Drunken pair trample on Anzac blooms

TWO men have climbed on a war memorial in Sydney's CBD and trampled on Anzac flowers before snapping pictures of themselves in the act.

Police say passers-by sounded the alarm after they saw the pair climbing onto the cenotaph at Martin Place about 4pm (AEST) on Saturday.

Witnesses said the two men were yelling abuse at members of the public before they walked through the wreaths and flowers left on the memorial during Thursday's Anzac commemorations.

Police say the two were "well affected by alcohol" when they arrived, and had photos of their actions on their mobile phones.

The men have been charged with offensive behaviour and commit nuisance on the war memorial.

They will appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on June 3.

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S. Korean workers set to leave Kaesong

South Korea is set to pull its workers out of a jointly run industrial park in North Korea. Source: AAP

SOUTH Korean workers are due to start returning from a jointly run industrial park in North Korea after Seoul announced a complete withdrawal following months of military tensions.

The move plunges into doubt the future of the Kaesong complex - once a rare symbol of co-operation across the world's most heavily militarised border, and a crucial source of hard currency for Kim Jong-un's isolated regime.

A frustrated South Korea said on Friday that it had decided to pull its remaining 175 workers from the site after Pyongyang rejected its ultimatum to join formal negotiations on restarting the stalled operations.

"The government has made the inevitable decision to withdraw all the remaining people for their protection," the South's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said.

South Korean companies with factories at the site have expressed shock, with some threatening to ignore the evacuation in an effort to protect their investments.

A spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry said 127 workers were expected to cross back over the border in two convoys of vehicles on Saturday afternoon.

The remaining 48 people - mostly government employees who manage the complex as well as telecom and electrical engineers - would be pulled out on Monday, she said.

But a businessman with interests in Kaesong said many of the 123 South Korean companies who usually operate there were resisting the move.

"Some say we should comply with the government request to pull out but many others do not want to leave for fear of losing their investment," he told AFP, asking not to be named.

"Many of the employees remaining at Kaesong are also reluctant to come back to the South as they will find it hard to find new jobs," he said, adding that the workers still had enough food.

The complex has fallen victim to a cycle of escalating tensions triggered by the North's nuclear test in February, which came just over a year after a young Kim Jong-Un took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il.

Pyongyang, which has demanded the end of UN sanctions and a halt to all South Korea-US joint military exercises, decided on April 3 to block all South Korean access to Kaesong although it has allowed workers to leave.

Days later, the North pulled out its 53,000-strong workforce and suspended operations, angered by the South's mention of a "military" contingency plan to protect its staff at the site.

"The next South Korean step could be to cut off electricity to the complex before closing it permanently," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"South Korea's strong response may result in the disappearance of the last remaining point of contact - and a prolonged confrontation - between the two Koreas."

Seoul has urged the North to guarantee the safe return of the workers and to protect the assets of the companies at Kaesong.

Dismissing the offer of negotiations, the North's National Defence Commission on Friday warned that Kaesong "is now on the verge of collapse".

"This is entirely attributable to the reckless war hysteria of the South Korean puppet regime," it said in a statement.

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Qld officer charged over owning weapon

A Queensland policeman has been charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. Source: AAP

A QUEENSLAND policeman is due to face court next month charged with unlawfully possessing a weapon.

Police say the constable, from the state's southern region, has been issued with a notice to appear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on May 27.

The matter will also be subject to the service's internal disciplinary processes, a police statement said.

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Japan PM escapes injury in five-car crash

A LIMOUSINE carrying Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been involved in a five-car pile-up at a toll gate in Tokyo but he escaped without injury.

Two guards in a police car accompanying Abe's official vehicle suffered slight injuries to the face, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said on Saturday.

The police car made a sudden stop at the toll gate, which led to Abe's vehicle bumping into it from behind.

Two other police cars and a saloon carrying reporters, which were trailing Abe's limousine, were also involved in the collision, said the official.

Abe, known for his nationalist views, was on his way to a park in central Tokyo to attend a rally calling on North Korea to return Japanese nationals kidnapped by the communist state during the Cold War, local media said.

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Dreamliner flights resume from Ethiopia

AN Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner jet has taken off on a commercial flight, becoming the first carrier to resume flying the Boeing 787 aircraft that were grounded worldwide three months ago due to battery problems.

The flight took off from Addis Ababa on Saturday and headed to Nairobi, according to an AFP journalist.

"I am very happy to see the airplane is back to the air now and I am very happy also we are the first one," Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam told journalists ahead of take off.

The US Federal Aviation Authority on Thursday issued formal approval of Boeing's 787 battery fix, clearing the way for the troubled aircraft to fly again after the prolonged grounding.

The directive from the FAA to ground the 50 Dreamliners in operation worldwide came after a series of safety scares with the aircraft, including an emergency landing by Japan's All Nippon Airways in January following a battery malfunction.

Ethiopian Airlines has four Dreamliners, which Gebremariam said would all resume service in the coming weeks after being retrofitted with new batteries.

"This is the first airplane which has completed the work," he told reporters, adding that work has started on the company's other three 787s.

Each of the aircraft are set to receive a new battery, which is encased, allowing the plane to continue flying in the event of a malfunction.

"We've fixed the battery, we've now contained the battery, so for some chance that there is a failure with the battery, it's contained, it's isolated, the airplane will be able to continue flying," Boeing's VP of Marketing for commercial airplanes, Randy Tinseth, told AFP at the airport.

Despite the previous safety scares with the aircraft, he said customers have no reason to feel nervous about flying the Dreamliner.

"I can't wait to get back on the aircraft, and I wouldn't hesitate to bring my family on it," he said.

The three-month grounding of the 50-strong fleet has not translated to major financial losses for the US-based Boeing Company. On Wednesday Boeing reported a 20 per cent year-on-year jump in first-quarter profit.

The 787 will head back to Addis Ababa - some 1160 km from the Kenyan capital - later Saturday, airline officials said.

Passenger Francois Vaillancourt told AFP he was "not at all" nervous about flying on the first commercial flight since the fleet was grounded.

"Airlines are safest after they've had a problem, so they fixed it and it is probably three times as safe as it was before," he said.

Ethiopian Airlines is the first African carrier to operate the Dreamliner.

In addition to the four Dreamliners which were in operation before January, Ethiopian Airlines has six more on order from Boeing. The full fleet is expected to arrive by the end of 2014, including one that will be delivered in June.

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WWII Limerick wreck given protection

A WORLD War II merchant navy ship sunk by the Japanese off the coast of northern NSW has been given historic protection by the federal government.

The cargo ship MV Limerick was part of a coastal wartime convoy travelling from Sydney to Brisbane when it was torpedoed on Anzac Day 1943 by a Japanese submarine, killing two of its crew.

The vessel had been missing for almost 70 years, but was located by local fisherman near the NSW town of Ballina at the end of last year.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke on Thursday declared the Limerick a protected historic shipwreck, making any damage or interference to the site illegal.

"The ship and her crew put themselves in danger to protect us, it's only right that we now protect the shipwreck of the Limerick forever," Mr Burke said in a statement.

"In making the declaration the Australian government recognises and acknowledges the exceptional heritage significance of the shipwreck of the MV Limerick and is ensuring its legacy is protected forever under Australian law."

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Qantas to fight claim Aboriginals removed

Qantas is facing legal action for allegedly kicking a group of Aboriginal men off a plane. Source: AAP

QANTAS says it will not tolerate behaviour that could compromise passenger safety after facing legal action for allegedly kicking a group of Aboriginal men off a plane.

The eight men were on their way home to Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast, from an indigenous leadership program in Cairns, three years ago.

They claim they were thrown off the plane before it left Sydney, and are suing Qantas for damages, accusing the airline of false imprisonment.

The airline would not comment on specifics of the case but confirmed it would defend the claims in court.

It also denies any discrimination.

"Qantas has a zero tolerance policy towards behaviour it believes could compromise the safety of anyone on our aircraft," Qantas said in a statement.

"This policy is applied equally to all passengers."

The men were allegedly locked in a bus parked on the tarmac for an hour-and-a-half, before being escorted back to the terminal.

It's alleged the men were told they could not travel as a group and would have to catch separate flights, in pairs, the following morning.

A hearing for the case is set to take place in a Sydney court in August.

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Renault sales slide in first quarter

French automaker Renault says sales in the first quarter fell 11.6 per cent to $A10.55 billion. Source: AAP

FRENCH automaker Renault says sales in the first quarter of 2013 fell 11.6 per cent year-on-year to 8.27 billion euros ($A10.55 billion) but maintained its outlook for the year.

Vehicle sales worldwide fell by 4.7 per cent to 608,455 units, the company said, due to a poor performance in Europe where unit sales fell by 11.6 per cent, worse than the overall market which was down 10 per cent.

Renault added it believes the French and European markets will both contract by five per cent this year, despite the global market expanding a projected three per cent.

Sales in the Americas fell, down eight per cent in an overall market rising 1.6 per cent, which the company said was due to a plant renovation currently underway in Brazil.

Sales in Eurasia however skyrocketed 20.8 per cent, well above the market rise of 1.8 per cent and making Renault the biggest seller in Russia after domestic company Lada.

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NSW driver runs down man, punches police

A DRIVER deliberately drove into a group of men outside a hotel in Bathurst, running down and injuring one before resisting arrest, police say.

A 23-year-old man has been charged with a number of offences after allegedly crossing to the wrong side of the road and ploughing into the group about 1.30am (AEST) on Thursday.

One of the men suffered injuries to his head, leg, arm and ribs when he was struck by the car, said police in the NSW central west city.

They said an off-duty officer tried to stop the car but it had accelerated towards him and hit his foot.

Another motorist stopped the car in a nearby street.

Police say when the off-duty officer tried to arrest the driver, he was punched repeatedly before managing to restrain him.

The 23-year-old man was taken to Bathurst police station where he returned a breath-analysis reading of 0.108, they said.

He was charged with a number of offences including dangerous driving and is to appear in Bathurst Local Court on Monday.

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Protests as Bangladesh toll hits 200

HUNDREDS of thousands of garment workers have walked of the job in Bangladesh after the deaths of 200 people in a building collapse.

Grief turned to anger on Thursday as the workers, some carrying sticks, blockaded key highways in at least three industrial areas just outside the capital Dhaka, forcing factory owners to declare a day's holiday.

"There were hundreds of thousands of them," said Abdul Baten, police chief of Gazipur district, where hundreds of large garment factories are based.

"They occupied roads for a while and then dispersed."

Police inspector Kamrul Islam said the workers had attacked several factories whose bosses had refused to give employees the day off.

"They were protesting the deaths of the workers in Savar," he said, referring to the town outside Dhaka where Wednesday's collapse of an eight-storey building housing five garment factories took place, injuring more than 1000 people.

"Many wanted to donate blood to their fellow workers," he added.

About 1500 workers marched to the Dhaka headquarters of the main manufacturers association, demanding the owners of the collapsed factories be punished.

"The owners must be hanged," one protester cried, as others tried to lay siege to the headquarters.

Some workers smashed windows and vehicles before they were chased away by police, said Wahidul Islam, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka police.

Rescuers in Savar pulled dozens of bodies from the collapsed building on Thursday as the death toll in the country's worst industrial disaster reached 200, police said.

Managers had allegedly ignored workers' warnings that the building had become unstable.

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82 die in Bangladesh building collapse

AT least 82 people have died and 700 are injured after a eight-storey building containing several garment factories collapsed on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital on Wednesday, a doctor says.

Hiralal Roy, a senior emergency ward doctor at the nearby Enam hospital, said: "The death toll is now 82. At least 700 people have also been treated at the hospital."

"The toll will rise as conditions of some injured were critical " he told AFP.

But the hospital toll contradicts information from the Bangladesh health ministry which says the death toll is 70.

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque said that by Wednesday afternoon 70 bodies had been removed from the eight-storey building.

Corpses and the injured were removed from the higher reaches of the pile of flattened floors with makeshift slides made from cloth which just hours earlier was being cut into shirts and trousers for export to Western markets.

Earlier, Mohammad Humayun, a supervisor at one of the garment factories said: "We had sent two people inside the building and we could rescue at least 20 people alive.

"They also told us that at least 100 to 150 people are injured and about 50 dead people are still trapped inside this floor."

The collapse happened about 8.30am and since garment factories in the area routinely work 24 hours a day, it appeared likely that the four factories housed in the building were staffed at the time.

After cracks appeared in the building on Tuesday, evacuated workers were forced back into the building, one survivor said.

"The managers forced us to rejoin and just one hour after we entered the factory the building collapsed with a huge noise," said a 24-year-old worker who gave her first name as Mousumi.

"I am injured. But I've not found my husband who was working on the fourth floor," she told AFP, estimating that 5000 people worked inside the building, which also contained apartments, a bank and shops.

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors from the building, which pancaked onto itself and stood only about two storeys tall.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan told reporters that the building was illegal and violated the country's building code.

The huge death toll is likely to raise further questions about safety in the garment industry.

The November fire at the Tazreen garment factory drew international attention to the conditions workers toil under in the $20 billion-a-year textile industry in Bangladesh.

The country has about 4000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers.

Tazreen lacked emergency exits and its owner said only three floors of the eight-storey building were legally built.

Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

The factory made clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.

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UK cosmetic report relevant to Australia

A MAJOR UK report that attempts to tame the under-regulated, rapidly growing cosmetic intervention industry is relevant to Australia, a leading surgeon says.

The UK Keogh report, released on Wednesday, found most people who have cosmetic interventions take their safety for granted but large swathes of the non-surgical sector are "almost entirely unregulated".

Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons president Geoff Lyons said Australia is ahead of the UK in some respects, but local practitioners and politicians should get behind the thrust of the report.

"What it's about is trying to increase the safety of people undergoing cosmetic surgery, either being non-invasive or invasive, and that's what we're all about," Dr Lyons told AAP.

He said legislation was failing to keep up with the rapidly growing industry.

"There needs to be an ongoing understanding from the government this is a rapidly changing area," Dr Lyons said.

The Keogh report was commissioned in response to the Poly Implant Protheses (PIP) implant scandal, which it said had exposed "woeful lapses" in product quality, patient care and record keeping.

An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have received the PIP implants, which some health authorities say are twice as likely to rupture as other brands.

British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) president Graeme Perks said the PIP crisis had stirred fear over other "fillers".

"Having a bit of filler doesn't seem to be a big deal but if it goes wrong the consequences are disastrous," Dr Perks said.

In the UK, nine out of 10 cosmetic interventions are non-surgical, according to the report.

"We were surprised to discover that non-surgical interventions ... are almost entirely unregulated," it said.

It recommended all dermal fillers be made prescription only and all practitioners be properly qualified for the procedures they offer.

Dr Lyons said that in Australia, many of the injectable interventions, like Botox, are classed as S4 drugs and can only be prescribed by a doctor.

But he admitted more could be done.

"There's area for further reform but these are now S4 drugs," he said.

In comparison, laser skin treatments are less regulated, he said.

"Pressure's afoot to regulate that industry more closely," Dr Lyons said.

He said the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons would support closer monitoring of those items.

Dr Perks said, in the UK, parts of the industry were resistant to regulation.

"The problem is, if plastic surgeons speak out and say 'this is unsafe we don't think it's a good idea', the people who aren't plastic surgeons cry foul," he said.

Dr Lyons said Australia could benefit from the report's work.

"We should be looking to make sure the people doing these procedures are properly trained," he said.

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6.2 quake strikes Afghanistan

A 6.2 earthquake struck Afghanistan on Wednesday, with strong tremors 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, it said.

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Accused US bomber may face death penalty

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could face the death penalty, the US government indicated. Source: AAP

AS the case unfolds against Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old may earn a dubious distinction - the federal government has indicated his could be one of the rare cases where it seeks the death penalty.

At an arraignment this week, the judge warned Tsarnaev he could face the death penalty if convicted of the charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction in the twin blasts that killed three and wounded 264 people on April 15.

Experts say the possible sentence is a long way off for the ethnic Chechen man who is accused, along with his now dead older brother, of committing the worst terror attack on civilians in the US since the suicide airliner strikes of September 11, 2001.

Only three men have been put to death at the federal level since the US reinstated capital punishment four decades ago, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Another 59 are on death row at a federal prison in Indiana, it said.

In contrast, more than 1,300 inmates have been put to death by states since the Supreme Court lifted a 30-year moratorium on capital punishment in 1976, and more than 3,100 inmates are on death row in state prisons, according to the DPIC.

The most well-known federal execution in recent years was that of Timothy McVeigh, put to death on June 11, 2001 by lethal injection after he bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.

Juan Garza, convicted of killing three other drug traffickers in Texas, came next: he was put to death on June 19, 2001.

And, less than two years later, Gulf War veteran Louis Jones, was executed on March 18, 2003, for the rape and murder of a female soldier in Texas.

But in other grave crimes, the US government has chosen to eschew the death penalty.

So-called "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, convicted of killing three and wounding 23 more, and Eric Rudolph, convicted of killing two and wounding 150 with a bomb at the Atlanta Olympic Games, were each sentenced to life in prison.

"The threat of the death penalty is an enormously powerful tool to get someone who is facing that threat to cooperate... to tell us what he knows," explained Rosanna Cavallaro of Suffolk University Law School.

He is likely to face additional charges, beyond the ones he heard on Monday, which also included one count of malicious destruction of property by means of deadly explosives.

Often the Justice Department "will file the indictment and add other charges as the investigation proceeds and more information is developed," explained Gregory McNeal of Pepperdine University School of Law.

Death Penalty Information Center Director Richard Dieter noted: "It will be at least a year before the case goes to trial, and if there's the death penalty there will be years of appeal so there's no execution in the foreseeable future."

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US team questions Boston suspects' parents

THE Boston marathon bombing suspects had not contacted local Islamist groups, their parents have claimed.

A delegation from the US embassy in Moscow interviewed the parents in the Russian North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

The parents of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are living in Dagestan, an overwhelmingly Muslim region on the Caspian Sea where the family briefly lived before leaving for the United States.

"The FBI is receiving cooperation from the Russian government in its investigation of the Boston marathon bombing," a US embassy official, who asked not to be named, said on Wednesday.

"A group from the US Embassy in Moscow travelled to Dagestan yesterday (Tuesday, as part of this cooperation with the Russian government to interview the parents."

The official declined to say whether the delegation was still in Dagestan and if the interviews had already taken place.

However a Dagestan security source said interviews with both parents took place overnight and involved representatives of the FBI.

"The parents were taken home but in the morning the mother came back for more questioning," the source said, saying the interviews took place at the local headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

The Dagestan security source also said the parents were asked by the US officials about Tamerlan's visit to Dagestan.

"The parents replied that he did not make contact with radical Islamists."

The two brothers, who had been living in the United States for over a decade, are accused of the two marathon bombings on April 15, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a shootout with US police while Dzhokhar, 19, was gravely wounded during his capture last week.

He remains hospitalised and has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The brothers' father Anzor, an ethnic Chechen born in Kyrgyzstan, has repeatedly said in media interviews that his sons were innocent and could not have carried out the bombings.

Their mother Zubeidat, an ethnic Avar, comes from Dagestan itself.

The trip by the US delegation to Dagestan comes amid mounting questions in the United States about whether the US authorities missed crucial signals that should have raised suspicion about the two brothers before the bombings.

Particular interest has surrounded a trip of around six months made by Tamerlan in 2012 to Dagestan and Chechnya.

Dagestan's interior minister Abdurashid Magomedov meanwhile dismissed any suggestion that Tamerlan had been "infected" with radical Islam during his stay in the Northern Caucasus.

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NYC age for buying cigarettes could be 21

New York City officials are considering raising the legal age for buying cigarettes to 21. Source: AAP

AFTER years of striving to set a national agenda for curbing smoking, New York City may set a new bar as officials propose to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 21.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn unveiled a proposal on Monday to increase the threshold from 18. That's the US minimum.

Quinn says the measure aims to stop young people from developing a potentially deadly habit.

Officials say 80 per cent of the city's adult smokers started before they were 21.

A retailers' group and a smokers' rights advocate are questioning the effectiveness and fairness of the proposal.

Four states and some communities have raised the age to 19. At least two towns have agreed to raise it to 21.

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Tassie makes gay-friendly tourism official

Tasmania has become the first state to accredit gay-friendly tourism businesses. Source: AAP

TASMANIA has become the first state to accredit gay-friendly tourism businesses just months after it snubbed a projected $100 million windfall from same-sex marriage.

The Rainbow Tasmanian Tourism Accreditation program will allow tourism operators to officially declare themselves gay-friendly, a move officials say other states may adopt.

To earn accreditation, businesses will need to prove they adhere to the anti-discrimination laws, train staff and sign a code of ethics.

The move comes seven months after Tasmania's upper house narrowly voted down a bill that would have made the state the first in Australia to allow same-sex marriage.

That decision cost the state's economy $96 million which would have been spent on weddings and honeymoons over three years, according to a University of California study.

"Providing (gay) tourists with a safe and non-discriminatory visitor experience will benefit our reputation as a tourism destination," Australian Marriage Equality convenor Rodney Croome said in a statement.

"But if we really want to attract gay visitors to Tasmania we should become the first Australian state to allow same-sex couples to marry."

A voluntary system was in place for gay-friendly operators before a push by Rainbow Communities Tasmania for a more formal approach.

Spokesman for the group, Julian Punch, said problems still existed in some regions of the state and among some employees, including security staff.

"There has been a presumption that if there's a gay person in the midst of some sort of conflict it's the gay person that goes," Mr Punch said.

Tourism Industry Council chief Luke Martin said he was hopeful a majority of his organisation's 1200 members would sign on, boosting the numbers of "high-yielding" gay tourists.

He said other states would be watching the roll-out of the program in Tasmania, which decriminalised homosexuality in 1997.

Same-sex marriage will be back on the agenda when three of Tasmania's 15 upper house seats go to elections in less than two weeks.

Candidates in favour of the reform, with the help of online activist group GetUp!, are hoping to unseat Legislative Councillors who voted against the reforms.

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Woman found dead at Sydney unit named

A WOMAN found dead in a unit on Sydney's north shore reportedly worked in a senior position at a prominent Sydney finance company.

Officers found Kate Malonyay, 32, at her Mosman home on Monday morning.

Police are treating her death as suspicious.

Ms Malonyay had failed to attend work at the Challenger financial services group on Monday when colleagues and friends raised the alarm, according to Fairfax Media.

The popular staff member had worked at the company for three years, Challenger chief executive Brian Benari said.

Ms Malonyay's friends and colleagues were "deeply shocked and saddened by the news of her passing," he told Fairfax Media

A post-mortem examination would be carried out to determine how Ms Malonyay had died, police said.

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Trek fans see stars on Sydney red carpet

SYDNEY April 23 AAP - Fans squealed, passing bus passengers gawked and the paparazzi flashed their cameras as the stars and director of Star Trek Into Darkness walked the red carpet in Sydney for the film's premiere.

A surprisingly bearded Chris Pine, who reprised his role from 2009's Star Trek as a young Captain James T Kirk, shook hands with fans and posed for photos on Tuesday night.

Director JJ Abrams spent a lot of time engaging with the fans who had lined up for more than an hour for a glimpse of their heroes, and told AAP that fans of the Trek universe are truly passionate.

"There are definitely people out there who live and breathe this thing in a way that is impressive," Abrams said.

It's a feeling that's echoed by the film's cast, especially Karl Urban, who plays Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

"It's not weird, I think it's amazing - there's a woman over there with my face tattooed on her arm," Urban said, clearly impressed to be face to face with his skin ink portrait.

"It's fun to be a part of something that is so well loved."

Zachary Quinto (Mr Spock) impressed fans in a dark suit, teamed with a deep purple shirt and a bow tie.

Quinto said he's received pictures of a few tattoos himself and finds the tributes to be heartfelt.

"For the most part people have been really respectful and supportive and encouraging for the new movies and I like that kind of enthusiasm," he said.

And Abrams dismissed the idea that anyone who loves Star Trek is a geek.

"They are usually very smart sophisticated people who I am grateful for," he said.

"We would not be making this movie if it were not for them."

* Star Trek Into Darkness opens in Australian cinemas on May 9.

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Investigators seek Boston blasts motive

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction. Source: AAP

INVESTIGATORS sought a motive for the Boston Marathon bombings after the surviving suspect was charged for his alleged role in the worst attacks in the United States since September 11, 2001.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who remains hospitalised, spoke only one word aloud at his bedside arraignment Monday, responding "no" when asked whether he could afford an lawyer, according to a transcript of the hearing released on Monday.

But he was said to be alert as he heard the charges of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, and malicious destruction of property by means of deadly explosives. These carry a possible death penalty, if he is convicted.

Three people died and some 200 were wounded in twin blasts at the Boston Marathon on April 15, the deadliest bombings on US soil since the 9/11 terror attacks involving hijacked airliners.

Counterterrorism agents trained in interrogating "high-value" detainees are still hoping to get answers about the brothers' possible motive, and learn whether other attacks were in the works.

An unnamed US government source told CNN that "preliminary interviews with Tsarnaev indicate the two brothers fit the classification of self-radicalised jihadists", and that international groups were not involved.

The source said Tsarnaev told investigators his older brother was the leader and "wanted to defend Islam from attack".

Tsarnaev was caught after a massive manhunt that virtually shut down Boston and its suburbs on Friday.

His brother and alleged accomplice Tamerlan, 26, had been killed in a chaotic overnight shootout with police.

A clearer picture of Tsarnaev's role in the attacks emerged with the release of an affidavit from an FBI agent on Monday, which revealed the teenager had been caught on film planting the second backpack bomb.

Surveillance footage showed Tsarnaev, a naturalised US citizen of Chechen descent, calmly walking away from the scene after the first bomb was detonated, according to the affidavit.

The federal charges against Tsarnaev, who suffered gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hand before his capture late on Friday, came as White House spokesman Jay Carney said he would not be deemed an "enemy combatant."

"We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice," Carney said after some Republicans had called for Tsarnaev to have the same status as the "war on terror" detainees held in Guantanamo Bay.

At the arraignment, the federal judge said she found Tsarnaev "alert, mentally competent, and lucid," according to the transcript.

A first court hearing was set for May 30.

Meanwhile, a week after the deadly attack Bostonians honoured the victims with a moment of silence at 2.50pm that was also observed in Washington, by President Barack Obama, lawmakers, and in New York, at the city's stock exchange.

Hundreds gathered outside the security cordon set up near the blast sites at the marathon finish line on Boylston Street to honour the dead and wounded. Some prayed, others left flowers. Church bells rang out across the city.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said on Sunday that the brothers, who had been living legally in the United States for more than a decade, had more homemade explosive devices and appeared to have been planning more attacks.

Federal authorities were trying to track down how and where the two suspects obtained firearms and explosive devices, he said

An M-4 assault rifle was recovered in the boat where Dzhokhar was captured, The New York Times reported.

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Bomb kills four Pakistani soldiers

A ROADSIDE bomb targeting a military convoy has killed four Pakistani soldiers and wounded four more near the Afghan border.

Sunday's blast was triggered by remote control in Mirali in North Waziristan tribal district, a notorious hub of Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked militants.

"The roadside bomb planted near Khawaja Khar check post went off when a convoy left Mirali on its way to the north-western city of Bannu," a local security official said.

An army official in the north-western city of Peshawar confirmed the attack on the convoy of more than a dozen vehicles and the casualty toll.

"The bomb was planted under a culvert near the check post; it destroyed one military vehicle and killed four soldiers," he said, adding that another four were wounded.

No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Pakistan suffers from near daily bomb and shooting attacks, which officials blame on Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked militants.

According to Islamabad, more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

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Cashed-up investors fight for Sydney homes

CASHED-UP buyers are fighting hard to secure investment properties in Sydney.

Demand for high-yielding homes has pushed the harbour city's weekend auction clearance rate above 75 per cent for the second time this year.

But while such levels normally indicate boom conditions, market commentators are cautious about trumpeting the recent results.

Since Easter, Sydney's weekend auction clearance rate has risen from 69 per cent to 73 per cent and to 75.6 per cent on Saturday.

A total of 158 of 191 homes sold under the hammer at the weekend, Australian Property Monitors (APM) said.

APM economist Andrew Wilson said record low interest rates were contributing to the trend.

"There's a lot of investor activity in Sydney that's driving these strong clearance rates," Dr Wilson told AAP.

"We're starting towards auction clearance rates that are at the highest level that Sydney has recorded."

Rather than an autumn/winter slowdown, market watchers were witnessing signs of an early positive trend, he said.

While Australia's largest city recorded a similar level of property investor interest in 2010, the market was still fragmented with weak demand for properties valued at more than $2 million.

The real strength was coming from people vying for $1 million to $1.5 million residential properties as the market moved from a recovery phase into an expansion phase.

The median auction price for houses in Sydney was $826,500 on Saturday, while the median auction price for units was $706,000.

In Melbourne APM said the clearance rate of 65 per cent was down slightly on last week as the city undergoes a more widespread recovery.

Rental yields in Melbourne are about one per cent lower than Sydney, while the median house price is $626,000 and unit price is $422,000.

Dr Wilson said residential property investors were favouring Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

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Blaze guts historic Sydney Anglican church

AN historic Anglican church in Sydney's inner west has been gutted by fire.

Authorities say Dulwich Hill's Holy Trinity Church has been severely damaged by the blaze that broke out in the early hours of Sunday.

The building, dating back to 1886, was converted to a church-run centre to help troubled youth about 20 years ago.

NSW Fire Brigade Inspector Chris Sedgewick said the church was "totally burnt out inside", with no floors and half the roof gone.

The building had housed a gym and boxing ring and was also home to a playgroup.

There were no injuries in the fire.

Police forensic teams are investigating its cause.

ABC Television is reporting that arson is suspected.

"We're on the front line and you can't run a community centre like this without pissing people off," Holy Trinity's Father Dave Smith told the broadcaster.

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Musharraf in house arrest 'isolation'

PAKISTAN'S former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is reportedly being held in "isolation" in his luxury farmhouse, confined to two rooms and stripped of personal staff.

A court remanded Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, in custody on Saturday after his arrest over his decision to sack judges when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007.

Authorities declared the retired general's plush home on the edge of Islamabad a "sub-jail", saving him the indignity and risk - his life has been threatened by Taliban militants - of going to prison.

But Mohammad Amjad, spokesman for Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party, complained on Sunday that his lawyers and staff were being denied access to him.

"General Musharraf is being kept in isolation," Amjad told reporters outside the former army chief's heavily guarded residence in Islamabad.

"I was not allowed to have a meeting with him. His family members are not allowed to see him. He has been allocated two rooms in the farmhouse and his movements are confined in those rooms. His personal staff have been removed."

Musharraf's arrest on Friday was an unprecedented move against a former army chief in Pakistan, which has seen three periods of military rule and where the armed forces still wield enormous power.

The 69-year-old returned from four years of self-imposed exile last month promising to "save" the nuclear-armed country from economic ruin and militancy, but his homecoming has turned sour.

On Tuesday he was disqualified from running in the May 11 general election, which should mark the first democratic transition of power after a civilian government completes a full-term in office.

He also faces a litany of serious criminal allegations: lawyers have petitioned Pakistan's top court to try him for treason for imposing emergency law and he also faces charges of conspiracy to murder opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and over the death of a rebel leader during 2006.

The next hearing in the Supreme Court treason petition comes on Monday.

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