Polka-dot dresses the rage in N. Korea

POLKA-DOT dresses and manual threshing machines were among the hottest consumer products in North Korea last year, according to an annual list compiled by a research analyst in South Korea.

The arrival of the boldly-patterned dresses in the top 10 list was down to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's wife, Ri Sol-Ju, who was seen wearing them to public functions on state television.

"Young North Korean women are keenly interested in the first lady's fashion style and try to follow her example" Dong Yong-Seung, a senior research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, told AFP on Tuesday.

Dong has been compiling a top 10 chart of consumer items in North Korea since 2010, basing her findings on interviews with North Korean defectors and Chinese traders on the Sino-North Korean border.

The fact that manual threshing machines made the list spoke of the prevalence of electricity cuts in the countryside, Dong said.

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SA backs wind farm developments

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has reaffirmed his government's support for wind energy and will seek a vote in parliament on Wednesday backing the renewable energy sector.

Mr Weatherill said recent suggestions of a moratorium on future wind farm developments was putting investment in the industry at risk.

"The government remains committed to providing ample opportunity for investment in wind energy in South Australia," the premier told state parliament on Tuesday.

"Every megawatt hour of wind energy cuts about one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions.

"Apart from the environmental benefits, wind farms also bring in vital investment to our state."

Mr Weatherill said South Australia had already attracted about $3 billion in wind energy investment, creating 842 direct jobs.

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Breakthrough in Vic teachers pay dispute

THERE has been a major breakthrough in the long-running Victorian teachers' pay battle, with the government backing down on performance pay.

The union says it is a sign the new Premier Denis Napthine is prepared to listen to teachers' concerns but the parties are yet to agree on salaries, contract teaching and several other issues.

Government and Australian Education Union (AEU) negotiators are due to meet again on Wednesday afternoon.

Dr Napthine said the government remained committed to performance pay but was willing to cut that aspect out of enterprise bargaining negotiations with the union in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute.

"We seek to deal with the issue of performance pay outside the EBA process," he told parliament on Tuesday.

"I call upon the teachers' union to accept this act of good faith."

AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace said the union would never accept performance pay because it did not lead to better student outcomes.

She said the government's move was a positive, small step but the union wasn't celebrating yet.

"It shows that the new premier is prepared to listen to our profession," Ms Peace said.

"This is a small step in the right direction but there is still much work to be done."

Ms Peace said the outstanding issues included salaries, workloads, class sizes and the high level of contract employment.

The union revised down its pay claim last November to a 12.6 per cent increase over three years, while the government's wages policy was 2.5 per cent plus extra for productivity gains.

"We actually now need to see what they are prepared to offer," Ms Peace said.

Former premier Ted Baillieu promised, before the coalition won government, to make Victoria's teachers the best paid in Australia.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said Dr Napthine should become personally involved in negotiations rather than grand stand in parliament.

"Instead of these faux concessions, the mock drama on the floor of the parliament, Mr Napthine should get in a room and get a deal done," he said.

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US backs Aust and NZ's Antarctic plans

The US is backing a proposal by Australia and NZ to set up marine sanctuaries in Antarctica. Source: AAP

HAILING the waters of Antarctica as a living laboratory, the United States has joined Australia and New Zealand in appealing for the creation of marine sanctuaries in the most remote and pristine part of the world.

The United States and New Zealand have drawn up a proposal for a marine sanctuary covering 1.6 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea, which would be the world's largest reserve.

Nations led by Australia, France and the European Union also want to protect 1.9 million square kilometres of critical coastal area in the East Antarctic.

But the proposals were blocked when talks in November at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) - comprising 24 countries and the European Union - ended without resolution amid concerns from Russia and China.

Now the nations in favour are boosting their efforts to get the two sanctuaries approved at a special meeting of the group in Germany in July.

"Antarctica is a collection of superlatives. It's the highest, coldest, the windiest, the driest, the most pristine and the most remote place on Earth," US Secretary of State John Kerry told a gathering organised by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"And it has beguiled humankind for centuries as people have sought to understand it," he added, arguing that the waters of the Southern Ocean, home to 16,000 species, are a "living laboratory."

Kerry told the gathering at the National Geographic Society he believed the world can "work together to ensure that Antarctica remains a place devoted to peace and devoted to expanding human understanding of this fragile planet."

"This is one of the last places we could do this, and I think we owe it to ourselves to make it happen."

But conservationists argue the proposals do not go far enough to protect marine life - notably the Antarctic toothfish, which is fished in huge quantities and served as Chilean sea bass on restaurant tables around the world.

The Ross Sea proposal, while creating a reserve to protect Adelie and emperor penguins, as well as killer whales and Weddell seals, would still allow some 3,000 tonnes of toothfish to be commercially caught each year.

"We wanted New Zealand to come up with a much stronger proposal, and they just didn't, and they dug their heels in, and basically the US had to go for New Zealand's proposal," documentary film-maker Peter Young said.

"It doesn't matter how sustainable this quota is, we shouldn't be in the last place. We don't take buffalo from Yellowstone. We don't take kiwi from the forests in New Zealand. We should not fish from the Ross Sea."

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Consultant close to IBM, Qld inquiry hears

AN independent consultant involved in hiring IBM to overhaul the Queensland government's IT systems identified himself as a "long-time IBMer", an inquiry into the health department's payroll debacle has been told.

The Queensland Health Payroll System Commission of Inquiry is looking into whether IBM had an unfair advantage in winning a bid to supply a computer system for the state government, which included Queensland Health.

An email by IBM's public-sector expert Lochlan Bloomfield to fellow IBM workers was presented to the inquiry on Monday.

Mr Bloomfield's email said Terry Burns, the man contracted by the government to oversee the tender process, was impressed with IBM and was encouraging IBM to "push the boundaries on this - it will be very well received by him".

"Terry is almost at a stage that he is coaching us and is already 'strongly recommending' the position we should take in some areas," Mr Bloomfield's email says.

"To give some further context, Terry admitted today with a grin that he was once a 'long-time IBMer'."

Gary Uhlmann, a contractor who hired Mr Burns to conduct reviews of the government's computer system, told the inquiry he wasn't sure what Mr Bloomfield meant by coaching.

"If Terry had some particular things he wanted from the vendors, he would be saying, 'This is the sort of thing I'm looking for,'" Mr Uhlmann said.

"Because there may be some things they could bring to the party, particular approaches, experience or expertise or other things that if that comes in, it would really help ... speed up the activity."

IBM had stated during the tendering process that Mr Bloomfield said he had a "strong working relationship" with Mr Uhlmann.

But Mr Uhlmann told the inquiry he had never worked with Mr Bloomfield or known of him before reviewing the government's IT services in 2005 and 2007.

He said he would not say that he had a strong working relationship with Mr Bloomfield or IBM.

His written submission said Mr Bloomfield might have used his name "in case it might have had some positive impact in the decisions making process".

Mr Burns had offered to work for free on the review team assessing the government's IT services, which found serious problems with the management of those services, Mr Uhlmann told the inquiry.

The 2005 review of the government's Shared Services Initiative, managed by IT agency CorpTech, found staff at various levels and stakeholders did not understand their responsibilities.

Mr Uhlmann said he reviewed the initiative again in 2007 and found the system had reached a "point of critical vulnerability".

"Inaction now will result in program failure," his review said.

Mr Burns had recommended the management of the system be given to a contractor.

The government adopted his suggestion to move to the prime-contract model, followed by a closed tender process which was won by IBM.

Thousands of Queensland Health public servants were underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all after the flawed IBM computer system was rolled out in March 2010 under the former Labor government.

The bungle is expected ultimately to cost taxpayers $1.2 billion.

The inquiry will continue on Tuesday.

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Sydney man waits months for urgent surgery

A SYDNEY man had to wait 105 days for urgent heart surgery because of the state government's $3 billion cut to health funding, NSW Labor says.

Leumeah man Sid Jackson, who had an aortic valve replacement at St George Hospital, was also asked to pay a $432 ambulance bill after he was prematurely discharged from hospital.

The health minister has waived the ambulance charge.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said Mr Jackson was told he needed the operation within 30 days.

"The health minister should stop congratulating herself and admit the reality is NSW hospitals are being left drastically underfunded by her government."

Opposition health spokesman Dr Andrew McDonald said Mr Jackson should not have been sent home when he was still suffering from post-surgery fluid overload.

"Two days later, on the advice of both his GP and cardiologist, Mr Jackson was taken back to St George Hospital by ambulance as he was not well enough to get there himself.

"After another four-day stay in hospital, Mr Jackson was discharged, weighing six kilos less than on admission. But he was then charged $432 for the ambulance service, which should not have been needed in the first place."

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Mugabe in Rome for Pope's inauguration

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is in Rome for Pope Francis's inauguration. Source: AAP

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe flew into Rome on Monday to attend Pope Francis's inauguration, sidestepping a travel ban that applies to the EU but not to the sovereign Vatican City state.

Mugabe arrived amid controversy in Zimbabwe where police on Sunday arrested four of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's aides and a prominent human rights lawyer following a referendum that would curtail Mugabe's powers.

A practising Catholic, the 89-year-old Mugabe visited the Vatican previously in 2011 for the beatification of late pope John Paul II.

In 2005, he attended John Paul II's funeral on a visit that drew controversy after Britain's Prince Charles shook hands with him.

Pope Francis's inauguration mass in St Peter's Square will take place on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands of faithful and world leaders expected.

Mugabe has been widely condemned for human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

Preliminary results indicate the referendum has been approved, paving the way for fresh elections to decide whether Mugabe will stay on.

The new constitution would introduce presidential term limits and beef up parliament's powers but could allow Mugabe to stay on for another decade if he wins elections.

Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.

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Charges over $4m car pile up in Japan

A multi-car pile up involving eight luxury cars could see 10 drivers charged. Source: AAP

POLICE in Japan want to charge 10 drivers over a $US4 million, multi-car pile up involving eight Ferraris, one Lamborghini and a Mercedes-Benz.

The chain-reaction smash in December 2011 occurred when a convoy of expensive sports cars were on a freeway in Shimonoseki in western Japan, said Yamaguchi prefectural police official Shinji Tanaka.

The driver of the lead Ferrari lost control of his luxury ride and those behind the wheels of nine supercars and three other vehicles failed to apply their brakes in time.

One car driving on the opposite carriageway was also affected.

The Sports Nippon newspaper said around $US4 million ($A3.88 million) worth of damage was done.

Police sent the case against a 61-year-old man and nine others to prosecutors last Thursday on suspicion of violating traffic laws.

The final decision on whether to charge the drivers rests with prosecutors.

Police say 10 drivers, aged between 38 and 61, were exceeding the speed limit or not paying enough attention to the road, Tanaka said.

At the time of the accident, television showed footage of the badly crumpled cars - most of them red - some with airbags deployed after a smash that left six people hurt but killed no one.

"It's rare to see a chain-reaction accident like this involving expensive cars," said Tanaka.

"Some of the drivers told us they didn't really know the specifications of their cars or just how powerful their acceleration was."

The drivers were on their way to a supercar event in Hiroshima.

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Melb Heart believe they know fan attacker

A-LEAGUE club Melbourne Heart are confident they have identified the supporter was who launched a cowardly attack on a celebrating a Western Sydney Wanderers fan at AAMI Stadium.

Heart chief executive Scott Munn told AAP the club believes it knows the identity of the man whose was face was clearly caught on Fox Sports TV coverage as he landed a king hit on the bare-chested Wanderers fan on Saturday night.

"We are reasonably comfortable we know who the person is and all action will be taken to provide his identity to the police," Mr Munn said.

Mr Munn stressed the man was not a member of the club.

"His actions were not appropriate and we don't accept it - it was absolutely abhorrent," Mr Munn said.

Victoria Police are aware of the vicious assault, and are working with Melbourne Heart, but say so far no one involved has reported it to police.

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Cyprus postpones debate on EU bailout

THE Cyprus government has postponed a planned emergency session of parliament on Sunday to debate a controversial EU bailout as the scale of opposition to its terms became clear.

President Nicos Anastasiades also put off until Monday a planned briefing of MPs and a promised address to the nation to defend what he acknowledged were "painful" sacrifices in return for a desperately needed 10-billion-euro ($A12.58 billion) bailout for the island's banks.

MPs will now convene at 4pm on Monday (0100 AEDT Tuesday) to debate ratification of the deal after a briefing by the conservative president, the state broadcaster said.

Ministers will now meet on Monday to thrash out the draft legislation to put before parliament, including an unprecedented levy of up to 9.9 per cent on all savings in the island's banks that has prompted a storm of public protest.

State television said the parliamentary debate was postponed to "ensure MPs were fully aware of the situation and were better informed."

The privately run Sigma TV said that Anastasiades was struggling to secure even a simple majority for the necessary legislation in parliament, in which his right wing DISY party holds just 20 of the 56 seats.

The communist AKEL party, which has 19 seats, had refused to sign an agreement on the terms on offer while it was in power before Anastasiades was elected president last month.

Even Anastasiades's partners in the ruling coalition have voiced strong misgivings. DIKO leader Marios Garoyian said he had spoken to the president about seeking "alternative choices" amid opposition from some of his centrist party's nine MPs.

The government needs to ratify the controversial savings levy before banks reopen, which is currently scheduled for Tuesday after a holiday weekend on the island.

But state television said there was a possibility that Tuesday too may now be declared a bank holiday as the legislative process falters.

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