Iran sacks police chief over blogger's death

TEHRAN'S cyber police chief has been sacked for negligence in events leading to the death in custody of an Iranian blogger, Iran's police said on its website.

Colonel Saeed Shokrian "was removed from his post due to negligence and lax supervision over personnel under his command," police.ir reported, quoting a decree by Iran's police chief, Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam.

His dismissal came weeks after the fate of blogger Sattar Beheshti, reportedly tortured to death after criticising Iran's regime in his posts, provoked an international outcry.

Beheshti, 35, was found dead in his cell in a Tehran prison on November 3 after being arrested on October 30, according to chief prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie.

His death also provoked outrage inside the regime, in a rare case of Iran accepting international criticism over a human rights complaint.

Judiciary officials have promised a lawful probe into the case, leading to seven arrests so far, according to Iranian media.

"The judiciary will investigate the case within the framework of law, and will confront those responsible for the incident," Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the judiciary's High Council of Human Rights, said in remarks reported by media. He however called the death "suspicious".

Mehdi Davatgari, a lawmaker overseeing a parliamentary inquiry into Beheshti's death, had earlier called for the removal of Colonel Shokrian.

Preliminary investigations by the coroner, the prosecutor and the parliamentary committee suggest Beheshti's death was caused by mistreatment, either through beating or psychological torture, at the hands of the cyber police.

Iran formed the police unit in early 2011 to combat "cyber crimes," particularly those committed on social networking sites which are popular among the opposition and dissidents.

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Congo rebels begin Goma pullout

REBELS started to retreat from Congo's eastern provincial capital after an attempt to garner ammunition at the airport failed and their original pullout was postponed, a UN official said.

Trucks full of M23 rebels drove along the road that leads out of Goma toward Kibumba, where the rebels are supposed to settle following an agreement reached in Kampala last week with nations bordering Congo. M23 soldiers were cheering as they did a final tour in the city centre.

The rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda has defied two earlier ultimatums to leave Goma, raising the possibility they did not intend to leave and giving credence to a UN report accusing Rwanda of using the rebels as a proxy to annex territory in the mineral-rich eastern Congo.

The apparent withdrawal of the M23 rebels, however, comes after rebels on Friday attempted to force their way into Goma's international airport in order to seize arms belonging to the Congolese military which were being safeguarded there.

"An agreement was reached yesterday over the ammunitions issue," said Sy Koumbo, a spokesman for the UN mission in Congo. He said that UN peacekeepers had control of the airport and blocked the fighters from obtaining the arms.

"We did not give them the ammunition. It seems they are leaving now," Mr Koumbo said.

UN peacekeepers were also posted along the road out of Goma.

The eight-month-old M23 rebellion is led by fighters from a now-defunct rebel group, who agreed to lay down their arms on March 23, 2009, in return for being allowed to join the ranks of the Congolese army.

M23 takes its name from the date of that accord, and the rebellion began in April, when hundreds of soldiers defected from the military, saying that the terms of the accord had not been respected.

In fact, most analysts believe the origin of the rebellion is a fight over Congo's vast mineral wealth, a good chunk of which is found in the North Kivu province where Goma is the capital.

Starting this spring, the fighters seized a series of small towns and villages in North Kivu, culminating with the capture on Nov. 20 of Goma, a population hub of 1 million and a key, mineral trading post.

The regional bloc representing the nations bordering Congo had issued a Friday deadline for the M23 fighters to retreat from Goma, after the rebels had thumbed their nose at an earlier ultimatum.

M23 rebels began retreating on Tuesday from the other territories they seized.

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Avalanche kills 12 Pakistanis in Kashmir

RESCUERS have pulled out nine more corpses, including five belonging to soldiers, from a mass of mud and snow that struck a remote part of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, taking the overnight death toll to 12, a military statement says.

Bodies of three soldiers were recovered earlier on Friday, just hours after the incident in the Kel area close to the de facto border dividing the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan.

A search continues on Saturday for nine other people, three of them soldiers, buried in the rubble, according to the brief statement to reporters.

Details of the incident remain unavailable, but news reports initially said a landslide crashed into a border outpost. An 18-member team carrying out a search and rescue operation was then caught in a subsequent fall.

In April, 140 people, nearly all of them soldiers, were buried under a wall of snow and boulders that struck a major Pakistani military base on the disputed Siachen Glacier. Military teams have so far dug out more than 120 bodies. Efforts to recover the remainder are ongoing.

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German parliament approves Greek debt deal

GERMAN MPs have overwhelmingly backed a deal aimed at trimming Greece's debt load and keeping the country financially afloat but the country's finance minister insisted it would be irresponsible to raise hopes of more radical debt forgiveness soon.

Parliament voted 473-100 on Friday to back the complex deal reached by European finance ministers on Tuesday after marathon negotiations.

The agreement paves the way for Greece to receive 44 billion euros ($A55 billion) in critical rescue loans, without which the country would face bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro.

Its measures include a debt buyback program and an interest rate cut on loans. Those are aimed at cutting back Greece's debts and giving it more time to push through economic reforms and trim its budget deficit.

However, it stops short of forgiving outright debt owed to lead creditor Germany and other eurozone governments.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has strongly opposed a so-called "haircut" in the run-up to elections next year.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told MPs that the latest deal will keep the pressure on Greece to fulfill its promises.

"We have always pushed the principle of conditionality, and that goes here too," Schaeuble said.

"Greece will only receive all this relief if it continues to implement its reform measures, one after another."

Germany's parliament has to approve eurozone rescue measures. The bailouts of Greece and others haven't been popular in Germany, and there has been growing unease in Merkel's centre-right coalition.

Still, broad support was assured because two of Germany's three opposition parties voted largely in favour. They argued that Greece had to be kept afloat despite reservations about Merkel's insistence on a step-by-step and austerity-heavy approach to the debt crisis.

Many economists say that Greece's debt burden - forecast to reach some 190 per cent of its gross domestic product next year - can only be managed by writing off loans by governments.

The government argues that full-scale debt relief is legally impossible at present and would send the wrong message.

Some MPs in Merkel's coalition argue that the government's current approach already goes too far.

"We know from our private lives that you don't throw good money after bad," Klaus-Peter Willsch, a backbencher with Merkel's Christian Democrats who has become a prominent critic of her rescue policies, said.

"Let's end this road today."

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Clashes at airport, internet still cut

FIERCE clashes raged throughout the night near Damascus airport, with a shell slamming into a bus carrying airport workers, as Internet and phone links in Syria remained cut for a second straight day.

Delegates from more than 60 countries, meanwhile, were gathering in Tokyo to find ways to step up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the main road to Damascus from the airport, which was closed Thursday due to the fighting, had reopened but said a bus carrying airport employees had been hit by a shell, killing two people.

A security source also reported the deaths, blaming rebels for the shelling, but SyrianAir director Ghida Abdellatif said the two employees were wounded and that the airport itself was not shelled.

An airport source told AFP that air traffic and passenger boarding was normal, after EgyptAir and Emirates had on Thursday announced a suspension of flights because of the violence.

The airport informed foreign airlines to resume flight after "the restoration of security on the road" to the airport, he said.

Mr Abdellatif told AFP that a flight to Jeddah via Aleppo had already left, while flights to Khartoum and Cairo were planned.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, said that during the night rebels bombed the Harran al-Awamid military barracks, which is responsible for protecting the airport.

It also reported fierce fighting along stretches of the 27-kilometre road linking Damascus to the airport.

"After strong clashes, rebels were able to take control of a part of the airport road between the second and fourth bridge," it said.

State television had on Thursday night quoted the information ministry as saying that the Damascus airport road had been "secured" after military intervention.

A military source in Damascus said the army had taken control of the western side of the road leading to the airport and a small portion on the east by dawn, allowing travellers to move through.

"But the most difficult part is yet to come. The army wants to take control of the eastern side, where there are thousands of terrorists and this will take several days," he said, using the term regime officials use for rebel fighters.

The Observatory, which reported 108 deaths in violence across Syria on Thursday based on information from activists and medics on the ground, said most phones and Internet networks were down for a second straight day.

"In some areas, it is possible to access the Internet but with great difficulty," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory.

"It is also very difficult to reach people by phone. But we have received reports that it is possible to communicate between certain regions via fixed telephone lines," he added.

AFP correspondents noted that internet and telephone communications, including mobile phones, were cut in the capital.

On Thursday, activists accused the regime of preparing a "massacre" when the telephone lines and Internet first went down, while the authorities explained the cut was due to "maintenance" work.

Washington branded it as a desperate move on part of the regime.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that some 2000 communications sets supplied to opposition rebels over recent months as part of a US non-lethal assistance program were not affected by the blackout.

Washington was weighing what further help it can give the opposition, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, without spelling out if they would win full US recognition.

"We are going to carefully consider what more we can do," Mrs Clinton told a Washington forum. "I'm sure we will do more in the weeks ahead."

On Friday, delegates from more than 60 countries gathered in Tokyo, seeking to ramp up pressure on Assad.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told the "Friends of Syria" group that the international community had to act together where the divided UN Security Council had failed.

"While the United Nations Security Council has been unable to assume its primary responsibility, it's increasingly important for the international community to act as one in order to deal with" the continuing violence, he said.

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Elderly couple shocked as car hits home

AN elderly couple has escaped unharmed after a 4WD slammed into the front of their northside Brisbane home tonight.

Bricks and chunks of plaster littered Colin and Wilhelmina Lee's bedroom - only metres from where the couple was watching TV.

The male driver and female passenger of the vehicle were taken to the Royal Brisbane Hospital with minor injuries "as a precaution".

Mr Lee, 74, told The Courier-Mail he heard a loud bang and then "felt the whole house shake" when the crash happened about 7.10pm.

"We were just sitting there watching TV in our lounge room when we heard the most terrible screeching. It was a terrible noise," he said.

They said they were lucky they were in the lounge room and not in the bedroom. The front wall of the single-storey brick house collapsed as a result.

"It also demolished the fence, and all that. We didn't see what happened we only heard it," he said.

Several police, ambulance and fire crews attended the scene at Main Ave at Wavell Heights.

"I was shaking and a lady across the road came running out with a glass of water to calm me down," Ms Lee, 80, said.

The couple's landlord was last night organising tarping to the front of the house.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating

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European stocks rebound on US optimism

EUROPEAN stocks have rallied, mirroring gains elsewhere, on optimism over talks aimed at avoiding a so-called fiscal cliff in the United States, and after upbeat unemployment data in Germany.

In late morning deals on Thursday, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index won 0.92 per cent to 5,855.57 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.71 per cent to 7,395.68 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 1.05 per cent to 3,552.09.

Madrid's IBEX 35 index soared by 1.30 per cent to 7,938.70 points, rebounding from losses the previous day following heavy job cuts at Spanish nationalised lender Bankia.

The European single currency advanced to $US1.2986 from $US1.2939 late in New York on Wednesday. On the London Bullion Market, gold prices rose to $US1,724.07 an ounce from $US1,708 on Wednesday.

The V2X indicator which measures volatility on the Eurostoxx 50 index of the 50 biggest quoted companies in the eurozone fell to the lowest level since 2007, before the collapse of Lehman Brothers marked the beginning of the financial crisis.

Asian markets mostly tracked Wall Street higher on Thursday after House of Representatives speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday he was optimistic of a fiscal deal between his Republicans and their bitter Democratic rivals.

President Barack Obama also said he expected a solution would be found before Christmas to avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic taxation hikes and spending cuts that will be activated on January 1 if they fail to reach agreement.

"The mood changed dramatically yesterday after John Boehner and President Obama expressed optimism that a deal could be reached," said analyst Fawad Razaqzada at trading firm GFT Markets.

European sentiment was also boosted on Thursday by official data showing that Germany's jobless total rose 5000 in November from October. That beat forecasts of a 15,000 gain, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

"The number ... is definitely good news, especially if we bear in mind the estimate was much higher," said trader Anita Paluch at Gekko Global Markets.

London's indices gained support also after British engineering firm Invensys agreed to sell its rail signalling division to German industrial giant Siemens for STG1.742 billion ($A2.68 billion), sparking speculation over a potential takeover.

Invensys added in London late on Wednesday that it would return STG625 million to shareholders, or about 76 pence per share. The firm will also place STG250 million in reserve, while the remainder will address a group pension deficit.

In reaction on Thursday, Invensys shares rocketed by 9.61 per cent to 306.90 pence on London's second-tier FTSE 250 index, which was 0.87 per cent higher at 11,994.50 points.

"We suspect it may be only be a matter of time before Invensys is acquired once the sale to Siemens is completed - likely around May 2013," noted RBC Capital Markets analyst Andrew Carter.

"The disposal of rail leaves Invensys more focused on automation and eliminates the UK defined benefit pension net deficit, thereby removing two major obstacles for potential acquirers."

Siemens stock added 0.76 per cent to 79.54 euros in Frankfurt deals.

Kingfisher shares slid 1.48 per cent to 276.45 pence after Europe's biggest home-improvements retailer posted weak third-quarter profits and sales, hit by adverse foreign exchange moves and a poor performance in France.

In Paris, shares in construction engineering group Eiffage rose by 7.40 per cent to 29.61 euros, to show a rise of nearly 60 per cent this year, mainly for technical reasons because the price had breached a key level and because of year-end book dressing by investors.

Traders were later on Thursday to digest the latest estimate of US economic growth for the third quarter of the year.

New York stocks had churned higher on Wednesday, spurred by encouraging remarks by politicians over the fiscal talks.

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Suicide bomber hits Pakistani warlord

A SUICIDE bomber attacked a prominent Pakistani militant commander in the country's northwest who is believed to have a nonaggression pact with the army, wounding him and killing seven people, officials said.

The bomber attacked militant Maulvi Nazir in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal area, as he was arriving at an office he uses to meet with locals and hear their complaints, said the commander's spokesman, Maulana Ameer Nawaz. Nazir was not critically wounded, said Mr Nawaz.

Nazir was one of over a dozen people wounded in the attack, said Pakistani intelligence officials and a local government administrator, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

They initially reported that three people died, but later raised the number to seven after some of the critically injured died of their wounds.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for the past several years and has jockeyed with Nazir for power in South Waziristan.

The tribal area was the Pakistani Taliban's main sanctuary until the army launched a large ground offensive in 2009 and pushed many of them out.

Nazir is widely believed to have cut a deal with the army ahead of the offensive that allowed him to stay in South Waziristan as long as he remained on the sidelines. The militant commander has in the past focused his fight against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, not against the Pakistani state.

Nazir had been running a secret campaign in recent weeks to push the Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants allied with them out of Wana and the surrounding areas, said intelligence officials.

Nawaz, the militant commander's spokesman, said the suicide bomber who attacked Nazir appeared to be a 15- or 16-year-old boy.

"The moment the chief got out of his vehicle, the boy ran toward him and detonated his explosives," Nawaz told The Associated Press by telephone.

Yar Mohammad, a resident of Wana who witnessed the attack, said the blast was huge.

"I'm seeing smoke everywhere," he said.

_____

Associated Press Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Children take lion cub to school

MOST primary school classes get a goldfish to keep, a hamster or a turtle if they're lucky - but children from one village in southern Russia got to play with a lion cub.

Children in the Rostov region found the 5-month old cub on the steppe and brought it to their teacher, who kept it in the school gym, police said.

While waiting for police, children petted and played with the cub, named Barsik. One boy even tried to ride it like a horse while it mewled and swiped at the air.

The cub had escaped from a car on the way to a zoo in Dagestan in the North Caucasus. It has now been removed from the school and placed in a local zoo.

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Spanish bank reform advances, Bankia cuts

SPAIN has pushed forward with a major overhaul of the country's stricken banking sector after Brussels approved EU-funded restructuring plans, and with nationalised Bankia saying it will slash 6000 jobs and is set for a huge loss.

Meanwhile the Bank of Spain delivered more bad news on the overall economy, saying country appears stuck in a job-killing recession in the fourth quarter.

The European Commission cleared the restructuring of four Spanish banks - Bankia, NCG Banco, Catalunya Banc and Banco de Valencia.

The Commission said the restructuring of the four banks "will allow them to become viable in the long-term without continued state support" while the plans contain provisions to limit distortions to competition.

Banco de Valencia, whose independent future could not be secured, will be sold and integrated into CaixaBank, the Commission said in a statement.

Spain secured funding of up to 100 billion euros ($A124.90 billion) from its eurozone partners in June to help rescue its banks, brought to their knees by a mountain of bad debt built up in a property bubble which burst in 2008.

At that stage it looked as though Spain might need a full, sovereign debt bailout accord on top, but since then Madrid has weathered the storm and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has resisted pressure to ask for further help.

"The approval ... is a milestone in the implementation of the (accord) ... Our objective is to restore the viability of banks receiving aid so that they are able to function without public support in the future," European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in the statement.

"Restoring a healthier financial sector capable of financing the real economy is indispensable for economic recovery in Spain" Almunia added.

Spanish Finance Minister Luis De Guindos said on Monday that the first payment to recapitalise the banking system would be about 37 billion euros, expected in December.

The Commission said that Bankia, the giant group at the heart of Spain's financial crisis and already bailed out by Madrid, would receive 36 billion euros in all when the eurozone program is also taken into account.

Bankia, whose shares had been suspended from trading on Wednesday by regulators, said after the Brussels announcement that it would cut 6000 jobs, about 28 per cent of its staff, by 2015 as it tried to stem losses.

The bank said it intended to return to profit in 2013, but warned that it expected to report a huge loss of 19 billion euros this year.

NGC would get 10 billion euros, Catalunya Banc 14 billion euros and Banco de Valencia 7.0 billion euros.

The Commission said that the balance sheets of Bankia, NCG Banco and Catalunya Banc would shrink by more than 60 per cent by 2017 compared with 2010, highlighting how over-extended the banks had become.

The banks henceforth will focus on their "historical core regions. They will exit from lending to real estate development and limit their presence in wholesale business," it said.

Notably, the fact that the banks and their shareholders are absorbing part of the losses means the overall state aid needed will be reduced by about 10 billion euros, it added.

Wednesday's decision clears the way for the banks to receive aid indirectly from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the new eurozone defence system which formally became operational last month.

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Nokia litigates against Blackberry-maker

FINNISH mobile giant Nokia says it has filed lawsuits in the US, Britain and Canada against Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) claiming it has breached patent agreements.

In the suit filed on Monday in a California court, seen by AFP, Nokia sought to enforce the ruling of a Swedish arbitration tribunal that said RIM can't sell products equipped with local area network technology (WLAN) without first agreeing on royalties with the Finnish company.

"We have now filed actions in the US, UK and Canada with the aim of ending RIM's breach of contract," company spokesman Mark Durrant said in a statement.

The dispute arises from different interpretations of which technologies are covered by a licensing deal that allows RIM to use Nokia's patents.

"Nokia and RIM agreed a cross-licence for standards-essential cellular patents in 2003, which was amended in 2008," Durrant said.

"In 2011, RIM sought arbitration, arguing that the licence extended beyond cellular essentials."

In November this year, the arbitration tribunal of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against RIM, saying that the company was "in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products" without first agreeing on royalties, according to Nokia.

The group's US lawsuit cites the New York Arbitration Convention, signed by Finland, Sweden, Canada and the US, which allows the rulings of arbitration tribunals to be applied in other countries.

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Iran will enrich uranium 'with force'

IRAN said it will pursue "with force" the sensitive work of enriching uranium, which lies at the heart of the international community's concerns over its atomic drive.

The remarks, by Iran's nuclear chief, come ahead of a meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over lack of progress in its efforts to verify whether Tehran's atomic activities are peaceful.

"We will continue enrichment with force," Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by official Iranian media.

"Despite (international) sanctions, we have had a significant increase in the number of old and new generation centrifuges and enrichment and we will continue this development in this (Iranian) year" ending March 2013, he said.

Since 2007, Iran has been slapped by several United Nations and Western sanctions for pursuing its nuclear program, which the international community suspects of having a military dimension - a charge vehemently denied by Tehran.

The UN has passed six resolutions urging Tehran to stop enriching uranium, but Iranian officials have insisted they would pursue the process and not give in to sanctions.

Iran maintains it has a right to undertake the process as the Islamic republic is signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The IAEA in its November report reiterated that it was "unable... to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

The five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, known as the P5+1 group and who have been negotiating in vain for the past three years with Iran, proposed last week to resume "as soon as possible" further talks with Tehran after the failure of the previous dialogue held in June in Moscow.

Tehran has not responded publicly to the proposal.

Abbasi Davani meanwhile said Iran would "soon test" its heavy water reactor which is under construction at the central town of Arak with "virtual fuel."

The IAEA noted in its report that Tehran was six months behind the earlier planned date of commissioning of the facility in the first quarter of 2014.

"Despite rumours, I say it with determination that with God's help and the effort exerted by our experts the Arak reactor is on schedule and is progressing without any problems," he said.

The nuclear chief said, without elaborating, that Iran was going ahead with caution on the reactor because of "security and safety issues since the enemy wants to inflict damage to the reactor."

"Other than that there is no technical problem," he said.

The heavy water nuclear reactor has been condemned by the Security Council and is being closely monitored by the IAEA.

The reactor does not require enriched uranium but uses plutonium which may have military applications.

fpn/jds/bpz

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Health monitor keeps eye on fat pets

WORRIED the family dog is too chubby?

Japanese information technology giant Fujitsu says it may have the solution with a new health management service that lets owners keep a close eye on their pet's exercise regimen through a pedometer attached to its collar.

The "Wandant" counts how many steps the pooch took during its latest outing, with the data then available online for pet owners' perusal, Fujitsu says.

"Wan" is Japanese for "woof", while "dant" comes from the word "pendant".

The device also measures the dog's temperature, while owners can use an online diary to track how much their dog is eating, its weight and "stool conditions".

"The data are presented graphically on a custom website that makes trends in the dog's activities easy to understand at a glance," according to the firm.

"This helps owners get a stronger sense of their dog's health, while enabling communication with the dog."

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Casablanca piano up for auction

THE piano used for the song As Times Goes By in the classic 1942 film Casablanca is getting another turn at fame.

The instrument is going up for sale at Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 14, and the auction house estimates it'll fetch up to $US1.2 million ($1.15 million).

It's being offered by a Japanese collector on the film's 70th anniversary.

The collector purchased the movie prop at a Sotheby's auction in 1988 for $US154,000.

Humphrey Bogart played Rick Blaine in the Oscar-winning World War II love story, opposite Ingrid Bergman's character, Ilsa Lund.

In a famous flashback scene, Rick and Ilsa lean on the piano at a Paris bistro. Sam, played by Dooley Wilson, plays and sings.

They toast as Rick says: "Here's looking at you, kid."

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Turnbull has free AWU advice for Gillard

FORMER opposition leader and lawyer Malcolm Turnbull has some advice for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to clear up questions about her involvement with the Australian Workers' Union.

Ms Gillard held a second marathon press conference on Monday to address allegations in relation to her role as a lawyer in the 1990s for her then boyfriend Bruce Wilson, an AWU union official.

Mr Turnbull defended his former deputy Julie Bishop who continued the coalition attack on Ms Gillard on Tuesday.

"The answer to the question is of course it is an important issue, it goes to the integrity of the prime minister," he told ABC Television.

"There are many important issues and it is being focused on quite properly by the opposition this week."

Ms Gillard faced some serious challenges because the matter was 17 years old, some documents were available and some were not.

Mr Turnbull said his advice to Ms Gillard would be to publish a comprehensive written statement to deal with every allegation levelled at her and answer them, along with publishing related documents.

"That would then set the matter to rest if it was a satisfactory response."

If she could not do that she should appoint a special counsel to conduct an independent inquiry, Mr Turnbull said.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the coalition had failed to find a smoking gun in relation to the prime minster's role as a lawyer for the AWU, despite first raising the issue in the Victorian parliament in 1995.

Senator Conroy said Ms Bishop had humiliated herself trying to prove she had a smoking gun on Tuesday.

"All she did was expose that she has got nothing," she said.

"After 17 years, after a week of questions she has got absolutely nothing."

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Bills tying carbon price to EU passed

A PACKAGE of bills that tie Australia's carbon pricing mechanism to the European Union emissions trading scheme and dumps a $15 floor price have cleared parliament.

The seven bills passed the Senate, without amendments, by 34 votes to 28 on Monday night.

The debate was similar to previous contributions, with opposition senators railing against the carbon tax and vowing to repeal it in government.

Liberal senator Mathias Cormann described the carbon tax as a shambles.

"It is bad for Australia, it is bad for Australian families, it is bad for Australian small businesses, it is bad for the Australian economy," Senator Cormann said.

"It makes us less competitive internationally while pushing up the cost of living and at the same time doing absolutely nothing to help reduce global emissions. It should be scrapped."

Nationals senator Ron Boswell said renewable energy targets and the carbon price were driving up electricity prices.

"Australia is in an expensive energy hole right now because ... of the carbon tax, and it is time we stop digging," Senator Boswell told the upper house.

Labor senator Lisa Singh said carbon pricing was one of the most significant changes to the Australian economy.

"It will have an important and enduring effect on the way businesses calculate the environmental cost of their activities," she said.

Senator Singh said Australia wasn't going alone and, from 2013, 850 million people would live in places where emitters paid.

"Emissions trading is the preferred method of carbon reduction across most of the world because it is easiest for business and the most efficient and effective policy lever," she said.

Closing the debate for the government, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said one would have thought the opposition might have run out of puff on their carbon tax scare campaign.

"But no, not to be disappointed they continue to harp," he said.

Senator Ludwig said contrary to what the opposition had claimed, Australia was acting with the world, not going it alone or ahead or behind other countries.

"More and more countries are saying that they too are moving to a price on carbon just like Australia," he said.

Senator Ludwig said the opposition seemed to think if they say something over and over again, it must be true.

"It is no longer credible for the opposition to say that we should not act," he said.

"The world is acting. The community at large expect us to act. We are acting."

The package of bills now proceed for royal assent.

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Berlusconi talked politics at parties

FORMER Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi liked to talk about politics and economics with female invitees to his so-called bunga bunga dinner parties, a court in Milan heard on Monday.

Over the past weeks, showgirls and Berlusconi associates have testified in a trial that sees the maverick politician accused of paying for sex with a dancer, when she was still a minor, and later pressuring the police to release her after she was held on suspicion of theft.

"Normally, Berlusconi would start talking about current affairs, economics and football and then ask the girls what they thought about a certain political situation or about the financial crisis," Romanian-born student Ioana Claudia Amarghioalei told the court.

Amarghioalei, 22, said she first met the 76-year-old Berlusconi when she was 19 and was invited for dinner at his villa outside Milan about 15 times. "I never saw scenes of a sexual nature, strip-teases or Berlusconi touching intimate parts," she told judges.

Like other girls who testified before her, Amarghioalei said Berlusconi was providing for her living expenses, by paying her about 2,500 euros (3,250 dollars) a month.

Another witness, former Italian Big Brother contestant Giovanna Rigato, said she saw girls queuing up to receive money while they were in Berlusconi's villa. Rigato, 31, said she had a 50,000-euro-a-year contract with Mediaset, Berlusconi's media firm.

The dancer at the centre of the Berlusconi trial, Moroccan-born Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby Rubacuori, is expected to appear as a witness for the defence on December 10.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Video shown of Breivik parking van bomb

NORWAY'S public broadcaster has shown for the first time video footage of right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik parking his van bomb that killed eight people in Oslo in July 2011.

Captured by video surveillance cameras, the images show Breivik parking his white van on July 22 at the very foot of a building tower that housed the prime minister's offices.

Breivik is seen getting out of the car in a security guard's uniform, and walking away briskly.

The video, which features comments by the security guard on duty that day and is available on www.nrk.no/fordypning/her-parkerer-breivik-bombebilen-1.8593408, also shows the damage caused by the bomb, which weighed nearly a tonne.

The prime minister was not in the building at the time, though eight other people were killed and several dozen were injured.

Breivik can also be seen leaving in a second vehicle, a grey Fiat van, which he used to drive to the nearby island of Utoeya, where he gunned down 69 people, mostly teens, attending a Labour Party youth camp.

Photographs of Breivik parking the van had previously been released and video footage was shown during his trial earlier this year, but this was the first time the video footage was released publicly.

It is part of a documentary that broadcaster NRK will air on Tuesday evening.

On August 24, Breivik was found sane and sentenced to Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years in prison, a sentence that can be extended indefinitely if he is deemed a continued threat to society.

Breivik confessed to the attacks, calling them "cruel but necessary" to protect his country from the multiculturalism his victims embraced and which he hates.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sarkozy's party battles to save itself

FORMER President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party is holding emergency meetings to try to figure out who's in charge, after a disputed election for its new leader that could reshape French politics.

After a decade at the helm of one of the world's leading economies, the Union for a Popular Movement party is now in shambles and may fall apart altogether.

Central to the troubles is a debate among conservatives over immigration and Islam in France.

The election a week ago split party members into those leaning toward the anti-immigrant far right, represented by Jean-Francois Cope, and those hewing to more centrist views, supporting Francois Fillon.

Cope, who led France's push to ban face-covering Islamic veils, was initially declared winner. But uncounted votes were then discovered that could swing the vote in Fillon's favour.

A UMP commission that handles vote disputes convened on Sunday morning to discuss what to do.

Then Fillon's team, arguing that the commission was weighted in Cope's favour, suspended its involvement around midday, the Sipa news agency reported.

Hopes focused on Sunday evening, when former Prime Minister Alain Juppe is to meet with both candidates to try to mediate a solution.

Juppe knows his task is nearly insurmountable.

Speaking on Europe-1 radio Sunday, he said he is hoping to "cultivate a small flame of hope," though admitted "I have very few chances" of success.

"If this evening, Jean-Francois Cope and Francois Fillon do not accept what I propose ... I have no ability to impose it," he admitted.

Both Cope and Fillon want to lead opposition to Socialist President Francois Hollande - and run for president themselves in 2017.

Since Sarkozy left office in May, France's presidency, parliament and most regional governments have all been under Socialist control.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fire destroys Liverpool townhouse

A FIRE that destroyed a Liverpool townhouse is being investigated.

About 9.30pm on Sunday fire crews were called to Alderson Avenue, where the townhouse was totally engulfed.

The blaze was extinguished and no one was injured.

A fire service spokesman said police and fire investigators remained at the scene.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt Islamists call mass show of support

Egypt's top judges have denounced President Mohamed Morsi for granting himself sweeping new powers. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S powerful Muslim Brotherhood has called nationwide demonstrations in support of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in his showdown with the judges over the path to a new constitution.

The show of strength on the streets on Sunday by the president's supporters had the potential for triggering clashes with opponents of the sweeping new powers he assumed on Thursday who remained camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Share prices on the Egypt Exchange plunged almost 9.5 per cent by midday (local time) in the face of the deepening political crisis.

The main EGX-30 index shed 9.49 per cent to reach 4,923.19 points, according to the Egyptian Exchange, with trading suspended for half an hour due to intense investor selling.

Before dawn, the hardcore of liberal activists who spent the night in the iconic protest hub fought off an attempt by Morsi supporters to burn down the 30 or so tents they had erected in the square, witnesses said.

The US embassy warned Americans to avoid all places where demonstrations were likely to be held as Western concern mounted over the potential of Morsi's power grab to spark new violence in the Arab world's most populous state.

A Brotherhood statement called on its well-organised supporters to hold demonstrations after afternoon Muslim prayers in all of Egypt's main cities to "support the decisions of the president".

The Brotherhood's political arm insists the president's decree placing his decisions beyond judicial review was a necessary move to prevent the courts disbanding the Islamist-dominated panel drawing up a new constitution as they have already the Islamist-dominated lower house of parliament.

A ruling that had been due from the highest court next month would have had the potential to prolong an already turbulent transition from veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak's rule since his overthrow in a popular uprising early last year, the Freedom and Justice Party said.

But the judges hit back denouncing "an unprecedented attack on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings" and calling for the courts to stop work nationwide.

Judges in two of the country's 27 provinces, including Mediterranean metropolis Alexandria, heeded the strike call on Sunday while those in the rest were meeting to decide their response, the Judges Club said.

Tahrir Square, one of the capital's main road junctions, remained closed to traffic on Sunday as Morsi opponents pressed their sit-in.

The protesters have the backing of all of Egypt's leading secular politicians.

Former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, and former presidential candidates Hamdeen Sabbahi, Amr Mussa and Abdelmoneim Abul Futuh, said in a joint statement on Saturday they would have no dialogue with Morsi until he rescinded his decree.

Anti-riot police began erecting a concrete barrier to keep the Tahrir protesters away from nearby government buildings, witnesses said, adding that they made a string of arrests in streets surrounding the square.

The US embassy said it had advised its staff to avoid the city centre "to the extent possible until further notice".

"As a matter of general practice, US citizens should avoid areas where large gatherings may occur," it added in a security notice on its website.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More