Frozen berry scare prompts blood ban

People who ate berries linked to the hepatitis A scare have been banned from donating blood. Source: AAP

PEOPLE who ate berries linked to the hepatitis A scare have been banned from donating blood for two months.

ANYONE who has already donated after eating the berries is asked to contact the Red Cross Blood Service so they can identify any risks posed to those receiving blood.

While hepatitis A typically poses a very low risk to the blood supply, Red Cross Blood Service spokesman Shaun Inguanzo says the situation is being closely monitored.He said hepatitis A is almost exclusively spread by ingesting faecal-contaminated food."As a purely precautionary matter, the Blood Service is asking donors who consumed Nannas Frozen Mixed Berries or Creative Gourmet Mixed Berries and then gave blood either on or after 1 November 2014 to contact us on 13 14 95," Mr Inguanzo told AAP on Tuesday."This will help us identify whether or not we need to take further action to minimise the unlikely event of hepatitis A being spread via blood transfusion."The Blood Service screens blood donations for 70 diseases, but not hepatitis A due to its low risk.As an added precaution, donors who advise they have eaten the recalled Nannas berries, but not yet donated, will not be able to donate for two months from the date they last ate them.A Victorian health department spokesman said there had been no further Victorian cases of Hepatitis A linked to the berries."We're monitoring notifications of Hepatitis A to see if any are implicated with the particular food.Patties Foods added Nanna's Raspberries 1kg packs to its consumer recall on Tuesday morning.

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Jakarta floods kill one, 6000 displaced

FLOODING in the Indonesian capital has left at least one person dead and nearly 6000 displaced, police say.

PARTS of Jakarta were under as much as two metres of water after heavy rain fell since Sunday night.

One person died after being swept away by floodwaters in the city centre, police spokesman Ronny Sompie said on Tuesday.

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Al-Jazeera journalist release 'imminent'

CANADA'S foreign minister says the release of Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy from a prison in Egypt is "imminent".

FAHMY, a dual Egyptian-Canadian citizen, has relinquished his Egyptian citizenship as prerequisite to his deportation, his brother said on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister John Baird spoke Monday to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a day after Australian Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste was released after more than a year in prison. Baird gave no specific time frame for Fahmy's release, and his spokesman declined further comment.Greste, Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed were arrested in December 2013 and later convicted over their coverage of the violent crackdown on Islamist protests that year. They were sentenced to between seven and 10 years.Baird spoke with his Egyptian counterpart on Sunday and said he welcomed Greste's release. He said he remained hopeful that Fahmy's case will be resolved in "short order".Fahmy's brother, Adel Fahmy, said authorities gave him a choice: "dropping the nationality or his freedom"."It was a very difficult decision. Mohamed is very proud and comes from a patriotic family of high ranking military and policemen that have defended this country and fought its wars," Adel Fahmy said.He said many of those family members are offended and upset at Mohamed for dropping his nationality and don't want to even say goodbye to him.Adel Fahmy said his brother was devastated but his fiance and his mother told him do it. He said authorities told his brother he would be allowed to return as a tourist.Egyptian authorities had accused the three Al Jazeera journalists of providing a platform for ousted president Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, now declared a terrorist organisation. But authorities provided no concrete evidence.

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US home price gains weakened in December

US home values rose at a modest pace in December, a sign there are too few potential buyers to bid up prices.

REAL estate data provider CoreLogic says home prices rose 5 per cent in December from 12 months earlier. That is down from the 5.5 per cent price gain recorded in November. It's much lower than the double-digit gains that occurred last year.

Yet those much larger increases in early 2014 priced many potential buyers out of the market. Sales actually slipped last year, after several years of gains. Smaller price increases, along with lower mortgage rates, may spur a rebound in sales.The biggest yearly gains were in Colorado, Texas, New York, Nevada and Michigan. Just three states saw prices fall compared with 12 months earlier: Maryland, Vermont and Connecticut.

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S&P pay $1.38b in US settlement

STANDARD & Poor's is paying about $US1.38 billion ($A1.77 billion) to settle US government allegations that it knowingly inflated its ratings of risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis.

THE McGraw Hill Financial subsidiary Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC reached a settlement with the Justice Department over ratings issued from 2004 through 2007.

The settlement also resolves lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of 19 US states and the District of Columbia.The Justice Department filed civil fraud charges against S&P two years ago this week. It accused the company of failing to warn investors that the housing market was collapsing in 2006 because doing so would hurt its ratings business.S&P will also pay $US125 million in a separate settlement with the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

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British man to swim Antarctic in Speedos

BRITISH endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is embarking on the "most dangerous swims ever undertaken in the world" to call for a vast protected area in Antarctic waters.

THE swimmer is taking to the waters of Antarctica's Southern Ocean, braving freezing temperatures, leopard seals and killer whales in nothing more than his Speedo swimwear to raise awareness of the need to protect the region's pristine Ross Sea.

Over the next five weeks he will undertake five swims, four of which will be further south than the current world record - held by Mr Pugh - for the most southerly swim, in waters expected to be as cold as around minus 1.7C.The swims include a long distance swim around Cape Adare, home to the largest colony of Adele penguins in the world and patrolled by the penguins' predators, leopard seals.He will also be swimming at Cape Evans, where British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott built a hut before his journey to the South Pole.Another swim will take place in the Bay of Whales, so-named by explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton due to the large number of killer whales seen in the area.Mr Pugh said he was worried about the leopard seals, which could try to grab him in their powerful jaws and drag him under, the killer whales and the bitterly cold water, which he has already experienced swimming in the Arctic."When you have been there before and felt that pain, it's all the more daunting to go back there," he said."These will collectively be the most dangerous swims ever undertaken in the world".Pugh hopes his swims will encourage the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), 24 countries and the EU responsible for creating marine protected areas in the region, to designate the sea as a protected area.

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BP reports quarterly loss of $US4.4bn

BP has sounded a sombre note on the oil industry, saying producers may have to adjust to an extended period of lower prices, as the company reports a fourth-quarter loss of $US4.4 billion ($A5.64 billion).

THE London-based oil company followed Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron in curbing spending after the price of crude oil dropped about 50 per cent last year.

The industry is going through a period that is much weaker than anyone anticipated, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said during a press conference on Tuesday."We're in a raging gale," Dudley said. "It's a bit of a new world."The net loss reported by BP, which posted a profit of $US1.04 billion in the fourth quarter a year earlier, includes a $US5 billion write-down on the value of inventories.After stripping out the effect of the drop in oil prices, BP reported a quarterly loss of $US969 million, compared with a profit of $US1.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.BP plans to cut costs by as much as $US6 billion this year, reducing exploration expenditures and postponing some projects, including development of the Mad Dog field in the Gulf of Mexico.Dudley said the company was beginning 2015 in a stronger position because of divestments made in wake of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP was already in the process of shrinking and simplifying its operations, with an additional $US5 billion of divestments projected for this year."Our focus must now be on resetting BP: managing and rebalancing our capital program and cost base for the new reality of lower prices while always maintaining safe, reliable and efficient operations," Dudley said.

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Group calls for Yooralla board sacking

AN advocacy group has called on Victoria's new premier Daniel Andrews to sack the board of disability service provider Yooralla, claiming misappropriation of taxpayer funds.

UNITED Voices for People with Disabilities on Tuesday night distributed an "Open Letter to Premier Andrews" to the media.

The letter alleges excessive payments of up to $1.6 million were made to eight Yooralla senior managers, over four years, on top of their salaries.Yooralla's wages bill increased as general workforce of carers were underpaid, it also claims."We reject the Department of Human Services investigation of Yooralla, and the Yooralla investigation of itself," the open letter also states."Any adverse findings against Yooralla reflect on DHS, creating a conflict of interest."The department and Victoria's ombudsman are investigating the way abuse claims are handled within the disability support system.This was triggered by media reports Yooralla continued to employ abusive or corrupt staff despite warnings they preyed on disabled clients.Comment was being sought from the government.

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WHO: Ebola death rate rises to 70 per cent

THE death rate in the Ebola outbreak has risen to 70 per cent and there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week in two months, the World Health Organisation warns.

WHO assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward gave the grim figures during a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

Previously, WHO had estimated the death rate at about 50 per cent.Aylward said the 70 per cent death rate was "a high mortality disease" in any circumstance and that the UN health agency was still focused on trying to get sick people isolated and provide treatment as early as possible.He told reporters that if the world's response to the Ebola crisis isn't stepped up within 60 days, "a lot more people will die" and there will be a huge need to deal with the spiralling numbers of cases.For the last four weeks, there have been about 1000 new cases per week - including suspected, confirmed and probable cases, he said, adding that the UN health agency is aiming to get 70 per cent of cases isolated within two months to reverse the outbreak.WHO increased its Ebola death toll tally to 4447 people on Tuesday, nearly all of them in west Africa, from 8914 cases.Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been hardest hit nations in the current outbreak.Aylward said the agency was still focused on trying to treat Ebola patients, despite the huge demands on the broken health systems in west Africa."It would be horrifically unethical to say that we're just going to isolate people," he said, noting that new strategies such as handing out protective equipment to families and setting up very basic clinics - without much treatment - was a priority.

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Storm batters Sydney causing chaos

A RAGING storm has been tearing through NSW's east coast, battering homes and causing delays at Sydney Airport.

THE NSW State Emergency Service has received more than 300 calls for emergency assistance, including eight flood rescues under way on Tuesday night, with more calls expected to come.

SES spokesman Phil Campbell said trees and power lines were down and conditions were too hazardous in some areas for crews to go out."They'd go kite surfing across the ditch and end up in New Zealand," he said."Obviously the safety of our volunteers is paramount."We are responding to lots of calls for help. We're getting several per minute."Sydney's south, particularly Kogarah and the airport, had been hardest hit, he said.About 5500 homes in Sydney's south have lost power, according to electricity network Ausgrid.Wind gusts of 95 km/h were recorded about 9pm at Sydney Airport and passengers have taken to social media to report on delays and storm battered planes."Storm so severe its pushing our stationary A330 Airbus sliding around the Tarmac at Sydney Airport," tweeted Annalie Killian."Been stuck on this plane now for 4 hours... Piss off storm!" wrote Brett Leonard.Passengers have reported ground crews were nowhere in sight as they sat on planes, waiting for hours before cancellations."Please pray for me! The airport is a mess," one person posted on Facebook.Despite reports the airport had shut down, a spokeswoman told AAP it was operating."The thunderstorms are causing delays," she said."Flights are coming in and out, the weather is causing delays to unloading aircrafts ... it will contribute to knock-on delays."By about 9.30pm, wind gusts increased to 98 km/h at the airport, while in the state's south winds of 161 km/h were recorded at Wattamolla.At Strathfield, almost 90mm of rain has fallen in two-and-a-half hours with flooding expected in low lying areas of Tempe, in Sydney's inner west.Wind and rain hasn't been the only result of the storms as snow fell heavily around the Blue Mountains.About 5cm has fallen in Lithgow, with roads affected by snow and ice.The SES reported 60 passengers have become stuck on a train between Kingsgrove and Bexley North, sparking a rescue operation.By 11.15pm, the Bureau of Meteorology expects the dangerous thunderstorm to hit Parramatta, Hornsby and Manly.

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