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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