22 killed in wave of Iraq attacks

A WAVE of bombings and shootings across Iraq has killed 22 people as the country grapples with anti-government rallies and simmering political crises ahead of major Shi'ite commemoration rituals.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks in more than a dozen towns and cities that wounded 83 people, but Sunni militants such as al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq regularly target officials and security forces in a bid to destabilise the government, and also often attack Shi'ite pilgrims.

The violence comes after anti-government protesters blocked a key highway to Syria and Jordan, amid political tensions between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a secular Sunni-backed party in his fragile national unity government.

Much of Monday's violence targeted Shi'ite pilgrims, ahead of Arbaeen commemoration ceremonies due this week.

In the deadliest attack, seven people - three women, two children and two men - were killed when three houses were blown up in the town of Mussayib, south of Baghdad, police and a medic said. Four others were wounded.

The victims were apparently targeted because they were Shi'ites, the officials said.

Shi'ite pilgrims embarking on the traditional walk to the holy shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen commemorations were hit by three mortar strikes south of Baghdad that killed one worshipper and wounded nine others.

A series of attacks in restive Diyala province, north of Baghdad, wounded 19 people, including 10 Shi'ite pilgrims who were walking to Karbala.

Attacks in Baghdad and north of the city, meanwhile, killed 12 people.

In the capital's central commercial district of Karrada, a car bomb detonated by a suicide attacker left at least four dead and 20 others wounded, security and medical officials said.

A series of bombings in the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk and nearby towns killed five policemen and wounded 11 other people, local officials said.

And in the main northern city of Mosul, two policemen guarding an election centre were gunned down, while one policeman was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb in Tuz Khurmatu.

South of Baghdad, a car bombing outside government offices killed two people as the provincial governor was arriving.

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Venezuela axes New Year's with Chavez sick

VENEZUELA has called off public New Year's Eve festivities and social media sizzled with worry after the government revealed cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez had taken a turn for the worse.

The streets of Caracas were quiet as front-page headlines relayed that Chavez had developed "new complications" from a respiratory infection after undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery on December 11 in Havana.

His vice-president and political heir, Nicolas Maduro, broke the news from Havana on Sunday night, saying the condition of the Venezuelan leader was delicate and that he faced an uphill battle.

Chavez, the face of the Latin American left for more than a decade and a firebrand critic of what he calls US imperialism, has been in power since 1999 in Venezuela, an OPEC member that sits on top of the world's largest proven oil reserves.

For many Venezuelans, a holiday season without their ubiquitous comandante just wasn't the same.

"I do not know what will happen to Chavez, but we have never had a Christmas like this. Only God knows what will happen with him and with us," said 70-year-old retiree Miguel Enrique as he prepared to attend Mass.

Authorities cancelled a New Year's eve concert in a downtown plaza and Information Minister Ernesto Villegas urged "families in Caracas and Venezuela in general to ring in the New Year at home, praying and expressing hope for the health" of Chavez.

On Twitter, hashtags translating into expressions such as "Chavez will live and conquer" and "I love Chavez" were all the rage.

But Chavez is also deeply polarising, even though he has ruled for nearly 14 years, and his detractors spoke out too.

Chavez, 58, won another six-year term in October's presidential election, and is scheduled to be sworn in on January 10.

But his ill health has raised concerns that he won't be well enough to attend his inauguration.

Chavez's government has said that the inauguration can be postponed if the president is not fit enough to be sworn in.

Not so, said Veppex, a Miami-based association of 25,000 Venezuelans living outside their country as refugees or political exiles.

It insisted the constitution must be respected verbatim and that new elections must be held within 30 days if Chavez cannot be sworn in on the scheduled day. It said all signs were that he will not be.

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Nine shot dead during party

NINE people have been shot and killed in a rural village in northwest Colombia, apparently during a party, a police official has said.

None of the four women and five men who were slain have been identified, no suspects have been arrested and authorities have no idea what the motive of the killings might be, said Yesid Vasquez, police chief for Antioquia department.

He said the victims were apparently celebrating in a rented villa in Envigado, near Medellin, when they were shot.

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Police searching for missing Sydney man

AN appeal has been issued for information on a 48-year-old man who has gone missing from his Sydney home.

Barry Kodesh was last seen between 9am and 10.45am (AEDT) on Sunday at his home in Everton Street, Pymble.

Police and family members are concerned for his welfare as the disappearance is out of character.

"There has been no access to any bank accounts and Mr Kodesh is not believed to have taken any other cash, medication or property with him," a police statement says.

Also missing is his blue 1995 Toyota Camry with a NSW registration of UBR 354.

Mr Kodesh is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 180-185cm tall with a medium build, light brown hair, brown eyes, a beard and moustache.

Anyone with information about Mr Kodesh or his car is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Greeks want probe of tax scandal minister

GREEK MPs have called for a probe into former finance minister George Papaconstantinou's alleged role in scrubbing names from a list of accused tax dodgers, days after he was ejected from his party over the scandal.

Seventy-one MPs from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's governing coalition proposed the parliamentary inquiry, which if voted through by the 300-seat legislature will investigate whether Papaconstantinou is guilty of "falsification" of an official document and "breach of duty".

The probe could lead to charges against Papaconstantinou, who helped draw up the debt-ridden nation's first austerity drive. The 51-year-old denies all wrongdoing in the tax affair, which he called a "conspiracy" on Sunday.

The ex-minister was booted from his socialist Pasok party on Friday after it was revealed that the names of four of his family members - two cousins and their husbands - had been deleted from the list of alleged tax dodgers.

Greek prosecutors are investigating some 2000 holders of HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland for suspected tax evasion, according to media reports.

Media have dubbed the case the "Lagarde list" affair, after International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde, who personally gave Papaconstantinou the list in 2010 when she was France's finance minister.

The list was originally leaked by an HSBC employee before being passed to Greece by Lagarde.

Authorities have claimed the list was illegally obtained and hence cannot be used in the battle against tax evasion, a chronic problem in the heavily indebted and recession-hit country.

But mounting anger against a new round of austerity cuts, imposed by Greece's international creditors, has put pressure on the government to act on the list.

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Two-year-old boy attacked by dog in Sydney

A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy remains in hospital after he was attacked by a Rottweiler while visiting family in Sydney's west.

The boy and his parents were visiting a home in Fullerton Street, St Helens Park about 7.30pm (AEDT) on Monday, when he was attacked by the owner's five-year-old Rottweiler, police said.

The boy was playing with other children in the backyard of the premises and suffered serious facial injuries in the attack, while his father was also bitten several times on the leg as he tried to free his son.

The boy was taken to Campbelltown Hospital before being transferred to Westmead Children's Hospital in a stable condition, while his father also was treated at hospital.

The dog was surrendered to Campbelltown Council by the owner and will be destroyed.

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Japan mulls spy drones for East China Sea

JAPAN is considering introducing US spy drones to boost surveillance of its territorial waters near islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a bitter dispute with Beijing, Kyodo News says.

The Japanese defence ministry hopes to introduce the unmanned Global Hawk aircraft by 2015 "in a bid to counter China's growing assertiveness at sea, especially when it comes to the Senkaku Islands", the news agency said, citing unnamed government officials.

Beijing has been sending maritime patrol vessels into waters around the Japanese-controlled islands, which China claims as Diaoyu, since Tokyo nationalised the chain in September.

China is apparently seeking to prove that it can come and go in the area at will, and on Monday three of Beijing's ships were spotted in the waters around the islands, according to Japan's coastguard, in the latest perceived incursion.

An earlier report on Monday said China has transferred two destroyers and nine other former navy vessels to its maritime surveillance fleet.

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US stocks lower on fiscal cliff pessimism

US stocks have opened lower at the start of a shortened Christmas Eve session amid pessimism about prospects for a "fiscal cliff" deal by the end of the year.

In the first few minutes of trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 35.94 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 13,154.90.

The broad-market S&P 500 shed 3.46 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,426.69.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 6.91 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 3,041.09.

The White House and lawmakers have until the end of the year to reach a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of steep tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect in January.

Experts warn that going over the "cliff" could take the world's biggest economy back into recession.

President Barack Obama and Congress are currently on Christmas break, but are expected to return to Washington later this week.

"The looming unresolved US fiscal cliff continues to hamstring conviction, robbing the Street of holiday cheer," said analysts with Charles Schwab & Co.

On Friday, the Dow ended the session down 0.91 per cent, while the S&P 500 fell 0.94 per cent and the Nasdaq dipped 0.96 per cent.

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Two firefighters shot dead in US

THE police chief in Webster, New York, says that four firefighters were shot while responding to a blaze in the town and that two are dead.

Chief Gerald Pickering says "one or more shooters" fired at the firefighters Monday morning. Officials say they had arrived at the scene of the blaze near the Lake Ontario shore around 6am.

Officials say a fire started in one home and spread to two others and a car. Officials say there is no active shooter at the scene.

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Top Putin foe Navalny faces new charges

RUSSIAN investigators have opened their third criminal case in five months against an opposition leader who poses one of the main challenges to President Vladimir Putin in opinion polls.

The Investigative Committee said it had charged anti-corruption blogger and lawyer Alexei Navalny with "swindling committed by an organised group or on an especially large scale".

The charge - which relates to allegations over a case dating back five years - carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

Navalny spearheaded the opposition movement that emerged last year in the wake of disputed parliamentary elections that the ruling party won despite suspicions of fraud.

The 36-year-old - often ranked as the most popular opposition campaigner and an emerging politician who has not ruled out running for president - denies all the charges and views the probes against him as political.

"Lord, they have opened another criminal case against me," Navalny tweeted moments after the news was announced. "The Investigative Committee - what are you doing... Enough."

He later told Russian media that investigators were simply trying to intimidate him "by showing that they could next arrest me for crossing the street in the wrong place".

Navalny is already the focus of an embezzlement probe linked to a murky business deal conducted by a small regional timber company in which he was involved. That offence also risks a 10-year sentence.

Investigators last week also launched a money laundering investigation against Navalny and his brother related to a little-known trading firm.

The latest case concerns 100 million roubles ($A3 million at current exchange rates) allegedly stolen from a liberal political party called the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) in 2007.

The charges say a company involving Navalny secured an SPS advertising contract that was never fulfilled.

SPS disbanded in 2008 after badly losing a series of elections and Navalny continued with other projects.

But the group's former members expressed amazement at charges that emerged five years after the alleged theft.

"If there was something dirty going on, I would have known about it," said top former party member Leonid Gozman.

An aide to current regional governor and former SPS leader Nikita Belykh also told Moscow Echo radio that no money had been stolen from the party.

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Mandela spends Christmas in hospital

AILING icon Nelson Mandela is spending Christmas Day in hospital, the South African government says, dashing hopes for a festive end to his longest stay in care since being released from prison in 1990.

"Former president Nelson Mandela will spend Christmas Day in hospital, his doctors have confirmed today, on 24 December 2012," the presidency said in a statement.

The 94-year-old Nobel Peace laureate and South Africa's first black post-apartheid president, was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on December 8. He has been treated there for a recurrent lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones.

In a statement President Jacob Zuma said his predecessor "continues to respond to treatment".

"Knowledge of the love and support of his people keeps him strong," Zuma said.

"We urge all South Africans to keep Tata (father) uppermost in their thoughts at every place of worship or entertainment tomorrow on Christmas Day, and throughout the festive season.

"We also humbly invite all freedom loving people around the world to pray for him. He is an ardent fighter and will recover from this episode with all our support," Zuma said.

There was no indication of when he might be discharged.

"He remains in hospital, recovering," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told AFP on Monday. "I can't say when he will be discharged, doctors will make that decision."

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the country's first all-race elections in 1994, has a long history of lung problems.

He contracted tuberculosis - a disease which killed his father - while in jail as a political prisoner.

He was later hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, when he was held for two nights.

Mandela was last seen in public in 2010, clad in a scarf during the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, when he was wheeled into the stadium in a golf cart.

In May, footage of a smiling, grey-haired Madiba seated on a couch, was shown on television when he was visited by ruling ANC leaders to present him with a symbolic flame to mark the party's 100 years.

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Jobs estate pays to free impounded yacht

STEVE Jobs' superyacht Venus is free to leave Amsterdam port after the late Apple co-founder's estate paid a deposit to resolve a dispute with designer Philippe Starck, who had the yacht impounded.

"The Venus is no longer impounded, we have found a solution," Gerard Moussault, a Hague-based lawyer for the Jobs estate, told AFP on Monday.

"A security deposit was paid into a bank account, but I cannot say for how much," Moussault said after French designer Starck last week asked Amsterdam bailiffs to seize the sleek 70-metre yacht.

The vessel, which reportedly cost over 100 million euros ($A127 million) to build, was impounded after Starck said Jobs' estate still owed him three million euros for his contribution to its design.

Starck said he was to be paid a fixed sum of nine million euros, while lawyers for Jobs' estate said he was to be paid a percentage of the project's cost equal to six million euros.

The Dutch-built yacht, which was only unveiled in October - just over a year after Jobs died - is in Amsterdam harbour because of bad weather.

"The captain is waiting for better weather to set sail," Moussault said.

Starck's lawyer in the Netherlands, Roelant Klaassen, said on Friday that Jobs and Starck were "very close in the period that the design was made and the building proceeded.

"That's one of the reasons there was no formal agreement on the job," he said.

The yacht will reportedly be shipped by another ship to the United States, where Jobs' family, including widow Laurene Powell Jobs and their three children Reed, Erin and Eve, are to take charge of her.

The aluminium-hulled yacht was built by Royal De Vries shipbuilders in Aalsmeer, just south of Amsterdam, with interiors designed by Starck.

The bridge features a control panel made up of an array of seven iMac computers.

Starck said last year he was working on the yacht, which was mentioned in Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011. He said it was "sleek and minimalist", with teak decks.

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Missing teen fails to return from surfing

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy who told his parents he was going surfing on Saturday is missing from the NSW north coast.

Tyson Cetinich was last seen about 10am (AEDT) on Saturday by his parents at his home in Bogangar.

Police were told Tyson left home to go surfing, but when he failed to return by midday, his parents became concerned and contacted police.

An extensive search of nearby beaches and inquiries to hospitals and local medical centres have been made without success.

Concerns are held for Tyson's welfare and a police statement says he may be travelling to Proston in Queensland.

Tyson is of Caucasian appearance, about 190cm tall with a thin build. He has braces on his teeth and was last seen wearing a grey cap, a navy blue hooded jumper and board shorts.

Anyone who sees him or knows of his whereabouts is urged to immediately contact Tweed Heads Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Russia to renovate Lenin's mausoleum

THE mausoleum for Russia's revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin must undergo major repair work after its foundation suffered water damage, the Kremlin says.

The communist icon's body will also undergo preservation work, a move that adds fuel to a debate in Russia about whether his remains should be buried.

The Lenin Mausoleum, a boxy structure standing just outside the Kremlin walls on Red Square, has not seen any major works for 80 years, said Sergei Devyatov, a representative of the Kremlin's secret service, which is responsible for the building.

The mausoleum's foundation is starting to tilt and has become water-damaged. Works to eliminate the problem will take until April, he said.

"We have also scheduled works to maintain Lenin's body," Devyatov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

The body will not be moved during the works, he said.

A team of scientists periodically restores Lenin's body, when it is given a new suit and various preservation treatments.

Debates on whether to remove the body from the mausoleum constructed in 1924, when Lenin died at age 53, started after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Though the mausoleum is a tourist attraction, increasing numbers of Russians are calling for Lenin to be buried. Russia's Communist party vehemently opposes the idea.

In the latest big debate on the issue last year, the ruling party United Russia launched a campaign for Lenin's burial, however the discussion was quickly shelved.

At that time, 56 per cent of Russians said it would be better to bury Lenin, while 31 per cent said his body should be left alone, a Levada poll said.

President Vladimir Putin earlier this month said the body reflects Russian tradition, even controversially comparing it to the ancient Orthodox relics of saints displayed in famous monasteries in Russia, Ukraine and Greece.

"The Communists have taken on the tradition," he said at the time. "They did this with knowledge and considering the needs of their time."

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No 2012 vintage from Chateau d'Yquem

CHATEAU d'Yquem will not be producing a 2012 vintage after harvest rain prevented the grapes from reaching the levels of concentration required to make the world's most famous sweet wine.

Pierre Lurton, who runs the celebrated estate behind the Sauternes wine for its main shareholder LVMH, said the decision, which will cost the luxury goods group tens of millions of euros, had been taken to maintain Yquem's reputation for excellence.

"We tried our best but unfortunately the weather was not with us this year," Lurton told AFP.

"A brand like Yquem has to be prepared to not make a vintage. For the image of one of the world's great white wines and for Yquem's place in history, it was a reasonable decision not to make a wine this year."

Similar decisions were taken in 1952, 1972 and 1992.

"It is as if there was a curse on us every 20 years," Lurton added with a smile.

Despite advances in technology, the production of sweet wine in the Sauternes area of southwestern France remains hugely vulnerable to the vagaries of weather.

The sweetness of the wine comes from grapes that have been left on the vines long enough to be affected by noble rot, which bolsters sugar levels and imparts the complex notes of fruit, honey and nuts that make Sauternes the benchmark for dessert wines around the world.

For the rot to develop, producers rely on a combination of autumnal morning mists and midday sunshine that occur most but not all years.

"We were cropping some good stuff at the beginning (of the harvest) this year but then we had a lot of rain," Lurton said.

"The quantity was not good and the concentration was not there."

With an average production of 100,000 bottles per year, the decision to cancel output means foregoing about 25 million euros ($A31 million) of sales, but Lurton said it had been cleared by LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.

"He takes a view on the excellence and the durability of great brands," Lurton said.

"We don't reason in terms of turnover, we take a long-term view. We may have lost sales this year but we have maintained Yquem's reputation for excellence.

"There will be many more great vintages in the future that will allow us to make up for this one."

The 2012 Yquem has been the most high-profile victim of adverse weather conditions that played havoc with wine production across much of France this year.

A combination of spring frosts and hail and harvest rain slashed yields in most areas.

Early tasting reports indicate that quality has been maintained in Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhone but 2012 is tipped to be one of the most disappointing red Bordeaux vintages of recent years.

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Italian engineer kidnapped in Syria

AN Italian engineer has been kidnapped in Syria along with two other workers from the steel works in the port city of Latakia, the foreign ministry in Rome says.

"In all such cases, the safety of our countryman is of the utmost priority and it is indispensable to be as discreet as possible," Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said in a statement, without revealing any further details about the kidnap victims.

The ministry's crisis unit has "activated all available channels" and the Italian's family has been informed, the ministry said.

Italian media named the engineer as Mario Belluomo from Catania in Sicily, who worked at the steel plant in Syria's principal port city. According to the reports, he was kidnapped in nearby Tartus, another port city.

"We are working with the utmost commitment and with the same dedication with which our embassies and consulates give assistance daily to our countrymen in difficulty, including in risky regions and situations," he said.

Terzi said his thoughts went to the kidnapped men and to Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian taken hostage in Pakistan in January, who has yet to be freed.

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Wave of Iraq attacks kills at least 47

A WAVE of attacks targeting both Iraqi security forces and civilians has killed at least 47 people and wounded at least 110, security and medical officials say.

The attacks, which hit more than a dozen different Iraqi cities and towns on Monday, came on the eve of the first anniversary of the US military withdrawal from Iraq.

Violence in Iraq is down significantly from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but while Iraqi forces have held their own since the US departure, insurgent groups still pose a significant threat, and attacks occur almost daily.

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Doomed French elephants win reprieve

TWO sick middle-aged elephants that French officials wanted to put down have been given a Christmas reprieve after an appeal to President Francois Hollande and an internet campaign to save them.

Baby and Nepal, who both have tuberculosis, had been deemed a threat to other animals at their zoo in the city of Lyon as well as to human visitors since the disease is highly contagious.

But when city authorities ordered them to be put down by December 20, Gilbert Edelstein, the French circus owner who donated them to the Parc de la Tete d'Or zoo, launched a campaign to save the 40-something females.

He even sought the "supreme intervention" of Hollande in a letter to the president, while an internet campaign to save the Asian elephants gathered 11,000 signatories.

The efforts appear to have paid off. On Monday, local authorities issued a ruling suspending the order to put the elephants to sleep with a lethal injection.

It was not immediately clear if that suspension would become permanent.

Edelstein had argued that when he donated the elephants to the zoo, they were perfectly healthy and he said that if they contracted tuberculosis, it was from the other animals.

"I want them to be treated and returned to me," he said on Friday.

Elephants have a lifespan of 60-70 years.

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US names Lebanese ex-minister as terrorist

THE United States has named former Lebanese information minister Michel Samaha a "specially designated global terrorist" for allegedly aiding the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to launch attacks in Lebanon.

Samaha was arrested on August 9 by Lebanese authorities and accused of plotting to assassinate Lebanese leaders and of transporting explosives into Lebanon for such attacks, the US Treasury said in a statement.

"The United States will continue to expose any attempts by the Assad regime to meddle in the affairs of its neighbours and further destabilise the region," said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen.

"We will continue to work with our international partners to ensure that the sovereignty of Lebanon is respected and upheld."

Samaha, 64, who has both Lebanese and Canadian nationality, was minister of information and tourism in the 1990s.

He was officially listed as a "global terrorist" by the US State Department, and the Treasury slapped economic sanctions on him that freeze any assets he holds under US jurisdiction and forbids Americans from doing business with him.

The Treasury said Samaha "reportedly" received the explosives he is accused of transporting from Ali Mamluk, the head of the Syrian National Security Bureau.

"Information available to the US government indicates that in July 2012 Mamluk was involved in a plot with Samaha to conduct bombing attacks against Lebanese political and religious figures in northern Lebanon, and Mamluk provided money and explosives to Samaha for that purpose," the Treasury said.

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US eyes Google antitrust settlement

US regulators are likely to conclude a lengthy antitrust probe of Google's dominance of internet searches with a voluntary settlement, news reports say.

The Wall Street Journal said Google was likely to agree to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that calls for unspecified changes in how it handles search queries, but would stop short of signing a consent decree that could be enforced by a court.

The Washington Post also reported that a settlement was likely this week, saying it would fall well short of what Google's rivals had sought.

Online news site Politico reported that the FTC did not have the votes to bring an enforcement action against Google, but that the settlement would include new practices on the use of "snippets" of user reviews from companies such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, companies which have said Google uses such content without permission.

Politico said Google will also pledge to make it easier for advertisers to buy ad space on its search engine and to move their ad campaigns to competing sites.

The reports said Google may agree to a separate consent decree to limit the use of patents, including those acquired when it bought Motorola Mobility, to curb competition.

These settlements would not necessarily affect a separate review of Google's practices in the European Union, or by several US states, which would be able to bring their own enforcement actions.

Critics point out that Google controls some 70 per cent of the internet search market - and the advertising that goes along with it - and may exert even more power in the mobile sector by controlling the Android operating system used on two-thirds of smartphones.

Google has been accused of "scraping" content from other services like travel and restaurant reviews while keeping consumers on its own sites.

It is also under fire for allegedly promoting its own services - including travel, restaurant reviews and YouTube videos - in its search results.

European Union competition watchdogs began an investigation into Google in 2010 and the FTC opened its own probe into the company's lucrative search and advertising business in June 2011.

A Google spokesperson, asked about the reports, said: "We continue to work co-operatively with the Federal Trade Commission and are happy to answer any questions they may have."

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Nigeria minister links mum's kidnap to oil

NIGERIA'S finance minister says kidnappers who held her mother hostage for five days had demanded her resignation, suggesting the abduction had a political motive.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, one of Nigeria's most prominent figures, has been in a highly publicised struggle with fuel importers over payment of subsidies, with government officials delaying payments to allow for verification of claims.

In her first public comments on the kidnapping ordeal, Okonjo-Iweala said her 83-year-old mother, Kamene Okonjo, was held "for five days without food or water". Her release was announced on Friday.

"While she was in their custody, the kidnappers spent much of the time harassing her. They told her that I must get on the radio and television and announce my resignation," Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement on Monday.

"When she asked why, they told her it was because I did not pay 'Oil subsidy money'," the statement said.

The finance minister did not take questions and made no comment as to whether a ransom was paid. The circumstances surrounding her mother's release remain unclear.

A parliamentary probe earlier this year found Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, lost $US6.8 billion ($A6.5 billion) through the subsidy program between 2009 and 2011. The subsidies are designed to hold petrol prices low.

The probe detailed what has long been suspected in Nigeria, describing a lack of accounting, overpayments, wilful disregard for regulations and outright incompetence in managing the program.

Fuel importers have voiced anger at what they term the government's outstanding payments, while Okonjo-Iweala has been at the forefront of a campaign to ensure all subsidy claims are legitimate.

"President Goodluck Jonathan is determined to do the right thing. We have had a lot of support. We will continue to do the right thing," she said.

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Nation cautioned against Mandela panic

SOUTH Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is "doing very, very well" while undergoing unspecified medical tests at a military hospital, the nation's defense minister said Monday.

The office of the presidency said the anti-apartheid icon was being kept in the hospital for a third day for more tests.

Mandela is revered by South Africans, and by many people around the world, for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and for preaching reconciliation once he emerged from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars. He won South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994 that marked the end of apartheid.

South Africans tensely awaited word Monday on Mandela even as authorities tried to offer reassurances, but gave no details.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula spoke to journalists outside 1 Military Hospital in the capital, Pretoria, after seeing Mandela, 94. She offered the first government confirmation that Mandela, who has received military medical care since 2011, is at that hospital.

"He's doing very, very well," she said. "And it is important to keep him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause a state of panic because I think that is not what all of us need."

A statement issued later Monday by the office of President Jacob Zuma said Mandela "had a good night's rest. The doctors will still conduct further tests today. He is in good hands. "

On Saturday, Zuma's office announced Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital for medical tests and care that was "consistent for his age". Zuma visited Mandela Sunday and found the former leader to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

After serving one five-year term, the Nobel laureate retired from public life and later settled in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area. He last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. He has grown increasingly frail in recent years.

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Springsteen, Lady Gaga join Stones concert

BRUCE Springsteen, Lady Gaga and The Black Keys will join the Rolling Stones for the final concert marking the band's 50th anniversary.

The Stones have played in London and New York on their 50 and Counting tour.

The band will perform on Wednesday at the 12-12-12 concert in New York City to raise money for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

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Egypt braces for rival protests in Cairo

EGYPT was bracing for rival protests to take place in Cairo on Tuesday over a bitterly divisive referendum on a new constitution, prompting President Mohammed Morsi to order the army to help "preserve security".

The duelling demonstrations, organised by Islamists backing Morsi and the largely secular opposition, raised fears of street clashes like ones last week in which seven people were killed and hundreds injured.

Morsi's decree instructing the military to fully co-operate with police "to preserve security and protect vital state institutions for a temporary period, up to the announcement of the results from the referendum" came into force on Monday.

Army officers "all have powers of legal arrest," it says.

The military, which has urged dialogue and warned it "will not allow" the political crisis to deteriorate, has for several days kept tanks and troops deployed around Morsi's presidential palace.

Late on Monday, soldiers merely watched as more than 100 anti-Morsi demonstrators milled around in front of the palace, an AFP correspondent said.

The rights group Amnesty International called Morsi's security decree "a dangerous loophole which may well lead to the military trial of civilians," recalling the 16 months of army rule that followed the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak last year, until Morsi's election in June 2012.

The opposition, made up of secular, liberal, left wing and Christian groups, has said it will escalate its protests to scupper the referendum.

It views the new constitution largely drawn up by Morsi's Islamist allies, including some who want to see Sharia law implemented one day, as undermining secular traditions, human and gender rights, and the independence of the judiciary.

Morsi has defiantly pushed on with the draft charter, seeing it as necessary to secure democratic reform in the wake of Mubarak's 30-year autocratic rule.

The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, has called for huge protests in Cairo to reject the constitutional referendum, which is scheduled for Saturday.

"We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people," National Salvation Front spokesman Sameh Ashour told a news conference.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, said Islamist movements would counter the protests with their own big rallies in the capital in support of the referendum.

"We are calling for a demonstration on Tuesday, under the slogan 'Yes to legitimacy'," the Brotherhood's spokesman, Mahmud Ghozlan, told AFP.

Morsi's camp argues it is up to the people to accept or reject the draft constitution.

Cairo schools informed parents they would be closed as a precaution on Tuesday.

A group of senior judges on Monday said pro-Morsi Islamist protesters would have to lift a week-long sit-in outside the constitutional court before they would consider overseeing the referendum.

If the charter is rejected, Morsi has promised to have a new one drawn up by 100 officials chosen directly by the public rather than appointed by the Islamist-dominated parliament.

But analysts said still-strong public support for Morsi and the Brotherhood's proven ability to mobilise at grassroots level would likely help the draft constitution be adopted.

If that happens, warned Eric Trager, analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, it would "set up the country for prolonged instability."

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Putin slams US 're-Sovietisation' claims

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has denied that he is trying to reinvent the Soviet Union, dismissing as "rubbish" accusations by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton last week called Putin's initiative to unite former Soviet countries into a Eurasian Union and Customs Union "a move to re-Sovietise the region."

While meeting top activists in his presidential campaign on Monday, Putin dismissed such comparisons, saying there are economic rather than political reasons for uniting the former Soviet allies.

"It's very strange to hear when some colleagues abroad say that ... it is a rebirth of Russia's ambitions as the former Soviet Union. What rubbish.

"This is a process which is totally natural.

"We have a common language, to a certain extent a common mentality, a common transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure," he said.

Russian State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin was even more abrasive in his comments, comparing Clinton's "intervention and prevention of positive processes" of post-Soviet integration to the "clumsy gait of a lame duck," according to Interfax news agency.

Clinton is due to leave office when President Barack Obama begins his second mandate following his presidential election victory last month.

"Let's make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it," Clinton said last Friday ahead of meeting Russia's foreign minister in Dublin.

Uniting ex-Soviet countries into the Eurasian Union was first proposed by Putin in a pre-election article last October.

He called the project a "historical breakthrough" that will change the geopolitical configuration of the continent.

Currently Russia is in a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which is proclaimed as a basis for further integration in the region.

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Life-sized replica of Noah's Ark unveiled

A FULL-SCALE replica of Noah's Ark has opened its doors to the public in The Netherlands.

Stormy weather on Monday could do nothing to dampen the good mood of its creator, Dutchman Johan Huibers. In fact, the rain was appropriate.

In the Biblical story, God orders Noah to build a boat big enough to save animals and Noah's family while Earth is covered in an enormous flood.

Johan interpreted the description given in Genesis to build his ark. It measures in at a whopping 130 metres long, 29 metres across and 23 metres high.

Huibers says he realised a 20-year dream to educate people about history and faith. The ark has received permission to receive up to 3000 visitors a day.

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McDonald's sales rise in November

MCDONALD'S says that a key sales figure rose in November.

The increase follows a decline in October, the first drop in McDonald's key monthly sales gauge in nearly a decade.

The US-based company said global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 2.4 per cent for the month ended November 30. The figure is a key metric because it strips out the impact of newly opened and closed locations.

The figure rose 2.5 per cent in the US It went up 1.4 per cent in Europe, where it gets 40 per cent of its business, as strength in the UK, Russia and other markets were offset by weakness in Germany.

In the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East and Africa, it edged up 0.6 per cent, hurt by results in Japan.

Systemwide sales, which includes sales at all restaurants, rose 3.2 per cent.

After years of outperforming its rivals, McDonald's has seen sales growth slow as the company faces intensifying competition and an uncertain global economy. Its global revenue at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 1.8 per cent in October. The last time it had dropped was in March 2003.

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At least 13 dead after floods in Congo

AT least 13 people have died in the Republic of Congo and two dozen others were injured after torrential rains caused homes to collapse in southern Brazzaville.

A Red Cross official said 13 bodies had been recovered over the weekend, while Laurel Kihounzou, mayor of the southern Brazzaville district of Makelekele, told reporters that at least 26 people were injured.

According to witnesses, dozens of houses collapsed after a river in the Makelekele neighbourhood burst its banks.

Police confirmed the death toll, adding that they had provided shelter to nearly 600 residents affected by the flooding.

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Duchess of Cambridge pregnant

KATE Middleton is expecting a baby and has been admitted to hospital with acute morning sickness, St James' Palace has announced.

The BBC reports that members of the royal family are delighted by the news.

A Palace spokesman said the duchess was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in central Lnodon with very acute morning sickness and is expected to stay for several days.

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Pope takes to Twitter

POPE Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex in time for Christmas as the Vatican tries to woo the global internet generation.

"The first tweets will be answers to questions sent to the pope on matters of faith. The public can start sending them starting now," Vatican communications adviser Greg Burke said at a press conference on Monday.

The account carries a picture of the pope waving and its number of followers rose from around 2,400 at the time of the announcement to more than 24,000 just an hour later, with numbers continuing to rise sharply.

An introductory message of the account based in "Vatican City" read: "Welcome to the official Twitter page of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI."

"Pontifex" is a Latin word meaning "pontiff", the pope's official title.

Benedict will only follow his own account in other languages for the moment and there are no plans for a Facebook account yet, Burke said, adding: "Twitter can be more effective than Facebook in passing on the Pope's message."

The tweets will be in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish and more languages could be added in future.

Several fake Twitter accounts already set up in the pope's name have been used to mock the 85-year-old pontiff, but the Vatican said it was not worried about the risk that hostile messages would be tweeted on the real account.

Burke, a former correspondent for US channel Fox News brought in by the Vatican in June to overhaul its public-relations operation, said the pope's Twitter account would create "a free market of ideas, and that is good".

It would serve up "pearls of wisdom coming from the heart of the pope", he said, though the 140-character messages will not be written by the pope himself but by Vatican officials who will submit them to him for approval.

"We are going to get a spiritual message. The pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no one is going to be putting words into the pope's mouth. He will tweet what he wants to tweet," Burke said.

The Vatican said: "The pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena."

Benedict wants "to ensure that the good news of Jesus Christ and the teaching of his Church is permeating the forum of exchange and dialogue that is being created by social media," it added in a statement.

The aim is to "dialogue with men and women of today wherever they are," said Cardinal Claudio Maria Celli of the Pontifical Social Communications Council.

The news of the elderly pontiff's decision to join Twitter received mixed reactions on the online community.

"Does this mean we can just tweet our sins instead of showing up for confession?" asked Twitter user Sandra Hayes.

Ryan Babel said "will he be the first priest to legally be able to follow children?" -- one of many Twitter quips on the Church's sex abuse scandals.

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Britain seeks appeal over terror suspect

BRITAIN'S interior ministry said on Monday that it has applied for permission to appeal against a decision by judges to block the extradition of terror suspect Abu Qatada to Jordan.

"We confirm that we have submitted our grounds for appeal," a Home Office spokesman told AFP.

A judge will consider the bid to challenge last month's move by Britain's Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) blocking the extradition over fears that evidence obtained through torture could be used in Abu Qatada's trial.

The radical Islamist cleric -- dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe -- was released on bail following the SIAC ruling, in a severe blow to the British government.

British authorities have kept him in custody for most of the last decade and repeatedly tried to send him to Jordan to face trial.

Abu Qatada was convicted in absentia in Jordan in 1998 for involvement in terror attacks, but both British and European judges have accepted his argument that evidence obtained by torture might be used against him in a retrial.

Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that he was "completely fed up with the fact that this man is still at large in our country".

Abu Qatada, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin in his early 50s, is currently under curfew 16 hours a day and is wearing an electronic tag, but he is free to leave his home in northwest London between 8am and 4pm.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled earlier this year that he could not be deported while there was a "real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him" in a possible retrial.

Home Secretary Theresa May ordered his extradition anyway after Jordan gave assurances that he would be treated fairly.

But SIAC, a semi-secret panel of British judges that deals with national security matters, agreed last month with the European judges that he should not be deported, and he was freed on bail.

The commission said statements from Abu Qatada's former co-defendants Al-Hamasher and Abu Hawsher may have been obtained by torture and created a risk that any trial would be unfair.

The government can only challenge the ruling if it is found that there were legal problems with SIAC's ruling.

The cleric, whose real name is Omar Mohammed Othman, arrived in Britain in 1993 claiming asylum and has been a thorn in the side of successive British governments.

Videos of his sermons were found in the Hamburg flat used by some of the hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He has also defended the killing of Jews and attacks on Americans.

A Spanish judge once branded him the right-hand man in Europe of the late Al-Qaeda leader although Abu Qatada denies ever having met bin Laden.

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Clinton lobbies Czech govt on power plant

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lobbied the Czech government on Monday to approve an American bid for a $US10 billion ($A9.63 billion) expansion of a nuclear power plant amid fierce competition from a rival Russian offer.

Clinton made her pitch for the American energy giant Westinghouse Electric Co. in meetings with Prime Minister Petr Necas and other senior Czech officials in Prague. Speaking to reporters, she stressed the need for the Czech Republic to wean itself off of a dependency on Russia for fuel.

"We are encouraging the Czech Republic to diversify its energy sources and suppliers," Clinton said. "Given how long-term and strategic this investment is, the Czech people deserve the best value, the most tested and trustworthy technology, an outstanding safety record, responsible and accountable management."

The Czechs get 60 per cent of their oil, 70 per cent of their natural gas and all of their nuclear reactor fuel from Russia. That leaves the NATO member highly susceptible to economic and political pressure from Moscow, which dominated the Central European country from the end of World War II to the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Revitalising the Temelin nuclear power plant is a big part of the Czech agenda to radically boost its nuclear power production, defying global scepticism about the use of atomic energy in the aftermath of last year's meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant. And the Obama administration is hoping to get some of the windfall by securing Westinghouse's bid. The project could generate 9,000 American jobs, US officials said.

For the United States, the battle for the Temelin contract is an example of an increasingly prominent element of foreign policy: Going to bat for American companies. If this was once a less-promoted if widely understood element of private diplomatic relations, what Clinton calls "economic statecraft" has now become an endeavour US officials proudly promote as part of their jobs-building effort for the United States.

"We are not shy about pressing the case for Westinghouse," Clinton said. "We believe that company offers the best option for the project in terms of technology and safety. It would clearly enhance Czech energy security and further the nuclear cooperation between our countries, and it would create jobs and economic opportunity for Czechs and Americans."

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Ukraine's government, PM resign en masse

UKRAINIAN Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and the entire government resigned on Monday in a surprise move after controversial elections as the economy teeters on the brink of recession.

The presidency said President Viktor Yanukovych had accepted Azarov's request to give up his post and become an MP, a move expected to be repeated by several cabinet ministers.

It remained unclear who would fill the powerful post of premier, with some analysts speculating it could go to a member of the elite close to Yanukovych known as the "Family".

"President Viktor Yanukovych accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, satisfying the demand of the latter," the statement added.

The move comes as a new parliament prepares to meet after October 28 legislative elections which raised new concerns about democratic standards under Yanukovych.

The ruling Regions Party appears to have retained control of the Verkhovna Rada with the help of independents despite a strong challenge from the opposition parties of boxer Vitali Klitschko and imprisoned ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

OSCE observers slammed the polls as a setback for Ukraine, marred by the absence of Tymoshenko who is serving a seven-year sentence on abuse of power charges she says were trumped up by Yanukovych.

But economists also fear the country is entering troubled times and could be on the brink of a new recession that would see it seek billions of dollars in disbursements from an IMF standby package.

Ukraine's economy contracted by 1.2 percent in the third quarter of this year, and several banks fear the country is heading for zero growth in 2012, not to mention a sharp devaluation of the local currency.

"This (the resignation) is linked to a number of economic challenges which Ukraine has fallen into thanks to this president and this government," said opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

A Russian-speaking bureaucrat mocked by many in Ukraine for his dry and humourless image, Azarov took office in 2010 shortly after Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in a fiercely contested presidential election.

Azarov has always been seen as a close ally of Yanukovych, but some analysts believe his power base has been undermined by the recent rise of a "Family" of close acquaintances of the president into top positions.

Possible successors to Azarov could include First Deputy Prime Minister Valery Khoroshkovsky and National Bank chief Sergiy Arbuzov, analysts said.

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Putin holds talks in Turkey

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday on a trip focused on resolving sharp differences over the near 21-month conflict raging in Syria.

Protesters chanted anti-Putin slogans outside Erdogan's office and another demonstration was staged outside the Russian consulate in Istanbul before the two leaders began their meeting.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the Russian strongman will raise with Erdogan the planned deployment by NATO of Patriot missiles along Turkey's volatile border with Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.

The missile deployment "worries Russia and does not facilitate stability of the already fragile situation" in the region, Peskov said.

Turkey insists the US-made Patriots would be used for purely defensive purposes but Russia has warned that such a move could spark a broader conflict that would draw in the Western military alliance.

NATO's response is expected this week.

"Russia's position is consistent and absolutely transparent: one cannot support one side in the conflict, this cannot facilitate the settlement of the situation," Peskov was quoted as saying. "Active support of one side only provokes a conflict."

Putin was originally due to travel to Turkey in early October, but the visit was postponed because of tensions over the conflict in Syria and amid speculation about Putin's health.

Turkey, once an ally of the Damascus regime, has become one of its fiercest critics over the bloody crackdown on a rebellion that has developed into civil war and that monitoring groups say has killed more than 40,000 people.

But Moscow remains one of the few allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, routinely blocking resolutions against his regime at the UN Security Council.

Last month, Erdogan said Russia held the key to the Syrian conflict, and that if Moscow took a "positive" stance in the Security Council it could push another key Damascus ally Iran to review its policies.

Russian-Turkish tensions came to a head in October when Turkey intercepted a Syrian plane en route from Moscow to Damascus on suspicion that it had military cargo, drawing an angry response from Russia.

In Istanbul on Monday, Putin and Erdogan will co-chair a high-level cooperation council meeting, a mechanism established between the two countries to foster ties.

Putin is also due to speak by telephone with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

It is Putin's first trip outside Russia since he visited Tajikistan on October 5 and follows speculation that the normally globe-trotting leader is having health problems.

Official pictures handed out to the press for the Istanbul meeting showed the Russian leader in good health.

Russian media reports have said Putin is suffering from a back injury, caused possibly by a bad fall while playing his favourite sport judo or falling off his horse.

His aides admitted Putin was suffering from a light sports injury when he was spotted limping at an Asian summit in September, but have denied this had had any impact on his schedule.

Putin's absence from long distance travel has also dented his strongman image.

"I ask you not to be concerned. Not to worry. Everything is fine with his health," Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said on Friday, quoted by Russian news agencies.

"He had a minor sports injury," Ivanov added. "No one is immune from sports injuries."

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RBA to deliver a pre-Christmas rate cut

CONCERNS about slowing domestic growth should move the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to deliver an interest rate cut in time for Christmas.

The RBA board meets on Tuesday (December 4) for its last monthly rate decision until February next year, and an AAP survey of 15 economists shows that most expect a cut of 0.25 percentage points.

At its last board meeting on November 6, the RBA kept the cash rate unchanged at 3.25 per cent.

But data since, showing a slowdown in planned mining activity, plus continued weakness in the housing, manufacturing and retail sectors, are likely to push the central bank over the line, economists say.

The RBA cut the cash rate in May, June and October, but it appears the effect of this easing is only starting to be felt in the economy.

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Are you Queensland's newest millionaire?

Lotto numbers Source: Supplied

QUEENSLAND'S newest millionaire could be a Cairns resident after a winning Gold Lotto ticket was bought from a Manunda newsagency.

Raintrees Newsagency owner Sharryn Stokes said the mystery winner was likely unaware of their new millionaire status with the prize still unclaimed as of late yesterday.

In her 31 years of operating the newsagency, Mrs Stokes said the $1 million prize could be one of her biggest winners.

"I'm hoping it is someone we know and well-deserved. It would be great to shake their hand and say 'congratulations'," she said.

"Saturday is always a good draw. We get well over 1000 people a day purchasing into that draw."

Golden Casket public relations executive Zoe Knobel urged anyone who bought an entry in Saturday's Gold Lotto draw 3271 from Raintrees Newsagency to check their ticket at a Golden Casket outlet or online.

"The entry was not registered to a Winners Circle card, so we have no way of contacting the winner to tell them the amazing news," she said.

"You could be one of Queensland's newest millionaires, making for your best Christmas yet."

Ms Knobel said four winners shared in the estimated $4 million division-one prize pool in Saturday's draw, claiming just over $1 million each.

Mrs Stokes said just seven weeks ago the shop sold a second-division winning Powerball ticket worth $76,657.

"And just before that in July we had a $200,000 happy camper which was a $4 scratch-it."

The winning numbers in draw 3271 were 43, 30, 26, 42, 32 and 17 with supplementary numbers 12 and 6.

Winning tickets were purchased in Cairns, North Rockhampton, Victoria and New South Wales.

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Prime farmland for sale on Coast

FOREIGN and interstate buyers are being sought for one of Queensland's biggest strawberry farms, Gowinta, which has gone into liquidation with debts of more than $17 million.

Gowinta, at Beerwah in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, is a third-generation farming business that comprises 11 properties totalling 84 hectares.

It can pack up to 70,000 punnets a day during the strawberry season - around 17 tonne of fruit - and also produces pineapples, lychees and raspberries.

Earlier this year, Gowinta Farms Pty Ltd entered into voluntary administration after being left with "an unsustainable debt level" due to a reduction in the value of assets.

It restructured its operation, replacing many of its 200 plus pickers and packers with contract labourers from South Korea, but hit more hurdles including bad weather and low strawberry prices.

This led to the business being placed into liquidation on October 25, after administrators reported the company was unable to make planned capital repayments.

Gowinta has 110 creditors, the biggest being Bankwest, owed about $13.6m.

Liquidator Robert Moodie, of Sydney-based firm Rodgers Reidy, informed creditors that agent Colliers International had been engaged to market the sale of farms, business and properties.

He said Gowinta would be advertised locally, interstate and overseas, noting Colliers had "links to international food production markets".

Agent Rawdon Briggs, of Colliers, confirmed Gowinta was up for grabs, with expressions of interest closing December 18 at 4pm.

Gowinta Farms is described as one of the Sunshine Coast's premier farming enterprises with a long standing history as a successful producer of quality strawberries, pineapples and raspberries.

The business can be purchased in its entirety on a walk-in walk-out basis, or the 11 properties involved can be bought individually.

It features substantial entitlements to water for irrigation, extensive greenhouse, packing, administration and staff facilities plus two houses and a number of sheds.

There's also a 56-berth caravan park and cafe offering alternative income streams and the farm has convenient access to Brisbane CBD and markets.

A creditors' meeting will be held at the property at 11am tomorrow to discuss a plan to keep the business operating and fund preparations for next season.

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Secret confetti confounds New York police

IT rained confetti - and secrets - on last week's Thanksgiving parade in New York.

The traditional deluge of shredded paper over the Macy's parade in Manhattan on Thursday turned out to include legible snippets of police files, including a mention of a motorcade used by Republican Mitt Romney.

Officers at the Nassau County Police Department on Long Island, where the files were traced back to, declined to give details on Monday about how the parade became a charade.

"We're not really commenting any further," a spokesman said.

Earlier, Nassau Police Inspector Kenneth Lack said he was "very concerned".

"The department will be conducting an investigation into the matter, as well as reviewing procedures for the disposing of police documents."

The New York Post reported pieces of paper tumbling down into the parade still had social security numbers, names of detectives, and details relating to Romney's campaign motorcade.

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Soft drink raises prostate cancer risk

MEN who drink one normal-sized soft drink per day are at greater risk of getting more aggressive forms of prostate cancer, according to a Swedish study.

"Among the men who drank a lot of soft drinks or other drinks with added sugar, we saw an increased risk of prostate cancer of around 40 per cent," said Isabel Drake, a PhD student at Lund University.

The study, to be published in the upcoming edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed more than 8000 men aged 45 to 73 for an average of 15 years.

Those who drank one 330-millilitre soft drink a day were 40 per cent more likely to develop more serious forms of prostate cancer that required treatment.

The cancer was discovered after the men showed symptoms of the disease, and not through the screening process known as Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA).

Those who ate a diet heavy on rice and pasta increased their risk of getting milder forms of prostate cancer, which often required no treatment, by 31 per cent, while a high intake of sugary breakfast cereals raised the incidence of milder forms of the cancer to 38 per cent, Drake told AFP.

While further research was needed before dietary guidelines could be changed, there are already plenty of reasons a person should cut back on soft-drink consumption, she noted.

The men in the study had to undergo regular medical examinations and kept a journal of their food and drink intake.

Previous studies have shown that Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the US develop prostate cancer more often than peers in their home countries.

Further research on how genes respond to different diets would make it possible to "tailor food and drink guidelines for certain high-risk groups", Drake said.

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Indian, Chinese companies sign deals

INDIAN and Chinese companies have signed agreements worth billions of dollars as the two emerging market giants sought to broaden commercial ties despite political tensions.

The deals inked in New Delhi during the countries' second strategic economic dialogue included plans for investments in clean energy, infrastructure, electric power, steel and other projects.

"We must aim at a magnitude and intensity of (economic) engagement appropriate for the world's two most populous nations," said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, one of India's most powerful government figures who led the Indian side at the talks on Monday.

"It is only through larger mutual investments that we can take the India-China economic cooperation to a higher level," Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's economic planning commission, told reporters.

The agreements included a plan to develop renewable energy projects envisaging an investment of $US3 billion ($A2.9 billion) by India's Reliance Power and China's Ming Yang Wind Power Group, a leading wind turbine manufacturer.

India's debt-laden Lanco Infratech said the state-run China Development Bank would arrange $US2 billion worth of loans for its two power projects.

Territorial disputes, Beijing's role as arms supplier to Indian rival Pakistan and the presence in India of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, all fuel an atmosphere of mutual political suspicion.

At the same time, India and China are major trading partners with bilateral trade totalling $US75 billion with the two countries targeting a goal of $US100 billion by 2015.

Ahluwalia said the latest tiff between the neighbours over a map issued by Beijing on its new passports claiming disputed territory did not come up in the talks.

At the government-to-government level, India signed an agreement with China to explore co-operation in modernising the dilapidated, more than century-old Indian railway system.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese side but Ahluwalia said the view "emanating from the Chinese side is that they would also like a deepening of economic cooperation".

He said the large Chinese delegation, which had 180 members, indicated "how serious they are" about improving economic ties.

The economic dialogue emerged from a visit by outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to India in December 2010.

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Obama drafts in Geithner for budget talks

US President Barack Obama has made Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner lead White House negotiator in budget talks with Congress aimed at averting the fiscal cliff, a report says.

The Wall Street Journal said Geithner was viewed on Capitol Hill as a straight-shooter who had a better chance of brokering a deal than Jacob Lew, Obama's former budget chief, who has burnt his bridges with some Republicans.

If no deal is reached before the end of the year, a poison pill law of tax hikes and massive spending cuts, including slashes to the military, comes into effect with potentially catastrophic effects for the fragile US economy.

The report said Geithner, who is preparing to leave his post as treasury secretary early in Obama's second term, has spent months already preparing for the fiscal talks, which will begin this week in earnest in Washington.

Geithner will be joined by White House budget and tax experts, including Lew, now Obama's chief of staff, and National Economic Council director Gene Sperling, the Wall Street Journal said.

They will try to hammer out an elusive compromise with congressional aides but final decisions will be made by political leaders such as Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, the report said.

In recent days, several leading Republicans have indicated a willingness to accept a deal that includes more revenue from ending loopholes in the tax code in return for cuts in funding to Democrats' beloved welfare programs.

Geithner, 51, is not affiliated with any party and has spent his career in government finance and on the political sidelines.

He first joined the Treasury at age 27. When George W Bush became president in 2001, he went to work for the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Monetary Fund.

At 42, he was tapped to be head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, considered the Fed's second-most influential post because the New York bank interacts directly with a powerful constituency that includes Wall Street.

Despite holding high office in the years leading up to the 2008 financial collapse, when regulatory authorities are accused of having been asleep at the wheel, he was tapped by Obama to lead the recovery.

Upon assuming office in early 2009, he was charged with overseeing two major bailout packages worth more than $US1.5 trillion ($A1.4 trillion) and aimed at shoring up the country's distressed banking sector.

The administration has said that the stimulus, while costly, averted another Great Depression, while conservative critics have branded it a costly expansion of government that has failed to revive the economy.

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McGraw-Hill sells education division

MCGRAW-HILL says it has reached a deal to sell its education arm to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $US2.5 billion ($A2.4 billion) in cash and debt, as part of its plan to focus on its financial information businesses.

As part of the deal, McGraw-Hill will receive $US250 million in Apollo debt with an annual interest rate of 8.5 per cent. The acquisition includes the New York-based company's digital and traditional textbook business and other assets.

The sale is expected to close in late 2012 or early 2013. At that time, the New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial.

Harold McGraw III, McGraw-Hill's current chairman, president and CEO, will head that company.

McGraw Hill Financial expects 2012 revenue of about $US4.4 billion. It plans to provide 2013 financial guidance when it announces its 2012 fourth quarter and year-end financial results.

Harold McGraw said the sale will boost value for the company's shareholders, give the company added financial flexibility and allow it to focus on growing brands such as Standard & Poor's, S&P Capital IQ, Platts and JD Power and Associates.

The company said it plans to use the proceeds from the sale, estimated at $US1.9 billion, to fund its stock buyback program, make acquisitions and pay off debt.

Starting in the fourth quarter, McGraw-Hill will classify the education business as discontinued operations. It expects to take a non-cash impairment charge in the fourth quarter of about $US450 million to $US550 million related to the division.

McGraw-Hill first announced plans to split into two companies in September last year through either the sale or spin-off of the education arm. Earlier this month, the company reported a 14 per cent drop in third-quarter net income, partially as a result of the planned split.

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Speedster Clunes loses insurance gig

A STRING of speeding fines has cost British TV star Martin Clunes more than his driver's licence.

The Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly star, 50, has lost his job as the promotional face of UK insurance firm Churchill, after admitting to the company that a culmination of infringements meant he no longer had the legal right to get behind the wheel.

A statement from the insurer said advertisements featuring Clunes, in which the star was sometimes shown riding a motorcycle, have been cancelled.

"Churchill Insurance currently has no adverts with Martin Clunes on air and will be moving forward with new advertising in the New Year," the statement read.

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US stocks jump on 'fiscal cliff' hopes

US stocks have scored solid opening gains on hopes that political leaders will find a way to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts in January.

After five minutes of trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 108.12 points, or 0.86 per cent, at 12,696.43.

The S&P 500-stock index advanced 16.34 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 1,376.22.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite leaped 33.96 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 2,887.09.

"Markets are looking to extend Friday's gains on hopes that progress will be made surrounding the fiscal cliff," said Wells Fargo Advisors analysts.

"Investors are encouraged after President Obama said on his trip to South-East Asia that he believes a budget deal will be reached."

On Friday, stocks rebounded slightly following a rough week as the White House opened talks with congressional leaders on the cliff and the deficit, with politicians on both sides signalling readiness to compromise.

The Dow rose 0.37 per cent and the S&P 500 added 0.48 per cent.

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Intel to seek new CEO, Otellini to retire

COMPUTER chip giant Intel Corp has announced that chief executive Paul Otellini will retire in May, and that a search for a new CEO is under way.

"The board of directors will conduct the process to choose Otellini's successor and will consider internal and external candidates for the job," said a statement from the Santa Clara, California tech giant on Monday.

"Otellini's decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career of nearly 40 years of continuous service to the company and its stockholders."

The company said that since Otellini took over as CEO in 2005, it generated cash from operations of $US107 billion ($A104 billion) and annual revenue grew from $US38.8 billion to $US54 billion.

But the world's largest chipmaker has been hit recently by a shift away from traditional PCs to mobile devices, and by a sluggish global economy.

The semiconductor maker said last month third quarter profits fell 14 per cent from the same period a year ago to $US2.97 billion on revenues of $US13.5 billion, down five per cent, and cited "a continuing tough economic environment".

Intel remains the dominant chipmaker in the PC market but has been catching up in the field of mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.

"Paul Otellini has been a very strong leader, only the fifth CEO in the company's great 45-year history, and one who has managed the company through challenging times and market transitions," said Andy Bryant, chairman of the board, in a statement announcing Otellini's plans.

"The board is grateful for his innumerable contributions to the company and his distinguished tenure as CEO over the last eight years."

Intel also said the board has approved the promotion of three senior leaders to the position of executive vice president: Renee James, head of Intel's software business; Brian Krzanich, chief operating officer and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, chief financial officer and director of corporate strategy.

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Women, kids crushed in deadly stampede

Indian Hindu devotees cross a bamboo bridge as they gather to pay homage to the setting sun during Chhat Puja on the banks of the Ganges River in Patna. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

AT LEAST 18 people have been killed and more than a dozen injured following the collapse of a bridge which triggered a stampede during a Hindu festival in the eastern Indian city of Patna, officials said.

"Bodies of the 18 people killed in the stampede have been sent to the hospital for autopsies," Jayant Kant, a police superintendent in Patna said.

Mr Kant said the stampede occurred when a makeshift bridge erected to help people reach the Ganges river gave way under the weight of devotees rushing to offer prayers to the setting sun as part of an annual Hindu religious ritual.

Most of the casualties are thought to be the result of the stampede and not the collapse of the low-slung bamboo-and-rope bridge designed to help worshippers cross rough terrain.

"Ten women and eight children are among those killed," the police officer said, adding the toll was likely to go up as several other Hindu devotees were reported missing at the site.

Television stations showed ambulances with sirens wailing ferry worshippers to various city hospitals, while Sanjay Kumar Singh, a city administrator, said power darkness at the site made rescue efforts more difficult.

"When the bridge collapsed, power cables strung on it snapped and lights went off and in the darkness people scrambled which triggered the stampede," Mr Singh said.

Patna is capital of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, where the annual Chhath festival dedicated to the Hindu Sun God is popular.

An estimated 400,000 Hindu devotees thronged upto 65 riverside locations specially prepared by state authorities to cater to worshippers travelling to the Ganges, which is revered by Hindus as holy.

Around 50,000 people were present at Adalat Ganj, one of the worship locations, when the makeshift bridge collapsed, officials said.

The festival is celebrated across India and the number of devotees are likely to swell at dawn today when worshippers will throng rivers to offer prayers to the rising sun.

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US existing home sales jump

US existing home sales picked up in October despite the market in the northeast being shut down in the last days of the month by Hurricane Sandy, a realtors group says.

Existing home sales rose 2.1 per cent over September, hitting an annual pace of 4.79 million units, pulled up by a 4.4 per cent rise in the West, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales in the South gained 2.1 per cent, and the Midwest 1.8 per cent, while the Northeast saw a 1.7 per cent decline, in part due to the superstorm which wreaked havoc on the densely populated eastern New York-New Jersey region in the final days of the month.

Year-on-year sales nationally were up 10.9 per cent from a year earlier, and the national median price, $US178,600 ($A173,290), was 11.1 per cent higher.

"Home sales continue to trend up and most October transactions were completed by the time the storm hit, but the growing demand with limited inventory is pressuring home prices in much of the country," said NAR economist Lawrence Yun.

"We expect an impact on northeastern home sales in the coming months from a pause and delays in storm-impacted regions."

Around one-quarter of all sales were "distressed" sales: homes forced on the market by lender foreclosures and short sales, reflecting the still deep impact of the crash of the housing market six years ago, according to NAR.

The inventory of homes available for sale continued to tighten. Inventory dropped to a 5.4-month supply, at current sales rates, to its lowest level since February 2006, and down from 7.6 months of supply a year ago.

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Popular William tops royal poll

PRINCE William has topped a royal popularity poll in Britain, firing speculation that he should take the throne ahead of his father Charles.

William, 30, was mentioned by 62 per cent of respondents asked to name their favourite Windsor family members in a survey conducted by King's College London/Ipsos MORI, and published by the Evening Standard newspaper on Monday.

It is the highest approval rating the well-respected questionnaire has produced for a royal since 1984, with RAF rescue helicopter pilot William out-polling even the Queen, 86.

Charles, 64, who has just completed an official tour of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand with wife Camilla, 65, was mentioned by 21 per cent of respondents, compared to 50 per cent in 1984 and 38 per cent in 2001.

"A lot of people would like the idea of William succeeding straight away. He is young and good looking and popular," Ipsos MORI director and professor of public opinion at King's College, Roger Mortimer, told the Evening Standard.

"I think young people can see something of themselves in William and (wife) Kate. They can see the monarchy looking more modern than it did beforehand."

While William, the Queen and Prince Harry round out the top-three places in the latest survey, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is at number four, beating many of her in-laws after just 19 months in the family.

Pollsters were also asked of their general support for the monarchy, with 60 per cent believing the firm will be in place in 50 years, and 42 per cent confident it will survive the next century.

"After a rocky period in the 1990s, public support for the monarchy and the Queen now looks as strong as it has been for many years," Prof Mortimer said.

The survey interviewed 1014 adults between November 10 and November 13.

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UK PM calls for wartime spirit on economy

BRITAIN must ruthlessly pursue growth to secure its economic recovery, Prime Minister David Cameron has told business leaders, invoking the wartime spirit that helped the nation defeat Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

The prime minister told the annual meeting of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that he has instructed all departments in the civil service to make economic growth a central aim.

Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government has already made big steps toward cutting costs and eliminating waste to slash the deficit and provide a stable business environment, he said.

"I want every department in Whitehall to be a growth department. I've insisted that every permanent secretary has growth as a key objective," Cameron told CBI delegates on Monday.

"And I want every minister and every official to understand that the dangers are not just in what you do, but what you don't do - that the costs of delay are dealt in businesses going bust, jobs being lost, livelihoods being destroyed."

Britain escaped from recession in the third quarter but its outlook remains clouded by the impact of the ongoing eurozone debt crisis, harsh state austerity measures and inflationary pressures.

The Bank of England warned last week that the economy would shrink again in the fourth quarter in the absence of temporary factors like the London Olympic Games.

Cameron also outlined plans to cut through red tape and change the risk-averse culture of many civil servants.

"When this country was at war in the 1940s, Whitehall (Britain's civil service) underwent a revolution.

"Normal rules were circumvented. Convention was thrown out. As one historian put it, everything was thrown at the overriding purpose of beating Hitler.

"Well, this country is in the economic equivalent of war today - and we need the same spirit."

The economy grew by an impressive 1.0 per cent in the three months to September, escaping from the longest double dip recession since the 1950s - and answering the prayers of many business leaders, according to the CBI.

"Reduced inflation and stable unemployment ... and most importantly, the first signs of growth that quite frankly we prayed for, (are) just starting to inch through," added CBI president Roger Carr in his opening address.

"So it's no surprise that the mood from our members is: it's tough, but could be worse."

The CBI - the country's biggest employers' organisation - is a powerful business lobby in Britain and represents more than 240,000 companies or about one third of the private sector.

This year, the group is calling for the government to target education as its number one priority as part of Britain's long-term growth strategy.

And it appealed to finance minister George Osborne to continue his austerity policies.

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US stocks rise on China trade data

US stocks have opened with modest gains after last week's slump, lifted by encouraging China trade data that signalled renewed momentum in the economy and solid earnings from a key US homebuilder.

In the first five minutes of trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13.82 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 12,829.21.

The broad-market S&P 500 advanced 3.26 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,383.11.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 12.94 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 2,917.81.

"The support for stocks comes as China reported stronger than expected exports and US homebuilder DR Horton Inc posted better-than-expected earnings," Charles Schwab & Co analyst said.

China's export growth accelerated in October for the second straight month, the government said on Saturday, adding to evidence the world's second-largest economy is bouncing back from a slowdown.

There were no major economic data scheduled for release and the bond market was closed in observance of Veterans Day.

On Friday, US stocks eked out small gains, capping a week of solid losses amid fears about the nation's looming "fiscal cliff", automatic spending cuts and expiring tax breaks that will come at year-end unless avoided.

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Emirates' first-half profit up 104%

DUBAI'S Emirates airline says it posted a 104 per cent surge in net profits in the first six months of the current financial year thanks to rising passenger numbers.

"In the first half of the 2012-13 fiscal year, Emirates net profit is 1.7 billion dirhams ($A448 million), up 104 per cent from 836 million dirhams," the carrier said in a statement.

The announcement came hours after an engine problem forced an Emirates A380 superjumbo to turn back to Sydney shortly after taking off.

The government-owned airline said it had carried 18.7 million passengers since April 1, up 15.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Its volume of cargo was up by more than 16 per cent, the airline said, pointing out that it was a "significant growth against the market trend".

Emirates posted revenues of 35.42 billion dirhams, up 17.3 per cent from the corresponding period last year.

The group as a whole, which includes Dnata travel services, generated revenues amounting to 38.245 billion dirhams, with net profits hitting 2.1 billion dirhams.

"The Emirates Group half-year performance is the result of hard work and our drive to stay on course and continue to grow despite the precarious marketplace," said chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum.

"We have continued to invest in the infrastructure of both Emirates and Dnata and it continues to pay off."

Meanwhile, the pilot of the Dubai-bound Emirates plane carrying 380 passengers decided to turn back shortly after take-off on Sunday night due to an engine problem as passengers reported a bright orange flash and loud bang.

An Emirates spokesman told AFP the decision was a "precaution" and "there were no flames or smoke".

Emirates is the largest single customer of Airbus' A380 and Boeing's 777 widebody aircraft.

Considered the world's fastest growing carrier, it has a fleet of 183 aircraft serving 126 destinations in 74 countries.

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China to reveal new leaders on Thursday

CHINA'S Communist Party will on Thursday unveil the new set of top leaders who will take over the reins of the country for the next decade, one day after their week-long congress ends, the party says.

The widely expected timing was confirmed by staff organising press coverage of the Communist Party congress under way in Beijing, which is held every five years to shuffle the top leadership of the party.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who has been in power 10 years, is widely expected to hand over the reins of the ruling party to his vice-president, Xi Jinping, a tradition that takes place a day after the close of the congress.

The leadership - arrived at via back-room political horse-trading among party factions - is revealed to the nation by marching out in a line before cameras at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Party staff told AFP the new Politburo Standing Committee - the top-level body now consisting of nine members that rules China - would "meet the press" on Thursday. The party had thus far not officially confirmed the timing.

Xi is widely expected to march out in first position on the committee, indicating he is the new party leader, and will then formally be named the country's president next March by the rubber-stamp parliament.

Xi's fellow Standing Committee member, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, is also strongly expected to move up in the committee's pecking order and be put on track to be named premier in March, replacing incumbent Wen Jiabao.

They would take over at a challenging time when China's powerhouse economy is suffering a rare slowdown and amid growing demands for change from the country's vocal netizens.

If things go according to tradition, Xi and Li would be expected to be in office for 10 years. However, the Standing Committee is typically tweaked each five years with a shuffling of lower-ranking members.

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Italian prosecutor charges S&P, Fitch

AN Italian prosecutor has filed charges of market manipulation against Standard & Poor's and Fitch ratings agencies over downgrades of Italy's credit rating that helped fuel the euro debt crisis.

Following a two-year investigation, prosecutor Michele Ruggiero requested charges against seven people at two of the world's top three ratings agencies.

Five of the accused worked at S&P's, while the other two worked at Fitch at the time.

The agencies "intentionally provided financial markets with biased and distorted information", the prosecutor's office said in a statement on Monday.

It is a landmark case since rating agencies came under concentrated attack, particularly from governments as the eurozone crises intensified.

Those charged are accused of setting out to "destabilise Italy's image, prestige and credit confidence on the financial markets, alter the value of Italian bonds by depreciating them (and) weaken the euro", the statement said.

Among those charged are Deven Sharma, the head of S&P's from 2007 to 2011, and the operational director for Fitch, David Riley.

The charges have to be confirmed by a judge for any trial to go ahead - a process that could take months under the Italian judicial system.

The ratings agencies have co-operated with the inquiry but insist their economic evaluations were independent and based on objective factors.

"These claims are entirely baseless and without any merit as our role is to publish independent opinions about creditworthiness according to our public and transparent methodologies," S&P's said in a statement.

"We will continue to perform our role without fear or favour," it said.

The probe began in 2010 after an Italian consumer group lodged a complaint over a sovereign downgrade by Moody's, the other top world rating agency, which has since been cleared by investigators and is no longer part of the case.

Investigators have since focused on more recent rating actions, particularly last year, when market turmoil pushed Italy to the brink of bankruptcy.

The case is being seen as one of the first of its kind on sovereign ratings.

Standard & Poor's earlier this month lost a landmark case in Australia in the first trial of its kind over top-flight ratings given to financial products that collapsed in the build-up to the 2008 global economic crisis.

Dozens of cases have been brought around the world against rating agencies - which were widely criticised for overly optimistic assessments of financial products that turned out to be toxic - but few trials have gone ahead.

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Russian growth slows to 2.9%

RUSSIA'S growth slowed to 2.9 per cent in the third quarter this year, the statistics office says, in a sign its economic activity is being hit by the global economic crisis.

The Russian economy, hugely reliant on oil and gas exports, enjoyed relatively buoyant growth of 4.9 per cent and four per cent respectively in the first two quarters this year.

Growth in the third quarter last year was five per cent. The figure of 2.9 per cent growth for the third quarter 2012 from the same period last year is a preliminary assessment that may be revised later.

The assessment "indicates that the pace of economic activity has moderated," said Ivan Tchakarov, chief economist at Renaissance Capital in Moscow, in a note to clients.

"The slowdown was driven, on the demand side, by softening consumer spending and, on the supply side, by weaker manufacturing activity and a poor agricultural harvest."

He forecast that the economy will endure a "soft patch" until the first quarter of next year due to the poor global economic environment but then see brisker growth from the second quarter.

Julia Tsepliaeva of BNP Paribas said in a note to clients that although the high oil price was favourable for Russia, its economic slowdown is likely to continue.

"In the long run, Russia's ability to maintain economic growth rates of 3-5 per cent will depend on its willingness to promote structural reforms and suppress corruption," she said.

Russia, which is able to run a relatively stable budget, has so far avoided the economic troubles that have befallen the euro zone and is chiefly concerned that the woes of a key trading partner will impact its economy.

"The government is clearly intent on pursuing a stable domestic policy, using budget spending to keep the economy growing at approximately 3.5 per cent annually," said economists at state-owned Sberbank who forecast 3.8 per cent growth for 2012.

Yet many commentators are worried that the failure of President Vladimir Putin to embrace wholehearted reform and wean the economy off its petrodollar dependence could consign Russia to years of mediocre growth in the future.

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