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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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