Singapore toilet tracker goes mobile

SINGAPOREANS can now track the status of the city-state's public toilets in real time, as a program to monitor facilities' cleanliness gets its own smartphone application.

"This app provides toilet users with the convenience of locating a clean toilet nearby and also providing feedback on a dirty toilet they have just visited," Emerson Hee, the program's executive director, said on Thursday.

Hee's Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) launched the app on Wednesday, which will relieve hygiene-conscious Singaporeans of the suspense of stepping into a convenience of unknown cleanliness.

The initiative puts a further touch of polish on the sparkling reputation of a country where spitting, chewing and littering are punishable by strict fines, and where hygiene tips are posted in public spaces.

The LOO (Let's Observe Ourselves) Connect app classes the country's 40,000 public toilets into categories from disgusting to certified.

Toilets need at least a 4-star rating to pass muster as user-friendly, Hee said.

The Android-based app is a work in progress and relies on user contributions for data.

Users can post comments and photographs of toilets registered on the system, or add new locations on a special map.

"As a non-profit charity advocating for clean public toilets, we are always keen to leverage on the use of new technology to promote our cause," RAS president Tan Puay Hoon said.

As part of its Happy Toilet program, which has been running online for several years, the association also hopes to encourage the owners of persistently offensive facilities to brush up.

The app was developed by the Singapore Land Authority and Nanyang Polytechnic and can be downloaded on the Google Play Store.

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Abetz defends coalition workplace policy

OPPOSITION workplace spokesman Eric Abetz has rejected criticism of the coalition's workplace relations policy, arguing that it is designed to favour not one particular sector but to consider the best interests of the nation.

The opposition is facing criticism from industry and employer groups as well as the federal government after revealing its workplace proposals, including a greater take-up of individual flexibility agreements (IFAs).

Asked if the policy was the first step towards a return to the Howard Government's Work Choices reform and the use of Australian Workplace Agreements, Senator Abetz said it was not, and that a portion of the policy was based on a Labor-generated review.

"Labor's own Fair Work Review Panel ... even came up with recommendations, one of which we have adopted in this policy to ensure that this flexibility arrangement was more widely used," he told ABC television on Thursday.

Senator Abetz said the plan was "sensible" and "fair-minded" and he denied that the interest of business was the sole consideration in the formation of the policy.

"I see our core constituency ... is not the business community or any other sectional interest, it's the national interest, it is every Australian and what we are seeking to do is bring in policies that don't seek to divide," Senator Abetz said.

Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh says the opposition's industrial relations policy recognises the importance of productivity and is a "step in the right direction".

"It is recognising the need for engagement and communication involvement between management and the entire team," he said.

"That's important if you want to have an efficient business, and there are another number of elements that should help."

Mr Walsh said productivity was a big issue for the global mining giant.

The broadest measure of labour productivity - gross domestic product per hour worked - rose by an annual 3.5 per cent to December 2012 in Australia, which was the fastest rise in a decade, official data showed in March.

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Pell to appear before Vic abuse inquiry

Cardinal George Pell will give evidence before a Victorian child abuse inquiry later this month. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will appear before a Victorian child abuse inquiry.

Cardinal Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart will give evidence to the parliamentary inquiry's next public hearings later this month.

They welcomed the opportunity to appear before the inquiry, a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said.

Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Hart had been consistent in their support for the inquiry and remain committed to the church's full co-operation with the inquiry, the statement added.

Archbishop Hart will appear at the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations on May 20.

Cardinal Pell, who was archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 until 2001, will appear on May 27.

Cardinal Pell in his Christmas message apologised to those who suffered at the hands of priests, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the hurt that had occurred.

But he did not specifically mention allegations of child sex abuse by members of the clergy, only those who "suffered at the hands" of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests and religious teachers.

Former Catholic priest Michael Parer, who served as a priest in the Melbourne diocese, has told the inquiry most Victorian bishops have withheld evidence from child abuse investigations.

In evidence given to the inquiry in March but suppressed until this week, Mr Parer said bishops should be held accountable to the same laws as everyone else.

"Bishops today are citizens, and they are under the law. Many, most, have withheld evidence in criminal cases," he told the inquiry.

"They have perverted the course of justice.

"They have failed to see that they are holding criminal evidence and they are obstructing the course of justice by not making that evidence available to the police."

The inquiry has heard that former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns was aware of child abuse accusations against pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale but moved him to a different parish.

The Christian Brothers have admitted to the inquiry that two brothers were not reported to police when child abuse allegations surfaced.

Mr Parer said he knew of 21 admitted pedophiles among the 445 seminarians he had studied with at Melbourne's Corpus Christi College in the 1950s.

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Syria's Assad must go, Kerry insists

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step down, says US Secretary of State John Kerry (pic). Source: AAP

US Secretary of State John Kerry insists Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will have to step down as part of any political solution in Syria, as he held a third day of talks on the bloody conflict.

Speaking as he met Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said all sides were working to "effect a transition government by mutual consent of both sides, which clearly means that in our judgment President Assad will not be a component of that transitional government".

Kerry also officially unveiled $US100 million ($A99.10 million) in additional US humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees, almost half of which will go to help Jordan struggling to cope with a tide of people fleeing the 26-month war.

Some 2,000 people are flooding across the border into Jordan every day, and the country now hosts some 525,000 refugees, Judeh said at the start of the talks in Rome.

"We have 10 per cent of our population today, in the form of Syrian refugees. It is expected to rise to about 20 to 25 per cent given the current rates by the end of this year, and possibly to about 40 per cent by the middle of 2014," he said.

"No country can cope with the numbers as huge as the numbers I've just described," he warned, adding Jordan was very grateful for the help of the international community.

Plans for an international conference to try to find a solution to the crisis were also continuing, Kerry said, after he agreed in talks in Moscow that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would work in tandem on the issue.

He had spoken with most of the foreign ministers from the countries involved and there is a "very positive response and a very strong desire to move to this conference and to try to find, at least exhaust the possibilities of finding, a political way forward".

UN chief Ban Ki-moon had also been in touch, so "we are going to forge ahead very, very directly to work with all of the parties to bring that conference together", Kerry added.

It's hoped the conference, aimed at finding a path towards a transitional government in Syria, could be held by the end of May, possibly in Geneva.

US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has meanwhile also met with the Syrian opposition in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the way forward, Kerry said.

Since the war erupted to oust Assad, more than 1.5 million Syrians have fled the country into neighbouring nations, including Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, vastly straining their resources.

Up to four million more could be displaced within the country as they seek to flee the fierce fighting, which has already claimed some 70,000 lives.

Meanwhile, Syria will "give Hezbollah everything" in recognition of its support and will follow the militant group's model of "resistance" against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying.

His comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to refute any suggestion that Israeli raids on Syrian targets would halt assistance to the Shi'ite group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The newspaper said visitors quoted Assad as expressing "confidence, satisfaction and great gratitude towards Hezbollah".

The organisation is a long-time ally of the Syrian regime and has sent fighters to battle alongside Assad's troops, particularly in the Qusayr district of the central province of Homs.

Also on Thursday, anti-regime activists say Syrian warplanes are pounding rebel positions in two northern provinces.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the air force is targeting opposition forces in the battle for the Mannagh air base outside of northern city of Aleppo.

Rebels stormed the base near the border with Turkey on Sunday. They captured parts of it but could not hold on, because of the regime's superior air power.

In neighbouring Idlib province, there are heavy clashes outside several army bases near the government-controlled provincial capital.

Government troops and fighter planes are hitting the rebels, the Observatory said.

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Two women charged over NSW bleach attack

TWO women have been charged over several incidents in Sydney's northwest, including the throwing of a bleach-based toilet cleaner at a four-year-old girl from a car.

Police had been searching for the occupants of a small red car, believing they had vital information about the attack, which happened about 4.45pm (AEST) on Wednesday at Kellyville Ridge.

In one of the incidents a bottle of toilet cleaner was thrown from a car at a 36-year-old woman who was holding the hand of her four-year-old daughter while pushing a pram down the road.

Liquid from the bottle hit the four-year-old in the face, police say.

She was then taken to Westmead Children's Hospital.

Guita Badaoui, who operates Play 'n' Learn Long Daycare said the mother had just left the centre when the incident occurred.

"She was beside herself ... she had come running in quite hysterical, she had come to the kitchen not knowing where else to go," Ms Badaoui told Macquarie radio.

"Someone had thrown bleach on her (daughter's) face ... as soon as you walked in and you could smell the bleach that was reeking from this poor child."

About the same time a bottle of energy drink was thrown at another female pedestrian on Conrad Road.

A roll of garbage bags was also hurled at a woman riding a pushbike on nearby Stanhope Parkway.

She wasn't injured.

About 1pm on Thursday a 20-year-old Glenmore Park woman and a 22-year-old Ingleburn woman turned themselves in at Quakers Hill police station.

A red Hyundai Getz was seized and both were charged with causing bodily injury by corrosive fluid, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault.

The women were granted bail and are due before Blacktown Local Court on June 12.

Investigations are continuing.

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Triangular coin to mark Canberra birthday

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the 25th birthday of Parliament House. Source: AAP

CANBERRA is often labelled the city of swings and roundabouts but the triangle will be featured as the Australian capital celebrates the 25th birthday of Parliament House.

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the quarter century milestone of the big house on the hill.

The uncirculated equilateral coin with rounded corners carries a $5 value.

Ten thousand coins will be struck, made from 99.9 per cent silver and depicting Parliament House as viewed from one of its courtyards. The Queen's profile is on the reverse.

The iconic triangular flag mast atop Parliament House is a focal point of the coin design.

A limited-edition, round 20 cent coin made of cupronickel is also part of the mint's tribute to Parliament House. It features the current building with Old Parliament House in the foreground.

"Australian Parliament House was recognised as a major international architectural achievement when it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II 25 years ago," MP Bernie Ripoll will say during the birthday launch of the coin on Thursday.

"It is fitting that the mint is demonstrating its own innovation within a minting context with Australia's first triangular coin."

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Bangladesh factory death toll passes 800

The death toll from the collapsed Bangladesh factory has passed 750 after more bodies were found. Source: AAP

THE death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster has passed 800 with rescuers pulling dozens more bodies from the rubble of a nine-storey building that collapsed outside Dhaka last month.

"The death toll now stands at 803" with 790 bodies recovered from the wreckage and 13 victims who died in hospital, said disaster relief official, Lieutenant Mir Rabbi, on Wednesday.

More than 3000 garment workers were on shift when the Rana Plaza complex collapsed as they were turning out clothing for Western retailers such as Britain's Primark and the Spanish label Mango.

Officials overseeing the disaster operation said a total of 2,437 people were rescued from the ruins of the building, which housed a total of five garment factories in the town of Savar, a suburb of the capital Dhaka.

Cranes and bulldozers kept clearing debris as relief workers drawn from the army and fire service wore masks to ward off the smell of decomposing bodies.

Brigadier General Siddiqul Alam Sikder told AFP the stench of bodies trapped in the lower floors and under beams indicated the death toll would rise.

"We're expecting to find some bodies because we still haven't reached the bottom. We've finished around 70 per cent of the job," he said.

Efforts to identify bodies were being hampered by their decomposition of bodies, officials added.

Many bodies were found in the staircases.

Panicked garment workers had raced to stairwells in a rush to get out of the building after hearing a loud noise, but the compound collapsed within five minutes, trapping them.

"We got around 150 bodies from the stairs," Sikder said.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations from four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

The building's architect, Masood Reza, told AFP he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not the hefty weight of factory machinery and large workforces.

Police have arrested 12 people including the plaza's owner and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on the day of the tragedy even though cracks had appeared in the structure the previous day.

Fearful that Western brand names could turn their backs on Bangladesh in the face of worries over factory safety, the government announced a new high-level panel on Monday to inspect thousands of garment plants for building flaws.

The collapse was the latest in a string of deadly accidents to hit the textile industry. A factory fire last November killed 111 garment workers.

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UK govt agenda to focus on immigration

THE British government is expected to announce a tightening of immigration, pensions reform and a reduction of business red tape when it lays out its annual plans at the state opening of Parliament.

Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted on Wednesday that its agenda would contain "bills on growth, immigration, pensions, consumer rights (and) social care".

Exact details of the bills are kept secret until they are read out by Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen's Speech, but Cameron said voters could expect a speech "for people who work hard and want to get on".

The speech is expected to include modest measures to stimulate a national economy that has flatlined since the global economic crisis hit five years ago.

Measures to limit new immigrants' access to health care and welfare are intended to counter impressions that some migrants get a free ride on the welfare state - a perception that has fuelled support for the anti-Europe UK Independence Party, a threat to Cameron's Conservatives.

The legislative schedule is also likely to be notable for its absences.

Contentious plans to allow police and spy agencies to snoop on email traffic, web browsing and social media sites look likely to be dropped after an outcry from civil liberties campaigners.

The measures were announced last year in the draft Communications Data Bill, but last month Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said they would not become law.

The monarch has no input into the content of her speech, which is written by government ministers and civil servants.

The state opening is a pageant of power, pomp and politics rich in arcane traditions including a golden throne, a crown studded with 3,000 diamonds and an official known as Black Rod.

The queen travels from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in a horse-drawn carriage, escorted by mounted members of the Household Cavalry.

She delivers the speech from a gilded throne in the House of Lords to an audience of ermine-robed peers and MPs in ordinary clothes.

The annual pageant draws heavily on the history of a power struggle between the monarchy and Parliament.

MPs are summoned from the House of Commons to listen to the queen by Black Rod, a security official - but only comply after first slamming the door in his face to symbolise their independence.

Since King Charles I tried to arrest members of the House of Commons in 1642 - and ended up deposed, tried and beheaded - the monarch has been barred from entering the Commons.

In another symbol of the traditional hostility between Commons and crown, an MP is held at Buckingham Palace as a "hostage" during the ceremony to ensure the monarch's safe return.

This year, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will attend the state opening alongside the Queen.

It is being seen as another sign of the heir to the throne's increasingly prominent role as he takes over more duties from the 87-year-old monarch.

Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday that Charles would attend a Commonwealth heads of government conference in Sri Lanka in November in place of the queen, who is cutting back on long-distance travel.

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NBN rollout hits asbestos snag

A union claims contractors involved in the NBN rollout in Tasmania could be working with asbestos. Source: AAP

A UNION official has demanded the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Tasmania be halted until asbestos problems are dealt with.

Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) official David Mier says up to 85 per cent of contractors working in pits containing asbestos have not completed the required safety training.

Workplace safety watchdog Comcare has confirmed it is investigating a range of issues related to Telstra pits.

Mr Mier said up to 60 workers on 13 sites he had visited in Tasmania had not received asbestos awareness training.

"The pit and pipe work should be stopped where people haven't done asbestos awareness courses," Mr Mier told AAP.

"If you are part of the general public you would want to know that people who are removing asbestos pits out the front of your house have been trained to do so."

Mr Mier accused NBN Co contractor Visionstream of cost cutting and said the lack of training meant sites were being left dangerously exposed.

"Kids wagging school or little kids just playing, they just jump in there thinking it's a sandpit," he said.

A spokesperson for Comcare said the government body was already taking action at some sites.

"Comcare is currently investigating a range of regionalised issues with Telstra pits and contracting arrangements, including the ones in Hobart," a statement read.

"Comcare is intervening on specific sites and are working with NBN and Telstra to enhance the current systems, including the asbestos awareness training area."

NBN Co said it was awaiting details so it could confirm whether the problems were occurring at its sites.

"We've asked the union for specifics so we can investigate these claims thoroughly," a spokesperson said.

"We've yet to receive that information."

The company said it required all construction staff and contractors to complete an approved safety course that included asbestos awareness.

"Worker safety and public health are our top priorities," the spokesperson said.

Mr Mier said he would deliver a report to the companies involved and federal communications minister Stephen Conroy on Thursday.

Areas of Tasmania were chosen to be among the first in Australia to be connected to the multi-billion dollar broadband network.

Asbestos campaigner and Tasmanian Labor Senator Lisa Singh said workers had a right to receive proper training.

"NBN have a moral obligation that they sub-contract out work to people adequately trained in asbestos handling," she said.

"This highlights the ongoing dangers asbestos still poses in the community.

"There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos."

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No movement in NT on schools funding

School Education Minister Peter Garrett has failed to reach a deal with the NT on school funding. Source: AAP

FEDERAL School Education Minister Peter Garrett is leaving the Northern Territory without convincing the jurisdiction to sign on to a new funding deal.

Mr Garrett has urged the NT government to put politics aside and agree to the new schools funding package that would see the jurisdiction receive about $300 million for schools over six years.

He met with NT Education Minister Peter Chandler on Wednesday.

"The door is open for negotiations and discussion, as it should be if we put the interests of students first," Mr Garrett told reporters in Darwin ahead of the meeting.

"There is absolutely no reason on earth why the Northern Territory shouldn't get on board the national plan for school improvement and see additional investment flow to schools in the territory."

Mr Chandler said the discussions had been useful, but no decision on whether to sign on to the schools package was reached.

"That is really a first minister's discussion, that is the prime minister and the chief minister of the Northern Territory," Mr Chandler said.

"What we did speak about are some of the needs in education for the Northern Territory and I think it was a very fruitful negotiation and a fruitful meeting."

Mr Garrett told reporters that under the Gonski schools funding plan, the Northern Territory would have to pay about $100 million and the federal government would contribute $200 million.

But Mr Chandler said the NT Education Department's own analysis showed the NT government may have to contribute $163 million, with the federal government only putting in $137 million.

"That will be very difficult to find in this fiscal position we find ourselves in," Mr Chandler said.

NSW is so far the only jurisdiction to agree to the multi-billion dollar Gonski school funding plan.

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Two in custody after Darwin shootings

A WOMAN suspected of using a handgun to open fire on two people in different locations in Darwin's rural fringe is in custody.

Northern Territory Police say a domestic dispute is probably behind the shootings, which left a 63-year-old woman in a serious condition and a 43-year-old man with a wound to his hand.

A 38-year-old woman suspected of being the assailant is in custody, as is another man, 46, who is accused of being an accessory after the fact.

The pair, with a six-year-old child in their car, were arrested as they tried to elude police from a cordoned-off area near the second shooting.

Police say the sequence of events remains unclear.

However, at 2.30pm (CST) on Tuesday there was a shooting at Virginia Road, in Virginia, about 30km from Darwin's city centre.

Another shooting incident followed, at the side of the Stuart Highway, a few kilometres away.

"There was a weapon that was discharged at Virginia and it was discharged again in the Stuart Highway vicinity," said Crime Commander Richard Bryson.

"At various times the vehicles were moving and the vehicles were shot whilst the vehicles were in motion," he told reporters.

The 63-year-old victim took herself to the Palmerston Police Station, and she was then taken to hospital.

It is thought a single bullet went through her arm before hitting her chest cavity.

The 43-year-old man who was shot in the hand stayed at the scene by the Stuart Highway to help police with their inquiries before he too was taken to hospital.

"It would appear the incident pertains to domestic circumstances and custody arrangements in relation to a child," Cmdr Bryson said.

As well as the two gunshot victims a third person was injured while trying to offer assistance.

Cmdr Bryson said it was unclear whether the person was also shot at but they were injured by shattering glass and sustained superficial cuts to their face.

All the parties involved knew each other, he said.

It is believed about a dozen shots were fired.

"This incident could have been much more serious than it was," Cmdr Bryson said.

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Rate cuts due to fiscal policy: Swan

An unexpected interest rate cut has pleased Treasurer Wayne Swan ahead of a tough budget next week. Source: AAP

TREASURER Wayne Swan will enjoy the benefit of an interest rate cut as the federal government prepares to make the difficult choices in next week's budget.

But welfare groups have attacked the government for ditching its planned increase to family benefits, while the opposition challenged the treasurer to deliver an honest budget next week after five years of confusion.

The central bank unexpectedly cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent at its monthly board meeting on Tuesday, a record low in the cash rate setting era.

"These rates are possible because the government has (had) in place a responsible fiscal policy over the past five and half to six years," Mr Swan told reporters in Canberra.

However, this good news for borrowers came as the government scrapped a planned increase in the Family Tax Benefit Part A.

"This is a difficult decision but a responsible decision given what's happened to revenue," Finance Minister Penny Wong told Sky News.

The rise worth a total of $1.8 billion would have delivered as much as $300 a year for families with one child and $600 for those with two or more children.

Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) CEO Cassandra Goldie slammed the decision, saying the government should instead focus on other measures such as the Baby Bonus.

"We understand the current pressures on the budget but quite frankly there are other more important areas where savings can be found rather than going back on a promise that would greatly assist around a million of our nation's lowest earning families," she said.

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne agreed.

"Why is it that you would protect the mining bosses, the big miners of Australia and not support the most vulnerable and needy in our community?" she said.

The increased benefit was meant to be paid out from revenue from the government's mining tax, but the impost is expected to raise less than half what was forecast in its first year, and is likely to miss annual targets over the forward estimates.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said this "rock solid" commitment made in last year's budget had been used as stick to "beat the opposition mercilessly" over family welfare.

"So it didn't survive from one budget to the next, even though it was supposed to be the absolute product of the mining boom, which no longer exists in the same form, thanks in part to the policies of this government," he told reporters in Melbourne.

The family payment boost was promoted by Labor as "spreading the benefits of the mining boom".

Senator Wong also confirmed the revenue drop for this financial year "looks to be in the order of $17 billion", from the forecast in last year's budget.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey told a conference in Sydney whatever Mr Swan said on budget night would be "meaningless", given previous forecasts had been wrong and promises made in past budgets had not been met.

"I know I am setting him a ridiculous benchmark but I think we expect honesty," Mr Hockey said.

"Forecasts of revenue and spending must be soundly based and ... there must be no more money shuffling, no more raiding of dividends."

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Qld deal moves full NDIS step closer

Julia Gillard is closer to getting a nation-wide deal on disability care, as WA are yet to sign on. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND is ready to sign up to federal Labor's national disability care scheme, leaving Western Australia the only state not yet on board.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Queensland Liberal National Premier Campbell Newman will announce details of the long-term funding deal in Brisbane on Wednesday.

But sources have told AAP the state won't follow its peers in having a launch site.

The deal will put pressure on WA to sign up to a funding agreement this year and give Ms Gillard more political ammunition when parliament returns next week to sort out legislation to raise the Medicare universal health levy to pay for the scheme.

Mr Newman says changes made to DisabilityCare Australia, as the former NDIS scheme will be known, mean he can sign up to it.

"Queensland is primed and ready for full rollout of the NDIS," he told the Queensland Media Club on Tuesday.

"It is in itself a pragmatic revolution that services are delivered to people who need them the most."

Ms Gillard's spokesman told AAP the prime minister "looks forward to finalising a historic agreement to deliver better disability services for Queensland".

Queensland has committed $860 million to the scheme over the four years between 2014/15 and 2018/19 and would receive another $200 million from a hike in the Medicare levy to two per cent, from 1.5 per cent.

The latest Newspoll showed 78 per cent voter support for DisabilityCare but there was no boost for the federal government, which trails the coalition 44-56 on two-party terms.

Ms Gillard's standing as preferred prime minister received a small lift, up two points to 37 per cent, but Opposition Leader Tony Abbott maintains a five-point lead.

Treasurer Wayne Swan, who's putting the final touches on next Tuesday's budget, confirmed the government faced a $17 billion shortfall in revenues since the 2012 budget.

He also axed plans to increase the rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A by as much as $300 a year for families with one child and $600 for those with two or more children.

Mr Swan described the decision as "difficult, but responsible".

The increase was meant to be covered by mining tax revenue, which is now estimated at just $800 million in the current year instead of a forecast $2 billion.

The treasurer applauded the Reserve Bank's decision to cut the cash rate to 2.75 per cent, their lowest level on record.

He reassured voters that the cut did not mean the economy was on the wane.

"We have solid growth, we have low unemployment, we have a strong investment pipeline, we have strong public finances, we have contained inflation, and we have low interest rates," he said.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said rates had been cut because the Reserve Bank felt the economy was being mismanaged.

He told a business forum in Sydney the "cupboard is bare" and there would be no room for big spending promises during the election campaign.

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China punishes officials in sex scandal

CHINA'S Communist Party has punished 21 officials over a scandal in which some of them were allegedly extorted by a developer after being secretly filmed in liaisons with hired women.

The official Xinhua News Agency said on Tuesday the party's disciplinary body in the central city of Chongqing had stripped former local district party chief Lei Zhengfu of his party membership.

The scandal broke after footage of Lei having sex with one of the women was leaked on the internet.

Other officials were placed under investigation for corruption or given administrative punishments.

The scandal has exposed the intertwining of sex, money and politics and the often shady ties between real estate developers and local officials.

China's new leadership has vowed to crack down on official corruption.

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Liam Jurrah fined in SA for drink driving

FORMER AFL player Liam Jurrah has been fined $1100 after being caught behind the wheel with a blood alcohol reading more than five times the legal limit.

Jurrah, who is in custody in Alice Springs over allegations of assault against three women, did not appear in Adelaide's Elizabeth magistrates court on Tuesday when he was sentenced by magistrate Paul Foley.

An audio-visual link from the court to Alice Springs failed but his lawyer Joanna Caracoussis said the 24-year-old was happy for the matter to proceed.

The former Melbourne footballer pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in Adelaide on January 14 and to breaching conditions of a provisional licence.

He was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.26. As a p-plater, he is not allowed to have any alcohol in his system while driving in South Australia.

Mr Foley fined him $1100 and disqualified him from driving for two years.

He also fined him $700 in another matter for breaching two court orders banning him from going to an Adelaide address.

Ms Caracoussis said Jurrah had been drinking with family on January 14 and had become involved in a dispute, before driving the car while intoxicated.

Police had observed him to be drowsy with bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.

Ms Caracoussis said that on a later occasion, he had travelled in a car with a relative and had not realised the driver was going to the address Jurrah was banned from attending.

But when he saw police, he panicked and hid on the roof of the house.

The magistrate noted Jurrah's work with troubled youth, his sporting and other awards and his lack of any previous convictions.

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Russian helicopter carrying 10 crashes

A RUSSIAN helicopter carrying 10 people has crashed in southern Siberia.

Those on board included senior rescue service officials.

The crash happened in the Irkutsk region, an emergencies ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

"The Mi-8 helicopter was discovered seven kilometres from the Preobrazhenka settlement with signs of destruction," Irina Rossius told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The agency added that it was carrying several tonnes of explosives being used to break up ice on rivers.

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Italy's ex-PM Andreotti dies at 94

GIULIO Andreotti, who served seven times as Italy's prime minister, has died at 94.

He was a behind-the-scenes power broker of Italian post-war political life, accused of shadowy links with the mafia and the Vatican.

A government minister for over three decades, Andreotti who died on Monday was involved through all the upheavals that rocked Italy from World War II until his retirement from mainstream political life in 1992, after which he stayed on as senator-for-life.

Born in Rome on January 14, 1919, he was elected to parliament in 1946 and became a junior minister - at the start of a lengthy career.

He was known for his love of political intrigue and close ties with the Vatican, beginning his career with the pro-Catholic Christian Democratic party before going on to be prime minister seven times and a minister 21 times.

With his stooped figure and bespectacled, hangdog expression, Andreotti was a controversial figure who was inevitably associated with a period of extremist political militancy that rocked Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.

At various points in his career he was nicknamed "The Untouchable", "The Black Pope" and "The Divo" in an award-winning 2008 film on his life.

Andreotti was once convicted to 24 years in prison for ordering the murder of an investigative journalist in 1979 after a high-profile trial, but an appeals court cleared him in 2003 and he served no time in prison.

"I'm being blamed for everything, except for the Punic Wars because I was too young then," the caustic senator, who became famous for his put-downs, once said in an ironic reference to the battles between ancient Rome and Carthage.

He was also blamed for his intransigence when his political rival Aldo Moro, a former prime minister, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades in 1978.

As prime minister, Andreotti refused to negotiate and Moro was found dead in the boot of a car parked on a Rome backstreet after two months in captivity.

Andreotti habitually attended mass every morning even when in office and helped shape the Christian Democratic party founded by Alcide de Gasperi.

The United States never really trusted him despite his staunch anti-Communist credentials and, observers say, rightly so as Libya was tipped off by Italy about an imminent US bombardment in April 1986.

He was the butt of many jokes and was popularly dubbed "The Hunchback".

A famous comedy sketch once represented Andreotti ringing a doorbell to hell and the devil opening the door and saying: "Daddy's home!"

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Protests outside Germany's neo-Nazi trial

Several organisations protested outside a German courthouse where a neo-Nazi trial is being held. Source: AAP

DOZENS of anti-racist demonstrators have rallied outside a German courthouse where the biggest neo-Nazi murder trial in the country's history is about to start.

Several organisations fighting the far right gathered for the protest on Monday, where activists hoisted banners with slogans such as "Against Nazi terror, state and everyday racism" and urged German authorities to take a harder line against extremists and their crimes.

Two women jostled with security forces and smashed a bottle outside the barricades, police said, amid a massive turnout of international media for the trial in the southern city of Munich.

Beate Zschaepe, 38, the last surviving member of a far-right trio calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU), is charged with complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Four alleged accomplices will join her in the dock for the trial secured with a major police presence.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in 15 armed robberies, arson and attempted murder in two bomb attacks.

The investigation was bungled by German authorities, who for years suspected Turkish mafia groups were behind the killings. They later admitted that files relevant to the case were shredded.

In custody since turning herself in on November 8, 2011, Zschaepe arrived at the court from her cell in solitary confinement at Stadelheim prison, one of Germany's largest.

She was led into the courtroom wearing a black blazer, a pressed white shirt and large hoop earrings. She stood with her back to television cameras waiting for the proceedings to begin.

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Bomb kills 3 at Pakistan political rally

A BOMB has torn through a Pakistan election rally killing three people and wounding 45 others in the first campaign attack on a political party in the northwestern tribal belt.

The attack on Monday brings to 72 the number of people killed in violence targeting politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally, ahead of Pakistan's historic elections on Saturday.

The explosion targeted the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a religious party in the outgoing government coalition, in Kurram, one of the seven districts making up Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.

"Three people have died and 45 are injured. Eleven of them are in a critical condition," Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.

Khan said the bomb was planted inside the building where two national assembly candidates representing the JUI faction led by cleric Fazul-ur-Rehman were speaking to supporters.

One of the candidates, Munir Orakzai, escaped unhurt while the other, Ain u Din Shakir, was slightly injured, Khan said.

It was the first deadly attack on a political party in Pakistan's tribal belt since campaigning began for the polls, which will mark the first democratic transition of power after a civilian government completes a full-term in office.

Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso strongly condemned the attack and said that another national assembly candidate, had been injured.

Repeated calls from the interim administration for candidates to be granted more security have failed to stop a wave of attacks, most of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest blast. The tribal belt is a stronghold of Islamist militants and Kurram has been bogged by sectarian violence between Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority and Shi'ite minority.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies, in the southwestern province Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in the southern city of Hyderabad, where candidates have been killed.

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Nobel Prize winner de Duve dies at 95

A BELGIAN university says that biochemist Christian de Duve, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1974, has died in an act of euthanasia. He was 95.

His university, UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve, confirmed it was a case of euthanasia but did not disclose the method.

De Duve shared the Nobel Prize with two other scientists for their work and discoveries on the structural and functional organisation of the cell.

One month before his death last Saturday, he had taken the decision to end his life through euthanasia and had granted a big interview to the daily Le Soir to be published after his death.

He said he had been getting weaker and decided to plan, as he put it, "my own disappearance."

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Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 600

The Bangladesh building that collapsed was not designed to be used for factory. Source: AAP

THE death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster surpassed 600 after dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a nine-storey building housing garment factories, the army said.

Lieutenant Imran Khan of the army control room, which was set up to coordinate the rescue operation following the disaster last month, told AFP that recovery efforts had gathered pace and the "death toll now stands at 610".

"The toll is expected to rise further," he said.

The building, which housed five garment factories, collapsed near the capital Dhaka on April 24, trapping more than 3,000 people. Some 2,437 people have been rescued, Khan said.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site on the twelfth day, as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Mohammad Jashim, 25, whose garment worker sister Jakiya Begum was still missing, was among those holding a vigil at the site on Sunday.

Every time a body is recovered, he rushes to see whether the remains are those of his sister.

Officials said the bodies pulled out have missing limbs in some cases or have decomposed, delaying identification.

"We've identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or identity cards given by the factories," deputy administrator of Dhaka district, Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, told AFP.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations by four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

The building's architect, Masood Reza, told AFP he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not factories.

Police have arrested twelve people including the plaza's owner and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter after China. The industry accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports and more than 40 per cent of its industrial workforce.

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Israel launches air strikes near Damascus

Israel has launched air strikes in Syria at a shipment of Iranian-made guided missiles. Source: AAP

ISRAELI strikes hit a military target outside Damascus, the Jewish state's second reported raid on Syria in three days, with residents saying the attack felt like an earthquake and turned the sky red.

A senior Israeli source said the aerial assault took out Iranian weapons destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is allied to the Syrian regime.

And a diplomatic source in Beirut told AFP three sites were targeted, including a military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of Syria's capital.

The official SANA news agency said Israel had targeted the military research centre at Jamraya in the Eastern Ghouta region, without giving details on casualties or damage.

"This new Israeli aggression is a clear attempt to alleviate the pressure on the armed terrorist groups after our army beat them back in several regions and after the army's victories on the road to recovering security and stability in Syria," said SANA.

The Israeli source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the target of the attack "was Iranian missiles which were destined for Hezbollah".

He also confirmed the Jewish state was behind an attack overnight Thursday, which sources told AFP targeted a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport.

On Sunday morning, an Israeli army spokeswoman said two batteries of the Iron Dome missile defence system had been moved to the north of the country.

"This attack proves the direct involvement of the Israeli occupation in the conspiracy against Syria and its links with terrorist groups in the aggression supported by Western countries and some Gulf countries," SANA said of Sunday's pre-dawn strike.

Residents of the upscale Damascus neighbourhood of Dumar, six kilometres away, said the raids caused the ground to shudder and turned the black night sky red.

"It was like an earthquake, the sky was yellow and red," said 72-year-old Najwa.

Video footage of the strikes uploaded to YouTube showed a series of missiles lighting up clouds.

A fire caused by the raids could be seen burning and then an enormous explosion erupts, producing an orange fireball that momentarily fills the entire screen.

The powerful explosion sent up towering clouds of smoke illuminated by embers of debris.

If confirmed, the attack would be Israel's second this week against targets inside Syria and the second time it has targeted the Jamraya facility, after a January 30 raid that Israeli officials implicitly acknowledged.

Israel has frequently warned that it would act to stop the transfer of advanced weapons systems or chemical weapons to Lebanon's Hezbollah with which it fought a devastating war in 2006.

Hezbollah and Iran, the regional arch-foes of Israel, have steadfastly backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against it erupted in March 2011.

US President Barack Obama, speaking after the first reported attack this week, said Israel was justified in protecting itself.

"The Israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organisations like Hezbollah," he said, without commenting directly on the strike.

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UK deputy speaker denies sex allegations

Nigel Evans has denied a gay rape charge, saying the allegations are "completely false". Source: AAP

A DEPUTY speaker of Britain's lower house of parliament said that allegations of raping one man and sexually assaulting another were "completely false", adding that he had previously regarded both men as friends.

Nigel Evans, 55, a lawmaker in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, issued the denial a day after he was questioned over the alleged attacks on two men aged in their twenties.

"Yesterday, I was interviewed by the police concerning two complaints, one of which dates back four years, made by two people who are well known to each other and until yesterday, I regarded as friends," Evans said in a statement to the media outside his home.

"The complaints are completely false and I cannot understand why they have been made, especially as I have continued to socialise with one as recently as last week.

"I appreciate the way the police have handled this in such a sensitive manner and I would like to thank my colleagues, friends and members of the public who have expressed their support and, like me, a sense of incredulity at these events."

Evans revealed he was gay in 2010, eight years after he was elected, saying he was "tired of living a lie".

He represents Ribble Valley in Lancashire, northwest England, and is one of the House of Commons' three deputy speakers, who are responsible for maintaining discipline in parliament in the absence of the speaker, John Bercow.

Police said the alleged attacks took place in the village of Pendleton, where Evans lives, between July 2009 and March 2013.

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Killings up Sudan tensions in Abyei region

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for calm following the killing of a top chief in Sudan. Source: AAP

TENSION and anger gripped the Abyei region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan after the killing of a tribal chief and a peacekeeper, residents said, as the UN boosted security.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for calm after the Ngok Dinka chief Kual Deng Majok and the Ethiopian peacekeeper died in an "attack" by a Misseriya tribesman in the region on Saturday.

"It looks like Dinka are very angry," one local resident told AFP.

He reported gunfire in Abyei's town centre, where Misseriya run small shops.

A curfew was in effect, with the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei setting up extra checkpoints trying to restrict movement and prevent gatherings, said the resident on condition of anonymity.

The resident, who is familiar with the incident, said five Misseriya also died in Saturday's skirmish.

"There is high tension and all sides are alert, ready for anything," Mohammed Al-Ansari, a Misseriya chief in Abyei, told AFP.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said on Twitter that UNISFA was "expanding patrols with aim of maintaining calm".

UN chief Ban urged both tribes as well as the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to "avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event," a statement from his spokesperson said late Saturday.

The United Nations said the "attack by a Misseriya assailant on a UNISFA convoy" also seriously wounded two of its peacekeepers.

The status of Abyei has not been resolved despite steps which Sudan and South Sudan have taken since March to normalise their relations in other areas, after months of intermittent clashes along their undemarcated frontier.

Abyei's status was the most sensitive issue left unsettled when South Sudan separated from Sudan in 2011.

The territory was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

Majok was heading north from Abyei town with UNISFA peacekeepers, who are the only authority in the area, when a group of Misseriya stopped them, another Misseriya leader said.

Despite negotiations, "a clash happened when a UNISFA soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," said the Misseriya chief who asked to remain anonymous.

During the resulting clash, "the Dinka leader's car was hit by an explosion and he and his driver were killed".

Majok was travelling with UNISFA commander Yohannes Tesfamariam, who was unhurt, said the Abyei resident familiar with the situation.

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Road pricing would cut traffic: report

MAKING Aussie motorists pay to use roads would ease traffic congestion in the nation's major cities and help boost economic productivity, a report has found.

The Grattan Institute report found a system of road pricing would also be a good way to raise funds for better public transport, such as better bus services.

The report, Productive Cities: opportunity in a changing economy, said the system could take the form of road user charges, congestion charges, or time-of-day tolling.

It found that charging motorists to use roads would result in "a more efficient use of road space" and ultimately help to lift labour productivity.

"In order to address traffic congestion, it is not enough to rely solely on building new roads without also paying attention to managing the demand for road space," the report states.

Road pricing would "also go some way towards raising the revenue needed to increase the capacity of public transport".

However the report conceded that governments would have to spend "political capital" to implement such a system.

It also urged governments to build more homes in established suburbs, saying rising house prices meant many blue-collar workers risked being locked out of areas that offered the best access to jobs.

"This will be good for the economy and good for the fair go," the report found.

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