Two dead within 24 hours on NSW roads

A MAN has died after his car hit a tree, marking the second death on NSW's roads in less than 24 hours.

Police said the man died after his car veered off the road and struck a tree at about 3.30pm on Saturday, near Blayney west of Sydney.

The male driver, and only occupant, died at the scene.

It comes after a 28-year-old passenger died when the car he was in ran off the road, hit a tree, then crashed down an embankment in northwest Sydney.

Police said the 30-year-old driver freed himself and flagged down a passing motorist, who called for help.

The passenger's body was found in the wreckage.

Police say the driver blew a positive result for alcohol in a roadside breath test and was taken to hospital for blood and urine testing.

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Obama will not visit Mandela: US official

US President Barack Obama is set to meet privately with members of ailing Nelson Mandela's family. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are set to meet privately with members of ailing Nelson Mandela's family.

The White House said on Saturday the Obamas will not see the former South African president in the hospital.

Obama will not visit his political hero Mandela out of deference for the anti-apartheid icon's "peace and comfort," a US official said.

The 94-year-old Mandela had been hospitalised for three weeks with a recurring lung infection.

Obama is in South Africa as part of his weeklong trip and arrived in Pretoria for talks with President Jacob Zuma.

Obama had told reporters on Friday that he did not need a photo-op with Mandela, who he met once, in Washington DC in 2005.

His aides had said previously they would "gauge" the situation once on the ground before deciding whether Obama would visit Mandela in the hospital.

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Teetering truck closes Toowoomba Range

A TRUCK is suspended on an embankment after colliding with another truck heading down the Toowoomba Range, west of Brisbane.

Police and paramedics are on site tending to the driver of a B-double after it clipped another truck on the down section of the Toowoomba Range about 6.40pm.

A Queensland Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said the range has been blocked to traffic as there is a large diesel spill across the road.

Police media was unable to confirm if the truck had breached the guard rails of the embankment but said the driver is not believed to have been seriously injured.

A Department of Community Services spokesman confirmed one driver has been taken to Toowoomba Base Hospital as a precaution.

The down section of the Toowoomba Range is expected to remain closed for several hours while the crash is cleared.

More to come ...

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Rudd to attend Yunupingu's state funeral

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd will be flying to the Northern Territory on Sunday to pay tribute to Mr Yunupingu at his state funeral.

The former lead singer of Yothu Yindi will be remembered at a service at Gulkula in northeast Arnhem Land.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd confirmed he would be attending the ceremony and is expected to arrive in the Northern Territory sometime before noon.

Mr Yunupingu, an Aboriginal elder, educator and 1992 Australian of the Year, died aged 56 at his home in the small town of Yirrkala on June 2.

He was the first indigenous person from Arnhem Land to gain a university degree and the Northern Territory's first Aboriginal school principal when he was appointed head of Yirrkala Community School in 1990.

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Snowden's father seeks deal with US govt

THE father of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has revealed he is trying to broker a compromise with the government that could bring his son back to the United States.

In a letter to the Justice Department, Lonnie Snowden said through his lawyer that his son wanted "ironclad assurances" he would not be held in jail before trial or subjected to a gag order, and would be allowed to choose where he would be tried on federal espionage charges.

The elder Snowden said the offer could end the impasse that has kept his 30-year-old son stuck in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and raised tensions between the US and other countries, including China, Russia and Ecuador, where the former National Security Agency contract employee is seeking political asylum.

"We believe you share our objective of securing Edward's voluntary return to the United States to face trial," Washington DC attorney Bruce Fein wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder on behalf of Snowden's father.

Lonnie Snowden, Fein wrote, "is reasonably certain that his son would voluntarily return to the United States if there were ironclad assurances that his constitutional rights would be honoured, and he were provided a fair opportunity to explain his motivations and actions to an impartial judge and jury".

If any of the conditions were "dishonoured," Fein added, then the prosecution "would be dismissed".

Justice Department officials did not comment on the proposal.

Meanwhile, the president of Ecuador demanded that the US stop suggesting that the small Andean country is provoking the situation by offering to shield Snowden from US justice, much as it has protected Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

For the last year, Assange has lived in Ecuador's embassy in London after he was granted sanctuary.

"It is outrageous to try to delegitimise a state for receiving a petition for asylum," Ecuador President Rafael Correa said in a speech in Ecuador.

Correa contended that the news media at first welcomed Snowden's leaks about secret US programs to collect phone logs and emails but later suggested the actions were treasonous.

"What a joke!" the president said in a tweet.

The media, he said, are "making everyone forget the terrible things that he denounced in front of the American people and the entire world".

Correa added that, for the asylum request to be processed and approved, Snowden first must find his way to Ecuador's embassy in Moscow or to Ecuador.

"We don't know how it'll be resolved," he said.

Officials in Hong Kong, where Snowden flew when he left Hawaii, said they remained concerned about his claims that the NSA had hacked into Hong Kong's computer systems.

In the future, they said, Snowden will no longer be permitted in Hong Kong.

"We are very disappointed," said Lai Tung-kowk, Hong Kong's secretary of security.

"We hope the US government will as soon as possible give a full answer and explanation to the Hong Kong people."

US State Department officials said they were concerned about their worsening relationships with Hong Kong and Ecuador.

"These issues have an impact when we have a breakdown on co-operation," Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman, said in response to Hong Kong's statements.

Regarding Ecuador, Ventrell said it "would not be a good thing" if the country granted Snowden asylum.

"That would have grave difficulties for a bilateral relationship," he said.

Lonnie Snowden, who has not spoken with his son since April, said on NBC's Today show: "I love him. I would like to have the opportunity to communicate with him. I don't want to put him in peril, but I am concerned about those who surround him.

"I think WikiLeaks, if you've looked at past history, you know, their focus isn't necessarily the constitution of the United States. It's simply to release as much information as possible."

"At this point I don't feel that he's committed treason. He has in fact broken US law, in the sense that he has released classified information," Lonnie Snowden told NBC.

"And if folks want to classify him as a traitor, in fact he has betrayed his government. But I don't believe that he's betrayed the people of the United States."

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Market rally comes to an end

AUSTRALIAN shares fell flat on the last day of trade in the financial year as cautious investors sold mining and insurance stocks.

Australia's share market gained 17 per cent over the past year, but the final week of 2012/13 proved a roller coaster ride as global markets worried about an end to US stimulus measures.

The local market plunged on Monday, rallied on Wednesday and Thursday, then lost momentum on Friday.

Insurers were out of favour with investors, with AMP losing 14 cents to $4.25, QBE dropped 23 cents to $15.09, IAG shed seven cents to $5.44 and Suncorp closed 10 cents lower at $11.92.

Miners also fell, with BHP Billiton losing 10 cents to $31.37, Fortescue dropped six cents to $3.04 and gold miner Newcrest shed three cents to $9.87.

Rio Tinto was firmer though, adding 58 cents to $52.37.

RBS Morgans senior private client adviser Bill Chatterton said the rise in big banks' share prices over the financial year showed stocks with high dividends were maintaining their favour.

"Investors, they're quite cautious at the moment and they're still quite focused on yield," he said.

"The yield theme, which has been quite dominant, certainly in the last 12 months, I think that will continue."

Three of the big four banks made gains on Friday, with Westpac putting on seven cents to $28.88, as ANZ added seven cents to $28.58 and Commonwealth Bank gained two cents to $69.18.

NAB lost seven cents to $29.68.

Elsewhere, Caltex shares fell heavily after the oil refiner and distributor forecast a weaker net profit.

Its shares dropped by $2.42, or 11.8 per cent, to $18.05.

Seven Group shares were also sold off as its heavy machinery dealer WesTrac announced 350 job cuts in response to challenging market conditions.

Its shares ended at $6.90, down 23 cents.

KEY FACTS

* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 8.7 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 4,802.6.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 9.4 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 4,775.4.

* The September share price index futures contract was seven points lower at 4,767, with 28,821 contracts.

* The spot price of gold in Sydney finished at $US1,204.00, down $US35.43 from Thursday's close at $US1,239.43.

* National turnover was 2.02 billion securities worth $7.4 billion.

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Baldwin disables Twitter page after rant

US actor Alec Baldwin has deactivated his Twitter page following a foul-mouthed rant. Source: AAP

ALEC Baldwin has deactivated his Twitter page following a foul-mouthed rant over allegations his pregnant wife was posting messages online during James Gandolfini's funeral.

The couple paid their respects to The Sopranos star at a church in New York City on Thursday, and an online report suggested Baldwin's partner Hilaria had been tweeting throughout the service.

Initially, the former 30 Rock star brushed off the allegations by posting a simple message on the website, writing, "Someone wrote that my wife was tweeting at a funeral. Hey. That's not true. But I'm gonna tweet at your funeral".

However, he returned to his Twitter page later in the day to rant about the report.

"My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend... How much of this s**t are people supposed to take? With these f**king blatant lies every day. My wife did not use her phone, in any capacity, at our friend's funeral. Now, f**k this Twitter + good luck to all of you who know the truth."

Baldwin's page was then taken offline.

Hilaria attempted to explain the timing of messages which appeared on her page on Thursday, adding, "Here is some info... When someone tweets something at a certain time, and you retweet it later, it posts the time the first person tweeted."

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Two Abu Sayyaf members killed: Philippines

SOLDIERS have killed two Islamic extremists and wounded five others in the southern Philippines as government forces continued searching for two kidnapped filmmaker sisters, a military official says.

Members of the Abu Sayyaf group opened fire on a military helicopter in the southern island of Jolo on Thursday, prompting the armed forces to counter-attack, said local Marine commander Colonel Jose Cenabre.

"The aerial attack was launched immediately on the area which led to the two killed," followed by a ground assault, he said.

He said there had been no sightings of Linda Bansil, 35 and her sister, Nadjoua, 39, who were seized in the area of the attack on Saturday while working on a film about Jolo's impoverished Muslim coffee farmers.

The abduction shocked local residents, with the Muslim sisters active in human rights advocacy and having worked on films showcasing the plight of the Muslim minority in the largely-Christian Philippines.

The Abu Sayyaf is an extremist group founded with seed money from Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

The US government has officially designated it a terrorist organisation.

It has been blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history as well as many kidnappings of foreigners and Filipinos, often demanding hefty ransoms for their hostages.

Other Abu Sayyaf factions are believed to be holding hostages, including two European bird watchers.

In March, Abu Sayyaf militants released Australian Warren Rodwell after holding him for 15 months.

US troops have been based in the southern Philippines for more than a decade to help train local troops in hunting down members of the group.

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WA premier declares war on green tape

WA Premier Colin Barnett has called for a high-level debate on environmental protection. Source: AAP

COLIN Barnett has called for a high-level debate on environmental protection, saying the mining sector is being held back by unnecessary compliance obligations.

The Liberal leader of Western Australia told a business function in Perth on Friday that so-called green tape was among two major burdens hampering the sector, the other being the damage the mining tax inflicted on the nation's reputation as an investment destination.

His comments came after event host Kim Williams, News Ltd chief executive, said miners were "beset by over-regulation", citing a Queensland company that had to submit 46,000 pages of documentation to comply with state and federal requirements.

Mr Barnett, who described himself as "a boom denier but a recession rejector", said Australia needed to take a more mature approach to the environment.

"No one is suggesting lower environmental standards - I think we do have high standards and generations will benefit from that - but we spend millions and millions of dollars trying to find out if some subterranean stygofauna actually exists or could be there," he said.

That was a waste of money, Mr Barnett said.

"I'd much rather see those funds go towards protecting the Kimberley or something worthwhile.

"We're overplaying the environment for really a low return in terms of actually protecting or rehabilitating the environment."

It's not the first time Mr Barnett has attacked green tape, previously suggesting the Biodiversity Act needed to be updated because the graceful sun-moth had stymied more developments in WA than any other species.

And he proved correct, with WA's Department of Environment and Conservation taking it off the threatened species list in November because it was ubiquitous.

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Bowen must reject GrainCorp takeover: Nats

Treasurer Chris Bowen should reject the takeover of GrainCorp by a US food giant, the Nationals say. Source: AAP

THE Nationals are calling on new Treasurer Chris Bowen to reject a foreign takeover of Australia's largest grains handler GrainCorp.

US food giant Archer Daniels Midland is awaiting approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and Chinese regulators.

But the Nationals say the takeover is not in the interest of grain growers or the nation.

Senator Fiona Nash says GrainCorp has a virtual monopoly on grain storage, handling and logistics on the eastern seaboard of Australia, holding almost all the ports and about 280 receiver sites.

"This is potentially going into the hands of an enormous grain giant multinational," she told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

"Our system will become a tiny cog in that giant empire, so we're calling on the treasurer to reject any approval from the FIRB on this takeover."

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Thursday said it would not oppose the $3 billion-plus takeover, as GrainCorp directors this week urged shareholders to accept the offer under a deal where shareholders would receive $13.20 per share.

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce said the issue was a challenge for the new treasurer to prove he was up to the job.

"The treasurer has got to prove his mettle and that he works on behalf of the Australian people and Australian farmers," he said.

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New designer drugs multiplying rapidly: UN

NEW drugs marketed as 'legal highs' and 'designer drugs' are emerging fast and in great numbers, and authorities are struggling to keep up, a new UN report warns.

So-called new psychoactive substances (NPS), often sold under harmless names like spice, bath salts or herbal incense, posed a serious health risk although they were legal, the UN office on drugs and crimes (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report.

"Sold openly, including via the internet, NPS, which have not been tested for safety, can be far more dangerous than traditional drugs," the report released on Wednesday warned.

From 166 known NPS in 2009, the number rose to 251 in 2012, according to the UN body.

These drugs, which could be synthetic or plant-based and could be easily altered to create new ones, were now outpacing efforts to control or ban them, it said.

"The international drug control system is floundering for the first time under the speed and creativity of the phenomenon," the UN deplored.

The perception that the drugs were safe also compounded the problem, it said, adding that the long-term effects were unknown.

In the United States, NPS were the most used drugs among students, after cannabis. In Europe, NPS use was on the rise, even as cannabis use has gone down and consumption of other drugs has remained steady.

New psychoactive substances were also present in Asia and Africa and with an ever-growing number of drugs to control, national health, customs and police authorities were stretched thin, requiring more international cooperation to detect them, the UNODC appealed.

Worldwide, cannabis was still the most commonly used illegal drug with 3.9 per cent of the global population aged 15-64 using it, the report said.

In 60 per cent of countries however, prescription drugs like sedatives and tranquillisers were among the top three misused substances, which was of particular concern, it added.

The market for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), which include ecstasy and methamphetamine, was also growing, especially in east and southeast Asia, the UNODC found. Ecstasy was on the rise in Europe.

Meanwhile, eastern and western Africa were becoming increasingly important to traffickers.

A new maritime route seemed to have developed from Afghanistan through Iran and Pakistan leading south towards Africa, "a worrying trend" given the lack of trafficking information on that continent, the UNODC said.

"Africa is increasingly becoming vulnerable to the drug trade and organised crime," UNODC chief Yuri Fedotov warned.

With US-led NATO troops due to leave Afghanistan in 2014, Fedotov also urged "concerted efforts" to help curb drug production in the war-torn country. Last year, Afghanistan produced 74 per cent of the world's opium, according to the UNODC.

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Japan whaling unlawful, not science: Aust

AUSTRALIA has told the United Nation's top court that Japan is unlawfully trying to cloak a commercial whaling operation "in the lab coat of science".

Canberra's lead counsel has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Australia is totally opposed to any form of commercial whaling "whether it be carried out under the guise of science or not".

"Japan seeks to cloak its ongoing commercial whaling in the lab coat of science," Bill Campbell QC said at the opening of a three-week hearing in The Hague.

"(But) this case is about Japan's failure to abide by its clear obligations under the 1946 (whaling) convention not to conduct any form of commercial whaling and its unlawful misuse of the scientific exception ... as a means of perpetuating its commercial whaling activities."

Mr Campbell said few countries, least of all Japan, believed its scientific program was truly about science because it involved killing hundreds of whales each year.

He said if all countries party to the 1946 convention killed as many whales as Japan wanted to each year more than 83,000 minke whales would be harpooned annually in the Southern Ocean.

That would be "catastrophic" for the whale population and was clearly at odds with the purpose of the convention, Mr Campbell said.

Japan's argument that it should be allowed to conduct so-called scientific whaling despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling was therefore "dangerous and untenable".

Canberra is hoping the court will issue a ruling banning Japanese whaling by the end of the year - soon enough to halt the next whaling season.

Mr Campbell said the dispute between Canberra and Tokyo had ended up in court because it had proven "intractable" over many years.

A resolution by the ICJ would enhance the otherwise excellent relationship between the two countries, Mr Campbell said.

Australia's solicitor-general, Justin Gleeson SC, told the 16-judge ICJ panel that the size and repetition of Japan's JARPA II research hunt each year revealed "its true purpose and effect is commerce".

"JARPA II fails to exhibit those essential characteristics that would be required for it to be science," the solicitor-general said on Wednesday.

Mr Gleeson said whale meat was still being supplied to the market in a business-like operation just as it was prior to the 1986 ban.

When it came to genuine science "killing the subject you are studying in order to learn more about it ... should be a matter of last resort not the first or default option", he said, adding Japan hadn't acted in good faith and had abused its rights.

In a rare move the court will hear from experts - not just government representatives and lawyers - during the three-week hearing.

Australia's experts will address the panel on Thursday while Japan's are likely to appear next week after its opening submissions on Tuesday.

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Garzon declines to represent Snowden

SPAIN'S renowned former human rights judge Baltasar Garzon has announced his firm has declined to represent US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

Garzon, who famously tried to extradite Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet from Britain in 1998, is legal director of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which helped organise Snowden's exit from Hong Kong over the weekend.

But Garzon's firm, ILOCAD, decided not to take on the Snowden case, he said in a statement on Wednesday, without giving an explanation.

"This serves to state that the law firm ILOCAD has decided not to represent Mr Snowden, whose whereabouts are unknown," said Garzon, who is the law firm's director.

Garzon said his firm would continue to represent WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange "as senior legal counsel in the defence of the fundamental right to freedom of information and expression".

Garzon said he was "satisfied" with a draft resolution by the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly that said people who disclose criminal acts in the public interest should be protected from retaliation and persecution from those who commit them.

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Snowden 'stuck' at Moscow airport: Putin

Russia's Vladimir Putin (pic) says leaker Edward Snowden is still in a Moscow airport transit zone. Source: AAP

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has spent a fourth day at a Moscow airport with his onward travel plans still a mystery after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected calls for his extradition to the United States.

The United States told Russia it has a "clear legal basis" to expel Snowden, but anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, which helped organise his flight from Hong Kong, said he risks being stuck in Russia "permanently".

Meanwhile Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, who by coincidence is expected in Moscow next week for an energy summit, said Caracas would consider any asylum request from Snowden just as Ecuador is doing.

In his first comments on the chase for the former contractor that has captivated world attention, Putin on Tuesday confirmed that Snowden had arrived in Moscow, but said he had never left the airport's transit zone.

"He arrived as a transit passenger.... He did not cross the state border," Putin said at a news conference in Finland late on Tuesday. "For us, this was completely unexpected," he added.

"Mr Snowden is a free man, the sooner he selects his final destination point, the better for us and for himself," he said.

Snowden who leaked revelations of massive US surveillance programs to the media, had been expected to board a flight for Cuba on Monday, reportedly on his way to seek asylum in Ecuador.

But he never did and Putin hinted that his onward travel plans were still unknown. His US passport has been cancelled but WikiLeaks says he left Hong Kong with a refugee document supplied by Ecuador.

Snowden's extended stay in Moscow has prompted comparisons with the Tom Hanks hit film "The Terminal" about a man living in an airport, while British gambling website William Hill has opened betting on his final destination.

"Cancelling Snowden's passport and bullying intermediary countries may keep Snowden permanently in Russia," WikiLeaks said in a statement on Twitter.

The US urged Russia to use all means to expel Snowden, who arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on a flight from Hong Kong on Sunday despite the US issuing a request for his arrest in China.

"While we do not have an extradition treaty with Russia, there is nonetheless a clear legal basis to expel Mr Snowden," National Security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told AFP.

Hayden said that Snowden could be expelled on the basis of his travel documents and the pending charges against him. However Putin insisted that Russia could not extradite Snowden as it has no extradition agreement with the United States.

Putin said he would prefer not to deal with cases such as those of Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid allegations of sexual assault in Sweden.

"It's the same as shearing a piglet: there's a lot of squealing and not much wool," he said.

But Putin dismissed speculation that Snowden - a potential intelligence goldmine - was being purposely held up at the airport to be interrogated by Russian spies.

WikiLeaks also denied he was being debriefed by the Russian security services and confirmed that British activist Sarah Harrison from its legal team "is escorting him at all times".

Snowden had been expected to travel on with the state carrier Aeroflot on Monday to Havana, but never appeared on the flight. He has not been spotted in the airport, located north-west of Moscow, and is speculated to be inside a capsule hotel in the transit zone.

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Snowden may be stuck in Russia: WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks says Edward Snowden may be forced to stay in Russia permanently because of US "bullying". Source: AAP

THE WikiLeaks organisation says intelligence leaker Edward Snowden may be forced to stay in Russia permanently because the United States is "bullying" possible intermediary countries.

WikiLeaks, which is led by fugitive former computer hacker Julian Assange, has said it helped Snowden flee Hong Kong at the weekend and that one of its staff members is believed to be with him in Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Snowden - who had been expected to board a flight for Cuba on Monday, reportedly on his way to seek asylum in Ecuador - was still in a Moscow airport transit zone.

"Cancelling Snowden's passport and bullying intermediary countries may keep Snowden permanently in Russia," WikiLeaks said on its Twitter feed, without specifying which other countries it was referring to.

"Not the brightest bunch at State," it said, referring to the US State Department.

The comments were the first by WikiLeaks on the issue for more than 24 hours.

Assange said on Monday the government of Ecuador had issued Snowden a "refugee document of passage" after the United States revoked the former National Security Agency contractor's passport but refused to confirm his whereabouts.

WikiLeaks had paid for Snowden's escape and had provided him with a legal adviser, British WikiLeaks staff member Sarah Harrison, who was travelling with the US fugitive, Assange said.

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Court played calls from doomed asylum boat

Frantic calls from a stricken asylum seeker boat have been heard at an inquest into the disaster. Source: AAP

THE phone line was terrible, the language barrier insurmountable and the consequences horrific.

The croaky and increasingly frantic caller pleaded for help for the Siev 358, which eventually sank in waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island in June last year, leading to the deaths of more than 100 asylum seekers.

The inquest into how 17 of those drowned was told it took Indonesian and Australian authorities nearly two days to decide who was in charge of the rescue after they finally established a GPS position from the termite-ridden boat.

By then it was too late for 102 men from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran fleeing the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Indonesian and Australian authorities were both lambasted by counsel assisting the coroner, Marco Tedeschi, who accused them of binding themselves in red tape as the boat floated to its doom.

West Australian coroner Alastair Hope heard the ramshackle fishing vessel had been loaded with 210 asylum seekers as it left Java with little water, few life jackets and immediate problems.

The opening day of the inquest was played the repeated phone calls to the Australian Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC), where the men on board pleaded for help to leave the leaking, damaged ship.

"For me to help you, you need to tell me where you are," the ARCC tells the boat at one point.

Ironically, when the authorities got the position, they were fatally delayed.

The boat's first position was given as 36 nautical miles south of the Sunda Strait, which prompted Australian rescue authorities to tell those aboard they were in Indonesian waters and should turn back.

But Mr Tedeschi outlined a 2004 agreement stating the nation that receives the first distress call is responsible for a rescue - meaning Australia should have acted.

"The reality was (Australia) has responded to distress calls ... and was under an obligation to commence rescue operations," he said.

"They needed to do more, they needed to issue distress calls, they needed to think whether they were best placed."

Indonesian authorities accepted responsibility for the rescue 11 hours later, but no helicopter, marine police or merchant vessel responded, no naval vessel was ever called, and an offer from Australia to issue another mayday call was rejected.

About 33 hours after the first distress call, the boat capsized.

It is believed almost all those who died were in the hull.

A further eight hours after it sank, a Customs plane saw the stricken boat, and Australia called all ships in the area to assist.

Merchant vessel MV Dragon responded within two minutes, and was rescuing survivors within 90 minutes.

It has also emerged through media reports a people smuggler known as Freddy Ambon admitted his involvement in the tragic voyage, referring to the asylum seekers as "goats".

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Taliban attack Afghan presidential palace

TALIBAN gunmen and bombers using fake NATO identification attacked an entrance to the Afghan presidential palace in the heart of Kabul, just a week after insurgent leaders opened an office in Qatar for peace talks.

A nearby building known to house a CIA base also came under attack on Tuesday as explosions and gunfire erupted for more than an hour in the area, which is close to heavily secured Western embassies and ministry buildings.

Afghan security officials said all the assailants were killed. Three Afghan security guards were killed in the attack.

"Three guards assigned at the first entrance are dead and another of them is wounded," Rafi Ferdous, a government spokesman, told AFP.

It was one of the most brazen attacks in the capital since President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped assassination in April 2008 when the Taliban attacked an annual military parade in Kabul.

Gunfire and explosions erupted for more than an hour after the attack began at 6.30am (1200 AEST) on Tuesday, sending smoke into the air above a high-security area of Kabul that also contains many embassies and official buildings.

Two four-wheel-drive cars using fake NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) badges tried to pass through a checkpoint to access the sprawling palace grounds, police said.

"The first vehicle was checked and let in, and as the second car tried to get in the guards became suspicious and tried to prevent it," Mohammad Daud Amin, the Kabul deputy police chief, told AFP.

"The clash started and the cars were detonated. All the attackers were killed."

Police said the cars had been fitted with radio antennae to make them look like ISAF vehicles and that the three or four attackers were also wearing military uniforms.

No civilians were hurt in the attack, but police were unable to confirm if any palace security guards had been injured.

The cars detonated near a CIA office inside the first of several layers of checkpoints around the palace, but a palace official told AFP that the building's expansive grounds had not been breached.

Karzai, who lives in the palace, was due to hold a press event on Tuesday morning and journalists had been asked to report to a checkpoint near the blasts.

All roads to the palace are permanently closed off, with multiple rings of heavy security around the complex keeping people far away.

"A big group of attackers have struck against the CIA office as the main target and also the palace and the defence ministry nearby," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

In the southern province of Kandahar, a roadside bombing on Tuesday killed eight women and one child as they were travelling to celebrate a wedding engagement, police said.

The last major attack in Kabul was on June 11 when the Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb outside the Supreme Court that killed at least 15 civilians.

Tuesday's attack came during a visit to Kabul by US envoy James Dobbins after a diplomatic bust-up over the Taliban's new office in Qatar that was intended as a first step towards a peace deal to end 12 years of fighting in Afghanistan.

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South, North Korea websites hacked

OFFICIAL South and North Korean websites have suffered what appears to be co-ordinated attacks by unknown hackers on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, prompting Seoul to issue a general cyber alert.

The affected websites included those belonging to the South's presidential Blue House and a number of the North's state-run media groups.

South Korea raised its five-stage national cyber alert on Tuesday from level one to two in the morning, and then again to three after the scope of the attack became clear.

Park Jae-moon, director of the Science Ministry's IT Strategy Bureau, said the websites of 11 media outlets, four government agencies and a political party had been shut down.

"It's like an endless fight between spears and shields," Park told reporters, adding that it was too early to say who was responsible.

Some sites were operating normally again in a matter of hours, while some remained offline well into the evening.

The hacking coincided with the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25, 1950.

Investigations into past large-scale cyber assaults on South Korean media groups and financial institutions have concluded that they originated in North Korea.

A number of posts left on the hacked South Korean sites claimed to be the work of the global "hacktivist" group Anonymous and included messages praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

Anonymous denied any involvement on its official Twitter account, but said it had succeeded in hacking a number of North Korean media websites on Tuesday, including the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.

Both sites were briefly inaccessible on Tuesday morning but appeared to be running normally a few hours later.

There was no immediate statement from the North, either confirming or commenting on the attack.

South Korea has sought to beef up its cyber defences since a March 20 attack completely shut down the networks of TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN, and halted financial services and crippled operations at three banks.

An official investigation determined North Korea's military intelligence agency was responsible, with a joint team of civilian and government experts tracing the origin to six personal computers used in North Korea.

In order to spread malware in target computers, the hackers went through 49 different places in 10 countries including South Korea, the investigation found. The North had used 22 of the places in past attacks.

About 48,700 machines including PCs, automatic teller machines and server computers were damaged in the attack, which coincided with heightened military tensions on the Korean peninsula, following Pyongyang's nuclear test in February.

North Korea was also blamed for cyber attacks in 2009 and 2011 that targeted South Korean financial entities and government agencies.

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Desal cost to hit Melbourne water prices

Water prices for Melbourne households will rise by up to $222 in the coming financial year. Source: AAP

MELBOURNE'S low-income households will be hardest hit by water price hikes of up to $222, the state's peak welfare body says.

Water bills across Melbourne will rise an average 22.4 per cent, plus inflation, from Monday, mostly to cover the cost of Victoria's desalination plant.

The increase, however, is less than original proposals from water retailers, who wanted increases of between $269 and $355.

The Victorian Council of Social Service has called on the state government to urgently reform the water concession to better target the vulnerable.

"By not reforming the water concession so that it is more effective in assisting vulnerable households, these price increases will hurt those least able to manage the extra expense, including pensioners," acting CEO Carolyn Atkins said.

Ms Atkins commended the Essential Services Commission for forcing water companies to reduce the rises they originally wanted.

Commission chair Ron Ben-David says the decision to lift rates is about "two thirds to three quarters" due to the desalination plant, which began operating last December.

Dr Ben-David said the price increase was higher than last time because the desal plant's final cost had ballooned above forecasts.

"Now that the desalination plant is operating we have to account for its true full cost to the state and to Melbourne Water."

City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water customers will face a significant price rise in 2013/14, then increases in line with inflation.

Western Water customers' price increases will happen more gradually over five years because the company is less reliant on the desalination plant.

Dr Ben-David said Melbourne Water would have to return to the commission by 2016 with a new plan covering the period until 2021.

Dr Ben David estimated Melburnians' water bills had about doubled over the last five years.

Premier Denis Napthine blamed the rises on the previous Labor government's expensive north-south pipeline and desal plant projects.

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Syria battles rage in Damascus, Aleppo

FIERCE battles have raged on the edges of Damascus as the army presses a major assault to crush rebels around the capital, a monitoring group and activists say.

And in the contested city of Aleppo in the country's north, rebels attempted to advance into western regime-held districts, sparking clashes with government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

"The army is trying to take over Qaboon, Barzeh, Jubar, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and Yarmuk," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, referring to neighbourhoods in the northern, eastern and southern outskirts of the capital.

"The army doesn't have the capacity to take over these neighbourhoods, and the rebels are fighting back. But the humanitarian situation there is catastrophic," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

An activist in Qaboon said the army's offensive on the capital's northeastern district entered its sixth day on Tuesday.

"The district is the only entrance (from the east/northeast) into the capital.... Regime troops fear the (rebel) Free Syrian Army will use Qaboon to enter into Damascus," said the activist, who identified himself as Anas.

Speaking to AFP via the internet, Anas described a critical lack of medical and food supplies in his neighbourhood.

"The humanitarian situation is so bad it would make anyone cry," he said.

Activists meanwhile said the army shelled other rebel-held areas around Damascus in its bid to drive rebel forces out of the capital.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, a grassroots network of activists, reported shelling on Yarmuk Palestinian camp in southern Damascus.

And the Syrian Revolution General Commission reported that army tanks pounded rebel stronghold Daraya southwest of the capital, keeping up a months-long campaign to crush the insurgency there.

In northern Syria, meanwhile, clashes in western Aleppo raged on, days after rebels launched an offensive on regime-held neighbourhoods there.

"The rebels and the army are engaged in tit-for-tat operations ... in Rashidin and Ashrafiyeh" in the west of Aleppo, said the Observatory's Abdel Rahman.

The rebels' first major advance on Aleppo took place nearly a year ago. Though they took control of a large number of neighbourhoods during the assault, the city has been at a near-standstill for many months, with neither side making significant advances.

More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syria's 27-month war, says the UN.

Millions have been forced by the violence to flee their homes.

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12 soldiers killed in Lebanon clashes

Three soldiers died in a clash with supporters of anti-Hezbollah sheik Ahmed al-Assir in Lebanon. Source: AAP

TWELVE soldiers have been killed in clashes with supporters of a radical Sunni cleric in southern Lebanon, the army says, in violence tied to rising sectarian tensions fanned by the Syrian conflict.

The fighting began on Sunday on the outskirts of the city of Sidon and intensified on Monday morning, witnesses and local media said, spreading to parts of the nearby Palestinian Ain al-Helweh camp.

It is the worst violence to hit Lebanon since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, which has exacerbated sectarian tensions in the country, particularly between Shi'ite supporters of the Syrian regime, and Sunni backers of the uprising.

The Lebanese press warned that the country "finds itself before a decisive test", evoking the spectre of the civil war that devastated the nation between 1975 and 1990.

The violence in Sidon began when supporters of Salafi cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir opened fire on an army checkpoint on Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses said the fighting had intensified on Monday, reporting heavy gunfire and the sound of mortar and rocket fire in the Abra neighbourhood on the eastern outskirts of the coastal city.

"The clashes are very violent, we can hear intense rocket fire and gunfire every few minutes," an Abra resident told AFP.

An army spokesman told AFP that 12 soldiers had been killed since the fighting began on Sunday, and medical sources reported at least 35 wounded, mostly civilians.

A source close to Assir said at least five of his supporters had been killed in the fighting.

Assir's brother told AFP that the cleric and his supporters were inside Abra's Bilal Bin Rabah mosque, where Assir preaches, with the National News Agency saying the army was "metres" away.

"There has been a decision taken to finish us off, but we're resisting up until now," Amjad al-Assir told AFP by phone.

"Sheikh Assir will stay in the mosque until the last drop of blood."

Assir was a virtual unknown before the conflict in Syria began in March 2011, but has made headlines for his vocal criticism of Lebanon's Shi'ite group Hezbollah, and its alliance with the Syrian regime.

He has accused the Lebanese army of backing the powerful movement and turning a blind eye to both its weapons and its dispatch of fighters to battle alongside Syrian troops against rebel forces.

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Hearings wrap up for ex-Gunns boss

FORMER Gunns chairman John Gay has been remanded on bail until the beginning of his trial on insider trading charges.

Mr Gay is scheduled to front the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Launceston from August 5 after preliminary proceedings hearings were concluded on Monday.

He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of insider trading in which it is alleged he sold 3.4 million shares, worth around $3 million, with knowledge about Gunns' performance that was not generally available to the market.

Defence lawyer Neil Clelland SC cross-examined corporate valuer Wayne Lonergan, who prepared two reports for the Australian Securities and Investment Commission on how a "hypothetical investor" would behave with information known only to the company's board.

Mr Lonergan told the Launceston magistrates Court such an investor would have been "seriously disturbed" by information the board held on the company's performance in October and November 2009.

"The company had been historically profitable," Mr Lonergan said.

"What they're now looking at ... is a very significant deterioration.

"That's a very serious situation."

Mr Lonergan said stockbrokers were forecasting a modest downturn in profits, while Gunns management was expecting a decline of more than 100 per cent.

Gunns reported a 98 per cent deterioration in half yearly earnings in February 2010 and its share price plummeted.

Mr Lonergan said stockbrokers had described the unexpected result as "a shocker".

The court had previously been told Mr Gay had disposed of the shares to organise his affairs after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He kept another eight million shares in the company, which collapsed into administration last September.

Mr Gay's trial is expected to run for two to three weeks.

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Another Dreamliner makes emergency landing

A BOEING 787 Dreamliner jet was forced to make an emergency landing during an internal US flight because of a problem with its brake system, United Airlines says.

"United flight 94 from Houston to Denver returned to Houston on Sunday due to a brake indicator issue," the US carrier said in a statement.

"Following standard operating procedures, as a precautionary measure, the flight landed in emergency status. The aircraft landed safely at 11.58am CT and our maintenance team is conducting a review of the aircraft," the statement continued.

The flight had departed nearly three hours earlier, at 9.12am local time (0014 AEST Monday).

A spokeswoman for Boeing, which makes the Dreamliner, said the problem with the braking system forced the plane "back to base", without giving details of the malfunction or how long it might take to repair it.

Leach said a Boeing field service representative was on the scene in Houston to help the airline with the issue, including getting the aeroplane back into service and dealing with stranded passengers.

It marks the latest problem to plague Boeing's flagship plane and at least the third in a month.

An All Nippon Airways flight on the Dreamliner was cancelled on June 12 when an engine would not start. A day earlier, a Singapore-bound flight operated by Japan Airlines had to turn back mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.

The worldwide fleet of Dreamliners was grounded for four months earlier this year when problems were discovered with its battery systems.

A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.

Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.

Nevertheless, in a bid to show it was back on track after the technical issues with the jetliner, the aerospace company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 18 that it was launching a new version of the Dreamliner, with over 100 orders worth about $US30 billion ($A32.71 billion).

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Journo wanted to help sex-abuse victims

A JOURNALIST has told an inquiry that she wrote a series of newspaper articles about child sexual abuse by priests because she wanted to help the victims.

Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy's articles, over two years from 2010, led to the establishment of the special commission of inquiry into child abuse allegations in the Hunter region and won her a top national award for investigative journalism.

"It was my only objective," Ms McCarthy told Commissioner Margaret Cunneen in the Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday.

"It was about having the victims and their families looked after.

"I didn't want to go the police.

"I wanted the police to investigate."

Ms Cunneen is examining how police and Maitland/Newcastle Catholic Church priests and officials handled child sex allegations, particularly those involving Fr Denis McAlinden and Fr James Fletcher, who are now dead.

Some of Ms McCarthy's articles were based on information from whistleblower Detective Chief inspector Peter Fox who asserted that church leaders covered up crimes and were assisted by a "Catholic mafia" within police ranks.

A succession of police took to the witness stand during the commission's first session last month denying Det Insp Fox's allegations.

Ms McCarthy, who will continue giving evidence on Tuesday, said the community, the media and politicians had to overcome a "but-this-is-the-church" attitude and ensure child sexual abuse crimes were appropriately investigated and victims cared for.

Earlier on Monday the officer in charge of a taskforce investigating complaints by four alleged victims of the two priests, Detective Sergeant Jeffery Little, said a police report on the matter by Det Insp Fox was "written on a saddle of lies".

Sergeant Little said the report included "significant" inaccuracies and comments made by Det Insp Fox were "a manipulation of the truth".

"I was absolutely mortified by (his) comments that the strike force was a sham and set up to fail," Sgt Little said.

Ms Cunneen is scheduled to report her findings to the state government by September 30.

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ARIA recount places Kanye West at No.1

Kanye West's Yeezus has moved to top spot on the ARIA Albums chart following a data review. Source: AAP

DISCOVERY of a discrepancy in the ARIA Chart sales figures has revealed that Kanye West's Yeezus album outsold the Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey album.

The initial figures had the Cassar-Daley/Harvey album The Great Country Songbook at No.1 ahead of West by less than 200 units but a data review has found the Aussie country album sold less than originally calculated.

ARIA released a statement released on Monday stating: "ARIA would like to inform Australian music fans that, due to a data error discovered after initial publication, this week's ARIA Albums chart has been recalculated.

"This has resulted in a change to the top of the chart, with Kanye West moving to the #1 spot with the album Yeezus, and The Great Country Songbook (Troy Cassar-Daly and Adam Harvey) to #2.

The Great Country Songbook remains at the top of both the Country Albums chart and Australian Albums chart."

ARIA said that it takes the calculation of the weekly Charts very seriously and aims to provide the most accurate information to both industry and fans alike.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Cassar-Daley will be slightly disappointed after tweeting on Monday morning, "Hey folks ?@adamharveymusic and I have the number 1 album in Aust this week!! Awesome news to wake up to!!"

The Great Country Songbook features covers of songs by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Hank Williams, Glen Campbell and Slim Dusty.

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Son drowns, Tas ocean search on for father

A SEARCH will resume at first light for a man missing off Tasmania's northeast coast after the body of his six-year-old son was pulled from the water on Saturday.

The pair had been standing on rocks near a boat ramp when a wave pulled them into the water, police said.

Police pulled the child's body out of the ocean near Bicheno on Saturday evening.

A major search with aircraft and rescue boats began on Saturday evening and continued until dusk on Sunday.

Police say the search has so far failed to find the missing father.

The search will resume at first light on Monday.

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US man set for Grand Canyon tightrope walk

US daredevil Nik Wallenda hopes to make history by walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. Source: AAP

RECORD-BREAKING US daredevil Nik Wallenda hopes to make history again by walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, 450 metres above ground over the world-renowned landmark.

Wallenda, who was the first person to walk across the Niagara Falls last year, will be rigged up with multiple cameras and microphones broadcasting the death-defying feat live around the world.

And unlike the Niagara Falls walk, the 34-year-old will wear no safety harness for the stunt, likely to take him 25 minutes in searing temperatures over the famous tourist attraction.

At Niagara, Wallenda - who first walked the wire aged two - braved strong winds and heavy spray to walk on a cable suspended about 60 metres above North America's biggest waterfall, on the US-Canada border.

On Sunday (local time) he will step out into the void over six times higher - a height greater than that of the Empire State Building - with nothing but a five-centimetre thick steel wire between him and the rocky canyon bottom.

The walk is set to begin from around 6pm Sunday (1100 AEST Monday), an hour or two before sunset over the Grand Canyon and will be broadcast live in 219 countries by the Discovery Channel.

On Saturday, organisers described conditions at the walk site, in a remote area at the eastern end of the Canyon, as "very windy."

Wallenda has been planning the walk for about four years, homing in on a remote location at the eastern end of the mighty geological chasm, on land operated by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation.

He began final training in Florida weeks ago, boosting stamina by walking repeatedly along a 300 metre long rope, and using wind machines to simulate gusts of up to 80 kilometres an hour.

Sunday's walk across 365 metres of rope could potentially be delayed in the unlikely event of winds of above 70km per hour, or if there was a risk of lightning. A new attempt could then be made the following day.

There will be a seven to 10-second delay on the live broadcast.

Wallenda, a seventh generation member of the Flying Wallendas circus family, said that as he steps out he would be thinking of his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda, who died in 1978 after falling from a tightrope.

He has trained for the worst, and said that - unlike his great-grandfather, who had an injured collarbone and double hernia, and grabbed vainly for the wire before falling to his death - he would be able to hold on if necessary.

"It's not like I just grab with my hands like people visualise. I wrap my legs round it, my hands round it, I hug that wire like a bear hug until help comes. I've got rescue teams that would be with me within a minute," he said.

That help would be in the form of rescue trolleys, which hang underneath the cable and could be rolled out in seconds on a winch system to Wallenda, clinging on for his life.

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Man's fingertip bitten off in Sydney brawl

A man's fingertip has been bitten off during a fight in central Sydney. Source: AAP

A MAN'S fingertip has been bitten off during a fight in Sydney's CBD.

Riot police arrested two men at the scene of the brawl between two groups on Sunday morning just after midnight (AEST).

During the fight a 23-year-old man was allegedly bitten on his right middle finger, losing his fingernail and the tip of his finger.

An 18-year-old man from Blacktown and a 20-year-old Merrylands man will face court over the incident in July.

The injured man is being treated in hospital.

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US data whistleblower Snowden exits HK

US whistleblower Edward Snowden is en route from Hong Kong to Moscow, a report says. Source: AAP

FORMER spy Edward Snowden has flown out of Hong Kong, reportedly bound for Moscow and onwards to a third destination, momentarily escaping the clutches of US justice in a shock development sure to infuriate Washington.

Confirming his departure, the Hong Kong government said it had "no legal basis" to prevent the 30-year-old leaving because the US government had failed to provide enough information to justify its provisional arrest warrant filed on Friday.

"Mr Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel," it said in a statement, without confirming his destination.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor was aboard Aeroflot flight SU213, according to the South China Morning Post, which has carried exclusive interviews with Snowden in Hong Kong.

The plane was due to land at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport around 5:15pm (2315 AEST), according to flight tracking websites.

The latest interview on Sunday contained new revelations about US cyber-espionage against Chinese targets that drew a stinging response from China's official news agency.

The foreign ministry in Beijing had no immediate comment, either about the revelations or about Snowden's plans.

"Moscow will not be his final destination," the SCMP said, citing "credible sources", and raised the possibility of Iceland or Ecuador as Snowden's ultimate port of call.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said he had no information that Snowden was flying to Moscow.

Russian media reports said he could be heading on to Cuba.

On its Twitter feed, Julian Assange's WikiLeaks operation claimed credit for helping to arrange "Mr Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers and safe exit from Hong Kong", without revealing the final destination.

Snowden came to Hong Kong on May 20 to begin a damaging series of leaks on NSA eavesdropping of phones and computer systems that has triggered concern from governments around the world.

President Barack Obama's US administration insists the surveillance was legal and had foiled a number of extremist plots.

Snowden's departure could bring US repercussions against Hong Kong but more broadly will be a shock to the Obama administration, which just on Friday had unveiled charges including theft and espionage against him in a bid to force his return from Hong Kong.

The government of Hong Kong, a "special administrative region (SAR)" under Chinese rule that has maintained its own British-derived legal system, said it had informed Washington of Snowden's exit.

It also pressed Washington for answers "on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies".

China's official Xinhua news agency on Sunday attacked the United States as an espionage "villain" after Snowden detailed new allegations of NSA activity targeting mainland and Hong Kong interests.

In the latest revelations published by the South China Morning Post, Snowden said the NSA was hacking Chinese mobile phone companies to gather data from millions of text messages.

He said US spies have also hacked the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing - home to one of six "network backbones" that route all of mainland China's internet traffic - and the Hong Kong headquarters of Pacnet, which operates one of the Asia-Pacific region's largest fibre-optic networks.

Abandoning his well-paid job as an intelligence technician in Hawaii, Snowden came to Hong Kong with a cache of documents detailing the reach of NSA operations around the world.

His claims about Pacnet followed a Guardian report in which he claimed the British government's electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ had gained secret access to fibre-optic cables carrying global internet traffic and telephone calls, and was sharing the information with the NSA.

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Snapper defends Nigella Lawson pictures

THE photographer who took pictures of Nigella Lawson being assaulted by her husband says the attack lasted for "27 minutes of madness" but he didn't intervene because he feared being arrested himself.

Snapper Jean-Paul says the incident outside a London restaurant shouldn't be brushed under the carpet and the celebrity chef Lawson was "properly abused" by art collector husband Charles Saatchi.

"What I witnessed was 27 minutes of madness," Jean-Paul wrote in the British tabloid Sunday People, which first published his shocking pictures last weekend.

"That's how long the abuse lasted from start to finish so it was most definitely not a fleeting moment."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg came under fire last week for suggesting Saatchi's clutching of his wife's throat could have been "just a fleeting thing".

Government minister Alistair Burt on Saturday said he would have intervened if he had witnessed the assault on the celebrity chef and there should be "no toleration" of violence against women.

Jean-Paul said people had asked why he didn't intervene but the answer was simple.

"I would have been arrested," he wrote on Sunday.

"I'm paparazzi so everyone hates you to begin with.

"The best thing I could do was carry on taking the pictures because now everyone can see that Charles Saatchi is an abuser."

The celebrity photographer said knowing his pictures had been seen all over the world was "so special".

"I am proud because as a photographer you want to be in the paper but you also want to take pictures that mean something.

"This will be talked about for years."

Saatchi has accepted a police caution over the incident.

The 70-year-old former advertising executive admitted the pictures looked "horrific" but dismissed it as a "playful tiff" and insisted he accepted the caution to stop it "hanging over" them.

Sunday People also reports a "well-placed aide" claims Lawson, 53, is "broken and desolate" following the incident.

"Neither she nor Charles are interested in counselling or trying to save the marriage," the tabloid reports the aide as saying.

"It seems they are done."

The newspaper notes the celebrity chef was seen out and about on Friday without her wedding ring.

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