School talks will continue with Qld, Vic

Campbell Newman (R) praised Kevin Rudd for listening to the state's concerns over education reforms. Source: AAP

THE federal government will keep negotiating on school funding reforms with Queensland and Victoria beyond the Sunday deadline set by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Parliamentary secretary for schools Kelvin Thomson says there is "considerable momentum" in negotiations for the $14.5 billion national schools funding plan.

"I'm encouraged by the fact that the negotiations are continuing," he told Sky News, adding that statements by the Queensland and Victorian premiers and education ministers were also encouraging.

On Friday Queensland premier Campbell Newman praised Mr Rudd for finally listening to the state's concerns and said he wanted to achieve a deal.

He and federal Education Minister Bill Shorten indicated they would negotiate for another week or two, beyond the Sunday sign-up deadline.

Victoria has also asked for longer to reach a deal.

The federal government's position is that as long as talks continue to be positive and constructive, it is happy to give the states a bit longer to work out the details.

But things aren't going as well with the other two hold-outs - Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

So far only NSW, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania have come on board for the better schools plan, based on the Gonski panel recommendations.

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said the government's planned national funding model was now in complete disarray.

"Far from being close to being landed, the government's program is in complete disarray and I think they are a long way from securing it," he told Sky News.

He says his party would keep the new model if an "overwhelming majority" of states sign up, otherwise it would extend current arrangements.

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Tassie shooting was targeted: police

THE shooting death of a man outside a northern Tasmanian hotel was targeted, police say.

The man in his 40s was shot dead outside the Marrawah Hotel just after midnight (AEST) on Saturday.

"Investigations to date suggest this is not a random act - and that it was a targeted act," police said in a statement.

"We are following a number of lines of inquiry. We have deployed significant resources to the incident and are seeking assistance from the public."

Police have urged anyone with information relating to people acting suspiciously, vehicles moving in the area at the time, hitchhikers or people walking along the road to contact them.

They will continue to have resources in the area and have set up a command post at the scene.

"We encourage the public to be alert to what is going on around them, but not alarmed - but remember that any information could prove vital and don't hesitate to pass it on to us," a police statement said.

The man's next of kin have been notified, but police are not releasing his details at this stage.

Marrawah is a small town of about 400 people in Tasmania's northwest and is approximately 300km from Launceston.

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Indonesian police hunt 131 escapees

Indonesian police have stepped up their search for 131 inmates who escaped from a Sumatran jail. Source: AAP

INDONESIAN police have expanded their search for 131 inmates including four militants who escaped from an overcrowded jail during a riot that left five dead, a spokesman says.

Inmates began rampaging through the jail in Medan city on Sumatra island on Thursday, setting fires and hurling bottles at guards in anger over power cuts and water shortages at the facility.

The Tanjung Gusta jail was engulfed in towering flames, killing three inmates and two prison staff who were trapped in their office.

"We stepped up efforts by instructing all police forces across Sumatra island to carry out a massive hunt operation," Heru Prakoso, spokesman for the North Sumatra police, told AFP on Saturday.

Security forces managed to regain control of the prison on Friday afternoon and had recaptured 81 of the 212 inmates who escaped, he said, adding that four convicted of terrorist offences were still on the loose.

"Security at all entry points bordering North Sumatra province has been intensified," he said, adding that the elite Detachment 88 counter-terrorism force was also involved in the operation.

The escaped terror convicts had been involved in militant training for Mumbai-style attacks on high-profile Indonesians and in connection with a bank robbery to fund terror activities, police said earlier. Some 1000 police and soldiers were deployed to guard the facility.

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Clubs to save money with hamstring tester

ELITE sports clubs could save hundreds of millions in lost player time with the invention of an on-field hamstring tester.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is working with a portable prototype that can help determine which players are most likely to hurt their hamstring.

The University says it has already caught the eye of English premier league soccer clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Hamstring tears are the most common sports injury in the world, with injured players typically missing three to six weeks of competition and training.

And players are likely to reinjure the tendons within a year, says QUT Faculty of Health lecturer and researcher Dr Tony Shield.

The device is currently being trialled by six AFL clubs, the Queensland Reds and a number of track and field athletes including long jump Olympic silver medallist Mitchell Watt.

Dr Shield said the device aims to provide almost immediate and accurate measures of athletes' hamstring strength to compare strength between limbs and monitor the progress that players make across the pre-season or in rehabilitation.

"Armed with this information, a trainer can make a more informed decision on what types of strength training need to be employed and whether a player is fit to take the field," he said in a statement on Friday.

Until now, the best measure of hamstring strength and injury risk had been via an isokinetic dynamometer - a large, heavy and immobile machine found in only a few dozen university exercise science facilities around the country.

Despite providing excellent data, dynamometers cost up to $100,000, making them accessible to only the wealthiest sporting clubs.

They also need at least two full days to test a squad of 40 or more AFL players, whereas 44 were tested in two hours using the QUT prototype, Dr Shield said.

With worldwide interest already high, he said the device will hopefully be available within a year at a cost of around $10,000.

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Labor faces preselection pressures

FEDERAL Labor administrators have again refused to commit to the rank-and-file preselection of candidates in five federal seats, risking an internal revolt.

As the party scrambles to find candidates for five federal seats ahead of the election, ALP president Jenny McAllister said time constraints could mean intervention by the national executive.

"We do find ourselves in an unusual situation where we've had some very late vacancies," Ms McAllister told ABC TV on Friday.

"I think that in some of those situations we will see a rank-and-file preselection. But we are consulting to find out whether those things can be conducted in a timely way."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has urged the party to use rank-and-file processes wherever possible to find candidates.

The ALP national executive is due to meet on Friday and discuss the preselection of candidates for vacancies in Rankin (Queensland), Charlton and Kingsford-Smith (NSW) and Lalor and Hotham (Victoria).

The seats are being vacated by ministers Craig Emerson, Greg Combet, Peter Garrett, Simon Crean and former prime minister Julia Gillard.

Local Labor representatives have issued a warning against national intervention for the seat of Charlton.

"Members have indicated that they would leave the party," Wallsend branch president Lisa Higgins told ABC Radio.

Ms McAllister said the process is more progressed in some seats, such as Rankin.

"We've been through many rank-and-file processes right across the country to select a great suite of candidates to go into the next election," she said.

Ms McAllister refused to comment on the preselection race for Ms Gillard's Melbourne seat of Lalor, where nominations are due to close on Friday.

"What is good in that seat is we're seeing quite a number of good women come through," she said.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne is cynical of Labor party efforts to boost local-level input for the preselection process.

"Kevin Rudd on the one hand says he's going to open up the windows and allow democracy in the Labor party and yet his national executive takes away rank-and-file preselections and imposes candidates in all seats for this federal election," Mr Pyne told ABC Radio.

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No deal on school reforms: Qld premier

THE Queensland government hasn't signed up to the federal government's education reforms but has left the door open.

Premier Campbell Newman says no deal has been reached yet after meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, federal Education Minister Bill Shorten and state Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek on Friday afternoon.

He says the Sunday deadline has been pushed back a few weeks so Queensland and the federal government can possibly iron out outstanding issues.

Mr Newman praised Mr Rudd for having a positive meeting with him, unlike previous prime minister Julia Gillard, he said.

"We've talked about it for a considerable period of time, I cannot give you anything other than saying it was a productive discussion," Mr Newman told reporters.

"It was again a discussion that was not afforded to us by the previous prime minister.

"I thank the prime minister for that.

"It was very productive and we now know what we have to do to try to reach an agreement."

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Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas

PENALTIES for illegal logging in NSW forests should be 10 times higher to ensure koala habitats are preserved, the state opposition says.

Forestry Corporation of NSW was fined a total of $900 last week after being found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats in the Royal Camp State Forest near Casino on three separate occasions last year.

Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley says the "paltry" fine would not deter future illegal logging.

"As a state we should be doing everything we can to protect our dwindling population of koalas," Mr Foley said.

"Are we so indifferent to their plight that the only place they will be in a few years is in captivity?"

Mr Foley has called on the O'Farrell government to support a private member's bill, now being debated in the upper house, to increase penalties for illegal forestry activities.

This would see maximum fines raised from $22,000 to $220,000, with the possibility of two years in prison.

"Increasing penalties by tenfold will help address the exceedingly low penalties for illegal forestry operations and the forestry record on complying with environmental laws," Mr Foley said.

He said forestry penalties fell well below those for other environmental breaches, where fines of $1.1 million can be levied for offences such as polluting a waterway and illegal land clearing.

North East Forest Alliance spokesman Dailan Pugh echoed the call for greater penalties, saying there is currently no incentive for loggers to do the right thing.

"They're taking dozens of trees out of the koala high-use areas and they're making a lot of money out of them, and the fine's nothing.

"It's not even one tree."

A Forestry Corporation spokeswoman said the $900 fine reflected "the insignificant nature of the breaches".

The corporation was found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats on three occasions last year.

But the spokeswoman said there was no evidence koalas had been harmed in the Royal Camp State Forest.

She added that harvesting in the forest was not intense and "preferred koala feed trees" were not touched.

She also said koalas preferred managed and natural forests.

"Harvesting promotes the preferred forest structures for healthy koala populations," she said.

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Police weigh up charges over royal prank

Radio host Mel Greig (L) has filed a claim against 2Day FM for failing to provide a safe workplace. Source: AAP

THE fallout from a royal prank call continues to haunt 2Day FM radio, with Australian police looking at whether charges could be laid.

Australian Federal Police and NSW police are evaluating a file, provided to them by the UK's Metropolitan Police, over the phone call made on December 4 by presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian.

They called London's King Edward VII Hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for a pregnancy-related illness, and pretended to be the Queen and Prince of Wales.

The DJs were put through to the ward by nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who committed suicide soon after the hoax was widely publicised in the British media.

British prosecutors have already said no legal action will be taken in the UK over the call.

But NSW Police spokeswoman said on Thursday that federal police would "evaluate the referral as per the AFP's usual process to determine if any commonwealth offences are identified" and NSW police would look at it from a "state offences" point of view.

The DJs' employer, Austereo, wouldn't comment on Thursday on the possibility of charges being laid in Australia.

"We're not commenting at the moment and have nothing to add ... we're not making a statement," a spokeswoman said.

The referral by British police comes as lawyers for Greig - who has not returned to work - revealed on Wednesday that she is taking legal action against Austereo.

Greig's lawyer, Steven Lewis of Slater & Gordon, says a general protections application has been filed with Fair Work Australia, alleging Southern Cross Austereo failed to maintain a safe workplace in relation to the hoax call incident.

News of Greig's legal action comes a week before a scheduled federal court hearing in Sydney in which 2Day FM is trying to block a media watchdog probe into the prank call.

The radio station last month filed a court application arguing that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has no power to continue a part of its ongoing investigation.

The federal court hearing is scheduled for July 17.

In London, a spokesman for the Saldanha family says it's no surprise one of the DJs behind the prank call has turned on the station which broadcast the hospital hoax.

Meanwhile, Christian was last month awarded the title of "Top Jock" by Austereo for being at the "top of his game".

An inquest into Ms Saldanha's death is due in London in two months time.

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NZ shares edge up ahead of earnings season

NEW Zealand shares edged up in relatively light trading as investors looked ahead to the earnings season.

The NZX 50 Index rose 3.287 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4560.054. Within the index, 27 stocks rose, 16 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was worth $120 million.

Ebos rose 2.9 per cent to a record close of $9.99. The medical and pet supplies distributor's stock is up 34 per cent this year and the gains accelerated after it agreed to buy Australia's Symbion and raised capital to do so.

"Ebos has changed vastly with that deal," said David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr. "The capital raising has been well received."

Ryman, the nation's biggest listed retirement village operator, rose 1.9 per cent to $6.98, also a record close. Rival Summerset Group gained 0.7 per cent to $3.02.

The biggest companies on the bourse fell. Telecom dropped 3 per cent to $2.25 and Fletcher Building fell 1.3 per cent to $8.55.

Mr Price said they were among stocks driven higher on Wednesday by buying at the close and had since given back those gains.

"It is relatively quiet leading into the results season," he said. "The market is trading on relatively high multiples so companies need to deliver on expectations."

The Warehouse Group, the biggest listed retailer, was unchanged at $3.75, clothing chain Hallenstein Glasson was down 0.6 per cent to $4.94 and outdoor equipment group Kathmandu fell 0.8 per cent to $2.58. Pumpkin Patch gained 1.2 per cent to 82 cents.

Manufacturers gained after BNZ-BusinessNZ figures showed the sector's activity continued to grow last month, albeit at a slower pace from May when it reached a nine-year high.

Skellerup gained 1.5 per cent to $1.32, Nuplex Industries advanced 1 per cent to $3.09, Moa Group rose 1.7 per cent to $1.18 and Goodman Fielder climbed 1.2 per cent to 85 cents.

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Japan officials used wrong Google settings

Japanese officials used the wrong settings on Google Groups making confidential documents public. Source: AAP

JAPAN'S bureaucrats used the wrong privacy settings for Google Groups online discussions, allowing anyone to see internal memos including on negotiating positions for an international treaty, the government says.

Environment ministry mandarins were among those who used the default settings on Google Groups, which allow public access to discussion threads, instead of limiting them to members only.

The mass-selling Yomiuri Shimbun said it found more than 6000 cases where information from public or private organisations, including hospital records, was publicly available.

The Yomiuri, the world's biggest-selling newspaper, also admitted its journalists had been using the wrong settings on Google Groups, and may have revealed draft stories and interview transcripts to anyone who wanted to see them.

Google Groups allows users to establish or join discussions on any subject, which can be accessed either by email or through the web.

The user who sets up the group can determine who can join the group and who can view and post messages.

The default on the set-up page allows anyone to see messages, although this can be limited by a drop-down menu.

A spokesman for the environment ministry admitted officials have used the service to share information, including planned talking points for negotiations on an international mercury trade treaty.

The Japanese delegation also uploaded its exchanges with their Swiss and Norwegian counterparts. The treaty is expected to be signed in the northern autumn.

"It was problematic that the processes around ongoing negotiations could be seen by outsiders. We have taken corrective steps," an environment ministry spokesman told AFP.

The memos were not "top secret", but were not for public release, the spokesman admitted.

Officials from at least six government ministries and agencies used the wrong settings on Google Groups, allowing outsiders to see internal exchanges, national broadcaster NHK said.

The Yomiuri also reported that hospitals and schools had uploaded patients' and students' records.

At least one political party also used the service, revealing a list of its supporters, the Yomiuri said.

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Extra year for schools plan: WA Premier

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett wants a 12-month extension to the deadline for signing up to the federal government's school funding scheme.

The Liberal leader made the comment before it was announced the Independent Schools Council of Australia had endorsed the Better Schools plan, previously known as the Gonski reforms.

If the Commonwealth wanted to give extra money to Catholic and independent schools, that was fine as it would allow the state to put more funds towards state schools, Mr Barnett said.

But there was no reason the program had to be adopted nationwide.

Mr Barnett said the federal government's approach to imposing the plan was flawed.

"The Prime Minister would be wise if he probably put the whole thing back 12 months in terms of negotiations."

He said the federal government had two agendas: to increase its commitment to education, which was admirable, and to wrest controls of schools from states and territories, which was not.

"Education has been state government (run) and then suddenly to be demoted to the status of approved provider, I mean, there was never any agreements between the states and the Commonwealth over that," he told ABC radio.

The Premier said the "intrusive" plan would mean states needing federal approval when they wanted to open or close a school to create efficiencies.

"It is essentially the federal government taking over all policy and decision-making in education.

"And I've got to say I've had a couple of principals from independent schools come to me and say 'we don't like this at all. It's not good for our school', so I think there's a bit more work to be done."

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Vic battery explosion causes home fire

A LITHIUM battery can cost less than a dollar, but a Melbourne man has been left with six figures worth of fire damage after one of them exploded in his home.

The 47-year old man had been charging the battery in his bedroom in Camberwell on Tuesday when he noticed it looking a little strange, and decided to take a closer look.

He gave it a squeeze, and it burst into flames, burning his thumb and fingertips.

The man dropped the battery, and left the room to nurse his injured hand under cold water, calling to his father for help.

But when his father entered the bedroom, flames had already reached the ceiling before spreading to the kitchen, another adjoining room, and the roof.

A Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman said a crew managed to bring the blaze under control, while paramedics treated the man's burns at the scene.

Damage to the house has been estimated at $150,000.

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Women in Ohio kidnap case thank public

THREE women held captive in a home in the US state of Ohio for a decade are thanking the public for their support in a YouTube video.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the video posted late on Monday, saying the encouragement of family, friends and the public has enabled them to restart their lives.

Former bus driver Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped the women off the streets of Cleveland between 2002 and 2004 and held them captive in his two-storey home.

He fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry.

He was arrested May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbours for help.

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Bikie links in Sydney shooting: police

SYDNEY police want to work with rival gang members to stop a deadly drive-by shooting from escalating into an all-out bikie war.

At least two gunmen riding in a black sedan opened fire on a trio of bikie associates standing in the carpark of a unit block in southeast Sydney on Monday night.

A 37-year-old man was killed and a 25-year-old who was shot in the leg is undergoing surgery.

The third man, who was performing CPR on his fatally injured friend, fled when emergency services arrived at the scene in George Street, Eastlakes.

The homicide squad's Detective Inspector David Laidlaw said the shooting victims were both known to be involved with outlawed bikie gangs. Neither lived at the unit block.

He said the shooting may have been a show of strength or act of retaliation from one rival gang to another, and police were now working to stop any pay-back.

"We are hopeful that we can engage with personnel from both gangs to try to get them to abate any sort of retribution," Det Insp Laidlaw told reporters.

He said detectives want to know whether the shooting is part of a wider turf tussle.

He noted that bikie gangs usually engaged in some sort of criminal activity.

"You always have competition."

Neighbours say trouble had been brewing at the address for months, though none were prepared to give their names.

One said a number of cars had been arriving at the property in recent weeks.

"There's been a group of people who've been coming," she told AAP.

"They would stand around outside and talk."

Another said police had been called to a recent fight in the street and "attended in numbers", while another described multiple cars coming and going at all hours in the formerly quiet street.

Police removed evidence from one unit, and questioned a man who drove a black luxury 4WD into the carpark on Tuesday morning.

The driver later argued with an older woman on the block before speeding away.

Another young man wearing a hoodie was dropped off at the cream brick unit block by a van, which returned to the street moments later to collect him.

Chuxuan Ao, who recently moved to the area from China, told AAP he was studying when he heard shots fired.

"I was doing my homework and chatting with my friend and suddenly I heard about five or six," he told AAP.

"I thought it's not true, I've just made a mistake.

"My landlady told me Sydney is really safe ... Especially this area."

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Muslim Brotherhood says 16 shot dead

EGYPTIAN security forces have shot dead 16 Islamist activists during a protest in Cairo calling for ousted president Mohamed Morsi to be reinstated, his Muslim Brotherhood said.

"Sixteen people were killed and a hundred others injured, many of them in serious condition," the group's spokesman Ahmed Aref told AFP.

Police barricades prevented journalists from accessing the area.

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Fiji sends more UN peacekeepers to Israel

Fiji has announced it will send 380 troops to join UN peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights. Source: AAP

FIJI has announced it will send a further 380 troops to join a UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights, lifting the Pacific nation's contribution to 562.

The move comes after several countries withdrew from the peacekeeping force because of escalating violence stemming from the Syrian conflict.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says the additional soldiers will leave for the tense border between Syria and Israel in the next few weeks, the Fiji Sun reported.

"They'll leave before the end of this month," Bainimarama said during a state visit to the Solomon Islands, the newspaper reported.

Japan and Croatia have already pulled out their contingents and Austria, previously the top contributor with almost 380 soldiers, is in the process of doing the same.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week said he was "seriously concerned" about the force's dwindling numbers.

The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force has been monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel in the Golan since 1974, but violence has escalated as the Syrian conflict spills over into the area.

Fiji's military has a long history of contributing to UN peacekeeping forces but Bainimarama said last month that the Golan Heights deployment was potentially the most dangerous mission they had faced.

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PNG opposition challenges law changes

PNG's government is engaging in 'constitutional terrorism', Opposition Leader Belden Namah says. Source: AAP

PAPUA New Guinea's government is engaging in "constitutional terrorism" over a proposal to toughen the rules for votes of no confidence, Opposition Leader Belden Namah says.

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill last week proposed the changes to make sure motions of no confidence are made public three months before they come to a vote, as well as reducing the minimum annual number of parliamentary sitting days.

"The prime minister has yet to specify publicly as well as in the proposed amendments, the public interest or national goal that the amendments... achieve, promote or enhance," Mr Namah said in a statement.

"The prime minister ought to be clear that manipulating the constitution to avoid or escape the scrutiny of parliament, does not constitute a public but a selfish interest.

"This is effectively constitutional terrorism".

Mr Namah said he will launch legal action to stop the amendments being discussed in parliament, which resumes on Tuesday following a six-week break.

The opposition leader said he wanted all further constitutional amendments to be subject to a referendum, and for tougher separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government.

Mr O'Neill's proposed changes will also require one third of parliament to mount a motion of no confidence instead of the currently required one 10th.

The amendment appears to reduce the minimum required parliamentary sitting days to 40, down from 63.

Finance Minister James Marape says the amendments are necessary to promote political stability.

"We only have to look at nations like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, who all through political stability have progressed," Mr Marape told the Post Courier Newspaper.

"Yet in the same period of time prior to 2002, the average life of our governments has been 18 months.

"I give assurance that the proposed laws will be brought in with safety valves in as far as protecting our nation from potential of abuse of office by leaders."

Mr Marape said the government will engage in community consultation before the laws are brought to a vote.

Earlier this year Mr O'Neill convinced his parliamentary supporters to pass a law banning votes of no confidence for the first 30 months out of a five-year term.

PNG spent the second half of 2011 and much of 2012 mired in a political impasse sparked by the dumping of long serving prime minister Sir Michael Somare.

Since the election last year Mr O'Neill has governed PNG with an overwhelming parliamentary majority of 95 MPs out of 111.

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At least 80 missing in Canada train blaze

At least 80 people are missing after an oil train derailment in Quebec, Canadian police say. Source: AAP

AT least 80 people are missing after a driverless oil tanker train derailed and exploded in the small Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, destroying dozens of buildings.

The accident in the small Quebec town, located around 250km east of Montreal, created a spectacular fireball and forced 2,000 people from their homes.

Officials earlier only confirmed one fatality, but had warned the toll could rise. A search for bodies was to begin Sunday at dawn.

The firefighter said on condition of anonymity that there had been at least 50 people in one bar that was consumed by the flames.

"There is nothing left," he said.

Witnesses reported as many as six explosions after the train derailed at about 1.20am in Lac-Megantic, a picturesque resort town of 6,000 residents near the border with the US state of Maine.

Michel Brunet, a spokesman for Quebec's provincial police, said late on Saturday the official death toll remained at one but added: "We expect there will be more fatalities."

Radio-Canada had earlier reported that 60 people were unaccounted for in Lac-Megantic, where the blaze was still raging, 20 hours on.

"There have been several reports" from people who said they were unable to reach relatives who lived near the accident site, Brunet said.

"The fire is still raging, our investigators have not yet even be able to get close to the scene," he added, more than 12 hours after the incident.

An initial evacuation zone of a kilometre around the crash site was widened on Saturday as a precaution against harmful particles in the air, bringing the total to 2,000 people forced to leave their homes.

Around 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, including some who came across the border from Maine, just 25km south of the town.

The cause of the crash was still unknown, but a spokesman for the Montreal Maine & Atlantic company, Christophe Journet, told AFP the train had been stopped in the neighbouring town of Nantes, around 13km west of Lac-Megantic, for a crew changeover.

For an unknown reason, Journet said, the train "started to advance, to move down the slope leading to Lac-Megantic," even though the brakes were engaged.

As a result, "there was no conductor on board" when the train crashed, he said.

A team of investigators from Canada's transportation safety agency was quickly dispatched to the scene to investigate.

One witness, Nancy Cameron, posted a photo on social media websites showing one of the train's locomotives spouting flames near Nantes.

Other witnesses were in Lac-Megantic when the train came barrelling in.

"When we came out of a bar, we saw cars arriving in the center of town at full speed," Yvon Rosa told Radio-Canada.

"We heard explosions and there was fire everywhere. We ran to the edge of the water," Rosa said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his "thoughts and prayers" to the community and said the federal government was ready to provide assistance.

The Montreal Maine & Atlantic train consisted of five locomotives and 77 rail cars and was carrying oil from the US state of North Dakota, said the company's vice president of marketing, Joe McGonigle.

But Quebec authorities spoke of 72 cars transporting 100 tonnes of oil each.

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Unhelpful asylum seekers processed last

The Rudd government says asylum seekers who destroy their identity papers will be processed last. Source: AAP

ASYLUM seekers who try to "game" the system by destroying their passports will be forced to the back of the processing queue under tough new rules announced by the Rudd government.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who announced the policy on Sunday, would not be drawn on whether it signified Labor's lurch to the right on asylum seeker policies.

The measures will give priority to would-be refugees arriving by boat who cooperate with authorities, while taking asylum seekers who destroy their passports and identity papers to the "back of the processing queue".

"I want to make absolutely clear that no one would be advantaged by playing that sort of game," Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

"I'm making sure that people don't game the process."

He was asked whether the new measures represented a "lurch to the right" - the very thing Kevin Rudd urged his party not to do when he was challenged by Julia Gillard for leadership of the Labor Party in 2010.

"I don't want to get into this 'this one's a lurch to the right' or 'this one's a lurch to the left' argument," Mr Burke said.

His job as immigration minister was a serious one that made a "massive difference to what happens with people's lives and indeed whether or not people have lives".

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young urged Labor not to embrace right-wing asylum policies.

"It's time for a new way on refugee policy, not a return to the old cruel way of the Howard years," she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mr Burke slammed the coalition for appearing to contradict themselves on their policy of towing asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop said on Sunday there would be "no unilateral action" under the opposition's boat policy, while opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said on Saturday "as John Howard proved, you have got to have unilateral action on our side that works".

Mr Burke said the Liberal Party had "nothing but slogans to offer".

Also on Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare reiterated that the government was committed to freeing children from Australian detention centres.

But Mr Clare stressed that the process of freeing minors needed to be "systematic" and could take some time.

"If you're going to put a young person into foster care, you need to make sure you can give them the sort of care and support that they need," he told Network Ten.

Mr Morrison said Labor's policy was a "poor imitation" of the coalition's plan to deny visas for people who discarded their identity documents.

"People who throw their documents away when seeking to illegally enter Australia should not be put to the back of the queue - they should not be in the queue at all," he said in Sydney.

Mr Burke said the coalition plan to deny visas risked breaching Australia's obligations under the United Nations Refugee Convention.

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Eight dead in Philippines clashes

FIVE Philippine soldiers and three rogue Muslim rebels have been killed in clashes ahead of the resumption of peace talks aimed at ending a decades-old rebellion, the military says.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a splinter guerrilla group, ambushed an army truck and attacked an army camp on Saturday, said regional military spokesman Major-General Romeo Gapuz.

The fighting occurred two days before the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim guerrilla force, were to resume talks in neighbouring Malaysia on Monday.

"The BIFF is hell-bent on derailing the (Philippines-MILF) peace talks by launching simultaneous attacks against civilian and military installations," Gapuz said in a written statement.

The BIFF set off a roadside bomb as a military truck drove past in the mainly rural Datu Piang municipality, killing three soldiers, officials said.

A Philippine Army unit based nearby killed three of the rebels in a subsequent firefight, they added.

BIFF forces simultaneously attacked an army detachment in another section of the town, killing two other soldiers, a military report said.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misry confirmed that his group was behind Saturday's attacks.

"We will continue our guerilla offensives against the military until they leave Maguindanao," Misry told Catholic-run local radio station DXMS in a telephone interview, referring to a Mindanao province where his group operates.

The group is led by Ameril Umbrakato, a former senior MILF official who was expelled in 2011.

His renegade group has been blamed for a series of raids across Mindanao in 2008 that left nearly 400 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.

The MILF, which is observing a ceasefire, is to resume negotiations in Malaysia on Monday, the Philippine government said.

The talks aim to create an autonomous region for the Muslim minority in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Catholic nation of 100 million.

The two sides signed a preliminary agreement in October outlining the broad terms for a peace treaty that would be signed by 2016.

The Malaysia talks seek to resolve remaining differences on key issues like wealth and power-sharing within the proposed autonomous region, as well as disarming and demobilising the MILF.

The 12,000-member MILF has waged a guerrilla war for a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines since the 1970s that has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.

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