FIRE crews are responding to a large factory fire in Melbourne's southeast.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade crews were called to the brick and metal premises just after 7pm (AEST) on Saturday to find flames going through the roof.
About 13 fire truck crews are tackling the blaze.
A RIVER flood triggered by torrential rains has killed 76 people in a northeast Chinese city, state media says.
The official Xinhua News Agency said a memorial service was held on Saturday in the city of Fushun for the victims.
It said another 88 people remained missing as of Friday.
It quoted Fushun mayor Luan Qingwei as saying the flood was the worst in decades for the city, where a river cuts through the downtown area.
A statement by Fushun's municipal government has declared Saturday as a city-wide day of condolence and that all public entertainment activities should be halted for the day.
Fushun, located in a mountainous area, has been hit hard by floods ravaging China's northeastern provinces.
Dozens more have been reported killed by floods elsewhere in the region.
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FRENCH police have arrested a suspected member of the infamous Pink Panther gang of international jewel thieves who had been on the run since May.
Fairfax Media will create marketing businesses as it chases new revenue sources. Source: AAP
FAIRFAX Media will create marketing businesses to chase new revenue streams after weak ad markets and declining revenues contributed to a $16.4 million full year loss.
The result was an improvement from a $2.7 billion loss in the previous financial year, helped by $118 million in cost cutting and an 80 per cent reduction in net debt to $154 million.
But the company did incur a $406 million impairment charge on the value of its regional and agricultural businesses.
Revenue declined by 9.5 per cent in its key metropolitan media business - which includes the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Financial Review Group.
Revenue in its regional publications declined by 7.5 per cent, and 4.7 per cent in New Zealand.
Chief executive Greg Hywood acknowledged the tough conditions, but said Fairfax would continue to cut costs in its traditional print operations and invest in new digital revenues.
"In these tough times this media company will not blink," Mr Hywood said.
"We're responding to difficult conditions by transforming our operations, evolving the way we engage with customers and audiences."
Mr Hywood said Fairfax would pursue new revenue in three areas - online marketing services to small business; events management (expanding on ventures such as Sydney's City To Surf fun run); and content marketing, with a new business to be set up in coming months.
He declined to say what earnings from the new "revenue adjacencies" would be.
The company launched metered paywalls for news websites in July, and Mr Hywood said 68,000 new digital subscriptions had been added with "minimal impact" on site visit numbers.
Within Fairfax's metro media business, print and digital news and classifieds revenue suffered a 16.7 per cent decline.
Metro print ad revenue fell 25 per cent while digital income, from online news, classifieds and transaction sites such as RSVP, increased 3.4 per cent.
Radio, including Perth's 96fm and Melbourne's 3AW, was a strong point for the company, with a 7.7 per cent rise in underlying ad revenue and underlying earnings up by 35 per cent.
BBY analyst Mark McDonnell said Fairfax's management had done well in cost cutting but revenue declines remained a problem.
"Everything they have done has been credible and creditable but I'm still struggling to find where the point is that they are going to stabilise their earnings line," he said.
Mr Hywood said further cost cutting was to come.
Mr Hywood received no bonus on top of his $1.6 million fixed salary, with no senior executives received bonuses as short term financial benchmarks were not met.
Fairfax shares closed 0.5 cents higher at 58.5 cents.
A SYDNEY teacher who posted pictures of his students on Facebook is remorseful over his behaviour, the NSW Department of Education says.
John Pheeney, an experienced teacher at Hurstville Public School, has outraged parents after posting several photos of his students on Facebook, the Seven Network reports.
Some parents are asking for Mr Pheeney to be stood down, it reports.
But the Department of Education says an investigation into the matter has already been completed and parents have been notified.
"When brought to its attention, the department responded quickly to this matter by informing the teacher that his behaviour was unacceptable and directing him verbally and in writing to remove the photos of students from his social networking site," the department said in a statement.
"The teacher is remorseful for his behaviour.
"This is the first complaint about the teacher's personal or professional conduct in a career of more than 20 years with the department."
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Foreign Minister Bob Carr says a group of Australians sailing for Indonesia are risking jail time. Source: AAP
FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr says a group of Australian activists planning to sail to Indonesia to highlight the fight for Papuan independence will receive no consular assistance whatsoever if they are jailed.
The stern warning came as representatives from the so-called Freedom Flotilla - three yachts with about 20 Australians and West Papuans aboard - continued to insist they would proceed with their protest.
They are expected to arrive in the city of Merauke in about a fortnight, without authorisation or proper documents.
But Senator Carr, who was in Jakarta on Tuesday for regional talks on people smuggling, said the group had received numerous warnings not to proceed with their plans.
Senator Carr said a formal letter had been sent to the organisation on Tuesday informing them that local laws and penalties would apply in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
The members of the group could face up to five years in prison for immigration and other offences if they entered Indonesian waters without approval.
"We've given them this warning. Therefore, should they end up in prison as a result of breaching the law of Indonesia or Papua New Guinea we've got no obligation to give them consular support," Senator Carr said.
"The penalties are clear. The penalties will apply and there is no intervention Australia can make and the provision of consular support where people have received explicit warnings is not an obligation."
Senator Carr said members of the flotilla were perpetrating a cruel hoax on the people of the Papuan provinces, by suggesting Papuan independence was on the international agenda.
"We recognise Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua," he said.
"There's no way any Australian government, Labor or coalition, would give any support or encouragement to an enterprise of this type. We are opposed to it and we're advising against it."
FRESH battles have broken out in strategic, majority Kurdish areas in Syria, as jihadists and the main Kurdish party fight each other for control.
In the northeastern province of Hasakeh, "clashes broke out at dawn pitting the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Al-Nusra Front and other battalions," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday.
The fighting hit Dardara, Hmeid and Jafa villages, and others surrounding the strategic town of Ras al-Ain, near the Turkish border, the watchdog said.
The fighting comes days after jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda pressed a fresh offensive to take control of majority Kurdish areas.
Violence has been so fierce in recent days that some 30,000 Syrians, mostly Kurds, have fled to neighbouring Iraq, the UN said on Monday.
The massive exodus late last week appeared to be the biggest since around 9,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey in November.
"There is a war for territory, control and oil," said Havidar, a Kurdish activist from Ras al-Ain, who added that the town is important because it is a key gateway from Turkey into Syria.
Other flashpoints are home to oil and agricultural resources that both the YPG and the jihadists want to control, he told AFP.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party, the largest in the area and the group that dominates the YPG, has announced plans for autonomy in Kurdish areas.
Elsewhere in Syria, canon fire by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad against the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo killed four people, said the Observatory.
A projectile "launched by regime troops against a popular market in the Tariq al-Bab area killed four people, including a child, and wounded seven others," it said.
Syria's war, which the UN says has claimed more than 100,000 lives in 29 months, has morphed from a protest movement demanding Assad's fall into a complex civil war.
Budget retailer Kogan Mobile says it has been "muscled out" of the industry by "telco heavyweights". Source: AAP
BUDGET mobile phone retailer Kogan Mobile says it has been "muscled out" of the industry by "telco heavyweights".
Telstra announced on Monday it will terminate Kogan customers' 3G network access some time in the next 30 days, essentially killing the company.
The move was prompted when ispONE, who supplied Kogan with 3G services purchased wholesale from Telstra, entered voluntary administration on Monday, severing their contracts.
Kogan and Telstra were not able to negotiate a direct supply agreement, unlike supermarket ALDI, who were likewise serviced by ispONE.
Kogan said it had made "numerous and concerted" efforts to convince Telstra to continue servicing its customers.
"We're devastated," the company wrote on its website.
It claimed to have been the victim of a power play by established telcos upset with Kogan stealing their customers.
"When over 100,000 people took their services to Kogan Mobile, in such a short space of time, it attracted a lot of attention.
"Frustratingly, it appears like the telco heavyweights may be determined to take their former customers back ... by force."
Telstra said existing Kogan customers would be moved to a temporary seven-day plan at some stage over the next month, after which their service will be cut off.
They will not be able to top up their credit but Kogan will offer pro-rata refunds to any customers with credit remaining when their service is terminated.
Customers will be able to transfer their phone number to another provider at any time over the next 180 days, Kogan said.
Optus has already pounced on the imminent exodus of customers, offering free additional data and call time to people who bring their number over.
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has warned the coalition would scrap GP super clinics and Medicare Local centres, as he fended off claims of running a negative scare campaign.
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HONG Kong shares ended 0.24 per cent lower on Monday following losses on Wall Street last week, while investors bet the US Federal Reserve will soon start winding down its stimulus program.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 54.11 points to 22,463.70 on turnover of HK$44.31 billion (US$5.72 billion).
Market players have been intensely speculating about when the United States will begin tapering its massive $US85 billion a month bond-buying program, which has flooded markets with cash.
The Fed is due to release the minutes of its latest policy meeting on Wednesday and until then, analysts say, trade will likely remain cautious.
Steven Leung, head of institutional sales at UOB Kay Hian, told Dow Jones Newswires trade in Hong Kong would be "quite sluggish" until dealers are given clues about when a tapering might begin.
Property shares meanwhile slumped in Hong Kong after official data released Sunday showed Chinese home prices continued to rise at a steady clip.
Prices rose an average 6.7 per cent year-on-year in July, up from 6.1 per cent in June, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal.
The data gave fresh fuel to worries that China will seek to slow the rise in prices with official curbs on the market.
Shares of residential-property builder Country Garden fell 2.6 per cent to HK$4.91 while Agile Property shares declined 2.8 per cent to HK$8.36.
Chinese shares closed up 0.83 per cent, reversing earlier losses and helped by selective buying of banking shares, dealers said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 17.15 points to 2,085.60 on turnover of 81.5 billion yuan ($US13.3 billion).
The market fell earlier in the day on Monday after a trading error by a securities firm last week triggered fears of tighter control over brokerages.
"Heavyweight banking stocks were higher on cheap valuations and that helped stabilise the market," Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP.
China Minsheng Banking jumped 4.0 per cent to 9.38 yuan while Industrial Bank rose 3.43 per cent to 10.56 yuan.
internet security-related shares gained after China's stock regulator said it was investigating Everbright Securities for a trading glitch that briefly sent the Shanghai index up more than five per cent on Friday.
Software developer China National Software & Service surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 27.20 yuan while Shanghai Baosight Software jumped 7.69 per cent to 29.12 yuan.
Brokerages ended lower, with Southwest Securities losing 3.84 per cent to 9.01 yuan and China Merchants Securities dropping 3.23 per cent to 11.07 yuan.
TURKMENISTAN'S president has stepped down from his post as leader of the ruling party ahead of a parliamentary election that for the first time will feature two competing parties.
President Gurbanbuly Berdymukhamedov said on state television this weekend that his decision was aimed at giving both parties an equal chance in the December election.
A business-oriented political party created a year ago is likely to end the Democratic Party's two-decade-long monopoly in parliament.
But it is unlikely to lead to substantive democratisation in the authoritarian ex-Soviet state.
Both parties support Berdymukhamedov, who runs the energy-rich Central Asian country with an iron fist.
The Democratic Party was created in 1991 on the basis of the dissolved Communist Party.
PAKISTAN will soon release more than 350 Indian prisoners, a Foreign Ministry official says, to defuse tensions after recent border clashes in disputed Kashmir.
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A WOMAN has been stabbed during a domestic dispute which culminated in a police siege in western Sydney.
Police were called to a home at Punchbowl around 5.30pm (AEST) on Sunday following reports of domestic violence.
A man in the home refused to come outside and an hour later police stormed the home.
They found a woman with knife wounds and a child in a distressed state.
They arrested the man, and the woman and child have been taken to hospital.
