Suspect killed in Indonesian terror raid

INDONESIAN police have shot dead a suspected militant and seized bombs during a raid in a district that has been at the centre of an anti-terror crackdown in the past week, a spokesman says.

The raid on a house was conducted by local police and the anti-terror unit at sunrise in Kayamaya village in Sulawesi island's central district of Poso on Saturday.

"One suspect was killed in the raid and another has been arrested and taken to police headquarters in the city of Palu," national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told reporters.

"The suspects resisted arrest and began throwing explosives toward the police, who opened fire in response."

Amar said police had seized several assembled bombs and other materials from the home.

Witnesses, who declined to be named, said the men had attended morning prayers at the neighbourhood mosque and were shot outside a school as they tried to run from the house.

An AFP photographer saw a pool of blood in the school courtyard after the shooting.

The raid came after an alleged militant was killed, two others arrested and explosives seized in a raid in Poso on Wednesday.

There have been three failed bomb attacks in the district in the past week.

Two policemen were found dead in Poso last month, with their throats slit, after disappearing while investigating an alleged terror camp linked to extremist Islamist group Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT).

Poso was the site of sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians between the late 1990s and mid-2000s that left thousands dead. It has since been described by police as a hotbed of terrorism.

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Man dies, nine injured in Melbourne crash

A MAN has been killed and at least nine people injured in a collision between a train and a truck in Melbourne.

Emergency services say the man died at the scene after being found and treated by paramedics near the main engine of the train.

A driver of the train was in a serious but stable condition after being freed from the wreckage and taken to The Alfred Hospital with lower body injuries, Victorian Ambulance services said.

He was trapped inside the train for more than an hour after it collided with a truck at Abbotts Road at Dandenong South in Melbourne's south at 11.40am (AEDT) on Saturday.

An ambulance spokesman said eight other injured people, believed to have been passengers on the train, had been taken to hospitals nearby.

Paramedics gave the driver fluids and oxygen as emergency services worked to free him.

"Our team were treating his injuries while he was in there," an ambulance spokesman told AAP.

The spokesman said passengers were being taken to Frankston and Dandenong hospitals with a number being treated at the scene.

Metro Trains said train services on the Pakenham line between Dandenong and Cranbourne will be suspended, with buses to replace trains.

The deceased man was suffering a heart attack when emergency services found him, police said in a statement.

Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are at the scene, where carriages lie on their side across the tracks after the train jackknifed on hitting the truck.

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NSW police warn of another Black Saturday

POLICE are warning of a possible repeat of Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires as they launch a major crackdown on arsonists in NSW.

More than 3000 bush and grass fires have been recorded across the state so far this spring, with 37 burning on Thursday - including a significant blaze near Lake Macquarie.

With temperatures rising into the thirties this week, coupled with strong westerly winds, NSW Police announced it was restarting Strike Force Tronto (Tronto) to target would-be firebugs.

"I'd like the public to understand that the people who light fires put everybody at risk," Detective Acting Superintendent Ian McNab told reporters in Sydney.

"There's a huge risk in even just a small grass fire.

"A small grass fire can turn into something catastrophic as we saw in Victoria back in 2009."

In 2009 the Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2000 homes.

Rural Fire Service (RFS) deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said about 350 bushfires were investigated every year in NSW and about 100 of those were deliberately lit.

A significant number of fires so far this spring have already been identified as the work of arsonists, including several blazes around St Marys, in Sydney's west, on Wednesday night.

Those fires, which had numerous ignition points, were brought under control about 8pm (AEDT) and Det Sup McNab said police already have intelligence about the perpetrators and arrests expected in coming days.

The 37 bush and grass fires burning on Thursday were mostly in the state's north, Mr Rogers said.

The RFS issued a watch and act notice for the Lake Macquarie fire, near Racecourse Road at Teralba, which had destroyed 40 hectares by 3pm (AEDT).

Mr Rogers said the blaze shouldn't pose a danger to homes, but more would be known by 6pm (AEDT).

While it is unclear how that fire started, authorities have not ruled out arson.

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Philippine street kid a global inspiration

CRIS Valdez began life unwanted by his parents and was soon scavenging in a Philippine rubbish dump, an unlikely start for a boy now hailed as an inspiration for children around the world.

Valdez, 13, won this year's International Children's Peace Prize for his work as head of a charity organisation that educates and hands out gifts to thousands of youngsters in his poverty-plagued hometown.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu gave Valdez his award at a ceremony in the Netherlands in September, declaring him a "voice for the voiceless" and a "true inspiration".

After returning to the streets of Cavite, a coastal city on the outskirts of Manila, Valdez spoke in a soft voice to AFP about his noble philosophies that emerged from personal devastation and the people who turned his life around.

"I help because I see myself in children who roam and live on the streets," Valdez said during one of his weekend community outreach programs.

"Some good-hearted people showed me love and changed my life, and I am just paying it forward."

Valdez, nicknamed "Kesz", was born the third of nine children from a desperately poor couple who lived with hundreds of other squatter families on the fringes of a huge rubbish dump in Cavite.

The city was once a picturesque, colonial Spanish enclave and fish port, but deteriorated into a mostly rundown urban mess in a familiar pattern across the country where a quarter of the population now live on less than a dollar a day.

His parents called him "bad luck" because they tried to sell him when he was a baby but failed, according to Harnin Manalaysay, the head of a local Christian youth charity who eventually rescued Valdez.

Manalaysay said Valdez was forced to start scavenging from the age of two.

At ages three and four, Valdez was sleeping anywhere he could, including atop tombs at the city cemetery, because he frequently fled home to escape beatings by his rickshaw-driver father, according to Manalaysay.

At an age when children are just learning how to make friends, Valdez was learning to beg and steal.

"I found him sleeping on a curbside covered in flies. He was very dirty and being kicked by passers by," Manalaysay said.

Manalaysay enrolled Valdez, then aged four, in his alternative learning program for street children, in which volunteer teachers use mobile classrooms on pushcarts to bring classes to the students.

In between lessons, Valdez still scavenged for scraps to help out his family.

Then bad luck struck Valdez again when he was five.

Fellow scavengers jostling around a dump truck accidentally shoved him into a pile of burning tyres, badly injuring his arms and back.

"My father was angry when I came home and said I deserved it for being stupid," Valdez recalled.

Valdez said his mother took him to Manalaysay, who paid for his medical treatment and allowed him to recuperate at the charity worker's shelter for street children, called Club 8586.

"She came back (months) later to tell me they did not want him back anymore," Manalaysay said.

Manalaysay, a portly marine engineer whose club has been helping troubled youths for more than 27 years, became his legal guardian.

Under his tutelage, Valdez recovered, and his grades improved.

He also began volunteering as a six-year-old to teach other street children about basic hygiene.

When Valdez turned seven, Manalaysay asked him what he wanted as a birthday gift.

"I told him I wanted other children to receive what I had: rubber slippers, toys and candies," Valdez said.

So Valdez and his guardian spent the day giving various items to street children.

The giving became a yearly tradition and led to the creation of Valdez's own charity, called Championing Community Children.

Under Manalaysay's guidance, Valdez built the charity into one that raises funds from private donors to buy basic living items for children, including sandals, toys, food and clothes.

Volunteers, made up mostly of Valdez's friends, also teach basic hygiene, nutrition and gardening, as well as educate children on their rights to help prevent abuse.

Valdez's charity has helped 10,000 children in Cavite over the past six years, according to the judging committee of the International Children's Peace Prize, which was founded by Dutch organisation KidsRights.

"Kesz is like any other normal kid. But his achievements, and the number of people he has helped, surpass those of most adults," Manalaysay said.

Valdez's plans for the immediate future are to continue with his charity, while making sure his school work does not suffer from his busy schedule.

Eventually, he wants to work in one of the toughest jobs of all, while expanding his charity work.

"I'm studying hard because I want to be a doctor ... I want to help more children, not only in the Philippines, but also in other countries," he said.

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Burmese illegal opium output still on rise

THE cultivation of illegal opium has increased in Burma for a sixth successive year, fuelled in part by rising demand for heroin across Asia, the United Nations says.

The upsurge comes despite a government campaign to eradicate the crop from the South-East Asian nation, which has won praise worldwide for taking major steps toward democratic reform after the long-ruling military junta ceded power last year.

Burma is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, accounting for about 25 per cent of global poppy production, according to the UN.

The rise in output of opium was documented in the latest annual survey by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

The report said farmland under opium cultivation rose by 17 per cent this year, up from about nearly 40,000 hectares in 2011 to 51,000ha in 2012.

Burma's illegal crop is farmed mostly in Kachin and Shan states. The two areas - along the country's borders with China, Thailand and Laos - have been plagued by fighting between insurgent groups and the army.

Poppy is highly lucrative for impoverished farmers in need of cash, and the fact it can fetch as much as 19 times that of rice poses a huge challenge to government efforts to eradicate it.

The estimated 690 tonnes produced in Burma in 2012 was valued at about $US359 million ($A348 million), the report said. That output was up from an estimated 610 tonnes last year.

"One probable factor behind the resurgence in opium production in South-East Asia is the demand for opiates, both locally and in the region in general," the report said.

The vast majority of consumers are in China, with opiate users in East Asia and the Pacific Ocean region accounting for about one-quarter of the world's total.

The Golden Triangle - the swath of South-East Asia where the borders of Burma, Thailand and Laos meet - produced more than half of the world's opium in 1990 and one-third in 1998.

A year later, Burma set out to become opium-free by 2014. That campaign had made considerable strides, but production has risen every year since 2006 as demand and prices grew.

The latest UN survey indicated the government had stepped up efforts to curtail output.

Citing government figures, the report said the government had eradicated poppies on about 24,000ha of land in 2012 compared with 7000ha the previous year.

The 236 per cent increase "is a significant increase on the area reported as eradicated in previous years".

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Boat people will sink budget surplus: Libs

THE federal government's predicted surplus will be blown by the cost of asylum seekers alone, the coalition says.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen introduced two bills to parliament on Tuesday requesting appropriation of the money needed to implement the recommendations of the Houston expert panel on asylum seekers.

It comes at a cost of $1.67 billion in 2012/13 and includes $267 million to build regional asylum seeker processing centres in Nauru and Manus Island.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said before the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook the estimated cost of processing and accommodating asylum seekers was $4.97 billion.

"That figure today is up to $5.4 billion for this financial year and out over the forward estimates is $6.6 billion," Mr Morrison told parliament.

In the May budget the government had estimated 450 people a month would arrive in 2012/13.

That figure had blown out to 2,000 each month, Mr Morrison said.

The government has promised a $1.1 billion surplus next financial year but the opposition doesn't think it will achieve one.

"If the government wants to know where their surplus has gone when their surplus disappears, it sailed away on a boat," he said.

"The surplus has been offshore processed."

Based on the government's own policies, the 30-month average for boat arrivals was 713 people, Mr Morrison said.

"That's almost two thirds less than what we are seeing turn up every single month, this financial year."

Mr Bowen had his hands so deep in the taxpayers' pockets he could almost tie their shoelaces through their pants, Mr Morrison said.

But the coalition would support the bills despite how it felt about the policy failures of the government, he said.

In summing up, Mr Bowen said $668 million was needed bring the Nauru and Manus Island facilities up to scratch.

He said the government had always said this would be expensive and opposition claims about how simple it would be to reactivate Nauru were "patently false".

He also accused Liberal backbencher Luke Simpkins of peddling the falsehood that only Sri Lankans were being sent to Nauru.

Iraqis, Iranians Afghans and Pakistanis were also on the island, he said.

The two appropriation bills were passed without dissent and now go to the Senate.

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PM says UN does matter to Australia

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says the United Nations does matter to Australia and now a local voice will be heard at the highest level.

After moving a motion of condolence over the death of Corporal Scott Smith in Afghanistan, Ms Gillard said Australia's election to a temporary seat on the UN security council showed the nation's standing at the UN was high and bilateral relationships were in good shape.

She said the UN was involved in Afghanistan and East Timor, where Australian troops were now deployed.

The UN was also dealing with some of the world's most intractable and difficult problems, including the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, efforts to halt fighting in Syria and the continuing fight against terrorism and extremism.

"So the UN does matter to Australia," Ms Gillard told parliament on Monday.

"And now a voice with an Australian accent will be heard at the table of security council. This is a result that all Australians can be proud of."

Ms Gillard paid tribute to everyone behind the successful bid, starting with former PM and foreign minister Kevin Rudd, his successor foreign ministers, diplomats and many others.

She also thanked Australia's AusAID workers, defence personnel and police.

"The reason our reputation is high in so many nations around the world is because they have gone there and with courage and endeavour. They have helped and I think this one is for them," she said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said in any contest between Australia and other countries, the coalition was always on Australia's side.

"Australia's voice should be heard because of our values and we should always act in accordance with our values," he said.

Mr Abbott congratulated all those behind this successful bid.

"But it would be churlish of me not to give a special mention to the former prime minister, the former foreign minister Kevin Rudd whose original idea and inspiration it was and who did so much so indefatigably to bring it about," he said.

"This is a special day in the parliament for the former prime minister."

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Coalition's McKew stunt fails

AN attempt by the coalition to table a page of former Labor MP Maxine McKew's book in parliament has failed.

Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop said Prime Minister Julia Gillard had repeatedly told parliament and elsewhere that she'd "always been" in favour of pricing carbon.

But a new book has cast doubt on Ms Gillard's version of events and called her commitment to the carbon tax into question.

The prime minister famously said before the 2010 election there would be no carbon tax under a government she led.

"How does the prime minister reconcile those statements with the revelation in Tales from the Political Trenches that she wrote to former prime minister Rudd in 2010 saying that she vehemently opposed fighting another election on introducing a price on carbon?" Ms Bishop asked on Monday.

Ms Gillard said she had dealt with the matters on the public record many times.

"I stand by my statements," she said.

"Isn't it interesting that here today we have the opposition with their tired, old fear campaigns, having a fiddle with the rear-vision mirror as they look backwards as we lead this nation to a future of opportunity and opportunity shared."

Ms Bishop sought to table page 173 of Ms McKew's book because it was a "credible and balanced account".

The move was not allowed.

"I think the author and the publishers might want people to buy it," Leader of the House Anthony Albanese said.

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Asia strategy needs joint effort: business

BUSINESS is calling for bipartisanship over the broad direction of the federal government's Asian century white paper, as Australia sets course to ramp up its engagement with Asia.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said the challenge will be to implement the policies to fulfil the goals for 2025 of the white paper given the long time frame.

"There will be debate about the specific policy solutions to the challenges outlined in the white paper, but what is needed is bipartisanship on the broad direction," BCA head Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.

"Clearly the government must take the lead in adhering to and delivering on many of the policy commitments, but equally the business community plays a significant and critical leadership role."

ACCI chief Peter Anderson said governments, the federal opposition and the finance sector needed to follow through on goals to improve competitiveness, trade finance, Asian language and cultural learning.

"It sets the right ambition and points to more than enough economic, trade and social pathways for regional prosperity to keep both government and opposition away from the gender wars or partisan politics from now until the next election if they have enough will and discipline," he said.

But Mr Anderson said while the paper stated the "bleeding obvious", the federal government's response was a surprise packet of practical first measures.

"The exceptions are a failure to have saved the money to now afford what needs to be done, and lack of willingness to turn away from domestic policy errors that have eaten away at industry competitiveness like labour market re-regulation and the carbon tax," he said.

Accounting body CPA Australia was disappointed there was no provision in the white paper for a dedicated cabinet minister for the Asian century.

"Such a minister would enable more effective coordination at a policy and budgetary level and in doing so, ease the path to implementation," chief executive Alex Malley said.

Global law firm Baker & McKenzie said all Australian companies looking to grow their business - particularly in services such education, law, accounting and finance - need an Asian strategy.

"Building relationships at all levels is critical, from school children to business leaders and government," Australia managing partner Chris Freeland said in a statement.

"A better understanding of Asian cultures and languages, and building professional exchanges, is vital to better do business across this diverse region."

Meanwhile, National Farmers' Federation President Jock Laurie welcomed the paper's recognition of the opportunities for the agriculture sector in Asia.

"And it has recognised that to capitalise on this, greater investment is needed to boost output and research, adapt to regulatory change and build capacity," he said.

Educators also liked the skills and training thrust of the paper, saying Australian government must overhaul education funding and foreign student visa provisions.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said there was nothing groundbreaking about the paper.

"I think it's a disappointing effort," she told Sky News.

Ms Bishop said the paper did contain some laudable goals.

"What's missing is the funding to back it up, or any detailed steps on how they would achieve some of the strategic visions," she said.

"There's nothing profound here, there's no insight beyond what governments are already doing."

Ms Bishop also commented on the paper's political nature.

"It's main theme seems to be that to prepare for the Asian century, we need to embrace Labor's current policies.

"I fear it's been re-written by a posse of Labor spin doctors."

Innes Willox, chief executive of Australian Industry Group, echoed the calls for both sides of politics to develop and implement a national Asia-competitive strategy.

He was disappointed a key ingredient of productive performance - workplace relations reform - was absent in the white paper.

"Yet more flexible workplace relations are critical to the realisation of productivity gains from other sources including education and training and innovation," Mr Willox said.

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Aust share market expected to open higher

THE Australian share market is expected to open higher on Monday despite lacklustre trading on Wall Street on Friday.

US markets closed mixed but were almost flat on Friday as investors weighed disappointing company earnings against a slightly better-than-expected estimate of US economic growth in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 3.53 points, or 0.03 per cent, higher at 13,107.21 points.

The broader S&P 500 index dipped 1.03 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 1,411.94 points, and the Nasdaq Composite index added 1.83 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,987.95 points.

Company earnings were the main driver of the US market, with iPad maker Apple losing 0.9 per cent after missing expectations in its quarterly report.

Amazon bounced 6.9 per cent upwards despite posting a loss and cautious outlook for the holiday shopping season.

The first government estimate of third-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the US came in at 2.0 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in the prior quarter but not enough to generate much optimism.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said the US GDP data was okay but investors remained cautious in relation to corporate earnings.

"However, the failure of European and US shares to follow through with sharp falls as seen in several Asian share markets on Friday saw ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) futures gain 18 points or 0.4 per cent, suggesting a positive start to trade on Monday for the Australian share market after a 0.8 per cent fall on Friday," Dr Oliver said.

However, Dr Oliver said global share markets were in still in a correction/consolidation mode.

Given uncertainties regarding the US presidential election and the US economy, short-term earnings downgrades, unresolved issues in debt-ridden Europe and the Chinese leadership transition, the correction may have a bit further to run over the near term.

In Australia this week, the season for company annual general meetings continues, with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank AGM on Monday; Commonwealth Bank, Crown and Flight Centre on Tuesday; Consolidated Media Holdings, JB Hi-Fi and Tabcorp Holdings on Wednesday; Boral, Perpetual, Transfield Services and Whitehaven Coal on Thursday; and Qantas on Friday.

On Wednesday, National Australia Bank releases its full-year profit results.

On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases data on building approvals for September, on Wednesday.

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