Rodwell helps pursue Philippine kidnappers

FREED Australian hostage Warren Rodwell met with a Philippine prosecutor to help prepare charges against the Islamic extremists who held him in captivity for 15 months.

A gaunt, grim-looking Rodwell, who was in a wheelchair and escorted by Australian embassy personnel, filed a statement describing his ordeal before assistant prosecutor Aristotle Reyes at the Justice Department in Manila.

"This is to process the investigation of the case. The statement can be used by the PNP (Philippine National Police) to pursue a complaint," said Reyes, without disclosing details of the statement.

Armed men posing as police abducted Rodwell, 54, from his home in a coastal town of the southern Philippines in December, 2011, and demanded $US2 million ($A1.92 million) for his safe release.

The militants freed a deeply emaciated Rodwell on March 23 after a payment, reportedly of four million pesos (about $A96,000), was made.

Authorities say the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of militants based in lawless islands of the southern Philippines and designated by the US government as a terrorist organisation, was responsible for the kidnapping.

19.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police accused of helping people smugglers

People smugglers in Indonesia say they are not threatened by the Australian government's policies. Source: AAP

PEOPLE smugglers operating out of Indonesia say they are not threatened by the Australian government's border protection policies, amid allegations some are even enlisting the help of police to send boats to Australia.

As leaders from across the region, including Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, assemble in Bali for talks on people smuggling, fresh evidence has emerged that efforts to stem the flow of boats to Christmas Island are being undermined by corrupt police in Jakarta.

A source close to one major operation, who cannot be identified because of concerns for his safety, told AAP he was recently involved in a venture in which uniformed police helped escort about 70 asylum seekers from an apartment in Jakarta to a waiting boat.

"We all had to pay the police $US300. But we already paid the smuggler," he said.

The money given to police was on top of $5000 to $6000 the asylum seekers had already paid to secure passage from Indonesia to Christmas Island.

The people smuggler behind the operation has been identified as an Afghan man named Nasir Ahmad, alias Haji Majeed.

It is believed Ahmad had worked as an agent for the alleged people-smuggling kingpin Sayed Abbas, who is being held at police headquarters in Jakarta while he awaits extradition to Australia.

Abbas has denied being involved in people smuggling, but confirmed that he had heard the name Haji Majeed.

"Haji Majeed has a good name as smuggler," Abbas told AAP during a recent interview.

Ahmad is believed to have sent at least five asylum-seeker boats to Australia in the past six weeks.

Other people smugglers have been successful in persuading asylum seekers not to worry about being sent to Nauru or Manus Island.

In a recorded telephone conversation provided to AAP, a long-time people smuggler identified as an Iranian man known as Abu Ali dismisses an asylum seeker's concerns that boats may be turned back to Indonesia.

Asylum seeker: "People say that the route is not safe and people say that the boat will be returned when it reaches Australian territory? Is it correct?"

Abu Ali: "No, it is wrong. These days the boat arriving there, they go directly into the camp."

Asylum seeker: "There is another country near to that and (Australia) send them there which made us worried. And they don't let into Australia."

Abu Ali: "No, that is wrong. Everyone go directly into the camp, God knows."

The details of the sales pitches employed by people smugglers came to light as officials from across the region began arriving in Bali on Monday for talks on combating people smuggling.

The two-day meeting will be co-chaired by Senator Carr and Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Afghan teenager fatally stabs US soldier

AN Afghan teenager has killed an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck while he played with a group of local children, officials say.

The killing comes as the monthly US death toll rose sharply in March to 14 with the start of the spring fighting season when the Taliban and other insurgents take advantage of improved weather to step up attacks.

Sergeant Michael Cable, 26, was guarding Afghan and US officials meeting in a province near the border with Pakistan when the stabbing occurred last Wednesday, two senior US officials said on Monday.

The attack occurred after the soldiers had secured the area for the meeting, but one of the US officials said the youth was not believed to have been a member of the Afghan security forces or in uniform so it was not being classified as an insider attack.

The official said the attacker was thought to be about 16 years old, but the age couldn't be verified.

The Afghan and American dignitaries were attending the swearing-in ceremony of Afghan Local Police in Shinwar district in Nangarhar province, senior district official Zalmai Khan said. Afghan Local Police, or ALP, recruits are drawn from villages and backed by the US military.

The soldier was playing with a group of children outside when the attacker came from behind and stabbed him in the neck with a large knife, Khan said, adding the young man had escaped to nearby Pakistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the young man was acting independently when he killed the soldier but had joined the Islamic militant movement since fleeing the scene.

At least 14 US soldiers died in March, compared with four in the previous two months, according to an Associated Press tally.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Qld cops see double over drink drivers

QUEENSLAND police have pulled over the same car four times in one afternoon, resulting in drink driving charges for a man and woman who took turns in the driver's seat.

Officers first stopped the vehicle on North Stradbroke Island, southeast of Brisbane, at lunchtime on Monday, and breath tested a Redbank Plains woman behind the wheel.

The 27-year-old allegedly recorded a reading of 0.126 and was charged with drink driving.

A short time later, the woman's male passenger had taken the wheel when police pulled the vehicle over again.

The 34-year-old Redbank Plains man recorded a breath test reading of 0.110, and was also charged with drink driving.

The pair were released, but police say a short time later they saw the man back behind the wheel.

He recorded another positive breath test and was charged with drink driving for a second time as well as driving while suspended.

Not to be deterred, his partner allegedly got behind the wheel yet again.

She was again charged with drink driving, as well as driving while suspended.

Both are due to appear in the Cleveland Magistrates Court on May 14.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Asian markets fall

ASIAN markets slipped in holiday-hit trade Monday, with investors unimpressed by a slight improvement in key economic indicators out of China and Tokyo.

The yen climbed against the dollar and euro ahead of a Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy meeting this week, while there are lingering concerns about political uncertainty in Italy as well as debt-ravaged Cyprus.

Tokyo slipped 2.12 per cent, or 262.89 points, to 12,135.02 on the back of the stronger yen and Seoul lost 0.44 per cent, or 8.90 points, to 1,995.99.

Shanghai slipped 0.10 per cent, or 2.22 points, to 2,234.40.

Sydney, Hong Kong and Wellington were closed for the Easter break.

The BoJ's closely watched Tankan survey of large Japanese manufacturers for the past three months showed a slight improvement in optimism for the world's number three economy, the first uptick in three quarters.

The survey showed sentiment at minus 8 between January and March, up from minus 12 three months earlier. The figures represent the percentage of firms saying business conditions are good minus those saying they are bad.

However, the figures were unable to prevent a sell-off in shares and a jump in the yen.

Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute, told Dow Jones Newswires: "Sentiment is getting better broadly, but the improvement isn't as strong as expected."

And Tachibana Securities market analyst Kenichi Hirano said the negative reaction "may have resulted from the perception that with the Nikkei having performed so well (gaining 19 per cent so far in 2012), general business sentiment should have been at least a little better".

The dollar slipped to 93.55 yen early in Asia, against 94.20 yen in New York trade on Friday, when trade was limited by the Easter holiday.

The euro bought $1.2812 and 119.85 yen compared with $1.2818 and 120.78 yen.

Australian bank Westpac said in a note to clients that investor focus was on Thursday's BoJ announcement, the first under the stewardship of Haruhiko Kuroda. He has promised aggressive measures to kick-start the economy and end decades of deflation.

"Some disappointment around this meeting is likely and we have a downward bias for the dollar-yen in the week ahead," Westpac said.

In China data showed manufacturing activity expanded at its fastest pace in almost a year last month, indicating the world's number two economy was showing signs of improvement.

The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit 50.9 in March, the highest since April 2012 and up from 50.1 in February. However, it was below the 51.0 that had been forecast.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion while anything below points to contraction.

Separately, British bank HSBC -- with a survey that focuses more on smaller enterprises -- said its final PMI for March stood at 51.6, up from 50.4 in February. That figure was also slightly off the 51.7 in HSBC's preliminary PMI last week.

Oil prices fell, with New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for delivery in May, down 50 cents to $96.73 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for May was down 37 cents to $109.65.

Gold was at $1,597.90 an ounce at 1030 GMT compared with $1,598.45 late on Friday.

In other markets:

-- Singapore was almost unchanged, slipping 0.52 points to 3,307.58.

United Overseas Bank shed 1.37 per cent to Sg$20.10 while oil rig maker Keppel Corporation gained 1.25 per cent to Sg$11.34.

-- Taipei fell 0.24 per cent, or 19.37 points, to 7,899.24

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.50 per cent higher at Tw$101.0 while leading smartphone maker HTC shed 1.64 per cent to Tw$240.5.

-- Manila closed 0.12 per cent, or 7.88 points, down at 6,839.59.

-- Jakarta was flat, 0.07 per cent or 3.41 points to 4,937.58.

Palm oil firm Astra Agro Lestari slipped 0.81 per cent to 18,350 rupiah and mobile phone provider Indosat fell 1.54 per cent to 6,400 rupiah.

-- Kuala Lumpur lost 0.24 per cent, or 4.02 points, to close at 1,667.61.

-- Bangkok eased 0.74 per cent, or 11.51 points, to 1,549.55.

Supermarket operator Siam Makro added 6.39 points to 566.00 baht, while telecoms company Advanced Info Service fell 2.08 per cent to 235.00 baht.

-- Mumbai rose 0.15 per cent or 28.98 points at 18,864.75 points.

Indian drug maker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories rose 3.34 per cent to 1,825.3 rupees. Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro rose 2.18 per cent to 1,394.7 rupees.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sea 'too loud' for cruise passenger

COMPLAINTS by cruise ship passengers include one by a woman who moaned about the sea being "too loud", it has been revealed.

And a couple accused a captain of being "rude" for sailing off when they had left a note saying they needed more sightseeing time in port, according to cruise travel agency bonvoyage.co.uk.

One woman, having seen that Take That star Gary Barlow had been on her ship on an earlier trip, demanded an explanation as to why the singer was not on her voyage.

Then there was the man who complained about not getting "an impressive tan" and being unable to swim in the pool each day while on a trip around ... Alaska.

A woman travelling with the company called Celebrity Cruises asked for a refund as there were "no celebrities on board", while a Yorkshire couple wanted compensation after forking out "a lot more money than planned" on staff tips due to the excellent service.

The woman who complained about the loudness of the sea said she had not been able to sleep well on her Mediterranean cruise.

She demanded cabins be "better sound-proofed against the sounds of the sea".

Another female traveller, having booked an inside cabin, then complained about not having a view of the sea and asked for a window to be installed.

Bonvoyage.co.uk cruise development manager Steph Curtin said: "From time to time we come across a few quirky complaints that we can do little to help.

"I'm afraid we can't be held responsible for the sea being too loud or the lack of celebrities on board."

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Karzai to hold talks in Qatar on Taliban

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai is set to hold discussions in Qatar about the opening of a Taliban office in the Gulf state as a prelude to possible talks on ending more than a decade of war.

Karzai previously opposed such a Qatar venue since he feared his government would be frozen out of any peace negotiations involving the Islamic extremists and the United States.

The militants refuse to have direct contact with the Afghan president, saying he is a puppet of the United States, which supported his rise to power after the military operation to oust the Taliban from Kabul in 2001.

But with US-led NATO combat troops due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, Karzai agreed to the proposed Taliban office in Doha and is expected to raise the plan in talks with the Emir of Qatar on Sunday.

Any future peace talks still face numerous hurdles before they begin, including confusion over who would represent the Taliban and Karzai's insistence that his appointees should be at the centre of negotiations.

"We will discuss the peace process, of course, and the opening of an office for the Taliban in Qatar," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP before Karzai left Kabul on Saturday.

"If we want to have talks to bring peace to Afghanistan, the main side must be the Afghan government's representatives - the High Peace Council, which has members from all the country's ethnic and political backgrounds."

Negotiating with the hardline Taliban regime that harboured al-Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks was for many years an anathema to countries in the UN-backed coalition against the militants.

But the search for a political settlement became a priority as the insurgency raged on, with Taliban leaders able to fuel violence from safe havens across the border in Pakistan.

Kabul has repeatedly stressed it will only start talks if the militants break all links with al-Qaeda and give up violence, and Faizi said any Taliban office in Qatar must be subject to strict conditions.

"It can only be an address where the armed opposition sit and talk to the Afghanistan government," he said.

"This office cannot be used for any other purposes."

Karzai met with Qatari investors on Saturday evening and encouraged them to invest in the country as it works to secure stability before NATO-led combat forces withdraw next year.

"The future of Afghanistan is guaranteed because our relations have expanded with America and other countries such as China, India and Russia," he said according to an emailed statement.

"Afghanistan has good opportunities and resources that we can share with you."

The United Nations this week welcomed news Karzai would visit Qatar, and issued another call for the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.

But a Qatar office could mean little if the Taliban continue to refuse to negotiate with Karzai or the government-appointed High Peace Council.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alarm over child solidier killings in CAR

SOUTH African soldiers who survived last week's rebel takeover of the Central African Republic are traumatised after discovering later that some of the rebels killed were child soldiers, local Sunday newspapers reported.

In what has turned out to be South Africa's heaviest military loss since apartheid, 13 soldiers were killed last weekend in Bangui in clashes with Seleka rebels who toppled president Francois Bozize.

Around 200 South African troops fought against some 3,000 rebels during the battle for the Central African capital that lasted several hours.

Some of survivors who have returned home recounted to local newspapers that they only discovered after the battle that they had been fighting against some teenage rebel soldiers.

"It was only after the firing had stopped that we saw we had killed kids. We did not come here for this... to kill kids. It makes you sick. They were crying calling for help... calling for (their) moms," a paratrooper told the Sunday Times.

South African President Jacob Zuma in January had approved the deployment of 400 soldiers to the Central African Republic to help local troops\ as part of a bilateral pact with the administration of now deposed Bozize.

In the end about 200 soldiers were sent.

Some of the Central African rebels were "teenagers who should be in school," the soldier told the paper.

In the City Press a soldier was quoted as saying many of the rebels were "only children".

The two papers also quoted the soldiers saying the South African troops were running out of ammunition.

South Africa's government now faces increasing calls at home for a probe into why troops were sent to the Central African Republic.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

N Korea vows to strengthen nuclear weapons

NORTH Korea has vowed to strengthen its nuclear weapons, a day after announcing it is in a "state of war" with South Korea, and says it will never trade its atomic deterrent for aid.

Tensions have risen sharply on the peninsula since the United Nations tightened sanctions in response to the North's nuclear and missile tests, and the United States and South Korea launched military drills south of the border.

On Saturday the North declared it was in a "state of war" with the South and warned Seoul and Washington that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.

A meeting on Sunday of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, guided by leader Kim Jong-Un, decided the country's possession of nuclear weapons "should be fixed by law", the official KCNA news agency reported without elaborating.

The nuclear armed forces "should be expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively until the denuclearisation of the world is realised", it added.

Members also decided to develop a light water reactor as part of a civilian nuclear power industry to ease electricity shortages, KCNA said.

The North in 2010 disclosed the existence of a uranium enrichment facility and light water reactor, purportedly to generate power. Experts said it could easily be reconfigured to make fuel for nuclear weapons.

The North in April 2009 formally abandoned six-party talks offering it economic and security benefits in return for denuclearisation.

On Sunday it reiterated its atomic weapons are not a bargaining chip.

"They are a treasure of a reunified country which can never be traded with billions of dollars," KCNA quoted the central committee members as saying.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Clashes erupt in Mali's Timbuktu

MALIAN troops backed by French forces have clashed with Islamist fighters who infiltrated the northern city of Timbuktu, leaving two jihadists dead and four Malian soldiers wounded.

"Jihadists have infiltrated the centre of Timbuktu ... Our men are currently fighting them with the support of a unit of our French partner," a Malian officer told AFP by telephone.

"Two jihadists have been killed and four Malian soldiers have been injured. That's the provisional toll," the officer said, adding the fighting "is not yet over".

The Islamist fighters who had controlled the fabled Saharan city before French and Malian soldiers recaptured it in January have been able to blend into the population to launch attacks, infiltrating it by foot or bicycle.

The officer said the fighting began when the Islamist rebels opened fire on two sides of the centre of the city, targeting a hotel and a military base.

On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up when he tried to force his way through a military barricade at the western entrance to Timbuktu, wounding a soldier manning the checkpoint.

Mali has been the target of a series of attacks claimed by Islamist insurgents since France launched on January 11 a military intervention against al-Qaeda-linked groups that had seized the north of the country.

The French-led operation has forced the extremists from the cities they had seized for 10 months in the chaotic aftermath of Mali's military coup in March 2012.

But French and African forces have faced continuing suicide blasts and guerrilla attacks in reclaimed territory.

19.50 | 0 komentar | Read More