Nine hospitalised as NSW temps hit 42C

Authorities are reminding people to stay hydrated as high temperatures expected to hit NSW. Source: AAP

PARAMEDICS have treated more than a dozen people for heat exhaustion, as temperatures soared to almost 43C in parts of the state.

Across NSW nine people were hospitalised on Saturday, suffering heat stroke, stress or heat exhaustion, while another three were treated by ambulance staff.

At Bondi in Sydney's east, a 91-year-old man was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a stable condition, while in Raby in the southwestern suburbs, a 19-year-old man was hit with heat stroke while playing cricket and taken to Campbelltown Hospital.

The incidents came after Sydney ushered in its hottest start to summer overnight since records started in 1859.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said the city experienced a minimum of 23C overnight.

"It was a first night of summer record," meteorologist Julie Evans told AAP.

Meanwhile, on Saturday the hottest place in the state was Coonamble in NSW's central west, which reached 42.8C, the bureau said.

In western Sydney, temperatures did not hit the maximum of 40C forecast, instead peaking at about 38C.

"That was because we did have more cloud around than was expected," Ms Evans said.

Cooler weather is expected for Sunday, with scattered showers and a minimum of 21C and a maximum of 24C forecast for Sydney.

In Penrith, a maximum of 26C is expected, while people in Moree in northern NSW will face the state's highest temperature at 41C.

Ms Evans said despite the drop in temperatures, humidity is expected to linger across Sydney until mid-week.

"On Wednesday, a westerly change is coming through and taking a lot of that humidity away."

However, she said, early forecasts show that next weekend could bring high temperatures back across the state, with a top of 31C forecast for Sydney next Saturday and a maximum of 37C in the western suburbs.

"What we are seeing for next weekend is similar to what we are having today, which is mid to high 30s."

She said it was shaping up to be a warmer summer than last year.

"Last summer, only two days reached 30C at Observatory Hill (in Sydney)."

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Mexico's Calderon hands off to Pena Nieto

Mexico's Felipe Calderon (Pic) has handed over power to the incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto. Source: AAP

MEXICO'S incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto is set take the reins of power, inheriting a country full of economic promise but beset by a brutal drug war.

Outgoing President Felipe Calderon handed power to Pena Nieto in a symbolic ceremony just after midnight on Saturday, hours before the new leader takes the formal oath of office before congress and delivers a speech at the national palace.

In a short ceremony at the palace, Calderon and Pena Nieto stood stone-faced, side by side before the incumbent handed a Mexican flag to his successor, who then handed the green-white-red banner to a soldier.

The two sang the national anthem and then shook hands with the outgoing and incoming cabinets, but they did not speak.

"This process has contributed to the preservation of the political, economic and social stability of the nation," Pena Nieto said after the ceremony. "Mexico has shown democratic maturity and institutional strength."

Pena Nieto's inauguration, taking place at 0200 AEDT on Sunday, will mark the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence from the presidency.

The PRI ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century with a mix of patronage, corruption and repression, but the telegenic 46-year-old lawyer, a former Mexico state governor, insists that his party has left its dark days behind.

Pena Nieto has promised to reduce poverty and wants to push through structural reforms to boost Latin America's second biggest economy, which posted stronger growth than regional powerhouse Brazil last year.

But the new president faces a relentless drug battle that has killed more than 60,000 people in the past six years.

While 25 of the 37 most wanted drug lords have been captured or killed, gangland gunfights, decapitations and kidnappings have surged since 2006, with the murder rate almost tripling to 24 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

Calderon deployed 50,000 troops to crack down on criminal groups such as the Sinaloa, Zetas and Gulf cartels, but analysts say the strategy backfired as the captures generated more street fights for control of US smuggling routes.

Pena Nieto, who visited President Barack Obama on Tuesday, has vowed to continue the anti-drug cooperation with the United States but he signalled in a Washington Post column that "the strategy must necessarily change".

He says his priority will be to significantly reduce the high levels of violence plaguing Mexicans.

Pena Nieto will be sworn in under tight security, with with metal walls around congress and some 6500 police officers deployed on the street.

Protesters plan to demonstrate around congress while the second-place finisher in the July 1 election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leads a rally at the downtown Angel of Independence monument.

Lopez Obrador has refused to accept defeat, charging that the PRI bought votes to secure victory. But the electoral tribunal threw out his claim.

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Severe weather warning for Alice Springs

A SEVERE thunderstorm warning has been issued for Alice Springs, with damaging winds and heavy rain forecast.

The wild weather is expected to hit Alice Springs about 6pm (CST) on Saturday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of flash flooding.

The Northern Territory Emergency Service advises that people should secure loose outside objects, seek shelter and avoid flooded roads and watercourses.

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Cut GST threshold on online goods: report

THE independent GST review has called for a cut in the consumption tax threshold for goods and services bought online.

The report, by former premiers Nick Greiner and John Brumby and tax expert Bruce Carter, says the way the 10 per cent GST applies to online shopping hurts Australian businesses and costs the states "hundreds of millions of dollars" in lost revenue.

It says the current low-value import threshold should at least be halved from $1000 to $500.

This could be done almost immediately with no change needed to GST law or customs arrangements.

In the long term, governments should look at replacing the "at-the-border" collection of GST with a system that imposed a GST liability directly on overseas suppliers of goods and services to Australia.

The review panel found the existing system was open to flagrant abuse.

One example was the sale of expensive cameras, which were bought in their component parts at a price under $1000 and assembled by the buyer without incurring any GST.

The talks between the federal and state governments on a long-term solution should focus on amendments to GST law to make overseas suppliers liable for remittance of GST on all supplies of goods and services that would otherwise be subject to GST if purchased from a domestic supplier.

"Such an approach would enable the GST exemption threshold for physical parcels to be reduced to a nominal level, no more than $20 or $50," the report said.

However, government sources on Friday were talking down the prospects of any changes in the short term.

The "direct liability" approach could be burdensome, given that it would involve confiscation of packages, then releasing them to the purchaser subject to a penalty, payment of the GST and import duties.

Dropping the threshold would also result in a massive increase in parcel processing, the cost of which would exceed the benefits and clog up the system.

The government, which is set to respond within weeks, is likely only to recommend that parcel processing systems be improved as a first step.

International online retail sales still account for only 1.4 per cent of total retail sales revenue in Australia.

Domestic retailers account for 75 per cent of all online sales, and domestic online sales are growing faster (28 per cent) than international online sales (22 per cent).

National Retail Association (NRA) chief executive Trevor Evans said the government could save more than 30,000 Australian retail jobs by scrapping the GST threshold on online purchases from overseas.

"The government's independent review of the GST has clearly found that the $1000 threshold on online purchases is undermining the competitiveness of local Australian retailers," Mr Evans said.

He said the threshold in the UK was as low as STG15 ($A23.22).

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Teen badly hurt after falling on tent peg

A SCHOOL leaver has suffered serious head injuries after falling on a tent peg as he packed up to leave the West Australian town of Busselton.

The accident is understood to have occurred on Thursday night, and the 17-year-old was taken to a local hospital with severe head injuries.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service said it had sent an aircraft with a medical team to the southwest town on Friday afternoon to fly him to Perth.

The youth was due to land at Jandakot airport and then be transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which specialises in head injuries, around 3pm (WST).

A hospital spokesperson said the patient had arrived in a "critical" condition.

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Daniel Morcombe's funeral set for Friday

Daniel Morcombe's parents are considering a funeral on the ninth anniversary of his disappearance. Source: AAP

DANIEL Morcombe's family will finally lay their son to rest, nine years to the day after he went missing.

Daniel's funeral will be held on Friday, December 7, the anniversary of his 2003 disappearance, his mother Denise said on Friday.

She said it would be a public ceremony and people would be invited to wear some red and donate to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation instead of giving flowers.

"It's to be a positive celebration of Daniel's life," Mrs Morcombe told AAP.

The funeral will be held at the St Catherine of Siena Church at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast.

The plans follow the state coroner's sudden decision a day earlier to release Daniel's remains, which were found more than a year ago in bushland in the Glasshouse Mountains.

Earlier, the Morcombes said they were shocked but relieved at the decision.

"It means everything. We've been waiting nine years and we can put Daniel to rest now," Mrs Morcombe told reporters outside the committal hearing for Daniel's accused murderer, Brett Peter Cowan, 42.

The hearing at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday heard disturbing evidence about the afternoon Daniel vanished.

Two witnesses told of seeing a man in an older model blue sedan at the overpass where Daniel went missing.

Nambour resident Keith Lipke said he saw someone under a tarpaulin in the back seat of a blue car.

The sedan was being driven by a clean-shaven man with brown hair past his collar, Mr Lipke said.

"When I looked at the back seat, it had a tarpaulin over it and it appeared to me there were kids playing under it, jumping around," he told the court under cross-examination.

Mr Lipke saw the man turn to the back seat with an annoyed expression and say something.

"As he went past (I noticed) that the tarp was taut. It wasn't flying around any more."

He said he saw a flash of red under the tarpaulin, "like Santa Claus".

Daniel was wearing a red T-shirt on the day he disappeared.

A second witness said she saw a "clean-cut" man standing by the passenger door of an older blue sedan with NSW number plates.

Lily Obah told the court it looked like the man was pushing someone's head down in the front seat as she drove past.

Outside court Cowan's lawyers said they expected the judge to decide the crown had a case and commit their client to a trial.

But defence lawyer Tim Meehan said there was no direct evidence against the 42-year-old, who is charged with murder, child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.

Any trial would probably be a year off, Mr Meehan's colleague Michael Bosscher said.

Daniel was 13 when he disappeared while waiting for a bus on the Sunshine Coast in 2003.

The hearing continues on Monday.

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Vic temperatures exceed 45C

The mercury is forecast to reach near-record highs across Victoria on Thursday. Source: AAP

VICTORIANS have sweltered through the hottest November day in more than a century with the temperature soaring above 45C in some parts of the state.

Many rushed to beaches in a bid to cool down but it wasn't all fun in the sun with grass fires breaking out in northwest Victoria.

In Melbourne, the mercury crept up towards 40C and was still there by early evening, hitting a high of 39.6C at 6.10pm (AEDT).

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said some relief was on the way with a change expected to hit Melbourne about 7pm which should cool things down to the high 20s.

Melburnians were set for a steamy night with the temperature expected to remain in the 20s, with a minimum of 23C forecast and a high of 28 and patchy rain on Friday.

The state's hotspot was Ouyen, just outside Mildura, where a maximum of 45.8C was recorded.

That beat the state's previous November record of 45C, which dated back to 1905 in Mildura.

The biggest grass fire was near Baringhup, close to Maryborough, which spread over 200 hectares after starting about 3pm (AEDT) but was subsequently contained.

The Country Fire Authority also dealt with a fire at Lillicur, 8km west of Talbot, which burned 20 hectares of grass and bush.

There were also grass fires in Edenhope, one near Avenel which caused smoke that disrupted traffic on the Hume Freeway, a plantation fire at Dartmoor and a four-hectare fire at Murtoa.

A CFA spokeswoman warned that dry lightning could hit in the west of the state on Thursday evening, which could cause further problems.

Total fire bans are in place in the Mallee and Wimmera districts, with farmers, particularly in the northwest of the state, warned of the extreme fire risk.

Ambulance Victoria said it had dealt with 25 reports of heat-related illness by 4pm and an additional eight cases where children had been locked in cars, including a three-year-old and a two-year-old in Greensborough.

That was despite peak motoring body RACV warning motorists never to leave children or animals inside cars.

CitiPower customers in Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs were hit by power outages, with 2500 homes losing power at some point on Thursday.

Some 1300 Powercor customers in central and western Victoria, and Melbourne's western suburbs, also had power outages during the day.

In St Kilda East, a driver suffered minor injuries when a power pole exploded, the heat from the explosion causing his windscreen to shatter. It is not known if the explosion was caused by the day's heatwave.

It was an uncomfortable journey home for some Melbourne workers. Commuters faced delays on a number of Metro train lines because of issues unrelated to the heat, after balloons floated into overhead cables near busy Southern Cross Station and a signal problem at Caulfield.

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Rio flags job losses in coal and aluminium

Rio Tinto plans to reduce its operating and support costs by more than $A4.8b by the end of 2014. Source: AAP

RIO Tinto has flagged job losses at its coal and aluminium operations, after announcing a company-wide review to reduce costs by more than $US5 billion.

The mining giant aims to reduce its operating and support costs by more than $US5 billion ($A4.81 billion) by the end of 2014 and will cut spending on exploration and evaluation projects by $US1 billion ($A961.95 million) over the remainder of 2012 and 2013.

Chief financial officer Guy Elliott said the miner, which was heavily focused on iron ore, would look at "every available opportunity" to reduce costs and improve productivity.

"We're going to have some difficult discussions with labour," Mr Elliott told an investors' briefing on Thursday.

Coal and aluminium would be the focus of cost cutting as the company considered shutting operations that "don't deliver cash flow".

"The escalation of costs that we've seen, well above the rate of inflation ... in particular in Australia, is going to have to stop," Mr Elliott told investors.

He said Rio's aluminium operations could record an impairment in the year ahead.

However, the company is yet to finish reviewing its aluminium and coal operations.

Mr Elliott said the company would recruit 900 fewer people over the next five years as further divestments occurred.

Chief executive Tom Albanese said the cost of production for coking coal and thermal coal had both risen steeply in recent years and both operations had suffered from declining labour productivity and higher contract costs.

"They're both in the same swamp," Mr Albanese said.

The overall cost-reduction program was being undertaken to roll back "unsustainable cost increases" of the past few years, he said.

He added that post Fukushima, thermal coal markets could be more robust in the medium term.

However, both coking coal and thermal coal needed to become more competitive.

The short-term economic outlook for Rio remained volatile, with major uncertainties about economic growth in the United States and Europe.

But the company said it was guardedly optimistic on China's prospects.

Recent data from China suggested early signs of an improvement in economic growth, and Rio expects this to continue in 2013, causing a slight rise in the growth rate to above eight per cent.

The company added that it had expanded capacity at its Pilbara iron ore operations from 230 million tonnes to 237 million tonnes through productivity improvements and holding down the costs of expansion.

Rio Tinto shares closed 48 cents higher at $57.18.

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WA govt quizzed on travel bill scandal

THE West Australian government needs to explain the cost to taxpayers after a top bureaucrat misused his government-issued credit card, the state opposition says.

It was revealed in parliament on Thursday that the chairman of the Planning Commission, Gary Prattley, was fired two days ago.

Mr Prattley was sent on leave after the state opposition alleged he had spent $260,000 on interstate and international travel between April 2009 and August this year.

"It appears WA Labor's concerns have been justified," opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt said.

"Western Australians have footed a very large bill on Mr Prattley's behalf, and the Barnett government, after repeatedly denying any wrongdoing, owes them an explanation."

Mr Wyatt called on the state government to reveal the full extent of inappropriate spending and reveal if Mr Prattley would be required to repay the money.

He said Planning Minister John Day should have responded to the situation sooner and must take responsibility for Mr Prattley's appointment.

"Despite repeated calls from WA Labor, Mr Day failed to apply appropriate scrutiny to Mr Prattley's taxpayer-funded credit card spending," Mr Wyatt said.

"The Barnett government's failure to act has left its credibility in tatters."

The upper house of parliament was told Mr Day had warned Mr Prattley that he faced the axe.

But a letter sent in reply "was not regarded as providing any reasonable basis upon which he could have formed the view that all of the expenditure was appropriate or authorised".

The Department of Planning's director general Eric Lumsden will assume the chairman's role until April next year, when Mr Prattley's term of office would have expired.

Mr Lumsden will also continue in his current role.

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Dhaka fire factory managers arrested

Three factory managers have been arrested in Bangladesh over a blaze that killed 110 workers. Source: AAP

BANGLADESH police have arrested three managers of a factory where a blaze killed 110 people, following claims they stopped workers from leaving the plant saying an alarm was just a routine fire drill.

Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP on Wednesday the managers were arrested overnight after charges that they told panicked workers of Tazreen Fashion they had nothing to worry about when the fire started on Saturday night.

"All three are mid-level managers of Tazreen. Survivors told us that they did not allow the workers to escape the fire, saying that it was a routine fire drill. There are also allegations that they even padlocked doors," he said.

Survivors and witnesses told AFP how workers, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which supplied clothes to international brands including Walmart, European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

Two government inquiries have already been set up to try to establish the cause of the fire, the worst factory blaze to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs three million and is the mainstay of the economy.

The shell-shocked nation observed a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Green and red Bangladeshi flags flew at half mast alongside black flags on top of government offices and the nation's 4500 garment factories.

Rahman said police also quizzed Tazreen's owner, Delwar Hossain, about alleged violations of building rules after inspectors found the nine-storey factory only had permission for three floors.

Around 700 garment workers have been killed in dozens of fires since 2006, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, an Amsterdam-based textile rights group. But none of the owners have been prosecuted over previous blazes.

Campaigners say Western firms whose clothes are made in Bangladesh hide behind flimsy safety audits to help drive down costs.

After European chain C&A and Hong Kong-based Li & Fung confirmed they had orders at Tazreen, the US retail giant Walmart also acknowledged some of its products were made there and said it had terminated ties with the supplier.

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Call for crane checks after UTS fire

Investigations are underway into a fire that caused a crane to fall onto a Sydney construction site. Source: AAP

A CRANE that caught fire and toppled onto a Sydney university building has prompted union calls for city-wide engineering checks, the promise of a "safety roundtable" and an investigation by emergency services.

Construction company Lend Lease, which manages the inner-city building site at the centre of Tuesday's emergency, has promised to "work closely" with authorities investigating the accident at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

The construction workers' union has alleged Lend Lease was warned fuel was leaking from the crane but did nothing.

A safety roundtable of the parties involved will be held next week, WorkCover general manager for work health and safety John Watson announced on Wednesday.

"I would urge all contractors across NSW to check the state of tower cranes and related machinery and ensure they are compliant with work health and safety legislation in the wake of Tuesday's serious workplace incident," Mr Watson said in a statement.

Wattle Street in Ultimo remains cordoned off between Broadway and Thomas Street as engineers continue to assess the site.

Hundreds were evacuated from the construction site and adjacent UTS buildings, with the emergency closing the busy Broadway thoroughfare and causing major traffic disruption.

WorkCover, emergency services and Lend Lease have launched investigations into the fire and the collapse of the 65-metre crane's boom.

Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU) NSW secretary Brian Parker said the crane was "an accident waiting to happen" and Lend Lease had been warned of the fuel leak.

"We have evidence of the fact that workers were complaining about getting soiled clothes, soiled helmets from drops dripping on them consistently from this particular crane," he told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.

"With the heat that generates up there in the crane box on a motor, with leaking fluid, there's no doubt in my mind that could have been a contributing factor to the fire breaking out and the collapse of the boom."

Lend Lease CEO Steve McCann said safety was the company's highest priority.

"We ... have a history of working closely with construction industry unions and have always co-operated with the authorities and will continue to do so ... in a transparent and collaborative manner," Mr McCann said in a statement.

The crane is owned by a Sefton company, Marr Contracting, and leased to Lend Lease.

A Marr Contracting worker told AAP the company had no comment, except to say that "we support WorkCover in all their investigations".

WorkCover inspectors were at the site on Wednesday and have discussed plans to remove the damaged machinery with Lend Lease, union officials and emergency services personnel.

"WorkCover is satisfied that there is no further risk of debris or the crane falling from the building," the agency said in a statement.

The National Tertiary Education Union on Wednesday called for a public inquiry into the crane collapse.

The union's UTS branch president Simon Wade said he was concerned that safety at the site had been sacrificed, endangering building workers, firefighters, university staff, students and the public.

Mr Wade said workers at the Lend Lease construction site had said that as the crane burned, they were instructed by their supervisor not to stop work.

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Diuron use risks Barrier Reef: WWF

A FEDERAL government decision to reinstate the use of diuron on weeds in water bodies is not enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef despite new conditions, conservationists say.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) suspended the use of some diuron products in 2011 pending a review of the chemical, used on weeds and algae in and around water bodies.

It affirmed the registration of most diuron products on Tuesday with new conditions of use, APVMA spokeswoman Susan Whitbread said.

Restrictions have been put in place for the spraying of individual crops and no-spray times will apply to sugarcane and pineapple crops.

"We have made a considerable effort to develop workable instructions for the continued use of diuron, while ensuring we can effectively manage risks from the use of this environmentally mobile and persistent chemical," Ms Whitbread says.

Approval for industrial applications and use in non-agricultural situations, citrus, apples and pears, ornamental plants and tropical crops including tea, coffee and paw paw has been rejected.

The rate of application has been restricted and farmers will not be able to spray when heavy or persistent rain is forecast.

WWF spokesman Nick Heath said the decision would result in the continued contamination of freshwater systems and marine environments and put the health of Australians at risk.

The chemical is classified in the United States as a known or likely carcinogen.

It has been linked to coral bleaching and seagrass die-back on the Great Barrier Reef, accounting for 80 per cent of the herbicide pollution on the reef, Mr Heath said.

"The APVMA has again failed to protect the Great Barrier Reef," he said.

"We call on the minister and the prime minister to intervene and give the APVMA stronger powers and an obligation to ban these dangerous chemicals."

Despite the efforts by farmers to do the right thing and control Diuron use the evidence was the chemical was persistent and unmanageable that escaped paddocks and contaminated the reef.

"To give an indication of how toxic this stuff is, just one gram in four Olympic-sized swimming pools is enough to damage sea grass," Mr Heath said.

"And one of the most sensitive sea grasses is the preferred food source for turtle and dugongs."

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Doctor admits errors in treating toddler

AN anaesthetist has admitted he failed on a number of occasions to call off risky dental surgery on a two-year-old boy who later died.

Leonard Crowe did not regain consciousness after having 13 decayed teeth removed and six others repaired under general anaesthetic at Broken Hill Base Hospital on July 11, 2008.

The toddler had numerous medical issues, including club feet, a retreating jaw and a historical breathing problem known as apnoea.

An autopsy also showed he had a respiratory tract infection on the day of surgery, the inquest into his death was told on Tuesday.

Giving evidence at Sydney's Glebe Coroners Court, the boy's principal anaesthetist Dr George Waters said he spent a few minutes carrying out a visual assessment of Leonard before surgery.

Aside from a "yucky nose", he said the boy was happily running around the waiting room.

But he agreed with counsel assisting the coroner Ian Bourke that it was not "thorough", adding there was no physical examination nor any questions asked of the boy or his mother.

Dr Waters said he "omitted parts of his normal practice" because he was so distracted by Leonard's abnormal facial features, which posed potential problems for intubation.

He agreed with Mr Bourke that he should have been more particular in his assessment.

"If I had known that Leonard Crowe had a cough, I am sure that I would've cancelled the case," he told the court on Tuesday.

"I made, in hindsight, the wrong assumption that all was well and this was a perfectly normal child."

Dr Waters said he distinctly remembered considering calling off the procedure after observing the boy but couldn't say why he decided not to.

He again thought about stopping the surgery while administering the fourth dose of a muscle relaxant to help intubate the boy in the operating room.

"I believe that with hindsight I should've stopped before that last dose," Dr Waters said.

"Yes, there were risks and yes, during the intubation I believe that I was about to call it off and (assisting anaesthetist) Dr (Philip) Rosewarne got the tube in and we proceeded."

Dr Waters said he doesn't remember seeing a more detailed record of Leonard's medical history, which some nurses claim was in a second file in the theatre suite.

Asked by Mr Bourke what he would have done if he'd been aware of such a record, Dr Waters said: "I would've immediately recommended to (the dentist) we cancel the case".

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon continues on Wednesday.

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Sydney workers dodge death in crane crash

ONE of Sydney's busiest roads will remain blocked for at least another day as investigations begin into how a fire erupted in a crane towering above the city and sent the machine's arm crashing into nearby buildings.

Construction workers ran for their lives as litres of diesel caught alight and engulfed the 65-metre crane at a University of Technology Sydney construction site on the corner of Broadway and Wattle streets in Ultimo.

Although no one was seriously injured, a union official said many people could have been killed if the boom had fallen onto busy Broadway, the thoroughfare linking George Street to Parramatta Road.

The crane driver escaped, but not before he managed to swing the crane's arm away from the busy street below and tried to extinguish the fire once he had descended.

"The fire just started," he told Network Ten.

"I got down, tried to extinguish it but I needed more than an extinguisher, I needed a bigger one."

The emergency which began soon after 9.30am on Tuesday, forced the evacuation of hundreds of construction workers, students, university staff and office workers.

Broadway was blocked for about five hours between Wattle and Harris streets, causing major traffic disruption.

Police rescue officers and company engineers managed to reach the top of the crane many hours later, at 5.30pm, after firefighters had stabilised it using lasers to determine the structure's movement.

An exclusion zone is expected to remain in place along Wattle Street for some time as investigations by WorkCover, emergency services and the construction company Lend Lease try to unravel how the incident occurred.

Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union NSW secretary Brian Parker said the problem of fuel leaking from the crane had been raised earlier with Lend Lease.

Mr Parker told reporters the fuel leak was reported after the UTS Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology construction site was shut down for a four-day safety inspection.

"Given the fact that it's got a number of leaks within the motor, fuel has dropped onto something that's created a fire," he said.

Mr Parker praised the crane driver and a CFMEU organiser for quickly raising the alarm and risking their lives as they tried to fight the fire with extinguishers.

He said there could have been many deaths if the crane fell onto the street.

A Lend Lease spokesman said a team had been sent to determine how the fire started.

"It's unusual, very unusual," he told AAP.

Firefighters were called to the site about 9.40am (AEDT) but had to back away from the blaze when the crane became unstable.

A UTS staffer said she could see "flames bursting out of the platform" on the crane.

She told AAP she had seen smoke then noticed a "very nasty burning smell" before the alarms went off and people were evacuated.

Another eyewitness was stopped at nearby lights at the time of the crane collapse. He told Macquarie Radio it was a frightening moment.

"It just looked like the cables just snapped from the base of the unit ... and about 10, 20 seconds the whole thing's just started wrapping around the building."

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PM caves to ALP pressure on Palestine vote

THE Labor backbench has forced Prime Minister Julia Gillard to abandon her plan to vote against a controversial Palestinian bid for upgraded United Nations status.

Australia will instead abstain from voting on the Palestinian resolution when it comes before the UN general assembly on Thursday, in a rare break from Israel and the United States.

The resolution is set to pass with the support of a large majority of the UN's 193 member states and will elevate Palestine's status to that of a non-member observer state.

Ms Gillard wanted to vote against the resolution but Foreign Minister Bob Carr led a cabinet push for an abstention. It is believed Ms Gillard overruled her cabinet colleagues on Monday but changed her position shortly before a Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday.

She told her colleagues she would support the abstention despite her personal reservations, heading off a looming backbench revolt over the vexed issue.

Ms Gillard later issued a statement saying the decision balanced the government's longstanding support for a Palestinian state with its belief that peace would only come through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Senator Carr confirmed he had advocated for an abstention but denied Ms Gillard was rolled by the party room.

"She most certainly wasn't. She shaped that decision in the parliament today," he told Sky News.

Ms Gillard had approached the discussions with an open mind and had showed smart leadership with her decision, he said.

Senator Carr admitted the Palestinian resolution posed risks - like potential Israeli retaliation - but said on balance it was a step in the right direction.

A yes vote would have been "a little incautious", he said.

The UN resolution will give Palestine the same international standing as the Vatican.

It comes a year after Mahmoud Abbas' failed push to achieve full UN membership and follows weeks of renewed, deadly tension between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Australia's decision is likely to anger Israel which hoped it could count on the Gillard government's support.

The Israeli embassy in Canberra has so far declined to publicly comment on the decision.

The head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, said the government's decision was an important moment in Australian foreign policy.

"We hope Australia will continue this process to become more balanced and even-handed, and become more independent of the positions of the United States," he told AAP.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said she was disappointed by the decision, and that the resolution was more likely to prolong the Middle East conflict than help end it.

"The coalition believes Australia should vote against this bid as we do not believe that this is the path to peace and reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples," she said in a statement.

But Greens Leader Christine Milne said the government should go a step further and support the resolution.

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Bangladesh garment factory blaze kills 104

At least nine people have died after a blaze tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

MORE than 100 workers have been killed in a fierce blaze which tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh, forcing people to leap from high windows to escape choking smoke and flames.

Firefighters battled for several hours to control the fire, which broke out in the ground-floor warehouse of the nine-storey factory, 30 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka on Saturday evening.

Survivors told how panicked staff, mostly women, desperately tried to escape the blazing building, which made clothes for international brands including Dutch chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

"There were more than 1000 workers trapped in the factory," one worker who gave her name only as Romesa, 42, told local media from her hospital bed.

"I jumped from a window on the fourth floor and found myself on the third-story roof of another building. Several people fell out of the window and died."

The operations director of the fire brigade, Major Mahbub, who uses one name, told AFP that the death toll had been lowered on Sunday morning to 104 from 121.

"There was some double counting as different fire teams were working on different floors," he said.

"But now we have a total of 104 dead bodies including several who jumped to their deaths. Most bodies were found on the second floor. Most died of suffocation."

The owner of the Tazreen factory, Delwar Hossain, told AFP that the cause of the fire was not yet known but he denied his premises were unsafe.

"It is a huge loss for my staff and my factory. This is the first time we have ever had a fire at one of my seven factories," he said, confirming that the premises made clothes for Li and Fung of Hong Kong and C&A.

The cause was not immediately known but fires as a result of short circuits and shoddy electrical wiring are common in Bangladeshi garment factories, which use cheap labour to produce clothes shipped to Western countries.

Such tragedies are not confined to Bangladesh. A blaze in a Pakistan garment factory fire in September killed 289 workers and injured 110 more.

Of the workers who were injured, dozens suffered disabling injuries and about 2,000 other workers have lost their livelihoods.

Two of the three Pakistan factory's owners are facing murder charges and have been sent to jail on remand.

Also in Bangladesh, at least 13 people were killed after a flyover under construction collapsed in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Witnesses said more than 50 construction workers and vegetable hawkers had gathered near a pond under the bridge when three concrete girders crashed to the ground on Saturday evening.

Armed with sticks and stones, angry crowds attacked the site offices of the construction company, forcing police to fire tear gas and use batons to disperse them, police said.

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Afghan bomb attacks kill 8, wound 35

The Pakistan Taliban has claimed a bomb blast that killed eight people near a Shi'ite procession. Source: AAP

A BOMB attack on a Shi'ite Muslim procession has wounded more than 35 people in Pakistan's northwest as Shi'ites mark their holiest day Ashura.

The bomb on Sunday exploded in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where a blast on Saturday had killed eight people near a Shi'ite Muslim procession.

"We have received more than 35 injured, the condition of some of them was critical," Khalid Aziz, a doctor in the city's main hospital, told Pakistan's private ARY TV channel.

Nazir Khan, a police official in the city, told AFP by telephone the bomb was planted inside a shop. "It was a remote-controlled bomb and exploded as a procession reached here," he said.

Four boys were among the dead and 30 other people were injured when the remote-controlled bomb packed with ball bearings exploded on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, police said.

The attack on Shi'ites, a minority in Sunni-dominated Pakistan, came as they marched to mourn Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussain during the holy month of Muharram which culminates Sunday in Ashura, the group's holiest day of the year.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

"We carried out the attack against the Shi'ite community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks."

The Taliban had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks on the minority community, he said.

The blast followed another suicide attack - also claimed by the Pakistani Taliban - that killed 23 people at a Shi'ite procession in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, the country's deadliest bombing for five months.

Authorities subsequently ordered heightened security, with services for mobile phones - which are often used to trigger bombs - suspended in major cities.

But that did not prevent Saturday's attack. Police said a 10 kilogram bomb was hidden in a dustbin on the procession route and its powerful blast could be heard several kilometres away.

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Search for swimmer at WA beach called off

THE search for a swimmer initially feared missing off Perth's Trigg Beach has been suspended after no firm reports emerged of a missing person.

Police and surf lifesavers had been searching for more than three hours after a beach inspector saw a man waving for assistance at about 11.30am (WST) but could not find him later.

Helicopters, boats and jet skis were used in the search and the beach was cleared to see if there was any unclaimed personal property on the shore.

There were further concerns after Surf Life Saving WA reported a 1.5-metre hammerhead shark 300m off the beach at about 1.50pm (WST).

Police say they do not know for certain, but it is possible the man may have made his way back to the beach unassisted.

Members of the public who know of loved ones who may have been swimming and not returned home are asked to call police on 131 444.

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