Bikie boss sent back to jail

The head of the Comanchero bikie gang has been charged for allegedly breaching parole. Source: AAP

THE head of the Comanchero bikie gang has been sent back to jail after being charged by Sydney police for allegedly breaching parole.

Officers arrested the 29-year-old at Coogee in Sydney's east on Friday.

Media reports have named the man as Mark Buddle, the Comanchero's national president.

A police spokesman was unable to confirm this, but he did say "the man is a senior member of the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle club".

After police charged Buddle by virtue of a warrant he was given to Corrective Services NSW, who took him to jail.

"If you're done for breach of parole you have to go back to jail and serve your time," the spokesman told AAP.

Police wouldn't say how Buddle had breached his parole.

Earlier this year, Buddle was granted parole after serving about five months for his part in a large pub brawl at Clovelly last September.

Three bikie clubhouses have also been shut down this week following raids across the city.

On Wednesday the Comanchero clubhouse at Turrella, in Sydney's south, was searched. Officers seized alcohol, documentation and all bikie paraphernalia.

Hells Angels' clubhouses at Annandale and Haymarket were closed by police the next day.

Evidence was uncovered of alcohol being illegally sold at each clubhouse but no arrests were made.

And despite the efforts of police, shootings are still occurring regularly in Sydney.

Teenage bikie associate Bassil Hijazi was murdered in Sydney's southwest in one of three targeted shootings in last week.

Vasko Boskovski, who was known to police, died in hospital early on Tuesday after he was shot near his Earlwood home.

Shots were also fired at an Eagle Vale home about midnight last Friday.

Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon on Friday denied police are fighting a losing battle against Sydney's bikie gangs.

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Man dead in NSW north coast crash

A man has died after losing control of his car on the NSW north coast. Source: AAP

A MAN has died after losing control of his car on the NSW north coast.

The man's Honda was travelling south on the Pacific Highway at Mororo, near Iluka, when it drove into a drain and rolled a number of times about 11.40am (AEST) on Saturday, police say.

The man, aged in his 70s, died at the scene while his elderly female passenger was trapped inside the vehicle.

The highway was closed to allow a helicopter to land and fly the woman to hospital for treatment of leg and hip injuries.

Motorists were advised to avoid the Pacific Highway between Grafton and Ballina and consider using Summerland Way and the Bruxner Highway as alternate routes.

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Sept 7 in doubt as Rudd has things to do

Speculation is growing that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is looking to approve a September 7 election. Source: AAP

KEVIN Rudd says he has "made no determination whatsoever" on when the federal election will be held, throwing doubt on the likelihood of a September 7 election.

The prime minister also told reporters on Saturday he wanted to attend a G20 summit just days before what had been considered the favoured poll date, raising the prospect the election could be pushed out to at least September 21.

Speculation had been building that Mr Rudd was planning to visit the governor-general on Sunday or Monday to seek approval for a September 7 election.

But Mr Rudd said the government had yet to conclude negotiations with Victoria over schools funding, with Western Australia on disability care, and with NSW over new environmental assessment procedures.

"We have a few things to attend to yet," he said after signing a new asylum-seeker resettlement agreement with Nauru on Saturday.

"So therefore on your question (about September 7), I've made no determination whatsoever in terms of the date of an election."

Whether Mr Rudd would attend the upcoming G20 leaders summit had also been a source of constant speculation, as the St Petersburg meeting is being held on September 5 and 6.

Mr Rudd confirmed it was "my intention to be in St Petersburg".

"But I'm very mindful also of the challenges that lie ahead of us as well," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"I place enormous priority to the G20 and its agenda.

"At the same time I will always balance that against other considerations before us as well."

If Mr Rudd does still decide on a September 7 election, it will need to be called by Monday to cover the minimum 33-day campaign period.

With September 14 all but ruled out because it had been chosen by his predecessor Julia Gillard, a September 21 election would be the next possible date.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott declared his team ready for the campaign.

"We've been ready for a long time," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne, when asked about a September 7 election.

"I think the Australian people are eager to seize the chance to control the government once more.

"This election is a choice between strength and stability under the coalition, or more chaos, division and dysfunction under the Labor party."

Speculation over the election date came a day after the government's economic update, which predicted weaker economic growth, growing unemployment and more government debt, as well as a $33.3 billion writedown in revenues.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said he expected the prime minister to "run to the polls in the next two days".

"Because the boats keep coming, the debt is blowing out by $3 billion a week and unemployment continues to rise, heading towards 800,000," he told reporters in Sydney.

"If I were Kevin Rudd I would be going to the polls as soon as possible."

But foreshadowing how central the economy will again be during the campaign, Finance Minister Penny Wong released government analysis which, she said, uncovered a $70 billion hole in the coalition's fiscal credentials.

"The government has laid out our plans and our budget," Senator Wong told reporters in Melbourne.

"It's time Tony Abbott did, because what this document shows against what Tony Abbott has said is that he would have to make $70 billion worth of cuts."

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Nauru signs up to Rudd's stop boats plan

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new refugee plan with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new agreement with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru, which like Australia's deal with Papua New Guinea, will deny asylum seekers the chance to resettle in Australia.

But the Opposition says it's just a ploy to win votes.

Mr Rudd and the president of the Republic of Nauru, Baron Waqa, signed the memorandum of understanding at a press conference in Brisbane on Saturday.

The deal supercedes the one struck between the nations last year and allows for asylum seekers to not only be processed in the Pacific Island nation, but also to be settled there.

"No matter where people smugglers try to land asylum seekers by boat in Australia, they will not be settled in Australia," Mr Rudd told reporters.

"This is our core principal."

The Nauru agreement is similar to the deal struck with Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, two weeks ago and is the latest salvo in Mr Rudd's tough new approach to asylum seekers.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke attended Saturday's announcement and agreed the number of asylum seekers sent to Nauru would be small.

They would comprise families or unaccompanied minors and a new site to house them had been chosen, he said.

The most urgent priority though was expanding the capacity of the island nation's prison, he said.

Australia will provide $29.9 million in aid to Nauru in 2013-2014 under the plan.

A further $17 million will be spent on rebuilding the prison, which was damaged in a recent riot on the island.

Funds from a contingency reserve will also be allocated according to the number of refugees Nauru accepts.

Mr Burke flagged the possibility of reaching similar deals concerning refugees with other nations in the region.

"I'm prepared to say there are other countries who have raised this with us as well," he said.

"There are a number of countries within the region who have signed the convention and who have a genuine commitment to wanting to take a regional approach, and if we're able to reach agreements with them then we will."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the plan was "elaborate staging" by Labor with no real substance.

"Nauru will play no real role in offshore processing arrangements for the foreseeable future under Labor," he said in a statement on Saturday.

"This announcement is just a patch-up for the devastation of the riots that cost taxpayers up to $60 million and was allowed to occur on Labor's watch."

The Australian Greens said the government had hit a new low on refugee policy.

"This is just more cruelty at the cost of Australia's generous heart and it is trashing our global reputation," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement on Saturday.

"It seems there is no limit to the cruelty that either Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott are prepared to inflict on refugees in their race to bottom as they race to the polls."

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Mugabe claims victory in 'sham' poll

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks to extend his 33-year rule after a shock landslide vote. Source: AAP

ZIMBABWE is set to release the official results of disputed elections, in which President Robert Mugabe's party romped to victory, as the opposition holds emergency talks over the "sham" polls.

Full results were expected later on Saturday but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it had already won the 140 seats in parliament required to press ahead with controversial amendments to the constitution.

"We have already gone beyond two-thirds. It's a super majority," a top party official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

With 186 of 210 constituencies officially counted after Wednesday's disputed poll, Mugabe's party already had a commanding lead, winning 137 seats in parliament.

Party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said: "Our opponents don't know what hit them", adding that 89-year-old Mugabe could win "70 to 75 per cent" in the presidential vote.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who described the vote as a "sham", went into emergency talks on Saturday to decide their next action.

The MDC has vowed not to accept the election results, sparking fears of a repeat of bloody violence that marked the aftermath of the 2008 election.

"Emotions are high, tensions are high across the country," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

While on the country's streets things have remained calm, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged both political rivals to send "clear messages of calm" to their supporters.

Ban hopes that the broadly "calm and peaceful atmosphere" of election day "will prevail during the vote counting and throughout the completion of the electoral process," said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

A senior MDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, painted a picture of the dilemma the party faces amid its claims the election was stolen by ZANU-PF.

"We can't tell people to be calm, we can't tell people to demonstrate unless you know the outcome," said the source.

Another senior party official dismissed speculation that the MDC is being offered a few posts in government.

The influential 15-member southern African bloc SADC also implored "all Zimbabweans to exercise restraint, patience and calm".

All eyes are now on the MDC which was expected to hold a press conference on Saturday afternoon following its meeting.

Observers appeared divided over the conduct of the poll.

The African Union's top poll observer, Olusegun Obasanjo, said shortly after polling stations closed that the election had been "peaceful, orderly, free and fair".

The SADC stopped short of declaring it "fair" but said it was "free and peaceful".

"We have said this election is free, indeed very free," said top SADC election observer Bernard Membe. "We did not say it was fair ... we didn't want to jump to a conclusion at this point in time."

Membe on Friday met Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for three decades, to "wish him good luck as he is preparing himself for the inauguration," he told later told journalists.

He said he would try to convince Tsvangirai to concede defeat.

SADC negotiated the creation of a power-sharing government in the wake of 2008's bloody poll.

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Allianz Q2 profits up 27%

Allianz says its Q2 profits rose on the back of an improvement in its property insurance. Source: AAP

GERMAN insurer Allianz says net profit rose 27 per cent in the second quarter, as one-time expenses fell and its basic property insurance business improved.

Net profit rose to 1.58 billion euros ($A2.35 billion) on revenues that rose 6 per cent to 26.8 billion euros.

Allianz said on Friday it overcame 330 million euros in net losses for claims paid to victims of the June flooding in central Europe. It also had to weather very low interest rates that reduced returns on invested premium money.

Its property insurance business benefited from higher premiums in Australia, France, Germany and the US.

Earnings from its asset management business rose 39.8 per cent thanks to higher fee and commission income as money under management increased 6.6 per cent.

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Kiwi appointed Royal Bank of Scotland boss

TAXPAYER-RESCUED Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed New Zealander Ross McEwan as its new chief executive.

Mr McEwan, who joined RBS as head of retail banking last year after holding a similar position at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, will replace outgoing CEO Stephen Hester from October 1.

Mr McEwan, 56, will take on the top job on a STG1 million ($A1.70 million) salary and receive a STG350,000 ($A596,049.05) cash payment in lieu of pension.

While he is eligible to receive a long term incentive award in 2014, the bank says he does not wish to be considered for an annual bonus in 2014 or for the remainder of 2013.

The announced appointment came alongside half-year figures showing RBS swung out of the red with pre-tax profits of STG1.4 billion ($A2.38 billion) against losses of STG1.7 billion ($A2.90 billion) a year earlier, following its first two consecutive quarters of growth since 2008.

The Edinburgh-based bank is 80 per cent government after it was bailed out in 2008 during the financial crisis with more than STG45 billion of taxpayer money.

Mr McEwan was passed over two years ago as CBA's head after being widely seen as having been groomed for the role.

The married father-of-two, then accepted an offer to become head of RBS's retail arm.

The resignation in June of his Mr Hester, amid claims of political interference, paved the way for Mr McEwan to take charge.

His appointment is being seen as politically acceptable - indicating a shift in emphasis towards the bank's more traditional high street branches as opposed to its investment side, associated with high-rolling City risk-takers.

Mr McEwan has already launched a STG700 million ($A1.19 billion) plan to improve RBS's branches and services, and has been scathing about the state of UK high street banking.

He reportedly told analysts earlier this year: "Having come into this market six months ago I've been quite surprised at how bad this industry is from a retail banking perspective. I'd even go as far as to say that there's not a good retail bank, and our job is to create that."

Eyebrows may be raised in the City about the background of a chief executive who reportedly spent his early career working in human resources, and once told an interviewer that he was "more comfortable with people than with figures".

In an article for an alumni magazine at Massey University, where he gained a business degree in the 1970s, Mr McEwan admitted that he had twice failed accounting exams.

He has worked in the insurance and investment industries for more than 25 years, including as managing director of stockbroking business First NZ Capital Securities and chief executive of AXA New Zealand.

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Toyota's April-June profit soars 93.6%

Toyota has revealed that its net profit soared 93.6 per cent in the three months to June. Source: AAP

TOYOTA says its net profit soared 93.6 per cent in the three months to June and added that it was on track to produce more than 10 million vehicles worldwide this year.

The world's biggest car maker earned Y562.19 billion ($A6.35 billion) in the quarter on sales of Y6.25 trillion, which were up 13.7 per cent from a year earlier.

Toyota credited a sharp decline in the yen among the factors for its improved results.

"Operating income increased due to the impact of foreign exchange rates and our global efforts for profit improvement, through cost reduction activities," managing officer Takuo Sasaki said in a statement on Friday.

The company added that it expects a net profit of Y1.48 trillion for the fiscal year to March on sales of Y24 trillion.

That was up from an earlier forecast of a Y1.37 trillion profit on sales of Y23.5 trillion.

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AU says Zimbabwe polls 'credible'

President Robert Mugabe's rivals slammed his election victory claims, branding the vote a "sham". Source: AAP

ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe's party claims he is on course for a landslide win in an election branded a sham by his rivals, but which the African Union says was fair and credible.

Partial results of Wednesday's poll have given the 89-year-old a commanding lead, with his ZANU-PF party garnering 87 seats out of 120 declared.

"Our opponents don't know what hit them," party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said on Friday. "It's the prediction that the president might likely get 70 to 75 per cent."

ZANU-PF also predicted it would win a two-thirds majority in parliament, enough to amend the new constitution that introduced term limits and curbed presidential powers.

Mugabe's bitter rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, has rejected the vote as a "huge farce" and "null and void".

"It's a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people," he said, pointing to a litany of alleged irregularities with the voters' roll.

The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network reported up to one million voters were prevented from voting in Tsvangirai strongholds.

But Mugabe won an endorsement from the African Union on Friday, with former Nigerian president and military leader Olusegun Obasanjo saying the vote was basically free and fair.

"There are incidences that could have been avoided, but all in all we do not believe that these incidents will amount to the results not reflecting the will of the people," he said.

Much now rides on the verdict of observers from the 15-member southern African SADC bloc, which negotiated the creation of a power-sharing government in the wake of 2008's bloody poll.

With 600 observers on the ground, SADC's verdict will be closely watched by Western nations blocked from monitoring the poll themselves.

The bloc said it will deliver its initial verdict later on Friday.

Foreign diplomats have expressed deep misgivings about a poll they have described privately as non-violent, but fundamentally flawed.

Jeffrey Smith, from the Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, said it would be wrong to disregard the final results, but "we must also not be blind to potential irregularities both leading up to the vote and on the day".

So far Tsvangirai has limited his comments to condemnation of the poll, but already there are calls for mass protests, and warnings that may prompt a bloodbath.

The top brass from his Movement for Democratic Change will meet on Saturday to decide their response.

Ahead of the meeting, top MDC official Roy Bennett called for a campaign of "passive resistance".

"I'm talking about people completely shutting the country down - don't pay any bills, don't attend work, just bring the country to a standstill.

"There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly."

The disputed outcome risks plunging Zimbabwe - which battled a decade-long downturn marked by galloping inflation and mass migration - back into deep crisis.

"If certain people feel their choice was not accepted, they may resort to violence," said Sean O'Leary a spokesman for a 3000-strong group of poll monitors from the Catholic church.

Investors also expressed fears about the impact of a Mugabe victory, which could roll back the power-sharing government's efforts to stabilising the economy after crippling hyperinflation and joblessness.

"It's back to extreme volatility," Iraj Abedian, the CEO of Pan African Investments, told AFP from Johannesburg. "We can expect fairly radical positions that will have populist support, but which will have huge implications."

Abedian predicted banks and financial firms could become the targets of a new Mugabe government seeking to extend its program of indigenisation, after agriculture and mining.

"The land grabs caused chaos in the agricultural sector and it took 10 years for it to settle down.

"The financial sector would have a similar impact. It would cause chaos, but ZANU-PF and Mugabe seem to like that."

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Russia faces US fury over Snowden asylum

RUSSIA is facing the fury of the US after granting asylum to fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and allowing him to walk free from an airport transit zone where he was marooned for more than five weeks.

The whereabouts of Snowden - who is wanted by the US after leaking details of vast US surveillance programs - is now a mystery with his lawyer refusing to disclose the location for security reasons.

The White House said it was "extremely disappointed" by Moscow's decision to grant Snowden asylum, adding that it would now review the need for a planned summit between President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin in September.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor left Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday and took a taxi to a secret location. He now has temporary asylum in Russia for a year.

On Friday, Life News website published a photograph showing Snowden smiling broadly as he walked through the airport with a rucksack on his back and carrying another bag.

He was shown accompanied by his Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, and a staff member of WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website, Sarah Harrison, as well as an unidentified dark-haired woman.

Snowden and Harrison had stayed in the transit zone of the Sheremetyevo airport north of Moscow since flying in from Hong Kong on June 23.

Kucherena said Snowden would eventually emerge into public view and give media interviews, but that the fugitive first required an "adaptation course" after so long in the transit zone.

"He has sorted out where he will live, everything is fine," Kucherena told the RIA Novosti news agency on Friday, refusing to give further details.

WikiLeaks said in a statement Snowden is now in a "secure, confidential place".

Snowden thanked Russia and slammed the administration of US President Barack Obama for having "no respect" for international or domestic law.

"But in the end the law is winning," he said in the WikiLeaks statement.

Russia's decision to award Snowden asylum status came two days after US soldier Bradley Manning was convicted of espionage for passing US secrets to WikiLeaks.

The White House warned Russia's decision could prompt Obama to cancel a planned visit to Moscow for talks with Putin ahead of the Saint Petersburg G20 summit.

"We're extremely disappointed," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. "We're evaluating the utility of a summit in light of this.

"This move by the Russian government undermines a long-standing record of law enforcement co-operation," he added.

Obama declined to comment when pressed by reporters in an Oval Office briefing.

Putin has yet to comment on Snowden's temporary asylum. He is due to meet youth supporters at an annual summer camp later on Friday.

Robert Menendez, chairman of the powerful US senate foreign relations committee, described the asylum as a "setback" for US-Russia relations.

But Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, on Thursday sought to limit the potential diplomatic damage. "This situation is rather insignificant and should not influence political relations between Russia and the US," Ushakov said.

On Friday, the news anchor of Channel One television, seen as a Kremlin mouthpiece, said it was an "open question whether the meeting of the two presidents will take place in Moscow in September".

By granting asylum to Snowden, Russia has further strained already tense Russia-US relations, analysts said.

"The basis on which the US can continue holding a conversation with the Russia is getting seriously narrower," Dmitry Trenin, who heads the Moscow Carnegie Center, told Kommersant daily.

"You can't say that relations between Moscow and Washington will be wound up, but they will not be able to develop now."

Russian politicians praised Moscow for asserting its independence by granting Snowden's asylum, however.

"Any other decision would have been a loss of face for Russia. If we hadn't provided Snowden with asylum, people would stop seeing Russia as a force to be reckoned with," a lawmaker for the ruling United Russia party, Vyacheslav Nikonov, who visited Snowden in the airport last month, the told Kommersant daily.

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Plibersek hopes youth quit ciggies

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says young people might stop smoking if cigarette taxes are raised. Source: AAP

HEALTH Minister Tanya Plibersek would be delighted if a potential tax hike on cigarettes led to smokers quitting and ultimately less government revenue.

Smokers might be targeted when the Rudd government releases its economic update statement on Thursday or Friday.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek would not confirm a tobacco tax increase on Wednesday but said it could have benefits.

"There's a strong public health case for increasing the price of tobacco," she told Sky News.

The measure could stop scores of young people taking up smoking.

A ten per cent increase in the cost of tobacco results in a four per cent general drop in consumption.

But for young people it was a decrease of between five and 12 per cent, she said.

"Young people are the most price sensitive," Ms Plibersek said.

People on low incomes could also reap a health benefit if tobacco taxes increased because of their price sensitivity, she said.

Australia spends $31 billion on health care for ill smokers.

"If we see a decline in smoking rates and that causes a drop in excise collection that would be a fantastic outcome," she said.

The Seven Network has reported the Rudd government will announce the tax hike on cigarettes on Thursday and that will raise more than $5 billion over four years.

Ms Plibersek rejected arguments there could be an expansion of black market products.

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Body of fourth South Korean climber found

Authorities have recovered the bodies of four South Korean climbers who died in the Japanese alps. Source: AAP

JAPANESE police say they have retrieved the body of a fourth South Korean climber who died along with three compatriots after the group disappeared on a mountain range in central Japan.

The male victim's body was found by a creek near the 2728-metre Mount Hinokio in Nagano prefecture, a local police spokesman said.

Police found the bodies of three other South Koreans in the same area on Tuesday.

The four are believed to have died of hypothermia, Japanese media said, although police have yet to officially determine their cause of death.

They were part of a 20-member group of South Korean climbers, nine of whom went missing in bad weather. Five returned unharmed.

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FAA changes San Francisco landing policy

San Francisco Airport's landing policy was changed in the wake of the Asiana Airlines crash. Source: AAP

US aviation officials are no longer allowing foreign airlines to land alongside another plane when touching down at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in the wake of the deadly Asiana Airlines crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement on Tuesday it implemented the change "to minimise distractions during a critical phase of flight".

In the past, two planes could approach SFO's main parallel runways at the same time in clear weather. Domestic carriers can still do that, but air traffic controllers are now staggering the arrivals of foreign carriers.

The shift away from side-by-side landing came on Sunday, on the same day the FAA started advising foreign airlines to use a GPS system instead of visual reckonings when landing at SFO. The agency said it had noticed an increase in aborted landings by some foreign carriers flying visual approaches.

Pilots on Asiana Airlines Flight 214 had been cleared to make a visual approach when the plane crash-landed on July 6. Three Chinese teenagers died, and 180 people were injured among the 307 aboard.

The plane from China and South Korea came in too low and too slow, slamming its landing gear into a seawall well before the actual runway.

Seconds before the accident, the pilots called for a go-around, meaning they wanted to abort the landing and circle for another approach.

The FAA said such manoeuvres are "routine, standardised procedures that can occur once a day or more at busy airports for various reasons".

Two weeks after the crash, another Asiana flight aborted its landing, San Francisco airport officials said. In addition, they said a Taiwanese EVA Air flight approached too low last week, then aborted and began another approach.

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Hong Kong shares down 0.32% by close

HONG Kong shares have slipped 0.32 per cent as traders await the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting, looking for clues about the future of its stimulus program.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Wednesday fell 70.30 points to 21,883.66 on turnover of $HK48.76 billion ($A6.97 billion).

Steven Leung, institutional sales head at UOB Kay Hian, said investors were limiting their exposure ahead of the Fed statement later in the trading day.

He added that the index was likely to struggle in August in the absence of any positive news to direct the market.

"I think in August, it's really hard to see the index trade above 22,000," Leung told Dow Jones Newswires. "Hong Kong has already outperformed for the region."

Shares of Tencent fell 3.3 per cent to $HK351.80 while China Mobile slipped 0.9 per cent to $HK82.5 and Bank of China was off 0.31 per cent at $HK3.25.

Chinese shares closed up 0.19 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 3.74 points to 1,993.80 on turnover of 59.4 billion yuan ($A10.75 billion).

China's top decision-making body said on Tuesday that it would promote the stable and healthy development of the domestic property sector, state media reported, in stark contrast to Beijing's previous remarks on regulating property.

"There is no need for policy makers to further tighten property controls amid downward pressure for economic growth," Guosen Securities analyst Ou Ruiming told Dow Jones Newswires.

Property developer Gemdale gained 3.67 per cent to 6.78 yuan while Poly Real Estate rose 3.24 per cent to 10.19 yuan.

Zinc producer Tibet Summit Industrial surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 10.32 yuan while Ningbo Boway Alloy Material rose 2.07 per cent to 12.84 yuan. Datong Coal Industry climbed 1.86 per cent to 6.03 yuan.

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$US4.1m for US student left in cell 5 days

A MAN forgotten for almost five days in a US jail without food or water has won a $US4.1 million ($A4.54 million) settlement from the US government.

Daniel Chong, 25, survived by drinking his own urine, after his jailers from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) failed to remember he was being held in their facility.

"It was an accident, a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Chong, a college student in the southern California city of San Diego, had been smoking marijuana on April 20, 2012 at the home of a friend, when he and several others were swept up in a DEA raid, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Unknown to Chong, the house had been under surveillance for days and a large quantity of ecstasy pills and weapons and ammunition were reportedly found on the premises.

Chong was taken into custody, questioned briefly at the DEA facility in San Diego, then assured he would soon be released.

Instead, officials apparently forgot about him and did not return to free him from the windowless, 1.5-metre by 3-metre room for almost five days.

Chong quickly lost weight and was able to wriggle out of a set of handcuffs, the Times reported.

But he was unable to escape the cell and his cries for help went unanswered.

Unable to break a sprinkler for water, Chong had to drink his own urine to stave off dehydration, and began to suffer hallucinations.

Fearing he would die before help arrived, he broke his eyeglasses and began to carve the message, "Sorry, mom", into his arm, the newspaper said.

When he finally was discovered, Chong was covered in his own faeces and severely dehydrated.

He was rushed to a hospital, with a swollen oesophagus, close to kidney failure and breathing with difficulty. He spent three days in intensive care before being released two days later.

The settlement, reportedly was approved by the Department of Justice, which would not comment to the newspaper about the out-of-court agreement.

Chong's lawyer, Eugene Iredale, said Chong has had to undergo intensive psychotherapy and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder since the ordeal, which "should never happen to any human being on the face of the planet".

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Poorer kids have fat disadvantage: study

Children from low income families are at higher risk of being obese, according to new research. Source: AAP

CHILDREN from low income families are at higher risk of being overweight or obese than more advantaged children, according to new research.

A study by Melbourne's Murdoch Childrens Research Institute shows children from the most disadvantaged families are far more likely than others to become overweight and obese from the age of four to ten.

The researchers studied more than 4000 children from when they were four until they were ten or eleven as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

The children were divided into five equal groups based on their socio-economic position, which takes into account family income and their parents' education and occupation.

Alarmingly, the socio-economic differences were already present in the body mass index (BMI) of children aged four and five, according to the a paper published in the journal PlosOne.

The study shows eight in ten children in the most advantaged neighbourhoods have a stable normal weight. This falls progressively to just over six in ten for the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

However, this study is not just about the most disadvantaged children, it is something that goes right across society, says lead researcher Professor Melissa Wake.

"When the obesity epidemic started to be reported among children in the late 1990s there was not a trajectory like this aligned to advantage and disadvantage. Now it has become very strong.

"Our paper does not answer why this has happened. There are many reasons. Probably they relate to the resources and healthy choices available to the most advantaged groups," she says.

"Clearly targeting children with early overweight and low socio-economic background must be a top intervention priority.

"However, this alone won't suffice. Vulnerability to unhealthy weight gain increases incrementally with each quintile further from the most advantaged.

"A whole lot of different approaches will be needed to solve the obesity problem. We need solutions that are focussed on the whole of society, not just one segment."

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Tunisia mourns slain soldiers, urges unity

TUNISIA is mourning eight soldiers slain by militants as appeals for unity from the Islamist-led government and the calling of a general election for December failed to quell violent protests.

The soldiers were found on Monday, their throats slit, after they were ambushed by an armed group in Mount Chaambi near the Algerian border where the army has been tracking al-Qaeda militants.

Their brutal killing triggered protests in the nearby eastern city of Kasserine, where demonstrators ransacked the local office of the ruling moderate Islamist Ennahda party overnight, an AFP correspondent reported.

The attack came despite calls by President Moncef Marzouki for national unity and after Islamist Prime Minister Ali Larayedh announced that a general election would be held in December.

The poll is seen as a concession aimed at appeasing a growing mood of rebellion in Tunisia, where emotions have run high since last week's assassination of a prominent opposition MP.

Many Tunisians want the government to go, believing it is responsible for Thursday's murder of Mohamed Brahmi - the second opposition figure killed since February.

The North African nation, cradle of the wave of popular uprisings that swept the region, has been rocked by almost a week of violent anti-government protests.

The prime minister insisted on Monday that the government would stay put - a view not shared by Ennahda coalition partner Ettakatol and the 500,000-strong General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTT).

Etakkatol on Tuesday issued a statement calling for the formation of "a government of national unity" to stave off tensions.

The powerful UGTT, a key player in the 2011 uprising that ousted veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, held crisis talks overnight and also issued a statement saying the government must go.

"The UGTT calls for the dissolution of the government and the formation of a competent, consensual" cabinet, the union's secretary general Sami Tahri told Mosaique FM radio on Tuesday.

But the powerful union did not back the call of thousands of protesters, who for a third night in a row demonstrated outside the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) in central Tunis, calling for its dissolution.

The prime minister remained defiant.

"This government will stay in office," Larayedh told state television.

"We are not clinging to power, but we have a duty and a responsibility that we will exercise to the end," he said on Monday evening, proposing instead that a general election be held on December 17.

Just hours later, officials announced the murder of the soldiers near the Algerian border where troops have been hunting al-Qaeda-linked militants.

State television ran pictures of the mutilated corpses of the victims, some of whom had their throats cut and were stripped of their weapons and uniforms.

In a televised address, Marzouki, the secular president who is allied to Ennahda, called for national unity after the soldiers' deaths as his office announced three days of national mourning.

"If we want to face up to this danger we have to face up to it united," he said.

"I call on the political class to return to dialogue because the country, society, is under threat."

Marzouki also referred to Brahmi's assassination and regretted that this "tragedy" had divided the country.

Since Brahmi's death, around 60 politicians have pulled out of the work of the NCA, which is drawing up the country's new constitution.

The government, and the UGTT, stressed that deputies must return to work and vote on the much-delayed constitution, one of the thorniest issue in post-revolution Tunisia.

"We think that the National Constituent Assembly will complete the electoral code by October 23 at the latest so elections can be held on December 17," Larayedh said.

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Taliban storm Pakistan prison, free 250

DOZENS of heavily armed Taliban fighters freed nearly 250 prisoners, including hardcore militants, during a sophisticated overnight attack on a Pakistani jail that killed 13 people.

Armed with guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and bombs, the Taliban bombarded the prison in the town of Dera Ismail Khan before escaping with scores of inmates after a three-hour shootout.

The attack by well-trained gunmen, disguised in police uniforms, will heighten concerns about the ability of the Taliban to operate with impunity in parts of the nuclear-armed state.

It took place just hours before the country began electing a new head of state to replace outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari, who is ending a five-year term.

Zardari's party lost general elections in May and has boycotted Tuesday's presidential vote, leading to the certain victory of Mamnoon Hussain, a close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

At least 248 prisoners escaped, of whom six were later re-arrested, senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon told ARY television on Tuesday, describing about 30 of them as "hardcore militants".

Malik Qasim, prisons adviser to the chief minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirmed that 248 inmates had escaped.

He said the militants had also taken away six women, including a female constable and five female inmates.

The Central Prison in Dera Ismail Khan can hold up to 5000 inmates and around 300 were being held in connection with attacks on security forces and sectarian killings.

But it was not clear how many were present during the assault, which began late on Monday and ended early on Tuesday.

The city in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is close to Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan where Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked insurgents are most active.

The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pervez Khattak, a member of cricket star Imran Khan's party that advocates peace talks with the Taliban, branded the latest attack a failure of intelligence agencies.

The Pakistani Taliban, which has led a domestic insurgency since 2007 killing thousands of people, claimed responsibility.

"Some 150 Taliban, including 60 suicide bombers, attacked the central prison and managed to free about 300 prisoners," Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP by telephone.

A security official in the city told AFP the militants arrived in more than a dozen vehicles and that two Taliban commanders were among those who escaped.

"Militants also torched jail records and an office," he said on condition of anonymity.

Jadoon said the fighters planted dozens of explosive devices in the jail which were later defused by bomb disposal experts.

A curfew was imposed in the city after the attack.

"We appeal on people to stay at home. It is to avoid any damage if army, police and paramilitary take any action," Jadoon said.

The siege began with rocket fire, killing two policemen and providing cover for 50 to 60 militants to storm inside, Jadoon said.

"First they destroyed a police armoured vehicle parked at the front gate," he said.

"Police killed one militant who was trying to flee and who opened fire on police near the jail," he said.

Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the gunfight raged for three hours. Militants wearing police uniforms stormed the prison after bombing its outer wall and throwing hand grenades at guards.

The prison was plunged into darkness by an electricity outage and after the battle, security forces searched the prison to count inmates by flashlight to determine how many had escaped, he said.

"At least 13 people have been killed and eight injured," Abbas told AFP.

Among the dead were six police officers, one civilian, two attackers and four prisoners, he said.

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Switzerland looks into deadly train crash

SWISS authorities are investigating a head-on train collision in the west of the country that has killed one of the drivers and injured 26 other people.

The accident on a rail network regarded as one of the world's most reliable came as Spain was mourning the 79 victims of one of Europe's worst train disasters in recent years.

Two trains collided head-on late on Monday just outside the station at Granges-pres-Marnand, a small town between the Geneva and Neuchatel lakes in Switzerland's French-speaking region.

Daniel Antonez, a resident of nearby Moudon, said he heard the impact.

"It's one I often take. I'm sure I know some people who were on the train," he said.

Rescuers retrieved the body of a driver from one of the crumpled engines early on Tuesday and investigators were surveying the crash site.

Flanked by cornfields, the two small trains were still on the track on Tuesday, both engines locked into each other and lifted slightly off the ground as workers used beams to prepare to remove the wreckage.

"The management and employees of the CFF are shocked by the death of their colleague," the company said in a statement, offering its condolences to the man's family.

Newspapers splashed photos of the wreckage across their front pages, claiming that the early departure of one of the trains may be to blame.

The police made no comment on the possible cause of the crash but CFF boss Andreas Meyer was due to brief the press later on Tuesday.

"Work is continuing to clear the line completely. Technical investigations will continue over coming days," police said in a statement.

A total of 46 passengers had been on board, all of them Swiss, police said.

Swiss media quoted Guy Delpedro, the mayor of the small town of 1200 inhabitants, as saying that the low speed of the trains explained why more people had not died.

One train had been bound for Lausanne, 38 kilometres to the south, while the other was travelling north from the same city.

A CFF spokeswoman told AFP that the two trains should have crossed at the station, thanks to a track system that allows them to pass one another.

The crash occurred shortly before 7pm local time on Monday (0300 AEST Tuesday) and rescuers worked into the night under arc lamps, using special equipment to cut through the wreckage and reach the missing driver.

They retrieved his body at 1.30am (0930 AEST) on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether he had died on impact.

In total, 26 people were taken to five separate hospitals while those with more minor injuries were treated on site by the emergency services and volunteer medics.

The collision came in the wake of the July 24 tragedy in Santiago de Compostela, when a speeding train flew off the rails, killing 79 people. A crash in suburban Paris a week earlier killed seven.

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Morsi 'well', says EU policy chief

The EU foreign policy chief held a two-hour meeting with ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S ousted president Mohamed Morsi is "well" and has access to news, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says after meeting him at an undisclosed location.

"Morsi is well," she told reporters on Tuesday, adding that he had access to newspapers and television, and describing their talks as "friendly, open and very frank".

Ashton held two hours of talks with Morsi in the early hours of Tuesday, with sources telling AFP she left Cairo on a military helicopter.

She declined to say where Morsi was being held or to characterise his comments to her.

"I'm not going to put words in his mouth," she said.

"We had a friendly, open and very frank discussion," she added. "We talked in-depth."

Ashton arrived in Cairo on Sunday night for an intensive schedule of meetings with Egyptian government officials and opposition representatives.

Her visit came in the wake of the deaths of 82 people at a pro-Morsi rally in Cairo on Saturday morning.

She has urged an end to the bloodshed and a political transition that would include the Muslim Brotherhood organisation from which Morsi hails.

But she said on Tuesday that she was not in Egypt to push either side to take particular actions or to present an initiative.

"I'm not here to ask people to do things," she said, adding that she would be looking to find "common ground" between the sides.

"I don't come here to say somebody should do this, somebody should do that, this is your country," she said.

"The solutions are for the Egyptian people."

In Paris, France's foreign minister demanded on Tuesday that Morsi be freed, and condemned the deadly unrest in Cairo.

"We condemn the violence ... We call for dialogue and for the release of President Morsi," Laurent Fabius told reporters.

Morsi is being held on suspicion of crimes relating to his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.

His supporters have rallied daily for his reinstatement and on Monday marched from a key Cairo sit-in to several security headquarters.

The marches raised fears of fresh clashes, but protesters kept their distance from security forces and headed back to their protest tent city after the demonstrations.

In the eastern city of Ismailia, however, a security source said clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents broke out, injuring 18.

The Anti-Coup Alliance called for a million-man march later on Tuesday under the banner of "Martyrs of the Coup" to commemorate its dead at a rally in Cairo on Saturday.

It urged Egyptians "to go out into the streets and squares, to regain their freedom and dignity - that are being usurped by the bloody coup - and for the rights of the martyrs assassinated by its bullets".

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