Facebook pages demanded in employment row

A woman sacked by Air NZ has been forced to hand over copies of her Facebook pages. Source: AAP

AIR New Zealand has forced a sacked flight attendant to hand over copies of her Facebook pages and bank accounts to show what she was doing when she claimed sick leave.

Gina Kensington was dismissed after she took sick leave in March to look after her sister.

She took her case to the Employment Relations Authority, where Air NZ asked to see her Facebook pages and bank accounts for the two days concerned.

Ms Kensington argued she shouldn't have to hand over the details as Air NZ didn't have them when it sacked her and there was an expectation of privacy about personal and financial information.

However, the ERA agreed she should supply copies, saying the details could be relevant.

Ms Kensington was forced to hand over the information but the court has not yet made a decision on whether she was fairly sacked.

The Facebook and bank account demand is a step further than that of the case of Gisborne man Bruce Taiapa.

Mr Taiapa was sacked by his employer when he took sick leave for a week but was seen in a photo on Facebook at a school canoeing carnival in Rotorua.

The ERA ruled the sacking was justified because the employer had a reasonable suspicion he wasn't ill.

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Riot at Greek migrant detention camp

Detainees have hurled stones at officers at the Amygdaleza detention camp outside Athens. Source: AAP

POLICE have been dispatched to put down a riot at Greece's main migrant detention camp with detainees hurling stones at officers and setting fire to living quarters.

Local television footage on Saturday showed fires blazing at the Amygdaleza detention camp outside Athens, where about 1200 mainly Asian migrants are kept.

"We have 10 officers injured by stones and other objects thrown at them," a police spokesman told AFP.

"The detainees set fire to mattresses and their living quarters but riot police have been sent and the situation is calming down," he said.

Amygdaleza is one of several detention camps set up since last year to assist in the repatriation of thousands of undocumented migrants.

The police spokesman said rioting began when the detainees were told their maximum stay in the camp would be extended to 18 months from a year previously.

Rights groups charge that the migrants have been subjected to abuse in the camps and are denied proper healthcare.

Last week, leftist group KEERFA said Muslim detainees had been beaten by guards during prayers.

In July, the same group reported the death of an Afghan detainee from a pulmonary infection which his guards had allegedly ignored for months.

Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for migrants and refugees fleeing war-torn or impoverished countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

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California wildfire doubles in size

MORE than 1600 Californian firefighters are battling a blaze east of Los Angeles that has injured six people and forced hundreds to flee their homes.

The fire is estimated to cover 7200 hectares, a figure that has nearly doubled since Thursday.

Those injured include five firefighters and a civilian, the Riverside County Fire Department says.

As of Friday the fire had destroyed 29 buildings, mostly homes, and was only 40 per cent contained.

Two of the firefighters were overwhelmed by heat, and the condition of the other three has not been made public.

The civilian victim was wounded Wednesday, the day the fire broke out, and was airlifted to a burn centre, Fire Chief John Hawkins earlier told reporters.

Eight helicopters were being in use to fight the fire, which on Thursday forced the evacuation of 1,800 people in several towns near Banning, 90 miles (150 kilometres) east of Los Angeles. Some of those residents were allowed to return home on Friday.

Authorities have not determined what set off the fire.

The effort to douse the flames is being complicated by high temperatures, very low humidity and wind gusts, weather forecasters said.

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Deputy PM says airport curfew claims false

DEPUTY Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hit back at claims flights were allowed to land after curfew at Sydney airport because politicians were on board.

Max Moore-Wilson, the boss of Sydney airport, claimed that Virgin Australia was on Tuesday night given preferential treatment and allowed to land 10 planes after the strict 11pm (AEST) curfew, News Corp Australia reports.

"I suspect there were a few politicians on those planes," he told an aviation conference in Sydney on Friday.

But Mr Albanese has refuted the statement, saying up to four flights were allowed to land between 11pm and 11.30 pm because of a "breakdown in (Virgin Australia's) communication system."

No flights landed after curfew on Tuesday night, News Corp reports.

Mr Albanese accused Mr Moore-Wilton of making "personal attacks" and "an extraordinary assertion" motivated by a desire to stop a second airport being built for Sydney.

"Max Moore-Wilton believes that this should continue to be a monopoly airport, the only airport for Sydney," Mr Albanese told reporters on Saturday.

And in order to downplay its problems "he tries to find some other reason why there are constraints and issues at this airport," the Deputy Prime Minister added.

Mr Albanese said jobs, economic growth and "Sydney's future as a global city" would be jeopardised if a second airport isn't constructed.

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RBA forecasts consistent with govt: Bowen

FEDERAL Treasurer Chris Bowen says the latest central bank forecasts are totally consistent with the government's own outlook.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its quarterly statement on monetary policy on Friday and trimmed its growth forecast, in line with the government's latest economic update.

"This shows just how weak the opposition's approach is," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has said the government's figures can't be relied upon.

"Yet today we have the Reserve Bank coming out and releasing their statement showing figures that are entirely consistent with the government's economic statement," Mr Bowen said.

Like the government, the RBA is forecasting economic growth of 2.5 per cent in the 2013/14.

Mr Bowen said there was also "confusion and chaos" in the Liberal party over their election costings.

He said earlier this week, Mr Hockey had said he would not respect the figures in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO), to be released on Tuesday, and they would not be used to base their costings on.

But on Friday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had said the best estimate going would be PEFO and they'd be working off those figures.

"The leader of the opposition has shown he does not have confidence in the shadow treasurer's approach on how their funding will be accounted for," Mr Bowen said.

"This is yet another position on their costings."

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NZ dollar heads for 2.1% weekly gain

THE New Zealand dollar is heading for a 2.1 per cent weekly gain against the greenback as investor concerns about Fonterra's food scare dissipate and as Chinese figures reinvigorate optimism about Australasia's biggest trading partner.

The kiwi eased to 79.93 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 80.17 cents at 8am, though up from 79.60 cents on Thursday.

It started the week at 78.31 cents, slumping to a month-low 76.99 cents at the height of the Fonterra scare.

The trade-weighted index advanced to 75.01 at 5pm from 74.90 on Thursday, and is heading for a 0.2 per cent decline, starting the week at 75.14.

Investors shrugged off concerns about New Zealand's dairy exports as trading partners refrained from imposing blanket import bans and as Fonterra managed to get the potential food taint under control within days.

The NZ dollar got a further boost as improving trade figures in China fuelled demand for the Australian dollar, with the trans-Tasman currencies typically moving in unison.

"Fonterra recovered pretty quickly - the action was all on Monday," said Alex Hill, head of dealing at HiFX in Auckland.

"The kiwi's at the top of the range really - it still looks like a relief rally to some degree."

Mr Hill said the kiwi dollar was also being helped by its Australian counterpart, which has rebounded after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates as expected on Tuesday, without keeping the door open for more reductions.

"The Aussie is the most oversold of the currencies out there - the whole market was short and it (the RBA) didn't surprise," he said.

The NZ currency was unchanged at 87.68 Australian cents at 5pm on Friday from the same time Thursday, and inched up to 77.06 yen from 76.92 yen. It was little changed at 59.72 euro cents from 59.66 cents.

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New board member for Newcrest

GOLD miner Newcrest has appointed experienced director and lawyer Peter Hay to its board.

Mr Hay also holds positions on the boards of ANZ, Myer, Alumina, GUD Holdings and Epworth Healthcare, and will join Newcrest as a non-executive director immediately.

Mr Hay joins the board at a difficult time for the company, which has been hit by a steep decline in the gold price.

Newcrest recently wrote down the value of its assets by up to $6 billion, the announcement of which has led to an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) into its disclosure practices.

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Oppn must come clean on costing: Rudd

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd says the clock is ticking for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to show the coalition's policy costings.

The Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) will be released on Tuesday by the Treasury and Finance department, an independent update on the state of the federal budget, in particular the budget bottom line, and the Australian economy.

"The clock is now ticking," Mr Rudd told reporters in Brisbane.

"Four days, and we are counting them off one by one by one by one until Mr Abbott must come clean with his bottom line for the Australian people."

He said a Labor analysis has found that the opposition's planned cut in the company tax rate to 28.5 per cent from 30 per cent will leave them $5 billion short in their numbers, and accused him of double counting.

But Mr Abbott said he outlined $17 billion of "significant savings" in his budget reply speech in May.

"Our full list of saves and spends will be out there for the public to consider in good time before the election," Mr Abbott told reporters in Devonport, Tasmania.

"And the budget bottom line will be better under the coalition than under the Labor party."

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Rebel separatists kill 14 in SW Pakistan

REBEL separatists have killed 14 people, including three security officers, after stopping vehicles at a fake checkpoint in Pakistan's volatile southwestern province of Baluchistan.

The attack appears to have targeted mostly people from the central province of Punjab ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Separatist rebels have been fighting in Baluchistan since 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's natural oil, gas and mineral resources.

Tuesday's attack happened in the Mach area of Bolan district, 70km southeast of the provincial capital Quetta.

"Miscreants blocked the road in two places. First they took away five FC (paramilitary) men from an FC patrol vehicle, tied them up and snatched their walkie-talkies and weapons," provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP.

The rebels then stopped two buses and took away 13 labourers. Security force personnel chased after them, but the rebels fired off a rocket that killed one security officer, Durrani said.

"Then they lined them up in the mountains and killed 13," added Durrani.

Local official, Kashif Nabi, confirmed the incident and said the bodies had been recovered.

"We are making arrangements to bring them to Quetta," he said.

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NSW murderer's friend avoids jail term

A FRIEND of a man who murdered his teenage girlfriend says he didn't tell police about the attack because he was scared his tongue would be ripped out with bolt cutters.

Adam Dark spent five days with convicted murderer Sean Lee King after the brutal 2011 killing, giving his friend "comfort and support".

But he was also in fear of King and his stepfather.

In a recorded phone call a few months later, Dark's father told him he should have gone to police straight away with what he knew.

"If I open my f***in' mouth they've got bolt cutters to cut my f***in' tongue out," Dark replied, adding King's stepfather was a "dangerous motherf***er" with ties to bikies.

He also told his girlfriend King's family had instructed him not to say anything about that night and he didn't want to "rat Kingy out".

Dark has avoided jail after a Sydney District Court judge sentenced him to an 18-month good behaviour bond for failing to tell police about King's attack on 18-year-old Jazmin-Jean Ajbschitz.

King, 27, beat Ms Ajbschitz to death in a ferocious, drug-fuelled murder - kicking and hitting her with three different objects, dragging her bruised and bloodied around her apartment and stomping on her chest until her heart stopped.

He was jailed for at least 25 and a half years last month after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of murder.

Dark pleaded guilty to being an accessory after assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

King's trial heard he and Dark drove together to Ms Ajbschitz's apartment at Ultimo and wandered through the security building looking for her.

They then went to a nearby convenience store where Dark remained, while King, who was high on ice, returned to the apartment and persuaded Ms Ajbschitz to let him in.

During the next 26 minutes, King beat Ms Ajbschitz to death, leaving her partially clothed body on the kitchen floor before returning to Dark and telling him to call an ambulance.

He told Dark they had had a "little argument" and he hit Ms Ajbschitz, causing her to hit her head on a book case.

Dark anonymously called for an ambulance, telling the operator, "I heard some screams", but gave the wrong address and paramedics were unable to find Ms Ajbschitz.

Her body was discovered by her brother three days later.

Dark was initially charged with several offences, including manslaughter, but these were withdrawn.

He eventually admitted he lied to police and tried to protect King.

Sentencing him last Friday, Judge Andrew Haesler ordered him to be of good behaviour for the next 18 months.

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