Aidan and Keira Ross create Playtime rose

EVERYTHING is coming up roses for the Ross siblings. Little Aidan, 8, and Kiera, 7, are the buds being given credit for breeding their very own new rose. The pair were just five and four when they first started to collect pollen, cross-pollinate flowers and plant seeds under the watchful eye of dad Andrew Ross, the owner of Australia's oldest rose specialist nursery, Ross Roses. With the three year process complete, the end result is a new rose - soft pink in colour with a moderate sweet scent - which the kids have named Playtime. Aidan's reaction was "wow" when he first saw the beautiful bloom. Kiera said she planned to give one of the Playtime plants to her teacher. "I feel really proud because I didn't think we would be able make a flower when we were so young," she said. Mr Ross said his Willunga nursery had propagated 5000 of his children's creation, which would be sold within South Australia from next weekend. .

Police find new lead in Baden-Clay murder case

QUEENSLAND police won't confirm reports they have a new lead in their investigations into the murder of Brisbane mum Allison Baden-Clay. Sky News said today Queensland detectives are working with NSW police and have interviewed a woman in Sydney who was close to Gerard Baden-Clay, the husband of the murder victim. It's believed the pair met at a real estate conference on the Gold Coast, the report said. No-one has been charged over the homicide and police have refused to say if they have any suspects since the body of Ms Baden-Clay, 43, was discovered on a creek bank on April 20. She had disappeared from her Brookfield home ten days earlier. Queensland police received toxicology results on Tuesday from Ms Baden-Clay's post mortem but would not comment as to whether the results had given them any more clues into the homicide

Murder-suicide not ruled out for deadly house blaze

A TIGHT-knit Melbourne community has asked the public to pray for a man who returned from overseas to find his two boys and their mother had been killed in a house fire. "His grief is just beyond words," Sister Mary Margaret of the Catholic Church of St Peter told reporters. "If you can just remember him in your prayers, that's all we can ask." Philip George had been visiting relatives in India when a fire at a Clayton South home in the city's south killed his two sons, Mathew, 5, and Philip, 9, and their mother Anita, 37. Detectives from the state's arson squad met Mr George at the airport this morning to inform him of their deaths. Mr George later visited the destroyed house and was comforted by loved ones and neighbours. "I don't know how you recover some something like this," said one neighbour, who brought flowers. A note had been found during a police search of the property, and it had been reportedly left on a car in the driveway. Police won't reveal the contents of the note but detectives have not eliminated murder-suicide as an explanation for the tragedy. Neighbours had been awoken by the sounds of banging and screams yesterday morning. Mina Tranfaglia said her son and another neighbour attempted to rescue the mother through a bedroom window. "He tried to break the window to let her out," she said. A cause of the blaze had not been established. Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 .

Mubarak avoids the gallows for slaying protesters

FORMER Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak may have suffered a heart attack on his way to a prison hospital after being sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill hundreds of protesters. Mubarak, 84, was found guilty after a nine-month trial in Cairo during which he was wheeled into court on a stretcher. State television and the official news agency report that Mubarak, 84, suffered "a health crisis" while aboard the helicopter that ferried him to Torah prison hospital from the court hearing. It was earlier reported that Mubarak cried and refused to leave the helicopter. Mubarak could have faced the gallows for his role in ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed during the uprising last year. Judge Ahmed Rifaat delivered a strongly worded statement before handing down the sentences. Rifaat described Mubarak's era as "30 years of darkness" and "a darkened nightmare" that ended only when Egyptians rose up to demand change. "They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held tight grip on power," the judge said. Rifaat, who was presiding over his last court session before he retires, said Mubarak and el-Adly did not act to stop the killings during 18 days of mass protests that were met by a deadly crackdown of security forces on unarmed demonstrators. More than 850 protesters were killed, most shot to death, in Cairo and other major cities. "We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle," Yasser Bahr, a senior member of Mubarak's defence said. Asked if Mubarak was likely to win the appeal, Mr Bahr said: "We will win, one million per cent." Relatives of victims celebrated outside the court in the Egyptian capital after the verdicts were announced at around 10.25am local time (6.25pm AEST), while others chanted "void, void" and "the people want the judiciary purged" as clashes erupted outside the court. Police used stun grenades to control the crowds. Lawyers inside the courtroom were furious over the acquittals and said they feared that Mubarak and Adly would be found innocent on appeal. The former strongman, wearing dark classes and a beige tracksuit, showed no emotion as Judge Ahmed Refaat read out the sentence. His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, looking tired with dark circles under their eyes, appeared close to tears on hearing the verdict. Prosecutors argued that the then-president ordered the violent crackdown that led to the deaths of 225 protesters in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria between January 25 and 31 last year. His former interior minister, Habib al Adly, also was sentenced to life for his involvement in the killings. He was in charge of police who used live ammunition on protesters. Six former police commanders were acquitted of all charges, and corruption charges against Mubarak's two sons were dropped. There were violent clashes inside the courtroom after the verdicts were announced, with at least one person seen bleeding from the neck. Riot police were on standby outside the court building over fears of further protests if Mubarak and the other defendants were cleared or received lenient sentences. Mubarak's verdict came just days after presidential elections have been boiled down to a June 16-17 contest between Mubarak's last prime minister, one-time protege Ahmed Shafiq, and Mubarak's top foe, a Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi. The former dictator was held in a military-run hospital throughout the case and flown to the court building by helicopter.

Medair workers Helen Johnston and Moragwe Oirere rescued in Afghanistan

British aid worker Helen Johnston (pictured) was one of two female foreign aid workers rescued in a pre-dawn raid in northern Afghanistan. Picture: AP NATO special forces rescued two foreign women and killed five kidnappers in a "breath-taking" pre-dawn raid today on a cave in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Badakhshan province. The women, who worked for Swiss-based charity Medair, were named as Briton Helen Johnston, 28, and Kenyan Moragwe Oirere, 26. Two Afghan colleagues kidnapped with them on May 22 were also freed unharmed. All are well, Afghan officials said. "The mission to rescue the hostages was launched in the early hours of today under cover of darkness with the assistance of helicopters," a spokesman for NATO'S International Security Assistance Force said. "The hostages were being held in a cave in the mountains." British forces took part in the operation, which was authorised by Prime Minister David Cameron, the British Foreign Office (FCO) said. The prime minister said he authorised the rescue attempt yesterday afternoon, after becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of Ms Johnston and her colleagues. "It was an extraordinarily brave, breath-taking even, operation that our troops had to carry out," he said. "I pay tribute to their skill and dedication." The victims were seized at gunpoint while travelling on horseback to relief project sites in Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan. They were visiting relief nutrition, hygiene and health project sites when captured, Medair said today. It is not known what demands the kidnappers had made. But Mr Cameron said the rescue should serve as a warning to terrorists across the world who take British citizens hostage. "They should know if they take British citizens as hostage we do not pay ransoms, we do not trade prisoners. "They can expect a swift and brutal end." The two women were now receiving support from British embassy staff in Kabul, while the two Afghan aid workers were returning to their families in Badakhshan, the Foreign Office said. "Staff from the FCO remain in close contact with Helen's family who are understandably hugely relieved at this news. "We are also in touch with Moragwa's family and with the Afghan and Kenyan governments, and Medair have been in close contact with the families of the Afghan aid workers." ISAF commander General John R. Allen thanked the Afghan interior ministry for its "tremendous support throughout this crisis". He said the mission "exemplifies our collective and unwavering commitment to defeat the Taliban". "I'm extremely grateful to the Afghan authorities and proud of the ISAF forces that planned, rehearsed, and successfully conducted this operation." Impoverished Badakhshan has been mainly quiet but there have been pockets of insurgent activity. Both criminals and Taliban insurgents waging a war against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai have been responsible for kidnappings in the past, but Allen's comment suggests that the kidnappers in this case were Taliban. In August 2010, the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing a group of eight medical aid workers in Badakhshan, claiming they were "Christian missionaries". The rescue shows the vital importance of NATO's air power and highly-skilled special forces in the war against the Taliban. The alliance will be pulling its combat troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and is training Afghan forces to take over responsibility for security.

House prices fall to record low across Australian capital cities

HOUSE prices have slid to a six-year low in capital cities despite RBA efforts to lift the housing market out of the doldrums with rate cuts.
Home values dropped 1.4 per cent across all capital cities in May and are now down by more than 5 per cent on a year ago, according to RP Data figures released today.
Melbourne was the worst performing city, with residential property values falling 2.7 per cent last month and more than 8 per cent over the year.
Sydney, which has proven resilient to the market downturn, also posted a decline. In May, the city’s home values were down 1.2 per cent, resulting in a 3.6 per cent drop over the year.
The Brisbane market is showing signs of improving after two years of lacklustre values. Until recently the river city’s home prices were falling most across Australian capital cities but last month they dipped just 0.3 per cent.
Adelaide bucked the trend and outperformed all other capitals with 1.2 per cent rise in May.
Perth had a decline of 1.7 per cent, Darwin 2.4, Canberra 1.5 and Hobart 1.2.
The falls defy interest rate cuts last month and November last year as the RBA moves to put the accelerator on the economy.
RP Data's research director Tim Lawless said the market had not responded at all to the rate cuts.
Much of the weakness in real estate values was in detached housing rather than apartments, he said
“It is clear that the market is becoming increasingly price-point driven with stronger performances across more affordable markets,” Mr Lawless said.
"Unit values across the combined capitals increased in May and are up by 1.3 per cent over the first five months of the year, the data shows."
Mr Lawless expects the market to remain soft overall until consumer confidence improves.
Rismark managing director Ben Skilbeck says a positive to take away from the soft housing market is that housing affordability is showing a marked improvement.
“The combination of interest rate reductions, declining home values and disposable income growth has significantly improved affordability,” Mr Skilbeck said.
“Since dwelling values peaked in November 2010, they are down by 7.6 per cent, the RBA cash rate has fallen to 3.75 per cent and disposable income per household has increased by more than 5 per cent.”
Weak consumer sentiment remains the main barrier to the recovery in dwelling values, he said.
Another hurdle for the property market is the large number of properties currently being advertised for sale.
Based on RP Data estimates, there were approximately 308,500 homes advertised for sale across Australia
during May which is almost 9 per cent more than at this time last year.