Stronger dollar hurts McDonald's Q3 result

TOUGH competition in the US and the weakening economy abroad was a double whammy for McDonald's in the third quarter, sending the burger chain's net income down nearly 4 per cent.

McDonald's said on Friday it was adjusting some of its plans to deal with the pressures, including stepping up advertising for its dollar menu and bringing back the popular McRib sandwich nationally in December to drive traffic into US stores.

The world's largest hamburger chain with 33,000 locations worldwide has thrived in boom and bust times by selling cheap meals and constantly updating its menu.

But global economic pressures and intensifying competition are wearing at the company, which does two-thirds of its business overseas.

"When the economic crisis began in 2008, few people thought the environment would still be as uncertain and fragile as it is today," said chief executive Don Thompson.

"It is clear however that this operating environment is the new normal. As such, our near-term focus is on stabilising and growing traffic and market share."

Thompson said revenue in stores open at least 13 months, a key restaurant metric, is trending negative so far in October.

That news sent shares down $US4.14 ($A4.01), or 4.5 per cent, to close at $88.72. The stock had been down 7 per cent since the beginning of the year.

"McDonald's is facing a lot of pressure," said Morningstar analyst R J Hottovy.

"They're seeing more competition from their quick-service restaurants and fast-casual peers in the US and facing austerity measures and macro-economic pressures in Europe and Asia."

McDonald's said its net income fell to $1.46 billion, or $1.43 a share.

That compares with net income of $1.51 billion, or $1.45 a share last year. Analysts expected net income of $1.47 a share, according to Fact Set.

The stronger US dollar hurt net income by 8 cents a share. When the dollar is strong, international sales translate into fewer dollars at home.

Revenue was nearly flat at $7.15 billion from $7.17 billion last year. Analysts expected revenue of $7.17 billion.

Revenue in stores open at least 13 months rose 1.9 per cent globally, including a 1.2 per cent rise in the US, where the company said it faced "broad competitive activity".

McDonald's is facing stiffer competition from newer chains like Panera Bread Co, which offers higher-end food in a fast casual atmosphere.

Long-time rivals such as Wendy's and Burger King are also reworking their menus, renovating restaurants and launching new ad campaigns to win back customers.

McDonald's said it will step up advertising for its dollar menu rather than its more profitable extra value menu that includes items more expensive than $1.

Hottovy, the Morningstar analyst, said focusing on the value menu was a good move for McDonald's.

"In this environment you have to give customers what they want, and across the globe consumers are squarely focused on value," he said.

In Europe, where McDonald's does 40 per cent of its business, revenue in stores open at least 13 months rose 1.8 per cent, hurt by reduced guest traffic.

In the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, the measure rose 1.4 per cent as the company promoted limited-time offers and traffic increased.

In China, the measure rose 3.6 per cent.

Many US companies are looking to China for growth, but there is concern about a slowdown in the country.

However, Thompson said the country is a "market with significant potential" and that McDonald's is on track to open 225 to 250 restaurants there this year, with the goal of having 2000 open by the end of 2013.

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Bushfire threatens rural homes in NSW

AT least two sheds have been destroyed by an out-of-control bushfire threatening dozens of properties on NSW's mid north coast.

An emergency warning was issued to around 110 homes in Upper Lansdowne at 3pm (AEDT) on Saturday, half-an-hour after the blaze broke out.

More than 10 hectares of bush have already been burnt.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokeswoman Bridie O'Connor said the fire was heading towards 30 rural properties on Gungully Road.

"We have got more than 20 firefighters there and they're being assisted by water bombing aircraft," she told AAP.

"Hopefully they're making good progress on it and the fire won't actually reach those homes."

Temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius in the area earlier on Saturday, with wind gusts of up to 35km/h.

Fire crews are hoping a cool change slowly moving up the NSW coast will bring with it more favourable conditions later in the evening.

A handful of properties are also under threat from a grassfire burning out of control about 10km south of Casino.

The blaze began about midday (AEDT) and has already covered about 15 hectares.

"Grassfires can start really quickly and move three times as fast as bushfires, that's why it's managed to get to these properties as quickly has it has," Ms O'Connor said.

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Six Afghan police poisoned, shot dead

SIX Afghan policemen have been shot dead after being poisoned by colleagues in southern Afghanistan, officials say.

The shooting, which is the latest in a series by Afghan security personnel targeting their local and foreign colleagues, occurred in the Gereshk district of volatile Helmand province on Thursday.

"A cook and a policeman first food-poisoned their colleagues in their post, and after they fell unconscious they were shot dead," provincial spokesman Ahmad Zeerak told AFP on Saturday.

He said the policeman involved in the shooting had been arrested but the cook was still at large.

Farid Ahmad Farhang, a provincial police spokesman, confirmed the incident.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, according to purported spokesman Yousif Ahmadi, who said eight policemen were killed and their weapons seized.

Afghan police are the key force in supporting US-led NATO forces in a war against Taliban militants.

Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in insider attacks, often by Taliban spies, in which more than 50 foreigners and dozens of local forces have been killed by their colleagues this year.

The unprecedented number of insider killings comes at a critical moment in the 11-year war, as US-led NATO forces plan to hand security responsibility to the Afghans ahead of a withdrawal of combat forces by the end of 2014.

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21 killed in Iranian bus crash

A BUS full of students has reportedly overturned, killing 21 people in southwestern Iran.

Senior local police official Colonel Mohammad Reza Mehmandar, was quoted on state radio on Saturday as saying the driver lost control because of high speed in rainy weather.

Mehmandar said 23 others were injured in the accident.

They were rushed to hospitals for treatment.

The accident happened on Friday evening on the Izeh-Lordegan road, about 500km southwest of the capital Tehran.

Iran has one of the world's worst traffic safety records, with more than 400,000 accidents and about 20,000 deaths on its roads every year.

The tolls are blamed on high speed, unsafe vehicles, widespread disregard of traffic laws and inadequate emergency services.

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Hong Kong ends 0.15% higher

HONG Kong shares have closed up 0.15 per cent, ending a strong week on a high, with a string of data out of China indicating a slowdown in the world's number two economy has bottomed.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 33.05 points on Friday to 21,551.76 on turnover of $HK56.39 billion ($A7.06 billion).

However, Chinese shares closed down 0.16 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 3.39 points to 2,128.30 on turnover of 50.6 billion yuan ($A8.1 billion). But the index still managed to gain 1.11 per cent over the week.

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Archbishop warns of Adelaide church issues

SEVERAL Anglican Church congregations in Adelaide face rapid collapse over the next few years, Archbishop Jeffrey Driver says.

The archbishop has told the Anglican synod in Adelaide that 40 parishes are either "fragile" or "really struggling" because of falling numbers.

"The trajectory and demography of many of those parishes tells me that in five years' time, or even less, a number of those communities of faith will be at a point from which recovery will be difficult," he said in his address on Friday.

"The demography of many of our congregations suggests not so much a gradual decline as a rather rapid collapse over just a few years."

Archbishop Driver said the fall in membership would also affect incomes, diminishing the ability of the church to conduct mission work.

"Even now, the diocese has very limited funds or capacities to subsidise struggling parishes," he said.

"Local options for extra funding through commercial arrangements are limited and precarious."

Archbishop Driver said he did not want to suggest he had lost all hope.

"As a diocese we do not have the large resource base and spread of parishes enjoyed by other metropolitan dioceses," he said.

"But we do have an ability to become more pioneering and innovative where our smaller economies of scale allow for greater versatility."

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Zoo keeper crushed by elephant she raised

WHEN "miracle" elephant Mr Shuffles was born against the odds two years ago at Taronga Zoo, keeper Lucy Melo played an integral role in raising him.

But, just before 11.30am (AEDT) on Friday in the elephant barn at the Sydney harbourside zoo, the Asian elephant calf "challenged" Ms Melo and pinned her against a bollard.

Ms Melo, the zoo's 40-year-old senior elephant keeper, was crushed and is fighting for her life in Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

"I am very, very concerned about the staff member that has been hurt, as are all of the team at the zoo," Taronga Zoo director and chief executive Cameron Kerr told reporters.

Ms Melo is in a critical but stable condition.

The elephant, who weighed more than 500kg at his first birthday, earned the nickname Mr Shuffles because his early attempts at walking resembled the shuffle of an elderly man.

On Friday Ms Melo was engaged in a routine training session to teach the elephants how to wash.

Two other keepers heard her cries and moved the elephant away.

Ms Melo was still conscious and talking when paramedics arrived but lapsed into unconsciousness and had a cardiac arrest for about five minutes.

A second crew of paramedics managed to get her heart beating again before rushing her to Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition.

The zoo said it didn't know why the two-year-old elephant challenged Ms Melo, who was part of the team that went to Thailand to bring Taronga's five Asian elephants to Sydney.

"Since the herd arrived in 2006, three calves have been born and Lucy has been part of raising the calves and looking after the extended family," the zoo's website says.

Both the zoo and Workcover NSW are investigating the incident.

Mr Kerr said the public were not at risk during the incident, which happened as part of a "normal animal washing routine".

It is not the first time in Australia that an elephant has turned on its handler.

In 2007, Stardust Circus worker Ray Williams, 57, was found dead in the elephant Arna's enclosure at Yamba, in northern NSW.

An interim post-mortem examination found Mr Williams suffered a broken back and a ruptured aorta and died from "severe blunt trauma".

A year later after undergoing health and behavioural assessments, Arna found a permanent home at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

According to Taronga's website, Ms Melo has worked at the zoo since 2004, following stints in the United States at Houston Zoo, Rio Grande Zoo and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

In a article on its website Ms Melo said: "Every day I work with animals is amazing, but the highlights are definitely the births of our elephant calves.

"I enjoy the one-on-one relationships that I have with the elephants ... They truly give you unconditional love."

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Berlusconi denies 'Bunga Bunga' parties

ITALY'S former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has denied at his trial hosting raunchy parties, having sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his powers by pressuring police.

Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Moroccan exotic dancer Karima El-Mahroug, better known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer", when she was 17.

He is also charged with abusing his position as prime minister by telling police to release her when she was arrested for petty theft in May 2010.

"I never had an intimate relationship of any kind with her," the 76-year-old told the court, adding: "I was sure she was 24, as she herself said."

"I can exclude with absolute certainty that there were ever scenes of a sexual nature," he said, referring to parties at his villa near Milan.

The "Bunga Bunga" - described by many of his female guests as a type of lap dance that Berlusconi enjoyed - was "only a joke I used to tell which then got picked up by the press", he told the court's three female judges.

"There has been a lot of fantasising about the parties I held in my private residence with clear defamatory intent and intrusion into my private life."

"They were just dinners in which I monopolised the attention, singing, talking about sport, politics and gossiping," he said.

Referring to his phone call to a Milan police station when El-Mahroug was arrested, Berlusconi said he "never put pressure on Milan police".

He said he had wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident because he thought she was the niece of then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

The charge of exploiting an underage prostitute in Italy carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and abuse of power up to 12 years.

The trial began in April 2011 and was one of the last in a series of scandals that helped precipitate Berlusconi's downfall in November last year.

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Clashes hit Indonesian Adidas factory

MORE than 1300 people have clashed with security guards at an Indonesian shoe factory which supplies sportswear giants Adidas and Mizuno, police say, a few months after they were sacked for striking over better pay.

The workers were laid off in July after walking out over demands for back pay following a hike in the minimum wage at the start of 2012.

Confirming the clashes during a rally at which the former workers were calling to be reinstated, Wahyu Widodo, police chief of Tangerang, said police were "helping mediate" between protesters and the owners of the Panarub Dwikarya factory.

Indonesia is an increasingly popular destination for major manufacturing companies, lured by cheap labour, but the 240 million-strong nation has witnessed frequent bouts of labour unrest as workers demand better pay and employment rights.

The protest in Tangerang, around 40 kilometres west of Jakarta, turned violent after security guards hosed down angry former employees with dirty water, protesters said.

"The workers want to be hired back. Their children's education is depending on it, and we want the company to sit together with us and work on an agreement," said Ernawati, from the Independent Labour Union Alliance, which took part in the rally.

Adidas issued a statement after the July strike urging the factory - which the German company calls an "overflow" facility for its local supplier - to rehire the workers and pay the wages owed, pledging not to make fresh orders until the dispute is resolved.

Adidas was forced to probe its Indonesian operations in April after a report in a British newspaper alleged nine factories it used to produce Olympic shoes and clothing employed workers on 65-hour weeks for as little as 5,000 rupiah ($A0.53) an hour.

Indonesia's economy grew 6.5 per cent in 2011 and attracted record foreign direct investment of $US20 billion ($A19.4 billion).

Yet Indonesian factory workers remain some of the lowest-paid in Asia, often earning less than their counterparts in China or India.

Hundreds of thousands of factory workers went on strike across Indonesia on October 3 demanding better pay and job security as South-East Asia's biggest economy booms.

In another major strike in January, workers in Bekasi blocked a toll road to the capital, leaving trucks and traffic snarled for 10 hours.

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Ten to axe newsroom jobs

TEN Network Holdings is set to axe about 100 jobs from its newsroom after poor television ratings led to a full year net loss of almost $13 million.

Staff at the television network were briefed on the redundancy program on Thursday as Ten chief executive James Warburton detailed reasons behind Ten's full year loss.

"One of those key communications is a change program that we are driving through our news and operations division," Mr Warburton said in a presentation.

"Discussions around the details of that plan as I said are starting today with our staff but it will involve a voluntary redundancy program."

Ten's newsrooms around Australia look set to bear the brunt of the staff cuts.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) federal secretary Chris Warren said discussions with Ten indicated the network was looking to cut about 100 journalists, camera and producer positions, or about one-third of its national newsroom.

While state-based bulletins with their own presenters would remain, Mr Warren said the changes would result in fewer local stories being produced, as well as the loss of local perspectives on big national stories.

"We are very disappointed, both for the journalists who work there and the community at large," Mr Warren said in Thursday.

"There will be a significant loss of local voices in Australia."

Mr Warren said Ten had asked for expressions of interest for those seeking voluntary redundancy by the end of next week.

Mr Warburton said a key part of the review, which commenced earlier in 2012 and was ongoing, included looking at new ways to gather and present news through "rapidly changing technology in all parts of the news process".

Confirmation of a voluntary redundancy program came as Ten reported a $12.9 million net loss for the 12 months to August 31, 2012, compared with net profit of $14.2 million in the prior corresponding period.

Ten's television network, which generates the bulk of earnings, suffered a 14.5 per cent fall in revenue amid soft ratings.

Ten has struggled so far in calendar 2012, with shows such as Everybody Dance Now - hosted by Ten director Lachlan Murdoch's wife Sarah Murdoch - The Shire and I Will Survive failing to fire.

The weak ratings have hit advertising revenue.

Industry figures showed Ten had just 25.5 per cent of the capital city television advertising market in the six months to June 30, 2012, well behind Seven's 40 per cent and Nine's 34.5 per cent.

And data for September suggested Ten's advertising share had dropped further, to about a 20 per cent share.

Independent media commentator Peter Cox said he had never seen numbers so low.

Mr Cox said efforts to reduce costs were unlikely to offset the substantial decline in revenue Ten was suffering through.

"Even if they got five per cent cuts in costs the decrease in revenue easily outweighs that which would a very dangerous combination," Mr Cox said.

"I don't see anywhere in the results today that would show they could claw their way out."

Ten shares closed 0.5 cents, or 1.6 per cent, lower at 30.5 cents.

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Former child soldier jailed over WA crash

A 29-YEAR-OLD learner driver has been jailed for at least four years for causing a crash that killed a 40-year-old Queensland woman and left five others injured.

Guelor Lutumba was driving a family friend to Perth Airport on New Year's Day this year when he tried to overtake a truck.

His vehicle collided head-on with another car.

Lutumba, a former child soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was sentenced in the Perth District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to eight charges including dangerous driving causing death.

His mother needed assistance from ambulance officers after collapsing outside the court.

Lutumba was sentenced to six years' prison and must serve four years before being eligible for parole.

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US court to rule on Bible verse banner

A GROUP of teenage Texas cheerleaders is expecting to hear whether they will be allowed to continue displaying Bible verses at high school football games.

The cheerleaders at Kountze High School sued school district officials who told them to stop using scripture - such as, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" - on banners displayed at football games.

The district banned the use of religious messages after a complaint that the messages violated a constitutional prohibition on government establishing a religion.

State District Judge Steve Thomas issued an injunction allowing the cheerleaders to continue using Bible verses until he made a decision.

He set a hearing for Thursday, when he was expected to rule on the cheerleaders' case.

The Texas attorney-general has filed court papers to intervene in the lawsuit, calling the district's prohibition an infringement on the cheerleaders' rights to free speech.

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Qld LNP Senate ticket attracts 16 hopefuls

SIXTEEN people have put their hands up to run for the Liberal National Party's Queensland Senate ticket.

Preselection will take place in Brisbane on November 24.

Liberal senator Ian Macdonald is re-nominating for another term and is likely to get top spot.

The party has two other winnable positions to fill with Liberal senator Sue Boyce and Nationals senator Ron Boswell retiring when their terms expire in June 2014.

Among the 16 candidates are Senator Barnaby Joyce's chief of staff Matthew Canavan, LNP vice-president Gary Spence and the architect of Queensland premier Campbell Newman's election campaign, James McGrath.

Earlier this year, Mr McGrath lost his bid for LNP preselection for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher, held by embattled former speaker Peter Slipper, against former Howard government minister Mal Brough.

LNP state director Brad Henderson said there was a strong field of high calibre candidates.

The list includes local councillors, doctors, business operators and an animal nutritionist.

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Weak marketing hampered Swan: publican

BIG brewers like Lion and Fosters hardly bother marketing smaller brands like Swan, which has led to the beer's fall in popularity, a Perth publican says.

The hotelier, who doesn't want to be named, has made the comment with Lion announcing the closure of its Swan Brewery in the city's southern suburbs in favour of making Swan and Emu beer in South Australia and Tasmania.

The publican of 18 years said on Wednesday Emu in particular had plunged in popularity in recent years but there was a hard core of Swan Draught drinkers who would taste the difference in the water from other states.

"Water dissolves minerals in different regions around the world and makes it taste different," he told AAP.

"It's all to do with the water quality."

He said he expected Swan and Emu would eventually disappear as the big brewers pushed top sellers like Tooheys New and Carlton Draught.

The publican said it was a shame WA was losing a manufacturer just when it needed to diversify beyond the resources sector but the state was at least leading the nation in microbrewing.

It also didn't make sense that Swan and Emu would from April be transported thousands of kilometres to WA, a market of nearly two million people, despite a society-wide push to reduce carbon emissions.

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Bushwalker missing in Cape Bridgewater

POLICE and emergency services workers are searching for a teenage bushwalker who became separated from a group of hikers while trekking in Cape Bridgewater in southwestern Victoria.

The 17-year-old boy was hiking with three other teenagers and three adults when he went missing along the Great South West Walk about 1pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.

Local police, the airwing, SES and Parks Victoria are searching the area.

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Vic yacht crew wins national bravery award

THE crew of a Melbourne yacht who risked their lives to rescue sailors from a sunken competitor in mountainous seas during an open water race have been recognised for their bravery.

Trybooking.com's Grant Dunoon, Peter Fetch, Ross Fisher and Kim Walker were presented with the Australian Search and Rescue Award at a dinner on Wednesday night.

They battled huge swells and wind gusts reaching 70 knots in the middle of the night to rescue six yachtsmen from the Inception, which sank during the Melbourne to Port Fairy race in Easter this year.

Inception had started taking on water about seven nautical miles off Port Campbell and issued a mayday before sinking a short time later and leaving all six crew members in the water.

The nomination for the Trybooking.com crew read that they had displayed outstanding seamanship to bring their yacht alongside the men in the water in six-to-10-metre seas, and pulled them aboard at great risk to themselves.

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Robust US retail sales lift Asian markets

ASIAN markets have risen in response to a strong showing on Wall Street after another round of upbeat data raised hopes for the US economy.

But dealers also remained hesitant before the release this week of Chinese third-quarter growth figures, as evidence accumulates of a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy.

In Japan, telecoms giant Softbank surged by more than 10 per cent, clawing back some of its huge losses in the previous two sessions, after formally announcing it will buy US wireless provider Nextel Sprint for $US20 billion ($A19.59 billion).

Tokyo rose 1.44 per cent, or 123.38 points, to 8,701.31 on Tuesday, Sydney gained 0.18 per cent, or 8.1 points, to 4,491.5 and Seoul climbed 0.83 per cent, or 15.95 points, to 1,941.54.

Hong Kong advanced 0.28 per cent, or 58.82 points, to 21,207.07 and Shanghai was flat, giving up earlier gains to finish 0.11 points up at 2,098.81.

Trading started positively with the news out of Washington that retail sales, the main driver of the US economy, had unexpectedly risen 1.1 per cent in September.

The Commerce Department also revised up retail sales for July and August, and said that even excluding volatile data on vehicles and petrol, sales were still up 0.9 per cent last month.

Helping the mood on Wall Street, banking giant Citigroup reported an 88 per cent drop in third-quarter profit, not as bad as had been forecast.

The Dow gained 0.72 per cent, its biggest jump in more than a month, while the S&P 500 rose 0.81 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.66 per cent.

On currency markets the euro was trading higher thanks to an improved appetite for risk.

In afternoon Asian trade it was buying $US1.3000, up from $US1.2950 late on Monday in New York, while it rose to 102.58 yen from 101.89 yen.

The US dollar stood at 78.90 yen, up slightly from 78.66 in New York.

The main focus of interest this week is on China, which will release on Thursday its growth figures for July-September, with many hoping for an improvement on recent data that has shown a marked slowdown.

Hopes were given a boost at the weekend by trade figures that showed China's exports surged almost 10 per cent last month.

Also on Thursday the European Union holds a summit, with a possible bailout for Spain on the agenda along with Greece's push to renegotiate its own rescue deal.

Reports indicate that Athens could be given more time to repay its huge debts, following comments from International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde in Tokyo that an extra two years would be acceptable.

Softbank surged 10 per cent after the Japanese company confirmed it would take 70 per cent of Sprint Nextel, the number-three US mobile phone carrier, in the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese firm.

The bounce followed a dive of more than 20 per cent over the previous two days after the firm said it was in talks over a buyout.

"It's official now," a senior strategist at a Japanese brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Some buyback is likely."

Oil prices fell with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery up 11 cents to $US91.96 a barrel, reversing earlier losses, while Brent North Sea crude for November climbed six US cents to $US115.86.

Gold was at $US1,741.32 at 0800 GMT (1900 AEDT) compared with $US1,745.05 late on Monday.

In other markets:

- Taipei rose 0.70 per cent, or 52.12 points, to 7,471.02.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co gained 1.27 per cent to Tw$87.5 while Hon Hai Precision was 0.11 per cent higher at Tw$87.6.

- Manila ended 0.31 per cent higher, adding 16.72 points to 5,399.94.

- Wellington gained 0.62 per cent, or 24.33 points, to 3,940.70.

Fletcher Building was up 2.17 per cent at NZ$7.52, Chorus gained 2.08 per cent to NZ$3.43 and Telecom put on 0.84 per cent to close at NZ$2.40.

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Deterrence will take time: Bowen

IMMIGRATION Minister Chris Bowen admits there are a few challenges to overcome before the federal government's offshore processing regime deters asylum seekers from arriving by boat.

New laws to implement processing of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea have failed to stop people arriving by boat.

Mr Bowen said there were "a few challenges" including countering the spin by people smugglers, who tell asylum seekers they won't be sent to Nauru and that Australia won't implement its policies.

"We need to show by the experience of this policy that they're wrong," he told ABC television.

"We need to make crystal clear our policy of no advantage by arriving by boat, by implementing it and showing our resolve ... and that will take some time."

New Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs told a Senate committee on Tuesday the policy of "no advantage" had no legal meaning at the moment.

Mr Bowen said the government would assess the no advantage principle on a case by case basis depending on the circumstances.

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Major art heist at Dutch museum

SEVERAL paintings of "considerable value" have been stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum that was exhibiting works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh.

State news agency NOS said a Matisse painting called The Reading Girl was taken during the heist, which according to the police took place late Monday or early Tuesday.

Mariette Maaskant of the Kunsthal museum said on national radio that the paintings taken were of "considerable value" but she didn't specify what had been stolen.

She said the paintings taken belonged to the private Triton Foundation.

The bulk of the foundation's collection went on display for the first time as a single exhibition last week, one of two exhibitions arranged in honour of the Kunsthal's 20th anniversary. The museum is a display space that has no permanent collection of its own - the name means "art gallery" in Dutch.

The Triton Foundation is a collection of avant-garde art, and the Kunsthal exhibition was showing its works by more than 150 famed artists, including Alexander Calder, Paul Cezanne, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Edgar Degas, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Rene Magritte, Claude Monet, August Rodin, and Andy Warhol, among others.

Its curators aim to have the works on display for the public, and pieces have been shown in the past. However, the current presentation was the first time the entire collection had been exhibited together.

In a statement, the museum's chairman Willem van Hassel said the museum will be closed on Tuesday, and he referred all questions to the police.

Police spokesman Roland Ekkers declined to give more details as the investigation was getting underway.

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Tas first state for automatic enrolment

THE Australian Electoral Commission will trial in Tasmania its new system of automatically enrolling voters and updating their addresses.

Legislation passed federal parliament in July that allows the commission to use information from "reliable sources", such as Centrelink, and state motor registries, to add people to the roll if it believes they are eligible, or change their address if it believes they have moved.

AEC electoral commissioner Ed Killesteyn told a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday that the new system will start in Tasmania from next month ahead of a national rollout.

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Lithuanian voters set to swing left

AUSTERITY-WEARY voters in Lithuania look set to evict the Baltic state's four-year-old conservative government in a general election and hand power to the left.

Opinion polls before Sunday's election showed Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius' Conservative party and its Liberal allies facing punishment by the electorate despite a recovery from one of the world's deepest recessions.

Voters in the European Union nation are expected to swing behind the centre-left Social Democrats led by Algirdas Butkevicius, and the leftwing populist Labour party of controversial Russian-born ex-minister and businessman Viktor Uspaskich.

Butkevicius, a former finance minister, is tipped to become premier in a coalition with Labour.

The left pledges to raise the minimum wage and introduce a progressive income tax, but Butkevicius has also underlined his prudent credentials.

He quit as finance minister in 2005 in part because the then Social Democrat-led government did not close the gap between spending and revenue.

Defeat by the Social Democrats would be a bitter blow for Kubilius, who beat them in the last election in 2008 and is the only Lithuanian premier to survive a full term.

In 2008, voters heeded his message that the Social Democrats failed to rein in breakneck growth fuelled by credit and wage hikes and left Lithuania ill-prepared for the global crisis.

Kubilius was also premier in 1999-2000 when Lithuania was lashed by the economic meltdown in neighbouring Russia. But the 2009 crisis was far deeper, with Lithuania's economy shrinking by 14.8 per cent.

The Kubilius government launched spending cuts well beyond those of western members of the European Union, which Lithuania joined in 2004.

"This premier now is linked to the cuts in wages and pensions which many people felt personally," said analyst Ramunas Vilpisauskas, adding that Kubilius had been frank and never sought popularity.

Despite facing defeat, Kubilius is unbowed.

"If you want to come back to recovery, first of all you need to implement fiscal austerity measures, you need to bring back order into your financial system," he said. "And we have the results."

The recovery began in 2010, with output expanding by 1.4 per cent, before increasing to 6.0 per cent in 2011, but analysts say too few voters feel the benefits. The government's growth forecast is a slower 2.5 per cent this year and 3.0 per cent in 2013.

Gloom has stoked emigration to western Europe, which still seems an option despite its economic woes. September data showed Lithuania's population was 2.98 million, its lowest in decades. In 2001, it was almost 3.5 million.

Seventy members of Lithuania's 141-seat parliament are elected by proportional representation from party lists. The remaining 71 are chosen in constituency races, with October 28 run-offs where no candidate won a majority.

In tandem with the election, a non-binding referendum is being held on whether to continue plans to build a new atomic plant.

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Three soldiers killed in Philippine ambush

THREE soldiers have been killed in an attack by al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militants in the southern Philippines.

The three were members of the army's intelligence unit on the southern island of Basilan and had left their barracks to buy food when they were attacked by Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Saturday, Captain Alberto Caber said.

"They were aboard a motorcycle when attacked from behind by men also riding motorcycles," Caber told reporters.

The soldiers sustained multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital, he said.

Caber blamed Abu Sayyaf for the attack, saying it could be trying to goad the military into attacks on the eve of the expected signing of a peace agreement with another Muslim group.

"This is the work of the Abu Sayyaf to spoil the signing" of the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Manila on Monday, he said.

The 12,000-strong MILF is to sign a "framework agreement" with the government laying down the blueprint for the creation of an autonomous region by 2016.

Caber said the Abu Sayyaf apparently feared that once the pact is signed, the MILF would actively help the military hunt them down in the jungles of Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including a 2004 ferry bombing that killed more than 100 in Manila Bay, as well as kidnappings of foreign tourists and missionaries over the past decade.

The group is on the US government's list of active foreign terrorist organisations, and 600 American soldiers rotate in the south yearly to help local counterparts combat it.

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Abbott urges business to target Indonesia

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says Australian businesses should focus more on the economic opportunities in Indonesia instead of considering it an exotic tourist spot.

Mr Abbott is in Jakarta on the second day of a three-day trip to meet business leaders and politicians.

All Australian business leaders he met on Saturday were "very enthusiastic" about the economic prospects in the South-East Asian nation, Mr Abbott said.

"All of them were very keen to let me know Australia shouldn't be so fixated on its now long-standing economic relationship with Japan, and more recent but very, very important relationship with China, and that we've neglected the vast potential of Indonesia," h told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday.

"One of the things that should disappoint Australia is we actually have larger two-way trade with New Zealand, with four million people, than we do with Indonesia with 250 million people."

Indonesia was Australia's 11th largest export market in the year to June 30, 2012, official data show.

Mr Abbott said there was much work to do to build the economic relationship with Indonesia.

"For too long we have thought of Indonesia as an exotic tourist destination rather than as a potential and growing economic partner," he said.

"As Indonesia continues to develop very strongly, as it has over the last decade, there are a lot more opportunities for Australia."

Mr Abbott said business bosses were full of praise for the work done by Australian diplomatic and trade staff in Indonesia.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said an coalition government would broaden, deepen and diversify the relationship with Jakarta.

"The coalition believes our relationship with Indonesia should be one of our highest foreign policy priorities," she said.

Ms Bishop, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and agriculture spokesman John Cobb joined Mr Abbott in Jakarta after he left Bali, where on Friday he attended the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist bombings on the island.

The opposition delegation is to hold meetings on Monday with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and government MPs.

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UK charges five marines with murder

FIVE members of the Royal Marines have been charged with murder in relation to an incident in Afghanistan in 2011.

Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said seven marines were arrested on Thursday and the Royal Military Police (RMP) had arrested two more on suspicion of murder, one on Friday and the other on Saturday, taking the total number of arrests to nine.

Four have since been released without charge, pending further inquiries.

"The RMP has referred the cases of the remaining five Royal Marines to the independent Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA)," a statement from the MoD said.

"Following direction from the SPA these marines have now been charged with murder and they remain in custody pending court proceedings."

The soldiers, believed to be members of 3 Commando Brigade, were arrested in connection with an incident which occurred while they were based in Helmand province last year.

The incident has been described as "an engagement with an insurgent", with no civilians involved.

During a six-month tour of duty, which lasted from April to October last year, seven servicemen from 3 Commando Brigade were killed in action, all from 42 Commando.

The tour, Operation Herrick 14, was the unit's fourth and saw the force score notable successes in capturing explosives from the Taliban.

The rules of engagement, largely derived from the Geneva Convention, dictate under what circumstances British troops are allowed to open fire, whether that is to prevent an attack by the enemy or in direct contact.

The arrests are thought to be the first time UK servicemen have been held on suspicion of such charges during the conflict in Afghanistan.

A Territorial Army soldier was investigated by military officials after shooting dead a suspected Taliban bomber in the Nahr-e-Saraj area of central Helmand in the summer of 2010.

Senior officers believed the man may have been an innocent farmer. But after an 18-month inquiry no charges were brought against Fusilier Duane Knott, who said he had no regrets over his action.

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