NSW Labor faces another huge defeat: poll

THE coalition government in NSW would be returned with a similar resounding majority to its 2011 election victory if an election was held today, the latest Newspoll shows.

As NSW Labor prepares for the results from reports of inquiries from the state's corruption watchdog this week, the poll, in The Australian newspaper, shows the coalition leads Labor on a two-party preferred basis of 61 to 39 per cent.

Labor's primary vote remains on 28 per cent, compared to 47 per cent for the coalition.

The results are despite recent ministerial controversies, including Finance Minister Greg Pearce's alleged drunken late-night parliamentary sitting, and the use of a government travel agency to make private bookings.

Opposition Leader John Robertson's personal satisfaction rating also stands at 28 per cent, but no figure was given for Premier Barry O'Farrell.

Several ICAC reports into former members of the previous Labor government are due to report this week involving allegations against Ian Macdonald, Eddie Obeid and Eric Roozendaal.

The poll, taken in May and last month, did not cover much of the time since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reclaimed the leadership and the paper did not state how many voters were polled.

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Israel approves release of 104 prisoners

ISRAEL has approved the release of 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners, clearing a hurdle toward a possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Sunday's 13-7 cabinet vote with two abstentions came after a stormy session.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged ministers to approve the release, saying it's important for Israel to restart talks with the Palestinians.

Two ministers of Netanyahu's Likud Party voted no, an official said.

The cabinet approved the release in four stages over several months, with each step linked to progress in the negotiations.

According to a list provided by the Palestinians, the prisoners have served between 19 and 30 years for involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.

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Forest fire leads to evacuations in Spain

A VAST forest fire on the Spanish island of Mallorca is burning out of control, prompting a complete evacuation of a seaside village.

About 700 people in Estellencs, many of them tourists, were woken late Saturday (Sunday AEST) and brought to safety after a wind change threatened to push the blaze in their direction, the government of the Balearic Islands said.

On Sunday, about 370 firefighters and members of civil defence and the military emergency unit used 24 planes and helicopters to fight the flames on the west of the Mediterranean island.

There were no initial reports of injuries or damage to property.

However, officials said the flames destroyed at least 16 sq km of pine forest in the area around Andratx and Estellencs.

Media reports describe the blaze as the worst fire on the holiday island since the 1990s. Mallorca's most devastating fire was in 1992, when almost 20 sq km were destroyed in the Arta area in the east.

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Islamists kill 20 in Nigeria's north

SUSPECTED members of Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram have shot dead more than 20 civilians when a vigilante group attacked them in the northern Borno state.

"The suspected sect members came armed and fired sporadic shots that killed over twenty innocent civilians," Haruna Mohammed Sani, spokesman for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) said in a statement.

The violence took place on Saturday in Dawashe village, the army lieutenant said in a statement.

He said men from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group formed in Boko Haram's bastion Maiduguri to combat the Islamist gunmen who have been terrorising the region for years, entered Dawashe to search for suspects.

Suspected Boko Haram members subsequently opened fire in the village, the spokesman said, adding that the 20 victims were mostly fishermen and traders.

Sani said a dozen other civilians sustained gunshot wounds during the incident but provided no information on casualties among the belligerents.

The toll and circumstances of the incident could not immediately be verified independently.

The MNJTF, a joint military force set up in 1998 to combat border crimes, consists of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Its mandate was recently expanded to fight Boko Haram, whose insurgency is estimated to have cost 3600 lives since 2009, including killings by security forces.

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31 drown after boat capsizes off Libya

• From: AAP
• July 29, 2013 1:43AM

MORE than half the people aboard a rubber boat carrying 53 African migrants died when it capsized off Libya, Italy's Ansa news agency says.

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Cambodian PM's party claims election win

THE ruling party of strongman Cambodian premier Hun Sen has claimed victory in Sunday's elections which were marred by allegations of widespread irregularities.

Although official results had yet to be announced, the prime minister's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) said it expected to take 68 out of the 123 seats in the lower house.

"We can say we've won this election," CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.

The CPP had 90 seats in the previous parliament, so if confirmed the result would mark the loss of more than 20 seats, despite the exclusion of the opposition leader who was barred from running.

The electoral authorities said final results could take weeks to compile.

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge fighter, has been in power for 28 years. The 60-year-old premier - who has vowed to rule until he is 74 - is regularly accused of trampling on human rights and quashing political dissent.

The opposition decried what it described as the kingdom's worst ever poll irregularities, including missing voter names and thousands of people who turned up to find someone else had used their ballot.

"The situation is more serious than at any previous election," Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) spokesman Yim Sovann told AFP.

The opposition caused brief confusion after claiming it had won the polls but it quickly retracted the statement.

Protests broke out at one polling station in the capital Phnom Penh where a crowd destroyed two police cars, military police spokesman Kheng Tito said, as anger erupted over names missing from the voter list.

Rights groups also expressed concern that the ink used to mark voters could be easily washed off.

The National Election Committee denied irregularities.

Even before polls opened, the opposition had said a Hun Sen win would be "worthless" without the participation of its leader Sam Rainsy.

The French-educated former banker returned to Cambodia on July 19 from self-imposed exile after receiving a surprise royal pardon for criminal convictions which he contends were politically motivated.

But he was barred from running as a candidate since the authorities said it was too late to add his name to the electoral register.

Rainsy said his party was still considering whether to accept the ruling party's claim of victory.

Local poll monitor the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia alleged that up to 1.25 million people who were eligible to cast ballots were not on voter lists.

About 9.6 million people were registered to vote - more than one third of whom were aged under 30.

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Next World Youth Day in Krakow in 2016

POPE Francis has announced the next World Youth Day (WYD) will be held in the Polish city of Krakow in 2016.

"Dear young friends, we have an appointment for the next World Youth Day in 2016 in Krakow, Poland," he said at the end of Sunday's mass attended by three million pilgrims on Rio's Copacabana beach.

Argentine-born Francis was wrapping up a week-long visit to Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country, on his first overseas trip since his election in March.

The choice of Krakow is in honour of John Paul II, who hailed from Krakow and who started the World Youth Day (WYD) events during his charismatic papacy.

John Paul II, who is expected to be declared a saint later this year, was archbishop of Krakow before he was elected the world's first Polish pope in 1978.

The first official WYD was held in 1986, although it had been preceded by two previous mass gatherings of young people from around the world in Rome.

The next was held the following year in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, where Francis was archbishop before he became Pope

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