Crowds set to farewell Sydney monorail

LARGE crowds are expected to head to Sydney's monorail on Sunday to witness the steel giant's last spin around town.

The Sydney character will take its final ride at 9.30pm on Sunday, after a quarter of a century trundling above people's heads.

Labelled as a "fad" and a "white elephant" by NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian on Friday, ticket sales have increased leading up to its farewell.

"In the last three weeks we've seen a 15 per cent increase in customers, compared to this time last year," a NSW Transport spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.

"With the final weekend of monorail operations, along with school holidays, we're expecting very large crowds."

A single loop ticket will be available for those wanting to get a last look at the monorail.

All sales will go to five charities and a ballot will be drawn to select the final people riding the monorail.

Ticket sales will stop at 8.30pm with the final passenger loop to take place from 9.30pm for the ballot winners.

Workers will begin dismantling the monorail, with almost all of its 1500 tonnes of steel and 400 cubic metres of concrete to be recycled.

However, two monorail carriages and 10 metres of the track will be preserved in the Sydney's Powerhouse Museum in the short term.

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Review of Qld power tariff reforms begins

ERGON Energy has begun a review of electricity pricing in Queensland, with tariff reforms due to be phased in from 2014.

Earlier this year the government proposed scrapping uniform tariffs to entice greater competition and merge government-owned retailers Energex and Ergon.

It's hoped the merging would save $580 million over seven years and reduce duplication of infrastructure.

Queensland Energy Minister Mark McArdle announced on Saturday that Ergon Energy had begun a review of power tariffs.

Restructured tariffs will commence in 2014-15, with further tariff reforms to be brought in over the 2015-2020 period.

Mr McArdle also urged Queenslanders and interest groups to get involved with the review.

"It makes sense that we now need to reconsider these tariffs so they better reflect the needs of Queenslanders," he said.

He says reforms will give customers more options and encourage electricity use to off-peak times.

Representatives from Ergon Energy, Energex, the Queensland Competition Authority, Treasury and Mr McArdle's department will provide oversight of the tariff reforms.

The Greens have criticised the absence of a representative from the solar industry in the group.

"Solar is the elephant in the room in the energy debate," a spokesman said.

"They are not making room in the working group for this important new industry player."

Electricity prices will rise by about $260 a year for the average household from Monday under a ruling by the Queensland Competition Authority.

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Two dead within 24 hours on NSW roads

A MAN has died after his car hit a tree, marking the second death on NSW's roads in less than 24 hours.

Police said the man died after his car veered off the road and struck a tree at about 3.30pm on Saturday, near Blayney west of Sydney.

The male driver, and only occupant, died at the scene.

It comes after a 28-year-old passenger died when the car he was in ran off the road, hit a tree, then crashed down an embankment in northwest Sydney.

Police said the 30-year-old driver freed himself and flagged down a passing motorist, who called for help.

The passenger's body was found in the wreckage.

Police say the driver blew a positive result for alcohol in a roadside breath test and was taken to hospital for blood and urine testing.

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Obama will not visit Mandela: US official

US President Barack Obama is set to meet privately with members of ailing Nelson Mandela's family. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are set to meet privately with members of ailing Nelson Mandela's family.

The White House said on Saturday the Obamas will not see the former South African president in the hospital.

Obama will not visit his political hero Mandela out of deference for the anti-apartheid icon's "peace and comfort," a US official said.

The 94-year-old Mandela had been hospitalised for three weeks with a recurring lung infection.

Obama is in South Africa as part of his weeklong trip and arrived in Pretoria for talks with President Jacob Zuma.

Obama had told reporters on Friday that he did not need a photo-op with Mandela, who he met once, in Washington DC in 2005.

His aides had said previously they would "gauge" the situation once on the ground before deciding whether Obama would visit Mandela in the hospital.

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Nine jailed for Bangladesh reporter murder

A BANGLADESHI court has sentenced nine junior opposition politicians to life in prison for murdering a newspaper journalist who had published a series of reports on corruption, a prosecutor says.

Gautam Das, 33, Faridpur bureau chief of Bengali daily Samakal, was strangled in his office after his reporting on corruption in the then ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Local media hailed the outcome as a landmark verdict because it was the first time a court had successfully tried a murder case of a journalist.

"He was murdered in November 2005 for publishing reports on corruption involving the then ruling party officials in the construction of a road in Faridpur," prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan said.

Das' colleague M. Hasanuzzaman filed a murder case accusing 10 people, nine of them members of the BNP.

The judge of the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal, Shahed Nuruddin, called Das "brave, fearless, honest" and a crusader against social injustice and graft as he handed down life sentences to the nine accused, Bhuyian said.

The tenth accused died during the trial, he added.

The slain journalist's wife Dipali Das expressed anger that the murderers had avoided the death penalty.

"I am not happy with this verdict. They have money and they will get out of the jail after a few days," Das told reporters.

Samakal editor Golam Sarwar said the daily would appeal the sentence and ask for the death penalty.

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Christmas Island casino urged by report

CHRISTMAS Island should get its casino back, according to a report on the future of the Australian territory submitted to the federal government.

The island, best known for housing hundreds of asylum seekers and hosting a phosphate mine, was also home to a casino resort for four years in the mid-1990s.

And after requests from resort owner David Kwon to consider reissuing a casino licence, the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories recommended the Commonwealth grant his wish.

"The committee cannot see any reason for the Australian government not to facilitate this venture, especially as the commercial risk falls entirely on the proponents," the report said.

"The potential benefits to Christmas Island if the casino succeeds are considerable, (and) the probable outcome of failure is merely a return to the status quo."

The report pointed out that immigration detention was not expected to be a permanent fixture and tourism to the island had been underdeveloped.

It also referred to the limited life of the island's phosphate mine, which on Friday had its lease extended for another 21 years.

The committee also said the weight of numbers of asylum seekers being housed on the island was putting a strain on the hospital, and called for more resources so "the provision of services to asylum seekers is not at the expense of services for residents".

The report also called for an urgent upgrade of the immigration facilities on the Cocos Islands, which it said comprised of tents with cots in an old quarantine station, described as "a makeshift solution to a new phase of the asylum seeker directly arriving from Sri Lanka".

"A more permanent and better appointed facility, built to the required cyclone standards, is urgently needed," the report said.

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Poor English 'saved Japan bankers' in GFC

JAPAN'S banks emerged from the 2008 global credit crisis largely unscathed because senior employees did not speak English well enough to have got them into trouble, the country's finance minister says.

Taro Aso, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said bankers in Japan had not been able to understand the complex financial instruments that were the undoing of major global players, so had not bought them.

"Many people fell prey to the dubious products, or so-called subprime loans. Japanese banks were not so much attracted to these products, compared with European banks," Aso told a seminar in Tokyo.

"There was an American who said Japanese banks are healthy, but that's not true at all.

"Managers of Japanese banks hardly understood English, that's why they didn't buy," he said.

Aso's comments are the latest in a line of pronouncements that have raised eyebrows.

The one-time prime minister said in January the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" instead of costing the government money with expensive end-of-life medical care.

In 2007 he had to apologise for a quip about patients with Alzheimer's disease and for making light of flood damage in central Japan.

But the deputy prime minister, who is known as a dapper dresser and is often seen sporting a jauntily-angled hat, on Friday boasted he had managed to keep his foot out of his mouth since Shinzo Abe came to power as premier in December.

However, the boast was somewhat undermined when he initially got the name of the prime minister wrong.

"I have made no gaffes in the past half year even as newspapers said the Aso administration's... No, the Abe administration's biggest problem is Taro Aso's gaffes," he said.

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NSW public servant wages to pay for super

PUBLIC servants will have to pay for superannuation increases out of their own wage packets after the NSW government tinkered with a loophole in its wages policy.

The move circumvents a ruling by the industrial umpire, which earlier this week found the mandatory superannuation increases didn't have to be absorbed into basic wages.

Unions claimed the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) ruling was a victory for public sector workers, saying they were entitled to both their pay rise and the quarter per cent superannuation increase.

But in a statement on Tuesday, NSW Treasurer Mike Baird said the government had "clarified the regulation" informing its wages policy.

It also intends to appeal against the IRC decision.

"The NSW government makes no apologies for taking every effort to ensure fair and affordable wages are provided across the public sector," Mr Baird said.

This means the 0.25 percentage point increase in super due to begin on July 1 will now be absorbed into the 2.5 per cent cap on wage increases for public servants, effectively giving them a 2.25 per cent increase

Mr Baird said the move could prevent the loss of 8,000 public sector jobs.

He conceded the IRC had upheld a submission by unions, but said it had "simultaneously suggested ways the regulation could be reworded".

The IRC had also confirmed superannuation was an employee-related cost, he added.

"It is therefore within the 2.5 per cent wages policy".

Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon said the government had shown an appalling lack of good faith in overturning the IRC's decision.

"The government has lost its moral compass when it comes to its employees," he said.

"This is a highly cynical move, announced late on a Friday afternoon while the public attention is fixed on Canberra."

Mr Lennon accused the government of trashing proper process.

"How does this government think it is going to attract the nurses, teachers, police and firefighters this state needs when wages are effectively stagnating or going backwards?" he asked.

Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said the government was making a mockery of the state's industrial laws.

The union has written to Mr Baird to request the government reimburse some of the union's legal expenses.

"If the government does not intend to live by the decisions of the Industrial Relations Commission it ought to refund the tens of thousands of dollars we have to spend in legal fees fighting their odious decisions," Mr Hayes said.

Opposition industrial relations spokesman Adam Searle said this was typical of a government that can't accept the decision of the independent umpire.

"This is a mean and tricky manoeuvre which will see the O'Farrell government dip its hand into the pockets of every public servant in the state," Mr Searle said.

"Superannuation is a basic condition that should never be used to offset the guaranteed 2.5 per cent wage increase public sector workers were promised."

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Snowden extradition could take years

The US government's battle to extradite Edward Snowden from Hong Kong could take years, experts say. Source: AAP

ATTEMPTS to extradite ex-intelligence technician Edward Snowden, charged with espionage by US authorities, will result in a protracted legal battle in Hong Kong that could last years, experts said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that retained a separate legal system when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US, but Beijing has the potential to veto any ruling.

However Beijing has appeared to distance itself from any decision on the possible extradition of Snowden, who is in hiding in the southern Chinese city after blowing the lid on vast US surveillance programs targetting phone calls and internet traffic.

Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped on Saturday as to whether they will hold Snowden a day after Washington charged the former CIA contractor with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property".

Hong Kong lawmaker Alan Leong said that if local authorities proceed with extradition, it could result in a lengthy legal battle.

"If every appeal opportunity is taken, I suppose the process will last between three and five years" at the very least, he told AFP.

The case could possibly drag "through at least the magistrates' court, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal. So, at least three levels of (Hong Kong) courts," he said.

Snowden can claim fears of political persecution and ask for political asylum, which will buy him time, said Christopher Gane, the dean of law school of Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"If the court decides this man cannot be sent back, this is the end of it. He can't be sent back," he told AFP.

"But if the court decides he could be sent back, it is still up to the Hong Kong chief executive to decide whether to do so. This is when all kinds of possible considerations can come in," Gane said.

Experts have claimed that Snowden is testing Hong Kong's civil liberties under its "one country, two systems" framework by retreating to the former British colony.

Snowden has exposed details on vast US surveillance operations, leaking documents that appear to show huge quantities of private telephone and internet data -- such as emails and call records -- have been scooped up with little or no judicial oversight.

The revelations have embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration.

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Snowden charge 'intimidation': Assange

Julian Assange's planned address from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy has been postponed. Source: AAP

THE United States has charged leaker Edward Snowden with espionage in an attempt to bully other countries into abandoning him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says.

US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him.

Assange criticised the move on Saturday in a speech the Australian had planned to deliver from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he's been holed up for over a year.

But WikiLeaks said via Twitter the appearance was postponed "due to a security situation" and instead released a copy of the speech.

Police weren't commenting and a response was being sought from the Ecuadorean embassy.

In the speech Assange says he's been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation only because he sought asylum in the diplomatic mission.

"The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights," Assange said in the written speech.

"That tactic must not be allowed to work.

"The effort to find asylum for Edward Snowden must be intensified. What brave country will stand up for him and recognise his service to humanity?"

Assange this week revealed he'd been in contact with representatives of Snowden to discuss his possible bid for asylum in Iceland following his disclosure of US surveillance programs.

The 41-year-old on Saturday said the US government was spying "on each and every one of us" but it was Snowden who'd been charged with espionage.

"It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice," Assange said.

"Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president."

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino earlier this week revealed Assange had told him he was strong enough to remain in the embassy "for five years ... rather than face legal proceedings in the US".

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UK fugitive killer arrested in Queensland

A BRITISH killer who escaped prison after being jailed for a frenzied knife attack on his aunt has been captured on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Simon Hennessey, 49, has been on the run since he walked out of an English prison in December 1998.

In 1978 aged just 14 Hennessey mutilated his aunt Mary Webber, 72, in a brutal knife attack at her home on the English south coast city of Plymouth, stabbing her 70 times.

He admitted killing his aunt but pleaded mental illness and was jailed for life in the same year.

He served 20 years of that sentence before disappearing 15 years ago, but had escaped from a number of prisons before that.

Queensland police have confirmed that a man they have charged with a series of fraud offences is Hennessey.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Police said he had been arrested earlier this month in Maroochydore.

He appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates' Court on June 17 and is currently in custody pending his next hearing in July.

"There is not much more we can say because of the court situation but we are aware that he is a wanted criminal in the UK," she said.

Hennessey's arrest is understood to be related to a sophisticated credit card scam running to tens of thousands of dollars.

He could face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted in Australia but UK police have already contacted Australian authorities to discuss his extradition.

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Dutch boys, 5 and 7, joyride in nan's car

DUTCH police have briefly detained two brothers aged five and seven who crashed a car after a short joyride.

"A police patrol this morning saw a car with the doors open and two young boys stood next to it," in Bloemendael, west of Amsterdam, police spokeswoman Lenny Beijerbergen said on Saturday.

"The seven-year-old boy told police that he had driven the car around one-and-a-half kilometres, hit a metal post on the pavement and come to a standstill," Beijerbergen said.

A policeman tweeted a photo of the crash scene, saying the car belonged to the boys' grandmother.

The photo, which was quickly removed from Twitter, showed the boys, the car and the uprooted post in a residential street strewn with debris from the car.

"At least I had my seat belt on! And my brother was in the child's seat," the seven-year-old driver said when police turned up, national news agency ANP reported.

"The boys were taken to the police station, given a talking to and made aware of what they've done," Beijerbergen said.

"Then they were taken home. Thankfully they were both unhurt."

She said there was considerable damage to the car and the pavement.

"This is really quite remarkable. I've never seen anything like it. Seven is very young," Beijerbergen said.

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Snowden extradition could take years

The US government's battle to extradite Edward Snowden from Hong Kong could take years, experts say. Source: AAP

ATTEMPTS to extradite ex-intelligence technician Edward Snowden, charged with espionage by US authorities, will result in a protracted legal battle in Hong Kong that could last years, experts said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that retained a separate legal system when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US, but Beijing has the potential to veto any ruling.

However Beijing has appeared to distance itself from any decision on the possible extradition of Snowden, who is in hiding in the southern Chinese city after blowing the lid on vast US surveillance programs targetting phone calls and internet traffic.

Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped on Saturday as to whether they will hold Snowden a day after Washington charged the former CIA contractor with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property".

Hong Kong lawmaker Alan Leong said that if local authorities proceed with extradition, it could result in a lengthy legal battle.

"If every appeal opportunity is taken, I suppose the process will last between three and five years" at the very least, he told AFP.

The case could possibly drag "through at least the magistrates' court, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal. So, at least three levels of (Hong Kong) courts," he said.

Snowden can claim fears of political persecution and ask for political asylum, which will buy him time, said Christopher Gane, the dean of law school of Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"If the court decides this man cannot be sent back, this is the end of it. He can't be sent back," he told AFP.

"But if the court decides he could be sent back, it is still up to the Hong Kong chief executive to decide whether to do so. This is when all kinds of possible considerations can come in," Gane said.

Experts have claimed that Snowden is testing Hong Kong's civil liberties under its "one country, two systems" framework by retreating to the former British colony.

Snowden has exposed details on vast US surveillance operations, leaking documents that appear to show huge quantities of private telephone and internet data -- such as emails and call records -- have been scooped up with little or no judicial oversight.

The revelations have embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration.

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Snowden charge 'intimidation': Assange

Julian Assange's planned address from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy has been postponed. Source: AAP

THE United States has charged leaker Edward Snowden with espionage in an attempt to bully other countries into abandoning him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says.

US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him.

Assange criticised the move on Saturday in a speech the Australian had planned to deliver from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he's been holed up for over a year.

But WikiLeaks said via Twitter the appearance was postponed "due to a security situation" and instead released a copy of the speech.

Police weren't commenting and a response was being sought from the Ecuadorean embassy.

In the speech Assange says he's been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation only because he sought asylum in the diplomatic mission.

"The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights," Assange said in the written speech.

"That tactic must not be allowed to work.

"The effort to find asylum for Edward Snowden must be intensified. What brave country will stand up for him and recognise his service to humanity?"

Assange this week revealed he'd been in contact with representatives of Snowden to discuss his possible bid for asylum in Iceland following his disclosure of US surveillance programs.

The 41-year-old on Saturday said the US government was spying "on each and every one of us" but it was Snowden who'd been charged with espionage.

"It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice," Assange said.

"Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president."

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino earlier this week revealed Assange had told him he was strong enough to remain in the embassy "for five years ... rather than face legal proceedings in the US".

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UK fugitive killer arrested in Queensland

A BRITISH killer who escaped prison after being jailed for a frenzied knife attack on his aunt has been captured on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Simon Hennessey, 49, has been on the run since he walked out of an English prison in December 1998.

In 1978 aged just 14 Hennessey mutilated his aunt Mary Webber, 72, in a brutal knife attack at her home on the English south coast city of Plymouth, stabbing her 70 times.

He admitted killing his aunt but pleaded mental illness and was jailed for life in the same year.

He served 20 years of that sentence before disappearing 15 years ago, but had escaped from a number of prisons before that.

Queensland police have confirmed that a man they have charged with a series of fraud offences is Hennessey.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Police said he had been arrested earlier this month in Maroochydore.

He appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates' Court on June 17 and is currently in custody pending his next hearing in July.

"There is not much more we can say because of the court situation but we are aware that he is a wanted criminal in the UK," she said.

Hennessey's arrest is understood to be related to a sophisticated credit card scam running to tens of thousands of dollars.

He could face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted in Australia but UK police have already contacted Australian authorities to discuss his extradition.

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Dutch boys, 5 and 7, joyride in nan's car

DUTCH police have briefly detained two brothers aged five and seven who crashed a car after a short joyride.

"A police patrol this morning saw a car with the doors open and two young boys stood next to it," in Bloemendael, west of Amsterdam, police spokeswoman Lenny Beijerbergen said on Saturday.

"The seven-year-old boy told police that he had driven the car around one-and-a-half kilometres, hit a metal post on the pavement and come to a standstill," Beijerbergen said.

A policeman tweeted a photo of the crash scene, saying the car belonged to the boys' grandmother.

The photo, which was quickly removed from Twitter, showed the boys, the car and the uprooted post in a residential street strewn with debris from the car.

"At least I had my seat belt on! And my brother was in the child's seat," the seven-year-old driver said when police turned up, national news agency ANP reported.

"The boys were taken to the police station, given a talking to and made aware of what they've done," Beijerbergen said.

"Then they were taken home. Thankfully they were both unhurt."

She said there was considerable damage to the car and the pavement.

"This is really quite remarkable. I've never seen anything like it. Seven is very young," Beijerbergen said.

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Snowden extradition could take years

The US government's battle to extradite Edward Snowden from Hong Kong could take years, experts say. Source: AAP

ATTEMPTS to extradite ex-intelligence technician Edward Snowden, charged with espionage by US authorities, will result in a protracted legal battle in Hong Kong that could last years, experts said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that retained a separate legal system when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US, but Beijing has the potential to veto any ruling.

However Beijing has appeared to distance itself from any decision on the possible extradition of Snowden, who is in hiding in the southern Chinese city after blowing the lid on vast US surveillance programs targetting phone calls and internet traffic.

Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped on Saturday as to whether they will hold Snowden a day after Washington charged the former CIA contractor with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property".

Hong Kong lawmaker Alan Leong said that if local authorities proceed with extradition, it could result in a lengthy legal battle.

"If every appeal opportunity is taken, I suppose the process will last between three and five years" at the very least, he told AFP.

The case could possibly drag "through at least the magistrates' court, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal. So, at least three levels of (Hong Kong) courts," he said.

Snowden can claim fears of political persecution and ask for political asylum, which will buy him time, said Christopher Gane, the dean of law school of Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"If the court decides this man cannot be sent back, this is the end of it. He can't be sent back," he told AFP.

"But if the court decides he could be sent back, it is still up to the Hong Kong chief executive to decide whether to do so. This is when all kinds of possible considerations can come in," Gane said.

Experts have claimed that Snowden is testing Hong Kong's civil liberties under its "one country, two systems" framework by retreating to the former British colony.

Snowden has exposed details on vast US surveillance operations, leaking documents that appear to show huge quantities of private telephone and internet data -- such as emails and call records -- have been scooped up with little or no judicial oversight.

The revelations have embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snowden charge 'intimidation': Assange

Julian Assange's planned address from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy has been postponed. Source: AAP

THE United States has charged leaker Edward Snowden with espionage in an attempt to bully other countries into abandoning him, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says.

US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Snowden and asked Hong Kong to detain him.

Assange criticised the move on Saturday in a speech the Australian had planned to deliver from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he's been holed up for over a year.

But WikiLeaks said via Twitter the appearance was postponed "due to a security situation" and instead released a copy of the speech.

Police weren't commenting and a response was being sought from the Ecuadorean embassy.

In the speech Assange says he's been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation only because he sought asylum in the diplomatic mission.

"The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights," Assange said in the written speech.

"That tactic must not be allowed to work.

"The effort to find asylum for Edward Snowden must be intensified. What brave country will stand up for him and recognise his service to humanity?"

Assange this week revealed he'd been in contact with representatives of Snowden to discuss his possible bid for asylum in Iceland following his disclosure of US surveillance programs.

The 41-year-old on Saturday said the US government was spying "on each and every one of us" but it was Snowden who'd been charged with espionage.

"It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice," Assange said.

"Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president."

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino earlier this week revealed Assange had told him he was strong enough to remain in the embassy "for five years ... rather than face legal proceedings in the US".

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK fugitive killer arrested in Queensland

A BRITISH killer who escaped prison after being jailed for a frenzied knife attack on his aunt has been captured on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Simon Hennessey, 49, has been on the run since he walked out of an English prison in December 1998.

In 1978 aged just 14 Hennessey mutilated his aunt Mary Webber, 72, in a brutal knife attack at her home on the English south coast city of Plymouth, stabbing her 70 times.

He admitted killing his aunt but pleaded mental illness and was jailed for life in the same year.

He served 20 years of that sentence before disappearing 15 years ago, but had escaped from a number of prisons before that.

Queensland police have confirmed that a man they have charged with a series of fraud offences is Hennessey.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Police said he had been arrested earlier this month in Maroochydore.

He appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates' Court on June 17 and is currently in custody pending his next hearing in July.

"There is not much more we can say because of the court situation but we are aware that he is a wanted criminal in the UK," she said.

Hennessey's arrest is understood to be related to a sophisticated credit card scam running to tens of thousands of dollars.

He could face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted in Australia but UK police have already contacted Australian authorities to discuss his extradition.

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