Man dies in Sydney motorcycle crash

A man has died after his motorcycle collided with a car and hit a power pole in Sydney's southwest. Source: AAP

A TEENAGE girl has died after the ute her P-plate boyfriend was driving rolled and hit a tree on the NSW far south coast.

The 19-year-old driver and his 17-year-old passenger were travelling in his Toyota Hilux about 9am (AEST) on Saturday at Wyndham, south of Bega, when the vehicle lost control.

It rolled a number of times before hitting a tree and coming to rest on its roof.

The girl died at the scene while the young man suffered minor injuries.

Police established a crime scene and conducted an examination of the crash site.

The driver was taken to Pambula District Hospital for mandatory blood tests.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

US warns against travel to southern Philip

THE United States has warned Americans against travelling to the southern Philippines just days after Australia and Canada issued similar advice.

A "security message" from the US embassy in Manila earlier this week said diplomatic staff had been restricted from travelling to three cities on the southern island of Mindanao.

It was followed by a US State Department travel warning dated July 5 advising Americans to exercise extreme caution when travelling to Mindanao, citing "criminal gangs ... (and) terrorist groups" in the area.

It also called on Americans to defer non-essential travel to the Sulu archipelago, a chain of islands off Mindanao where Al-Qaeda-linked militants are active.

"It (the travel warning) reflects continuing threats in the Sulu archipelago and the island of Mindanao due to terrorist and insurgent activities," the US embassy said in a statement.

Australia and Canada issued warnings on Wednesday about fresh threats of terrorism and kidnapping in the southern Philippines.

Canberra has barred its diplomats from travelling to Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga - the same three Mindanao cities to which US embassy staff are not allowed to travel.

An embassy spokeswoman declined to comment on the nature of the threat against Americans.

The Philippine National Police also did not know of any specific threat against Americans in Mindanao, said spokesman Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac.

Mindanao and surrounding islands are a hotbed of various armed groups including communist guerrillas, bandits, Muslim insurgents and the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group blamed for the country's worst terror attacks.

Founded using seed money from Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf has often targeted foreigners for kidnappings for ransom.

In 2001, the group abducted three American tourists among a group of hostages from a Philippine resort, leading to the deaths of two of the Americans.

US troops have been based in the southern Philippines for more than a decade to help train local troops in hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf, which is on the US government's list of so-called foreign terrorist organisations.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bomb kills 3 police in Yemen

A BOMB blast has killed three policemen and wounded a fourth in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, a security services official says.

The device, which was hidden in a plastic bag, was placed near a police checkpoint in the north of the capital on Saturday, the official said.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Quake hits Indonesia's Sumatra

A 6.4-MAGNITUDE quake has struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, just days after a tremor on the vast island killed dozens and left thousands homeless, US seismologists say.

No tsunami warning was issued and there were no reports of damage after the quake struck on Saturday at a shallow depth of just 23km off the southwest coast of the vast island, said the US Geological Survey.

The epicentre was close to the remote archipelago of Mentawai. In 2010, a 7.7-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that left more than 400 people dead on the island chain.

Suharjono, an official from the local meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency who goes by one name, said Saturday's quake was unlikely to have caused damage and there was no threat of a tsunami.

"Judging from the quake's magnitude and the distance from the epicentre to the land, I don't think the quake will have a significant impact," he said.

"There's little potential to cause damage," said the official, saying that it was felt mildly by people in two provinces on Sumatra.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami alert.

The quake came after a 6.1-magnitude inland tremor on Tuesday struck Aceh, on Sumatra's northern tip, flattening buildings and sparking landslides in the mountainous interior of the natural disaster-prone province.

So far 35 people have been confirmed dead and some 16,000 left homeless, according to the national disaster agency.

In 2004, a quake-triggered tsunami left more than 170,000 people dead in Aceh, as well as tens of thousands more in countries around the Indian Ocean.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

PM has no confidence in Robertson: govt

The prime minister has no confidence in Opposition Leader John Robertson, the NSW government says. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has no confidence in Opposition Leader John Robertson and his ability to tackle state-based corruption, the NSW government says.

NSW Special Minister of State Chris Hartcher says the opposition leader's position is now untenable.

"He doesn't have the confidence of his own prime minister, nor does he have the confidence of his federal executive.

"Today (Kevin Rudd) effectively called time on the Labor leadership of John Robertson."

Mr Rudd is set to announce he will clean-up NSW Labor by placing it under administration, after damning revelations about the conduct of former MPs came to light at the state's corruption watchdog.

Mr Hartcher says it's a sign the ALP leadership doesn't believe Mr Robertson can or will follow through on his pledge to clean-up the party.

"This is an extraordinary vote of no confidence in John Robertson from prime minister Rudd," he said.

"Mr Rudd has exposed both the unwillingness and inability of Mr Robertson to tackle the corrosive corruption and union dominance within Labor, and exposes Mr Robertson as a key part of the problem for NSW Labor."

Mr Hartcher referred to reports Mr Robertson had holidayed at the ski chalet owned by Eddie Obeid, the former Labor powerbroker at the centre of the corruption allegations.

"The people of NSW have been appalled by the parade of former Labor ministers before the ICAC and their complete refusal to offer even the slightest contrition," he added.

AAP

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

MacTiernan a 'formidable' Perth candidate

FORMER West Australian Labor minister Alannah MacTiernan has been selected as the party's candidate for the federal seat of Perth.

Lawyer Matthew Keogh said he withdrew his nomination before the deadline in the interests of party unity, leaving Ms MacTiernan, 60, as the only nominee.

She would be a formidable candidate, Mr Keogh said.

The vacancy was created by the retirement of Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who is bowing out of politics at the next election and will be her campaign director.

Ms MacTiernan said she hadn't coveted the seat, but Mr Smith had encouraged her to nominate, as had many other people.

"Now that we have got rid of the personality issues that I think were distorting the whole Australian political process, there are issues that this Australian election will be about ... really serious issues," she told reporters.

"That's why I am standing."

She said it was time for Labor to reform.

"The Labor party has got to be like the Labor party when I joined - full of a huge array of people from different backgrounds that all have a say."

Even WA Premier Colin Barnett said Ms MacTiernan would be a strong candidate.

"If Alannah has a go, it will be a full-on campaign, that's for sure," the Liberal leader said.

Ms MacTiernan said she would push hard for WA's interests, including a better share of Commonwealth funding for public transport.

And she would work with Mr Barnett on that front - ironic given the pair's sometimes bitter political rivalry.

After 17 years in WA parliament and her failed tilt at federal politics in 2010 - when she said she wouldn't have another - Ms MacTiernan returned to public life as the mayor of the City of Vincent in 2011.

"I've now learnt you never say never," she said.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

3D imaging lab launched in Victoria

TWO weeks ago, Simon Kelly was on the back porch when he suddenly collapsed.

Acute pain shot through the 53-year-old Victorian's neck, head and shoulders.

His wife found him slumped in his chair and he was rushed to hospital.

It was there that surgeons, for the first time, were able to assess his condition before operating by using an Australian-first 3D imaging lab.

"They didn't have to do the exploratory stuff to discover the problem, they were able to go straight to it, which was basically a pea size swelling that had ruptured," he says.

Mr Kelly had suffered an aneurism, and Monash Medical Centre staff credit the new lab with saving his life.

Within 20 minutes, the lab informed the radiologist exactly where his problem was and how to go about the procedure, deputy director of radiology, Associate Professor Ronnie Ptasznik, says.

Without the speedy information there would have been a high chance Mr Kelly's case could have been fatal or he could have ended up severely disabled.

"Before this, we would've known he had a stroke, we would've known that he probably had a burst aneurism, but we wouldn't have been able to plan the life-saving procedure before we touched him," Prof Ptasznik says.

Surgeons now have a better map of where the problem is before the procedure, with the lab providing clearer and more detailed pictures of organs, skeletal problems and tumours than ever before.

Testing is faster than a CT scan or ultrasound, cutting down patient waiting times for results.

"We move away from the bad old days when the patient was opened up and then had to wake up and be told they were inoperable and still had to recover from the surgery," Mr Ptasznik says.

"It's truly life-changing medical therapy."

The lab was launched by Health Minister David Davis on Thursday.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

$A higher after RBA comment branded a joke

THE Australian dollar is higher after a comment from Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens that caused the local currency to fall to a three-year low was dismissed as a lighthearted remark.

At 1700 AEST on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 91.06 US cents, up from 90.62 cents on Wednesday.

Mr Stevens told a business function on Wednesday that the RBA had deliberated for "a very long time" before deciding to leave the cash rate at its record low of 2.75 per cent on Tuesday.

The unscripted comment sent the Australian dollar below 91 US cents and to its lowest level since September 2010.

But on Thursday RBA deputy governor Philip Lowe said the comment was a lighthearted remark that was "misinterpreted" by financial markets.

"I can confirm for you that the board did deliberate for a very long time," Dr Lowe said.

"I can also confirm for you that it always deliberates for a very long time."

CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer said the clarification from Dr Lowe saw the Australian dollar recover some of the losses posted after Mr Stevens' comment.

"The clarification by the deputy governor today seemed to have added a little bit of forward momentum to the Aussie," Mr Waterer said.

"The fact that Lowe came out and did state that it was a lighthearted remark, that had traders thinking that maybe the Tuesday rates decision wasn't as close a call as they originally thought on the back of Stevens' comments yesterday."

The Australian dollar at 1700 AEST was at 90.67 Japanese yen, down from Wednesday's close of 91.30 yen, and at 70.04 euro cents, up from 69.83 euro cents.

Meanwhile, Dr Lowe's comments sent Australian bond futures prices lower.

"We've pulled back a bit on the Lowe clarification," said National Australia Bank head of research Peter Jolly.

Prices were also driven by Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing total building approvals for new homes fell 1.1 per cent across Australia in May.

"It was a pretty soft reading because there's no doubt that residential construction is seen as one of those sectors that may at least partially fill the gap that's going to be left by the peak in the mining investment boom," Mr Jolly said.

At 1630 AEST the September 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.195 (implying a yield of 3.805 per cent), down from 96.240 (3.760 per cent) on Wednesday.

The September three-year bond futures contract was at 97.170 (2.830 per cent), down from 97.240 (2.760 per cent).

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Palmer party dumps WA candidate

THE Palmer United Party has disendorsed a devoutly religious education consultant as one of its West Australian candidates, 12 days after she was anointed.

Wealthy party leader Clive Palmer backed Teresa van Lieshout to contest the Labor-held seat of Fremantle on June 20 - the same day he met her - although she said he'd seen her many YouTube videos.

That same day, Ms van Lieshout said she disagreed with Mr Palmer's stance on asylum seekers, but she was not one to toe the party line and most voters wanted politicians with firm views.

Mr Palmer says asylum seekers deserve more compassion, and even airline tickets to get here.

But Ms van Lieshout echoes Bob Katter, who wants the Navy to patrol Australian waters for boats. And she believes asylum seekers should continue to be sent to Christmas and Manus islands, and Nauru.

On Tuesday, she said she had been disendorsed by the "executive in Queensland, behind Mr Palmer's back" because she wouldn't toe the party line.

"Towing (sic) the party line is not one of Mr Palmer's policies, and is exactly what the Liberal/Labor charade do to their politicians and candidates," she said in an email.

"Mr Palmer is overseas and doesn't know about it, as far as I'm aware.

"So unless I get a direct phone call from Mr Palmer, or a letter signed by Mr Palmer stating this is what he wants, I don't accept their decision."

Ms van Lieshout said she fully supported Mr Palmer.

She picked up 1.8 per cent of the votes running as an independent for the seat of Willagee in the 2013 state election.

Curtin University academic Chamonix Terblanche was the other WA candidate chosen by the Palmer United Party last month as part of its Senate ticket.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Porn found at priest residence: inquiry

PORNOGRAPHIC homosexual magazines and videos were found in the presbytery of a Hunter Valley Catholic priest later convicted of sexually assaulting a boy, a police whistleblower has told a special NSW commission of inquiry.

Detective chief inspector Peter Fox says a member of the Branxton Lochinvar parish told him he came across the material when he helped Fr James Fletcher move items from Branxton to Lochinvar in early 2003.

In the course of investigating child sexual abuse allegations against Fr Fletcher, Det Insp Fox asked him later that year about the magazines and videos.

"He said they belonged to a priest who had previously lived in the presbytery," Det Insp Fox told the commission on Tuesday.

"Pornography is not illegal but it's highly unusual that a member of the clergy have this type of material."

Det Insp Fox said he then spoke to a priest who had been based at Lochinvar, Fr Des Harrigan, who told him Fr Fletcher had given him the magazines and videos and he destroyed them.

A barrister assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan, asked Det Insp Fox: "Were you informed by another person that it was their own pornography?"

"Yes," Det Insp Fox said.

"And did you believe them?"

"No," he said.

Det Insp Fox said he never saw the magazines or videos but believed they would have assisted his investigation of Fr Fletcher.

He said he eventually laid more than 60 charges against Fr Fletcher and after a discussion with a representative of the Director of Public Prosecutions office these were reduced to nine more serious offences.

In 2008 Fr Fletcher pleaded not guilty in the district court but a jury found him guilty of all nine charges.

Two appeals against his conviction failed and Fr Fletcher died in jail.

In evidence earlier in the day before commissioner Margaret Cunneen, Det Insp Fox said he suspected Maitland Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone "deliberately" tipped off Fr Fletcher in 2002 about police investigating child sexual abuse allegations against him.

The commission, which was triggered by assertions that the church covered up abuse crimes, is looking at how police and church officials handled sexual abuse allegations involving Fr Fletcher and another Hunter Valley priest, Denis McAlinden.

Det Insp Fox said the mother of one of Fr Fletcher's victims rang him in a distraught state, saying she was told that Bishop Malone, Fr Harrigan, Monsignor Jim Saunders and Fr Bill Burston were at the meeting when Fr Fletcher was told of the investigation.

In addition, Bishop Malone also told Fr Fletcher the name of the victim, the victim's mother said.

Det Insp Fox said that when he asked Bishop Malone about why he had gone out to speak to Fr Fletcher, he said was concerned about Fr Fletcher's welfare and wanted to offer him pastoral care.

"I told him that if he hadn't told him (Fr Fletcher) that there was a police investigation he wouldn't be upset," Det Insp Fox said.

When asked whether he thought Bishop Malone's actions were a deliberate attempt to interfere with the investigation, Det Insp Fox said "it seemed fairly deliberate" as the warning gave him a chance to get his story together and took away the police investigator's element of surprise.

The commission continues on Wednesday and is expected to run for two more weeks.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Carr praises US efforts in Middle East

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has praised efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to bring Israel and Palestine back to the negotiating table, insisting there will be no peace without American leadership.

Attempts at brokering a resumption in direct talks after an almost three-year hiatus ended without agreement on Sunday following four days of Mr Kerry shuttling between both camps.

But Washington's most senior diplomat, who arrived in Brunei on Tuesday for a regional forum of foreign ministers, maintains that "with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach".

He is understood to have spent 13 hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and about six hours with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a marathon effort to encourage both sides into talks.

Despite the lack of tangible progress, Senator Carr, who sat with Mr Kerry during a dinner attended by ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday night, said the US secretary of state deserved high praise for his efforts.

"I told him he had the admiration of Australians in his valiant attempts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis together," Senator Carr told AAP.

"It can't happen without American leadership," he said.

Senator Carr is understood to have told Mr Kerry that Australia strongly supported a two-state solution with the creation of a Palestinian state as well as security guarantees for Israel, and that "1967 boundaries should be the starting point with agreed land swaps".

President 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.

Mr 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.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rates unchanged as dollar falls

The Reserve Bank has left the cash rate on hold at 2.75 per cent at its July board meeting. Source: AAP

THE Reserve Bank of Australia has kept the cash rate unchanged as the falling Australian dollar does the central bank's work.

In a statement accompanying the decision to keep the rate at a record low of 2.75 per cent, RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the Australian dollar was still at relatively high levels.

That's despite the currency's fall of more than 10 per cent since early April, as an improving US economy strengthens the US dollar.

"It is possible that the exchange rate will depreciate further over time, which would help to foster a rebalancing of growth in the economy," Mr Stevens said.

"This is expected to continue in the near term as the economy adjusts to lower levels of mining investment."

He also said four rate cuts in 2012 have helped the economy.

"The pace of borrowing has remained relatively subdued, though recently there are signs of increased demand for finance by households," Mr Stevens said.

JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said there wasn't much new in the RBA's short statement, but it did highlight the sharp decline in the currency, which is helping the non-mining sectors of the economy.

"That rebalancing of growth away from mining to the other sectors of the economy is likely to get a leg up and we'll obviously continue to benefit from that," he said.

Mr Kennedy said the high Australian dollar was the crucial factor that led to the RBA's last cash rate cut in May.

He expects the RBA's next interest rate cut to be in November, followed by another in February 2014.

St George Bank chief economist Hans Kunnen said the RBA board was waiting to see whether the Australian dollar will fall further and what impact it would have on consumer prices.

"They're clearly thinking hard about the impact of currency both on demand and on inflation," Mr Kunnen said.

"They've told us there is scope for another move should that be required."

Mr Kunnen expects another rate cut, to 2.5 per cent, in August, following the release of inflation figures later this month.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian also believes further cuts are possible.

"The Reserve Bank warned last month that it would do what it takes to restore growth, and indeed the central bank still has plenty of ammunition left," he said.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Centuries old skull raises questions

A CENTURIES-OLD skull of a white man found in NSW is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country's east coast.

The skull was found in the state's north near Taree in late 2011, and police initially prepared themselves for a gruesome murder investigation.

But scientific testing revealed that not only was it much older than expected, but possibly belonged to a white man born around 1650, well before Englishman Cook reached the eastern seaboard on the Endeavour in 1770.

Australian National University expert Stewart Fallon, who carbon-dated the skull, pulling some collagen from the bone as well as the enamel on a tooth, said he was at first shocked at the age of the relic.

"We didn't know know how old this one was, we assumed at first that it was going to be a very young sample," he said.

"When we first did it we weren't really thinking about people coming to Australia and things like until we started to look at the dates and say, 'Oh, that's becoming intriguing'."

He said the test used was quite accurate for dates after 1950 but for earlier samples it was more difficult, and the two samples yielded different dates -- though both were within the error range.

"Using them (the dates) together we can do some modelling as to what we expect the calendar age to be ... and the way it works out by using those two dates is that we get about an 80 per cent probability that the person was born somewhere around the 1650s and died somewhere between 1660 and 1700," Fallon said.

He said there was a 20 per cent probability the skull, which was found well-preserved and intact but without any other remains near the Manning River, belonged to someone born between 1780 to 1790 who died between 1805 and 1810.

"Before we rewrite the history of European settlement we have to consider a number of issues, particularly the circumstances of the discovery," archaeologist Adam Ford told the Telegraph.

"The fact the skull is in good condition and found alone could easily point to it coming from a private collection and skulls were very popular with collectors in the 19th century."

Cassie Mercer, editor of Australia And New Zealand Inside History, said the skull "could be an incredible find".

"I guess it's a very exciting find because it could open up a whole lot of avenues of history that we haven't been able to explore before," she told AFP.

Dutch explorers made the earliest European landings in Cape York in Australia's far north and western Australia in the 1600s.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bashed good Samaritan was off-duty ambo

AN assault on an off-duty paramedic who was tricked into helping a man he spotted lying on a Sydney street has been condemned as "reprehensible" by the NSW Ambulance Service.

The 27-year-old man was driving along John Batman Avenue in Werrington County, in Sydney's west, when he saw a man lying in the gutter about 5.20am (AEST) on Sunday.

He stopped and approached the man to offer his help but the man lying on the road punched him in the chest.

Another man then approached him from behind and both men began assaulting him.

NSW Ambulance Commissioner Ray Creen said the organisation had zero tolerance against violence towards paramedics.

"Not only is what happened to our paramedic on Sunday a disgraceful act of violence, but it was reprehensible to pretend to need medical assistance only to assault the person coming to your aid," he said.

The victim told police he overheard the offenders talking about taking his car but they left it and made off in their own vehicle.

The injured man returned home and was taken to Penrith hospital where he received treatment for fractured ribs, internal bruising and superficial grazes.

Officers are investigating the incident and have been given a description of the man that was lying in the gutter.

He is of Caucasian appearance, 20-30 years of age, with black hair and was wearing a black tracksuit.

Anyone who may be able to assist with the identity of the two men is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hacked South Korean govt website lost data

SOUTH Korea says personal information was stolen from its presidential website in a cyberattack last week that coincided with a shutdown of North Korean websites.

Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that about 100,000 subscribers' accounts were hacked on the presidential website.

It cited an unidentified presidential official.

The president's office acknowledged the loss of data but couldn't confirm the details.

The Blue House has apologised on its website for allowing names, birthdates and IDs to be stolen. Passwords were not compromised.

Several North and South Korean websites shut down Wednesday, the anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce.

Seoul blames hacking for last week's shutdown.

North Korea hasn't commented.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man of Steel secures No.1 at box office

MAN of Steel has flown in and secured the No.1 place on the Australian box office chart.

Starring Henry Cavill in the iconic blue suit and Russell Crowe playing his Kryptonian father, the Zack Snyder directed take on Superman, took $8.877 million on debut.

With school holidays underway animated films were popular.

Despicable Me 2 held onto its No.2 place, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. Starring the voice of Steve Carell as the former villain Gru, the film raked in $4.417 million during it second week at the box office.

Monsters University, the prequel to Pixar's 2001 classic Monsters Inc, held onto third place with $3.342 million.

The new animated adventure Epic, debuted at No.8 with $731,147. Amanda Seyfried voices a teenager who finds herself transported into the tiny, undiscovered world that lives inside the forest. Beyonce voices the role of the Queen.

Swarming zombies were pushed down the chart with World War Z, which stars Brad Pitt, sitting at No.4 with $3.146 million.

Baz Luhrmann's vision of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic The Great Gatsby continues to wow Australian cinemagoers and has held onto fifth place, this week pulling in $1.147 million.

Further down the grid is Vin Diesel's street racing film Fast & Furious 6 sitting at No.6.

The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, has been pushed to No.7, while After Earth has fallen to No.9.

Another newcomer Jatt & Juliet rounds out the Top 10.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

N Korea deploys new rockets along border

North Korea has deployed new rocket launchers along its border, a report says. Source: AAP

NORTH Korea has deployed new rocket launchers along its border capable of hitting targets beyond Seoul, a report says.

Artillery units from the North were spotted replacing older multiple rocket stations with an upgraded version of the 240mm guns, Yonhap news agency said on Sunday.

The agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying the new multiple rocket launchers with a maximum range of 70km could extend their reach beyond the South Korean capital.

The South's defence ministry declined to confirm the report.

North Korea has 5100 multiple rocket launchers, according to military data.

It has been eager to upgrade its mainstream multiple rocket launchers, which pose a serious security threat to South Korea.

Residents in Seoul and neighbouring satellite cities, together home to nearly half the South's 49 million people, have always lived under threat of attack from the North's rockets and long-range artillery.

In 2010, North Korea using multiple rocket launchers shelled a South Korean island near the disputed Yellow Sea border, killing four people.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Robin Thicke enjoys eighth week at top

Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines has become the longest running No. 1 single of 2013 on the ARIA charts. Source: AAP

NOT since last winter has a song spent so long at the top of the ARIA charts, with Robin Thicke with TI and Pharrell with Blurred Lines spending an eighth week at No.1.

The last song to achieve eight weeks was Flo Rida with Whistle across May, June and July 2012.

If Thicke only stays for eight weeks, he will have tied for third place in the longest running No.1 this decade, as Gotye and Kimbra also spent eight weeks at the top in 2011 with Somebody That I Used to Know.

Ahead with the longest running No.1s this decade are two LMFAO songs - Sexy and I Know It, at the top for nine weeks, and Party Rock Anthem, at the top for ten weeks.

Blasting up 40 places from last week's debut at No.42 to No.2 this week is Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc with Wake Me Up, becoming his highest charting single.

Jumping up six places each within the Top 10 are Timomatic with Parachute to No.3 and Olly Murs with Dear Darlin' to No.4.

After returning to No.2 last week, Passenger slips down three places to No.5 with Let Her Go, Bastille's pending August tour in Australia helps keep Pompeii at No.6 this week, and down three places to No.7 are Daft Punk with Pharrell and Get Lucky.

Jessie J lands her fourth Top 10 single in Australia as her latest track Wild is up six places to a new peak of No.8.

Imagine Dragons land their first Top 10 hit with Radioactive up three places to No.9, and returning to the Top 10, back up a place to No.10, is Matt Corby with Resolution.

On the ARIA albums chart, the Voice Season 2 winner Harrison Craig sees his debut album More Than a Dream debut at the top, selling enough to achieve Gold in its first week of sales.

Last week's top two debuts move down one place each this week, with Yeezus for Kanye West dropping to No.2 and Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey's The Great Country Songbook down to No.3.

Rising back up to No.4 is The Great Gatsby Soundtrack and back up two places to No.5 is Bruno Mars with Unorthodox Jukebox.

Daft Punk hold steady at No.6 in their sixth week on the chart with Random Access Memories, Pink is back up five places to No.7 with The Truth about Love, and Bernard Fanning drops four places to No.8 with Departures.

Ice on the Sun for Empire of the Sun falls six places to No.9 and down to No.10 is Passenger with All the Little Lights.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

South China Sea row heats up ASEAN talks

THE Philippines has accused China of a "massive" military build-up in the disputed South China Sea, warning at a regional security forum that the Asian giant's tactics were a threat to peace.

Sunday's statement by Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario ensured the growing row over rival claims to the strategically vital and potentially resource-rich sea would again be a key focus of the annual four-day Asia-Pacific talks.

"Del Rosario today expressed serious concern over the increasing militarisation of the South China Sea," said a Philippine government statement released on the first day of the event in the Brunei capital.

Del Rosario said there was a "massive presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships" at two groups of islets within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, called Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal.

Del Rosario described the Chinese presence at these islets as "threats to efforts to maintain maritime peace and stability in the region".

He did not give details of the alleged build-up but said the Chinese actions violated a pact in 2002 in which rival claimants to the sea pledged not to take any actions that may increase tensions.

The declaration on conduct signed by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China also committed claimants to settle their disputes "without resorting to the threat or use of force".

China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters approaching the coasts of neighbouring countries.

ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Taiwan, also have competing claims to parts of the sea.

The rivalries have for decades been a source of regional tension, with China and Vietnam fighting battles in 1974 and 1988 for control of some islands in which dozens of Vietnamese soldiers died.

Tensions have again grown in recent years with the Philippines, Vietnam and some other countries expressing concern at increasingly assertive Chinese military and diplomatic tactics to stress control of the sea.

ASEAN has been trying for more than a decade to secure agreement from China on a legally binding code of conduct that would govern actions in the South China Sea.

China has resisted agreeing to the code, wary of making any concessions that may weaken its claim to the sea.

Nevertheless, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said ASEAN would continue to press its case with China in Brunei.

"We will be really zeroing in on the need for the code of conduct," Natalegawa told reporters on Saturday.

Toxic smoke from uncontrolled burning of Indonesia's enormous rainforests that has drifted across to neighbouring countries was also discussed on the first day of the Brunei talks.

Natalegawa said the fires had been greatly reduced and were coming under control.

The talks will expand on Monday and Tuesday to include the US, China, Japan, Russia and other countries across the Asia-Pacific, providing the platform for face-to-face diplomacy on many of the world's hot-button issues.

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Abortion drug overshadows new PBS listings

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says the abortion pill RU486 will be listed on the PBS. Source: AAP

THE inclusion of controversial abortion drug RU486 on Australia's subsidised medication program has been labelled an "abuse of power" by pro-life supporters.

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced on Sunday that Mifepristone and Misoprostol - used in combination to terminate a pregnancy of up to seven weeks gestation - would be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

"By offering this different option at a very difficult time in a woman's life, I hope that we are giving more choice in what are often extraordinary difficult circumstances," the minister said.

However Right To Life president Margaret Tighe said the decision was a "gross abuse of power" by the government.

"The PBS is designed to include life-saving drugs," she told AAP.

"In this case these drugs are just going to make it easier and cheaper and quicker to have more abortions in Australia and that's an absolute disgrace and goes against the purpose of the PBS."

Listing of the abortion drugs overshadowed the addition of cancer treatments and an anti-stroke medication which were also named by Ms Plibersek as newcomers to the PBS.

Breakthrough skin cancer drug ipilimumab, late-stage prostate cancer treatment abiraterone and breast cancer medication vinorelbine were added to the list in a move that will cost taxpayers $430 million over the next four years.

"The exciting thing about these new treatments is that they will extend the life of patients with melanoma, with prostate cancer, with breast cancer," Ms Plibersek said.

"If we didn't subsidise these medicines through the PBS they would be out of the reach of most Australians."

The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia welcomed news of abiraterone's listing to help in the fight against a cancer that kills 3300 men each year.

"Affordable access to therapy at all stages of the condition is vital and the minister's decision to include the therapy on the PBS highlights her commitment to all Australians touched by prostate cancer," foundation CEO Anthony Lowe said in a statement.

Cancer Australia also welcomed the new PBS listings.

"All these agents are important in their own way and to have them available more widely is very important to patients," Professor Jim Bishop said on behalf of the national body.

The government will also put up $450 million over the coming four years for the PBS inclusion of anti-stroke medication rivaroxaban.

"It's a drug that will be used by patients who have been on Warfarin in the past," Ms Plibersek said.

The revised PBS listings are effective from August.

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