Body found as Tibet mine disaster kills 83

Eighty-three workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet. Source: AAP

RESCUE teams have found the first body almost 36 hours after a giant landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers.

Xinhua news agency said rescuers "found the first body at 5.35 pm (8.35pm AEDT)", after two million cubic metres of earth buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, at 6 am on Friday.

The report came after officials said at a press conference Saturday that no survivors or bodies had been found.

About 2,000 rescuers battled difficult terrain in the hunt for survivors after a vast three-kilometre-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic metres, crashed down a slope, covering the miners' camp.

The rescuers braved bad weather as an emergency response team attempted to prevent a secondary disaster.

One rescue worker had earlier described the chance of survivors being found as "slim", Xinhua reported.

China's new president Xi Jinping and new premier Li Keqiang had ordered "top efforts" to rescue the victims, Xinhua said.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

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Record boat arrivals in March: opposition

A RECORD 2200 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia on 34 boats so far this month, the federal opposition says.

It has also been a record first quarter for illegal boat arrivals with over 3600 people arriving - a 179 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2012, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said in a statement.

The federal government's policies on people smugglers have failed and have resulted in "cost, chaos and tragedy on our borders", he said.

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North Korea puts rockets on standby

North Korea's leader has ordered preparations for strategic rocket strikes on the US mainland. Source: AAP

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

The order came after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula, said Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's bellicose threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

Kim directed his rocket units on standby at an overnight emergency meeting with top army commanders, hours after nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in ongoing US joint military drills with South Korea.

In the event of any "reckless" US provocation, North Korean forces should "mercilessly strike the US mainland... military bases in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea", he was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

While North Korea has no proven ability to conduct such strikes, Kim said: "The time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists."

The youthful leader argued that the stealth bomber flights went beyond a simple demonstration of force and amounted to a US "ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost".

A South Korean military official quoted by Yonhap news agency said a "sharp increase" in personnel and vehicle movement had been detected at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites.

The defence ministry declined to confirm the report, saying only that all strategic sites in the North were under intense South Korean and US surveillance.

The B-2 flights, which followed training runs by B-52 bombers, were part of annual drills between the United States and South Korea, which North Korea each year denounces as rehearsals for war.

Pyongyang has been particularly vocal this time, angered by UN sanctions imposed after its long-range rocket launch in December and the third nuclear test it carried out last month.

Kim's order formalised steps already taken by the Korean People's Army (KPA), which put its strategic rocket units at combat-ready status on Tuesday. The following day it cut the last remaining military hotline with South Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians held a huge rally and march in Pyongyang on Friday, in support of a possible military strike against the United States.

State television said the rally took place to support the decision to put the country's strategic rocket units on a war footing.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and biggest trading partner, appealed for calm and said "joint efforts" were needed from all parties to prevent the situation deteriorating further.

The bulk of the threats emanating from Pyongyang have been dismissed as bluster. North Korea has no confirmed missile capability to reach the US mainland - or indeed Guam or Hawaii in the Pacific.

But Washington has opted to match the threats with its own muscle-flexing.

"We will be prepared - we have to be prepared - to deal with any eventuality," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that," Hagel said.

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Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistan

A suicide bomber has targeted a senior Pakistani police commander in Peshawar, killing six people. Source: AAP

A SUICIDE bomber on Friday targeted a senior Pakistani police commander, killing 12 people, including two women, near the US consulate in Peshawar, officials said.

It was the latest in a string of attacks as the country prepares to hold historic elections on May 11. The vote will mark the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan, which has been governed by four military rulers.

A security official said Abdul Majeed Marwat, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, survived the attack and was taken to a military hospital with "only scratches".

Around 28 other people were wounded in the blast, medics said.

"It was a suicide attack, the target was the FC commander," police official Arshad Khan told AFP.

Witnesses said the bomber was on foot and struck when the convoy of the police chief stopped at a military checkpost in the busy cantonment area of Peshawar.

The checkpost is about 300 metres from the heavily guarded American consulate, which has itself been the target of attacks in the past, an AFP reporter said.

"We have received six dead bodies, including two women," Sayed Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital, told AFP.

He later confirmed that two of the injured died in hospital.

"They were in serious condition in the neurosurgery ward," he said.

Another four bodies and 17 other wounded were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, a senior security official told AFP.

Among the dead were two soldiers and one member of the FC, while the wounded were a mixture of civilians and military personnel, officials said.

The blast damaged two motorcycles and four cars, including Marwat's vehicle. Splashes of blood lay on the ground and an AFP reporter saw a pair of legs, presumed to be that of the bomber.

Umar Din, 21, a rickshaw driver, said the force of the explosion flipped his rickshaw onto the ground.

"I came out and saw my passenger bleeding," he told AFP. "I picked up the passenger on my shoulder and ran to a safer place, it was horrible, people were bleeding and crying," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistani police, soldiers and paramilitary units are frequently targeted by domestic Taliban, who have been fighting an insurgency since July 2007.

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Bosnian Serb gets 45yrs for war crimes

VESELIN Vlahovic, a former Bosnian Serb paramilitary dubbed the "Monster of Grbavica", was jailed Friday for 45 years for inflicting a reign of terror on Sarajevo civilians during the 1992-95 war.

"During systematic repression against the non-Serb population he participated in expulsion of his victims, he committed murders, he tortured, raped and imprisoned his victims," judge Zoran Bozic said at the sentencing in a packed Sarajevo courtroom.

The sentence against Vlahovic, a Montenegrin, is the most severe delivered for war crimes by a Bosnian court.

Dressed in light blue shirt, Vlahovic, 43, showed no reaction when the verdict was read out, drawing applause from members of victims' associations in the heavily guarded courtroom.

Vlahovic, sentenced on all 60 counts in his indictment, committed the crimes between May and July 1992, in three Sarajevo neighbourhoods controlled by Serb forces during the war -- Grbavica, Kovacici and Vraca.

"He killed 31 people, took 14 people who have still been considered missing, raped 13 women," prosecutor Behaija Krnjic said in a closing statement, having said earlier in the trial that Vlahovic's "name was the synonym for evil".

Vlahovic, who had pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in April 2011, was charged with the "executions, enslavement, rape, physical and psychological torture" of Muslim and Croat civilians, as well as looting, according to the indictment.

Calling for Vlahovic to be jailed for 45 years, Krnjic said: "Such a sentence would be the most just, but even that one will still be insufficient to heal the suffering of the victims."

A total of 112 prosecution witnesses were heard at the trial, including a number of women who testified behind closed doors to having been raped by Vlahovic, according to Krnjic.

"Vlahovic was not even bothered with the fact that one of his victims was highly pregnant at the time of the rape," the prosecutor said.

During the trial Vlahovic insulted a witness, a local journalist who reported on his crimes during the war. He also sent an intimidating letter to the family of a victim, the prosecution said.

The case concerned some of the "cruelest war crimes committed during the war, including torture, rapes and executions committed before the eyes of family members of the victims," it said.

Vlahovic was arrested in March 2010 as a suspect in a number of burglaries in the Spanish town of Altea where he was living under a fake Bulgarian identity. He was extradited to Bosnia in August that year.

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Swiss sommelier is top world wine waiter

THE world's best wine waiter was crowned in Japan on Friday, at the culmination of a three-day competition attracting entrants from around the globe.

Paolo Basso, from Switzerland, was hoisted into the air as judges in Tokyo awarded him first place in a ceremony in front of several thousand spectators that was carried live on Japanese national television.

"Thank you very much to everybody, it is a very important moment for me," he said after receiving the gold medal and hugs from rival sommeliers.

"I would like to thank first of all my family, because they allowed me the time for the hard training that I am still doing for several years," he said in English.

Basso, who works at Conca Balla in Vacallo, on the Swiss-Italian border, beat off competition from fellow finalists Belgian Aristide Spies and Canadian Vronique Rivest.

The 47-year-old takes the title previously held by Gerard Basset, who won the 2010 competition in Chile competing for Britain.

Entrants from 54 countries had been tested over three days of events designed to measure their skills marrying wines to foods and serving demanding customers.

All of them had to work in a foreign language.

Contestants from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden were among those participating in the event, which has been held 14 times since it started in 1969.

"A good sommelier not only has to have good knowledge of wine, but he also needs to be able to put customers at ease and know what to do to let them enjoy the food," explained Serge Dubs, chairman of the jury and a former champion, ahead of the competition.

"A sommelier has to be a very good communicator, he has to know what his clients want and how to make them remember their experience at the restaurant," former champion Basset told AFP on Tuesday.

"The sommelier should also be a good cellar manager and act as an ambassador for producers, constituting a kind of link between the growers and consumers," he said.

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Mandela 'in good spirits' in hospital

South Africa's Nelson Mandela is said to be responding positively to treatment for a lung infection. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela has been in "good spirits" as he spends a second day in hospital for a lung infection, in the latest health scare for the revered peace icon, South Africa's presidency says.

"Mandela is in good spirits and enjoyed a full breakfast this morning," President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Friday, as messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old poured in from across the globe.

"The doctors report that he is making steady progress. He remains under treatment and observation in hospital."

The anti-apartheid hero, one of the towering figures of modern history, was admitted to hospital for the recurring lung infection just before midnight on Wednesday, his third hospitalisation in four months.

Zuma sought Thursday to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

"The country must not panic, Madiba is fine," Zuma told the BBC, referring to South Africa's first black president by his clan name.

"The doctors advise that former president Nelson Mandela is responding positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung infection," Zuma's office had said in a short statement Thursday.

The Nobel peace laureate was conscious when he was admitted, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who was in prison with Mandela on Robben Island, had told AFP.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for checkups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery, after which he was released for home-based care.

The series of hospitalisations has seen an outpouring of prayers, but has also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of their national hero.

"In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about," Zuma said.

Mandela is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of the country's peaceful transition from a white-minority ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994 he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

Labour unrest, high-profile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the "Rainbow Nation".

"He is the voice that holds the country together," said Kasturi Pandaram in Durban.

"He's been a stalwart and I think if anything should happen to him now, with the state the country is in, I think it's going to fall apart," she said.

While Mandela the symbol bestrides South African politics, the man has long since exited the political stage and for the country's large young population he is a figure from another era, serving as president for just one term from 1994 to 1999.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring from public life.

Still, his nearly life-long struggle against apartheid resonates.

"We are deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health - he is a hero, I think, to all of us," US President Barack Obama said.

"When we think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the person's name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. So we wish him all the very best," Obama added.

"He is as strong physically as he has been in character and in leadership over so many decades. Hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge."

The name and location of the hospital where Mandela is being treated were not disclosed, to allow the medical team to focus on their work and to shield the family from the intense media interest.

"We know they are going through a difficult time and we want to ensure that their privacy is maintained," said Maharaj.

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Portugal budget deficit leaps to 6.4%

PORTUGAL'S 2012 budget deficit leapt to 6.4 per cent of the nation's total output, from 4.4 per cent one year earlier as the heavily indebted eurozone member struggles to raise revenues and cut spending amid recession and soaring unemployment, national statistics institute Ine says.

The figure, calculated according to standards used by the EU's statistics office Eurostat, did not include revenue from the sale of a state holding in the Portuguese airport operator however, and therefore far exceeded the five per cent target set by the government and its international creditors, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

They granted a financial rescue package worth 78 billion euros ($A96 billion) in May 2011.

Portugal's public debt rose to 204.4 billion euros meanwhile, equivalent to 123.6 per cent of gross domestic product last year, from 108.3 per cent of GDP in 2011, the Ine data showed.

EU countries are not supposed to run deficits of more than three per cent of GDP, and are expected to keep debt to no more than 60 per cent of GDP.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said Eurostat had rejected a request to use proceeds from the sale of airport operator ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal to cut the deficit. Had that had been allowed, it would have met the 2012 target at 4.9 per cent of GDP, Gaspar said.

The country managed to reduce the number to 4.4 per cent in 2011 through an exceptional measure that consisted of transferring funds set aside by banks for their staff pension funds to public coffers.

Despite boosting taxes and cutting public wages since the EU-IMF bailout, Portugal has struggled to cut the deficit.

But in light of a deteriorating economic situation, climbing unemployment and widespread public protests against austerity measures, Lisbon has been granted an extra year to bring the deficit in line with EU regulations.

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US 4th quarter growth faster than thought

US economic growth in the fourth quarter was faster than originally thought at 0.4 per cent, the Department of Commerce says in its final revision of the estimate.

The previous estimate had the economy basically flat, expanding at a 0.1 per cent annual pace.

The new data said that non-residential fixed investment was higher than previously expected.

However, the department added, growth was still sluggish and "the revision to GDP has not changed the general picture of the economy".

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Chile miner rescued after 52 hours

A CHILEAN miner has been rescued unharmed after being trapped underground for 52 hours in the northern Atacama region, where 33 miners were dramatically retrieved in August 2010.

The miner, Mario Lopez, 42, told local radio he had not been injured in the accident, which left him trapped some 100 metres underground. He was then taken to a regional hospital for evaluation.

The incident took place in the Victoria mine, located near Vallenar, a city some 600 kilometres north of the capital Santiago.

The case echoes the 2010 accident that trapped 33 men in a mine 600 metres below the surface, also in northern Chile.

Those miners were rescued after 69 days underground in a dramatic operation broadcast live around the world.

Police said they knew that Lopez was alive because he used a hammer to bang on metal tubes running though the mine shaft. The rescuers responded likewise, signalling that help was on the way.

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Disasters caused $186 bn in damage in 2012

NATURAL and man-made disasters caused $US186 billion ($A178.19 billion) in damages worldwide last year, according to a calculation released by the Swiss re-insurance group Swiss Re.

Of that sum, insurance companies were exposed to claims of up to $77 billion, which would make 2012 the third most costly year on record, it added in a statement.

Hurricane Sandy in the United States cost an estimated $70 billion in losses, with about $35 billion covered by insurers, making it the second most expensive storm on record after Hurricane Katrina hammered New Orleans and nearby regions in 2005.

A series of earthquakes in Italy contributed further to the 2012 total, Swiss Re said.

The amount of insured losses was nonetheless well below that of 2011, when a record number of earthquakes and the Japanese tsunami resulted in insurance claims that totalled $126 billion, the group noted.

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UK loses latest battle to deport cleric

THE British government has vowed not to give up its fight to deport radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan after losing its latest court challenge to have him expelled.

Lawyers for Home Secretary Theresa May lost their appeal against a decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in November to allow the Jordanian to stay in Britain.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal acknowledged that ministers believed Abu Qatada to be an "exceptionally high risk terrorist" but said this was not relevant to their considerations.

The Home Office or interior ministry vowed to keep fighting, saying in a statement on Twitter: "This is not the end of the road. The government remains determined to deport Abu Qatada."

It said ministers planned to seek leave to appeal, further dragging out a case that has been a thorn in the side of successive British governments for the last decade.

Abu Qatada meanwhile remains in custody. He was released on bail following November's decision, but was sent back to jail earlier this month for breaching the conditions of his release.

The 52-year-old cleric, whose real name is Omar Mohammed Othman, has been convicted in Jordan in his absence of terrorism offences and is likely to face a retrial if and when he is sent back.

But he has successfully fought off attempts at deportation since 2005 by arguing that his human rights would be violated on his return.

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UK banks told to fill capital black hole

MAJOR British banks must reinforce their capital by STG25 billion ($A36.39 billion) by the end of 2013 after underestimating the potential losses and fines they face over the next three years, the Bank of England said on Wednesday.

The Bank of England (BoE) said some banks had sufficient capital to ensure they can meet potential future losses but others needed to raise the funds, although it did not identify them.

It was the first order from the BoE's Financial Policy Committee (FPC), the new financial stability regulator, and followed a four-month study of the sector.

It said British banks and building societies, or lenders owned by their savers, faced losses of billions of pounds from "high-risk loan portfolios" in the British property sector and in "vulnerable" eurozone economies.

They also faced the possibility of STG10 billion of fines and therefore "a more prudent approach to risk" was required, meaning they need to build up their capital to levels set out by global banking guidelines.

"Some banks... have capital ratios in excess of 7.0 per cent; for those that do not, the aggregate capital shortfall at end of 2010 was around STG25 billion," the FPC said.

The banks most affected are likely to be Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group, which are part-owned by the state after running up massive losses during the financial crisis.

Some observers said if RBS and Lloyds are required to raise more capital, it could delay plans to sell the banks back to the private sector.

However shares rose in both banks in early trading on Wednesday because the shortfall figure was not as bad as investors had feared.

Business Secretary Vince Cable criticised the move, saying it would prevent banks who are only just starting to lend to business again from doing so.

Cable said the order would "prolong the time it takes for the British economy to recover" because it would hit the "already-weak" lending to small and medium-sized companies.

Britain is not in recession but would technically enter one if the country's economy is shown to have shrunk in the current first quarter.

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Murdoch's Sun tabloid to go behind paywall

BRITAIN'S top-selling newspaper The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, is to start charging readers for access to its website, a spokeswoman has confirmed.

The announcement comes a day after another British newspaper, the right-leaning Daily Telegraph, extended its international paywall to include domestic readers in an attempt to boost falling revenues in the internet age.

Known for its celebrity scoops and topless "page three" models, The Sun will likely introduce its paywall in the second half of this year, the chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper wing News International Mike Darcey told a press event late Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Sun said the website would offer "a full and attractive subscription model across digital and print".

"We will be offering our valued Sun readers a bigger and better experience than they have ever had before," she added.

Darcey told the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday the paywall was "unavoidable" as the free availability of Sun stories online was threatening the newspaper's print circulation and revenues.

"This decision comes from a deep-seated belief that it is just untenable to have 2.4 million paying STG0.40 ($A0.58) for The Sun at the same time as a bunch of other people are getting it for free," he said.

The Sun paywall comes just months after the newspaper sealed a STG20 million deal to buy the mobile and online rights to show English Premier League football goals and match highlights.

Details of how the paywall will work - such as whether the Sun will allow readers free access to a certain number of stories per month before charging, as the Telegraph plans to do - have not yet been revealed.

The Sun had a circulation of 2.3 million in February, according to data released this month by Britain's press monitor, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, representing an 11.6 per cent drop compared with a year earlier.

Britain's Times and Sunday Times broadsheets, also owned by Murdoch, went behind a strict paywall in 2010.

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Wet 2012 catastrophic for UK butterflies

BRITAIN'S butterflies suffered a "catastrophic" year in 2012 with almost all species declining as a result of torrential rains, according to a study.

Of the 56 species studied by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, 52 saw a drop in numbers as Britain's second-wettest year on record left the colourful insects struggling to find food, shelter and mates.

Several British species are close to extinction and the study warned that the wet weather could wipe them out in parts of the country.

"Many of our most threatened butterflies were already in a state of long-term decline prior to the 2012 deluge," said the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, which runs the monitoring scheme with the charity Butterfly Conservation.

"There are now real fears that these already struggling species could become extinct in some parts of the UK as a result of last year's wet weather."

The critically endangered high brown fritillary, which has orange wings with dark spots, saw its population shrink by 46 per cent over the year, while numbers of the endangered heath fritillary fell by a half.

The black hairstreak, one of Britain's rarest butterfly species, suffered a 98 per cent drop in numbers.

For 13 species, 2012 was the worst year since the monitoring scheme began in 1976.

Common species also suffered, with numbers of the brown argus plummeting by 73 per cent and the common blue, loved for its bright lilac colour, dropping 60 per cent.

"2012 was a catastrophic year for almost all of our butterflies, halting progress made through our conservation efforts in recent years," said Tom Brereton, head of monitoring at Butterfly Conservation.

"With numbers in almost three-quarters of UK species at a historically low ebb any tangible recovery will be more difficult than ever."

But the wet weather was a bonus for the few species that favour the damp, with four species enjoying rising numbers in 2012, according to the study.

Numbers of the scotch argus rose by 55 per cent, while the grass-feeding meadow brown saw its numbers swell by 21 per cent.

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Climate change is real: Gray

NEW Resources Minister Gary Gray has performed a very public mea culpa, saying he definitely believes climate change is real and caused by humans.

In fact, he believes it so strongly now he's embarrassed to hear himself when he thought it was "pop science" and "a middle class conspiracy to frighten school children".

The former Woodside Energy boss went on television after being sworn in to his new portfolio to confess he had been a climate sceptic and still had friends among the sceptical Lavoisier Group.

"I just don't agree with them any more," he told ABC television.

"I think there's an undeniable connection between human industrial activity and carbon pollution that we need to address, that we should address and also that we can address."

He said he'd come a long way from the 1990s when, as Labor's national secretary, "I said things that frankly nowadays embarrass me when I hear it played back".

Mr Gray's conversion happened while he was working at Woodside and saw it was possible to work with delicate environments and still build business.

He said environmentalists had nothing to fear from his appointment as minister in charge of mining.

"Our resource industry rests on a secure and sound environmental approvals process," he said.

"A good approvals process is as essential to a successful mining operation as good engineering and sound banking."

But he wasn't surprised by the outcry from the Australian Greens at his elevation.

"I've been a member of the Labor Party since I was 16; I am not a Green."

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Levy must fund traveller help: Lowy Inst

AUSTRALIANS should pay extra for international airfares or passport fees to help fund consular services for those who get into trouble overseas, the Lowy Institute says.

The demands on Australian consular services overseas are growing at a time when staffing levels have stagnated due to chronic under-resourcing, a policy paper the think tank issued on Tuesday finds.

Cheaper airfares mean more Australians are heading overseas while the type of travellers, the places they go and what they do are contributing to a significant increase in the need for consular assistance.

As well, far fewer Australians take out travel insurance when heading overseas than travellers from similar countries.

"The Australian public's perception of the services government can provide overseas has grown to a point where they seem to expect that the full suite of welfare services will extend to them across the globe no matter where they go or how they behave," Lowy research fellow Alex Oliver writes.

Several high-profile cases such as that of Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor who was captured by militia in Libya have stoked a vicious cycle of high public expectations and political intervention.

"Ministerial involvement in a consular case can be as much a public-relations trap as an opportunity," Mr Oliver writes.

"This cycle must be broken."

Politicians need to manage the media and public expectations of what help diplomats can actually give.

Mr Oliver suggests imposing a levy on passport fees or airline tickets to permanently boost the funding available for consular assistance.

A $20 premium on top of the cost of a passport could raise up to $40 million a year, he says.

Similar schemes are used in the UK and the Netherlands.

As well, Mr Oliver says DFAT should get the money it makes from notarial services like witnessing and authenticating documents in Australian embassies around the world.

Currently the money raised from the 180,000 such fees charged each year goes into consolidated government revenue, not back to DFAT.

A travel levy was also suggested last October by a parliamentary committee as part of an inquiry into the parlous state of the country's foreign service.

At that time, Foreign Minister Bob Carr poured cold water on the idea.

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Asia leads the way on climate action

CHINA now earns as much from selling solar panels as it does from shoes, as Asia's emerging economies prepare to prosper in a future that limits carbon emissions, a report says.

A new index measuring the ability of G20 nations to flourish in a low-carbon economy shows East Asia has taken over from Europe and the United States when it comes to action on climate change.

Japan, China and South Korea took out three of the top five spots on the Low-Carbon Competitiveness Index, released on Tuesday as part of the Climate Institute's report on global climate action.

France leads the way, largely on the back of its low-emission nuclear energy sector, followed by Japan, China, South Korea and Great Britain.

Australia, though making slight improvements, languishes in 17th place and has been overtaken by Indonesia in its readiness for a low-carbon future.

The data is from 2010 and doesn't include the impact of the federal government's clean energy laws like the carbon price, but does include significant world events like the global recession.

The head of the Climate Institute, John Connor, says as other nations put constraints on carbon and pursue economic gains with less pollution, Australia may be left behind if it opts out of real action.

"We could become stranded trying to sell something that is no longer of interest," he told AAP.

"If it's not seen to be doing its fair share, it could suffer both diplomatically and economically."

Mr Connor said Australia had significant "lead in our saddlebags", running a high-carbon economy in terms of both energy usage and exports.

Investment in clean energy, one measure of low-carbon preparedness, had stalled in Australia with industry uncertain about the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET), he said.

Clean energy investments in Asia, meanwhile, hit $270 billion in 2012, while China earned $36 billion selling solar panels - about what it made from its traditional market in shoes.

Mr Connor said China was pushing for an emissions trading scheme and had indicated it wanted to rein in its coal consumption, in part to combat air pollution.

Many nations weren't driven to take action on climate change for green reasons, but were motivated by a range of self-interest matters like energy security and productivity growth.

But even taking current efforts into account, the world was still on track to a global temperature rise above two degrees Celsius by 2050, a rate accepted by most nations as dangerous.

For this reason, Mr Connor said shifting to a carbon-constrained future where nations tried to get the most possible from a tonne of CO2 wasn't going to be easy.

"Australia, by virtue of its place (on the index), will be one of the ones which will suffer the most if we don't really double down on low-carbon improvements," he said.

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Few small firms happy with Gillard govt

NEW federal Small Business Minister Gary Gray has his work cut out in this election year, with a new survey showing just 14 per cent of small firms are satisfied with the support they get from the federal government.

Business software provider MYOB's 2013 business monitor found that this level of satisfaction was down from 17 per cent as of July 2012.

The survey was conducted before last week's leadership showdown that resulted in one minister being sacked and several others resigning, including former small business minister Chris Bowen - the fifth minister to hold the portfolio in 15 months.

Mr Gray was appointed as small business minister on Monday, and was also given the portfolio of resources and energy.

MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said the result of the survey of 1005 small and medium-sized business operators was "pretty appalling".

"I can only see that last week would have driven this (result) lower," Mr Reed told AAP.

"What we saw last week was a government that wasn't in control."

However, Mr Reed said despite this outcome, the government had had some good polices for small business, but hadn't been able to communicate them.

He pointed to the instant asset write-off, the increasing of the tax-free threshold, and loss carry-back scheme as great policies for small business that had failed to instil confidence.

"Small business owners look to the federal government to create a sound basis on which they can then build their business," Mr Reed said.

"They feel the government has failed on that."

However, the survey found a greater proportion (25 per cent) of businesses saw an improvement in the economy within the next 12 months compared to eight months ago (19 per cent).

A recent strengthening in consumer confidence is reflected in 72 per cent of businesses expecting to see increased or stable revenue in the next year, whereas only 58 per cent reported that actually happening in the year just past.

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Most small firms want carbon tax scrapped

ALMOST two thirds of small businesses want the carbon tax scrapped, putting it second in their top 10 wish list ahead of the May budget, a survey says.

Topping the list in business software provider MYOB's 2013 business monitor was the perennial want of a significantly simplified Business Activity Statement (BAS) process for the GST.

MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said pricing carbon had been an incredibly poorly sold policy to business, but he was surprised so many firms wanted to get rid of it.

"It would be actually more work to small business if it was abolished than if it was maintained," Mr Reed told AAP.

He said rolling back the tax changes linked to the carbon tax, such as the tax-free threshold returning to $6000 from $18,000, would mean businesses having to collect tax from part-time workers that they don't collect now.

Small business is already buried in paperwork that results from the GST, partly due to the complexity caused by exclusions from the tax, such as fresh food, education and health.

"Getting rid of the exclusions, while politically unpopular, would make it a much easier system for business owners to administer," Mr Reed said.

Business owners also have to code every transaction they conduct for audit purposes, and Mr Reed said more than two-thirds got it wrong.

But the data is only used by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as part of a database to investigate past macro-economic trends.

"It is a massive onerous burden on business owners. Any government could get rid of that without needing to legislate," Mr Reed said.

He said business had noted the ATO had become tougher in the past 12 months, having been "quite light" in allowing firms to schedule payments, in response to the hit from the global financial crisis.

Waving penalty charges on late tax payments for start-up businesses in their first two years of operation would cost the government little, but it would show it understood the challenges facing a new business, Mr Reed said

"It would be one of those points of symbolism that small business owners could think at least 'somebody understands who we are.'"

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No radiation found in Berezovsky search

Exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in London, media reports say. Source: AAP

BRITISH police investigating the death of exiled Russian oligarch and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky say a search of his house by chemical, biological and nuclear experts has found "nothing of concern".

The 67-year-old who emigrated to Britain in 2000 after falling out with President Vladimir Putin was found dead in his mansion in the upmarket town of Ascot outside London on Saturday.

Police officers trained in detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material inspected the house as a precautionary measure, but have given it the all clear.

"I am pleased to say the CBRN officers found nothing of concern in the property and we are now progressing the investigation as normal," police superintendent Simon Bowden said.

He said Berezovsky's death remained "unexplained".

He survived one assassination attempt in 1995 in which a bomb decapitated his chauffeur, and openly expressed his fear that his life was in danger.

His friend and fellow Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko died an agonising death from radioactive poisoning in London in 2006, in what Litvinenko's widow has said was an assassination by Russian agents.

Berezovsky's wealth has diminished in recent years and last year he lost a bitter multimillion-pound legal battle with fellow British-based oligarch Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Berezovsky had sought more than STG3 billion ($A4.3 billion) in damages and accused Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract in an oil deal.

Following his defeat in a London court, he was forced to agree to pay Abramovich STG35 million in legal costs, although there is speculation the final bill will be far greater.

The judge in the case described Berezovsky as "an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness".

Berezovsky was a close confidante of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and one of a handful of businessmen who became billionaires following the privatisation of Russian state assets in the 1990s.

But he fell out with Yeltsin's successor, Putin, and fled Russia in 2000 just in time to escape arrest on fraud charges.

Forbes' Russian-language website published an interview he gave to a journalist Ilya Zhegulev, in which Berezovsky said his "life no longer makes sense" and that all he wanted to do was return to Russia.

Zhegulev said the interview had taken place on Friday, but had not been recorded.

The tycoon's friend Demyan Kudryavtsev dismissed speculation that Berezovsky had killed himself.

"There are no external signs of a suicide," he told the Prime news agency in Russia.

"There are no signs that he injected himself or swallowed any pills. No one knows why his heart stopped."

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