Stricken US cruise passengers formed bonds

The passengers of cruise ship Triumph have finally disembarked after five numbing days stuck at sea. Source: AAP

PASSENGERS aboard the Carnival Triumph could have been selfish and looked out only for themselves and their loved ones after their cruise ship lost power. Instead, they became comrades in a long, exhausting smelly struggle to get home.

As ship conditions deteriorated after an engine fire, travellers formed Bible study groups, shared or traded precious supplies and welcomed strangers into their private cabins.

Even after they have returned to the everyday luxuries of hot showers and cold drinks, passengers will remember the crew and the personal bonds formed during a cruel week at sea.

The tired tourists finally reached land on Friday and gave a glimpse into an intensely uncomfortable journey.

Sandy Jackson was fortunate to have an upper-level room with a balcony and a breeze that kept the air in her cabin fresh. Rooms on the lower decks were too foul or stifling, so Jackson took in five people, including four strangers.

"We knew one, the others we're very good friends with now," Jackson said.

Brandi Dorsett said people were antsy and irritable at times, and there was tension. But it never got out of hand.

"People were bartering. Can I have your cereal for this? Can I have your drink for that?" she said. "We had one lady, she was begging for cigarettes and for nappies. There were no nappies on the boat. There was no formula."

The ship left Galveston, Texas, on February 7 for what was supposed to be a four-day jaunt to Cozumel, Mexico. The fire paralysed the ship on the third day, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico until tugboats towed it to Mobile.

Many of the more than 4,200 people aboard were bussed to New Orleans to catch a flight home or to the ship's home port in Galveston. And as if they hadn't suffered enough, one of the buses broke down during the two-hour ride to New Orleans. Passengers on a different bus reported losing their luggage.

But that was nothing compared to life on the crippled cruise liner. To pass the time, Joseph Alvarez said about 45 people gathered in a public room on the lower deck for Bible study.

"It was awesome," he said. "It lifted up our souls and gave us hope that we would get back."

Because many passengers were sleeping on the outside deck, Dwayne Chapman used his pocket knife to make tents out of bed sheets. At first, other passengers told him they thought he was going to get into trouble, but later, everyone wanted to borrow his knife to do the same thing.

"I really think we've made some lifelong friends going through this ordeal," Chapman's wife, Kim, said.

When it was over, many passengers were just grateful for simple pleasures. After days of warm drinks, Cheryl McIntosh and her husband were glad to see coolers full of ice.

"The first thing we did was open up those Diet Cokes and we drank some," McIntosh said.

Tugs pulled the ship away from the dock on Friday, moving it down a waterway to a shipyard where it will be repaired and cleaned.

The work ahead is. Passengers described water-logged carpets, sewage seeping through the walls, overflowing toilets and a stench so bad people choked.

But, by most accounts, the crew did as much as they could, using disinfectant and picking up plastic bags of faeces after toilets stopped working.

David Glocker praised the crew's efforts to help passengers and recognised the conditions for them were worse than for most passengers because their quarters were on the lowest part of the ship.

"They all had to wear masks," he said. "They worked their butts off trying to get us food."

Dorsett praised a calming voice over the ship's public address system that she knew as "Jen".

Connie Ede was on the cruise with her husband. During the fire, the two got their life jackets ready and put mobile phones, passports, money and credit cards in their pockets.

"All in all, I wish it hadn't happened, but it did, and we survived," she said.

Carnival promised to give refunds, offer passengers another trip and cover their transportation costs home. Travellers were also to receive $US500 ($A485) in compensation.

But those gestures may not be enough. Less than 24 hours after the boat docked, the first lawsuit was filed.

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Telecom NZ cancels email users' passwords

TELECOM has started cancelling the passwords of about 60,000 Yahoo! Xtra email accounts it believes have been compromised following a cyber attack.

The users will need to enter new password information when they log in to their email account.

The 60,000 customers affected by Saturday night's password cancellation are additional to the 15,000 customers that Telecom has been contacting following last weekend's cyber attack.

The move is aimed at protecting email customers and preventing information in emails being accessed. There is no evidence that this has occurred.

"We're taking this matter very seriously and urge those whose passwords have been cancelled to create new passwords," Telecom retail chief executive Chris Quin says.

"However, it's advisable for all others that have not changed their password, to do so immediately." This should be done on computers and mobile devices.

"We continue to be sorry for any distress caused or inconvenience this has caused and reinforce that in today's online world regular password changes are an important need."

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Anti-North Korea leaflets launched

NORTH Korean defectors in the South have launched 200,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the tense inter-Korean border.

The defectors used gas-filled balloons to float the leaflets along with $US1 notes across the western border town of Imjingak on Saturday, the birthday of the North's late leader Kim Jong-Il.

The balloons were inscribed with slogans such as "Stop provocative acts with missiles and nuclear tests", "North Koreans rise up" and "The Kim dynasty will soon collapse".

North Korea celebrates the birthdays of its late leaders as major national holidays.

Kim Jong-Il, who died of heart attack in December 2011, was succeeded by his son Jong-Un.

Anti-Pyongyang activists suspended leaflet launches until after the South's presidential election in December as the government urged them to halt such activities for fear of provoking Pyongyang.

North Korea has in the past threatened "merciless military strike" in response to anti-regime propaganda leaflets.

The North conducted a third nuclear test on Tuesday, whose detonation power was much larger than those of two previous ones in 2006 and 2009.

Pyongyang said the test was a riposte to UN sanctions imposed after its launch of a long-range rocket in December, which it claimed was part of a space program.

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Airbus decides against lithium batteries

AIRBUS will not use lithium batteries in the A350 long-range liner under development, a company source says.

"The first planes will be delivered with cadmium, not lithium batteries," the source told AFP on Friday, adding that the airliner's first test flights would take place with the lithium batteries.

The announcement comes as Boeing's 50 Dreamliners in service around the world have been grounded since January, after battery smoke forced an emergency landing of one plane and a battery fire was reported on a parked plane.

US air safety investigators have since zeroed in on how a battery fire occurred on the parked plane - a Japanese Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan airport - saying evidence pointed to a single cell on the eight-cell lithium-ion battery, which short circuited, leading to a rise in temperature.

Investigators do not yet know what specifically caused the short circuit.

The Airbus A350 is due to enter service in the second half of 2014, with the company hoping the liner will make it competitive in the long-haul market, where its planes have found it hard to challenge Boeing's 747s and 777s.

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Indian troops kill Pakistani soldier

INDIAN troops have shot dead a Pakistani soldier who strayed onto their side of the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, officials from both countries say.

A Pakistani official said on Friday that contact was being made with the Indian authorities for the return of the body of the soldier, identified only as Ikhlaq.

The soldier had been killed on Thursday night after he "inadvertently crossed the line of control in Khoi Ratta sector", the Pakistani official told AFP.

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Land Corp boss reappointment questioned

THE Indigenous Land Corporation was accused during a senate hearing of breaking a law that governs them in the appointment of an acting chief.

A Senate Estimates hearing on Friday was told Bruce Gemmell acted as chief executive of the corporation for just under six months - in line with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act that stipulates acting appointments for the ILC acting chief be no more than six months.

Department Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) secretary Finn Pratt told the hearing Mr Gemmell resigned and went away for a few weeks before he was reappointed.

However Mr Gemmell attended a corporate management meeting in Adelaide and the ILC paid for his flights during the interim period after his resignation and before his reappointment.

Mr Gemmell said his colleague Jodie Lindsay was acting CEO while he was away and everything he did during that period was "as a guest".

He did not give back his work phone or office keys because he expected a further appointment so handing them back seemed unnecessary.

Senator Nigel Scullion described the explanation as a "fabrication" to get around the body's employment law.

Mr Pratt said the department had "legal advice" that it was "not inappropriate".

"Frankly I don't think there's any scandal here, I just think it's a sensible strategy to deal with an inconvenient part of the Act," he said.

Senator Scullion said it was amazing the department was denying there was a scandal afoot.

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Three Victorian fires join near Buangor

THREE fires burning in plantation forest and grassland are joining into one and racing towards a small town in central Victoria.

The CFA has issued an emergency warning for the Buangor area, located between Ararat and Ballarat, west of Melbourne.

The large, fast-moving fire is expected to impact Middle Creek and Buangor anytime within the next two hours, the warning issued just after 5pm (AEDT) on Thursday said.

A State Control Centre spokeswoman said there had initially been three fires in the area.

"Two have already joined and it's looking like another one is about to," she said.

The fires are burning in plantation forest and grassland but are heading towards Buangor, which is home to about 250 people.

Twenty tankers and two aircraft are on scene.

The emergency warning has been expanded with the CFA saying the fire is expected to impact Eurambeen, Middle Creek, Shirley, Buangor and Buangor East any time within the next two hours.

The grassfire is being controlled, the latest warning said.

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Tokyo stocks close mixed

TOKYO stocks have closed mixed as the Bank of Japan holds off fresh monetary policy action and investors await the start of Group of 20 talks in Moscow.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended 0.5 per cent, or 55.87 points, higher at 11,307.28. The Topix index of all first-section shares eased 0.22 per cent, or 2.14 points, to 954.88.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) on Thursday held off announcing fresh policy action, following the announcement of an indefinite easing program last month, while serving up a rosier view of the economy.

Following a two-day policy meeting, the BoJ also held rates steady at zero to 0.1 per cent, as its Governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, prepares to step down, making way for new leadership widely expected to embrace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's views on aggressive easing.

Official data on Thursday showed Japan's recession-hit economy shrank 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2012 from the previous three months.

In forex markets, the yen was volatile as speculation grows that Japan's easy-money policies could spark criticism from the G20, after the Group of Seven richest nations issued a statement this week calling on governments to hold off any intervention, apparently in a swipe at Tokyo

Critics, particularly in Europe, have accused Japan of engineering a steep decline in the yen over the past few months to boost exports, a claim it has repeatedly denied.

"It will be one of the most important (G20 meetings) for quite some time in terms of markets," Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac Institutional Bank in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"The risk for currencies is whether there are strong comments from some of the many officials, with their different viewpoints, who will be surrounded by media in Moscow. So the potential for an impact to markets is not small."

In Asian trade, the dollar bought Y93.55 against Y93.46 in New York on Wednesday. The euro was flat at Y125.70.

Brewer Asahi Group was up 5.83 per cent at Y2,125 after it launched legal action in Australia against two private equity firms over claims it paid too much in its $1.3 billion takeover of New Zealand's Independent Liquor in 2011.

Exporters were mixed, with camera and copier maker Canon up 1.69 per cent to Y3,315, Toyota was down 0.31 per cent at Y4,815 and Toshiba was up 0.49 per cent to Y412.

Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal fell 3.02 per cent to Y257 after the world's second-biggest steelmaker said it was on track to lose Y140 billion ($A1.45 billion) in the fiscal year to March.

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Oscar Pistorius shoots girlfriend dead

Olympian Oscar Pistorius has reportedly shot his girlfriend dead after mistaking her for a burglar. Source: AAP

OLYMPIAN Oscar Pistorius has allegedly shot his girlfriend dead after mistaking her for a burglar.

Captain Sarah Mcira of the South African police confirmed Pistorius, 26, was in custody and would appear in court on Thursday.

The dead woman is believed to be model Reeva Steenkamp, according to the Beeld newspaper website.

She was hit four times, including in the head and arm, and paramedics declared her dead at the scene. Police took possession of a 9mm pistol.

Capt Mcira said the incident took place early on Thursday morning at Pistorius' upmarket home in a Pretoria security estate.

South African media speculated the shooting may have been a Valentine's Day surprise gone wrong.

Pistorius, who is reported to be in shock, was being questioned by police.

Pistorius, referred to as the Blade Runner because of his artificial limbs, had been expected to race in Australia in March.

He made history in 2012 when he became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics.

He won gold in the 4x400m relay at the Paralympics.

He had both legs amputated below the knee when he was a baby.

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Hilton bombing victims remembered

Dozens of people gathered in Sydney's CBD to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Hilton Bombing. Source: AAP

COUNCIL workers and police officers have laid wreaths and flowers outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney as they remembered three men killed in Australia's first terrorist attack.

Garbage collectors Alex Carter and William Favell were killed on February 13, 1978, when a bomb concealed in a rubbish bin exploded outside the hotel.

Police officer Paul Birmistriw, who was guarding the hotel entrance, was fatally wounded in the attack and died nine days later.

Members of the United Services Union (USU), NSW police, and family and friends gathered on George Street in Sydney's CBD to place flowers in front of the memorial plaque and observe a minute's silence.

USU spokesman Graeme Kelly said Mr Carter and Mr Favell were known to be "larrikins" and "dedicated family men".

A council worker who had worked with the men described them as "good blokes".

NSW Police Association President Scott Weber said Mr Birmistriw had been a "first-class constable".

Those responsible for the bombing, which took place outside the venue for a Commonwealth Heads of Government regional meeting, have never been found.

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WA Labor does not trust Buswell or Barnett

LABOR will not submit its Metronet rail project to the West Australian Treasury for costing because it doesn't trust Premier Colin Barnett and the treasurer to stay out of the process.

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan made the comment after Labor last week accused the Liberals of planting a stooge in the opposition's briefing with Treasury ahead of the March 9 election.

An official from Treasurer Troy Buswell's office attended the meeting, but was not introduced by Under Treasurer Tim Marney to Labor MPs.

"I have lost total confidence in relation to Mr Barnett and Mr Buswell not to interfere in processes," Mr McGowan told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.

Labor treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt said he respected and trusted Mr Marney and his department, but did not trust Mr Barnett or Mr Buswell.

Talks at the meeting were "extensive and frank", Mr McGowan said, while Mr Wyatt added that the questions and comments from MPs would have been more guarded if they had known one of Mr Buswell's staff was present.

"We assumed they were all Treasury officials because that is as per the caretaking conventions," Mr Wyatt told ABC radio.

Mr Marney said he regretted not disclosing the identity of the person and told The West Australian newspaper he would stake his job on the independence of his department.

Labor has repeatedly called on the Liberals to reveal Treasury costings to back its claim the Metronet rail plan - the key plank of Labor's election campaign - will cost twice as much as estimated.

Labor says it will cost $3.8 billion but the Liberals put it at $6.4 billion.

Mr Buswell has instead urged Labor to get its own costing from Treasury.

Mr Marney has indicated to The West Australian that Treasury did not provide the Liberals with a costing for Metronet.

Mr McGowan says this means the premier and treasurer have been caught out.

"Treasury has not costed Metronet despite the fact Mr Barnett and Mr Buswell have both said that Treasury did," he said.

Mr Marney was being sought for comment.

The Liberals continue to argue Labor's Metronet promise is flawed, claiming on Wednesday they had discovered "yet another black hole" of about $1 billion.

The government says Labor failed to factor in additional rail infrastructure that would be needed to avoid bottlenecks between Bayswater and the CBD.

"I think there's serious flaws in their costings for rail - that's clearly obvious," Mr Barnett told ABC radio.

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Nannup homes threatened by bushfire

AN unpredictable bushfire in Western Australia's Blackwood Valley is threatening lives and homes.

Residents south of Spring Valley Road, west of Maranup Ford Road, north of Southampton Road and east of the area between Glenarden Road and Cassia Road in the Donnybrook-Balingup, Bridgetown-Greenbushes and Nannup shires must act immediately, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) says.

"There is a threat to lives and homes," the DFES statement on Wednesday said.

Residents are being told to leave via Southampton Road to Brockman Highway, or Maranup Ford Road towards Bridgetown.

The fire started at River Road on Tuesday, has crossed the river and is burning in a south-easterly direction. It is out of control and unpredictable.

The Bibbulmun Track, including Kings Hut, is closed between Balingup and Donnelly River Village.

Two more less serious fires are also burning in the Nannup area, and are thought to have been started by lightning.

More than 130 personnel from the Department of Environment and Conservation, DFES, the Forest Products Commission and local volunteer bushfire brigades are working on fires in the area.

Firefighters are being assisted by four water bombers and a helicopter.

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Barclays to axe at least 3700 jobs

SCANDAL-HIT banking giant Barclays is to axe at least 3700 jobs under a strategic overhaul.

Chief executive Antony Jenkins is shutting the bank's controversial Structured Capital Markets tax advisory division and said 1800 jobs would go in corporate and investment banking and another 1900 across its European retail and business arm as part of a plan to slash costs by STG1.7 billion ($A2.61 billion).

Nearly STG2.5 billion of cash set aside to cover mis-selling compensation claims contributed to a plunge in pre-tax profits to STG246 million in 2012 from STG5.9 billion the previous year.

The bank's bonus pot will mean each employee gets STG13,300 on average, with an average of STG54,100 for investment banking staff, although the pool is lower than the STG2.2 billion paid out last year.

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11 killed in clashes in India's northeast

AT least 11 people have been killed in clashes between police and tribal groups opposed to ongoing local elections in India's northeastern state of Assam.

"The situation is very critical and so far we have reports that 11 people are dead and about six are injured," Bhupen Bora, a senior police official, told AFP.

The clashes were reported in Goalpara around 120km from the state's main city Guwahati.

Bora said nine of the dead were killed in police firing when two tribes opposing the elections started torching villages and attacked government officials.

"The Rabha and Hasong tribes want autonomy, they reject government rule in the district," said Bora.

Northeast India has seen decades of friction among ethnic and separatist groups, although some rebels have recently started peace talks with the government.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to unrest in the tea and oil-rich state of Assam over the last two decades.

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Indonesian boat boys to sue Australia

A GROUP of 23 Indonesian youths will sue the Australian government for jailing them in adult prisons on people-smuggling charges when they were minors.

The youths preparing to file the civil suit were held in adult prisons in Australia between 2008 and 2011 but released without convictions.

They were jailed as adults after Australian authorities relied on wrist x-rays to determine whether they were over 18 years old.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Lisa Hiariej, said the 23 former detainees wanted the Australian government to apologise and pay compensation.

"We demand the Australian government apologise and give them compensation," she said on Tuesday.

"We haven't decided how much we're demanding because we have to calculate first how long those kids were detained for and so on."

Ms Hiariej said the group had the support of the National Commission on Children Protection, the National Commission on Human Rights and parliamentarian Lily Wahid, who oversees foreign affairs.

The Australian Human Rights Commission reported last year that 180 Indonesian boat crew had been held in custody or in Australian jails despite claiming to be underage.

The 23 youths in the lawsuit were among a group of 48 who have been returned to Indonesia from Australia after being wrongly jailed as adults for an average of more six months.

Most are said to come from poor fishing communities where people smugglers commonly recruit boat crews.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the Australian government was yet to receive any official word of the claim.

"The government has not received any formal notification of this claim. Where it is considered that such claims do not have merit, the Australian government will defend them," the spokesman said.

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Cruelty to Australian sheep being assessed

The DAFF is investigating claims of cruelty towards Australian sheep at a market in Kuwait. Source: AAP

THE federal government says it is assessing claims Australian sheep are being mistreated and brutally slaughtered at a livestock market in Kuwait.

Animals Australia says the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has taken too long to respond to the allegations.

The animal welfare group, which was instrumental in exposing cruelty towards Australian cattle in Indonesia in 2011, first reported serious breaches of the federal government's Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) at Kuwait's Al Rai market in August, and followed up with a second formal complaint last week.

On Monday, DAFF said it was assessing information provided by Animals Australia.

"Should DAFF determine there is a basis to the allegations, it will proceed with a full investigation," the department said.

DAFF said it was investigating a similar complaint received in August 2012.

"As with any investigation, it will take as long as needed to ensure all information is thoroughly examined and a regulatory response is made proportionate to the findings.

"Findings will be made public once this investigation is complete."

Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White said that since August, thousands of merinos had been sent to the Al Rai market, where they were not only being slaughtered without being stunned, but were also being handled and transported inhumanely.

Many of the sheep were being kept in outdoor pens with no access to shade, food or water, while those indoors were in complete darkness.

"We were shocked to see that the number of merchants selling Australian sheep at this cruel market has only increased," Ms White said.

"The only notable change since the previous complaint in 2012 is that Australian sheep are now having their ear tags ripped out in what we can only assume is a deliberate attempt to rort the system."

Separately on Monday, the WA Farmers Federation said it wanted the state government's assistance to streamline the ESCAS process and make its implementation cheaper for farmers.

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Katter renews bid to halt CSG drilling

Crossbench MP Bob Katter has renewed calls for a two-year pause on drilling for coal seam gas. Source: AAP

BOB Katter wants federal parliament to put a two-year pause on drilling for coal seam gas and impose $200,000 fines for those who break the ban.

The crossbench MP introduced legislation to parliament on Monday to put a moratorium on aquifer drilling for coal seam gas.

It's his second attempt to stop the practice, after his previous bid was voted down by the major parties last year.

His bill would make it an offence to search for or extract coal seam gas if it results in drilling through or into an aquifer.

Mr Katter warned there were potentially catastrophic consequences for the cattle and sheep industries if drilling contaminated underground water sources.

"We want every landholder to ask their local federal politicians why they did not vote for a moratorium last year," he said.

Debate on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Moratorium on Aquifer Drilling Connected with Coal Seam Gas Extraction) Bill 2013 was adjourned.

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Three nominations, three Grammys for Gotye

Gotye has won the Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Source: AAP

IT was hard to tell what Wally De Backer was more excited about, his three-Grammy haul or the fact his childhood idol, Prince, presented him with the biggest prize of the night - Record of the Year.

The Melbourne musician known as Gotye climbed to the top of the musical world at the 55th Grammy Awards ceremony as he joined Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, U2, Coldplay and Olivia Newton-John as a Record of the Year winner.

"I'm a little bit lost for words," De Backer said after scaling the stairs to the stage where Prince, wearing a black hoodie and holding a cane, was waiting with the golden gramophone trophy for the hit song, Somebody That I Used To Know.

"To receive an award from the man standing behind us here with the cane - I spent many years listening to this man's music growing up and a big reason I was inspired to make music - thank you."

Gotye's song beat Lonely Boy by The Black Keys, Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson, We Are Young by fun., Thinkin' 'Bout You by Frank Ocean and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift for the big prize.

Earlier, he won Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Somebody That I Used To Know and Best Alternative Album for Making Mirrors.

The 32-year-old Aussie left the kings and queens of the music industry sitting in their seats as he made his way to the stage for the three awards.

The 20,000 seat Staples Center indoor stadium, where the likes of Beyonce, Jay-Z, Sting, Elton John, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat in the crowd applauding De Backer, is a long way from where he recorded the album Making Mirrors.

"I recorded it mostly in a barn on my dad's block of land southeast of Melbourne, Australia, so I have to thank Dad and my Mum for letting me set up a lot of weird equipment in a barn near their house," he said.

Somebody That I Used To Know, featuring Kiwi singer Kimbra Lee Johnson, has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, was No.1 in 18 countries, and in the key US market was the biggest-selling single of 2012.

It sat on top of Billboard's Hot 100 in the US for eight straight weeks.

"I obviously have one major person to thank and that is Gotye, Wally De Backer, for having me be part of this incredible song and this incredible journey," Johnson, 22, from Hamilton, said.

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Two Qld councils to vote on reform

RESIDENTS of two former council areas in far north Queensland will vote to secede from their current councils next month.

The Queensland Electoral Commission announced on Sunday that residents of the former Douglas and Mareeba council areas will vote on March 6 to reform those councils.

If successful, residents of the former Douglas Council will leave the Cairns Regional Council and residents of the former Mareeba Council will leave the Tablelands Regional Council.

The Labor government forced 157 councils to amalgamate into 73 in 2008 to save money.

Queensland Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said in December last year the boundaries commissioner recommended that four councils wishing to scrap the mergers should each go to a referendum.

He said locals of the former Noosa, Livingstone, Mareeba and Douglas would need to weigh up whether it would be worth the costs.

Costs would include the wages of new mayors, councillors, and staff, IT equipment and conducting the referendum.

Mr Crisafulli rated the likelihood of Mareeba Council reforming and achieving a sustainable future as unlikely and Douglas Council as highly unlikely.

Residents of the former Noosa and Livingstone councils will vote at a later date.

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Four wounded in New Orleans shooting

FOUR people have been shot on a crowded street in New Orleans as revellers partied amid the countdown to Mardi Gras, sending people running.

Two males and two females were wounded on Bourbon Street just before 9.30pm local time, New Orleans police spokesman Frank Robertson told The Associated Press.

He said one male was in a critical condition and was undergoing surgery, while the other three were in stable conditions. He did not release their ages.

Robertson says detectives are trying to identify a suspect and determine a motive for Saturday night's attack.

"They're just piecing together what happened," he added.

The streets were crawling with bar-hopping patrons taking in the last weekend before Fat Tuesday, the enormous party that sweeps New Orleans each year with parades, gaudy floats and costumed merrymakers.

The iconic French Quarter street is home to strip clubs, watering holes and second-floor balconies lined by people who throw beads to revellers below each Mardi Gras season. The street often gets so jam-packed that officers have to control the crowds on horseback.

Patrick Clay, 21, an LSU student, told The Times-Picayune he was standing on the corner of Bourbon Street when suddenly he saw a crowd running and people screaming that there was a shooting.

"Everyone immediately started running and the cops immediately started running towards where people were running from," Clay said.

"I was with a group of about seven people and at that point we all just kind of grasped hands and made our way through the crowd as soon as possible."

Parades rolled all day on Saturday but none on Bourbon Street because the streets are too narrow. One of the biggest Mardi Gras parades, the Krewe of Endymion, rolled down Canal Street and just skirted Bourbon Street a few hours before the shooting. Typically, once the parades end, partygoers head to the French Quarter.

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Aussie kids online about two hours a day

HOW long do your children spend in front of a computer every day?

According to research from Telstra, Aussie kids aged between 10 and 17 are online for an average two hours a day - among the highest internet usage rates in the world.

Telstra's general manager of digital inclusion, Jill Riseley, says with so many children now online it is important for parents to teach them how to be good "digital citizens".

Ms Riseley says the latest research shows the major concerns for parents of children using the internet are protecting personal information, exposure to inappropriate content and cyber-bullying.

"We found that three quarters of parents have rules for their children's internet use with access to certain websites, use of certain apps or games and limits on the amount of online time spent each day all being regulated in some way," Ms Riseley said.

"While these rules will help protect children from inappropriate content and create a balance between participating online and being active during the day, these days online safety is more than just using security software and passwords, it involves the actual ethics of being online and respect for others."

Ms Riseley says the best way for parents to teach their children respect for others and protect them against cyber-bullying is to find out what they do on social media sites and be involved in their online world.

It is also important to remind children that saying things online is the same as saying things in real life.

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