Albo calls for patience on poll date

The Deputy Prime Minister has called for people to be patient about the federal poll date. Source: AAP

DEPUTY Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says no one in the Rudd government has a "rush to the polls mentality" but it will be before or after his league team wins the premiership.

Mr Albanese on Saturday called for patience, as speculation about the federal election date reaches fever pitch.

"No one in the government has had a rush to the polls mentality," he told reporters, flanked by scores of red balloons at a community campaign event for Chinese Australian lawyer Jason Yat-sen Li, Labor's candidate for the Sydney seat of Bennelong.

He said the government would consider calling the election at an appropriate time.

"It will be before or after the Souths win their twenty first premiership," he joked.

Mr Albanese is a South Sydney Rabbitohs supporter.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to stop "playing games" and name the date.

"The government of our country is not about showbiz," he told reporters at the Stockman's Hall of Fame at Longreach in western Queensland.

"Electing a national government is not a version of celebrity Big Brother."

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Six dead, 40 wounded in Philippines blast

Six people have been killed and at least 28 injured in a bomb blast in a southern Philippine city. Source: AAP

SIX people are dead and more than 40 wounded in the Philippines after a bomb struck a restaurant filled with doctors after a national convention.

Police say the improvised explosive device went off around midnight Friday local time at a popular restaurant in the southern port city of Cagayan de Oro.

Most of the victims were doctors and pharmaceutical salesmen who had just attended a national convention of lung-disease specialists at a nearby hotel, said the city police chief, Senior Superintendent Graciano Mijares.

"This is one of the busiest areas of Cagayan de Oro.... somebody left a bomb on a chair at the bistro," he told reporters.

He declined to speculate on the motive for the bombing, saying an investigation was under way.

Cagayan de Oro is located on the main southern island of Mindanao, which has been blighted by a decades-old rebellion by elements of the large Muslim minority in the mainly Catholic Asian nation.

Local businessman Noel Arcenas, who owns an electronics shop at the shopping complex where the restaurant is located, said at least 100 people were inside the bistro when the explosion occurred.

"I felt then heard the blast," said Arcenas, who added he was standing about 15 metres away.

"I looked around and saw this ball of white smoke. People were running away bloodied and survivors were dragging at least seven or eight people away from the blast site."

The powerful explosion broke glass panels, upturned tables and chairs, and damaged cars parked up to 30 metres away, reporters at the scene said.

The six dead included two doctors as well as local politician Roldan Lagbas, a member of the provincial executive board of Misamis Oriental province, police said.

Forty-six other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Leo Bongosia.

President Benigno Aquino's government denounced the attack.

"We deplore this act of violence at this meeting of professionals, the Philippine College of Physicians, whose mission in life is to bring about healing," Aquino spokesman Herminio Coloma told reporters in Manila.

Cagayan de Oro mayor Oscar Moreno told ABS-CBN television network at least two of the wounded were in critical condition.

"Doctors have been attending to them and we hope their situation will stabilise soon," Moreno said.

Asked who he thought was responsible for the attack, he said: "It's hard to speculate at this time."

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Sydney teen mum reveals abduction ordeal

A TEENAGE mother has described her terrifying ordeal after her baby son was abducted at knife point in Sydney by her ex-partner.

As the hunt continues for Steven Hume, who forced his way into the Chester Hill home of his ex-girlfriend on Thursday night, the baby's mother said she tried to escape.

Casey Mifsud, 16, told the Seven Network Hume broke into her southwest Sydney home, took out a knife and told her to get in the car with her eight-month old son.

"He told me he was going to kill me ... and my son," said Ms Mifsud, who had cuts to her face.

"Every time he would ask me a question and I would answer it, he would punch me in the head ... smash my head into the car window and then told me that he's really sorry and that he only does it because he loves me."

When Hume stopped for tissues to wipe her bloody face she fled the car with her baby.

Ms Mifsud said she banged on a driver's door begging for help but the driver took off.

This is when the 24-year-old grabbed baby Zhaiden and took off.

Hume's car was found abandoned on Avon Dam Road at Bargo, south of Sydney, on Friday morning after it slammed into a tree.

Ms Mifsud said she thought her child was dead until one of Hume's family members handed him to Campbelltown police station around 5pm (AEST) on Friday.

"It just makes me feel like I failed as a mum," Ms Mifsud said while sobbing heavily.

"He should get jail time for beating a woman."

The baby is currently in the care of the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.

Hume, who has a thin build, brown hair and several tattoos on his arms and chest, was last seen wearing a blue jumper and green track pants.

Police warn he's considered dangerous and should not be approached.

"I ask that members of the public do not approach him, but contact triple zero immediately," Superintendent Dave Eardley, from the Bankstown Local Area Command, said on Saturday.

"I urge Steven Hume to attend the nearest police station and hand himself in, or contact us and commence some dialogue."

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Spain train diver facing charges

The driver of a speeding train that crashed in Spain has refused to respond to police questioning. Source: AAP

THE driver of a train that hurtled off the rails killing 78 people in Spain faces possible charges as doctors work to identify the last three victims of the country's worst rail disaster in decades.

As Spain mourned on Saturday, the city of Santiago de Compostela where the crash occurred is preparing a funeral for Monday in its cathedral, a destination for Catholic pilgrims from around the world.

Police have accused the driver, identified by media as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, of "recklessness" in Wednesday night's devastating crash.

They said late on Friday that he refused to answer their questions in his hospital bed and the case has been passed to the courts.

The train was said to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit when it hurtled off the rails and slammed into a concrete wall, with one carriage leaping up onto a siding.

Smoke billowed from the gutted cars as bodies were strewn across the tracks. Locals said they came running from their houses to drag passengers from the wreckage.

The grey-haired driver, who reportedly boasted of his love for speed online, was under police surveillance in hospital, said Jaime Iglesias, police chief in the northwestern Galicia region.

The driver faces criminal accusations including "recklessness", Iglesias told a news conference, but has not yet been charged.

A police spokesman later said the driver had refused to respond to police questioning on Friday and the courts would now decide on judicial action.

Spanish media published photographs of the man they identified as Garzon after the crash, with blood covering the right side of his face.

Leading Spanish newspaper El Pais said the driver of the train had been unable to brake in time.

Seventy-eight passengers perished, three of whom have yet to be identified, and 178 were injured, regional authorities said.

Following the crash, weeping relatives waited in a conference centre in the city for news of their loved ones, attended by counsellors.

At least seven foreigners are among the dead - a US citizen, an Algerian, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Venezuelan, an Italian and a national of the Dominican Republic, a judicial source said.

Most of the injured are Spanish, but at least eight were foreigners from Argentina, Britain, Colombia, the US and Peru.

The number of people still in hospital dropped to 81, including 28 adults and three children who were in critical condition, Galician Health Minister Rocio Mosquera said.

The driver, while still trapped in his cab, told railway officials by radio that the train had taken the curve at 190 kilometres an hour, more than double the 80 km/h speed limit on that section of track, El Pais said, citing unidentified sources in the investigation.

"I was going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience," he was quoted as saying.

He has reportedly been with state rail company Renfe for 30 years, including 13 years of experience as a driver.

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1267 boat people arrived since PNG deal

More than 1000 asylum seekers are waiting on Christmas Island to be transferred to PNG. Source: AAP

THE number of asylum seekers arriving by boat since the government announced its hardline resettlement policy more than a week ago has climbed to 1267.

Home affairs Minister Jason Clare released two statements on Saturday evening revealing details of two more boats intercepted on Friday.

One had 94 passengers and two crew on board, while the other was carrying 123 passengers and two crew.

People on both vessels have been taken to Christmas Island for initial identity and health checks before they are transferred to Papua New Guinea.

A spokesman for Mr Clare confirmed a total of 1267 arrivals on 16 boats since the government introduced the new PNG policy on July 19.

Under the federal government's deal with PNG, people arriving by boat will be denied resettlement in Australia, taken to Manus Island for processing and if their refugee status is approved, resettled in PNG.

More than 1000 asylum seekers are already waiting on Christmas Island to be transferred to PNG.

Meanwhile, an independent investigation into riots that burnt down accommodation at the Nauru detention centre and allegations of asylum seekers being raped on Manus Island will be set up this week.

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Tunisia in turmoil after MP's murder

Tunisian opposition figure, Mohamed Brahmi, has been shot dead outside his home by unknown gunman. Source: AAP

TUNISIA faces a general strike after gunmen shot dead a leading opposition figure in a killing that brought thousands of protesters on to the streets and sparked international condemnation.

Tunisia's national airline Tunisair cancelled all flights on Friday.

MP Mohamed Brahmi, a father of five, was shot by unknown gunmen outside his home on Thursday in the second such political assassination this year.

The ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist group, denied accusations from his family that it was involved.

Protesters took to the streets on Thursday in central Tunis and in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Arab Spring and Brahmi's home town.

Police in Tunis fired tear gas to disperse scores of demonstrators who tried to set up a tent for a sit-in calling for the fall of the regime.

The General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTT) called Friday's general strike across the country in protest at "terrorism, violence and murders".

It last called a two-hour general strike on January 14, 2011, the day former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fell.

Brahmi, 58, of the leftist Popular Movement, was killed outside his home in Ariana, near Tunis, Watanya state television and the official TAP news agency reported.

"He was riddled with bullets in front of his wife and children," Mohsen Nabti, a fellow member of the small movement, said in a tearful account aired on Tunisian radio.

Human Rights Watch said that Brahmi's son, Adnen, had told its researchers he heard a first and a second gunshot, then several other shots as if from a machine gun.

He and his sister ran out of the house and as they reached their father's car they saw two men riding off on a motorbike, HRW said in a statement.

The Tunisian presidency, meanwhile, told AFP that Friday would be observed as a day of national mourning "following the assassination of lawmaker martyr Mohamed Brahmi".

The February 6 assassination of Chokri Belaid, another opposition figure, also outside his home, sparked a political crisis in Tunisia and charges of government connivance.

"I accuse Ennahda," the MP's sister Chhiba Brahmi told AFP at the family home in Sidi Bouzid. "It was them who killed him," she said, although she offered no evidence.

"Our family had the feeling that Mohamed would suffer the same fate as Chokri Belaid," whose family also blamed Ennahda, she added.

Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi rejected the charge in a statement to AFP. Brahmi's killing was "a catastrophe for Tunisia", he said.

"Those behind this crime want to lead the country towards civil war and to disrupt the democratic transition."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the killing, adding her voice to calls by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for an investigation into the killing.

The United States condemned the "cowardly" assassination.

Brahmi was elected MP in October 2011 for Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the revolution earlier that year that toppled Ben Ali.

On July 7, he resigned as general secretary of the Popular Movement, which he founded, saying it had been infiltrated by Islamists.

Following his killing, angry demonstrators took to the streets of Tunis to denounce the ruling Islamists.

Mohamed Maaroufi, a member of a youth committee that organised the protest, told AFP that they would stay in the streets until Ennahda had been forced from government.

In Sidi Bouzid, crowds, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood, chanted "Down with the Brothers, down with the people's torturers!"

Thousands also protested in nearby Menzel Bouzaine, where Ennahda party offices were set ablaze.

Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, himself an Islamist, told reporters: "I condemn in the strongest terms this odious crime which targets the whole of Tunisia and its security."

He also called for calm.

"This drama must not be exploited to sow trouble," he said. "Only minutes after news of the murder was announced, calls were made inciting Tunisians to kill each other."

President Moncef Marzouki said the killing was aimed at derailing the Arab Spring, and called it a "second national catastrophe" after Belaid's murder.

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China nursing home fire kills 11 residents

ELEVEN nursing home patients burned to death in China after one of them set the facility on fire in a row over money.

Wang Gui, who was 45 and had had a stroke, set the inpatient section of the home in Hailun, Heilongjiang province, on fire early on Friday after another resident allegedly stole 200 yuan (about $A35) from him, the Xinhua news agency said, quoting the local police.

Wang and 10 other people, the oldest aged 87, died and two others were injured, the report said.

The nursing home housed 283 mostly senior citizens, Xinhua said. It was built in 2005 and has 450 beds for people in the northeastern area who have no source of income.

Wang was sent there as he had nobody to take care of him after his stroke, it added.

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Spain train crash probe focuses on driver

The driver of a train that derailed in Spain is being questioned after admitting to speeding. Source: AAP

THE focus of a probe into a horrific train derailment in northwestern Spain that killed at least 80 people has turned to the injured driver, who reportedly boasted of his love of speed online.

The driver, identified by local media as Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, was under police surveillance in hospital after the train hurtled off the tracks late on Wednesday while apparently going at twice the legal speed limit in one of Spain's worst rail disasters ever.

State train company Renfe said the driver was a 30-year veteran of the firm with more than a decade of train driving experience.

The train's data recording "black box" and other documents were passed over to the judge in charge of the investigation on Thursday.

Attention has so far centred on Garzon Amo, one of two drivers on the train, after media reports described him as a speed freak who once gleefully posted a picture on his Facebook page of a train speedometer showing it was travelling at 200km/h.

Below the photo he wrote the caption: "I am on the edge, I can't go faster or else I will be fined."

His Facebook page has since been taken down, but Spanish newspapers quoted another of his posts as saying: "What fun it would be to race the Guardia Civil (police) and pass them, causing their radar to blow up hehehe. What a huge fine that would be for Renfe."

Police originally intended to question him on Thursday, but had to wait because he was still being treated for light injuries sustained in the crash on the outskirts of the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela, a police source said.

The El Pais newspaper, citing sources close to the investigation, said the driver stated immediately after the crash that he had been travelling at 190km/h on a curve with a speed limit of 80km/h.

"I am going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience," he reportedly told supervisors over the radio while trapped inside the cab after the eight-carriage train flew off the tracks on a curve at 8.42pm.

Dramatic video footage from a security camera showed the fast-moving train, which was travelling from Madrid to the port of Ferrol, slamming into a concrete wall at the side of the track as the engine overturned.

On Friday, the paper reported the driver was unable to brake in time.

"The railway warning systems detected that Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, the driver of the Alvia train that departed Madrid, was travelling at 190 kilometres an hour when it should not exceed 80," El Pais wrote.

"The driver acknowledged that the alarm went off in the control panel and he tried to brake but was not able to avert the tragedy," the newspaper added.

The Galician regional government said 80 people died and at least another 100 were injured in the accident, which left bodies and gutted carriages strewn across the tracks.

The US Department of State confirmed that one of its citizens was among the dead and five others had been injured.

Eighty-three people were still in hospital, 32 of them in critical condition, including four children.

Of the 80 dead, 13 still had not been identified.

Officials were holding off giving a complete list of the injured until everyone has been identified.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of the city, declared three days of national mourning after visiting the scene of the accident.

Renfe president Julio Gomez-Pomar Rodriguez told Cadena Cope radio station that it was too early to speculate about the cause of the disaster, but the Spanish secretary of state for transport, Rafael Catala, said excessive speed appeared to be the culprit.

"The tragedy that happened in Santiago de Compostela seems to be linked to excessive speed, but we are still waiting on the judicial investigation," he told radio station Cadena Ser.

Renfe said the train had no technical problems and had just passed an inspection on the morning of the accident.

Many of the passengers were thought to be on their way to a festival in honour of Saint James, the apostle who gave his name to Santiago de Compostela, an annual event that draws crowds of pilgrims to the town.

All festivities have been cancelled as Spain plunged into mourning for the victims.

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Halliburton admits destroying evidence

Halliburton Energy Services have admitted destroying evidence relating to the 2010 oil rig disaster. Source: AAP

HALLIBURTON, the US energy services giant, has admitted destroying evidence relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst such disaster in American history.

A Justice Department statement released late on Thursday said the company had agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct that occurred when it was carrying out its own post-accident investigation.

Eleven people died and 4.9 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf over a three-month period after the explosion, with BP - who leased Deepwater Horizon - ending up paying billions of dollars in compensation and cleanup costs.

Halliburton Energy Services, BP's contractor, had been accused by the British oil giant of destroying evidence. BP has also asked Halliburton to pay damages stemming from the April 2010 accident off the coast of Louisiana.

The Justice Department statement said Halliburton - which constructed the cement casing of the well at the centre of the disaster - had carried out its own internal investigations in May and June the same year.

However, the results of computer simulations conducted as part of that probe were ordered to be destroyed and were never recovered, it said.

In addition to a guilty plea - which is subject to court approval - Halliburton has agreed to pay the maximum statutory fine of $US200,000 ($A217,650).

The company said in a statement that it would make a separate and voluntary $US55 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The disaster wreaked havoc on the Gulf region's environment and economy.

The central subject of the cooperation and guilty plea deal was the number of heavy metal collars, known as centralisers, placed at various points on the cement casing of the Macondo well that eventually exploded.

The Justice Department said that prior to the blowout, Halliburton had recommended that 21 centralisers be used, but BP instead opted for six.

Halliburton's post-accident tests failed to back up its earlier suggestion.

"These simulations indicated that there was little difference between using six and 21 centralisers. (The) Program Manager was directed to, and did, destroy these results," the Justice Department statement said.

In a later incident in or around June 2010, similar evidence was also destroyed when Halliburton's cementing technology director asked another more experienced employee to repeat the simulations.

When he "reached the same conclusion" he was directed to "get rid of" the simulations, the statement said.

"In agreeing to plead guilty, Halliburton has accepted criminal responsibility for destroying the aforementioned evidence," the Justice Department added.

Halliburton's statement said the agreement with the Justice Department would conclude the criminal investigation into its actions over the giant spill.

"A Halliburton subsidiary has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanour violation associated with the deletion of records created after the Macondo well incident, to pay the statutory maximum fine of $US200,000 and to accept a term of three years probation," it said.

Several government probes have castigated BP, rig operator Transocean and Halliburton for cutting corners and missing warning signs that could have prevented the disaster.

Last year, BP agreed to pay $US4.5 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges relating to the explosion and ensuing spill.

The company also spent more than $US14 billion on the response and cleanup and has paid another $US10 billion to businesses, individuals and local governments that did not join an ongoing class action lawsuit.

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Hong Kong shares end 0.31% higher

HONG Kong shares have closed up 0.31 per cent following small gains on Wall Street and with China unveiling measures to help boost the mainland economy.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 67.99 points on Friday to 21,968.95 on turnover of HK$44.43 billion ($A6.24 billion).

Extending a week of quiet trade in the Chinese city, volume totalled HK$44.43, down from HK$45.33 billion on Thursday.

At the start of the week turnover was just HK$38.49 billion, the market's lowest point since September.

The slow trade has meant hope the market might push the 22,000 points barrier this week prove elusive.

"We still believe 22,000 is a kind of resistance," Steven Leung, head of institutional sales at UOB Kay Hian, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Investors, he added, were still in profit-taking mode after the index rallied more than 2 per cent on Tuesday.

Financial shares were one of the few areas that saw some gains.

Mainland bank shares closed mostly higher. China Construction Bank rose 0.4 per cent to HK$5.78 and Bank of China gained 0.3 per cent to HK$3.28.

Shares of Hong Kong insurer and index heavy AIA rose 0.4 per cent to HK$35.85 after reporting first-half results that comfortably beat expectations.

The company reported a 26 per cent jump in the value of new business, topping the 22 per cent growth expected by analysts.

Chinese shares ended down 0.51 per cent on Friday due to persistent worries over the health of the domestic economy, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 10.32 points to 2,010.85 on turnover of 65.5 billion yuan ($10.7 billion).

The index rose 0.91 per cent for the week on hopes for policies to boost economic growth.

"The market will likely be stuck in consolidation mode before there are signs of an economic recovery," Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP.

A government plan to cut excess production capacity in 19 sectors hit coal producers and steel firms.

Qinghai Jinrui Mineral Development lost 4.29 per cent to 7.81 yuan while Yanzhou Coal Mining fell 2.28 per cent to 9.87 yuan.

Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union dropped 2.03 per cent to 3.87 yuan and Chongqing Iron & Steel shed 1.06 per cent to 2.79 yuan.

Heavyweight financial shares also fell.

Industrial Securities lost 2.01 per cent to 9.26 yuan, Agricultural Bank of China fell 1.20 per cent to 2.48 yuan and China Life Insurance slid 0.61 per cent to 13.13 yuan.

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Four suspected NSW armed robbers charged

FOUR young men suspected of a series of armed robberies in Sydney's south have been charged.

Drugs, a firearm part and ammunition were also seized during searches of the men and a car, police say.

Officers from tactical operations and the dog squad arrested three of the men, 32, 23 and 20, on a main road at Merrylands on Tuesday afternoon.

The fourth man, 19, was arrested inside a club on the same road shortly after.

The men were charged with a raft of offences, including robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, aggravated break and enter and supplying and possessing drugs.

Three men appeared at Fairfield Local Court on Tuesday and the 19-year-old is due before the same court in August.

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Motorcyclist killed in Mildura crash

A MOTORCYCLIST has died after his vehicle collided with a car in northwest Victoria.

The man, a 25-year-old from Mildura, was heading west along the town's Benatook Road on Tuesday night when he hit a car at the intersection of 16th Avenue, police said.

He later died at the scene, while the car's driver - a local woman in her 50s - was not injured.

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WA prison farm escapee captured nearby

A DANGEROUS escapee from Karnet Prison Farm south of Perth has been recaptured by police.

Bradley Edmund Wilcott, a 54-year-old sex offender, left the grounds of the minimum security facility around noon (WST) on Monday.

Police warned he was unpredictable and should not be approached.

On Tuesday evening, police said he had been found and captured without incident in the general vicinity of the prison around 4pm.

He has been charged with escaping legal custody and will appear in Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

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Napthine confident in education talks

PREMIER Denis Napthine says he is confident that discussions with the federal government will secure both funding and a commitment to autonomy for Victorian schools.

Dr Napthine met with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday to discuss the Better Schools program. It is set to pump $14 billion into the national school system and to create a new education model to come into effect in the 2014 school year.

While he was unable to confirm whether he'd be signing onto the program, Dr Napthine said talks with Mr Rudd had progressed well.

"We've had fruitful and positive discussions," he said.

"We're getting our officials, both State and Commonwealth, around the table to get the best deal in education funding for Victoria into the future."

Victoria would receive $4 billion in funding if it joined the program but Dr Napthine said that keeping school administration in local hands was also an important priority for the state's future.

"We want assurances from the Federal government with regard to the management of our schools," he said.

"It's absolutely vital for us that our schools are managed by local school councils, local school principals and local school committees, rather than faceless bureaucrats in Canberra."

Three states - NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT - have already signed up to the Better Schools plan, with discussions also ongoing with Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Mr Rudd said it would be in Victoria's interest to sign up.

"Our call is pretty basic: come on board, premier, this is a great plan for Australia," Mr Rudd said.

He also appealed to the other Liberal premiers of Western Australia and Queensland to join up.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Catholic Education sector confirmed it would be joining the program and is set to receive $1.6 billion in funding from the government.

Australia's independent school sector has already endorsed the plan.

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Hong Kong shares end 2.33% higher

HONG Kong shares surged 2.33 per cent on Tuesday after China's premier said the country's economic growth must not slip below the "bottom line" of seven per cent.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 498.92 points to end at 21,915.42 on turnover of HK$66.44 billion ($A9.32 billion).

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted in state media as saying at a meeting earlier this month that economic growth must stay above the "bottom line" of seven per cent.

He said the target was necessary to ensure China's goal of doubling gross domestic product between 2010 and 2020, state-backed Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

The comments lifted spirits as they indicated Beijing would introduce some form of economy-boosting measures should growth fall too much, as it tries to avoid a so-called hard landing.

Following publication of the remarks Chinese companies had a particularly good day.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, closed up 3.9 per cent at 9,780.16, near a six-week high.

Shares in mainland banks, which suffered losses at the beginning of the week when the People's Bank of China said it would remove a government-mandated floor on lending rates, surged Tuesday.

ICBC rose 4.9 per cent to HK$5.10 and China Construction Bank surged 4.8 per cent to HK$5.70

Chinese telecom equipment supplier ZTE also jumped 20 per cent to HK$13.94 after the company late Monday said it posted a core profit in the second quarter, its first in a year.

On the mainland, meanwhile, shares closed up 1.95 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 39.12 points to 2,043.88 on turnover of 92.7 billion yuan ($A16.41 billion).

"(Li's) remarks helped stabilise the pessimistic expectations in the market," Sinolink Securities analyst Tao Jinggang told AFP.

"There are also expectations for stimulus policies in railway construction," he said.

Railway and infrastructure shares led the gains after reports that China may speed up railway investment.

Locomotive maker CSR Corp surged 8.12 per cent to 3.86 yuan while China Railway Construction jumped 7.21 per cent to 4.76 yuan.

Improved global prices saw Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead approach its 10 per cent daily limit to end at 10.69 yuan while Zijin Mining rose 2.43 per cent to 2.53 yuan.

And rare earth firms rose on reports authorities are considering a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining.

Baotou Steel Rare-Earth advanced 8.09 per cent to 24.71 yuan and Xiamen Tungsten was up 4.99 per cent at 29.03 yuan.

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Rudd's PNG boat deal a fake fix: Abbott

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says asylum seekers could still be resettled in Aus. Source: AAP

THE coalition has launched a broad attack on Labor's asylum seeker deal with Papua New Guinea, accusing Kevin Rudd of misleading Australians to win votes ahead of an election.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the central thrust of the deal - that all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to PNG and will not be resettled in Australia - simply is not true.

"It's clear that neither of Mr Rudd's assertions are actually borne out by the document," he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

"Mr Rudd has been misleading to the point of dishonesty."

Mr Abbott, accompanied by his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, detailed a long list of alleged flaws with the deal, signed on Friday by Mr Rudd and his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill.

Under the arrangement, people arriving by boat without a visa were to be sent to Australia's Manus Island facility in PNG for assessment and, if found to be refugees, would be settled there.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus earlier said it was unlikely PNG's leader would have told the coalition anything different.

"I'm certain that's not what Prime Minister O'Neill said," Mr Dreyfus told Network Ten.

But Mr Abbott said the document wasn't even legally binding, but a scant two pages "held together with blue tac and sticky tape" to last until the election.

"This is simply another fake fix from someone who is the great pretender of Australian politics," he said.

Mr Morrison said it was clear from examining the details that PNG was not bound to the agreement, and that Labor had no plan for children arriving by boat.

PNG would not take an unlimited number of asylum seekers, despite Labor claims to the contrary, and it could be years before Manus Island could handle a surge in arrivals, he added.

He said people who are found not to be refugees would become Australia's problem, and those with communicable diseases, terrorism charges or a criminal background would remain in Australia.

"The devil is always in the detail with Mr Rudd, and Mr Rudd always proves to be the devil in that detail," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Rudd's hardline policy will likely feature at a meeting of Labor MPs meeting in Sydney on Monday, with Cabinet member Mark Butler acknowledging a level of discomfort within the party ranks.

"There would be people within the Labor movement and the Labor party and the broader community who would feel uncomfortable with this," he told Sky News.

It comes as Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare announced that the Australian Federal Police would pay rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people smugglers.

But Foreign Minister Bob Carr said asylum seekers were arriving at the rate of 40,000 to 50,000 a year, and a tough response to stop that rising even further was unavoidable.

"If it continues at this level - the prime minister was very persuaded by this - it could rise further as people smugglers really close in to make a financial killing," he told Sky News.

The coalition has said it would "salvage" what it could from the deal if elected to government, but wouldn't be replaced its foremost policy of turning back asylum boats where it's safe to do so.

18.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

10 rebels and soldiers killed in Colombia

Six guerillas from the FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes. Source: AAP

SIX guerillas from the leftist FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes in southwest Colombia.

Military officials say the fighting occurred in the town of El Doncello, in the department of Caqueta, a stronghold of the southern bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Three soldiers were injured and two militants captured.

The latest casualties of Colombia's almost half-century-old insurgency came a day after the rebel group announced it had captured a US-ex soldier but said it was ready to release him as a gesture toward peace talks with the government.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is the country's largest guerrilla group with 8000 fighters.

Talks between the rebels and the government opened last November in Cuba, in the fourth attempt since the 1980s to end the conflict that has left 600,000 dead, more than 3.7 million displaced and 15,000 missing.

18.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Three dead in Russian chopper crash

AT least three people, including two British citizens, were killed in Russia's far north when a helicopter crashed into them while they were standing on the ground, officials say.

A distress signal had already been received on Sunday from the Eurocopter-120 before it made the hard landing on the north of the Kola peninsula in the Murmansk region.

"Three people were killed, two of them are British citizens," the local branch of the emergencies ministry said in a statement on Russian news agencies.

The RIA Novosti state news agency said that the two foreigners were believed to be tourists.

The identity of the other individual said to have been killed was not immediately clear.

Reports said the three appeared to have been crushed to death by the helicopter while standing on the ground and were not inside the aircraft at the time of the crash.

"After take-off, the helicopter tilted and fell onto its side. Three people who were on the ground at the time died of their injuries," a source in Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsia told RIA Novosti.

Reports said it was possible that the tourists had been taken by helicopter to the remote area for fishing and then killed by the aircraft after it had deposited them in bad weather.

The Life News website described the Britons as "VIP tourists" who were taking part in a fishing trip especially for foreigners.

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Asylum boat detected with 60 on board

A suspected asylum seeker vessel was detected in waters near Christmas Island. Source: AAP

THE navy is escorting an asylum seeker boat with about 60 passengers on board to Christmas Island.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a call from the vessel on Sunday morning, and asked the navy to assist.

A navy ship arrived in the early afternoon, and after boarding the asylum vessel began escorting it toward Christmas Island, an AMSA spokesman told AAP.

Under the Rudd government's tough new asylum seeker deal, any asylum seekers arriving by boat without a visa after last Friday will be sent to Papua New Guinea for processing.

If they're found to be genuine refugees, they may be resettled in PNG but not in Australia.

18.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Belgium's King Albert II abdicates

Belgium's King Albert II has officially abdicated in a solemn ceremony at the royal palace. Source: AAP

ALBERT II has abdicated after 20 years as 'King of the Belgians' in favour of his son Philippe, who becomes the seventh monarch of a country split between its French- and Flemish-speaking halves.

In a solemn ceremony at the royal palace on Sunday, Albert signed the act of abdication in front of an audience of some 250 local dignitaries and political leaders, thanking them for working for the country and holding Belgium together.

Philippe will be sworn in as king later in the day before parliament, with a day of pageantry and celebration attracting large crowds onto the streets outside the royal palace in central Brussels in brilliant sunny weather.

As Queen Paola held back tears, Albert said he simply wanted to tell her "thank you ... and a big kiss," a typically human touch for a man credited with the ability to reach out to people.

In a short address, he also said he wanted to pay "special homage" to Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo who had accepted the "heavy task of forming a government (in 2011)" when the country appeared rudderless after inconclusive polls the previous year.

Di Rupo and his government had taken "the indispensable measures needed to promote the well-being of all," the king said, stressing the key achievement of keeping the country together.

Albert expressed too his full confidence in Philippe, saying "you have all the qualities needed to serve your country well.

"You and your dear wife Mathilde have all our confidence."

Born June 6, 1934, Albert was the second son of Leopold III and Queen Astrid but succeeded to the throne on August 9, 1993 after the unexpected death of his brother, King Baudouin, who was childless.

Earlier this month, he announced he would step down because age and ill-health prevented him from fulfilling his royal duties as he would like.

18.03 | 0 komentar | Read More