Brave teachers honoured in national awards

THEY tackled an armed woman to the ground, but the five Perth teachers did not forget their manners - they offered the intruder a cushion for her head until police arrived.

The five women, who work at St Stephens School in Duncraig, have been honoured for their heroics in the annual Australian Bravery Awards after being confronted in February last year by a woman carrying a 27cm chopping knife.

The intruder seized a child by the arm at the school's early learning centre, but released the student when challenged by Year 1 teacher Katherine Hilder.

Ms Hilder grabbed the intruder and subtly forced her out of the classroom, leaving the children unaware of the unfolding drama.

She began to struggle, but by then, fellow teacher Heather Louise King had heard her colleague's call for help and grabbed the arm of the intruder that was brandishing the knife.

Both teachers continued to push the intruder away from the students and were joined by two more colleagues - Sally McAlpine and Jo-Anne Urquhart.

Ms Urquhart managed to snatch the knife away.

"Kate yelled, 'quick, get the knife' so I just grabbed the woman's hand to pull the knife out," Ms Urquhart told AAP.

She said the teachers realised the woman was not mentally stable, so they offered her a cushion while keeping her pinned down.

Ms Urquhart then left her colleagues to commence a lockdown, and ensured all students were safe until police arrived.

"The kids thought it was a drill, but then it went on for too long so we explained that there was a sick woman who needed help," she said.

"None of the children even realised what had happened."

Ms Hilder, Ms King, Ms McAlpine and Ms Urquhart were each recognised with bravery medals.

Fellow teacher, Rosalie Michelle Brades, was also commended for her brave conduct in maintaining hold of the intruder.

Ms Urquhart said she and her fellow teachers were surprised to receive the award.

"It is lovely to be recognised. I'm humbled," she said.

"It is great to be able to rely on everyone you work with."

The four bravery medals were among 21 approved by Governor General Quentin Bryce this year, along with 31 commendations for brave conduct and 10 group bravery citations.

Ms Bryce said the recipients had placed the safety and lives of others before their own.

"We are privileged to have such role models in our society," she said.

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Rudd offers tax sweetener to small firms

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd will offer small businesses a tax deduction sweetener of up to $10,000 for equipment, from the day after the election, if Labor wins.

Mr Rudd is set to announce a 'small business investment boost' on Sunday.

It will allow small businesses with an annual turnover of less than $2 million to claim an immediate tax deduction for assets purchased up to $10,000.

Computers, photocopiers, building tools and commercial fridges are among the items that will be covered.

An estimated 3.2 million businesses will be eligible for the tax deduction which will be on offer from September 8, 2013 to June 30, 2015.

The measure will expand and replace the existing instant asset write-off during this period.

It will cost $200 million over four years.

The cost will be offset from uncommitted funds in the budget.

Mr Rudd said it would be a "shot in the arm" for small businesses because it will provide upfront cash flow benefits.

Under the plan, if a cafe owner buys a commercial fridge for $7450, they will be able to claim the full cost as tax deduction and will pocket $2235 in the first year.

Under the old rules they would receive $335.

All small businesses irrespective of whether they are companies, sole traders, partnerships or trusts will be eligible.

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Egypt detains suspected 'spy' swan

IN a case that's ruffling feathers in Egypt, authorities have detained a swan that a citizen suspected of being a spy.

Officials say a man brought the suspected winged infiltrator to a police station on Friday in the Qena governorate, some 450 kilometres southeast of Cairo.

Officials say the man suspected the bird was an undercover agent because it carried an electronic device.

The head of security in Qena said on Saturday that officials examined the bird and the device.

Mohammed Kamal said the device was neither an explosive nor a spying device. It likely could be a wildlife tracker.

With turmoil gripping Egypt, authorities and citizens remain suspicious of anything foreign.

Earlier this year, a security guard filed a police report after capturing a pigeon he said carried microfilm.

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Ex-royal limousine sells for $70,000

THE description "one careful lady owner" particularly applies to a Daimler car auctioned for more than STG40,000 ($A69,970) - as it once belonged to the Queen.

Complete with a space to accommodate the royal handbag, the 2001 Daimler Super V8 LWB limousine was owned, and driven by, the Queen for three years until 2004.

It was sold on Saturday by auction house Historics at Brooklands in Surrey and fetched a hammer price of STG40,500 - a figure which is subject to commission and does not include the buyer's premium.

Sporting a British Racing Green livery, the car was tested over 4000km pre-delivery miles before being handed over to the Queen.

A further 17,700km were covered while the car was with the Queen before the vehicle was returned in 2004 to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, with which it is still registered.

The car was offered with all its specifications, including its original tyres.

One feature is a factory-adapted centre armrest that has a sliding holder specifically designed for the Queen's handbag.

The vehicle's ashtray was crafted to house the security lighting controls, which remain fully functioning.

This includes a set of blue flashing strobes occupying the front fog lamp inserts, alternate flashing headlamps and alternate flashing rear lights.

A further feature is a pair of neon blue lights by the rear view mirror, which were used to identify the vehicle in which the Queen was travelling when approaching her destination.

In the vehicle's capacious boot, the fittings can still be found for direct contact to the Home Office and Downing Street, although the working components have been removed.

Inside, there are deep lambswool floor rugs.

Unsurprisingly, the car has a full service history by RA Creamer of Kensington and Guy Salmon of Ascot, and was sold with all original documentation, two sets of keys and original registration number, along with photographs of the Queen driving and being driven in it.

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Grave excavation work begins at US school

RESEARCHERS from a Florida university has begun exhuming dozens of graves at a notorious former reform school where ex-inmates from the 1950s and 1960s have detailed horrific beatings that took place in a small, white concrete block building at the facility.

A group of survivors that call themselves the "White House Boys" have pushed for five years for an investigation into the graves at the former Dozier Boys School, which was plagued by scandal almost from its inception; tales of physical, mental and sexual abuse of the children have been documented.

The school opened in 1900 and shut down two years ago for budgetary reasons.

After the state ended an investigation in 2010 and said it could not substantiate or refute claims that boys died at the hands of staff, the University of South Florida began its own research and discovered even more graves than the state had identified.

USF has worked for months to secure a permit to exhume the remains, finally receiving permission from Governor Rick Scott and the state Cabinet after being rejected by Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who reports to Scott.

USF spokeswoman Lara Wade said in a message on Saturday that the work had begun.

Researchers are removing dirt with trowels and by hand to find the remains believed to be between about 50 centimetres to a little more than 90 centimetres under the surface.

In these historic cases, it's really about having an accurate record and finding out what happened and knowing the truth about what happened," said Erin Kimmerle, a USF anthropologist who is leading the excavation.

Kimmerle said the remains of about 50 people were in the graves. Some are marked with a plain, white steel cross, and others have no markings.

The school segregated white and black inmates and the remains were located where black inmates were held, Robert Straley, a spokesman for the "White House Boys," said.

He suspects there is another white cemetery that hasn't been discovered.

"I think that there are at least 100 more bodies up there," he said.

"At some point they are going to find more bodies, I'm dead certain of that. There has to be a white graveyard on the white side."

USF will work at the site until Tuesday and hopes to unearth the remains of two to four boys before resuming the excavation at a later date, Kimmerle said. The initial work will ensure that the process works smoothly before researchers return to the site.

DNA obtained at the site will be sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for analysis. The hope is that it can be matched to relatives. Ten families have contacted researchers in hopes of identifying relatives that might be buried at Dozier.

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Obama holds Syria meeting ahead of report

US President Barack Obama is meeting with senior national security advisers at the White House to discuss plans for possible military action against Syria.

The meeting should be followed by the public release of a report on intelligence the US has gathered about last week's deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Obama says the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad perpetrated the attack. But he has yet to present definitive evidence to back up the assertion.

Secretary of State John Kerry will speak about the intelligence report and the broader situation in Syria on Friday (US time).

Obama may also speak about Syria during the public portion of a White House meeting with Baltic leaders.

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Rudd campaigning in the NT

QUESTIONS about poor polls are likely to dog Kevin Rudd as he campaigns on Saturday ahead of Labor's official campaign launch.

A week out from the federal election, a Morgan Poll shows the coalition is increasing its lead over Labor and there has been rising support for the Greens and independents.

The prime minister will start the day campaigning in Darwin before he heads to Queensland for Labor's launch on Sunday.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who has consistently played down polls and insisted it is still a very tight race, will be in Melbourne.

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