Ovary removal aids high-risk women 

FOR women who carry a notorious cancer gene, surgery to remove healthy ovaries is one of the most protective steps they can take. New research suggests some may benefit most from having the operation as young as 35.

Women who inherit either of two faulty BRCA genes are at much higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer than other women, and at younger ages. Actress Angelina Jolie generated headlines last year when she had her healthy breasts removed to reduce her cancer risk.
Monday's study is the largest yet to show the power of preventive ovarian surgery for those women. The surgery not only lowers their chances of getting either ovarian or breast cancer. The study estimated it also can reduce women's risk of death before age 70 by 77 per cent.

Chile aids Korean ship in Antarctica 

A KOREAN-FLAGGED fishing ship is stranded in Antarctica with 90 passengers aboard.

Chile's Navy says the Kwang Ja Ho struck the ocean floor about 450 metres from the coast while cruising through Antarctic waters.
The maritime governor for Chile's portion of Antarctica says a rescue mission was launched.
Officials have confirmed everyone on board is safe and there currently is no risk of a fuel spill.

Bingle attacked me first: LA snapper 

 THE photographer who was allegedly punched in the face by Australian actor Sam Worthington claims it was Lara Bingle who attacked him first on a New York street.

Paparazzo Sheng Li appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday charged with misdemeanour counts of assault and harassment.
Police allege Li was aggressively taking photos of Bingle and Worthington as they walked along a Greenwich Village street on Sunday afternoon.
Li deliberately kicked Bingle in the shin and Worthington retaliated by punching Li in the face, NYPD lieutenant John Grimpel told AAP.
Li's lawyer Ron Kuby told a different story.

Shark attack survivor 'bears no grudge' 

A SURFER who thought he was going to die after being attacked by a great white shark off a New Zealand beach says he bears no grudge against the fish.

British man Darren Mills, 28, was paddling off Porpoise Bay beach in the Catlins in early February when the three-metre predator pounced.
The shark clamped its jaws around Mr Mills' leg pinning him to his surfboard.
"I started punching it on the nose, a sensitive area for a shark, then got hold of its snout and tried to prise it off," the air conditioning engineer told British tabloid The Daily Mirror on Monday.
"It must have been on my leg for four seconds but it felt a lot longer."
When the shark let go, Mr Mills swam to shore with four huge bite marks on his right leg and a large puncture wound.

Samsung launches new flagship Galaxy phone

SAMSUNG has unveiled its answer to Apple's flagship iPhone 5s in a move set to ramp up the rivalry between the world's two biggest phone makers.

Samsung debuted the Galaxy S5 on Monday evening at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.
The phone will begin shipping worldwide, including to Australia, on April 11.
The phone freshens up the flagship Galaxy line, which has been Samsung's chief weapon in the battle for global smartphone supremacy.
With a 5.1-inch screen, the S5 is slightly larger than the phone it updates - the one-year-old Galaxy S4.

Egypt's government quits ahead of poll 

EGYPT'S military-installed government has resigned en masse in a surprise move ahead of a presidential poll likely to bring defence minister and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.

A limited reshuffle to allow Sisi to step down as defence minister and enter elections had been expected.
But the across-the-board resignations led by the increasingly unpopular prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi surprised even some in the cabinet.
Appointed in July after the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Beblawi's government came under pressure to step aside amid a worsening economy and a spate of militant attacks and labour strikes.

Russia seeks answers over deadly crash 

 RUSSIA has sought answers for the latest deadly plane crash to raise concerns about the safety of its civil aviation, with investigators focusing on a fault with the 23-year-old plane or pilot error as the likely cause.

The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737-500 crashed on landing at the airport in the Volga city of Kazan after a flight from Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Sunday night, killing all 44 passengers and six crew on board, the emergencies ministry said.

NZ military most tolerant to gay soldiers

 NEW Zealand has topped a new global index ranking armed forces for inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexuals and transgender soldiers, with Australia rating in fifth place.

The LGBT Military Index assesses admittance, tolerance, exclusion or persecution of homosexuals to measure 103 armies worldwide, the Hague-based Centre for Strategic Studies think-tank said.
New Zealand topped the index and the Netherlands and UK ranked joint second with Sweden coming in fourth.

Floor collapses at US church centre

AS a Mississippi student minister preached at a youth centre, the wooden floor started to rumble and quickly collapsed, sending about 70 people tumbling to the first floor below.

About 35 people were injured in the collapse on Wednesday night, with most suffering cuts and broken bones. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
"We were blessed by the Lord," Pastor Tommy Davis said on Thursday.
"we are getting all the inspections done to a get a better perspective about what happened Wednesday night."

Eating-and-driving on the increase 

MOTORISTS' appetite for eating-and-driving is on the increase.

More than three in five drivers admitted to eating at the wheel in the past year, a UK survey by road safety charity Brake and insurance company Direct Line showed.
Based on responses from 1000 drivers, the survey showed that in the last 12 months:
- A total of 29 per cent have opened and eaten food at the wheel;

Gene defects are cancer markers

A COLLECTION of 13 gene defects can be used to identify men most at risk from life-threatening prostate cancer, scientists have shown.

The discovery raises the prospect of screening men for the first time to single out those predisposed to developing aggressive and potentially deadly tumours.
Scientists tested blood samples from 191 British men with prostate cancer who had at least three relatives affected by the disease.

Heart attack stem cell trial starts

DOCTORS at a London hospital have started treating heart attack patients with their own stem cells in the largest trial of its kind ever undertaken.

The patients at the London Chest Hospital are among the first of 3000 participants in a Europe-wide study looking at the life-prolonging potential of stem cell therapy.
All will be treated within five days of suffering a heart attack. Stem cells taken from bone marrow will be injected into their hearts in the hope of increasing survival rates by a quarter.

Greek financial crisis affects health

RESEARCHERS say they have found new evidence that Greece's financial crisis is taking a toll on the health of its citizens, including rising rates of HIV, tuberculosis, depression and even infant deaths.

Since the economic crisis hit several years ago, the government's health spending has been slashed and hundreds of thousands of people have been left without health insurance. As cuts have been made to AIDS prevention programs, rates of HIV and tuberculosis in drug users have spiked.
Previous studies have found suicides in Greece have increased by about 45 per cent between 2007 and 2011. The new research found the prevalence of major depression more than doubled from 2008 to 2011, citing economic hardship as a major factor.

US judge orders new mental exam of shooter

THE judge in the Colorado theatre shootings case says defendant James Holmes must undergo a second psychiatric evaluation at the state mental hospital.

The ruling on Wednesday said Holmes' first evaluation last northern summer was incomplete and inadequate.
The critical findings of that evaluation haven't been made public.
The judge granted prosecutors' request for a second evaluation but said it should be done by another doctor at the state hospital, not by doctors chosen by the prosecutors.

New norms disturb NZ privacy commissioner 

NEW Zealand's new privacy commissioner says he's disturbed by a "strange behavioural change" in what people do when they mistakenly receive personal information.

Privacy commissioner John Edwards told parliament's justice and electoral select committee on Thursday he thinks there's been a change over the last few years in what people do when they find something in their inbox, for example, that is not intended for them.

US govt warns airlines of shoe bomb threat 

THE US Department of Homeland Security has warned airlines to watch for explosives hidden in the shoes of passengers flying into the United States, officials say.

The alert is based on new intelligence indicating that a shoe bomb may be used to blow up a US-bound jetliner, said two law enforcement officials who described the bulletin on the condition of anonymity.
Officials said the threat was not specific to a particular airline, flight, country or time.
It was not related to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Obesity link to male breast cancer 

BEING obese increases a man's risk of breast cancer by nearly a third, research has shown.

Other risk factors include enlarged male breasts, and having an extra X chromosome besides the one men normally inherit from their mothers.
Around 100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Australia and about 400 each year in the UK, but the causes of male breast cancer are poorly understood.

Kylie arrives at Brit Awards

KYLIE Minogue has arrived at the Brit Awards in a black knee-length rubber dress with a huge bow detail accompanied by her sister Dannii.

The Voice coach was among the arrivals at the most glamorous night of the year for the UK music world on Wednesday at London's O2 Arena.
A slimline Boy George attracted attention with his new towering quiff and what appeared to be a graze around the left side of his face, although he is well known for his elaborate experiments with make-up.

Clashes 'not part of US-Russia chessboard' 

US President Barack Obama says he doesn't view violent clashes in Ukraine and Syria as part of a "Cold War chessboard" where the United States competes with Russia.

Obama said that although Russia had influence on both governments, the turmoil in the two countries had risen among people insisting on fundamental rights.
Obama said he wishes Russia will eventually back those values, but, "Right now there are times when we have strong disagreements".

Ukraine leader, protesters announce truce 

UKRAINE'S embattled president and leaders of the protests that have been roiling the country have agreed on a truce to halt the violence that has killed 26 people.

A protest leader was quoted as saying the government pledged not to attack an opposition encampment in central Kiev while further negotiations unfold.
President Viktor Yanukovych met with opposition leaders and the two sides agreed to halt the violence and to hold talks on ending bloodshed, a statement on the presidential website said.
The statement did not give any further details.

Bikie and gang members hit with gun ban 

MORE than 220 people in NSW have been banned from possessing firearms, the majority of them members of bikie and other criminal gangs.

NSW Police say those issued with Firearm Prohibition Orders include 44 members and associates of the Brothers For Life gang, 42 members of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang and 39 men associated with Assyrian organised crime networks.

Search called off for missing fishermen 

POLICE have called off the search for two brothers-in-law who went missing while fishing off Cape Jervis, south of Adelaide, on Sunday.

A helicopter carried out a final grid search of the area on Wednesday morning, but did not locate the men or their 4.6-metre half cabin boat.
Police believe the boat has sunk.

Pyne wants more practical teacher training 

 TEACHER training is set for an overhaul with Education Minister Christopher Pyne wanting more focus on the practical aspects.

An eight-member ministerial advisory group will report by the middle of the year on how education degrees at universities can better prepare new teachers.
"There is absolutely no reason at all why Australia, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world ... shouldn't have the best teacher training in the world," Mr Pyne told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.

Vic police fear bikie payback attacks 

SIXTY Victorian properties linked to the Comancheros have been raided amid police fears of a payback involving the Hells Angels.

At least 18 people were arrested, including the Comancheros' Victorian vice president, when police swooped early Wednesday morning.
Firearms, drugs including large quantities of steroids, ammunition, cash, tasers, swords and explosives were seized at 58 of 62 addresses targeted.

Principal accepts incompetence over abuse 

A CATHOLIC principal believed a pedophile teacher was a risk to students but gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn't report a serious child sex abuse complaint against him.

Terence Hayes has taken the stand for a second time at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane.
The primary school principal received a complaint from a schoolgirl in 2007 about inappropriate behaviour by teacher Gerard Byrnes, including the most serious allegation that he "had put his hands up our skirts".

Hockey backs AFP over Seven raids 

FEDERAL Treasurer Joe Hockey has backed the federal police after they controversially raided Seven Network's offices.

Dozens of officers searched the network's inner-Sydney offices on Tuesday, looking for evidence of a lucrative interview with Schapelle Corby.
The network denies a deal has been made with the convicted drug smuggler.
Mr Hockey was on Wednesday asked whether he agreed with Seven that the raids were "overkill".
"I support the AFP," he told reporters in Sydney.