World News joined 2

[OMEN]

VICTIM: Lauren Huxley.
A Sydney carpenter has been found guilty of the brutal attack on an 18-year-old woman in which she was beaten, doused in petrol and left for dead in her garage, which was set alight.

It took the jury about three hours to come back with a verdict. The six men and six women found Robert Black Farmer, 39, guilty of the attempted murder of Lauren Huxley, detaining her for advantage, and maliciously damaging her Northmead home by fire in the attack on November 9, 2005.

As each guilty verdict was read out, family and friends of the Ms Huxley cried: "Yes."

Ms Huxley, now 21, was left clinging to life after the attack and spent 23 days on life support and suffered permanent brain damage as a result.

Standing with their arms around each other outside the court, Ms Huxley's parents Patrick and Christine Huxley and older sister Simone paid tribute to her strength.

"I don't think she makes sense of any of it because why should you make sense of such a horrific crime,'' Simone Huxley told reporters.

"She chooses to get on with her life, put herself first ... and not worry about the past.

"You can't describe how remarkable she is, how strong and how brave and what a strong spirit she has to overcome her horrific injuries and get on with her life.''

Mr Huxley said: "It's a black day for Mr Farmer, isn't it?''

Asked if he had a message Farmer, Mr Huxley replied: "Go burn in hell, with petrol, where you belong you bastard."

Farmer showed no emotions when the verdict was read out.

During the trial the court heard that DNA found in the Huxley home linked Farmer to the crime scene.

A DNA profile found on a bed rail in Ms Huxley's bedroom had a one in 10 billion chance of being from someone other than Farmer. A shoe print matching Farmer's Nike running shoes was also found in the garage the court heard.

Ms Huxley's mother and sister embraced and wept, leaning forward in the public gallery to embrace the lead detective on the case.

Farmer, dressed all in black, stared at the jury but displayed little emotion as the verdicts were handed down.

Crown Prosecutor Chris Maxwell, QC, indicated he would be pushing for the maximum penalty for the offences, labelling them as being in "the worst category" of crimes.

The prosecution case hinged on forensic and circumstantial evidence against Farmer, who lived just streets from the Huxley family's western Sydney home.

Farmer's ex-girlfriend Catharine Beverley told the court he was overly happy on the afternoon of November 9, and attempted to drive past the Huxley home later that night.

Gail Farmer said she found her son writing a suicide note in the early hours of the following morning.

Both women testified Farmer disappeared later that day.

Old school friend Yuri Naranjo gave refuge to Farmer in the weeks following the attack, after he showed up unannounced at his Southern Highlands home.

"Rob told me he'd done something wrong but he didn't want to tell me and I shouldn't ask him about what it was," Mr Naranjo told the court.

- with AAP

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[OMEN]

A suicide blast has killed 18 police and civilians in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, officials said.

The incident occurred in a bazaar near a police station in Del Aram district of Farah, they said.

"So far, 18 people, including police and civilians, have been killed," Farah's governor Rohul Amin said by phone.

Citing officials near the site, Amin said the bomber was wearing an all-enveloping burqa robe that Afghan women commonly wear.

"I know that 18 people have been killed, but do not know whether the bomber was a man or woman or was wearing burqa or not," said Juman Khan, a police officer from Del Aram.

He said two police vehicles were destroyed in the attack, the latest in rising violence in Afghanistan in the past two years, the bloodiest period since the Taliban were driven from power in 2001.

Reuters

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[OMEN]

CONCRETE JUNGLE: Survivors check a collapsed building in the city of Dujiangyan.
* Quake death toll estimated at 15,000 but likely to grow

* Homeless enduring strained water and sanitation supplies

* Nuclear company reports deaths and damage, no mention of radiation leaks

* Government mobilises more troops and helicopters

Fresh aid has reached China's earthquake-devastated areas but the sheer magnitude of caring for tens of thousands of homeless, grieving survivors threatened to overwhelm relief efforts.

The Communist Party leadership told officials to "ensure social stability" as Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake in southwestern Sichuan province spawned rumours of chemical spills, fears of dam bursts and scenes of collective grief and desperation.

The official death toll estimate from the quake stood at 14,866. But 25,000 remain buried and as search teams sift, often bare-handed, through towns turned to rubble, the number of dead is likely to climb.

The strains from tens of thousands of homeless are growing.

"There is enough food but not enough water. We have only had bottled mineral water the past few days, nothing to cook with," said Wang Yujie, a teacher whose school withstood the quake.

Three days after the quake hit, hopes of pulling survivors from crushed homes, schools and factories dimmed and the waves of rescuers appear to be hampered by lack of specialised equipment.

But more aid was arriving and efforts at co-ordination were also improving, with Sichuan setting up a hotline for victims and ambulances with Beijing licence plates on the roads.

About 130,000 army and paramilitary troops had reached the province by Thursday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

But in some villages near the badly hit area of Beichuan, angry residents complained they had had little to eat and were forced to drink contaminated water to keep themselves alive.

State radio broadcast messages warning local people not to drink unsafe water and to be patient in waiting for help.

Many are sleeping outside or in makeshift shelters where the lack of water and blocked toilets has raised fears of outbreaks of diarrhoea and other infectious disease.

And new threats emerged from damaged dams.

Minister for Water Resources, Chen Lei, said such damage was widespread and sounded far from assured in comments put on the ministry website.

"Especially in Sichuan province, there are many dams, damage from the quake is extensive and the hazards are unclear," Chen said in the speech given to officials a day earlier.

And the minister blamed more than nature for the dangers.

"Because the management systems of hydro-power stations are not smooth and information channels are blocked, the extent of their damage is unclear," Chen said.

Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist himself, has made emotional appeals from the disaster zone urging on workers and comforting orphaned children. On Thursday he headed for Qingchuan, where landslides had blocked the flow of two rivers.

The disaster area is also home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.

The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corp reported that several of its facilities in Sichuan were damaged.

The report on its website did not mention any radiation leaks. A Western expert with knowledge of the Mianyang lab said it was not likely the facilities were put at serious risk. He requested anonymity.

Reuters

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[OMEN]

WASTELAND: A woman sifts through the debris of her home destroyed by Cyclone Nargis
Po Aung would rather return to the ruins of his village in Myanmar's delta region than stay in a state relief camp.

"We keep hearing things about victims at the government-run camps," said the 57-year-old. "We just don't know what to do."

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar's rice bowl over half a million people are thought to be sheltering in temporary settlements.

The lucky have been taken in by monks and private volunteers.

The less fortunate are stuck in government-run centres, where people complain of tiny food rations and forced labour.

"They have to break stones at the construction sites. They are paid K 1000 ($NZ1.30) per day but are not provided with any food," said Ko Hla Min, who has been able to stay in his village outside Bogalay, a delta town 90km southwest of the main city of Yangon.

"Most people don't want live in strange places and do new jobs. They want to go back to where they lived with their beloved ones and go back to their traditional profession, agriculture," said the 35-year-old.

Ko Hla Min lost nine members of his family in the storm. Only six people survived the tidal wave that engulfed his village and they were flung miles by its force.

He said the government relief effort in Bogalay, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have perished, has been negligible.

Along the river bank, rotting corpses are still tangled in the scrubs. Villagers continue to fish, wash and bathe in the same river.

"We can see the relief aid materials given by donors stored at some places. I wonder when they will give them to us?"

Po Aung, who survived the cyclone by clinging on to a tree and then lived on coconuts for three straight days, is hoping Buddhist monks will take him in for now.

In time, he wants to return to his village, where only around 80 people survived out of more than 500.

"If possible, most of us would like to go back to our village no matter what has happened to it," said Po Aung, who lost his son and mother in the storm.

"Those dead are gone. But, we the remaining want to return to our own place and to go back to our traditional profession, agriculture and fishing."

Reuters

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[OMEN]

Robbers shot dead nine employees of a Philippine bank south of Manila and emptied its vault, and police said they suspected two security guards who were missing.

Ricardo Padilla, police chief of the Calabarzon region, said the bodies of eight employees of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation were found on the floor of the bank today, with bullet wounds to the head.

One of the bank's three guards died on way to hospital and the bank's operations manager was fighting for his life in a nearby hospital, Padilla said. He said the chief suspects were the two guards who were missing.

"They were murdered in gangland-style, each one shot in the head," he said.

"We're still investigating and we have no idea how much money was taken from the bank. We suspect a possible inside job because those behind this heinous crime killed all possible witnesses who could identify them."

Police found the bank's vault open and empty.

Padilla said the police were alerted when the bank did not open on time on Friday as dozens of customers waited outside.

Reuters

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