Eight killed, 18 missing in US landslide

Rescuers in the US state of Washington are searching for 18 people after a mudslide buried houses. Source: AAP

AT least eight people are dead and 18 are missing after a massive landslide slammed "like a freight train" into a mountainside community in the northwestern United States.

The wall of mud, rocks and trees smashed into the rural town of Oso, northeast of Seattle, on Saturday. Three people were reported dead shortly after and another body was pulled from the rubble earlier on Sunday.

Travis Hots, chief of the regional Snohomish County Fire districts, announced the higher toll at an area community meeting.

"I'm saddened to inform you that we have assured four additional fatalities," Hots told reporters. "It's very disappointing for all of the rescuers on the scene."

The field of rubble is about 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) across and some four to six (15-20 feet) deep in areas, The Seattle Times reported.

Rescuers reported hearing voices calling for help on Saturday, but Hots told reporters that they "didn't see or hear any signs of life" on Sunday.

Snohomish County spokeswoman Shari Ireton told AFP: "We are able to confirm we know that 18 people who may have been in the area are unaccounted for. We do not have identification for those people that we are releasing at this time."

At the televised press conference, Hots would only say that the number was "fluid."

"There may be people in their cars, there may be people in their homes," he said.

John Pennington, head of the county Emergency Management department, said that rescuers will continue searching for survivors overnight Sunday to Monday.

"Resources are coming in that allow us to conduct night operations," Pennington said at the briefing. "There are boots that are on the ground that are really working to continue operations 24/7."

Six homes and much of a two-lane highway reaching the area were destroyed, while as many as 16 other homes were damaged, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, who declared a state of emergency for the area, told reporters there is "a full-scale, 100-per cent, aggressive rescue effort" going on, adding that helicopters, hovercrafts and rescue personnel had rushed to the scene.

"There's no missing piece in this rescue effort," he said.

The muddy area was so unstable that some rescue workers "went in and got caught literally up to their armpits" and had to be pulled out themselves, Inslee said.

People injured in the landslide include a six-month old infant and an 81 year-old man.

"It sounded like a freight train," landslide witness Dan Young told Komo4News. "In just 35 to 45 seconds it was over." Young's home survived but is flooded.

Rain has been especially heavy in the Cascade Mountains region in the past weeks. While there was a break on Sunday, the forecast is for more heavy downpours throughout the week.

Authorities were keeping careful watch on a nearby dam, over fears pressure from the flooded river behind it could wash it away, inundating downriver communities.

Patty Murray, who represents Washington in the US Senate, gave assurances that federal resources would be made available, as she offered thanks to rescue workers and her prayers to the families of the ravaged community.

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Dump financial advice changes: Labor

LABOR has demanded Prime Minister Tony Abbott take a controversial rollback of financial advice laws out of the deep freeze and put it on the scrap heap.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the government has put the changes on ice temporarily until he undertakes further consultation with stakeholders.

"We remain committed to implement the improvements to (Future of Financial Advice laws) which we took to the last election as soon as possible," the minister told AAP on Monday.

Senator Cormann took charge of the issue after Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos stepped down last week pending his appearance as a witness before two anti-corruption inquiries in NSW.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government had been deaf to the concerns of industry experts, consumer advocates and previous victims of dodgy financial practices.

"The prime minister should dump these changes just like he's dumped its champion Arthur Sinodinos," he said.

"This has been a nightmare from the start."

The proposed changes have divided the industry, with the Financial Planning Association strongly opposing the payment of commissions under the general advice exemption proposed by the government.

It described the change as a retrograde step that would open the door to mis-selling and inappropriate advice.

Senator Cormann there was some misinformation about the changes and some was deliberate and mischievous.

"We are not proposing to get rid of the requirement that financial advisers act in the best interest of their clients," he said.

Nor was the government proposing to reintroduce commissions or other conflicted remuneration structures for financial advisers providing personal advice.

Senator Cormann said Labor's laws had cost the industry in excess of $1 billion, with ongoing annual costs of more than $350 million.

Industry Super Australia chief executive David Whiteley said the freeze was a timely circuit breaker and a victory for common sense.

He said gaining industry consensus on the regulation of financial advice will ultimately boost consumer confidence.

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Sinodinos warned over 'company he kept'

Liberal Arthur Sinodinos was warned the men running Australian Water Holdings might be "dishonest". Source: AAP

FORMER NSW Premier Nathan Rees thought they were a "bunch of crooks" and Liberal powerbroker Arthur Sinodinos was warned the men running Australian Water Holdings might be "dishonest", a corruption inquiry has heard.

And that was before anyone knew the Obeids might be involved.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is probing claims the infrastructure company charged state-owned Sydney Water for hundreds of thousands of dollars in administration fees including limousine rides and Liberal Party donations.

It has also been alleged the family of former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid had a secret 30 per cent holding in Australian Water Holdings (AWH).

Senator Sinodinos became an AWH director in 2008 and was later appointed chairman.

Counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson SC, has told the inquiry that Senator Sinodinos, who is due to give evidence to the ICAC next week, was paid $200,000 plus bonuses for about 100 hours' worth of work as an AWH director.

Shortly after he was made chairman of the company, he met with Sydney Water's then-managing director Kerry Schott and another public servant, the ICAC heard.

"We suggested to Mr Sinodinos he might be careful about the company he was keeping," Dr Schott said.

"We thought that they may be dishonest ... There was no reaction to that."

Senator Sinodinos last week stepped down as federal assistant treasurer pending the outcome of the ICAC investigation.

Dr Schott told the commission that Sydney Water's relationship with AWH became fraught as she sought justification for the expenses AWH submitted to Sydney Water for reimbursement.

Mr Rees "used to refer to them as a bunch of crooks", she said.

"As it went on and on and on I became more suspicious about the nature of the company I was dealing with," Dr Schott said.

It has been alleged that Mr Obeid tried to have her fired, urging then-water minister Phillip Costa to "sack the bitch".

Dr Schott has also given evidence that she believes a NSW government cabinet minute submitted to then-infrastructure minister Tony Kelly's office was redrafted with the help of AWH executive Nick Di Girolamo.

Mr Watson has told the ICAC the original cabinet minute recommended the rejection of a public-private partnership that would have netted a "massive windfall profit" of up to $200 million for AWH owners.

But the cabinet minute that was submitted to cabinet was a "doctored" document reversing the original recommendation, Mr Watson said, though this document was ultimately withdrawn.

Dr Schott on Monday agreed that rewriting the cabinet minute in that way would be tantamount to fraud.

"I think it was a terrible abuse of public process," she said.

The inquiry continues.

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Adelaide archbishop says response too slow

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson says the Catholic Church has learnt lessons about handling cases. Source: AAP

THE Archbishop of Adelaide has agreed the Catholic church's response to sexual abuse claims at a special school should have begun about a decade earlier than it did.

Archbishop Philip Wilson told the royal commission he would have expected his predecessor to have put in place processes in 1993 which he himself instigated after learning of the abuse in late 2001.

"If the matter was known it should have been dealt with in all the formal ways that are required," he told the commission on Monday.

It is investigating Adelaide's St Ann's Special School and its bus driver Brian Perkins, who sexually abused intellectually disabled children between 1986 and 1991.

Archbishop Wilson was asked how he would deal with the allegations he was confronted with in late 2001.

"Please God, it will never happen again, but I would hope that if it did that we would have learnt by experience now of how to handle these situations with the best possible outcome for the families and victims."

The commission has been told the principal and a Catholic Education Office (CEO) employee knew of the claims in 1991, while Archbishop Leonard Faulkner said he was informally told in 1993 about the arrest and charging of Perkins.

Archbishop Wilson said he first learnt of the claims in late 2001, when Archbishop Faulkner told him the CEO had received a complaint from parents saying children had been molested by a bus driver at St Ann's.

The witness said he was appalled and horrified and took immediate steps to put the appropriate responses and processes in place.

He agreed with counsel assisting, Sophie David, that families of students, many of whom had limited verbal skills, could have been told of the claims as early as 1991 instead of 2002.

"And that way they would've been spared 10 years of not knowing or not having an explanation for behaviours of their children?" she asked.

"I agree with that."

"If the structures that were in place in 1991 had worked, that would have been ventilated 10 years earlier than it was?" she asked.

"That's right," replied the Archbishop.

He said a "group" rather than an individualised approach was set up, with the church making "gift payments" totalling $2.3 million to 28 families in 2003.

Unknown to the families, they were categorised and the Archbishop decided payments of $100,000 would apply to children with substantiated evidence of abuse.

Payments of $75,000 would go to those who had been in Perkins' unsupervised care and for whom there was a high probability of abuse, and $50,000 for those who had less unsupervised contact.

"For those students who were unlikely to have been abused, pastoral support would be offered but not a monetary gift," the Archbishop said.

In hindsight, he said the church could have improved the way they engaged with families, consulted them about the processes and made the payment transactions much simpler.

Archbishop Wilson was the final witness at the Adelaide hearing.

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Mining tax debate focus in parliament

THE federal government will try to pressure Labor over the repeal of the mining tax this week as the re-run of the West Australian Senate election looms.

The repeal bills have been listed as the first item of business in the upper house when parliament resumes on Monday.

The Senate election on April 5 is expected to be a focal point of debate in question time, as the Liberals aim to retain the three seats they won at the 2013 election and Labor aims to pick up two seats.

The government has already targeted Labor over its decision this week to vote with the Greens to block the repeal of the carbon tax, despite former prime minister Kevin Rudd pledging in 2013 to scrap the tax.

"We always said that our two first priorities in terms of legislation was to scrap the carbon tax and the mining tax," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told AAP on Friday.

"We are continuing to work down our to-do list."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will also seek Labor support for a package of bills on his "repeal day" on Wednesday.

The legislation aims to remove thousands of regulations and pieces of legislation that are redundant, outdated or impose a burden on business.

Mr Abbott says the repeal package - coupled with other measures - will take $700 million a year in compliance costs off business and community groups.

Another repeal day will be held later in the year.

The Senate on Monday will receive a report from its economics legislation committee on the Qantas Sale Act, which would allow majority foreign ownership of the airline.

Labor and the Greens say the airline should remain in Australian hands and be based here, but there might be room for a compromise: allowing foreign airlines to hold more than a 35 per cent stake in Qantas or a greater than 25 per cent stake for any single foreign shareholder.

Senate inquiry reports will be received on Wednesday relating to ticket scalping, the coalition's Direct Action climate plan and people living with dementia.

On Thursday, reports will be tabled from inquiries into Operation Sovereign Borders, Qantas jobs and overseas aid.

The lower house will continue to debate laws to extend road funding and re-establish the Green Army of environmental volunteers.

Labor wants an inquiry into the Green Army legislation, saying it has concerns about workplace protections, the interaction with other welfare payments and the obligation of employers to provide training.

The House of Representatives will also debate a Labor motion on Monday seeking assurances from the government that ABC funding won't be cut and that it will stop vilifying the broadcaster.

It will be the last sitting week before the May 13 budget.

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NSW urged to get flu-ready

Pregnant women and the elderly are being urged to prepare for winter and get a flu shot. Source: AAP

PREGNANT women and the elderly are being urged to prepare for winter and get a flu shot following an "unusually high" level of influenza in NSW this summer.

The Director of Health Protection NSW, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said the northern hemisphere had experienced widespread influenza over the past months, with influenza A(H1N1) pandemic strain, A(H3N2) and influenza B circulating to different extents in different countries.

An unusually high level of influenza had also been seen in NSW over summer, he said.

He and other health professionals are now urging people, especially the elderly and pregnant women, to prepare for winter.

"The Australian flu vaccine has been updated to more closely match the influenza strains likely to circulate in NSW this year.

"So get a shot in preparation for this season," Dr McAnulty said on Sunday.

He said the seasonal flu shot continues to be the best defence for pregnant women and has the added advantage of protecting babies during their first six months when they are too young to have the vaccine.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the government's Be Winter Wise campaign, launched on Sunday, was focusing on pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions.

"Although we are still experiencing warm weather, people should not be complacent when it comes to the dangers of the flu," she said in a statement.

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Philippines' rebel leader, wife arrested

Police in the Philippines have arrested communist rebel leader Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma. Source: AAP

THE Philippines' top communist rebel leader and his wife have been arrested in a joint operation by the military and police.

Benito Tiamzon, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and his wife Wilma, the party's secretary general, were nabbed in the central province of Cebu, General Emmanuel Bautista said.

"The arrest of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon is another victory for the combined efforts between the military, police and other stakeholders in pursuit of peace and security," he said.

The couple were arrested just one week before the 45th founding anniversary of the CPP's armed wing, the New People's Army, on March 29.

Bautista said the couple were arrested based on a court warrant for such crimes as murder and attempted murder. But he did not give details on the circumstances of the operation.

In 2012, the government offered a 5.6-million-peso ($A137,000) reward for Benito Tiamzon's arrest.

Netherlands-based communist rebel leaders condemned the arrest and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the couple.

Luis Jalandoni, chief rebel negotiator based in Utrecht, noted that the Tiamzons are covered by a 1995 safety and immunity agreement because they are consultants to peace talks with the government.

He said the arrest was a "flagrant violation" of the agreement and "most seriously prejudices the peace negotiations", which have been suspended since 2004.

The communist rebels have been fighting the Philippine government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

Efforts to resume peace negotiations with the guerillas have been stalled by rebel demands for the government to release members arrested for various criminal cases in court.

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3 bear cubs rescued from captivity

ANIMAL activists in Kosovo say three brown bear cubs have been rescued from captivity.

The one-month-old cubs, Ema, Oska and Ron, were found at two separate homes last week in the western town of Peja and are believed to be from the same mother. No arrests have been made.

Activists said they don't know what happened to the mother. Authorities were tipped off by citizens after photos of the cubs were spotted on Facebook.

"The cubs were stressed upon arrival but are recovering well", said Afrim Mehmeti, manager of a bear sanctuary run by international animal charity group Four Paws.

Keeping wild animals in Kosovo is forbidden by law and authorities are strict on the captivity of brown bears, an endangered species in the country.

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Cops firing blanks in sex exemption debate

Police in Hawaii may lose a law that allows them to have sex with prostitutes while on the job. Source: AAP

POLICE in Hawaii are facing the prospect of losing an exemption that allows them to have sex with prostitutes while on the job.

The state's Senate Judicial Committee chairman, Clayton Hee, has announced plans to get rid of the exemption in Hawaii's prostitution law that permits police to have sex, so long as it's part of an investigation.

His announcement at a committee hearing this week followed expressions of outrage after police had lobbied to keep the exemption for the so-called morals officers who are charged with the responsibility of investigating prostitution.

"To condone police officers' sexual penetration in making arrests is simply nonsensical to me," Hee said.

State legislators have been working to revamp Hawaii's decades-old law against prostitution. They toughened penalties against pimps and those who use prostitutes, and they also originally proposed scrapping the sex exemption for officers on duty.

But Honolulu police said last month that they needed the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act. Otherwise, they argued, prostitutes would insist on sex to identify undercover officers.

The legislation was then amended to restore the protection and the revised proposal passed the House and is now before the Senate.

While police say the exemption is necessary, Myles Breiner, a former Honolulu prosecutor who now works as a defence lawyer, testified that some of his clients who are prostitutes often complained to him that police had sex with them before making an arrest.

"How do we expect people to follow the law when the police engage in criminal conduct," Breiner asked.

Police testified in writing and in person to the House Judiciary Committee in February that keeping the exemption protected undercover officers from being found out. They said internal department protocols protected citizens against abuses.

Law enforcement experts say there's never any need to have sex with a prostitute to make an arrest, because the agreement to exchange money for sex is sufficient evidence of a crime.

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Double bombing kills seven in Iraq

A DOUBLE bombing has killed seven people north of Baghdad.

Police say the attack happened on Saturday morning when a roadside bomb exploded in a commercial street in the city of Tikrit.

Minutes later, a car bomb struck officers arriving to inspect the first blast.

Officials say five policemen and two civilians were killed and 18 people were wounded in the bombings.

Violence has spiked in Iraq since last April, a surge unseen since 2008. The relentless attacks have become the government's most serious challenge.

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