Channel Seven try to get the jump on Nine

Channel Seven has kicked off their coverage of the Sydney's fatal Lindt cafe siege. Source: AAP

CHANNEL Seven has aired its Sydney siege special earlier than expected, supposedly to beat the Nine's coverage on 60 Minutes.

SEVEN'S program went to air around 6.10pm, around 20 minutes before it was scheduled.

Tim Burrowes from @mumbrella tweeted: "Aggressive ratings move by Seven: cutting short 6pm news bulletin and starting #SydneySiege special about 20 mins earlier than advertised."Network Nine started their special, including interviews with eight of the hostages, at 6.30pm as scheduled.

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Woman dies after accident at Pope Mass

A woman has died after she was hit by scaffolding at Pope Francis' mass in the Philippine. Source: AAP

POLICE say a church volunteer has died after she was hit by scaffolding following a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the central Philippine city of Tacloban.

REGIONAL police chief Asher Dolina says the 27-year-old woman was a volunteer with Catholic Relief Services and was among about 150,000 people who attended the rain-drenched religious ceremonies Saturday close to Tacloban's seaside airport.

A Vatican spokesman says the pope has been informed about the woman's death.The pope visited Tacloban to comfort victims of a deadly 2013 typhoon.ABS-CBN television cited the medical director of the hospital where the woman was taken as saying she died from a skull fracture.Local media reported the scaffolding was used as a loudspeaker platform and was toppled by a sudden gust of wind.

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Circumcision technology is safer

Malaysian PM Najib Razak says his country's circumcision technologies make the procedure quick. Source: AAP

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Najib Razak has urged local companies to export their modern circumcision technologies, which are safer and less painful.

HE said new circumcision technologies developed by local companies such as Flushcutter, Tara Clamp and Sunathrone reduce pain and make the process simpler, the Bernama news agency reported.

"In fact, it only takes 10 minutes for one session and is a simple process without stitching, without bandaging and without pain," he said before the start of a mass circumcision ceremony at his home town in Pekan in the state of Pahang."Children using this method of circumcision are said to be able to carry out their routine daily activities such as bathing and praying," he added."[The process] is most suitable for export abroad."He said that previously the person who performed circumcisions was often feared by children.

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Two die in separate Vic crashes

TWO people have died after their cars hit trees in separate accidents in Victoria.

POLICE say a woman died at Campbellfield at about 10am (AEDT) on Sunday after she lost control of her vehicle and struck a tree.

The woman was the only person in the vehicle and died at the scene.A 45-year-old Koonoomoo man died when his car flipped, hit a tree and caught fire at Cobram at about 6.30pm.The man was also the sole occupant of the vehicle.Victoria's road toll is currently 240, compared to 219 the same time last year.

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Seven police officers killed in Iraq

Militants have killed seven police officers north of Baghdad, security officials say. Source: AAP

SEVEN police officers have been killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up in an explosive-rigged car north of Baghdad.

SOME 26 others were injured in Sunday's attack on a checkpoint outside a police barracks, security officials said.

Bombings are common in Iraq and most often target security forces and areas populated by the majority Shi'ite community.Many are thought to be the work of the Islamic State extremist militia, which now controls much of Sunni Arab northern and western Iraq after two major offensives this summer.According to UN figures, 936 civilians and 296 security personnel were killed in November in Iraq, raising the death toll for the year to almost 12,000.

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US sends six from Guantanamo to Uruguay

Six Guantanamo Bay prisoners were transferred to Uruguay for resettlement, the US government says. Source: AAP

SIX Guantanamo Bay prisoners have been transferred to Uruguay for resettlement, the US government says.

THE six - four Syrians, a Tunisian and a Palestinian - are the first prisoners transferred to South America from the US base in Cuba, part of a flurry of recent releases amid a renewed push by US President Barack Obama to close the prison.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica agreed to accept the men as a humanitarian gesture and said they would be given help getting established in a country with a small Muslim population.All six were detained as suspected militants with ties to al-Qaeda in 2002 but were never charged. They have been cleared for release since at least 2010 but they could not be sent home and have languished as the US struggled to find countries willing to accept them."We are very grateful to Uruguay for this important humanitarian action, and to President Mujica for his strong leadership in providing a home for individuals who cannot return to their own countries," US State Department envoy Clifford Sloan said.Mujica had agreed to take the men in January. Obama administration officials have been frustrated the transfer took so long and blame outgoing Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel for not approving the move sooner. They said the deal sat for months on Hagel's desk, awaiting his signature as required by law, but the Pentagon didn't send the notification of the transfer to Congress until July.By then, the transfer had become an issue in Uruguay's political election and Uruguayan officials decided to postpone it until after the October 26 vote.The men's release brings the total number of prisoners at Guantanamo to 136 - the lowest number since the first month the prison opened in January 2002.Obama pledged to close the prison upon taking office but was blocked by Congress, which banned sending prisoners to the US for any reason.The restrictions on sending them overseas have been eased and the US has released 19 prisoners so far this year. Officials say several more are expected by the end of the year.

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UK closes its Cairo embassy

THE British Embassy in Cairo has been closed because of security fears.

THE Foreign Office says public services were suspended on Sunday and people should not come to the embassy building in central Cairo.

It gave no details of the threat and there was no word on when the embassy would reopen.On Saturday, the Australian government said travellers should reconsider their need to travel to Egypt, citing reports "that terrorists may be planning attacks against tourist sites, government ministries and embassies in Cairo".Egypt has seen a surge in bomb attacks blamed on Islamic militants fighting the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

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US torture report 'will spur attacks'

FOREIGN governments and US intelligence agencies are predicting that the release of a Senate report examining the use of torture by the CIA will cause "violence and deaths" abroad.

HOUSE Intelligence Committee chairman Republican Mike Rogers is regularly briefed on intelligence assessments.

He told CNN on Sunday that US intelligence agencies and foreign governments have said privately that the release of the report on CIA interrogations a decade ago will be used by extremists to incite violence that is likely to cost lives.The 480-page report, a summary of a still-classified 6000-page study, is expected to be made public next week.On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry urged the senator in charge of the report to consider the timing of the release, though Obama administration officials say they still support making it public.Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has not responded to reports of the Kerry call, though she told the Los Angeles Times in a story published on Sunday: "We have to get this report out."A congressional aide noted that the White House has led negotiations to declassify the report since April, and that both the president and his director of national intelligence have endorsed its release.The report amounts to the first public accounting of the CIA's use of torture on al-Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.US officials who have read it say it includes disturbing new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding.

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Nicole Kidman for top Shanghai honour

Nicole Kidman is to be honoured at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China. Source: AAP

NICOLE Kidman is to be honoured with an outstanding contribution award at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China.

HUGH Grant and John Woo will present the Australian actress with her latest accolade at the opening ceremony on Saturday, while artist Qin Yi will honour actor and director Jiang Wen with the Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Film Award.

Kidman will be hoping the festival will be a better experience than her visit to Cannes last month, when her new film Grace of Monaco was savaged by critics.Kirsten Dunst, John Cusack, Hayden Christensen, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, Li Bingbing and Korean superstar Rain are expected to attend the opening gala, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The film festival will open with a restored version of 1964 movie Two Stage Sisters and close with Transformers: Age of Extinction.A jury led by actress Gong Li will decide the winner of the Golden Goblet from the 15 films in competition.

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Qld chief justice critics told to shut up

Queensland science minister has lashed out at critics of Tim Carmody's appointment to chief justice. Source: AAP

A QUEENSLAND government minister has lashed out at critics of Chief Magistrate Tim Carmody's appointment to chief justice, saying they should "shut up".

SCIENCE Minister Ian Walker, a former lawyer, says the "war of words" over Mr Carmody's promotion to chief justice of Queensland has got to stop.

"People have got to put a sock in it, they've got to shut up, and they've got to let Justice Carmody get on with the job," he told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday."He deserves a fair go at the job, the debate should stop and Justice Carmody should be allowed to get on with the job that he's been appointed to do."Mr Walker's comments follow calls for Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to step down over the appointment, which has caused great unrest in legal circles.Bar Association of Queensland president Peter Davis quit on Friday saying private discussions with Mr Bleijie in which he didn't recommend Mr Carmody for the job were leaked to others, including Mr Carmody.Australian Bar Association president Mark Livesey said it was accepted practice that consultation before any appointment is kept confidential."The Attorney-General of Queensland must consider whether the breakdown in trust can be repaired," Mr Livesey told The Sunday Mail."If confidentiality in the judicial appointment process cannot be assured he must reconsider whether he can continue in his position."State Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mr Bleijie couldn't be trusted and wasn't fit to hold office.Mr Carmody's appointment has been criticised by senior Queensland legal figures who question his experience and say he's too close to the government.It's been revealed that days after Mr Carmody was appointed chief magistrate in September 2013, he and Mr Bleijie had a private dinner at an upmarket Brisbane restaurant.The attorney-general has described the meeting as a social catch-up.

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