Sept 7 in doubt as Rudd has things to do

Speculation is growing that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is looking to approve a September 7 election. Source: AAP

KEVIN Rudd says he has "made no determination whatsoever" on when the federal election will be held, throwing doubt on the likelihood of a September 7 election.

The prime minister also told reporters on Saturday he wanted to attend a G20 summit just days before what had been considered the favoured poll date, raising the prospect the election could be pushed out to at least September 21.

Speculation had been building that Mr Rudd was planning to visit the governor-general on Sunday or Monday to seek approval for a September 7 election.

But Mr Rudd said the government had yet to conclude negotiations with Victoria over schools funding, with Western Australia on disability care, and with NSW over new environmental assessment procedures.

"We have a few things to attend to yet," he said after signing a new asylum-seeker resettlement agreement with Nauru on Saturday.

"So therefore on your question (about September 7), I've made no determination whatsoever in terms of the date of an election."

Whether Mr Rudd would attend the upcoming G20 leaders summit had also been a source of constant speculation, as the St Petersburg meeting is being held on September 5 and 6.

Mr Rudd confirmed it was "my intention to be in St Petersburg".

"But I'm very mindful also of the challenges that lie ahead of us as well," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"I place enormous priority to the G20 and its agenda.

"At the same time I will always balance that against other considerations before us as well."

If Mr Rudd does still decide on a September 7 election, it will need to be called by Monday to cover the minimum 33-day campaign period.

With September 14 all but ruled out because it had been chosen by his predecessor Julia Gillard, a September 21 election would be the next possible date.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared his team ready for the campaign.

"We've been ready for a long time," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne, when asked about a September 7 election.

"I think the Australian people are eager to seize the chance to control the government once more.

"This election is a choice between strength and stability under the coalition, or more chaos, division and dysfunction under the Labor party."

Speculation over the election date came a day after the government's economic update, which predicted weaker economic growth, growing unemployment and more government debt, as well as a $33.3 billion writedown in revenues.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said he expected the prime minister to "run to the polls in the next two days".

"Because the boats keep coming, the debt is blowing out by $3 billion a week and unemployment continues to rise, heading towards 800,000," he told reporters in Sydney.

"If I were Kevin Rudd I would be going to the polls as soon as possible."

But foreshadowing how central the economy will again be during the campaign, Finance Minister Penny Wong released government analysis which, she said, uncovered a $70 billion hole in the coalition's fiscal credentials.

"The government has laid out our plans and our budget," Senator Wong told reporters in Melbourne.

"It's time Tony Abbott did, because what this document shows against what Tony Abbott has said is that he would have to make $70 billion worth of cuts."

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Nauru signs up to Rudd's stop boats plan

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new refugee plan with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new agreement with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru, which like Australia's deal with Papua New Guinea, will deny asylum seekers the chance to resettle in Australia.

But the Opposition says it's just a ploy to win votes.

Mr Rudd and the president of the Republic of Nauru, Baron Waqa, signed the memorandum of understanding at a press conference in Brisbane on Saturday.

The deal supercedes the one struck between the nations last year and allows for asylum seekers to not only be processed in the Pacific Island nation, but also to be settled there.

"No matter where people smugglers try to land asylum seekers by boat in Australia, they will not be settled in Australia," Mr Rudd told reporters.

"This is our core principal."

The Nauru agreement is similar to the deal struck with Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, two weeks ago and is the latest salvo in Mr Rudd's tough new approach to asylum seekers.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke attended Saturday's announcement and agreed the number of asylum seekers sent to Nauru would be small.

They would comprise families or unaccompanied minors and a new site to house them had been chosen, he said.

The most urgent priority though was expanding the capacity of the island nation's prison, he said.

Australia will provide $29.9 million in aid to Nauru in 2013-2014 under the plan.

A further $17 million will be spent on rebuilding the prison, which was damaged in a recent riot on the island.

Funds from a contingency reserve will also be allocated according to the number of refugees Nauru accepts.

Mr Burke flagged the possibility of reaching similar deals concerning refugees with other nations in the region.

"I'm prepared to say there are other countries who have raised this with us as well," he said.

"There are a number of countries within the region who have signed the convention and who have a genuine commitment to wanting to take a regional approach, and if we're able to reach agreements with them then we will."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the plan was "elaborate staging" by Labor with no real substance.

"Nauru will play no real role in offshore processing arrangements for the foreseeable future under Labor," he said in a statement on Saturday.

"This announcement is just a patch-up for the devastation of the riots that cost taxpayers up to $60 million and was allowed to occur on Labor's watch."

The Australian Greens said the government had hit a new low on refugee policy.

"This is just more cruelty at the cost of Australia's generous heart and it is trashing our global reputation," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement on Saturday.

"It seems there is no limit to the cruelty that either Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott are prepared to inflict on refugees in their race to bottom as they race to the polls."

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Mugabe claims victory in 'sham' poll

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks to extend his 33-year rule after a shock landslide vote. Source: AAP

ZIMBABWE is set to release the official results of disputed elections, in which President Robert Mugabe's party romped to victory, as the opposition holds emergency talks over the "sham" polls.

Full results were expected later on Saturday but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it had already won the 140 seats in parliament required to press ahead with controversial amendments to the constitution.

"We have already gone beyond two-thirds. It's a super majority," a top party official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

With 186 of 210 constituencies officially counted after Wednesday's disputed poll, Mugabe's party already had a commanding lead, winning 137 seats in parliament.

Party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said: "Our opponents don't know what hit them", adding that 89-year-old Mugabe could win "70 to 75 per cent" in the presidential vote.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who described the vote as a "sham", went into emergency talks on Saturday to decide their next action.

The MDC has vowed not to accept the election results, sparking fears of a repeat of bloody violence that marked the aftermath of the 2008 election.

"Emotions are high, tensions are high across the country," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

While on the country's streets things have remained calm, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged both political rivals to send "clear messages of calm" to their supporters.

Ban hopes that the broadly "calm and peaceful atmosphere" of election day "will prevail during the vote counting and throughout the completion of the electoral process," said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

A senior MDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, painted a picture of the dilemma the party faces amid its claims the election was stolen by ZANU-PF.

"We can't tell people to be calm, we can't tell people to demonstrate unless you know the outcome," said the source.

Another senior party official dismissed speculation that the MDC is being offered a few posts in government.

The influential 15-member southern African bloc SADC also implored "all Zimbabweans to exercise restraint, patience and calm".

All eyes are now on the MDC which was expected to hold a press conference on Saturday afternoon following its meeting.

Observers appeared divided over the conduct of the poll.

The African Union's top poll observer, Olusegun Obasanjo, said shortly after polling stations closed that the election had been "peaceful, orderly, free and fair".

The SADC stopped short of declaring it "fair" but said it was "free and peaceful".

"We have said this election is free, indeed very free," said top SADC election observer Bernard Membe. "We did not say it was fair ... we didn't want to jump to a conclusion at this point in time."

Membe on Friday met Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for three decades, to "wish him good luck as he is preparing himself for the inauguration," he told later told journalists.

He said he would try to convince Tsvangirai to concede defeat.

SADC negotiated the creation of a power-sharing government in the wake of 2008's bloody poll.

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UN warns of plight of children in Syria

The United Nations has sounded the alarm about the plight of women and children in Syria. Source: AAP

THE UN has sounded the alarm about the plight of women and children in Syria's Homs, urging all parties in the conflict to enable access to some 400,000 trapped civilians.

"The situation of women and children in the Syrian city of Homs is rapidly deteriorating," UNICEF said in a statement, adding that "new checkpoints are preventing more supplies from entering" the neighbourhood of Al-Waer.

"Cannot all those involved agree that the innocent women and children in Homs, and across Syria, should be spared all possible suffering?" UNICEF's Executive Director Anthony Lake asked.

Around 400,000 civilians, mostly women and children, who were forced to flee other areas of Homs have sought refuge in Al-Waer, and are now "living in partially constructed buildings, schools and other public buildings", Lake said.

But the situation there "has worsened, with reports of intense daily clashes, and rocket and mortar strikes causing many casualties", he added.

UNICEF says it and other organisations have been distributing basic supplies and ensuring access to water for civilians fleeing the fighting.

"Water and electricity is still available for now but vegetables, milk and other essentials are in increasingly short supply. Our own emergency supplies will run out within days," said the agency.

Lake called on "all parties to facilitate immediate safe access to these families so we can provide life-saving assistance, and to allow those families currently trapped in Al-Waer who wish to leave to do so in safety and in dignity".

Homs has suffered some of the worst violence in Syria's 28-month conflict.

This week, government forces overran Khaldiyeh district, one of the rebels' last bastions in Syria's third city.

The army is now pressing its campaign to uproot rebels from other areas in Homs, including the central Old City district.

The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, most of them civilians.

Millions more have been forced to flee their homes, about 75 per cent of them women and children.

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Six children die in Afghan attack

THREE suicide attackers killed at least nine civilians, most of them children, in a botched attack on the Indian consulate in an eastern Afghan city near the border with Pakistan, security officials say.

Authorities also reported that 22 police officers and over 70 Taliban fighters died in two days of fighting earlier in the week in the same province touched off by a feud between militants and villagers. Officials regularly announce high militant death tolls that are impossible to independently confirm.

Militants, mostly smaller groups based in Pakistan, have targeted Indian diplomatic interests multiple times in recent years.

In the latest attack, police fired on the militants as they approached a checkpoint outside the consulate in Jalalabad, prompting one of them to set off their explosives-laden car, said Masum Khan Hashimi, the deputy police chief of Nangarhar province.

The blast killed nine bystanders, and wounded another 24 people including a policeman. Six of the dead and three of the wounded were children, said Jalalabad hospital director Dr Humayun Zahir. He did not give their specific ages.

All three attackers also died, although it was not clear how many were killed by police fire and how many by the explosion.

In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said that all Indian officials in the consulate were safe.

Afghanistan's main insurgent group, the Taliban, denied in a text message that it had carried out the attack.

Militant groups known for attacking Indian interests include Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed for the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people. LeT has been active in Afghanistan in recent years, often teaming up with insurgent groups operating in the eastern part of the country near the frontier with Pakistan. Last year the US-led military coalition arrested a senior LeT leader in eastern Afghanistan.

India has been frustrated by Pakistan's failure to crack down on Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has strong historical links with Pakistani intelligence. Pakistan has always viewed India as a potential rival in Afghanistan, which it considers its strategic backyard.

"Such coward attacks will not deter India from providing reconstruction and developmental assistance to our true friend, Afghanistan," the Indian Embassy Tweeted in reaction to the consulate bombing.

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Clients pay $US180 for bird faeces facials

That's what goes into facials at a luxury spa where the traditional Japanese treatment using imported Asian nightingale excrement mixed with rice bran goes for $US180 ($A202) a pop.

About 100 women and men go into the Shizuka New York skin care salon, just off Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, each month to get the treatment, which is promoted as a way to keep the face soft and smooth using an enzyme in the poop to gently exfoliate the skin.

Spa owner Shizuka Bernstein, a Tokyo native married to an American, has been offering what she calls the Geisha Facial for about five years.

"I try to bring Japanese beauty secrets to the United States," says Bernstein, who learned the treatment from her mother.

The Geisha Facial faeces treatment, while relatively rare in the United States, is no secret in Japan, where it was first used in the 1600s by actors and geishas.

"That's why Japanese grandmothers have beautiful complexions," says Duke Klauck, owner of the Ten Thousand Waves health spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which offers a Nightingale Facial for $US129.

On a recent afternoon in Manhattan, Mari Miyoshi arrived at the sixth-floor Shizuka New York spa to try the treatment for the first time.

"I'm a stressed-out New Yorker," the 35-year-old occupational therapist announced as she reclined on a table, relaxing amid aromas of camellia, lavender and rose.

The treatment begins with steam to open the pores and soften the skin. Cream is applied. And then comes what Bernstein calls "the nightingale part."

She pours the cream-coloured faeces, dried and finely ground, into a bowl, mixing it with the rice bran using a small spatula. She applies the potion to Miyoshi's face with a brush, rubbing it in with her hands.

Does it smell?

"Yes, but like toasted rice," Miyoshi says.

After about five minutes, it comes off with a foaming cleanser and Miyoshi's face is draped in a warm, wet towel bathed in lavender and geranium essences. Finally, the grand finale - a green-tea collagen mask.

"Sooooo nice," Bernstein says softly, looking at Miyoshi's radiant face.

Dr Michele Green, a Manhattan cosmetic dermatologist, says that while the nightingale facial "definitely has some rejuvenating effect, I don't think it's any different than, say, an apricot scrub or a mask that you could buy in a local pharmacy."

A common misconception is that any old bird faeces, even from pigeons, is used. Bernstein says only droppings from birds of the nightingale species are used because they live on seeds, producing the natural enzyme that is the active ingredient.

"We don't do Central Park facials," she says, "because those birds eat garbage."

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European stocks steady before US jobs data

EUROPE'S main stock markets have mainly steadied as traders await monthly US jobs data and reacted to a batch of mixed company earnings.

London's FTSE 100 index of top blue-chip companies on Friday edged down 0.09 per cent to stand at 6,675.73 points around midday in the British capital.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 inched up 0.06 per cent to 8,415.98 points and the CAC 40 in Paris grew 0.15 per cent to 4,048.72 compared with Thursday's closing levels.

"European indices are trading slightly higher on Friday, while US futures are pointing to a flat open as caution returns to the markets ahead of the US jobs report for July," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari traders.

The euro rose to $US1.3212 from $US1.3208 late in New York on Thursday. The US dollar gained to Y99.62 from Y99.52.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dropped to $US1,288.16 an ounce from $US1,315 on Thursday.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi suggested on Thursday that eurozone interest rates could fall further from their current record low levels should the economic outlook deteriorate.

But Draghi was convinced that the 17-nation bloc's economy appeared to be stabilising. At its regular monthly policy meeting, the ECB's governing council voted to keep key rates unchanged at an all-time low of 0.5 per cent, as expected.

Asian stock markets meanwhile closed higher for a second straight session following another record close on Wall Street and a string of positive economic data from China, Europe and the United States, traders said.

Later on Friday, the US government releases non-farm payrolls data, which will give an idea about the strength of the world's number one economy.

On Thursday, the Institute for Supply Management's PMI index showed that US manufacturing activity surged to the highest level for more than two years in July, well above market estimates.

Meanwhile on Friday in London, shares in Royal Bank of Scotland slid 4.50 per cent to 318.50 pence despite the state-rescued lender returning to profit in the first half.

The bank itself admitted that much work remained before RBS can return to the private sector, while the lender announced also that it had promoted the head of its retail business, Ross McEwan, to the post of chief executive, beginning in October.

On the upside, shares in IAG jumped 5.0 per cent to 312 pence after the parent of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia said it had swung into profit in the second quarter.

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Hong Kong shares end 0.46% higher

HONG Kong shares have risen 0.46 per cent following a record-breaking close on Wall Street as dealers welcomed upbeat manufacturing data around the world.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Friday added 102.18 points to 22,190.97 on turnover of $HK49.09 billion ($A7.12 billion).

The rise came after the S&P 500 index breached the 1,700 level in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its own record high.

"With the S&P trading through 1,700 for the first time ever, it has been one-way traffic for equities as the 'fear of missing out' sets in," Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Investors readied for the release later on Friday of monthly US jobs figures, which will be scoured for any indication of when the Federal Reserve might begin to roll back its massive bond-buying program.

Two blue-chip earnings reports from tycoon Li Ka-shing's array of companies attracted strong attention.

Shares of telecom-to-property conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa closed up 4.5 per cent at $HK91.65, a two-year high, after reporting a better-than-expected 23 per cent increase in first-half earnings.

Nomura called the report "very solid", although it said an 8 per cent jump in the stock leading up to results meant upside was partially priced into the stock.

"That said, we expect further Street earnings upgrade given the positive growth momentum, and recommend buying on any share weakness," Nomura said.

HSBC was up 0.4 per cent at $HK88.80 while China Overseas Land & Investment rose 4.23 per cent to $HK23.40. Tencent fell 0.11 per cent to $HK360.20.

Chinese shares ended flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.02 per cent, or 0.35 points, to 2,029.42 on turnover of 78.9 billion yuan ($A14.52 billion). The index rose 0.92 per cent for the week.

Losses in financial stocks offset gains in property developers, dealers said.

"Financial stocks fell on profit-taking and offset some earlier gains. But I remain optimistic on the market outlook as the domestic economy has shown signs of recovery," Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP.

The government announced on Thursday that its purchasing managers index, a measure of manufacturing activity, rose to 50.3 in July from 50.1 in June.

Property developers led gains on hopes Beijing will ease their financing curbs as a way to boost the economy.

Xinhu Zhongbao surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 3.65 yuan while Poly Real Estate jumped 3.70 per cent to 10.93 yuan.

Financial shares were lower.

New China Life Insurance lost 1.75 per cent to 22.46 yuan, Everbright Securities fell 1.33 per cent to 11.16 yuan and China Citic Bank shed 0.85 per cent to 3.49 yuan.

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Cyprus ex-minister gets 5 years for blast

Cyprus's ex-defence minister was sentenced to jail in connection to a blast that killed 13 people. Source: AAP

CYPRUS'S ex-defence minister, Costas Papacostas, has been sentenced to five years in jail in connection with a munitions dump blast at a naval base that killed 13 people.

The ailing 73-year-old was not in court for the sentencing on Friday, as he was taken ill after his conviction last month and has been in hospital since then.

He had been found guilty of manslaughter and the lesser charge of causing death through a reckless and dangerous act.

The July 2011 blast took out the island's biggest power plant 150 metres away and caused 3 billion euros ($A4.47 billion) in damage that forced roaming power cuts amid 40C temperatures.

Fire chief Andreas Nicolaou, his suspended deputy Charalambos Charalambous and disaster response unit chief Andreas Loizides were also convicted of causing death through a reckless and dangerous act.

They were sentenced to two years on Thursday.

Former Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou and ex-deputy National Guard Chief Savvas Argyrou were found not guilty in the case.

Prosecutors have appealed the decision, which sparked angry protests from relatives of the victims.

It is said to be the first time in the island's legal history that so many senior officials have faced such serious charges.

The incident sparked weeks of angry street protests calling for then president Demetris Christofias to step down.

A public inquiry laid most of the blame for the blast on Christofias, whose immunity shielded him from prosecution and who refused to resign.

The munitions were seized in 2009 when Cyprus intercepted a Cypriot-flagged freighter bound from Iran for Syria.

A UN sanctions committee said the cargo contravened a ban on Iranian arms shipments.

Stored at the base for almost three years under searing heat in summer, they exploded despite repeated warnings that they were unsafe and the government's rejection of offers from abroad to neutralise them.

Some 98 burning containers with 400 tonnes of gunpowder triggered an estimated 1.5 megaton blast that also damaged 730 homes and businesses.

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12 jihadists killed in north Syria: NGO

At least 40 people have died in an ammunitions depot blast in a government-held area of Syria. Source: AAP

FRESH clashes between Kurdish fighters and jihadists have erupted in the majority Kurdish province of Hasakah in northern Syria, a monitoring group says.

At least 12 members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) were killed early on Friday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which added that 22 Kurdish fighters have been killed over the past few days.

Reports of the latest Kurdish-jihadist violence emerged a day after at least 31 civilians, among them five women and four children, were killed in army shelling and an assault in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Meanwhile, Kurdish activists said there was heavy fighting in villages between Cel Agha and Gerke Lage as radical Islamists shelled Ras al-Ain.

Kurds expelled jihadist groups from Ras al-Ain in mid-July.

The fate of some 200 Kurds taken hostage by jihadists on Wednesday remains unknown, the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Elsewhere on Friday, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad again shelled the rebel-held area of Jouret al-Shiyah in the central city of Homs, said the Observatory.

The bombardment comes five days after the key rebel neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh fell out of rebel control and into army hands.

Assad's regime is pressing an offensive aimed at taking back remaining rebel areas in Homs, Syria's third city and dubbed by activists as "the capital of the revolution".

Meanwhile, the air force staged several air strikes on rebel areas across Syria, including two on Al-Harra in the southern province of Daraa, where rebels have made significant progress in recent weeks, said the Observatory.

Friday's violence comes a day after at least 185 people were killed across Syria, the Britain-based watchdog said.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's raging war, the United Nations says.

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