Kerry presses China over N Korea crisis

US Secretary of State John Kerry says North Korea's rhetoric is "unacceptable by any standards." Source: AAP

THE world is facing a "critical time", top US diplomat John Kerry has told China's President Xi Jinping, citing tensions on the Korean peninsula, Iran's nuclear program and the conflict in Syria.

"Mr President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues," Kerry told Xi in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday.

"Issues on the Korean peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost."

Kerry arrived from South Korea earlier to press Beijing to help defuse soaring nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula ahead of an expected missile launch by the North, which conducted a nuclear test in February and a rocket test last December.

Beijing is Pyongyang's sole major ally and its key provider of aid and trade, and is seen as having unique leverage over the government of Kim Jong-Un, which has issued repeated threats of nuclear war.

But Xi did not refer to the Korean peninsula or other issues raised by Kerry in his opening remarks at the meeting, instead saying that the US-China relationship was "at a new historical stage and has got off to a good start".

China and the US are both members of the P5+1 nations - the five veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council members and Germany - pressing Iran to give up its what they see as its ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.

The world powers suspect Tehran of developing a covert program aimed at having the capacity to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran denies this and says its work is being conducted for energy and medical purposes.

China, however, is a key trade partner for the Middle Eastern country and has spoken out against US and European Union sanctions targeting its oil exports.

Washington and Beijing have also been at odds over the conflict in Syria.

China, along with Russia, has vetoed UN Security Council resolutions to introduce sanctions against Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria as a two-year conflict has ravaged the country.

As the world's two biggest economies the US and China are major trade partners, while China is the single biggest buyer of US Treasuries.

But the relationship is also characterised by trade disputes and other tensions, most recently regarding allegations of computer hacking.

A report in February from US security firm Mandiant said a unit of China's People's Liberation Army had stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 companies, government agencies and other organisations, mostly based in the US.

Beijing has steadfastly denied the allegations and says it is itself a regular victim of cyberattacks.

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Pell appointed to Pope advisory group

VATICAN CITY/SYDNEY April 13 AP/AAP - Archbishop of Sydney George Pell has been appointed by Pope Francis to a permanent advisory group to help him run the Catholic Church and study a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Pell is one of eight cardinals and one monsignor - the others are from Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Asia - who have been appointed to the group.

The panel is a clear indication that Francis wants to reflect the universal nature of the church in its governance and core decision-making, particularly given the church is growing and counts most of the world's Catholics in the southern hemisphere.

In the run-up to the conclave that elected Francis pope one month ago, a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy was a constant drumbeat, as were calls to make the Vatican itself more responsive to the needs of bishops around the world.

Including representatives from each continent in a permanent advisory panel to the pope would seem to go a long way toward answering those calls.

In its bombshell announcement on Saturday, the Vatican said that Francis got the idea to form the advisory body from the pre-conclave meetings.

"He has formed a group of cardinals to advise him in the governing of the universal church and to study a revision of the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia," the statement said.

Pope John Paul II issued Pastor Bonus in 1988, and it functions effectively as the blueprint for the administration of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, meting out the work and jurisdictions of the congregations, pontifical councils and other offices that make up the governance of the Catholic Church, known as the Roman Curia.

Pastor Bonus itself was a revision of the 1967 document that marked the last major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy undertaken by Pope Paul VI.

A reform of the Vatican bureaucracy has been demanded for decades, given both John Paul and Benedict XVI essentially neglected in-house administration of the Holy See in favour of other priorities.

But the calls for change grew deafening last year after the leaks of papal documents exposed petty turf battles within the Vatican bureaucracy, allegations of corruption in the running of the Vatican city state and even a purported plot by senior Vatican officials to out a prominent Catholic as gay.

Francis' advisory group will meet in its inaugural session October 1-3, the Vatican said in a statement.

Cardinal Pell, aged 71, is the eighth Archbishop of Sydney, serving since 2001.

The non-Vatican officials, apart from Cardinal Pell, include cardinals Francisco Javier Errzuriz Ossa, the retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston; and Oscar Andrs Rodrguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, bishop of Albano, will be secretary.

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Snorkeller dies at Sydney beach

A snorkeller has died after getting into difficulty at Maroubra Beach, police say. Source: AAP

A SNORKELLER has died after getting into difficulty at Maroubra Beach.

The man was at snorkelling at the beach on Saturday afternoon and had to be pulled out of the water, say police.

He died shortly after arriving at hospital and is yet to be formally identified.

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Suu Kyi arrives in Japan after 27 years

MYANMAR'S (Burma's) democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Japan, her first visit to the country where she spent time as a university researcher nearly three decades ago.

A group of well-wishers including Burmese gathered at Tokyo's Narita airport to greet Suu Kyi, now her country's opposition leader, but were denied the chance to meet her as she left through a backdoor.

"I respect her like my mother," one of Burmese women said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.

"I want to tell her that I support her strongly."

During her six-day trip, the Nobel laureate is expected to have meetings with some of the approximately 10,000 Burmese who live in Japan, as well as with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

It is Suu Kyi's first visit to Japan since spending time as a researcher at Kyoto University in 1985-86.

But a leader of about 200 of Myanmar's Muslim minority Rohingya in Japan has expressed disappointment after being told his community was not wanted at events welcoming Suu Kyi.

The Rohingya have been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

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Bird flu hits nest farm in Vietnam

Thousands of swifts at a southern Vietnam farm have died of H5N1 bird flu virus, reports say. Source: AAP

NEARLY 5000 swifts, whose nests are collected for sale as a luxury health food, have died in southern Vietnam after contracting the H5N1 bird flu virus, say news reports.

The birds, half the population of a facility in Phan Rang Thap Cham City, died between March 28 and April 11, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Friday.

The city has many so-called bird houses, where the swifts are encouraged to build their nests, which are then collected for sale.

The nests, made largely of the birds' saliva, are a sought-after ingredient for soup and other delicacies.

Many bird house owners expressed concern about contagion.

"My experiences show if swifts contract H5N1, it would be very difficult to control because most of the birds fly all over the place and only come back to the house in the evening," owner Nguyen Van Khoi was quoted as saying.

"All our investments will go up in the air if the disease takes hold on a large scale."

Vietnam on Tuesday confirmed a four-year-old boy died of the bird flu strain H5N1 in the Mekong Delta, the country's first fatality from the virus this year.

In China, ten people have died from a new strain of the virus, H7N9, which has only been reported in and around Shanghai since it first appeared in March.

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European stocks drop before Cyprus talks

EUROPE'S main stock markets fell in cautious trading ahead of eurozone talks that will seek to finalise the Cyprus bailout, and before key US banking results, dealers said.

In late morning deals, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.52 per cent to 6,382.74 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 1.22 per cent to 7,775.35 points and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 0.71 per cent to 3,747.80.

The euro meanwhile slid to $1.3060 from $1.3103 late in New York on Thursday, when it had spiked to $1.3138 - a level last seen on February 28. Gold prices eased to $1,552.10 per ounce on the London Bullion Market, from $1,565.

Eurozone finance ministers meet Friday in Dublin hoping to finish negotiations on the contentious Cyprus debt bailout.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades says he will appeal to EU chiefs for extra assistance for the island as it faces ever more crippling terms for a eurozone rescue deal.

However, he did not elaborate on what additional support he was seeking.

Under the preliminary bailout terms agreed last month, Cyprus was already drastically downsizing its once lucrative banking sector, raising taxes, reducing the public sector workforce and privatising state-owned utilities to raise 7.0 billion euros.

But the government acknowledged on Thursday that the costs have now soared to 23 billion euros ($30 billion) and that the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are demanding that Cyprus fund the 6 billion euro shortfall too.

"Equity markets have a notably softer tone, edging lower to halt a four-day run as eurozone finance ministers meet to finalise the Cypriot bailout," said analyst Brenda Kelly at trading group IG.

"Reports that the cost of the bailout has risen to 23 billion euros from 17 billion euros raises the question of exactly how Cyprus will meet this additional contribution.

"Early reports suggest that the beleaguered country is going cap-in-hand to seek an additional 10 billion euros in aid from the EU."

However, a Cypriot official told AFP that Nicosia wants "no extra money" but was instead seeking help from a European Commission task force to lessen the burden of measures agreed in exchange for loans.

And Germany stressed that the amount of the bailout would not rise.

Aside from Cyprus, investors will also pore over the latest earnings in the United States on Friday.

"JP Morgan and Wells Fargo kick off the corporate earnings season ... for the major banks, with another strong quarter expected," said Alpari analyst Craig Erlam.

"US banks are expected to be one of the strongest performing sectors in the current earnings season, although they may not necessarily be quite as strong as the last few quarters. That being said, JP Morgan has a history of easily beating earnings forecasts."

Asian equities mostly fell on Friday at the end of a strong week, despite another record day for US stocks on Wall Street fuelled by upbeat jobs data.

Dealers are keeping tabs on the currency markets as the dollar approaches the 100-yen level, not seen for four years.

Tokyo stocks fell 0.45 per cent, with profit-takers moving in to reap the benefits of a rally of about 10 per cent since the Bank of Japan's huge stimulus plan was announced last week.

Seoul lost 1.31 per cent amid simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Hong Kong stocks edged slightly lower but Sydney rose 0.13 per cent.

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Kerry hits out as N Korea threatens Japan

The United States has played down a report that North Korea has a nuclear-armed missile. Source: AAP

US Secretary of State John Kerry is demanding North Korea abandon an expected missile launch as the communist state threatens a nuclear strike on Japan amid a chilling new evaluation of its offensive capability.

Kerry, visiting Seoul to give strong US backing to military ally South Korea, joined President Barack Obama in decrying North Korea's incendiary rhetoric and urged China to step in.

The air of crisis that has engulfed the region for weeks, since North Korea staged a rocket launch and atomic test, was given even greater menace from a US intelligence report that said it may now have a nuclear warhead in its arsenal.

US and South Korean military officials downplayed the assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), but Pyongyang warned of dire results if Japan executes its threat to shoot down any North Korean missile.

The North's Korean Central News Agency said that such a "provocative" intervention would see Tokyo - an enormous conurbation of 30 million people - "consumed in nuclear flames".

"Japan is always in the cross-hairs of our revolutionary army and if Japan makes a slightest move, the spark of war will touch Japan first," KCNA said in a commentary.

Unbowed, an official at Japan's defence ministry told AFP that the country "will take every possible measure to respond to any scenario", while Kerry warned that a North Korean missile launch would be a "huge mistake".

"The rhetoric that we are hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by any standards," he told a news conference in Seoul alongside South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se.

"The United States, South Korea and the entire international community... are all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power," Kerry added.

"If (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un decides to launch a missile, whether it's across the Sea of Japan or any other direction, he will be choosing wilfully to ignore the entire international community.

"It will be a huge mistake for him to do that because it will further isolate his country," Kerry said, adding that North Koreans want food, not a leader "who wants to flex his muscles".

Kerry also that it was high time for China - whose trade and aid have propped up North Korea since the end of the Cold War - to intervene with its wayward ally if it truly wants to safeguard regional stability.

"China has an enormous capability to make a difference here," he said.

Intelligence officials in Seoul say the North, as a show of force, has two mid-range missiles ready for imminent launch from its east coast, and South Korea and Japan remained on heightened alert for any test.

Observers believe a launch is most likely in the build-up to Monday's anniversary of the birth of late founder Kim Il-sung, for which celebrations are already well under way in Pyongyang.

The mid-range missiles mobilised by the North are reported to be untested Musudan models with an estimated range of up to 4000 kilometres.

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Five die after asylum-seeker boat sinks

A GROUP of 14 asylum seekers has been rescued by fishermen in Indonesia after their boat sank in the Sunda Strait on its way to Australia, but at least five others are believed to have drowned.

There are also fresh details about the unfolding tragedy with one of the survivors revealing that boat actually sank on Wednesday, and not on Friday morning as initially reported by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Habibullah Hashimi, one of 14 men plucked from the water by fishermen off the coast of Sukabumi in West Java, said he was in the water for about 24 hours before help finally came.

The 29-year-old said there were 72 people aboard the vessel. All were ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan.

At least five asylum seekers had perished, Mr Hashimi said.

The death toll could rise further.

"The ship just broke," he told AAP.

"We saw about five people dead. They were in the water."

Mr Hashimi's group had linked arms as they struggled to survive.

"The sea kept moving us around," he said.

Mr Hashimi, who was on Friday afternoon recuperating in Bogor, also confirmed that the boat sank at about 8am on Wednesday.

The development came after a spokeswoman from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) initially reported that a boat may have sunk in the Sunda Strait at about midnight (3am AEST) on Friday.

"A people-smuggling vessel may have sunk in or near the Sunda Strait around 3am AEST today. Some passengers may have been rescued by a fishing vessel," the spokeswoman said earlier on Friday.

The information was in turn passed on to the Indonesian national search and rescue agency BASARNAS.

But BASARNAS was unable to locate the area where the incident was believed to have occurred, prompting a scramble for information.

Provincial search and rescue offices in Jakarta and Lampung on the island of Sumatra also had little idea of what had happened, or where to look for survivors.

"We don't have the co-ordinates for the area where we could search. Do you have that information? Please share it with us," an officer with the Jakarta search and rescue office said when contacted by AAP.

"We only received information from BASARNAS that it's in south of Sunda Strait and they've been rescued by local fishermen. But where is it? We're now contacting local ports and others if they have such information."

And Indonesia still hasn't launched a rescue mission because the location of the sunken vessel hasn't been found.

The search and rescue authorities were criticised last August when more than 100 asylum seekers drowned when their boat foundered in the Sunda Strait.

An aerial search was not launched until more than six hours after a distress call was received by the AMSA.

It was almost 24 hours before the first survivors were pulled from the water.

Hundreds of asylum seekers have perished in recent years while making the perilous crossing from Indonesia to Christmas Island.

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Woodside tipped to shelve Browse project

WOODSIDE Petroleum is remaining tight-lipped on rumours that it is about to shelve its controversial $40 billion Browse liquefied natural gas project.

The energy giant has reportedly told the federal and West Australian governments that its Browse joint venture partners have decided not to proceed with plans to build a LNG processing plant at James Price Point, near Broome.

Contractors doing preliminary work at the site have been told to demobilise and that no further progress payments will be made, The Australian Financial Review's website reported on Thursday.

A Woodside spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on market speculation.

Meanwhile, WA Premier Colin Barnett has denied he was told last week by Woodside and its joint venture partners that the James Price Point project would not proceed.

"I have not received advice to that effect from the joint venture partners at all," he told parliament.

However, he said he had been in continuous talks with Woodside.

"It's not for me to comment publicly, particularly to market sensitive information as to what the decisions might be."

Woodside received conditional state government planning approval last week to build a $120 million camp to house more than 850 fly-in, fly-out workers at the proposed gas hub.

The company recently said it was sticking to its June schedule for a final decision on building the onshore processing plant.

Analysts believe the proposal is not economically viable due to spiralling costs and challenges securing labour.

Joint venture partner Royal Dutch Shell prefers a floating liquefied natural gas facility.

Greens MP Robin Chapple called on the state government to rescind the Browse Land Agreement Act.

"If it doesn't, the sword of Damocles will hang over the Kimberley for the next 10 years," he said in a statement on Thursday.

"If these reports are accurate, it is a clear victory that Woodside and their partners have seen sense, but the state government continues to hold the Kimberley to ransom while this Act continues to operate."

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the project would affect the site's cultural heritage values and the local tourism sector.

He said the state government should focus on renewable energy as a long-term economic alternative to create jobs and secure energy security.

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China bird flu death toll hits 10

More than 2000 poultry birds have been culled in China in response to the new strain of bird flu. Source: AAP

THE death toll from H7N9 bird flu in China has reached 10 with another victim in Shanghai, as cities banned people from raising chickens at home to try to contain the outbreak.

China has confirmed 38 human cases of H7N9 avian influenza after announcing on March 31 that it had found the strain in people for the first time.

One person, a young boy in Shanghai, has been discharged from hospital after recovering but the city reported the death of a 74-year-old retired man on Thursday.

Chinese authorities say they do not know how the virus is spreading but it is believed to be crossing to humans from birds.

Experts fear the prospect of such viruses mutating into a form easily transmissible between humans has the potential to trigger a pandemic.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said earlier this week that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday that H7N9 showed "affinity" to humans while being harder to detect in birds, which made finding the source of transmission more difficult.

"This new virus shows very strong affinity to humans and infects poultry but causes very mild or no disease," said Subhash Morzaria, Asia regional manager for the FAO's emergency centre for animal diseases.

"So from a perspective of understanding the transmission, we have a problem because these poultry are silent carriers of the virus," he told a news conference in Bangkok.

The prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences said Wednesday H7N9 had probably originated from migratory birds from East Asia mixing with domestic fowl in China's Yangtze River delta region - the site of the current outbreak.

Five more markets across eastern China had found H7N9 in samples from chickens and ducks, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

Nanjing city had barred urban residents from raising poultry and livestock on their property, asking them to cull their own animals and fining them up to 50 yuan ($A7.63) for violations, the China Daily newspaper reported on Thursday.

"People from the neighbourhood committee came to my house, asking me to kill the chickens I have been raising, but I really didn't have the courage," a Nanjing resident using the name Niuye Buniuma said on a microblog.

Shanghai said it would enforce a longstanding ban against residents raising poultry and rabbits for meat, giving a telephone hotline for people to inform on their neighbours for violating the rules.

"Many citizens have expressed the reaction that raising chickens, ducks and pets in their neighbourhoods might bring danger to the surroundings," a Shanghai government statement said.

Shanghai last week suspended trading in live poultry and shut markets in a bid to curb the outbreak while Nanjing did the same, followed by other cities.

The Shanghai government said it would offer compensation for losses in the poultry industry, including payments of two or three yuan for chickens from smaller farms.

China's State Council, or cabinet, has urged "efficiency and transparency" in tackling the outbreak as the government tries to show openness after being accused of covering up Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.

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