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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Give Aussies reasons to join ALP: Faulkner

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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Truce reached among climbers on Everest

A TRUCE has been reached between three foreign climbers and Nepalese Sherpa guides who were involved in a fistfight on Mount Everest, officials say.

Two of the foreigners, however, returned to Nepal's capital and were undecided if they would quit their climb.

Tilak Pandey of the Mountaineering Department said a truce was reached at base camp between the foreigners - an Italian, a Briton and a Swiss - and the Sherpas on Tuesday.

Nima Nuru of Cho-Oyu Trekking, who equipped the expedition, said Swiss climber Ueli Steck and British climber Jonathan Griffith flew to Katmandu by helicopter on Wednesday, and Italian Simone Moro also was planning to return.

Nepalese officials are investigating the fight, which both sides accuse the other of starting.

Steck and Griffith refused to talk to reporters in Katmandu.

Sumit Joshi, a mountain guide from Sydney, said by telephone from the Everest base camp that the argument started when the Sherpa guides, who were fixing ropes and digging a path on the snowy trail above Camp 2, asked the foreign climbers to wait until they were finished. He said the climbers ignored them and started climbing, knocking ice chunks onto the Sherpas below.

The foreign climbers yelled "foul words" during an argument, he said.

On their return to Camp 2 later in the evening, the three climbers were surrounded by 30-40 Sherpas and there was a scuffle and punches were thrown, Joshi said. Other climbers at the camp, located at 6,500 metres, were able to stop the fight and once the climbers returned to the base camp a truce was reached, he said.

Hundreds of climbers from 32 expeditions and their Sherpa guides and helpers are at the base camp waiting for the window of good weather in May to make their way to the 8,850-metre summit. Spring is considered the best season to climb.

Nepal will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the conquest of Everest next month.

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Bangladesh building collapse toll hits 500

BANGLADESH rescuers say that more than 500 people had likely died in a garment factory block that collapsed last week as the Pope condemned the use of "slave labour" in the local clothing industry.

As bulldozers and cranes worked to remove the rubble of the eight-storey building on the outskirts of Dhaka, senior army officers said the number of confirmed dead now stood at 405 but 149 people were still missing.

The country's worst industrial accident, which has focused attention on the use of factories in Bangladesh by Western clothing companies, drew tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets of the capital.

Workers holding red banners and flags chanted "Hang the killers, Hang the Factory Owners!" during a May Day rally that was largely peaceful unlike larger and more angry protests held since last Wednesday's disaster.

At the Vatican in a private mass for followers, Pope Francis weighed into the controversy, speaking out against labour conditions in Bangladesh, which are regularly decried by campaigners.

"A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was 'Living on 38 euros a month'. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour," the Pope was quoted by Vatican Radio as saying.

In fact, wages are even lower, with the legal minimum salary routinely paid to employees only $US38 ($A37) a month for a six-day week with 10-hour shifts.

The Bangladesh government faces growing foreign pressure to take credible moves to improve conditions in the garment industry, with the collapse at the Rana Plaza factory complex only the latest in a series of deadly disasters.

A fire at a textile factory last November left 111 people dead, and there have been widespread accusations that safety standards are both too lax and rarely enforced in the $US20-billion ($A19-billion) sector.

The European Union said late on Tuesday that it would look at steps to promote better practices after a host of European retailers including Primark, Benetton and Mango admitted using factories in the collapsed building.

Nearly 60 per cent of Bangladesh's garments are shipped to European Union free of duties and tariffs, giving the 27-nation bloc huge say over the country's workplace safety issues.

Anger in Bangladesh remains palpable and the demonstrations on Wednesday again saw demands for the building owner and four arrested factory bosses to face capital punishment. They have been charged with death due to negligence.

Many of the country's 4500 garment factories have been closed since last Wednesday, a major blow for the Bangladeshi economy which depends on garments for 80 per cent of its exports.

"We want the severest punishment possible for those responsible for this tragedy," said Kamrul Anam, head of the Bangladesh Textile and Garments Workers League.

"Enough is enough," said Liakot Khan, another of those taking part in the Dhaka protest, which echoed to the sound of drums and horns.

"The government should hang the building proprietor and the factory owners. We want justice for these murders."

Police put the number of protesters at the main rally in Dhaka at more than 20,000, and there were smaller-scale protests elsewhere in the capital and in other cities.

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Missing Vic schoolgirl safe and well

A 15-YEAR-OLD girl who went missing on Sunday after an argument with her parents has turned up safe and well.

Heidelberg teenager Madison Murphy disappeared after her mother told her she would not be allowed to go on a school trip to France later this year.

Police had been concerned for her because she did not have a mobile phone or access to money, but just after 9pm (AEST) on Monday she presented at the West Melbourne police station.

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UK bank Lloyds sells Spanish interests

BRITAIN'S state-rescued Lloyds bank says it has sold its loss-making Spanish retail banking activities to Spain's Banco Sabadell in a deal worth up to 100 million euros ($A127.97 million).

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) said in a statement on Monday that it would receive a 1.8 per cent stake in Sabadell, worth about 84 million euros, plus an additional sum of up to 20 million euros over the next five years.

"Lloyds Banking Group plc is today announcing that it has agreed to sell its Spanish retail banking operations, including Lloyds Bank International S.A.U and Lloyds Investment Espaa SGIIC S.A.U, to Banco Sabadell," the statement read.

"The sale comprises the group's retail and private banking business and the local investment management business in Spain."

Lloyds added that the sale of the business was expected to lead to a loss of approximately STG250 million ($A378.96 million).

The business consists mostly of retail mortgages and deposits, with a large portion of non-resident clients.

However, LBG's Spanish corporate banking operations, which serve business clients, are not included in this transaction. They will carry on operating as normal.

Lloyds is 39-per cent owned by the British government after a state bailout after the 2008 global financial crisis.

"The sale is in line with the group's strategy of rationalising its international presence and ensuring best value for shareholders," it added on Monday.

The deal remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete this year.

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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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Budget spending not sustainable: Garnaut

ALL Australians have to accept the government cannot continue to provide services that it cannot afford in the long-term, a former senior economics adviser to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke says.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a conference on Monday that budget revenue in 2012/13 will be $12 billion less than forecast because of the continued strength of the Australian dollar.

As the end of the mining boom approached, Australians would have to deal with less revenue flowing into government coffers, Professor Ross Garnaut said.

"It depends on whether we can accept restraint all around in the interest of avoiding recession and avoiding high unemployment," he told ABC television.

Prof Garnaut, an adviser to Mr Hawke from 1983 to 1985, said federal governments had been spending the temporary largesse from the resources boom since it began in 2003.

"That has led to expenditure levels and cost levels in Australia that are substantially higher than is sustainable in the long term," he said.

Prof Garnaut said successive governments, coalition and Labor, had been spending too much since the prices of Australia's exports rose compared to imports - except for the year following the global financial crisis in 2008.

How Australia would endured the bumpy economic ride would depend on the central bank's setting of interest rates, on how governments set their spending and revenue plans, and on the community being ready to accept reforms to lift productivity in a high-wage economy, Prof Garnaut said.

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Vic Labor claims victory in Lyndhurst

Martin Pakula is confident he can win the by-election in the Victorian state seat of Lyndhurst. Source: AAP

LABOR'S Martin Pakula has claimed victory in Victoria's Lyndhurst by-election but the party's primary vote is well down on its result at the state poll.

The result leaves Labor with 43 seats on the floor of the parliament to the coalition's 44, including the speaker. It means the government has to rely on the support of independent MP Geoff Shaw to pass legislation opposed by Labor.

The former Liberal MP is under police investigation for misconduct in public office.

With more than half of total votes counted, Labor's primary vote is 15 per cent weaker than the result at the 2010 state election.

The result is way down on Labor's 55 per cent primary vote at the state poll and there is no Liberal candidate in the by-election.

Mr Pakula said he expected to improve his primary vote once pre-poll and postal votes were counted.

"By-elections are very difficult, they're very challenging," he told AAP.

"History will tell you that in by-elections people take the opportunity to vote differently, they vote all over the card."

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'Indian spy' fights for life in Pakistan

AN Indian national on death row in Pakistan who was attacked by fellow inmates armed with bricks has been put on a ventilator as he fights for his life.

Sarbajit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges, was rushed to hospital on Friday with multiple wounds, including a severe head injury, after an argument in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

"Singh's condition is critical with multiple wounds on his head, abdomen, jaws and other body parts, and he has been put on ventilator," a senior doctor in Lahore's Jinnah hospital told AFP on Saturday on condition of anonymity.

Sigh is fighting for his life in the hospital's intensive care unit(ICU), and the next 24 hours are critical, the doctor said, adding that the head injury was "quite severe".

"He needs surgery but the doctors are not performing it because they don't want to take any chances and want him to stabilise," he said.

Singh was hit with bricks and other blunt objects by two inmates, a police officer investigating the case said, identifying the suspects only by single names Aamir and Mudasir.

The attack on Singh was front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday, with Indian television stations running frequent updates on his condition and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing it as a "very sad incident", according to the Press Trust of India.

Singh was arrested following a bombing in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore in 1990 in which 14 people were killed.

He was sentenced to death after being convicted by a Pakistani court on spying charges. His family has previously filed mercy petitions to Pakistani authorities seeking Singh's release.

Pakistan maintains he was an Indian spy, but Singh's family say he is a farmer who accidentally crossed the border into Pakistan while drunk.

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