No widespread bullying at CSIRO: report

THERE are problems at Australia's national science agency but there's no toxic culture or widespread bullying, an independent inquiry has found.

Former Commonwealth ombudsman Dennis Pearce investigated 130 allegations of workplace bullying, discrimination and unreasonable behaviour from current and former CSIRO staff.

Professor Pearce's phase one report found there were no major problems of workplace bullying and it was not possible to describe the work culture as toxic.

It regretted that efforts were made by some people to dissuade others from making submissions.

The report found pockets of concern including shortcomings in CSIRO's policies and procedures for handling complaints.

"While we do not think it to be the case, it is possible that these procedural issues have served to mask a more significant incidence of workplace bullying than the evidence to us reveals," the report said.

Prof Pearce has made 34 recommendations which focus on changing the way in which complaints by staff are managed.

The CSIRO said it would implement the recommendations but some would take time.

Twenty-two of the allegations will be further investigated by Prof Pearce and his team.

The coalition said it was disappointed that potentially more than 100 cases were overlooked by the investigation.

Shadow minister for Innovation, Industry and Science Sophie Mirabella said the terms of reference excluded cases of people who had raised allegations of criminal conduct or instigated legal proceedings against CSIRO.

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Norway bars Apple from taking aerial shots

Norway's intelligence agency has refused Apple permission to take flyover 3D photos of Oslo. Source: AAP

NORWAY'S intelligence agency has blocked US company Apple from flying over Oslo to take 3D aerial photos for its map application, citing national security.

"I can confirm that Apple was not authorised to take aerial photographs because the level of detail in the shots is considered too high for some of the restricted zones," a spokeswoman for the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM), Mona Stroem Arnoey, said on Tuesday.

"We have however presented Apple with alternative solutions, including buying photos from Norwegian suppliers or from the Norwegian map authorities," she said.

Norway's neighbours Sweden and Denmark have meanwhile granted Apple permission to take aerial photos.

NSM, tasked with protecting Norway from espionage, sabotage or acts of terrorism, refused to comment on the number or nature of restricted zones in Oslo.

Photos of these zones provided by Norwegian suppliers are of a lower resolution or blurred.

According to the daily newspaper Aftenposten, the photo ban prompted Oslo's mayor - approached by the US embassy in Norway - to contact the government on Apple's behalf but to no avail.

Apple was heavily criticised for errors in the first map application it developed in-house, and has since come up with its Flyover function that enables users to fly over major cities interactively.

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Two Koreas agree to reopen industrial park

North and South Korea have agreed to reopen the Kaesong joint industrial zone. Source: AAP

NORTH and South Korea have reached an agreement to reopen the Kaesong joint industrial zone closed by Pyongyang in April at the height of soaring military tensions.

The five-point agreement that came out of a seventh round of talks on Wednesday committed both sides to making "active efforts" to resume normal operations as soon as possible after inspecting the shuttered plants in Kaesong.

A joint committee will be set up to discuss compensation for economic losses suffered as a result of the complex's closure, according to a copy of the accord released to reporters.

The agreement will help lower tensions ahead of the launch of joint South Korea-US military exercises on Monday which the North had warned could bring the divided peninsula "to the brink of war".

Established in 2004 as a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, Kaesong was a key hard-currency earner for the North and the decision to shut it down took many observers by surprise.

The project had managed to ride out previous North-South crises without serious disruption, but it eventually fell victim to an extended period of heightened tension following the North's third nuclear test in February.

Pyongyang initially barred access to the park, which lies 10 kilometres inside the North Korean border and then withdrew its 53,000-strong workforce from the 123 South Korean firms based there.

The previous six rounds of talks had foundered on the South's insistence that North Korea provide a binding guarantee that it would not close the complex again.

Wednesday's agreement suggested a compromise had been reached where the North accepted the worker pullout had closed Kaesong, while both sides promised to ensure it remained open in the future.

"The South and the North will prevent the current suspension of the Kaesong industrial complex caused by the workers' withdrawal from being repeated again," the agreement said.

It also included a pledge to promote foreign investment in Kaesong - a key South Korean demand.

The North had proposed the seventh round of talks last week, just hours after Seoul announced it was going to start compensation payments totalling $US250 million ($A276.01 million) to businesses affected by Kaesong's closure.

The payout move was widely seen as the first step towards a permanent withdrawal from the zone.

Wednesday's accord was immediately welcomed by the South Korean company owners who had complained that both Seoul and Pyongyang were using their livelihoods as a political football.

"We will do our best to help the Kaesong industrial park boost its international competitiveness and become a globally viable place for investment," the association representing the owners said in a statement.

Monday's annual South Korea-US drill, dubbed "Ulchi Freedom Guardian", involves about 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 US troops practising a North Korean invasion scenario.

Although largely computer-simulated, it is viewed as highly provocative by North Korea, which has already issued dire warnings of its impact on stability on the peninsula.

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UK govt parties forced to give up cash

BRITAIN'S governing Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have been forced to give up hundreds of thousands of pounds of campaign funding after it emerged the elderly spinster who made the donation wanted it to go to the taxpayer.

Joan Edwards, a former nurse who died last September aged 90, apparently left STG520,000 ($A888,205) in her will to "whichever government is in office at the date of my death".

But rather than going into government coffers, the money was channelled to Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives and their junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

Both parties said they accepted the money after Edwards' solicitors told them they were beneficiaries of her will, without knowing the full details. The Tories received STG420,000 and the Lib Dems STG100,000.

But in an embarrassing move for the coalition, both parties were forced to announce that they would give the money to the Treasury after a chorus of protest led by the opposition Labour party, who branded the situation "dodgy as hell".

Twitter users took to the website to propose better uses for Edwards' bequest than political campaigning. Using the hashtag #joanshalfmillion, suggestions ranged from investment in a maternity ward to supplies for a food bank for the poor.

Labour MP Ian Austin had posted on Twitter: "This is shocking. The lady obviously didn't intend her money to go to political parties, Do the decent thing!"

The bequest was revealed in figures released by Britain's Electoral Commission on Tuesday.

Party officials had said the money was left to "whichever party was in government" at the time of Edwards' death, but a copy of her will, obtained by the Daily Mail newspaper, raised doubts that her wishes had been followed accurately.

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Monaco sets date for new royal wedding

MONACO'S palace says Andrea Casiraghi, the oldest son of Princess Caroline and second in line to the principality's throne, is to marry at the end of the month.

The Monaco palace said he would marry Colombian heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo on August 31, but gave no details on the wedding. The couple have been engaged for a year and she gave birth to a son in March.

The 29-year-old Casiraghi is the nephew of Monaco's ruling sovereign, Prince Albert II, who himself ended decades of bachelorhood in 2011 when he wed South African former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.

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Doctor steals heroin from patient's belly

POLICE in Russia have arrested a surgeon for stealing heroin from the stomach of a patient upon whom he was operating.

The unidentified doctor was found in possession of 5 grams of heroin after performing surgery on a man who had allegedly been smuggling drugs in his stomach, the police in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk said on Tuesday.

It said that investigators found that some heroin was missing after the doctor had removed the drugs from the patient's stomach in the hospital of the city of Bogotol.

When they searched the surgeon, they found a pack of heroin hidden in his clothes. Police also said that the medic was high.

Investigators published a video showing the suspect being locked up in a police cell. They said that he might face up to 15 years in prison.

The statement said nothing on the situation of the purported drug courier or why anybody would swallow drugs for smuggling in a remote region some 4000 kilometres east of Moscow.

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Abbott cites exuberance in latest gaffe

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has pledged $100 million to address mobile phone coverage black spots. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott admits he was "a bit exuberant" when referring to the sex appeal of a female Liberal candidate.

Social network contributors and Labor pounced on Mr Abbott's gaffe on Tuesday during a visit to the key marginal seat of Lindsay in western Sydney.

Standing between his daughter Frances and local Liberal candidate Fiona Scott, he was asked how the latter compared with her coalition predecessor Jackie Kelly.

"They're young, they're feisty and I think I can probably say have a bit of sex appeal," he told reporters.

Leaving his daughter wincing, Mr Abbott was later forced to explain himself.

He said Ms Scott was a smart, hardworking woman with whom he was proud to be associated.

"I was a bit exuberant today ... but we're all working incredibly hard to get her elected," Mr Abbott told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday night.

But by the time Mr Abbott tried to explain himself, a backlash was underway against the man who has a record of gaffs about the role of women.

"He's pathetic, he really is pathetic," Labor minister Kim Carr told the ABC of Mr Abbott's words.

"Sometimes we should think Tony Abbott really hasn't crawled out of the 1950s."

The coalition camp worked to brush off the remark.

"It was just a light-hearted comment, which I'm sure was not meant with any offence," Opposition assistant treasury spokesman Mathias Corman told Sky News.

Coalition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said the comment was made in "jest" and talked up Mr Abbott's deep respect for women, including his professional wife Margie, three daughters, and sister.

However Twitter exploded with opinion on the subject, much of it criticising Mr Abbott.

"So @TonyAbbottMHR thinks a woman candidate is vote-worthy if she has #sexappeal ? #mysogynist" posted one person.

The Twitter account for NSW Labor also weighed in: "On September 7 we should vote for candidates based on #policyappeal not #sexappeal".

In an odd show of support, NSW Liberal minister Pru Goward, a former sex discrimination commissioner, said she sees nothing wrong with highlighting a candidate's sex appeal.

"I think a lot of politicians are described as sexy," she told Macquarie Radio.

The clanger comes a day after Mr Abbott's incorrect use of the word "suppository" during a press conference attracted widespread publicity.

Tuesday's comment risks overshadowing the coalition's efforts in Lindsay, a seat currently held by Labor's David Bradbury by a 1.1 per cent margin.

Mr Abbott also used the visit to announce that a coalition government will provide $12 million for a sport and community centre at Penrith.

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Costings row heats up after PEFO release

Employment Minister Brendan O'Connor says time is up for Tony Abbott to come clean on his costings. Source: AAP

LABOR is piling the pressure on the coalition to release its policy costings sooner rather than later, after the unveiling of the final budget numbers before the election.

The federal government appears confident the opposition won't be able to afford all its election promises without resorting to European-style austerity measures that could hurt jobs and growth.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said he would take time to consider the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) prepared by Treasury and Finance.

"These need to be carefully considered by the coalition," he said in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"We are going to go through things methodically, carefully, prudently."

The PEFO is prepared early in a federal election campaign as part of the Charter of Budget Honesty and lays the base for party policy costings.

The numbers largely mirror those in Labor's economic update released on August 2, pointing to slower economic growth, higher unemployment, bigger budget deficits and more government debt.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had no more excuses to delay his numbers, Treasurer Chris Bowen said.

"Release your costings and how you intend to pay for your promises," he said in Sydney.

Mr Hockey focused on commentary in the document outlining the international risks, saying it pointed to "substantial" downside and more budget volatility.

The risks surround the unresolved crisis in the eurozone, anxiety in financial markets about the unwinding of US monetary policy, lingering concerns about the recovery in Japan and economic developments in China.

The coalition has submitted more than 200 policies to the Parliamentary Budget Office for costing and a large number are still to come back.

Mr Hockey shrugged off the pressure being applied by Labor, noting that in 2007 and 2010 the ALP didn't release its costings until the evening before the election.

"We will do better than the day before the election," he said.

CPA Australia chief executive Alex Malley said the political "game playing" around costings was a distraction for voters.

"All Australians are looking for, from both major parties, clear and concise policies coupled with a vision for Australia's future," he said in a statement.

The PEFO confirmed the economy will grow at a below-trend pace of 2.5 per cent in 2013/14, with unemployment surging to 6.25 from 5.7 per cent now.

It warned the transition from a mining-led economy to broader activity might be bumpy.

"Against the backdrop of a still challenging global outlook ... this transition may not occur as smoothly as forecast," the PEFO said.

"While this transition has commenced, it is now expected to take longer."

However, sustained low interest rates, on the back of ongoing subdued inflation and a lower Australian dollar exchange rate, were expected to underpin a return to around trend growth in 2014/15.

This financial year's budget deficit is still forecast at $30.1 billion

There was a small $200 million increase in the surplus predicted for 2016/17, to $4.2 billion.

"Australia can't afford to have fiscal fools like Abbott and Hockey in the drivers' seats," Mr Bowen's predecessor Wayne Swan said.

"They represent an unprecedented risk to our economy and the services Australians rely on."

Mr Abbott later threw the spotlight back on the government, saying the PEFO shows a budget blowout, rising unemployment and spiralling debt.

"And what does Mr Rudd say to all that?" he asked, during an address to campaign volunteers in Brisbane on Tuesday night.

"The only thing that counts is the coalition's costings," he said, citing the prime minister's constant requests for the opposition to reveal its funding calculations.

"Well wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."

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EU stocks, euro rise on eurozone data

EUROPEAN stock markets have risen and the euro has gained against the US dollar in reaction to upbeat eurozone data, while share prices were boosted by a strong showing in Tokyo.

London's FTSE 100 index on Tuesday climbed 0.63 per cent to stand at 6,616.02 points nearing midday in the British capital.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 advanced 0.79 per cent to 8,425.25 points and the CAC 40 in Paris won 0.30 per cent to 4,083.86 compared with Monday's closing values.

"It's been a bright start to the day so far in Europe, with more data suggesting the recovery in the eurozone is finally under way," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari traders.

"Of course, any recovery is going to be extremely fragile, but compared to the last couple of years, it's very encouraging."

Industrial output in the 17-nation eurozone bounced back sharply in June, another pointer that the single currency bloc is finally edging out of recession, official data showed on Tuesday.

With overall growth figures for the second quarter due on Wednesday expected to show a switch out of recession, eurozone industrial production in June output jumped 0.7 per cent from May when it fell 0.2 per cent.

Separate data showed that investment sentiment in Germany rose more than expected in August.

The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute rose by 5.7 points to 42.0 points in August, beating analysts' forecasts for an increase to about 40 points this month.

The euro gained in reaction to $US1.3305 from $US1.3299 in New York late on Monday.

The US dollar advanced to Y97.91 from Y96.87 on Monday.

Sterling steadied against both the European single currency and the US dollar following official data that showed a slight drop in British inflation.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to $US1,336.10 an ounce from $US1,341 on Monday.

In Paris, shares in Societe Generale bank fell by 1.81 per cent after co-operative insurance company Groupama announced that it would soon sell its remaining stake in the bank, worth about 530 million euros ($A776.78 million).

Asian stock markets closed higher on Tuesday, with Tokyo lifted by a weaker yen that in turn makes Japanese exports more competitive.

Tokyo jumped 2.57 per cent by the close after slipping on Monday following disappointing Japanese growth figures - and ahead of fresh numbers that will give an indication of the strength of the US economy.

Figures for US retail sales, housing and industrial production due this week will give clues as to whether the Federal Reserve could begin to taper its huge $US85 billion a month quantitative easing program which has buoyed international markets in recent months.

Wall Street closed flat on Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping 0.04 per cent.

European stock markets had closed mixed on Monday as investors kept their positions amid heightening concerns of yet another Greek bailout, dealers said.

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Man critically burned in stable fire

A MAN has critical burns to his upper body after fire engulfed a stable at the Gold Coast on Tuesday night.

Around 7.42pm Queensland Fire and Rescue Services were called to the blazing stable in Racecourse Dr at Bundall.

A man was taken to Gold Coast Hospital with severe partial thickness burns to his shoulders, neck, face and back.

It is believed all of the horses were taken to safety.

Crews had the fire under control by 8.47pm.

Fire Investigation has been called to the scene.

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