Abbott defends abortion drug criticism

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has defended his position on the controversial abortion drug RU486. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has defended his position on the controversial abortion drug RU486 while he was a health minister in the Howard government.

Mr Abbott was responding to comments from blogger Mia Freedman that his attempts to keep a ban on the drug as minister remained an issue for some female voters.

"Because he's never addressed that on the record ... it sort of lingered and festered like this bit of a suspicious issue among women," Ms Freedman told ABC radio on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard invited Ms Freedman and other popular female bloggers to Kirribilli House in Sydney on Monday night.

Mr Abbott was full of praise for the popular blogger when quizzed by reporters in Sydney about her comments on Tuesday.

"I have a lot of time for Mia - I am an avid reader of her column," he said.

"But with respect, I did not do what you have put to me."

As health minister, he did not receive any applications regarding RU486, Mr Abbott said.

"Had any such application come before me, I would have dealt with it on the basis of the science and the expert advice."

Mr Abbott lost the ministerial power to approve RU486 in 2006 to the Therapeutic Goods Administration in a parliamentary conscience vote.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek backed Ms Freedman's call for Mr Abbott to clarify his views on abortion and RU486.

"When he was health minister he was very opposed to it... he sought to protect ministerial veto," she told ABC TV.

"He said abortion was the 'easy way out' "

"If he has changed his mind on any of those things he should be clear about that."

Ms Plibersek said no woman wants to have an abortion and that it's a traumatic decision to make.

She said Australian women and men generally believe it is a woman's right to chose.

"If Tony Abbott wants to be prime minister he should be able to say one way or the other if he believes that or not," Ms Plibersek said.

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Nelson Mandela has lung infection

SOUTH Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection and is responding to treatments, the nation's presidency says.

The ailing Mandela, 94, has been in 1 Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, since Saturday, receiving medical tests.

The announcement on Tuesday ended speculation about what was troubling the anti-apartheid icon.

Government officials had declined repeatedly to say what caused the nation's military, responsible for Mandela's care, to hospitalise him over the last few days.

That caused growing concern in a nation of 50 million people that largely reveres Mandela for being its first democratically elected president who sought to bring the country together after centuries of racial division.

The tests Mandela underwent at the hospital detected the lung infection, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj in a statement.

"Madiba is receiving appropriate treatment and he is responding to the treatment," Maharaj said, referring to Mandela by his clan name as many do in South Africa in a sign of affection.

In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

The chaos that followed saw the military take charge of his care and the government control the information about his health.

In recent days many in the press and public have complained about the lack of concrete details on his condition.

Mandela has had a series of health problems in his life.

He contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

In 2001, he underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint.

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Carr to visit Sri Lanka this week

Foreign Minister Bob Carr will travel to Sri Lanka this week for talks on people smuggling. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr will travel to Sri Lanka on Friday to discuss trade ties, tourism and efforts to disrupt people smuggling.

The three-day trip will be Senator Carr's first visit to the south Asian nation as a minister and will include discussions on Australia's aid assistance to Sri Lanka, a spokesman for the minister told AAP on Tuesday.

People smuggling will also be on the agenda.

Sri Lankan authorities have in the past 12 months disrupted 69 people smuggling operations involving 2900 people who were intending to come to Australia, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, HMAS Larrakia intercepted a boat carrying 57 suspected asylum seekers and two crew on Monday night, north of Ashmore Islands

The opposition's immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said asylum seeker boats were continuing to arrive in record numbers "even with the onset of the monsoon season where conditions are perilous and the risk of taking boat journeys to Australia intensifies".

Later on Tuesday, Senator Carr's office announced he would visit Timor Leste on Thursday ahead of the Sri Lankan trip.

Economic, aid and security issues are on the agenda when he meets East Timor leaders.

The visit coincides with the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) ceasing security operations and commencing withdrawal from East Timor last month.

"The withdrawal marks a new era in Australia-Timor-Leste relations with the transfer of security responsibilities to local forces," Senator Carr said in a statement.

"Discussions would also involve future plans for development assistance, with an emphasis on Australia's continued support for education and health."

He will visit the Resistance Museum and present a gift from Australia - material about East Timor held by the National Film and Sound Archive.

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Jakarta, Canberra to ratify rescue pact

AUSTRALIA and Indonesia will sign an agreement on Tuesday that will boost cooperation in search and rescue operations involving asylum seekers.

The agreement, mooted earlier in the year in the wake of a series of incidents in which hundreds of asylum seekers lost their lives, is expected to give Australian aircraft rapid clearance to enter Indonesian airspace.

It also boosts maritime cooperation aimed at speeding up the response times of rescue agencies when dealing with incidents involving the safety of life at sea.

There has been criticism in the past about slow response times when dealing with asylum seeker boats sinking in Indonesian waters as they make their way to Christmas Island.

In August, more than 100 people perished when their boat foundered in the Sunda Strait.

The Indonesian search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, did not begin an aerial search until more than six hours after a distress call was received by the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority.

It was almost 24 hours before the first survivors were pulled from the water.

The agreement, to be signed in Jakarta on Tuesday by Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and his Indonesian counterpart, E.E Mangindaan, will likely allow Australian aircraft to operate in Indonesian airspace.

Aircraft would also be able to land and refuel at airfields when engaged in search and rescue activities.

Indonesia will be provided with satellite communications technology to improve its search and rescue capabilities, while BASARNAS is to be given access to ship tracking capabilities to enable it to enlist the help of merchant ships in the event of emergencies involving asylum seeker boats.

Australia will provide $4.42 million to fund the measures, as part of the $38.4 million Indonesia Transport Safety Assistance Package established in 2007.

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European stocks slip at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets have fallen at the start of trading, with Milan's FTSE Mib index slumping 2.31 per cent to 15,336 points after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti announced his intention to resign.

Elsewhere, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index on Monday retreated 0.16 per cent to 5,905.00 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dropped 0.44 per cent to 7,484.95 points and in Paris the CAC 40 slid 0.46 per cent to 3,586.99.

In a dramatic weekend of tense political drama, Monti announced his resignation and Silvio Berlusconi launched a comeback bid.

The developments have put the Monti government's reform agenda on hold and brought forward the election, with a vote now expected as early as February - well before the government's mandate runs out at the end of April.

In earlier deals, Asian equities mostly rose on Monday as dealers cheered an improvement in the US unemployment rate and another batch of manufacturing figures indicating China's economy is emerging from a slumber.

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IPART recommends more NSW taxi licences

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommends an increase in Sydney taxi licences. Source: AAP

PEOPLE won't have to wait as long to get a cab or pay as much for the ride under moves by NSW's pricing regulator to increase the number of taxis on the road.

In its annual draft report, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) identified the need to offer 280 more licenses for operation between 12pm and 5am.

In order to improve entry to the industry, it's also recommended 205 additional unrestricted taxi licences.

The recommended increase from July next year would allow the industry to meet growth in passenger demand while reducing costs for operators and drivers, IPART chairman Peter Boxall said on Monday.

"(It) strikes a careful balance between positive outcomes for consumers, drivers and taxi operators, and minimising the impacts on existing licence holders," he said in a statement.

He said the draft recommendations would cut waiting times on Friday and Saturday nights by an average of 7 per cent while increasing the number of taxi trips taken in Sydney by about 6 per cent.

"Increasing the number of taxis, particularly during underserviced Friday and Saturday night-shifts, will reduce waiting times leading to more taxi trips, higher taxi occupancy and improved hourly earnings for drivers," Mr Boxall said.

There's also good news for customers catching taxis over the festive period, with Transport for NSW confirming on Monday that secure taxi ranks would be operating on more nights of the week throughout December.

Extra security guards will be on hand to make sure Christmas shoppers and those attending parties get home safe.

"With more people out at night celebrating Christmas and the end of 2012, we want to make sure both revellers and taxi drivers are kept safe and everyone gets home safely," said a Transport for NSW spokesman.

"That's just as important in Cowra as in Coogee, so we have secure ranks operating extra nights throughout the state, not just in Sydney."

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South African president visits Mandela

Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital for tests, officials say. Source: AAP

SOUTH Africans is praying for the health of former President Nelson Mandela and anxiously awaited further word about the anti-apartheid leader after he was admitted to a military hospital.

President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday morning at the hospital in Pretoria and found the frail 94-year-old to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital Saturday.

The continued uncertainty about Mandela's health saw worshippers gather on Sunday morning at the Regina Mundi Catholic church in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to pray for the leader. The church was a centre of anti-apartheid protests and funerals.

"Yes, it really worries us because he is a great person," church goer Shainet Mnkomo said as she left an early morning service. "He did so many things to the country, he's one of those persons who we remember most."

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. He later retired from public life to live in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

Many in the country of 50 million people view Mandela, who led the African National Congress to power, as a father figure and an icon of integrity and magnanimity amid the nation's increasingly messy politics. Inside the church, a stained glass window depicts Mandela, in a grey suit and blue tie, raising his hands to wave at a crowd. His image stands just next to another portraying a man carrying the corpse 13-year-old, Hector Pieterson, who was gunned down by police in the black township of Soweto in June, 1976, as students protested peacefully against the white government.

A statement from Zuma's office on Saturday announced that Mandela had been hospitalised for tests and was receiving medical care "which is consistent for his age."

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, however, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison. He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

While South Africa's government has offered no details about who would provide medical attention for Mandela, the nation's military has taken over medical care for the aging leader since the 2011 respiratory infection. At 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Saturday night, the facility that previously cared for Mandela in February, everything appeared calm, without any additional security present. On Sunday morning, soldiers set up a checkpoint to search vehicles heading into the hospital's grounds.

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Monk arrested for inciting self-immolation

A MONK and his nephew were detained for inciting eight Tibetan people to set themselves on fire in a restive Chinese region that has become a flashpoint for protests against Beijing's rule, state media has said.

Police in southwest China's Sichuan Province, which has a large ethnic Tibetan population,on Sunday detained a 40-year-old monk named as Lorang Konchok for "goading" the protests, which resulted in three deaths, Xinhua said.

He was held at Kirti Monastery in Aba County, which has been the focal point of a crackdown on separatism since anti-Chinese riots rocked the Tibetan plateau in 2008.

More than 90 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest China's rule of the Tibetan plateau, rights groups have said, with the frequency of incidents increasing sharply in November.

The monk was acting on the instructions of the Dalai Lama and his followers, Xinhua said, citing the monk's "confession and police investigation".

Beijing has long-blamed the Tibetan spiritual leader for inciting the burnings as a means of realising Tibetan independence.

Since 2009, the monk was said to have passed information on self-immolations to a "media liaison team" linked to a "Tibet independence organization of the Dalai Lama group", the Xinhua report said.

"At the requests of the media liaison team, Lorang Konchok took advantage of his position and influence in the monastery and often encouraged others to self-immolate, telling local monks and followers that self-immolation was not against Buddhist doctrines and those who did it were 'heroes'," it added.

The monk also recruited Lorang Tsering, his 31-year-old nephew, in his efforts to encourage the protests, the report claimed.

State media reported earlier this month that China will charge anyone caught aiding or inciting Tibetan self-immolations with murder.

A joint legal opinion issued by China's supreme court, top prosecution body and police said the charge of "intentional murder" should apply to anyone urging Tibetans to set themselves alight, the state-run Gannan Daily reported.

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Pilot killed in NSW helicopter crash

A 48-YEAR-OLD pilot has died in a helicopter crash in central-west NSW.

The man was thought to be spraying weeds in a remote area 25km south of Mudgee when the aircraft crashed at about 11am (AEDT) on Sunday.

The wreckage of the Robin44 helicopter was found in steep and rugged bushland at Grattai. The pilot, a local man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A crime scene was established and a police guard remained at the site on Sunday night.

NSW Police Force air crash investigators and officials from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are to continue their inquiries on Monday.

Police will prepare a coroner's report.

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Elderly man crashes car into Sydney shop

THREE people have been taken to hospital after a hatchback smashed through the front window of a supermarket in Arncliffe.

Police said they were called to the store on the Princess Highway after an elderly man drove his Toyota Corolla hatchback into the store about 4.20pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

They said the car entered the store from the car park, smashing through the glass frontage and winding up more than four metres inside.

A supermarket worker suffering cuts and bruises was taken to St George Hospital, while the driver and his elderly female passenger were also taken to hospital as a precaution.

A witness told AAP it was a miracle more people weren't injured.

She said shoppers screamed as the car drove into the store and that "plate glass was everywhere".

She said the impact of the car was so great that parts of the store's ceiling collapsed.

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