Boycott-hit voting begins in Kuwait

VOTING is under way in Kuwait to pick a new parliament that is certain to side with the ruling establishment after a widespread election boycott by opposition groups.

The voting on Saturday is likely to expose deep divisions in the strategic Gulf nation, a major oil producer and hub for US ground forces.

Opposition groups, ranging from hardline Islamists to Western-leaning liberals, have bitterly denounced a decree in October by Kuwait's emir to change the balloting system.

They claim it will make it easier for officials to influence the outcome.

Kuwait has the Gulf's most politically powerful parliament, which was in the hands of Islamists and their allies earlier this year.

Opposition groups now may increasingly turn to street protests after staying on the sidelines in the election.

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Pageant picks Brazil's most shapely rear

Fifteen curvy young ladies are competing in the grand finale of Brazil's annual Miss Bumbum pageant. Source: AAP

CARINE Felizardo, a curvy model from the northern state of Para, has been crowned Miss Bumbum, a title rewarding Brazil's sexiest female derriere.

A jury of six women and five men late on Friday picked the 25-year-old Felizardo from among 15 finalists in the second annual edition of the contest, which was held in a Sao Paulo hotel.

Felizardo collected a cheque for 5000 reais ($A2400).

"I am overwhelmed, very, very happy," the winner said, choking back tears.

"I would like to thank those who voted for me, those who believed in me, my family, my friends."

Felizardo, who is single, said she was honoured to receive the unusual title.

"I am very proud of my bumbum (as Brazilians call the backside), proud to represent the Brazilian woman," she added, stressing that she owed her victory to years of hard gym training.

The 15 finalists competed in Friday's grand finale before a predominantly male crowd of journalists from around the world after surviving an online elimination round that drew entrants from all over the country.

The jury delivered its verdict after the contestants sashayed down the catwalk first in evening dresses and later in string bikinis that revealed the best part of their anatomy.

The popular contest is however lifting spirits in this huge metropolis wracked by a murder spree that has claimed more than 300 lives in the past month.

Inevitably, the pageant sparked some jealous online comments.

"They are cute, but I think that I have a better booty than some of the contestants," Juliana Danyelle Stuart said.

"Next year I will take part."

The symbolic significance of the bumbum in Brazilian culture cannot be underestimated, as shown by the wild popularity of bum dancing among the young.

"The Brazilian woman's derriere is a part of the body that the whole world admires and the contest just reaffirms this," pageant organiser Cacau Oliver told AFP in October.

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Portugal cracks down on legal highs

170 have been hospitalised in Portugal due to synthetic legal drugs known as 'bath salts'. Source: AAP

AUTHORITIES in Portugal are waging war on the synthetic drugs known as bath salts, amid concerns they are becoming increasingly popular among youths looking for a legal high, despite a ban on selling them to minors.

Adverts for the substances, responsible for a growing number of hospitalisations, are plastered around Lisbon and health authorities now have their eye on the dozens of so-called smartshops selling them.

The proliferation of the synthetic drugs, which reproduce the effects of illicit drugs like cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and hallucinogenic plants, has already created problems for European legislators.

Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) has also expressed concerns, saying just because they aren't illegal, it doesn't mean they're not harmful.

Portugal introduced legislation in 2001 that decriminalised drug use across the board, a move that health experts credit in part for the decline in drug addiction. Users how have to appear in front of special addiction panels rather than a criminal court.

Now, legislators are turning their attention towards synthetic drugs, with officials on the popular tourist archipelago of Madeira the first to raise concerns.

"Local authorities sounded the alarm because the consumption of these psychoactive substances has increased dramatically in a short amount of time, with serious consequences to boot," national health director Alvaro Carvalho said.

Since January, four people have died and 170 others have needed hospital treatment for psychotic episodes and cardiac complications, he added.

This month, the regional government closed down the island's smartshops and national legislators plan to follow with their own bill.

But the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is finding that synthetic drug makers switch the chemical make-up of their products as each new substance is outlawed.

In Lisbon, a dozen smartshops are scattered around the bars and clubs of the trendy Bairro Alto and Cais de Sodre districts, with water pipes and rolling papers on display.

Interspersed among them are the legal drugs: small packets of eye-catching and colourful designs that promise an exciting evening, starting at around 10 euros ($A12.54).

"Our customers are above all looking for legal alternatives they can get without running the risk of getting attacked or arrested," said one smartshop owner, who wished to remain anonymous.

But according to EMCDDA chairman Joao Goulao, "The over-the-counter availability of these substances gives a false sense of security, which is really not the case."

A growing number of hospitalisations - often of users in a critical condition - has been reported, and medical personnel struggle to respond "due to their lack of knowledge of the substances", added Goulao, who was among the architects of Portugal's decriminalisation law.

For Marco, a regular cannabis user in his thirties who first bought from a smartshop two years ago when he found it harder to buy from his usual sources, the effect of synthetic marijuana is "much stronger" than the illicit kind.

He voiced concern over the potential repercussions of a ban.

"Those who experimented with these drugs when they were legal, what will they do now?" he said.

"Move on to illicit drugs?"

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Mexico's Calderon hands off to Pena Nieto

MEXICO'S incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto is set take the reins of power, inheriting a country full of economic promise but beset by a brutal drug war.

Outgoing President Felipe Calderon handed power to Pena Nieto in a symbolic ceremony just after midnight on Saturday, hours before the new leader takes the formal oath of office before congress and delivers a speech at the national palace.

In a short ceremony at the palace, Calderon and Pena Nieto stood stone-faced, side by side before the incumbent handed a Mexican flag to his successor, who then handed the green-white-red banner to a soldier.

The two sang the national anthem and then shook hands with the outgoing and incoming cabinets, but they did not speak.

"This process has contributed to the preservation of the political, economic and social stability of the nation," Pena Nieto said after the ceremony. "Mexico has shown democratic maturity and institutional strength."

Pena Nieto's inauguration, taking place at 0200 AEDT on Sunday, will mark the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence from the presidency.

The PRI ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century with a mix of patronage, corruption and repression, but the telegenic 46-year-old lawyer, a former Mexico state governor, insists that his party has left its dark days behind.

Pena Nieto has promised to reduce poverty and wants to push through structural reforms to boost Latin America's second biggest economy, which posted stronger growth than regional powerhouse Brazil last year.

But the new president faces a relentless drug battle that has killed more than 60,000 people in the past six years.

While 25 of the 37 most wanted drug lords have been captured or killed, gangland gunfights, decapitations and kidnappings have surged since 2006, with the murder rate almost tripling to 24 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

Calderon deployed 50,000 troops to crack down on criminal groups such as the Sinaloa, Zetas and Gulf cartels, but analysts say the strategy backfired as the captures generated more street fights for control of US smuggling routes.

Pena Nieto, who visited President Barack Obama on Tuesday, has vowed to continue the anti-drug cooperation with the United States but he signalled in a Washington Post column that "the strategy must necessarily change".

He says his priority will be to significantly reduce the high levels of violence plaguing Mexicans.

Pena Nieto will be sworn in under tight security, with with metal walls around congress and some 6500 police officers deployed on the street.

Protesters plan to demonstrate around congress while the second-place finisher in the July 1 election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leads a rally at the downtown Angel of Independence monument.

Lopez Obrador has refused to accept defeat, charging that the PRI bought votes to secure victory. But the electoral tribunal threw out his claim.

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Abalone fishers urged to take care

ABALONE fishers are warned to take care on Sunday, the second day of the heavily restricted season, following the death of a Malaysian fisherman on the first day.

A 20-year-old Malaysian man was swept into heavy seas by a strong rip in Yanchep Lagoon, 55km north of Perth, on November 4.

The accident triggered calls for metropolitan abalone fishing spots to be closed in dangerous weather.

Instead, Surf Life Saving Western Australia (SLSWA) will put on additional patrols and has urged fishers to be cautious.

"With the body of the fisherman still missing and 15 rescues performed on November 4, surf lifesavers are calling for abalone fishermen to not go beyond their own capabilities or take risks on Sunday," SLSWA community safety manager Chris Peck said.

Department of Fisheries principal management officer Martin Holtz advised abalone fishers to be aware of the water and weather conditions, and wear appropriate clothing and footwear for clambering over reef tops.

Sunday is forecast to be mainly sunny, with temperatures reaching a maximum of 30C.

The abalone season is open for five days between early November and early March, and only for one hour a day.

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Cut GST threshold on online goods: report

THE independent GST review has called for a cut in the consumption tax threshold for goods and services bought online.

The report, by former premiers Nick Greiner and John Brumby and tax expert Bruce Carter, says the way the 10 per cent GST applies to online shopping hurts Australian businesses and costs the states "hundreds of millions of dollars" in lost revenue.

It says the current low-value import threshold should at least be halved from $1000 to $500.

This could be done almost immediately with no change needed to GST law or customs arrangements.

In the long term, governments should look at replacing the "at-the-border" collection of GST with a system that imposed a GST liability directly on overseas suppliers of goods and services to Australia.

The review panel found the existing system was open to flagrant abuse.

One example was the sale of expensive cameras, which were bought in their component parts at a price under $1000 and assembled by the buyer without incurring any GST.

The talks between the federal and state governments on a long-term solution should focus on amendments to GST law to make overseas suppliers liable for remittance of GST on all supplies of goods and services that would otherwise be subject to GST if purchased from a domestic supplier.

"Such an approach would enable the GST exemption threshold for physical parcels to be reduced to a nominal level, no more than $20 or $50," the report said.

However, government sources on Friday were talking down the prospects of any changes in the short term.

The "direct liability" approach could be burdensome, given that it would involve confiscation of packages, then releasing them to the purchaser subject to a penalty, payment of the GST and import duties.

Dropping the threshold would also result in a massive increase in parcel processing, the cost of which would exceed the benefits and clog up the system.

The government, which is set to respond within weeks, is likely only to recommend that parcel processing systems be improved as a first step.

International online retail sales still account for only 1.4 per cent of total retail sales revenue in Australia.

Domestic retailers account for 75 per cent of all online sales, and domestic online sales are growing faster (28 per cent) than international online sales (22 per cent).

National Retail Association (NRA) chief executive Trevor Evans said the government could save more than 30,000 Australian retail jobs by scrapping the GST threshold on online purchases from overseas.

"The government's independent review of the GST has clearly found that the $1000 threshold on online purchases is undermining the competitiveness of local Australian retailers," Mr Evans said.

He said the threshold in the UK was as low as STG15 ($A23.22).

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Teen badly hurt after falling on tent peg

A SCHOOL leaver has suffered serious head injuries after falling on a tent peg as he packed up to leave the West Australian town of Busselton.

The accident is understood to have occurred on Thursday night, and the 17-year-old was taken to a local hospital with severe head injuries.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service said it had sent an aircraft with a medical team to the southwest town on Friday afternoon to fly him to Perth.

The youth was due to land at Jandakot airport and then be transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which specialises in head injuries, around 3pm (WST).

A hospital spokesperson said the patient had arrived in a "critical" condition.

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Daniel Morcombe's funeral set for Friday

Daniel Morcombe's parents are considering a funeral on the ninth anniversary of his disappearance. Source: AAP

DANIEL Morcombe's family will finally lay their son to rest, nine years to the day after he went missing.

Daniel's funeral will be held on Friday, December 7, the anniversary of his 2003 disappearance, his mother Denise said on Friday.

She said it would be a public ceremony and people would be invited to wear some red and donate to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation instead of giving flowers.

"It's to be a positive celebration of Daniel's life," Mrs Morcombe told AAP.

The funeral will be held at the St Catherine of Siena Church at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast.

The plans follow the state coroner's sudden decision a day earlier to release Daniel's remains, which were found more than a year ago in bushland in the Glasshouse Mountains.

Earlier, the Morcombes said they were shocked but relieved at the decision.

"It means everything. We've been waiting nine years and we can put Daniel to rest now," Mrs Morcombe told reporters outside the committal hearing for Daniel's accused murderer, Brett Peter Cowan, 42.

The hearing at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday heard disturbing evidence about the afternoon Daniel vanished.

Two witnesses told of seeing a man in an older model blue sedan at the overpass where Daniel went missing.

Nambour resident Keith Lipke said he saw someone under a tarpaulin in the back seat of a blue car.

The sedan was being driven by a clean-shaven man with brown hair past his collar, Mr Lipke said.

"When I looked at the back seat, it had a tarpaulin over it and it appeared to me there were kids playing under it, jumping around," he told the court under cross-examination.

Mr Lipke saw the man turn to the back seat with an annoyed expression and say something.

"As he went past (I noticed) that the tarp was taut. It wasn't flying around any more."

He said he saw a flash of red under the tarpaulin, "like Santa Claus".

Daniel was wearing a red T-shirt on the day he disappeared.

A second witness said she saw a "clean-cut" man standing by the passenger door of an older blue sedan with NSW number plates.

Lily Obah told the court it looked like the man was pushing someone's head down in the front seat as she drove past.

Outside court Cowan's lawyers said they expected the judge to decide the crown had a case and commit their client to a trial.

But defence lawyer Tim Meehan said there was no direct evidence against the 42-year-old, who is charged with murder, child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.

Any trial would probably be a year off, Mr Meehan's colleague Michael Bosscher said.

Daniel was 13 when he disappeared while waiting for a bus on the Sunshine Coast in 2003.

The hearing continues on Monday.

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Nasser talks about BHP CEO succession

BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser (R) has backed CEO Marius Kloppers (L) at its AGM. Source: AAP

BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has not guaranteed chief executive Marius Kloppers' job for any length of time as speculation continues about a succession plan.

Mr Nasser said on Thursday, while sitting alongside Mr Kloppers, that he had his unequivocal support after speaking at length about succession planning at the company's annual general meeting (AGM).

However the company has hired corporate headhunters to search for a replacement and Mr Nasser told shareholders the company was committed to a succession planning process put in place when Mr Kloppers was appointed.

BHP recently confirmed the succession plan following a report in London's Financial Times that Mr Nasser was leading the process to replace Mr Kloppers.

The 50-year-old South African-born businessman has served as chief executive for five-and-a-half years and is believed to want to continue in the role.

He has previously criticised what he called an Australian obsession with five-year tenures for chief executives.

Asked by reporters after the AGM if he would be at the 2013 meeting, Mr Kloppers would only say he served at the pleasure of the board and would prefer that other things were written about BHP.

Mr Nasser said he did not think there should be a maximum amount of time considered appropriate for a chief executive.

"I am not referring to BHP Billiton but it could be a CEO reaches a point in their life where he or she wants to do different things, it could be the strategy of the company has changed dramatically," he said.

He also highlighted what he called the company's "strong bench", referring to aluminium boss Alberto Calderon, non-ferrous head Andrew Mackenzie and new chief financial officer Graham Kerr.

Speculation began in July when it emerged through the Corporate Confidence Index that investor ratings of Mr Kloppers had fallen, with weaker annual profit, a weak share price and massive writedowns on shale assets not helping.

However BHP was upbeat about its year at the AGM, saying its uniquely diversified resources portfolio had protected profits - its net profit was $US15.4 billion ($A14.76 billion) - in a volatile year for the market.

"We were able to invest through the cycle, we were able to continue to invest when others couldn't and we were able to continue to invest during the downturn in global economies," Mr Nasser said.

There was pressure to invest less and return more to shareholders at the AGM, with some angry and calling for special dividends.

Mr Kloppers said he could not make a forward-looking statement about profits, but said no increase in iron ore prices - currently the company's biggest earner - was expected soon.

That does not augur well for the federal government's chance of getting any mining taxes out of the company.

It forecast compound annual volume growth rate of about 10 per cent this year and next, increasing the importance of volumes - rather than prices - and controlling costs to drive profits."

Meanwhile, two men face charges after abseiling down the Sydney Convention Centre as part of an environmental protest outside BHP's AGM.

BHP shares closed 21 cents up at $34.21.

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Beach algae still causing red alert

More NSW beaches have been closed as red algal blooms are spotted along much of the state's coast. Source: AAP

RED algal blooms are continuing to close beaches along the NSW coast, with sightings as far south as Bateman's Bay and as far north as Newcastle.

Large streaks of red algae were spotted off North Wollongong beach on Thursday and Clovelly, Bronte and Tamarama beaches were all shut.

On the city's northern beaches, Bilgola, Mona Vale, Palm Beach and Newport were also closed due to outbreaks, while splashings of red algae were spotted at Newcastle.

"We were out fishing at Stockton this morning and we came across a little bit out there," Newcastle Surf Life Saving Club president Brad Kinniard told AAP.

It was the first time he had seen a red bloom, despite being in the area for more than 25 years, he said.

A spokesman for the NSW Office of Water said there were also sightings of the tomato-juice coloured blooms as far south as Batemans Bay, which while not formally identified, were likely to be Noctiluca scintillans, which is caused by an upwelling of colder nutrient-rich water.

He said it was difficult to predict whether the warmer weather forecast for the weekend would increase bloom outbreaks.

"It's really up to mother nature and the current weather and ocean conditions prevailing," he told AAP on Thursday.

A bloom was first spotted at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach at 6.30am (AEDT) on Tuesday, with subsequent outbreaks at Clovelly Beach and Gordons Bay.

Also called "red tide" or "fire in the sea", the algae is non-toxic but contains high ammonia levels that can cause minor skin irritation if you swim in it.

A spokeswoman for Waverley Council said the 12th annual Bondi to Bronte ocean swim would go ahead on Sunday as planned.

However a final call will be made at 7.30am, with updates available at the council Facebook page.

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Oakeshott undecided about election run

NSW Independent MP Rob Oakeshott says he hasn't decided whether to run in the next election. Source: AAP

INDEPENDENT MP Rob Oakeshott says he hasn't yet made a firm decision about whether he will run for his NSW seat at the next federal election.

Mr Oakeshott said he was attracted to the prospect of running again for the seat of Lyne but it wasn't just up to him.

"I always make decisions about six months out," Mr Oakeshott told Sky News on Thursday.

"You talk to family, you talk to supporters, you talk to staff.

"We haven't gone into that process yet."

Mr Oakeshott helped Labor form minority government through his support after the 2010 election resulted in a hung parliament.

He said he had a strong record when it came to securing funding for universities and the Pacific Highway.

"Results beat insults."

But Mr Oakeshott faces a backlash from voters in his traditionally conservative electorate after he backed Labor.

Despite efforts by the Nationals, who lost the seat to Mr Oakeshott in 2008 following the resignation of Nationals leader Mark Vaile, he said the mood on the ground was "pretty good".

Polling will be a consideration in his decision, he says.

"It's a game for winners.

"You don't want to spend a lot of money and lose and that's part of the consideration in all honesty.

"That'll be in the mix (polling) but don't believe the polls that are being put out by the National Party or others."

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Vic temperatures exceed 45C

The mercury is forecast to reach near-record highs across Victoria on Thursday. Source: AAP

VICTORIANS have sweltered through the hottest November day in more than a century with the temperature soaring above 45C in some parts of the state.

Many rushed to beaches in a bid to cool down but it wasn't all fun in the sun with grass fires breaking out in northwest Victoria.

In Melbourne, the mercury crept up towards 40C and was still there by early evening, hitting a high of 39.6C at 6.10pm (AEDT).

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said some relief was on the way with a change expected to hit Melbourne about 7pm which should cool things down to the high 20s.

Melburnians were set for a steamy night with the temperature expected to remain in the 20s, with a minimum of 23C forecast and a high of 28 and patchy rain on Friday.

The state's hotspot was Ouyen, just outside Mildura, where a maximum of 45.8C was recorded.

That beat the state's previous November record of 45C, which dated back to 1905 in Mildura.

The biggest grass fire was near Baringhup, close to Maryborough, which spread over 200 hectares after starting about 3pm (AEDT) but was subsequently contained.

The Country Fire Authority also dealt with a fire at Lillicur, 8km west of Talbot, which burned 20 hectares of grass and bush.

There were also grass fires in Edenhope, one near Avenel which caused smoke that disrupted traffic on the Hume Freeway, a plantation fire at Dartmoor and a four-hectare fire at Murtoa.

A CFA spokeswoman warned that dry lightning could hit in the west of the state on Thursday evening, which could cause further problems.

Total fire bans are in place in the Mallee and Wimmera districts, with farmers, particularly in the northwest of the state, warned of the extreme fire risk.

Ambulance Victoria said it had dealt with 25 reports of heat-related illness by 4pm and an additional eight cases where children had been locked in cars, including a three-year-old and a two-year-old in Greensborough.

That was despite peak motoring body RACV warning motorists never to leave children or animals inside cars.

CitiPower customers in Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs were hit by power outages, with 2500 homes losing power at some point on Thursday.

Some 1300 Powercor customers in central and western Victoria, and Melbourne's western suburbs, also had power outages during the day.

In St Kilda East, a driver suffered minor injuries when a power pole exploded, the heat from the explosion causing his windscreen to shatter. It is not known if the explosion was caused by the day's heatwave.

It was an uncomfortable journey home for some Melbourne workers. Commuters faced delays on a number of Metro train lines because of issues unrelated to the heat, after balloons floated into overhead cables near busy Southern Cross Station and a signal problem at Caulfield.

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Gonski bill lacks funding detail: schools

PARLIAMENT is considering legislation to set up a new school funding system but there is still little detail available about how that will work.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Labor will target and eradicate the "great moral wrong" of children not having access to educational opportunities.

"This is a distinctively Labor plan for a matter of the highest Labor purpose: to eradicate the great moral wrong which sees some Australian children denied the transformative power of a great education," she told the lower house on introducing the bill on Wednesday.

The legislation initiating the government's response to the Gonski schools funding review enshrines in law "our nation's expectations for our children's achievements at school".

It outlines the goals for school improvement and the principles underpinning how these would be achieved.

But it does not detail how a new funding system would work, nor make any mention of the estimated $6.5 billion a year the commonwealth and state and territory governments will have to stump up.

In fact, the accompanying explanatory memorandum says "there is no financial impact associated with the bill".

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos is confident Labor will achieve the proposed funding reform.

"Not only are we confident, we have every expectation that an agreement will be achieved between the commonwealth and the states," he told reporters in Canberra.

"The state premiers must step up now and negotiate in earnest."

The Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) also urged governments to quickly finalise details so they could be incorporated into the legislation.

"This is the only way to provide school communities with an assurance that there will be a stable, fair, robust and transparent funding of independent schools from the commencement of 2014," it said in a statement.

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne called the legislation an "empty shell".

"The prime minister calls this a uniquely Labor bill and she is right - it is all spin over substance, a classic Labor hoax," he said.

The Australian Greens used softer language but were also disappointed by the lack of detail.

Leader Christine Milne said it was "not very satisfactory" to finish the year without a funding plan and repeated calls for the mining tax loophole around state royalties to be plugged and the money used for education.

Ms Gillard told parliament she had anticipated there would be "voices of opportunism and negativity" but she was determined to get the reform done.

"Making sure no child misses out on the education which could change his or her life has been the ruling passion of my life," she said.

The bill also contains a clause stating nothing contained in the laws will be legally enforceable.

However, federal schools minister Peter Garrett has previously said the legislation would be changed once agreement was reached with states, territories and private education authorities.

The nation's education ministers are expected to provide initial advice on the structure of a funding system to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on December 7.

Ms Gillard wants COAG to sign off on the funding agreement at its first meeting next year, likely to be in March.

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Dhaka fire factory managers arrested

Three factory managers have been arrested in Bangladesh over a blaze that killed 110 workers. Source: AAP

BANGLADESH police have arrested three managers of a factory where a blaze killed 110 people, following claims they stopped workers from leaving the plant saying an alarm was just a routine fire drill.

Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP on Wednesday the managers were arrested overnight after charges that they told panicked workers of Tazreen Fashion they had nothing to worry about when the fire started on Saturday night.

"All three are mid-level managers of Tazreen. Survivors told us that they did not allow the workers to escape the fire, saying that it was a routine fire drill. There are also allegations that they even padlocked doors," he said.

Survivors and witnesses told AFP how workers, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which supplied clothes to international brands including Walmart, European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

Two government inquiries have already been set up to try to establish the cause of the fire, the worst factory blaze to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs three million and is the mainstay of the economy.

The shell-shocked nation observed a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Green and red Bangladeshi flags flew at half mast alongside black flags on top of government offices and the nation's 4500 garment factories.

Rahman said police also quizzed Tazreen's owner, Delwar Hossain, about alleged violations of building rules after inspectors found the nine-storey factory only had permission for three floors.

Around 700 garment workers have been killed in dozens of fires since 2006, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, an Amsterdam-based textile rights group. But none of the owners have been prosecuted over previous blazes.

Campaigners say Western firms whose clothes are made in Bangladesh hide behind flimsy safety audits to help drive down costs.

After European chain C&A and Hong Kong-based Li & Fung confirmed they had orders at Tazreen, the US retail giant Walmart also acknowledged some of its products were made there and said it had terminated ties with the supplier.

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Call for crane checks after UTS fire

Investigations are underway into a fire that caused a crane to fall onto a Sydney construction site. Source: AAP

A CRANE that caught fire and toppled onto a Sydney university building has prompted union calls for city-wide engineering checks, the promise of a "safety roundtable" and an investigation by emergency services.

Construction company Lend Lease, which manages the inner-city building site at the centre of Tuesday's emergency, has promised to "work closely" with authorities investigating the accident at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

The construction workers' union has alleged Lend Lease was warned fuel was leaking from the crane but did nothing.

A safety roundtable of the parties involved will be held next week, WorkCover general manager for work health and safety John Watson announced on Wednesday.

"I would urge all contractors across NSW to check the state of tower cranes and related machinery and ensure they are compliant with work health and safety legislation in the wake of Tuesday's serious workplace incident," Mr Watson said in a statement.

Wattle Street in Ultimo remains cordoned off between Broadway and Thomas Street as engineers continue to assess the site.

Hundreds were evacuated from the construction site and adjacent UTS buildings, with the emergency closing the busy Broadway thoroughfare and causing major traffic disruption.

WorkCover, emergency services and Lend Lease have launched investigations into the fire and the collapse of the 65-metre crane's boom.

Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU) NSW secretary Brian Parker said the crane was "an accident waiting to happen" and Lend Lease had been warned of the fuel leak.

"We have evidence of the fact that workers were complaining about getting soiled clothes, soiled helmets from drops dripping on them consistently from this particular crane," he told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.

"With the heat that generates up there in the crane box on a motor, with leaking fluid, there's no doubt in my mind that could have been a contributing factor to the fire breaking out and the collapse of the boom."

Lend Lease CEO Steve McCann said safety was the company's highest priority.

"We ... have a history of working closely with construction industry unions and have always co-operated with the authorities and will continue to do so ... in a transparent and collaborative manner," Mr McCann said in a statement.

The crane is owned by a Sefton company, Marr Contracting, and leased to Lend Lease.

A Marr Contracting worker told AAP the company had no comment, except to say that "we support WorkCover in all their investigations".

WorkCover inspectors were at the site on Wednesday and have discussed plans to remove the damaged machinery with Lend Lease, union officials and emergency services personnel.

"WorkCover is satisfied that there is no further risk of debris or the crane falling from the building," the agency said in a statement.

The National Tertiary Education Union on Wednesday called for a public inquiry into the crane collapse.

The union's UTS branch president Simon Wade said he was concerned that safety at the site had been sacrificed, endangering building workers, firefighters, university staff, students and the public.

Mr Wade said workers at the Lend Lease construction site had said that as the crane burned, they were instructed by their supervisor not to stop work.

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Diuron use risks Barrier Reef: WWF

A FEDERAL government decision to reinstate the use of diuron on weeds in water bodies is not enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef despite new conditions, conservationists say.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) suspended the use of some diuron products in 2011 pending a review of the chemical, used on weeds and algae in and around water bodies.

It affirmed the registration of most diuron products on Tuesday with new conditions of use, APVMA spokeswoman Susan Whitbread said.

Restrictions have been put in place for the spraying of individual crops and no-spray times will apply to sugarcane and pineapple crops.

"We have made a considerable effort to develop workable instructions for the continued use of diuron, while ensuring we can effectively manage risks from the use of this environmentally mobile and persistent chemical," Ms Whitbread says.

Approval for industrial applications and use in non-agricultural situations, citrus, apples and pears, ornamental plants and tropical crops including tea, coffee and paw paw has been rejected.

The rate of application has been restricted and farmers will not be able to spray when heavy or persistent rain is forecast.

WWF spokesman Nick Heath said the decision would result in the continued contamination of freshwater systems and marine environments and put the health of Australians at risk.

The chemical is classified in the United States as a known or likely carcinogen.

It has been linked to coral bleaching and seagrass die-back on the Great Barrier Reef, accounting for 80 per cent of the herbicide pollution on the reef, Mr Heath said.

"The APVMA has again failed to protect the Great Barrier Reef," he said.

"We call on the minister and the prime minister to intervene and give the APVMA stronger powers and an obligation to ban these dangerous chemicals."

Despite the efforts by farmers to do the right thing and control Diuron use the evidence was the chemical was persistent and unmanageable that escaped paddocks and contaminated the reef.

"To give an indication of how toxic this stuff is, just one gram in four Olympic-sized swimming pools is enough to damage sea grass," Mr Heath said.

"And one of the most sensitive sea grasses is the preferred food source for turtle and dugongs."

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Bishop defends meeting with Blewitt

Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop defended meeting with self-confessed fraudster Ralph Blewitt. Source: AAP

DEPUTY opposition leader Julie Bishop has defended her decision to meet with one of the key figures in the Australian Workers' Union slush fund scandal.

Ms Bishop met for 10 minutes with former AWU official Ralph Blewitt in Melbourne on Friday seeking access to documents to inform her questioning of Prime Minister Julia Gillard in parliament this week.

Mr Blewitt, who lives in Malaysia, has publicly admitted to participating in a fraud in the 1990s involving the AWU Workplace Reform Association but is seeking legal immunity from prosecution.

Ms Bishop on Tuesday said it was a "chance meeting" that only came about following a telephone call from former Sydney radio host Michael Smith.

She said Mr Smith, who had gone with Mr Blewitt to a police station when he made statements about three AWU related matters, had asked her whether she wanted to meet him.

"I spoke to Mr Blewitt for about less than 10 minutes and I left," she told reporters in Canberra.

Ms Bishop said her meeting did not compare with Ms Gillard's "four-year personal friendship" with Mr Blewitt who worked with her then partner, AWU official Bruce Wilson.

"Surely the prime minister is not suggesting that I shouldn't spend 10 minutes with a man that she considered one of her closest friends over four years and for whom she did free legal work," Ms Bishop said.

She said part of her conversation with Mr Blewitt was about a call Mr Blewitt received from members of his former army regiment, the 2RAR, who are serving in Afghanistan.

"The only interest I had in meeting with him is he'd met with police and I wanted to know whether he produced any further documents," she said.

"I understand that he waived legal professional privilege over any advice that current or former partners of Slater & Gordon gave to him when he was Ms Gillard's client and I wanted to know if he had any documents.

"And he said anything he said to police he wouldn't repeat to me, so that was the end of it."

Ms Gillard, when a lawyer with Slater & Gordon, provided legal advice on the incorporation of the AWU association but has denied any wrongdoing or involvement with the entity beyond that advice.

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Man shot dead in Punchbowl

Police are conducting and operation in Sydney's southwest after a man was shot multiple times. Source: AAP

A MAN has been found dead in a house in southwestern Sydney and another man is in hospital after being found with gunshot wounds in the same street.

Police say they found the dead man's body at the back of a house in Lumeah Avenue in Punchbowl after receiving reports of shots around 4.10 pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Another man was found at the front of the home with gunshot wounds and has been taken to hospital.

The injured man, who suffered at least five gunshot wounds, was taken to St George Hospital in a serious condition.

Both men were shot inside the premises and it is believed the owners were not present at the time of the incident.

Police did not know the ages of the victims or if they were armed at the time of the incident.

A manhunt for possibly two suspects began shortly after the shooting.

"We will be seeking further persons who are believed to have left the premises shortly after the shooting," Superintendent Michael McLean told reporters at the crime scene.

Police have roped off three separate crime scenes, where the shooting took place in Lumeah Avenue, in Christian Road where the incident may have spilled into and nearby Werona Ave where at least two spent shell casings were found on a nature strip.

Police have not ruled the offenders may have dropped the spent shell casings in an attempt to discard evidence.

Police are beginning to allow residents back into their homes.

According to a neighbour who spoke to an eyewitness to the incident and who would only give his name as Lionel, two men arrived at a home being renovated in Lumeah Avenue where at least three workers were on the scene.

"As I understand it there were two shooters with balaclavas," Lionel told AAP.

"They approached the building site where there were three workers, one of whom was shot five times."

Police believe that victim was the man who survived the attack.

"Two men ran off up the street screaming 'call the police, call the police'," Lionel said.

"And they ran into a house around the corner.

"And a girl heard them screaming and she phoned the police."

Dozens of neighbours remained just outside the crime scene.

"I didn't see nothing, I don't say nothing," one man who would not give his name told AAP.

"That's the way it goes around here."

Another young man said the neighbourhood has recently had its troubles.

"Someone got their knees capped over there," he told AAP as he pointed to a house in adjacent Christian Road.

"You can see no one's worried around here. We're used to it."

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Obeid 'frontman' didn't coach me: witness

AN Obeid family associate gave a key witness at a corruption inquiry into the granting of mining licences in the Bylong Valley a timeline setting out a version of events, the ICAC has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Tuesday that Andrew Kaidbay gave the document to Gardner Brook, a former senior vice president at Lehman Brothers, before he was due to attend a private ICAC hearing into the granting of coal exploration licences in the coal-rich valley.

ICAC is probing former Labor minister Ian Macdonald's 2008 decision to grant mining licences in the area and how it benefited Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid, who owned property in the vicinity.

Giving evidence at the inquiry, Mr Brook said Mr Kaidbay, an Obeid "front man", handed him the timeline soon after he arrived from Singapore to give evidence at ICAC on March 12 this year.

Counsel assisting the commissioner, Geoffrey Watson, put it to Mr Brook that Mr Kaidbay "tried to help you fill in your recollection, as it were, about some of the evidence".

"Possibly, I have a very poor memory," Mr Brook replied.

"There was no coaching or anything like that."

Mr Watson suggested to Mr Brook that the document made it appear as if he were the mastermind in all of this.

"It's a pretty self-serving document," Mr Brook replied.

It was also put to Mr Brook that a member of the Obeid family paid for his lawyer at the private ICAC hearing.

Mr Brook said he did not know who had footed the legal bill.

The inquiry has previously heard that Mr Brook was asked by the Obeids to find a company that could partner them in a mining venture in the Bylong Valley.

Mr Brook chose Monaro Mining, a small uranium company with no experience in coal, which ultimately withdrew its bid for the critical Mt Penny tenement.

That licence went to runner-up Cascade Coal after the tender process was reopened by Mr Macdonald.

The inquiry has been told Cascade subsequently paid $30 million to the Obeids.

Mr Brook told ICAC that one of Eddie Obeid's sons, Moses Obeid, said that if Monaro withdrew its bid Cascade would get the Mt Penny licence.

"The assumption was provided to me by Moses Obeid," he told the inquiry.

Earlier, Mr Brook said Moses confided to him that he had inside information about the tender process for mining licences in the area.

Mr Brook also said Moses gave him a handwritten list of companies that would bid in the restricted government tender.

The inquiry continues on Wednesday before Commissioner David Ipp.

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Doctor admits errors in treating toddler

AN anaesthetist has admitted he failed on a number of occasions to call off risky dental surgery on a two-year-old boy who later died.

Leonard Crowe did not regain consciousness after having 13 decayed teeth removed and six others repaired under general anaesthetic at Broken Hill Base Hospital on July 11, 2008.

The toddler had numerous medical issues, including club feet, a retreating jaw and a historical breathing problem known as apnoea.

An autopsy also showed he had a respiratory tract infection on the day of surgery, the inquest into his death was told on Tuesday.

Giving evidence at Sydney's Glebe Coroners Court, the boy's principal anaesthetist Dr George Waters said he spent a few minutes carrying out a visual assessment of Leonard before surgery.

Aside from a "yucky nose", he said the boy was happily running around the waiting room.

But he agreed with counsel assisting the coroner Ian Bourke that it was not "thorough", adding there was no physical examination nor any questions asked of the boy or his mother.

Dr Waters said he "omitted parts of his normal practice" because he was so distracted by Leonard's abnormal facial features, which posed potential problems for intubation.

He agreed with Mr Bourke that he should have been more particular in his assessment.

"If I had known that Leonard Crowe had a cough, I am sure that I would've cancelled the case," he told the court on Tuesday.

"I made, in hindsight, the wrong assumption that all was well and this was a perfectly normal child."

Dr Waters said he distinctly remembered considering calling off the procedure after observing the boy but couldn't say why he decided not to.

He again thought about stopping the surgery while administering the fourth dose of a muscle relaxant to help intubate the boy in the operating room.

"I believe that with hindsight I should've stopped before that last dose," Dr Waters said.

"Yes, there were risks and yes, during the intubation I believe that I was about to call it off and (assisting anaesthetist) Dr (Philip) Rosewarne got the tube in and we proceeded."

Dr Waters said he doesn't remember seeing a more detailed record of Leonard's medical history, which some nurses claim was in a second file in the theatre suite.

Asked by Mr Bourke what he would have done if he'd been aware of such a record, Dr Waters said: "I would've immediately recommended to (the dentist) we cancel the case".

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon continues on Wednesday.

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New fire as Bangladesh mourns dead

A fire in a nine-storey garment factory in Bangladesh has left at least 110 people dead. Source: AAP

BANGLADESH firefighters quelled a new blaze at a garment factory on Monday as the country mourned the death of 110 workers in a weekend blaze at an apparel plant, the export industry's worst-ever accident.

The latest fire caused widespread damage at the plant on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, but no casualties were reported after rescue teams searched the building for workers feared to have suffocated in toxic black fumes.

"Most workers broke grilles in the upper floor and escaped to a safe location at an adjacent building," Dhaka district deputy commissioner of police Nisharul Arif told AFP.

"We don't have any casualties and have now controlled the fire, which started on the first floor where there was inflammable acrylic clothing."

Thousands of workers staged protests during the day, demanding better protection after the earlier fire Saturday night trapped more than 1,000 staff and forced many to jump from upper floors at the Tazreen Fashion factory outside Dhaka.

Survivors told how workers, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which made clothes for international brands including the European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

"Workers from several factories have left their work and joined the protest. They want exemplary punishment to Tazreen owners," said Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman.

In Ashulia, the industrial zone where the Tazreen factory is located, hundreds of plants stayed closed on Monday as workers mourned. An official national day of mourning will be held on Tuesday.

Local police chief Badrul Alam said they had opened a case of murder due to criminal negligence. Two government inquiries and the police investigation are trying to establish if the owners were to blame for the fire.

"We won't spare anyone," police chief Alam promised.

Preparations have been made for the mass burial on Monday of the bodies of 59 workers who cannot be identified.

Their remains, often burnt beyond recognition, will be laid to rest at a state graveyard in a southern suburb of Dhaka.

"We are keeping the DNA samples of the dead workers so that we can identify their relatives for compensation," said Dhaka district police commissioner Yusuf Harunhe.

Bangladesh has emerged as the world's second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of national exports.

The sector is the mainstay of the poverty-stricken country's economy, employing 40 percent of its industrial workforce, but work conditions are often basic and safety standards low.

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Skyfall shakes the Australian box office

THE latest Bond instalment has shaken the Australian Box Office, pulling in a massive $12.304 million in its opening weekend.

Skyfall, the 23rd in the James Bond series, which stars Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem as a very convincing baddie, and a string of beautiful Bond girls, has clearly not lost favour with Australian audiences.

Losing a bit of bite, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 managed to make $4.489 million at the weekend, which takes its total to $20.309 million after just two weeks at the cinemas, according to figures released by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

Ben Affleck's thriller Argo has been pushed to No.3.

Although its figure this week of $421,563 looks rather insignificant compared with the top two films, the true story about efforts to smuggle Americans out of Iran during the hostage drama of 1979 has already attracted more than $9 million at Australian cinemas.

The new film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which stars Emma Watson, proves she's got a big career ahead after leaving Hermione Granger back at Hogwarts.

The film, about three misfit teenagers and based on the book of the same name, finished at No.5 in its opening week with $175,754.

French film The Intouchables continues to attract good audiences and sits at No.4 after five weeks.

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UN climate talks open in Qatar

UN talks on a new climate pact have opened in oil and gas-rich Qatar, where negotiators from nearly 200 countries will discuss fighting global warming and helping poor nations adapt to it.

The two-decade-old talks have not fulfilled their main purpose: reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are warming the planet.

But countries agreed last year to adopt a new climate treaty by 2015. A host of issues need to be resolved by then, including how to spread the burden of emissions cuts between rich and poor countries.

Negotiators gathered on Monday for the two week talks will focus on extending the Kyoto Protocol, an emissions deal for industrialised countries, and trying to raise billions of dollars to help developing countries adapt to a shifting climate.

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Mines minister in on deal, ICAC hears

FORMER Labor minister Eddie Obeid's son told a business associate he urgently needed to finalise the purchase of farms in the Bylong Valley before a NSW government decision increased their value tenfold, a corruption inquiry has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating if decisions made by former mining minister Ian Macdonald about licences in the Bylong Valley area were designed to benefit political colleague Obeid, who owned property in the area.

ICAC was on Monday shown a signed statement by Arlo Selby, a former commodities trader with business ties to the Obeids, in which it was claimed Moses Obeid needed an investor to step in to fast-track the settlement of the Obeid family's Bylong Valley properties.

In the statement, dated January 11, 2011, Mr Selby said Moses Obeid told him he needed an investor urgently because "when a government announcement due to come out within the next three months becomes public the value of those farms would automatically go up tenfold".

Mr Selby said in the statement, which was tendered as evidence, that Moses indicated the deal was a "very serious coal play" and that his family owned a key property in the coal-rich area.

Moses also told him he had inside information that there were about one billion tonnes of high-grade coal in the Bylong Valley, according to the statement.

The statement also alleges that at a meeting in July 2008, Moses Obeid told former Lehman Brothers senior vice-president Gardner Brook that the outcome of the tender process for coal exploration licences in the Bylong Valley was already guaranteed because Mr Macdonald was "in on the deal".

It also claims that Moses Obeid arranged a meeting between Mr Brook and then Labor ministers Michael Costa, Joe Tripodi and Ian Macdonald after claiming his family "had a lot of contacts within the government".

Giving evidence, Mr Selby said only some parts of the statement were accurate and on several occasions he could not recall parts of it put to him by counsel assisting the commissioner, Geoffrey Watson.

Mr Selby said two other men, one of whom was now in prison, had been involved with him in preparing the document.

Counsel for Mr Brook put it to Mr Selby that the statement had been made in an attempt to extort money from his client.

The inquiry was told Mr Selby had fallen out with Mr Brook numerous times, including once because he had "made off with his girlfriend".

"There was no love lost between you and Gardner Brook at the time you made this document, that's correct?" Mr Brook's lawyer asked.

"That would be a fair comment," Mr Selby replied.

The inquiry has previously been told the Obeids had asked Mr Brook to find a company which could partner the Obeids in a mining venture and that Mr Brook chose Monaro Mining, a small uranium company with no experience in coal.

Monaro ultimately withdrew its bid for the Mt Penny tenement, with that licence going to runner-up Cascade Coal after the tender process was reopened by Mr Macdonald.

The inquiry has been told Cascade subsequently paid $30 million to the Obeids.

It has been told that there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Monaro.

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Australian man charged with fraud in PNG

AN Australian man has been arrested and charged with fraud by Papua New Guinea's anti corruption taskforce.

Leonard Patrick Capon, 68, was arrested and charged after allegedly misappropriating 1,485,085 million kina ($A668,400) paid in 2010 to his company, Rural Development Services Ltd, for a mini-hydro power project in Hela province in PNG's Highlands.

Authorities allege that project was never delivered and the funds were allegedly diverted to expenses unrelated to the purposes of the payment.

Task Force Sweep Chairman Sam Koim told PNG's The National newspaper that Mr Capon was arrested and charged with misappropriation and released on K10,000 ($A4635) bail.

Task Force Sweep recently revealed it had registered 174 complaints about corruption, with just some of the cases involving amounts totalling 2.162 billion kina ($A1 billion).

Of the 174 complaints, 52 cases have been investigated.

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Newman denies internal LNP conflicts

Veteran Queensland MP Ray Hopper (R) has resigned from the Liberal National Party (LNP). Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman insists his government is not divided despite losing an MP within days of the departure of a major Liberal National Party donor.

Veteran MP Ray Hopper resigned from the party on Saturday, two days after mining magnate Clive Palmer quit.

Mr Hopper, MP for the rural seat of Condamine, says the LNP's worsening internal conflicts and its focus on Brisbane under Campbell Newman's leadership were behind his decision.

He announced he was joining Bob Katter's Australian Party (KAP), saying "the LNP are not interested in governing for regional communities and the party is at war with itself".

"The Liberals are trying to take complete control and the National Party has been slain," Mr Hooper said.

Mr Newman, flanked by Treasurer Tim Nicholls, Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and LNP president Bruce McIver, told reporters on Sunday there were no divisions within the party or his government.

He said he's confident other MPs are loyal despite Mr Hopper's claims four other MPs would quit the LNP early in the new year.

"Already we've seen the people he's nominated (to be considering defection) as being rock solid," Mr Newman said.

He challenged reporters to "ring them all; go for your life".

Mr Newman has asked LNP president Bruce McIver to find a "top-notch candidate to take the fight to Mr Hopper, not just at the next election but as soon as practical".

State Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said the government was becoming a joke.

She said it faced one crisis after the next, including the resignation of Bruce Flegg as the Housing Minister, the "cloud" surrounding Arts Minister Ros Bates and the sidelining of a director-general over allegations he misled parliament.

"What we are seeing day in day out is a continual soap opera and in fact it's almost becoming a really bad reality TV show," Ms Palaszczuk said.

Mr Hopper will boost the KAP's MPs to three, joining Mt Isa MP and Bob Katter's son Rob, and Dalrymple MP Shane Knuth.

Ms Palaszczuk refused to entertain the thought of the KAP one day surpassing Labor's seven MPs to become the next opposition.

Mr Hopper was rumoured to have entertained joining the KAP before the March election but Mr Newman said he had made a written statement assuring he would serve a full term as an LNP member.

"He had every opportunity to present himself as a KAP candidate (before the election). He could have done that but he didn't," Mr Newman said.

"My feeling is a deep sense of betrayal for the people of the Condamine electorate."

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Bangladesh garment factory blaze kills 104

At least nine people have died after a blaze tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

MORE than 100 workers have been killed in a fierce blaze which tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh, forcing people to leap from high windows to escape choking smoke and flames.

Firefighters battled for several hours to control the fire, which broke out in the ground-floor warehouse of the nine-storey factory, 30 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka on Saturday evening.

Survivors told how panicked staff, mostly women, desperately tried to escape the blazing building, which made clothes for international brands including Dutch chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

"There were more than 1000 workers trapped in the factory," one worker who gave her name only as Romesa, 42, told local media from her hospital bed.

"I jumped from a window on the fourth floor and found myself on the third-story roof of another building. Several people fell out of the window and died."

The operations director of the fire brigade, Major Mahbub, who uses one name, told AFP that the death toll had been lowered on Sunday morning to 104 from 121.

"There was some double counting as different fire teams were working on different floors," he said.

"But now we have a total of 104 dead bodies including several who jumped to their deaths. Most bodies were found on the second floor. Most died of suffocation."

The owner of the Tazreen factory, Delwar Hossain, told AFP that the cause of the fire was not yet known but he denied his premises were unsafe.

"It is a huge loss for my staff and my factory. This is the first time we have ever had a fire at one of my seven factories," he said, confirming that the premises made clothes for Li and Fung of Hong Kong and C&A.

The cause was not immediately known but fires as a result of short circuits and shoddy electrical wiring are common in Bangladeshi garment factories, which use cheap labour to produce clothes shipped to Western countries.

Such tragedies are not confined to Bangladesh. A blaze in a Pakistan garment factory fire in September killed 289 workers and injured 110 more.

Of the workers who were injured, dozens suffered disabling injuries and about 2,000 other workers have lost their livelihoods.

Two of the three Pakistan factory's owners are facing murder charges and have been sent to jail on remand.

Also in Bangladesh, at least 13 people were killed after a flyover under construction collapsed in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Witnesses said more than 50 construction workers and vegetable hawkers had gathered near a pond under the bridge when three concrete girders crashed to the ground on Saturday evening.

Armed with sticks and stones, angry crowds attacked the site offices of the construction company, forcing police to fire tear gas and use batons to disperse them, police said.

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Afghan bomb attacks kill 8, wound 35

The Pakistan Taliban has claimed a bomb blast that killed eight people near a Shi'ite procession. Source: AAP

A BOMB attack on a Shi'ite Muslim procession has wounded more than 35 people in Pakistan's northwest as Shi'ites mark their holiest day Ashura.

The bomb on Sunday exploded in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where a blast on Saturday had killed eight people near a Shi'ite Muslim procession.

"We have received more than 35 injured, the condition of some of them was critical," Khalid Aziz, a doctor in the city's main hospital, told Pakistan's private ARY TV channel.

Nazir Khan, a police official in the city, told AFP by telephone the bomb was planted inside a shop. "It was a remote-controlled bomb and exploded as a procession reached here," he said.

Four boys were among the dead and 30 other people were injured when the remote-controlled bomb packed with ball bearings exploded on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, police said.

The attack on Shi'ites, a minority in Sunni-dominated Pakistan, came as they marched to mourn Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussain during the holy month of Muharram which culminates Sunday in Ashura, the group's holiest day of the year.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

"We carried out the attack against the Shi'ite community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks."

The Taliban had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks on the minority community, he said.

The blast followed another suicide attack - also claimed by the Pakistani Taliban - that killed 23 people at a Shi'ite procession in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, the country's deadliest bombing for five months.

Authorities subsequently ordered heightened security, with services for mobile phones - which are often used to trigger bombs - suspended in major cities.

But that did not prevent Saturday's attack. Police said a 10 kilogram bomb was hidden in a dustbin on the procession route and its powerful blast could be heard several kilometres away.

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