Firies cancer law not ruled out: Vic govt

Volunteer firefighters rally in Melbourne for access to compensation for cancer contracted at work. Source: AAP

THE Victorian government says it hasn't ruled out changing the way firefighters access cancer compensation as hundreds rallied in Melbourne to try to break down barriers to claims.

THE government says it simplified cancer claims for firefighters and encouraged both career and volunteer firefighters to lodge a claim if they believe they had contracted cancer as a result of their duties.

"The Victorian government is not ruling out presumptive legislation and will continue to consider new medical and scientific evidence as it becomes available," a government spokesperson said.Volunteer Fire Brigades president Bill Watson said firefighters wanted a law that lists the 12 typical "firefighter" cancers and presumes them to be work-related, providing the firefighter has enough years of service behind him or her and relevant risk exposure.Mr Watson said there is plenty of evidence firefighters are more likely to suffer certain cancers, but it can be difficult to prove which fire or chemical incident caused their illness."It's not like a broken bone where you know exactly when and where it happened," Mr Watson said."The burning car or house fire you attended today may cause a cancer that doesn't show up for decades, which makes it nearly impossible to prove it was work related."The federal government introduced presumptive legislation in 2011.Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia also have laws that recognise the link between firefighting and cancer.Mr Watson said any legislation would have to include eligibility guidelines."We're not after a free ride," he said."We just want to make sure they're looked after if they get sick."The Victorian government has been under pressure to make changes to the way compensation is accessed after a 2012 report found firefighters who trained at the CFA Fiskville site had been exposed to dangerous chemicals going as far back as the 1970s.Last year they introduced a review panel to assist both volunteer and career firefighters seeking compensation for cancer caused by their work.Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said Labor would introduce the legislation if elected in November."I have committed to the introduction of presumptive rights," Mr Andrews said.

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Get out of Iraq now, warns Bishop

Australia ready to help with humanitarian crisis in Iraq, but no troops envisaged says Julie Bishop. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS have been told to leave Iraq immediately by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who has described the escalating crisis as deeply disturbing.

INSURGENTS from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have taken a swathe of mostly Sunni Arab territory in northern Iraq in an offensive that has brought fighting to within 80km of Baghdad.

The worsening crisis prompted Ms Bishop to urge Australians to leave "immediately".

"The airport in Baghdad is still open. Commercial flights are still operating out of Baghdad," she told the Ten Network. 

"But if Australians must stay in Iraq, they must ensure that their personal circumstances and their security is absolutely safe." 

The Australian embassy in Baghdad would be "very constrained" in the support it could provide, she said. 

On Saturday US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered an aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military options, after he ruled out sending troops into Iraq. 

Speaking to reporters in Houston, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would wait to see how the US responds to the situation before developing an Australian response. 

Ms Bishop said the US would take the lead when it came to any military action. 

"I didn't envisage a circumstance where we would be sending in troops," she said. 

"But we certainly stand ready to support the humanitarian crisis should a request be made." 

She defended the 2003 military intervention in the country, which she supported as a member of the Howard Government. 

"I thought Saddam Hussein was one of the worst dictators on the planet at that time. His removal was a good thing," she said. 

Greens leader Christine Milne said following the US into Iraq was not going to "fix" the violence in the country. 

"We do not want to follow the United States blindly as John Howard did (in 2003)," Senator Milne told ABC Television. 

"Clearly it didn't work last time in Iraq and it won't work this time." 

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Afghan bomb kills 11 amid vote fraud claim

Afghans have braved threats of violence and searing heat to vote in the presidential elections. Source: AAP

A ROADSIDE bomb killed 11 people including five election workers in northern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, as a prolonged vote count began after the presidential run-off election.

ELECTION officials were sifting through fraud complaints from both candidates, and analysts said the lengthy count could be the trickiest phase in the country's first democratic transfer of power.

More than 50 people were killed on polling day Saturday by militant attacks, including the 11 whose bus was hit by a roadside bomb in Samangan province and five members of one family who died when a Taliban rocket hit a house near a polling station.Eleven voters in the western province of Herat had their fingers - which were dipped in ink to register their ballot - cut off by insurgents, Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi said.But despite the Taliban attacks, Saturday's election drew a high turnout of about seven million voters in a contest between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.The White House praised voters' courage and called the elections "a significant step forward on Afghanistan's democratic path".The US, along with the UN, also urged the two candidates not to trade unproven fraud allegations, but both Abdullah and Ghani raised the issue immediately after polls closed."It is win or lose now," said Kate Clark, director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network."The voting is only one phase of the election, and there is still a lot that could change. Being a good loser doesn't gain you much here."If it is close and fraud looks to have been a lot, and either candidate wants to really make a fuss, then we could be in for months of wrangling."The 2009 election, when outgoing President Hamid Karzai retained power, was marred by massive fraud that shook the US-led international effort to develop Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.A credible election and smooth handover of power would be a major achievement for Afghanistan's backers after 13 years of hugely costly military and civilian assistance.All foreign combat troops are due to withdraw by the end of this year."Allegations of fraud need to be addressed," US ambassador James Cunningham said after polls closed on Saturday."But the candidates and their supporters should refrain from premature judgments and from criticism that is not supported with clear evidence."The preliminary result is due on July 2, before the complaints period begins, and the final result is scheduled for July 22."We have urged the candidates to act as statesmen, future presidents, rather than people simply in a competition with each other," said Nicholas Haysom, the deputy chief of the UN mission.Reflecting international fears of a contested result, he said candidates must "exercise patience" as the count got underway.The Electoral Complaints Commission said it had registered about 275 complaints by Sunday morning."There were violation cases where the supporters of the presidential candidates forced voters to vote for a certain candidate," said spokesman Mohammad Nader Mohsini."Supporters were also offering money for voters to vote for a certain candidate."He said allegations had also been raised of interference by election officials and the security forces.

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Nicole Kidman for top Shanghai honour

Nicole Kidman is to be honoured at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China. Source: AAP

NICOLE Kidman is to be honoured with an outstanding contribution award at the Shanghai International Film Festival in China.

HUGH Grant and John Woo will present the Australian actress with her latest accolade at the opening ceremony on Saturday, while artist Qin Yi will honour actor and director Jiang Wen with the Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Film Award.

Kidman will be hoping the festival will be a better experience than her visit to Cannes last month, when her new film Grace of Monaco was savaged by critics.Kirsten Dunst, John Cusack, Hayden Christensen, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, Li Bingbing and Korean superstar Rain are expected to attend the opening gala, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The film festival will open with a restored version of 1964 movie Two Stage Sisters and close with Transformers: Age of Extinction.A jury led by actress Gong Li will decide the winner of the Golden Goblet from the 15 films in competition.

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Kiska inaugurated as Slovakia president

POLITICAL newcomer Andrej Kiska has been inaugurated as Slovakia's new president.

THE successful 51-year-old businessman-turned-philanthropist was elected to the largely ceremonial post in March, handing an embarrassing defeat to major rival, leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Taking the presidential oath on Sunday at an extraordinary session of parliament, Kiska became Slovakia's fourth president since the country gained independence after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.He succeeds Ivan Gasparovic, the only president since independence to win two five-year terms.Kiska was until recently a relative unknown in Slovakia and attracted voters fed up with corruption and politics-as-usual to beat Fico.As prime minister, Fico remains Slovakia's most powerful politician but will have to deal with a president who is more critical than Gasparovic was.

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Vic union rejects sabotage claim

The CFMEU has rejected claims a fire at a Grocon building site in Melbourne was an act of sabotage. Source: AAP

THE CFMEU has rejected a claim of sabotage over a deliberately lit fire at a Grocon building site in Melbourne, saying it is a matter for police.

GROCON is claiming the fire at its Collins Street office block development on Friday is part of a string of sabotage incidents and it will refer it to police.

"This is yet another criminal act of sabotage carried out by people with no respect for the law, workplace safety or human life," Grocon spokesman Dan Blyde told News Ltd.The CFMEU released a statement on Saturday, saying any suspicious circumstances surrounding the blaze should be handled by authorities."The implication made by Grocon, as reported in the Herald Sun that this fire has been lit as some kind of industrial tool, is completely rejected by the CFMEU," union national construction secretary Dave Noonan said."It should be backed up by hard evidence or it should be withdrawn."Mr Noonan says the union condemns arson because it endangers lives and anyone behind such acts shouldn't be working in the industry."While it is no secret that the union is critical of Grocon's safety record there would never be any circumstances under which the CFMEU would sanction arson or sabotage as an industrial weapon," he said.

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Israel says Palestinians kidnapped teens

Israeli security forces are combing the West Bank in search of three missing teenagers. Source: AAP

THREE Israeli teenagers, one of them also a US citizen, have been kidnapped in the occupied West Bank, presumably by Palestinians, the army says.

THE three, all students at a Jewish seminary, went missing late on Thursday while hitchhiking between Bethlehem and Hebron.

"We believe that they have indeed been kidnapped by presumed Palestinians," a senior officer told journalists on Saturday, without giving further details.He said the search was being carried out in co-ordination with security forces from the Palestinian Authority, and that "tens of Palestinians" had been arrested in the process.He added that substantial reinforcements had been brought in, including special forces and an airborne brigade, to participate in the search around Hebron, in the southern West Bank.Asked if it was thought they had been kidnapped to hold as hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, he said the army was studying all scenarios.Military radio, quoting other officers, said without elaborating "certain progress" had been made in the search.

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Cambodian workers in exodus from Thailand

More than 80,000 Cambodians have fled Thailand, fearing a crackdown on migrant workers. Source: AAP

MORE than 80,000 Cambodians have fled neighbouring Thailand to return home, fearing a crackdown on migrant workers under Thailand's new military government.

THE governor of Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province, Kor Samsarouet, said on Saturday that more than 84,000 have returned this month through the border crossing at the west Cambodian town of Poipet, including 40,000 on Friday.

The trigger for the exodus seems to have been statements by Thailand's military government, which took power in a coup last month, that it would crack down on illegal immigrants and those employing them.Several were reportedly fired from jobs and sent home, and the belief spread that legal and illegal workers were being ejected.The numbers of those fleeing swelled as unsubstantiated rumours circulated that several workers had been shot dead by Thai authorities.

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Syria TV says 30 killed in blast near Iraq

A BOMB attack targeting a weapons bazaar in eastern Syria close to the Iraqi border has killed 30 "terrorists", state television reports.

"A big explosion hits a terrorist arms market in Mayadeen, killing 30 terrorists and wounding dozens of others," the television reported on Saturday.

Just 80km from the Iraqi border, the town is under the control of rebel groups, including al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate the Al-Nusra Front, that have been fighting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.ISIL is the same cross-border group which has spearheaded an offensive in neighbouring Iraq this week that has seen militants sweep down from second city Mosul towards Baghdad.A rebel spokesman from Deir Ezzor province contested the television's report, and told AFP the blast was a car bomb planted by ISIL that killed at least 15 civilians in a street market."Light weapons are sold nearby, but the targeted area was a street market and those killed were civilians," spokesman Omar Abu Leyla said.ISIL's fighters in Syria have been under attack by rival rebels since the start of the year.They have been driven out of much of northwestern Syria, but retain control of the city of Raqa up the Euphrates Valley from Deir Ezzor.They have tried repeatedly to extend their area of control to the Iraqi border to unite their forces in the two countries.

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Snow falls in Vic alpine peaks

Snow has begun falling on Victoria's alpine peaks after a slow start to the season. Source: AAP

AFTER a slow start to the season, snow has finally begun falling on Victoria's alpine peaks.

AT Mt Hotham, 3cm of snow had fallen since Saturday morning with more of the white stuff forecast through until Tuesday.

Snow is expected in Victoria's alpine peaks on Saturday and Sunday, at 1500m above sea level."We're not expecting a huge amount," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Terry Ryan said."The days haven't been terribly cold as yet. We need the rainfall to get snow, of course, and we're getting a bit of rainfall."News the winter wonderland had arrived had snowfield operators rejoicing, while the weather bureau conceded it appears to be a warmer than average winter."There's another front on Monday with snow coming down to 1300m so it looks a bit more promising," Mr Ryan said."There's always hope we'll get some colder air through and the season can get going properly towards the end of June and early July.

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