Online detectives flourish in US manhunt

THE intensive manhunt for the bombers behind the deadly Boston Marathon attacks didn't take place only on the streets with professional police officers and SWAT teams.

In an era of digital interactivity, it also unfolded around the country on laptops manned by ordinary citizens.

Fuelled by Twitter, online forums like Reddit and 4Chan, smartphones and relays of police scanners, thousands of people played armchair detective as police searched for men who turned out to be suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers who had immigrated from southern Russia years ago.

As amateur online sleuths began identifying possible culprits, caught in the virtual manhunt were people who were wrongly accused or placed under suspicion by crowdsourcing.

It showed the damage that digital investigators can cause and raised a relevant question: In the social-media generation, what does law enforcement unleash when, by implication, it deputises the public for help?

"The FBI kind of opened the door," said Hanson Hosein, director of the University of Washington Master of Communication in Digital Media program. "It was almost like it was put up as a challenge to them, and they rose to it.

"They can be either really helpful or mob rule."

The bombings have been the highest-profile case in which the public has joined an active investigation, using ever-evolving crowd-sourcing tools, showing the pitfalls and benefits of new technology.

It's certainly not vigilantism, but it's not standard policing, either. It's something in the middle, perhaps something new - the law-enforcement equivalent of citizen journalism.

While listening to the police scanner, Reddit and Twitter users thought they had heard the name of a Brown University student missing since March, and one user posted a news story about his disappearance.

That assumption proved wrong - and there was a cost.

The missing student's family, besieged with ugly comments, temporarily took down a Facebook page asking for help finding him.

A few hours later, the online detectives said sorry - in the words of one moderator, "Rather Confused," for "any part we may have had in relaying what has turned out to be faulty information."

Several Reddit users who posted on r/findbostonbombers did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The rush to informal sleuthing began on Monday soon after the smoke cleared as pictures and videos from the marathon began to circulate on the internet.

Salah Eddin Barhoum, a 17-year-old track star who was a spectator at Monday's race, had his picture posted all over the internet and ended up on the cover of the New York Post.

He told The Associated Press on Thursday that he is now afraid to leave his house.

Some of the amateur police work didn't sit well with the professionals.

Boston's police department, for example, has a very active Twitter account with more than 220,000 followers, but the onslaught of misinformation proved to be too much.

At one point, Boston police asked people to stop tweeting information from their scanner traffic.

While Reddit and 4Chan have been around for several years, their prominence has grown of late. More and more news organisations have learned to use them to mine information.

For Hosein, sub-sections on Reddit have become something like local newspapers, except it's the users providing the content.

"Citizens think they almost have an obligation to rise up to do the work," he said.

Hosein says that the FBI's call for help was no different than a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" poster from the 1800's - albeit with much more amplification and distribution. But he feels that after this week's saga, people will eventually learn to exercise caution.

"There's a sense that we're learning collectively quickly, that we actually have to take on some of the sourcing rules that journalists have had in the past," Hosein said.

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Scores dead, 1,000 injured in China quake

Hundreds of people are dead or injured after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province. Source: AAP

DOZENS of people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in an earthquake that hit China's southwestern Sichuan province, five years after a massive quake devastated the area.

The shallow quake struck on Saturday near Lushan county in the city of Ya'an on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau just after 8am (1000 AEST), setting off landslides, destroying homes and triggering a major rescue operation.

Just over seven hours after the quake struck the death toll stood at 100, CCTV News said, citing the China Earthquake Administration.

Lushan authorities estimate numbers of the injured ranged from 1,000 to 2,200, while the provincial government said more than 10,000 homes were destroyed.

Local seismologists registered the quake at magnitude 7.0 while the US Geological Survey gave it as 6.6 at a depth of 12km. More than 260 aftershocks followed, the People's Daily said on its website.

The shaking was felt in the provincial capital Chengdu, 110 kilometres to the east, and even in the megacity of Chongqing several hundred kilometres away.

Panicked residents fled into the streets, some of them still in their slippers and pyjamas.

"Members of my family were woken up. They were lying in bed when the strong shaking began and the wardrobes began shaking strongly," said a 43-year-old Chongqing resident surnamed Wang. "We grabbed our clothes and ran outside."

About 6,000 soldiers and police were heading to the area to help rescue work, the Xinhua news agency said.

Some had to contend with roads blocked by debris, CCTV reported, while one military vehicle carrying 17 troops plummeted over a cliff, killing one soldier and injuring seven others, Xinhua said.

"There are mountains on all sides, it is very easy to trigger mudslides and very dangerous," one user wrote on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

The disaster evoked comparisons to the 2008 Sichuan quake, the country's worst in decades, which left 87,000 people missing or dead, and President Xi Jinping ordered all out efforts to minimise casualties, Xinhua said.

Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Sichuan in the afternoon and was taking a helicopter to the quake zone.

"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours since the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives," he was quoted as saying.

Amid the rescue efforts, a 30-year-old pregnant woman surnamed Zhao was pulled out of the rubble along with a young child and sent to hospital for treatment, the People's Daily said on its Weibo account.

A local TV journalist due to get married on Saturday turned up instead for work and a photograph of her reporting on the disaster in her wedding dress with bright makeup and a corsage was widely circulated on Weibo.

Meanwhile Ya'an residents were offering to donate badly needed blood, the People's Daily said.

But volunteers outside the city were discouraged from flocking to Ya'an to help with relief efforts, Xinhua said, to avoid blocking already busy phone lines and worsening road congestion.

"A fair amount of telecoms facilities have been damaged," it said.

Three reservoirs in the area had shown cracks and people downstream were being relocated, a Sichuan government website said.

Pandas at a reserve less than 50km from the epicentre were not harmed, Xinhua said, citing an employee.

A Sina Weibo user posted a photo purportedly showing a badly damaged kindergarten in Lushan, its dark red stone slabs lying on the ground beside a row of trees. The authenticity of the photo could not be verified.

"Hang in there Ya'an!" the user wrote.

Weibo users in other cities reported feeling tremors.

Residents ran on to the street to get away from high rises, made phone calls and cried, a Sichuan government website reported. A few had even packed bags in case they needed to take shelter elsewhere.

Earthquakes frequently strike the country's southwest. In April 2010, a 6.9 magnitude quake killed about 2,700 people and injured 12,000 in a remote area of Qinghai province bordering the northwest of Sichuan.

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Listeriosis found in three Sydney patients

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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China's quake zone between tectonic plates

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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Manhunt after first Boston suspect dies

ONE of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing is dead and a massive manhunt is underway for another, US authorities said early Friday.

Residents of Watertown, a suburb just outside Boston, have been advised to keep their doors locked and not let anyone in.

The Middlesex district attorney said the two men are suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer on campus late Thursday, then stealing a car at gunpoint and later releasing its driver unharmed.

Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public's help finding them.

Authorities say the suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown.

The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died while the other escaped.

"We believe this to be a terrorist," Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said.

"We believe this to be a man who came here to kill people."

The FBI said it is working with local authorities to determine what happened.

The MIT shooting on the Cambridge campus Thursday night was followed by reports of gunfire and explosions in Watertown, about 16km west of Boston.

The MIT officer had been responding to report of a disturbance Thursday night when he was shot multiple times, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office and Cambridge police. It said there were no other victims.

In Watertown, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1am local time on Friday.

Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighbourhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

State police spokesman David Procopio said, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers."

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Woman drowns on Qld's Sunshine Coast

A ROCK climbing accident on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has claimed the life of a woman, with fears a second person may also be missing.

The woman drowned at Granite Bay near Noosa National Park.

Lifeguards from Noosa Heads and emergency services were called after reports two rock climbers were in trouble in the ocean after falling from cliffs at the isolated bay around 2.30pm (AEST) on Friday.

Police say the woman's body was recovered from the water and a large search involving helicopters, water police and life savers was launched after reports someone else had been seen in the water.

However, by the time darkness had fallen no sign had been found of another person.

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ACT signs up for full NDIS rollout

The ACT will be the first to achieve a full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Source: AAP

THE ACT government has reached a deal with the commonwealth for the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Prime Minister Julia Gillard signed an agreement in Canberra on Friday.

The ACT will be the first to achieve a full rollout, from 2016-17.

"The agreement reached today provides certainty to all those living with a disability and to those who care for them," Ms Gallagher said.

No monetary figures have been released.

On Thursday, South Australia and the commonwealth also reached a deal, for a full rollout from 2018/19.

The federal government will provide $760 million to SA, which will in turn contribute $723 million.

Last December, the federal and NSW governments agreed to spend $3 billion apiece for the longer-term support of disability care from 2018/19.

The NDIS, now known as DisabilityCare Australia, will cover 5000 people in the ACT when fully operational.

By 2019/20 the ACT government will chip in $167 million, while the federal government will provide $175 million.

The federal government will cover the cost of people who turn 65 and choose to stay in the NDIS rather than transition to the aged care system.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government would continue talks with other states for the full rollout of the NDIS.

The NDIS, now known as DisabilityCare Australia, will cover 5000 people in the ACT when fully operational.

By 2019/20 the ACT government will chip in $167 million, while the federal government will provide $175 million.

The federal government will cover the cost of people who turn 65 and choose to stay in the NDIS rather than transition to the aged care system.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government would continue talks with other states for the full rollout of the NDIS.

The NDIS, now known as DisabilityCare Australia, will cover 5000 people in the ACT when fully operational.

By 2019/20 the ACT government will chip in $167 million, while the federal government will provide $175 million.

The federal government will cover the cost of people who turn 65 and choose to stay in the NDIS rather than transition to the aged care system.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government would continue talks with other states for the full rollout of the NDIS.

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France confirms release of hostages

FRANCE has confirmed that seven members of a French family who were kidnapped in Cameroon in February have been released and are in good health.

The president's office said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had immediately left for Cameroon to greet the family, which includes four young children.

"They are all healthy and have gone back to Yaounde (Cameroon capital)," it said, shortly after Cameroonian President Paul Biya announced that the family had been "handed over last night" to authorities in the country.

"I spoke to the family on the phone. They are extremely happy and in good shape," Fabius said, adding the hostages were freed overnight on Thursday to Friday "in an area between Nigeria and Cameroon."

The family - a couple, their children aged five, eight, 10 and 12 and an uncle - were snatched near a national park in Cameroon by six gunmen on February 19 and taken into neighbouring Nigeria.

They were held there by Islamist sect Boko Haram - which is blamed for killing hundreds of people in an insurgency in northern Nigeria since 2009 - just as France was engaged in a military offensive against Islamists in Mali.

A person close to the released family, who refused to be named, burst out in joy on the phone to AFP.

"They're free, they're free at last! It's amazing, after two months of never-ending waiting," the person said.

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Tomb of despised Chinese emperor found

THE tomb of one of China's most loathed rulers has been discovered by chance at a construction site.

The find was made on Sunday by workers at a building under construction in the eastern city of Yangzhou, where Emperor Yang Guang (A.D. 569-618) spent his final days, having sought refuge in the city from a popular uprising only to be strangled by one of his generals.

Though the mausoleum is in poor condition, the inscriptions on the tombstone and the presence of some objects that were of exclusive use by emperors leave no doubt it is Yang's burial place.

Another mausoleum in the same city had attracted thousands of tourists over many years by billing itself as the resting place for Yang's remains, but the new find shows those claims to be false.

Chief municipal archaeologist Shu Jiaping said a gold and jade belt and lion-shaped door knockers found inside the mausoleum prove it to be the 7th century ruler's real mausoleum.

The discovery surprised nearby residents, one of whom told the official China Daily it was an honour "to have had an emperor as a neighbour, even if he was an evil one".

Yang Guang, who ruled China from 604 to 618, is traditionally described by historians as a profligate ruler who committed numerous military blunders and whose delusions of grandeur brought about the untimely deaths of millions of his subjects.

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Failed bid to change Vic adoption bill

CONTROVERSIAL independent MP Geoff Shaw has sided with Labor in a failed bid to change the government's adoption legislation.

Mr Shaw has attacked the government over the bill, especially penalties for parents who contact their adult adopted children against their wishes.

People who do so face fines of more than $8000 under the changes.

Mr Shaw on Thursday voted with the opposition in a failed bid to have the government redraft its bill after further consultation.

He said the government should not meddle with individuals' personal decisions.

"As a father, I miss my kids after a couple of weeks," he told parliament.

"Imagine after 30 years."

Mr Shaw said the bill needed to be changed.

"It's time that we gave a stuff," he said.

After losing the division on its amendment, Labor did not oppose the bill and it passed the lower house without a vote.

Association of Relinquishing Mothers secretary Jo Fraser said the failure to remove the contact vetoes from the legislation was disappointing.

"I just don't know why they don't trust us to do the right thing," she said.

She said adoptees now aged 30 or more could simply refuse contact.

"Why does it have to be a legal document that they sign, for which we can be fined over $8000 for going against, which is the same as being a drunk driver for heaven's sake?" she said.

Coleen Clare, head of support service VANISH, said some adopted people had been told lies about their mothers.

"We would like the opportunity for the truth to be heard even if it is in a quiet letter, but not to have a contact veto that says no contact, no story telling, no understanding.

"The mothers of all people will respect the feelings of their children."

Earlier, manager of opposition business Jacinta Allan said slapping criminal sanctions on parents for wanting to connect with someone they had lost a long time ago was unacceptable.

Mr Shaw quit the Liberal Party in March but agreed to support the government on key issues.

Mr Shaw said he would not rule out a return to the Liberal Party.

"You'd have to ask the people who would welcome me back whether they would. I'm not ruling anything out," he told Fairfax Radio.

Ted Baillieu quit as premier after Mr Shaw moved to the crossbenches, blaming Mr Baillieu's leadership.

Mr Shaw says new premier Denis Napthine is a great communicator and terrific performer in parliament.

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Juveniles out of WA adult jail by June 30

JUVENILE offenders being kept at the adult Hakea Prison in Perth will return to their usual facility by the end of June once repairs from a riot are complete, Commissioner of Corrective Services Ian Johnson says.

More than 100 young offenders from Banksia Hill detention centre are being held at Hakea after a riot at Western Australia's only juvenile detention facility in January left 108 of 240 cells trashed.

Several inquiries into the matter are under way, while Mr Johnson gave evidence on Thursday at a Supreme Court hearing into conditions at the adult prison.

The action was brought about by parents of the young detainees following claims they were not being properly cared for and in some cases mistreated, and the Australian Human Rights Commission has intervened in the case.

Mr Johnson said testing of the repaired facilities would commence in coming days and the juveniles would start to be brought back to Banksia Hill by mid-May.

Assuming the testing goes well, they would all be back by the end of June, he said.

Mr Johnson said he was satisfied work to return the offenders was being done as quickly as possible.

Chief Justice Wayne Martin, who is presiding over the case, observed that chronic understaffing had been the main problem at Banksia Hill before the riot and afterwards, forcing prisoners to be locked down for up to 23 hours a day.

Mr Johnson agreed staffing issues were a problem that urgently needed to be addressed.

Assistant commissioner for youth services Brian Lawrence told the hearing that out of the department's 199 youth custodial officers, only 60 were available.

Almost one-quarter of the workforce was not available because many were on workers' compensation leave, including 35 on long-term sick leave.

The level of workers' compensation cases in the WA youth custody system was 10 times higher than the national average, Mr Lawrence said.

"If we don't have the appropriate number of staff ... we're unable to run the full suite of structured activities," he said.

And the ratio of officers to inmates was one-to-eight, compared to one-to-four in other Australian states and territories.

Rolling lockdowns and education were affected when staff levels were low, he said.

Recreation had also been reduced in the first weeks of the juveniles being housed at Hakea, he said, when debris from construction littered the football oval.

But the food quantity and quality, which detainees had complained about, had improved.

The hearing continues.

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Japan woman, 77, was paid millions for sex

A 77-YEAR-OLD woman who received $A3.90 million from a 79-year-old man in exchange for sexual and romantic favours has been ordered to repay the cash by a court in Japan, a report says.

The woman succeeded in getting around 400 million yen out of the man over a seven-year period, in what he said he thought were loans, which she used to buy luxury cars and a condominium, the Sports Nippon newspaper said.

"She had no ability nor any intention to repay the debts," said the court in Shizuoka, central Japan, according to the paper.

The court heard how the woman, who wasn't named, used what it called an "amorous net" to persuade him to part with the cash, including stripping naked in hotel rooms and asking him to bathe her.

The elderly couple began dating in June 2000, the paper said, and the woman repeatedly asked for money, which she said was to pay off debts to another man whom she would otherwise have to marry.

The man, whose identity was also not revealed, sold land he had inherited and took out loans to meet her demands.

She used the money to buy top-end cars, including a Jaguar, a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz, as well as a luxury flat.

If the woman fails to comply with the civil court ruling, the man will have to take further action to compel her.

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Indigenous health not on COAG agenda

ABORIGINAL health experts are disappointed indigenous health will not be on the agenda when Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets with state and territory leaders this week.

There's pressure on the leaders to sign off on a new national partnership agreement on indigenous health because the current one expires in June 2013.

The agreement provides money for health programs to help close the gap of Aboriginal life expectancy and health outcomes.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, corrected an earlier error from her office, clarifying that it would not be on the agenda at the Council of Australian Governments meeting (COAG) on Friday.

There is a life expectancy gap of 11.5 years between indigenous and non-indigenous men and 9.7 years between women.

Close the Gap Campaign spokesman Mick Gooda said five years ago all sides of politics agreed to do something about the "national disgrace" of poor indigenous health.

Some of the policies and programs are starting to bear fruit and make a real difference on the ground, Mr Gooda said.

"A recommitment from state, territory and federal governments at this Friday's COAG meeting is needed to quite literally save lives," campaign co-chair Jody Broun said.

The Australian Medical Association president Dr Steve Hambleton said a new agreement should allocate the same level of funding for another five years.

National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation spokesman Justin Mohamed said the ability to improve shocking Aboriginal life expectancy rates is at risk if there are any delays.

"It is unacceptable that Aboriginal people who rely on health programs funded through the agreement don't know if they will still be there come July," Mr Mohammed said.

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Boston pays tribute to marathon dead

The young boy who died in the Boston Marathon bombings is being remembered in his neighbourhood. Source: AAP

BOSTON has paid a tearful tribute to eight-old-old Martin Richard, a restaurant manager and a Chinese graduate student, all killed in an attack on the US city's marathon.

More than 1000 people held a candle-lit vigil on Tuesday in a park near the boy's home in the Boston suburbs. Other ceremonies were held in the city for the three dead and at least 180 injured from Monday's attack on the marathon finish line.

Richard has become the face of the tragedy at the marathon finish line that remains largely unexplained to the public. Images of the boy have been given blanket coverage by US media.

But it was also revealed the two bombs killed a Chinese graduate student at Boston University, whose name has not yet been given, and Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager.

Campbell's family told reporters they were initially told she had survived, but only found out the truth when they went to the hospital and found it was Campbell's friend recovering.

"Everybody that knew her loved her," Campbell's mother Patty Campbell, overcome with emotion, told reporters outside her home. "We can't believe this is happening. This doesn't make any sense."

The third victim was a graduate student of Boston University and the Chinese consulate in New York said a Chinese national had died, the state Xinhua news agency reported. Neither the university nor Chinese authorities gave the victim's identity.

Richard had gone to the race with his family to watch the 23,000 runners cross the finish line.

He was declared dead at the scene while his six-year-old sister, Janey, a keen dancer, lost one leg and was in danger of having the second amputated, US media reported. The boy's mother, Denise, suffered a serious brain injury but was said to be recovering.

In a statement, his father, Bill Richard, said: "My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston."

"We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers.

"I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin," he added, while asking for privacy to grieve.

The candle-lit vigil with prayers for the boy was organised in a few hours by friends and relatives of the Richard family.

Another 700 people packed the historic Arlington Street Church, near the scene of the attacks. The church is where the US constitution was adopted in 1788.

"Today we gather here heartbroken and angry," said Reverend Kim Crawford Harvie at the start of the service when the John Lennon song Imagine was played.

"But love is bigger than anger. Love is bigger than fear. Love wins," she added.

The Beatles classic Let It Be was sung at another vigil on nearby Boston Common where about 500 people gathered at a bandstand where a choir sang and a banner proclaiming "Peace here, Peace everywhere" was put up.

Dozens of wreaths were put up at a barrier on Boylston Street near the bomb scene. People who had run in the marathon also gathered there, some in tears.

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Uni students protest at funding cuts

HUNDREDS of uni students have rallied on campuses around the country against plans by the federal government to cut funding from the tertiary sector.

The protests organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) on Wednesday were the first in a series of actions against the Gillard Government's plan to rip more than $2 billion from higher eduction.

In Sydney, about 100 students gathered at UNSW's Kensington campus, while another 100 rallied nearby at UTS.

Further down the road, about 50 Sydney university students held a protest outside the office of federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek.

NUS president Jade Tyrrell told the crowd at Kensington that all uni students would be affected by the proposed cuts.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has offered state and territory governments $2 for every extra $1 they invest in education, promising a $14.5 billion package over six years from 2014.

As a result the federal government would scrap more than $2 billion from university funding to help pay for the reforms.

David Gonski, the chancellor of UNSW and the architect of the new funding model for schools, has criticised the funding changes, as have the teacher's unions.

At RMIT in Melbourne, around 300 people rallied against the cuts.

"This is an issue that's not going to go away," National Tertiary Education Union Victoria president Jeannie Rea said.

"The attitude that higher education flies below the radar, that it's not like schools, is incorrect."

Brisbane was also the scene of education protests, with around 300 Queensland teachers and principals rallying outside Parliament House.

They gathered in a last-ditch bid to get the state government to sign up to Canberra's Gonski education reforms.

Singing and chanting, they held placards with slogans such as "Teachers aren't dogs, they don't fight over a bonus" and "Give a Gonski for our kids Mr Newman."

Protests are scheduled for Perth on Thursday.

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Vic teachers to be second-best paid

VICTORIAN teachers won't see the coalition government fulfil its promise to make them the nation's best paid, but they'll be second behind Western Australia.

The state's bitter industrial dispute has seen teachers walk off the job and refuse to write comments on students' report cards.

Even after reaching an agreement some 18 months in the making, the union and the state government were still releasing conflicting figures about what pay increases had been won.

Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said teachers were in line for pay boosts of between 16.1 to 20.5 per cent over three years, plus a $1000 sign-on bonus.

Premier Denis Napthine said the salary increases would total three per cent in 2013, 2.75 per cent in 2014 and 2.75 per cent in 2015.

He said the agreement was consistent with the government's public-sector wages policy, which provides for 2.5 per cent annual rises plus extra for productivity gains.

Before winning power in November 2010, the coalition promised to make Victoria's teachers the best paid in Australia.

Ms Peace said Victorian teachers would be better paid than their NSW counterparts before the agreement ended in 2016.

"They won't be the best paid - they'll be the second-best paid when we get in front of NSW," she said.

"Western Australia is a long way in front of all the other states and territories."

She said the government had promised to monitor how schools employed staff in a bid to stem the number of employees on contracts, which is almost one in five teachers and almost half of all support staff.

She said the deal would deliver class sizes ranging from 21 students on average at prep to grade two level, through to 26 from grades two to six.

Ms Peace said the union had long wanted to resolve the dispute, but parents had been supportive of a fight that would benefit students.

"We have never wanted this dispute to go for as long as it has," she said.

Dr Napthine said the deal was a "win, win, win" result.

"This is an agreement that is consistent with the agreements we have signed with nurses, police, with the public sector," Dr Napthine said.

"We are very, very pleased that we have been able to reach a mutually satisfactory outcome that delivers a fair and reasonable pay outcome for our hardworking teachers at a reasonable price for Victorian taxpayers."

He said the government's pay figures applied to teachers remaining in the same position over three years, while the union outlined higher increases reflecting expected progression through the ranks.

Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten used the deal to call on the Napthine government to sign up to the commonwealth's school funding reform scheme, saying the resolution came only after months of unnecessary anguish for parents and teachers.

"The Baillieu/Napthine government has shown exactly why the Liberals can't be trusted on workplace relations," Mr Shorten said.

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Benedict marks 86th birthday quietly

POPE Emeritus Benedict XVI is celebrating his 86th birthday as the first former pope in over 700 years.

Benedict will be joined on Tuesday by his older brother Georg, who is 88 and nearly blind, as well as the four Italian laywomen from a religious movement who have worked for him as housekeepers for years.

Benedict in February became the first pontiff to resign in more than 700 years in a move that stunned the world. A conclave of cardinals in March elected Pope Francis as his successor.

He has lived as a recluse at his temporary home of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence about 25 kilometres south of Rome, since February 28, never leaving the palace.

Benedict's secretary, Georg Gaenswein, who is also head of the pontifical household for Pope Francis, is also expected to be present at the birthday, which will be an entirely private event.

The pope spends his days praying, doing academic research and playing the piano in the palace on a hillside above Lake Albano, the Vatican said.

The Vatican last week denied that he had a serious illness, following rumours in the Spanish press.

In the most recent images of the former pope, he was seen walking slowly with the help of a cane.

The Vatican has said Benedict will eventually move to a former convent on a picturesque hilltop inside the Vatican walls to live out his days.

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Whistleblower seeks help from NSW premier

A SENIOR policeman who says he won't be protected under whistleblower laws after he exposed alleged child abuse by Catholic priests is seeking support from NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox has claimed the church in the NSW Hunter region covered up evidence about paedophile priests and hindered police investigations into child abuse.

His claims prompted a state government inquiry into the matter and helped pave the way for a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Mr Fox says he received a letter from NSW police on Monday confirming one of his disclosures won't be classified under whistleblower legislation.

"The letter is very hostile. It's basically saying that I don't qualify and if I have a problem with it, I can take them to court," Mr Fox told AAP on Tuesday.

"I'm disappointed and also very let down. I've had phone calls from some in the police force that told me there wouldn't be a problem with this," he said.

Police have said Mr Fox has made several disclosures covered by whistleblower legislation, but one disclosure didn't meet the requirements of the NSW Public Interest Disclosures Act.

They say the other matters were deemed to be protected disclosures, meaning the officer is afforded protection under the act.

Police say Mr Fox is also protected from recriminations by provisions in the NSW Police Act.

Mr Fox says he intends to write to Mr O'Farrell to ask him for his view on the issue.

"He's come out before and said I would be protected under the legislation. He made some very strong statements in parliament ... he said my disclosures were in the public interest and would be treated that way".

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China says US destabilising Asian region

CHINA has suggested the United States is raising tension through its regional alliances in the Asia-Pacific and developing new arms to maintain "strategic superiority".

China faces "multiple and complicated" threats in the Asia-Pacific region but will put defending itself "above all else", a defence ministry report said on Tuesday.

An annual white paper identified as challenges a territorial row with Japan and "some countries" strengthening alliances and boosting their military presence in the region.

The United States has pivoted its foreign policy towards Asia in recent years, a move widely seen as having emboldened China's rivals in a series of maritime territorial spats, which include Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China has the world's largest active military.

"China still faces multiple and complicated security threats and challenges," said the white paper on Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces, adding the military would "place above all else the protection of national sovereignty and security".

"Some countries are strengthening their Asia-Pacific military alliances, expanding military presence in the region, and frequently making the situation there tenser," it said, without naming any particular state.

Asked if Washington's influence was raising tensions, defence ministry spokesman Colonel Yang Yujun added: "Certain efforts made to highlight a military agenda and enhance military deployment and also strengthen military alliances in the region are not in line with the common interest."

Such actions were "were not conducive to upholding peace and stability in the region", he added.

The white paper also referred to "neighbouring countries" complicating and exacerbating tensions, and explicitly accused Japan of "making trouble over the Diaoyu islands".

The East China Sea islands are administered by Tokyo, which knows them as Senkaku, and have been the subject of an intense row between the two Asian powers which reached fever pitch last year after Japan nationalised them.

Both Beijing and Tokyo have scrambled jets near the islands.

The release of the paper is aimed at "better introducing" the development of China's armed forces to a domestic and foreign public, according to Yang.

"China is very candid in terms of its strategic intentions," he said, adding: "We know that every country has its military secrets."

Beijing has repeatedly asserted that it does not seek an expansionist policy as it continues its "peaceful rise".

But it has boosted its declared military spending in recent years, and last month announced the latest in a series of double-digit rises, with a 10.7 per cent increase last month.

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Assad offers new amnesty in Syria

SYRIA'S President Bashar al-Assad has issued a general amnesty for crimes committed in the war-torn country, state news agency SANA reports.

"President Assad has issued decree number 23, granting a general amnesty for crimes committed before April 16, 2013," said the agency on Tuesday.

Under the decree, "the death penalty will be replaced with a life sentence of hard labour", it added.

Assad has issued several amnesty decrees since an uprising against his regime erupted in March 2011.

The latest will not apply to people found guilty of smuggling weapons or drug-related crimes, but those convicted of joining the rebellion would get lighter sentences, said the text of the decree published on SANA.

"Syrians who joined a terrorist organisation will only have to serve a quarter of their sentences," said the decree.

"The decision does not apply to those who avoided conscription," the text added.

Meanwhile Syria's main opposition National Coalition has called on Lebanon to control its frontiers, after rebels said they fired across the border in retaliation against the powerful Shi'ite movement Hezbollah.

"The Syrian Coalition calls on the Lebanese government to exert control over its borders and put an immediate stop to Hezbollah's military operations on Syrian territory," the group said late on Monday.

"We call upon the Lebanese government to take action against Hezbollah's aggressions and do everything within their means to ensure the safety of the innocent civilians on the Syrian-Lebanese border," it said in a statement.

"For weeks now, forces belonging to Hezbollah have targeted villages inside Syria, located on the border of Syria and Lebanon. Hezbollah deployed forces into some border villages and took control of those areas.

"The (rebel) Free Syrian Army was forced to respond to these repeated aggressions," it said.

The statement comes after Lebanon said it would submit to the Arab League a letter of protest condemning the spillover of fire from Syria on to its territory.

The Coalition is recognised by dozens of states and organisations - among them the Arab League - as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Beirut has adopted a policy of "disassociation" in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, and has been reluctant to publicly blame either rebel or regime forces.

The rebels claimed to have fired shells on Lebanon at the weekend, blaming Hezbollah for firing from Lebanon and positions inside Syria on rebel-held areas in the strife-torn Qusayr area, near the border.

A rebel commander told AFP on Monday they were "giving the Lebanese authorities an opportunity to respond, to take practical steps to put a stop to (Hezbollah's) shelling", while threatening to launch new attacks should the Shi'ite group continue to target rebels in Syria.

In London, the British government said it was "increasingly concerned" about the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict, warning "the world is watching".

Speaking in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary William Hague also said Britain and France would continue to press for a lifting of the EU embargo blocking the delivery of weapons to the Syrian opposition despite one rebel group's pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda.

And leaders of five UN agencies have appealed to the international community to stop the "cruelty and carnage" in Syria, warning they may soon be forced to suspend humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

"Needs are growing while our capacity to do more is diminishing, due to security and other practical limitations within Syria as well as funding constraints. We are precariously close, perhaps within weeks, to suspending some humanitarian support," the UN agency leaders warned.

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Moon could affect shark diving patterns

Shark behaviour could be influenced by the moon, water temperature and time of day, a study sais. Source: AAP

THE diving behaviour of sharks could be influenced by the moon, water temperature and time of day, new research has revealed.

A study of about 40 grey reef sharks - commonly found on coral reefs in northern Australia and in the Indo-Pacific - found they stayed in deep water during a full moon and moved to shallow water with the new moon.

The sharks were tagged near Palau, east of the Philippines, and followed for two years using acoustic telemetry.

The group of mostly adult females were recorded diving to an average depth of 35m in winter and 60m in spring.

In winter, when deeper waters were colder, the sharks remained closer to the surface where the water was warmer, but moved around to a range of depths in summer.

Researchers suggest that because sharks are cold blooded, they may prefer warmer water to conserve their energy.

The research also found that the time of day could affect how deeply sharks dive.

"We were surprised to see sharks going progressively deeper during the morning and the exact inverse pattern in the afternoon, gradually rising towards the surface," researcher Gabriel Vianna said.

"This matches how light changes on the reef during the day.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time such patterns have been observed in detail for reef sharks."

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Western Australia's Oceans Institute and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

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Opposition rejects Venezuela poll results

Venezuelans have flocked to the polls to pick Hugo Chavez' successor and decide the nation's future. Source: AAP

VENEZUELA'S acting President Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of the election to succeed his late mentor, Hugo Chavez, by a razor-thin margin, but his rival has refused to concede defeat.

The contested result plunged the deeply divided oil-rich South American country into uncertainty, with the handpicked heir of Chavez's socialist revolution declaring victory and opposition leader Henrique Capriles demanding a recount.

Fireworks erupted after the National Electoral Council announced late on Sunday that the "irreversible" results showed Maduro had won with just 50.66 per cent of the vote compared with 49.1 per cent for Capriles - a difference of less than 300,000 votes.

"Mission accomplished Comandante Chavez. The people fulfilled its pledge," Maduro said in front of cheering supporters at the Miraflores presidential palace.

The 50-year-old former foreign minister declared that he secured a "fair, legal, constitutional" victory. But he said he was open to an audit of the close vote tally. He is scheduled to be sworn-in to complete Chavez's six-year term on Friday.

Maduro said he spoke with Capriles by telephone and that he told his rival he must recognise the outcome of the election. Both candidates had pledged during the campaign to accept the results.

But Capriles - who had accepted defeat when Chavez beat him by 11 points in October polls - held up a list of some 3200 "incidents" that took place during the vote.

"Today's loser is you," he told a news conference, referring to Maduro, adding: "We won't recognise a result until every vote has been counted."

The 40-year-old state governor wants a recount of the backup paper ballots that are printed out by the electronic voting machines.

Hours earlier, Capriles charged that there were attempts to let people vote after polling stations closed. He also accused the government of pressuring civil servants to vote for Maduro.

Some Capriles supporters fought back tears at his campaign headquarters.

"I'm exasperated because we worked a lot in this campaign for a better future and I don't accept the results of the electoral council," said Daniela Brito, a 19-year-old university student with tears in her eyes.

But National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena said the results were "irreversible" after 99 per cent of electronic votes were counted, with a 78.7 per cent turnout.

Luis Vicente Leon, director of the Datanalisis polling firm, wrote on Twitter that the opposition's rejection of the results "was within the legal framework and does not represent a risk of conflict in the street".

Named by Chavez as his political heir, Maduro rode a wave of grief for the late leader, who ruled Venezuela for 14 years with a socialist revolution that made him popular among the poor while disenchanting others fed up with the weak economy.

Opinion polls had given Maduro leads of 10 to 20 points during the campaign, but Capriles energised the opposition in his second shot at the presidency.

Maduro has vowed to continue the oil-funded policies that cut poverty by almost half to 29 per cent through popular health, education and food programs.

But Chavez left behind a litany of problems: South America's highest murder rate, with 16,000 people killed last year, chronic food shortages, high inflation and recurring power outages.

Hundreds of Chavistas began to celebrate in front of the presidential palace well before the results were announced, launching fireworks, dancing and holding pictures of Maduro and Chavez.

"This is a very important victory for the future of the country. This is the legacy of our comandante, who is no longer here. But he left us Maduro and he will defend his project," said Rafael Perez Camarero, 29.

Capriles had graciously accepted his defeat when Chavez beat him in October polls that marked the opposition's best showing against the late leader. Sunday's result against Chavez's handpicked heir was far closer.

Maduro inherited Chavez's formidable electoral machinery, which helped the late leader win successive elections in 14 years, with government employees often seen handing campaign pamphlets and attending rallies in groups.

After voting in Caracas earlier in the day, Maduro warned there would be no dialogue with the "bourgeoisie" - his term for the opposition - and took a shot at the United States, saying he would present evidence of US interventionism on Monday.

His candidacy was backed by Chavez's leftist allies in the region, especially communist Cuba, whose anaemic economy has been kept afloat by generous oil shipments from a nation sitting on the world's biggest crude reserves.

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Asylum boat gets 53km from Broome

A suspected asylum seeker boat, with 72 people on board, has been intercepted northwest of Broome. Source: AAP

A SUSPECTED asylum seeker boat has been intercepted less than 53 kilometres from Broome in Western Australia, a week after another boat managed to reach Geraldton to the south.

Customs and Border Protection said the vessel was detected by one of its aircraft and then intercepted by the HMAS Ararat on Sunday about 28.5 nautical miles northwest of Broome in the Kimberley region.

A spokeswoman said 72 people were on board.

Several passengers have been taken to Broome for medical treatment.

Arrangements are now being made to transfer the passengers to Christmas Island for health, identity and security checks.

Last week, a boat with 66 Sri Lankan asylum seekers managed to reach Geraldton port in the Mid West region after spending weeks travelling more than 5000km.

Another boat arrived near Darwin last week, with 75 people on board.

Under existing legislation, asylum seekers who reach the mainland can avoid being sent to processing centres on Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Labor wants to change this and the legislation is currently before the Senate.

If it succeeds, mainland Australia will join the Ashmore Islands, Cartier Island, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in being excised from the migration zone.

Asylum seekers who land outside the zone cannot make visa applications and must be processed offshore.

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Activists plant flag to save North Pole

ACTIVISTS have planted a flag at the North Pole along with millions of signatures calling for the Arctic to be declared a global sanctuary protected from oil drilling, lobby group Greenpeace says.

Expedition members cut a hole in the ice and lowered the "flag for the future" onto the seabed along with a titanium-glass capsule containing 2.7 million signatures against the exploitation of the pristine Arctic.

The flag, atop the titanium-ringed glass sphere, was lowered four kilometres to the bottom, near where a Russian mini-submarine in 2007 controversially planted a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

The Greenpeace expedition included Hollywood actor Ezra Miller, Swedish indigenous Sami MP Josefina Skerk and Renny Bijoux from the Seychelles, who all trekked for a week to reach the geographical North Pole, a statement said on Monday.

"We're here to say this special area of the Arctic belongs to no person and no nation, but is the common heritage of everyone on Earth," said Skerk, 26.

"We stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples, in the whole of the Arctic, whose way of life is now being threatened by the unchecked greed of industry."

Greenpeace says the Arctic is under threat from climate change, oil companies, industrial fishing and shipping, with oil giants such as Shell and Gazprom moving in as nations lay claim to areas previously covered by ice.

Shifting ice and dwindling supplies meant the expedition members had to hitch a lift with a helicopter for one of the final legs of their journey.

The Arctic seabed is thought to hold about 90 billion barrels of oil and 30 per cent of the world's undiscovered gas resources, according to the US Geological Survey.

"I can't feel the tips of my fingers or toes but my head and heart are filled with a newfound determination," said Miller, star of the 2011 film "We Need to Talk About Kevin".

"Melting ice is a catastrophe, not a profit-making opportunity. To see it as such is utter madness."

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Expectant mums relying on supplements

EXPECTANT mothers are relying on dietary supplements during pregnancy because they have inadequate knowledge of food and nutrition, a study says.

The research showed many pregnant women were using the internet and the labels on multivitamin supplements as the main sources of advice on the health of their baby and doubted natural foods could sustain them and their child during pregnancy.

Some raised concerns about the way natural food products were processed and the chemicals used in their production.

The Women's and Children's Health Research Institute at the University of Adelaide conducted the study of 40 new and soon-to-be mums and found vitamin supplements were seen as an "insurance policy" during pregnancy.

Researcher Lenka Malek said pregnant women should modify their diets to ensure they were receiving adequate levels of folate, iodine and iron.

But the study found most mothers were taking supplements to achieve the required nutrients.

"The majority of women did not know the recommended amounts of folate or iodine," Ms Malek said.

"Some had particularly limited knowledge of food sources rich in folate or iodine."

"It is clear that women considering having a baby or during pregnancy need to have better access to trusted information on recommended diet and nutrition as well as practical dietary advice to achieve adequate nutrition."

The research will be presented to the Annual Congress of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand, which begins in Adelaide on Monday.

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Rock climber falls in Blue Mountains

A ROCK climber has suffered leg injuries after falling down a cliff in the Blue Mountains.

The man, 25, was climbing a rock face at Leura when he fell around 1pm (AEST) on Sunday, landing about 50 metres from the base.

Paramedics responded to the incident, with a doctor abseiling down the cliff face to the injured climber and then managing to puts his legs in splints.

The NSW Ambulance Service said a rescue helicopter was flown in in an attempt to extract the stricken climber but could not winch him off the rock face.

An attempt was being made on Sunday afternoon to abseil the injured man down the cliff, and then winch him out.

An Ambulance Service spokesman told AAP there was a chance the man would have to spend the night in the bush with ambulance officers.

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Syrian forces damage mosque: activists

SYRIAN opposition activists say President Bashar al-Assad's forces have destroyed the minaret of the historic Omari mosque where Syria's uprising erupted two years ago in Daraa.

In amateur video footage the activists uploaded to YouTube, the mosque can be seen at the end of a street, its towering minaret toppling over after apparent shelling and crumbling into rubble and dust.

Other videos posted online show the mosque, which is thought to date back to the 7th century, had been targeted in shelling for several days.

"This regime of unrestrained barbarism targeted with tanks the minaret of the Omari mosque, a place full of symbols of civilisation and spirituality and humanity," said the opposition Syrian National Council.

"The minaret of this mosque, which was build by Caliph Omar bin al-Khattab, is the first in the whole of the Levant, and has been destroyed by the soldiers of the tyrant," it added, referring to President Assad.

The Council noted the mosque had played a pivotal role in the beginning of the uprising against Assad, which sprung in large part from the city of Daraa after the arrest and torture of two boys.

"It was the first place that embraced the Syrian revolution during its infancy, the first wave of demonstrations of pride and dignity came out through its doors," said the Council.

"The first martyrs fell on its walls and the first wounded were treated on its floors."

The Local Coordination Committees activist network condemned the destruction of the minaret as a "barbaric act ... which adds a new crime to the list of Assad's crimes".

"It is not just stones that are destroyed but also religious and historic heritage cherished by the Syrian people," said the LCC.

As Syria's conflict continues into a third year, an increasing number of the country's key heritage sites, both religious and cultural, are being damaged in the fighting.

International authorities including UNESCO have expressed concern that numerous sites in the country, including some classified as world heritage sites, are being seriously damaged.

Syria has six sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, including the old cities of Damascus and second city Aleppo, and the famed Crac des Chevaliers crusader castle.

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Boy killed in NSW trail bike collision

A BOY has died after his trail bike and a ute collided in southwest NSW.

The 11-year-old was riding on a private dirt trail at Trentham Cliffs when he collided head-on with the ute about 11.45am (AEST) on Sunday, police say.

The boy was treated at the scene by paramedics and then taken to hospital where he died.

Police are going to speak to the ute's driver, 50, in the next few days.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.

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