Sydney drug house fitted with booby traps

Police say they have found a live electrical booby trap during a raid on a drug house in Sydney. Source: AAP

POLICE have uncovered more than half a million dollars worth of cannabis in a suburban home, but there was another shock in store at the southwest Sydney property.

The Cabramatta house was also fitted out with two electrical booby traps that police believe were designed to zap unwary trespassers.

The raid on Friday afternoon turned up 222 cannabis plants with a street value of nearly $600,000.

As part of the search warrant, technicians conducted a routine search for an electrical bypass.

They discovered not only a bypass but two booby traps linked to it.

Police will allege one live trap was attached to the handle of a door to a room full of cannabis plants and a second, inactive trap was connected to the handle of the back door.

It's believed the traps could be activated upon leaving the house to give an electrical shock to would-be trespassers.

Investigations are continuing to identify those responsible.

In an unrelated raid on Friday, Strike Force Zambesi investigators seized 73 hydroponically-grown cannabis plants at a Canley Vale house.

A 50-year-old man was charged with cultivating a prohibited plant and being found on drug premises.

He was granted conditional bail to appear in Liverpool Local Court on June 5.

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SA man on child exploitation charges

A South Australian man has been charged with producing child exploitation material. Source: AAP

A SOUTH Australian man has been charged with producing child exploitation material after a tip-off from interstate authorities.

Detectives arrested the 70-year-old man from Adelaide's northern suburbs after receiving information from Queensland police.

The man has been charged with one count each of accessing, producing and possessing child exploitation material of an aggravated nature and one count of basic possession of child exploitation material.

Police will allege that the access and production offences occurred over the internet on December 17 last year and that the possession offences occurred on Saturday at the man's home address.

The aggravated aspect of the offences is due to the age of the children depicted in the material, police say.

The man was granted police bail and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on May 15.

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Snorkeller tragedy at Sydney beach

A snorkeller has died after getting into difficulty at Maroubra Beach, police say. Source: AAP

A SNORKELLER has died after getting into difficulty at Maroubra Beach.

The man was at snorkelling at the beach on Saturday afternoon and had to be pulled out of the water, say police.

He died shortly after arriving at hospital and is yet to be formally identified.

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Plane crashes in Bali, all 108 survive

A Lion Air plane carrying 108 people has overshot the runway at Bali's international airport. Source: AAP

PASSENGERS who were aboard a Lion Air flight that crashed into the sea in Bali have told of their horror as the plane plunged into the water short of the runway as it came into land.

All 101 passengers as well as seven crew were safe in Bali, although at least seven people had been taken to Denpasar's Sanglah Hospital on Saturday with head wounds and broken bones.

Many passengers arrived with wet clothes and bruises.

The Boeing 737-800 had been trying to land at Ngurah Rai International Airport about 3.30pm local time (5.30pm AEST) on Saturday when it fell short of the runway.

Photographs on Indonesian television showed the plane's fuselage had split into two parts just behind its wings, and the plane half submerged in shallow water.

Andis, a passenger who was on the flight, said afterwards that the plane suddenly fell into the sea as it made its final approach.

There was a loud bang as the plane hit the water, he said.

"I looked down. It was suddenly sea," Andis said.

"I realised that the plane was flying too low, but we still stayed calm until we heard a bang. There was panic."

A spokeswoman with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said efforts were being made to find out whether any Australians were on the flight.

"The Australian Consulate-General in Bali is making urgent inquiries to determine whether any Australian citizens may have been involved in air crash is Bali on Saturday afternoon," the spokeswoman said.

"At this time we are not aware that there are any Australian victims."

The Lion Air fight 904 was due to arrive at Denpasar at 3.30pm local time (5.30pm AEST) after leaving from Bandung about two hours earlier.

Lion Air commercial director Edward Sirait confirmed that some passengers had been taken to a hospital in Denpasar.

"All passengers and crew are safe - 101 passengers and seven crew. They've been taken to the nearest hospital," he said.

Mr Sirait said that the plane was new, and began operating last year.

"The plane is Boeing 737-800 NG, Next Generation. It's a new one, a 2012 product," he said.

However, the airline is sure to come under fire again with Saturday's crash the latest in a string of incidents in recent years including one crash in 2004 which left 25 people dead.

It has also been banned from flying in the US and Europe after failing to pass a safety audit.

Lion Air started operating in 2000 and services more than 36 destinations, mostly in Indonesia.

The airline last month agreed to buy 234 Airbus planes and announced that it planned to target new routes in Asia, as well as a venture in Australia.

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Scientists study secrets of 'moreishness'

SCIENTISTS are starting to unravel the mystery of moreishness - why some snacks seem impossible to eat in small amounts.

It is the phenomenon that explains why it can be so difficult to dip into a crisp packet without polishing off all the contents.

Likewise, a single bite of chocolate may prove waist-expandingly fatal.

Some might call it greed, but another name for such behaviour is "hedonic hyperphagia".

"That's the scientific term for 'eating to excess for pleasure rather than hunger'," said expert Tobias Hoch, who presented findings from a study of hungry rats to the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.

"It's recreational over-eating that may occur in almost everyone at some time in life. And the chronic form is a key factor in the epidemic of overweight and obesity."

Hoch and his team from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany scanned the brains of rats as they ate potato chips or ordinary chow pellets.

The rats were far more keen on the crisps, despite the fat and carbs mixture containing the same number of calories. Standard pellets were the least popular food.

"The effect of potato chips on brain activity, as well as feeding behaviour, can only partially be explained by its fat and carbohydrate content," said Hoch. "There must be something else in the chips that make them so desirable."

High levels of fat and carbohydrate had been thought to send pleasing messages to the brain, leading people to gorge on calorie-packed snacks.

The magnetic resonance imaging scans showed reward and addiction centres in the rats' brains were most active when they ate crisps.

Pinpointing the molecular triggers in snacks and sweets that stimulate the brain's reward centres could lead to the development of new drugs or food additives that combat over-eating.

Identifying the triggers is the German team's next project.

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Has Kimberley environment dodged a bullet?

ONE thing the Browse gas project has inadvertently brought about, without even getting off the ground, is a greater understanding of the Kimberley region's environmental significance.

Initially, it was only a handful of locals and greenies who opposed the project, some 60km north of Broome in Western Australia's far north.

Before too long, however, the threat of industrialising the unique coastline - just like the Pilbara to the south - became big news.

Musicians such as John Butler and Missy Higgins didn't look out of place on the anti-hub bandwagon, nor did former Greens leader Bob Brown in highlighting the fact the waters off James Price Point are a major humpback whale migration zone.

Former prime ministerial consultant turned eco-warrior and outspoken businessman Geoffrey Cousins was also in the "no way" camp, as was retired Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox, QC, who was so impassioned about the issue that he published a book on it.

Perhaps the most compelling argument against the hub - aside from the likely disruption of Aboriginal heritage sites including graves - was the possibility of causing damage to dinosaur footprints on the shoreline at James Price Point.

Leading palaeontologist, the University of Queensland's Steve Salisbury, feared that near-shore geotechnical surveys being undertaken by Woodside for the project could encroach on nearby dinosaur tracks.

Most were exposed only at extreme low tide in the intertidal zone that marks the boundary of the West Kimberley National Heritage site.

While Woodside claimed it would be able to work around the tracks without damaging them, it would have been tricky work, given all the marine pile-driving and dredging that would have been involved.

WA's environmental watchdog, in granting approval for Browse last year, warned that turbidity from dredging, oil spills, industrial discharges, noise, light and vessel strikes could adversely affect whales, dolphins, turtles, dugong and fish.

There were also concerns about surrounding monsoon vine thicket vegetation.

And it of course remains to be seen how benign the floating gas processing approach - still in its early days and likely to be the way Browse will eventually be developed - will be on the environment.

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Bird flu hits nest farm in Vietnam

Thousands of swifts at a southern Vietnam farm have died of H5N1 bird flu virus, reports say. Source: AAP

NEARLY 5000 swifts, whose nests are collected for sale as a luxury health food, have died in southern Vietnam after contracting the H5N1 bird flu virus, say news reports.

The birds, half the population of a facility in Phan Rang Thap Cham City, died between March 28 and April 11, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Friday.

The city has many so-called bird houses, where the swifts are encouraged to build their nests, which are then collected for sale.

The nests, made largely of the birds' saliva, are a sought-after ingredient for soup and other delicacies.

Many bird house owners expressed concern about contagion.

"My experiences show if swifts contract H5N1, it would be very difficult to control because most of the birds fly all over the place and only come back to the house in the evening," owner Nguyen Van Khoi was quoted as saying.

"All our investments will go up in the air if the disease takes hold on a large scale."

Vietnam on Tuesday confirmed a four-year-old boy died of the bird flu strain H5N1 in the Mekong Delta, the country's first fatality from the virus this year.

In China, ten people have died from a new strain of the virus, H7N9, which has only been reported in and around Shanghai since it first appeared in March.

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European stocks drop before Cyprus talks

EUROPE'S main stock markets fell in cautious trading ahead of eurozone talks that will seek to finalise the Cyprus bailout, and before key US banking results, dealers said.

In late morning deals, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.52 per cent to 6,382.74 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 1.22 per cent to 7,775.35 points and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 0.71 per cent to 3,747.80.

The euro meanwhile slid to $1.3060 from $1.3103 late in New York on Thursday, when it had spiked to $1.3138 - a level last seen on February 28. Gold prices eased to $1,552.10 per ounce on the London Bullion Market, from $1,565.

Eurozone finance ministers meet Friday in Dublin hoping to finish negotiations on the contentious Cyprus debt bailout.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades says he will appeal to EU chiefs for extra assistance for the island as it faces ever more crippling terms for a eurozone rescue deal.

However, he did not elaborate on what additional support he was seeking.

Under the preliminary bailout terms agreed last month, Cyprus was already drastically downsizing its once lucrative banking sector, raising taxes, reducing the public sector workforce and privatising state-owned utilities to raise 7.0 billion euros.

But the government acknowledged on Thursday that the costs have now soared to 23 billion euros ($30 billion) and that the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are demanding that Cyprus fund the 6 billion euro shortfall too.

"Equity markets have a notably softer tone, edging lower to halt a four-day run as eurozone finance ministers meet to finalise the Cypriot bailout," said analyst Brenda Kelly at trading group IG.

"Reports that the cost of the bailout has risen to 23 billion euros from 17 billion euros raises the question of exactly how Cyprus will meet this additional contribution.

"Early reports suggest that the beleaguered country is going cap-in-hand to seek an additional 10 billion euros in aid from the EU."

However, a Cypriot official told AFP that Nicosia wants "no extra money" but was instead seeking help from a European Commission task force to lessen the burden of measures agreed in exchange for loans.

And Germany stressed that the amount of the bailout would not rise.

Aside from Cyprus, investors will also pore over the latest earnings in the United States on Friday.

"JP Morgan and Wells Fargo kick off the corporate earnings season ... for the major banks, with another strong quarter expected," said Alpari analyst Craig Erlam.

"US banks are expected to be one of the strongest performing sectors in the current earnings season, although they may not necessarily be quite as strong as the last few quarters. That being said, JP Morgan has a history of easily beating earnings forecasts."

Asian equities mostly fell on Friday at the end of a strong week, despite another record day for US stocks on Wall Street fuelled by upbeat jobs data.

Dealers are keeping tabs on the currency markets as the dollar approaches the 100-yen level, not seen for four years.

Tokyo stocks fell 0.45 per cent, with profit-takers moving in to reap the benefits of a rally of about 10 per cent since the Bank of Japan's huge stimulus plan was announced last week.

Seoul lost 1.31 per cent amid simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Hong Kong stocks edged slightly lower but Sydney rose 0.13 per cent.

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5 Israeli women arrested at Wailing Wall

Five Israeli women have been arrested for praying out loud at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Source: AAP

FIVE Jewish feminists who wore prayer shawls and prayed out loud at Jerusalem's Western Wall in defiance of a court order have been detained for questioning, a police spokeswoman says.

Some 200 women gathered at the Wall in Jerusalem's Old City to stage what has become a monthly protest by activists seeking to overturn a legal ban on them performing certain religious rituals at the sacred site, an AFP correspondent said.

Media reports this week said Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky was trying to find a compromise so the women could pray as they wish without offending more traditional worshippers.

"Five (women) who were wearing a tallit, which is barred by the Supreme Court, were taken for questioning," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.

An ultra-Orthodox man who tried to set fire to a prayer pamphlet being held by one of the women was also taken for questioning, Samri said.

Wearing a tallit, a fringed prayer shawl, is one of several practices traditionally reserved for men at the sacred spot in the Old City. A court in 2003 ruled that women could not perform such rituals there as this would constitute a danger to public order.

Under Israeli law, women are allowed to pray at the ancient wall, but in silence.

The activists, who belong to a group called Women of the Wall, have been going the site to pray on the first day of every Jewish month for 25 years, sparking insults and curses from the men at the site.

At the same time, they have been waging a protracted legal struggle over their right to pray out loud, to wear prayer shawls and to hold a Torah scroll at the site.

The AFP correspondent said that some of the women at Thursday's protest were wrapped in tallits while others wore skullcaps.

Religious men tried to drown out their singing and prayers by carrying out their own rites at a volume much louder than usual.

The women say access to the Wall, the most sacred spot at which Jews can pray, is open to all streams of Judaism, including the Reform and Liberal branches which accord women an equal place alongside men.

The Jewish Agency, a body tasked with linking Israel to Jewish communities around the world, confirmed on its Facebook page Sharansky was working on a compromise plan.

"Sharansky hopes his recommendations will be accepted and will decrease the heightened tensions at the Western Wall," it said in a move aimed at making the site "a symbol of unity among the Jewish people, and not one of discord and strife".

The site is venerated by Jews as the last remnant of wall supporting the Second Temple complex, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

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Teens return 62,000 euros found on train

TWO Norwegian teens returned 467,200 kroner ($A77,427.41) they found left on a train by an elderly passenger, Norwegian media says.

The pair found the treasure on Wednesday in a handbag left on the seat of a train running between Oslo and a small town in southeastern Norway.

"When I opened the bag, the first thing I saw were these wads and wads of bills," one of the teens, identified as 16-year-old Bendik, told local daily Vestby Avis.

"My first thought was to call the police," he said.

After looking in the bag more closely, the good samaritans found the passport of its owner, a man in his 70s who was expected to pick up his money from the police on Thursday.

Police said they did not suspect any foul play behind the man's huge quantity of cash, and said they did not know if the two teenagers had been rewarded for their honesty.

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US hermit living wild for 27 yrs arrested

A US man thought to have lived in the woods for 27 years has been arrested for stealing food. Source: AAP

A US man who lived like a hermit for decades in a makeshift camp in the woods and may be responsible for more than 1000 burglaries has been caught in a surveillance trap.

Christopher Knight, 47, was arrested last week when he tripped a surveillance sensor while stealing food from a camp for people with special needs in a small town in Maine.

Authorities on Tuesday found the campsite where it's believed Knight, known locally as the North Pond Hermit, has lived for 27 years.

He was so well known to some summer cottage owners that they left food out for him so he wouldn't break in during the colder months, state Trooper Diane Vance said.

But others were hardly aware of the hermit living within their midst without detection since 1986.

Knight's living quarters included a tent covered by tarps suspended between trees, a bed, propane cooking stoves and a battery-run radio, which he used to keep up with the news and listen to talk radio and a rock station, authorities said.

Since vanishing from his Maine home for no apparent reason and setting up camp when he was about 19, Knight sustained himself on food stolen from cottages.

His favourite target was Pine Tree Camp, where game warden Terry Hughes, who's been trying to nab him for years, set up a surveillance alarm, authorities said.

Knight was caught on Tuesday as he left the camp's kitchen freezer with a backpack full of food, they said.

When arrested, Knight was clean-shaven and his hair was cut short, in contrast to the iconic hermit with a shaggy beard and long hair.

He was still using his aviator-style eyeglasses from the 1980s.

During questioning after his arrest, Knight said the last verbal contact he had with another person was in the 1990s.

"He passed somebody on a trail and just exchanged a common greeting of hello and that was the only conversation or human contact he's had since he went into the woods in 1986," Vance said.

It's not known whether Knight has a lawyer.

A message could not be left after hours at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, where Knight was being held on $US5,000 ($A4,760) bail charged with burglary and theft.

The trooper said the case of the North Pond hermit sometimes seemed a "myth" and bringing it to a conclusion was "amazing".

"I don't think I will ever be involved in such an incident or case of this magnitude," Vance said.

Knight had been charged only with the Pine Tree Camp burglary, in which $US238 worth of goods were taken.

Why he decided to disappear in the woods remained a question on Wednesday.

Attempts to reach relatives were unsuccessful.

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Pentagon monitoring us at Gitmo: US lawyer

The lawyer for the man accused of setting up the 2000 attack on the USS Cole has asked for a delay. Source: AAP

THE lawyer for a man accused in an attack on a US warship says a Pentagon computer server failure resulted in the loss of a large cache of documents used by military tribunal defence lawyers.

Richard Kammen, a member of the team representing an alleged senior al-Qaeda figure facing a war crimes tribunal at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says officials mishandled more than 500,000 defence lawyer emails and appear to be monitoring their internet searches as they prepare their cases.

Kammen, a defence lawyer appointed to defend Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, has urged a military lawyer to cancel a hearing at Guantanamo next week over the alleged breaches of lawyer-client privilege and the server failure.

The motion remains under seal until authorities review it for potential classified information.

The lawyer said the court needed to establish the extent of any breach of lawyer-client privilege.

"We want to put the case on hold, number one, to find the scope of the intrusions," he said.

"Was this the product of negligence or something worse? Also, we need to have the problem fixed."

A Defense Department spokesman declined comment because the defence allegations are the subject of active litigation.

A response by prosecutors has not yet been posted by the Office of Military Commissions, which is in charge of the Guantanamo tribunals.

It's not the first time tribunal defence teams have alleged improper monitoring.

In February, proceedings in the case of five men charged in the September 11 attacks were thrown into disarray after lawyers discovered microphones apparently disguised to look like smoke detectors in the rooms where they meet their clients.

The military said it would disconnect the devices but said they had not been used to eavesdrop or record meetings between prisoners and their lawyers.

Al-Nashiri faces charges that include terrorism and murder for allegedly setting up the 2000 attack on the USS Cole which killed 17 crew members and wounded 37.

A four-day pretrial motions hearing is due to start on Monday.

It is not clear when the judge will rule on the request to delay the proceedings.

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Japan drafts new nuclear safety rules

JAPAN'S nuclear watchdog has published new draft safety standards that it hopes will prevent a repeat of the disaster at Fukushima.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said measures must be taken to defend atomic power plants against tsunamis, earthquakes and terrorist attacks.

Under the proposed rules there will be a ban on building reactors near active tectonic faults, which themselves will be redefined in a move that will make many more of them fit that definition.

At present, active faults are defined as those that have moved in the last 130,000 years, but the NRA will move the benchmark to any time in the last 400,000 years.

Up to five nuclear plants in Japan sit atop a possible active seismic fault, NRA-appointed experts have said.

Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the NRA, said earlier this year that plants would have to be able to survive a direct hit from a hijacked airliner or ship, as well as withstand tsunamis like the one that crippled Fukushima.

The move comes after repeated criticism that lax regulation and an overly cosy relationship between authorities and the big-money companies they were supposed to police worsened the catastrophe of March 2011, when a tsunami swamped the coastal Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless by the disaster and tracts of prime agricultural land were left unfarmable after radiation spread across a large area.

Anti-nuclear sentiment is running high in Japan, which used to rely on atomic power for around a third of its electricity needs.

The proposals will now go out to public consultation for 30 days and new rules will come into force in mid-July.

All but two of Japan's reactors remain offline after being shuttered for regular safety checks in the aftermath of the 2011 crisis.

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NSW will face gas crisis, says AGL

ENERGY industry heavyweights have warned they may be forced out of NSW by a "perfect storm" of rising prices and supply problems.

At an industry conference in Sydney on Wednesday, AGL Energy group general manager Mike Moraza said NSW had run out of time to ward off a gas crisis.

"We are facing a crisis, that's a fact," he said.

"We've run out of time. We are not going to be able to fill those supply gaps that are going to emerge at the end of 2016."

Mr Moraza said that not all existing customers would fall "in the supply camp".

"We do have a situation in this state where policy is being made on the run, not based on any evidence or scientific information, and it's a perilous situation," he said.

Last month the NSW government responded to community concerns by announcing tough new coal seam gas regulations, including a ban on CSG drilling near homes.

AGL boss Michael Fraser on Wednesday stepped up his attack on the restrictions, warning of a "perfect storm" of rising prices and short supply.

Mr Fraser said failure to develop large coal seam gas reserves in NSW would leave the state vulnerable to the loss of manufacturing industries and jobs as affordable energy would not be available.

"Whichever way you look at it the east Australian gas story is a coal seam gas story," he told the conference.

Dart Energy responded to the government's restrictions by axing 70 per cent of its workforce and suspending field operations at Fullerton Cove, near Newcastle.

Dart CEO Robbert de Weijer told the conference the company was looking to invest in the UK and would only reconsider NSW once it gets clarity and certainty from government.

Mr de Weijer said NSW was facing "a perfect storm".

"I believe there is going to be a crisis in terms of gas prices that are going to be very, very high and there is a number of large industry users basically not being able to afford them so they will be driven out of the state."

Kieran Donoghue, from the Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA), said there needed to be consistent and predictable regulation - "and to not have regulation where you don't need it, where markets can find a solution".

"I don't think we see that either upstream or downstream at the moment."

Santos used the conference to unveil a plan to produce enough coal seam gas, from wells in the Pilliga state forest near Narrabri, to provide one-quarter of NSW gas supply by 2016.

But Mr Moraza suggested it was unlikely to be ready by then, saying "that is a very ambitious timetable".

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Kim Jong-Un struggling: ex N Korean spy

A FORMER North Korean spy says the country's leader Kim Jong-Un is struggling to win his military's loyalty and is using the nuclear program to keep the public behind him.

Kim Hyun-Hee, who successfully carried out a mission in 1987 to blow up a South Korean airliner, killing 115 people, says the North's leader is too young and inexperienced.

"He's struggling to gain complete control over the military and to win their loyalty," she told ABC TV's 7.30 Report on Wednesday.

"That's why he's doing so many visits to military bases, to firm up support.

"He's also using the nuclear program as a bargaining chip for aid, to keep the public behind him."

The North last week told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang they had until April 10 to consider evacuating, fuelling speculation of an imminent missile launch.

Ms Hyun-Hee says she was "chosen" to become a spy for North Korea when a black sedan showed up at her school.

She was told to pack and given one last night with her family.

In 1980 Ms Hyun-Hee was sent to the North's elite spy-training school, was given a new name and training in martial arts, weapons and languages.

Eight years later, she says she was personally ordered by Kim Jong-il, the father of the North's current leader, to bomb Korean Air Flight 858 in the lead-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

It was a move aimed at deterring nations from competing at the Games, she said.

After boarding with a fellow spy, Ms Hyun-Hee planted the bomb and got off during a stopover in the Gulf.

The bomb exploded nine hours after Flight 858 took off, as the plane was in the air en route to Seoul, leaving no survivors.

Ms Hyun-Hee was later arrested as she tried to leave Bahrain using a fake passport.

After trying to commit suicide with cyanide, as an offsider succeeded in doing, Ms Hyun-Hee was taken to South Korea for trial and given a death sentence.

Judged to be a victim of North Korean brainwashing, she was pardoned a few years later.

She and now lives in South Korea at an undisclosed location surrounded by bodyguards.

"I deserved the death penalty for what I did," she said.

"But I believe my life was spared because I was the only witness to this terror perpetrated by North Korea.

"As the only witness, it is my destiny to testify about the truth."

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Russian Patriarch denounces feminism

THE Russian Orthodox Patriarch has cautioned against the dangers of feminism, denouncing "propaganda" that encourages women to take roles beyond housekeeping and rearing children.

"I consider the phenomenon called feminism very dangerous," said the powerful Patriarch Kirill in a speech delivered Tuesday and posted Wednesday on the official Russian Orthodox Church website.

"Feminist organisations proclaim a pseudo-freedom of women, which should be manifested outside marriage and family."

But he argued: "The man should be focussed on matters outside (of the house), he must work and earn money, but the woman is always directed to the inside, towards her children and her home."

"If that very important function of the woman is broken, then this is followed by the breaking of everything else: family, and in a larger sense, the motherland."

The ultra-conservative Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, makes no secret of his political preferences and has sternly criticised mass opposition protests.

Despite petitions by many believers, he also supported harsh punishment for the members of all-female group Pussy Riot, two of which were jailed for performing a "punk prayer" in Russia's main Cathedral of Christ the Savior to highlight his close ties with the state.

He is also a champion of the government's drive to restore so-called family values as the cornerstone of the campaign to reverse the decline in the Russian population.

"We know how false propaganda of false values really works," said Kirill.

"An opinion is forced down that the woman's mission to be a mother is degrading," he told an organisation of Ukrainian Orthodox women.

"It's not an accident that most feminist leaders are unmarried," he said, adding that there is nothing wrong with a woman having a career if she "correctly sets priorities" and "serves her duty as a wife and mother" as well as "bringing public good".

"Birth rates fall when values are shifted and broken, when satisfying one's personal needs, one's egoism becomes the priority," he said.

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Coalition NBN policy is a lemon: critics

A coalition government will offer Australians better broadband services, Tony Abbott says. Source: AAP

THE coalition's plan to deliver earlier and cheaper broadband to Australia has been dismissed as slow and inadequate by the government and IT experts.

In announcing the coalition's first major policy of the election year, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott promised that if elected, his government would offer all households and business minimum download speeds of 25 megabits a second (Mbps) by the end of its first term in 2016.

But Labor's National Broadband Network (NBN) offers download speeds of up to 100 Mbps, with a plan to give households and businesses access to speeds of up to one gigabit per second to those connected by the end of 2014.

Critics say the main plan to roll out optic fibre cable to "nodes" - cabinets on street corners - short-changes the nation's communications infrastructure future.

"It cannot deliver the high-speed services that Australians require to take full advantage of broadband-enabled healthcare, education and business opportunities," Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in a statement.

RMIT University telecommunications expert and senior lecturer Mike Gregory said the policy wasn't a sensible answer to Australia's communications needs.

"This is the biggest lemon in Australia's history," Dr Gregory told AAP.

"What they are trying to do is offer us a bag of lollies by saying we can do it cheaper and faster, but what we are really being sold is a lemon."

The coalition's NBN would cut costs by using Telstra's copper network from the node to premises in city and most rural areas - bypassing Labor's plan to roll out optic fibre cable all the way.

"We will build fibre-to-the-node and that eliminates two-thirds of the cost," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

The capital cost of the NBN under the coalition's plan is $20.4 billion, against Labor's $37.4 billion.

Including other funding, the cost rises to $29.5 billion to complete the project by 2019, while Labor's project would be $44.1 billion to finish by 2021.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the policy was based on what telecommunication companies and other governments were doing around the world.

"What we are presenting here is a plan that is consistent with the best practice in the world," he said.

Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said installing tens of thousands of boxes on street corners meant most households would be "stranded" on a decaying copper network, while new housing estates received modern fibre technology.

"It's a farce," Senator Milne said in Hobart.

An incoming coalition government would aim to have its fibre-to-the-node rollout fully under way by the second half of 2014, following several reviews into the NBN project.

And if it wins a second term it promises to increase the minimum download speed to 50 Mbps for 90 per cent of Australians by 2019.

Mr Abbott said 25 Mbps was more than enough to cater to the average household's broadband needs.

"We are absolutely confident," he said.

Download speeds are currently around 5 Mbps.

Meanwhile, the director of Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society, Rod Tucker, said the coalition's fibre-to-the-node network would use twice as much power as Labor's.

"There is more energy being consumed by that network, which in turn creates a greater greenhouse impact than a fibre-to-the-premises network," Prof Tucker told AAP.

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Thatcher's funeral on April 17

The funeral of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher will take place on April 17. Source: AAP

BRITAIN will hold the funeral of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday April 17 with Queen Elizabeth II leading the mourners, officials say.

As fresh tributes were paid around the world, the British government on Tuesday announced the date of the ceremonial funeral at St Paul's cathedral in central London, the second highest honour after a state funeral.

But Thatcher remained as polarising in death as in life, with six police officers injured at one of a number of parties across the country celebrating the death of a woman whose critics accuse of destroying British industry.

Thatcher, Britain's first woman prime minister and an icon internationally for her role in defeating communism and ending the Cold War, died at the Ritz Hotel in London on Monday aged 87 after suffering a stroke.

"It was agreed this morning at the government coordination meeting with the Thatcher family and Buckingham Palace that the funeral service of Lady Thatcher will take place on Wednesday 17 April at St Paul's Cathedral," current prime minister David Cameron's Downing Street office said in a statement.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip will attend, in an unusual move, Buckingham Palace said.

The Queen does not usually attend funerals or memorial services of non-royals.

Lawmakers have been recalled to parliament this Wednesday to pay tribute to Thatcher, the longest serving prime minister of the 20th century.

A private ambulance accompanied by police motorcycle outriders arrived in the early hours of Tuesday at the luxury Ritz hotel in central London where Thatcher spent the last days of her life, an AFP photographer said.

Undertakers erected a green screen at the back door of the hotel before removing her body.

Thatcher, a Conservative, specifically did not want a full state funeral of the kind given to monarchs and to World War II premier Winston Churchill, thinking it was "not appropriate", her spokesman Lord Tim Bell said.

Thatcher also requested that she not get a fly-past by military aircraft as it would be a "waste of money".

His comments came after several Conservative lawmakers called for her to be given a state funeral.

Ceremonial funerals have in the past been given to the Queen Mother - the mother of current monarch Queen Elizabeth II - and to Princess Diana.

Thatcher's funeral will still be a grand affair. Her coffin will rest in the Palace of Westminster - part of the Houses of Parliament - the night before the funeral and will be taken through the streets on a gun carriage to the cathedral.

In parliament on Wednesday, the government is expected to table a motion paying tribute to Thatcher - who has her own statue outside the House of Commons, or lower house of parliament - which politicians will then vote on.

But trouble erupted at several parties to celebrate her death, reminiscent of the sometimes violent protests by miners, trade unions and anti-tax protesters during her time in office in the 1980s.

In Bristol, southwest England, six police officers were injured, one seriously, when they tried to break up a party of about 200 people believed to be celebrating her death late Monday, police told AFP.

Bottles and cans were thrown at officers and fires were started in bins.

In the south London neighbourhood of Brixton, sworn enemies of the "Iron Lady" held a street party to celebrate the news, holding placards saying "Rejoice - Thatcher is dead" and dancing to hip-hop and reggae songs blaring from sound systems.

Police said there was "low level" disorder and the group threw a small number of objects at officers but there were no arrests and no serious injuries.

A similar party took place in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

World leaders have heaped praise on her, with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard among the latest to pay tribute by saying Thatcher "changed history for women".

Pope Francis said he recalled "with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations."

But in the pope's homeland Argentina, several veterans of the Falklands War reacted with delight at news of her death.

"God bless the day that terrible woman has died," said Domenico Gruscomagno, 71.

"She was an odious person. In order to win elections in Great Britain, she waged war."

Mario Volpe, leader of the Malvinas (Falklands) War Veterans Center, said Thatcher "died without being punished, without having been put on trial."

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Moly Mines & Hanlong talk board numbers

Moly Mines independent directors understood to be target of Hanlong-engineered board spill. Source: AAP

MOLY Mines says its directors are in discussions with majority shareholder Hanlong Mining regarding the future composition and structure of the board of the gold, copper and molybdenum miner.

In a short statement issued after the close of share market trading, Moly Mines said Hanlong also confirmed that China EXIM Bank had not repossessed its shareholding in the miner, contrary to a media report on Tuesday.

The statement also referred to a report in Tuesday's West Australian newspaper that said Hanlong, with a 54 per cent shareholding, was seeking to remove Moly Mines' independent directors from the board.

The three independent directors - chairman Michael Braham, David Craig, and David Nixon - are understood to be the targets of a spill, which is likely to coincide with the company's annual meeting next month.

The statement comes a day after Africa-focused iron ore hopeful Sundance Resources terminated its $1.3 billion takeover proposal with Hanlong.

In December 2012 Moly Mines conducted a review of its merger and acquisition strategy in consultation with Hanlong.

Hanlong advised the Perth-based miner at the time that it maintained its support for Moly Mine's acquisition strategy and would be in a position to financially support an acquisition or project development from the second half of 2013.

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Woman denied abortion in Ireland

Ireland has opened an inquest into the death of an Indian woman allegedly denied a termination. Source: AAP

A SENIOR midwife told an Indian woman her baby could not be terminated as she miscarried in an Irish hospital because "it's a Catholic thing", an inquest has heard.

Mrudula Vasealli said her friend Savita Halappanavar pleaded for her baby's heartbeat to be stopped when medics at Galway University Hospital said the fetus could not be saved.

"She said, the midwife, 'We do not do that here dear. It's a Catholic thing'", Vasealli told Galway Coroners Court in Ireland.

"The nurses were lovely, They took good care of her. It's the system that was wrong."

Halappanavar, 31, died from septicaemia on October 28 last year, a week after she was admitted suffering from a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy.

Vasealli and friends were at the hospital when Halappanavar's husband Praveen was told she was suffering multi-organ failure and died from a heart attack.

"Somebody said Praveen collapsed," she said.

"He was brought to the lobby. He was vomiting there. He couldn't walk. After about half an hour we all went home."

Praveen Halappanavar previously told an inquest that his Hindu wife asked for a termination three times before she finally delivered her dead baby daughter four days earlier.

Consultant obstetrician Katherine Astbury has denied his claims that she refused a termination on the grounds that it is "a Catholic country".

Vasealli spent the day with Halappanavar on the Tuesday before her death.

Vasealli said in her statement which was read in the court: "Savita was very upset again because the fetal heartbeat was still there. She cried, saying 'What kind of mother am I waiting for my own baby to stop its heartbeat? I'm losing it, I'm losing it terribly'."

She told coroner Ciaran MacLoughlin that her friend cried continuously as a midwife checked again for a heartbeat between 11.30am and noon.

"We both, Savita and I, asked if there was a possibility of saving the baby because there was still a heartbeat after three days," she said.

"Savita said 'Can you please save it. If you can't do something to stop the fetal heartbeat, I can't take this waiting for the baby to die'."

The court was adjourned while barristers for the hospital attempted to identify the staff member by her description and the roster.

Declan Buckley, senior counsel, said the "best guess" the hospital can make is that the woman was clinical midwife manager Ann Maria Burke whose statement makes no reference to the allegation.

The coroner ordered that Burke be added to the list of witnesses to be called.

Halappanavar carried the baby until the Wednesday but by that night she was in critical condition in intensive care, where she died the following Sunday from septicaemia.

Earlier family friend Rupanjali Kundu, a senior house officer in obstetrics at the hospital, said she visited Halappanavar on the Monday and Wednesday when she noticed a significant change in her health.

"She was lying on the bed and she was unable to speak that much," she said.

"She looked really ill. It was a significant change."

The inquest continues.

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Liberal governments reject school plan

Liberal governments have rejected proposals by Education Minister Peter Garrett to improve schools. Source: AAP

LIBERAL state and territory governments have rejected proposals by federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett for a national plan to improve schools.

Mr Garrett asked his state and territory counterparts on Monday to agree to principles of the national plan, but only three came on board.

Funding of the Gonski school reforms, which involve injecting an extra $6.5 billion a year into schools, were not part of telephone discussion.

South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT signed up, but Liberal-run WA, Victoria, Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory refused.

Elements of the plan include more support and higher entry standards for trainee teachers, individual learning plans for struggling students and more control and power for school principals.

The full details have not yet been released.

Mr Garrett said the plan would still go to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting for consideration by the prime minister and state and territory leaders on April 19.

"Education ministers who refused to endorse them today need to go back to their communities and explain to schools and to parents exactly why they haven't supported them," Mr Garrett said in a statement.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon described Mr Garrett's comments as "extraordinary", given he had asked that details of the meeting not be discussed publicly.

"We were prepared to have a discussion in good faith, and for minister Garrett to then throw that back in our face is hugely disappointing," Mr Dixon said.

"This is not about outcomes and policy for minister Garrett. It's about politics."

A spokeswoman for Queensland education minister John-Paul Langbroek told AAP the minister wasn't able to participate in the discussion. The department's director-general had acted as a proxy but was not able to approve the plan.

Queensland on Monday announced its own plan to improve teacher quality under a scheme worth $535 million over four years from 2015.

Earlier, Mr Garrett said the funding model for the national school plan was in the final stages of negotiation.

He defended the approach of asking states to sign up to principles without knowing how much they would cost.

"Questions around funding envelopes will continue to be negotiated through the appropriate officials," Mr Garrett said in Canberra.

Coalition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said he was amazed that three governments had agreed without knowing the price tag.

"It is beyond a joke that a week before the Council of Australian Governments meeting where school funding will supposedly be agreed upon, state governments still do not have the details," he said in a statement.

The Australian Greens said it was "serious mismanagement" by Mr Garrett to leave negotiations so late and still refuse to give funding details.

"But the state premiers must also be held accountable for playing politics at such a crucial time," they said in a statement.

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the funding system was broken and under-investment in schools was denying children access to a high quality education.

"The economic and social costs of failing to act will be enormous and it is this that all political leaders must keep in mind in the lead-up to COAG," he said.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said he was disappointed at the commonwealth's "politicisation" of the Gonski negotiations.

"All that was agreed by all states and territories at today's meeting was that further work needs to be done on the National Plan for School Improvement," Mr Piccoli said in a statement.

WA Premier Colin Barnett says his government received the commonwealth's financial assumptions only last Friday.

"It is disappointing to be receiving information a week out from COAG - leaving us little time to analyse the proposals and have a constructive discussion about what's on the table," Mr Barnett said in a statement.

"We are not going to rush it."

South Australian Education Minister Jennifer Rankine said her state supported the national education plan.

"We hope that other states will come on board," she said in a statement.

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Holden wrong to axe SA jobs: Weatherill

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is in "serious talks" with Holden on a breach of agreement. Source: AAP

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill will have "serious talks" with Holden about a breach of agreement and says it's wrong the car maker didn't warn of trouble ahead of launching its Cruze model last month.

Holden boss Mike Devereux announced on Monday it will cut 400 jobs at its factory in Adelaide and 100 at its plant in Melbourne.

Mr Weatherill says the government and the car maker celebrated the launch of the company's Cruze model in March.

"There was no mention of such a dramatic decision that was about to be announced," he told ABC television on Monday.

"That is wrong."

The premier said Holden's decision to axe jobs was in breach of a 2012 agreement to provide Holden with $50 million from his state to develop two new cars and guarantee the future of local operations until 2022.

He said the state had not paid the $50 million to Holden and they would have to discuss the future.

South Australia deserved better, Mr Weatherill said.

"There are a range of important undertakings in that agreement that I want to ensure that are delivered to South Australians," he said.

"We need to have some serious discussions with the company."

The government had been working with Holden to use Australian component suppliers in a global supply chain.

They also wanted Holden at the Elizabeth plant to be part of the global supply chain, not just a part of the domestic supply chain.

Mr Weatherill said Holden gave him little notice about the decision and Mr Devereux had only told him on Monday morning.

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Qld cosmetic doctors under spotlight

QUEENSLAND'S independent health watchdog has ordered 14 cosmetic surgical and medical practitioners to lift their game in the interest of patient safety.

A Health Quality and Complaints Commissions (HQCC) report released on Monday says there were four or more complaints about each of the 14 practitioners among 245 complaints received between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2012.

The report titled Great expectations: A Spotlight Report on Complaints about Cosmetic Surgical and Medical Procedures, said all 14 had been required to prepare and implement a quality improvement action plan.

HQCC will monitor how these practitioners perform against their improvement plan.

The report said the community often perceived cosmetic procedures to be low risk when they were often complex, required a high degree of skill and posed a number of potential risks.

It found there was less regulation and fewer patient safeguards in this field than in other areas of medicine.

The report said 82 per cent of the 245 complains were about cosmetic procedures and 16 per cent were about cosmetic medical procedures.

Most complaints were about breast lifts and breast implants followed by facelifts, eye surgery abdominoplasty (tummy tucks) and breast reduction.

Cosmetic injections and laser treatment were the most frequently complained about cosmetic medical procedures, followed by chemical peels.

The number of complaints about cosmetic medical procedures more than doubled between 2006 and 2012.

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UN inspectors ready to go to Syria

A UN inspection team is in Cyprus and ready to deploy to nearby Syria to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the conflict, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

"I can announce today that an advance team is now in Cyprus for the final stage" before the mission heads to Syria, Ban said in The Hague.

"We are ready."

Ban said at the opening of the third review of the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that they still needed the Syrian regime's go-ahead.

"The UN is now in the position to deploy in Syria - in less than 24 hours all logistical arrangements will in place," Ban said after President Bashar al-Assad called on the UN to probe allegations rebels had used chemical weapons.

"All we are waiting for is the go-ahead of the Syrian government to determine if any chemical weapons have been deployed," Ban said.

"We are still in the process of discussing it with the Syrian government."

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Emigration from crisis-hit Italy rises

EMIGRATION from Italy has risen by nearly a third last year to 79,000, with a growing number of young people choosing to leave the crisis-hit country, Italian media reports, citing official data.

The number of Italian citizens registering as foreign residents rose from 61,000 in 2011. Most of the emigrants came from wealthier regions of northern Italy and their favoured destinations were Germany, Switzerland and Britain.

"Young people want to be valued and the Italian context does not allow this. That is why they try going abroad," Alessandro Rosina, demographics lecturer at Milan's Cattolica university was quoted by La Repubblica daily as saying.

"It would be wrong to stop the brain drain but there should be measures to allow circulation. Young people leave from every country but, unlike in the rest of Europe, Italy does not guarantee conditions for their return," he said.

The data showed a sharp rise in emigrants from northern Italy compared to southern Italy - the source of waves of emigration during the 20th century - which accounted for just 27 per cent of the total from 61 per cent in 2011.

The highest number of emigrants last year - 13,156 people - came from the Lombardy region, which includes Italy's business hub, Milan.

The figures showed that emigrants were becoming younger too, with those aged 20 to 40 making up 44.8 per cent of the total, from 28.3 per cent in 2011.

The data on Italian residents abroad are collated by the interior ministry.

Youth unemployment is at around 37 per cent as Italy endures its longest post-war recession, while the overall jobless rate was at 11.6 per cent in February - just lower than the record high of 11.7 per cent reached in January.

"The paradox is that people used to leave a poor country of farmers but today they are leaving... a technological and advanced country," commentator Paolo Di Stefano wrote in the Italy's best-selling Corriere della Sera daily.

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UK fire death house to be demolished

THE house where Mick Philpott killed his six children by torching the property as they slept will be demolished, British councillors have promised.

The charred shell of 18 Victory Road, in Derby, has been standing boarded-up and empty since the fire which claimed the lives of Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13.

Last week, Philpott was jailed for life for the manslaughter of his children and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years before he is considered for release.

His wife, Mairead, and their friend, Paul Mosley, were each jailed for 17 years.

Now Derby City Council leader Paul Bayliss has confirmed the council's intention is to knock down the property and the adjoining semi.

The plan will be to consult the local community on what should replace the buildings.

An online petition has already been launched urging the local authority to install a memorial garden.

Council leader Paul Bayliss told the Derby Telegraph: "Who would want to live in a house where six children have died and why would you want to live next door to a house where six children have died?

"It is the council's intention to bulldoze the properties, but we need to go through a number of legal loopholes first."

In order to flatten the two houses, the local authority will have to take legal possession of number 18 from the Philpott's, who are still the official tenants.

It also needs to buy the house next door from the estate of an elderly couple who lived there but have since died.

It is understood the family has agreed in principle to sell.

The house, which was focus of tributes to the six children again last week, has stood as a sombre reminder of the terrible events of the early hours of May 11 last year.

The jury at Nottingham Crown Court found that Philpott, 56, his 32-year-old wife, and Mosley, 46, started the fire in a bid to frame Lisa Willis, Philpott's former girlfriend.

Willis and her children used to live with the Philpotts but had moved out weeks earlier.

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China's president wants trip to Tassie

CHINA'S new president Xi Jinping has told Prime Minister Julia Gillard that a visit to Tasmania would be a priority for his next trip to Australia.

Ms Gillard held her first official meeting with President Xi on Sunday, on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on the Chinese resort island of Hainan.

She told reporters after the meeting that President Xi had lamented the fact that he had visited, in his former political roles, every Australian state except Tasmania.

Ms Gillard, who invited President Xi to visit Australia during the talks, said she would try to include Tasmania on the itinerary.

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US delays missile test over Korean crisis

THE US has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test to avoid stoking tensions with North Korea, as fears escalated that weeks of angry rhetoric could erupt into conflict on the Korean peninsula.

The Pentagon's disclosure it would reschedule the test due in California next week comes as the international community grows increasingly nervous the situation could spiral out of control.

A US defence official said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel postponed the Minuteman 3 test at Vandenberg Air Force Base until next month due to concerns it "might be misconstrued by some as suggesting that we were intending to exacerbate the current crisis with North Korea".

"We wanted to avoid that misperception or manipulation," the US official told AFP. "We are committed to testing our ICBMs to ensure a safe, secure, effective nuclear arsenal."

North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions following its nuclear and missile tests and by South Korean-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.

It has also reportedly loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast, raising speculation it is preparing for a provocative launch.

Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang huddled at the weekend to discuss a warning from the North's authorities that their safety could not be guaranteed after April 10 if a conflict broke out.

Most of their governments have made it clear they have no immediate plans to withdraw personnel, and some suggested the advisory was a ruse to fuel growing global anxiety over the crisis.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday he saw no immediate need to withdraw his country's diplomats. Hague also told the BBC the North is showing no sign of gearing up for "all-out conflict" by repositioning its armed forces, and called for calm.

The top national security adviser to South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye said on Sunday the warning was another ploy to force the South and the United States to reach out with face-saving concessions.

"We believe the North is trying to turn the situation around by making the US send a special envoy, the South to offer dialogue and China or Russia to act as a mediator," Kim Jang-Soo said.

China is the North's sole major ally, but its patience with Pyongyang shows signs of wearing thin.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China opposed "provocative words and actions" from any party in the region and would "not allow troublemaking on China's doorstep", in sharply worded comments Saturday to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

South Korea's Kim, a former defence minister, warned a missile launch by the North was possible around the April 10 date given to foreign embassies, but said there was no sign it was preparing for a ruinous full-scale conflict.

The North's mobilised missiles are reported to be untested Musudan models which are believed to have a range of about 3000 kilometres that could theoretically be pushed to 4000km with a light payload.

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

The North has no proven inter-continental ballistic missile capability that would enable it to strike more distant US targets, and many experts say it is unlikely it can even mount a nuclear warhead on a mid-range missile.

After non-stop escalation including the public deployment of US warships and planes to the region, the Pentagon move was a welcome measure to cool tensions, said Yang Moo-Jin from Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

"The US military may have felt that now was the time to pace itself after weeks of hectic military confrontation," he told AFP.

"If the North really launches intermediate-range missiles as widely feared, the US may be partially blamed for having pushed it to take such drastic action by deploying extremely threatening weaponry near the Korean peninsula."

Western tourists returning from organised tours in Pyongyang - which have continued despite the tensions - said the situation there appeared calm.

"We're glad to be back, but we didn't feel frightened when we were there," said Tina Krabbe, from Denmark.

North Korea on Wednesday put in place a ban on South Koreans accessing their companies in the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial zone on the North side of the border. There are no cross-trips on Sundays.

The estate is the only surviving example of inter-Korean co-operation and seen as a bellwether for stability.

But Seoul said on Sunday that 13 South Korean firms there had so far been forced to suspend production because of a shortage of materials or personnel.

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