Rudd to unveil outer suburbs plan

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is to unveil his plan to make living in the outer suburbs more affordable.

Mr Rudd, who is campaigning in Perth on Friday, will commit to appointing Australia's first Minister for Cities and will also pledge to set up a task-force to look at boosting jobs and economic growth in the outer suburbs.

He's also expected to push for better roads and transport infrastructure to be built outside major cities as a way of easing cost of living pressures.

Mr Rudd will argue that Australia's outer suburbs will be central to the country's population and economic growth.

"They are home to almost three-quarters of all Australians - yet opportunities are not shared fairly across the different suburban areas in each city," he will say.

"The Labor government will ensure more of the jobs of the future are based in the suburbs of the future, improving the livability of our outer suburban regions."

The funding for the plan is already included in the federal budget, Labor says.

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Young women have more IVF success: study

ONE in two women aged under 35 will be rewarded with a baby if they persevere with assisted fertilisation attempts, according to a groundbreaking study.

But the chances of success drop dramatically after five tries.

The University of NSW (UNSW) study is the first in the world to track national success rates for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) and is based on 2011 statistics from 35 centres in Australia and New Zealand.

A major concern is the increasing number of older women seeking treatment, with limited success.

It is important for people to start planning their family at a younger age, says lead author UNSW Professor Elizabeth Sullivan.

Although fertility treatment can be useful, it is always best to conceive spontaneously if possible, says Prof Sullivan, whose study is included in an report to be presented at a Fertility Society of Australia scientific meeting on September 1.

The overall chance for all age groups of delivering a baby is 21 per cent after one cycle of treatment, increasing to 40 per cent by the fifth cycle.

When women aged 35 and older are removed from the statistics, the success rate jumps to more than 50 per cent after five attempts.

"This is a great result. It shows the benefit of getting treatment early," says Prof Sullivan.

Around one in 25 babies born in Australia are the result of assisted fertilisation, she says and the average age of women using their own eggs in 2011 was 36.

The fastest growing group is women aged 40 and older, making up 25 per cent of the clinics' clientele.

Prof Sullivan says although older women have a very low success rate using their own eggs, they usually manage as well as younger women using donor eggs.

Donor eggs are seldom used in Australia, however.

Prof Sullivan is particularly happy with the way Australia and New Zealand have led the way in reducing the number of multiple births through using single embryo transfers.

The percentage of multiple deliveries was at 6.9 per cent in 2011, compared with more than 25 per cent in 2010 in the US.

"Australia and New Zealand have the lowest multiple birth rate in the world," says Associate Professor Mark Bowman, a fertility doctor and the president of the Fertility Society of Australia.

"Importantly, this has been achieved while the clinic pregnancy rate has remained stable."

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Hockney aide killed by acid drink

AN assistant to British artist David Hockney died after drinking acid at the painter's home, an inquest has heard.

Dominic Elliott, 23, had taken cocaine, ecstasy and temazepam before he drank the liquid and was rushed to hospital, where he died.

Elliott became ill at Hockney's home in Bridlington, in East Yorkshire, in March.

The artist was not at home at the time.

Hockney's former long-term partner, John Fitzherbert, told the hearing in Hull that he drove Elliott to Scarborough Hospital in the early hours of the morning.

He said that during the day leading up to the incident he and Elliott had smoked cannabis and drunk alcohol and Elliott had also snorted cocaine.

A pathologist told the court that temazepam and ecstasy was also found in his body.

Dr Richard Shepherd said the acid severely burned Elliott's mouth, tongue and throat before perforating his stomach.

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UK government wins Snowden case

A BRITISH court has ruled the UK government may look through items seized from the partner of a journalist who has written stories about documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Lawyers for David Miranda, the partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, said the seized items contain confidential information. It asked the High Court to prevent the government from "inspecting, copying or sharing" the data.

Instead, the court will allow the government to view the items on the condition the material is being examined on "national security" grounds. The injunction runs until August 30.

It was not immediately clear whether the court or the government would be authorised to decide what is in the interests of national security.

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Fund for slain Aussie nears $US100,000

AN online fund set up by a mate of murdered Australian Chris Lane to help pay for funeral expenses has been deluged with almost $US100,000 ($A112,000) in donations from people around the world.

When Marshall Veal, who played baseball with Mr Lane in Oklahoma, set up the fund, the goal was to raise $US15,000.

The money was to be used to pay for the cost of Mr Lane's parents, Peter and Donna, to fly to Oklahoma, pick up his body and take it back to Melbourne for the funeral.

However, the generosity will likely make it possible to set up a Christopher Lane Foundation.

As of Thursday morning (Friday AEST), the fund, launched just two days ago, has raised $US91,500.

More than 2200 people have donated as little as $US5 to the fund and the messages left run the gamut of emotions, with some angry while others are heartbroken at the tragic way Mr Lane, 22, was shot in the back last Friday in Duncan, Oklahoma, and left to die.

"My sincerest regrets that Christopher was taken from you by these three vivid examples of America's trash," Jeff Simon wrote in a message following his $US5 donation.

"Don't judge us too harshly by the dregs of our society."

James Edwards, 15, and Chancey Luna, 16, have been charged with first degree murder.

It is alleged Luna fired the shot into Mr Lane's back as he jogged along a Duncan road.

Michael Jones, 17, was the alleged driver of the car and is charged with being an accessory to murder.

Oklahoma police allege the three boys randomly targeted Mr Lane because they were bored and thought it would be fun to kill him.

The online fund can be found at: www.gofundme.com/3zktjc

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WikiLeaks 'not a front for the Greens'

Julian Assange has taken responsibility for the apparent disintegration of his WikiLeaks Party. Source: AAP

THE WikiLeaks Party has accused the Australian Greens of trying to divert voters away from it.

Julian Assange's party faced criticism earlier in the week for preferencing the Shooters and Fishers Party and Australia First Party ahead of the major parties and the Greens on its how to vote cards.

Greens Leader Christine Milne went as far as accusing WikiLeaks as "betraying" her party.

The party has rejected that claim, saying it had placed the Greens first among the major parties in all states where it has candidates.

"Milne's comments must be seen as ungracious and part of a hostile attempt to divert voters from the WikiLeaks Party," it said in a statement on Thursday.

The party warned that it wasn't a "front group for any other party, including the Greens".

WikiLeaks has both right-wing and left-wing policy goals, it says.

"The WikiLeaks Party is both a party of the left and the right in that we represent the struggle for both justice and freedom," the party said.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks announced RMIT legal expert Dr Binoy Kampmark would now be Mr Assange's main running mate in the Senate election for Victoria.

He replaces ethicist Leslie Cannold who quit on Wednesday after a dispute over preferences, claiming the party was failing to live up to its democratic principles.

Her resignation was followed by other senior figures walking away from the party, including a number of people on its National Council.

Mr Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, said he had spent the past two months dealing with the Edward Snowden asylum situation.

"Trying to save the life of a young man," Mr Assange told ABC television.

"So I admit and I accept full responsibility for over-delegating function to the Australian party while I tried to take care of those situations."

He said the nine-hour time difference made it difficult being party leader and he hadn't been aware of the internal problems until Wednesday morning.

"Leslie didn't speak to me to address any issues or concerns," he said.

"From my perspective, if something is serious you speak to the party leader about it before you speak to the press."

National Council member Daniel Mathews announced his resignation late on Wednesday night, citing "the recent fiasco over Senate preferences".

Mr Mathews was critical of Mr Assange for only attending one of 13 National Council meetings.

"Helping Ed Snowden is surely more important than attending a council meeting," he said in a statement.

"But still, attending one out of the first 13 National Council meetings of the party (all of which he could call into) is a fairly low participation rate in one's own party."

Senior Liberal Eric Abetz said the implosion of the WikiLeaks Party highlights the essential instability of minor parties".

"This is a salutary object lesson on the dangers of voting for minor parties," Senator Abetz said in a statement.

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Brooks' phone hacking trial delayed in UK

THE trial of former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks over allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World has been delayed for legal reasons.

The trial of Brooks and seven other defendants, including Prime Minister David Cameron's former spin doctor Andy Coulson, was due to start at the Old Bailey on September 9 but is now expected to begin on October 28.

Brooks, 45, denies a total of five charges, including conspiracy to hack phones, conspiracy to pay public officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by allegedly trying to hide evidence.

Former Sun and NotW editor Brooks, former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, and former news editor Ian Edmondson, 44, also deny conspiracy to intercept mobile phone voicemails between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006.

Coulson, 45, who previously edited the now-defunct NotW, denies the same charge.

He and NotW former royal editor Clive Goodman, 55, are also accused of two charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Brooks denies two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

In the same trial, she and former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, are charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice by allegedly trying to hide material from the News International archive between July 6 and 9, 2011.

Brooks' racehorse trainer husband, Charlie Brooks, 50, and News International head of security Mark Hanna, 50, will also appear in the same trial over a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, by allegedly hiding documents and computer equipment from police between July 15 and 19 2011, a charge also faced by Brooks.

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Kenya jails Chinese ivory smuggler

A KENYAN court has sentenced a Chinese ivory smuggler to 31 months in prison, signalling harsher penalties for wildlife crimes.

Chen Biemei was arrested on August 14 at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital Nairobi with 6.9kg of ivory.

She pleaded guilty after initially denying the charges.

The sentence, delivered on Thursday, sends "a signal to people wishing to commit wildlife crimes to think twice", Kenya Wildlife Society spokesperson Paul Mbugua told DPA.

In June, US army colonel David McNevin was caught at Nairobi airport with about 1kg of ivory and fined $US340 ($A380), which caused a public outcry against weak penalties for traffickers.

Elephant ivory can sell for as much as $US1000 per kg.

This year alone, about 200 elephants were slaughtered in Kenya for their tusks.

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US stocks jump on good economic news

US stocks have opened solidly higher on strong economic data from China, Europe and the US.

Five minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 128.56 (0.83 per cent) to 15,628.10.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 14.93 (0.89 per cent) to 1,700.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 32.83 (0.91 per cent) to 3,659.20.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said markets were reacting to a "battery of better-than-expected headlines."

These included data that showed strong manufacturing activity in the eurozone and China and the lowest reading of weekly US jobless claims since January 2008. O'Hare also cited decisions by the European Central Bank and Bank of England to maintain low interest rates.

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Doctors blamed for antibiotic tragedy

BY Clifford Fram, AAP National Medical Writer

SYDNEY, August 2 AAP - Doctors around the world have breached their duty of care by misusing antibiotics, says an Australian infectious diseases expert.

The way in which bugs have become resistant to antibiotics within two generations of their discovery is one of the great tragedies of human history, says Dr Krispin Hajkowicz, an infectious diseases physician and a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland.

"My view is yes doctors are to blame," he has told colleagues at a Gold Coast conference hosted by the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID).

"The people of the world want to hold someone accountable. Using the approach of a medical litigation claim, it can be shown that the current crisis was largely foreseeable, that doctors had a duty of care to preserve the precious resource of effective antimicrobials and that they breached this duty of care," says Dr Hajkowicz.

He points to evidence from studies showing up to half of all antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate. At the same time attempts to improve standards are failing.

He says national guidelines enforced by law are necessary to bring public and private doctors into line.

"Additionally, doctors must promote the development of novel antimicrobials and then use these responsibly. Perhaps a new generation of doctors will undo what we have so foolishly done."

Another delegate , Joshua Freeman of the Auckland District Health Board, says international air travel is providing an unprecedented opportunity for the transfer of drug-resistant bugs.

"Travel to high-prevalence countries and, in particular, hospitalisation within those countries should be viewed as an important risk factor.

Dr David Grolman of Pfizer Australia & New Zealand says antibiotics have been a major contributor to improved life expectancy.

"It is not the development of the drugs per se that has resulted in accelerating the rate of bacterial antibiotic resistance, but the inappropriate and excessive usage of the drugs."

He says: "We need a concerted effort by all players in healthcare and governments to develop new antibiotics."

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