Apartment blocks evacuated in east Sydney

ABOUT 60 people have been evacuated from two apartment blocks in Sydney's east after a fire broke out at an electrical substation.

The apartment blocks in Maroubra have been evacuated as a precaution after the adjoining substation caught fire.

The fire is not spreading, but the 15 firefighters at the scene can't enter the substation until energy authorities kill power, an emergency services spokesman told AAP.

"We're not going to send anyone in because all sorts of nasty things can happen at a substation," he said.

There's no indication of what caused the blaze at this stage, but it's not belive to be deliberate.

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14 Sri Lankan asylum seekers sent home

A MAN making his second bid for asylum was among 14 asylum seekers sent home after allegedly hijacking a ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, the federal government says.

Speaking in Sydney, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the 14 asylum seekers left Cocos Islands on a plane bound for Sri Lanka at 1pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

He said the group, which also included three children, had all been on the Chejan - a fishing trawler that was allegedly hijacked on October 13 off the Sri Lankan coast.

The boat had been missing until it was intercepted on Thursday north-west of the Cocos Islands by ACV Hervey Bay.

He said the government had decided to remove all but one of the alleged 15 hijackers because they faced "serious charges in Sri Lanka".

"The government took the view that it's appropriate that they face those charges and the removal occur as soon as possible," Mr Bowen told reporters.

"The Australian government took the view that the Sri Lankan government should be able to cooperate and these people should be able to face these charges."

He said the government was not pressured by Sri Lanka to remove the group and did not say why one of the alleged hijackers had not been expelled.

He also denied the government had acted overly secretively on the issue.

"I don't think there's been secrecy, we've been progressing their removal and that entails conversations with other governments and it entails steps being put in place," he said.

The group included one man who had already been removed from Australia after a previously failed asylum bid, Mr Bowen said.

"I'm very clearly now, we are showing that if they return again we have steps available to us which we will implement," he said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Chejan should never have reached Australian waters.

"Labor has gambled on our borders by allowing alleged pirates to enter our waters and be given the opportunity to make a protection claim," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship confirmed on Saturday that seven more Sri Lankan men had returned home voluntarily from Christmas Island.

They departed Perth on Friday on a commercial flight for Colombo.

Mr Bowen said he expected even more people return home in the future as the government's policy of offshore processing takes effect.

People who opt to depart voluntarily can receive individual reintegration support to assist with their return through the International Organisation for Migration.

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Hajj pilgrims stone devil for second day

HUNDREDS of thousands of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world, grouped by nationality, stoned the devil in Saudi Arabia's Mina valley on Saturday, as the Hajj reached its final stages.

Security forces were heavily deployed in the stoning area and first aid teams remained on high alert around the three adjacent pillars representing Satan.

Men, women and children from 189 countries moved easily from one pillar to the next shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest) as they hurled pebbles at the stone walls.

They walked in groups carrying their national flags so no members would get lost in the massive crowds.

As many prayed during and after the stoning, others were taking pictures on their mobile phones of themselves next to the pillars.

The photographing was criticised by members of the security forces who said through loudspeakers: "How are you people stoning Satan and taking pictures with him at the same time?"

The ritual, which takes place in the kingdom's usually deserted Mina valley and comes to life only during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, began on Friday with the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday as the faithful began by stoning the largest pillar, Jamrat al-Aqaba.

Mina used to be the most dangerous phase of the Hajj and the most problematic for the Saudi authorities, marred by deadly stampedes in the past as well as by fires in tent camps.

In the past few years, however, tents have been fire-proofed and gas canisters and cooking are now banned.

The stoning area has also been expanded to avoid overcrowding.

The ritual is an emulation of Abraham's stoning of the devil at the three spots where it is said Satan tried to dissuade the biblical patriarch from obeying God's order to sacrifice his son, Ishmael.

According to the authorities, 168,000 police officers and civil defence personnel were mobilised for this year's Hajj.

For the stoning, they organised specific times of day for groups of pilgrims to perform the ritual.

More than three million registered pilgrims are taking part in the rituals which will finish on Monday.

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Woman dies after her car rolls on highway

A WOMAN has died after the car she was in rolled on the Bruce Highway in central Queensland.

Police said the accident occurred at Clairview about 3.40pm (AEDT) on Saturday and that no other vehicles were involved.

They said two passengers in the car sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

Police are currently investigating at the scene.

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Death toll tops 100 in Burma ethnic strife

THE death toll from recent ethnic violence in Burma's western state of Rakhine has surpassed 100, an official says, as the government warned that the strife risks harming the country's reputation as it seeks to install democratic rule.

Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing said 112 people had been killed in clashes that began on Sunday between members of the Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya communities. He said 72 people were reported injured, including 10 children.

The government announced earlier that almost 2000 homes had been burned down in the conflict.

In June, ethnic violence in the state left at least 90 people dead and destroyed more than 3000 homes. About 75,000 have been living in refugee camps ever since.

The mob violence has seen entire villages torched and has drawn international calls for government intervention.

The long-brewing conflict is rooted in a dispute over the Muslim residents' origin. Although many Rohingya have lived in Burma (also known as Myanmar) for generations, they are widely denigrated as intruders who came from neighbouring Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

"As the international community is closely watching Myanmar's democratic transition, such unrest could tarnish the image of the country," said a statement from the office of President Thein Sein published on Friday in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper.

"The army, police, and authorities in co-operation with local people will try to restore peace and stability and will take legal action against any individual or organisation that is trying to instigate the unrest," the statement warned.

A statement issued late on Thursday by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the latest violence as "deeply troubling". He called on Burmese authorities "to take urgent and effective action to bring under control all cases of lawlessness".

The crisis has proven a major challenge to Thein Sein's government and to opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised by some outsiders as failing to speak out strongly against what they see as repression of the Rohingya.

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Malala's family join her in Britain

The family of 15-year-old Pakistani shooting victim Malala Yousafzai have visited her in hospital. Source: AAP

THE family of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban, have visited her in hospital after arriving in Britain, a spokeswoman says.

The 15-year-old's mother, father and two brothers arrived in the city of Birmingham in central England on Thursday and went straight to see her at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

"Her mum, dad and her two brothers are here in the UK," a spokeswoman for the hospital told AFP on Friday.

"They visited last night."

After flying into Britain's second city, they were given a police escort through Birmingham to the hospital.

In an attack which outraged the world, Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of Pakistan's Swat valley on October 9 as a punishment for campaigning for the right of girls to an education.

On October 15 she was flown from Pakistan to Birmingham in a medically-induced coma, and taken to the highly specialised hospital where staff have extensive experience of treating British soldiers seriously wounded in Afghanistan.

The hospital said Malala was still comfortable and continued to respond well to treatment.

She has received thousands of goodwill messages from around the world since she was attacked.

The bullet, which grazed her brain and came within centimetres of killing her, travelled through her head and neck before lodging in her left shoulder.

It will take weeks to months for Malala to defeat an infection in the bullet track and recover her strength enough to face surgery.

Her skull will need reconstructing either by reinserting bone or using a titanium plate.

While she was being treated in the UK, her parents and two younger brothers had remained in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, under government protection. They met Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Thursday before flying to Birmingham.

The girl's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, dismissed news reports that his family was placed under house arrest over fears they might seek asylum in Britain.

"I feel (like) laughing at these rumours," he told Pakistan Television in his first televised public statement since his daughter was attacked in the northwestern district of Swat on October 9.

"We were kept here like royal guests and routinely allowed meetings with close relatives but we could not meet many because of security risks."

The Taliban have threatened to again attack the teen, this time killing her, for criticising them and promoting what they claim are Western views.

Malik saluted Yousafzai for her continued struggle to promote education for girls, saying she asked her father to bring her textbooks.

"When Malala will return after recovery, I will ensure that 100 per cent security is provided to her to avoid any incident."

Pakistani authorities have identified Taliban sympathiser Attaullah Khan, 23, as the main suspect behind the shooting as Yousafzai travelled in an open-backed school van with several pupils, two of who were also wounded.

Khan allegedly planned the attack after a meeting with the former Swat Taliban leader Maulvi Fazullah in Afghanistan, the Express Tribune newspaper reported on Friday, quoting unnamed officials.

Islamabad has repeatedly alleged that Fazullah is hiding in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan after fleeing a 2009 offensive by Pakistani troops trying to wrest control of Swat and its neighbouring districts from the rebels.

Fazullah's rebels have been blamed for several recent cross-border strikes against government and civilian targets in Pakistan.

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FedEx to open $US100m Shanghai cargo hub

Global delivery company FedEx announced plans to open a new $A97.24 million cargo hub in Shanghai. Source: AAP

GLOBAL delivery company FedEx has announced plans to open a $US100 million ($A97.24 million) air cargo hub in China's commercial centre of Shanghai, betting on stronger growth in the world's second largest economy.

US-based FedEx Corp on Thursday signed an agreement with Shanghai's airport operator to set up the international express and cargo hub to be completed in early 2017, according to a company statement.

"Demand for FedEx shipping services, both to and from China, is expected to increase," said Michael Ducker, chief operating officer of FedEx Express, the express delivery arm of the group.

"By expanding our infrastructure in Shanghai, we will be equipped to handle increased volumes in Asia," he said in the statement.

The hub will also help service trade between China's developed eastern coast and the United States and Europe, the statement said.

China, the world's largest exporter, has been hurt this year by weakness in overseas economies including debt-saddled Europe, a major trading partner.

In the first nine months of this year, overall trade - both imports and exports - was $US2.84 trillion ($A2.76 trillion), up 6.2 per cent from the same period in 2011, off the government's target of 10 per cent annual trade growth for 2012.

The new FedEx hub at Shanghai's main international airport, Pudong, will triple the capacity of its current facility, by processing up to 36,000 items an hour, the statement said.

FedEx now serves Shanghai with 68 flights a week, it said.

Li Derun, president of Shanghai Airport Group Co. Ltd, said the venture will help Shanghai boost its role as a regional shipping and logistics centre, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

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Anglo-American CEO to step down

CYNTHIA Carroll will step down as chief executive of mining company Anglo American Plc after almost six years in the job, the company has announced.

Carroll, who is to leave the company as soon as a successor is found, made no reference to reports that some investors had lost faith in her leadership following a series of controversial events including a series of strikes in South Africa and a dispute in Chile.

Anglo American shares on Friday opened 1.8 per cent higher in London at 1,890 pence.

Carroll, a 55-year-old American, was appointed chief executive in 2007. She was the first non-South African and first woman to lead the company.

"It is a very difficult decision to leave, but next year I will be entering my seventh year as chief executive and I feel that the time will be right to hand over to a successor who can build further on the strong foundations we have created," she said.

Trained as a geologist, Carroll started her career with Amoco. She joined Alcan in 1989, rising in 2002 to the posts of president and chief executive officer of Alcan's primary metals group.

Carroll will also be stepping down from her roles as chairman of De Beers, an appointment announced earlier this month, and of Anglo American Platinum.

Anglo American posted a record operating profit of $US11.1 billion ($A10.79 billion) in 2011. In that year it paid $US5.1 billion for the Oppenheimer family's 40 per cent stake in De Beers, raising Anglo's stake to 85 per cent.

In the first half of this year, operating profit slumped by 38 per cent and net profit fell 70 per cent as the group was hit by lower commodity prices and higher costs.

Anglo American also became embroiled in a dispute with Chile when it announced in 2011 that it had agreed to sell its 24.5 per cent stake in Anglo American Sur, its copper assets in Chile, to Mitsubishi for $US5.4 billion. That sale was challenged by Codelco, Chile's state-owned copper miner, which had an option to take a 49 per cent stake.

Codelco and Anglo American resolved the dispute in August as Anglo reduced its holding in AA Sur from 75.5 per cent to 50.1 per cent, while a Codelco-Mitsui joint venture took a 29.5 per cent interest.

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Snowdon pledges top care for soldiers

DEFENCE Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon says "irresponsible" opposition claims that soldiers wounded in Afghanistan are at risk of receiving substandard care are creating confusion.

Opposition defence spokesman David Johnston says soldiers are running the risk of receiving substandard care under a new defence health services contract which pays specialists far less than going rates.

Mr Snowdon denies this and says those in the military will receive the highest quality care.

In July, the Department of Defence signed a $1.3 billion four-year contract with Medibank Health Solutions to provide health care services for personnel across Australia.

That includes health services on and off bases, including access to specialists.

By consolidating a large number of small health service agreements into one large agreement, Defence aims to save more than $100 million a year.

Senator Johnston said on Thursday a large number of health specialists, particularly orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthetists, psychologists and psychiatrists, had complained that the proposed fees were so far below their usual rates that they would refuse to provide these services.

He believed that meant Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel would end up being treated by less skilled practitioners.

"I don't get this - why would you lower the standards for personnel coming back from combat and it's not saving any money?" Senator Johnston asked reporters.

"This is counterproductive."

But Mr Snowdon said there would be no reduction in health care entitlements for ADF members.

"Our servicemen and women will continue to receive the highest quality of health care services," he said in a statement.

The new health services agreement contained stronger monitoring and quality assurance measures, he said.

"Senator Johnston's irresponsible comments have the potential to undermine commercial negotiations between Medibank and health providers," Mr Snowdon said.

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Sharp Corp. shares tumble

SHARP Corp. shares have tumbled after a report the struggling consumer electronics giant lost 400 billion yen ($A4.85 billion) in the first six months of its fiscal year.

The Japanese company's expected shortfall, reported in the Nikkei business daily, was nearly double an earlier forecast for a 210 billion yen loss and underscores an increasingly dire outlook for the century-old firm.

Sharp's Tokyo-traded shares lost 4.19 per cent to 160 yen by the close.

The firm's share price plunged to four-decade lows in August when it reported a quarterly loss of about $1.76 billion, prompting Standard & Poor's to cut its credit rating to junk status.

The Osaka-based maker of Aquos-brand televisions has struggled amid fierce overseas competition and a strong yen, with the bigger-than-expected loss tied largely to writedowns of its LCD panel inventories caused by weak demand and heavy restructuring costs, the Nikkei said.

A Sharp statement responding to the Nikkei story said only that the company had not officially announced any changes to its earlier earnings projections. Its half-year results are due on November 1.

Sharp, which has seen its mainstay television, liquid crystal display and solar panel products struggle, has promised to return to the black in the next fiscal year starting in April.

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Albany bushfire investigation imminent

AN investigation into a bush blaze near Albany that left a firefighter with life-threatening burns is set to begin within a week.

The bushfire at Two Peoples Bay began on October 12 and was fully extinguished five days later.

A 45-year-old firefighter was badly hurt in the blaze, suffering burns to 60 per cent of her body, and was in a critical condition for several days.

She is now in a critical but stable condition, a Royal Perth Hospital spokesman said.

Another firefighter, a 24-year-old woman, received burns to 40 per cent of her body and remains in a stable condition.

Emergency Services Minister Troy Buswell said on Thursday the Fire and Emergency Services Authority, Department of Environment and Conservation and local government in Albany had appointed an independent person to undertake an investigation into fire.

"This person will be commencing work within the week," Mr Buswell said in an emailed statement.

It's already known that a sudden change in wind direction turned the fire on the truck carrying the two firefighters.

Mr Buswell told parliament on Thursday that the women would have been trained to stay inside the truck and cover themselves in a fire blanket, but training and resourcing for bushfires was constantly evolving.

He said he was "absolutely sure" lessons could be learnt from the Albany fire.

"Fires of that nature are a dynamic and volatile environment," he said.

"I believe that from just about every single fire event that we attend, we can learn something new so we do it better next time."

Mr Buswell warned that conditions were dry as the bushfire season approached.

"It's dry in the Great Southern, it's dry in the South West, it's dry across the metropolitan area," he said.

"In Mundaring, they are on the verge of stopping controlled burns because controlled burns in October are starting to crown - that's when the fire goes up into the top of the trees.

"So we have some big challenges."

AAP r

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ACT poll too close to call

THE ACT election photo-finish is still too close to call and the final makeup of the 17-member Legislative Assembly is little clearer.

As the count continues, Labor and the Liberals keep swapping positions as recipients of the most first-preference votes.

By Thursday evening, Labor had edged ahead again, but there were only 55 votes between the parties with just over 88 per cent of the total ballots counted.

The jostling for position also continues between the candidates as preferences are counted.

About a quarter of the preferences are still to be distributed in the electorates of Ginninderra and Brindabella.

In the larger electorate of Molonglo, only two-thirds of preferences have been distributed so far.

It still appears the two major parties will get eight seats each, with the Greens' Shane Rattenbury holding the final seat.

Based on the Thursday count update, Labor leader Katy Gallagher would be joined in parliament by incumbents Andrew Barr, Simon Corbell, Mary Porter, Chris Bourke and Joy Burch plus two newcomers Yvette Berry and Mick Gentleman.

The likely Liberal MLAs are leader Zed Seselja, incumbents Jeremy Hanson, Alistair Coe, Vicki Dunne and Brendan Smyth, and newcomers Giulia Jones, Elizabeth Lee and Andrew Wall.

Greens leader Meredith Hunter is falling behind Labor candidates in her seat of Ginninderra, while Liberal MLA Steve Doszpot appears to have been knocked out by fellow party candidates in Molonglo.

But ACT electoral commissioner Phil Green has said a final result won't be known before Saturday, with postal votes still able to arrive on Friday and preference counts continuing.

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Asian markets lower on Wall Street tumbles

ASIAN markets are mixed as the effect of big Wall Street losses - sparked by weak reports and forecasts from top US companies - was offset by an improvement in Chinese manufacturing.

However, selling was also given impetus by concerns over Spain as well as profit-taking after an impressive run by global markets in recent weeks following easing measures in the United States, Japan and Europe.

Tokyo on Wednesday closed 0.67 per cent lower, shedding 59.95 points to 8,954.30, Seoul fell 0.67 per cent, or 12.85 points, to 1,913.96 and Sydney ended down 0.82 per cent, or 37.3 points, at 4,505.8.

However, Hong Kong ended 0.31 per cent higher, adding 66.23 points to 21,763.78. Shanghai edged up 0.07 per cent, or 1.54 points, to 2,115.99.

Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.

Investors took fright at big falls in New York after poor earnings figures and guidance from DuPont, United Technologies, UPS, Xerox, Radio Shack and 3M provided evidence that the US corporate earnings boom is stalling.

Chemicals giant DuPont was the stand-out loser, lowering its 2012 outlook after posting a 98 per cent fall in earnings in the three months to September. It also said it would cut around 1,500 jobs over the next 18 months.

"The US earnings report season has disappointed, with 60 per cent of companies missing revenue forecasts so far," Sean Callow, at Westpac Global Strategy group in Sydney, said in a note.

US shares tumbled. The Dow lost 1.82 per cent, the S&P 500 sank 1.44 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 0.88 per cent.

In Europe, the Bank of Spain forecast the economy would contract 0.4 per cent in the third quarter. If confirmed, the figures would mean the recession, which has left one in four workers unemployed, is moving into a second year.

Moody's cut its debt rating for five Spanish regions by one or two notches each, blaming their weak financial positions and looming debt redemptions.

But data out of Beijing on Wednesday indicated China's manufacturing sector was showing signs of recovery. The HSBC Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) hit 49.1 this month, the highest level in three months and up from 47.9 in September. A reading above 50 indicates growth.

While the figures mark the 12th straight month of contraction, they also represent the second consecutive monthly improvement and add to recent indications the economy is on the mend after a slowdown.

However, Qu Hongbin, HSBC's chief economist for China, warned that problems in overseas economies including Europe and the United States, as well as China's job market, continue to pressure the economy.

"This calls for a continuation of policy easing in the coming months to secure a firmer growth recovery," he said in a statement.

On currency markets the euro extended losses seen in New York late on Tuesday. The single currency bought $US1.2960 and Y103.43 in afternoon trade, compared with $US1.2978 and Y103.64 in New York.

The dollar was at Y79.80 against Y79.84.

Oil was higher, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, adding 50 US cents to $US87.17 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for December gaining 45 US cents to $US108.70.

Gold was at $US1,710.60 at 1900 AEDT, compared with $US1,710.66 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

- Taipei fell 0.31 per cent, or 22.60 points, to 7,314.88.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co shed 0.35 per cent to $Tw85.4 while leading smartphone maker HTC rose 2.13 per cent to $Tw263.5.

- Manila closed 0.62 per cent lower, shedding 33.63 points to 5,398.69.

SM Investments dropped 1.57 per cent to 816.50 pesos while Ayala Corp fell 0.14 per cent to 433 pesos.

- Wellington closed flat, edging down 2.81 points to 4,001.45.

Telecom rose 0.2 per cent to $NZ2.48 and Contact Energy was up 1.9 per cent at $NZ5.51.

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Breast cancer risk higher in south

WOMEN who live south of Coffs Harbour or below 30 degrees latitude in Australia have almost double the risk of breast cancer than those in the north, a study shows.

The Westmead Breast Cancer Institute study, to be presented at a Sydney conference on Thursday, also analysed the geographical incidence of skin cancer and found the opposite effect.

The lead investigator of the study, clinical dietician Kellie Bilinski, said researchers believed the link between latitude and breast cancer might be down to the reduced potential to synthesise vitamin D from sunlight at lower latitudes.

The decreased risk of melanoma, which was linked to ultraviolet radiation from too much sun exposure, supported the theory, she said.

"This supports our hypothesis that the potential for sunlight exposure and, therefore, vitamin D synthesis, is lower the further south you go," Ms Bilinski said.

A similar link with vitamin D has been found in multiple sclerosis sufferers, with the disease far more common in Australia's south.

Earlier studies had linked low vitamin D levels to an increased risk of breast cancer, while studies in animals with low vitamin D had shown tumour cells grew faster, Ms Bilinski said.

She said it might be time to adjust the SunSmart messages to ensure women had enough sunlight at appropriate times of the day.

Investigators were now recruiting almost 600 women diagnosed with early breast cancer to examine the relationship between their vitamin D status and tumour growth, Ms Bilinski said.

Victorian breast cancer survivor Jo Lovelock, 54, was initially diagnosed with a malignant tumour in 2003 that was successfully treated, but recently discovered she was vitamin D deficient.

Ms Lovelock said checking vitamin D levels could be part of women's overall health strategy, along with diet, exercise, minimising alcohol consumption and not smoking.

However, she suspects vitamin D may be just one part of the breast cancer puzzle.

"It's probably only one of many factors," she said.

The research will be presented on Thursday at the Sydney International Breast Cancer Congress.

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NT police accused over man's death

A FAMILY in the Northern Territory are claiming police mistreatment caused the death of an Aboriginal man after he left a lock-up.

Doris Lewis, the sister of Eric Lewis, said her brother died early in the morning on September 23, soon after being released from police custody in the outback town of Katherine.

Mr Lewis suffered from diabetes and needed regular medication, Ms Lewis said.

"We are blaming police. He had just come from the police station, the watch house," Ms Lewis told AAP.

In a statement, police denied Mr Lewis's death occurred soon after he left police custody.

Acting Commander Michael White said Mr Lewis was taken into custody at 5.20pm (CST) on Friday, September 21 for a number of offences relating to an incident at the Katherine Hotel.

He said Mr Lewis was interviewed, charged and refused bail, although on Saturday at 2.16pm he was given bail and taken home by police.

"Just before 2.30am on Sunday the 23rd of September 2012 authorities were called to his house where subsequent attempts to resuscitate him failed," the acting commander said.

Asked about the police statement, Ms Lewis said it was wrong and that her brother did not return home from the police lock-up until the early hours of Sunday, and died just a short time later.

She said that after leaving the watch house, Mr Lewis complained he was not given any medicine, food or water, and that he had been dragged and kicked by police.

When he returned home he could barely sit up, she said.

Ms Lewis said witnesses had also seen her brother, a Warlpiri man who was a diabetic amputee and used a wheelchair to get around in, roughly handled by police during his arrest.

"They (police) lifted him up and threw him in the paddy wagon without his wheelchair, and that is the last the family saw him alive," she said.

The arrest is believed to have followed an altercation between Mr Lewis and a bouncer at a local pub.

"My brother had left the premises. He walked away," Ms Lewis said.

She said he went to a nearby place where people were playing cards, and was involved in a card game when police arrested him.

Ms Lewis has called for a coronial inquiry to examine the circumstances surrounding the death.

"Unless there is some justice, they will just keep treating our people like this," Ms Lewis said.

Police urged anyone with information that could assist the coroner to contact the NT Coroner's Office.

"If anyone has any information regarding Mr Lewis's period in custody or alleged impropriety by police, they can contact the ombudsman," Acting Commander White said.

The death of Mr Lewis comes soon after a coroner's findings critical of the treatment of Kwementyaye Briscoe, who died in a police lock-up in Alice Springs earlier this year.

Mr Briscoe's aunt, Patricia Morton-Thomas, said Mr Lewis's death was the fifth in suspicious circumstances involving police or corrections since 2009.

"The Northern Territory government must do something urgently about the brutality and harassment that our people are experiencing at the hands of the police," she said.

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Business tax group fails on corporate tax

THE business tax working group's failure to settle on a way of cutting the company tax rate to help the economy shows Labor's tax reform is in chaos, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says.

The group says a cut of two to three percentage points to the company tax rate could be funded through changes to the tax treatment of interest, capital allowances and research and development spending.

However, the group, set up by the Gillard government after the Tax Forum in October 2011, said that despite consultation with 20 groups and more than 80 submissions, it could not recommend a specific revenue-neutral way to lower the company tax rate.

"It was clear to the working group that there was no agreement in the business community to broaden the business tax base to fund a cut in the company tax rate at this time," the report found.

Mr Hockey says it shows Labor's tax reform is in chaos.

"The business tax working group was set an impossible task to find a way of hiking taxes to fund a cut," he said in a statement.

"How can the business community have any confidence in a government that blindsided them on Monday when Wayne Swan lacked the courtesy to even consult with the business tax working group over the changes to company tax schedules announced in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook?"

In its final draft report on Wednesday, the group said a lower corporate tax would increase Australia's ability to attract foreign investment and have other economic benefits in terms of higher profits and real wages and lower prices.

The cut should be made "as economic and fiscal circumstances permit".

"This would need to be considered against other budget priorities and should take into account the overall mix of business taxation," the report said.

A one percentage point cut in the company tax rate could raise GDP and real wages by about 0.2 per cent, the group said.

Deepti Paton, tax counsel at The Tax Institute, said she was disappointed by the end of a significant opportunity for company tax reform.

"We call on the government to renew its commitment to securing a company tax rate cut, via a revision of the terms of reference of the working group."

The institute wants consideration of broader reform options such as changes to the base and rate of the GST.

It also wants recommendations on joint federal and state initiatives to drive state taxes reform.

A streamlining of the personal taxation and transfer systems is essential to ensure that the tax reform process is considered holistically and that the drive is maintained, it says.

Ai Group chief Innes Willox was not surprised the working group found little support in the business community to finance a company tax cut from within the business tax system.

"Finding a sensible way to finance it will require looking beyond the business tax system," Mr Willox said.

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Taiwan hospital fire may have been arson

TAIWAN police have arrested a person on suspicion of starting a fire in a hospital in the island's south that killed at least 12 people and injured 60, reports say.

The person was believed to be a patient in the hospital catering mainly to bedridden seniors as well as some mentally ill patients in southern Tainan city, ETTV cable news channel and other news channels reported on Tuesday.

The police department and prosecutors' office declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Fire officials said Tuesday's blaze possibly started in a storage room on the second floor of the five-storey building, a branch of the public Sinying Hospital.

The cause of all the deaths was believed to be smoke inhalation while the injured were rushed to a dozen hospitals for treatment, officials said.

An earlier estimate by an official had placed the number of injured at 72, but the figure was revised down in a health department statement.

It was the worst hospital fire in recent years and the cause of the fire is under investigation, she added.

Television footage showed the burnt-out second floor and bedridden and wheelchair-bound patients being carried out to the hospital's lawn.

"It was pitch black and the heavy smoke was unbearable, it's really horrifying," a survivor was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying.

The patient said he was lucky to escape the fire as he was able to walk on his own and was later rescued by firefighters.

Tainan mayor Lai Ching-te told reporters that the fire was unusually deadly because the hospital was in a relatively remote area and most of the patients were immobile.

Relatives of the patients rushed to the hospital seeking their whereabouts as Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta assured the public that the authorities will identify the dead and injured as soon as possible, according to TVBS cable news channel.

Chiu also announced that an island-wide check on fire equipment in all medical facilities will be conducted this week, though there has been no suggestion that faulty equipment was to blame for this incident.

A woman complained to reporters that she only learned about the fire on TV since the hospital failed to notify the patients' families, and that she was still unable to locate her relative after several hours.

By afternoon, some relatives had arrived at a local funeral home to identify the bodies of their loved ones as social and charity workers offered support.

The fire also raised concerns in the local media about whether staffing had been sufficient, as there were only six workers on night duty for the 70 patients.

Premier Sean Chen expressed his shock at the incident and sent his condolences to the families of the victims, his office said in a statement.

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Sydney Uni attracts bigger donations

THE University of Sydney has enjoyed a significant rise in philanthropic donations over the past four years - the latest of which is a $20 million whopper.

In 2011 alone donations worth more than $79 million poured into the university's coffers - a figure it says is a new Australian record for the higher education sector.

And since 2008 the university has raised more than $220 million from 21,000 individuals.

On Tuesday the university announced that businessman John Grill has handed over $20 million to create the John Grill Centre for Project Leadership.

The donation is said to be the largest single gift ever given by a living Australian to an Australian university.

Mr Grill, who has just retired as CEO of professional services firm WorleyParsons, said his donation will be used to help educate the project leaders of the future.

"Across the globe there are more large projects than ever before, many of which are vitally important to society," he said in a statement.

"Unfortunately the track record of delivering them against the primary objectives of schedule, cost and quality is not good."

He said the John Grill Centre will give senior executives the skills to drive major projects successfully.

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China reshuffles top military officers

CHINA has named a new air force chief and reshuffled other top military positions ahead of next month's appointment of new Communist Party leaders, state media reports.

The newly named air force head, former deputy chief of staff Ma Xiaotian, is well known as a frequent participant in the Chinese military's overseas exchanges.

Ma will be replaced as deputy chief of staff by Wang Guanzhong, former head of the general office of the Central Military Commission, which oversees the armed forces, state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday.

Tian Xiusi was named air force political commissar, while Zhu Fuxi is the new commissar of the Chengdu Military Region, which includes much of southwestern China and Tibet, CCTV said.

The 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army is an influential force in Chinese politics and is expected to play a significant role in decisions made at the Communist Party's once-in-five-years congress, which begins on November 8.

Soldiers make up a major proportion of party delegates, and top officers have pushed for ever-bigger defence budgets and a more assertive approach to handling conflicts with the United States, Japan and other foreign rivals.

Other new military appointments are expected as Vice President Xi Jinping moves to assume the party leadership from Hu Jintao, who will also step down as president next (northern) spring. It's unclear whether Hu will also relinquish his office of head of the Central Military Commission, which oversees the armed forces.

China's air force has attracted growing attention with the introduction in recent years of cutting edge imported Russian and domestically designed planes. Chinese military aircraft makers are working on a pair of prototype stealth fighters, although their true capabilities remain unknown. The air force also is expanding its fleet of heavy lift aircraft to extend China's ability to deploy troops and equipment far from its borders.

Last year, the air force dispatched transport planes to Libya to rescue Chinese citizens trapped there by fighting, the first time the Chinese military had flown such a mission.

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China slams US presidential candidates

BEIJING has urged the US presidential candidates to refrain from inflaming tensions with China after President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney vowed to get tough with the Asian giant.

Both men vowed to be firm on China at their final presidential debate in Florida, with Romney reeling off a list of alleged Chinese trade violations.

"US politicians no matter from what party should view China's development in an objective and rational light and should do more for China-US mutual trust and cooperation," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Tuesday following the debate.

"The sound and steady development of China-US relations serve the fundamental interests of both countries and both peoples, it is also conducive to regional and world peace, stability and prosperity."

During the debate, Romney repeated his vow that, if elected, he would declare China to be a currency manipulator on his first day in office, charging that Beijing has kept its yuan artificially low to flood the market with cheap exports.

"I will label them a currency manipulator which allows us to apply tariffs where they're taking jobs. They're stealing our intellectual property, our patents, our designs, our technology, hacking into our computers, counterfeiting our goods," Romney said.

But despite the tough talk, he discounted the possibility of provoking a trade war with Beijing should he win the November 6 vote.

Obama pledged cooperation with the rising power despite numerous trade disagreements and a gaping US trade deficit with China - which stood at nearly $US300 billion ($A292 billion) last year.

"China's an adversary and also a potential partner in the international community if it's following the rules," Obama said at the debate in Boca Raton.

China's state press lashed out at the anti-China tone of the discussions.

"Willing or not, Democratic or Republican, the next US president shall have to tone down his get-tough-on-China rhetoric made along the campaign trail," Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

It added: "Both US presidential candidates vowed at their third and last debate... that they would press Beijing to 'play by the rules' in shaping their bilateral ties.

"However, their definition of 'rules of the road' is primarily pro-American."

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Aussie troops wear new combat uniform

NEW Australian-made MultiCam combat uniforms with a distinctly Australian design are on their way to Afghanistan.

Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare said local production of this uniform was under way and the first troops to wear them would be RAAF airfield defence guards and soldiers of the 7th Battalion (7RAR) set to deploy in the next few weeks.

Australia adopted the US Multicam, or multi-camouflage, uniforms in 2010 as the most effective concealment across the range of terrains in Afghanistan. American and British troops also wear them.

Australia initially sourced them from the US manufacturer Crye Precision and soldiers found this uniform comfortable and its camouflage highly effective.

But they did complain they looked just like American soldiers.

Mr Clare said Defence last year purchased a licence from Crye Precision to manufacture them in Australia and Crye developed a uniquely Australian version of the camouflage pattern with feedback from Australian troops in Afghanistan.

"This is best uniform for the work we do in Afghanistan. It provides better concealment and makes it easier for our soldiers to do their job," he said in a statement.

"The feedback I have received from troops has been very positive. They have told me this is the uniform they want, and Australian industry has delivered."

The new uniform is produced by Pacific Brands WorkWear Group in West Footscray, Victoria. The camouflage fabric is produced by Bruck Textiles in Wangaratta.

Mr Clare said 3600 sets of the new uniforms had been ordered in a deal worth $780,000. A further 5500 uniforms will be ordered to equip soldiers deploying next year.

The uniforms have stronger fabric and modifications to improve functionality and durability, the minister said.

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Cocaine found in baby formula tins

SOME drug dealers clearly think the Sydney cocaine trade is child's play.

But the game is up for one such alleged drug pedlar - after police discovered 2.4 kilograms of cocaine stuffed inside tins of baby formula.

They made the surprising find after raiding a townhouse at Greenacre, in the city's west, on October 17.

Detectives also found smaller quantities of loose cocaine in a bag, and $80,000 in cash.

They think all the cocaine recovered from the home, which at the time was occupied by a 36-year-old woman and her two children, is worth about $600,000.

A 36-year-old man handed himself in to Bankstown police station on Monday and was charged with supply and possession of cocaine, and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

He is to appear in Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday.

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Air regulator not proud of Norfolk report

AUSTRALIA'S transport safety watchdog chief says he's not proud of a three-year investigation into the ditching of a medical flight near Norfolk Island.

Captain Dominic James ditched the Westwind jet carrying six people on a Careflight mission from Samoa to Melbourne in November 2009.

Capt James was forced to put the plane down in the ocean before he ran out of fuel after failing to update himself on the weather at Norfolk Island.

Four passengers - a patient and her husband, a doctor and a nurse - and the two pilots survived after the plane hit the water at speeds of around 100 kilometres an hour before sinking quickly.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) two months ago released its final report into the incident, finding incomplete pre-flight and en-route planning by Capt James.

ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan told the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee on Monday he wouldn't hold the report as a benchmark.

"I'm not proud of this report, no," Mr Dolan told the public hearing in Canberra.

Capt James called for the ATSB investigation to be withdrawn.

He said that after ditching the plane, Pel-Air, the company he worked for, had asked him if he was aware it was company policy to carry full fuel.

Capt James said he told them he was not aware of such a policy.

"Then I asked where exactly was that set down - they weren't actually able to point me in any such reference," he told the hearing.

A special audit of Pel-Air by the Civil Aviation Services Authority (CASA) in 2009 identified deficiencies in its fuel policy and flight training.

But that information was not included in the final ATSB report, nor were there any recommendations for the company to act on safety concerns.

Mr Dolan said the ATSB had taken far too long and should have explained the process investigators undertook to reach its conclusions.

Both Mr Dolan and CASA aviation safety director John McCormick rejected suggestions the two organisations had met to discuss having reached different conclusions about the incident to save public embarrassment.

Mr McCormick said the responsibility for the incident all came back to Capt James.

"There is no pilot in Australia who will not stand up and say the pilot-in-command is responsible for how much fuel he put on an aeroplane," he said.

CASA's decision to suspend Capt James from flying was not to punish him but required him to show proficiency he could calculate figures for fuel loads, Mr McCormick said.

The pilot regained his licence after CASA slashed the number of exams he had to take, when he launched legal action.

Aviation safety consultant Mick Quinn said the ATSB's failure to make any safety recommendations would make the industry "a laughing stock".

Another expert, Bryan Aherne, said Capt James had been singled out and suggested the ATSB and CASA had put their heads together.

The pilot's union said they hoped the ATSB report was an anomaly because it was not a good report.

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Guinea-Bissau blames Portugal for coup bid

THE government of Guinea-Bissau claims it thwarted a coup bid at the weekend after a deadly raid on an army barracks, accusing Portugal of being behind the attack.

Gunmen staged a raid before dawn on Sunday on the barracks of an elite army unit near the capital's airport, sparking a firefight that killed at least seven people in the latest unrest to blight the chronically unstable country.

Witnesses said the raid had been led by Pansau N'Tchama, the head of a commando unit that assassinated president Joao Bernardo Vieira in 2009.

It was not immediately clear why N'Tchama might have carried out the assault, but the army captain is a former associate of the government overthrown in a coup on April 12.

That coup toppled the government of Carlos Gomes Junior, interrupting a presidential election between the first and second rounds, which he was leading after the first round.

"The government considers Portugal, the CPLP (the Community of Portuguese Language Countries) and Carlos Gomes Junior as the instigators of this attempt at destabilisation," said a statement read out by Communications Minister Fernando Vaz.

Its aim had been to overthrow the transitional government, undermine the political process, bring Gomes Junior back to power and justify an international "stabilisation" force, the statement said.

In Sunday's pre-dawn raid, the gunmen launched an assault on the "red beret" barracks.

The soldiers there fought off the attack after about an hour of fighting, forcing the assailants to flee, witnesses said.

N'Tchama is a former member of the "red berets" and returned last week from Portugal, where he had been undergoing military training since July 2009, security sources said.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw the corpses of six attackers. One soldier said a sentry at the barracks had also been killed by N'Tchama himself.

A military source confirmed the attack but would not say whether there had been any casualties among the troops at the barracks.

In the hours after the raid army vehicles criss-crossed Bissau, although the situation in the capital remained calm.

Troops and police were also out in force at the airport and in the area leading to the capital.

The army chief-of-staff, General Antonio Indjai, who led the April coup, visited the barracks after Sunday's attack, as well as army headquarters in central Bissau.

Following the April coup his junta ostensibly handed power to a transitional government. But the coup leaders remain influential: it was they who chose Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo for the role of interim president.

In a speech last month, Nhamadjo insisted that his government was "not under the army's orders, either in form or substance". He called on the international community to back the fight against drug-trafficking and help organise elections in 2013.

The country's instability has allowed drug traffickers operating between South America and Europe to make it a hub for their activities in recent years, with senior military officers believed to be involved in the trafficking.

After the April coup the European Union, the country's chief trading partner, suspended aid and imposed sanctions on a number of military officers, including Indjai.

But the West African bloc ECOWAS has recognised the transitional administration.

Since independence from Portugal in 1974, the army and state in the nation of 1.6 million people have remained in constant conflict.

No president has ever completed a full term in office.

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Taliban deny their bombs kill most

THE Taliban has dismissed a UN report that roadside bombs are causing most civilian casualties in Afghanistan as "Western propaganda".

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed on Sunday the insurgents only use the weapons to target foreign troops and the Afghan security forces.

"By spreading such propaganda they are trying to prevent us from planting bombs which cause the deaths of invaders in our country," he said in an emailed statement.

On Saturday, the UN mission in Afghanistan urged the insurgents to end the use of roadside bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, saying they were by far the biggest killer of civilians in the conflict.

The organisation used the term in reference both to bombs detonated by remote control and landmines that go off when a vehicle goes over them.

The call came a day after 19 civilians died and 15 were injured when their bus struck a mine in northern Balkh province.

The UN said that blast was caused by an IED planted on a busy public road and set off by a pressure plate.

It said the bomb was "consistent with documented patterns and tactics of choice by the Taliban".

Insurgent-placed homemade bombs continue to be the deadliest weapon for civilians, according to the world body.

IEDs killed 340 civilians and injured a further 599 over the past nine months, an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to the same period last year, the UN said.

But the Taliban spokesman denied that any insurgents were operating in the area of Balkh province where Friday's blast occurred.

He also said the Taliban use only remote-controlled roadside bombs which - unlike the devices automatically activated by pressure-plates - allow a bomber to choose the time of the blast and specifically target coalition troops and their Afghan allies.

About half of the casualties suffered by coalition forces in recent years have been caused by roadside bombs and mines.

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6 % growth for Bangladesh: World Bank

THE World Bank says Bangladesh's economy is faring well despite the global economic crisis and should grow about 6 per cent in the 2012-2013 fiscal year as long as a stable political situation prevails before the next national elections.

Published on Sunday, the projection compares to the government's target of 7 per cent economic growth for the fiscal year that ends in June.

The bank's country director Ellen Goldstein told a news conference that while economic measures will influence growth, political stability is the key.

Her concerns come as Bangladesh remains undecided over how the elections in early 2014 will be held after its government scrapped a caretaker government system last year.

The opposition says it wants to restore the system under which elections are overseen by independent caretaker administrations.

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Dangerous NSW bushfire under control

A BUSHFIRE that was threatening a small community southwest of Sydney has been controlled, firefighters say.

But a severe thunderstorm has sparked a dozen bush and grass fires in NSW's far west, and another out of control blaze has begun near Brewarrina, in the state's northwest.

Hazard reduction burns that ran out of control sparked Sunday's first major fire, with bushland near the Bargo State Forest - 100km southwest of Sydney - going up in flames about 9am (AEDT).

Owners of about six properties on William Street, in Bargo, were warned they could be in danger if the fire spread any further.

But by 7pm (AEDT) the Rural Fire Service had the blaze under control, and residents did not need to evacuate.

Bulldozers were ordered to the scene to help reinforce containment lines and build a firebreak.

A Remote Area Firefighting Team also travelled from Macarthur, in Sydney's southwest, to tackle flames that sprang up in inaccessible terrain.

Firefighters in western NSW were also busy on Sunday, with a severe thunderstorm sparking bushfires around Wilcannia and northeast of Broken Hill.

All of the fires were in rural areas and did not pose a threat to homes.

Meanwhile, on Sunday evening, several residents living on Carinda Road, about 25km southeast of Brewarrina, were put on high alert because of a 150 hectare, out of control bushfire near their properties.

There were no immediate evacuations and firefighters were hoping to control the blaze before they got near the homes.

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Nepalese minister quits over bribe charges

AN official says the Nepalese prime minister has asked his labor minister to resign for allegedly seeking bribes for registering private companies offering jobs abroad.

Such companies are mushrooming in Nepal with thousands of younger Nepalese seeking jobs in the oil-rich Gulf and other countries.

Prashant Lamichhane, a media officer in the prime minister's office, said on Sunday Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai asked for Labor and Employment Minister Kumar Belbase's resignation after television news channels showed clips of one of his aides asking job agencies' representatives for more than 250,000 rupees ($A2,900) each to register their business.

The minister sent his resignation to the prime minister on Saturday, which has been accepted, Lamichhane told The Associated Press.

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