Newspoll shows NSW Labor down

THE latest Newspoll shows support for NSW Labor is at its lowest point for six months as a corruption scandal dims the party's prospects at a state level and federally.

The poll conducted for The Australian newspaper in January and February shows primary support for state Labor at 27 per cent, two points down on a poll conducted in November and December last year.

Labor was last at 27 per cent in a poll conducted in July-August last year after dipping to only 24 per cent in March-April.

Support for the O'Farrell coalition government is up one percentage point, at 46 per cent, indicating a 60-40 split in favour of the coalition in two-party preferred terms.

The poll, published on Monday, is bad news for federal Labor, with half of the party's 20 most marginal federal seats in NSW, and big swings against it widely tipped in western Sydney and on the NSW Central Coast.

Polls have shown support for Labor has been slipping since NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption began hearing last year into allegedly corrupt conduct by three former state Labor ministers.

Monday's poll result is also bad news for state Opposition Leader John Robertson whose support as preferred premier has slipped back two points to 19 per cent.

Premier Barry O'Farrell's support has risen four points to 48 per cent.

He has 43 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and 38 per cent dissatisfied compared with 28 per cent satisfied with Mr Robertson and 35 per cent not satisfied.

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Joan Child, first female Speaker, dies

JOAN Child, the first female Speaker of federal parliament, has died at the age of 91.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has paid tribute to Ms Child, saying she is deeply saddened by her death on the weekend and she will remain a source of inspiration.

"With Joan Child's passing, Australia has lost one of its pioneering female political leaders, and I have lost a role model," Ms Gillard said.

Ms Child was elected to the Melbourne seat of Henty in 1974, when she became the first female Labor member of the House of Representatives and only the fourth woman ever elected to the House.

She was Speaker from 1986 to 1989 under the Hawke government, and retired from parliament the following year.

Until the election of Labor's Anna Burke last October, Ms Child had been the only female Speaker.

Ms Gillard said in a statement that Ms Child came to politics later in life, bringing "remarkable gifts of common sense, good humour and persistence against the odds".

Widowed at a young age, she had brought up five boys on her own and for a time worked as a cleaner to make ends meet.

"Though she attained high office, Joan always retained a sense of perspective. Her hobbies - gardening, reading detective fiction, listening to her idol Elvis - kept her firmly grounded," Ms Gillard said.

She said Ms Child was one of Labor's 'true believers' and was a powerful voice for the needs and rights of women, especially working women and women doing it tough.

Ms Child also set an example that led the way for women's participation in the Labor Party.

The prime minister said Ms Child's family had accepted the offer of a state funeral.

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Police praise heavy rock concert goers

POLICE have uncovered drugs and ejected more than 80 revellers from the Soundwave heavy rock concert in Sydney but say the majority of the crowd was well behaved.

More than 200 officers were on patrol at Sunday's concert at Olympic Park at Homebush that was attended by around 75,000 people.

Police said officers and drug detection dogs conducted 252 person searches and identified 54 people allegedly in possession of illicit drugs.

They were dealt with by way of Field Court Attendance Notices or cannabis cautions.

Illicit drugs seized include cannabis, ecstasy, ice and amphetamines.

Throughout the day, 82 revellers were ejected from the event by police and security staff - many of them for being intoxicated.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Lennon said the majority of the crowd was well behaved with only a small number letting the rest down.

"While one person is too many, we were pleased to see far fewer people in possession of and affected by drugs at this festival."

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One killed in fierce Syria-Lebanon clash

FIERCE fighting erupted during the night on the Syria-Lebanon border between Syrian troops and unknown gunmen, leaving a Lebanese man dead and four wounded, a Lebanese security source says.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman demanded on Sunday that Syria "refrain from firing towards Lebanese territory".

He also stressed, in a statement, the need to "respect the neutral position of (Lebanon) which means not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, notably Syria".

The violence was triggered by the death hours earlier of another Lebanese man, who was killed on Saturday in gunfire coming from the Syria side of the border near a river separating the two countries, the security source said.

Members of his clan took part in the clashes against Syrian troops during the night in the Bukayaa region of northern Lebanon, a Lebanese official told AFP.

The Syrian army used artillery, mortars and automatic weapons fired from the Syrian village of Mcherfe as they clashed with the gunmen, according to the security source, who said a Lebanese man was killed and at least four others wounded in the fighting.

He was unable to say whether the gunmen were Lebanese or Syrians opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Beirut has officially adopted a neutral policy towards the Syria conflict, but it has deepened divisions in the country, with the Sunni-led March 14 movement supporting the revolt and the Shi'ite Hezbollah and its allies backing the Assad regime.

The violence has raised fears of the kind of sectarian strife that rocked Lebanon during its 1975-1990 civil war.

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Bond's Aston Martin up for sale

JAMES Bond's famous Aston Martin car, complete with hidden machine guns and a smoke screen, is up for grabs for a cool STG3 million ($A4.5 million).

Swiss millionaire Thomas Straumann put the vehicle up for sale in Britain with the price tag, the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said.

Straumann, a shareholder in a dental implant firm, bought the Aston Martin DB5 in 2006 and spent three years restoring the car driven by Sean Connery as the fictional British spy in Goldfinger and Thunderball.

After buying the car for $US2.7 million ($A2.65 million) at a US auction, Straumann had 3000 hours of work put into its overhaul, according to NZZ am Sonntag.

Its famous JB007 licence plate aside, the Aston Martin boasts machine guns hidden behind retractable headlights, a smoke screen and a bullet-proof shield.

But one notable absence is a gadget Straumann chose to eliminate during the makeover: the ejector seat.

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French photographer dies after Syria blast

FRENCH freelance photographer Olivier Voisin, who was seriously wounded in Syria on Thursday, has died of his wounds after surgery in Turkey, the foreign ministry says.

Voisin, 38, had suffered head and arm injuries from shrapnel when a shell exploded near Idlib in northern Syria.

Turkish surgeons operated on Voisin on Friday in the border city of Antakya.

"We confirm his death," a ministry spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Voisin's pictures have been published in major French and British newspapers and he collaborated with AFP in January, providing about a dozen pictures from Aleppo.

Apart from Syria, he also covered news events in Libya, Somalia, Brazil, Haiti, Kenya and the United States.

Voisin was born in South Korea and adopted by a French family.

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Afghans order US forces out of province

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has demanded the withdrawal of US special forces from Wardak within two weeks, accusing them of fuelling "insecurity and instability" in the volatile province neighbouring the capital Kabul.

"In today's national security council meeting ... President Karzai ordered the ministry of defence to kick out the US special forces from Wardak province within two weeks," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said on Sunday.

"The US special forces and illegal armed groups created by them are causing insecurity, instability, and harass local people in this province," he told a media conference.

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

The bulk of NATO's 100,000 troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

A US Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) spokesman said he was aware of the reported comments by Faizi.

"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," he said.

"Until we have had a chance to speak with senior (Afghan) officials about this issue we are not in a position to comment further. This is an important issue that we intend to fully discuss with our Afghan counterparts."

More than 3200 NATO troops, mostly Americans, have died in support of Karzai's government in the war since the Taliban were ousted by a US invasion in 2001, but relations between the president and the US are often prickly.

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Pope told of alleged 'inappropriate acts'

POPE Benedict XVI has been informed about allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, who is due to vote on the pontiff's successor, the Vatican says.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, denies allegations by three priests and a former priest which were sent to Rome a week before the Pope's resignation on February 11, the Observer newspaper reported.

"The Pope is informed about the problem and the matter is now in his hands," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists when asked about the report in the British newspaper.

A spokesman for O'Brien said the claims were contested.

The four claimants, from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in Scotland, reported to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, that O'Brien had committed "inappropriate acts" going back 33 years, the Observer said.

One priest claims he received unwanted attention from the cardinal after a late-night drinking session. Another alleges that O'Brien used night prayers as cover for inappropriate contact, according to the paper.

O'Brien has a vote in the forthcoming papal conclave, which is due to take place next month.

The claimants, who are demanding the cleric's resignation, are worried their report will not be properly addressed if he is allowed to travel to Rome.

But Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former archbishop of Westminster and ex-head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, said O'Brien should still be allowed to help choose the next pope if he chooses.

"The cardinal has denied the allegations, so I think we will just have to see how that pans out," Murphy-O'Connor told BBC television.

O'Brien, who is due to retire next month, has angered the gay community with his conservative stance on homosexuality. He was named "bigot of the year" last year by the rights charity Stonewall.

He recently said that same-sex marriages would be "harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of those involved" and has long voiced opposition to gay adoption.

But in comments this week he also called for the Catholic Church to end its celibacy rule for the priesthood.

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