Taiwan hit by rabies outbreak after 50 yrs

Taiwan has struggled to contain the island's first outbreak of rabies in more than 50 years. Source: AAP

TAIWAN has ordered tens of thousands of vaccine doses to protect people against the island's first rabies outbreak in more than 50 years.

Health officials have struggled to contain the Taiwan outbreak since July 17, when a ferret badger in the southern part of the island was confirmed as rabid.

Since then, 17 more ferret badger cases have been confirmed, and the case of a rabid Asian house shrew reported on Wednesday indicates the disease is jumping species. No humans or dogs have yet been involved in the outbreak.

Health Minister Chiu-Wen-ta says the new human vaccine doses are expected to arrive on Friday and will supplement about 3000 in stock.

Health workers have been vaccinating animals throughout Taiwan to try to control the outbreak. The island has some 40,000 animal-use dosages in stock, with an additional half million expected by August 20.

At a government animal protection facility in the Taipei suburb of Xindian, dozens of anxious dog owners lined up to have their pets inoculated. The animals ranged from well-coiffed poodles and French bulldogs to street mongrels, their mouths covered with muzzles.

Before last month, Taiwan's last reported rabies case was in 1959. A dog bit a farmer, whose wife became infected after washing the farmer's rabies-tainted clothing; the farmer himself did not contract the disease.

Now, the only jurisdictions that world health officials consider rabies-free are Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Fiji, Hawaii, and Guam.

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Aust in asylum bidding war: ex-US diplomat

A FORMER top US diplomat says Australia's major political parties are engaging in a bidding war on asylum seekers, and has labelled Papua New Guinea as unstable.

Richard Armitage, the former US deputy secretary of state, has previously criticised the Gillard government for cutting defence spending to the lowest point since 1938 in the May budget.

In a sit-down interview with AAP, he said instability in PNG showed why spending only 1.56 per cent of economic output on defence was a bad idea.

"It's not as if PNG is the most stable of countries," he said on the sidelines of a Financial Services Council conference in Brisbane.

"This takes a certain level of defence effort and when you are active there, it eats up a certain amount of your capabilities."

He also called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to have a greater role in the processing of asylum seekers in PNG, and noted the politics of the issue in Australia.

"There needs to be less politics. This is a national problem, not a Labor or a coalition problem," Mr Armitage said.

"There seems to be a bidding war going on."

In an earlier off-the-cuff speech, Mr Armitage said Americans regarded Australia as having a free ride following the defence cutbacks, but said this could change after the election.

He later told AAP Australia ideally should spend two per cent of its GDP on defence, in accordance with NATO guidelines.

"It doesn't cause diplomatic tensions with the United States, but it's noticed," he said.

"This paltry sum is not sufficient to your defence needs."

Mr Armitage noted that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2009 defence white paper was "more muscular", but added "we'll see" regarding the present Labor government.

Mr Armitage said a potential North Korean missile strike would draw in American allies.

"There's no way we wouldn't all be in it from the get-go," he said, but added that Australia was not viewed by Americans as a "US policeman".

On US politics, Mr Armitage, a life-long Republican who voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2012, said his party would be unlikely to win the 2016 US presidential election, and predicted Hillary Clinton would run.

"We joke among ourselves ... They say by 2040 if there's a moderate Republican in the White House they want to be ready."

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Response to asylum seeker boat too slow

AUTHORITIES could have prevented the deaths of 102 asylum seekers who drowned after their termite-ridden boat capsized in the Indian Ocean, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, retiring West Australian Coroner Alastair Hope handed down his findings into the sinking of the Siev 358, a rickety wooden fishing vessel overloaded with 212 passengers and crew when it flipped between Indonesia and Christmas Island on June 21 last year.

He was inquiring into the deaths of the 17 whose bodies were recovered.

A further 85 went missing and are presumed dead.

Not only was the boat unseaworthy, it was being crewed by inexperienced and inattentive people smugglers, and was pummelled by waves that filled the hull.

The WA Coroner's Court heard one crew member who was meant to be monitoring machinery below deck fell asleep, failing to notice the bilge pump had become dislodged, also causing sea water to be pumped into the vessel.

The boat capsized almost 32 hours after the first distress call on June 19, which was made via satellite phone to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC).

Under a 2004 agreement between Australia and Indonesia, the nation that receives the first distress call is responsible for a rescue.

But the line kept dropping out and there were language barriers.

It was more than three hours later before the caller provided the boat's location, saying it was now "broken".

RCC then asked Indonesian authorities to assume responsibility for the rescue. Some seven hours later, they sent through a fax saying they had done so, but it was clear no vessel or aircraft was ever sent by Indonesia to assist the Siev 358, Mr Hope said.

The desperate and terrified survivors were ultimately found - clinging to the upturned hull and some in the water - by a merchant ship.

Mr Hope deemed the tragedy a terrible accident, and his top recommendation was for Australian and Indonesian authorities to work together to improve communication during search and rescue responses.

He also recommended that the transfer of search and rescue responsibility should occur at a relatively senior level, and that when possible, documents containing information about search and rescue responses be translated into languages of the involved countries.

Mr Hope was also highly critical of Customs and Border Protection for not sufficiently helping the coronal investigation.

Classified material, including a comprehensive review of the incident by Customs' national director Jeff Buckpitt, was not supplied to a separate WA Police investigation, despite requests.

The report contained information that would have been of great help to the WA Police, Mr Hope said.

Customs' failure to at least advise WA Police of the existence of the report resulted in a substantial duplication of effort, Mr Hope said.

"In my view, the approach of the Commonwealth ... was not helpful and not in keeping with what should be the spirit of such investigations," he said.

Mr Hope concluded that lives could have been saved - or all of the deaths could have been avoided - if the search had been initiated much sooner.

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Civilian casualties up 23% in Afghan war

CIVILIAN casualties in the Afghan war have risen 23 per cent in the first half of this year as a result of Taliban attacks and increased fighting between insurgents and government forces, the UN says.

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WA woman guilty of 'human fireball' attack

Perth woman Natalie Dimitrovska has been found guilty of setting another woman on fire. Source: AAP

A PERTH woman has been found guilty of setting alight an acquaintance she believed was having an affair with her husband.

Natalie Dimitrovska, 28, was on trial for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to Dana Vulin, who suffered burns to 60 per cent of her body in the attack at her Rivervale apartment in June last year.

The jury took just over three hours to reach their verdict.

Perth's District Court heard that Dimitrovska had previously told Ms Vulin she would "ruin her pretty little face", and had stormed into her unit demanding to know where her husband was hiding.

Two days later, Dimitrovska broke into the apartment, and during an argument deliberately took the top off a methylated spirits bottle and doused Ms Vulin, who was holding a lit meth burner.

Dimitrovska was accused of laughing as she ran away while Ms Vulin suffered burns that will require lifelong treatment.

Dimitrovska then changed her hair colour and bought a one-way ticket to Macedonia, but was arrested at Perth Airport moments before departure.

She claimed she had not meant to injure Ms Vulin and had thrown the bottle in self-defence during the argument.

But prosecutor Linda Petrusa said that version "defied belief".

Ms Vulin's face, back, neck, chest and abdomen all suffered full thickness burns, and she is expected to wear a full face-pressure suit as part of her treatment for at least another year.

She attended every day of the trial and gave evidence of how she became a "human fireball".

Outside court, Ms Vulin's sister Svetlana Velickovski told reporters the family thanked those who had supported her sister and sent well wishes.

"Today's verdict has bought us a lot of relief," she said.

"We couldn't be happier and look forward to her (Ms Dimitrovska) getting a lengthy sentence."

Dimitrovska's lawyer David Manera said his client was "devastated" but it was too early to decide if she would appeal the verdict.

Dimitrovska will be sentenced on October 11.

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Bus crash kills nine children in India

NINE schoolchildren have been killed and 20 others injured when a school bus collided with a truck in northern India, police say.

Police officer Vishnu Khatri says the crash happened early on Tuesday as the bus carrying around 30 children collided head-on with a truck in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan state.

At least seven children died instantly, while two others died in a nearby hospital, Khatri said.

Police have launched a search for the drivers of both vehicles who fled after the accident.

Local residents said the bus driver was trying to overtake another vehicle when the bus crashed into the truck coming from the opposite direction.

Hanumangarh is about 350 kilometres northwest of New Delhi.

India has the highest annual road death toll in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police.

Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and ageing vehicles.

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Israel hails 'positive mood' at talks

ISRAEL'S chief negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, has hailed a "positive" mood at resumed peace talks with the Palestinians in Washington, the first in three years.

"The atmosphere was positive," she told public radio early on Tuesday Israel time after a dinner with her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erakat, hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"All issues are on the table, but we decided that what was said will stay in the negotiating room and will not go outside," she said.

She said the talks were resuming "not just in response to US pressure but because it's in the interest of both parties".

However, Livni recognised that disagreements within Israel's right-leaning governing coalition could pose an obstacle to any deal.

"There are ministers who don't want an agreement," she acknowledged.

Hardline ministers have openly opposed the creation of a Palestinian state and have pledged to continue building Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Settlement building was the key issue that led to the breakdown of the last round of talks in September 2010 just weeks after they started.

Deputy interior minister Zeev Elkin, a hawkish member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, told public radio "any change (following a peace agreement) is not necessarily positive for Israel's security, and could make it worse.

"The Palestinians aren't ready to make the smallest concession," he charged.

Kerry welcomed the two negotiating teams and hailed the dinner as "very, very special".

"There's not very much to talk about at all," he joked, seeking to break the ice at a landmark moment that many hope may lead to a long-sought breakthrough in the deadlocked peace process.

The new US secretary of state, who has staked much of his reputation on bringing both sides back to the talks, first met with the teams separately.

He will also host a three-way meeting on Tuesday, before making a statement to reporters around 11am (0100 AEST Wednesday).

President Barack Obama has welcomed the start of the talks, calling the, a "promising step" forward but warning of "hard choices" ahead.

"The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead, and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith," he said.

Obama says the US is ready to support both sides "with the goal of achieving two states, living side by side in peace and security".

Kerry also warned that "many difficult choices lie ahead for the negotiators and for the leaders as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues".

"I think reasonable compromise has to be a keystone of all of this effort."

The two sides have agreed to continue talking for at least nine months, a State Department official said.

Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided over so-called "final status issues".

These include the fate of Jerusalem, claimed by both as a capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of dozens of Jewish settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank.

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Bushfire fallout tests kids' mental health

Children who experienced Tasmania's bushfires showed signs of mental health problems, experts say. Source: AAP

EXPERTS have found around 10 per cent of children who experienced Tasmania's devastating bushfires are showing signs of mental health problems.

A team coordinated by mental health organisation beyondblue has screened 212 children, finding 26 would benefit from more treatment.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression have been identified among the children, some who had to flee for their lives with their families or who saw animals being burned alive.

Professor Brett McDermott, a co-founder of the program also used successfully after the Brisbane floods, said the smell of barbecue smoke or the sound of a siren could still be terrifying years later for a child.

"They might have nightmares and flashbacks and feel like it's happening all over again," Professor Brett McDermott told AAP.

"Or a reminder which might be real, like barbecue smoke, or symbolic, like an ambulance, can bring it all back to them."

As well as PTSD symptoms, parents, teachers and mental health workers are on the lookout for children who appear to show an emotional numbness or have developed phobias to things like fire or wind.

Professor McDermott said the younger the children, the less able they were to process the circumstances of the disaster.

"Some of these kids have had extremely frightening situations where they've been evacuated through very dense smoke and through fire," he said.

" ... Some kids saw animals that were burning.

"These are really frightening kinds of things."

Children in every school affected by the fires have been through a two-stage screening process, while parents and teachers have received training as part of a $650,000 project also involving the Tasmanian government and the Red Cross.

Children needing treatment will receive a form of cognitive behavioural therapy, where they confront and train their thoughts about their experience.

An important part of that was children being able to tell their story, professor McDermott said.

"It was so frightening that they won't tell anyone about it or it comes out in nightmares and dreams which isn't helpful," he said.

"We get them to tell their story several times until it doesn't have any power over them any more.

"The whole emotional burden of their story is diminished."

Professor McDermott said the figure of around 10 per cent was consistent with research from other bushfires.

The flipside of the finding was that most parents were being reassured their children were coping well, he said.

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NSW govt caving in to mine industry: oppn

COMMUNITIES will no longer have "a hope in hell" of stopping large scale mining developments after the NSW government announced it was overhauling the approvals process, the opposition says.

Critics have also slammed the government for caving in to the demands of the mining industry and leaving loopholes "large enough for mining trucks to drive through".

The amendment to NSW's Environmental Planning Policy sets benchmarks for air quality, noise pollution and ground vibrations.

But Labor MP Luke Foley says it also limits the state's power to refuse a proposed development.

It follows a landmark Land and Environment Court decision which overturned ministerial approval for Rio Tinto to expand open-cut mining near Bulga, in the Hunter Valley, on social and environmental grounds.

"The government has caved in to the demands of Rio Tinto and the Minerals Council and is watering down the assessment process," Mr Foley said on Monday.

"This is about gutting the Land and Environment Court's ability to ever again deliver a Bulga-like decision."

He said the state government was failing to protect communities from mining and gas developments, and warned it was possible Rio Tinto could run a fresh application at Bulga.

"This is about giving a green light to large scale mining proposals come what may...

"Communities will know for sure, they'll know for certain, they don't have a hope in hell of stopping a large scale mining development."

But Resources Minister Chris Hartcher says the changes are designed to improve investor confidence while recognising the sector's "key role in the NSW economy".

"The proposed amendments will provide clear direction to both the industry and the community," he said.

Nature Conservation Council of NSW campaign director, Kate Smolski, described it as a dishonest piece of legislation.

"It has been designed to give the appearance of setting new minimum environmental standards but in fact provides loopholes that are big enough to drive a mining truck through...

"The discretionary powers go all one way - in favour of development."

Steve Phillips, from the Lock the Gate Alliance, said the changes were a slap in the face for communities like Bulga.

"The radical changes make all other considerations subordinate to the inexorable might of the mining industry.

"All other land uses whether it be farming, quiet enjoyment or amenity must be relegated to second class considerations to the money-making potential of the proposed mine."

Mr Phillips also attacked the government for opening up the draft amendments for public feedback for only two weeks.

Greens federal senate candidate Cate Faehrmann also criticised the proposed changes, saying it illustrates how NSW's government has prioritised "big mining" over land a water resources.

"Regional communities are crying out for the state government to recognise the overriding importance of productive agricultural land and clean water," she said in a statement.

"Once again conserving biodiversity is at the bottom of the government's priorities."

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