A MAN will face court after he allegedly bashed a bus driver in western Sydney.
Police said they charged the man, 42, with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident on a bus at Chester Hill about 11.15am (AEST) on Wednesday.
The man allegedly got on the bus and argued with the driver, 51, then punched him repeatedly in the head.
The alleged attacker was arrested and refused bail, and will front Bankstown Local Court on Friday.
A Caboolture man says he saw unexplained lights in the sky above his home - twice! He thinks it was a UFO and he hopes it comes back. The alien from ET, the Extra Terrestrial (pictured), knows just how he feels. Source: Quest Newspapers
A CABOOLTURE man has reported multiple sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects just 2km out from the main town centre.
Josh Philip, of Broadway Court, claims he saw two UFOs, one on January 5 near his home and another on January 30 flying over nearby Toohey Street.
Mr Philip decided to speak out in the hope others may be able to corroborate the sightings.
The first sighting, he said, was of a bright white light travelling much slower and lower than a normal plane.
"It was so smooth and silent, just gliding through the air," he said.
In the second sighting, Mr Philip said a similar light was travelling northwest before making a sudden 40-degree turn and then disappearing.
"I can't explain it, it was awesome and I hope I see some more," he said.
Maps provided by Australia's air traffic controller Airservices showed the Caboolture area was a main thoroughfare for aircraft travelling to Caboolture, Redcliffe and Brisbane airports.
A spokeswoman said Airservices did not routinely log reports of unexplained air traffic activity or strange lights.
Mr Philip said the look and movement of the lights he saw were different to normal planes.
He reported both cases to UFO Research Queensland, a group that logs sightings and holds monthly UFO discussion groups at Kenmore Library, Kenmore.
The group's president, Sheryl Gottschall, said reports of UFO sighting were difficult to explain without other witnesses and photographs.
She said UFORQ helped support people who had seen something unusual or had a close encounter.
Sheryl Gottschall is president of UFO Research Queensland, a group that logs sightings and holds monthly UFO discussion groups in Kenmore. Picture: Chris Mccormack
"It's really important they get the support they need until they can come to terms with something that shakes up their world view," she said.
Have you spotted anything strange over Caboolture? Tell us below or email editorial@cabooltureherald.com
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has plans to play a lead role in convincing China and the United States to sign up for a global climate change deal if he wins government.
Opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt said under a coalition government Australia would still be part of a UN climate change process but would also pursue action with key members of Group of 20 nations.
"Where a real global agreement will come is when China and United States reach a point of common position and when that's backed up with India and the EU," Mr Hunt told ABC TV on Thursday.
Mr Hunt said Australia would chair the G20 summit in Brisbane next year and it was in a unique position "to bring together the G4 as the basis for a global agreement".
"I think (Tony's) a fantastic negotiator," he said.
At a community forum in Geelong on Thursday night, Mr Abbott told swinging voters a coalition government would scrap the carbon tax by the middle of 2014.
Instead the coalition would implement its direct action policy, which focuses on storing carbon in soil and vegetation.
It offers firms incentives to reduce their carbon pollution emissions but won't raise revenue, Mr Hunt said.
He fobbed off past comments from former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull that this was a recipe for "fiscal recklessness".
"The power sector is saying to us they are not expecting to increase their emissions," Mr Hunt said.
"If someone went rogue there's always the provision to take action, but we aren't expecting Australian firms to do that."
Mr Hunt confirmed the opposition would allocate the same amount of money toward climate action as it did at the last election, despite having three years less to reach the 2020 carbon emission reduction target.
The coalition's plans to store carbon in soil may be in doubt.
The ABC reported that a yet to be released CSIRO three-year study into carbon soil storage has found over time soil changes were within the range of 0.3 to two tonnes of Co2 equivalent per hectare per year or lower.
At the top end of that scale, a land mass of 75 million hectares would be needed to abate 150 million tonnes of Co2 equivalent.
Whereas the lower end figure would require 500 million hectares or two-thirds of the country's land mass.
Asked if this was achievable, Mr Hunt replied: "I don't accept that's what we're proposing or that's the only way to do it."
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has come out in favour of same-sex marriage, labelling claims that it undermines the institution of marriage as "utterly ridiculous".
Mr O'Farrell declared his support for a change to the Marriage Act in the wake of the New Zealand parliament's vote to legalise same-sex marriage, Fairfax Media reports.
New Zealand is the 13th country to legalise gay marriage and the first in the Asia-Pacific.
Fairfax Media reports Mr O'Farrell would prefer federal parliament to change the Marriage Act, but is prepared to go it alone if a parliamentary inquiry in NSW finds the state can act by itself.
The premier reportedly believes the issue boils down to family.
"My view - a view that I've come to in recent years - is that as a Liberal who believes that commitment and family units are one of the best ways in which society is organised, I support the concept of same-sex marriage," Mr O'Farrell told Fairfax Media.
"Ultimately, people caring for each other works side by side with governments to create better communities."
Mr O'Farrell urged federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to allow MPs a conscience vote on the issue.
The claim that same-sex marriage would damage the institution of marriage was "utterly ridiculous", he said.
Last year, an attempt to legalise gay marriage failed in the Australian parliament, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard opposed to the move and Mr Abbott refusing coalition MPs a conscience vote.
NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann praised Mr O'Farrell for showing leadership on the issue.
"Barry O'Farrell has put Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard to shame on their lack of leadership to end discrimination and support marriage equality," Ms Faehrmann said in a statement."
She said Mr O'Farrell was "now on the right side of history".
"We can't underestimate what this leadership from the Premier means," Ms Faehrmann added.
"If the Commonwealth fails to act, I'm confident that the NSW Parliament will."
US stocks have opened mixed, as a batch of solid corporate earnings competed with gloomy trends in key commodity markets.
Five minutes into trading on Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 17.90 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 14,600.69.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.16 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 1,552.17.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.32 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 3,205.99.
The mixed results came on the heels of Wednesday's sharp losses that followed weak earnings reports and dreary economic sentiment in Europe.
Markets are troubled by the pummelling that copper and other commodities have taken in recent days, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
The drop in base metals "has raised a number of flags as it pertains to the growth outlook", O'Hare said. "Also, burgeoning concerns about the goings-on in China and renewed concerns about the state of the eurozone are acting as headwinds."
TWITTER has launched a music service that recommends tunes based on what people are 'tweeting' about and lets people sample songs they might like.
"We're releasing Twitter #music, a new service that will change the way people find music, based on Twitter," the San Francisco-based firm said in a release on Thursday.
"It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists," Twitter continued.
"It also brings artists' music-related Twitter activity front and center. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app."
Twitter users can get 30-second samples of songs from iTunes, Spotify or Rdio music services, but the default provider is Apple's online shop iTunes.
"So, if you're interested in the songs that have been tweeted by the artists and people you follow on Twitter, you can navigate to #NowPlaying to view and listen to those songs," Twitter said.
Twitter Music applications for internet web browsers and Apple mobile devices let people see what songs are hot and get recommendations based on their tastes, according to Rdio.
"We're thrilled to be part of the new Twitter Music experience - it's built for music discovery," Rdio said in a release.
RIO Tinto has admitted it was a big mistake to purchase aluminium maker Alcan six years ago and as a result the company is now more likely to favour some commodities over others.
Addressing his first annual general meeting as chief executive, Sam Walsh said Rio was focused on raising funds by selling assets in 2013.
"We are targeting significant cash proceeds from divestments and are reviewing a number of potential non-core assets for divestment, in addition to those we've already announced, such as Pacific Aluminium and Diamonds," Mr Walsh told shareholders in London.
Rio in February announced its first ever full-year net loss of almost $US3 billion.
Since then the world's second-largest iron ore producer has been slashing jobs to cut costs.
Mr Walsh on Thursday said Rio had also bolstered investment committee controls and procedures.
"This will ensure ... that we invest only in projects that deliver returns well above our cost of capital," the chief executive said.He said 2012's capital expenditure of $US17.4 billion "will be our peak year of investment".
Rio acquired Alcan in mid-2007. Chairman Jan du Plessis on Thursday said in hindsight the transaction was "badly timed at the top of the market".
"In retrospect, we therefore have to acknowledge that the acquisition has had a significant negative impact on shareholder value," he said.
Chief financial officer Guy Elliott said as a result of the Alcan experience Rio had begun "to reconsider the agnostic approach that we might have towards one commodity versus another".
"We do (now) have views upon each commodity and probably do favour some more than others," he said in London.
Rio has been criticised for its near total dependence on iron ore despite calling itself a diversified resources company.
Iron ore in 2012 contributed $US9.24 billion of the group's $US10.2 billion in earnings.
But Mr du Plessis insisted iron ore was doing "fantastically well" while other operations, such as aluminium, were struggling.
"Our view is that in the long-term basis ... in almost any probable macro-economic scenario, we believe iron ore prices will be such that the money we are now investing in Western Australia will give us good returns," he said.
Mr Elliott wouldn't reveal what assets Rio was looking to sell this year but insisted there'd be a lot of appetite for them.
"There are plenty of buyers," the chief financial officer told the London meeting.
"Many of them are customers, sovereign wealth funds, competitors."
Mr Walsh reiterated Rio was on track to deliver its iron ore expansion plans in the Pilbara.
The Oyu Tolgoi project was due for production in the first half of the year dependent on ongoing talks with the Mongolian government, the CEO said.
A shareholder in his 80s criticised the huge pay packets going to executives.
The pay to Rio's boss "was enough to pay for the funeral services of Margaret Thatcher", he said to applause from the floor.
In response he was told salaries were a "very small percentage" of Rio's total cost base.
