National

Sydney detectives investigating claims former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld misled a court over a speeding fine have made an arrest.

Without naming Mr Einfeld, NSW Police on Thursday said a 67-year-old Woollahra man had been arrested by detectives attached to Strike Force Chanter.

The strike force was established in August 2006 to investigate allegations Mr Einfeld gave false evidence to avoid a speeding fine after his car was caught by a speed camera in January last year.

The speeding charge against him was dismissed in the Downing Centre Local Court on August 7 after he said he had loaned his car to an old friend, US-based academic Professor Teresa Brennan, whom he said had since died.

The Qantas air hostess sacked for having sex with actor Ralph Fiennes in an aircraft toilet was back working her second job as a prostitute in Sydney the week after their mile-high tryst, according to the Sun Herald.

The Sun-Herald today reports that Lisa Robertson worked at the Gateway Club at Petersham and Stiletto in Sydney.

Ms Robertson shot to fame after telling how there were "arms, legs everywhere" when she had unprotected sex with Fiennes in an aircraft toilet on a flight from Sydney to Mumbai.

But her sexual experience was well known at the Gateway Club, where she worked under the name Skye and charged $285 an hour for her services.

The bodies of five Australians killed in last week's Garuda airline disaster arrived home from Indonesia this morning.A Royal Australian Air Force Hercules carrying the remains touched down at Canberra's Fairbairn air base just before 9am (AEDT).

 

It was greeted by about 100 family, friends and officials, including Governor-General Michael Jeffery, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty.

The caskets carrying federal police agents Brice Steele and Mark Scott, Australian embassy spokeswoman Liz O'Neill, AusAID worker Allison Sudradjat and journalist Morgan Mellish left Indonesia after a short ceremony at Yogyakarta yesterday.

Surgeons have been forced to amputate one of Indonesian plane crash survivor Cynthia Banham's legs and part of the other to save her life, her family says.

The 34-year-old Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) journalist was airlifted to Perth with spinal injuries and extensive burns to her lower body after a Garuda Boeing 737-400 plunged off a runway at Yogyakarta and caught fire last Wednesday.

The crash claimed the lives of 21 people, including five Australians.

Two local villagers, Suwandi and Temon, have told how they helped the badly-burned Banham as she fought free of the burning aircraft and crawled away from the inferno, unable to use her legs.

Garuda officials paints over its tail

Airport workers caused consternation yesterday by cutting off the tail of the wrecked Garuda passenger jet lying in a twisted, melted mess at the end of Yogyakarta runway, and painting out its company logo and registration number.

The dawn cover-up followed a similar attempt at concealing the identity of a crashed Adam Air Boeing 737 just two weeks ago, after what was described as a "hard landing" at Surabaya airport, in east Java, Indonesia.

All passengers escaped from that incident unharmed, but the jet broke in two.

FAIRFAX has launched a news website in Brisbane in a bid to extend the media group's news reach beyond its traditional markets of NSW and Victoria.

brisbanetimes.com.au will be the first time the company has launched a news service not directly associated with an existing newspaper.

According to Fairfax it has recruited 15 journalists, who will pump out local news to attract the attention of the city's estimated one million internet users and is headed by Mitchell Murphy, a former editor-in-chief of the Illawarra Mercury, who is based in Brisbane and has been working on the launch of the website since last October.

AT least 49 people died and scores more were injured today when a jet carrying 10 Australians crash-landed and burst into flames at Yogyakarta Airport.

A number of Australians are among 50 passengers still unaccounted for. The 10 Australian passengers on board include one Foreign Affairs Department official, a Federal Police officer and "at least five media representatives".

"We found 48 dead bodies at the spot. One person died at Sardjito hospital," provincial secretary Bambang Susanto said, referring to the city's main medical centre.

The media contingent was covering Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's visit to Indonesia. Mr Downer was not on the flight.

Sisters united: Mercedes and Schapelle

Schapelle Corby's sister Mercedes and her former best friend have had a very public falling out, with allegations about the drug history of Mercedes and other family members.

The twists and turns are worthy of a B-grade movie and it has left the jailed drug runner's supporters wondering whether anyone is left who is prepared to fight for her cause.

Jodie Power was once a Corby family confidant.

Last night, she took a pay cheque from Channel Seven and delivered a ratings bonanza, airing claims of drug use by Schapelle Corby's older sister Mercedes, who was once her best friend.

Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks could face life in prison if he's found guilty of new charges laid by the US military, his lawyer warns.

The 31-year-old Adelaide-born father of two has been held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for five years without trial.

Overnight, the US military prepared new charges against Hicks - including supporting terrorism and attempted murder.

Canberra's federal Labor MPs have sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Party speaker of the US Congress, asking for help in bringing home accused Australian terrorist David Hicks.

ACT Senator Kate Lundy together with lower house members Bob McMullan and Annette Ellis say the US military commission process set send Hicks to trial runs against basic American values.

"As members of the Australian Parliament, we ask that members of the US Congress take steps to bring about the return to Australia of Australian citizen David Hicks, - a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years - for prosecution here," the letter says.

A civil jury has handed down its verdict in the rape case against former ATSIC leader Geoff Clark, finding he did lead two pack rapes in 1971.

Carol Stingel, 51, wept in court as the jury handed down its verdict, vindicating her claim Mr Clark led two pack rapes on her in Warrnambool almost 35 years ago.

The jury found he raped Ms Stingel twice, just after her 16th birthday.

It awarded her $20,000 in compensation.

Outside court, Ms Stingel said it was never about the money but about justice.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said there was not enough evidence to justify using anti-terrorism laws to outlaw Hizb-u-Tahrir.

To be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, a group has to urge the use of force or violence.

"Evidence to sustain that has to be available," he told reporters.

"Just because people have messages that I don't regard as broadly in keeping with Australian values doesn't mean they can be proscribed as terrorist organisations," Mr Ruddock told reporters.

At the same time Jewish leaders in NSW have condemned a radical Muslim group that has sparked outrage by bringing to Australia its calls for an Islamic superstate.

The Federal Government is to take control of Australia's largest river system, the Murray Darling from the  NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland Governments.

The take over is one of the most ambitious grabs of power by Canberra since it proposed the GST and confirms the electoral concern over the future of water ahead of this years federal election.

Mr Howard said State governments had to recognise that the "old way" of managing the basin had "reached its use-by date".

"The tyranny of incrementalism and the lowest common denominator must end," Mr Howard told the National Press Club in Canberra.