Drivers warned to be alert this Christmas

DRIVERS have been asked to think about whether they want to spend their Christmas with loved ones or trauma doctors.

Westmead Hospital director of trauma Dr Jeremy Hsu joined police in Sydney to plead for NSW drivers to be safe this holiday period.

Double demerit points will apply from midnight (AEDT) on Thursday until January 2 as part of NSW Police Operation Safe Arrival.

Eighteen people died during last year's 13-day Christmas period and almost 1000 were booked for drink-driving.

Meanwhile, 12,000 motorists were charged with speeding.

But Dr Hsu made fatigue the focus of his plea.

He said 20 per cent of crashes resulting in serious injuries were fatigue-related.

"When you're driving 100 km/h, a four-second micro sleep results in you travelling 111 metres without any conscience control," he said.

"Essentially you've turned your car into a lethal weapon.

"Our most severely injured patients will undergo multiple operations, spend weeks in intensive care and then months or even years undergoing rehabilitation."

Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn says anyone speeding, drinking, drug taking, speaking on their mobile phone or not wearing a seat belt will be targeted by an increased police presence on NSW roads.

"We will have large numbers of traffic and highway patrol police out in force," she said.

"On our motorways, our main roads, they'll be on our country roads, on our back roads.

"If you are caught speeding excessively over this period of time you may well lose your licence on the side of the road right then and there."

The NSW road toll stands at 332 so far this year, 23 less than the same time last year.

Police Minister Mike Gallacher says even drivers who follow the road rules can find themselves in crashes.

He urged drivers of all ages to "switch on" when behind the wheel - being aware of what other drivers were doing as well.

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Ascot photo for Charles' Xmas card

A PICTURE of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall sharing a joke at Royal Ascot has been chosen as the image for the couple's Christmas card.

Smartly dressed for a day at the races, Charles and Camilla look relaxed as they stand against a balcony rail, in what is thought to be the royal box.

In the photograph taken by Stephen Lock in June, the Duchess is wearing an Anna Valentine pansy print chiffon dress with a peppermint green silk coat and holds a silk clutch bag, also from Anna Valentine.

The Prince, who is pictured holding a racing program, looks smart in an Anderson and Sheppard morning coat, a shirt by Turnbull and Asser and a top hat by Lock and Co.

Printed on the cover of each Christmas card is the Prince of Wales' feathers and the Duchess' cipher and inside are the words "Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year" with the photograph opposite surrounded by a thin red border.

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Victim of Ray Hadley abuse awarded $280k

THE wife of a convicted sex offender who was labelled a "grub" by 2GB Radio presenter Ray Hadley has been awarded $280,000 in damages.

Handing down his decision in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Thursday, Acting Justice William Nicholas said he hoped the decision would enable Kim Ahmed to "lay this broadcast to rest in the gutter from which it came".

Taking aim at Hadley's "unbridled tirade" against Ms Ahmed, a former north Sydney fish-and-chip shop owner, Justice Nicholas said he was satisfied Hadley's comments caused her to suffer "anxiety, alarm, distress and anger".

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Deaf man lodges sacking claim against BHP

A DISABILITY discrimination claim has been lodged against BHP Billiton and its contractor Carey Mining on behalf of a deaf man who was allegedly unlawfully sacked while working in a West Australian mine site.

Lawyers Maurice Blackburn said the claim had been lodged in the Australian Human Rights Commission for client Andrew Myers, 40, who is deaf but wears hearing aids and a cochlear implant.

In a medical assessment, Mr Myers was declared fit to work, with a pass rate of 98 per cent.

He has various qualifications allowing him to operate heavy vehicles and machinery in construction and mining, and is also a licensed pilot.

Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Kamal Farouque said Mr Myers was engaged by Carey Mining in May this year to work at the Area C mine in the Pilbara region, but within days was told by the contractor that he couldn't work anymore because BHP Billiton thought there was a communication problem.

Carey Mining told him that they couldn't fault his performance, Mr Farouque said.

"Andrew was very up-front with his employer and everyone around him about being hearing impaired and was told by various company people they would support him," he said.

"He did a health and safety induction test and got a 100 per cent result.

"After two to three days on the job, his immediate colleagues told him he was performing well and they had no problems, and that any issues with the two-way radio would be fixed."

Mr Myers said he was extremely upset by the decision to sack him from his dream job, which he has been told could last for 20 to 25 years.

"I couldn't believe it when they told me I was terminated," he said.

"I've had discrimination all my life, but not as open as this.

"I can fly a plane. If I can do that, I can work on a mining site."

BHP Billiton was being sought for comment.

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Britain to move to plastic banknotes

PLASTIC bank notes are to be issued by the Bank of England for the first time when the new STG5 ($A9.19) note featuring Sir Winston Churchill appears in 2016.

A STG10 ($A18.39) note featuring Jane Austen to follow around a year later will also be made from polymer rather than the cotton paper currently used, the Bank said.

It follows a three-year research program that concluded plastic notes stay cleaner for longer, are more difficult to counterfeit and are at least twice as longer-lasting.

A public consultation across the UK, giving people the chance to handle the notes, found 87 per cent of 13,000 individuals who responded were in favour of polymer.

Bank governor Mark Carney said: "Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of bank note design to meet that objective.

"The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at a lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."

The new notes will retain their familiar look, the Bank said, including the portrait of the Queen and a historical character.

Meanwhile, the Bank announced new guidelines on how it chooses historical figures to feature on bank notes, which include the aim that they should "reflect the diverse nature of British society".

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Two facing charges over fatal Vic attack

TWO men accused of attacking a 36-year-old man in Melbourne could be facing more serious charges after he died in hospital from his injuries.

Police had initially charged the pair with intentionally causing serious injury and other offences after finding a 36-year-old man had been brutally attacked in the streets of Fitzroy on Monday evening.

But the man died in hospital on Wednesday, leading homicide detectives to consider laying different charges.

"The charges are likely to be upgraded," a police spokeswoman said.

Narada Seresen, 35, of no fixed address, and Jasper Meagher, 26, of Carlton, will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over the incident.

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Saatchi assistant 'not a fantasist'

A FORMER personal assistant of Nigella Lawson and her art dealer ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who is accused of defrauding the couple, has denied she was a fantasist and a "shopaholic".

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are alleged to have spent STG685,000 ($A1.26 million) on credit cards belonging to the TV cook and the multimillionaire Saatchi.

On Wednesday, the court heard that the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

The younger sister was accused by prosecutor Jane Carpenter of lying about her expenditure on a work credit card having been authorised by Saatchi and Lawson, who divorced earlier this year.

"I haven't lied to this court," said Grillo. "I don't think I'm a fantasist as Ms Lawson suggested. I would have to disagree."

Carpenter said Grillo had admitted being a "shopaholic" in a phone call after the allegations of fraud came to light, but the defendant said of that claim: "I don't think so."

Addressing claims that she took advantage of her position and felt she was "on to a good thing", Grillo replied: "I didn't have to feel like I was part of a good thing.

"They were my family. I was very, very lucky. They loved me, I loved them back. Despite being here defending myself ... I still have feelings for them."

The seven men and five women on the jury were shown pages from Lawson's latest cookbook, Nigellissima, for which Grillo said she and her sister contributed a recipe for lasagne which was published.

"She refers to two friends from Calabria, or two sisters," added Grillo.

She claimed that during her trips to her native Italy while employed by the family, she would use the company card to buy food items and props for Lawson which were used in the book.

Asked why she offered to pay back money to the Saatchi-Lawson family when she was confronted with allegations of misusing the credit card, Grillo said she had hoped things would get back to normal.

She added: "It's difficult for people to understand how close I was to these people ... It's not like any person down the street. You want to make things better."

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Merkel says EU must be ready for changes

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been sworn in to a third term as Germany's head of government. Source: AAP

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union members must be open to treaty changes to strengthen joint economic governance in the 28-nation bloc.

Merkel was speaking on Wednesday, a day after starting her third term as leader of Europe's biggest economy and ahead of a visit to Paris, followed by a two-day EU summit in Brussels.

She told parliament that the EU needs to work toward more centralised financial and economic governance, where members can be compelled to meet certain fiscal targets, even if this requires changes to key EU treaties.

"Since the Lisbon Treaty we have a situation in Europe where everyone says, 'we can develop everything but we can't change the treaties'," Merkel said.

"I don't think that we can build a truly functioning Europe that way."

French President Francois Hollande has rejected changing EU treaties, pushing for more pro-growth policies and less austerity within the existing European charters.

Other EU members are also sceptical about renegotiating treaties, which may require referendums, amid rising euroscepticism in many countries.

Merkel, making her case for evolving charters in the EU, said "we have a situation in Europe where Germany is often accused of resisting certain developments. This is not the case.

"We are among those who say that we must, if treaties are no longer sufficient, develop those treaties."

"Those who want more Europe must be ready for new rules on some competencies," she added.

Merkel was sworn in for a third term on Tuesday, almost three months after winning September 22 elections, leading a "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats.

Addressing the Bundestag legislature, Merkel said that her new government wants for Germany, as a founding member of the EU, to continue "to take a responsible role and one that promotes integration in Europe".

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'White powder in Nigella's handbag': PA

A London court has heard TV cook Nigella Lawson was unhappy in her marriage to Charles Saatchi. Source: AAP

NIGELLA Lawson's former personal assistant "frequently" found rolled-up banknotes with white powder on them in her handbag, she has told a court.

Francesca Grillo, who along with her sister Elisabetta is on trial accused of defrauding Lawson and former husband Charles Saatchi, said she never saw Lawson taking drugs although she did find evidence of drug use on many occasions.

She said she first saw the rolled-up notes at the food writer's Shepherd's Bush home, in the kitchen after a party and also in a guest bedroom.

One of her jobs as Ms Lawson's aide was to exchange items between her handbags, and she would find rolled-up banknotes in those, she told Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Tuesday.

Asked how often she found the banknotes, Grillo said: "Frequently. Every time I went through her handbag there was some notes. It was very frequent."

Asked if she ever raised the issue of drugs, she replied: "No. I didn't think it was my place."

Lawson would tell Francesca "you're good at finding things" and ask her to look for belongings in her handbags, the jury heard.

Lawson would sometimes come downstairs with white powder on her nose and Francesca would point it out to her, but would be told by the cook it was make-up.

Asked by defence counsel Karina Arden if the substance could have been make-up, Grillo replied: "Too white to be make-up."

She also noted that the TV cook often had a runny nose, the court heard.

Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are accused of defrauding the celebrity couple by spending 685,000 euros ($A1.06 million) on credit cards belonging to them.

The court has heard the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.

Francesca also recalled how she improvised an excuse to protect her employer when a child discovered a hollow book containing what the employee thought were drugs.

The defendant told the court: "She (the child) said 'Look what I found in (the) book!'.

"It was a small plastic bag with white powder. I made up something."

Grillo said the clandestine book also contained items of jewellery belonging to Lawson's late husband John Diamond.

She said she found cannabis in a child's room in the home, and the television cook would swig from bottles containing liquid medication.

She told the court: "Tazepam, Xanax ... Ms Lawson had medication for depression.

"She would take it directly from the bottle."

Asked by Arden how frequently she would see Lawson take medication in this way, Francesca said: "Very often. She had one bottle in the kitchen and one bottle in the bedroom."

She told the court she did not originally mention the alleged drug use in her first statement to police, but did so after photographs of Saatchi and Lawson at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair emerged in the press during the year.

"The one that stuck in my mind was the one of him picking her nose. Maybe he found something relating to drugs.

"I maybe thought if he didn't know that, he probably didn't know about the authorisation - the allowance - of the signatures (by Ms Lawson, on personal expenditure)."

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Business as usual as Pope turns 77

THOUSANDS of goodwill messages have poured in to the Vatican for Pope Francis, who has turned 77.

But no special celebrations were planned for the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, with Tuesday expected to be a normal working day for him.

The pope celebrated his daily mass in the Santa Marta chapel at 7am (1700 AEDT), and was preparing his speech for his weekly audience, scheduled for Wednesday.

Francis was given a surprise party at the weekend, when he met a group of children at a charity office inside the Vatican.

They each sported a letter of the alphabet on their shirt, and lined up to spell out the message Happy Birthday, Pope Francis. There was also a cake, with candles.

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