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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