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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Beijing air pollution hazardous

AIR pollution levels in China's notoriously dirty capital have hit dangerous levels, with cloudy skies blocking out visibility and warnings issued for people to remain indoors.

Local authorities have warned the severe pollution is likely to continue until Monday.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center has reported air-quality readings between 176 and 442 from its monitors throughout the greater Beijing area since Friday.

The monitors measure the level of air-borne PM 2.5 particulates, which are tiny particular matters considered the most harmful to health.

The air is considered good when the reading is at 50 or below but hazardous with a reading between 301 and 500, when people are warned to avoid outdoor physical activities.

Monitors in urban Beijing all reported readings above 300 on Friday, and the centre real-time readings showed Beijing remained heavily polluted on Saturday with readings as high as 478 at 3pm (local time).

At the same time, monitors at the city's US Embassy recorded an off-the-chart air-quality reading of 699.

Readings are often different in different parts of the city and because the instruments used to measure the pollution levels are different.

According to rules issued by the city government in December, all outdoor sports activities are to stop and factories have to reduce their production capacity if Beijing's official air-quality reading goes over 500.

Beijing authorities are blaming a lack of wind and foggy conditions.

Several other cities, including Tianjin on the coast east of Beijing and southern China's Wuhan city have also reported severe pollution over the last several days.

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NSW man dies during surf rescue

A MAN who tried to rescue four young people from the surf got into trouble himself and died.

Emergency crews rushed to Patonga, on the NSW Central Coast, about 2.30pm on Saturday.

The four young people, including children, were visiting from Asia and staying with the man, police say.

They were swimming in Patonga Creek when they were taken out by the tide.

The man, aged in his 60s, tried to rescue them before he also got into trouble.

Onlookers came to their aid using a boat and pulled all five from the water before racing them to the shore.

Members of the public performed CPR on the man until police and paramedics arrived but the man died at the scene.

A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said one of the four young people, an 18-year-old woman, swallowed water before she was transported to Gosford Hospital in a stable condition.

The three others who were with the victims were also transported to hospital but only to receive language translation services.

A full investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

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Taliban welcome US 'zero option' on troops

THE Taliban have welcomed news from Washington that the US might withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan next year, saying the American public was pressing for an end to "this aimless war".

The comment came ahead of a crucial meeting between President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House on Friday that is expected to focus on how many American soldiers will remain in Afghanistan.

The US and its NATO allies have long planned to withdraw their combat troops by the end of 2014, although it has been widely expected that Washington will leave a force to train, advise and assist the Afghan army and police.

But Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters on Tuesday that Obama would not rule out any ideas, including the so-called zero option - pulling out all the remaining 66,000 US troops.

US military officers privately said comments about a total withdrawal were primarily designed as a tactic in negotiations with Kabul over a security agreement, which includes immunity for American troops remaining behind.

Taliban insurgents, however, seized on Rhodes' comments as a sign that the administration was under pressure from the American people to pull out completely from the nation's longest war.

"We appreciate this step of the American public and all those societies who pressurise their government in the issue of Afghanistan as to bring this aimless war to an end and to evacuate all their troops," the Taliban said in a statement on their website.

Opinion polls for several years have shown that the US public is tired of the human and financial cost of the Afghanistan war, initially launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

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Road deaths cost South Africa 10th of GDP

FATAL road crashes cost South Africa's economy 309 billion rand ($A33.17 billion)) each year or the equivalent of 10 per cent of gross domestic product, the Transport Minister has revealed.

Accidents blamed mainly on drunk driving and excessive speeding, claimed nearly 1,500 lives in the five weeks from the start of December, according to South African police.

"Road traffic fatalities are amongst the main causes of death in South Africa," Transport Minister Ben Martins said in a report on festive season road accidents he unveiled on Thursday.

"The economic ramifications include the increase in the social development and health budgets spent. At least 306 billion rand is lost to the economy due to road fatalities each year."

About 40 per cent of the 1,462 road accident deaths recorded by the police in December and the first week of January, involved pedestrians most of whom jay-walked on the roads while drunk.

On average there are 11,000 deaths on the road each year.

The government in South Africa, which has the biggest economy in Africa, has launched a campaign to slash road crashes by half in the next seven years.

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Aust shares close lower

THE Australian share market closed lower amid profit taking on Friday and mixed messages about economic data out of Asia.

At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 13.5 points, or 0.28 per cent lower at 4,709.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 11.4 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 4,733.8.

On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was 11 points lower at 4,681, with 25,099 contracts traded.

IG Markets market strategist Evan Lucas said sentiment had turned negative following Chinese data showing that inflation was at a relatively low 2.6 per cent for 2012, but had increased in December indicating no stimulation is likely soon.

However that was offset by Japan's premier Shinzo Abe unveiling a $US226.5 billion ($A214.68 billion) stimulus package.

"That helped our market move off its lows and it ramped up," Mr Lucas told AAP.

"But we had some profits locked in, weighing on the mining sector, despite the iron ore price still sitting at $US158 a tonne."

"It was a bit of a mixed market despite strong leads from the US ... a lot of people are watching what will happen with corporate earnings week there."

The mining giants continued to fall.

BHP Billiton led the falls, losing 73 cents, or 1.95 per cent, to $36.68, Fortescue fell 12 cents, or 2.47 per cent, to $4.73 and Rio Tinto tumbled $1.30, or 1.9 per cent, to $65.80.

The four major banks were mixed.

ANZ gained 10 cents to $25.25, National Australia Bank jumped 14 cents to $25.57, Westpac lost two cents to $26.58 and Commonwealth Bank dived 23 cents to $61.38.

The spot price of gold in Sydney closed at $US1,672.72 per fine ounce, up $US14.34 from Thursday's local close of $US1,658.38.

National turnover was 1.44 billion shares worth $3.14 billion, with 492 stocks up, 402 down and 373 unchanged.

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Tokyo surges on yen, Asian shares down

ASIAN shares fell on Friday after the previous day's gains but Tokyo hit a 23-month high as the yen sank further after Japan's new leaders unveiled a stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

While the yen came under fresh selling pressure after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined his economy-boosting plan, the euro was also lifted by unexpectedly positive comments about the eurozone by European Central Bank head Mario Draghi.

However, the latest inflation data out of China was unable to impress investors as much as the better-than-expected trade figures the previous day that indicate a pick-up in the world's number two economy.

Tokyo climbed 1.40 per cent, or 148.93 points, to 10,801.57 - its highest level since February 2011, but Sydney fell 0.28 per cent, or 13.5 points, to close at 4,709.5 and Seoul lost 0.50 per cent, or 10.13 points to 1,996.67.

Hong Kong fell 0.39 per cent, or 90.24 points, to 23,264.07 and Shanghai closed down 1.78 per cent, or 40.66 points, at 2,243.00.

Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party swept to power last month, set out a $US226.5 billion stimulus to kick-start the limp economy with plans to rebuild tsunami-hit areas, beef up the military, boost employment and end deflation.

"With the measures, we will achieve real GDP growth of two per cent and 600,000 jobs created," he said in a briefing.

Also Friday, data showed that Japan logged a bigger-than-expected 222.4 billion yen deficit in November as exports to Europe and China dropped.

The events in Tokyo sent the yen tumbling.

The unit, which hit a record high of 75 against the dollar in late 2011, has been tumbling since Abe promised in his election campaign last year that he would unveil more stimulus and also urge the Bank of Japan for more aggressive monetary easing.

The dollar climbed to 89.34 yen at one point in Tokyo - its highest since June 2010 - before easing back to 89.01 yen, but still up from 88.64 in New York late Thursday.

The euro also surged to 118.56 yen in early Tokyo trade, breaking 118 yen for the first time since May 2011. It then retreated to 118.02 yen, from 117.53 yen in New York.

The single currency rose after the ECB decided not to cut interest rates, as some observers had expected, while Draghi said the eurozone was looking in better shape than last year.

Among a long list of positives, he pointed to lower bond yields, higher stock prices, record-low volatility, strong inflows into the eurozone, a halt of capital flight in peripheral countries and a reduction of the ECB's balance sheet.

"If you look at the overall landscape taking, let's say, a medium-term perspective... you will see a significant improvement in financial market conditions," he said.

He added that the debt crisis was not yet over, but said while the overriding fear last year had been one of "contagion" and that the crisis would deepen and spread, there was also "positive contagion when things go well".

Against the dollar the euro bought $US1.3262, from $US1.3261 in New York.

In China official figures showed inflation came in at 2.6 per cent in 2012, down sharply from 5.4 per cent the year before and much lower than the 4.0 per cent target set by Beijing. And for December the rate hit 2.5 per cent, in line with expectations.

While the data gives policymakers more room to loosen monetary policy, dealers were not as excited by the news as Thursday's figures that showed a huge jump in the trade surplus.

On Wall Street the Dow rose 0.60 per cent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.76 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.51 per cent.

Oil prices were mixed, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, gaining six cents to $US93.88 a barrel in the afternoon, while Brent North Sea crude for February dropped 33 cents to $US111.56.

Gold was at $US1,670.10 at 0840 GMT compared with $US1,662.87 late Thursday.

In other markets:

- Taipei added 0.10 per cent, or 7.51 points, to 7,819.15.

HTC rose 0.73 per cent to Tw$277.0 while Chunghwa Telecom fell 0.32 per cent to Tw$94.2.

- Manila closed 0.55 per cent higher, adding 33.18 points to 6,051.75.

BDO Unibank added 0.33 per cent to 75.15 pesos and Ayala Corp. rose 0.55 per cent to 550 pesos, while Philippine Long Distance Telephone increased 1.97 per cent to 2,688 pesos.

- Wellington ended 0.31 per cent higher, adding 12.67 points to 4,131.75.

Nuplex was up 1.6 per cent at NZ$3.21, Telecom advanced 0.43 per cent to NZ$2.31 and Fletcher Building added 0.6 per cent to NZ$8.72.

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New 'Karachi' probe opened against Sarkozy

France's ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy is to be investigated over accusations of a breach of secrecy. Source: AAP

FRENCH judges have authorised a fresh probe against ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy as part of the so-called "Karachi affair," a judicial source told AFP.

Three judges decided on Thursday to proceed with a probe to see whether Sarkozy violated a confidentiality law when the Elysee presidential palace published a press release on the affair in September 2011.

The press release said that Sarkozy's name did not figure in any of the files on the so-called Karachi affair, which stems from a 2002 bombing in the Pakistani city that killed 11 French engineers.

The engineers' families sued Sarkozy over the press release, charging that it violated laws that prohibit publication of information about ongoing investigations.

Although prosecution argued that Sarkozy cannot be investigated because he had presidential immunity at the time, the judges disagreed.

"The act of permitting the release of information concerning ongoing investigations does not enter into the functions of the president," the three investigating judges said in their ruling.

The Karachi bombing has spawned several other investigations implicating Sarkozy, a right-winger who was defeated in his re-election bid last year by Socialist Francois Hollande.

In one, two close aides to Sarkozy have been charged by judges investigating alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal concluded when Sarkozy was budget minister.

He allegedly authorised the creation of a shell company used to channel kickbacks to then prime minister Edouard Balladur's unsuccessful 1995 presidential bid.

In more serious but harder to prove allegations, magistrates are also probing whether the Karachi bombing was revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to Pakistani officials.

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Fed govt must act on Indon drinks: Barnett

Federal government must urge Indonesia to regulate its drinks market, says WA Premier Colin Barnett. Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the federal government must press Indonesia to regulate its drinks market, after the death of a teen who drank a methanol-laced cocktail while on holiday.

Liam Davies, 19, died from methanol poisoning after consuming a drink of vodka and lime mix at Rudy's Bar in Gili Trawangan off Lombok.

Mr Davies died last Sunday after his family decided to turn of his life support, with doctors saying his brain was too damaged to expect any recovery.

A coronial inquiry has been launched, with investigators expected to look into how the vodka - said to have been poured from labelled bottles - came to kill him.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr had promised Australia would make "serious representations" to Indonesia about regulating its drinks market in tourist areas.

Mr Barnett told reporters on Thursday that the only thing his government could do was support the federal government in a push to improve standards in Indonesia.

"It is a responsibility of the Australian government to pursue this diplomatically with the Indonesian authorities," he said.

"We do have a direct interest as a nation, given that Australia is probably the major source of international visitors to Bali."

Mr Barnett said his message to West Australians who loved to travel to Bali was to take care and only consume pre-bottled drinks.

"Any tourist travelling anywhere, but particularly to developing nations like Indonesia, need to take particular care," he said.

"Countries such as Indonesia, and Bali in particular, don't have the sort of rules and regulations and inspections of food and beverage outlets that we have in Australia."

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