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Opposition slams world inaction on Syria

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 23 Februari 2013 | 21.29

Syria's opposition coalition says it will form a government to run "liberated areas" of the country. Source: AAP

THE umbrella opposition National Coalition condemned world powers for failing to act to stop the slaughter in Syria, as missiles killed at least 29 in Aleppo.

The remarks by spokesman Walid al-Bunni came after the Coalition had said it would form a government to run "liberated areas" of Syria and was pulling out of several international meetings in protest against world "silence".

"We cannot continue listening to statements that are not accompanied by action," Bunni said it remarks to France 24's Arabic-language channel.

"The world has a responsibility to protect (the Syrian people) from a butcher who has been slaughtering them for two years," a reference to President Bashar al-Assad.

Referring to a meeting of the Friends of Syria group in Rome next Thursday, Bunni said: "We want to say... if you are our real friends, help us to stop the massacres that are being committed against our people".

Late on Friday, the group had said it would not attend meetings in Italy, Russia and the United States to protest against the "shameful" lack of global condemnation of "crimes committed against the Syrian people".

It had been due to attend the Friends of Syria, and Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib had also been invited to Moscow.

"The international silence on the crimes committed every day against our people amounts to participating in two years of killings," a statement said.

"We hold the Russian leaders in particular ethically and politically responsible because they continue to support the (Damascus) regime with weapons."

Bunni also challenged the United States to honour what he said were promises of support for democracy in Syria.

"Our visit to Washington is on hold until Washington takes a stance that is in accordance with US statements on its support for democracy."

On Friday, Bunni announced plans for a government for "liberated areas" that he said he hoped would be based inside northern Syria.

Its composition and "prime minister" would be chosen at a meeting on March 2, he added, with Coalition members saying the gathering would be held in Istanbul.

Meanwhile, peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Thursday's attack in Damascus had left about 100 people dead - substantially more than a previous toll of 61 - and wounded another 250.

Describing it as a "war crime", the UN-Arab League envoy said "nothing could justify such horrible actions that amount to war crimes under international law".

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said "nothing can justify an act of such brutality that killed so many people, mostly civilians, including children".

Both the regime and opposition have blamed "terrorists" for the attack near the ruling Baath party's main offices.

The same day, another 22 people were killed in a triple bombing targeting security headquarters in northern Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In the second largest city of Aleppo, at least 29 people, including 19 children, had been killed and 150 wounded when three missiles hit Tariq al-Bab district on Friday, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Shelling of the city's Maadi district caused a building to collapse, killing an unknown number of people, and rebels fought troops near Aleppo international airport and Nayrab air base to the southeast.

The army's use of surface-to-surface missiles is part of a bid to advance on Aleppo, swathes of which the rebels have seized since mid-2012, said Abdel Rahman.

"The army has been trying for weeks to come closer to Aleppo via its eastern entrance, in order to assault it. Elite troops are being sent... but so far the army has been unsuccessful."

The Britain-based Observatory said 149 people were killed nationwide on Friday, adding to an overall UN death toll of at least 70,000 dead in the 23-month conflict.


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Italy prepares for landmark election

ITALIANS hit by austerity and recession are preparing to take to the polls for an election being watched around Europe, a day after a mass rally in Rome showed rising social discontent.

Tens of thousands turned out to hear Beppe Grillo, a comedian turned activist whose grassroots Five Star Movement could receive a massive protest vote and become Italy's third biggest political party after the elections on Sunday and Monday.

"Let's send them all home!" the crowd chanted on Friday - a slogan of Grillo's campaign against mainstream politicians, many of whom have been discredited recently by a series of investigations into corruption and waste of public funds.

La Repubblica daily called Grillo the "Rock Star of Populism", while La Stampa spoke of an "apocalyptic climate" and top-selling Corriere della Sera said in an editorial: "An entire system is disappearing."

Grillo has promised to slash politicians' salaries, increase unemployment benefits and hold a referendum on whether Italy should retain the euro.

Candidates could not campaign on Saturday, and voter surveys have been off-limits for the two weeks leading up to the polls.

"I am worried for my country," centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, the favourite in the polls, told supporters at his final rally on Friday.

Renowned film director Nanni Moretti also appeared at the event and said it was time to "liberate" Italy from the scandal-tainted media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.

Outgoing premier Mario Monti promised to overhaul the labour market to create more jobs.

Three-time premier Berlusconi said he was confident even though polls have put him in second place.

Bersani, a cigar-chomping former communist who now espouses broadly pro-market views, has said he will continue with the budget discipline enforced by Monti to the delight of financial markets.

But he will come under pressure to ease back on austerity and do more to promote growth and jobs as Italy endures its longest recession in 20 years and unemployment hits a record high of 11.2 percent.

The financial markets are monitoring closely as a return to Italy's bad old days of free-wheeling public finances could spell disaster for the eurozone beset by a debt crisis.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Stuttgarter Zeitung daily that it was "in Italy's interests" to continue with Monti's reform agenda.

Belgian daily Le Soir carried an editorial titled "Italian Elections, European Stakes".

"The real danger that threatens Italy, and therefore all of Europe, is instability," wrote the paper's editorialist Christophe Berti.

Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza said the election was "A Fight Between Clowns" - Berlusconi and Grillo.

With everything at stake, the campaign has been remarkably underwhelming, with few rallies and a lot of back-and-forth in television interviews that have provided little detail on electoral promises.

A case in point was Berlusconi's vow to refund to Italians - if needed out of his own pocket - an unpopular property tax levied by Monti in an official-looking letter that prompted some to queue at post offices to claim their money back.

The billionaire, who is fighting his sixth election campaign in two decades and is a defendant in two trials for tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitute, has been rising in the polls.

The 76-year-old has pursued a populist campaign, intimating that Italy's social misery can be blamed on a "hegemonic" Germany imposing austerity.

Polls open at 0700 GMT (1800 AEDT) on Sunday and close 12 hours later.


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Pistorius spends time with family

SOUTH Africa's Olympic "Blade Runner" and murder suspect Oscar Pistorius has spent his first day out on bail with his family pending trial for the killing of his lover.

Pistorius was freed on a record one million rand ($A110,656) bail on Friday after eight days in custody and an emotionally charged four-day bail hearing.

"I would like Oscar to just compose himself and to have a normal day," his uncle Arnold Pistorius told the local Eyewitness News.

He will return to court later this year when a date will be set for trial for having shot dead his model girlfriend and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day.

When contacted by AFP, his father Henke Pistorius declined to say how his son had slept at his uncle's house in Pretoria.

But a source close to the family told AFP late on Friday "the family just want time together. They haven't thought about anything except being together."

Pistorius claims he repeatedly shot at and killed his lover by mistake thinking she was a burglar.

Steenkamp's grieving parents, however, did not appear convinced.

"It doesn't matter how rich he is and how good his legal team is. He needs to live with himself if he lets his legal team lie for him," her father Barry told the Afrikaans-language daily Beeld.

Pistorius has assembled some of the best legal brains in South Africa to defend his case.

"He'll have to live with his conscience. But if he's telling the truth, I may forgive him one day," Steenkamp's father said.

But "if it didn't happen as he described it, he should suffer. And he will suffer ... only he knows."

Pistorius's family has sent flowers and a card to the Steenkamp family but "what does that mean? Nothing," said June, Reeva's mother.

Pistorius's brother Carl later in the day tweeted: "Thank you to every person that has prayed for both families."

In addition to the bail cash he posted Friday afternoon, which experts say is among one of the highest ever set in South Africa, Pistorius had to surrender his passport and firearms.

The magistrate quadrupled the bail amount initially proposed by the state.

He will have to report twice weekly to Pretoria's Brooklyn police. He was also ordered not to take alcohol or drugs.

Pistorius may also hold talks with his trainer to get back on the track, despite being banned under his bail terms from competing outside South Africa.

"He is a professional athlete. He needs to keep his body in shape," the family source said.

His arrest on February 14 shocked the world and gripped South Africa, where he became a national hero after becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics last year.

The state charged him with the premeditated killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp.

If found guilty he faces a possible life sentence.


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Quake off Indonesia causes panic

AN undersea earthquake has rocked eastern Indonesia, causing panic among residents in neighbouring East Timor.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The US Geological Survey says the magnitude-5.7 quake that struck on Saturday evening was centred 202 kilometres east of East Timor's capital, Dili, at a depth of 35 kilometres.

Witnesses in Dili say residents ran out of their houses in panic, with many staying outside in fear of aftershocks.

Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency put the quake's magnitude at 6.2 with a depth of 10 kilometres.

Indonesia and East Timor are prone to seismic upheaval due to their location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.


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Boy dies after contracting bat virus

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 22 Februari 2013 | 21.29

A RARE disease carried by bats has reportedly claimed the life of an eight-year-old boy in Brisbane.

The boy was bitten or scratched by a bat in north Queensland in December and fell ill around three weeks ago, suffering from the Australian bat Lyssavirus.

The ABC reports on its website that the boy died late Friday afternoon at Brisbane's Mater Hospital.

His family and some friends have been treated with post-exposure drugs as a precaution, the public broadcaster reports.


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Indon party chief named at graft inquiry

INDONESIA'S anti-graft commission has named the head of the country's ruling party a suspect in a corruption case and banned him from leaving the country.

The chairman of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Anas Urbaningrum, is accused of receiving payments in connection with the construction of a sports complex in West Java.

The Corruption Eradication Commission announced on Friday that it had enough evidence Urbaningrum violated the corruption law to name him a suspect.

It is the latest blow to the party and to Yudhoyono, its founder, who ran as "Mr. Clean" in his 2009 re-election campaign.

Yudhoyono earlier relieved Urbaningrum of his party duties to allow him to focus on legal issues amid the corruption allegations.


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Medical helicopter crash in US kills 2

A MEDICAL helicopter has crashed near a nursing home in Oklahoma City, killing two people and injuring a third.

Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O'Leary said no one on the ground was seriously hurt or killed, and the person taken to OU Medical Center was believed to be on the helicopter with those killed.

One person on the ground suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene, O'Leary said early on Friday.

A large storm system has blanketed much of the US Midwest in snow, but it wasn't immediately clear if weather may have played a role in the crash.

The National Weather Service said it was clear in Oklahoma City at the time.


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NATO may station troops in Afghanistan

NATO may station up to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan to train and assist Kabul's forces after the alliance's combat mission there against the Taliban ends in 2014, US officials say.

US Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Friday NATO was considering deployment of between 8000 and 12,000 troops, including any US contribution, but no final decision has yet been made.

Reports of a US presence alone of 8000 to 12,000 troops "are not correct", he added.


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Home brand products popular with shoppers

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 21 Februari 2013 | 21.29

ALMOST all Australian shoppers buy home brand products because they're looking for value and to save money, a survey has found.

The Product of the Year survey, which polled more than 11,600 shoppers, found 94 per cent of consumers bought a home brand product.

Sixty per cent of shoppers found home brands were "similar" to manufacturer brands and that plainer packaging looked just as good as the packets of branded goods.

The survey also found that 60 per cent of consumers compared the price of home brand products to manufacturer brands when buying an item.

Product of the Year director Sarah Connelly said consumers may be choosing home brands out of necessity.

"The difficult economic environment has been a strong driver of private label growth," she said in a statement.

"People are constantly searching for value and looking for ways to save dollars."

She also said an increase in the range and quality of "private label products available in supermarkets has led many consumers to make the shift to home brands".


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Wilders to give Sydney speech

RIGHT-WING Dutch MP Geert Wilders is expected to deliver a speech in Sydney on Friday on the third leg of his controversial tour of Australia.

Mr Wilders is expected to address the conservative Q Society of Australia at 7.30pm (AEDT) at an undisclosed location in Sydney.

The founder and leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, which holds 15 seats in the Dutch parliament, cancelled a media conference and speaking engagement in Perth on Wednesday after a four-star hotel scrubbed his booking.

He received a standing ovation on Tuesday in Melbourne, where several hundred people dodged a large group of protesters to hear the first speech in his Australian tour.

In Melbourne, Mr Wilders said Europe's capitals were being swamped by Islamic immigrants and warned the same could happen in Australia.

He also called for an end to the building of mosques across the country.

The Q Society of Australia did not respond to AAP's requests for information about where the Sydney event would be held.


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Budget office to audit all policies: Swan

ALL election policies will be independently audited and published a month after elections, under a new plan to be announced by federal Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Under the plan, the impact of election policies on the budget bottom line would be made clear for the general public.

The government will legislate to give the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) more money to cost all parties' policies, Mr Swan will tell the Australian Business Economists breakfast briefing in Sydney on Friday.

"This will enhance the capacity for costings to be prepared in the lead up to the election, removing any excuse for policies to be released like thought balloons rather than rigorously-costed policies," Mr Swan will say.

"This will remove the capacity of any political party to try to mislead the Australian people and punish those that do."

The treasurer will also commit to release the 2012-13 preliminary underlying cash balance once the Treasury and Finance departments tell the government they have a reliable figure.

"There will be no fiscal surprises after the election," Mr Swan will say.

Recent final budget outcomes have been released between September 24 and 30.

A similar time would mean the budget's bottom line would be released after the proposed election date of September 14.

Mr Swan indicated last December the government was unlikely to return the budget to surplus due to less than forecast tax revenue.

But the government will continue to find savings as it prepares the May budget to pay for big spending reforms like the national disability insurance scheme and the Gonski school plan, Mr Swan will say on Friday.


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Three UK men found guilty of terror plot

THREE British Muslim men have been found guilty of planning a string of bombings that prosecutors said could have been deadlier than the attacks on London's transport network in 2005.

Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, were convicted on Thursday of being "central figures" in an Islamist extremist plot to set off eight backpack bombs and possibly other timed devices in crowded areas.

The three men, all from Birmingham, had denied charges of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts during their trial at Woolwich Crown Court in London.

Police said it was the most significant terrorist plot to be uncovered in Britain since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs in drink containers.

Two of the men - Naseer and Khalid - travelled to Pakistan for terrorist training while Naseer also helped others to travel to the country for the same purpose, the court heard.


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Pistorius fought with Reeva 'non-stop'

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 20 Februari 2013 | 21.29

WITNESSES claimed hearing arguing, a woman screaming and gunfire at the house of "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius the night he shot dead his model girlfriend, police have told a South African court.

Pistorius's defence team undermined the reliability of the claims as the South African sporting hero sought bail for the Valentine's Day killing that he insists was a horrible accident and not intentional, as prosecutors aim to prove.

Police also said on Wednesday that Pistorius had previously been arrested at his Pretoria home for assault, although he was not charged, and faced further charges of possessing an unlicensed gun.

A woman who lives in the same highly-secured Pretoria complex as Pistorius "heard talking that sounded like non-stop fighting from two to three in the morning", hours before she was killed, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Another witness reported hearing gunshots, screams and then more shots, police said.

"We have the statement of a person who said after he heard gunshots, he went to his balcony and saw the light was on. Then he heard a female screaming two-three times, then more gunshots," Detective Hilton Botha said.

But Pistorius's legal team disputed these accounts as police said the witnesses were 300 metres from the house.

And the prosecution, which wants to prove that the Paralympian had deliberately planned to kill Steenkamp, was forced to admit that Pistorius's claim that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder matched the crime scene.

"It sounds consistent," Botha said.

Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, was shot three times through the bathroom door early on February 14, with wounds to her head, elbow and hip.

She was declared to have died later by medics who found her covered in bloodied towels and wearing white shorts and a black vest.

Botha, the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics in London last year, says he shot her by mistake through a locked bathroom door, believing she was a burglar.

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said in an affidavit read to the court on the first day of his trial Monday.

"We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy," he said.

Pistorius, 26, said he kept a firearm under his bed at night because he had been a victim of violence and burglaries before and had received death threats.

But the state prosecutor said the athlete would face an additional charge of possessing unlicensed .38 special calibre ammunition.

A police search of his home also found testosterone and needles in a dresser in his bedroom, Botha said, amid speculation that performance-enhancing drugs may have influenced his mental state.

But his defence lawyer, Barry Roux, said the sex hormone was an acceptable supplement. "It's a herbal remedy and he can use it and he has used it before," he said.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that he was drug-tested before and during last year's Paralympic Games in London and on both occasions the results were negative.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder, setting a high bar for bail.

The bail hearing was adjourned until Thursday.

Pistorius, who off the track has had a rocky private life with stories of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

In 2009, Pistorius - who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars - spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.

He runs on carbon-fibre blades, which inspired his nickname, after being born without the fibulas in both of his legs which were amputated below the knee when he was a baby.

Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($A621,240) a year and owned the $US570,000 house where the killing took place as well as two other homes.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.

But two of his American sponsors, Nike and sunglasses maker Oakley, announced they were dropping Pistorius from their advertising campaigns, which have earned him millions of dollars in endorsements.

French cosmetics firm Clarins said on Wednesday it was dropping a fragrance advertising campaign featuring Pistorius.


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Pope may bring conclave forward: Vatican

POPE Benedict XVI may issue a decree that would bring forward the conclave tasked with electing his successor before a date in mid-March scheduled under the current rules, the Vatican says.

"The Pope is considering a Motu Proprio (decree) in the coming days... to clarify a few specific aspects of the apostolic constitution on the conclave," spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Wednesday.

Historian Ambrogio Piazzoni said "the Pope is the only one who can legislate until the last minute", when he steps down on February 28.

The Apostolic Constitution promulgated by Benedict's predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, in 1996 states that the conclave must begin between 15 and 20 days following the start of the popeless "Sede Vacante" ("Vacant Seat") interregnum.

The delay is normally for cardinals to have time to travel to Rome following the death of a Pope.

But in this case many of the cardinals are already in Rome to bid farewell to the outgoing pontiff.

The conclave is expected to bring together the world's 117 "cardinal electors" and meets in secret in the Sistine Chapel until a two-thirds majority is found in favour of a candidate to be the Pope.

Bringing forward the date of the start of the conclave would help prevent any overlap with Easter, which this year falls on March 31.


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Bulgarian government quits after protests

BULGARIA'S prime minister has announced the surprise resignation of his government after days of sometimes violent rallies, paving the way for early elections in the European Union's poorest member.

"It is the people who put us in power and we give it back to them today," Boyko Borisov told parliament on Wednesday.

"I will not participate in a government where the police beat up people or where threats for protests replace political dialogue. If the street wants to govern the country, let it do it."

Elections were expected to take place in late April and in the meantime the president was expected to appoint a caretaker government of experts.

Bulgaria has been shaken over the past 10 days by protests that were first focused on soaring electricity prices but then grew into nationwide demonstrations against the right-wing government.

With the Bulgarian economy barely growing, voters are frustrated by what they see as his failure to clamp down on corruption and cronyism, as repeatedly demanded by Brussels.

After tens of thousands rallied on Sunday, violent clashes erupted on Monday and Tuesday night with running battles between demonstrators and protesters leaving 26 people injured.

Two men also reportedly set themselves on fire, one of whom - who was mentally ill - has died and the other was in hospital with 80-per cent burns.

Borisov had attempted to take the heat out of the crisis by announcing on Monday the sacking of the unpopular finance minister and on Tuesday saying he would revoke the licence of Czech electricity firm CEZ and lower electricity prices by 8.0 per cent.

"There is nothing more we could do, we gave the maximum... I do not want to see blood on the streets again," the premier said on Wednesday.

Analysts have long said that people's empty cupboards were set to cause the once hugely popular Borisov - a former firefighter, bodyguard and police chief - to lose his sway with voters as the end of his government's term in July neared.

The average monthly wage is 400 ($A521) and the typical pension 138 euros. Official unemployment is around 11.5 per cent but unions say the real figure is 17 or 18 per cent.

Support for Borisov's right-wing GERB party has eroded to about 22 per cent, about the same as for the opposition Socialists, a recent Gallup poll showed.

Borisov's personal approval rating was also down to an unprecedented 29 per cent, or as much as that of Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev.

Experts meanwhile were uncertain whether Borisov's resignation would be enough to assuage public anger.

"This move of Borisov aims to put out the fire of the protests. But we are yet to see if it will work," political analyst Rumyana Kolarova told state BNT radio.

Parliament - where GERB has a near majority of 117 politicians and support from a handful of independents - was due to vote on the cabinet resignation on Thursday morning, speaker Tsetska Tsacheva said.


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Howes scoffs at Labor leadership rumours

LABOR leadership speculation is "much ado about nothing," union heavyweight Paul Howes maintains.

Labor's popularity took a further hit in an opinion poll earlier this week with opposition leader Tony Abbott overtaking Julia Gillard's level of support in the preferred prime minister stakes.

Mr Howes, the Australian Workers' Union National Secretary dismissed speculation Labor may try to change leaders again.

He said everyday newspapers across the country were printing leadership speculation using unnamed sources.

"When someone actually goes on the record and says that something is actually happening, then I'll get interested in it," Mr Howes told ABC TV.

"At the moment there's a lot of media speculation but it's much ado about nothing."

Mr Howes told Ms Gillard on Monday "we've got your back" at the union's national conference.

Asked to clarify what he meant Mr Howes said he was referring to her political opponent opposition leader Tony Abbott, rather than the man she replaced in office, Kevin Rudd.

"What we talked about... was that the full resources of the AWU be deployed in the lead up of September 14, to make sure that we have a prime minister remaining in Canberra who's going to advocate for the interests our members and the communities they represent," he said.

Mr Howes slammed the "constant obsessive navel gazing."

"Every single sentence is over analysed," Mr Howes said.


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BP, Reliance plan $US5 bn Indian gas deal

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 19 Februari 2013 | 21.29

BRITAIN'S BP and India's Reliance Industries say they plan to invest more than $US5 billion ($A4.88 billion) to develop India's largest natural gasfield in the Bay of Bengal over the next few years.

"This plan, when implemented, would entail a potential total investment in excess of $US5 billion over the next three to five years," the two companies said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to the KG-D6 gasfield.

BP, already India's largest single British investor, and Reliance, controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, said they would invest in a series of projects to develop four trillion cubic feet of gas resources from the block.

The announcement came as British Prime Minister David Cameron was in New Delhi on the second-day of a trade-focused official visit, during which he declared that his country wants to be India's trade "partner of choice."

Gas from these projects "will deliver energy to millions of Indians and would significantly help India in reducing its import dependence", said Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily.

"The decision to join forces with Reliance Industries to invest $US5 billion in the next few years into India's gas markets reinforces how two of Britain and India's leading companies can work together," Cameron added.


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Syria children among 19 killed in Aleppo

SIX children were among at least 19 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a monitoring group says.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "it is likely a surface-to-surface missile strike" had been fired at Jabal Badro on the edge of Aleppo city late on Monday.

Six children and three women were among at least 19 people killed and "the death toll is likely to rise as bodies are being rescued from under the rubble," the Britain-based Observatory said.

There were no planes overhead when the missile hit Jabal Badro, according to residents cited by the Observatory, and the extent of the destruction indicated a surface-to-surface missile was likely used to strike the area, watchdog director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"Housing in the district was informally built. It took one surface-to-surface rocket to destroy an entire neighbourhood," said Abu Hisham, an Aleppo-based citizen journalist who spoke to AFP via the internet.

Footage and photographs shot by activists in Aleppo, scene of fierce fighting since the army launched an all-out assault to stop a rebel advance on Syria's second city on July 20, showed massive destruction in Jabal Badro.

Amateur video posted online by the anti-regime Aleppo Media Centre a day after the strike showed crowds of people gathering around hills of rubble in Jabal Badro and a bulldozer shovelling the debris as residents searched for their relatives.

"I swear to God! I rescued a baby aged just two months from the rubble!" cried an unidentified man interviewed by an amateur cameraman in Jabal Badro.

AFP could not authenticate the video.

Activists have reported the army's use of surface-to-surface missiles on various targets in northern Syria since late 2012.

Late last year, a security source in Damascus told AFP such missiles were a Syrian-made version of Scud missiles, while NATO has since reported the use of ballistic missiles in Syria.

AFP ev


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Komodo dragon attacks tour guide

A KOMODO dragon has mauled a tour guide in an Indonesian national park, just two weeks after a previous attack there by one of the giant lizards.

The reptile, over two metres, appeared when the guide passed its lair on Tuesday while he was trekking with four Indonesian visitors to Rinca island - one of two Komodo-inhabited islands frequently visited by tourists.

"He tried to protect himself with a stick but the Komodo was stronger and faster than him, and he was bitten on his right calf," said the administrative official of the Komodo National Park, Heru Rudiharto.

The 25-year-old guide named Abdurahman was taken to hospital on the nearby island of Flores where his wounds were being stitched, said Stefanus Jalak, a colleague who accompanied him.

Until recently, Komodos were believed to hunt with a "bite and wait" strategy - using toxic bacteria in their saliva to weaken or kill their prey before descending in numbers to feast.

But recent research found that the dragons' jaws have highly sophisticated poison glands that can cause paralysis, spasms and shock through haemorrhaging.

They are native to several Indonesian islands and are considered a vulnerable species, with only a few thousand left in the world. Their normal diet consists of large mammals, reptiles and birds.

Komodos, the world's largest monitor lizards, can grow up to three metres and typically weigh to 70 kilograms.

Earlier this month one attacked two park employees, leaving them hospitalised with serious injuries.

A 50-year-old ranger was sitting at his desk at the Rinca island front office, where tourists usually check in, when the two-metre-long lizard sneaked into his room.

Another employee, aged 35, heard the ranger scream and quickly ran to his aid but the lizard also attacked him and bit his leg.


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Debt levels to remain high, says Barnett

DEBT won't fall to levels seen under the previous West Australian government while big developments continue in the state, Premier Colin Barnett says.

Labor has frequently reminded voters that debt was at a mere $3.6 billion in 2008 under the party's leadership compared to more than $18 billion by the end of this financial year.

But Mr Barnett says major projects are needed to support the ever-growing state's needs amid mounting industrial requirements and population growth.

Asked during a live debate on ABC television on Tuesday night if a re-elected Liberal government could reduce debt to 2008 levels, he said: "I don't think so if we continue to build major capital projects".

WA was going through a unique period of growth and the Liberal party had grasped it, Mr Barnett said, listing its achievements as including getting major projects such as Gorgon off the ground. Its future rail plans would mean more debt, he said.

"This is the decade for action," he said.

"If this is the Asia Century, this is the Asian decade right now and this state is going ahead because this government does make decisions.

"Yes, we've borrowed more money because we're striking out and we're getting the big projects. "We will bring debt, and level it off in the second term.

"But we are well within control."

Mr Barnett said the state government would continue to achieve surpluses, but conceded it had no savings measures other than to keep public sector costs down.

Labor only kept borrowings down because it benefited from the property boom, he said.

State opposition leader Mark McGowan said WA Labor didn't create the state's current debt situation, "but obviously if we were elected, we'd have to deal with it".

And it had a good record in keeping debt down, Mr McGowan said.

"What you have to do is make tough decisions," he said, referring to last week's announcement that the opposition would change or axe major projects and spending planned by the Liberal party.

He took a swipe at Mr Barnett's new office, dubbed The Premier's Palace, and said most of the big projects that had been completed under the Liberals had started under Labor.

"What actually developments are there that Mr Barnett has delivered in his term of office? The only new one that I can think of - conceived, planned, built and occupied - is his own new office," Mr McGowan said.

"All of the other plans were ones that were already in place and what West Australians are seeing is a massive increase in debt.

"On top of that, unemployment has gone up and I think industries other than the mining industries need a fair go because they're not getting enough attention from the state government."


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EU approves military mission to Mali

Written By Unknown on Senin, 18 Februari 2013 | 21.29

EUROPEAN Union foreign ministers formally approved the launch of a 500-strong EU military mission to train the Malian army, which has already begun work on the ground.

A first group of 70 EU military arrived in the west African nation 10 days ago, and Monday's ministerial green light was the final phase in setting up the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), which has a 15-month mandate to shape up the ramnshackle Malian army.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the mission "is going to be of enormous importance in support of the Malian army", a poorly equipped and trained force without the capacity to maintain the country's territorial integrity.

The 27 EU nations first approved the notion of a training mission in December to boost the army's ability to fight Islamist rebels who last year seized control of the country's vast arid north.

But its launch was accelerated after the surprise intervention of France in its former colony on January 11, to stop the insurgents marching south on the capital.

Some 16 countries from the EU as well as Norway have agreed to take part in the EUTM, which will have a 12.3 million euros ($A16.07 million) budget, with each contributor nation financing its own troops.

Around half of the troops will be trainers, the remainder providing protection and administrative and medical backup.


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Opposition rules out emissions scheme

THE federal opposition's climate change spokesman says the coalition will never introduce an emissions trading scheme.

"I don't see it's ever likely to happen," Liberal frontbencher Greg Hunt told ABC TV on Monday night.

Mr Hunt said Canada had recently rejected a carbon tax and China "is not going anywhere near this".

He said the Gillard government's scheme to address climate change was an "electricity tax and gas tax" and he denied it was reducing carbon emissions.

"I can guarantee you that China will not be imposing a nationwide electricity, energy and gas tax," Mr Hunt said.

China has announced a progressive rollout of pilot emissions trading schemes, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, which cover more than 100 million people.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott "described himself as a weathervane on climate change and then said it was bull***."

"This is the man who wants to be prime minister, take that with a grain of caution," she told ABC TV.

She said emissions had come down by 8.6 per cent since a price on carbon pollution was introduced.

Ms Plibersek said by the end of the year one billion people will be living in a country, city or state with an emissions trading scheme or carbon price.

Last week, US President Barack Obama urged Congress to introduce a market-based mechanism to tackle climate change.


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Spanish airline strike hits flights

WORKERS at Spanish loss-making airline Iberia launched a five-day strike against job cuts, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations and buffetting budget carrier Vueling, too.

Iberia's cabin crew, ground staff and maintenance workers struck from Monday to Friday in the first of a series of three five-day strikes to protest plans to axe 3,800 jobs.

The flag carrier said it scrapped 415 flights across Spain and Europe for the week including 81 on Monday alone.

The carrier operated 135 flights on Monday.

Iberia's offshoots were hard hit, too.

Iberia Express chopped 20 flights on Monday alone and regional carrier Air Nostrum cut another 57.

Iberia ground crew service flights for budget carrier Vueling, forcing that airline, too, to curb operations.

Vueling said it had cut 354 flights for the five days - 39 per cent of its usual service.

A list posted on the airline's web site showed 78 cancellations for Monday alone.

Iberia workers also plan to strike from March 4-8 and again from March 18-22 to protest against the job cuts announced by International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns Iberia and British Airways.

IAG last week announced it would axe 3,800 jobs at Iberia to save costs but says it is still open to talks with unions during a formal 30-day consultation process.


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France still sticking to deficit target

FRENCH Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici says he is sticking to the aim of cutting public deficit to three per cent of output this year but the country's credibility won't be hit if it fails to do so.

Moscovici's comments came after revised figures by the national statistics agency showed the economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and growth was zero for the whole year.

The latest data puts the government in a dilemma over a commitment to the European Union to cut its public deficit to within the ceiling of three per cent of output this year as the eurozone, struggling as a whole with recession, fights its way out of the debt crisis.

"Our true commitment was to reduce our structural deficit by a huge margin," Moscovici told reporters from the Anglo American Press Association.

"The day I am speaking here I stick to the three per cent," he said.

"I am waiting for the growth forecast ... on Friday and then we will enter into a dialogue and we have got the tools for that," Moscovici said.

"We must not add austerity to the risk of recession."

The zero growth in France in 2012 is a sharp slowdown from growth of 1.7 per cent in 2011.

It scuttled France's chances of meeting its target of reducing the public deficit to 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012, which was based on the economy growing by 0.3 per cent.

It also threw into question the 2013 target of reaching the three per cent level that is the allowed ceiling for European countries.

Moscovici has said the government would now have to rethink its forecast for growth this year of 0.8 per cent.

But he said: "The credibility question relies on the structural deficit before anything else," Moscovici said.

"We will see what happens ... But I don't believe our credibility will be damaged if something exceptional intervenes."


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Gillard wooing blue-collar workers

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 17 Februari 2013 | 21.29

EDS: not for use before 0001 AEDT on Monday, Feb 18.

By Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

GOLD COAST, Feb 18 AAP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard will continue her jobs and industry pitch to blue-collar voters on Monday, addressing a key union conference on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Ms Gillard on Sunday launched a $1 billion plan to invest in innovation, provide venture capital funding for small business and give Australian manufacturers a fairer shot at major contracts.

On Monday night, she will tell the Australian Workers Union national conference her Plan for Australian Jobs would be sustainable for at least three years from 2014 through structural savings in the federal budget.

"We've been cutting bad priorities and inefficient spending from the budget to make room for investments in Australia's future - now we're taking the same approach to funding our jobs plan," the prime minister will say.

She'll argue that it is unnecessary to give some of the largest and more profitable companies in the nation $1 billion to innovate when they have the resources and the market incentives to do so already.

Some of Australia's biggest companies will also be in the sights of the AWU, when it launches a new advertisement featuring actor Jack Thompson at the conference on Monday morning.

In the ad, Thompson recites part of Henry Lawson's classic poem, Freedom on the Wallaby, and observes - in a dig at mining billionaire Gina Rinehart - that "some of the richest people in the world are complaining about how hard they're doing".

"We used to be a country that could be proud of what it made," he says, urging union members to "forge a new future".

Marginal outer metropolitan seats with large populations of blue-collar voters will be key to the September 14 federal election, just as they were to US President Barack Obama's victory in 2012.

A key US union boss Bob King, from the United Auto Workers, will share his insights with the conference on Monday.

Delegates will also hear from South Australian premier Jay Weatherill, who last week met with the prime minister in Canberra for economic talks ahead of Ms Gillard bringing federal community cabinet to his state on Wednesday.


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Vic filmmaker Clifford wins Tropfest

VICTORIAN filmmaker Nicholas Clifford has been crowned victor at the 21st Tropfest, making him the last person to win before the festival moves dates and location.

Tropfest is waving goodbye to the end of an era as it readies to move from February to December 8 this year and from The Domain to Centennial Park in Sydney.

Unlike last year, when a severe downpour caused the crowd to all but flee, this year brought with it clear skies and a live audience reportedly 90,000 strong.

Clifford was awarded first place for his short We've All Been There by Avatar actor Sam Worthington, who made up the judging panel alongside Magda Szubanski, Rebecca Gibney and The Sapphires director Wayne Blair.

Worthington earlier spoke to AAP about judging, saying, "it's not about budget, it's not about box office, it's about pure entertainment and that to me is what film should be about. Not all that other junk."

Clifford, whose film also won best female actor for Laura Wheelwright, accepted the Tropfest fruit bowl trophy from Worthington.

"I get grief that I look like him sometimes, so this is going to give everyone a bit more ammunition to throw at me. But what a guy," he said.

"He's got this really cool attitude about how it's the journey, not the destination."

On that journey, Clifford will be taking with him prizes including $10,000 cash, a Toyota car and a trip to LA, as well as a Nikon D800 and $2000 worth of Nikon lenses and accessories.

Worthington also created an impromptu award, announcing he and the other judges would award Raymond Borzelli, a dancing busker an audience favourite from documentary Better Than Sonatra, $3000 for best personality.

Another surprise during the night was Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, who appeared on the big screen with a recorded message from the set of David Michod's new film The Rover in South Australia.


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Public servant numbers drop in Australia

THE number of bureaucrats in Australia has dropped for the first time in more than a decade, a new analysis of jobs data shows.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) quarterly jobs reports, released on Monday, show there were 2500 fewer public servants in June 2012 than the previous year.

In previous years, commonwealth, state and local governments had hired an average of 40,000 new workers annually.

The report also notes this may be only the start, since many cuts, such as those in Queensland, were made in the 2012/13 financial year.

It found that in the year to November 2012, the public administration and safety sector, which included public servants and emergency services workers, shed 50,800 jobs.

That was the largest drop in the sector since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began recording quarterly labour force data in 1984.

"The federal government, as well Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and WA, and local governments, have reduced the size of their public sector," ACTU president Ged Kearney said.

She said governments had foreshadowed more cuts to come by reducing forecasts of wage bills.

"Cutting public sector workers is a short-sighted policy which will lead to reduced services for all Australians," Ms Kearney said.

"Many of the workers who lose their jobs will spend long periods of time in unemployment."

The union analysis also found recent jobs growth had all been in part-time work, with the amount of full-time employment falling for three months in a row.

Construction had a weak year, losing 37,800 workers to November 2012.

The mining sector made the strongest gains with 11.9 per cent growth, putting on an extra 28,600 workers.


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Lieberman corruption trial begins

THE trial of Israel's former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of fraud and breach of trust has opened at a Jerusalem court in a case that will decide the former bouncer's political future.

Wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt, Lieberman was silent as he entered the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Sunday and did not speak to waiting reporters.

Lieberman is accused of having promoted an Israeli ambassador who provided him with confidential information about a police investigation into his affairs.

The hearing before a panel of three judges was expected to be brief and focus on procedural issues, with Lieberman expected to plead not guilty.

In mid-December, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein said he was charging Lieberman with two offences over the promotion of the former envoy to Belarus, Zeev Ben Aryeh, in an incident dating back to 2008 when Lieberman was an MP.

Lieberman immediately resigned his cabinet post but retains his status as an MP, expressing confidence that he will be cleared of all charges and will return to his job as foreign minister.

According to the indictment, Lieberman was allegedly tipped off by Ben Aryeh that police had contacted their counterparts in Belarus for help with an inquiry into his affairs.

He is then suspected of seeking to reward Ben Aryeh with a posting to Latvia.

An outspoken hardliner who has been investigated by police several times since 1996, Lieberman denies the charges, saying he is eager to vindicate himself in court.

Public radio said the next hearing was expected on April 25, followed by three more in quick succession.

Despite his resignation from the foreign ministry, Lieberman remains head of the hardline secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, which ran on a joint list with the right-wing Likud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, narrowly winning last month's election.

The list won 31 seats in the 120-member parliament, and Netanyahu is currently trying to piece together a coalition government.

Lieberman's political future, however, will depend on the outcome of the trial.

Since Lieberman's resignation, Netanyahu has himself served as interim foreign minister but he is reportedly seeking to reinstate his ally once the legal proceedings are over.


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