Man hid drug ice in his underpants: police

A SYDNEY man has allegedly been caught with $11,000 worth of the party drug ice hidden in his underpants.

Police say they were patrolling the Surry Hills nightclub strip Oxford Street on Saturday when they saw two men acting suspiciously about 4am (AEDT).

Officers stopped and searched the men's car, and a check revealed one was wanted on an outstanding warrant and he was arrested.

The 23-year-old was taken to Surry Hills police station, where it's alleged 41 bags of methamphetamine were found in his underpants.

Police estimate the alleged haul had a street value of $11,000.

More than $4000 cash was also seized during the search, police say.

The man, from Westmead, has been charged with dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime, supplying a prohibited drug and possession of a prohibited drug. He was also charged over the outstanding warrant.

He was refused bail during an appearance at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday, police say, and is due to reappear in court next week.

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NSW woman charged with stabbing girl

A woman has been charged with a stabbing attack on a 12-year-old girl in a northern NSW home. Source: AAP

A WOMAN has been charged with a stabbing attack on a 12-year-old girl in a northern NSW home.

Police charged a 38-year-old woman over the attack, in which she allegedly repeatedly stabbed the girl.

The woman and two men entered the girl's Glen Innes unit on Friday night, where the woman stabbed her several times before the group fled the scene, NSW police allege.

The girl was flown to Lismore Hospital where she was treated with puncture wounds and remains in a stable condition.

NSW police arrested the Glenn Innes woman at another unit just hours later.

They will allege she knew the girl and her attack was targeted.

The woman was charged with reckless wounding and specially aggravated enter dwelling with intent to wound.

She was denied bail to appear at Armidale Court on Saturday.

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Barrick halts work on Chile-Argentina mine

THE world's largest goldmining company is indefinitely suspending construction of its troubled mine straddling the Chile-Argentine border, part of a cost-cutting effort that also involves 10 other mining projects around the world.

Restarting the $US8.5 billion ($A9.01 billion) Pascua-Lama mine will depend on a rebound in metals prices and assurances that Barrick Gold can make profits in an uncertain legal and regulatory environment, the company announced on Thursday.

"We have determined that the prudent course - at this stage - is to suspend the project, but naturally we will maintain our option to resume construction and finish the project when improvements to its current challenge have been attained," Barrick chief executive Jaime Sokalsky said in a statement.

Falling gold prices, rising costs and a sagging stock price weighed down by its Pascua-Lama project have plagued the Toronto-based company. Barrick said the suspension will reduce the company's 2014 capital costs by up to $US1 billion.

The company also said 10 other mines around the world were being scaled back, suspended or sold to focus on more profitable production, part of an overall effort to save $US2 billion.

Barrick has already spent $US5 billion on the project being built between glaciers at up to 5,200 metres above sea level. Earlier this year, Chile's environmental regulator stopped construction on its Pascua side of the project, and imposed sanctions citing "serious violations" of its environmental permit.

No such violations were declared in Argentina despite a national law banning mining on or amid glaciers. In Argentina, mining is mostly regulated at the provincial level, and Barrick's operations represent a third of the local San Juan province's economy.

Barrick had hoped to begin production in early 2014, and previously warned shareholders that it might abandon the Chilean side altogether because of construction delays. The bi-national mine was initially expected to be producing gold and silver by the second half of 2014.

While Argentine officials were eager to keep building, most of the estimated 18 million ounces of gold and 676 million ounces of silver are buried on Chile's Pascua side. On Argentina's Lama side, officials have been trying to figure out how to preserve thousands of jobs. The company already scaled back its workforce from 11,000 to 6,000, partly because of the Chile ruling and also because the southern winter's weather makes outdoor construction impossible.

That work force is not expected to grow once the snows melt, and for now the jobs will be limited to maintaining what's already been built, a company official told The Associated Press.

Barrick remains committed long-term to San Juan province, where it plans to invest another $US400 million next year and where the company's Veladero mine, just downhill from Pascua-Lama, still directly employs 3000 people, said Guillermo Calo, the company's top executive in Argentina.

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Commodity prices edge lower in October

EXPORT commodity prices edged down by one per cent in October in foreign currency terms, to be 24 per cent down from their peak in 2011.

The monthly fall in the index compiled by the Reserve Bank of Australia reversed a small rise the month before, and took the index to levels just above the three-and-a-half year low recorded in August.

The main reasons for the the fall in October were declines in the prices of iron ore, gold and crude oil, while base metals and rural goods prices increased in the month.

In Australian dollar terms, which was higher in the month, the index fell by 2.4 per cent in October.

Primary commodities dominate Australia's exports and the ratio of export prices to import prices - the so-called terms of trade - is a major influence on the Australian dollar's value over the long term.

The contrast between lower terms of trade and its apparent inconsistency with the stubbornly high Australian dollar has been mentioned numerous times in RBA speeches and publications over the past year or two.

So has the need for the exchange rate to fall in order to help he economy to "rebalance" as the mining investment boom fades.

Most recently, RBA governor Glenn Stevens said on Tuesday that "it seems quite likely that at some point in the future the Australian dollar will be materially lower than it is today".

The remarks prompted a bout of weakness for the currency.

The foreign currency price index is measured in terms of special drawing rights (SDRs), an average of four major currencies - US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and British pound.

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Leighton wins $249m coal mine contract

Leighton Holdings has won a $249m contract for work on the Isaac Plains coal mine in Queensland. Source: AAP

CONSTRUCTION giant Leighton Holdings has won a $249 million contract to provide services to the Isaac Planes coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin.

The three-year contract includes the operation of a dragline and the supply and maintenance of mobile plant and equipment.

Under the contract, Leighton will employ about 160 people at the mine.

Isaac Plains, a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation and Vale Australia, is located seven kilometres southwest of Moranbah in Central Queensland.

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AOFM sells $1bn of Treasury notes

THE Australian government has sold $1 billion of Treasury notes that mature on January 24, 2014.

The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM), which conducts bond auctions on the behalf of the government, said the notes were sold for a weighted average yield of 2.4688 per cent

The sale attracted bids totalling $2.992 billion, giving a coverage ratio of 2.99.

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Two in court over Sydney shooting murder

TWO men have faced court over the death of a man gunned down while bringing in rubbish bins at his home in Sydney's west.

Ali Jammas, 36, was shot outside his Abbotsbury home on the morning of July 12.

Police arrested 28-year-old Yagoona man Mahmoud Barakat on Wednesday and charged him with murder and possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit.

He's also charged with two counts of driving while suspended and not disclosing the identity of his passengers.

David Younis, 29, was also arrested at his Yagoona home and charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and concealing a serious offence.

Barakat didn't apply for bail when he fronted Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday and it was formally refused.

Younis, whose wife was in court, was granted bail.

The court heard that the prosecution was concerned Younis would intervene with crown witnesses, but his lawyer said there was scant evidence he would do that and he was not a flight risk.

Meanwhile, police say they seized ammunition, prohibited drugs and a ballistic vest during raids through Sydney.

Further arrests are expected.

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Mass crim checks to weed out G20 agitators

MASS criminal background checks will be used to find and remove potential troublemakers living near G20 summit venues in Queensland, the state government says.

Police Minister Jack Dempsey says people living inside special security zones in Brisbane and Cairns will be barred from their homes and given up to $200 to stay elsewhere if they are identified as a risk by federal authorities.

The G20 bill, passed by the state parliament late on Tuesday, approved payments covering accommodation for those with a criminal background, plus their dependents.

It also includes a lengthy list of items prohibited in the security zones between November 14 and 17 next year.

Weapons including longbows and slingshots will be banned, but also "reptiles, insects or other animal capable of causing physical harm if released".

Eggs, a bag of flour, manure, kites, surfboards, canoes, kayaks, toy cars and model aircraft are also listed.

Mr Dempsey said background checks would be based on local and international intelligence and would only affect a handful of people.

"We are expecting 99 per cent of people will be able to go freely once they have had their crim history checked," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"If there are people who the authorities think will put the operation at risk, those people will be advised that they will not be able to go into those restricted areas."

Mr Dempsey said people facing possible removal would include past offenders who had not committed a crime in the state.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said the removals seemed extreme.

"If you have a conviction for a terrorist offence then that may be a justification," he told AAP.

"But if they have an undefined criminal history and they are moved from their homes for the G20, that is not what the rule of law is as I know it."

Mr Dempsey said officials had used previous G20s in Toronto in 2010 and Russia this year as their guide.

The new laws, which lapse after the summit, make it easier for officers to strip search and arrest troublemakers.

New offences for actions such as disrupting meetings and crossing barriers have also been created.

Mr Dempsey said police could detain people if they had reasonable suspicions a crime would be committed.

"We are making sure that obviously the rights and liberties of the community are protected, in that people will be able to protest but, protest in a way that does not bring fear or apprehension to other people who are here visiting from the G20," he added.

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Australia still needs carbon price: GE

An executive with US energy giant General Electric says Australia still needs a carbon price. Source: AAP

AN executive with US electronics and energy giant General Electric says Australia still needs a carbon price.

The country will miss out on green investments until there is clarity on climate mitigation, GE's vice chairman John Rice says.

"We still believe that over time there needs to be a price on carbon, there will be a price on carbon," he told ABC TV.

"Whatever the outcome is, investors are going to want clarity and a long window with which to see the world, otherwise you're just not going to get the right investments here."

GE is heavily involved in the wind, solar, nuclear and steam power industries, along with jet engines and household appliances.

But Mr Rice said the former Labor government's carbon policy did not have political legitimacy.

"It's clear the legislation that was promulgated wasn't right for Australia, certainly in the eyes of the current government and we certainly support or live with that outcome," he said.

The Abbott government last week released draft laws to repeal the carbon tax, ahead of their introduction to parliament in November.

Mr Rice said he had little understanding of the coalition's policy.

But he does not believe demand will fall for GE's wind turbines.

"Wind is always going to have a place in the portfolio of power generation technology," he said.

"The cost will continue to come down."

Both sides of politics support a mandated 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020.

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Kangaroo nearly kills child in Qld

A five-year-old is clinging to life after a kangaroo smashed through a car windscreen in Queensland. Source: AAP

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD child is clinging to life after a kangaroo smashed through a car windscreen west of Brisbane.

Police say the roo and the car collided on the Warrego Highway at Kingsthorpe on the Darling Downs about 3am (AEST).

The five-year-old was rushed to Toowoomba Base Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Another child and two adults in the car were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

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