Prince Andrew accused of 'zero cooperation' in Epstein case

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, January 27, 2020

Prince Andrew has said he regrets his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (AFP
Photo/JOHN THYS)

New York (AFP) - Prince Andrew has provided "zero cooperation" regarding late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and has yet to respond to a FBI request for an interview, a US prosecutor said Monday.

Andrew denies claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein and said in November he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required."

But New York attorney Geoffrey Berman, who is leading an investigation into possible co-conspirators of the disgraced US financier, said his office and the FBI had not heard from Andrew despite his offer to assist.

"To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," Berman told reporters during a news conference outside Epstein's former New York home where Andrew has admitted staying at in the past.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to request for comment when contacted by AFP.

Queen Elizabeth II's second son was forced to step back from royal duties after he faced outrage over an interview with the BBC late last year in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.

Andrew, 59, also denied having sexual relations with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was trafficked to have sex with friends of Epstein when she was 17.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a New York jail last summer while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

He was a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager who befriended countless celebrities over the years, including US President Donald Trump.

US justice officials are investigating how Jeffrey Epstein, one of America's most 

high-profile on-remand detainees, was able to kill himself when he was supposed to 

be under close watch (AFP Photo/HO)

Epstein was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and another of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He denied the charges but was facing up to 45 years in jail if found guilty.

'Ill-judged association'

Determined to obtain justice despite his death, dozens of women who say they were abused by Epstein have sued his estate and prosecutors have pledged to pursue any accomplices.

"Jeffrey Epstein couldn't have done what he did without the assistance of others and I can assure you that our investigation is moving forward," Berman said Monday.

Giuffre says she had sex with the prince at the central London home of Epstein's socialite girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.

In what proved to be a disastrous BBC interview, Andrew said he did not remember meeting Giuffre and that he "absolutely and categorically" did not have sex with her.

Afterwards he issued a statement in which he said he "I... unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein."

While Epstein's death has been ruled a suicide -- with two prison guards charged for alleged failure to monitor him -- it has also fueled conspiracy theories, mostly speculating he was murdered to stop him revealing compromising information about wealthy acquaintances.

Several of Epstein's accusers have said Maxwell recruited them to provide sexual favors for Epstein and some of his associates.

Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of paying young girls for massages but served just 13 months in jail under a secret plea deal struck with the then state prosecutor.

Weinstein drew up 'red flag list' of women, rape trial told

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, January 24, 2020

Harvey Weinstein (C), shown arriving at the Manhattan Criminal Court on
January 24, 2020, faces life imprisonment if convicted of predatory sexual assault
charges related to two women (AFP Photo/Johannes EISELE)

New York (AFP) - Harvey Weinstein told a private investigator to approach women he suspected were detailing sexual misconduct allegations against him to journalists, his rape trial was told Friday, as the court heard from Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez.

Two months before the #MeToo movement ignited in late 2017, the then Hollywood titan emailed a "red flag list" of people he wanted investigated, prosecutors and a witness said in the high-profile proceedings which began hearing testimony this week.

The list included dozens of names, some of which were highlighted in red to indicate individuals that the now-disgraced movie producer was most concerned about.

They included the actress Rose McGowan, who Weinstein claimed was trying to extort him, and "The Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, who accused him of rape in graphic testimony on Thursday.

Weinstein, 67, faces life imprisonment if convicted of predatory sexual assault charges related to two women.

He is accused of raping actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and of forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.

Investigator Sam Anson told the New York court that he received the email from Weinstein on August 17, 2017 but did not carry out his instructions.

Anson, who now works for LA-based Guidepost Solutions but then ran his own firm, testified that he also had a telephone conversation with Weinstein around the same time.

"He said that there was concern that articles were being written about him that would discuss his sexual conduct in a negative way," Anson recalled.

'He'll destroy me'

The New York Times and New Yorker magazine detailed sexual assault allegations against Weinstein in October 2017, sparking the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

More than 80 women, including Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, have since accused him of sexual misconduct.

Actress Rosie Perez, nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for 1993 film "Fearless," testified Friday that she spoke to Sciorra on the phone the night of the alleged attack almost 30 years ago.

Weinstein waved at her as Perez was asked to pick him out in the courtroom.

"Annabella said, 'I think something bad happened. I think it was rape," Perez, 55, said.

Several months later, in 1994, she learned from Sciorra that the perpetrator had been Weinstein, Perez added.

"I said, 'Please go the police.' But she said, 'I can't, he'll destroy me."

Defense attorney Damon Cheronis accused Perez of contradicting the account she gave journalist Ronan Farrow in his New Yorker article when she said she learned of the attack well after it occurred.

He said now her story "mirrored" Sciorra's.

The prosecution also called former playboy model Kara Young who told the court that while watching the 1994 Oscars at a friend's house she noticed that Sciorra had cuts on her upper thighs.

"She said she was cutting herself," Young, 45, said, bolstering Sciorra's testimony that she started self-harming after the alleged attack.

Rape 'myths'

Weinstein says all his sexual relationships were consensual.

Defense attorneys have presented correspondence between Mann and Weinstein which they say show the pair were "in a loving relationship."

Early Friday, the prosecution called forensic psychiatrist Barbara Ziv to dispel several "myths" surrounding rape.

Ziv, who testified when comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, said victims of sexual assault commonly remain in contact with their attacker for years after the incident.

"That contact can range from text messages to emails to continuing a relationship with them," she said.

The psychiatrist said victims often keep quiet because they possess some sort of affection for the abuser or because the perpetrator may also have the power to wreck their job and other relationships.

"I can handle this trauma but God forbid they could ruin the rest of my life and make it impossible for me to go on," victims sometimes think, Ziv said.

Cheronis challenged Ziv on whether women ever report a consensual sexual encounter as a rape years later "out of shame."

"Anything is possible, (but) it's not usual," she replied.

The trial continues.

Jehovah’s Witness abuse victims unhappy at lack of care, report shows

DutchNews, January 24, 2020 - By Robin Pascoe

Photo: Depositphotos.com

A report by Utrecht University researchers into sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness community in the Netherlands has found that most victims are unhappy at the way their complaints have been dealt with by the church. 

The researchers received 751 reports of abuse, ranging from incest to rape, of which 292 were made by the victims themselves. 

Just 25% of victims said they were satisfied at the way their complaints against the community had been handled and only 27% of cases were ever passed on to the police or other officials. 

Most of the reports related to abuse in the past, with just 32 covering the past 10 years. 

The Dutch branch went to court to try to stop the publication of the report but judges on Thursday ruled that it could be published in the public interest. 

The researchers were commissioned to write a report on behalf of the justice ministry, following claims that sexual abuse claims are hushed up and that victims received no help. 

After the first revelations were published by Trouw in 2017, hundreds of people came forward to report their own abuse stories. 

Justice minister Sander Dekker earlier called for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to set up their own independent inquiry, but the church declined. He then commissioned his own report, the first investigation of its kind ever undertaken into a religious community in the Netherlands. 

Action 

The minister has now criticised the board’s reaction, saying sect officials still deny that they need to take action. The board was shown the main conclusions last December. 

‘Rather than being open and acknowledging what has happened, the community tried to stop publication,’ Dekker said in a briefing to MPs. ‘The fact that so many vulnerable victims feel they are alone, and could not find their way to official help, affects me deeply.’ 

The board is still resisting pressure to set up an independent hotline, Dekker said. ‘I  now want to have a last, urgent meeting with the board to call on them to take over the report’s conclusions,’ he said. 

In their conclusions, the Utrecht researchers have also urged parliament to draft new legislation which would require religious communities to inform the police when they are told about cases of abuse. Dekker did not mention this option in his briefing.

Angola vows to bring back billionaire dos Santos over graft claims

Yahoo – AFP, in London, January 20, 2020

A trove of leaked documents allege that Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daught
of Angola's ex-president, amassed her wealth by plundering state funds (AFP Photo/
FERNANDO VELUDO)

Luanda (AFP) - Angolan prosecutors vowed on Monday to use "all possible" means to bring back Isabel dos Santos, the former president's billionaire daughter, after thousands of leaked documents revealed new allegations she siphoned off hundreds of millions in public money.

Dubbed Africa's richest woman, dos Santos is accused of using her father's backing to plunder state funds from the oil-rich but impoverished southern African country and -- with the help of Western consulting firms -- move the money offshore.

She stopped living in Angola after her authoritarian father Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country for nearly 40 years, stepped down in 2017 for his anointed successor Joao Lourenco.

She now spends her time between London and Dubai.

"We will use all possible means and activate international mechanisms to bring Isabel dos Santos back to the country," prosecutor general Helder Pitra Gros told public radio.

"We have asked for international support from Portugal, Dubai and other countries," he added.

The 46-year-old dos Santos is already being investigated as part of an anti-graft campaign launched by Lourenco, who has vowed to root out corruption.

Prosecutors last month froze bank accounts and holdings owned by the businesswoman and her Congolese-Danish husband Sindika Dokolo, a move dos Santos described as motivated by a groundless political vendetta.

Gros' remarks came after a trove of 715,000 files dubbed the "Luanda Leaks" on Sunday revealed how the eldest daughter of the former president allegedly moved the vast sums into overseas assets.

The award-winning New York-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) behind the release alleged the international system has allowed powerful individuals like her to move assets around the world, without questions.

Prosecutors have already frozen the bank accounts and holdings owned by dos 

Santos and her Congolese husband Sindika Dokolo (AFP Photo/FERNANDO VELUDO)

"Based on a trove of more than 715,000 files, our investigation highlights a broken international regulatory system that allows professional services firms to serve the powerful with almost no questions asked," the ICIJ wrote.

The group said its team of 120 reporters in 20 countries was able to trace "how an army of Western financial firms, lawyers, accountants, government officials and management companies helped (dos Santos and Dokolo) hide assets from tax authorities".

'Highly coordinated attack'

Dos Santos took to Twitter to refute the claims, launching a salvo of around 30 tweets in Portuguese and English, accusing journalists involved in the investigation of telling "lies".

"My fortune is built on my character, my intelligence, education, capacity for work, perseverance," she wrote.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and educated in Britain, dos Santos -- scornfully nicknamed "the princess" -- was named Africa's first female billionaire in 2013 by Forbes, which estimates her current wealth at $2.1 billion.

Her lawyer dismissed the ICIJ findings as a "highly coordinated attack" orchestrated by Angola's current rulers, in a statement quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

Dos Santos herself told BBC Africa the file dump was part of a "witch hunt" meant to discredit her and her father.

She headed Angola's national oil company Sonangol until her father's successor forced her out after becoming president in 2017.

"Red flags really went up when she was appointed head of the state oil company at a time when her father still had significant influence," said Daniel Bruce, who heads the UK branch of anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International.

Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos ruled for nearly 40 years 

before stepping down in 2017 (AFP Photo/Adalberto ROQUE)

"You could see there were major conflicts of interest starting to emerge," he added.

Dos Santos said on Wednesday that she would consider running for president in the next election in 2022.

Western consultants

The ICIJ investigation said Western consulting firms such as PwC and Boston Consulting Group were "apparently ignoring red flags" while helping her stash away public assets.

"Regulators around the globe have virtually ignored the key role Western professionals play in maintaining an offshore industry that drives money laundering and drains trillions from public coffers," the report said.

Its document trove included redacted letters allegedly showing how consultants sought out ways to open non-transparent bank accounts.

London-based firm PwC was among those advising her businesses.

The consultancy said it had "immediately initiated an investigation" in the wake of the "very serious and concerning allegations."

"We have also taken action to terminate any ongoing work for entities controlled by members of the dos Santos family," it added in a statement.

The Boston Consulting Group did not immediately respond to an attempt to get comment by AFP.

One confidential document allegedly drafted by Boston Consulting in September 2015 outlined a complex scheme for the oil company to move its money offshore.

The investigation also published a similar 99-page presentation from KPMG.

"UK firms... have played a role both in helping her to amass this fortune but also to invest the proceeds of these suspicious deals," said Bruce.

"There are questions to answer," he added. "Particularly for those who helped her acquire property."

Dos Santos and Dokolo have invested in several luxurious London houses and amassed an impressive collection of valuable artwork.

Her husband, a well-known collector of African arts, developed that passion from his billionaire banker father Augustin Dokolo Sanu.

Kimia Alizadeh: Iran's top female athlete defects

DW, 12 January 2020

Iran's only female Olympic medallist, Kimia Alizadeh, has said she has left the country permanently following accusations of mistreatment and sexism against officials. The 21-year-old is reportedly in the Netherlands.

Kimia Alizadeh | 2016 Rio Olympics - Taekwondo (Reuters/I. Kato)

Amid rising unrest in Iran following the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian plane and simmering tensions with the USA, Iran's only female Olympic medallist, Taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh, has announced that she has defected.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, the 21-year-old said she didn't want to be a part of "hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery" as "one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran".

"I wore whatever they told me and repeated whatever they ordered. Every sentence they ordered I repeated. None of us matter for them, we are just tools," she added.

Alizadeh, who made history when she won bronze in Taekwondo at the Rio Olympics as an 18-year-old, is believed to be training in the Netherlands, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.

She has claimed in the past that the Islamic Republic has used her as a propaganda tool and accused Iranian officials of sexism and mistreatment.

The ISNA agency reported that Alizadeh is hoping to still compete at the Tokyo Olympics later this year, but not under the Iranian flag.

Iranian students demonstrated following a tribute for victims of
Wednesday's plane crash (AFP Photo/Atta KENARE)

Related Article:

Iran agrees de-escalation 'only solution' to solve crisis with US

Ex-pope Benedict rejects opening up priesthood to married men

Yahoo – AFP, Ella IDE, January 12, 2020

Former Pope Benedict, (R) has weighed in on the controversial question of whether
or not to allow married "men of proven virtue" to join the priesthood (AFP Photo/Handout)

Rome (AFP) - Former pope Benedict XVI has publicly urged his successor Pope Francis not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that Sunday stunned Vatican experts.

The ex-pontiff, who retired in 2013, issued the defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published in exclusive by France's Le Figaro.

"I cannot keep silent!" Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazonian at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.

The pope emeritus, 92, and Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow "viri probati" -- married "men of proven virtue" -- to join the priesthood.

Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.

The pair asked the whole Church not to be "swayed" by "bad pleas, theatrics, diabolical lies, fashionable errors that want to devalue priestly celibacy".

"It is urgent, necessary, that everyone, bishops, priests and laity, let themselves be guided once more by faith as they look upon the Church and on priestly celibacy that protects her mystery," they wrote.

They warned of priests "confused by the incessant questioning of their consecrated celibacy".

"The conjugal state concerns man in his totality, and since the service of the Lord also requires the total gift of man, it does not seem possible to realise the two vocations simultaneously," Benedict wrote.

Sarah insisted that while celibacy can be "a trial" it is also "a liberation".

'Serious breach'

Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.

He and Sarah insisted their plea was not a "political manoeuvre" or "power game".

But Vatican experts expressed astonishment that the retired pope would speak out on such a sensitive topic.

"Benedict XVI is really not breaking his silence because he (and his entourage) never felt bound to that promise. But this is a serious breach," Massimo Faggioli, who writes for La Croix, said on Twitter.

Joshua McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter, tweeted that "a former pope speaking in public about something his successor is currently in the process of considering" was "incredible".

While Vatican expert Iacopo Scaramuzzi pointed out that "cohabitation (in the Vatican) is difficult if the emeritus pope does not respect his own promise to hide away and obey".

The idea of filling empty pulpits in remote locations by allowing married men to become priests is a divisive once, with critics warning the emotive issue could fracture the Catholic Church.

Supporters say it would not be necessary to rewrite Church law; Francis could simply make an exemption to the rules -- like the one already granted to married Anglican pastors who later converted to Catholicism.

But the ultra-conservative wing of the Church -- particularly in Europe and North America -- has spoken out strongly against the idea, warning that making exceptions could pave the way to the abolition of celibacy globally.

Related Article:

Ex-pope backtracks on book warning against relaxing priest celibacy rules

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Yahoo – AFP, Stuart WILLIAMS, January 11, 2020

An Iranian holds a newspaper with a picture of the debris of the Ukrainian plane
that crashed in Tehran on January 8, 2020, outside a news stand in the Islamic
republic's capital (AFP Photo/ATTA KENARE)

Paris (AFP) - When a Boeing passenger jet crashed in Iran early on January 8, speculation immediately swirled that the only plausible explanation was that it had been shot down by Iran.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight came hours after Tehran had launched a barrage of missiles at bases housing American troops in Iraq, retaliating for the killing of commander Qasem Soleimani in a US strike.

Immediately, theories multiplied arguing that Tehran's air defence system, on high alert for possible US retaliation, may have been triggered by accident.

Western leaders cited intelligence pointing to an accidental strike by Iran. Verified video images later emerged showing a missile striking a plane.

From Wednesday to Friday, Iranian officials repeatedly insisted that the plane had not been shot down. Early on Saturday however, the Islamic republic admitted that the plane had been hit by a short-range missile in what President Hassan Rouhani described as a "catastrophic mistake".

Ukrainian passenger jet crash in Iran (AFP Photo)

What happened on January 8?

The Boeing 737-800NG for UIA's flight PS752 between Tehran and Kiev took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6:12 am local time.

Although there was no distress message from the pilot, the plane had begun to turn back for the airport before crashing at 6:18 am, said the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization. The aircraft came down near Sabashahr on the outskirts of Tehran.

There were 10 departures from Tehran airport that day before flight PS752, according to the Flight Radar 24 monitoring site. That raised questions as to why air traffic had not been halted given the situation.

All 176 people on board the flight PS752 -- mainly Iranians and Canadians, including dual nationals, but also Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes -- were killed.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the first major leader to publicly 

state Iran could be to blame for the plane crash (AFP Photo/Dave Chan)

How did pressure grow?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the first major leader to publicly state Iran could be to blame. He said Canada had intelligence from multiple sources "including our allies and our own intelligence" that indicated "the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."

"This may well have been unintentional," Trudeau added.

His language was echoed by other Western leaders including Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

US President Donald Trump said he had "suspicions" as "somebody could have made a mistake", and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then said the United States believed it was "likely" that an Iranian missile downed the airliner.

The New York Times also said it had verified a video appearing to show a missile hitting a plane at night above the Tehran suburb of Parand, west of the airport.

What did Iran initially say?

For three days, Iranian officials refused to countenance any suggestion that one of its missiles had brought down the plane.

The country's civil aviation chief Ali Abedzadeh said that one "thing is for certain, this airplane was not hit by a missile", arguing that it would have exploded immediately if hit by a missile.

Experts questioned that claim, arguing that such missiles explode before coming into contact with the target.

This handout photograph taken and released on January 11, 2019, by The 

National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, shows people analysing 

the remains of the Ukraine International Airlines plane Boeing 737-800 that

crashed outside Tehran (AFP Photo/STR)

What does Iran now admit?

In an announcement early Saturday that took many experts by surprise, Iran admitted it had "unintentionally" shot down the jet after a missile operator mistook the plane for a cruise missile.

Tehran said its systems had been on high alert for American retaliation in the hours after the Iranian strikes on bases housing US troops in Iran.

"He had 10 seconds to decide," the aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said of the operator, who he insisted had "acted alone".

"He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances he took the wrong decision."

Rouhani called it an "unforgivable mistake", vowed that compensation would be paid to the families while those responsible would be prosecuted.

What kind of missile was used?

Unverified images posted on social media show the remains of a Russian-made Tor M-1 missile but Tehran has yet to give details on the kind of weaponry used.

Tehran received 29 such air defence systems from Moscow under a $700 million contract signed in 2005, a deal that caused considerable unease in the West.

The Bellingcat open-source analytics website has said the origin of the images is yet to be determined, and the people who captured the images have not come forward.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, pictured on January 9, 2020 in a 

presidential press handout photo placing flowers at a memorial for the victims 

of the Ukraine International Airlines crash in Tehran, has toughened his stance 

on Iran (AFP Photo/HO)

What does Ukraine want now?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, initially wary of blaming Tehran, has toughened his line since Tehran's admission.

After Zelensky spoke to Rouhani later Saturday, the Ukrainian presidency said that Zelensky asked Tehran to allow the bodies of the 11 Ukrainian victims to be repatriated "by January 19".

He added that Ukrainian diplomats had produced a list of steps to be taken to "resolve the compensation issue".

Despite the three days of denial from Tehran, some have compared its reaction favourably to that from Moscow over the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Although the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team says a Russian-made BUK missile fired by pro-Russian separatists was to blame, Russia still denies any involvement.

Iranian police dispersed students chanting "radical" slogans during a gathering in Tehran to honour the 176 people killed when an airliner was mistakenly shot down, Fars news agency reported https://t.co/jtSIrcZiX1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 11, 2020

Australia's Morrison faces fresh fury for bushfire 'campaign ad'

Yahoo – AFP, January 4, 2020

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) has faced sustained anger for his
handling of the months-long bushfire crisis (AFP Photo/James ROSS)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced renewed criticism Saturday, after sharing bushfire themed party campaign ads that opponents condemned as "disgusting" and a respected defence association said was "milking" the crisis.

Facing sustained anger for his handling of the months-long crisis, Morrison sought to get on the front foot Saturday, announcing increased military assistance to beleaguered volunteer firefighters.

In a string of media appearances, he vowed every resource would be provided to help ease a disaster that has killed 23 people and burned swathes of the country, announcing more funding for water-bombing planes and the call up of 3,000 reservists.

But he found himself in fresh scandal late Saturday after tweeting a video heralding his announcements about the military, and his Liberal Party made a similar post linking to the party website.

Australia's bushfire crisis has killed 23 people and burned swathes of the country 

(AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

The non-partisan Australia Defence Association, a public-interest watchdog, said the Liberal Party advert was a "clear breach" of conventions keeping the military out of politics and accused the party of "milking ADF support to civil agencies fighting bushfires".

There was more fervent criticism from Morrison's political opponents for his tweet that promised "more Defence Force boots on the ground, more planes in the sky, more ships to sea, and more trucks to roll in to support the bushfire fighting effort".

It was accompanied by a military-themed video that was "authorised by S. Morrison, Liberal Party, Canberra."

Shadow minister for international development Pat Conroy accused Morrison of trying to "exploit a national tragedy" and described the ad as a "new low".

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) has vowed every resource 

will be provided to help ease the bushfire disaster (AFP Photo/James ROSS)

"To then solicit donations to the Liberal Party while millions of Aussies are giving to fire appeals is beyond belief. Note this disgusting ad was personally authorised by this scum of a PM," he tweeted.

Labor Senator Murray Watt also took to Twitter to demand Morrison "show some respect to fire victims, the fireys (firefighters), the ADF, and the people facing fire fronts right now. Take down this Liberal Party ad. Now".

Morrison was earlier forced to cut short a Hawaii holiday following a barrage of criticism for vacationing while exhausted volunteer firefighters battled blazes across the country and millions of people in Sydney choked on toxic smoke.

Criticism of Morrison's absence was widespread, sparking street protests and a flood of angry social media posts demanding #whereisscomo.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced increased military
assistance to beleaguered volunteer firefighters (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS

He returned and promptly visited bushfire-hit communities where he was heckled by residents and criticised by a party ally.

A tearful pregnant woman and a volunteer firefighter refused to shake his hand and other residents peppered him with verbal abuse and suggested, colourfully, that he leave.

"People in these situations have a mix of emotions," Morrison said playing down the interactions and stressing he had been welcomed elsewhere.

"These arms have given a lot of hugs," he said.