Times Square preps for New Year's Eve bash

NEW York City's Times Square is getting ready for New Year's Eve.

The square will host millions on Tuesday night counting down the last few moments of 2013.

Starting on Saturday, six Citibikes from the city's bike share program were being installed in Times Square and connected to 12-volt deep cycle batteries.

New Yorkers and tourists will generate power by pedalling. That will help illuminate the famed ball that will descend New Year's Eve.

Each bike will generate an average of 75 watts an hour. It takes 50,000 watts to power the ball, which is lit by 30,000 LEDs.

Additionally, a giant paper shredder and a dumpster were installed in Times Square on Saturday to allow visitors to destroy bad memories of 2013.

The annual event is dubbed Good Riddance Day.

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Cyclone closer to WA's north coast

A CATEGORY two cyclone off Western Australia's Kimberley coast is expected to intensify as it heads towards the Pilbara.

Tropical Cyclone Christine was 280 kilometres off Broome at 2pm (WST) on Sunday and was moving towards the Pilbara coast about 10 kilometres an hour, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The bureau said the cyclone was "expected to intensify further as it moves towards the Pilbara coast".

It is forecasting the cyclone to bring heavy rainfall and gales of up to 100km/h south of Cape Leveque on Sunday.

Gales are expected to extend further west along the Pilbara coast to Whim Creek late on Sunday or Monday morning as the cyclone approaches.

On Monday, the cyclone is forecast to bring "very destructive" gales and heavy rainfall to Mardie and possibly as far west as Exmouth, with winds possibly reaching 165km/h.

Coastal communities between Pardoo and Mardie have been warned of the potential for a dangerous storm tide late on Monday or early on Tuesday.

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US driver survives plunge off cliff

A driver who survived a 90-metre plunge told rescuers he intentionally drove off the ocean cliff. Source: AAP

A DRIVER who plunged 90 metres off a Southern California ocean cliff was rescued after firefighters waded into the surf to free him from the car.

KNBC-TV says the 19-year-old man, who was in hospital in a critical condition, told paramedics that he intentionally drove off the cliff.

Authorities were called to the scene at about 2am local time on Friday.

They found the car being slammed by waves.

Firefighters, lifeguards and local police helped in the rescue. The driver was finally pulled free and flown to hospital.

The crash site is on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, about 32 kilometres south of downtown Los Angeles.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 and Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25)

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SA bushfire under control

A serious bushfire south of Adelaide has been contained the Country Fire Service says. Source: AAP

FIREFIGHTERS have protected a South Australian country town from an out-of-control bushfire, with two fire crew volunteers injured while quelling the blaze.

An emergency alert was issued at 3pm (AEDT) on Saturday about a serious bushfire burning towards the town of Mallala, north of Adelaide.

About 200 Country Fire Service (CFS) personnel battled the blaze at Lower Light with 35 appliances and the help of water bombers.

A CFS spokeswoman said firefighters contained the blaze after it had travelled seven kilometres in three hours.

"The fire was fast-moving and came close to a farming community and within three to four kilometres of the Mallala township," she said.

"But fortunately CFS firefighters managed to protect the township."

A male CFS firefighter was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening chest injuries.

A female CFS firefighter was treated at the fire for smoke inhalation.

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Great Ocean Road fire threat downgraded

THE fire threat at Peterborough near Victoria's Great Ocean Road has been downgraded but the road closure may still cause traffic delays.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) has issued an alert saying the grassfire in the Peterborough area is under control.

However, the Great Ocean Road is still closed.

Victoria Police are on hand to assist with re-directing traffic.

DEPI said there may be some delays for motorists.

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US polls finds 73pc unhappy with Congress

A CNN poll says 43% are unenthused about going to the polls for US mid-term legislative elections. Source: AAP

A US poll suggests 73 per cent of people feel Congress has done practically nothing good for the country since the November 2012 elections.

Congress has approved 58 laws since its new session began in January, the lowest total since 1947.

Divided between a House of Representatives dominated by the Republicans and a Senate with a Democratic majority, congress was unable last October to avoid a 16-day partial government shutdown due to the politicians' inability to reach a budget agreement.

Congress has also been unable to move forward on finalising an immigration reform package, another bill that has been stymied for months.

The disenchantment comes before the mid-term legislative elections in November 2014.

The CNN poll, which has an error margin of +/- 3 per cent, found that 43 per cent of respondents are currently unenthused about the possibility of going to the polls, compared with 25 per cent four years ago.

In the survey, which was conducted in mid-December, 49 per cent of respondents said they intended to vote for Republicans and 44 per cent said they intended to vote for Democrats.

Two months ago, 50 per cent of registered voters said that they intended to vote for Democratic candidates in the legislative elections, compared with 42 per cent who favoured the Republicans.

The six-percentage-point decline for the Democrats occurred during the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, President Abreact Obama's major domestic initiative.

Persistent problems with the website that is at the heart of the AC's insurance exchanges have held down the number of people who have been able to sign up for "Obamacare".

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Toddler saved after falling into pool

A QUICK-THINKING family member used CPR to save a toddler who fell into a pool on the NSW Central Coast.

The two-year-old girl was pulled unconscious from the backyard pool on Thursday afternoon, but she was breathing by the time paramedics arrived and she regained consciousness.

CareFlight director Ian Badham praised the quick action of the family member.

The girl was airlifted with her mother to The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

"Because she had been underwater for a while, she was taken to the hospital to be checked out and kept under observation," Mr Badham said.

She remains in a stable condition.

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Nine road deaths dampen festive season

NINE people have died on Australian roads this festive season, including two friends killed in a single-vehicle incident in NSW on Boxing Day.

A man, 31, was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene of the crash on the NSW Central Coast. A second man, 22, was trapped in the wreckage and died before he could be released.

The crash, which occurred just before 5am (AEDT), left three other men aged 29, 22 and 27 in hospital.

Police said they hoped to speak to the injured men, all from Sydney suburb Auburn.

In Canberra, a motorcyclist died after losing control of his bike late on the evening of Christmas Day.

The 22-year-old hit a traffic island in the inner-north suburb of Lyneham about 11pm on Wednesday.

He died in Canberra Hospital.

In Perth, a 17-year-old boy died after falling off the back of a utility on Christmas evening.

Police say the boy suffered severe head injuries when he fell from the tray of the Nissan ute.

A 24-year-old man in the Northern Territory was killed after losing control of his motorcycle on a dirt road near the Todd River in Alice Springs on Christmas Day.

Two Victorian women killed in a head-on collision two days before Christmas were the first fatalities for the 2013 Christmas period.

A 69-year-old Queensland man died on Christmas Eve when his car hit a tree near Bundaberg.

On Monday night police found a man dead in a sedan spilt in two following a high-speed crash into a tree north of Moree in NSW.

The deaths take the national toll to nine, compared with 16 recorded by Boxing Day in 2012.

The national road toll period runs from midnight on December 23, 2013, until midnight on January 3, 2014, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.

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Man badly burned preparing Christmas lunch

A NSW man was airlifted to a burns unit after being injured in an explosion while preparing lunch. Source: AAP

A NSW man is being airlifted to a specialist burns unit after being injured in an explosion while he prepared Christmas lunch.

The 62-year-old man in Shell Cove was found by police and rescue services with burns to his face, arms and legs.

Police were told the man was preparing the family's Christmas lunch when the explosion occurred.

They are investigating reports the gas bottle to the barbecue was connected incorrectly.

The man was airlifted to Concord Hospital for treatment.

Police hope to speak with the injured man once he is well enough to get a clearer idea of how the explosion happened.

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WA police concerned for missing woman

Police are concerned for a woman who disappeared from Albany, a day after arriving from Queensland. Source: AAP

POLICE are concerned for a 79-year-old woman who disappeared from Albany on Christmas Eve, a day after arriving from Queensland.

Joan Hanson went missing from Caledonia Crescent at Goode Beach at 5.30pm (WST) on Tuesday.

Police say they are concerned for the welfare of Ms Hanson, believed to be suffering dementia and unfamiliar with the area.

She is of small, slim build and has grey hair.

She was wearing glasses, light-coloured trousers, a yellow-brown shirt, a yellow zip-up sleeveless vest and white shoes when she went missing.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Operations Centre on 131 444.

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Man stabbed, woman left unconscious

A man has been found stabbed and a woman found unconscious, in Sydney suburb of Guildford. Source: AAP

A MAN has been found with stab wounds to his neck and a woman has been found unconscious in Sydney's west.

Police were called to a house on Woodville Road, Guildford, just after midday on Tuesday after reports of a man and woman fighting in the yard of the premises.

The man was found with stab wounds to his neck while a woman, aged in her mid-20s, was found unconscious.

The man's age is not known.

Both were treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance Paramedics and taken to Westmead Hospital.

Their condition is not yet known, police say.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, while a crime scene has been established on Woodville Road with two southbound lanes closed.

They will be examined by specialist forensic officers.

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Indon official in trouble over plane rage

AN Indonesian official has allegedly ordered his staff to prevent a plane from landing because an airline refused to free up a seat for him.

Marianus Sae, the head of Ngada district in East Nusa Tenggara province, is being sought for questioning in relation to the incident, police said Tuesday.

When Sae was told there were no seats left on the Saturday morning flight from the provincial capital Kupang to his district's Turelelo Soa airport, he phoned his security officials there and ordered them to put their cars on the runway, the Kompas.com news website reported.

Unable to land, the flight operated by state-run domestic operator Merpati Nusantara was forced to return to Kupang, local news reports said.

"We have questioned several people involved and are awaiting the permission of the governor to question the district chief," provincial police chief Ketut Yoga Ana said.

The alleged action "clearly violated the law" and was punishable by up to three years in prison, he said.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Sae had endangered the lives of the people on board.

Sae said he "begged them for a seat because I had an important meeting with district council but the flight was fully booked. I explained to them I was the district chief but they ignored me," he was quoted as saying by Kompas.com.

The airline said it had rebuked its employees for refusing to issue a ticket for the district chief.

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Batts inquiry must reveal truth: family

A royal commission into the Rudd government's home insulation scheme is set to begin in Brisbane. Source: AAP

KEVIN and Christine Fuller are about to spend their fifth Christmas without their son, Matthew, but take some comfort in knowing they're a step closer to finding out why he died installing home insulation.

A $25 million royal commission into the Rudd government's bungled "pink batts" scheme to establish "what really went wrong" opened on Monday.

Mr Fuller is hopeful the commission will uncover the truth about the program that's been blamed for the death of his 25-year-old son and fellow insulation installers Rueben Barnes, Mitchell Sweeney and Marcus Wilson.

"What we've always wanted is the truth, the whole truth to come out," Mr Fuller told reporters on Monday.

"(And for) changes to be made so no one else goes through what we've been through."

Commissioner Ian Hangar QC says he will examine whether the deaths of the four men between October 2009 and February 2010 were avoidable had there been a different approach to workplace health and safety risks.

The $2.8 billion program launched by Kevin Rudd in early 2009 to inject money into the economy has also been linked to at least one serious injury and hundreds of fires.

The royal commission will investigate whether the government sought or received advice about the program and how it responded.

It will also investigate the actions of the government and the public servants involved.

Mr Fuller says both state and federal public servants still had a lot to answer for as previous inquiries had only established that employers "did things wrong".

Lawyer Bill Potts says he would like to cross-examine Mr Rudd and other ministers involved in the program on behalf of his client Murray Barnes, the father of Rueben.

However, Mr Potts says the commission mustn't turn into a political witch hunt.

"What we want to know is whether there were warnings, and if there were warnings why weren't they heeded?" he told reporters.

Mr Potts said there was little to protect Rueben, 16, from being electrocuted while installing home insulation at Rockhampton.

"He received three weeks' training and the only safety equipment he had was sunscreen," he said.

"Rueben Barnes died, and at Christmas there is an empty space at his father's table."

Those affected by the bungled scheme will be called to appear at the inquiry, however some testimonies may be made in private.

Counsel Assisting Keith Wilson QC says 76 parties have been summonsed to appear.

Public sittings are expected to be held in March and April next year, with the commission to deliver its findings mid-year.

Asked whether it made Christmas easier now that the commission was finally underway, four years after her son's death, Mrs Fuller said: "It does help."

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Two women killed in Victorian crash

TWO women killed in a collision on a Victorian highway are believed to be Australia's first road fatalities for the Christmas-New Year period.

Police say a car and a 4WD vehicle collided on the Calder Highway, 8km north of Ouyen in the state's northwest about 1pm (AEDT) on Monday.

A 22-year-old Mt Waverley woman in one car and a 63-year-old woman in the other died at the scene.

The women were both passengers in the vehicles that are believed to have collided head on.

Five other people were in the vehicles with four suffering serious but non-life threatening injuries.

Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said he could not stress enough to people the need to act safely on the roads.

"It's Christmas, please look after yourselves, your family, your loved ones and take care while you travel on our roads."

The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2013 until 2359 January 3, 2014, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.

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