Families of US cinema dead to get compo

The families of 12 people killed in July in a US movie cinema massacre will receive $US220,000 each. Source: AAP

THE families of 12 people killed in July in a US movie cinema massacre will receive $US220,000 ($A213,976) each from a special relief fund created by private donations, the Denver Post reported.

Five victims who suffered permanent brain damage or physical paralysis in the killing spree also will receive $US220,000 each. The money will be disbursed in the next few days.

The total amount donated to the fund reached more than $US5.3 million, the newspaper reported. It was administered by Ken Feinberg, a lawyer specialising in mediation who served as special master of the US government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Feinberg was recruited to mediate between victims of the cinema shooting and the fund's co-creators - the governor's office and a non profit community foundation, the newspaper said.

Thirty-eight of 57 claims filed were approved by Feinberg.

Smaller graduated payouts will be made people who were hospitalised. Victims who did not require overnight hospitalisation and those who filed claims for mental trauma received no payout because of limited funds, a spokesman for the governor said.

The accused gunman, James Holmes, a former neuroscience student, faces 152 charges including 24 counts of first degree murder. The July 20 shooting occurred in a cinema in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado during the premiere of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man extradited over shooting incident

A MAN has been extradited from Queensland following a drive-by shooting in a small northern NSW town in July.

Police were called to Rappville, south of Casino, on the afternoon of July 12, after shots were fired into a home, causing damage to the front door.

No one was home at the time and there were no injuries.

On Friday, a 22-year-old man was extradited from Queensland and taken to Lismore police station where he was charged with discharging a firearm at a dwelling with disregard for safety, possessing a loaded firearm in a public place and possessing an unauthorised firearm.

Police said the 22-year-old appeared on Saturday in Lismore Local Court where he was refused bail.

He is to reappear in the same court on Monday.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Four shot dead in India's northeast

FOUR people have been killed in a gun attack in India's restive northeast, pushing the week's death toll from ethnic violence to 10 as the situation remains tense.

Heavily armed gunmen late on Friday attacked the village of Joraibari in the western Kokrajhar district, 230 kilometres from the state of Assam's main city of Guwahati, authorities said.

"Three members of a family and another (distant) relative were shot dead by unidentified gunmen," Biswajit Daimary, an MP and leader of the Bodoland People's Party (BPF), told AFP.

A child was also critically injured in the shooting.

The government said there had been a "massive deployment of army, police and paramilitary troopers" to quell the fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers who have been embroiled for years in territorial disputes.

All the victims were Muslims.

"The situation is tense," Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters.

"The death toll in fresh clashes in the past week has gone up to 10 and we're trying our best to control the situation with a very firm hand."

Clashes between the Bodos and the Muslim settlers in July left at least 80 dead and displaced 450,000 people. Some 100,000 people remain in relief camps.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Still no motive for French Alps killings

Members of a UK family killed in the French Alps may have been the victims of a random killing. Source: AAP

THREE members of a British family gunned down in the French Alps may have been the victims of a random killing, the prosecutor investigating the case has suggested.

Eric Maillaud said he had still found no motive for the murders of Iraqi-born engineer Saad al-Hilli and his wife and mother-in-law as well as a French cyclist near Lake Annecy in September.

Although investigators are keeping all lines of inquiry open, they have moved away from initial suspicions that the answer lies in a family dispute between Mr al-Hilli and his brother Zaid.

Maillaud, Annecy's chief prosecutor who is leading the case, told the BBC: "Without doubt we are looking for someone who has killed before, someone who puts no value on human life.

"We are not sure whether that means it's a professional hit but if it was done on a contract it was very badly done.

"We are looking for unbalanced people - capable of extreme violence, People who have access to weapons - hunters, collectors, shooting club members, some of whom could have had psychiatric problems.

"We are searching a huge area stretching into Switzerland and Italy - and that includes a large number of people."

Members of Al-Hilli's family have expressed their anger at being investigated for the killings, with his brother strongly denying that a spat over their father's inheritance had anything to with the deaths.

But Maillaud said it was the "first obligation of any inquiry to eliminate the immediate family".

Engineer al-Hilli, 50, of Claygate, Surrey, and his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, were brutally murdered along with her mother Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, and cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, in the horrifying gun attack in woodland near the village of Chevaline on September 5.

The al-Hillis' four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother's corpse for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten.

About 100 police officers in Britain and France are investigating the murders in an operation which spans France, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, Sweden and southern Spain, where al-Hilli's father had an apartment.

In the interview, Maillaud all but rejected speculation that Mollier, who worked in the nuclear industry, was the killer's main target.

"We are 99 per cent sure he was nothing to do with it," he said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Minister slams India's health system

INDIA'S rural development minister has said the country's public health system has "collapsed" in a blunt assessment of his government's failure to extend a social safety net for the poor.

Jairam Ramesh, known as a maverick with often outspoken views, stressed that 70 per cent of spending on health was out of people's own pockets, making it the single most important reason for indebtedness in rural areas.

"We all know that the health system in India has collapsed," he told a forum in New Delhi.

"India is a unique country in the world where 70 per cent of expenditure is private expenditure at a time when most other countries are having a debate on how to increase public investment in health," he added.

"In many poor areas of India, the public health system simply does not exist."

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in power since 2004, pledged earlier this month that health spending would triple in a five-year plan adopted by the government.

Spending in 2010 was 4.0 per cent of gross domestic product, according to the World Health Organisation -- less than many African countries or Afghanistan and a fraction of developed nations, which spend around 10 per cent.

Indians of all backgrounds and economic means generally choose to absorb the costs of a trip to one of India's booming private hospitals instead of their public equivalents, which are often under-staffed and poorly equipped.

Ramesh said the other important factor pushing people into poverty in India, where 40 per cent of the population live on less than $US1.5 ($A1.46) a day, was degradation of the environment.

"The last 25-30 years, with accelerated economic growth and the pressure that economic growth has brought to bear on our natural resources, it has created this new animal of ecological poverty that we have to now address," he said.

He stressed the poor had "a disproportionate dependence" on forests, rivers and farm land, which are being steadily degraded under the pressure of the country's rising 1.2 billion population and economic development.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kiwis told no Marmite before Christmas

Sanitarium has told New Zealanders that Marmite won't be in production before Christmas. Source: AAP

TOUGH luck, Kiwis, you won't get your favourite breakfast spread of Marmite before Christmas after all.

Sanitarium's New Zealand general manager Pierre van Heerden told NZ national Business Review on Friday the company still does not have council approval for its newly-strengthened and reconfigured Christchurch factory.

"A black Christmas isn't going to be possible," he said from Melbourne.

"It's almost impossible for me now to set a specific on-shelf date because there are still a few uncertainties."

He says the company is hoping to have council sign-off by the end of the month and the Marmite machinery has to be tested before it can start producing the spread again.

The earthquake-enforced shortage of the popular spread has consumers anxious to know when it will return.

The shortage has prompted a "black" market on auction website Trade Me, with 500g jars selling for more than $65.

The company's Christchurch factory, the only one to make Marmite for New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific, was closed late last year because of earthquake damage.

The company had hoped to have Marmite back on supermarket shelves by October.

Vegemite, anyone?

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brian Burke fails in High Court appeal bid

Former WA premier Brian Burke won't be allowed to appeal to the High Court against his conviction. Source: AAP

FORMER West Australian premier Brian Burke will not be allowed to appeal to the High Court against his conviction for giving false testimony to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).

Burke has already failed in WA's appeal court to have his 2010 conviction and $25,000 fine for lying to the CCC overturned.

At a High Court hearing on Friday, Burke's lawyers failed to persuade Justice Kenneth Hayne there were grounds for another appeal.

Burke was originally convicted for lying to the CCC during its 2006 investigation into lobbying for the controversial Smiths Beach development in WA's southwest.

The court found he misled the CCC over his lobbying of then cabinet minister and friend Norm Marlborough to appoint Beryle Morgan, a National Party member and former shire president, to a key development commission.

Justice Hayne said there was no reason to doubt the earlier rulings.

Burke will be back in court next week to face four counts of insider trading, along with stockbroker David John Massey.

The federal charges date back six years and arose from the taping of Burke's telephone calls by the CCC.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia, NZ defence ties sound: Smith

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia and NZ are working much closer together in defence. Source: AAP

DEFENCE Minister Stephen Smith says formal talks with his New Zealand counterpart have proved fruitful, showing the bilateral defence relationship between the nations is in good shape.

New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman met Mr Smith in Perth on Friday for their first formal discussions since the countries signed a Defence Relationship Review in January, although it was their fourth meeting this year.

"Our practical co-operation continues to be enhanced across the board," Mr Smith told reporters at a joint news conference.

"We continue to be very pleased by the navy-to-navy collaboration.

"We've got very good collaboration which we are enhancing in our heavy amphibious lift area, in our sea support ship area, including and involving cross-crewing and the like.

"It's very good for general co-operation, it's very good for interoperability and it also puts us in a good position in response to humanitarian disaster relief exercises, which we are regularly called upon in our part of the world."

Mr Coleman said it was "not just all talk", with New Zealand using its tankers to refuel Australian defence ships at sea, for example.

"We are really working very closely together," he said.

"We're facing common challenges across our defence establishments in terms of the affordability of future capabilities - challenges that all Western nations are having to face up to."

The ministers also said they had discussed drawdown dates for stabilisation forces in East Timor and Solomon Islands, and future defence configurations in Afghanistan.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thousands attend Hamas commander's funeral

THOUSANDS of people have gathered in the Gaza Strip for the funeral of Ahmed Jaabari, the commander of the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement.

His remains were being taken to the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City on Thursday for a prayer service before his burial.

High-ranking Hamas members were not expected to attend the funeral for safety reasons.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Panetta in Thailand to boost military ties

US defence chief Leon Panetta has arrived in Thailand to try and boost security ties in the region. Source: AAP

US defence chief Leon Panetta has arrived in Thailand as part of an Asian tour designed to beef up security ties across the region as a counterweight to China's rise.

A possible reopening of US military contacts with neighbouring Myanmar (Burma) for the first time since the 1980s are expected to feature in Panetta's talks in Bangkok.

The Pentagon chief's trip has been overshadowed throughout by a snowballing sex scandal in Washington that forced the resignation last week of ex-general and CIA director David Petraeus over an extramarital affair.

The US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, has been linked to a key figure in the case and is now under investigation for potentially inappropriate emails.

Panetta's visit to Bangkok marks the first face-to-face talks between US and Thai defence ministers since 2008, and comes days before President Barack Obama is due in the region for a tour of Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Thai-US military relations have deep roots, dating back to the Korean war, but American officials said the Pentagon wanted to restore a more strategic dialogue to complement lower-level contacts between military units.

"We enjoy great operational cooperation with the Thais and what we're trying to do is to do bring back the strategic piece," said a senior defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States suspended military aid to Thailand after a 2006 coup but reinstated the assistance after elections in December 2007.

However, Thailand's domestic turbulence has diminished Bangkok's importance for Washington, which is building up partnerships in Southeast Asia. The "rebalance" to the Pacific is fuelled by American worries over China's growing military might and its tough stance on territorial disputes.

Thailand's airbases and ports remain vital to the US military's logistical network in Asia and the Pentagon continues to hold dozens of drills every year with Bangkok, including the elaborate annual Cobra Gold exercise that involved nearly 13,000 troops from 24 countries last year.

Apart from affirming US-Thai security ties, the two governments are expected to discuss tentative steps to reopen US military contacts with neighbouring Myanmar, officials said.

Washington restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar and ended sanctions on investment in July.

Next week Obama will make the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president.

He will meet President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that bloody unrest in the western state of Rakhine between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims would "of course" feature in Obama's talks.

Earlier during his week-long trip to Asia, the third since June, Panetta took part in annual strategic talks with Australia, where officials unveiled plans to station a powerful US Air Force radar and space telescope.

He will fly to Cambodia on Friday to join a meeting of defence ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that is expected to focus on territorial tensions with China and the Myanmar unrest.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Welfare cuts could hit 10,000 single mums

ABOUT 10,000 single mothers may be left empty handed under changes to parenting payments.

From January 1, the majority of the 84,000 single parents, mostly mothers, receiving parenting payments will be moved to the Newstart allowance when their youngest child turns eight.

The federal government will save $728 million over four years as a result.

Charities were furious when the legislation passed parliament in October and believe the changes will leave some parents $140 a week worse off and increase homelessness.

Human Services Minister Kim Carr declined to specify how many parents would be worse off.

"There is clearly a substantial difference in the amounts of money that are available between the two payments so there will be a reduction for many people," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.

"The policy rationale is to encourage people to take on more work."

He expects the majority of parents affected by the changes to be shifted to Newstart.

About 3000 will be eligible for disability and carers' support payments.

Senator Carr expects that about 10,000 parents will be earning income above the allowed threshold and won't be eligible for any welfare assistance.

He said 5000 would receive part payments.

His department initially estimated that 17,000 parents would be ineligible for payments, but the latest figure was closer to 10,000.

Asked if the revision would affect anticipated budget savings, Senator Carr said the matter was for "others to calculate."

He said there would be career advice, job service support and childcare support for parents affected by the welfare cuts.

Australian Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the 10,000 parents ineligible for assistance are being "unfairly punished for doing exact thing the government says they should".

Senator Siewert said the revision of figures of those ineligible could affect expected budget savings.

"It may mean less (budget) savings for a whole lot of pain," she told AAP.

"The (federal government) is disguising the fact they are dropping single parents and their children further into poverty."

She dismissed Centrelink's efforts to place individual calls to the 84,000 parents who will be affected by the cuts.

"The government's alleged commitment to support of vulnerable people makes a mockery of the process they've undertaken on this legislation to date," Senator Siewert said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong shares close lower

HONG Kong shares have closed 1.55 per cent lower following heavy losses on Wall Street caused by US fiscal cliff fears.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 333.06 points on Thursday to 21,108.93 on turnover of HK$52.95 billion ($A6.61 billion).

Chinese shares closed down 1.22 per cent.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 25.13 points to 2,030.29 on turnover of 37.1 billion yuan ($A5.81 billion).

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

US promises $US30m as Syria battles rage

The leader of Syria's National Coalition is urging world powers to arm the rebels with weapons. Source: AAP

SYRIAN army tanks have shelled a refugee camp and two nearby districts in southern Damascus as battles raged and warplanes bombarded a rebel-held northwestern town, a watchdog says, as the US promised an extra $US30 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the conflict.

The tanks were deployed at the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk overnight, as well as the nearby districts of Tadamun and Assali, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Both Yarmuk and Tadamun were scene of battles between the army and rebels late on Tuesday, said the Britain-based Observatory.

On Wednesday morning, shells were fired into a second refugee camp east of Yarmuk, said the monitoring group, though it did not specify if they had been fired by the army or by rebels.

Fighting in Damascus has intensified in recent weeks, after the army put down a mid-summer rebel assault on districts particularly in the southern belt where anti-regime sentiment is strong.

The violence is linked to major, ongoing battles in several parts of Damascus province, chiefly in the area known as Eastern Ghuta east of the capital.

Elsewhere, fighter jets bombarded a rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Idlib, the watchdog said.

"The air force has carried out two air strikes on the town of Maaret al-Numan," said the Observatory.

Rebels seized Maaret al-Numan on October 9, and the army has since waged an unrelenting but unsuccessful offensive to take back the town strategically located on the highway linking Damascus and second city Aleppo.

The Observatory - which relies activists, doctors and lawyers for its information - says more than 37,000 people have been killed in Syria since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday announced $US30 million ($A28.89 million) in extra humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflict in Syria, as she welcomed its new opposition coalition.

Clinton, in Australia for annual security and defence talks, said the formation of a new Syrian opposition coalition was "a good beginning".

"We agreed today that the formation of the new Syrian opposition coalition is an important step forward and will help the international community better target our assistance where it is needed most," she said in Perth.

"Today I'm pleased to announce that the US is providing an additional $US30 million in humanitarian assistance to help get much-needed food to hungry people inside Syria and to refugees who have fled to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq."

Clinton said she welcomed the progress made to broaden and unify the opposition leadership under the National Coalition.

"We have long called for this kind of organisation," she said, but added that Washington now wanted to see that momentum maintained.

"Specifically we urge them to finalise the organisational arrangements to support the commitments that they made in Doha and to begin influencing events on the ground in Syria," she said.

"As the Syrian opposition takes these steps, and demonstrates its effectiveness in advancing the case of a unified, democratic, pluralistic Syria, we will be prepared to work with them to deliver assistance to the Syrian people.

"We want to see the steps taken that have been promised and we stand ready to assist this new opposition in standing itself up and representing the Syrian people to the regime and the international community."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

New WA crime laws to target bikie gangs

WESTERN Australia now has some of the toughest organised crime laws in the country after passing a bill that can ban bikie gang members from associating.

The legislation is aimed at disrupting the illegal activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organisations and prevent them profiting from violence, intimidation and crime.

Under the new laws, the police commissioner and Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) can apply to a judge to have groups declared criminal organisations if they associate for the purpose of criminal activity and pose a risk to public safety.

WA Attorney-General Michael Mischin said the legislation would also provide for mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for members of criminal organisations convicted of serious offences.

"Once a criminal organisation has been declared, a range of measures can be imposed on members, including WA Police applying to the Supreme Court for control orders to stop them associating with other controlled persons, going to banned locations, promoting or recruiting for the organisation, or transferring funds to the organisation," he said.

For some offences, courts will be required to impose at least two years imprisonment on offenders.

Mr Mischin said it was hoped that if members continued their criminal acts once their organisation has been declared, the lengthy jail terms they received would cripple the organisation's ability to operate.

"The state government is committed to targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organisations which brazenly break the law and manufacture and distribute drugs to the detriment of the community," he said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

UN says staffer killed in Sudan

A LOCAL staff member with the UN's peacekeeping force in the Abyei region contested by Sudan and South Sudan has been killed in an incident following a tribal dispute, a UN official says.

The employee, a member of the Dinka tribe, "was shot and killed" on Tuesday, Damian Rance, a public information officer with the UN's humanitarian agency in Khartoum, told AFP.

The staffer died as a result of clashes between Dinka protesters and the UN's Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in New York.

"Today one national staff member succumbed to his injuries and another sustained an injury as a result of clashes in Abyei between UNISFA and Ngok Dinka demonstrators," Martin Nesirky said late on Tuesday.

"UNISFA has established checkpoints and is monitoring movements into Abyei. UNISFA's leadership is also meeting with Dinka and Misseriya representatives in an effort to defuse tensions."

Rance said he understood that tensions rose on Monday when Misseriya tribal chiefs went to a meeting in Abyei town with the head of UNISFA. This caused tensions with members of the Dinka tribe.

"UNISFA put up security and the crowd dispersed," Rance said.

The deadly clash occurred the following day.

Early on Wednesday UN chief Ban condemned "the series of incidents that occurred in Abyei in the past 48 hours" and urged the communities to resolve their disputes through dialogue.

In a statement, Ban said he remained extremely concerned that joint institutions, including police for the Abyei area, have not yet been established and urged the parties quickly to address the issue.

The African Union had set a December 5 deadline for Sudan and South Sudan to resolve the final status of Abyei. Sudanese troops withdrew from the area in May, ending a year-long occupation.

Abyei was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

AFP

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia told to be tougher on pedophiles

AUSTRALIA needs to do more to prevent child sex tourists travelling abroad and impose tougher sentences on pedophiles, a senior Thai official says.

Saowanee Khomepatr, a director at the Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, also called on Thai authorities to step up child protection programs with few signs of progress over the past decade.

"I think it's not so much progress about the work (in Thailand). But we have to try more and make more effort," Mrs Saowanee told AAP.

A director of the ministry's Anti-Trafficking in Women and Children Bureau, Mrs Saowanee works closely with Australia on child sex abuse cases.

She said those found guilty in Australia of child sex abuse, and in particular pedophiles who travel abroad to commit crimes, should face stiffer sentences.

She called on Australia to step up publicity to warn potential offenders.

Australia has in place extra-territorial laws covering child sex offenders whose offences occur outside the country.

Thailand is a key destination for child sex tourists and pedophiles, although stepped-up local and international policing has forced more foreign sex tourists to travel to neighbouring countries, such as Cambodia, where official sanctions may be weaker.

Mrs Saowanee's comments came after Thai police arrested a 51-year-old Sydney man, Ian Potterton, last week on charges of "indecency" with a child under 15 years of age and a second count of mental torture to a child.

Potterton, who strenuously denies the charges, could face up to 10 years in jail as well as monetary fines.

Thai police investigators allege he transferred funds to The Philippines and Thailand to pay for "online sex shows" while in Australia.

In Thailand, he travelled with a Thai family and is alleged to have abused their seven-year-old nephew in northern Thailand.

Potterton was arrested on November 8 as he prepared to board a flight to Sydney.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege Potterton had earlier emailed photos of a naked young boy to Australia.

Potterton acknowledged the existence of the file, but told AAP the photos were non-sexual and expressed outrage over the AFP intervention.

On October 31, the AFP conducted a search of his Sydney residence, where "electronic devices" were seized.

Potterton is the second Australian currently facing pedophile charges.

A 93-year-old Australian man, Karl Joseph Kraus, is due to appear in a Chiang Mai court next month over the sexual assault of four young sisters under the age of 15.

Mark Capaldi, a researcher with non-government group End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), known in Australia as ChildWise, says the new challenge in fighting child sex abuse is digital technology.

"A lot of (child abuse) can be facilitated nowadays around digital technology, through the internet or file sharing, dissemination of child pornography to those people who specifically want to target children," he said.

But he said the high profile cases, often involving Western men, were overshadowed by the fact that the majority of sexual exploitation of children was by "local demand, nationals".

"So that remains a concern in countries like Thailand."

Mr Capaldi welcomed Australian government programs across Asia in awareness and education along with capacity building with Thai police authorities in a bid to address the problem.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ryan says 'no regrets' over US polls loss

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says he has "no regrets" over their election loss. Source: AAP

FORMER Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says he has "no regrets" over the 2012 campaign despite losing the election last week.

In his first public comments since Mitt Romney was defeated by President Barack Obama after a multibillion-dollar campaign, Ryan admitted the Democratic incumbent "did a better job of getting voters to the polls".

"It hurts to lose a big election like this, but I don't have any regrets whatsoever," Ryan told the Racine Journal Times on Monday as part of a series of interviews with local media outlets in his native Wisconsin.

"We ran the kind of race we wanted to run," campaigning on "specific solutions and big ideas", he said.

"It's bittersweet. The sweet part is I'm back home on the block I grew up on, with my friends and family," he said. "The bitter part is we lost a major presidential election at a critical time."

Ryan is expected to remain head of the powerful House budget committee, where he became a rising star among Republicans by advocating wide-ranging tax and spending cuts and the reform of government entitlement programs.

Obama won the popular vote and defeated Romney in the all-important Electoral College by 332 to 206 votes, winning nearly every battleground state and defying the dark omens of a sluggish economy and high unemployment.

Ryan has been spoken of as a likely presidential candidate in 2016, and will be heavily involved in talks over how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff", a set of potentially devastating spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect in January if US politicians cannot agree on a plan to cut the deficit.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

NAB sticks with sub-trend growth forecast

NAB will stick with its sub-trend growth forecast for 2012/13 after its latest business survey. Source: AAP

ONE of the nation's largest banks is sticking with a 2012/13 economic growth forecast pegged below official predictions, after its latest business survey showed conditions at their weakest in over three years.

National Australia Bank (NAB) economists are forecasting economic growth of just 2.3 per cent this financial year, well below the three per cent expected by federal Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in their updated projections of the past couple of weeks.

NAB expects slowing mining investment, a still-high Australian dollar, the federal government's budget tightening and an ongoing weak global economy will weigh on activity.

Releasing its October business survey on Tuesday, NAB said the economy appeared to have "stumbled" into the December quarter with growth "clearly below trend".

Its business conditions index deteriorated further in October, down two points to minus five points, the lowest level since May 2009.

This was consistent with the economy travelling at a sub-trend pace - usually seen at around 3.25 per cent.

Business confidence also eased one point to an index of minus one, despite the RBA cutting the cash rate in October.

NAB suggested firms might be worried about the reasons behind the rate reduction, such as a high dollar and a soft labour market.

Declines in employment were one factor behind the fall in business conditions, with mining employment posting a significant 15-point drop.

The survey's capital expenditure index also fell to its lowest level since August 2009, "suggesting the brakes may be tightening on the business investment boom - especially mining".

"Mining conditions are currently the weakest they have been since the Queensland floods in early 2011, which caused major disruptions to coal mine production," NAB said.

However, a separate survey suggests the outlook may not be that bleak, predicting 137,000 jobs will be added to the economy by August next year, more than double the 58,000 people who gained employment in the year to August 2012.

The biannual analysis by consultants Economic and Market Development Advisors (EMDA) forecast a 10.6 per cent in employment in the mining industry.

EMDA's Michael Emerson, the author of MyCareer Employment Forecast November 2012, said while there were concerns about a slowdown in China and the mining industry, and a rise in unemployment, the overall outlook was "quite encouraging".

However, coinciding with the NAB survey, which showed a record 72 per cent of businesses say they don't currently require finance, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed lending down 1.8 per cent from a year ago.

Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James said that was a "disturbing development" for the RBA, given it had cut the cash rate by 1.5 percentage points in the past year.

"The Reserve Bank may have to cut rates to lower levels than in the past to revive growth, while the federal government may need to re-think the strategy to get the budget back in surplus in a year," Mr James said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Slow Hand ticks off $3.47m watch sale

A wristwatch belonging to British guitarist Eric Clapton has sold for $3.47 million at auction. Source: AAP

A PLATINUM wristwatch belonging to British guitarist Eric Clapton has sold for 3.4 million Swiss francs ($A3.47 million) in Geneva, auction house Christie's says.

The "exceptionally rare" watch made by Patek Philippe in 1987 was snapped up by an anonymous Asian buyer on Monday, Christie's spokesman Christiano De Lorenzo told AFP, adding that the price was in the middle of the estimate.

The only other time the platinum perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch with moon phases was on auction, in 1989, it sold for just $US250,999.

Clapton, 67, known for his work with rock bands Cream and the Yardbirds and for songs including Crossroads, Layla and Tears in Heaven, had purchased the luxury timepiece privately after that auction for an undisclosed price, De Lorenzo said.

The British guitarist's watch did not fetch the highest price at the Christie's "Important Watches" auction, where sales totalled 27.04 million Swiss francs.

That honour went to another Patek Philippe platinum wristwatch, made especially for American collector JB Champion in 1952, which raked in 3.78 million Swiss francs.

It thereby set "a world auction record for a watch without complications," Christie's said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Peacekeepers stay off honour roll for now

THE Australian War Memorial has decided not to include peacekeepers on the Roll of Honour for the time being.

But its council will consider the matter again when it next meets in early 2013.

The council's chairman, retired Rear Admiral Ken Doolan, tabled a petition at the council meeting on Monday calling for the names of 48 Australians killed in post-World War II peacekeeping and humanitarian operations to appear on the Roll of Honour, alongside more than 100,000 Australians killed in more than a century of conflict.

The online petition, which had attracted more than 17,800 signatures, was presented by Mrs Avril Clark, whose son Private Jamie Clark died in the Solomons in 2005, and Sarah McCarthy, whose father Captain Peter McCarthy died in 1988 when his vehicle hit a landmine in southern Lebanon.

Under current rules, a deceased member of the Australian Defence Force can be included on the Roll of Honour if he or she died during or as a result of service classified by the Department of Defence as warlike.

That excludes most post-World War II peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

The council on Monday unanimously decided to retain this existing criteria.

But it intends to revisit the matter in its meeting in the first quarter of 2013.

"Council is aware of a number of differing views in the broader Australian and veteran communities and has undertaken to further consider these opinions over the coming months," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This will include a detailed analysis of the comments on the petition presented by Mrs Clark."

Perth mother Avril Clark said she is disappointed but has not given up hope because the War Memorial has left the door open to discuss the issue again.

"It would mean so much to our family, a recognition that (Jamie) mattered and that he lost his life as a soldier on duty serving his country just like the other names on the War Memorial," she said in a statement.

"He may not have been in a war zone, but he was a soldier."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sex abuse inquiry will 'cleanse churches'

A SURVIVOR of sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers says a royal commission will help cleanse churches of evil.

Peter Blenkiron spoke to fellow survivors who were in tears on Monday when they heard that Prime Minister Julia Gillard had bowed to pressure to set up a royal commission into child sex abuse by members of the church.

"This is massive. I've just been speaking to blokes in tears, tears of joy," Mr Blenkiron told AAP.

"People have asked me what about the hardship it's going to create for everybody. It's a necessary short term pain for long term gain that brings out the truth."

Mr Blenkiron hit out at Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, who said calls for a royal commission were disproportionate.

"It's not church bashing, this is a necessary cleansing to remove pure evil from organisations that call themselves religious bodies," he said.

"What organisation would want those evil men as part of them?"

And he also savaged Cardinal Pell's claim that victims got justice when the church apologised.

Mr Blenkiron says no victim he knows believes they have ever received justice.

"Tell him to look up complex post traumatic stress disorder syndrome. That doesn't go away, that stays with you for life and most often it ends your life," he said.

"And tell him to then support a system that will keep those people alive who need the help as a result of his church that he supported and he watched. All this evil was on his watch."

Mr Blenkiron said it was vital that a royal commission urgently address the number of victims still taking their lives, decades after being abused.

"We've got people dying today, so they need to put some sort of temporary solution in place to keep people alive. That's critical, absolutely critical."

Mr Blenkiron, who attended St Patrick's College, Ballarat, in the 1970s when hundreds of boys were abused, said it was also vital to set up a compensation scheme to help survivors pay the massive medical costs associated with their abuse.

Lawyer Vivian Waller, who has represented victims of church abuse for 25 years and has campaigned for a royal commission for close to a decade, said she had doubted this day would ever come.

"I think this is a wonderful step in the right direction," she said.

"I can express relief and elation on behalf of my clients, who for too long have thought the Catholic church has acted as a law unto itself."

AAP pm

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tokyo stocks close down 0.93%

TOKYO'S benchmark index has fallen 0.93 per cent on fears over a US budget standoff and worries about the slowing Japanese economy, while a strong yen also weighed on shares.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday closed down 81.16 points at 8,676.44, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 1.12 per cent, or 8.16 points, to 722.58.

All eyes are on Washington where a fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax hikes is looming - which will likely send the world's biggest economy into recession - if legislators cannot agree on a new deal.

"The stand-off over the fiscal cliff impasse is extending its paralysis to the stock market," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Adding to the sense of dread for the global outlook, Japan on Monday released data showing its economy contracted 0.9 per cent in the July-September quarter, underscoring fears that the country's post-disaster recovery has stalled.

Investors are also looking to results from Japan's major lenders later this week at the tail-end of the latest earnings season.

"The market is in a lull before the release of major banks' earnings later this week," CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith told Dow Jones Newswires.

In Tokyo trade, department store group Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings was down 3.27 per cent at Y709 after cutting its full-year outlook, while convenience store operator Seven&i Holdings lost 1.56 per cent to Y2,332.

The yen's strength dragged down exporters, with Toyota down 1.75 per cent at Y3,085 and Sony off 2.61 per cent at Y856.

Moody's on Friday downgraded Sony's credit rating for the second time in a month as one of Japan's best-known consumer electronics firms struggles to return to profitability.

This summer, Sony shares tumbled below Y1,000 for the first time since 1980.

Suzuki Motor jumped 4.49 per cent to Y1,835 after posting a sharp rise in first-half profit.

Mazda Motor rose 0.95 per cent to Y106 after news of a tie-up with Toyota to make vehicles in Mexico for the North American market.

In currency trading, the euro bought $US1.2727 in Tokyo, up from $US1.2709 in New York late on Friday, while it fetched Y101.14 from Y100.99.

The dollar was down slightly at 79.43 yen.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Child abuse probe may help healing: Greens

A WIDE-RANGING royal commission into Australian institutional responses to child sex abuse may help heal shattered lives, the Australian Greens say.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will ask Governor-General Quentin Bryce to set up the inquiry into institutional responses to instances and allegations of child abuse in Australia, with a focus on sex abuse.

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said it would be welcome, if difficult, news for thousands of Australians.

"I hope this can bring some peace and justice to shattered lives, lift the shadow off all those good people in the church striving to do good for others, and make sure nothing like this ever happens again," she said in a statement on Monday.

Independent MP Tony Windsor said the royal commission would not be a "witch hunt".

"It's about giving the victims of child sexual abuse access to justice and in so doing give them hope that they can have a future in which they can move on from the past," he said in a statement.

NSW premier Barry O'Farrell welcomed the announcement, telling AAP "these heinous offences don't stop at state boundaries".

The Brotherhood of St Laurence says a royal commission is long overdue and it hopes it will bring crimes committed against children out into the open.

Executive director Tony Nicholson said it was obscene that institutions had covered up their crimes for decades.

"We welcome this announcement but it is well overdue," Mr Nicholson told AAP after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a royal commission into institutional responses to allegations of child abuse in Australia.

"It's obscene that institutions have for so long chosen to cover up crimes against the most vulnerable - our children - and have failed to report it to the police."

It was important the terms of reference, still to be announced by Ms Gillard, were comprehensive.

"Once and for all we can get these crimes into the open," Mr Nicholson said.

Nicky Davis from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said her first reaction to the announcement was to hug her son and sob with joy.

"Our suffering is being recognised, our voices are being heard and this is a wonderful thing," she told ABC television.

Victims wouldn't be able to heal while the truth was covered up, Ms Davis said.

She urged the prime minister to ensure that victims' voices were heard when the commission's terms of reference were put together.

"We are the experts in how they managed to get away with this for so long," she said.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu said his government would work with the federal government to establish the commission.

The Victorian government has been conducting its own parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse of children by clergy, which Mr Baillieu said had provided the opportunity for a national focus on the issue.

"It is clear that there have been a substantial number of established complaints of sexual abuse of children by those who have taken advantage of positions of authority," he said in a statement.

"This abuse is abhorrent and it has had traumatic consequences for victims and their families.

"It is important that we do whatever we can to prevent it from happening and bring those who are perpetrators of child abuse to justice."

Stephen Woods, who was abused by Catholic clergymen from the age of 11, hoped the commission would help on his road to recovery.

"When you're believed, it makes you feel a little bit more powerful in one way, that, yes, I can overcome this, I can deal with this - this wasn't my fault," he told ABC television.

He described the abuse he suffered at the hands of the clergymen.

"He would molest you in the front of the class.

"While, say, you were reading a book ... he'd have his hands up your shorts.

"Or he'd take me into his office where he used to make me strip and he would masturbate behind his desk."

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said as individuals they shared the feelings of horror and outrage all decent people felt reading the reports of sexual abuse and allegations of cover ups.

"While there were significant problems concerning some dioceses and some religious orders, talk of a systemic problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is ill-founded and inconsistent with the facts," they said.

They believe it would help determine the scope of the royal commission if police and child protection authorities released the information they have about the number of cases they are dealing with now and the situations in which they have arisen - families, government organisations and non-government organisations, including churches.

Broken Rites, a long-time campaigner for justice for children abused by pedophile priests, says it wants to see outcomes for victims.

President Chris MacIsaac says it has been a long, hard battle and he now wants to see the Catholic church speak frankly about what it knows.

"We want an outcome that will benefit victims, to see recommendations made that actually help victims," Ms MacIsaac told AAP.

"They want the actual knowledge that the church accepts that these crimes took place so they can shake off their guilt and begin to rebuild their lives.

"It's certainly time that the church shed some of what it knows about what's happened over the last 20 to 30 years."

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney said he was praying for a good outcome from the royal commission.

"The Diocese of Sydney expresses its unqualified abhorrence of child abuse, wherever it occurs," Archbishop Peter Jensen said in a statement on Monday night.

"While the terms of reference have yet to be decided, we will work and pray for an outcome which will result in a safer society for the most vulnerable."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Qld minister dumps second top staffer

QUEENSLAND Housing and Public Works Minister Bruce Flegg has dumped another senior staffer - but unlike the others this one is not going meekly into the wilderness.

Dr Flegg's senior media adviser, Graeme Hallett, has called a news conference an hour before the opening of parliament on Tuesday morning to say why he believes his old boss is unfit to be a minister.

Earlier in the day Dr Flegg's office confirmed the minister had sacked his chief of staff.

Fraser Stephen, who had been with Dr Flegg since the government won power in March, had his employment terminated last Thursday.

"The minister lost confidence in his chief of staff," a spokesman for Dr Flegg told AAP.

It has been a tumultuous year for Dr Flegg, but the spokesman would not give a reason why Mr Stephen was sacked.

Mr Hallett told reporters he would discuss "aspects of Dr Flegg's behaviour that makes him not fit to be a minister", at Tuesday's news conference.

Earlier this month, Dr Flegg was forced to ban his son Jonathon, who is the manager of government relations at lobbying firm Rowland, from lobbying his office.

Jonathon Flegg contacted his father's chief of staff twice to arrange appointments, which were booked but later cancelled.

One of those appointments was with Mr Stephen.

Dr Flegg was also under pressure in July, when he appointed Liberal National Party (LNP) treasurer Barry O'Sullivan to secretly review the books of two government businesses.

Mr Stephen is not the first chief of staff to leave the Newman government.

Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey dumped her chief of staff, former Channel 7 political journalist Mike D'Arcy, in June.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bushfire threatens Tas township of Zeehan

THE Tasmanian township of Zeehan, on the island's west coast, is being threatened by a large bushfire.

The Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) has sent 13 firefighting trucks to try to contain the 1600-hectare bushfire that is raging near the town's airstrip.

The TFS says Zeehan, with a population of about 1000, is at direct high risk from the fire front.

There might be embers, smoke and ash falling on homes in the town, it said.

The TFS has advised residents to activate their bushfire plan and says it is too late to leave the area.

"If your home is well constructed, prepared and actively defended, it may provide shelter," a TFS spokesman said.

"If you dont have a plan or your plan is to leave - leave now, but only if the path is clear.

"This may include a neighbouring property or other cleared area close by that is not at risk from fire."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Elderly man beats up armed intruders

An 84-year-old man has fought off two armed intruders who broke into his home in NSW. Source: AAP

HIS neighbours see him as an absolute gentleman.

But to the intruders who broke into the 84-year-old's home, Ernie Whitfield behaved nothing like the sort, fighting back despite the attackers being armed with a hammer, metal pole and a knife.

Neighbour Judy Hodge, who went to Mr Whitfield's aid after the intruders ran away, told AAP it was "beyond wonderful" that he had fought them off, describing his brave actions as "awesome".

Mr Whitfield was asleep in his Port Macquarie home on NSW's mid north coast at about 2am AEDT on Saturday when the intruders, described as of heavy build and one standing a towering 205cm tall, broke in.

The intruder with the hammer found a knife in the kitchen and armed himself with it, and the pair then confronted the octogenarian in his bedroom, police say.

When they demanded money, Mr Whitfield pointed to his wallet.

As he attempted to get out of bed, one of the intruders pushed him down and struck him on the arm with the pole.

That is when Mr Whitfield decided to fight back.

Police said Mr Whitfield got up and became involved in a scuffle with the man armed with the knife and hammer. They fell to the floor and the elderly man was able to break the blade off the knife.

As the offender tried to strike him with the hammer, Mr Whitfield stabbed the man in the stomach. The intruder yelled: "He's stabbed me, he's stabbed me", according to Mr Whitfield's neighbour.

The elderly man then disarmed the offender with the pole and used it to defend himself. The intruders, who had met their match, were chased from the Cornwallis Close home with only Mr Whitfield's's wallet.

Ms Hodge heard her neighbour calling for help as the men made off and went to his aid. She described him as an "absolute gentleman" and an "absolute sweetie" who is quiet and keeps himself to himself.

"Violence and attacking old people is disgusting," she said.

"If they are going to come near people and do nasty things, they have to be prepared to suffer."

Mr Whitfield was treated at the scene after emergency services were called and was later taken to Port Macquarie Hospital for treatment to cuts to his head and leg.

His neighbour praised his presence of mind in getting the knife from the intruders.

"I think he's beyond wonderful for fighting them off," said Ms Hodge.

"I suppose it's what anyone would do with a knife pointed at them."

The offenders are described as both having heavy builds, one very tall at about 205cm, while the second was shorter. Both wore dark hooded jumpers and had their faces concealed.

Police are appealing for information from the public.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Angler dead at Sydney beach

THE death of a fisherman at a southeastern Sydney beach could have been avoided if he had been wearing a life jacket, police say.

The 39-year-old Warrawee man was swept off rocks at Little Bay on Sunday morning.

He had been fishing with two friends when they were hit by a large wave. Despite them trying to hold onto each other, the trio were washed into the ocean and separated.

Only one of the three was wearing a life jacket. He was able to clamber back on to the rock ledge and then help another man to safety.

The pair tried to help their 39-year-old mate by throwing a rope out to him, but neither could swim, according to Superintendent Gavin Dengate, Eastern Beaches Local Area Commander.

The man was eventually washed towards the rocks and was pulled from the water, with the help of a passerby. Emergency services were called, but paramedics could not save the man.

"If you are going to fish from rocks, it is imperative that you are properly equipped and that means wearing a life jacket at all times," said Supt Dengate.

"Sadly, I believe this tragedy could have been easily avoided if all present had been wearing these essential items."

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two women missing in separate incidents

TWO women have gone missing in separate incidents in Melbourne.

Sandra Pevitt, 45, has not been seen for five days since leaving her Werribee home.

Katie Dircks, 30, is believed to have caught a tram in South Melbourne to Flinders Street shortly after 7pm (AEDT) on Friday and has not been seen since.

Ms Pevitt told her family she was going to her doctor when she went missing, but her regular clinic says she had no appointment.

Her partner Paul Czech says it is completely out of character for her and he's distraught over her disappearance.

"We are very concerned about her safety. We just want her back," he told reporters on Sunday.

"There was nothing to suggest that she was disturbed in any way. I just can't understand why she hasn't returned home."

He says she's a sensitive person with a great sense of humour and easy to like.

Ms Pevitt is described as Caucasian, 167cm tall, with a medium build, blonde shoulder length straight hair, brown eyes and she wears frameless glasses.

When she was last seen she was wearing blue jeans, a grey sports top, brown and white knitted jacket and white runners with a pink trim.

Police said Ms Dircks emailed a friend around 11.30am on Saturday, but had made no further contact.

She suffers from a medical condition which requires regular medication and family members have concerns for her welfare.

She is described as Caucasian, around 156cm tall with a solid build, long brown hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing a navy blue dress with buttons down the front and a black cardigan with white lace pockets.

Police say there is no link between the two woman.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More