Egypt's Mubarak retrial hits a glitch

THE retrial of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak after he appealed against a life sentence began in Cairo and was immediately adjourned as the judge recused himself amid chaotic scenes.

Mostafa Hassan Abdallah recused himself after Saturday's hearing that lasted just seconds, sending the case back to the Court of Appeal which will then refer it to a new court.

As the judge filed out of the courtroom, there was an uproar with people shouting and waving their arms.

Civil society lawyers attending the trial chanted: "The people want the execution of the president."

Last October, the very same judge had acquitted the defendants in the infamous "Battle of the Camels" trial, who were accused of sending men on camels and horses to break up a protest during the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Earlier on Saturday, television footage showed Mubarak, dressed in white and wearing sunglasses, wheeled out of an ambulance on a stretcher and taken into the capital's Police Academy in a suburb of the capital for the hearing.

Inside the courtroom, he was seen sitting up, smiling and waving from inside a barred cage, although it was not clear if he was greeting anyone in particular.

In the cage with him were his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and his former security chief Habib al-Adly, who were due to face retrial.

Earlier, a handful of Mubarak supporters outside the courthouse held up posters of their former leader, but were outnumbered by security officers.

Mubarak was flown to the academy that was once named after him by helicopter from the Cairo military hospital where he is being treated, the official MENA news agency said.

He left the compound the same way.

His original trial in August 2011 was a major moment for both Egypt and the region, being the first time an Arab leader deposed by his people had appeared in court in person.

Mubarak, Adly and six security chiefs were again in the dock - albeit briefly - for their alleged complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters on January 25-31, 2011.

Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, once symbols of Egyptian power and wealth, also faced retrial on corruption charges. Another defendant, business tycoon Hussein Salem, was to be tried in absentia.

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Japan quake leaves 23 people injured

Meteorologists say there is no risk of a tsunami after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit western Japan. Source: AAP

A STRONG earthquake shook Japan near the southwestern city of Kobe, leaving 23 people injured, seven of them seriously - mostly elderly tripping while trying to flee, police said.

No one was killed.

Saturday's 6.3 quake left some homes with rooftop tiles broken and cracked walls, while goods fell off store shelves, according to the Meteorological Agency and Japanese TV news footage.

The earthquake was centred on Awaji Island, just south of Kobe, at a depth of 15km.

The quake was in the area where a 7.2 temblor killed more than 6,400 people in 1995.

TV news footage showed that some areas of the island had liquefied, a common effect of strong earthquakes.

The agency warned there may be aftershocks for about a week.

Japan is among the most quake-prone nations in the world. In March 2011, northeastern Japan was struck with a giant earthquake and tsunami, killing nearly 19,000 people and setting off a nuclear disaster.

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Plane crashes in Bali with 108 on board

A LION Air plane carrying 108 people has overshot the runway at Bali's Denpasar International Airport.

The plane crashed into the water as it came in to land at the airport about 3.50pm local time (5.50pm AEST) on Saturday.

Early reports said that all passengers and crew were safe.

An Indonesian Transport Ministry official was quoted by AFP as saying that there were more than 130 people on the flight.

However, Eko Diantoro, an official from Bandung Airport said the flight manifest showed that there were 101 passengers and seven crew.

The Lion Air fight 904 was due to arrive at Denpasar at 3.40pm local time (5.40 AEST).

"Then I got information that the plane had an accident or an overshoot," Eko said.

"We don't know the cause of the accident," he said.

It is not yet known if any Australians were aboard the Lion Air plane.

It's understood that all passengers and crew had been evacuated and taken to the terminal building at Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Photographs shown on Indonesian television showed the plane's fuselage had split into two parts just behind its wings, and the plane half submerged in shallow water.

The Boeing 737-800 had been flown from Bandung in West Java to Denpasar.

A spokeswoman with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said efforts were being made to ascertain whether any Australians were on the flight.

"The Australian Consulate-General in Bali is making urgent inquiries to determine whether any Australian citizens may have been involved in air crash is Bali on Saturday afternoon," the spokeswoman said.

"At this time we are not aware that there are any Australian victims."

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Man threatened NSW police with chainsaw

A MAN who ran at police with a running chainsaw after they were called to a home in Sydney's east has been charged.

About 9.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday police went to a Queens Park home responding to reports of a domestic incident.

When officers arrived, a man with a chainsaw charged at them, police say.

They were forced to retreat and call for back-up but were able to arrest the man a short time later when his chainsaw ran out of fuel.

The chainsaw-wielding assailant was then taken to Prince of Wales Hospital for assessment.

About 1.30 pm on Friday a 28-year-old man was taken to Waverley police station and charged with possessing a dangerous thing with intent to injure and assault officer in execution of duty.

He was granted bail with strict conditions and is due before Waverley Local Court in May.

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NSW ports privatised in $5 billion deal

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has announced a deal to privatise the state's ports for the next 99 years. Source: AAP

THE NSW government has accepted a bid to privatise two of Australia's biggest ports, in a deal that will earn $4 billion for infrastructure projects in the state.

The 99-year lease for Port Kembla and Port Botany was awarded to the NSW Ports consortium for $5.07 billion.

The consortium is comprised of three Australian companies, Industry Funds Management (IFM), Australian Super and QSuper, and Tawreed Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government.

About $4.3 billion of the net proceeds will be invested in the state government's infrastructure fund, NSW Treasurer Mike Baird announced on Friday.

It means the government's $1.8 billion commitment to the WestConnex motorway between the M4 and Port Botany was now funded, he said.

The sale would also provide funding for the Princes Highway, the Bridges for the Bush program and a further $100 million for projects in the Illawarra region.

"It's a great win for NSW, the infrastructure funding for this state has had a massive boost," Mr Baird said.

However, opposition Treasury spokesman Michael Daley has criticised the sale, saying the money raised was a "drop in the ocean" when it comes to building major projects like the $10 billion WestConnex.

He said the sale would also cause a rise in petrol prices because the new operators had "unfettered powers" to increase all port fees, rents and charges.

"The industry has long warned that petrol and LPG prices could soar under the privatisation of ports because new fees and charges will be imposed," Mr Daley said on Friday.

"It's also likely to compel a number of lease holders to move their operations to other ports such as Brisbane and Melbourne."

Mr Daley also criticised the government for removing the cap on the number of components that would move through the port each year.

"This will mean a massive increase in trucks in and around Port Botany and the airport," he said.

The head of the company that led the NSW Ports consortium, IFM CEO Brett Himbury, wouldn't confirm if the ports would be expanded.

"We expect the state of NSW will continue to grow rapidly and with that there will be a level of growth, but that will be done in a responsible manner that ensures the community also benefits," he told reporters in Sydney.

The Sydney Business Chamber welcomed the sale, saying it would free up billions in capital to reinvest in new assets.

The Australian Industry Group's NSW Director Mark Goodsell, meanwhile, said the port privatisation should "give confidence" that the electricity network can also be safely privatised in the future.

Some employees of the Sydney Port Corporation and Port Kembla Port Corporation would transfer to the new port lessee, Mr Baird said.

Those on enterprise agreements would receive a two-year employment guarantee, a transfer payment of up to 30 weeks' pay and retain their current superannuation and other entitlements and conditions.

The NSW government would also retain regulatory oversight of the ports, as well as responsibility for safety and security.

Infrastructure Partnership Australia (IPA), Australia's peak infrastructure body, said the NSW government should be congratulated on the sale of the ports.

"The excellent sale price will allow the state to make meaningful inroads into tackling the state's substantial infrastructure backlog and will prove a win for taxpayers, commuters and the state's freight sector," IPA chief Brendan Lyon said in a statement.

"The recent negative credit outlook from rating agencies reinforces the need to sell assets and rein in spending."

Mr Lyon said the sale should give other governments the confidence to follow the NSW government's lead.

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Asylum-seeker boat may have sunk

ONE asylum seeker boat is feared to have sunk on its way to Australia while another has been detained by the Indonesian navy after running aground near Sulawesi.

Indonesian search and rescue authorities are trying to locate where a boat carrying about 70 asylum seekers reportedly sank in the Sunda Strait at about midnight (3am AEST).

The Indonesian national search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, confirmed on Friday there were reports some people had been rescued by a fishing boat.

"We received information from Australia from AMSA that around 12am a ship carrying immigrants has sunk in south of Sunda Strait. It's said that it carried around 73 people," a BASARNAS spokesman told AAP.

He said BASARNAS was trying to find the exact location after being informed of the possible sinking on Friday morning by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

"We don't have the co-ordinates for the area where we could search," a Jakarta search and rescue officer told AAP.

"We only received information from BASARNAS that it's in south of Sunda Strait and they've been rescued by local fishermen. But where is it? We're now contacting local ports and others if they have such information."

But an Indonesian navy patrol was able to pick up and detain 82 asylum seekers including scores of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar when their boat ran aground as they headed to Australia from southwest Sulawesi, an immigration official said on Friday.

The 51 Rohingya, 24 Iranians and seven Somalis had been heading from Sulawesi island, in the east of the country, to East Nusa Tenggara, one of the closest Indonesian provinces to Australia, he said.

"They were heading to Australia, as usual," immigration official Muhammad Bakri told Agence France Presse.

The migrants, including several children, were taken to the nearby city of Makassar where they were being registered and questioned by immigration officials.

Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Police on Friday said it played a key role in the Pakistani police bust of a people-smuggling syndicate responsible for an asylum-seeker boat which sank leaving 94 people dead.

The Pakistani Federal Investigations Agency (PFIA) arrested four key syndicate members involved in the first boat sinking last year, an AFP spokesman said on Friday.

The AFP helped the PFIA and the Indonesian National Police identify the organisers and facilitators responsible for that vessel.

The first boat, carrying 152 ethnic Hazara asylum seekers, left Indonesia for Australia in June 2012 and sank south of Java, killing 94 people.

The syndicate apparently sent asylum seekers on valid visas to Malaysia, from where they travelled to Indonesia to board boats for Australia.

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Salvo abuse claims dealt with privately

THE Salvation Army did not go to police with almost 500 child sex abuse complaints against its officers, paying out $15 million as it dealt with claims privately, an inquiry has been told.

The Salvation Army denies there was a culture of abuse or that it was endemic in its children's homes but has apologised for the pain and suffering victims endured.

A senior army officer says nothing has been proven against approximately 50 officers named in abuse claims, because the organisation takes a "non-adversarial" approach to such complaints.

This is to spare victims further distress, Salvation Army legal secretary Captain Malcolm Roberts told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

Since 1997 the Salvation Army has received 474 abuse claims, 470 of which arose from its children's homes, over a period of 30 to 40 years.

Citing anecdotal evidence from a small handful of the 35,000 wards who passed through Salvation Army homes, Capt Roberts said instances of abuse were the result of individuals and not a culture within the organisation.

He would not accept the suggestion abuse was endemic across the organisation.

"From the evidence we have seen at the other end, dealing with claims, I don't see that endemic is the correct word," Capt Roberts said.

But he said the Christian charitable group was ashamed of what the victims in its care had endured.

"This should not have happened and this was a breach of the trust placed in us," Capt Roberts told the child abuse inquiry on Thursday.

"We are deeply sorry."

Thirty-seven of the officers named in the claims are dead, three or four have been jailed and two are still active officers.

Capt Roberts said the two serving officers were very young at the time of the incidents in which they'd been named.

"They were very young officers 25-30 years ago in homes and they are still working, but there's been nothing that's been proven against them," he said.

"Our process doesn't require a victim to prove anything."

Capt Roberts said the Salvation Army had never conducted an internal investigation into the sexual abuse complaints involving the children's homes it ran up until the 1980s.

Nor had it reported any of the allegations to police.

He said that was because the claims were made by wards who were now adults, who had the responsibility to go to police.

Capt Roberts said the Salvation Army did everything to encourage victims to go to the police.

"We've got a policy of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse," Capt Roberts said.

"Our view is when people are adults, those adults should have the responsibility of reporting to the police."

The organisation has paid out approximately $15.5 million to claimants, including legal costs, with a further $4 million available for future claims.

Counselling was provided to claimants where necessary, Capt Roberts said.

He said he could give no explanation as to why alleged perpetrators named in the inquiry were not held to account when complaints were made.

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New clues flow from slain nurses inquest

The final two witnesses will give evidence at an inquest into the 1974 murders of two Sydney nurses. Source: AAP

NEARLY 40 years after Sydney nurses Wendy Evans and Lorraine Wilson were murdered and dumped in bushland near Toowoomba, a new inquest has led to fresh evidence about the killings.

Relatives of the two women were clearly relieved after the second coronial inquest into the murders was adjourned on Thursday following three and half days of harrowing evidence.

For the victims' families, it was a long battle to give their loved ones a courtroom hearing and now there's hope their killers may be brought to justice.

"It's a great relief," Ms Wilson's brother Eric Wilson told reporters outside the court.

"We've waited nearly 40 years for this and now it's come to an end."

Michelle Tuitufu, the sister of Wendy Evans, raised her arms in a gesture of victory as she walked through the front doors of Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

Coroner Michael Barnes will decide whether there's enough evidence to lay charges after hearing from a final witness, who has been unable to testify because of illness, at a date to be set in Brisbane.

Witnesses are still coming forward with fresh evidence 37 years after the two nurses' skeletal remains were found in 1976, two years after they went missing.

A Toowoomba man appeared on Thursday as a last-minute witness after contacting police this week.

Gary John Cullinan, 57, believes he saw the nurses drinking at a nightclub with a man he knew as "Shorty Hilton" one Saturday night in 1974.

It's unclear whether he was referring to dead suspects Allan John "Shorty" Laurie or Wayne "Boogie" Hilton, or another man.

He said he ascertained the women were nurses from Goondiwindi and seemed to be having a good time, but they had seemed reluctant as they got into a car with "Shorty" and Allan Neil "Ungie" Laurie, another suspect.

Ms Evans and Ms Wilson had hitchhiked from Goondiwindi to Brisbane before they vanished.

Outside court, Toowoomba police Inspector Kerry Thompson said a number of fresh leads had emerged as a result of publicity from the inquest and they would be followed up.

Earlier, a key witness retracted what he told police in a 2008 interview.

Desmond Hilton went on record saying his cousins "Ungie" Laurie and "Shorty" Laurie had talked about having "given two girls a good hiding down the bottom of the range".

He also told police he'd seen blood in the back of their car.

On Thursday, he told the inquest his cousins had said they'd given "two people" a good hiding and couldn't recall any blood being in the car.

He blamed his memory loss on alcoholism.

During the inquest, a number of witnesses have told the inquest they believed they'd seen Ms Evans and Ms Wilson being forced into a green Holden around the time of their disappearance.

Key surviving suspects Allan "Ungie" Laurie and Terrence "Jimmy" Neil denied any involvement in the murders.

The inquest also heard that a gang of local men had regularly abducted women from the Toowoomba's main street in the 1970s, and that dead suspect Wayne "Boogie" Hilton had once confessed to his boss that he and his brother killed two nurses.

Ms Wilson, 20, and Ms Evans, 18, disappeared while hitchhiking in Queensland in October 1974.

Their remains were found two years later in bushland, at Murphys Creek, near the southern Queensland city of Toowoomba.

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Residents in China 'ordered to cull birds'

More than 2000 poultry birds have been culled in China in response to the new strain of bird flu. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS of a Chinese city have been ordered to cull all their poultry as authorities step up attempts to halt the spread of the deadly H7N9 bird flu, state media reports.

Thousands of birds and livestock were slaughtered by the Tuesday midnight deadline in Nanjing, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, the China Daily said on Thursday.

The number of cases of the H7N9 strain of avian influenza rose to 33 on Wednesday, with nine deaths since China announced over a week ago that it had been found in humans for the first time.

Residents who did not comply with the regulation in Nanjing would be fined up to 50 yuan ($A8), the China Daily said, adding that local officials offered help to kill birds and animals.

More than 2000 were dispatched by the authorities.

The newspaper also indirectly quoted an agricultural official in Beijing saying the measure "goes too far and could cause panic".

Shanghai has culled more than 111,000 birds, banned trading in live poultry and shut markets in a bid to curb the outbreak.

Nanjing and the city of Suzhou followed suit with bans on live poultry trade, while Hangzhou culled poultry after discovering infected quail.

In China poultry is often bought live from markets and taken home before being slaughtered, cooked and eaten.

Meanwhile, the state-run Global Times reported on Thursday that anti-bird nets were being erected in poultry farms in Beijing to prevent possible avian flu infection from migrant birds.

"With the weather getting warmer, migrant birds are back now but there is still not enough food for them in Beijing," the newspaper quoted a spokesman for Beijing Infectious Animal Plague Prevention Office as saying.

"It is possible that they will seek food in open poultry farms with free range poultry. If there are H7N9 carriers, other birds might get infected and that is why we made this decision," the official added.

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'Dead' Qaeda leader delivers message

AL-QAEDA in the Arabian Peninsula has posted online an audio message from its second-in-command, Saeed al-Shehri, whose death was announced by Yemen in January, a monitoring group says.

The 14-minute audio produced by AQAP's media arm Al-Malahem Foundation is accompanied by what the US-based SITE Monitoring Service said was a new photograph of the Saudi militant.

Shehri's death has been announced several times by the Yemeni authorities, most recently on January 24.

It was unclear when the latest audio message, posted on jihadist forms on Tuesday, had been recorded.

Most of the message is directed against Saudi Arabia, which Shehri accuses of allowing Americans to attack "the faithful of Yemen" from their soil.

"We must get rid of the Al-Saud regime by all means," he says.

He was clearly referring to US drone strikes against Al-Qaeda targets in Yemen which jihadists claim are launched from bases in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Shehri has long been been hounded by Yemen's security forces and has survived a number of attempts on his life.

Yemen's Supreme National Security Committee had in January reported that Shehri succumbed to wounds received in a counter-terrorism operation in the northern Saada province on November 28.

Last October, he denied a September announcement by Yemen's defence ministry that he had been killed in an army raid, in an audio message posted on extremist internet forums.

SITE had also quoted a radical Islamist as reporting on Twitter that Shehri had died "after a long journey in fighting the Zionist-Crusader campaign."

In the latest message, Shehri made no reference to reports of his death.

The militant leader was released from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in 2007 and was flown to Saudi Arabia, where he was put through a rehabilitation program.

After completing the program, he disappeared and later resurfaced as AQAP's number two.

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Qld govt declares Gonski a 'conski'

DENOUNCING Canberra's Gonski education reform plans as a "conski", the Queensland government has issued a list of schools throughout the state it claims would be worse off under the initiative.

Federal Minister for School Education Peter Garrett says the list is wrong and should be ignored.

Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek on Wednesday released a list of 102 schools throughout the state he claimed would be poorer under the Gonski plan.

Mr Langbroek said schools in the state, Catholic and independent sectors would receive 10 to 18 per cent less funding than they were currently receiving.

"We've had a number of different models given to us by the federal government that show significant issues for schools in Queensland," he said in a statement.

"That's why the premier and I have been so strident about this; we are not going to sign up to a plan where 102 Queensland schools will lose funding in real terms."

However, Mr Garrett insisted Canberra will guarantee every school in Australia will get its funding, plus indexation of three per cent as a bare minimum.

"The vast majority of schools will receive increases in funding on top of their current allocations, which will also be indexed," he said.

"This means no school will be worse off in real terms.

"We can't be any clearer than that."

Mr Garrett accused Mr Langbroek of scaremongering with a political purpose.

"He is pursuing this distraction because the Queensland government has failed to commit to investment in schools, and has no policy on how to meet the needs of Queensland students," Mr Garrett said.

Mr Langbroek denied Mr Garrett's claims that all states have details of funding for the Gonski plan.

"Mr Garrett is not telling the truth," he said.

Mr Langbroek said modelling details from Canberra all carry a disclaimer that the figures "do not represent a final position or offer from the commonwealth".

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NSW Library welcomes Ned Kelly poster

An original wanted poster for Ned Kelly will be featured in a gallery at the State Library of NSW. Source: AAP

AN original wanted poster for Ned Kelly and a letter from Captain James Cook are among 60 relics and rare books that will go on public display for the first time in Sydney.

The items are featured in a new gallery at the State Library of NSW showcasing the personal collection of Sir William Dixson.

The AMAZE gallery was built with the support of Australian manufacturer Michael Crouch, who donated $1.4 million to the library.

It will open with the Dixson 60 exhibition on April 11 and primarily showcase the library's acquisitions and celebrate historic anniversaries.

Sir William - whose generosity earned him a library wing and gallery bearing his name - bequeathed his extensive collection to the library in 1952.

The Dixson 60 exhibition also includes rare letters and diaries, including a journal from the First Fleet, as well as sea atlases and maps produced centuries ago and a copy of the 1918 children's book The Magic Pudding.

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Coalition NBN policy is a lemon: critics

THE coalition's plan to deliver earlier and cheaper broadband to Australia has been dismissed as slow and inadequate by the government and IT experts.

In announcing the coalition's first major policy of the election year, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott promised that if elected, his government would offer all households and business minimum download speeds of 25 megabits a second (Mbps) by the end of its first term in 2016.

But Labor's National Broadband Network (NBN) offers download speeds of up to 100 Mbps, with a plan to give households and businesses access to speeds of up to one gigabit per second to those connected by the end of 2014.

Critics say the main plan to roll out optic fibre cable to "nodes" - cabinets on street corners - short-changes the nation's communications infrastructure future.

"It cannot deliver the high-speed services that Australians require to take full advantage of broadband-enabled healthcare, education and business opportunities," Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in a statement.

RMIT University telecommunications expert and senior lecturer Mike Gregory said the policy wasn't a sensible answer to Australia's communications needs.

"This is the biggest lemon in Australia's history," Dr Gregory told AAP.

"What they are trying to do is offer us a bag of lollies by saying we can do it cheaper and faster, but what we are really being sold is a lemon."

The coalition's NBN would cut costs by using Telstra's copper network from the node to premises in city and most rural areas - bypassing Labor's plan to roll out optic fibre cable all the way.

"We will build fibre-to-the-node and that eliminates two-thirds of the cost," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

The capital cost of the NBN under the coalition's plan is $20.4 billion, against Labor's $37.4 billion.

Including other funding, the cost rises to $29.5 billion to complete the project by 2019, while Labor's project would be $44.1 billion to finish by 2021.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the policy was based on what telecommunication companies and other governments were doing around the world.

"What we are presenting here is a plan that is consistent with the best practice in the world," he said.

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said installing tens of thousands of boxes on street corners meant most households would be "stranded" on a decaying copper network, while new housing estates received modern fibre technology.

"It's a farce," Senator Milne said in Hobart.

An incoming coalition government would aim to have its fibre-to-the-node rollout fully under way by the second half of 2014, following several reviews into the NBN project.

And if it wins a second term it promises to increase the minimum download speed to 50 Mbps for 90 per cent of Australians by 2019.

Mr Abbott said 25 Mbps was more than enough to cater to the average household's broadband needs.

"We are absolutely confident," he said.

Download speeds are currently around 5 Mbps.

Meanwhile, the director of Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society, Rod Tucker, said the coalition's fibre-to-the-node network would use twice as much power as Labor's.

"There is more energy being consumed by that network, which in turn creates a greater greenhouse impact than a fibre-to-the-premises network," Prof Tucker told AAP.

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Britain grapples with Thatcher legacy

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the controversial "Iron Lady", has died aged 87. Source: AAP

BRITAIN is wrestling with violent passions ignited by the death of divisive former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Critics of the "Iron Lady" have clashed with police and supporters preparing to pay tribute to her in parliament.

World reaction was also divided with Pope Francis hailing her promotion of freedom but people in the pontiff's homeland Argentina condemning Thatcher as a warmonger who prolonged the 1982 Falklands War for political ends.

Thatcher's body was removed early Tuesday from the Ritz Hotel in London, where the first female leader of a Western democracy died aged 87, ahead of a ceremonial funeral that is expected to take place next week.

But Thatcher remained as polarising in death as she was in life, with six police injured at one of a number of parties that took place across the country to celebrate the death of a woman whose critics accuse of destroying British industry.

A private ambulance accompanied by police motorcycle outriders arrived in the early hours of Tuesday at the luxury Ritz hotel in central London where Thatcher spent the last days of her long life, an AFP photographer said.

Undertakers erected a green screen at the back door of the hotel before removing her body.

Baroness Thatcher, her official title, will receive a funeral with military honours which is expected to take place next week at St Paul's Cathedral in London, after which she will be cremated, officials have said.

The government has yet to confirm a date.

Thatcher, a Conservative, specifically did not want a full state funeral of the kind given to monarchs and to World War II premier Winston Churchill, thinking it was "not appropriate", her spokesman Lord Tim Bell said.

Thatcher also requested that she did not get a fly past by military aircraft as it would be a "waste of money".

His comments came after several Conservative lawmakers called for her to be given a state funeral.

Ceremonial funerals have in the past been given to the Queen Mother - the mother of current monarch Queen Elizabeth II who died in 2002 - and to Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

But Thatcher's funeral will still be a grand affair. Her coffin will rest in the Palace of Westminster - part of the Houses of Parliament - the night before the funeral and will be taken through the streets on a gun carriage to the cathedral.

Prime Minister David Cameron called her the "patriot prime minister". Thatcher, the former Conservative Party leader, was the 20th century's longest continuous occupant of Downing Street from 1979 to 1990.

Both houses of Britain's parliament have also been recalled on Wednesday for a debate on her legacy.

The government is expected to table a motion paying tribute to Thatcher - who has her own statue outside the House of Commons, or lower house of parliament - which lawmakers will then vote on.

But trouble erupted at several parties to celebrate her death, reminiscent in their own small way of the sometimes violent protests by miners, trade unions and anti-tax protesters during the 1980s.

In Bristol, southwest England, six police officers were injured, one seriously, when they tried to break up a party of about 200 people believed to be celebrating her death, police told AFP.

Bottles and cans were thrown at officers and bin fires were started.

The advertisement for the street party read, "Let's see the evil Tory off in style. May she never ever RIP."

Details of the event were posted on the Bristol Indymedia website, which lists "10 reasons to hate Thatcher", including her anti-trade union policies, employment policies, politics of individualism and approach to the Falklands.

In the south London neighbourhood of Brixton, sworn enemies of the Iron Lady held a street party to celebrate the news, holding placards saying "Rejoice - Thatcher is dead" and dancing to hip-hop and reggae songs blaring from sound systems.

Police said there was "low level" disorder and the group threw a small number of objects at officers, but there were no arrests and no serious injuries.

A similar party took place in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Britain's newspapers were similarly divided even if they were unanimous on the depth of her impact.

World leaders have heaped praise on her, with Australian prime minister Julia Gillard among the latest to pay tribute by saying Thatcher "changed history for women".

Pope Francis said he recalled "with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations."

But in Argentina, several veterans of the Falklands War reacted with delight at news of her death.

"God bless the day that that terrible woman has died," said Domenico Gruscomagno, 71.

"She was an odious person. In order to win elections in Great Britain, she waged war."

Mario Volpe, leader of the Malvinas (Falklands) War Veterans Center, said Thatcher "died without being punished, without having been put on trial."

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Qld cold-case inquest told of 'gang bang'

A QUEENSLAND cold-case inquest has heard chilling evidence of a murder confession and tales of a "gang bang" in a paddock not far from where the bodies of two Sydney nurses were found.

A mill worker confessed to his boss that he had helped kill nurses Lorraine Wilson and Wendy Evans in 1974, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday.

Local sawmill hand Wayne Hilton had made the confession before he died in a car crash in 1986, saying he had to quit his job because he'd done "something bad", witness Neil Shum said.

"He said, 'You would've heard of the nurses being murdered below the range'," Mr Shum, who was Mr Hilton's boss at the mill, told Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

"He said, 'It was me and my brother done that'."

Mr Shum said Hilton told him the police were "right onto them" and asked him what he would do in the situation.

"I said I'd give myself up as quick as possible," Mr Shum said.

"He said, 'I can't do that'."

Mr Shum said he did not ask which brother Hilton had been referring to, saying he only knew of one brother, who was in jail at the time.

At least five men have been named as "persons of interest" in the case.

Only three are still alive and all are to give evidence at the inquest on Wednesday.

Earlier, the court heard two women were seen having group sex with men who were later named as suspects in the murders.

The brother of dead suspect Allan John "Shorty" Laurie said he saw a "gang bang" involving "two girls from Goondiwindi" and a group of men in a paddock at Murphys Creek.

Ms Wilson and Ms Evans were hitchhiking from Goondiwindi, on the Queensland-NSW border, to Brisbane, when they disappeared in 1974.

Their skeletal remains were found, bound and with multiple skull fractures, two years later at Murphys Creek, near Toowoomba.

Walter Laurie told the inquest he was 10 when he saw the incident in 1974 and neither woman had fought back, though one had said "no more".

With a tattoo of his dead brother's nickname "Shorty" visible on his forearm, Mr Laurie said the women were not necessarily the slain nurses and could have been "any girls".

He admitted to suffering poor memory after a car accident and conceded that he'd only recalled the group sex incident after sessions with a counsellor much later.

This is the second coronial inquest into the women's deaths, after a 1985 probe failed to result in any arrests.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

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Women's screams haunt Qld witnesses

CHILLING witness accounts of two women being abducted and bloodcurdling screams in the night have emerged at a cold-case inquest in Queensland.

Fresh evidence about how two Sydney nurses died almost four decades ago and who might have killed them was revealed in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday.

The evidence in the second coronial inquest into the 1970s deaths of Lorraine Wilson and Wendy Evans raises serious questions about the initial police investigation.

Wilson, 20, and Evans, 18, disappeared while hitchhiking in Queensland in October 1974.

Their skeletal remains were found, bound and with multiple skull fractures, two years later at Murphys Creek, near Toowoomba.

A 1985 inquest failed to result in charges being laid but police have uncovered new evidence.

On Monday, for the first time, the names of seven persons of interest were revealed in court.

A former officer described how in 1974 he had listened helplessly to two women's distant screams for more than half an hour, unable to detect where they were coming from in the bush.

Former Toowoomba policeman Ian Hamilton had been about four or five kilometres from where the women's bodies were eventually found.

He and his partner were called to a youth camp near Murphys Creek near the foot of the Toowoomba Range one night in October 1974.

"(It's) probably the only time in the service I've ever experienced the hairs stand up on the back of my neck," he told the court.

"They were just the most blood-curdling, horrendous screams I've ever heard in my life.

"It was obvious that they were in desperate trouble."

Other witnesses told of seeing two women matching the victims' descriptions being manhandled by two or more men into a green Holden by the side of the road at Toowoomba.

One woman screamed: "Help me, oh God help me", according to witness Brian Britcher, who said he was too scared to stop or call police until at least the next day.

"I've lived with that for (more than) 30 years," he said.

The inquest was played a recording of a 2008 police interview with one of the three surviving people of interest.

In it, Desmond Roy Hilton tells of hearing some of the persons of interest bragging "that they gave two girls a good hiding ... down the bottom of the range".

Mr Hilton is to give evidence at the inquest on Wednesday.

A former police investigator told the inquest he believed there was enough evidence to arrest Hilton's cousin, Wayne Hilton, for the murders, but he'd died in 1986.

Former senior sergeant Paul Ruge also called the original police investigation inadequate, saying lines of inquiry weren't followed up.

Outside court, Wendy Evans' sister Michelle Tuifufu said it was a difficult day but the two murdered women needed "their day in court".

Lorraine Wilson's brother said it was harrowing listening to the account of what was possibly his sister's screams.

"Something should have been done way back then," Eric Wilson said of the failed investigation.

"It would have saved a lot of angst, a lot of grief."

The inquest continues in Toowoomba on Tuesday.

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Ex hospital chair rejects WA minister slur

THE ex-chairman of the company that operates the troubled Peel Health Campus has rejected "a slur" by West Australian Health Minister Kim Hames that he interfered in the running of the hospital.

Dr Hames revealed on Monday that stock exchange-listed Ramsay Health Care was set to take over the operation of the public hospital from Health Solutions WA - before Ramsay told the market.

Dr Hames also criticised Jon Fogarty, the former chairman of Health Solutions WA, saying he constantly interfered with the running of the hospital, causing several managers to leave.

The hospital is the subject of an independent inquiry into claims doctors were paid incentives to admit patients to the facility.

"I think taking away the interference that he has will let the system operate much more efficiently and effectively," Dr Hames told ABC radio.

But Mr Fogarty said it was disappointing that news of "a great development for the people of Peel ... has been given a negative slant with a slur on me".

"I have lived in Singapore for the past four years and have not interfered with hospital management in any meaningful way," he said.

"I rightly became involved in the oversight of the performance of senior management and dealing with failures or issues which nobody else in the organisation could resolve."

Ramsay said it expected to finalise the deal with Health Solutions WA, subject to state government approvals, by the end of May.

Ramsay also said it was committed to expanding the hospital.

Meanwhile, WA Labor leader Mark McGowan said it was "a bit rich" for Dr Hames to be critical of Mr Fogarty, given the Liberal party was previously "close" to Health Solutions WA.

A report stemming from the inquiry into the hospital was recently handed to the state government, and will be reviewed by the Public Sector Commission and cabinet before being tabled in parliament.

Mr McGowan says it should be released as soon as possible.

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Australia, China agree to annual talks

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has reassured China that Australia is open to foreign investment ahead of signing an historic "strategic partnership" deal with Premier Li Keqiang involving annual summit talks between the two countries' leaders.

The agreement will be signed in a formal ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People, a move that's been hailed as a significant upgrading of bilateral ties.

Ms Gillard used a speech in Shanghai on Monday to encourage China to open its economy further and drive social reform, citing Australia's own journey to modernise.

"The growing importance of China's domestic and social reforms - like strengthening health care and expanding social security - will denote a growing importance for local and provincial leadership," she told the China Executive Leadership Academy on Monday.

"This has long been vital to your social and human development.

"In coming decades, it will be vital to balancing and sustaining national economic growth - vital to national success."

Ms Gillard earlier on Monday announced an agreement to allow direct trading of the Australian and Chinese currencies for the first time.

The Australian dollar will join the Japanese yen and the US dollar to become the third currency to enjoy the benefits of direct yuan trading, which should make it easier for businesses to transact with each other and offer better rates to tourists.

"This reflects the rapid growth of our bilateral trade and the value of two-way investment," she said.

Ms Gillard pointed to Australia's experience in taking difficult but necessary steps to modernise its economy by floating the Australia dollar, cutting tariffs and opening up its financial sector to foreign competition.

"Australia is a stronger, fairer, smarter nation as a result," she said.

She defended Australia's foreign investment and environmental protection rules after being asked by a Chinese academy student about the foreign investment debate, following comments by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce that not all investment by China was in the national interest.

"We are a capital-hungry economy," Ms Gillard told the academy.

"Australia is open for investment."

Investment in Australia is a touchy issue in China after a series of outbursts by some commentators, particularly over buy-ins of rural and mining assets by Chinese state-owned enterprises.

During Labor's term in office, 380 investment proposals from Chinese companies had been accepted.

"Only six of them had conditions put on them and none - not one - has been rejected," Ms Gillard said.

On environmental protections, Ms Gillard said Australia's "sophisticated environmental management" rules weren't specifically directed at foreign investors.

"There is one rule for everyone," she said.

The prime minister is now halfway through her China trip and heading to Beijing, where she will meet Premier Li Keqiang.

Ms Gillard is likely again to raise concerns about an escalation in North Korea's anti-US and South Korean rhetoric, which has aroused fears the North could start a war on the Korean peninsula.

Ms Gillard is expected to hold talks with business leaders and education-sector representatives in Beijing on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, ANZ and Westpac will be the first Australian banks to directly trade the currencies on the Chinese foreign exchange market after receiving licences from the People's Bank of China.

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NSW teens badly hurt in league games

A TEENAGE NSW mid-north coast rugby league player is in critical condition with a severe head injury sustained in a weekend match, reports say.

The 15-year-old Sawtell Junior Rugby League Football Club player was hurt during a game on Saturday at Rex Hardaker Oval at Toormina, near Sawtell, APN News and Media reports.

He reportedly remained in a critical condition at Coffs Harbour hospital on Sunday but this could not be confirmed.

In another rugby-league incident a 15-year-old boy was knocked out for several minutes and injured his back during a game in inner-west Sydney.

It's believed the Sydney teenager fell headfirst to the ground after he jumped high to take the ball during a game at Birchgrove Oval on Sunday afternoon.

The CareFlight rescue helicopter arrived just before 4.30pm (AEST) so its onboard doctor could work with paramedics on the ground.

The 15-year-old was taken by ambulance to Royal North Shore Hospital in a stable condition.

AAP st/

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After gang-rape, India looks for action

A HUNDRED days after India mourned the death of a gang-rape victim and vowed to fight sex crimes, the torn clothes and tears of Bharti Kagra bear testimony to a tide of violence that refuses to ebb.

Kagra is one of the 812 women whom police say have been molested in New Delhi since the death of the medical student, who was brutally assaulted by six attackers in a moving bus on December 16 last year.

The student died in a Singapore hospital on December 29. The savagery of the attack triggered nationwide protests, prompting MPs to toughen punishments for sexual offences and pledge to make India safer for women.

Optimists called it a "turning point", while Delhi's under-fire top police officer said his force had been "jolted" and would institute "major changes in the way offences against women are dealt with".

Kagra's experiences give reason to doubt whether the outpouring of anger from women across the country, many of whom took to the streets in some cities, will result in better protection.

Carrying the clothes she says were ripped by her husband and brother-in-law during an assault on her, she struggles to register a case at a south Delhi police station where no female officers are present - even though they are mandatory under the new anti-rape law.

"First, the men humiliated me and now when I come out to seek justice the cops insult me ... some even suggested that I should make peace with my husband," she told AFP inside the police station in the Moti Bagh district of the capital.

In response to her shouts and cries, two policemen reluctantly register her complaint. Kagra allowed AFP to use her name, to publicise the problems women still face in registering such complaints.

Women currently make up only 6.5 per cent of India's police force and major recruitment changes will be needed to enforce the new sex crime law, which requires a female officer to record molestation and rape complaints.

This ruling risks going the way of so much legislation in India - well-meaning but mostly ignored in practice. Rights groups say real change will only come when widely held patriarchal and sexist attitudes change.

"I don't see enough initiative to change the mindset of the law enforcement agencies, especially the police," said Ranjana Kumari, director at the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi.

However, one consequence of the Delhi gang-rape is that women are more confident in reporting sex crimes, she says.

Delhi police reported a 148 per cent leap in rape cases lodged between January 1 and March 24 compared with the same period in 2012, and a 600 per cent rise in molestation cases reported up until April 3.

"Many women and families are becoming conscious and are coming forward to report abuse, but what is disappointing is that after 100 days ... rapes and all kinds of sexual offences are not stopping," Kumari said.

The Press Trust of India news agency has reported more than 250 rape cases across the country since the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim.

It's not just Indian women who have been targeted. A Swiss tourist was gang-raped last month while camping in central India, an offence that led to another flurry of negative headlines.

Many Western countries have warned female tourists to exercise caution in India, a move that has hit the tourism industry which earned over $US16 billion ($A15.4 billion) from foreign travellers in 2011.

The family of the victim of the December 16 gang-rape are still in shock and the trial of the men alleged to have murdered her continues in court.

Lawyers have cross-examined 65 out of 80 witnesses, including the doctors who tried to save the victim before her death. The court is also expected to summon the victim's family.

One of the five men on trial for murder, robbery and gang-rape was found dead in his cell last month, having apparently committed suicide. The sixth suspect, a 17-year-old, is being tried separately in a juvenile court.

On April 1, the mother of the Delhi gang-rape victim held a small religious ceremony in memory of her 23-year-old daughter.

"I prayed for her and as a mother, I can tell you my daughter's soul will rest in peace only when the accused are punished," she said.

"She died, but she has give every woman the courage to fight against violence."

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Pair saves woman trapped in underwater car

TWO neighbours have saved a woman whose car ploughed through backyard fences and into a pool in southwest Sydney.

The East Hills men smashed the windows of the sinking station wagon to reach the 63-year-old local woman and pull her out about 11.20am (AEST on Sunday).

The woman was treated by paramedics before being taken to Liverpool Hospital in a stable condition.

Police said the car was being removed from the Lucas Street pool on Sunday afternoon.

They praised the efforts of the two rescuers, who have told the Seven Network they found the submerged car with all its doors locked and had to use a shovel to free the woman.

"We heard this really, really loud bang and didn't really know what it was," Bill Jessop said.

"Joe, the neighbour on the other side, was actually in the water trying to break the window of the car and he wasn't succeeding, the water was too deep."

The second neighbour, Joe Colosimo, described pulling the 63-year-old to safety with seconds to spare.

"From here down was all water," he said, gesturing at his chin.

"She probably had about another minute or two."

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