Two charged over NSW child sex assaults

A CATHOLIC brother and a former Catholic teacher have been charged in NSW over alleged assaults on children dating back to the 1980s.

Sex Crimes Squad detectives investigating allegations of abuse on an eight-year-old girl in 1985 and two 13-year-old boys in 1987 made the arrests on Monday evening and later charged the pair.

Police allege some of the incidents took place at a Catholic college and a Catholic primary school in Sydney's west.

The Catholic brother, whose charges relate to the two boys, has been refused bail and will appear at Wyong Local Court on Tuesday.

The 59-year-old was arrested at a property at The Entrance on the Central Coast.

He was charged with committing an indecent act on a child under 16 and under authority, along with five counts of indecent assault on a child under 16 and under authority.

The former teacher, a 58-year-old man arrested at a Blacktown property, was charged with offences relating to a 13-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl.

The charges are sexual assault on a child under 16, indecent assault on a child under 16, committing an indecent act on a child under 16 and indecent assault on a child under 16 and under authority.

He has been granted strict conditional bail and will appear at Blacktown Local Court on December 13.

Police said their inquiries are continuing.

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Toyota tests cars that communicate

TOYOTA Motor Cop. is testing car safety systems that allow vehicles to communicate with each other and with the roads they are on in a just completed facility in Japan the size of three baseball stadiums.

The cars at the Intelligent Transport System site receive information from sensors and transmitters installed on the streets to minimise the risk of accidents in situations such as missing a red traffic light, cars advancing from blind spots and pedestrians crossing the street. The system also tests cars that transmit such information to each other.

In a test drive for reporters Monday, the presence of a pedestrian triggered a beeping sound in the car and a picture of a person popped up on a screen in front of the driver. A picture of an arrow popped up to indicate an approaching car at an intersection. An electronic female voice said, "It's a red light," if the driver was about to ignore a red light.

The 3.5 hectare test site looks much like the artificial roads at driving schools, except bigger, and is in a corner of the Japanese automaker's technology center near Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.

Toyota officials said the smart-car technology it is developing will be tested on some Japanese roads starting in 2014. Similar tests are planned for the US, although details were not decided. Such technology is expected to be effective because half of car accidents happen at intersections, according to Toyota.

Managing Officer Moritaka Yoshida said Toyota sees preventing collisions, watching out for pedestrians and helping the driving of the elderly as key to ensuring safety in the cars of the future.

"We offer the world's top-level technology," he told reporters.

All automakers are working on pre-crash safety technology to add value to their cars, especially for developed markets such as the US, Europe and Japan. But the strongest sales growth is coming from emerging markets which are eventually expected to show more interest in safety technology.

Toyota's Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co. recently showed cars that were smart enough to stop on their own, park themselves and swerve away from pedestrians who suddenly jumped into the vehicle's path.

Toyota also showed a new feature that helps the driver brake harder to prevent bumping into the vehicle in front. Toyota officials said drivers often fail to push hard on their brakes in such situations because they get into a panic.

Toyota said the technology will be available "soon," without giving a date, and hinted it will be offered for Lexus luxury models. Luxury models already offer similar safety features such as automatic braking. Technology involving precise sensors remains expensive, sometimes costing as much as a cheaper Toyota car.

Toyota has also developed sonar sensors that help drivers avoid crashing in parking lots. One system even knows when the driver pushes on the gas pedal by mistake instead of the brakes, and will stop automatically.

Rear-end collisions make up 34 per cent of car accidents in Japan, comprising the biggest category, followed by head-on collisions at 27 per cent.

Cars that stop and go on their own, avoiding accidents, are not pure science fiction, experts say.

Alberto Broggi, professor at the University of Parma and an expert on intelligent transportation systems, said the idea of the accident-free cars is "very hot," and probably within reach on some roads within several years.

"I'm sure we will arrive to such a technology even if I don't know when exactly," he said.

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Artificial pancreas hope for diabetes

AUSTRALIAN researchers believe they are one step closer to developing an artificial pancreas for people with diabetes.

A Sydney-based diabetes expert and a Queensland artificial intelligence specialist have tested the prototype of a software program that could replicate the role of a human pancreas.

If a clinical trial works as well as the prototype, it could be a breakthrough for the lives of those with type 1 diabetes who have to inject insulin daily, they say.

Jenny Gunton from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Nigel Greenwood of the University of Queensland say the device would work by measuring a patient's blood glucose levels and delivering the dose of insulin required - as a normally-functioning pancreas does.

"The ultimate aim for a 'mechanical cure' for type 1 diabetes would be to have a closed loop system - where you have an insulin pump which knows how much insulin to give at the right time," said Associate Professor Gunton.

"So you have glucose monitoring and insulin administration in the same machine, with very smart pump software keeping people's blood glucose normal."

In the project, funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, two virtual patients had data supplied from real people with diabetes. Their medical data, including blood glucose levels, was then simulated.

The software developed by Dr Greenwood, called Neuromathix, calculated suggested insulin dosages for the patients and their blood glucose was analysed over 55 simulated days.

The researchers found that target blood glucose levels were achieved over 90 per cent of the time - compared to the average person with diabetes who hits the target 60 per cent of the time.

"What we have just done couldn't have been done 10 years ago. We are dealing with a profoundly complex model involving many unknowns," said Dr Greenwood.

He hopes the software will reach the market in 2016 after a clinical study and trial.

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Final IBAC bills in Vic parliament

A GOVERNMENT-APPOINTED Victorian inspector will be able to sit in on witness examinations and be privy to material uncovered in investigations by the ombudsman and the state's new anti-corruption commission.

The final pieces of legislation in the state government's new integrity regime will be introduced into parliament on Tuesday.

The draft laws will replace the Office of Police Integrity with the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC).

Although its permanent head is yet to be announced, the IBAC can start investigations as soon as the legislation passes parliament, which is expected to happen before the end of the year - about 18 months late.

Ron Bonighton is acting commissioner until the end of December.

The IBAC will be responsible for investigating serious corrupt conduct across the state's public service, covering some 250,000 workers including MPs, ministerial staffers and local councillors.

It will also investigate alleged misconduct by Victoria Police sworn and unsworn officers.

There will also be major changes relating to the role of Ombudsman George Brouwer, who will be answerable to a parliamentary committee for the first time.

He, along with the IBAC, will also be monitored by the Victorian Inspectorate, to be led by an inspector who is yet to be announced. The inspector's role will be to ensure the use of covert and coercive powers is lawful and fair.

The Victorian Inspectorate will be able to observe any witness questioning by the ombudsman and the IBAC and have access to material seized during investigations.

The ombudsman will lose the power to make decisions about which complaints can receive whistleblower protections. That power will be transferred to the IBAC.

The minister responsible for the establishment of an anti-corruption commission, Andrew McIntosh, said the government had taken the time to get its integrity regime right to fix a "patchwork system" that had failed Victoria.

"These are the most significant integrity reforms in the history of this state," he said.

"The bills introduced today cap off these reforms."

The IBAC will have the power to bug phones and conduct other surveillance once federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon rubber stamps federal telecommunication interception legislation.

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Gaddafi's ex-PM faces Libyan judges

MUAMMAR Gaddafi's last prime minister has become the highest ranking former regime official to go before Libyan judges, in a brief but sullen court appearance.

Dressed in a traditional white robe and brown vest, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi sat in stony silence within a caged section of the Tripoli criminal court, where figures of the toppled Gaddafi regime are facing justice.

The judge did not read out the charges on Monday but Taha Baara, the spokesman for the prosecutor general, said Mahmoudi "is accused of committing prejudicial acts against the security of the state and financial crimes".

Two other defendants being tried along with Mahmoudi were not brought to court, triggering protests from the defence team, which also requested more time to study the case.

"It is a big file. I need more time in order to get myself ready for the defence," lawyer Ali Dabba told AFP.

The session lasted about 10 minutes before the trial was adjourned until December 10 at the request of both the defence and the prosecution.

Mahmoudi fled to neighbouring Tunisia in September last year shortly after rebels seized Tripoli and effectively put an end to more than four decades of iron-fisted Gaddafi rule.

He was extradited to Libya to face justice on June 24, despite warnings from rights groups that he could face the death penalty.

Along with Saif al-Islam, the toppled dictator's most high-profile son, Mahmoudi is one of the few remaining keepers of the many state secrets under Gaddafi, who was killed on October 20 last year.

Saif, arrested inside Libya a year ago, is awaiting to hear where he will stand trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

The authorities in Tripoli want him to stand in the dock inside Libya, but the International Criminal Court wants him to face justice in The Hague.

Judges in The Hague heard arguments last month by a lawyer for Libya and representatives of the ICC to decide where Saif, 40, and Gaddafi's former spymaster Abdullah Senoussi, 63, should be tried.

Saif has been in custody in the western Libyan hill town of Zintan since his arrest last November, while Senoussi was extradited from Mauritania on September 5.

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Israel army in direct hit on Syria source

ISRAELI troops have fired tank shells into Syria in retaliation for a mortar round that struck near an army post in the Golan Heights, scoring "direct hits" on the source of the fire, the army says.

"A short while ago, a mortar shell hit an open area in the vicinity of an IDF (army) post in the central Golan Heights, as part of the internal conflict inside Syria, causing no damage or injuries," it said on Monday.

"In response, IDF soldiers fired tank shells towards the source of the fire, confirming direct hits."

Israeli military sources said: "Syrian mobile artillery was directly hit," without elaborating further.

The army warned that any further fire from Syria towards the Israeli-occupied sector of the strategic plateau would be answered with "severity".

"Fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity," a statement said, indicating that Israel had filed a complaint with UN observers monitoring the ceasefire line.

Israeli troops fired a warning shot across the UN-monitored ceasefire line on Sunday in the first such shooting on the Golan since the 1973 Middle East war.

Sunday's mortar round, which hit an Israeli position, drew a warning from Defence Minister Ehud Barak that Israel would take "tougher" action in response to any new fire from Syria.

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky said after Sunday's fire the UN chief was "deeply concerned by the potential for escalation".

"He calls for the utmost restraint" and urges both sides to uphold the 1974 accord that set up the ceasefire line and surrounding demilitarised zone.

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China to reveal new leaders on Thursday

CHINA'S Communist Party will on Thursday unveil the new set of top leaders who will take over the reins of the country for the next decade, one day after their week-long congress ends, the party says.

The widely expected timing was confirmed by staff organising press coverage of the Communist Party congress under way in Beijing, which is held every five years to shuffle the top leadership of the party.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who has been in power 10 years, is widely expected to hand over the reins of the ruling party to his vice-president, Xi Jinping, a tradition that takes place a day after the close of the congress.

The leadership - arrived at via back-room political horse-trading among party factions - is revealed to the nation by marching out in a line before cameras at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Party staff told AFP the new Politburo Standing Committee - the top-level body now consisting of nine members that rules China - would "meet the press" on Thursday. The party had thus far not officially confirmed the timing.

Xi is widely expected to march out in first position on the committee, indicating he is the new party leader, and will then formally be named the country's president next March by the rubber-stamp parliament.

Xi's fellow Standing Committee member, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, is also strongly expected to move up in the committee's pecking order and be put on track to be named premier in March, replacing incumbent Wen Jiabao.

They would take over at a challenging time when China's powerhouse economy is suffering a rare slowdown and amid growing demands for change from the country's vocal netizens.

If things go according to tradition, Xi and Li would be expected to be in office for 10 years. However, the Standing Committee is typically tweaked each five years with a shuffling of lower-ranking members.

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US stocks rise on China trade data

US stocks have opened with modest gains after last week's slump, lifted by encouraging China trade data that signalled renewed momentum in the economy and solid earnings from a key US homebuilder.

In the first five minutes of trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13.82 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 12,829.21.

The broad-market S&P 500 advanced 3.26 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,383.11.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 12.94 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 2,917.81.

"The support for stocks comes as China reported stronger than expected exports and US homebuilder DR Horton Inc posted better-than-expected earnings," Charles Schwab & Co analyst said.

China's export growth accelerated in October for the second straight month, the government said on Saturday, adding to evidence the world's second-largest economy is bouncing back from a slowdown.

There were no major economic data scheduled for release and the bond market was closed in observance of Veterans Day.

On Friday, US stocks eked out small gains, capping a week of solid losses amid fears about the nation's looming "fiscal cliff", automatic spending cuts and expiring tax breaks that will come at year-end unless avoided.

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