A HELICOPTER has crashed in Turkey's southeast killing 17 soldiers, media reports say.
Channel 24 says the helicopter crashed in the district of Pervari in Siirt province on Saturday morning. It cites the provincial governor, Ahmet Aydin.
State-run TRT television says the crash occurred in heavy fog in a mountainous area.
Authorities are investigating the cause. Kurdish rebels are active in the area.
FOUR youths have been questioned over a massive fire that gutted a north Queensland shopping complex.
No one was injured in the blaze on Greenfield Boulevard, Mackay, but it destroyed most of the Toys R Us, Clark Rubber and Autobarn stores.
Emergency services received reports of the fire at about 11.45am (AEST) on Saturday and it took more than three hours for the blaze to be contained, with the Department of Community Safety (DCS) saying the main fire was put out at about 3pm.
Police said four juveniles were questioned over the fire and two boys, aged 10 and 13, were still assisting with inquiries on Saturday evening.
Officers will remain at the scene overnight as investigations into the cause of the fire continue.
A public safety order is still in place because of concerns about toxic smoke from burning chemicals in some of the shops.
A nearby shop worker, who did not want to be named, said witnesses saw four teenagers being arrested in the car park.
"They (the teenagers) were in our shop this morning. We hunted them out. They were being horrible in here," she told AAP.
"Officers have put those young people in a paddy wagon."
The DCS said a fire investigator would be brought in to work out how the blaze started.
AN American regarded as a father of computer graphics, an Indian literary critic and a Japanese molecular cell biologist have received the Kyoto Prize, Japan's highest private award for global achievement.
The Inamori Foundation awarded its advanced technology prize on Saturday to US computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, who developed the graphic interface program Sketchpad in 1963.
Gayatri Chakrovoty Spivak, an Indian literary critic and professor at Columbia University, won the arts and philosophy prize.
Yoshinori Ohsumi, a molecular biologist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, received the basic sciences prize for his work on autophagy, a cell-recycling system that could be used to help treat neurodegenerative and age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer.
The Kyoto-based Inamori Foundation was set up in 1984 by Kyocera Corp's founder, Kazuo Inamori.
THE Chinese Communist Party's paranoia is on full display for its congress in Beijing in a security squeeze extending from police swarming Tiananmen Square to elderly sentinels watching street corners.
The capital has 1.4 million "public order volunteers" - retirees, street cleaners, firemen and low-paid private security guards - on the lookout for anything that could upset the sensitive gathering, even in the quietest residential neighbourhoods.
But despite their patriotic armbands, many grumble about being roped in as foot soldiers for China's massive police state.
"Volunteer? They made me volunteer," said Zhang Weilin, 25, a security guard at a central Beijing shopping mall who wore a camouflage jacket bearing a "US Army Airborne" patch and that was a size or two too large.
"My security company gave us the uniforms and made all of us (other security guards) volunteer during the congress," he said.
Increasingly worried about rising social unrest and acutely aware of public unhappiness over a lack of democracy, Chinese authorities have dramatically escalated the state security apparatus under President Hu Jintao.
At the end of the congress next week, Hu is widely expected to hand leadership of the party to Vice President Xi Jinping after 10 years in power.
Under Hu, security budgets have exploded - $US111 billion ($A107.1 billion) was allocated in 2011 for "stability maintenance", exceeding China's stated defence budget.
Authorities frequently buttress security by tasking ordinary citizens with maintaining order in their patch and reporting potential threats to the Communist regime, particularly during important events like the congress.
"If we see anything out of the ordinary, like a petitioner trying to protest, we report immediately to the neighbourhood committee, who calls the police," said retired teacher Huo Huihua, watching a Beijing street corner.
Under an age-old system from imperial times, Chinese across the country are officially granted the right to petition to Beijing authorities against local injustices.
However, petitioners and rights groups claim complainants are routinely jailed, beaten, or otherwise persecuted into silence. Rights groups say petitioners are being detained and ejected from the city during the congress.
"It doesn't matter if the petitioner has a legitimate beef or not. That will be up to the police to decide," said Huo, adding a sad grimace that acknowledged routine police brutality.
Zhang Yaodong, a petitioner from Henan province, was beaten to death by unknown thugs on Tuesday ahead of the congress, a rights group has said.
Beijing police refused to comment. Such incidents are common in China and often trigger violent demonstrations.
Although AFP reporters have witnessed numerous petitioners being dragged by police since the congress began, none of the nearly 20 "public order volunteers" interviewed said they had seen anything that merited a report to police.
The security clampdown in Beijing has many of its practical-minded residents involved in the effort wondering why none of the huge security spending has trickled down to them.
"If any 'stability maintenance money' is handed out, it will surely go to the neighbourhood committee. We will never see any of it," said a retired worker named Chen.
Instead, rewards for "volunteers" included uniforms, jackets, soap powder and cooking oil in exchange for the hours spent on street corners in the chilly November air.
Dissident Bao Tong said the huge domestic security build-up of recent years indicates the Communist Party has lost its ruling legitimacy.
"No country in the world makes its own people the biggest enemy," Bao, who was the highest official jailed following the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests that were suppressed by the army, said before the congress opened.
"In a republic, the people should be the masters. 'Stability maintenance' takes the people as the enemy. This is an insult and a disgrace," he said.
Chen Huili, a house cleaner who says she was pressured into acting as a neighbourhood sentinel, has her own reasons for grumbling.
"I didn't volunteer. My company is making me do this," said Chen, as she swept up cigarette butts in a Beijing housing complex wearing a red "public order volunteer" arm band.
"They didn't give me anything but extra work to do."
CHARLES and Camilla did what most visitors do with only one full day in Sydney - took in the sights of the Opera House, Sydney Harbour and Bondi beach.
Unlike most, they also dropped in at Government House and Admiralty House.
They mingled with well-known Australians including fashionistas, footballers and influential females, but the day also brought unscripted moments like a flash thunderstorm and a fainting military policeman.
Prince Charles rolled his eyes in disappointment when the heavens opened at Bondi, forcing him to cut short a meet-and-greet session with emergency services officers.
Charles had arrived to screams of "Charlie, Charlie", British flags and a sign reading "Say G'day to Betty for me".
A barricade almost gave way as excited locals shook hands with the prince and had photos taken with him amid a sea of smartphones.
At Sydney's historic Victoria Barracks a short time earlier, a military policeman fainted in the high heat and humidity during a parade in which Charles' wife Camilla was appointed colonel-in-chief of Australia's military police.
The Duchess of Cornwall was reviewing troops behind him at the time and would have been unaware that for the unfortunate MP it was a passing out parade.
The duchess, whose father was a British army officer, admired the "dashing scarlet berets" of the military police and wondered if she might get to wear one. Her wish was soon granted when she was presented with a beret.
Praising the MPs' outstanding service to the nation at home and in danger zones like Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor, she said: "It seems to me you are never off duty, rather like my husband."
The 65-year-old duchess said she "deeply regretted" leaving it so late to visit Australia but now hoped to return often.
Later she attended a Women of the World reception hosted by NSW Governor Marie Bashir, where guests included film director Gillian Armstrong, Today show host Lisa Wilkinson, gold medal-winning Paralympian Carol Cooke, author Nikki Gemmell, singer Katie Noonan and writer Anne Summers.
Prince Charles, meanwhile, watched a beach touch football match featuring indigenous rugby league stars Greg Bird, Greg Inglis and Willie Tonga.
"We got told what we were supposed to say, but when he stuck his hand out I got a little bit flustered and starstruck, and I think I said 'G'day'," Bird said.
The royal couple kicked off their day with a barge ride on the harbour before a morning tea with Australian Defence Force personnel and their families.
The pair soaked up views of the sunny city as they travelled to Garden Island in a wooden ceremonial boat, the Admiral's Barge.
Prince Charles wore an Australian merino wool suit to the Museum of Contemporary Art to meet five local designers in his role as an ambassador for the Campaign for Wool.
If he had glanced up at a nearby P&O cruise ship moored in Circular Quay, he would have seen a large banner declaring "Royal Suite Available".
The royal couple ended their day with an Opera House reception where guests included NSW premier Barry O'Farrell, Olympians, youth and arts leaders before dining with Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Admiralty House.
They fly to Canberra on Saturday to close their six-day Australian visit marking the Queen's diamond jubilee, then travel on to New Zealand.
MYSTERY surrounds the circumstances of a fatal plane crash in northern NSW which killed two men after the aircraft plummeted to the ground about 80km off-course.
The aircraft burst into flames when it crashed into a paddock off the Bruxner Highway in South Gundurimba, south of Lismore, at 10.15am (AEDT) on Friday.
Two men, believed to be a 47-year-old and a 40-year-old from the Gold Coast, died at the scene.
The crash sparked a grass fire and debris was strewn around the wreckage.
"There is a large debris field of about 50 metres in length," a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman told AAP.
It is believed the Socata Trinidad took off from Gold Coast Airport about 9.30am (AEDT) and was heading south to Murwillumbah Airport.
A focus of the investigation will be how the plane ended up in South Gundurimba, about 80km south of Murwillumbah.
Police from Richmond Local Area Command, crime scene officers, as well investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, remained at the scene on Friday evening.
The cause of the crash was not yet known, but one witness told the Seven Network the plane banked hard left, then "fell like a rock" to the ground.
A light plane has been destroyed but its pilot only slightly injured after crash landing in WA. Source: AAP
A LIGHT plane has been destroyed but its pilot only slightly injured after a crash landing metres from the edge of a dam in Western Australia.
The single-engine Jabiru plane suffered engine failure at around 2000 feet (610 metres) about 9.30am (WST) on Friday, forcing the pilot to ditch on the edge of Wungong Dam, 45km southeast of Perth.
The plane split in two on impact but the pilot walked away with minor injuries and did not require hospital treatment after being airlifted by the RAC rescue helicopter.
WA police officers were securing the crash scene, with Recreational Aviation Australia, the regulatory body for light aircraft in Australia, likely to carry out a review of the possible causes of the engine failure.
AT Jimmy Savile's funeral a year ago, the priest delivering the homily was emphatic: the DJ and television host "can face eternal life with confidence".
Hundreds of people packed a cathedral for Savile's funeral Mass, thousands paid their respects at his coffin, and people from Prince Charles to the Bee Gees sent condolences.
He was a cultural fixture, even an icon, and his BBC television shows had been part of childhood for two generations of Britons.
But a year on, Savile's reputation is in ruins. Police have branded him one of Britain's worst sex offenders, accused of assaulting underage girls over half a century. Like those who feted and praised him on that November day, millions are wondering: How could he have duped so many for so long?
"His life story was an epic of giving - giving of time, giving of talent, giving of treasure," Monsignor Kieran Heskin told hundreds of mourners at the funeral. "Sir Jimmy Savile can face eternal life with confidence."
Savile's death, like his life, was full of self-spun mythology. He cast himself as a colourful entertainer who worked tirelessly for charity - and he choreographed his exit as carefully as an Egyptian pharaoh, leaving instructions for an elaborate three-day commemoration in his home city of Leeds, in northern England.
Thousands of people turned out to pay tribute at the Queen's Hotel, where the entertainer's coffin sat surrounded by flowers, photos and the last cigar he ever smoked. Inside lay Savile, dressed in a tracksuit and clutching a string of rosary beads.
Others lined the street as Savile was carried into St Anne's Cathedral by Royal Marine pallbearers for a richly ceremonial requiem Mass. Later he was buried in a golden coffin, in a tree-shaded cemetery - and on a 45-degree angle so he could overlook the sea.
"He had gold, jewellery and diamonds, but wealth meant nothing to him," Alistair Hall, a cardiologist at one of the hospitals Savile supported, said in his eulogy. Savile, he said, "was as he appeared - a caring man".
Savile cultivated the persona of an eccentric, curmudgeonly but generous uncle. He wore brightly coloured tracksuits and chunky gold chains and drove a Rolls-Royce. On the long-running TV show Jim'll Fix It, he made children's wishes come true. Off-screen, he ran marathons for charity and frequently visited schools and hospitals.
What now seems clear - what so many missed - is that both roles brought him into contact with potential victims: star-struck teenagers, vulnerable patients, inmates of a secure psychiatric hospital.
Cary Cooper, a professor of psychology at England's Lancaster University, said that probably nobody will ever know whether Savile used his charity work deliberately to meet victims, or simply to burnish his saintly image. "Either way," Cooper said, "it protected him more, being seen as a philanthropic individual. It served his purpose."
At the funeral, Hall said Saville's charitable legacy would live on. Last month, the trustees of two charities that bear his name announced that they were closing down.
When Savile died, Prince Charles' office said the heir to the throne and his wife "were saddened to hear of Jimmy Savile's death".
The late DJ boasted of his ties to powerful people, including Prince Charles, the late Princess Diana and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom he visited at her country retreat.
His connections may have helped shield him from criticism. Several young people accused Savile of abuse while he was alive, and he was questioned by police, but no charges were laid - and no newspaper ever printed the allegations.
Now, police are investigating claims of abuse from about 300 people who have come forward since the scandal exploded when allegations about Savile were broadcast in a TV documentary in early October. And police are facing investigation themselves for their failure to act sooner.
Charles' Clarence House office says the prince's relationship with Savile was solely a result of their shared charity work.
"If there's a heaven, he'll be laughing now if he's got time," fellow DJ Tony Prince said at the funeral. "Because if there is a heaven, he'll be introducing Elvis on the clouds."
Younger DJs mentored by Savile were out in force at the memorial, and remembered the flamboyant star fondly. One, Dave Eager, wore a bright yellow sweat shirt saying "Jimmy's Eager Helper".
"Everyone who knew Jimmy knows it was a life-changing experience," he said.
Last month, Eager told The Sun newspaper that he was "completely and utterly gobsmacked" by the allegations against Savile, and felt guilty about failing to stop the abuse.
"You feel traumatised and sorry for the people abused by Jimmy, but equally you think, 'Why the bloody hell didn't we see something?'" he said.
Savile's carefully crafted myth didn't outlive him by long, and he has not rested in peace. His family has had the star's gravestone destroyed in response to public outrage. This week his nephew backed calls to exhume and cremate Savile's body out of respect to other bereaved families.
Of all the words spoken at the funeral a year ago, one comment now sounds prophetic. "None of us really knew the real Jimmy," fellow DJ Mike Read said. "Maybe he didn't even know himself."
FIVE Tibetans have set themselves on fire in China in an unprecedented string of protests ahead of the country's once-in-a-decade leadership change, the Tibetan exile government says.
All five took place on Wednesday, the eve of a pivotal week-long Communist Party congress which will end with the transitioning of power to Vice President Xi Jinping, who will govern for the coming decade.
Individual self-immolations to protest Chinese rule in Tibet have occurred regularly since March 2011, but this is the first time such a large number have happened on the same day.
Three teenage monks set themselves ablaze in a Tibetan-inhabited area of Aba County in Sichuan province, the focus of previous protests. One of them died on the spot, the press department for the exile government said.
"The self-immolations in Tibet are an appeal to the international community, to the Chinese government and to the Chinese people as human beings to hear their cry for help," Dicki Chhoyang, information secretary for the government, told AFP.
In addition to the three burnings in Sichuan, a fourth occurred in Huangnan prefecture in Qinghai province where a 23-year-old woman self-immolated and a fifth happened in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the exile government said.
Two protesters are confirmed dead and the whereabouts of the others are unknown.
"These protests are aimed at sending the next generation of China's unelected regime a clear signal that Tibetans will continue to fight for their freedom despite China's efforts to suppress and intimidate them," Stephanie Brigden, director of the Free Tibet campaign group said in a statement.
The group reported four people had set themselves on fire, while the Radio Free Asia broadcaster reported five and two deaths.
A total of 68 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the protest, of which 54 have died, according to figures from the government in exile, which has been based in India since Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959.
China blames what it calls the "Dalai clique" for fomenting unrest in Tibet and orchestrating the self-immolations.
Last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged China to address Tibetans' grievances saying: "I recognise Tibetans' intense sense of frustration and despair which has led them to resort to such extreme means."
Pillay said she was disturbed by "continuing allegations of violence against Tibetans seeking to exercise their fundamental human rights of freedom of expression, association and religion".
China rebuffed the criticism and expressed "strong dissatisfaction".
The Tibetan government in exile, which is not recognised by any foreign state, is looking for cause for optimism from the new Chinese leadership under Xi, the 59-year-old son of a Communist revolutionary.
Xi's father, Xi Zhongxun, met and came to know the Dalai Lama in Beijing in the early 1950s, before the Tibetan spiritual leader fled after a failed uprising.
Xi senior, a party official at the time, later became a liberal vice premier known to be sympathetic towards minorities, and Tibetan exiles and analysts raise the possibility that such thinking may have passed down a generation.
Xi junior's true political leanings are largely unknown, though he has expressed the government's routine disdain for the Dalai Lama and also vowed to "smash" any attempt to destroy stability in Tibet.
PERSONAL computer-maker Lenovo Group says its quarterly profit has risen 13 per cent as mobile and cloud-based businesses expanded.
The company earned $US162 million ($A156.20 million), or 1.6 US cents per share, in the three months ended September 30. Global revenues rose 11 per cent to $US8.7 billion.
Lenovo is vying with Hewlett-Packard Co to become the world's biggest personal computer maker but faces a market in which the fastest demand growth is for mobile devices.
Research firm Gartner said last month Lenovo outsold HP in the latest quarter but IDC still had HP on top.
Lenovo said sales at its two-year-old mobile internet group rose 155 per cent to $US718 million.
"Our global PC market share reached another historic high, moving us closer to our dream of becoming the worldwide PC leader," said chairman Yang Yuanqing in a statement on Thursday.
He said emerging markets outside China have reached "the profitable growth stage", improving the prospects for future earnings.
Still, profit growth was lower than the previous quarter's 30 per cent, reflecting cooling demand for PCs as customer interest shifts to tablets, smartphones and other wireless devices.
PC shipments in Lenovo's home China market grew by 8 per cent over a year earlier, down from the previous quarter's 59 per cent. Sales in North America grew 7 per cent to $US1.2 billion in a market in which Lenovo said overall sales contracted by 12 per cent.
Lenovo released a new version of its ThinkPad notebook computer, the X1 Carbon, in August that it said was lighter and quicker to appeal to customers who want the convenience of a tablet. Lenovo acquired the ThinkPad brand with IBM Corp's personal computer unit in 2005.
Lenovo said its acquisitions during the latest quarter included Stoneware, an Indiana software company focused on cloud computing.
THREE people, including two school principals, have died after a Darwin taxi driver made a U-turn across double lines in front of a fully laden cement truck.
Northern Territory police said it appeared the taxi driver had been travelling down an off-ramp from busy Tiger Brennan Drive at about 8.30am (CST) on Thursday when he attempted the U-turn.
At the time, he was in a 100km/h zone on a bend in the road that had double lines.
"The taxi was dragged approximately 60 metres before the truck rolled on top of it," a police spokesman said.
Crash investigators were left wondering why the driver had attempted such a risky manoeuvre.
One officer told AAP it was possible the driver had become confused about the direction of traffic at the bottom of the ramp.
All three people in the taxi, including the 57-year-old driver, died instantly while the truck driver sustained minor injuries and was treated for shock.
One of the passengers in the taxi was 72-year-old Greg Crowe, the principal of the Ltyentye Apurte Catholic School in Santa Teresa, a community about 80km southeast of Alice Springs.
The other passenger was 50-year-old Tiwi elder and principal of the Murrupurtiyanuwu Catholic Primary School on Bathurst Island, whose name has not been revealed for cultural reasons.
One of only several Aboriginal school principals in the NT, she had been in the job for nearly 23 years.
"The community of Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island has lost a school principal and a leader in her own community," said Darwin's Bishop Eugene Hurley.
A farewell mass for teachers is expected to be held at the school in Santa Teresa on Friday, with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony for Mr Crowe scheduled for Monday.
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett believes his government may be able to help thaw the frosty relationship between Japanese and Chinese interests in the $6 billion Oakajee port project.
Japanese trading giant Mitsubishi has decided to "slow down" work on the already-stalled project in the state's mid-west region, after talks with potential joint-venture partners languished.
Oakajee was to export iron ore from the magnetite-rich mid-west but the low-grade product has dramatically fallen out of favour with a slide in iron-ore prices and wavering Chinese demand.
Mr Barnett told parliament a key reason behind Mitsubishi's decision was tension between Japan and China over its territorial dispute in the South China Sea, as well as the Japanese group's profitability slide.
He said he was surprised at the extent of the "total breakdown" between the nations in a political dispute that had huge economic ramifications, with the Chinese boycotting Japanese products.
Mr Barnett has for some time been trying to drum up Chinese investment in the project - even making mercy dashes to China and having weekly contact with its influential National Development and Reform Commission.
But he's now gone a step further, bullishly claiming the project will proceed and setting himself up as a potential peace-broker between the parties.
"One of the difficulties the state government has is that we continue to have good relationships with Japanese interests and Mitsubishi in particular, and good relationships with the Chinese steel mills and central government in Beijing," Mr Barnett told reporters.
"Those relationships stay strong ... but what is happening is the Chinese and Japanese are not talking.
"That is why Mitsubishi has slowed down the project."
Mr Barnett acknowledged in parliament that Mitsubishi's decision was a setback "but I will not give up ... it will happen".
He also suggested the Chinese might buy out Mitsubishi's interest altogether.
"It is a possibility - I get the sense that Mitsubishi wants to concentrate on its (WA) mine," Mr Barnett said.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said the turn of events was "very disturbing" for Australia's economy and he was concerned for those who had reportedly lost jobs as a result.
The premier had "sent the wrong message" by interfering in the project, Mr McGowan said.
He said Mr Barnett needed to accept responsibility for his role now that he had become heavily involved, pledging in 2008 a $339 million contribution towards the port's common infrastructure, a figure later matched by the federal government.
Mr Barnett had made the Oakajee project his own and had said he would deliver it, Mr McGowan told reporters.
John Langoulant, the CEO of Oakajee Port and Rail, which manages the project, said Mitsubishi's decision to "slow down" was a response to current economic circumstances and the need for "prudent" spending.
"Our decision to reduce costs is not taken lightly," Mr Langoulant said.
Oakajee, one of Australia's largest infrastructure projects, had been touted as WA's most important development for the next 50 years, opening up a second major iron-ore province behind the Pilbara.
A NEW version of the synthetic drug known as Venom is on West Australian streets and is being favoured by mine workers, according to a retailer.
A Perth tobacco retailer, who did not want to be named, said he had heard several stories about the drug being produced as a cottage industry by people who imported the chemicals from China.
The drug was proving popular with mine workers in places like Karratha and Geraldton because it could not be detected in drug tests.
"It's like the next generation of Kronic," he said.
"God knows what's in it."
The tobacco retailer, who also sells smoking pipes, said customers had asked for Venom but the retailer did not sell it.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan blamed the Barnett government for its "band-aid solution" to synthetic drugs, saying it continued to play catch-up with drug manufacturers.
The WA government last year listed several synthetic cannabis products, including Kronic, Voodoo and Mango Kush, as illegal substances.
But new, legal versions are constantly being developed.
Mr McGowan said the government should have had a clear, long term strategy to deal with legal highs.
BAHRAINI authorities have revoked the citizenship of 31 Shi'ite activists, among them two former members of parliament, for having "undermined state security", state news agency BNA reports.
The names of the 31 activists, including brothers Jawad and Jalal Fairuz, both ex-MPs who represented the major Shi'ite Al-Wefaq bloc, were listed in the report on Wednesday, which quoted an interior ministry statement.
Also named was Ali Mashaima, son of prominent activist Hassan Mashaima who is head of the radical Shi'ite opposition movement Haq and who is serving a life sentence for allegedly plotting against the monarchy.
The government move comes after Bahrain late last month banned all protests and gatherings to ensure "security is maintained," after clashes between Shi'ite-led demonstrators and security forces in the Sunni-ruled country.
The Gulf state has experienced unrest since March last year when the authorities crushed protests led by the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
According to the International Federation for Human Rights, 80 people have died in Bahrain since the violence erupted on February 14 last year.
Hundreds of people were arrested when the security forces, aided by troops from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, crushed the uprising within a month, while many activists, including some whose names appear on Wednesday's list, were tried in special military courts set up at the time.
Another former MP and leading Al-Wefaq member, Matar Matar, told AFP that "many named (on the list) were acquitted by a military court" after being charged with harming state security.
Others named on the list are currently living abroad, according to opposition sources.
Tension has been running high in the kingdom following a spate of bombings on Monday in the capital Manama which killed two Asian expatriates. Four people have been arrested in connection with the bombings.
King Hamad ordered Tuesday "the swift arrest of the terrorists who carried out the recent terrorist acts in Bahrain" and urged citizens to help "bring them to justice so they receive their punishment over this appalling act."
A POLICE officer says a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan has killed five people, including three policemen.
Asif Iqbal says the attack on Wednesday targeted the vehicle of a senior police officer outside a police station in a crowded market in the city of Peshawar.
The blast killed the senior officer, two other policemen and two bystanders. It also wounded 20 people.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Pakistani Taliban often target security forces in the country's northwest.
Peshawar has been hit many times because it is located on the border of Pakistan's tribal region, the main sanctuary for militants in the country.
FROM his old school in Indonesia to a Japanese beach town that happens to share his name, people around the world cheered President Barack Obama's re-election.
The results of Tuesday's election were closely watched in many countries. Several US embassies held mock elections and threw parties as returns came in.
At Jakarta's Menteng 01 Primary School, which Obama once attended, students happily marched with a poster of the president from one classroom to another after hearing that he had defeated Republican Mitt Romney to win a second term.
"Obama wins ... Obama wins again," they shouted on Wednesday.
A statue of a young "Barry" Obama, as he was called as a child, stands outside the school.
"I want to be like him, the president," student Alexander Ananta said.
The news also thrilled Obama's former nanny in Indonesia, Evie, who became well known this year following reports of her struggles living in the conservative country as a transgender.
"Hopefully, he will contribute to the betterment of not only American citizens, but to the world as well," said Evie, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
China's Foreign Ministry said President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao phoned Obama to congratulate him. Vice President Xi Jinping, who is to begin taking over this week in China's once-a-decade leadership transition, phoned Vice President Joe Biden to congratulate him.
British Prime Minister David Cameron posted his regards on Twitter: "Warm congratulations to my friend (at)BarackObama. Look forward to continuing to work together."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a strained relationship with the American president over his policies on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, congratulated the president in a text message to reporters.
"I will continue to work with President Obama to preserve the strategic interests of Israel's citizens," he said.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority has been disappointed that Obama did not pressure Israel to make greater efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, including a freeze on all settlement construction.
In the absence of negotiations, senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat urged the US president to reverse course and support Palestinian efforts to seek UN General Assembly recognition of an independent state of Palestine.
"We have decided to take our cause to the United Nations this month, and we hope that Obama will stand by us," Erekat told Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.
In China, Obama's re-election was good news for people concerned about Romney's vow to label China a currency manipulator if elected. Some feared that would ignite a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
"His re-election is in line with what the Chinese people want," said Hong Zihan, a graduate student who monitored the results at a US Embassy event in Beijing.
For Obama, Japan, the president's re-election means more opportunity to capitalise on their shared name. Obama means "little beach" in Japanese.
The western coastal town threw a party as they watched the election returns. Hula dancers known as the Obama Girls swayed in homage of the president's home state of Hawaii, said Obama city hall official Hirokazu Yomo.
"Four more years," Yomo said. "So we are happy this will continue and help with building our city."
In Burma, which is pushing political reforms forward after five decades of military rule kept it isolated from much of the rest of the world, some said they were relieved Obama was re-elected because he chosen to engage rather than sanction their country.
"It is good that President Obama is re-elected. President Obama is very flexible and international relations have improved during his term," said Thit Oo, a 42-year-old car mechanic.
Washington has started focusing more on Asia since Obama took office. Some Asian countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, have been looking more towards the US as tensions flare with China over disputed territories in the South China Sea.
A spokesman for the main Syrian opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council, expressed hope that the election victory would free Obama to do more to support those trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"We hope this victory for President Obama will make him free more to make the right decision to help freedom and dignity in Syria and all over the world," SNC spokesman George Sabra said on the sidelines of an opposition conference on the Qatari capital of Doha.
Sabra renewed the opposition's appeal to the international community to supply rebel fighters with weapons.
The Obama administration and its Western allies have ruled out military intervention in Syria. The US has also been cool to opposition rebels' demands for weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles, out of concern that they could fall into the wrong hands.
The US and other foreign backers of the Syrian uprising have urged the fractured, largely exile-based opposition to unite and include more representatives from inside Syria.
NSW Police have charged two men after finding over 150 kilograms of white powder believed to be methamphetamine and more than $100,000 in cash.
The men, aged 62 and 28, were stopped on Pyrmont Road in Pyrmont in central Sydney and were taken to Surry Hills police station after 148 kilograms of the drugs and $70,000 in cash were discovered during a search.
Both have been charged with supplying an indictable quantity of prohibited drugs and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
While the men were in custody, police searched the 28-year-old man's home in Ultimo and found another 14kg of the powder and a further $30,000.
Bail was granted for both men, who will appear in the Downing Centre Local Court on November 26 and 27.
Investigations into both men are continuing, police said.
A FLYING instructor and his younger passenger have been forced to belly-land a small plane at an airport near Perth following an undercarriage malfunction.
Western Australian police said the wheels on the Piper Seneca could not be lowered when the plane landed at Jandakot airport around 3.18pm (WST) on Tuesday.
The plane remained intact and the 68-year old male instructor and his 25-year old male student pilot were treated for minor injuries by two St John's Ambulance crews who were coincidentally already at the airport.
HONG Kong stocks have fallen 0.28 per cent with dealers displaying caution as they await the outcome of the neck-and-neck US presidential election.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Tuesday eased 61.97 points to 21,944.43 on turnover of $HK54.95 billion ($A6.87 billion).
Tuesday's US poll sees President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a dead heat, leaving markets in a tight band as traders hold off making any bets until the outcome is known.
"Investors are understandably a bit cautious before the US presidential election, and I'm not surprised to see some profit-taking given the recent market rally," said Jackson Wong, an investment manager at Tanrich Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Eyes are also on the beginning on Thursday of the Communist Party's congress in China, which will choose its leadership for the next 10 years.
"We should keep an eye on the opening speech by President Hu (Jintao) on Thursday and wait for the new leaders to make their first appearance after the closing next week," Macquarie Group said in a note.
Banking giant HSBC fell 1.4 per cent to HK$76.70 as third-quarter results were marred by provisions to settle money-laundering charges in the United States, which have climbed to $US1.5 billion ($A1.45 billion).
Also falling was China Merchants Holdings, which lost 5.2 per cent to end at $HK24.55.
Chinese shares closed down 0.38 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.03 points to 2,106.00 on turnover of 53.7 billion yuan ($A8.34 billion).
Property developers and spirit makers extended falls as investors took profits following last week's gains.
Xian Gree Real Estate dropped 4.89 per cent to 6.23 yuan, Gemdale fell 1.28 per cent to 5.40 yuan and Poly Real Estate shed 1.28 per cent to 11.60 yuan.
Liquor maker Kweichou Moutai lost 2.88 per cent to 235.93 yuan while Sichuan Swellfun fell 2.40 per cent to 23.63 yuan.
SYRIA'S state-run TV reports that gunmen have assassinated the brother of the parliament speaker.
The report on Tuesday said Mohammed Osama Laham was killed in the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan. It did not say when it happened, but a Syrian official said Laham was killed on Monday night.
The TV and the Syrian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media, said Laham was a brother of parliament speaker Jihad Laham.
A number of officials and top army officers have been assassinated in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March last year.
POLICE have named a man whose charred body was found after a suspicious fire in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Sultan Alamri's remains were found by bushwalkers after a fire burned through bush off Mount Nimmel Road at Austinville on October 17.
The 30-year-old was a Saudi national who had been residing on the Gold Coast since 2009.
Police had identified him last week, but did not release his name until his family had been notified.
Mr Alamri was last seen on the evening of October 6, and his body was located in bushland at Mount Nimmel Road, Austinville at midday on October 17.
Police said his body was very close to where the fire started, but the blaze was not the cause of death.
Anyone who has had contact with Mr Alamri over the past year, or who may have information on the whereabouts of the vehicle he was driving is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
It is believed Mr Alamri was driving a 2000 Model Red/Maroon Toyota Avalon Conquest Sedan, with registration 927 RXV.
Officers made extensive enquires after finding his body, including trawling through missing person's databases and interviewing the families of missing people, but failed to identify him.
After five days police let the media view jewellery found near the body in the hope that someone would recognise it.
The items included an imitation Gucci belt buckle, an earring with four separate diamonds, a sterling silver ring and a chain necklace believed to be made from nine-carat gold.
A QUEENSLAND child who had been placed in the care of an alleged sex offender was one of scores of children known to the state's child protection system who died in the year to July.
The Queensland Child Death Case Review Committee's 2011/12 annual report shows 73 children - from babies to 17-year-olds - died in the year who were known to the Department of Child Safety, eight more than the year before.
Of the 73, 27 died of disease or morbid conditions, five died of sudden infant death syndrome and undetermined causes, 11 perished in transport incidents, five drowned, four were fatally assaulted, and six committed suicide, one of whom was just nine years old.
The committee commended the department for carrying out "sufficiently comprehensive" responses to 63 of the children while they were alive. It said a further six cases were sufficient but contained minor errors.
But the department's responses to four cases were found to be insufficient.
In one of the four cases, a child was placed, without adequate investigation, with a relative who had a history of sexual abuse allegations.
The department's response was found lacking in the other three cases because staff did not appropriately analyse the risks of domestic violence and substance misuses.
The report found the "actions or inactions of the service system were linked" to the death of a four-month-old child who died from a medical condition.
The baby had been classified as very high risk even before its birth because its siblings had extensive history with the department.
The department failed to visit the baby at home after its birth, despite knowing the home was rife with domestic violence, illicit drug abuse, physical harm and neglect of children's basic needs.
Of the 73 children who died, 61 were living at home, four were in hospital, four were with foster carers, one was in a residential facility, two were living independently and one was self-placed.
Many of the families had complex multiple issues. Some 42 children had one or both parents with a criminal history, 41 families had domestic violence issues, 40 parents misused substances, and 24 parents had mental health issues.
Eight of the children had contact with the youth justice system, with four having spent time in a youth detention centre.
PAKISTAN should be permanently boycotted as a market for Australian live exports, a West Australian sheep farmer says.
Bob Ilffa, from the Wheatbelt town of Newdegate, made the comment as the industry braced for an ABC Four Corners program on the recent inhumane slaughter of about 22,000 Australian sheep in Pakistan on health concerns.
The sheep were in limbo for over a month after they were rejected in Bahrain, but further health fears in Pakistan led to them being brutally killed - in some cases buried alive - in two stages.
The culls came after repeated proof by independent veterinarians that the sheep were healthy.
The Fremantle-based exporter Wellard expressed shock when the second cull was ordered on October 20, despite promises from local authorities a day earlier that the remaining sheep would be slaughtered humanely.
The pledge came after the company agreed to drop a court injunction seeking to overturn the government-ordered cull.
Wellard immediately suspended exports to Pakistan, which had only ever been considered a contingent market.
Sheepmeat Council of Australia said it was an isolated, unusual turn of events that led to a totally unacceptable outcome.
But Mr Iffla went a step further, saying he would never send sheep to Pakistan again.
"There's no way my sheep will ever be going to Pakistan," he told AAP on Monday.
Mr Iffla said he was in agreement with animal liberationists in calling for the Pakistan market to be snubbed, but did not believe an end to live exports elsewhere was feasible, given the need among many nations to secure protein via imports.
He said he was extremely disappointed with the way the sheep had been killed, especially considering a modern abattoir was readily accessible.
Instead, the animals were clubbed and had their throats roughly slashed in a dusty feedlot.
"Pakistan has done the wrong thing by the industry," Mr Iffla said.
"It's absolutely appalling behaviour by the Pakistanis, who I don't believe we can continue to deal with (the country) because it's just going to wreck the whole live animal trade."
Mr Iffla said his sheep were currently breeding so another wave of lambs was on the way, but after that, he would rethink his business, producing less meat or even focusing on agriculture.
"I don't know where we're going," he said.
"I'm certainly thinking of changing my program to some degree because if we can't make the profit out of live sheep in the manner that we have been, we're going to have to diversify into other areas."
The Queensland Greens reiterated calls to ban live exports, saying it was not within Australia's power to control what happened to livestock once they were outside the country.
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon wants the federal government to end the trade through the Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill 2012, but that appears destined to fail in the Senate.
Labor senator Glenn Sterle last month said the Greens were suggesting that with abattoirs back in the north and a boxed meat market in place, everything would be "tickety-boo".
Mr Iffla also said Australia should stop providing aid to Pakistan because of the cull.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have left Longreach for Victoria. Source: AAP
THE Prince of Wales says it is worth feeling "a few sausages short of a barbie" from jetlag to be Down Under to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee.
Sporting an Akubra he received at the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, Prince Charles told 300 guests at a community barbecue in Longreach of the fond recollections he has of the country, particularly the outback.
He said memories of funnel-web spiders, kangaroos and scorching heat on cross-country runs are still vivid from his time at Geelong Grammar School in Melbourne in 1966.
Charles said the "bonza barbie" was a great way to start the Australian leg of his Pacific tour with wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall after arriving in northern Queensland on Monday afternoon from Papua New Guinea.
"Even though ... I'm so jetlagged that I feel a few sausages short of a barbie, it is a great joy to be back in Australia again," he said to raucous laughter.
But he said a lot had changed since he first travelled to Australia, particularly attitudes.
"In those days... the place seemed to be full of people rushing headlong into bars to down whole lines of schooners before early closing," he said.
"Now the latest figures reveal Aussies attend more cultural events than any head of population, than any nation on earth, and they also read more books."
Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley told the crowd the couple chose the ideal location for their visit to the state, given rural areas were where Queensland spirit and mateship shone brightest.
Premier Campbell Newman publicly thanked the royal family for their support during the state's floods and cyclones in 2011.
The royal couple stayed to meet local families before departing for Victoria in preparation for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
THE opening of the abalone fishing season in Western Australia appears to have ended in tragedy, after a 20-year-old Malaysian man was washed away into rough seas while trying to snare the rare marine delicacy.
Despite high winds and rough seas, dozens of people were on the shoreline at Yanchep Lagoon and Mullaloo north of Perth early on Sunday, as one of the world's shortest recreational fishing seasons opened.
And the fears of surf life savers, who posted personnel at both spots in case of emergency, were realised after 15 people had to be rescued from the waters - and one remained missing.
A massive search involving three helicopters, specialist police divers, local police and marine rescue volunteers was launched, and continued all day.
It is understood the missing man was not wearing safety equipment when he was washed away.
The search was hampered by winds reaching 30 knots and swells up to 2.5 metres high.
The search was set to continue until dark, and then recommence on Monday morning, depending on conditions.
Police said the man, who was in a group of four, went missing between 7:30am and 8am (WST) after getting caught in a rip.
The three male survivors, two aged 29 and the other 24, were taken to Joondalup Health Campus and kept overnight.
Yanchep Surf Life Saving Club president John Heesters said another four people had to be rescued in the first 10 minutes of the abalone season opening, with 12 rescued at the shoreline 55km north of Perth.
Three more were rescued at Mullaloo.
Abalone are reef-dwelling marine snails, and in Western Australia are the target of a lucrative export commercial fishery as well as the restricted recreational fishing season.
The Department of Fisheries decreed this year's season would consist of a one-hour window from 7am to 8am on the first Sunday of every month until March 2013.
A licence to fish for abalone is required, with about 20,000 recreational licences issued each year.
WA Emergency Services Minister Troy Buswell said it was essential for fishers to ensure their own safety.
"Our coastline is very dangerous in Western Australia. The sea is very unpredictable and people need to be extremely cautious," he said.
"The sad reality is a number of people are lost at sea on an annual basis in our state."
ITALIAN coastguards have reportedly retrieved the bodies of three would-be immigrants from the Mediterranean between the Libyan coast and the Italian island of Lampedusa after their boat got into trouble.
Coastguards also assisted 62 men and eight women, one of them pregnant, who were taken to an Italian navy vessel and were expected on Lampedusa later on Sunday.
News agency ANSA did not give the nationalities of the three dead women or the people rescued.
Two coastguard ships were continuing the search 56km off the Libyan coast and 225km from Lampedusa.
Italian authorities moved after a call for help made by satellite phone, and informed colleagues in Libya and Malta.
The stricken boat was later spotted by a Maltese plane.
In September a boat carrying more than 100 Tunisian migrants sank off Lampedusa. Rescue services only managed to pull 56 people to safety and the others were lost at sea.
AUTHORITIES say an Atlanta police helicopter searching for a missing 9-year-old child has crashed in the city during the night, killing the two officers aboard.
Police spokesman Carlos Campos told The Associated Press by phone the helicopter went down about 10.30 pm Saturday at an intersection of two major highways in the city's northwestern reaches.
Campos said authorities did not yet know details of the events leading up to the crash.
He said they were working with federal aviation officials on the scene. He says no one was hurt or killed on the ground.
A photograph aired on a local TV newscast showed what appeared to be flaming debris in a roadway.
SAMSUNG Electronics says global sales of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone have topped 30 million since its debut in May.
"The Galaxy S III continues to be a runaway favourite with customers around the world," JK Shin, head of Samsung's IT and mobile communications division, said in a statement on Sunday.
The third version of the Galaxy S series offers a more powerful processor that lets users watch video and write emails simultaneously as well as a large 12.2cm screen.
The company sold 56.3 million smartphones, including its flagship S III, in July-September, representing 31.3 per cent of the global market, more than twice as much as bitter rival Apple's share, research firm IDC said last month.
Samsung and US rival Apple have been embroiled in a long-running patent battle in 10 countries, including the United States and Germany, with the pair accusing each other of stealing designs and technology.
