Boy feared dead after NT crocodile attack

A boy is feared dead after he was attacked by a crocodile while swimming in the Northern Territory. Source: AAP

A BOY is feared dead after he was attacked by a crocodile while swimming in the Northern Territory.

The 12-year-old boy was swimming with a group of people in waters at Port Bradshaw in East Arnhem Land when he was grabbed by the crocodile about 12.30pm (CST) on Saturday, Northern Territory police said.

It is believed the adults who were with the boy tried to save him by spearing the crocodile but it dragged him out to deeper water, Superintendent Michael White said.

Officers from Nhulunbuy police station, about 80km north of where the attack took place, are currently at Port Bradshaw searching for the boy and the crocodile.

Supt White said members of the local Sea Rangers will also be assisting with the search.

"This is a tragic circumstance for the child's family and friends, and highlights the dangers of swimming in waterways in the Top End," Supt White said in a statement.

The attack on the 12-year-old boy comes after a seven-year-old girl was taken by a crocodile while she was swimming with other children and an adult at a local waterhole in the Northern Territory last month.

The girl was at the Gumarrirnbang outstation, 100km west of the remote community of Maningrida, when she was grabbed on November 17.

She was last seen being dragged under the water by the animal, which had also attacked the man who had been with her in the billabong.

A three-metre crocodile was shot dead in the billabong the next day and human remains were found inside it.

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Alice Springs weather warning cancelled

A SEVERE thunderstorm warning has been cancelled for Alice Springs.

The wild weather was forecast to hit Alice Springs in the Northern Territory at about 6pm (CST) on Saturday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of flash flooding.

But the warning has since been cancelled with thunderstorms on the radar having weakened, the bureau said.

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JLo tones down concert in Indonesia

Jennifer Lopez toned down her concert in Indonesia, dressing modestly and leaving out sexy moves. Source: AAP

JENNIFER Lopez has wowed thousands of fans in Indonesia, but they didn't see as much of her as concertgoers in other countries - the American pop star had toned down both her sexy outfits and her dance moves during her show in the world's most populous Muslim country, promoters say.

Lopez's Dance Again World Tour was performed in the country's capital, Jakarta, on Friday in line with promises Lopez made to make her show more appropriate for the audience, said Chairi Ibrahim from Dyandra Entertainment, the concert promoter.

"JLo was very cooperative ... she respected our culture," Ibrahim said, adding that Lopez's managers also asked whether she could perform her usual sexy dance moves, but were told that "making love" moves were not appropriate for Indonesia.

"Yes, she dressed modestly ... she's still sexy, attractive and tantalising, though," said Ira Wibowo, an Indonesian actress who was among more than 7000 fans at the concert.

Another fan, Doddy Adityawarman, was a bit disappointed with the changes.

"She should appear just the way she is," he said, "Many local artists dress even much sexy, much worse."

Lopez changed several times during her 90-minute concert along with several dancers, who also dressed modestly without revealing their chests or cleavage.

Most Muslims in Indonesia, a secular country of 240 million people, are moderate. But a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.

They have pushed through controversial laws - including an anti-pornography bill - and have been known to attack anything perceived as blasphemous, from transvestites and bars to "deviant" religious sects.

Lady Gaga was forced to cancel her sold-out show in Indonesia in May following threats by Islamic hardliners, who called her a "devil worshipper".

Lopez will also perform in Muslim-majority Malaysia on Sunday.

"Thank you Jakarta for an amazing night," the 43-year-old diva tweeted to her 13 million followers on Saturday.

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Compo for fire-affected Vic businesses

BUSINESSES affected by a fire that hit the Telstra exchange in southwestern Victoria will be able to claim compensation.

An estimated 60,000 customers' internet and phone services were affected following the fire at the Warrnambool exchange in southwestern Victoria on November 22.

Business customers affected by the outage will be able to claim compensation, with a call centre, online claim forms and visitations to affected areas set up, Telstra said in a statement.

Telstra had restored all mobile services and repaired 92 per cent of landline services by Saturday, the company said.

About 50 per cent of internet services were back on line as technicians worked to individually recable remaining landline services through the Warrnambool exchange.

More than 50 technicians are on site carrying out repairs.

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Murray challenges fail to win votes

TWO attempts to overturn the Murray-Darling Basin plan in parliament have fallen flat.

The disallowance motions, moved by Nationals MP Michael McCormack and Katter's Australian Party MP Bob Katter, were both defeated in the lower house on Thursday.

Mr McCormack, whose represents the Riverina at the heart of the basin, announced earlier this week he would challenge the plan on behalf of the irrigators in his electorate.

He labelled the plan an "assault" on the 2.1 million people who live in basin communities and produce around 40 per cent of the nation's food.

"They deserve a future, just like all Australians," he told the chamber on Thursday.

"This plan says that my electorate must have hundreds of billions of litres of its lifeblood taken away from it."

Liberal MP Sharman Stone, who seconded the motion, said her electorate of Murray had been looking after the environmental needs of the basin for two centuries.

The implication that farmers in her Victorian district had wasted water for years and knew nothing of sustainability was insulting.

"It's not in our nature in Murray to simply look the other way when governments deliberately or knowingly do us wrong," she said.

"We know that if we don't get the environment right, then we can't continue to be productive."

Mr Katter, whose northern Queensland electorate of Kennedy falls outside the basin, said Mr McCormack and Dr Stone had nobody to blame but themselves for the economic decline of their communities.

Changes during the Howard years to push up the value of the Australian dollar and to allow fruit and fibre imports from abroad had routed small basin towns, not water cutbacks, he argued.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said if parliament "blew up" the plan, they wouldn't have a chance like this again to help the ailing basin environment.

"I implore the parliament to not miss the opportunity before us today," he said.

Mr McCormack's motion was defeated but he did win the support of Dr Stone, Mr Katter, Liberal MP Alby Schultz and Greens MP Adam Bandt.

Mr Katter accepted the fate of his motion and didn't put it to a division.

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Israel to keep to pacts with Palestinians

ISRAEL will not cancel any agreement with the Palestinians over the vote for "non-member observer state" at the UN, but rather uphold them "to the letter", an official says.

"We have no intention on cancelling any agreement, particularly in the economic field," Israel foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. "What we will do after this vote is to apply the agreements to the letter."

Palmor reiterated that in applying for the upgraded status at the UN General Assembly, scheduled for Thursday, the Palestinians were "flagrantly violating the commitments they made to resolve the conflict with Israel through negotiations and not unilateral moves".

Israel had insinuated it was considering a variety of punitive measures in retaliation to the Palestinian move, ranging from freezing the transfer of tax and customs funds it collects for the Palestinians to "toppling" the Palestinian Authority, as one Israeli foreign ministry policy paper suggested.

But such unilateral moves would be contrary to the 1993 Oslo Accords, and weaken the Israeli claim it is upholding them while the Palestinians are in violation of the agreements that were intended to pave the way for a full resolution of the conflict.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said Israel would not freeze the transfer of funds to the Palestinians, a punitive measure used in the past, but rather could skim off those monies to pay off debts racked up by the Palestinians.

"We could extract some of these funds to pay off the debts accumulated by the Palestinian Authority we hadn't taken until now," he said. "Arrears to the Israel Electric Company amounted to over $700 million shekels ($A162.89 million)."

"Israel could also reduce the amount of water it supplies, since we supply the Palestinians far more than what the agreements necessitate," the official said.

Other proposed sanctions include a possible reduction in the number of work permits for Palestinians employed in Israel or Israeli settlements, or a reexamination of VIP travel arrangements for senior Palestinian officials in the West Bank, the official said.

Annexation of settlement blocs in the West Bank, as some rightwing Israeli members of parliament proposed, was not being considered, said the official.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will bring his bid to the UN General Assembly and indicate his conditions for talks with Israel in a speech Thursday.

He is guaranteed an overwhelming victory in the 193-nation assembly even though the United States and Israel fiercely oppose the move and other major powers have their doubts.

Earlier Israel's deputy foreign minister also downplayed the Palestinians' statehood bid at the United Nations, saying it's a "virtual move without any substance" that could boomerang against them.

Danny Ayalon told Army Radio on Thursday that the measure was also "serious violation" of peace accords between the two sides.

He said Israel will consequently feel itself "less bound" by those agreements, and could respond by withholding funds or security cooperation from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

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UN court acquits former Kosovo PM, aides

A UN war crimes tribunal has acquitted the former prime minister of Kosovo and two of his former Kosovo Liberation Army comrades for the second time on charges of murdering and torturing Serbs and their supporters in Kosovo's war for independence.

"The chamber finds you not guilty on all counts in the indictment," Judge Bakone Justice Moloto told the Hague-based court on Thursday, ordering the men released.

Thursday's verdicts came in the UN court's first ever retrial, which was ordered after appeals judges branded the 2008 acquittal of former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and KLA fighter Idriz Balaj and the conviction of a third KLA commander, Lahi Brahimaj a "miscarriage of justice" because of widespread intimidation of prosecution witnesses.

The acquittal clears the way for a possible return to the political scene for Haradinaj, seen before his 2005 indictment as a unifying force in deeply divided Kosovo.

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Smith meets Afghan, Italian officials

AS security transition in Afghanistan approaches, Defence Minister Stephen Smith has held talks on the move to Afghan security control with visiting Afghan and Italian officials.

Mr Smith met the chairman of the Afghan government's Transition Coordination Commission, Ashraf Ghani, who is visiting Australia to participate in an International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance Democracy Forum in Canberra.

"We discussed progress in the transition to Afghan-led security responsibility in Afghanistan and Uruzgan Province by the end of 2014," Mr Smith said in a statement.

Mr Smith last met Dr Ghani during a visit to Kabul in April last year.

He said he also met Italian Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Staffan de Mistura who is visiting Australia as part of an infrastructure delegation at the invitation of Transport and Infrastructure Minster Anthony Albanese.

"We discussed the friendly bilateral Australia-Italy Defence relationship, including our co-operation on Defence capability and procurement," Mr Smith said.

Australia and Italy are partners in Afghanistan as members of the International Security Assistance Force, working towards transition to Afghan-led security responsibility.

Mr Smith said Italy had around 4000 military personnel in Afghanistan and was lead nation in Regional Command (West).

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Bombings near Damascus kill 29

SIMULTANEOUS bombings in the mostly Druze and Christian town of Jaramana near Damascus killed at least 29 people and left dozens injured, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The number of people killed by two car bombs in the town of Jaramana has risen to 29," said the Britain-based watchdog, updating its earlier toll of at least 20 dead.

Residents in Jaramana said the series of bomb attacks took place at 6:30am (local time) on Wednesday where pro-regime militiamen have set up armed groups to defend the town against rebels.

"Terrorists blew up two car bombs filled with a large amount of explosives in the main square of the town of Jaramana in Damascus province, killing and wounding several residents, and damaging several residential buildings and shops," said state news agency SANA.

The bombs struck Jaramana at the same time as two explosive devices were set off in the town in separate attacks, said SANA, though nobody was killed in those blasts.

People in Jaramana panicked after the explosions hit their town, residents told AFP.

Wednesday's was the fourth bomb attack on Jaramana since August 28. On October 29, a car bombing killed 11 people and wounds dozens.

The Druze, an influential minority in the eastern Mediterranean, are an offshoot of Islam. Little is known about their religion which is extremely secretive.

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European stocks drop at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets declined at the start of trading on Wednesday, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies down 0.29 per cent at 5,782.77 points.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dipped 0.20 per cent to 7,317.49 points and in Paris the CAC 40 reversed 0.38 per cent to 3,488.75.

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More back whaling than not: Japan survey

More Japanese people support the country's controversial whale hunt than oppose it, a survey shows. Source: AAP

MORE Japanese people support the country's controversial whale hunt than oppose it, a survey carried out on behalf of animal rights activists shows.

Of 1200 people questioned for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), 26.8 per cent said the country should continue its hunt against 18.5 per cent who opposed it. The remainder expressed no opinion.

Japan hunts whales using a loophole in a global moratorium. It kills the mammals for "scientific research" even though the meat is later sold openly in shops and restaurants.

Tokyo says the whale hunt is deeply embedded in Japanese culture and wants to resume commercial whaling.

Environmentalists routinely condemn the hunt and maintain it does not have the support of Japanese people.

In a press release on Tuesday, IFAW tried to put a positive gloss on the survey, which questioned people aged 15 to 79 nationwide over a 13-day period in October.

"The good people of Japan are taking whale meat off the menu," said Patrick Ramage, director of IFAW's global whale program, citing the 88.8 per cent of respondents who said they had not bought whale meat in the past year.

The survey did not provide results for how many people had actually consumed the meat over the period.

Japan's Fisheries Agency is to sell whale meat by mail order, the Mainichi Shimbun reported earlier this month. It said the move is aimed at boosting consumption after demand fell as prices rose.

IFAW opposes all commercial and scientific whaling and advocates whale-watching programs that it says generate around $US2.1 billion ($A2.02 billion) annually for coastal communities.

Japan's whaling fleet is expected to set sail for the Southern Ocean around Antarctica in the next few weeks.

Tokyo will not disclose the exact date of the departure, citing fears of attacks by militant conservationist group Sea Shepherd which habitually pursues the ships.

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Woman arrested over WA bank robberies

A WOMAN believed to be responsible for a string of armed bank hold-ups and car jackings across Perth has been arrested.

The woman, aged in her twenties, was arrested at a Koondoola IGA store, in Perth's north, after a taxi driver and passers-by held her down until police arrived.

She allegedly began her crime spree at the BP service station in Padbury, also in the city's north, on Tuesday.

The woman allegedly threatened a man with a knife and stole his wallet while he was filling up his car about 7am (WST). She then drove off in a white ute.

Police believe she was involved in a crash a short time later and abandoned the vehicle.

She then allegedly stole a silver Mazda Three sedan in Warwick in Perth's northern suburbs and drove the car to Dianella, also in the city's north, where police say she robbed a Westpac bank.

She fled with a sum of cash and drove to Booragoon, in Perth's south, where it is believed she committed another armed robbery on an ANZ bank.

Police say the woman then took a taxi from Booragoon to Koondoola IGA before the driver was able to hold her down with the help of others and phone police.

The woman is being questioned by police.

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Susan Rice to meet McCain over Libya row

US envoy to the UN Susan Rice will meet Senator John McCain in a bid to defuse a row over Libya. Source: AAP

US envoy to the UN Susan Rice will meet Senator John McCain in an apparent bid to defuse a bitter row over Libya that could hurt her chances of becoming the next secretary of state.

McCain has led Republican attacks against Rice, accusing her of misleading the public over the September 11 assault on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

"My concerns are obviously that she told the American people things that were patently false," McCain said, confirming Tuesday's meeting, which stoked speculation Rice is the frontrunner for the nomination.

Several leading Republicans have vowed to oppose Rice's elevation to become America's top diplomat, but McCain, the party's 2008 presidential nominee, has softened his criticism in recent days.

Asked on Fox News if Rice could change his mind, McCain said: "Sure. She can. I'd give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took. I'd be glad to have the opportunity."

Republicans singled out Rice because she appeared on Sunday political talk shows five days after the Benghazi attack and said it was the "best assessment" of the US government that the strike was not pre-planned.

Rice said the assault appeared to have started from a "spontaneous" reaction by protesters angry at an amateur anti-Muslim video made on American soil, as had been the case in an earlier assault on the US embassy in Cairo.

President Barack Obama's administration subsequently admitted the attack had been carried out by militants linked to Al-Qaeda, and State Department and FBI probes are currently under way to find out what happened.

Rice appeared to be largely absolved of blame when the office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed the terms "Al-Qaeda" and "terrorism" had been removed from the "talking points" brief she was given.

In his first press conference after being re-elected, Obama rushed to Rice's defence, accusing the Republicans of an "outrageous" attempt to "besmirch her reputation" and challenging them to go after him instead.

Rice broke her silence on the row last week, saying she had been the victim of "unfounded" Republican attacks.

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Abbott gives notice of trade union bill

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has given notice of a bill to increase penalties for union corruption. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has given notice to parliament he will bring forward a bill next year to improve the accountability of union officials.

Mr Abbott says his amendments to Fair Work laws will align anti-corruption rules for unions with those that exist for companies.

Union officials would face a fine of up to $220,000 and/or five years in jail if it is found they have used their positions dishonestly and recklessly to create an advantage for themselves.

Civil penalties for officials who breach rules will increase from the current amount of $6600 to $22,000.

Mr Abbott says such penalties would provide a "genuine deterrent" against the misuse of position and power.

A Fair Work Australia investigation this year concluded that Health Services Union officials misused hundreds of thousands of dollars in members' funds.

Former HSU official and now federal MP Craig Thomson, who says he is innocent, will appear in the Federal Court in Melbourne on February 1 next year on alleged workplace law contraventions as a result of the investigation.

West Australian Liberal senator Chris Back said provisions in the Fair Work Act governing default My Super funds would limit competition in the $1.4 trillion superannuation industry.

My Super is a no-frills, low-cost default retirement savings account all superannuation funds can offer their members.

This will result in reduced fee pressure innovation for consumers, Senator Back says.

"Who might be the winners, of course, we all know the union dominated super funds," he told the chamber on Tuesday.

"That is not acceptable."

His NSW colleague Arthur Sinodinos says the bill would have a "significant" impact on every employer, employee and independent contractor.

Senator Sinodinos is the chairman of the Coalition's deregulation taskforce exploring how to reduce the burden of red-tape on the economy.

He says the Fair Work Act is one of the most important acts before the upper house.

"The opposition are disappointed that this Act was not subject to a full blooded independent review," Senator Sinodinos said.

"What has the government got to lose from a full blooded review, if we are confident in the impact of this act on the well-being of this country and on various parameters of that well-being."

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