Ultra-fast satellite computer unveiled

ONE of the fastest and most compact satellite computers in the world has been developed by students at the University of Stuttgart in Germany and will be sent into space next year on a commercial rocket.

The computer is part of a small, 130kg satellite dubbed the "Flying Laptop," which is being developed by more than 50 students and professors at the university's Institute of Space Systems.

Beginning in the autumn of 2014, the satellite is to record shipping movements and measure vegetation with its three camera systems. It will also test new technologies under space conditions.

The university noted that the instrument's manoeuvrability would enable it to photograph vegetation from various angles, thereby allowing conclusions about the condition of plant life in the earth's regions.

While proven computers - and thus older models - are generally used in commercial aerospace projects, the Stuttgart satellite computer is state of the art, the university said.

It is suitable for small technology satellites, for example from the European Space Agency.

The project was launched in 2004 and has received more than 1 million euros in finding in that time. A government agency has granted 800,000 euros ($A1.18 million) to pay a rocket company to get the Flying Laptop into orbit.

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The Charlatans star Jon Brookes dies

THE Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes has died at the age of 44 after a battle with brain cancer.

The rocker died in hospital on Tuesday morning after undergoing three years of treatment, and several operations, in a bid to beat the disease.

The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess broke the sad news to fans in a post on his Twitter.com page, writing, "Jon Brookes, my friend, our drummer and inspiration to so many, passed away this morning. We are torn apart. Love & thoughts to Jon's family."

A statement from the band read: "Jon was a brilliant drummer, an inspiration, a founding member of The Charlatans, part of our family and a friend to everyone in and around the band. Losing someone who was always so full of life is a tragedy that will be shared by so many. Our thoughts are with ... all of Jon's family."

Brookes was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010 after suffering a seizure and collapsing on stage during a gig with the group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was forced to sit out a lot of work with the band to undergo treatment, and The Verve drummer Pete Salisbury stepped in to replace him for a number of live shows. Brookes underwent his third operation just last month.

The musician was one of the founding members of the band back in the 1980s and shot to fame with the group during their 1990s heyday.

The Charlatans suffered a previous tragedy when keyboard player Rob Collins was killed in a car crash during the recording of their fifth album Tellin' Stories in 1996.

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NGOs urge asylum seeker policy rethink

SIXTY-FOUR church groups, charities and refugee advocates have called for an end to the "negative and distorted" political debate on asylum seekers.

The non-government organisations (NGOs) say the federal government's deterrent policies haven't worked. They also took a swipe at the opposition's "regressive" boat policies.

"The negative, distorted and myopic political debate on refugee and asylum seeker policy has been allowed to go on for far too long," the NGOs said in a statement on Tuesday.

"It is time for a new approach which focuses on protection rather than punishment, on facts rather than fear-mongering, and on long-term solutions rather than short-term political gain."

They called for an end to offshore processing, prompt access to permanent protection and opportunities for refugees to reunite with family.

The NGOs issued their statement on the first anniversary since the Houston expert panel on asylum seekers handed down their recommendations to former prime minister Julia Gillard.

The NGOs acknowledged federal Labor had done some good work on asylum seekers, such as lifting Australia's humanitarian intake to 20,000 but criticised the government for focusing on punitive deterrence-based measures such as offshore processing.

Signatories include the NSW Teachers Federation, the Australian Council of Social Service and the St Vincent de Paul Society.

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Troubled BlackBerry eyes sale

STRUGGLING smartphone maker BlackBerry is examining "strategic alternatives", including the possibility of selling off the firm.

The Canadian firm on Monday said it had formed a committee to consider "possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the company or other possible transactions".

The announcement comes with BlackBerry marginalised in a smartphone market dominated by makers using the Google Android operating system and by Apple's iPhone.

A statement issued by BlackBerry said the board's committee would seek ways "to enhance value and increase scale" to help deploy its products based on the new BlackBerry 10 platform.

"We continue to see compelling long-term opportunities for BlackBerry 10, we have exceptional technology that customers are embracing, we have a strong balance sheet and we are pleased with the progress that has been made in our transition," chief executive Thorsten Heins said.

A survey by research firm IDC found BlackBerry's global market share had slipped to 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, the lowest since tracking began, while Android accounted for nearly 80 per cent.

While BlackBerry helped create a culture of mobile users who were glued to the company's smartphones, many of those customers have since moved to Apple or other smartphone makers such as Samsung, mainly using Android.

In a turnaround bid, the company unveiled its new platform on January 30, as it dropped the corporate name Research in Motion to rebrand as BlackBerry, but staggered sales launches across regions.

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Govt sitting on NBN report: Turnbull

THE government is withholding a report on the NBN so its progress can't be scrutinised by the public ahead of the election, the opposition says.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull made the claim during a debate on Monday night against Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the ABC's Lateline program.

"Anthony is sitting on the latest revision of the business plan and has not released it to the public," Mr Turnbull said.

"You've made them keep the draft stamp on it so you don't have to give it out before the election.

"You've got a confession from the (NBN) company that they're failing and you don't want to let the public know."

Mr Albanese said he hadn't received the document and denied the project was failing.

He stood by the government's plan to connect 8.5 million premises to fibre by 2021 at a cost of $37.4 billion.

But Mr Turnbull rubbished the figures, saying the government's plan would cost $94 billion compared to the coalition's $29.5 billion.

The coalition would use "the technology that delivers the service you need in the most timely and cost effective way," he said.

By using existing copper networks, which can provide download speeds of 100 megabits per second to homes within 400 metres of a fibre node, "three-quarters or more of the construction cost" could be saved, Mr Turnbull said.

But Mr Albanese said the coalition's figures were "plucked out of a Coco Pops packet".

"This is an absolute nonsense with no basis in fact," he said.

Labor's NBN, which would deliver download speeds of 1000 megabits per second and upload speeds of 400 megabits per second, would "transform the way that education, health and aged care services are delivered," Mr Albanese said.

And while speed was important, reliability in the network was crucial, he added.

"That's why fibre is important," he said.

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Man stabbed in chest in Sydney

A SYDNEY man has been stabbed in the chest multiple times in a fight.

Police say they were alerted around 7pm (AEST) on Sunday after the 27-year-old sought help from a pizza shop in Rosebery following an alleged fight.

The man is in a stable condition in hospital.

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Israel invites bids for 1,000 settler home

ISRAEL is inviting bids to build more than 1,000 settler homes in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, the housing ministry says, ahead of peace talks with the Palestinians.

"Tenders will be published" later in the day for 793 units in annexed east Jerusalem and 394 elsewhere in the West Bank, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday, three days before the next round of talks.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel, of the far-right Jewish Home party, dismissed international criticism of settlement building on occupied Palestinian land as illegal and an obstacle to peace.

"No country in the world accepts diktats from other countries on where it is allowed to build or not," he said in the statement.

"We shall continue to market apartments and build throughout the country."

The statement said that plots were to be offered in Har Homa and Gilo, both on east Jerusalem's southern outskirts and in Pisgat Zeev, on the city's northern edge.

Tenders would also be invited for homes in Ariel, in the northern West Bank, in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and in Efrata and Beitar Ilit, around Bethlehem, it said.

The US State Department said last week that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would resume talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday on ending their long-standing conflict.

They resumed direct negotiations in Washington last month ending a three-year hiatus after painstaking US mediation.

The last talks in 2010 broke down on the issue of settlement building.

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Flash floods kill 21 near Afghan capital

FLASH floods triggered by heavy rain and hail storms have killed more than 20 people on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghan officials say, with a mosque, houses and farmland also damaged.

The flooding hit the Shakardara and Paghman districts to the north and west of Kabul after the unseasonal rains left knee-deep water across many parts of the war-battered city.

"Twenty people, including several children and a woman, were killed in Shakardara," Ghulam Farooq, an official at the National Disaster Management Authority, said on Sunday.

"One person was killed in Paghman and more than 20 houses destroyed in Kabul city."

A mosque, several houses, three schools and some crops were also damaged by the torrential downpours which struck on Saturday as Afghanistan celebrated Eid to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Harsh winters and heavy snowfalls often cause swollen rivers that lead to floods in the mountainous country in spring and summer.

But Afghanistan has had one of its hottest summers in decades, and the sudden storms quickly overwhelmed Kabul's poor drainage systems.

Last week flooding in six eastern and southeastern provinces and some districts of the capital killed more than 40 people, destroying hundreds of hectares of farmland and displacing hundreds of people.

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Harry visits Angola to see mine clearance

PRINCE Harry is visiting Angola to see mine clearance efforts there with a charity championed by his late mother, Princess Diana.

The HALO Trust charity says Harry will be touring minefields and meeting beneficiaries of the organisation's work in the southern African nation.

HALO said Harry also would visit the densely-mined town of Cuito Cuanavale, a scene of heavy fighting during Angola's 1975-2002 civil war.

Diana highlighted the trust's work on a visit to a minefield being cleared by the organisation in Angola in 1997.

Harry visited minefields with HALO in Mozambique in 2010.

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Coal collapses at Indian mine kills seven

AN official says at least seven villagers were killed and five others injured when a heap of coal collapsed on them at a coal mine in eastern India.

Dikken Mehra, a spokesman for state-owned Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd, says the villagers trespassed into the mine on Saturday to steal coal in order to sell it, a common occurrence at coal mines in India.

Mehra says that about half a dozen villagers are feared to be trapped in the debris and that rescue work is continuing.

The coal mine is about 650 kilometres west of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state.

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