NATO airstrike kills two children

A NATO helicopter strike killed two children in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, in the latest civilian casualties to beset the war against Taliban militants.

The operation close to Ghazni city was conducted after local people complained of a Taliban post targeting traffic convoys in the area, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, said.

"It was a joint (Afghan and coalition) operation conducted this morning that killed nine Taliban. Unfortunately, two school children were also killed and seven other civilians were wounded," he said.

A spokesman for the NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it was aware of the reported civilian casualties and was seeking further information.

However he added that the ISAF helicopter engagement was not in direct support of Afghan forces, without giving further details.

It was unclear who called in the airstrike, but President Hamid Karzai recently banned Afghan forces from requesting foreign air support.

Civilian casualties mostly caused by air strikes have been one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Karzai and the NATO-led military.

The civilians were riding in two vehicles near the Taliban post when the attack took place, Mohammad Hassan Hadil, the deputy police chief of the province, said.

The deaths, if confirmed, would be another blow to the prestige of US-led NATO forces as they prepare to withdraw combat troops from the war against the Islamist insurgents by the end of next year.

Airstrikes by the US-led coalition killed 126 Afghan civilians last year, a nearly 50 percent drop from the year before, according to a recent UN report.

The overall civilian death toll in 2012 also declined some 12 percent to 2,754, compared with 3,131 the previous year, according to the annual report by the United Nations Mission to Afghanistan.

Four civilians, including a child, were killed in a two-day raid against Taliban insurgents by Afghan and international forces in Logar province earlier this week.

str-emh/bgs/mmg/pdh

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Body found as Tibet mine disaster kills 83

Eighty-three workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet. Source: AAP

RESCUE teams have found the first body almost 36 hours after a giant landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers.

Xinhua news agency said rescuers "found the first body at 5.35 pm (8.35pm AEDT)", after two million cubic metres of earth buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, at 6 am on Friday.

The report came after officials said at a press conference Saturday that no survivors or bodies had been found.

About 2,000 rescuers battled difficult terrain in the hunt for survivors after a vast three-kilometre-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic metres, crashed down a slope, covering the miners' camp.

The rescuers braved bad weather as an emergency response team attempted to prevent a secondary disaster.

One rescue worker had earlier described the chance of survivors being found as "slim", Xinhua reported.

China's new president Xi Jinping and new premier Li Keqiang had ordered "top efforts" to rescue the victims, Xinhua said.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

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Record boat arrivals in March: opposition

A RECORD 2200 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia on 34 boats so far this month, the federal opposition says.

It has also been a record first quarter for illegal boat arrivals with over 3600 people arriving - a 179 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2012, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said in a statement.

The federal government's policies on people smugglers have failed and have resulted in "cost, chaos and tragedy on our borders", he said.

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Burma unrest death toll reaches 43

THE death toll from recent communal violence in central Burma has risen to 43 with more than 1300 homes and other buildings destroyed.

Sixty-eight people have been arrested in connection with the Buddhist-Muslim unrest, which has left 11,376 people homeless, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

In total, 163 incidences of violence have been reported in 15 townships, it added.

Previously the official death toll stood at 40.

The situation appears to have calmed since President Thein Sein on Thursday vowed a tough response against those behind the violence, which he attributed to "political opportunists and religious extremists".

Security forces fired warning shots on Wednesday to disperse rioters. But Muslim leaders have criticised the security forces for failing to stop the attacks.

The clashes were apparently triggered by an argument in a gold shop that turned into a riot, but witnesses say the wave of violence since then appears to have been well organised.

It is the worst sectarian strife since violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead.

Representatives from civil society, government, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party and religious groups issued a joint statement on Saturday calling for respect for the country's various religions.

"We oppose the violent attacks and threats on the lives and property of citizens and the racial and religious discrimination among citizens," according to the statement supported by 58 people who attended a seminar in Yangon organised by the Myanmar Peace Center.

"It is crucial to act to prevent the riots from spreading," it added.

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Swiss sommelier is top world wine waiter

THE world's best wine waiter was crowned in Japan on Friday, at the culmination of a three-day competition attracting entrants from around the globe.

Paolo Basso, from Switzerland, was hoisted into the air as judges in Tokyo awarded him first place in a ceremony in front of several thousand spectators that was carried live on Japanese national television.

"Thank you very much to everybody, it is a very important moment for me," he said after receiving the gold medal and hugs from rival sommeliers.

"I would like to thank first of all my family, because they allowed me the time for the hard training that I am still doing for several years," he said in English.

Basso, who works at Conca Balla in Vacallo, on the Swiss-Italian border, beat off competition from fellow finalists Belgian Aristide Spies and Canadian Vronique Rivest.

The 47-year-old takes the title previously held by Gerard Basset, who won the 2010 competition in Chile competing for Britain.

Entrants from 54 countries had been tested over three days of events designed to measure their skills marrying wines to foods and serving demanding customers.

All of them had to work in a foreign language.

Contestants from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden were among those participating in the event, which has been held 14 times since it started in 1969.

"A good sommelier not only has to have good knowledge of wine, but he also needs to be able to put customers at ease and know what to do to let them enjoy the food," explained Serge Dubs, chairman of the jury and a former champion, ahead of the competition.

"A sommelier has to be a very good communicator, he has to know what his clients want and how to make them remember their experience at the restaurant," former champion Basset told AFP on Tuesday.

"The sommelier should also be a good cellar manager and act as an ambassador for producers, constituting a kind of link between the growers and consumers," he said.

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Mandela 'in good spirits' in hospital

South Africa's Nelson Mandela is said to be responding positively to treatment for a lung infection. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela has been in "good spirits" as he spends a second day in hospital for a lung infection, in the latest health scare for the revered peace icon, South Africa's presidency says.

"Mandela is in good spirits and enjoyed a full breakfast this morning," President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Friday, as messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old poured in from across the globe.

"The doctors report that he is making steady progress. He remains under treatment and observation in hospital."

The anti-apartheid hero, one of the towering figures of modern history, was admitted to hospital for the recurring lung infection just before midnight on Wednesday, his third hospitalisation in four months.

Zuma sought Thursday to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

"The country must not panic, Madiba is fine," Zuma told the BBC, referring to South Africa's first black president by his clan name.

"The doctors advise that former president Nelson Mandela is responding positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung infection," Zuma's office had said in a short statement Thursday.

The Nobel peace laureate was conscious when he was admitted, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who was in prison with Mandela on Robben Island, had told AFP.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for checkups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery, after which he was released for home-based care.

The series of hospitalisations has seen an outpouring of prayers, but has also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of their national hero.

"In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about," Zuma said.

Mandela is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of the country's peaceful transition from a white-minority ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994 he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

Labour unrest, high-profile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the "Rainbow Nation".

"He is the voice that holds the country together," said Kasturi Pandaram in Durban.

"He's been a stalwart and I think if anything should happen to him now, with the state the country is in, I think it's going to fall apart," she said.

While Mandela the symbol bestrides South African politics, the man has long since exited the political stage and for the country's large young population he is a figure from another era, serving as president for just one term from 1994 to 1999.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring from public life.

Still, his nearly life-long struggle against apartheid resonates.

"We are deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health - he is a hero, I think, to all of us," US President Barack Obama said.

"When we think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the person's name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. So we wish him all the very best," Obama added.

"He is as strong physically as he has been in character and in leadership over so many decades. Hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge."

The name and location of the hospital where Mandela is being treated were not disclosed, to allow the medical team to focus on their work and to shield the family from the intense media interest.

"We know they are going through a difficult time and we want to ensure that their privacy is maintained," said Maharaj.

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US consumer spending, income jump in Feb

US consumers earned more and spent more in February, helped by a stronger job market that has offset some of the drag from higher taxes.

The Commerce Department says consumer spending rose 0.7 per cent in February compared with January. It was the biggest gain in five months and followed a 0.4 per cent rise in January, which was revised up from an initial 0.2 per cent estimate.

Income rose 1.1 per cent last month. That followed January's 3.7 per cent plunge and December's 2.6 per cent surge. The huge swings reflected a rush to pay bonuses and dividends in December before taxes went up on high-income earners.

Sales in the US rose last month despite an increase in Social Security taxes, which took effect in January.

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Vic appeal raises $16.4m for kids hospital

VICTORIANS have dug deep for the Royal Children's Hospital, raising a record $16.4 million in the Good Friday Appeal.

The total of $16,405,534 eclipsed last year's record total of $15.82 million.

Good Friday Appeal executive director Deborah Hallmark described the result was "truly overwhelming".

"This is an amazing amount of money for the kids, from a dedicated community," she said in a statement on Saturday.

"Victorians and Australians are rightly very proud of The Royal Children's Hospital and the amazing work it does and this is reflected in their continued generosity to the Good Friday Appeal."

She said many tens of thousands of people had come together on Good Friday to deliver the record result.

Fundraising events took place across the state, while more than 100,000 volunteers shook collection tins on street corners.

More than $3.5 million was raised by collectors in rural and regional areas.

Geelong raised the most money outside Melbourne with $430,000 in donations.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine did his bit - managing to raise $27,000 in just 30 seconds after reading an advertisement for Chemist Warehouse on radio, while in the Murray River town of Swan Hill a fishing competition was held to raise funds.

On Friday, Dr Napthine urged Victorians to dig deep for the hospital that has supported Victoria's sick and injured kids for more than a century.

"It's a great institution and it needs our support," he said.

The appeal has received more than $245 million since it began in 1931.

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12 killed in Damascus University attack

A MORTAR attack on Damascus University has killed at least 12 students, state television reported, blaming rebels.

"The number of students killed in the mortar attack on the architecture faculty in Damascus University has risen to 12," said the broadcaster, blaming "terrorists" for Thursday's attack, using the regime term for insurgents.

Previously, the television station had reported that several people were killed or wounded in the attack.

Rebels have this week escalated mortar attacks on central Damascus, including Umayyad Square in the heart of the capital, which houses the state television headquarters.

At least five people have been killed in such attacks since Monday.

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Portugal budget deficit leaps to 6.4%

PORTUGAL'S 2012 budget deficit leapt to 6.4 per cent of the nation's total output, from 4.4 per cent one year earlier as the heavily indebted eurozone member struggles to raise revenues and cut spending amid recession and soaring unemployment, national statistics institute Ine says.

The figure, calculated according to standards used by the EU's statistics office Eurostat, did not include revenue from the sale of a state holding in the Portuguese airport operator however, and therefore far exceeded the five per cent target set by the government and its international creditors, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

They granted a financial rescue package worth 78 billion euros ($A96 billion) in May 2011.

Portugal's public debt rose to 204.4 billion euros meanwhile, equivalent to 123.6 per cent of gross domestic product last year, from 108.3 per cent of GDP in 2011, the Ine data showed.

EU countries are not supposed to run deficits of more than three per cent of GDP, and are expected to keep debt to no more than 60 per cent of GDP.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said Eurostat had rejected a request to use proceeds from the sale of airport operator ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal to cut the deficit. Had that had been allowed, it would have met the 2012 target at 4.9 per cent of GDP, Gaspar said.

The country managed to reduce the number to 4.4 per cent in 2011 through an exceptional measure that consisted of transferring funds set aside by banks for their staff pension funds to public coffers.

Despite boosting taxes and cutting public wages since the EU-IMF bailout, Portugal has struggled to cut the deficit.

But in light of a deteriorating economic situation, climbing unemployment and widespread public protests against austerity measures, Lisbon has been granted an extra year to bring the deficit in line with EU regulations.

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US 4th quarter growth faster than thought

US economic growth in the fourth quarter was faster than originally thought at 0.4 per cent, the Department of Commerce says in its final revision of the estimate.

The previous estimate had the economy basically flat, expanding at a 0.1 per cent annual pace.

The new data said that non-residential fixed investment was higher than previously expected.

However, the department added, growth was still sluggish and "the revision to GDP has not changed the general picture of the economy".

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BlackBerry back in profit, sells 1m Z10s

RESEARCH In Motion says it sold about one million of its critically important new BlackBerry 10 devices and surprised Wall Street by returning to profitability in the most recent quarter.

The earnings provide a first glimpse of how RIM's new touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 is selling internationally and in Canada since its debut on January 31.

The one million Z10 phones exceeded the 915,000 analysts had been expecting.

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before the iPhone debuted in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls.

RIM faced numerous delays modernising its operating system with the BlackBerry 10. During that time, it had to cut more than 5000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth decline by more than $US70 billion ($A67 billion).

In the quarter that ended March 2, RIM earned $US98 million, or 19 US cents a share, compared with a loss of $US125 million, or 24 US cents a share, a year earlier. After adjusting for restructuring and other one-time items, RIM earned 22 US cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a loss of 31 US cents.

Revenue fell 36 per cent to $US2.7 billion, from $US4.2 billion. Analysts had expected $US2.82 billion.

Despite the BlackBerry 10 sales, RIM lost about three million subscribers to end the quarter with 76 million.

Bill Kreyer, a tech analyst for Edward Jones, called the decline "pretty alarming".

"This is going to take a couple of quarters to really see how they are doing," Kreyer said.

RIM, which is changing is formal name to BlackBerry, said it expects to break even in the current quarter.

"To say it was a very challenging environment to deliver improved financial results could well be the understatement of the year," chief executive Thorsten Heins said during a conference call with analysts on Thursday.

"I thought they were dead. This is a huge turnaround," Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said from New York.

Misek said the Canadian company "demolished" the numbers, especially its gross margins. RIM reported gross margins of 40 per cent, up from 34 per cent a year earlier. The company credited higher average selling prices and higher margins for devices.

The company also announced that co-founder Mike Lazaridis will retire as vice-chairman and director.

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UK to start giving food stamps to poor

LOCAL governments in Britain say they will be issuing "food stamps" - vouchers for food and other essentials - to the poor to replace cash loans as part of the country's welfare reforms.

Many Britons with low incomes who qualify for emergency help will no longer be able to obtain cash from authorities, who will instead dish out payment cards for food, gas and electricity. Some will offer one-time payments for furniture and household goods.

Britain now runs a national social fund that gives small emergency loans to poor people to tide them over short-term crises, but that fund will be abolished next week. Instead, local governments must come up with their own replacement plans.

The Conservative-led government said on Wednesday the changes will make the welfare system more efficient.

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63 Malian soldiers, 600 Islamists killed

THE Malian army says 63 soldiers and some 600 Islamists have been killed since the launch of the French-led military action to regain the country's north from Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda.

"Since the start of the military offensive launched January 11, 2013 against the Islamists, the death toll is 63 Malian soldiers killed and our opponents have lost about 600 fighters," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Souleymane Maiga told AFP.

He said most Malian soldiers had been killed in the field, while the others had succumbed later to their injuries.

"The deaths among the Islamists is an estimate, because the Islamists generally take their dead away for burial," Maiga told AFP, adding that it was French and African forces who had killed "these terrorists".

He told AFP one Togolese and a Burkinabe soldier had also died. Five French soldiers have also been killed since the start of Operation Serval.

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Pistorius brother pleads not guilty

THE older brother of South African star sprinter Oscar Pistorius has pleaded not guilty at his trial over a deadly road crash five years ago.

Carl Pistorius, 28, has been charged with culpable homicide and reckless driving after a 2008 road accident in which a 36-year-old woman motorcyclist was killed.

"I plead not guilty," he told the court as the trial opened in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The hearing came a day before his Paralympian hero brother makes a court challenge over the stringent bail conditions imposed on him after the Valentine's Day killing of his model girlfriend.

Among the conditions imposed on Oscar Pistorius, 26, last month was the surrender of his passport and mandatory drug and alcohol tests.

The athlete known as Blade Runner is also banned from returning to his upmarket gated home in Pretoria where he shot Reeva Steenkamp, claiming to have mistaken her for an intruder.

Pistorius, who became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in last year's Olympic Games in London, is on bail of one million rand ($A103,500).

The Johannesburg court dismissed a bid by public broadcaster SABC to be allowed to run live broadcasts of the proceedings involving Carl Pistorius, saying the two brothers' cases were unrelated and should not be allowed to influence each other.

"This trial pertains to Mr Carl Pistorius not Mr Oscar Pistorius. This is what we are dealing with here," magistrate Buks du Plessis said.

"These proceedings must not be used or have an influence on any later proceeding against this accused's brother."

Lawyer Kenny Oldwage, a member of Oscar Pistorius's murder trial defence team, is also representing the brother.

Oldwage successfully defended a driver in a high-profile accident in 2010 that killed former president Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter Zenani. The driver was acquitted.

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Spending on mental health increasing

SPENDING on mental health services has ballooned by almost half a billion dollars to about $309 for every Australian, according to the latest statistics.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) says figures for 2010/11 show a rise in spending of $450 million from the previous financial year, to $6.9 billion.

Of that more than $4.2 billion was spent on state and territory services, with $1.8 billion focused on public hospitals.

"This (total spending) equates to about $309 spent per Australian on mental health-related services in 2010/11, an increase from $248 per Australian in 2006/07," AIHW spokeswoman Pamela Kinnear said.

The AIHW said the federal government's spending on mental health services was also on the rise, with $852 million paid in Medicare benefits.

"Almost nine per cent of all prescription subsidies in 2010/11 were mental health-related, totalling $834 million, or $38 per Australian," Dr Kinnear said.

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Iceland bank chief to be charged for fraud

THE former head of Iceland's once biggest bank, Kaupthing, will be charged next month with fraud and for manipulating the bank's share price which helped lead to the bank's collapse in 2008, a prosecutor says.

Special prosecutor Olafur Thor Hauksson said the charges would be filed against the bank's former chief executive, Heidar Mar Sigurdsson, and eight other former Kaupthing employees on April 24 in Reykjavik's district court.

The trial could last "up to one year", Hauksson said.

According to the charges to be filed, Sigurdsson took a loan from Kaupthing to buy shares in the bank. He then sold his shares to his own holding company for 572 million kronur ($A4.42 million), thereby artificially elevating the bank's share price.

Sigurdsson made 325 million kronur in the transaction, prosecutors said.

Two months after Sigurdsson's 2008 transaction, Kaupthing collapsed.

Charges will also be pressed against six former executives of Landsbanki, then Iceland's second biggest bank, including its former chief executive, Sigurjon Arnason, for manipulating the bank's share price by lending funds to investors on condition they buy shares, according to media reports.

Iceland's banks had gone on an international buying binge in the early 2000s fuelled by cheap foreign loans.

But the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 froze credit markets and Iceland's banks quickly followed, plunging the island's economy into a deep recession.

Iceland's then prime minister Geir Haarde was last year found guilty of one minor charge but cleared of serious accusations relating to his handling of the banking collapse.

Haarde has argued that the government's choice to let the banks fail and repudiate their foreign debts saved the country from bankruptcy.

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S.Africa court jails Nigerian for 24 years

A SOUTH African court has jailed Nigerian national Henry Okah for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over deadly twin bomb attacks in Abuja in 2010.

Twelve people were killed in the attacks as Nigeria was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.

The state argued that Okah showed little remorse during the trial, and that his intentions in the bombings were to "obtain maximum casualties."

"Effectively, the accused Okah is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment," said Judge Neels Claassen at the Johannesburg court.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which in 2010 was a well-equipped armed group fighting for a greater share of the Delta oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Okah, who has permanent residency in South Africa, has denied any involvement in the bombings and of being the leader of MEND, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.

The 46-year-old was also found guilty over two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub in the oil-rich Delta region.

State prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told AFP that the sentence included 12 years each for the Warri and Abuja attacks. He was also sentenced to 10 years for being a threat to South Africa, a term that will run concurrently.

Abrahams said the prosecution - which had asked for a maximum of life in prison - will consider appealing the sentence.

Okah is thought to be the first foreign national to be tried for terrorism in South Africa. He has been in custody since his arrest in October 2010, a day after the Abuja bombings.

Okah did not testify during trial, prompting the judge to say that his failure to take the stand meant the evidence against him remained uncontested.

He has had several run-ins with the law. In September 2007 he was arrested for arms and explosives trafficking in Angola and later extradited to Nigeria.

Police identified him as "an international gun-runner and a major oil bunkerer (thief) in the Niger Delta."

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Child killed as mortar hits Damascus

AT least one child has been killed and several others wounded in a mortar attack on a compound housing several schools in central Damascus, a monitoring group and state news agency SANA says.

"A young girl was killed and several other students were injured when mortars fired by terrorists hit a school compound in the Baramkeh district of Damascus," SANA said, without giving the victim's age.

"Shells also landed on two (other) schools... injuring four civilians, including a teacher, and damaging the buildings," SANA added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog confirmed the report, adding that an unknown number of people were injured.

Earlier, state television reported a mortar attack on the same district, near the headquarters of state news agency SANA, describing it as "a new attack on Syrian media by terrorists".

Elsewhere in Syria, regime troops seized Baba Amr in the central city of Homs, the Observatory said, two weeks after fighting erupted in the flashpoint district.

"Syrian regime forces have recaptured total control of the district of Baba Amr, more than two weeks after rebel fighters had infiltrated the area and seized several neighbourhoods," it said.

The rebel fighters had re-entered Baba Amr after the army launched an all-out assault aimed at crushing the insurgency in besieged insurgent enclaves of central Homs.

This time last year, regime forces overran Baba Amr after a month-long siege that left the neighbourhood in ruins and claimed hundreds of lives.

In recent days, "the army used warplanes, rockets and tank shells to bombard" Baba Amr, the Observatory said, adding that residents who had fled their homes in the district returned to find them "uninhabitable".

On Monday night, the Observatory said at least 13 scorched bodies, including those of five women and four children, were found in the village of Abel, in the countryside near Homs.

The group also reported that at least 11 rebel fighters were killed in an army ambush in the majority Kurd northern province of Hasake.

On Monday alone, at least 122 people were killed in violence across Syria, said the Observatory, among them 41 civilians, 37 soldiers and 44 rebels.

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Police linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs

VICTORIAN police have launched an internal blitz to find rats in the ranks after claims that outlaw bikies have infiltrated the force.

Fairfax Media says two of Australia's leading outlaw bikies - Comanchero president and convicted drug trafficker Amad Malkoun and Bandidos sergeant-at-arms Toby Mitchell - have been cultivating police members.

It said the links have compromised the safety of undercover officers and informers and jeopardised investigations, including two major probes into Malkoun.

Fairfax says separate investigations by several law agencies have uncovered at least a dozen police who are suspected of having inappropriate links to bikies.

It says Mitchell, who was shot outside a Brunswick gym in 2011, has communicated with a Victorian police officer many times in the past two years.

It is understood that the officer has also been accused of withholding information from police about who was behind the attempted underworld hit on Mitchell.

Fairfax says the officer was recently suspended from the force and charged in connection to allegations he bought illegal steroids from a Mitchell associate.

It said Malkoun has socialised with Victorian policemen since 2010, inviting up to three officers to his Crown casino wedding, and attended a christening with two officers at a Greek restaurant.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay told The Age police have information that a small number of officers have links with outlaw motorcycle members, amphetamines and performance-enhancing drugs.

In a statement, Mr Lay said it was a significant concern that outlaw motorcycle gangs were trying to corrupt police members.

"This will not be tolerated," Mr Lay said.

"We have introduced a number of improvements aimed at safeguarding police members from the risk of corruption, and rooting it out where it exists."

He said Task Force Eagle had been set up within the Professional Standards Command (formerly Ethical Standards Department) to uncover corrupt cops.

Bikie gangs had a clear interest in cultivating police contacts so that they could be compromised and coerced into providing information, he said.

"We are sending a clear warning to police members that they need to be alive to the threats at all times and complying with internal policies designed to protect them and the organisation," Mr Lay said.

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Few small firms happy with Gillard govt

NEW federal Small Business Minister Gary Gray has his work cut out in this election year, with a new survey showing just 14 per cent of small firms are satisfied with the support they get from the federal government.

Business software provider MYOB's 2013 business monitor found that this level of satisfaction was down from 17 per cent as of July 2012.

The survey was conducted before last week's leadership showdown that resulted in one minister being sacked and several others resigning, including former small business minister Chris Bowen - the fifth minister to hold the portfolio in 15 months.

Mr Gray was appointed as small business minister on Monday, and was also given the portfolio of resources and energy.

MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said the result of the survey of 1005 small and medium-sized business operators was "pretty appalling".

"I can only see that last week would have driven this (result) lower," Mr Reed told AAP.

"What we saw last week was a government that wasn't in control."

However, Mr Reed said despite this outcome, the government had had some good polices for small business, but hadn't been able to communicate them.

He pointed to the instant asset write-off, the increasing of the tax-free threshold, and loss carry-back scheme as great policies for small business that had failed to instil confidence.

"Small business owners look to the federal government to create a sound basis on which they can then build their business," Mr Reed said.

"They feel the government has failed on that."

However, the survey found a greater proportion (25 per cent) of businesses saw an improvement in the economy within the next 12 months compared to eight months ago (19 per cent).

A recent strengthening in consumer confidence is reflected in 72 per cent of businesses expecting to see increased or stable revenue in the next year, whereas only 58 per cent reported that actually happening in the year just past.

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Most small firms want carbon tax scrapped

ALMOST two thirds of small businesses want the carbon tax scrapped, putting it second in their top 10 wish list ahead of the May budget, a survey says.

Topping the list in business software provider MYOB's 2013 business monitor was the perennial want of a significantly simplified Business Activity Statement (BAS) process for the GST.

MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said pricing carbon had been an incredibly poorly sold policy to business, but he was surprised so many firms wanted to get rid of it.

"It would be actually more work to small business if it was abolished than if it was maintained," Mr Reed told AAP.

He said rolling back the tax changes linked to the carbon tax, such as the tax-free threshold returning to $6000 from $18,000, would mean businesses having to collect tax from part-time workers that they don't collect now.

Small business is already buried in paperwork that results from the GST, partly due to the complexity caused by exclusions from the tax, such as fresh food, education and health.

"Getting rid of the exclusions, while politically unpopular, would make it a much easier system for business owners to administer," Mr Reed said.

Business owners also have to code every transaction they conduct for audit purposes, and Mr Reed said more than two-thirds got it wrong.

But the data is only used by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as part of a database to investigate past macro-economic trends.

"It is a massive onerous burden on business owners. Any government could get rid of that without needing to legislate," Mr Reed said.

He said business had noted the ATO had become tougher in the past 12 months, having been "quite light" in allowing firms to schedule payments, in response to the hit from the global financial crisis.

Waving penalty charges on late tax payments for start-up businesses in their first two years of operation would cost the government little, but it would show it understood the challenges facing a new business, Mr Reed said

"It would be one of those points of symbolism that small business owners could think at least 'somebody understands who we are.'"

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US stocks rise on Cyprus deal

US stocks have opened higher after a last-minute deal to resolve the Cyprus banking crisis bolstered markets in Europe and Asia.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15.37 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 14,527.40.

The broad-based S&P 500 increased 3.81 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,560.70.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 7.66 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 3,252.66.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare described the market reaction as "somewhat subdued", perhaps in anticipation of political or social opposition that could surface in response to the Cyprus agreement.

"Then again, markets didn't necessarily overreact on the downside when the Cyprus situation presented itself last week," O'Hare said.

Markets were also fixating on an emerging bidding war over computer manufacturer Dell.

The company's founder and chief executive, Michael Dell, proposed taking the company private in a $US24.4 billion ($A23.5 billion) deal. But two other proposals surfaced over the weekend, one from long-time Wall Street activist Carl Icahn, and another from the private equity firm Blackstone Group.

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Syria rebel commander loses leg in blast

RIAD al-Asaad, commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, has been wounded in a blast that hit his car in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog says.

A government official in Ankara confirmed Asaad had been hurt, saying he had lost a leg in the attack but that he was in "good condition" after being rushed across the Syrian border into Turkey for treatment.

"An explosive device exploded last night near the car carrying Free Syrian Army commander Riad Asaad, who was conducting a tour of the town of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Abdel Rahman said Asaad had been wounded in the leg, and a relative of the commander told AFP that he had been transferred to Turkey for treatment after the blast.

A Turkish foreign ministry official confirmed Asaad was taken to Turkey on Monday morning via the Akcakale border crossing and was being treated at a hospital in Sanliurfa province near the border.

"He lost one leg but in general his condition is good," the official told AFP.

Asaad was one of the first officers to defect from the Syrian state military to the rebel forces, joining their ranks in 2011, not long after the uprising began.

He served as commander of the rebel forces but has seen his official role diminished by the creation of a rebel military command headed by Brigadier General Salim Idriss.

Asaad has remained a prominent figure though, regularly appearing with rebel fighters on the ground.

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Selfless, brave Australians honoured

SURROUNDED by rising floodwaters, the mother of six-month-old Grace had two choices - risk death or hand her child to a stranger to be winched up to a helicopter.

That stranger was Queensland fireman Brad Hindmarsh.

"I called the mother aside and I explained to her that I'm going to have to ask you to let go of your baby," he told AAP.

"I told her that this is the only way I'm going to be able get you and your baby out.

"I said, 'You need to trust me.'"

For his act of courage, Mr Hindmarsh is one of 70 people and 15 groups chosen to receive an Australian Bravery Award on Monday.

On the morning of January 11, 2011, Mr Hindmarsh joined a crew on board a Black Hawk chopper to search flood-devastated Grantham, west of Brisbane, during one of the worst disasters to hit the state.

He was exhausted after spending the night fighting torrents and wading through mud, helping dozens of people from their inundated homes.

As the helicopter flew across the mass of water that covered the landscape, the crew spotted a man waving desperately from his back porch.

Despite having no training, Mr Hindmarsh volunteered to be lowered from the helicopter as it hovered above the man's home.

Inside he found a family of five - six-month-old Grace, her parents and her maternal grandparents.

They were scared and up to their knees in water.

Mr Hindmarsh gave each of the adults a life jacket in case he wasn't able to save them in time.

He then made an improvised harness for Grace using tape and attached it to himself.

"The last thing I wanted to happen was to lose the baby in an attempt to rescue her," the father of two said.

"Then I said to the mother, 'Okay, you need to let go now.'

"The look in her eyes as she looked into my eyes was 'you look after my baby'."

Mr Hindmarsh delivered Grace, screaming but unhurt, to the helicopter, before being lowered four more times to save the rest of her family.

"The look in her mother's eyes [when she was reunited with Grace] was heartwarming," he said.

"I love my job, but that told me why I was put here."

"I don't think I'm anything special, every firefighter has done exactly what I've done and they risk their lives every day."

Mr Hindmarsh says he has drawn on the experience to give him a boost when faced with devastating situations in his job.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce says recipients of the Australian Bravery Decorations demonstrated the most noble human trait - to put another life ahead of their own.

She says many of the awards went to those who demonstrated courage and determination during the Queensland floods in December 2010 and 2011.

"The strength of human nature shone through the chaos and tragedy," she told AAP.

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Shark attack hero wins bravery award

That was the only thought Trevor Ronald Burns had when he saw a woman being attacked by a Great White Shark.

He never expected to be awarded for his bravery.

The Brisbane man was holidaying in Perth with his family in October 2010 when they took part in a dolphin encounter at Rockingham with about 40 other people.

Many had gone back to the boat, but about 12 people remained in the water with a guide, looking for a baby dolphin that kept ducking around with its mother.

"They were obviously aware of the shark, and we weren't," he told AAP.

Mr Burns said when the guide was attacked by the 3.5m shark, it took a "double bite" at her legs.

He thought it was a dolphin when it brushed past his hand, until he saw the blood in the water.

"I just thought, 'Get it off her,' because she was only about a metre away from me," he said.

Mr Burns grabbed the shark's tail but it thrashed around before finally releasing its grip and swimming away.

Other tourists swam back to the boat when the alarm went off, but Mr Burns dived back into the water to find the injured woman.

"I couldn't see anything, but I knew there was no way she was coming back without help," he said.

The woman survived the attack but suffered significant leg injuries which required more than 200 stitches and several operations.

Mr Burns was also hurt, before he entered the water, slipping on the boat and injuring his ribs.

The pain was quickly forgotten as the drama unfolded.

"Adrenaline is a great pain relief," he quipped, although he felt the pain for weeks later.

Mr Burns will receive the Star of Courage as part of the 38th annual Australian Bravery Awards and said he was "really proud" to accept it.

"This really got to me," he said.

"To be recognised in this way is special."

Mr Burns remains in contact with the attack victim.

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ADF should plan for climate change: report

EDS: Not for use before 0001 AEDT Monday, March 25

CANBERRA, March 25 AAP - The Australian Defence Force needs to plan now to deal with the impacts of climate change on security in the region, a report from a think-tank says.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute released a paper, Heavy Weather: Climate and the Australia Defence Force (ADF) on Monday, in which it recommended that the ADF should work with the department of the prime minister and the department of climate change and energy efficiency to establish a working group on climate change security.

The group should include aid agency AusAID, the defence science and technology organisation, the bureau of meteorology and the CSIRO, the report said.

Also, defence should appoint a climate-change adviser to the the ADF chief, whose role would be to plan how to manage the effects of climate change on operations and infrastructure.

"As the world becomes more networked, the impacts of climate change in one country or region will affect the prosperity and security of others around the world," the report said.

It pointed out that regional defence forces would have more opportunities to unite in dealing with climate change.

The report also recommended that Australia should become more linked in the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team operated by US Pacific Command (PACOM), which plans for natural disasters and humanitarian risks across the Asia-Pacific program.

The ADF's role in regional humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions was likely to increase, the report said.

Neither the ADF nor the department had shown much interest around climate change, by contrast with the UK's ministry of defence, which had developed a climate-change strategy.

The UK military had also appointed a star-ranked climate change and energy security envoy, while the United States navy had initiated a similar position.

The report said an increased focus on climate change in the military wasn't about a 'green' view of the world.

"It's about the ADF being well placed to deal with the potential disruptive forces of climate change."

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Storms black out 50,000 Qld properties

A SERIES of severe storms, accompanied by 90km/h winds and lightning strikes, have swept through southeast Queensland, cutting off power to thousands of homes and businesses.

The State Emergency Service responded to up to 100 calls for help, mostly for damaged and leaking roofs and fallen trees as some streets were turned into rivers.

By 10pm (AEST) on Sunday, Energex crews had restored power to 15,000 homes and businesses across the region but there were still 43,000 homes without power including 6500 in the Brisbane City Council, 2000 in Ipswich and 25,500 in Logan.

Energex said all its available field staff are working and will continue until electricity is restored to all customers.

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