China zoo with fake lion closes: media

A Chinese zoo under fire for disguising a hairy dog as a lion has closed for "rectification". Source: AAP

A CHINESE zoo ridiculed for disguising a dog as a lion has shut down temporarily for "rectification", media report.

The zoo's supposed "African lion" was exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute - a Tibetan mastiff - started barking, the state-run Beijing Youth Daily had reported earlier.

The zoo, in central China's Henan province, has "altered several misnamed animal signs", the Beijing Times reported on Friday, adding that zoo officials have issued a public apology and "closed for rectification".

Three other species housed incorrectly in the zoo reportedly included: two coypu rodents in a snake's cage, a white fox in a leopard's den, and another dog in a wolf pen.

A photograph of a dog sitting in a cage in front of a sign reading "African lion" drew ridicule on Chinese social media services, with one user saying: "They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf".

The Tibetan mastiff is a large and hairy dog breed.

Authorities in the park in the city of Luohe, where the zoo is located, said the facility had been contracted out to a private zookeeper since 1998.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

System failed NT woman, inquest hears

TWO families devastated by a killing that shocked Alice Springs are united in the sense of betrayal they feel towards the mental health system.

Gwvynyth Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt and Rocky Manu were flatmates for 18 months before the paranoid schizophrenic Manu killed her in November 2011.

Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt, 36, was found with multiple stab wounds in what Coroner Greg Cavanagh described as "a frenzied attack".

The flat was leased to the pair by the Mental Health Association of Central Australia (MHACA), but an inquest into the killing has heard that they were left completely unsupported by authorities when Manu, now 45, stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication four months before the tragedy.

There was confusion about who was responsible for following up Manu's treatment, and although several people knew he was relapsing, there were no proper channels for them to report it.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, said in her closing submissions on Friday that the systems of the Alice Springs Hospital and the Central Australian Mental Health Service (CAMHS) had been "deficient in the extreme".

She said Manu's committed and supportive family were led to believe doctors had his treatment under control, when they did not, and that the concerns they repeatedly expressed to Manu's psychiatrist, Dr Prosper Abusah, asking for more involved treatment should have been given more weight.

Dr Dwyer said Dr Abusah was ultimately responsible for allowing Manu's treatment to lapse.

Multiple witnesses testified that Manu had never been homicidal or suicidal, and that he had no history of violence.

But they also said he could be aggressive and intimidating when unwell.

They said his paranoia and suspicion resulted in increasingly controlling behaviour towards his housemate, such as forbidding her friends and family from visiting the unit, making her remove all technology from the house, banning her from speaking his name, and suspecting her of poisoning his food.

Mr Cavanagh said Manu could be difficult to manage.

"A man called Rocky: intelligent, manipulative, full well knowing after 20 years the mental health requirements for him and not liking them, could work the system to get what he wanted, and not what the community wanted," he said.

Manu wanted his own life and was resistant to having a case manager watching over him.

Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt was a peer worker with the MHACA, and her colleagues may have forgotten she was also vulnerable, and did not check on her regularly, Dr Dwyer said.

"Because she was such a competent, clever woman, it appeared on the surface things were going well."

But Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt didn't feel she could speak to authorities about concerns she had about Manu's behaviour, motivated by a desire to help him get well as she had.

The coroner will hand down his findings at a later date.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aftershocks rattle NZ after 6.6 quake

KIDS at a school in New Zealand's capital Wellington were learning what to do in an earthquake just as a magnitude 6.6 quake struck, while Marlborough's mayor asked churchgoers to pray as he sheltered with them under a table.

"How spooky was that?! We were still under the desks for our practice evacuation and the earth started shaking!" Clyde Quay School wrote on its Facebook page.

"But all is well."

And that is what everyone is saying.

Dubbed the Lake Grassmere earthquake, it struck at 2.31pm (1231 AEST) on Friday 10km southeast of the Marlborough town of Seddon at a depth of 8km, followed by a series of scary aftershocks.

Insurers reported only minor damage and hospitals treated a few people for minor injuries.

Marlborough district council mayor Alistair Sowman was meeting with members of churches on the top floor of the council building when the strongest quake he has ever felt struck.

"I suggested under the table they might like to say a few words," he told AAP.

"We thought we would have major damage, but there's not."

Goods fell off supermarket shelves, power was lost, chimneys were damaged and buildings are being checked again.

Two bridges on State Highway 1 in Marlborough were closed, and the road between Seddon and Kaikoura was closed after rockfalls.

At Riverlands Winery, 250,000 litres of wine was lost down the drain when a wine tank was damaged, according to RadioLive.

There were no reports of major damage to buildings in Wellington but police said some houses in Seddon had been damaged.

No tsunami was generated.

Dozens of aftershocks have since rattled the area with the biggest registering 6.0 striking three hours after the initial quake and a number of others registering more than 5.0.

Office workers in Wellington headed home early.

Cabinet minister Steven Joyce tweeted: "Lots of aftershocks. Beehive wobbling around like a jelly, but all ok".

Three grass fires in Seddon were sparked by fallen power lines. Near Ward, a house had slipped on its piles.

Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown said there were initial reports of some superficial damage to buildings in the CBD, but there have been no reports of any major damage, nor any serious injuries.

A spokesman for Centreport, which lost land into the sea in last month's quake, said there had been no serious damage, but most operations had been suspended while checks were carried out.

The Lake Grassmere quake is a strike-slip quake, as was the magnitude 6.5 in the region in July. These occur when faults are vertical or nearly vertical.

"We have now had two similarly sized earthquakes with the same sort of characteristics - they are termed a 'doublet'," said Kevin Fenaughty, GeoNet's data centre manager.

"This is not what we would usually expect."

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

China zoo with fake lion closes: media

A Chinese zoo under fire for disguising a hairy dog as a lion has closed for "rectification". Source: AAP

A CHINESE zoo ridiculed for disguising a dog as a lion has shut down temporarily for "rectification", media report.

The zoo's supposed "African lion" was exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute - a Tibetan mastiff - started barking, the state-run Beijing Youth Daily had reported earlier.

The zoo, in central China's Henan province, has "altered several misnamed animal signs", the Beijing Times reported on Friday, adding that zoo officials have issued a public apology and "closed for rectification".

Three other species housed incorrectly in the zoo reportedly included: two coypu rodents in a snake's cage, a white fox in a leopard's den, and another dog in a wolf pen.

A photograph of a dog sitting in a cage in front of a sign reading "African lion" drew ridicule on Chinese social media services, with one user saying: "They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf".

The Tibetan mastiff is a large and hairy dog breed.

Authorities in the park in the city of Luohe, where the zoo is located, said the facility had been contracted out to a private zookeeper since 1998.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

System failed NT woman, inquest hears

TWO families devastated by a killing that shocked Alice Springs are united in the sense of betrayal they feel towards the mental health system.

Gwvynyth Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt and Rocky Manu were flatmates for 18 months before the paranoid schizophrenic Manu killed her in November 2011.

Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt, 36, was found with multiple stab wounds in what Coroner Greg Cavanagh described as "a frenzied attack".

The flat was leased to the pair by the Mental Health Association of Central Australia (MHACA), but an inquest into the killing has heard that they were left completely unsupported by authorities when Manu, now 45, stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication four months before the tragedy.

There was confusion about who was responsible for following up Manu's treatment, and although several people knew he was relapsing, there were no proper channels for them to report it.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, said in her closing submissions on Friday that the systems of the Alice Springs Hospital and the Central Australian Mental Health Service (CAMHS) had been "deficient in the extreme".

She said Manu's committed and supportive family were led to believe doctors had his treatment under control, when they did not, and that the concerns they repeatedly expressed to Manu's psychiatrist, Dr Prosper Abusah, asking for more involved treatment should have been given more weight.

Dr Dwyer said Dr Abusah was ultimately responsible for allowing Manu's treatment to lapse.

Multiple witnesses testified that Manu had never been homicidal or suicidal, and that he had no history of violence.

But they also said he could be aggressive and intimidating when unwell.

They said his paranoia and suspicion resulted in increasingly controlling behaviour towards his housemate, such as forbidding her friends and family from visiting the unit, making her remove all technology from the house, banning her from speaking his name, and suspecting her of poisoning his food.

Mr Cavanagh said Manu could be difficult to manage.

"A man called Rocky: intelligent, manipulative, full well knowing after 20 years the mental health requirements for him and not liking them, could work the system to get what he wanted, and not what the community wanted," he said.

Manu wanted his own life and was resistant to having a case manager watching over him.

Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt was a peer worker with the MHACA, and her colleagues may have forgotten she was also vulnerable, and did not check on her regularly, Dr Dwyer said.

"Because she was such a competent, clever woman, it appeared on the surface things were going well."

But Ms Cassiopeia-Roennfeldt didn't feel she could speak to authorities about concerns she had about Manu's behaviour, motivated by a desire to help him get well as she had.

The coroner will hand down his findings at a later date.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aftershocks rattle NZ after 6.6 quake

KIDS at a school in New Zealand's capital Wellington were learning what to do in an earthquake just as a magnitude 6.6 quake struck, while Marlborough's mayor asked churchgoers to pray as he sheltered with them under a table.

"How spooky was that?! We were still under the desks for our practice evacuation and the earth started shaking!" Clyde Quay School wrote on its Facebook page.

"But all is well."

And that is what everyone is saying.

Dubbed the Lake Grassmere earthquake, it struck at 2.31pm (1231 AEST) on Friday 10km southeast of the Marlborough town of Seddon at a depth of 8km, followed by a series of scary aftershocks.

Insurers reported only minor damage and hospitals treated a few people for minor injuries.

Marlborough district council mayor Alistair Sowman was meeting with members of churches on the top floor of the council building when the strongest quake he has ever felt struck.

"I suggested under the table they might like to say a few words," he told AAP.

"We thought we would have major damage, but there's not."

Goods fell off supermarket shelves, power was lost, chimneys were damaged and buildings are being checked again.

Two bridges on State Highway 1 in Marlborough were closed, and the road between Seddon and Kaikoura was closed after rockfalls.

At Riverlands Winery, 250,000 litres of wine was lost down the drain when a wine tank was damaged, according to RadioLive.

There were no reports of major damage to buildings in Wellington but police said some houses in Seddon had been damaged.

No tsunami was generated.

Dozens of aftershocks have since rattled the area with the biggest registering 6.0 striking three hours after the initial quake and a number of others registering more than 5.0.

Office workers in Wellington headed home early.

Cabinet minister Steven Joyce tweeted: "Lots of aftershocks. Beehive wobbling around like a jelly, but all ok".

Three grass fires in Seddon were sparked by fallen power lines. Near Ward, a house had slipped on its piles.

Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown said there were initial reports of some superficial damage to buildings in the CBD, but there have been no reports of any major damage, nor any serious injuries.

A spokesman for Centreport, which lost land into the sea in last month's quake, said there had been no serious damage, but most operations had been suspended while checks were carried out.

The Lake Grassmere quake is a strike-slip quake, as was the magnitude 6.5 in the region in July. These occur when faults are vertical or nearly vertical.

"We have now had two similarly sized earthquakes with the same sort of characteristics - they are termed a 'doublet'," said Kevin Fenaughty, GeoNet's data centre manager.

"This is not what we would usually expect."

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan PM skips reference to WWII remorse

JAPAN'S conservative prime minister has broken with two decades of tradition by omitting any expression of remorse over the country's past aggression in Asia on the anniversary of its World War II surrender.

Shinzo Abe's speech on Thursday - which came after nearly 100 MPs including two cabinet ministers visited a controversial war shrine - avoided typical words such as "profound remorse" and "sincere mourning" used by his predecessors to atone for those who suffered as the Imperial Japanese Army stormed across East Asia.

The omission was sure to anger China and South Korea, which have bristled at Abe's talk about overhauling Japan's pacifist constitution. They are also enraged by visits to the Yasukuni shrine which they view as a symbol of Tokyo's imperialist past.

China summoned Japan's envoy on Thursday, saying it "strongly opposed and strictly condemned" the shrine visits, while Seoul called on Tokyo to "face history" if it wants to mend frayed ties.

In Taipei, dozens of angry Taiwanese vented their anger outside Japan's de facto embassy in Taipei, burning a giant model of "Izumo", a helicopter carrier. Japan's biggest warship since World War II, the Izumo was unveiled early this month.

Chanting slogans such as "Down with Japanese militarism", the group accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of trying to expand Japan's military.

In a statement, Taiwan's foreign ministry urged "the Japanese government and some political figures to learn from the lessons of history and refrain from doing anything that hurt the feelings of people in the neighbouring countries".

The comments did not directly reference the speech by Japan's leader, who dropped another usual reference in the annual speech to uphold Tokyo's pledge not to wage war.

"I will never forget the fact that the peace and prosperity we are enjoying now was built based on the sacrifice of your precious lives," Abe said in a reference to the 2.5 million war dead honoured at the shrine.

Yasukuni enshrines citizens who died in World War II and other conflicts, including 14 top convicted war criminals such as General Hideki Tojo, who authorised the attack on Pearl Harbor which drew the United States into the war.

Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese politicians anger neighbouring nations, which view them as a painful reminder of Tokyo's aggression in the first half of the 20th century, including a brutal 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula.

"It is hard to build trust without the willingness to face history and consider the wounds inflicted upon others," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a speech marking the day it was liberated from Japanese rule.

Abe was expected to stay away from the shrine on Thursday but he reportedly sent a ritual offering via an aide.

Security was tight with hundreds of police surrounding the leafy site in the heart of Tokyo, as right-wing nationalists carried flags calling on visitors to pray for Japan's "heroic war dead".

Police blocked a small group of visiting South Korean MPs from erecting an anti-Abe banner over fears of a clash with the conservative groups.

Early on Thursday morning, two ministers in Abe's cabinet visited the site, followed by about 90 other MPs later in the day.

"Consoling the souls of war dead is a purely domestic issue," one minister Keiji Furuya told reporters.

"This is not something that other countries are supposed to criticise or interfere with."

Yoshitaka Shindo, internal affairs and communications minister in Abe's cabinet, called his visit "a personal decision".

One 73-year-old man whose father in enshrined at Yasukuni took heart from Abe's comments Thursday.

"We've apologised too much," Shigenobu Hashiguchi, 73, told AFP.

"It's absurd for foreigners to think that Japan will return to its past imperialist military aggression. We should still pray for the war dead regardless of whatever China and South Korea say."

For many, walking down the shrine's stone paths lined with cherry trees and past imposing gates dedicated to Shinto - Japan's animist religion - is part of a ritual far removed from politics.

"My father held me only once before heading to the war zone knowing Japan would lose," said 69-year-old Sumiko Iida.

"I'm absolutely against wars."

There is significant amount of domestic opposition to Yasukuni, including among some relatives of those honoured there, who say it glorifies war and the darker chapters in Japan's history.

15.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

Coles lifts Wesfarmers profit to $2.26b

Strong growth from Coles has helped Wesfarmers post a six per cent rise in annual profit. Source: AAP

THE head of Coles says Australians are still paying too much for groceries, even as it posted a $1.5 billion full year profit.

A 13 per cent rise in earnings from Coles helped its parent company Wesfarmers grow its annual profit by six per cent to $2.26 billion.

Coles and hardware chain Bunnings were the strongest contributors to Wesfarmers' profit, but Target suffered a heavy fall in earnings, as did the company's coal mining operations.

Still, Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder is optimistic about the year ahead, forecasting further growth in most of its retail chains.

"There are challenging conditions in Target ... it's difficult to foresee how the resources business will perform, but we expect to see continued strong growth in Coles, continued strong growth in Bunnings and other retail businesses," Mr Goyder told reporters.

Coles' earnings and sales growth reflected a higher number of transactions, overcoming price deflation, which is mainly the result of discounting.

The supermarket chain's chief executive Ian McLeod indicated more discounting was possible.

"I'm still convinced that people in Australia are paying too much for some products that can be bought for less in other countries," Mr McLeod said.

"There are still certainly lots more opportunities in cost-of-doing-business."

Overall profit growth for Wesfarmers was weaker than analysts had expected, and Wesfarmers shares closed 67 cents, or 1.6 per cent, lower at $41.26.

Mr Goyder acknowledged that Target needed to change its fashion range to compete with Zara, Top Shop, Gap and online stores.

Target's 44 per cent fall in earnings was caused by lower prices, excess stock and increased costs.

IG market analyst Evan Lucas said Target's performance was a major concern for Wesfarmers, as a new management team took charge.

"How effective they will be remains to be seen as global apparel players such as Zara, Top Shop and H&M bite into the brand," he said.

Wesfarmers' coal division is also a concern due to falling commodity prices, and questions about a possible sell-off may soon be raised, Mr Lucas said.

The will deliver a $579 million Christmas present to shareholders via a 50 cent per share capital return, which will be paid in addition to its final dividend for the 2012/13 financial year of $1.03 per share.

Mr Goyder said the one-off payment was a result of a series of property spinoffs.

15.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW suffering scandal withdrawal: premier

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has denied pushing through a Sydney Water deal for a company linked to Eddie Obeid, saying the state is suffering "scandal starvation" after years of Labor corruption.

He also said the corruption watchdog hadn't sought to interview him over the claims.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is reportedly set to investigate a $100 million dollar contract awarded by Sydney Water in 2012.

Mr O'Farrell and former finance minister Greg Pearce met in August 2011 with Nick Di Girolamo, a Liberal donor whose company, Australian Water Holdings, subsequently sealed a 25-year contract to build water infrastructure at Rouse Hill.

But Mr O'Farrell says the meeting was reported in February this year and that it was perfectly proper for him to meet with businessmen.

"My government ensured that we did not interfere with this process (of awarding the contract)," he told reporters.

"Australian Water were told it would be inappropriate for us to involve ourselves."

Former Labor powerbroker Mr Obeid, who was found guilty of corruption by the ICAC last month, held secret shares in Australian Water Holdings.

Labor used question time on Thursday to grill the premier.

Opposition leader John Robertson hinted at interference from people connected to Mr Pearce, the recently sacked finance minister.

"Can you explain why Sydney Water changed its previous position and awarded a $100 million contract to Australian Water Holdings within a month of Greg Pearce's mate Richard Fisher and Liberal party donor Bruce Morgan being appointed to the board of Sydney Water," he asked.

To which the premier replied: "There is no connection between the commercial decision made by Sydney Water and any meeting with the government."

Mr O'Farrell also said there was "no scandal here, no inappropriate action".

"What we do have here is scandal starvation," he said.

"They got so used to scandals by those opposite that they are always looking for them."

Meanwhile, Sydney Water managing director Kevin Young has confirmed the utility's chairman, Thomas Parry, received a letter from Liberal powerbroker Arthur Sinodinos when he was chairman of Australian Water.

It was reported on Thursday that the letter was sent in 2011 and copied to the premier.

"The NSW government position (was) that it was a matter to be dealt with solely by Sydney Water corporation and its board," Mr Young told a budget estimates hearing on Thursday.

Earlier, Mr O'Farrell told reporters he had no concerns about corruption in his own ranks and he didn't believe the ICAC held any such concerns.

The premier couldn't say whether he had attended Liberal party fundraisers at which Mr Di Girolamo was present but said he occasionally ran into him at the footy.

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Optus says improvement needed on network

Australian telco Optus has lifted its quarterly net profit by almost eight per cent. Source: AAP

OPTUS admits it needs to improve the quality of its network after seeing rival Telstra scoop up most of the 550,000 customers who this year abandoned struggling telco Vodafone.

The telco has watched its customer numbers virtually stagnate over the past 12 months while Telstra added 1.3 million new subscribers to its books.

Optus boss Kevin Russell admits network quality was the primary factor that drove the disaffected Vodafone customers into the arms of its rival.

"The experiences customers had at the Vodafone network were very difficult and that unquestionably sensitised a lot of Vodafone customers to network quality," he said.

"Unquestionably, Telstra has positioned itself very much as the leader in network, I think where the market has been is Optus has lead on customer, Vodafone has lead on price and Telstra has lead on network and it was uniquely positioned to capitalise on that."

Mr Russell says Optus is working to improve its network and restructure its business to better suit the needs of customers.

"I think we have to be very clear in terms of the things we have to do, which is strengthening our network to levels that are comparative with Telstra and to start to get a clearer brand position in the market place in terms of doing the right thing by customers."

He said the company is working to strengthen its 3G network and extend its 4G network to reach more than 70 per cent of Australia's metro population by 2014.

The telco recorded a net profit of $167 million for the three months to June 30, up nearly eight per cent compared to the same time last year.

That was despite a five per cent fall in quarterly revenue compared to a year ago, mostly from its mobile phone business.

But the drop in revenue was more than offset by savings from a cost-cutting drive.

Mr Russell said mobile revenue would continue to contract over the coming months and would remain weak for the next two years.

But he said the company was positioning itself to lift its earnings through the growing demand for data services.

15.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aust shares close lower

AUSTRALIAN stocks have closed slightly lower despite strong profit growth by market heavyweights including Commonwealth Bank.

At the close on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.3 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,157.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 0.6 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,141.

On the ASX 24, the September share price index futures contract was six points lower at 5,110 with 25,487 contracts traded.

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Koreas hold fresh talks on fate of Kaesong

THE two Koreas have held fresh talks on reopening a joint industrial estate, ahead of South Korea-US military exercises next week that the North says are a rehearsal for war.

The two sides have already met for six rounds of fruitless discussions on the future of the estate in Kaesong, which was effectively shut down by North Korea in April as military tensions soared on the divided peninsula.

With South Korea starting an annual military drill with the United States on Monday, the result of the latest negotiations could determine whether the peninsula is sucked into another dangerous cycle of escalating hostilities.

"The fact we are sitting here for the seventh round shows that the issue is not an easy one to solve," the South's chief delegate Kim Ki-woong told his North Korean counterpart Pak Chol-su on Wednesday as the talks began in Kaesong, 10km inside the North Korean border.

Pak likened the negotiations to farming and said the recent break in an extended heatwave on the peninsula boded well.

"With the weather so good, I think we can tend the field well and can possibly reap good produce," Pak said, according to a pool report.

An association representing the owners of the 123 South Korean companies in Kaesong said on Tuesday that the time had come to make a lasting deal on resuming operations.

"This time, our government and the North's authorities must reach agreement on reopening Kaesong without fail," it said in a statement.

The North had proposed the seventh round of talks last week, just hours after Seoul announced it was going to start compensation payments totalling $US250 million ($A276.01 million) to businesses affected by Kaesong's closure.

The payout move was widely seen as the first step towards a permanent withdrawal from the zone.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abbott dismisses Labor GST scare

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says Labor's scaring the "bejesus" out of voters over the coalition's tax plans but the prime minister's not letting the issue go.

Labor's claim that the opposition is planning to raise the 10 per cent GST or broaden it to food has dominated the first nine days of the election campaign.

It's trying to use the debate to gain the edge on the coalition, which is leading 51-49 per cent in two-party terms according to the latest Essential poll.

Mr Abbott campaigned in western Sydney and stressed again that the GST wouldn't change under his government.

"Grow up, get real, the GST is not going to change, full stop, end of story," Mr Abbott said on Tuesday.

"Let's not play these sorts of games, we all know this is a desperate Labor party that is running around trying to scare the bejesus out of people."

Kevin Rudd, who was campaigning in Townsville, said Mr Abbott was in damage control over his planned tax review.

"My challenge is simply this ... if you are not planning the possibility of increasing the GST or extending it to food then just rule it out," the prime minister said.

"But the fact that you won't rule it out and are insisting it's part of the review I think says it all."

Mr Abbott couldn't rule out participants to the review making references to the consumption tax.

The GST rumble continued as the departments of Treasury and Finance released the final pre-election set of budget and economic projects, igniting a fresh spat over the coalition's policy costings.

The Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO), which parties use as the base for their costings, confirmed the government's own forecasts including a deficit of $30.1 billion this financial year.

Mr Rudd said it was "D-Day" for the coalition to announce its own budget bottom line.

"It's fundamental for the Australian people to know where Mr Abbott's $70 billion worth of cuts to health, education and jobs are going to fall," he said.

The opposition denies the $70 billion figure and suggestions of cuts to health and education.

It gave no specific time frame for its costings release, saying only that it would be well before the election and follow careful consideration of the PEFO numbers.

Mr Rudd used his north Queensland visit to announce $30 million to train and improve the skills of 5800 workers in sectors like child care, aged care and disability services.

Mr Abbott announced $100 million for up to 250 mobile-phone towers to fix communications black spots, particularly in regional areas.

Meanwhile, the major parties are bickering over follow-ups to Sunday's leaders debate, narrowly won by Mr Rudd.

The Liberals want two town hall-style forums in Brisbane and Sydney, which would be hosted by Sky News and made available to all TV networks.

Mr Abbott said journalists had enough opportunity to ask questions.

"It's time for the people to have a go," he said.

Labor wants a Sunday night event hosted by Seven and a breakfast debate hosted by Nine, both of which would involve social media platforms like Twitter.

15.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Floods in Nepal kill seven

A FLOODED river has swept away part of a small village in northeastern Nepal, killing seven people, a local police official says.

Heavy rain overnight swelled the river, which washed away four houses in the village in Ramechhap district while people were sleeping, police official Bimal Raj Kandel said on Tuesday.

Six people were also injured and one person reported missing, Kandel told AFP.

Efforts to reach the village were being hampered by flooding elsewhere in the district, he said.

"Another river ... also damaged yet another highway bridge, which has hampered our rescue efforts," Kandel said.

On August 5, six Hindu pilgrims drowned while trying to cross a swollen river in the same district. Pilgrimages to remote temples in the mountains are popular in Nepal at this time of year.

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Holden workers vote for pay freeze

Holden workers in Adelaide have voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement. Source: AAP

HOLDEN workers in Adelaide have voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement that could save the car maker's Australian operations.

About 1500 staff at the Elizabeth assembly plant cast their votes on Tuesday backing their revised agreement which includes forgoing pay increases in a bid to save the company $15 million a year in labour costs.

Without the savings, and without ongoing financial assistance from the federal and state governments, Holden has indicated its local manufacturing operations will close, probably in 2016.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary John Camillo says the vote was decisive but has declined to release the numbers.

The new agreement does not include the 10 per cent pay cut the company initially called for, though a three per cent increase scheduled for November will be cancelled.

It will also cap redundancy payments for new staff and provide for new shift arrangements.

For the new agreement to come into force Holden workers in Melbourne will also be asked to vote in favour later this week.

But as the changes will not apply to them and most are expected to abstain, allowing the Adelaide vote to stand.

The new deal is also conditional on Holden committing $1 billion to design and build two new cars in Australia from 2016.

A Holden spokesman said no comment could be made until after the vote was finalised in Victoria.

"The vote is taking place across several sites over four days, in both South Australia and Victoria," he said.

"We have a voting process in place that we are following and plan to announce the final results on Friday afternoon, August 16."

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WA Libs backflip over unpopular power plan

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has denied his backflip over an unpopular state budget cost savings measure was due to pressure from a "grumpy" federal Liberal MP.

The Liberal leader says he was not pushed into abandoning the plan to slash the solar feed-in tariff rate for households that funnel surplus power back into the grid from 40c per kilowatt hour to 20c/kWh.

The move was expected to save $51 million but was abandoned four days after being announced in last Thursday's budget following a huge public backlash and from within the state Liberal party.

It flew in the face of a 2011 letter from power utility Synergy that said the 40c/kWh rate was locked in for 10 years.

"I was not prevailed on," Mr Barnett told reporters.

"I received one fairly grumpy message from one federal member - that was it."

Asked who sent the message, the Premier responded: "You can do your own research".

Mr Barnett was repentant and accepted the government has egg on its face, saying he was conscious of the backlash.

"You can't ignore it. There's an election on and it's never good to have a controversy during an election campaign.

"I apologise. I'm sorry this happened.

"It was a mistake, we accept that, we've reversed the decision and I guess we move on from there."

Mr Barnett said the decision to reverse the plan was made with householders' hip pockets in mind.

"It was the impact that it had on individual people, many of them retired who had in good faith used their savings, their superannuation or borrowed money to enter into a scheme."

In response to the threat of a class action by householders, Treasurer Troy Buswell on Friday said the tariff cut was "allowable within the constraints of the contracts".

But Mr Barnett said people had signed up to the solar scheme not realising there was "room to alter the contract".

At the same time, the scheme was too generous at 40c/kWh, making it "unfair" for other electricity users.

Energy Minister Mike Nahan said it was a tough budget and the Treasurer had to cut costs in the electricity system, but the government "went too far".

"We learned the lesson, we backed off of it," Mr Nahan said.

"I'm not embarrassed."

Mr Nahan denied Mr Buswell - who had only moments earlier told journalists there was no chance the decision would be reversed - was "rolled" in cabinet.

The program, introduced in 2009, was such a success the Liberal government admitted in 2011 the take-up cap had been breached, costing it some $46 million more than planned.

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Rudd shrugs off bad polls for Labor

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is unfazed by Labor trailing the coalition in the polls four weeks out from the federal election and his colleagues deny Labor's campaign is faltering.

Labor said a poor poll on Monday simply showed there was long way to go before the election, as they continued to try and flush out coalition policy costings.

An average of the most recent four polls by Newspoll, Morgan, ReachTEL and Essential shows Labor's two-party vote on 48.2 per cent - the lowest level since Mr Rudd's return to the leadership.

Campaigning in the Sydney seat of Bennelong, Mr Rudd said Labor remained the underdog.

"I'm a positive sort of guy with a positive set of plans for the country's future and I'm not fazed by any of this," he said.

"I've been around for a bit and I've been around for a few things somewhat more challenging than this."

He was at Macquarie University to announce $35.6 million for retraining 7000 manufacturing workers and a new medical technology partnership.

He followed up his election debate announcement of Labor's support for a new bill on gay marriage with a call on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a conscience vote.

"I think it's time we resolved this matter for all Australians," Mr Rudd said.

Mr Abbott, whose sister Christine Forster is gay, said the issue was important.

But not as urgent a priority for an incoming coalition government as jobs and the cost of living, he said.

Campaigning in Melbourne, Mr Abbott promised an annual statement to parliament on the progress of major projects.

"I would like to think that should we win the election I will be known as an infrastructure prime minister," he said.

Labor and the coalition continued to exchange blows over the costing of policies, ahead of Tuesday's release by Treasury of the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Labor released its economic statement on August 2, which Mr Rudd said was based on the government's "best analysis" of the latest data.

He says he will account for policies announced during the election campaign with a "full reconciliation of the costings on the way through".

Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said Mr Rudd's comment showed the hypocrisy of Labor's call for the coalition to immediately release its policy costings.

"When exactly will the Australian people see the full list of all of your costings, Mr Rudd?" Mr Robb said.

Following Sunday's leaders' debate, talks are under way to hold two town hall-style events in Brisbane and Sydney in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the Labor national executive endorsed business consultant Clare O'Neil to replace Geoff Lake as the candidate for the safe Victorian seat of Hotham.

Mr Lake was stood aside over comments he made about a female Monash councillor 11 years ago.

The ALP is seeking a replacement for Senator David Feeney, who formally resigned from the Senate on Monday to run in the Victorian lower house seat of Batman.

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Rudd says he didn't know debate rule

The coalition has accused PM Kevin Rudd of cheating in the first leaders' debate. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd insists he didn't know he'd be breaking the rules by using notes in the leaders' debate - and he's done it before.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was told it was against the rules and thought it odd when his opponent arrived with a stack of notes and seemed to be reading from them at the open and close.

"My problem was not that Mr Rudd used notes but what he used wasn't worth reading in the first place," Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio in Melbourne.

Mr Rudd says he was not advised about the rule and had acted in good faith.

"If someone had said to me it was not proper to take notes along to a debate, then, sure, that's fine. I was in receipt of no such advice," Mr Rudd told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

Mr Rudd pointed out it would have been odd for him to go on a platform watched by millions thinking he could do something "on the sly".

"You can't. So I acted in good faith and everyone would accept that," he said.

The debate rules signed off by both parties stated the leaders could have a pen and paper but "no other documentation or props."

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd on Sunday said there'd been no intention of not complying with the rules.

"We have always believed this rule is aimed at preventing the use of props," the spokeswoman said.

Mr Rudd also used notes when he debated John Howard in 2007 and regularly uses them for media appearances.

The prime minister says that's because he prefers to be as accurate as he can.

"There's a limit to how much you can scribble down on the palm of your hand," he said.

"There's a limit to how many of Mr Abbott's three-word slogans you can actually get there to remember them all."

Mr Abbott was asked on Monday to promise the next debate would be less boring.

"I thought every minute was full of excitement," he quipped.

He was in the minority.

OzTam says the most watched program on Sunday night was Seven News with 1.34 million viewers.

The debate on ABC 1 came in at 12th place with 708,000 viewers.

The Nine Network reported that Tony Abbott used notes in his debate against Julia Gillard in the last federal election campaign - when the debate rules were the same as on Sunday.

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Abbott in surplus budget pledge

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he's looking forward a television debate against PM Kevin Rudd. Source: AAP

BUDGIE smugglers are out, for now, but a budget surplus will be in, Tony Abbott promises.

Mr Abbott joined 85,000 others on the road between Sydney's CBD and Bondi Beach on Sunday, running with blind athlete Nathan Johnstone in the 14-kilometre City2Surf fun run.

But the Opposition Leader said joining in the run on the morning of his debate with prime minister Kevin Rudd wasn't a big shift from his usual morning routine.

"I could either run around the back blocks of Forestville or I could be out with 80,000 of my fellow Australians," he told Macquarie Radio.

Running to raise money for motor neurone disease research, Mr Abbott finished in a respectable time of one hour, 21 minutes and 16 seconds.

Earlier on day seven of the campaign, Mr Abbott and Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull announced a $15 million boost for surf clubs and a new policy to deal with drowning black spots.

Asked if he had considered making the announcement in his budgie smugglers, Mr Abbott, a surf lifesaver himself, laughed and said: "Election campaigns should be budgie-smuggler-free zones.

"You won't see me in budgies this side of polling day."

Mr Abbott also said a coalition government would return the budget to surplus in its first term, provided the Labor government's budget figures - which will get another going over in Tuesday's Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook - were correct.

"If the budget figures that the government has so far put out are correct, yes (there will be a surplus in the first term)," he said.

"But we can't guarantee what the starting point is."

He said the coalition's costings would be announced well before election day on September 7.

Labor was yet to release its full list of costings and had failed to deliver any of its promised surpluses to date, Mr Abbott added.

Mr Abbott left Sydney for Canberra to take part in the first debate of the election campaign against the prime minister.

"I'm looking forward to it because it's both of our chances to present directly to the Australian people what are our positive plans for the future," Mr Abbott said.

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Abbott must come clean on costings: PM

Kevin Rudd (pic) says Tony Abbott must outline the coalition's costings at the leaders' debate. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has challenged Tony Abbott to stop being evasive on the coalition's costings when the pair meet for the first leaders' debate on Sunday night.

During a visit to Queanbeyan, Mr Rudd said he was "delighted about the opportunity to debate Australia's future", and claimed it was time the opposition leader levelled with the public about his plans for the budget.

Labor is trailing the coalition according to a host of polls up published over the weekend and it is critical Mr Rudd wins the National Press Club debate if he is to reclaim some of the momentum lost during the first week of the election campaign.

Mr Rudd told reporters "you can be evasive up to a certain point, I suppose" but not during the national televised debate.

"Based on today's polls if there was an election yesterday Mr Abbott would be prime minister today and therefore he can't be evasive tonight about where his $70 billion in cuts in heath, education and jobs will fall," he said.

"I think it is a pretty basic expectation of Mr Abbott."

Mr Abbott began his day ahead of the debate running in Sydney's iconic City2Surf.

Asked how he prepared for their first showdown, Mr Rudd said he had sought "a bit of divine solace" on his regular Sunday morning visit to church.

Mr Rudd said he started the day with a long walk with son Nicholas, managing to escape the TV cameras.

"I had peace and equanimity," he said.

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SA cops hopeful baby safe with fleeing dad

POLICE searching for a South Australian man who absconded with his infant daughter after allegedly assaulting a family member say they believe he has no intention of harming the child.

Benjamin Koch, 38, took nappies and baby formula when he fled with his 10-month-old following an incident in the state's east about 3am (CST) on Sunday morning.

Police are also investigating an alleged assault after paramedics transported a 52-year-old woman with head injuries to Flinders Medical Centre.

Superintendent Trevor Twilley said the fact that Mr Koch took provisions was a good sign, but he urged the father to make contact the child's mother.

"Anybody's that a parent would understand the trauma that (the mother) must be going through not only with concerns about the injuries to her mother but also not knowing the location of her 10-month child," Supt Twilley told the Nine network.

"The gentleman did take with him some nappies and formula which from our perspective is very pleasing and would indicate there's no intent to harm the child."

South Australia police said there were no court orders preventing Mr Koch from having access to the child, but are concerned for the welfare of both him and the baby.

They say Mr Koch may be distressed.

Mr Koch is about 175cm tall, with a slim build with blond hair.

He is driving a silver 2004 Mitsubishi sedan, with South Australian registration XFC571.

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