China reports stronger April trade growth

CHINA has reported stronger April trade but analysts say its export data is inflated and its shaky recovery may be weaker than it looks.

Exports rose 14.7 per cent over a year earlier, up from March's 10 per cent growth, customs data showed on Wednesday.

Imports gained 16.8 per cent, up from the previous month's 14.1 per cent.

That suggested the world's second-largest economy might be improving after an unexpected decline in growth to 7.7 per cent in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter's 7.9 per cent.

Analysts say, however, Chinese export data are unreliable, possibly due to companies submitting inflated prices for their goods to evade capital controls and bring money into the country.

"We believe the strong trade growth is not indicative of a growth recovery," said Zhiwei Zhang of Nomura in a report.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption instead of trade and investment, but consumer spending is growing slowly.

That has forced Beijing to rely on state-led investment and bank lending to shore up the recovery, which analysts say could be vulnerable if exports or investment decline.

The weaker-than-expected first quarter numbers prompted the World Bank and private sector analysts to trim forecasts for full-year growth, though to still robust levels of about 8 per cent.

Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu of RBS said after factoring out irregularities, they estimated China's exports rose only by about 5.7 per cent in April, about 9 percentage points lower than the reported level.

In a positive sign for the economy, Kuijs and Qiu said they saw no obvious irregularities in import data and no reason to inflate the values of goods.

"Reasonable import growth suggests domestic demand has held up better so far," they said in a report.

Surveys by HSBC Corp. and a Chinese industry group showed China's manufacturing growth weakened in April. HSBC said new export orders fell for the first time this year.

China's export data have been under scrutiny since analysts pointed out last year they failed to match up with its trading partners' lower figures for purchases of Chinese goods.

Wei Yao of Societe Generale cited the example of Taiwan, which reported a 2.7 percent decline in April imports from China while Beijing said exports to the island rose 49.2 percent - a gap of more than 50 percentage points.

"We continue to notice glaring discrepancies between China and its trade partners' data, and so again suggest caution in interpreting the report," Yao said in a commentary.

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NSW church abuse victims may miss compo

MOST child abuse victims who emerge during the course of ongoing national and state inquiries won't be able to claim compensation in NSW, despite finally mustering the courage to come forward.

Under changes to the victims compensation scheme, victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse are prevented from making a claim more than a decade after the crime.

Opposition Leader John Robertson says the new laws have been introduced to parliament just as victims begin to tell their stories to the nationwide royal commission, and the NSW inquiry into historical child abuse in the Hunter Valley.

"This will exclude the overwhelming number of victims," he told question time on Wednesday.

"(It's) a low move by the O'Farrell government to avoid paying compensation to child sexual abuse victims."

Mr Robertson said the state government had ignored advice from Legal Aid NSW that the implementation of an eligibility limit would hurt victims of historical abuse.

It said many people would manifest psychological damage after the time limit had passed, and most people who failed to initially report the crime did so because of fear, shame or embarrassment, or because they were young at the time of the offence.

The laws will also be applied retrospectively, affecting victims of historical abuse with a current claim.

Mr Robertson said 506 child sexual assault victims last year sought compensation more than 10 years after the abuse.

In question time on Wednesday, he called on the government to ensure victims of child sexual abuse would not be disadvantaged as a result of the changes to victims compensation.

But Attorney-General Greg Smith said the government had announced a range of measures to assist victims of crime, including a new victim support scheme and a victims commissioner.

"We want victims of crime to be given better support and services when they need them most," he said.

In a later statement, a spokeswoman for Mr Smith said child victims of sexual abuse could make applications for financial assistance for up to 10 years after they turned 18.

She said victims support groups had told the government that therapeutic support and counselling was the most important aspect of recovery for adult survivors of child sexual assault.

The review of the old scheme had started well before the royal commission was called, and none of the changes were specific to people giving evidence at the hearings, the spokeswoman said.

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Triangular coin to mark Canberra birthday

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the 25th birthday of Parliament House. Source: AAP

CANBERRA is often labelled the city of swings and roundabouts but the triangle will be featured as the Australian capital celebrates the 25th birthday of Parliament House.

The nation's first triangular coin has been minted to mark the quarter century milestone of the big house on the hill.

The uncirculated equilateral coin with rounded corners carries a $5 value.

Ten thousand coins will be struck, made from 99.9 per cent silver and depicting Parliament House as viewed from one of its courtyards. The Queen's profile is on the reverse.

The iconic triangular flag mast atop Parliament House is a focal point of the coin design.

A limited-edition, round 20 cent coin made of cupronickel is also part of the mint's tribute to Parliament House. It features the current building with Old Parliament House in the foreground.

"Australian Parliament House was recognised as a major international architectural achievement when it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II 25 years ago," MP Bernie Ripoll will say during the birthday launch of the coin on Thursday.

"It is fitting that the mint is demonstrating its own innovation within a minting context with Australia's first triangular coin."

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Three women missing for decade found alive

Three young US women who went missing about a decade ago have been found alive in a house in Ohio. Source: AAP

THREE young US women who went missing about a decade ago - two of them teenagers when they disappeared - have been found alive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio, as police arrested three brothers in the case.

The dramatic discovery on Monday - just a few kilometres from where the women went missing - ended years of anguished searching by their families and drew hundreds of cheering people to the usually quiet, residential street.

The details of the trauma they may have suffered in captivity were not yet known but it appeared that at least one of the girls had borne a child. The Associated Press reported a six-year-old child had been found at the same time.

Police said they have arrested three Hispanic men in their 50s in connection with the case but declined to give further details. A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9am (2300 AEST).

The long nightmare ended when Amanda Berry - who had been kidnapped 10 years ago at the age of 16 - reached her arm through a crack in the front door and called for help.

"I heard screaming. ... And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside of the house," neighbour Charles Ramsey told the local ABC news affiliate.

"I go on the porch, and she said, 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time'."

Ramsey, a bystander now hailed as a hero, said he tried to get her out through the door, but could not pull it open, so he kicked out the bottom and she crawled through "carrying a little girl".

Berry went into a neighbouring home and called police, begging them to come as soon as they could, "before he gets back".

"I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped. I've been missing for 10 years. I'm free. I'm here now," a frantic Berry says in the recording of her call to 911. When police arrived, she said two other women were being held captive.

She told the dispatcher that the man who had held her was named Ariel Castro. Media reports identified the three suspects as Castro and his two brothers, but police provided no confirmation.

"All three women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, seem to be in good health," Cleveland police said in a statement.

Berry was last seen on the night of April 21, 2003 when she left work at a fast food restaurant just a few blocks from her home.

Her mother, Louwanna Miller, died of a "broken heart" in March 2006, Dona Brady, a family friend, told CNN.

DeJesus was 14 when she vanished while walking home from school on April 2, 2004.

Knight, who was 19 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at a cousin's house on August 23, 2002, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

Kayla Rogers, 23, went to school with DeJesus and joined the crowd gathered near the house where her friend had been held captive.

"They don't find people who go missing, you know," Rogers, 23, told the Plain Dealer.

"I'm at a loss for words."

Neighbour Charlie Czorb said he was stunned by how long the women had lived at the house undetected, saying: "These girls were locked up in our own backyard."

Castro was described by neighbours as a friendly school bus driver and musician whose daughter would often come over with his grandchildren.

Ramsay, the man who helped Berry escape, also expressed shock, telling reporters he had eaten ribs and listened to Salsa music with Castro.

Tasheena Mitchell, 26, said she didn't believe her brother at first when he called to tell her that their cousin Amanda had been found alive and said she raced to the hospital to confirm it with her own eyes.

"She was my best friend," Mitchell told the Plain Dealer.

A friend interrupted her, "She's alive. She is your best friend."

An emergency room doctor who treated the three women said they were in fair condition and were being evaluated.

"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories so we're very happy for them," the doctor, Gerald Maloney, told reporters.

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Cheap beef on table at Qld cattle talks

Independent MP Bob Katter says selling Queensland beef cheap could help the cattle industry crisis. Source: AAP

SELLING cheap Queensland beef in supermarkets could be the key to getting the cattle industry back on its feet, graziers say.

The idea was raised by graziers with federal and state agriculture ministers at crisis talks in Queensland's northwest on Tuesday.

The industry is suffering due to a state-wide drought and plummeting cattle prices caused largely by a reduction in live cattle exports to Indonesia.

Federal independent MP Bob Katter says one of the ideas put forward at the meeting was to sell Queensland beef in supermarkets at just 10 per cent above cost price.

"Even if we can't sell cattle they still eat grass and there's no grass [due to a state-wide drought]," he told AAP.

"This idea would take a couple of hundred thousand cattle off the market over the next two years."

Mr Katter says an overwhelming number of graziers who attended Tuesday's crisis meeting called for the federal government to reduce interest rates, which he says are crippling farmers.

Even Tuesday's interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank which brought rates down to an all time low, would not be enough help, he said.

"Even after today our interest rates are 10 times higher than our competitors."

Other ideas put forward were for a rates relief package to be implemented and for more meatworks to be built.

Graziers also want the federal government to buy 100,000 cattle - at a cost of about $150 million - and gift them to Indonesia.

Mr Katter says this would repair the relationship between the two countries.

In 2011 the government temporarily banned live exports to Indonesia following claims of animal cruelty.

The number of cattle being exported to Indonesia, which was then Australia's biggest market, significantly dropped after this. The market has never recovered.

"It sounds like a lot of money but if the Indonesian market reopens they'll get that money back in taxation in two or three years," he said.

Live cattle exports were back in the spotlight this week after new footage emerged showing Australian cattle being abused in Egypt.

Australia's livestock industry has voluntarily suspended cattle exports to the country.

Mr Katter says half a million cattle ready for export could die from starvation as graziers can't afford to feed them, while a million kangaroos which would be shot for their meat would also perish.

"There is no supplementary market for them and all the meatworks are full," he said.

"So instead of having some cattle suffer, all of these cattle and kangaroos are going to suffer terribly."

He also says Egyptians will "build up a huge fund of hatred" toward Australians, which will damage the relationship between the two countries and hurt the cattle industry.

Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig says the government is providing funds to farmers to alleviate the stress of unmanageable debt.

"For Queensland, we're providing additional rural financial counsellors, including a dedicated officer for graziers in the gulf," he said.

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Two in custody after Darwin shootings

A WOMAN suspected of using a handgun to open fire on two people in different locations in Darwin's rural fringe is in custody.

Northern Territory Police say a domestic dispute is probably behind the shootings, which left a 63-year-old woman in a serious condition and a 43-year-old man with a wound to his hand.

A 38-year-old woman suspected of being the assailant is in custody, as is another man, 46, who is accused of being an accessory after the fact.

The pair, with a six-year-old child in their car, were arrested as they tried to elude police from a cordoned-off area near the second shooting.

Police say the sequence of events remains unclear.

However, at 2.30pm (CST) on Tuesday there was a shooting at Virginia Road, in Virginia, about 30km from Darwin's city centre.

Another shooting incident followed, at the side of the Stuart Highway, a few kilometres away.

"There was a weapon that was discharged at Virginia and it was discharged again in the Stuart Highway vicinity," said Crime Commander Richard Bryson.

"At various times the vehicles were moving and the vehicles were shot whilst the vehicles were in motion," he told reporters.

The 63-year-old victim took herself to the Palmerston Police Station, and she was then taken to hospital.

It is thought a single bullet went through her arm before hitting her chest cavity.

The 43-year-old man who was shot in the hand stayed at the scene by the Stuart Highway to help police with their inquiries before he too was taken to hospital.

"It would appear the incident pertains to domestic circumstances and custody arrangements in relation to a child," Cmdr Bryson said.

As well as the two gunshot victims a third person was injured while trying to offer assistance.

Cmdr Bryson said it was unclear whether the person was also shot at but they were injured by shattering glass and sustained superficial cuts to their face.

All the parties involved knew each other, he said.

It is believed about a dozen shots were fired.

"This incident could have been much more serious than it was," Cmdr Bryson said.

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Russia 'concern' over Israel air strikes

RUSSIA has voiced concern at Israeli air strikes against Syrian targets, saying that they threatened to escalate tensions in neighbouring countries.

"We are looking into and analysing all the circumstances surrounding the especially concerning reports of the May 3 and May 5 Israeli air strikes," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"A further escalation of the armed conflict severely raises the risk of creating centres of tension in Lebanon as well as in Syria, and also destabilising the still relatively stable situation in the region of the Israeli-Lebanese border," the statement said.

Israel is yet to officially confirm that it has struck Syrian targets, including surface-to-air missiles that one source said were believed to have been delivered by Russia, a long-standing ally of the Syrian government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel reserves the right to preserve its security at all times.

The Russian foreign ministry also urged the West not to politicise the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria, which officials suggest has now been carried out by both sides.

"We insistently urge to stop politicising this extremely serious question and whipping up an anti-Syrian atmosphere," the ministry statement said.

It added that Moscow shared UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's "deep concern" with how events were unfolding in the war-torn nations.

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We'll fight for May Day holiday, ACTU says

UNIONS will fight to have May Day returned as a public holiday across Australia, ACTU president Ged Kearney has told a rally in Darwin.

Speaking in the Northern Territory, the only jurisdiction in Australia that still provides a public holiday to commemorate May Day, Ms Kearney urged unionists to protect it.

"Union members be proud of this day. Don't lose it," Ms Kearney told a rally of about 500 people.

May Day is celebrated in many countries around the world to mark campaigns by workers for better rights.

"We are going to fight to get it back in other states," Ms Kearney said.

She said the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government in the NT had cut the public service, healthcare and education since coming to office last year.

"I will be damned if the likes of this government ... take away our important day," Ms Kearney told the crowd.

"We must rebel, we must stand up and fight," she said.

Unions NT Secretary Alan Paton also attacked the CLP government in the NT.

Mr Paton said the CLP went to the election promising public sector jobs would be safe and the cost of living would fall.

"What we have seen so far is the exact opposite," Mr Paton said.

Although the NT is the only jurisdiction to mark May Day, other states mark Labour Day at other times of the year.

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WA sex assault doctor dodges deportation

AN Indian-born doctor who spent more than 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old patient while examining her has successfully fought a deportation order.

Suhail Ahmad Khan Durani has been held at an immigration detention centre since being released from Casuarina Prison in Perth's south, because federal immigration authorities cancelled his visa the day he completed his sentence.

But he fought an ensuing deportation order through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which decided on Monday that he should be allowed to keep his visa.

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N Korea holds firm on jailed American

North Korea says jailed American Kenneth Bae won't be used as a 'bargaining chip'. Source: AAP

NORTH Korea said it won't invite any leading US figure to seek the release of a jailed American and he would not become a "bargaining chip" in any political negotiations.

"Some media of the US said that the DPRK (North Korea) tried to use Pae's case as a political bargaining chip. This is a ridiculous and wrong guess," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official KCNA news agency.

"The DPRK has no plan to invite anyone of the US as regards Pae's issue."

The North said it had sentenced Pae, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, to 15 years' hard labour for "hostile acts" aimed at toppling the communist regime at a trial on April 30.

The Korean-American tour operator was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason.

Several Americans have been held in the North in recent years, and been freed after visits by high-profile Americans such as former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

In 2010 Carter negotiated the release of US citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years' hard labour for illegally entering the country.

In 2009 Clinton managed to free US television journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, also jailed for an illegal border crossing.

The ministry spokesman said Pyongyang had showed "generosity... from the humanitarian point of view" in the past, but the latest case proved that such generosity will "be in no use in ending Americans' illegal acts".

"As long as the US hostile policy goes on, American's illegal acts should be countered with strict legal sanctions. This is a conclusion drawn by the DPRK."

The latest development comes amid high military tension on the peninsula.

Pyongyang, angered by new UN sanctions for its third nuclear test in February and by US-South Korean joint military drills, has issued blistering threats of missile and nuclear attacks targeting the South and the United States.

The United States has called for the immediate release of Bae, whose alleged offence is unclear.

Seoul-based activist Do Hee-Yoon has told AFP he suspected Bae was arrested because he had taken photographs of emaciated children in North Korea as part of efforts to appeal for more outside aid.

The North's spokesman said Sunday that Bae's belongings confirmed the crime for which he was convicted but did not elaborate.

"He entered the DPRK with a disguised identity in an intentional way under the back-stage manipulation of the forces hostile toward the DPRK," the spokesman said, adding he had made a confession.

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Pakistan troops kill 16 militants

Three people have been killed and 35 others wounded in twin bomb blasts in southern Pakistan. Source: AAP

PAKISTANI troops overran two militant hideouts and killed 16 insurgents after heavy overnight fighting at a flashpoint near the Afghan border in which two soldiers also died, the military said.

The fighting took place in the wake of a fresh military push in the Tirah valley in the tribal Khyber district, where the military have been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militia who threaten the nearby northwestern city of Peshawar.

Khyber straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal, and officials say it is key to protecting security in Peshawar for historic elections next week.

"In a successful operation security forces last night captured Kismat Sur and Sanghar, two strong hideouts of militants in Tirah Valley," the military said in a statement.

"Sixteen militants were killed in the operation. Two security personnel embraced martyrdom and three were wounded," it said.

Independent verification of the death toll was not possible as the area is cut off to journalists and aid workers.

"Militants were seen fleeing from the area, leaving behind a huge cache of arms and ammunition," the statement added.

Separately, a roadside bomb targeting a military convoy Sunday killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded three more in another tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

Pakistan will elect its new government for the next five years in polls on May 11.

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Tension in Somalia after top chief killed

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for calm following the killing of a top chief in Sudan. Source: AAP

TENSION and anger gripped the Abyei region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan following the killing of a top tribal chief and an Ethiopian peacekeeper, residents said, as the UN stepped up security.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for calm after the Ngok Dinka chief Kual Deng Majok and the peacekeeper died in an "attack" by a Misseriya tribesman in the region on Saturday.

"It looks like Dinka are very angry," one local resident told AFP.

He reported fire coming from the Abyei town centre, where Misseriya operate small shops.

A curfew was in effect, with the Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), setting up extra checkpoints trying to restrict the movement of people and prevent gatherings, said the resident, asking for anonymity.

The resident, who is familiar with the incident, said five Misseriya also died in Saturday's skirmish.

"There is high tension and all sides are alert, ready for anything," Mohammed Al-Ansari, a Misseriya chief in Abyei, told AFP.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said in a Twitter message that UNISFA was "expanding patrols with the aim of maintaining calm".

UN chief Ban urged both tribes as well as the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to "avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event," a statement from his spokesperson said late Saturday, condemning the killings.

The UN said two of its Blue Helmets were also seriously wounded in the incident, "an attack by a Misseriya assailant on a UNISFA convoy".

The status of Dinka-dominated Abyei has not been resolved despite steps which Sudan and South Sudan have taken since March to normalise their relations, after months of intermittent clashes along their undemarcated frontier.

Abyei's status was the most sensitive issue left unsettled when South Sudan separated in 2011.

The territory was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

Majok was heading north from Abyei town with UNISFA peacekeepers, who are the only authority in the area, when a group of Misseriya stopped them and began negotiations, another Misseriya leader said.

"Then a clash happened when a UNISFA soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," said the Misseriya chief who asked to remain anonymous.

During the resulting clash, "the Dinka leader's car was hit by an explosion and he and his driver were killed".

The death of Majok is the most serious incident since Sudanese troops withdrew in May last year to end a year-long occupation that forced more than 100,000 people to flee Abyei towards South Sudan.

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