Police have established a crime scene after the body of a woman washed up on a south Sydney beach. Source: AAP
A WOMAN'S body has washed up on a Sydney beach.
Police were called to Green Hills beach at Cronulla, in the city's south, about 5.15pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
The body is that of a woman believed to be in her 40s. Police have establish a crime scene.
The incident is being considered an unexplained death.
A man has been charged over an alleged break-in that has left an elderly man critically injured. Source: AAP
A MAN has been charged over an alleged break-in at a home in Moorebank, in Sydney's southwest, that left an elderly man in critical condition in hospital.
A 78-year-old man and his wife returned to their Moorebank home at midday on Monday to find a man in the house.
The woman left the room and returned to find her husband on the floor.
He was taken to Liverpool Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
About 11.25am (AEDT) on Friday, police arrested a 53-year-old man at an office in Fairfield.
He has been charged with special aggravated break and enter, and committing a serious indictable offence.
The man was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.
ANOTHER of the Skaf rapists has been granted weekend leave in a move to integrate him back into the Sydney community.
The young man has reached his non-parole period and has been granted day release, which is expected to start in coming weeks.
Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said the 29-year-old's weekend leave was recommended by the independent Serious Offenders Review Council and also the State Parole Authority.
"External leave is the normal progression for all inmates as they are prepared to re-integrate into the community and it is considered appropriate for this inmate because his non-parole period has expired, he is compliant and has participated in all programs," Mr Severin told AAP in a statement on Saturday.
"He will be electronically monitored with random spot visits by field officers and must submit to a strict schedule and the supervision of an approved sponsor."
It is understood the young man had his name suppressed at his trial, and Judge Michael Finane ordered it never to be lifted due to the man's intellectual and mental disabilities.
His co-accused Mohamed Sanoussi, 28, was denied parole in October last year but the State Parole Authority indicated it would grant parole in 2013.
His parole will be reconsidered later this year.
They were two of nine young males convicted of the August 2000 gang rapes of young girls at various locations in Sydney.
A total of 14 males took part in the attacks.
Brothers Bilal Skaf and Mohammed Skaf were among the convicted rapists and led the attacks.
AN al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq has called on Sunnis to take up arms against the Shi'ite-led government, as sectarian tensions and large Sunni protests increase.
In an audio statement posted on Friday on the website of the Islamic State of Iraq, spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani says Sunnis can bow to the Shi'ites or to take up arms to restore "dignity and freedom."
Al-Adnani says recent Sunni protests against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki mark the end of Sunni humiliation in Iraq.
Thousands of Sunnis rallied on Friday in the city of Fallujah in the western province of Anbar.
Protesters complain of official discrimination, saying anti-terrorism laws and other policies largely target minority Sunnis.
The protests were sparked by the December arrests of bodyguards of a senior Sunni politician.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that its computers had been hit by Chinese hackers. Source: AAP
THE Wall Street Journal said its computers had been hit by Chinese hackers, becoming the latest US media organisation to report a bid to spy on its journalists covering China.
The announcement came a day after The New York Times said hackers, possibly connected to China's military, had infiltrated its computers in response to its expose of the vast wealth amassed by a top leader's family.
The Journal reported that the attacks were "for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage" and suggested that Chinese spying on US media has become a "widespread phenomenon."
"Evidence shows that infiltration efforts target the monitoring of the Journal's coverage of China, and are not an attempt to gain commercial advantage or to misappropriate customer information," said a statement from Journal parent Dow Jones, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US government had noted an increase in hacking attacks on both state institutions and private companies, and would raise the issue in international forums.
"We have to begin making it clear to not only the Chinese... that the United States is going to be having to take actions to protect not only our governments but our private sector from this kind of illegal intrusion," she said.
"We're going to try to get legislation passed which we were unsuccessful in doing in the last Congress," she told journalists at a briefing to mark the end of her term as America's top diplomat.
The Journal gave no timeline for the attacks but said a network overhaul to bolster security had been completed on Thursday.
"We fully intend to continue the aggressive and independent journalism for which we are known," Dow Jones spokeswoman Paula Keve said.
On Wednesday, the Times reported that hackers had infiltrated computer systems and stolen staff passwords over the past four months.
The effort was particularly focused on the emails of Shanghai bureau chief David Barboza, the newspaper said.
Barboza wrote a story that said close relatives of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had made billions of dollars in business dealings.
"Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times's network," the newspaper said, citing a wealth of digital evidence gathered by its security experts.
China did not immediately comment on the Journal's allegations, but on Thursday Beijing dismissed the Times's accusations as "groundless."
"To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing.
THE airport at Rockhampton will be closed, along with the major highway into the city, as the swollen Fitzroy River peaks at a higher than anticipated 8.7 metres.
The weather bureau had earlier expected the flooded river in central Queensland to peak at 8.5 metres in the early hours of Saturday morning.
But by late Friday afternoon, the Fitzroy was already at that level and the Bureau of Meteorology was reassessing its forecasts.
Rockhampton Regional Council issued an alert on Friday night, warning of floodwaters in the crocodile-infested river reaching a new peak of 8.7 metres by Saturday night.
The level is still below the 9.2 metres the river reached in 2011 but it means Rockhampton Airport will be closed after the final passenger flights leave on Friday night.
However, the airport remains open for emergency flights, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
A council spokeswoman said an assessment of levels recorded upstream led to the new flood assessment.
"The decision was not made lightly and was made having regard for the safety of our community and will be reassessed in the morning," she said in a statement.
The Yeppen roundabout on the Bruce Highway, south of Rockhampton, is closed to light vehicles and motorcycles but will remain open longer for four-wheel drives.
The Yeppen crossing had earlier remained open despite 10cm of water covering the roadway.
On Friday morning, Rockhampton deputy mayor Tony Williams predicted 1100 backyards would be flooded if the river reached 8.5 metres, but for that to happen the river would have to rise higher than currently forecast.
He told reporters that floodwaters would recede within 24 to 36 hours, compared with 2011 when it took three weeks.
A week after ex-tropical cyclone Oswald hit the Queensland coast, roads in Rockhampton's low-lying suburbs such as Depot Hill and Berserker are closed as floodwaters lap below some houses on stilts.
Meanwhile, beef farmers upstream of Rockhampton, which is known as the beef capital of Australia, are counting the costs as floodwaters there recede.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will run for a Senate seat, a tweet from the infamous website says. Source: AAP
JULIAN Assange will run for a Senate seat in the 2013 federal election and his mum reckons he'll be awesome.
Christine Assange confirmed her son's candidacy on Wednesday after WikiLeaks tweeted the news.
"He will be awesome," she told AAP.
"In the House of Representatives we get to choose between US lackey party number one and US lackey party number two - between the major parties.
"So it will be great to 'Assange" the Senate for some Aussie oversight."
Queensland-born Assange, who founded the secret-leaking website WikiLeaks, announced his Senate ambition last December from Ecuador's London embassy.
He sought refuge there last June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Mr Assange fears if he goes to Sweden to be questioned over rape allegations, authorities will allow him to be extradited to the US to be questioned over WikiLeaks' release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
He said last year he would run as a Senate candidate under a yet-to-be-formed WikiLeaks party banner and was recruiting others to stand with him.
The election will be held on September 14.
SWEDISH clothing retailer H&M says its net profit rose by 6.6 per cent to 16.9 billion kronor ($A2.59 billion) in 2012 and it increased its market share despite a difficult operating environment.
Gross sales by the world's No.2 clothing retailer rose by 9.4 per cent to 141 billion kronor in the financial year that ended November 30, but net sales measured at constant exchange rates gained only one per cent, the company said.
"H&M continues to stand strong in a challenging clothing market which in many countries has been even more challenging in 2012 compared to 2011," chief executive Karl-Johan Persson said in a statement.
The company said its earnings were hit by the costs of its long-term investments as well as negative currency exchange effects.
It proposed holding the dividend steady at 9.5 kronor per share.
H&M said its expansion was faster than expected in 2012, with 304 new stores, primarily in China and the United States.
The company which makes and sells inexpensive clothes currently has 2,800 stores in 48 markets and more than 104,000 employees.
It plans to open 325 stores in this financial year, including in Chile and in Indonesia via a franchise.
H&M said its new fashion brand & Other Stories, targeted at women, will open its first stores in the coming months in seven European countries.
Persson said despite not yet generating revenue the company believed its long-term investments "to be both necessary and wise as they aim to secure future expansion and profits and thereby further strengthen H&M's position."
ASIAN markets have climbed, with Japan's Nikkei leading the way, fuelled by continuing weakness in the yen and a powerful performance on Wall Street, where the Dow closed near its record high.
Traders are keeping a close eye on the United States, where the Federal Reserve is due to end a two-day policy meeting, with analysts expecting it to carry on with its loose monetary policy.
Tokyo on Wednesday jumped 2.28 per cent, or 247.23 points, to 11,113.95, its highest finish since April 2010, and Sydney rose up 0.16 per cent, or 7.7 points, to 4,896.7. Seoul closed up 0.43 per cent, or 8.47 points, at 1,964.43.
Hong Kong stocks ended 0.71 per cent higher, adding 166.89 points to 23,822.06 and Shanghai gained 1.00 per cent, or 23.50 points, to 2,382.48.
The euro and dollar extended their gains against the yen in response to the Bank of Japan's pledge of unlimited easing last week and its target of two per cent inflation.
Investors took on board a comment from Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso, who, defending the country's easing policies against criticism from abroad, said the yen's "excessive strength is in correction".
A senior dealer at a major bank in Tokyo said: "The comment is nothing new so it can't push up the pair like a rocket anymore, but it still has some power left."
In afternoon Tokyo trade, the US dollar gained to Y91.12, from Y90.72 in New York on Tuesday, while the euro fetched Y123.05, from Y122.42.
The single currency also bought $US1.3505 against $US1.3493.
On Wall Street, the Dow rose 0.52 per cent to finish just 1.5 per cent below its all-time closing high seen in October 2007, despite a lack of buying incentives and a weaker-than-expected consumer confidence reading.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.51 per cent and the Nasdaq was flat.
US dealers are awaiting the outcome of the Fed's policy meeting later in the day, looking for new clues to the state of the world's biggest economy. That will be followed on Friday by data on job creation.
Oil prices were mixed. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, rose 11 US cents to $US97.68 a barrel in the afternoon, while Brent North Sea crude for March delivery gained 10 US cents to $US114.46.
Gold was at $US1,667.16 at 1910 AEDT, compared with $US1,661.10 late on Tuesday.
In other markets:
- Taipei rose 0.40 per cent, or 30.98 points, to 7,832.98.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.50 per cent higher at $Tw101.5 while leading smartphone maker HTC added 1.93 per cent to $Tw290.0.
- Manila added 0.59 per cent, or 36.50 points, to 6,271.23.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co added 1.4 per cent to close at 2,844 pesos and Metro Pacific Investments rose 4.0 per cent to 5.22 pesos.
- Wellington rose 1.13 per cent, or 47.26 points, to close at a five-year high 4,247.55.
Telecom added 1.91 per cent to $NZ2.359 and Fletcher Building gained 1.40 per cent to end at $NZ9.39.
VICTORIANS are happier with the state's cab service than they have been in six years, according to a survey by the taxi directorate.
The questionnaire also showed a marked improvement in customer satisfaction over the past 12 months.
So far, for the financial year 2012/13, customers gave Victorian cabs a 69.5 per cent satisfaction rating, up from 66.6 per cent for the previous financial year and 63.6 for 2009/10.
The Victorian Taxi Directorate Customer Satisfaction Monitor is a quarterly survey of 425 cab users.
Victorian Taxi Association (VTA) Deputy CEO David Samuel attributed the results to an improved booking app, driver codes of conduct and the wider use of GPS.
"Over the past 12 months the taxi industry has been taking the initiative and implementing new ideas that are producing results," Mr Samuel said in a statement.
"It's clear that this is paying off and that customers are receiving a better service."
Customers indicated they were pleased with the level of personal security in cabs, the taxi booking service and the fares and payment system.
They were least pleased with the process of finding a taxi on the street.
Former government minister Robert McClelland will retire from politics at the next federal election. Source: AAP
TWO supporters of Kevin Rudd are set to end their careers with federal Labor as the government prepares for an election later this year.
Former federal attorney-general Robert McClelland, who has decided not to seek preselection for his Sydney seat of Barton, has joined Senator Trish Crossin in bowing out of federal politics.
"After almost 17 years in federal parliament my decision has not been taken lightly," Mr McClelland said in a statement on Tuesday.
The MP for the southern Sydney seat of Barton was dumped from the frontbench by Prime Minister Julia Gillard after he supported Mr Rudd in a 2012 leadership challenge.
News of his retirement came just hours after the ALP national executive had endorsed Aboriginal Olympian Nova Peris as its top pick on the NT Senate ticket.
That decision ousts Senator Crossin from the winnable spot and follows a "captain's pick" by Ms Gillard last week to install Ms Peris as Labor's first indigenous woman in parliament.
Senator Crossin is disappointed but ruled out standing as an independent after 30 years' membership of the ALP and trade unions.
She said on Tuesday she may have announced her retirement if she had been told earlier she was to be cast aside.
Mr McClelland was attorney-general in Mr Rudd's government but was moved into emergency management when Ms Gillard took over before being dumped.
As a backbencher in June last year, he called for a crackdown on corruption in the union movement, while making references to Ms Gillard's work as a union lawyer in the 1990s.
Speaking on the government's bill in response to the Health Services Union affair, he said under parliamentary privilege: "I never want to see a dollar that a worker gives a union used for any purpose other than the proper purposes of representing that union member's best interests.
"Indeed, I know the prime minister is quite familiar with this area of the law; as lawyers in the mid-1990s, we were involved in a matter representing opposing clients."
His comments allowed the opposition to put more question marks around Ms Gillard's role in the establishment of a slush fund set up by her former boyfriend, union boss Bruce Wilson.
His retirement has sparked renewed speculation he could be replaced by former NSW Labor premier Morris Iemma.
Last year, amid talk Mr Iemma was being promoted as a Labor pre-selection candidate for Barton, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said that if Mr McClelland were to retire he could not think of a better candidate than Mr Iemma.
Despite an 8.1 per cent swing against Labor in 2010, Barton is considered fairly safe.
Mr Iemma isn't the only former NSW premier who's been mentioned as a possible federal candidate. Kristina Keneally's name has also surfaced along with her husband, Botany Bay mayor Ben Keneally.
Mr McClelland did not offer any reasons for his departure.
"I wish my successor all the very best in the important and tremendously satisfying role that lies ahead for him or her and I look forward to continuing to make a contribution to the Australian community in the next stage of my professional career," he said in his statement.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott said the Liberal Party was eager to contest Barton, vowing to campaign with Kogarah mayor Nick Varvaris for the seat.
Ms Gillard said Mr McClelland had served Labor well and been a loyal and faithful MP to his constituents.
A CAR crash at Beerwah, north of Brisbane, has left two people critically injured.
Early investigations suggest two vehicles collided at the intersection of Steve Irwin Way and Beerwah-Kilcoy Road around 1pm.
The 28-year-old female driver of one vehicle sustained life-threatening injuries. Her 28-year-old male passenger suffered severe injuries. Both are being treated in Nambour General Hospital.
The driver of the second vehicle suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
Investigations into the incident are continuing.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A BRITISH grandmother has filed an appeal against her death sentence by firing squad for smuggling cocaine to Bali.
Lindsay Sandiford, 56, officially submitted a statement to the prison saying she would file an appeal, Denpasar district court registrar Gede Ketut Rantam told AFP on Monday.
"She filed the statement on her own and so far she has not appointed a lawyer," he added.
In a copy of the statement seen by AFP, Sandiford said she was filing an appeal against the decision of the Denpasar district court on January 22, without giving other details.
A detainee at the Kerobokan prison in Denpasar said Sandiford "was stressed and always crying. We understand her feelings so we leave her alone. She sleeps on the mattress and spends her time knitting," said the female Indonesian prisoner, who shares a cell with her.
The appeals process in Indonesia typically takes several years to complete. The last resort is presidential clemency.
Authorities had claimed Sandiford was at the centre of a drugs ring, which had been described as "a huge international syndicate".
She was found guilty of carrying the cocaine into the country in a suitcase, on a flight from Bangkok, but argued that she was coerced and that her children had been threatened.
After Sandiford's arrest three other Britons were detained in connection with the same ring but two of them were cleared of trafficking charges and received light sentences.
A third, Julian Ponder, will be sentenced on Tuesday. He was also cleared of smuggling charges and now faces a lesser charge of drug possession, which is punishable by life imprisonment.
Prosecutors have recommended a seven-year sentence.
THE joint US and Japanese investigation into the Boeing 787's battery problems has shifted from the battery maker to the manufacturer of a monitoring system.
Japan transport ministry official Shigeru Takano said on Monday the probe into battery maker GS Yuasa was over for now as no evidence was found it was the source of the problems.
Ministry officials said they would inspect Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co on Monday as part of the ongoing investigation. It makes a system that monitors voltage, charging and temperature of the lithium-ion batteries.
All 50 of the Boeing 787s in use around the world are grounded after one of the jets operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in Japan earlier this month when its main battery overheated. Earlier in January, a battery in a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire while parked at Boston's Logan International Airport.
GS Yuasa shares jumped on the news it was no longer being investigated.
Last week, US federal investigators said the JAL battery that caught fire showed evidence of short-circuiting and a chemical reaction known as "thermal runaway," in which an increase in temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures. It's not clear to investigators which came first, the short-circuiting or the thermal runaway.
Deliveries of the jet dubbed the Dreamliner were three years behind schedule because of manufacturing delays. Much of the aircraft is made by outside manufacturers, many of them major Japanese companies.
It is the first jet to make wide use of lithium-ion batteries, the kind usually found in laptops and other gadgets. They are prone to overheating and require additional systems to avoid fires.
The 787 is the first airliner made mostly from lightweight composite materials that boost fuel efficiency. It also relies on electronic systems rather than hydraulic or mechanical systems to a greater degree than any other airliner.
AT least seven people have been killed by a landslide that hit an amateur football game in southeastern Turkey.
Players and spectators were engulfed by mud on Sunday after a retaining wall failed following heavy rain.
Three people were injured and a fourth was missing.
A UN Security Council delegation has begun a brief visit to Yemen in a clear boost to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi aimed at helping to iron out problems hampering national reconciliation talks.
Thousands, meanwhile, took to the streets on the occasion of the visit on Sunday, demanding an end to the immunity given to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who was eased out of office in February 2012 after three decades of rule following a UN-backed and Gulf-brokered deal.
The Security Council delegation, which includes the head and members of the top body, held talks with Hadi, state television said, adding that the team later went on to meet members of the government.
It termed the visit as "international support for Yemen to push political reconciliation as per the Gulf initiative" which ended Saleh's rule and nearly a year of bloodshed.
The trip comes as Sanaa struggles to organise a national dialogue conference that would result in a new constitution and presidential and parliamentary elections in February 2014, thereby ending the current two-year transition period.
The conference, originally set for mid-November, has been repeatedly delayed as some factions of the Southern Movement, which has campaigned for autonomy or secession for the formerly independent south, have refused to join the talks.
After North and South Yemen unified in 1994, a short-lived secession bid was crushed by Sanaa troops and since then the citizens of the south have complained of discrimination.
The United Nations special envoy Jamal Benomar said the team's visit "reflects the UN Security Council's interest in pushing reconciliation and removing obstacles that are hindering the implementation of the points of the Gulf initiative."
He told state television that the "process is difficult," and urged all Yemeni parties to "realise that there is a historic opportunity and join the national dialogue without preconditions to solve all Yemeni issues, including the question of the south."
On Sunday, demonstrators poured into the streets of Sanaa amid tight security calling for moves to bring Saleh to justice and to "return the funds stolen by the former president and his family," an AFP correspondent reported.
The Youth of the Revolution, a group that was the main engine of the year-long protests, also called for an international probe into violations and crimes committed by Saleh's regime.
INSURGENTS killed a total of 23 policemen across Afghanistan within 24 hours, officials said, reflecting the increasing police role in the war before the withdrawal of NATO troops.
Thirteen died in roadside bomb blasts on Sunday, while 10 were killed in a suicide attack.
A powerful bomb killed eight police officers along with three suspected bombers they had detained on the outskirts of the troubled southern city of Kandahar, provincial spokesman Jawed Faisal told AFP.
"Our police had an operation in Pero Qalacha area last night. They detained several suspected insurgents," Faisal said.
"On the way back to the city (centre), their vehicle struck an IED (improvised explosive device). Eight police were killed and three suspects that they had detained during the operation were killed," Faisal said.
Six other officers and one suspect on board a second vehicle were wounded in the blast, he said.
Police spokesman Ghorzang Afridi described the bomb as "very, very powerful", saying it was an artillery shell attached to a detonator and possibly set off remotely.
The officials blamed the bombing on the "armed opposition", a reference to the Taliban who have waged an insurgency against the Western-backed government since being ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001.
Three other policemen were killed in another roadside bombing in neighbouring Helmand on Sunday and two died in a similar attack in Farah in western Afghanistan overnight, police spokesmen said.
The incidents followed a suicide bombing in the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday that killed 10 policemen including two senior officers.
Afghan security forces are increasingly targeted by the Taliban as they take greater responsibility for security before the pullout of US-led NATO combat troops next year.
EFFORTS to end conflict across Africa, especially in Mali, dominated the African Union summit opening on Sunday, with the 54-member bloc's chief saying greater efforts are needed to build peace.
"Much still needs to be done to resolve ongoing, renewed, and new conflict situations in a number of countries," AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in her opening speech.
"We cannot overemphasise the need for peace and security -- without peace and security no country or region can expect to achieve prosperity for all its citizens," she told the bi-annual summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The 20th ordinary summit, which continues on Monday, opened with a minute's silence in memory of the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who died last year.
The meeting is expected to focus on the war against Islamist militants in northern Mali, including the scaling-up of African troops to support the weak Malian army.
Mali's army, boosted by the recent French military intervention, is battling Islamist insurgents, who seized swathes of Mali's desert north following a coup last year.
Dlamini-Zuma told leaders that the AU "must remain firm on its stance of no unconstitutional change" of leadership and that it must boost its "capacity to defend democratically-elected governments."
Following a security meeting on Friday, the AU resolved to bolster the strength of the African-led force in Mali, or AFISMA, and gave member states one week to commit troops to the mission.
"The force size will have to be significantly augmented," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters after the security meeting.
Lamamra said AFISMA's strength should be increased "to better respond to the needs on the ground," but declined to give numbers.
The AU will also seek urgent "temporary" logistical support from the United Nations to enable the AFISMA force to "speedily deploy and effectively implement its mandate," according to an AU statement.
The logistical support should include transportation, medicine and field hospitals.
Also high on the summit agenda is the slow progress between the rival leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to implement stalled oil, security and border deals.
