Sixteen arrests after Thatcher death party

SIXTEEN people are in police custody after hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a London landmark to protest against Margaret Thatcher's legacy and mark her death with a party.

Metropolitan Police officers made the arrests - mostly for drunk and disorderly conduct - in the early hours of Sunday as crowds revelled in Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and surrounding streets.

Those arrested are aged between 18 and 44 and remain at a central London police station.

Of those arrested, eight suspects were taken into custody for being drunk and disorderly and two were arrested for assaulting officers.

Union members from across the UK, who had fierce battles with Thatcher in the 1980s, rubbed shoulders with those demonstrating against today's welfare cuts.

Old and young turned out last night to mark the former prime minister's death in a "celebration" that was many years in the planning.

Despite the depth of feeling and a large police presence, there was no serious trouble.

A police spokesman said the last of the protesters left Trafalgar Square about 2am and there were no reports of any damage to property.

During the protest people drank cider and champagne, waving sparklers and letting off party poppers - and they chanted slogans about Thatcher, who died at The Ritz hotel on Monday.

Members of the National Union of Mineworkers travelled to the capital from northeast England, with others joining them from Scotland and Wales.

UK Uncut members, protesting about welfare cuts, also joined the demonstration.

One protester, drinking from a mug that read "I still hate Thatcher", said the event - initially planned by now defunct anarchist group Class War - had been years in the planning.

The 49-year-old, who gave his name only as Steve, said: "I was here during the Poll Tax riot in the 1990s."

"I've come from Brighton to be here today," he said.

"I believe it's something not to be celebrated, but something that needs to be marked in history."

Former miner Dave Douglas from Newcastle, part of the delegation from the miners' union, said Thatcher was a "terrible woman".

"We're absolutely furious at this image that is being presented on television, that the whole country is in mourning," he said.

"In the north of England, in Scotland, Wales and the Midlands, people are celebrating the fact she's gone because we don't support what she did to our community, our industry and our unions."

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Thousands protest against Spanish royals

THOUSANDS of protesters have taken to the streets of Madrid to demand the abdication of Spain's scandal-hit monarchy.

Waving thousands of red, gold and purple republican flags, the crowd chanted: "Tomorrow, Spain will be republican."

"Nobody elected the king," said protester Veronica Ruiz. "We want a referendum. It would be the fair and democratic way to find out what the people want."

Sunday's protest was called to mark the anniversary of the country's Second Republic, proclaimed on April 14, 1931, and followed by 40 years of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco after a 1936-39 civil war.

King Juan Carlos is credited with steering Spain to a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy following Franco's death in 1975.

But family scandals have undercut public confidence in the monarchy during a bruising recession.

A year ago as unemployment hit a record 26 per cent, the country was stunned as it emerged the king had gone elephant hunting in Botswana and broke his leg during the costly excursion.

The 75-year-old monarch was forced to apologise to the nation.

The king's youngest daughter Princess Cristina has also been named a suspect in a corruption case against her husband Inaki Urdangarin, accused of syphoning off millions of euros paid by regional governments to a non-profit organisation he chaired from 2004 to 2006.

Support for the monarchy in Spain has fallen to a historic low of 54 per cent, according to a poll published in El Mundo newspaper in January.

"Considering the current situation in Spain, what we need is a republic, and to put an end to the plundering by the Bourbons," said 20-year-old student Anabel Galiano, referring to the Spanish royal house.

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Labor support lowest since May 2012: poll

AN historic partnership agreement with China and a $2 million strategy to tax high-end super has not helped the popularity of the federal government, which has returned its worst poll result since before the carbon tax was introduced.

The latest Nielsen poll shows Labor's primary vote has slipped two percentage points to 29 per cent, Fairfax reports.

The government hasn't been this unpopular since June last year - just before the carbon tax came into effect.

About the same time, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's anti-carbon tax scare campaign was at its height and so was the coalition's popularity, garnering 49 per cent of first preference votes.

Monday's Nielsen poll shows the coalition is once again attracting almost half the primary votes, with 49 per cent of people saying they would give their first preference to the coalition, according to Fairfax.

If an election was held now, the coalition would easily win with a national swing of seven per cent after preferences.

In the two-party preferred vote, the coalition claims 57 per cent of votes to Labor's 43 per cent.

Mr Abbott gained ground as preferred prime minister, up one percentage point to 50 per cent.

He leads Prime Minister Julia Gillard by eight percentage points after her support dropped one point to 42 per cent.

Ms Gillard's approval rating also dropped in the latest poll.

The prime minister currently has a negative approval rating of minus 22 per cent, meaning more people disapprove than approve of her performance, Fairfax reports

Mr Abbott's net approval did not change.

His negative approval rating was steady at minus 10 per cent.

Kevin Rudd still outstrips Ms Gillard as preferred Labor leader at 57 per cent.

However, the failed leadership tilt by Mr Rudd's supporters improved Ms Gillard's standing by four percentage points, up to 35 from 31, Fairfax reports.

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US senator slams Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba trip

US Senator Marco Rubio has railed against the recent trip to Cuba by pop diva Beyonce and hip-hop star Jay-Z, calling for stricter rules against travel to the communist-run island.

"I won't rap it, but I'll say, first of all, I think Jay-Z needs to get informed," Rubio told ABC News's This Week, saying he wished the performer had met with "people who are being oppressed".

"The travel policies need to be tightened because they are being abused," said Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party who was born in Cuba.

"These are tourist trips, and what they are doing is providing hard currency and funding so that a tyrannical regime can maintain its grip on the island of Cuba," he said.

Rubio, who is widely seen as a possible 2016 presidential contender, made his remarks as he ran a gauntlet of Sunday talk show appearances to discuss proposals to reform the country's immigration system.

Beyonce and Jay-Z visited historical landmarks in the heart of Old Havana, snapped pictures and spoke with local residents during a visit earlier this month that coincided with their fifth wedding anniversary.

Their trip angered some members of Congress, including Cuban-American Republican representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, who sent a letter to the Treasury Department criticising the visit.

Jay-Z fired back, releasing a rap track entitled Open Letter in which he said: "Politicians never did s**t for me except lie to me then start history. Wanna give me jail time and a fine, fine, let me commit a real crime."

The Treasury Department meanwhile said the high-profile visit violated no US laws and that as part of a cultural exchange, it did not flout a decades-old economic embargo imposed on the island by the United States.

Under the embargo established in 1962, US citizens cannot travel to Cuba and spend money on the island, with exceptions made for some family visits and for travel undertaken in the interest of cultural exchange or education.

Rubio said he doubted the music power couple's visit met that standard.

"If they wanted to know what was going on in Cuba, they should have met with some of the people suffering there," he told CNN's State of the Union talk show, "not simply smoke cigars and take a stroll down the street."

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Rubio vows 10-year path to US citizenship

SENATOR Marco Rubio, the Republican point man for immigration reform, says a new bill will carve an arduous 10-year path to citizenship for the country's 11 million illegal immigrants.

Appearing on a string of Sunday talk shows, Rubio appeared keen to reassure hardline Republicans opposed to the idea of amnesty, promising a long and winding uphill climb to citizenship tethered to tighter border security.

Rubio, a Cuban-American seen as a possible 2016 White House candidate, said many immigrants would not qualify, and those who did would have to pay taxes and fines and wait more than a decade before applying for citizenship.

Even then, the path to citizenship would be tied to a major increase in border security, a high-tech verification system to track individuals who overstay their visas and mechanisms to prevent illegal immigrants from working.

"For those undocumented in this country, not only will they have to wait more than 10 years, they will have to wait until those ... things are fully implemented," he told CNN's State of the Union.

"We're not awarding anybody anything. All we're doing is giving people the opportunity to eventually earn access to our new, improved and modernised legal immigration system."

"You won't be able to find work in the US if you are not legally here. That's why that 'e-verify' part of it is so important," Rubio said, adding that undocumented workers would be also barred from social and health programs.

Speaking to ABC News's This Week, Rubio promised a process that "is going to be longer, more expensive and more difficult to navigate".

"It would actually be cheaper if they went back home, wait 10 years and apply for a green card," he said.

Rubio has been working with a bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight senators hoping to enact the most sweeping immigration reform in a quarter of a century, with a Senate bill expected to be introduced as early as Monday.

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Kerry hails Japan Pacific trade pact moves

US Secretary of State John Kerry has welcomed moves to admit Japan into a Pacific trade agreement, and says China's three-nation trade pact could act as a complement to the treaty.

After talks in Tokyo with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday, Kerry said admitting Japan to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be a key step in the deal that would account for nearly 40 per cent of the global economy.

"Clearly having Japan in the TPP would be an enormous economic benefit for all of us," Kerry told a news conference with Kishida.

Japan's entry would "be a critical mass for economic standards, and we believe it would help raise standards across the globe".

The United States gave Japan the green light on Friday to enter talks on the 11-nation Pacific trade agreement, despite opposition from some US manufacturers and labour groups and Japan's powerful farmers.

Under the TPP guidelines, all 11 nations engaged in the negotiations need to approve before Japan participates. Japan must still win over Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Peru.

Kerry said the US stress on economics was a large part of Washington's "rebalance" towards Asia, and hailed an agreement reached with Beijing on Saturday to strengthen their economic dialogue.

China's own free-trade agreement with Japan and South Korea could be "complementary" to the TPP and "ultimately if China wants to agree to standards and come up to that level, terrific", Kerry later told reporters travelling with him on a 10-day overseas trip.

"We're looking for partners, but we're looking for partners that want to raise the standards and meet those standards at the highest level."

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Man in court for posting Jesse Ryder video

A 28-YEAR-OLD man is due to appear in a New Zealand court after allegedly posting footage on the internet of two men charged with assaulting cricketer Jesse Ryder.

Ryder was critically injured when he was assaulted outside a bar in Christchurch late last month.

Two men, aged 37 and 20, have been charged over the attack but their names and images cannot be published because of a suppression order.

Police allege a 28-year-old man videoed the accused on a mobile phone and posted it on YouTube.

On Friday he turned himself in to police.

He was charged with breaching a suppression order, which carries penalties of up to six months jail or a fine up to $NZ50,000 ($A41,356), and was due to appear in Christchurch District Court on Monday.

In 2010, blogger Cameron Slater was fined $NZ6750 for eight counts of breaching non-publication orders and one count of identifying a victim in a sex case on his blog site.

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Unis spend $280m a year on red tape

UNIVERSITIES estimate they spend $280 million a year on meeting red tape requirements like telling the government every time any academic travels overseas.

The Universities Australia submission to the coalition's deregulation taskforce calls for a comprehensive Productivity Commission review of the regulatory burden on tertiary institutions.

The sector also wants a single national university data centre to look after all information collection, as recommended in a government-commissioned report released last week.

"While we support the need for effective accountability, the existing regulatory and reporting regime is characterised by unchecked creep, duplication, fragmentation, inefficiency, and waste," Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said in a statement.

Most universities have between 15 and 20 staff whose sole job is to meet the regulatory requirements of 100 separate state and federal laws.

They have to report some 50 different sets of data to the federal tertiary education department multiple times each year, and another 50 types of data to different government agencies.

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Hayes and Mailman score silver Logies

ACTORS who brought the stories of real-life Australians to the screen have been recognised with Logies for the most outstanding actor and actress.

A teary-eyed Deborah Mailman was given a standing ovation in Melbourne on Sunday when she received the most outstanding actress award for her portrayal of Bonita Mabo in the made-for-TV movie Mabo.

"I got the chance to play the most extraordinary woman," Mailman said as she accepted the award with Bonita Mabo joining her on stage.

"It was a gift for me to meet this woman," Mailman said.

Mabo told the story of Eddie "Koiki" Mabo and his historic high court challenge to the myth of Terra Nullius.

"It was a story that was close to my heart, the fact that I got to play Bonita Mabo and for that to be recognised tonight was incredibly special," Mailman said, still teary, speaking to media after receiving her award.

Most outstanding actor Anthony Hayes dedicated his silver Logie for the portrayal of Bernie Banton in Devil's Dust to all the people who lost their lives to asbestos-related disease.

"I know it's not much but it's recognition for you and I just hope we stop mining asbestos and it never happens again," Hayes said when accepting the award.

Hayes has just finished shooting The Rover with fellow nominee Guy Pearce and said he thought it would have been the Nine Network's Kerry Packer juggernaut Howzat, and not Hollywood star Pearce, that would see him come undone in his bid for Logie glory.

"I told him I'd stick it to him and I did. There it is Guy," Hayes said.

"I've been acting since I was nine years old and this is my first lead."

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Direct trade for Aust, China currency

AUSTRALIAN and Chinese currency will be traded in China for the first time under a deal to be announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

And a major tourism and investment campaign will be run in Shanghai in late 2014 to take advantage of China's booming middle class and fast-growing economy.

Under the currency agreement, the Australian dollar will be directly convertible into Chinese yuan, easing costs for mining companies and other global industries.

China only has deals of a similar kind with the United States and Japan.

"This reflects the rapid growth of our bilateral trade and the value of two-way investment - and it also creates opportunities for new financial integration," Ms Gillard will tell the China Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai on Monday.

"This is good news for the Chinese economy and good news for the Australian economy."

Ms Gillard said she hoped the deal would advance China's policy of greater internationalisation of its currency.

The prime minister is in Shanghai leading Australia's largest political delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

She said Australia Week, hosted by Shanghai in the second half of 2014, would further boost Australia's reputation as a world-leading destination and a valuable tourism, trade and investment partner.

Events will include contemporary performing and visual arts, a gala dinner in Shanghai and meetings with potential Chinese investors.

It will coincide with Tourism Australia's Greater China Travel Mission, which attracts more than 120 Australian tourism operators.

A record 625,000 Chinese visited Australia during 2012, up 16 per cent on the previous year.

Ms Gillard on Sunday held her first official meeting with Xi Jinping, who became China's president in March.

She also spoke at the opening of the Boao Forum on Asia.

The Australian delegation will head to Beijing on Monday night.

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