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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