Sudan miner search ends, 100 believed dead

THE search for about 100 workers believed to have died inside a collapsed gold mine in Sudan's Darfur region has ended after nine rescuers also became trapped, a colleague of the miners said on Saturday.

"Today the searching has stopped because it was too dangerous," the man said from the scene of the tragedy in Jebel Amir district, more than 200 kilometres northwest of North Darfur state capital El Fasher.

The unlicensed desert mine began to collapse on Monday and several days later the stench of death was seeping out of the baked earth.

Nine rescuers disappeared on Thursday when the earth collapsed around them, the miner said, adding that eight bodies had been recovered.

It was not clear whether they were rescuers or miners.

Nobody else had been found, alive or dead, said the miner, who asked to remain anonymous.

"According to what I got from my people here yesterday, they didn't find anybody (else)," he told AFP on Saturday.

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Solar plane lands at night in US

A solar plane has taken off from California on its first attempt at a cross-country US trip. Source: AAP

THE first-ever manned aeroplane that can fly by day or night on solar power alone landed in the dark at a major south-western US airport, a live feed from the organiser's website showed.

Solar Impulse, piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, touched down at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona at 7.30am (1730 AEST) on Saturday after leaving from California more than 18 hours earlier on the first leg of a cross-country journey.

Ground crew met the plane as it landed and pushed it to a safe area where Solar Impulse co-founder Andre Borschberg, a Swiss engineer and ex-fighter pilot, climbed up to the cockpit on a ladder to greet Piccard, who raised his arms in triumph.

"I'm happy to be here, happy to have landed in Phoenix," a visibly elated Piccard told reporters.

A small crowd assembled on the tarmac and cheered his arrival.

Piccard said he was impressed by the scenery as he flew over the south-western United States, first over California then over the Arizona desert to approach Phoenix. When he landed he said he still had three-quarters of his battery power left.

The US journey is being billed as the plane's first cross-continent flight.

The plane, which has a slim body and four electric engines attached to an enormous wingspan, flew quietly at an average speed of about 50 kilometres per hour. Energy provided by 12,000 solar cells powered the plane's propellers.

The project aims to showcase what can be accomplished without fossil fuels, and has set its "ultimate goal" as an around-the-world flight in 2015.

The plane can fly at night by reaching a high elevation of 8,230 metres and then gently gliding downward, using almost no power through the night until the sun comes up to begin recharging the aircraft's solar cells.

The US itinerary allows for up to 10 days at each stop in order to showcase the plane's technology to the public. Other stops are planned for Dallas, Texas, and the US capital Washington, before wrapping up in New York in early July.

That will allow Piccard and Borschberg to share duties and rest between flights.

A dashboard showing the live speed, direction, battery status, solar generator and engine power, along with cockpit cameras of both Piccard and his view from the plane, were online at live.solarimpulse.com.

The aircraft completed its first intercontinental journey from Europe to Africa in June on a jaunt from Madrid to Rabat.

Longer trips have already been successfully completed by the plane, which made the world's first solar 26-hour day and night trip in 2010.

However, the cockpit has room for just one pilot, so even though the plane could possibly make the entire US journey in three days, Piccard decided it would be easier to rest and exchange flight control with Borschberg at the stops.

Solar Impulse was launched in 2003.

The slim plane is particularly sensitive to turbulence and has no room for passengers but Piccard has insisted that those issues are challenges to be met in the future, rather than setbacks.

"Instead of speaking of the problems, we want to demonstrate solutions," Piccard said earlier as he was flying toward Phoenix, stressing that renewable technologies already exist and are well known to science.

"Now we need to put them on a big scale everywhere in our daily life."

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Assad makes appearance in Syria capital

SYRIAN leader Bashar al-Assad made a public appearance on Saturday, attending the unveiling of a statue to "martyrs" at Damascus University, state media and his official Facebook page say.

"President Bashar al-Assad joined thousands of students and the families of martyred students at the unveiling of a statue to the memory of the martyrs of Syria's universities at the University of Damascus," state television reported.

A photograph posted on the presidency's Facebook page showed Assad surrounded by bodyguards and well-wishers, arms extended in a bid to shake his hand.

The visit is the second time Assad has been seen in public this week, after a Wednesday trip to a Damascus electrical plant on Labour Day.

The embattled leader has made increasingly rare public appearances since the beginning of the uprising against his regime began in March 2011.

Before the May 1 visit, his last reported public appearance was to an educational centre in the capital on March 20.

Before that, he had not been seen publicly before since January 24, when he attended prayers at a mosque in a northern district of Damascus.

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Karzai denies CIA cash buys off warlords

CIA cash delivered each month to Afghan President Hamid Karzai office was not used to buy the support of warlords who could tip the country back into civil war, he says.

The US Central Intelligence Agency has secretly handed over tens of millions of dollars to Karzai's office over the last decade, the New York Times said recently in a revelation that provoked anger in both Washington and Kabul.

But Karzai said the bundles of cash, allegedly packed in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags, were used for health care and scholarships and that full receipts are issued to the Americans.

"This money was not given to warlords," the president told a press conference in Kabul.

"The major part of this money was spent on government employees such as our guards... it has been paid to individuals not movements.

"It is used for different issues such as treating patients, scholarships for youths... we give receipts for all these expenditures to the US government."

The New York Times alleged that some of the funds were used to bribe warlords into supporting Karzai's US-backed government as the international coalition tries to stabilise the country before NATO troops withdraw next year.

Warlords who fought against both the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the Taliban regime retain huge influence and many have close links to Karzai's government which rose to power after the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

With the NATO-led mission winding down after more than 11 years of fighting, the warlords look set to renew their battle for power in Afghanistan and the weak central government faces a tough challenge to impose stability.

Karzai, who is due to step down next year, declined to confirm how much his office received each month from the CIA and he repeated his gratitude to the US spy agency.

He said he had met on Saturday with US officials and asked them not to halt the cash despite protests in Washington and criticism from Afghan opposition groups.

"This is a valuable support to us. In Afghanistan's situation there is so much needed. It proves extremely helpful," the president said.

"This financial assistance should continue, we thank them for it."

Cash gifts fuel endemic corruption and this is a prime threat to Afghanistan establishing an effective state, critics of the government and the Americans claim.

When news of the CIA payments broke, Karzai immediately confirmed the reports and claimed they were part of the international aid effort to help his country recover from decades of war.

"This is an official deal between two governments," he said.

"I say that we should take every drop of money that comes to us so that our budget can be saved."

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Syria opposition slams Banias 'massacre'

THE Syrian opposition has denounced a "large-scale massacre" by troops and militiamen in a Sunni village in the northwest after a watchdog said at least 50 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

The Syrian National Coalition called for international action, citing witness reports of civilians being stabbed to death in Bayda, a Sunni village outside the port of Banias.

"The Coalition calls on the Arab League and the United Nations to act rapidly to save the civilians of Bayda, Banias and other villages across Syria," a statement said on Friday, accusing the regime of "war crimes and genocide."

"Several sources in the village say at least 50 people were killed in summary executions and shelling in Bayda village," a southern suburb of the Alawite-majority city, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP on Thursday.

He was speaking after fierce clashes erupted in the area.

The official SANA news agency said troops killed "terrorists" -- the regime term for insurgents -- and seized arms in an operation targeting rebels.

An Observatory statement said some people "were summarily executed, shot to death, stabbed or set on fire."

Regular forces were supported by pro-regime "shabiha" militiamen, added the statement from the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground for its information.

"Dozens of civilians from Bayda have gone missing, and we don't know whether they have been arrested, killed or fled," said Abdel Rahman.

"Many villagers have fled to Sunni districts in southern Banias, as there is no refuge for them in Alawite areas," he added.

The Banias region is predominantly Alawite, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam and the sect of President Bashar al-Assad, while the insurgents battling to topple his regime are mainly Sunni Muslims.

The region's three main coastal cities of Banias, Latakia and Tartus and their surrounding areas form the "Alawite heartland," where analysts say Assad could seek refuge if his regime falls.

"The regime will not allow the presence of combatants in this area," Abdel Rahman said, referring to rebel forces.

The Britain-based Observatory said on Friday regime forces were conducting a wave of arrests in the Sunni southern suburbs of Banias.

"Heavy gunfire has been heard, and we fear there may be a new sectarian massacre."

On Thursday, the Coalition said the soldiers and militiamen carried out "ugly crimes, including summary executions... to seek revenge... because the regime hasn't forgiven Banias and Bayda for standing alongside Daraa... at the start of the Syrian revolution."

Banias, along with Daraa in the south, the cradle of the uprising, saw some of the first demonstrations against the regime in March 2011.

The United Nations says that at least 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict that is now in its third year.

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Three-tonne jackhammer goes missing in Vic

A JACKHAMMER weighing three tonnes has been stolen by thieves in western Victoria.

The Indeco 3500 pneumatic rock breaker went missing from Mt Mercer, about 30km south of Ballarat, between April 28 and 30.

Investigators believe the $60,000 jackhammer was carted away using earth-moving equipment and a ute or tray truck.

It was being used at a property for a wind farm project.

Police have released an image of the unique tool, saying it will be easily identified.

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Hundreds flee as wildfire rages near LA

A MASSIVE wildfire is raging in the rugged countryside outside Los Angeles, forcing the closure of California's scenic coastal highway as hundreds of residents are evacuated.

Wind-driven flames ripped through tinder-dry brush and were soon racing towards the Pacific Ocean, incinerating more than 32 square kilometres (8000 acres) and putting about 2000 homes at risk.

Television footage showed at least one home ablaze in an isolated canyon as about 600 firefighters fanned out across the vast area to try and staunch the rapidly advancing wall of fire.

"We have conditions that are very dramatic, very dangerous for firefighters. This fire is growing," Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Tom Kruschke told NBC4 television.

"We are asking members of the public to be very aware - this is very dangerous. This is still a moving fire."

The blaze fanned by strong winds ravaged hillsides and canyons in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, threatening homes around the towns of Newbury Park and Camarillo, north of Malibu.

A 13-kilometre section of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed from about 16km west of Malibu, the California Highway Patrol said on its Twitter feed.

California State University at Channel Islands announced it was cancelling all classes and activities at its Camarillo site "due to the (fire) and heavy smoke drifting onto the campus".

Live television pictures showed flames and smoke billowing up from the tinder-dry hillside above the Dos Vientos neighbourhood of Newbury Park, where residents were ordered to evacuate.

Helicopters could be seen drawing water from a nearby lake to drop on the flames, in video shown by KTLA 5 television.

Wildfires are common across the western United States in the northern summer, and in southern California they are often fanned by strong offshore Santa Ana winds that more typically blow up in the fall and winter.

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Bollywood marks India's century of cinema

INDIA'S movie industry has toasted its 100th birthday with the release of two films celebrating its humble origins in the silent era and the influence of glamorous modern-day Bollywood.

Bombay Talkies comprises four short stories inspired by India's love of cinema, created by some of the country's leading filmmakers.

"You usually celebrate birthdays and that's what we are doing today. Indian cinema turns 100 and we are acknowledging that," said Zoya Akhtar, who directed the film along with Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee.

The acclaimed cast includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rani Mukherjee, with a cameo from acting legend Amitabh Bachchan.

The film's theme song features Bollywood A-listers such as Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.

The movie will have a special gala screening at the Cannes film festival this month, where India is to be honoured as the "guest country" in its landmark year.

"The four short stories are about passion for cinema and ingredients like drama, music, dance and entertainment. All of these ingredients are a huge part of our films and culture," said co-producer Ashi Dua.

Its release comes 100 years to the day since the opening in Bombay (now Mumbai) of Raja (King) Harishchandra, the first all-Indian silent feature film, based on the tale of a virtuous king from the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

It marked the birth of one of the world's most vibrant film industries, which produced almost 1500 movies in 2012 in various languages and corners of the country, with Hindi-language Bollywood leading the way.

While Bombay Talkies explores life in the present, the second film opening on Friday is the award-winning Celluloid Man, which pays tribute to the founder of the National Film Archive of India, PK Nair.

The documentary, so far only shown at festivals, showcases Nair's lifetime dedication to preserving films that date back to the silent era, and it is peppered with clips from historic black-and-white productions.

Thanks to the efforts of 80-year-old Nair, nine silent films out of 1700 made in India have been preserved, although no records remain of many others.

"Almost 70 per cent of the films made before 1950 are lost, including some real gems like the first 'talkie'," Nair told AFP, referring to the first Indian film with sound, 1931's Alam Ara (The Light of the World).

He said digital technology would help to preserve the cinematic gems that still exist for future generations.

"There are currently about 12,000 films awaiting digitisation."

Also on Friday, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was to join stars and filmmakers at the annual National Film Awards in capital New Delhi, following a six-day festival showcasing the colourful history of Indian cinema.

Award-winners already announced include Paan Singh Tomar, a Hindi film starring Irrfan Khan about the Indian soldier and athlete who became a notorious bandit.

The ceremony also celebrates works from various regional film hubs, in languages including Malayalam, Marathi, Telugu and Bengali.

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UN sounds alarm on record Arctic ice melt

THE Arctic's sea ice melted at a record pace in 2012, the ninth-hottest year on record, compounding concerns about climate change underscored by extreme weather such as Hurricane Sandy, the UN weather agency says.

In a report on the situation in 2012, the World Meteorological Organisation said on Thursday that during the August to September melting season, the Arctic's sea ice cover was just 3.4 million square kilometres.

That was a full 18 per cent less than the previous record low set in 2007.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud dubbed it a "disturbing sign of climate change."

"The year 2012 saw many other extremes as well, such as droughts and tropical cyclones. Natural climate variability has always resulted in such extremes, but the physical characteristics of extreme weather and climate events are being increasingly shaped by climate change," he said.

"For example, because global sea levels are now about 20 centimetres higher than they were in 1880, storms such as Hurricane Sandy are bringing more coastal flooding than they would have otherwise," he added.

October's Hurricane Sandy killed almost 300 people and caused major destruction in the Caribbean before developing further strength and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage and around 130 deaths in the eastern United States.

Typhoon Bopha, the deadliest tropical cyclone of the year, hit the Philippines twice in December, sparking floods and landslides which killed more than 1,000 people.

The WMO said that the 2012 global land and ocean surface temperature was estimated to be 0.45C above the 1961-1990 average of 14.0C.

That marked the ninth warmest year since records began in 1850 and the 27th consecutive year that the global land and ocean temperatures were above the 1961-1990 average, it underlined.

Jarraud noted that the rate of warming varies from year to year due to a range of factors, including the El Nino and La Nina weather phenomena - which see warming and cooling, respectively, in the Pacific Ocean - as well as volcanic eruptions.

Last year's warming came despite a cooling La Nina at the beginning of the year.

"The sustained warming of the lower atmosphere is a worrisome sign," said Jarraud.

"The continued upward trend in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and the consequent increased radiative forcing of the Earth's atmosphere confirm that the warming will continue," he added.

Above-average temperatures were observed across most of the globe's land surface areas, most notably North America, southern Europe, western Russia, parts of northern Africa and southern South America, the WMO noted.

Nonetheless, cooler than average conditions were observed across Alaska, parts of northern and eastern Australia, and central Asia, it said.

Precipitation also varied, with drier-than-average conditions across much of the central United States, northern Mexico, northeastern Brazil, central Russia, and south-central Australia.

Northern Europe, western Africa, north-central Argentina, western Alaska, and most of northern China were meanwhile wetter than average.

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Major Australian exhibition in London

THE most significant collection of Australian art ever mounted in the United Kingdom is to go on display in London from September.

It was revealed on Thursday that the Prince of Wales will be the patron of the exhibition, which is simply called Australia.

The exhibition spans 200 years, taking in indigenous and non-indigenous art from 1800 to the present day. It focuses on the influence of landscape.

Co-curator Kathleen Soriano from the Royal Academy of Arts said the exhibition was several years in the making.

"There has never been an exhibition like this before," she told the press launch at the academy on Thursday.

"This survey is long, long overdue."

The exhibition brings together works from the most important public collections in Australia.

Works by artists including Albert Namatjira, Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley, Bill Henson and Tracey Moffatt will be on display.

Judy Watson has been commissioned to create a new sculpture that will remain in the academy's courtyard for the duration of the exhibition.

Deputy high commissioner Andrew Todd said the Australian government, which helped fund the exhibition, was "immensely proud" of it.

"We see this exhibition as a particularly exciting platform to promote and celebrate Australian art and culture more widely," he told reporters on Thursday.

"Artists, in holding up a mirror to Australian life and landscape, express so effectively who we are as a people and a nation."

The BBC will broadcast a three-part series on Australian art to coincide with the London exhibition.

The series will be presented by former Art Gallery of NSW director Edmund Capon.

The exhibition, organised in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia, opens on September 21 and will run until early December.

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Nationals WA president stands down

COLIN Holt has stood down as The Nationals' West Australian president because of his increasingly heavy parliamentary workload.

Mr Holt, who held the position for four years, was last month appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister for training and workforce development Terry Redman and is also leader of The Nationals WA in the Legislative Council.

David Eagles has accepted the role of acting state president until the party's state conference in August.

Meanwhile, several nominations were received for the party's new candidate for the federal seat of O'Connor, currently held by retiring MP Tony Crook, before the close of nominations on Tuesday.

While the party's policy is to not name nominees, one that is known is William "Chub" Witham, who worked as a geologist in the Goldfields and is well known in the Great Southern region.

The successful candidate will be ratified at the State Council meeting on May 25.

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US boy, 5, accidentally shoots sister dead

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy playing with a rifle given to him as a gift accidentally shot dead his younger sister, officials say, thrusting the issue of US gun violence back into the spotlight.

The boy's two-year-old sister was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital following the shooting on Tuesday in rural Kentucky, police said.

Cumberland County Coroner Gary White on Wednesday identified the girl as Caroline Starks and said the children's mother was cleaning the house at the time and had stepped outside onto the porch.

"She said no more than three minutes had went by and she actually heard the rifle go off. She ran back in and found the little girl," White said.

The .22 calibre rifle had been given to the boy last year and was kept in the corner of a room. The parents didn't realise a shell had been left in it.

"It's a Crickett," White told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "It's a little rifle for a kid. ...The little boy's used to shooting the little gun."

An autopsy was set to be conducted but White said he expects the shooting will be ruled accidental.

"Just one of those crazy accidents," White said.

"Down in Kentucky where we're from, you know, guns are passed down from generation to generation," White said. "You start at a young age with guns for hunting and everything."

What is more unusual than a child having a gun, he said, is "that a kid would get shot with it."

The Crickett is just one of many child-sized rifles on the market and is sold with the tag line 'My First Rifle.'

It comes in a number of child-friendly barrel designs and colours, including hot pink for little girls. A host of accessories are also available, like story books and a gun-toting beanie baby of the rifle's mascot, a cartoonish cricket.

"It's a normal way of life, and it's not just rural Kentucky, it's rural America - hunting and shooting and sport fishing. It starts at an early age," said Cumberland County Judge Executive John Phelps. "There's probably not a household in this county that doesn't have a gun."

In Cumberland County, as elsewhere in Kentucky, local newspapers feature photos of children proudly displaying their kills, including turkey and deer.

It was the second fatal shooting involving minors in America this week.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that a five-year-old girl in a remote Alaska community had been shot and killed by her eight-year-old brother on Monday. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear.

The United States has been embroiled in a heated debate over gun control and gun culture in the wake of a horrific December shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26 young children and educators.

President Barack Obama has pushed for tougher federal gun laws to require universal background checks on gun buyers and called for a ban on assault weapons like the one used in Newtown.

But last month, his background check proposal - condemned by the powerful National Rifle Association as an infringement on Americans' constitutional right "to keep and bear arms" - failed to muster the necessary 60 votes needed to clear the US Senate.

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No reasons to join ALP, party elder says

LABOR party membership is plummeting and people don't see a reason to join the party, Labor elder John Faulkner says.

"Party membership is not only declining in number but it is ageing," Mr Faulkner, who was part of a Whitlam Institute panel in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta, said.

"The party is finding it very, very difficult to attract new members."

He said Labor needed to give the existing members a reason to stay and those considering joining a reason to join.

"I don't think those reasons exist at the moment," he said.

"They can exist.

"I would argue the way to address the problem as far as Labor is concerned is give people a real say in their political party.

"If membership can be made meaningful I believe it would make a difference."

Mr Faulkner also said the disgraced former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald - both currently before the corruption watchdog - didn't represent the party.

"They are a small minority in a very big majority of decent, hardworking people," Mr Faulkner said.

"But this does not diminish the gravity of their failure to fulfil their responsibility to represent the interests and values of the Labor movement let lane their responsibilities to the people of NSW."

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Pope condemns Bangladesh 'slave labour'

POPE Francis has condemned as "slave labour" the conditions for hundreds of workers killed in a factory collapse in Bangladesh and urged political leaders to fight unemployment in a sweeping critique of "selfish profit".

The pope said he had been particularly struck by a headline saying workers at the factory near Dhaka were being paid just 38 euros ($A48) a month.

"This is called slave labour!" the pope was quoted by Vatican radio as saying in his homily at a private mass in his residence to mark May Day.

More than 400 workers have been confirmed dead and scores are missing in the collapse, which occurred in a suburb of the capital Dhaka last week in the country's worst-ever industrial disaster.

"Today in the world this slavery is being committed against something beautiful that God has given us -- the capacity to create, to work, to have dignity," the pope said at the mass.

"How many brothers and sisters find themselves in this situation!" he said, as protesters in May Day demonstrations around the world rallied against unfair work conditions and unemployment.

"Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!" the pope said in his strongly-worded address.

The Argentine pope, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, became a powerful voice on the side of the poor during his homeland's devastating economic crisis.

Since being elected pontiff in March, he has repeatedly called for the Roman Catholic Church to be closer to the needy and has said he wants "a poor Church for the poor".

The 76-year-old later spoke to thousands of followers in St Peter's Square, urging politicians to fight unemployment and calling for greater "social justice" against "selfish profit".

"I call on politicians to make every effort to relaunch the labour market," he said in his traditional weekly address.

"Work is fundamental for dignity," he said.

He spoke of "labour market difficulties in various countries" -- an apparent reference to the unemployment crisis afflicting Europe.

Unemployment is often caused by "an economic conception of society based on selfish profit outside the bounds of social justice," he said.

The Vatican has often been sharply critical of unregulated capitalism, particularly in recent years during the global financial crisis.

"We do not get dignity from power or money or culture, no! We get dignity from work," he said, adding that many political and economic systems "have made choices that mean exploiting people".

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New self-immolation in Bulgaria

A BULGARIAN man set himself on fire in the southern town of Smolyan on Wednesday, police said, bringing to seven the number of self-immolations since February in the EU's poorest country.

Ventsislav Kozarev, 47, was hospitalised in a serious condition with third-degree burns over seventy per cent of his body, Smolyan regional police chief Kiril Hadzhihristev told state BNR radio.

The official said "personal problems" were behind the desperate act as the man was divorcing his wife.

Bulgaria has seen a spate of such incidents in recent weeks amid a wave of angry and sometimes violent protests against poverty and corruption that in late February prompted prime minister Boyko Borisov to resign.

Five of the six men who set themselves on fire died. Only three of those who set themselves ablaze had voiced any political demands while the rest were reportedly driven by poverty and despair.

The small Balkan country will hold snap elections on May 12 with Borisov's GERB party tipped to win the vote but fall short of a governing majority.

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Coronation Street star held in rape claim

BRITISH police have arrested Coronation Street star William Roache, the longest-serving actor in the world's longest-running soap opera, on suspicion of rape.

Roache, 81, has played lothario Ken Barlow in the series portraying life in a fictional northern English town since its first episode on December 9, 1960.

He was arrested at his home in northwest England over an allegation of raping an under-age girl between April and July 1967.

"An 81-year-old man from Wilmslow in Cheshire has this morning, Wednesday May 1, 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape," a Lancashire Police spokesman said on Wednesday.

He said the man would be interviewed during the course of the day.

Broadcaster ITV, which makes Coronation Street, said it was not in a position to comment but reports said Roache would not not appear in the soap while investigations continue.

Roache issued an apology in March after appearing to suggest that sex abuse victims were being punished for past sins, and calling for anonymity for those accused of child sex offences.

In another interview last year Roache claimed to have slept with 1000 women.

Guinness World Records lists Coronation Street as the world's longest-running soap opera following the cancellation in September 2010 of the US show As the World Turns, which ran from 1956 on CBS.

It also lists Roache as the longest-serving soap actor.

British police have arrested a series of celebrities since sex abuse allegations against the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile emerged last year, although the allegations against Roache are unrelated to Savile.

Top British publicist Max Clifford was charged on Friday with 11 counts of indecent assault while former glam rocker and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, comedian Freddie Starr and radio presenter Dave Lee Travis have been arrested and bailed.

Veteran Australian-born entertainer Rolf Harris has been named by the British media as another of the men interviewed as part of the investigation, although police have never named him.

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S.Korea unveils restored cultural treasure

South Korea has unveiled the restored Namdaemun gate, which was destroyed in a fire five years ago. Source: AAP

FIVE years after it was reduced to ashes in an arson attack, the newly rebuilt Namdaemun gate in South Korea has been unveiled after a painstaking reconstruction costing millions of dollars.

The cultural jewel in central Seoul will reopen to the public on Saturday, following one of the longest and most expensive restoration projects ever undertaken in South Korea, involving hundreds of highly skilled craftsmen.

"Using traditional methods and materials, we've done our best to restore it to its original state," said Kang Kyung-hwan, head of the government's Heritage Conservation Bureau, on Monday.

Seoul's 600-year-old Namdaemun (South Gate) is listed as "National Treasure Number One" and is a source of immense cultural pride.

The largely wooden structure - which survived the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War - was reduced to ashes by a disgruntled 69-year-old man with some paint thinner and a cigarette lighter on February 10, 2008.

He torched the gate after claiming he had received insufficient compensation following the expropriation of his land as part of an apartment-building project in Seoul's northwestern satellite city of Koyang.

The five-year, 27-billion-won ($A23.83 million) reconstruction project involved 35,000 people, including more than 1000 craftsmen who used traditional tools to restore the gate to its former splendour.

"The restoration took longer than we originally thought because my team used no modern tools, only chisels and hammers," Lee Eui-sang, a 72-year-old master stone carver, told AFP on Monday during a tour for the press.

"At first I was so nervous about restoring our precious national treasure, but I've poured all my energy into rehabilitating our crucial cultural heritage," he said, stroking a new base stone.

The restoration team said the original stones and materials were used as far as possible, while a number of scorched wooden pillars were left in their damaged state to alert the public to the danger of fire.

Fortress walls that were destroyed during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule were returned to their original form and were reconnected to the gate.

All 22,000 roof tiles were made by hand. Decorative paints had to be imported from Japan, since Korean specialists had lost the art of making them in the traditional fashion.

"It's wonderful to see our foremost national treasure again. The gate looks unfamiliar due to its fresh paint but I think our pride has been restored," said Lee Un-Seok, a 35-year-old engineer passing by the landmark.

The pagoda-style, two-storey gate was first constructed in 1398, then rebuilt in 1447 and renovated several times after that.

It was one of four gates built to protect the city when it was the capital of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled the Korean peninsula from 1392 until the Japanese occupation in 1910.

Its destruction in 2008 sent shock waves through the country, with sorrowful citizens swarming around the charred ruins, laying flowers and writing grieving messages.

The arsonist was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"He should have been jailed forever for destroying National Treasure Number One. It was restored wonderfully but my chest still feels tight," said 65-year-old Kim Song-Hyun who stopped to look at the gate, pointing to some stones stained by smoke.

"This gate is not in the same shape despite enormous efforts by craftsmen. From now on we must preserve Namdaemun and other national treasures well," said 38-year-old office worker Kim Hyo-Sung.

The government vowed to make preventing another fire a top priority.

Infrared cameras sensitive enough to detect the flame of a cigarette lighter have been installed, along with additional surveillance cameras and 152 sprinklers.

"The gate is now protected by a perfect fire prevention system," said Kang of the Heritage Conservation Bureau.

But his office admitted that Namdaemun would not be totally free from the threat of damage despite the high-tech devices and called for public safety awareness.

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Man charged after son, 9, drives Ferrari

CHARGES have been filed against a man who allowed his nine-year-old son to drive his Ferrari, police in the southern Indian state of Kerala say.

Mohammed Nisham was charged with endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive, said Inspector M.V. Verghese on Monday.

Nisham's wife filmed the boy driving the sports car on his ninth birthday two weeks ago, with his seven-year-old brother in the passenger seat. The video went viral on YouTube and caused outrage across India, causing police to file charges.

India's economic boom has created a class of super-rich, whose excesses are frequently in the news.

Verghese said the boy's father, who has a thriving tobacco and real estate business, owns a stable of 18 cars worth an estimated $US4 million ($A3.91 million).

Nisham has applied for bail and is expected to turn himself in at the police station close to his home near the port city of Kochi, Verghese said.

He said police would likely impound the Ferrari while the case is ongoing.

The boy's parents are unabashed. "I am proud of him. He's been driving since he was five," said his mother, Amal Nisham.

She said the boy has also driven the family's Lamborghini and Bentley and other cars.

"It was his ninth birthday, and since he was insisting for months, we allowed him to drive the Ferrari. He is a cautious and confident driver," she told television channel NDTV.

"It's not easy for a child to achieve such a feat at this young age," she said.

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Philippines peace talks with rebels fail

The Philippines government says it is looking for a "new approach" after a fresh surge in violence. Source: AAP

THE Philippines says peace talks with communist rebels have collapsed and a target of ending the decades-long insurgency by 2016 is impossible to achieve.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino's administration is looking for a "new approach" following nearly three years of failed negotiations and a fresh surge in deadly violence, chief government negotiator Alex Padilla told AFP on Monday.

"We are at an impasse now. Whether we talk or not, the same violence continues, nothing has changed. So why will we force ourselves to talk?" Padilla said.

Aquino had said he wanted to seal a peace deal to end the 44-year insurgency, which has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, before his term ended in 2016.

When asked about the timeframe, Padilla said: "That is gone."

The government and the rebels had initially raised hopes in early 2011 that they were on the right track when they announced after top-level talks in Norway that both sides were committed to signing a peace deal by June 2012.

But negotiations barely progressed after that.

Padilla blamed the Netherlands-based communist leadership, the National Democratic Front, for the failure, accusing it of setting new and impossible conditions for talks such as the release of captured senior rebels.

He said this had been a tactic of the rebels in more than two decades of peace talks with previous administrations, and questioned their sincerity in seeking peace.

Padilla said the government had not yet decided on its "new approach" for dealing with the rebels but it did want to re-open negotiations at some point.

The military estimates the rebels have only about 4,000 fighters nationwide, down from more than 26,000 at their peak in the 1980s.

However, they remain a danger, particularly in rural areas where they can count on support from local populations who endure the worst of the country's savage rich-poor divide.

The rebels have become more active ahead of next month's mid-term elections when thousands of local positions will be contested.

They killed two aides to a politician on April 20, and the military has accused them of extorting millions of dollars from many candidates in return for allowing them to campaign freely.

The military said in February that the rebels killed 164 soldiers, policemen, security forces and civilians in 2012.

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Defence in crisis, says opposition

Liberal defence spokesman David Johnston says defence is in crisis following cuts of $25 billion. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S defence has reached crisis point while Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been promising funding for roads, education and much else, but not a cent for national security, the opposition says.

Opposition defence spokesman Senator David Johnston said more than $25 billion had been removed from defence, with spending now down to 1.56 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and set to fall to 1.49 per cent next year.

He said no other portfolio had endured such a financial assault.

"I really believe it has reached crisis point," he said in an address to the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

Senator Johnston said Defence Minister Stephen Smith had refused to rule out more cuts to defence in the budget next month.

"I see the prime minister traipsing across the country promising roads, education funding, NDIS plans, massive financial giveaways with not a cent to our national security," he said.

Senator Johnston said there had been funding cuts to all agencies directly and indirectly related to Australia's security and that was plainly irresponsible and dangerous.

He said the funding commitments in the 2009 Defence White Paper had never been achieved and, with the benefit of hindsight, that document was nothing less than an elaborate confidence trick.

Consequently, it would be difficult to believe anything the government might say about defence funding in the new Defence White Paper, set to be released by the end of June.

Senator Johnston said a new coalition government could commit only to not cutting defence spending any further and it would be less than honest to promise an immediate increase.

"Our aspiration is that as soon as we have come to terms and corrected the current fiscal situation, we will return to the aspiration of two per cent of GDP and three per cent real growth in the defence budget," he said.

"I don't believe for one moment that rebuilding Defence will be easy, but it will be done."

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