Rudd tells China to be cautious of N Korea

Kevin Rudd faces the media in Brisbane. Picture: Darren England Source: News Limited

FORMER prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd has told officers of Beijing's main defence academy that the world is looking to China to use its influence to quell the aggression of North Korea.

In a speech this week to China's National Defence University, reported by The Australian newspaper on Saturday, Mr Rudd said North Korea's nuclear program poses a serious threat to China's relations with its neighbours.

The speech was made two days before North Korea announced on Saturday that it had formally entered into a "state of war" with South Korea.

In the latest in a string of pronouncements from Pyongyang and tough warnings from Seoul and Washington, a government statement from North Korea said: "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 White House said it took the new warning seriously but added that Pyongyang's threats were following a familiar pattern.

The Australian said Mr Rudd's Beijing address had coincided with the United States' confirmation on Thursday that it had sent two B-2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to drop munitions on a target range on a South Korean island.

Mr Rudd told his audience of officers that the diplomatic efforts of all nations but China had failed to persuade North Korea against its shows of aggression.

But while China had gone to considerable lengths to try to change North Korea's behaviour, Pyongyang had rewarded it by launching its third underground test during China's Spring Festival holiday.

And while China was announcing its new leadership to the world, North Korea had declared its renunciation of the 1953 armistice.

Pyongyang's antics threatened China's foreign policy objectives because Asian nations were beginning to co-operate on regional anti-ballistic missile defences, which could work against China as well as North Korea, Mr Rudd said.

North Korea's threats to bomb the US and its allies and to reduce the South Korean capital of Seoul to a smouldering ruin had come as some in Japan and South Korea were pushing for their countries to develop nuclear weapons of their own.

"Our Chinese friends would also appreciate that other countries of the region have profound concerns about both the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program of North Korea and its inflammatory declaratory language concerning its preparedness unilaterally to use armed force against the South and other 'unnamed aggressors' in Asia," Mr Rudd said.

He added: "The most immediate and significant threat to a new form of strategic co-operation between Beijing and Washington, and between Beijing and the rest of the region, lies in the North Korean nuclear program.

"North Korea's nuclear posture is of itself causing the US and its allies in the region to enhance their co-operation on ballistic missile defence in order to counter the North Korean threat.

"Such ballistic missile defence co-operation also of course has wider implications for China's national and security interests beyond the Korean Peninsula.

"China's own global foreign policy standing is suffering and will continue to suffer as a result of North Korean adventurism."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will next week lead a delegation to China that includes ministers Bob Carr, Craig Emerson and Bill Shorten for talks on trade, security and clean energy.

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WA man dies in sand dune accident

A man has died after coming off his motorbike in sand dunes north of Geraldton in WA. Source: AAP

A MAN has died in Western Australia after crashing his motorcycle in sand dunes.

Police say the 29-year-old Geraldton resident was riding an off-road motorbike in dunes north of Geraldton, WA, when he crashed about 5pm (WST) on Friday.

A friend found him at the base of a steep, 10 metre dune.

Police believe the man failed to negotiate the dune and fell, sustaining fatal injuries.

He died in hospital.

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Serial killer Birnie to remain in WA jail

WEST Australian rial killer Catherine Birnie has again been denied parole.

The Prisoners Review Board began the review in January and the final decision was made this week by Attorney-General Michael Mischin.

"The attorney-general has accepted a recommendation from the Prisoners Review Board that Catherine Birnie not be released on parole," a spokeswoman said.

Under law, Birnie's life sentence is reviewed every three years, so her next statutory review will be in 2016.

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter, who last year left state politics for a tilt at the federal arena, in March 2010 decided Birnie would not be placed on parole or put into a re-socialisation program.

WA's attorney-general in 2007, Jim McGinty, said Birnie should never be freed from jail.

Birnie and her late partner David Birnie raped, stabbed, strangled and clubbed to death four victims in their Willagee house, in Perth's southern suburbs, in 1986.

They were caught only when a fifth intended victim escaped after they abducted her at knifepoint.

The pair were handed strict-security life sentences for the murders.

David Birnie hanged himself in his protective custody Casuarina Prison cell in 2005. She wasn't allowed to attend his funeral.

A 2007 review of Birnie, who is serving her sentence at Bandyup Women's Prison on Perth's north-eastern outskirts, found she was at low risk of reoffending but her release was rejected because of the extreme nature of her crimes.

Birnie, now 62, left her husband and six children in 1985 to live with David Birnie.

She did not marry him but took his surname.

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Manhunt underway for NSW Police employee

A STATEWIDE manhunt has been launched for a NSW Police civilian employee wanted for allegedly taking weaponry from a police armoury.

The 38-year-old man worked in the armoury and was under investigation for serious firearms offences, a police spokesman told AAP on Friday.

"He's been misappropriating weapons and weapons parts from the facility," he said.

A number of weapons were found at the man's home on Thursday during a police search but the man had not been seen since, the spokesman said.

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Emerging leaders stumble in bank challenge

LEADERS from the BRICS group of emerging powers have failed to launch a much-anticipated new development bank to rival Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank.

After holding talks in the port city of Durban, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and hosts South Africa agreed in principle to create a joint infrastructure lender.

But they said further talks were necessary to finalise the plan.

"We are satisfied that the establishment of a new development bank is feasible," said host President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday, in remarks that hint at little progress beyond an agreement reached in New Delhi a year ago.

"We have decided to enter formal negotiations to establish a BRICS-led New Development Bank."

Officially leaders had been expected to consider the bank's establishment, but South Africa and others had hoped to formally launch a $US50 billion ($A48.10 billion) infrastructure fund at the two-day summit.

The mooted bank is seen as a way of gaining influence on the world stage, countering Europe's dragging economic crisis and addressing the $US4.5 trillion in infrastructure spending the BRICS are estimated to need over the next five years.

Instead of a $US50 billion fund, BRICS leaders agreed only that the initial capital contribution would be "substantial and sufficient for the bank to be effective."

Key sticking points included how projects would be distributed and where the bank would be based, diplomats said.

Russian envoy to Africa Mikhail Margelov told AFP his country had pushed for a more incremental approach.

"We believe in a step by step way of doing business," he said.

The outcome of the summit will fuel suspicions that a grouping as diverse as BRICS will struggle to take concrete action to bolster its demands for a say in world affairs that reflects their growing clout.

"It's far from clear how or where there will be agreement on this institution at all," said Peter Attard Montalto of Nomura bank.

"It may well be five years or so before a development bank is really getting off the ground."

Despite the BRICS' failure to sign off on a deal, leaders insisted the grouping would be a force in world politics.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who underscored the growing importance his country attached to the group by making Durban his first summit destination in his new role as head of state, admitted the BRICS countries had a long road ahead.

"The potential of BRICS development is infinite," he said. "The real potential of BRICS cooperation is yet to be realised."

Together the BRICS economies account for 25 per cent of global output and 40 per cent of the world's population.

Leaders hailed a slew of accords reached at the summit, including progress toward establishing a $US100-billion virtual reserve fund to fight potential liquidity crises.

The next BRICS summit will be in Brazil in 2014, but its leaders will also meet in Russia on the margins of the G20 in September.

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Vic govt, teachers agree to more talks

VICTORIA'S teachers and government have agreed to intensive negotiations to end a long-running pay dispute.

The teachers' union will hold talks with the government over the next two weeks with the aim of resolving the disagreement before April 15.

The parties released identical statements on Thursday calling the development "significant progress".

The union has agreed to suspend its industrial action during the talks.

Several statewide strikes have been held during the dispute, which has dogged the state government for the past two years.

The government last week backed down on its demand for the teachers to accept performance-based pay.

The union revised its claim to the government in November, asking for a 4.2 per cent rise per year over three years.

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LNP must have told Newman about Driscoll

QUEENSLAND'S opposition leader says Premier Campbell Newman must have been told about complaints against suspended MP Scott Driscoll.

The rookie MP was suspended from the Liberal National Party (LNP) this week after months of allegations of improper business dealings.

He's accused of writing to Woolworths in November on behalf of the Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association, which he previously headed but denies controlling since becoming an MP.

State Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says Mr Newman must have been made aware of the allegations.

"Why would the Liberal National Party not tell the premier that there were issues surrounding the member for Redcliffe?" she told reporters in Cairns on Wednesday.

"It is quite clear now that the LNP is running a protection racket around Scott Driscoll."

Ms Palaszczuk says the LNP should report the allegations to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

She says Mr Newman hasn't reacted to the reports "in the right way" and should take responsibility for Mr Driscoll.

"Does no one in government accept any responsibility for what has been happening in relation to this member?"

However, Mr Newman insists the government has dealt with the issue appropriately.

"I'm really happy that we've suspended him from the party, and he's no longer a member of the government and the matters can be investigated," he said.

Mr Newman didn't say when, or if, the LNP passed on allegations about the MP to him.

"As far as I'm concerned the matters have been dealt with properly.

"Every time an allegation has been made it's been referred to the relevant authorities."

LNP President Bruce McIver was more than cagey when questioned about how the party dealt with Woolworths' concerns.

Mr McIver continually repeated his mantra that "all the information has been given to the relevant authorities".

But he would not say who passed on the information, when it was passed on, or what authorities he was talking about.

Mr McIver did say, however, that the LNP didn't relay Woolworths' concerns to Mr Newman in November when they come to light.

"The information that we had was not something that we had to pass on to the premier at that time," he said.

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NZ investigating quake fraud cases

NEW Zealand authorities are investigating two "very big" cases of alleged fraud by contractors working on the Christchurch rebuild.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says 20 cases have been handed over to police and so far four have been successfully prosecuted.

"There are two very big cases being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office at the present time and there is a file of numerous other cases where there are discrepancies in invoicing," he told parliament on Wednesday.

"All agencies are working collaboratively to investigate and prosecute these cases."

Mr Brownlee was answering questions from NZ First leader Winston Peters, who asked whether he agreed with a KPMG estimate that rebuild fraud could reach $NZ1.5 billion ($A1.21 billion).

Mr Brownlee said the estimate came from an analysis of projects of the same size that had been undertaken elsewhere in the world.

The rebuild is costing about $NZ30 billion.

Mr Peters tabled a complaint to the police regarding the alleged falsification of time sheets by Southern Demolition and Salvage Ltd.

"If companies such as Southern Demolition and Salvage Ltd are found to have committed fraud, will they be removed from the list of accredited contractors on the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority website?" he asked.

Mr Brownlee replied: "Yes."

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Schapelle Corby's sister bashed in Bali

THE sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has been assaulted in Bali.

Mercedes Corby is in Kasih Ibu (Mother Love) Hospital , staff have confirmed to AAP.

"We have admission under the name Mercedes Corby in room 407," a hospital employee said.

"She's suspectedly suffered bone fracture."

The hospital said Ms Corby may have to undergo surgery.

"That's all we can say for now."

It is understood Ms Corby suffered her injuries during an assault in Bali.

The sisters' mother Rosleigh Rose confirmed the incident to news.com.au, but said her daughter wanted privacy.

An Australian man told the website that he witnessed the incident in Bali, saying "she had blood all over her face and her eyes were closed."

Mercedes Corby is married to a Balinese man and lives on the Indonesian island.

The hospital now says Mercedes Corby will probably be released from hospital on Tuesday.

Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years jail in Kerobokan prison for smuggling four kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia in 2004, a term reduced by five years through clemency.

Earlier this month the Australian government offered a guarantee to Indonesia that if Corby was granted an early release she would not breach parole conditions.

However, authorities in Indonesia want the 35-year-old to admit to bing a drug trafficker before she is given parole.

Her sister's Balinese husband, Wayan Widyartha, has provided a letter confirming she would be able to live with them if released.

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Seven suicide bombers attack Afghan police

A GROUP of seven suicide bombers have attacked a police base in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing five officers, police say.

One bomber set off a large explosion at the entrance of the quick reaction police headquarters before two bombers blew themselves up inside the facility and four others died in a gun fight with police.

"The first one detonated a car bomb; two others entered the base and detonated themselves and the remaining four were shot dead," Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the Nangarhar province police spokesman, told AFP on Tuesday.

The Taliban militants immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming that it had targeted "foreigners and Israeli teachers" training Afghan police at the base in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar.

"There are heavy police casualties," the group said.

Jalalabad is situated on the key route from the Pakistan border regions, where many militants are based, to the capital Kabul, and the city has been targeted by repeated suicide attacks in recent years.

The last attack was on February 24 when a bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gates of the walled compound of the National Directorate of Security spy agency and detonated his bombs, killing two intelligence workers.

Nine Taliban suicide attackers also targeted the NATO base at Jalalabad city airport in early December, killing five people and wounding several foreign troops.

All the attackers in that assault were also killed, some blowing themselves up in two vehicles at the perimeter gate and others shot as they attempted to storm the base. It was the third attack on Jalalabad airport in 2012.

The hardline Taliban Islamists have waged an 11-year insurgency against the Afghan government, which is backed by 100,000 NATO troops, since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Tuesday's attack came as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kabul, 150 kilometres west of Jalalabad, for talks with President Hamid Karzai as NATO-led forces prepare to withdraw in 2014.

Afghan soldiers and police are taking responsibility for the fight against the Taliban as international troops leave, but local forces are poorly-trained and fears are growing that Afghanistan could tip into further instability.

Kerry said the US would support the country after NATO combat operations wind down, telling Karzai that Washington was "committed to Afghanistan's sovereignty and we will not let al-Qaeda or the Taliban shake this commitment".

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New CSG pipeline approved in Qld

A BILLION dollar gas pipeline has been approved by the Queensland government.

Environment Minister Andrew Powell gave the go-ahead to Arrow Energy's Bowen Pipeline Project on Monday.

The 580-kilometre buried pipeline would deliver coal seam gas from the Bowen Basin to a proposed LNG plant at Gladstone.

Mr Powell said it would involve a capital investment of approximately $1 billion and generate around 700 new jobs.

The pipeline now requires federal government approval.

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No comment on Shearer's problems: Clark

FORMER New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has again refused to comment on embattled NZ opposition leader David Shearer.

The Labour Party leader has been under fire for failing to include his New York bank account on the NZ parliament's pecuniary interest register up until recently.

Ms Clark, former Labour PM, was asked if Mr Shearer had made a grave error ahead of her business leaders forum address in Brisbane on Monday.

She refused to comment, saying, "I've never commented on New Zealand politics since I left because once you leave, you leave."

Mr Shearer said the US bank account was used for his salary from the UN, where he worked prior to becoming an MP.

Ms Clark now works for the UN as its Development Program administrator.

A blog called UNDPwatch says she's receiving a housing subsidy of $US240,000 plus a salary ranging from $US415,000 to $US508,411.

When asked if she was being rewarded too generously for her job advocating for the world's poor, Ms Clark said "no".

"I think I earn my salary," she said.

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Papers link top China university to army

RESEARCHERS at one of China's top universities collaborated with a Chinese army unit accused of carrying out hacking attacks on the United States, academic papers published online show.

The elite Shanghai Jiaotong University conducted network security research with People's Liberation Army (PLA) Unit 61398, the co-authored papers accessed by AFP Sunday reveal.

A US security company said last month that the army unit, also based in China's commercial hub Shanghai, was behind serial hacking attacks on US firms, sparking a war of words between the two powers.

Last week US President Barack Obama raised cybersecurity with China's new President Xi Jinping. China has denied that it engages in hacking and claims its military is a victim of cyberattacks mostly originating in the US.

Several researchers at Shanghai Jiaotong's School of Information Security Engineering (SISE) published research with members of Unit 61938, with projects dating back to 2007, the papers easily accessed online show.

Subjects of the joint research include the design of an "intrusion monitoring system" for computer networks and ways to evaluate "attack graphs", which show how an adversary can break into a computer system.

None of the papers described plans to carry out cyberattacks on foreign targets.

The university was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Xue Zhi, a co-author of one of the papers and SISE's vice-president, is the developer of China's leading "cyber-penetration attack platform", according to the university's website.

Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of China's flagship educational institutions, and has attracted members of China's business and political elite, with former President Jiang Zemin amongst its alumni.

The US Department of Defence has approved a fivefold expansion of its cybersecurity force to include 4,900 troops and civilians over the coming years in response to growing online threats, The Washington Post reported in January.

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Syria rebels seize key military base

Syrian rebel fighters say they have seized an air base in the southern province of Daraa. Source: AAP

REBELS fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have seized a key air base in the southern Syrian province of Daraa after two weeks of fierce battles with loyalist troops, a watchdog says.

Meanwhile, in Damascus's ancient Umayyad mosque, thousands of Assad supporters attended the funeral of pro-regime Sunni cleric Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti and his grandson, who died in a Thursday suicide bombing that killed some 50 people.

"Opposition fighters loyal to Al-Nusra Front, Al-Yarmuk Brigade and other rebel groups seized air defence Base 38 near the town of Saida, on the road linking Damascus to Amman, in the province of Daraa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The seizure came "after 16 days of fighting," said the Britain-based group.

At least seven rebels were killed in their final assault, said the Observatory, which also documented the deaths of at least eight regime troops including an officer.

"Dozens of prisoners were freed from the base's headquarters," it said.

Amateur video filmed by rebels and distributed by the Observatory showed the bloodied, mutilated corpse of a man identified as Mahmud Darwish, an officer.

Activists also distributed footage showing a group of men, most of them bearded, being set free.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said the rebels also captured a checkpoint in the Daraa town of Sahem al-Golan.

The Observatory later reported rebels captured a second checkpoint east of Sahem al-Golan.

Amateur video showed rebels seizing at least two regime tanks and several military vehicles after they captured the checkpoint.

"I swear to God, we are coming for you, O Bashar," a rebel said in a video distributed by anti-regime activists.

The rebel advances came days after rebels seized a border crossing on the frontier with Jordan, said the Observatory.

A security source in Damascus said this week Jordan was allowing jihadist fighters and arms bought by Saudi Arabia from Croatia to be smuggled into Syria.

In Quneitra, in the southwest, at least 35 rebels were killed on Wednesday and Thursday fighting troops loyal to Assad, said the Observatory.

Some 20 other fighters were also believed dead after battles in majority Druze villages in Quneitra province, which lays on the sensitive ceasefire line with Israel.

Gunfire from Syria hit Israeli army vehicles travelling in the southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, causing some damage but no casualties, the army there said.

Israel is closely monitoring its border with Syria and fears that jihadist elements from among the rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad might attempt to attack the Jewish state.

In the central city of Homs, troops pressed a relentless campaign against rebel enclaves after more than nine months of a suffocating siege by the army and security forces.

At Bouti's funeral in Damascus, Syria's top Sunni authority Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun called on "the Islamic and Arab world to save Syria, which is facing a global war.

"If Syria falls today you will be next," he said before thousands of mourners.

The ceremony was led by Toufiq Bouti, the dead sheikh's son, and representatives of key Damascus allies Iran and Hezbollah also attended.

The United Nations estimates that violence across Syria has killed at least 70,000 people since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

On Saturday alone, at least 64 people were killed in violence across Syria, according to the Observatory, which added that at least 24 of them were civilians.

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