Bee threats to be outlined

BEE business and a potential billion dollar threat to agriculture is on the agenda of a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

At a town hall in Murray Bridge, west of Adelaide, senators will start to hear evidence from those in the bee and honey industry, including their fears of an infestation of the disease-spreading Varroa mite.

Ten submissions have been received, with some indicating a mite infestation is most likely to reach Australia via established bee hives carried on international shipping.

Such a breakout could cost Australian agriculture billions of dollars through subsequent loss of pollination and propagation of crops, independent senator Nick Xenophon says.

Australia needs to strengthen its biosecurity regulations, demanding that overseas shipping companies remove bee hives from ships before arrival, Senator Xenophon said.

The beekeeping and pollination inquiry is also scheduled to sit in Brisbane in May.

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Chinese pork giant plans IPO

THE world's biggest pork producer says it plans to raise up to $US5.3 billion ($A5.66 billion) in an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

China's WH Group said late on Monday it was selling 3.65 million shares priced at between 8 and 11.25 Hong Kong dollars ($A1.10 -$A1.55).

That would raise between $US4.1 billion and $US5.3 billion for WH Group, formerly known as Shuanghui International Holdings.

The company is a pork behemoth after buying the largest US pork company, Smithfield Foods Inc., less than a year ago for $US4.7 billion in cash.

Most of the proceeds from the IPO will be used to pay off the loan that the company took out to buy Smithfield Foods.

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Fatty food fires up body's defences: study

HIGH-FAT food provokes the same defence reaction in the body as a bacterial invasion.

The airways become inflamed as protective cells are deployed, says Associate Professor Lisa Wood, a speaker at a meeting of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand.

She studied how people responded to a meal of two breakfast burgers and two hash browns, in what she calls an acute fat challenge.

"The fat activates the same defence mechanism that responds to bacteria," says Prof Wood, a nutrition expert at the University of Newcastle's Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases.

"The fat in the blood peaks after about four hours. If this inflammation happens after every meal it becomes a chronic problem."

Prof Wood's acute fat challenge shows people with asthma should avoid fatty food before using ventolin, a drug that increases air flow to the lungs.

They get the same initial benefit as other people, but the effectiveness wears off as the fat content of the blood increases.

"By four hours we've got this inflammation occurring and lung function returns to pre-treatment levels.

"That's pretty important. It suggests that if people are eating these types of meals their bronchodilator is not going to work effectively."

Another study by Prof Wood shows significant benefits for asthmatic people who eat lots of vegetables and fruit.

The three-month study shows people on a diet that includes five serves of vegetables and two of fruit a day have fewer asthma attacks than those who eat two serves of fruit and one of vegetables.

There is increasing evidence that diet is important for asthma management, she says.

"Low fruit and vegetable intake increases inflammation and increases your risk having an attack."

Prof Wood presented research at the meeting that shows poor quality diets could be contributing to increased asthma prevalence.

Her team studied 99 people with stable asthma and 61 healthy controls.

They found those with asthma were more likely to eat higher volumes of processed food, fat and refined sugar than the controls.

"The usual diet consumed by asthmatics in this study was pro-inflammatory relative to the diet consumed by the healthy controls."

This could contribute to an increased incidence of asthma.

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Afghan bombings kill 18, injure 9

AT least 15 civilians and three policemen have been killed and nine others wounded in two separate attacks in Afghanistan, officials say.

"A roadside bomb struck a bus at 6pm (0030 AEST) in Maiwand district, in which 13 people - all civilians - were killed and five others injured," Zia ul Rahman Durrani, a police spokesman for Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, said.

"Locals were travelling from one village to another when the bomb hit their vehicle," Durrani said.

Officials in Kandahar hospital said two of the wounded later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

In another attack in the western province of Herat, three police officers were killed and four others were injured after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle.

"The police were patrolling in Shindand district today when a bomb placed on a roadside hit their vehicle," said Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, a local police spokesman.

Also in Kandahar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden mini-van in front of a convoy of coalition forces.

"The bomber exploded his mini-van targeting a US convoy in Maiwand district," an Afghan police spokesman said.

The bomber died but nobody was hurt in the attack.

"We can confirm an ISAF convoy was targeted by a vehicle-loaded today in southern Afghanistan, but no casualties were reported," a NATO spokesperson said.

The attacks came two days after around 7 million Afghans cast their ballots to choose a new president.

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PM continues trade tour of north Asia

A FREE trade deal between Australia and South Korea will be formally signed when Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrives in Seoul for the next leg of his regional visit.

Mr Abbott and South Korean President Park Geun-hye will on Tuesday discuss trade and security in bilateral talks before witnessing the signing of the trade agreement struck in December.

The prime minister is also expected to address a business forum before sitting down for an official dinner with President Park later that evening.

The prime minister arrives in South Korea after two days in Tokyo, where he finalised a free trade agreement with Japan and elevated the defence and security relationship.

Mr Abbott is expected to spend around a day in South Korea, Australia's fourth-largest trading partner, before departing for China.

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Royals rest up for whirlwind NZ tour

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their baby Prince George will have a day of rest after their long flight from Britain before their whirlwind tour of New Zealand begins in earnest.

The royal family have no public engagements planned and will spend Tuesday recuperating after their 27-hour trip at Government House in Wellington, where they were officially welcomed to the country on Monday.

They'll ease into their busy tour schedule with an informal Plunket meeting on Wednesday afternoon, where Kate and William will chat to other first-time parents while George plays with kids his own age.

Government House will act as a home base where George will stay while the duke and duchess travel around on mainly day trips.

The Edwardian two-storey building is surrounded by 12 hectares of grounds, and has a tennis court, squash court and swimming pool if the royal visitors want any exercise away from the public gaze.

The royals flew to Sydney on a commercial flight and switched to a VIP Royal New Zealand Air Force flight for the final leg to the capital.

The jet landed only 20 minutes late despite fog threatening to force it to land at Ohakea military base, a two-hour drive out of Wellington.

The wet weather that greeted the duke and duchess upon their arrival is expected to linger for the next few days.

The tour takes in eight locations around the country. It is Kate's first time in New Zealand.

It's also eight-month-old George's first official overseas trip. He's following in the tradition of his father who also visited the country as a baby.

The duke, duchess and George are due to fly out on April 16 for Sydney to begin their 10-day Australian leg.

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Dentist tool broke off in patient's mouth

A NEW Zealand teen suffered pain when a dentist tool broke off during root canal treatment, but he only found out about the mistake from another dentist.

The instrument broke off in the patient's root canal, but the dentist never told the teen and didn't write it down in clinical records, an NZ Health and Disability Commission report found.

The boy, aged 16-17, began to feel pain and the dentist treated him three further times, attempting to remove the instrument.

But the dentist never told the boy the reason for the treatment, the options available, or the risks involved - even when the boy and his parents asked directly about the reason for the re-treatment.

The boy found out about the mistake only when he went to another dentist for a second opinion.

The report found the dentist breached the health code by failing to let the boy know about the mistake, failing to keep him informed and failing to keep proper records.

The dentist has now been referred to the Director of Proceedings who'll decide whether further action should be taken.

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Aust, Indon police 'must work on trust'

AUSTRALIAN police feel the bilateral hiatus with Indonesia has created hesitation in a once remarkable relationship forged by the Bali bombings, according to a report.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) interviewed Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Indonesian National Police (POLRI) officers for a special report on the partnership.

The rift between Jakarta and Canberra following last year's spy scandal led Indonesia to suspend police cooperation in some areas, including people smuggling and cybercrime.

Both nations' foreign ministers are set to resume talks this week on a plan to restore bilateral ties - something unlikely to take effect until after Indonesia's presidential elections later this year.

ASPI says the police relationship can't resume as if nothing happened.

Both forces should therefore use this time to think about what they want their cooperation to deliver in the future.

Following the spy revelations, the report says, POLRI officers had to check their communications equipment to ensure it hadn't been compromised by other nations, including Australia.

ASPI believes a close and productive relationship will return, provided there's an effort made to close any trust deficit that has emerged.

"All the AFP and POLRI officers interviewed for this project think the current tension has not damaged (people-to-people relationships)," it says.

"Although some note that the ambiguous situation has made some Indonesian officials hesitant to engage their Australian counterparts."

The report suggests workshops for future AFP and POLRI leaders, and inviting POLRI officers to support the AFP during November's G20 meeting.

In the past, the AFP-POLRI relationship has brought significant benefits to both countries, most notably in terrorism.

After the 2002 Bali bombings, officers lived together, shared information openly, and convicted more than 30 terrorists.

Australia posted its first police liaison officer to Jakarta in 1977. Today there are around 30 AFP officers working in Indonesia.

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Commuter train derails in Chicago

AN eight-car Chicago commuter train has ploughed across a platform and scaled an escalator at an underground station at O'Hare airport, injuring 32 people.

No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the Blue Line derailment, Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said during a Monday morning briefing.

Chicago Transit Authority investigators along with the city fire department and police were reviewing security footage and interviewing the driver and other CTA workers to pin down the cause of the accident.

Steele said crews were working to remove the train and fix the escalator and aren't sure when the station will reopen.

The train appeared to have been going too fast as it approached the end-of-line station and didn't stop at a bumping post - a metal shock absorber at the end of the tracks.

"The train actually climbed over the last stop, jumped up on the footpath and then went up the stairs and escalator," Santiago said.

"Apparently (it) was travelling at a rate of speed that clearly was higher than a normal train would be," Steele said.

It wasn't clear how many people were on board at the time but the accident happened during what is "typically among our lowest ridership time," Steele said.

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Malaysia says missing jet crashed at sea

MALAYSIA says the passenger jet that went missing more than two weeks ago crashed in the Indian Ocean, but it's shed no light on the mystery of why it veered from its intended course.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said new satellite analysis of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370's path placed its last position in remote waters off Australia's west coast, and far from any landing sites.

The sombre announcement on the fate of the plane ended 17 days of agonising uncertainty for relatives of those on board - two thirds of them Chinese.

"It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," Najib said on Monday night.

He said the flag carrier had already spoken to the families of the passengers and crew aboard the jet which disappeared on March 8 on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking; I know this news must be harder still."

Najib said he had been briefed by representatives from Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which relayed further analysis of satellite data by British company Inmarsat.

The airline, in a statement sent to families, said "we have to assume" the plane was lost.

"Our prayers go out to all the loved ones of the 226 passengers and of our 13 friends and colleagues at this enormously painful time," it said.

"We know there are no words that we or anyone else can say which can ease your pain."

The airline said the multinational search, which is scouring a stretch of the forbidding Indian Ocean to find any debris, would continue "as we seek answers to the questions which remain".

Malaysia believes the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board. But the absence of firm evidence has fuelled intense speculation and conspiracy theories, and tormented the families of the missing.

Leading theories include a hijacking, pilot sabotage, or a sudden mid-air crisis that incapacitated the flight crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

MH370 last made contact over the South China Sea halfway between Malaysia and Vietnam. For reasons unknown, it backtracked over the Malaysian peninsula and then flew on for hours.

The search swung deep into the Indian Ocean last week after initial satellite images depicted large floating objects there.

Hopes of a resolution to the mystery rose after a weekend in which an Australian aircraft spotted a wooden pallet, strapping and other debris, and French and Chinese satellite information indicated more floating objects.

An Australian-led multinational air and sea search has been scouring the vast ocean and there have been two separate sightings of possible debris from the plane.

Crew members of an Australian P-3 Orion plane reported seeing two objects, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament on Monday.

Australian officials said they were different to pieces seen by a Chinese plane earlier in the day.

The Australian naval ship HMAS Success, equipped with a crane, is in the area, about 2500km southwest of Perth, and will attempt to recover the objects.

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