Prince Andrew launches Twitter account

THE Duke of York has become the first member of the Royal Family to join Twitter under their own name.

Andrew's Twitter membership was launched today with the simple tweet "Welcome to my Twitter account - AY".

Tweets signed AY, for Andrew York, are personally written by the Duke while others will be posted by his office.

But already his account - @TheDukeOfYork - has attracted unfavourable comments.

One person tweeted "yo how's Jeffrey Epstein?", referring to the Duke's relationship with an American billionaire who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Another posed the question "Has your account been hacked by Ali G?", but Andrew also received messages of welcome from the online community.

The Queen and members of her family are represented on Twitter by the account @BritishMonarchy, while @ClarenceHouse covers the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

A spokesman for Andrew said: "The Duke has long been an early and enthusiastic adopter of new technology.

"He was in fact the first member of the British Royal Family to tweet on the British Monarchy (account) when he visited Tech City. The logical next step was to tweet individually."

Asked about the derogatory tweets Andrew has received, the spokesman added: "The Duke is a champion of free speech, for him it's about telling people what he's doing."

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US stocks up on jobs data, Europe outlook

US stocks have continued their upward trajectory following a strong US jobs report and improving sentiment over Europe's prospects.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.65 (0.47 per cent) to 15,206.49.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 7.62 (0.47 per cent) to 1,639.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 13.94 (0.40 per cent) to 3,493.32.

Monday's gains came on the heels of Friday's surge in US equity markets after the Labor Department reported that the US added 195,000 jobs in June, well above the 166,000 forecast.

Wall Street was also cheered by Monday's gains in European markets such as France's CAC 40 (up. 1.9 per cent), Germany's DAX (up 2.3 per cent) and Britain's FTSE 100 (up 0.5 per cent).

Greece's bailout lenders the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund announced on Monday that an audit showed that Greece's reform efforts were "broadly in line" with expectations.

European investors were also relieved that some high-level resignations in Portugal appear to have passed without bringing down the governing coalition.

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Labor, coalition tied at 50%: Newspoll

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has widened his lead over Tony Abbott as the country's preferred leader, according to a new poll.

The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian on Tuesday, shows the ALP and the coalition tied at 50 per cent each on a two-party preferred basis.

Labor's primary vote is up nine percentage points since Mr Rudd was restored as prime minister two weeks ago, giving the ALP 38 per cent, equal to its level at the August 2010 election.

The coalition's primary vote stands at 42 per cent, down six points since the change in Labor leadership.

The poll says voter satisfaction with Mr Rudd is up seven points to 43 per cent from 36 per cent the previous weekend.

A four-point rise as preferred prime minister to 53 per cent gives him a 22-point lead over Mr Abbott, who fell four points to 31 points.

The poll, taken over the weekend, shows 24 per cent of voters want an election before September 14, 25 per cent want it on the nominated date and only nine per cent want it later, with 41 per cent not expressing a preference.

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Rudd can debate himself, Turnbull says

IF Opposition Leader Tony Abbott doesn't turn up to debate Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday, Mr Rudd could always use the occasion to debate himself, Malcolm Turnbull says.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Abbott wasn't refusing to have a debate.

He said there was a place to hold a debate and that was on the floor of the House of Representatives and Mr Rudd should recall parliament.

"If on the other hand Mr Rudd wants to have an early election and we certainly agree that's a very good idea... then of course Mr Abbott will debate him in the National Press Club or anywhere else," he told the ABC Q and A program.

Mr Rudd has booked the National press Club on Thursday for a debate with Mr Abbott who hasn't said he'll turn up, insisting the government either recall parliament or call the election.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Abbott really didn't need to turn up.

"Kevin can debate himself," he said.

"Take immigration - Kevin 07 can say 'stop the boats' and then he can duck around to the other side of the platform and Kevin 13 can say 'you can't stop the boats, you can't tow the boats back'," he said.

Mr Turnbull said Mr Rudd had so many positions on economics, he could form the whole panel.

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Indonesia 'could do more' to stop boats

INDONESIA could do much more to stem the flow of asylum seeker through their territory and could easily shut down people smuggling operations, a former senior army officer says.

Retired Major General Jim Molan, who served as Australian defence adviser in Jakarta, said Indonesian domestic law was sufficient to disrupt the people smugglers and there was a raft of new laws on the way.

"You could in my view in a very short period of time close down the people smugglers," he told ABC television.

But the problem was that Indonesia didn't see this as a big problem.

"We have got to impress on the Indonesians that this is a real problem for us and as friends they should assist us," he said.

"We have assisted them as friends quite often over many many years."

Mr Molan said Indonesia's lack of concern was demonstrated by the fact that not a single one of their navy's 150 ships, including patrol boats donated by Australia, was stationed in their southern search and rescue zone.

Mr Molan said the joint communique signed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week rejected unilateral action of the sort proposed by the coalition with their boat turnback policy.

"Indonesia has for years been taking unilateral action in allowing people to pass through, particularly Java, breaking their domestic laws as they pass through, corrupting their officials. Indonesia has been allowing them to get onto unsafe fishing boats," he said.

Mr Molan said asylum seeker boats could be turned back but the actual techniques for doing that should not be publicly revealed.

"Because those techniques telegraph what they can do and what they can't do, I'm not prepared to talk about it," he said.

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Baath party replaces Syrian vice president

SYRIA'S ruling Baath party, headed by the country's embattled President Bashar al-Assad, says some of its top leadership will be replaced, including Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.

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Man dies in fatal Sydney shooting

Eels prop binned over brain snap

VIDEO AND POLL: MANLY'S Steve Matai had to be restrained by teammates after being punched flush in the face by Eels prop Mitchell Allgood.

Who's the girl behind racy Roxy ad

AUSTRALIAN women's surfwear and swimsuit giant Roxy has hit back at criticism of its voyeuristic promotional video which reduces a young female surfer to a body without a head.

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Referee beheaded in northeast Brazil

A REFEREE has been lynched and decapitated by a mob in northeastern Brazil after he fatally stabbed a player who refused to leave the pitch during an amateur soccer game.

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