Ukraine's neighbours eye Russian gas hedge

FOUR Central European nations are urging the US to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the risk that Russia could cut its supply of gas to Ukraine, but the White House says such a move would take more than a year.

Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal on Friday in a letter to John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives.

A similar letter was expected to be sent to Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate.

The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, asks for Congress to support speedier approval of natural gas exports. It notes that the "presence of US natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe".

The ambassadors say the unrest in Ukraine has revived Cold War memories, and energy security threatens the region's residents daily.

"Gas-to-gas competition in our region is a vital aspect of national security and a key US interest in the region," the ambassadors wrote in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Ukraine is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, and previous disputes between Ukraine and Russia have led to supply cuts.

Russian state company Gazprom has increased the pressure on Ukraine's new government - which already owes $US1.89 billion ($A2.09 billion) for past deliveries - by warning that if Ukraine doesn't pay its debts, Russia could retaliate by cutting off wider supplies to Europe, as happened in 2009.

Recent advancements have made it possible for Russian gas that normally flows to European Union customers through Ukraine to flow in the other direction, so Poland and Hungary could supply gas to Ukraine if Russian supplies halted.

But with gas supplies limited, the region remains vulnerable unless the US makes it easier to import American natural gas, the ambassadors argued.

Boehner and Republicans have been urging the Obama administration to clear the way for more exports to capitalise on America's current natural gas boom.

The US Energy Department has approved only six export licences, while about two dozen remain pending.

"The ability to turn the tables and put the Russian leader in check lies right beneath our feet, in the form of vast supplies of natural energy," Boehner wrote this week in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.

The White House has argued that Russia's dependence on gas revenues makes it unlikely that the country would cut supplies to Europe despite Russia's worsening conflict with Ukraine over the Crimean peninsula.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday that because Europe has had a relatively mild winter, gas supplies are sufficient.

He said even if the US did approve more export licences, it would take until the end of 2015 for gas to be delivered.

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Australians on board missing plane

A search and rescue mission is underway for a Malaysia Airlines flight, which has lost contact with air traffic control.

Flight with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board missing ... Malaysia Airlines service bound for Beijing lost. Source: Supplied

• Beijing-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur
• Plane lost contact at 5.40am AEDT
• 239 passengers missing, including six Australians
• DFAT hotline: 1300 555 135 or 02 6261 3305
• See full passenger manifest

SIX Australians including two couples from Queensland one couple from New South Wales are missing and feared dead in a Malaysia Airlines crash in the waters off Vietnam.

Brisbane couples Rodney and Mary Burrows and Catherine and Robert Lawton of Springfield Lakes are believed to be friends travelling together.

It was the moment of unspeakable horror that changed the lives of three Aussie families forever.

"Dad phoned this morning and said 'Bobby's plane's missing','' said Robert Lawton's brother David.

"I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.

"We just want to know where it is, where the plane's come down, if there's anything left.

Cathy and Bob Lawton are kindly neighbours, doting grandparents and adventurous spirits who have long roamed the world, according to friends and family of the Brisbane couple.

Family who had gathered at a Burrows family home yesterday waiting for news saidthey were too upset to speak.

The Burrows lived in the quiet Brisbane suburb of Middle Park, where neighbours last night described the tragic loss of two soul mates who always put family first.

"They are lovely people," said Don Stokes.

"They were excited about the trip.

Fellow neighbour Mandy Watt added: "They were all about the kids. The kids had moved on... they're all successful, all happy. This was their time."

The couple from Sydney have been identified as Li Yuan and Gu Naijun. Their last known address is a peaceful townhouse in a complex on the northern tip of the Shire, where Boeings and Airbuses criss-cross in the skies above. Mr Li is believed to own the Metro petrol station in Miranda.

Perth father-of-two Paul Weeks was among the 239 passengers and crew feared dead.

Perth father-of-two Paul Weeks. Source: Supplied

The 39-year-old, who lives in Perth's north-eastern suburbs with his young family, was on his way to do his first shift as part of a fly in-fly out job in Mongolia.

It was meant to be the start of a dream job for the mechanical engineer.

Last night his wife Danica spoke to The Sunday Times from their home and said she was trying to come to grips with the tragic news.

The couple have a three-year-old son named Lincoln and a 10-month-old called Jack.

Mr Weeks is originally from New Zealand and moved to WA in 2011 to work in the mining industry.

According to his online job resume, he had been working with MTU Detroit Diesel Australia in WA.

He had previously worked for the New Zealand army for about six years.

Mr Weeks was listed as one of two New Zealand passengers despite his ties to Australia. The Sunday Times also understands the brother of a Perth woman was on the flight.

On board the flight ... Catherine and Robert Lawton of Springfield Lakes. Picture: Facebook Source: Facebook

They are among the 239 people on board a Malaysia Airlines flight that lost contact with air traffic control and may have gone down in the Gulf of Thailand.

The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 5.40am (AEST).

"The flight was carrying 227 passengers (including two infants), 12 crew members," the airline said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines said the passengers were from 14 different countries. Initial reports stated seven passengers were Australians but a subsequent statement from the airline put the number at six. Two were from New Zealand.

Vietnamese air force planes have spotted two large oil slicks that authorities suspect are from a missing Malaysian jetliner.

The slicks were spotted off the southern tip of Vietnam, a government statement says.

The slicks were each between 10km and 15km long.

The statement says the slicks are consistent with the kinds that would be left by fuel from a crashed jetliner.

For hours after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens en route to Beijing the rumour mill was swirling.

Officials were forced to deny reports that the plane had landed in southern China, saying they were simply untrue.

They also said reports that the plane had crashed of the South Vietnamese coast had not been confirmed, nor could they rule out a terrorist attack or a complete loss of fuel.

The Vietnamese Navy claimed its military radar had recorded the plane crashing into the sea about 250km south of Phu Quoc Island, a popular Vietnamese tourist resort near Cambodia. That, too, remained unconformed.

Another report claimed the plane had suddenly plunged 200m and changed course shortly before all contact was lost. Aviation experts say this could have been due to a catastrophic engine failure, the pilots taking evasive action to avoid another aircraft, or an explosion.

But late into the night airline officials were still saying they simply did not know what had happened.

Raw ... in Beijing, a woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing passengers. Picture: Han Guan Ng Source: AP

What is known is that three hours and 40 minutes afte takeoff the flight with 227 passengers from 14 countries and 12 crew ceased all contact with air traffic control near Ca Mau province in southern Vietnam.

Since then, no emergency message nor distress beacon has been heard.

"Normally, with a situation on a flight, they have time to check systems, activate emergency beacons, talk to other aircraft nearby and air traffic control," Adam Susz from the the Australian and International Pilots Association said.

"The thing about this type of incident is it seems to happen instantly.

"That's probably the last thing we want to hear is that it is a very sudden and unexpected sign."

Mr Susz said aircrafts were normally in constant communication with air traffic control, typically every 30 to 60 minutes, either by satellite or VHF.

Chinese and Thai authorities said the Boeing 777-200 did not enter their airspace.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the government "fears the worst" for those aboard the flight, and that they had so far confirmed the names of six Australians on the flight's passenger manifest.

"Our sympathies are with the families and friends of these Australians. We also extend our condolences to the families of the other passengers and to the governments of all those countries affected, in particular China, Indonesia and Malaysia who had significant numbers of nationals on this flight.

"Australian consular officials are in contact with family members living in Australia of those believed to be on the flight and will continue to provide the families with all possible consular assistance," the spokesperson said.

The world waits ... A spokesperson, right, from the Malaysia Airlines speaks to the media at a hotel in Beijing. Picture: Andy Wong Source: AP

"Australian consular officials are in urgent and ongoing contact with Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines has advised that it is contacting relatives of the passengers on the flight."

The airline has established a call centre – phone +60 37884 1234 – for those seeking more information.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre is contactable on 1 300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).

A total of 153 passengers were Chinese nationals.

There were also 38 from Malaysia, 12 from Indonesia, three from France, two from New Zealand, four from the USA, two from Ukraine, two Canadians, two Russians, one Italian, one from Taiwan, one from The Netherlands and one from Austria.

Tearful and angry, the friends and relatives of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have lashed out at the company as journalists besiege them in a Beijing hotel.

Many were taken there by the airline after going to the Chinese capital's airport to meet the flight, scheduled to land at around 6.30am.

A press conference was expected at the same location, and when others arrived later, they had to run the gauntlet of scores of Chinese and international reporters shoving microphones and cameras in their faces.

"They should have told us something before now," said one visibly distressed man in his 30s, from the Chinese city of Tianjin.

A man in his 20s struggled to help a grieving older woman, possibly his mother, into a quiet room as journalists shouted questions at her.

"They are useless," he said of the airline. "I don't know why they haven't released any information. We waited for four hours and all they told us was the very few details they released at the media conference."

Fighting back tears, a 20-year-old woman who had gone to the airport to meet a college friend said the passenger's family still had not been told by the airline she was on board.

Scores of family members spoke to airline officials in small groups in a room on the hotel's second floor.

Security at times struggled to hold back the huge throng of reporters crowding outside the door and making it difficult for relatives to enter or exit.

One woman in her twenties entered the room frantically crying, ignoring questions from the horde.

A man in his 60s wiped tears from his eyes with a handkerchief as he entered the room.

He hit a cameraman in the face who tried to film him as he walked by, as a security guard shouted "Don't you all have families?"

Grim news ... Malaysian Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya addresses the media near Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana Source: AFP

Reports on Twitter appeared to show a full list of names of passengers on board the flight, but its veracity had not been confirmed.

Pham Hien, a Vietnamese search and rescue official, said the last signal detected from the plane was 120 nautical miles (225 kilometers) southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province, which is close to where the South China Sea meets the Gulf of Thailand.

Lai Xuan Thanh, director of Vietnam's civil aviation authority, said air traffic officials in the country never made contact with the plane.

The plane "lost all contact and radar signal one minute before it entered Vietnam's air traffic control,'' Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the Vietnamese army, said in a statement issued by the government.

As darkness fell and a major search and rescue operation was under way off the Vietnamese coast, an airline spokesman said: "We are still trying to locate the current location of the flight based on the last known position of the aircraft.

"We are working with the International search and rescue teams in trying to locate the aircraft.

"So far, we have not received any emergency signals or distress messages from MH370.

"We are working with authorities and assure that all sources are deployed to assist with the search and rescue mission."

Malaysia and Vietnam have launched searches for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

The South China Sea is a tense region with competing territorial claims that have led to several low-level conflicts, particularly between China and the Philippines. That antipathy briefly faded as nations of the region rushed to aid in the search, with China dispatching two maritime rescue ships and the Philippines deploying three air force planes and three navy patrol ships to help.

"In times of emergencies like this, we have to show unity of efforts that transcends boundaries and issues,'' said Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the Philippine military's Western Command.

The ministry launched a rescue effort to find the plane, working in coordination with Malaysian and Chinese officials, the statement added.

Malaysian authorities dispatched a plane, two helicopters and four vessels to search seas off its east coast in the South China Sea, said Faridah Shuib, a spokeswoman for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

The Philippines said it was sending three navy patrol boats and a surveillance plane to help efforts.

Yahoo News quoted local newspaper reports that the Vietnamese Navy said the plane went down into the sea about 153 miles south of Phu Quoc Island, just off the coast of the Vietnamese / Cambodian border.

Other media outlets reported that the Chinese Navy had deployed two vessels to the South China Sea to search for the missing plane.

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their search and rescue team to locate the aircraft," Malaysia Airlines said.

Whatever happened to the flight, Indonesia-based independent aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said the clock was ticking on a "24-hour golden window'' for search and rescue efforts.

"You can't assume that there are no survivors, and if there are any, it is absolutely crucial that they are picked up within a day, or the chances of survival drops significantly,'' he said.

Search and rescue under way ... a map of the Malaysia Airlines flight's approximate flight path to Beijing. Source: Supplied

China's state news agency reported that the Malaysia Airlines aircraft lost contact over Vietnam while an unconfirmed report on a flight tracking website said the aircraft had plunged 200m and changed course shortly before all contact was lost.

The route would have taken the plane across the Malaysian mainland in a north easterly direction and then across the Gulf of Thailand.

Grief ... A possible relative cries at the Beijing Airport. Picture: Mark Ralston Source: AFP

Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Chinese aviation authorities saying the plane did not enter China's air traffic control sphere.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement: "We are very concerned learning this news."

"We are contacting relevant authorities and are trying to confirm relevant information.''

The vice president of Malaysia Airlines told CNN that the missing plane had enough fuel for seven hours.

In shock ... A woman, center, surrounded by media covers her mouth on her arrival at a hotel which is prepared for relatives or friends of passengers aboard the missing plane, in Beijing. Picture: Andy Wong Source: AP

Malaysia Airlines' Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement: "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am earlier this morning bound for Beijing."

MORE: PLANE CRASHES THAT CHANGED AVIATION HISTORY

MORE: MAJOR AIR DISASTERS SINCE 2009

Seven Australians have been confirmed to be on board a Malaysian Airlines flight which has gone missing.

"The aircraft was scheduled to land at Beijing International Airport at 6.30am local Beijing time (9.30am AEST).

"Subang Air Traffic Control reported that it lost contact at 2.40am (local Malaysia time) today.

"Flight MH370 was operated on a Boeing B777-200 aircraft," he said.

Recording the grief ... media hover over a possible relative of a passenger on the Malaysia Airlines flight. Picture: Mark Ralston Source: AFP

The pilot was 53 year old captain Zahari Ahmad Shah, who joined the airline in 1981 and had over 18,000 flying hours.

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft," Mr Yahya said..

"Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilise its full support.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."

Fearing the worst ... Chinese police stand beside the arrival board showing the flight MH370 (top red) at Beijing Airport. Picture: Mark Ralston Source: AFP

Follow Malaysia Airlines on the incident on Facebook

Fuad Sharuji, Malaysian Airlines' vice president of operations control, told CNN that the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,670 metres and that the pilots had reported no problem with the aircraft.

Finding planes that disappear over the ocean can be very difficult. Aeroplane "black boxes'' - the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - are equipped with "pingers'' that emit ultrasonic signals that can be detected underwater.

Under good conditions, the signals can be detected from several hundred kilometres away, said John Goglia, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board. If the boxes are trapped inside the wreckage, the sound may not travel as far, he said. If the boxes are at the bottom of an underwater trench, that also hinders how far the sound can travel. The signals also weaken over time.

Air France Flight 447, with 228 people on board, disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janiero to Paris on June 1, 2009. Some wreckage and bodies were recovered over the next two weeks, but it took nearly two years for the main wreckage of the Airbus 330 and its black boxes to be located and recovered.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, registration 9M MRO, is thought to have been a regular on routes to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Auckland.

A flight tracking website shows images of the plane descending at Kingsford-Smith airport in Sydney in 2010.

Showing the strain ... a Malaysian policeman stands guard outside a reception centre for family and friends at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana Source: AFP

The Malaysian Airlines flight was not the only air traffic incident to happen on Saturday.

An Indian jetliner with 170 people on board caught fire while landing in Nepal's capital, but there were no casualties reported.

The right wheels of the Indigo Airbus 320 caught fire during the landing and passengers were quickly evacuated through emergency doors.

Officials said the plane, which was arriving from New Delhi, was flying too low before landing.

Fearing bad news ... a woman talks on the phone at a reception centre for families and friends of passengers at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana. Source: AFP

Malaysia Airlines is the national carrier of Malaysia and one of Asia's largest, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.

Malaysia Airlines has 15 777 planes in the fleet and is an experienced operator of this type of aircraft.

Aviation Week reported that the missing plane was a 777-2H6ER with tail number 9M-MRO and serial number 28420. It had been built in 2002 and had been used by Malaysian Airlines since that time.

The last major crash of Malaysia Airlines flight was in 1995, when a Fokker 50 (9M-MGH) crashed during approach in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia, killing 34 people.

In 1977, a Malaysia Airlines flight was hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 people aboard.

The crash represents one of the biggest passenger losses in recent time and the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year after an almost spotless record.

Last year, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers with 200 people taken to hospital.

In 2005, during a flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur the crew received a "stall warning" forcing the pilot to turn back.

Boeing said it was "monitoring" the situation.

Other accidents involving Malaysia Airlines planes include a fatal crash last October in Borneo Island, which claimed the lives of a copilot and passenger.

In 1977, a jet crashed in southern Malaysia, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew.

Anyone wanting more information on the flight should call the airline on +60-378841234.

If you have any information that is relevant to this story, please email paul.tatnell@news.com.au.

Commercial flight missing ... The image from @flightaware shows the last known track of flight MH370 over southern Asia. Picture: Flightaware.com Source: Supplied

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Seven die in horror crash in Belgium

SEVEN people have died on a Belgian motorway after their car drove at high speed into the back of a German truck and caught fire.

The accident happened in the early hours of Saturday at Zonhofen, near the Dutch border.

Some of the occupants of the BMW were still conscious when it caught fire on the motorway emergency lane, Belga news agency reported.

The lorry driver and other motorists came to the scene with fire extinguishers before the local fire brigade arrived, but the blaze spread quickly.

Rescue workers later towed the vehicle away, clearing the road where a 4km tailback had developed.

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Oil slicks may be from missing plane

VIETNAMESE air force planes have spotted two large oil slicks in the area where a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished, the first sign that the aircraft carrying 239, including six Australians, has crashed.

The air force planes were part of a multinational search operation launched after Flight MH370 fell off radar screens less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early on Saturday morning.

A Vietnamese government statement said the slicks were spotted late on Saturday off the southern tip of Vietnam and were each between 10km and 15km long.

There was no confirmation that the slicks were related to the missing plane, but the statement said they were consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the two fuel tanks of a crashed jetliner.

Two-thirds of the missing plane's passengers were from China, while others were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.

The missing Australians were Mary and Rodney Burrows and Catherine and Robert Lawton, all from Brisbane. The two couples were reportedly travelling together.

Li Yuan and Gu Naijun, believed to be from Sydney, were also missing.

Two New Zealanders were also aboard the flight.

One of the Lawtons' neighbours described them as a lovely couple who enjoyed travelling.

Australians used social media sites to express hope for all the passengers' survival.

"Praying for a miracle," one person wrote.

Australian authorities said they "feared the worst" for all aboard flight MH370.

"Consular officials are currently in touch with Malaysian Airlines and with the families of the missing Australian passengers," Senator Brett Mason, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, told reporters in Sydney.

"At the moment there is no clarity as to what has occurred.

"But can I just add that the families of the ... missing Australian passengers must be desperately concerned and the thoughts of the Australian government and I'm sure all Australians go out to them at the moment."

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said there was no indication that the pilots had sent a distress signal, suggesting that whatever happened to the plane occurred quickly and possibly catastrophically.

The plane was last detected on radar at 1.30am on Saturday (0430 AEDT) around where the South China Sea meets the Gulf of Thailand, authorities in Malaysia and Vietnam say.

Lai Xuan Thanh, director of Vietnam's civil aviation authority, said air traffic officials in the country never made contact with the plane.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that Malaysia had dispatched 15 planes and nine ships to the area, and that the U.S. Navy was sending some planes as well. Singapore, China and Vietnam also were sending aircraft.

It's not uncommon for it to take several days to find the wreckage of aircraft floating on the ocean. Locating and then recovering the flight data recorders, vital to any investigation, can take months or even years.

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Deregulation on TV networks wish lists

MORE freedom over programming standards is on commercial television networks' wish lists as they face increased pressure from the internet.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is holding talks with telecommunications and media broadcast chiefs in Sydney on Friday to discuss deregulation of the industry.

The meeting is part of the Abbott government's plan to remove $1 billion of regulation from business each year and rebuild bridges with an industry put offside by the previous Labor government.

Free TV chief Julie Flynn said in a submission to Mr Turnbull's review that commercial networks were being squeezed by twin pressures.

Revenues were under pressure from competition for advertising dollars and eyeballs from new entrants such as Google, YouTube, Netflix, Telstra and Fetch.

At the same time, broadcasters were having to invest in new content and technology.

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Bishop plays down China's public rebuke

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has revealed she shared a delightful evening meal with her Chinese counterpart after his public rebuke last year.

Ms Bishop was upbraided by Wang Yi during a press conference in Beijing in December.

The foreign minister was criticised for "irresponsible" comments after Australia condemned China's declaration of an air-defence zone over an island chain also claimed by Japan.

He accused Australia of "jeopardising bilateral mutual trust".

Last week, Australia's top diplomat for north Asia, Peter Rowe, described the incident as the rudest display he'd seen in his 30-year career.

But Ms Bishop has played down the exchange.

"He made a very robust point, to which I responded equally robustly," she told ABC TV.

"There might have been some staging of events for the media."

Asked if it was a bullying effort by the Chinese, Ms Bishop replied: "Well it didn't work if that was the intention."

Ms Bishop said after the press conference the meeting continued for three hours and then the pair had a "delightful evening" sharing dinner together.

In the past, former foreign ministers Stephen Smith, Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr had robust discussions with the Chinese behind closed doors, Ms Bishop said.

She denied that her gender had played a role.

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Pollies to put Stevens under the spotlight

FEDERAL politicians will get the chance to tease out the Reserve Bank's current thinking on the economy and interest rates when its boss goes under the spotlight.

Governor Glenn Stevens and his top officials appear before the House Economics Committee in Sydney on Friday, the first of two public hearings held each year.

The three-hour grilling comes after a week of largely upbeat data, including strong retail spending and building approvals figures, along with the national accounts that showed the economy growing at a smarter pace of 2.8 per cent over 2013.

But in leaving the cash rate unchanged again at an all-time low of 2.5 per cent at this week's board meeting, Mr Stevens warned that unemployment could rise further, while mining investment is set to decline significantly.

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Experts to give verdict on direct action

KEY climate change experts are set to deliver their verdicts on the Abbott government's proposed alternative to the carbon tax - its direct action plan.

Heavyweights from the CSIRO, Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Climate Change Authority will front a Senate committee hearing in Canberra on Friday.

Ross Garnaut, who conducted two reviews into global warming for the previous Labor government, will also give evidence.

Climate Change Authority chair Bernie Fraser says major political parties need to show more than lip service to climate change science.

"It has to be backed by policy measures commensurate with the challenges identified by climate scientists," he said in a submission to the inquiry.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott will deliver an address to the United Nations International Women's Day breakfast in Sydney on Friday.

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Pacific kids more depressed: NZ study

A NEW study has found relatively high levels of depression among Pacific Island children in New Zealand, particularly bullies and their victims.

The Pacific Islands Families Study, published in the latest issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal, found seven per cent of nine-year-old Pacific children showed depressive symptoms compared with the one-to-three per cent prevalence generally in children.

Depression was also associated with internalising behaviour problems and low maternal education, with better educated mothers more likely to recognise depressive symptoms and embrace health services.

Low depression scores among the 858 children surveyed were linked with their positive self-perception, physical abilities, parental and peer relationships, high verbal intelligence and high performance at school.

"Child depression manifests as feelings of sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, agitation and guilt, and is a debilitating problem than can significantly impair social and school functioning," the study authors said.

Building up self-esteem and social skills, combined with anti-bullying measures in school, were likely to reduce childhood depression, they said.

In a journal editorial, child psychiatry academics Stephanie Moor and Sally Merry, from Otago and Auckland universities respectively, say the relationship between bullying and depression is complex.

But the Christchurch Health and Development Study had previously shown that if a parent or teacher reported that a child aged seven to 12 was a bully, then as an adolescent and adult they were at risk of mental health problems including depression.

"Moreover, parental reports of their child being a victim of bullying in early teen years in this study were associated with a range of mental health problems including depression and suicidality over adolescence and adulthood."

Interventions tackling bullying at school have been shown to improve not only the health of victims but also to have economic advantages, with increased school attendance and attainment leading to better employment and earnings, Dr Moor and Dr Merry say.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 or follow @LifelineAust @OntheLineAus @kidshelp @beyondblue @headspace_aus @ReachOut_AUS on Twitter.

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Qantas and drought bills due in parliament

THE federal government will on Thursday introduce legislation to parliament opening Qantas to greater levels of foreign investment.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss is scheduled to present the Qantas Sale Amendment Bill, proposing the removal of a section of the Act which limits foreign ownership in the airline.

Labor and the Australian Greens oppose the changes, for which the government has the numbers to pass through the lower house, but not the Senate.

Also on Thursday Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce will present bills to parliament aimed at bolstering support for farming families struggling in severe drought conditions.

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Macedonia paves way for snap election

MACEDONIAN legislators unanimously voted to dissolve parliament on Wednesday, paving the way for early elections slated for late April.

Some 118 lawmakers voted in favour of the dissolution, while five others abstained. No-one voted against the move.

The news comes after the multi-ethnic ruling coalition of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party and the Democratic Union for Integration failed to agree on a presidential candidate for a poll set to take place on April 13.

Gruevski said over the weekend that a snap poll - which comes one year ahead of the regular election date - would be held on April 27 to coincide with the second round of the presidential vote.

Macedonia is troubled by recurrent ethnic tensions between the majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, who make up less than a third of the population.

In spite of UN-led negotiations, Macedonia and neighbouring Greece are embroiled in a protracted name dispute that emerged in 1991. The dispute has scuppered Macedonia's entry to NATO and its application to join the European Union.

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Medicare costs must be reined in: Dutton

HEALTH Minister Peter Dutton says the Medicare system needs to modernised to be affordable, but he won't say if GP co-payments will be part of the mix.

The Consumers Health Forum on Tuesday reignited debate on GP co-payments, when it released research showing that not only would they hit the needy, but they would fail to provide any overall budget savings.

Co-payments of up to $6 have been flagged as one way to tackle health spending as the government grapples with the budget deficit.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has downplayed the likelihood of a co-payment being introduced, saying he wants the government to be "the best friend that Medicare has ever had".

Mr Dutton, who has called for a debate on whether the well-off should contribute more to their health care, said arguments for and against co-payments would be considered by the government's commission of audit.

"That's with the commission of audit at the moment - we'll consider those recommendations in relation to this portfolio," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.

But he said if the coalition wants to be Medicare's best friend, it needed to modernise the decades-old system.

"If we want to be the best friend that Medicare can have ... then we have to recognise it was a 1980s model, and we need to modernise it and strengthen it," he said.

"Because there are costs and threats coming down the line with an ageing population that can't be paid otherwise."

The Consumers Health Forum says co-payments could be counter-productive in reducing health costs, because people would delay seeking treatment and end up in hospital emergency departments.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the introduction of GP co-payments would spell the end of universal health care.

"This will lead to a two-tier health system that looks much more like an American system than the one of universal care Australia has known for the past 30 years," she said in a statement.

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Hospitals could be $1b more efficient

EDS: Not for use before 2000 (AEDT), Tuesday, March 4.

CANBERRA, March 4 AAP - Almost $1 billion could be saved each year if public hospitals were forced to be more efficient with their spending, a think tank says.

The Grattan Institute says an efficient price for hospital services should be set by state governments to remove what it says is about $928 million in "avoidable" spending annually.

The institute's health director, Stephen Duckett, called for administrators to be held more accountable for spending, saying the current funding for the average cost of care rewarded inefficiency.

The institute's report, Controlling Costly Care, says there is a gulf between so-called high- and low-cost hospitals. The gap between the most and least expensive is as high as $2500 an admission in some states.

Dr Duckett said a new efficient average price should be set and linked to hospital funding.

The new benchmark would take account of unavoidable costs, which could be because patients were older or coming from remote areas.

However, it would also remove inefficient spending on items such as supplies, or on patients waiting or staying too long in a hospital bed.

"What we're asking states to do is to be tighter in the way they set their prices at public hospitals," Dr Duckett told AAP.

"There are a range of reasons for why hospital costs vary, and what we're saying is that these all need to be under control."

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Winds pose new threat to Vic mine fire

FIREFIGHTERS battling Victoria's coal mine fire are preparing for a strong wind change that has the potential to fan a blaze that has already lasted more than three weeks.

A forecast change, expected to hit the area after 9am (AEDT), has the potential to also blow smoke back over Morwell, incident controller Bob Barry says.

These are similar to conditions experienced last Tuesday, when the blaze escaped from the mine and headed towards the power station, before it was brought under control.

While firefighters have made good progress in recent days and brought 85 per cent of the blaze under control, hopes to contain the fire by Sunday depend largely on Wednesday's windy weather.

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AEC assurances sought ahead of WA poll

FEDERAL parliament will seek assurances from the Australian Electoral Commission ahead of Western Australia's Senate poll re-run.

A joint parliamentary committee hearing in Canberra on Wednesday will continue its investigation into the AEC's loss of 1370 ballot papers in the west after the September federal election, which has sparked a subsequent poll.

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty, who led an AEC inquiry into the matter, will appear before the committee, where the commission will also be asked to confirm that his recommendations have been implemented.

The recommendations focus on parcelling, labelling, transporting and storage of ballot papers.

The AEC says it has already implemented the key suggestions from Mr Keelty.

Elsewhere in Canberra's political sphere, debate about legislative changes to the Qantas Sales Act is expected to dominate proceedings.

The government faces opposition from Labor and the Australian Greens to its plans to allow greater foreign ownership of the airline's domestic arm.

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Economic growth getting a little faster

AUSTRALIA'S economic growth is expected to have strengthened a little at the end of 2013, getting a boost from a lift in mining and resource exports.

December quarter gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to have grown by 0.7 per cent, for an annual rate of 2.5 per cent, according to an AAP survey of 12 economists.

In the September quarter, GDP growth was 0.6 per cent, and 2.3 per cent in the year to September.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release National Accounts figures on Wednesday.

JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters said mining and resources exports took over from mining and resources investment as the main driver for economic growth in 2013.

"There was a substantial shift in Australia's growth drivers in 2013, with the decade-long dependence on resource investment giving way to an inflated reliance on real net trade," he said.

"The upshot from fading resources investment is that output from the associated projects is starting to come online, particularly in the iron ore and coal sectors, with a further lift in liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity expected further down the line.

"In 2013, iron ore, coal, and LNG comprised more than half of Australia's total export basket, with this share set to swell in coming years."

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said Australia continued to post solid economic growth but it was still below its long-term average.

"This outcome is not unexpected," he said.

"But some perspective is needed here.

"Even at a sub-trend pace, the Australian economy has just clocked up 22 years of continuous economic growth.

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Call for caution amid fracking uncertainty

AUSTRALIA should view the relatively new practice of fracking for gas with as much caution as the introduction of a new drug, says an essay in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

"The uncertainty over the health implications is greater than that surrounding any other energy choice, write Dr Alicia Coram and her colleagues.

"The absence of concrete evidence of harm does not equate to evidence of its absence."

They say the current evidence does not provide a clear picture, which is a good reason to put the brakes on.

They say the biggest public concerns include contamination of drinking and irrigation water.

However, wastewater and community disruption are also major issues.

"Natural contaminants present in wastewater can include heavy metals and radioactive materials, which have serious and well known health effects."

Fracking involves injecting large quantities of water and chemicals into gas reservoirs. Materials like sand are pumped in to keep the fractures open and allow the gas to flow.

The authors argue that it is incorrect to compare the process with the environmental impact of coal, because the damage caused by coal makes it a poor benchmark.

The comparison also obscures renewable energy options like solar and wind energy.

The uncertainties, including doubts about the greenhouse profile, weigh heavily against proceeding with proposed future developments, they write.

"Additionally, the burden of potential health hazards from gas extraction would fall on the most vulnerable children, the elderly, the poor, those living in rural, agricultural and indigenous communities, and future generations."

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Baby wipes cause rash of skin complaints

A PRESERVATIVE used in baby wipes is causing a rash of skin complaints.

The problem is an increasingly common allergic reaction to a preservative used in some brands.

But it's parents' hands, not babies' bottoms, that are breaking out, according to a research letter published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

But the rashes could also appear on other parts of the body because the preservative, Methylisothiazolinone (MI), is also used in make-up removal wipes, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, moisturisers, sunscreens and deodorants.

"MI is now the most common cause of allergic contact dermatitis among our patient population," write dermatologist Dr Jennifer Cahill and her colleagues.

"The most common source of MI is disposable wet wipes, now commonly used in nappy changing."

She and her colleagues at the Skin and Cancer Foundation in Melbourne routinely test people with rashes for the allergy.

The proportion of positive tests has soared from 3.5 per cent in 2011 to 11.3 per cent in 2013.

"Ironically it is the parents who are consulting doctors with rashes on their hands," co-author Associate Professor Rosemary Nixon told AAP.

But there could be under-diagnosis among babies, partly because nappy rash is common and partly because they are unlikely to be tested.

People with concerns should look for MI among the ingredients on their product, she said.

The best thing was to try determine the cause of a rash through a process of elimination.

If it failed to go away or returned, people should see a GP.

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Teenage detainees on run in NSW

FOUR male teenage detainees have threatened security officers with a knife before fleeing in a prison van on the NSW north coast.

At 4.30pm on Sunday police were called to North Street in Grafton where the teens allegedly threatened two security officers with a knife.

The security officers and another detainee got out of the van.

Police say four detainees, three aged 18 and one 15-year-old, then allegedly took off with the juvenile justice van.

The vehicle was found on Redgum Road shortly after.

However the detainees are still on the run.

The 18-year-olds are described as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander appearance, with black hair, medium builds and between 150 and 170cm tall. The fourth teen is described as being of Caucasian appearance, approximately 150cm to 155cm tall, with a thin build and brown hair.

Police have urged people not to approach the young men but to call 000 immediately.

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