Scottish tourist missing in Victoria

POLICE have appealed for public help to find a missing UK tourist who has not had contact with his family in Scotland for two weeks.

Twenty-six year old Jonathan Ansell, who has been in Australia for about two years, last told his family he was in Melbourne, but Mr Ansell may have travelled within Victoria or interstate.

He is described as of Caucasian appearance, 175cm tall with a fair complexion and short, light brown to dark blonde hair.

Anyone who sees him should call triple-zero.

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17 Indian police get life for killing man

AN Indian court has sentenced 17 police officers to life in prison for kidnapping and killing a 22-year-old jobseeker in their custody in 2009.

Prosecutors said business graduate Ranbir Singh had gone to the northern city of Dehradun looking for a job when he was arrested by police for alleged robbery.

Newspapers said police claimed Singh was involved in an extortion racket and was shot trying to escape arrest.

But an investigation determined he'd been tortured, shot 12 times at close range and died in custody.

The conviction of 17 police officers in a single case is believed to be unprecedented in India.

Rights groups often accuse Indian security forces of torturing and killing people in custody to force them to confess.

In convicting the officers on Friday, Judge J.P. Malik also found them guilty of entering into a criminal conspiracy to kill Singh.

The officers had denied the charges against them and can appeal.

Members of the victim's family said on Monday they had hoped the officers would be given the death penalty, and would appeal the sentences to a higher court.

The case was tried in New Delhi, after the victim's father, Ravindra Singh, filed a petition saying the involvement of Uttarakhand's state police left him doubtful that justice could be served by authorities in the state capital of Dehradun.

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BHP axes 170 jobs at WA iron ore mine

BHP Billiton has slashed 170 jobs at its massive Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in Western Australia. Source: AAP

BHP Billiton has slashed 170 jobs at its massive Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region, saying the cuts are part of the company's bid to increase export volumes while reducing costs.

The mining giant said it would assist affected employees through the process and seek redeployment opportunities where possible.

BHP Billiton said its iron ore unit regularly undertook reviews to ensure it was operating as efficiently as possible.

"This includes reviewing the size and structure of our workforce to ensure it supports the delivery of our productivity agenda," the company said in an emailed statement.

"We have been open with our employees about the work being done to improve productivity."

BHP Billiton last week axed about 100 staff from its iron ore division headquarters in Perth.

Chief executive Andrew Mackenzie last week told reporters in Beijing that the iron ore market was oversupplied.

"We don't quite see the case for the scale of investment we saw in the last 10 years," he said.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said Mt Whaleback employees had been treated appallingly.

Workers were finding out whether they still had a job when they turned up for their shift.

"Workers will be turning up for their shifts all week without knowing whether they're in the firing line," CFMEU mining and energy WA secretary Gary Wood said.

"Many of those losing their jobs live locally and will have to uproot their families in search of a new job."

The union said BHP Billiton could "easily" absorb fluctuations in the iron ore price without slashing jobs.

"Instead it is throwing workers and families into turmoil because of its ruthless focus on cutting costs to improve shareholder returns," Mr Wood said.

"Mining should benefit the whole community not just shareholders and BHP should be fighting to keep its people in work rather than throwing them on the scrap heap at the first opportunity."

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Malaysia, Aust to share MH370 search costs

Malaysia and Australia will share the cost of the next phase of the search for missing plane MH370. Source: AAP

MALAYSIA and Australia will share the cost of the next phase of the search for a Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing more than three months ago, a senior official says.

"Costs will be shared 50-50 between Malaysia and Australia," deputy defence minister Abdul Rahim Bakri said, adding that there were no figures yet for how much they would have to spend.

The Australia Transport Safety Board last week issued a tender to continue the deep-water search for the Beijing-bound MH370 that disappeared on March 8 and is suspected to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysia Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that Malaysia had spent 27.6 million ringgit ($A9.30 million) in fuel and food for equipment and personnel in the search.

"The cost that we had to bear is relatively small compared to the other assets given by other countries used in the search," he said in a press briefing.

Malaysian officials were to go to Canberra on Tuesday to discuss the next phase of the search.

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UAE introduces mandatory military service

New legislation in the United Arab Emirates makes military service compulsory for all adult males. Source: AAP

THE United Arab Emirates has issued a law requiring compulsory military service for adult males, formalising a proposal outlined earlier in the year to bolster the ranks of the US-allied Gulf federation's armed forces.

The official state news agency WAM announced the move on Saturday, saying the law "aims to instil values of loyalty and sacrifice in the hearts of the citizens".

The legislation requires male high school graduates between the ages of 18 and 30 to serve nine months.

Those without a high school diploma must serve two years.

Military service for Emirati women will be voluntary.

The seven-state federation, formed in 1971 after decades under British protection, has been spared the political unrest that has roiled much of the Middle East in recent years.

It has longstanding cultural and trade links to Iran but nonetheless remains wary of its powerful neighbour, which boasts a larger military and possesses significant stockpiles of missiles in range of the Emirates.

Both countries claim sovereignty over three islands in the Persian Gulf that are occupied by Iran.

The UAE military currently has an estimated 51,000 active-duty personnel, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Emirati citizens are vastly outnumbered by foreign guest workers in their own country, and the UAE military and police forces include foreigners in their ranks.

The country's leaders have taken steps to get more UAE citizens into public and private-sector jobs, including in the military.

In recent years, UAE troops have joined the NATO-led mission to Afghanistan and provided humanitarian relief to Pakistan.

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Iraq Kurdish party office blasts kill 19

A DOUBLE bombing at a Kurdish party office has killed 19 people in a town northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Police officials said the attack took place on Sunday morning when a suicide bomber set off his explosive vest at the gate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan office in Jalula, 125 kilometres northeast of Baghdad in the ethnically mixed Diyala province.

Minutes later, a car bomb exploded near the building as security forces arrived to inspect the scene of the first blast.

Police put the death toll for both explosions at 19 killed and 65 wounded.

The dead included a senior police officer and four of his bodyguards, and several houses and cars were damaged in the attack.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.

The PUK is headed by the ailing Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, who is receiving treatment in a hospital in Germany.

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US soldier: 'I was tortured by Taliban'

SGT Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at a US military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape, a senior US official says.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss what Bergdahl has revealed about the conditions of his captivity.

The official said it was difficult to verify the accounts Bergdahl has given since his release a week ago.

Bergdahl, now 28, was captured in June 2009 after he disappeared from his infantry unit.

He was held for nearly five years by Taliban militants.

The New York Times reported Sunday that military doctors at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center say that while Bergdahl is physically able to travel he's not yet emotionally prepared to be reunited with his family. He has not yet spoken to his family.

Bergdahl was returned to the US military in exchange for the release of five Taliban militants from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The deal, which the Obama White House brokered without consulting Congress, ignited a political firestorm that shows no signs of abating.

Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, who initially praised Bergdahl's release, quickly backed off amid questions about whether he was a deserter who walked away from his post and an outcry over the exchange.0

Some of Bergdahl's fellow soldiers maintain that Americans died during efforts to find and save him.

On Wednesday, Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, abruptly cancelled plans for a welcome-home celebration, citing security concerns, and on Saturday the FBI said Bergdahl's family had received threats that are being investigated by federal, state and local authorities.

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Woman critical after Sydney bus hit

A woman is in critical condition in hospital after being hit by a bus in central Sydney. Source: AAP

A WOMAN is in critical condition in hospital after being hit by a bus in central Sydney.

The woman, aged in her 30s, was crossing George Street when she was hit and has been taken to the nearby St Vincents Hospital in a with severe injuries.

"She's currently undergoing surgery," police said.

Police weren't able to say what her injuries were or whether she had crossed against the lights.

No one else was injured but one northbound lane of George Street has been closed as forensic specialists investigate.

"A city bus had a smashed windscreen and light at the front and the pavement has been cordoned off," an AAP reporter at the scene said.

Earlier on Sunday police expressed fears safety warnings aren't sinking in, after a second death on the state's roads this holiday weekend.

A 21-year-old driving through Binnaway, veered onto the wrong side of the road on Sunday before crashing and being thrown from the car.

It's believed the young man, who died at the scene wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

A teenage girl died and her four friends were injured when their four-wheel-drive car left the trail through Lowes Mount State Forest near Oberon, in NSW's central west, and rolled just after midnight on Saturday.

"Two people have now lost their lives on the state's roads this long weekend, which is two too many," Acting Assistant Commissioner Smith said on Sunday.

"Today's fatality was a tragedy.

He said it was disappointing so many people were still speeding, with more than 2100 speed infringement notices handed out so far this holiday period.

He urged drivers to remaining vigilant, drive to the conditions, take rest breaks, stay away from alcohol or drugs and the distractions by mobile devices.

"These steps could easily save a life," he said.

Major roads in the CBD will be closed on Sunday night as part of Sydney's Vivid festival.

"Anyone attending (Sunday)'s event should leave the car at home and catch one of the extra 3500 trains and buses operating," the Transport Management Centre said.

"All roads are expected to be reopened by midnight."

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PM wants Monash to be household name

THE efforts of Australian General John Monash on the Western Front in World War I should be as widely recognised as the story of Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott revealed on Saturday a new memorial centre to be built in France would be named in honour of the Australian military leader, who is regarded as one of the great tacticians of World War I.

After joining world leaders at D-Day commemorations in Normandy on Friday, Mr Abbott turned his attention to the First World War as he visited the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux for the first time.

While not as famous as the Gallipoli campaign, the efforts of Australian diggers to stop German forces on the Western Front were critical to the outcome of the war.

Of the 295,000 Australians who fought there between 1916 and 1918, 46,000 never made it home and the prime minister is leading a push he believes will help improve a sense of national identity.

"No place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France," Mr Abbott said.

"Australians should be as familiar with the story of the Western Front as we are with Gallipoli.

"Australians should be at least as familiar with the achievements of Monash as we are with the heroism of John Simpson Kirkpatrick (in Gallipoli)."

Sir John Monash was involved in the failed Gallipoli campaign but used his experiences to lead several significant battlefield victories, including the decisive Battle of Amiens.

Mr Abbott said he brought organisation and technology to the battlefield to "break the stalemate of trench warfare".

Attendances at the annual Anzac Day dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux have grown steadily in recent years, with the crowd this year surpassing that at Gallipoli.

Some predict it will become the nation's clear focal point of Anzac Day commemorations beyond next year's centenary in Gallipoli.

"Australians should congregate here, every April 25th, no less than at Anzac Cove," Mr Abbott said.

"And on Anzac Day four years hence, the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, I'm sure they will."

Mr Abbott said it was expected the new "interpretive centre", to be built behind the Australian memorial, would open in 2018 to coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations.

The "Sir John Monash" centre will help to better explain Australia's role in the final victories of World War I and the government will put up $6.9 million for the initial planning.

Mr Abbott later followed in the footsteps of former prime ministers by visiting the Victoria School, built in Villers-Bretonneux in 1927 with money donated by school children from the Australian state.

He chatted with schoolchildren and locals in the school's courtyard, where a prominent green and gold sign hangs permanently reading: "Never Forget Australia."

Mr Abbott then visited the memorial site at nearby Pozieres, the sight of a bloody 1916 battle where 23,000 Australians were killed in the space of just six weeks.

The prime minister was expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande on Saturday night before departing Paris on Sunday for Canada and the US.

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Alleged Sydney card skimmer charged

A man has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data. Source: AAP

A MAN has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data.

Police were contacted after the 27-year-old was seen acting suspiciously in Parramatta on Friday morning, walking from one ATM to another, allegedly making transactions with several cards.

Officers later detained and searched the man, finding 15 store cards, which are believed to have been encoded with stolen card data. He also had more than $4000 in cash on him.

The Fairfield man was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and two other related charges.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 16.

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