Nauru signs up to Rudd's stop boats plan

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new refugee plan with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a new agreement with the Pacific Island nation of Nauru, which like Australia's deal with Papua New Guinea, will deny asylum seekers the chance to resettle in Australia.

But the Opposition says it's just a ploy to win votes.

Mr Rudd and the president of the Republic of Nauru, Baron Waqa, signed the memorandum of understanding at a press conference in Brisbane on Saturday.

The deal supercedes the one struck between the nations last year and allows for asylum seekers to not only be processed in the Pacific Island nation, but also to be settled there.

"No matter where people smugglers try to land asylum seekers by boat in Australia, they will not be settled in Australia," Mr Rudd told reporters.

"This is our core principal."

The Nauru agreement is similar to the deal struck with Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, two weeks ago and is the latest salvo in Mr Rudd's tough new approach to asylum seekers.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke attended Saturday's announcement and agreed the number of asylum seekers sent to Nauru would be small.

They would comprise families or unaccompanied minors and a new site to house them had been chosen, he said.

The most urgent priority though was expanding the capacity of the island nation's prison, he said.

Australia will provide $29.9 million in aid to Nauru in 2013-2014 under the plan.

A further $17 million will be spent on rebuilding the prison, which was damaged in a recent riot on the island.

Funds from a contingency reserve will also be allocated according to the number of refugees Nauru accepts.

Mr Burke flagged the possibility of reaching similar deals concerning refugees with other nations in the region.

"I'm prepared to say there are other countries who have raised this with us as well," he said.

"There are a number of countries within the region who have signed the convention and who have a genuine commitment to wanting to take a regional approach, and if we're able to reach agreements with them then we will."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the plan was "elaborate staging" by Labor with no real substance.

"Nauru will play no real role in offshore processing arrangements for the foreseeable future under Labor," he said in a statement on Saturday.

"This announcement is just a patch-up for the devastation of the riots that cost taxpayers up to $60 million and was allowed to occur on Labor's watch."

The Australian Greens said the government had hit a new low on refugee policy.

"This is just more cruelty at the cost of Australia's generous heart and it is trashing our global reputation," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement on Saturday.

"It seems there is no limit to the cruelty that either Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott are prepared to inflict on refugees in their race to bottom as they race to the polls."

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Mugabe claims victory in 'sham' poll

ZIMBABWE is set to release the official results of disputed elections, in which President Robert Mugabe's party romped to victory, as the opposition holds emergency talks over the "sham" polls.

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UN warns of plight of children in Syria

The United Nations has sounded the alarm about the plight of women and children in Syria. Source: AAP

THE UN has sounded the alarm about the plight of women and children in Syria's Homs, urging all parties in the conflict to enable access to some 400,000 trapped civilians.

"The situation of women and children in the Syrian city of Homs is rapidly deteriorating," UNICEF said in a statement, adding that "new checkpoints are preventing more supplies from entering" the neighbourhood of Al-Waer.

"Cannot all those involved agree that the innocent women and children in Homs, and across Syria, should be spared all possible suffering?" UNICEF's Executive Director Anthony Lake asked.

Around 400,000 civilians, mostly women and children, who were forced to flee other areas of Homs have sought refuge in Al-Waer, and are now "living in partially constructed buildings, schools and other public buildings", Lake said.

But the situation there "has worsened, with reports of intense daily clashes, and rocket and mortar strikes causing many casualties", he added.

UNICEF says it and other organisations have been distributing basic supplies and ensuring access to water for civilians fleeing the fighting.

"Water and electricity is still available for now but vegetables, milk and other essentials are in increasingly short supply. Our own emergency supplies will run out within days," said the agency.

Lake called on "all parties to facilitate immediate safe access to these families so we can provide life-saving assistance, and to allow those families currently trapped in Al-Waer who wish to leave to do so in safety and in dignity".

Homs has suffered some of the worst violence in Syria's 28-month conflict.

This week, government forces overran Khaldiyeh district, one of the rebels' last bastions in Syria's third city.

The army is now pressing its campaign to uproot rebels from other areas in Homs, including the central Old City district.

The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, most of them civilians.

Millions more have been forced to flee their homes, about 75 per cent of them women and children.

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AU says Zimbabwe polls 'credible'

President Robert Mugabe's rivals slammed his election victory claims, branding the vote a "sham". Source: AAP

ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe's party claims he is on course for a landslide win in an election branded a sham by his rivals, but which the African Union says was fair and credible.

Partial results of Wednesday's poll have given the 89-year-old a commanding lead, with his ZANU-PF party garnering 87 seats out of 120 declared.

"Our opponents don't know what hit them," party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said on Friday. "It's the prediction that the president might likely get 70 to 75 per cent."

ZANU-PF also predicted it would win a two-thirds majority in parliament, enough to amend the new constitution that introduced term limits and curbed presidential powers.

Mugabe's bitter rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, has rejected the vote as a "huge farce" and "null and void".

"It's a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people," he said, pointing to a litany of alleged irregularities with the voters' roll.

The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network reported up to one million voters were prevented from voting in Tsvangirai strongholds.

But Mugabe won an endorsement from the African Union on Friday, with former Nigerian president and military leader Olusegun Obasanjo saying the vote was basically free and fair.

"There are incidences that could have been avoided, but all in all we do not believe that these incidents will amount to the results not reflecting the will of the people," he said.

Much now rides on the verdict of observers from the 15-member southern African SADC bloc, which negotiated the creation of a power-sharing government in the wake of 2008's bloody poll.

With 600 observers on the ground, SADC's verdict will be closely watched by Western nations blocked from monitoring the poll themselves.

The bloc said it will deliver its initial verdict later on Friday.

Foreign diplomats have expressed deep misgivings about a poll they have described privately as non-violent, but fundamentally flawed.

Jeffrey Smith, from the Washington-based Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, said it would be wrong to disregard the final results, but "we must also not be blind to potential irregularities both leading up to the vote and on the day".

So far Tsvangirai has limited his comments to condemnation of the poll, but already there are calls for mass protests, and warnings that may prompt a bloodbath.

The top brass from his Movement for Democratic Change will meet on Saturday to decide their response.

Ahead of the meeting, top MDC official Roy Bennett called for a campaign of "passive resistance".

"I'm talking about people completely shutting the country down - don't pay any bills, don't attend work, just bring the country to a standstill.

"There needs to be resistance against this theft and the people of Zimbabwe need to speak out strongly."

The disputed outcome risks plunging Zimbabwe - which battled a decade-long downturn marked by galloping inflation and mass migration - back into deep crisis.

"If certain people feel their choice was not accepted, they may resort to violence," said Sean O'Leary a spokesman for a 3000-strong group of poll monitors from the Catholic church.

Investors also expressed fears about the impact of a Mugabe victory, which could roll back the power-sharing government's efforts to stabilising the economy after crippling hyperinflation and joblessness.

"It's back to extreme volatility," Iraj Abedian, the CEO of Pan African Investments, told AFP from Johannesburg. "We can expect fairly radical positions that will have populist support, but which will have huge implications."

Abedian predicted banks and financial firms could become the targets of a new Mugabe government seeking to extend its program of indigenisation, after agriculture and mining.

"The land grabs caused chaos in the agricultural sector and it took 10 years for it to settle down.

"The financial sector would have a similar impact. It would cause chaos, but ZANU-PF and Mugabe seem to like that."

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Russia faces US fury over Snowden asylum

RUSSIA is facing the fury of the US after granting asylum to fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and allowing him to walk free from an airport transit zone where he was marooned for more than five weeks.

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Kiwi appointed Royal Bank of Scotland boss

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed New Zealander Ross McEwan as its new chief executive. Source: AAP

TAXPAYER-RESCUED Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed New Zealander Ross McEwan as its new chief executive.

Mr McEwan, who joined RBS as head of retail banking last year after holding a similar position at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, will replace outgoing CEO Stephen Hester from October 1.

Mr McEwan, 56, will take on the top job on a STG1 million ($A1.70 million) salary and receive a STG350,000 ($A596,049.05) cash payment in lieu of pension.

While he is eligible to receive a long term incentive award in 2014, the bank says he does not wish to be considered for an annual bonus in 2014 or for the remainder of 2013.

The announced appointment came alongside half-year figures showing RBS swung out of the red with pre-tax profits of STG1.4 billion ($A2.38 billion) against losses of STG1.7 billion ($A2.90 billion) a year earlier, following its first two consecutive quarters of growth since 2008.

The Edinburgh-based bank is 80 per cent government after it was bailed out in 2008 during the financial crisis with more than STG45 billion of taxpayer money.

Mr McEwan was passed over two years ago as CBA's head after being widely seen as having been groomed for the role.

The married father-of-two, then accepted an offer to become head of RBS's retail arm.

The resignation in June of his Mr Hester, amid claims of political interference, paved the way for Mr McEwan to take charge.

His appointment is being seen as politically acceptable - indicating a shift in emphasis towards the bank's more traditional high street branches as opposed to its investment side, associated with high-rolling City risk-takers.

Mr McEwan has already launched a STG700 million ($A1.19 billion) plan to improve RBS's branches and services, and has been scathing about the state of UK high street banking.

He reportedly told analysts earlier this year: "Having come into this market six months ago I've been quite surprised at how bad this industry is from a retail banking perspective. I'd even go as far as to say that there's not a good retail bank, and our job is to create that."

Eyebrows may be raised in the City about the background of a chief executive who reportedly spent his early career working in human resources, and once told an interviewer that he was "more comfortable with people than with figures".

In an article for an alumni magazine at Massey University, where he gained a business degree in the 1970s, Mr McEwan admitted that he had twice failed accounting exams.

He has worked in the insurance and investment industries for more than 25 years, including as managing director of stockbroking business First NZ Capital Securities and chief executive of AXA New Zealand.

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ICAC findings could cost Labor 3% of vote

CORRUPTION findings against NSW Labor figures could cost the party up to three per cent of its primary vote, former premier Nathan Rees says.

That could be enough for Labor to lose the upcoming election, Mr Rees said on Wednesday.

"It's probably dragged our primary vote down in the order of two to three per cent in NSW. If we consider that the election may be won or lost in NSW, then that's a very significant factor in the political landscape," he told ABC television.

Following months of sensational hearings, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption released its report on Wednesday, finding former NSW Labor heavyweights Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald acted corruptly.

Mr Rees, premier from September 2008 to December 2009, was ousted after losing the backing of Obeid's right faction.

He said it was clear their conduct did not meet the standards the public expected.

"They are political players of longstanding. They have very thick hides. It doesn't surprise me that they are contesting these findings. Equally I don't think the findings by the ICAC surprised anyone else," he said.

Mr Rees said the ICAC inquiry had been exhaustive and the players were well known.

"None of them are central to federal Labor," he said.

Mr Rees said people of NSW visited their judgment on NSW Labor for its method of operation at the state election in March 2011 when the party experienced the biggest defeat in Australian political history.

"It may be the case that voters want to see more punishment, in particular as it pertains to people who are subject to these allegations," he said.

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Rihanna wins Topshop T-shirts fight

Singer Rihanna won a High Court battle with British brand Topshop over T-shirts bearing her image. Source: AAP

SINGER Rihanna has won a High Court battle with British brand Topshop over T-shirts bearing her image.

She had accused the fashion chain of passing off, or attempting to pass off, the garments as being approved by her.

Topshop disputed her claim.

Justice Birss ruled in her favour on Wednesday after a hearing in London.

Justice Birss said Topshop's sale of a Rihanna T-shirt at the centre of the dispute was an act of " passing off".

But he said the "mere sale" of a T-shirt bearing the image of a famous person was not necessarily an act of "passing off".

He said a "substantial number" of buyers were likely to have been deceived into buying the Rihanna T-shirt because of a "false belief" that it had been authorised by the singer.

The judge said that was damaging to her "goodwill" and represented a loss of control over her reputation in the "fashion sphere".

He said it was for the singer not Topshop to choose what garments the public thought were endorsed by her.

Rihanna had claimed that she was entitled to damages for the unauthorised use of her picture.

The judge did not make any assessment of damages in a written judgment published on Wednesday.

His judgment analysed whether Topshop's sale of the T-shirt was "passing off".

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Morsi 'well', says EU policy chief

The EU foreign policy chief held a two-hour meeting with ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S ousted president Mohamed Morsi is "well" and has access to news, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says after meeting him at an undisclosed location.

"Morsi is well," she told reporters on Tuesday, adding that he had access to newspapers and television, and describing their talks as "friendly, open and very frank".

Ashton held two hours of talks with Morsi in the early hours of Tuesday, with sources telling AFP she left Cairo on a military helicopter.

She declined to say where Morsi was being held or to characterise his comments to her.

"I'm not going to put words in his mouth," she said.

"We had a friendly, open and very frank discussion," she added. "We talked in-depth."

Ashton arrived in Cairo on Sunday night for an intensive schedule of meetings with Egyptian government officials and opposition representatives.

Her visit came in the wake of the deaths of 82 people at a pro-Morsi rally in Cairo on Saturday morning.

She has urged an end to the bloodshed and a political transition that would include the Muslim Brotherhood organisation from which Morsi hails.

But she said on Tuesday that she was not in Egypt to push either side to take particular actions or to present an initiative.

"I'm not here to ask people to do things," she said, adding that she would be looking to find "common ground" between the sides.

"I don't come here to say somebody should do this, somebody should do that, this is your country," she said.

"The solutions are for the Egyptian people."

In Paris, France's foreign minister demanded on Tuesday that Morsi be freed, and condemned the deadly unrest in Cairo.

"We condemn the violence ... We call for dialogue and for the release of President Morsi," Laurent Fabius told reporters.

Morsi is being held on suspicion of crimes relating to his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.

His supporters have rallied daily for his reinstatement and on Monday marched from a key Cairo sit-in to several security headquarters.

The marches raised fears of fresh clashes, but protesters kept their distance from security forces and headed back to their protest tent city after the demonstrations.

In the eastern city of Ismailia, however, a security source said clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents broke out, injuring 18.

The Anti-Coup Alliance called for a million-man march later on Tuesday under the banner of "Martyrs of the Coup" to commemorate its dead at a rally in Cairo on Saturday.

It urged Egyptians "to go out into the streets and squares, to regain their freedom and dignity - that are being usurped by the bloody coup - and for the rights of the martyrs assassinated by its bullets".

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British female MP threatened on Twitter

BRITISH police say they are investigating violent and sexually explicit Twitter postings directed at an MP in a growing row over threats to women on the social network.

Stella Creasy, an MP with the opposition Labour Party, faced a stream of abuse after supporting a feminist activist who was targeted for campaigning for an image of novelist Jane Austen to appear on banknotes.

Another MP said she too was receiving a barrage of offensive messages, while a man has been arrested and bailed over rape threats to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez.

"This isn't about Twitter, this is about hatred of women and hatred of women who speak up," Creasy told BBC radio on Monday.

"Twitter needs to be explicit that sexual violence and sexual aggression will not be tolerated as part of their user terms and conditions."

High-profile women in Britain have long complained of online harassment, but the issue reached front pages after Criado-Perez said she received "about 50 abusive tweets an hour for about 12 hours" last week.

Scotland Yard said on Tuesday that police had received an allegation from an MP about "malicious communications" over comments on Twitter.

Creasy retweeted a series of tweets that included threats from accounts named "killcreasynow" and "eatcreasynow", which have now been suspended.

She said she was reporting the abuse to both Twitter and police.

MP Claire Perry, from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, likewise retweeted a string of message including threats of sexual violence and one that read, "please disappear into obscurity and/or alcoholism. or die, whatever."

"I am tempted to shut down my Twitter account given the trolling going on incl. to me -- but that would be giving in," Perry tweeted.

Perry has been advising Cameron on his plans to introduce an "opt-in" system for blocking internet pornography.

The abuse to Criado-Perez sparked a huge outcry among Twitter users and prompted more than 60,000 people to sign an online petition demanding the network introduce a "report abuse" button and review its rules on abusive behaviour.

Twitter has introduced a report button on tweets in its iPhone app and plans to bring it to other platforms.

But some users say the form to which it links is too complex and time-consuming for those receiving a barrage of abusive tweets.

In a blogpost titled "We Hear You", Twitter said on Monday: "We are not blind to the reality that there will always be people using Twitter in ways that are abusive and may harm others".

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Italy court to decide Berlusconi's fate

ITALY'S top court is to begin crucial hearings for former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi that could end the billionaire tycoon's parliamentary career and risk upsetting the country's fragile coalition.

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Kiwi pair missing on K2

A New Zealand father and son climbing duo are feared dead after they went missing on K2 in Pakistan. Source: AAP

A NEW Zealand mountaineer and his son are feared dead after an avalanche reportedly destroyed their camp on the K2 mountain in Pakistan.

Marty Schmidt, 53, and his son Denali, 25, are overdue climbing the world's second highest mountain.

The International Herald Tribune website reports the pair went missing on Sunday afternoon as they attempted the 8611-metre peak.

They had successfully reached Camp III at 7400m last week, even though other climbers had decided to turn back because of heavy snow.

A Nepali sherpa reached Camp III, but said they were nowhere to be seen and the campsite tent showed signs of having been hit by an avalanche.

The mountaineers' ice axes and crampons were found intact.

British climber Adrian Hayes later posted on his Facebook page that the campsite had been wiped out.

"As Marty's last radio communication took place Friday night from the camp, the avalanche almost certainly occurred that night as they slept in their tent."

It was a tragedy and the pair were the last people many would expect to be killed on a mountain, he said.

However, a New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said officials were yet to confirm the pair had been killed.

The Schmidts were known to be overdue, he said.

"Local Sherpas were dispatched to look for the missing climbers, but were unsuccessful. The local trekking company is now surveying the area where the climbers are thought to have gone missing," he said in a statement.

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Rudd's PNG boat deal arrogant: Fiji

FIJI has accused an "arrogant" Australia of dumping its asylum seeker problem on Pacific nations, as the Rudd government prepares to send the first group of boat arrivals to Papua New Guinea for processing and resettlement.

Seventeen boats carrying almost 1400 people have arrived since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his hardline policy to banish asylum boat arrivals to PNG.

Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola on Monday launched a scathing attack on the plan.

He accused Australia of using its economic muscle to persuade a Melanesian country to accept thousands of people who are not Pacific Islanders into the region.

"For an Australian problem, you have proposed a Melanesian solution that threatens to destabilise the already delicate social and economic balances in our societies," Mr Kubuabola told a business forum in Brisbane on Monday.

"We are deeply troubled by the consequent threat to the stability of these countries and the wider Melanesian community by the scale of what is being envisaged."

The foreign minister said the deal was aimed at solving Australia's domestic political problems for short-term political gain, without proper consideration of the long-term consequences.

"We cannot remain silent when the current Australian government dumps this problem, which is arguably of its own making, on our doorstep," Mr Kubuabola said.

"This deal continues a pattern of behaviour on the part of the Australian government that is inconsiderate, prescriptive, high-handed and arrogant."

Work is continuing at Australia's detention centre on Manus Island as the first group of asylum seekers due there by Friday complete health checks in Australia.

A fourth and final airlift of equipment destined for the expanded facility was due to arrive in Port Moresby on Monday.

Each flight carried 10 shipping containers with tents, marquees, poles, frames and a range of building equipment bound for Manus Island.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke said permanent accommodation would replace temporary shelters and the centre could be expanded rapidly as required.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott reiterated that the real test for the PNG arrangement will be whether asylum seekers will be resettled there.

"If the government is to be taken seriously, it does actually need to back up its words with deeds," he told reporters in Sydney.

Meanwhile, Nauru's chief justice, Geoffrey Eames QC, says the nation will need "significant funding" to properly conduct criminal trials for the 150 asylum seekers accused of rioting earlier in July.

"It would be unreasonable to expect the Nauruan government to provide that funding out of its existing budget," he said in a statement.

The detention centre was all but burned to the ground on July 19, the day Mr Rudd announced his radical PNG arrangement.

Only the kitchen and recreation facility remained following the blaze, with the damage estimated at $60 million.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said the PNG government would meet the costs of resettling asylum seekers who came direct to PNG.

"Those who originate out of Australia will be the responsibility of the Australian government," he told ABC Television's 730.

"PNG will meet the costs if they are refugees who wish to seek refuge in PNG and come directly to PNG."

Mr O'Neill said his government was talking with Manus Island community leaders and the provincial government to address concerns of local people about the expansion of the asylum seeker program.

"Some are genuine concerns that the government will work through with them," he said.

"Generally the public is in support of the centre being expanded."

Mr O'Neill said when the first detainees will arrive on Manus would depend on the Australian government.

"I understood it to be a matter of days but of course it has taken a bit longer than that," he said.

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Woman talking to police about Qld baby

THE woman believed to be the mother of a baby boy who was abandoned on the doorstep of a Queensland home is talking to police.

Police said on Sunday that a woman was assisting them with their inquiries into the newborn who was found by a family in front of their home in the Logan City suburb of Kingston, near Brisbane, about 5.30am (AEST) on Saturday.

He was wrapped in blankets and placed in a basket.

The woman is suspected of being the boy's mother but officers are continuing their investigations and have yet to confirm this, a police spokesman told AAP.

The family who found the boy have reportedly already named him "Moses", in reference to the biblical prophet who was also found in a basket as a baby.

The family have said they are prepared to raise the child as their own if the mother was not found.

Detectives on Sunday showed the small wicker basket, blanket and baby's clothes to the media in the hopes it might jog someone's memory.

They also have been scouring churches and hospitals in the search for clues about the mother's identity.

But Detective Sergeant Deon Ditton says police suspect the underweight baby, who is no more than a few days old, was born at home before being left at the doorstep with a note pleading for the family to look after him.

He says the family, who are well known and respected in multicultural Logan's Samoan community, are eager to care for the boy.

The baby appears to be of Samoan or Pacific Islander descent.

Logan Samoa Advisory Council President Lesa Changwai says she has spoken with the family, who are going through a gamut of emotions.

"They are so surprised and anxious because their feelings are very involved now with the baby," she told AAP.

"They feel that they should be looking after the baby because a note was left for them with their names on top of the note.

"They love the baby now, but it's out of their hands."

Sgt Ditton said the family had been with the boy at Logan Hospital, where it would remain at least until it reached a normal weight.

The Department of Child Safety is also involved.

"As far as I'm aware, the baby's in good health," Sgt Ditton told reporters.

Sgt Ditton is also calling on anyone who may have been in Juers St around the time the baby was found to come forward.

Logan churches held special services on Sunday, praying for the wellbeing of the little boy and his mother.

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Bad ecstasy blamed for SA hospitalisations

A BAD batch of ecstasy has been blamed for several people in Adelaide being hospitalised.

A number of people were admitted to Royal Adelaide Hospital with overdose symptoms on Saturday night and another was taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital.

Almost all of the patients have been discharged.

Police have arrested a 21-year-old man from North Adelaide.

They will allege he was in possession of 33 ecstasy tablets and $900 cash at the time of his arrest.

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