Gordon Ramsay hit with bizarre lawsuit

GORDON Ramsay has been hit with an odd lawsuit from a man who claims he can't taste food after cutting his tongue at the celebrity chef's New York City restaurant.

German chef Markus Barthel visited the Brit's eatery at The London hotel last March, but claims he got much more than he bargained for when his meal arrived.

In the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Barthel alleges he ate a hard piece of plastic or ceramic that was hidden in his hamburger, and was left with "serious, severe and permanent injuries in his mouth, including... deep cuts in his tongue".

The documents also state that Barthel had to undergo surgery in order to repair the damage, but is "unable to perform the duties of a chef any longer."

His lawyer, Florian Bruno, told the New York Daily News that his client was unable to work for several weeks because of the incident.

"A chef needs his tongue like a pianist needs his fingers. They have to taste everything and he says there continues to be a loss of taste in his tongue," Bruno explained.

"The doctor said tongues are difficult to heal because people have to eat and they keep reinjuring themselves."

Barthel is seeking unspecified damages and compensation.

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Anti-violence laws in force at weekend

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has lashed out at lawyers opposing new laws against alcohol violence. Source: AAP

ANTI-VIOLENCE campaigners have welcomed new laws to combat street violence but believe responsibility also lies with the judiciary and the rest of the country.

Mandatory minimum sentences for fatal alcohol and drug-fuelled assaults and earlier lockouts will be in place this weekend after NSW parliament passed anti-violence legislation on Thursday night.

Party-goers will be locked out of clubs from 1.30am in the Sydney city-centre entertainment precinct, including Kings Cross, and last drinks will be at 3am.

Steroid possession and supply will also attract a maximum jail term of 25 years, up from two years, while those convicted of fatal one-punch assaults while intoxicated or on steroids will be subject to the minimum eight-year mandatory jail term.

People will be considered intoxicated if their blood-alcohol concentration is above 0.15 per cent or they have taken illegal drugs.

Robert McEwen, whose son Michael was in a coma after being punched in Bondi in December, said he was concerned with mandatory sentences.

He gave the example in which a drunk person who throws a fatal punch would be jailed for eight years while a sober person, such as a gang member, who deliberately assaults someone who dies would not be exposed to the same mandatory sentence.

"People are upset about the light sentences that these people have received," he told AAP after the legislation was passed on Thursday.

"I think the judiciary has the scope to impose tougher sentences."

Enough is Enough campaigner Ken Marslew said NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell had shown real leadership.

"It's taken such a lot of work by such a lot of people," he told AAP.

However, Mr Marslew said the violence problems went far beyond Sydney's boundaries.

"This problem is all over the state from Wagga Wagga to Tweed Heads," he said.

He called on the federal government to establish a national model.

The reforms also remove voluntary intoxication as a mitigating factor for judges and magistrates considering penalties for drunk assaults.

A defence for people with a "significant cognitive impairment at the time of the offence" has been established and juveniles are exempt from most of the new measures.

NSW Police will also have new powers to conduct alcohol and drug testing on alcohol or drug-related assault suspects.

"The consequences couldn't be clearer for any thug heading out this weekend," Mr O'Farrell said.

"If you are intoxicated with drugs or alcohol and fatally assault someone, you will now be captured by a new mandatory minimum sentence of eight years' jail, with a maximum sentence of 25 years."

The Australian Hotels Association says some of the measures will unfairly harm businesses for which violence is not a problem.

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Bikie arrested over guns, drugs, reptiles

An alleged bikie gang member has been arrested after police found drugs and a crocodile in his home. Source: AAP

A BIKIE gang member has been charged with multiple offences after police allegedly found weapons, drugs, a python and a crocodile at his home on Sydney's northern beaches.

The 36-year-old alleged member of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang was arrested on Wednesday following the raid on a Dee Why home.

Officers allegedly found a rifle, replica firearms, BB guns, ammunition, multiple sets of handcuffs and knives, an extendable baton and electronic control devices at the home.

Police also seized amounts of cannabis, cocaine and methylamphetamines as well as a 50-centimetre saltwater crocodile, a South American bird spider and an albino python.

The 36-year-old was later arrested in Manly and charged with 18 firearm and drug offences.

The man was refused bail to appear in Central Local Court on Thursday.

Investigations into the seized reptiles are continuing with further charges expected to be laid, police said.

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Vic Speaker slams Shaw, but mum on future

The Victorian Speaker will be in the chair when parliament resumes but he won't discuss his future. Source: AAP

THE Victorian Speaker says he will be in the chair when parliament resumes next week, but will not say what will happen after that.

Speaker Ken Smith, who has announced he will not contest the next election, said he will probably have something to say about his future when parliament resumes on Tuesday.

Mr Smith has slammed the behaviour of balance of power MP Geoff Shaw, who last year said he no longer had confidence in the Speaker, sparking chaotic scene in the parliament.

He said Mr Shaw, a former Liberal turned independent member for Frankston, loves the limelight.

Mr Smith announced earlier this month he would not contest the next election, but he and Premier Denis Napthine have been silent on whether he will remain in the Speaker's chair.

"I'll be in the chair at 2pm next Tuesday afternoon at Parliament House," Mr Smith told AAP.

Asked if he would be in the chair on Wednesday, Mr Smith replied: "That remains to be spoken about on Tuesday."

Pressed further, Mr Smith replied: "Just be patient it is only a few more days."

Mr Shaw announced to the parliament in November that he no longer had confidence in Mr Smith, a decision that meant the Speaker no longer had a majority in the house.

Mr Smith said the Frankston MP didn't even have the decency to speak to him about his decision.

"He had to just stand up in the house and decided then to do it, obviously after consultation with his friends in the Labor Party," he said.

Mr Shaw's announcement led to the Labor opposition continually trying to force a vote of confidence in Mr Smith.

The Speaker suspended parliament for the remainder of the sitting and when parliament resumed suspended two Labor MPs for the remainder of the year for poor behaviour.

Mr Smith expects neither Mr Shaw nor Labor will change their behaviour in 2014.

"(Mr Shaw) tries to shy away from the limelight, but he just loves it," Mr Smith said.

"I think he will probably be worse, he's had a couple of months to think about it over the holidays."

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Gold smuggled in mobile phones

AT least 21 kilograms of gold worth nearly $US1 million ($A1.14 million) has been seized from a commercial plane in southern India, officials say.

"The gold was concealed in mobile phones, packed in 80 boxes in the cargo of the plane at Chennai airport Monday," senior Directorate of Revenue Intelligence official MM Pathriban said on Wednesday.

The plane had arrived from Hong Kong.

Mobile phones are rarely imported into India in air cargo, with most suppliers sending such consignments by sea.

Officials also seized more than six kilograms of gold being smuggled by passengers at Chennai airport at the weekend.

India is one of the world's largest consumers of gold, with Indians traditionally buying jewellery and hoarding it as a financial security.

Several high-profile cases of gold smuggling have been detected at Indian airports in recent months since the government imposed strict curbs on official imports of gold.

The measure was aimed at limiting its impact on a widening current account deficit.

In November, cleaners found 24 gold bars worth more than $US1.4 million dollars in the toilet of a commercial aircraft at Kolkata airport.

Duty on imports of gold jewellery was hiked from eight per cent to 10 per cent last year. The government would soon review the import curbs, federal Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

He estimated that up to 3000 kilograms of gold was being smuggled into the country each month.

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No one harmed in Vic 000 outage: report

IT was lucky no one suffered during potentially-life threatening failures to Victoria's triple-zero emergency line, a new report reveals.

Emergency service operators were forced to revert to manual technology when four outages between May and August last year shut down the computer-aided dispatch system for several hours.

The longest delay occurred in July when Victoria's triple zero (000) provider, the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), took just over 10 minutes to answer a call for police in regional Victoria.

Emergency Services Commissioner Michael Hallowes found all emergency services experienced response delays as a result of the outages but no one experienced any adverse impact.

"However, this was fortunate, as even short delays in dispatch of emergency services can have significant ramifications for community health and safety," Mr Hallowes said in a report released on Wednesday.

His report into the outages found different factors led to each outage and there was no repeat of the same fault.

But they forced Triple Zero call takers to rely on a manual system, recording incoming calls on a card, finding the incident on a map, then dispatching emergency crews after checking their availability.

This in turn increased average call handling times and risks to community health and safety, he said.

Mr Hallowes recommended ESTA implement a technology-based backup system as a matter of priority.

Although ESTA has been improving its computer aided dispatch systems since 2011, progress has been slow and industrial action by ESTA operational staff last year compounded delays, Mr Hallowes said.

Emergency Services Minister Kim Wells said ESTA is developing a business case for a new technology-based backup and has accepted all of Mr Hallowes' recommendations for improvements.

The Victorian government has given ESTA $10.3 million in 2011-12 and another $3.9 million in 2012-13 to upgrade its computer aided dispatch system.

ESTA expects to finish the upgrade by June.

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Pharma giant Novartis reports profits dip

SWISS pharmaceuticals giant Novartis has announced that its net profit fell 1.0 per cent in 2013 to $US9.2 billion ($A10.51 billion), blaming the impact of unfavourable exchange rates.

Without taking into account rate fluctuations - notably the fall of the Japanese yen and emerging markets' currencies against the dollar - the group said that profit rose by 7.0 per cent last year.

"Novartis delivered strong performance in 2013, growing both net sales and core operating income in constant currencies while absorbing patent expirations," chief executive Joseph Jimenez said in a statement.

"We maintained good momentum in innovation," he underlined, noting that 18 new Novartis drugs had won approval from regulators and that the US Federal Drug Administration had granted three products "breakthrough therapy" status.

"Our growth products continued to expand, rejuvenating our portfolio and reinforcing our growth prospects," Jimenez said.

Operation profit fell by 3.0 per cent to $US10.9 billion, while sales climbed 2.0 per cent to $US57.9 billion.

Like other pharmaceuticals firms, Novartis faces a strong challenges from makers of generic drugs, sales of which knocked $US2.2 billion off the Swiss group's figures last year.

The Novartis board is to propose a dividend of 2.45 Swiss francs ($A3.12) per share, down from 2.30 francs last year.

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Economy to remain 'bright spot': Sinodinos

Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos hopes Australia will remain a "bright spot" among economies. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIAN economic growth appears to be entrenched in a sub-trend pace, with employers still hesitant about taking on new staff.

But Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos is confident Australia will remain a "bright spot" among advanced economies.

He told a conference of chief executives in Sydney on Wednesday that Australia was well placed with some of the emerging markets that would be dominant contributors to global growth.

"Indeed, over the next five years, Australia's real GDP growth is expected to outperform that of every major advanced economy outside the US," the senator said in a speech outlining Australia's G20 presidency.

But he concedes the economy's transition from resources investment to growth driven from the non-mining sector remains slow.

As such, growth will likely be below trend - usually considered about 3.25 per cent - for the next two years, while unemployment is expected to rise to 6.25 per cent by mid-2015.

"With these challenges looming large, the G20's focus on jobs and growth could not be more relevant," Senator Sinodinos said.

Data on Wednesday confirms economic growth is likely to remain below trend in 2014.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity, which indicates the likely pace three to nine months into the future, moderated further in December.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans expects that with growth prospects remaining challenged, an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank (RBA) in August is still likely.

The RBA holds its first board meeting of the year on Tuesday.

"The recent upward surprise on inflation precludes any further rate cuts for some months until the bank is able to assess whether there has been a sustained upswing in inflation," Mr Evans said.

But he suspects the sharp depreciation in the Australian dollar in 2013 is mainly responsible for the jump in inflation.

With the exchange rate stabilising in early 2014, more benign inflation outcomes could be delivered.

Demand for workers through job advertisements on the internet fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.2 per cent in December after trending higher for the previous two months.

However, there are growing signs of an improvement in business confidence.

Roger Mendelson, the chief executive of debt recovery firm Prushka, said lower interest rates, a change of government and better-performing international economies led to a boost in sentiment.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) believe they have "turned the corner", having been in "survival mode" in the past 18 months.

A separate report, by software provider MYOB, found New Zealand SMEs were even more enthusiastic about the outlook as their country looks set to enjoy one of its most significant periods of growth in recent history.

"It may be time for local businesses to include our closest country across the ditch when considering new opportunities," MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said.

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Govt won't be rushed on tax reform agenda

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is sticking to the government's timetable and commitments on tax reform. Source: AAP

FRUSTRATION among businesses about the slow pace of tax reform is growing but Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he is sticking to the timetable and commitments he took to last year's election.

An annual survey by tax consultant BDO found nearly all respondents feared there was too much talk about reform by the federal government but not enough action.

BDO tax partner Mark Molesworth says the survey sends an overwhelming message to the government.

"The years of talk need to come to an end. The years of action must begin," he said.

Mr Molesworth said the survey found strong support for the GST to be included in any new tax discussions, even if it is "politically unpalatable".

But Mr Abbott is sticking to the promises he made during last year's election campaign - abolishing carbon and mining taxes and cutting the company tax rate in 2015 to 28.5 per cent from 30 per cent.

"The only thing we will do in this term of parliament when it comes to tax is what we said we will do prior to the election," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"Obviously from time to time anomalies will come up and we will address them in the ordinary course of events."

But he remains committed to a tax reform white paper two years into his first term.

Its recommendations will be taken to the next election, due in 2016.

In a separate report, Deloitte Access Economics economist Chris Richardson believes taxes should be part of the government's attempts to repair the budget.

"All programs need to be assessed on merit, rather than just focusing cuts on the newest programs," Mr Richardson said.

"Taxes need to be on the table, too - it's dumb to pretend they can't be touched."

Mr Abbott's national Commission of Audit into government spending is due to present its first report to the government in early February but it has not been tasked to look at taxes.

However, the prime minister insists the government is committed to "lower, simpler, fairer taxes".

"In order to have lower, simpler, fairer taxes, you have obviously got to have the most efficient and effective administration," he said.

Businesses believe Australia's complex tax system is a drag on the economy.

Mr Richardson, in his latest business outlook, expects government cutbacks to address the budget black hole and cautious businesses and households, and the peaking of resource-related investment should keep economic growth slightly below a trend rate of 3.25 per cent through to late 2015.

While National Australia Bank's latest monthly business survey - also released on Tuesday - finds trading conditions jumping to their highest level in two and a half years, it still points to sub-trend growth pace.

The bank also questions the sustainability of the rise, given forward orders and employment remain weak.

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North Qld braces for possible cyclone

TOWNSVILLE'S disaster management team has been activated as a potential cyclone brews off north Queensland.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a cyclone watch warning on Tuesday afternoon for northern communities from Port Douglas, north of Cairns, to Proserpine, north of Mackay.

The tropical low was sitting about 760 kilometres east northeast of Cairns on Tuesday afternoon and was headed towards the mainland at a speed of 9km/h.

Forecasters say it could form into a category one cyclone when it reaches the mainland on Thursday afternoon.

Up to 400 millimetres of rain and gale force winds are expected to batter some areas. Falls of over 100mm have already been recorded in areas north and south of Cairns.

"The take-home message is it could remain a low or could be a category one cyclone," BOM forecaster Julian De Morton told AAP.

"But regardless it's going to be windy, there's going to be heavy rain and there's going to be abnormally high tides and in some areas possibly destructive winds."

Premier Campbell Newman urged Queenslanders to be prepared.

"Just be ready," he said.

"I don't think anybody wants to go through the trauma and pain of what we've seen in the last few years."

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill says the city's disaster management group had been activated on Tuesday afternoon.

"We've assessed the real risk for us and we believe there's a risk of high winds on the king tides which could mean storm inundation in low-lying areas," she said.

"We've made sand available and we're asking people (in low-lying areas) to assess the risk to their properties and how they might seal their homes to prevent inundation."

Cairns councillor Steve Brain, who chairs the city's disaster management group, said emergency groups were meeting the determine the best course of action.

He said the District Disaster Coordination Centre was being set up and would activate if the storm crossed land and formed a cyclone.

But Mr Brain said current models predicted the storm would bring heavy rain rather than destructive winds.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council Mayor Bill Shannon says he doesn't want the region to have another cyclone.

But he says heavy rain would help drought-affected inland communities.

The Bureau of Meteorology says gales could develop between Port Douglas and Proserpine on Wednesday afternoon and possibly Thursday.

Heavy rain, which may lead to flash flooding, is expected to batter coastal areas from Cooktown to Cardwell and the Atherton Tablelands, inland from Cairns.

Heavy rain is also expected in Herbert, lower Burdekin, Bowen and the Whitsundays region on Wednesday afternoon and possibly Thursday.

As the tropical low approaches the mainland on Wednesday and Thursday a storm tide is expected between Port Douglas and Proserpine. This could produce large waves and cause minor flooding along the shoreline.

The bureau is warning residents in these areas to take measures to protect their property from flooding.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Commissioner Lee Johnson said it was important to prepare, regardless of whether the storm became a cyclone or not.

* Further information can be found at www.disaster.qld.gov.au.

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