Pro-choice rally supports Melb clinic

PRO-CHOICE advocates have rallied outside a Melbourne abortion clinic, saying they're fighting back against pro-life activists who regularly harass the clinic's patients.

Around 100 members of the Melbourne Feminist Action group gathered outside the East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic on Saturday to condemn the tactics of "intimidation and degradation" which its patients face almost daily, the group says.

Group spokeswoman Stephanie Convery said a variety of religious groups photograph and film women as they enter and exit the clinic, hurl abuse and hand out offensive literature.

"We need to give some support to the pro-choice movement in Melbourne and the women in the clinic," she said.

"Who wants to be bullied for making personal decisions about their own body, who wants to be told they don't know themselves, they don't know their own minds and they're making the wrong choice when they've thought long and hard about it."

A small crowd from pro-life group Youth for Life gathered opposite the rally, which was monitored by police.

Stephanie Ross, from Youth for Life, said members of her group regularly gathered outside the clinic but denied they harassed patients.

"We come to pray and witness, to be with the unborn in their last moments," she said.

The East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic was opened in 1972 and was one of the first of its kind in Victoria.

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UN wants drones in DR Congo conflict

The UN wants to use drones to monitor fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: AAP

THE United Nations wants to use drones for the first time to monitor fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwanda has been accused of aiding rebels.

Peacekeeping chiefs have been in contact with the governments of DR Congo and of Rwanda about the sensitive move, which could set a precedent that would worry other United Nations members, diplomats say.

UN leaders are looking for ways to strengthen their peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, where guerrillas from the M23 rebel movement have taken over much of mineral-rich North Kivu province.

UN experts say Rwanda and Uganda have sent troops and arms across the border. Both strongly deny the allegations.

The UN "is considering a range of ways to strengthen the capabilities of MONUSCO to protect civilians from the threat of armed groups in the vast area of eastern DR Congo", UN peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer told AFP on Friday.

"Unarmed aerial vehicles, drones for monitoring the movements of armed groups, are one tool we are considering," he said.

"Of course, we would do this carefully, in full cooperation with the government of the DR Congo, and trialling their most effective uses for information gathering to help implement our mandate to protect civilians."

While the drones would not halt the current M23 advance, the UN is also considering bringing in extra troops and redeploying its current force. UN leader Ban Ki-moon is to recommend options to the UN Security Council soon.

MONUSCO has about 17,500 troops but could go up to about 19,500 under its Security Council mandate.

"The UN has approached a number of countries, including the United States and France, about providing drones which could clearly play a valuable role monitoring the frontier," said one UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Clearly there will be political considerations though," the diplomat said.

"This is controversial, not all countries agree with this," said Olivier Nduhungirehe, first counsellor for Rwanda's UN mission.

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McIver, Newman meet to discuss roles

QUEENSLAND'S Liberal National Party president says he supports the Newman government after meeting with the premier to discuss their respective roles.

Bruce McIver told reporters he'd met with Premier Campbell Newman and they had "agreed on certain protocols".

"The premier is the premier of the state and he'll run the state and I am the head of the organisation and I'll run the organisation," he told reporters.

"We have a very good relationship."

Mr McIver said he did not believe attacks on the government by his good friend, mining magnate Clive Palmer, had caused a rift between the party and the parliamentary wing.

Mr Palmer resigned from the party on Thursday night, saying he'd be more free to shine a light on the Newman government if he wasn't a member of the party.

He said he quit despite receiving a letter from the LNP saying his suspension - sparked by his fierce public attacks on the government - had been lifted.

Mr McIver hinted that he had helped negotiate the outcome.

"I took the position that I could not see more party funds spent on this issue and I had to come up with an outcome that satisfied all people concerned and this was the outcome.

"I don't think anyone is the winner."

He said Mr Palmer would have to apologise if he wanted to rejoin the party.

"Unless we get the appropriate apologies from any member who leaves the party the membership of that person would not be considered by the executive," he said.

Mr McIver said he supported the Newman government and his focus was the party.

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Japanese police rescue bank hostages

JAPANESE police have rescued four hostages from a bank and arrested the knife-wielding man who had held them captive for more than 12 hours while demanding the prime minister resign, officials say.

In a televised news conference on Friday, a police spokesman said the hostage-taker, identified as Koji Nagakubo, was arrested on suspicion of taking a total of five people captive, including one person whom he had released earlier.

All the hostages were safe and in protective custody following the pre-dawn police raid, the spokesman said, though local media reported one of them - a 19-year-old female bank employee - was slightly injured.

The 32-year-old man began the siege on Thursday afternoon at the Zoshi branch of the Toyokawa Shinkin Bank in the otherwise quiet residential area of Toyokawa city, in central Aichi prefecture.

Wielding a survival knife, he took four employees and a female customer captive and demanded the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda step down, local media said. Noda last week called an election for December 16, which he is expected to lose.

In initial questioning by police, the suspect admitted the allegations, but had yet to give details about his motive, public broadcaster NHK reported.

About 13 hours after the incident began, police wearing protective gear and carrying shields rushed the office before dawn, overpowered the man and escorted out the remaining four hostages.

"It was difficult to check inside, but we took action placing top priority on the safety of the hostages," an investigator told NHK. "We believe we took the best possible way."

Television footage showed a dozen police breaking the window on the second floor before moving to the ground floor, where the man pointed his knife at the hostages.

The man, who also held another knife, handcuffed at least one of the hostages, NHK said, adding that all police involved in the rescue operation were also unhurt.

"I was so relieved because no one was (seriously) injured," one neighbour told Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

Television footage earlier showed a man who appeared to be a police officer carrying a megaphone and a plastic bag to a side door of the building guarded by police. The building's shutters were down but lights could be seen inside.

Shortly before the incident, a man police believe was the hostage-taker had attempted to break into another bank just 150 metres away from the site, NHK reported.

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Dodgy cop had personality problems: court

A YOUNG woman with a long history of serious mental illness became a NSW police officer even though personality tests raised serious concerns, a court has heard.

Her duties exacerbated her condition, resulting in criminal behaviour and lying to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC).

Jenna Lee Hughes, 24, wept in the dock as her psychologist gave evidence during sentencing proceedings in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Thursday.

Hughes had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct as a police officer and two charges of lying to the PIC when giving evidence about corruptly using the police database.

She accessed the database on two separate occasions without justification to benefit a boyfriend and a former boyfriend.

Hughes is no longer a police officer.

The court heard that at the age of nine she found her neighbour dead from a gunshot wound.

That same year, she was inside a bank with her family during an armed hold-up.

As a teen, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

At age 18, she applied to become a police officer and did not reveal her condition.

But while in the police academy, she was administered a personality test that returned adverse results.

"The results indicate a number of scales that were questionable, certainly of somebody that was entering the police force," her psychologist Anne Marie De Santa Brigida told the court.

"It is of concern she still made it into the police force."

She also said Hughes would have been suffering from her mental conditions at the time she committed the offences, which carry possible jail time.

The sentencing proceedings are continuing before Judge Mark Marien.

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Duck hunting bill passes NSW upper house

A SHOOTERS Party bill to expand duck hunting in NSW has been passed by the state's upper house.

MPs in the Legislative Council passed the bill on Thursday to overhaul the licensing system for duck hunting by a vote of 21 to 18.

The legislation would make the Game Council the sole authority for granting duck hunting licences in the state, stripping the National Parks and Wildlife Service of its current role in the process.

During the debate, the opposition's environment spokesman Luke Foley said Labor supported the current system of hunting by farmers for pest mitigation but the Shooters bill was "a bridge too far".

"If recreational shooters play a part in a legitimate mitigation effort, we don't see a problem with that," Mr Foley told the upper house on Thursday.

"(But) It ought to be regulated - there ought to be balance.

"We don't believe the regulatory arrangements contemplated by (the Shooters Party) are balanced, in giving everything to the Game Council. That is clearly unbalanced. We cannot support that."

The upper house also passed government amendments to the bill, including the creation of a new Game Bird Management Committee responsible for setting quotas and determining what species of bird can be hunted and where.

Shooters Party MP Robert Brown said the bill - which will now go to a vote in the state's lower house - would simply remove the red tape involved with the current licensing system.

Greens MP John Kaye blasted the government for backing the duck hunting bill in return for the Shooters' vote on its ports privatisation bill, which passed through parliament late on Wednesday night.

"This is a government that will go to the next polls with everybody knowing it does not care about animal welfare," Dr Kaye told parliament on Thursday.

"It is absolutely happy to trade off animal welfare in order to get its legislation through this chamber."

The duck hunting bill was passed by the state's lower house later on Thursday.

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Former Storm adviser to be supervised

A FORMER Storm Financial employee will have his work supervised for the next two years following an investigation by Australia's corporate watchdog.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced on Wednesday it had accepted an enforceable undertaking from financial adviser Terrence Webb, who worked for Storm before it folded in early 2009.

Clients of the Townsville-based financial services company lost about $830 million in the collapse.

In a statement, ASIC said its investigations led to concerns that Mr Webb had advised clients to follow a single investment strategy predominately recommended by Storm.

He had failed to warn clients his advice may not have been tailored to meet their specific financial goals, ASIC said.

The commission said it was concerned Mr Webb, who now works for Synchronised Business Services Pty Ltd, may be providing "incomplete or inaccurate" advice to his clients.

Mr Webb has agreed to complete professional development courses as part of his undertaking.

For the next two years he will also be subject to supervision, audit and review of the financial services he provides to clients.

ASIC has banned former Storm employee Stuart Craig from providing financial advice for four years and accepted enforceable undertakings from four other former Storm financial advisers.

The watchdog is currently pursuing Macquarie Bank and the Bank of Queensland through the courts over their involvement in Storm's collapse.

A class action brought against Macquarie and the Commonwealth Bank by investors is also scheduled to be heard this year.

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New additions to Monkey Mia dolphin pod

THE internationally famous Monkey Mia dolphins in Western Australia, which swim right up to beachgoers in shallow waters, have added two new calves to their pod.

Environment Minister Bill Marmion announced the births on Wednesday, saying the calves were doing well and would be closely monitored by Department of Environment and Conservation staff over the next six weeks to ensure their protection when close to shore.

The dolphins pay daily visits to the shallows of Monkey Mia beaches in the World Heritage-listed Shark Bay area, attracting more than 80,000 tourists a year as well as science researchers.

"The Monkey Mia dolphins are of worldwide significance and it is extremely important that great care is taken to ensure the newborns are given the greatest chance of survival, as unfortunately there is a high mortality rate for calves in the wild," Mr Marmion said.

"It will be some time before the calves become accustomed to visitors being near them but there are protocols in place to protect them, and the interaction sessions will continue to allow visitors to feed the other beach dolphins."

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Electricity bills to stabilise: Ferguson

Federal energy minister Martin Ferguson says household electricity bills will stabilise mid 2013. Source: AAP

HOUSEHOLD electricity bills are set to stabilise from mid-2013 as the need of utilities to upgrade and replace infrastructure eases, federal energy minister Martin Ferguson says.

Mr Ferguson told a conference in Sydney there was no quick fix for current electricity costs, which have risen by about 40 per cent across the nation over the past four years.

But while bills had risen substantially, the impact of network investment was easing.

"The bulk of investment in networks for this regulatory period has already occurred, with smaller increases in network charges expected in the final year of the regulatory period," Mr Ferguson told the Australian Institute of Energy conference on Tuesday.

"That means household consumers are expected to see a stabilisation in the price they pay for electricity from July 2013."

Network charges are the main component of electricity bills, ahead of wholesale energy charges.

However, Mr Ferguson said a decrease in demand for electricity would also help stabilise prices.

"While the network investment cycle appears to be nearing its peak and market forces are reducing the wholesale cost of electricity, further reforms are underway to ensure consumers are not paying more for electricity than is necessary," he added.

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Obama presses Cambodia PM on rights

US President Barack Obama has pressed the Cambodian PM over the country's human rights violations. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has told Cambodia's prime minister in a "tense" meeting that his government's human rights violations are "an impediment" to better bilateral ties, a US official says.

Newly re-elected Obama, fresh from a historic jaunt to Myanmar (Burma), met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for talks in Phnom Penh ahead of joining an East Asia Summit.

"He began by expressing that his trip to Burma demonstrated the positive benefits that flow from countries moving down the path of political reform and increasing respect for human rights," said US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

Obama brought up the need for fair and free elections in Cambodia, and the need for the release of political prisoners, Rhodes added, agreeing that the meeting was "tense".

"He said that those types of issues are an impediment to the United States and Cambodia developing a deeper bilateral relationship."

Obama, the first US president to visit Cambodia, and Hun Sen shook hands before their meeting but the American did not smile during the greeting.

The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism from rights groups in recent years for what they claim is a growing crackdown on dissidents and protesters in cases that are often linked to land disputes.

Dozens of Cambodian villagers faced with eviction staged several small protests ahead of Obama's arrival with "SOS" messages urging the president to help press the government on land rights issues.

During the talks, Rhodes said Obama highlighted the case of prominent government critic and radio station owner Mam Sonando, 71, who was jailed for 20 years in October for an alleged secessionist plot in a verdict that dismayed human rights groups.

Hun Sen, 60, has been in power since 1985 and has vowed to rule until he's 90.

The country's main opposition leader, meanwhile, lives in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid a jail term for what critics say are politically motivated charges.

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Obama makes history with Myanmar visit

US President Barack Obama is heading to Myanmar for an historic visit aimed at encouraging reforms. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Myanmar (Burma) for an historic visit aimed at encouraging dramatic political reforms in the former pariah state.

Obama is the first serving US president to set foot in the country, in the starkest illustration yet of its emergence from a long period of isolation and repression.

Air Force One touched down in Yangon on Monday, where Obama hopes to embolden President Thein Sein to deepen the country's startling march out of decades of iron-fisted military rule.

Obama will use a major speech at Yangon University to hail "the flickers of progress" in Myanmar, the White House said.

"Today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of friendship," Obama will say, according to excerpts of his address. "But this remarkable journey has just begun, and has much further to go."

The setting for the speech will be rich in symbolism as the university was the scene of past episodes of pro-democratic student unrest, including mass demonstrations in 1988 that ended in a bloody military crackdown.

"Instead of being repressed, the right of people to assemble together must now be fully respected," Obama will say. "Instead of being stifled, the veil of media censorship must continue to be lifted."

In a nod to a recent wave of deadly sectarian violence in western Rakhine state, Obama will urge Myanmar to "draw on diversity as a strength, not a weakness".

In a scene that would have been unthinkable until recently, Obama will stand side-by-side with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakeside villa where his fellow Nobel laureate languished for years under house arrest.

The White House hopes Obama's visit to Myanmar will boost Thein Sein's reform drive, which saw Suu Kyi enter parliament after her rivals in the junta made way for a nominally civilian government - albeit in a system still stacked heavily in favour of the military.

US officials said Obama would announce a $US170 million ($A165 million) development aid pledge to Myanmar to coincide with the formal opening of a US Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Myanmar, which was suspended for years over the junta's repression of the democracy movement.

The money, spread over a two-year period, will target projects in civil society designed to build democratic institutions and improve education.

Some human rights groups said Obama should have waited longer to visit, arguing that he could have dangled the prospect of a trip as leverage to seek more progress such as the release of scores of remaining political prisoners.

Myanmar unveiled new pledges on human rights on the eve of the visit, saying it would review prisoner cases in line with "international standards" and open its jails to the Red Cross, as part of efforts to burnish its reform credentials.

The United States on Friday scrapped a nearly decade-old ban on most imports from the country, after earlier lifting other sanctions.

But it continues to call for the release of scores of political prisoners still in Myanmar's jails, as well as an end to sectarian bloodshed between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state.

Obama fever has swept Myanmar's biggest city Yangon, with his image emblazoned on T-shirts, mugs and even graffiti-covered walls.

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Palmer weighs in on RTI debate

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has accused the Queensland government of wanting to water down RTI laws. Source: AAP

BILLIONAIRE Clive Palmer has launched another attack on the Newman government, accusing it of wanting to change laws so it can "operate in secrecy".

Queensland's Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie is conducting a statutory review of the state's Right to Information (RTI) laws.

But Mr Palmer seized upon media reports which suggested Mr Bleijie wanted the laws changed because intense public scrutiny was deterring would-be politicians from entering public life.

Mr Palmer is urging politicians from both sides to ensure proper transparency is maintained.

"This is an outrageous suggestion that attacks the freedom of all Queenslanders and attempts to stifle political debate," the outspoken mining magnate said in a statement on Monday.

He asked what was really going on behind closed doors with the government "if it wants to operate in secrecy".

"Reviewing RTI legislation to protect politicians sends a warning signal to all Queenslanders that there is something terribly wrong with the system."

However, Mr Bleijie said the review was routine and a discussion paper would be released in coming weeks on which the public could make submissions.

"The government has no intention of winding back or scrapping the RTI Act," he told AAP.

"This government has shown a commitment to openness and accountability that has been lacking in Queensland politics for many years."

Mr Palmer's comments are the latest in a string of attacks on the Newman government that have seen him suspended from the Liberal National Party (LNP).

The LNP executive will decide whether the life member will remain in the party at its next meeting to be held on Friday.

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Share market tipped to open higher

THE Australian market is set to open higher on Monday following gains in US stocks on Friday and some positive comments by political leaders about tackling the fiscal cliff and deficit.

The December share price index on the ASX 24 indicates the market will open 12 points (0.28 per cent) higher on Monday.

The Australian dollar was trading at 103.45 US cents on Sunday afternoon.

AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver said US stocks seemed to get a boost out of talks on Friday between President Barack Obama and Democrat and Republican party leaders regarding the so-called "fiscal cliff".

The cliff refers to large tax hikes and spending cuts that will automatically come into force on January 1 unless legislation is changed.

The Dow Jones closed up 0.37 per cent at 12,588.30, the broader S&P 500 was 0.48 per cent better at 1,359.88 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq improved 0.57 per cent to 2,853.13.

Global markets have been dominated in recent weeks by talk about the cliff, which is expected to send the world's largest economy back into recession if political opponents can't reach a compromise.

"The key person there, the Republican House of Representatives leader John Boehner, described talks as constructive, providing a bit of confidence that there will be some sort of solution to the fiscal cliff," Dr Oliver told AAP.

"It looks like we'll have a reasonable start to trading on Monday with futures trading up 12 points or 0.3 per cent, suggesting a gain 10 to 15 points at the start.

"Then it will probably remain another nervous week, waiting for more news regarding the so-called fiscal cliff in US ... I think it's more of the same."

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the US later in the week, trade was expected to be thin, and a resolution on the cliff was not expected until December, Dr Oliver said.

The outbreak of violence in the Middle East is also making markets nervous, with oil prices rising on Friday on concerns about supply.

The Australian share market closed lower on Friday, with the S&P/ASX200 index down 12.4 points (0.28 per cent) at 4,336.8 - a loss of 2.8 per cent for the week - while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 10.5 points (0.24 per cent) at 4,360.1.

on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia will release minutes of its last board meeting, which are expected to reveal a mild easing bias.

Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens will deliver a speech on the same day.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said if Mr Stevens wanted to send a message on the Aussie dollar, wage growth or views on the global economy, this would be the opportunity.

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Iran denies supplying rockets to Gaza

Iran has denied supplying the long-range Fajr 5 rockets fired into Israel by Gaza militants. Source: AAP

A SENIOR Iranian official has denied his country supplied the Fajr 5 missiles which Palestinian militants have been firing at Tel Aviv, Iran's Al-Alam television reports.

"We deny having delivered the Fajr 5 to the Palestinian resistance. The aim of such accusations is to portray the resistance as weak whereas it is perfectly capable of producing the arms it needs," said Allaeddine Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, on Saturday.

Islamic Jihad claimed its militants fired a Fajr 5 which crashed into the sea off Tel Aviv on Thursday, in the first such attack on the heart of Israel since Saddam Hussin's Iraqi regime fired Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf war.

Sirens went off in Tel Aviv again on Saturday for a third straight day, sending people scuttling for cover, a day after a rocket crashed into the Mediterranean near the city centre, AFP correspondents said.

The latest rocket was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system.

The armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement, which rules Gaza and which like Islamic Jihad is supported by Tehran, claimed the latest Fajr 5 fire.

The Fajr 5 rocket has a far greater range than the home-produced Qassam rockets normally used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to target Israel, but neither are very accurate, defence analysts say.

Fajr 5 rockets can be fired from the back of a 6x6 truck to hit targets up to 75 kilometres away. This compares to a range of between four and 13 kilometres for the Qassam rockets.

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