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Lebanese president accepts PM resignation

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 23 Maret 2013 | 21.29

Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati says the government has resigned. Source: AAP

LEBANESE President Michel Suleiman has formally accepted the resignation of the prime minister, who stepped down blaming government infighting during a time of rising sectarian tensions.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati submitted his written resignation to the president after announcing he was stepping down the day before, taking the country by surprise.

Suleiman asked that his government assume a caretaking role while a new government is being formed.

Mikati's unexpected resignation throws the country into uncertainty at a critical time and threatens to leave a void in the state's highest ranks amid sporadic violence inflamed by the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

It opens the way for what is expected to be prolonged political jockeying as parliamentary blocs try to build a majority coalition to choose a new prime minister.

"I hope that this resignation will provide an opening in the existing deadlock and pave the way for a (political) solution," he said, following his meeting with Suleiman on Saturday.

Mikati has been prime minister since June 2011, heading a government dominated by the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah and its allies.

Their main rivals are a coalition headed by former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, who was also prime minister and was killed in a truck bombing in 2005.

A Harvard-educated billionaire, Mikati was chosen to lead the government after Hezbollah forced the collapse of Lebanon's previous government over fears a UN-backed tribunal investigating the killing of the elder Hariri would indict Hezbollah members.

Mikati stepped down on Friday to protest the parliament's inability to agree on a law to govern elections set for later this year, as well as the refusal by Hezbollah and its allies in the cabinet to extend the tenure of the country's police chief, Major General Ashraf Rifi, who at 58 is about to hit the mandatory retirement age for his rank.

Rifi, like Mikati, is a Sunni Muslim who is considered a foe by Hezbollah.

In his speech on Friday, Mikati said that if Rifi is not allowed to stay on, his departure would send the police department into "a vacuum".


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Pope tells Benedict 'we're brothers'

POPE Francis has travelled to Castel Gandolfo to have lunch with his predecessor Benedict XVI in a historic melding of the papacies that has never before confronted the Catholic Church.

The Vatican said the two popes embraced on the helipad.

In the chapel where they prayed together, Benedict offered Francis the traditional kneeler used by the pope.

Francis refused to take it alone, saying "We're brothers," and the two prayed together on the same one.

Outside the villa, the main piazza of Castel Gandolfo was packed on Saturday with well-wishers hoping to catch a glimpse of history - two popes breaking bread together and presumably discussing the future of the Catholic Church.

They chanted "Francesco! Francesco!".

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he understands Benedict offered his pledge of obedience to the new pope, while Francis thanked Benedict for his ministry.

He said they both wore white, though Benedict was in a simple cassock without the traditional sash and cape worn by Francis.

Benedict has been living at the papal summer villa since he resigned on February 28, the first pope to step down in 600 years.

He has said he plans to live out his final years in prayer and remain "hidden from the world".

Benedict's dramatic departure that day - flying by helicopter from the helipad in the Vatican gardens with his weeping secretary by his side and circling St Peter's Square in a final goodbye - is one of the most evocative images of this remarkable papal transition.

The Vatican is downplaying the luncheon in keeping with Benedict's desire to remain in private and not interfere with his successor's papacy.

There was to be no live coverage of the private meeting by Vatican television, only a few still photos from the official Vatican photographer and perhaps a video released after the fact.

The Vatican said Benedict was at the helipad in the villa gardens to welcome Francis, and that the two were meeting in Benedict's library and having lunch together.

Francis will then return to his makeshift home at the Vatican hotel at an unspecified time later in the day.

The Vatican spokesman promised a general comment about the meeting, but no detailed statement.


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Imran Khan rallies thousands in Pakistan

PAKISTANI cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan has rallied around 100,000 supporters in the eastern city of Lahore ahead of general elections.

Khan is shaping up to be the biggest wildcard in the May 11 parliamentary election - the first transition between democratically elected governments in a country that has experienced three military coups.

Casting himself as an anti-corruption crusader, the 60-year-old is seen as a threat to the two long-dominant parties as evidenced by the huge crowds that turned out on Saturday to support him.

Khan polls as the country's most popular politician by a wide margin.

But it's uncertain how effective he will be in converting his personal appeal into votes for his party.

Much of Khan's support has come from young, middle class Pakistanis in the country's major cities, a potentially influential group.

Almost half of Pakistan's more than 80 million registered voters are under the age of 35, but the key question is whether Khan can get his young supporters to show up at the polling booth on election day.

"This is going to swing the election," Khan said in an interview before the rally.

"The youth is standing with us and change."

Khan, one of the few Pakistani politicians with a squeaky-clean image, broke into the political mainstream in the last 18 months with a message that capitalises on widespread discontent with the country's traditional politicians.

They are seen as more interested in lining their pockets than dealing with pressing problems facing Pakistan, such as stuttering economic growth, pervasive energy shortages and deadly attacks by Islamist militants.

On foreign policy, he has also struck a chord by criticising Pakistan's unpopular alliance with the United States and controversial drone attacks targeting militants in the country's tribal region that borders Afghanistan.


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China asks France to protect its tourists

BEIJING has urged French authorities to better protect Chinese tourists known for their big spending habits, citing "concern" over recent attacks on visitors to Paris.

The country's National Tourism Administration - which reports directly to the government - made the call after 23 Chinese tourists travelling in a group were robbed soon after they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris.

"Their passports, plane tickets and cash were stolen and the group leader sustained an injury to the face," the organisation said in a statement published by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

It called on French authorities to bring to justice those who assaulted the tourists on Wednesday, and to ensure an "effective protection" of Chinese visitors in France.

France has long been considered a dream destination in China, where it is often lovingly portrayed as the country of "romance".

But that dream has recently turned into a nightmare for some Chinese tourists, who have been victims of violent robberies and other aggressions.

Chinese media has in recent weeks reported on several such incidents.

More than one million Chinese tourists visit France every year, according to the Chinese tourism administration.


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UK paper to pay for actor Nazi photo error

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 22 Maret 2013 | 21.29

A CROATIAN actor has accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over an article in a British newspaper that wrongly identified him as a Nazi war criminal.

Ljubomir Jurkovic brought an action in London's High Court over a November 2010 story in the Independent about the death of Samuel Kunz, who had served as a guard at the Belzec extermination camp.

It was accompanied by a photo of 52-year-old Jurkovic from the 2007 film The Living and the Dead, in which he played an officer of the Croatian Fascist movement, captioned: "A war-time image thought to show Samuel Kunz who was third on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals".

Jurkovic's counsel, Christina Michalos, told Justice Victoria Sharp that the error had understandably caused him distress, humiliation and upset.

"I wish to make it expressly clear that the claimant has never committed war crimes, whether during World War II or during the Bosnian war, and has no connection of any kind with such activities and does not subscribe to any form of Nazi ideology."

Matthew Nicklin, counsel for Independent Print Limited, which is to pay substantial damages, apologised for the "extremely regrettable" mistake.


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Last 24 hours 'awful' for ALP: Burke

ENVIRONMENT Minister Tony Burke admits the last 24 hours have been awful for the ALP, but insists the resignation of several ministers means the party can now focus on policy.

Speaking on Friday night, Mr Burke labelled the last 24 hours as "awful" for the Labor Party.

"There's no other way to describe them," he told ABC television.

ALP ministers Chris Bowen, Martin Ferguson and Kim Carr resigned from the front bench on Friday, after fellow minister Simon Crean was sacked on Thursday and four other senior party members, including chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon, quit.

The resignations follow a dramatic leadership tussle on Thursday between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard which resulted in Ms Gillard being confirmed as Prime Minister.

Mr Burke said with the "decks cleared" the party could now engage the public about policy, rather than focusing on internal dramas.

"I think it's clear that we can now, for the good work that we have been doing, have the conversation about it," Mr Burke said.

He did not blame debate around the recent media reform package for sparking the leadership challenge.

"I think this has been building for quite some months... At some point it was going to come to a head," Mr Burke said.

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce said the leadership turmoil showed the ALP was "totally and utterly out of control".

"This nation has never seen anything like this before, and it's absurd," Senator Joyce told the ABC.

He conceded that it wasn't healthy in the lead-up to a federal election to have minimal focus on coalition policies.

"It's not healthy at all," he said.


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US stocks open higher on Cyprus hopes

US stocks have opened higher, suggesting investors have become more hopeful about the Cyprus situation that has hung over recent trading.

Five minutes into trade on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 50.52 points (0.35 per cent) to 14,472.01.

The broad-based S&P 500 picked up 6.29 (0.41 per cent) at 1,552.09, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.11 (0.44 per cent) to 3,236.70.

The rebound followed market losses on Thursday due to some weak earnings reports and uncertainty about Cyprus.

But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said the stronger euro on Friday suggested "there is an underlying sense that a worst-case scenario will be avoided" regarding Cyprus.


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Ntaganda transfered to ICC custody

CONGOLESE warlord Bosco Ntaganda has been transferred to the custody of the International Criminal Court, where he is expected to face trial on war crimes charges.

Ntaganda - wanted by the ICC since 2006 and accused of recruiting child soldiers, organising sexual slavery and murder - walked into the US embassy in Kigali this week and asked to be transferred to the court in The Hague.

"Bosco Ntaganda is currently escorted by an ICC delegation that has left Kigali heading to the ICC detention centre in The Hague," the ICC said in a statement, noting that he is the first person to voluntarily surrender to the court.

Neither Rwanda nor the United States are parties to the ICC treaty, but they have pledged to co-operate with the court on Ntaganda's case.

Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's foreign minister, also confirmed that the man known as "The terminator" was on a flight to Europe.

US embassy officials said he had left their compound in the care of an ICC delegation.

Analysts say that the 40-year-old Congolese militant handed himself in out of desperation, after his fighters suffered heavy losses.

His M23 rebel group, which operates out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, split last month and his faction lost a series of heavy battles, forcing its leadership and fighters to flee to neighbouring Rwanda.

Rwanda and Uganda deny accusations by UN experts that they have violated arms sanctions and given key support to M23 in the past year.

The group is accused of carrying out serious abuses in the volatile east of the massive central African country.

Much of the fighting in eastern DR Congo is over the control of natural resources - including cobalt, used in mobile phones, and copper - and trade routes.

The only person tried and convicted at the ICC is Congolese man Thomas Lubanga, 52, who last year was found guilty of using child soldiers.

Lubanga and Ntaganda were in the same umbrella political grouping during the Congolese civil war, which ended in a fragile peace in 2003, though the east of the country is still home to numerous armed groups.


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PM's apology makes headlines in UK

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 21 Maret 2013 | 21.29

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Julia Gillard made headlines in the United Kingdom on Thursday but not just for the farcical leadership spill.

Ms Gillard's apology to people affected by Australia's forced adoption policy between the 1950s and 1970s was one of the top news items on the BBC.

Morning radio bulletins didn't even mention the spill which turned out to be a non-event after former prime minister Kevin Rudd refused to run for Labor's top job.

The BBC website's world page ran a news story headlined "Australia sorry for forced adoptions" while the government's internal troubles were covered in an an analysis piece by Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant.

He wrote that the PM's moving apology to victims of forced separation should have been one of the more solemn and orderly days in the parliamentary calendar.

"But Canberra's coup culture helped transform it into one of confusion, comedy and commotion that many Australians would prefer to forget."

The left-leaning Guardian newspaper, which has a large Australian readership, ran a prominent online news story declaring: "Gillard survives leadership threat."

The paper reported that in an "extraordinary" day in Australian politics Ms Gillard kept her job after "no one dared stand against her".

The Guardian also reported on its front page online that the "PM apologises over forced adoptions".

The Telegraph online ran both stories on its world page as did The Independent.

Top-selling tabloid The Sun didn't cover either the apology or leadership tussle.

Its online coverage was focused on "16 incredible Kate Upton boob gifs".


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Idea of Rudd comeback 'over': Feeney

LABOR senator David Feeney says the idea of a Kevin Rudd comeback as prime minister is over after Thursday's leadership tussle.

Speaking on Thursday night, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence said Julia Gillard had won a decisive victory over Mr Rudd to confirm herself as party leader.

"The idea of a Kevin Rudd prime ministership is over," Senator Feeney told ABC television.

"It's not a pyrrhic victory, it's a decisive victory. This is an occasion where for the third time the prime minister has been decisively re-endorsed by the caucus as leader."

Labor MPs and senators met for a caucus spill motion on Thursday afternoon after party elder Simon Crean sought to end months of talk about a Kevin Rudd reboot.

Ms Gillard retained the leadership unopposed after Mr Rudd said he wouldn't stand without a request from a majority of the party.

Senator Feeney said the party now had to remain "absolutely focused on the challenge that is immediately before" it.

"This has been a week where the Liberal Party have quite happily said nothing and done nothing and allowed the Labor Party to talk about itself," he said.

"It's precisely the type of week that's emblematic of our challenge."

Senator Feeney refused to be drawn on whether there were concerns inside Labor about cabinet processes under Ms Gillard.

He said he could not comment on the issue because he was not a cabinet member.

"I'm not about to start speculating on cabinet processes," he said.

He said he believed Mr Rudd didn't have a tilt at the top job because "he knew he didn't have the support to become leader".

Victorian Labor MP Richard Marles told the ABC he backed Mr Rudd because he thought the former leader represented the "best chance" for the party.

"I thought the best chance we had in terms of putting our best foot forward was for Kevin Rudd to contest," he said.

"I had a point of view, I made it clear, I don't resile from it, I certainly made my decision, there is no regrets."

At no point did Mr Rudd say he was going to stand for the leadership, Mr Marles said.

"It has always been a question of trying to convince Kevin that this was something that he should do," he said.

Ms Gillard accepted the resignation of Mr Marles from his parliamentary secretary position following Thursday's dramatic events.


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US jobless claims inch higher

NEW claims for US unemployment benefits rose slightly last week but remained near their lowest level in five years, government figures show.

Initial jobless claims totalled 336,000 in the week ending March 16, up a modest 2,000 from the prior week, the Labor Department reported.

The prior week's number was upwardly revised by 2,000 to 334,000.

Despite the uptick last week, jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, stayed close to the 330,000 reading hit in early January, the lowest level since February 2008 as the Great Recession was taking hold.

The four-week moving average of initial claims fell by 7,500, to 339,750.

The downward trend in claims came amid a slowly improving labour market. In February, job growth picked up sharply and the unemployment rate dipped two-tenths of a percentage point to 7.7 per cent, its weakest level since December 2008.

Jennifer Lee of BMO Capital Markets noted the last week's claims coincided with the Labor Department's key survey week for the March jobs report.

"With claims 30,000 below the last survey period, it suggests that we could see a 200,000-plus increase in March payrolls," she said in a research note.


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Vic govt should consider sell-off: VECCI

THE Victorian government could sell off state-owned assets such as sporting grounds and public housing estates to fund key projects such as the East West Link road and Melbourne Metro rail tunnel, a business lobby group says.

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) has also urged the coalition government to consider taking on more debt, as long as the state's triple-A credit rating is preserved.

Executive policy manager Steven Wojtkiw said new ways of financing infrastructure such as the East West Link and Melbourne Metro rail tunnel must be examined, including selling off under-used public land.

"It's really about exploring some new options or approaches to potentially raise some additional money for the government in what is a very tight fiscal context," he told AAP as VECCI launched its May budget submission.

"We've mentioned some of the sporting precincts. There is potentially also surplus public land that's yet to be released."

Mr Wojtkiw said one option would be the privatisation of public housing commission sites.

"That obviously brings with it some social and equity issues for the wider community to discuss," he said.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien has vowed he won't use his first budget to go on a "debt-fuelled spending binge", stressing the importance of maintaining the state's triple-A credit rating.

Mr Wojtkiw said there were plenty of examples of countries, including Singapore, Canada and Germany, that maintained solid credit ratings while lifting net debt.


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ABC shows turkeys bashed at Inghams plant

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 20 Maret 2013 | 21.29

DISTRESSING footage of poultry workers mistreating turkeys at an processing plant at Inghams Enterprises in Sydney's southwest has been turned over to police.

Sydney vet Dr Mark Simpson said the behaviour shown in the footage, taken from a camera hidden in the plant by Animal Liberation over a period of two weeks and given to the ABC, was among the worst he had seen.

He said CCTV monitoring of the slaughtering of animals should be mandatory to prevent further pain and suffering of animals.

The footage showed workers at the plant kicking birds, stomping on their heads and slamming them up against production line machinery.

Emma Hurst, from Animal Liberation, said the workers showed a complete disconnect from the suffering they were inflicting on the turkeys.

"It is as though these animals are mere objects and that they are there for their enjoyment to torture them," Ms Hurst told the ABC.

She said acts of animal cruelty by the workers were filmed on the secret camera every day and it appeared they went out of their way to intentionally harm the birds.

The ABC showed the footage to Ingham chief executive Kevin McBain who issued a statement saying Australia's biggest poultry producer does not tolerate mistreatment of its livestock.

He said the company condemned the animal abuse seen in the footage and would "review, retrain and reinforce our animal welfare standards throughout the organisation".

He said the company was carrying out its own investigation to resolve "these intolerable incidents".

The ABC said Animal Liberation had passed the footage onto police and welfare authorities.

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Cate Faehrmann says it's up to the NSW Parliament to prevent future acts of cruelty by supporting the Greens' bill for mandatory CCTV in abattoirs.

"This footage is incredibly distressing," Ms Faehrmann said.

"The behaviour of the abattoir workers can be described as nothing less than sadistic. It's time the government acted to ensure that abattoir workers and operators can no longer get away with animal cruelty."

She said mandatory CCTV in abattoirs would put an end to the appalling cruelty shown in the footage.

"The Greens have a bill ready to go that could prevent acts of cruelty like this in the future and we urge the government to support it," she said.


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China solar giant Suntech collapses

CHINA'S Suntech reached its zenith as the world's largest solar panel producer, but has plunged to the nadir of bankruptcy in just a year, highlighting the woes of the industry it shaped.

The New York-listed company on Wednesday declared bankruptcy and would reorganise, China's official Xinhua news agency said, though Suntech declined to immediately comment.

Oversupply as Chinese producers flooded the global market and trade disputes over alleged Chinese dumping caused a sudden and spectacular reversal of fortunes for Suntech, which last week defaulted on repayments for a $541 million bond issue.

The board ousted the company's renowned founder just days ago, after 12 years in which he led it from nothing to world market domination and then to the edge of ruin, leaving it scrambling to secure new funding and hold creditors at bay.

The global solar industry has been burned by the economic slowdown in Europe and the United States, together with weak prices blamed on Chinese companies which sought to build market share by undercutting competitors.

The European Union and United States last year targeted Suntech and other Chinese solar panel and cell makers, accusing them of selling their products at below cost and receiving "unfair" government subsidies.

Suntech, a private sector company, denied the allegations but made no secret of its aim to keep prices at rock bottom, which it said made solar energy available to more people.

Analysts said Suntech's business model, deliberately pushing down prices to capture larger market share despite narrower profit margins, contained the seeds of its own destruction.

"What (Suntech) has done is increase supply to the market so much, that they really almost can't sell anything at a profit now," said Ben Cavender, associate principal of China Market Research Group (CMR) in Shanghai.

Suntech, headquartered in China's eastern city of Wuxi, recorded a net loss of $1.0 billion in 2011, from a profit of $237 million in 2010, according to company filings. The firm has yet to report financial results for 2012.

Once an investors' darling, its New York-listed shares have plunged from a high of $90.00 in early 2008. They closed down 7.81 per cent at $0.59 in New York on Tuesday.

"It is going to be difficult for them going forward," Cavender added. "You might end up seeing a very different company down the road."

Suntech said earlier this month it would shut a manufacturing plant in the United States in a bid to "rationalise" production capacity.

Analysts said Suntech faced a problem common to Chinese private firms, growing rapidly in the country's economic boom but becoming unwieldy and unmanageable as it turned into a vast corporation.

"Suntech, as a private firm, went too fast in its expansion," said Liu Wenping, a partner in Shanghai-based solar investment consulting firm Sapphire Capital.

"The founder, with the role of scientist-entrepreneur, didn't have the experience to manage such a big company with tens of thousands of workers."

Suntech's founder Shi Zhengrong - listed as one of China's richest people by the independent Hurun Report last year, worth $476 million - was ousted as chairman earlier this month. He called the move "misconceived and unlawful" in a statement, vowing further action.


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Mardi Gras policing under review

POLICE procedures at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will be reviewed following claims of excessive force at this year's parade.

A community forum at Surry Hills police station was held on Tuesday night into the 2013 gay pride event in the wake of claims officers used excessive force on some parade-goers.

A number of groups representing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community said in a statement that a report from the forum would be used by police to improve their procedures for next year's Mardi Gras.

The report will "inform further discussions between senior police and LGBTI community representatives about immediate and longer-term strategies to improve policing practices at Mardi Gras," the statement reads.

The report is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

A police spokeswoman confirmed to AAP the accuracy of the statement, which was authored by a number of groups including Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG), the festival's organiser.

Police launched an internal inquiry into the actions of police at Mardi Gras after a video emerged showing a handcuffed 18-year-old man, Jamie Jackson, being thrown to the ground by an officer at the festival.

Another video shows Mr Jackson lashing out at an officer before he was restrained.

Bryn Hutchinson, 32, a gay rights campaigner, has also alleged police used excessive force against him after he crossed a road despite being told not to.

Both Mr Hutchinson and Mr Jackson were charged with assaulting police.


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Kabul, US 'reach deal' on forces pullout

THE United States and Kabul appear to have reach an agreement on the pullout of coalition forces from a strategic province, nearly a month after an ultimatum from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai on February 24 ordered American special forces to leave Wardak, a hotbed of Taliban activity on the doorstep of Kabul, within two weeks.

It accused Afghans they work with of torture and murder that has incited local hatred.

In recent weeks Karzai has been staking out increasingly nationalist ground, deepening a war of words that threatens to derail NATO attempts to ensure a smooth security transition before most Western troops leave next year.

But the agreement, which left many questions unanswered and made no explicit mention of special forces, will be seen as a compromise for Karzai and as a further sign of his government's reliance on the US-led coalition.

Only hours earlier, Karzai's office branded NATO military operations "aimless and unwise".

But he had already backtracked on his two-week deadline, giving US commanders more time to negotiate the security handover in Wardak.

"I am pleased to announce that following a very constructive series of talks ... we have come to agreement on a plan for Wardak," said General Joseph Dunford, the US commander of NATO troops, following talks with Karzai.

The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Afghan forces would "soon" move into the district of Nerkh, which "will preclude" the need for coalition forces and Afghan Local Police, a controversial, US-trained unit, to remain in the area.

But Nerkh is only one of eight districts in Wardak.

ISAF said the "remainder of the province would transition over time", but no dates were announced and Afghan officials contacted by AFP were tight-lipped on the details.

Relations between Karzai and Washington have been increasingly troubled, with the bulk of NATO's 100,000 combat soldiers due to leave by the end of next year.

The United States, which provides 66,000 of the total, was stunned by the accusations this month from Karzai, who accused the US of colluding with the Taliban to justify its presence in the country.


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Polka-dot dresses the rage in N. Korea

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 19 Maret 2013 | 21.29

POLKA-DOT dresses and manual threshing machines were among the hottest consumer products in North Korea last year, according to an annual list compiled by a research analyst in South Korea.

The arrival of the boldly-patterned dresses in the top 10 list was down to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's wife, Ri Sol-Ju, who was seen wearing them to public functions on state television.

"Young North Korean women are keenly interested in the first lady's fashion style and try to follow her example" Dong Yong-Seung, a senior research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, told AFP on Tuesday.

Dong has been compiling a top 10 chart of consumer items in North Korea since 2010, basing her findings on interviews with North Korean defectors and Chinese traders on the Sino-North Korean border.

The fact that manual threshing machines made the list spoke of the prevalence of electricity cuts in the countryside, Dong said.


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SA backs wind farm developments

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has reaffirmed his government's support for wind energy and will seek a vote in parliament on Wednesday backing the renewable energy sector.

Mr Weatherill said recent suggestions of a moratorium on future wind farm developments was putting investment in the industry at risk.

"The government remains committed to providing ample opportunity for investment in wind energy in South Australia," the premier told state parliament on Tuesday.

"Every megawatt hour of wind energy cuts about one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions.

"Apart from the environmental benefits, wind farms also bring in vital investment to our state."

Mr Weatherill said South Australia had already attracted about $3 billion in wind energy investment, creating 842 direct jobs.


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Breakthrough in Vic teachers pay dispute

THERE has been a major breakthrough in the long-running Victorian teachers' pay battle, with the government backing down on performance pay.

The union says it is a sign the new Premier Denis Napthine is prepared to listen to teachers' concerns but the parties are yet to agree on salaries, contract teaching and several other issues.

Government and Australian Education Union (AEU) negotiators are due to meet again on Wednesday afternoon.

Dr Napthine said the government remained committed to performance pay but was willing to cut that aspect out of enterprise bargaining negotiations with the union in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute.

"We seek to deal with the issue of performance pay outside the EBA process," he told parliament on Tuesday.

"I call upon the teachers' union to accept this act of good faith."

AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace said the union would never accept performance pay because it did not lead to better student outcomes.

She said the government's move was a positive, small step but the union wasn't celebrating yet.

"It shows that the new premier is prepared to listen to our profession," Ms Peace said.

"This is a small step in the right direction but there is still much work to be done."

Ms Peace said the outstanding issues included salaries, workloads, class sizes and the high level of contract employment.

The union revised down its pay claim last November to a 12.6 per cent increase over three years, while the government's wages policy was 2.5 per cent plus extra for productivity gains.

"We actually now need to see what they are prepared to offer," Ms Peace said.

Former premier Ted Baillieu promised, before the coalition won government, to make Victoria's teachers the best paid in Australia.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said Dr Napthine should become personally involved in negotiations rather than grand stand in parliament.

"Instead of these faux concessions, the mock drama on the floor of the parliament, Mr Napthine should get in a room and get a deal done," he said.


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US backs Aust and NZ's Antarctic plans

The US is backing a proposal by Australia and NZ to set up marine sanctuaries in Antarctica. Source: AAP

HAILING the waters of Antarctica as a living laboratory, the United States has joined Australia and New Zealand in appealing for the creation of marine sanctuaries in the most remote and pristine part of the world.

The United States and New Zealand have drawn up a proposal for a marine sanctuary covering 1.6 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea, which would be the world's largest reserve.

Nations led by Australia, France and the European Union also want to protect 1.9 million square kilometres of critical coastal area in the East Antarctic.

But the proposals were blocked when talks in November at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) - comprising 24 countries and the European Union - ended without resolution amid concerns from Russia and China.

Now the nations in favour are boosting their efforts to get the two sanctuaries approved at a special meeting of the group in Germany in July.

"Antarctica is a collection of superlatives. It's the highest, coldest, the windiest, the driest, the most pristine and the most remote place on Earth," US Secretary of State John Kerry told a gathering organised by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"And it has beguiled humankind for centuries as people have sought to understand it," he added, arguing that the waters of the Southern Ocean, home to 16,000 species, are a "living laboratory."

Kerry told the gathering at the National Geographic Society he believed the world can "work together to ensure that Antarctica remains a place devoted to peace and devoted to expanding human understanding of this fragile planet."

"This is one of the last places we could do this, and I think we owe it to ourselves to make it happen."

But conservationists argue the proposals do not go far enough to protect marine life - notably the Antarctic toothfish, which is fished in huge quantities and served as Chilean sea bass on restaurant tables around the world.

The Ross Sea proposal, while creating a reserve to protect Adelie and emperor penguins, as well as killer whales and Weddell seals, would still allow some 3,000 tonnes of toothfish to be commercially caught each year.

"We wanted New Zealand to come up with a much stronger proposal, and they just didn't, and they dug their heels in, and basically the US had to go for New Zealand's proposal," documentary film-maker Peter Young said.

"It doesn't matter how sustainable this quota is, we shouldn't be in the last place. We don't take buffalo from Yellowstone. We don't take kiwi from the forests in New Zealand. We should not fish from the Ross Sea."


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Count under way after Zimbabwe referendum

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 17 Maret 2013 | 21.29

ZIMBABWE is tallying the ballots from a constitutional referendum that looked set to curb President Robert Mugabe's powers and tee up crucial elections in the violence-plagued nation.

The first incomplete trickle of results pointed to landslide backing for the text, which would introduce presidential term limits, beef up parliament's powers and set polls to decide whether the 89-year-old Mugabe stays in power.

Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since the country's independence in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.

The draft constitution is part of an internationally backed plan to get the country on track. Zimbabweans' verdict on the draft is expected to be known within five days of the voting.

According to the Movement of Democratic Change, the party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, of the nearly 90,000 votes initially counted in the second city of Bulawayo only 6250 were against the draft.

Mugabe has backed the proposed constitution, which enshrines his drive to put land in the hands of black Zimbabweans. Also, the clauses are not retroactive so he could if re-elected remain president for another 10 years.

His political rival Tsvangirai has also lent his support to the text, although turnout is expected to be low.

But that has not prevented the threat of violence from looming over the vote, as party militants keep one eye on the general election.

A vote is expected to take place in July, but doubts remain about whether it can take place as planned.

Shortly before polls opened on Saturday, gunmen later identified as plain clothes police detectives, seized a member of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from his home northeast of Harare.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told AFP Samson Magumura had been arrested on charges of attempted murder in connection with a recent firebomb attack that injured a Mugabe ally.

While casting his vote on Saturday, Mugabe, whom many blame for past unrest, urged Zimbabweans to ensure the referendum proceeded peacefully.

"You can't go about beating people on the streets, that's not allowed, we want peace in the country, peace, peace," he said.

Mugabe, the target of 11 years of Western sanctions over political violence and rights abuses, also used the opportunity to vow the United States and European countries would not be allowed to monitor the upcoming general election.

"The Europeans and the Americans have imposed sanctions on us and we keep them out in the same way they keep us out," he said.

Tsvangirai on Saturday expressed hope that a positive outcome would help catapult the country out of a crisis marked by bloodshed and economic meltdown.

Zimbabwe police detained three senior aides to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the wake of a key referendum, the premier's office said.

They "were arrested in Harare (on Sunday) morning," a source in Tsvangirai's office told AFP, adding that the charges were not specified.

The three were detained by plain clothes police officers at their homes.

They were named as Thabani Mpofu, Anna Muzvidziwa and Felix Matsinde.


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Cash bonus plan for Vic jail operators

VICTORIAN jail operators could get up to $40,000 for each prisoner who stays on the straight and narrow for two years after their release.

The Herald Sun says bonuses are likely to be offered to the operator of the planned Ravenhall Prison and rolled out in the private jails at Port Philip and Fulham if the scheme is a success.

Corrections Minister Andrew McIntosh told the paper the bonus scheme is among a a number of options being discussed with potential private jail operators.

"The government is certainly willing to listen to and think about innovative suggestions to improve the way Victoria's prisons run," Mr McIntosh said.

The idea behind the bonuses was to encourage operators to focus on better rehabilitation programs and greater support for prisoners after their release.


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Fifth French soldier killed in Mali

A FRENCH corporal has been killed tracking down jihadist fighters in their northern Mali mountain bastions, bringing to five the number of French deaths since the January 11 military intervention, officials say.

France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the 24-year-old soldier was killed and three of his comrades wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb blast in the Ifoghas mountains.

Alexandre Van Dooren was "taking part in a search and destroy mission targeting terrorist weapons caches south of Tessalit" near the Algerian border, Le Drian said in a statement on Sunday.

According to army sources, two of the wounded were in serious condition.

With its special forces and aerial firepower, the French military took only days to reconquer the main cities in northern Mali, which al-Qaeda's North African franchise and its allies had controlled for nine months.

But the bulk of jihadist fighters moved north to fight from their remote mountain strongholds and France has admitted that flushing them out was the most perilous phase of its involvement.

President Francois Hollande's office paid tribute to the French forces involved in "the final and most difficult phase of their mission" in Mali.

Hollande has already said he planned to scale back French military presence in the former colony as early as next month and start handing over responsibility to Malian troops and an African stabilisation force.

The AFISMA force set up by regional bloc ECOWAS has been slow to deploy however. It needs funding and training.

France has said plans for a UN peacekeeping force, believed to potentially number as much as 10,000 troops, were afoot and could start deploying in June.


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Prince Harry hits town with girlfriend

PRINCE Harry and his girlfriend Cressida Bonas have spent a night out together in London a month after their much-publicised hug on a Swiss ski slope.

Britain's Sunday Daily Star declared on its front page that the Friday night drinks proved "She's the one".

The tabloid splashed photos of the pair leaving reggae bar The Rum Kitchen in Notting Hill.

"Friday night was her (Ms Bonas's) biggest test as the couple faced photographers after hitting several London nightspots," the newspaper stated.

"Dance student Cressida passed with flying colours."

The Mail on Sunday reported Prince Harry, 28, and Ms Bonas, 24, headed straight to The Rum Kitchen's basement nightclub where they drank rum cocktails and danced.

"They looked very much like a couple," the UK tabloid reported one onlooker as saying.

"They were very affectionate. They were hugging and they kissed a few times."

The pair reportedly left separately just after 1am on Saturday morning London time.

Prince Harry's well-documented embrace with Ms Bonas at the Swiss ski resort of Verbier in February led one royal correspondent to note at the time he'd declared his love "in an unprecedented public display of affection".

The third-in-line to the royal throne split with former flame Chelsy Davy in 2010. He was first linked with Ms Bonas in mid-2012.


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