Work keeps confined Assange sane: dad

Julian Assange is enduring harsh conditions in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, says his father. Source: AAP

JULIAN Assange cannot even look out of the windows of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, but his confinement has not dampened his work ethic, his father says.

"The conditions are physically harsh," Assange's biological father John Shipton says.

"He's not allowed to look out the windows for fear of admirers throwing food, you don't know if it's contaminated or not."

But a constant stream of visitors is keeping his intellect alive and the demands of the WikiLeaks organisation - and now its political party - are keeping him busy, according to Mr Shipton.

Assange entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden more than nine months ago.

Speaking at the launch of the WikiLeaks Party in Melbourne on Saturday, Mr Shipton described his son as "well".

"Emotionally he's steady and has tremendous support."

The Ecuadoreans are looking after him, he said.

He also has a lot to do.

On January 30, WikiLeaks announced Assange would run for a seat in the Victorian senate at the federal election on September 14.

Mr Shipton, who is the chairman of the WikiLeaks Party, says the decision to enter politics is a result of the "transparency movement" maturing.

"This is the political manifestation of an event that's been unfolding for 10 years," Mr Shipton said.

"In this way, transparency can have the arm of accountability with some political authority and power behind it."

He said Assange had first broached the possibility of running for government late in 2011 and was was "very firm" in his commitment to politics.

"If the people of Victoria elect him to represent them that's his job; to represent the people of Victoria in the senate," Mr Shipton said.

The WikiLeaks Party's newly-appointed campaign director Greg Barns on Saturday announced the party would field senate candidates in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia.

If Assange is elected in Victoria but unable to return to the country, a running mate will take-up his seat.

Mr Barns said Assange's ability to take up his seat would be up to the Australian government.

"It would be internationally embarrassing for the voters of Victoria not to be able to have in the senate the person for whom they voted on September 14," he said.

But he was unsure if a successful senate run would increase the likelihood of the WikiLeaks founder returning to Australia.

The senate bid, he said, was not a legal strategy.

"If that were the case he would simply put his name down for the Senate, run in the ungrouped category and hope to get elected."

Mr Shipton said WikiLeaks will release a million pages of documents this year.

"Julian and staff are very very busy," he said.

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Aust firms need to learn China's rules: PM

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's starts her first full day of talks at the Boao Forum for Asia. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS doing business in China will be offered training in how to play by its rules and avoid jail under a new program.

At least four Australian business executives working in China have been jailed in recent times for questionable reasons, but little action has been taken to address the issue.

Attending the Boao Forum for Asia on the Chinese resort island of Hainan, which has trade and investment talks at its core, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said there were huge opportunities for Australians doing business in China and her trip would help build these.

"But there are also risks ... and we believe it's very necessary for people to understand that degree of risk," Ms Gillard told reporters on the sidelines of the forum.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who is travelling with the prime minister and Foreign Minister Bob Carr, said a training program would be launched later in the week to take potential investors through the processes they need to follow to do business in China and how to mitigate risk.

However Dr Emerson was at pains to emphasise China was not being singled out as a risky place to do business.

"In any country there are risks in doing business," he said.

Ms Gillard's first full day of talks on her second visit to China in two years included a meeting with International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and a business forum with Chinese and Australian executives.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop, who is also at the Boao Forum, said Australia had neglected its relations with China and policies such as the mining and carbon taxes and Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) decisions were putting investment at risk.

She was backed up by another forum participant, former federal treasurer Peter Costello, who told AAP the greatest risk was the government "changing the rules" and creating uncertainty for investors.

"None of this gives Australia a good reputation overseas and I think the best thing the Australian government could do is return some certainty to the rules ... announce them and keep them," Mr Costello said.

Ms Gillard said the FIRB had not knocked back one of the 380 Chinese investment proposals in 10 years, but had put conditions on six of them.

"We have a foreign investment review system which is appropriate," she said.

The prime minister said the federal coalition would put the eight-year-old Australia-China Free Trade Agreement talks at risk if they changed the FIRB's investment-checking thresholds.

Later on Saturday, the prime minister was due to meet with former PM Bob Hawke, New Zealand leader John Key and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto.

Ms Gillard will address the Boao Forum on Sunday, and meet with China's new president Xi Jinping before heading to Shanghai on the next leg of her trip.

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Water leak feared at Japan nuke plant

THE operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant says it is moving tonnes of highly radioactive water from a temporary storage tank to another because of a possible leak.

TEPCO said on Saturday about 108 tonnes the water are believed to have breached the tank's inner linings, although little is thought to have leaked into the soil. TEPCO is moving the water to a nearby tank.

It is part of the water that was used to cool melted fuel at the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors damaged in the March 2011 disaster.

So much water was used that TEPCO is struggling to find storage space.

The plant is being decommissioned but continues to experience glitches.

A fuel storage pool temporarily its lost cooling system on Friday, a month after a similar 30-hour outage.

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NSW govt will slash school jobs: union

A TEACHER'S union says a newspaper advertisement, where it accuses the NSW government of depriving the state's children of a decent education, is accurate.

The state government wants the NSW Teachers Federation to apologise for the full-page ad, which urges parents to "say no" to $1.6 billion in public education cuts, which will slash "1000 school jobs - with more to follow".

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says the claims are misleading and deceptive.

"In the next four years the NSW government will invest at least $53.5 billion in education," he said in statement on Thursday.

Mr Piccoli also dismissed the union's claims of jobs being cut as "a bare-faced lie".

"We have employed more than 500 extra teachers since we were elected," he said.

But Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron said Mr Piccoli should "read his own media releases" before accusing the union of lying.

Mr Mulheron said the minister issued a report last September, stating that "over the next four years, the total required savings for Education and Communities is estimated to be $1.7 billion".

The report also states that "over the next four years, the department will need to reduce its staff numbers by around 1800", Mr Mulheron said.

"Mr Piccoli does himself no credit at all by denying what his government is doing. Instead, he should be standing with public school communities and advocating on their behalf that these cuts be reversed," he said.

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Flood toll mounts in Argentina

Heavy flooding in Argentina has led to the deaths of at least 25 people in the city of La Plata. Source: AAP

THE death toll from massive flooding in Argentina has risen to 56, prompting three days of national mourning and drawing a message of concern from Pope Francis.

Most of the victims were found on Wednesday after a second day of record rainfall in Buenos Aires and nearby La Plata, where flooding submerged cars and sent people scrambling to rooftops for safety.

At least 48 people died in La Plata, about 60 kilometres south of the capital, authorities said. It is the capital of Buenos Aires province.

Six people died in Buenos Aires proper and two others in the city's suburbs.

"The bodies began to appear as the water subsided," said Governor Daniel Scioli, as officials confirmed the death toll and locals piled up chaotic heaps of soaked mattresses and destroyed refrigerators.

A senior city official, Santiago Martorelli, told local television the floods were a "catastrophe," and said La Plata's schools and government offices had been closed.

"There are people on rooftops, in trees waiting for us to rescue them," Martorelli said, adding that firefighters, civil defence workers, police and soldiers have been deployed to the area to help in rescue operations.

The fatalities in La Plata, a bustling university city of just under one million, followed at least eight others in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, when a storm knocked out power lines and downed trees.

President Cristina Kirchner made a surprise visit to La Plata, surveying the devastation by helicopter.

Kirchner spent much of her childhood in La Plata, and her mother, Ofelia Wilhelm, still lives in the same two-story home where the president grew up.

"Mom has lost her power and gas but she does not want to leave her home because the water is close to the door, and she is afraid it might start raining again," Kirchner told reporters.

Her office announced three days of national mourning for the victims.

Pope Francis voiced his dismay in a letter to Buenos Aires archbishop Mauro Poli, saying he was "deeply saddened" by the disaster and offering prayers for the dead.

A staggering 40 centimetres of rain fell on La Plata during a two-hour period late on Tuesday and into Wednesday, officials said, knocking out phone lines and leaving about half the city in darkness.

In Buenos Aires, more than 15 centimetres of rain - an April record - fell between late Monday and early Tuesday, the weather service said.

Flood waters reached two metres in some places, turning roadways in La Plata into a raging river.

In nearby Tolosa, 50 cars and other vehicles were stuck after high water encircled part of the town, cutting off roads and preventing authorities from rescuing stranded motorists and passengers.

Authorities said around 2500 people were still unable to return home as they wait for flood waters to subside, and have taken refuge in emergency shelters.

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Thousands rally in Indonesia's Aceh

THOUSANDS of demonstrators have rallied in Indonesia's Aceh in support of a local bid to adopt a separatist flag as the staunchly Islamic province's official emblem.

A 3000-strong crowd, including many women wearing the Islamic head scarf, waved the flag - a white crescent and star on a red background - during the protest in provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Soldiers and tanks were deployed as the Indonesian Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi met local leaders to demand they reverse the local parliament's decision allowing use of the flag in the country's only province with Islamic sharia law.

The flag was used by the now defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which fought a 30-year separatist war against the Indonesian state until a peace deal was struck in 2005, and the row over the emblem is being seen as a test of the accord.

After the local parliament last month passed a bylaw allowing use of the flag, Jakarta, which must approve laws made locally, protested and has demanded the decision be reversed.

Under Indonesian law the use of separatist flags is illegal.

But the provincial government, led by former rebel Zaini Abdullah who has vowed to implement stricter sharia law, insists that under the peace accord Aceh can use whichever emblem it likes.

At Thursday's demonstration, protester Hendra Fauzi told AFP: "We have the right to decide our own flag ... and this is a test of whether the government will stick to the accord."

It was the second rally in Banda Aceh this week in support of the flag.

More than 15,000 people died in more than three decades of unrest during the oil- and gas-rich province's separatist struggle; sporadic politically-motivated violence continues.

The 2005 agreement between Jakarta and the rebels, which grants special autonomy to Aceh such as the right to use sharia law, was also made in the spirit of rebuilding the area after the 2004 tsunami that killed tens of thousands in the province.

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NSW child protection workers strike

CHILD protection workers in Sydney's west and northwest have held stop work meetings to protest over understaffing and a lack of resources.

The industrial action follows a NSW Ombudsman report released last week, which said there was a "lack of capacity within Community Services" to respond to children at risk of significant harm.

The Report of Reviewable Deaths in 2010 and 2011 also said families at risk were not adequately assessed in some cases, due to competing priorities and gaps in casework.

Community Services staff at the Hawkesbury and St Marys offices held a stop walk meeting for one hour on Wednesday during a visit by Community Services Minster Pru Goward.

Public Service Association (PSA) assistant secretary Steve Turner said community services staff across NSW were frustrated cost cutting was severely hampering effective child protection.

"As the ombudsman's report shows, there are too many serious cases with not enough caseworkers and support staff to respond," he said.

"Staff find themselves overwhelmed by insufficient resources and a high administration burden that stops them from essential face-to-face work with vulnerable children and their families".

The PSA said further stoppages were expected and it's calling on Ms Goward to address the issue immediately.

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Ministers say workers' super won't be hit

Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten says protecting workers' earning is the government's priority. Source: AAP

SENIOR Gillard government ministers have talked down the prospect of changes to superannuation impacting on the vast bulk of Australian workers, those who earn under $300,000.

The intervention by Treasurer Wayne Swan and Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten came as the government faces political heat over the possibility of super tax changes in the federal budget.

Mr Shorten, who met super industry leaders in Melbourne on Wednesday, gave the clearest indication of where the government was heading when he said the government's priority was to look after Australians earning "one, two, three or four times average weekly wages".

Four times average annual earnings is about $300,000 a year.

"I'm not preoccupied with punishing particular sections of the community," he told reporters.

"I am preoccupied with having a sustainable system which supports all the people in Australia who aspire to having to rely not solely on the age pension."

Calling for a bipartisan and "depoliticised" approach to superannuation, Mr Shorten said the government was listening "very carefully" to stakeholders in the lead-up to the budget on May 14.

Earlier, Mr Wayne Swan warned that "excessively generous" tax breaks on superannuation for high-income earners could not be sustained.

But he declined to outline what changes the government had in mind, or even if there could be a separate announcement ahead of the budget.

"Everybody understands that the system must be sustainable for the long term, that tax concessions for those at the very top are excessively generous," Mr Swan said.

"And to make it sustainable over time, the concessions need to be sustainable over time."

However, Mr Swan was adamant that any changes would be driven by a "savings task in itself for the budget".

Western Sydney Labor MP Ed Husic added his voice to caucus critics of any changes to the superannuation regime, saying he was "concerned".

"It is important that we do everything we can to promote and not hinder people's ability to basically put money into super," he said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard railed at "very wild speculation" over super, before dismissing it as the usual round of pre-budget speculation.

"We're now in one of those pre-budget cycles where speculation feeds on rumour," she told ABC radio.

"We'll make budget decisions and make them available publicly at the proper time."

Coalition superannuation spokesman Mathias Cormann accused Ms Gillard of mounting a "class war" over super.

"Julia Gillard's refusal today to rule out retrospective changes to taxes on superannuation proves yet again that Labor cannot be trusted on super," he said.

Mr Shorten countered that the coalition planned to remove a government super contribution worth up to $500 a year for those earning less than $37,000 a year.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott again warned that if the coalition won government it might not roll back any super changes made by Labor.

"I can't make pre-emptive commitments in advance of knowing exactly what the budgetary position is," he told Fairfax Radio Network.

"We will fight seriously against any of the changes the government seems to have in mind.

"But we can't promise to undo all of the damage that this government has done."

Financial Services Council chief executive John Brogden said Mr Shorten said nothing new on superannuation at the roundtable in Melbourne.

"There were no new revelations," he told AAP.

Mr Brogden said he called for a bipartisan approach to super.

"The constant tinkering and changes have meant it will always be a political issue," he said.

Chair for the lobby group Women in Super, Cate Wood, said the recent super debate had ignored the need to help women overcome the retirement savings gap.

"Women's balances often stagnate in their 30s or 40s due to taking time out of the workforce to care for or raise a family," Ms Wood said in a statement.

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US nuke board warns of explosion risk

UNDERGROUND tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at America's most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion, officials say.

State and federal authorities have long known hydrogen gas could build up inside the tanks at Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation, leading to an explosion that would release radioactive material.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended additional monitoring and ventilation of the tanks last autumn and federal officials were working to develop a plan to implement the recommendation.

The board expressed those concerns again on Monday to US Senator Ron Wyden, who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and had sought the board's perspective about cleanup at Hanford.

The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.

It spends billions to clean up the 1500-square-kilometre site neighbouring the Columbia River, the southern border between Washington and Oregon and the Pacific Northwest's largest waterway.

Federal officials have said six underground tanks at the site are leaking into the soil, threatening the groundwater, and technical problems have delayed construction of a plant to treat the waste for long-term safe disposal.

Those issues are likely to come up during confirmation hearings next week for Energy Secretary-nominee Ernest J. Moniz.

The fears of explosion and contamination could give Washington and Oregon officials more clout as they push for cleanup of the World War II-era site.

Central to the cleanup is the removal of 212 million litres of highly radioactive, toxic waste left from plutonium production from underground tanks.

Many of the site's single-shell tanks, which have just one wall, have leaked in the past, and state and federal officials announced in February that six such tanks are leaking anew.

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First political prisoners freed in Sudan

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has told parliament he will release all political prisoners. Source: AAP

SUDANESE authorities have reportedly released six political prisoners, with President Omar al-Bashir vowing to free all political detainees.

The six men walked free early on Tuesday to tearful relatives waiting outside Kober prison in Khartoum North.

Most of them are believed to have been held for more than two months in connection with a conference in Uganda, which led to a charter for toppling Bashir's 24-year-old regime using both armed and peaceful means.

Farouk Abu Issa, who heads the opposition alliance of more than 20 parties, could not be immediately reached for comment.

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SA happy to reveal help to Holden

THE South Australian government will reveal the amount of cash provided to local carmakers over the past decade.

Mr Weatherill said he was happy to detail the support offered to both Holden and Mitsubishi before it closed its assembly operations in Adelaide.

The final figure is still being calculated, but the premier says the government remains proud of the support it has offered to a key part of the state's manufacturing sector.

He said assisting Mitsubishi for some years had sustained employment, while support for Holden had ensured the future of its manufacturing operations in Adelaide until at least 2022.

"I'm more than happy to reveal the sorts of government assistance that has been provided to Holden and Mitsubishi over the life of this government," Mr Weatherill said on Tuesday.

"We know from the research that we did 16,000 jobs are at risk should General Motors (Holden) close.

"So our assistance has leveraged up a very substantial economic benefit for South Australia."

In recent years SA committed $50 million to Holden to develop two new vehicles as part of a state and federal package of support worth $275 million.

But Holden chairman Mike Devereux has revealed to The Australian Financial Review that total government support for the company over the past 12 years was worth $2.2 billion.

Mr Devereux said without the assistance it would be "absolutely impossible to make cars in this country".

Industry Minister Greg Combet's office defended the federal government's assistance to the sector saying it was providing "jobs, technologies, investment and other economic benefits".

Mr Weatherill said the question of future support for Holden was an important debate, but the state government had made a judgment that sustaining the car company was "absolutely crucial to the South Australia's economic future".

The state government later revealed total assistance to Holden over the past decade was worth $88.2 million while assistance to Mitsubishi was about $37.8 million.

However, the funds provided to Mitsubishi included a $35 million, 10-year loan which was repaid in full after the company closed its assembly plant in 2008.

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Bridge family can still sue over asbestos

THE family of pioneering politician Ernie Bridge can continue legal action over the asbestos-related diseases which are claimed to have led to his death on Sunday.

Mr Bridge, the Kimberley MLA from 1980 to 2001, died in Perth on Sunday, aged 76.

He was WA's first Aboriginal MP and the first indigenous cabinet minister in any Australian government.

Weeks ago, Mr Bridge lodged a Supreme Court writ seeking damages from parties including companies run by two of the nation's richest women, Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and Angela Bennett's Wright Prospecting.

He claimed he was exposed to asbestos while overseeing the closure of mines and withdrawal of government services from Wittenoom in the late 1980s.

As tributes continued to flow for the father of four, lawyer Simon Millman of Slater and Gordon confirmed his family would be able to continue the legal fight because the claim had been lodged while he was still alive.

"It is an important reminder that if people are experiencing asbestos-related diseases it is imperative that legal proceedings be started in their lifetime," Mr Millman said.

"Mr Bridge appropriately commenced his proceedings and that will now mean his estate, his family and loved ones are able to proceed with the claim notwithstanding he has passed away."

The family have not yet indicated whether they will continue the action.

Mr Millman said the legal process could continue, but the grieving process should be given priority.

Mr Bridge, a country music singer, was a pastoralist before entering politics, serving as minister under WA Labor leader's Brian Burke and Peter Dowding.

The Order of Australia member and Centenary Medal recipient was praised for his commitment to Aboriginal affairs, and was known for promoting the idea of piping water from the Kimberley to Perth via Kalgoorlie.

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Passenger's touring helps No 1 single

BRITISH singer-songwriter Passenger scores his eighth international number one placement by moving up one spot to the top of the ARIA Singles Chart with his hit Let Her Go.

Previously he has topped the charts in Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and it is currently No 1 in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as at No 2 in Denmark and Finland.

He has one more week of touring here in Australia, plus his album All the Little Lights jumps up to No 2 this week, so he could be at the summit of both charts next week.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis move back down to second place after one week at the top with Can't Hold Us.

MKTO were in the country recently for a promo visit, and that has helped their track Thank You to climb to a new peak of No 3, Pink and Nate Ruess are in fourth place with Just Give Me a Reason, whilst Rihanna does what her song says and is stable at No 5 with Stay.

Staying at the top of the albums chart for a second week is Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience.

Landing the highest new album entry of the week at No 3 is Sydney metal-core band Northlane, whose second album Singularity far surpasses the No 85 peak that their November 2011 first set Discoveries achieved.

Ed Sheeran is down a place to No 4 with + -, pushing down Pink and The Truth About Love to fifth place.

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Asia manufacturing picks up in March: data

MANUFACTURING activity across Asia expanded in April with widely watched barometers suggesting the region's export-dependent economies were continuing to recover.

China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit 50.9 in March, its highest since April 2012 when the figure stood at 53.3, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

The PMI is a widely watched indicator of economic health, with a reading above 50 suggesting expansion while anything below points to contraction.

British bank HSBC, whose survey focuses more on smaller enterprises than the official data, said its final PMI stood at 51.6 in March, up from 50.4 in February, when the reading dipped to its lowest since October.

"China's recovery continues, mainly driven by the gradually improving domestic demand conditions," said Qu Hongbin, a Hong Kong-based economist with the bank, in a statement.

HSBC's PMI readings for many other Asian economies all improved in the month, with Vietnam hitting a 23-month high of 50.8.

South Korea saw its strongest figure for a year, reaching 52.0 thanks to solid increases in output and new orders as demand from China and Japan was strong, HSBC said.

In Taiwan, the PMI climbed to 51.2 in March, the fourth consecutive month of improvement and up from 50.2 in February, on the back of new orders from both home and abroad continuing to rise.

HSBC's index for Indonesia reached a four-month high of 51.3, from 50.5 in February, underpinned by a faster expansion in new orders and a slight increase in production, the bank said.

India's figure was also positive at 52.0 in March, although that was the lowest reading for 16 months and down from 54.2 in February, as repeated power cuts weighed on activity.

Speaking of the latest data CIMB head of research Song Seng Wun told Dow Jones Newswires: "It paints a story of modest recovery rather than an all-out, straight line all-guns-blazing story, which would have pleased the market more."

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South Korea leader vows retaliation

North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament is set to meet at a time of soaring military tensions. Source: AAP

SOUTH Korea's new president has promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced the two countries are now in a state of war.

President Park Geun-Hye's warning came as North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament was set to hold its annual session and a day after ruling party leaders vowed to enshrine Pyongyang's right to nuclear weapons in law.

In a meeting with senior military officials and Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, Park said she took the near-daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month "very seriously."

"I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if (the North) stages any provocation against our people," she said.

Park, a conservative who had advocated cautious engagement with the North during her campaign, has been compelled to take a more hardline posture after assuming office in February.

The Korean peninsula has been caught in a cycle of escalating tensions since North Korea's long-range rocket launch in December which its critics condemned as a ballistic missile test.

United Nations sanctions were followed by a nuclear test in February, after which came more sanctions and more apocalyptic threats from Pyongyang as South Korea and the United States conducted joint military drills.

Those threats have run the gamut from limited artillery bombardments to pre-emptive nuclear strikes, and have been met with warnings from Seoul and Washington of severe repercussions.

The US military said Monday it had deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to South Korea as part of the ongoing "Foal Eagle" military exercise.

The jets were reportedly flown out of the US air base in Okinawa, Japan.

North Korea has already threatened to strike the US mainland and US bases in the Pacific in response to the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in this year's exercise.

The annual gathering of the North's Supreme People's Assembly usually scores low on important policy announcements - its role largely limited to unanimously pushing through pre-decided budgets and personnel changes.

But with North Korea having declared itself in a "state of war" with the South, Monday's session will be closely watched for any sign of the current crisis impacting on the fortunes of members of the ruling elite.

"The North has played most of its political cards, so I don't see any fresh, tangible threats to come out after the meeting," said Cho Han-Bum, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

"It will probably issue some kind of symbolic statement, like urging all North Koreans to stand ready for a possible war," Cho said.

The parliament session was preceded by a gathering on Sunday of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, chaired by North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un.

The meeting declared that the North's possession of nuclear weapons "should be fixed by law", and that its nuclear arsenal should be beefed up "qualitatively and quantitatively".

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea and warned that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.

Both South Korea and the United States chose to downplay the announcement as just another in a long line of rhetorical provocations.

One threat that grabbed more attention related to the possible closure of a joint-Korean industrial complex which lies inside North Korea.

The Kaesong estate - established in 2004 as a symbol of cross-border cooperation - is a crucial source of hard-currency revenue for North Korea which has never allowed past crises on the peninsula to impact its operations.

On Saturday, the North's state body in charge of the complex said it would shut Kaesong down completely if South Korea continues to affront Pyongyang's "dignity".

The border crossing to Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres on the North side, was functioning normally on Monday.

The operating stability of the complex is seen as a true bellwether of inter-Korean relations, and its closure would mark a significant escalation of tensions beyond all the military rhetoric.

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Anti-poacher African chopper crash kills 5

A SOUTH African military helicopter has crashed during an anti-rhino poaching patrol over Kruger National Park, killing five people, the army says.

"The helicopter was on a scheduled aerial patrol of the Kruger National Park as part of Operation RHINO, the anti-rhino poaching operation," Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said in a statement.

"A preliminary investigation is currently under way to establish the sequence of events that led to the fatal crash of the helicopter."

The crash happened on Saturday. The craft was an Agusta 109 deployed to Kruger, a huge game reserve in the north of the country, by the military, which has been assisting rangers in the fight against rhino poaching.

Poaching figures have reached alarming levels.

Only 13 rhinos were killed in 2007 but 188 have already been slain since the start of 2013, 70 per cent of them in Kruger, according to environment ministry figures released on March 28.

Amid the crisis, the South African government is mulling the legalisation of rhino horn trade in a bid to curb the slaughter.

South Africa has had a moratorium on rhino horn sales since 2009.

Rhino poaching is driven by a booming demand for their horns in the Asian black market where the fingernail-like substance is falsely believed to have powerful healing properties.

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I'm OK, says assaulted NZ cricketer Ryder

Cricketer Jesse Ryder, who was critically injured in an assault, wants supporters to know he's "OK". Source: AAP

NEW Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder, who was critically injured in a brutal assault, wants supporters to know he's "OK".

Ryder, 28, was placed in an induced coma in Christchurch Hospital after the attack early on Thursday.

He was brought out of the coma on Saturday and was moved out of intensive care on Sunday.

"I just want to let everyone know that I'm OK," Ryder said on Sunday afternoon in his first public statement since the attack.

"I feel heaps better today, but still really tired. I've been reading your messages that have been sent, so thank you to everyone for thinking of me over the last few days.

He also thanked medical staff at the hospital, who had been "awesome", and his family and friends.

Ryder's manager, Aaron Klee, said the cricketer was now focused on his recovery and getting back to full health.

Ryder suffered injuries including a punctured lung and fractured skull.

Ryder said after he woke up he did not remember being assaulted, Klee told reporters on Saturday.

The big-hitting batsman was due to leave for the Indian Premier League on Friday after his services were acquired by the Delhi Daredevils at a player auction in February.

He would not be paid for the contract, but that was "the least of our worries", Klee said.

Two men, aged 20 and 37, and related to each other, were arrested and charged with assault.

They will appear in court on Thursday.

Police believe two men were responsible for the first attack, which happened about 12.30am on Thursday outside the Aikmans Bar in Merivale, where Ryder had been out for a drink with his Wellington teammates.

A second attack, involving one of the men from the first assault, took place across the road at the entrance to the McDonald's car park, police say.

Ryder had been drinking, but police say there is no indication alcohol was a contributing factor to the assault.

In March 2012, Ryder took a break from international cricket, after admitting he had a drinking problem.

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Ten lost hikers found in Vic high country

TEN missing hikers have been found safe and well in Victoria's Bogong High Plains.

The group set off from Youngs Hut around lunch time on Saturday and headed along Youngs Top Walking Track before contacting emergency services about 6pm (AEDT).

They had planned to walk to McNamara Hut when it is believed they took a wrong turn.

SES workers along with police and Parks Victoria crews found the hikers at Palings Spur just before 6pm Sunday (AEDT), about 2km south of the intended track.

The group have now returned to McNamara Hut.

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