Afghan elders to decide on immunity for US

AFGHAN elders will decide on the key issue of whether American soldiers remaining in the country after 2014 will be granted immunity from prosecution, President Hamid Karzai says.

US President Barack Obama warned last week that no American troops would remain behind in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014 unless they were granted immunity from prosecution in local courts.

"The US is standing firm by its demand for immunity for its soldiers," Karzai told reporters on Monday, on his return from Washington where he held talks with Obama on Friday.

"The Afghan government can't decide on this. This is up to the Afghan nation to decide. The Loya Jirga will decide," he said, referring to the national assembly of tribal elders.

Obama, planning to withdraw most of the 66,000 US troops left in Afghanistan, said that after 2014 American forces would have a "very limited" mission in training Afghan forces and preventing a return of al-Qaeda.

But he warned that Karzai, with whom he has had a sometimes testy relationship, would have to accept a security agreement, still under discussion, granting legal immunity to US troops who remain.

"It will not be possible for us to have any kind of US troop presence post-2014 without assurances that our men and women who are operating there are (not) in some way subject to the jurisdiction of another country," Obama said.

Karzai said that after 2014, US troops would be in Afghanistan "in small numbers, very, very small numbers like in Germany, Turkey or South Korea, like in Japan".

Their presence would be based on an agreement which could take eight to nine months to finalise, he said, adding that the US proposals were not yet acceptable.

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Man dies after suspcted drug lab explosion

A MAN has died in hospital 10 days after suffering severe burns in a suspected drug lab fire at a house in Sydney's northwest.

Neighbours noticed smoke coming from the home on Quarry Road at Ryde in the early hours of January 4, police said.

Emergency services found a 50-year-old man inside suffering "full thickness" burns to his arms and legs.

He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital and placed in an induced coma, while a woman who managed to escape the fire was admitted with minor injuries.

The man died in hospital on Monday.

Police believe the fire was caused by an explosion in a clandestine drug lab.

A report will be prepared for the Coroner and investigations into the incident are continuing.

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Swatch to buy US jeweller Harry Winston

SWATCH, the world's leading watchmaker, says it will acquire US jeweller and watchmaker Harry Winston for up to $US1billion ($A952.70 million).

The Swiss group will pay $US750 million to acquire the company and add a maximum of $US250 million to take over its net debt, a statement on Monday said.

The transaction, which still needs the go-ahead from regulatory authorities, does not include the mining activities of the Harry Winston Diamond Corporation, it said.

Swatch said it would take over the Harry Winston brand and all the activities related to its jewellery and watches business, as well as 535 of its employees worldwide.

Swatch chairwoman Nayla Hayek said the deal made sense since "Harry Winston does brilliantly complement the prestige segment of the (Swatch) Group".

"Diamonds are still a girl's best friend," she added in the statement.

Harry Winston's chief executive Robert Gannicott also hailed the deal.

"The Harry Winston brand now has a new home that can provide the skills and support that it deserves to realise its true potential," he said in the statement.

Analysts were also enthusiastic about the purchase, although they said the price was steep.

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North Korea vows to bolster war deterrence

NORTH Korea has vowed to strengthen its defences, amid concerns the country may conduct a nuclear test as a follow-up to last month's long-range rocket launch.

Citing US hostility, Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a memorandum on Monday North Korea will "continue to strengthen its deterrence against all forms of war".

The memorandum carried by state media did not say what action North Korea would take to defend itself.

However, North Korea has claimed the right to build atomic weapons to protect itself from the United States, which stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea.

North Korea sent a satellite into space on December 12 aboard a long-range rocket, a launch the US and its allies have criticised as a test of banned ballistic missile technology.

In 2006 and 2009, Pyongyang conducted atomic tests after being slapped with UN security council condemnation and sanctions for similar launches of long-range rockets.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry urged the Washington to dismantle the US-led UN Command, which oversees an armistice signed at the close of the Korean War in 1953. It accused the US of trying to turn the UN Command into a NATO-like regional military bloc.

"Whether the US immediately dismantles the UN Command or not will serve as the acid stone in deciding whether the US will maintain or not its anti-(North Korea) hostile policy," said the memorandum, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Korean War armistice was never replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war 60 years later.

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Tas fire crews dig in ahead of Thursday

Police are planning to reopen the Arthur Highway on the bushfire-ravaged Tasman Peninsular. Source: AAP

POLICE have reopened the Arthur Highway in Tasmania that runs from Sorell to Port Arthur on the bushfire-ravaged Tasman Peninsula.

Motorists are being asked to drive with caution, particularly between Sugarloaf Road and the Dunalley Bridge, with work crews still restoring essential services to the area.

Drivers of light vehicles who want to go south of Dunalley are being advised to detour via Sugarloaf and Fulham Roads to avoid lengthy delays.

Police say large vehicles, those towing trailers, service vehicles and tourist buses should stay on the Arthur Highway which has a speed limit of 60km/h.

They say motorists also need to be mindful of stock on the road due to the destruction of fences, particularly in the Sugarloaf Road and Fulham Road areas.

Peninsula residents were allowed to return last Friday.

Meanwhile, fire crews have made solid progress on consolidating containment lines around bushfires still burning ahead of higher fire danger conditions forecast for Thursday.

Tasmania Fire Service has issued a watch and act message for the uncontained 24,040-hectare Forcett blaze where 150 firefighters using 39 tankers and four aircraft continue working on the fire which has a 200km perimeter.

Firefighters had been strengthening containment lines around Bream Creek and Marion Bay and also at Lagoon Bay, but had to eventually pull out due to increased winds, TFS spokeswoman Shannon Fox said on Sunday.

"In Taranna, we've got a good, strong containment line in but we're working on looking after some hot spots that are within the already burnt out areas," she told AAP.

"What we are really trying to do is be prepared for Thursday when we expect fire danger ratings to increase again."

At Lake Repulse, fire crews consolidated containment lines to the south of Brown Mountain and New Zealand firefighters worked on containment lines at the Broad River Valley, Ms Fox said.

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Carr wants better Japan-SKorea relations

Australia wants Japan and South Korea to resolve recent disputes, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA wants Japan and South Korea to resolve recent disputes between them in the interests of enhanced regional security, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.

He met with Japan's new Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Sydney on Sunday, with security in the Asia-Pacific region high on the agenda, particularly following a recent missile launch by North Korea.

Complicating matters and causing concern in the United States is a falling out between Japan and South Korea over a territorial dispute and Japan's attitude toward its colonial past.

Senator Carr told reporters he and Mr Kishida had discussed Australia's new role on the United Nations Security Council and the missile launch.

"We hope to be able to work closely with Japan when it comes to shaping a response on the Security Council to that unsatisfactory and illegal behaviour by North Korea," he said.

"The over-riding consideration here is enhanced security and peace in northeast Asia and that is helped if there is agreement and cooperation at the highest level between the Republic of Korea and Japan.

"Because both nations are such good friends of Australia's, we look forward to a resolution of any differences between them."

Mr Kishida said "difficult issues" were occurring between Japan and South Korea.

"Our stance is to look at this from a broad perspective and seek a peaceful resolution," he said.

There have been suggestions new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may disavow a 1993 statement by Japan apologising for the suffering of South Korean "comfort women" forced into providing sex for Japanese servicemen during World War II.

But Mr Kishida said Mr Abe was "truly distressed" by the suffering of those women and his thoughts on the issue had not changed from those of previous prime ministers.

Senator Carr said the 1993 statement related to "an episode that was one of the darkest in modern history" and it was in "no one's interest that the acknowledgement be revisited".

Mr Kishida said a territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands needed to be resolved "without getting heated about it".

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AIG sues New York Fed over lawsuit rights

American International Group (AIG) has filed a lawsuit against an investment structure. Source: AAP

AMERICAN International Group has filed a lawsuit against an investment structure created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help bailout the insurer, in a bid to sue mortgage debt issuers.

According to the complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, AIG is seeking a declaration that the bailed out insurance giant has not abandoned its right to file suit against banks and other creditors by selling residential mortgage-backed securities to Maiden Lane II in 2008.

Maiden Lane II was created to purchase the securities, which had become unsellable at the the height of the financial crisis, from AIG.

The government took control of AIG in September 2008 through a $US182 billion ($A172.50 billion) federal bailout to prevent its imminent collapse from sparking a cascade of gigantic failures throughout the global financial system. The bailout was fully paid off last year.

AIG, which accuses Bank of America and other issuers of mortgage debt to have misled it about the value of the securities, is not seeking financial compensation from Maiden Lane II but wants the court to state whether AIG can still sue entities that issued securities in Maiden Lane II.

The insurer has filed a $US10 billion lawsuit against Bank of America as reparations for fraud claims.

On Wednesday, AIG decided not to join a private shareholder lawsuit against the US government over its bailout.

The lawsuit filed by Starr International, which is controlled by former AIG chief executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, argued that the massive bailout of AIG did not fairly compensate shareholders.

Starr sued the government for about $US25 billion in November 2011.

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Tens of thousands protest Taiwan president

Taiwan has seen the largest anti-government action since President Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected. Source: AAP

TENS of thousands of opposition demonstrators have taken to the streets of Taipei to protest the policies of Taiwan's China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou.

Sunday's demonstration is the largest anti-government action since Ma was elected to a second four-year term a year ago.

Protesters called on the president to fire Prime Minister Sean Chen over the island's lacklustre economic performance - growth was less than two per cent in 2012 - and demanded regulatory bodies stop a consortium widely seen as pro-China from purchasing a mass-circulation newspaper.

The consortium includes businessman Tsai Eng-meng, who already owns a popular cable TV news station and another mass-circulation newspaper.

Opponents of the latest media deal say it would concentrate too much power in the hands of an individual.

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Bushfires continue to threaten five states

THOUSANDS of firefighters continue to battle bushfires across five states and territories, with blazes threatening homes and scorching hundreds of thousands of hectares of bushland.

NSW is under the worst threat with more than 90 fires that have burned more than 350,000ha.

Seven of those fires continue to burn out of control.

A 9800ha blaze near Cooma threatened 15 homes on Saturday as more than 100 firefighters worked to contain the inferno.

Crews are battling two other major fires near Yass and Sussex Inlet that have threatened homes but eased thanks to cooler weather conditions.

Firefighting crews in Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT also fought blazes on Saturday.

Authorities in Tasmania issued a watch and act alert as a bushfire between Forcett and the Tasman Peninsula strengthened.

The Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) issued the alert on Saturday for communities near the blaze, noting increasing activity on the fire's boundary in the Kellevie, Bream Creek and Marion Bay areas.

TFS senior station officer Phil Douglas said the fire had expanded to cover 23,600 hectares, and fire crews were back-burning to contain the blaze.

Tasmanian emergency services have been fighting fires since January 4.

Several fires were burning across Victoria but they were under control, including a blaze at Kentbruck in the state's southwest, where 66 fire crews remained stationed.

A State Control Centre spokeswoman said the Kentbruck blaze had increased to 11,890 hectares, due to backburning as part of containment efforts.

A 13-hectare blaze at Kangaroo Ground on Melbourne's outskirts had been declared safe despite going close to a number of properties.

In Queensland, there were 34 bushfires across the state but none threatened homes.

Volunteer crews were using earth moving equipment to contain a fire in bush near Undullah south of Brisbane.

Firefighters continue to monitor three fires sparked by lightning strikes on Thursday, west of Gympie.

Two small grassfires were the only blazes in the ACT on an extreme fire danger day.

Both, one at Hall and the other at Kambah, were extinguished, the ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) said.

A milder weather forecast allowed ACT authorities to end the total fire ban across the territory on Saturday night.

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Obama won't support building 'Death Star'

A DEATH Star won't be a part of the US military's arsenal any time soon.

More than 34,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the Obama administration to build the Star Wars inspired super-weapon to spur job growth and bolster the country's defence.

But in a posting on Friday on the White House petitions website, Paul Shawcross, an administration adviser on science and space, says a Death Star would cost too much to build - an estimated $US850 quadrillion ($A805 quadrillion) - at a time the White House is working to reduce the federal budget.

Besides, Shawcross says, the Obama administration "does not support blowing up planets".

The US, Shawcross points out, is already involved in several out-of-this-world projects, including the International Space Station, which is currently orbiting Earth with a half-dozen astronauts.

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