NSW police officer charged with assault

A NSW police officer has been charged with assaulting a colleague during a domestic dispute.

The female senior constable, attached to a command in the Western Region, was summonsed to court after allegedly assaulting a police another officer during a domestic dispute.

Police say the charges relate to an incident that occurred on May 3, while the officer was off-duty.

She will appear at Wentworth Local Court on July 7.

The officer has been suspended from duty with pay.

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Sony sinks to $A1.46bn quarterly loss

Struggling electronics giant Sony says it lost 128.4 billion yen in the fiscal year to March. Source: AAP

SONY Corp sank to a 138 billion yen ($A1.46 billion) quarterly loss because of expenses related to exiting the personal computer business.

The Tokyo-based maker of the PlayStation 4 game machine, Bravia TV and Walkman digital player also reported on Wednesday a loss of 128.4 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2014.

It had recorded a 41.5 billion yen profit the previous fiscal year.

For January-March last year, Sony had reported a 93 billion yen profit.

Earlier this month, Sony acknowledged it would end up with more red ink for the fiscal year than it had earlier forecast because of costs related to its Vaio PC operations and a drop in the value of its overseas disc manufacturing business.

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Gillard's book will be out in October

Former PM Julia Gillard says writing her memoir has been an exhilarating and cathartic experience. Source: AAP

FORMER prime minister Julia Gillard has worked through a special kind of therapy after losing her job: writing a book.

My Story will be published on October 1 by Random House Australia.

Ms Gillard said writing the memoir had been exhilarating and cathartic.

"Sometimes the words flowed quickly and easily," she said on Wednesday.

"On other occasions, days of reflection were needed to work through memories of difficult times and the resilience required during them."

She promises the book will tell the truth about what it's like to be prime minister, what happened to her and why it matters for Australia.

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Italy diplomat denies abuse in Philippines

AN Italian diplomat facing human trafficking and child abuse allegations in the Philippines has denied any wrongdoing.

Daniele Bosio, who has been suspended as Italy's ambassador to Turkmenistan, submitted an affidavit on Wednesday denying the criminal complaints and spoke briefly to reporters for the first time since his arrest on April 5 while vacationing in the Philippines.

Bosio has been detained in a municipal jail in Laguna province south of Manila since being arrested in the company of three boys aged 9-12 at a local resort.

Tears came to Bosio's eyes when more than a dozen children from a Christian school in Manila arrived to show support for him.

He has been giving financial support to the school for several years.

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Missing Queensland girl found safe

Police say 3 men and a woman who abducted Queensland toddler Bella Goulding are known to her family. Source: AAP

A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl abducted from her father's southeast Queensland home has been found safe and well in a Brisbane suburb.

Bella Rose Goulding was located at Archerfield, in the city's south, on Sunday night and police say they're questioning a man and a woman.

"Investigations are continuing," the Queensland police service said in a statement.

"A man and a woman are currently assisting police with inquiries."

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

On Sunday evening, police released the names and images of Lisa Maree Carroll, 21, and Michael Kenneth Winning, 42, saying they say may be able to assist their investigation but refusing to disclose details of their relationship to Bella.

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.

Further information is being sought from Queensland police.

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Militants kidnap, kill 20 Iraqi soldiers

A series of bombings in Iraq has killed 19 people, authorities say. Source: AAP

MILITANTS who attacked a military base in north Iraq kidnapping 20 soldiers later shot them dead.

The soldiers were abducted by a large group of militants in several vehicles from a small base in the Ain al-Jahash south of Mosul, and their bodies were found in the area on Saturday night, sources said.

But accounts of when the attack took place varied, with a police major and morgue employee putting it on Saturday night, while an army major general said it had taken place earlier in the week.

The police major said the soldiers had been shot in various parts of their bodies and that their hands had not been bound.

The attack comes after militants killed 12 soldiers and wounded 15 in an April 17 assault on a military base west of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province.

The province is one of the most consistently violent areas in Iraq.

Militants opposed to the Iraqi government frequently target members of the security forces, but it is rare for such a large number of soldiers to be kidnapped at once, especially from a military position.

The killings come as Iraq suffers a protracted surge in bloodshed, the worst to hit the country since the brutal sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

The government has repeatedly blamed the unrest on external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

But analysts and diplomats say widespread anger in the minority Sunni Arab community over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities has also played a major role in the violence.

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Puffing Hockey silent on cigar tax

Treasurer Joe Hockey has avoided a question about a tobacco tax after being caught having a cigar. Source: AAP

JOE Hockey probably hoped he had got away without being questioned about having that sly cigar with his finance minister.

But in any interview there is always that last question.

Twitter has been abuzz since Friday ridiculing photographs of the treasurer and Senator Mathias Cormann having a cigar after putting together their first budget.

"There's nothing like the satisfying flavour of other people's dreams ... going up in smoke!" was one tweet.

Having a puff is not illegal, but having a celebratory drag on a fat cigar when you are about to impose the budget with the toughest impact on Australians in almost two decades isn't a particularly good look.

The latest ribbing came in a more traditional form.

In an interview on Channel Nine on Sunday, political stalwart Laurie Oakes just had to ask one last question after a 15-minute grilling that covered broken promises, infrastructure, rising petrol prices and a freeze on politicians pay.

"For some reason there has been speculation on Twitter about the impact for the budget from the price of cigars. Will tobacco excise go up?" Mr Oakes teased.

Mr Hockey declined to comment on that.

"But I do note that I think in the first budget in 1901 they had taxes on opium, so I can assure you that's certainly not in the budget. There is certainly nothing to tax there," he said.

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Dozens hurt in China protest

At least 29 police have been injured in China during a protest over a proposed waste incinerator. Source: AAP

A PROTEST in eastern China over a plan to build a waste incinerator has turned violent with state media reporting at least 10 demonstrators and 29 police injured in clashes.

State-run Xinhua News Agency says 30 vehicles were overturned as protesters on Saturday set two police cars on fire and blocked a highway linking Hanzhou with another city.

One protester and a policeman have been reported seriously injured.

An official in the city's Yuhan district government confirmed the incident on Sunday but would not offer details.

An online statement posted by the district government says construction on the incinerator would not begin until the project had won public support.

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Pair die in fatal Qld car crash

Two people have been killed after their car hit a tree in a Gold Coast suburb. Source: AAP

TWO people have been killed after their car hit a tree in a Gold Coast suburb.

The driver, a 27-year-old Darra man, and a 26-year-old Fortitude Valley woman were travelling along a road in Nerang just before 12.30am when their vehicle collided with a tree.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

It is believed an incident involving a 4WD occurred 15km from the crash scene with the driver of a black Subaru Forester breath tested, a police spokeswoman said.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating.

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Easy access to welfare is over: Andrews

Australians who receive the disability support pension will be assessed for the capacity to work. Source: AAP

UP to 20,000 Australians who receive the disability support pension (DSP) will be assessed for the capacity to work, and if deemed able, will be expected to get a job.

In tough talk ahead of the budget, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews also repeated warnings that the days of young Australians sitting at home on the couch collecting welfare cheques were over.

He said the government believed young people should be either be working or training for work.

"The message out of this is simply this. The days of easy welfare for young people are over. We want a fair system but we don't think it is fair that young people can just sit on the couch at home and pick up a welfare cheque. Those days are over," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Andrews confirmed the budget, to be delivered on Tuesday night, will introduce rules that mean some people collecting the DSP disability support pension will be reviewed for capacity to work.

That will apply to some 10-20,000 people who had gone onto the DSP in the last 5-6 years but not yet assessed under new impairment tables.

"If they are capable of working, whether it is full-time or part-time, then our expectation is that they should be working," he said.

Mr Andrews said measures announced on Tuesday would be just the first instalment of reform.

He said former Mission Australia chief executive Patrick McClure had completed his discussion paper on welfare reforms but would review it in light of budget changes.

The review will be released for public consultation after the budget.

"I will be taking to cabinet further proposals for welfare review. This will go to the structural arrangements," Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said the welfare system now comprised some 50 payments, allowances and supplements assembled ad hoc over the years.

"It is time to have a clear look at making structural change so far as welfare is concerned," he said.

Proposed changes are in line with the report of the National Commission of Audit which said the DSP was costing $15.8 billion a year.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King was critical of the changes to the DSP.

"Why would you be punishing them? Why would you be punishing their income security payments and trying to restrict their access to income support whilst at the same time cutting a whole lot of benefits that support them into work," she told reporters in Melbourne.

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