Hundreds protest in Delhi over sex assault

Angry protesters have demonstrated in New Delhi after a seven-year-old girl was sexually assaulted. Source: AAP

HUNDREDS of protesters have clashed with police outside a New Delhi hospital where a seven-year-old victim of sexual assault was admitted earlier in the day.

Angry youths hurled stones at buses and police, who then used batons to break up the demonstration outside the hospital which is located in a low-income neighbourhood, India's NDTV channel reported.

"The protesters were angry over the assault on the little girl and were demanding that police act against the culprit," the police official told AFP on Friday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the second-grader was sexually assaulted on Friday morning while at school.

After police were called, the child was taken to hospital and later discharged.

"The crowds have dispersed and the situation is normal," the official said.

Police are investigating the case, he added.

Three men - two school-teachers and a security guard - have been detained for questioning, local media reports said.

India has seen a surge in anti-rape demonstrations in recent weeks after thousands took to the streets to protest against police inaction following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus in December.

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Human remains found in Wollongong

HUMAN remains have been found under a Wollongong house as part of an investigation into an alleged murder.

Police probing the alleged 2011 slaying of Nicholas Katopodis found the remains under a house on Gladstone Avenue at Mount St Thomas, on Saturday afternoon.

The remains will be taken for a examination to formally identify them and to establish a cause of death, a police statement says.

In September 2011, a 40-year-old man from Mount St Thomas was charged with murdering Mr Katopodis, despite no body being found.

The man is in custody and is assisting police with their inquiries, with the matter before the courts.

Police have previously alleged that Mr Katopodis was murdered after a night out at a Figtree pub with friends.

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Mining company Unimin loses court bid

A MINING company has lost its bid to have charges of illegal activity thrown out of a Queensland court.

Unimin Australia was ordered on Friday to pay more than $250,000 in legal costs after a magistrate dismissed a series of applications by the company.

Its lawyers claimed charges that it illegally took and sold non-mineral sand from the world's second largest sand island were an abuse of process.

But the Brisbane Magistrates Court dismissed the applications and ordered Unimin to pay combined legal costs of $254,687.

The charges were brought by the Queensland government and relate to the company's activities on North Stradbroke Island, where it has a lease to extract only mineral sands.

The company is charged with one count of carrying out an environmentally relevant activity without a registration certificate and one count of carrying out assessable development without a permit.

North Stradbroke Island indigenous owner Dale Ruska says Friday's decision is a positive step.

He hopes it will persuade the Queensland attorney-general to upgrade the charges against Unimin.

Indigenous owners say legal advice indicates there is a prima facie case for fraud and theft.

"Hopefully now the attorney-general may treat the matter more seriously," Mr Ruska told AAP.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has previously declined to comment on the matter, saying it is before the courts.

The court hearing has been adjourned to March 28.

AAP mjf/bart

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No RBA rate cut expected in March

The Reserve Bank of Australia's board is not expected to cut the cash rate at its next meeting. Source: AAP

THERE'S not going to be a rate cut on Tuesday and borrowers can blame another surge in mining investment.

All 13 economists surveyed by AAP said the Reserve Bank on Australia (RBA) would not reduce the cash rate at its March 5 board meeting, but nine of those expect a rate cut some time in the next six months.

On Wednesday, money markets were pricing in a 33 per cent chance of a March rate cut but by Friday that had fallen to a 17 per cent chance.

So what changed?

On Thursday, official figures showed businesses were planning to increase their investment spending this financial year and the next.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said its fifth estimate of capital expenditure (capex) for this financial year was four per cent higher than for the previous financial year.

Those figures allayed concerns that the boom in mining investment was coming to an end, concerns sparked by large fall in commodity prices in 2012 that caused some of Australia's biggest mining to shelve some projects.

HSBC Australia chief economist Paul Bloxham said the capex figures showed there was a lot of investment in the pipeline that would stimulate the economy for months to come.

"Even the forward-looking capital expenditure survey, which some feared could deliver bad news, was generally positive overall," he said.

The RBA delivered four interest rate cuts in calendar year 2012, taking the cash rate to three per cent by December.

Mr Bloxham said the surge in business investment should give these rate cuts time to take effect on the economy.

"The continued rise in mining investment, as (the building of) large LNG (liquefied natural gas) projects continue, should support growth, which should give the RBA more time to see the impact on the non-mining sectors of the cuts it has already delivered," he said.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the capex figures showed the peak in mining investment would be more of a plateau.

He said spending on the building of new mines and resource projects as a percentage of economic growth was expected to remain constant in the coming financial year.

"The latest capex data lowered market expectations of a near-term RBA rate cut," Mr Blythe said.

"More importantly, the rollover in mining capex that has worried the RBA looks quite muted.

"The data indicated that capex growth in 2012/13 will be lower than earlier estimates but initial readings on 2013/14 confirm that total capex is holding up."

St George economist Janu Chan said there won't be a cash rate cut in March but expects one in April.

"We think there's room for one more rate cut given that inflation's quite subdued, growth is expected to be below trend this year, and also the labour markets remain quite soft," she said.

"There is room for at least one more, but we don't think given recent commentary the RBA's not ready to cut rates as soon as next week.

"There is enough evidence to suggest that the RBA will want to wait and see given that there's perhaps just enough of an impact from earlier rate cuts to the economy."

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Madagascar cyclone death toll climbs to 23

The death toll from tropical cyclone Haruna in Madagascar has risen to at least 23, officials say. Source: AAP

THE death toll from tropical cyclone Haruna and heavy rains that have battered Madagascar has risen to 23 with 16 people missing, the national disaster management agency says.

The cyclone struck on Friday morning in the southwest region of the Indian Ocean island.

Latest figures showed that at least 84 people had been injured and nearly 23,000 others affected.

The cyclone brought heavy rains and strong gusts of wind reaching speeds of 200 kmh.

The category 2 cyclone destroyed nearly 1,500 houses, leaving almost 10,000 people homeless, and flooded more than 6,000 hectares of crops.

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Hancock loses Rhodes Ridge appeal

A PERTH court has confirmed Wright Prospecting's full control over the large Rhodes Ridge iron ore project in Western Australia's Pilbara after a challenge by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting.

A 2010 court order forced Hancock to relinquish its 25 per cent per cent stake in the project, increasing Wright's interest to 50 per cent and honouring an agreement between Ms Rinehart's father Lang Hancock and his business partner Peter Wright in 1984 that involved the carve-up of their various mining assets.

An appeal by Hancock was dismissed in October last year but the company contested certain court orders.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court of WA judges Carmel McLure, Rene Le Miere and David Newnes dismissed Hancock's appeal against the orders.

They said Wright was entitled to sole control of the asset, and Hancock was obliged to do all things necessary - including providing documentation and assistance in seeking ministerial consent or the like - to enable Wright to have full control.

Hancock was also ordered to pay Wright's court costs.

Hancock may still decide to pursue the matter in the High Court.

Rio Tinto owns the other half of the Rhodes Ridge project, situated east of the mining giant's West Angelas operations and south of its Hope Downs joint venture with Hancock.

Hancock and Wright remain embroiled in another court stoush over three of the six Hope Downs iron ore tenements.

Wright seeks half of Hancock's 50 per cent stake, considering it was jointly discovered by Lang Hancock and Peter Wright.

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Australia may lose Fiji influence: Rabuka

AUSTRALIA will lose its political and strategic influence in Fiji if it doesn't restore good relations as soon as possible, the Pacific nation's former prime minister says.

Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka told a meeting in Sydney that Asian powers, such as China, were building new relationships with Fiji while Australia hid "behind a wall of political correctness".

Another speaker at the 2nd International Defence and Security Dialogue on Tuesday said Australia had "lost the plot" in regard to security in the region.

Major-General Rabuka, who led a military coup in 1987, said it was important to quickly restore relationships because of the attention and influence Fiji was getting from Asia.

"While the past 25 years of the Australia-Fiji relationship has been strained and dominated by isolationism and a diplomatic feud, Australia must realise that the longer the isolation, the more difficult the restoration," he told the forum on Tuesday.

"After Fiji normalises its own national political situation, Fiji will expect the quick restoration of bilateral relationship with Australia".

Australia-Fiji relations have been strained since Fiji's government was overthrown in 2006 by a military coup staged by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, now Fiji's prime minister.

Australia has also imposed financial and travel sanctions on Fiji until democracy is restored.

But Fiji has been pursuing relationships with other countries and has upped its involvement with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the forum was told.

Professor Richard Herr, from the Centre for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji, said Australia had "lost the plot" about regional security.

He said Australia had become lax in its involvement with the MSG and risked "becoming an outsider looking in" when it came to Pacific island relations.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced in July last year that Australia would restore diplomatic relations with Fiji.

In December, career diplomat Margaret Twomey was appointed High Commissioner to Fiji and is due to start the posting within weeks.

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Israel calls for calm over prisoner death

ISRAEL has called on the Palestinian Authority to rein in unrest as militants vowed revenge over the death of a prisoner whom the Palestinians allege died under Israeli torture.

Thousands thronged the West Bank village of Sair on Monday for the funeral of Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old father of two and member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades after his death at the weekend.

Masked militants fired assault rifles into the air and angry mourners waved Fatah banners and Palestinian flags while Israeli forces stayed away.

Armed and masked Palestinian militants have not been seen in the West Bank since the last intifada, or uprising, which broke out in 2000 and raged for five years.

"This horrific crime will not go unpunished and we promise the Zionist occupation that we will respond to this crime," said a statement from militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

Israel called for calm, following a similar plea the previous day, and the United States also urged restraint.

"Israel expects the Palestinian Authority to act responsibly to prevent incitement and violence which will only exacerbate the situation," Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told AFP.

"Ultimately, not violence but peace talks are what is needed," he added.

Abbas had earlier accused Israel of trying to sow "chaos" in the occupied West Bank, but said his people would not be provoked into violence.

Around 500 Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli soldiers outside the Ofer military prison near Ramallah, where several hundred Palestinian prisoners are held.

Israeli troops opened fire and used tear gas against the protesters, witnesses said, adding that army snipers were deployed on rooftops of neighbouring buildings.

Palestinian medics said 26 protesters were injured by rubber bullets while seven others were hit by live fire and moderately wounded. An army spokesman said six Palestinians were hurt by rubber bullets.

Clashes also broke out in Hebron and near Aida refugee camp where a teenager was shot and seriously wounded by Israeli troops, the medics said.

The Palestinian, identified as 15-year-old Odai Sarhan, was transferred to Hadassa hospital in Jerusalem while two others, also hit by live fire in the clashes near Aida camp, were taken to a hospital in nearby Bethlehem.

Protests demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and in solidarity with several hunger strikers have rocked the West Bank over the past weeks.

US State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday: "We're sending a clear message to both sides here in terms of restraint."

Noting that Israel was already investigating the death, Ventrell added: "We expect all parties to consider the results of the autopsy calmly and without inflammatory rhetoric."

Israeli prison authorities say Jaradat appeared to have died of a heart attack and that fractured ribs discovered in the autopsy could have been caused by efforts to resuscitate him.

The UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, called for "an independent and transparent investigation" into the death.

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WA premier slams Gillard's Gonski reforms

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett has slammed the PM over her Gonski school reforms. Source: AAP

WESTERN Australia appears set to follow Victoria and opt out of Julia Gillard's proposed Gonski school reforms, if Premier Colin Barnett is re-elected in March.

The prime minister vowed on Monday to get an agreement on her $6.5 billion funding plan, despite Victoria announcing it will go it alone.

It says it can deliver better outcomes for students than the commonwealth.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he believed the federal government was a "small player" in education and heavily criticised Ms Gillard's style of negotiation with the states.

"We have never indicated we would sign up to Gonski," Mr Barnett told reporters in Perth.

"If the federal government has some proposal, they are very much the small player in education.

"We are not going to sit back and suddenly let the commonwealth take over the running of our schools."

Ms Gillard will meet state and territory leaders in April to discuss the new plan, and Schools Minister Peter Garrett will this week advise how much the commonwealth will contribute.

Mr Barnett, maintaining the anti-Canberra stance that has been a plank of his state election campaign, launched another broadside at the Gillard government.

"The style of Julia Gillard is to pick a fight with the states, run out to the media and pretend she has a solution," Mr Barnett said.

"They come out and denigrate our hospitals, denigrate our schools, and then pretend to have a solution.

"That is not good government."

AAP tc/r

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Union urges QBE to talk on jobs

A union has urged QBE Insurance Group to reveal any plans to send 700 Australian jobs offshore. Source: AAP

THE Finance Sector Union (FSU) has urged QBE Insurance Group to reveal whether or not it plans to send 700 Australian jobs offshore to Manila.

"The Finance Sector Union believes that QBE's decision to withhold from its workforce that they have been working on a plan to send 700 hard-working Australians' jobs overseas is a complete and utter disgrace," FSU national secretary Leon Carter said on Monday.

Mr Carter said the FSU was in possession of documents that showed that QBE had plans to send Australian jobs offshore, yet the company had refused to say anything about the issue to either the FSU or the media.

QBE declined to comment on the matter on Monday.

But it repeated a statement made in January that chief executive John Neal had previously indicated that QBE was looking to reduce annual operating costs by more than $200 million in coming years.

The company had said in January that it was unable to respond in detail to reports about staff changes.

Mr Carter said if QBE wished to retain the faith of its workforce, it should say on Monday that it would be keeping the 700 jobs in question in Australia.

He said "offshoring" jobs was unnecessary and wrong.

Mr Carter also took a swipe at politicians, saying workers in the financial sector were "fed up" with them saying they were worried about jobs, but did nothing about it.

"Protecting jobs is not a spectator sport," Mr Carter said.

"If you (politicians) want to do something that would save Australian jobs, come out today, like you do for manufacturing workers, like you do for farmers, like you do for everybody else, and say we are not going to tolerate highly successful, highly profitable companies sending Australian jobs overseas just so you can make more money."

Mr Carter said the FSU would continue to campaign for laws to stop companies from sending jobs overseas.

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Violence could mar Kenya vote: Annan

THE former head of the United Nations, who helped save Kenya from spiralling deeper into election violence five years ago, is warning intimidation, ethnic rivalry and violence could undermine Kenya's March presidential vote.

Kofi Annan said on Saturday Kenya is on a positive trajectory five years after post-election violence killed more than 1000 people and forced some 600,000 from their homes.

Annan helped broker a political deal between the top two contenders for president.

That deal saw Mwai Kibaki remain president and challenger Raila Odinga become prime minister.

Annan said he fears ethnic rivalry could see violence return when the nation votes March 4.

It's likely the nation will see a run-off vote for president sometime in April that could have even more potential for violence.

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WA nurses 'threatened' with the sack

WEST Australian nurses have been threatened with deregistration if they continue to carry out work bans over a pay dispute, their union says.

Nurses will go on strike for 24 hours if the state government does not offer them a 20 per cent pay increase over three years by Monday.

The demand is up from 12.75 per cent, which the nurses previously said they were prepared to accept.

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) voted on Friday to keep one in five beds closed at hospitals over the weekend and to wait until Monday to decide if it should take industrial action over wages and conditions.

The union also wants nurses to stop having to perform menial tasks normally done by orderlies and cleaners, and objects to big hikes in parking fees at hospitals.

But the Industrial Relations Commission ordered on Friday that the nurses lift all work bans or risk patient safety.

Health Department director-general Kim Snowball reportedly sent a letter to nurses warning them of the consequences of their actions.

The ANF released the letter and a fact sheet late on Saturday.

"Am I protected if I continue to keep beds closed? No," the fact sheet reads.

"Is my professional registration at risk if I keep beds closed? Yes."

The department warned nurses that if they continued their action they also risked suspension from duty, disciplinary action and no indemnity insurance.

"I have issued a direction to ensure that all patients who require a hospital bed for their safety, care and treatment are to be moved to an appropriate hospital bed," Mr Snowball said in the letter.

ANF state secretary Mark Olson said the prospect of disciplinary proceedings for 10,000 nurses and midwives involved in the current industrial action was preposterous.

"Nurses and midwives have closed beds during industrial campaigns in WA and other states using the same guidelines we are using in this campaign," he said.

"No nurse or midwife has ever been sacked, suspended, or deregistered for participating in the industrial action of closing beds or going on strike."

Mr Olson said the health department was trying to frighten nurses and midwives.

"Instead of trying to sort out the pay claim, they are more interested in bullying, harassment, threats and intimidation," he said.

Premier Colin Barnett had said there was little he could do while the government was in caretaker mode before the March 9 state election.

But Opposition Leader Mark McGowan told reporters on Sunday that under the guidelines of the caretaker convention, an agreement could be reached between the government and the ANF if the opposition was also involved in the discussions.

Mr McGowan wrote a letter to the premier in which he said the dispute was "getting beyond normal election politicking".

He said while he would not enter into a bidding war with the government, any agreement they made with the nurses would be supported by the opposition and implemented if they won the election.

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