US man has been found years being abducted

A boy who was abducted 19 years ago has been found living in Minnesota under a different name. Source: AAP

A MAN who was abducted his paternal grandparents 19 years ago when he was five years old has been found living in Minnesota under a different name.

Richard Wayne Landers Jr was five years old when he and his grandparents, who were upset over custody arrangements, disappeared from the town of Wolcottville.

Indiana State Police say the now 24-year-old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minnesota, thanks in part to his Social Security identification number.

His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said. Police declined to say whether the couple would face charges, citing the ongoing investigation.

Landers' mother, Lisa Harter, screamed and was "jumping up and down for joy" when she learned a few days ago that her son had been found, her husband Richard Harter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Thursday. He said his wife is "the happiest woman on earth".

Harter said he and his wife were working with an attorney and hoped to reunite with his stepson soon. Police said Landers is married and expecting his first child.

Harter declined further comment and referred questions about the case to his attorney, who didn't immediately return phone messages on Thursday. Investigators declined to release the names under which Landers and his grandparents had been living.

Police said the boy's paternal grandparents, Richard and Ruth Landers, abducted him in July 1994 because they were "upset over pending court proceedings" regarding his placement.

Police said it appears the boy's father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier.

Authorities believe the grandparents took the boy from their home in Wolcottville and fled. They were charged at the time with misdemeanour interference with custody, which was bumped up to a felony in 1999. But the charge was dismissed in 2008 after the case went cold.

Investigators reopened the case in September when Richard Harter turned over the boy's Social Security card to an Indiana State Police detective.

That turned up a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth living in Long Prairie, Minnesota. A driver's licence photo for the man appeared to resemble Landers, police said.

The grandparents were found living under aliases in nearby Browerville, Minnesota, and verified the Minnesota man was Landers.

"By all accounts, it didn't appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental," Galaviz said.

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Iran nuclear talks date set: official

World powers will meet Iranian representatives to discuss the disputed nuclear program in Istanbul. Source: AAP

WORLD powers will meet Iranian top representatives to discuss the Islamic state's disputed nuclear program in Istanbul at the end of January, a Russian official says.

Iran and the so-called "P5+1" nations - the five permanent UN Security Council members along with Germany - have not all met since a June session in Moscow, but an unnamed Russian source told the state RIA Novosti agency that the next meeting has been provisionally scheduled for the end of the month in Istanbul - host of the first such talks last April.

The source did not name a specific date or say when one might be announced.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov - Russia's pointman at the talks and most senior Iran expert - expressed frustration that an exact date had not been fixed.

"We have had situations in the past when we had trouble agreeing a time and place, and we have one now today," Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

He said Moscow wanted to see the momentum of talks continue "without significant delays".

Ryabkov gave no indication whether it was Iran or Catherine Ashton - the EU foreign affairs chief and main Western representative at the negotiations - who had the most serious reservations about new talks.

Three prior "P5+1" meetings have been held with Iran at the most senior level envisioned for the Istanbul session.

None has produced a compromise that sees the powers accept Iran's right to enrich uranium in exchange for its provision of access to closed nuclear facilities and its promise not to make higher-grade material.

Israel and much of the West suspects Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear energy program. Tehran denies the charge.

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Pole embedded in teenager's head

A metal pole has been embedded in a teenager's head during a row at a Sydney birthday party. Source: AAP

A SYDNEY teenager is fighting for his life after a metal pole was embedded in his head during a birthday party brawl.

Police and paramedics were called to a Forestville home in Sydney's north at 11.40pm (AEDT) on Friday after gatecrashers tried to force their way into an 18th birthday party.

In the ensuing fight, an 18-year-old man was struck in the head with a 2.5 metre metal pole.

The pole became embedded in the right side of his head and he was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital, paramedics said.

He underwent surgery and remains in a critical condition.

Police have set up a crime scene at the home and were continuing to question witnesses on Saturday afternoon.

No arrests have been made.

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Vic lawyer welcomes commission focus

A LAWYER who will represent scores of Ballarat sexual assault victims at the royal commission has welcomed the focus on organisational abuse, saying it can devastate entire generations.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday announced the terms of reference for the royal commission on child sexual abuse, which will start as soon as possible and hand down its interim report mid 2014.

It will focus on how organisations have managed and responded to claims of sexual abuse and associated forms of abuse and neglect.

Viv Waller, who will represent 70 victims of abuse perpetrated by clergy in Ballarat during the 1970s, said abuse within churches and schools was particularly abhorrent, given offenders had access to a fresh lot of victims each year.

"Entire generations of families can be destroyed by a sexual offender remaining in a school or in a church because in the years that follow, they have the opportunity to abuse their victims' younger siblings," she told AAP on Friday.

She said the royal commission should consider reviewing the time limit for victims of sexual assault to pursue compensation through the courts.

Dr Waller said she also hoped the commission would examine the Catholic church's use of the Ellis defence, which it used to successfully argue that it wasn't legally an entity that could be sued over the actions of its priests.

"Personally, I find it morally bankrupt," she said.

"I find it lacks compassion and I find that it lacks any sense of justice for victims."

Dr Waller welcomed the appointment of multiple commissioners, singling out Justice Jennifer Coate, a former coroner and the first Victorian Children's Court president, as a fearlessly independent and courageous person.

Comment was being sought from the Victorian government, which already has a parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse underway.

The Victorian inquiry will continue its work, said Georgie Crozier, chair of the family and community development committee which is conducting the inquiry.

"The scale and scope of the royal commission is vast and will take some time to establish and get underway," Ms Crozier said.

"In Victoria we have already made significant progress with our inquiry and we will continue with our work."

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Japan unveils $215bn stimulus package

The Japanese cabinet has approved fresh stimulus spending of more than $A215 billion. Source: AAP

JAPAN'S new government has unveiled a massive $US226.5 billion ($A214.68 billion) stimulus plan in the latest bid to boost the world's number three economy, with plans to rebuild disaster-hit areas and boost the military.

Japanese investors welcomed the news on Friday, with the Nikkei index surging to a 22-month high and the yen tumbling, but analysts questioned its long-term effect and warned it could lead to more misery further down the line.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in a landslide election victory last month, followed through with one of his key pledges by outlining details of a big-spending plan designed to create jobs and end deflation.

"With the measures, we will achieve real GDP growth of two per cent and 600,000 jobs will be created," he told a briefing.

Japan's economy shrank by 0.6 per cent in 2011, while last year's gross domestic product figures are yet to be released.

"It is crucially important to break out of prolonged deflation and the high yen," he added.

A hawkish Abe also repeated his call for Tokyo and the Bank of Japan to "join hands" on driving growth, comments that have stoked tension between the him and BoJ chief Masaaki Shirakawa over perceived threats to its independence and policy decisions.

The new premier had pledged before the election that he would press the BoJ to carry out more aggressive monetary easing and warned that if it did not agree to a two per cent inflation target he would change the law regarding its remit.

While the total size of Friday's package came in at 20.2 trillion yen, Tokyo's direct spending on economic stimulus and pension financing amounts to about 13 trillion yen, with local governments and the private sector kicking in the rest, Abe said.

Rebuilding disaster-struck areas, making more schools and hospitals earthquake resistant, and upgrading ageing infrastructure were among the planned measures.

It will also see 180.5 billion yen spent on missiles, fighter jets and helicopters to beef up the military as Tokyo is embroiled in an increasingly bitter territorial row with China over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Friday's stimulus is the latest unveiled by successive governments who have tried to lift the economy from years of anaemic growth.

Investors gave a big thumbs up, with the Nikkei surging 1.5 per cent in the afternoon to levels not seen since before the March 2011 quake tsunami.

The yen also tumbled to 89.35 against the dollar, its lowest since June 2010 and a far cry from the record high 75 it hit in late 2011, which hammered exporters.

But the big spending plans have stoked fears over Japan's already tattered fiscal health, the worst among industrial countries with public debt standing at more than twice the size of the economy.

"Huge spending of this size will, of course, have a one-time effect on boosting the economy. But if it fails to ignite a sustained recovery, Japan could fall into a vicious cycle of needing more stimulus spending," said Taro Saito, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

Saito also raised fears that some of the money would fall into a black hole of "wasteful spending".

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Macklin 'very sorry' for dole comments

THE minister who said she'd be able to live on the dole has now apologised, admitting her remarks were insensitive.

Amid growing calls for unemployment benefit Newstart to be boosted, Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin was asked at a New Year's Day press conference if she could survive on $35 a day.

She responded: "I could".

This caused outrage among advocacy groups, particularly in the context of government changes to the parenting payment scheme that will shift some 84,000 single parents to the Newstart allowance when their youngest child turns eight.

Welfare groups estimate some families will be between $60 and $100 a week worse off.

On Friday, almost two weeks after her comments, Ms Macklin said she understood people were angry.

"I do acknowledge that my remarks were insensitive and I'm certainly very sorry for that," she told reporters in Sydney.

"I do understand that it is very hard to live on a very low income including unemployment benefits."

Ms Macklin said she could have been clearer in the way she expressed herself.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd on Friday said the ditching of the budget surplus goal gave the government an opportunity to do more for the poor.

"I'm just saying we are the Labor Party, we are a Labor government, we have got responsibility for people who are doing it tough and people who need a bit of a hand up, and therefore we could be doing more," Mr Rudd said.

"I've also noted carefully what the treasurer has said about the non-deliverability of the budget surplus."

That decision provided a greater opportunity to attend to some pretty basic social needs, he said.

"I think people need to show a bit more of a heart."

Mr Rudd said he had no specific proposal for change as that was the responsibility of government ministers.

"The truth is, if you put yourself in the position of people who have to make ends meet on Newstart, this is very, very hard," he said.

Mr Rudd said he had not spoken about the matter to caucus members "for some weeks".

Other Labor backbenchers, along with the Greens, have called for a $50-a-week increase to the dole and the reversal of the parenting payment changes.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said a job was the best form of relief for those people on unemployment benefits.

"I understand it is very tough for people on low and fixed incomes to make ends meet," she told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

"We keep our focus on creating jobs because the best thing we can do for anybody experiencing unemployment is to make sure there is a job available for them."

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NSW priest to face court over child abuse

A CATHOLIC priest will face court charged with indecently assaulting two teenage boys at a school in the NSW Hunter region in the 1960s.

Police on Thursday served court attendance notices on the 83-year-old Glenbrook man's legal representatives in Sydney.

He is facing eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

Police allege the offences occurred in the early to mid 1960s when the man was teaching at a school in Newcastle.

The man is due to appear at Newcastle Local Court on February 26.

The charges stem from an investigation by Strike Force Georgiana, which was established in 2008 to examine allegations of child sexual abuse by various priests within the Lake Macquarie area.

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Man refused bail over Sydney stabbing

A MAN accused of stabbing another man 11 times in Sydney's west has been refused bail, with a court hearing that CCTV footage showed him chasing his alleged victim.

Nasher Kahwaji, 27, has been charged with causing wounding and grievous bodily harm with intent to murder after he allegedly stabbed a 24-year-old man on a median strip in Bankstown in April last year.

In a bail application on Thursday, the Supreme Court heard that the man sustained 11 stab wounds to the neck, chest and stomach.

Kahwaji's barrister George Thomas said one of the "significant" weaknesses in the crown case was that the alleged victim hasn't made a statement.

A previous statement by the stabbed man's partner claiming that Kahwaji had told her: "We're going to get you next" has also since been retracted, Mr Thomas said.

But Justice Peter Hall said the nature of the alleged offence was of a "very high order".

While there is no CCTV footage of the actual stabbing, which took place around 100 metres outside the Three Swallows Hotel, Justice Hall said Kahwaji and others were captured pursuing the then 24-year-old.

"With the evidence that is before me I'm of the opinion that the crown case should be regarded as a reasonably strong case," he said.

Before refusing bail, Justice Hall also pointed to police concerns that they held fears for the safety of the alleged victim and the crown witness.

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Greens wrong on Whitehaven hoax: Joyce

LIBERAL National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce has slammed the Greens' endorsement of the Whitehaven Coal hoax and criticised the prime minister for staying silent on the issue.

Senator Joyce says it was wrong for Greens Leader Christine Milne to endorse an anti-coal mining activist's scam that wiped millions from the coal miner's share price.

"That is not a noble action of an environmental warrior," he told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.

"That is the action of a person who's lied and defrauded people out of their money."

Having strong views against coal mining did not justify telling a lie, he said.

"You can't go out tomorrow and just say, well, to remove the Greens from the political scene I'll say that (Greens Senator) Lee Rhiannon is marrying a whale farmer.

"It would be a lie and it would be the wrong thing to do."

Senator Joyce added that given the government's relationship with the Greens, Prime Minister Julia Gillard should not remain silent about the hoax.

"The prime minister is sitting back, silently, just accepting the fact that she's in business with a party that a couple of weeks ago said they'd changed their ways and today are back out endorsing lies," he said.

Earlier this week, Senator Milne reportedly described activist Jonathan Moylan's hoax as being part of a proud tradition of civil disobedience to highlight wrongdoing.

Mr Moylan, a member of Frontline Action on Coal, sent a fake press release to media outlets claiming the ANZ Bank had pulled its $1.2 billion loan to Whitehaven Coal.

The anti-coal mining group accuses Whitehaven of planning to destroy a koala habitat and force farmers off their land near its Maules Creek project in NSW.

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NSW priest to face court over child abuse

A CATHOLIC priest will face court charged with indecently assaulting two teenage boys at a school in the NSW Hunter region in the 1960s.

Police on Thursday served court attendance notices on the 83-year-old Glenbrook man's legal representatives in Sydney.

He is facing eight counts of indecent assault with a child under 16 years.

Police allege the offences occurred in the early to mid 1960s when the man was teaching at a school in Newcastle.

The man is due to appear at Newcastle Local Court on February 26.

The charges stem from an investigation by Strike Force Georgiana, which was established in 2008 to examine allegations of child sexual abuse by various priests within the Lake Macquarie area.

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