Scuffles erupt at Hong Kong pro-govt rally

SCUFFLES have broken out as thousands marched in support of Hong Kong's scandal-plagued leader Leung Chun-ying, ahead of a mass pro-democracy rally planned for New Year's Day.

About 2500 people took to the cold and windy streets waving Chinese flags and shouting slogans in favour of Leung, who faces possible impeachment proceedings over illegal alterations to his luxury home.

Leung was chosen to lead the southern Chinese city in March by a pro-Beijing election committee, promising to improve governance and uphold the rule of law in the former British colony of seven million people.

But in his first sixth months in power, Leung has seen his popularity ratings slide and faced a no-confidence vote in the city's legislature.

"We welcome people to support the government and to support the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong citizens," said Caring Hong Kong Power, the organisers of Sunday's march, which began at the city's Victoria Park and ended at the government headquarters.

But scuffles erupted midway between pro-Leung supporters and anti-government campaigners who arrived carrying colonial Hong Kong flags.

Some participants were also seen punching two reporters from a local television station, according to an AFP photographer.

"I am not comfortable with the increasing power of groups that create turmoil in Hong Kong," Stan Ngan, a 63-year-old retiree at the event told AFP, referring to increasingly vocal pro-democracy groups.

Pro-democracy campaigners plan to hold a rally on January 1 to demand the resignation of Leung and ask for universal suffrage, with organisers saying they hope to see 100,000 people at the rally.

Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 as a semi-autonomous territory with its own political and legal system that guarantees civil liberties not seen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and association.

Leung survived a vote of no confidence in the legislature earlier this month over illegal structures in his home, including a wooden trellis and a glass enclosure.

But he faces a planned impeachment motion scheduled for early January, with 27 pro-democracy lawmakers in the 70-member legislature saying they would support the motion.

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Jordan rejects Saddam Hussein candidates

JORDAN'S electoral commission has refused to register an independent list of candidates calling itself Saddam Hussein after the executed Iraqi dictator, the group's leader says.

"We have filed an appeal against the electoral commission's rejection of our Saddam Hussein list," Faiz Ziyadneh told AFP on Sunday.

The commission gave its approval on Thursday to all would-be candidates for a general election called for January 23, except the Saddam Hussein list, "because it is the name of an individual", the state Petra news agency reported.

The commission said it rejected "any name that could inflame sectarian, religious or racial enmity or affect national unity".

Ziyadneh condemned the commission's decision, saying it had "no legal basis" and that "electoral law does not stipulate any restrictions on the name of a list".

Ziyadneh said the list was named after one of the group's nine would-be candidates - Saddam Hussein Wared al-Hawamdah - but added it was also in memory of the hanged Iraqi leader.

He stressed the list, based in Mafraq province, north of Amman, was an independent list that did "not belong to any party, least of all the Baath", the Arab nationalist party of Saddam.

Amman's appeals court will decide within three days whether Ziyadneh's list will be allowed to be named Saddam Hussein, he said.

If the court upholds the commission's decision, "(another) name will be decided on at a meeting of the list's members, and we might not stand in the election", Ziyadneh added.

More than 1500 candidates, including 213 women, have been registered for the election, the commission said last Monday.

Saddam Hussein was captured after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and hanged in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity, including a 1982 massacre of civilians from Iraq's Shi'ite majority community.

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Man shot in stomach in Sydney's southwest

A MAN has been shot in Sydney's southwest.

A 21-year-old man was found with a wound to his stomach after police were called to Green Valley Road, Busby about 11.15pm (AEDT) on Sunday following reports of a shooting.

The man was treated by ambulance paramedics before being taken to Liverpool Hospital.

A crime scene was established that will be examined by specialist forensic officers.

Police have urged anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Benghazi security a 'huge problem': Obama

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has admitted that a probe into a deadly assault on a US consulate in Libya had uncovered a "huge problem" in security procedures at the mission.

"We're not going to be defensive about it," Obama said in an interview recorded on Saturday for NBC's Meet the Press. "We're not going to pretend that this was not a problem. This was a huge problem."

On September 11, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks by al-Qaeda on New York and Washington, heavily-armed militants stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and attacked a nearby CIA safehouse.

Four Americans died in the assault, including US ambassador Chris Stevens, and Obama's domestic opponents have attacked the administration's handling of both security prior to the attack and public statements afterwards.

In his interview, Obama said all of the recommendations of a critical report into the State Department's operation in Benghazi would be implemented, and said US agents were hunting down those responsible for the killings.

"With respect to who carried it out, that's an ongoing investigation. The FBI has sent individuals to Libya repeatedly," the president said.

"We have some very good leads, but this is not something that I'm going to be at liberty to talk about right now."

Obama also defended UN ambassador Susan Rice, who was accused by Republican lawmakers of misleading the public when she said the attack was a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film made privately in the United States.

Rice had been considered the frontrunner to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as America's top diplomat in Obama's second term, but dropped out of the running after becoming the focus of Republican attacks.

"She appeared on a number of television shows reporting what she and we understood to be the best information at the time," Obama said, accusing opponents of making a scapegoat of his close ally.

"This was a politically motivated attack on her. I mean, of all the people in my national security team, she probably had the least to do with anything that happened in Benghazi."

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Russia sends landing ships to Syria

A RUSSIAN warship carrying a marines unit has left its Black Sea port for Syria amid preparations for a possible evacuation of nationals living and working in the strife-torn country, news reports say.

The Novocherkassk landing ship is the third such craft dispatched since Friday to the Tartus port that Russia leases from its last Middle East ally, agencies cited an unnamed official in the general staff as saying.

The reports said the Azov and Nikolai Filchenkov landing ships had also been sent to Syria from their Russian bases.

The military source said the Novocherkassk would arrive at Tartus within the first 10 days of January.

The Novocherkassk and another landing ship called Saratov both made a rare port call to Tartus in late November.

Officials did not disclose the details of that visit.

The Tartus base is Russia's only remaining naval station outside the former Soviet Union and is seen as a major strategic asset for Moscow.

Russia has been accused of using the base to supply Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with secret military shipments supplementing the official weapons sales that Moscow has made to Damascus since Soviet times.

But recent rebel gains prompted Russia to admit for the first time this month that Assad's days in power may be numbered.

Officials have since openly acknowledged making preparations for a possible evacuation should the safety of Russians in Syria be threatened by Assad's downfall.

The three landing ships will be joining what Russian reports said was a much broader exercise off the coast of Syria involving vessels from three naval fleets.

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Magazine mistakenly publishes Bush obit

GERMANY'S respected news weekly Der Spiegel has mistakenly published an obituary for former US president George Bush senior, hours after a family spokesman said the 88-year-old was recovering from illness.

Bush was hospitalised in Houston November 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough and moved to intensive care on December 23 after he developed a fever.

On Saturday, spokesman Jim McGrath said Bush was moved out of intensive care into a regular hospital room again after his condition improved.

The unfinished obituary appeared on Der Spiegel's website for only a few minutes on Sunday before it was spotted by internet users and removed.

In it, the magazine's New York correspondent described Bush as "a colourless politician" whose image only improved when it was compared to the later presidency of his son, George W Bush.

"All newsrooms prepare obituaries for selected figures," the magazine said on its Twitter feed. "The fact that the one for Bush senior went live was a technical mistake. Sorry!"

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Switzerland freezes Mubarak sons' $300m

SWISS authorities have frozen $US300 million ($A290 million) sitting in Credit Suisse accounts in Geneva held by the sons of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the newspaper Le Matin Dimanche has reported.

The funds are held in accounts belonging to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, sons of the ex-president who are currently being held in an Egyptian prison.

The brothers are accused of using their position as scions of Egypt's long-time ruler to help themselves to villas, luxury cars and stakes in the country's key companies.

According to the newspaper, the funds were deposited at the Credit Suisse in 2005, which was after Switzerland tightened rules governing transactions by politically exposed depositors.

A Credit Suisse spokesman refused comment, citing the bank's secrecy policy.

The paper said Egypt-linked funds had also been frozen at the Swiss office of French banking giant BNP Paribas.

Switzerland has opened a probe targeting 14 people close to the Mubarak regime who are suspected of embezzling public funds and widescale corruption.

Earlier this month, Swiss authorities refused to provide their Egyptian counterparts with access to their findings so far, citing concerns for the "institutional situation" in Cairo.

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Second-hand exporters mimic charity

CHARITIES are reportedly having millions of dollars diverted away from them by second-hand clothing exporters who are imitating appeals and donation bins.

According to an investigation by Fairfax published on Monday, the exporters launch appeals that imply the goods will either be recycled or go towards charitable causes by using a variety of methods, including a network of bins and pictures of children in Third World countries.

To stay within the law, some even include a declaration in small-print, stating they are a commercial business but others reportedly use collection bags for fake charities.

National Association of Charitable Recycling chief executive Kerryn Caulfield said the losses to charities amounts in "the tens of millions".

"It's taking stock away from charities, it skews the lines of governance, puts doubt in the minds of the community and impacts on the employment opportunities for people with disabilities in these charities," she told Fairfax.

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Korea says North 'rocket' could reach US

NORTH Korea's recent rocket launch amounted to the test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a half-tonne payload as far as the US west coast, the South Korean defence ministry says.

North Korea launched its three-stage Unha-3 rocket on December 12, insisting it was a purely scientific mission aimed at putting a polar-orbiting satellite in space.

Sunday's estimate was based on analysis of an oxidiser container - recovered from the rocket's first-stage splashdown site - which stored red fuming nitric acid to fuel the first-stage propellant.

"Based on our analysis and simulation, the missile is capable of flying more than 10,000 kilometres with a warhead of 500-600 kilograms," a defence ministry official told reporters.

The estimated range of 10,000 kilometres covers the whole of Asia, eastern Europe and western Africa as well as Alaska and a large part of the US west coast including San Francisco.

Without any debris from the second and third stages to analyse, the official said it could not be determined if the rocket had re-entry capability - a key element of inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology.

Most of the world saw the North's rocket launch as a disguised ballistic missile test that violates UN resolutions imposed after Pyongyang conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

The success of the launch was seen as a major strategic step forward for the isolated North, although missile experts differed on the level of ballistic capability demonstrated by the rocket.

The debris collected by the South Koreans was made of an alloy of aluminium and magnesium with eight panels welded manually.

"Welding was crude, done manually," the ministry official said, adding that oxidiser containers for storing toxic chemicals are rarely used by countries with advanced space technology.

The South's navy later recovered three more pieces of the rocket - a fuel tank, a combustion chamber and an engine connection rod - from the Yellow Sea and has been analysing them since Friday, Yonhap news agency said.

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Kenya arrests 61 over tribal violence

KENYAN police have arrested 61 suspects over a brutal attack on a remote village in the southeast involving two rival communities that left 45 people dead including women and children.

Villagers were hacked to death and their homes torched in Friday's attack on Kipao village in the Tana River delta region, an area where deadly tribal violence killed another 100 people earlier this year.

Police said on Saturday they had arrested 56 people, including a policeman, in the wake of the onslaught, which they feared could further inflame tensions between the rival Orma and Pokomo communities in the area.

Another five were arrested in a late-night "security operation", a police officer said on condition of anonymity on Sunday.

Police attributed the killings to a disarmament operation in the area but the violence could also be linked to the election being held next March, the first since Kenya was gripped by deadly inter-ethnic killings after a December 2007 vote.

Police said the dead in Kipao included 16 children, five women and 10 men, along with 14 assailants.

The United States said on Saturday it condemned "in the strongest terms" the renewed violence between the communities in the Tana area, where conflicts have flared intermittently over access to land and water points.

Kenya votes on March 4 in its first election since the disputed 2007 vote, which led to the worst inter-ethnic violence since independence with more than 1100 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Two of the candidates running for the presidency are Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who lost his bid in the 2007 vote, and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in the violence which shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability.

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NRA: Public wants armed guards in schools

NATIONAL Rifle Association executive Wayne LaPierre says the American people think it would be "crazy" not to put armed guards in every school, as the group has suggested in the wake of the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Mr LaPierre also contends that any new efforts by Congress to regulate guns or ammunition would not prevent mass shootings.

Mr LaPierre's comments on NBC's Meet the Press reinforced the position that the largest gun-rights lobby took on Friday when it broke its week-long silence on the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

That stand has described by some lawmakers as tone-deaf.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, says Mr LaPierre blames everything but guns for a series of mass shootings in recent years.

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Air strike on Syria bakery kills dozens

AN air strike near a bakery in the rebel-held town of Halfaya in the central Syrian province of Hama has killed dozens of people, a monitoring group says.

"Dozens of people were killed in an air strike on Halfaya," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while activists in Hama said Sunday's raid had targeted a bakery in the town.

"In Halfaya, regime forces bombarded a bakery and committed a massacre that killed dozens of people, including women and children, and wounded many others," said the Local Co-ordination Committees, a grassroots network of activists.

"A MiG (jet) has attacked! Look at (President Bashar al-) Assad's weapons. Look, world, look at the Halfaya massacre," says an unidentified cameraman shooting an amateur video distributed by the Observatory.

The footage showed a bombed one-storey block, and a crater in the road beside it.

Bloodied bodies lay on the road, while others could be seen in the rubble.

Men carried victims out on their backs, among them at least one woman, the video showed.

On Monday, rebels launched an all-out assault on army positions across Hama, which is home to strong anti-regime sentiment.

Earlier in the year, rights groups accused government forces of committing war crimes by dropping bombs and using artillery on or near several bakeries in the northern province of Aleppo.

One of the bloodiest attacks was on a bread line in the Qadi Askar district of Aleppo city on August 16 that left 60 people dead, according to local hospital records.

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Turkey lifts NATO Israel veto

NATO member Turkey has agreed to lift its veto on non-military co-operation between the alliance and Israel, which it imposed over a deadly raid on a Turkish aid ship to Gaza in 2010, a diplomat says.

Ankara took the retaliatory measure after the Israeli army stormed the ship carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip while it was in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving nine Turks dead.

The decision to renew NATO links came at a December 4 meeting in Brussels of the 28-member alliance on a proposal by its Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the diplomat said on Sunday.

In return, several NATO allies of Israel agreed to drop a veto against co-operating with Turkey-friendly countries notably in the Arab world.

Turkey will agree to Israeli involvement in certain NATO activities but will maintain its ban on joint military manoeuvres, and Ankara reserves the right to bar activities with Israel on its own soil.

The agreement comes after NATO agreed early this month to deploy Patriot anti-aircraft missiles along the Turkish border with Syria.

Turkey's relations with its former ally Israel deteriorated sharply after the Gaza ship raid.

Israel has rejected Ankara's demands for an apology and compensation.

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US public want guards in every school: NRA

THE largest US gun rights lobbying organisation is sticking to its call for placing armed police officers and security guards in every school as the best way to avoid shootings such as the recent massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association, said his organisation would push Congress to pay for more school security guards and would co-ordinate efforts to put former military and police offers in schools as volunteer guards.

"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said in a broadcast interview. "I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it. It's the one thing that would keep people safe."

LaPierre also refused to support any new gun control legislation and contended that any new efforts by Congress to regulate guns or ammunition would not prevent mass shootings.

His comments on NBC television's Meet the Press reinforced the position that the NRA took on Friday when it broke its week-long silence on the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

LaPierre's remarks on Friday prompted widespread criticism, even on the front page of the conservative New York Post, which had the headline: "Gun Nut! NRA loon in bizarre rant over Newtown."

The NRA's stand has been described by some lawmakers as tone-deaf.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, says LaPierre blames everything but guns for a series of mass shootings in recent years.

"Trying to prevent shootings in schools without talking about guns is like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," Schumer said.

The NRA plans to develop a school emergency response program that would include volunteers from the group's 4.3 million members to help guard children, and has named former federal politician Asa Hutchinson, an Arkansas Republican, as national director of the program.

Hutchinson said local districts should make decisions about armed guards in schools.

"I've made it clear that it should not be a mandatory law, that every school has this. There should be local choice, but absolutely, I believe that protecting our children with an armed guard who is trained is an important part of the equation," he told the American ABC's This Week.

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Resources not Queensland's only trick

DIVERSITY CALL: Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, Racing Queensland chairman Kevin Dixon, QIC's Damien Frawley, Opera Queensland artistic director Lindy Hume, Brisbane Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Premier Campbell Newman. Picture: Marc Robertson Source: The Courier-Mail

THE resources boom will leave a lasting legacy for Queensland's economy regardless of when it runs out of steam, the state's leading money man has told The Courier-Mail's leadership forum.

Queensland Investment Corporation chief executive Damien Frawley, whose organisation manages almost $68 billion in client funds, has cautioned Queenslanders against relying on a "one-trick pony" to keep the state's economy going, instead urging a greater focus on sectors such as agriculture and construction.

"Queensland's a bit of a one-trick pony around resources," Mr Frawley told the forum, which also included Premier Campbell Newman, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, Opera Queensland artistic director Lindy Hume and Racing Queensland Limited chairman Kevin Dixon.

"I think we've got to get out of that mindset because there's a lot of other things that we do in Queensland and we do as a nation that frankly contribute."

But Mr Frawley said the impact of the boom had changed Queensland forever.

"We concentrate on the hole in the ground and things are slowing up in the hole in the ground," he said.

"But over time there's been this build-up of support services for resources, which I think has changed the economy of Queensland and changed the make-up of the economy of Queensland, particularly the (Brisbane) CBD, enormously . . . and that's the thing that I've noticed in the 12 years since I've been away.

"The extended industries that have benefited from the resources boom . . . you see it here in Brisbane first-hand.

Pick up Tuesday's print edition for a full transcript of The Courier-Mail  Leaders' Forum.

"Great companies like (engineering and project management company) Ausenco, who are now exporting their (intellectual property) and their technology out of this country. You've got law firms here setting up offices in Mongolia."

Mr Frawley told the forum - which covered topics from what the state's most influential leaders do in their spare time, to how they carry the burden of the jobs they have been given - that he believed the Newman Government was on the right track when it came to spruiking its four-pillar economy.

"I don't think it's a bad thing that we've taken a bit of a breather in resources because it switches the focus on the other stuff that we do," he said.

"I think construction, agriculture . . . these things are much overlooked as being big levers for our economy, and I think they're the things that, frankly, we've got to focus on."

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Business confidence at record highs: CBA

OPTIMISM among mid-sized Australian businesses has hit record highs in the lead-up to Christmas, a quarterly survey has found.

Commonwealth Bank's future business index rose to 9.3 in December, from 4.3 in September.

The survey focuses on companies with a revenue of $10 million to $100 million, assessing their outlook on business conditions and challenges, projected revenue, investment plans and how prepared they are to cope with volatile conditions in the next six months.

The index first hit 9.3 in March this year, and was its highest ever score.

Almost half (45 per cent) of the companies surveyed said they were well-prepared for future business conditions, while 31 per cent said they thought conditions would improve in the next six months.

However, they expressed concern about rising energy costs in Australia, and a potential economic slowdown in Asia.

Looking at individual sectors, transport and logistics, business services and information, and media and technology were the most confident.

The least confident included manufacturing, wholesale trade and mining - with the latter reporting a significant drop.

Commonwealth Banks executive general manager of corporate financial services Symon Brewis-Weston said that despite the confident reading, most firms were approaching 2013 with caution.

"We're finding that its something of a wait-and-see period for the mid-market," he said.

"The feeling is that while companies expect a moderate decline in costs and they're feeling more prepared for the future, there is little appetite for investment and major changes.

"Companies are placing less emphasis on growth at the moment and ensuring they have the financial support required for any unforeseen challenges in the future."

The index showed moderate optimism among the states and territories, with Victoria and Tasmania recording steady confidence, both rising to 14 from 6.2.

Meanwhile, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory were the only regions in decline, both falling to six from 10.4.

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More Aussies could avoid stroke: experts

MANY stroke sufferers miss out on a lifesaving de-clotting drug and four in 10 get treated in general wards rather than specialist stroke units, an advocacy group says.

Stroke is Australia's second-largest killer and many of the 350,000 survivors live with a disability and struggle with basic daily tasks such as eating and cooking.

The National Stroke Foundation is lobbying the federal government and opposition to commit to a $198 million action plan to boost services and increase awareness of how to prevent stroke and recognise the signs of stroke.

Chief executive Erin Lalor says many patients who attend hospital with stroke don't get access to de-clotting thrombolysis drugs that must be administered within four hours.

"If the hospital is too slow or people delay presentation to hospital they can't have it," she told AAP.

"It's a lifesaving drug."

She said four in 10 people were treated for stroke in general wards, rather than specialist units, and this increased their chances of death or disability.

A number of major hospitals, particularly in Queensland, don't have specialist stroke units, Dr Lalor said.

As part of the plan, the foundation wants the government to spend $121 million extra over three years to fund more stroke units and boost the quality of existing care.

They want a national rollout of a pharmacy health-check program, currently funded by the NSW and Queensland governments, which involves a free blood pressure and diabetes check. Pharmacists then advise people whether they need to go to their GP for more testing.

When Lina Brohier had a stroke in 2008 at age 31, a transient ischemic attack followed, making her dizzy, heavy and voiceless.

The attack passed and she didn't go to the doctor.

"If there was more information and advertising about stroke maybe people like me would be prevented from having a stroke," she told AAP.

"You think ... it's not going to happen to me; it's something that happens to old people."

The stroke left her with no muscle movement on the right side of her body.

After extensive rehabilitation and occupational therapy, Ms Brohier made a full recovery.

Dr Lalor said people over the age of 45 should be able to get an integrated check for their risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease when they visit their GPs.

She said there also needs to be more support for people living with stroke, as well as their carers.

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Gay rights campaigners protest at Vatican

GAY rights campaigners have held a small protest near St Peter's Square during the Pope's weekly prayers after he said legalising gay marriage threatened the institution of marriage.

About 15 activists held up colourful paper hearts with slogans written on them including "Gay Marriage", "Love Has No Barriers", "Talk About Love", "Homophobia = Death" and "Marry Peace".

One of the hearts read "Love Thy Neighbour".

The protesters were prevented from accessing St Peter's Square, which was packed with tens of thousands of faithful for the traditional Angelus prayer on the third Sunday of Advent.

The protest came as thousands prepared to take to the streets in France in support of a government proposal to legalise gay marriage that is fiercely opposed by sections of the opposition right, Roman Catholic bishops and other religious leaders.

In a message intended for World Peace Day on January 1, the Pope on Friday reiterated the Catholic Church's position against gay marriage.

He called for promotion of "the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union.

"Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilise marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society," he said.

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Italy's recovery tipped to start in 2013

ITALY'S economic recovery is likely to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2013, the central bank governor says, urging any new government to continue reforms and cut red tape for businesses.

"Our analyses suggest that there is a higher than 50 per cent probability that the turnaround will come in the third or fourth quarter of 2013," Bank of Italy chief Ignazio Visco said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper.

Visco also said there had been a "significant" lowering of tensions on the debt market for Italy in recent months due to the return of foreign investors and Italian banks that enabled the treasury to sell long-term bonds.

Asked about a possible recourse to European Central Bank assistance on the bond market, Visco said this was not on the cards since "the current conditions are less tense".

He cautioned, however, that "political and economic uncertainty is a burden" and said that "the fruits of austerity must not be wasted".

"The only way is to continue and reduce the negative effects that the reforms could have on certain sectors and at certain times," he said.

"The efforts made must not be for nothing. We have to decisively seek greater efficiency and reduce the limits on entrepreneurs," he added.

Italy is expected to go to the polls in February.

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Disputed islands are Japan's: new PM

SHINZO Abe, who has led his Liberal Democratic Party to an election win, says there is no doubt about Japan's ownership of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.

"China is challenging the fact that (the islands) are Japan's inherent territory," said Abe, who is expected to become prime minister.

"Our objective is to stop the challenge. We don't intend to worsen relations between Japan and China."

Japan and China have been at loggerheads for decades over the sovereignty of a small chain of islands in the East China Sea.

The dispute flared badly in September after Tokyo nationalised islands that it calls the Senkakus, but China knows as the Diaoyus.

Chinese boats have plied waters near the chain most days since and on Thursday Beijing sent a plane to overfly them. Japan scrambled fighter jets to head it off.

"Japan and China need to share the recognition that having good relations is in the national interests of both countries. China lacks this recognition a little bit. I want them to think anew about mutually beneficial strategic relations," Abe said on Sunday.

China urged Japan's new leaders not to "pick fights" with neighbours.

The official news agency Xinhua noted Abe's "landslide" victory but said the incoming leadership must find a way to manage disputes with neighbours.

"Instead of pandering to domestic hawkish views and picking fights with its neighbours, the new Japanese leadership should take a more rational stand on foreign policy," it said.

The commentary came just days after Beijing's latest effort to bolster its claim to the islands, by submitting to the United Nations information on the outer limits of its continental shelf.

Meanwhile, Abe said his first port of call as prime minister would be the United States.

Tokyo relies on Washington for its security under a post-World War II treaty that allows the US to station tens of thousands of troops in Japan.

But that alliance has been seen to drift under the three-year rule of the Democratic Party of Japan.

He also spoke of the need for Japan to boost its other ties in the region.

"We also need to deepen ties with Asia. I want to build up ties with Asian nations including India and Australia. After enhancing our diplomacy, I want to improve relations with China."

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Abe: A once and future PM for Japan

SHINZO Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party stormed to victory in Sunday's election, returns to the prime ministership as a hawk with strident views on Japan's place in the world.

He was the country's youngest ever prime minister when he stepped into the role in 2006, aged 52, and the first one to be born after World War II, but left office abruptly citing illness after an election loss.

Now 58, the conservative ideologue will return to the prime minister's official residence with promises of a more assertive diplomacy in the face of an increasingly confident China and an always unpredictable North Korea.

Casting himself as an uncompromising leader, Abe has also voiced his willingness to amend laws to force monetary easing moves from the Bank of Japan, which would see it print more money, buy more bonds and have to meet an inflation target to achieve economic growth.

The prime minister-in-waiting will be the second man in modern Japan to serve as prime minister twice, after Shigeru Yoshida, who led the nation in 1946-47 and 1948-54.

The LDP have achieved a commanding parliamentary majority, but analysts say mostly by default with voters looking to punish the disappointing rule of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Despite the landslide, Abe may struggle with the electorate at large, where voters remember his disappointing first tenure, which ended in ignominy and bowel problems in 2007.

He was to become the first in a series of short-lived premiers in Japan, each of whom lasted around a year. His return to the job will make him the seventh change in six years.

Abe came to power as a preferred successor named by then-popular prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, for whom he had served as an eager and earnest deputy.

At the time, he symbolised the continuity of Koizumi's reform agenda as well as youth that could breathe life into an increasingly tired-looking country weighed down by a fragile economic recovery.

His tough talking on North Korea, which admitted in 2002 that it had abducted Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s, also appealed to voters.

But the third-generation politician, groomed from birth for the job by his elite, conservative family, complained of illness following an election defeat in 2007 and after a series of scandals involving his ministers.

Since his return to the helm of the LDP he has aggressively championed an uncompromising Japan on the world stage.

One of his most passionate causes has been revising the country's pacifist constitution, which was imposed on a defeated Japan by the United States in 1947, seven years before he was born.

He has promised to instil patriotism among school children and to visit the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo, seen as a symbol of Japan's war-time aggression in Korea and China.

He has long attempted to roll back the legacy of World War II defeat, including revising Japan's contrition on so-called "comfort women".

The issue has flared anew in South Korea, with calls for Japan to compensate women pressed into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers.

During his earlier premiership, Abe remained studiously ambiguous about his beliefs and proved more pragmatic than many had expected, working to improve ties with China and South Korea.

His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was a World War II cabinet member and was briefly jailed as a war criminal. Kishi later became a post-war prime minister, fighting leftists to build a new alliance with Washington.

His father was Shintaro Abe, a foreign minister who never achieved his ambition of becoming prime minister. Shinzo Abe took his father's parliamentary seat in 1993 following his death and fulfilled his goal, albeit temporarily.

Abe's hawkish image may be softened by his wife, Akie Abe, the daughter of a prominent businessman. She is known for her love of South Korean culture.

The couple have no children.

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Six dead as heavy snow hits Balkans

FREEZING temperatures and heavy snowfall have killed at least six people and caused travel chaos across the Balkans.

Officials said four people have died in Croatia and two in Serbia as a result of blizzards in the region of southwestern Europe over the weekend, closing airports and roads and blocking public transportation in big cities.

People travelling in vehicles waited for hours on several roads in Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, including the main highway leading from Belgrade to the Hungarian border, before rescue teams could free them from 50cm of snow that had fallen in just a few hours.

A woman gave birth to a healthy baby in a stranded truck on her way to a hospital, and named her Snezana, or Snow White in Serbian, state TV reported.

Ivica Dacic, who serves as Serbia's prime minister and interior minister, ordered all available police personnel to take part in the rescue operations.

The airport in Zagreb, Croatia, was closed for several hours on Saturday, and some of that nation's roads were closed because of high winds and heavy snow. The situation improved in Croatia on Sunday, but a warning against driving remained in place because of icy roads.

Authorities in Serbia and Croatia warned people to stay indoors.

Blizzards have also hit Slovenia and Bosnia.

As the storms headed east across the Balkans on Sunday, Romania's army was trying to clear snowbound roads as the country voted in a parliamentary election.

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13 die after Taiwan bus falls into ravine

A TOUR bus has plunged 300 metres down a ravine deep inside Taiwan's mountains in Hsinchu County, killing 13 passengers.

Ten others were injured in the crash which occurred on Sunday, according to the Hsinchu fire bureau.

Authorities said the passengers were mostly alumni of a local elementary school, in their sixties, who had booked the bus to visit an indigenous mountain village.

"Some died because they were thrown out of the bus," Lin Yuan-yuan, a fire bureau official, told DPA.

"Others were killed inside, as if they were thrown by the bus to the wrong spot at the wrong time."

Local media reported slick road conditions at the crash site.

Investigators are expected to question the driver, who survived the crash.

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Report into CTV building collapse due

THE results of the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission investigation into the collapse of the CTV building in Christchurch will be released on Monday afternoon.

The third and final part of the commission's report examines the collapse of the building, which claimed 115 lives in the February 22, 2011 earthquake.

It also deals with roles and responsibilities in the building sector, including building assessments after earthquakes, the training of civil engineers and the regulation of the engineering profession.

It looks at the building consent process and local government management of earthquake risk.

The first part of the report, which examined the PGC building collapse in which 18 people died, was released by the government in August. It contained 70 technical recommendations.

Part two was released last week. It examined 21 other building failures which caused 42 deaths, and made recommendations about minimising the risk from earthquake-prone buildings.

The commission's rulings are not binding on the government.

The final part of the report was given to Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae last month. The families were briefed on Sunday.

Deaths in the CTV building are also investigated by Coroner Gordon Matenga, who has reserved his ruling after an inquest which ended on Thursday.

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10 dead after army opens fire in S Sudan

AT least 10 people have been killed after South Sudanese troops opened fire on demonstrators angry at officials moving the seat of local authority outside a state capital.

"The SPLA (army) opened fire" on protesters "demonstrating the excessive use of force," said UN peacekeeping mission spokesman Liam McDowall.

Four people were killed in the town of Wau during clashes overnight Saturday, while six more were shot dead on Sunday, he said.

However, there were conflicting reports as to whether some of the demonstrators may also have been armed.

"We are investigating the allegations of armed elements inside the demonstrations, as well as allegations of the disproportionate use of force by the army against civilians," Kella Kueth, an army spokesman, told AFP.

Protests began after officials said they would move the seat of local authority out from Wau, capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal state, to a nearby smaller settlement of Bagare.

Troops were sent in on Saturday to remove protesters blockading roads leading out of Wau, while UN peacekeepers had been shuttling between demonstrators and the army to try to calm both sides.

"A number of protesters fled to the cathedral where they took sanctuary," McDowall said, adding that the army later surrounded the building and had to be persuaded back to their barracks by the Bishop of Wau.

The situation was "still tense" on Sunday, with authorities issuing a curfew from dusk until dawn, McDowall added.

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, is awash with weapons after decades of war with Sudan, which it broke free from in July 2011.

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Syria-linked clashes kill six in Lebanon

SECTARIAN clashes linked to the 21-month conflict in Syria have killed six people and wounded 40 in neighbouring Lebanon.

Sunday's fighting in the northern city of Tripoli between Sunni Muslims and Alawite co-religionists of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad came amid growing international concern about the potential for neighbouring countries to be dragged into the conflict.

Sunni residents of the port city's Bab al-Tebbaneh district exchanged machine gun and rocket fire with Alawite residents of the neighbouring Jabal Mohsen district, leaving three members of each community dead, the security official said.

The fighting, which erupted before dawn, broke a tense calm that had held since the army deployed troops between the two impoverished neighbourhoods early on Friday.

During the night, troops held their positions on side streets but not on the ironically named Syria Street that forms the frontline.

The clashes rocked Tripoli's rival neighbourhoods intermittently throughout the day, the security official said, adding that fighting was still taking place "off and on" in the afternoon.

The latest deaths brought the toll from fighting in the city since Tuesday to 19, including two children.

Longstanding tensions in Tripoli escalated when 22 Sunnis from the Tripoli area who had crossed into Syria to join the armed rebellion against Assad's rule were ambushed by troops in the town of Tal Kalakh on November 30.

Damascus later agreed to repatriate the bodies at the request of the Lebanese foreign ministry, and on Sunday the corpses of three of the slain fighters were received at the Arida border crossing, a security source said.

The atmosphere was tense with shots fired into the air as the bodies of Khader al-Din, Abdel Hakim al-Salah and Mohammed al-Mir were handed over, an AFP correspondent reported.

The body of Mir was initially given to the wrong family but later returned to his father. The others were buried straight after funeral prayers.

A Lebanese official told AFP that Syrian authorities told their counterparts that some members of the group had survived the ambush and were being interrogated.

Opposition activists posted video footage on the internet on Saturday, with the caption: "Abuse of the corpses of the Tripoli martyrs in Tal Kalakh."

In the video, a man is seen kicking at least five lifeless bodies lain out on the ground, while others can be heard cracking jokes in the background. Its authenticity could not be verified.

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US drone kills senior al-Qaeda leader

A US drone strike has killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials say.

Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when missiles slammed into a house on Thursday near Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the North Waziristan tribal area, the officials said.

Al-Kuwaiti appeared in many videos released by al-Qaeda's media wing, Al-Sahab, and was presented as a religious scholar for the group.

Earlier this year, he replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaeda's second in command, who was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in June, the intelligence officials said. Al-Libi was a key religious figure within al-Qaeda and also a prominent militant commander.

Al-Kuwaiti appeared to be a less prominent figure and was not part of the US State Department's list of most wanted terrorist suspects, as al-Libi had been.

Covert CIA drone strikes have killed a series of senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal region over the past few years. But the attacks are controversial because the secret nature of the program makes it difficult to determine how many civilians are being killed.

Pakistani officials often criticise the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, which has helped make them extremely unpopular in the country.

Al-Kuwaiti's wife and daughter were wounded in Thursday's drone attack, according to the intelligence officials. His wife died a day later at a hospital in Miran Shah, another main town in North Waziristan.

Al-Kuwaiti was buried in Tappi village near Mir Ali on Friday, the officials said.

A Pakistani Taliban commander who frequently visits North Waziristan told the Associated Press that he met some Arab fighters on Saturday who were "very aggrieved."

The Arabs told him they lost a "big leader" in a drone strike, but would not reveal his name or his exact position in al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda's central leadership in Pakistan has been dealt a series of sharp blows in the past few years, including the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last year. A significant number of senior al-Qaeda leaders have also been killed in US drone attacks in the country.

Many analysts believe the biggest threat now comes from al-Qaeda franchises in places like Yemen and Somalia.

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New voting law jeopardises coalition seats

THE coalition could lose a swag of marginal seats at next year's federal election as new electoral laws automatically enrol up to 1.5 million voters.

An analysis of Newspoll surveys indicate the coalition's primary vote would slip by 1.5 percentage points if those eligible to vote but not enrolled - mainly young people - were enrolled, The Australian reports.

As many as a dozen Liberal and Nationals seats could come into play if Labor and the Australian Greens could mobilise the "youth vote", the paper said.

The coalition holds 10 seats with a margin of less than two per cent. The most vulnerable are the Liberal-held Boothby in South Australia (0.3 per cent); Hasluck in Western Australia (0.6 per cent); and Aston in Victoria (0.7 per cent).

Brisbane (1.1 per cent) and Solomon in Darwin (1.8 per cent) have a high proportion of students and young workers, while Herbert in far north Queensland (2.1 per cent) and Swan in Perth (2.5 per cent) have very high proportion of young people of voting age.

The Greens would be the main beneficiary of direct enrolment, in effect from July, analysis by Professor Ian McAllister of the Australian National University found. Their first preference vote would rise by 0.6 of a point, while Labor's vote would increase very marginally.

"These are small changes, but they would be magnified in inner city areas where young people are more concentrated," Prof McAllister, co-director of the Australian Election Study, told The Australian.

"They could easily affect the outcome in a tightly held seat. The result in around half a dozen seats could be determined by these enrolment changes."

The past four federal elections may have been decided by voters aged 18-34, about 30 per cent of the electorate, a Whitlam Institute study last year of Newspoll data over 14 years found. And there are 1.5 million "missing" voters - 9.5 per cent of eligible voters, The Australian Electoral Commission estimates.

Prof McAllister analysed four special Newspoll surveys covering 4857 adults. The coalition's primary vote slipped from 40.3 per cent to 38.8 per cent when adding in direct enrolments; Labor's vote edged up a single notch to 34.9 per cent; and the Greens rose from 10.9 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

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New Zealand slams Kyoto extension

NEW Zealand's climate minister on Sunday strongly defended a decision not to sign an extension of the Kyoto treaty that limits greenhouse gas emissions, saying the pact is outdated, and his country's policy is "ahead of the curve."

At climate negotiations entering their final week in Doha, environmentalists have criticised New Zealand for announcing it wouldn't join a planned extension of the 1997 Kyoto agreement.

"This excessive focus on Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, was fine in the 1990s," Climate Change Minister Tim Groser told The Associated Press in an interview. "But given that it covers only 15 per cent of emissions, I'm sorry, this is not the main game."

Groser said the focus instead should be on creating a new pact that includes the developing countries - echoing a long-held position by the US, which never joined Kyoto.

Most of the world's current emissions come from developing countries, and China is now the world's top emitter. The Kyoto extension, which is supposed to be adopted in Doha, will likely only cover European countries and Australia, which together represent less than 15 per cent of the world's emissions.

"I think it's time for green groups around the world to start to analyse this problem on the basis not of the rhetoric of the '90s, but some numerical analysis of where the problem lies today. Because it's very different," Groser said. "I just think we're ahead of the curve."

Instead of binding targets, New Zealand has offered a voluntary pledge of cutting emissions by between 10 per cent and 20 per cent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.

The Kyoto extension is designed as a stopgap measure until a wider treaty is in place, scheduled for 2020. Developing countries have urged rich countries to make more ambitious emissions cuts until then.

Groser said New Zealand wouldn't firm up its pledge until after the Doha talks. The country wants to know if it can continue using Kyoto's trading mechanism for emissions credits, which some countries say should only be available to those that set emissions targets.

"I have advised my Cabinet, literally I've said to them, 'assume minimum rationally will prevail,"' Groser said. "Then I will come back after this meeting here and make a recommendation as to what unilateral figure we can do."

Climate activists accused Groser of eroding his country's green image.

"New Zealand is in fact behind the play, as they have chosen not to finalise their emissions reductions targets until well after these talks, unlike most other developed countries," said Simon Tapp from the New Zealand Youth Delegation.

A recent UN report showed greenhouse emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, have risen 20 per cent since 2000. Most climate scientists say such emissions are fuelling a warming trend, which could lead to devastating shifts in climate, such as flooding of coastal regions and island nations.

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Bombing in Syria's Homs kills 15

FIFTEEN civilians were killed in a bomb attack on Sunday in a government-held district of the central Syrian city of Homs, state media reported.

"A terrorist attack struck the Hamra district of Homs," the state SANA news agency said, adding that it killed 15 people and wounded 24. State television said it was a car bombing.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights too reported a car bombing in Homs but reported fewer casualties.

"At least seven civilians were killed in a car bomb explosion near the sports stadium," it said, adding that many of the wounded were in a critical condition so the death toll was likely to rise.

Amateur video footage posted online by opposition activists showed the bodies of at least three victims, including a woman buried in the rubble of a building as a car burned not far away.

Another video showed a car turned upside down on a pavement, as other vehicles blazed nearby.

A third video showed an injured child lying in hospital, wailing in pain.

Homs is Syria's third largest city and was one of the cradles of the armed uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, earning it the monicker of "capital of the revolution" from opposition activists.

The city suffered devastating violence early this year but for the past six months the army has preferred to keep mainly Sunni Arab rebel-held districts around the centre under suffocating siege rather than an launching all-out assault.

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Israel called to explain targeting reporters

ISRAEL must provide an "immediate and detailed explanation" for its targeting of journalists during last month's Gaza conflict.

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "gravely concerned that Israeli airstrikes targeted individual journalists and media facilities in the Gaza Strip between November 18 and 20."

The New-York based CPJ noted that two cameramen for Hamas's Al-Aqsa television station and the director of the private Al-Quds Educational Radio were killed by Israel during its eight-day military campaign to halt rocket fire from Gaza.

At least three media buildings, including one housing AFP's Gaza office, were hit during the conflict.

"Israeli officials have broadly asserted that the individuals and facilities had connections to terrorist activity but have disclosed no substantiation for these very serious allegations," the letter reads.

The group says it has made repeated requests to Israel's military and defence ministry seeking explanations.

"We request your government provide an immediate and detailed explanation for its actions," CPJ executive director Joel Simon wrote.

Mr Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would reply to the CPJ's letter via Israel's US ambassador.

He stressed to AFP that "Israel made every effort possible to avoid killing journalists caught up in the crossfire."

"There were a number of situations where terrorist operatives used journalists as human shields, in those cases we acted as surgically as humanly possible," he said.

He blamed Gaza rulers Hamas, as well as militant group Islamic Jihad for adopting "a deliberate policy of using journalists as human shields."

"People concerned about the wellbeing of journalists should possibly raise these concerns with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but I suppose one doesn't have high expectations of terrorist groups," he said.

CPJ said all journalists "regardless of the perspective from which they report" were entitled to protection under international law.

"The Israeli government does not have the right to selectively define who is and who is not a journalist based on national identity or media affiliation," the group wrote.

Mr Regev said "nobody is targeted because of their opinions," but his office and the Israeli military could not provide details on the alleged non-media activities of the journalists targeted.

"Many times we cannot share sensitive information with the broad public," army spokesman Aryeh Shalicar said, insisting those targeted were militants.

"Not only were they terrorists, they were using the cover of the press to continue their actions," he said. "Based on our sources, we know exactly who we hit, and stand behind our actions."

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'Now we have a state,' Abbas says

PALESTINIAN president Mahmud Abbas returned to the West Bank on Sunday after winning upgraded UN status for the Palestinians, telling cheering crowds: "Yes, now we have a state."

"Palestine has accomplished a historic achievement at the UN," Abbas added, three days after the United Nations General Assembly granted the Palestinians non-member state observer status in a 138-9 vote.

"The world said in a loud voice... yes to the state of Palestine, yes to Palestine's freedom, yes to Palestine's independence, no to aggression, no to settlements, no to occupation," Abbas told the ecstatic crowd.

Abbas pledged that after the victory at the United Nations, his "first and most important" task would be working to achieve Palestinian unity and reviving efforts to reconcile rival factions Fatah and Hamas.

"We will study over the course of the coming days the steps necessary to achieve reconciliation," he said, as the crowd chanted "The people want the end of the division."

The return was a moment of triumph for Abbas, who last year tried and failed to win the Palestinians full state membership at the United Nations.

The bid stalled in the Security Council, where the veto-wielding United States has vehemently opposed it.

The United States, Israel and a handful of other countries also opposed the Palestinian bid to upgrade their status to that of a non-member observer state, but with no vetoes available in the General Assembly, the measure easily passed.

The move gives the Palestinians access to a range of international institutions, including potentially the International Criminal Court, and raises their international profile after years of stalled peace talks with Israel.

Abbas was received with a full honour guard, descending from his car to walk along a red carpet at the Ramallah presidential headquarters known as the Muqataa, where he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

He laid a wreath and said a brief prayer at the grave of the iconic late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is buried within the presidential complex, later dedicating the UN victory to the former president's memory.

Abbas called the approval a milestone in Palestinian history, saying it was the achievement of Palestinians everywhere.

"Our people everywhere, raise your heads up high because you are Palestinians," he said. "You are stronger than the occupation... because you are Palestinians.

"You are stronger than the settlements because you are Palestinians," he added. "You are making history and Palestine will be drawn on the map very soon."

Abbas's return drew supporters from across the West Bank, including Bajis Bani Fadl, from the northern town of Nablus.

"I came to celebrate this day because the Palestinian leadership accomplished a great achievement, and this is a joy we haven't experienced in our lives," he told AFP.

"President Abbas... took us from a historical stage to a new stage, although it won't be easy to become a state on the ground," Mohammed Bani Audeh, 54, added.

"I know that the pressures will increase on us now, but these pressures don't mean anything, particularly if we achieve our unity."

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Rudd, Turnbull voters' choice, poll shows

ABSENCE has made voters' hearts grow fonder for Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, who hold big leads over Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, a Galaxy poll shows.

After a brutal week in federal parliament, Mr Rudd is preferred leader by 27 per cent of voters, followed by Mr Turnbull with 23 per cent.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard trails with 18 per cent support as better leader and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at 17 per cent, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull enjoy the most support from each others' parties with 18 per cent of coalition supporters tipping Mr Rudd as the better leader while 13 per cent of Labor people think Mr Turnbull is the better leader.

Both former leaders' popularity with voters has bounced back after their standings sank before each was rolled by their parties.

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No US budget deal without tax hikes

LEAD White House negotiator Timothy Geithner insisted Sunday there would be no deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" unless Republicans allowed tax rates on the wealthiest Americans to rise.

Talks to avoid the dreaded "fiscal cliff" are at a dangerous impasse after President Barack Obama's opening gambit in the high-stakes negotiations was shot down by leading Republicans on Thursday as "ridiculous."

Markets are jittery as, without a deal by the year-end, a poison pill of tax hikes and massive spending cuts, including slashes to the military, comes into effect with potentially catastrophic effects for the fragile US economy.

Budget negotiations go right to the heart of ideological differences between Democrats and Republicans on the size and scope of government, but the biggest sticking point has clearly been on tax rates for high-earners.

Obama campaigned on a platform of raising taxes on individuals who make more than $200,000 per year and on families that rake in more than $250,000, as a way of raising extra revenue to tame the deficit.

Republicans insist that raising taxes on the wealthy would be counter-productive, hurt small business owners, slow economic growth and dampen job creation.

"There's not going to be an agreement without rates going up. There's not," Geithner told CNN's State of the Union program, saying the ball was in the Republicans' court to propose a counter-offer to the Obama plan.

Republicans say they are ready to raise more revenue from wealthy Americans, but want to do so by closing tax loopholes and limiting deductions rather than by raising income tax rates.

"Increasing tax rates draws money away from our economy that needs to be invested in our economy to put the American people back to work," Republican House Speaker John Boehner said on Friday. "It's the wrong approach."

Geithner, the tough-talking treasury secretary chosen as Obama's pointman in the talks, took to the Sunday morning news shows to step up pressure on Republicans to propose a plan that embraces the spirit of compromise.

"What we did is put forward a very comprehensive, very carefully designed mix of savings and tax rates to help us put us back on a path to stabilising our debt, fixing our debt and living within our means," he said.

"We don't expect them to like all of those proposals. But all we can do is lay out what we believe in and then ask them to come back to us and tell us what they would prefer to do."

Geithner said the two sides were still "far apart," but expressed hope they were moving closer together.

Former Republican president George W Bush introduced across-the-board tax cuts that were framed as "temporary" measures back in 2001 and 2003.

The top income tax rate, which now stands at 35 percent, will automatically revert to 39.6 percent at the beginning of 2013 unless there is a new budget deal.

Obama is urging the Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all but the top bracket, roughly 98 percent of Americans, and campaigned on this promise before winning re-election on November 6.

Republican soul-searching in the wake of Mitt Romney's decisive electoral defeat has seen several leading figures indicate a willingness to accept a deal that includes more revenue, but only by ending loopholes in the tax code and in return for cuts in funding to Democrats' beloved welfare programs.

"They're in a hard place. And they're having a tough time trying to figure out what they can do, what they can get support from their members for," Geithner said.

"If they are going to force higher rates on virtually all Americans because they're unwilling to let tax rates go up on 2 percent of Americans, then, I mean that's the choice they're going to have to make," said Geithner.

"But they'll own the responsibility for the damage."

The year-end deadline is the result of legislation passed when Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a previous long-term deficit and budget deal, and was meant to concentrate minds of lawmakers and spur compromise.

The parties are also feuding about where to cut expenditures, with some Republicans opposed to any trimming of the military budget and Democrats guarding social safety net entitlement programs.

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WikiLeaks suspect's trial date postponed

THE trial date for a US Army private accused of passing a trove of secret documents to WikiLeaks has been pushed back from February to March next year, a military judge said Sunday.

The court-martial of Bradley Manning, 24, charged with the most serious security breach in American history, previously had been scheduled to begin on February 4.

But the judge, Colonel Denise Lind, announced at a pre-trial hearing north of Washington in Fort Meade, Maryland that more time was needed to handle various motions from both the defence and prosecution.

Due to last about six weeks, the court-martial could begin March 6 or 18, depending on the pace of legal proceedings, the judge said.

The latest round of pre-trial hearings that began Tuesday has focused on Manning's detention for nine months at a brig in Quantico, Virginia.

The defence argues the case should be dismissed because of what it calls unduly harsh treatment Manning received at the US Marine Corps jail, where he was held under strict "suicide watch" measures against the advice of two military psychiatrists.

The government maintains he did not suffer illegal punishment and that commanders wanted to ensure Manning did not take his life.

Legal experts say it is unlikely the charges will be dismissed based on the allegations over Manning's detention, but the judge could take the issue into account during sentencing, if the army private is found guilty as charged.

If convicted on all 22 counts, including a charge of "aiding the enemy," Manning could spend the rest of his life in prison.

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NAPLAN stress causes vomiting, insomnia

STRESS-RELATED vomiting and insomnia are affecting children in the lead-up to the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a new study shows.

In the landmark University of Melbourne study, for which 8353 teachers and principals were surveyed, concerns about the "unintended side effects" of NAPLAN were raised.

These concerns included teaching to the test and a negative effect on student health and teacher morale, Fairfax reported.

About half the teachers surveyed said NAPLAN practive tests were held once a week in the five months leading up to the test.

About 90 per cent said some students felt stressed before the test, leading to crying, vomiting, insomnia and absenteeism.

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Violation of Gaza truce a sin: cleric

A LEADING Islamic cleric in the Gaza Strip has ruled it a sin to violate the recent ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Palestinian territory - according a religious legitimacy to the truce and giving the Gaza government strong backing to enforce it.

The fatwa, or religious edict, was issued late Saturday by Suleiman al-Daya, a cleric respected by both ultra-conservative Salafis and Hamas. Salafi groups oppose political accommodations with Israel.

"Honouring the truce, which was sponsored by our Egyptian brethren, is the duty of each and every one of us. Violating it shall constitute a sin," the fatwa read.

The truce, which was struck on Wednesday to bring an end to an eight-day Israeli offensive against Gaza militants who fired rockets into Israel, remains fragile, however, and details beyond the initial ceasefire have not yet been worked out.

The spokesman for Gaza's Hamas government, Taher al-Nunu, told reporters on Sunday that Hamas is committed to the truce.

"The government reaffirmed its blessing to the agreement sponsored by Cairo and emphasised that it will work to the internal Palestinian consensus and the supreme national interest," he said, following a government meeting.

Hamas demands that Israel and Egypt lift all restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Palestinian territory. The restrictions have been imposed since the Islamists seized the territory in 2007.

Israel has eased its full-fledged blockade in recent years, and some goods enter Gaza through smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. But Israel has continued to impose strict restrictions on exports and the import of construction materials, which has severely hampered the development of Gaza's battered economy.

Israel is expected to link a significant easing of the blockade to Hamas's willingness to stop smuggling weapons into Gaza and producing them there. A top Hamas official said on Saturday that the group wouldn't stop arming itself, suggesting that talks on a new border deal would not go smoothly.

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Driver dies as US band's bus overturns

SWISS police say a bus carrying the Marcus Miller Band, an American jazz group, has overturned - killing the driver and injuring several musicians.

Police in the central canton (state) of Uri said the German-registered private bus tipped over on Sunday as it drove into a bend and came to a rest on its side.

A police statement said the bus was carrying 13 people: two drivers and 11 members of the band, who were on their way from Monte Carlo to the Dutch town of Hengelo.

One of the drivers suffered fatal injuries. Several people were injured and taken to hospitals; police say none of them have life-threatening injuries.

The cause wasn't immediately clear. It appears no other vehicles were involved.

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China in first aircraft carrier landing

CHINA has conducted the first landing of a fighter jet on its new aircraft carrier in a move that extends Beijing's ability to project its growing military might in territorial disputes.

The Chinese-made J-15 made the successful landing on the Liaoning, a former Soviet carrier, during recent exercises, the defence ministry said in a report on Sunday on the flight tests.

The Liaoning went into service in September in a symbolic milestone for China's growing military muscle that comes at a time when Beijing is increasingly embroiled in a series of territorial disputes with its neighbours.

"The successful landing ... has always been seen as a symbol of the operating combat capability for an aircraft carrier," Zhang Junshe, a vice-director at the military's Naval Affairs Research Institute, told state television.

"This is a landmark event for China's aircraft carrier ... and (moves it) one step closer to combat readiness."

Video carried by China Central Television showed a tail hook on the rear of the J-15 catching hold of a cable on the deck of the aircraft carrier as the jet landed and slowed to a halt.

China had not previously announced that its navy possessed such highly technical cable landing technology.

The J-15 had also successfully taken off from the aircraft, the ministry said.

The J-15 is a Chinese designed multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet based on Russia's Sukoi 33, equipped with Russian engines and capable of carrying precision-guided bombs, press reports said.

Since the carrier entered service, the crew have completed more than 100 training and test programs, the ministry said.

China bought the stripped-down 300-metre carrier from Ukraine nearly 10 years ago and refurbished it at the northeastern port of Dalian.

Construction of the vessel, formerly known as the Varyag, was commissioned by the former Soviet Union more than 20 years ago, but work halted with the sudden collapse of the Soviet bloc.

The Liaoning - named for the northeastern province that includes Dalian - is not expected to be fully operational for another three years at least.

Over the past year, China has become increasingly assertive over its long-time maritime territorial claims as its economic and military power have expanded, causing rising anxiety among its neighbours.

Tensions in the East China Sea have risen dramatically in recent months over islands known as the Diaoyus to Beijing and claimed by Tokyo as the Senkakus.

China is locked in a similar row with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

At a key Communist Party congress earlier this month, outgoing President Hu Jintao urged the nation to push forward fast-paced military modernisation and set the goal of becoming a "maritime power".

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Newman says rest of LNP MPs are loyal

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has refused to say whether he's checking his MPs loyalties after one defected to Katter's Australian Party (KAP).

Veteran MP Ray Hopper, the member for the rural seat of Condamine, resigned from the Liberal National Party (LNP) on Saturday night to join the KAP.

Mr Newman says Monday afternoon's party room meeting will give all MPs a chance to discuss the matter.

"It'll give people an opportunity to express, no doubt their dismay about the way the member of Condamine has let down his people," he told reporters on Sunday.

But when asked if he'll be seeking loyalty pledges from MPs, he said: "My people are totally committed to getting the economy of Queensland going."

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said it's likely a lot of phone calls were being made.

"I think it's going to be a very interesting party room meeting," she said.

Mr Hopper said he left the LNP because it's not governing for regional communities and "is at war with itself".

Cabinet will also meet on Monday morning.

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Merkel defends snip with angry Jews

ANGELA Merkel sought to ease the concerns of Germany's Jews over a disputed ruling against circumcision.

Ms Merkel became the first chancellor to address the Jewish community's annual council meeting in a bid to ease concerns about the ruling.

"The respecting of religious ritual is a fundamental good," she told the annual gathering of the Central Council of Jews in Germany in the western city of Frankfurt.

"I am delighted ... that there is a lively Jewish community in Germany," added the chancellor.

In a ruling published in June, a court in the western city of Cologne judged the rite to be tantamount to grievous bodily harm, prompting international outrage and calls for more legal clarity.

The Cologne ruling united Jewish and Muslim groups in opposition and German diplomats admitted privately that it had proved "disastrous" for Germany's international image, particularly in light of its Nazi past.

Merkel was reported to have cautioned that Germany risked becoming a "laughing stock" if circumcision were banned in the country.

Last month, Merkel's cabinet passed a draft law to permit circumcision and clarify the legal situation.

She said she believed it to be a "balanced text".

"I hope it can be agreed in the Bundestag before Christmas," she added, referring to the German lower house of parliament.

The new bill stipulated certain provisos for a boy to be circumcised.

Among these conditions, the draft law said the practice must be carried out "professionally" and "with the most effective pain relief".

An exception must also be made in individual cases if there are health risks, for example if the infant is suspected of being a haemophiliac.

The head of the central committee for Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, thanked Merkel for her assistance in what he described as "difficult times."

"It is important that German politicians acted and came up with legislation that we can live with," Graumann said.

"This visit has done us good in a time that is difficult for us," he added.

Merkel also used the visit to reiterate Berlin's support of Israel following eight days of violence in and around Gaza, which left 166 Palestinians and six Israelis dead.

"Every country has the right to defend itself. This is not only the right but also the duty of every government," added Merkel.

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Europe mulls Greece 'haircut' in 2015

EUROZONE finance ministers are considering a possible "haircut" for Greece in 2015, a German newspaper reports, in a bid to reduce the recession-wracked country's debt mountain.

Other eurozone countries and institutions like the European Central Bank could be ready to discuss writing down a part of their Greek debt holdings to put Greece's debt on a more sustainable footing, said the Welt am Sonntag.

The issue was discussed at a secret meeting of ministers and officials in Paris on Monday, the paper said, without citing sources.

Such a haircut might be used as an added incentive for Greece to carry out the reforms required in its second aid package, which runs out in 2014, according to the Welt am Sonntag.

Germany has been firmly opposed to taking a loss on its holdings of Greek debt, unwilling to ask German taxpayers to foot the bill for keeping Athens in the eurozone.

The ECB has also ruled out such a move, saying it is tantamount to financing Greece directly, strictly forbidden by its founding treaties.

But the Spiegel newsweekly reported that the ECB, as well as the International Monetary Fund, now considered a haircut unavoidable.

Nevertheless, Joerg Asmussen, a member of the ECB's executive board, dismissed the plan.

"To close the financing gap, we need a package of measures that would include, among other things, a clear reduction of the interest rate on aid and a debt buy-back program for Greece," Asmussen told the Bild newspaper.

"A haircut does not belong to this (package)," the German central banker said in comments to appear in Monday's edition of the newspaper.

By writing off half of their Greek debt holdings, eurozone governments and institutions could drive down Greece's debt to 70 per cent of output in 2020, compared to 144 per cent, wrote Spiegel.

Eurozone ministers meet on Monday for their third effort to agree on unlocking a 31.2 billion euro ($A39 billion) slice of aid for Greece as it teeters on the verge of bankruptcy.

Both Welt am Sonntag and Spiegel wrote that the haircut issue would not be decided at Monday's talks.

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Roadside bombs kill five in Pakistan

ROADSIDE bombs have killed five people and wounded 10 in two blasts in Pakistan's lawless tribal zone near the Afghan border, officials say.

One of the improvised explosive devices was planted along the route of an army convoy in the Mir Ali area 35 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan district, they said.

"The explosion killed at least two soldiers and injured seven others," a security official in Miranshah said.

Another local security official confirmed the attack and said two of some 10 to 15 vehicles in the convoy were severely damaged.

In the Shin Qamar area of the Khyber tribal region, at least three labourers were killed and three wounded on Sunday in an explosion caused by a roadside bomb, said senior local official Nasir Khan.

He said the bomb went off as the labourers, who were carrying construction materials on mules, passed by.

Local intelligence officials also confirmed the incident.

Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt is made up of seven districts. In North Waziristan, Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants have carved out strongholds used to plot attacks across the border in Afghanistan.

The al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, is one of the thorniest issues in relations between Islamabad and Washington.

Washington has long demanded that Pakistan take action against the Haqqanis, which the then-top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, last year described as a "veritable arm" of the Pakistani intelligence service.

Pakistan says it will act according to its own needs and priorities and not on the wishes of a foreign government.

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Majority of Britons would vote to leave EU

A MAJORITY of Britons would vote to leave the European Union if given the chance, according to a survey.

The Optimum Research poll in The Observer newspaper found that 34 per cent would definitely vote to quit the 27-member bloc and 22 per cent would probably do so, giving a total of 56 per cent that would opt to leave the EU.

Eleven per cent would definitely vote to remain in the union, while a further 19 per cent said they would probably cote to stay in - a total of 30 per cent.

Some 14 per cent said they did not know.

Some 28 per cent of those polled said Britain's membership of the EU was generally a good thing, while 45 per cent said it was generally a bad thing.

EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday to try to thrash out the bloc's budget for the 2014-2020 period, at which Britain will argue for a real terms freeze.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is pushing for a freeze in the trillion-euro budget, having threatened to veto any rise in spending.

Voters from Cameron's Conservative Party were the most in favour of leaving the EU (68 per cent), followed by the opposition Labour Party (44 per cent) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats (39 per cent).

The Conservatives and the Lib Dems form Britain's coalition government.

The poll also found that 39 per cent would vote for Labour in a general election. The Conservatives were on 32 per cent, the anti-EU UK Independence Party on 10 per cent, the Lib Dems on eight per cent and other parties on 11 per cent.

Optimum Research surveyed 1957 adults online from Tuesday to Thursday.

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Chinese street kids found dead in dumpster

THE bodies of five street children have been found in a dumpster in southwest China after they climbed inside it to escape the night-time cold, state media report.

The five boys aged about 10 died of carbon monoxide poisoning after apparently burning charcoal inside the trash container to keep warm, Xinhua news agency said.

A trash collector discovered the bodies on Friday morning in the dumpster in the city of Bijie in Guizhou province, according to the Beijing News.

Autopsies showed carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death, Xinhua quoted sources in a local branch of the ruling communist party as saying.

It said leftover burnt charcoal was found inside the dumpster, indicating that the boys might have been burning charcoal for heat before they died.

Calls to Bijie police and city officials on Sunday went unanswered.

The Friday night low temperature in the mountainous city was 6C.

Photos uploaded onto the internet showed that the dumpster is about 1.5 metres by 1.3 meters and has an airtight lid, Xinhua reported.

The tragedy has sparked an outcry on the net, it said. A post on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like microblogging service, had more than 2.5 million hits as of Sunday evening.

While some users accused the local government of negligence, others said the parents of the children were also to blame, according to the news agency.

"It reminded me of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. Isn't it that such things only happen in fairy tales?" wrote one user called Saludika.

"What a cold world this must be for the five children!" said another, Lu_Yao.

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Myanmar announces new prisoner amnesty

THE president of Myanmar (Burma) has ordered a new prisoner amnesty ahead of a historic visit to the country by US President Barack Obama.

State television said President Thein Sein had ordered 66 detainees released, but it was not clear whether any political prisoners would be among them.

A Home Ministry official said Thein Sein signed the amnesty order on Friday, but the prisoners will be freed on Monday.

The presidential amnesty was the second announced this week.

On Thursday, Thein Sein announced an amnesty for 452 prisoners, but the move did not include prisoners of conscience and prompted activists to step up calls for the government to release those believed to remain behind bars.

Myanmar's government has long insisted that all prisoners are criminals and does not acknowledge the existence of political detainees. However, the reformist new government, praised for its moves toward democracy, has released hundreds of people this year who were jailed under the former military junta.

A separate press release, issued on Sunday, said the government would initiate "initiate a process between the Ministry of Home Affairs and interested parties to devise a transparent mechanism to review remaining prisoner cases of concern by the end of December 2012".

The news came one day ahead of a visit on Monday by Obama, who will become the first sitting American president to visit the once-pariah nation.

Obama is due to meet Thein Sein, as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before flying to Cambodia later in the day.

Thein Sein's administration has made freedom for political prisoners one of the centrepieces of its reform agenda. Earlier prisoner releases helped convince Western nations, including the United States, to ease sanctions they had imposed against the previous military regime.

Under the now-defunct junta, rights groups said more than 2000 activists and government critics were wrongfully imprisoned.

Suu Kyi's party says at least 330 political prisoners remain incarcerated.

Obama said on Sunday in Thailand that his visit to Myanmar is an acknowledgement of the democratic transition under way but not an endorsement of the country's government.

Obama's words were aimed at countering critics who say his trip to the country is premature.

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Israel facing 'millions' of cyber-attacks

THE Israeli government has admitted it has become the victim of a mass cyber-warfare campaign with millions of attempts to hack state websites since the start of its Gaza offensive four days ago.

Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the government was now waging war on "a second front - of cyber attacks against Israel".

Steinitz said in the past four days, Israel had "deflected 44 million cyber attacks on government websites. All the attacks were thwarted except for one, which targeted a specific website that was down for six or seven minutes."

His remarks came a day after the online activist group Anonymous claimed to have downed dozens of websites of Israeli state agencies and a top bank in protest over the Jewish state's deadly air assault.

It also comes as both Israel and the Palestinians try exploiting the social networks in a furious effort to win over public opinion amid the worst outbreak of Middle East violence in four years.

Steinitz did not say who was responsible, but said the government had successfully managed to deflect almost every attack, thereby avoiding serious disruption or other damage.

On Saturday, Anonymous claimed to have downed or erased the databases of nearly 700 Israeli private and public websites, including that of the Bank of Jerusalem finance house.

It also claimed to have briefly downed the foreign ministry website in protest over an alleged Israeli threat to cut the Gaza Strip's internet communications.

"For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called 'Occupied Territories' by the Israel Defence Force," Anonymous said in a statement.

"But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand."

Steinitz made no direct reference to Anonymous and failed to specify if the government was dealing with a co-ordinated attack. He also refused to disclose which countries these efforts were being conducted from.

But the minister stressed that the government had come up with back-up for "essential websites" should they be taken down.

"This is an unprecedented attack, and our success has been greater than we anticipated," Steinitz said.

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Egypt's new Coptic Pope enthroned

POPE Tawadros II has been enthroned as the new leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority in a ceremony at Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral attended by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

Dozens of Coptic clerics in flowing robes took part in Sunday's ceremony, the first in four decades, as the Muslim prime minister looked on.

Tawadros received the crown and crucifix from Bishop Pachomius, who had served as the church's interim leader, before ascending the huge wooden throne of St Mark embossed with lions.

Arabic, English and Greek mingled with the ancient Coptic language of the church's liturgy in the psalms and prayers of the service and the tributes of well-wishers.

Tawadros, 60, was chosen on November 4 to succeed Pope Shenuda III, who died in March after four decades on the patriarchal throne. He was chosen after a blindfolded altar boy picked his name from a chalice, according to church custom.

He becomes spiritual head of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East and 118th pope in a line dating back to the origins of Christianity and to Saint Mark, the apostle and author of one of the four Gospels, who brought the new faith to Egypt.

Shenuda, a careful, pragmatic leader, died at a critical time for the increasingly beleaguered minority, which has faced a surge in sectarian attacks after an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February last year.

The pope leads the Coptic Orthodox community in a country where Christians make up between six and 10 per cent of an 83 million population.

Amid increased fears about the community's future after the overthrow of Mubarak, Tawadros will be its main contact with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

The rise of Islamists after the revolution sparked fears among Copts of further persecution, despite Morsi's repeated promises to be a president "for all Egyptians".

Copts have suffered sectarian attacks for years, but since Mubarak's overthrow several dozen have been killed in sectarian clashes and during a protest in October last year crushed by the then ruling military.

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Seven dead in Nairobi minibus attack

SEVEN people were killed and many more wounded when an apparent explosive device was hurled at a packed minibus in a predominantly Somali area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police and the Red Cross say.

Nairobi police chief Moses Nyakwama said the blast occurred on Sunday on a local minibus in the district of Eastleigh, where mainly Somalis or Kenyans of Somali origin live and which has been the target of other attacks in recent weeks.

"The information we have is that there were about 25 people in the bus. It looks like it is an improvised explosive device that was thrown in it," he said. "It occurred at a congested place so even people passing by got injured."

The Kenyan Red Cross said on its Twitter account that the death toll was now seven people while the number of wounded was 29.

Kenya has suffered a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathisers of Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist insurgents, since its army went into Somalia last year to flush out al-Shabab.

The Eastleigh area has often been a target of violence.

On Wednesday, a suspected grenade attack in a supermarket in the district wounded one person, and two weeks earlier another explosive device went off, wounding two.

Earlier this month, attackers also hurled a grenade into a church in the northeastern town of Garissa, close to the Somali border, killing one policeman and wounding 14 people.

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BBC trust head calls for radical overhaul

THE head of the BBC's governing body says the broadcaster needs a radical overhaul following the resignation of its chief executive in the wake of a scandal over a botched report on child sex-abuse allegations.

Chris Patten vowed on Sunday to restore confidence and trust in the BBC, which is reeling from the resignation of George Entwistle and the scandals prompting his ouster.

Entwistle resigned on Saturday night amid a storm of controversy after a news program wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal.

The blunder had deepened a crisis sparked by revelations the broadcaster decided not to air similar allegations against one of its own stars, DJ and presenter Jimmy Savile who died last year aged 84 and may have abused as many as 300 victims over a 40-year period.

Patten told the BBC on Sunday he will not resign, saying he must ensure the publicly-funded broadcaster "has a grip" and gets back on track.

"My job is to make sure that ... we restore confidence and trust in the BBC," he said, and called for a "thorough, radical structural overhaul".

The scandal comes at a sensitive time for Britain's media establishment, struggling to recover from an ongoing phone-hacking scandal which brought down the nation's best-selling Sunday newspaper, led to the arrests of dozens of journalists and prompted a judge-led inquiry into journalistic ethics and the ties between politics and the news media.

Kevin Marsh, a former senior editor of the BBC, said the resignation does little to re-establish public trust in the BBC, which is funded mainly by a tax on UK households that have televisions.

"The BBC asks the British public to pay its bills every year, and the only way it can do that is if the British public trusts the way it is spending its money," he said.

Entwistle took over as head of the BBC two months ago from Mark Thompson, who will become chief executive of The New York Times Co. this month.

The broadcaster was emerging from a difficult period marked by budget cuts, job losses and mounting calls to justify its 3.5 billion pound ($A5.40 billion) budget.

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