US woman gets 'custody' of her embryos

A US judge has awarded custody of frozen embryos to a 42-year-old Chicago woman. Source: AAP

A US judge has awarded custody of frozen embryos to a 42-year-old Chicago woman over the objections of her ex-boyfriend who said it violates his right to not procreate.

In 2009, Karla Dunston, began dating Jacob Szafranski, a 32-year-old firefighter. A few months into their relationship Dunston was diagnosed with lymphoma and had to undergo chemotherapy that would ultimately destroy her fertility.

She testified that she longed to have a biological child and asked Szafranski to provide his sperm so that embryos could be frozen prior to her treatment, and he did so, despite neither of them thinking the relationship had long-term prospects.

The couple broke up in May 2010. Szafranski said he changed his mind about being a father after friends and a girlfriend reacted negatively, according to court documents.

Judge Sophia Hall said Friday in a written ruling that oral agreements between Szafranski and Dunston concerning use of the embryos stand and added that Dunston's desire to have a child outweighs Szafranski's desire to not procreate.

"Karla's desire to have a biological child in the face of the impossibility of having one without using the embryos outweighs Jacob's privacy concerns, which are now moot," the judge said in the ruling, "and his speculative concern that he might not find love with a woman because he unhesitatingly agreed to help give Karla her last opportunity to fulfil her wish to have a biological child."

Dunston's lawyer, Abram Moore, applauded the ruling.

"Using these pre-embyros is important to our client, but it is equally important to her to set a precedent in Illinois which helps other women cancer survivors who find themselves in this heart-wrenching situation," he said in an email.

Szafranski's lawyer, Brian Schroeder, said they plan to appeal the decision.

"We're obviously very unhappy," he said.

Schroeder said lawyers for both parties have agreed that the embryos should not be implanted in Dunston until the appeal is completed.

Through a lawyer, Dunston previously has said she was not seeking any support, financial or otherwise, from Szafranski.

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Blazes lit in Melbourne's botanic gardens

A 100-YEAR-OLD pavilion was damaged and two others destroyed by an arsonist in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.

Firefighters were called to a large blaze in the gardens just before 6am on Saturday and arrived to find two more fires burning.

Police said the arsonist was potentially in the gardens at the same time that firefighters arrived.

"It's too early to say, but it appears that they are all linked because obviously they were all in very close time frames," detective senior constable Megan MacInnes told reporters.

Professor Tim Entwisle, chief executive of the Botanic Gardens, said two buildings were destroyed and another significantly burned.

"Some plants were damaged doing this as well, which for us in the botanic gardens is just as distressing," Prof Entwisle said.

He said the Lakeview rest house is 100 years old and had been damaged, while the William Tell rest house had been burned down.

A toilet block was also burned down.

Prof Entwisle said security patrols spotted the fire, and said it was tough to keep people from getting in at night.

"It's very hard - without putting razor wire around the Botanic Garden - to absolutely keep people out," he said.

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Police hunt two sex predators in Melbourne

A man has tried to sexually assault a woman in the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. Source: AAP

THE hunt is on for two sex predators who attacked three women in the same Melbourne suburb where Jill Meagher died.

Police say an assault on Friday night in Brunswick is not linked to two similar attacks a week earlier.

A 21-year-old woman was walking through a park at 8pm on Hope St in Brunswick West on Friday when grabbed from behind.

The assault continued until she called out to a passing cyclist and the attacker stopped and ran.

Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Michael Phyland said on Saturday police would like to speak to the cyclist and anyone else who might have seen the incident.

It came after another man grabbed two woman from behind and dragged them down side streets in Brunswick in the early hours of May 10.

Both were able to fight him off and escape.

Jill Meagher was raped and murdered after being snatched from a Brunswick street in 2012.

Sgt Phyland said men and women should be careful when walking at night in the suburb.

"Where you can, take well lit areas, be aware of your surroundings, take the safest path that you can," he told reporters.

Sgt Phyland said descriptions of the two men were different and the attacks were not linked.

The Friday night offender is described as Caucasian, with a medium to solid build, aged in his 30s, with dark hair, blood-shot eyes and a beard.

Police have released CCTV footage of the other man wanted for the May 10 attacks.

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Newman rallies states on income tax reform

Campbell Newman wants the federal government to return part of the income tax paid by Australians. Source: AAP

THE Abbott government will "hang" the states and territories unless they demand a slice of income tax to cope with budget cuts, the Queensland premier says.

Campbell Newman says the federal government must return a chunk of the income tax paid by Australians to state and territory governments so they can properly fund schools and hospitals.

He says states and territories are more than happy to assume full responsibility for those services, but must be given the means to fund them.

He'll make the case for his tax plan on Sunday, when premiers and first ministers will meet in Sydney over the federal budget's $80 billion cut to health and education funding.

Mr Newman said he floated the plan with Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday, but Mr Abbott was "non-committal". But the Queensland premier says he has early support from some of his counterparts, although he won't say who.

"If the states and territories don't hang together on Sunday they will be hung separately by this federal government," he told reporters on Friday.

"The prime minister has said that we should go on and run schools and hospitals. We're very happy to do that - I certainly am - but we need the revenue coming directly."

The premier stressed he wasn't arguing for an increase in taxes but rather for a certain percentage of taxpayers' money - for example 10 to 20 cents in the dollar - to go directly to the states without federal interference.

"Queensland mums and dads pay their fair share of tax. They deserve a fair share of that funding coming back directly to Queensland so we can run hospitals and schools," Mr Newman said.

He again ruled out endorsing an increase to the GST, saying he wasn't playing the federal government's "game".

"If the prime minister and treasurer expect this state to go and ask for an increase in the GST he's mistaken. We're not going to do that," he said.

Mr Newman said his tax plan would end fighting between federal and state governments and Australians wanted that.

"They want politicians to work this out, to sort out the federation, to make the country work better and I assure people that's what I'm about."

Mr Abbott said he was happy the premiers were thinking about proposals they could put to the federal government, particularly on tax reform and improving the federation.

"What I'm on about is lower, simpler, fairer taxes and I'm on about a federation that works better," he said.

"I'm not interested in picking fights - I'm interested in finding pathways forward."

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Truck driver guilty of fatal NSW crash

A DRUG-AFFECTED and sleep-deprived truck driver who crashed his vehicle head-on with a car, killing three people, has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Vincent Samuel George's B-double veered across the Hume Highway, near Menangle in Sydney's southwest, and collided with a sedan, killing Calvyn Logan, 59, and his 81-year-old parents Donald and Patricia Logan, in January 2012.

Blood samples taken afterwards revealed George, 34, was on methadone. Expert evidence also showed he had little rest leading up to the crash.

Parramatta District Court Judge Stephen Hanley on Friday found George guilty of three counts of manslaughter.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Gary Logan, whose parents and brother died in the crash, praised the court's "just decision".

"It was emotional (today) but it's time to move on," he told reporters outside.

"We've had two and a half years of trauma."

The Logans were on their way to Gary's home for lunch when the crash happened.

Gary sent multiple text messages to his family throughout the day asking where they were.

Later that afternoon, the grim realisation of what had happened struck him when he saw a picture of their car crushed under a truck on a news website.

"I knew it was them," he said.

The court heard George was driving about 100km/h when the B-double veered onto the median strip, before colliding head-on with the Logans on the wrong side of the road.

George claimed he lost control trying to avoid hitting another car.

But Judge Hanley didn't accept the explanation, saying there was no evidence of his brakes being applied and that his truck had instead "gradually" veered off the road.

The combination of fatigue and the effects of the methadone George was on, which he obtained illegally, led to his loss of concentration.

Judge Hanley added that George had previously rolled his truck while under the influence of methadone.

George will be sentenced on August 1.

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Food maker accepts $1.37b in takeover bid

ONE of Australia's largest food companies Goodman Fielder has accepted a sweetened $1.37 billion dollar takeover offer from two Asian firms.

Sydney-based Goodman Fielder, which makes and sells bread, biscuits, sauces, spreads and oils, had been given a deadline of 2000 AEST on Friday to support the bid and open its books to due diligence.

The company's board met on Friday to consider the new bid from Singapore-listed Wilmar, the world's biggest palm oil processor, and Hong Kong investment firm First Pacific.

Goodman Fielder released an after-market statement saying that in the absence of a superior proposal, the board will unanimously recommend that Goodman shareholders vote in favour of the revised offer.

Goodman Fielder's major shareholders Perpetual and Ellerston Capital had increased pressure on the board, agreeing to sell nearly half of their stakes to the Singapore-Hong Kong consortium subject to the bid being approved.

That would give Wilmar and First Pacific a 19.9 per cent stake.

The company, which owns iconic brands such as Helga's, MeadowLea, Vogel's and Olive Grove, rejected an initial $1.27 billion takeover offer as too low.

The offer has now been raised from 65 cents a share to 70 cents plus a one cent dividend.

That is a 33 per cent premium to the 52.5 cents it traded at before the first offer on April 23.

The companies said they would go no higher.

Morningstar analyst Peter Rae said he thought it was a good offer that was above his fair value estimate of 50 cents a share.

"I tend to think if the shareholders are behind it they have to support it," he told AAP.

Shares in the company plunged more than 18 per cent in a day on April 2, following a profit downgrade and flagging of writedowns and job cuts and it posted a half year net loss of $65 million in February.

The attraction for the suitors is to expose the company to high growth Asian markets.

Shares in Goodman Fielder fell 1.1 per cent to 66.5 cents on Friday.

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RBA confirms relaxed view on house prices

YOU might disagree with the RBA about the state of the housing market, but you sure can't accuse them of ignoring it.

And the central bank is sticking with its view that we aren't in the midst of an inflating housing market bubble.

The RBA's head of financial stability, Luci Ellis, repeated that view in a speech in Sydney on Thursday.

She acknowledged what many commentators have pointed out, that in the 15 years or so to around 2005 growth in housing prices outpaced the rise in incomes.

"This was in large part a transition to a new equilibrium of lower inflation and interest rates, and thus higher debt and housing prices relative to incomes," she said.

The implied explanation for that is that most financial assets, like government bonds, become more valuable in a low-inflation environment.

That's because the income streams they are expected to produce are worth more today with low inflation.

Inflation, and the risk of even more inflation, erodes the value of future income.

So the present value of income-producing assets tends to increase as an economy moves from a high inflation environment to a period of low inflation.

And, although we most often think of them as somewhere to live, houses and apartments are also income-producing assets.

If anything, the housing market's transition to a higher price level was somewhat belated compared with rallies in bonds and shares.

But, backed by charts showing both debt and housing prices stabilising as a percentage of household income for most of the past decade, Dr Ellis said the transition is now over.

And that means it won't be a one-way street for investors in housing, with housing prices fluctuating around a flatter trend, meaning there will be more times when prices are falling than there used to be, she said.

That's created a different set of problems for the RBA.

For individuals, it means there will be less chance that a rising housing market will make up for mistakes they might make by paying too much for a property.

But for the central bank, the risks are magnified.

There would be little room for another bout of the kind of "property exuberance" seen in 2002 and 2003.

"Australia managed to have its housing boom end without a major disaster," she said.

"Plenty of other countries weren't so lucky."

An overstretched household sector would be a problem if something were to go wrong elsewhere in the economy she said.

So the RBA is focusing on making sure home buyers don't become overstretched by too much debt.

It's a risk for the RBA to monitor.

But it's a different risk than having to manage exponentially rising housing prices.

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Govt cuts big on social studies fees

SOCIAL studies students will be the biggest losers once the government cuts its contribution to course costs.

Details of the new Commonwealth contributions, to apply from 2016, show government funding for social studies will drop by more than one-third.

Engineering, science, surveying and visual and performing arts courses face cuts of about one-quarter of present amounts.

But for maths courses, the government will pay about a quarter more than it does now.

It will also pay more of the costs for humanities, clinical psychology, foreign languages and allied health.

Tuesday's budget revealed the government contributions would drop by an average of 20 per cent across the board.

It's likely students will have to make up the difference.

The categories of Commonwealth funding have been streamlined from eight clusters of disciplines to five.

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Engaged dads improve children's wellbeing

SYDNEY, May 15 AAP - Children who have positive relationships with their dads interact better with peers, have better developed social skills and cope with distress, research shows.

KidsMatter, a mental health and wellbeing initiative in early childhood education and care, is running a National Week to acknowledge the role of dads.

Research says the positive relationships with dads improve wellbeing and life satisfaction for children.

"Dads play a role in boys in terms of learning how to be a man. For girls, the father is a model of what dads should be in the community," KidsMatter psychologist Lyn O'Grady said.

But factors such as time and distance affect father-child relationships.

"Quality time spent with dads and other family members is really important for a child's development," Dr O'Grady said.

She said when fathers are not able to see their children on a regular basis, they should still keep in contact.

"Using technology such as mobile phones and Skype to make contact and let children know that they are thinking about them is very important," she said.

Dr O'Grady said spending time with male family members and friends such as uncles and grandfathers also benefit children.

"Sometimes they can't see a dad. It could be a dad or grandfather who can really play a male supportive role," she said.

"We know parenting is a challenging thing and we try to help people to find a way which works for them," she said.

KidsMatter was created in 2006 to make a positive difference in the lives of Australian children.

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Child labour on US tobacco at risk: report

Human Rights Watch says children as young as seven are working long hours in US tobacco fields. Source: AAP

YOU may have to be at least 18 to buy cigarettes in the US, but children as young as seven are working long hours in fields harvesting tobacco leaves under sometimes hazardous and sweltering conditions, according to an international rights group.

A Human Rights Watch report released on Wednesday details findings from interviews with more than 140 children working on farms in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, where a majority of the country's tobacco is grown.

The group acknowledges that most of what it documented is legal under US law, but aims to highlight the practice and urge both governments and tobacco companies to take further steps to protect children from the hazardous harvesting of the cash crop, which is nicotine- and pesticide-laced, that has built businesses, funded cities and influenced cultures.

"The US has failed America's families by not meaningfully protecting child farm workers from dangers to their health and safety, including on tobacco farms," said Margaret Wurth, children's rights researcher and co-author of the report.

"Farming is hard work anyway, but children working on tobacco farms get so sick that they throw up, get covered by pesticides and have no real protective gear."

Children interviewed by the group in 2012 and 2013 reported vomiting, nausea and headaches while working on tobacco farms. The symptoms they reported are consistent with nicotine poisoning often called Green Tobacco Sickness, which occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while handling tobacco plants.

The children also said they worked long hours - often in extreme heat - without overtime pay or sufficient breaks and wore no, or inadequate, protective gear.

According to the report, US agriculture labour laws allow children to work longer hours at younger ages and in more hazardous conditions than children in any other industry.

With their parent's permission, children as young as 12 can be hired for unlimited hours outside of school hours on a farm of any size. And there's no minimum age for children to work on small farms.

In 2011, the Labor Department proposed changes that would have prohibited children under 16 from working on tobacco farms, but they were withdrawn in 2012.

Human Rights Watch met with many of the world's biggest cigarette makers and tobacco suppliers to discuss its findings and encourage them to adopt or strengthen policies to prevent the practices in their supply chains.

The companies are concerned about child labour in their supply chains and have developed standards, including requiring growers to provide a safe work environment and adhere to child labour laws, the group said.

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Ten angered Stokes by poaching executive

NETWORK Ten chief executive Hamish McLennan infuriated billionaire Kerry Stokes by poaching one of his top Seven Network executives, who was recovering from a major operation at the time.

Highly respected programmer John Stephens, 67, signed a contract with Ten on March 6 as he recovered from hip surgery and was suffering drowsiness and low blood pressure.

Mr Stephens backflipped days later, sparking a bitter courtroom stoush in which Ten accused Seven of inducing Mr Stephens to breach his contract.

Ten is seeking an injunction preventing him working at Seven for two years - the length of a contract he signed with Ten to become its director of scheduling and acquisitions.

The case began on Wednesday, with Mr McLennan admitting Ten had endured its lowest ratings ever in recent years and Mr Stephens was wanted to revamp its programming.

"It's a cyclical business and Channel Ten has had a few hard years," he told the NSW Supreme Court.

Mr McLennan told the court he knew Mr Stephens was recovering from his operation while "secret" negotiations took place, but denied knowing he was taking painkillers.

The court heard details from a series of emails between Mr Stephens, senior executives at both networks and Seven chairman Kerry Stokes that outlined parts of the saga.

The emails, read in court by Ten's legal team, included one from Mr Stokes in which he told Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam on March 7 he was not happy with Mr Stephens for leaving.

"Great letter Bruce, also let him know I'm pissed with him," Mr Stokes wrote in the email.

Ten's lawyers allege Seven adopted a "two pronged", carrot-and-stick approach to get Mr Stephens to change his mind.

Seven executives visited Mr Stephens at home to give him a "gee-up chat" and offered him a new role, the court heard.

A short time later, he emailed Mr McLennan and told him he would not honour his contract with Ten.

Mr Stephens then emailed Seven Network executives to tell them he would continue working with them.

He added: "Resignation withdrawn ... tin hat about to go on head."

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Xie emotional as Lin friend speaks

A FORMER employee of murdered Sydney newsagent Min Lin said that after his death there had been family tension over who would run the business.

Min Lin, 45 and his wife Lily, 44, her sister Irene, 39, and their two sons Henry, 12 and Terry, nine, were killed in their North Epping home in Sydney's northwest in July 2009.

The Crown alleges the boys' uncle Lian Bin "Robert" Xie carried out the killings in the early hours of July 18, 2009.

Xie has pleaded not guilty.

Speaking at his Supreme Court trial on Wednesday, Jimmy Hua a former employee of Mr Lin said the 45-year-old was "a good man, very nice".

Mr Hua told the Supreme Court through an interpreter that after the newsagent's death there had been questions raised over the right of Xie's wife Kathy to run the business.

"Kathy's parents did not think that Kathy is one of the Lin family. But Robert said Kathy is one of the Lin family so she can run the business," Mr Hua said.

He said Kathy ran the newsagency from August 2009 until the second half of 2011 and that he worked for her during that period.

His evidence came after neighbours told the court they heard unusual shouting around 10.30pm on July 17, 2009.

Pamela Burgess said she and her partner Nigel Kelty were used to hearing yelling from their immediate neighbours who were "arguing quite a lot" at that time.

But that night she said "it wasn't the same as we were used to hearing, and that is why it was unusual. I don't actually know which direction it came from but it definitely wasn't next door".

"I don't know whether they were speaking English, I couldn't tell," she added later.

Earlier on Wednesday, Xie - who maintains his innocence - became emotional as a friend of Henry Lin described how the 12-year-old talked about his "uncle Robert" constantly on the internet chat program MSN.

"He talked about his uncle Robert a lot and talked in terms of respecting Robert's badminton ability ... and wanted to practise with uncle Robert as much as he would allow him?" Xie's barrister Graham Turnbull SC asked her.

"Yes," she replied.

The trial continues.

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Henry Lin spoke online before death: court

A court has heard how the case against accused murderer "Robert" Xie has been driven by a criminal. Source: AAP

IN the hours before schoolboy Henry Lin was brutally murdered in his Sydney home, he was chatting online to a friend about badminton, a court has heard.

The 12-year-old - along with nine-year-old brother Terry, parents Min Lin, 45 and Lily, 44, and aunt Irene, 39 - were killed in their Epping home in Sydney's northwest in July 2009.

The crown says Henry's uncle Lian Bin "Robert" Xie carried out the killings in the early hours of July 18, 2009.

The family's time of death, however, remains in dispute.

On Tuesday, Xie's trial heard from a former schoolgirl who regularly chatted with Henry online about his obsession with badminton and his dreams to one day represent Australia in the sport.

She said that on July 17, just before 6pm, Henry told her he was going to his grandparents' home for the regular family Friday night dinner.

By 6.03pm, his online status noted he was "away".

Then at 10.23pm, the girl said she again chatted with Henry, this time about a badminton game on YouTube before telling him she was going to bed about 11.26pm.

"You said, 'Good night', and he said, 'Bye ... good night'?" crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC asked.

"Yes," the girl replied.

The crown has previously told the court Henry and his brother Terry put up a "furious" struggle when they were beaten with a "hammer-like object" and asphyxiated in the bedroom they shared.

Henry is thought to have survived for up to 30 minutes after the attack, while Terry lived for up to two hours.

While the crown says Xie was "motivated by bitterness" to carry out the killings, the defence say he is innocent and more than one person committed the murders.

Xie's barrister, Graham Turnbull SC, on Tuesday finished his opening address to the Supreme Court jury, in which he attacked the credibility of a key aspect of the crown case - the evidence of prison informer "Witness A".

The crown says that after Xie was charged with the murders in 2010 and taken to Long Bay prison, he befriended the inmate and made a number of "concessions", including that he bought a hammer from a two-dollar store.

Mr Turnbull said Witness A was a practised informer and ruthless criminal who saw Xie as an opportunity to reduce his own jail time.

None of the conversations regarding buying a hammer, the sedation of his wife or his alleged motivation, was recorded.

"At the end of the day, the police case, it will be submitted ... was being run by Witness A. He fills in the gaps."

The trial continues.

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New pensioners squeezed in NT budget

MEANS-TESTING retirees will drive families out of the Northern Territory, the Labor opposition says.

The 2014/15 budget, unveiled on Tuesday, provides $27.9 million in funding for seniors, carers, pensioners and veterans, with concessions for utilities, rates, spectacles, car registration and travel, but new members will be means-tested.

The Country Liberal government is "going after retirees in the Territory", Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie said.

"They're failing to understand the importance of keeping the elderly here, which really anchors families to the Territory in already tough conditions," she said.

But the scheme had grown tenfold from $2 million a decade ago to $27.9 million today, Treasurer Dave Tollner said.

"It's very generous and supports everybody - some of the richest people in Darwin access these benefits," he said, and although they are entitled to do so, it is not what the scheme was designed to do.

"We're not in the business of taking things off people. We're trying simply to find efficiencies.

"It's not saving us anything. It's just preventing a future blow-out in costs."

The NT's sole independent, Gerry Wood, said the means testing was a backward step.

"There's a fair chance people will just pack up and go live with their relations down south," he told AAP.

"We're trying not to lose our senior people."

Taxation revenue is expected to increase by $83 million to reach $568.6 million in 2015, Ms Lawrie said, making the current administration "the highest-taxing government in the Territory's history".

"There's too much pain on Territorians right now. The cost of living is a huge issue," she said.

She pointed to high utility prices and the change to the first-home owner grant, which is no longer available for those buying an existing home, but offers $26,000 to those building a new property.

"That's where the bulk of homeowners enter into home ownership - through those old flats, through the old, run-down, fixer-upper houses," Ms Lawrie said.

"Housing is going to become more of a stress for Territorians as a result of this announcement."

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NSK Australia cops $3m price fixing fine

BEARINGS distributor NSK Australia has been hit with a $3 million fine for price fixing after three Japanese executives operated a cartel for more than 10 years.

Senior Japanese executives from NSK and two other bearings companies, Nachi Australia and Koyo Australia, formed the Southern Cross Association cartel which met at Japanese restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne to discuss confidential pricing plans between 2000 and 2011.

The Federal Court on Tuesday found that after restaurant meetings, NSK Australia hiked prices by four per cent in May, 2008 and by 10 per cent in February, 2009.

The Court ordered NSK Australia to pay penalties of $3 million for its involvement in cartel conduct in relation to the price of bearings in Australia.

It found understandings to fix prices were implemented through a long-standing practice between executives of the three companies.

Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which initiated the action, said although the case did not affect bearings used in the manufacture of vehicles, the conduct did affect the price of bearings used for repairs to vehicles.

"Cartels cheat consumers and other businesses," he said.

"The ACCC will continue to tackle cartel conduct with the full force of the law."

Bearings are used in mechanical objects involving movable connections in motor vehicles, mining conveyors, household electrical items and farm machinery.

The court ordered NSK to not engage in similar cartel conduct for three years and to comply with a training program.

The company also received a discount for co-operating with the ACCC during the investigation.

NSK Australia, whose global parent company is headquartered in Tokyo, has a 10 to 13 per cent share of the Australian bearings market which is worth up to $400 million.

In October last year the Federal Court handed down a penalty of $2 million against Koyo Australia for its involvement in the bearings cartel.

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New twist in Thailand's battle for power

THE battle for who holds Thailand's seat of power has taken on a new twist as the leader of anti-government protests planned to set up his office at the vacated Government House while the country's new caretaker leader worked from a makeshift, suburban outpost.

The development on Monday was the latest to highlight the government's lack of power as Thailand's political crisis grinds into its seventh month. One newspaper compared the political situation to a sinking ship called the "Thaitanic".

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who has led the movement for six months, has called for a "final push" to install an unelected new prime minister - a goal that critics call undemocratic but supporters say is a necessary step for implementing anti-corruption reforms before a new election can take place.

Suthep planned to end a months-long occupation of the city's main park on Monday and march his followers across Bangkok to the prime minister's office compound, called Government House, which has been vacant for months after violent clashes between protesters and police nearby.

Suthep says he will not occupy the actual prime minister's office inside the compound's stately Gothic-style main building, but will base himself in the adjacent Santi Maitree Building traditionally used for state visits. In more stable times, the building was used for meetings with dignitaries such as President Barack Obama and Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

There was no apparent resistance to Suthep's plan. The military that provides security at Government House said over the weekend he would be allowed in to avoid further clashes in a crisis that has left more than 20 dead and hundreds injured since November.

Protesters achieved one of their goals last week when the Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for nepotism in a case that many viewed as politically motivated.

Analysts, protesters and Thai media agree that the ruling did little to resolve the country's political turmoil.

"Every so often, the stewards of the nation rearrange the deck chairs, as 'Thaitanic' continues to plough relentlessly further into uncharted territory, without a captain," The Bangkok Post newspaper said in a Sunday editorial. "The ship is still heading right for that iceberg."

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Housing prices continue to stall

HOUSING prices fell in all but one of the mainland state capitals last week.

The exception was Adelaide, where prices compiled by RP Data from auction results showed no change.

Elsewhere, price falls ranged from 0.3 per cent in Sydney to 0.7 per cent in Brisbane.

But all the cities showed annual rises well above the 2.9 per cent inflation rate for the consumer price index, with the national average rising by 11.1 per cent.

Sydney, where prices rose 17.1 per cent in the past year, and Melbourne, with annual price rises of 9.5 per cent, continued to dominate the figures.

Despite the steep - albeit very uneven - rises over the past year, there has been virtually no movement in the national market since late March.

That lack of price movement, aside from small ups and downs from week to week, is nothing new.

Much the same thing happened last year and the year before that, ahead of a small dip during the winter months.

It wasn't a big dip, just two or three per cent.

But in the current environment of heightened alertness for any sign of a slump in housing prices, it's bound to encourage talk along the lines that the end is, at long last, nigh.

Meanwhile fundamentals till appear supportive.

On Monday, the Real Estate Institute of NSW published its survey of residential property vacancies, and it showed no sign that the rental market is oversupplied.

Quite the opposite in fact, with vacancies rates in Sydney - the national market's hot spot - at a tight 1.7 per cent in April, the same as it was a year earlier.

And it's not just Sydney.

The tightest rental markets in NSW were Albury, with a vacancy rate of 1.6 per cent, and the Northern Rivers region, 1.5 per cent, both very low by any standard, but particularly outside the capital cities.

There are signs that the supply of new housing is responding to the extra demand from renters.

The value of residential building approvals in the first three months of this year was up by 25 per cent from the first three months of last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week.

So the value of new residential building work starting is about $850 million a month higher than it was this time last year - and that amount does not include the value of the land it's being built on.

Even so, it will take a long while for that to chip away at the deficit left by several years of under-building.

Against that background, and with the RBA signalling on Friday that it has no intention of raising interest rates in the near future, it seems likely that the winter lull in prices will not persist into the spring.

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Get used to slower growth, Xi tells China

CHINA'S president has told the country to get used to slower growth, damping expectations of a new stimulus.

President Xi Jinping's weekend comments come amid weakening trade and manufacturing. Economic growth slowed in the latest quarter to 7.4 per cent after last year's full-year expansion of 7.7 per cent tied 2012 for the weakest performance since 1999.

"We must boost our confidence, adapt to the new normal condition based on the characteristics of China's economic growth in the current phase and stay cool-minded," Xi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The ruling Communist Party is trying to steer the economy to self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption instead of trade and investment.

Other leaders have ruled out more stimulus, but unexpectedly weak demand for Chinese exports has forced Beijing to backtrack and launch mini-stimulus efforts last year and in March. Official plans call for annual trade growth of 7.5 per cent, but so far this year total imports and exports are down by 0.5 per cent.

Analysts say the ruling party appears willing to accept economic growth below its 7.5 per cent target this year so long as the rate of creation of new jobs stays high enough to avoid political tensions.

Speaking during a visit to the central province of Henan, Xi said the government will focus on longer-term reforms aimed at stabilising growth.

China needs to prevent risks and "take timely countermeasures to reduce potential negative effects", Xi said. He said Beijing will focus on longer-term reforms aimed at stabilising growth.

"This is the clearest sign I have seen that a broad-base monetary stimulus to elevate that current slowdown will not eventuate," said Evan Lucas of IG Markets in a report.

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Qld police name pair in abduction case

POLICE have publicly named two people they want to question in relation to the abduction of a two-year-old girl from her father's house southwest of Brisbane.

Bella Rose Goulding was taken from a house at Willowbank, near Ipswich, on Saturday night and police say her abductors are known to the family.

Queensland police believe Lisa Maree Carroll, 21, and Michael Kenneth Winning, 42, may be able to assist their investigation but have not said how they are related to Bella.

Acting Inspector Alison Jewell said three men and a woman abducted the toddler from the home, where she was temporarily staying.

"We believe that Bella is in the company of people who are known to the family," Inspector Jewell told reporters outside Yamanto police station.

"However, we still hold concerns for her safety."

The 8pm abduction occurred on Sancroft Street, which is near a park and the Cunningham Highway.

The girl's father Steven declined to speak publicly on Sunday.

Witnesses saw the abductors in a white Holden Commodore and a silver Mitsubishi sedan.

Bella is described as Caucasian with blue eyes and blonde, curly hair. She was last seen wearing a Dora The Explorer t-shirt and grey leggings.

Insp Jewell said there weren't any specific child safety issues but declined to say if her mother was among the people who abducted the girl or with whom she lived permanently.

"We are consistently getting information from the public and we're following all those leads," she said.

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Hospitals to suffer under GP co-payment

HOSPITAL emergency wards would be inundated with extra patients under a GP co-payment system being considered by the Abbott government.

A survey, conducted just days ahead of the Tuesday's budget, has found that most Australians oppose paying any co-payment to visit a GP.

The survey of 1000 people, commissioned by the Consumers Health Forum, found 72 per cent thought a $6 co-payment would send more people to hospital emergency wards.

Sixty-nine per cent said a $6 co-payment would also discourage people from visiting their GP.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Adam Stankevicius said another survey of almost 600 consumers found co-payments would hit the chronically ill and those on low incomes the hardest.

"If people have to pay to see a doctor, a lot of things are going to change," he said in a statement.

"If they are paying $6, then many people who are used to seeing a GP at no cost are going to put off a visit. Any introduction of a co-payment will be a clear barrier to primary health care."

There has been speculation ahead of the budget that the coalition government will introduce a co-payment for GP visits of $7.50.

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Charges to be laid against dog owner

THE owner of a Staffordshire terrier will face charges after his dog attacked a father and son as they walked their muzzled greyhounds in a southwest Sydney park, police say.

Police have spoken to the 57-year-old Macquarie Fields resident and have taken his male terrier to Campbelltown pound.

"It's expected legal action will be taken against the ... man," police said.

The father and son were walking their greyhounds on leads near Simmos Beach in Macquarie Park early on Saturday when the terrier attacked.

The son, 39, tried to pull the dogs apart but injured his knee in the process.

NSW Police Inspector Tara Norton said metal from the greyhound's muzzle lodged in the man's knee.

He's expected to undergo surgery.

"He grabbed the attacking dog by its collar, however the dog was able to slip from the collar and run off," police said.

The father and son were very distressed, Inspector Tara Norton told ABC radio.

After the attack the father and son took their greyhounds to the vet.

One dog had to be put down and the other sustained minor injuries.

"Obviously no one likes to loose a pet and a much loved pet," she said.

"In addition to that we now have someone who is seeking treatment in hospital for a significant injury to his leg.

"So the whole situation has been terrible."

AAP tjm/arb/

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