3 killed in southern Australia helicopter crash (AP)

SYDNEY – Three people were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Australia, police said Friday, with a prominent Australian journalist believed to be among the dead.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. said three members of its news crew, including veteran journalist Paul Lockyer, are believed to have died when their chopper crashed Thursday in a remote part of South Australia state.

Lockyer, cameraman John Bean and pilot Gary Ticehurst were working in the area on a story about Lake Eyre, a massive Outback lake, the ABC said.

South Australia police confirmed three people were killed in the accident and said they were investigating the cause of the crash.

A tour guide who had chatted with those on board shortly before they took off saw a large fireball in the distance soon after the helicopter departed, Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Smith said.

The crash site is surrounded by water and boggy land, making access to the area difficult, Smith said. The remoteness of the region was also making it tough to get in touch with investigators on the scene, he said.

"We are not expecting to have any positive news, any positive identification or the full extent of the detail for some time," Smith told reporters in Adelaide.

Lockyer was an award-winning journalist whose career spanned more than 40 years and included assignments in Washington and Asia.

Ticehurst was a well-known media pilot who worked for the ABC for more than 25 years. Bean, a Brisbane-based cameraman, was a 20-year veteran of the ABC who worked throughout Australia, the Pacific and in Washington.

"This has been the longest of nights and we fear it will be the saddest of days," ABC managing director Mark Scott said.

Yahoo! News

Australia PM hails coal deal amid poll slump (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday hailed a record coal mining bid as proof the key resources sector would thrive, shrugging off a slump in the polls over her plans for a pollution tax.

Gillard said the joint Aus$4.68 billion (US$5.0 billion) bid for Macarthur Coal from European steelmaking giant ArcelorMittal and US mining firm Peabody defied industry claims that a new carbon emissions tax would hurt the sector.

"We are seeing the biggest takeover bid in Australian history for a coal company," she told public broadcaster ABC.

"You couldn't get a better indication that business people see a good future in coal mining in this country."

Gillard unveiled a controversial new Aus$23-per-tonne levy on the nation's top 500 polluters on Sunday in a bid to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming, starting July 1 next year.

Australia is one of the world's worst per capita polluters due to its reliance on mining exports and coal-fired power, and the heavyweight coal industry says the new tax will shut mines and cost thousands of jobs.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said the Macarthur takeover, which will be the biggest ever of an Australian coal miner if it goes ahead, showed offshore companies stood ready to move in on firms left vulnerable by the carbon levy.

Coal industry chief Ralph Hillman said "internal dynamics" of the bid had dictated its timing, not the tax, which he said would cause high-cost operations to shut and other projects to be put aside.

But Gillard said it underscored the prospects of the coal sector, which has been promised an Aus$1.3 billion buffer package to ensure no jobs are lost as the tax comes in.

"You have to track where the money is going... it's going into buying an Australian mining business," Gillard said. "People would only do that if they thought it had a great future."

Gillard is blitzing the nation with an election-style campaign hoping to win support for her plan from a sceptical public, with a poll published Tuesday showing just 30 percent of voters were in favour and 59 percent against.

The Newspoll survey of 1,203 Australians, taken ahead of Gillard's unveiling of the tax's full details Sunday, put her ruling Labor party's first preference vote at just 27 percent, the lowest in the poll's history.

Abbott's Liberal/National Coalition rose three points to 49 percent compared with the last survey two weeks ago, and Abbott led Gillard as preferred prime minister, 43 percent to 38 percent.

If an election were held today Abbott would storm into government with a landslide, according to the Newspoll, which was published alongside dire predictions for the already embattled aviation and tourism industries.

Natural disasters in the country's north and the rallying Australian dollar has hammered domestic tourism, and industry experts said operators such as fuel-dependent dive boats on the Great Barrier Reef would suffer from the plan.

"This tax may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back," said the Australian Tourism Export Council.

Gillard insisted she was not shaken by the polls and denied losing the public's confidence.

"Reform is difficult and this nation is a better place today because hard reforms were faced up to yesterday," she said.

"I will be leading this country to a clean energy future, that's what I'm determined to do."

Yahoo! News

Australia grounds Tiger Airways over safety fears (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Aviation regulators grounded budget carrier Tiger Airways Australia Saturday because it posed a "serious and imminent risk to air safety", throwing the travel plans of thousands of people into chaos.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said Tiger's domestic services had been suspended with immediate effect following a series of incidents that had raised questions about its airworthiness.

The first grounding of an entire airline in Australian aviation history, the ban is for an initial five working days, after which officials can apply for a court-enforced extension to allow for further safety investigations.

A subsidiary of Singapore's Tiger Airways, Tiger Australia operates about 60 domestic flights a day, moving up to 9,000 passengers.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said about 35,000 people would be affected by the week-long ban, which he described as an "extremely regrettable" but necessary step.

CASA said it was considering applying for an extension and warned that Tiger's licence to fly was at stake, though that was "not so much in contemplation at this point".

"What we're looking at now is do we need more time to work on what response we're going to have to this situation, and if we do how much time, and putting an argument to the court to get that time," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told AFP.

The engineers' union said Tiger was likely to remain grounded for "weeks".

"They have quite a way to go before they can satisfy the regulator that their aircraft are going to be in a fit state to fly," said union chief Steve Purvinas.

Australian authorities have been closely monitoring Tiger and issued the airline a "show cause" notice in March threatening to vary, suspend or cancel its licence over safety worries.

It was ordered to improve the proficiency of its pilots, boost pilot training and checking procedures, address fatigue management issues and ensure "appropriately qualified people fill management and operational positions".

CASA also ordered improvements to the airline's "maintenance control and ongoing airworthiness systems."

"Since Tiger Airways Australia was served the show cause notice there have been further events raising concerns about the airline?s ability to continue to conduct operations safely," the regulator said.

"CASA believes permitting the airline to continue to fly poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety," it added.

Barry Jackson, head of the pilots' union, said the move was a "wake-up call" for the industry and backed their claims that budget airlines were eroding national safety standards.

Tiger said the suspension related to "two recent operational incidents" -- reportedly involving aircraft flying dangerously low -- and it would cooperate fully with CASA.

"In the meantime the airline is doing all it can to minimise passenger disruption, especially for passengers who are travelling this weekend and over the next week," Tiger said, promising full refunds or ticket credits.

The grounding comes at the beginning of the extra busy school holiday period, throwing travel plans into chaos.

Budget rivals Jetstar and Virgin both promised to lay on extra flights to help stranded passengers and said they would offer special fares to those hit by the Tiger ban. Flag carrier Qantas also offered discount flights.

Qantas engineers called off strike action scheduled for next week at the request of the government to ensure disruptions were kept to a minimum.

"All our actions for next week have now been cancelled," said Purvinas.

But there were angry scenes at the nation's airports, where many passengers only learned their flights had been axed when they arrived to check in.

"You get here and then they're banned, 'sorry no flights'," said one woman. "This is just pathetic."

The ban comes at a fraught time for Australia's aviation sector, with industrial unrest brewing at Qantas and airlines still reeling from the unprecedented chaos caused by Chile's ash cloud.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded following the eruption of the Puyehue volcano, costing airlines tens of millions of dollars at a time they are already suffering from high oil prices and a surging Australian dollar.

Qantas has estimated losses at more than $200 million this year due to the Chilean ash, local floods and earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand.

Yahoo! News

Australia suspends Tiger domestic flights (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's air safety regulator has ordered budget carrier Tiger Airways Australia to suspend all domestic flights from Saturday while it investigates two "operational incidents", the airline said.

Tiger, whose parent company is Singaporean, said in a statement on its website that the ban by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) would last until July 9.

The airline told passengers due to fly with it not to travel to the airport, apologising for "any inconvenience".

"The airline is doing all it can to minimise passenger disruption, especially for passengers who are travelling this weekend and over the next week," the statement said.

"Tiger Airways continues to cooperate fully with the industry regulator and safety underpins our operations at all times," it said, adding that its international services to and from Singapore were not affected.

The move came after CASA served Tiger with a "show cause" notice in April reportedly related to maintenance and pilot training and monitoring.

It was the first such notice to be issued to a major Australian airline since 2001, when CASA threatened to ground the now-defunct Ansett Airways over jet safety.

Tiger Airways Australia is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Tiger Airways Holdings, which is part-owned by Singapore Airlines. It has been flying in Australia since 2007 and in March celebrated its seven-millionth passenger with a $1 fare sale across 19 domestic routes.

It describes itself as Australia's "only true low-fare airline" and has reportedly driven down domestic ticket prices by 30 percent since entering the market.

Yahoo! News

Australia to deport British rapist (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia is on Saturday preparing to deport a British man who served 12 years in prison for the torture and rape of a woman in a case likened to the film "The Silence of the Lambs".

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said Leslie Cunliffe's visa had been revoked following his release on parole in April, and deportation proceedings were under way.

"I?ve considered the case quite closely. It wasn?t pleasant reading, I must say," Bowen said late Friday.

"But I read all the file notes and all the case history and came to conclusion that I did: that he?s not somebody who?s fit and proper, of good character to stay in Australia."

Cunliffe, dubbed the "Silence of the Lambs" rapist by Australian authorities, posed as a policeman to abduct a 21-year-old woman at gunpoint from the southern city of Geelong in 1999 and locked her in a backyard shed with padded walls.

The woman was tied to a bolted-down chair with her eyes and mouth taped shut and she was raped and tortured over several hours before Cunliffe strapped a fake bomb to her, stripped her from the waist and took photos to demand a Aus$1 million (US$665,000 at the time) ransom.

She managed to escape when Cunliffe went out to buy food and a woman heard her screams for help.

Bowen said Cunliffe was arrested this week and locked up in immigration detention while arrangements were made with the British authorities for his repatriation, which he warned could take some weeks.

The victim's family was pleased and relieved, added Bowen.

"It?s been a very stressful period for them and obviously a difficult period as they waited to see what decision I might make," he said.

Yahoo! News

Heavy rain floods part of east Australia; 2K flee (AP)

SYDNEY – Heavy rain has caused flooding in eastern Australia that has forced 2,000 people to leave their homes and isolated thousands of other residents.

Michael Gallacher, the emergency services minister for New South Wales, declared some northern parts of the state disaster areas Wednesday. Heavy rain has fallen for three days and more was expected overnight.

Greg Gill of New South Wales emergency services described flooded areas as "just a sea of water" and said 10,000 people were isolated. Many roads are impassable, and swollen rivers are still rising.

Police reported one death, a driver killed when a tree fell and struck his car Wednesday morning.

Yahoo! News

Arsenic scare prompts evacuation in Australia (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian officials on Sunday urged residents and visitors to a remote outback cattle station to leave, after a number were found to have high levels of arsenic in their blood.

The Northern Territory coroner has declared Mount Bundy Station, 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Darwin, a restricted area and called for the 140 residents to be evacuated.

"The evacuation was a precautionary measure to ensure people's safety and limit any further people from being potentially exposed to the arsenic source," Darwin Police Commander Kym Davies said.

A 17-year-old boy from Mount Bundy Station died in May, and while no official cause of death has been identified, arsenic poisoning is thought to have contributed to the death.

Eight other long-term residents of the station have been found to have elevated levels of arsenic in their system, police said, adding that the cattle station would remain closed until the arsenic source was found.

"Prolonged exposure is usually needed to record elevated levels of arsenic," said Northern Territory Chief Health Officer Doctor Barbara Paterson.

"All of the eight people who have recorded elevated arsenic levels have received medical attention and will be offered follow-up attention."

Arsenic is naturally occurring and chronic exposure to the element is linked with cancers of the liver, kidney, bladders and skin, as well as heart disease.

Fatal arsenic poisoning is rare in Australia, with a Royal Darwin Hospital spokeswoman saying there were only two such deaths between 1964 and 2007.

Yahoo! News

More than 900 saxophonists in Australia set record (AP)

SYDNEY – Six-year-olds with saxophones hanging past their knees have joined more seasoned professionals as saxophonists in Australia set a world record by forming the largest ensemble of the jazz instrument in history.

More than 900 sax enthusiasts gathered at Sydney's Cockle Bay wharf Saturday to belt out "Waltzing Matilda" and "Happy Birthday," in celebration of the opening of the Darling Harbour Jazz and Blues Festival.

According to James Valentine of Australian public broadcaster ABC, a record 940 musicians performed. The old record was 918 participants, led by conductor Jin-Shin You at the Taizhong Jazz Festival in Taiwan in 2008.

Yahoo! News

100 detainees riot at Australia immigration centre (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Police used pepper spray and "bean bag" rounds Friday to quell up to 100 rioting asylum seekers at Australia's troubled Christmas Island detention centre.

Some of the rioters were armed with metal poles and pieces of concrete and pelted police and security guards during the unrest that began late Thursday, the Australian Federal Police said.

One guard was injured, but not seriously.

The centre was brought under control but two men remain on a rooftop.

"Order has been restored and the situation I'm advised now at Christmas Island is calm," Immigration Minister Chris Bowen told Sky News.

"But of course we remain very focused on managing the issue in relation to the disturbances."

It was not clear what sparked the unrest although March riots at the facility began as a protest against the lengthy processing of detainees' refugee status claims.

Detention is mandatory for boatpeople arriving in Australia and most are taken to remote Christmas Island, leaving facilities there stretched and the atmosphere tense.

Some asylum seekers have been on the island for 18 months, with a record 6,900 arrivals in 2010 choking the system.

Police said tear gas was not used but pepper spray and "bean bag" rounds -- fabric bags filled with bird shot and fired from a shotgun -- were.

"Some of the protesters armed themselves with improvised weapons such as metal poles and broken concrete," police said in a statement.

"During negotiations, some of the protesters began throwing projectiles at police and security guards."

The purpose-built Christmas Island facility, which sits on a small Indian Ocean outcrop some 2,650 kilometres (1,650 miles) northwest of Perth, was last rocked by riots in March.

Then, about 250 inmates set fire to accommodation tents and hurled makeshift explosives at police, prompting them to respond with tear gas.

Scores of inmates also escaped the complex, with some hiding in dense jungle for days.

A month later and similar scenes were witnessed at the Villawood detention centre in Sydney, where nine buildings were torched and a handful of asylum seekers staged a rooftop protest that lasted a week.

The latest unrest came as the United Nations stepped up criticism of Australia's refugee detention policy, warning there was "no empirical evidence" that locking up asylum seekers deterred irregular migration.

"Global migration statistics have been rising regardless of increasingly harsh governmental policies on detention," said the UN refugee agency's representative in Australia Richard Towle.

The problems continue to mount for the government with a rare case of leprosy detected at Villawood Friday while state broadcaster ABC said a Sri Lankan had begun a hunger strike a detention centre in Darwin.

Canberra is finalising a controversial plan to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia for processing in exchange for accepting some 4,000 of the Southeast Asian nation's already registered refugees.

The proposal has sparked controversy with concerns that the group could be mistreated with Malaysia not a signatory to the UN refugee convention.

Reports on Thursday said that rather than being sent to existing detention camps, they could spend six weeks in a new Australian-funded holding centre.

They would then be issued identity tags and released into the community, allowing them to avoid being treated as illegal immigrants under Malaysian law, which will protect them from the possibility of caning.

Yahoo! News

Indonesia to buy N.Zealand beef after Australia ban (AFP)

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesia said Wednesday it could buy more beef from New Zealand after Australia suspended live cattle exports due to concerns over animal cruelty.

Jakarta is not yet satisfied that a video showing brutal abuse of Australian cattle in Indonesian slaughterhouses is authentic, according to Agriculture ministry livestock department chief Prabowo Respatiyo Caturroso.

But he said the government was determined to improve butchering practices wherever cruelty was discovered.

"We have to respect the Australian government's decision to stop its live cattle exports to Indonesia," Caturroso told AFP.

"We're fully aware that we have to improve animal welfare in our abattoirs. Our investigators are still checking the accuracy of the video on cruel treatment of livestock here," he said.

Trade minister Mari Pangestu said that Indonesians should not worry about meat shortages following Australia's decision earlier Wednesday to ban all live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months.

"This is a temporary ban. We don't need to worry that we will have shortage of meat supply in the country, especially for holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday because our meat stock is more than enough," she said.

"As to animal welfare issue, the agriculture ministry will intensify its programs (to improve it). We'll cooperate and make coordination with Australia for capacity building in meeting the standard," she said.

Economics affairs coordinating minister Hatta Rajasa said Indonesia had to boost efforts to become self-sufficient in domestic meat supply and raise standards at abattoirs where necessary.

"But please don't generalise that all abattoirs here are bad," he said.

Australia's action came amid a public outcry over shocking images of the mistreatment of cows in slaughterhouses that were broadcast on state television.

Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said the trade, worth Aus$318 million a year (US$340 million), would not start again until safeguards were in place to ensure animal welfare in Indonesia.

The footage broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation included kicking, hitting, gouging of eyes and breaking of tails of some animals as Indonesian workers attempted to force them into slaughter boxes.

Australian cattle account for about a fifth of Indonesia's rising beef consumption, or around 500,000 head a year.

Indonesia has enough cattle of its own to make up the difference but they are not in commercially viable herds, Caturroso said. The export ban may spur local farmers to raise their game, he added.

"Surely, if Australia stops the export, New Zealand is ready to export more beef to Indonesia," he said, adding this would mean frozen beef as New Zealand does not export cattle for slaughter.

"I hope it won't give a significant impact as our population's beef consumption is relatively low. It's only 2.4 kilograms (five pounds) per capita annually."

Indonesia's parliament passed a law on livestock welfare in 2009 but it has not been implemented and no sanctions are in place for abattoirs that mistreat animals, despite the mainly Muslim's country's concerns about halal butchering.

Yahoo! News

Naked rower rescued off Australia after head cut (AP)

SYDNEY – An Irishman rowing naked across the Indian Ocean has been rescued off Australia after he hit his head in rough seas.

Keith Whelan stopped the bleeding himself after a swell threw him. He called a member of his team in Britain on Tuesday morning who notified Australian authorities. A cargo ship eventually picked him up.

Naomi Smith with the police in Perth said the injury was minor and Whelan is being taken to Bunbury on Australia's western coast — 370 miles (600 kilometers) south of Geraldton, where Whelan set off last month.

The 29-year-old wants to become the youngest person to sail from Australia to Mauritius, off Africa. But he's added another twist: He's not wearing clothes.

Bad weather has already forced Whelan back to shore once.

___

Online:

The Naked Adventurer: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_as/storytext/as_australia_naked_rower/41767230/SIG=114ti12s9/*http://www.thenakedadventurer.com/

Yahoo! News

Australia flood costs soar to Aus$7bn (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – The damage bill from massive floods which hit northeastern Australia a few months ago will likely be Aus$6.8 billion (US$7.3 billion) -- $1 billion more than previously thought -- an official said Sunday.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser revised the cost of the natural disaster which affected an area the size of France and Germany combined and was followed within days by the destructive Cyclone Yasi after getting further estimates.

"As well as the tragic human cost, there has also been enormous damage to infrastructure and significant costs incurred in managing the response and recovery process," Fraser said in a statement.

"Such a big damage bill underlines the enormity of the task ahead."

Australia suffered historic floods in December and January which swamped coal mines, ruined roads and other infrastructure and destroyed crops and farmland in Queensland.

The first estimate was that Aus$5.8 billion of damage had been caused by the floods which swamped thousands of homes and paralysed the state capital Brisbane.

Fraser said the revised figure was due to local councils increasing their estimate for repairs by $900 million to more than $2.7 billion.

The floods, which claimed more than 30 lives, also helped Australia's economy to its heaviest contraction for 20 years in the first three months of 2011, according to data released last week.

"It wasn't surprising the economy contracted by 1.2 percent in the quarter, with the floods and cyclones estimated to have sliced 1.7 percentage points from growth," national Treasurer Wayne Swan said in his weekly note.

Swan said the floods and cyclones in both northern and western Australia had cost $12 billion in lost production, some $6.7 billion of which was in the March quarter, chiefly in the key coal mining industry.

Australia is home to the world's largest coal export port and sends millions of tonnes of the fuel annually to Asian steelmakers and power companies, with total 2010 shipments worth Aus$43 billion.

Yahoo! News

Australia assures UN on Malaysia plan (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia vowed Saturday to work closely with the United Nations to ensure unaccompanied asylum seeker children sent to Malaysia were protected after the world body withdrew support for the scheme.

The UN's refugee agency UNHCR criticised Canberra's plan to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia after it emerged that the group would include lone children, saying it breached safeguards required for vulnerable groups.

The plan, under which Australia will accept 4,000 registered refugees from the Southeast Asian nation, has drawn heavy criticism from human rights advocates including Amnesty International and the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF.

Activists argue that Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and say asylum seekers could be mistreated there.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government would work closely with the UN to ensure processes were in place to protect the children, some of whom were girls as young as 12, but vowed to push ahead with the controversial plan.

"(The UNHCR) indicate that they want to see protections in place for vulnerable unaccompanied minors, and I agree with them," Bowen told reporters.

"They also say that it shouldn?t be difficult and would not be difficult to incorporate those, and I agree with them."

"We?ve been in close consultation and discussions with them and we?ll continue to do that. We?re all on the same page," he added.

Bowen said the "operational detail" about how to best protect individuals -- to be decided on a "case by case basis" -- was yet to be ironed out, but anyone considered vulnerable would be afforded "particular care" under the plan.

"We will consider, in those cases, if it is appropriate to transfer those people to Malaysia or to make other arrangements, and if they are transferred to Malaysia, what care and support needs to be put in place," he said.

"We?re in discussions with other countries around the region as well, and there would be options as to how to deal with these issues."

Bowen urged against a blanket rule excluding unaccompanied minors from the swap.

"It sends a message to people smugglers and asylum seekers that the way to get re-settlement to Australia is to send children who would then be accepted and then allow those children to sponsor the rest of the family," Bowen said.

The 18,000 refugee children currently living in Malaysia would be "heavily represented" in the 4,000 accepted by Australia, he added.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva Friday that the agency was "not able to lend our support to the text as it currently stands because of the absence of the operating protection safeguards we have been calling for".

"UNHCR has always stipulated that one of our specific requirements with regard to the transfers is that protection safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable groups, especially unaccompanied children," he added.

Refugees are a sensitive issue in Australia, where a record 6,900 illegal immigrants arrived by boat in 2010, mostly on rickety vessels from Indonesia and usually hailing from strife-torn Iraq, Afghanistan or Sri Lanka.

Canberra's plan to ship arrivals to Malaysia has been likened by some commentators to the previous government's "Pacific Solution" -- under which boatpeople were held on remote Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus island.

Branded "inhumane" by human rights groups, the harsh policy was repealed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard's centre-left Labor Party in 2007.

Yahoo! News

Cyber attacks constant, Australia says (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's attorney-general said cyber attacks had become so frequent that government and private networks were under "continuous threat", testing online security defences.

But Robert McClelland on Friday declined to single out China, at the centre of hacking allegations from Internet giant Google, saying the "Australian government's position is not to identify a source of suspected espionage."

"The reality is espionage can be unquestionably undertaken by other countries, by organised criminals, or indeed by business competitors," he said.

McClelland said it was "unquestionably" in Australia's interest to stay ahead of the evolving, and mounting, cyber threats, as he announced a white paper on the future of Australia's Internet security to be published in 2012.

"Security agencies are finding malicious activity is increasing to a point where systems in both government and the private sector are under continuous threat," he said in a speech to business leaders on cyber crime.

"The cyber threat to Australia is real, evolving and continuing to test our defences."

Foreign intelligence agencies, criminal organisations and commercial competitors were all to blame, with electronic spying cheap and low risk but with huge potential gains, he added.

Authorities estimate cyber crime worldwide to be worth several times more than the illegal drugs racket.

Woodside Petroleum's chief Don Voelte on Monday said the energy giant had suffered attacks from "everywhere", including eastern Europe, Russia and China, with Shell Australia also admitting cyber assaults.

The computers of Australia's prime minister, foreign and defence ministers were all suspected of being hacked in March, with China under suspicion.

Beijing has dismissed the allegations as "groundless and made out of ulterior purposes."

China also angrily rejected suggestions from Google this week that a cyber spying campaign targetting the Gmail accounts of senior US officials, military personnel, journalists and Chinese activists had originated in China.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Australia criticised over child refugees plan (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's plan to include children among 800 asylum seekers to be sent to Malaysia to have their refugee claims assessed was attacked by critics who said it may breach their human rights.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed that unaccompanied minors will be included in a plan to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia for processing.

In exchange, Australia will accept some 4,000 registered refugees from the Southeast Asian nation.

"I don't want unaccompanied minors, I don't want children getting on boats to come to Australia thinking or knowing that there is some sort of exemption in place," Bowen told ABC TV late Thursday.

Australia has already been criticised for the yet-to-be finalised scheme because Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, and following claims that asylum seekers sent to Malaysia could be caned.

Refugee advocates described the decision to include those aged under 18 in the "swap" as disappointing and potentially a breach of their human rights.

"Under Australian law the (immigration) minister is personally responsible as guardian for the welfare of unaccompanied children," David Manne, from the Melbourne-based Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, told AFP.

"These children are here now, the minister has a legal responsibility to act in their best interests," he said.

"And it's difficult to see how it could be best for these children to be expelled from Australia to a country that has such a consistently poor record in the treatment of refugees, including children."

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugees Action Coalition, said the issue highlighted the problems inherent in sending boatpeople offshore for processing.

"I think it shows the human rights tragedy of trying to trade off the rights of one group against another group," he told AFP.

Amnesty International and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Australia also called on the government to reconsider the decision, saying Canberra would be placing young people in a vulnerable situation.

"To send children to a country where there are no guarantees of access to an education, health care and welfare is seemingly a breach of our legal obligations, as well as lacking care and compassion," UNICEF Australia chief executive Norman Gillespie said in a statement.

The government said while it had been a difficult decision it would prevent children risking their lives making the perilous boat journey to Australia, adding that the human rights of all asylum seekers would be respected.

Defending his decision, Bowen said he never wanted Australia to again have to bury children as a result of a boat accident, as happened in December when a wooden vessel carrying about 90 asylum seekers sank at Christmas Island.

That vessel disintegrated after smashing into cliffs in rough seas, throwing all onboard in the water and claiming almost 50 lives, including those of children and babies.

Bowen said the deal with Malaysia would reflect a commitment to all asylum seekers being treated with dignity and respect.

The number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat topped 6,800 in 2010 and so far some 1,437 passengers have arrived on illegal boats this year.

Canberra's plan to halt the arrivals by sending the asylum seekers offshore has been compared by media here to the previous government's "Pacific Solution" under which boatpeople were held on the tiny state of Nauru and Manus island in Papua New Guinea while their claims were assessed.

That policy was branded "inhumane" by human rights groups before it was repealed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard's centre-left Labor Party in 2007.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Australia halts cattle supply to Indonesia abattoirs (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia has moved to halt the supply of live cattle to three Indonesian abattoirs after a documentary Monday revealed evidence of cruelty against animals shipped there for slaughter.

The ABC's "Four Corners" programme -- to be aired later Monday -- said it had footage of cattle suffering, including having their eyes gouged, tails broken and throats hacked in four slaughterhouses in Indonesia.

After viewing the footage, the Australian livestock export industry body LiveCorp said it had asked the Indonesian industry to stop supplying Australian cattle to three of these facilities.

"Cruelty to Australian animals is simply unacceptable," LiveCorp chief executive Cameron Hall said in a statement.

"This graphic and distressing footage has upset and frustrated the industry, particularly given our major efforts to improve animal welfare in Indonesia."

LiveCorp said it would provide additional training to workers at the fourth abattoir to improve conditions.

"Our animal welfare strategy is focused on ensuring our cattle are only supplied to facilities where supply chains meet or exceed global animal welfare standards," Hall said.

The head of animal welfare at Indonesia's agriculture ministry, Sri Mukartini, said she had heard about the Australian documentary but would not comment on specific incidents.

"Animal welfare is a relatively new issue in Indonesia. We're still developing regulations," she told AFP.

"This is different to what happens in developed countries like Australia, which see it as an important issue because their people have better awareness of animal welfare."

Australian live cattle exports were valued at Aus$652 million (US$697 million) in 2008-09, with Indonesia the single largest market. The industry underpins the employment of some 10,000 workers in regional Australia.

Canberra funds a number of projects aimed at improving infrastructure and training to promote better animal handling and slaughter practices.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Australia reaffirms commitment to Afghanistan (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Prime Minister Julia Gillard insisted Tuesday that Australia would see its mission through in Afghanistan despite another of its soldiers being killed and five more wounded.

Decorated commando Sergeant Brett Wood, 32, lost his life when an improvised explosive device detonated on Monday, taking the overall number of Australian deaths in the conflict to 24.

A second soldier suffered life-threatening wounds in the blast and a third was seriously hurt, Defence Force chief Angus Houston said.

In a separate incident, three Australians were wounded in a gunfight with insurgents.

"He was a magnificent soldier," Houston said of Wood, who was serving his third deployment to Afghanistan.

"He was also a decorated warrior," he added, citing the sergeant's Medal for Gallantry awarded in 2006 after leading a commando team in extremely hazardous circumstances in Afghanistan's Chora Valley.

Wood was again recognised in 2007 for his service as the emergency action commander in a tactical assault group.

"Every loss in Afghanistan hurts us as a nation," said Gillard, adding that there would be some that "despair and wonder" why Australia remained in Afghanistan.

"I think the best thing I can say to people is to reiterate the words of Ben Roberts-Smith, our most recent VC (Victoria Cross) winner," she said.

"He said to me and he said to the nation, 'We are making a difference in Afghanistan'.

"And we are making a difference in Afghanistan. Progress is being made."

She added that the process for Australia's withdrawal of its 1,550 forces in the country remained unchanged.

"We will be there seeing the mission through," she said.

"There is no point pulling out only to go back in."

Specific details of Wood's death were not provided with operations ongoing, although the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said on Monday a roadside bomb killed four foreign soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.

A total of 188 international troops have died in the country so far this year, according to a tally kept by the independent website icasualties.org. That compares with 711 for last year.

Troop commanders have warned of another hard period ahead after the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive at the end of last month.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said insurgents were threatened by the coalition's gains, and warned of a spike in roadside and suicide bombings.

"In addition to efforts to recover space and ground, the Taliban have also determined that these high-profile, effective propaganda attacks are also a piece of weaponry in their armoury," he said.

"We are steeling ourselves for that danger as we have steeled ourselves for, in effect, the more immediate danger on the ground as the summer fighting season starts in earnest."

There are around 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan, 90,000 of them from the United States.

Limited foreign troop withdrawals from a handful of safer areas of Afghanistan are due to start in July, allowing Afghan forces to take over control of security.

International combat troops are due to complete their pull out in 2014.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Australia police determining owner of buried coins (AP)

PERTH, Australia – Police are trying to determine who owns a treasure-trove of gold coins unearthed from a building site on Australia's southwest coast.

Western Australia state police spokesman Gerry Cassidy said workers found the 400 British sovereigns last week while digging a ditch in the port city of Albany. They handed them to the property owner who is claiming ownership.

Cassidy said Wednesday police are checking law books to determine whether the property owner or even a museum is entitled to keep the coins, dated 1800 — 26 years before Albany was settled by Europeans.

"Police have got to work out exactly how they handle it," Cassidy said.

He said an appraiser valued one of the coins at 16,000 Australian dollars ($17,000) but did not have an estimate for all of the coins.

Brett Joins, chief executive of Wauters Enterprises, confirmed his construction company had given the coins to local businessman Paul Lionetti.

"An exhaustive search was completed of the site and no other items were found," Joins told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Lionetti could not immediately be contacted for comment Wednesday.

Police have no theories on how the coins came to be buried in Albany.

Cassidy said the coins were found individually and did not appear to have been buried in a container.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Facebook 'planking' craze claims life in Australia (AFP)

BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) – A new craze sweeping the Internet known as "planking" claimed a life in Australia Sunday and police fear the tragedy may not be the last.

Planking involves someone lying flat on their stomach with their arms against their bodies in unusual and sometimes dangerous situations, with photographs of their exploits shared through social media sites.

It has gone viral in recent weeks with Facebook page Planking Australia boasting over 55,000 fans and hundreds of photos of people lying on train tracks, escalators, fire hydrants, motorbikes and other objects.

Police last week warned "plankers" of the dangers and their fears have been realised with the death of a man in Brisbane who plummeted from a seventh-storey balcony and died at the scene.

"This morning we have seen a young man take this activity a step further and attempt to plank on a balcony. Unfortunately he has tragically fallen to his death," Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said.

The man, who has not been named, and another person had been out during the night and were planking in various locations on their way home.

"It is what we've been fearing," added Barnett, but could not say whether it was Australia's first death from the craze.

Barnett said he was worried that more injuries would occur as people try to out-do each other by planking in increasingly precarious positions to get the ultimate photo.

"Police fear that as planking gains popularity there may be more injuries and potentially further deaths," he said, adding that it may appear to be light-hearted fun but can quickly turn to tragedy.

"Accepting a risk of injury for yourself is one thing, but the potential is there for others to be injured as a result of your behaviour."

Last week, a 20-year-old, also in Queensland state, was arrested after being allegedly found "planking" on a police car. He was charged with being on police equipment without lawful excuse.

Police issued warnings of the dangers at the time but the publicity only seemed to fuel the fad.

"If other people break the law during this activity they will be charged as well," warned Barnett.

"But no penalty will ever return this young man to his family and friends. This is a tragedy and our condolences go to the family."

Facebook tributes immediately started pouring in for the dead man.

"R.I.P Fellow planker," said one posting on the Australian Planking page.

"I didn't know him, but he was a planker like the rest of us."

Another wrote: "Stay safe dudes, plank carefully."

But not everyone was sympathetic.

"Seriously, people are so dumb. Get over this stupid planking thing," another post said.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Australia arrests 1,600 'boozed-up idiots' (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia's binge-drinking culture has been starkly highlighted with 1,600 "boozed-up idiots" arrested by police in a hardline weekend crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence and crime.

The trans-Tasman "Operation Unite", a two-day blitz on public alcohol abuse and related crime that ended Sunday, was the latest attempt to hammer home the message that drunken thugs will not be tolerated.

Almost two-thirds of the arrests were made in New South Wales state, followed by Western Australia, and included numerous assaults on police officers.

Other offences included drink-driving, urinating in public, failing to quit a licensed premises when asked and resisting arrest.

The Police Association of NSW slammed the "chaos and mayhem" that it says prevails in Australian cities every weekend and called for new strategies to attack the root causes of alcohol-related violence.

"Operation Unite has proved that our culture of alcohol and violence is out of control, with boozed-up idiots running wild all over the country," the association's acting president Pat Gooley said in a statement.

"We need a comprehensive strategy for tackling alcohol-fuelled violence -- one that addresses the causes of the problem, not just the symptoms."

Operation Unite's commander, Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford, said that despite the cold weather there were still many people out drinking to excess.

"Until people start getting the message, we'll continue to target licensed premises, we'll continue to target excessive alcohol consumption and we'll continue to put people before the courts," he said.

In New Zealand, where Operation Unite was also conducted, 338 alcohol-related arrests were made and 467 motorists returned positive breath tests.

New Zealand police spokesman, acting Detective Superintendent Ross Grantham, said it would take more than a weekend of action to change the drinking culture.

"Shifting away from the drink-to-get-drunk culture needs parents, retailers, community and other interested groups to be actively involved," he said.

"All we're asking is that people, no matter what their age, make safe and sensible choices when and where they decide to have a drink."

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.