our australia correspondent, duncan kennedy, has this. >> 31 years after her daughter disappeared, lindy chamberlain was back in a courtroom, but this time to present new evidence to a coroner about dingos who she's always blamed for causing her family's misery. azaria chamberlain was nine weeks old when she vanished. the family was camping when mrs. chamberlain claimed she saw a dingo snatch the baby from their tent. azaria's body was never found n. 1982, lindy chamberlain was jailed for her murder. it was only when azaria's jacket turned up in a dingo's den four years later mrs. chamberlain was released. but rumors persisted over her involvement, so lindy and her former husband, michael, are at this new hearing to present

duncan kennedy has the latest. >> the next few hours in st. george are crucial. the town, 3000 residents -- they will find out if their homes are safe are underwater -- or under water. the waiver has been rising -- river has been rising, fighting those -- more slowly than expected. they have had a few hours to add a few more centimeters. it could make the difference. it is the biggest evacuation in the city in history. a few hundred have stayed, fearing their properties might be limited, even the police have tripled their patrols. the government -- might be looted, even though police have tripled their patrols. >> unfortunately, these scenes are only too familiar after the events of last summer. now we are seeing a austrians again in need and in trouble -- we are seeing australians again in need and in trouble. >> families and a few belongings on safer ground, waiting for the worst to pass. some reluctantly their homes and loved ones -- some reluctantly leave their homes and loved ones. >> i'm still very anxious about what is happening back home. >> planet expert

duncan kennedy, bbc news, in darwin. >> get a look at the business now. there's a g-20 gathering in mexico. we can kick off with that. >> we certainly are going to kick off with that. it's interesting, the backdrop against which this is going to be conducted. i'm not sure it's fair to say the feel-good factor from the greek deal, but certainly that's been concluded. and yesterday, of course, you actually had an agreement in the greek parliament, but then nothing is ever straight forward where the europeans are concerned. there are demands for actual contributions to the i.m.f., but also into the stabilization fund for europe. and what the americans and other groups are saying is, look, you can't have the i.m.f. as the ultimate backstop. in other words, you, the europeans, you've actually got to get your house together, because that's a big word in use right now. but at the same time, you don't get something for nothing, because you're looking for the chinese, because they've got massive currency reserves, but china will naturally want something back in re

duncan kennedy has the latest. >> the next few hours are crucial in a town with 3000 residents. the river here has been rising at a slower rate to than first feared. those working to reinforce the town levy, a few extra hours for a few extra centimeters that might make the difference. it is the scene of queensland's biggest evacuation in history. a few hundred have stated. the police have tripled their patrols. the government has stepped in to offer a short-term financial hellhound to those until the waters subside. >> after the events of last summer, we are seeing astrakhans again in trouble. -- australians again in trouble. >> this one is in dolby. families are on safer ground, waiting for the worst. some are reluctantly leaving their loved ones. >> it was under the president of me coming here, so i feel very anxious. >> climate experts blame this on a weather system in the pacific that brings the wet weather. is set of sunshine, the as trillion summer has been a miserable washout. and with it, a major disruption to people's lives. >> 60 years ago today the princess elizabeth

duncan kennedy has this report. >> how many bosses do you know in a would get? >> hip hip hooray. >> he just divvied up $15 million among his staff. >> i only believed it when it came. >> on average each of the 1,800 employees get $8,000 longer serving up to $30,000. he just sold his company and leaves one simple philosophy. look after your staff and they will look after you. most people if they are going anywhere depend on other people to help them get there. so if you look after people -- >> some employees we want when they were told, others checked with their banks to make sure the extra money in their account were there. >> me and my wife were struggling to find out how we were going to pay for my daughter's wedding and now i don't have to work seven days a week. only six. but yes. this came at such an opportune time. >> ken says he's also doing this to shore up the despairty between the bonuses paid to the bosses and employees. he says some exizz are being paid far too much and why he's giving away $15 million of his own money. >> the way you look at people

. >> joining me is our correspondent, duncan kennedy. any more details on the very latest regarding the rescue operation? >> we have no more figures other than what has just been given. 28 survivors picked out of the water. four merchant vessels on-site helping with the rescue operation. the australians have also sent in an recon sanls plane to overlook the -- reconnaissance plane to overlook the area. this happened seven, eight or nine hours ago in what is a busy shipping lane. but yes, as you said there, the prime minister at a press conference did mention this. she said this was, in her words, a major tragedy, and there was likely to be a high loss of life. it is not clear if the prime minister's office has more information than that given to the media, but she felt compelled to say something. there are no reports so far of any australians being involved in this ferry accident. it is a place just north of australia in new guinea, frequented by many, many australians for holiday and business purposes. but at the moment, there are no si

let's speak to duncan kennedy and sydney. is this still a search and rescue? >> i'm not sure they think they are alive. it has been 24 hours since the ferry has gone down. there are several ships on scene, several helicopters looking for any chance of survivors, but the suggestion is the people trapped on the vessel are not alive. the ship went down in rough weather 24 hours ago, and all of these survivors talked about how awful it was trying to get off the vessel. once they got off, they had to stay in the water until they got picked up. 24 hours on, this is not a recovery mission, although there are ships on the scene just in case. >> information seems difficult to come by, very few pictures, even confusion about if the ferry sent a distress signal. everything happened so quickly, they could not? >> you are right about the information, it has been a blank from start to finish. relatives went to the shipping office on the mainland to throw stones at the office, so angry they were with the lack of information. the confusion about the distress signal, was it se

duncan kennedy, bbc news, sydney. >> nice story. look after your staff and they will look after you, he says. not a bad principle, i suppose. that is about it for this part of "gmt." please, stay with us on bbc world news because, as ever, there is plenty more to come. there is plenty more to come.

. >> that was duncan kennedy in sydney. the syrian government is facing international condemn nation. >> it is because for yet another day the syrian city of homs has come under sustained assault and this time two western journalists were among the victims. american-born marie colvin, a veteran war correspondent, and also the french photo journalist, remi ochlik. they were both killed when the building they were in was she'lled by syrian government forces -- shelled from syrian government forces. we begin our syria coverage. >> today's shelling of homs. relentless, indiscriminant. it's been like this every day for almost three weeks. syria's regime is trying to crush the revolution. district of about a about a ama is holding out but only just. houses have been reduced to rubble. this was the base of the few foreign journalists here. many people died when the building was hit. among them marie colvin, one of the most respected war correspondents of her generation. speaking to the bbc yesterday, she described an attack on a c