John Kerry embarks on Europe, Mideast tour

AMERICA'S top diplomat John Kerry has started his first official trip as secretary of state, a marathon get-acquainted tour of America's closest allies in Europe and the Middle East.

A plane carrying the new US secretary of state and his team took off from Joint Base Andrews outside Washington about 7.15am (2315 AEDT) on Sunday.

Kerry will visit the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar until March 6.

The first stop will be London, where Kerry will meet with senior British officials, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Friday.

Kerry travels on to Berlin where, in addition to meeting Germans, he will encounter his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, for a tricky exchange at a time when Moscow and Washington are at loggerheads on many issues.

"Obviously, they know each other well from when Secretary Kerry was Senator Kerry, but it will be their first opportunity to sit down bilaterally as foreign ministers," Nuland said.

The marathon trip underscores Washington's new foreign policy imperative, which is subtly pivoting away from Asia and increasingly towards Europe.

Tyson Barker of the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank said that, after a first term focused on relations with Pacific countries, President Barack Obama hopes "to consolidate and retro-fit some of our legacy relationships".

Among the issues high on his agenda during the marathon series of talks is a newly announced effort to agree a mammoth free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.

Obama announced the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in his annual State of the Union address last month, and said the agreement would boost economic growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Vic TAFE cuts 'hit women harder'

YOUNG women and people in rural and regional Victoria are likely to be the biggest losers from state government cuts to TAFE.

The state's peak youth advocacy group has released a report on the impact of the government's $290 million cut to TAFE.

It has called for a special fund to be set up to ensure Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers can continue to offer courses for Victoria's most disadvantaged young people.

Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) chief executive Kate Colvin said young women and people living in rural areas are likely to be the hardest hit by the funding squeeze.

She said young women and people living in the country tended to favour courses in areas such as hospitality and sport, which had had funding reduced.

Young people were also more likely than older people to be enrolled in certificate I and II courses, which were not funded at the same rate as previously.

Ms Colvin said the government was on the right track in trying to encourage young people to enrol in courses that were more likely to lead to a job.

"But the problem, we think, is that young people might choose not to do any courses at all," she said.

The YACVic wants the state government to set up an equity fund that would deliver money through a tender process open to public and private VET providers.

Providers of programs that helped young, disadvantaged students gain ongoing employment could apply for the extra cash.

"Often young people will enrol in a course and not complete it or it doesn't lead to a job," Ms Colvin said.

"There is a body of evidence that shows what it is that's needed to encourage young people to take that full pathway from studying into a job.

"Programs that deliver that should get some additional resources."

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Regional leaders sign Congo peace deal

REGIONAL African leaders have signed a deal aimed at bringing peace and stability to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with plans to reinforce a UN-led mission to combat rebels after years of unrest.

Eleven countries in the Great Lakes region - including those accused of stoking trouble by backing rebel groups - signed on to the accord at a ceremony in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday in the presence of UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

"It is my hope that the framework will lead to an era of peace and stability for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the region," Ban said, but added: "It is only the beginning of a comprehensive approach that will require sustained engagement."

The accord calls for regional countries to refrain from interfering in each other's affairs and aims to encourage the reform of weak institutions in the DRC, central Africa's largest country.

It also provides for the "strategic revision" of the UN's 17,000-man strong MONUSCO mission, which may lead to creation of a special UN "intervention brigade" to combat rebel groups and support political reforms, and the appointment of a UN special envoy.

South African President Jacob Zuma described the creation of the brigade, which will total 2500 troops, as a realistic way to quickly restore security.

DR Congo's mineral-rich east has been ravaged by conflict involving numerous armed groups for the past two decades, with new rebel movements spawned on a regular basis.

The latest surge in violence erupted last year and culminated in the rebel March 23 movement (M23) - made up of largely Tutsi former soldiers - briefly seizing the key town of Goma last November.

The presidents of the DR Congo, South Africa, Mozambique, Rwanda, Congo and Tanzania were present for the signing, along with envoys from Uganda, Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Zambia.

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Explosions at house in Vietnam kill 10

VIETNAMESE state media say 10 people, including a family of seven, were killed in twin explosions at a house used to store materials for creating smoke and fire effects in film production.

Tuoi Tre news says the blasts took place on Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial capital.

The report says the house was owned by a pyrotechnician who worked in films, and that materials he was storing there were suspected in the blasts.

The man, known as "Phoung of Smoke and Fire", was among the 10 people killed.

According to the report, neighbours said they heard two blasts five minutes apart. They said the explosions broke the windows of nearby houses.

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Newspoll shows NSW Labor down

THE latest Newspoll shows support for NSW Labor is at its lowest point for six months as a corruption scandal dims the party's prospects at a state level and federally.

The poll conducted for The Australian newspaper in January and February shows primary support for state Labor at 27 per cent, two points down on a poll conducted in November and December last year.

Labor was last at 27 per cent in a poll conducted in July-August last year after dipping to only 24 per cent in March-April.

Support for the O'Farrell coalition government is up one percentage point, at 46 per cent, indicating a 60-40 split in favour of the coalition in two-party preferred terms.

The poll, published on Monday, is bad news for federal Labor, with half of the party's 20 most marginal federal seats in NSW, and big swings against it widely tipped in western Sydney and on the NSW Central Coast.

Polls have shown support for Labor has been slipping since NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption began hearing last year into allegedly corrupt conduct by three former state Labor ministers.

Monday's poll result is also bad news for state Opposition Leader John Robertson whose support as preferred premier has slipped back two points to 19 per cent.

Premier Barry O'Farrell's support has risen four points to 48 per cent.

He has 43 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and 38 per cent dissatisfied compared with 28 per cent satisfied with Mr Robertson and 35 per cent not satisfied.

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Joan Child, first female Speaker, dies

JOAN Child, the first female Speaker of federal parliament, has died at the age of 91.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has paid tribute to Ms Child, saying she is deeply saddened by her death on the weekend and she will remain a source of inspiration.

"With Joan Child's passing, Australia has lost one of its pioneering female political leaders, and I have lost a role model," Ms Gillard said.

Ms Child was elected to the Melbourne seat of Henty in 1974, when she became the first female Labor member of the House of Representatives and only the fourth woman ever elected to the House.

She was Speaker from 1986 to 1989 under the Hawke government, and retired from parliament the following year.

Until the election of Labor's Anna Burke last October, Ms Child had been the only female Speaker.

Ms Gillard said in a statement that Ms Child came to politics later in life, bringing "remarkable gifts of common sense, good humour and persistence against the odds".

Widowed at a young age, she had brought up five boys on her own and for a time worked as a cleaner to make ends meet.

"Though she attained high office, Joan always retained a sense of perspective. Her hobbies - gardening, reading detective fiction, listening to her idol Elvis - kept her firmly grounded," Ms Gillard said.

She said Ms Child was one of Labor's 'true believers' and was a powerful voice for the needs and rights of women, especially working women and women doing it tough.

Ms Child also set an example that led the way for women's participation in the Labor Party.

The prime minister said Ms Child's family had accepted the offer of a state funeral.

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Italy prepares for landmark election

ITALIANS hit by austerity and recession are preparing to take to the polls for an election being watched around Europe, a day after a mass rally in Rome showed rising social discontent.

Tens of thousands turned out to hear Beppe Grillo, a comedian turned activist whose grassroots Five Star Movement could receive a massive protest vote and become Italy's third biggest political party after the elections on Sunday and Monday.

"Let's send them all home!" the crowd chanted on Friday - a slogan of Grillo's campaign against mainstream politicians, many of whom have been discredited recently by a series of investigations into corruption and waste of public funds.

La Repubblica daily called Grillo the "Rock Star of Populism", while La Stampa spoke of an "apocalyptic climate" and top-selling Corriere della Sera said in an editorial: "An entire system is disappearing."

Grillo has promised to slash politicians' salaries, increase unemployment benefits and hold a referendum on whether Italy should retain the euro.

Candidates could not campaign on Saturday, and voter surveys have been off-limits for the two weeks leading up to the polls.

"I am worried for my country," centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, the favourite in the polls, told supporters at his final rally on Friday.

Renowned film director Nanni Moretti also appeared at the event and said it was time to "liberate" Italy from the scandal-tainted media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.

Outgoing premier Mario Monti promised to overhaul the labour market to create more jobs.

Three-time premier Berlusconi said he was confident even though polls have put him in second place.

Bersani, a cigar-chomping former communist who now espouses broadly pro-market views, has said he will continue with the budget discipline enforced by Monti to the delight of financial markets.

But he will come under pressure to ease back on austerity and do more to promote growth and jobs as Italy endures its longest recession in 20 years and unemployment hits a record high of 11.2 percent.

The financial markets are monitoring closely as a return to Italy's bad old days of free-wheeling public finances could spell disaster for the eurozone beset by a debt crisis.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Stuttgarter Zeitung daily that it was "in Italy's interests" to continue with Monti's reform agenda.

Belgian daily Le Soir carried an editorial titled "Italian Elections, European Stakes".

"The real danger that threatens Italy, and therefore all of Europe, is instability," wrote the paper's editorialist Christophe Berti.

Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza said the election was "A Fight Between Clowns" - Berlusconi and Grillo.

With everything at stake, the campaign has been remarkably underwhelming, with few rallies and a lot of back-and-forth in television interviews that have provided little detail on electoral promises.

A case in point was Berlusconi's vow to refund to Italians - if needed out of his own pocket - an unpopular property tax levied by Monti in an official-looking letter that prompted some to queue at post offices to claim their money back.

The billionaire, who is fighting his sixth election campaign in two decades and is a defendant in two trials for tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitute, has been rising in the polls.

The 76-year-old has pursued a populist campaign, intimating that Italy's social misery can be blamed on a "hegemonic" Germany imposing austerity.

Polls open at 0700 GMT (1800 AEDT) on Sunday and close 12 hours later.

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Pistorius spends time with family

SOUTH Africa's Olympic "Blade Runner" and murder suspect Oscar Pistorius has spent his first day out on bail with his family pending trial for the killing of his lover.

Pistorius was freed on a record one million rand ($A110,656) bail on Friday after eight days in custody and an emotionally charged four-day bail hearing.

"I would like Oscar to just compose himself and to have a normal day," his uncle Arnold Pistorius told the local Eyewitness News.

He will return to court later this year when a date will be set for trial for having shot dead his model girlfriend and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day.

When contacted by AFP, his father Henke Pistorius declined to say how his son had slept at his uncle's house in Pretoria.

But a source close to the family told AFP late on Friday "the family just want time together. They haven't thought about anything except being together."

Pistorius claims he repeatedly shot at and killed his lover by mistake thinking she was a burglar.

Steenkamp's grieving parents, however, did not appear convinced.

"It doesn't matter how rich he is and how good his legal team is. He needs to live with himself if he lets his legal team lie for him," her father Barry told the Afrikaans-language daily Beeld.

Pistorius has assembled some of the best legal brains in South Africa to defend his case.

"He'll have to live with his conscience. But if he's telling the truth, I may forgive him one day," Steenkamp's father said.

But "if it didn't happen as he described it, he should suffer. And he will suffer ... only he knows."

Pistorius's family has sent flowers and a card to the Steenkamp family but "what does that mean? Nothing," said June, Reeva's mother.

Pistorius's brother Carl later in the day tweeted: "Thank you to every person that has prayed for both families."

In addition to the bail cash he posted Friday afternoon, which experts say is among one of the highest ever set in South Africa, Pistorius had to surrender his passport and firearms.

The magistrate quadrupled the bail amount initially proposed by the state.

He will have to report twice weekly to Pretoria's Brooklyn police. He was also ordered not to take alcohol or drugs.

Pistorius may also hold talks with his trainer to get back on the track, despite being banned under his bail terms from competing outside South Africa.

"He is a professional athlete. He needs to keep his body in shape," the family source said.

His arrest on February 14 shocked the world and gripped South Africa, where he became a national hero after becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics last year.

The state charged him with the premeditated killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp.

If found guilty he faces a possible life sentence.

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Quake off Indonesia causes panic

AN undersea earthquake has rocked eastern Indonesia, causing panic among residents in neighbouring East Timor.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The US Geological Survey says the magnitude-5.7 quake that struck on Saturday evening was centred 202 kilometres east of East Timor's capital, Dili, at a depth of 35 kilometres.

Witnesses in Dili say residents ran out of their houses in panic, with many staying outside in fear of aftershocks.

Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency put the quake's magnitude at 6.2 with a depth of 10 kilometres.

Indonesia and East Timor are prone to seismic upheaval due to their location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

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King's son-in-law makes court appearance

PROTESTERS have jeered the Spanish king's son-in-law before his questioning by a judge about allegations he and a partner funnelled away millions of euros through fraudulent deals.

The investigation has deeply embarrassed the monarchy in a country hard hit by a financial crisis and sky-high unemployment.

The scandal ranks among the worst public relations mishaps the royal household has experienced in the 37-year reign of King Juan Carlos.

Inaki Urdangarin, who has not been charged with a crime, made his way into a courthouse in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday amid tense street scenes where a contingent of around 170 police kept noisy protesters away from the building.

Urdangarin, married to the 75-year-old king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, has denied any wrongdoing.

Urdangarin, facing his second appearance in court, did not stop to say anything but wished about 100 journalists covering the event a curt "good morning" as he walked in accompanied by his lawyer Mario Pascual Vives.

The Duke of Palma, the title held by Urdangarin, had been called to answer questions about whether he used his high-profile status to secure lucrative deals for a nonprofit foundation he ran and then fraudulently diverted money for personal gain.

But the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has moved to try and shield the king from potential collateral damage inflicted by the Urdangarin case, emphasising Juan Carlos' value to the nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria defended the king's role three times during a news conference following Friday's Cabinet meeting, highlighting how the monarch had worked "for stability and democracy" in Spain.

Judge Jose Castro will question Urdangarin about three alleged offences against the Treasury, including corporate tax fraud related to his foundation and matters linked to his personal income tax returns.

As stated in the writ of summons, the judge also intends asking about alleged bank accounts in tax havens such as Andorra, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Carlos Garcia Revenga, Cristina's personal secretary, was also scheduled to answer questions on Saturday.

A week ago, Urdangarin's former partner, Diego Torres, faced detailed questioning by Castro and it is reported many potentially damaging documents were handed over to the judge.

Urdangarin was summoned by Castro to the same court last February when the duke was quizzed over large contracts he secured from regional governments for his foundation.

He is suspected of then subcontracting the work to private companies he also oversaw, sometimes charging the public purse unrealistically inflated prices and syphoning some of the income to offshore tax havens.

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