Do not travel to Libya, DFAT warns

AUSTRALIA has upgraded its travel warning for Libya to "do not travel" and urged all Australians remaining in the strife-torn country to make plans to get out.

In travel advice updated today, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said Australians in Libya should pay very close attention to their personal security at all times.

"We advise you not to travel to Libya because of the volatile and uncertain security situation throughout the country," DFAT said.

"All Australians are advised to make immediate plans to depart Libya due to the volatile security situation and uncertainty about the viability of future options to leave by air and sea.

"We strongly encourage all Australians remaining in Tripoli who can safely travel to Tripoli International Airport to avail themselves of available options to depart by air."

DFAT said a UK charter flight was due to depart Tripoli International Airport at 2pm local time today and Australians would be permitted to board, space permitting. Travellers were advised to get to the airport before 10am local time and identify yourself to UK officials as an Australian seeking to depart Libya.

The UK has stated that there will be no further charter flights after February 26, DFAT said.

"Widespread protests and anti-government demonstrations continue and violent clashes between Libyan security forces and demonstrators are ongoing across the country, including in Tripoli. Large numbers of casualties have been reported," it said.

"If you are concerned for your safety you should find a safe location (indoors and away from windows) and stay there," the travel advice says.

It's unclear just how many Australians remain in Libya. DFAT said yesterday 37 Australians were still registered as being in the country. It was providing assistance to 33 and still trying to contact four.

Australia is not conducting its own evacuations from Libya but is securing places for Australians on planes and ferries chartered by the United States, Canada and European countries.

New Zealand prays for quake victims

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Residents held open-air prayers for the dead and missing Sunday on the lawns of churches cracked and shattered in New Zealand's earthquake while teams searched for more bodies in what could become the country's deadliest disaster.

"As our citizens make their way to church this Sunday they will be joined in prayer by millions around the world," said Mayor Bob Parker of the devastated city of Christchurch. "For now we are truly comforted by the thoughts and prayers of so many."

The death toll rose Sunday to 147, with officials citing "grave fears" for the more than 200 still missing and Prime Minister John Key warning that last week's 6.3-magnitude quake could be the country's worst disaster, surpassing a 1931 temblor that killed 256 people. Police Superintendent Dave Cliff confirmed the new death toll and said a police officer was among the missing, the New Zealand Herald reported.

When the quake ripped through the city last Tuesday, the city's churches were among the hardest-hit buildings. Among them was the iconic Christchurch Cathedral, at the heart of the city, which suffered massive damage, its bell tower in ruins and 22 people potentially lying dead inside.

Still, many churches found a way to hold mass on Sunday.
Parishioners set up rows of chairs in the sunlight and under the shade of trees on the lawn of St. Barnabas, an 86-year-old Anglican church where the quake cracked stone walls, shattered some stain glass windows and left the tower sinking. Wails of passing police cars and the roar of a military chopper overhead occasionally interrupted the sermon.

Rev. Philip Robinson later tried to rally a somber crowd.

"This is not called Christchurch for nothing," he said, drawing smiles from a few. "We will rise again."

After the service, people gathered by a table on the lawn to have coffee, scones and banana bread, and to comfort those still struggling. Megan Blakie, 45, stood in the crowd, eyes brimming with tears
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The Robb family, brothers Neville and Graeme and their wives Gael and Michelle, met in the gardens, as they do every Sunday, to walk their dogs.

"You feel guilty doing something so normal when there is so much suffering," Michelle Robb said. "But the dogs need walking."

The multinational team of more than 600 rescuers scrabbling through wrecked buildings in the central city last pulled a survivor from the ruins at mid-afternoon Wednesday, making it four days without finding anyone alive.

Rescue coordinator Jim Stuart-Black said Sunday that rescuers were "still in active rescue mode" and continued "to look in every possible place for survivors," but that remaining survivors was increasingly unlikely.

"We are starting to move into the miracle stage of the operation," he said.

Engineers and planners said the city's decimated central area may be completely unusable for months to come and that a third of the buildings may need to be razed and rebuilt.

Key, the prime minister, said the government would announce an aid package Monday for an estimated 50,000 people who will be out of work for months due to the closure of downtown. He also called for two minutes of silence on Tuesday to remember both victims and the ordeal of the survivors.

In addition, he announced the launch of a global fundraising effort to aid the city, the Herald reported.

Mayor Bob Parker warned people to stay out of the water along several beaches because of sewage being released directly into the sea.

Hackers expose credit card details of Lush shoppers

ALMOST 40,000 online shoppers will have to cancel their credit cards after a privacy breach of the popular handmade cosmetics store Lush's website.

Lush admitted it did not know how long its servers had been compromised but was informed yesterday by the web-hosting company that its servers had been breached, the company's director, Mark Lincoln, said.

"Yesterday we were contacted by the web hosting provider to say there had been an unauthorised access of the website and data had been downloaded," he said.

"That was picked up by some extra monitoring that we had put in place.

"Once we got that information, we got the ball rolling trying to get a hold of a forensic investigator to help us understand, what was going on, and (we began) talking to banks and credit card holders and working through the process of how to address the problem and what steps we need to take."

Mr Lincoln said that his focus had been to contact customers first to warn them to cancel their cards.

"The customer database for Australian was 39,000," he said.

"We've contact every customer because at this early stage in the investigation we do not know who has been affected. We do not know how long this has been a problem."

Mr Lincoln was unable to say if the credit card details of customers were disguised when stored in the website's database as required under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard guidelines.

Mr Lincoln said the breach was so serious that the decision was made to immediately take the site down.

"We believe that this was a serious issue that we needed to communicate to our customers and not put them at risk," he said.

"We are in the process of building a new website. We'll incorporate any new enhancements out of this incident and would hope to have the new website up and running in the next eight weeks.

"We haven't thought that far ahead."

"There is a breach of trust.

"We would hope that by being upfront and open as soon as possible customers would see we are an ethical business and we are upfront and we will make the enhancements required."

In an email sent to customers this morning, the company urged customers who have placed an online order with the company to contact their bank to discuss cancelling their credit cards.

"While our website is not linked with the Lush UK website, it appears the Australian and New Zealand Lush sites have also been targeted," the letter read.

"As a precautionary matter, we have removed access to our website while we carry out further security checks."