Hawaii gives OK to 30 Meter Telescope

A PLAN by California and Canadian universities to build the world's largest telescope at the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano received approval from the state on Friday.

The decision by the Board of Land and Natural Resources clears the way for the group managing the Thirty Meter Telescope project to negotiate a sublease for land with the University of Hawaii.

The telescope would be able to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. It should also help scientists see some 13 billion light years away for a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

The telescope's segmented primary mirror, which is nearly 100 feet (30 meters) long, will give it nine times the collecting area of the largest optical telescopes in use today. Its images will also be three times sharper.

But the telescope may not hold the world's largest title for long. A group of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which will have a 138-foot (42-meter)-long mirror.

Some Native Hawaiian groups had petitioned against the project, arguing it would defile the mountain's sacred summit.

Native Hawaiian tradition holds that high altitudes are sacred and are a gateway to heaven. In the past, only high chiefs and priests were allowed at Mauna Kea's summit. The mountain is home to one confirmed burial site and perhaps four more.

Environmentalists also petitioned to stop the telescope on the grounds it would harm habitat for the rare wekiu bug.

The board approved the project anyway, but imposed two dozen conditions including a requirement that employees be trained in culture and natural resources.

The University of California system, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy are spearheading the telescope. China, India and Japan have signed on to be partners.

The University of Hawaii is involved because it leases the summit land from the state of Hawaii.

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Ex-NZ PM Clark gets second term at UNDP

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has been re-appointed as administrator of the UNDP. Source: AAP

FORMER New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark has been re-appointed as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Her second four-year term at the helm of the UN development agency was confirmed at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday.

Ms Clark, who served three successive terms as prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 in Labour Party-led governments, became the UNDP administrator in April 2009.

She is the first woman to lead the organisation.

Last year Foreign Policy magazine declared Ms Clark to be "the most powerful woman you've never heard of".

She oversees more then 8000 employees, working in 177 countries.

She is also the chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of the 32 UN funds.

Ms Clark's second term begins on April 20, 2013.

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Vic police help search for NSW jailbreaker

A PRISONER on the run from a NSW jail may have made his way to Victoria, with police following a trail of stolen cars.

Armed robber Christopher Gibbs, 30, was last seen at the minimum security section of Goulburn jail at 8.35am on April 2.

He had served 14 months of a seven year eight month sentence for armed robbery and other robbery offences when he broke out.

NSW police say they've now widened the search across state borders, with Victorian counterparts helping.

It's believed Gibbs may have stolen a car from around Goulburn after his escape and travelled to Lithgow or Bathurst before driving south to Griffith, where the stolen car was found.

He is then thought to have stolen another car in Griffith, which was later found in Gisborne, Victoria.

He may now be driving a white 2008 model Ford Explorer with Victorian registration YHI608, which was stolen from Gisborne on Monday.

Police say they don't have any firm leads about his whereabouts but say he has connections in Victoria and Queensland.

Gibbs is described as tall and thin with sandy blond hair and acne scars.

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Australia gets court date to fight whaling

The International Court of Justice will hear Australia's case to stop Japanese whaling in June. Source: AAP

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Mark Dreyfus has welcomed the opportunity to stop Japan's whaling program "once and for all" in the United Nations' highest court.

The International Court of Justice has announced it will hold public hearings in the case over Japan's whaling research program in Antarctica from June 26.

Australia's lawyers will fire the first shots on the opening day of the hearing, followed a week later by Japan.

"Australia will now have its day in court to establish, once and for all, that Japan's whaling hunt is not for scientific purposes and is against international law," Mr Dreyfus said in a statement.

"Australia wants this slaughter to end."

Australia took Japan to the Hague-based ICJ in May 2010 alleging "Japan's continued pursuit" of a large-scale whaling program put the Asian country in breach of international conventions and its obligation to preserve "marine mammals and the marine environment".

Japan maintains its program is for scientific research.

Australia as well as New Zealand, which will also make a submission at the ICJ hearings, have expressed outrage at the hunt.

Australia asked ICJ judges to order Japan to stop its whale research program called "JARPA II", the second phase of its hunt on whales in Antarctica under a special permit.

"Australia requests the court to order that Japan cease implementation of JARPA II, revoke any authorisation, permits or licences" allowing whaling under the program, it said.

It also wants the ICJ to get guarantees from Tokyo it will not undertake any further research until it conformed "to its obligations under international law".

A ruling by the ICJ may not be handed down for several months.

Mr Dreyfus, who will appear before the ICJ, said the hearings were the final phase of legal proceedings before the court handed down its long-awaited verdict.

"We hope the court will deliver its decision on the legality of Japan's whaling before the start of the next whaling season," he said.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Australia and Japan had agreed their differences over whaling wouldn't affect their bilateral ties.

"The International Court of Justice is the appropriate forum to resolve these differences in a calm and measured way," he said.

Japan is Australia's second-largest trading partner after China.

Comment has been sought from the embassy of Japan.

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Extreme weather to hit community sector

COMMUNITY organisations are not well prepared to deal with the impact of climate change and extreme weather, new research reveals.

The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) has commissioned research finding small and medium-sized organisations are at risk of permanent closure as a result of major damage to physical infrastructure caused by events like heatwaves, drought, bushfires and floods.

"To date the community sector has been overlooked in the climate change adaptation policy settings," says the report, which is titled Extreme Weather, Climate Change and the Community Sector.

A barrier to adaptation is a lack of financial resources, it says.

The report recommends the federal government set up a community services sector adaptation fund.

It also calls for greater flexibility for service delivery contracts to enable community organisations like child welfare centres, family support services and crisis accommodation facilities to help with disaster response and recovery efforts.

Affordable, sector-specific insurance packages should be developed, the report says.

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Sri Lankan boats will slow: diplomat

SRI Lanka's high commissioner to Australia says he doesn't expect a flood of asylum seekers will follow the 66 potential refugees who gobsmacked onlookers with their arrival in Geraldton.

Passengers of the rickety boat that pulled into the busy port in West Australia's Mid West region on Tuesday remain in the country but will be flown to Christmas Island for processing as soon as possible, an immigration department spokeswoman said.

On Thursday, the women and children remained at various undisclosed locations, understood to be in Perth.

The single men are at Yongah Hill Detention Centre in Northam, some 90km east of the city, where the facility is substantially under its 600-person capacity, Shire President Steve Pollard said.

The high commissioner, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, told Fairfax radio that he expected the asylum seekers would not be found to be refugees and would be sent back to Sri Lanka as soon as possible.

Saying it had been four years since the country's 30 year civil war ended and denying accusations of ongoing human rights violations against Tamils, he said he believed the Geraldton arrivals wanted to live in Australia "purely for economic reasons".

A single boat slipping through maritime surveillance after no intelligence tip-offs was not serious, Admiral Samarasinghe said.

Any boats attempting a similar journey were likely to be intercepted by the Sri Lankan Navy's cordon and if not, there were no guarantees there would be fair weather all the way to the Australian mainland, he said.

"The success (of the boat that arrived in Geraldton) was due to certain circumstances but it will not give a green light to people to think of taking this road."

He said the Sri Lankan government was spending substantial amounts trying to stop asylum seeker boats leaving and co-operation with Australian authorities was good.

"If the two countries agree, they can do wonders," he said.

Admiral Samarasinghe is all for the opposition's plan to reinstate the Howard-era policy of towing back asylum seeker vessels.

But former defence force chief Chris Barrie says it could amount to piracy.

The coalition says customs could contact boats in international waters to establish whether to turn them around, but Admiral Barrie warns that could violate international law.

"If the boat itself is well found and it appears to be exercising freedom of the high seas, a right to board is very much constrained under international law," he told ABC radio.

"There would be some circumstances, I guess, where it might become an act of piracy."

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Young adults put off saying 'I do': report

THEY'RE single, smarter and still at home.

Today's young adults are a far different breed to those who grew up in the 1970s, new research shows.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report compared census data in the 18 to 34 age group from 1976 and 2011 and found a large decrease in the number of young adults getting married.

In 1976, 67 per cent of 24-year-olds had been married, however just 14 per cent were hitched in 2011.

ABS Director of Social and Progress Reporting, Jane Griffin-Warwicke says young adults are also much more educated today than their counterparts from 35 years ago.

"In 2011, nearly twice the proportion of young adults were attending an educational institution compared with 1976," she said.

Only five per cent of young adults also had a bachelor degree or higher qualification in 1976, compared to a quarter of young people in 2011.

The number of young women who are employed also has risen substantially, with 54 per cent holding jobs in 1976 compared to 69 per cent in 2011.

The analysis found children are staying in the family home longer, with 29 per cent of young adults living with their parents in 2011, compared to 21 per cent in 1976.

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Man charged in Texas college stabbing

Police have arrested a suspect after a stabbing attack at a college in Texas left 14 people injured. Source: AAP

A 20-YEAR-OLD man from suburban Texas has been charged over a stabbing spree at a community college that injured at least 14 people.

Sheriff's officials say Dylan Quick is charged with three counts of aggravated assault after Tuesday's attack at Lone Star Community College in Cypress.

The city is about 32 kilometres from Houston.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office says in a statement that Quick used a "razor-type knife" to cut his victims, and pieces of the blade were found at the scene.

The sheriff's office says Quick allegedly told investigators he'd had fantasies about stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school.

Investigators also say Quick indicated he'd been planning the attack for some time.

The handle of the blade was discovered in a backpack Quick was carrying when he was arrested, investigators say.

Authorities were seen entering Quick's parents' home in a middle-class neighbourhood of Houston on Tuesday night.

No one answered the door or the phone at the red brick home, where two vehicles were parked in the driveway, including a Honda Accord with a licence plate that said "DYLAN."

It was not immediately known if Quick, a student, had a lawyer.

The attack happened at 11.20am and sent at least 12 people to hospitals, while several others refused treatment at the scene, according to Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Robert Rasa.

Two people remained in critical condition on Tuesday evening at Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute, spokeswoman Alex Rodriguez said.

Diante Cotton, 20, said he was sitting in a cafeteria with some friends when a girl clutching her neck walked in, yelling: "He's stabbing people! He's stabbing people!"

Cotton said he could not see the girl's injuries, but when he and his friends went outside, they saw a half-dozen people with injuries to their faces and necks being loaded into ambulances and medical helicopters.

Harris County Sherriff Adrian Garcia said that when emergency calls came into the department, there were indications that "students or faculty were actively responding to work to subdue this individual."

"So we're proud of those folks, but we're glad no one else is injured any more severely than they are," Garcia said.

Michelle Alvarez told the Houston Chronicle she saw the attacker running toward other students and tried to back away. She said she didn't even feel it as he swiped at her.

"He came running and swinging at my neck, as I tried to get out of the way," she said.

The attack came three months after a different Lone Star campus was the site of a shooting in which two people were hurt. The suspect in that incident is charged with aggravated assault.

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It's time for Tiwi recognition, elder says

IT'S time for Tiwi Islanders to take control of their own destiny, an elder says.

Elders on the islands, 80km north of Darwin, formed a land council in 1979 with the goal of taking control of their own affairs.

In the meantime they've watched the establishment of the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

But despite Tiwi aspirations for a similar authority, a local council still controls housing, healthcare, schooling, infrastructure and planning.

Elder Marius Puruntatameri says the idea has been discussed on the Tiwi Islands for 30 years.

"We were thinking about it then, we're still talking about it now," the softly spoken elder told AAP.

For Mr Puruntatameri, the duplication and wasted money is most frustrating.

"Everyone's just doing their own thing, there's no unity," he said.

"A lot of people out here are working for themselves instead of our people."

The elders have renewed their push for a regional authority as the Northern Territory reviews local governments.

"We've never stopped believing Tiwi people should be responsible, should be trusted," Mr Puruntatameri said.

"We'll never stop talking about it.

"Sure we'll have our problems, there will be ups and downs.

"But we can learn and we will learn."

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No-show by North Koreans at Kaesong

North Korean workers have failed to show up at the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone on Tuesday. Source: AAP

NORTH Korean workers have failed to show at the Kaesong joint industrial zone, a day after Pyongyang said it was withdrawing labour and suspending operations at the Seoul-funded complex.

"As of now, no North Korean workers have reported to work this morning," said a spokeswoman for the South's Unification Ministry on Tuesday.

North Korea announced the temporary closure of Kaesong on Monday, following a tour of the zone by senior ruling party official Kim Yang-Gon.

Some 53,000 North Koreans work for the 123 South Korean companies set up in Kaesong, which was established in 2004 and lies 10km inside North Korea.

After pulling out the workforce and temporarily suspending operations, Pyongyang will "examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it," Kim said.

A rare symbol of cross-border economic co-operation, Kaesong is a crucial hard currency source for the impoverished North, through taxes and revenues, and from its cut of the 53,000 workers' wages.

Turnover in 2012 was reported at $US469.5 million ($A452.99 million), with accumulated turnover since 2004 standing at $1.98 billion.

But Pyongyang has blocked South Korean access to Kaesong since Wednesday, forcing 13 of the 123 South Korean firms operating to halt production.

South Korea's unification ministry said the unilateral withdrawal "cannot be justified in any way" and that North Korea would be held responsible for all the consequences.

"The (South) Korean government will calmly but firmly handle North Korea's indiscreet action and we will do our best to secure the safety of our people and the protection of our property," the ministry said.

The US State Department said permanent closure of the complex would be "regrettable".

"It would not help them achieve their stated desire to improve their economy and better the lives of their people," acting deputy State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said at a press briefing.

More than 300 South Koreans have left Kaesong and returned to the South since North Korea banned access last week. The unification ministry said 475 South citizens were still staying at the complex as of Monday.

"How the situation will develop in the days ahead will entirely depend on the attitude of the South Korean authorities," said Kim, who blamed the pull-out on "military warmongers" who had affronted the North's "dignity".

The Korean peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military tensions since the North's third nuclear test in February, which drew toughened UN sanctions.

The South's defence ministry said on Monday that activity detected at the North's Punggye-ri atomic test site was "routine" and should not be interpreted as final preparation for another detonation.

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Qld inquest told of blood-curdling screams

A FORMER Queensland police officer has told a cold-case inquest he heard "blood-curdling screams" that could have come from two nurses who were murdered near Toowoomba nearly 40 years ago.

Ian Hamilton told the inquest he and his partner were called to the site of a youth camp near Murphys Creek near the foot of the Toowoomba range one night in October 1974.

Caretakers had been disturbed by screams.

He said he also heard the screams of two women over about 40 minutes that night.

The incident came a month after Sydney nurses Wendy Evans, 18, and Lorraine Wilson, 20, went missing while holidaying in Queensland.

Their bodies were found two years later about four or five kilometres from the youth camp.

"(It's) probably the only time in the service I've ever experienced the hairs stand up on the back of my neck," Mr Hamilton told the court.

"They were just the most blood-curdling horrendous screams I've ever heard in my life.

"It was obvious that they were in desperate trouble."

He recalled the screams growing fainter before they died out.

The retired officer spoke of being annoyed and upset about not being able to pinpoint where the screams were coming from because it was a windy night.

Mr Hamilton said police only made a link between the screams and the Sydney nurses when their bodies were found in 1976.

Earlier a former police investigator said he would have arrested one of the persons of interest in the case if he was alive today.

Former senior sergeant Graham Ruge said Wayne Hilton, who died in a car crash in 1986, was one of a group of men who had been named as persons of interest.

"If he had have been alive I would definitely have had sufficient evidence that I would have arrested him for the murders," he told the court.

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Gillard condemns 'provocative' North Korea

AUSTRALIA has condemned the "provocative words" of the rogue nation state of North Korea as Prime Minister Julia Gillard prepares to meet China's premier.

Ms Gillard was due to leave Shanghai on Monday for the Chinese capital of Beijing, where she will have a private dinner with Australia's Ambassador Frances Adamson.

On Tuesday, she will meet Premier Li Keqiang and is likely to again raise concerns about an escalation in North Korea's anti-US and South Korean rhetoric, which is raising fears the North could start a war on the Korean peninsula.

"We absolutely condemn the provocative words from North Korea," Ms Gillard told reporters in Shanghai on Monday.

"Of course we would condemn any provocative conduct which is aimed at raising tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the region and brings an inherent risk of miscalculation."

The chief national security adviser to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned on Monday the North could test-launch a missile this week.

Kim Jang-Soo said the launch, or another provocation, could come before or after Wednesday - the day by which North Korea has suggested international diplomats leave Pyongyang.

North Korea has been angered by UN sanctions following its nuclear and missile tests, and by South Korean-US military drills.

Over the past weeks, it has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war which so far show no sign of abating.

North Korea has reportedly loaded two medium-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast, raising speculation it is preparing for a launch.

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Police fire tear gas at Cairo protesters

Witnesses say police have fired tear gas at anti-Morsi protesters outside a Cairo court. Source: AAP

POLICE have fired tear gas at protesters outside a Cairo court, with several thousand people rallying in Egyptian cities to mark the founding of a key group opposed to President Mohamed Morsi.

Witnesses said police on Saturday fired tear gas at protesters outside the Superior Court building, which also houses the offices of the state prosecutor who has opened several investigations into opposition figures.

Live television showed clouds of tear gas rising from the court in central Cairo.

Supporters of the April 6 group also held rallies in the Nile Delta industrial town of Mahalla, where a labour strike turned into deadly clashes with police five years ago.

The Mahalla clashes on April 6, 2008 marked an escalation in the burgeoning protest movement against long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak, eventually overthrown in an early 2011 popular uprising.

Activists with the group also rallied in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Hailed as heroes in the aftermath of Mubarak's overthrow, the youth-led group, which splintered into two factions, clashed with the military that ruled Egypt between Mubarak's ouster and Morsi's election in June.

The group is now part of a coalition of secular-leaning movements that have organised sometimes violent protests against the Islamist Morsi, whom they accuse of mimicking Mubarak's practices.

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Live donors to get financial support

AUSTRALIA will never adopt a cash-for-organs scheme, but will follow other countries in paying donors who take leave off work, Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says.

Workers who want to donate a kidney will be offered up to six weeks' paid leave on minimum wage up to $3600 under a federal government plan to reduce the waiting list for life-saving organs.

Ms Plibersek said the government will put up a "relatively modest contribution" of $1.3 million from the federal health budget in a two-year trial period that will be reviewed in 2015.

"We know that there are a number of people who just cannot afford to take six weeks off work," she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"This reduces the financial burden on someone who is making the greatest gift that they can to a family member, or even to a stranger."

As well as those working full-time, part-time and self employed workers will receive payment, while the unemployed will get sickness benefits.

"You won't be financially better off, we just want to reduce the financial burden of taking time off," Ms Plibersek said.

The scheme brings Australia in line with other countries that have adopted similar schemes.

But Ms Plibersek said a system where people would be paid to sell organs would never be acceptable here.

"I do not think it is right to pay for organ donations.

"I think that is crossing a moral and ethical bridge that I would not be able to cross."

Kidney Health Australia chief executive Anne Wilson said the announcement was a "big win" for those suffering from kidney disease.

Recent figures from the Australian & New Zealand Organ Donation Registry show there were 1080 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in Australia in 2012, but only 237 live kidney donors.

Ms Wilson said it was a step toward reducing the gap between donors and recipients.

"People have come to us saying that this is a barrier and that's why it's an initiative that we applaud.

"We get calls one or twice a week from people talking about problems associated with being an organ donor.

"It's very heart-breaking. If you can't (donate organs) because of financial barriers, you can imagine that must build lot resentment (between families) and make them feel dreadful."

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