Texas abortion law passes despite protests

The Texas senate approved a bill setting some of the strictest limits on abortion despite protests. Source: AAP

THE Texas senate has approved a bill setting some of the strictest limits on abortion in the United States, just weeks after a filibuster by opposition Democrats dramatically thwarted the measure.

The bill - similar to the one that state Senator Wendy Davis helped block in a 13-hour filibuster on June 25 - was approved 19-11 late on Friday, with one Democrat joining the Republican majority, local media reported.

Davis became a national hero for Democrats and supporters of abortion. Pro-choice advocates filled the spectator gallery Friday and held rallies outside the state senate, but were unable to stop the measure from being approved.

Republican Governor Rick Perry has vowed to sign the bill into law.

The bill includes a ban on abortions starting at 20 weeks after conception, unless the woman's health is imminently endangered; sets strict requirements for doctors performing abortions; and mandates that a doctor must be present when a woman takes a pill to induce an abortion.

Texas media reported that police tussled with noisy protesters who resisted eviction from the spectator gallery. Some protesters even chained themselves to the railing to avoid being dragged out.

During the June 25 session a raucous gallery crowd was key in preventing the vote from being held on time. There were too many activists for police to control - a mistake not repeated on Friday, when the capitol was swarming with state troopers.

Police also checked bags and took out items that could be thrown, including bottles suspected of containing excrement and urine, the Houston Chronicle reported.

18.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria's famed Crusader fort hit in raid

AN air raid on Syria's famed Krak des Chevaliers castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has damaged one of the fortress's towers, footage shot by activists shows.

Several videos posted online on Saturday showed at least one air strike on Friday against the castle in central Homs province, where fighting is raging between government troops and rebel forces.

The footage shows a huge blast as a tower of the Crusader castle, which is built on a hill, appears to take a direct hit, throwing up large clouds of smoke and scattering debris in the air.

A separate video filmed inside the fortress purports to show some of the damage caused by the air strike, including a gaping hole in the ceiling and a pile of rubble below.

"God is great. This is the destruction caused by MiG air strike on the Krak des Chevaliers," says the activist filming the damage.

"Look at the this, oh world. This is Bashar al-Assad bombing the Krak des Chevaliers," he adds of Syria's embattled president whom rebel forces are trying to topple.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group, could not confirm direct hits on the castle, but said there were reports of three air strikes in the area on Friday.

The raids came after rebels apparently using the Krak des Chevaliers as a base attacked an Alawite village called Qumayri, killing several people, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Fighting in and around the fortress has been reported throughout the conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 and evolved into an armed uprising after crackdowns on demonstrations.

The Krak des Chevaliers was built between 1142 and 1271, according to UNESCO, and along with the adjoining Qalat Salah el-Din fortress, is considered one of the best preserved Crusader castles in existence.

It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2006, and is one of six sites in Syria designated as such.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, according to the Observatory.

18.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Faulty switch blamed for French derailment

The train derailment near Paris that left six people dead was likely caused by a faulty switch. Source: AAP

THE derailment near Paris that left six people dead and dozens injured was likely caused by a faulty part in the switch that allows trains to change tracks, the SNCF national rail company says.

"This bond", a kind of steel clip that links two rails on a switch, "broke away, it became detached and came out of its housing," Pierre Izard, SNCF's general manager for infrastructure said on Saturday.

The company added that it had ordered checks of some 5000 similar devices on the network.

18.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Missing Qld toddler found safe

A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy last seen in southeast Queensland nearly a month ago has been found safe and well.

The boy, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, was seen with a 20-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man on June 18 in the Sunshine Coast area.

On Friday night, police said the boy had been found in the same area.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Death toll from Iraq violence rises to 51

THE death toll from a wave of attacks in Iraq mainly targeting security forces and Shi'ites has risen to 51 with 26 of them police and soldiers, officials say.

Thursday's attacks came amid a surge in violence that has killed more than 2500 people already this year, including upwards of 250 so far this month.

Analysts point to widespread discontent among Iraq's minority Sunni community, and the Shi'ite authorities' failure to address their grievances, as the main factors driving the increase in violence.

In Thursday's single deadliest incident, gunmen shot dead 11 police charged with protecting the country's vital oil infrastructure and three soldiers on the road between Haditha and Baiji, northwest of the Iraqi capital.

In another attack, a car bomb ripped through a funeral tent where family members of a Shi'ite man were receiving condolences in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber detonated explosives when emergency personnel arrived.

The blasts killed a total of 10 people and wounded 22.

And a car bomb near a Shi'ite religious hall close to Dujail, north of Baghdad, killed nine people and wounded 21 more.

Many people gather at places of worship at night during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began earlier this week.

Sunni militants including those linked to al-Qaeda frequently target members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, whom they regard as apostates.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama warns China against sea 'coercion'

US President Barack Obama has warned China against the using force in its tense maritime disputes. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has warned China against the using force or intimidation in its tense maritime disputes with its neighbours and urged a peaceful resolution.

Obama, meeting Chinese officials who were in Washington for wide-ranging talks, "urged China to manage its maritime disputes with its neighbours peacefully, without the use of intimidation or coercion," a White House statement said on Thursday.

Tensions have steadily risen between China and Japan, which accuses its growing neighbour of sending an increasing number of ships to exert its claim over sparsely populated islands managed by Tokyo in the East China Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam have also charged that China has used assertive means to exert claims in the conflict-riven South China Sea, although tensions have abated slightly with Hanoi in recent weeks.

State Councillor Yang Jiechi, addressing a press event at the end of the two days of talks, said that China supported "freedom of navigation in all oceans" and "will continue to firmly implement its policy".

The US since 2010 has repeatedly been outspoken over the South China Sea, saying that it has a national interest in ensuring freedom of navigation but does not take sides on individual claims.

With an eye on the tensions, the US has boosted military co-operation with Japan and the Philippines - which are both treaty-bound allies - as well as with former war adversary Vietnam.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Junaid Thorne deported from Saudi Arabia

AN Australian being deported from Saudi Arabia after his brother was jailed there for terrorism-related offences is expected in Perth around midnight (WST).

Lawyer Abdal Jalil Al-Khalidy says Junaid Thorne was scheduled to board a Perth-bound plane on Thursday afternoon.

The 23-year-old had hoped to be returned to the West Australian capital, where his parents reside, earlier this week but was held up by paperwork.

He had to be removed from a police blacklist so he could pass through the airport and was allowed to leave the country - despite earlier being wanted by local authorities for questioning - because his residency had expired.

He spent many months in hiding as he was twice detained for protesting his older brother Shayden Thorne's imprisonment.

"Now I think we're at the end with Junaid's situation," Mr Al-Khalidy told AAP.

Shayden Thorne was sentenced in May to four-and-a-half years in jail for extremist material found on a laptop in his possession, but maintained his innocence, saying he had borrowed the computer.

Mr Al-Khalidy is working on an appeal for Shayden Thorne, which was due by Thursday, but an extension of up to a fortnight has been granted.

The men's family were not immediately available for comment, but indigenous broadcaster NITV quoted the younger Mr Thorne as saying he had mixed feelings, "sad and happy" about his return.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Crash pilot 'told people not to evacuate'

Pilots of the plane that crashed in the US told attendants not to begin evacuation passengers. Source: AAP

THE pilot of the Asiana Boeing 777 which crashed in San Francisco told attendants not to begin evacuating passengers in the chaotic immediate aftermath of the accident, air safety officials say.

The pilot has also reported being blinded by a flash of light upon approach as the plane came in low, but the source of the light and its role in the crash are not known, said Deborah Hersman, head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

She said cabin crew had sought guidance from the cockpit after Saturday's crash, which left two people dead and more than 180 injured.

Pilots initially told flight attendants not to initiate evacuation procedures, Hersman said.

It was only after cabin staff alerted the cockpit to flames spreading outside the plane that the order was given to begin evacuation.

"We don't know what the pilots were thinking, though I can tell you in previous accidents there have been crews that don't evacuate, they wait for other vehicles to come to be able to get the passengers out safely," Hersman said.

Hersman suggested that pilots in the cockpit may not have been in a position to spot the fire outside the plane.

She emphasised that once flames were sighted, the evacuation began swiftly - approximately 90 seconds after impact.

"Certainly, if there is an awareness that there's fire on board an aircraft, that is a very serious issue ..." Hersman said.

"The pilots are in the front of the aeroplane, they really don't have a good sense of what's going on behind them, they need to get that information from the flight attendants, but we will certainly be looking into that issue.

"Hindsight is 20-20. We all have a perspective that's different than some of the people who are involved in this.

"We need to understand what they were thinking, what information they had, what their procedures are, if they complied with those procedures and if that evacuation took place in a timely manner."

Pilot Lee Kang-Kuk also told authorities in Seoul and US investigators that he was blinded temporarily by a flash of light when the plane was at an altitude of about 150 metres as it approached the runway.

Emergency response vehicles arrived on the scene approximately two minutes after the crash and began extinguishing flames three minutes after impact.

Hersman said interviews with the plane's crew had given investigators a vivid portrait of the scene on board the stricken aircraft moments after the crash.

Two emergency slides had inflated inwards inside the cabin, pinning two attendants who needed to be cut free as the evacuation began.

It was not immediately known why the slides had deployed inside the aircraft.

Flight 214 crashed when it clipped a seawall short of the runway, skidding out of control, shredding the tail of the plane and catching fire.

It has also emerged that the otherwise experienced pilot of the plane, 46-year-old Lee, was undergoing his first major training on the Boeing 777.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russia finds dead lawyer guilty of fraud

A Moscow court has found the late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax fraud. Source: AAP

A COURT in Moscow has found the late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax fraud.

Moscow's Tverskoi court ruled on Thursday that Magnitsky was guilty of creating a million-dollar tax evasion scheme, news agencies reported.

Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on charges of tax evasion.

He died in prison the next year of untreated pancreatitis after he testified against police officials, accusing them of stealing $US230 million ($A250.57 million) in tax rebates.

His death attracted international attention.

Bill Browder, Magnitsky's former boss and owner of investment firm Hermitage Capital, was also found guilty in absentia.

Browder claims that Magnitsky was killed in prison and has waged a campaign to ban Russian officials responsible for his death from entering the United States.

The US last year passed the Magnitsky Act, which calls for sanctions on Russian human rights offenders.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law barring Americans from adopting Russian orphans.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

China data add to economic growth fears

CHINA'S trade surplus fell 14.0 per cent in June as imports and exports both dropped unexpectedly, suggesting a further slowdown in the Asian economic giant as Beijing warned of "grave challenges".

Wednesday's figures are the latest to set alarm bells ringing over the health of China's rebound from a prolonged downtrend as trade and manufacturing conditions have worsened this year.

Exports slipped 3.1 per cent to $US174.32 billion ($A191.06 billion), according to figures from Customs, while imports were down 0.7 per cent at $US147.19 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $US27.13 billion.

Average expectations in a survey of 20 economists by Dow Jones Newswires had been for a 3.3 per cent rise in exports and imports to go up 5.5 per cent.

"Currently China's foreign trade is facing grave challenges," Customs spokesman Zheng Yuesheng told reporters.

He said "prolonged sluggish foreign demand" was the main cause, followed by rising export prices in foreign currency terms, labour costs, and a deteriorating trade environment due to growing trade disputes.

The figures came after the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecast, citing new downside risks in key emerging-market economies and a deeper recession in the eurozone.

The IMF projected the world economy to expand 3.1 per cent in 2013, down from its April estimate of 3.3 per cent.

China and other emerging economic powers now face new risks, it warned, "including the possibility of a longer growth slowdown".

Economists from ANZ bank warned China would not achieve its goal of eight per cent growth in trade this year - after failing to deliver a 10-per cent gain targeted for 2012 - if the softness persists.

"This will not only bring about downside risk to the GDP growth for this year but also place severe pressure on employment," Liu Ligang and Zhou Hao said in a research note.

China's economy grew 7.8 per cent in 2012, its worst performance in 13 years, on the back of slack demand for exports and weakness at home.

The first three months of this year saw expansion of just 7.7 per cent, disappointing analysts who had expected growth to accelerate after showing strength at the end of 2012.

The government has set a growth target for 2013 of 7.5 per cent, the same as last year's, as it looks to retool its economic model from exports to domestic consumption.

Beijing is due to announce gross domestic product figures for the second quarter next Monday.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dippy the tortoise weighs in at 120kg

A forklift was used to lift a 120kg Galapagos tortoise onto a set of scales to be weighed in Sydney. Source: AAP

THERE aren't many patients that take a forklift, a ute and four men to get them onto the scales.

But that's what was needed for Dippy, a 45-year-old Galapagos tortoise who tipped the scales at 120kg.

A local pet food manufacturer provided the Australian Reptile Park with an industrial-sized set of scales, but it took a massive operation get him on them, said senior curator Liz Bella.

"We got him into his big purpose-made box and down onto the ute," she said.

A forklift carried him off the ute before staff coaxed him onto the scales with his favourite food, sweet potato.

"They love anything high-carbs and high in sugar, so sweet potato is perfect," Ms Bella told AAP.

Dippy, who got his name from a birth defect that left a "dip" in his shell, was bred in captivity in the US before being moved to Adelaide Zoo and finally the Australian Reptile Park near Sydney.

It was the first time Dippy had ever been weighed and Ms Bella said it would be a benchmark for Dippy's health for many years to come.

Dippy is 17 years younger and 45kg lighter than his companion Hugo, though the two males have to be kept apart.

Galapagos tortoises, which can live up to 180 years, are listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list.

The two are on an international file that tries to match breeding pairs.

"Females are hard to come by and have to be imported from overseas, but the park is always on the lookout for breeding opportunities," Ms Bella said.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

New Egypt PM seeks to form cabinet

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood rejected plans by the interim leader to hold elections early next year. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S interim authorities are due to start talks on forming a cabinet but face tough hurdles as opponents and supporters alike of ousted president Mohamed Morsi slam a temporary charter aimed at steering the divided nation through a difficult transition.

The military's ouster a week ago of Morsi, after massive protests calling for his resignation, pushed the country into a vortex of violence that has already claimed dozens of lives.

In the restive Sinai peninsula, two people were killed early on Wednesday when militants struck several police and army positions with mortar rounds and rocket propelled grenades.

The fresh violence came less than a day after interim president Adly Mansour set a timetable for elections by early next year, and appointed Hazem al-Beblawi as prime minister and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei as vice president responsible for foreign affairs.

Cracks have emerged in the loose coalition that backed Morsi's overthrow.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), the main coalition formerly led by ElBaradei, denounced Mansour's decree and demanded amendments.

After initially announcing its "rejection" of the decree, it on Wednesday toned down its reaction, saying instead it "disagreed" with some of its provisions.

The Muslim Brotherhood had already rejected Mansour's temporary charter as a decree enforced by "putschists".

Beblawi, a former finance minister and economist, was on Wednesday to begin talks on forming his cabinet, the official MENA news agency said.

He would offer the Muslim Brotherhood posts in the new government, the agency quoted a presidential aide as saying.

But the Muslim Brotherhood spurned the overture. "We do not deal with putchists. We reject all that comes from this coup," spokesman Tareq al-Morsi told AFP.

The continued standoff with Morsi's loyalists, who demand the reinstatement of Egypt's first democratically elected leader, has exacerbated fears of a continuation of the bloodshed that has marked the days since his overthrow.

In the worst incident since July 3, at least 51 people, most of them supporters of the ousted Islamist president, died in clashes outside military barracks in Cairo on Monday.

Amnesty International called for an "independent and impartial" investigation into the events after its findings suggested "the use of disproportionate force by the security forces".

The latest deadly violence took place overnight in Sinai, where militants struck a police garrison with mortar rounds and heavy machine guns, security officials said, while two people were killed in a rocket propelled grenade attack on an army checkpoint according to medics.

18.16 | 0 komentar | Read More