Hagel draws fire as Obama's Pentagon pick

President Obama has named Chuck Hagel (L) to head the Pentagon and John Brennan (R) to lead the CIA. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has named Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon, setting up an ugly confirmation battle as Republican opponents said he was too hard on Israel and too soft on Iran.

Obama's choice of John Brennan to replace scandal-tainted David Petraeus as CIA chief was seen as more straightforward despite the counter-terrorism czar's defence of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the US drone war.

The second term revamp of the president's national security team was expected to eventually win approval but several leading Republicans signalled they would make it tough for Hagel even though he is one of their own.

Obama paid particular tribute to retiring Pentagon chief Leon Panetta before giving ringing endorsements to the "outstanding" Hagel and Brennan and urging the Senate not to dally in confirming the important appointments.

"Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. He is an American patriot," the president said, heaping praise on a war hero whose wounds earned him two Purple Heart medals as a soldier in Vietnam.

"When Chuck was hit by shrapnel, his brother saved him. When his brother was injured by a mine, Chuck risked his life to pull him to safety. To this day, Chuck bears the scars - and the shrapnel - from the battles he fought in our name."

Hagel was also awarded the Army Commendation medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the latter from the former South Vietnamese government, for his bravery while serving in the war.

Some Republicans have never forgiven him for his outspoken criticism of ex-president George W Bush's handling of the Iraq war, and his closeness to the Democratic president has seen him branded as a traitor by others.

But Obama, who wants to be remembered as a leader who ended wars abroad to set about the tricky task of building at home following a crippling recession, described Hagel as someone perfectly fitted to that mold.

"Maybe most importantly, Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary," he said.

Administration appointments are often tense affairs in the US as confirmation hearings provide senators with opportunities to turn away unwanted candidates or score cheap political points, or both.

Hagel, 66, known for a fiercely independent streak and a tendency to speak bluntly, is expected to get particularly rough treatment due to his criticism of America's "Jewish lobby" and opposition to some Iran sanctions.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Hagel would be "the most antagonistic defence secretary towards the state of Israel in our nation's history."

Another Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would oppose the nomination, charging it would be the "worst possible message we could send to our friend Israel and the rest of our allies in the Middle East."

But in an interview with The Lincoln Journal Star, a newspaper in his home state of Nebraska, Hagel hit back at his critics.

There is "not one shred of evidence that I'm anti-Israeli, not one vote (of mine) that matters that hurt Israel," he said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hagel will have to manage major cuts to military spending while wrapping up the US war effort in Afghanistan and preparing for worst-case scenarios in Iran or Syria.

Serving as an enlisted man who never joined the officer ranks, Hagel carries a particular empathy for the unheralded infantry "grunts" in the field.

As he grapples with budget pressures, the former sergeant will likely try to shield frontline troops from the effect of spending cuts.

In his typical straight-shooting fashion, Hagel has called the Defence Department "bloated" and said that "the Pentagon needs to be pared down."

Brennan, 57, may get an easier ride but is sure to face questions over his support for the use of certain "enhanced interrogation techniques" under the Bush administration and for his staunch defence of the US drone program.

The 25-year Central Intelligence Agency veteran, an Arabic-speaking Middle East expert, replaces Petraeus, who resigned in November after confessing to an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hume Hwy reopens at southern NSW township

The Hume Highway has reopened in Tarcutta, east of Wagga Wagga, after being closed due to bushfires. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS of a township in southern NSW are returning to their homes after seeking shelter, but emergency services are urging them to remain vigilant.

The Hume Highway reopened in both directions in Tarcutta, east of Wagga Wagga, just after 6pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, after being closed earlier due to a bushfire.

All diversions have been lifted but motorists are still being advised to exercise caution through the area.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) said the immediate threat to Tarcutta village has eased as weather conditions improve.

However, the blaze, which has burnt through 500 hectares, is still impacting isolated properties to the northwest of Talcutta along Mates Gully Road.

Residents in this area have been told to seek shelter as it is too late to leave the area.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

European stocks slip at open

EUROPEAN stock markets weakened in opening deals on Tuesday, with London's FTSE 100 index of top companies down 0.12 per cent at 6057.17 points.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dropped 0.28 per cent to 7710.70 points and in Paris the CAC 40 also shed 0.28 per cent to stand at 3694.15.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Campfires under scutiny after Tas disaster

THE use of campfires could come under scrutiny in outdoor mecca Tasmania after one allegedly caused a massive bushfire in the state's Derwent Valley.

Police charged a 31-year-old man after he allegedly didn't completely extinguish a campfire near Lake Repulse.

The fire, in the farming and forested area northwest of Hobart, has burnt out nearly 11,000 hectares with several properties destroyed.

Eighty firefighters in 27 trucks and three aircraft continue to fight the blaze.

The accused man will face a magistrates court in coming months after allegedly committing what is known as a simple offence, similar in magnitude to a traffic infringement or public drunkenness.

Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said ways to avoid carelessness or accidents would be considered when the horrific fire situation is reviewed.

"The reality is some of the fires that have started in Tasmania have started because of lightning strikes," Ms Giddings told reporters in Hobart.

"There's nothing we can do about that.

"At least one has been accidentally lit, and we will go back and look at how you can avoid those accidents in the future.

"But that time to do those inquiries, to ask those questions is not now."

Tasmania Police confirmed on Tuesday the biggest fire, on the Tasman Peninsula, had begun accidentally at Forcett.

A tree stump burn had continued to smoulder through the root system and ignited when the south of the state hit record temperatures on Friday.

The fire has burnt 23,000 hectares, destroyed more than 120 buildings and left 100 people unaccounted for.

Lightning is thought to have started an east coast bushfire that razed up to 15 properties.

Tasmania Fire Service Chief Officer Mike Brown said campfires needed to be attended to at all times.

He said they needed to be completely extinguished the moment people walked away from them and cleared of flammable material for three metres around.

"We make it very clear about how people can use campfires and how people can use cooking appliances," he said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fewer gun-buyers in mass shooting states

BACKGROUND checks for gun sales and permits to carry guns surged in the US at the end of 2012.

But an Associated Press analysis found that people in Connecticut and Colorado, scenes of the deadliest US mass shootings in 2012, were less enthusiastic about buying new guns than people in most other states. The biggest surges in occurred in the South and West.

The latest FBI figures reflect huge increases across the US in the number of background checks following President Barack Obama's re-election, the school shooting in Connecticut and Obama's promise to support new laws aimed at curbing gun violence.

Nationally, there were nearly twice as many background checks for firearms between November and December than during the same time period in 2011.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Businesses expect to cut prices

THE first few months of 2013 will be a bargain-hunter's paradise, with more businesses cutting prices than at any point in the last 24 years.

A survey of 1,200 business owners and senior managers in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing sectors, shows a larger-than-usual number expect to have to offer price discounts to overcome the post-Christmas sales slump.

Dun and Bradstreet's selling price expectation index has fallen to a record low - indicating more businesses are planning to offer discounts during the March quarter than at any point since the survey began in 1988.

The lower prices are expected to be accompanied by weaker activity, with sales falling and businesses reducing their inventory levels, the survey showed.

Dun and Bradstreet's director of corporate affairs, Danielle Woods said the survey suggested businesses were cutting prices to stimulate spending during the difficult post-Christmas months.

"We know that there is traditionally a drop off in spending following the Christmas period as consumers play catch-up with their household budgets and debts following an often expensive holiday period," she said.

"These findings suggest that businesses are planning to negotiate the spending slump by extending discounting through the New Year and by managing their stock carefully."

Ms Woods said business' selling price expectations have been below their ten-year average since 2009.

"Although the most recent data has taken selling price expectations to a new low, it is part of a long downward trend that suggests ongoing discounting has become the new normal," she said.

D&B's economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said the expected price cuts would help keep inflation low and added to the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates again in early 2013.

"It remains likely that the inflation rate will remain near the bottom of the RBA target band (of annual inflation of two to three per cent), which will be a critical issue for the RBA when it decides future interest rate settings."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic bushfire spreads to farming community

A MASSIVE bushfire could potentially double in size and hit small farming communities in Victoria's southwest, as the north of the state faces severe conditions.

There is a threat to lives and property with the southwest Victorian settlement of Drik Drik under direct attack from fire and embers, authorities said on Monday night.

An afternoon wind change swung the 4000-hectare Kentbruck fire on a path to Drik Drik, an agricultural farming area of about 30 houses.

Authorities warned the out-of-control bushfire had the potential to double in size to 8000 hectares in an afternoon with westerly to south-westerly winds of up to 40km/h on Tuesday capable of pushing the fire a significant distance.

Fire services commissioner Craig Lapsley said the immediate concern on Monday night was the Drik Drik area but the key issue would be on Tuesday.

"It will be a fire that will be pushed with winds and we believe that it's got the potential to move significant distance tomorrow, potentially block the Princes Highway and have further impacts on the rural community around Drik Drik and Dartmoor," Mr Lapsley told ABC TV.

Nearly 500 firefighters and a dozen aircraft are battling the blaze, which started on Friday and has mainly burnt through pine plantation.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) said there had been no reports of property damage or loss of life by early Monday night, dismissing earlier rumours that at least one home had been impacted by the fire.

A spokeswoman said there was still a risk to lives and property.

A number of roads have been closed and most of the 250 residents of nearby Dartmoor have already left the town.

Mr Lapsley warned the next 24 hours would be critical, but he said the Victorian towns of Portland, Nelson, Heywood and Mt Gambier in South Australia were unlikely to be directly impacted by the fire.

"We are doing significant planning on the potential of how large it could get, that is not a scenario that we would see at this stage, where those major centres would be impacted by this fire," he told reporters at the State Control Centre in Melbourne.

"It would need a significant run of fire that is not predicted, however in this general area it could increase from 4000 to 8000 hectares in size in an afternoon so it has potential to move, but not to move to impact on major centres."

Mr Lapsley said the main concern on Tuesday was for northern Victoria, which faces yet another day of hot conditions, with total fire bans declared in the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country and North East fire districts.

He said there was a severe fire danger stretching along the South Australian border, the Murray River and the NSW border.

Lightning strikes have already sparked blazes in north-eastern Victoria and there are also fears that fires across the Murray River in NSW may reach Victoria if they take hold.

Northern parts of the state have experienced several days in a row above 40C.

Mr Lapsley said lightning strikes could take a day to become a fire.

The hot conditions have kept ambulance crews busy, with paramedics attending 450 heat-related incidents in the past four days including between four and seven children being left in cars each day.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Delhi gang-rape suspects appear in court

The father of the gang-rape victim has revealed his daughter's identity to a British newspaper. Source: AAP

THE magistrate hearing the case of five men accused of gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old medical student in New Delhi has ordered that their first appearance in court take place behind closed doors.

"The court has become jam-packed," magistrate Namrita Aggarwal told the court on Monday amid noisy protests from lawyers and a media scrum.

"It has become impossible for this court to conduct proceedings in this case."

Police have charged the men with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.

The crime caused nationwide outrage, leading to massive protests.

The adult defendants have been named as Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Vijay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta. They are all from New Delhi.

The case is expected to be transferred to a fast-track court set up last week for their trial.

A sixth suspect who is 17 years old was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said last week that a DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim matched bloodstains found on the clothes of all the accused.

It normally takes months for the prosecution to assemble such a case but the legal proceedings are getting under way barely a week after the student died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital.

Police have pledged "maximum security" during the hearing at the magistrates' court amid fears for the defendants' safety. A man was arrested last week as he allegedly tried to plant a crude bomb near the home of one of the men.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Firefighters battle for control

A woman has been charged with deliberately starting a bushfire in Melbourne's southeast. Source: AAP

A MAJOR blaze burning in Victoria's southwest remains out of control with firefighters battling to bring it under control before more hot weather arrives this week.

While temperatures remained hot in the north of the state on Sunday, cooler temperatures in the south have helped authorities contain blazes.

Firefighters are working to bring the fire at Kentbruck, in the state's southwest, under control by midnight on Sunday.

The fire, which began in a pine plantation, has burned over 2700 hectares and the smoke haze is visible throughout western Victoria.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said crews and aircraft worked on the Kentbruck fire on Sunday, aiming to have it under control before the weather worsens.

"Tuesday is the day that has the northerly strong winds and again Friday. They are the two critical days, but we could still have fires on other days that could still do damage," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"It is a week that people need to stay vigilant about fires in Victoria."

On Sunday evening, the water bombing helicopter Elvis was being used to fight a grass fire in Little River, near Geelong.

The fire was spreading in a northwest direction towards Balliang, authorities said.

Mr Lapsley urged people to dob in arsonists.

His comments came as an 18-year-old woman was charged with deliberately starting a fire in Melbourne on Saturday.

She was arrested at the scene of the fire, which was burning on an embankment near Warrigal Road at Ashwood about 9.45pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Emergency crews quickly extinguished the blaze.

The woman has been charged with intentionally causing a bushfire and recklessly endangering life and was bailed to appear in Dandenong Magistrates Court on April 29.

Mr Lapsley said the Country Fire Authority (CFA) will continue to monitor the Fireready app and CFA website on Monday to ensure people have access to information they need.

Many people had trouble accessing the site during hot weather on Friday.

The site will again be tested with temperatures set to be above 40c in the north of the state on Monday, while Melbourne is expecting 32C.

North-eastern parts of the state are already sweltering, with the towns of Wangaratta, Yarrawonga and Rutherglen reaching 42C on Sunday.

A fire burning near Ensay, in east Gippsland, was brought under control on Saturday afternoon.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Depardieu gets Russian passport

French actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with President Vladimir Putin. Source: AAP

FRENCH actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin's spokesman says.

Putin earlier granted citizenship to Depardieu after the French movie star said he was quitting his homeland to avoid paying a new millionaires' tax.

Depardieu "was handed his passport," the Russian leader's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP on Sunday.

But Putin did not personally hand over the document to the actor when the two met briefly on Saturday at Putin's residence in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Peskov said.

"There was a short meeting," he said, declining to give further details.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More