A WOMAN found dead in a river at the Queensland-NSW border has been identified, with police treating her death as suspicious.
The body of Goondiwindi woman Alexis Jeffery, 24, was found in the Macintyre River, in her home town, late on Sunday morning.
The woman was last seen alive in Goondiwindi's town centre at 3.30am on Sunday.
SRI Lankan anti-terrorist police have arrested two prominent human rights activists in the country's former war zone in the latest crackdown on rights defenders.
Both Ruki Fernando, an adviser for the Human Rights Documentation Center, and Catholic priest Praveen of the Center for Peace and Reconciliation have been prominent in promoting human rights and media freedom in the island's north, where government forces defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
The charges under which they were arrested were not disclosed, according to their colleagues and the Free Media Movement, a local rights group.
Sunil Jayasekara of the Free Media Movement urged authorities to release them immediately.
Attempts to contact a police spokesman for comment were unsuccessful on Monday.
Sri Lanka faces criticism for cracking down on rights activists and has rejected calls for an international inquiry into the conduct of the final months of the civil war.
The US has sponsored a third resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international probe of alleged war crimes if the nation fails to conduct one of its own.
Last week, authorities arrested an outspoken activist, Balendran Jeyakumari, and her 13-year-old daughter who were campaigning for the release of relatives missing from the war.
Military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya said they were arrested for harbouring a former rebel who shot at police and fled when they tried to catch him. He said one policeman was wounded.
The US expressed concern over the arrests and detention of the activists and urged authorities "to ensure that all those detained are given transparent and due legal process, including full access to legal counsel".
"Both previous and on-going human rights concerns have led many in the international community to push for a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka.
"With these latest actions, we remain convinced that continued scrutiny by the Human Rights Council is necessary," the US Embassy in Colombo said in a statement.
A PRE-DAWN earthquake has rolled across the Los Angeles basin, rattling houses from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach.
The 4.4-magnitude quake was centred 10km northwest of Beverly Hills and struck at 6.25am on Monday (0025 AEDT Tuesday), according to the US Geological Survey.
"It felt like a bomb going off underneath our house," said George McQuade, a West Hills resident.
"Nothing was damaged, but it sure woke everyone up. It was an eye-opener."
Residents of the Hollywood neighbourhood said they were shaken by the quake, which lasted just a few seconds.
Burglar alarms went off but there did not appear to be any damage in the area.
"I was getting ready in the bathroom and all of a sudden I felt it jolt," LA resident Yvonne Villanueva told the KTLA TV station, adding: "You always have the big one in the back of your head."
Wes Lashley told KTLA: "I woke up to feel the building swaying from side to side."
The quake came a week after a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California, the biggest in years.
California has long braced for the "Big One".
The western state is on the so-called Ring of Fire, which circles the Pacific and has produced a number of devastating quakes including Japan's March 2011 quake-tsunami, which killed thousands of people.
Geologists say a quake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 per cent certain of hitting California in the next 30 years.
A 7.8-magnitude quake could kill 1800 people, injure 50,000 more and damage 300,000 buildings.
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Los Angeles left at least 60 people dead and did an estimated $US10 billion ($A11 billion) damage in 1994, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.
AUSTRALIA'S science community is pushing for specialist advisers across all federal government departments.
Following the Abbott government's scrapping of a science ministry, Science and Technology Australia boss Catriona Jackson said industry leaders are hoping to follow the UK's lead and spread expert knowledge throughout federal divisions.
"We have certainly discussed the idea with the government and there has been some movement, with an appointment in agriculture," Ms Jackson told AAP.
"It is certainly something we would advocate."
While there is a federal chief scientist, and one for each state and territory, greater consultancy would be valuable, she said.
After coming to power in 2013, Prime Minister Tony Abbott reshuffled portfolios and split science between industry and employment, removing the role of dedicated science minister, which had been in place since 1931.
"It's fair to say scientists around the country were concerned when no one was appointed as a science minister," Ms Jackson said.
"But we have suspended our opinions until we see the government's first budget."
In an attempt to fuse stronger bonds between science and politicians, hundreds of the nation's industry leaders will converge on Canberra from Monday to meet with parliamentarians.
Ms Jackson denies there is a greater emphasis on the 2014 event in light of the political restructure but said increased interest and resourcing of the science sector is essential.
"Education and training opportunities leading to jobs in science and technology are a must because those are the jobs that will secure the future," she said.
While Australia is punching above its weight in the sector, more must be done to harness, grow and capitalise on the knowledge, Ms Jackson added.
Mr Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who is also Labor's science spokesman, are both due to attend the Science meets Parliament event.
"Parliament will be filled with talk of ideas and possibilities, of better ways to cure disease, to build bridges, to search for new life on other planets," Ms Jackson said.
THE government is taking another step towards improving strained ties with Indonesia with Defence Minister David Johnston attending a top level conference in Jakarta on building maritime collaboration.
Senator Johnston will be accompanied by Defence force chief General David Hurley and defence department secretary Dennis Richardson.
The event is the fourth annual Jakarta International Defence Dialogue (JIDD) to be held in Jakarta on Wednesday and Thursday.
The conference agenda document says maritime security and the complex issues it encompasses require collaboration among states and regional bodies for the peaceful regulation of trade, migration and military forces on the open sea.
"This cooperation is not only in the national interest of individual states but can also make the world more secure and protected from threats arising or crossing borders by sea," it says.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will make the opening remarks at an event the Indonesian government says aims to promote intergovernmental cooperation to meet common threats and challenges.
This will be President Yudhoyono's final JIDD. Under Indonesia's constitution, he can't seek a third term at the election on April 9.
Late last year relations with Indonesia were strained by media reports of Australian intelligence monitoring of the mobile phones of Indonesia's leaders.
That sparked a slowdown in defence cooperation at the time when the Abbott government was moving to implement its policy to stop the influx of asylum seeker boats.
Senator Johnston will be a panellist in a conference session on "exploring the Indo-Pacific" which will examine the shift of the global balance of power to this region.
Also attending are China's defence minister General Chang Wanquan and US secretary of defense Chuck Hagel.
DUBAI has reached an agreement with Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates' central bank to extend payment of $US20 billion ($A22.23 billion) of debt due this year.
Dubai built up tens of billions of dollars in debt during a building boom but struggled to repay it as the global financial crisis battered its economy and property market.
Dubai is one of seven emirates in the UAE.
The UAE's official WAM news agency reported on Sunday the deal gives Dubai five more years to repay the debt at a fixed interest rate of 1 per cent. The term is renewable.
The debt consists of a $US10 billion loan from the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi, which is also the UAE's capital city, and another $US10 billion in central bank bonds.
AUSTRALIA'S largest gas project Gorgon could be delayed until at least 2016 as joint venture partners Chevron and Shell differ on the expected start-up date.
It follows a series of delays and cost blowouts to the massive $US54 billion ($A60.02 billion) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in north Western Australia.
Shell chief executive Ben Van Beurden presented a table to analysts overnight showing the estimated start-up date for the massive 450 million ton project had been pushed back to between 2016 to 2018.
Shell's presentation in London contradicts lead partner's Chevron's assurances that the project is on track to begin in mid-2015.
Chevron this week reiterated its start-up date for first gas next year.
In December last year, Chevron pushed back the time-frame from the first quarter of 2015 and announced the cost of the project had blown out by $US2 billion to $US54 billion.
A spokeswoman for Royal Dutch Shell, which has a 25 per cent stake in Gorgon, referred questions about the start-up time to Chevron.
The original budgeted cost of Gorgon was $US37 billion when it was given the green light in 2009.
Earlier this week, Chevron said Gorgon was almost 80 per cent complete, with two thirds of the gas already committed to buyers.
Offshore pipelaying was now complete and 65 per cent of the LNG from Gorgon had been committed under long-term contracts.
Mr Beurden also reaffirmed the company's $US15 billion target for asset sales over 2014-15 but made no mention of whether it would include a sell down of its stake in Perth-based Woodside Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell, a joint venture partner in Woodside's Browse project in Western Australia, has previously indicated it will begin an asset sales program.
Analysts predict Shell could reap $US6.95 ($A7.82) billion by selling its 23.1 per cent interest in Woodside.
Mr Beurden said the company had already announced more than $US4.5 billion of asset sales, including equity in the Wheatstone LNG stake and downstream businesses in Australia.
"There are more divestments to come reaching an expected $US15 billion for 2014 and 2015 combined," Mr Beurden told analysts.
Shell also said start-up for its 110 million ton Prelude floating LNG project would be between 2016 2018.
