Rainbow Warrior leaves Australian waters

Greenpeace's ship the Rainbow Warrior is leaving Australian shores after a "successful" tour. Source: AAP

GREENPEACE ship the Rainbow Warrior is leaving Australian shores after a "successful" tour raising awareness about the coal industry's impact on coral reefs.

The activists' ship docked in Cairns on Saturday after a six-week tour of the east coast of Australia.

Up to 30 activists and Greenpeace members travelled on the vessel, which visited east coast capital cities as well as regional Queensland coastal centres where coal ports are proposed.

They were warning locals of the dangers the coal industry poses to the Great Barrier Reef, and the threat of climate change.

The tour culminated in the boarding of a coal carrier off north Queensland last week where activists "peacefully occupied" the deck for 28 hours and delivered a letter explaining their stance to the captain.

"We've been overwhelmed by the positive response we've had from Australians," Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior climate campaigner Dr Georgina Woods told AAP.

"I think a lot of people weren't aware of the scale of what the coal industry is planning to do in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area."

Greenpeace says the planned construction of coal export terminals in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area will endanger the health of the reef.

The coal export industry is also driving climate change, and coral reefs worldwide are unlikely to survive, Dr Woods added.

The Rainbow Warrior will now head to Indonesia to campaign for the protection of forests.

AAP mjf/arb

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Man charged over fatal Melbourne hit-run

A MAN is due to face court over a fatal hit-and-run crash in Melbourne.

A 28-year-old Maidstone man was hit as he crossed Ballarat Road in Footscray on Thursday night.

He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious head injuries - he died the next day.

A 44-year-old man, from Maribyrnong, faced an out of sessions court hearing on Saturday.

He was charged with failing to stop at the scene of an accident where there has been a death or serious injury, and failing to render assistance where there has been a death or serious injury.

The man will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday.

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Japan tsunami boat confirmed in California

A JAPANESE fishing boat washed across the Pacific following the 2011 tsunami has been confirmed as the first piece of debris to reach the coast of California.

The six-meter skiff, found this month near the northern Californian coastal town of Crescent City, belonged to the Takata High School in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata, in Iwate Prefecture.

Japan's consulate in San Francisco helped the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirm where the boat came from, after it was spotted washed up on a local beach.

The boat was covered in pelagic gooseneck barnacles. Experts at California's Humboldt State University also helped to identify it, said NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva.

The vessel is the 27th item of debris so far confirmed on the US West Coast, and the first in California. Other items have been found washed up in the states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon further up the coast.

One of the biggest items so far, a 20-metre floating dock, washed up in June in Oregon, after a 15-month trip across the Pacific from the port of Misawa, in Japan's Aomori prefecture.

A year ago, the US Coast Guard fired on and sank a deserted Japanese "ghost ship" off the coast of Alaska, after it was deemed to be a potential danger to shipping.

Japan last month marked the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 9.0-magnitude earthquake that sent a huge wall of water into its northeastern coast, killing some 19,000 people and triggering a nuclear calamity.

The tsunami created the biggest single dumping of rubbish, sweeping some five million tonnes of shattered buildings, cars, household goods and other rubble into the sea.

An estimated three and a half million tonnes sank immediately, leaving some 1.5 million tonnes of plastic, timber, fishing nets, shipping containers, industrial scrap and innumerable other objects to float deeper into the ocean.

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Sudan rebels widen offensive

SUDANESE rebels have swept through a major town in North Kordofan state, residents say, widening an anti-government offensive in one of the insurgents' most audacious acts in years.

North Kordofan has been largely free from the rebel activity taking place in the Darfur region to its west, and South Kordofan to its south.

"This is part of our strategy to overthrow the regime and we want to weaken the troops on the road towards Khartoum," said Gibril Adam Bilal, spokesman for Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) which is part of a rebel coalition.

"This is an attack deep in Sudanese territory."

Residents of Umm Rawaba, the second-largest town in North Kordofan, said rebels arrived Saturday morning on at least 20 vehicles for a brief occupation.

They fired their weapons into the air, causing panic, but met no initial resistance from security forces, townspeople said.

"We just saw some drones in the air," one resident said, adding the insurgents looted the market.

Other residents said the town's inhabitants cowered in their homes as rebels shot up government buildings before withdrawing.

JEM and other main rebel movements from Darfur are grouped in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) with insurgents from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said coalition rebels crossed from South Kordofan into North Kordofan where they targeted Umm Rawaba town.

"They destroyed the communication tower and electricity station and looted civilian property and a fuel station," he said, quoted by the official SUNA news agency.

"SAF troops in the town responded," Saad said. "Fighting is still going on."

A resident, however, reported no combat in the town but heavy explosions in the surrounding area, where he had seen Antonov bombers and helicopters in the air.

"There are extensive air strikes in the Umm Rawaba area", Bilal said.

Rebel forces had pulled out of the town but remained in the surrounding area where they blocked a highway, he said.

The spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which analysts say has controlled an area of South Kordofan just south of Umm Rawaba, said he had no information.

SPLM-N is also fighting in Blue Nile state.

Umm Rawaba, with a population of several thousand, is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan which produces gum arabica, an ingredient in soft drinks and other products. Sudan is the world's biggest producer of gum arabica.

Although JEM has occasionally operated just over the Darfur border in the western part of North Kordofan, this is their first strike into the east of the state.

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The Duke mooted for Lawrence of Arabia

HIS name may be synonymous with American westerns, but new research has revealed that John Wayne was once lined up to play the heroic British army officer Lawrence of Arabia in the epic film of the same name.

The lead role, which was eventually made famous by Irish actor Peter O'Toole in 1962, was offered to Wayne almost a decade earlier, according to film historian Brian Hannan.

Trade papers uncovered by Hannan as he researched a book about the making of the celebrated film revealed that Wayne was announced to play the hero in January 1953, in a version to be made by Cinerama, the three-screen sensation of the 1950s.

It was to be produced by Lowell Thomas, the former journalist who shaped the legend of Lawrence Of Arabia in 1919, with a lecture tour that attracted over five million people in the US and Britain.

"John Wayne was the biggest male action star of the day," Hannan explained.

"He was huge, and in those days studios needed a big star to draw the crowds.

"Dozens of actors were up for the role over the years but the last person I would have expected to find was the Duke.

"But at the time, people had woken up to the fact that he could actually act - he had just been Oscar-nominated for Sands Of Iwo Jima and had received rave reviews for John Ford's Fort Apache and Howard Hawks' Red River."

Hannan, who is launching his book, The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, said the Cinerama version failed to materialise and had suffered from a lack of funding.

Over the years actors such as Richard Burton and Gregory Peck were considered for the role before it was offered to Marlon Brando, who turned it down in favour of Mutiny on the Bounty.

Eventually the part was given to O'Toole, who was relatively unknown at the time.

"Had the film gone ahead with Wayne playing Lawrence of Arabia, it would have been a completely different take on the character," said Hannan.

"It is difficult to imagine - contrast Wayne, who was this big, imposing actor known for his rugged masculine image, with O'Toole, and his slightly effeminate portrayal.

"In the end, the film was a massive break for O'Toole, who went on to become a big star."

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Bangladesh factory death toll passes 300

Rescuers have pulled dozens of people alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

BANGLADESHI police are battling to control huge crowds of garment workers angrily protesting the death of more than 300 colleagues in a collapsed building as rescue efforts stretched into a third day.

Police fired tear-gas and rubber bullets at the workers - who sew clothes for Western brands for as little as $US37 ($A36) a month - as they blockaded roads and attacked factories and buses in textile-making districts around Dhaka.

"The situation is very volatile. Hundreds of thousands of workers have joined the protests," M Asaduzzaman, an officer in the police control room in manufacturing hub Gazipur said.

The violence came as the death toll topped 300 at the scene of the accident in Savar town on the capital's outskirts where the eight-storey Rana Plaza building imploded on Wednesday morning, trapping thousands of workers.

The accident has prompted new accusations from activists that Western clothing companies place profit before safety by sourcing their products from Bangladesh, despite its shocking track record of deadly disasters.

British low-cost fashion line Primark and Spanish giant Mango have acknowledged having their products made in the collapsed block, while a host of brands including Wal-Mart and France's Carrefour are investigating.

Last November a blaze at a factory making products for Wal-Mart and other Western labels left 111 people dead, with survivors describing how fire exits were kept locked by site managers.

The US State Department said Thursday that the building collapse underscored "that there's a need for the government, owners, buyers and labour to find ways of improving working conditions in Bangladesh".

National fire service chief Ahmed Ali said that the rescuers were now "racing against time" to find remaining survivors, as army spokesman Shahinul Islam said the death toll had reached 304.

More than 2300 people have been rescued alive since Wednesday, Islam added.

The overnight rescue of 45 people provided some hope to the thousands of anguished relatives who remain huddled at the disaster site, but an intense stench suggested many more bodies remain trapped in the rubble.

With many of the country's 4500 factories already shut due to protests and fears of damage, manufacturers declared Saturday as a holiday and trade unions called a strike for Sunday to demand better working conditions.

Widespread anger has been fuelled by revelations that factory bosses forced workers to return to the building on Wednesday despite cracks appearing in the building the day before.

At the disaster scene, exhausted teams of soldiers, firemen and volunteers worked through the mountain of mangled concrete and steel for a third day after staying on the job for a second straight night.

Amid frustration about the slow pace of progress, at one point thousands of relatives burst onto the disaster site, prompting police to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In the humid conditions, bodies trapped in the rubble were beginning to decay.

At the nearby Enam Medical College Hospital, doctors were struggling to treat the 1200 people admitted since Wednesday morning, many with missing limbs or with such bad injuries that they required amputations.

"Some have gangrene," doctor Hiralal Roy told AFP.

Police meanwhile made a series of raids looking for the factory and building owners after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to track them down and bring them to justice.

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Citigroup buys ING custody services

Citigroup announced it is acquiring the eastern Europe custody services business of ING. Source: AAP

US bank Citigroup has announced it is acquiring the eastern Europe custody services business of its Dutch rival ING.

The acquisition covers assets worth 110 billion euros ($A139.55 billion) in seven countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine, according to statements from both banks.

The transaction, for an amount not made public, is to be finalised in the first quarter of 2014, Citigroup said.

Citigroup already held $US13.5 trillion in assets under custody, making it one of the world's largest providers of custody services.

ING has sold a number of its operations in the past two years, as it works to pay back a 10 billion euro bailout it got in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

The bank had already separated its insurance and banking operations and sold its Latin-American businesses in 2011 as well as ING Direct USA in February of this year.

ING is also preparing an IPO for its US subsidiary, after which it hopes to raise up to $US1.5 billion.

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Katter Party could preference Palmer party

Katter's Australian Party could preference Clive Palmer's party at the federal election. Source: AAP

KATTER'S Australian Party (KAP) could preference Clive Palmer's United Australia Party (UAP) at the federal election.

The mining magnate announced on Friday he has re-formed the UAP, which was dissolved in 1945, and applied for its registration in Queensland.

KAP national director Aidan McLindon welcomed the move, saying it will help break the political duopoly of the Labor and Liberal parties.

"It's a competition of ideas. The more players on the field the better," he told AAP.

Mr McLindon said the UAP wasn't seen as a threat to the KAP because both parties shared common objectives.

He said it would work together, including swapping preferences at the federal election.

"It would only make sense. You can probably count the differences between Bob (KAP leader Bob Katter) and Clive on one hand," Mr McLindon said.

"Where the KAP can't access some of those LNP (Liberal National Party) votes, I think Clive can.

"In a compulsory preferential system, depending on the negotiations, I think the two parties can be a formidable threat to Liberal and Labor."

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Syrian officials deny chemical weapon use

TWO Syrian officials have denied the government has used chemical weapons against rebel forces, saying the regime has no need for them.

The denials follow assertions by the White House and other top Obama administration officials that US intelligence had concluded with "varying degrees of confidence" that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its civil war.

A Syrian government official said the government did not and will not use chemical weapons even if it had them.

He spoke to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give official statements.

Syrian official Sharif Shehadeh called the US claims "lies" and likened them to false accusations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction ahead of the US invasion of that country.

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Iraq toll rises after mosque bombs

The Iraqi prime minister warned of a return to civil war as 179 people were killed over three days. Source: AAP

BOMBS have exploded at four Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area after prayers, killing four people and raising the death toll from a four-day wave of violence in Iraq to 195.

Iraqi security forces also began moving back into the northern town of Sulaiman Bek after gunmen who seized it withdrew on Friday.

The bombings at three Sunni mosques in Baghdad and a fourth north of the capital, which killed at least four people and wounded 50, came after more than a dozen people were killed in attacks on Sunni mosques on Tuesday.

Gunmen, meanwhile, pulled out of Sulaiman Bek under a deal worked out by tribal leaders and government officials, local official Shalal Abdul Baban and municipal council deputy chief Ahmed Aziz said.

The gunmen had swarmed into the predominantly Sunni Turkmen town on Wednesday after deadly clashes with the security forces, who pulled back as residents fled.

Baban also said that helicopter fire wounded six people on the roof of a house in the town early on Friday.

Army Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed told AFP on Thursday that the gunmen in Sulaiman Bek, who he said number about 175, had been given 48 hours to withdraw or face attack.

The gunmen's seizure of the town came amid a surge of violence which began on Tuesday when security forces moved in against anti-government protesters near the Sunni Arab northern town of Hawijah.

The operation sparked clashes that left 53 people dead.

Dozens more were killed in subsequent unrest, much but not all of it linked to Tuesday's clashes, bringing the death toll to 195 by Friday.

The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shi'ite-majority country more than four months ago.

The protesters have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, and railed against authorities for allegedly targeting their community.

Seven gunmen died carrying out three separate attacks on security forces south of the northern city of Kirkuk on Friday, a high-ranking army officer and a medical source said.

Gunmen also killed a soldier and wounded two police in an attack on a checkpoint in Al-Sharqat, north of the capital, late on Thursday, a police colonel and a doctor said.

And three hours of fighting in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, killed three federal police and wounded six late on Thursday, police Lieutenant Colonel Yassir Hamid al-Jumaili and a doctor said.

The clashes saw gunmen take control of three checkpoints on the outskirts of the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab city after they were abandoned by federal police, Jumaili said.

He said they then turned the checkpoints over to local police, who returned them to federal police on Friday.

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Iraq bloodshed stokes fears of civil war

THE deaths of more than 100 people in violence between Iraqi security forces and Sunni Arab protesters and their supporters have raised fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict.

The trouble began on Tuesday when security forces moved into an area near the northern town of Hawijah where Sunnis had been holding protests since January, sparking clashes in which 53 people died.

That fighting set off a wave of revenge attacks that hit five different Sunni-majority provinces, killing dozens more people, and which saw gunmen take control of the town of Sulaiman Bek.

The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that erupted in Sunni areas of the Shi'ite-majority country more than four months ago.

The Sunni protesters have called for the resignation of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and railed against the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.

"This is the deepest and most dangerous crisis... since 1921," former national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said, referring to the year in which the state of Iraq was established.

He warned that the situation "could lead to a sectarian conflict, and then division".

Sectarian violence, including bombings and death squad murders that peaked in 2006 and 2007, claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The security situation has since improved markedly but sectarian tensions remain.

Hamed al-Juburi, a spokesman for the Hawijah protesters, vowed revenge on Thursday for the "massacre" near the town.

Protesters have pledged their loyalty to a Sunni militant group called the Naqshbandiya Army "so we can be an armed wing related to it, working on cleaning Iraq from Safavid militias," he said, using a pejorative term for Shi'ites.

On Wednesday, Abdulghafur al-Samarraie and Saleh al-Haidari, top clerics who respectively head the Sunni and Shi'ite religious endowments, held a joint news conference in which they warned against sectarian strife.

Samarraie said there were "malicious plans... with the goal of taking the country towards sectarian conflict", and that he and Haidari agreed "to move quickly to extinguish the strife and stop the conspiracy."

US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters that Washington condemns the violence in Iraq and that "there's no place for sectarian conflict in a democratic state."

An earlier statement from the US embassy said that "US officials have been in contact with senior Iraqi leaders to help defuse political and sectarian tensions".

John Drake, an Iraq specialist with risk consulting firm AKE Group, said the government's ready use of force in recent days highlighted shortcomings in the its response to protests.

"I think the government response indicates that it has a long way to go in terms of its policies for dealing with protest movements in the country," Drake said.

"The use of force so readily, including firearms, at protest camps and the bombing of settlements where militants are believed to be sheltering, is going to bring a very high risk of collateral damage," he said.

"An 'all-out' sectarian conflict is still unlikely," Drake said.

"But the fact that this is a predominantly Shi'ite government and it's predominantly Shi'ite security forces opening fire on predominantly Sunni individuals (civilians or militants) is going to have an impact on sectarian relations and could prompt a rise in sectarian violence as a result."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned on Thursday of attempts to return the country to "sectarian civil war".

Maliki called on clerics and everyone worried about Iraq's future "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war", in remarks broadcast on state television.

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Dead Boston bomber in terror database

THE US government added the name of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect to a terrorist database 18 months before the deadly explosions, say officials.

Five days after the US determined who was allegedly behind the deadly Boston marathon terror attacks, Washington is piecing together what happened and whether there were any unconnected dots buried in US government files that, if connected, could have prevented the bombings.

The surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently recruited him to be part of the attack, two US officials said on Wednesday.

The CIA, however, named Tamerlan to a huge, classified database of known and suspected terrorists 18 months ago, officials said, an acknowledgment that will undoubtedly prompt congressional inquiry about whether the Obama administration adequately investigated tips from Russia that Tsarnaev had posed a security threat.

Shortly after the bombings, US officials said the intelligence community had no information about threats to the marathon before the April 15 explosions.

The US officials who spoke to The Associated Press were close to the investigation but insisted on anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the case with reporters.

Investigators have said the brothers, Russian-born ethnic Chechens, appeared to have been radicalised through jihadist materials on the internet and have found no evidence tying them to a terrorist group.

Tamerlan, whom authorities have described as the driving force behind the plot, was killed in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is recovering in a hospital from injuries sustained during a getaway attempt.

The CIA made the request to add Tamerlan's name to the terrorist database after the Russian government contacted the agency with concerns that he had become a follower of radical Islam. About six months earlier, the FBI had separately investigated Tsarnaev, also at Russia's request, but the FBI found no ties to terrorism, officials said.

Officials say they never found the type of derogatory information on Tsarnaev that would have elevated his profile among counterterrorism investigators and placed him on the terror watch list.

Lawmakers who were briefed by the FBI said they have more questions than answers about the investigation of Tsarnaev. US officials were expected to brief the Senate on the investigation Thursday.

Officials said on Wednesday that Dzhokhar acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional rights to keep quiet and seek a lawyer.

It's unclear whether those statements would be admissible in a criminal trial and, if not, whether prosecutors even need them to win a conviction.

Officials said physical evidence, including a 9mm handgun and pieces of a remote-control device commonly used in toys, was recovered from the scene.

Authorities had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat covered by a tarp in a suburban Boston neighbourhood backyard.

But two US officials said on Wednesday that he was unarmed when captured, raising questions about the gunfire and how he was injured.

Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.

How much of those conversations will end up in court is unclear.

The FBI normally tells suspects they have the right to remain silent before questioning them so all their statements can be used against them.

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Vandal obscures Rolf Harris paintings

A UK art gallery owner says he will continue to sell Rolf Harris' paintings despite a vandal's attempt to cover them up with black paint.

UK police are investigating an incident in which paint was smeared across the windows of a Torquay art gallery, apparently to obscure the 83-year-old's paintings.

The Australian-born artist and television entertainer was last week named as one of 12 men arrested by officers investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Triton gallery owner David Phelps confirmed the vandalism took place but said the incident: "does not reflect the opinions of members of the public who are coming in here.

"Someone has put black paint on the window. It is only superficial and has been removed," Mr Phelps told UK newspaper The Independent.

"I don't think my staff are perturbed by what has happened and I am not worried at all.

"We are going to continue to sell Rolf Harris' paintings.

"They are continuing to sell well throughout the country irrespective of the allegations.

"I have checked with the publishers who have over 60 galleries across the country and they have not had any incidents like this anywhere else."

Devon and Cornwall police are reportedly seeking a male suspect over the incident, which occurred early on Tuesday morning.

Top-selling tabloid The Sun reported 83-year-old Harris was arrested last month by officers from Operation Yewtree.

Until then, no mainstream media - for legal reasons - had reported the man in question was Harris.

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H7N9 bird flu: Lancet blames poultry

CHINESE researchers have reportedly confirmed poultry as a source of H7N9 flu among humans but say they found no evidence of person-to-person transmission.

A probe into four cases of human H7N9 influenza in eastern Zhejiang province has determined all the patients were exposed to poultry, either through their occupation or visiting so-called wet poultry markets.

The World Health Organisation had previously said poultry were the likely source of the virus, which has been linked to at least 22 deaths out of 108 identified cases since February.

A team led by Lanjuan Li of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and Kwok-Yung Yuen of the University of Hong Kong took rectal swaps from 20 chickens, four quails, five pigeons and 57 ducks all from six live poultry markets likely to have been visited by the patients.

Their findings have been reported in the world's leading general medical journal, The Lancet.

Two of the pigeons and four of the chickens tested positive for H7N9 but the virus was not found in any of the ducks or quails.

The researchers analysed the genetic makeup of H7N9 found in one of the patients and compared it to a sample found in one of the infected chickens.

The similarities "suggest that it is being transmitted sporadically from poultry to humans," The Lancet said.

"This is the first time that definite bird-to-human transmission has been shown for the H7N9 virus."

Doctors also monitored 303 other people who were relatives or co-workers of the patients, as well as 82 healthcare workers.

"Nobody else who came into contact with the H7N9-infected patients began to show any symptoms within 14 days from the beginning of surveillance, suggesting that the virus is not currently able to transmit between human beings," the journal said.

However, further adaptation of the virus could lead to infections with less severe symptoms and "more efficient person-to-person transmission," the researchers cautioned.

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Negligence role in Zygier suicide: report

NEGLIGENCE by prison authorities played a role in the suicide of Australian-Israeli Ben Zygier, the reputed Mossad agent outed as Prisoner X, an internal report says.

Despite the finding, however, Israel's Justice Ministry says it will not indict anyone in connection with the death.

Zygier was found hanged in his cell on December 15, 2010, after tying a sheet to the bars of his prison bathroom window and using the other end as a noose.

He had been held incommunicado for 10 months.

His story came to light in February when Australian broadcaster ABC revealed the Melbourne-born 34-year-old who had allegedly worked for the Mossad intelligence agency, had been secretly held in isolation at Ayalon Prison in central Israel.

Israel officially acknowledged the existence of Prisoner X after the ABC report, making no mention of his name or why he was being held.

Information on the circumstances leading to his incarceration has still not been made public.

The investigation conducted into Zygier's death concluded that there exists "prima facie evidence" failures by specific Israeli Prison Service (IPS) employees were responsible for the suicide.

Zygier should have been kept under constant supervision, District Court Judge Daphna Blatman-Kedrai wrote in her report, which was submitted in December 2012 and released on Thursday.

Zygier had been held in a self-contained cell which included a toilet and shower unit.

The cell, which also had three surveillance cameras linked to a control room, was under constant supervision by a team of guards.

A guard was also stationed close to the cell.

Blatman-Kedrai found that at the time of Zygier's suicide "conditions required to fulfil the special supervision instructions for the deceased were not in place".

Evidence showed the monitoring station just outside the cell was not manned, Zygier's activities were not being recorded in a journal as required, and there was only partial supervision from the prison's control room.

Blatman-Kedrai's investigation also showed that on the day he killed himself, Zygier had an emotional meeting with his wife; both were visibly distressed when she departed.

The findings also showed Zygier had a history of unstable mental health; by his own admission he had tired to commit suicide twice before his incarceration.

In jail he met several times with a psychiatrist and was diagnosed as emotionally distressed.

Blatman-Kedrai said the IPS was given clear instructions to prevent Zygier from committing suicide.

"These instructions were not carried out, and the window of opportunity for suicide that was created resulted ... in the suicide of the deceased," the judge wrote.

After an initial investigation, Israeli authorities requested the court close the case, but Zygier's family asked for further investigation into his death.

In response to Thursday's findings, the justice ministry said the evidence was insufficient to indict the jailers.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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UK police 'have amnesia' over hacking

BRITISH police knew of claims that journalists at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World hacked into a murdered schoolgirl's mobile phone but they failed to investigate, the police watchdog said.

Britain's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said on Wednesday that Surrey Police in southeast England had done nothing about the allegations during their probe into the murder of 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002.

But the IPCC said it was unable to find out why nothing was done, because former senior officers at the force appeared to be suffering from "collective amnesia".

Revelations that the News of the World hacked into Dowler's voicemail messages, along with those of dozens of celebrities and public figures, sparked a huge public outcry that forced Murdoch to shut down the tabloid in 2011.

"Phone hacking was a crime and this should have been acted upon - if not in 2002, then later, once the News of the World's widespread use of phone hacking became a matter of public knowledge and concern," said IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass.

"We have not been able to uncover any evidence, in documentation or witness statements, of why and by whom that decision was made," she added.

"Former senior officers, in particular, appear to have been afflicted by a form of collective amnesia in relation to the events of 2002."

The phone-hacking scandal sparked three police investigations and a judicial inquiry into press ethics.

Testimony at the inquiry, led by judge Brian Leveson, revealed a close relationship between police and staff at Murdoch's British newspaper wing, News International.

Dozens of people have been arrested under Scotland Yard's probes into phone-hacking, computer hacking and the selling of stories by public officials.

On Wednesday a former Surrey Police officer became the 62nd person to be arrested under the probe into corrupt payments, Operation Elveden.

Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor, is among those who have been charged in connection with the scandal, as is former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

Former nightclub bouncer Levi Bellfield was convicted of murdering Milly Dowler in 2011, nine years after she disappeared on her way home from school.

British prosecutors say that a senior editor at Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun is being charged with conspiring to pay STG23,000 ($A34,375) in bribes in return for tips about the royal family.

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said on Wednesday that The Sun's Chief Royal Correspondent Duncan Larcombe conspired with employees of Sandhurst - Britain's prestigious military academy - to secure royal gossip.

The statement does not go into detail but Princes William and Harry both trained at Sandhurst several years ago.

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Afghan quake kills seven, injures dozens

SEVEN people were killed and dozens injured when a 6.2 quake struck eastern Afghanistan, officials say.

Six people, including some children, died in Nangarhar province on Wednesday, and 75 people were injured, said provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai.

One person was killed and one injured in neighbouring Kunar province and many homes were destroyed, said local government spokesman Wasefullah Wasef.

Strong tremors were felt in the capital Kabul and Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan, the Pakistan meteorological office said.

The quake hit at 0925 GMT (1925 AEST) and was centred in southeastern Afghanistan at a depth of 70km.

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Pope appeals for release of Syrian bishops

POPE Francis has called for the release of two Syrian bishops kidnapped by gunmen near Aleppo, after a Christian group appeared to retract its claim that the clerics had been freed.

Aleppo's Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on Monday by armed men en route from the Turkish border.

Speaking to an audience of about 100,000 at the Vatican, Francis said on Wednesday there were "contradictory reports" about the fate of the bishops and asked that "they be returned quickly to their communities".

On Tuesday, the "Oeuvre d'Orient" Christian association announced that the bishops had been released, but on Wednesday it backed away from the claim.

"Yesterday evening we received information from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate questioning the release of the two bishops," said Catherine Baumont, spokeswoman for the group, which works to help Middle Eastern Christians.

"Unfortunately no tangible proof of the release has been obtained. The situation remains unclear, and we still don't know who took them," said Baumont.

And a source in Aleppo's Greek Orthodox archdiocese said it had no news on the fate of the bishops.

"We have no new information," said Ghassan Ward, a priest at the archdiocese.

"We can say that (as far as we know) they haven't been freed."

Ward said there had been "no contact with them," adding that "efforts are continuing" to secure their release.

"We are very worried."

The two men were travelling from the Turkish border when armed men intercepted the car they were in, forcing them out of the vehicle, Syrian state media and church sources reported.

The kidnappers were believed to be Chechen fighters, who stopped the car in an area outside of Aleppo, the church sources said.

"The news which we have received is that an armed group... (of) Chechens stopped the car and kidnapped the two bishops while the driver was killed," an official from the Syriac Orthodox diocese said in a statement posted online.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said on Wednesday that the bishops had been kidnapped "in the region west of Aleppo, where a brigade of fighters from Dagestan is active".

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Leftist Letta nominated to be Italy PM

ENRICO Letta, who will be Italy's next prime minister, is the Europhile deputy leader of the leftist Democratic Party.

He was nominated on Wednesday and at 46 years of age already has extensive government experience.

His age counted in his favour amid calls for generational change, as did his "post-ideological" image which makes him the obvious leader of a grand coalition government.

Despite his age, Letta has already served in four governments, including stints as minister for Europe and for trade and industry. He had already served in centre-left cabinets in the late 1990s.

Another possible asset is the fact that his uncle is Gianni Letta, a shadowy figure who has been Silvio Berlusconi's right-hand man for years.

This didn't prevent him from being one of Berlusconi's strongest critics, although the scandal-tainted billionaire tycoon will now be an important power behind the throne.

Letta was born in Pisa on August 20, 1966 and studied political sciences and international law at a time when he was an active member of the Christian Democratic party. The party eventually collapsed in a storm of corruption scandals.

Letta headed up the European youth wing of the centre-right Christian Democrats between 1991 and 1995, after which he worked at the finance ministry on Italy's bid to adopt the euro before joining Massimo D'Alema's leftist government in 1998.

The ambitious Letta later served under two other prime ministers - Giuliano Amato and Romano Prodi in a period in which an often divided centre-left alternated its frequently brief terms in office with successive Berlusconi governments.

He has said his heroes are Polish anti-communist leader Lech Walesa and South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

Letta has also admitted to a fondness for popular Italian comic "Dylan Dog" -- the adventures of a womanising sleuth specialising in the paranormal.

"I wanted to be like him," he told one interviewer.

Letta is also a big fan of British rock band Dire Straits and Italian pop-rockers Nomadi.

He has been a leading member of the national committee of the Democratic Party since it was formed in 2007 as a combination between the remnants of the historic Italian Communist Party and a series of small centrist parties.

Letta is the author of books including "Building a Cathedral: Why Italy Should Go Back to Thinking Big" and "Is Europe Over?" in which he called for a "new project" for Europe to lift it out of a period of crisis on many levels.

He has been married twice and has three children.

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87 dead in Bangladesh building collapse

AN eight-story building has collapsed near Bangladesh's capital, killing at least 87 people and trapping many more.

The building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar housed several garment factories but is now a jumbled mess of shattered concrete and bricks, officials said.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members.

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors.

Zahidur Rahman, director of public relations at Enam Medical College and Hospital, said by Wednesday evening 87 people had been confirmed dead.

Another 600 survivors had been rescued, Brigidier General Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder said.

Reports indicated the death toll could rise.

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NATO condemns N Korea threats

NATO has condemned North Korea's war threats, calling on it to abandon atomic weapons. Source: AAP

NATO foreign ministers condemned North Korea's war threats, calling on it to abandon atomic weapons just as Pyongyang insisted it be treated as a nuclear-armed state on equal terms with long-time foe the United States.

"North Korea's provocative actions are in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions and seriously undermine regional stability," the ministers said in a statement as they met at NATO HQ in Brussels.

They also "jeopardise the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and threaten international peace and security," it added.

The 28 ministers called on North Korea to "abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner; and engage in credible and authentic talks on denuclearisation."

North Korea's bellicose rhetoric of the past few months, including threats of nuclear war against the United States, have stoked tensions in the region.

The threats and bluster have been seen as an effort to force Washington, the close ally of South Korea, into talks on normalising relations.

However, North Korea earlier on Tuesday renewed its demand that it be treated as a nuclear power, saying it was a pre-requisite for any dialogue with the United States.

A commentary in the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper rejected as "totally unacceptable" a US demand that North Korea commit to abandoning its nuclear weapons and missile program before any talks can begin.

Any meeting at the negotiating table must be "between nuclear weapons states," it said.

Washington has made it clear that it will never formally accept the North, which carried out its third nuclear test in February, as a nuclear power.

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Security tight ahead of France gay vote

France's parliament will finally approve a bill to legalise gay marriage after months of protests. Source: AAP

PARIS police have stepped up security for the city's gay community ahead of a final parliamentary vote on Tuesday on a bill that will make France the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage.

After months of acrimonious debate and hundreds of street protests that have occasionally spilled over into violence, a reform that has split the country was expected to be comfortably approved by the Socialist-dominated National Assembly around 1500 GMT (0100 AEST).

Deputies voted 329-229 in favour of the bill on its first reading in February and a similar outcome is expected in the ballot on the second and final reading.

Although the protests against gay marriage, some of them attended by hundreds of thousands, have generally been peaceful, the debate has taken on a nastier edge in recent weeks.

Some politicians have received personal threats, a handful of demonstrations have ended in violence amid claims of infiltration by extreme-right activists, and there was even a scuffle in parliament as the debate concluded in the wee small hours of Friday.

These tensions have been linked to a spike in hate crimes against the gay community that have included attacks on bars and two serious assaults in Paris, prompting the police to take preventive measures in case of a further backlash.

Bernard Boucault, the city's prefect of police, said the assaults, which took place on the night of April 6-7, had been almost certainly the result of homophobia.

"Everything possible is being done to identify those responsible and bring them to justice," Boucault said.

"In order to ensure there is no repeat, we are reinforcing our presence in certain areas of the city at certain times."

Gay rights activists are planning a celebratory rally to coincide with the parliamentary vote and opponents will stage protests in Paris and across the country.

That will not however be the final chapter in a debate that has exposed profound fault lines in French society.

The bill, which will also accord gay and lesbian couples the right to adopt children, will only become law when it is signed by President Francois Hollande and published in the Official Journal.

Opposition parties are hoping to delay that step by challenging the measure through France's constitutional council, but the government is confident that will be dismissed.

"We have ensured that there is no legal weakness," said Family Minister Dominique Bertinotti.

"The constitutional council is sovereign but the government is serene. We're confident."

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Clashes in north Iraq leave 40 dead

DEADLY fighting has hit Kirkuk province in north Iraq, with 27 people killed in clashes between protesters and security forces and 13 gunmen dying in subsequent revenge attacks on the army.

The clashes mark the deadliest eruption of violence linked to protests in Sunni areas that began more than four months ago.

The protesters have been demanding the resignation of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and railing against the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.

Tuesday's violence broke out around 5am when security forces entered an open area near Hawijah, west of Kirkuk province's capital, where demonstrations have been held since January, said senior army officers.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and around 70 wounded, they said.

But accounts differed as to the spark for the bloodletting.

A brigadier general from the Iraqi army division responsible for the area said the operation was aimed at Sunni militants from a group known as the Naqshbandiya Army, and that security forces only opened fire after they were fired upon.

A second officer said that 34 Kalashnikov assault rifles and four PKM machine guns were recovered at the scene.

Two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the operation, while the remainder of the casualties were a combination of protesters and militants, the officers said.

However, protesters insisted the army had provoked the clashes.

Security forces "invaded our sit-in today, burned the tents and opened fire indiscriminately and killed and wounded dozens of protesters," Abdulmalik al-Juburi, a leader of the Hawijah sit-in, told AFP.

"We only have four rifles to protect the sit-in, and there are no wanted people among us," Juburi said.

The dawn violence sparked revenge attacks.

Thirteen gunmen were killed in attacks on checkpoints in the Al-Rashad and Al-Riyadh areas of Kirkuk province, the army officers said.

"There have been fierce clashes which led to the killing of 13 revolutionaries against the policy of the government," Juburi said.

"When they heard the news about the killed and wounded in the sit-in, villagers in Kirkuk cut the roads and attacked checkpoints and military headquarters and took control of some of the checkpoints for a short time," he said.

Hassan Toran, leader of the provincial council of Kirkuk, where Hawijah is located, said the council condemned "the government forces breaking in to the sit-in and using extreme force, which led to killing and wounding dozens."

"We, as a provincial council, already warned and called for calm," Toran added.

"What happened today makes us ask the United Nations to intervene," he said.

A curfew has been imposed on Hawijah and neighbouring areas.

The violence came just hours after United Nations envoy Martin Kobler called for restraint on both sides in Hawijah, where tensions have been increasing.

"I encourage the Iraqi security forces to exercise the utmost self-restraint in maintaining law and order and the demonstrators to continue to preserve the peaceful character of the demonstrations," Kobler said in a statement.

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Australian population hits 23m, ABS says

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' population clock is expected to reach 23 million on Tuesday. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA is now home to 23 million people, according to an estimate by the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS), with the milestone prompting discussion about population size.

The ABS's population clock is based on a projected increase of one person every one minute and 23 seconds, taking into account birth and death rates, and the net gain from migration.

Australia hit the 23 million mark just before 10pm (AEST) on Tuesday according to the clock, with the last million added from September 2009.

With the milestone looming, earlier in the day Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she thought the figure was relatively low.

In terms of the world's most populous nations, Australia is ranked in the mid-50s.

"By the standards of the world we are a relatively low-population country, but we have the 12th strongest economy in the world - now that's an achievement," Ms Gillard told reporters in Sydney.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government wasn't interested in setting "arbitrary targets", but rather the distribution and composition of the nation's people.

"We are interested in where the population is and the type of groups within our population," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"There are many communities where there aren't sufficient jobs and equally there are many communities where there are more jobs than people to fill them."

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government was looking at "where and how" people live.

"We need to think about the shape of our cities, whether jobs are close to housing," she said.

According to the ABS, the nation's population passed five million in 1919, 10 million in 1960, 15 million in 1983 and 20 million in the December quarter of 2003.

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NSW police officer caught drink driving

A NSW police officer has been suspended after he was caught drink driving, police say. Source: AAP

A NSW police officer has been suspended after he was caught drink driving, police say.

The officer, 48, was arrested on Sunday after he returned a high range reading of 0.173 during a breath-test at Tweed Heads, police said.

Police suspended the man's drivers licence and he will appear in Tweed Heads Local Court for driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol and other driving offences.

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Cyprus cuts hit charities, schools

Charities, private schools and insurance firms with deposits in troubled Bank of Cyprus will suffer. Source: AAP

CHARITIES, private schools and insurance firms with deposits in the troubled Bank of Cyprus will suffer a 27.5 per cent haircut under the island's EU bailout, the central bank said.

They had all previously been exempt from a haircut in the bank restructuring required under the terms of the 10 billion euros ($A12.81 billion) bailout for Cyprus.

All insurance firm deposits will receive a hit while unregistered financial companies, charities and some educational institutions with deposits over 100,000 euros in the Bank of Cyprus will also get a 27.5 per cent cut.

"The review was undertaken with the aim to limit the extent of the exemptions so as to lighten the burden on affected (large) depositors in the Bank of Cyprus," the central bank said in a statement late on Sunday.

A bail-in from depositors was a key element of a deal which Nicosia struck with its EU partners and the International Monetary Fund last month to help fund a 23 billion euro rescue package.

Bank of Cyprus depositors are already facing a certain 37.5 per cent loss on deposits over 100,000 euros - to be exchanged for shares - with another 22.5 per cent locked depending on the cost of restructuring.

Large depositors could lose all of the remaining 60 per cent of their balances over 100,000 euros depending on the costs of winding up and merging second-largest lender Laiki.

Savers in that bank will have to wait years to see any of their cash over 100,000 euros.

Central bank spokeswoman Aliki Stylianou told state radio Monday that the move was to ease to pressure on large Bank of Cyprus depositors but a final estimate on how much they would lose will not be ready before the end of June.

Banks have been operating under stringent capital controls since they reopened on March 28, after a near two-week lockdown prompted by fears of a run on deposits.

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Second arrest over Indian girl's rape

INDIAN police arrested a second man over the kidnap and rape of a five-year-old girl, as officers on Monday faced further protests and a hail of accusations that they botched their handling of the case.

After a weekend of demonstrations in the capital, crowds again vented their anger over levels of sexual violence in New Delhi, which first erupted in December after the savage gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus.

Doctors, meanwhile, said the five-year-old victim of the latest attack was in a stable condition after being left for dead and was able to talk to her parents.

Police said they had arrested a second man late Sunday over the attack, which began on April 15 when the youngster was allegedly abducted from her home before being raped and mutilated.

Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar conceded "there were shortfalls" in the police reaction and that "they had not responded as they should have", but rejected protesters' calls for him to quit, saying it would serve no purpose.

"If my resigning will prevent such depraved action of the society then I am prepared to resign 1,000 times, but that is not going to address the problem," he told a packed news conference.

"The problem is one of mental depravity," he said, adding rapes were "opportunistic crimes", with 97 per cent carried out by people known to the victim, such as relatives and neighbours.

The two accused are garment worker Manoj Kumar, 22, a tenant in the girl's house who was arrested last Friday, and his friend Pradeep Kumar, taken into custody at his uncle's home in eastern Bihar state.

Commissioner Kumar denied allegations that police were slow to register the disappearance of the child. The allegations were made by the parents, who live in a working-class neighbourhood.

The parents' complaint "was lodged on the same day it was reported. And let us assume - even if it was registered within five minutes - the rape had already been committed," Kumar said.

He added that police were trying to identify two officers who allegedly offered the parents 2,000 rupees (around $A34) to keep quiet about the case and told them they should be grateful their daughter was still alive.

He also said the chief investigating officer and a senior colleague who was seen on camera slapping a protester had been suspended.

The latest developments came as protesters massed outside the hospital where the victim is being treated and at police headquarters to voice their fury at the force's conduct.

"I want justice for this little girl. If they had acted in time the tragic incident could have been averted," said student Amod Kumar, 25.

"They should have taken the missing complaint seriously and acted immediately. The parents were turned away only because they are poor and helpless," he said.

India's noisy and often dysfunctional parliament was repeatedly adjourned amid protests by opposition lawmakers demanding better security for women.

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Late 20thC was warmest in 1400 years

New climate records show Earth was warmer in the late 20th century than in the previous 1400 years. Source: AAP

EARTH was cooling until the end of the 19th century and a hundred years later the planet's surface was on average warmer than at any time in the previous 1400 years, according to climate records.

In a study spanning two millennia published in Nature Geoscience, scientists say a "long-term cooling trend" around the world swung into reverse in the late 19th century.

In the 20th century, the average global temperature was 0.4C higher than that of the previous 500 years, with only Antarctica bucking the trend.

From 1971-2000, the planet was warmer than at any other time in nearly 1400 years.

This measure is a global average, and some regions did experience warmer periods than that - but only for a time. Europe, for instance, was probably warmer in the first century AD than at the end of the 20th century.

The investigation is the first attempt to reconstruct temperatures over the past 2000 years for individual continents.

It seeks to shed light on a fiercely contested aspect in the global warming debate.

Sceptics have claimed bouts of cooling or warming before the Industrial Revolution - including two episodes in Europe called the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age - are proof that climate variations are natural, not man-made.

The new study does not wade into the debate about greenhouse gases, but points to two planetary trends.

The first is a clear, prolonged period of cooling. It may have been caused by a combination of factors, including an increase in volcanic activity, with stratospheric ashes reflecting the sunlight, or a decrease in solar activity or tiny changes in Earth's orbit, both of which would diminish sunlight falling on the planet.

The cooling - between 0.1-0.3C per thousand years, depending on the region - went into reverse towards the end of the 19th century, and was followed by an intensifying period of warming in the 20th, the paper said.

Previous research into climate change has pointed to a warming spurt in the 20th century and attributed it to the rise of heat-trapping carbon gases emitted by burning coal, oil and gas.

The warming trend shifted up a gear in the middle of the 1970s, in line with record-breaking levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to this past research.

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Police catch NSW prison escapee

A PRISONER who escaped from a jail in NSW's Upper Hunter has been recaptured by police.

Dean Wells, 29, was reported missing from the St Heliers Correctional Complex in Muswellbrook after 4pm (AEDT) on Monday.

He was arrested at Muswellbrook police station on Monday evening, police said.

Wells had been serving a sentence of six years and six months for a range of offences.

He's been charged with escaping lawful custody and will appear in court on Tuesday.

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Turks in talks over chopper hostages

A TURKISH transport helicopter with at least 11 civilians was forced to make an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area in eastern Afghanistan, and the insurgents took all the people on board hostage, including eight Turks and a Russian, officials say.

The civilian aircraft landed in strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday in a village named Dahra Mangal in the Azra district of Logar province, southeast of Kabul, District Governor Hamidullah Hamid told The Associated Press.

He said the helicopter came down in a gorge in the densely forested region, known for narrow gorges and rugged mountains, about 20km from the Pakistani border.

The Taliban fighters then captured everyone aboard the helicopter and took them away, Hamid said on Monday.

In a phone interview, Arsala Jamal, Logar's provincial governor, identified the hostages as eight Turks, one Afghan translator and two foreign pilots of unknown nationality.

In Ankara, a spokesman at Turkey's Foreign Ministry confirmed that eight Turks were aboard the helicopter but had no information on their condition or what had happened to them after the emergency landing.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry regulations.

Stepan Anikeyev, the Russian embassy's press attach in Kabul, said in a phone interview that a Russian man was being held hostage.

He said the Russians knows he was one of the two pilots but that they don't have details about his identity yet and that they're in "constant touch" with local officials in Afghanistan.

Security forces were dispatched to the area where the helicopter came down and engaged in firefights with the Taliban but quickly retreated because they had no support, said Logar Deputy Police Chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai.

"We brought the police back because there was no help from the (NATO) coalition or the Afghan army. The police were unable to secure the area, which is very rural, and we were worried," Rahimzai said.

He added that information they had from the region was that the hostages were taken by the Taliban to Hisarak district of neighbouring Nangarhar province.

Hamid said that repeated calls for the Afghan army or NATO help went unanswered, and that the police were unable to secure the area, which is located 15km from the district police compound in the town of Azra.

NATO confirmed that the Turkish helicopter went down on Sunday, but the International Security Assistance Force did not have any other details.

It did say there were "no ISAF" or "US personnel on board the Turkish helicopter", denying an earlier Taliban claim that they had detained Americans on the aircraft.

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Nine killed in separate Afghan attacks

AT least nine people have been killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan, while Taliban militants allegedly chopped off hands and legs of two Afghan men, officials say.

In eastern Paktika province, three civilians were killed and seven others including two policemen were injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday.

"A suicide bomber blew himself up this morning in a busy area in Jani Khel district, killing three civilians and wounding five (other civilians) and two policemen," the Paktika provincial governor's office said.

"Ehsanullah, former district governor for Jani Khel was among the dead," it said in a statement, blaming the "enemies of Afghans" for the attack, a term usually used by Afghan officials to refer to Taliban militants.

Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a cruel commander "Ehsanullah who was previously district governor for Jani Khel, was killed along with his friend and three bodyguards.

In south-eastern Ghazni province, six members of the Afghan local police were killed after the Taliban attacked their checkpoint, said Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor.

"Last night, a group of Taliban attacked the checkpoint of local police, killing six policemen and wounding another," Ahmadi said.

He said another policeman was missing and suspected of having helped the insurgents.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Ghazni attacks.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants allegedly chopped off a hand and a leg each of two men working for a company that provides logistics for NATO convoys in western Herat province, police said.

The incident took place on Saturday in western Herat province, said Noor Khan Nekzad, the spokesman for the Herat police.

"These two men are from Koshk Robat Sangi district. They were caught by the Taliban. Each of them have lost one hand and one leg."

He said the Taliban charged them with working for NATO security companies. They are both in hospital.

Taliban officials were not available for comment on the incident.

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Jordan arrests eight Syrian refugees

Jordanian demonstrators have called on authorities to close a refugee camp housing Syrians. Source: AAP

POLICE have arrested eight Syrians on suspicion of inciting riots at a refugee camp near the Jordan-Syria border.

About 100 Syrian refugees threw stones at police on Friday for preventing some of them from sneaking out of their desert camp. Ten officers were wounded, including two who remain critical.

A security official said a military prosecutor will question the eight suspects later on Sunday.

If convicted, they face up to three years in jail.

The Zaatari camp houses 150,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war. Another 350,000 Syrians have found shelter in Jordanian communities.

Conditions in the overcrowded camp have worsened since it opened last July, and there have been several riots.

In Syria on Sunday, troops backed by pro-government gunmen pounded rebel areas near the Lebanese border, activists and state media said.

The clashes came as US officials said the Obama administration was poised to send up to $US130 million ($A126.77 million) more in non-lethal military aid to rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said there was no immediate casualty report from the fighting in Basatin in Homs province.

The state television said the army was trying to "uproot all the terrorists from the area" - a reference to the rebels.

Elsewhere, the Observatory said fighting was also reported in the northern province of Aleppo, three areas in the suburbs of Damascus and the central province of Idlib.

In the past two weeks, the Syrian military - supported by pro-government fighters backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group - has pursued a campaign to regain control of areas near the Lebanese border.

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Girl indecently assaulted at Sydney beach

POLICE are searching for man in his 60s who they allege indecently assaulted a seven year-old girl at an eastern Sydney beach.

They say the incident occurred while the girl was on a day out with her family at Coogee Beach, about 2pm (AEST) on Sunday.

She and her four-year-old brother were climbing a tree at the northern end of the beach when a man approached.

Described as Caucasian and overweight, police say he tickled the boy before inappropriately touching the girl.

The kids later told their parents.

The man was last seen walking south from the location along a footpath.

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84 arrested at western Sydney rave

Most of the 84 arrests made at a Sydney music festival were due to sniffer dogs, police say. Source: AAP

POLICE have made 84 mainly drug-related arrests at a rave in western Sydney.

Dance music festival IQON ran most of Saturday at the Sydney International Dragway at Eastern Creek.

Officers attached to Operation Charthouse arrested 84 partiers for offences including goods in custody, assault police and breach of bail.

But police had sniffer dogs to thank for most of the arrests.

They laid 78 charges for possess prohibited drug, four charges for deem supply and one cannabis caution.

Police on Sunday said inquiries into the drug matters were continuing.

Blacktown Local Area Commander Superintendent Mark Wright said in spite of the numbers arrested and charged, the overall crowd was well behaved.

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Ex-HSBC worker: US said to head for Spain

A FORMER HSBC employee fighting extradition to Switzerland for allegedly stealing banking data that exposed thousands of suspected tax dodgers reportedly says US officials advised that he flee to Spain because his life was at risk.

Herve Falciani, a 40-year-old French-Italian citizen, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012 after he arrived by boat from the port of Sete in France.

He was apprehended under an international warrant seeking his extradition to Switzerland, where he is wanted for violating banking secrecy laws.

He collected data on at least 24,000 customers of HSBC's Swiss subsidiaries from 2006 to 2008 while working in the bank's information technology development unit in Geneva which he then passed on to French authorities.

The files, which were subsequently relayed by investigators to their counterparts in the United States, Spain, Italy and several other European Union countries, led to a raft of prosecutions.

Falciano told daily newspaper El Pais on Sunday about a month before he fled to Spain, US justice officials who he was collaborating with from Paris warned him his life was at risk.

"The United States warned me that it would be easy for someone to pay to try to kill me. I had to plan my escape carefully. I chose Spain knowing that I would go to jail and that Switzerland would ask for my extradition," he said.

"I had two options: start a new life in the United States or travel somewhere else to gain time. They told me that the only safe place in Europe would be Spain, which had used my information with success in important cases.

"They thought it would be very unlikely that Spain would approve my extradition to Switzerland," Falciano said.

Spanish prosecutors opposed Falciani's extradition to Switzerland during his court hearing on April 15 in Madrid. The court is expected to give its decision in the coming weeks.

Falciani told the court in Madrid last week his intention was to raise the alarm about what was going on at the bank and denied he sought to sell the information as alleged by Swiss officials.

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