Lone asylum protester confronts Gillard

A LONE protester calling on the government to close its asylum seeker detention centre in Nauru has confronted Prime Minister Julia Gillard on her visit to Queenstown in New Zealand.

Ms Gillard and NZ Prime Minister John Key laid wreaths at the Queenstown War Memorial on Saturday afternoon, following bilateral talks in which Mr Key announced that from 2014, New Zealand will accept a yearly intake of 150 refugees processed in Australia.

As they headed back to their car, a woman held up a cardboard sign reading "Close Nauru", in reference to the detention centre reopened by the government in August.

The woman, who was reluctant to speak to media, said New Zealand should be taking more refugees than its annual 750 quota.

NZ has failed to meet the quota in recent years, with the government attributing that to disruption from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Victim of Pemex explosion death toll to 38

MEXICO'S federal Health Department says another person injured by last week's explosion at the headquarters of the country's state-owned oil company has died, raising the death toll to 38.

A statement issued on Friday says 19 people remain hospitalised, two of them in critical condition.

The January 31 blast at one of the buildings at the Petroleos Mexicanos complex in Mexico City also injured 120 people.

Executives at Pemex have said a water-heating system may have leaked methane gas into a tunnel beneath the headquarters for more than seven months.

They say the blast could have been set off by a maintenance crew's improvised lighting system.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gillard has a bite of bet-losing NZ apple

UPHOLDING her end of a two-year-old bet on the Rugby World Cup has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard made a bet with New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key on the outcome of the 2010 Rugby World Cup - a deal that would see the leader of whichever country lost eat an apple from the winning country.

Luckily for Mr Key, the All Blacks reigned supreme.

The bet was symbolic of the end of Australia's 90-year ban on New Zealand apples, following a World Trade Organisation ruling that it must allow imports.

Ms Gillard finally honoured the bet during dinner with Mr Key, his wife Bronagh, and Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson in Queenstown, New Zealand, on Friday night.

"I'd have to say, of course, Australian apples are better," Ms Gillard said.

She added that Mr Key had tried to serve her New Zealand apples on multiple occasions.

The two leaders laughed over the bet when they posed with the Cricket World Cup trophy in Queenstown on Saturday.

The two countries will share hosting rights to the event in 2015.

Despite the New Zealand Black Caps' poor performance of late, Mr Key said he was hopeful they could take out the cup in two years' time, but admitted Australia was in a stronger position.

While Ms Gillard was backing the Aussie side, she said she would not be making any more bets on sport with Mr Key.

"I think I've learnt my lesson," she told media, with a laugh.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

35 years of Mardi Gras and gay rights

The Sydney Mardi Gras will this year celebrate 35 years of campaigning for gay rights. Source: AAP

SYDNEY Mardi Gras organisers say the call for marriage equality will be loud and proud as the annual festival celebrates 35 years of gay pride.

This year's gay parade and festival will take the theme Generations of Love, a reference to the first Mardi Gras march in Sydney in 1978 and the ongoing struggle for equality.

"We reminisce about the turbulent beginnings of 1978 and the people who received a violent reception on that occasion," said City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore as she raised a rainbow flag over Sydney Town Hall on Friday to mark the start of the 2013 Sydney Mardi Gras.

"It's honouring all those who have worked and stood up for respect, equality, and for acceptance," Ms Moore said.

"They started a momentum which has brought us to where we are now."

Peter Urmson, co-chair of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, said the anniversary was an important milestone for Australia's gay and lesbian community.

"We wouldn't be here where we are today if it wasn't for the 78ers," he said.

Mr Urmson said Australia's political leaders should emulate US president Barack Obama and British prime minister David Cameron's support for marriage equality.

"Political leaders from around the world are starting to acknowledge the need for change and to move to equality," he said.

"Our message will be very loud and strong, again and again, until the political leaders in Australia stand up."

Ms Moore said the Sydney Mardi Gras would continue to push for equality and gay rights as well as celebrate the gay community's achievements.

"It has a really important message beyond the glitz and glamour - it's about inclusion and acceptance," she said.

"It hasn't outgrown its relevance. It's more relevant than ever."

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK keeps rate low despite recession threat

The Bank of England has voted to keep its key interest rate on hold at a record-low 0.5 per cent. Source: AAP

THE Bank of England has voted to freeze its key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 per cent and maintain the level of its quantitative easing (QE) cash stimulus, despite the threat of a triple-dip recession in Britain.

The central bank said in an unexpectedly long statement that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted to maintain its emergency QE stimulus at STG375 billion ($A572 billion).

The BoE said overall economic activity in Britain had been "broadly flat" over the past year, despite worries that the economy could be heading for the third recession in five years.

The stimulus has been used to try and help boost economic output, which unexpectedly shrank by 0.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2012. However, the economy flatlined over the entire year with zero growth.

Across in Frankfurt, the European Central Bank also opted to maintain its main interest rate at a record-low level of 0.75 per cent, amid ongoing debt strains in the crisis-hit eurozone.

The central bank said 12-month inflation would rise further in the near-term and could remain above its two per cent target for the next two years. However, it was then forecast to return to "around" the target as price pressures fade.

Policymakers also mulled withdrawing QE stimulus, to pull inflation lower, but decided it would risk endangering any recovery. QE can risk stoking inflation as it is tantamount to printing money.

Thursday's decisions were in line with expectations and came as incoming BoE governor Mark Carney called for the bank to ready plans for a smooth eventual withdrawal of QE stimulus to avoid major disruption on markets.

Canadian central bank chief Carney - who succeeds BoE boss Mervyn King in July - set out his views on QE before a group of cross-party MPs on parliament's Treasury Select Committee.

"The bank will need to design, implement and ultimately (manage an) exit from unconventional monetary policy measure in a manner that reinforces public confidence," Carney said in written testimony to the committee.

"The exit needs to be achieved without disrupting the gilts (bonds) market," he said ahead of the latest decision.

Quantitative easing involves a central bank creating cash to buy assets such as government and corporate bonds, with the aim of boosting lending by retail banks and stimulating economic activity.

The BoE's main lending rate has stood at the record-low 0.5 per cent since March 2009, when it also embarked on its radical stimulus policy.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Foreign troops at Mali's rebel-held mount

FRENCH and Chadian troops have pushed to the far northeast of Mali, up to the mountain range where Islamists fighters are thought to be holed up with seven French hostages.

The joint force arrived late on Thursday at the town of Aguelhok, 160km north of the town of Kidal, near Mali's border with Algeria, Malian sources said.

Nearly a month after France sent in the first fighter jets and attack helicopters, it has largely driven the rebels into remote mountains in the far northeast. But the threat from the rebels is still very real.

"French and Chadian soldiers have left Kidal and are currently patrolling in Aguelhok," Malian Captain Aliou Toure told AFP.

"The French and Chadian soldiers left in strength by road," said an official with the administration in Kidal. "They arrived at Aguelhok and are then heading for Tessalit." Tessalit lies even closer to the Algerian border.

Both towns had been targeted with repeated French air strikes over the last few days aimed at knocking out Islamist bases there, French military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said.

The two towns lie in the Adrar des Ifoghas massif, in the far northeast, a craggy mountain landscape honeycombed with caves, where the insurgents are believed to have fled with seven French hostages.

One of the Islamists groups, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), said in a message to AFP Thursday that it had "created a new combat zone" by organising attacks on military convoys and placing landmines.

A landmine blast on Wednesday between the northern towns of Douentza and Gao killed four civilians.

An officer with Mali's paramilitary police initially said the four dead were Malian soldiers, but later said they were civilians returning from market.

That explosion came after a similar blast in the same area on January 31 claimed the lives of two Malian soldiers.

"MUJAO is behind the explosion of two Malian army cars," the group's spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said in a text message to AFP.

He called on Malians to stay away from main roads, which he said had been heavily mined.

French-led forces continue to come under attack in reclaimed territory, including rocket fire directed at them Tuesday in Gao, the largest city in the north.

The shift to guerrilla tactics by the al Qaeda-linked groups, which for 10 months occupied Mali's vast desert north, came as France sought to hand over its four-week-old intervention to UN peacekeepers.

France had moved in as the rebels pushed south, sparking fears that they might try to advance on the capital, Bamako.

Large numbers of troops from France, Mali and Niger have been patrolling Gao, and French helicopters have been monitoring the road between Gao and Douentza, 400km to the southwest.

Paris is keen to hand over the military burden of an operation the defence ministry said has already cost France 70 million euros ($A91.90 million) , with the figure rising by 2.7 million euros every day.

France now has 4,000 troops in Mali, as many as it had in Afghanistan at the peak of its deployment in 2010.

After announcing plans to start withdrawing its soldiers in March, France on Wednesday called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to take over.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tas fire threat upgraded to emergency

AN emergency warning has been issued for a bushfire in Tasmania's Derwent Valley as crews battle worsening conditions.

Unpredictable wind gusts and warm temperatures are making it difficult to contain the fire burning near Molesworth in the region northwest of Hobart.

Some residents have been told to leave their homes, while the communities of Collinsvale, Glenlusk, Berriedale, Iron Stone Gully and Malbina are likely to be impacted later on Thursday afternoon.

Outer suburbs of Hobart were expected to be affected by smoke and embers, the Tasmania Fire Service said.

A fire refuge centre has been opened at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart's outer north.

Residents between Molesworth and Collinsvale have been doorknocked by police advising them to evacuate.

"The fires up in that area at the moment are very difficult to control and we're getting northwesterly gusts up to 60km/h and will be throughout the day when winds strengthen," Tasmania Fire Service senior station officer Phil Douglas told AAP.

"Due to the steep terrain it's causing the winds to blow from variable directions, so the fire's been very unpredictable and in some cases it's moving quite quickly."

Crews were forced to call in local reinforcements overnight after several flare-ups.

Mr Douglas said there were unconfirmed reports of several sheds and cars being lost.

The fire has burned more than 300 hectares, and parts of it are inaccessible to the 25 crews working in the area, with four helicopters being used as water-bombers.

Tasmania's National Parks and Wildlife Service has closed several tracks in the area.

Hobart is expecting a top temperature of 28C on Thursday.

The new bushfire threat comes just a month after the state's worst blazes in half a century destroyed close to 200 properties.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Saturday may be worst Vic fire danger day

HOT and dry conditions will continue in Victoria for the rest of the week culminating in a day of "traditional fire weather" on Saturday, the state's fire commissioner has warned.

A total fire ban is in force on Thursday for most of the state, except the Wimmera, Mallee and southwest.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts maximum temperatures of 30C-plus across the state until Saturday.

Victoria's fire services commissioner Craig Lapsley says the week of hot days will lead to extreme and severe fire danger in parts of Victoria.

"Saturday will be a day that is more the traditional fire weather," Mr Lapsley said on Thursday.

"It's the day that will be hot, it will be northerly winds, it will be strong winds but the critical factor is it will have a southwesterly change which will see the wind change move through the state in one day."

Mr Lapsley said in the last couple of weeks the changes had moved through over two days.

"As we know in Victoria we lose more property, we have a bigger impact after the change than before the change."

He said people should be prepared and he cautioned against fatigue following six weeks of fire alerts.

"Some people say 'Well I've heard the story' and we say it again 'Stay focused'."

The unfavourable conditions continue to provoke two major fires burning near Harrietville in the alpine country and Aberfeldy in Gippsland.

Spot fires outside the containment lines of the Harrietville fire were being water-bombed by aircraft, said state control centre spokesman Graeme Baxter early Thursday afternoon.

"It's in very, very inaccessible country, no property is in danger," he told AAP.

Mr Baxter said there was also a lot of smoke coming from the Aberfeldy fire due to unburnt fuel loads within containment lines.

Almost 75,000 hectares have been burned in Gippsland where the Aberfeldy fire has a 350km perimeter.

The fire near Harrietville has burned about 9800 hectares. A watch and act message remains in place for Hotham Heights and Dinner Plain.

Police in one of Black Saturday's worst hit areas say they have extra patrols out targeting fire-prone areas and listed hot spots.

Mitchell Local Area Commander Acting Inspector Libby Murphy says police will be speaking with everyone and checking if they have a valid reason for being in that area.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Solomons struggles to reach quake villages

DISASTER relief agencies are scrambling to reach tsunami-hit villages in the Solomon Islands, warning the death toll following a powerful 8.0-magnitude quake is likely to rise.

Officials said six people were confirmed dead after Wednesday's quake generated a wave that swamped coastal communities on the island of Ndende in the eastern Solomons amid fears of a more widespread destructive tsunami.

Aid agency World Vision said some houses in the town of Venga were shifted 10 metres by the force of the surging water and almost all the homes in Nela village were washed away.

"I'm currently walking through one community and I'm knee-deep in water," World Vision emergency co-ordinator Jeremiah Tabua said.

"I can see a number of houses that have been swept away by the surge."

The Solomon Islands Red Cross said the remoteness of the disaster zone, more than 600 kilometres from the capital Honiara, was hindering relief efforts, with the island's airstrip closed because of debris on the runway.

Red Cross disaster manager Cameron Vudi said reconnaissance flights would be made over the island on Thursday to assess the scale of the damage, but initial reports indicated at least 460 homes had been destroyed.

He said the death toll was likely to rise as reports came in from isolated communities.

"We're expecting changes. There are signs that there might be increases in the number of casualties," he told AFP.

"There are still reports coming in. Most of the reports are confined to areas that are accessible by road, but there are a lot more communities that have been damaged."

The official death toll stands at six, with another four people missing, but a spokeswoman for World Vision Australia, who has been liaising with colleagues in the disaster zone, said it was believed at least eight people died.

National disaster management office spokesman Sipuru Rove said the Solomons government had asked the Royal Australian Air Force to send a plane to survey damage to the island.

"We're hoping for it to happen some time today, if possible," he told AFP.

Rove said an estimated 3000 people were homeless, with many villagers fleeing the coast for higher ground and taking shelter in makeshift camps in the rugged hills.

Boats carrying medical teams and emergency supplies such as tarpaulins, fresh water, food and clothing were set to depart Honiara for Ndende on Thursday, but are not expected to reach the stricken island until the weekend.

The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake struck at 1212 AEDT on Wednesday beneath the sea about 76 kilometres west of Lata, Ndende's main town, at a depth of 28.7 kilometres.

It was followed by dozens of strong aftershocks of up to 7.0 magnitude. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center put several island nations on alert for two-and-a-half hours before declaring the threat had passed.

In 2007, a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless. The quake lifted an entire island and pushed out its shoreline by dozens of metres.

The Solomons are part of the "Ring of Fire", a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

China radar-lock on Japan ship 'dangerous'

THE radar lock that a Chinese frigate put on a Japanese warship is "dangerous", Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says, as tensions in a territorial row heighten.

"It was a dangerous act that could have led to an unpredictable situation," Abe told parliament on Wednesday.

"It is extremely regrettable. We strongly ask for their self-restraint in order to avoid an unnecessary escalation."

Abe's comments come a day after his defence minister announced weapon-targeting radar had been directed at the Japanese vessel in international waters of the East China Sea last week.

The move marks the first time the two nations' navies have locked horns in a dispute that has some commentators warning about a possible armed conflict.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US was "concerned".

"With regard to the reports of this particular lock-on incident, actions such as this escalate tensions and increase the risk of an incident or a miscalculation, and they could undermine peace, stability and economic growth in this vital region," she said.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Flat retailing trend confirmed by data

RETAIL spending flattened out over the second half of 2012.

It's hardly a controversial observation, but figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday confirm the plateau extended through to the end of the year.

The figures won't surprise the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which on Tuesday said "a return to the very strong growth (in consumer spending) of some years ago is unlikely".

The value of turnover in retail establishments - which excludes motor vehicle and fuel sellers but includes on-line sellers registered in Australia - fell by 0.2 per cent in December, after adjustment for regular seasonal variations.

It was the third small fall in a row; the first three-in-a-row since the summer of 1999-2000.

With these monthly estimates a fall could always be the result of changes in prices.

But the quarterly estimates which adjust for price changes suggest otherwise.

In real terms, turnover rose by an inconsequential 0.1 per cent in the three months ending December 31 after a 0.2 per cent fall in the previous quarter.

In other words, there was a fall in the volume of goods and services sold by retailers turnover over the second half of 2012.

This represents a rather abrupt halt after a rise of 2.8 per cent, well above the historical average, in the first half of the year.

There is more than one likely contributor to the pause.

One is slow employment growth, with the latest trend estimates from the ABS showing very slow monthly growth of 7,000, compared with a recent peak of more than 19,000 a month early last year.

Slower growth in jobs means slower growth in disposable income.

Another is the decline in housing construction, particularly in the volume of work done on alterations and additions, over the second half of 2011 and the first half of 2012.

Housing activity tends to feed into retail spending.

Then there is the emergence of more conservative spending habits, including a preference to reduce debt, among households since the global financial crisis that came to a head in 2008.

Each of these factors probably plays a role in the flat trend in retailing since mid-2012.

And, because they all still apply to a significant extent, it's unlikely that retailing will pick up strongly in the first half of 2013.

Even so, a firmer share market and signs of a rally in housing prices, along with a likely ongoing impact of recent interest rate cuts, suggest some scope for growth rather than the flatlining now evident in the data.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

8.0 quake hits Solomons, generates tsunami

A MAJOR 8.0 magnitude earthquake is feared to have flattened villages in the Solomon Islands and triggered a tsunami with destructive potential for Pacific nations' coasts, monitors say.

Tsunami watches were in effect as far afield as Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, and New Zealand was also on guard. But monitors said there was no threat to Australia.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1212 AEDT on Wednesday near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons, which have been hit by a series of strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 5.8 kilometres.

A powerful aftershock of 6.4 magnitude was also recorded.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the Hawaii-based Pacific centre said.

"It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts."

Locals in the Solomons capital Honiara, 580 kilometres from the epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but some villages were destroyed, according to a hospital director.

"The information we are getting is that some villages west and south of Lata along the coast have been destroyed, although we cannot confirm this yet," the director at Lata Hospital on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende, told AFP.

A staff member at the Solomons National Disaster Management Office said officials were concerned about the eastern province of Temotu.

"That's the province, which if it is going to have an effect, then they will be the first people to be impacted," the official, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

"They felt the quake."

He said first reports from the area were that there was a tsunami wave, but he had no further information.

He added that the national disaster operation centre had been activated and they were trying to contact those in Temotu province.

In 2007, a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

The tsunami warning was in effect for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Fiji, Kiribati, and Wallis and Futuna.

Australia's earthquake monitoring agency and the Pacific centre said a wave measuring three feet (90 centimetres) had been recorded at Lata, on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende.

"We know that a tsunami has been created," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen said.

He said depending on the location of the quake, bigger waves could hit elsewhere.

"It's a big earthquake anyway in terms of just the shaking," he said.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ten sentenced after China petitioners held

A BEIJING court has sentenced 10 people to prison for illegally detaining petitioners, state media report, in an apparent blow for attempts by local governments to cover up abuses.

The 10 detained petitioners from central Henan province had travelled to the capital hoping to bring their complaints to the central government.

Illegal detention of petitioners is believed to be common, but like all legal and public order issues in China, is a matter of great sensitivity.

Such petitioners are frequently intercepted by local government agents and detained illegally in shabby hostels known as "black jails".

The government has recently begun acknowledging the existence of such places as part of modest attempts to stamp out the most glaring abuses of power.

The official Xinhua News Agency said on its microblog that the defendants received sentences on Tuesday ranging from two years to six months.

It said the defendants rounded up 11 petitioners and illegally detained them in two courtyards in Beijing for several days.

The court said that this was a violation of citizens' personal rights, Xinhua reported.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Key to raise visa rules for New Zealanders

New Zealand PM John Key (L) and Julia Gillard will hold annual talks in Queenstown this week. Source: AAP

NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key will raise the treatment of New Zealanders in Australia when he meets Prime Minister Julia Gillard at annual talks.

The pair will hold annual trans-Tasman prime ministerial talks in Queenstown on Friday and Saturday.

The meeting also marks 30 years of the Closer Economic Relations trade deal, which Mr Key says has made Australia and New Zealand two of the most integrated economies in the world.

Despite such strong ties and paying tax to the Australian government for years, an estimated 280,000 New Zealand residents who have arrived in Australia since 2001 are on temporary or special category visas, meaning they are denied voting rights, access to welfare benefits and student loans.

A joint productivity commission report last year said Australia's selection criteria and quotas for permanent residence may prevent more than 100,000 "temporary resident" New Zealanders ever getting it, recommending the Australian government make changes.

According to internal Australian immigration documents, one potential change is allowing New Zealanders who have lived in Australia for eight years or more to gain permanent residency.

Mr Key says he's raised the issue of Kiwis' rights with Ms Gillard previously, and Australian lawmakers have given it some consideration.

He has no doubt it will be on the agenda again this weekend.

"There are a number of factors they need to consider. One of them is obviously the financial implications but then there is whether they think there is fairness in the system as it currently sits," he said.

"We always encourage a situation where New Zealanders are treated well and fairly, but that can have different definitions in different places."

Ultimately, any decision rests with the Australian government, Mr Key said, adding that New Zealanders heading across the Tasman to live need to be aware of their obligations and entitlements.

Mr Key said New Zealand's treatment of Australians living here is clearly different, and his government has no plans to change that.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Qld to discuss flood funding with Ludwig

Bickering between federal and state governments is holding up aid for Queensland flood victims. Source: AAP

THE federal minister responsible for Queensland's flood recovery, Joe Ludwig, and the state's Treasurer Tim Nicholls will meet on Tuesday to set up special disaster assistance arrangements.

Each has been blaming the other for holding up a deal for a National Partnership Agreement (NPA).

Senator Ludwig took to Queensland's airwaves on Tuesday to say the agreement would fast-track Queensland's flood recovery but the state government has been slow to respond.

"What I'm doing now, as I did yesterday, is calling on them to strike the National Partnership Agreement - make a decision," he told the ABC.

But Mr Nicholls said he wrote to federal Treasurer Wayne Swan last week, about disaster assistance issues.

Mr Nicholls said the Queensland government agreed on the need to set the terms of an NPA, and that the one that was struck after the state's 2011 natural disasters should be restarted.

"We have been in constant contact through the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, and Emergency Management Australia in terms of what recovery arrangements should be," Mr Nicholls said.

A teleconference is due to be held on Tuesday afternoon between Senator Ludwig and Mr Nicholls, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the Flood Recovery Taskforce and Emergency Management Australia.

"Everyone is coming together to get the bones of this agreement together to get things moving," a spokeswoman for Senator Ludwig told AAP.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ciggie smugglers fined almost $8 million

Two men have been fined nearly $8 million for smuggling illegal tobacco products into Australia. Source: AAP

TWO Sydney men have been fined nearly $8 million for smuggling prohibited tobacco and cigarettes into Australia.

Customs and Border Protection says Dory and Ronnie Karam tried to import a container with a declared cargo of shoes on August 2, 2007.

Customs officers found 150,000 cigarettes and 12,926 kilograms of unprocessed tobacco leaf inside.

In the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, the Karams were convicted of attempted smuggling and other offences and fined $7,954,914, customs said in a statement.

National Manager of Investigations, Kingsley Woodford-Smith, warned of the seriousness of cigarette smuggling and importing illicit tobacco.

"This was an attempt to deprive the government of legitimate revenue," Mr Woodford-Smith said.

"The large penalty incurred should be a warning for others thinking of committing similar crimes."

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shackleton Antarctic bid makes landfall

AN exhausted British-Australian expedition recreating Ernest Shackleton's 1916 crossing of the Southern Ocean in a small boat has made landfall after a perilous 12-day journey.

Led by renowned adventurer Tim Jarvis, the team of six reached Peggotty Bluff on rugged South Georgia, where they landed their vessel in the same place Shackleton and his men beached the James Caird nearly 100 years ago.

The next leg will feature three of the team tackle a two-day climb to 900 metres over the mountainous, crevassed interior of South Georgia.

That will take them to the old whaling station at Stromness on the other side of the island, where Shackleton and his men, with little more than the clothes on their backs, raised the alarm about the sinking of their ship, the Endurance.

Jarvis said the boat trip, using only the equipment, navigational instruments and food available to Shackleton, was extremely tough, describing it as "truly about endurance - mental as much as physical".

"There was just no way to keep dry. The waterproofing with wax didn't work," he said.

"Below deck, the boat was constantly damp and being on watch meant that you were directly exposed to the elements. On a few occasions a big wave washed over the deck and down the hatch soaking everything down below."

Along with Norway's Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole in 1911, Australian explorer Douglas Mawson and Briton Robert Falcon Scott, Shackleton was among the great Antarctic explorers.

When he set off on his third trip to the region in 1914 with the ship Endurance, he planned to cross Antarctica via the South Pole.

But the vessel became trapped in 1915, and sank 10 months later as it was crushed by the advancing ice.

Shackleton and his crew lived on the floating ice until April 1916, when they set off in three small boats for Elephant Island.

From there, Shackleton and five crew made the treacherous voyage to South Georgia, reaching their destination 16 days later to face the mountainous trek.

All members of the Endurance mission were eventually rescued with no fatalities.

It was his granddaughter Alexandra who approached Jarvis, who in 2007 re-enacted Mawson's 1912 odyssey across the frozen continent, about recreating their ordeal.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dreyfus talks down discrimination changes

NEWLY sworn-in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has poured cold water on any major change to anti-discrimination laws.

Former attorney-general Nicola Roxon was criticised over proposed changes, which sections of the media, the legal lobby and MPs said would breach conventions on freedom of speech.

Ms Roxon said last week she had asked her department to look at "other options" but on Saturday announced she was retiring from federal parliament at the next election and won't get to pursue the law changes.

Mr Dreyfus, who was sworn in to replace Ms Roxon in Canberra on Monday, said the government was merely aiming to consolidate five existing laws into one to make it simpler for workers, employers and the general community.

"My view is that it's very, very important that we strike the appropriate balance between protecting the Australian community and preserving free speech," he told ABC radio on Monday.

"I don't think anyone could doubt my commitment to free speech over very, very many years."

Mr Dreyfus, a senior barrister, said he did not believe it should be against the law to insult someone in ordinary conversation.

"What we're talking about is in the workplace, in particular situations, that there ought not be unfair discrimination," he said.

On the issue of "hate speech", Mr Dreyfus said he did not believe the existing laws needed to be changed but simply carried over into the new consolidated bill.

"I think that one could look at ... why some of those cases take so long to resolve, but apart from that they're a very important protection for the Australian community," he said.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cabinet reshuffle normal, Milne says

LABOR'S cabinet reshuffle is standard procedure after resignations, not a sign of disorder or chaos, Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard reshuffled her cabinet on Saturday after the resignations of senior ministers Chris Evans, the government leader in the Senate, and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon.

Senator Milne says a reshuffle is appropriate after ministers announce they will not seek re-election.

"It is a normal part of governing," she told reporters in Hobart on Sunday.

"It doesn't show anything about chaos."

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Release boys in Tassie detention: Milne

MORE than 100 young asylum seekers at the Pontville detention centre in Tasmania should be released into the local community, Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says.

"They should be cared for in the community. They should be able to go to school and that is the best place for them," Senator Milne told reporters in Hobart on Sunday.

Senator Milne said she was confident Tasmanians would look after the 127 boys.

"Get them to school, and show them the humanity that we all show our own children," she said.

The government reopened the Pontville centre to relieve pressure on the onshore processing network late last year.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

More help for Qld flood clean-up

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has announced two new appointments to lead the flood clean-up. Source: AAP

TWO more disaster co-ordinators have been announced to lead clean up efforts after the Queensland floods.

Premier Campbell Newman says Colonel Don Cousins will be responsible for the Northern Queensland region and Brigadier Bill Mellor for the Southern Queensland region.

It was announced last week that Deputy Police Commissioner Pointing would co-ordinate efforts in the Bundaberg/North Burnett region.

Mr Newman said increasing the number of co-ordinators allowed them to have a sharper focus on the communities they were responsible for.

"Each region has unique needs, and with the volume of work required, it makes sense that we divide responsibilities and spread the load," he said.

"The recovery will be a massive job and as each day passes we see more that needs to be done in towns and cities across the state."

Brigadier Mellor commanded the Australian Force in Somalia and was a key player in the strategic planning for the Australian intervention in Timor.

Colonel Cousins worked directly for the Chief of the Defence Force and the Chief of Joint Operations, conducting investigations in Afghanistan.

11.25 | 0 komentar | Read More