Sombre mood at WA Labor HQ

IT was such a somber mood among the WA Labor camp on election night that one of the only cheers from the crowd came when an image of the party's leader appeared on the television.

Less than 100 people gathered in Mark McGowan's electorate of Rockingham on Saturday night.

Heading into the state election, it looked like Labor was going to lose.

But no one expected political experts to begin calling the result before 7.30pm (WST).

"It looks terrible. What a bloodbath," one Labor supporter lamented.

Deputy leader of the Opposition Roger Cook was the only Labor politician to front the venue early in the evening and admitted to reporters that it was looking like a tough night ahead for his party.

"We need to just wait and see how the night develops," he said.

Mr Cook said there was still a sense of anticipation because it was early in the count.

He said there was a sense of pride in how the election campaign had been run by Labor.

"We believe we've run a very competitive campaign for a party that obviously doesn't have the resources to draw upon that the Liberal party does," he said.

"We've brought forward bold policies, bold visions for Western Australia."

Mr Cook also admitted there had been some damage to the Labor brand from the federal government.

"To what extent it had a role to play in the state election is very difficult to say," he said.

They may be headed for a whitewash in the election, but at least there is plenty of good food to eat while Labor supporters drown their sorrows.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Four Qld councils vote 'yes' to reform

RESIDENTS from four amalgamated former Queensland councils have all voted to break away and reform their old councils.

Those in favour of de-amalgamation of the old Douglas, Mareeba, Livingston and Noosa areas were celebrating as the results from Saturday's poll came in.

"This is a fabulous outcome, not only for our community and democracy, but also for our region," Yeppoon ward councillor Bill Ludwig, of the former Livingstone shire, told AAP.

"Our community has slogged away for two-and-a-half years to get this done."

De-amalgamation supporters say the decision - which will take effect from 2014 - will bring back smaller, more personalised councils.

Those against the return to the old structure, including Cairns Mayor Bob Manning, say the current set-up has been more cost effective and made regions more powerful.

Mr Manning says he fears the stark reality of state and federal budget squeeze, which is seeing less money flowing to local councils, will kick in and prove former Douglas shire residents' decision to be a retrograde step.

"There's a financial imperative here, and no one can hide from that," he said.

"I think it's going to be a long hard road."

Deputy mayor and Mareebra ward councillor Evan McGrath welcomed the result, saying his community had never wanted amalgamation.

"I'm glad now that we've got our council back," he said.

The number of councils in Queensland was more than halved from 157 to 73 in 2008 to save costs.

The Queensland's Liberal National Party government made an election promise to give councils a vote to reverse that 2008 decision.

An interim CEO will be appointed at all four councils, with new councils to be voted in at the end of the year.

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Federal Labor weighed on McGowan

FEDERAL Labor's sinking popularity and ailing image has dragged down the party's West Australian leader Mark McGowan, who was heading for a massive defeat in one of the state's most swiftly called elections.

ABC election analyst Antony Green called the result in favour of the incumbents, as polling predicted, about one hour after counting began.

With 12.71 per cent of the votes tallied at 7.15pm WST, the Liberals accounted for 47 per cent of valid votes and the Nationals 10.04 per cent, compared to 30.43 per cent for Labor.

Labor's federal defence minister Stephen Smith said from the outset that it was going to be a tough night for Labor.

"If there is a swing on, it's a swing to the coalition, a swing to Colin Barnett," Mr Smith said.

"That means we'll lose seats and the question for us is what will be the extent of that."

Mr Smith acknowledged it was very tough to defeat a first term government, and had only happened twice in Australia's history.

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Japanese man drowns on Gold Coast beach

A JAPANESE man has drowned on a Gold Coast beach.

Police say the 34-year-old man was unconscious when he was rescued from the water at Northcliffe Beach in Surfers Paradise about 10.30am (AEST) on Friday.

He was taken to Gold Coast Hospital, but resuscitation attempts failed.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.

No further details were available.

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Japan clones 26 generations from a mouse

JAPANESE scientists have produced 26 generations of clones from a single mouse, the lead researcher said, possibly paving the way for the mass replication of valuable livestock.

The team have so far produced 598 mice that are genetic copies of one original creature in an experiment that has so far been going for seven years, said Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology.

"This is by far the largest cloning project using a mammal," he said on Friday.

"By applying our study, mass reproduction of prized animals should become possible even after the original animals die," he said.

Reliable methods for cloning over an extended number of generations could be a boon to farmers who have, for example, a cow that produces a lot of milk, or an animal that is expected to produce particularly high-quality meat.

Natural breeding does not guarantee that an animal's offspring will have the same qualities, but a clone is an exact copy.

Wakayama has significantly improved on existing capabilities that had a low success rate and tended only to last for a few generations.

The team used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, whereby a cell's nucleus, which contains the genetic information of the original animal, was inserted into a living egg that had its own nucleus removed.

The egg was then planted in a surrogate who delivered the clone. That cloned result then became a donor for another cell nucleus, which was implanted into a host cell, allowing the cycle to continue.

Overall, the cloned mice have normal biological features, including normal longevity and reproductive capability.

Detailed genetic analysis showed limited abnormalities in non-vital aspects, such as large placenta, but the clone-specific abnormalities neither increased nor decreased over generations of recloning, Wakayama said.

Wakayama's team has found that use of a certain chemical agent, called a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and other technical improvements allowed recloning to continue for many generations, he said.

"Our results show that repeated iterative recloning is possible," he said.

"I want to say we should be able to continue this forever. We will continue our study until we see the end of it," he said.

The study was published in the US-based journal Cell Stem Cell.

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UN agency to feed 2.5 million Syrians

THE World Food Program says it aims to feed 2.5 million Syrians next month, up from 1.7 million now, because of rising needs as more Syrians are displaced by the civil war.

The UN estimates that nearly 4 million of Syria's 22 million people have been driven from their homes by the fighting, including those who fled to neighbouring countries and some 2 million who are moving from shelter to shelter inside Syria.

Many of the internally displaced need food aid, along with those who remain in their homes but have trouble finding food as the Syrian economy is collapsing.

Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said on Friday that World Food Program fed 1.7 million Syrians in February.

She says that will rise to 2 million in March and 2.5 million in April.

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60 dead in Borneo stand-off

CLASHES between Filipino militants and security forces in Borneo have left 60 people dead, including 52 of the armed intruders, according to Malaysian police.

Malaysia's police chief Ismail Omar told reporters on Thursday that since 3pm local time on Wednesday, 32 followers of a self-proclaimed Philippine sultan were killed in two confrontations.

Eight Malaysian policemen died in earlier skirmishes last week, during a three-week stand-off over the group's claim to the state of Sabah on the eastern coast of Borneo.

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More gang rapes reported in India

TWO women have been kidnapped and gang-raped near Delhi, in two separate incidents that highlight the persistent risk of sexual assault in India.

In one case, three men abducted and attacked a 19-year-old woman, who hailed an auto rickshaw carrying two male passengers near a popular shopping centre in Delhi's satellite city of Ghaziabad last weekend, a police official said.

"The driver drove the rickshaw to a remote forested area where he and the two other men repeatedly raped her before fleeing the area," said Nitin Tiwari, Ghaziabad's senior superintendent of police.

The teenager then made her way to a local police station where she filed a case against her attackers, two of whom confessed to their crimes earlier this week, Tiwari said.

Police are still in pursuit of the third man, he added.

The second incident involved a 25-year-old woman who met one of her alleged attackers in a park in east Delhi on Wednesday to discuss a possible job opportunity, said Delhi police press officer Satbir Singh.

"She said the man offered her a soft drink, which she drank before passing out due to some illicit substance in the drink. When she woke up, she found herself trapped in a car with a few other men inside," Singh said.

"The men raped her before dumping her near a dustbin, where police found her lying unconscious at two o'clock in the morning."

Police are hunting the alleged attackers.

A three-year-old child who was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped had been admitted to a hospital in the southern state of Kerala, local media reported on Thursday.

The toddler went missing on Tuesday morning, before a group of school students found her lying unconscious outside and called the police, according to NDTV news channel.

The child sustained several injuries and has already been through two surgeries at a hospital in Kozhikode city, where she is under observation.

The crimes come amid debate in India over the status of women and girls and their safety in the country.

Rape incidents in Delhi alone have doubled this year, India's minister of state for home affairs Mullappally Ramachandran told the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.

The Indian capital has seen around four rape cases a day since January 1, compared to an average of two rape cases registered daily in 2012, though the increase could be attributed, in part, to more reporting by emboldened women.

Thousands took to the streets to protest against India's treatment of women following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi in December.

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Morrison stands by refugee comments

Scott Morrison has explained the behavioural protocol he thinks asylum seekers should live by. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has explained the kind of behavioural protocol he thinks asylum seekers should live by when they are released into the community.

Mr Morrison was last week criticised for his comments after a Sri Lankan asylum seeker, released into the community on a bridging visa, was charged with the indecent assault of a female university student in Sydney.

He said communities must be notified when asylum seekers are released from detention and that behavioural protocols be applied.

Mr Morrison on Thursday said one "obvious" behavioural protocol would be about setting a limit on the number of people allowed in a room where asylum seekers are housed.

"If there were two people who are supposed to be in a room, then there should be two people in that room," he told Sky News.

Setting clear rules around behaviour would help asylum seekers understand how they're supposed to use the services and how to interact with the people providing those services, Mr Morrison said.

"When people go and work on resources projects, they're subject to behaviour protocols to be on site," he said.

"You go and play a game of golf, you're subject to behavioural protocols.

"You go and walk into a club or a pub, you're subject to behavioural protocols."

Meanwhile, the first man to be transferred to Australia's offshore processing centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island has abandoned his asylum claim and has returned to Iraq.

This takes the total number of voluntary returns of would-be refugees in 2013 so far to 44.

Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor said it showed the government's no-advantage policy was working.

"The Gillard government is determined to deter people from risking their lives on perilous journeys to Australia on unseaworthy vessels by ensuring there is no advantage over people who seek to come to Australia through regular channels," he said in a statement.

Mr Morrison later said he came up with the idea of behaviour protocols himself.

"This is my proposal," he told ABC television.

But he wouldn't be drawn on whether he ran the idea past the shadow cabinet or Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

"I'm not going to go into our internal processes," Mr Morrison said.

"I'm telling you I had the full authority to do it and I did and I would do it again."

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Police face Philippines murder charges

PHILIPPINE investigators will file a murder case against 35 police officers and soldiers for allegedly executing 13 people at a checkpoint, the justice secretary says.

An investigation ordered by President Benigno Aquino III into the killings concluded that the victims were summarily executed and there was no shootout as claimed by the security personnel.

Presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Aquino directed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to file a criminal and administrative complaint after reading the report by the National Bureau of Investigation.

"The conclusion is that no shootout occurred," de Lima said on Wednesday. "The victims were summarily executed."

She said prosecutors would decide whether there was enough evidence against the 21 police and 14 soldiers before filing the case in court.

The investigation found that the killings were a plan by the police colonel who led the security force at the checkpoint, Hansel Marantan, to eliminate his rival in the illegal gambling operation. Local newspapers have reported that Marantan was a protector of an illegal numbers game called "jueteng".

Marantan has denied any wrongdoing.

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EU fines Microsoft over browser choice

THE European Commission has fined US giant Microsoft 561 million euros ($A719.32 million) for failing to provide clients with a choice of internet browser, as it had promised to do.

The commission said this was the first time it was sanctioning a company for having failed to live up to commitments made to satisfy a previous EU complaint, making this a "very serious infringement."

In 2009, the commission required Microsoft to offer clients a choice of web browser through to 2014 after complaints it was restricting them to its own brand product.

"Legally binding commitments reached in antitrust decisions play a very important role in our enforcement policy because they allow for rapid solutions to competition problems," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

"Such decisions require strict compliance. A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly."

However, an investigation found that for the roll-out of Windows 7 in the period May 2011 to July 2012, some 15 million clients had no web browser choice for that time.

Microsoft acknowledged the failure on Wednesday, which it put down to technical problems.

"We take full responsibility for the technical error that caused this problem and have apologised for it," the company said in a statement after the European Commission announced the penalty.

The EU has had a series of disputes with Microsoft, fining the company 899 million euros in 2008, subsequently reduced to 860 million euros, for failing to comply with an order to share product information with rivals so that their software could work with Windows.

Under EU law, a company found to have breached commitments made to resolve competition cases can face a fine of up to 10 per cent of annual sales. In 2012, Microsoft posted sales of just under $US74 billion.

The single biggest EU anti-trust fine was against Intel at 1.06 billion euros in 2009.

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Vic premiership: gift or poisoned chalice?

THEY were both contenders for the ultimate birthday gift - a promotion to leader of the Victorian government.

But whether it was a wish come true, or a gift-wrapped poisoned chalice, remains to be seen.

Maybe Denis Napthine wished harder when he blew out his candles on Wednesday and ended the day as Victorian premier.

Or maybe Matthew Guy tuned into that psychic ability Pisceans are known for and saw trouble ahead.

In a move few, if any, saw coming, Premier Ted Baillieu resigned following a series of scandals that have plagued the government in recent days.

The horror week began with the release of secret tapes which reportedly revealed conversations between Mr Baillieu's chief of staff Tony Nutt and former government adviser Tristan Weston, who was forced to resign after an investigation found he had undermined former police chief Simon Overland.

The tapes reportedly revealed Mr Weston was receiving payments from the Liberal Party and was promised help in finding a new job.

The trigger for Mr Baillieu stepping down was the resignation, hours earlier, of controversial Liberal MP Geoff Shaw, after he claimed to have lost confidence in the government leadership.

His resignation from the Liberals leaves the coalition with only half the seats on the floor of the lower house, and relying on the vote of Mr Shaw - an ex-bouncer accused of misconduct in public office - to remain in power.

Dr Napthine and Mr Guy, who both celebrated their birthdays on Wednesday, were both possible contenders for the top job.

Dr Napthine won.

He now takes the helm of a government with a slender grip on power that is now under threat.

Happy birthday to Dr Napthine?

Perhaps not.

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Australian health shines, UK's slumps

BRITONS are among the unhealthiest people in Western Europe, says a UK study which has ranked Australia as the highest performer in two health categories.

Using data collected for the Global Burden of Diseases project, international researchers analysed rates of sickness and death from 1990 to 2010.

Australia ranked No. 1 for mortality rate and No. 1 for life expectancy compared with the US, Canada, the UK and the European Union.

However, experts described the UK's results as "startling" and said Britain was failing to address underlying health risks in its population, including rising rates of high blood pressure, obesity and drug and alcohol abuse.

"It's incredibly surprising," said Dr Christopher Murray, who studies health metrics at the University of Washington in Seattle and is the lead author of the latest report.

"We all think of the UK as having a great health system and as one of the most sophisticated medical research communities in the world."

"Nobody would have really expected that the UK would be toward the bottom."

Murray and colleagues said there was virtually no change in the rate of premature deaths among British adults aged 20 to 54 but found a spike in deaths caused by drug and alcohol abuse for that age group.

Cirrhosis, or liver disease often linked to alcohol consumption, has jumped by more than 65 per cent in Britain in the last two decades, prompting a recent government proposal to crack down on cheap drinks by setting minimum prices.

As in most Western nations, heart disease, stroke and cancer were the leading killers.

Heart disease remains Australia's biggest killer but it led to 32 per cent fewer deaths in 2010 than it did in 1990, the research found.

Alzheimers, however, has rocketed up the rankings, jumping from 26th place as a cause of premature death in Australians in 1990 to ninth in 2010.

Lung cancer has replaced stroke as Australia's second biggest killer, while road injury deaths have dropped 40 per cent.

The research was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online on Tuesday in the UK journal Lancet.

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Snow kills thousands of cashmere goats

HEAVY snow has killed nearly 25,000 pashmina goats in the Indian Himalayas, threatening supplies of silky cashmere wool used to make high-end scarves.

Thousands of nomads rear the goats in the inhospitable terrain of India's northwestern region of Ladakh, a high-altitude desert renowned for its dramatic landscape of towering mountains and arid plains.

Some 50 tonnes of raw pashmina wool, known to be some of the best in the world, is produced there each year and sent to neighbouring Kashmir, where it is processed and woven into scarves and shawls.

This year, an estimated 25,000 goats have starved to death in the Changthang region because their fodder is buried under unusually heavy snow, said Rigzin Spalbar, who heads the Ladakh Hill Development Council, the autonomous governing body of the region.

"All the land access routes are blocked with snow and a week earlier we requested the government to airdrop fodder and supplements for the surviving goats," Spalbar said by phone.

"It took me seven days on foot to reach a fringe of the area and I saw dead pashmina goats lying all around," Spalbar said, explaining that the only contact with the nomads is through satellite phones.

Another 175,000 goats were at risk of perishing as their fodder was buried under about 90 centimetres of snow after one of the biggest snowfalls in nearly 50 years, he said.

Changthang receives almost no rain during summer and usually about five centimetres of snow in an average winter. Temperatures can drop to minus 50C.

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NT deputy resigns, pressure on Mills

THE leadership of Northern Territory Chief Minister Terry Mills may again be under a cloud, following the resignation of his deputy.

Mr Mills, who came to office last August in a landslide, has been under pressure after his party polled badly in a recent by-election.

There has been criticism of the Country Liberal Party's (CLP) decision to raise power prices by 30 per cent, and to commit to spending cutbacks, which the party said were needed to slash debt.

On Tuesday in a short statement, Robyn Lambley, who is Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer and Education Minister among other portfolios, announced she was resigning her post as deputy.

"The government has made a number of extremely tough but necessary decisions since taking office in August," Mrs Lambley said.

She said the steps the government had taken towards rolling back the NT's debt had been unpopular.

It is not certain whether she will also resign from her ministerial responsibilities.

With a vote called for 8.30am (CST) Tuesday to determine who will take over as deputy, a senior member of the CLP said they expected a leadership spill for the top job as well.

AAP spoke with several senior sources in the party on Tuesday night, with one saying they expected a challenge on Wednesday morning to Mr Mills, and others saying such speculation was wrong and that number crunching was not underway.

Last month Attorney-General John Elferink abandoned a leadership challenge after he realised he didn't have the numbers to topple Mr Mills.

At the time it was thought Mr Elferink came close to securing enough votes from the party's 16 parliamentary members to take the leadership.

AAP understands Mr Elferink is not behind any fresh leadership speculation and has not considered making another challenge.

Another CLP source said they understood Health Minister David Tollner would issue a formal challenge.

Mr Tollner could not immediately be contacted to respond to the speculation.

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Dad dies sheltering girl in Japan blizzard

Eight people have been killed on Hokkaido island after heavy snow fell in northern Japan. Source: AAP

A FATHER has frozen to death while sheltering his nine-year-old daughter during severe blizzards which swept northern Japan at the weekend.

Mikio Okada died as he tried to protect his only child Natsune against winds of up to 109 kilometres per hour, as temperatures plunged to minus 6 C.

Okada was one of at least nine people killed in a spate of snow-related incidents as blizzards swept across Hokkaido island, police said on Monday.

The latest confirmed victim was Kuniko Jingi, 76, who was found lying on the street late on Saturday.

As with many others, she appeared to have perished after leaving her stranded car, a local police officer said.

Okada's body was uncovered by rescuers looking for the pair after relatives raised the alarm.

Natsune was wearing her father's jacket and was wrapped in his arms, newspapers and broadcasters said.

The pair had last been heard from at 4pm on Saturday, after fisherman Okada picked his daughter up from a school where she was being looked after while he was at work.

Okada called his relatives to say his truck had become stranded in the driving snow, which was several metres deep in places.

He told them he and Natsune would walk the remaining kilometre, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The two were found just 300 metres from the truck at 7 am on Sunday.

Okada was hunched over his daughter, cradling her in his arms and apparently using his body and a warehouse wall to provide shelter, the Yomiuri said.

He had taken his jacket off to give to the child, a broadcaster said.

Rescuers said she was weeping weakly in his arms, the paper said.

The young girl was taken to hospital where she was found to have no serious injuries.

Her father was officially pronounced dead by doctors at the same institution near their home at Yubetsu on Hokkaido.

The Yomiuri said Natsune's mother had died two years earlier from an unspecified illness.

The paper quoted neighbours as saying Okada had been a doting father who would often delay the start of his working day to enjoy breakfast with his daughter.

His death came as families all over Japan celebrated Girls' Day, a festival in which they gather at home and decorate houses with dolls.

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Papal tailors prepare for all sizes

NOBODY knows what the measurements of the next pope will be so Gammarelli - tailors to the papacy since the 18th century - have produced vestments in small, medium and large just in case.

"We have prepared three vestments in white wool, a stole, red loafers, a skullcap, as well as a red velvet cape with a white fur border since it's winter," Lorenzo Gammarelli told AFP at the store in Rome on Monday.

The job presents some very particular challenges.

"We can always adapt the vestments and the skullcap doesn't change but it's tricky with the loafers. The next pope cannot wear shoes that are not his size so we will offer all sizes," he said.

It's a delicate mission that Gammarelli's expert tailors have been long accustomed to - as shown by the framed images of all the popes they have worked for on the walls of the old-worldy shop.

Proudly displayed in the store on a side street near the Pantheon in central Rome are also certificates that say the tailor is an official supplier to the Vatican.

"The fabric for the cassocks is pure wool. There is no special wool for the Holy Father. It's the usual fabric that we use for all our clients who want to wear white," Gammarelli said.

The shop appears like it has been unchanged for decades - from the old wooden counter to the stacks of rolls of fabric accessed by shopkeepers on wooden ladders.

A little spiral staircase leads up to the shop's holy of holies - a workshop on the first floor where ordinary mortals are not allowed.

Gammarelli explained that between three and five tailors have worked on the papal vestments this time around - working in record time after Benedict XVI made the shock announcement on February 11 that he would step down.

"The conclave is an exceptional time," he said.

"This time around it is even more so since we were not expecting at all. The resignation of the Holy Father really took us by surprise," he said.

Benedict XVI, who now goes under the title of "pope emeritus", stepped down as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics last Thursday.

"To be honest, when I first heard it, I couldn't believe it. It seemed absurd," Gammarelli said.

But the tailor did not add more on his views - a certain discretion is part and parcel of the job.

Asked how the delivery to the Vatican is made or who will put the finishing touches to the papal robes, Gammarelli offered only an enigmatic smile.

The conclave to elect popes is held in strictest secrecy in the Sistine Chapel. No date has been set but it is expected in the first half of March.

There is just one certainty: when the next pope emerges in front of the crowds in St Peter's and with millions around the world watching, he will be dressed head to toe in Gammarelli.

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Aust fears over India surrogacy changes

AUSTRALIAN babies may be left stateless due to a change in India's surrogacy laws.

India has recently banned foreign gay couples, de facto heterosexual couples and singles from using surrogate mothers to become parents.

The changes require the couple to be a man and women who have been married for at least two years.

The sudden change has left dozens of expectant parents currently awaiting the birth of their babies in breach of Indian law, the ABC's Lateline program reports.

Paul Taylor Burns and his partner Josh, who are awaiting the birth of their twins, said they met the requirements when they first signed the contract.

"When we went over there in July we were under the impression that everything was absolutely fine," Mr Burns, from Perth, said.

"We know that we don't meet the new criteria, we know that our contracts have been signed after the cut-off date.

"The biggest worry is what's going to happen when we get there.

"Are the babies going to get the visa to exit the country?

"Is there any possibility of the babies not being able to leave?

"Are we potentially going to be prosecuted?"

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Attacks in Iraq kill four

THREE separate attacks in Shi'ite-dominated areas on Sunday in central Iraq have killed at least four people and injured 14, officials said.

The deadliest was in the Husseiniya area northeast of Baghdad, where three roadside bombs went off simultaneously, killing three civilians, a police officer said.

He said 11 others, including three policemen, were wounded.

Another police officer said a soldier was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in the northern Utaifiya neighbourhood of Baghdad.

Two health officials confirmed the casualty figures.

In Karbala, 90km south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden belt near the two revered Shi'ite shrines and wounded three people, Governor Amal-Din al-Hir said.

Violence has ebbed across Iraq in recent years, but insurgents frequently attack security forces and civilians in an attempt to undermine the country's Shi'ite-led government.

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Karzai condemns NATO killing of boys

Two children, have been accidentally killed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, authorities say. Source: AAP

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has condemned a NATO helicopter strike in which two brothers, both under seven years old, were shot dead after being mistaken for Taliban insurgents.

The two boys were tending livestock and collecting firewood in the southern province of Uruzgan when they were killed on Thursday in an incident that drew an abject apology from the NATO-led coalition.

Civilian deaths caused by international forces have often triggered outrage in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and Karzai said that the latest incident highlighted errors in how the insurgents are being tackled.

"The government has repeatedly stressed that the war on terrorism cannot succeed in Afghan villages and homes, but rather in its sanctuaries and safe havens outside our borders," Karzai said in a clear reference to Pakistan.

The president said he was deeply grieved over the deaths and offered his condolences to the boys' family.

Uruzgan governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada had blamed Australian soldiers for the incident but on Sunday his spokesman said it was unclear who was responsible.

"We have sent a delegation to investigate and find out what exactly had happened," said Abdullah Hemat.

"The troops called in air support after spotting people they thought were planting roadside bombs.

"They were kids herding their animals and collecting firewood. It is not clear whether they were killed by Australians or Americans."

Australian military chief General David Hurley said he deeply regretted the deaths but added it was too early to say who was responsible.

Hurley said Australian special operations soldiers were on the ground conducting a routine liaison patrol when the shooting occurred on February 28.

"Australian personnel immediately reported the incident to Afghan government officials and military leaders in Uruzgan," he said in a statement on Sunday.

"We deeply regret that the International Security Assistance Forces were responsible for the unintended death of two young Afghan boys during the operation," Hurley said.

"It is premature to make any determination about how the incident occurred or who was responsible," he added.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has been briefed on the incident, declined to comment on Sunday, saying she would leave any commentary to General Hurley.

The NATO-led coalition, to which Australia contributes close to 1,100 soldiers, has apologised over the children's deaths, saying its troops had opened fire at what they believed were insurgent forces.

"We take full responsibility for this tragedy," General Joseph Dunford, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said on Saturday.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking harsh criticism from Karzai and angry public protests.

The bulk of Australia's troops are based in Uruzgan, and are focused on training and mentoring Afghan soldiers ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops by the end of next year.

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Gabriel wants to talk with animals online

Musician Peter Gabriel believes an interspecies internet could help animals communicate with humans. Source: AAP

PETER Gabriel has joined one of the internet's founding fathers in launching an "interspecies internet" for animals to communicate with us and each other.

"Perhaps the most amazing tool man has created is the internet," the famous British singer says.

"What would happen if we could somehow find new interfaces - visual, audio - to allow us to communicate with the remarkable beings we share the planet with?"

His allies in the effort include Vint Cerf, one of the internet's founders, along with a cognitive psychologist and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Gabriel showed a video of a jamming session he had with a bonobo - formerly known as a pygmy chimpanzee - playing the keyboard.

The bonobo used one finger to improvise a tune that the singer overlaid with his distinctive voice.

"She did good," Gabriel said with a smile.

He told of growing up on a farm and often looking into the eyes of animals and wondering what they were thinking.

"What was amazing to me was that they seemed a lot more adept at getting a handle on our language than we were at getting a handle on theirs," Gabriel said.

"I work with a lot of musicians from around the world... Often we don't have any common language at all. We sit behind our instruments and it's a way to connect."

His curiosity led him to Diana Reiss, a psychologist known for dolphin intelligence research.

"Animals are conscious. They have emotions. They are aware," Reiss said.

"One of my biggest dreams is that we give them the respect and attention they deserve."

MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld joined the effort after seeing a video of Gabriel's jam session and concluding that it's a mistake to leave the rest of the planet out of the internet.

"What is important about what these people are doing is they are beginning to learn how to communicate with species who are not us but share a sensory environment," said Cerf.

Cerf, now chief internet evangelist at Google, spoke of an inter-species internet as a test run for communicating with life encountered while exploring space.

"These interactions with other animals will teach us, ultimately, how we might interact with an alien from another world," he added.

"I can hardly wait."

Seed money for the project will be used to develop a touchscreen device that dolphins can use to connect to the internet.

"We want to engage people here to make smart interfaces to make this possible," Gabriel to a TED audience known for brilliant scientists and exceptional entrepreneurs.

"We are almost ready to turn it on."

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