Iranian dissidents killed in Iraq camp

DOZENS of mortars and rockets fired on a camp housing Iranian dissidents near Baghdad has killed five members of the opposition group, Iraqi security officials say.

The United Nations called for an immediate investigation and said monitors were following up on deaths, the first confirmed fatalities as a result of violence at the group's new camp since they moved there last year.

Five members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) were killed by the mortars and rockets, two Iraqi security officials said on condition of anonymity. Between 39 and 40 members of the group were wounded, along with three Iraqi policemen.

The MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris, said in a statement that six people were killed and 50 wounded.

One Iraqi security official said around 40 rockets and mortars were fired into the camp, while the MEK said 35 were launched.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.

The United Nations said its special envoy Martin Kobler had asked Iraqi authorities to "promptly conduct an investigation into this," and added, "we have our monitors on the ground to follow-up."

Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN mission in the country, said Iraqi officials had told the United Nations that "all those who were injured were hospitalised immediately."

The mortars struck at a transit camp known as Camp Liberty where some 3,000 residents from the MEK were moved last year, on Iraq's insistence, from their historic paramilitary camp of the 1980s -- Camp Ashraf.

The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.

It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran through peaceful means.

Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the United States in September 2012.

The State Department holds the group responsible, however, for the deaths of Iranians as well as US soldiers and civilians from the 1970s into 2001.

The MEK has no support in Iran, and no connection to domestic opposition groups.

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India parliament attack plotter hanged

A man who took part in a plot to attack India's parliament in 2001 has been hanged, authorities say. Source: AAP

A KASHMIRI separatist has been executed over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a former fruit seller, was hanged at Tihar Jail on the outskirts of the capital on Saturday after his final appeal for mercy was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.

He is only the second person to be executed in India in nearly a decade.

With authorities fearing a backlash over the execution, a curfew was imposed in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir and the centre of the main city was sealed off.

While India's main opposition party welcomed the execution, one of Guru's co-accused who was later cleared said it was a travesty of justice.

"Afzal Guru was hanged at 8am. All legal procedures were followed in the execution," Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters.

"The situation in Kashmir is being closely monitored," he added.

A senior police officer at the jail told AFP that Guru had been woken up three hours before his execution after being held in solitary confinement.

Guru was found guilty of conspiring with and sheltering the militants who attacked the parliament in December 2001.

He was also held guilty of being a member of the banned Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which fights against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, where a separatist conflict has claimed up to 100,000 lives.

Five armed rebels stormed India's parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, killing eight police officers and a gardener before they were shot dead by security forces. A journalist wounded in the attack died months later.

As the decision to hang Guru emerged, security forces imposed a curfew in rural areas parts of Indian-administered Kashmir, with the announcement made by loudhailer as police patrolled the Kashmir Valley.

Although there was no formal curfew order in Srinagar, police hastily erected barricades across main entry roads and in the city centre in a bid to prevent any possible demonstrations against the execution.

Three police helicopters could also be seen hovering overhead in Srinagar, the main city in what is India's only Muslim majority state.

A former chief minister of Kashmir once warned that executing him would lead the country to "go up in flames" because of a backlash from rebels in Indian Kashmir.

India alleged the militants behind the parliament attack were supported by Pakistani intelligence, leading the nuclear-armed rivals to deploy an estimated one million troops to their borders for eight months.

Guru's conviction, which has been delayed on several occasions, was both highly political and hotly contested. He described his imprisonment as a "gross miscarriage of justice" in his mercy appeal to the president.

A group of activists including lawyers have campaigned for him, saying his trial had major problems, including fabricated evidence presented by the police and the lack of proper legal representation.

Protesters against his "unfair" conviction have held regular demonstrations in Kashmir demanding his release, while right-wing Hindu activists have long demanded his execution to send a message to other potential attackers.

"Finally justice has been done but I want to ask the government what took them so long to reject his mercy plea and execute him," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, one of the leaders of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Guru was initially convicted along with Shaukat Hussain, a former student at Delhi University and S.A.R. Geelani, a New Delhi college teacher, who were also handed the death sentence.

Geelani was freed on appeal after two-years of imprisonment, adding to the doubts about the initial trial.

Speaking after Saturday's execution, he said Guru never received a fair trial. "How can you send someone to the gallows?," he told AFP. "The whole process was flawed."

Executions are only carried out for "the rarest of rare" cases in India and Guru's is only the second since 2004.

The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was executed on November 21 last year.

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Elderly man charged over Zambia bus crash

ZAMBIAN police have charged an elderly farmer with causing a deadly high-speed collision between a bus and a truck that killed 53.

The bus crashed into an oncoming truck on Thursday after swerving to avoid 74-year-old farmer Abraham van Eeden's vehicle, which was overtaking the truck, according to police chief Stella Libongani.

"From our investigations, the driver of the Land Cruiser ... is the cause of the accident and has since been charged with 51 counts of causing death by dangerous driving," Libongani said in a statement on Saturday.

President Michael Sata had said 53 people died in the crash, which happened 100km north of the capital Lusaka.

It was not immediately clear why 51 counts were entered.

Pictures from the scene showed bloodied and lifeless bodies lying next to the mangled wreckage of the vehicles.

Sata has declared three days of national mourning from Monday for one of the country's deadliest accidents in recent history.

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Rescuers struggle to aid quake victims

RELIEF workers are scrambling to reach quake-ravaged villages in the Solomon Islands, with "unusual seismic activity" sighted as strong aftershocks continue to jolt the remote Pacific region.

Pungent steam was reportedly rising from cracks in the ground three days after a deadly 8.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in the region, killing at least 13 people, destroying villages and leaving thousands homeless.

A further 12 houses were reported destroyed following a 6.8 magnitude tremor and another measuring 7.0 late Friday, which sent villagers fleeing to higher ground in fear of another tsunami.

The Solomon Islands government has declared the outlying Santa Cruz Islands a disaster area as a series of aftershocks continued to hamper relief efforts.

A fragile communications system meant officials in the capital Honiara were struggling to get a clear picture of the extent of damage, but the Red Cross said food, water and shelter were a priority for quake-hit villages.

An Australian Air Force plane flew over the ravaged area on Friday and confirmed the worst damage was around the provincial capital Lata.

Authorities do not have immediate access to cargo planes capable of landing on the Lata air strip and desperately needed supplies are being shipped on a day-long journey from the Solomons capital Honiara.

"Relief operations are still going on despite the tremors and aftershocks. Water and food are the priority," Red Cross secretary general Joanne Zoleveke said.

The first vessel to arrive, a police launch carrying medical supplies, food and shelter, reached Lata on Friday evening but could not berth until Saturday morning because of the ongoing tremors.

Volcano and seismic specialists were also being called on to analyse the significance of the steam rising from the ground in parts of the Santa Cruz Islands.

"There's a lot of unusual seismic activity," a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Office told AFP from Honiara.

"The earth is clearly doing something there. We are asking for scientific expertise to provide us with some information about what they think might be happening. There are cracks and some steam and water coming out."

The first major aftershock on Friday "triggered a very small wave, this has caused some damage to Lata wharf", the National Disaster Management Office spokeswoman said, adding it was also hindering the unloading of emergency supplies.

A larger vessel carrying bags of rice, water and a water purifier was expected to arrive on Sunday morning.

The aftershocks have prevented villagers from returning home and they are sheltering in makeshift camps sharing limited provisions, with World Vision warning that sanitation would soon become an issue.

The Solomons are part of the "Ring of Fire", a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

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Police ombudsman to look at Fisher case

The SA police ombudsman will investigate the prosecution of former Senator Mary Jo Fisher. Source: AAP

THE police handling of the prosecution of former senator Mary Jo Fisher on shoplifting and assault charges is being investigated by the South Australian police ombudsman.

Ms Fisher's husband wrote to the state government and the police commissioner last year complaining about how the case was handled.

One of the issues is why senior police rejected a plea bargain agreed to prosecutors and Ms Fisher's defence and forced the case to go to trial.

Ms Fisher was acquitted of shoplifting but found guilty of assault and released without a conviction over allegedly taking groceries from a supermarket in Adelaide's eastern suburbs in 2011.

A key part of her defence was psychiatric evidence presented to the court in relation to her battle with an ongoing depressive illness.

The former senator told the Adelaide Advertiser she believed senior police rejected the plea bargain because they were determined to "get a scalp".

"The only motive is that senior police officers thought they could advance their position by overruling the wishes of the prosecutors," she said.

Attorney-General John Rau confirmed on Friday that correspondence in relation to Ms Fisher's case had been received and forwarded to the police ombudsman, an independent statutory authority.

Ms Fisher resigned from federal parliament last year after being charged for a second time with shoplifting.

She was subsequently discharged without conviction or penalty but placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.

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Toro appoints new chief executive

URANIUM explorer Toro Energy has appointed former Woodside executive Dr Vanessa Guthrie as managing director.

Toro said Greg Hall would step down as managing director but would remain on the board as a non-executive director.

Dr Guthrie is a former Woodside Energy vice president for sustainable development.

She has previously held the roles of mine manager and sustainability manager for Alcoa World Alumina Australia and environment manager for WMC Resources, Pasminco Metals EZ and RGC.

Toro said the employment contract between the company and Dr Guthrie was still being finalised. Once these negotiations had concluded, a release would be made to the market outlining the key terms of her employment.

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Indian police rescue car gang-rape victim

POLICE have rescued a 24-year-old gang-rape victim from a car in New Delhi and arrested four men on suspicion of attacking her, officials say.

The car was intercepted after a chase by police in the northern area of Burari on Thursday.

The victim was abducted and raped at a flat, district police chief Sindhu Pillai said.

"She is undergoing medical examinations. The men have been arrested and have been booked for gang rape and abduction," Pillai said.

The woman is from the eastern state of West Bengal and knew one of the suspects, Pillai said.

Local media reports said after being sexually abused in the flat, the woman was assaulted again in the moving car but Pillai refused to confirm this, saying the matter was being investigated.

Many rapes have been reported since December's fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi.

The assault sparked angry protests and demands for better safety for women and stricter laws against rape.

This week, a man reportedly shoved a iron rod into the mouth of a young girl when she resisted his attempt to rape her.

In another case, a Chinese woman was allegedly raped in the capital.

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Microsoft wins latest round in patent case

A US judge has dismissed more than a dozen patent infringement claims filed against Microsoft. Source: AAP

A US federal judge has tossed out more than a dozen patent infringement claims filed against Microsoft by Google-owned Motorola Mobility.

US District Court Judge James Robart, in Microsoft's home state of Washington, sided with the software colossus, dismissing 13 claims of infringement on a trio of Motorola patents involving digital video encoding and decoding, according to court records on Thursday.

The Motorola patents were evidently not specific enough regarding the computer code involved, according to the documents.

The decision significantly narrowed the case.

If the remaining claims survive a similar legal challenge, Microsoft would likely be entitled to pay a reasonable rate to license what is considered a "standards-essential" technology, according to intellectual property specialist Florian Mueller, of FossPatents.com.

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Hong Kong stocks fall 0.34%

HONG Kong shares have closed 0.34 per cent lower, in line with a regional sell-off and ahead of the release of closely watched Chinese economic data.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 79.93 points to 23,177.00 on turnover of HK$79.04 billion ($A9.93 billion) on Thursday.

Chinese shares closed down 0.66 per cent.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 15.95 points to 2,418.53 on turnover of 109.3 billion yuan ($A17.03 billion).

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Document declaring USSR dead 'missing'

FORMER Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich says a historic document that pronounced the death of the USSR is missing from archives.

Shushkevich discovered the disappearance of the original document while working on his memoirs.

Officials with Belarus' government and other ex-Soviet states confirmed on Wednesday that they only have copies.

The document's disappearance reflects the chaos that surrounded the Soviet demise.

On December 8, 1991, Shushkevich hosted Russia's President Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine's President Leonid Kravchuk for secret talks at a government hunting lodge near Viskuli in the Belovezha Forest.

The trio signed a deal declaring that "the USSR has ceased to exist as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality," defeating Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts to hold the country together and forcing him to resign on Christmas Day.

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