Congo rebels ignore deadline to leave Goma

Rebels holding the town of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo ignored a deadline to withdraw. Source: AAP

REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ignored a deadline to leave the key eastern city of Goma, defiantly patrolling its streets despite threats to dislodge them.

The M23 rebels, army mutineers whose campaign has sown fears of wider conflict in the chronically unstable region rich in minerals, were still out in force in Goma early on Tuesday.

Regional leaders had told rebels to pull out by Monday night and the DR Congo's army chief, General Francois Olenga, had threatened to remove them by force.

"We are holding our positions, we are waiting," Olenga, who had travelled to within 20 kilometres of rebel positions in the east to inspect his troops, told AFP on Tuesday.

At a summit Saturday in Uganda's capital Kampala, regional heads of state gave the rebels 48 hours to withdraw to at least 20 kilometres outside Goma, and also called on the DR Congo government to take steps to resolve the rebels' "legitimate grievances".

But the rebels have refused to withdraw before holding direct talks with the government, which has in turn refused to negotiate without a withdrawal.

The M23 was founded by former fighters in an ethnic-Tutsi rebel group whose members were integrated into the regular army under a 2009 peace deal they claim was never fully implemented.

They mutinied in April and seized Goma last week in a rapid advance that the army proved unable to stop despite getting backing from United Nations peacekeepers who deployed attack helicopters in a bid to hold back the M23.

The United Nations last week issued a damning report accusing Rwanda, and to a lesser extent Uganda, of backing the rebels, who it says have murdered, raped and kidnapped civilians in their sweep across the east.

Both countries deny the allegations.

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Barnett labels White Paper 'underwhelming'

WA Premier Colin Barnett says the federal government's Asian Century White Paper is flawed. Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has labelled the federal government's Asian Century White Paper "underwhelming", describing it as lacking in analysis and objectivity.

Mr Barnett told delegates at the In the Zone conference in Perth that half of the report involved recycled press releases and was heavily flawed.

"Productivity was talked about but the elephant in the room was industrial relations, which was totally ignored," he said.

"Structural change in Australia was largely omitted. WA's increasing dominance was not there.

"The report tends to downplay mining - 'here we go again, boom and bust'.

"Much of what is counted as manufacturing is actually moderate transformations of raw materials."

The premier said the focus on the services sector had also been overstated.

While services growth was important, it was also transferable, Mr Barnett said.

"We should not lose sight of the fact that services trade is still less than 20 per cent of global trade," he said.

Two "big hiccups" in recent years had been the Mining Resources Rent Tax and the cessation of live cattle exports to Asia, which damaged Australia's international reputation, Mr Barnett said.

He said Singapore had the potential to become a professional services hub for the Asian region despite the White Paper pointing to Darwin as the gateway to Asia.

However, Mr Barnett said the White Paper had provided a good snapshot of Asian growth, highlighting the urbanisation of city states like Shanghai, food security, environment and the increasing amount of foreign exchange reserves held by Asian countries.

In the Zone, held at the University of Western Australia, is a meeting of national and international leaders from the business, government and academic sectors.

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More back whaling than not: Japan survey

More Japanese people support the country's controversial whale hunt than oppose it, a survey shows. Source: AAP

MORE Japanese people support the country's controversial whale hunt than oppose it, a survey carried out on behalf of animal rights activists shows.

Of 1200 people questioned for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), 26.8 per cent said the country should continue its hunt against 18.5 per cent who opposed it. The remainder expressed no opinion.

Japan hunts whales using a loophole in a global moratorium. It kills the mammals for "scientific research" even though the meat is later sold openly in shops and restaurants.

Tokyo says the whale hunt is deeply embedded in Japanese culture and wants to resume commercial whaling.

Environmentalists routinely condemn the hunt and maintain it does not have the support of Japanese people.

In a press release on Tuesday, IFAW tried to put a positive gloss on the survey, which questioned people aged 15 to 79 nationwide over a 13-day period in October.

"The good people of Japan are taking whale meat off the menu," said Patrick Ramage, director of IFAW's global whale program, citing the 88.8 per cent of respondents who said they had not bought whale meat in the past year.

The survey did not provide results for how many people had actually consumed the meat over the period.

Japan's Fisheries Agency is to sell whale meat by mail order, the Mainichi Shimbun reported earlier this month. It said the move is aimed at boosting consumption after demand fell as prices rose.

IFAW opposes all commercial and scientific whaling and advocates whale-watching programs that it says generate around $US2.1 billion ($A2.02 billion) annually for coastal communities.

Japan's whaling fleet is expected to set sail for the Southern Ocean around Antarctica in the next few weeks.

Tokyo will not disclose the exact date of the departure, citing fears of attacks by militant conservationist group Sea Shepherd which habitually pursues the ships.

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Defence shows off new fitness standard

FUTURE Australian soldiers could have to prove their fitness by route marching in full kit and carrying 22kg jerry cans full of water, rather than running and doing push-ups and sit-ups.

The proposed new defence Physical Employment Standards Assessments are the culmination of a long program of research by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation aimed at determining standards of fitness required for a particular job.

Under reforms now under way, women will be able to serve in frontline combat units if they can meet the physical standard.

DSTO scientist Dan Billing, who's headed the research project, said on Monday the current Army Basic Fitness Assessment standard specified a 2.4km run plus push-ups and sit-ups, adjusted according to age and gender.

"They are good tests of physical capacity. But they don't necessarily assess someone's capability to do the job," he said.

Mr Billing said the proposed new basic test, demonstrated at the defence headquarters in Canberra on Monday, gives a better indication of whether a soldier is actually able to perform a range of tasks likely to be encountered in service life.

It starts with a 55 minute, five-kilometre march, wearing protective equipment and carrying weapons. Soldiers must then carry two 22-kilogram jerry cans for 150 metres, which mirrors the effort it takes to carry a casualty on a stretcher.

Soldiers must also demonstrate the basic tactical skill of fire and movement by running six metres, kneeling and lying prone in a firing position and repeating that 12 times.

Finally, there's a requirement to lift a 25kg weight a distance of 1.5 metres - comparable to lifting store onto a truck or moving sandbags in a disaster relief operation.

The basic requirement for an infantry soldier is more stringent and proposed tests for special forces will be tougher still.

Mr Billing said the requirements aren't designed to exclude people.

"We have seen really clear evidence that if people are given the exposure and the necessary conditioning and training, they improve radically and very quickly," he said.

"We have actually implemented the tests at recruit training centres. Both males and females have passed the test at the end of recruit training. These are people who have been in the army for 12 weeks."

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Skyfall shakes the Australian box office

The latest Bond film Skyfall has taken $12.304 million in its opening weekend in Australia. Source: AAP

THE latest Bond instalment has shaken the Australian Box Office, pulling in a massive $12.304 million in its opening weekend.

Skyfall, the 23rd in the James Bond series, which stars Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem as a very convincing baddie, and a string of beautiful Bond girls, has clearly not lost favour with Australian audiences.

Losing a bit of bite, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 managed to make $4.489 million at the weekend, which takes its total to $20.309 million after just two weeks at the cinemas, according to figures released by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

Ben Affleck's thriller Argo has been pushed to No.3.

Although its figure this week of $421,563 looks rather insignificant compared with the top two films, the true story about efforts to smuggle Americans out of Iran during the hostage drama of 1979 has already attracted more than $9 million at Australian cinemas.

The new film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which stars Emma Watson, proves she's got a big career ahead after leaving Hermione Granger back at Hogwarts.

The film, about three misfit teenagers and based on the book of the same name, finished at No.5 in its opening week with $175,754.

French film The Intouchables continues to attract good audiences and sits at No.4 after five weeks.

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Report slams WA firefighting preparedness

A WA parliamentary committee found that firefighters are struggling with a lack of basic equipment. Source: AAP

WESTERN Australia's firefighters are battling dud radios, a lack of basic equipment and budget cuts, despite a succession of devastating bushfires in the past three years, a parliamentary committee has concluded.

Toodyay in 2009, the Perth Hills in 2010 and Margaret River last year suffered huge property losses after devastating fires swept through an increasingly dry and dangerous WA landscape.

And with one Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) firefighter already having been killed in a fire in Albany last month, committee chairman Tony O'Gorman said that despite claims of better preparedness there were still major flaws in the state's firefighting capability.

"The government has given extra money to the department (of Fire and Emergency Services) but have then taken a whole heap of that money back," Mr O'Gorman said.

"We think that actually does affect frontline services."

Ahead of what is tipped to be another nightmare bushfire season in 2012, the state government has admitted a combination of a heavy fuel load, a dry winter and expected unhelpful weather threaten more major bushfires.

The committee tasked with investigating WA'S fire readiness concluded that firefighters were being exposed to danger because of a reliance on ancient UHF radios.

One firefighter gave evidence that he now carried five different radios in his cab to talk to different people, and digital radios sometimes failed as soon as pumps left suburban fire stations.

"The WA Emergency Radio Network (WAERN) seems to have significantly degraded performance in the bushfire environment," a committee statement said.

"Incredibly ... its performance is affected by both smoke and water vapour, and witnesses (said) they revert to using their older UHF radios.

"Digital upgrades had been deferred due to budgetary constraints."

The committee also concluded that volunteer firefighters were still waiting for more training and basic equipment, including fire blankets.

It called on Minister for Emergency Services Troy Buswell to institute a database of potential hotspots around the state by the 2013-14 bushfire season and to ensure future post-fire analyses were out within eight weeks of the event.

The committee said a solid policy was needed for how victims of future major natural disasters, such as bushfires, would be compensated.

It called for a review of the ability of that state's insurers to assess losses more quickly.

"The evidence from witnesses highlighted that there has been ad hoc assistance provided by the government for victims of different bushfires over the past three years," the committee said.

Mr Buswell said WA was better prepared for this year's bushfire season than it was last year, but noted this season would be a challenge.

"We are, I think, better prepared than we were last year. We'll be better prepared next year," he said.

"You'd never say we're as prepared as we ever can be because the nature of fire and the nature of response to fire is that you'll always find things that you can do better."

Mr Buswell said the government was still "flat out" responding to other bushfire reports.

There should not be an artificial timeline on post-event analysis, he said.

"We had, what I think, was a well-considered response," Mr Buswell said.

"Where there are learnings to be made we'll accept those learnings, but we're not going to just rush the report out because a parliamentary committee decides that's what they think is appropriate."

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ElBaradei warns of Egypt turmoil

Egypt's top judges have denounced President Mohamed Morsi for granting himself sweeping new powers. Source: AAP

PROMINENT Egyptian democracy advocate Mohammed ElBaradei has warned of increasing turmoil that could lead to the military stepping in unless Islamist President Mohammed Morsi rescinds his new, near absolute powers.

Egypt's liberal and secular forces - long divided, weakened and uncertain amid the rise of Islamist parties to power - are seeking to rally themselves in response to the decrees issued this week by Morsi.

The president granted himself sweeping powers to "protect the revolution" and made himself immune to judicial oversight.

The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi's edicts, pushed back on Saturday.

The country's highest body of judges, the Supreme Judicial Council, called his decrees an "unprecedented assault."

Courts in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria announced a work suspension until the decrees are lifted.

Outside the high court building in Cairo, several hundred demonstrators rallied against Morsi, chanting, "Leave! Leave!" echoing the slogan used against former leader Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising that ousted him.

Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of young men who were shooting flares outside the court.

The edicts issued on Wednesday have galvanised anger brewing against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, ever since he took office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president.

Critics accuse the Brotherhood - which has dominated elections the past year - and other Islamists of monopolising power and doing little to bring real reform or address Egypt's mounting economic and security woes.

Opposition groups have called for new nationwide rallies on Tuesday - and the Muslim Brotherhood has called for rallies supporting Morsi the same day, setting the stage for new violence.

Morsi supporters counter that the edicts were necessary to prevent the courts, which already dissolved the elected lower house of parliament, from further holding up moves to stability by disbanding the assembly writing the new constitution, as judges were considering doing.

Like parliament was, the assembly is dominated by Islamists.

Morsi accuses Mubarak loyalists in the judiciary of seeking to thwart the revolution's goals and barred the judiciary from disbanding the constitutional assembly or parliament's upper house.

In an interview with a handful of journalists, including The Associated Press, Nobel Peace laureate ElBaradei raised alarm over the impact of Morsi's rulings, saying he had become "a new pharaoh."

"There is a good deal of anger, chaos, confusion. Violence is spreading to many places and state authority is starting to erode slowly," he said.

"We hope that we can manage to do a smooth transition without plunging the country into a cycle of violence. But I don't see this happening without Mr Morsi rescinding all of this."

Speaking of Egypt's powerful military, ElBaradei said, "I am sure they are as worried as everyone else. You cannot exclude that the army will intervene to restore law and order" if the situation gets out of hand.

But anti-Morsi factions are chronically divided, with revolutionary youth activists, new liberal political parties that have struggled to build a public base and figures from the Mubarak era, all of whom distrust each other.

The judiciary is also an uncomfortable cause for some to back, since it includes many Mubarak appointees who even Morsi opponents criticise as too tied to the old regime.

Opponents say the edicts gave Morsi near dictatorial powers, neutering the judiciary when he already holds both executive and legislative powers.

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Woman fights for life after three-car crash

A WOMAN is fighting for her life after a two-car crash in Brisbane's north this afternoon.

It is believed two cars crashed in the southbound lanes of Gympie Road at Aspley about 12.30pm before being pushed into a northbound lane, into the path of a third vehicle.

The woman was rushed to the Royal Brisbane Hospital in a serious condition.

Another driver was taken to the hospital with less serious injuries.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating.

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Men arrested after mosque 'threat'

A person is in custody after a threat has been made against a mosque in Sydney's south. Source: AAP

TWO suspected Muslim extremists have been arrested at a mosque in Sydney's south after threats were allegedly made against worshippers.

Police say two men are in custody after an operation at the mosque in Arncliffe, in Sydney's south, on Sunday afternoon.

They said one man was removed from the mosque around 1.15pm by "members of the congregation" before being arrested by police stationed outside.

Another man was arrested outside the mosque, police told AAP.

They did not specify the nature of the arrests.

A witness at the mosque who does not want to be named, said he saw members of the congregation drag a man wearing Islamic clothing from the building around 1.00pm (AEDT).

The witness said worshippers hauled the man out of the mosque and took him "down the street", before police arrived and apprehended him.

He said the man appeared to be an Anglo-Saxon Australian and said he thought he may have been a Wahabi extremist.

Jamal Daoud of the Social Justice Network said he was contacted by a member of the Muslim community who said two Wahabi extremists had threatened Shia Muslims gathered to observe the day of Ashura at the Masjid Fatima Al Zahrah mosque.

"We have information that two men were arrested when they attempted attacking masses of Shia Muslims remembering the Ashura in Arncliffe," Mr Daoud said.

He said the action came after calls for violence against Shia were made on Facebook on Saturday.

Mr Daoud said worshippers at the mosque called police when they became suspicious of attempts by the two men to use their mobile phones.

Police said both arrested men had been taken to St George Police Station where they were assisting with inquiries.

They said the men were not aligned with any particular religious group and may have mental health issues.

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Dallas star Larry Hagman dies in Texas

American actor Larry Hagman, known for his role on the TV show Dallas, has died at the age of 81. Source: AAP

US actor Larry Hagman, who starred as predatory oil baron JR Ewing on TV's hit soap opera Dallas, has died at the age of 81.

Hagman, who returned as JR in a new edition of Dallas this year, died on Friday afternoon due to complications from his battle with cancer, according to a statement from the family provided by Warner Bros, producer of Dallas.

"Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most," the family said. "Larry's family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday."

Hagman was diagnosed in 1992 with cirrhosis of the liver and acknowledged that he had drank heavily for years. In 1995, a malignant tumour was discovered on his liver and he underwent a transplant.

Linda Gray, a long-time friend who starred alongside him in the TV show, called him her "best friend for 35 years", her agent told the BBC.

Gray, who played Hagman's on-screen wife, Sue Ellen Ewing, was by his bedside when he died.

In a statement from her agent she said: "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years.

"He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented and I will miss him enormously.

"He was an original and lived life to the full."

Years before Dallas, Hagman had gained TV fame as a nice guy with the fluffy 1965-70 NBC comedy I Dream of Jeannie, in which he played Captain Tony Nelson, an astronaut whose life is disrupted when he finds a comely genie, portrayed by Barbara Eden, and takes her home to live with him.

He also starred in two short-lived sitcoms, The Good Life (NBC, 1971-72) and Here We Go Again (ABC, 1973). His film work included well-regarded performances in The Group, Harry and Tonto and Primary Colors.

But it was Hagman's masterful portrayal of the charmingly loathsome JR that brought him his greatest stardom. The CBS serial drama about the Ewing clan and those in their orbit aired from April 1978 to May 1991.

The "Who shot JR?" story twist, in which Hagman's character was nearly murdered in a cliffhanger episode, fuelled international speculation and millions of dollars in betting-parlour wagers. It also helped give the series a ratings record for the time.

When the answer was revealed in a November 1980 episode, an average 41 million viewers tuned in to make Dallas the second most-watched entertainment show of all time, trailing only the MASH finale in 1983 with 50 million viewers.

It was JR's sister-in-law, Kristin (Mary Crosby) who plugged him - he had made her pregnant, then threatened to frame her as a prostitute unless she left town - but others had equal motivation.

Hagman played Ewing as a bottomless well of corruption with a charming grin: a business cheat and a faithless husband who tried to get his alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen (Gray), institutionalised.

"I know what I want on JR's tombstone," Hagman said in 1988. "It should say: 'Here lies upright citizen JR Ewing. This is the only deal he ever lost.'"

In 2006, Hagman did a guest shot on FX's drama series Nip/Tuck, playing a macho business mogul. He also got new exposure in recent years with the DVD releases of I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas.

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