Israel silent on reports it bombed Syria

ISRAEL has carried out new air strikes on Syria, targeting a weapons shipment to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to US officials cited by the media, but the Jewish state has been silent on the claims.

CNN television said US and Western intelligence agencies were reviewing information suggesting Israel conducted a strike overnight between Thursday and Friday.

Lebanon's army said pairs of Israeli airplanes entered Lebanese airspace on three occasions overnight between Thursday and Friday.

The first two entered over the souther city of Sidon at 7:10pm, followed three hours later by a second pair that entered over Jounieh, north of Beirut, a statement said.

The last pair flew in over the capital, the statement said, adding that the planes stayed in Lebanese airspace for two to three hours at a time.

CNN reported that the United States does not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strikes.

A senior US official told NBC News that the airstrikes were likely tied to delivery systems for chemical weapons.

White House and Pentagon officials declined to comment on the reports.

But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quoted as telling an audience that Israel had indeed bombed Syria.

"Israel bombed Syria tonight," Graham was cited by the Politico news website as saying in passing, without offering any further details.

Israel was tightlipped on the claims, with the army declining on Saturday to comment and a defence official saying only that the Jewish state was monitoring any possible transfer of chemical weapons.

Israel is "following the situation in Syria and Lebanon, with an emphasis on transferring chemical weapons and special arms," the official told AFP.

If confirmed, this would mark the second time Israel has hit Syria this year.

Earlier this month, the Jewish state implicitly admitted carrying out a January air strike on a weapons convoy in Syria thought to be en route to Hezbollah - a long-time Damascus ally.

The reports on the latest strike came shortly after President Barack Obama nearly ruled out deploying US troops to Syria, saying he did not foresee a scenario in which that would be beneficial to the United States or Syria.

Speculation has mounted that the Obama administration could reverse its opposition to arming the rebels after the White House said last week that President Bashar al-Assad likely used chemical weapons on his people.

Obama has been reluctant to intervene in the war but faces mounting criticism that he has allowed the Assad regime to cross his own declared "red line" on using chemical weapons.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Melbourne CBD reopens after bomb scare

THE police bomb response unit has given the all-clear to Melbourne's CBD after an incident on Saturday.

The unit was called to the intersection of Swanston and Bourke streets about 4.20pm (AEST) and blocked off the area to traffic, pedestrians and trams.

The area was reopened the area about 6.30pm.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arson-hit South Korean landmark reopens

South Korea has reopened the Namdaemun gate five years after it was damaged in an arson attack. Source: AAP

SOUTH Korea has reopened its landmark Namdaemun gate to the public, five years after the historic jewel in central Seoul was burned down in an arson attack that shocked the nation.

The 600-year-old Namdaemun (South Gate), which is listed as "National Treasure Number One", has been painstakingly rebuilt at a cost of $US24 million ($A23.52 million).

The city landmark, also known as Sungryemun, was one of four gates built to protect the city when it was the capital of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled the Korean peninsula from 1392 until the Japanese occupation in 1910.

"Sungryemun is a symbol of national spirit and identity and the face of the Republic of Korea," President Park Geun-Hye said in a speech at the opening ceremony, describing it as a "very happy moment".

"I believe the restoration of Sungryemun will not only rehabilitate our cultural heritage but also enhance our national pride and open the gate to a new era of hope," she said.

Park, wearing a traditional Hanbok robe, and other participants unveiled a large wooden tablet bearing the gate's name.

They then swung open its studded wooden door watched by guards wearing traditional clothes and carrying swords, spears, and bows and arrows.

The restoration project - one of the longest and most expensive ever undertaken in South Korea - involved more than 1,000 craftsmen who used traditional tools to restore the gate to its former splendour.

All 22,000 roof tiles were made by hand. Raw materials for decorative paints had to be imported from Japan, since Korean specialists had lost the art of making them in the traditional fashion.

Fortress walls that were destroyed during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule were returned to their original form.

The largely wooden structure - which survived the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War - was almost reduced to ashes by a disgruntled 69-year-old man with some paint thinner and a cigarette lighter on February 10, 2008.

He torched the gate after claiming he had received insufficient compensation following the expropriation of his land as part of an apartment-building project in Seoul's northwestern satellite city of Koyang.

Its destruction in 2008 sent shock waves through the country, with sorrowful citizens swarming around the charred ruins, laying flowers and writing grieving messages.

The arsonist was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pakistan prosecutor in Bhutto case killed

Pakistan's main prosecutor on the Benazir Bhutto murder case has been shot dead in Islamabad. Source: AAP

PAKISTAN'S main state prosecutor in the 2007 murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the 2008 Mumbai attacks has been shot dead in Islamabad on his way to court, police say.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar was shot multiple times on Friday after gunmen intercepted his vehicle shortly after he left home in a busy, middle-class neighbourhood of the capital. His bodyguard was also wounded and a woman passer-by killed.

The assassination comes just days before Pakistan holds historic general elections on May 11, marking the first time that a civilian government completes a full-term in office and hands over to another at the ballot box.

"Chaudhry Zulfiqar was driving his car. He lost control and the car crushed a woman passer-by," police officer Mohammad Yousuf told AFP.

"Zulfiqar was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries," he added.

Police said the gunmen fled on a motorbike.

Zulfiqar's white Toyota Corolla was badly damaged in the attack.

Its windshield was smashed and there were multiple bullet marks on both sides of the car and at the front. Pieces of broken window lay inside and on the road. There was blood on the car seats and on the road, an AFP reporter said.

Police said it appeared the attackers targeted his car soon after Zulfiqar took a U-turn after leaving his street.

He lost control and the car skidded into a depression along the main road after hitting the woman, who died instantly, officers said.

Zulfiqar had been on his way to the anti-terrorism court hearing the Bhutto case in the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.

Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was this week placed under two-week house arrest over charges that he conspired to murder Bhutto.

Zulfiqar was also the main government prosecutor who indicted seven alleged conspirators in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people and which were blamed on Pakistan's Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan indicted the seven in 2009, but has since said it needs to gather more evidence in India before proceeding further.

India accuses Lashkar-e-Taiba of training, equipping and financing the attack with support from "elements" in the Pakistani military.

Zulfiqar was given extra government security last year after he was implicated in threats received by police investigators.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shooting.

"I cannot comment. I'm in a state of shock," Zulfiqar's deputy Azhar Chaudhry told AFP when asked to comment.

Wasim Khawaja, spokesman for Islamabad's main government-run PIMS hospital, told AFP that Zulfiqar's bodyguard was out of danger.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic treasurer talks up 'careful' budget

THE Victorian treasurer has talked down the possibility of any nasty budget surprises and remains tight-lipped on whether he will deliver his promised surplus.

Michael O'Brien will hand down his first budget as treasurer on Tuesday. It will be the coalition's third since winning office.

He is expected to announce funding for major projects including the East West Link road connecting the Eastern Freeway and Western Ring Road.

"Major infrastructure is something that we do need to progress," Mr O'Brien said on Friday.

"We will certainly have more to say about major infrastructure projects on Tuesday."

The treasurer has also pledged that public servant jobs are safe, confirming no further cuts beyond the 4200 already announced over the last two years.

Asked if Victorians should brace for a tough budget, he said, "This is a difficult time for government in terms of budgeting.

"But because we've been really careful with managing Victorians' finances we will be able to have some very strong announcements.

"We won't spend money we don't have."

Shortly after becoming treasurer in March, Mr O'Brien said the budget should be run at a minimum $100 million surplus, even in lean economic times.

On Friday he said he would deliver a careful budget.

"We will be seeking to make sure this is a responsible budget," he said.

"You cut your cloth to fit, you be responsible in managing people's finances and you make sure you strengthen the economy."

Australian Industry Group Victorian director Tim Piper says the government could afford to lift spending without jeopardising the state's triple-A credit rating.

Shadow treasurer Tim Pallas said the government shouldn't again dip into taxpayers' pockets to boost its coffers, with Victorians already paying increased fees and fines.

"They have basically squeezed the taxpayer dry when it comes to finding alternative revenue sources," he said.

The government has already revealed millions in spending for health, roads and out-of-home care for the state's most vulnerable children.

Health Minister David Davis said there would be more than 860 new doctors and nurses under a $238 million training boost in Tuesday's budget.

The funding package includes $194 million for undergraduate training to provide a significant boost in clinical placements for nursing, medical and allied health students.

There is also $42 million for postgraduate training, which will inject 860 new doctors and nurses into the health system.

Victorian Council of Social Services' acting chief executive Carolyn Atkins said the government should invest in affordable housing for the disadvantaged, improved education outcomes for vulnerable children and better mental health services outside the city.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bangladesh disaster death toll passes 500

THE death toll from last week's collapse of a garment factory complex in Bangladesh has passed 500 as the country's prime minister said Western retailers had to share some of the blame for the tragedy.

With bulldozers now clawing away at the mountain of rubble at the site of last Wednesday's disaster, the number of bodies being recovered from the country's deadliest industrial disaster has been increasing sharply.

Lieutenant Mir Rabbi, an officer in a special army control room set up to co-ordinate the rescue operation, told AFP on Friday the "death toll now stands at 501", a sharp rise on the figure of 441 compiled by authorities on Thursday evening.

Dozens more people are thought to have been buried alive after the eight-storey building collapsed on April 24 in Savar, which lies about 30 kilometres to the northwest of Dhaka.

About 3000 garment workers were on shift at the time of the disaster in the Rana Plaza compound which housed five different textile factories.

Spain's Mango, Britain's low-cost Primark chain and the Italian label Benetton were among the retailers who have confirmed having products made at Rana Plaza where the typical worker took home less than $40 a month.

The collapse was the latest in a series of disasters to befall the $US20 billion ($A19.60 billion) industry which accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports.

A fire at another factory compound killed 111 workers last November and witnesses say the April 24 disaster happened after bosses insisted staff remain at their workstations even though cracks had been detected in the building.

In an interview with CNN, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina defended the industry's safety record, saying the recent deadly explosion at a fertiliser plant in the United States showed that no country was immune.

"Anywhere in the world, any accident can take place," she said.

Some Western fashion brands have said they are considering their futures in Bangladesh and Disney has already announced it is pulling out of the country.

The prime minister insisted that "Bangladesh now is a place for good conditions for the investment", but she also suggested that Western firms drawn to the country by the cheap labour costs could hike salaries.

"If they want to do business, these buyers, they also should also consider increase the prices of the garments so that the business can run properly and labour can get a good salary, so they are also partly responsible for it," she said.

"What I is feel is that all the investors when they come here they get cheap labour and that's why they come here," she added.

The sector accounts for and more than 40 per cent of the industrial workforce in Bangladesh which is one of the world's poorest countries.

Industry bosses are desperate to avoid others following the lead of Disney in pulling out of the country and have promised to come up with credible answers to concerns raised about factory safety.

At least 12 people have been arrested over the disaster, including the owner of the Rana Plaza compound.

One of the latest to be arrested was Abdur Razzaq, a civil engineer, detained on Thursday night after he allegedly gave the building all-clear on April 23 after inspecting the cracks.

The mayor of Savar has also been suspended for failing to shut the factories when the cracks appeared.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

More infrastructure funds needed: report

THE federal government must establish a department dedicated to the infrastructure needs of Australian cities to address a $500 billion backlog in urban development, building groups say.

The suggestion is among a raft of ideas in a report - New Deal for Urban Australia - outlining the key infrastructure challenges as Australia deals with a growing population.

Compiled by the Urban Coalition, a collective of key industry figures, the report calls for greater"leadership and investment from the government.

It also recommends the establishment of an Urban Infrastructure Fund to meet the cost of development.

"We need to access both national and international savings and direct them to fund ... infrastructure - such as public interchanges, removing pinch points on local road and freight networks," Property Council Chief Executive Peter Verwer said.

Julie Katz, national president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, said inadequate funding was causing congestion in cities.

"The longer distances between home and work, the greater the difficulties and congestion in our cities," she said.

Executive Officer of The National Growth Areas Alliance, Ruth Spielman, said more than 80 per cent of Australia's population lived in cities and people in fast-growing outer suburbs want to live closer to basic services.

"People need jobs and services closer to home and improved transport options," she said.

She said the proposed changes would financially realistic for the government to put into action.

"There's no doubt that the money is there, and we need collaboration among the spheres of government," she said.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kriss Kross rapper Chris Kelly dead at 34

CHRIS Kelly, half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade's most memorable songs with the frenetic Jump, has died, according to authorities. He was 34.

Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said the 34-year-old Kelly was pronounced dead around 5pm on Wednesday at the Atlanta Medical Center in the US state of Georgia.

Honey said authorities are unsure of Kelly's cause of death and that an autopsy has yet to be performed.

However, the New York Times reported that Kelly had died of an apparent drug overdose.

"It appears it may have been a possible drug overdose," Corporal Kay Lester, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County police, is reported to have said.

This, Lester said, is based on statements received at the scene as well as evidence turned up at Kelly's home in south Atlanta, the newspaper said.

According to Lester, police were called to Kelly's home around 4.30pm on Wednesday. He was then transported to the south campus of the Atlanta Medical Center.

Kelly, known as Mac Daddy, and Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, were introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri after he discovered the pair in an Atlanta mall.

The duo wore their clothes backwards as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was Jump. The hit, off their multiplatinum 1992 debut album Totally Krossed Out, featured the two trading versus and rapping the refrain, the song's title.

The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. It would become a No. 1 smash in the United States and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.

Their success led to instant fame: they toured with Michael Jackson, appeared on TV shows, and even had their own video game.

The pair were never able to match the tremendous success of their first song, though they had other hits such as Warm It Up and Tonite's tha Night. Earlier this year, they performed together to celebrate the anniversary of Durpri's label, So So Def.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its website that Kelly's death was being treated as a possible drug overdose.

The rapper was found unresponsive at his home on Wednesday and rushed to Atlanta Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy has been scheduled for Thursday.

The singer's mother, Donna Kelly Pratte, said in a statement reported by several US media outlets early on Thursday: "To millions of fans worldwide, he was the trendsetting, backwards pants-wearing one-half of Kris Kross who loved making music.

"But to us, he was just Chris - the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party. Though he was only with us a short time, we feel blessed to have been able to share some incredible moments with him."

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

'N.Korea could start nuclear reactor soon'

NORTH Korea could be ready within weeks to start operating a light-water reactor that has triggered growing concern amid the regime's vows to build more nuclear weapons, researchers say.

The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said satellite pictures taken in March and April appeared to show that North Korea was doing final work inside the reactor and cleaning up after completing construction.

If North Korea has been truthful in its boasts that it has been enriching uranium in a nearby facility since 2010, it may already have enough material to power the reactor for several years, the think tank said on Wednesday.

"This would mean start-up activities could begin in the coming weeks," researchers Jeffrey Lewis and Nick Hansen wrote on the institute's blog, 38 North.

North Korea would still need nine months to a year for the plant to become fully operational, they said.

The light-water reactor would ostensibly provide energy to the resource-poor nation. But the reactor could also be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, which North Korea has vowed to bolster.

The researchers also voiced concern about safety, considering question marks on the level of North Korea's expertise.

"As the Fukushima event in Japan demonstrated, even a well-designed, constructed and tested plant must be capable of addressing unanticipated contingencies such as natural disasters. It is unclear whether the North can deal with such events," they wrote.

The estimate for the start time is earlier than previous private assessments.

South Korea described the researchers' report as "worrying" and said that it was necessary to confirm whether it was really a light-water reactor.

"If it's a light-water reactor, there would be considerable restraints on using it to develop nuclear weapons," defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told journalists in Seoul.

"But if it's some other kind of reactor, it could be used to produce more plutonium," he said.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man gored to death in Japan bull ring

A BULL has gored to death a 40-year-old man in southern Japan just a month after attacking his father and breaking the older man's ribs.

Owner Rikiya Tomi was set upon as he tried to show the huge animal to friends on the southern islet of Tokunoshima, broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.

The 1100kg beast speared him in the chest as he tried to entice it from the ring. He was confirmed dead at a hospital two hours later, police said.

The bull attacked Tomi's father early last month, breaking a number of ribs, Kyodo News reported, citing an association overseeing the island's bullfighting industry.

Tokunoshima, a small sub-tropical island off the southern Kyushu coast, is famed in Japan for its bull-on-bull fights, which have a tradition stretching back several hundred years.

The incident came ahead of the opening of the island's bull-fighting competition during the Golden Week holidays, which start at the end of this week and are expected to draw thousands of visitors.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony executives give up bonuses

DOZENS of Sony executives including the firm's chief are foregoing bonuses this year in an "unprecedented" step to atone for a slump in its embattled electronics unit.

Chief executive Kazuo Hirai is among 40 top managers who will not get a bonus estimated at several hundred million yen (several million dollars) "due to severe business circumstances, including stagnant performance in the electronics sector", a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The leading Nikkei business daily said the payout could have totalled one billion yen ($10 million).

Last year, seven top Sony executives gave up their bonuses "but the number this time is unprecedented," she added.

The decision comes as the maker of PlayStation consoles eyes a profit after four years in the red. But its troubled electronics unit may remain mired in losses despite Hirai's bid to drag it back to profitability.

Sony has launched a massive corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts as it unloads a string of assets, including buildings in Manhattan and Tokyo.

Last week, Sony doubled its annual net profit forecast for the last fiscal year to March, saying it expected to earn 40 billion yen as a weaker yen and the asset sales helped boost its bottom line.

Sony lost 456.66 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 2012, its fourth year in the red.

A tumble in the value of the yen in recent months - losing about a fifth against the dollar since November - has helped exporters make their products more competitive.

Sony reports its full-year results on May 9.

The firm's Tokyo-listed shares, which last year fell below 1000 yen for the first time since the era of the Walkman, closed down 1.85 per cent to 1,583 yen on Wednesday.

Japan's electronics sector, including Sony rivals Panasonic and Sharp, has suffered myriad problems recently including slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition - especially in the struggling TV division - and strategic mistakes.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

May Day rallies kick off with angry scenes

BANGLADESHI protesters enraged by a deadly factory collapse led rallies across Asia against low wages and poor working conditions on May Day, as more demonstrations were rolled out across austerity-hit Europe.

With calls to end punishing belt-tightening measures in the eurozone mounting, Greece's two main unions called a general strike that caused disruption to transport services including ferries to the islands.

Rallies were called in more than 80 cities in Spain, where unemployment last week surged past 27 per cent, to urge a radical change in EU economic policy, while unions in Italy were putting on a concert in the centre of Rome.

In Turkey, anti-riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds angry at a ban on demonstrations in Taksim square, a traditional rallying point in Istanbul.

"Death to fascism. Long live May 1," protesters shouted.

Fury in Bangladesh focused on the country's worst ever industrial disaster, the collapse of a garment factory last week that killed more than 400 workers, with furious protesters demanding the execution of the factory bosses.

Despite calls by the prime minister for "cool heads", tensions over the disaster showed little sign of abating and there were fears of more violence and vandalism at textile mills.

Several thousand workers holding red banners and flags chanted "Hang the killers, Hang the Factory Owners!" as they took to the streets of Dhaka at the start of a series of nationwide demonstrations.

Kamrul Anam, one of the leaders of the Bangladesh Textile and Garments Workers League, said the workers were angry at the "murder" of their colleagues in the April 24 disaster on the outskirts of Dhaka.

"We want the severest punishment possible for those responsible for this tragedy," he told AFP.

Police put the number of demonstrators in Dhaka at around 10,000, although that figure was expected to swell significantly later in the day.

Angry workers in Cambodia marched to parliament to deliver a petition demanding an increase in the minimum wage to $150 a month in garment factories, which are a major source of goods for Western clothing firms.

Around 55,000 workers gathered in Jakarta, police said, making it the biggest May Day rally in the Indonesian capital in recent years.

Protests over working conditions have been on the rise in Southeast Asia's biggest economy as the cost of living increases and workers demand a greater share of the nation's economic success.

Labour activists said the number of protesters reflected anger at poor salaries, lack of benefits and businesses denying some workers basic rights.

The protesters marched to the presidential palace and parliament, and tried to reach the main international airport but were blocked by police in riot gear.

In the Philippines, thousands of labourers staged mostly peaceful rallies across the capital Manila to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

Carrying colourful banners and shouting anti-government slogans under the scorching sun, the workers said that despite strong economic growth many people remained mired in poverty.

"Junk privatisation and contractualisation," protesters cried, as they called for a $3 increase in the daily minimum wage of about $11.

In Hong Kong, one of Asia's beacons of capitalism, trade unions said they were expecting 5000 people to march to the headquarters of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, in support of striking dock workers.

Protesters took to the streets behind a giant meat grinder with a mannequin wearing a yellow construction helmet and worker's clothes covered in fake blood.

However, many in the Chinese territory seized the opportunity to take off on holiday, as did millions more in mainland China, where Labour Day is marked with a three-day break, and in Japan, where it forms part of the Golden Week period.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong shares end up 0.15%

HONG Kong shares have risen 0.15 per cent as below-forecast US growth data raised hopes the Federal Reserve will hold off bringing an end to its huge easing policy any time soon.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Monday added 33.06 points to end at 22,580.77 on turnover of $HK42.86 billion ($A5.40 billion). The index rallied 2.4 per cent last week.

Trade was quiet, with Shanghai closed for a public holiday and Hong Kong set for a May Day break on Wednesday.

On Friday, Washington released data showing the world's biggest economy expanded 2.5 per cent in the January-March quarter.

While the figures from the Commerce Department marked a solid rebound from 0.4 per cent growth in the previous three months, they were lower than the 2.8 per cent economists had predicted.

The US economy has been hit by the "sequester" spending cuts worth tens of billions of dollars that kicked in at the start of March and which lawmakers are no closer to resolving owing to political gridlock.

However, the results reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would not tighten monetary policy in the near future. Eyes are now on the Fed's two-day policy board meeting beginning on Tuesday.

China Construction Bank rose 1.1 per cent to $HK6.45 after its first-quarter net profit increased 16 per cent, the best among the big four state-owned lenders.

ICBC bank closed up 0.2 per cent at $HK5.42 after posting a 12 per cent rise in net profit for the same period.

However, China Coal Energy sank 6.2 per cent to $HK5.91 as January-March net profit slumped 38 per cent.

China Eastern Airlines fell 4.3 per cent to $HK3.10, while clothing retailer Esprit jumped 4.8 per cent to $HK10.52.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Catholic orders deny protecting pedophiles

TWO Catholic orders have denied colluding to protect pedophile members of the clergy, but say they accept some responsibility for the crimes committed.

One in four St John of God brothers and 14 priests of the Salesian order have been the subject of child abuse complaints in Victoria, a state parliamentary inquiry heard on Monday.

More than 100 abuse cases have been upheld in the Catholic Church's Ballarat diocese alone since 1975. More than 60 per cent of them involved one offender, the defrocked priest Gerald Ridsdale - who has been convicted.

The bishop now in charge of Ballarat has admitted a predecessor made a "terrible mistake" in letting Ridsdale - one of Australia's worst pedophiles - remain in the ministry after being alerted to a complaint as long ago as 1975.

"From my reading of the accounts it wasn't wilful blindness. It was a tragic mistake on his part," Bishop Paul Bird said.

St John of God and the Salesians both say they are yet to conduct overall investigations into sexual abuse in their orders, but they deny any cover-up.

Rosanna Harris, chair of provinces professional standards committee at St John of God, denied the organisation had been targeted by pedophiles.

"There is no suggestion there were rings of pedophiles or there was collusion between brothers," she told the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Salesians provincial Father Greg Chambers said he had been made aware of possible communication between as many as three offenders, but didn't believe there had been any collusion.

"There may have been some communication between those individuals," he said.

He denied any conspiracy.

"I wouldn't call it that," he said.

St John of God provincial Brother Tim Graham said he didn't think it was possible there had been a cover-up.

He said the organisation had been stripped to the bone by media investigations and had also provided every bit of information it had to the inquiry.

Asked if the order had created, harboured or colluded with pedophiles, Brother Graham said, "I don't accept that."

Complaints were made against 15 of a total of about 60 Victorian St John of God brothers, a figure Ms Harris and Brother Graham conceded was extraordinarily high.

"Very vulnerable children in our care were damaged and for that we have apologised and we continue to do so," Mr Harris said.

"We are horrified."

Ms Harris said the brothers who offended had operated independently.

"So far we have found that there have been various offenders working independently over a number of years," Ms Harris said.

"As to the reasons why, we haven't explored that yet."

The inquiry was told that 49 complaints had been made against 14 priests of the Salesian order.

The order had paid out more than $2.06 million in compensation over 37 of those complaints.

Fr Chambers said the order had to accept that it had failed to properly vet, train and supervise its members.

"Our religious society must have some responsibility for the failures," he said.

Would-be priests were now made aware of their responsibilities and were psychologically tested, Fr Chambers said.

Five Salesian priests have been convicted of criminal offences, but no St John of God brothers have been charged, despite police investigations.

Other Catholic organisations will give evidence to the inquiry this week.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gillard flags tax rises in federal budget

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is preparing the political ground for higher taxes and charges, saying the government has "urgent and grave decisions" to make in the upcoming federal budget to plug revenue holes.

Her warning on Monday triggered opposition anger and prompted calls from the public sector union and federally funded sectors such as universities to leave them out of the mix.

But the prime minister warned "everyone" would be asked to contribute to the budget task as Labor searches for money to fund its multi-billion schools funding and disability care programs.

The key challenge is a huge forecast drop in revenue growth over the next four years, with the amount of tax collected for 2012/13 now expected to decline by $12 billion.

"I have expressly determined we need to have every reasonable option on the table to meet the needs of the times, even options previously taken off the table," Ms Gillard told the Per Capita Forum in Canberra.

Confronted by falling tax revenue, the government was looking at spending "less in some areas than we had hoped, to raise more in revenue in some areas than we had planned".

Ms Gillard did not discuss specific measures, but ruled out changes to the GST.

"I find these decisions both urgent and grave," she said.

With the election due in September, Ms Gillard stressed the budget would not present as a "political pamphlet" but as a plan to make the "necessary investments in the nation's future".

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the obvious areas to be hit were superannuation, capital gains tax on the family home, death duties and measures outlined in the Henry tax review still to be acted upon.

"Julia Gillard believes that nothing should prevent her from spending more money and if she has to hit people with higher taxes or other challenges to their everyday living so be it," he told reporters in Sydney.

Mr Hockey said this would damage the business investment environment and consumer confidence.

The budget will be handed down on May 14 by Treasurer Wayne Swan, who told reporters, "We'll do what's right for the country".

Asked at the forum if the budget changes would affect the poor, Ms Gillard said the government would take a "Labor approach" to burden-sharing.

Economists are predicting a budget deficit of between $10 billion and $25 billion for 2012/13, which could mean further deficits in following years.

But Ms Gillard said Labor was committed to its medium term goal of delivering budget surpluses on average over the economic cycle.

Public sector union boss Nadine Flood said any further across-the-board cuts, so-called departmental efficiency dividends, would affect frontline services.

"Cutting their budgets might help balance the government's books, but in the end the losers will be the public who rely on these services every day," she said.

Universities Australia chief Belinda Robinson said the sector had already faced a $3.8 billion hit this year and should be quarantined from any further cuts.

Meanwhile, Mr Hockey declined to rule out tax rises if the coalition won government.

"We are not in the business of ruling things in or out because we don't know what we are going to inherit," he said.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More