Sony posts first annual profit in years

STRUGGLING Japanese electronics giant Sony says it has booked its first annual net profit in five years, offering a glimmer of hope for the former market leader.

But Sony's jump back into the black was largely due to fluctuations in the value of the yen and gains from a string of asset sales - including unloading its Manhattan office building for more than $A988.19 million - while its television and electronics business continues to struggle.

After Sony published its latest earnings on Thursday, the firm's chief financial officer Masaru Kato said years of losses had left management with one mission: "We were determined to report a profit no matter what."

Earlier this month, the firm said dozens of senior executives including chief executive Kazuo Hirai, who was appointed last year, would forego their annual bonuses to atone for a slump in Sony's electronics unit.

The decision came after the maker of PlayStation game consoles and Bravia televisions launched a massive corporate overhaul to stem losses. Thousands of jobs were cut and assets were sold.

"Sony has taken some drastic streamlining measures under new management," said Nomura Securities analyst Shiro Mikoshiba.

"Now the focus is on whether it can generate more profits."

Japan's electronics sector has suffered myriad problems including slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition from lower-cost overseas rivals, a strong yen, and strategic mistakes that left its finances in ruins.

But a tumble in the yen in recent months - losing about a fifth of its value against the dollar since November - has helped Japan's exporters, making their products more competitive overseas and boosting the value of repatriated foreign income, inflating their bottom line.

Sony said the weaker yen boosted results in its film division, as demand for its digital cameras, video cameras and televisions remained weak, although Sony's CFO said he expected the TV business to turn a profit in the current fiscal year.

Japanese firms - including Sony rivals Sharp and Panasonic which report their full-year results over the next week - have struggled in the low-margin TV business where foreign rivals have proved tough competition.

On Thursday, Sony said it earned Y43.03 billion ($A429.21 million) for the fiscal year to March, reversing a 456.66 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Sales in the period were 6.8 trillion yen, up 4.7 per cent on-year, Sony said, adding that it expected to post a net profit of 50 billion yen in the current fiscal year to March 2014 on sales of 7.5 trillion yen.

Sony's expected revenue in the current fiscal year was "primarily due to the depreciation of the yen and an increase in sales in the electronics businesses," it said.

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East West Link is a con: Vic opposition

The Victorian treasurer says the government won't fund the entire cost of the East West Link road. Source: AAP

VICTORIANS won't be able to use the East West Link tunnel to drive to work for decades, the opposition says.

The state government has pledged almost $300 million for the $6-8 billion East West Link and says the federal government could jeopardise the project if it refuses to contribute $1.5 billion to the toll road.

In his budget reply speech, shadow treasurer Tim Pallas said the government's 2013/14 budget was based on funding of less than four per cent for a toll road.

"Let me tell you something: you don't drive to work on a procurement plan," Mr Pallas told parliament on Thursday.

"And that's all this is - that's the big con in this heartless budget."

Mr Pallas ridiculed the government's plan for the road saying at this rate Victorians won't be able to use the link until 2067.

"That's five years after the Jetsons perfected flying cars," he said.

Mr Pallas said Labor believed in a reliable health system and a strong education system.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien continued to spruik the budget on Thursday, saying the state won't fund the entire cost of the road link because it cannot afford to lose its AAA credit rating.

He said if the state lost its AAA rating, it would increase the cost of borrowing money for other projects and would mean less money is available for yearly spending.

"If it's the old argument of, you've got AAA rating so why don't you borrow your head off, well the fact is if you borrow your head off you won't keep your AAA rating," he told ABC radio.

"And we need to keep that AAA rating because otherwise the interest costs we will be paying on our borrowings will be much higher."

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Abbott commits to NSW tunnel

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has committed to funding a NSW tunnel from the F3 to the M2 motorway. Source: AAP

INFRASTRUCTURE looks set to become a key issue in the lead-up to the September poll after both sides of federal politics made solid commitments to fund a vital tunnel link for Sydney.

The NSW government is close to striking a deal with federal Labor on funding for the eight-kilometre project linking NSW's F3 and M2 motorways.

Under the plan, both levels of government would invest up to $400 million, with construction to start as early as next year.

The rest of the $3 billion needed would be provided by a private company that would recoup funds through a toll.

Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said it was the "missing link" in the city's road network.

"There's no doubt that this is an important road for Sydney and it's important that infrastructure development be progressed in terms of dealing with traffic congestion in Sydney."

Mr Albanese is set to meet with Mr Gay this week, who said discussions had so far been "friendly and we're close but we're not there yet".

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird said it was important not to overcommit the state, while Premier Barry O'Farrell refused to be drawn on whether Transurban wanted to increase the toll on the M7 to pay for the new road.

"I've always believed that those people who enjoy the benefit of a toll road are the people who should pay the toll," he said.

Federal central coast MP Craig Thomson earlier told AAP that cash for the tunnel would be included in next Tuesday's budget.

"It's something commuters on the central coast have been looking forward to for some time," said the Labor-turned-independent member for Dobell.

Mr Abbott weighed into the matter, saying his government was committed to the four-year project, which involves a tunnel from the F3 near Hornsby under Pennant Hills Road to the M2.

"We will get this link built," he said.

"(It) will mean shorter travel times, reduced congestion and safer roads.

"It also means reduced freight costs for all trucks that use this important national road corridor."

Mr Abbott said he would release the full details of the funding commitment prior to the next election.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Brendan Lyon said it welcomed a consensus in Canberra that would put real funding on the table.

"The matching commitments also point to infrastructure being a key federal election issue, with voters increasingly frustrated by congestion and other symptoms of the nation's infrastructure ills," he said.

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Boston suspect's widow hires lawyer

The row over where to bury a suspected Boston bomber has escalated as more cities reject the idea. Source: AAP

AS the quest to find a resting place for the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev drags on, his widow continues to face questions from federal authorities and has hired a criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases.

Katherine Russell has added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team, her lawyer Amato DeLuca said.

Dratel has represented a number of terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee David Hicks, who attended an al-Qaeda-linked training camp in Afghanistan.

Dratel's "unique, specialised experience" will help ensure that Russell "can assist in the ongoing investigation in the most constructive way possible," DeLuca said in a written statement.

He said Russell, who has not been charged with any crime, will continue to meet with investigators as "part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions".

An FBI spokeswoman wouldn't comment when asked whether Russell is co-operating. DeLuca has said Russell had no reason to suspect her husband and his brother in the deadly April 15 bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers from southern Russia living in Massachusetts, are accused of planting two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring about 260.

Dzhokhar, who was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat outside a house in a Boston suburb, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Their mother says charges against them are lies.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a getaway attempt after a gun battle with police and no burial place has been found for him yet.

His body was released by the state medical examiner on May 1 and has been in limbo since.

In Washington, the first in a series of hearings was planned on Thursday to review government's initial response to the bombing, what information authorities received about the brothers before the bombings and whether they handled it correctly.

The hearing on Capitol Hill comes less than three weeks after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arrest.

The FBI and CIA separately received vague warnings from Russia's government in 2011 that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother were religious militants.

Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, had wanted his body turned over to his side of the family, which claimed it.

Nineteen days after his death, cemeteries still refused to take his remains and government officials deflected questions about where he could be buried.

On Wednesday, police in Worcester, west of Boston, pleaded for a resolution, saying they were spending tens of thousands of dollars to protect the funeral home where his body is being kept amid protests.

"We are not barbarians," Police Chief Gary Gemme said.

"We bury the dead."

Peter Stefan, whose funeral home accepted Tsarnaev's body last week, said on Tuesday that none of the 120 offers of graves from the US and Canada has worked out because officials in those cities and towns don't want the body.

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Israel approves West Bank settler homes

ISRAEL has given the go-ahead to build nearly 300 homes in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah, an official says, in a move likely to spark tensions as Washington seeks to rekindle peace talks.

"The Civil Administration has given the green light for 296 housing units at Beit El, but this is only the first stage of a process before actual construction can begin," said the spokesman for a unit within the defence ministry which administers the West Bank.

Israel's chief peace negotiator Tzipi Livni said she had been informed about the move as she was holding talks in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, but sought to play down its impact.

"There is no need for this to become a pretext for drama or anger," she told army radio on Thursday, saying she had updated the Americans about the development.

"They listened and they understood and for the moment, there is no reaction."

The Civil Administration said the new homes were a compensatory measure after the government evicted 30 settler families from Ulpana, an unauthorised outpost on the outskirts of Beit El following a High Court ruling.

The announcement came on the back of a report that said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered a freeze on tenders for new settler homes in a bid to give a chance to US-led efforts to revive moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.

Hagit Ofran of Israel's Peace Now settlement watchdog, who on Wednesday had confirmed no new tenders had been issued since the start of the year, lashed out at the move, accusing Netanyahu of playing a double game.

"This initiative proves Netanyahu is deceiving the world," she said.

"On the one hand, he lets us believe that he is putting the brakes on settlement and on the other, he gives the go-ahead for an enormous building project."

She explained that offering tenders was a procedure usually followed in the larger settlement, but was not necessary for construction in the smaller, more isolated, settlements such as Beit El which is made up of some 900 housing units.

Ofran said the move would increase the size of Beit El by a third, but said the plan needed to go through several more stages before building could start, which she said would be likely "in about a year's time".

Beit El is located on the northern outskirts of Ramallah in an area that would not be annexed to Israel under any future peace agreement, the watchdog noted.

Direct peace talks broke down shortly after they were launched in September 2010 because of an intractable dispute over Israel's settlement building, which is widely accepted as a violation of international law.

The Palestinians say they will not return to negotiations unless Israel freezes construction on land they want for a future state.

Israel is trying to "sabotage" US efforts to revive peace talks, a top Palestinian

official said on Thursday.

"We condemn this new decision which is proof that the Israeli government

wants to sabotage and ruin the US administration's efforts to revive the peace

process," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.

"This is a message to the American administration and a blow to the peace

process," he said, pointing to the "intense" shuttle diplomacy being conducted

by US Secretary of State John Kerry to try to bring both sides back to

negotiations.

"This aims to drag the region into violence instead of peace and

stability," Erakat added.

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Stolen Generation art returns to Perth

Artwork by members of the Stolen Generation will be returned to a WA university from New York. Source: AAP

ABORIGINAL artworks created by members of the Stolen Generation are returning home from a New York university which has possessed the historic Australian art for almost 50 years.

Colgate University will transfer to Western Australia's Curtin University 119 indigenous artworks, including drawings and paintings created by Noongar children between 1945 and 1951 at the Carrolup Native School and Settlement in the state's Great Southern region.

The artwork attracted international news coverage in 2005 when it was exhibited in Colgate's Picker Art Gallery.

A painting by Reynold Hart called Hunting was presented to Curtin at a ceremony in Perth on Wednesday to symbolise the future transfer of the full collection.

The art pieces were given to Colgate in 1966 by alumnus Herbert Mayer, a famous New York collector.

He purchased the works from Florence Rutter, a major benefactor to the Carrolup School.

The artwork features native landscape, bush scenes, animals, hunting and traditional Noongar cultural activities.

The collection has been, and will remain, part of a joint study between Curtin and Colgate.

Over the past eight years, many Colgate students have travelled to WA to visit the Mungart Boodja Art Centre and the John Curtin Gallery to learn about Noongar art and culture.

Colgate professor Ellen Percy Kraly initiated the artwork transfer more than a year ago and said the relocation of the art would allow its conservation and exhibition for future generations of Noongar people.

"The work has so much meaning in country that it deserves to be within the hearts, souls, and eyes of the people," she said.

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Gillard to visit PNG

Julia Gillard will meet with her PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill (L) during her visit to Port Moresby. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is expected to touch down in Papua New Guinea on Thursday afternoon, marking her first official trip to the Pacific Island nation.

In a visit lasting just under 48 hours, Ms Gillard is expected to meet with her PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill, his cabinet, and the opposition leader Belden Namah.

Ms Gillard and Mr O'Neill are expected to canvass a raft of issues during the visit.

Trade and enhanced defence cooperation will be the topics for the meetings, with PNG expected to raise concerns about visa processing for Papua New Guineans travelling to Australia.

PNG is also expected to seek Australia's help in boosting relations with Asia, as well as seeking Australia's help to host APEC in 2018.

"We are requesting (Australia) to assist us in using their experience when they hosted the meeting in Sydney, Mr O'Neill recently told Radio Australia.

"They would see what sort of issues they had to deal with when they hosted the event, so yes we are communicating with the Australian prime minister on that."

There is about $7 billion in annual trade between the two nations, while Australia also spends roughly $500 million a year in official aid to PNG.

The controversial Australian-run asylum seeker detention centre on Manus Island may also be discussed, with its legality currently before PNG's courts.

Ms Gillard is among a number of recent high-profile international visitors to PNG, which this time last year was crawling out of a political crisis sparked by the surprise elevation of Mr O'Neill to the prime ministership in mid-2011.

The mid-2012 election put the lid on the political turmoil and gave Mr O'Neill a massive parliamentary majority.

Since the polls, PNG has played host to Prince Charles, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Fijian dictator Frank Bainimarama, as well as a raft of Australian ministerial visits.

On Friday, Ms Gillard is expected to tour a Port Moresby market and a local primary school, and visit part of the $19 billion Exxon Mobil-led Liquefied Natural Gas project.

She will meet with business leaders while in Port Moresby, and attend a state dinner in the nation's parliament.

On Saturday she will visit Bomana War Cemetery before departing for Australia.

The last serving Australian prime minister to visit PNG was Kevin Rudd, who included Australia's closest neighbour amongst his first overseas trips after being elected in 2007.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is expected to visit Port Moresby next week.

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China reports stronger April trade growth

CHINA has reported stronger April trade but analysts say its export data is inflated and its shaky recovery may be weaker than it looks.

Exports rose 14.7 per cent over a year earlier, up from March's 10 per cent growth, customs data showed on Wednesday.

Imports gained 16.8 per cent, up from the previous month's 14.1 per cent.

That suggested the world's second-largest economy might be improving after an unexpected decline in growth to 7.7 per cent in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter's 7.9 per cent.

Analysts say, however, Chinese export data are unreliable, possibly due to companies submitting inflated prices for their goods to evade capital controls and bring money into the country.

"We believe the strong trade growth is not indicative of a growth recovery," said Zhiwei Zhang of Nomura in a report.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption instead of trade and investment, but consumer spending is growing slowly.

That has forced Beijing to rely on state-led investment and bank lending to shore up the recovery, which analysts say could be vulnerable if exports or investment decline.

The weaker-than-expected first quarter numbers prompted the World Bank and private sector analysts to trim forecasts for full-year growth, though to still robust levels of about 8 per cent.

Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu of RBS said after factoring out irregularities, they estimated China's exports rose only by about 5.7 per cent in April, about 9 percentage points lower than the reported level.

In a positive sign for the economy, Kuijs and Qiu said they saw no obvious irregularities in import data and no reason to inflate the values of goods.

"Reasonable import growth suggests domestic demand has held up better so far," they said in a report.

Surveys by HSBC Corp. and a Chinese industry group showed China's manufacturing growth weakened in April. HSBC said new export orders fell for the first time this year.

China's export data have been under scrutiny since analysts pointed out last year they failed to match up with its trading partners' lower figures for purchases of Chinese goods.

Wei Yao of Societe Generale cited the example of Taiwan, which reported a 2.7 percent decline in April imports from China while Beijing said exports to the island rose 49.2 percent - a gap of more than 50 percentage points.

"We continue to notice glaring discrepancies between China and its trade partners' data, and so again suggest caution in interpreting the report," Yao said in a commentary.

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NSW church abuse victims may miss compo

MOST child abuse victims who emerge during the course of ongoing national and state inquiries won't be able to claim compensation in NSW, despite finally mustering the courage to come forward.

Under changes to the victims compensation scheme, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse are prevented from making a claim more than a decade after the crime.

Opposition Leader John Robertson says the new laws have been introduced to parliament just as victims begin to tell their stories to the nationwide royal commission, and the NSW inquiry into historical child abuse in the Hunter Valley.

"This will exclude the overwhelming number of victims," he told question time on Wednesday.

"(It's) a low move by the O'Farrell government to avoid paying compensation to child sexual abuse victims."

Mr Robertson said the state government had ignored advice from Legal Aid NSW that the implementation of an eligibility limit would hurt victims of historical abuse.

It said many people would manifest psychological damage after the time limit had passed, and most people who failed to initially report the crime did so because of fear, shame or embarrassment, or because they were young at the time of the offence.

The laws will also be applied retrospectively, affecting victims of historical abuse with a current claim.

Mr Robertson said 506 child sexual assault victims last year sought compensation more than 10 years after the abuse.

In question time on Wednesday, he called on the government to ensure victims of child sexual abuse would not be disadvantaged as a result of the changes to victims compensation.

But Attorney-General Greg Smith said the government had announced a range of measures to assist victims of crime, including a new victim support scheme and a victims commissioner.

"We want victims of crime to be given better support and services when they need them most," he said.

In a later statement, a spokeswoman for Mr Smith said child victims of sexual abuse could make applications for financial assistance for up to 10 years after they turned 18.

She said victims support groups had told the government that therapeutic support and counselling was the most important aspect of recovery for adult survivors of child sexual assault.

The review of the old scheme had started well before the royal commission was called, and none of the changes were specific to people giving evidence at the hearings, the spokeswoman said.

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Triangular coin to mark Canberra birthday

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the 25th birthday of Parliament House. Source: AAP

CANBERRA is often labelled the city of swings and roundabouts but the triangle will be featured as the Australian capital celebrates the 25th birthday of Parliament House.

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the quarter century milestone of the big house on the hill.

The uncirculated equilateral coin with rounded corners carries a $5 value.

Ten thousand coins will be struck, made from 99.9 per cent silver and depicting Parliament House as viewed from one of its courtyards. The Queen's profile is on the reverse.

The iconic triangular flag mast atop Parliament House is a focal point of the coin design.

A limited-edition, round 20 cent coin made of cupronickel is also part of the mint's tribute to Parliament House. It features the current building with Old Parliament House in the foreground.

"Australian Parliament House was recognised as a major international architectural achievement when it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II 25 years ago," MP Bernie Ripoll will say during the birthday launch of the coin on Thursday.

"It is fitting that the mint is demonstrating its own innovation within a minting context with Australia's first triangular coin."

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Branson confident of year-end space target

Richard Branson is fired up about Virgin Galactic's planned first full space flight later this year. Source: AAP

BILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Richard Branson remains confident Virgin Galactic will blast its rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo into space by the end of the year.

While in Perth to unveil Virgin Australia's rebadging of former Skywest aircraft, Sir Richard described SpaceShipTwo's first powered flight last week as incredibly historic.

It broke the sound barrier in a 10-minute test flight over California's Mojave Desert - reaching an altitude of 55,000 feet and a supersonic velocity of Mach 1.2 - placing the company a step closer towards its goal of sending paying passengers for brief space flights.

The aim is for passengers to experience between five and six minutes of weightlessness.

"By the end of this year, Virgin Galactic will be up, up and away, and into space," Sir Richard told reporters on Tuesday with his trademark grin and gusto.

"It's literally the start of commercial space travel.

"People will one day be able to go into space and become astronauts, and enjoy that experience that only a handful of people have been able to do.

"And through being able to send people into space, point-to-point travel at incredibly fast speeds will come about, hopefully in my lifetime.

"Having just spent 22 hours on a plane coming to Australia, it would be extremely welcome, and we're going to do it with the aim of doing it in a couple of hours."

The company would also seek to launch satellites into space at a much lower cost than in the past, greatly reducing the cost of telecommunications, Sir Richard said.

He told SPACE.com last week that the ticket price for SpaceShipTwo would jump from $US200,000 to $US250,000 until the first 1000 people had travelled, to catch up with inflation since the project started.

SpaceShipTwo follows on from SpaceShipOne, the first private spacecraft which won the $US10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004 after flying into suborbital space twice in five days.

Virgin Galactic originally hoped it would carry paying customers into space by 2007.

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Hong Kong shares end up 0.58%

HONG Kong shares have ended up 0.58 per cent with some bargain-hunting after subdued trade prior to the release of Chinese economic data late last week.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 132 points to end Tuesday at 23,047.09 on turnover of HK$56.73 billion ($A7.16 billion).

The index has now risen in 10 out of the last 12 sessions.

Bargain-hunting in underperforming companies offset profit-taking amid the recent rally. But many investors remained on the sidelines before China releases trade data on Wednesday and inflation and industrial output figures Thursday.

PetroChina rose 2.5 per cent to HK$9.97, conglomerate Citic Pacific closed up 2.8 per cent at HK$9.96 and HSBC increased 0.2 per cent to HK$86.20.

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings was one of the biggest risers, gaining 3.0 per cent to HK$20.35 after reporting a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in its first-quarter net profit.

Yue Yuen, which makes shoes for major manufacturers such as Nike, slumped 12.0 per cent to HK$23.80 after issuing a first-quarter profit warning.

Chinese shares finished up 0.20 per cent, as investors took a breather after a more than one per cent rise the previous session.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 4.40 points to 2,235.57 on turnover of 79.0 billion yuan.

"Investors dare not chase the rally because of uncertainties in the local economy," Soochow Securities analyst Deng Wenyuan told Dow Jones Newswires.

Liquor makers were higher on cheap valuations. Hebei Hengshui Laobaigan Liquor surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 30.26 yuan while Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory advanced 4.57 per cent to 27.89 yuan.

Metal shares extended gains on the back of strong global prices.

Rising Nonferrous Metals jumped 6.69 per cent to 49.90 yuan and Baotou Steel Rare-Earth gained 4.16 per cent to 29.07 yuan.

Brokerages dropped on profit-taking, with China Everbright Securities losing 2.44 per cent to 14.40 yuan and Industrial Securities falling 1.80 percent to 11.97 yuan.

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Three women missing for decade found alive

Three young US women who went missing about a decade ago have been found alive in a house in Ohio. Source: AAP

THREE young US women who went missing about a decade ago - two of them teenagers when they disappeared - have been found alive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio, as police arrested three brothers in the case.

The dramatic discovery on Monday - just a few kilometres from where the women went missing - ended years of anguished searching by their families and drew hundreds of cheering people to the usually quiet, residential street.

The details of the trauma they may have suffered in captivity were not yet known but it appeared that at least one of the girls had borne a child. The Associated Press reported a six-year-old child had been found at the same time.

Police said they have arrested three Hispanic men in their 50s in connection with the case but declined to give further details. A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9am (2300 AEST).

The long nightmare ended when Amanda Berry - who had been kidnapped 10 years ago at the age of 16 - reached her arm through a crack in the front door and called for help.

"I heard screaming. ... And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside of the house," neighbour Charles Ramsey told the local ABC news affiliate.

"I go on the porch, and she said, 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time'."

Ramsey, a bystander now hailed as a hero, said he tried to get her out through the door, but could not pull it open, so he kicked out the bottom and she crawled through "carrying a little girl".

Berry went into a neighbouring home and called police, begging them to come as soon as they could, "before he gets back".

"I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped. I've been missing for 10 years. I'm free. I'm here now," a frantic Berry says in the recording of her call to 911. When police arrived, she said two other women were being held captive.

She told the dispatcher that the man who had held her was named Ariel Castro. Media reports identified the three suspects as Castro and his two brothers, but police provided no confirmation.

"All three women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, seem to be in good health," Cleveland police said in a statement.

Berry was last seen on the night of April 21, 2003 when she left work at a fast food restaurant just a few blocks from her home.

Her mother, Louwanna Miller, died of a "broken heart" in March 2006, Dona Brady, a family friend, told CNN.

DeJesus was 14 when she vanished while walking home from school on April 2, 2004.

Knight, who was 19 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at a cousin's house on August 23, 2002, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

Kayla Rogers, 23, went to school with DeJesus and joined the crowd gathered near the house where her friend had been held captive.

"They don't find people who go missing, you know," Rogers, 23, told the Plain Dealer.

"I'm at a loss for words."

Neighbour Charlie Czorb said he was stunned by how long the women had lived at the house undetected, saying: "These girls were locked up in our own backyard."

Castro was described by neighbours as a friendly school bus driver and musician whose daughter would often come over with his grandchildren.

Ramsay, the man who helped Berry escape, also expressed shock, telling reporters he had eaten ribs and listened to Salsa music with Castro.

Tasheena Mitchell, 26, said she didn't believe her brother at first when he called to tell her that their cousin Amanda had been found alive and said she raced to the hospital to confirm it with her own eyes.

"She was my best friend," Mitchell told the Plain Dealer.

A friend interrupted her, "She's alive. She is your best friend."

An emergency room doctor who treated the three women said they were in fair condition and were being evaluated.

"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories so we're very happy for them," the doctor, Gerald Maloney, told reporters.

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Cheap beef on table at Qld cattle talks

Independent MP Bob Katter says selling Queensland beef cheap could help the cattle industry crisis. Source: AAP

SELLING cheap Queensland beef in supermarkets could be the key to getting the cattle industry back on its feet, graziers say.

The idea was raised by graziers with federal and state agriculture ministers at crisis talks in Queensland's northwest on Tuesday.

The industry is suffering due to a state-wide drought and plummeting cattle prices caused largely by a reduction in live cattle exports to Indonesia.

Federal independent MP Bob Katter says one of the ideas put forward at the meeting was to sell Queensland beef in supermarkets at just 10 per cent above cost price.

"Even if we can't sell cattle they still eat grass and there's no grass [due to a state-wide drought]," he told AAP.

"This idea would take a couple of hundred thousand cattle off the market over the next two years."

Mr Katter says an overwhelming number of graziers who attended Tuesday's crisis meeting called for the federal government to reduce interest rates, which he says are crippling farmers.

Even Tuesday's interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank which brought rates down to an all time low, would not be enough help, he said.

"Even after today our interest rates are 10 times higher than our competitors."

Other ideas put forward were for a rates relief package to be implemented and for more meatworks to be built.

Graziers also want the federal government to buy 100,000 cattle - at a cost of about $150 million - and gift them to Indonesia.

Mr Katter says this would repair the relationship between the two countries.

In 2011 the government temporarily banned live exports to Indonesia following claims of animal cruelty.

The number of cattle being exported to Indonesia, which was then Australia's biggest market, significantly dropped after this. The market has never recovered.

"It sounds like a lot of money but if the Indonesian market reopens they'll get that money back in taxation in two or three years," he said.

Live cattle exports were back in the spotlight this week after new footage emerged showing Australian cattle being abused in Egypt.

Australia's livestock industry has voluntarily suspended cattle exports to the country.

Mr Katter says half a million cattle ready for export could die from starvation as graziers can't afford to feed them, while a million kangaroos which would be shot for their meat would also perish.

"There is no supplementary market for them and all the meatworks are full," he said.

"So instead of having some cattle suffer, all of these cattle and kangaroos are going to suffer terribly."

He also says Egyptians will "build up a huge fund of hatred" toward Australians, which will damage the relationship between the two countries and hurt the cattle industry.

Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig says the government is providing funds to farmers to alleviate the stress of unmanageable debt.

"For Queensland, we're providing additional rural financial counsellors, including a dedicated officer for graziers in the gulf," he said.

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Two in custody after Darwin shootings

A WOMAN suspected of using a handgun to open fire on two people in different locations in Darwin's rural fringe is in custody.

Northern Territory Police say a domestic dispute is probably behind the shootings, which left a 63-year-old woman in a serious condition and a 43-year-old man with a wound to his hand.

A 38-year-old woman suspected of being the assailant is in custody, as is another man, 46, who is accused of being an accessory after the fact.

The pair, with a six-year-old child in their car, were arrested as they tried to elude police from a cordoned-off area near the second shooting.

Police say the sequence of events remains unclear.

However, at 2.30pm (CST) on Tuesday there was a shooting at Virginia Road, in Virginia, about 30km from Darwin's city centre.

Another shooting incident followed, at the side of the Stuart Highway, a few kilometres away.

"There was a weapon that was discharged at Virginia and it was discharged again in the Stuart Highway vicinity," said Crime Commander Richard Bryson.

"At various times the vehicles were moving and the vehicles were shot whilst the vehicles were in motion," he told reporters.

The 63-year-old victim took herself to the Palmerston Police Station, and she was then taken to hospital.

It is thought a single bullet went through her arm before hitting her chest cavity.

The 43-year-old man who was shot in the hand stayed at the scene by the Stuart Highway to help police with their inquiries before he too was taken to hospital.

"It would appear the incident pertains to domestic circumstances and custody arrangements in relation to a child," Cmdr Bryson said.

As well as the two gunshot victims a third person was injured while trying to offer assistance.

Cmdr Bryson said it was unclear whether the person was also shot at but they were injured by shattering glass and sustained superficial cuts to their face.

All the parties involved knew each other, he said.

It is believed about a dozen shots were fired.

"This incident could have been much more serious than it was," Cmdr Bryson said.

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Protests outside Germany's neo-Nazi trial

DOZENS of anti-racist demonstrators have rallied outside a German courthouse where the biggest neo-Nazi murder trial in the country's history is about to start.

Several organisations fighting the far right gathered for the protest on Monday, where activists hoisted banners with slogans such as "Against Nazi terror, state and everyday racism" and urged German authorities to take a harder line against extremists and their crimes.

Two women jostled with security forces and smashed a bottle outside the barricades, police said, amid a massive turnout of international media for the trial in the southern city of Munich.

Beate Zschaepe, 38, the last surviving member of a far-right trio calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU), is charged with complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Four alleged accomplices will join her in the dock for the trial secured with a major police presence.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in 15 armed robberies, arson and attempted murder in two bomb attacks.

The investigation was bungled by German authorities, who for years suspected Turkish mafia groups were behind the killings. They later admitted that files relevant to the case were shredded.

In custody since turning herself in on November 8, 2011, Zschaepe arrived at the court from her cell in solitary confinement at Stadelheim prison, one of Germany's largest.

She was led into the courtroom wearing a black blazer, a pressed white shirt and large hoop earrings. She stood with her back to television cameras waiting for the proceedings to begin.

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Bangladesh building collapse toll now 650

The death toll from the Bangladesh building collapse stands at 654 as recovery efforts gather pace. Source: AAP

THE death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster has surpassed 650 after dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a nine-storey building housing garment factories, the army said.

Major Manzur Elahi of the army control room, which was set up to coordinate the rescue operation following the disaster last month, said on Monday that recovery efforts had gathered pace and the "death toll now stands at 654".

"The toll is expected to rise further," he said.

The building, which housed five garment factories, collapsed near the capital Dhaka on April 24, trapping more than 3,000 people. Some 2,437 people have been rescued, Elahi said.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site on the 12th day, as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Officials said the bodies pulled out have missing limbs in some cases or have decomposed, delaying identification. They identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or factory identity cards.

Military rescuer Major Delwar Hossain late Sunday told AFP the stench at the site suggested more corpses were trapped under the rubble, forcing search teams from the army and fire services to wear masks.

"The foul odour is so strong you cannot work there without wearing masks and using air fresheners," Hossain said.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations by four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Police have arrested 12 people including the building's owner Sohel Rana and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day.

The wife of a male garment worker killed in the disaster has also filed a murder complaint against Rana, one of the garment factory owners and a municipal engineer. The three face death by hanging if convicted of murder.

Rana, a local leader of the ruling Awami League political party, was arrested after a four-day hunt as he tried to flee to India.

Factory workers have held protests calling for tough punishment for those responsible for the disaster, and demanding improved safety regulations.

The tragedy came just five months after a fire killed 111 people in a nearby garment factory.

UK retailer Primark, Italy's Benetton and Spanish firm Mango have admitted they had placed orders with the factories based in the compound, triggering an angry response in many Western countries.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter after China. The industry accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports and more than 40 per cent of its industrial workforce.

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Russia 'concern' over Israel air strikes

RUSSIA has voiced concern at Israeli air strikes against Syrian targets, saying that they threatened to escalate tensions in neighbouring countries.

"We are looking into and analysing all the circumstances surrounding the especially concerning reports of the May 3 and May 5 Israeli air strikes," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"A further escalation of the armed conflict severely raises the risk of creating centres of tension in Lebanon as well as in Syria, and also destabilising the still relatively stable situation in the region of the Israeli-Lebanese border," the statement said.

Israel is yet to officially confirm that it has struck Syrian targets, including surface-to-air missiles that one source said were believed to have been delivered by Russia, a long-standing ally of the Syrian government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel reserves the right to preserve its security at all times.

The Russian foreign ministry also urged the West not to politicise the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria, which officials suggest has now been carried out by both sides.

"We insistently urge to stop politicising this extremely serious question and whipping up an anti-Syrian atmosphere," the ministry statement said.

It added that Moscow shared UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's "deep concern" with how events were unfolding in the war-torn nations.

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We'll fight for May Day holiday, ACTU says

UNIONS will fight to have May Day returned as a public holiday across Australia, ACTU president Ged Kearney has told a rally in Darwin.

Speaking in the Northern Territory, the only jurisdiction in Australia that still provides a public holiday to commemorate May Day, Ms Kearney urged unionists to protect it.

"Union members be proud of this day. Don't lose it," Ms Kearney told a rally of about 500 people.

May Day is celebrated in many countries around the world to mark campaigns by workers for better rights.

"We are going to fight to get it back in other states," Ms Kearney said.

She said the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government in the NT had cut the public service, healthcare and education since coming to office last year.

"I will be damned if the likes of this government ... take away our important day," Ms Kearney told the crowd.

"We must rebel, we must stand up and fight," she said.

Unions NT Secretary Alan Paton also attacked the CLP government in the NT.

Mr Paton said the CLP went to the election promising public sector jobs would be safe and the cost of living would fall.

"What we have seen so far is the exact opposite," Mr Paton said.

Although the NT is the only jurisdiction to mark May Day, other states mark Labour Day at other times of the year.

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WA sex assault doctor dodges deportation

AN Indian-born doctor who spent more than 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old patient while examining her has successfully fought a deportation order.

Suhail Ahmad Khan Durani has been held at an immigration detention centre since being released from Casuarina Prison in Perth's south, because federal immigration authorities cancelled his visa the day he completed his sentence.

But he fought an ensuing deportation order through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which decided on Monday that he should be allowed to keep his visa.

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Vic budget boost for Frankston train line

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine will announce a cash injection for the Frankston train line. Source: AAP

THE Victorian government has announced a $100 million boost to Melbourne's busiest rail services while warning the upcoming state budget will be a tough one.

Premier Denis Napthine announced the cash injection for the southeastern Frankston line, which carries about 60,000 people every weekday, as part of Tuesday's 2013-14 state budget.

He said the government was building for growth despite falling GST revenues from the federal government.

"We are managing the budget in difficult, challenging times, in times where we have a reduction in GST revenues," he told reporters.

"But at the same time doing it in a responsible, economic manner and that's what you'll see in the budget on Tuesday."

The extra money announced on Sunday would pay for track, signalling and power upgrades and allow the line to accommodate the newer X'Trapolis trains, Dr Napthine said.

He brushed off suggestions the boost was aimed at politically important seats on the line.

"Investing $100 million in the Frankston line will certainly show we care about people along the Frankston line," he said.

"Everybody who uses the metro rail system is important to us as a government."

Poor service on the Frankston line was a key issue in the 2010 election, with a swathe of seats along the line, including Bentleigh, Mordialloc and Carrum, switching from Labor to the coalition.

Dr Napthine also announced a funding injection of $224 million for disability support in the budget, which will take annual disability funding to $1.6 billion.

The funding provides $107 million for 720 new Individual Support Packages for people with high support needs, which will be partly funded by increased lodging fees for government-run disability accommodation.

The announcement comes after Victoria became the fourth state to sign up to the national disability care scheme on Saturday, agreeing to a statewide disability care program by the end of the decade.

The state government also announced budget funding on Sunday to buy land for a new primary school in Melbourne's south.

Education Minister Martin Dixon said the Ferrars Street school in South Melbourne would cater to the area's fast-growing population.

A spokesman for Mr Dixon said the government had not released the funding amount as negotiations were continuing over the sale.

The money comes on top of $11.5 million announced on Saturday for the first stage of a high school in Melbourne's outer north.

Last week the government announced three new schools would be built in growth areas in the city's west.

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Israeli warplanes strike Syria

Israel has launched air strikes in Syria at a shipment of Iranian-made guided missiles. Source: AAP

ISRAELI warplanes have struck areas in and around the Syrian capital, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists say.

The attack, the second in three days, signalled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syria's state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research centre near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.

An intelligence official in the Middle East, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Israel launched an airstrike in Damascus early on Sunday but did not give more precise details about the location.

The target was Fateh-110 missiles, which have very precise guidance systems with better aim than anything Hezbollah has in its arsenal, the official told The Associated Press.

The airstrikes came as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war.

President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a "red line", and the administration is weighing its options - including possible military action.

Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syrian war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated he would be prepared to take military action to prevent sophisticated weapons flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in mid-2006 that ended in a stalemate.

Syria's state news agency SANA reported that explosions went off at the Jamraya military and scientific research centre near Damascus and said "initial reports point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles".

SANA said there were casualties but did not give a number.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, reported large explosions in the area of Jamraya, a military and scientific research facility northwest of Damascus, about 15km from the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said the research centre in Jamraya was not hit. It added that an army supply centre was the target of the strike.

Al-Manar quoted unnamed Syrian security officials as saying that three sites, including military barracks, arms depots and an air defence centre had been targeted by the strike.

Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former defence ministry official, told the AP that if the target were Fateh-110 missiles as reported, then it was a game changer as they put almost all Israel in range and could accurately hit targets.

Rubin emphasised that he was speaking as a rocket expert and had no details on reported strikes.

He said the rockets were much five times more accurate than the Scud missiles that Hezbollah has fired in the past.

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Majority back disability levy - and Abbott

A new poll shows a majority are happy to pay a levy for the disability insurance scheme. Source: AAP

MORE than 50 per cent of Australians support increasing the Medicare levy to pay for the government's disability care reforms.

But in a blow to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a Seven News/ReachTEL poll has found about 41 per cent are less likely to vote Labor because of the announcement.

A day after Victoria became the fourth state to sign up to the scheme, Ms Gillard said her government would "keep working hard" to make DisabilityCare Australia truly national.

"I think the momentum is with us now to get this as the national scheme and I'll keep talking to the premiers of Queensland and Western Australia, and of course the chief minister in the Northern Territory ... to try and get agreement around the nation," Ms Gillard told ABC television.

The Seven News poll released on Sunday night revealed 52.5 per cent backed increasing the levy by half a percentage point, with 33.5 per cent opposed and 14 per cent undecided.

Of the 2856 people polled, 26.4 said the announcement made them more likely to vote Labor, while 41.2 said it would make them less likely to back the government.

And despite her key role in pushing through the reforms, only 42.7 per cent said they trusted Ms Gillard to best deliver the disability scheme.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had the trust of 57.3 per cent.

Ms Gillard last week announced an increase in the Medicare levy to two per cent, to raise $3.2 billion of the $8 billion needed each year for the reforms.

On Sunday she said the levy increase should be permanent, and not scrapped when the budget returned to surplus.

"I think this needs to be there as a funding source for all of time," she told ABC television.

"I think it is fair to say to Australians that you will be asked for a little bit more in order to fund something that we all benefit from."

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N Korea holds firm on jailed American

North Korea says jailed American Kenneth Bae won't be used as a 'bargaining chip'. Source: AAP

NORTH Korea said it won't invite any leading US figure to seek the release of a jailed American and he would not become a "bargaining chip" in any political negotiations.

"Some media of the US said that the DPRK (North Korea) tried to use Pae's case as a political bargaining chip. This is a ridiculous and wrong guess," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official KCNA news agency.

"The DPRK has no plan to invite anyone of the US as regards Pae's issue."

The North said it had sentenced Pae, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, to 15 years' hard labour for "hostile acts" aimed at toppling the communist regime at a trial on April 30.

The Korean-American tour operator was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason.

Several Americans have been held in the North in recent years, and been freed after visits by high-profile Americans such as former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

In 2010 Carter negotiated the release of US citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years' hard labour for illegally entering the country.

In 2009 Clinton managed to free US television journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, also jailed for an illegal border crossing.

The ministry spokesman said Pyongyang had showed "generosity... from the humanitarian point of view" in the past, but the latest case proved that such generosity will "be in no use in ending Americans' illegal acts".

"As long as the US hostile policy goes on, American's illegal acts should be countered with strict legal sanctions. This is a conclusion drawn by the DPRK."

The latest development comes amid high military tension on the peninsula.

Pyongyang, angered by new UN sanctions for its third nuclear test in February and by US-South Korean joint military drills, has issued blistering threats of missile and nuclear attacks targeting the South and the United States.

The United States has called for the immediate release of Bae, whose alleged offence is unclear.

Seoul-based activist Do Hee-Yoon has told AFP he suspected Bae was arrested because he had taken photographs of emaciated children in North Korea as part of efforts to appeal for more outside aid.

The North's spokesman said Sunday that Bae's belongings confirmed the crime for which he was convicted but did not elaborate.

"He entered the DPRK with a disguised identity in an intentional way under the back-stage manipulation of the forces hostile toward the DPRK," the spokesman said, adding he had made a confession.

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Tension in Somalia after top chief killed

TENSION and anger gripped the Abyei region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan following the killing of a top tribal chief and an Ethiopian peacekeeper, residents said, as the UN stepped up security.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for calm after the Ngok Dinka chief Kual Deng Majok and the peacekeeper died in an "attack" by a Misseriya tribesman in the region on Saturday.

"It looks like Dinka are very angry," one local resident told AFP.

He reported fire coming from the Abyei town centre, where Misseriya operate small shops.

A curfew was in effect, with the Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), setting up extra checkpoints trying to restrict the movement of people and prevent gatherings, said the resident, asking for anonymity.

The resident, who is familiar with the incident, said five Misseriya also died in Saturday's skirmish.

"There is high tension and all sides are alert, ready for anything," Mohammed Al-Ansari, a Misseriya chief in Abyei, told AFP.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said in a Twitter message that UNISFA was "expanding patrols with the aim of maintaining calm".

UN chief Ban urged both tribes as well as the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to "avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event," a statement from his spokesperson said late Saturday, condemning the killings.

The UN said two of its Blue Helmets were also seriously wounded in the incident, "an attack by a Misseriya assailant on a UNISFA convoy".

The status of Dinka-dominated Abyei has not been resolved despite steps which Sudan and South Sudan have taken since March to normalise their relations, after months of intermittent clashes along their undemarcated frontier.

Abyei's status was the most sensitive issue left unsettled when South Sudan separated in 2011.

The territory was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

Majok was heading north from Abyei town with UNISFA peacekeepers, who are the only authority in the area, when a group of Misseriya stopped them and began negotiations, another Misseriya leader said.

"Then a clash happened when a UNISFA soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," said the Misseriya chief who asked to remain anonymous.

During the resulting clash, "the Dinka leader's car was hit by an explosion and he and his driver were killed".

The death of Majok is the most serious incident since Sudanese troops withdrew in May last year to end a year-long occupation that forced more than 100,000 people to flee Abyei towards South Sudan.

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