PM off to France for D-Day 70th

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott will attend the official commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings in Normandy.

He will join French President Francois Hollande and other heads of government at the British services at the Bayeux Cathedral and cemetery, and the international ceremony at Sword Beach, Ouistreham, on June 6.

Although US, British and Canadian troops dominated the invasion force, many other nations were involved, including about 3000 Australians, most of them aircrew. Eighteen were killed.

Mr Abbott will be accompanied by seven Australian D-Day veterans, who were all airmen.

He and the veterans will visit the Western Front on June 7, paying tribute to the 295,000 Australians who served there between 1916 and 1918 and honouring the 46,000 who lost their lives.

They will visit the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux and Pozieres.

"As part of the 100th anniversary of ANZAC, I would like to see a greater focus on Australia's role on the Western Front," Mr Abbott said in a statement.

The Abbott government is considering building an interpretive centre at Villers-Bretonneux.

Following his visit to France, Mr Abbott will travel to Canada and the US for formal talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama.

He will be accompanied by a business delegation to promote trade and business ties.

In North America, he will visit Ottawa, New York, Washington and Houston and then Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.

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'Al-Jazeera journalist' arrested in Egypt

EGYPT'S Interior Ministry says police have arrested a female freelance reporter for allegedly sending footage to the local affiliate of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

In a statement sent to reporters on Friday, the ministry said police raided her home in the coastal city of Port Said and confiscated streaming devices, a laptop and a mobile phone with videos that Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr allegedly used.

The Arabic website of the Doha-based satellite network confirmed the arrest, saying the woman had been detained on Wednesday, but did not say whether or not she was an employee.

Three journalists from Al-Jazeera English, including Australian Peter Greste, are currently on trial in Egypt, accused of airing false news, and of belonging to and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, which has been designated a terrorist group.

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Quake strikes China, 33 people injured

A MODERATELY strong earthquake has struck southwestern China near the border with Myanmar, injuring at least 33 people.

Residents fled buildings and students evacuated schools that had already been damaged by a quake in the same area last week.

Five of the injured people were in serious condition, said a woman at the Yunnan provincial earthquake monitoring bureau, who gave only her surname, Xu.

The quake in Yunnan's Yingjiang county was registered at magnitude 6.1 by China's earthquake monitoring agency, but at 5.9 by the US Geological Survey.

Electricity was cut to some areas in the quake zone, but communications were not affected.

More than 1000 soldiers were helping rescue efforts, and tents and bedding were sent to aid survivors.

About 300,000 people live in the area.

A tremor lasting a few seconds was felt in Myitkyina, the capital of Myanmar's northeastern state of Kachin, and in the town of Bhamo, according to people reached there by phone.

There were no reports of injuries or damage there.

China's mountainous southwest suffers frequent earthquakes.

Last August, a quake in Yunnan killed five people.

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Bosnia floods reveal remains

RECORD flooding in Bosnia has uncovered human remains experts believe belong to people who went missing during the country's 1992-95 war.

Lejla Cengic of Bosnia's Institute for Missing Persons said on Tuesday teams fixing power lines damaged by last week's floods discovered the remains near the northern town of Doboj after water receded.

She says the institute is hoping the remains belong to some of the dozens of people missing since the war from the town of Maglaj - a few kilometres up the river Bosna from Doboj.

Nearly 30,000 people went missing during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. One third of them have been found in mass graves, mostly in Bosnia. Authorities continue to search for thousands still believed hidden.

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