World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

US and Italian government turmoil hits markets - live
Julia Gillard's Q&A at Sydney Opera House - live
Typhoon Wutip prompts Vietnam evacuations
Privacy and surveillance: Jacob Applebaum, Caspar Bowden and more
Morrison: doctors’ fears about 48-hour asylum turnaround are unfounded
Climate change study finds Australia suffers more than most G20 countries
George Brandis a 'hypocrite' for claiming wedding expenses, says Labor
Australian PM visits Indonesia amid tensions over asylum policy
There are advantages to global warming, says minister
Don't get too comfy – the migrant's mantra for making it in Britain?
Email surveillance could reveal journalists' sources, expert claims
Pope John Paul I dies of heart attack: From the archive, 30 September 1978
Barrenjoey bushfire: arson fears grow as investigators fail to find cause
Rwanda rail project on track to bridge Africa's economic divide
Tanzania has shown how civil society can contribute to economic justice | Semkae Kilonzo
Samuel Johnson prize 2013 shortlist – in pictures
Police inaction preceded domestic violence victim's murder, coroner says
Christopher Tappin 'returned to UK' to serve out arms-dealing sentence
Carbon pricing: Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten promise to stand firm
Pope Francis should give us a break from this flurry of papal saints | Paul Vallely
Airport security: China steps up penalties for false terrorism threats
Secret files: Reserve Bank company had talks with Iraq, despite UN sanctions
Police in Stephen Milne case accused of running PR campaign
Multiple sclerosis researchers celebrate breakthrough gene discovery
Scott Morrison rejects claim asylum boat rescue was delayed by 24 hours

US and Italian government turmoil hits markets - live

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:35 AM PDT

Shares slid in Asia and Europe as political instability in America and Italy risks triggering a new phase of the financial crisis

Graeme Wearden

Julia Gillard's Q&A at Sydney Opera House - live

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:32 AM PDT

In her first extended interview since losing the prime ministership Julia Gillard is talking to Anne Summers in a question and answer session at the Opera House

Bridie Jabour

Typhoon Wutip prompts Vietnam evacuations

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:31 AM PDT

More than 8,000 villagers in Quang Tri province's coastal areas moved to safe places, as many regions prepare for flooding

Tens of thousands of people in high-risk areas in central Vietnam are being evacuated before a typhoon strikes, Vietnamese officials have said.

Local weather forecasts predict Typhoon Wutip, with sustained wind speed of up to 93 miles per hour will hit central Vietnam on Monday.

Vietnamese disaster official Le Tri Cong said more than 8,000 villagers in Quang Tri province's coastal areas were evacuated to safe places as of Sunday night and 35,000 others from areas facing with serious flooding, landslides and flash floods are being evacuated.

The central floods and storms control committee said on its website on Monday that more than 140,000 people in four other central provinces are planned for evacuation on Monday.

Privacy and surveillance: Jacob Applebaum, Caspar Bowden and more

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:17 AM PDT

All-day conference in Lausanne, Switzerland will discuss topic of privacy and surveillance in the light of the Snowden disclosures highlighted by The Guardian - and we're on the spot to liveblog it

Charles Arthur

Morrison: doctors’ fears about 48-hour asylum turnaround are unfounded

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:03 AM PDT

Immigration minister claims that appropriate welfare and quarantine measures are in place for asylum seeker transfers

Oliver Laughland

Paul Farrell

Climate change study finds Australia suffers more than most G20 countries

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:52 AM PDT

Exposure worsens rapidly, with stresses on water increasing and the cost of natural disasters running second only to China

Australia's exposure to climate change has worsened more rapidly than in any other major economy in the past two years, with stresses on water supplies increasing and the cost of natural disasters running second only to China, a report has found.

The study, compiled by HSBC, found that temperatures in Australia had risen faster than in any other G20 country over the past two years – up by 0.39C to 18.9C on a decade average basis. Deterioration in water resources is also a major issue, with Australia, along with Saudi Arabia, experiencing the worst increases.

HSBC concluded that India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil are the countries most vulnerable to climate change, based on the challenges posed by climate change and their ability to respond to them.

However, Australia's position appears to be worsening, with the country now placed as the fifth worst in the G20 for climate change exposure, down five places from HSBC's last climate report in 2011. This separate ranking is based on a country's exposure to temperature increases, water stresses and extreme events.

HSBC said that this downgrading was largely due to Australia's G20-leading temperature increase, although it is clear that water stresses and natural disasters have also taken their toll.

Australia's water resources per capita have dropped 6.8% in the past two years, according to the report. Meanwhile, Australia spends 0.24% of GDP on recovery from disasters caused by natural events such as floods and cyclones, second only to China (0.30%).

According to the report, damage caused by natural disasters hit $US260bn in the decade to 2012.

On Friday, the International Climate Change Partnership's authoritative climate change report revealed that Australia was on course for a 6C temperature increase on its warmest days by 2100. Australia can also expect to lose many bird, reptile and mammal species, as well as the Kakadu wetlands in the Northern Territory.

Nathan Fabian, CEO of the Investor Group on Climate Change, told Guardian Australia that climate change posed a significant economic challenge to Australia.

"The transition to a clean energy economy is a major issue for Australia as it is way too emissions intensive than it should be," he said. "This provides a high degree of economic exposure.

"Our research has also shown that key sectors which Australia invests in, such as mining and minerals, manufacturing and transport, all have significant physical vulnerabilities which we expect to be more severe by 2030.

"That means businesses have to build resilience within assets and adapt by relocation if possible. It's a critical issue for Australian companies and it's starting to filter into conversations in boardrooms."

George Brandis a 'hypocrite' for claiming wedding expenses, says Labor

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:34 AM PDT

Chris Bowen says attorney general should hold himself to the same standards he expects of other parliamentarians

The acting Labor leader, Chris Bowen, has called the attorney general, George Brandis, "one of the biggest hypocrites" in parliament after the Liberal senator repaid $1,683 in taxpayer-funded entitlements for going to a friend's wedding.

Bowen said Brandis had made a "de facto admission" in repaying the money, and added: "He's clearly one of the parliament's biggest hypocrites, having held other people to a very high standard, a standard he has failed to meet himself."

Bowen told ABC radio: "This was claimed about two years ago and only when [Brandis] got caught did he decide to hand the money back after considerable pressure.

"What is worse is he has not even admitted the error. The repayment of the money is a de facto admission but he has not even had the good grace to say he got it wrong."

Notwithstanding the repayment, Brandis has defended his claim for travel expenses to attend the former shock jock Mike Smith's wedding in 2011.

In a letter to the Department of Finance with his cheque enclosed, Brandis wrote that he considered the costs were within parliamentary entitlements "since they were incurred in the course of attendance of a function primarily for work-related purposes". He added: "I remain of that view."

But Bowen said: "To see the first law officer of the nation claim that a friend's wedding in which he reportedly quote unquote 'tore up the dance floor' was a work-related expense was pathetic.

"And to make it worse, Tony Abbott has asked him to write the new ministerial code of conduct."

Bowen called for Abbott to relieve Brandis of any responsibility in drafting the new ministerial code, but it is understood the code will be drafted in the office of the prime minister, not that of the attorney general.

The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, also attended the wedding, but said he paid for his flights and motel room. He was checking his records to confirm the arrangements for the use of a commonwealth car from an interview with Andrew Bolt to the motel.

"If there was any ambiguity it's in regards from going from the Andrew Bolt show to the motel. If there is any ambiguity there I'll refund it – but it was a work day like any other day,"

Joyce said.

Asked whether the wedding was work-related, Joyce said a lot of private functions involved talking politics.

"At the wedding there were a whole range of people that were involved in politics, that are involved in journalism," Joyce said.

"It's just like when you get invited to go watch a football game or when you get invited to the mid-winter [press] ball, I suppose. They're all private functions at which you spend most of the time talking about politics."

Smith covered allegations made against the former prime minister Julia Gillard regarding the establishment of a fund for the Australian Workers Union. He ultimately left Fairfax radio over his plans to air details about the case.

In a broadcast on his website, Smith said the Fairfax reporter who broke the expenses story had contacted himself and Joyce on Saturday for comment. The story ran the following day.

Smith said he always gave Gillard seven days to answer questions.

"Let me tell you one thing about my machinations with the former prime minister Julia Gillard," Smith said.

"If I had allegations to put to her, I have given her routinely seven days to respond."

Bowen said while he was happy to accept some grey areas in the rules governing expenses, "this was not one of them".

He said: "This was a friend's wedding. There are functions that are a mix of work and pleasure but this was not one of them.

"[Brandis] was not providing a speech on behalf of the Liberal party or there in an official capacity.

"This was a mate's wedding. It's open and shut. It's black and white. Whichever term you choose to use, he breached the rules."

Gabrielle Chan

Australian PM visits Indonesia amid tensions over asylum policy

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:21 AM PDT

High-level talks between Tony Abbott and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono come after 20 asylum seekers drown off Indonesia

As the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, prepares for 24 hours of high-level talks in Indonesia, his government has tried to emphasise the strengthening of trade and investment links rather than the troubled negotiations over asylum-seeker policy.

Abbott is flying to Indonesia on Monday for an overnight visit, his first overseas trip since becoming prime minister.

Relations with Jakarta remain tense over his government's strategy to stop people trying to seek asylum in Australia by sea, which includes a plan for the country's navy to turn boats around.

His statement on Friday about the visit did not mention the asylum policy directly and said Australia's relationship with Indonesia was "broad-based", spanning business, education, defence, security and "people-to-people" links.

The visit comes after the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, held talks last week with her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, in New York.

During the meeting, Natalegawa said he had made clear Indonesia would not co-operate on an asylum seeker policy that threatened his "country's sovereignty".

Bishop and the trade minister, Andrew Robb, will accompany Abbott on the trip while the immigration and border protection minister, Scott Morrison, stays in Australia.

On Sunday, Robb released a lengthy statement emphasising the trade aspects of the visit, saying he would be focusing on deepening "regional economic integration".

"As a government we are determined to demonstrate that Australia is very much open for business and that we are committed to being a stable and reliable trade and investment partner with all countries with which we share important relationships," he said.

Twenty business people from various Australian business sectors including agriculture, resources, banking and finance, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunications will join the prime minister on the trip and take part in meetings in Indonesia.

As Abbott was due to fly out, the Howard government foreign minister, Alexander Downer, published an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper urging Abbott to resolve tensions over asylum seeker policy quickly.

He did not offer advice as to how to resolve the tension and instead argued for the "turn back the boats" policy, which has been rejected by Indonesia.

"The Indonesians don't like that but the boats are theirs, have their crews and come from their ports," he said.

"They can hardly complain that we are sending their boats back to Indonesia – their home. This issue needs to be settled and fast."

Abbott and the delegation travelling with him are due back in Australia on Tuesday.

Bridie Jabour

There are advantages to global warming, says minister

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:00 AM PDT

Owen Paterson, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, says effects of global warming not all negative

The cabinet minister responsible for fighting the effects of climate change claimed there would be advantages to an increase in temperature predicted by the United Nations including fewer people dying of cold in winter and the growth of certain crops further north.

Owen Paterson told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference on Sunday night that predictions by scientists – that there could be major increases in temperature resulting in melting ice caps and worldwide flooding – should not be seen as entirely negative.

His comments came after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found last week that within two or three decades the world will face nearly inevitable warming of more than 2 degrees, resulting in rising sea levels, heatwaves, droughts and extreme weather.

Asked at a fringe meeting organised by the RSPB if the report proved that the climate is "broken", Paterson said:

"People get very emotional about this subject and I think we should just accept that the climate has been changing for centuries.

"I think the relief of this latest report is that it shows a really quite modest increase, half of which has already happened. They are talking one to two and a half degrees.

"Remember that for humans, the biggest cause of death is cold in winter, far bigger than heat in summer. It would also lead to longer growing seasons and you could extend growing a little further north into some of the colder areas.

"I actually see this report as something we need to take seriously but I am rather relieved that it is not as catastrophic in its forecast as we had been led to believe early on and what it is saying is something we can adapt to over time and we are very good as a race at adapting," he said.

Paterson's views were taken to task by Guy Newey, head of environment and energy at the Policy Exchange thinktank.

"The point that the climate has been changing for centuries understates the size of the problem that we are facing and the size of the action we need to overcome it. We really have no idea of knowing what is going to happen in terms of temperature. The risk is really very scary … I worry that some of the language that Owen uses - that we can actually wait and see what happens - is a big risk," he replied, to applause from the audience.

Paterson has long been suspected of being a climate change sceptic. He has previously called for a reduction in the subsidies given to wind farms and other green energy initiatives.

He also defended the government's plans for a badger cull, revealing that he had two pet badgers when he was a child.

Rajeev Syal

Don't get too comfy – the migrant's mantra for making it in Britain?

Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:00 AM PDT

Should established migrant groups in Britain think more like new migrants and keep striving for more?

When not presenting radio programmes for BBC Five Live and running his publishing, TV and community ventures, Dotun Adebayo writes a column for the Voice – "Britain's Biggest Black Newspaper". He's a striver, as they say. His column the other day touched on this.

What happens to many migrants of long standing, he asked. Do we get too comfy? I was struck by this in the light of comments last year by Douglas Orane, the chairman of Grace Kennedy, one of Jamaica's most successful companies. How come, he asked, the Jamaicans who leave for the US and Canada retain an entrepreneurial zeal that those in the UK seem to lack?

Adebayo, being a bit of a controversialist, tackles it differently. Addressing Jamie Oliver's complaint that his hardest workers are migrants, Adebayo said: "His foreign staff work harder because they have to. They are the new negroes. We don't have to. We are no longer negroes. So why should we work harder?"

It shouldn't be that way, he says. The playing field is not, and never has been, level. "That is what our parents told us 50 years ago when they came to this country and they had a dream, and it is still the case today. Our parents came here with nothing and, if nothing else, managed to work hard enough to buy their own properties in this country, through sheer hard work. Yet we, their inheritors, think we can afford to be lazy gits because we carry a British passport and we support England in the World Cup." The truth, he says, is that every "new negro" – "Poles, the Bulgarians, the Czechs, the Romanians", puts in the graft, leaving many established migrants behind.

Interesting questions there. Does familiarity dull the buccaneering spirit? Should established migrants continue to think and act like new migrants, or do they earn – through sojourn on this island and payment of tax – the right to an easier, better-paid life? And once they reach a stage of comfort and equilibrium, what then drives them forward? Is it personal aspiration, desire for wealth, peer pressure?

One doubts Poles and Romanians relish being called the new negroes. But the fundamental question is worth thinking about. Some migrant groups do fare better than others. Do they keep the new migrant mindset for longer? Is that how they get ahead?

Hugh Muir

Email surveillance could reveal journalists' sources, expert claims

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:50 PM PDT

Phil Zimmermann, inventor of PGP encryption, urges shift away from consumer email. By Alex Hern

Alex Hern

Pope John Paul I dies of heart attack: From the archive, 30 September 1978

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:30 PM PDT

Catholics around the world stunned by sudden death of Pope John Paul I, only 33 days after his election

Incredulity more than grief was the reaction of most Italians on hearing yesterday morning of the death of the happy Pope, John Paul, who had reigned for only 33 days.

In that brief time he had entered the homes and probably the hearts of millions of Italians, including non-practising Roman Catholics, thanks to the way the news media, and television in particular, had made known his happy and optimistic personality.

The new and late Pope retired to his chambers about 10 p.m. on Thursday. He had just been told that some neo-Fascist youths had fired on a group of young people reading L'Unita, the Communist newspaper, which was posted outside one of the party's neighbourhood offices in Rome, killing one boy and seriously wounding another. The Pope's comment was "Even the young are killing each other." Those were his last words.

When he did not appear yesterday morning in his private chapel for Mass, one of his secretaries, Father Magee, an Irishman, went to the Pope's bedroom door and knocked. There was no answer. Upon entering, he found the Pope lying in his bed, with a book opened beside him, and the reading light on.

According to a Vatican doctor, he probably died around 11 p.m. on Thursday of a heart attack.

Pope John Paul could have been a revolutionary Pope. He already had put aside the pompous trappings which went with the Papal coronation. Almost certainly he would have seen that the Vatican's mysterious finances, and financial dealings, were made public, and perhaps set them on a more pastoral track.

In Venice, he had urged his parish priest to sell the gold and jewels which people had donated to a saint or the Virgin Mary, and to use the money to help the needy. Had he carried it out in the Vatican, it would have been a revolutionary act.

In Pope John Paul's most endearing public appearance, his balcony chat on the day after his election, he made everyone laugh when he spoke of "the danger" of his being elected.

"The two colleagues sitting next to me whispered words of encouragement, one of them saying: 'Take courage, the Lord who gives you this burden will give you the strength to sustain it,'" he said. But Cardinal Luciani was more prophetic when he spoke of the "danger" of being elected Pope.

Cardinal Benelli, Archbishop of Florence, and the man who many people saw last month as the likely successor to the Pope had he lived ten more years (Benelli at 57 is considered too young), said yesterday: "We must, however, think of the supreme, divine design. We must put ourselves in God's hands for the good of the Church. He knows where we are going, we do not."

Barrenjoey bushfire: arson fears grow as investigators fail to find cause

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:03 PM PDT

Lighthouse saved as fire, believed to be deliberately lit, burns through 17 hectares of Palm Beach bushland

A fire that threatened Sydney's landmark Barrenjoey lighthouse may have been deliberately lit, with no other obvious cause identified.

After fire broke out on Barrenjoey Head at Palm Beach on Saturday, fire crews managed to save the historic lighthouse that features on the television soap Home and Away.

But the fire burned through 17 hectares of bushland and damaged a nearby cottage.

The New South Wales rural fire service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said investigations were continuing, but the lack of an apparent cause had led the service to believe it may have been deliberately lit.

"At this stage one can only be suspicious," he told reporters on Monday at the official beginning of the NSW bushfire season.

"We still have the fire investigation unit having a good look at that fire but in the absence of any natural cause such as lightning or a clashing power line ... we are treating that one as suspicious."

NSW has already faced more than 2500 grass and bushfires this year with more than 1000 of those occurring within the past month.

Fitzsimmons said weather forecasts had been "dramatically revised" and indicated a tough season ahead.

"We've gone from an 85% probability of above average rainfall down to about 35% in some parts of NSW," he told reporters.

He said firefighters were well prepared but community complacency, especially on Sydney's fringes, had been a problem.

"More than 70% of people acknowledge and understand they live in an at-risk area but less than a third of them actually have a plan about what they'll do ... in the event they're impacted by fire," Fitzsimmons said.

"She'll be right, mate just isn't good enough. You need to take action now."

The NSW emergency services minister, Michael Gallacher, said police were right behind firefighters to catch any firebugs and added the community took a dim view of such "fools".

"There is nothing more soul destroying [for a community] when they find out a fire that has engulfed their streets, their suburbs, their homes has been lit intentionally by some fool."

On Monday, 55 fires were burning across the state, including 24 that were not contained.

Fitzsimmons said NSW could face more total fire bans on Tuesday if cloud cover was low.

Rwanda rail project on track to bridge Africa's economic divide

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:00 PM PDT

The $13.5bn line between Kigali and Mombasa in Kenya is one of several African projects aimed at improving infrastructure

Hundreds of lorries trundle through the Rwanda-Tanzania border every hour, damaging Rwanda's narrow hilly roads. A $13.5bn (£8.4bn) railway project linking the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, cannot come soon enough for Silas Lwakabamba, Rwanda's minister of infrastructure.

"The trucks carry too much load, they end up spoiling the road," he said. "Rail will be faster and can carry more. Maintenance of rail will be much easier."

The 1,824-mile (2,935km) line is one of several big infrastructure projects on the continent, reflecting renewed global interest among policymakers after years of focusing on health and education. Besides the Mombasa-Kigali rail link, a seven-year initiative to connect Niger and Ivory Coast is to begin next year as part of efforts to improve rail infrastructure in west Africa.

The railway would link Niamey, the capital of landlocked Niger, with the Ivorian commercial hub of Abidjan, via the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, after the extension of mining activities in west Africa.

Dams are also back in fashion. Ethiopia is pressing ahead with its Grand Renaissance dam to the consternation of Egypt, which fears that the project will curb its water supply. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, work is scheduled to start on Inga III, a $20bn project.

"Infrastructure is critical for development," said Lwakabamba. "For the transport sector, we need roads, rail and air, they are all very critical for economic development. And we can't do anything without energy."

Rwanda is also involved in the Rusumo falls hydroelectric project to increase power supply of electricity to the national grids of Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania, a project backed by the International Development Association, the World Bank's soft loan arm, and the African Development Bank.

Africa accounts for just 3% of global trade and African countries trade 10% of their goods with each other, compared with 65% between European countries. Landlocked countries are hit particularly hard by poor infrastructure, paying up to 84% more to export their goods than a coastal country. Improving regional markets in Africa would have a significant impact on economic development and poverty reduction.

The continent's infrastructure needs are huge, but financing levels are only half the estimated $93bn needed annually between now and 2015 to sustain 7% growth rates. Infrastructure is the key issue around plans for a development bank by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – known as the Brics.

The Mombasa-Kigali link is getting attention at the highest level. Leaders from Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have been meeting regularly on the project and plan to discuss financing next month in Kigali. Funding has been secured from China for the $3.7bn Mombasa-Nairobi section, a distance of 500km, and construction is due to begin in November.

The 125-mile Rwanda section will cost $1.5bn and Rwanda is still lining up financing. The line will be used to carry coffee, tea and other agricultural products and minerals out of Rwanda and machinery into the country. The railway will be designed for freight (speeds of 50mph) but will be open for other passenger travel too.

The Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali railway project entails a 736-mile rail from Mombasa through Nairobi to Malaba and branching to Kisumu (Kenya); an 870-mile rail from Malaba to Kampala, Uganda and linking to four Ugandan towns before connecting to the main line to Rwanda at Mirima Hills; a 125-mile rail from Mirima Hills to Kigali and an extra 93-mile rail to other towns in Rwanda.

The existing railway between Mombasa and Kampala dates to the colonial era, and has a small gauge. The new line will have a standard gauge, which is wider, and therefore faster and capable of carrying heavier loads. Rwanda will build its section from scratch as there is no existing line.

The project is unlikely to receive support from UK taxpayers as the Department for International Development (DfID) has withdrawn £21m in general budget support – direct aid to the Rwandan government – shifting it to sector support, focusing on health and education.

The decision was taken after allegations that Rwanda was supporting M23 rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"We do respect decision of the UK government," said Lwakabamba. "We obviously prefer budget support as it allows us a degree of flexibility on priorities. The UK concentrates more on education and social areas."

Mark Tran

Tanzania has shown how civil society can contribute to economic justice | Semkae Kilonzo

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:00 PM PDT

By asking the right questions, citizens can help to fight poverty, promote transparency and reinforce social and economic rights

In the Ileje district of southern Tanzania, expectant mothers about to give birth had to cross a crocodile-infested river into Malawi because a local medical centre did not have enough money to pay for a midwife.

It took a campaign by civil society organsations and citizens to uncover that there was money available, but that it had somehow been diverted. Once it became clear there was a staff budget, remedial action was taken. Now the women of Ileje receive pregnancy and birth delivery services without risking their lives on a needless, long and hazardous journey.

In Tanzania, civil society groups stress the importance of transparent and inclusive government budgets to improve service delivery, reduce poverty and achieve social and economic rights. But often it takes active and brave citizens using their "right to know" to have a positive influence on what governments do on their behalf.

A year of persistent questions from Lake Victoria fishermen was needed to discover a serious discrepancy between the levies they paid to use a fish market and the amount the council reported receiving. Scrutiny prevented a potentially ruinous and unnecessary 100% levy hike for the market premises.

Though the Tanzanian economy has been growing by an average of 7% annually for more than a decade, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Approximately a quarter of the adult population cannot read, life expectancy is 58 years, and just 14% of the country's 48 million people have access to electricity.

With African countries' budgets under continual strain, civil society organisations increasingly have to understand how they can ensure tax revenue is spent wisely – and even that it is collected.

In Tanzania, this has meant raising the issue of curtailment of cross-border illicit financial flows. Governments cannot afford to ignore this if they truly want to make a difference. Not with the ratio of illicit money flowing out of poor nations to the amount of foreign aid standing at roughly $10:$1.

Yet authorities are sometimes bewildered when citizens request budget transparency. "Why would anyone outside government want to see boring technical details about how public money is intended for use?" they ask.

Budget information can be presented as relevant and useful to the public, however. For instance, our organisation managed to persuade the government to issue a "citizens' budget" (pdf) – a simplified digest of the national budget. We can extend this by also producing simplified versions that show how revenue will be generated, including how much will come from domestic taxes, natural resource extraction and foreign aid, which accounts for about 30% of national spending.

Although tax justice is only being tackled by a few urban civil society organisations in Tanzania, it will become increasingly prominent once massive potential revenues from recently discovered gas deposits begin flowing in a decade.

Increasingly, the public is recognising the potential for the Tanzanian gas sector to play a huge part in the country's rapid economic growth. But concerns remain that the lives of the poor – particularly those in local communities close to existing resources – will not improve, due to budget and tax mismanagement.

Solving these problems is a much bigger fight, requiring co-ordinated international efforts by governments and civil society across the globe. But national civil society organisations can play their part. They can press their governments to introduce mechanisms that will help improve global financial transparency and implement suitable regulation to check the murky system that limits the mobilisation of resources for poor countries. If all governments adopt high standards for transparency, we will be closer to seeing greater domestic resource mobilisation and economic growth among poor countries.

But there is even more at stake than ensuring poor countries receive their fair share of revenue. The focus on efficient tax collection allows for a fresh debate on fairness. When we talk about curtailing illicit financial flows, we move beyond asking how we share resources equitably. We begin to tackle how we ensure the collection of public money in a manner that is just and bridges the gap between rich and poor countries. This means we are fighting for inclusive economic growth.

• Semkae Kilonzo is co-ordinator of Policy Forum, a network of more than 100 Tanzanian civil society organisations focusing on public money accountability. Towards Transparency: Making the Global Financial System Work for Development, the Financial Transparency Coalition 2013 Conference, will take place in Dar es Salaam on 1-2 October. To join in the discussion, or ask the panel questions, tweet us using the #FTCDar2013 or follow FTC on Twitter @FinTrCo.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Samuel Johnson prize 2013 shortlist – in pictures

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:00 PM PDT

A exploration of Britain's Roman remains, a history of bees and a biography of Margaret Thatcher are among the six books shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction

William Dalrymple

Police inaction preceded domestic violence victim's murder, coroner says

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:59 PM PDT

South Australian inquest hears that Zahra Abrahimzadeh, who was stabbed by ex-husband, had made multiple complaints

Christopher Tappin 'returned to UK' to serve out arms-dealing sentence

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:22 PM PDT

The British businessman who fought against extradition to the US has reportedly been sent back

Carbon pricing: Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten promise to stand firm

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:11 PM PDT

Leadership rivals pledge to honour Labor's environment legacy and not 'wave through' Tony Abbott's policy changes

Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten have pledged to Labor members that they will stand firm in support of carbon pricing, although the two leadership contenders have been urged to do more to tackle the party's internal division over the environment.

A series of questions were submitted to Albanese and Shorten by the Labor environment action network, a grassroots Labor group that advocates strong action on the environment. The network, known as Lean, was established in 2004 and counts former foreign minister Bob Carr and federal MP Matt Thistlethwaite as members.

Albanese and Shorten's answers, seen by Guardian Australia, show that both contenders have promised not to "wave through" a repeal of carbon pricing by the new Coalition government.

"Standing by our legacy is vital to opposing Tony Abbott's plans to wind back the measures we implemented in government," Shorten said. "If elected leader I will fight any attempt by Tony Abbott to remove a price on carbon pollution and market-based mechanisms to address climate change."

Shorten does, however, say that will look to work with Labor members to "work on the next round of progressive, big thinking Labor policies on climate change."

Albanese said Labor should "never walk away from our great reforms" on tackling climate change, promising to fight the repeal of the carbon price and the dismantling of the various climate change agencies associated with it.

On other environmental matters, both candidates reaffirmed their opposition to nuclear power in Australia and attacked the Coalition's plan to devolve environmental assessment powers to the states. Shorten said he supported "further policy work" on a last-ditch election campaign pledge to look at bringing national parks under federal environmental protection.

However, neither candidate would commit to any further intervention into Australia's fossil fuel industries, despite warnings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others that the world is rapidly eating through its "carbon budget" that provides a buffer to a two-degree temperature rise.

Albanese, a former shadow environment minister, overall provided lengthier, and some may argue more impassioned, responses, which invoked Labor's environmental triumphs.

"Climate change affects the most vulnerable in our society the most," he said. "Climate change threatens our environment, our economy and our way of life. No responsible government can ignore the advice of our leading scientists. Action on climate change therefore has to be one of Labor's highest priorities.

"As Labor people and as a Labor movement, I believe we have a duty to protect our natural habitats so that future generations can enjoy and benefit from them too. I will place sustainability – including environmental sustainability – at the core of federal Labor policy.

"Labor has a proud environmental record in delivering the big environmental reforms in Australian history. It was Labor who initiated the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. It was Hawke and Keating who protected the Franklin, Kakadu and the Daintree as well as Antarctica.

"It was Labor who ended 30 years of conflict over Tasmania's forests and 120 years of disagreement over the Murray Darling basin. If elected as leader of our great party, I will ensure that we continue to stand proud on this platform."

Felicity Wade, co-convener of Lean, told Guardian Australia she was "thrilled" that both candidates had committed to backing the carbon price but said internal Labor tensions over the environment had to be resolved.

"There was talk of the commitment to the carbon price being in danger, so it's very important that both stand by it," she said. "We certainly view Anthony Albanese as a strong advocate for the environment.

"He has a deep heritage in the area, which maybe Bill Shorten doesn't have. But we are also heartened by Bill's strong commitment to the environment in his answers.

"We are a little disappointed that neither chose to respond to the challenge of having a huge fossil fuel industry and its impact on global emissions. There are hard questions there that need to be answered.

"Labor has a fundamental problem over its commitment for economic growth and jobs and its commitment to the environment. Bob Hawke brought environment into the mix and tensions still remain on what people see as jobs versus the environment. The leadership needs to ensure that environmental values sit within our core values and resolve this tension."

Wade said Labor's electoral recovery would rest, in part, on its ability to provide a set of clear environmental policies to voters.

"Labor needs to have a sophisticated position on the environment that shows it is pro-jobs without trashing the environment," she said. "We have allowed the Greens to take away the space of the environment and we need to take it back.

"We sit between two extremes – the Greens and the Liberals. There's a huge opportunity there for us for a sensible middle ground on the environment."

Oliver Milman

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Pope Francis should give us a break from this flurry of papal saints | Paul Vallely

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 10:00 PM PDT

Elevating John XXIII and John Paul II to sainthood is political and divisive. It's time the church closed its dead popes society

The date for the arrival of two more saints within the Catholic church will be announced on 30 September. So what's two more, given the recent deluge from the Vatican? After all, Pope John Paul II, all by himself, created more saints than all the previous popes put together. But this time John Paul II is to be one of them, along with a predecessor pope, John XXIII. This is a bad idea.

For the first half of Christianity's 2,000-year history, saints were created by the acclamation of ordinary believers. It often took centuries for the church authorities to then give official endorsement to this demotic sanctification. But John Paul II's elevation to sainthood must be the fastest in history. His successor, Benedict XVI, even dispensed with the requirement that the dead pope had to wait a minimum of five years before the sainting process could begin.

There was a point to institutionalising delay in the procedure. A saint is an individual whose "heroic virtue" is an exemplar for others. The passing of the years allowed any personal failings the future saint may have had to be eclipsed by that virtue in popular memory.

But ever since the Vatican took control of canonisations in the 11th century, periodically tightening its control ever since, the process has become politicised. Pope Benedict's fast-tracking of his predecessor's beatification was, in part, an attempt to consolidate his conservative legacy – and create a bulwark against what both men saw as the excesses of the second Vatican council which revolutionised Catholicism in the 1960s.

And there is a political dimension to Monday's announcement. The Polish pope's canonisation had been approved before Pope Francis took over. So Francis will couple it with the canonisation of John XXIII – the pope who launched the Vatican II revolution in the 1960s and whose cause had stalled under Benedict. Francis is clearly trying to neutralise the political impact of the rush to make John Paul II a saint by offering a liberal counterpart to this great conservative icon: "Good Pope John" will balance "John Paul the Great".

The Polish pope's supporters are clear about the case for his greatness. The globetrotting rock-stadium-star pontiff was the most popular pope in modern times; some 17 million people travelled to Rome to see him in his time as history's second longest-serving pope. He played a key role in the fall of Soviet-bloc communism. He was the first pope to visit a synagogue and a mosque. He went to Auschwitz and Jerusalem's Western Wall and repeatedly begged forgiveness for centuries of Christian slander of the Jews. He apologised, finally, for the Crusades and the persecution of Galileo. And he gave dignity to the dying by his own protracted public illness.

But if the first half of his papacy was good for the world, the second was bad for the church. He suppressed debate, silenced theologians and outlawed discussion on women priests. He applied his condemnations of the "dictatorship of relativism" to pluralistic societies without qualification. The Vatican II doctrine of collegiality was changed to mean that bishops were being collegial if they agreed with him – and he appointed bishops who did that. Most grievously, for decades he ignored the mounting evidence of priestly sex abuse which devastated thousands of lives. And he refused to take action against the serial abuser Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ later suspended by Pope Benedict.

The skill set for a pope and a saint are far from the same. But there is enough about John Paul II's record to echo the conclusion many reached when Margaret Thatcher was awarded a virtual state funeral: some figures are too controversial and divisive to be accorded a universal acclaim.

There is, in any case, something dodgy about a dead popes society, smacking as it does of heavenly joys for the boys. If we are to have saints they should, as John Paul II to his credit understood, be drawn from the ranks of lay women and men, not just the ordained. Pope Francis should make it clear that, after this, there will be no more fast-tracked papal saints. Or at very least put the whole business on hold for a couple of centuries.

Paul Vallely

Airport security: China steps up penalties for false terrorism threats

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 09:52 PM PDT

Spate of bogus threats have added to the chaos on China's airlines as it enters a holiday week

Secret files: Reserve Bank company had talks with Iraq, despite UN sanctions

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 08:57 PM PDT

Australians tried to strike a deal with Saddam Hussein, who wanted to replace Iraq's currency with polymer banknotes

A company owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia reportedly tried to strike an illegal business deal with the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The operation was called off six months later after Australian diplomats uncovered the secret dealings with the brutal regime, the ABC and Fairfax Media report.

Secret files show officials from the RBA's Note Printing Australia went to Iraq at the time of UN sanctions to discuss a contract to turn the country's paper currency into polymer banknotes.

During the 1998 trip, which was codenamed Delta Project, they met a middleman – Hussein's brother-in-law and bodyguard Arshad Yassin.

Yassin had confirmed that Hussein had seen samples of the banknotes and was keen to adopt them. The Iraqi leader's office had allocated $US65m for the project, RBA officials reported in the document.

David Chaikin, a Sydney University legal expert, told Fairfax Media the confidential files contained a "very strong prima facie" case that officials involved in the trip had breached a UN sanction that banned Australians from promoting the sale or supply of goods to Iraq.

Two RBA banknote firms, NPA and Securency, face criminal charges for allegedly paying kickbacks to win contracts overseas.

The Australian Greens deputy leader, Adam Bandt, said the revelations of "dirty deals" would shock most Australians and called for an inquiry with the powers of a royal commission to be launched.

"The stench surrounding the Reserve Bank and its subsidiaries is now so strong that only a full, independent judicial inquiry will clear the air," Bandt told reporters in Hobart on Monday.

Bandt raised doubt about the effectiveness of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. "It seems that our corporate regulator is asleep at the wheel when it comes to investigating the potentially corrupt activities going on within the Reserve Bank's corporate arms," he said.

Police in Stephen Milne case accused of running PR campaign

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 08:54 PM PDT

• St Kilda player denies allegations of rape
• Defence team subpoena Victoria Police for documents

The legal team defending the former St Kilda footballer Stephen Milne over rape allegations has accused police of running a PR campaign over the force's early handling of the case.

The accusation came after Milne's defence team subpoenaed Victoria Police for documents on the police handling of the case early on.

The case dates back to 2004 but charges were only laid this year after a police review found the initial investigation was inadequate.

Morgan McLay, for chief commissioner Ken Lay, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday that some of the police material was confidential and public interest immunity prevented its release.

The first investigators were still being reviewed over their conduct in the handling of the case, he said.

Mr McLay asked for more time to go through the information the defence lawyers have requested.

But Milne's defence barrister Phil Dunn QC said Mr Lay and assistant commissioner Steve Fontana had gone on radio to conduct a media blitz after Milne was charged to make police appear in a better light, but police were now restricting information about the case.

"The police say we can't tell you, the defence, what's going on, we won't tell you who's rotten in the barrel. We think that is outrageous," he said. "It sounds a bit hollow to us to come along and say we need a bit more time."

Mr Dunn said the material was important because the officers under investigation for the initial handling of the case would be witnesses in the case.
Magistrate Peter Reardon gave police more time to go through the material, with the matter to return to court on 21 October.

He also ordered that copies of a never-aired interview the complainant did in 2004 with Fairfax Radio, shortly after the alleged rape, be distributed to the defence and prosecution, after the woman gave her consent.

Milne, 33, is charged with four counts of rape for allegedly raping a woman at a Highett home, in Melbourne's south-east, on 15 March 2004, two days after St Kilda won the AFL pre-season grand final.

He retired from the AFL when St Kilda's season ended at the start of this month.

Multiple sclerosis researchers celebrate breakthrough gene discovery

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 08:39 PM PDT

Identification of 48 genes is a big step towards finding a cure for MS and further treatment, says Australia-NZ team leader

A milestone has been reached on the path to finding a cure for multiple sclerosis, researchers believe.

A group of international scientists, including an Australian contingent, has discovered 48 previously unknown genes that influence the risk of developing the disease.

MS, which attacks the central nervous system and can have an impact on mobility, balance and sensation, affects 23,000 Australians.

The discovery is a big step towards finding a cure and further treatment for the debilitating condition, according to University of Sydney associate professor David Booth, who led the Australian and New Zealand component of the study.

"The exciting thing about this is we have doubled the number of genes that we now know are associated with MS," he said. "What that means is every one of those new genes is potentially providing us with a new way to understand the disease and to come up with new therapies for the disease."

Researchers believe the findings underline the central role the immune system plays in the development of MS.

The results also show an overlap with genes found to be linked to other autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and coeliac disease.

The findings of the team of scientists, working under the umbrella of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium, were published in medical journal Nature Genetics on Monday.

As part of the study, the largest investigation of MS genetics to date, DNA from blood samples from 80,000 people with and without the condition were examined, including 1800 from Australia and New Zealand.

Booth said the "milestone" provided specific research targets. "So going forward we will try and find out why all of these genes affect MS," he said. "And particularly finding which processes are tagged by groups of genes and that will give us specific information on immune processes that are not functioning as they should."

As a result of the findings, there are now 110 genetic variants linked to MS.

MS Research Australia's chief executive, Matthew Miles, said the work was a huge contribution to understanding MS.

Scott Morrison rejects claim asylum boat rescue was delayed by 24 hours

Posted: 29 Sep 2013 08:29 PM PDT

As death toll rises to 36, immigration minister denies Australian authorities did not respond appropriately to call for help

The government has rejected criticism that its response to an asylum boat sinking on Friday was delayed by 24 hours as "absolutely and totally wrong".

The minister for immigration, Scott Morrison, issued a statement on Sunday following claims made to Fairfax media by survivors of the tragedy that they had contacted the Australian embassy 24 hours before the boat sunk to call for help.

The number of confirmed dead stands at 36, including a number of children, who died in the sinking and Indonesian authorities fear the final death toll could rise to 70.

"The Australians who work for our rescue and border protection agencies respond to all such events with great professionalism and a keenly felt sense of duty, as they did on this occasion," the statement says.

It continues: "The government completely rejects allegations of a 26-hour delay in response to this tragic incident by Australian agencies. Suggestions Australian authorities did not respond to this incident appropriately are absolutely and totally wrong."

Morrison's office had issued a previous statement on Saturday saying that the Indonesian authorities were coordinating the rescue operations as the boat had gone into distress in Indonesian waters.

The statement confirmed that Australian authorities had received a phone call about the boat on Friday morning with a border protection command aircraft dispatched to try to locate the boat. It was unable to do so.

It is understood that the boat departed from the fishing village of Pelabuhan Ratu, on the south coast of western Java and got into trouble roughly 10 hours into its journey before attempting to return to Indonesia.

"This is a tragic event. The Australian government's thoughts and sympathies are with those affected by this tragedy. The government will continue to provide any assistance required by the Indonesian government," Morrison's statement on Sunday said.

Oliver Laughland