Qld-NSW interstate drug ring smashed

AUTHORITIES have dismantled an interstate criminal enterprise accused of importing flu medicine to make $10 million worth of the drug ice.

A Queensland-based network is accused of placing orders with importers for ContacNT on behalf of criminal gangs in NSW.

The over-the-counter flu medicine can be used to extract pseudoephedrine, which is then used to produce the drug ice.

The 10-month joint operation, codenamed Operation Lithium, has resulted in the seizure of eight kilograms of precursor chemicals.

They had the potential to produce ice with an estimated street value of $10 million.

Two men and a woman from the Brisbane area were charged on Thursday with a raft Queensland and NSW drugs charges.

All three appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.

One man was remanded into custody while the other man and woman are expected to also appear in Sydney courts next week.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Comedians get stuck into news at Ten

NETWORK Ten is promising a fresh new look but looks like it's reviving some well-worn formats - including The Panel.

While it's not bringing back Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro, Glenn Robbins and Kate Langbroek, Ten will be putting a bunch of comedians in a Melbourne studio to discuss live the events of the week in news, sport and showbiz.

Oh, and it'll screen at 9.30pm on Wednesdays - a timeslot The Panel called its own from 1998 to 2004.

This time it'll be Dave Thornton, Tommy Little, Tom Gleeson and Meshel Laurie who will be trying to find the funny in everyday events in the weekly chat show This Week Live.

The comedians released a statement on Friday, but didn't exactly reveal what they would be bringing to the show.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that a Christmas Party car pool with Ita Buttrose is now a very real possibility for me," said Laurie.

"I'm 39 and bald," Gleeson said.

"I don't belong on television, but someone's paying me to do it, so I'll turn up."

Ten already mixes a lighter-hearted look at the news with The Project.

* This Week Live will premiere on Ten at 9.30pm on Wednesday, July 24.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Asia shares mostly up on ECB rate comments

ASIAN markets have mostly climbed after the European Central Bank said it would keep interest rates at record lows for "as long as necessary", while concerns over Portugal's political crisis also abated.

The euro remained under pressure in Asia after suffering losses late Thursday in the wake of the ECB announcement, while the dollar extended its gains against the yen after climbing back above 100 yen.

Tokyo rose 2.08 per cent, or 291.04 points, to 14,309.97 and Sydney was 0.98 per cent, or 47.0 points, higher at 4,841.7, while Hong Kong added 1.89 per cent, or 386.00 points, to end at 20,854.67.

Shanghai was flat, edging up 1.10 points, to 2,007.20.

Seoul eased 0.32 per cent, or 5.83 points, to 1,833.31 as market giant Samsung Electronics suffered a sell-off after announcing a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast.

With New York markets closed for Independence Day, traders took their lead from Europe, where markets rallied on comments from the ECB that it would maintain its easy monetary policy.

The bank's policy-setting governing council "expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time", its head, Mario Draghi, said.

"Our exit (from low interest rates) is very distant."

Speaking to a news conference after the ECB's governing council voted to hold its key interest rate at an all-time low of 0.50 per cent for the third month in a row, Draghi vowed that "monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary".

At the same time the Bank of England said it would keep interest rates low and hinted it would not lift them in the short term.

London's FTSE 100 rose 3.08 per cent, the DAX 30 in Frankfurt added 2.11 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 gained 2.90 per cent. Madrid was up more than 3.0 per cent.

On forex markets the euro tumbled in London trade, with low interest rates meaning the currency would not provide very good returns.

And on Friday it continued to fall, buying $1.2887 and 129.20 yen, off from $1.2922 and 129.62 yen in London.

Worries about Portugal's future were also soothed after the centre-right coalition said it had found a "formula" to avert a break up of the government, after the shock resignation of the foreign and finance ministers.

The pair had stepped down in a dispute over austerity policies put in place as part of a deal to qualify for bailout cash.

The dollar, which has been buoyed by an improved global outlook, rose to 100.21 yen in Tokyo, compared with 99.71 yen in London late Thursday.

Eyes will later Friday turn to Washington, awaiting the release of non-farm payroll data, which will provide an idea of the state of the US economy.

In Seoul, electronics giant Samsung ended 3.80 per cent lower after estimating 9.5 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in operating profit for the April-June quarter.

While it said the figure would be a record, analysts had expected a figure of more than 10 trillion won after it released its much-vaunted Galaxy S4 smartphone in April.

"Demand for high-priced, high-end smartphones shows slowing growth, which could hurt Samsung's profit margin," IBK Investment and Securities analyst Lee Seung-Woo told the Yonhap news agency.

Oil prices were mixed after rallying recently on events in Egypt. Dealers are keeping tabs on events in the country after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi, with fears growing that the coup could send shockwaves through the crude-rich Middle East.

In afternoon trade New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for delivery in August, was down 24 cents at $101.00 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for August rose nine cents to $105.46 63.

Gold was at $1,241.70 per ounce at 0810 GMT, compared with $1,250.80 late Thursday.

In other markets:

- Taipei rose 1.37 per cent, or 108.1 points, to 8,001.82.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 1.87 per cent to Tw$109.0 while smartphone maker HTC was 1.0 per cent higher at Tw$203.0.

- Manila closed 0.56 per cent higher, adding 36.22 points to 6,500.48.

SM Investments rose 1.02 per cent to 890 pesos and Alliance Global Group advanced 1.02 per cent to 24.85 pesos but Bank of the Philippine Islands slipped 0.11 per cent to 92 pesos.

- Wellington rose 0.69 per cent, or 30.91 points, to 4,489.86.

Chorus added 1.9 per cent to NZ$2.63 and Fletcher Building gained 1.5 per cent to NZ$8.62.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria army renews assault on central Homs:

SYRIAN warplanes have bombed the central city of Homs , with insurgents and troops battling on the ground as regime forces pressed an assault on rebel-held neighbourhoods, an NGO said.

"Warplanes carried out two raids against the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood of Homs, and both Khaldiyeh and the Old City were under heavy rocket fire producing the sound of explosions and plumes of smoke," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Sporadic clashes were ongoing between rebels and regime forces on the outskirts of Khaldiyeh," the watchdog added.

Regime forces began a campaign to retake several rebel-held neighbourhoods of Homs, often dubbed the capital of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, on Saturday.

The neighbourhoods being targeted have been under siege by regime troops for more than a year, and many civilians have fled, but concerns have been raised about those who remain.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed fears for 2,500 civilians "trapped" in the city, which is home to a patchwork of religious communities.

Ban called on "the warring sides to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and to allow immediate humanitarian access, as well as opportunities for trapped civilians to leave without fear of persecution".

Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory said an aide to the labour minister was injured by an explosive device planted in his car in the Baramkeh district of Damascus.

The group, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, also reported shelling on the Palestinian Yarmuk refugee camp in the capital.

In southern Daraa province, the group said six people were killed in shelling on the town of Sheikh Miskeen.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW police officer dies in motorbike crash

AN off-duty police officer has died in a motorbike crash on a property in northern NSW.

Constable Aaron Ryan, 35, died at the scene of the crash 25 kilometres north of Moree, police say.

Investigations are under way.

Const Ryan's commander Superintendent Jenny Hayes said he was a fine officer who would be dearly missed.

"He was well-known and popular not only in the command but also within the local community," she said.

"His death will affect everyone who knew him for a long time."

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong stocks end 1.60% higher

HONG Kong shares climbed 1.60 per cent Thursday following more strong jobs figures from the United States and thanks to bargain buying after the index suffered a sell-off in the previous session.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 321.36 points to end at 20,468.67 on turnover of HK$48.37 billion ($US6.24 billion).

Chinese shares ended up 0.59 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 11.83 points to 2,006.10 on turnover of 82.7 billion yuan ($US13.5 billion).

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW energy company denies mass lay-offs

A STATE-RUN power company in NSW says it is "reforming" its operation but has strongly rejected union claims it will entail forced redundancies.

The United Services Union (USU) on Wednesday said Essential Energy was "pressing ahead with their program of mass redundancies across the state" and refusing to provide details about which jobs and how many would be lost.

But Essential Energy's chief operating officer Gary Humphreys has dismissed the USU's claims as "dishonest."

"Our program of reform is being managed by a recruitment freeze, natural attrition and employee-initiated voluntary redundancy," he said in a statement.

"There is absolutely no forced redundancy program ... and there are no targets."

The reforms, under which 144 of the power company's 4500 employees have voluntarily sought redundancy, have been implemented to "improve efficiency and reduce electricity price increases in regional NSW," Mr Humphreys said.

The USU has also raised concerns the reforms will cause the loss of jobs and services in regional areas.

"Once Essential Energy cuts these positions it will be almost impossible for communities to get them back," USU energy manager Scott McNamara said in a statement.

It has taken its dispute with Essential Energy to the Fair Work Commission where it is "challenging the haphazard nature of the employee-initiated redundancy program," Mr McNamara said.

But Mr Humphreys said the Fair Work Commission had not supported the application.

"This is an attempt to block our employees' right to apply for a voluntary redundancy if they wish," he said.

"The USU has shown it is out of touch with the interests of its members at Essential Energy."

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Koala with royal links stolen in SA

A four-year-old female koala has been stolen from the backyard of an Adelaide wildlife carer. Source: AAP

A KOALA held by Prince Charles on his Adelaide visit last year has been stolen from the backyard cage of a wildlife carer.

The four-year-old female named Kao was stolen from the Trott Park property from between 7pm (CST) on Tuesday and 9am on Wednesday, police say.

Fauna Rescue SA rescuer Rae Campbell told Nine News that Kao would not survive without constant medical treatment.

She was raised by Ms Campbell after being hit by a car which killed the koala's mother.

Kao has not been released as she is under constant supervision of a vet.

Ms Campbell said she has put out a cage in front of her property so Kao can be returned with no questions asked.

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall each cuddled a koala at a Government House reception last November during part of their diamond jubilee tour of Australia.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

CMC to prosecute vexatious complainants

PEOPLE who make a complaint to Queensland's crime and corruption watchdog and go public with the details could be charged under sweeping reforms.

The state government announced on Wednesday it will adopt the majority of recommendations from two scathing reports into the beleaguered Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).

Senior ministers have lambasted the body for publicly releasing and accidentally destroying sensitive documents from the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption.

They also claim the CMC allowed itself to be used as a political football during the 2012 election campaign.

An investigation will be launched into whether laws were broken in the dissemination of material from the Fitzgerald hearings and whether there should be disciplinary action.

Also under the changes, the government will try to reduce complaints flowing into the CMC, especially those found to be baseless or vexatious.

People who lodge a complaint will have to sign a statutory declaration and if it's found to be malicious, the CMC will be obliged to instigate prosecutions.

A new offence is expected to be introduced prohibiting anyone, including a CMC officer, disclosing that a complaint has been made or its subject.

The government is still considering possible exemptions but the offence could be waived in cases of fair reporting or if the complainant commences legal proceedings.

A person found to have made a baseless complaint may be made to pay compensation to the CMC or the person complained against, and the threshold of what constitutes "official misconduct" will be raised in a bid to reduce complaints.

There will also be an administrative restructure to reduce increasing bureaucratisation.

The government won't split the CMC, as recommended, but it will lose its education and research functions to create a renewed focus on fighting crime.

"We have seen over the years, a watchdog that has lost its way and has become over burdened with red tape," Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said.

"Queenslanders deserve to have a watchdog they can trust."

The government plans to introduce the legislation by year's end and implement all recommendations by March 2014.

The opposition told AAP it would examine the government response and comment in the next few days.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Girl thrown from car in NSW crash

A YOUNG girl thrown from a car after a collision on a Sydney freeway has escaped serious injury as have a four-year-old boy and a woman also in the vehicle.

The six-year-old girl from Engadine was taken to Westmead Hospital with non life threatening injuries, police say.

When she was found by emergency services after the collision on the F3 at Wahroonga on Tuesday morning she was still strapped into her booster seat.

At first doctors feared the worst and assessed the girl for head injuries.

But they soon discovered she had escaped with only bruising and cuts to her head.

The 27-year-old truck driver was taken to Hornsby Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.

Police are investigating the crash and have asked for anyone with information to come forward.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

50 hurt when quake hits Aceh

A STRONG 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's north western province of Aceh on Tuesday, causing buildings to collapse and injuring at least 50 people.

The quake hit inland at 0737 GMT at a depth of just 10 kilometres, 55 kilometres south of Bireun and 72 kilometres south east of Reuleuet, the US Geological Survey said.

"We have received around 50 people with injuries suffered when the walls of their houses collapsed," Ema Suryani, a doctor at a health clinic in Lampahan city, Bener Meriah district, told AFP.

"The injuries vary from open wounds to broken bones."

Injured people had been transported from several affected villages in two trucks, she said.

People also ran out of buildings in panic in the provincial capital Banda Aceh as the quake shook houses for around one minute, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

A massive quake struck off Aceh in 2004, sparking a tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province on Sumatra and tens of thousands more in countries around the Indian Ocean.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan opens world court defense of whaling

Japan will tell the UN's top court that is whaling program is "carefully conceived and planned". Source: AAP

JAPAN is opening its defence of the country's controversial whaling program in the seas around Antarctica during hearings at the United Nations' highest court.

Based on their written pleadings, lawyers for Tokyo are expected to argue Tuesday that the International Court of Justice has no jurisdiction to hear the dispute with Australia and New Zealand over the annual hunt and slaughter of hundreds of minke and fin whales in the Southern Ocean.

Japan also will argue that its whaling is for scientific research and therefore permitted under the 1946 convention that regulates whaling.

Lawyers for Australia told the court last week that the whaling is a commercial hunt dressed up as science and should be stopped.

The 16-judge world court will take months to issue a judgment.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Residents in Mandela village pray for him

Villagers in Nelson Mandela's homestead of Qunu have held a prayer session to pray for his health. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela's neighbours have held a special prayer service in his ancestral village in South Africa to wish the gravely ill anti-apartheid hero a speedy recovery.

Worshippers sang solemn hymns in a community hall in Qunu, calling on God to heal the revered leader "during this difficult time".

"We want him to recover from whatever pain he is experiencing. That is what we are here for and praying for," said Methodist Church minister Sonwabile Msotyana, as Mandela started a fourth week in hospital.

"This is a very important man that is lying there, not only for South Africa but the entire world," he said on Sunday.

The Nobel peace laureate is in critical condition in Pretoria where he was hospitalised on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Mandela's oldest grandson Mandla and several other relatives also joined the inter-denominational service around 1000 kilometres away in South Africa's rural hinterland.

Supporters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) dressed in party colours also attended.

Mandela spent 27 years in jail for his opposition to white minority rule, and went on to become the nation's first black president after all-race elections in 1994.

"The new South Africa would not have been possible" without the sacrifices made by Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders, Methodist Bishop Don Dabula said.

Together they "liberated us from the yoke of oppression", he added.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Church plan to transfer pedophile priest

The Catholic Church bought a one-way flight for a known paedophile in 1976, an enquiry has heard. Source: AAP

PLANS to move a known pedophile Catholic priest from the NSW Hunter Valley region to work in Western Australia in 1976 were "a good cover up", a special commission of inquiry has been told.

The special commission is examining how police and church officials handled child sexual abuse allegations involving Dennis McAlinden and another Hunter Valley Catholic priest, James Fletcher.

Counsel assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan, says the idea of a cover up about McAlinden was put forward in a letter from senior Hunter Valley Catholic priest, Monsignor Patrick Cotter, to the then Bishop Leo Clarke.

Church officials "had extensive knowledge (of the serious risk McAlinden posed to children) dating back to the 1950s", Ms Lonergan said.

In 1975 he was a priest in the NSW town of Forster when allegations surfaced that he had abused a primary school girl there.

By May 1976 several children had made statements to a solicitor that they had been sexually abused by McAlinden and these were given to church leaders.

A meeting of "diocesan consultors" met on May 16 and agreed that McAlinden seek work in Western Australia's Geraldton diocese and the next day he resigned from the Forster parish, Ms Lonergan said.

She said Msgr Cotter's letter said in part: "The reason why Father (McAlinden) wants to go so very much now is because it will afford a good cover up for his resigning the parish.

"(Other people) will not wonder because his desire to go to Geraldton a few years ago was well known", the letter said.

Ms Lonergan said that despite this plan, McAlinden continued to sexually abuse children at various locations in and outside the Maitland/Newcastle diocese.

In October 1976 McAlinden received permission to work in the Papua New Guinea diocese of Kerema and the Maitland Central Clergy Fund paid his one-way travel ticket.

The special commission of inquiry, before Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, was triggered by a whistleblower policeman - detective chief inspector Peter Fox - who alleged in newspaper, radio and television interviews from 2010 that the church leaders had covered up numerous serious child sex crimes by priests.

He said they were aided by a "Catholic mafia" within police ranks.

Ms Lonergan said church documents obtained by the commission showed that McAlinden, who died in 2005, was known by church officials to have repeatedly abused young girls and boys in a variety of parishes from 1953.

In her opening address on Monday, Ms Cunneen said: "The sexual abuse of children should no longer be a crime for which the conspiracy of silence continues to the grave.

"It has a devastating and long-lasting effect on victims and their families and on the community generally".

Ms Cunneen then encouraged anyone with information about such crimes to contact the commission.

The commission has previously heard three weeks of public evidence in the Newcastle Supreme Court and is scheduled to run for another three weeks.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Protesters storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ

Egyptians have flooded the streets of Cairo determined to oust Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Source: AAP

EGYPTIAN protesters have stormed the headquarters of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood after deadly clashes there between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi who hails from the group, an AFP correspondent said.

The building in Cairo's Moqattam district was set ablaze before people stormed inside and began throwing things out of the windows, as others were seen leaving with items including furniture.

Footage on local TV networks showed smashed windows and smoke billowing out of the building. One protester was seen removing the Muslim Brotherhood sign from the building's front wall.

The storming of the Brotherhood's headquarters followed clashes between armed Morsi supporters barricaded inside the building and young protesters pelting it with firebombs and rocks.

Activists say at least five protesters were killed in the violence.

Witnesses told AFP there were no Brotherhood members still inside the building, after they were escorted out by a group of people early on Monday.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abortion drug overshadows new PBS listings

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says the abortion pill RU486 will be listed on the PBS. Source: AAP

THE inclusion of controversial abortion drug RU486 on Australia's subsidised medication program has been labelled an "abuse of power" by pro-life supporters.

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced on Sunday that Mifepristone and Misoprostol - used in combination to terminate a pregnancy of up to seven weeks gestation - would be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

"By offering this different option at a very difficult time in a woman's life, I hope that we are giving more choice in what are often extraordinary difficult circumstances," the minister said.

However Right To Life president Margaret Tighe said the decision was a "gross abuse of power" by the government.

"The PBS is designed to include life-saving drugs," she told AAP.

"In this case these drugs are just going to make it easier and cheaper and quicker to have more abortions in Australia and that's an absolute disgrace and goes against the purpose of the PBS."

Listing of the abortion drugs overshadowed the addition of cancer treatments and an anti-stroke medication which were also named by Ms Plibersek as newcomers to the PBS.

Breakthrough skin cancer drug ipilimumab, late-stage prostate cancer treatment abiraterone and breast cancer medication vinorelbine were added to the list in a move that will cost taxpayers $430 million over the next four years.

"The exciting thing about these new treatments is that they will extend the life of patients with melanoma, with prostate cancer, with breast cancer," Ms Plibersek said.

"If we didn't subsidise these medicines through the PBS they would be out of the reach of most Australians."

The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia welcomed news of abiraterone's listing to help in the fight against a cancer that kills 3300 men each year.

"Affordable access to therapy at all stages of the condition is vital and the minister's decision to include the therapy on the PBS highlights her commitment to all Australians touched by prostate cancer," foundation CEO Anthony Lowe said in a statement.

Cancer Australia also welcomed the new PBS listings.

"All these agents are important in their own way and to have them available more widely is very important to patients," Professor Jim Bishop said on behalf of the national body.

The government will also put up $450 million over the coming four years for the PBS inclusion of anti-stroke medication rivaroxaban.

"It's a drug that will be used by patients who have been on Warfarin in the past," Ms Plibersek said.

The revised PBS listings are effective from August.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pakistan backing Afghan peace efforts

British Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Pakistan for talks on the Afghan peace process. Source: AAP

PAKISTAN has assured visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron that it will promote efforts to reach a peace deal in neighbouring Afghanistan before NATO's planned withdrawal.

Cameron is the first foreign government leader to visit Islamabad since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office in June after winning landmark elections in May.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad are traditionally mired in distrust. The apparent headway made at a summit hosted by Cameron in February has since unravelled in a series of public rows.

Cameron flew to Pakistan from Afghanistan, where he joined an international push to revive peace efforts that recently collapsed in ignominy after the Taliban opened an office in the Qatari capital Doha.

"We hope that the UK will continue these efforts to seek sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan," Sharif told reporters after Sunday's talks with Cameron.

He supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai's position that any peace process should be "Afghan-owned and Afghan-led".

"I have assured Prime Minister Cameron of our firm resolve to promote the shared objective of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, to which the three million Afghan refugees currently living in Pakistan can return with honour and dignity," said Sharif.

Cameron welcomed Sharif's remarks about the "vital importance of the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan".

"I profoundly believe that a stable, prosperous, peaceful, democratic Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest, just as a strong, stable, peaceful, prosperous, democratic Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest, and I know that you and President Karzai will work together towards those ends," Cameron said.

The search for a peace deal is an urgent priority as 100,000 US-led NATO combat troops prepare to withdraw next year and Afghan forces take on the fight against insurgents that has lasted more than a decade.

The Taliban office in Qatar that opened on June 18 was meant to foster talks but instead enraged Karzai, who saw it as being styled as an embassy for a government-in-exile.

He broke off bilateral security talks with the Americans and threatened to boycott any peace process altogether.

On Saturday however, Karzai told Cameron that a subsequent Taliban attack on the presidential palace "will not deter us from seeking peace".

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

EU alarmed over alleged US bugging

A "SHOCKED" European Union is angrily awaiting explanations from Washington following allegations of US spying on EU offices, which could have a "severe impact" on relations.

Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said in a statement: "I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices", both in Brussels and the United States.

"If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations."

Schulz demanded full and speedy clarification from the US authorities.

The German weekly Der Spiegel on Sunday published a report it claimed was based on confidential documents, some of which it had been able to consult via the fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

One document, dated September 2010 and classed as "strictly confidential", describes how the NSA kept tabs on the European Union's diplomatic mission in Washington, Der Spiegel said.

Microphones were installed in the building and the computer network infiltrated, giving the agency access to emails and internal documents.

The EU delegation at the United Nations was subject to similar surveillance, the newspaper said: the leaked documents referred to the Europeans as "targets".

The spying also extended to the 27-member bloc's Brussels headquarters.

Der Spiegel referred to an incident "more than five years ago" when EU security experts discovered telephone and online bugging devices at the Justus Lipsius building.

In 2003, the EU announced it had found phone taps in the building targeting the offices of several countries, including Britain, France and Germany. It was not immediately clear if Der Spiegel was referring to this case.

US spying was "out of control", said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

"The US would do better to monitor its intelligence services instead of its allies," he added.

Even before the latest allegations, the EU's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wrote to US attorney general Eric Holder earlier this month calling for answers about its internet spy program.

"Fundamentally, this is a question of trust," Reding said in a June 14 speech. "Trust of citizens towards their governments and to the governments of partner nations."

The top-secret PRISM program collects and analyses information from internet and phone users around the world, with access to data from Google, Yahoo! and other internet firms.

US officials say the information gathered is vital in the fight against global terrorism.

16.41 | 0 komentar | Read More