Abbott pledges $500m to SA road project

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pledged $500 million for Adelaide's South Road upgrade. Source: AAP

FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pledged $500 million for an Adelaide road project and says he will remove any government impediments to the Olympic Dam project, in a stump speech to party faithful in the South Australian capital.

At a federal campaign rally at Flinders on Saturday, Mr Abbott told hundreds of Liberal supporters a coalition government would provide Australia with "the modern infrastructure that a first world country in the 21st century really needs".

Following on from road project commitments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, the opposition leader said half a billion dollars would go to the South Road upgrade.

"I want to see cranes over our city, I want to see bulldozers on the ground, I want to see the traffic moving," he said.

"I don't want you to be stuck in traffic jams, on your way to work, on your way to university, bringing the kids home from school."

In a speech reminiscent of his US-styled campaign address in western Sydney earlier this year, Mr Abbott, jacketless and wearing his trademark white shirt and blue tie, also promised to remove government obstacles to the Olympic Dam expansion.

Mr Abbott last year blamed the mining and carbon taxes for BHP Billiton delaying the $30 billion Olympic Dam mine expansion, despite the company saying deteriorating market conditions were behind its decision.

At Nazareth Catholic College on Saturday, Mr Abbott said state and federal Labor governments were responsible for the project being put on hold, because they had not "created the climate in which this kind of investment can go ahead".

"I can't promise that Olympic Dam will go ahead, but I can promise that there will be no obstacles from government that will impede its progress," he said.

"And that means that South Australia will have a fighting chance of becoming once more one of the richest states in this great commonwealth."

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Vic ALP confident of winning Lyndhurst

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

LABOR candidate Martin Pakula is confident he can win Saturday's by-election in the Victorian state seat of Lyndhurst.

Victory for Mr Pakula would leave the state parliament on a knife edge, with Labor having 43 seats to the coalition's 44, including the Speaker.

It would mean the government would still require the support of independent MP Geoff Shaw to pass legislation opposed by Labor.

The coalition is not fielding a candidate in the by-election for Lyndhurst, which was triggered when Labor's Tim Holding resigned in February.

The Australian Greens, the Democratic Labor Party, Family First, the Sex Party and three independents are contesting the seat, which Labor holds by a margin of 13.9 per cent.

Mr Pakula, a former upper house MP and public transport minister, greeted voters arriving at Keysborough Primary School on Saturday morning.

Few voters were keen to stop for a chat.

Electoral signs fluttered in the strong winds, candidate signs blew over and how-to-vote cards flew away.

Several voters commented aloud at the taxpayer money being wasted on by-elections.

Mr Pakula, who was dressed casually in jeans and a suit jacket, said he had received a good reception from voters.

Voters were concerned about cuts to TAFE colleges, manufacturing jobs in Dandenong South, roads, schools and health care, he said.

"If those concerns translate into support for the Labor Party then we should have a reasonable result tonight", he told reporters.

"I'm confident, but haven't been complacent for one moment. I've treated this by-election as if it is being held in the most marginal seat in the state."

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said Mr Pakula would regain portfolios he stepped aside from for the by-election, including shadow attorney-general, if he won.

He said Victorians would be very concerned that Mr Shaw was now likely to hold the balance of power.

Mr Andrews said everything Premier Denis Napthine did would have to meet the approval of Mr Shaw.

Greens candidate Nina Springle said she felt positive about the party's chances.

"Anything's possible. I fully recognise it's a very strong Labor seat, but I think our vote is growing," Ms Springle told AAP.

"We got our first Greens councillor up in Dandenong last year and we certainly grew our vote in the last general election in Lyndhurst.

"I can't see why that won't happen again, particularly because there's no Liberal candidate."

Ms Springle said the absence of a party candidate was sad for Liberal voters.

Public transport, health and education were the biggest issues for the area, she said.

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Mexican teachers storm party offices

Teachers in Mexico enraged over education reforms have set fire to offices of local ruling parties. Source: AAP

TEACHERS angered at education reform have stormed the offices of political parties in southwestern Mexico, breaking windows and setting fire inside the ruling party's local headquarters.

Thousands of members of the CETEG teachers' union, joined by farmers and student groups, marched in the capital of Guerrero state, Chilpancingo, on Wednesday while groups wearing masks took their anger out on the offices of four political parties.

Plumes of black smoke billowed from the rectangular-shaped office of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the state capital after masked protesters broke into the building and tossed chairs, papers and plants from windows.

Some spray-painted anti-government graffiti on the building, while others tore pictures of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who pushed through an overhaul of the nation's flagging education system with the backing of opposition parties.

The protesters used pipes and sticks to destroy windows and doors at the local headquarters of the National Action Party (PAN), the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and the Citizen Movement. Protesters wrote "traitors of the people" on the PRD's walls.

Milenio television also showed small fires inside the state education department's audit office, with computers and broken pieces of glass strewn on the parking lot. Firefighters were later seen dousing the flames.

Police did not intervene while about 300 officers protected the state legislature.

Teachers have held protests in recent weeks, twice blocking the highway between Mexico City and the Pacific resort of Acapulco, to denounce the reform that passed the federal congress in December.

The latest demonstration erupted one day after the Guerrero state legislature approved an education bill that fell well short of protesters' demands to water down the federal law, which requires teachers to pass periodic tests to get jobs and promotions.

Meanwhile, students in schools to become teachers temporarily blocked two federal highways in the neighbouring state of Michoacan, demanding that graduates from their college automatically get teaching positions.

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Gillard says children will drive Anzac day

Prime Minister Julia Gillard thinks Australian children will be the driving force behind Anzac Day. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard believes Australian children will be the driving force behind Anzac day for "all of time".

Ms Gillard, in the garrison city of Townsville in north Queensland, says she is encouraged by the number of young people attending Anzac day services around the country.

"The thing I always look for is the number of children and there are just more and more and more," she told ABC television on Thursday.

Parents often freely admitted to her that it was their children who "dragged" them to services.

"It's actually the children who are driving the next level of engagement.

"I think that means that for all of time we will commemorate Anzac day and think about who we are as Australians on that day."

Ms Gillard said for her personally the day was about the "spirit of being Australian, and our history and what's forged us and shaped us".

One thing the prime minister won't be doing on Thursday is enjoying a rum and milk at the local RSL.

"I'll have to rule that out," Ms Gillard said.

In her address in Townsville before the morning service, Ms Gillard said war often meant saying goodbye to loved ones without knowing if they'd ever return.

"This city of Townsville understands that truth so well", she said.

The prime minister said on every Anzac day, the community honoured the sacrifice of the men and women who left home to serve Australia abroad.

That story of Australian duty was as relevant today as it was for families and communities who farewelled the original Anzacs in 1914 and 1915 to the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East.

"Australians said goodbye and promised never to forget," Ms Gillard said.

"War is the worst of human experience, war with its full dreadful price."

She also made reference to the psychological toll of war, of soldiers returning home to lives changed forever, and their loved ones who faced a different and longer battle behind closed doors.

Ms Gillard urged those who went to fight, and those who didn't, never to forget the families of the more than 100,000 Australians who have died fighting for this country.

"We remember that today, we remember our whole experience," she said.

"If you want to understand Australians, watch us on Anzac Day."

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We must have a path to surplus: Abbott

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the government must lay out a pathway back to a budget surplus. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says the federal government must lay out a pathway to return the budget to surplus, or it will put the nation's triple-A credit rating at risk.

Labor has ditched its promise of a budget surplus in 2012/13, while the coalition says it will deliver a surplus if it wins government but has not specified a definite timeframe.

Standard & Poor's, one of the world's three major credit rating agencies, has warned if Australia looks like not achieving a balanced budget in the medium term it could reassess its outlook for the nation.

"We shouldn't think our economic future is assured unless we see from the national government a clear path to economic responsibility," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"That's what Standard & Poor's are warning us - there has to be a pathway back to surplus if we are to keep our triple-A credit rating."

Mr Abbott said surpluses were in the coalition's DNA, because it had returned surpluses in 10 of its last 11 budgets under the Howard government.

Labor had not returned a surplus since 1989, he added.

"The Labor party is simply addicted to spending," he said.

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Budget cash for indigenous communities

REMOTE indigenous communities in five states will share $44.1 million in federal funding for essential services such as power, water and sewerage.

The federal government will commit the money in the May budget towards improving municipal services in 340 remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.

Municipal services are usually the responsibility of state and local governments but the federal government wants to chip in to improve health and wellbeing.

The money will be spent over the 2013/14 financial year.

The indigenous affairs department says work on the ground will start from July 1.

The department has yet to work out how the money will be divided between the five states and it will consult with service providers to examine priorities.

The federal opposition says the announcement reflected Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin's poor negotiations skills with the states.

The commonwealth did not pay for municipal services, rubbish collection and so on in the suburbs of Australia, opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Nigel Scullion said.

"So why it is different for indigenous Australians?" he said in a statement.

"This is yet another example of the Gillard government being prepared to sit back and accept lower standards and have lower expectations for indigenous Australians."

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More cash for Vic level crossing removal

SEVEN more level crossings will be removed across suburban Melbourne, the state government says.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien says there will be $52.3 million in next month's budget to fund preliminary works to remove the crossings.

But he refused to put a date on when the works will be completed.

The level crossings are in suburbs including Ormond, Blackburn, St Albans and Glen Iris.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder said removing the crossings would address safety concerns and tackle traffic congestion.

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ITC sides with Apple over Motorola case

THE US International Trade Commission has tossed out a Motorola Mobility patent claim that threatened to block the import of some Apple iPhone models.

The commission on Monday dismissed a complaint by Google-owned Motorola Mobility accusing Apple of infringing on patented technology that makes touch screens ignore fingers when people are holding smartphones to their ears for calls.

The filing by acting commission secretary Lisa Barton indicated the investigation into the Motorola complaint filed in late 2010 was terminated.

The ITC reasoned that the technology at issue in the patents wasn't original enough to support the accusation.

Competition between technology titans such as Apple, Google, and Samsung long ago spread to the courts in the battle for supremacy in the booming markets for smartphones and tablet computers.

A judge last month cut $450 million from a $1 billion award to be paid by Samsung in a landmark patent lawsuit from Apple, saying a jury had wrongly calculated the damages.

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2nd man arrested over Indian girl's rape

INDIAN police have arrested a second suspect in their investigation into the abduction and rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi last week, officials say.

Pradeep Kumar was arrested at a relative's home in the eastern state of Bihar overnight after the main accused, Manoj Kumar, said he had taken part in the shocking attack which triggered weekend protests in the Indian capital.

"The second accused was hiding in his uncle's home. We have arrested him and we will be soon bringing him to Delhi for a joint interrogation and medical tests," a senior investigating officer, requesting anonymity, said on Monday.

News of the attack triggered new outrage over sexual crimes, reminiscent of protests that swept the capital in December after a 23-year-old student was savagely gang-raped on a moving bus.

She died nearly two weeks later.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in New Delhi on Sunday over levels of sexual violence as the five-year-old was being treated at a hospital for internal injuries sustained during her ordeal.

The child "is conscious and stable," DK Sharma, one of a team of doctors treating her at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, said on Monday.

According to investigators, the youngster was abducted on April 15 in a lower-middle-class area of New Delhi and sexually assaulted for more than 40 hours inside a locked room.

Manoj Kumar, a 22-year-old garment worker who was a tenant in the girl's house, was arrested on Friday after he had fled to his in-laws' home in Bihar.

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$32 billion needed in Vic transport: RACV

VICTORIA needs about $32 billion to fix up its congestion and road safety problems, the state's peak road user body says.

The RACV is calling for the funding over the next 10 years, in the lead-up to this year's federal election.

Launching the Victorian demands as part of a national demand better roads campaign, RACV general manager Brian Negus said successive governments had dropped the ball on road funding.

"Australians are simply fed up ... with the congestion in our cities and also the lack of safety on our regional highway systems," he said in Melbourne on Monday.

The Demand Better Roads campaign calls for funding of Melbourne's East-West Link and the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel in the city's inner suburbs.

The coalition has already pledged $1.5 billion to the East-West Link but has ruled out spending on rail projects.

The federal government has signalled support for the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel, having committed funding to its planning works.

The campaign, led by the Australian Automobile Association representing peak state motoring lobby groups, is calling for a total of $100 billion over 10 years to be spent on road and public transport projects.

Mr Negus also called for reform of the road funding system, including more contributions by commercial and private sector users and an overhaul of fuel taxes.

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N Korea 'moves two more missile launchers'

NORTH Korea has moved two more missile launchers to its east coast, where preparations are apparently under way for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula, reports say.

Expectations had been high that Pyongyang would carry out a test to coincide with celebrations marking the birth of North Korea's late founding leader Kim Il-sung on April 15 but it did not materialise.

The North Korean military last week moved two launchers believed to be for Scud missiles to the northeast province of South Hamgyong, Yonhap news agency said, citing a senior Seoul official.

"We have discovered the North has moved two additional TELs (transporter erector launchers) to the east coast ... after April 16," the official was quoted as saying on Sunday, adding Seoul and Washington were closely monitoring the site.

A spokesman for Seoul's defence ministry was not immediately available to confirm the report.

Previously, the North was reported to have moved seven missile launchers to its coast facing the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in apparent preparations for a test that would further escalate tensions.

Angered by fresh UN sanctions triggered by its third nuclear test in February and joint South Korea-US military exercises, the North has for weeks been issuing threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

But despite the passing of the Kim Il-sung anniversary, a Seoul defence ministry spokesman said Thursday that the possibility of a test involving shorter-range Scud, mid-range Musudan, or long-range Rodong missiles remained.

April 25 could be another possible date for a missile launch, the report said, quoting military officials in Seoul. That is the founding anniversary of the North's military.

The Musudan - seen as most likely to be tested - has an estimated range of 2500 to 4000 kilometres, enough to reach South Korea and Japan and potentially US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

US President Barack Obama has expressed doubt over the North's capabilities, saying last week he did not believe Pyongyang could yet arm a missile with a nuclear warhead.

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CBS Twitter feeds compromised, closed

The Twitter accounts for two US TV news programs have been compromised and suspended. Source: AAP

THE Twitter accounts for two US TV news programs have been compromised and suspended.

A CBS News spokeswoman has confirmed tweets sent earlier on Saturday afternoon from the 60 Minutes and 48 Hours Twitter handles, saying their accounts were compromised.

The tweets said the network is working with Twitter to investigate.

On Saturday night both accounts were suspended and inaccessible.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CBS spokeswoman wouldn't comment any further.

Earlier in the day tweets coming from the 60 Minutes account seemed farfetched, including one that claimed the US government was "hiding the real culprit of the Boston bombing".

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