Avoidable indigenous deaths fall: report

AVOIDABLE deaths among Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have dropped since 2001, but mortality rates for chronic diseases are still much higher for indigenous Australians.

Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Monday showed death rates for avoidable causes and circulatory diseases had declined between 2001 and 2010.

But the figures also showed almost half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers smoke during pregnancy and unemployment rates continue to remain higher for indigenous people than for non-indigenous people.

In Western Australia, there was no improvement in incidence rates of treated end-stage renal disease in recent years - currently 12 times the rate for non-indigenous Australians.

But there was a 35 per cent fall in the overall mortality of indigenous people and a 17 per cent decline in avoidable mortality from 1997 to 2010.

Also in WA, infant mortality rates fell 62 per cent between 1991 and 2010.

In NSW, the number of indigenous people starting end stage renal disease therapy, currently three times the rate for non-indigenous Australians, had jumped 286 per cent since 1991.

Avoidable mortality fell in the state by 20 per cent, while there was an increase in the proportion of pregnant women attending antenatal care.

In Victoria, low birthweight was more than twice as common among babies of indigenous mothers as among babies of non-indigenous mothers.

Queensland saw a 41 decline in the rates of infant mortality and a 32 per cent decrease in avoidable mortality.

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Thailand to talk peace with separatists

AFTER nine years of violence in Thailand's southernmost provinces and 5300 lives lost, the government will on Thursday initiate peace talks with the enemy.

But exactly who that enemy is and whether it will be genuinely represented on the other side of the table remains to be seen.

The breakthrough agreement for public peace negotiations was reached in Malaysia on February 28, after six years of sporadic secret talks.

Previous administrations have rejected high-profile talks to avoid lending legitimacy to the insurgents, whose apparent goal is the independence of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces.

Brokered by the Malaysian government, the latest agreement to talks was finalised by Paradon Pattanatabut, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, and Hassan Taib, liaison officer of the rebel Barisan Revolsi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C).

But many insurgents in southern Thailand do not recognise Taib, who has reportedly been living in Malaysia for the past 20 years.

"The Thai government is holding talks with people we don't even know," said one militant of the Runda Kumpalan Kecil, a splinter group from the BRN-C.

Attacks on authorities and civilians in the south have increased since the February 28 deal.

Thailand's problem with the insurgency has been confounded by the murkiness surrounding various Muslim separatist groups behind the violence.

The first thing observers are watching is who will come to the table. No representative from the Thai military, which has more than 90,000 troops in the three southern provinces, has yet been appointed to join the talks.

The government side has been trying hard to attract Sapae-ing Basor, a Muslim leader and a key player in the BRN-C, and leaders of other groups, according to Don Pathan, foreign affairs director of the Pattani Forum, an advocacy group for Muslims rights in the South.

"But they want a guarantee of immunity before the agree to come," Pathan said. An arrest warrant was issued for Sapae-ing in 2005.

The second thing to look for is whether the government will discuss some sort of self-administrative zone, a minimum requirement from the separatists.

And the third question is whether there will be an ebb in the rebel's bombing attacks.

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Kerry lands in Kabul on unannounced visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry has landed in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit, with relations badly frayed by Kabul's recent hostility to US-led military efforts in the country.

Kerry is likely to face a testing meeting with President Hamid Karzai who has launched a series of verbal assaults on US troops and their coalition partners.

"He will make clear that the US will have an enduring commitment in Afghanistan that will last beyond transition and that there will always be bumps on the road," a US official travelling with Kerry told reporters on Monday.

More than 11 years after the Taliban were ousted from power, international forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan and handing responsibility for fighting the Islamic insurgents to poorly-trained local police and army.

As the transition gathers pace, the United States and Afghanistan are also negotiating a strategic pact that will determine the US presence in the country after the end of international combat operations next year.

One major cause of friction between Washington and Kabul was solved hours ahead of Kerry's arrival when a ceremony was held to mark the final transfer of the controversial Bagram jail from US to Afghan control.

The drawn-out war is increasingly unpopular in the US, and Karzai triggered fury earlier this month when he accused the US of working in concert with Taliban militants to justify keeping soldiers on foreign soil.

"Issues of security and sovereignty are always going to be difficult," the US official travelling with Kerry said.

"But the most important thing is that we are honest to each other when there are differences between us, and you have seen some differences playing out recently."

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Cambodia shuts Australian-run orphanage

CAMBODIAN authorities have shut an orphanage run by an Australian woman amid allegations of children being beaten and human trafficking taking place.

Officials and a rights group said on Monday that police raided the unlicensed orphanage, called Love in Action, in the capital, Phnom Penh, and rescued 21 children.

Gratianne Quade, a spokeswoman for SISHA, an anti-trafficking organisation in Cambodia, said an Australian woman who ran the orphanage was not arrested in the raid on Friday and her current whereabouts was not known.

Um Sophanara, an official at the Social Affairs Ministry, which oversees orphanages, confirmed the closure, but declined to give details.

A SISHA statement said the raid came after several groups of children had fled the orphanage recently and reported a variety of neglect and abuse problems to authorities.

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Leighton shareholder denies interference

LEIGHTON Holdings' major shareholder has denied it had anything to do with the shake-up of the construction giant's board.

Leighton chairman Stephen Johns and non-executive directors Wayne Osborn and Ian Macfarlane, a former Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor, have tendered their resignations following what the company said was a breakdown in relations with German construction company Hochtief, which owns a 40 per cent stake in Leighton.

But in a letter to the Leighton board before a board meeting later on Sunday, Hochtief has denied it influenced the resignations.

"We are disappointed by the resignation as we do not consider that Hochtief has done anything to undermine the independence of the Leighton Board or threatened any such action," the company said.

Hochtief, which is majority owned by Spanish Group ACS, has two representatives on what was the company's 10-person board.

Mr Johns said in his letter of resignation that one of the Hochtief representatives on the board and the German construction giant's chief executive, Marcelino Fernandez Verdes, had interfered in the appointment of a new director.

But Hochtief said Mr Fernandez Verdes was merely exercising his right to participate in the selection and appointment process.

"Mr Fernandez Verdes suggested that the board would benefit from the addition of a new director with a different set of skills to that offered by the proposed candidate," he said.

Hochtief also said the reasons behind its lack of support for Mr John's re-election were explained to other directors.

"Neither of these matters relate to any attempt by Hochtief to undermine the independence of the board," the company said.

Hochtief has reaffirmed its commitment to the independence agreement with Leighton and said it was "greatly concerned " with a proposal from the independent directors to replace the governance protocols.

"This was contained in their letter to the Mr Fernandez Verdes and, if implemented, would have effect of excluding Hochtief from any material role in the nomination of any future independent director," the statement said.

A board meeting is scheduled for 6pm AEDT when an interim chairman is expected to be appointed.

After a board meeting on Sunday night, a company spokesman said the new Chairman was Bob Humphris. He has been a director of the construction giant since September 2004.

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Central Africa rebels 'seize' presidency

Rebel forces in the Central African Republic say they have entered the capital city of Bangui. Source: AAP

REBELS in the Central African Republic fighting to topple President Francois Bozize say they have seized the presidential palace in the capital Bangui.

Fighters in the Seleka rebel coalition advanced into the riverside capital on Saturday after the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal in the notoriously unstable and deeply poor former French colony - ignoring a call for talks to avoid a "bloodbath".

"We have taken the presidential palace. Bozize was not there," one of the rebel commanders on the ground, Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, told AFP on Sunday.

He said the rebels were planning to move on to the national radio station where rebel leader Michel Djotodia planned to make an address.

"Today will be decisive," Narkoyo said. "We call on our brothers in FACA (the Central African army) to lay down their arms."

Bozize, who himself led a coup in the landlocked country in 2003, has not been seen since his return from South Africa on Friday and there was no statements from the government Sunday about the latest developments.

Heavy gunbattles erupted at about 0700 GMT (1800 AEDT) but later the shooting became more sporadic, an AFP correspondent said.

"We head gunfire everywhere in the city centre. It was chaos," said one witness. "Everyone started running in all directions."

Narkoyo had told AFP on Saturday the rebels were ready to meet with regional African leaders on the crisis, but refused to negotiate with Bozize.

And he warned that if Seleka - a loose alliance of three rebel movements - captured Bangui, it would set up a new government.

Bangui resident Francis Komgdo, who lives near a checkpoint that effectively marks the entrance to the capital, told AFP the rebels had passed through Saturday in vehicles and motorbikes, occasionally firing in the air.

Gunfire and explosions in Bangui on Saturday saw the streets emptied as local people fled to their homes.

The city was also plunged into darkness last night after rebels sabotaged a hydroelectric power plant in Boali, north of the capital, an official with the Enerca electricity company and residents said.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye on Saturday called on the rebels to accept talks to "avoid a bloodbath".

Tiangaye, an opposition figure, was only appointed as part of the peace deal brokered between the government and the rebels in January, an agreement that broke down last week.

Paris-based rebel spokesman Eric Massi has said the rebel leadership was urging its forces on the ground to refrain from "looting or score-settling with the local population".

Former colonial power France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation, said Romain Nadal, a spokesman for the president's office.

France had not issued an evacuation order, but the estimated 1,250 French nationals in the country were advised to stay at home, said Nadal.

There were no immediate plans to send reinforcements to back up the 250 French troops in the country to protect them, he added.

The UN Security Council on Friday voiced strong concern about the rebel advances "and their humanitarian consequences" amid reports of widespread summary executions, rapes, torture and the use of children in conflict.

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Syrian rebels seize border area

Syrian rebel fighters say they have seized an air base in the southern province of Daraa. Source: AAP

SYRIAN rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime have seized a 25-kilometre strip of land from the Jordanian border to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday fighters loyal a series of rebel brigades had taken control of the Al-Rai military checkpoint in the southern province of Daraa.

"The fighters seized the site after regime forces retreated," it said.

"The 25km area located between the towns of Muzrib (near the Jordanian border) and Abdin (in the Golan) is now out of regime control."

The Britain-based Observatory said in the past few days the rebels had seized several army checkpoints in the area and captured weapons and vehicles.

On Saturday they captured a key air base Daraa after two weeks of fierce battles with loyalist troops, it added.

The report came as Israel's new Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon vowed on Sunday an "immediate" answer to all Syrian gunfire onto the Golan Heights.

Yaalon issued the warning shortly after Israeli troops on the strategic plateau shot at a Syrian army post after coming under fire for the second time in 12 hours, according to the Israeli army.

"We see the Syrian regime as responsible for every breach of sovereignty. We shall not allow the Syrian army or any other body to violate Israeli sovereignty firing into our territory," Yaalon said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was from the Syrian army or from rebel forces in the area.

The rebel advances came days after insurgents seized a border crossing on the frontier with Jordan, said the Observatory.

A security source in Damascus said last week Jordan was allowing jihadist fighters and arms bought by Saudi Arabia from Croatia to be smuggled into Syria.

The source said around 2500 trained and heavily equipped rebels have entered Daraa in recent weeks, following reports American instructors were training rebels in neighbouring Jordan.

Jordanian Information Minister and government spokesman Samih Maaytah said earlier this month his country "rejects interfering in Syrian affairs".

"The Jordanian army is exerting a lot of efforts to control the border and prevent infiltrations," he said.

Louay Moqdad, a spokesman and co-ordinator for opposition forces, acknowledged that several Arab and Western nations had started training rebels forces, but declined to provide further details.

Earlier this month, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported rebels were being trained in Jordan by American specialists, a claim US officials have refused to comment on.

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New pope opens Holy Week at Vatican

Pope Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday Mass to start Holy Week ceremonies, leading up to Easter. Source: AAP

POPE Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in Saint Peter's Square attended by thousands of people waving olive branches and palm fronds.

The new pontiff arrived in an uncovered vehicle to start solemn Holy Week ceremonies, which lead up to Easter, Christianity's most important day.

Francis wore bright red robes over a white cassock and presided over the Mass from an altar sheltered by a canopy on the steps of Saint Peter's Basilica.

Cardinals, many of them among the electors who on March 13 chose the Roman Catholic church's first Latin American pope, sat in rows for the ceremony held under hazy skies on a breezy day.

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Boy critical after being hit by 4WD

A YOUNG boy is fighting for his life after being knocked off his pushbike by a 4WD while crossing a road in western Sydney.

The boy suffered life-threatening head injuries after he was hit by a silver Subaru Escape at traffic lights on Richmond Road, Marayong at about 7.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday, police said.

The boy is aged between eight and 12 and was with his brother at the time of the accident, police believe.

He has been taken to the Children's Hospital at Westmead in a critical condition.

The Subaru driver, a woman in her 30s, stopped immediately and is assisting police.

Witnesses are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Vic man charged after ute crash kills two

A 19-YEAR-OLD Victorian man has been charged with culpable driving after a ute rolled killing two people.

Robert Saunders was the driver of a ute carrying six people when it left the road and rolled onto its roof ejecting several passengers, police said.

Saunders faced an out-of-session hearing at the Traralgon police station charged with two counts of culpable driving causing death.

A 22-year-old and 18-year-old man died at the scene of the crash at Glengarry in the state's east on Saturday.

One man was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

Saunders has been remanded in custody and will face the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on Monday.

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