Walmart workers hail their wage protest

WALMART workers have hailed their wage protest, saying their walkout on "Black Friday" had shown the world's largest retailer their determination to fight against all odds.

Hundreds of protesters targeted Walmart stores across the United States on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, accusing the bargain superstore of ripping off its own employees.

The protests were designed to disrupt the Black Friday shopping frenzy, after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, when deep discounts pull in waves of customers.

"Today's protests at Walmart stores across the country are a reminder of the enormous power of working people uniting to demand a better future with a living wage, affordable healthcare and respect on the job," said Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Her optimism was shared by Colby Harris, a Walmart sales associate who walked off his job in Lancaster, Texas late on Thursday.

"Our voices are being heard," said Harris. "And thousands of people in our cities and towns and all across the country are joining our calls for change at Walmart. We are overwhelmed by the support and proud of what we've achieved so quickly and about where we are headed."

The main force behind the wage protest, the Organisation United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), said it was pressuring for "decent pay, regular hours, affordable healthcare and respect."

The powerful UAW auto-workers union also came on board, saying that because of Walmart's size, the company "has enormous power to set the trends not just for the retail and service industries, but for the economy as a whole."

Another prominent supporter was Robert Reich, labour secretary under president Bill Clinton, who saw the debate over conditions at Walmart, owned by the multi-billionaire Walton family, as reflecting deeper problems in US society.

"The widening inequality reflected in the gap between the pay of Walmart workers and the returns to Walmart investors, including the Walton family, haunts the American economy," Reich wrote in a post to his blog titled, Why You Shouldn't Shop at Walmart on Friday.

Walmart, which denies there are any widespread complaints, last week filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board to try to block the Black Friday protests.

On Friday, the retail giant downplayed the controversy, saying in a statement that "only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates."

In addition, Walmart US said it had its "best ever Black Friday events," featuring 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million televisions and 1.3 million dolls sold in the first hours.

About 200 activists outside a huge Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey chanted against what they called the dark side of the biggest US private employer, which has 1.3 million non-unionised workers, or "associates," as they're called. Critics say the average Walmart hourly wage is a meagre $US8.81 ($A8.53), although the company says the figure is closer to $US13. ($A12.58)

"Walmart pushes wages down!" they chanted.

Protesters included unionised workers, street activists from the Occupy movement, a roller-skating woman in a Marie-Antoinette mini-dress, a faux pastor known for his anti-capitalist campaigns, and a lively brass band.

The protesters, however, did not appear to include any employees from the Walmart outlet, where the doors were open to a steady stream of shoppers, many re-emerging with shopping carts piled high.

Jaclyn Kessel, one of the organisers of the demonstration, said Walmart employees "are afraid of getting fired" and she didn't expect any to come.

In Los Angeles, nine protesters were arrested for blocking an intersection in front of a Walmart in Paramount, local media reported. About 400 people gathered for that protest, the LA Daily News said, citing police estimates.

In Secaucus, shoppers had to negotiate an increasingly thick crowd of protesters in the entrance, many of whom were dancing to the brass band, watched by a half dozen patient police officers.

Drivers in several passing cars tooted horns in support, but most paid no attention to the disturbance.

Karen Mendoza, 30, expressed sympathy with the protesters as she went into Walmart with her 55-year-old mother, saying that the kind of low-end jobs the store offers are part of an increasingly unforgiving economy.

"With the economy today it's really, really hard to get a job anywhere," she said. "My mother works at a factory. She's been there for 27 years, and they're getting rid of people all the time."

The roller skating Marie-Antoinette figure, whose name is Marni Halasa, agreed.

"I'm here to support the low-wage worker," she said. "Basically, unless you come from money and have access, there's very little social mobility in America," Halasa, 46, said, before gliding away on her skates.

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Thai protesters urge Thai PM to quit

THAI police have fired tear gas and detained dozens of demonstrators as clashes erupted at the first major street protests against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government.

The violence, while relatively small scale, appeared to mark a new phase in Thailand's long-running political crisis pitting Thai royalists against ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra - Yingluck's brother - and his supporters.

About 17,000 police were deployed for the rally in Bangkok's historic district, which was organised by the royalist group Pitak Siam, a relatively new force in the kingdom's fractured political scene.

"In the name of Pitak Siam and its allies I promise that we will topple this government," the movement's head, retired general Boonlert Kaewprasit, declared from the rally stage.

The demo comes two and a half years after dozens of people died in a military crackdown on "Red Shirt" protests against the previous government in the heart of the capital.

About 20,000 people were estimated to have joined Saturday's rally, according to police, far short of the half a million organisers had hoped would attend.

Tensions flared as police fired several rounds of tear gas at protesters trying to ram through barriers near the main rally site in the Royal Plaza using a truck.

"Tear gas was used in one area because protesters did not comply with the rules," said national police spokesman Major General Piya Uthayo.

About 100 protesters were detained while knives and bullets were confiscated, he said.

Thirty-seven people, including a number of police officers, were treated for cuts and other injuries, officials said.

The authorities called in an extra 5,700 police after the clashes, but said they would allow the rally to go ahead at the Royal Plaza so long as the other protesters gathered peacefully.

Yingluck on Thursday voiced fears the protesters aimed to use violence and to "overthrow an elected government and democratic rule", in a televised address to the nation.

The government invoked the Internal Security Act (ISA) in three districts of the capital to cope with possible unrest, giving the police additional powers to block routes, impose a curfew, ban gatherings and carry out searches.

"We will evaluate the situation daily and if it escalates we are ready to invoke emergency rule," Thai police chief General Adul Sangsingkaew said on national television.

Thailand has been rocked by a series of sometimes violent rival street protests in recent years, although an uneasy calm had returned after national elections in 2011.

Two months of mass opposition protests in 2010 by Red Shirt supporters loyal to Thaksin - who was toppled in a coup in 2006 - sparked a deadly military crackdown that left about 90 people dead and nearly 1,900 wounded.

At their height, those rallies drew about 100,000 people demanding the resignation of the previous government.

Thaksin's sister Yingluck is now prime minister after his political allies won a landslide election victory last year.

Thaksin, who made billions as a telecoms tycoon, is adored by many poor Thais for his populist policies while in power, but reviled by many in elite, military and palace circles who see him as authoritarian and a threat to the monarchy.

The demonstrators at Saturday's rally, who included supporters of the influential "Yellow Shirt" royalist movement, called on Yingluck's government to stand down.

"I can't stand that they disrespect the king. I want the government to quit," said 48-year-old farmer Namsai Jantarat from the northern province of Chiang Mai.

Observers say prosecutions - often targeting people linked to the Red Shirts - for insulting the monarchy have surged since royalist generals overthrew Thaksin following a series of mass protests by the rival Yellows.

The Red Shirts threatened to strike back in the event of a new coup.

"This rally is illegitimate," Red Shirt leader Thida Thavornseth said at a news conference on Saturday. "We will come out in force if there is any sign of a coup or the government loses control."

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Arafat's remains said to be exhumed

The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday. Source: AAP

THE remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday as part of a renewed investigation into his death, a Palestinian investigator says.

Arafat died in November 2004 in a French military hospital, a month after suddenly falling ill. Palestinian officials claim he was poisoned by Israel, but have not presented evidence. Israel has denied such allegations.

Earlier this year, the detection of a lethal radioactive substance in biological traces on Arafat's clothing sparked a new investigation. Tests were inconclusive, and experts said they need to check his remains to learn more.

On Tuesday, Swiss, French and Russian experts will take samples from Arafat's bones, said Tawfik Tirawi, who heads the Palestinian team investigating the death.

Arafat will be reburied the same day with military honours, but the ceremony will be closed to the public, Tirawi told a news conference.

Earlier this month, workers began prying open the concrete-encased tomb in Arafat's former government headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government in the West Bank, had hesitated before agreeing to exhume the remains, in part because of cultural and religious sensitivities.

Since mid-November, the gravesite has been surrounded with a blue tarpaulin and roads leading to the Arafat mausoleum were closed.

Arafat is still widely revered in the Palestinian territories, and Palestinian officials said they don't want the process observed by media and others.

The new probe into his death began this summer, after a Swiss lab discovered traces of polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope, on clothes said to be his.

The clothes were provided by Arafat's widow, Soha, and given to the lab by the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.

Separately, Mrs Arafat asked the French government to investigate, while the Palestinian Authority called in Russian experts.

Arafat's death has remained a mystery for many.

While the immediate cause of death was a stroke, the underlying source of an illness he suffered in his final weeks has never been clear, leading to persistent conspiracy theories that he had cancer, AIDS or was poisoned.

Many in the Arab world believe Arafat, the face of the Palestinian independence struggle for four decades, was killed by Israel.

Israel, which saw Arafat as an obstacle to peace, vehemently denies the charge.

There is no guarantee the exhumation will solve the mystery.

Polonium-210 is known to rapidly decompose, and experts are divided over whether any remaining samples will be sufficient for testing.

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Girl shot dead in public urination row

A 17-YEAR-OLD girl has been shot dead by a man, allegedly after objecting to his urinating near her home in New Delhi.

The man also reportedly shot the girl's mother in the incident, in the Nizamuddin area late on Wednesday.

Police began investigating after a complaint was filed the following day and said on Friday they would soon arrest the accused, a former tenant in the building where the family lives.

"The man ... was relieving himself at the staircase leading to the house, when the girl and her mother objected and shouted at him to leave," area police chief Sunil Kumar said.

"An angry argument followed, after which the man left. He returned to the girl's apartment with a pistol sometime later and shot them," Kumar said.

Kumar said the "sudden provocation" resulting from the argument had led to the murder.

Nearly half of India's 1.2 billion people do not have toilets at home and many people urinate or defecate in the open.

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Toxic seafood warning in Sydney bay

A TOXIC algal bloom which potentially poisons a range of seafood has been detected in Sydney's Botany Bay.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries said it had detected a species of algae which produces paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins.

It said it found toxins above safe levels for human consumption in shellfish from Botany Bay during routine monitoring on Friday.

The NSW Food Authority has warned people against eating oysters, mussels, cockles, clams or the gut of rock lobster or abalone taken from the bay or the Georges River.

It's also warning people against eating periwinkles, sea urchins or crabs.

Cooking won't destroy the toxins, it said.

Anyone who experiences symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning are being advised to seek medical assistance.

Symptoms include tingling in the mouth, pins and needles, unsteadiness on the feet, weakness of the arms or legs and nausea.

Shellfish bought from commercial seafood outlets were not affected, the Food Authority said.

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One dead, four hurt in highway crash

A TOURIST is dead and as many as four others have serious injuries after a three-car crash northwest of Bundaberg this afternoon.

Police said the accident happened at Granite Creek, near Miriam Vale, about 3pm. The highway is closed and traffic is being diverted.

A Queensland Fire and Rescue spokesman confirmed one person had died in the accident but was unable to confirm their gender.

It is understood three other tourists travelling in the same vehicle were taken to Bundaberg Hospital. The driver of a utility was also taken to hospital.

Two adults and two children in one of the vehicles involved in the crash were uninjured.

Police said two men had been airlifted to Bundaberg, both in a critical condition. A woman was also being taken to Bundaberg with non-life threatening injuries.

Initial reports said a 23-year-old female was unconscious with serious head injuries and was being airlifted to hospital.

A 27-year-old male had head and abdominal injuries and was also being airlifted.

Two other people, a 25-year-old female with multiple cuts and a 19-year-old man with minor wounds, were being taken to Bundaberg Base Hospital.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating.

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Son of WA's top cop back in jail

THE son of Western Australia's top cop is back in maximum security prison after failing a drugs test, breaching his parole on a conviction for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine.

A clearly emotional Karl O'Callaghan chose to reveal he had personally delivered his son Russell, 31, back to authorities after the Department of Corrective Services discovered he had lapsed in his drug addiction battle.

The younger O'Callaghan was sentenced to 16 months behind bars last year for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, following a clandestine drug lab explosion in which he suffered severe burns.

The commissioner's son was released in May and had been living with Mr O'Callaghan since his release.

Mr O'Callaghan said there had been no sign that his son had suffered a relapse until he was contacted on Thursday to say his son had returned to drugs, and having done so must return to prison.

"It was a requirement of his parole that he does not consume at all, and he failed his drug test," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug, and it is not uncommon for people who are methamphetamine addicts to relapse.

"That does not mean to say they have failed their recovery. It means they have hit a stumbling block.

"All we can do is to continue to support him.

"I am his parent, I am his father and we will extend unconditional love while we work through this."

The younger O'Callaghan will now have to front a Prison Review Board hearing to determine how long he spends in prison. He had been released on parole after serving eight months of his 16 month sentence.

He was originally arrested and charged following a clandestine drug lab explosion at a Department of Housing unit at Carlisle, in Perth's south, in 2011 in which he and four others suffered burns.

Two children, aged three and four, escaped injury.

O'Callaghan spent more than two weeks in hospital for treatment to burns to his head, shoulders and arms, and then suffered further through his conviction and eventual jail term.

O'Callaghan had his sentence reduced by six months after he agreed to give evidence against the two other men allegedly involved in the attempted manufacture of the drug.

His father said on Thursday his son's rehabilitation appeared to have been progressing well until he received the call from WA's Corrective Services department.

"I am very disappointed and Russell is very disappointed, and I gave him a hug before he left," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"I picked him up and delivered him into the hands of police.

"This is one of the difficulties of being commissioner and also being a father of someone who has these types of problems. That is my job.

"It was very tough, but I will continue to support him.

"These are tough calls - I have got to behave as commissioner of police, and I have also got to behave as a parent - that is how it is."

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Qld man charged with attempted murders

A MAN who was shot in the shoulder during a wild brawl in far north Queensland will face two counts of attempted murder from his hospital bed.

The 36-year-old was shot on Monday night at a house in Cooktown.

During the fight a 31-year-old woman had her arm slashed and a 51-year-old man suffered lacerations to his hands, shoulder and leg.

The charged man is due to face a bedside court hearing in Cairns Base Hospital on Friday on two attempted murder and a number of other charges.

Police are still investigating the incident but say all three knew each other.

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Philippines protests China passport design

THE Philippines has protested China's new passport design, which includes the image of a map of the entire disputed South China Sea.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Thursday said it was unacceptable because it impinges on the sovereignty of the Philippines, which has claims to territories in the South China Sea.

"The Philippines strongly protests the inclusion of the nine-dash lines in the e-passport as such image covers an area that is clearly part of the Philippines' territory and maritime domain," he said, quoting a diplomatic protest sent to Beijing.

The so-called nine-dash lines take in about 90 per cent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometre South China Sea on Chinese maps.

The boundary was first officially published on a map by China's government in 1947 and has been included in subsequent maps, forming a key basis for Beijing's claims to the area.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the South China Sea, which straddles key shipping lanes in the region and is believed to be rich in resources.

In December, the Philippines is hosting a four-party meeting with Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei in a bid to resolve the territorial dispute.

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Dan Kelly's pistol sells for $122,000

A PISTOL that belonged to bushranger Dan Kelly, the youngest brother of of Ned, has sold at auction for $122,000 in Melbourne.

The sale of the weapon, an East India Company-issued cavalry pistol, to a private collector on Wednesday was well above the reserve price of $70,000.

Dan Kelly's name had been scratched onto the walnut stock of the pistol with the date 1876.

Auctioneer Charles Leski said the gun had been discovered in 1900 in Rockhampton by gunsmith H P Hansen who had bought a lot of old and rusty firearms.

In a newspaper report of the day, it was reported that Mr Hansen cleaned the dirt, rust and grease off an old pistol which revealed the Kelly name.

The newspaper report went on to say a muzzle-load single-shot pistol, which was found on a Kelly pack-horse at the Glenrowan siege where Dan died, is possibly this gun.

It remained in the Hansen family since then and was being offered for sale by a descendent.

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