Smugglers try to overwhelm PNG boat plan

PEOPLE smugglers are trying to overwhelm Australia's hardline asylum seeker settlement deal with Papua New Guinea, Immigration Minister Tony Burke says.

"In the last few days, some of the smuggling operations have tried to put together a bit of a surge and to see if they can overwhelm the current system," Mr Burke told ABC television on Tuesday.

More than 500 asylum seekers aboard four boats have arrived since Sunday.

The latest boat to arrive in Australian waters capsized north of Christmas Island on Tuesday. Up to five people are believed to have drowned.

Mr Burke insists the number of people arriving by boat has been falling since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveiled his tough regional resettlement plan on July 19.

He says Australia and PNG stand ready to build more facilities on PNG's Manus Island if needed.

Meanwhile, Mr Burke said Australia's processing centre on Nauru was almost ready to receive family groups but that it wasn't ready for unaccompanied minors.

"Family groups will be going to Nauru very soon," he said.

"Unaccompanied minors will be going when I'm confident that they will be safe, that the facilities are in place (and) the accommodation and services are in place that meet the obligations that I'd expect."

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Nine charged in UK hacking probe

A SENIOR Sun journalist, a former Daily Mirror journalist, a police officer and a prison officer are among nine people to be charged as part of an ongoing probe into British media wrongdoing.

Graham Dudman, former managing editor of The Sun; John Troup, a former journalist at The Sun; Greig Box Turnbull, a former journalist at the Daily Mirror; Marc Alexander, formerly a prison officer at HMP Holloway in London; and Darren Jennings, an officer with Wiltshire Police, are to be charged under Operation Elveden.

Sun journalist Vince Soodin; Alan Ostler, who was formerly an assistant technical instructor at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire; Grant Pizzey, a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh in south east London; and his partner Desra Reilly, will also be charged, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Tuesday.

All nine will appear before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 5.

The CPS said it is alleged that, between September 5 and 27, 2002, Dudman requested the authorisation of payments of 3000 to one or more police officers in exchange for information relating to investigations.

It is also claimed that between June 2002 and December 2007, he authorised payments to public officials relating to the health of a patient at Broadmoor, details of an incident at a hospital and details of an incident relating to army combat.

It is further alleged that Dudman, now editorial director of Newsroom 360 at News UK, approved a payment requested by Troup for information relating to the death of a prison inmate.

The CPS said Dudman should be charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, one reflecting conspiracy with Troup, who should also be charged as a co-conspirator.

So far more than 30 people have been charged in the media wrongdoing scandal, including journalists, police officers and former newspaper executives.

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Crime novelist Elmore Leonard dies at 87

ELMORE Leonard, a former adman who later in life became one of America's foremost crime writers, has died. He was 87.

His researcher, Gregg Sutter, says Elmore passed away on Tuesday morning from complications from a stroke.

Leonard's books were populated by pathetic schemers, clever con men and casual killers. And many of the novels - notably Out of Sight, Get Shorty and Be Cool - were made into films. Critics adored his simple, direct language.

More recently, he served as executive producer of the FX drama, Justified, which featured as its centerpiece US Marshal Raylan Givens, a recurring Leonard character.

Earlier in his career, the man known to friends as "Dutch" wrote Western novels and stories, but his major commercial success didn't come until the 1980s.

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Six killed in attacks in northern Iraq

SIX people have been killed in attacks in Iraq, as gunmen defy massive government operations to stem the violence.

Security forces have mounted some of the biggest operations targeting militants since the 2011 withdrawal of American troops, but analysts and diplomats say Iraq is not tackling the root causes of the unrest.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has nevertheless vowed to press on with the campaign to combat the country's worst bloodshed since 2008, with more than 3500 people killed since the start of this year.

Monday's attacks were concentrated in Mosul, a predominantly Sunni Arab city in northern Iraq that has long been one of the country's most violent areas.

Three workers in a carpentry shop were shot dead by militants, while two policemen were gunned down in a pre-dawn attack on a checkpoint.

Gunmen also killed a man from the small Kurdish sect known as Shabak outside his house in Mosul.

The 30,000-strong Shabak community is present in 35 villages in Nineveh province near the border with Turkey, with many members wanting to join the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The Shabak people speak a distinct language and largely follow a faith that is a blend of Shi'ite Islam and local beliefs.

Violence has markedly increased in 2013.

Analysts and diplomats link the upsurge of attack to anger among Sunni Arabs over their alleged ill-treatment at the hands of the Shi'ite-led authorities, which they say has given Sunni militant groups more room to recruit and carry out attacks.

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Trio set to face court over Lane death

THE three boys who allegedly shot dead Australian baseballer Chris Lane are expected to appear in an Oklahoma court.

Prosecutors will announce if the boys - aged 15, 16 and 17 - will be charged with first degree murder and be tried as adults.

If so, the boys could be sentenced to life in jail if convicted.

The arraignment at the Stephens County Courthouse in Duncan is expected to be held about 1.30pm local time (0430 Wednesday AEST).

The random drive-by shooting has shocked locals.

Police allege the 17-year-old has confessed to being the driver and explained they randomly targeted Mr Lane because they were bored.

Mr Lane, 22, who had a scholarship at an Oklahoma college to play baseball and major in finance, was jogging on a Duncan street on Friday when he was shot in the back.

Richard Rhodes, a builder who heard the shot, told AAP he performed CPR on Mr Lane but was unable to revive him.

Mr Lane's longtime American girlfriend, Sarah Harper, has described his killers as "evil".

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Czech Republic to hold snap election

POLITICIANS have voted to dissolve parliament's lower house and hold an early election in the Czech Republic, following a coalition government's collapse over scandals.

On Tuesday all but seven of the 147 legislators present approved the early ballot, 20 more than the required three-fifths majority in the 200-seat lower house.

Czech President Milos Zeman has proposed calling the early vote for October 25-26.

The opposition left-wing Social Democrats stand a good chance of winning the election.

The vote was widely expected after several major coalition and opposition parties agreed that an early election would be the best way out of the crisis. It was triggered by June's collapse of the centre-right coalition government of Prime Minister Petr Necas in a whirlwind of corruption allegations and marital infidelity.

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