Pastry linked to Sydney hospital infection

Three Sydney public hospital patients have been diagnosed with the bacterial infection listeriosis. Source: AAP

THREE patients have been diagnosed with the serious bacterial infection listeriosis after eating profiteroles in different Sydney hospitals.

Two of the patients, one at Concord Hospital and another at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, remain in hospital and are responding well to treatment, NSW Health says.

The third was being treated for a terminal illness at Campbelltown Hospital and has tested positive for listeriosis after his death.

NSW Director of Health Protection Jeremy McAnulty said investigations have confirmed all three patients tested positive to the same strain of the infection.

"As a precaution, profiteroles were immediately withdrawn from all patient meals," Dr McAnulty said.

"Due to the limited distribution of the profiteroles, the likelihood of further infections is low.

"But it is recommended that any patients who consumed profiteroles at one of the hospitals listed in March or early April contact their doctor or HealthDirect if they develop symptoms of listeriosis."

The profiteroles were also given to patients in Balmain, Canterbury, Liverpool, Bankstown, Bowral, Fairfield, Camden, Tresillian at Canterbury, Braeside and Karitane Hospitals.

Listeriosis is an infection that can occur when a person eats food that has been contaminated with bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes.

People at risk include pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

The incubation period for listeria is typically a few weeks but can be as long as 70 days in rare cases.

Symptoms appear flu-like such as muscle ache, fever, nausea and diarrhoea.

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Russia, US to bolster ties after bombings

Russian leader Vladimir Putin (pic) has spoken with the US on ways to work more closely on security. Source: AAP

RUSSIA and the United States have agreed to step up cooperation in their fight against terror in the wake of news that two ethnic Chechens were suspected of organising the deadly Boston Marathon bombings.

The Kremlin said Russian leader Vladimir Putin called US President Barack Obama on Saturday to once again express his condolences and discuss ways the two sides can work more closely on security in the runup to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

"Both sides underscored their interest in bolstering the close cooperation of Russian and US special services in the fight against international terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement.

The White House also issued a statement saying that Obama thanked Putin for the condolences "and praised the close cooperation that the United States has received from Russia on counter-terrorism, including in the wake of the Boston attack".

"The two leaders agreed to continue our cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues going forward," the White House said.

US authorities said that the two young men who set off twin bombs Monday that killed three people at the Boston Marathon and then shot dead a policeman on Friday were ethnic Chechens from Russia's restless North Caucasus region.

The 26-year-old older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot and killed by police while his 19-year-old sibling Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was apprehended near Boston on Friday evening.

Cooperation between the US and Russian intelligence services remains weak because of strained diplomatic ties and concern in Washington that Putin was using the fight against terror to crack down on his political foes.

Russian analysts said this was likely to change in the aftermath of the Boston bombings.

"The main lesson the United States should draw from all this is that they should strengthen their cooperation with Russia in their fight against terror," said Moscow's National Defence magazine editor Igor Korotchenko.

"Considering the roots of the terror in Boston, the United States should be interested in exchanging information between the two intelligence services," Korotchenko told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Kremlin-linked lawmaker Alexei Pushkov, of parliament's international affairs committee, said the shocking attack should also mute Washington's criticism of Putin's actions in the North Caucasus since his rise to power in 1999.

Russia waged two post-Soviet wars in Chechnya - the second started by Putin when he was still prime minister in 1999.

The popular campaign helped his rise to the presidency in 2000 but immediately created tensions in his relations with the West.

Other observers argued that Russia is currently ahead of the United States in internet monitoring because of is laxer privacy laws.

But Russia is also keen to win more US assistance as it prepares to host a series of major events ranging from August's World Athletics Championships in Moscow to the February 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Moscow on Tuesday announced extra security measures for Sochi due partially to its immediate proximity to the North Caucasus region.

Officials in 2011 also claimed to have uncovered a complex terror plot against the Games by Islamist rebels who allegedly used little-policed mountain regions of Georgia as their base.

Russia's state ITAR-TASS news agency ran a commentary on Saturday calling the Boston attack a serious warning for Sochi.

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Vic woman stable after complex rescue

PARAMEDICS and fire crews have used ropes to rescue a woman in a three-hour mission after she fell down a steep embankment in Melbourne's outer east.

The woman fell about 200m down the embankment in Mt Dandenong about 4pm (AEST) on Saturday and was finally loaded into an ambulance in a stable condition around 7.30pm.

Specialist CFA crews were called in to use ropes and pulleys to haul the woman up the embankment on a stretcher.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said the woman received pain killing injections and oxygen throughout the rescue efforts after suffering lower body injuries.

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US asks Interpol for info on bombs

US authorities have asked Interpol to provide information on bombs similar to those used in Boston. Source: AAP

US authorities have asked Interpol to provide any information its members around the world might have on bombs similar to the ones used in the Boston Marathon attack.

"Interpol has issued an international security alert, or Orange Notice, detailing the features of the improvised explosive devices used in the Boston marathon bombings to assist law enforcement across its 190 member countries detect any similarly configured bombs," Interpol said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The alert included photos of the bombs and fingerprints of the two suspects in the case, 19-year-old Dzhokar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. Both were ethnic Chechens who had lived in the United States for more than a decade.

Interpol's notice to its members was issued after Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police but before Dzhokar Tsarnaev was captured after a day-long search on Friday in a Boston suburb.

The request appeared to be an effort by the FBI to determine if the type of bombs used on Monday at the Boston Marathon were linked to any groups or attacks in other countries. The bombs were home-made explosive devices using pressure-cooker pots to contain explosives and shrapnel.

The motive behind the Boston marathon bombings is not yet known. The attack, the worst in the United States since the September 11, 2011 atrocities, killed three people and wounded about 180.

Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble said in the statement that the alert "will enable police services and other law enforcement agencies around the world to advise US law enforcement authorities whether they've come across similarly designed devices in their own investigations".

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China's quake zone between tectonic plates

The site of China's latest earthquake sits on the border of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates. Source: AAP

THE area of southwestern China struck by a violent tremor on Saturday has witnessed some of the world's deadliest earthquakes.

The area sits on the boundary between two of the earth's tectonic plates, the Indian and Asian plates, which are constantly grinding against each other.

The region is unusual geologically because of the steep slopes at the boundary between the Sichuan Basin and the Tibetan plateau, according to seismologists.

The elevation rises by about 3,500 metres over only about 50 kilometres.

Earthquakes are frequent along the fringes of the Tibetan plateau, which was raised when India collided into Eurasia starting some 50 million years ago.

It is this powerful thrust that created the Himalayas and its highest peak, Mount Everest, which reaches 8,848 metres. The mountains continue to reach skyward to this day, propelled by unstable tectonic terrain.

The deadliest earthquake to rock the Tibetan plateau in the 20th century was in 1920 when 230,000 people died in Gansu province. Another quake measuring 8.0-magnitude struck Sichuan in May 2008 leaving nearly 87,000 dead or missing.

Jiang Haikun, an official with the China Earthquake Networks Centre's forecasting department, said Saturday's quake was formed in the same way as the 2008 quake.

Both quakes occurred on the Longmen mountain fault zone, which tended to produce powerful tremors along a 500-kilometre-long belt, he said.

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Hong Kong shares end 2.33pc higher

HONG Kong shares ended 2.33 per cent higher on Friday, capping a tough week for global markets after China released data showing growth in the world's number two economy had slowed.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 501.05 points to end at 22,013.57 on turnover of $HK65.98 billion ($A8.30 billion).

World markets were hit on Monday when China released figures showing the economy grew 7.7 per cent in the January-March quarter, slower than expected and weaker than the 7.9 per cent in the previous three months.

The news raised questions about the strength of a recent pick-up in the economy, which is a key driver of growth for other nations.

On Thursday the Hong Kong rally was helped by a jump in Shanghai that came thanks to reports in state media that China could approve as early as this month new investment quotas for overseas financial institutions looking to enter the market.

Lenovo rebounded 9.5 per cent to HK$7.06 on news it is in talks to buy part of IBM's server unit. The jump follows a recent slump fuelled by concerns about demand for PCs after data showed sales had tumbled.

China Unicom climbed 7.3 per cent to HK$10.26, while mainland developer China Overseas Land rose 5.8 per cent on bargain-hunting.

HSBC rose 1.82 per cent to HK$81.10, while Cathay Pacific added 0.77 per cent to HK$13.08.

Chinese shares ended up 2.14 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 47.04 points to 2,244.64 on turnover of 95.4 billion yuan ($15.4 billion). The index rose 1.72 per cent for the week, despite Monday's poor data.

"The market rebounded after losses in previous sessions. News that overseas capital might enter the A-share market soon is also favourable to brokerages," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.

Founder Securities surged 8.87 per cent to 7.24 yuan and China Citic Securities jumped 5.51 per cent to 12.82 yuan.

Among lenders China Minsheng Banking advanced 8.13 per cent to 10.11 yuan while Pudong Development Bank jumped 5.30 per cent to 10.14 yuan.

A rebound in bullion prices from two-year lows earlier in the week helped Zhongjin Gold rise 2.76 per cent to 12.64 yuan, while Zijin Mining climbed 1.92 per cent to 3.19 yuan.

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French family kidnapped in Cameroon freed

A FRENCH family of seven abducted by Islamic extremists while holidaying in Cameroon have been freed after two months in captivity, officials say.

The hostages - a father, mother, four children aged 5 to 12, and an uncle - were all in good health, the French presidency said, adding that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was on his way to the central African state to greet the family.

The Cameroonian president said in a statement read on national radio that the hostages - who were seized by six gunmen on February 19 and taken to neighbouring Nigeria - had been "handed over last night to Cameroonian authorities".

He did not say how they were freed but he thanked the governments of Nigeria and France.

The French foreign minister said they were freed overnight on Thursday to Friday "in an area between Nigeria and Cameroon".

"I spoke to the family on the phone. They are extremely happy and in good shape," said Fabius.

The family were seen arriving on Friday at the French embassy in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.

French President Francois Hollande insisted after their release that France had not paid any ransom.

They had been held by Islamist sect Boko Haram - which is blamed for killing thousands of people in an insurgency in northern Nigeria since 2009.

Their abduction came just as France was deploying thousands of troops to fight Islamic extremists in Mali, another former French colony in the region.

Eight other French citizens are being held hostage in the Sahel region south of the Sahara, according to Hollande.

A video surfaced last month in which the father of the abducted family, Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, seemingly asked President Biya to free detained members of the al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram group.

The family, who were based in Cameroon, were visiting the Waza National Park when they were kidnapped.

They were identified as Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, who worked for the French gas group GDF Suez in Yaounde, his wife Albane, and their four sons, Eloi, Andeol, Mael and Clarence.

Tanguy's brother Cyril Moulin-Fournier was on vacation and with them at the time. The three adults are all around 40 years old.

The family, with the exception of the uncle, moved to Yaounde in 2011 when the father began a job there overseeing the construction of a liquid natural gas plant. The uncle lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Boko Haram has in the past called for the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, where corruption is deeply rooted and most of the population lives on less than $2 per day despite its vast oil reserves.

The Boko Haram insurgency is estimated to have left more than 3,000 people dead since 2009, including many killings in operations by the security services.

The group is believed to be made up of many different factions. Analysts say some members are likely hardcore Islamists who would resist any concession to Nigeria's secular government.

Other members are thought to be northern youths who have been radicalised out of frustration at massive government corruption.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan recently instructed his security advisors to look at whether an amnesty could help curb the Boko Haram insurgency.

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US state decriminalises gay sex

Gay rights activists are hopeful of full equality as the state of Montana decriminalised gay sex. Source: AAP

AN obsolete law deeming gay sex as deviant - akin to bestiality - was stricken from the law in the western state of Montana, prompting gay rights activists to say they hope that full legal equality may be closer.

When Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed Senate Bill 107 decriminalizing gay sex, cheers erupted in the Capitol's Rotunda.

It had been 16 years after the state Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional and 24 years after gay rights activists began their fight to take government out of the bedroom.

"I am not going to speak too long because, frankly, the longer I talk, the longer this embarrassing and unconstitutional law stays on the books," Bullock said.

The victory, though a powerful one for the gay community in Montana, is highly symbolic with no tangible benefits aside from striking the obsolete law condemning gay sex from Montana code.

The outdated code has not been used to prosecute individuals for years.

And previous efforts to offer gays and lesbians protection under the law, including a push to prohibit civil discrimination, have been thwarted by a Republican-controlled Legislature.

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Reports Boston bombing suspect arrested

A suspect in the Boston marathon bombing has reportedly been arrested during a police incident. Source: AAP

ONE of the suspects from the Boston marathon bombing has reportedly been arrested.

"One Marathon bombing suspect has been caught, and another is on the loose in Watertown after a firefight with police, officials said", the Boston Globe has tweeted.

The Globe has sourced the information to an official with knowledge of the investigation.

"Another remains on the loose in Watertown after a firefight with police. Authorities have established a 20-block perimeter as they search for him," the Globe said in a report online.

It's believed the man was arrested during a major police operation in the Boston area town of Watertown.

The shooting and major police operation come just days after twin bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line killed three people, wounded more than 180 others and led to an increase in security in the region.

The FBI earlier on Thursday released images of two men they believed were suspects.

Hours later, a police officer at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology died after being shot "multiple" times late on Thursday night local time.

Heavily armed police immediately launched a major manhunt after the killing.

Shortly after, gunfire and explosions erupted in streets in Watertown, north of the university.

"There were blasts, it could have been grenades," local resident Adam Brown told AFP.

The NBC-WJAR channel showed film of a man lying on the ground in a street in the town and surrounded by police.

Authorities made no immediate link between the incidents.

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Manhunt after first Boston suspect dies

POLICE killed one of the Boston marathon bombing suspects in a shootout early Friday and pursued a chaotic street-to-street manhunt for his accomplice, officials said.

Several Boston suburbs were put under effective lockdown and public transport was suspended throughout the region.

In addition, thousands of heavily-armed police continue a house-to-house search in suburban Watertown for an "armed and dangerous... terrorist... who has come here to kill people."

The two men, dubbed "Suspect One" and "Suspect Two" by the FBI, led police special forces on a violent cavalcade that left inhabitants of towns around Boston cowering in their homes as gunfire and explosions erupted through the night.

One police officer was killed and another wounded in the operation, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

Davis also confirmed that Suspect One had been killed.

The man, whose identity has not been released, died in the hospital after being hit with bullets and injured by an explosion, a doctor at Beth Israel hospital told reporters.

Police told inhabitants of Watertown and nearby towns to stay home as they hunted the second man believed to have planted the bombs that killed three people and injured about 180 at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The governor also suspended all public transit services through the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The surviving fugitive was "armed and dangerous," Davis said.

"We believe this to be a terrorist, we believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people," the police chief told reporters.

Police said the first suspect had explosives on his body, and there were fears the second suspect still at large was also strapped with bombs.

The suspects first tried to rob a convenience store in Cambridge, across the river from Boston, Davis said.

They then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where one campus police officer was shot several times and died, the commissioner added. The pair then hijacked a Mercedes car and eventually let the driver out in Watertown, which is close to MIT, Davis added.

The chase went on through Watertown where the two were seen throwing explosives out of the car, local media said, citing police reports. Blasts and gunfire were heard in several districts.

During a shootout, one wanted man was hit and died later in hospital, Davis said. Another police officer was also wounded. The second suspect, who has been shown in pictures wearing a white baseball cap, escaped.

MIT students were kept in a lockdown for three hours after the shooting on campus. Police with rifles flooded the streets, and search helicopters patrolled the skies.

MIT, one of the world's top universities, is in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston where the double bomb attack was staged on Monday in the worst militant attack on the United States since the September 11 atrocities in 2001. Authorities cancelled classes Friday, in the wake of the incident.

Hours before the manhunt, the FBI released pictures and video of the two suspects, appealing for help to identify the pair who were carrying large backpacks.

Both appeared to be young men, one dressed in a white baseball cap and the other in a black cap. The FBI gave no details of their identities or origin, naming them only as Suspect One and Suspect Two.

Two bombs were placed around the marathon finish line on Monday, spraying nails, ball bearings and other metal fragments into massed spectators, many of whom suffered horrific injuries.

The men are seen in the video walking calmly, one a few paces behind the other, weaving between crowds on Boston's Boylston Street where the race finished.

President Barack Obama vowed to the people of Boston Thursday that the "evil" bombers would be brought to justice.

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