Man charged over NSW stabbing murder

POLICE have charged a 41-year-old man with the murder of a young man who died after being stabbed during a fight in the NSW Hunter region.

The 21-year-old victim was stabbed in the chest and arm during a brawl outside a hotel in Cessnock about 2.30am (AEDT) on Friday, police said.

The man collapsed while trying to walk to the police station, which was a few metres away.

Paramedics took him to Cessnock Hospital but he could not be revived.

Police said a 41-year-old man turned up to Cessnock police station on Saturday morning and he was charged with murder.

The man was refused bail and will appear in Newcastle Bail Court on Sunday.

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Italy commemorates deadly quake

Italy has commemorated the fourth anniversary of the L'Aquila earthquake. Source: AAP

ITALY has commemorated the fourth anniversary of a devastating earthquake in and around the city of L'Aquila which killed 309 people and forced tens of thousands to abandon their homes.

Families of the victims led a torch-lit procession with thousands of people in the night between Friday and Saturday, when the tremor struck the mediaeval university town in the middle of the Apennine mountains in central Italy in 2009.

Reconstruction efforts have been heavily delayed - largely due to red tape and a lack of funds - and much of the city centre still lies abandoned.

Local archbishop Giuseppe Molinari celebrated mass in the night in a church in L'Aquila that was heavily damaged.

A church bell rang out 309 times at 3.132am local time - the exact moment that the 6.3 earthquake struck.

"Everything has been delayed. And young people are leaving. Politicians keep bickering," Molinari told Catholic news site tempi.it, adding: "We would like to see something move so we can start again. The situation is still critical."

Italian Senate speaker Pietro Grasso on Saturday laid a wreath at a student dormitory that collapsed four years ago, killing eight people.

Territorial Cohesion Minister Fabrizio Barca, who has promised to speed up the reconstruction, said: "The state cannot not rebuild this city."

A court in L'Aquila last year sentenced six scientists and a government official to six years in jail for multiple manslaughter for failing to provide sufficient warning to local residents following a wave of small tremors.

The seven defendants are appealing the sentence.

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Strong quake causes panic in Indonesia

A MAJOR 7.1-magnitude earthquake has rocked Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, sending panicked crowds running into the streets.

There were no reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued after the quake struck on land at 1.42pm local time on Saturday at a depth of 75km, 272km west-southwest of provincial capital Jayapura, the US Geological Survey said.

Local seismologists had measured the quake at 7.2.

People in the capital of the huge province said they felt the quake strongly and hundreds went running into the streets.

Narsi Bay said she was in a meeting on the first floor of a hotel in Jayapura when she felt "strong shaking".

"I went downstairs to go outside as quickly as I could as I was afraid that the building would collapse," the 21-year-old told AFP.

"I saw lamps, tables, and chairs shaking. Some people screamed in panic and shouted at others in the hotel to go outside."

Suharjono, from the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said the quake was felt most strongly in Mulia city, Puncak Jaya district.

It was strong enough to "wake people who are sleeping and break windows, but it won't cause buildings to collapse", he said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that the quake had not generated a tsunami.

Another official from the Indonesian agency said: "The quake happened on land, there is no tsunami threat."

The agency had not received any reports of damage.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

A massive quake struck off Aceh in 2004, sparking a tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province on Sumatra and tens of thousands more in countries around the Indian Ocean.

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China steps up response to bird flu cases

A second Chinese city culled birds on Saturday to prevent the spread of H7N9 avian influenza. Source: AAP

A SECOND Chinese city culled birds on Saturday to prevent the spread of H7N9 avian influenza, which has killed six people in the country, as Shanghai's live poultry markets remained shut.

China has confirmed 16 cases of the H7N9 strain, the health ministry said, since announcing a week ago that the virus had been found in humans for the first time.

The human infections have been confined to eastern China, with commercial hub Shanghai recording six including four deaths, and the other two fatalities in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang.

One of the Zhejiang cases ate quail bought at a market in the city of Hangzhou, at which authorities began culling birds on Saturday after finding quail infected with H7N9, the official Xinhua news agency said.

In Shanghai, a uniformed worker sprayed disinfectant from a tank on his back at a local market in the city centre, where two live poultry booths were dark and the cages empty.

"People are worried," said Yan Zhicheng, a retired factory manager who like many elderly people makes a daily trip to market.

"Shanghai people eat a lot of duck and chicken. Now we can't touch them."

Shanghai had culled more than 20,500 birds at an agricultural market in a western suburb by Friday, after the virus was found in pigeons, and the government announced a ban on live poultry trading and markets.

But eggs remained on sale, as well as fresh and frozen poultry meat, as officials encouraged people to cook them well.

Chinese authorities maintain there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, a conclusion echoed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The US government on Friday advised American citizens living in China of the cases but said no travel or trade restrictions would be applied to the country based on the current situation.

In Shanghai residents were taking no chances, turning to traditional medicine and donning face masks.

Drugstores were running short of banlangen, a traditional Chinese medicine for colds made from the roots of the woad plant, used as a blue dye from ancient times.

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China crucial to Australian interests: PM

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has declared China to be "pivotal to Australia's political, strategic and economic interests" as she starts her second visit to the nation.

Ms Gillard has arrived on the Chinese resort island of Hainan ahead of trade and security talks, including her first official meeting with new Chinese president Xi Jinping, on Sunday.

The visit comes as North Korea reportedly moved a missile capable of hitting South Korea and Japan, an action which drew condemnation as being provocative.

Before she left, Ms Gillard spoke on the phone with South Korean president Park Geun-hye, expressing Australia's strong concerns over North Korea, which she says "poses a serious risk to regional security".

Speaking to reporters in Sanya, Ms Gillard toughened her language.

"This is a regime that cannot feed and properly care for its people, that engages in some of the worst human rights abuses that we've seen around the world," she said.

"It is not in the interests of North Korea's people for this kind of belligerence to be demonstrated by the leadership of North Korea."

With Australia and China both members of the UN Security Council, the talks between Ms Gillard and President Xi will take on greater significance.

The prime minister said she would urge President Xi, who also heads China's military, to "use its influence" to bring North Korea back to "trust-building dialogue".

Ms Gillard's trip will open with her attendance at the Boao Forum for Asia - an investment, economics and trade summit which was co-founded by former prime minister Bob Hawke.

"China is absolutely pivotal to Australia's political, economic and strategic interests," she said.

She will meet International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday, and later address Chinese and Australian business leaders at a lunch where she will hold bilateral meetings with some of the nine other national leaders attending the forum.

On Sunday she will address the Boao Forum and meet informally and officially with President Xi. Ministers Bob Carr and Craig Emerson are also expected to be in the meeting.

Ms Gillard is expected to use a brief visit to Shanghai - where Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten will join the delegation - to announce a new deal in currency trade between the two countries, which could help business and investment.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop, who is attending the Boao Forum, said she had heard concerns from Chinese business chiefs trying to invest in Australia.

"They are not made to feel welcome," she said.

Also on the agenda will be the strengthening of defence ties through more exchanges of senior military personnel, joint activities and information sharing.

Hainan Island is close to China's nuclear submarine base and the gateway to the South China Sea, with its many hotly disputed territories.

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Syd police dismantle illegal DVD network

Police have dismantled a large-scale counterfeit DVD distribution network in Sydney's northwest. Source: AAP

SYDNEY police have dismantled a large-scale counterfeit DVD distribution network and seized an estimated $20 million worth of illegal discs.

Detectives from Quakers Hill along with representatives from the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft and product security experts from Woolworths raided a factory unit in Kings Park and a home in Marayong on Thursday.

Officers found around 1.2 million suspected counterfeit high-quality DVDs, artwork, packaging materials, computers, gift cards and cash.

The DVDs included local and international movie titles and TV show box sets which would have had a retail value of more than $20 million, police said.

It's believed the DVDs could have cost the Australian film and television industry more than $60 million if they were distributed.

A 28-year-old Marayong woman was arrested and charged with two counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception and selling, infringing copy of a work.

She was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Blacktown Local Court on May 2.

Police said the network was using multiple names, residential and business addresses and post office boxes to import the DVDs, before they were assembled and repackaged at the factory unit and then sold over the internet.

It's further alleged that more than 65,000 DVDs had been sold with sales exceeding $1.6 million.

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Gillard wants the two Koreas to talk

Julia Gillard expressed solidarity in a phone call to South Korean President Park Geun-hye (pic). Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard will urge China to pressure North Korea to stop making provocative statements and accept South Korea's offer of trust-building talks.

Australia has clearly stated its condemnation of North Korea's "belligerent and provocative statements", Ms Gillard told reporters as she arrived in China on Friday for a six-day visit.

"I will be urging the Chinese leadership to use its influence to help with this issue, and help see an end to these provocative statements," Ms Gillard said.

North Korea should take a "different stance", she said amid mounting tensions in the region over its warlike rhetoric and threats of nuclear strike.

"This is a regime that cannot feed and properly care for its people, that engages in some of the worst human rights abuses that we've seen around the world.

"It is not in the interests of North Korea's people for this kind of belligerence to be demonstrated by the leadership of North Korea."

Ms Gillard says she has spoken to South Korea's President Park Geun-hye to express solidarity and Australia's concerns over the serious risk to regional security posed by North Korea's threats.

In their phone call, Ms Gillard emphasised the importance Australia placed on South Korea's security and promised to continue pressuring the rogue state to put an end to its stance and engage in dialogue with the south.

She said she thought both South Korea and the US had shown a great deal of restraint.

"But of course, among the many risks ... there is always the risk of miscalculation when tension is inflamed.

"Which is why it is very important to do all we can everything can to get North Korea to step back."

The prime minister wants North Korea to engage again in six party talks and accept an offer of president of South Korea for "trust-building dialogue".

Earlier in Canberra, US ambassador Jeffrey Bleich said there would be no changes to the American military presence in Australia following the North Korean threats.

But he did say the US was taking the threats seriously in all its missions around the world.

"We're not aware of any capability by North Korea, even with weapons they've identified ... being able to conduct a strike in Australia," he told AAP.

"From that perspective, no, we haven't changed our posture here."

Mr Bleich said the US had been very clear with China about its views, given China's special relationship with North Korea.

"It's incumbent on (China) to express the concerns of all of us about the belligerence of North Korea," he said.

"I know the prime minister is committed to reinforcing that message."

Mr Bleich noted North Korea had a relatively new leader.

"Where there are capacity for miscalculations, missteps or reckless behaviour ... we don't take anything for granted," he said.

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'Let Manus detainees mingle with locals'

Detainees on Manus Island should interact with the community, says PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA needs to consider allowing asylum seekers housed at the detention facility on Manus Island to interact with the local community, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says.

Mr O'Neill made the comments on Tuesday in response to a question about mounting criticism in Australia over the running of the centre.

"We don't run the facility, we provide the opportunity for (Australia) to run the processing centre, and we've always stressed it has to be done in a humane as possible way and manner - we expect that to be carried out," Mr O'Neill told reporters in Port Moresby.

"If children are on board, we have already offered to the Australian government and everybody that the refugees must be allowed to interact with our communities.

"I think there needs to be some consideration given to that by the Australian government."

On Thursday, Paris Aristotle, part of former Defence chief Angus Houston's refugee policy review panel, said safeguards needed to mitigate the risk of mental health harm have not been put in place at the detention centre.

He said he was particularly concerned about the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers, especially children, on Manus Island.

"Something needs to be done to address that immediately," he told ABC TV's Lateline on Thursday.

"Six months in, I don't think it's appropriate that children are still held in detention anywhere.

"If they were free to move around, if there were adequate services available for them and so forth, then that may have been an acceptable option."

He said he has had discussions with the federal government and immigration department and doesn't believe they are ignoring the panel's recommendations.

Mr O'Neill says the people of Manus would welcome more interaction with the asylum seekers.

"Manus is one of the most peaceful places in this country and people are very friendly, very welcoming.

"The community has willingly said they are free to move around and engage with them."

Following Mr Aristotle's comments, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for the facility to be closed down.

Australian authorities on Thursday transferred the first group of asylum seekers to be moved to the Papua New Guinea processing facility in two months.

Police last month charged 18 asylum seekers with fighting and assault following a series of incidents at the temporary facility on Lombrum Naval base.

Some of the detainees then went on a week-long hunger strike to protest the charges.

A legal challenge to the centre has been repeatedly adjourned as lawyers haggle over procedural issues.

It is next expected to come before Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia on Wednesday for a directions hearing.

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NATO strike kills Afghan police, civilians

The Taliban have stormed an Afghan court, killing at least 44 people in a bid to free insurgents. Source: AAP

A NATO air strike has killed four Afghan police and two civilians, Afghan officials say.

A spokesman for the US-led NATO force in Kabul told AFP that the military was checking the information.

Thursday's attack happened after Taliban insurgents targeted a local police post in eastern Ghazni province before dawn and NATO planes were called in to support the officers under attack.

"The NATO planes went there to assist the police, but the post was bombed and four police were killed. Two civilians present were also killed," Fazul Ahmad Tolwak, chief of Ghazni's Deh Yak district, told AFP.

Ghazni provincial administration spokesman Fazul Sabawoon confirmed the incident and gave a similar account.

The issue of civilian casualties in coalition operations is highly sensitive in Afghanistan, where the United States and its NATO allies have been fighting the Taliban for 11 years.

Previous incidents have provoked harsh criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is due to step down at elections next year, which coincide with the scheduled withdrawal of an estimated 100,000 foreign combat troops.

Last week Afghan officials said four civilians, including a child, were killed in a two-day raid against Taliban insurgents by Afghan and international forces in the province of Logar, south of the capital Kabul.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it was also investigating those accusations.

After an air strike killed 10 civilians, mostly women and children, in February, Karzai banned Afghan security forces from calling in NATO air strikes.

However it is unclear whether the ban has been enforced and many operations are jointly run by NATO and Afghan forces.

The strike came a day after Taliban gunmen killed 46 people at a court complex in the western city of Farah in a bid to free insurgents standing trial.

All nine attackers were killed in the assault, which began with a huge car bomb at the entrance to the court and continued for eight hours as security forces hunted one final surviving assailant.

The brazen attack raised further questions about the Afghans' ability to secure the country as NATO winds down its combat mission in the war-torn country by the end of next year.

The Farah death toll was the highest in Afghanistan from a single attack since a Shi'ite Muslim shrine was bombed in Kabul in December 2011, killing 80 people.

Karzai condemned the court attack as a "massacre" and said Afghans would "not let such killings of Muslims by the Taliban go unpunished".

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Dozens of senior Qld cops to retire early

MORE than 80 senior Queensland police officers will leave the service in coming weeks.

But Commissioner Ian Stewart says it won't affect operations, and all 86 have applied for, and been granted, voluntary redundancies.

"While their departure from the service will result in a loss of many years of experience and corporate knowledge, the subsequent renewal will provide significant opportunities for the QPS and the community we serve," the commissioner said in a statement.

"I acknowledge that we are losing not only colleagues but friends, mentors and confidants."

Mr Stewart says the loss of the officers will not affect the force's ability to cope with the massive security operation needed for the G20 Summit in 2014.

World leaders from the Group of 20 nations will gather in Brisbane in November next year.

Members of the G20 account for 85 per cent of global GDP, 80 per cent of global trade, and most of Australia's major trading and investment partners.

The security operation for their visit will be one of the largest Brisbane has seen.

Mr Stewart says with 11,000 sworn officers the force still has a huge capacity and depth of experience.

"I'm absolutely confident that we will have the capacity and the experience to manage any policing incident including our response to G20," he told the Seven Network.

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