Man charged over fatal Melbourne hit-run

A MAN is due to face court over a fatal hit-and-run crash in Melbourne.

A 28-year-old Maidstone man was hit as he crossed Ballarat Road in Footscray on Thursday night.

He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious head injuries - he died the next day.

A 44-year-old man, from Maribyrnong, faced an out of sessions court hearing on Saturday.

He was charged with failing to stop at the scene of an accident where there has been a death or serious injury, and failing to render assistance where there has been a death or serious injury.

The man will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan tsunami boat confirmed in California

A JAPANESE fishing boat washed across the Pacific following the 2011 tsunami has been confirmed as the first piece of debris to reach the coast of California.

The six-meter skiff, found this month near the northern Californian coastal town of Crescent City, belonged to the Takata High School in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata, in Iwate Prefecture.

Japan's consulate in San Francisco helped the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirm where the boat came from, after it was spotted washed up on a local beach.

The boat was covered in pelagic gooseneck barnacles. Experts at California's Humboldt State University also helped to identify it, said NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva.

The vessel is the 27th item of debris so far confirmed on the US West Coast, and the first in California. Other items have been found washed up in the states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon further up the coast.

One of the biggest items so far, a 20-metre floating dock, washed up in June in Oregon, after a 15-month trip across the Pacific from the port of Misawa, in Japan's Aomori prefecture.

A year ago, the US Coast Guard fired on and sank a deserted Japanese "ghost ship" off the coast of Alaska, after it was deemed to be a potential danger to shipping.

Japan last month marked the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 9.0-magnitude earthquake that sent a huge wall of water into its northeastern coast, killing some 19,000 people and triggering a nuclear calamity.

The tsunami created the biggest single dumping of rubbish, sweeping some five million tonnes of shattered buildings, cars, household goods and other rubble into the sea.

An estimated three and a half million tonnes sank immediately, leaving some 1.5 million tonnes of plastic, timber, fishing nets, shipping containers, industrial scrap and innumerable other objects to float deeper into the ocean.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sudan rebels widen offensive

SUDANESE rebels have swept through a major town in North Kordofan state, residents say, widening an anti-government offensive in one of the insurgents' most audacious acts in years.

North Kordofan has been largely free from the rebel activity taking place in the Darfur region to its west, and South Kordofan to its south.

"This is part of our strategy to overthrow the regime and we want to weaken the troops on the road towards Khartoum," said Gibril Adam Bilal, spokesman for Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) which is part of a rebel coalition.

"This is an attack deep in Sudanese territory."

Residents of Umm Rawaba, the second-largest town in North Kordofan, said rebels arrived Saturday morning on at least 20 vehicles for a brief occupation.

They fired their weapons into the air, causing panic, but met no initial resistance from security forces, townspeople said.

"We just saw some drones in the air," one resident said, adding the insurgents looted the market.

Other residents said the town's inhabitants cowered in their homes as rebels shot up government buildings before withdrawing.

JEM and other main rebel movements from Darfur are grouped in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) with insurgents from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said coalition rebels crossed from South Kordofan into North Kordofan where they targeted Umm Rawaba town.

"They destroyed the communication tower and electricity station and looted civilian property and a fuel station," he said, quoted by the official SUNA news agency.

"SAF troops in the town responded," Saad said. "Fighting is still going on."

A resident, however, reported no combat in the town but heavy explosions in the surrounding area, where he had seen Antonov bombers and helicopters in the air.

"There are extensive air strikes in the Umm Rawaba area", Bilal said.

Rebel forces had pulled out of the town but remained in the surrounding area where they blocked a highway, he said.

The spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which analysts say has controlled an area of South Kordofan just south of Umm Rawaba, said he had no information.

SPLM-N is also fighting in Blue Nile state.

Umm Rawaba, with a population of several thousand, is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan which produces gum arabica, an ingredient in soft drinks and other products. Sudan is the world's biggest producer of gum arabica.

Although JEM has occasionally operated just over the Darfur border in the western part of North Kordofan, this is their first strike into the east of the state.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Duke mooted for Lawrence of Arabia

HIS name may be synonymous with American westerns, but new research has revealed that John Wayne was once lined up to play the heroic British army officer Lawrence of Arabia in the epic film of the same name.

The lead role, which was eventually made famous by Irish actor Peter O'Toole in 1962, was offered to Wayne almost a decade earlier, according to film historian Brian Hannan.

Trade papers uncovered by Hannan as he researched a book about the making of the celebrated film revealed that Wayne was announced to play the hero in January 1953, in a version to be made by Cinerama, the three-screen sensation of the 1950s.

It was to be produced by Lowell Thomas, the former journalist who shaped the legend of Lawrence Of Arabia in 1919, with a lecture tour that attracted over five million people in the US and Britain.

"John Wayne was the biggest male action star of the day," Hannan explained.

"He was huge, and in those days studios needed a big star to draw the crowds.

"Dozens of actors were up for the role over the years but the last person I would have expected to find was the Duke.

"But at the time, people had woken up to the fact that he could actually act - he had just been Oscar-nominated for Sands Of Iwo Jima and had received rave reviews for John Ford's Fort Apache and Howard Hawks' Red River."

Hannan, who is launching his book, The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, said the Cinerama version failed to materialise and had suffered from a lack of funding.

Over the years actors such as Richard Burton and Gregory Peck were considered for the role before it was offered to Marlon Brando, who turned it down in favour of Mutiny on the Bounty.

Eventually the part was given to O'Toole, who was relatively unknown at the time.

"Had the film gone ahead with Wayne playing Lawrence of Arabia, it would have been a completely different take on the character," said Hannan.

"It is difficult to imagine - contrast Wayne, who was this big, imposing actor known for his rugged masculine image, with O'Toole, and his slightly effeminate portrayal.

"In the end, the film was a massive break for O'Toole, who went on to become a big star."

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

India's Maruti Q4 profit nearly doubles

INDIA'S biggest domestic carmaker Maruti Suzuki has seen its net quarterly profit nearly double, bucking the weakest overall market in a decade.

Maruti's strong performance in the final quarter of the last financial year - driven by cost-cuts, a lower Japanese yen and demand for new models - far outpaced market expectations and propelled the firm's shares to a 52-week peak.

Profit for the three months to March 31 surged to 12.40 billion rupees ($A222 million) from 6.4 billion rupees a year earlier on sales that leapt 14 per cent to 131 billion rupees, the Japanese-controlled company said.

"The increase in net profit during the quarter was on account of higher sales of new models such as Ertiga, Dzire and Swift, cost reduction and localisation efforts and the benefit of a favourable exchange rate," the company said.

The earnings vastly surprised market forecasters who thought Maruti would post a profit of about 7.2 billion rupees.

Maruti's Ertiga minivans, Dzire sedan and Swift hatchbacks have all been big hits with Indian car buyers as increasingly affluent drivers seek bigger vehicles, countering softening demand for small entry-level cars.

The results, which included the impact of Maruti's merger with its engine production operation Suzuki Powertrain India during the last financial year, pushed the company's stock up by more than five per cent to 1,690.40 rupees.

Maruti, majority-owned by Japanese automaker Suzuki, has seen its costs drop sharply due to a near 10 per cent weakening of the Japanese yen against the rupee, which makes car parts imported from Japan much less costly.

Excluding the merger, Maruti's profit for the three months to March jumped 79.8 per cent to 11.5 billion rupees on sales that climbed 9.4 per cent in the same period to 125.7 billion rupees.

The strong performance by the company comes in the face of a decline for the first time in a decade of Indian passenger car unit sales.

Earlier this month, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers reported domestic passenger car sales fell by 6.7 per cent in the year to March 2013 from a year earlier to 1.89 million units, hit by a sharply slowing economy.

Overall unit passenger car sales are expected to grow in the next 12 months but only by three-to-five per cent - a far cry from a record 30-per cent rise in 2010-11, the industry group said.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Toyota, Microsoft boost Gazoo Net service

TOYOTA is teaming up with Microsoft for an internet service that links cars, home computers and smartphones so users can find nearby tourist spots, connect on social networks and learn about new models.

The service will start in Japan on May 30 as a revamped version of Toyota's internet service called Gazoo.com.

It will be based on "cloud" computing from Microsoft, called Windows Azure and also uses Sharepoint software.

According to the US software giant, it's the first time the technology is being used for a major corporate site.

Gazoo.com users tripled over the last five years to 1.65 million.

Toyota said it wants to raise that to two million over the next year.

All the world's major automakers are working on similar technology to bring autos up-to-date with the internet age, from finding restaurants to helping ensure safe driving.

But a major motive for Toyota is appealing to younger Japanese, who are rapidly losing interest in buying cars and are spending their money on smartphones and video games.

The trend is so widespread it is known as "kuruma banare" or "departure from cars."

Among the Net content in the works are video games, shopping-site links, virtual events and a special social network to chat about cars, according to Toyota.

A smartphone application will guide drivers with an electronic voice to 30,000 destinations from 250 routes.

The site will also offer information on more than 3,000 new and used models, including interviews with engineers.

Switching to Microsoft's cloud computing will cut costs for operating the services, although Toyota plans to invest more money in new content for Gazoo.com.

Toyota reached an agreement with Microsoft in April 2011, to work together on telematics, or network technology for cars.

Toyota looked at other cloud computing services before picking Microsoft for the latest project, said Hiroyuki Yamada, an executive at e-Toyota, which monitors such technology.

It is unclear whether the site will boost car sales but Toyota will be able to tap into data on consumer behaviour, he said.

Gazoo.com is the brainchild of Akio Toyoda, the president and grandson of Toyota's founder.

Toyoda was ahead of his time in foreseeing the importance of social networks and stressing how Toyota needs a presence in the blogosphere.

Toyota has a partnership with another US cloud computing company, Salesforce.com, which runs a social network for Toyota plug-in hybrid owners so they can see how efficiently they have been driving and be alerted when their vehicle has recharged.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Election a referendum on fair go: Swan

DEPUTY Prime Minister Wayne Swan admits the federal government is on the nose with voters, but says Labor is best placed to deliver better schools and disability care for Australians at the upcoming federal election.

In an essay, Fair Go Under Fire, the treasurer says Australia now stands at one of the "decisive points" in its national story.

"I know the Labor party isn't exactly flavour of the month at the moment and we haven't always pulled the right rein every single time over the last few years," he writes in the essay published on Saturday by Labor's official think-tank, The Chifley Institute.

But every government has successes and failures, and Mr Swan said Labor had made the right economic calls when the global financial crisis hit in 2008, much to its political cost.

"At stake is something essential to our national character: the idea of the fair go," Mr Swan said.

He said Labor's goal to share the nation's prosperity and to reject mindless austerity was under threat from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at the federal election on September 14.

"A dark cloud is gathering over it," Mr Swan said.

"And so I want you to think of this coming election not just as a contest between (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, or between Labor and Liberal, but as a referendum on the fair go."

Mr Swan said the choice was between opportunities for schools and a national disability insurance scheme, against coalition policies for tougher industrial laws and higher taxes for low-income earners.

The treasurer also argued that while Mr Abbott was reluctant to release the coalition's policy detail, its intentions could be gleaned by the policies advocated by right-wing think-tanks, such as the Centre for Independent Studies and the Institute of Public Affairs.

"They think harsh austerity is simple commonsense. But this simply ignores the hard reality of real world economics," Mr Swan said.

"When expenditure in an economy is savagely slashed, aggregate demand is suppressed and unemployment rocks up, and ultimately savings in the economy (including the budget position) deteriorate, and in the long run we are all poorer."

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rescuers find 50 survivors in Bangladesh

RESCUE teams have found around 50 people alive in a collapsed garment factory compound in Bangladesh.

Fire brigade officials said on Friday they had found around 50 people still alive at several places on the third floor of the the eight-storey Rana Plaza building which imploded on Wednesday morning, trapping thousands of workers.

It is understood the discovery happened after rescuers dug a series of tunnels in the rubble.

"We hope we can rescue them by tomorrow morning," Sheikh Mizanur Rahman, deputy director of the Bangladeshi fire service, says.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pedestrian dies in Victorian collision

A MAN has died after he was hit by a car while walking along a road in Seville, east of Melbourne.

The 55-year-old Yarra Junction man died at the scene after being struck on Monbulk-Seville Road.

It is believed he had been walking north on the road when he was hit by a car travelling in the same direction about 7pm (AEST) on Thursday.

The driver is assisting police with their inquiries.

The death brings the state's road toll to 81, compared with 91 at the same time last year.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Palmer to re-form UAP party for election

BILLIONAIRE miner Clive Palmer has come good on threats to set up his own political party, saying he will personally run for federal parliament.

Mr Palmer told ABC TV on Thursday he was re-forming the United Australia Party (UAP), which was dissolved in 1945, and had applied for registration in Queensland.

The former life member of the Liberal National Party (LNP) said the new UAP would contest 127 lower house seats in the September federal election, and stand for all seats in the Senate.

"I definitely will be (personally) standing for federal parliament," he confirmed, without revealing which seat.

"I definitely will be running in a seat in Queensland, but it would be presumptuous of me (to say which one).

"Like any political party, it's got to have its own preselections.

"By the end of next week we'll be announcing some of our candidates for federal parliament."

The original UAP was established in 1931 and was the predecessor to the Liberal Party, with Robert Menzies serving as a UAP prime minister between 1939 and 1941.

Late last year Mr Palmer gave up his life membership of the LNP after a bitter and public dispute with the Newman government in Queensland, and since then has threatened to set up his own party.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Legacy donations stolen from NSW RSL club

DONATIONS for the families of defence personnel have been stolen from an RSL club on the NSW south coast in a "shocking" robbery in the early hours of Anzac Day, police say.

An unknown number of people broke into the Bomaderry club about 2.20am (AEST) on Thursday after a rock was thrown at a glass door, they say.

The only thing reported missing was a replica digger's tin hat used to collect donations for Legacy, a charity that supports the families of defence services personnel.

Police said the amount of money stolen was not known.

"We are particularly shocked by this theft, given it occurred just four hours before the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Bomaderry," Shoalhaven duty officer Inspector Bruce Griffin said.

He's urged anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Remains found in missing Vic woman's home

HUMAN remains have been found in the home of an 82-year-old Melbourne woman who has been missing for almost two years.

Phyllis Kelly was last seen on August 20, 2011, at the State Theatre, just after 6pm.

She had not accessed her bank account since then and police had made public calls for information about her disappearance, having held grave fears for her welfare.

Police, accompanied by a pathologist, searched the woman's home on Little Charles Street in Fitzroy on Thursday after receiving authority from the coroner to conduct the search.

The remains will now be taken to the coroner for testing, a police spokeswoman said.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope appeals for release of Syrian bishops

POPE Francis has called for the release of two Syrian bishops kidnapped by gunmen near Aleppo, after a Christian group appeared to retract its claim that the clerics had been freed.

Aleppo's Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on Monday by armed men en route from the Turkish border.

Speaking to an audience of about 100,000 at the Vatican, Francis said on Wednesday there were "contradictory reports" about the fate of the bishops and asked that "they be returned quickly to their communities".

On Tuesday, the "Oeuvre d'Orient" Christian association announced that the bishops had been released, but on Wednesday it backed away from the claim.

"Yesterday evening we received information from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate questioning the release of the two bishops," said Catherine Baumont, spokeswoman for the group, which works to help Middle Eastern Christians.

"Unfortunately no tangible proof of the release has been obtained. The situation remains unclear, and we still don't know who took them," said Baumont.

And a source in Aleppo's Greek Orthodox archdiocese said it had no news on the fate of the bishops.

"We have no new information," said Ghassan Ward, a priest at the archdiocese.

"We can say that (as far as we know) they haven't been freed."

Ward said there had been "no contact with them," adding that "efforts are continuing" to secure their release.

"We are very worried."

The two men were travelling from the Turkish border when armed men intercepted the car they were in, forcing them out of the vehicle, Syrian state media and church sources reported.

The kidnappers were believed to be Chechen fighters, who stopped the car in an area outside of Aleppo, the church sources said.

"The news which we have received is that an armed group... (of) Chechens stopped the car and kidnapped the two bishops while the driver was killed," an official from the Syriac Orthodox diocese said in a statement posted online.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said on Wednesday that the bishops had been kidnapped "in the region west of Aleppo, where a brigade of fighters from Dagestan is active".

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Leftist Letta nominated to be Italy PM

ENRICO Letta, who will be Italy's next prime minister, is the Europhile deputy leader of the leftist Democratic Party.

He was nominated on Wednesday and at 46 years of age already has extensive government experience.

His age counted in his favour amid calls for generational change, as did his "post-ideological" image which makes him the obvious leader of a grand coalition government.

Despite his age, Letta has already served in four governments, including stints as minister for Europe and for trade and industry. He had already served in centre-left cabinets in the late 1990s.

Another possible asset is the fact that his uncle is Gianni Letta, a shadowy figure who has been Silvio Berlusconi's right-hand man for years.

This didn't prevent him from being one of Berlusconi's strongest critics, although the scandal-tainted billionaire tycoon will now be an important power behind the throne.

Letta was born in Pisa on August 20, 1966 and studied political sciences and international law at a time when he was an active member of the Christian Democratic party. The party eventually collapsed in a storm of corruption scandals.

Letta headed up the European youth wing of the centre-right Christian Democrats between 1991 and 1995, after which he worked at the finance ministry on Italy's bid to adopt the euro before joining Massimo D'Alema's leftist government in 1998.

The ambitious Letta later served under two other prime ministers - Giuliano Amato and Romano Prodi in a period in which an often divided centre-left alternated its frequently brief terms in office with successive Berlusconi governments.

He has said his heroes are Polish anti-communist leader Lech Walesa and South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

Letta has also admitted to a fondness for popular Italian comic "Dylan Dog" -- the adventures of a womanising sleuth specialising in the paranormal.

"I wanted to be like him," he told one interviewer.

Letta is also a big fan of British rock band Dire Straits and Italian pop-rockers Nomadi.

He has been a leading member of the national committee of the Democratic Party since it was formed in 2007 as a combination between the remnants of the historic Italian Communist Party and a series of small centrist parties.

Letta is the author of books including "Building a Cathedral: Why Italy Should Go Back to Thinking Big" and "Is Europe Over?" in which he called for a "new project" for Europe to lift it out of a period of crisis on many levels.

He has been married twice and has three children.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

87 dead in Bangladesh building collapse

AN eight-story building has collapsed near Bangladesh's capital, killing at least 87 people and trapping many more.

The building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar housed several garment factories but is now a jumbled mess of shattered concrete and bricks, officials said.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members.

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors.

Zahidur Rahman, director of public relations at Enam Medical College and Hospital, said by Wednesday evening 87 people had been confirmed dead.

Another 600 survivors had been rescued, Brigidier General Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder said.

Reports indicated the death toll could rise.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK man loses Longley murder appeal

A YOUNG British man found guilty of murdering his aspiring New Zealand model girlfriend has lost his appeal against conviction.

Wealthy jeweller's son Elliot Turner, now 21, from Bournemouth was present in the dock at the Court of Appeal in London for Wednesday's ruling by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Justice Royce and Justice Globe.

In May last year Turner was sentenced to life and ordered to serve at least 16 years before he can apply for parole after he was convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court of murdering 17-year-old Emily Longley.

After hearing argument on Turner's behalf and from a QC representing the prosecution, Lord Judge announced the court had decided to reject Turner's challenge.

He said the court had reached the "clear conclusion" that the appeal should be dismissed.

The court also threw out Turner's bid to have his sentence reduced.

The judges will give their reasons for their decision at a date to be announced.

A large number of Ms Longley's family were in court, including members who had travelled from their home in New Zealand.

During his trial Turner claimed that he acted in self-defence when Emily attacked him and he grabbed her by the throat for five or six seconds, then woke up to find her dead in his bed at his home.

The prosecution said Turner used a pillow to smother Emily and then strangled her after she went back to his house to talk things over following a violent argument that night.

When sentencing Turner, Justice Dobbs said he had "bullied, harassed, threatened and assaulted" Emily to control her as his "trophy" girlfriend.

Turner's QC Anthony Donne told the appeal judges: "The appeal against conviction centres on the use by the police of a covert listening device at the appellant's family home in Bournemouth following his release on police bail after his arrest on suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend Emily Longley on the night of 6/7 May 2011."

As well as hearing submissions on the safety of the conviction from Donne, the judges also heard argument from Timothy Mousley QC, opposing the appeal on behalf of the prosecution.

Justice Dobbs described Emily as a "lovely, kind, fun-loving girl who brought a ray of sunshine to those she touched".

The teenager had come from New Zealand to study at college just eight months before her death.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Clashes in north Iraq leave 40 dead

DEADLY fighting has hit Kirkuk province in north Iraq, with 27 people killed in clashes between protesters and security forces and 13 gunmen dying in subsequent revenge attacks on the army.

The clashes mark the deadliest eruption of violence linked to protests in Sunni areas that began more than four months ago.

The protesters have been demanding the resignation of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and railing against the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.

Tuesday's violence broke out around 5am when security forces entered an open area near Hawijah, west of Kirkuk province's capital, where demonstrations have been held since January, said senior army officers.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and around 70 wounded, they said.

But accounts differed as to the spark for the bloodletting.

A brigadier general from the Iraqi army division responsible for the area said the operation was aimed at Sunni militants from a group known as the Naqshbandiya Army, and that security forces only opened fire after they were fired upon.

A second officer said that 34 Kalashnikov assault rifles and four PKM machine guns were recovered at the scene.

Two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the operation, while the remainder of the casualties were a combination of protesters and militants, the officers said.

However, protesters insisted the army had provoked the clashes.

Security forces "invaded our sit-in today, burned the tents and opened fire indiscriminately and killed and wounded dozens of protesters," Abdulmalik al-Juburi, a leader of the Hawijah sit-in, told AFP.

"We only have four rifles to protect the sit-in, and there are no wanted people among us," Juburi said.

The dawn violence sparked revenge attacks.

Thirteen gunmen were killed in attacks on checkpoints in the Al-Rashad and Al-Riyadh areas of Kirkuk province, the army officers said.

"There have been fierce clashes which led to the killing of 13 revolutionaries against the policy of the government," Juburi said.

"When they heard the news about the killed and wounded in the sit-in, villagers in Kirkuk cut the roads and attacked checkpoints and military headquarters and took control of some of the checkpoints for a short time," he said.

Hassan Toran, leader of the provincial council of Kirkuk, where Hawijah is located, said the council condemned "the government forces breaking in to the sit-in and using extreme force, which led to killing and wounding dozens."

"We, as a provincial council, already warned and called for calm," Toran added.

"What happened today makes us ask the United Nations to intervene," he said.

A curfew has been imposed on Hawijah and neighbouring areas.

The violence came just hours after United Nations envoy Martin Kobler called for restraint on both sides in Hawijah, where tensions have been increasing.

"I encourage the Iraqi security forces to exercise the utmost self-restraint in maintaining law and order and the demonstrators to continue to preserve the peaceful character of the demonstrations," Kobler said in a statement.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Security tight ahead of France gay vote

France's parliament will finally approve a bill to legalise gay marriage after months of protests. Source: AAP

PARIS police have stepped up security for the city's gay community ahead of a final parliamentary vote on Tuesday on a bill that will make France the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage.

After months of acrimonious debate and hundreds of street protests that have occasionally spilled over into violence, a reform that has split the country was expected to be comfortably approved by the Socialist-dominated National Assembly around 1500 GMT (0100 AEST).

Deputies voted 329-229 in favour of the bill on its first reading in February and a similar outcome is expected in the ballot on the second and final reading.

Although the protests against gay marriage, some of them attended by hundreds of thousands, have generally been peaceful, the debate has taken on a nastier edge in recent weeks.

Some politicians have received personal threats, a handful of demonstrations have ended in violence amid claims of infiltration by extreme-right activists, and there was even a scuffle in parliament as the debate concluded in the wee small hours of Friday.

These tensions have been linked to a spike in hate crimes against the gay community that have included attacks on bars and two serious assaults in Paris, prompting the police to take preventive measures in case of a further backlash.

Bernard Boucault, the city's prefect of police, said the assaults, which took place on the night of April 6-7, had been almost certainly the result of homophobia.

"Everything possible is being done to identify those responsible and bring them to justice," Boucault said.

"In order to ensure there is no repeat, we are reinforcing our presence in certain areas of the city at certain times."

Gay rights activists are planning a celebratory rally to coincide with the parliamentary vote and opponents will stage protests in Paris and across the country.

That will not however be the final chapter in a debate that has exposed profound fault lines in French society.

The bill, which will also accord gay and lesbian couples the right to adopt children, will only become law when it is signed by President Francois Hollande and published in the Official Journal.

Opposition parties are hoping to delay that step by challenging the measure through France's constitutional council, but the government is confident that will be dismissed.

"We have ensured that there is no legal weakness," said Family Minister Dominique Bertinotti.

"The constitutional council is sovereign but the government is serene. We're confident."

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australian population hits 23m, ABS says

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' population clock is expected to reach 23 million on Tuesday. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA is now home to 23 million people, according to an estimate by the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS), with the milestone prompting discussion about population size.

The ABS's population clock is based on a projected increase of one person every one minute and 23 seconds, taking into account birth and death rates, and the net gain from migration.

Australia hit the 23 million mark just before 10pm (AEST) on Tuesday according to the clock, with the last million added from September 2009.

With the milestone looming, earlier in the day Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she thought the figure was relatively low.

In terms of the world's most populous nations, Australia is ranked in the mid-50s.

"By the standards of the world we are a relatively low-population country, but we have the 12th strongest economy in the world - now that's an achievement," Ms Gillard told reporters in Sydney.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government wasn't interested in setting "arbitrary targets", but rather the distribution and composition of the nation's people.

"We are interested in where the population is and the type of groups within our population," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"There are many communities where there aren't sufficient jobs and equally there are many communities where there are more jobs than people to fill them."

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government was looking at "where and how" people live.

"We need to think about the shape of our cities, whether jobs are close to housing," she said.

According to the ABS, the nation's population passed five million in 1919, 10 million in 1960, 15 million in 1983 and 20 million in the December quarter of 2003.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW police officer caught drink driving

A NSW police officer has been suspended after he was caught drink driving, police say. Source: AAP

A NSW police officer has been suspended after he was caught drink driving, police say.

The officer, 48, was arrested on Sunday after he returned a high range reading of 0.173 during a breath-test at Tweed Heads, police said.

Police suspended the man's drivers licence and he will appear in Tweed Heads Local Court for driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol and other driving offences.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police catch NSW prison escapee

A PRISONER who escaped from a jail in NSW's Upper Hunter has been recaptured by police.

Dean Wells, 29, was reported missing from the St Heliers Correctional Complex in Muswellbrook after 4pm (AEDT) on Monday.

He was arrested at Muswellbrook police station on Monday evening, police said.

Wells had been serving a sentence of six years and six months for a range of offences.

He's been charged with escaping lawful custody and will appear in court on Tuesday.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hagel finalises arms deal on Israel trip

PENTAGON chief Chuck Hagel has met his Israeli counterpart Moshe Yaalon to put the finishing touches on a major arms deal and for talks on Syria's civil war and the Iranian nuclear threat.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Hagel confirmed the two had finalised details of a multi-billion dollar arms deal which will see Israel receiving an impressive package of advanced US missiles and aircraft.

"Today we took another significant step in the US-Israel defence relationship," Hagel said, reiterating Washington's "ironclad pledge" to ensure Israel's qualitative military edge in a region rocked by turmoil.

"Minister Yaalon and I agreed that the United States will make available to Israel a set of advanced new military capabilities ... including anti-radiation missiles and advanced radars for fighter jets, KC135 refuelling aircraft, and most significantly the V-22 Osprey, which the United States has not released to any other nation."

Hagel arrived in Israel on Sunday at the start of a six-day regional tour, his first since taking over as Pentagon chief two months ago, which was likely to be dominated by concerns over Iran's nuclear program and Syria's civil war.

Syria was a central part of their talks, with Yaalon admitting that Israel had already "acted" to stop advanced Syrian weapons from falling into militant hands, in what was seen as implicit confirmation of Israeli involvement in a strike on an arms convoy inside Syria in January.

Yaalon said Israel had laid down three "very clear red lines" for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the first of which was "not to allow sophisticated weapons to be delivered or be taken by rogue elements like Hezbollah or other rogue elements."

"When they crossed this red line, we acted," he said, in what was widely understood to be the January 30 strike which hit what a US official said were surface-to-air missiles near Damascus that Israel suspected were en route to Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

The second red line was maintaining the calm along the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line on the occupied Golan Heights, and the third was the transfer of chemical weapons into the hands of militants, which "has not been tested yet," Yaalon said.

Last month, Syrian rebels and the regime traded accusations of chemical weapons use for the first time in the two-year conflict, with similar allegations made by European diplomats in recent weeks.

Although Washington is investigating such claims, it has yet to reach a definitive conclusion.

The White House has warned however that use of chemical agents in the Syrian civil war would constitute a "game changer" but Hagel refused to be drawn on any possible US response.

Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has refused to rule out a pre-emptive military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, and Hagel on Monday reiterated Washington's credo that "every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself."

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Caterpillar profits drop

INDUSTRIAL heavyweight Caterpillar reported a big drop in quarterly earnings and profit forecast, citing a weakening outlook in its mining business.

Caterpillar said net income came in at $US880 million ($A860 million), down 45.4 per cent from the same period 12 months ago. Revenues also fell sharply, dropping 17.3 per cent to $US13.2 billion.

Caterpillar usually adds inventory in the first quarter, as in 2012, when it added about $US2 billion. But this year the company trimmed inventory by about a half billion dollars.

"What's happening in our business and in the economy overall is a mixed picture," said chief executive Doug Oberhelman. "Conditions in the world economy seem relatively stable, and we continue to expect slow growth in 2013."

Caterpillar said the range for 2013 revenues would be $US57-$US61 billion, down from the previous range of $US60-$US68 billion.

The company said profits would come in at around $US7.00 per share, down from the previous forecast of $US7-$US9 per share.

Caterpillar said its outlook for two of its three business segments - construction industries and power systems - is similar to the previous outlook. But conditions in the mining division "have decreased significantly."

The revised outlook now sees a sales decline of about 50 per cent from 2012 for traditional Cat machines used in mining. Caterpillar's revenues in resources, which includes mining, came in at $US3.7 billion in the most recent quarter, down from $US4.8 billion in the year-earlier period.

"From an operational standpoint, we have taken action to align production, costs and capital expenditures with the sales and revenues outlook. While 2013 will be a challenging year, we are confident about the long-term," said Oberhelman.

Caterpillar said it would take advantage of its depressed stock price to undertake stock repurchases for the first time since 2008. The company will resume stock repurchases in the second quarter and expects repurchases of about $US1 billion.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Taliban capture 11 from Afghan chopper

A TURKISH transport helicopter with at least 11 civilians was forced to make an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area in eastern Afghanistan, and the insurgents took all the people on board hostage, including eight Turks and a Russian, officials say.

The civilian aircraft landed in strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday in a village named Dahra Mangal in the Azra district of Logar province, southeast of Kabul, District Governor Hamidullah Hamid told The Associated Press.

He said the helicopter came down in a gorge in the densely forested region, known for narrow gorges and rugged mountains, about 20km from the Pakistani border.

The Taliban fighters then captured everyone aboard the helicopter and took them away, Hamid said on Monday.

In a phone interview, Arsala Jamal, Logar's provincial governor, identified the hostages as eight Turks, one Afghan translator and two foreign pilots of unknown nationality.

In Ankara, a spokesman at Turkey's Foreign Ministry confirmed that eight Turks were aboard the helicopter but had no information on their condition or what had happened to them after the emergency landing.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry regulations.

Stepan Anikeyev, the Russian embassy's press attach in Kabul, said in a phone interview that a Russian man was being held hostage.

He said the Russians knows he was one of the two pilots but that they don't have details about his identity yet and that they're in "constant touch" with local officials in Afghanistan.

Security forces were dispatched to the area where the helicopter came down and engaged in firefights with the Taliban but quickly retreated because they had no support, said Logar Deputy Police Chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai.

"We brought the police back because there was no help from the (NATO) coalition or the Afghan army. The police were unable to secure the area, which is very rural, and we were worried," Rahimzai said.

He added that information they had from the region was that the hostages were taken by the Taliban to Hisarak district of neighbouring Nangarhar province.

Hamid said that repeated calls for the Afghan army or NATO help went unanswered, and that the police were unable to secure the area, which is located 15km from the district police compound in the town of Azra.

NATO confirmed that the Turkish helicopter went down on Sunday, but the International Security Assistance Force did not have any other details.

It did say there were "no ISAF" or "US personnel on board the Turkish helicopter", denying an earlier Taliban claim that they had detained Americans on the aircraft.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Jordan arrests eight Syrian refugees

Jordanian demonstrators have called on authorities to close a refugee camp housing Syrians. Source: AAP

POLICE have arrested eight Syrians on suspicion of inciting riots at a refugee camp near the Jordan-Syria border.

About 100 Syrian refugees threw stones at police on Friday for preventing some of them from sneaking out of their desert camp. Ten officers were wounded, including two who remain critical.

A security official said a military prosecutor will question the eight suspects later on Sunday.

If convicted, they face up to three years in jail.

The Zaatari camp houses 150,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war. Another 350,000 Syrians have found shelter in Jordanian communities.

Conditions in the overcrowded camp have worsened since it opened last July, and there have been several riots.

In Syria on Sunday, troops backed by pro-government gunmen pounded rebel areas near the Lebanese border, activists and state media said.

The clashes came as US officials said the Obama administration was poised to send up to $US130 million ($A126.77 million) more in non-lethal military aid to rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said there was no immediate casualty report from the fighting in Basatin in Homs province.

The state television said the army was trying to "uproot all the terrorists from the area" - a reference to the rebels.

Elsewhere, the Observatory said fighting was also reported in the northern province of Aleppo, three areas in the suburbs of Damascus and the central province of Idlib.

In the past two weeks, the Syrian military - supported by pro-government fighters backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group - has pursued a campaign to regain control of areas near the Lebanese border.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Girl indecently assaulted at Sydney beach

POLICE are searching for man in his 60s who they allege indecently assaulted a seven year-old girl at an eastern Sydney beach.

They say the incident occurred while the girl was on a day out with her family at Coogee Beach, about 2pm (AEST) on Sunday.

She and her four-year-old brother were climbing a tree at the northern end of the beach when a man approached.

Described as Caucasian and overweight, police say he tickled the boy before inappropriately touching the girl.

The kids later told their parents.

The man was last seen walking south from the location along a footpath.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

84 arrested at western Sydney rave

Most of the 84 arrests made at a Sydney music festival were due to sniffer dogs, police say. Source: AAP

POLICE have made 84 mainly drug-related arrests at a rave in western Sydney.

Dance music festival IQON ran most of Saturday at the Sydney International Dragway at Eastern Creek.

Officers attached to Operation Charthouse arrested 84 partiers for offences including goods in custody, assault police and breach of bail.

But police had sniffer dogs to thank for most of the arrests.

They laid 78 charges for possess prohibited drug, four charges for deem supply and one cannabis caution.

Police on Sunday said inquiries into the drug matters were continuing.

Blacktown Local Area Commander Superintendent Mark Wright said in spite of the numbers arrested and charged, the overall crowd was well behaved.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-HSBC worker: US said to head for Spain

A FORMER HSBC employee fighting extradition to Switzerland for allegedly stealing banking data that exposed thousands of suspected tax dodgers reportedly says US officials advised that he flee to Spain because his life was at risk.

Herve Falciani, a 40-year-old French-Italian citizen, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012 after he arrived by boat from the port of Sete in France.

He was apprehended under an international warrant seeking his extradition to Switzerland, where he is wanted for violating banking secrecy laws.

He collected data on at least 24,000 customers of HSBC's Swiss subsidiaries from 2006 to 2008 while working in the bank's information technology development unit in Geneva which he then passed on to French authorities.

The files, which were subsequently relayed by investigators to their counterparts in the United States, Spain, Italy and several other European Union countries, led to a raft of prosecutions.

Falciani told El Pais newspaper on Sunday about a month before he fled to Spain, US justice officials who he was collaborating with from Paris warned him his life was at risk.

"The United States warned me that it would be easy for someone to pay to try to kill me. I had to plan my escape carefully. I chose Spain knowing that I would go to jail and that Switzerland would ask for my extradition," he said.

"I had two options: start a new life in the United States or travel somewhere else to gain time. They told me that the only safe place in Europe would be Spain, which had used my information with success in important cases.

"They thought it would be very unlikely that Spain would approve my extradition to Switzerland," Falciani said.

Spanish prosecutors opposed Falciani's extradition to Switzerland during his court hearing on April 15 in Madrid. The court is expected to give its decision in the coming weeks.

Falciani told the court in Madrid last week his intention was to raise the alarm about what was going on at the bank and denied he sought to sell the information as alleged by Swiss officials.

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More