A POLICE van has been set on fire in Melbourne's north.
Police say the divisional van was found smouldering and with a broken window at Reservoir on Friday night.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
A police sedan nearby also had a broken window.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is planning to visit cyclone-hit Cooktown. Source: AAP
THE Queensland premier is postponing a planned visit to cyclone-hit Cooktown as a major road is cut off and strong winds make helicopter travel unsafe.
Campbell Newman had earlier promised to travel from Cairns on Saturday afternoon to see how Cyclone Ita had uprooted trees and destroyed a pub in the coastal community north of the Daintree National Park.
But a spokesman for the premier told AAP that Mr Newman would postpone his visit until Sunday.
"We're now not planning on doing it until it's safe," he said.
About 700 homes in Cooktown are still without power but mobile phone services are working.
The roof was also ripped off the West Coast Hotel, along with some homes, after Ita made landfall north of the town on Friday night as a category four system.
The Mulligan Highway into the town of about 2300 people remains closed because of flooding at the Annan River.
Earlier, Mr Newman said he had hoped to visit Cook Shire mayor Peter Scott.
"This afternoon, if it is safe and practical, I intend to go to Cooktown," he told reporters.
"That will depend, of course, on weather conditions."
Winds of up to 120km/h could hit areas from Cooktown south to Port Douglas on Saturday afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology said in a 3pm update.
Search co-ordinators say there has been no major breakthrough in the search for flight MH370. Source: AAP
THE location of the black box flight recorder of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has been narrowed down to "some kilometres", Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.
Mr Abbott told business leaders in Shanghai on Friday that although the search in the Indian Ocean was narrowing, authorities were still a long way from recovering any wreckage of MH370.
"We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres," Mr Abbott said.
"Still, confidence in the approximate position of the black box is not the same as recovering wreckage from almost four and a half kilometres beneath the sea or finally determining all that happened on that flight."
The prime minister was due to brief Chinese president Xi Jinping, whose country lost 154 of the 239 passengers, in Beijing on Friday afternoon.
Mr Abbott's comments, however, seemed to be contradicted by Australian search coordinator, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who said a signal detected by an Orion aircraft on Thursday was not related to MH370's locator beacon.
"On the information I have available to me, there has been no major breakthrough in the search for MH370," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
Mr Abbott's initial expression of confidence at a press conference in Shanghai were quickly followed by Air Chief Marshal Houston's apparent contradiction.
But the prime minister repeated his comments in a speech to business leaders after the former defence chief's statement.
The Australian vessel Ocean Shield has to date recorded four signals in the same search area.
But there are concerns the black box's batteries, which have a life of around 30 days, will die within days.
Saturday will mark five weeks since flight MH370 and its passengers and crew disappeared.
The Ocean Shield on Friday was in an area about 2200km northwest of Perth continuing sweeps of its pinger locator to detect further signals.
Orion aircraft were also continuing their acoustic searches.
Mr Abbott told reporters in Shanghai the area had been "very much narrowed down" by the ping detections.
"Nevertheless, we're getting to the stage where the signal from what we are very confident is the black box is starting to fade," he said.
"We are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires."
He said Australia was determined to solve what is one of the great mysteries of modern times.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the Ocean Shield was doing more focussed sweeps of the towed pinger locator in a bid to find further signals.
The vessel detected signals on Saturday and Tuesday in the northern end of the search zone, more than 2200 kilometres northwest of Perth.
"It is vital to glean as much information as possible while the batteries on the underwater locator beacons may still be active," Mr Houston said on Friday.
The AP-3C Orions continue their acoustic search, working in conjunction with Ocean Shield, with three more missions planned for the day.
Mr Houston said a decision as to when to deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 would be made on advice from experts on board the Ocean Shield and could be some days away.
THE New Zealand dollar has fallen as weak equity markets around the world sapped demand for risk-sensitive assets.
The kiwi dropped to 86.39 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 86.84 cents at 8am and 87.17 cents on Thursday.
The trade-weighted index (TWI) sank to 80.02 from 80.83 on Thursday.
Stock markets across Asia followed Wall Street lower as investors dumped their stakes in biotech and internet industries amid growing concern rising sales won't translate into actual profits.
"Global equities are all lower, with the Nasdaq down over two per cent - everything is off quite sharply in equity markets," said Michael Johnston, senior dealer at HiFX in Auckland.
"The TWI is still fairly high, and it's difficult to see that falling a lot more unless we see risk aversion gather steam."
The prospect of rising interest rates has underpinned support for the kiwi, with traders pricing in a 98 per cent chance of a hike on April 24 when the Reserve Bank next reviews policy, according to the Overnight Index Swap curve.
The kiwi extended its decline against the Australian dollar after figures on Thursday showed an unexpected fall in the Australian unemployment rate to 5.8 per cent.
The kiwi fell to 92.13 Australian cents from 92.61 cents on Thursday.
It also dropped to 87.79 yen at 5pm in Wellington from 88.81 yen and to 62.17 euro cents from 62.94 cents.
AUSTRALIANS may have to wait longer to get the pension and jump more hurdles for welfare benefits after the May federal budget.
Treasurer Joe Hockey has advice from the International Monetary Fund that without changes, the cost of providing healthcare and pensions would rise by $93 billion a year by 2030.
It is forecast that between 2010 and 2050, the number of people in Australia aged 65 to 84 will double, and the number of people 85 and older will quadruple.
"It is the economic and fiscal impact of an ageing society that too many governments have chosen to ignore for too long," Mr Hockey told a forum on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Washington.
"These trends will have a big impact on the sustainability of our budget. "There is no easy solution." The government would either need to raise taxes or reduce access to the pension system so it was only available to the most vulnerable, Mr Hockey said.
The IMF report said increasing the pension age was a "worthy consideration".
It echoed a report by the Productivity Commission last year which recommended the pension age rise to 70.
In the long term, the solution lay in growing the economy through removing red and green tape, reducing taxes, delivering greater workplace flexibility and building roads, rail and ports, Mr Hockey said.
All Australians needed to play their part in repairing the budget and the onus was on the government to explain why tough decisions were needed.
Outlining the key principles behind the government's budget thinking, he said welfare should be a "safety net, not a cargo net".
"We cannot allow vast numbers in society to remain in an entitlement culture," Mr Hockey said.
Industry could no longer rely on protection, tariffs and subsidies, noting the losers in the corporate world were "good at hitting up governments".
Labor says the government is softening up the public for budget cuts, having overseen the fastest budget deterioration anywhere in the world.
Opposition acting shadow treasurer Tony Burke said the IMF report showed Mr Hockey had doubled the budget deficit, adding $68 billion over the forward estimates.
"He is clearly cementing the way for massive cuts to areas such as health, education and pensions by manufacturing a dire budget with cooked books," Mr Burke said.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Steve Ciobo said the notion that the coalition had made big spending decisions in the past six months that led to the deterioration was "ridiculous".
"It's only a deterioration because we stopped living in a fantasy land," Mr Ciobo said.
A MAN charged with murdering his partner's baby girl in western NSW has been remanded in custody.
The 35-year-old allegedly took the 11-month-old infant to hospital last week and told police she had fallen off a trampoline.
The baby had head injuries and died despite the doctor's CPR efforts.
A week after the baby's death, the baby's mother's partner was arrested and charged with murder.
He appeared in Bathurst Local Court on Thursday where bail was formally refused.
The case was adjourned to April 14.
During investigations, police officers had contacted almost all the residents of the tiny rural village of Mandurama, southwest of Bathurst, where the baby lived.
The town, with a population of about 250, was captivated by the unusual police presence which included state homicide detectives.
WEAK employment growth is likely to continue as the federal government's jobs indicator has fallen for six straight months.
The index anticipates movements in the growth cycle of employment, with a turning point confirmed after six consecutive monthly moves in the same direction.
It fell 0.064 index points in April to minus 0.555 points.
This signalled that employment was likely to grow more slowly than its long-term trend rate of 1.1 per cent per annum over coming months, the Department of Employment said on Wednesday.
The index has four weighted components: ANZ Newspaper Job Advertisements, Dun and Bradstreet Employment Expectations, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Index of Economic Activity and the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index.
Official labour force data for March will be released on Thursday.
Economists expect the number of people employed to have fallen by 5000 in March compared with February with the unemployment rate rising to 6.1 per cent from six per cent.
MORE shipping container-style "relocatable units" are being rolled out to boost the capacity of Victoria's prison system.
The Victorian government has announced another 27 units will be installed by August at two correctional facilities near Geelong, a gain of 81 medium-security beds.
"Relocatable units are already providing an important, immediate boost to capacity in Victoria's corrections system, and today's announcement will build on this," Corrections Minister Edward O'Donohue said on Wednesday.
"The security and design of the units will be consistent with the standard security accommodation already at Fulham and Marngoneet prisons."
The government has previously likened the units - which each house three inmates - to mining camp accommodation and has also pointed to their use in prisons in Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand.
Expansion plans for Victoria's Loddon Prison, announced in March, include 15 of the units.
The government says it has added 1000 prison beds since 2011 with another 2500 in the pipeline, including the 1000-bed prison under construction at Ravenhall in Melbourne's west.
"MAI", an 18-month-old baby girl, abandoned on a western Sydney doorstep in the dark of night, just wants her mother.
The tot showed signs of being much-loved and well cared for when an Auburn resident found her staring up at him on his doorstep on Monday night.
He had answered his doorbell to find her dressed in a black and white top, grey shorts and wrapped snugly in a light green blanket. A bag with a bottle and baby formula was also left on the doorstep.
Temporary foster carers are now looking after her while authorities try to figure out what language she speaks.
But as the hours passed and with no signs of her mother, the child had become distressed.
"At 18 months a child knows who they are with, who they belong to and when things are wrong or have changed," Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said.
"It must have been very frightening to be wrapped in a blanket and left on somebody's doorstep in the dark last night."
Ms Goward issued a public appeal on Tuesday for the Asian mother or guardian to come forward.
The Auburn resident, who did not want to be identified, can't understand how someone could do that to a child.
"It was random and out of the blue and I didn't think this could happen in Australia," he told News Corp.
"If you have a problem there are places you can call and they can help you, rather than just abandoning a child."
A late-model white sedan was spotted leaving the area.
Auburn police Superintendent Phil Rogerson said Mai was very neat and tidy.
The items left with her have been forensically examined for any clues that may lead them to the child's mother.
Police say it's unclear why Mai was dropped off at the particular house in Auburn, although there were baby strollers outside it.
"We don't know the intention of whoever took the baby to that house and why they selected that house," Supt Rogerson said.
While Mai's age makes her abandonment unusual, the practice of babies landing on doorsteps is not unheard of.
Last March Ms Goward made a public plea for the mother of a newborn baby left at Canterbury Hospital to come forward.
It is understood the mother was never found and the baby has been put up for adoption.
But Ms Goward said there are cases when abandoned children have been reunited with their parents.
A 25-year-old man will face court on Tuesday after a double shooting in western Sydney last month. Source: AAP
AN alleged gunman has blown kisses to his family in a Sydney courthouse as he faced charges for shooting an innocent bystander and teenager.
Omar Hariri told a small gathering of family members he loved them from the dock of Fairfield Local Court, where he appeared on gun and robbery charges on Tuesday.
It is alleged Hariri was one of three men involved in shooting Rhynal Nand, 19, and Graeme Hunt, 62, in Merrylands last month.
Mr Nand was shot when he went to pick up a mobile phone advertised on social media.
Mr Hunt came out of his nearby home after hearing the commotion and was shot in the chest.
Hariri has been charged with four offences, including robbing Mr Nand's friend, Zade Wilson, of cash and causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Nand.
He is also accused of firing a silver handgun with intent to cause Mr Hunt grievous bodily harm.
Hariri, who waved his cuffed hands towards his family in the public gallery throughout his short court appearance, did not apply for bail.
The case was adjourned to May 22.
Two other men have also been charged over the shooting and will appear in court next month.
INDONESIA and Australia have turned a corner in their efforts to restore bilateral relations after the upheaval caused by last year's spying revelations, with Jakarta noting a "positive trajectory" after the latest meeting.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says his talks with his Australian counterpart, Julie Bishop, at The Hague two weeks ago were very positive, with the pair to meet again soon.
Indonesia has invited Prime Minister Tony Abbott to attend an open government forum in Bali next month, and its ambassador - recalled at the height of the crisis - has been making more frequent trips to Canberra.
In the talks, Dr Natalegawa has stressed there should be "no surprises" in the future relationship.
In other words, no further revelations such as those leaked by US defence contractor Edward Snowden last year, when Indonesia learned Australia's spy agency had been intercepting the mobile phone calls of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and his inner circle.
Dr Natalegawa says Indonesia has now "priced in" in its bilateral relationship the past intelligence activities of Australia, and also the thorny issue of pushing asylum seekers back to Indonesia.
Military, police and intelligence co-operation was frozen in November while a six-point "road map" to restore the relationship was negotiated.
Dr Natalegawa says he's now confident the groundwork has been laid for step two - an ethical code of conduct.
"My sense is that we are now very much on a positive trajectory ... in dealing with both the two issues we've been grappling with, the issue of the Snowden revelations as well as the issue of asylum seekers," he told AAP on Monday.
The code of conduct will be a simple undertaking, in the form of "what we will do and what we won't do", the minister says.
He is in touch with Ms Bishop almost daily in an effort to resolve the issues quickly.
Dr Yudhoyono's term is nearing its end and he no doubt wants to leave office in October with the legacy of strengthening ties with Australia.
But Dr Natalegawa says the matter is too important for a deadline.
"It's not about the president, it's not even about this present government," he said.
"It's about wanting to get to where we have been before, because in our view the recent developments must be seen as being an aberration.
"The trajectory over the past 10 years actually, during the president's tenure, it has been a positive trajectory."
Indonesia's next president is most likely to be Jakarta's popular governor, Joko Widodo, a foreign policy novice.
He may wish to retain the expertise of Australian-educated Dr Natalegawa for continuity.
But the minister says he is not yet thinking that far ahead.
"I'm just focusing on ... making sure that we hand over the foreign policy portfolio in a good state to the next government," he said.
THE New Zealand dollar is little changed as investors prepare for minutes to the latest US Federal Reserve policy review and Australian employment figures.
The kiwi traded at 85.93 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 85.81 cents at 8am and 85.97 cents on Friday in New York.
The trade-weighted index rose to 80.31 from 80.03 at the New York close.
Traders are waiting for the release of minutes to March's Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday in Washington to get a clearer steer on when the US central bank might start raising interest rates.
Chair Janet Yellen surprised investors when she indicated the Fed would start hiking rates six months after the end of quantitative easing, although has softened the tone on those comments.
"People will be watching to see whether the FOMC minutes remind us that slightly hawkish shift back in the March meeting is for real or not," said Imre Speizer, market strategist at Westpac Banking Corp in Auckland.
"It's all about the US dollar at the moment and will continue to be this week."
Investors are also waiting for Australian employment figures, which are expected to show the nation added 5,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
The kiwi was little changed at 92.63 Australian cents from 92.51 cents on Friday in New York.
The kiwi fell to 88.57 yen from 88.79 yen on Friday and was unchanged at 62.73 euro cents.
PM Tony Abbott says he's optimistic but not certain about finalising a free trade deal with Japan. Source: AAP
TONY Abbott's push to resolve free trade talks with Japan appears on shaky ground, with the prime minister admitting he's not certain of striking a deal during his visit to Tokyo.
Mr Abbott had hoped to finalise a free trade deal with Japan, Australia's second-largest trading partner, as a matter of priority on his first official visit to north Asia.
He ambitiously pledged at the September election to end years of stalemate and strike free trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and China within 12 months.
But a resolution from fierce last-minute talks in Tokyo has eluded negotiators, who have struggled all week to gain ground on several final issues.
Mr Abbott said on Sunday he was "optimistic" a deal could be struck during his stay in Tokyo, but conceded the talks had been difficult.
"This government is determined to bring them to a swift and satisfactory conclusion," he told reporters in Tokyo.
"I'm hopeful but not certain."
Trade Minister Andrew Robb arrived in Tokyo ahead of the prime minister to try and break the impasse, but after hours with Japan's agriculture minister could only say talks had entered an advanced but difficult stage.
Mr Abbott said negotiations had "meandered" under Labor after former prime minister John Howard initiated talks in 2007.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also blamed the opposition for neglecting the task, saying the federal government had "six lost years" to regain.
She dismissed suggestions Australia's recent victory in the UN's top court over Japan's whaling program could have stalled talks, saying both nations would "move on".
"We are hopeful of signing, or at least getting an official confirmation about the state of the Japan Australia free trade agreement," she told ABC TV.
The deadlock could be on the agenda when Mr Abbott meets his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Sunday evening for a private dinner.
Mr Abbott's visit will be formally acknowledged in a state ceremony on Monday, but the prime minister said he'd been "thrilled" at the welcome so far.
He said there was more than trade behind his visit to Japan, with an announcement on defence co-operation with the conservative Abe government expected in coming days.
A man has been shot by police responding to a domestic disturbance on Brisbane's bayside. Source: AAP
A MAN is in a critical but stable condition after being shot by police during a domestic dispute on Brisbane's bayside.
Two police officers arrived at the Capalaba unit about 7.30pm (AEST) on Saturday.
When they tried to arrest the man, the male officer was allegedly thrown through a plate glass window and was severely cut.
It is understood a policewoman responded by shooting the offender twice in the stomach.
Police Union president Ian Leavers said the situation escalated quickly.
"She made an instant decision with the view of protecting her partner's life," Mr Leavers said.
"She is heroic. These are things where you don't get time to consider your decision, you have to make it immediately.
"We're very fortunate that we're not here at the murder of a police officer."
The injured officer is in a serious but stable condition and is expected to have surgery.
It is the second police shooting at the unit complex.
In March 2011, a policewoman shot a man in the groin who had threatened neighbours.
Mr Leavers said he was tired of violence against officers and renewed calls for mandatory sentencing for people who seriously assault police.
"If you threaten the life of a police officer you should go directly to jail," he said.
"There should be no other option."
The Ethical Standards Command is investigating.
