Man to face Sydney court over cocaine

A MAN will face court charged with drug offences after more than two kilograms of cocaine was found at a house on Sydney's northern beaches.

Police from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad arrested the man, 51, on Thursday after searching a residence at Freshwater last Wednesday.

Inside the house police found 2.5kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of about $750,000, as well as $12,000 cash and drug paraphernalia.

The man, from Freshwater, was charged with supply prohibited drug greater than a large commercial quantity, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Police said he was arrested after walking into Dee Why police station on Thursday afternoon.

He was refused bail and is due to face Parramatta Local Court on Friday.

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William tells TV show of 'calling'

THE Duke of Cambridge has spoken of his "calling" to save lives as a helicopter pilot in a TV documentary to be screened next month.

In an interview for the BBC program, Helicopter Rescue, which features footage of William in action as a search and rescue captain, he says: "There's no greater feeling than when you've actually done some good and saved someone's life.

"I don't think there's any greater calling in life ... to be able to see a son or daughter's face when you bring their mother or father back from the edge of death - it's quite powerful."

In one rescue in the four-part series, the duke captains an aircraft called to save a boy who has fallen off an old railway bridge and on to rocks.

He describes his role once the call comes in: "As captain, you're trying to play out the entire rescue, the transit to the rescue and back again in your mind, and pick up any circumstances or problems you can foresee, and try and fix them on the ground before you get airborne."

The program will be the first to show extensive footage of the duke's work as a search and rescue pilot, a BBC spokesman said.

William - known in the Air Force as Flight Lieutenant Wales - has been serving with the C Flight, 22 Squadron at RAF Valley on Anglesey since 2010.

He qualified as an operational search and rescue captain last year and now has a full-time job - albeit with time off for royal duties - rescuing stranded climbers and stricken vessels on emergency missions in Sea King helicopters.

The series will also show crew members around William on Anglesey, and at Royal Marines Base Chivenor in Devon.

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Newtown gunman's weapons arsenal revealed

DETECTIVES searching the Newtown school shooter's house found he and his mother kept a startlingly large arsenal of rifles, pistols and other weapons, including swords, newly released details show.

The results of search warrants executed after the Newtown school massacre were released on Thursday after public pressure for information about the investigation into Adam Lanza's shooting of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.

Parts of the five warrants were blacked out by prosecutors and the information that remained gave little new insight into Lanza's motivation for the bloodbath, which began with the 20-year-old shooting his mother in the head and ended when he shot himself.

Although detectives list Lanza's journal and other documents among evidence seized, nothing about the contents is revealed.

However, the warrants show that Lanza, an academically gifted, but mentally troubled man, and his middle-class mother Nancy Lanza, kept a huge collection of weapons at home in their affluent Newtown neighbourhood.

The warrants note that Lanza burst into the elementary school with a Bushmaster military-style rifle carrying a 30-round magazine. He ended his own life, as police responded to the massacre, with a Glock 10mm handgun. He was also carrying a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in the car he used to get to the school.

However, that was only the beginning of the mother-and-son weapons collection.

In their home, the search warrants reveal, there were multiple firearms and boxes of ammunition, including Winchester rifle rounds, an Enfield bolt-action rifle and a Luger pistol. There were also three Samurai swords, a bayonet, and a long "pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the opposite side".

The search warrants also list numerous documents that are likely to be under close scrutiny. They include Adam Lanza's "journal", and a multitude of computer equipment and violent video games, such as Call of Duty.

In addition, according to one warrant, "investigators also noted a smashed computer hard drive on top of a desk in what is believed to be Adam Lanza's bedroom".

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India's current account deficit hits 6.7%

INDIA'S current account deficit hit a record 6.7 per cent of GDP in the last quarter, official figures show, underscoring the nation's weak finances.

The worse-than-expected deficit for the three months to December stemmed mainly from large oil and gold imports and weaker exports amid the global economic downturn.

The figures were more bad news for the Congress-led government, which is struggling to stimulate India's economy, whose growth for the financial year to March 31, 2013 is expected to be five per cent - the weakest pace in a decade.

The hefty current account deficit, the gap between inflows of foreign currency and outflows, totalled $US32.6 billion ($A31.4 billion) or a record 6.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

That was up from $US22.3 billion in the previous financial quarter to September representing 5.4 per cent of GDP.

Analysts had expected a current account deficit of around six per cent of GDP.

Last weekend, India's finance minister P Chidambaram loosened debt market rules to draw more overseas investment to finance the current account deficit, noting it "can be financed only through foreign inflows".

India is seeking to narrow its current account deficit and boost growth in order to avoid the threat of a sovereign debt rating downgrade by global credit ratings agencies.

In September, the government initiated a string of liberalisation measures to open up sectors such as retail, insurance and aviation to foreign investors and jump-start growth before it faces voters in 2014.

Chidambaram has promised a "next generation" of reforms to further pry open the still heavily regulated economy and return it to high growth.

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Damascus University attack kills students

MORTAR fire has killed at least 15 students at Damascus University, with state media blaming "terrorists", its term for Syrian rebels, who are increasingly targeting President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

The attack came as battles between insurgents and loyalist troops raged in several districts on the edges of the city, and as warplanes targeted rebel enclaves in Irbin and other towns east of Damascus.

"A total of 15 students were killed in a mortar attack launched by terrorists targeting the architecture faculty," unversity dean Amer Mardini was quoted by the official SANA news agency as saying.

The agency added that six others were wounded by "mortars that targeted the faculty cafeteria".

Al-Ikhbariya, a pro-regime television channel, ran footage showing a bloodied patio filled with broken glass and upturned chairs. One image showed an architect's ruler abandoned on a cafeteria table.

The broadcaster also showed doctors treating seriously wounded young people, some of them unconscious.

The attack comes as rebels fighting to oust Assad's regime have escalated mortar attacks on central Damascus, including Umayyad Square in the middle of the capital, which houses state television's headquarters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on sources on the ground for its information, also reported Thursday's attack, although it put the toll at 13 people dead.

Director Rami Abdel Rahman said the recent escalation of mortar attacks on Damascus has instilled terror in the capital.

"Because of the regular mortar attacks on Baramkeh and other areas in Damascus, residents no longer feel safe to walk in the streets or to go about their daily lives," he told AFP.

Meanwhile, despite an all-out army attempt to crush the insurgency there, battles raged in several areas on the edges of Damascus, the Observatory said.

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Brazil Central Bank expects 3.1% growth

BRAZIL'S Central Bank says it expects the economy to grow 3.1 per cent this year, up from just 0.9 per cent in 2012, with inflation of 5.7 per cent.

In its quarterly report, the bank said inflation is forecast to be 5.3 per cent in 2014 - above the centre of the official target range, which is 4.5 per cent, but below the upper limit of 6.5 per cent.

In its previous report, the bank forecast consumer prices would rise 4.8 per cent this year and 4.9 per cent in 2014.

Meanwhile, President Dilma Rousseff sparked controversy on Wednesday when she said from South Africa she did not agree with an inflation-fighting policy that curbs economic growth.

Financial markets interpreted this as a sign of a wavering commitment to controlling inflation. But Rousseff, who was attending a summit of five emerging powers in Durban, insisted this was not the case.

The Central Bank on Thursday stressed it was determined to rein in inflation, warning that "high inflation rates reduce the growth potential of the economy and job creation".

It said the pace of economic activity gained momentum in the fourth quarter of 2012 and that consumer demand would remain strong in the coming months in reaction to the government's tax incentives, interest rate cuts and measures to boost consumption and production.

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Dexia recap drives up Belgium deficit

BELGIUM'S 2.9 billion euro ($A3.6 billion) share of a state recapitalisation of failed Franco-Belgian bank Dexia has driven up its 2012 public deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP, well above the EU limit, the central bank says.

The government's public deficit target for 2012 was 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product, within the EU 3.0 per cent ceiling.

Belgium is negotiating with the European Commission to raise its current 2013 target from 2.15 per cent of GDP to a figure closer to 2.5 per cent.

France, whose share of the Dexia rescue amounted to 2.5 billion euros, is heading for a similar overshoot this year and is seeking extra leeway from Brussels to extend its deadline to conform until next year.

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