Firearms charges for NSW police employee

A NSW Police Force employee who was wanted over a missing arsenal of weaponry has handed himself in. Source: AAP

A NSW Police Force employee wanted for questioning over missing police weaponry has been charged with firearms offences.

There had been a statewide manhunt for the man who works with firearms at the NSW police centre in Sydney, but he handed himself into police on Saturday.

He has been charged with a number of firearms offences including aggravated possession of firearms and unauthorised manufacture of firearms.

Police said on Friday a raid of the man's Berkeley Vale home the previous day had uncovered firearms they believed were misappropriated from the Surry Hills centre.

A statewide manhunt began on Friday but the 38-year-old contacted police at Berkeley Vale around 10.15am (AEDT) on Saturday and was taken to Wyong police station.

He was charged with aggravated possession of firearms, unauthorised manufacture of firearms, two counts of possession of prohibited pistol, three counts of possession of prohibited firearm, five counts of possession of prohibited weapon and a single count of not keeping a firearm safe.

The man was refused bail and will appear in Gosford Local Court on Sunday.

Investigations are continuing and police anticipate laying further charges.

During Thursday's search of the man's home, detectives allegedly located firearms, firearm parts, ammunition of various calibers, machining equipment and prohibited weapons.

On Friday, Firearms and Organised Crime Squad Commander Ken Finch said the man had emerged as a person of interest in a long-running investigation into the missing equipment.

20.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea ramps up the sabre rattling

NORTH Korea declared it was in a "state of war" with South Korea and warned Seoul and Washington that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.

Late on Saturday the North ratcheted up its threats, warning it could shut down the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint South-North venture that provides the regime with crucial hard currency.

"We warn that stern measures will be taken if (South Korea) continues to make reckless remarks defaming our dignity," a state body said, adding that the fate of the complex depends entirely on the attitude of Seoul.

Established in 2004 as a symbol of cross-border cooperation, Kaesong had managed to keep functioning despite repeated crises in inter-Korean relations.

But there have been concerns that its operations would be affected by Pyongyang's move on Wednesday to sever a military hotline used to monitor movement in and out of the zone.

The United States said it took North Korea's announcement about a state of war "seriously", but noted it followed a familiar pattern, while South Korea largely dismissed it as an old threat dressed in new clothing.

It was the latest in a string of dire-sounding pronouncements from Pyongyang that have been matched by tough warnings from Seoul and Washington, fuelling international concern that the situation might spiral out of control.

"As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol," the North said in a government statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

"The long-standing situation of the Korean peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over," the statement said, adding that any US or South Korean provocation would trigger a "a nuclear war".

The two Koreas have technically remained at war for the past six decades because the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The North had announced earlier this month that it was ripping up the armistice and other bilateral peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest against South Korea-US joint military exercises.

The White House labelled the latest statement from Pyongyang as "unconstructive" and, while taking it "seriously", sought to place the immediate threat level in context.

"North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats and today's announcement follows that familiar pattern," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

In Seoul, the Unification Ministry insisted the war threat was "not really new". The Defence Ministry vowed to "retaliate thoroughly" to any provocation, but added that no notable troop movement had been observed along the border.

Most observers however still believe this will remain a verbal rather than a physical battle.

"The North Koreans in recent weeks have turned rhetoric into performance art," said

Both China and Russia have called for calm, with a Russian diplomat voicing particular concern on Saturday.

"We expect all sides to show maximum responsibility and restraint and that no-one will cross the line after which there will be no return," Grigory Logvinov, a Russian foreign ministry pointman on North Korea, told the Interfax news agency.

On Friday North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

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NATO airstrike kills two children

A NATO helicopter strike killed two children in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, in the latest civilian casualties to beset the war against Taliban militants.

The operation close to Ghazni city was conducted after local people complained of a Taliban post targeting traffic convoys in the area, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, said.

"It was a joint (Afghan and coalition) operation conducted this morning that killed nine Taliban. Unfortunately, two school children were also killed and seven other civilians were wounded," he said.

A spokesman for the NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it was aware of the reported civilian casualties and was seeking further information.

However he added that the ISAF helicopter engagement was not in direct support of Afghan forces, without giving further details.

It was unclear who called in the airstrike, but President Hamid Karzai recently banned Afghan forces from requesting foreign air support.

Civilian casualties mostly caused by air strikes have been one of the most sensitive issues in relations between Karzai and the NATO-led military.

The civilians were riding in two vehicles near the Taliban post when the attack took place, Mohammad Hassan Hadil, the deputy police chief of the province, said.

The deaths, if confirmed, would be another blow to the prestige of US-led NATO forces as they prepare to withdraw combat troops from the war against the Islamist insurgents by the end of next year.

Airstrikes by the US-led coalition killed 126 Afghan civilians last year, a nearly 50 percent drop from the year before, according to a recent UN report.

The overall civilian death toll in 2012 also declined some 12 percent to 2,754, compared with 3,131 the previous year, according to the annual report by the United Nations Mission to Afghanistan.

Four civilians, including a child, were killed in a two-day raid against Taliban insurgents by Afghan and international forces in Logar province earlier this week.

str-emh/bgs/mmg/pdh

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Bosnian Serb gets 45yrs for war crimes

VESELIN Vlahovic, a former Bosnian Serb paramilitary dubbed the "Monster of Grbavica", was jailed Friday for 45 years for inflicting a reign of terror on Sarajevo civilians during the 1992-95 war.

"During systematic repression against the non-Serb population he participated in expulsion of his victims, he committed murders, he tortured, raped and imprisoned his victims," judge Zoran Bozic said at the sentencing in a packed Sarajevo courtroom.

The sentence against Vlahovic, a Montenegrin, is the most severe delivered for war crimes by a Bosnian court.

Dressed in light blue shirt, Vlahovic, 43, showed no reaction when the verdict was read out, drawing applause from members of victims' associations in the heavily guarded courtroom.

Vlahovic, sentenced on all 60 counts in his indictment, committed the crimes between May and July 1992, in three Sarajevo neighbourhoods controlled by Serb forces during the war -- Grbavica, Kovacici and Vraca.

"He killed 31 people, took 14 people who have still been considered missing, raped 13 women," prosecutor Behaija Krnjic said in a closing statement, having said earlier in the trial that Vlahovic's "name was the synonym for evil".

Vlahovic, who had pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in April 2011, was charged with the "executions, enslavement, rape, physical and psychological torture" of Muslim and Croat civilians, as well as looting, according to the indictment.

Calling for Vlahovic to be jailed for 45 years, Krnjic said: "Such a sentence would be the most just, but even that one will still be insufficient to heal the suffering of the victims."

A total of 112 prosecution witnesses were heard at the trial, including a number of women who testified behind closed doors to having been raped by Vlahovic, according to Krnjic.

"Vlahovic was not even bothered with the fact that one of his victims was highly pregnant at the time of the rape," the prosecutor said.

During the trial Vlahovic insulted a witness, a local journalist who reported on his crimes during the war. He also sent an intimidating letter to the family of a victim, the prosecution said.

The case concerned some of the "cruelest war crimes committed during the war, including torture, rapes and executions committed before the eyes of family members of the victims," it said.

Vlahovic was arrested in March 2010 as a suspect in a number of burglaries in the Spanish town of Altea where he was living under a fake Bulgarian identity. He was extradited to Bosnia in August that year.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Swiss sommelier is top world wine waiter

THE world's best wine waiter was crowned in Japan on Friday, at the culmination of a three-day competition attracting entrants from around the globe.

Paolo Basso, from Switzerland, was hoisted into the air as judges in Tokyo awarded him first place in a ceremony in front of several thousand spectators that was carried live on Japanese national television.

"Thank you very much to everybody, it is a very important moment for me," he said after receiving the gold medal and hugs from rival sommeliers.

"I would like to thank first of all my family, because they allowed me the time for the hard training that I am still doing for several years," he said in English.

Basso, who works at Conca Balla in Vacallo, on the Swiss-Italian border, beat off competition from fellow finalists Belgian Aristide Spies and Canadian Vronique Rivest.

The 47-year-old takes the title previously held by Gerard Basset, who won the 2010 competition in Chile competing for Britain.

Entrants from 54 countries had been tested over three days of events designed to measure their skills marrying wines to foods and serving demanding customers.

All of them had to work in a foreign language.

Contestants from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden were among those participating in the event, which has been held 14 times since it started in 1969.

"A good sommelier not only has to have good knowledge of wine, but he also needs to be able to put customers at ease and know what to do to let them enjoy the food," explained Serge Dubs, chairman of the jury and a former champion, ahead of the competition.

"A sommelier has to be a very good communicator, he has to know what his clients want and how to make them remember their experience at the restaurant," former champion Basset told AFP on Tuesday.

"The sommelier should also be a good cellar manager and act as an ambassador for producers, constituting a kind of link between the growers and consumers," he said.

20.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mandela 'in good spirits' in hospital

South Africa's Nelson Mandela is said to be responding positively to treatment for a lung infection. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela has been in "good spirits" as he spends a second day in hospital for a lung infection, in the latest health scare for the revered peace icon, South Africa's presidency says.

"Mandela is in good spirits and enjoyed a full breakfast this morning," President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Friday, as messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old poured in from across the globe.

"The doctors report that he is making steady progress. He remains under treatment and observation in hospital."

The anti-apartheid hero, one of the towering figures of modern history, was admitted to hospital for the recurring lung infection just before midnight on Wednesday, his third hospitalisation in four months.

Zuma sought Thursday to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

"The country must not panic, Madiba is fine," Zuma told the BBC, referring to South Africa's first black president by his clan name.

"The doctors advise that former president Nelson Mandela is responding positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung infection," Zuma's office had said in a short statement Thursday.

The Nobel peace laureate was conscious when he was admitted, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who was in prison with Mandela on Robben Island, had told AFP.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for checkups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery, after which he was released for home-based care.

The series of hospitalisations has seen an outpouring of prayers, but has also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of their national hero.

"In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about," Zuma said.

Mandela is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of the country's peaceful transition from a white-minority ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994 he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

Labour unrest, high-profile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the "Rainbow Nation".

"He is the voice that holds the country together," said Kasturi Pandaram in Durban.

"He's been a stalwart and I think if anything should happen to him now, with the state the country is in, I think it's going to fall apart," she said.

While Mandela the symbol bestrides South African politics, the man has long since exited the political stage and for the country's large young population he is a figure from another era, serving as president for just one term from 1994 to 1999.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring from public life.

Still, his nearly life-long struggle against apartheid resonates.

"We are deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health - he is a hero, I think, to all of us," US President Barack Obama said.

"When we think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the person's name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. So we wish him all the very best," Obama added.

"He is as strong physically as he has been in character and in leadership over so many decades. Hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge."

The name and location of the hospital where Mandela is being treated were not disclosed, to allow the medical team to focus on their work and to shield the family from the intense media interest.

"We know they are going through a difficult time and we want to ensure that their privacy is maintained," said Maharaj.

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Pope appoints new Buenos Aires archbishop

POPE Francis made his first clerical appointment on Thursday, assigning the bishop of Santa Rosa in Argentina to take over his former post as archbishop of the large diocese of Buenos Aires.

Archbishop Mario Poli, 65, steps into the shoes of former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the top Catholic Church figure in Argentina.

Poli worked alongside Bergoglio in the Argentine capital - which numbers 2.5 million faithful - from 2002 to 2008, after he was appointed auxiliary bishop by Francis's predecessor Benedict XVI.

The pair are said to be close.

The world's first Latin American pontiff is expected to include a trip home to Argentina among his first visits abroad.

While Argentina's Clarin daily has cited Vatican sources saying the 76-year-old pope plans to travel there in the first weeks of December, no trip has yet been officially confirmed.

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Church leaders call for action on gambling

CHURCH leaders have used Easter to call on the NSW government to launch an inquiry into the social impacts of gambling.

In a statement, the NSW Council of Churches urged politicians not to back any laws that would boost the availability of gaming until an inquiry had been held into the issue.

The council's president, the Reverend Ross Clifford, said an inquiry was needed due to the ongoing debate about a second Sydney casino, and concerns over poker machines and sports betting.

He said the community would need to have "adequate opportunity to respond to any recommendations (the inquiry) might propose".

The call was not about trying to impose "wowser values", Dr Clifford said.

"It's about effective harm minimisation and consumer protection strategies," he said.

"No one who is genuinely concerned about the devastating impact of problem gambling on individuals and communities in NSW wants to wait for a federal inquiry to report on federal issues."

He said it was an issue on which NSW needed to take the lead.

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Myanmar says won't tolerate extremism

MYANMAR (Burma) President Thein Sein says his reformist government will not tolerate religious extremism, following a wave of deadly Buddhist-Muslim violence in the former army-ruled nation.

At least 40 people have been killed and mosques burned in several towns in central Myanmar since a new eruption of sectarian strife on March 20, prompting the government to impose emergency rule and curfews in some areas.

"I would like to warn all political opportunists and religious extremists who try to exploit the noble teachings of these religions and have tried to plant hatred among people of different faiths for their own self-interest: their efforts will not be tolerated," Thein Sein said in a national address.

"In general, I do not endorse the use of force to solve problems. However, I will not hesitate to use force as a last resort to protect the lives and safeguard the property of general public," the former general added.

"All perpetrators of violence will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," he said, according to an official translation.

The recent clashes were apparently triggered by an argument in a gold shop that turned into an escalating riot during which mosques were burned, houses razed and charred bodies left lying in the streets.

But witnesses say much of the violence appears to be well organised.

Security forces fired warning shots on Wednesday to disperse rioters and dozens of people have been detained. But Muslim leaders have criticised the security forces for failing to stop the attacks.

It is the worst sectarian strife since violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.

The communal clashes pose a major challenge to Thein Sein, who has won international praise for his reform efforts since taking office two years ago following the end of decades of outright military rule.

"We must expect these conflicts and difficulties to arise during our period of democratic transition," Thein Sein said.

But "only an inclusive democratic society based on equality for all citizens will ensure peace and stability, especially in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith country such as ours", he added.

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Gillard warns WA over education reforms

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has warned state governments to expect no compromises at next month's Council of Australian Government Meeting (COAG), saying she is determined to come away with a deal on the Gonski education reforms.

Speaking at the community cabinet meeting in Perth, Ms Gillard said the "end game" had been reached in the debate between the federal and state governments on the proposed reforms, and she was not about to back down.

From a surprisingly welcoming audience of around 400 people, Ms Gillard was questioned on subjects as wide ranging as the Jandakot Airport to the return of the death penalty in Australia.

But it was on the debate with the states of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Gonski reforms that Ms Gillard showed her hard edge, saying she "deeply regretted" not being able to roll out an NDIS scheme in WA later this year.

Asked about what impediments the WA Premier Colin Barnett had put in the way of the Gonski reforms, Ms Gillard renewed her attacks on state governments threatening to withdraw funding from schools.

"We are going to keep the dialogue open, but we are not going to put more money into schools only for state governments to take money out," she said.

"We are prepared to talk to get this done, but it can't be against a backdrop of states taking money out.

"We are in the end game of this now, and I am very determined to go to the COAG in April and come out with better deal for Australian children."

Asked about the lack of co-operation from Mr Barnett on the NDIS, Ms Gillard said she did not believe there was "absence of will" to support the scheme in WA.

"What we are arguing about is the governance structure - he does not want services governed remotely from Canberra and neither do I," she said.

Taking just 12 questions over 45 minutes, Ms Gillard defended her position on the live export ban, which drew protesters from both sides to greet her arrival at Thornlie Senior High School.

Flanked by ministers including Stephen Smith, Gary Gray, Kate Lundy and Mark Dreyfus, Ms Gillard fielded all but two of the questions, espousing her views on asylum seekers, the impact of a lower Newstart payment for single parents and the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Perth.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy confirmed the first homes to receive NBN coverage in Perth would be hooked up in June.

Ms Gillard will wrap-up her three-day tour of WA on Thursday morning.

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