Snowden's hopes rise on asylum offer

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Source: AAP

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden remained stranded in a Moscow airport for the 14th day amid rising hopes he may finally be able to leave Russia after being offered asylum by Venezuela.

The saga surrounding the fugitive former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor took a new turn late on Friday when Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro offered to grant him "humanitarian asylum".

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had only moments earlier also said his Latin American country could offer a safe haven for one of Washington's most wanted men "if circumstances permit".

Snowden, 30, had earlier been denied asylum by many of the 21 countries to which he had applied last week.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website, which has been supporting Snowden's cause, said he had recently applied to six additional countries it refused to name.

But it was far from clear how exactly Snowden could reach another nation from the transit zone of Russia's sprawling Sheremetyevo international airport.

He has been stripped of his passport by the US authorities and a refugee pass initially believed to have been offered to him by Ecuador has since been declared invalid.

Snowden could only take flights from Sheremetyevo and not another Moscow airport to which visiting foreign dignitaries such as Maduro have access because he cannot move beyond Russian passport control.

Maduro made his intentions clear in an address at an independence day event in Caracas.

"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world," Maduro said.

Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega voiced a slightly more toned down message only minutes earlier.

"We are open, respectful of the right to asylum, and it is clear that if circumstances permit it, we would receive Snowden with pleasure and give him asylum here in Nicaragua," Ortega said at a public event.

Ecuador had been seen as the American's best hope when he arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23 after leaking secrets about the extent of the US data surveillance programme to the press.

But the leftist government in Quito has yet to consider his application.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to extradite Snowden to the US while still stressing that he would like to see him gone as soon as possible.

"Russia is not happy that he is here. If it wanted to offer him asylum, this would have been done right away," said Carnegie Moscow Centre analyst Maria Lipman.

She noted that Putin himself was a former KGB spy who cares deeply about the safety of state secrets.

"Putin does not want to help someone who reveals secrets - Putin is very serious about this," said Lipman.

"He would like to get rid of Snowden, but this is getting more and more difficult," the analyst said.

Putin has denied ever questioning Snowden about the details of the US spy network and has even suggested that doing so was not worth the effort.

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'World's biggest cocaine dealer' deported

AN Italian mafia capo alleged to be the biggest cocaine trafficker in the world will be deported to Italy on Saturday, a day after being arrested in a Colombian shopping mall, prosecutors said.

Roberto Pannunzi was detained in Bogota with a fake Venezuelan identity card in a joint operation by Colombian police together with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

"He is the biggest cocaine importer in the world," said Nicola Gratteri, deputy chief prosecutor in Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.

"He is the only one who can organise purchases and sales of cocaine shipments of 3000 kilos and up."

"Pannunzi is the only one who can sell both to the 'Ndrangheta and to Cosa Nostra. He is definitely the most powerful drug broker in the world," he said.

The 'Ndrangheta is based in Calabria and is a major player in international drug trafficking. The Sicilian mafia is known as Cosa Nostra.

Gratteri said Pannunzi was being deported since "an extradition order would have taken several months".

He is expected to land at Rome's Fiumicino airport later on Saturday.

In April, Colombia captured another suspected top mafioso, Domenico Trimboli, alleged to be a lynchpin between the Medellin drug cartel and the 'Ndrangheta.

Pannunzi had escaped from a Rome clinic where he was being held under house arrest in 2010 - repeating an earlier escape in the same way in 1999.

He was previously being detained in Colombia in 1994, when he reportedly offered the arresting officers a million dollars in cash to walk away.

Gratteri said that during Friday's arrest, Pannunzi had told the police he was ill but he said he hoped the alleged trafficker would not be granted house arrest in a hospital in Italy again.

"I hope that he is not given house arrest a third time because he could attempt a third escape.

"It's exhausting having to go around the world to find him every time he escapes," Gratteri said.

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Mubarak back in court amid Egypt unrest

LAWYERS for Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak have entered a not guilty plea at his retrial for alleged complicity in the killings of protesters in 2011.

The hearing resumed on Saturday and comes coincidentally just three days after Mubarak's successor Mohamed Morsi was himself toppled amid turmoil on the streets pitting Islamists against anti-Morsi protesters.

Mubarak and seven top security chiefs are charged with incitement in the killings of protesters who rose up against him in early 2011. Along with his two sons, Mubarak is also charged with corruption.

The 85-year-old former strongman appeared in the dock behind bars on Saturday, wearing dark sunglasses and a white prison uniform.

During the televised hearing, Cairo's criminal court heard submissions by the defence before adjourning proceedings until August 17.

At the previous hearing, on June 10, cartons filled with police notebooks and videos of demonstrations on Cairo's Tahrir Square, epicentre of the 2011 revolt during which almost 850 people died, were submitted to the court.

The original trial last year on charges of complicity in killing demonstrators led to a life sentence for Mubarak and former interior minister Habib al-Adly, but an appeals court ordered a retrial, citing procedural errors.

Islamist Morsi, who was elected president after Mubarak's ouster, was deposed in a military coup on Wednesday.

Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsi's overthrow in a television broadcast, citing his inability to end a deepening political crisis.

Morsi's supporters on Saturday vowed further protests against the coup, after a night of ferocious clashes that killed 30 people and injured more than 1100 nationwide.

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WA offers Noongar people $1.3b title deal

THE West Australian government has made an historic $1.3 billion offer to settle the Noongar people's native title claim over Perth and the state's southwest.

Premier Colin Barnett proposes to settle the Noongar claim with the transfer of 320,000 hectares of crown land and a massive injection of government funding.

Central to the offer is a pledge to spend $50 million a year on a perpetual trust fund for social and economic development, as well as the establishment of six regional Noongar corporations.

In announcing the offer on Saturday, Mr Barnett said if the offer was accepted it would represent the most comprehensive native title agreement in Australian history.

He said a deal could cause seismic change for the Noongar people.

"Nothing happens overnight, but we expect this arrangement will help lift outcomes in Aboriginal health, education and employment over time," Mr Barnett said on Saturday.

"It should also help produce a new generation of Noongar leaders to drive further change within their community."

The state would continue to hold mineral rights over the transferred land under the proposed deal.

Mr Barnett said the Noongar people would have six months to consider the agreement, which the government hopes to start enacting within a year.

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Morsi supporters call for protests

Egypt's army has rounded up the leadership of ousted president Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S Muslim Brotherhood have called for a wave of protests furious over the military's ouster of its president and arrest of its revered leader and other top figures, underlining the touchy issue of what role the fundamentalist Islamist movement might play in the new regime.

There are concerns of Islamist violence in retaliation for Mohammed Morsi's ouster, and some former militant extremists have vowed to fight.

Suspected Islamic militants opened fire at four sites in northern Sinai, targeting two military checkpoints, a police station and el-Arish airport, where military aircraft are stationed, security officials said. The military and security responded to the attacks, and one soldier was killed and three were wounded, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.

The question of the role of the Brotherhood has long been at the heart of democracy efforts in Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in 2011, and previous authoritarian regimes banned the group. After Mubarak's fall, the newly legalised group vaulted to power in elections, and its veteran member Morsi become the country's first freely elected president.

Now the group is reeling under a huge backlash from a public that says the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies abused their electoral mandate. The military forced Morsi out Wednesday after millions of Egyptians turned out in four days of protests.

Adly Mansour, the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, with which Morsi had repeated confrontations, was sworn in as interim president.

In his inaugural speech, broadcast nationwide, he said the anti-Morsi protests that began June 30 had "corrected the path of the glorious revolution of January 25," referring to the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

The Brotherhood charged the military staged a coup against democracy and said it would not work with the new leadership. It and harder-line Islamist allies called for a wave of protests Friday, naming it the Friday of Rage, vowing to escalate if the military does not back down.

Brotherhood officials urged their followers to keep their protests peaceful. Thousands of Morsi supporters remained massed in front of a Cairo mosque where they have camped for days, with line of military armoured vehicles across the road keeping watch.

The Brotherhood denounced the crackdown, including the shutdown Wednesday night of its television channel, Misr25, its newspaper and three pro-Morsi Islamist TV stations. The military, it said, is returning Egypt to the practices of "the dark, repressive, dictatorial and corrupt ages."

A military statement late Thursday appeared to signal a wider wave of arrests was not in the offing. A spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali, said in a Facebook posting that the army and security forces will not take "any exceptional or arbitrary measures" against any political group.

The constitution, which Islamists drafted and Morsi praised as the greatest in the world, has been suspended. Also, Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, the Mubarak-era top prosecutor whom Morsi removed to much controversy, was reinstated to his post and immediately announced investigations against Brotherhood officials.

Many of the Brotherhood's opponents want them prosecuted for what they say were crimes committed during Morsi's rule, just as Mubarak was prosecuted for protester deaths during the 2011 uprising. In the past year, dozens were killed in clashes with Brotherhood supporters and with security forces.

The swift moves raise perceptions of a revenge campaign against the Brotherhood.

The National Salvation Front, the top opposition political group during Morsi's presidency and a key member of the coalition that worked with the military in his removal, criticised the moves, saying, "We totally reject excluding any party, particularly political Islamic groups."

The Front has proposed one of its top leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, to become prime minister of the interim Cabinet, a post that will hold strong powers since Mansour's presidency post is considered symbolic. ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace laureate who once headed the UN nuclear watchdog agency, is considered Egypt's top reform advocate.

"Reconciliation is the name of the game, including the Muslim Brotherhood. We need to be inclusive," Munir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, a leading member of the group, told The Associated Press. "The detentions are a mistake."

Morsi has been under detention in an unknown location since Wednesday night, and at least a dozen of his top aides and advisers have been under what is described as "house arrest," though their locations are also unknown.

Besides the Brotherhood's top leader, General Guide Mohammed Badie, security officials have also arrested his predecessor, Mahdi Akef, and one of his two deputies, Rashad Bayoumi, as well as Saad el-Katatni, head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, and ultraconservative Salafi figure Hazem Abu Ismail, who has a considerable street following.

Authorities have also issued a wanted list for more than 200 Brotherhood members and leaders of other Islamist groups. Among them is Khairat el-Shater, another deputy of the general guide who is widely considered the most powerful figure in the Brotherhood.

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NZ government signs SkyCity deal

THE New Zealand government and SkyCity have signed a deal over the construction of a convention centre in Auckland.

The casino will fully fund the $NZ402 million ($A348 million) centre in exchange for gambling concessions.

The contract was signed on Friday, a spokesman for NZ Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has confirmed to NZ Newswire.

The details of the deal will be released on Saturday morning, he said.

The negotiations were originally supposed to be completed by June 14, but were pushed out to June 30, then July 5 after the sides failed to reach an agreement.

A commitment to complete the deal for the New Zealand International Convention Centre was unveiled on May 13.

It was announced then that the convention centre would cater for up to 3500 international conference delegates at any one time, with construction expected to begin next year and opening for business in 2017.

SkyCity would operate the convention centre for at least 35 years, and fund its construction, fit-out and land costs, in exchange for:

* extending SkyCity's Auckland casino licence, which is due to expire in 2021, out to 2048, and an amendment to cover all of SkyCity's properties in Federal Street

* 230 more pokie machines on the casino floor

* 40 more gaming tables

* a further 12 gaming tables that can be substituted for automated table game player stations, but not pokie machines

* up to 17 per cent of its pokie machines and automatic table games will be able to accept banknotes of greater than $20

* cashless gaming technology on all pokie machines and automatic table games at its Auckland casino.

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Search called off for American schooner

THE search has been called off for the American schooner Nina which went missing with seven people on board in the Tasman Sea.

The 21m sailing vessel was travelling from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle in Australia on May 29 with six Americans and one British man aboard.

It struck winds up to 110km/h and 8m swells and has not been heard from since June 4.

Extensive searching over the past 11 days of an area more than eight times the size of New Zealand has failed to find any trace of the schooner.

No more searching is planned unless new information comes to light, Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand operations manager John Seward said on Friday.

But radio broadcasts will continue to be made in New Zealand and Australia in the search for new information, he said.

Those on the Nina are David Dyche III, 58, and wife, Rosemary, 60, their son David Dyche IV, 17, friend Evi Nemeth, 73, Kyle Jackson, 27, Danielle Wright, 18, and Briton Matthew Wootton, 35.

The vessel is equipped with a satellite phone, a tracking device and an emergency beacon that has not been activated.

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Popes have no faith in gay marriage

THE Vatican has issued an unprecedented religious text co-written by Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI in which the two popes said faith should serve the "common good" but restated their opposition to gay marriage.

Francis paid tribute to pope emeritus Benedict XVI in the encyclical, saying that the ex-pontiff had "almost completed" the text before stepping down in a historic resignation this year and that he himself had merely added "further contributions."

The 82-page text stresses that there is no contradiction between the Catholic faith and the modern world and calls for more dialogue with scientists, other religions and non-believers.

It also restates the Catholic Church's position on marriage saying it should be a "stable union of man and woman."

"This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God's own love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation," reads the text.

While some passages in the encyclical have a more academic and ponderous feel characteristic of Benedict XVI, others contain the simpler expressions and brighter outlook of his successor.

Examples of Francis's input could be references to the need to protect nature and to sustainable development, as well as his oft-repeated phrase: "Let us refuse to be robbed of hope".

Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, noted there were "differences of style, sensibility and accent" between the two popes in the text but said there was "substantial continuity of the message".

Francis and Benedict, who both live within the walls of the Vatican City and wear the white papal vestments, met publicly on Friday at a ceremony in the Vatican for the unveiling of a new statue.

Benedict became the first pope to resign of his own free will in 700 years in February and Francis was elected to succeed him in March as the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.

The central message of the encyclical, entitled Lumen Fidei (Light of Faith) is that faith should be considered a "common good".

"Its light does not simply brighten the interior of the Church, nor does it serve solely to build an eternal city in the hereafter, it helps us build our societies," it says.

The text also calls for a "return to the true basis of brotherhood", saying that the ideal of equality without faith "cannot endure".

In another passage the encyclical says that believers should be humble and not "presumptuous".

"As a truth of love, it is not one that can be imposed by force... Faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence with others."

Encyclicals are papal circular letters addressed to the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church that are intended to summarise a pontiff's thoughts on a particular aspect of Church life.

Some of them have gone down in history as significant landmarks in Church history.

Pope Leo XII in 1891 published Rerum Novarum in which he undertook to engage the Catholic Church in social issues, denouncing living conditions for the working class and encouraging workers to organise themselves into associations.

In 1914, Benedict XV denounced the horrors of World War I in Ad beatissimi apostolorum principis and Pius XI in Mit brennender Sorge in 1937 condemned Nazi racism.

In Paul VI's Humanae Vitae in 1968, Paul VI condemned all forms of contraception, while John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae in 1995 called for opposition to laws legalising abortion and euthanasia.

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Egypt rounding up Morsi's top aides

Egypt's army has toppled president Mohamed Morsi after a week of bloodshed that killed nearly 50. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S chief justice Adly Mansour was sworn in as interim president after the army ousted and detained Mohamed Morsi in an abrupt end to the Islamist's first year in office.

The security forces also began rounding up Morsi's top aides and members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which he belongs, a number of sources said.

Morsi's government unravelled on Wednesday after the army gave him a 48-hour ultimatum in the wake of massive demonstrations since June 30 against his turbulent rule.

Mansour took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Supreme Constitutional Court, which was broadcast live on national television.

The swearing-in came after armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsi's overthrow on state television late Wednesday, citing his inability to end the country's deepening political crisis.

In his speech, Sisi laid out details of the roadmap for a political transition.

The Islamist-drafted constitution would be frozen and presidential elections held early, he said, without specifying when.

The armed forces, which had deployed troops and armour across the country, would "remain far away from politics," he stressed.

Mansour, 67, will serve as interim president until new elections are held, according to the army's plan.

Even as Sisi was speaking, the security forces began arresting leading Brotherhood figures, with state media reporting that 300 warrants had been issued.

Saad al-Katatni, head of the ousted president's Freedom and Justice Party, and the Brotherhood's deputy supreme guide Rashad Bayoumi were both arrested and transferred to prison, the official MENA news agency reported.

A judicial source said arrest warrants had also been issued for the Brotherhood's supreme leader Mohammed Badie and his first deputy Khairat El-Shater.

The two are wanted on charges of inciting the killing Sunday of protesters in front of the Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo's southern neighbourhood of Mokattam, the source said on condition of anonymity.

A senior military officer, meanwhile, told AFP the army was on Thursday "preventively" holding Morsi.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Morsi might face formal charges linked to his escape, along with other inmates, from prison during the revolt that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Morsi latest arrest came after he issued a defiant call for supporters to protect his elected "legitimacy", in a recorded speech hours after the military announced his ouster.

"We had to confront it at some point, this threatening rhetoric," the military officer said.

"He succeeded in creating enmity between Egyptians," he added.

Morsi's year in power was marked by a spiralling economic crisis, shortages in fuel and often deadly opposition protests.

Thousands of protesters camped out on the streets of Cairo for days celebrated wildly through the night at the news of Morsi's downfall, cheering, whistling, letting off firecrackers and honking car horns.

Egypt's largely state-run press on Thursday unanimously hailed the army's overthrow of Morsi as a "legitimate" revolution.

The main banner in state-owned Al-Akhbar read: "And the people's revolution was victorious."

Morsi's opponents had accused him of failing the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak by concentrating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood.

At least 10 people were killed in clashes in Alexandria and in the southern province of Minya during the night, security officials said.

Already in the week leading up to Morsi's downfall, at least 50 people died in clashes between the Islamist's supporters and opponents.

Aside from rounding up members of the Brotherhood, the security forces had shut down broadcasts from the group's television channel, a Morsi aide told AFP.

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PM's Jakarta cattle trade talks 'critical'

Graziers hope PM Kevin Rudd's trade talks in Indonesia will boost Queensland's live cattle exports. Source: AAP

GRAZIERS hope Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will assure Indonesia's leader that Australia won't ban the live cattle export trade again.

Mr Rudd is expected to discuss the trade with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Friday.

Graziers say a temporary ban in 2011, brought on by claims Australian cattle were being mistreated in Indonesia, has crippled the country's cattle industry.

Indonesian Ambassador Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, who this week met northwest Queensland graziers, says his country wants guarantees there'll be no future bans.

He's confident the live export market will return to what it once was. However, no firm deal has been struck.

Although the export ban was lifted later in 2011, Indonesia reduced its import quota from 660,000 head-of-cattle to 260,000 per year.

Graziers say the ban and a state-wide drought have left the industry in crisis.

Georgetown grazier Barry Hughes, who chairs the industry's crisis group, says Mr Rudd's meeting with Mr Yudhoyono is critical to the survival of the cattle industry.

"The prime minister needs to assure Indonesia that the continuity and security of supply is taken care of to get the trade back up and running," he said.

Any future animal cruelty claims should be addressed individually, rather than the whole industry being penalised, he says.

Mr Hughes doesn't expect a firm deal to be struck between the two leaders, but says the meeting is a positive step forward and hopes this year's quota will be increased.

Federal MP and member for Kennedy Bob Katter, who brokered talks between graziers and Mr Kesoema, says Mr Rudd needs to apologise to Indonesia.

"The fact that the first thing [Mr Rudd] has done as prime minister is head to Indonesia is an extremely loud message," he told AAP.

Mr Katter says the trade is worth $200 million to Australia, but could be worth $1 billion if one million cattle were exported each year.

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Top judge is Egypt interim president

Egypt's chief justice Adly Mansour has been sworn in as the country's interim president. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S chief justice Adly Mansour has been sworn in as the country's interim president, a day after the military ousted and detained Mohamed Morsi following a week of massive protests.

"I swear to preserve the system of the republic, and respect the constitution and law, and guard the people's interests," Mansour said as he took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Supreme Constitutional Court.

Officials welcomed the declaration with a warm round of applause.

The swearing-in ceremony, which was broadcast live on national television, came after the military swept aside Morsi on Wednesday, a little more than a year after the Islamist leader took office.

A senior military officer told AFP the army was now "preventively" holding Morsi.

The ousted president's government unravelled after the army gave him a 48-hour ultimatum in the wake of massive demonstrations against him on June 30, the anniversary of his first turbulent year in power.

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Telstra resumes work after asbestos scare

Telstra is resuming work in some NSW telecommunication pits after an asbestos scare at NBN sites. Source: AAP

TELSTRA is resuming work in some NSW telecommunication pits after an asbestos scare at National Broadband Network (NBN) sites halted all operations last month.

In a statement on Thursday, Telstra said it would resume the "replacement and repair of telecommunication pits associated with the provision of essential services".

The work will be limited to restoration and repair work associated with incidents such as cable-cuts leading to outages and loss of basic services, Telstra said.

It will be conducted by licenced removalists.

A spokeswoman said the work was not taking place in asbestos-contaminated NBN pits.

She could not confirm how sites would be subject to repair work.

"It's only a handful - a very small number (of pits) in NSW," the spokeswoman told AAP.

"We're not resuming NBN work today. This is very limited, essential emergency work."

Remediation work on Telstra's NBN sites was halted in May when it was found many were contaminated with asbestos that had not been handled properly.

"This is the first time we've started to do anything since we announced the stoppage of all work at the end of May," said the spokeswoman.

Telstra contractors are still undergoing retraining for asbestos management.

Comment was being sought from the national workplace safety authority Comcare.

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Two dead, woman critical after Qld crash

TWO people are dead and a third has been taken to hospital in a critical condition following a three-vehicle crash in northern Queensland.

Two cars and a truck collided on the Bruce Highway south of Mackay on Wednesday afternoon, police say.

The two occupants of one car died at the scene but a woman survived and was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical but stable condition.

The driver of the truck was not injured and one of three men in the third vehicle suffered injuries to his leg.

The Bruce Highway will remain closed for several hours while the forensic crash unit investigates.

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Portuguese govt totters, markets reel

PORTUGUESE Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's government is close to collapse after two top ministers quit, pounding financial markets in Lisbon and across Europe.

Markets reacted severely after Foreign Minister Paulo Portas resigned Tuesday evening, a day after the shock departure of Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar.

EU officials told Portugal to take its responsibilities and clarify the situation "as soon as possible".

The crisis in recession-wracked Portugal spread fears in world markets of a new wave of instability from the bailed-out nation on the eurozone's debt-laden periphery.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Portuguese government bonds spiked above eight percent for the first time since November 2012, hitting 8.023 percent before easing a little. It closed the previous day at 6.720 percent.

The sharp rise in the bond yield is a warning that the government may have to pay exorbitant rates if it wants to sell newly issued bonds to the financial markets.

The Lisbon stock exchange's key PSI-20 index plunged 6.55 percent to 5,168.20 points in morning trade.

As concern spread, Madrid's IBEX 35 index slumped 3.15 percent to 7,638.2, London's FTSE 100 fell 1.64 percent to 6,200.66 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 slid 1.93 percent to 7,757.78 points and in Paris the CAC 40 tumbled 1.70 percent to 3,679.03.

The euro fell to $1.2923 - hitting a low last recorded on May 29. That compared with $1.2978 late in New York on Tuesday.

Investors were unconvinced by the Portuguese premier's vow to stay on.

"Portugal, under severe economic pressure from a lack of growth, a bloated public sector and more than a decade on non-growth, most likely will see its government fall inside the next 48 hours, despite assurances from Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho that he will not resign," Saxo Bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen said.

"The coalition is falling, and falling soon," he said in a report.

Jakobsen said he expected a new election to be called with a huge drive against austerity measures.

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Rudd reckons Abbott lacks 'ticker'

PM Kevin Rudd (R) suspects Tony Abbott lacks the "ticker" to debate him on key policy areas. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd suspects Tony Abbott lacks the "ticker" to debate him on key policy areas.

Mr Abbott has been "lying" to the Australian people about the state of the economy, his ability to turn back asylum seeker boats and the impact of carbon pricing, Mr Rudd says in his first major television interview since retaking the leadership from Julia Gillard.

"So what I would say to Mr Abbott - you've been doing this for a long time, it's time we had a properly moderated debate ... on his chosen subjects," Mr Rudd said on the ABC's 730 program.

"Mr Abbott, I think it is time you demonstrated to the country you have a bit of ticker on this.

"He's the boxing blue. I'm the glasses-wearing kid in the library.

"Come on, let's have the Australian people form a view about whether his policies actually have substance, whether they actually work, or whether they are just slogans."

On his now-broken pledge never to return to the Labor leadership, Mr Rudd said Ms Gillard had vacated the spot and brought on the caucus ballot.

He said a second reason was the prospect of defeat at the 2013 election.

"The Australian Labor Party and the government was on track towards a catastrophic defeat and I wasn't about to stand idly by and see everything we worked for for the last five or six years go down the gurgler as Mr Abbott set about ripping it apart."

He said he was not motivated by revenge, but taking up the fight to Mr Abbott and coming up with a positive plan for the future.

Mr Rudd said he was working through policy changes but it would be an "orderly process".

He said he wanted to take the time to "think and take the best advice".

Asked whether Labor would be punished for its long leadership turmoil, Mr Rudd said he had faced four Liberal leaders over a period of four years after he took on the Labor leadership.

"In political parties these things happen from time to time," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott told AAP the opposition leader would debate Mr Rudd once the prime minister "ends the uncertainty and names the election date".

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US home prices rise in May by most in 7yrs

US home prices jumped 12.2 per cent in May, suggesting the housing recovery is strengthening. Source: AAP

US home prices jumped 12.2 per cent in May from a year ago, the most in seven years. The increase suggests the housing recovery is strengthening.

Real estate data provider CoreLogic said on Tuesday that home prices rose from a year ago in 48 states. They fell only in Delaware and Alabama, while all but three of the 100 largest cities reported price gains.

Prices rose 26 per cent in Nevada to lead all states, followed by California (20.2 per cent), Arizona (16.9 per cent), Hawaii (16.1 per cent) and Oregon (15.5 per cent).

CoreLogic also said prices rose 2.6 per cent in May from April, the fifteenth straight month-over-month increase.

Steady hiring and low mortgage rates have encouraged more Americans to buy homes.

Greater demand, a limited number of homes for sale and fewer foreclosures have pushed prices higher, but prices are still 20 per cent below the peak reached in April 2006, it said.

Sales of previously occupied homes topped the five million mark in May for the first time in three and a half years. And the proportion of those sales that were "distressed" was at the lowest level in more than four years for the second straight month.

Distressed home sales include foreclosures and short sales - when a home sells for less than what is owed on the mortgage.

Home sales are expected to increase in the coming months. That's because the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in June to the highest level since December 2006. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

One worry is that higher mortgage rates could slow the housing recovery.

Still, rates remain low by historical standards and increases in rates could boost home sales because many Americans may act to lock in the lower rates before they rise further.

A survey by the University of Michigan released last week found more Americans believe it is a good time to buy a home because both rates and prices are just starting to rise.

Rates have been trending higher for two months.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage leapt to 4.46 per cent last week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac., the highest in two years and a point more than a month ago.

Mortgage rates surged after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed could scale back its bond buying later this year and end it next year if the economy continued to strengthen. The bond purchases have kept long-term rates down.

Economists say higher mortgage rates are unlikely to stifle the housing recovery.

A more critical issue is whether potential buyers can get loans. There are signs that banks have become more willing to extend mortgages.

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Road tolls would reduce traffic: report

TOLLS and congestion fees may be the answer to reducing traffic and improving the state of Australian roads.

An Infrastructure Australia (IA) report, released on Tuesday, argues there is reduced accountability for governments to provide quality infrastructure under the current taxpayer system.

"To get the infrastructure we want, when we want it, we need to pay more as users," the report said.

It says congestion pricing in London has reduced traffic by 21 per cent, increased average travel speeds by 37 per cent and reduced road emissions.

Revenue raised by the fee is invested back into public transport, contributing to increased bus and passenger rail patronage.

IA also called for a single national fund to be established to roll over the many different infrastructure investment sources.

The fund would account for over $100 billion for projects such as the National Broadband Network and clean energy funding.

AI says the current funding model has overlapping purposes, different assessment frameworks and different decision making mandates.

Australia's future economic performance would largely depend on how its major cities are planned, the report says.

This will be particularly important considering each of Australia's five biggest capital cities will nearly double their population by 2056.

Denser cities was the answer to more productive living, it said.

The closer businesses are to each other and to a deep pool of skilled labour, the report argued, the higher their productivity.

For individuals, this proximity also means lower costs when looking for a job.

The Australian Industry Group welcomed the report's findings.

"The time is right to make reforms that will facilitate greater and more astute investment, including from the private sector, and encourage efficient use of infrastructure," the group's chief Innes Willox said.

The Urban Development Institute of Australia said addressing Australia's infrastructure problems must be a key priority for the next federal government.

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Patents keep HIV drugs too pricy

DOCTORS Without Borders is warning that rising intellectual property rights are blocking the generic production of newer drugs to treat HIV and are keeping them out of reach of developing countries.

The medical aid group said at an international AIDS meeting here that prices of older drugs long used to treat patients have fallen sharply as India and other countries make generics. But newer drugs that are more effective against the AIDS virus are too expensive, costing up to 15 times more.

"It's good news that the price of key HIV drugs continues to fall as more generic companies compete for the market, but the newer medicines are still priced far too high," said Jennifer Cohn, medical director for Doctors Without Borders' access campaign.

"We need the newer treatments for people that have exhausted all other options, but patents keep them priced beyond reach."

Patients can be treated with a combination of three or four older drugs, but those who develop resistance to them need the expensive newer medicines.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the governments of Thailand and Jamaica pay $US4,760 ($A5,178.42) and $US6,570 ($A7,147.52), respectively, a year per patient for the new drug Darunavir alone.

Paraguay pays $7,782 for Etravirine, while Armenia pays $13,213 for Raltegravir. In comparison, a cocktail of older generic drugs costs as little as $139 per person a year.

Doctors Without Borders urged the United States and 11 other countries negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership not to sign the free-trade pact.

It warned that the pact will increase intellectual property rights across Asia and the Americas, expanding monopoly protection for medicines and threatening cheap access to drugs.

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Opposition does not support military coup

EGYPT'S main opposition coalition said it would not support a "military coup" and trusted that an army statement giving political leaders 48 hours to resolve the current crisis did not mean it would assume a political role.

"We do not support a military coup," the National Salvation Front (NSF) said in a statement.

"The NSF has been committed, since its formation on 22 November, 2012, to build a civil, modern and democratic state that allows the participation of all political trends, including political Islam. We trust the army's declaration, reflected in their statement (Monday), that they don't want to get involved in politics, or play a political role," it said.

Meanwhile US President Barack Obama is encouraging embattled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to respond to concerns being voiced by throngs of protesters seeking his removal from office.

The White House confirmed in a statement Tuesday that Obama called Morsi on Monday while travelling in Africa.

The statement said Obama told Morsi that the United States is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group. The statement also said Obama underscored to Morsi that the current crisis can only be resolved through a political process.

Obama also told Morsi he's particularly concerned about violence in the demonstrations, especially sexual assaults against women.

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India rejects Snowden's asylum bid

US leaker Edward Snowden has applied for political asylum in Russia after more than a week in limbo. Source: AAP

INDIA has rejected former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's request for political asylum, the External Affairs Ministry said.

The Indian embassy in Moscow had received a request for asylum from Snowden, ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters.

He said India carefully examined the request and decided to turn it down.

The government has "concluded that we see no reason to accede to that request," he said.

Earlier Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said India "has a very careful and restrictive policy on asylums."

"We have given asylums in the past but we are not an open house for asylums since we have a careful and objective policy," he said in Brunei, where he is attending a regional security forum.

India has not ratified a 1951 international convention on refugees and has no regular procedure for granting asylum to people fleeing persecution.

European Parliament president Martin Schulz said he was sympathetic to an asylum request by fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, comparing reports of US spying on EU offices to "KGB methods".

Schulz, a German Social Democrat, told public broadcaster ARD that Snowden, who has reportedly submitted asylum requests to 21 nations, had helped the global cause of transparency by exposing the alleged US bugging.

"I believe Mr Snowden showed us that the United States of America treats its closest partners including Germany, for example, but also the European Union as a whole like hostile powers," he said.

"That is absolutely unacceptable. That is why the authorities will have to determine when Mr Snowden submits an application whether he is actually being politically persecuted.

"But I am sympathetic to this application," he said, when asked whether Germany should take him in.

WikiLeaks said Monday that Snowden had submitted asylum requests to countries including Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, India, China, Russia, Germany and France, in addition to earlier requests to Ecuador and Iceland.

However, a Kremlin spokesman said that Snowden, who is in legal limbo in the transit zone of a Moscow airport, had abandoned his request for political asylum in Russia after it told him he would have to stop leaking US intelligence reports.

Schulz said Europeans were "deeply disappointed" in US President Barack Obama in light of the allegations, adding that security justifications for the eavesdropping appeared bogus.

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Man stabbed in head during Brisbane fight

A MAN has been stabbed in the head during a fight in central Brisbane.

The 27-year-old was taken from the scene of the fight on Mary Street to Royal Brisbane Hospital with non life-threatening injuries in the early hours of Monday, police say.

A 20-year-old man has been charged with two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, wounding and two counts of threatening violence over the fight.

He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital with non life-threatening injuries and is due before the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

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EU probes banks on credit trading

THE European Commission says many of the world's largest investment banks appear to have colluded to block attempts by exchanges to trade and offer more transparent prices for financial products known as credit derivatives.

The commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said Monday it has informed 13 banks - including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley - as well as the industry association for derivatives and a data service provider, of its objections.

The objections detail what the groups are thought to have done. Sending these closes the first phase of an investigation that began in March.

Next the banks will have 30 days to respond.

Then the commission must make a decision on whether the companies violated antitrust rules before considering consequences, which could include fines.

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Economy needs more diversity: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the economy must broaden and not have all its eggs in one basket. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd believes he has put together a strong economics team to tackle the threats of the global economy, particularly the end of the resources boom.

Mr Rudd's new ministry confirms Chris Bowen as treasurer, as well as his expanded portfolio of financial services and superannuation and retains Senator Penny Wong as finance minister.

"We must continue to diversify our economy, not to have all our eggs in one basket," Mr Rudd told reporters in Newcastle where he announced the ministry on Monday.

The government would do whatever it can to boost manufacturing, services and agribusinesses to generate new jobs rather than simply relying on just one - mining, he said.

However, business is unhappy with a swathe of new outgoings and regulations to mark the start of a new financial year, including a 2.6 per cent increase in the minimum wage and the rise from nine per cent to 9.25 per cent in the compulsory superannuation guarantee.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates small businesses face a collective $2 billion increase to their payrolls.

"While government politicians have spent months arguing about leadership, an unprecedented wave of anti-business decisions have been made," the chamber's chief executive Peter Anderson said in a statement.

Yasser El-Ansary from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia urged Mr Bowen in his expanded portfolio to continue with the government's super and financial services reform agenda to provide the public with confidence in the sector.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service gave the government a timely slap on the back, affirming the nation's triple-A rating based on its very high economic resiliency, very high government financial strength and very low susceptibility to event risk.

Mr Bowen said that was testament to the strength of the Australian economy and the government's fiscal management.

"Australian economy remains the standout performer of the developed world, with solid growth, low unemployment, contained inflation and strong public finances," he said in a statement.

However, the government is unlikely to gain a further boost from another reduction in the cash rate when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holds its month board meeting on Tuesday.

Economists believe the recent steep drop in the Australian dollar provides the central bank scope to wait until at least quarterly official inflation figures are released later this month.

"While financial markets are volatile, and domestic politics takes centre stage, we believe it is prudent for the board to remain on the sidelines for now," TD Securities head of Asia-Pacific research Annette Beacher said in a note to clients.

The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute monthly gauge of inflation shows price pressures remain well within the RBA's two to three target band.

Inflation in June was unchanged from the previous month, to be 2.4 per cent higher over the year.

Other data also showed an improvement in manufacturing in June, supported by low interest rates and a drop in the exchange rate.

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Husic becomes first Muslim frontbencher

Labor MP Ed Husic (L) has become the first Muslim sworn into a federal government frontbench. Source: AAP

AMONG the oaths, photographs and backslapping at Labor's latest ministerial swearing-in ceremony, a cultural milestone was passed for Australia's parliament.

Ed Husic, named parliament secretary to the prime minister and for broadband on Monday, became the first Muslim sworn into a federal government frontbench.

A key supporter of Kevin Rudd, Mr Husic was elevated to the senior role at the expense of Andrew Leigh, who lost the role in the ministry reshuffle.

The milestone was acknowledged by Governor-General Quentin Bryce as she swore in Mr Husic and 24 of his Labor colleagues at a ceremony in Canberra.

"This is a wonderful day for multiculturalism, and everything it stands for in our country," Ms Bryce told Mr Husic, to roars of "Hear Hear!" from his Labor colleagues.

"I wish you all the best as you serve our country as parliamentary secretary."

Mr Husic became the first Muslim elected to federal parliament when he won the western Sydney seat of Chifley in 2010.

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