Bosnia artists turn Tito's bunker into art

A bunker built to shelter Yugoslavia's communist leadership has transformed into an art gallery. Source: AAP

ERZEGOVINA, April 26 AP - A bunker built to shelter Yugoslavia's communist leadership from a nuclear war is reopening for a three-month run as an art gallery.

The exhibition that opened on Friday occupies most of the 280-metre deep U-shaped complex that cost billions of dollars and took 26 years to build.

Artists from 19 countries have worked for months on their performances and projects in almost 100 rooms of the underground labyrinth, says Edo Hozic, the director of the project.

The bunker, in Konjic, 40 kilometres south of Sarajevo, was also opened in 2011 for a three-month run as an arts space.

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UK charges publicist with indecent assault

UK prosecutors have charged celebrity publicist Max Clifford with 11 counts of indecent assault. Source: AAP

BRITISH prosecutors say they are charging prominent celebrity publicist Max Clifford with 11 counts of indecent assault.

The charges come as part of a broad investigation into child sex abuse spurred by the scandal involving the late BBC personality Jimmy Savile.

Prosecutors said on Friday the charges against Clifford relate to assaults allegedly committed between 1966 and 1985 and involve seven complainants who were between the ages of 14 and 19 at the times of the alleged assaults.

Clifford - considered an affable and sage "go to" guy for celebrities embroiled in public relations fiascos - was arrested in December 2012.

At the time, he called the allegations against him "damaging and totally untrue".

He will appear at London's Westminster Magistrate's Court on May 28.

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Palmer party won't hurt Labor: Albanese

Senior minister Anthony Albanese (pic) says Clive Palmer's new party should be no threat to Labor. Source: AAP

CLIVE Palmer's new political party should pose no threat to Labor's support base in the run-up to the election, senior Gillard minister Anthony Albanese says.

The billionaire mining magnate has announced plans to re-form the United Australia Party (UAP) that will contest all lower house and Senate seats in the September federal election.

Responding to the news on Friday, Mr Albanese said it was a case of waiting and seeing what happens.

"He has lots of plans, some of them happen and some of them don't," the minister told reporters in Sydney's west.

"Announcements don't necessarily lead to reality and we'll see what happens with Clive and his so-called political organisation."

Mr Albanese said he was confident the new party wouldn't eat into Labor's support base.

"I think pretty clearly anyone who votes for a Clive Palmer-led party wasn't a former Labor supporter, they'll be a former LNP supporter," the minister said.

"That's his niche market. If the far right want to fight with the not so far right in Queensland then good luck to them."

Mr Albanese said Mr Palmer was upset that he wasn't the only person who had influence over the LNP in Queensland.

Mr Palmer maintains there are key differences between his new political party and the Liberals, including on refugee policy and the axing of the carbon tax.

He says the UAP already has a number of "notable Australians" that want to stand for federal parliament.

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Obama consoles survivors of Texas blast

US President Barack Obama consoled a rural Texas town rocked by a deadly fertiliser plant explosion. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama consoled a rural Texas community rocked by a deadly fertiliser plant explosion, telling mourners they are not alone in their grief and they will have America's support to rebuild from the devastation.

"This small town's family is bigger now," Obama said on Thursday during a memorial service at Baylor University for victims of last week's explosion in nearby West, Texas, that killed 14 and injured 200.

Nearly 10,000 gathered to remember the first responders killed in the blast, a crowd more than triple the size of West's entire population of 2700.

"To the families, the neighbours grappling with unbearable loss, we are here to say you are not alone. You are not forgotten," Obama said to applause. "We may not all live here in Texas, but we're neighbours too. We're Americans too, and we stand with you."

The April 17 explosion left a crater more than 27 metres wide and damaged dozens of buildings, displacing many residents from their homes.

The Insurance Council of Texas estimates it caused more than $US100 million ($A97.59 million) in damage, and crews were sifting the rubble to search for clues to what caused the explosion or whether foul play was involved.

The blast came about 20 minutes after a fire was reported at West Fertilizer Co. Ten of those killed were first responders who sped out to the nighttime blaze.

The memorial service honoured those first responders and two civilians who tried to fight the fire and were posthumously named volunteer first responders.

Obama spoke for 16 minutes, quoting scripture and lauding the men whose flag-draped coffins were before him.

"When you got to the scene, you forgot fear and you fought that blaze as hard as you could, knowing the danger," Obama said.

Both the president and first lady Michelle Obama wiped away a tear as bagpipes sounded Amazing Grace.

After the service, the president and first lady were planning to visit privately with relatives and friends of firefighters killed in the explosion, the White House said.

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Don't glorify Anzacs, warns Tas governor

IMAGES of terrified soldiers who had "pissed in their own pants" have been used by Tasmania's governor to implore Australians not to glorify war on Anzac day.

Governor Peter Underwood says the country needs to remember the realities of conflict as the centenary of Anzac day approaches.

He has used a graphic description of an evacuation by a Vietnam War helicopter crewman to make his point.

The crewman describes soldiers being pushed out of an overcrowded chopper so it can take off and escape enemy fire.

He writes those being abandoned were so afraid "some had even pissed in their own pants".

Mr Underwood says Australia is in danger of overlooking the brutal reality of war as the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing approaches in 2015.

"That is what war is really like and, with respect to those who have a different view, I say that is how we should tell it to our children," he said.

The governor said the "real heroes" of war were those who fought in fear because their country needed them.

"They deserve honouring and remembering as they struggled to overcome the terror and do their duty: not the mythical tall, lean, bronzed and laconic Anzac, enthusiastically and unflinchingly carrying the torch of freedom in the face of murderous enemy fire," he said.

"Australia needs to drop the sentimental myths that Anzac day has attracted.

"The soldiers of Gallipoli must be respectfully, but realistically honoured and each of us must remain resolute about peace."

Tasmanian RSL president and Vietnam veteran Chris Munday hailed the speech, but acknowledged some would find it controversial.

"That was the best speech I ever heard in my life," Mr Munday told AAP.

"That gentleman told the truth.

"It's bloody horrible."

Thousands of marchers and onlookers crowded the Hobart Cenotaph for the city's official wreath-laying service.

Earlier, more than 5000 attended the city's dawn service.

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NT diggers praise Anzac Day youth turnout

VETERANS of World War II and more recent battles were overjoyed to see the crowds of young people who turned out for Darwin's Anzac Day.

"I am impressed by all the young people here," said 94-year-old WWII veteran Ted Milliken.

Lieutenant Milliken, who was too frail to march and was driven along the parade route, said seeing them line the streets made him happy.

He served aboard a ship in the Pacific during the war and while it was a "bit hairy", his vessel had never come under direct attack.

"I just got lucky," he said.

Air Surveillance Officer Rachel Boyles, aged 24, who served in Afghanistan with the Air Force in 2008 and 2009, praised the large turnout of people at Darwin's dawn service and Anzac Parade.

"It is really good to see the younger generation getting involved," she said.

Among the 3000-strong crowd who attended the dawn service in the city, many were of school age.

Fifteen-year-old Geoffrey King said it was his dream to join the air force one day.

"I have attended every dawn service since I was four," he said.

Earlier Bill Buckley, vice-president of the Darwin RSL, said in his speech that Alec Campbell, the last Australian veteran of the Gallipoli campaign, had warned Australians to never to glorify the event.

"It was a terrible fiasco, a total failure and best forgotten," Mr Buckley quoted him as saying. Mr Campbell died in 2002 aged 103.

Darwin turned on a cloudless morning and warm temperatures as the service was held overlooking Darwin Harbour under a full moon.

Members of the armed forces of Australia and the United States - which has a contingent of marines stationed in Darwin - laid wreaths at the cenotaph.

David Alford, 49, an ex-navy seaman, said he came to show respect for his country.

"I think this is a very important celebration of our proud history," Mr Alford said.

Military Police officer David Bates, who recently served in Afghanistan, said it was good to be in Darwin after the desolation he had seen overseas.

Lance Corporal Sean Starling was one of hundreds who lined Darwin's streets on Thursday to watch the Anzac Day parade, although he prefers not to march himself.

He served in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011.

"It is important to show support for the old diggers," he said.

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Canada train plot suspects reject charges

Two men accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to derail a passenger train in Canada appeared in court. Source: AAP

TWO foreign nationals arrested on suspicion of what police say was an al-Qaeda-backed plot to derail a Canadian passenger train have rejected the charges as they made their first court appearances.

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were arrested on Monday for allegedly planning to carry out an attack on a Via Rail train in the Toronto area.

The pair have been charged with conspiring to carry out an attack and conspiring with a terrorist group to murder persons, though very few details about the alleged plot have been revealed.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the suspects were "receiving support from al-Qaeda elements located in Iran" - a claim quickly rejected by Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as "truly ridiculous".

Esseghaier, in a Montreal courtroom, and Jaser, through his lawyer after a hearing in Toronto, both said on Tuesday they were distressed over what they described as unfounded allegations made against them. Neither man entered a formal plea.

Jaser "is in shock and disbelief", his lawyer John Norris told reporters outside the courthouse, adding: "He intends to defend himself vigorously against these charges."

Norris also accused authorities of "demonising" the two suspects and questioned the timing of their arrests on the heels of last week's deadly bomb attacks in Boston and as Canadian MPs consider new anti-terror measures.

"It's surprising," he said.

In Toronto, Jaser's defence team was granted a ban on publishing any evidence from the proceedings, and a bail hearing was set for May 23.

In Montreal, meanwhile, Esseghaier told Judge Pierre Labelle that the accusations were unfounded, but he was quickly cut off by the judge, who ordered the matter transferred to the Toronto court.

The RCMP told a press conference on Monday that the suspects had been under surveillance since last August, and were observed monitoring railways.

Police, however, emphasised there had been "no imminent threat".

The suspects' plans were "not based on their ethnic origins but on an ideology", RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said.

According to local media, authorities had first been alerted to the suspects by a Toronto imam who noticed one of the men trying to spread extremist propaganda.

Malizia said the suspects had received "direction and guidance" from al-Qaeda operatives in Iran, but emphasised the plot was not "state-sponsored".

Iran is a Shi'ite Muslim majority nation, while al-Qaeda is made up of Sunni Muslims who consider Shi'ites to be heretics.

The two sides, according to a former Canadian envoy to Tehran, John Mundy, are "natural antagonists".

"If it turns out al-Qaeda is now able to operate from an Iranian base (to strike western targets), that would be very new. That's something new and it has implications for us and the United States," he told the Ottawa Citizen.

The National Post reported that Esseghaier was born in Tunisia and identified Jaser as a Palestinian with United Arab Emirates citizenship.

Norris said Jaser is a Canadian permanent resident who has lived in this country for 20 years, and in that time has developed "very deep roots here".

On Esseghaier's LinkedIn profile, the 30-year-old presented himself as a Tunisian engineer who was a PhD student at Quebec's INRS University since November 2010.

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Cairns casino expects more Chinese

REEF Casino Trust expects the number of Chinese tourists visiting Cairns to rise, which the company says will benefit the Cairns casino.

Reef owns the Cairns casino.

"The Chinese tourist market for Cairns is expected to continue to grow," Reef Hotel Casino chief executive Allan Tan told shareholders at Reef's annual general meeting in Cairns on Wednesday.

"This will have a positive impact on our casino."

More Chinese tourists have been visiting Cairns since direct flights from China to Cairns started in October 2012.

Part of the Cairns casino's strategy is to attract more Chinese tourists, especially to play table games.

To this end, Reef says it has been focusing on providing the right gaming products, service, and having "the best and largest" Chinese restaurant in Cairns.

Mr Tan said that in the first quarter of the 2013 calendar year, the casino had experienced its best yet Chinese new year tourist season, which had had a positive effect on table gaming.

He also said the local and domestic gaming markets were holding up despite challenging economic conditions.

But conference activity at the hotel was soft, reflecting general economic uncertainty.

Units in Reef Casino Trust were five cents higher at $2.55 at 1412 AEST.

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Witherspoon court hearing rescheduled

A court hearing on a disorderly conduct charge for US actress Reese Witherspoon has been postponed. Source: AAP

A COURT hearing on a disorderly conduct charge has been rescheduled for Reese Witherspoon, who said she is "deeply embarrassed" by what she said to a state trooper during a traffic stop in Atlanta.

Witherspoon's case was scheduled for a Monday morning hearing, but it was reset for May 22. She was arrested on Friday.

The Oscar-winning actress released a statement late on Sunday apologising for her behaviour when her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, was arrested and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol. Toth also had a hearing set for Monday, but it was rescheduled for May 23.

A state trooper's report says she told the trooper: "Do you know my name?" The report states she also said: "You're about to find out who I am."

The actress didn't appear in court on Monday. She was in New York on Sunday night attending the premiere of her new movie Mud. She posed for cameras on the red carpet but did not stop to talk to reporters.

"I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said," Witherspoon said in her staement.

"It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. The words I used that night definitely do not reflect who I am. I have nothing but respect for the police and I'm very sorry for my behaviour."

Witherspoon said she can't comment further "out of respect" for the pending case, and her publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, offered no other details.

The 37-year-old actress was arrested on a municipal charge of disorderly conduct after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test.

The trooper noticed the car driven by her husband wasn't staying in its lane early on Friday morning, so he pulled the couple over. He reported that Toth had droopy eyelids, watery, bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol.

Toth told the trooper he'd had a drink, which Witherspoon said was consumed at a restaurant two hours before the traffic stop, the trooper wrote.

Before the field sobriety test began, Witherspoon got out of the car, but then got back in when she was ordered to, the report said. After the Walk the Line star got out a second time, the trooper said he warned her that she would be arrested if she left the car again.

As the test continued, "Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer. I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet," Trooper First Class J Pyland wrote.

Toth, 42, was then placed under arrest. He was charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain the lane.

At that point, the report says, Witherspoon got out and asked the trooper what was going on. After being told to return to the car, she "stated that she was a 'US Citizen' and that she was allowed to 'stand on American ground'," the report states.

The trooper then began to arrest Witherspoon. The report says Witherspoon was resistant at first but was calmed down by her husband.

Toth and Witherspoon were then taken to jail.

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Qld police close net on sex offender

POLICE chasing a dangerous escaped sex offender have blocked access to a north Queensland community and are telling residents to secure their houses.

Officers have blocked the only road to the north Townsville suburb of Pallarenda where they believe 25-year-old convicted sex offender Tyrone Speechley is hiding.

Queensland Police Media have tweeted that residents of the suburb should secure their houses and report anything suspicious.

Fellow escaped prison farm resident Algana Tiers, 26, was taken into custody near bushland at Pallarenda shortly before 11.30am (AEST) on Tues.

A manhunt was launched after the pair removed their GPS tracking devices and left their accommodation at the Townsville Correction Centre farm on Monday night.

The men were recently released into the community under supervision and both have absconded before.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised Police Minister Jack Dempsey for failing to alert the public for three hours.

"Not good enough," she told reporters.

The escape, as well as that of two teens on the weekend from a bootcamp, shows the state government's cuts are hurting corrective services, Ms Palaszczuk said.

"We're seeing the pressure felt on corrective services."

Ms Palaszczuk is worried corrective services will see more job cuts or jails privatised when the government's response to the Costello report into the state's finances is handed down next week.

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Vic discovery provides hope of cancer drug

MELBOURNE scientists have been involved in a discovery they hope will lead to a new cancer drug.

The scientists have created a new chemical compound designed to block a protein that has been linked to poor results in cancer treatment.

They say the development of the compound, called WEHI-539, is a big step towards designing a potential new cancer-fighting drug.

The compound has been developed by experts at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), with colleagues at American biotechnology firm Genentech.

The death of abnormal cells is important in protecting the body against cancer developing.

But WEHI's Dr Guillaume Lessene said some proteins were acting to keep cancer cells alive.

As a result, the effectiveness of anti-cancer treatments such as chemotherapy are reduced.

"The idea behind the compounds that we've developed ... is that the compounds are basically reinstating the cell death process and therefore kill cancer cells," he said.

Dr Lessene said more development was needed to transform the compound into a drug which could be effective on patients.

"It will lead to a drug that would have efficacy and we think it may have efficacy in solid tumours for example," he said.

"This is a first step towards the drug but there is quite a lot of work to get to that point.

"What is important about it is that particular field of research is really challenging."

The research was published online on Monday in the Nature Chemical Biology journal.

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Spending is Labor's budget problem: Abbott

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says the federal government has a problem with spending rather than revenues, predicting budget deficits stretching out "as far as the eye can see".

Treasurer Wayne Swan revealed on Sunday government revenues would be about $7.5 billion less than forecast at the time of the mid-year budget review released in October.

But Mr Abbott said revenues were $70 billion higher than in the last year of the Howard coalition government, while expenditure was $100 billion higher.

"We certainly have a big budgetary problem," Mr Abbott told reporters in Perth.

"This is a government that can't keep its spending under control."

The Grattan Institute has warned Australia must prepare for more difficult economic times ahead by reducing its overall budget deficit.

The think tank, in a new report, says that Australia faced a "significant risk" of posting deficits of around four per cent of gross domestic product over the next 10 years, requiring governments to find savings measures and tax increases of $60 billion a year.

"What we need is a government which gets expenditure under control ... under this government there are deficits stretching out as far as the eye can see," Mr Abbott said.

"We can't wave a magic wand and solve all the problems that this bad government has created overnight, but surpluses are in our DNA."

He reeled off a number of initiatives proposed by the coalition, including stopping asylum seeker boats, which currently cost taxpayers $6.5 billion of "unnecessary spending".

Mr Abbott reaffirmed the coalition would scrap the school kids bonus and "slim" the public service, and said its version of the national broadbank network was $60 billion cheaper.

He also said there would be a modest reduction in company tax, although the precise amount and timing would be revealed closer to the election.

The coalition would stick with its version of the paid parental leave scheme, funded by a modest levy on larger businesses.

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Fortescue predicts $140 iron ore price

FORTESCUE Metals chief executive Nev Power predicts the iron price will hover between $139 and $140 per tonne in the short term because of low iron ore stocks.

Australia's third largest iron ore miner says the commodity will then trade between $120 to $130 a tonne for the foreseeable future, preventing a repeat of last year's scare when the iron ore price tanked.

"We will have some fluctuations and in the short term I see this sort of price level of $139, $140 a tonne continuing because there are very low iron ore stocks," Mr Power told ABC's Inside Business program on Sunday.

He said steel stocks in China were relatively high but they were not increasing significantly and iron ore stocks were quite low.

"While there is some potential for a correction in steel production, it would only be minor and supply/demand balance is there in iron ore so there aren't the same factors that would create any significant drop in the iron ore price," he said.

He expects China's steel mills to keep producing 2.1 million to 2.2 million tonnes of steel a day.

Six months ago iron ore prices plunged to $US86.70 a tonne, dragging down Fortescue's shares and forcing it to refinance its debt.

Analysts said at the time the company could not repay its massive $12.6 billion in debt at those prices, but it now does not owe any debt until late 2015.

Mr Power also said the construction phase of Australia's mining boom was almost over as West Australian-based companies looked to cheaper alternatives overseas in the wake of Woodside's decision to shelve its onshore gas hub.

"To a large extent most of the construction is complete," Mr Power said.

"Construction costs have increased through Western Australia and Australia and I think we do need to be very careful not to price ourselves out of the market."

He added that globally there was no shortage of raw materials and commodities.

"It is about the ability to develop those projects cost-effectively and competitively and get them to market," Mr Power said.

Fortescue needed to constantly look at ways to improve the cost competitiveness of its projects.

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Vic premier U-turns on outpatient promise

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine is backing away from a key election promise to release the state's outpatient waiting list.

Before winning power in November 2010, the coalition pledged to release the list which has tens-of-thousands of people with referrals from GPs waiting to get into outpatient clinics.

Patients on the list have serious medical issues such as gallstones and potentially cancerous breast lumps.

Dr Napthine on Sunday would not affirm that the coalition would deliver on its promise.

Instead, he referred to hospital data already released. The data details the waiting time for treatment in emergency departments and elective surgery.

"We do release regular information about the performance of our hospitals and health services and we'll continue to do that," Dr Napthine said.

"It is a very comprehensive data set."

In opposition, now Health Minister David Davis attacked the then Labor government for not publishing the outpatient list.

He said tens of thousands of Victorians languished on outpatient waiting lists - some for years - before they even made the queue for surgery.

"In many cases these outpatient lists at our major public hospitals become a waiting list before the waiting list," Mr Davis said five months before the last state election.

"We need to get these lists on the record so that the community can see how long people have to wait and (so) that they can make choices about which hospital they go to, and what options they have available to them."

After becoming health minister, Mr Davis said the government had set up an independent panel of experts, headed by auditor Stuart Alford, to determine the best way to release the data.

Australian Medical Association Victorian president Stephen Parnis was assured last May the release of the outpatient list was imminent.

He said more than halfway through its term the coalition ought to have delivered on its commitment.

AAP mj/arb

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