Morsi's son arrested for drug possession

EGYPTIAN police have arrested a son of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on drug possession charges, the official Middle East News Agency reports.

Abdullah, the youngest son of Morsi, was detained with a friend in the town of Benha, north of Cairo. The report said five grams of hashish was found in their car, which was meant for for personal use.

The report did not say when the arrests were made.

Abdullah is the first member of Morsi's family to be detained since July when the military toppled the Islamist leader following massive street protests against his one-year rule.

A Cairo court on Saturday resumed the trial of Morsi for allegedly inciting the killing of anti-Islamist protesters while in office in 2012.

Morsi, a senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, is also facing three other trials on separate charges of conspiring with foreign groups, a 2011 escape from prison and defaming judges.

He has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

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Pharrell, U2 rock Oscar rehearsals

HAVING the number one song on the charts does not exempt an artist from Oscar rehearsals.

Pharrell Williams ran through his catchy hit Happy more than half a dozen times on Friday in preparation for the Oscar telecast. He even shared the spotlight with a spate of stars: Jamie Foxx, Brad Pitt and Kate Hudson showed up to rehearse while he was on stage.

"All I care about is the fun," Williams said to Hudson, who boogied in the audience as he practised his dance-heavy number. A choir of high-school students and 20 professional dancers accompany his colourful performance.

Also rehearsing on Friday were Broadway star Idina Menzel, who's set to sing Let It Go from animated film nominee Frozen; U2, which is nominated for its song from the Mandela movie, Ordinary Love; and rocker Karen O, who is nominated for The Moon Song from best picture nominee Her.

Menzel was awed by the technology that allowed the Oscar orchestra, playing off-site at the Capitol Records building, to coordinate with her live at the Dolby Theatre.

"Hi, Bill, can you hear me?" she said into the microphone to conductor William Ross, whom she could see on a monitor from inside the theatre.

"I'm trying to get that telepathic vibe with you because I'm alone up here and this is my first time (on the Oscars).

"You look very handsome," she added.

Karen O, front woman of the rock band Yeah Yeah Yeah's, took notes from director Spike Jonze as she practised her performance.

"Spike just asked me to hold the mic a little bit lower, so I need a little more level," she told a sound engineer. Jonze sat in a front-row seat in the audience.

Accompanied by Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig on acoustic guitar, O sang the song again and again, sitting on a corner of the stage in a long floral dress, leather motorcycle jacket and killer blue boots.

Williams arrived wearing a polka-dot jacket, patterned scarf and his trademark hat.

He ditched the chapeau for rehearsals, emerging onstage in just a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. He danced through the audience, pausing to shake hands with show producer Craig Zadan, saying, "Thanks for having me."

Foxx arrived in the middle of Williams' rehearsal. He quickly joined the dancers on stage, much to their amusement, pretending to stretch alongside them and offering unneeded dramatic direction.

"Walk, walk, curiosity! And retreat," he said to a chorus of laughter.

U2 also wasn't above rehearsals, running through their nominated song late into the night.

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WA man dies when vehicle rolls off road

A MAN has died after a vehicle drove off a Perth road, entered bushland and rolled over.

Police were notified of the single vehicle rollover off the Great Northern Highway about 30-kilometres south of Wyndham at 10.30am (WST) on Saturday.

It appears the vehicle left the road at or near a bend, entered bushland and rolled over.

A deceased male was located by police at the scene.

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UK science minister tours WA SKA site

UK Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts has had his first taste of the outback touring the site of what will be the world's largest and most powerful radio-telescope.

The beginnings of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) are emerging at the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory in central Western Australia, with two precursor projects, the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) already started.

The MWA, led by Curtin University Professor Steven Tingay, began operating last year while the ASKAP is due to kick off in earnest later this year.

The Brits are playing a key role in the multi-billion dollar, ten nation collaboration. It will see millions of antennas installed in South Africa and WA, where the Murchison area offers excellent radio quiet.

The SKA will have image resolution 50 times greater than the Hubble telescope and have a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the best present-day instruments.

Mind-boggling amounts of data will be processed and questions are expected to be answered, such as, how did the universe begin, what is dark energy, what generates giant magnetic fields in space and what and where are the conditions for life.

"I'm here to see some fantastic science, being delivered with Australian grit in creating these extraordinary facilities here in the outback that is part of this international project," Mr Willetts told reporters.

"This is going to get radio signals from the time when the universe was in its earliest stages, when stars were being created. It's going to get us back to the first light, when the universe was beginning."

Mr Willetts - who saw kangaroos and termite mounds in the wild for the first time on Saturday as he endured searing temperatures and an abundance of pesky flies - said the SKA was not only a boon for astronomers but also for computing.

"There's going to be more data collected from here and South Africa than the current flow of data across the complete world wide web. That's then got to be analysed and that's going to require innovations in computing and software."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who accompanied Mr Willetts on the tour, emphasised the immense power the SKA will have and the job opportunities it will create.

"This is Australian research and science at its very best," Ms Bishop said.

"It will be a staged process over time and we hope that the Square Kilometre Array can be completed by 2022 and then the excitement really begins, as the telescope will be able to scan the universe in ways never known before.

"All sorts of technological and scientific breakthroughs can result as we continue to work with this incredible project.

"It really is cutting edge."

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Russian army in Ukraine disturbs Bishop

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop says she's gravely worried about reports of a Russian military presence in Ukraine.

Her comments came amid reports of masked troops in Crimea, including at its international airport, and after the Australian government increased its travel warning for the strife-torn nation, with tourists urged to exercise extreme caution.

"We are deeply concerned about the instability in Ukraine," Ms Bishop told AAP.

"We are disturbed by reports overnight that there is activity in the Russian military on the borders.

"So we call for calm. We call for a political solution and we hope that any Australians seeking to travel reconsider the necessity of doing so."

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Welsh brewer creates lamb-flavoured beer

A WELSH brewer has created a new beer with lamb flavour to mark St David's Day, the national day of Wales.

Conwy Brewery said its Sunday Toast has infused lamb in the brewing process, combining the aromas of a Sunday roast with a dark ale.

The North Wales brewery slow-roasted Welsh lamb before adding the dissolved meat juices and sugar and keeping the brew warm for a week.

"Seasonal beers are a speciality of ours, but we wanted to do something really different to celebrate our country's national day," spokesman Gwynne Thomas said.

Saint David's Day is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on March 1 each year.

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$2.5m of cannabis found in northern NSW

Police have seized more than 1200 cannabis plants, worth about $2.5 million, during raids in NSW. Source: AAP

MORE than 1200 cannabis plants valued about $2.5 million have been seized by police during raids in northern NSW.

The plants were found in bushland around Lillian Rock, Barkers Vale, Rappville and Woodburn during the latest round of the cannabis eradication program (CEP), which ran from Monday to Wednesday, police said.

More than $4 million of cannabis was found and destroyed after similar searches in the first week of February.

"The CEP has been running since the mid-1980s and, to date, has prevented cannabis with an estimated potential street value of more than $250 million reaching NSW streets," police said in a statement.

"The CEP is generally operational during cannabis-growing season, which stretches from the late spring through summer and into early autumn."

The drug squad, dog unit, aviation support branch and local police were involved in the raids.

More busts will take place in the coming months.

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Motorists suffer 'accident anxiety'

MOST motorists are suffering from "accident anxiety", and drivers aged 35-44 are the most worried, according to a survey.

As many as 79 per cent of those taking to the road are anxious about driving, the poll by Allianz Insurance found.

This concern is so great that 17 per cent of drivers have decided not to make a particular journey due to their worries.

Based on responses from 1000 people who drive regularly, the survey showed 83 per cent of drivers aged 35-44 get anxious on the road.

Overall, the biggest worry to drivers is tailgating, followed by road rage and uninsured drivers.

Of those who have accidents, 81 per cent said it was not their fault with 22 per cent saying they felt more worried, more stressed and less confident after a collision, with women being notably more worried than men after a crash.

Yet just seven per cent reckoned more driver training would be the answer.

Allianz Insurance chief executive Jon Dye said: "It's worrying to see that so many motorists feel they will have an accident, and yet so few feel more driver training would help. Drivers can only drive at their best if they feel calm and alert and not unduly worried about what other motorists are getting up to.

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Qantas planes clip wings in LA

Two Qantas planes have clipped wings at LA airport, forcing the cancellation of two flights. Source: AAP

TWO Qantas planes have clipped wings while being towed out of a hangar in Los Angeles, causing the cancellation of two flights back to Australia.

No passengers were on board when the wing tips of an A380 and B747 came into contact at about 9pm LA time, Qantas said on Friday.

The damage was substantial enough to force the cancellation of flight QF94 to Melbourne and QF16 to Brisbane.

Customers have been put up in hotels and will be placed on the next available flights.

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Refugee activists march in Sydney

Refugee activists have clashed with police in a peak-hour march through inner Sydney. Source: AAP

REFUGEE activists have clashed with police in a peak-hour march through inner Sydney.

Riot police were called in as hundreds rallied along George Street on Friday evening chanting "Free, free the refugees".

At times the throngs spilled onto city roads, disrupting traffic and prompting physical confrontations with police.

The demonstration comes after the death of 23-year-old Reza Berati during violent clashes at Australia's Manus Island immigration detention centre.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul told the rally the Iranian's death would not be forgotten.

"They want to push it aside," he said. "They want it to be covered up in the lies and the cover-ups which are now under way on Manus Island.

"We are not going to allow that to happen."

The protesters have called for the Papua New Guinea facility to be shut down and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to step down.

"Scott Morrison, blood on your hands," they cried as the march approached the Immigration Department's Sydney headquarters.

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Don't lose interest in Greste: colleague

A crowd has rallied in support of Aussie journalist Peter Greste who has been detained in Egypt. Source: AAP

A COLLEAGUE of imprisoned Australian journalist Peter Greste has urged the public and media not to lose interest in his case.

Speaking to a rally of about 20 people at Martin Place in Sydney, Al-Jazeera's Andrew Thomas said the case in Egypt was important for free press worldwide.

"Other countries will watch the... success Egypt has had locking up foreign journalists ... and they might try to do something similar," he said.

"That would mean the ... dark corners that governments don't want you to know about wouldn't be exposed."

The award-winning Mr Greste, bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed were arrested in December.

They're among 20 journalists accused of airing false news and misleading viewers about the political situation in Egypt.

Broadcaster Al-Jazeera held "a global day of action" for the trio in 30 cities worldwide and on social media on Thursday.

Mr Greste and his colleagues were denied bail at their first appearance in a Cairo court last week.

Amnesty International activism manager Chris Holley told AAP there was hope the men could be released on bail during their next court appearance on March 5.

"Our call is for them to be released unconditionally," he said.

"But if they're not released they should be given bail ... and I think there's a prospect that could happen."

He did admit it was hard to predict how the Egyptian government would act.

Greste's parents live in Brisbane and could not be at the protest.

In a letter, read by Mr Thomas, they thanked the small crowd and wished "peace and prosperity on the people of Egypt".

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Pet parrot helps Indian cops crack murder

A PET parrot has helped police nab its owner's killer in the northern Indian city of Agra.

Police were struggling to solve the murder mystery until a key clue was provided by the dead woman's pet parrot, Hercule, The Times of India reported on Thursday.

Neelam Sharma, 45, was found murdered in her home on February 20. Her husband Vijay, editor of a Hindi daily, noticed the parrot screeching every time his nephew Ashutosh visited their house after the murder.

"During discussions too, whenever Ashutosh's name was mentioned the parrot would start screeching. This raised my suspicion and I informed police," Sharma told the newspaper.

Agra police official Shalabh Mathur told the Times that Ashutosh confessed to the crime on interrogation.

He said he had entered the house with an accomplice to steal cash and valuables.

But afraid that his aunt might recognise him, he stabbed her and a pet dog when it started barking.

The Times of India report said the bird, a namesake of Hercule Poirot, the detective in Agatha Christie's novels, had lived up to its name.

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Woman gives birth on NY street

A British woman has given birth on a New york street after having her taxi stolen. Source: AAP

A BRITISH woman has given birth in the street in New York City - after a taxi she waved down to take her to hospital was swiped by a passer-by.

Polly McCourt, 39, hailed the cab on Monday with the help of the doorman to her apartment block in the city's Upper East Side after she realised she was going into labour.

"He was trying desperately to hail a cab and a lady walked out five metres in front and hailed a cab and got into it," she said from her hospital bed.

"And I went, 'No, that's my cab, I want that cab'."

Her husband Cian McCourt, 40, who reportedly works for a New York law firm, was stuck in traffic when he received the call and arrived just after his wife gave birth to their daughter in the street during rush hour - a scene caught on camera by a passing news crew.

He said: "I knew instantly that it was Polly, but then I feared the worst. You think, 'She's been knocked down'."

Passers-by helped deliver the little girl, who was named Ila, and kept the pair warm with coats and scarves until an ambulance arrived and took them to Lennox Hill Hospital.

Ms McCourt was so grateful to one of them she gave her daughter her middle name, Isabelle, and is now keen to track her down after losing her phone number.

The episode has since been dubbed "miracle on 3rd Avenue".

The couple have two other children, Conor, six, and Adele, four, according to the New York Daily News, and reportedly moved to New York four years ago from Dublin.

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Bishop spiked rhino program, hearing told

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spiked plans to help save the Sumatran rhinoceros. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has spiked plans by the former Labor government to help save the Sumatran rhinoceros.

In June 2013, then foreign minister Bob Carr said Australia would provide $3 million over three years to help Indonesian authorities protect the species, of which there are estimated to be fewer than 200 remaining.

But the program did not and would not begin, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Rod Brazier told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday.

"The current foreign minister has decided not to proceed with the program," he said.

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900 turtles found dead on Indian coast

MORE than 900 sea turtles have been found dead along the coast in southern India, conservationists say, blaming illegal fishing near their sanctuaries.

Supraja Dharini of the Tree Foundation, a marine conservation group, said trawlers fishing illegally along the coast of Andhra Pradesh state were not taking measures to stop turtles from getting entangled in the nets.

She said more than 800 dead Olive Ridley turtles were washed ashore on Saturday, and 100 more were found on Sunday.

"Such a huge loss of the species in one night is more than three times the total number recorded in the past six years in the region," she said, adding: "To say it is a tragedy would be a gross understatement."

Dharini said more than 45 trawlers were fishing about four kilometres from the shore days before the turtle deaths, whereas fishing regulations make it mandatory for trawlers to operate at least eight kilometres from the shore.

Olive Ridleys are one of the five species of sea turtle found in Indian waters.

The turtles are classified as "vulnerable," by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and nest on Indian shores between January and April.

The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that there are 800,000 female Olive Ridleys worldwide.

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Vic man pulls gun on cops, two arrested

TWO people have been arrested in Melbourne after a six-hour police search for a driver who threatened officers with a gun.

A man and woman, both in their 20s, were arrested at a Croydon home in the city's outer east just after 9pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, a police spokeswoman said.

Police had been searching for a driver who was pulled over in the Chirnside Park shopping centre car park earlier on Wednesday.

The driver threatened officers with a firearm before fleeing at 2.40pm (AEDT), police say.

A police helicopter and the dog squad were called in to help local officers find the man.

The man was believed to have been holed up in a suburban home.

The search had focused on a couple of properties before the couple was arrested at Nyranda Court.

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Ukraine disbands feared riot police

Ukraine's new leaders have promised to fight separatism after President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster. Source: AAP

UKRAINE'S new pro-Western leaders have disbanded the country's feared riot police as they seek to win confidence in their efforts to forge a unity government.

The interim authorities are grappling with the dual threats of separatism and a looming debt default as they try to piece the former Soviet nation back together following the weekend ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Protests that started in November over Yanukovych's decision to ditch a historic European Union trade deal in favour of closer ties with former master Russia culminated in a week of Kiev carnage that claimed nearly 100 lives.

Yanukovych and his tight clique of security chiefs and administration insiders are widely believed to have gone into hiding in the Russian-speaking southern peninsula of Crimea, which is now threatening to secede from Ukraine.

The interim leaders' headaches are compounded by Moscow's decision to freeze payments on a massive bailout package that Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to Yanukovych as his reward for rejecting closer EU ties.

The Ukrainian government faces foreign debt payments of $US13 billion ($A14.46 billion) in 2014 and has less than $US18 billion in its fast-depleting coffers. It's a grim equation that has forced it to seek as much as $US35 billion from Western states.

Both the United States and Britain have publicly backed the idea of putting together an economic rescue for Ukraine, which would be overseen by the International Monetary Fund.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Secretary William Hague also rejected Russia's claim on Tuesday that Ukraine was being forced to make a historic choice between the East and West.

"This is not a zero-sum game. It is not a West versus East," said Kerry after hosting Hague in Washington.

But EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton wrapped up a two-day visit to Kiev on Tuesday by mentioning only a short-term economic solution for Ukraine, while saying nothing about extending the billions of dollars in credit requested by interim leader Oleksandr Turchynov.

Little appears to unite the vast nation of 46 million - splintered between the Ukrainian-speaking west, where pro-European sentiment runs high, and a heavily-Russified southeast - more than a shared aversion for the Berkut riot police.

The elite units carried shields and Kalashnikov rifles as they cracked down on protesters in Kiev and brutally beat those detained. In one incident that spread on the internet, they forced one man to strip naked in the freezing cold and parade in front of a police camera.

But acting interior minister Arsen Avakov announced on his Facebook page that he was dissolving the feared unit, effective immediately.

"The Berkut is no more," the 50-year-old wrote.

Avakov promised to disclose further details on Wednesday and said nothing about how he would deal with a possible insurrection from one of the country's best-armed and trained forces.

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Convicted rapist, murderer executed in US

A man convicted of raping and killing a teenage girl has been executed in the US state of Missouri. Source: AAP

THE US state of Missouri has executed a man convicted of abducting, raping and killing a teenage girl.

Michael Taylor, 47, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, the Missouri Department of Public Safety said.

The execution came amid controversy over the chemicals being used to give death row inmates lethal injections in Missouri and other US states.

Taylor's was the fourth lethal injection in Missouri in as many months.

He was sentenced to death over the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl who was abducted at a school bus stop.

Taylor was executed after the US Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay.

He was pronounced dead at 12:10 am (0510 GMT) and made no final statement.

He declined to order a special last meal and was served a state-issued meal that included potato soup and a sandwich, the department said.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon also rejected a clemency request.

Nixon issued a statement asking the people of Missouri to remember the young girl killed, Ann Harrison. He noted that Taylor had pleaded guilty, was convicted and sentenced to die.

"That punishment has now been carried out," Nixon said.

He turned aside Taylor's pleas, which were based on the state's use of a secret compounding pharmacy for the lethal dose of pentobarbital and for executing previous inmates while they still had appeals pending, NBC News said.

Prior to this, the last execution was that of Herbert Smulls, who was declared dead on the night of January 29, a little over an hour before the legal period for his execution ended.

Since European manufacturers stopped providing pentobarbital for executions of humans, several states are running low on execution chemicals and turning to new suppliers or products that have not been widely approved.

This has led many US death row inmates to file suits on grounds they fear the new products could subject them to undue suffering.

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Seven upset with AFP again over Corby raid

Seven has fired off a letter of complaint to the Australian Federal Police following recent raids. Source: AAP

SEVEN has fired off a letter of complaint to the Australian Federal Police following recent raids on the TV network's offices.

The AFP raided Seven's offices in Sydney last week in relation to the network's intention to conduct a paid interview with convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.

On Tuesday Seven started action in the Federal Court to "review and set aside the decision ... to issue search warrants" and have the material seized by the AFP returned.

In a letter to AFP Commissioner Tony Negus dated February 26, Seven's CEO Tim Worner also demands a "correction and retraction" from the AFP.

The letter says Mr Negus and his deputy Michael Phelan told a Senate estimates committee on Monday night that Seven had told them on February 14 and 17 that it had "no further documents".

This is not true, Worner writes.

"Seven disagrees that you have accurately represented or conveyed Seven's response to the AFP.

"At no time did Seven or its representatives make an unqualified statement to the AFP that Seven had no further documents or words to that effect."

He has asked Mr Negus to stop saying Seven had "no further documents".

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Manus riot death result of beating: report

An asylum seeker who died on Manus Island may have been beaten to death, Fairfax Media reports. Source: AAP

THE 23-year-old asylum seeker who died on Manus Island may have been beaten to death with a piece of timber after G4S guards stormed the detention centre.

Iranian man Reza Berati died and 62 others were injured after the February 17 asylum seeker protest.

A post-mortem examination has since determined Mr Berati was killed by repeated blows to the head, likely by a piece of timber, an unnamed Papua New Guinean police spokesman told Fairfax Media.

A preliminary investigation has also found the death occurred after guards from security contractor G4S, which runs the detention centre, entered the centre and tried to suppress the protest, Fairfax reports.

PNG police and local villagers did not appear to have been involved, according to the preliminary results of the investigation.

The police spokesman said shots were fired as a warning to calm the situation.

"Otherwise, the place would have been burnt to the ground," he said.

Deputy police commissioner Simon Kauba told Fairfax the investigation is continuing and could take all week before being finalised.

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