Townsville woman believed murdered

The husband of a missing Townsville woman has been arrested in connection to her suspected murder. Source: AAP

THE husband of missing Townsville woman Julie Hutchinson has been arrested in connection to her suspected murder.

MS Hutchinson, 48, was last seen at a home on Chelsea Drive in the Townsville suburb of Condon on March 7, but was only reported missing on Thursday.

Police believe she was murdered, and arrested her 47-year-old husband on Saturday afternoon.He has not been charged and is currently helping police with their inquiries."Information and evidence we identified suggested (Ms Hutchinson) is now deceased," Inspector David Nixon told reporters on Sunday."The exact details of that evidence are unable to be disclosed at this time because it would affect our investigation, but it has led us to arrest him."The couple's home has been cordoned off for forensic examination, and police are also concentrating part of their investigation on the nearby Herveys Range.Police also seized a vehicle for forensic examination.Investigators want to hear from anyone who may have seen Ms Hutchinson or the vehicle she may have been driving - a 2004 silver, Mazda6 sedan with Queensland registration 622-HZE.

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Scientists restart Large Hadron Collider

SCIENTISTS have successfully restarted the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful atom-smasher ever built, hoping to enter a new realm of physics and make history for the second time.

TWO beams of particles travelling a whisker below the speed of light were sent flying in opposite directions through the LHC's 27 kilometres of circular underground tunnels straddling the Swiss-French border.

Amid scenes of jubilation in the LHC control room, Professor Rolf Heuer, director general of Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, said: "Congratulations. Thank you very much everyone... now the hard work starts."Currently the 3.74 billion machine is running at a low "injection" energy of 450 giga-electron volts (GeV). In June, the energy level will be ramped up to a record-breaking 13 tera-electron volts (TeV) and experiments probing the fundamental building blocks of the universe can begin.Two years ago the LHC team, which includes a number of British physicists, astounded the world with the discovery of the Higgs boson, an elementary particle that gives other particles mass.Now the scientists have their sights set on an even more exotic trophy - dark matter, the invisible, undetectable material that makes up 84 per cent of matter in the universe and binds galaxies together yet whose nature is unknown.With a beam energy of 13 TeV - almost twice that which produced the Higgs boson - it is conceivable that the LHC will capture dark matter, marking a leap forward in our understanding of the universe.A technical hitch had delayed the restart of the LHC after a two year re-fit and upgrade.An electrical short circuit prompted fears that operations could be put back weeks or even months. However, engineers quickly located the problem - a small piece of metal debris - and removed it.As tension built during the final minutes before the restart, Frederick Bordry, Cern's director for accelerators and technology, handed out Easter eggs to staff in the LHC control room.The particles of protons, the "hearts" of atoms, travel round the LHC at just three metres per second below the speed of light.When experiments begin they will be smashed together in four giant detectors located around the beam ring, sparking the creation of new particles and hopefully opening up a new era in physics.

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Australia to sign up to China Bank

Treasurer Joe Hockey says it is good for Australia to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA will join the club of more than 30 countries negotiating the set-up of a $100 billion China-led development bank.

AFTER holding out for months, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Sunday that Australia intends to sign up to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

China is promoting the bank as a vehicle to help combat an estimated $8 trillion infrastructure gap in the region over the next decade, but the US has reservations about the venture.Signing on before Tuesday's deadline allows Australia to participate as a prospective founding member in negotiations to set up the bank.Mr Abbott says key matters to be resolved include its board of directors having authority over major investment decisions, and that no one country controls the bank.But he says good progress has been made on the bank's design, governance and transparency in the past few months.Treasurer Joe Hockey says infrastructure upgrades in Asia, funded by the bank's loans, would benefit Australian exporters and commodities in the medium to long term."We could massively increase our exports of iron ore to India if there were better port facilities," he told reporters in Tasmania.Australia wanted similar governance positions to other multi-lateral banks.Mr Hockey said the UK, Germany, Italy and France's interest had helped sway the decision.Those countries joined the queue to sign up after Beijing reportedly dropped its veto power over the bank."(It) has been encouraging for Australia to know that it truly is a global organisation," Mr Hockey said.Trade Minister Andrew Robb said it was imperative that Australia was at the table because improved infrastructure would help drive growth and demand in Asia Pacific countries.Federal Labor accused the government of dithering on the issue for too long."I think it's important to be confident about the institutional arrangements of the bank, but the best way to do that is through engagement with China," Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek told reporters in Sydney.Russia and the Netherlands also signed up to the bank this weekend.Australia will miss a meeting in Kazakhstan early this week because it has not yet signed a memorandum of understanding.There will be another two rounds of discussions on the bank's structure and governance before countries will formally sign on.There's speculation Australia might invest up to $3 billion in the venture.The Australia China Business Council said the bank was an excellent opportunity to help shape the region's future.ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK EXPLAINED* Aims to provide billions in loans for Asian countries to build railways, ports, roads, telcos etc* Expected to have $50-$100 billion in capital. Most cash to come from China* Designed to address estimated $8 trillion infrastructure gap in the region over the next decade* Addresses concerns World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund can't meet demand.* China: frustrated it's not getting much say in current institutions; keen to put to use excess foreign reserves* US: concerned the bank will increase China's economic influence in the region.(Source: Australian Institute of International Affairs)

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Qld road victim was celebrating birthday

A WOMAN killed in a hit-and-run in Brisbane had earlier been celebrating her 20th birthday.

POLICE believe the woman was intoxicated when she was struck by a vehicle just before 4am on Sunday while walking along the Western Freeway at Toowong.

She had been with friends on Saturday night celebrating her birthday.Another driver found the woman on the road.The driver had earlier spotted the disoriented woman walking on the freeway and doubled back out of concern but was too late to prevent her being struck.Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

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Putin accused over Nemtsov shooting

MURDERED spy Alexander Litvinenko's widow has said Boris Nemtsov's shooting was the Russian government's way of saying that anyone who spoke out against President Vladimir Putin would be killed.

MARINA Litvinenko described news of the veteran liberal politician's shooting as "absolutely devastating".

She was asked on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House program whether she believed the shooting of Nemtsov near the Kremlin in Moscow was linked to her husband's poisoning.She replied: "It's a different way to kill a person, but a way to present that anybody who will try to say something against (the government) will be killed."Nemtsov was a leading critic of President Putin and the war in Ukraine.He is said to have been hit by four bullets from a passing car as he walked on a bridge, hours after urging Russians to attend a protest rally and march against the "mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine".When asked what effect the high-profile death would have on democracy in Russia, Litvinenko said former deputy prime minister Nemtsov and other people had started to be described as "enemies of Russia".She continued: "Particularly after the war with Ukraine, the atmosphere in Russia is very aggressive. When you see images saying he is an enemy of Russia, Russian people will hate him."Litvinenko agreed with Nemstov's long-time friend, Vladimir Riskov, who said Putin was politically responsible.She concluded: "All what happened in Russia, it's the responsibility of this government and Mr Putin, he built this country that became centre of huge conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and a big problem with all the West, and it's the full responsibility of this person and his government."

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At least 1,100 killed in Iraq in February

The UN mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed at least 1,100 Iraqi lives in February. Source: AAP

THE UN mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed the lives of at least 1,100 Iraqis in February, including more than 600 civilians.

IN a statement, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said 611 civilians were among 1,103 people killed last month. The rest were members of the security forces.

It said at least 2,280 people were wounded, including 1,353 civilians.UNAMI said the most violent city was the capital Baghdad, with 329 civilians killed and 875 wounded.The UN numbers do not include the third of the country held by the Islamic State extremist group.According to UNAMI, last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2006-2007, with a total of 12,282 people killed and 23,126 wounded.

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Abbott clawing back ground: Ipsos poll

Tony Abbott is staging an unlikely recovery with a poll showing the Coalition closing in on Labor. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott is staging an unlikely recovery in the polls even as speculation about his leadership rumbles on.

A FAIRFAX-IPSOS poll published on Sunday puts the coalition almost neck-and-neck with Labor in two-party terms at 49-51.

That's the best result since October and a big improvement on the 54-46 split recorded in January.Labor's primary vote dropped four points to sit at 36 per cent, while the coalition has gained four points to hit 42 per cent, the poll of 1406 voters suggests.The results confirm a surge in government support suggested last week by Newspoll, which found primary support for the government rising three points.Yet Mr Abbott continues to lag former leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader, losing out in all 10 of the leadership attributes surveyed.A fifth of those polled believe Mr Abbott enjoys the confidence of his party. Half think Mr Turnbull does.Labor leader Bill Shorten remains preferred prime minister, but his margin has been slashed from 16 points to five to sit at 44-39.Mr Abbott laughed off the latest round of leadership speculation on Sunday, amid talk of a second spill motion.He said the matter had been settled by the party room three weeks ago.The poll has a 2.6 per cent margin of error.

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Clean Up Australia clears 300,000th tonne

On the 25th Clean Up Australia Day, founder Ian Kiernan is convinced the country is a cleaner place. Source: AAP

A QUARTER of a century after the first Clean Up Australia Day, volunteers have cleared their 300,000th tonne of rubbish.

MORE than half-a-million Australians carted around the signature yellow rubbish bags on Sunday at more than 6000 sites around the country, the organisation says.

On the event's 25th anniversary, volunteers removed an estimated 13,500 tonnes of rubbish.That's in addition to the 288,000 tonnes estimated to have been cleared over the previous 24 years."We should all be proud of our outstanding success," said founder of Clean Up Australia, Ian Kiernan, in Sydney.He told AAP "there's no doubt" Australia is a cleaner place than it was 25 years ago."The support for the event continues to grow as we become more aware of the importance of protecting our local environment," he said.But he said volunteers continue to find "staggering" amounts of cigarette butts, glass, plastics and paper.Around 80 per cent of the rubbish removed each year is recyclable.

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Thousands in Moscow at Nemtsov march

TENS of thousands of people are marching through central Moscow to mourn opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in a drive-by shooting days earlier.

THE crowd lined the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge near the Kremlin, where the veteran politician was hit by four bullets fired by an unknown gunman on Friday.

Organisers, among them Nemtsov, had originally planned to protest the policies of President Vladimir Putin on Sunday. They had agreed to move the event to a Moscow suburb after the city government did not allow it to be held in the centre.After Nemtsov's killing, however, authorities granted permission for the march to be relocated to the centre.Fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was the first to call for the march, missed the event. He is serving 15 days in detention for allegedly illegally handing out flyers.Nemtsov, who served as Russian deputy prime minister in the late 1990s and was a sharp critic of Putin since 2000, is the most prominent politician to have been assassinated in post-Soviet Russia.Moscow's TV Tsentr state television channel released footage from video surveillance cameras that suggested the killer might have fired the shots from a slow-moving street cleaning lorry as it drove past Nemtsov.The footage, which was recorded from a great distance, shows the lorry driving past the silhouettes of two pedestrians believed to be Nemtsov and his girlfriend.When the vehicle passes, only one pedestrian remains and a person is seen running from the lorry towards a passing car, which stops on the middle of the road, lets the person get in, and quickly drives away.Russia's Investigative Committee, a powerful agency that reports directly to Putin, has suggested that Nemtsov could have been killed by opposition members who want to destabilise the country.Putin had earlier said through his spokesman that the crime was a provocation.The Investigative Committee also said that the crime might be linked to Islamist extremists because of Nemtsov's criticism of the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo, or to "radicals" from either side of the conflict inside Ukraine.Opposition supporters and independent observers dismissed the investigators' claims and expressed fear that the killing will fuel more political violence in the country.

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Estonians vote under shadow of Russia

POLLS have opened in Estonia in a general election overshadowed by security concerns sparked by Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

THE conflict in Ukraine has stirred anxiety in the former Soviet republic, with national security issues having dominated the election campaign.

The small Baltic nation, a member of both NATO and the European Union, borders Russia and has an uneasy relationship with Moscow.The country is also home to a Russian-speaking minority that makes up 25 per cent of the population of 1.3 million.However, there is no openly pro-Russian party in Estonia, in contrast to the situation in Latvia, Estonia's southern neighbour.The pro-market Reform Party of Prime Minister Taavi Roivas has led in the opinion polls published in the run-up to the vote.It won 28 per cent or 33 seats in the 101-member parliament in the last election in 2010.Roivas' main opponent is Edgar Savisaar, the 64-year-old mayor of Tallinn and head of the leftist Centre Party.The election commission said preliminary results will be published after polls close on Sunday (0600 AEDT Monday).

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