NAB, ANZ least popular of Big Four

NATIONAL Australia Bank and ANZ are the least popular of the big four banks as far as business customers are concerned.

A survey of satisfaction among the big four's business customers shows NAB and ANZ ranked below the Commonwealth and Westpac for every one of the past 12 months.

Commonwealth and Westpac finished the financial year with average business customer satisfaction ratings of 7.4 and 7.3 out of ten, respectively.

By comparison, ANZ and NAB both had an average satisfaction rating of 7.0 in June.

The DBM Consultants' Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM) tracks customer service ratings among the big four clients on a monthly basis through interviews with 20,000 businesses annually.

DBM managing director Dhruba Gupta said Westpac and the Commonwealth had done a better job of keeping their customers happy.

"While all financial institutions have heavily invested in delivering improved customer service, business decision makers have consistently rated Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank highest, clearly appreciating the initiatives brought in by these banks," Mr Gupta said.

"This includes activities such as making relationship managers more accessible and returning calls within 24 hours."

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WA still top state, job market helps ACT

CANBERRA, July 22 AAP - Western Australia remains the top performing economy in the nation, while the ACT has jumped into second position as its jobs market improves.

The Commonwealth Securities quarterly 'State of the States' report shows while WA remains at the top of the ladder, it has seen some slippage in indicators such as unemployment.

This has also occurred in the Northern Territory, which declined to third spot after it was leapfrogged by the ACT where the population has grown to drive housing activity and a stronger job market.

Report author CommSec's chief economist Craig James says while new investment in the mining and engineering construction sectors is easing across the country, the housing sector is a source of new growth, especially in regions where population growth is strongest.

"All economies should lift, once the uncertainty of the federal election is finally out of the way later in 2013," Mr James said.

Each quarter CommSec assesses the economic fortunes of the states and territories by studying eight key indicators - economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, construction work done, population growth, housing finance and dwelling commencements.

WA comes out top on three of the eight criteria - housing finance, retail spending and equipment investment - is still second on three other indicators, third on dwelling starts and fifth on unemployment.

There is little separating the nation's three most populous states in terms of relative economic performance.

But NSW claims fourth spot on the overall rankings, from Victoria and Queensland, by having the strongest jobs market.

Then there is a gap to South Australia and then another gap to Tasmania.

SA lags on economic growth, retail spending and equipment investment, while Tasmania remains locked at the bottom, underperforming on all eight indicators.

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Unexploded NATO ordnance killing Afghans

UNEXPLODED ordnance left behind by NATO troops as they leave Afghanistan is killing and injuring a rising number of civilians, a United Nations demining group says.

Mohammad Sediq Rashid, director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre, told AFP on Sunday the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) must fully clean up military bases and firing ranges being vacated ahead of a final withdrawal due next year.

A total of 53 Afghan civilians, mostly children, have been killed or injured by unexploded ordnance found in or around ISAF bases and firing ranges since 2008, he said.

The 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, signed by most ISAF contributing nations, requires militaries to remove all unexploded ordnance from areas they vacate.

All ordnance, including those left by Soviet troops and mujahideen, caused 363 civilian casualties in 2012 compared to more than 240 between January and June 2013: a rise from an average of 30 a month to 40 a month so far this year, Rashid said.

"We believe if this problem is not sorted out, the casualty rate is very highly likely to increase because there are many people looking for unexploded ordnance to be sold as scrap metal," he told AFP.

"I think the main reason (for this increase) is because of these firing ranges," he said. "The evidence suggests there is a problem, this job is not being done properly," he added.

He said weaponry left behind included unexploded mortars and grenades.

In January, three civilians were killed and five injured in a village in Kohi Safi district of Parwan province, adjacent to the largest US-run base Bagram, Rashid said.

His team found more than 400 items of unexploded ordnance in the area, where a military base had been abandoned and there was also a firing range nearby, he said.

In February, two teenage boys were seriously injured in Bamyan province.

"We deployed another team there and so far half of the job is done, more than 500 items unexploded ordnance were found, most of them munitions that belong to ISAF," Rashid said.

"We think this is a major issue. There are hundreds of military bases... a considerable number of them will be closed, some of them will be handed over to local forces and some will be abandoned, so we think the casualties will increase," he added.

ISAF told AFP in an emailed response to the accusations that "the safety of civilians is one of our highest priorities".

"We're aware of reports concerning unexploded ordnance on the firing ranges of former bases in Afghanistan," Lieutenant Colonel Will Griffin told AFP.

"We have standard procedures in place to mitigate unexploded ordnance on firing ranges at ISAF bases throughout Afghanistan. These procedures include mitigating ranges that are no longer in use", he said.

But Rashid said the military was not doing enough.

"We want ISAF to pay attention to this. They are spending huge amounts of money and resources in this country. Why they are not paying attention to this issue?" he said.

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Napthine gains in Vic voter approval

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has a few more reasons to smile this week with voter satisfaction soaring under his leadership.

The latest poll shows his approval rating in the state continues to climb and he's increased the coalition's two-party preferred lead over Labor.

Voters give Dr Napthine a 53 per cent leadership satisfaction rating in the state, up three points since the last survey, according to the latest Newspoll published in The Australian on Monday.

It also found the coalition has increased its two-party preferred lead by one percentage point to 51 per cent over Labor at 49 during the May and June survey period.

Dr Napthine also remains preferred premier, leading Labor's Daniel Andrews by 49-26 in the poll, and he now sits 22 points ahead of former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu's last polling figures before his stepped down as party leader and premier in March.

Voters appear to be effectively split on whether to like or dislike Labor leader Daniel Andrews.

His satisfaction rating has fallen seven points to 35 per cent while his dissatisfaction has jumped six points to 34 per cent.

The poll was taken during the height of turmoil and instability in federal Labor leadership and it's not know what impact this may have had on state Labor's standings.

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Syria pro-regime gunmen kill 13 in family

A SYRIA pro-regime militia has killed 13 members of the same family, including six children, in the Mediterranean coastal village of Bayda, a watchdog has charged.

"The number of people from one family who were killed by regime forces in the village of Bayda ... has risen to 13," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.

The killings came to light one day after they occurred, while fierce clashes pitting rebels against troops raged in Banias nearby.

"The three men, unarmed, were shot dead outside their home. The militiamen then broke in, and killed the women and the children," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

He did not know how the women and children were killed by what he said were members of the pro-regime National Defence Force.

"We have conflicting reports. Some say they were shot dead, others that they were burnt alive," he added.

Abdel Rahman attributed the violence to a revenge attack motivated by sectarian hatred.

"The Banias area is home to a mixture of Sunnis and Alawites. On Saturday, four Alawite members of the National Defence Force were killed in fighting there," he told AFP.

"The pro-regime militiamen took revenge for their deaths by killing this family," he added.

On May 2 and 3, some 300 people were massacred in Banias and Bayda, according to a toll compiled by the Observatory.

While Banias was one of the first towns to see demonstrations calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, its location in Tartus province - an Alawite bastion - has prompted particularly fierce crackdowns there.

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Man hurt in Sydney home invasion

A MAN has been assaulted by a gun-wielding attacker during a home invasion in Sydney's northwest.

Police were called to a unit complex in Telopea at about 6pm (AEST) on Sunday where a man allegedly had entered a unit armed with a pistol and argued with the occupants.

During the incident a man aged in his forties was struck to the back of the head and sustained a deep cut, police said.

His assailant fled the scene before police arrived.

The injured man was taken to Ryde Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

The man is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, aged in his twenties and last seen wearing a white T-Shirt and black pants.

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Comedian Mel Smith dies in London

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Four militants killed in Algeria

FOUR armed Islamic extremists have been killed in a shootout with soldiers southeast of the Algerian capital, authorities say.

A security service statement on Saturday said the fighting occurred overnight in Sour El Ghozlane, 120km from Algiers.

The four were in a car heading south when soldiers stopped them and the shooting began, the statement said.

Algeria's army has been fighting extremists for two decades, but tensions recently have been concentrated much farther south, in the desert close to the Libyan border.

Al-Qaeda's North African arm, AQIM, is based in Algeria.

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$40,000 gold prize to those who enrol

ACTIVIST group GetUp! will give away $40,000 in gold in a bid to encourage people to enrol to vote in the upcoming federal election.

GetUp! National Director Sam McLean said 1.4 million people eligible to vote weren't on the electoral role, with 493,000 under 24.

"A huge number of young Australians aren't enrolled to vote and we want to give them every reason to," Mr McLean said in a statement.

"If they win, they can pay off part of their HECS debt, buy a car, go on a holiday or give it to charity - we don't mind.

"The most important thing is that people realise that once the election is called they only have seven days to get themselves enrolled to vote."

Those who enrol and register with GetUp! will go into a draw, with one winner from each state and territory getting $5,000 worth of gold.

The gold will be delivered the Sunday after the election, which has yet to be called by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

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Pioneering journalist Helen Thomas dies

HELEN Thomas, a long-time White House correspondent and a pioneer for women in journalism, has died aged 92.

A friend, Muriel Dobbin, says Thomas died at her apartment in Washington on Saturday morning. Dobbin says Thomas had been ill for a long time, had been in and out of the hospital, and had come home on Thursday.

Thomas made her name as a bulldog for United Press International (UPI) in the great wire-service rivalries of old. She used her seat in the front row of history to grill nine presidents - often to their discomfort and was not shy about sharing her opinions.

She was persistent to the point of badgering; one White House press secretary described her questioning as "torture" - and he was one of her fans.

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