Nurses to strike at 160 NSW hospitals

Nurses and midwives will strike at more than 160 public hospitals and community health services. Source: AAP

NURSES and midwives at every major hospital in NSW will be walking off the job on Wednesday.

Staff at more than 160 public hospitals and community health services across the state have notified the union about their plans to strike.

They are protesting over what they say is the state government's failure to provide safe nurse staffing levels.

NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association General Secretary Brett Holmes said more branches were expected to join the cause by Wednesday.

"For a few hundred million dollars a year the state government can dramatically improve patient care in our public hospitals," he said in a statement on Sunday.

The union wants one nurse to four patients in all general medical, surgical and acute inpatient mental health wards.

It's also calling for one nurse per three children in general children's wards and one nurse to three patients in emergency departments.

The extra staffing would "save lives and money", Mr Holmes said, adding that the nurse-to-patient ratios needed to be consistent at every hospital in NSW, including those in the country.

A special general meeting will be held at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre from 11.30am (AEST) on Wednesday, with a live webcast to 17 regional centres, including Albury, Broken Hill, Kempsey, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

During the strike life-preserving services will be maintained in all hospitals and community health services, the union said.

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Rudd's PNG boat deal a fake fix: Abbott

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says asylum seekers could still be resettled in Aus. Source: AAP

THE coalition has launched a broad attack on Labor's asylum seeker deal with Papua New Guinea, accusing Kevin Rudd of misleading Australians to win votes ahead of an election.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the central thrust of the deal - that all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to PNG and will not be resettled in Australia - simply is not true.

"It's clear that neither of Mr Rudd's assertions are actually borne out by the document," he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

"Mr Rudd has been misleading to the point of dishonesty."

Mr Abbott, accompanied by his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, detailed a long list of alleged flaws with the deal, signed on Friday by Mr Rudd and his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill.

Under the arrangement, people arriving by boat without a visa were to be sent to Australia's Manus Island facility in PNG for assessment and, if found to be refugees, would be settled there.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus earlier said it was unlikely PNG's leader would have told the coalition anything different.

"I'm certain that's not what Prime Minister O'Neill said," Mr Dreyfus told Network Ten.

But Mr Abbott said the document wasn't even legally binding, but a scant two pages "held together with blue tac and sticky tape" to last until the election.

"This is simply another fake fix from someone who is the great pretender of Australian politics," he said.

Mr Morrison said it was clear from examining the details that PNG was not bound to the agreement, and that Labor had no plan for children arriving by boat.

PNG would not take an unlimited number of asylum seekers, despite Labor claims to the contrary, and it could be years before Manus Island could handle a surge in arrivals, he added.

He said people who are found not to be refugees would become Australia's problem, and those with communicable diseases, terrorism charges or a criminal background would remain in Australia.

"The devil is always in the detail with Mr Rudd, and Mr Rudd always proves to be the devil in that detail," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Rudd's hardline policy will likely feature at a meeting of Labor MPs meeting in Sydney on Monday, with Cabinet member Mark Butler acknowledging a level of discomfort within the party ranks.

"There would be people within the Labor movement and the Labor party and the broader community who would feel uncomfortable with this," he told Sky News.

It comes as Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare announced that the Australian Federal Police would pay rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people smugglers.

But Foreign Minister Bob Carr said asylum seekers were arriving at the rate of 40,000 to 50,000 a year, and a tough response to stop that rising even further was unavoidable.

"If it continues at this level - the prime minister was very persuaded by this - it could rise further as people smugglers really close in to make a financial killing," he told Sky News.

The coalition has said it would "salvage" what it could from the deal if elected to government, but wouldn't be replaced its foremost policy of turning back asylum boats where it's safe to do so.

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10 rebels and soldiers killed in Colombia

Six guerillas from the FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes. Source: AAP

SIX guerillas from the leftist FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes in southwest Colombia.

Military officials say the fighting occurred in the town of El Doncello, in the department of Caqueta, a stronghold of the southern bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Three soldiers were injured and two militants captured.

The latest casualties of Colombia's almost half-century-old insurgency came a day after the rebel group announced it had captured a US-ex soldier but said it was ready to release him as a gesture toward peace talks with the government.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is the country's largest guerrilla group with 8000 fighters.

Talks between the rebels and the government opened last November in Cuba, in the fourth attempt since the 1980s to end the conflict that has left 600,000 dead, more than 3.7 million displaced and 15,000 missing.

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Tutu pays tribute to Mandela after visit

Nelson Mandela was visited by fellow peace laureate, archbishop Desmond Tutu (pic). Source: AAP

A DAY after turning 95, Nelson Mandela was visited by fellow peace laureate, archbishop Desmond Tutu, who praised him for continuing to inspire the world even from his sickbed.

"We have a special gift in a man who can unite not only South Africa but the world, even from his sickbed," Tutu told journalists on Friday outside a Pretoria hospital where the anti-apartheid icon is critically ill.

Tutu said he found Mandela asleep but managed to hold his hand.

"He inspired us to become a great country and the world to become compassionate," he said.

Tutu also read the messages of support posted by the public on the wall of the MediClinic Hospital.

Mandela celebrated his 95th birthday on Thursday, six weeks after he was admitted in hospital for treatment for a respiratory condition. The much-loved icon spent the day surrounded by his family in hospital and also received a visit from President Jacob Zuma and other prominent politicians.

Mandela's granddaughter Ndileka described him as "steady and improving."

His condition had in the last two weeks said to have been "precarious".

Mandela's birthday, which was in 2010 declared by the United Nations as the International Mandela Day, is dedicated to good causes.

People are urged to spend 67 minutes of their time doing charity work. The number symbolises the years Mandela spent in politics.

Mandela was rushed to hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection that had already put him in hospital three times in less than a year.

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Berlusconi allies guilty over prostitutes

A Milan court has found three of Silvio Berlusconi's associates guilty of procuring prostitutes. Source: AAP

A MILAN court has found three of Silvio Berlusconi's associates guilty of procuring prostitutes - including the then underage Ruby - for racy parties held at the former Italian premier's villas.

Failed showbusiness agent Lele Mora and television host Emilio Fede were sentenced on Friday to seven years each in jail, while showgirl-turned-politician Nicole Minetti was given five years behind bars.

Among the girls allegedly recruited by the trio for parties at billionaire Berlusconi's villas was Moroccan-born Karima El-Mahroug, a then 17-year-old exotic dancer nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer".

Berlusconi was sentenced in a separate trial in June to seven years in jail for paying for sex with Ruby and abusing his power to hide the liaison - though the punishment was suspended on appeal.

The Milan court on Friday banned Moro and Fede for life from holding public office and working with minors, while Minetti was given a five-year ban on holding public office.

All three were ordered to pay court costs.

In his summing up speech in May, prosecutor Pietro Forno said the three had arranged "orgies" at Berlusconi's mansion and cited the tycoon's ex-wife Veronica Lario, who accused her then husband of consorting with "young virgins".

His colleague Antonio Sangermano said the three were like "tasters of fine wine" and had obtained financial advantages from Berlusconi because "they know all the secrets" of those nights.

"They carried out a sort of exam of the capacities of the young women and then injected them into the circuit of soirees," Sangermano said. Minetti was also an active participant and "performed sexual acts for money," he said.

All three denied the charges, insisting that while they may have invited girls to the premier's Milan villas, it was to attend nothing more than elegant dinner parties.

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Israel frees Palestinians as talks gesture

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will resume peace talks. Source: AAP

ISRAEL says it will release some Palestinian prisoners as a "gesture", as the two sides agreed to meet to pave the way for their first direct talks in three years.

The announcement came hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Amman late on Friday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had laid the groundwork to resume the frozen peace talks.

Kerry said that as a first step Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni would meet him in Washington "to begin initial talks within the next week or so".

The last round of direct talks broke down in 2010 over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The issue of continued expansion of Jewish settlements remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks between the two sides.

On Saturday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said his government would engage in the staged release of a "limited number" of prisoners, some of whom have been in Israeli jails for 30 years.

Steinitz provided no other details but said "there will definitely be a certain gesture here".

Kerry's announcement came after he spent four days consulting the Israeli and Palestinian leadership from his base in an Amman hotel and a late Friday helicopter dash to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

Just minutes before boarding a plane to fly home, Kerry told reporters both sides had reached "an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations".

"This is a significant and welcome step forward," he added, having doggedly pushed the two sides to agree to resume talks in six intense trips to the region since becoming the top US diplomat in February.

But he warned that the issues separating the sides were "difficult" and "complicated".

A US State Department official said Kerry had wrenched a commitment from both sides "on the core elements that will allow direct talks to begin".

The Israelis and Palestinians remain far apart on final status issues including the borders of a future Palestinian state, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and the fate of Jerusalem which both want as their capital.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has also repeatedly called for a freeze to Israeli settlement building and a release of prisoners.

Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the latest developments.

Chico Menashe, diplomatic commentator for Israeli public radio, likened the situation to "a half-baked cake Kerry removed from the stove. Kerry convinced the Israelis and Palestinians it was edible, and both sides agreed to eat it."

Gal Berger, Palestinian affairs correspondent for Israel's public radio pointed to the fact that Yitzhak Molcho, the personal envoy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has already been holding talks with Erakat, which were still ongoing.

"Now Livni is being added, but it is still not a meeting at the level of the leaders (Netanyahu and Abbas)," he said.

Predictably, the Islamist Hamas movement which runs the Gaza Strip rejected a return to talks, its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying Abbas had no legitimate right to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.

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Sydney man's girlfriend a 'liar': inquest

SARAH Manning could "smell money" and was a "poisonous woman" who asked about her French boyfriend's will days after he died of a drug overdose, a court has heard.

David Monlun's business partner Raymond Harrison also described Ms Manning as a "compulsive liar and an actress" in a police statement he made weeks after the wealthy Frenchman died.

The inquest into Mr Monlun's death has previously heard Ms Manning and friend Jamie Philp were the last people to see Mr Monlun, who was found lying face down in his apartment near Sydney's Darling Harbour on May 30, 2011.

An autopsy listed mixed drug toxicity as the direct cause of death, with a lethal range of the drug GHB detected in his blood.

Speaking at the inquest on Thursday, Mr Harrison said Ms Manning had called him just days after his business associate had died, allegedly asking after the 40-year-old's will.

"She rang and said David had said to her on the event of his death that she should ring me and I would fix everything," he told Glebe Coroner's Court.

Mr Harrison who co-owned Mr Monlun's successful freight sales agency company Repworld said the French businessman "was happy again" when he first started seeing Ms Manning in the decade before his death.

But Mr Harrison said this changed over time.

In 2006 Mr Monlun was bashed and had his "hair cut out", reportedly by a friend of Ms Manning.

About four months later, Ms Manning's former partner Matthew Haar kidnapped Mr Monlun and forced him to take cocaine.

Two weeks later, Mr Haar and Ms Manning detained Mr Monlun and were both convicted over the incident.

In the statement given to police in June 2011 in which Mr Harrison said Ms Manning could "smell money" and was poisonous, he also said that after Mr Monlun's death, Ms Manning had called their business associate Nicholas Papaix.

"It was both the opinion of Nicholas and mine, Sarah was seeking an alibi regarding her involvement or contact with David and his death," Mr Harrison told police.

On the night of Mr Monlun's death, CCTV footage shows Ms Manning leaving the apartment at various times before coming back with Mr Philp - a long-term user of GHB.

After saying goodbye to the pair at around 3.20am, Mr Monlun can be seen to deteriorate, dropping a phone and being unsteady on his feet.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Monlun's mother Irene, she said much of her son's life had been a mystery to her.

Describing him as a "loveable joker" and a good son, she said, "David, as every human being, had his imperfections".

The inquest will delve into a number of matters, including telephone conversations about the nature of Mr Monlun's death.

It will also look into the circumstances in which an associate of Mr Monlun and Ms Manning - a Dr Christoph Lenzer - attended Mr Monlun's apartment during the evening he died and was later seen by police at Ms Manning's home.

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund was adjourned to July next year.

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'Improving' Mandela marks 95th birthday

Nelson Mandela's daughter says her father has made a "dramatic" progress on the eve of his birthday. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela is spending his 95th birthday in hospital but his health is "steadily improving", the South African presidency says, as people around the world honour his legacy with charitable acts.

With a wave of good deeds planned to mark Nelson Mandela Day, South Africans awoke on Thursday to word that their national hero was getting better six fraught weeks after he was admitted to hospital with a recurring lung infection.

"Madiba remains in hospital in Pretoria but his doctors have confirmed that his health is steadily improving," the presidency said in a statement, using Mandela's clan name.

Ndileka Mandela said her grandfather was now more responsive.

"He's using his eyes, nodding," she told AFP.

The news prompted joyful prayers of thanks outside the hospital which, for 41 days, has been the focal point of a national vigil.

"He is here with us today us. We didn't know that he will live to see this day," said Agnes Shilowane, a local university student.

"Tata (father) Mandela has once again proved that he is a fighter."

Nearby, school children read poems and left cards as nurses sang happy birthday to the former political prisoner who went on to become South Africa's first black president.

Birthday greetings and messages of support poured in from around the world - and even from astronauts on the International Space Station - to mark the anniversary, which many had feared Mandela would not live to see.

US President Barack Obama - who was unable to visit Mandela during a trip to South Africa last month - led tributes to the peace icon, calling on people to honour him through volunteer work.

"Our family was deeply moved by our visit to Madiba's former cell on Robben Island during our recent trip," Obama said in a statement.

"We will forever draw strength and inspiration from his extraordinary example of moral courage, kindness, and humility."

Other well-wishers included the Dalai Lama, former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, US actor Morgan Freeman and Mandela's former jailer FW de Klerk, who went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize with him.

"Mandela's place in South Africa's history is assured," former president De Klerk said in a statement.

"His legacy of courage, perseverance and magnanimity will continue to inspire us - and people throughout the world - for generations to come."

Across the country, biker gangs cleaned streets, volunteers painted schools and politicians spent 67 minutes on worthy projects - all to mark Mandela's 67 years of public service.

"Let us return Madiba's sacrifices and contributions through our own efforts to build a better society," President Jacob Zuma said.

Near Pretoria, Zuma himself will later try to channel Mandela's cross-community appeal by delivering government housing to poor whites.

Born on July 18, 1918, Mandela fought against white rule in South Africa as a young lawyer and was convicted of treason in 1964.

He spent the next 27 years in jail.

It was in part through his willingness to forgive his white jailers that Mandela made his indelible mark on history.

After negotiating an end to apartheid, he became South Africa's first black president, drawing a line under centuries of colonial and racist suppression.

He then led reconciliation in the deeply divided country.

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Qld premier cagey on COS' pay: opposition

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman hid the full pay of his chief of staff, the opposition says. Source: AAP

PREMIER Campbell Newman has tried to hide the full pay and perks of his chief of staff, the opposition says.

Labor Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk asked the premier to detail Ben Myers' salary package at Tuesday's budget estimates hearing.

Mr Newman only tabled a document which says Mr Myers earns the salary of a "chief of executive 5.1", but gave no dollar figure.

The public service commission said on Thursday that Mr Myers earns $264,000 a year.

But Ms Palaszczuk believes Mr Myers could be on a package as high as $400,000 when you add a work car, superannuation and leave allowances.

"I now want the details of what that package is," she said.

"I hope this is not a cover up."

She said she'd write to the Speaker of the House to question if Mr Newman deliberately mislead the budget estimates hearings.

A spokesman for the premier said the opposition leader's claims are nonsense.

"This is just another example of a lazy opposition jumping the gun, making wild claims and not doing any real work," he said.

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Inquest reveals drug scene in NSW prisons

MAKESHIFT syringes made from cotton buds, prisoners "stoned" for days and drugs secreted inside inmates' bodies.

This was the drug scene inside NSW's Junee Correctional Centre when Anthony Van Rysewyk died from a heroin overdose in 2011, an inquest has found.

According to correctional officer Steve McMahon, drugs are a problem facing all prisons across the state.

Van Rysewyk was nearing the end of a minimum six years and three months sentence for robbery when he took two shots of heroin at the privately-run facility near Wagga Wagga on May 7, 2011.

In handing down her findings into the 28-year-old's death on Wednesday, Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund said when Van Rysewyk was put into his cell that evening other minimum security inmates noticed he was slurring his words, was unsteady on his feet and had "pin eyes" - a clear symptom of heroin intoxication.

Correctional service officers reported noticing nothing.

The next morning he was found dead in his cell.

According to inmates who gave evidence at the inquest, legal and illegal drugs - including heroin, marijuana and speed - regularly flowed into the prison.

Inmates regurgitated prescription medications obtained from the centre's pharmacy, while visitors ferried drugs in.

One inmate told the inquest how he had seen a visitor retrieve a parcel "about the size of a golf ball" from her crotch and pass it to a prisoner.

The prisoner then allegedly tried to put it up his anus.

Syringes were constructed from miscellaneous items, including cotton ear-buds as plungers.

"Inmates would be stoned every weekend, every day or Sunday to Tuesday from drugs that were available weekly," Ms Freund said.

Mr McMahon, also the Public Service Association (PSA) chair of prison officers, said drugs were "certainly a problem" in all NSW correctional centres.

"Some prisoners say that they are as easily available in jail as what they are on the streets," he told AAP.

"I don't personally believe that they are that prevalent. (But) there is certainly still a high incidence of drug use in jail."

Mr McMahon said he has found prisoners dead in their cells a number of times over his 20-year career, and pointed to contact visits as the primary way of drugs coming into the centres, with people secreting items into all bodily crevices, including mouths.

He suggested increasing the use of sniffer dogs and improving officers' training to identify drug intoxication.

These were among two of the recommendations also made by Ms Freund.

At the time of Van Rysewyk's death, she said there were only two officers supervising up to 40 inmates at the visitor centre, meaning prisoners were sometimes left unattended for up to five minutes.

There were no CCTV cameras and the dog squad didn't patrol the centre during or after visits.

Improvements at the centre run by GEO Group Australia had been "nominal" since the 28-year-old's death, the court heard.

GEO Group said in a statement it had "already taken steps to address the areas outlined in the recommendations", including conducting a review of officers' training.

Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) Commissioner Peter Severin said it took Van Rysewyk's death "very seriously" and would be looking at the coroner's recommendations.

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