Dutch prisons hit by prisoner shortage

THE Dutch government is facing an unusual crisis: prison undercrowding.

There are now more guards and other prison staff than prisoners in the Netherlands for the first time, according to data released by the Justice Ministry on Friday.

Crime rates have fallen slightly in recent years, but aren't notably lower in the Netherlands than in neighbouring countries, and many Dutch people think sentences for violent offenders are too light.

In 2008, there were more than 15,000 inmates. As of March of this year, there were just 9710 remaining, compared with 9914 guards.

In the US, that figure is more like one staff member per five prisoners.

Justice Ministry spokesman Jochgem van Opstal says "we're studying what the reason for the decline is". The ministry is already carrying out prison closures.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyclone Ita makes landfall

DESTRUCTIVE winds are battering far north Queensland after Cyclone Ita crossed the coast at Cape Flattery, more than 300km north of Cairns.

The category four cyclone made landfall around 9pm with winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour at its core.

Gales stretched 185 kilometres from the centre and powerful wind gusts of more than 125km/hr are expected between Cape Melville and Cooktown on Friday night and as far south as Port Douglas by Saturday morning.

Residents have been warned that properties built before 1985 may not withstand the powerful winds.

Hundreds have left their homes for cyclone shelters.

About 800 people - more than half the town's population - in Hope Vale, 50km northwest of Cooktown, have sought refuge in the local cyclone shelter.

Hope Vale Mayor Greg McLean thinks the eye of the storm passed over the town.

"The wind has been picking up and it's started going for it over the last half an hour," he told AAP after Ita crossed the coast.

"It's like the wind is roaring."

At least one roof has been torn from a house in Cooktown, which is being battered by strong gales and heavy rain.

Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott says winds up to 125km/h are ripping though the small town.

"Here's hoping we don't see any more damage," he said.

Queensland's Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Alasdair Hainsworth said Cooktown can expect stronger winds soon.

"The average wind speed has not yet reached gale force but it's not far short and we're seeing very heavy rain, 40mm in the last couple of hours," he said.

The power has been cut and about 320 people are gathered in the town's cyclone shelter, while some have taken refuge in local pubs.

There's a possibility that Ita could track south close to the coast, bringing wind gusts of 150km/h to Cairns on Saturday.

Coastal residents between Cape Flattery and Cape Tribulation, including Cooktown, are being warned of the dangerous storm tide.

"The sea is likely to rise steadily up to a level which will be significantly above the normal tide, with damaging waves, strong currents and flooding of low-lying areas extending some way inland," the bureau says.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ministers worried about indigenous privacy

EDUCATION ministers are grappling with the question of how to track indigenous truancy without breaching students' privacy.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced in February he would add school attendance to the "closing the gap" targets aimed at improving the lot of indigenous Australians.

The country's education ministers discussed the matter when they met on Friday.

They want to collect and publish attendance data twice a year.

Ministers acknowledged there should be simple and timely snapshots of attendance to help work towards the target.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli told AAP attendance was crucial to help students do well.

But it's understood some ministers are concerned about the privacy of students.

One solution could be to only identify indigenous attendance records when there are more than five in a class.

However, in small jurisdictions with few indigenous students, like the ACT, this could end up meaning no separate data is published.

AAP understands federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne encouraged his colleagues to raise the issue with their premiers and chief ministers for further discussion in the Council of Australian Governments, which set the target.

A final decision is likely to be made on how the data is collected when the ministers meet again in October.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Roll confusion for Labor's Blain candidate

ON the Northern Territory electoral roll, Labor's candidate for the Blain by-election is listed as living at a property in the electorate, but his purchase of the property was only finalised this week.

Police officer Geoff Bahnert lives at a Bellamack address in Palmerston, within the Blain electorate, according to the NT electoral roll, but real estate agents told AAP the sale was only finalised on Wednesday.

Enrolments for Saturday's election closed on March 26, and under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, a person can only be enrolled to vote in a division if they have "a real place of living in the division".

In order to enrol to vote, voters must have lived at their address for at least one month.

For Mr Bahnert to be eligible to vote in Blain, he would have had to have lived at the Bellamack address since February 27 at the latest.

But the property was listed for sale in the Saturday editions of the NT News on March 1, 8, and 15, and listed as being under contract on March 22, before the sale was settled on April 9.

"I think you'll find (the by-election) caught everyone by surprise so I moved into the electorate from the time that the polls were called, so we're ready to go, we've moved in," Mr Bahnert told the Nine Network on Friday.

The April 12 election date was announced on March 8, which was still too late for Mr Bahnert to enrol as a Blain resident, according to the Act's one-month residence stipulation.

A Labor Party spokesman would not respond when asked by AAP where in Blain Mr Bahnert had been living, or for how long.

AAP was not permitted to speak directly with Mr Bahnert; however, the spokesman said any allegation that Mr Bahnert had acted improperly was wrong, and said the ALP had consulted a barrister.

"He lives in the electorate and he is entitled to vote there," he said.

The maximum penalty for making a false claim for enrolment is 12 months imprisonment.

Neither of Mr Bahnert's two key rivals in Saturday's by-election - the Country Liberals' Nathan Barrett and independent Matthew Cranitch - are enrolled to vote in Blain.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abbott briefs President Xi on MH370 search

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has detected a new signal that is being analysed. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has briefed Chinese President Xi Jinping about the search for missing aircraft MH370, warning him there could be a long and painstaking road ahead.

Mr Abbott on Friday updated President Xi on the Australian-led search effort for the Malaysia Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean during a bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The prime minister said Australian authorities had very much narrowed down the search area to some kilometres after receiving "strong detections" from what they're confident is the plane's black box.

But he didn't mince words, warning his Chinese counterpart there was still a long way to go.

"This will be a very long, slow and painstaking process," he said.

Mr Abbott's comments came after a day of somewhat mixed messages from authorities leading the search for MH370, which has been missing for five weeks, since March 8.

The prime minister told business leaders in Shanghai on Friday that the search in the Indian Ocean was narrowing.

"We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres," Mr Abbott said.

However, those comments appeared to be contradicted a short time later by Australian search coordinator, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who indicated there was little change in the search area.

"On the information I have available to me, there has been no major breakthrough in the search for MH370," Mr Houston said.

He said signals apparently detected by an Australian search aircraft on Thursday were ruled not to have come from a black box flight recorder.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre issued a statement on Friday morning saying the search area still totalled 46,713 square kilometres - vastly different from Mr Abbott's statement.

Nonetheless, there remains strong hope that the flight's all-important black box recorder could be found.

Its batteries are expected to expire soon, so time remains critical.

The Australian vessel Ocean Shield has to date recorded four signals that are believed to have come from at least a black box recorder.

The Ocean Shield on Friday was in an area about 2200km northwest of Perth continuing sweeps of its pinger locator to detect further signals.

Orion aircraft were also continuing acoustic searches.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vandals attack Vic wheat storage facility

VANDALS have caused up to $65,000 damage at a wheat storage facility in central Victoria.

Workers found vandals had slashed heavy-duty tarpaulins protecting a large stack of wheat at Dunolly, west of Bendigo, early on Thursday, police said.

Damage to the slashed tarpaulins is estimated at $40,000 while another $20,000 to $25,0000 worth of wheat was lost as rain leaked into the $1.5 million wheat stack.

Local police are investigating.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cambodia, Nauru in talks on refugees

ASYLUM seekers on Nauru could find themselves in Cambodia if Australia seals a deal with the two countries.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has given the biggest hint so far at what is under discussion with Cambodia.

He says the Asian nation wouldn't process asylum seekers who have aimed for Australia but could resettle those found to be refugees.

"It is about a regional discussion on broadening the number of resettlement places," the minister told ABC TV on Thursday.

"This is about resettlement not processing. The processing is done in Nauru."

There would be three signatory countries to any deal: Nauru, Cambodia and Australia, he said.

Australia's offshore processing deal with Nauru doesn't require it to permanently resettle any refugees there, unlike the arrangement in Papua New Guinea.

Mr Morrison and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop have separately visited Cambodia this year.

A Cambodian government spokesman told the Phnom Penh Post last Friday the country's foreign ministry may soon release details of their proposal.

It has been speculated the agreement could be worth $40 million and involve up to 100 refugees.

A team of human rights experts affiliated with the United Nations is trying to visit Nauru to inspect detention conditions, including for asylum seekers.

The UN working group had to cancel a visit planned for next week despite the Nauru government initially proposing those dates.

The government said it was no longer able to accommodate the visit "due to unforeseen circumstances", a spokesman for the group said on Thursday.

A Nauru government spokesman said on Wednesday the country had not invited the group to visit, had only learned of its intention via media reports and suspected it was "merely another publicity stunt by a group with a political agenda".

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Greece bounces back to bond markets

BAILED-OUT Greece has returned to bond markets with a bang, ending a four-year exclusion by raising 3.0 billion euros, sending a major signal that the eurozone debt crisis is fading.

"A sum in the order of 3.0 billion euros ($A4.46 billion) will probably be raised," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told To Vima radio, adding that the interest rate was "below 5.0 per cent".

The bonds have a life of five years and this return to the medium-term debt market is a milestone for Greece which is in recession and suffering deeply from the effects of crisis and reforms.

Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters that the sale had been "at least eight times oversubscribed" and termed the sale "a huge success."

Reports and analysts said the operation pointed to an interest rate paid by Greece of 4.95 per cent, which would mark another success in achieving a rate below 5.0 per cent.

The sale is a big step in Greece's financial resurrection after two EU-IMF bailouts.

It was timed a day before a scheduled visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and originally designed to raise 2.5 billion euros.

Hours before the sale, a powerful car bomb exploded outside the Bank of Greece in central Athens but nobody was hurt as police had time to clear the area.

One analyst said the appetite for the Greek sale had been "jaw-dropping."

Ishaq Siddiqi, a market strategist at ETX Capital said: "The move by Greece at first to return to the bond markets appears to be opportunistic and somewhat symbolic as the country clearly wants to be able to raise its own funds."

The last issue of five-year bonds four years ago carried an interest rate of 6.1 per cent.

Athens' move was welcomed by the International Monetary Fund, which along with the European Union and the European Central Bank, has provided huge financial support for the stricken economy.

The bond issue comes against a background of sharp falls in recent months in borrowing rates for other eurozone countries hit by debt problems and on Thursday Italy borrowed for 12 months at a record low rate of 0.589 per cent.

The government condemned the car bomb attack, with state spokesman Simos Kedikoglou telling Skai Radio: "The terrorists aim to change the agenda. We will not allow that."

The vehicle, a stolen Nissan packed with 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of explosives, blew up around 2.55am as it was parked on the pavement facing a central bank building near headquarters, police said.

Internet news website Zougla and the Efymerida ton Syndakton newspaper were informed of the planned attack by telephone one hour beforehand.

Athens found itself frozen out of debt markets in 2010 after it revealed its public accounts had been falsified, and was forced to seek a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid defaulting.

In return for the bailout funds, Greece has had to institute a host of deeply unpopular reforms including streamlining its bloated public sector. The measures have sparked regular strikes and protests in a country suffering a sixth straight year of recession and with a 28-per cent unemployment rate.

The announcement of the return to debt markets came on the same day as protesters launched the first anti-austerity strike of 2014, following five general strikes the previous year.

The strike shut ferry services to the country's world-famous islands, disrupted air travel and closed pharmacies and government offices.

The so-called "troika" of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF first bailed out Greece in 2010 with a program worth 110 billion euros.

When that failed to stabilise the economy, they agreed on a much tougher second rescue in 2012 worth 130 billion euros, plus a private-sector debt write-off of more than 100 billion euros.

Fiscal reform under EU-IMF tutelage has brought upgrades to Greece's debt standing by ratings agencies in recent months - but Greek bonds still carry junk status.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

New signal detected in plane search

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume with up to 14 planes and 13 ships. Source: AAP

AN Australian aircraft involved in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has picked up a possible fifth signal in the search zone where previous signals consistent with the plane's black box were detected.

An RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft, which had been dropping buoys dangling microphones, detected a signal in the vicinity of the vessel Ocean Shield on Thursday afternoon.

"The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight but shows potential of being from a man-made source," retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said in a statement from the Joint Agency Coordination Centre.

Royal Australian Navy Commodore Peter Leavy said each sound-locating buoy was dangling a hydrophone listening device about 300 metres below the surface.

The naval ship Ocean Shield detected two signals on Tuesday after another two were picked up on the weekend.

Thursday's search of 57,923 square kilometres by 14 planes and 13 ships was the smallest yet in the month-long hunt.

Ocean Shield meanwhile continues to tow a special US Navy "towed pinger locator" slowly through the water hoping to find the signals again and get a fix on the location.

The black box batteries are due expire as they have about a 30-day life and the flight disappeared on March 8.

Earlier this week, Mr Houston said once the battery was declared expired, the automated underwater vessel Bluefin-21 would be deployed to relaying side-scan sonar data and images from the silty sea floor some 4.5km from the surface.

The search continues for debris on the surface of the ocean, although none of the objects found so far have had any connection with MH370, which disappeared with 239 people on board.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Copyright allegations 'false': Dotcom

Megaupload's Kim Dotcom says claims that his website encouraged copyright infringement are false. Source: AAP

ALLEGATIONS made by six major Hollywood film studios that file-sharing website Megaupload was designed to profit from copyright infringement are "completely false", its New Zealand-based founder Kim Dotcom says.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced earlier this week that 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros had filed a lawsuit against Megaupload and its key operators - including Dotcom - in a US court.

It's alleged the now defunct website facilitated, encouraged and profited from massive copyright infringement of movies and television shows before the website was shut down by US authorities in January 2012.

MPAA global general counsel Steven Fabrizio says Megaupload was never designed to be a cloud storage website and users were rewarded for uploading popular content.

The MPAA says Megaupload users were paid based on how many times the content was downloaded by others.

But Dotcom told Radio New Zealand these allegations are "completely false".

Megaupload wouldn't allow rewards to be paid for files that were bigger than 100MB and movies and television shows that were downloaded were much larger than this, Dotcom said.

Mr Fabrizio denied that the MPAA is making an example of Dotcom and Megaupload.

"We are trying to bring some justice to a site that existed for the purpose of engaging in massive copyright infringement," he said.

Dotcom is already facing extradition to the US on charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering relating to Megaupload.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

GM to invest $449M in 2 Detroit factories

US carmaker General Motors will invest $A485.96 million in two Detroit-area factories. Source: AAP

GENERAL Motors says it's investing $US449 million ($A485.96 million) in two Detroit-area factories to build the next generation Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car.

The company says the investment eventually will bring a second shift at the Detroit assembly plant that makes the Volt and other cars.

But it wouldn't say how many jobs would be added or when the people would be hired.

The plant now employs about 1600 on a single shift.

GM says it will invest $384 million at the assembly plant and another $65 million in a battery pack plant in nearby Brownstown Township.

The company didn't release any details on the next generation Volt.

The current version can go about 38 miles on battery power before a small gasoline generator kicks in.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bob Carr reveals plane, lobbyist hassles

Former foreign minister Bob Carr is set to release a new book later this month. Source: AAP

FORMER foreign minister Bob Carr likes his breakfast oats steel-cut and his Wagner opera with English subtitles.

So, his latest book - Diary of a Foreign Minister - could well be subtitled First World Problems.

But he says the book is intentionally full of self-parody and irony because it's the stuff of life - and that's "too short to be taken seriously".

However, it's not all diet regimes and complaints about business class travel.

Mr Carr also reveals a "very unhealthy level" of influence the Israeli lobby had in Canberra, saying he decided to breach cabinet confidences because the public deserved to know what went on.

NewSouth Publishing describes the book - due to hit the shelves at the end of April - as the "best picture ever published of a politician on the world stage and Australia's changing place in the world and in our region".

But it is also expected to reveal Mr Carr's multi-faceted personality - eccentric, obsessive, passionate and self-deprecating.

The faults and foibles of air travel feature heavily, according to reports.

In the book Mr Carr publishes a letter from Singapore Airlines responding to complaints he made about inflight entertainment.

"Please accept my sincere apology if any part of our First Class inflight offering fell below your expectations," the letter says.

"Specifically, I have taken note of the lack of English subtitles for the Wagner Opera Siegfried."

The former minister rails against business class travel: "No edible food. No airline pyjamas. I lie in my tailored suit."

On another flight, he blasts the airline for its "ceramic food" and seat design that "owe a lot to the trans-Atlantic slave trade".

On his diet and exercise regime, Mr Carr reveals his favoured breakfast is steel-cut organic oats and berries and two poached eggs.

Mr Carr said on Wednesday night he made no apologies for wanting to arrive on missions for Australia in the best condition possible.

"It was such an inherently unhealthy lifestyle, living on planes, subsisting on that cuisine, I thought it would have knocked about two years off my life," he told ABC TV.

But he wanted his book also to shine lights on the dark corners of politics, particularly the role of the conservative pro-Israel lobby from Melbourne.

He says its influence in then-prime minister Julia Gillard's office reached an unhealthy level.

"I found it very frustrating that we couldn't issue, for example, a routine expression of concern about the spread of Israeli settlements on the West Bank," he said on Wednesday.

The matter came to a head in arguments over Australia's position on Palestine seeking increased non-state status at the United Nations.

He thought hard about breaking cabinet confidences on this issue but said in the end the public's right to know how foreign policy was made outweighted other considerations.

The book will retail for about $50 with proceeds going to Interplast Australia and New Zealand, a not-for-profit organisation that funds and delivers reconstructive surgery on poor children in developing countries.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

More relocatable units for Vic prisons

MORE shipping container-style "relocatable units" are being rolled out to boost the capacity of Victoria's prison system.

The Victorian government has announced another 27 units will be installed by August at two correctional facilities near Geelong, a gain of 81 medium-security beds.

"Relocatable units are already providing an important, immediate boost to capacity in Victoria's corrections system, and today's announcement will build on this," Corrections Minister Edward O'Donohue said on Wednesday.

"The security and design of the units will be consistent with the standard security accommodation already at Fulham and Marngoneet prisons."

The government has previously likened the units - which each house three inmates - to mining camp accommodation and has also pointed to their use in prisons in Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand.

Expansion plans for Victoria's Loddon Prison, announced in March, include 15 of the units.

The government says it has added 1000 prison beds since 2011 with another 2500 in the pipeline, including the 1000-bed prison under construction at Ravenhall in Melbourne's west.

However, Community and Public Sector organiser Andrew Capp said the use of relocatable units, known as "dongaS", was inadequate because the doors could be prised open.

"The government is increasing the escape risks at the prisons that use these dodgy Dongas putting officers the community and other prisoners at risk," he said.

Mr Capp said Corrections Victoria had re-classified medium-security prisoners in walled prisons to those in lower security levels so they could be shifted to the units without fences at Dhurringile, Beechworth and Langi Kal Kal, and issued with monitoring bracelets that were not reliable.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man shot in leg in Vic home invasion

A VICTORIAN man has suffered a minor gunshot wound during a home invasion.

A man and a woman were in their East Geelong home when two men, one armed with a firearm, burst in and shot at the man, police said.

The men them left the house.

The motive for the attack is unclear.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said the man, aged in his 20s, suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of his upper thigh and was taken to Geelong Hospital in a stable condition.

Geelong police are investigating.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Great Wall's SUVs to be made in Malaysia

MALAYSIA has awarded a manufacturing licence to a 2 billion ringgit ($A662.27 million) venture that will assemble fuel-efficient SUVs for China's Great Wall Motor Co Ltd.

The licence was the first issued under the country's new car policy unveiled in January, aimed at making Malaysia a regional centre for energy-efficient vehicles.

Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamad said on Wednesday Go Automobile Manufacturing will invest 2 billion ringgit over the next four years to expand its manufacturing plant in northern Kedah state. It will have a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles when ready in 2018, with 60 per cent of the output to be exported to Southeast Asian countries, he said. About 4000 jobs will be created.

"This is a very important milestone" for Malaysia's vehicle industry, he said.

Mustapa said more manufacturing licences are expected to be issued this year to bolster the auto industry.

The new car policy is the latest step in a gradual liberalisation of Malaysia's protected car market. The government previously only issued new manufacturing licences for vehicles with engine size of 1.8 litres and above to protect national car makers Proton and Perodua.

But intense competition from neighbours Thailand and Indonesia is forcing Malaysia to loosen up its policy to woo investors.

Go Automobile's plant will assemble the Haval M4 and the H6 sports utility vehicles, with petrol and diesel engines at 1.5 and 2.0 litres, said Go's chief executive, Ahmad Azam Sulaiman.

He said the vehicles will have local content of up to 85 per cent by 2018 and will be initially exported to Thailand and Cambodia.

Great Wall Motors, the 8th largest auto company in China and its biggest sport utility vehicle maker, may take a stake in the Malaysian plant in the future, Ahmad Azam said.

Roger Wang, a senior executive with Great Wall Motors, said the company's sales reached 760,000 cars last year and is targeted to rise to 890,000 this year. The company is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets.

Wang said Southeast Asia, with more than 500 million people, is a significant region for Great Wall Motors, which last year exported 70,000 cars.

Great Wall currently sells two models in Malaysia through a local distributor. The company is likely to make Malaysia its Southeast Asian production base, executives said.

The government hopes its new auto policy will boost total industry production to 1.25 million vehicles and exports to 250,000 vehicles by 2020.

Last year, Malaysia's vehicle production was around 570,000 vehicles and exports were 20,000 vehicles. That was dwarfed by Thailand which makes more than two million vehicles a year and by Indonesia with annual production exceeding one million.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Invest in Australia, PM to tell China

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has outlined the benefits of what he says is a historic deal with Japan. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott hopes to spur free trade talks with China this week by assuring investors they're welcome to do business in Australia.

Mr Abbott will depart for China on Wednesday, where he's expected to address the Boao Forum in Hainan before taking his trade message to Shanghai and Beijing.

The prime minister formalised Australia's free trade agreement with South Korea on Tuesday, a day after concluding long-running talks with Japan on a similar deal.

He's hoping to carry that momentum into the final leg of his North Asia trip, and will challenge any perception that Australia can be a risky place to do business.

"What I'll be wanting to reassure the Chinese government is that we are genuinely open for business," he told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday.

Under the FTAs signed with Korea and Japan, investors had to accept that any proposed farm buyouts over $15 million would be automatically scrutinised.

China reportedly doesn't like this clause, but Mr Abbott said many significant Chinese bids had been approved by the federal government.

He ambitiously promised at the election to secure free trade deals with the economic powerhouses of North Asia - Japan, South Korea and China - within a year.

With Japan and Korea out of the way, trade negotiators could now redouble their efforts on China.

But the prime minister said he wanted a good deal with China and wouldn't be drawn on when he expected talks to wrap up.

"Two out of three of these deals within seven months is pretty good progress," he said.

"We will do a deal with China if and when it is clearly in both our countries best interests to do so."

Mr Abbott will wrap up his visit to Seoul with a state dinner hosted by President Park Geun-hye.

The two leaders agreed in bilateral talks on Tuesday to deepen defence ties, and could consider developing links between Australian and Korean military technology companies.

North Korea, not surprisingly, was discussed at depth. Mr Abbott said Pyongyang was a threat to regional security and should be treated as a "rogue and outlaw state".

At the dinner, Mr Abbott will unveil a photo of President Park as a young girl with her father, a former Korean leader, and her mother planting a tree at Canberra's Korean embassy on her first overseas holiday.

The image is a moving tribute to her family legacy and the bilateral relationship, as both of President Park's parents were separately assassinated in political attacks.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Evacuation at Sydney food factory

Workers have been evacuated from a factory in Sydney after a grain silo threatened to explode. Source: AAP

WORKERS have been evacuated from a food processing plant on Sydney's lower north shore after a grain silo threatened to explode.

Emergency services rushed to the factory in Lane Cove on Tuesday night amid reports the temperature inside the silo had risen beyond safe levels.

Staff were evacuated and firefighters pumped carbon dioxide into the silo to try and lower the temperature.

"If the temperature increases over the next few hours we could have some problems," said Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Ian Krimmer.

"If the temperature remains static or decreases we'll be a lot happier."

Emergency services are expected to remain at the site for most of the evening.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Collombet murder suspect before Qld court

AN itinerant man extradited to Queensland following his arrest in northern NSW will face a Brisbane court accused of the bashing murder and rape of French student Sophie Louise Collombet.

The 21-year-old Griffith University business student was on her way home after a night class when attacked in south Brisbane on March 27.

Her battered and naked body was found at Kurilpa Park, at the edge of the city's busy South Bank precinct, the following morning by a jogger.

Benjamin James Milward was arrested by NSW police near a Coffs Harbour shopping centre shortly before 3pm (AEST) on Monday afternoon.

Brisbane homicide detectives were dispatched that evening, and an application for Milward's extradition to Queensland was approved by Coffs Harbour Local Court Magistrate Robert Walker on Tuesday morning.

Queensland Police said on Tuesday evening the 25-year-old had been charged with murder, rape, deprivation of liberty and robbery and would appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Milward's mother, Diane, on Tuesday visited the rotunda where Ms Collombet's body was found to pay her respects and lay flowers.

"I am heartbroken," she told News Corp Australia.

"We are all so sorry and sad and it shouldn't happen to anybody - and a beautiful girl like Sophie; she's just gorgeous, it's just wrong."

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart had earlier called Ms Collombet's father Guy Collombet to inform him of Milward's arrest.

"I spent some time on the phone with him. He was very dignified and grateful for the information," he told reporters.

A vigil in honour of Ms Collombet will be held in Brisbane's city centre on Thursday night to mark the two-week anniversary of her death.

Griffith University's Women's Association is helping organise the event.

"It was something important to organise to stand together to mourn her life and stand up against violence against women," spokeswoman Stephanie Kameric told AAP.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Post-mortem in unexplained Geldof death

Bob Geldof says his family is "beyond pain" at the death of his daughter Peaches at the age of 25. Source: AAP

BRITISH police say they are investigating the unexplained death of media personality Peaches Geldof and will hand their findings to a coroner.

A post-mortem will be performed in the next few days on 25-year-old Geldof, who was pronounced dead by paramedics at her home in Wrotham, southeast of London, on Monday.

Kent Police said on Tuesday officers were investigating the "unexplained sudden death", but did not consider it suspicious.

Peaches Geldof was the daughter of Irish musician and Band Aid founder Bob Geldof and TV presenter Paula Yates, who died of a drug overdose in 2000. She grew up in the glare of Britain's press, which revelled in the late-night antics of her teenage years.

More recently, she married for a second time, to musician Tom Cohen, had two children and worked as a broadcaster and writer. She said her drug-taking years were behind her.

Bob Geldof said the family was "beyond pain".

"What a beautiful child. How is this possible that we will not see her again? How is that bearable? We loved her and will cherish her forever," he wrote in a statement.

Cohen said: "My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day. We shall love her for ever."

Peaches Geldof was just 11 years old when her mother Paula Yates, died from an accidental heroin overdose aged 41.

Yates divorced Bob Geldof in 1996 after forming a relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney, Australia, in 1997, and Yates went on to lose custody of the three daughters she had with Geldof - Peaches, Pixie and Fifi - the following year.

Bob Geldof later adopted Yates and Hutchence's daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.

Geldof's death came as a shock to Britain's entertainment and fashion circles. She was a frequent attendee at fashion shows in London and New York, and was photographed just last week at a London show for the Tesco brand F&F.

Geldof was a prolific tweeter and the final message she sent on Sunday was a picture of her as a child with her mother, with the message "Me and my mum".

A host of celebrities including Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Simon Cowell and Lily Allen paid tribute.

Model Daisy Lowe posted a picture of a broken heart on Twitter.

Geldof's death was the lead story in many British newspapers on Tuesday, with several using the last photo she posted on Twitter - of her as a toddler with her mother.

Commentators noted the tragic parallels to the life and death of Yates. In The Guardian, columnist Hadley Freeman said "the shock of Geldof's death comes from the loss of a young woman - still only 25 - who many of us had followed since her birth, who seemed so close to finding the stability that had eluded her mother."

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nicole Appleton, Liam Gallagher divorce

NICOLE Appleton's six-year marriage to Liam Gallagher has ended on the grounds of his admitted adultery.

The couple were not at the Principal Registry of the High Court's Family Division for the brief hearing.

The 39-year-old All Saints singer and the Oasis star were the second in a "quickie divorces" list of 12 who were granted a decree nisi by District Judge Anne Aitken.

The former couple, who have a 12-year-old son, married at Old Marylebone Town Hall on St Valentine's Day in 2008 and lived in Hampstead, north London.

Among the documents made public on Tuesday was a sworn statement signed by Appleton last December in which she said that Gallagher "admitted adultery to me prior to it becoming publicised in national newspapers", adding that the woman with whom Gallagher committed adultery "now has a child" by him.

She said that she first knew about the adultery on July 17, 2013 and had not lived with Gallagher since as she found it "intolerable".

In papers acknowledging the proceedings, Gallagher replied "yes" when asked if he admitted the alleged adultery and said he did not intend to defend the case.

The marriage foundered after reports that Gallagher, 41, had fathered a daughter with an American journalist.

In the decree nisi document, the judge held that Appleton had "sufficiently proved" the contents of her petition and "is entitled to a decree of divorce, the marriage having irretrievably broken down, the facts found proved being the respondent's adultery".

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fate of European bees better than feared

THE decline in European bee populations is not as bad as feared, the European Union's executive says, as it published a report into bee health in 17 EU member states.

"We can take some encouragement from the limited winter bee mortality in several major beekeeping countries," said EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg on Monday, adding however, that some states "show high winter bee mortality".

Bees play an important role in the pollination of crops, and a decrease in their numbers has in recent years raised economic and food supply concerns. Last year, the European Commission banned four pesticides for having harmful effects on bee populations.

The study, carried out in the winter of 2012-13, shows a clear divide between bee populations in northern and southern Europe.

Less than 10 per cent of bees - the mortality threshold considered acceptable - died during the winter in Greece, Italy, Spain, Hungary and Slovakia.

However, more than 20 per cent - the limit above which rates are deemed unacceptable - failed to survive the winter in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Britain. The highest mortality rates were recorded in Belgium, at 33.6 per cent.

Lithuania, in north-eastern Europe, bucked the trend with the lowest winter mortality rate, at just 3.5 per cent.

The study looked at almost 32,000 cultivated bee colonies between autumn 2012 and summer 2013, but did not include wild bees - such as solitary bees or bumblebees - whose situation was "more worrying," according to Borg.

"Wild bees are of course key pollinators in many environments and may be particularly vulnerable," the commissioner said.

A repeat of the study is underway in the 17 countries participating in the program - which also include Germany, France, Poland, Portugal and Latvia.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Whistleblower got it wrong: Salvo boss

An inquiry has heard how a resident of a Salvation Army boys home received financial compensation. Source: AAP

SALVATION Army commissioner James Condon says he already had a process in train to remove an officer with a sex abuse record before a whistleblower contacted authorities.

Mr Condon, the territorial commander of the Salvation Army in NSW, Queensland and ACT, told a hearing in Sydney on Monday that his absence due to a meeting in London in early 2013 had probably contributed to a delay in removing Colin Haggar as director of a crisis shelter for women and children.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard that Mr Haggar confessed to indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 1989, and was dismissed from the Salvos, but was re-admitted in 1993 and subsequently promoted.

Additional allegations were made against him in 2013.

Captain Michelle White said on Friday that concerns about Mr Haggar had been raised with Mr Condon in early 2013.

Ms White said that delays by Mr Condon in fulfilling mandatory reporting requirements prompted her to report to the NSW Ombudsman on September 4, 2013 that there was an active Salvation Army officer with a known history of child related sexual abuse.

But asked on Monday if it was only after Ms White's actions that he considered reporting Mr Haggar to the Ombudsman and the Office of the Children's Guardian, Mr Condon replied: "No, it wasn't."

He said a decision had been made to "have a fresh look at all historical cases", including those involving Haggar, in preparation for the royal commission.

"We were reporting to the ombudsman, reporting to the police ... we were in the process ... we were absolutely committed to doing the right thing."

Mr Condon said that following a meeting with Ms White, he also made phone calls, including to Mr Haggar, informing the senior Salvo that he should not have any responsibility for children at the shelter.

Mr Condon said he opposed the promotion of Mr Haggar to lieutenant colonel but it was army policy to promote a husband when a wife was taking an executive role. Mr Haggar's wife Kerry, also a lieutenant colonel, had been made secretary for business administration and a member of the Salvation Army executive.

Mr Condon told the hearing that he accompanied Mr Haggar to Parramatta police station in the early 90s to report the assault, recalling that an officer at the station told Mr Haggar that unless the victim or the family of the victim came forward, there was nothing police could do.

The commission was also told on Monday that the Salvation Army had no plans to use the defence of vicarious liability in historical cases of child abuse, unlike the Catholic Church which had argued in another matter that it could not be held vicariously responsible for historical abuse.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shot man charged for withholding info

A witness heard screams before finding a bloodied man after a double shooting in Sydney. Source: AAP

A MAN gunned down alongside his father in an inner-Sydney street has been charged with concealing information from police.

Josh Smart, 23, was shot in the back and his 59-year-old father Michael Smart was shot in the head on a Pyrmont street on Sunday night in what police believe was a targeted attack.

Michael Smart remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Both men were known to police.

On Monday afternoon, Josh Smart was released from hospital into the custody of police, who charged him with concealing a serious indictable offence.

Bail was refused and he was scheduled to appear before Sydney's Central Local Court on Tuesday.

Ashlie Lomas, who along with other witnesses rendered first aid to Michael Smart, said he was lying on the ground when she came out onto the street.

"We were just trying to get him to hold on," she said.

Police have said that it the incident was not thought to be gang related and investigators believe there was only one shooter.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Viewers riveted to The Block

Nine's The Block: Fans v Faves has topped Sunday's television ratings with 1.829 million viewers. Source: AAP

THE Block: Fans v Faves had its highest rating episode this season on a night when audience numbers were heavily compromised because My Kitchen Rules (MKR) was shelved.

The fourth-last episode of The Block: Fans v Faves attracted 1.829 million viewers to be the runaway winner on Sunday from Nine News (1.550 million) and 60 Minutes (1.372 million).

Normally, MKR would screen in direct opposition to The Block: Fans v Faves, but the Seven Network held the elimination episode over until Monday because of its AFL coverage.

That meant Seven's programming was split around the country, producing heavily diluted figures and allowing Ten's Sunday News to sneak into the top 10 with just 504,000 viewers.

Nine also had diluted figures with the final episode of Fat Tony & Co coming in 19th with 381,000 viewers after airing in only Brisbane and Sydney.

The final episode screened in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth last week, but was held back in Sydney and Brisbane because of Nine's NRL commitments.

In MKR's absence, Seven ran a special about MKR judge and chef Manu Feildel and his native France.

My France With Manu, which did not air in Melbourne or Adelaide, still attracted 813,000 viewers to be sixth overall.

Seven's British series Downton Abbey also did not air in Melbourne and Adelaide, yet was eighth with an audience of 694,000 viewers.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Malta PM, activists blinded by poor light

MALTESE Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and 40 Labour Party activists have been hospitalised suffering acute pain in the eyes most likely cause by excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays, Times of Malta reports.

All patients, including Muscat, were present at a political event in a village tent at the weekend. Faulty light filters were the most likely cause of the eye irritation, the news portal said on Monday. Police have opened an investigation.

"I could not even open my eyes and tears were flowing like tap water," said Labour Party politician Cyrus Engerer.

Muscat, 40, left hospital on Monday. Doctors recommended that he rest for a few days.

Some of the hospitalised party activists suffered temporary blindness.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More