slowly coming back on line," West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomlin told CNN on Sunday, adding however that "we still have over half a million people without power."

Destroyed homes sit beside homeS left untouched by fire in a neighborhood affected by the Waldo Canyon fire on June 30, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

"We just once again ask people to be patient," he said. "It's going to take a few days."

In Baltimore, Maryland, the local Baltimore Gas and Electric utility said it had deployed 1,000 trucks to restore power to 306,000 customers in and around the major port city.

Storm debris was gone from major highways in the region, but downed branches and trees still littered secondary routes.

Responsible for the extreme early-summer weather has been a high pressure area parked over the southeastern United States - the same slow-moving weather system blamed for a fatal wildfire in Colorado earlier in the week.

Firefighters supported by water bombers managed over the weekend to contain much of the Waldo Canyon inferno that killed three people, destroyed nearly 350 residences and left many hundreds homeless.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, speaking Sunday on CNN, said it felt as if the worst was over. "But we also know that Mother Nature will be fickle out here," he added. "We're keeping ourselves very alert."

President Barack Obama visited Colorado on Friday to see the devastation first-hand and to praise "the courage and determination and professionalism" of those fighting the flames.

- with AP

Smoke billows at sunrise from part of the Waldo Canyon fire on June 30, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

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NATO personnel gunned down

A MAN in an Afghan police uniform has gunned down three NATO personnel in the war-torn country's troubled south, the latest so-called "green on blue" attack.

The deaths take the toll this year in "green-on-blue" killings -- in which Afghan forces turn their weapons against their Western allies -- to at least 26, in a total of 18 such incidents.

In keeping with its usual policy, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave few details of Sunday's incident and did not reveal the nationality of the victims.

"An individual wearing an Afghan National Civil Order Police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing three service members," ISAF said in a statement.

An ISAF spokesman said the gunman was wounded and detained after the attack, which happened around 5pm (2230 AEST), and is now under investigation. The incident is not thought to have happened on an ISAF base, the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that ISAF was still investigating whether the attacker was a police officer or not.

The Afghan Civil Order Police was set up in 2006 as an elite riot control force.

The attack comes nearly two weeks after three men in Afghan police uniforms killed a soldier with the US-led force, also in the south.

An increasing number of Afghan troops have turned their weapons against NATO soldiers who are helping Kabul fight a decade-long insurgency by hardline Taliban Islamists.

Some of the assaults are claimed by the Taliban, who say they have infiltrated the ranks of Afghan security forces, but many are attributed to cultural differences and antagonism between the allied forces.

ISAF has taken several security measures in response to the shootings, including assigning "guardian angels" -- soldiers who watch over their comrades as they sleep.

NATO has around 130,000 soldiers fighting alongside some 350,000 Afghan security personnel against the Taliban-led insurgency, but they are due to pull out of the country in 2014.

The Western coalition is to hand over security to local forces by mid-2013 and will play a support role up to the final withdrawal by the end of the following year.

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Murder charges over Pt Hedland shooting

Police are investigating the death of a 43-year-old Port Hedland woman. Source: PerthNow

A MAN has been charged with murder after the death of a 43-year-old woman in Port Hedland last night.

Police were called to a disturbance in Bayman Street at about 6.30pm where it will be alleged they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound.

The woman was taken to Hedland Health Campus by ambulance, however she was later pronounced dead.

Late today, South Hedland Detectives charged a 62-year-old man with murder.

The man is expected to appear in a local Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Major Crime Squad detectives arrived in South Hedland today to assist with the investigation.

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Rio summit issues environment, poverty blueprint

THE biggest UN summit on sustainable development in a decade has approved a strategy to haul more than a billion people out of poverty and cure the sickness of the biosphere.

But critics branded the plan a cruel failure, saying it had been gutted of ambition by national interests.

The gathering of 191 UN members crowned a 10-day forum marking 20 years since the Rio Earth Summit, where leaders vowed the world would live within its environmental means.

In a sprawling 53-page statement, the three-day summit voiced dismay at entrenched poverty and mounting ecological stress.

"We... renew our commitment to sustainable development, and to ensure the promotion of an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations," it said.

Entitled "The Future We Want," the statement highlighted the many perils facing a planet whose human population is set to surge from seven billion today to 9.5 billion by 2050.

The long list includes climate change, desertification, fisheries depletion, pollution and deforestation, and the danger that thousands of species will go the way of the dodo.

"Sustainable Development Goals" will replace the UN's Millennium Development Goals from 2015, although defining the aim will be left for future talks - a process likely to be long and fiercely fought.

The strategy also promotes the green economy, a concept that breaks new ground in official UN terminology but is viewed suspiciously by many developing economies.

The statement also reflected the worries of advanced economies battling a deep financial crisis.

Despite the demands of developing nations for $30 billion in help, the text stipulated no funding figures to achieve sustainability goals.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the outcome "provides a firm foundation for social, economic, environmental well-being."

"It will guide us, all of us, towards a sustainable path. It is now our responsibility to build on it."

President Dilma Rousseff told a press conference that Brazil, the host country, had secured the compromise after months of haggling.

"The consensus is a point of departure, not arrival," she cautioned.

"With this document, nations move forward. We cannot allow anyone to remain behind. The next conference will have to be a leap forward."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the document "marks a real advance for sustainable development. We know this is one of the most pressing matters of our time."

But others said a historic opportunity had been thrown away.

"The two defining challenges we face today are eradicating global poverty and managing the risks of climate change," said British economist Lord Nicholas Stern, author of a landmark study into the costs of global warming.

"But the conference has failed to acknowledge the compelling evidence about the scale and urgency of action required."

A registry that was opened during the conference showed that nearly 700 commitments, mobilizing $513 billion, had been made for sustainable development by governments and businesses, the UN said on Friday.

It gave no details about whether the funding was new or the criteria for determining whether the projects were sustainable.

In the green movement, many activists branded Rio+20 a disappointment to rank alongside the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, a near-fiasco.

"The only people dancing in Rio tonight will be those who continue to benefit from a broken economic model that puts profit ahead of people and planet," said Asad Rehman of Friends of the Earth.

"Rio+20 has been a failure of epic proportions," said Greenpeace's executive director, Kumi Naidoo.

"We must now work together to form a movement to tackle the equity, ecology and economic crises being forced on our children. The only outcome of this summit is justifiable anger, an anger that we must turn into action."

Ban had named the Conference on Sustainable Development as the cornerstone of his plan for fairer, cleaner growth, the "No. 1 priority" of his tenure.

But talk of a summit that would draw as many 130 heads of state or government to give a push to his goals was way off the mark.

In the end, less than half of the UN's roll call of countries sent their leader, with the remainder represented by deputies, ministers or simply chief negotiators.

Absentees included US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

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Carr welcomes lawyer's release

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has confirmed Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor is set to be released by 9pm Monday AEST.

Detained Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor has finally been allowed to make contact with her family.

Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor is expected to be released from a Libyan jail today. Source: AFP

UPDATE: THE federal government has welcomed news Libyan authorities are expected to release Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor later today.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr said "all going well" the International Criminal Court lawyer will be released into the custody of Australian officials tonight and will board a plane bound for Europe by midnight.

"We welcome the news that she is likely to be released today," the spokesman told AAP from New York.

"We thank the Libyan authorities for their cooperation."

Australia also thanks the wider international community for their help and support, the spokesman said.

Ms Taylor is likely to be taken to Rome before her onward journey to her home in The Hague.

Ms Taylor, along with three of her ICC colleagues, was detained in the Libyan city of Zintan on June 7 while representing Seif al-Islam, the son of the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Libyan officials said she was found carrying documents for Seif that were judged a threat to national security.

Senator Carr has lobbied hard for her release, even visiting the Libyan capital Tripoli last month to press her case.

Ms Taylor was not able to speak to her husband and young daughter until last week.

Senator Carr said Ms Taylor was permitted to call her home in The Hague shortly after a visit by Australia's ambassador David Ritchie.

Mr Carr subsequently spoke to Ms Taylor's Brisbane-based parents John and Janelle, who were relieved to hear she was finally allowed a phone call.

Her parents had pleaded with Libya to release their daughter in time for her toddler's third birthday in July.

The three other detained ICC staffers are from Lebanon, Russia and Spain.

Mr Carr said a week ago that talks in The Hague between the ICC and the Libyan authorities had resulted in "the ICC expressing regret, effectively an apology for any misunderstandings".

The ICC has stopped short of admitting to any wrongdoing but has said it will fully investigate its team's behaviour upon their return.

"When the ICC has completed its investigation, the Court will ensure that anyone found responsible for any misconduct will be subject to appropriate sanctions," it added in a statement issued last month.

The ICC wants to try Seif al-Islam, 39, for crimes against humanity during his father's rule, which came to an abrupt end last year.

Tripoli insists he should be tried locally and filed on May 1 a motion challenging the ICC's jurisdiction to put him on trial in The Hague.

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Bride gives birth at wedding

A bride in France only just made it through the ceremony before she gave birth. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied

A BRIDE gave birth only minutes after tying the knot in France, making it more of a "big day" than anticipated.

"It did rather shake us up," admitted Jean-Robert Gachet, mayor of Jallais, after hearing that mother and baby were doing well.

Saturday's ceremony at 11am (7pm AEST) was nearly called off after the heavily pregnant bride had several false alarms, although her due date was July 14.

The bride was "definitely a bit worn out, but we put that down to the stress of the wedding. I tried to hurry it up a bit so that she didn't get too tired," said Mr Gachet.

But only moments after the happy couple said their vows and emerged outside to pose for the traditional photos, while the guests left for the reception, the bride suddenly felt unwell and went back into the town hall.

Emergency services were called, but her waters had already broken and she gave birth to a little boy on the spot at 12.15pm.

"The cry of the new born boy was an emotional moment! It was a first for us and for the emergency services," Mr Gachet said.
 

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Hitler's mad plan for death star

The Life magazine article from 1945 detailing the German 'sun gun'. Source: Supplied

• Huge mirror in space would concentrate sun's rays
• Nazis wanted to use it as a weapon
• Also had plans for space station

IT sounds like something only a Bond villain would propose, but the Nazis planned a mile-wide "space gun" powered by the sun.

The giant mirror could be used to focus the sun on a target - like the magnifying glasses used by children to create fire.

A long-forgotten article from Life magazine in 1945 revealed how "US Army technical experts came up with the astonishing fact that German scientists had seriously planned to build a “sun gun".

The giant orbital mirror would "focus the sun’s rays to a scorching point on the Earth’s surface". The German army, readers were told, "hoped to use such a mirror to burn an enemy city or to boil part of an ocean".

The idea came to renowned rocket scientist Hermann Oberth in 1923.

The Life magazine article from 1945 detailing the German 'sun gun'.

With an estimated cost of three million marks and taking 15 years to construct, the original purpose of the space mirror was to provide the people of Earth with sunshine on demand, anywhere on the globe. But Oberth later described it as the "ultimate weapon".

"My space mirror" he wrote, "is like the hand mirrors that schoolboys use to flash circles of sunlight on the ceiling of their classroom. A sudden beam flashed on the teacher’s face may bring unpleasant reactions."

In 1945, when the victorious Allies began sifting through captured war plans, it emerged that the Nazis had updated Oberth’s proposals and begun looking into the possibility of the Third Reich building a mirror weapon in orbit 22,236 miles above the Earth.

Details of the sun gun emerged again after they were discussed by US military experts and appeared on internet forums.

TRAILER: An army of Nazis from the dark side of the moon launch an all out attack on planet Earth in Iron Sky.

Life magazine believed it would be put into orbit in pre-assembled sections. It would also contain a manned space station, with 10m holes in which supply rockets could dock, hydroponic gardens to provide oxygen and solar-powered generators for electric power.

Once in orbit, the "master rocket" for the project would unreel six cables. Spinning the rocket on its axis would extend the cables radially, allowing construction to begin.

The Germans are not the only nation to look into harnessing the power of the sun. In 1999, the Russians unveiled a plan to use a mirror to reflect sunlight to Earth during winter.

And in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, Christopher Lee's villain, Scaramanga, unveils a powerful solar-powered laser gun which can destroy almost anything.
 

By 1945, German scientists were working on ever-more destructive weapons to help Hitler try to win the war. Image digitally enhanced.

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$325m rescue package for Tassie health

THE Federal Government insists a $325 million rescue package for Tasmania's ailing health system has tough conditions attached that will ensure the State Government can't waste the funds.

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced the Commonwealth is taking "urgent action" to head off a crisis caused by the island state's aging population, higher rates of chronic disease and system constraints.

The funding, over four years, was decided after government consultations with Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie.

"The Government has come up with an emergency rescue package we believe will address the unique challenges faced by the state," Ms Plibersek said today.

The $325 million package includes a $31 million elective surgery blitz. An additional 2600 operations including orthopedic and cataract surgery will help clear a backlog.

There's also money for walk-in clinics in Hobart and Launceston, better after-hospital care, medical specialist training, mental health services and the rollout of personal electronic health record systems in local hospitals.

"These investments respond to the ideas that front-line clinicians have told me will be the best ways to tend to Tasmania's health system," Ms Plibersek said.

The minister insisted the Tasmanian Government would face a strict reporting and accountability regime.

The state would have to maintain current funding levels in order to receive Commonwealth cash and report monthly on where it was spending the extra funds.

A three-person commission will be set up to ensure the state is delivering services as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Mr Wilkie today said the $325 million would count for little "unless it's followed by genuine reform to put Tasmania's public health system on a more sustainable footing".

He nevertheless praised the Government for responding to his request for urgent assistance which he first raised with the Prime Minister at the beginning of May.

"I'm hopeful the federal assistance package will go a long way towards taking the state's public health system off the critical list," Mr Wilkie said.

"According to the State Government these additional elective procedures will largely reverse the recent cuts."

But federal Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton believes today's announcement is a "band-aid solution".

"The reason we are here is that the Labor State Government ripped $430 million out of its health system," he told ABC TV.

"You can't have a state government ripping out almost half-a-billion dollars and the Commonwealth put in $300 million and pretend it's a good news day."

Mr Dutton called on Ms Plibersek to guarantee that not one dollar out of the rescue package would be spent on additional bureaucracy.

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Argentine bishop quits over racy beach photos

AN Argentine bishop has tendered his resignation after racy photos showed him cavorting with a woman at a beach in Mexico.

Media in Buenos Aires reported the bishop, Fernando Bargallo, 57, who led the diocese of Merlo-Moreno outside Buenos Aires since May 1997, has been under pressure to give up the post since photos surfaced this month showing him frolicking and embracing the bikini-clad woman. He wore nothing but swim shorts.

In the ensuing scandal, Bishop Bargallo initially said the woman was a merely longtime friend, but late last week finally admitted having "amorous ties" with her, according to the Clarin daily.

Church officials were not immediately available to confirm or deny reports of the clergyman's resignation.

Pope Benedict XVI, who reportedly has been briefed about the scandal, will make the ultimate decision about whether to accept Bishop Bargallo's resignation, church observers said.

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Call to take asylum seekers to Tassie, boost economy

There are calls for the Pontville detention centre to be reopened permanently, so Tasmania can process more asylum seekers in the community. Picture: Sean Fennessy Source: The Daily Telegraph

• The Pontville detention centre closed in March
• Call for it to reopen under a different operating model
• "We should be telling the Government to send them here"

TASMANIA should be allowed to reopen its arms to asylum seekers, human rights advocates say.

As politicians in Canberra squabble over the best way to deal with the asylum seeker crisis, advocates say Tasmania is the perfect place to process them.

The tragic drowning of asylum seekers during the past week has intensified calls for the Pontville detention centre to be reopened permanently, so Tasmania can process more asylum seekers in the community. 

Brighton Mayor Tony Foster yesterday called for the centre, which closed in March after six months, to open again under a different operating model.

"Let's make it a processing centre with people coming and going as they please, returning at night," Mr Foster said.

"Let's look at a new way for the future and let Pontville show we can do it in a whole new way."

Unions Tasmania boss Kevin Harkins said yesterday asylum seekers should be brought to the state to help boost the economy and offer a safe, humane processing option for hundreds of boat people seeking refuge in Australia.

"We should be telling the Federal Government to send them here, have them processed in a reasonable amount of time and those that don't meet the criteria can be sent back," he said.

Read more at themercury.com.au
 

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