Death toll in Canada rail crash up to 28

The death toll from the Canada rail disaster has risen to 28 after four more bodies were discovered. Source: AAP

THE death toll from the Lac-Megantic train disaster has risen to 28 after four more bodies were pulled from rubble of the devastated Canadian town.

A further 22 people remain missing and presumed dead after the rail disaster, Quebec police said on Friday, as accident investigators continue to comb through the destruction.

A spokesman from the coroner's office added they have now identified eight of the 28 bodies, up from just one earlier.

Part of a train made up of 72 tank cars loaded with crude oil derailed in the early hours of Saturday, July 6, in Lac-Megantic, near the Quebec-Maine border, igniting a huge explosion that laid waste to the centre of the lakeside town.

Police working in the disaster zone have had "a great deal of difficulty" because of strong petrol fumes, Quebec provincial police spokesman Michel Forget said.

"These are the places where there is a much denser concentration of oil. So, when we lift pieces, these fumes" reach insupportable limits for the investigators, he said.

"We have had therefore to review our strategy and deploy to other spots," Forget explained, emphasising that "the ground is contaminated with oil in some places."

Police are examining "different measures to ensure ventilation to make sure the work can continue" as efficiently as possible.

The approximately 200 police on the scene, including 60 investigators, will be reinforced in the coming days by crime scene technicians from Montreal and Quebec City "in order to accelerate the work," he added.

Earlier, investigation official Jean Laporte said the Lac-Megantic crash was "extremely likely the most devastating rail accident in the history of Canada."

The US transportation safety agency would also work with the investigators, Laporte added.

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Local ballots for Labor preselection

LABOR will hold local ballots for preselection in five seats vacated by former prime minister Julia Gillard and several of her senior ministers.

The national executive decided on Saturday the rank and file process would apply for preselecting candidates for Ms Gillard's Melbourne seat of Lalor, as well as Rankin (Queensland), Kingsford-Smith and Charlton (NSW) and Hotham (Victoria).

Under special arrangements, all the preselections will be finished by Saturday, July 27.

The national executive also ruled to remove any obstacles for eligibility for Joanne Ryan, Lisa Clutterham and Julie Ann Evans to contest the preselection in Lalor.

However, Ms Clutterham announced earlier on Saturday she had withdrawn her preselection nomination.

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Abbott ventures into Rudd homeland

TONY Abbott has nudged a kid out of the way during a schoolyard game of footy.

The federal opposition leader, who's known for his competitive streak, visited a Catholic college in Kevin Rudd's electorate on Friday.

He spent time on the field with students and had just retired to the sidelines when the ball again caught his eye.

As he charged off again in quick pursuit, a skinny young kid in a wide-brimmed hat got in the way.

With a sidestep to rival Benji Marshall, Mr Abbott nudged the boy aside leaving the student with his hands on his hips and looking slightly miffed.

The visit was marked by another amusing moment as the would-be prime minister posed for photos with students at the library.

Behind the press pack, one of his staffers locked his eyes and fervently pointed to her brilliant smile, like a stage-mum trying to elicit a winning grin from her offspring.

Mr Abbott's own media antics didn't stop him from taking a dig at Mr Rudd's.

"It's all about managing the media, it's not about running the country," he said.

"That's the whole point with Mr Rudd. He's not interested in governing, he's interested in celebrity."

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Body found in SA backyard

Origin agony as Gallen ruled out

UPDATE: WHEN Paul Gallen made an early morning call to Laurie Daley today, the NSW coach knew he would be without his skipper for Origin III.

Free rent is over for ALP relative

EXCLUSIVE: THE brother-in-law of former Labor minister Laurie Brereton has enjoyed a free beachside tenancy at Barrenjoey Lighthouse for 18 years ... until now.

Aussie 'Robin Hood' jailed in US

COREY Donaldson hoped to spark a revolution against US banks, but faces more than five years in the American federal jail system for a brazen robbery.

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Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas

PENALTIES for illegal logging in NSW forests should be 10 times higher to ensure koala habitats are preserved, the state opposition says.

Forestry Corporation of NSW was fined a total of $900 last week after being found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats in the Royal Camp State Forest near Casino on three separate occasions last year.

Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley says the "paltry" fine would not deter future illegal logging.

"As a state we should be doing everything we can to protect our dwindling population of koalas," Mr Foley said.

"Are we so indifferent to their plight that the only place they will be in a few years is in captivity?"

Mr Foley has called on the O'Farrell government to support a private member's bill, now being debated in the upper house, to increase penalties for illegal forestry activities.

This would see maximum fines raised from $22,000 to $220,000, with the possibility of two years in prison.

"Increasing penalties by tenfold will help address the exceedingly low penalties for illegal forestry operations and the forestry record on complying with environmental laws," Mr Foley said.

He said forestry penalties fell well below those for other environmental breaches, where fines of $1.1 million can be levied for offences such as polluting a waterway and illegal land clearing.

North East Forest Alliance spokesman Dailan Pugh echoed the call for greater penalties, saying there is currently no incentive for loggers to do the right thing.

"They're taking dozens of trees out of the koala high-use areas and they're making a lot of money out of them, and the fine's nothing.

"It's not even one tree."

Comment is being sought from the Forestry Corporation of NSW.

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Qld jobless rate soars to 6.4pc

QUEENSLAND'S jobless rate is at its highest level since October 2003 after rising to 6.4 per cent.

The Sunshine State has the second highest jobless rate after Tasmania.

It has risen by half a percentage point in June to 6.4 per cent, well above the national average of 5.7 per cent.

Comment is being sought from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

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NT 'stonewalling' on schools plan: Rudd

Kevin Rudd (L) can't understand why the NT government is walking away from extra school funding. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has accused the Northern Territory government of "stonewalling" on negotiations for the federal government's better schools plan.

Conservative governments in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have yet to sign up to the new school funding scheme, with a deadline looming on Sunday.

Mr Rudd urged the NT government on Wednesday to be "fair dinkum" about securing more funding for their schools.

"I still have stonewalling from the Northern Territory government as to whether they think this is a good idea," he told reporters in Darwin.

"I don't know what's going on up here but in previous times if a prime minister of Australia came to Darwin and said 'I want to invest $300 million in your schools' they would take probably about 45 seconds to get an immediate and positive response."

While he acknowledges there may be real policy concerns for the NT government, Mr Rudd says he can't understand why they're "walking away" from more money.

"They're constantly saying they're cash strapped up here," Mr Rudd said.

"Well, there's $300 million to build better schools to get better outcomes for our kids."

Tasmania on Tuesday joined NSW, the ACT and South Australia in agreeing to the new schools funding system.

Federal Education Minister Bill Shorten says Tasmania's decision means that 63 per cent of school children will receive extra funding.

He is optimistic the other jurisdictions will also sign up because "this is a good idea".

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne says the coalition will keep Labor's school improvement plan only if a majority of states and territories are included.

If not, the coalition will "roll over the current system in 12 months while we sort out the disarray and the mess Labor has created", Mr Pyne told ABC radio.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott accused the government of rushing through its education reforms and negotiating with the states with "a gun to their head".

He said the Liberals would only change the system if it was affordable and they were confident there was a better system to replace it.

"We don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with the existing system," he said.

"We will change the system when we feel confident we have an affordable improvement and I'm far from confident that what we have proposed now is either an improvement or affordable."

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Holden brushes off report of more funding

Holden has brushed off reports it wants more government funding, describing them as speculation. Source: AAP

HOLDEN says reports it wants more taxpayer funding to ensure the future of its Australian car assembly operations is pure speculation.

The company says it won't comment on negotiations with both the federal and state governments over ongoing assistance.

"That's a purely speculative piece and we won't be commenting publicly on our negotiations with either governments or the unions," a Holden spokesman said of the reports on Wednesday.

In 2012 the company was promised $275 million in a package to ensure it continued to build cars in Australia until at least 2022.

The funding would be used to help it design and develop two new vehicles that would be built at the Elizabeth factory in Adelaide from 2016.

While there was in-principle agreement last year, the details were still being finalised with both the commonwealth and the South Australian government.

Concerns over promises by the coalition to adjust auto industry assistance and the timing of the federal election are also causing uncertainty.

But reports said Holden now wanted up to $60 million more in government funding despite recent moves to axe 400 staff in Adelaide and cut production costs.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union also said the co-investment agreement was under review and more money was being sought.

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Tibetans shot marking Dalai Lama birthday

AT least eight Tibetans were injured, including two with serious head wounds, after paramilitary police fired on a crowd celebrating the exiled Dalai Lama's birthday in defiance of Chinese authorities, according to United States-based reports.

Hundreds of Tibetans, including many Buddhist monks and nuns, gathered on Saturday in Tawu county in the south-western province of Sichuan to mark the Dalai Lama's 78th birthday, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said.

Clashes began after the police tried to prevent the Tibetans from making offerings on a hillside where they had placed a photograph of the Dalai Lama, the group said.

At least 20 Tibetans were arrested following the clash, it quoted local sources as saying.

US-based Radio Free Asia said the police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse about 1000 Tibetans in Tawu.

Police officers beat some Tibetans and smashed the windows of vehicles carrying them to the celebration at the Machen Pomra sacred mountain, the broadcaster quoted unnamed sources as saying.

"They smashed doors and windows of our vehicles and started beating Tibetans gathered in the area and dispersed the Tibetans and started shooting at the crowd," it quoted one local Tibetan as saying.

Online reports of the clash included photographs of injured Tibetans and of police stopping a car on the mountain.

Tibetans in nearby areas also marked the Dalai Lama's birthday despite the presence of paramilitary police, the International Campaign for Tibet said.

"This incident in Tawu represents a major test to the international community's commitment to stand up for the rights of the Tibetan people to peacefully promote their national and religious identity," said Tenzin Jigme, international coordinator of the International Tibet Network.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, fled to India after China cracked down on a Tibetan uprising in March 1959.

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Peugeot sales dive in first half

Carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen says its global sales plunged almost 10% in the first half of the year. Source: AAP

FRENCH carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen says its global sales plunged almost 10 per cent in the first half of the year, mainly owing to a weak European market.

France's leading but ailing carmaker said in a statement on Monday that it sold 1.46 million assembled vehicles in the first six months of 2013, being hit hard by a shrinking European market share, which dropped to 12.2 per cent from 12.9 per cent a year ago.

In February, PSA also saw its sales of component kit deliveries to Iran come to an abrupt halt following the tightening of international sanctions. A year ago, PSA sold 142,000 units of the kits to Iran.

On the bright side, the group said it was performing strongly in China - growing "twice as fast as the market" after recording a sales increase of 33 per cent and a market share of nearly four per cent.

And in Latin America, it said sales rose by 20 per cent compared with the same six months last year, with the bulk of the boost coming from Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

It also said its Peugeot 208 model has been well received by the market, with more than 400,000 units having been sold since it was rolled out a year ago.

Hybrid vehicle sales were also strong PSA said, noting the company "maintained its position as Europe's leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles and its second-place ranking in terms of sales, with a 16.1 per cent share of the European hybrid market".

In its outlook for the second half of 2013, PSA said it plans to launch 17 new vehicles, of which nine will be launched in Europe and eight in the rest of the world.

Last year, PSA reported a record loss of 5.0 billion euros ($A7.1 billion) and its finance arm had to be rescued with government support.

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Ten killed in Alaska plane crash

US authorities say an aircraft has crashed at an airport in Alaska, killing all 10 people on board. Source: AAP

US authorities say an air taxi has crashed at an airport in Alaska, killing all 10 people on board.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson says the pilot and nine passengers were killed at Soldotna Airport on Sunday morning.

Meagan Peters of Alaska State Troopers says the fixed-wing aircraft was engulfed in flames before firefighters could get to the plane. The victims have not yet been identified.

Johnson says initial reports had the accident happening as the plane took off.

Flying across the vast northern state is common for Alaska residents, despite hazards including treacherous mountain passes and volatile weather.

The Soldotna crash comes a day after a far larger Asiana flight crashed at San Francisco's airport.

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Unemployment tipped to have risen in June

THE unemployment rate is widely tipped to rise this week as businesses deal with slowing economic growth.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) releases its labour force figures on Thursday.

The median forecast from an AAP survey of 14 economists is for the unemployment rate to have risen to 5.6 per cent in June, up from 5.5 per cent in May.

Forecasts for the number of people with jobs were scattered, with six economists predicting a rise, another six expecting a fall and the remaining two expect the same result as last month, when the number of people with jobs rose by 1,100.

Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan said the unemployment rate would mirror the state of the economy.

"Our reading of the economy is that growth is just below trend," Mr Hanlan said.

"Various business surveys are telling you that conditions are subdued so we're looking for a pullback in employment numbers to reflect that subdued economic environment."

ANZ senior economist Riki Polygenis said almost all labour demand indicators, including the ANZ job ads survey for June, pointed to continued sluggish employment growth and a gradual rise in the unemployment rate.

"Softer labour market conditions are just a reflection of the generally subdued rate of growth in domestic demand that we're seeing in the economy," Ms Polygenis said.

The ANZ survey showed the number of job ads posted on the internet and published in newspapers fell 1.8 per cent in June, seasonally adjusted.

Declining trends in job ads were reliable indicators of rising unemployment, as well as lower interest rates, said ANZ chief economist Ivan Colhoun.

"We continue to expect the unemployment rate to drift higher towards six per cent over the next six to 12 months," he said.

But HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham was more optimistic, with expectations that the unemployment rate will remain steady at 5.5 per cent for the rest of the year.

"We think that the economy is still in OK shape and that's enough at the moment to keep the unemployment rate steady," Mr Bloxham said.

"There are a range of indicators out there that tell you that the labour market at the moment is tracking at a below-trend pace.

"But on the flip side of that, we think that the unemployment rate is likely to broadly stabilise in the second half of this year rather than rise a lot further."

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Man loses foot in Qld farming accident

DOCTORS are racing against the clock to reattach a farmer's foot after it was severed during an accident on a southeast Queensland property.

The man, in his 40s, had been mixing grain for feed on his property near Esk, northwest of Brisbane, on Sunday morning when he left foot was caught by the auger he had been using.

A helicopter rescue crew picked up the man and airlifted him to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane in a stable condition.

"Due to the time frame in which we delivered the patient to the emergency department he has a chance of having his foot reattached," RACQ CareFlight Doctor Jacob Crosdale said in a statement.

The man was undergoing surgery early on Sunday afternoon.

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US leaker Snowden's asylum hopes rise

HOPES have risen that Edward Snowden may finally be able to leave Moscow, where he has been stranded in an airport for 14 days, after three Latin American countries offered the fugitive US intelligence leaker asylum.

Bolivia on Saturday became the third country to offer refuge to the former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, with President Evo Morales saying he was willing to take Snowden in "if he asks".

The offer came not long after Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro said he would grant the 30-year-old "humanitarian asylum" and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country could offer a safe haven.

The flurry of offers arrived after a series of rejections from many of the 21 countries to which Snowden had applied to last week for refuge.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website that has been supporting Snowden's cause said he had recently applied to six additional countries that it refused to name.

But it was far from clear how exactly Snowden - hidden out of sight of reporters for the past two weeks - could reach another nation from the transit zone of Russia's sprawling Sheremetyevo international airport.

He has been stripped of his passport by the US authorities and a refugee pass initially believed to have been offered to him by Ecuador has since been declared invalid.

"He has no passport and asylum can only be granted to a specific individual. I have grave doubts that this is now possible," senior ruling party lawmaker Alexander Romanovich told Moscow Echo radio.

Sheremetyevo only handles commercial flights and Snowden cannot travel past passport control to another airport used by foreign dignitaries.

Even if he got on a commercial flight, the plane carrying him could be grounded - the fate suffered by the jet carrying Morales after several EU states denied it overflight rights over suspicions Snowden was onboard.

Analysts meanwhile said Moscow may be increasingly concerned about getting sucked into a diplomatic spat with Washington that it had never planned for and which it would rather avoid.

Morales declared however that Bolivia has "no fear" of the United States and its European allies, and that he would be willing "to give asylum to the American, if he asks".

The offer was echoed by Maduro, who visited Moscow at the start of the week for a gas summit during which he strongly hinted that Venezuela - long a diplomatic irritant for the United States - could welcome the opportunity to help Snowden out.

But he made his intentions absolutely clear in an address at an independence day event in Caracas.

"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world," said Maduro said.

Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega voiced a slightly more toned down message only minutes earlier.

"We are open, respectful of the right to asylum, and it is clear that if circumstances permit it, we would receive Snowden with pleasure and give him asylum here in Nicaragua," Ortega said at a public event.

So far, only Nicaragua, of the three that have offered asylum, said it had received his formal request; that could mean a petition there is further along in the pipeline than elsewhere.

Ecuador had been seen as the American's best hope when he arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23 after leaking secrets about the extent of the US data surveillance programme to the press.

But the leftist government in Quito has yet to consider his application.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to extradite Snowden to the United States while still stressing that he would like to see him gone as soon as possible.

Analysts interpret the mixed message as a sign that Moscow feel like they are being drawn into a fracas with Washington at a time when it would rather avoid additional difficulties to the two sides' strained ties.

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