Qld doctor accused of hog-tying 13yo boy

A Gold Coast doctor has appeared in court accused of assaulting a child patient in his clinic. Source: AAP

A GOLD Coast doctor has started his 59th birthday by appearing in court after being accused of hog-tying a child in his clinic.

The doctor, a long-serving paediatrician in Southport, is facing two counts of common assault and one count of deprivation of liberty after the incident in October last year.

It's alleged the doctor hog-tied the 13-year-old boy while his mother was present during a consultation.

In a brief mention at the Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday, the doctor's case was adjourned until November 11.

The doctor made no comment during the mention.

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Dominic Bird granted bail in Malaysia

PERTH man Dominic Bird has been granted bail in Malaysia but will not be allowed to return to Australia until the outcome of an appeal against his acquittal on drug trafficking charges that carry the death penalty.

The 33-year-old was set free two weeks ago after being found not guilty of supplying 167 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover police officer, but was re-arrested days later, just minutes before his flight to Perth was to depart after prosecutors launched an 11th hour appeal.

But the Malaysian Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed a request by prosecutors that Mr Bird be remanded until the appeal process, which is expected to take at least six months, runs its course.

Mr Bird must first come up with 50,000 Malaysian ringgit ($A16,000) in order to post bail, and will be required to report to police once a week.

He must also surrender his passport.

It's unclear in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's ruling if Mr Bird will be able to raise the $A16,000.

Prosecutors are yet to detail the grounds on which they will appeal the case, while the circumstances surrounding last week's drama have also prompted accusations from Mr Bird's lawyers that Malaysian authorities conspired to obtain an "unlawful" warrant for his arrest.

Mr Bird's lawyers also argue that, having been declared by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to be a free man, he should be allowed to return to Australia pending the outcome of the appeal.

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Bishop welcomes US-Russia deal on Syria

Incoming foreign minister Julie Bishop has welcomed the US-Russia deal on Syria's chemical weapons. Source: AAP

INCOMING foreign minister Julie Bishop has welcomed a "significant" deal between the US and Russia that could see Syria stripped of its chemical weapons.

The new accord gives Syria a week to provide details of its chemical weapons stockpile, and requires that international inspectors are given complete access to them.

The goal is to have the weapons removed by the middle of next year, but Barack Obama has warned if Syria doesn't uphold its end of the bargain the US could still use military force.

Ms Bishop on Sunday said the deal was a "positive step in the right direction", and praised the US over its handling of the crisis.

"It is as a result, I believe, of the United States making it quite clear that they would use military force if need be," she told Network Ten on Sunday.

Australia has assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council until the end of the month, and could be called to act on behalf of countries pushing the case for a strike against Syria.

Syria's ally Russia would likely veto any such motion, but Ms Bishop said in the past the president of the council had been asked to prepare a statement on behalf of the majority of nations.

"First things first, we want to see how this agreement between the US and Russia plays out," she said.

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Cunliffe elected leader of NZ Labour Party

NEW Zealand's opposition Labour Party has elected David Cunliffe as its new leader, following a campaign that involved rank-and-file members taking part in the ballot for the first time.

Labour MP Grant Robertson conceded defeat to Mr Cunliffe, saying he will be an excellent leader, while Shane Jones tweeted "Congratulations to our new rangatira".

The three men had contested the leadership when David Shearer announced his resignation three weeks ago after failing to lift Labour's poll results during his 20 months at the helm.

Mr Robertson is pledging his "100 per cent loyalty" to Mr Cunliffe.

Mr Cunliffe said the party would focus on winning the 2014 election.

"We must beat (Prime Minister) John Key in 2014 and we will only do that by mobilising the entire party, the affiliates, the membership and the caucus," he said.

Mr Cunliffe got 51.15 per cent of the first round of the vote, Mr Robertson got 32.97 per cent and Mr Jones got 15.88 per cent.

It is the first time Labour's wider membership have had a say on the leadership, who has previously been chosen by MPs.

MPs and party members get 40 per cent of the vote each and affiliated unions get 20 per cent.

Mr Cunliffe said his win marked a new day for the party, and he believed he could unite the caucus - despite winning less support from MPs than Mr Robertson.

Pointing out that Sunday is the International Day of Democracy, Mr Cunliffe said Labour has proven its critics wrong by holding a democratic leadership election process without tearing itself apart.

"Grant Robertson and Shane Jones are two of the finest, most gifted politicians of our generation. Our respect for each other has only grown during this contest," Mr Cunliffe said.

Despite receiving just 32.35 per cent of caucus' first preference votes, compared with 47.06 per cent for Mr Robertson and 20.59 per cent for Mr Jones, Mr Cunliffe said he was confident the caucus would unite behind him.

Mr Robertson was the preferred candidate within caucus but missed out on votes from party members and affiliated unions, who overwhelmingly favoured Mr Cunliffe.

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Syria conference could be in October: Ban

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he hopes to have a peace conference on Syria in October. Source: AAP

THE head of the United Nations says he hopes to have a second peace conference on Syria next month, although much still remains to be worked out.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview with France 24 news channel that he had spoken with UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Friday morning and that "we are targeting to do it sometime in October".

Brahimi is in Geneva along with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who are in talks about how best to secure Syria's chemical weapons.

Ban said details to be worked out ahead of the conference - which also would take place in Geneva - including whether Syria's ally Iran should participate, and who should represent the opposition.

The UN chief is expected to present a report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria to the Security Council on Monday morning.

The UN inspectors have a mandate to determine whether chemical weapons were used an attack in a suburb of Damascus on August 21 that killed hundreds.

However, diplomats have said the report could also point to the perpetrators.

The chief chemical weapons inspector, Ake Sellstrom, has said he will deliver his report on the attack to Ban in New York this weekend.

Two UN diplomats said late on Friday that Ban was expected to brief the council about it on Monday morning.

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United honours $5 tickets after web glitch

United Airlines says it will accept tickets it mistakenly offered online at the wrong prices. Source: AAP

US flight company United Airlines says it will accept tickets it mistakenly sold this week for next to nothing.

A pricing error on the company's website on Thursday left lucky travellers paying only the security fee of $5 ($A5.40) or $10 ($10.80) on domestic flights.

"We've reviewed the error that occurred yesterday and based on these specific circumstances, we will honour the tickets," the company posted on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Some of the tickets - such as from east coast cities to Hawaii - would normally have cost close to $1000.

The company did not say how many tickets had been sold at the wrong prices.

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Albanese runs for Labor leadership

ANTHONY Albanese believes he's the best candidate to lead Labor back into government at the next election.

The former deputy prime minister has the policy credentials and has experience across a range of portfolios, he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

The 50-year-old will run against Bill Shorten in a ballot involving both caucus and rank and file Labor members.

MORE TO COME

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Suicide attack on US consulate in Afghan

HEAVILY armed gunmen in suicide vests have detonated a truck bomb outside the US consulate in the Afghan city of Herat, sparking a shootout with American forces.

US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf says there are no American casualties and the US embassy in Kabul confirmed on Twitter that all consulate staff are safe.

Herat, in western Afghanistan near the Iranian border, is considered one of the least volatile cities in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are fighting a 12-year insurgency.

The front gate of the US consulate has been "extensively" damaged, Harf has told reporters.

Afghan officials say at least one person has been killed and 18 others wounded.

An AFP reporter at the scene says one vehicle has been completely destroyed. Four Afghan policemen are among the wounded, Herat hospital spokesman Mohammad Rafiq Sherzai says.

The US State Department says the attack started at 5:30am on Friday when the gunmen, dressed in suicide vests, drove up to the front gate in a truck, opened fire and then detonated the truck bomb.

American and contracted security personnel reacted to the attack but the assault is over, Harf said.

"It appears American and contract security personnel addressed any attackers who managed to enter the compound," she added, giving no further details.

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Shorten will stand for Labor leadership

BILL Shorten will stand for the Labor leadership, saying he wants to lead the rebuilding of the party and take the fight up to the coalition.

Mr Shorten said he was running because he believed Labor could win the next election.

Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday he wanted to help protect the people who will be hurt most by the policies of Tony Abbott's government.

He said Labor must stand up and fight for what it believed in and not automatically assume the road back to government should be long.

"I believe that Labor can win the battle of ideas and put our party back into serious contention for the next election," he said.

Mr Shorten said it was devastating to have lost the election and he was under no illusion about the task ahead.

Labor needed to learn the lessons of the defeat.

"We cannot afford to sit back and bide our time in opposition," Mr Shorten said.

"Labor cannot afford it, but, more importantly, Australia can't afford for Labor to sit back and assume we can't win the next election."

Taking a dig at the leadership instability of the past three years, Mr Shorten said Labor could win next time "if we are the party of ideas, not just personalities".

"I shall submit myself to caucus colleagues and to thousands of Labor party members across Australia and I welcome this ballot and the opportunity to start the momentum so that Labor can win the next election," he said.

Mr Shorten said he wanted to grow Labor's membership and the party needed to reach out beyond its usual constituencies.

"To do this Labor must reignite the passion of our base," he said.

"We must fight as hard as we can to protect those who the Abbott government's policies will hurt the most.

He said it was healthy to have a ballot of the members but once their verdict was in the members should accept it.

Mr Shorten said if former Labor deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese stood for the leadership he would be an "excellent candidate".

"If he was successful I would certainly work with him and accept the verdict of the members," he said.

"The Labor party would be very well served."

He said any ballot must be conducted with a new civility.

"People want to hear Labor talk about ideas," he said.

"They don't want to hear us talk about ourselves."

Asked who would be his deputy, Mr Shorten said while there had not been any nominations, it would be a positive move if outgoing health minister Tanya Plibersek put her hand up.

"I think she would be a very strong part of the leadership proposition which would interest the Australian electorate," he said.

Mr Shorten said he would leave it to others to announce if they were running.

Ultimately caucus would decide matters of policy such as whether it would oppose moves to repeal the carbon tax, he said.

"I do not believe it is good politics or indeed a good vision for Australia to defer to the next generation dealing with the problems of this generation," he said.

"And Labor has a mandate for its views on carbon pricing pollution."

Mr Shorten said the ballot process could unite the party and its purpose.

"I will not sit idly by and watch the wrecker of Australian politics tear down the accomplishments of the last six years," Mr Shorten said.

These included the NBN, the disability insurance scheme, better schools, a fairer go at work and the price on carbon.

Mr Shorten said he did not believe Labor's disunity cost it the election, although the perception of disunity stopped people listening to it on other matters.

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Abbott makes boat plan top priority

Prime minister-elect Tony Abbott is expected to lay out his "stop the boats" plan next week. Source: AAP

PRIME minister-elect Tony Abbott is expected to lay out his "stop the boats" plan next week, after the swearing in of his new frontbench.

Mr Abbott on Wednesday met with the secretary of the Defence Department Denis Richardson, defence chief General David Hurley and vice chief Mark Binksin in Canberra.

The Abbott government's border protection strategy - codenamed Operation Sovereign Borders - will be led by a three-star general, who is yet to be named and could be a two-star officer from the army, navy or air force promoted into the new role.

Mr Abbott has already had initial talks about his government's priorities and co-operation with Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill.

It is expected Mr Abbott could visit Jakarta just before attending the APEC leaders' forum in Bali from October 7-8.

Mr Abbott has made it known his border protection policy will be the first cab off the rank after his new ministry is sworn in early next week.

The policy is expected to include escorting boats back to Indonesian waters where it is safe to do so, toughening visa conditions and offshore processing.

Mr Abbott said at the defence briefing on Wednesday that "economic strength, social cohesion and national security" were core government policy.

"Our armed forces are certainly not large by international standards but they are universally admired as being as good as anyone in the roles that we play and that is very much to your credit," he told the chiefs.

"I hope you will let your services know that the new government wishes to work in ways which will respect their professionalism and which will improve their capabilities."

Mr Abbott is also putting the finishing touches to his frontbench, which could be announced at the weekend before being sworn in early next week.

He has already signalled there won't be major changes from his shadow ministry lineup.

One frontbencher whose position is in doubt is Sophie Mirabella, who could lose her Victorian seat of Indi.

If veteran MP Bronwyn Bishop is elected Speaker, she will also create a vacancy.

Work is under way on creating an indigenous advisory council, chaired by former ALP president Warren Mundine.

Climate change policy is also the subject of talks with the public service, with multiple layers of environmental and industry bureaucracy likely to be shrunk.

Mr Abbott has yet to make a decision on where he will live, but Sydney's Kirribilli is the more likely choice while The Lodge in Canberra undergoes lengthy maintenance and renovations.

Two asylum seeker boats have arrived since Saturday's election with a total of 149 people on board.

They were intercepted on Sunday near Darwin and Christmas Island.

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