ACTOR Jeremy Renner is a dad.
The Hurt Locker star and girlfriend Sonni Pacheco confirmed on Friday that they are the parents of Ava Berlin Renner.
A statement released by Renner's spokeswoman Susan Patricola says the new parents "are beyond thrilled".
Renner played a military explosives expert in the 2008 Oscar-winning film.
Renner has also starred in The Bourne Legacy and The Avengers.
A US Zumba instructor who has pleaded guilty to using her studio as a front for prostitution. Source: AAP
A DANCE instructor accused of using her Zumba fitness studio as a front for prostitution has pleaded guilty to 20 counts in a scandal that captivated a quiet US seaside town.
The agreement that followed a second day of plea negotiations on Friday spares Alexis Wright from the prospect of a high-profile trial featuring sex videos, exhibitionism and pornography.
Prosecutors will recommend a jail sentence of 10 months when she's sentenced on May 31.
Wright quietly answered "guilty" 20 times when the judge read the counts, which include engaging in prostitution, promotion of prostitution, conspiracy, tax evasion and theft by deception.
"We're very satisfied with it. It's an appropriate outcome, given the gravity of her actions," Assistant Attorney General Darcy Mitchell said after the brief court hearing.
The 30-year-old Wright was accused of conspiring with insurance agent Mark Strong Sr to run a prostitution business in which she kept detailed records indicating she made $US150,000 ($A144,314) over an 18-month period.
She was also accused of using a hidden camera to record sex acts without her clients' knowledge.
She was originally charged with 106 counts. All the counts in the agreement were misdemeanours, including three counts relating to welfare and tax fraud that were reduced from felonies.
Strong, 57, of Thomaston, was convicted this month of 13 counts related to promotion of prostitution and sentenced to 20 days in jail. He was originally charged with 59 counts.
The scandal became a sensation following reports that Wright had at least 150 clients, leading to a guessing game of who might be named publicly in the coastal town of Kennebunk, a community better known for its beaches and sea captains' homes than for crime.
Those who have been charged so far include a former mayor, a high school hockey coach, a minister, a lawyer and a firefighter.
A MAN who allegedly hacked and injured 23 school children in central China will be tried on charges of intentional homicide and jeopardising public safety.
The municipal prosecutor's office for the city of Xinyang in Henan province said in a statement that it has charged Min Yongjun, who allegedly broke into an elderly woman's house one morning in December last year and stabbed her with a kitchen knife before he went to a nearby elementary school in Chenpeng village in Guangshan county and injured the 23 children as they arrived for class.
The prosecutor's office says the woman and seven students were severely injured.
There has been a string of such stabbing attacks on schoolchildren in China in recent years, alarming parents and schools which increased safety measures.
JAPANESE shares ended higher at the end of quiet regional trade on Friday but the euro edged lower on lingering concerns over Cyprus despite the island's bank's reopening to relative calm.
Lenders in the Mediterranean nation began trading Thursday for the first time since a controversial bailout was agreed, with the first capital controls of their kind in the eurozone blocking a bank run that analysts feared could ripple across region.
Investors were also eyeing tensions on the Korean peninsula, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered preparations for strategic strikes on the US mainland and military bases after US stealth bombers flew training runs over South Korea.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended 0.50 per cent higher, adding 61.95 points to 12,397.91. The market finished the first three months of 2012 almost 20 per cent higher.
In other markets Seoul gained 0.57 per cent, or 11.37 points, to end at 2,004.89, while Taipei finished up 0.66 per cent, or 51.73 points, at 7,918.61.
In late afternoon trade Shanghai was 0.10 per cent higher.
Markets in Hong Kong, Sydney, Wellington, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila and Mumbai were closed for the Easter holidays.
In forex trade, the euro edged up to $1.2804 from $1.2814 in New York late Thursday, while it bought 120.43 yen from 120.64 yen.
The single currency has been on a downward roll as traders fret about the situation in Cyprus, which this week agreed a rescue plan with its creditors that includes a levy on bank deposits over 100,000 euros.
There had been fears ahead of the reopening of the country's banks that savers would rush to take out as much money as they could - and lead to a knock-on effect in other troubled economies.
However, while the euro avoided a big sell-off analysts said the Cyprus crisis was still not over, while Italian politicians struggle to produce a governing coalition more than a month after elections despite the economy being in dire straits.
The dollar weakened to 94.06 yen, from 94.12 yen, ahead of a Bank of Japan meeting next week that is expected to see the launch of more aggressive easing by the central bank.
Traders will also have an eye on meetings of the European Central Bank and Bank of England.
Wall Street provided a healthy lead, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high thanks to growing confidence in the US economy, while the Dow, hit yet another all-time high itself.
A WOMAN has suffered burns in a gas cylinder explosion at Berowra Waters in Sydney's north.
The woman, believed to be aged in her 20s, was standing near a barbecue when the cylinder exploded at about 1pm (AEDT) on Friday.
Police said the woman was airlifted to hospital.
She reportedly suffered burns to her chest, face, arms and legs.
Earlier on Friday the NSW Department of Fair Trading urged consumers of gas and electrical products to make sure their appliances were in proper working condition.
"All gas barbecues and small camping gas appliances must be approved to be legally sold, so make sure your product has an approval mark," NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe said in a statement.
"Check hoses on barbecues, they can crack and perish," he said.
A DECADE since an elderly woman's remains were found in her Melbourne home two years after she died, Australians are being urged to celebrate Neighbour Day in tribute to her.
The special annual celebration of community was launched in 2003 just after 75-year-old Elsie Brown's body was found by police two years after she died.
Mail, store catalogues and newspapers had piled up at her front door but neighbours didn't connect that with anything being amiss.
Australians are being urged to get together with their neighbours on Sunday as the country celebrates Neighbour Day to promote safer and more tolerant communities.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard sent a message of support, saying Neighbour Day was an opportunity to remember the importance and value of of strong communities.
"We all have an obligation to keep an eye out for those around us, particularly those who are most vulnerable," she said in a statement.
Ms Gillard said small gestures such as having a chat with neighbours or organising a community get-together could go a long way to creating safer and more inclusive neighbourhoods.
"I encourage all Australians to take part in Neighbour Day."
One of the aims of the special day is to ensure protection of the elderly, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged in communities.
Neighbour Day founder Andrew Heslop, whose letter to the editor of The Age newspaper about Mrs Brown's case kicked of the idea, said on Friday the success of the day was a living tribute to her.
He said street parties, barbecues, lunches, festivals and other events run by councils, resident groups, tenancy associations, developers and churches would bring residents together.
"It could be as simple as boiling the kettle and having a cup of tea, a slice of cake or a Tim Tam," he said in a statement.
SCIENTISTS say they have proved Chinese medicine and conventional drugs work well together in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
After a controlled 48-week clinical trial of 800 adults with type 2 diabetes, researchers from Queensland and Beijing are confident the conventional drug glibenclamide is significantly more effective when used with a preparation called Xiaoke Pill.
Xiaoke Pill is a compound of Chinese herbs and glibenclamide.
The research shows patients treated with Xiaoke Pill and glibenclamide are more than a third less likely to experience hypoglycaemia - dangerously low levels of blood sugar - than those treated with only glibenclamide.
They are also less likely to experience other symptoms of diabetes, including fatigue, hunger and palpitation.
"Traditional Chinese medicine has long been used to treat diabetes in China and around the world but until now there has been a lack of evidence regarding its safety and efficacy," says Dr Sanjoy Paul, of the University of Queensland's School of Population Health.
"This absence of scientific understanding has caused scepticism and criticism."
Dr Paul says more studies are needed to interpret just how traditional Chinese medicine works to reduce hypoglycaemia, but the study results highlight its potential to reduce the treatment gap in developing countries where diabetes is at epidemic proportions.
"A vast majority of people in developing countries depend on herbal medicine for basic health care," Dr Paul says.
The study is published in the journal Plos One.
SOCIAL media detectives are being called on to track down thieves who stole a wooden parrot from a tiki bar in Perth.
The outraged owners of the Hula Bula Bar in Victoria Avenue have used their Facebook page to post images of the group, and video of the alleged theft.
CCTV shows four men and a woman laughing as the parrot is ripped away from a bamboo beam.
Pete Long from the Hula Bula Bar said permanent damage was done to the bar, and he wanted help in catching the offenders.
"This group spent half an hour watching out for staff so they could violently pry a wooden parrot statue off a bamboo beam in our back room. They caused permanent damage to our custom built bar and stole an irreplaceable decorative parrot.
"If you are one of these people, please return my parrot and pay for repairs, and you might get served in a Perth bar again ... maybe."
HOWLS of protest have followed a decision to let lead carbonate shipments resume through Fremantle port.
Canadian company Rosslyn Hill Mining was on Wednesday given permission to ship lead from its Wiluna mine in Western Australia's Mid West region to the port south of Perth, subject to strict conditions.
The company, formerly known as Magellan Metals, breached transport rules in 2007, 2010 and 2011.
In the first instance, it was barred from shipping lead through the southern WA port of Esperance after extensive lead contamination was discovered in the town.
The alarm was raised after thousands of dead birds were discovered.
In 2011, the company stopped mining at Wiluna altogether after traces of airborne lead were found in containers carrying sealed bags of lead carbonate sent by rail to Fremantle.
On Thursday, WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the state government had made a mistake in giving the company another chance.
"The state government must not allow this trade to resume," he said.
The new set of strict conditions includes transporting the lead carbonate in sealed, double laminated, waterproof and sieve-proof bags, inside sealed containers.
Senator Ludlam said the conditions did not go far enough and suggested exporting lead in ingot form as it greatly reduced the danger of contamination.
"The company has shown itself not competent to export this material in carbonate form, and state regulators are too understaffed to keep the company honest," she said.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt agreed ingots would be the safest form in which to transport the toxic heavy metal, saying the council would keep a keen eye on the company.
MAJOR fires are threatening homes in Victoria's east and west.
The CFA says a fast-moving grassfire at Dereel, west of Melbourne, may have already destroyed a home or a shed and damaged 12 buildings.
Three firefighters battling the blaze were taken to hospital on Wednesday afternoon suffering smoke inhalation and burns.
An ambulance spokesman told AAP the men were in a stable condition at Ballarat Base Hospital.
The CFA issued two emergency warnings because of the fire, which has burned more than 1230 hectares.
A spokeswoman told AAP a wind change on Wednesday night could send the blaze towards the community of Mount Mercer, and an emergency warning was in place for Dereel.
CFA chief officer Euan Ferguson said the fire could destroy homes.
"The risk that more dwellings may be affected and perhaps even destroyed by fire around Dereel is very real," he told ABC television.
A relief centre was opened at the Linton Recreation Reserve.
An emergency warning was also issued for a separate bushfire at Hallston, east of Melbourne.
The CFA said the fast-moving, out-of-control fire would threaten the communities of Hallston, Dickies Hill Junction, Allambee South, Berrys Creek before 8pm (AEDT).
The fire was burning across 312 hectares and creating spot fires a kilometre ahead of the front, the CFA said.
Earlier on Wednesday, crews at Officer battled a fire that was looming near a major electricity connection between Melbourne and power generators in the Latrobe Valley.
Australian Energy Market Operator spokesman said Joe Adamo said the fire did not pose a threat to Melbourne's electricity supply.
