Syrian war between unsavoury sides: Abbott

Kevin Rudd says Tony Abbott's "baddies versus baddies" comment raises questions about his judgement. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says Syria's civil war involves "two pretty much equally unsavoury sides" and Australia should be cautious of making a bad situation worse.

Mr Abbott says elements of the Syrian rebel forces are "highly influenced by al-Qaeda" but the Bashar al-Assad regime's use of chemical weapons against its own people is an "unspeakable abomination".

"That's why I say frankly it's a civil war between two pretty much equally unsavoury sides," he told ABC Television's 730 on Monday.

"We've got to be very careful dealing in a powder keg like the Middle East that we don't take action, well-intentioned action, which could end up making a bad situation worse."

Mr Abbott said it was unlikely Australia would be called on to provide military advice or technology to the Syrian rebel forces because Australia doesn't have the capacity needed for the type of intervention the United States is considering.

Earlier on Monday Mr Abbott came under fire from Labor for his weekend description of the Syrian conflict as "baddies versus baddies".

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Gladstone on Monday the situation involving the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against civilians was not a trivial matter.

"Mr Abbott ... trivialises what is a major foreign policy, international relations and national security question," he said.

"The last time I used the term 'goodies and baddies' was when I was playing cowboys and indians in the backyard.

"I think I stopped doing that about the age of 10."

Mr Abbott said British Prime Minister David Cameron and former US president Bill Clinton had used similar language on Syria.

He said using occasional colloquialisms was appropriate in explaining complex situations to the public.

Mr Abbott also said it was unlikely Australia would take in Syrian asylum seekers.

He said people fleeing the conflict could go to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey or Iraq first.

"Almost certainly if people were fleeing the Syrian conflict, they would not be coming to Australia as a country of first asylum," Mr Abbott said.

"Any person fleeing Syria landing up in Australia would be in much the same position as the Hazaras and others who are coming by boat."

The coalition policy is that asylum seekers arriving by boat will be processed offshore.

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Man 'deliberately hit' by car in NSW

A FATHER has suffered head injuries after being hit by a car on the NSW Central Coast in what police say was a deliberate attack.

The 37-year-old was walking with his wife, two children and family dog in Woy Woy on Monday afternoon when he exchanged words with a driver of a passing hatchback.

The driver then allegedly turned around, deliberately drove into him and drove away, police said.

The father was treated for head injuries before being taken to Gosford Hospital.

Police are now looking for a silver Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback which is likely to have a damaged bonnet and windscreen.

Investigators have been told there were up to three people in the hatchback and that it may have been displaying a P-plate.

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Germany tries man, 92, for Nazi war crimes

GERMANY has put a 92-year-old former member of the Nazi Waffen SS on trial on charges that he executed a Dutch resistance fighter in 1944.

Dutch-born Siert Bruins, who is now German, volunteered for the SS after the Nazis conquered The Netherlands in 1941. Bruins served as a member of the Sicherheitspolizei, or Security Police, in a unit looking for resistance fighters and Jews.

No pleas are made in the German legal system and Bruins made no statement on Monday about the accusations against him. His lawyer said Bruins would answer questions during the trial but not about the charges.

"Our tactic will definitely be to keep silent with regard to the charges," lawyer Klaus-Peter Kniffka said earlier.

Despite his advanced age, Bruins was found medically fit to stand trial, though Kniffka said the stress of the proceedings against him has weakened him.

Bruins, who already served time in prison in the 1980s for his role in the slaying of two Dutch Jews, is accused of killing resistance fighter Aldert Klaas Dijkema in September 1944 in the town of Appingedam, near the German border in the northern Netherlands.

If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.

Dijkema, whose sister has joined the trial as a co-plaintiff, which is allowed under German law, was apprehended by the Nazis on September 9, 1944, on suspicion he was involved in the Dutch resistance.

According to prosecutors, Bruins and alleged accomplice August Neuhaeuser, who has since died, drove Dijkema a short time later to an isolated industrial area where they stopped and told him to "go take a leak."

As he walked away from the car, they fired at least four shots into him, including into the back of his head, killing him instantly, according to the indictment.

Bruins and Neuhaeuser reported that Dijkema was shot while trying to escape.

Because of Bruins' age, daily trial sessions are limited to three hours.

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Coronation Street actor denies sex charges

BRITISH television actor Michael Le Vell has appeared in court accused of raping a young girl.

The actor stood in the dock at Manchester Crown Court on Monday as the charges were read out to him before the start of his trial.

Le Vell, 48, who plays car mechanic Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, is facing 12 charges in all - five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a child and two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

A slightly different indictment, or list of charges, had been drawn up after a previous hearing, when Le Vell pleaded not guilty to 19 charges.

Before the trial began the new indictment had to be put to Le Vell.

The actor, who is charged under his real name of Michael Turner, was asked to stand in the dock. He shook his head and repeated "not guilty" in a strong voice twelve times to each charge.

The charges span a period of nine years.

The first count alleges touching and digital penetration. Le Vell is also accused of making the child touch him indecently and of raping her.

There are further charges of digital penetration and sexual touching and further counts of vaginal and oral rape.

Le Vell's arrival at court was met by a large group of photographers, TV crews and reporters. Inside there were more than 20 reporters crammed into the press benches in court Three.

The actor, who was with his legal team and a minder, said "Good morning" to the media as he arrived at court.

Le Vell is one of British TV's most famous faces after playing Kevin Webster for the past 30 years.

ITV has said he will not be appearing in any further episodes of the soap pending the outcome of legal proceedings.

His trial before Judge Michael Henshell is scheduled to last around two weeks.

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Abbott view on Syria 'sophisticated': Pyne

Tony Abbott has backed US military strikes against Syria but says they must be carefully targeted. Source: AAP

THE coalition has defended its leader Tony Abbott's baddies versus baddies description of the Syrian crisis as a sophisticated analysis.

The opposition leader has backed any US military action against Syria but says it has to be carefully targeted and proportionate so it doesn't make a bad situation worse.

A political solution to avoid the need for military action would be terrific but wasn't likely, Mr Abbott said.

He called the Syrian regime's use of poison gas against its own people an utter abomination.

"That said, any punitive strike has got to be targeted, it's got to be proportionate and it's got to be carefully considered to try to ensure that as far as is humanly possible we aren't making a bad situation worse," he told ABC television on Sunday.

Mr Abbott said the Syrian conflict was a civil war between two pretty unsavoury sides.

"It's not goodies versus baddies, it's baddies versus baddies and that's why it's very important that we don't make a very difficult situation worse," he said.

Labor seized on this phrasing as a reason why Mr Abbott is not fit to represent Australia in any international forum and should not be voted in as prime minister in the election on Saturday.

Labor campaign spokeswoman Penny Wong said Mr Abbott sounded like he was talking about a game of cops and robbers when discussing foreign policy.

"When asked about the difficult situation in Syria and what his view about this was, his view on foreign policy appears to be not always goodies versus baddies but it can be baddies versus baddies," she told Sky News.

But coalition campaign spokesman Christopher Pyne defended his leader's comments about the situation in Syria as an "extremely sophisticated" analysis as neither side was covered in glory.

"In the Syrian civil war, both sides are very unattractive ... it's actually more sophisticated to recognise that, than to try and pretend as Penny Wong does that there's somehow cowboys and indians and one side is good and one side is bad."

"In the Syrian conflict it's important to understand that both sides are deeply unpleasant and that trying to choose a side is a very foolish thing to do," Mr Pyne told reporters in Adelaide.

In the US, President Barack Obama will ask Congress to authorise military action against Syria, raising the possibility of immediate strikes on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Mr Abbott said all Australian governments instinctively wanted to support our closest ally, the US, and also to uphold universal human decencies.

Just three nations possess the ability to take military action against Syria. These are the US, Britain which has ruled itself out and France, which has very limited capacity, he said.

President Obama has said the UN Security Council is completely paralysed.

Mr Abbott said that was a difficulty between the US, Britain and France on one side and Russia and China on the other.

"Where the security council is for whatever reason ineffective, there is precedent for right-thinking powers to take action and that was in the former Yugoslavia when Britain, the US and other countries took action in Kosovo," he said.

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Bomb kills 8 Afghan mining firm workers

A PROVINCIAL governor says a vehicle carrying employees of a private mining company has struck a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan, killing eight.

Parwan province leader Abdul Basir Salangi says five people also were wounded on Saturday in Bagram district.

He said all of the victims were either labourers or security guards of the company working in a chromite mine.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but, in confirming the incident on Sunday, Salangi blamed the Taliban.

The Taliban have previously targeted people working for mines as well as other development and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

The militants have recently escalated their activities in the country as US-led foreign troops have begun drawing down their presence.

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Abbott coming round election mountain

Tony Abbott says if the coalition wins the election, he will conscious of his responsibilities. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott was upstaged on Sunday. But it wasn't Kevin Rudd stealing the limelight.

Nine-year-old Ben Betteridge captured the travelling media's attention during a stop at Bear Cottage in Manly, proudly showing off his drawing of the opposition leader and frontbenchers Joe Hockey, Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop.

Ben declared Mr Abbott his favourite Liberal leader and confidently predicted a coalition win next Saturday.

He had even rewritten an old children's favourite for the occasion.

"Tony Abbott will be coming round the mountain when he comes," he belted out for the cameras.

A second verse had the health conscious Mr Abbott eating "chips and ice cream when he comes".

"I like Tony so much," the boy said, when questioned by reporters.

Then the excited realisation: "I'll be on the news".

There to announce $2 million in funding for Bear Cottage if elected, Mr Abbott was clearly taken with Ben, whose older brother Tom is being cared for by the children's hospice.

"You gave the best political speech of the day, I heard," the opposition leader said, relegating Kevin Rudd's campaign launch to second place at best in the process.

"I am so impressed that a youngster is so knowledgeable about the leading figures of the federal coalition."

"Is there anything you'd like to say?," he asked Ben, who has autism.

"Joe Hockey is the shadow treasurer and I think he should give Tony Abbott a wonderful clap for making him welcome him to Bear Cottage," came the reply.

Cue the trademark Abbott laugh.

The opposition leader was emotional when announcing funding for Bear Cottage, flanked by wife Margie and daughters Frances and Bridget.

"I think that as a father myself it's nice to be able to do something like this on Father's Day," he told the onlooking parents, at one point on the verge of tears.

Father's Day presented Mr Abbott with a rare moment of downtime in the hectic election campaign, with the eldest of his three daughters, Louise, flying home after a long stint overseas.

He headed back to Sydney's north shore for a quiet Father's Day dinner.

Taking the night off just a week from election day says a lot about how well the Abbott campaign is travelling.

Any doubters should just speak to Ben.

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Attempted murder in Brisbane carjacking

A man has been accused of trying to kill another man during a botched car robbery in South Brisbane. Source: AAP

A MAN has been accused of trying to kill another man during a botched car robbery in South Brisbane.

A 44-year-old man was standing next to his parked vehicle in an underground car when he was grabbed from behind and threatened with a knife about 6pm (AEST) Saturday, police say.

The man demanded he hand over the key, before they started struggling.

The 44-year-old was wounded in his neck and torso and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A 26-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder, attempted robbery, depravation of liberty, and is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

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Man almost safe before Vic rescue death

A bushwalker has fallen to his death during a rescue operation in bushland northeast of Melbourne. Source: AAP

AN injured Victorian bushwalker was at the door of a rescue helicopter after being winched almost 30 metres when things went wrong and he fell to his death.

The man had been hiking through a heavily bushed part of Victoria northeast of Melbourne when he broke his ankle on Saturday morning.

An air ambulance was dispatched, but the man never made it on board.

The incident has prompted a suspension of winching operations by Ambulance Victoria helicopters while an investigation is carried out.

Ambulance Victoria chief executive Greg Sassella said the man was at the door of the helicopter and the crew were attempting to get him inside when he fell.

The helicopter was hovering almost 30 metres off the ground during what was considered to be "a fairly standard winch," he said.

"The flight crew and the paramedic winched back down to the scene to attempt to resuscitate the patient but unfortunately he was beyond help."

He said that while it was very difficult to have a person extricated from the type of bush the man and his fellow bushwalkers were in, flying conditions were good.

"Once we understand what occurred and whether there's equipment involved or not, that suspension may be lifted," Mr Sassella said.

"It is a high risk environment and we must make sure that we understand what happened before we resume winching again."

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Sri Lankan customs make big heroin haul

SRI Lankan customs agents have seized 250 kilograms of heroin worth $US19 million ($A21.42 million) from a container sent from Pakistan, in the largest-ever seizure of the drug in South Asia, an official says.

The heroin, concealed inside 17,500 small grease cans packed into a large container sent from the Pakistani city of Karachi, was found on Friday at a customs terminal in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, said Mali Piyasena, a customs director on Saturday.

A Pakistani national and three Sri Lankans were arrested in connection to the seizure and will be handed over to the police narcotics division after the completion of a customs investigation, Piyasena said.

He said customs agents received a tipoff about the heroin in July and were "waiting till the importer came to clear it."

Piyasena said it was the largest-ever haul of heroin seized in South Asia.

A police official involved in the investigation said Pakistanis are known to operate a narcotics ring that supplies heroin for Sri Lankan drug dealers and for shipment to European countries. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said authorities received information that part of this stock was for Sri Lanka, and the rest was to be shipped to Europe.

Sri Lankan authorities have seized large quantities of heroin and other drugs shipped from Pakistan in recent years, including 55 kilograms of heroin concealed in fake potatoes in 2010.

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