Pope set to begin Middle East pilgrimage

The Vatican has billed Pope Francis' first visit to the Middle East as a "pilgrimage of prayer". Source: AAP

POPE Francis has headed for Jordan at the start of a Middle East tour aimed at boosting ties with Muslims and Jews as well as easing an age-old rift within Christianity.

The Vatican has billed Francis' first visit to a region roiled by religious and political differences as a "pilgrimage of prayer," saying the Pope will shun bulletproof vehicles in favour of open-top cars despite security concerns.

Israeli authorities have moved to lessen the possibility of trouble by ordering 15 right-wing Jewish activists to stay away from places being visited by the Pope, after a string of hate attacks on Christian sites.

"It will be a purely religious trip," the Pope told pilgrims at his last general audience in St Peter's Square before a three-day visit that takes him to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Francis said the main reasons for the trip were to meet with the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I and "to pray for peace in that land, which has suffered so much".

A joint prayer service with Bartholomew Sunday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - venerated as the place of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection - is seen by the Vatican as the highlight of the visit.

The meeting is fitting, given that Francis has made the ideal of unity of the Christian Churches, one of the priorities of his papacy.

The pontiff will also meet Muslim and Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, in an interview with French daily Le Figaro, said he attached "great importance" to the Pope's trip, calling Francis "a man of noble humility."

The 77-year-old Argentine Pope has already set the tone for a trip rich in symbolism by inviting two old friends from Buenos Aires to join him, Jewish Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Muslim professor Omar Abboud.

Hours before the Pope's early afternoon arrival in Amman, Christians had piled onto buses from around Jordan to head for the Amman stadium where Francis will celebrate mass.

Francis will meet King Abdullah II before the mass then head to a site on the banks of the River Jordan where many believe Jesus was baptised. There he will hear first hand of the suffering of Syrian refugees, 600,000 of whom are living in Jordan, and offer an opportunity for him to reiterate his calls for an end to the three-year war.

He is also expected to touch on the forced migration of Christians from the Middle East.

Although only 250,000 Jordanians identify themselves as Christian - in a Muslim country of seven million - Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur said the visit would show the kingdom as an oasis of peace in a turbulent region of "blood, wars and repression."

Early Sunday, the Pope will make a short helicopter ride to Bethlehem, the West Bank town where Jesus was born. He will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas before celebrating mass in Manger Square.

Afterwards he will chat with Palestinian children and lunch with refugee families.

He will then fly to Tel Aviv where he will be greeted by President Peres before heading to Jerusalem.

On Monday, the Pope will visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and meet the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein.

He will then visit the Western Wall, a remnant of the retaining wall that supported the second Jewish temple and the holiest site at which Jews are allowed to pray, before going to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

He is then set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and celebrate mass in the Cenacle, where Christians believe Jesus held the Last Supper memorialised in the mass.

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Gunmen fire inside El Salvador bus, kill 6

Police in El Salvador say gunmen boarded a bus in a town near the capital killing six people. Source: AAP

POLICE in El Salvador say gunmen boarded a bus in a town near the capital and opened fired on passengers, killing six.

National police director Rigoberto Pleites said another five people were wounded during the Friday bus attack in the town of San Luis Talpa near San Salvador.

Pleites said witnesses told police the assailants were gang members dressed in uniforms similar to those issued to road maintenance workers.

He said investigators haven't confirmed they belonged to a gang.

Police Commissioner Mauricio Ramirez said there have been threats of increased violence in the country in the coming days, but he didn't provide any other details.

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Iran billionaire executed over $2.8b fraud

A BILLIONAIRE businessman at the heart of a $US2.6 billion ($A2.8 billion) state bank scam, the largest fraud case since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been executed, state television reports.

Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran, the station reported.

The report said the execution came after Iran's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

The fraud involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran's top financial institutions, Bank Saderat, to purchase assets including state-owned companies like major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co.

Khosravi's business empire included more than 35 companies from mineral water production to a football club and meat imports from Brazil.

According to Iranian media reports, the bank fraud began in 2007.

A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.

The trials raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran's tightly controlled economy during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a former head of Bank Melli, another major Iranian bank, escaped to Canada in 2011 after he resigned over the case.

He faces charges over the case in Iran and remains on the Islamic Republic's wanted list.

Khavari previously admitted that his bank partially was involved in the fraud, but has maintained his innocence.

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Suspected drug ring busted in Canberra

Police have raided 10 north Canberra properties, uncovering what they say is a major drug syndicate. Source: AAP

A MAJOR drug ring has been busted in the national capital, with a Canberra man set to face court charged with trafficking drugs.

ACT Policing raided several north Canberra properties on Friday afternoon where they seized $200,000 worth of illicit drugs, cars and cash.

They found 728 grams of cocaine, a methylamphetamine-suspected substance, tablets suspected to be ecstasy, and steroids.

Police believe the operation cracked a major drug syndicate operating in the capital.

A 28-year-old man will appear in court on Saturday charged with drug trafficking.

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Principal didn't consider kids' protection

A FORMER Perth headmaster has told a royal commission he didn't factor in the protection of children when deciding against sacking a teacher later convicted of sex abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child sexual abuse also heard on Friday the headmaster, known as WD, did not seek advice from child protection experts or the police when confronted with a series of concerns about the teacher's behaviour in 2004.

The inquiry is investigating how the exclusive independent school, which cannot be named for legal reasons, dealt with the teacher known as YJ.

In 2009, YJ was dismissed from the school, arrested and convicted of molesting five students between 1999 and 2008.

"When you considered the ramifications and the ramifications of any decision whether to keep YJ at the school or dismiss him, did you factor in the protection of those children," counsel assisting Sophie David asked WD.

"The simple answer to your question is no," he said.

The children Ms David was referring to were named in a teacher's 2001 letter of concern about YJ's behaviour.

The commission has heard of a series of concerns raised by teachers and parents about YJ's behaviour towards students between 1999 and 2004.

The 2001 letter kept on YJ's file raised concerns he was touching students on the thigh, and stomach, and giving children cash gifts.

Later, a teacher known as WH found YJ in a class room with a boy on his knee and his hand "high up" on a child's thigh.

WH made a formal complaint about the incident in 2004.

WD then found a series of notes and a letter on YJ's file raising similar concerns but not alleging outright sexual abuse.

YJ was given a last warning about his behaviour in 2004 but not dismissed, and YJ refused to sign the official warning.

WD was asked if he sought expert advise from child protection specialists or the police.

He replied no to both questions but said he did seek industrial advise from the Independent School Teachers Union, and ethical advise from the Association of Independent Schools of WA.

However, no report was lodged with the state's now defunct teacher's registration body, the West Australian College of Teaching (WACOT).

Nor did he speak to any of the children mentioned in YJ's file.

Two of YJ's five victims were abused during WD's tenure.

WD acknowledged there was a potential risk to the child mentioned, but not named, in WH's complaint by keeping YJ on.

"The flip side to that coin was that if I was to dismiss the member of staff on the evidence that I had at that point in time, then I was potentially consigning that person to exiting the profession," he said.

The commission also heard excerpts from a report by Prof Stephen Smallbone, an expert witness critical of the school's handling of YJ.

His report said there was a systemic failure to stop YJ continuing behaviour that had on numerous occasions been documented as serious breaches of school policy.

Prof Smallbone also said there was a serious failure by the school to piece together the information concerning YJ's behaviour, and to act on it.

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Orphan bear cub charms police in Oregon

POLICE in southern Oregon have held an unlikely suspect: a well-behaved black bear cub.

Police Chief Don Brown says a teenage boy and his parents brought the cub to the police station in a large plastic storage bin on Monday.

The boy found the cub whimpering in the bushes outside his house in the town of Myrtle Creek.

He said the mother bear was nowhere in sight.

Still, Brown said it was dangerous to pick up the cub, because the mother bear could have spotted him and attacked.

Adult female black bears can weigh up to 135 kilograms.

The 5.4-kilogram female cub was "very well behaved" while spending the night at the station, Brown said.

Police and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials looked for the cub's mother the next day using a device that mimics a cub's distress call, but couldn't find her.

Oregon is home to 25,000 to 30,000 black bears.

Myrtle Creek, 145 kilometres south of Eugene, has an abundance of wildlife, "but nobody has brought in a bear in the last nine years I've been here," the police chief said.

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College didn't lobby for funds: Abbott

Tony Abbott has described questions about his daughter Frances' scholarship as "dirt digging". Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says he wasn't lobbied by a friend to allow private colleges to access government subsidies.

The federal budget introduced direct financial grants for students taking courses in private colleges and TAFEs.

Les Taylor, chairman of the Whitehouse Institute of Design in Sydney, has made donations to the NSW Liberal Party and has known Mr Abbott for many years.

He has also given Mr Abbott, when he was opposition leader, clothing on two occasions which have been declared on the members' interest register.

However, an institute scholarship worth up to $60,000 given to one of Mr Abbott's daughters, Frances, has not been declared on the register.

Mr Abbott has previously declared other matters relating to his children, such as trips, accommodation and tickets to sporting events, on the public register.

Mr Abbott said questions about his daughter's scholarship was "a bit of dirt digging" and that she had earned it on merit.

"I think families should be left out of it," he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

Asked whether he was personally lobbied by Mr Taylor for private college subsidies, Mr Abbott said: "No, I wasn't."

Mr Abbott said he had complied with the parliament's disclosure rules.

The Whitehouse Institute is a member of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, which before the budget lobbied the government for extending commonwealth supported places beyond public universities.

In a statement on Friday, the institute said it would not disclose details of individual scholarship decisions because it had a duty to protect the privacy of former and current students.

It awarded all scholarships on merit.

"At no time has the institute lobbied the prime minister on issues of education policy or the accreditation of Whitehouse courses," chief executive Ian Tudor said.

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UK drivers admit motorway tailgating

Motorway tailgating is a major worry for most UK motorists, a new survey shows. Source: AAP

MOTORWAY tailgating is a major worry for most motorists but many admit to doing it themselves, according to a survey.

Of 1000 drivers, a total of 57 per cent owned up to leaving less than a two-second gap between themselves and the next vehicle, the research from road safety charity Brake and insurance company Direct Line found.

A total of 28 per cent admitted to tailgating monthly or more often, with men being worse offenders than women.

Yet the poll also revealed that 95 per cent of drivers worry about tailgating with 44 per cent concerned every, or most, times they drive on a motorway.

The poll also showed that 60 per cent break the 70mph (112km/h) motorway speed limit by 10mph or more, with almost 30 per cent doing so at least monthly.

As many as 69 per cent of men, and 53 per cent of women, do 80mph or more on motorways, with 36 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women speeding regularly.

Brake deputy chief executive Julie Townsend said: "Almost all drivers are concerned about the danger posed by other people tailgating on motorways, and yet a shockingly high proportion admit driving too close and speeding themselves.

"Traffic laws are not just for other people; all drivers can help make our motorways safer."

Rob Miles, director of motor trading at Direct Line, said: "Driving too closely to the car in front of you is asking for trouble. Drive too closely at speed and motorists risk not only their own life but other road users' lives too."

Simon Sheldon-Wilson, traffic management director for the Highways Agency, said: "Safety is our top priority and we are committed to continuing to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.

"Congestion on our roads is estimated to cost the economy 3 billion each year, and a quarter of this is caused by the 430,000 incidents we deal with annually.

"As many as 14 per cent of casualties on our roads are caused by people tailgating. That's why we're reminding people to stay safe and keep at least a two-second gap from the car in front."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Speeding and tailgating intimidate other motorists and can cause accidents that cost lives.

"We take these issues very seriously and last year we increased the fines for speeding offences and introduced a new fixed-penalty offence to make it easier for police to target tailgating drivers."

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Motorbike and truck collide, rider dead

A 45-YEAR-OLD man is dead after his motorbike collided head-on with a truck in Tasmania's north.

Rain was falling when the crash occurred near Sheffield just before 1pm on Thursday.

Police say the motorbike crossed to the wrong side of the road, on a left-hand bend, and into the path of an oncoming truck.

The rider was from Sheffield, as is the 39-year-old truck driver, who was uninjured.

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No refugee ticket to first world: Morrison

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Cambodia wants refugees from Australia to rebuild the nation. Source: AAP

IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison has signalled that Australia is about to cut a deal with Cambodia to resettle refugees held in Nauru.

His comments come after Nauru and Papua New Guinea determined the refugee status of some asylum seekers sent to them by Australian authorities.

Mr Morrison said the government was making good progress on an agreement with Cambodia, but didn't want to jump the gun.

"We've got a positive response (from Cambodia)," he told Sky News on Thursday.

He is adamant the resettlement of refugees cannot solely belong to a club of first-world economies, like Australia.

Federal Labor is demanding the government release details of its Cambodia plan, including what safeguards are in place to ensure refugees' safety.

The kingdom is one of the poorest nations in the region and is still recovering from civil war.

There are also concerns about internal government corruption, a worry rejected by Mr Morrison.

"If that were true we should immediately cancel the almost $80 million in aid we provide to Cambodia," he said.

Thirteen asylum seekers, assessed as refugees, have been released into the Nauru community.

Seven others had their claims rejected while 21 others are waiting for a decision to be handed down on Thursday.

It's understood the refugees will be resettled temporarily on Nauru with five-year visas.

Refugees will have access to language classes, training, health care, work rights and a living allowance at local standards.

They will get some financial assistance, but will be asked to stand on their own feet after a year.

"Many of those being resettled on Nauru have skills, capability - things that Nauruans would welcome in their community," Mr Morrison said.

In PNG, 11 refugees have received positive decisions, with 15 denied.

PNG MP Ron Knight, who represents Manus Island, said accommodation for the refugees was almost complete at the town of Lorengau, west of the detention centre.

They will temporarily be in prefabricated units with airconditioning, secured behind mesh fences with 24-hour security guards.

The first group is expected to move in within weeks.

Originally, 300 refugees were going to be sent there, but that's been cut down to 75.

Catering and laundry will be done for them and they will be free to walk about the town.

"It's like a three-star hotel," Mr Knight told AAP.

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