Iran's Rowhani tells West to use dialogue

IRAN'S new President Hassan Rowhani says the only way for the international community to interact with Tehran on its controversial nuclear program is through dialogue and not sanctions.

"The only path to interact with Iran is through negotiations on equal grounds, reciprocal trust-building, mutual respect and reducing hostilities," he said in a speech after being sworn in before parliament on Sunday.

"If you want a proper answer, do not speak with Iran with the language of sanctions but with the language of respect," he said, adding Iran would "not surrender to sanctions, nor be threatened with war".

He was referring to years of unfruitful negotiations with the so-called P5+1 group of the US, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany over Iran's nuclear activities, which the world powers suspect is aimed at military objectives despite Iranian denials.

Rowhani, who won a surprise June 14 presidential election, has promised to engage in constructive interaction with the world.

The inaugural speech indicated the path that Rowhani's moderate administration would take.

After the speech, he also presented parliament with his government line-up, mostly filled with technocrats seen as close to his mentor, pragmatic ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Among the key nominees were veteran retired diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif, tapped for the foreign ministry, and ex-oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, named to return to the same portfolio.

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US a 'willing partner' if Iran serious

IRAN will find the US a "willing partner" if new President Hassan Rowhani is prepared for serious talks on its nuclear program, the White House says.

In a message congratulating Rowhani on his inauguration, the White House said it "presents an opportunity for Iran to act quickly to resolve the international community's deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program".

"Should this new government choose to engage substantively and seriously to meet its international obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, it will find a willing partner in the United States," the statement by White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Sunday.

In taking the oath of office in Tehran, Rowhani called on the West to engage Iran through dialogue not sanctions.

"The only path to interact with Iran is through negotiations on equal grounds, reciprocal trust-building, mutual respect and reducing hostilities," Rowhani said after being sworn in before parliament.

"If you want a proper answer, do not speak with Iran with the language of sanctions but with the language of respect," he said, adding Iran would "not surrender to sanctions, nor be threatened with war".

The West is hoping for a fresh start under Rowhani after years of unsuccessful negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program, which it suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability.

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Sri Lanka protest toll rises

POLICE have poured into a village near Sri Lanka's capital for the funeral of a teenager shot dead by troops during a protest against contaminated water.

Security in Weliweriya village was strengthened as a hospital official said a third person had died after succumbing to injuries sustained during the army's crackdown on the residents' protest on Thursday.

"We have another three people in the intensive care and their condition is serious," spokeswoman for the hospital in Colombo, Pushpa Soysa, said.

Police said 17-year-old Akila Dinesh Jayawardena was killed when troops fired at unarmed residents demonstrating against a factory which they accused of discharging chemical waste and polluting ground water.

Jayawardena was buried on Sunday evening amid tight security by police commandos who were seen near the village cemetery too.

Mourners returning from the burial stopped briefly at the village centre to shout slogans denouncing the authorities and pressing their demand for safe drinking water. They dispersed peacefully, witnesses said.

Roman Catholic priest Lakpriya Nonis said armed troops stormed his St Anthony's church shortly after Thursday's protest and assaulted men, women and children who had sought refuge there.

"They came into the church premises and assaulted people sheltering inside," the priest told reporters after Sunday's burial.

Official sources said nearly 50 people were injured with most of them suffering bullet wounds, while some had been beaten with sticks and rifle butts.

The privately-run Sunday Times said up to six people had been killed and that authorities were not revealing the total number of casualties.

The burials of the other two victims are yet to be decided.

Dipped Products Ltd says it's not responsible for the pollution at Weliweriya.

Its factory remains shut because of the protest.

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Retirees more worried about finances

AFTER consistently topping the list of those who feel most financially secure, retirees are starting to worry.

A survey by ME Bank shows Australian households recorded an overall financial comfort level of 5.5 out of 10 - up from 5.29 six months ago.

But while all other households feel slightly better about their finances, retirees were the only group to turn more pessimistic.

The financial comfort of retirees - in particular those propped up by government payments - deteriorated by five per cent.

They reported feeling increasingly worried about their investments, living standards and income stability.

This is the first time retirees have not topped the list of most financially comfortable since ME Bank's survey began in 2011.

The report suggests lower borrowing rates has relieved pressure on those with mortgages, but done little for low-debt retirees.

Meanwhile, a stronger share market and housing market helped empty nesters - parents whose children have left home - assume the top spot, with their comfort levels up by 12 per cent.

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Hot-air balloons fill sky above France

A MASSIVE gathering of hot-air balloon enthusiasts in northeastern France has set two world records, filling the sky with 408 of the colourful craft at one time and lining up 391 of them for takeoff.

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Zeppelin takes to skies near Paris

TOURISTS seeking an original way to take in France's famed countryside have a new way to do it - in a helium-filled Zeppelin.

Airship Paris' 76-metre-long, five-storey airship has begun flights over the forests and villages northwest of Paris.

The company says it's received "lots" of reservations for flights. It says it's the first commercial airship in the Paris region for 30 years.

The Zeppelin has room for 12 passengers, who can move about the large-windowed cabin during the flight.

On clear days like Sunday, the Eiffel Tower was visible in the distance.

Tourists can also see the Seine river and the Chateau de Versailles from 300 metres up.

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Mars rover hoping to yield more secrets

THE dazzling success of NASA's rover Curiosity has paved the way for a human conquest of Mars, scientists say, almost one year after the groundbreaking probe first touched down on the Red Planet.

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Terror threat 'most serious' in years

THE top Republican on the US Senate Intelligence Committee says the weekend closures of nearly two dozen US embassies and consulates in the Muslim world are "the most serious threat" he's seen in recent years.

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Israel approves release of 104 prisoners

ISRAEL has approved the release of 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners, clearing a hurdle toward a possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Sunday's 13-7 cabinet vote with two abstentions came after a stormy session.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged ministers to approve the release, saying it's important for Israel to restart talks with the Palestinians.

Two ministers of Netanyahu's Likud Party voted no, an official said.

The cabinet approved the release in four stages over several months, with each step linked to progress in the negotiations.

According to a list provided by the Palestinians, the prisoners have served between 19 and 30 years for involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.

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Heart survivors dice with death: report

THOUSANDS of heart attack survivors are risking death by eating badly, smoking and not exercising, according to research that shows loved ones are highly distressed by their lifestyle.

Around 40 per cent of survivors admit to not following their GP's instructions, fewer than half eat well and even fewer exercise regularly, according to research led by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and sponsored by AstraZeneca.

More than 10 per cent smoke and 35 per cent have failed to control their cholesterol.

Although heart attacks are the biggest killer in Australia, two thirds of victims survive and 55,000 are admitted to hospital a year. Nearly a third of the hospitalisations are for repeat attacks.

Most survivors know a healthy lifestyle is important, according to the research, but 83 per cent of women and 73 per cent of men say this is a challenge.

The study entitled Two Hearts One Future was conducted among 536 survivors and 511 people who care for a survivor. It shows carers carry a great emotional burden.

Around 45 per cent of carers feel the person they care for is not taking responsibility for themselves, but those who attend cardiac rehabilitation programs tend to manage better.

The findings are a major wake up call, says Professor Simon Stewart, head of preventative cardiology at Baker IDI.

"People need to understand there is a lot of work to do after a heart attack," he says.

"Many don't realise they have to make a life-long commitment to minimising their risk."

The chances of having a second or third heart attack are high and the more you have the more deadly they become, he says.

"Carers are carrying a great burden. They can see what the person they are caring for needs to do, but they often feel powerless and traumatised."

Peter Morgan, president of patient organisation Heart Support-Australia, says repeat heart attacks are preventable and the report highlights a need for better education and support programs.

Heart Foundation national director of cardiovascular health Dr Rob Grenfell says discharge from hospital is the start of the heart disease journey and recovery.

But he is concerned about limited communication and connection between services.

"Essential lifestyle programs are disjointed or, frankly, unsupported," he says.

"We know the person most likely to have a heart attack is a person who has already had one, and so a united effort to prevent secondary events in Australia is critical."

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Forest fire leads to evacuations in Spain

A VAST forest fire on the Spanish island of Mallorca is burning out of control, prompting a complete evacuation of a seaside village.

About 700 people in Estellencs, many of them tourists, were woken late Saturday (Sunday AEST) and brought to safety after a wind change threatened to push the blaze in their direction, the government of the Balearic Islands said.

On Sunday, about 370 firefighters and members of civil defence and the military emergency unit used 24 planes and helicopters to fight the flames on the west of the Mediterranean island.

There were no initial reports of injuries or damage to property.

However, officials said the flames destroyed at least 16 sq km of pine forest in the area around Andratx and Estellencs.

Media reports describe the blaze as the worst fire on the holiday island since the 1990s. Mallorca's most devastating fire was in 1992, when almost 20 sq km were destroyed in the Arta area in the east.

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Islamists kill 20 in Nigeria's north

SUSPECTED members of Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram have shot dead more than 20 civilians when a vigilante group attacked them in the northern Borno state.

"The suspected sect members came armed and fired sporadic shots that killed over twenty innocent civilians," Haruna Mohammed Sani, spokesman for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) said in a statement.

The violence took place on Saturday in Dawashe village, the army lieutenant said in a statement.

He said men from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group formed in Boko Haram's bastion Maiduguri to combat the Islamist gunmen who have been terrorising the region for years, entered Dawashe to search for suspects.

Suspected Boko Haram members subsequently opened fire in the village, the spokesman said, adding that the 20 victims were mostly fishermen and traders.

Sani said a dozen other civilians sustained gunshot wounds during the incident but provided no information on casualties among the belligerents.

The toll and circumstances of the incident could not immediately be verified independently.

The MNJTF, a joint military force set up in 1998 to combat border crimes, consists of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Its mandate was recently expanded to fight Boko Haram, whose insurgency is estimated to have cost 3600 lives since 2009, including killings by security forces.

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31 drown after boat capsizes off Libya

• From: AAP
• July 29, 2013 1:43AM

MORE than half the people aboard a rubber boat carrying 53 African migrants died when it capsized off Libya, Italy's Ansa news agency says.

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Cambodian PM's party claims election win

THE ruling party of strongman Cambodian premier Hun Sen has claimed victory in Sunday's elections which were marred by allegations of widespread irregularities.

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NSW Labor faces another huge defeat: poll

THE coalition government in NSW would be returned with a similar resounding majority to its 2011 election victory if an election was held today, the latest Newspoll shows.

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Next World Youth Day in Krakow in 2016

POPE Francis has announced the next World Youth Day (WYD) will be held in the Polish city of Krakow in 2016.

"Dear young friends, we have an appointment for the next World Youth Day in 2016 in Krakow, Poland," he said at the end of Sunday's mass attended by three million pilgrims on Rio's Copacabana beach.

Argentine-born Francis was wrapping up a week-long visit to Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country, on his first overseas trip since his election in March.

The choice of Krakow is in honour of John Paul II, who hailed from Krakow and who started the World Youth Day (WYD) events during his charismatic papacy.

John Paul II, who is expected to be declared a saint later this year, was archbishop of Krakow before he was elected the world's first Polish pope in 1978.

The first official WYD was held in 1986, although it had been preceded by two previous mass gatherings of young people from around the world in Rome.

The next was held the following year in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, where Francis was archbishop before he became Pope

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Abbott to reveal red tape reduction plan

EDS: Not for use until 0001, Monday, July 8.

SYDNEY, July 8 AAP - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will flesh out the coalition's plans to cut $1 billion worth of red and green tape from the Australian economy.

Mr Abbott and Senator Arthur Sinodinos will unveil the coalition's policy to boost productivity and reduce regulation at a function in Sydney on Monday.

The coalition says the plan will reduce Australia's regulatory burden by $1 billion a year.

Central to the policy are promises to repeal the carbon price and mining tax and streamline environmental regulation.

The coalition will also establish an overall deregulation unit within the Department of Finance and link senior public servants' bonuses to cuts to red tape.

Mr Abbott said the changes would create a more productive government and more efficient businesses.

"The Coalition will cut the regulatory burden by $1 billion a year and curtail the growth of regulation that is impeding the capacity of Australia to grow and succeed," he said.

"This policy will lower business costs and strengthen the economy."

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Three known dead after Canada train crash

LAC-MEGANTIC, Canada, July 7 Agencies - Police sifting through the site of a horrific cargo train crash in Quebec say they have discovered two more bodies, and anticipate "many more" fatalities.

The crash of an oil-laden train and subsequent explosions that shook the village of Lac-Megantic on Saturday have so far claimed three lives, said police spokesman Michel Brunet, who added at a press conference that "we know that there will be many more" deaths.

Fires are preventing rescuers from reaching part of the 73-car train, and billowing black smoke could still be seen long after it derailed.

The eruptions early on Saturday morning sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.

A fire chief likened the charred scene to a war zone.

The multiple blasts came over a span of several hours in the town of 6000, which is about 250 kilometres east of Montreal and about 16km west of the US border.

About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker cars laden with oil caught fire.

The derailment caused several tanker rail cars to explode in the downtown district, a popular area packed with bars that often bustles on northern summer weekend nights.

Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1am local time.

The fire then spread to several homes.

Brunet said he couldn't say where the bodies were found exactly because the families have not been notified.

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Israeli cabinet OKs army draft rejig bill

ISRAEL'S cabinet has approved a plan that would gradually end a contentious system that has granted automatic draft exemptions to Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminary students.

Under a longstanding system, thousands of young men are allowed to skip compulsory military service to pursue religious studies.

This has caused widespread resentment among secular Jewish Israelis.

The new system, which needs parliamentary approval, would reduce the number of exemptions and require ultra-Orthodox men to register for service.

It would go into effect in three years.

In cabinet fourteen ministers voted in favour of the legislation, four ministers abstained and none voted against.

The draft was a central issue in January elections and propelled Yesh Atid, the secular rights party behind the new regulations, into the government.

Finance Minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid called it "a historic day".

"After 65 years, we finally end this distortion. We are all very excited," he told reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the law will be implemented "gradually".

Ultra-Orthodox religious leaders and MPs spoke of a "sad day" for Judaism.

Many strictly religious Jews believe that by studying the Torah and serving God they are defending Israelis.

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Venezuela says no contact yet with Snowden

VENEZUELA'S foreign minister says his country has not yet been in contact with US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, despite its offer of asylum.

Elias Jaua says he expects to consult on Monday with Russian officials.

Snowden is believed to be in the transit area of a Moscow airport.

Jaua's comments came on Saturday during a Caribbean summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

They were distributed by his office.

President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday that he would grant asylum to Snowden, and he repeated the offer on Twitter on Saturday, saying Venezuela is ready to protect Snowden "from the global persecution of the empire".

Bolivia and Nicaragua have also offered asylum but it is not clear if any of them have provided him the documents he would need to travel.

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Four hurt on first day of Spanish bull run

FOUR people, including a 24-year-old Australian, have been injured on the first day of the running of the bulls in the Spanish city of Pamplona.

Several thousand thrill-seekers dashed alongside six fighting bulls through the streets on Sunday.

Despite a large crowd of participants because the run coincided with a weekend, only four people were treated for injuries and no one was gored, officials said.

The regional government of Navarra, which is responsible for organising the annual San Fermin festival, said in a statement that none of the four are seriously injured.

A 24-year-old Australian, identified only by the initials JC, was being treated for bruising, as was a 44-year-old British citizen.

A US citizen identified only as CS was also receiving treatment for a minor injury.

A 36-year-old native of Pamplona with a minor injury was the only remaining in the hospital by mid-afternoon, the government said.

There was a moment of tension as the last bull of the pack became disoriented and turned around to look back at runners, but it eventually entered the bullring without charging at anyone.

Every morning of the nine-day festival, at 8am, six bulls specifically bred for fighting race through the narrow, medieval streets of Pamplona accompanied by an equal number of large steers - each wearing a clanking cowbell - tasked with keeping the pack tight and galloping at an even pace.

Due to the disorientation of the last bull, Sunday's run took four minutes and six seconds, a relatively long time.

Every time the bull turned his head, runners scattered, tripped and fell as they tried to get away despite being hemmed in by the narrow streets.

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Peak bodies want education cap dropped

MORE than 20 professional bodies are demanding the federal government scrap its planned cap on tax deductions for self-education expenses, fearing it will hurt the economy.

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Russian train derails, 80 injured: reports

AT least 80 people have been injured after a Russian passenger train travelling from Siberia derailed near the Black Sea, the emergency situations ministry says.

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Russian train derails, 80 injured: reports

AT least 80 people have been injured after a Russian passenger train travelling from Siberia derailed near the Black Sea, the emergency situations ministry says.

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Facebook cuts ads from controversial pages

Facebook is pulling ads from pages that contain violence or sexual content. Source: AAP

FACEBOOK is pulling ads from pages that contain violence or sexual content.

The social network says that on Monday it will expand its definition of pages and groups that are too controversial to carry advertisements.

Facebook has sought to strike a balance between giving its 1.1 billion monthly users the freedom to post what they want and providing advertisers with space to sell their products.

In May, Facebook Inc lost more than a dozen advertisers, at least temporarily, after the activist group Women, Action and the Media urged an advertising boycott to protest hate speech on the Facebook site.

The controversial content included grisly photos and mottos that encouraged rape, abuse and other violence against women.

The company said then that it would review its guidelines.

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No breakthrough for Kerry in Mideast talks

US-LED efforts to broker a resumption of peace talks have ended without a breakthrough, a top Palestinian official says, although Washington's top diplomat hailed "real progress".

US Secretary of State John Kerry has spent the past four days locked in intensive shuttle diplomacy between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership in a high-profile bid to draw the two sides back into direct negotiations after a gap of nearly three years.

But after 13 hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and around six hours with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Kerry's marathon efforts ended on Sunday with little sign of progress.

Speaking in Ramallah after Kerry held his third and final meeting with Abbas, chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said there had been "no breakthrough."

"It was a positive and profound meeting with president Abbas but there has been no breakthrough so far and there is still a gap between the Palestinian and Israeli positions," he told a news conference.

But Kerry himself insisted he had had "very positive" discussions with both sides since beginning his shuttle diplomacy in Jerusalem on Thursday night.

"We agreed we have made real progress but we have a few things we need to work on," he said after a final meeting with Abbas before heading off to Asia.

"We both feel good about the direction," he said.

Netanyahu insisted that Israel was not blocking a return to negotiations.

"We are not putting up any impediments on the resumption of the permanent talks for a peace agreement between us and the Palestinians," he said.

"There are things that we will strongly insist on in the talks themselves, especially security ... there will be no agreement that will endanger Israelis' security."

Abbas is pushing Israel to free the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners, to remove roadblocks in the West Bank and to publicly agree to make the lines that existed before the 1967 Middle East war the baseline for negotiations.

Netanyahu is reportedly willing to consider just the first two conditions - but only after talks are under way - and has flatly refused to countenance any return to the 1967 lines.

Palestinian officials appeared pessimistic about Kerry's chances of achieving a breakthrough.

"Netanyahu and his government are not serious about establishing a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, they speak of a state without clear borders, and we need clarity according to international resolutions," said Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior official of Abbas's ruling Fatah party.

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Obama to host summit of African leaders

Barack Obama will host a landmark summit of leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa next year. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama will host a landmark summit of leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa next year, the White House says.

The plan has strong echoes of high-profile China-Africa summits, which over the last decade have cemented Beijing's clout on the continent.

Obama will announce on Sunday that "he plans to host the first of its kind, a summit of leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa in the United States," said senior White House advisor Ben Rhodes.

"This is something that we've never done before. It's something that other nations have done," said Rhodes.

Obama is currently on the first major visit to the continent where his father was born since his election almost five years ago.

He made a brief visit to Ghana in 2009. Critics say a more substantial trip had been long overdue and have accused Obama of allowing China to steal ground from the United States in business and diplomacy.

"What we want to do is to continue the type of high-level engagement that we've had in this trip, we want to have that marker laid down so that next year the President is bringing together heads of state from across sub-Saharan Africa in Washington," said Rhodes.

Speaking in the iconic township of Soweto on Saturday, Obama dismissed talk of a Chinese and US scramble for influence on the continent, but urged Africans to watch out for lop-sided deals with foreign investors.

"I actually welcome the attention that Africa is receiving from countries like China and Brazil and India and Turkey."

But he urged African nations to make sure trade was not a one-way street.

"When we look at what other countries are doing in Africa, I think our only advice is make sure it's a good deal for Africa.

"Somebody says they want to come build something here: Are they hiring African workers? Somebody says that we want to help you develop your natural resources: How much of the money is staying in Africa?"

Obama, in South Africa on the second-leg of a three-nation Africa tour, said that too often foreign investment did not benefit locals and actually encouraged the type of corruption and resource-stripping that guts economies.

He offered up the United States as a more equitable partner which wanted African economies to grow into consumer powerhouses.

Amid a raft of Chinese investment, which topped $200 billion last year, US businesses have expressed concern that Africa is a diplomatic blind spot for their government.

In March, China's new President Xi Jinping visited Africa, as well as Russia, on his first foreign trip, signing a raft of business and energy deals signalling Beijing's intent to deepen ties further.

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EU wants answers over alleged US bugging

A top EU official says ties with the US could suffer over a report that America bugged EU offices. Source: AAP

THE European Union is angrily demanding answers from the United States over allegations Washington had bugged its offices, the latest spying claim attributed to fugitive leaker Edward Snowden.

The report in German weekly Der Spiegel is likely to further strain relations between the United States and Europe, shortly after they launched formal negotiations to create what would be the world's biggest free trade area.

Der Spiegel said its report, which detailed covert surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) on EU diplomatic missions, was based on confidential documents, some of which it had been able to consult via Snowden.

"We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington DC and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports," the European Commission said in a statement.

"They have told us they are checking on the accuracy of the information released yesterday and will come back to us."

One document, dated September 2010 and classed as "strictly confidential", describes how the NSA kept tabs on the European Union's mission in Washington, Der Spiegel said.

Microphones were installed in the building and the computer network infiltrated, giving the agency access to emails and internal documents.

The EU delegation at the United Nations was subject to similar surveillance, Der Spiegel said.

US Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes refused to be drawn into commenting directly on the allegations in a briefing in Johannesburg on Saturday, but said it was "worth noting" the US was "very close" to EU security services.

The Spiegel report is the latest in a series of allegations about US spying activity revealed by Snowden, a former NSA contractor who is holed up in a Moscow airport transit zone after the United States issued a warrant for his arrest and revoked his passport.

EU powerhouse Germany said the United States must quickly say whether the reports were true or not.

"It's beyond our imagination that our friends in the US consider the Europeans as enemies," Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement.

The US authorities issued an arrest warrant this month for Snowden after he revealed details of NSA's so-called PRISM program which collects and analyses information from internet and phone users around the world.

Snowden himself remains in political limbo at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after flying in from Hong Kong last week, unable to fly on without legal travel documents or exit the airport without a Russian visa.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said that US Vice President Joe Biden had asked Quito to reject any asylum request from the 30-year-old who is wanted by the United States on charges including espionage.

But he said Snowden's fate was in Russia's hands as Quito could not process his asylum request until he was on Ecuadoran soil.

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Putin signs 'anti-gay propaganda' ban

Skull casts doubt on Cook's claims

WHEN police were called to reports of human remains found on a river bank on NSW's north coast they prepared themselves for a grim murder investigation.

Taxpayers stash their returns

THE nation's addiction to stashing cash and paying down debt is set to continue as millions of taxpayers make the most of their tax returns.

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Somali forces arrest Islamist leader

Rockin' the cat spa

COULD this be the most expensive cat nap in the country?

Skull casts doubt on Cook's claims

WHEN police were called to reports of human remains found on a river bank on NSW's north coast they prepared themselves for a grim murder investigation.

Legal row 'sparked Nigella strangling'

NIGELLA Lawson and Charles Saatchi are said to be in a bitter dispute over two former personal assistants accused of misappropriating over $280,000.

How one little boy saved mum's life

HIS mother was having a severe fit right in front of his eyes, but this seven-year-old boy showed how to be cool in a crisis.

Taxpayers stash their returns

THE nation's addiction to stashing cash and paying down debt is set to continue as millions of taxpayers make the most of their tax returns.

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Snowden handover impermissible: Russian MP

A TOP Russian politician has declared it was "morally impermissible" to hand over to the United States fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowdon, who remains in a political limbo at a Moscow airport.

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Germany blocks carbon cap for automakers

THE German government says it blocked a European Union agreement on capping carbon emissions from cars because the deal would have harmed its domestic auto industry.

Environmental campaigners had lobbied to limit emissions from passenger cars to 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer within seven years.

But Germany wants to allow automakers such as BMW, Daimler and Audi to collect "credits" they can use to offset higher pollution levels beyond 2020.

Government spokesman Georg Streiter says Germany asked for a decision on the issue to be postponed Thursday because "a fair solution also has to take account of the particularities of the German auto industry" whose emissions are above EU average.

Streiter said on Friday that Germany "wouldn't be doing so well today if the auto industry were doing badly".

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Company tax top priority, says business

BUSINESS has told the federal government that balancing the budget is not their main concern, with a survey finding cuts in company tax and infrastructure spending as far more important.

According to an Australian Industry Group survey of 330 manufacturing, services and construction companies, 35 per cent listed company tax cuts as the top priority, while 33 per cent nominated infrastructure spending.

Only 16 per cent said balancing the 2013-14 budget was a top priority, Ai Group said.

"It (the survey) shows that business believes that in this current economic environment balancing the Budget is not the main game," Ai Group chief Innes Willox said in a statement.

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NSW sex abuse inquiry to start Monday

A SPECIAL NSW inquiry into allegations of a child sex abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church will begin in Newcastle on Monday.

The special commission of inquiry was announced by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell in last November, following explosive allegations made to the media by police officer Peter Fox.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox will be the first of a long list of senior police who will take the witness box when the inquiry begins in the Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday.

The senior investigator asserted the church had covered up evidence in relation to pedophile priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the Hunter region of NSW.

The inquiry will look at how the church handled complaints about former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher, both now deceased.

It will also look at the circumstances in which Inspector Fox was asked to stop investigating sex abuse in the diocese.

The NSW inquiry will sit for two weeks in May and three weeks through June and July.

It is separate from the Federal Royal Commission into child sex abuse.

Margaret Cunneen SC has been appointed as Special Commissioner to the inquiry.

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Qld men cop highest sun risk: report

ONE in eight men and one in 12 women in Queensland get sunburnt on an average weekend, according to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Young men who work outdoors appear to be most at risk, and people who take part in physical activity are more likely to report sunburn.

Sunburn is defined as redness that lasts more than 12 hours.

The report is based on interviews with 16,473 Queensland residents aged 18 years and over during 2009 and 2010. They were asked if they had been sunburnt on the previous weekend.

Queensland has the highest melanoma rate in the world.

People aged 18 to 24 years are seven times more likely to suffer sunburn than those aged over 65. People aged 35 to 44 are five times more likely to be burnt.

Sunburn is less likely among people who generally take protective measures in summer, the authors write.

"Our results are broadly consistent with a 2004 Queensland survey showing young age and male sex greatly increase odds of sunburn," write the authors from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the Preventive Health Unit at Queensland Health.

They say sunburn is still a major public health issue despite 50 years of attempts to educate the public.

The most common reason given for getting burnt is a failure to use sunscreen or protective clothing.

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Belgian chemical train accident toll rises

THE casualty toll in Belgium from the derailing of a train carrying highly toxic chemicals -- which exploded and sent spectacular strips of fire into the night sky -- has risen dramatically to one dead and 49 injured.

Two victims were in intensive care and three of the injured were rescue workers exposed to fumes from chemicals that spilled from the train that derailed near the city of Ghent, officials said.

The accident and blaze happened around 2am (1000 AEST Saturday) and prompted authorities to evacuate around 300 people from their homes.

The victims were people living well away from the scene of the accident, and Interior Minister Joelle Milquet blamed toxic fumes from the highly flammable liquid chemicals for their injuries.

Six of the train's 13 wagons derailed and two were left lying on their sides, said Infrabel, the state-owned company that operates Belgian railways.

The blaze led to a series of explosions in the railway wagons, then a spectacular strip of fire spread over hundreds of metres prompting authorities to evacuate residents living within 500 metres of the scene of the accident.

The train was transporting the toxic chemical compound acrylonitrile, which is used in the making of plastics, officials said.

Exposure to acrylonitrile can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and mucus membrane irritation.

Milquet said toxic fumes reached much farther, via the drainage system, than the 500-metre perimeter that was set up.

"Some of the chemical product went into the drains and caused a kind of chemical reaction with gases that are toxic and escaped into certain streets beyond the perimeter that had already been evacuated due to the fire," she said.

Firefighters let the wagons burn out in a controlled manner as water could have released further toxic chemicals.

The causes of the accident remained unclear. The cars derailed as the train changed tracks. The train driver said he had been travelling faster than the speed limit for the area.

The train came from the Netherlands and was bound for Ghent's seaport.

Train services between Schellebelle and Wetteren were disrupted and problems were expected for two days, with buses laid on to transport passengers.

Two similar accidents involving trains carrying tanks of toxic products have occurred in Belgium since May last year.

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ANZ ranks lowest for business customers

THE Commonwealth and Westpac rank highest for customer satisfaction among the big four banks, while ANZ and National Australia Banks are still languishing.

A monthly survey of satisfaction among the big four's business customers shows the Commonwealth and Westpac tied for first place with an average satisfaction rating of 7.4 out of 10.

By contrast NAB had an average satisfaction rating of 7.0, but ANZ ranked lowest with an average score of 6.9.

The monthly DBM Consultants' Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM) shows the Commonwealth had the highest satisfaction rating for small, medium and large businesses and was tied with Westpac among micro businesses.

DBM Managing Director Dhruba Gupta said ANZ was still making up ground with business customers after a difficult 2012.

Satisfaction with ANZ dropped sharply after the bank shifted the timing if its monthly interest rate decision away from the Reserve Bank of Australia's board meeting.

Mr Gupta said the bank's recent pledge to lend $1 billion to start-up businesses over the next year may help to improve its standing.

"It will be interesting to see if ANZ's pledge will impact positively on its business customers' satisfaction levels," he said.

The BFSM is based on interviews with 20,000 businesses a year.

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Vic family violence 'worse than feared'

THE scale of domestic violence in Victoria is worse than imagined, police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay says.

Some 51,000 family violence incidents were recorded in 2011-12, but Mr Lay says he expects the figure to rise above 60,00 this financial year.

He told Fairfax newspapers that while the rise was mostly due to more reporting, it was an alarming situation.

"There's still a hell of a lot of work to be done, and still a lot of very vulnerable people being injured every night," Mr Lay said.

"We never had a true sense of how big this problem was ... it's quite frightening."

Mr Lay said he was undaunted by the high numbers.

"No matter how much pressure we put on the courts or broader system, we're keeping on going with this," he said.

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NSW prison staff win on back pay

HUNDREDS of NSW prison workers will share in thousands of dollars in back pay after the Industrial Relations Commissions found they were owed money.

In a statement, the Health Services Union (HSU) said around 250 of its members would share in about $650,000 in underpaid allowances, dating back to 2002.

The HSU said the payments were for a range of prison workers including social workers, cooks and cleaners.

HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said the IRC found the workers weren't being properly compensated.

"We began this court action after learning that on average, these employees were being underpaid by more than $20 a week," Mr Hayes said.

"Over time this has added up to thousands of dollars for some Justice Health staff.

"This is a big win for Justice Health staff."

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Abbott's hit on retail workers' super

KITCHEN hands, hospitality workers, retail staff and cleaners are among those that will be hardest hit by the coalition's plan to scrap the low-income superannuation tax offset, Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten says.

Mr Shorten said the super savings of 3.6 million Australians earning less than $37,000 will be $500 worse off under an Abbott-led government.

He said women made up 60 per cent, or 2.2 million of those affected.

"Mums working part-time while they care for young kids being hit with a $500 tax bill for contributing to her superannuation (is) not fair or smart," Mr Shorten said, adding that women were already retiring with less money because of pay disparity and time out of the workforce to raise children.

Mr Shorten has released new figures with a breakdown of 20 occupations that will be hardest hit by the opposition's plan.

These included retail staff, kitchen hands, hospitality workers, cleaners, receptionists, labourers, childcare workers.

"I'd rather see a $500 boost to the super account of a kitchen hand or a checkout operator or a farm hand than into Tony Abbott's pocket," he said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has committed the coalition to scrapping the low-income superannuation tax offset funded by the government's mining tax, which it wants to repeal.

The coalition is opposed to the federal government's plan to impose a 15 per cent tax on superannuation earnings over $100,000, a measure likely to affect some 16,000 high income earners.

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Brazil police jailed for prison 'massacre'

TWENTY-THREE Brazilian military police officers have been sentenced to 156 years in jail each for their role in the killing of 111 inmates during Brazil's deadliest prison uprising in 1992.

The 23 were among 26 officers on trial before the Sao Paulo state tribunal. The three others were cleared.

The officers, most of them now retired, were accused of killing 15 prisoners in Sao Paulo's Carandiru prison during the operation to quell the revolt on October 2, 1992, which came to be known as the "Carandiru massacre".

The defence, which argued the police officers fired in self-defence after being threatened and assaulted by the prisoners, said it would appeal.

None of the officers involved in the operation were harmed. In addition to the 111 prisoners killed, some 87 others were wounded.

Survivors accused police of firing on inmates who had already surrendered or were hiding in their cells.

Authorities initially claimed the police were trying to break up a fight between prisoners who had seized control of one of the cell blocks.

But evidence uncovered later suggested military police had shot prisoners and then destroyed evidence that could have determined individual responsibility for the killings.

The commanding officer of the operation, Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes, was initially sentenced to 632 years in jail for his mishandling of the revolt and the subsequent killings.

But in 2006, a court voided the conviction because of mistrial claims. Later that year, Guimaraes was found dead in his apartment under unclear circumstances.

The massacre in what was then Latin America's biggest prison sparked outrage among inmates, and prosecutors said it was a key factor in the emergence of a criminal gang known as First Command of the Capital (PCC) in 1993.

The PCC is believed to have ordered the death of the director of the prison at the time, Jose Ismael Pedrosa.

From the prison, PCC bosses organised a series of assaults on police stations and other buildings that left more than 170 people dead and paralysed Sao Paulo for four days in May 2006.

The unrest eventually spread to other cities, and scores of suspected criminals were gunned down in a subsequent wave of police reprisal attacks.

Late last year, the PCC was also blamed for a wave of police killings and bus burnings.

The Carandiru prison was demolished in 2002.

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Sudan army men jailed over coup plot

A GROUP of Sudanese military officers have been sentenced to between two and five years in prison for their role in an alleged coup against the Sudanese government last year, a lawyer says.

"Today the military court issued its decision about the members of SAF who have been accused of a coup. It gave various jail sentences from five years to two years against nine of the soldiers," one of their lawyers, Hashiem Al-Jali, said on Sunday.

All were expelled from the military but a 10th accused was freed for lack of evidence, Jali said.

He added the heaviest sentence, five years, went to Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim who played a role in the 1989 coup that brought the current regime of President Omar al-Bashir to power.

Most of the detainees are close to a vocal group of former volunteer mujahideen fighters and an elite group within them called Al-Saihun or "tourists for the sake of God".

They are veterans of the country's 1983-2005 civil war.

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Liberals close in on SA: Newspoll

THE Liberals are closing in on South Australia - Labor's last-held mainland state - according to the latest Newspoll.

With federal Labor heading towards a September 14 election, primary support for the party's South Australian branch has slumped to 33 per cent, the survey shows.

Conducted over the past month and published in The Australian on Monday, the poll shows primary vote support for Labor dipped from 37 per cent in a quarterly October-December 2012 survey to 33 per cent in March, while Liberal support rose from 40 to 43 per cent.

On a two-party preferred basis, the Liberal Party meanwhile leads Labor 54 to 46 per cent.

The results come eight weeks after the state Liberal leadership changed from Isobel Redmond to Steven Marshall.

Support for Labor, which has held power in South Australia since 2002, now stands 4.5 percentage points lower than when it narrowly retained office at the 2010 election.

The Australian said if the result was replicated at the next state election, due next March, Labor would lose five MPs in marginal electorates and its majority in the 47-seat House of Assembly.

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Unis spend $280m a year on red tape

UNIVERSITIES estimate they spend $280 million a year on meeting red tape requirements like telling the government every time any academic travels overseas.

The Universities Australia submission to the coalition's deregulation taskforce calls for a comprehensive Productivity Commission review of the regulatory burden on tertiary institutions.

The sector also wants a single national university data centre to look after all information collection, as recommended in a government-commissioned report released last week.

"While we support the need for effective accountability, the existing regulatory and reporting regime is characterised by unchecked creep, duplication, fragmentation, inefficiency, and waste," Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said in a statement.

Most universities have between 15 and 20 staff whose sole job is to meet the regulatory requirements of 100 separate state and federal laws.

They have to report some 50 different sets of data to the federal tertiary education department multiple times each year, and another 50 types of data to different government agencies.

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Hayes and Mailman score silver Logies

ACTORS who brought the stories of real-life Australians to the screen have been recognised with Logies for the most outstanding actor and actress.

A teary-eyed Deborah Mailman was given a standing ovation in Melbourne on Sunday when she received the most outstanding actress award for her portrayal of Bonita Mabo in the made-for-TV movie Mabo.

"I got the chance to play the most extraordinary woman," Mailman said as she accepted the award with Bonita Mabo joining her on stage.

"It was a gift for me to meet this woman," Mailman said.

Mabo told the story of Eddie "Koiki" Mabo and his historic high court challenge to the myth of Terra Nullius.

"It was a story that was close to my heart, the fact that I got to play Bonita Mabo and for that to be recognised tonight was incredibly special," Mailman said, still teary, speaking to media after receiving her award.

Most outstanding actor Anthony Hayes dedicated his silver Logie for the portrayal of Bernie Banton in Devil's Dust to all the people who lost their lives to asbestos-related disease.

"I know it's not much but it's recognition for you and I just hope we stop mining asbestos and it never happens again," Hayes said when accepting the award.

Hayes has just finished shooting The Rover with fellow nominee Guy Pearce and said he thought it would have been the Nine Network's Kerry Packer juggernaut Howzat, and not Hollywood star Pearce, that would see him come undone in his bid for Logie glory.

"I told him I'd stick it to him and I did. There it is Guy," Hayes said.

"I've been acting since I was nine years old and this is my first lead."

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Direct trade for Aust, China currency

AUSTRALIAN and Chinese currency will be traded in China for the first time under a deal to be announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

And a major tourism and investment campaign will be run in Shanghai in late 2014 to take advantage of China's booming middle class and fast-growing economy.

Under the currency agreement, the Australian dollar will be directly convertible into Chinese yuan, easing costs for mining companies and other global industries.

China only has deals of a similar kind with the United States and Japan.

"This reflects the rapid growth of our bilateral trade and the value of two-way investment - and it also creates opportunities for new financial integration," Ms Gillard will tell the China Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai on Monday.

"This is good news for the Chinese economy and good news for the Australian economy."

Ms Gillard said she hoped the deal would advance China's policy of greater internationalisation of its currency.

The prime minister is in Shanghai leading Australia's largest political delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

She said Australia Week, hosted by Shanghai in the second half of 2014, would further boost Australia's reputation as a world-leading destination and a valuable tourism, trade and investment partner.

Events will include contemporary performing and visual arts, a gala dinner in Shanghai and meetings with potential Chinese investors.

It will coincide with Tourism Australia's Greater China Travel Mission, which attracts more than 120 Australian tourism operators.

A record 625,000 Chinese visited Australia during 2012, up 16 per cent on the previous year.

Ms Gillard on Sunday held her first official meeting with Xi Jinping, who became China's president in March.

She also spoke at the opening of the Boao Forum on Asia.

The Australian delegation will head to Beijing on Monday night.

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Joy for Ten as Keddie wins Gold

OFFSPRING star Asher Keddie has given Network Ten something to celebrate after winning the Gold Logie.

Keddie had been twice nominated for a Gold Logie before claiming the highest individual honour at the annual television awards night in Melbourne.

Her win also eases the pain of Ten's disastrous 2012, when it sacked executives and dumped shows as ratings plummeted.

However, Offspring and Keddie have been a shining light in dark days for Ten.

The actress said she is very proud to be a part of the network and just being nominated was a win for the series and the station.

"Channel Ten is extremely proud of Offspring and could not be more supportive of us," Keddie told AAP.

"They don't interfere, they trust us and I wish nothing but the best for the network."

Keddie was a raging favourite to win the award after a betting plunge during the last week.

Her price was slashed from $11 into $1.25 when betting closed with bookmaker Sportsbet.com.au.

The bookmaker was not crying foul but said there had been a steady stream of money for the Offspring star.

The initial favourite was Andy Lee who drifted from $2.30 to $6, and last year's winner Hamish Blake was a $6.50 chance.

"Over half the money bet was on Keddie," Sportsbet.com.au spokesman Shaun Anderson told AAP.

"It was very steady over the last week and a half."

Keddie said she thought the award might not just be for her work on Offspring.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to the audience who have watched me play a number of characters over a number of years," she said.

"I think this is for a body of work."

The Gold Logie was again tainted by controversy after News Ltd repeated its 2012 performance, releasing news of Keddie's win prematurely on The Australian and Adelaidenow websites.

Keddie also took out the Logie for Most Popular Actress and Home And Away star Stephen Peacocke was named Most Popular Actor.

Indigenous actor Deborah Mailman was extremely emotional when she collected the peer-voted Logie for Most Outstanding Actress for her role in Mabo.

Anthony Hayes, who starred in the ABC's Devil's Dust, dedicated his Most Outstanding Actor honour to those who have died and suffered from asbestos-related illnesses.

Foxtel finally cracked it for a Logie when it took out Most Outstanding Sports Coverage for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Nine Network claimed nine awards, the ABC claimed seven, Ten finished with four and Seven won three.

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Syria's Homs besieged for 300 days: oppn

A SIEGE of Syria's central city of Homs has entered its 300th day, as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad wage a campaign to oust rebel groups holed up there, the opposition says.

"Three hundred days have gone by since the start of the siege of the heroic city of Homs, capital and beating heart of the Syrian revolution," the Syrian National Council, a key component of the main opposition National Coalition, said on Sunday.

Homs, the country's third largest city, was one of the first to join the anti-Assad revolt that began two years ago with peaceful protests but morphed into a bloody insurgency after a fierce regime crackdown on dissent.

Today, some 80 per cent of the city is under tight army control, and troops use tanks, helicopters and other warplanes to bombard besieged rebel enclaves.

The army and security forces began the siege in June 2012, setting up checkpoints all around the rebel-held districts.

Daily battles rage on the edges of the insurgent neighbourhoods, and on Sunday, the army pounded the districts of Khaldiyeh, Qarabis, Qussour and Juret al-Shiyah.

"Three hundred days have gone by while the world has looked on ... with all kinds of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in this city," the SNC said in a statement.

"Schools and hospitals have been destroyed, water and electricity have been cut off, as have communications and food supply ... Civilians are deprived of medicine and treatment," the opposition group added.

Activist Abu Bilal spoke to AFP via the internet about life in a city under siege.

"This morning I attended the burial of a friend of mine, who had two children. When I was on my way back from the burial, I was told of the death of another friend. That's our daily reality. Every day there's death around us," he said.

"A friend of mine, a rebel fighter, was abandoned by his fiancee because she could no longer wait for the siege to end. She married someone else. He says his heartbreak is worse than the siege itself."

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Lagarde says euro has long-standing future

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has told an audience in China the euro has a solid future and she hopes no more countries in Europe will need bailouts.

"I think the collective political will ... to maintain, defend, protect and enhance the monetary zone and currency zone has been largely underestimated," Lagarde said on Sunday.

"The euro has a future and has a long-standing one."

The former French finance minister spoke during a question-and-answer session that followed an address she gave at the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual conference of political and economic leaders held on the Chinese island of Hainan.

Her appearance prompted questions from audience participants about the situation in Cyprus, where the Mediterranean country struck a 10 billion euro ($A12.5 billion) bailout deal with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - the so-called troika.

Asked specifically about the prospect for further crises, Lagarde said: "I don't have a crystal ball.

"My dearest hope is that there is not yet another country down the line that needs to be repaired and that could require support from both the European partners and the IMF."

She added, however, that Cyprus represented a unique case and reminded her audience the country's economy amounted to a mere 0.2 per cent of Europe's economy.

"I don't mean to be derogatory about this country," she said, noting its status as a member of Europe and of the IMF.

"But it was a very specific case in many respects," she added, citing factors such as the the size of the banking sector relative to the Cyprus economy.

Lagarde also said she hoped European authorities would learn from experiences over the past couple of years and "decide to accelerate the consolidation of their currency zone".

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Crean would fight super shift: report

SIMON Crean has reportedly pledged to oppose any move by the federal government to tax earnings on superannuation accounts.

The Australian reports the Labor backbencher has called on his government to explicitly rule out changes that would retrospectively tax earnings generated by super accounts.

Mr Crean said doing so would be "tantamount to taxing people's retirement surpluses to fund our surplus".

He would not comment on whether he was prepared to cross the floor on the issue if necessary.

The government has been accused of engaging in class warfare over retirement savings, with the opposition warning Labor is planning a "sneak attack" on super funds in the May budget.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson on Sunday said his party had no plans to lift taxes on the superannuation of ordinary Australians but that super savings of the "fabulously wealthy" should be debated.

"People who are fabulously wealthy gaining effectively an advantage by putting their money into superannuation and being taxed at 15 per cent, where the everyday Australian may be facing a tax of 30 per cent, I think does enliven a debate," he told Sky News on Sunday.

"We are not seeking to impose new taxes on the superannuation accounts of ordinary Australians.

"But there is a legitimate debate about the very top end."

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Karzai meets Qatar emir on Taliban office

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has held talks with the emir of Qatar during a visit to discuss opening a Taliban office in the Gulf state as a prelude to a possible peace deal with the militants.

Karzai discussed "issues of mutual interest" with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on Sunday, state news agency QNA said, without giving details of the low-profile meeting in Doha.

The Afghan president previously opposed a Taliban office in Qatar since he feared his government would be frozen out of any future peace deal involving the Islamic extremists and the United States.

The militants refuse to have direct contact with Karzai, saying he is a puppet of the United States, which supported his rise to power after the military operation to oust the Taliban from Kabul in 2001.

But with US-led NATO combat troops due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year, Karzai recently backed the proposed office in Doha and his office said he would raise the plan on Sunday.

Any future peace talks still face numerous hurdles before they begin, including confusion over who would represent the Taliban and Karzai's insistence that his appointees should be at the centre of negotiations.

"We will discuss the peace process, of course, and the opening of an office for the Taliban in Qatar," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP before Karzai's visit, which ended on Sunday evening.

"If we want to have talks to bring peace to Afghanistan, the main side must be the Afghan government's representatives - the High Peace Council, which has members from all the country's ethnic and political backgrounds," Faizi said.

Negotiating with the hardline Taliban regime that harboured al-Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks was for many years anathema to countries in the UN-backed coalition against the militants.

But the search for a political settlement became a priority as the insurgency raged on, with Taliban leaders able to fuel violence from safe havens across the border in Pakistan.

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Afghan kit removal to cost US $5bn

THE US operation to remove military hardware and vehicles from Afghanistan as troops withdraw after 12 years of war will cost between $US5 billion ($A4.8 billion) and $US6 billion, officials say.

Among statistics released by the military about the process known as a "retrograde" was that 25,000 vehicles have been shipped out of Afghanistan in the past year and another 25,000 remain in the country.

About 100,000 containers are also still in Afghanistan, and will be used to remove mountains of equipment ranging from fighting gear to fitness machines, furniture and computers.

"The retrograde from Afghanistan is one of the most challenging military transportation operations in history in terms of scale and complexity," Brigadier-General Steven Shapiro said in an email.

"Our number of vehicles in Afghanistan has dropped by nearly half in the past year."

Shapiro, the commanding general of 1st Theater Sustainment Command, said decisions were being made on what equipment was left for the Afghan army and police to take on the fight against Taliban insurgents.

"Ground commanders are able to nominate this equipment as they assess the needs and maintenance capabilities of their Afghan partners and numbers will vary," he said.

"The figures of five to six billion dollars corresponds to the total cost of retrograde from 2012 through 2014, and they're constantly being re-evaluated."

Most of the hardware will be flown out of land-locked Afghanistan or taken by road to the Pakistani port of Karachi, though the route has been hit by militant attacks and was temporarily closed by spats between Washington and Islamabad.

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Tanzanian building collapse toll hits 25

THE death toll from a building that collapsed in Tanzania's economic capital, Dar es Salaam, has reached 25, officials said, as hope faded of finding those missing two days after the accident.

"Six bodies were found between Saturday night and this afternoon. This brings the total number confirmed dead to 25," Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Saidi Mecky Sadicky told AFP on Sunday, updating an earlier toll of 19.

"The rescue exercise is still going on slowly. It is complicated and there is rain, but they will continue working there until every point is sifted."

Several dozen people are still missing around the site, which was littered with huge chunks of concrete, and Sadicky said earlier there was "little hope to find anyone alive".

It has been more than 48 hours since the last of 18 survivors were pulled from the remains of the 16-storey building.

Hundreds of rescuers have worked non-stop in search of those believed to be still trapped in the rubble from the shell of the tower.

Sadicky said between 60 and 70 people were reported to have been at or near the construction site on Friday morning when the building collapsed, meaning that between 17 and 27 people could still be trapped.

Hundreds of people, including residents and army rescuers, clawed through piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors, alongside earthmovers and excavators.

Chinese construction firms in the city were told by their embassy to lend extra equipment to aid the rescue effort and Chinese workers have been at the site instructing operators of excavators and forklifts that were sifting through the rubble.

Local residents have turned out to supply rescuers with food, water and medication.

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Egypt comedian bailed on insult complaints

EGYPTIAN satirist Bassem Youssef has been released on bail after nearly five hours of questioning over alleged insults to the president and religion, highlighting concerns over freedom of expression in post-revolt Egypt.

Youssef, whose weekly program, Albernameg (The Show), has pushed the boundaries of local television with its merciless critique of those in power, was ordered to pay 15,000 Egyptian pounds (about $A2100) pending investigation into the complaints, judicial sources told AFP.

On Twitter, Youssef confirmed the bail conditions, saying they were for three lawsuits. He said no date has been set for questioning into a fourth legal complaint.

On Sunday morning, Youssef continued to challenge the authorities even as he arrived at the prosecutor's office.

He made his way through a throng of cameras and supporters, to pose with an enormous version of a hat worn by President Mohamed Morsi earlier this month when he received an honorary doctorate from a university in Pakistan.

Youssef had worn the hat on his show a week earlier.

The public prosecutor on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for Youssef, who has more than 1.2 million Twitter followers, following several legal complaints against him relating to the material used on the show.

He is accused of offending Islam through "making fun of the prayer ritual" and of insulting Morsi by "making fun of his international standing".

Dubbed the Egyptian answer to American television's Jon Stewart, star of The Daily Show, Youssef has repeatedly poked fun at those in power and became a household name in the Arab world's most populous country.

He now joins the ranks of several colleagues in the media who face charges of insulting the president.

Rights lawyers say there have been four times as many lawsuits for insulting the president under Morsi than during the entire 30 years that Mubarak ruled.

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Five children under 10 die in France fire

FIVE children between the ages of two and 10 died when a fire ravaged their home in northern France while staying with their divorced father, who was seriously burned trying to save them.

In Saint-Quentin, a town about 130km northeast of Paris, a father who had his children for the weekend jumped out of a first-floor window to get help as flames engulfed his house.

The father, in his 40s, attempted to go back into the house with a neighbour, but the two were helpless in the face of the massive flames.

"He never thought of himself. He tried to go get help. He burned himself trying to save his son," said the neighbour, Olivier Hubeaux.

Masses of smoke "seriously complicated the work of the firefighters", who found the five bodies of the children, "dead from asphyxiation", said town official Jean-Jacques Boyer.

Autopsies will be carried out on the children on Monday.

Investigators are following the assumption the fire was accidental, but its exact origin has not been confirmed.

The father was in hospital with serious burns and was told only on Sunday morning by a psychologist that his children had died.

The children's mother arrived on Sunday and was in the care of doctors after receiving the news.

Another deadly fire that killed three people broke out on Saturday evening in a rundown seven-storey building housing squatters in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

One person died after jumping out the window, another burnt to death on the third floor and a third died in hospital, while at least 13 people were injured.

A resident told journalists the blaze erupted when someone threw a petrol bomb during a brawl between occupants, but investigators could not immediately confirm that.

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US prosecutor murdered with wife

A TEXAS district attorney and his wife have been found dead in their home - the second murder of a US prosecutor in the same office in less than two months, sparking fears of a larger plot.

In January, Kaufman County assistant district attorney Mark Hasse, 57, reportedly investigating the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood, was gunned down just outside a courthouse in a small Texan town.

On Saturday, the county's district attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia Woodward McLelland, were found shot dead at their home.

"It is a shock," Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh told the Dallas Morning News.

"It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock," he said.

"Until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related, but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise."

The newspaper reported that authorities were providing security at the homes of others who feared they could also be targeted.

A statewide bulletin in December said the Aryan Brotherhood - an organised crime syndicate - was "actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials", the paper said.

Authorities are also probing whether Hasse's shooting was linked to the killing of a Colorado prison chief on March 19.

The suspect in that shooting is Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a white supremacist with a criminal history spanning a decade, who was shot and killed after a standoff with sheriff's deputies.

However, authorities have not found evidence tying Ebel to Hasse's murder, the Dallas paper said.

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Chavez heir vows probe into leader's death

VENEZUELA'S acting president, Nicolas Maduro, says his mentor, Hugo Chavez, fought for his life "until the last second" and called for an inquiry into the leader's death.

"Until the last second of his life he believed that he would live and he wanted to live," Maduro told AFP in an exclusive interview.

A visibly emotional Maduro recalled how he had visited Chavez in the military hospital on March 5 intending to discuss matters of state with the ailing leader, who had not appeared in public since December.

"I was carrying a red folder with all of these pending decisions. I thought I would spend the day discussing various topics. So there I was with the folder. And there he was, probably thinking the same thing.

"He always wanted to live. He had this gigantic optimism and faith in life," Maduro said.

Hours later, the government announced the death of Chavez, a larger-than-life presence who governed oil-rich Venezuela for 14 years and came to embody a resurgent Latin American left.

Maduro reiterated his intention to launch an investigation into Chavez's death. Hours before Chavez passed away, Maduro, then vice-president, had hinted that "historic enemies" had been behind the leftist leader's death, a veiled reference to the United States.

"It's a very delicate subject," Maduro told AFP.

"I personally believe there has to be a thorough investigation. You know that some world powers have tested weapons for spreading viruses or cancer, and I believe Comandante Chavez was infected," he said.

"It's a personal conviction. I have many reasons and a lot of information which leads me to believe it."

Venezuelans will elect a successor to Chavez on April 14, with Maduro carrying the late leader's mantle and facing off against Henrique Capriles, the opposition candidate who lost to Chavez in October.

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Storms black out 50,000 Qld properties

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

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

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

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

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Zygier gave up names of informants: report

THE man known as Prisoner X - Melbourne-born former Mossad agent Ben Zygier - was outfoxed trying to turn a Hezbollah representative into a double agent and unwittingly became one himself, handing over the names of two valuable informants in Lebanon, Fairfax Media says.

That is the reason why he became a top-secret inmate in an Israeli jail where he took his own life.

Fairfax says Mr Zygier, recruited in 2004, was disconsolate that his career as a Mossad agent had become bogged down at a desk job and he took it upon himself to turn the Hezbollah link into a double agent.

But in an effort to prove he was a Mossad agent, he handed over the names of two informants in Lebanon who were subsequently arrested and given hefty jail sentences.

Fairfax says that unable to bear the shame of his downfall, and facing a minimum 10-year jail sentence with no prospect of a return to the Mossad, Mr Zygier apparently took his own life on December 15, 2010.

Fairfax said that he learned that east European man was known to be close to the militant Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, and set up a meeting towards the end of 2008 with the intention of turning him into a double agent.

But the reverse happened, and Mr Zygier became the conduit for information flowing from Tel Aviv to Hezbollah.

In an effort to prove his Mossad bona fides he gave up the names of Israel's two top Lebanese informants, Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh.

Both men were subsequently arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years jail with hard labour.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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Spain paper retracts Merkel Hitler column

SPANISH newspaper El Pais has retracted a column that compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler and apologised for its "inappropriate" content after sparking an indignant internet outcry.

In the column, published on the paper's website and in its Andalusia regional edition, economist Juan Torres Lopez of the University of Seville wrote that "Angela Merkel, like Hitler, has declared war on the rest of the continent, this time to guarantee (Germany) its vital economic space".

"She punishes us to protect her large companies and banks and also to hide from her electorate the shameful model that has seen the poverty rate in her country rise to its highest level in 20 years, 25 per cent of employees earn less than 9.15 euros an hour and half the population represent ... a miserable one per cent of all the nation's wealth."

After the column provoked shocked reactions online, the newspaper took it down from its website and apologised.

"El Pais has withdrawn the article 'Germany against Europe' ... because it contained statements that this newspaper considers inappropriate," it said.

"El Pais regrets that a supervisory error allowed the publication of this material. The opinions expressed by Torres Lopes are his alone."

The article had set media commentators and German Twitter users aflutter.

"Bitter. Now El Pais has also published an editorial, in which Merkel is compared to Hitler," wrote Robin Alexander, a journalist with German daily Die Welt, on Twitter.

"To put Merkel's policies on a level with Hitler's is as loco (crazy) as it gets," Mathieu von Rohr, Paris bureau chief for German weekly Der Spiegel, wrote on Twitter.

"Of course Merkel's (and everybody's) stance may be criticised. But to use Hitler is incendiary, stupid and irresponsible."

But the retraction also drew criticism.

"Shameful El Pais censoring an article by J. Torres Lopez for criticising Merkel," wrote Twitter user Adrian Arcas Munoz.

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Cyprus in last-ditch bailout talks

CYPRUS President Nicos Anastasiades has entered emergency talks with the island's international creditors seeking to avert bankruptcy in a crisis that is again threatening the stability of the wider eurozone.

The clock is ticking for the tiny country after the European Central Bank threatened to halt life-support funding if there is no deal by Monday, a day before Cyprus's banks are due to reopen after a 10-day shutdown.

Cyprus and its creditors are trying to nail a deal that will restructure the island's banks and deliver up to six billion euros ($A7.5 billion) from large bank deposits in order to resurrect an agreement for a bailout worth up to 10 billion euros.

European Union economics head Olli Rehn acknowledged Cypriot leaders faced hard choices to try to limit the damage from the blow to its bloated banking sector, after a firestorm of protest over the EU plans to impose a special levy on bank customer deposits.

Anastasiades's cortege entered EU headquarters in Brussels shortly after 2pm on Sunday (0001 AEDT Monday), an AFP correspondent said.

Anastasiades was to meet with ECB head Mario Draghi, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Rehn, sources told AFP.

Dijsselbloem will also bring in the finance ministers from all 17 currency partners from 1700 GMT (0400 AEDT) for what is likely to prove yet another sleepless night in snow-covered Brussels.

Cypriot reports suggested officials had made progress with EU and IMF representatives, having agreed a 20 per cent haircut on Bank of Cyprus and a 4.0 per cent levy on other banks.

A radical restructuring of the island's second largest lender Laiki (Popular Bank) will see all deposits over 100,000 euros put into a "bad bank" where they will be tied up for years and may never be fully recovered.

But negotiations stumbled on EU-IMF demands for a substantial levy on deposits above the same threshold in the Bank of Cyprus to avoid it facing similar restructuring. It holds more than a third of all deposits.

The haircut would take the form of a bond or share swap in a bid to get the measure through parliament.

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Brit in India 'shouted for help for hour'

A BRITISH woman who jumped from a hotel balcony in India fearing a sexual assault says she shouted for help for more than an hour before she fled.

Jessica Davies, 31, from London, says she barricaded the door of her hotel room in Agra with furniture to stop two men from entering.

"I held my key in the lock and I could feel them turning it from the other side," she told the BBC.

Davies, a dental hygienist, injured both legs in the jump but said her ordeal could have been a lot worse.

The manager of the hotel and another member of staff appeared in court on Wednesday accused of harassing Davies, with their lawyer saying they denied the charges.

Davies said she wanted to talk about her experience "because the shame of sexual assault makes many people too scared to speak out".

She also said it was "disgusting" that her fellow hotel residents had failed to help.

The incident came just days after a Swiss cyclist was allegedly gang-raped in the central state of Madhya Pradesh by a group of villagers, while on a cycling trip with her husband that was meant to include a stopover in Agra.

Davies, who is now back in Britain, told the BBC her ordeal began when she was "surprised" by a knock at her door at 3.45am.

She denied claims by the hotel manager's lawyer that she had asked for a wake-up call, saying she had set her phone alarm for 4.30am to catch a taxi for a train to Jaipur.

"By hook or by crook this person - or persons - were going to get into my room. I'm 100 per cent certain. And there was only one way out, to jump two floors."

She said a passing rickshaw driver took her to a police station where he stayed with her for hours and acted as translator.

"He was amazing," she said, but added: "I don't know his name and I don't know how to thank him."

She said she had not been put off from returning to India, but was "never going to travel alone again".

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Storms black out 50,000 Qld properties

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

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

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

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

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ADF should plan for climate change: report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Shark attack hero wins bravery award

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

He never expected to be awarded for his bravery.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pain was quickly forgotten as the drama unfolded.

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

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

"This really got to me," he said.

"To be recognised in this way is special."

Mr Burns remains in contact with the attack victim.

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ADF should plan for climate change: report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Shark attack hero wins bravery award

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

He never expected to be awarded for his bravery.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pain was quickly forgotten as the drama unfolded.

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

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

"This really got to me," he said.

"To be recognised in this way is special."

Mr Burns remains in contact with the attack victim.

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