Seven killed in Florida hostage drama

SIX people have been shot dead in a hostage drama near the US city of Miami that ended when police killed the suspect.

The man allegedly took neighbours hostage in a Hialeah apartment building for reasons not immediately known, said police spokesman Sergeant Eddie Rodriguez on Saturday.

"Six innocent people died and also the suspect who initiated this situation," Rodriguez added.

He said the incident began at 6.30 pm local time on Friday and ended eight hours later when a police SWAT team moved in.

The team "entered the apartment where the suspect was holding a neighbour couple as hostages," Rodriguez said.

Among the dead were an elderly couple identified by their daughter as Italo Pisciotti and Samira Pisciotti.

Rodriguez said they were the building's landlords.

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Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn to face trial

FRENCH former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face trial on pimping charges along with 12 others in connection with an alleged prostitution ring at a Lille hotel, the local prosecutors' office says.

Prosecutors had in June called for the charges of "aggravated pimping as part of an organised gang" against Strauss-Kahn to be dropped, but investigating magistrates have decided he should face trial.

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General strike as Tunisia mourns slain MP

TUNISIA has marked a day of mourning after gunmen killed a leading opposition figure, sparking fresh political turmoil, protests and a general strike which took Tunis to near standstill.

National airline Tunisair and European airlines cancelled flights on Friday, with more street protests expected amid allegations of government connivance in Thursday's killing.

MP Mohamed Brahmi, 58, of the leftist and nationalist Popular Movement, was assassinated outside his home in Ariana, near Tunis, witnesses said.

The state prosecutor's office said an autopsy found that Brahmi, whose family and political colleagues said would be buried as a "martyr" on Saturday in a Tunis cemetery, had been mowed down by a hail of 14 bullets.

Balkis Brahmi, 19, one of his five children, said her father was killed by two men in black on a motorbike.

"At around midday, we heard gunfire and my father crying with pain. We rushed out - my brother, mother and I - to find his body riddled with bullets at the wheel of his car parked in front of the house," she told AFP.

As news of the killing spread, thousands of angry protesters took to the streets on Thursday in central Tunis and in Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the Arab Spring and Brahmi's hometown.

Police in Tunis fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who tried to set up a tent for a sit-in calling for the fall of the regime after the second such killing of a critic of the country's Islamist leadership.

The assassination was the work of a member of the radical Sunni Muslim Salafist movement, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said on Friday.

"The first elements of the investigation show the implication of Boubaker Hakim, a Salafist extremist," he told a press briefing.

He also said Brahmi was killed with the same weapon used to murder another opposition figure, Chokri Belaid, in February.

On Wednesday, a minister and senior adviser to the premier said six people believed to have orchestrated Belaid's killing have been identified. Noureddin B'Hiri said the details would "soon" be revealed.

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Togo 'shuts radio station' over reports

AUTHORITIES in Togo have shut down a radio station that aired reports of fraud as the country holds elections, the opposition says.

The polls in the west African nation had been delayed for months by waves of protests and the opposition had voiced concern about the prospect of cheating ahead of the vote.

The authorities accused Legende FM of broadcasting false allegations of ruling party fraud, said Louis-Rodolphe Attiogbe of the main opposition coalition Let's Save Togo.

"We were told it was (the authorities) that closed the station," Zeus Adjavon, Let's Save Togo's spokesman, told AFP.

A crowd protesting outside the station's building in the capital Lome was growing rowdy, but no teargas had been fired and there were no incidents of violence.

The polls mark the latest step in the impoverished country's transition to democracy after Gnassingbe Eyadema's rule from 1967 to his death in 2005, when the military installed his son Faure Gnassingbe as president.

Opposition leaders had threatened to boycott the vote after the government refused to implement sweeping electoral reforms, but ultimately decided to take part.

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Facebook shares soar, lifting Nasdaq

FACEBOOK shares have soared on strong earnings in opening trade, lifting the Nasdaq, while overall the markets were in negative territory.

In the first 10 minutes of trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 47.60 (0.31 per cent) at 15,494.64.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 edged down 1.52 (0.09 per cent) to 1,684.42.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite headed higher, adding 6.53 (0.18 per cent) at 3,586.13.

Facebook shares skyrocketed 25.8 per cent to $33.35. The leading social network company surprised Wall Street with a strong earnings report after the market closed on Wednesday.

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US jobless claims climb

MORE people filed new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week as the jobs market slowly improves.

Initial jobless claims rose to 343,000 in the week ending July 20, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised 336,000 claims, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

Last week's increase in claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, was larger than the 340,000 reading expected on average by analysts.

Analysts noted the weekly claims reporting was being affected by car plant shutdowns for retooling that were not occurring in their normal fashion this year.

"Unemployment insurance claims have been see-sawing for the past four weeks or so as the Fourth of July holiday and annual shutdowns at auto manufacturing plants make it difficult to seasonally adjust the data," said Marisa Di Natale of Moody's Analytics.

Overall, claims were grinding lower. The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell by 1,250 to 345,250.

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United boosts 2Q earnings 38 per cent

THE parent of United Airlines says its profit rose 38 per cent as it spent less on fuel and slightly boosted fares.

United cut flying by 2 per cent compared to a year earlier, but passengers paid slightly more to fly. Also, United's fuel bill dropped 10 per cent as it flew less and the price of fuel dropped.

Lower fuel bills helped all of the big airlines in the most recent quarter. In the quarter ended June 30, the per-gallon cost of United's fuel fell 8 per cent. But oil prices have risen in recent weeks, likely dampening the relief for airlines.

A year ago, United was struggling to merge some of its large computer systems with United, resulting in snafus that frustrated passengers and hurt fares.

A key measure of per-seat passenger revenue rose 1 per cent in the most recent quarter as United recovered.

"I am encouraged by the progress we made in the second quarter - in our operations, in our customer service and in our financial performance," said Jeff Smisek, the airline's chairman, president, and CEO.

United Continental Holdings Inc earned $US469 million ($A514 million), or $US1.21 per share, for the quarter. It would have earned $US1.35 per share if not for special items. That's a penny better than expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

A year ago it earned $US339 million, or 89 cents per share.

Revenue rose almost 1 per cent to $US10 billion, about what analysts had expected.

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Dell buyout offer boosted; vote postponed

THE buyout offer for Dell led by company founder Michael Dell has been raised slightly, and a shareholder vote on the plan postponed until August 2.

The offer from Michael Dell and the private equity firm Silver Lake was boosted to $US13.75 per share, from $US13.65 a share, a company statement said.

A letter to shareholders said the new offer adds $US150 million ($A162 million) to the prior bid of $US24.4 billion, and said it was "our best and final proposal".

It said the offer was contingent on a modification of the approval process to require a majority of shares voted, instead of a majority of all outstanding shares held by the unaffiliated stockholders.

"We are not willing to discuss any further increase in the merger consideration nor are we willing to increase the merger consideration to $US13.75 per share without the change to the Unaffiliated Stockholder Approval requirement," the letter said.

"There is simply no rational basis for shares that are not voted to count as votes against the merger agreement for purposes of the unaffiliated stockholder vote."

The move came amid stiff opposition to the buyout by some shareholders who argued that Michael Dell's bid undervalued the former number one computer maker.

Opponents have been galvanised by corporate raider Carl Icahn, with some other institutional investors also opposing the effort.

The buyout aims to take Dell private to allow the company to restructure in a rapidly changing tech landscape. While Dell is flush with cash it has been losing market share and has failed to make an impact in the growing area or mobile computing.

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PepsiCo's profit climbs

PEPSICO Inc has reported a higher quarterly profit that topped Wall Street expectations, as price increases for its popular Frito-Lay snacks helped lift revenue.

In its Americas beverage unit, volume fell 3.5 per cent, with sodas in North America falling in the mid-single digits.

For the quarter, PepsiCo earned $US2.01 billion ($A2.17 billion), or $US1.28 per share. That's up from $US1.49 billion, or 94 cents per share, a year ago.

Not including one-time items, it earned $US1.31 per share, above the $US1.19 analysts expected.

Revenue rose to $US16.81 billion, more than the $US16.79 billion Wall Street.

The results come a week after investor Nelson Peltz said he wants PepsiCo to drop its beverage business and buy Oreo cookie maker Mondelez. Peltz says the company's snacks unit is being overshadowed by its underperforming drinks unit.

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Aust science prepares for pandemic

AUSTRALIAN researchers are joining forces with scientists overseas to prepare for the next human pandemic.

A new SARS-like virus has emerged in the Middle East and killed 45 people, and in China a new strain of bird flu is killing people instead of chickens.

CSIRO Biosecurity Flagship Director Gary Fitt will tell Australia's leading biosecurity researchers on Thursday recent global events highlight the need to ramp up research into viruses that spread from animals to humans.

"We now know that 70 per cent of new diseases in people have originated in animals," he says in a statement.

"We are lucky to have a strong biosecurity system, backed by world-class science, but we live in an increasingly connected world with trade and people movements putting us at greater risk."

He says CSIRO and Duke-NUS (an alliance between Duke University in the US and the National University of Singapore) have signed a relationship agreement with a view to forming an International Collaborative Centre for One Health.

That $20 million partnership would take a new approach to tackling these deadly viruses, he says.

The virus in the Middle East has already killed 45 of 82 people infected since September 2012. Dr Fitt says it is still unknown how the new strain in China of the highly pathogenic bird flu, known as H7N92, is spreading undetected.

CSIRO Science Leader and Director of the Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS, Linfa Wang, says responding to the emerging threats needs a new approach that integrates medical, veterinary, ecological and environmental research.

"Bringing all of these disciplines together to develop a One Health approach rather than working independently is what our new international partnership is all about," he said in a statement.

They are already combining CSIRO's world-leading bat virology research with Duke-NUS medical expertise in the development of new and more effective methods for the discovery, treatment, prevention and control of new and emerging diseases in people.

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Ford earns $US1.2bn in second quarter

FORD Motor Co says it's earned $US1.2 billion ($A1.3 billion) in the second quarter as US pickup truck demand and growing sales in China offset losses in Europe.

Ford raised its forecast based on the April-June results. The Dearborn, Michigan-based car maker now expects its full-year pre-tax profit to be equal to or better than the $US8 billion it reported a year ago.

Previously the company had expected to match last year's results.

Ford's earned 30 cents per share in the latest quarter, the same as a year ago.

Without one-time items, including separation payments in Europe, the company earned 45 cents per share. That surpassed analysts' forecast of 37 cents, according to FactSet.

Revenue was up 14 per cent to $US38.1 billion.

Ford earned $US2.3 billion in North America and a best-ever profit of $US177 million in Asia.

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New prince has long wait to inherit throne

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced the birth of their child via press release and Twitter. Source: AAP

EDS: updates with comments from Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

By Julian Drape, AAP London Correspondent

LONDON, July 23 AAP - The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a healthy baby boy but by the time the future king actually takes to the throne Australia could be a republic.

For the first time in more than 100 years the next three generations to wear the crown are alive at the same time as the sovereign.

So it could be 70 years before the new Prince of Cambridge inherits the crown.

If the Queen lives until the same age as her mother she'd be on the throne until 2027.

Prince Charles would be 80 then and could reign for some years before Prince William takes over as the head of the world's most high-profile monarchy.

Royal commentators insist Monday's birth will make the royal family more modern and alleviate disquiet about Charles and Camilla inheriting the throne.

But as Robert Hazell from the Constitution Unit at University College London notes: "We might have a succession of very elderly monarchs".

In her first comments after the birth Kate thanked hospital staff for "the tremendous care" she'd received.

"We know it has been a very busy period for the hospital and we would like to thank everyone - staff, patients and visitors - for their understanding during this time," she said in a joint statement with husband William.

Kensington Palace added: "Mother, son and father are all doing well this morning."

The palace said the new family weren't expected to leave the private Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital until after 6pm Tuesday London time or possibly Wednesday morning.

Even so photographers and reporters aren't about to temporarily abandon their hard-fought-for positions opposite the entrance.

When it poured rain around midday they simply huddled under the umbrellas they'd used to keep the sun off the previous day.

It is expected William and Kate will pose for the first photographs with the royal baby on the steps of Lindo Wing as they leave.

It will be reminiscent of the scene three decades ago when Princess Diana stood holding the infant Duke alongside husband Prince Charles.

Royal watchers are also hoping the newborn's name will be announced sooner rather than later. The palace on Monday said the name would be revealed "in due course".

On Tuesday it said: "No news on names."

George, James and Alexander are now the favourites with the bookies.

Prince William and Kate's baby was born on Monday afternoon London time weighing 8lbs 6oz (3.8kg).

The Duke of Cambridge was present at the birth and afterwards said: "We could not be happier."

Prince Charles said in a statement he was "overjoyed".

"I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future," he said.

British tabloid The Daily Mail on Tuesday ran a large picture of the Prince of Wales on its front page with the headline: "Oh boy! One's a grandpa".

"It's a Boy!" was splashed across many UK front pages while top-selling The Sun temporarily changed its masthead to "The Son" in honour of the tiny monarch-in-waiting.

The birth of the third-in-line to the throne will be marked on Tuesday afternoon by a 41 royal gun salute at Green Park. Simultaneously a 62 royal gun salute will be fired from Gun Wharf at the Tower of London.

Large crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace late on Monday night to celebrate.

Australian Tanya Topfer, a self-described "royalist", waited there all day for the birth notice to be displayed in the forecourt.

"It is absolutely insane in there," the 50-year-old told AAP after emerging from the scrum having secured a photograph of the easel.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd passed on Australia's wishes saying: "This is a happy day for our close friends in Britain and the Commonwealth."

The PM has decided Australia's official gift to the little prince will be a soft bilby toy and an enclosure for the treasured but threatened marsupial to be named in his honour at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

The Australian Republican Movement also sent its wishes to the people of the UK on the birth of "their future monarch".

"We look forward to a future day when an Australian head of state can stand beside the British monarch as friends and equals," national director David Morris said.

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'Corpse flower' attracts thousands in US

Up to 20,000 visitors have packed the US Botanic Garden to catch a whiff of the corpse flower. Source: AAP

IT seems a more fitting subject for an Edgar Allan Poe story: a towering maroon blossom that emits the odour of rotting flesh.

Up to 20,000 visitors packed the US Botanic Garden on Monday to catch a whiff of the rare titan arum bloom, also known as the corpse flower, before the short-lived flowering ends.

Found in the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, the titan arum takes years to bloom, but its inflorescence, one of the largest in the world, remains open for only 24 to 48 hours. The powerful odour serves to attract carrion beetles and other insects for pollination.

While the US Botanic Garden has 14 corpse flowers, this is the first to bloom since 2007.

Botanists and the public were anticipating the Washington event for a week before the plant finally bloomed on Sunday evening. During that time, more than 400,000 viewers logged on to a webcam monitoring the plant's progress.

Bill McLaughlin, the garden's curator of plants, heard that the titan arum was about to bloom on Sunday and arrived just in time to see it open around 6pm.

Crowds converged on the garden on Monday, forming a line that wove slowly through the shrubbery. Many visitors wore suits or high heels as they stole away from work for a quick peek.

Though it smelled sweet at first, McLaughlin said, the stench soon "began descending from the roof, like a pile of dead animals".

"It's hilarious that all these people are here to smell something awful," he said.

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Pressure mounts for Morsi release in Egypt

Four people died and more than 20 have been injured as protests continue to grow violent in Egypt. Source: AAP

PRESSURE is growing on Egypt's new leaders to release Mohamed Morsi from detention as clashes between supporters and opponents of the deposed Islamist president have left 10 people dead.

The deadly clashes which also wounded dozens broke out on Monday, raged through the night and were continuing on Tuesday, a day after Morsi's family vowed to sue the military over his ouster.

At least six people were killed early on Tuesday when opponents of Morsi attacked supporters of the deposed president who were staging a sit-in near Cairo University, state media reported.

Morsi's family told a news conference on Monday they will take legal action against the military for having "kidnapped" the elected president after he was deposed in a military-led coup on July 3.

Egypt's new leadership says Morsi is in a "safe" place for his own good.

Calls for Morsi to be released have also been issued by the United States, Germany, the United Nations and the European Union which, on Monday, again called for the Islamist leader to be freed.

"It is now of utmost importance that Egypt embarks on a transition, allowing a transfer of power to a civilian-led and democratically elected government," EU foreign ministers said in a statement.

They listed demands, including "the release of all political detainees, including Mohamed Morsi" - reiterating remarks EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton made last week in Cairo.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement has also vowed to sustain protests until his reinstatement and has refused to recognise the interim government installed by the military ahead of new elections early next year.

Tuesday's violence came a day after Morsi's supporters marched on the US embassy, setting off a gunfight with opponents in the nearby Tahrir Square that killed one protester.

Later in Qalyub, north of Cairo, street battles killed three people, one of them run over by a train as he tried to escape the violence.

As violence billowed, interim president Adly Mansour appealed in a late Monday speech for a "new page in the book of the history of the nation, without rancour, hatred and confrontation."

But Morsi's detention and subsequent arrests of senior Brotherhood leaders, have hardened his supporters against dealing with the new regime.

His daughter Shaimaa Mohamed Morsi told reporters on Monday that the family would sue army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and also take legal action outside Egypt.

"We are taking local and international legal measures against Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the leader of the bloody military coup, and his putschist group," she said.

Morsi's son Osama said the family had not heard from him since his overthrow.

"None of us has had any contact with our father since the afternoon of the coup on July 3," he told reporters.

Although mostly peaceful, the pro-Morsi protests have resulted in deadly clashes, with the unrest claiming more than 100 lives in all, according to an AFP tally.

In the bloodiest single incident, at least 53 people died, mostly Morsi supporters, during clashes with soldiers outside the elite military barracks where they believed Morsi was being held.

Violence has also swept the restive Sinai Peninsula, where militants have stepped up deadly attacks on security forces since Morsi's ouster, including one on Monday that killed a police officer and a civilian.

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US stocks rise on earnings, China hopes

US stocks have opened higher after several leading companies bested earnings estimates and as investors welcomed news that China may enact new economic stimulus policies.

Five minutes into trade on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 51.14 (0.33 per cent) to 15,596.69.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 2.42 (0.14 per cent) to 1,697.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 4.61 (0.13 per cent) at 3,605.00.

Several leading companies, including Dow components DuPont, United Technologies and Travellers, reported profits that exceeded analyst expectations, even if revenues in some cases lagged forecasts.

Global markets were also cheered after Chinese state media quoted Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as saying economic growth must stay above the "bottom line" of seven per cent. Analysts saw the remarks as implying more economic stimulus was forthcoming.

Concerns about a Chinese economic slowdown have crimped investor sentiment worldwide. Several leading European and Asian stock indices rose following Li's remarks.

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Discovery could halt breast cancer relapse

AUSTRALIAN scientists have made a discovery that could lead to a simple blood test with the potential to conquer treatment-resistant breast cancer.

The breakthrough relates to the most common form of the disease, oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.

The test would be used to determine when cancer cells are most vulnerable to chemotherapy, which would be used to kill them off and prevent a relapse.

At present women with this type of breast cancer are not usually treated with chemotherapy.

They typically receive anti-oestrogen therapy and generally respond well. Within 15 years, however, half develop drug resistance, followed by relapse and death.

Scientists believe the anti-oestrogen therapy weakens the BCL-2 gene, which protects the cancer.

The idea would be to test all patients and correctly time the use of chemotherapy to kill off the cancer and prevent a relapse when the gene is sufficiently weak.

"Excitingly, this is something that could be implemented into clinical practice very quickly," says Dr Andrew Stone of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

He worked with colleagues Professor Susan Clark and Professor Liz Musgrove on the research, in collaboration with scientists from Cardiff University.

"It could provide an affordable, potentially life-saving solution to about a quarter of women with breast cancer."

The research, published online in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, suggests the technology to profile patients already exists and the drugs they will respond to are in everyday use.

At present, there are three therapeutic strategies for oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.

These are blocking the body's production of oestrogen, using the drug tamoxifen to prevent oestrogen from binding to the oestrogen receptor and destroying the oestrogen receptor completely.

Over time, however, many tumours become resistant. When one form of treatment starts to fail, a second is put in place, and then a third. Response times shrink, and tumours start to spread to other parts of the body, usually the brain, lungs, liver and bone.

"Of course this is only preliminary research. But a clinical trial could be set up very easily.

"We believe it could provide a new diagnostic and therapeutic strategy in oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer, and could benefit the lives of millions of women worldwide," says Dr Stone.

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Men caught with 424 illegal abalone in NSW

TWO men are facing up to 10 years in prison each after they were allegedly caught on NSW's south coast with a total of 424 abalone destined for the black market.

In the first case, a 38-year-old man from Ulladulla was discovered with 222 abalone near Bawley Point.

He's accused of trying to dump the abalone back into the sea when approached by fisheries officers.

The man has been charged with trafficking abalone, threatening and obstructing fisheries officers, possession of more than the recreational possession limit and shucking abalone.

In a separate incident, a 40-year-old man from Sanctuary Point was spotted diving on O'Hara Island south of Pretty Beach, also on the NSW south coast.

He was caught as he returned to his car and allegedly discovered to have 202 abalone him.

He's been charged with trafficking abalone, possession of prohibited size fish, possessing more than the recreational possession limit and possessing shucked abalone.

Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said both men were discovered separately in the Kioloa area, south of Ulladulla, during Operation Enamel.

"They are now facing face maximum fines of up to $88,000 and/or 10 years imprisonment," she said on Monday.

In NSW, the amount of abalone is limited to two per person, with the minimum legal size for abalone 117 millimetres.

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US stocks open mixed as earnings pick up

US stocks have opened mixed after an uneven batch of earnings reports painted a so-so picture of economic activity.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 14.79 (0.10 per cent) to 15,528.95.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.57 (0.03 per cent) at 1,692.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.19 (0.23 per cent) to 3,595.80.

The results came as Dow member McDonald's released disappointing earnings and a mediocre outlook, while oil services giant Halliburton narrowly topped expectations.

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Keli Lane's two-day appeal set to start

KELI Lane is set to appeal her conviction more than two years after she was jailed for murdering her newborn baby.

The former elite water polo player was jailed in 2011 for at least 13 years and five months for the 1996 murder of her two-day-old daughter Tegan.

Lane's case will be heard in front of three judges in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 38-year-old's legal team - lead by barrister Winston Terracini SC - will appeal the conviction on a number of grounds, including that an alternative count of manslaughter should have been open to the jury as there was no evidence "of infliction of any harm with any intent".

They are also expected to argue her trial's crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC, had reversed the onus of proof by posing questions to the jury during his closing address.

Lane's appeal comes after Justice Anthony Whealy last year said he wasn't convinced the crown had proved its case.

Lane has steadfastly maintained she handed Tegan over to the infant's father, with whom she'd had a brief affair. Tegan's remains have never been found.

Lane had two terminations as a teenager and had kept three pregnancies and births secret from family and friends, adopting out two children.

The crown contended Lane murdered Tegan because a child would have interfered with her sporting, sex and social life.

Earlier this month, Lane's partner Patrick Cogan told Woman's Day that Keli was confident Tegan was alive, but has more than one theory about where the little girl is.

Mr Cogan said Lane watched a television report about an Indian boy trying to find his family and said "that is going to be me".

"She said,'Tegan is going to grow up and have brown eyes and realise that mum and dad don't'."

Lane was sentenced to a maximum of 18 years.

If her appeal is unsuccessful her earliest release date is in May 2024.

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PM Abe wins big in Japanese poll

JAPANESE voters have handed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a thumping victory in upper house elections, exit polls show, likely ushering in a new period of stability for the politically volatile nation.

Sunday's projected victory means both chambers will be under government control, unblocking the bottleneck that has hampered legislation for the last six short-term premiers.

That will strengthen Abe's hand as he tries to push through painful, but necessary, structural reforms aimed at dragging Japan out of two decades of economic malaise.

"We want to respond to people's desire to feel a sense of economic improvement," Abe told reporters as the results emerged.

"I want to make a virtuous cycle of improving the employment situation, increasing salaries and bringing about a rise in corporate investment."

Exit polls by NHK showed Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner New Komeito claimed at least 73 of the 121 seats being contested.

There are 242 legislators in the upper house, serving six-year terms. Elections are held for half of the seats every three years. The coalition already has 59 seats that were not up for election on Sunday.

Since romping to power in December's vote for the more powerful lower house, the hard-charging Abe has unleashed a wave of spending and pressured the central bank to flood the market with easy money.

The moves -- the first two "arrows" of a project dubbed "Abenomics" -- sent the yen plunging, to the delight of exporters, and the stock market soaring.

This, coupled with some feel-good figures on GDP growth, powered 60-per cent-plus public approval ratings for the prime minister, whose disastrous first turn in the top job, till September 2007, has paled in the public mind.

The third arrow of Abe's policy program remains hazy, but will include corporate tax breaks, special business zones, plans to boost the number of women in the workplace and Japan's participation in a mooted free trade area that encircles the Pacific.

However, observers say reforms will be tough. Superannuated farmers tending tiny plots make up a powerful lobby group that has already made clear its unease about the extra competition this Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would bring.

The fact that these rural voters also form the backbone of support for the LDP could prove a problem for the premier.

Pundits say a big public endorsement protects him from the powerful vested interests inside the party that will agitate against the structural changes which economists agree the country badly needs.

Another issue for Abe is that the vast spending unleashed so far is worsening Japan's already eye-watering levels of debt. A slated increase in consumption tax to slow this rise risks dampening spending and irritating voters.

Japan's disheartened opposition barely put up a fight in the election. The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, is in disarray after three years of confused governance were capped with a drubbing in December's poll.

They and other smaller parties had united around one thing -- the need for Japan to graduate from nuclear power generation, a popular stance in a country badly scarred by the 2011 disaster at Fukushima.

But even Abe's pro-nuclear stance, and his vow to switch Japan's 48 mothballed reactors back on when they have passed rigorous new safety checks, was not enough to dampen enthusiasm for his economic trump card.

Abe's detractors fear Abenomics is a Trojan Horse aimed at securing the hawkish premier enough power to implement his conservative social agenda.

They fear this will mean a loosening of Japan's constitutional commitment to pacifism, a boosting of the military and a more strident tone in already-strained relations with China and South Korea, both of whom have territorial disputes with Tokyo.

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