Flood kills 76 in northeast China city

A RIVER flood triggered by torrential rains has killed 76 people in a northeast Chinese city, state media says.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a memorial service was held on Saturday in the city of Fushun for the victims.

It said another 88 people remained missing as of Friday.

It quoted Fushun mayor Luan Qingwei as saying the flood was the worst in decades for the city, where a river cuts through the downtown area.

A statement by Fushun's municipal government has declared Saturday as a city-wide day of condolence and that all public entertainment activities should be halted for the day.

Fushun, located in a mountainous area, has been hit hard by floods ravaging China's northeastern provinces.

Dozens more have been reported killed by floods elsewhere in the region.

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Search on for NT crocodile victim

NORTHERN Territory police are searching for a man who is believed to have been snatched by a crocodile.

Senior Sergeant Peter Lindfield says police received reports about 4pm (CST) on Saturday that the 24-year-old had been attacked by a crocodile while he swam at Mary River, about 110km from Darwin.

"Officers from the Water Police Section and Territory Response Group are currently at the scene of the attack and are searching for the man and the crocodile," Sergeant Lindfield said in a statement.

An employee at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat says the man and a friend had ignored warnings not to go in the water.

"Two local boys decided to go swimming, we tell people to stay away from the water, they obviously went against this (and) a man was taken," Erin Bayard told News Corp Australia.

"We say to everybody it's full of crocs.

"It's one of the most populated rivers in the Territory, every couple of kilometres there is a large croc."

A police spokeswoman told AAP that officers and wildlife rangers would search through the night.

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Three dead after North Sea chopper crash

Three people are dead and a fourth is missing after a helicopter went down off the Shetland Islands. Source: AAP

THREE people have been confirmed dead after a helicopter transporting employees between oil rigs in the North Sea ditched, Scottish police say, while a fourth is still missing.

"Following the incident off the coast of Shetland during Friday 23 August, Police Scotland can confirm that the bodies of three people have now been recovered and a fourth person remains unaccounted for," said a statement.

Scottish coastguard had previously reported that three of the 18 people on board - including two crew and 16 passengers - were missing.

Fourteen other people were rescued.

The Super Puma helicopter was travelling from the Borgsten Dolphin platform to Sumburgh airport on Shetland when it came down two miles (three kilometres) west of its destination at approximately 6:20 pm (1720 GMT).

Jim Nicholson, rescue coordinator with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), said there appeared "to have been a catastrophic loss of power which meant the helicopter suddenly dropped into the sea without any opportunity to make a controlled landing".

"It's fortunate there were not more casualties in a helicopter crash of this kind," he said.

No one had yet been able to search the helicopter itself, Nicholson said, adding that it was possible that a body could be recovered inside. Once the helicopter was recovered, it could be searched, he added.

Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, said: "It is still too early to know what caused this terrible tragedy, but a full investigation by the relevant authorities is already under way."

Amanda Smith, the mother of one of the rescued people, Sam Smith, told Britain's Sky News that her son described how the helicopter "seemed to lose power and there was no time to brace - they just dropped into the sea".

"He was by the window so he was able to escape that way as it rolled over," she said.

"He said he had come off better than a lot of people, were his words. It doesn't seem real."

Nine of the rescued passengers were helicoptered to Shetland's main town of Lerwick with one taken off the aircraft on a stretcher, the BBC reported.

The search and rescue operation involving RNLI, the army, police and coastguards then continued through the night to try to find the missing.

CHC, the aircraft's operator, said it was flying for oil company Total.

It is the latest in a series of incidents involving helicopters in the North Sea.

In May, all 14 people on board a Super Puma helicopter were rescued after it ditched off the coast of Aberdeen.

Another helicopter ditched in the North Sea last October, but all 19 people on board survived.

Sixteen men died when a Super Puma helicopter plunged into the sea after its gearbox failed as it was flying from BP's Miller platform to Aberdeen in April 2009.

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US firefighters battle blaze near Yosemite

A out-of-control wildfire forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes inside Yosemite National Park. Source: AAP

FIREFIGHTERS in California are struggling to contain a giant blaze that threatens thousands of homes and is sweeping into Yosemite National Park.

The so-called Rim Fire doubled in size in just one day, and the vast blaze was only five per cent contained, according to Inciweb.org, the online Incident Information System that monitors fires in the western United States.

Governor Jerry Brown late on Friday declared a state of emergency for San Francisco - which lies some 320km to the west - because the Pacific coast city gets much of its electricity from the region affected by the fire.

The fire broke out on August 17 at the Stanislaus National Park, which along with Yosemite is among the state's main natural tourist attractions.

Some 2000 firefighters battled the blaze with help from tanker planes and helicopters, which dumped flame retardant chemicals from the air. About 4500 structures are threatened by the wildfire.

Temperatures are mild, but the fire has been fed by the extremely low humidity, dry scrub brush and trees, and gusts of strong wind that pushed the flames into narrow canyons and ridges that are hard for firefighters to reach.

Officials have ordered the small towns of Tuolumne and Ponderosa Hills evacuated. Officials also closed a major interstate highway running through the region.

Earlier, Brown declared a state of emergency in Tuolumne County, allowing him to use additional resources to battle the fire.

Satellite photos show giant columns of white smoke from the fire drifting far into the neighbouring state of Nevada.

The Rim Fire "continues to exhibit very large fire growth due to extremely dry fuels and inaccessible terrain," Inciweb said.

"Due to inaccessible, steep terrain and active fire behaviour a combination of direct and indirect attack will be used on this incident. Direct line suppression efforts are impeded by difficult access and steep inaccessible terrain."

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Woman cut in scuffle with armed robber

A WOMAN has a cut to her hand after trying to take a knife off a robber at a convenience store in Sydney's southwest.

Police said that at about 8pm (AEST) on Saturday a man wearing a balaclava entered the shop on King Georges Road at Wiley Park and threatened a female staff member with a knife, while demanding money.

He was given a quantity of cash from the till.

"The man was interrupted by another employee causing the female staff member to try and disarm the man. She suffered a cut to her hand as a result," police said in a statement.

The man fled the scene.

The 56-year-old woman was assessed on site by paramedics before being taken to Canterbury Hospital for treatment.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

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Dench and Hoffman star in Dahl show

Dame Judi Dench (pic) and Dustin Hoffman will star in an adaptation a Roald Dahl love story. Source: AAP

DAME Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman are teaming up to star in a one-off adaptation of a Roald Dahl love story.

The 90-minute BBC One show, which starts filming in London next spring, is based on Dahl's book Esio Trot and has been adapted by Richard Curtis.

Hoffman plays the retired bachelor Mr Hoppy, who is secretly in love with his neighbour Mrs Silver, played by Dame Judi, who lavishes all her affection on her pet tortoise Alfie.

BBC One controller Charlotte Moore said: "It's an honour to have Dame Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman starring in this wonderful new adaptation. It's absolutely stellar casting for one of the nation's favourite children's classics."

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Twin blasts kill 19 in Lebanon's Tripoli

TWO powerful explosions, minutes apart, have killed at least 19 people in Lebanon's main northern city of Tripoli, a security official says.

"Another 35 people were wounded," the official added.

The first blast on Friday rocked the city centre near the home of outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, although his office said he was not in Tripoli at the time.

The second struck near the port of the restive city with a Sunni Muslim majority, close to the home of former police chief Ashraf Rifi, a security source said.

Lebanese television channels aired footage of buildings with their fronts blown in and vehicles ablaze, as bystanders rushed to help the wounded.

Tripoli, on the Mediterranean coast, has been marred by deadly violence between Sunnis, who support the armed uprising in neighbouring Syria, and Alawites who support President Bashar al-Assad.

The explosions come a week after a suicide car bombing killed 27 people in a Beirut stronghold of the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Assad's forces.

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Libs are 'mean little people': Keating

Former prime minister Paul Keating has accused the Liberals of being "mean little people". Source: AAP

FORMER prime minister Paul Keating has accused the Liberals of being "mean little people" who lack the imagination to deliver the kind of reforms led under Labor.

Mr Keating says Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard had steered the country through the "valley of economic death" in 2008-09 to be what no other country in the world has been.

"No recession, no great dip in employment," Mr Keating said, launching the campaign of Labor minister Bill Shorten in his Melbourne seat of Maribyrnong on Friday, to rousing applause from party faithful.

"This is not like Europe. This is not like the United States.

"We've kept people in employment and given them real wages growth."

Since 1991, real wages had increased 36 per cent and disposable incomes by 40 per cent, he said.

"This is the only country that has done this.

"It came from the policies of the Labor government.

"It didn't come from the Tories. They know what they're against. They never know what they're for."

Mr Keating credited Labor for creating equity in health, superannuation, education and now disability care.

"The others never do these things. They're always mean. Mean little people," he said.

"No imagination, no bigness and no heart.

"Just the natural cycle means every now and then they get another go."

Mr Keating said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had to do more than offer slogans.

"Stop the boats, he says, we'll get rid of the mining tax, and we'll get rid of the carbon tax," he said.

"These slogans can never be an organising principle for the nation."

Mr Keating accused the Liberals of walking away from accountability standards, saying they ignored former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello's decision that treasury publish public accounts before an election.

"This is a very bad thing which is happening. Bad for the core integrity of the financial system, the way the country operates, bad for trust in the system.

"We're facing a sort of flimflam opposition, one without standards.

"Even the previous conservative government accepted that standard but they've walked away from that.

"Cynical Joe Hockey says, 'oh people are bored with numbers'. Really, Joe? They're not bored with you are they?"

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Ferrari presents pics of 458 Speciale car

FERRARI this week issued preview pictures of the 458 Speciale, an uprated version of its existing 458 Italia sports car.

The 458 Speciale is advertised as having the most powerful non-turbocharged road engine Ferrari has ever built.

It is due to be officially presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 10.

Engine horsepower is up from 570 in the old model to 605, acceleration time from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour has been cut from 3.4 to 3 seconds, and emissions were reduced from 307 to 275 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre.

Ferrari's latest offering provides "smooth, effortless control in all kinds of situations," the Italian carmaker stated on its website.

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Aid group says Laos landslides kill 16

AN international aid group says landslides in Laos have killed 16 people.

Plan International says heavy rains caused landslides to swamp six villages on Wednesday night in the northwest district of Pakbeng.

The group said on Friday 38 homes were washed away along with huts storing vital supplies of rice in the impoverished communities.

Plan says many roads in the northern province of Oudomxay, where Pakbeng is located, are impassable.

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PetroChina 1H profit rises

STATE-OWNED PetroChina's half-year profit rose to nearly $US11 billion ($A12.31 billion) as Asia's biggest oil producer increased output of crude and natural gas.

The company said on Thursday its results were also helped by smaller losses at its refining and chemicals business after China reformed price controls so domestic fuel prices would more closely follow international prices.

PetroChina said January-June profit rose 5.6 per cent from a year earlier to 65.5 billion yuan ($A11.98 billion).

Revenue rose 5.2 per cent to 1.1 trillion yuan.

Beijing-based PetroChina said crude output grew 2.6 per cent to 464.2 million barrels.

Natural gas production rose 8.1 per cent to 1.4 trillion cubic feet.

Chairman Zhou Jiping said in the second half there may be "some difficulties for the rebound of the domestic economy" while the global outlook is "highly uncertain".

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Gambaro tells forum she's for gay marriage

Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro says she'll vote for gay marriage if allowed a conscience vote. Source: AAP

THE Liberal MP representing Queensland's most marginal federal seat has declared she would vote for gay marriage if the coalition allowed a conscience vote.

Teresa Gambaro has previously stated she would push Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote on the matter after the election.

The shadow parliamentary secretary has, however, previously declined to say whether or not she personally supported gay marriage.

But on Thursday night, the MP who holds Brisbane by a narrow 1.1 per cent margin, told a candidates' forum in her electorate she would vote in favour of marriage equality if given the choice.

"Should I be privileged to represent the people of Brisbane and be re-elected to the seat, my conscience vote would be in favour of same-sex marriage," she said to loud applause.

Ms Gambaro said people should be free to love who they want, regardless of their gender.

"I've made this decision because of my personal journey speaking to people, touched by the issue, as I've been door knocking right around the electorate," she said.

"Who people choose to love is not a decision for government.

"People should be free to love who they want, free of discrimination, bias and prejudice."

Ms Gambaro told the forum that marriage equality had been used as a political wedge, and said her vote against a gay marriage motion last year fulfilled a 2010 election promise.

"I believe it accurately reflected the majority view of the electorate of Brisbane at the time," she said.

"I'm on the record as saying that I'm not going to be bullied into taking one position or another and believe in representing people properly and not using this for political purposes."

Her position in favour of marriage equality comes as Australian Marriage Equality distributes leaflets in her inner-city seat pointing out how she hadn't declared a position.

Ms Gambaro has joined fellow federal Liberal MPs Malcolm Turnbull, Wyatt Roy and Kelly O'Dwyer in backing same sex marriage.

She said she had previously supported conscience votes for euthanasia and the abortion drug RU486.

Labor's candidate for Brisbane, Fiona McNamara, who supports gay marriage, questioned whether Ms Gambaro would cross the floor if the coalition didn't change its position to allow a conscience vote.

"I welcome Ms Gambaro's statement that she would vote for a conscience vote," she told AAP after the forum.

"Will she cross the floor if the LNP doesn't allow a conscience vote?"

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Intruder found at Jennifer Lopez estate

AN intruder lived for a week on Jennifer Lopez's property in the Hamptons while she was away, US police say.

Southampton police said on Wednesday the entertainer had an order of protection against 49-year-old John Dubis.

Information on why the order was obtained was not immediately available.

According to Newsday, workers found Dubis on the property on August 8 and called police.

He was arraigned on charges of burglary, criminal contempt, stalking and possession of burglar tools. He's due in court on August 28.

Dubis is being held on $US100,000 ($A112,000) bail.

Newsday says the publicist for the singer-actress couldn't be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether Dubis had a lawyer.

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Aust sucks up Ocean's waters: study

THE world's sea levels fell in 2011 and it's all Australia's fault.

New US research shows Australia's dry soil and mountainous coastline soaked up heavy rainfall in 2010 and 2011 and stopped it from flowing back into the ocean.

That effectively halted a longterm trend of rising sea levels which have been caused by higher temperatures and melting ice sheets.

"No other continent has this combination of atmospheric set-up and topography," scientist John Fasullo, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

"Only in Australia could the atmosphere carry such heavy tropical rains to such a large area, only to have those rains fail to make their way to the ocean."

The world's oceans have been rising in recent decades by around three millimetres every year.

This is partly because heat has caused water to expand, and partly because run-off from retreating glaciers and ice sheets has made its way into the oceans.

But for an 18-month period beginning in 2010, the oceans mysteriously dropped by about seven millimetres, more than offsetting the annual rise, the study says.

The US scientists say this was mainly caused by Australia's uniquely dry soil and land surface.

While some of the water evaporated in the desert sun, much of it sank into the dry, granular soil of the Western Plateau or filled the Lake Eyre basin in the east.

Since 2011, sea levels have been rising at a faster pace of about ten millimetres per year.

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Pakistan militants welcome peace talks

TALIBAN-LINKED militants in Pakistan have welcomed a new peace talks offer by the government.

"We welcome it ... it is possible," said Maulana Asmatullah Moavia, the head of a Taliban faction from the central Punjab province, in a statement issued from their tribal base near the Afghan border.

It came days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif offered to hold peace talks with the militants to end a decade-old violence that claimed more than 40,000 lives and crippled the economy.

"I invite to dialogue all those elements who unfortunately follow the path of extremism," Sharif said this week, in his first televised address to the nation since taking office in June.

Sharif said Islamist militants pose an "existential threat" to Pakistan and he would order the use of force if his offer was rejected.

The militant group said the premier had demonstrated political maturity by offering peace talks to the Taliban.

Punjabi Taliban, as the group is known, has been behind most deadly attacks across Pakistan in recent years.

It has strong links to al-Qaeda and is considered a major faction in the Pakistani Taliban group led by Hakimullah Mehsud.

Moavia said militants in Pakistan should respond positively if the government was serious about resolving the conflict.

Past peace talks between the Pakistan government and militants have failed.

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Goward grilled in NSW parliament

NSW Community Services Minister Pru Goward has come under sustained opposition fire amid the continued fallout over conflicting child protection worker numbers.

The minister told a budget estimates hearing last week she wasn't aware of a draft Ernst & Young report that found only 1797 caseworkers on the government's books.

Ms Goward had consistently claimed there were about 2000.

On Tuesday, she was forced to admit the draft report had been sent to her office multiple times, and was even tabled at a meeting she attended last month, but that she hadn't read it.

But minutes of the July meeting have emerged, which include four separate references to the Ernst & Young report.

Opposition Leader John Robertson says the suggestion that Ms Goward could have missed every mention defies belief.

"This minister's position is completely untenable," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"This minister is either lying, incompetent or absolutely negligent when it comes to her responsibility of protecting the most vulnerable children in our community from being put in harm's way."

Ms Goward was unbowed during parliamentary question time on Wednesday afternoon, as Labor MPs used every question to grill her over her handling of the matter.

"I have always said I'm committed to transparency. I'm rock solid on the reforms this government is delivering to improve the child protection system," Ms Goward shot at the opposition.

Ms Goward said Labor's repeated calls for her resignation and claims that she misled parliament amounted to a "grubby personal attack".

Premier Barry O'Farrell on Tuesday declared his continued support for the minister.

Opposition family and community services spokeswoman Linda Burney said at least 25 caseworker positions were also unfilled on the state's North Coast.

"Leaving more than 25 caseworker positions unfilled in one of the most needy regions is a disaster for children's welfare on the North Coast of NSW," Mr Burney said in a statement on Wednesday night.

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33 killed in bus accident in Malaysia

A passenger bus has plunged into a deep ravine in Malaysia, killing at least 33 people. Source: AAP

A PASSENGER bus has plunged into a deep ravine while travelling downhill near a Malaysian highland resort, killing 33 people, an official said.

Sixteen people survived the accident, which occurred on a winding slope in central Genting Highlands, a popular destination that houses Malaysia's sole casino on Wednesday, said fire department official Azizan Ismail.

The bus, which fell about 60 metres into the ravine, was carrying mostly Malaysians and several tourists believed to be from the Middle East, Azizan said.

He said one body had been recovered from the bus, with 32 more bodies remaining inside the vehicle.

The cause of the accident was not known. The bus driver was among those believed killed, Azizan said.

More than 200 firefighters, police and medical officers used ropes and cranes to reach the bus, which had been heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's main city.

The cause of the accident was not known. The bus driver was among those killed, Azizan said.

Genting Highlands attracts thousands of domestic visitors and foreign tourists from Singapore, China and other countries every week. Serious accidents are rare on the relatively well-maintained roads leading to the area's main resorts.

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Facebook unveils global net access plan

Facebook has announced a partnership aimed at connecting four billion people still not online. Source: AAP

FACEBOOK and other technology giants have launched an initiative designed to give the whole world access to the internet.

The project is entitled Internet.org and its goal is to extend internet access to five billion people by cutting the cost of smart phone-based internet services in developing countries.

"Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday.

"There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy," he said, adding that the project aimed to make it easier and cheaper to connecting to the web.

The other partners in the project are Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Opera, while Twitter and LinkedIn are also due to sign up.

Today some 2.7 billion people, just over a third of the world's population, had access to the internet, and the number of new users was growing only slowly each year, a statement said.

"The goal of Internet.org is to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected, and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today," the statement said.

The seven founding partners are going to develop joint projects, share knowledge and mobilise governments and industry to bring the world online.

Specifically, they want to simplify mobile apps to make them more efficient and improve telephone components and networks so they perform better while consuming less energy.

They also want to develop lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and partnerships to more broadly deploy internet access in underserved communities.

Zuckerberg insisted in an interview with CNN that the project was not simply aimed at generating more customers.

"If we were just focused on making money, the first billion people we've connected have way more money than the rest of the next six billion combined. It's not fair but it's the way that it is," he said.

The partnership emulates one launched by Facebook in 2011 called Open Compute Project, which also aims to improve the materials used in call centres and make them less energy-hungry.

That project was originally met with scepticism but has gradually won over the major players in the computer industry.

The new thrust comes at a key time for tech groups. Mature markets are saturated and have little potential for significant growth, while poor regions like Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia are pools of potential new customers.

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Turkey bans NSW MPs from Gallipoli service

Turkey has warned that some NSW MPs will be denied visas to attend the Gallipoli service. Source: AAP

TURKEY warns some NSW MPs won't not be welcome at the Gallipoli service after state parliament officially recognised the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians earlier in the year.

The NSW legislative council in May passed a motion calling for the official recognition of the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocides.

Turkey strongly condemned the move and said the motion was not compatible with historic facts.

"Although the solid friendly relations existing between the peoples of Turkey and Australia will not deteriorate because of this unilateral decision ... its negative repercussions are nonetheless inevitable," Turkey's foreign ministry said in May, which ABC television reported on Wednesday.

The proponents of such initiatives would "doubtlessly be deprived of the hospitality and friendship that we will never withhold from the people of Australia", the ministry warned.

"These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we commemorate together our sons lying side by side in our soil," it said.

Turkish consul-general Gulseren Celik was asked whether the statement meant that Premier Barry O'Farrell and other NSW MPs would be denied visas to attend the Gallipoli service.

"Yes," she told ABC television.

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Al-Jazeera sues AT&T for dropping channel

Al Jazeera America has launched its operations, and will be available in almost 48m US households. Source: AAP

AL-JAZEERA has lodged a suit against US communications giant AT&T for dropping the broadcast of its new Al-Jazeera America news channel on the day it launched.

AT&T's move affects some five million US households, a significant hit for Al-Jazeera America, which had said some 40 million homes were expected to have the channel available.

"Unfortunately AT&T's decision to unilaterally delete Al-Jazeera America presented us with circumstances that were untenable - an affiliate that has wilfully and knowingly breached its contractual obligations," a statement from Al-Jazeera America said late on Tuesday.

"Accordingly, we had no choice but to take this action and to enforce Al Jazeera America's rights under its agreement with AT&T - and to compel AT&T to do the right thing."

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said Al-Jazeera had breached its obligations and that the company's U-verse television systems would not carry the channel, despite previously carrying Current TV, which was bought out by Al-Jazeera.

"As a result of our inability to come to terms on a new agreement and due to certain breaches by Al-Jazeera of the existing agreement we have decided not to carry Current TV on U-verse," Siegel said in a prepared statement.

The channel, operated by the Qatari media group behind the Middle East's biggest satellite broadcaster, went live on Tuesday.

The launch was accompanied by a big promotional push, and it pledged to outdo its rivals with serious, in-depth journalism.

Americans will be able to see 14 hours of news, documentary and discussion programming tailored to the US market daily, and updates at the top of every hour 24 hours each day.

But main the selling point will be long-form reporting of stories overlooked by other news organisations.

It is likely to face a tough sell to US audiences because of its history in the Middle East, where it was the outlet for videos distributed by Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Some in America regard Al-Jazeera's output as anti-Western.

Al-Jazeera is also in negotiations with Time Warner Cable over carrying the channel.

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Asylum boat tragedy leaves up to five dead

UP to five asylum seekers are believed to have drowned after a boat carrying more than 100 people sank north of Christmas Island.

Australian authorities called off search and rescue operations on Tuesday night after rescuing 106 people, Customs and Border Protection says.

"The suspension follows confirmation from on-scene crews and interviews with survivors that all survivors have been recovered," Customs said in a statement.

Information from survivors suggested that up to five people remained unaccounted for, but they may have gone down with the boat.

After an extensive search for survivors and bodies, none were sighted.

"It is therefore believed any people unaccounted for have gone down with part of the vessel," Customs said.

The 106 survivors are being transferred to Christmas Island for health and security checks.

They will all eventually be sent to Papua New Guinea or Nauru and could be resettled in those nations if found to be genuine refugees.

Meanwhile, federal Labor's hardline resettlement plan is facing its first legal challenge.

Sydney lawyer Adrian Joel, who represents a would-be refugee on PNG's Manus Island, lodged a challenge in the Federal Court on Monday. It's believed the case will eventually be heard by the High Court.

Mr Joel is expected to argue that PNG is not a suitable destination for asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd dismissed suggestions the policy may go the same way as the Gillard government's Malaysia people swap deal, which was struck out by the High Court in 2011.

"We have exactly the right policy message on this and exactly the right administration to back it up," Mr Rudd told reporters in Brisbane.

The latest boat tragedy comes as Immigration Minister Tony Burke and Foreign Minister Bob Carr attended a regional anti-people smuggling conference in Indonesia on Tuesday.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott warned against Senator Carr and Mr Burke signing up to any agreement that may come from the talks due to the fact that the government was in "caretaker mode" ahead of the election next month.

A legal challenge being mounted by PNG's opposition against the asylum seeker plan also picked up steam on Tuesday, with lawyers applying to add Manus detainee and asylum seeker Rawed Reza to the list of challengers to the controversial scheme.

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Musharraf indicted over Bhutto's murder

AN anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has indicted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on charges of conspiracy to murder late opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, officials say.

It was the first time that any of the four generals who have ruled Pakistan have been indicted.

A formal trial could begin any time. If convicted, Musharraf could face a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment, a prosecution lawyer said.

Musharraf pleaded not guilty when the judge in Rawalpindi city, near the capital Islamabad, read out the charge sheet against him on Tuesday.

The former strongman, under house arrest at his farmhouse in Islamabad for more than three months, was taken to the court under tight security.

There had been some doubt whether police would produce him in the court because of death threats from Islamist militants.

Taliban insurgents had said in recent weeks that they would send suicide bombers to kill Musharraf.

The expected indictment was temporarily postponed at an August 6 hearing because police did not take Musharraf to court after a specific threat.

Defence lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri said his client would fight the charges.

Bhutto, who was twice elected prime minister, was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack in December 2007.

There are concerns that the trial could widen mistrust between the civilian government and the powerful military.

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Russia scrambles to contain record floods

Floods in the Russian far east have broken records as authorities evacuated more than 19,000 people. Source: AAP

RUSSIANS in the Far East are battling rising floodwaters as authorities evacuate more than 23,000 people from affected areas and scramble to prevent the outbreak of infection.

Heavy rains pounding Khabarovsk, a Far Eastern city located near the Chinese border, since July have swelled the local Amur River to nearly 7 metres - a level unseen since monitoring of the area began in 1895.

The floodwaters damaged property, infrastructure and crops, displaced tens of thousands and raised fresh questions about the Russian government's readiness to handle natural disasters.

There have been no reports of fatalities, but more than 23,000 people have been evacuated so far, the office of the Kremlin's Far Eastern envoy Viktor Ishayev said on Tuesday.

National television footage showed locals making their way through a flooded area by boat and a cow wading through muddy waters, submerged nearly up to its neck.

The floods have affected the Yakutia, Primorsky Krai and Amur regions as well as the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, but the Khabarovsk region was hit hardest.

Over the night, the region's Amur river, which serves as a natural border with China where it is known as Heilong Jiang, has risen by 16 centimetres to 673 centimetres.

It is expected to rise by another 40 centimetres over the next two days.

"According to estimates, the water levels near Khabarovsk can reach 730-780 centimetres on August 24-28," the Khabarovsk city administration said.

Yury Varakin, head of the situation centre at Russia's weather service (Rosgidromet), said the water levels around Khabarovsk reached a level unseen since regular monitoring began in 1895.

"The highest water level stood at 642 centimetres in 1897," he said.

"In many areas the river spread out over tens of kilometres. The unfavourable situation will remain until the end of the month."

The military have been deployed to help hurriedly erect flood defence bunds along the river, with authorities saying they have prepared 10,000 sand bags to use in case the waters breached the defences.

Ishayev asked the General Prosecutor's office to look into how the authorities have been handling the emergency.

"Residents in a number of areas say: 'If you started a bit earlier then you'd have saved residential settlements.' And they are right," Ishayev said in televised remarks.

He indicated some areas did not have proper infrastructure to help protect them against the floods.

"The water will be receding rather slowly," Ishayev added.

Authorities said many in the affected areas had been left without access to money after Russia's biggest bank Sberbank shut its branches and ATMs.

Of the more than 29,000 people who needed to be vaccinated, only 2,000 received necessary shots even though the local authorities had enough vaccines against hepatitis A, diphtheria and typhoid fever, Ishayev's office said.

The defence ministry sent an airlift carrying 20 tonnes of vaccines and medicine to the Far East, adding it had vaccinated 2,000 servicemen involved in relief efforts.

Another 2700 will be vaccinated shortly, said the defence ministry, adding that it was also ready to immunise the local population.

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UK man sold fake bomb detectors

A BRITISH businessman convicted of making and exporting fake bomb detectors has been jailed for seven years.

Gary Bolton sold the homemade plastic devices to international clients for up to 10,000 pounds ($A17,300) each, claiming they could detect explosives, drugs, tobacco and ivory.

But prosecutors say the devices, which were sold to countries including Mexico and Thailand, were nothing more than boxes with handles and antennae.

Bolton, 47, was sentenced on Tuesday. He had denied two counts of fraud, but was convicted by a jury last month.

In a separate trial in May, another British businessman, James McCormick, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for selling fake bomb detectors based on a golf ball finder to countries including Iraq.

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UK goat-sex man banned from farms

A MAN has been banned from all farms where animals are kept after admitting having sexual intercourse with a goat.

Robert Newman, 23, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty at North West Wiltshire Magistrates' Court in Chippenham to a charge of having sex with a living animal contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Newman, of Potterne Road, Devizes, Wiltshire, had originally denied the offence which took place in April this year at Devizes and was due to stand trial but later pleaded guilty.

He is due to be sentenced on September 12 after a pre-sentence report has been prepared.

In the meantime Newman was released on conditional bail and must obey a curfew between 7pm and 7am. He is also not allowed to enter any land where farm animals are kept.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment on summary conviction.

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