H7N9 bird flu spreads in central China

CHINA'S deadly H7N9 bird flu outbreak has spread to the central province of Hunan, local health authorities say, the third announcement in three days of a case in a new location.

A 64-year-old woman in Shaoyang City, who developed a fever four days after coming into contact with poultry, was confirmed to have the virus, the Xinhua state news agency reported on Saturday.

It follows the first confirmed cases in the eastern province of Jiangxi on Thursday and the southeastern province of Fujian on Friday.

More than 110 people in mainland China have been confirmed with H7N9, with 23 deaths, since the government announced on March 31 that the virus had been found in humans.

Most cases have been confined to eastern China, while the island of Taiwan has also reported one case.

A Chinese expert earlier this week warned of the possibility of more cases in a wider geographical area.

"Until the source of H7N9 avian influenza is ... brought under effective control, sporadic cases might continue to appear," said Liang Wannian of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Poultry has been confirmed as the source of the H7N9 flu among humans but experts fear the prospect of such a virus mutating into a form easily transmissible between humans, which could then have the potential to trigger a pandemic.

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Italy president updated on coalition talks

ITALIAN prime minister-designate Enrico Letta is expected to update President Giorgio Napolitano on efforts to strike a coalition deal and give Italy a much-awaited government.

The presidency said on Saturday the leftist 46-year-old was due to meet Napolitano at 1300 GMT (2300 AEST) but it was not known whether he had succeeded in breaking the two-month-old deadlock.

Centrist politician Lorenzo Cesa predicted "a positive outcome by the end of the day" but other MPs said while they expected a breakthrough before markets reopen on Monday, they did not see it happening before Sunday.

Once differences between his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL) have been ironed out, Letta will formally accept the nomination of prime minister from Napolitano.

He will then be sworn in along with his new cabinet, before the government is put to a confidence vote in both houses of parliament.

Most observers were upbeat about Letta's chances as he met with Berlusconi and the former head of the centre-left, Pier Luigi Bersani, in a bid to close the deal on Saturday.

Italian media feverishly ran through possible cabinet candidates in constantly updated "Toto minister" pools, based on the popular system for betting on the results of Italian football matches.

But some commentators warned that the sparring risked thwarting coalition plans and worsening Italy's political and economic situation.

The parties are acting as if "the government being created is an alliance formed with a pistol to its head," said Luciano Fontana in Italy's best-selling Corriere della Sera daily.

Conditions imposed by both sides "are complicating the deal's closure, to the point it risks failure," he warned.

Letta has said he wants to move quickly to tackle the social fallout of a painful recession and Napolitano has been urging him to include younger ministers and women in his cabinet to help renew the country's tired political scene.

But cross-party unity has demands attached.

Negotiations have been trickiest with the scandal-tainted billionaire tycoon Berlusconi, who has insisted on the abolition and repayment of a controversial housing tax introduced in 2012.

Such a move would set the budget back some eight billion euros ($A10.15 billion) in a country suffering from its longest recession in 20 years.

Furthermore, Letta's own PD, which narrowly won inconclusive general elections in February, is deeply divided over going into government with Berlusconi's.

There have been calls from both sides to prevent rival figures from Italy's political scene from grasping ministerial posts - with Berlusconi, Monti and former premiers Giuliano Amato and Massimo D'Alema the names most fiercely contested.

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100 Guantana prisoners on hunger strike

A HUNGER strike among prisoners at Guantanamo Bay keeps growing.

Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House said on Saturday 100 of 166 prisoners at the US base in Cuba have now joined the strike.

He says 19 are receiving liquid nutrients through a nasal tube to prevent dangerous weight loss. Five of those are at a hospital under observation but do not have any life-threatening conditions.

Lawyers for the detainees say the military is undercounting the number of hunger strikers.

Prisoners began the hunger strike in February to protest conditions and indefinite confinement.

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Vic Labor claims victory in Lyndhurst

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

LABOR'S Martin Pakula has claimed victory in the Victoria's Lyndhurst by-election with around 40 per cent of the primary vote, after more than three-quarters of the total vote was counted.

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has however acknowledged his party has an image problem after Labor's primary vote took a dive.

The primary vote was significantly down on the 55 per cent result achieved at the 2010 state poll and there was no coalition candidate.

Mr Andrews said it was no secret the Labor brand was facing challenges.

The latest Newspoll published in The Australian this week put the federal coalition at a 10-point lead of 55 to 45 per cent over Labor after preferences.

When asked if federal Labor's woes had impacted on the result, Mr Andrews said: "There are challenges from a brand point of view and I think everybody knows that," he told AAP.

"I'm not someone who throughout my time as leader of the Labor Party in Victoria that has ever sought to blame others for the challenges that we face.

"But I think it would be naive not to note, as we all do - not just Labor people but Victorians more broadly - that, you know, things are challenging, things are difficult for Labor just now."

Mr Pakula will pick up his previous portfolios of shadow attorney-general, racing, gaming and scrutiny of government.

"By-elections are very difficult, they're very challenging," he said.

"History will tell you that in by-elections people take the opportunity to vote differently, they vote all over the card."

The result gives Labor 43 seats on the floor of parliament to the coalition's 44, including the speaker.

It means the government needs the support of independent MP Geoff Shaw to pass legislation opposed by Labor.

The former Liberal MP is under police investigation for misconduct in public office and has a verbal agreement with Premier Denis Napthine that he will support the government on matters of supply and confidence.

"What this victory for Labor now means is that the Napthine government is now officially a minority, one that is beholden to Geoff Shaw," Mr Andrews said.

"On every bill, on every measure in every way, Denis Napthine is tied to Geoff Shaw."

Dr Napthine said there had been a 15 per cent swing against Labor, even without a coalition candidate.

"This is a slap in the face for Daniel Andrews in Labor heartland," he said.

"This is a repudiation of Daniel Andrew's approach and the fact that he is working hand-in-hand with militant union leadership."

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Campaigners protest British drone strikes

ANTI-WAR campaigners opposed to Britain's use of armed drones in Afghanistan have marched on a military base hosting the aircraft's human operators for the first time.

Royal Air Force pilots had been operating Reaper aircraft to support British troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan remotely from a base in Nevada in the United States.

But this week the operations were relocated to Britain for the first time, to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire in eastern England, the Ministry of Defence said.

About 200 demonstrators marched to the base in Saturday, according to the BBC, to show their opposition to what campaigners said marked a "critical expansion in Britain's drones program".

"Drones are indiscriminate weapons of war that have been responsible for thousands of civilian deaths," said a statement from the Stop the War Coalition.

"Rather than expanding the UK's arsenal, drones should be banned, just as landmines and cluster munitions were banned."

Prime Minister David Cameron announced in December 2010 new funding to increase the Reaper program, although there are no plans to base or fly the drones in Britain, officials say.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said people were entitled to demonstrate but insisted the military did "everything possible" to avoid civilian casualties.

"We would stress that UK Reaper aircraft are piloted by highly-trained professional military pilots who adhere strictly to the same laws of armed conflict and are bound by the same clearly-defined rules of engagement which apply to those operating traditionally-manned RAF aircraft," he said.

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Legacy donations stolen from NSW RSL club

DONATIONS for the families of defence personnel have been stolen from an RSL club on the NSW south coast in a "shocking" robbery in the early hours of Anzac Day, police say.

An unknown number of people broke into the Bomaderry club about 2.20am (AEST) on Thursday after a rock was thrown at a glass door, they say.

The only thing reported missing was a replica digger's tin hat used to collect donations for Legacy, a charity that supports the families of defence services personnel.

Police said the amount of money stolen was not known.

"We are particularly shocked by this theft, given it occurred just four hours before the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Bomaderry," Shoalhaven duty officer Inspector Bruce Griffin said.

He's urged anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

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Remains found in missing Vic woman's home

HUMAN remains have been found in the home of an 82-year-old Melbourne woman who has been missing for almost two years.

Phyllis Kelly was last seen on August 20, 2011, at the State Theatre, just after 6pm.

She had not accessed her bank account since then and police had made public calls for information about her disappearance, having held grave fears for her welfare.

Police, accompanied by a pathologist, searched the woman's home on Little Charles Street in Fitzroy on Thursday after receiving authority from the coroner to conduct the search.

The remains will now be taken to the coroner for testing, a police spokeswoman said.

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UK man loses Longley murder appeal

A YOUNG British man found guilty of murdering his aspiring New Zealand model girlfriend has lost his appeal against conviction.

Wealthy jeweller's son Elliot Turner, now 21, from Bournemouth was present in the dock at the Court of Appeal in London for Wednesday's ruling by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Justice Royce and Justice Globe.

In May last year Turner was sentenced to life and ordered to serve at least 16 years before he can apply for parole after he was convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court of murdering 17-year-old Emily Longley.

After hearing argument on Turner's behalf and from a QC representing the prosecution, Lord Judge announced the court had decided to reject Turner's challenge.

He said the court had reached the "clear conclusion" that the appeal should be dismissed.

The court also threw out Turner's bid to have his sentence reduced.

The judges will give their reasons for their decision at a date to be announced.

A large number of Ms Longley's family were in court, including members who had travelled from their home in New Zealand.

During his trial Turner claimed that he acted in self-defence when Emily attacked him and he grabbed her by the throat for five or six seconds, then woke up to find her dead in his bed at his home.

The prosecution said Turner used a pillow to smother Emily and then strangled her after she went back to his house to talk things over following a violent argument that night.

When sentencing Turner, Justice Dobbs said he had "bullied, harassed, threatened and assaulted" Emily to control her as his "trophy" girlfriend.

Turner's QC Anthony Donne told the appeal judges: "The appeal against conviction centres on the use by the police of a covert listening device at the appellant's family home in Bournemouth following his release on police bail after his arrest on suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend Emily Longley on the night of 6/7 May 2011."

As well as hearing submissions on the safety of the conviction from Donne, the judges also heard argument from Timothy Mousley QC, opposing the appeal on behalf of the prosecution.

Justice Dobbs described Emily as a "lovely, kind, fun-loving girl who brought a ray of sunshine to those she touched".

The teenager had come from New Zealand to study at college just eight months before her death.

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Shooting zone needed in NSW parks: union

THE Australian Workers Union (AWU) is urging the NSW government to enforce a 10-kilometre shooting exclusion zone around the homes of employees who live and work in the state's national parks.

Recreational hunters will be allowed to hunt in national parks with bows and arrows and guns under a plan agreed to by the state government last year.

A survey of 365 national park workers reveals they have "deep fears" about the policy, AWU state secretary Russ Collison said.

He said nearly 100 employees live in national parks, prompting calls for an expanded exclusion zone.

"Unfortunately bullets don't stop at 1.5 kilometres, and can easily travel three to five kilometres. We can't have a situation where families are dodging bullets in their backyard," Mr Collison said.

The AWU survey also found 99 per cent of those polled want supervision and competency testing of shooters.

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US stocks open mixed

US stocks are mixed in opening trade after Tuesday's one per cent-plus gains, with trade tempered by Apple's fall in profits and a poor read on durable goods orders in March.

Five minutes into trade on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21.81 points (0.15 per cent) at 14,741.27.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 2.26 (0.14 per cent) to 1581.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.64 (0.05 per cent) to 3267.69.

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