Sea Shepherd seeks no-arrest guarantee

NEWLY landed Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson wants assurances he won't be handed over to Japanese authorities before considering a visit to Australia.

Mr Watson, who is in the US after 15 months on the run at sea, has been granted an Australian business visa.

But Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown says Mr Watson isn't yet intending to use the visa.

"I don't think he's going to come here until he gets an assurance that he won't be captured by a Japanese arrest warrant," Dr Brown told reporters in Hobart.

Mr Watson is wanted by the Japanese over the militant anti-whaling campaign he led in Antarctic waters over the past decade.

He made landfall to give evidence in a civil action by Japanese whaling interests against Sea Shepherd's US arm in a Seattle court.

The action prevents him from direct involvement in the conservation group's actions in the Southern Ocean but a visit to Australia would provide a massive publicity boost as the group seeks to raise $4 million for what it is dubbing Operation Relentless.

Dr Brown said Mr Watson, who holds joint Canadian-US citizenship, felt safe in America.

"The US is very protective of its citizens and I couldn't see a US administration handing Paul Watson over to Japan," the former Greens leader said.

"There'd be a big furore in the United States if that were to happen."

Attorney-General George Brandis's office has been contacted for comment.

Dr Brown has also given evidence in Seattle, where whalers are seeking penalties for alleged breaches by Sea Shepherd US of a restraining order.

He said the case would not affect the three-ship protest planned for this summer because Sea Shepherd Australia has separated from the US arm.

"They're trying a back door way of trying to stop Sea Shepherd and they'll fail," Dr Brown said.

Japan insists its annual whaling program is legal under allowances for a scientific catch.

In a separate action, Australia is challenging the legality of the whale hunt at the International Court of Justice, with the court deliberating and a ruling expected between now and March.

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Vic woman, 91, dies in car crash

A 91-YEAR-OLD woman has died in hospital following a two-car collision in regional Victoria.

The woman was a passenger in a car which collided with a utility in Mortlake on Monday morning.

The woman, from Mortlake, was flown to The Alfred hospital where she died in the evening.

The 89-year old driver of the car, also from Mortlake, was taken to the Warrnambool hospital for treatment.

The occupants of the other vehicle, a 61-year-old Warrnambool woman and a 41-year-old Port Fairy woman were both taken to the Warrnambool hospital with minor injuries.

The woman's death takes the state's road toll to 197, compared to 241 for the same time last year.

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Iran, IAEA sign 'roadmap for co-operation'

Diplomats say a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program is close, despite clinching one in Geneva. Source: AAP

IRAN and the UN nuclear watchdog have agreed on a "roadmap for co-operation" over Tehran's controversial atomic drive, as the US accused Iran of scuttling latest efforts to end the deadlock.

The announcement of the breakthrough came on Monday during a visit to Tehran by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano. No details of the accord were immediately released.

"The joint statement that was signed today details a roadmap for cooperation that determines mutual steps to resolve remaining issues," Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said at a joint news conference with Amano, which was closed to Western media in Tehran.

Amano hailed the deal as "an important step" but added "much more must be done", in remarks were carried by the ISNA news agency.

The IAEA chief's visit is aimed at resolving technical issues linked to the IAEA's role of monitoring Iran's nuclear activities.

Broader questions of how to ensure the Islamic republic's nuclear program is not being used to mask a drive for atomic weapons are being discussed in rounds of negotiations between Iran and P5+1 powers - Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany.

In the latest talks, a marathon session in Geneva which ended inconclusively on Sunday, hopes for a deal had soared after top diplomats rushed to join the talks.

But they faded as cracks began to appear among world powers when France raised concerns over a heavy water reactor being built at Arak.

Addressing the issue on Monday in Abu Dhabi, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Iran of being responsible for the failure of the talks.

"The P5+1 was unified on Saturday when we presented our proposal to the Iranians... But Iran couldn't take it, at that particular moment they weren't able to accept," said Kerry, who is on a regional tour to address thorny issues such as the Middle East peace process, Iran's nuclear program and the Syrian conflict.

In the remarks he made to reporters during a visit to the United Arab Emirates capital, Kerry reassured Israel that the deal will better protect it.

"What we are doing will protect Israel more effectively," he said, as the United States and Israel were locked in an escalating war of words over the negotiations.

The P5+1 group and Iran will reconvene again in Geneva on November 20 to try to iron out differences.

The broad outline of the agreement is said to include a freeze of part or all of Tehran's nuclear program in return for the easing of sanctions.

France said Monday that world powers and Iran were close to an agreement despite the failure of the Geneva talks.

"We are not far from an agreement with the Iranians but we are not there yet," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Europe 1 radio.

Responding to criticism that Paris was behind the failure in Geneva because of its reservations about parts of the deal on the table, he retorted: "France is neither isolated nor a country that follows the herd. It is independent and works for peace."

Iran's nuclear chief Salehi said on Monday that as a gesture of goodwill, IAEA inspectors would be allowed to visit the heavy water production plant in Arak as well as the Gachin uranium mine in the south.

At least a year from being completed, the Arak reactor is a major source of concern for Western powers who fear the plutonium it will produce as a by-product could provide Iran with a second route for making fissile material for an atom bomb.

Iran has long been adamant it solely wants to produce isotopes for medical and agricultural purposes at the Arak plant.

Iran denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons, and says such claims are based on faulty intelligence from agencies such as the CIA and Israel's Mossad.

The IAEA in particular wants to visit the Parchin military base, southeast of Tehran, where intelligence evidence suggests Iran may have carried out weaponisation research.

Salehi and Amano did not mention Parchin as being part of the deal they struck, although details of the agreement are yet to be publicised.

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Life for brothers in Russia airport attack

THREE men have been sentenced to life in prison and a fourth to 10 years for their roles in the 2011 suicide bombing of a Moscow airport, which killed 37 people.

Bashir Khamkhoyev and brothers Islam and Ilez Yandiyev were given life sentences on Monday by a court in Krasnogorsk, a city on the north-western outskirts of Moscow. Akhmed Yevloyev, a brother of the purported bomber, was given 10 years, the court said.

The court earlier on Monday had convicted the four men on terrorism charges.

The bombing in January 2011 was carried out by a man who walked into the arrivals hall of Domodedovo International Airport, Russia's largest airport, and blew himself up. The explosion injured 172 people.

Investigators identified the bomber as Magomed Yevloyev, a native of the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia. The also have charged local Islamist insurgency leader Doku Umarov with recruiting and training Magomed Yevloyev for the attack.

The Yandiyev brothers were accused of driving Magomed Yevloyev to Domodedovo while the other defendants were found guilty of helping him in Ingushetia, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

Islam Yandiyev had asked for a pardon while the three remaining defendants denied guilt, Russian news reports said.

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Japan runs wind turbine near Fukushima

A FLOATING wind turbine off Japan's east coast, near the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant, has started generating power.

The turbine, equipped with 80-metre-long blades, is placed about 20 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It will produce up to 2 megawatts of electricity, said a consortium of 10 Japanese companies and the University of Tokyo on Monday.

The consortium hopes the publicly-funded pilot project will help Fukushima become the centre of a renewable energy industry, and create jobs in the region hit by the country's worst nuclear accident in 2011.

The consortium plans to install two more 7-megawatt turbines by March 2015.

Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear-generated electricity made up about 30 per cent of Japan's power output, but all of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors are currently offline.

The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after a tsunami swept through the complex in March 2011.

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Kelly parents: 'legal system doesn't care'

THE parents of slain teenager Thomas Kelly have lashed out at the NSW justice system, saying they feel "destroyed" by the process that ended in their son's killer being sentenced to four years jail.

The 18-year-old was killed when he suffered massive head injuries from a king hit by a drunken stranger, Kieran Loveridge, during a night out with friends in Sydney's Kings Cross last year.

Loveridge was handed a four-year sentence for the manslaughter, plus 14 months for attacks on four others who, like Mr Kelly, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grieving parents Ralph and Kathy Kelly told reporters immediately after the sentencing on Friday they were "horrified".

On Sunday they spoke out about their fight to have the Director of Public Prosecutions pursue a murder charge.

Loveridge, 19, pleaded guilty to the alternative charge of manslaughter, thus securing a 25 per cent discount on his sentence.

Typhoon death toll could be 10,000

THE death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said on Sunday.

Joanne Lees almost destroyed case

THE lawyer who prosecuted one of Australia's most notorious killers Bradley John Murdoch reveals the victim's girlfriend almost ruined their case.

"We pleaded with them not to downgrade it," Ralph Kelly told the Nine Network.

"We've spent the whole year fighting for Thomas in a legal system that just doesn't care ... We feel destroyed."

Kathy Kelly said she did not believe Loveridge was remorseful: "The talk in the papers about him breaking down in the witness stand? I didn't see any tears."

She criticised Justice Stephen Campbell's emphasis on Loveridge's rehabilitation prospects, and said the prosecution had kept the family in the dark.

"They are nice people and I guess they're just doing their job within the realms of the law, but we have been fighting (the downgraded charge) constantly, you know, even to the point that sometimes people would refuse to email us or we'd get notification after six o'clock on a Friday night ... it was just like nobody wanted to talk to us," Mrs Kelly said.

She said there had not been a single night since her son died that she had not cried herself to sleep.

"I wake up and the first thing I think about is Thomas, and I cry, and I cry for what he's lost," she said.

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Man shot three times in Melbourne's west

A man shot in the chest in Melbourne's west is in hospital with life-threatening injuries. Source: AAP

A MAN who was shot three times at Deer Park in Melbourne's west is known to police.

Police were called to the suburb on Saturday night after the injured man approached a resident for help at around 11.45pm (AEDT).

The 42-year-old Richmond man was taken to The Alfred Hospital with life-threatening chest injuries, police said.

Detective Inspector Adrian Dalzotto from the armed crime taskforce says the injured man is known to police and they hope to interview him once he has had surgery.

Det Insp Dalzotto said police are unsure where the shooting occurred.

"We can't say with certainty it actually happened in this street," he told reporters.

Det Insp Dalzotto says police have no suspects yet and want anyone with information to contact them.

Typhoon death toll could be 10,000

THE death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said on Sunday.

Joanne Lees almost destroyed case

THE lawyer who prosecuted one of Australia's most notorious killers Bradley John Murdoch reveals the victim's girlfriend almost ruined their case.

The man's car was found parked in the street and has been impounded for forensic examination.

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Ex-Sydney priest among Philippines dead

An Australian man, believed to be a former priest, has been killed by a typhoon in the Philippines. Source: AAP

A FORMER Sydney priest who secretly married a woman he met in the Philippines is among the hundreds killed in the typhoon that has devastated the archipelago nation.

Kevin Lee, a whistleblower on child sex abuse in the Catholic church, was defrocked last year after he went public about his 2011 marriage and admitted to having had girlfriends during his 20 years as a priest.

Mr Lee founded the Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park, in western Sydney, but moved to the Philippines after leaving the ministry.

It's been reported he went swimming as part of a religious ritual, as Super Typhoon Haiyan lashed the Philippines with winds of around 315km/h.

On Sunday the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, paid tribute to the late father and husband.

"I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow Josefina and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them and devastation for the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan," he said.

Typhoon death toll could be 10,000

THE death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said on Sunday.

Joanne Lees almost destroyed case

THE lawyer who prosecuted one of Australia's most notorious killers Bradley John Murdoch reveals the victim's girlfriend almost ruined their case.

He also expressed his condolences to Mr Lee's parents and family in Australia and paid tribute to the work Mr Lee did for his parish.

"Last year, Kevin left his ministry as a Catholic priest in very public circumstances and was recently 'laicised' at his request," Bishop Fisher said.

"He had made a new life with Josefina and they recently celebrated the birth of a daughter.

"Difficult as was the mode of his departure, we honour the work Kevin did as the founding parish priest of Padre Pio Parish, Glenmore Park, and his ministry as a chaplain with NSW Police."

Ray King, who as a former Fairfield police commander was once a colleague of Mr Lee's and, more recently, beat him to a Liberal party pre-selection for a tilt at federal MP Chris Bowen's seat of McMahon, has described his death as a shock.

But he said it was "fairly reckless" for Mr Lee to go swimming during the storm, ABC Radio reports.

"Kevin had a choice when he went into the surf," he told the broadcaster.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the death of a 50-year-old NSW man in the typhoon but declined to name him.

"Consular officials are providing assistance to his family," a DFAT spokesperson said.

Officials fear the death toll in the Philippines could reach 10,000 people after Haiyan tore into the eastern islands of Leyte and Samar on Friday.

The Abbott government has pledged nearly $400,000 worth of emergency aid to devastated communities and says it stands ready to do more.

DFAT says Australians concerned for the welfare of family and friends in the region should first attempt to contact them directly.

If unsuccessful, they should call DFAT's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 or +612 6261 3305.

Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek extended "deepest sympathies" to the family and friends of the late Mr Lee.

"Our thoughts are also with other nations, including Vietnam and Laos, who authorities report remain in the path of the devastating typhoon," she said on Sunday.

"The opposition stands ready to assist the Abbott government, in any way we can, to facilitate Australia's contribution to relief efforts."

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Senator heads home after Sri Lanka run-in

AUSTRALIAN federal MP Lee Rhiannon is safely on a plane bound for Sydney after Sri Lankan authorities detained and interrogated her for hours, her office says.

The Greens senator for NSW was preparing to host a press conference with New Zealand MP Jan Logie on Sunday morning at their Colombo hotel when the pair had their passports seized by immigration officials.

Sunday was the final day of a four-day fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The two MPs said they were investigating alleged human rights abuses and press freedom in the island nation.

"Abuses so serious that #SriLanka must not host #CHOGM," Senator Rhiannon wrote on her Twitter page on Sunday, shortly before the scheduled press conference.

The next message came three hours later: "Lee has asked us to pass a message on to her followers: She has had her passport confiscated by Sri Lankan Immigration Officials".

Typhoon death toll could be 10,000

THE death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said on Sunday.

Joanne Lees almost destroyed case

THE lawyer who prosecuted one of Australia's most notorious killers Bradley John Murdoch reveals the victim's girlfriend almost ruined their case.

She was later released and allowed to board a flight back to Australia.

The Greens say the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Sri Lankan were both notified ahead of Senator Rhiannon's trip.

A DFAT spokeswoman was unable to confirm this, saying only: "The department is aware that Senator Rhiannon was questioned at her Colombo hotel earlier today by Sri Lankan immigration authorities.

"Senator Rhiannon did not request consular support."

Senator Rhiannon has denied claims by Sri Lankan officials that her planned press conference was in violation of her visa, telling Fairfax Media she had been advised to obtain the "special projects" class tourist visa.

The incident comes just over a week after two Australian press freedom advocates were also detained by Sri Lankan officials and accused of violating their visa conditions.

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific director Jacqui Park and her deputy Jane Worthington arrived home last Saturday after two harrowing days of interrogation.

The Sri Lankan government took issue with the Australian duo participating in a press freedom event when they were in the country on tourist visas.

Senator Rhiannon is expected to touch down in Sydney at 9.15am (AEDT) on Monday.

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Queen leads Remembrance events

THE Queen has honoured members of Britain's Armed Forces killed in conflict as Remembrance Sunday services took place around the UK.

The monarch laid the first wreath at the Cenotaph on Whitehall to commemorate all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the decades since the First World War, bowing her head after paying her respects.

Senior royals, including Second World War veteran the Duke of Edinburgh, Afghanistan soldier Prince Harry and the Duke of Cambridge - with wife Kate watching from a nearby balcony - joined the monarch and politicians, military leaders, veterans and serving personnel in laying wreaths of poppies at the monument.

Prince Harry was laying the wreath on behalf of his father Prince Charles, who is currently abroad on an official tour of India with the Duchess of Cornwall, and was marking the occasion there.

Typhoon death toll could be 10,000

THE death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said on Sunday.

Joanne Lees almost destroyed case

THE lawyer who prosecuted one of Australia's most notorious killers Bradley John Murdoch reveals the victim's girlfriend almost ruined their case.

Troops in Afghanistan were joined by Prince Andrew, who laid a wreath during a service held at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province to mark Remembrance Sunday. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond also flew to Afghanistan last night to join servicemen and women.

Millions across the UK fell silent in tribute to those lost in war, joining the crowds gathered in central London who stood in a moment of quiet contemplation as Big Ben struck 11am.

During the two-minute silence, only the distant sounds of traffic and the rustling of leaves could be heard, despite the fact that police said Whitehall was at capacity.

The beginning and end of the silence was marked with the firing of a round by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, using a 13-pounder First World War gun.

In cold but bright weather, the royals and dignitaries then laid their wreaths at the Cenotaph.

Prime Minister David Cameron was first after the royals to do so, followed by Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Former prime ministers Sir John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and London Mayor Boris Johnson also took part in the ceremony.

The Duchess of Cambridge was accompanied on the Foreign Office balcony by the Countess of Wessex and Vice Admiral Tim Laurence.

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