IT tech convicted in 'Vatileaks'

A VATICAN court has convicted a Holy See computer technician of helping the former papal butler in the theft of confidential papal documents and given him a two-month suspended sentence.

Claudio Sciarpelletti, an Italian who is a computer program analyst in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, had testified earlier that he had played no role in helping to spirit out confidential documents in a scandal involving alleged corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy.

Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted last month in a separate trial for the theft of the documents and is serving a 18-month prison sentence in Vatican City.

Top Vatican security officials, including the head of Pope Benedict XVI's bodyguards, as well as his convicted former butler were the witness list in the latest trial in the leak of confidential papal correspondence.

The witnesses had been called to testify earlier in the week in a Holy See courtroom, but the judge told them to come back Saturday to give more preparation time for the defence.

The stolen documents formed the basis of an Italian journalist's book about alleged corruption at the Vatican.

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Prince Charles thanks 'kind' Aussies

Prince Charles thanked Australians for being "wonderfully kind", as he and wife Camilla wrapped up a six-day tour which has taken them from the Outback to Bondi Beach.

Hundreds of people came to see the royal couple at their final destination in Canberra, with one woman offering the prince a packet of chocolate Tim Tams -which he had said he hoped someone would allow Camilla to try.

"You're very kind," Charles told Alyson Richards, 25, as she handed over the biscuits and wished him a happy birthday for next week.

At a lunch at Government House, Charles said it had been a joy to visit Australia, where the couple had met hundreds of community volunteers, as well as been able to see the local wildlife, including koalas and kangaroos, up close.

"When we finally get back, after a very, very, long journey, if I'm still reasonably compos mentis by then and haven't completely lost my marbles to jet lag, I will report back to Her Majesty your wonderfully kind thoughts and expressions after our visit," he said.

He said while the tour had not allowed them to visit as many places as they would have liked, it enabled them to "witness so many of the changes that have happened here since I was here last".

"And to witness... the extraordinary vibrancy of the multicultural society which Australia is and which of course has stood Australia in such remarkable stead in terms of the richness and diversity which you can see only too well."

Earlier, Charles watched as one of the terraces of Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin was named after the Queen, following a tradition of naming the terraces after Australia's monarchs since the country became a federal state in 1901.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the renaming would "remind future generations that for more than half of our journey as a united nation, Elizabeth the Second has been our monarch."

The royal couple arrived in New Zealand late onSaturday on the last leg of their tour marking the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and were met at a military air base in Auckland by Prime Minister John Key.

They will formally begin their six-day visit with a traditional Maori welcome today at the Auckland War Memorial Museum where they will also commemorate Armistice Day.

They will then travel to Wellington and tour Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop to inspect costumes and props used in The Hobbit movies before moving to Christchurch, the scene of devastating earthquakes last year that claimed 185 lives.

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China plans manned space launch

CHINA is aiming to launch its next manned space mission as early as June 2013, state media reported, as the country steps up its ambitious exploration program.

The Shenzhou-10, with three crew members, is aiming for a primary launch window in June, Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the manned space programme, told China National Radio in an interview Friday.

Mr Niu, speaking on the sidelines of China's 18th Communist Party Congress that kicked off Thursday in Beijing, said officials had identified a back-up launch window for July or August.

He said one of the three astronauts would likely be a woman.

China sent its first female astronaut, Liu Yang, into space earlier this year on the Shenzhou-9 in the country's first manual space docking mission.

The docking procedure was a major milestone in the country's ambitious space program that has a goal of building a space station by the end of the decade.

In its last white paper on space, China said it was working towards landing a man on the moon, but did not specify a time-frame.

So far only the United States has achieved that feat, most recently in 1972.

Beijing has said it will also attempt to land an exploratory craft on the moon for the first time in the second half of 2013 and transmit back a survey of the lunar surface.

China sees its space program as a symbol of its rising global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

The country sent its first man into space in 2003. It completed a space walk in 2008 and an unmanned docking between a module and rocket last year.

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Orthodox patriarch visits Bethlehem

RUSSIAN Orthodox Patriarch Kirill visited the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, on the second day of his Holy Land trip.

After his visit to the Bethlehem church, built over the site where Christians believe Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable, Patriarch Kirill met with the Palestinian president at his office in the West Bank city.

A statement from the president's office cited Mr Abbas as telling Patriarch Kirill the visit was historical and bore political meaning.

"We feel it comes from the leadership of the Russian people," Mr Abbas said of the visit, saying Moscow supported peace and justice in the Middle East.

The statement also quoted Patriarch Kirill as saying the visit was special to him, and especially important "since Christ walked here."

"I'm fully confident you are committed to real peace, and your position is welcome because the people living here know the meaning of living in unrest," the Russian patriarch was quoted as saying.

The head of a community of some 150 million Orthodox believers arrived in Jerusalem on Friday for his first visit since becoming head of the powerful church in 2009, and held prayers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Over the course of his six-day trip, Patriarch Kirill will also meet Israeli President Shimon Peres and King Abdullah II of Jordan, in a new sign of his importance as a global religious figure.

Israel's foreign ministry called his trip "the most important (religious) visit (to Israel) since that of the Pope Benedict XVI" in 2009.

The 65-year-old patriarch will visit Christian holy sites in northern Israel as well as in Jordan.

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Afghan soldiers attack NATO troops

TWO Afghan soldiers attacked US-led NATO forces (ISAF) in western Afghanistan, in the latest "insider" attack in the country, injuring one foreign soldier, ISAF said.

An ISAF spokesman in Kabul said that the attack by two Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers occurred in Muqur district of Badghis province in the early hours of Saturday, which resulted in the injury of one NATO soldier and one attacker but no fatalities.

"Two ANA service members turned their weapons against ISAF forces in Badghis province. There was no fatalities, but one ISAf soldier was injured and one attacker was also wounded when ISAF troops returned fire. Both attackers were detained by ISAF and Afghan forces," the spokesman said without giving more details.

A provincial spokesman confirmed the incident but said that only one attacker, an ANA soldier who "was suffering from mental problems", was involved.

"The soldier who opened fire was suffering from mental problems, he was wounded when ISAF forces returned fire and later detained by Afghan and ISAF forces," said provincial governor spokesman Sharafudin Majidi.

Shootings by Afghan forces have taken an increasing toll on NATO troops and have seriously undermined trust between NATO forces and their Afghan allies in the fight against hardline Islamist Taliban insurgents.

In the most recent previous attack a man in Afghan police uniform opened fire on NATO-led coalition forces in southern Helmand province on October 30, killing two British soldiers.

The Afghan conflict has seen a surge in insider attacks this year, with more than 50 ISAF troops killed by their colleagues in the Afghan army and police.

There are presently around 100,000 US-led forces fighting alongside Afghan security forces against a Taliban-led insurgency that has been raging in the war-torn country since a US-led invasion toppled the hardline Islamist regime in late 2001. NATO combat forces are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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Monet painting sells for $41.5m

A WORK from Claude Monet's Water Lilies series has been sold for more than $US43 million ($41.50 million) at a New York City auction.

The 1905 work is considered among the best of a feverish series of Monet paintings depicting his garden's lily pond in Giverny, France.

The painting is from the estate of Ethel Strong Allen, widow of Wall Street executive Herbert Allen Sr. She bequeathed the Monet to a suburban boarding school, along with two Impressionist landscapes by Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley.

Christie's auction house says the three works  raised a total of nearly $US51 million school.

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Abuse royal commission not needed: Pell

AUSTRALIA'S most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, is reportedly deeply ashamed at child sex abuse perpetrated by members of the church but doesn't believe a royal commission is warranted.

The Archbishop of Sydney accepts that children were abused by priests and that the crimes were covered up by other clergy but believes the Catholic church is no worse than other organisations, News Limited reports.

"It wasn't just the Catholic church that hoped (an abusive priest) would amend their conduct and give them a home elsewhere," he told the Weekend Australian.

"Back in those days, they were entitled to think of pedophilia as simply a sin that you would repent of. They didn't realise that in the worst cases it was an addiction, a raging addiction."

The church had rid itself of "a great deal of moral cancer" after abuse claims came to light, he said.

His comments came as NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell announced a special commission to investigate allegations of child sex abuse by Catholic church clergy in the Hunter region.

The commission will be run by prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, SC, and will examine allegations made by a senior serving police officer of child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests in the Newcastle area.

It will also look into alleged cover-ups by members of the church and the police force.

The special commission has been criticised as too limited by NSW opposition parties and by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, the police officer whose public calls for a royal commission prompted the inquiry.

A separate parliamentary inquiry into clergy child abuse allegations is under way in Victoria.

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French PM makes 'friendly' Obama mistake

FRENCH President Francois Hollande's attempt to sign a note congratulating US President Barack Obama for getting re-elected wound up lost in translation - and all over Twitter.

In the great Gallic tradition of murdering the English language, Mr Hollande ended the letter to the U.S. president in his own hand, writing: "Friendly, Francois Hollande."

The mistake was a literal translation of the French "amicalement," instead of what probably should have been "kind regards."

It went viral on Twitter, overshadowing the rest of the note, which fleetingly touched on topics such as the Middle East and the economy.

According to local media, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was also weak in English. To excuse bad weather in January 2010, Sarkozy told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "Sorry for the time."

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JetBlue pilot who disrupted flight to be freed

A FEDERAL judge in Texas says a JetBlue Airways pilot who disrupted a flight by running through the plane and yelling about terrorists can go free.

The ruling in Amarillo comes months after Clayton Osbon was found not guilty by reason of insanity for his behavior on a March 27 flight from New York to Las Vegas.

Mr Osbon had been charged with interference with a flight crew.

A neuropsychologist testified at the bench trial in July that Osbon had a "brief psychotic disorder" brought on by lack of sleep. In August, Mr Osbon had another psychotic episode while in prison for a mental evaluation, which was ordered by U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson.

Judge Robinson extended the evaluation before issuing her latest ruling.

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11,000 Syrians flee in past 24 hours: UN

AT least 11,000 Syrian refugees have fled their country in a single day, pouring into Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon with children and dozens of wounds, UN officials say.

Most of the surge in refugees was due to the 9000 fleeing into Turkey, including more than 70 who were wounded, UN officials said. Jordan and Lebanon each absorbed another 1000 refugees.

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 36,000 people since an uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March last year.

Panos Moumtzis, the UN refugee agency's regional coordinator for the region, described the flood of people on Friday as "the highest that we have had in quite some time".

He said the escalation - much more than the average 2000 to 3000 Syrians fleeing daily - brings the number of Syrian refugees registered with the agency to more than 408,000.

The new arrivals bring the number of refugees in Turkey to around 120,000.

Turkish media showed video of refugees climbing through the barbed-wire fence separating the two countries. UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told The Associated Press the refugees had crossed into the Turkish border province of Sanliurfa.

"These are people fleeing fighting between the (rebel) Free Syrian Army and the government of Syria, including more than 70 wounded and two who are reported to have died," Edwards said.

A Turkish official said the Syrians were mostly escaping fighting in the town of Harem, in Syria's northern Idlib province as well as violence in the Syria town of Ras al-Ayn in the northeastern province of al-Hasaka, where the rebels had wrested control from Assad's forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorisation.

Radhouane Nouicer, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, said the Middle East nation is seeing unrelenting increases in violence, suffering, displacement and losses "and civilian Syrians continue to pay the price".

He said UN officials also worry that in recent weeks Kurds and Palestinians have become increasingly drawn into the fighting.

Earlier, state-run Anadolu Agency said a group of Syrian soldiers, including two generals and 11 colonels, had fled to Turkey with their families and were taken to a camp that shelters military defectors, including dozens of other generals.

Anadolu Agency video footage showed Syrians jumping over and climbing through the barbed-wire fence that makes up part of the 911km border, to cross into the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar.

The United Nations is warning that the number of people inside Syria needing humanitarian aid could rise sharply, from 2.5 million now to 4 million by early next year, if the civil war grinds on at its deadly pace.

John Ging, operations director for the UN humanitarian office, said the UN is also projecting that a failure to end the fighting will lead to an increase in the number of Syrians fleeing to neighbouring countries, from almost 400,000 at present to around 700,000 early next year.

Ging spoke in an AP interview ahead of Friday's Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, where between 350 and 400 representatives of governments, international organisations and aid groups heard reports on the sharply deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria.

"People need to be aware of just how desperate the situation is inside Syria for the people there, how unbearable it is, and how they are suffering and falling into ever deeper despair and humanitarian need," Ging said. "It's just getting a lot worse very rapidly for the ordinary people."

Ceylanpinar's mayor, Ismail Aslan, told the AP by telephone that the Syrian rebels on Friday took control of a security building a day after the rebels also took over the border crossing between Ceylanpinar and Ras al-Ayn. The regime forces shelled rebel positions on Friday morning but the fighting had subsided by early afternoon, he said.

Schools in Ceylanpinar were closed for a second day on Friday and residents were told not to leave homes.

Rumours that Syrian regime forces would launch air raids on Ras al-Ayn had precipitated the refugee influx, said another official in Ceylanpinar, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The refugees were being taken to nearby refugee camps or were staying with Turkish relatives, he said.

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Ambos on amber alert over staff numbers

PARAMEDICS across NSW will don yellow vests on Friday to draw attention to what they call dangerous and chronic under-staffing.

The Health Services Union (HSU) claims the state's Ambulance Service is running with 770 fewer full-time positions than necessary.

Staff numbers have remained at a standstill for a decade despite a workload increase of four per cent each year, the union says, and changes to rural rosters have left some paramedics on call for 160 hours straight.

The HSU's acting industrial manager, Tom Stevanja, said existing staffing and roster arrangements left paramedics vulnerable to fatigue and put patients at risk.

"Response times are blowing out and patients are suffering for it," Mr Stevanja said in a statement.

"We've got crews from Singleton responding to emergencies in Muswellbrook because there's no local crew available.

"One officer recently had to respond on lights and sirens 85 kilometres from Macksville to Woolgoolga. In Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra there's no cover for paramedics tied up for hours at hospitals."

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Royals kick off Sydney visit

AFTER mingling at the Melbourne Cup, enjoying an outback Queensland barbie and sampling South Australian wine, Charles and Camilla will begin the Sydney leg of their whirlwind Australian tour on Friday.

After arriving at Kingsford Smith Airport on Thursday night, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will make their first stop at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour, where they will meet Australian Defence Force personnel and their families.

From there, Charles is to attend a Campaign for Wool event at Circular Quay, before heading to Bondi for an emergency services reception hosted by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell.

The Prince will then attend a corporate social responsibility function put on by the National Rugby League and Community One, also at Bondi.

Meanwhile, Camilla will be appointed colonel-in-chief of the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police at Government House.

In the early evening, the royal couple are due to cross the harbour by barge to the Sydney Opera House for a reception with NSW Governor Marie Bashir.

The royal couple's busy day will conclude with a reception at Kirribilli House with Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

Charles and Camilla will fly out of Sydney for Canberra on Saturday morning.

The royals are on a 13-day tour of the southern hemisphere and are in Australia for six days as part of the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations.

On the tour they have already met World War II veterans of the Kokoda Campaign in Papua New Guinea, sampled an "Aussie" barbecue in Longreach, Queensland, and attended the Melbourne Cup.

On Wednesday, they enjoyed South Australian wine and cheese in Adelaide, before flying to Tasmania for a five-hour stopover on Thursday.

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Sandy cuts United October revenue by $87m

UNITED Airlines, the world's largest airline, says superstorm Sandy cut its October revenue by about $US90 million ($A87 million) as it was forced to cancel almost 5300 flights.

That's nearly an entire day's worth of United's schedule lost.

It runs about 5500 flights a day throughout the world.

United said late on Wednesday that last week's storm in the US Northeast shaved about $US35 million off its profit in October.

But the hurricane-driven storm boosted its per-passenger revenue by about one per cent. That's because some stranded travellers were moved onto other flights, allowing the airline to improve efficiency.

Delta said last week Sandy cut its October revenue by $US45 million and profit by $US20 million.

United parent United Continental Holdings Inc is based in Chicago.

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US weekly jobless claims improve

US weekly jobless claims fell modestly last week for the third straight week, showing no immediate impact from Hurricane Sandy, the Labor Department says.

New claims for unemployment insurance, a signal of the pace of layoffs, fell to 355,000 in the week to November 2 from 363,000 the prior week, despite the massive storm which shut down much of New Jersey and the New York City area for the period.

A Labor Department analyst said on Thursday the effect of the storm, which left more than 100 people dead in the US and Canada, would not show up in the data for several weeks.

The four-week moving average of claims moved higher to 370,500, still largely in the range where the data has been since the beginning of 2012.

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WikiLeaks suspect offers guilty plea

US Army Private Bradley Manning has offered to plead guilty to some of the charges of passing government information to WikiLeaks. Source: Getty Images

A US soldier accused of leaking a trove of secret files to WikiLeaks has offered to plead guilty to some but not all of the charges he faces in a pending court-martial, his defence lawyer said.

Bradley Manning, 24, "is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government," his attorney, David Coombs wrote on his blog.

"Rather, PFC (Private First Class) Manning is attempting to accept responsibility for offenses that are encapsulated within, or are a subset of, the charged offenses," he wrote.

It was up to a military court to rule whether his plea was "legally permissible," and then government prosecutors would have to decide if they would continue to pursue all the charges against Pte Manning, he said.

"PFC Manning is not submitting a plea as part of an agreement or deal with the Government," Mr Coombs added.

The defence relayed the offer to a military judge at pre-trial hearings being held at Fort Meade, Maryland on Wednesday and Thursday.

By making the offer, Pte Manning indicated he was ready to plead guilty to passing government information to WikiLeaks, though it was unclear if he would admit to passing all the files cited by prosecutors.

If the plea is deemed legal by the court, it could potentially simplify the trial, which is due to start on February 4, 2013, and possibly shield Pte Manning from being convicted on more serious federal offenses related to computer fraud and the Espionage Act.

Pte Manning had the option of being tried by a military jury but he informed the court he preferred to be tried by a judge only, according to Mr Coombs.

Arrested in May 2010 while serving as an army intelligence analyst near Baghdad, Iraq, Pte Manning is charged with leaking classified military intelligence files on Iraq and Afghanistan and about 260,000 cables from the US State Department.

The publication of the sensitive files by the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website, founded by Australian Julian Assange, caused huge embarrassment to Washington and angered US allies.
 

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World leaders hail Obama victory

WORLD leaders have hailed President Barack Obama's sweeping re-election.

Congratulations poured in from across the world, including fellow UN Security Council members Britain, China, France and Russia as well as its Middle East ally Israel and Obama's ancestral home in Kenya.

The Taliban, however, seized on Obama's win to lash out against US military policy in Afghanistan, and Iran's reaction was tepid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose relations with Washington have often been frosty, congratulated Obama on his victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

"We hope that the positive beginnings that have taken hold in Russian-US relations on the world arena will grow in the interests of international security and stability," Russian news agencies quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Moscow was ready to "go as far as the US administration is willing to go," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who himself is handing over power at a Communist Party congress starting this week, noted "positive progress" in Sino-US relations over the past four years despite tensions over issues such as trade and territorial disputes involving US allies.

China will "look to the future and make continuous efforts for fresh and greater progress in the building of the China-US cooperative partnership," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai congratulated Obama and said he hoped his win would lead to "further-expanded" relations, though reaction on the streets of the war-torn nation was muted and Taliban insurgents told Obama he should withdraw forces immediately, ahead of schedule.

"Obama must by now know that they have lost the war in Afghanistan," a Taliban spokesman said. "They should leave our sacred land and focus on their own country instead."

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he was confident relations with the United States would "continue to prosper".

Pakistan is a key ally in the US "war on terror" but relations over the past two years have grown fraught, especially after last year's US killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and botched air strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Obama has at times appeared tense, also joined the well wishers.

"I will continue to work with President Obama to ensure the vital security interests of Israel and the United States," said Netanyahu, who had appeared to throw his support behind Romney during the election campaign.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged the US leader to pursue peace efforts, while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he hoped Obama's re-election would mean the creation of a Palestinian state in the next four years.

Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since September 2010.

Iran, facing Western pressure particularly from the US and arch foe Israel over its nuclear drive, said Obama's win would not lead to a normalisation of ties, but said the possibility of negotiations was "not taboo".

"Relations with the United States are not simple, especially after all the pressure and US crimes committed against the Iranian people," Fars news agency quoted judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani as saying.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was looking forward to working again with his "friend" Obama on several fronts, including helping the world economy and finding a solution for the escalating Syria conflict.

"There are so many things that we need to do: We need to kickstart the world economy and I want to see an EU-US trade deal," Cameron said.

United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon urged Obama to act quickly on ending the war in Syria and reviving the Middle East peace process, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she looked forward to continuing cooperation "so both our countries can continue to stand side-by-side to contend with the important foreign policy and economic challenges that we face as friends and allies".

Merkel's message was echoed by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and French President Francois Hollande.

The Dalai Lama wrote to Obama, saying the president had worked hard "to to live up to that great hope and trust placed in you by the American public."

Through a Washington envoy, Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped God would guide Obama to deal with "his very serious responsibilities to his country and to the international community".

South African President Jacob Zuma urged the US to continue playing a positive role in Africa, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation said the US was a vital partner in Africa's efforts to overcome poverty and inequality.

Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi also hailed the win, saying he hoped it would strengthen the "friendship between the two countries".

In Muslim majority Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Obama to continue to foster understanding and respect between the United States and Muslims worldwide.

And Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the bonds between Turkey and the United States were strengthened during Obama's first term.

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23 people saved, 50 missing off Bangladesh

FISHING boats have helped rescue 23 people after a boat crowded with illegal migrants capsized off Bangladesh's coast, but about 50 people are missing.

About 70 illegal migrants, mostly Rohingya Muslims, were reportedly travelling on the boat to Malaysia when it sank in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday.

Border commander Zahid Hossain said no bodies had been recovered so far, but quoted survivors as saying they saw some bodies after the boat sank off Bangladesh's Teknaf coast, 320 kilometres south of Dhaka.

Survivors said they were travelling to Malaysia to look for jobs, coast guard official Leiutenant Badruddoza said.

The officials said other fishing boats rescued many of the survivors.

In recent years, poor young people have made dangerous attempts to go abroad for work, often through unscrupulous human traffickers, with local reports saying stateless Rohingya people living in Bangladesh often attempt the risky trips.

Another boat carrying more than 100 people sank in the Bay of Bengal last month, local media reported. Authorities have not confirmed that sinking, but police launched an investigation after several people filed complaints saying they survived the accident on the trip, organised by a gang of people traffickers.

More than 25,000 Rohingya people live in two official camps run jointly by the government and the United Nations in Cox's Bazar. But hundreds of thousands of others live outside the camps after crossing the border from Burma in recent years for economic reasons or because of alleged persecution.

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Obama wins despite lower turnout

A DROP in US voter turnout failed to keep President Barack Obama from winning a second term.

Preliminary figures suggest fewer people voted this year than four years ago, when voters shattered turnout records as they elected Obama as the country's first black president.

"This is one of those rare elections in which turnout in every state in the nation went down," said Curtis Gans, the director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate.

Still, the full picture may not be known for weeks, because much of the counting takes place after election day.

With 97 per cent of precincts reporting, The Associated Press' figures showed more than 118 million people had voted in the White House race, but that number will go up as more votes are counted. In 2008, 131 million people voted, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The biggest plunge by far, according to the American University analysis, came in East Coast states still reeling from last week's superstorm Sandy, which wiped out power for millions and disrupted usual voting routines. Fifteen per cent fewer voters cast ballots in New York this year than in 2008. In New Jersey, it was almost 12 per cent. The gap in New Jersey could narrow in the coming days because elections officials have given displaced residents in some areas until Friday to cast special email ballots.

Several factors could have contributed to waning voter enthusiasm, Gans said. The 2012 race was one of the nastiest in recent memory, leaving many voters feeling turned off. With Democrats weary from a difficult four years and Republicans splintered by a divisive primary, neither party was particularly enthused about their own candidate. Stricter voting restrictions in many states may also have kept some voters away from the polls.

Both Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made voter turnout a top priority in the waning days of an intensely close race. For months leading up to election day, both candidates were obsessed with a tiny sliver of undecided voters.

It may be that those who were still undecided on Tuesday decided not to show up, said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

One bright spot in this year's voting was the number of early and mail-in ballots cast. Before polls opened on election day, more than 32 million people had voted, either by mail or in person, in 34 states and the District of Columbia. In a number of states, early voting appeared to far exceed totals from 2008.

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Unemployment expected to rise

OFFICIAL data to be released on Thursday is expected to show a rise in unemployment as the mining boom wanes and the manufacturing and retail sectors struggle.

An AAP survey of 16 economists shows that the median unemployment rate is expected to rise to 5.5 per cent for October, while total employment numbers are expected to grow by 5,000 when Australian Bureau of Statistics figures are released on Thursday.

The ABS reported last month that the unemployment rate for September rose by a larger than expected rate to 5.4 per cent, from 5.1 per cent in August, despite a rise of 14,500 in total employment.

The AAP survey on Tuesday found that the participation rate - the number of people employed or looking for work - is expected to remain at 65.2 per cent for October.

AMP senior economist Bob Cuneen said the unemployment rate would continue to rise as growth in the mining sector slowed, along with weakness in other parts of the economy.

"There might be some marginal job gains for the month - we've pencilled in 5,000," he said.

"But we have the weight of several recent job loss announcements, plus the signs that the mining boom is starting to peak, and the continuing struggle in the non-mining economy, in terms of the retail spending story and manufacturing.

National Australia Bank senior economist David de Garis said high-profile job losses in the mining sector suggested a slowdown in employment growth could be felt sooner rather than later.

"We know there have been some areas where resource companies have been closing down either unprofitable or high-cost operations," he said.

"It could take a while for weaker sectors such as manufacturing, construction and retail to improve."

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Granny Obama celebrates in Kenya

WAVING her walking cane and smiling broadly, the step-grandmother of Barack Obama has celebrated along with her fellow villagers.

Kogelo, a tiny town where children play soccer in bare feet, was the home of Obama's father, and claims several relatives of the president among its population. The family matriarch is Sarah Obama, who was married to the president's late grandfather.

"Take the great job that people have given to you and lead them well," Sarah Obama advised her relative by marriage after his victory. "They have shown immense love to have voted for you."

Residents hoisted branches of green leaves, red plastic chairs and even bicycles into the air to celebrate Obama's win.

"The community is happy. The community is waking up from their sleep to come and celebrate," said Kennedy Rajula, the president's cousin.

Sarah Obama is the second wife of Obama's paternal grandfather. Obama referred to her as Granny in his memoir, Dreams from My Father, and described meeting her during his 1988 trip to his father's homeland and their awkwardness as they struggled to communicate.

Kenya takes great pride in its association with Obama, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga told The Associated Press the election victory was a great day for the US and Kenya.

"Obama's victory has proved that it was not a fluke the first time round, that the American society has changed, that the people of America have now, basically living the American dream of a people who are united by race, by religion, by ethnicity and so on," Odinga said. "People are prepared to work together to build their country."

Meanwhile, in Moneygall, Ireland, the Guinness flowed as the results of the president's re-election dawned on the village.

In May 2011, Obama visited Moneygall, a small village in County Offaly in central Ireland, after an amateur genealogist traced the president's maternal ancestors back to the area.

On Tuesday night, some residents gathered in Ollie Hayes' pub - where Obama sampled a glass of Guinness during his whirlwind visit - hopeful that the man who brought international attention to the sleepy village would be returned to the White House.

The pub was busy on Wednesday morning as locals and tourists popped in to sample the atmosphere in the aftermath of Obama's victory.

The president's great-great-great grandfather was a shoemaker in the village in the 19th century.

Jim Ryan, a native of Tipperary who immigrated to Perth four years ago, was back in Ireland to visit his parents. They suggested a day trip to Moneygall.

"They wanted to come up and see if there's any craic (fun) happening given the Obama connection. They weren't wrong: it's not even midday yet and there's loads (of people) around," he said.

Inside the Obama Cafe, established after the president's visit, owner Paul Costello was busy serving customers.

Outside a handwritten sign says "election specials", underneath American flags blowing under a grey Irish sky.

Tea and coffee was on the house to celebrate the success of Obama.

"This is great news for the village," Costello said. "For us, it'll allow us to establish our business knowing he'll be in power for four more years."

For many residents, the big question on Wednesday morning was whether the president would return to Moneygall.

"I tell you something, if he comes back, he can have anything on the menu. I won't even charge him," Costello joked.

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Sleepless night for Obama's ancestral home

PEOPLE in Barack Obama's ancestral home are preparing for a sleepless night as they watch the US elections.

Reporters have descended on the small village in western Kenya, nestled in the hills about 60 kilometres from the blue waters of Lake Victoria.

Draped over the road that connects the village to Kisumu, the main town of the region, a banner offers tickets for an all-night screening of the election.

"Watch the American presidential election 2012 on big screen" the advert reads, and, despite even the cheapest ticket costing some $US12 ($A11.63) - about a week's wages for a casual labourer - that has not dampened enthusiasm.

"I'm going to watch the election all night long... it's expensive but I'll manage," said Mary Manyala Ohito, a health worker.

In the courtyard of the nearby primary school - renamed after Obama following a visit in 2006 when he was a senator - a giant screen will also be set up, with free access for the local residents.

Sarah Obama - 90 this year, and the third wife of the paternal grandfather of Barack Obama - still lives in Kogelo. While the president shares no blood with Mama Sarah, he has said he regards her as his grandmother.

Mama Sarah ventured outside her house for a few minutes to pray for the reelection of her grandson.

"I pray for him, for God to help him," she said during an improvised press conference at her garden.

"It is a tough race so I have prayed for him. If this is his turn (to win again), God will let him triumph," she added in her native Dholuo language.

Another family member speaks of the family's expectations on the outcome of the vote.

"We'll be staying together with the family watching it together until the result is announced," said Said Hussein Obama, an uncle of the president. "We expect he's going to win."

Obama has raised the profile of the village.

"He has put Kogelo on the world map," said the uncle.

Some are a little disappointed not to have seen the president since his election, with Ohito wistfully saying she hopes "he will come".

During his four years in office, Obama has not visited Kenya.

"Maybe if he's re-elected he will tour Africa," his uncle says. "I don't say he is going to come to Kogelo, but Kenya will be one of those countries he's going to visit."

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Mammoth skeleton found near Paris

A NEAR-COMPLETE skeleton of a mammoth which lived between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago has been found near Paris, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research said on Tuesday.

The remains were discovered at Changis-sur-Marne, northeast of Paris. They included a femur, a complete pelvis, jawbones and four connected vertebrae.

The mammoth, named "Helmut" by the team that found it, is estimated to have been between 20 and 30 years old.

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Instagram expands to the web

INSTAGRAM, the photo-sharing app that was created for mobile phones, is expanding to the web.

The service will launch Instagram profiles on the web over the next few days. Previously, users' profiles existed only on Instagram's mobile applications accessed on the iPhone or Android devices.

Now, users will have a website with a profile photo, bio and a selection of the snapshots they've recently shared on Instagram.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, made its announcement in a blog post on Monday.

The layout of the web profiles is reminiscent of Facebook timelines, except with little text and no ads. Users will have a large cover image that's a collage of their old Instagram shots. Their profile photo is on the right side and their snapshots cascade down the page.

Facebook has insisted since it bought Instagram this year that it will keep it running as a separate service. That still appears to be the case. The Instagram web pages don't link to Facebook and don't ask users to log in using their Facebook accounts.

Instagram's privacy settings are like Twitter's. Users can either choose to be fully public, so that anyone can see and comment on their photos, or private, such that photos can be seen only to pre-approved followers. Unlike with Facebook's complex, granular privacy controls, there is nothing in between.

Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, agreed to buy Instagram in a deal valued at $US1 billion ($A969.51 million) in April, before its May initial public offering of stock.

Upon closing on August 31, the deal was worth $US715.3 million because of Facebook's fallen stock price.

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Gaza police catch crocodile after 2 years

IT took an internet search, shark nets and two weeks of floating in a sewage pond, but Gaza policemen have finally captured a crocodile that was terrifying residents.

The 1.75-metre crocodile fled his zoo enclosure two years ago and crawled about a kilometre to a large sewage pit near the northern Gaza Strip town of Umm al-Naser, said Lieutenant Colonel Samih al-Sultan, who led the hunt.

"He had a lot of spirit in him. He wanted to be free," al-Sultan said, watching the crocodile in its new home in a pond with four other crocodiles in a zoo under construction in nearby Beit Lahiya.

"We hope he lives a good life here with his wives," he said on Tuesday.

Residents said they didn't leave their houses in the evenings, fearing the scary reptile they say ate their ducks and goats.

"We were afraid he would eat us," said farmer Hassan Mohammed of Umm al-Nasser.

Wastewater workers discovered the crocodile in the pit about two months ago, al-Sultan said.

Lacking experience in crocodile hunting, he said he went to the internet to see how to catch the reluctant reptile. Fishing nets were recommended.

So a team of six policemen and fishermen sat in a boat in the sewage pit for eight hours a day for two weeks, trying to catch the crocodile with the nets.

After several failed attempts, they drained the pond, leaving the croc with nowhere to hide. Then they used tougher shark nets to snare him.

Al-Sultan said he grew to like and respect the reptile. He named him "sakher," Arabic for "rock," in praise of his stubborn attempt to remain free.

The crocodile was brought drugged into blockaded Gaza through a smuggling tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border four years ago, said zoo worker Emad al-Qanoua. It wasn't clear how it managed to escape from the zoo in the first place.

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Thousands mourn N Ireland prison guard

THOUSANDS of mourners have lined the main street of a central Northern Ireland town to bid farewell to a prison officer slain by Irish Republican Army militants, the first killing of a guard in nearly two decades.

David Black, 52, was shot several times from a passing car as he drove to work at Northern Ireland's main prison. His car went off the road and landed in a ravine.

No group claimed responsibility, but police and politicians have pinned it to an IRA splinter group based in the nearby town of Lurgan. That faction has been blamed for dozens of shootings and bombings since the 2007 formation of Northern Ireland's unity government - the central achievement of a two-decade peace process.

Although that coalition of British Protestants and Irish Catholics has thrived, Northern Ireland at grass-roots level remains a bitterly divided land.

Black's family asked politicians from the major Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein, to stay away from Tuesday's Protestant service. Sinn Fein for decades was the public face of the Provisional IRA, the major anti-British paramilitary group that killed nearly 1800 people, many of them from the province's Protestant majority, before renouncing violence and disarming in 2005.

An honour guard of prison officers in dark-blue uniforms carried Black's coffin down the broad main street of Cookstown. Family members then carried it into a small Presbyterian church, accompanied by a bagpiper's lament. The casket was covered in a Union Jack flag and topped by Black's service cap and a single white rose.

Inside, his teenage children paid tribute to their father. His 17-year-old daughter Kyra offered a tearful poem, his 21-year-old son Kyle a personal tribute - and a message to his killers.

"They can take Daddy from us. They can deprive Mummy of a loving husband," Kyle Black said, "but they can never take away the love that we have in our hearts and the memories that we will all cherish." He said his father was honest, hard-working and devoted to his family, "the characteristics of the perfect daddy."

For 30 years Black worked as a guard in Northern Ireland prisons, keeping tabs on some of the world's most notorious gunmen and bombers. It was a much more dangerous job to have when outside the prison walls, because the Provisional IRA made off-duty guards a high-priority target, killing more than two dozen, often in front of their families.

No guard had been killed since 1993, the year Northern Ireland's peace process started in earnest with secret talks involving Sinn Fein.

Several small IRA splinter groups seek to maintain the Provisionals' campaign with sporadic attacks, though they rarely succeed, last killing in April 2011 when a booby-trap bomb hidden under a car blew up a policeman in his driveway.

The British and Irish governments have vowed to hunt down Black's killers. But three suspected IRA militants arrested on Friday - two in Lurgan, one across the border in the Republic of Ireland - were released without charge.

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Apple sells 3 million iPads in new launch

APPLE says it has sold three million tablet computers in the three days since the launch of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad.

The iPad mini and the new fourth-generation iPad were launched on Friday in 34 countries.

The tech giant said demand for the iPad mini "exceeded the initial supply", meaning some orders will be delayed until later this month.

Apple did not break down precise sales of the mini - the 20cm tablet which joins several other small-format tablets - and the new iPad, which has a 25cm screen.

"Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, in a statement.

"We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand."

The iPad mini is 31 grams lighter than Apple's third-generation iPad. It is 7.2mm thick, 23 per cent thinner than the original iPad.

The iPad mini with Wi-Fi connectivity and 16 gigabytes of memory costs $US329, the 32GB model sells for $US429 and the 64GB version for $US529. It is more expensive than rivals from Google, Amazon and other makers.

Apple's senior vice-president for marketing, Phil Schiller, helped unveil the iPad mini, insisting that it was an entirely new design and not "just a shrunken down iPad".

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Director apologises to Downton Abbey star

BRITISH theatre director Peter Hall has apologised for disrupting a star of Downton Abbey during the opening night of a West End stage show.

Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith Crawley in the hit costume drama, was performing the final speech of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya when Hall began speaking loudly from the auditorium.

Audience members heard the 81-year-old director repeatedly saying "it's not working" while Carmichael spoke.

On Monday, Hall insisted he had not been heckling, merely "briefly disoriented" after waking from a brief doze.

Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said he was "mortified" that he had disrupted Friday's performance.

He said his remarks "were not in any way related to Uncle Vanya which I think is a very fine production with a marvellous company of actors".

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Gout medicine may halve heart attack risk

A MEDICATION commonly used to treat gout has been found by a Perth-based study to reduce the chance of a heart attack in some patients by up to 50 per cent.

Doctors from Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital will present their findings to the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference on Tuesday (Australian time), after a study of more than 500 coronary patients over several years.

The anti-inflammatory drug Colchicine has been used for years to reduce the swelling symptoms related to gout, the painful inflammatory arthritis often brought on by excessive food and alcohol.

But advancements in thinking around coronary disease, and the fact blocked arteries might become fatal because cholesterol cells become inflamed, prompted Dr Peter Thompson and his colleagues to take an "educated guess" about the potential of Colchicine.

"We have done a clinical trial with this drug and we have found that when you administer this on a steady, low-dose basis with people with coronary heart disease, you can actually halve heart attack risk," Dr Thompson told AAP from Los Angeles.

"So far it is only a smallish trial but it looks very exciting and interesting.

"We went to this one (Colchicine) knowing that it was a very likely candidate, and the results are very satisfying."

Delegates at the conference have already been raving about the study into the effectiveness of low-dose Colchicine - or LoDoCo as it has been dubbed - saying it could become one of the big breakthroughs in heart disease research this year.

Dr Thompson, from Sir Charles Gairdner's Heart Research Institute, ran the study along with colleagues Dr Mark Nidorf and Canada-based Dr John Eikelboom.

They will publish the full results of the study in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology later this month.

Dr Thompson says the study could be doubly significant because Colchicine is a low cost, readily available product already on the market, and would therefore not take years in development costs and trials.

"There are other drugs being developed to target particular pathways in the inflammatory process, but they are all going to be brand new drugs which take a long time to develop," Dr Thompson said.

"This is a widely available, relatively inexpensive, relatively innocuous drug that has been with us for generations - and this may end up being the one to go for."

Dr Nidorf, also based in Perth, ran much of the study via his own private practice without traditional funding, with the ethics of the study continually being checked by the hospital.

"That is quite a remarkable thing to be able to do," Dr Thompson said.

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Cholesterol infusion prevents heart attack

FOR heart attack victims fortunate enough to survive the initial emergency, there is a high risk they will succumb to a second fatal episode in the following weeks or months.

However, new Australian research shows an intravenous infusion of "good" cholesterol can reduce the chances of dying from a subsequent cardiac arrest.

An infusion of high density lipoprotein (HDL) can rapidly boost the body's ability to move cholesterol out of the plaque-clogged arteries that are responsible for heart attacks, a study by Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL Ltd has found.

CSL chief scientist, Dr Andrew Cuthbertson, says this new approach increases "reverse cholesterol transport", which sees the negative cholesterol expelled from the body via the liver.

"The way it does that is to suck the cholesterol out of those plaques in the walls in the arteries and calm them down and make them much less likely to burst and cause a second heart attack," Dr Cuthbertson told AAP.

"It shifts cholesterol out of plaques and back through the liver where you get rid of it."

He said the study's results were "very encouraging so far".

"The increase in reverse cholesterol transport is many, many fold higher following an infusion of this new drug."

Dr Cuthbertson said testing was continuing to determine a dosage that was effective and safe.

"Around the world many thousands of people have second heart attacks and die, so we're trying to provide a treatment that doesn't exist today."

However, he said if testing proved successful it would still be several years before the treatment was widely available.

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China files WTO green energy complaint

CHINA has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against the European Union over renewable energy subsidies, a source close to the world trade body says.

"I can confirm we have received a complaint from China against ... the EU, Italy, and Greece on certain measures affecting the renewable energy generation sector," the source told AFP in an email on Monday.

The complaint comes after China last Thursday announced a trade investigation into EU exports of solar-grade polysilicon.

China is involved in a bitter trade row with the bloc, which in September unveiled a similar probe into Chinese products.

The Chinese commerce ministry said it would examine alleged subsidies received by the EU producers and exporters of the material, a key component in the making of solar cells, and would probe whether EU firms were selling it at artificially low prices in China.

The row in the solar sector between China and the European Union escalated after Brussels in September launched an investigation into whether Chinese companies were selling panels in Europe at up to 80 per cent below actual cost.

EU ProSun, which groups European makers and called for the anti-dumping probe, has also filed an official complaint with the European Commission over alleged illegal subsidies to Chinese firms.

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Rio elects its Carnival's queen and king

RIO de Janeiro has new royalty.

Evelyn Bastos, a 19-year-old student and member of the famed Mangueira Samba school, has been crowned queen of the 2013 Rio Carnival while Milton Junior was re-elected as iconic King Momo.

An emotional Bastos, who joined Mangueira - Rio's oldest Samba school - at the age of four, beat her more muscular rivals and thanked her many supporters upon receiving the sought-after title.

"I am not alone in wearing this crown as many people helped me," she said as she choked back tears.

"I am 100 per cent natural," she added in an apparent dig at her rivals, many of whom appear to have silicon-injected breasts and buttocks.

"I entered the contest as representative of Mangueira Samba school and now I am representing all the Cariocas (Rio residents) who will take part in the carnival. It is very rewarding," Bastos said at the ceremony held in Rio's northern Samba City.

Bastos, whose mother served as Mangueira percussion queen three years in a row and was her major inspiration, said she underwent five months of gruelling training for the job. She walked away with a prize of $US10,000 ($A9650).

Junior, who weighs in at 160 kilograms and stands 184 centimetres tall, was again picked to serve as King Momo, the Rio Carnival's symbol of overweight excess.

King Momo is traditionally given the key to the city and leads the crowds in wild partying and frantic samba dancing.

Rio's world famous carnival takes place February 9-12.

Junior will play carnival king for the fifth year in a row and his selection was greeted with some boos.

He also earned a prize of $US10,000, in addition to a ceremonial crown, sash and mace.

"King Momo transmits to the entire world, throughout the city, the joy and Samba, surrounded with beautiful women, the queen and the princesses," the 33-year-old said.

"Our marvellous city is rich with its values and culture and Samba is our foundation," he added.

Leticia Guimaraes and Clara Paixao were picked as carnival princesses and received $US7500 each.

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Four killed when Kyrgyz toilet floor caves

FOUR people have been killed when the floor of a public toilet in southern Kyrgyzstan caved in, the ministry for emergency situations says.

Authorities had earlier reported that 15 people were injured in the accident on Saturday at a public toilet located in a market.

But four bodies were found in the rubble early Sunday.

The ministry said Deputy Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev and the Minister for Emergency Situations Kubatbek Boronov have "ordered checks to be carried out on all public toilets" after visiting the accident site.

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South Sudan expels UN rights official

SOUTH Sudan says it has expelled a UN official who was carrying out an investigation on the human rights situation in the fledgling state, accusing her of producing "unjustified" reports.

"It's the first person on human rights to be (declared) persona non grata," government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said on Sunday.

The UN official has been "reporting on human rights issues that she could not verify and has been publishing without justifications. This is unethical," said the spokesman.

The UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan confirmed the expulsion.

"The order is in breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the Charter of the United Nations", said Hilde Johnson, special representative of the UN to the country, which gained independence in July 2011.

She said she has sought explanations from Juba.

"Human rights monitoring, investigation and reporting, and building capacity, is a core element of the mandate of UNMISS, which must be protected," Johnson said.

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France church in new gay marriage swipe

THE Catholic Church in France has taken a fresh swing at the Socialist government's plan to authorise gay marriage and adoption, which is to be presented as a draft law this week.

Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, who has led opposition to the project, told mass-goers in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes on Sunday that children needed both a father and a mother to build their identity.

"When we defend the right of children to build their personality with reference to the man and the woman who gave them life, we are not defending a particular position," he said.

"We are recognising what is expressed by the practices and the wisdom of all the peoples since the beginning of time and which modern specialists confirm," said Vingt-Trois at the mass during an annual meeting of France's Catholic bishops.

The gay marriage plan is to be presented as a draft bill to President Francois Hollande's cabinet on Wednesday.

Hollande has promised the legislation will be on the statute books by mid-2013 and there is sufficient cross-party support to ensure the government will be able to push it through on schedule.

Polls suggest up to two-thirds of French voters back the right of homosexuals to marry, but they are split on allowing them to adopt.

Some conservative and far-right politicians have called for mass street protests to try to force the government to back down.

Hundreds of French mayors or deputy mayors have signed a petition opposing the government's plans, and Jewish leaders have joined Catholic bishops and the right-wing opposition to denounce the project.

Many of these mayors - the officials who carry out most marriages - have warned they will not preside over same-sex ceremonies.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has insisted there will be no backtracking on the pledge made by Hollande when he was campaigning for the presidency this year.

The text to be presented to Hollande's cabinet will redefine marriage to stipulate that it is "contracted between two persons of different sex or of the same sex", Ayrault told AFP last month.

The draft legislation will include provision for married gay couples to adopt children but the right will not be immediately extended to unmarried homosexuals, the prime minister added.

That question and the issue of gay couples' access to medically assisted conception will be addressed in secondary legislation at a later date.

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Tens of thousands lose housing in US storm

TENS of thousands of New Yorkers need housing after superstorm Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 people in the city alone would need housing after Monday's storm, which left more than 100 dead in 15 US states and Canada and inflicted tens of billions of dollars of damage.

"It is starting to get cold, people are in homes that are uninhabitable," Cuomo told a news conference on Sunday.

"We are going to have tens of thousands of people who need housing solutions right away."

About 730,000 people in New York state still do not have electricity, nearly one week after Sandy hit, including more than 130,000 in New York City, the governor said.

With drivers waiting several hours in queues at service stations to get fuel, Cuomo and Bloomberg appealed for patience and insisted that deliveries are improving.

There are also at least one million people in the state of New Jersey without electricity. Much of the state is under fuel rationing.

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