Assistance for storm-hit NSW communities

STORM-HIT northern NSW communities will be able to apply for disaster assistance to help them get back on their feet.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher made the announcement on Wednesday, saying it would help families in the Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina council areas hit by the weekend storms.

Severe thunderstorms struck a number of communities in northern New South Wales over the weekend, with reports of strong winds of up to 100km/h, heavy rain and small hail.

Fourteen buildings in Woodburn were damaged and other affected areas included Coraki, Evans Head, Broadwater, Wardell, Lismore, Casino and Ballina.

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) received over 170 calls for help during the storms and in the days following.

Assistance will be provided through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA).

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Australian school wins global green award

A SUBURBAN Melbourne secondary school has overcome competition from Canada, the US and United Arab Emirates to win an International Green Award.

Bentleigh Secondary College was named Most Sustainable Educational Institution during a ceremony in London on Tuesday.

When deciding a winner, judges considered the government college's adoption of sustainable practices including the installation of a windmill and solar panels.

The 850-student school has slashed its water usage from 14 million litres a year to one million litres and captures rainfall to irrigate the campus football pitch.

Teacher Bill Thomas, along with two of his colleagues, attended Tuesday's gala awards dinner to hear that Bentleigh had won, edging out Toronto's York University, Seattle's Washington University, and Abu Dhabi Indian School.

"Everyone has been really enthusiastic since finding out the result and all the students are asking 'where do we go to next' with our endeavours," a thrilled Mr Thomas told AAP.

"It is really our biodiversity and water and energy initiatives (which) are the three areas we are most recognised for."

Mr Thomas has himself been recognised for his environmental efforts, and received a public service award in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2011.

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Blast on Tel Aviv bus as Gaza truce remain

A BLAST has ripped through a bus in Tel Aviv, injuring 17 people in what Israel says was a terrorist attack, further vexing international efforts to end relentless violence in and around Gaza.

The attack came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN chief Ban Ki-moon shuttled between Jerusalem and Ramallah trying to secure a halt to the week-long conflict in which 147 Palestinians and five Israelis have died.

Soon after the bus blast, Israel launched fresh air strikes on Gaza City, killing six Palestinians in attacks which raised the day's toll to 10, medics said.

One of the strikes hit the building housing AFP's Gaza City offices for the second time in 24 hours, killing a toddler in the block next door, a health ministry spokesman said.

No AFP journalists were in the building at the time.

The strike came shortly after the Tel Aviv blast, which occurred very close to the Israeli defence ministry, the Kiriya.

"A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv. This was a terrorist attack," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on his official Twitter account.

Of the 17 wounded, one was in moderate to serious condition while another three sustained moderate injuries, Israel's emergency services said.

Television images showed the bus with its windows blown out and its metal frame contorted from the force of the blast, in images reminiscent of scenes from the second Palestinian intifada, from 2000 to 2005.

Condemnation poured in from around the world, with Washington branding it a "terrorist attack," and Moscow denouncing it as a "criminal terrorist act."

France and Germany meanwhile both called for an urgent and lasting ceasefire to end the bloodshed.

Just before the explosion, the UN chief had called for an immediate halt to militant rocket attacks on Israel after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"I reiterate my call for an immediate cessation of indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian militants targeting Israeli populated centres. This is unacceptable," Ban told a news conference.

"Now is the time for diplomacy and stopping the violence," he said after a week of deadly Israeli air strikes on Gaza which have killed more than 145, as militants fired more than 1300 rockets over the border, killing five Israelis.

Abbas had earlier held talks with Clinton, with a senior official saying he had expressed hope that a truce would be announced by the end of Wednesday, while the US diplomat was still in the region.

"The secretary of state assured president Abbas that the United States has done everything possible to reach a ceasefire," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.

Before leaving for Egypt, Clinton returned to Jerusalem for more talks with Netanyahu in their second meeting since her arrival late on Tuesday.

On landing in Cairo, Clinton went straight into talks with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who is playing a key role in mediating a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Speaking ahead of the bus blast, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP that the Jewish state still hoped for a diplomatic solution.

"The diplomatic ball is still in play. We have not given up on the hope of having a long-term solution achieved through diplomacy, I hope it's still possible," he said.

Israel launched its offensive on November 14 with the targeted killing of a Hamas military chief. Since then, 147 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed.

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Church vote needs explanation: leader

THE Church of England has much explaining to do following its failure to vote to allow women to serve as bishops, its leader says - and politicians from the prime minister downward are already demanding action or answers.

One MP even suggested there might be an issue under anti-discrimination laws.

The governing General Synod blocked the change as the vote among lay members on Tuesday fell short of the required two-thirds majority. Bishops and clergy, in separate votes, overwhelmingly backed the proposal.

Speaking to the synod a day after the vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said any church member who thought there was an easy solution to the impasse between traditionalists and proponents of female bishops was being unrealistic.

"Yesterday did nothing to make polarisation in our church less likely," said Williams, who had long supported the proposed change.

"We have, to put it very bluntly, a lot of explaining to do," he added.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron urged the church to resolve the schism and swiftly approve female bishops.

"I'm very clear the time is right for women bishops, it was right many years ago," Cameron said.

"They need to get on with it, as it were, and get with the program. But you do have to respect the individual institutions and the way they work, while giving them a sharp prod."

Labour MP Diana Johnson asked for a statement from the church's representative explaining "what this means in terms of the continuing discrimination of having only men eligible to sit in the House of Lords as bishops."

John Bercow, the speaker of the House, noted that there were "very strong voices" in favour of women bishops among legislators.

He suggested that Johnson approach Maria Miller, the government's minister for women and equalities, to see whether she "has any responsibilities in relation to this matter."

More than 100 members of the General Synod spoke in Tuesday's debate, largely repeating arguments which have become familiar in the 18 years since the church began ordaining women as priests.

Williams, who had campaigned for the change, said that much of the prolonged debate is "not intelligible to our larger society."

John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, said he was confident that women would become bishops in his lifetime.

"The principle has already been accepted by the General Synod, it has already been accepted by all the dioceses," Sentamu, 63, said in a BBC radio interview.

"So what we need to do is find the legislation: 99.9 per cent of the legislation is there, it's this little business of provision for those who are opposed," Sentamu said.

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US stocks creep higher in opening trade

US stocks have opened slightly higher as Wall Street awaited a batch of economic data and weighed another eurozone failure to agree on a crucial aid payment for Greece.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8.34 points (0.07 per cent) at 12,796.85 in the first five minutes of trade.

The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 1.39 (0.10 per cent) to 1389.20, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 7.13 (0.24 per cent) at 2923.81.

"Today is the last full trading day of the week as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, but the market has a slew of economic reports to digest this morning. These include jobless claims, consumer sentiment, as well as leading indicators for November," said Karee Venema at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Trade volume was expected to be light ahead of US market closures on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Markets will be opened on Friday for a shortened session.

Charles Schwab & Co analysts said stocks were under modest pressure amid US fiscal cliff uncertainty and the failure of eurozone leaders to agree on Greece's fiscal plan and the payment of the next instalment of bailout aid.

Stocks closed near breakeven on Tuesday after Dow member Hewlett-Packard reported a huge charge for a soured acquisition and the government released upbeat housing market data.

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Argentine experts find huge penguin fossil

ARGENTINE experts have discovered fossils of a two-metre tall penguin that lived in Antarctica 34 million years ago.

Paleontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata province, where the capital Buenos Aires is located, said the remains were found on the icy southern continent.

"This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body mass," said researcher Carolina Acosta, who noted that the record had been held by emperor penguins, which reach heights of 1.2 metres tall.

Lead researcher Marcelo Reguero added that the find, announced on Tuesday, will "allow for a more intensive and complex study of the ancestors of modern penguins."

In its next expedition to Antarctica, during the region's summer, the team will seek additional fossils of the newly discovered species, as well as information about its anatomy and how the giant penguin might have moved.

Previous finds from prehistoric penguins indicated they did not sport the iconic black and white feathers the birds are known for today, but had reddish-brown and grey plumage.

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NATO receives Turkey request for Patriots

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance has received a request from NATO member Turkey for a deployment of Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria.

"I have received a letter from the Turkish government requesting the deployment of Patriot missiles," Rasmussen said in a statement.

"Such a deployment would augment Turkey's air defence capabilities to defend the population and territory of Turkey. It would contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along NATO's southeastern border.

"And it would be a concrete demonstration of Alliance solidarity and resolve," the statement said.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that NATO ambassadors meeting later on Wednesday would likely approve the Turkish request while Rasmussen said a team would visit Turkey next week to conduct a site-survey for the possible deployment of Patriots.

"The security of the Alliance is indivisible," Rasmussen said.

"NATO is fully committed to deterring against any threats and defending Turkey's territorial integrity," he said.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Ankara on Tuesday that the surface-to-air missiles were "a precautionary measure, for defence in particular."

Turkey's border villages have been hit by artillery fire from Syria as forces loyal to Damascus battle rebels seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"It is the very mission of NATO to supply the security of its members, when one of them is threatened by this level of border violations and faced with even further risks, like ballistic missiles," Davutoglu said.

Germany and The Netherlands are the two main European nations that possess the medium-range missiles made by US group Raytheon.

"It is up to the individual NATO countries that have available Patriots... to decide if they can provide them for deployment in Turkey and for how long," the Rasmussen statement said.

NATO deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey during the 1991 Gulf war and in 2003 during the Iraqi conflict.

Rasmussen said earlier this week that "the situation on the Syria-Turkey border is of great concern."

"We have all the plans ready to defend and protect Turkey if needed. The plans will be adjusted if necessary to ensure effective protection of Turkey," he said during talks with EU ministers on Monday.

Rasmussen said there was currently no question of imposing a no-fly zone with the back-up of the Patriot missiles.

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Scandal-hit US commander returns to Kabul

US General John Allen, under investigation for potentially inappropriate emails with a woman linked to a CIA sex scandal, has returned to Kabul to take up his duties as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, his spokesman says.

"He returned today," Major David Nevers told AFP.

The Pentagon on November 13 announced a probe into the general's correspondence with Jill Kelley, a key figure in the sex scandal that forced the resignation this month of CIA director David Petraeus, a retired four-star officer.

Allen had been in Washington for a Senate hearing on his nomination to be the next NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, but President Barack Obama's administration requested the hearing be postponed after the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, launched the probe.

Allen has maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and Panetta has said he retains "confidence" in the general.

As head of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Allen oversees roughly 66,000 American troops and 37,000 forces from other countries.

Petraeus, who preceded Allen as ISAF commander in Afghanistan, resigned abruptly from the CIA on November 9 over an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, an Army reservist.

Allen is under investigation over a trove of 20,000 to 30,000 pages of correspondence - mostly emails - between himself and Kelley, a Tampa, Florida woman who threw parties for military officers posted at US Central Command.

Kelley informed the FBI she received threatening emails from Broadwell, who allegedly viewed her as competition for Petraeus's attention, according to media reports.

Looking into the allegation, the FBI stumbled upon correspondence between Petraeus and Broadwell, as well as between General Allen and Kelley.

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