A MAN will face court after he allegedly bashed a bus driver in western Sydney.
Police said they charged the man, 42, with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident on a bus at Chester Hill about 11.15am (AEST) on Wednesday.
The man allegedly got on the bus and argued with the driver, 51, then punched him repeatedly in the head.
The alleged attacker was arrested and refused bail, and will front Bankstown Local Court on Friday.
CAR thieves in the near future may need nothing more than a smartphone to steal a vehicle, a security expert says.
Chris Vargyas, from British police security initiative Secured by Design, says car thieves are increasingly using sophisticated electronic tools.
"With the rapid advancements in telematics and infotainment systems, drivers can already use their smartphones to control some vehicles' systems," Mr Vargyas said.
"This opens up the possibility of offenders using such systems to steal vehicles or possibly using a virus or some type of malware to disable a vehicle's security."
Mr Vargyas will detail his concerns at a seminar on vehicle theft awareness in Adelaide on Friday hosted by South Australia's Vehicle Theft Reduction Committee.
He said highly organised criminal networks were now involved in stealing cars in Europe.
"Spanning international borders, it's a trend that could soon be seen in Australia too - that's if it's not already here," Mr Vargyas said.
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is bracing for a showdown on education funding when she meets with state and territory leaders in Canberra.
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting kicks off from about 9am (AEST) on Friday.
The $14.5 billion school funding offer will dominate the talks.
Ms Gillard will press state and territory leaders to back her school funding plan but is facing staunch resistance from Western Australia and Queensland.
Fellow coalition states NSW and Victoria appear to be more conciliatory about the reforms.
Ms Gillard has given the states and territories until June 30 to sign up to the changes which would require them to contribute 35 per cent of the $14.5 billion and increase education spending by an indexed three per cent a year in return for federal increments of 4.7 per cent.
But a failure so far to convince all leaders to back the plan hasn't dented Ms Gillard's hopes of agreement.
The Australian Education Union says the parents of every school-age child will have their eyes firmly fixed on political leaders and any state premier that comes away empty handed will pay a price.
The leaders will also discuss disability reform.
In the lead-up to COAG, federal Labor and South Australia reached a $1.5 billion agreement on the roll-out of the national disability insurance scheme in 2018/19.
Labor will provide $760 million to the state, which will in turn contribute $723 million.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman will also be fighting to keep control of the state's proceeds-of-crime laws.
The states and territories will be asked to refer their powers to the commonwealth, but the Queensland government says it is a blatant cash grab.
The leaders had informal talks during a dinner at The Lodge on Thursday night.
TOYOTA says its global sales of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles have exceeded five million in a milestone for a technology that was initially greeted with skepticism.
Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it had sold 5.125 million hybrid vehicles as of the end of March.
It started selling the Prius, the world's first mass produced hybrid passenger car, in 1997.
The Japanese automaker said sales of hybrid vehicles now accounted for 14 percent of global sales and 40 percent of sales in Japan.
Toyota sells 19 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid and is promising 18 new hybrids from now through to December 2015.
Hybrid technology was met with skepticism at first, but it is now offered by all the world's major automakers.
TWITTER has begun allowing ads to be targeted at users based on the words written in 'tweets' and messages forwarded to followers at the popular social network.
Previously, contents of Twitter messages relied on algorithms that pool the interests of users to send them potentially relevant ads in the form of tweets "promoted" at the top of feeds.
Twitter produce manager Nipoon Malhotra said on Wednesday the new feature would allow "advertisers to reach users based on the keywords in their recent tweets and the tweets with which users recently engaged."
Malhotra gave the example of a concert venue being able to target local music lovers with tweets promoting upcoming shows by bands they have raved about in messages at Twitter.
"Users won't see any difference in their use of Twitter; we're not showing ads more frequently in timelines, and users can still dismiss promoted tweets they don't find relevant," Malhotra said in a blog post.
Twitter is expected to earn $US582.8 million ($A567.73 million) globally in ad revenue this year and nearly $US1 billion ($A974.14 million) next year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.
TREASURER Wayne Swan has warned major economies against leaning toward "mindless austerity" to repair their balance sheets, as Labor prepares for its own tough budget choices.
Mr Swan is in Washington this week for the spring round of top level Group of 20 industrialised nations and International Monetary Fund meetings.
In an economic note published on Friday, he said governments around the world, including Australia, faced difficult choices due to weaker world growth, following the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
"While Australia faces these challenges from an enviable position of strength, we face significant revenue write-downs in part due to a stubbornly high dollar and competitive pressure on our industries, which have contributed to lower profits and subdued price growth across the board," Mr Swan said.
"This means we're having to make tough decisions."
There's fears the federal budget could be facing a multi-billion dollar black hole after Europe's carbon price plummet this week.
Mr Swan reiterated jobs and growth would be at the forefront of any decisions.
"To cut to the bone - as our political opponents advocate - would drive our economy into the ground and send unemployment skywards," he said.
"We now see countries with very weak economies falling into the trap of mindless austerity, when they should be trying to provide support to activity in the short term while improving fiscal sustainability in the medium term."
Mr Swan, who left Australia on Thursday, is due to attend meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington.
He will also sit down with US central bank chairman Ben Bernanke and new US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and have talks with European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and new Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei.
THE future of motor shows in Victoria hinges on an upgrade of Melbourne's Exhibition Centre, the state's peak automotive industry says.
The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) is urging the state government to extend and upgrade the centre so it remains competitive with interstate and international exhibition venues.
VACC, which owns the Australian International Motor Show with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, says the centre's upgrade is vital for future motor shows.
In a budget submission to Treasurer Michael O'Brien, the VACC is seeking help for future motor shows and says the upgrade of the exhibition centre is vital for it to remain competitive. There are proposed plans to upgrade the NSW Exhibition Centre in Sydney and similar venues in Asia.
"This year's Motor Show may have been cancelled, but we are already working on a new business model for future shows," VACC executive director David Purchase said.
"We are making every effort to ensure Australia and Melbourne continue to have a motor show, but we'll need Victorian government assistance to do so."
Mr Purchase said a good first step is to extend and upgrade the Melbourne Exhibition Centre into a world class venue that attracts world class shows.
VACC, which represents more than 5,000 small business members, is also calling on the government to cut payroll and land taxes, stamp duties and Workers Compensation premiums in its May budget.
