Mandela undergoes gallstone surgery

SOUTH Africa's presidency says Nelson Mandela has undergone successful surgery to remove gallstones.

The presidency said the 94-year-old Mandela underwent the surgery overnight. The presidency said Mr Mandela's doctors wanted to treat a recurrent lung infection before putting him through the surgery.

The statement said: "The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering." It referred to Mandela by his clan name as a sign of affection.

Mr Mandela has been in hospital since Dec. 8.

Mr Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa. He served one five-year term as president before retiring from public life.

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Bodies removed from US massacre school

THE bodies of 20 young children and six adults massacred by a lone gunman in a quiet US town were finally removed from the blood-soaked school, police said.

The formal identification of the victims in one of America's worst mass shootings marked a new chapter for horrified residents of Newtown, Connecticut, where Friday morning a 20-year-old man walked in with at least two powerful pistols and shot everyone he could find in two rooms of the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"By early this morning, they were able to positively identify all of the victims and make formal identification to all of the families of the victims," said Connecticut State Police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vance.

The removal of bodies, which were initially left for investigators, "has been accomplished," he said on CBS television. "That was done overnight."

The gunman shot dead 18 children inside the school and two more died of their wounds shortly afterwards. Six adults, including the school principal, perished before the gunman died - apparently in a suicide.

Authorities offered little clue as to the motive for the shootings in Newtown, a wooded and picturesque small town northeast of New York City.

Hours after the shooting, hundreds of people gathered for a vigil, the crowd filling the church to capacity and spilling outside its doors.

"This is a kind of community, when things like that happen, they really pull together," the priest, Robert Weiss, said during the Mass.

A letter from Pope Benedict XVI was also read during the service.

Pope Benedict XVI sent his condolences to the community, in a letter read aloud at a vigil in Newtown Friday evening.

The pope "has asked me to convey his heartfelt grief and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to the victims and their families, and to all affected by the shocking event," Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said in the letter.

"In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy he asks God our Father to console all those who mourn and to sustain the entire community," the letter said.

David Connors, whose triplets were at the school during the shooting but were unharmed, said he was still horrified.

"It's hard. I've never imagined a thing like that could happen here."

"Our faith is tested," state Governor Dan Malloy told the congregants.

"Not just necessarily our faith in God, but our faith in community, and who we are, and what we collectively are."

Earlier the governor had said "evil visited this community today."

US President Barack Obama, wiping away tears and struggling to maintain his composure, said he was aghast over the tragedy.

State police spokesman Vance said just one injured person survived, indicating that the gunman was unusually accurate or methodical in his fire.

The majority of killings, which began at around 9:30am local time, "took place in one section of the school, in two rooms," Vance added. The children were aged between five and 10, officials said.

The killer was identified as Adam Lanza, 20. Initially, police told media they thought the murderer was his brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, whose identity card had been found on the shooter's dead body.

The surviving brother was in custody and being questioned, according to US television reports.

Many news outlets said another victim found in a home in Newtown - the 28th body in the day's bloodshed - was the shooter's mother, who was a teacher at Sandy Hook and whom he had killed before driving to the school.

Mr Obama went on national television to express his "overwhelming grief." He ordered flags to be lowered to half mast.

And there were similar statements of grief and shock around the world.

The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, spoke of his "deep shock and horror," the Queen sent a message to Mr Obama in which she said she was "deeply shocked and saddened," and French President Francois Hollande expressed his condolences to Mr Obama, saying the news "horrified me."

Of all US campus shootings, the toll was second only to the 32 murders in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech university.

The latest number far exceeded the 15 killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which triggered a fierce but inconclusive debate about the United States' relaxed gun control laws.

However, the White House has scotched any suggestion that the politically explosive subject would be quickly reopened.

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Russia breaks up anti-Putin rally

RUSSIAN police have detained dozens of people, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after breaking up an anti-Vladimir Putin rally in Moscow.

Scores of Muscovites, many holding white roses, defied authorities by gathering at Lubyanka Square, despite temperatures of minus 14 Celsius.

Police pushed protesters from the precinct and shoved some into vans two hours into the Saturday rally following warnings it would be broken up.

"By the end it was rough," Nikolai Svanidze, a member of the Kremlin-linked human rights council told Dozhd television.

Police said around 40 people had been detained.

"The unsanctioned action has now been thwarted and serious provocations were prevented," police said in a statement.

Mr Navalny, possibly the most charismatic figure in the protest movement, was detained a day after investigators launched a new criminal probe against him for suspected fraud.

"It's raving mad. (They) simply snatched me from the crowd," Mr Navalny tweeted from inside a police van.

Police also arrested Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of leftist group the Left Front, and activists Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Putin's late mentor Anatoly Sobchak.

"One of the policemen mentioned that we had criminal intentions," Mr Yashin told Echo of Moscow radio by telephone from detention.

The prominent figures arrested all noted that the police vans holding them had been equipped with webcams to keep close watch on their behaviour.

Police put the turnout at around 700 people, over 300 of them journalists and bloggers, but an AFP correspondent said the number of the protesters appeared to be significantly higher.

People laid white lilies, carnations and chrysanthemums at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to victims of Stalin-era purges adorning the square, as a helicopter hovered overhead.

The opposition movement is hoping to maintain momentum despite internal divisions between liberals, leftists and nationalists and the authorities' tough crackdown on dissenters since Putin's return to the Kremlin in May.

Smaller rallies were held in several cities across Russia including Mr Putin's hometown of Saint Petersburg, where about 1200 people gathered for a sanctioned march.

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School gunman 'forced' his way in: police

THE gunman who slaughtered 20 young children and six adults at a US school in Connecticut "forced" his way into the building, police say.

Lieutenant Paul Vance of Connecticut State Police said the man - identified widely in media reports as 20-year-old Adam Lanza - was not let into the Sandy Hook Elementary School "voluntarily".

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Family mourns after US school tragedy

PUERTO Rican relatives of one of the 20 children shot dead at a US primary school say the family of the 6-year-old girl moved to the mainland just two months earlier.

The parents of Ana Grace Marquez had moved from Canada to Connecticut and enrolled her at Sandy Hook Elementary School because of its good reputation, the child's grandmother, Elba Marquez, told The Associated Press.

"They looked for the best school for their daughter, the best," Marquez said, adding that she had flown there for Thanksgiving.

She said the family had moved to the area because Ana Grace's mother had been hired to teach at a local university.

"It was a beautiful place, just beautiful," Elba Marquez said.

"What happened does not match up with the place where they live."

Elba Marquez's brother, Jorge Marquez, who is mayor of a Puerto Rican town, said Ana Grace had a 9-year-old brother who was at the school during the shooting.

"He was in another classroom," he said.

The family flew from Puerto Rico to Connecticut overnight for the girl's funeral.

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London hospital defends handling of case

THE London hospital that treated Prince William's wife Kate has defended its response to the hoax call storm following reports the nurse duped by the prank left a suicide note criticising colleagues.

Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanged a week ago, days after taking a call at King Edward VII's hospital from two Australian radio presenters posing as Queen Elizabeth II and William's father Prince Charles.

She had transferred the call to another nurse who revealed details of Kate's severe morning sickness.

The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday that one of three notes left by Saldanha had criticised hospital staff.

The hospital says it offered support to Saldanha and had stressed to her that she would not be disciplined for falling victim to the prank.

"There have been reports today about the alleged contents of one of the notes found in Jacintha's room," the hospital said in a statement.

"No one at the hospital has seen these notes, and so we cannot comment on the reports or their accuracy.

"However, we would reiterate that Jacintha was an outstanding nurse, doing her duty caring for sick patients.

"Following the hoax call, hospital management offered her their support and told her that they considered her the victim of a cruel hoax.

"They stood by her actions and made it clear there was no criticism of her and that there would be no disciplinary action of any kind."

The hospital added that it had been in regular contact with Saldanha's family since her death, "contrary to many inaccurate reports", and that staff had held a memorial service for the nurse on Friday.

Australian police said on Thursday death threats have been made against Michael Christian and Mel Greig, the DJs from Sydney's 2Day FM radio station who made the hoax call.

The presenters, who have been undergoing counselling, remain off air and have not been seen in public since making tearful apologies in a television interview on Monday.

2Day FM's parent company Southern Cross Austereo pledged on Tuesday to give at least $A500,000 to help Saldanha's grieving family.

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School shooting reported in Connecticut

STATE police say they are assisting local police with a situation in Newtown amid reports of a school shooting.

The school superintendent's office says the district has locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff.

The superintendent's secretary, Kathy June, says reports of a shooting are not confirmed.

State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance says they have a number of personnel on the scene to assist.

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GE raises dividend, expands share buyback

INDUSTRIAL conglomerate General Electric is raising its quarterly dividend by 12 per cent while extending and expanding its share repurchase plan.

The new quarterly dividend is 19 cents, up from 17 cents. The dividend will be paid on January 25 to shareholders as of December 24.

The board of Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. is also extending GE's stock buyback plan through 2015.

It's authorising up to $US10 billion ($A9.54 billion) for additional shares.

The plan had $US4.9 billion available for repurchase at the end of the third quarter.

GE manufactures products such as jet engines and refrigerators and provides equipment and services to a growing roster of energy companies.

GE shares rose 2 cents to $21.64 in morning trading.

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Mandela stays in hospital, questions grow

ANTI-APARTHEID icon Nelson Mandela has entered the seventh day of a hospital stay for a lung infection as questions grow about where he is receiving treatment.

The 94-year-old patriarch of South Africa's democracy has been hospitalised since Saturday, first undergoing tests and later being diagnosed with the ailment.

On Friday, government officials avoided questions over where Mandela was receiving treatment.

The nation's defence minister told journalists on Monday Mandela was being treated at 1 Military Hospital near the capital, Pretoria.

However, after local media reported Mandela wasn't there on Thursday night, a presidential spokesman refused to say where Mandela is being treated.

Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa. He served one five-year term as president before retiring from public life.

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Volkswagen Group reports record sales

VOLKSWAGEN says group sales through the first 11 months of 2012 have already surpassed last year's record full-year result as deliveries outside western Europe more than offset declines in the debt-troubled region.

Europe's largest automaker said it sold 8.29 million vehicles from January through November, up 10.4 per cent over the same period last year and more than the 8.16 million it sold over the whole of 2011. November sales totalled 794,500 - up 11.7 per cent from last year.

January-November sales to western Europe excluding Germany dropped six per cent to 1.71 million vehicles, though German sales rose 3.4 per cent to 1.10 million. North American sales rose 26.1 per cent to 757,300, while Asia-Pacific sales increased 19.5 per cent to 2.86 million.

The Volkswagen group includes brands such as Skoda and Seat.

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Residents urged to photograph king tides

KING tides will begin their twice-a-year run up the NSW coast early on Friday morning - and residents are being asked to get out their cameras.

The tides will begin in Eden about 8.30am (AEDT), reach Sydney at 9.33am and hit Newcastle by 9.39am.

Environmental organisation Green Cross hopes to use the event to draw attention to rising sea levels.

Green Cross CEO Mara Bun is asking coastal residents to photograph their local king tides and upload them to help create a digital picture of future sea levels.

"Through gathering and sharing visual data we raise awareness around Australia and can adapt for the future," she said.

The project will become a permanent record of environmental change, with 40 local councils across NSW, Queensland and Tasmania offering funding and digital support.

In 2009, the business districts of Ballina, Woy Woy, Bateman's Bay, and Carrington were photographed during a king tide as they were inundated with between 30 and 50cm of seawater.

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Suicide bomb targets Afghan NATO airbase

A SUICIDE car bomber has attacked a NATO airbase in southern Afghanistan just hours after the US Defence Secretary left, killing two civilians, wounding 15 and injuring four foreign soldiers.

There was no indication that the attack was connected with defence chief Leon Panetta's visit, a US spokesman said on Thursday.

"I can confirm that insurgents detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) in the vicinity of Kandahar airfield.

"Currently ISAF officials are on the scene collecting facts and assessing the situation and as information becomes available we will release it as appropriate," the spokesman said.

"I have no information at this time that this incident was associated with the visit of the secretary of defence. The attack occurred after the secretary returned to Kabul."

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to AFP, but did not link it to Panetta's visit.

Panetta was due to hold a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai later in the day.

"The suicide bomber detonated his car as an ISAF convoy was entering the Kandahar airfield," Kandahar provincial police chief General Abdul Razeq told AFP.

"As a result of this suicide attack two civilians have been killed, and 15 civilians and four ISAF soldiers have been injured."

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the attack, without giving details of any ISAF casualties. It is ISAF policy not to disclose the number of its personnel wounded in any attack.

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US producer prices fall in November

US producer prices have fallen for the second straight month in November, the Commerce Department reports, losing 0.8 per cent in a sign inflation pressures remain muted in the economy.

The main pull downward was a 4.6 per cent drop in energy prices; food prices rose 1.3 per cent.

Stripped of those two volatile components, the rate was an increase of just 0.1 per cent, the department said on Thursday.

Year-on-year, the producer price index for finished goods was up just 1.5 per cent, after three months at or above two per cent.

Inflation has become less of a concern for policymakers despite four years of extremely easy-money policies of the central bank.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve underscored that point by tying its interest rates more closely to the jobless rate, saying that as long as medium-term inflation expectations remained moderate - below 2.5 per cent - it would not begin raising its benchmark interest rate until unemployment fell below 6.5 per cent.

The jobless rate was 7.7 per cent in November.

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At least 24 killed in blasts near Damascus

AT least 24 civilians, including a large number of children, have been killed in two separate car bombings southwest of Damascus, state media reports.

Eight people, mostly women and children, were killed by a car bomb in the poor Sunni town of Jdaidet Artuz, state television reported on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four civilians were killed in the blast.

Less than eight kilometres away, a similar blast rocked the town of Qatana earlier in the day, leaving 16 people dead, seven of them children, state news agency SANA reported.

"This morning, terrorists targeted the residential area of Ras al-Nabaa with a vehicle loaded with explosives, blowing it up in front of the Mikhael Samaan school," the agency said.

It blamed the attack on terrorists, the standard regime for rebels.

The Britain-based Observatory said the bomb, outside an army housing complex and near an elementary school, killed 18 people, including two women and seven children.

Another 23 people were wounded, most of them women and children, the news agency quoted a medical source as saying.

In a video posted on a pro-government YouTube channel, crowds of men, women and children were seen standing around in shock at the widespread destruction.

Schoolbags and exercise books were seen strewn across the pavement among pools of blood and piles of rubble in the footage, which could not be independently verified.

Qatana is a working class town 21 km outside Damascus. It has a Sunni Muslim majority and a Christian minority, and is under army control.

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AirAsia orders 100 more A320s from Airbus

AIRBUS says AirAsia, southeast Asia's top budget carrier, is ordering 100 additional A320 single-aisle jets in a deal greatly increasing the Malaysian-based carrier's orders for the European aircraft.

In a statement on Thursday Airbus said the deal brings the total number of A320 aircraft ordered or already delivered to AirAsia to 475.

AirAsia currently flies a fleet of 100 A320s out of bases in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila and Tokyo.

The new jets will allow AirAsia to open new routes and increase frequencies on flights to the Philippines and Japan, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said in a statement.

The deal includes orders for 64 of the A320neo, a revamped model which Airbus advertises as more fuel efficient version of the A320.

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Mali gets new PM

MALI'S interim president has named a replacement prime minister after soldiers behind a coup earlier this year forced out his predecessor and placed him under house arrest, provoking international condemnation.

The political turmoil has deepened concerns about Mali's stability at a time when the international community is considering backing a military intervention, including Malian soldiers, to oust the country's north from the hands of radical Islamists.

The president of neighbouring Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, who has served as a mediator, said on Wednesday that the latest developments threaten to only worsen the Malian crisis.

Longtime civil servant Diango Cissoko was chosen late on Tuesday as the new prime minister in Mali's transitional government, first set up after the military coup in March.

The military ouster of Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra has prompted fierce criticism from the United Nations, the United States and the African Union, among others.

The president of the African Union commission strongly condemned the recent events in Mali and called for the "complete subordination of the army and security forces to civilian rule."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also warned that the forced resignation makes Western countries wary of getting involved in a military incursion in the north.

"One thing is clear: Our offers of help come with the condition that the process of restoring constitutional order in Mali be conducted credibly," he said.

The latest developments also have raised concerns among ordinary Malians.

"We don't really understand the reaction of Captain Sanogo (coup leader). Instead of creating an atmosphere of understanding between politicians in Bamako to resolve our problem in the north, Sanogo still continues to create trouble in Bamako," said Maouloud Daou, who lives in Hombori, a city under the control of radical Islamists.

The 62-year-old Cissoko held a number of positions under the administration of longtime President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown by mutinous soldiers in March. Coup leader Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo never relinquished control despite pledges to do so, and on Monday forces loyal to him arrested Diarra at his home.

Junta spokesman Bakary Mariko acknowledged that soldiers allied with the coup leader had detained the prime minister and now have him under house arrest. Mariko said Diarra was "not getting along" with either the interim president or Sanogo.

The military's meddling in state affairs has concerned the international community. Many worry that supporting the operation will simply further arm and embolden the very officers responsible for Mali's current state.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called Diarra's arrest a setback for Mali. "We need Sanogo and his brothers-in-arms to stay out of politics," she told reporters.

The UN Security Council threatened to impose sanctions against those blocking a return to constitutional order in Mali and called on the armed forces to stop interfering in state affairs.

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Pope hits 1m mark as he tweets

POPE Benedict XVI has hit the one million Twitter follower mark as he sent his first tweet from his new account, blessing his online fans and urging them to listen to Christ.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict tapped the screen of a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience after the equivalent of a papal drum roll by an announcer who intoned: "And now the Pope will tweet!"

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," the inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict's (at)Pontifex accounts surpassed the one million mark, with all eight languages of the Pope's account combined.

While the (at)Pontifex English account remains the most popular, nearing 800,000 followers, the Pope is tweeting simultaneously in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Polish and Arabic. Each language has its own handle, though they're all the Pope's account: (at)Pontifex-es, for Spanish for example, (at)Pontifex-it for Italian, (at)Pontifex-fr for French, and so on.

The first papal tweet has been the subject of intense curiosity - as well as merciless jokes, criticism and commentary. "The Pope has an iPad?" comedian Jon Stewart asked earlier this year. The Onion satirical newspaper ran a piece "Pope tweets picture of self with God." And in perhaps a more long-term and problematic issue for the Vatican, the (at)Pontifex handle was flooded with negative messages from users remarking on the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Vatican officials have said they expected such negativity, but that is a risk they take by putting the Catholic Church's message out.

"These are already all over the internet, in newspapers, in so many forms of expression," the Reverend Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica told Vatican Radio this week. "They form part of ordinary communication."

Benedict actually sent his first tweet over a year ago, using a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. Someone in his name tweeted daily during Lent, part of the Vatican's efforts to increase the Church presence in social media.

As incongruous as it may seem for the 85-year-old Benedict to be on Twitter, Vatican officials have stressed that he is merely walking in the footsteps of his predecessors in using the latest in communications technology to spread the faith.

Pope Pius XI, for example, caused a similar stir when he launched Vatican Radio some 80 years ago to bring the Pope's message on radio waves around the globe. The Vatican also has its own newspaper, television service and maintains dedicated YouTube channels and an internet news portal.

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Over 2 million Afghans at risk this winter

MORE than 2 million Afghans are at risk from cold, disease and malnutrition this winter as an international appeal for funds to help one of the world's poorest countries has fallen drastically short of its goal, the United Nations and several humanitarian agencies are warning.

Only 48 per cent of $US448 million ($A427.58 million) that has been requested to help 8.8 million Afghans had been pledged by the end of November, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Preparations are under way to help Afghans deal with harsh winter conditions, especially 400,000 people who live in some of the most remote mountainous areas of northern and central Afghanistan.

Snow has already covered mountain tops and the first snowfall of the year was forecast for later this week in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Last year, Afghanistan experienced its coldest winter and heaviest snowfall in more than 15 years.

"People live in remote areas with no access to health facilities," said Mohammad Daim Kakar, director of the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority. "Many people die of pneumonia and measles."

According to the UN and other humanitarian agencies working here, 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces have high-risk areas where emergency food, fuel and medical supplies are needed.

Heavy snows and avalanches killed dozens of people in parts of the country last winter, including more than 30 - many of them children - who froze to death in Kabul.

The Afghan capital is home to 55 makeshift camps that house more than 30,000 people - many of them displaced from elsewhere in Afghanistan because of violence.

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'Serious differences' in fiscal stand-off:

THE White House and politicians have yet to reach a deal on averting a looming fiscal crisis, with the top Republican in Congress warning on Wednesday that "serious differences" remain on how to further reduce the debt.

"We don't have an agreement today," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters a day after speaking with President Barack Obama to discuss their recent exchange of offers on how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff."

Boehner acknowledged that Obama lowered his opening gambit of $US1.6 trillion ($A1.53 trillion) in new tax revenue over the coming decade to $1.4 trillion, but said the White House was not putting forward enough spending cuts on offer to make the deal palatable.

"I remain the most optimistic person in this town, but we've got some serious differences," Boehner said.

Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor said politicians should prepare to stay in Washington right up until Christmas Eve, then return after Christmas to the brink of the new year in a bid to approve legislation to prevent taxes from rising on all Americans and automatic federal spending cuts from kicking in.

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German parliament allows circumcision

GERMANY'S parliament has passed a law to allow religious circumcision, clarifying the legal situation after a court said the rite amounted to grievous bodily harm in a ruling that caused international uproar.

Members of the Bundestag or lower house of parliament passed the cross-party motion by 434 votes to 100 with 46 abstentions.

The legislation states that male infants may be circumcised for religious reasons within six months of their birth by a "specially trained" practitioner, although this person does not have to be a doctor.

Nevertheless, the rite must be carried out "in a professional medical manner", the law states and stipulates exemptions for infants who could be at risk from the practice such as haemophiliacs.

The legislation sought to clear up confusion after a judgment published in June by the regional court in the western city of Cologne.

While considering a case brought against a doctor who had circumcised a Muslim boy, the court ruled the rite was tantamount to grievous bodily harm.

The decision united Jewish and Muslim groups in opposition and caused outrage from religious and political leaders in Israel and Muslim countries.

"I am pleased and relieved about the decision of the German parliament," said Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The law "finally restores legal certainty and hopefully ends the often unfortunate debate that took place in 2012," he added.

German politicians had acted "quickly and responsibly" and they deserve "praise and respect" for this, Graumann said.

Diplomats had admitted that the ruling proved "disastrous" for Germany's international image, particularly in light of its Nazi past.

Merkel was reported to have warned that Germany risked becoming a "laughing stock" if it banned circumcision.

Germany is home to about four million Muslims and more than 200,000 Jews.

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US blacklists key Syria rebel group

WASHINGTON has put a key Syrian rebel group on its terror blacklist, citing al-Qaeda links, a day after the jihadist faction showed its power in the battlefield by capturing a key army base.

The US move came amid growing Western concern that al-Qaeda loyalists have been hijacking the 21-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule and could turn any weaponry supplied to the rebels against Western targets.

Washington balanced its move with the announcement of fresh sanctions against pro-Assad militias.

But the blacklist of the Al-Nusra Front marked a major shift in US policy towards the rebels which had previously been tolerant of the large Islamist element within their ranks.

The US State Department said that despite its efforts to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition, Al-Nusra was a front for the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) organisation that mounted a deadly insurgency against US troops in Syria's eastern neighbour which peaked in 2006-7.

"It is, in fact, an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes," it said.

The Al-Nusra Front's fighters, many of them jihadist volunteers from around the Islamic world, were instrumental in the fall of the army's massive Sheikh Suleiman base in northern Syria on Monday after a months-long siege.

Its role in the seizure of the garrison, the government's last between second city Aleppo and the Turkish border, undercut the military influence of the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) which the West has been counting on to rein in the jihadists.

An AFP journalist who witnessed the clashes around Sheikh Suleiman said many fighters were from other Arab countries and Central Asia.

The US Treasury Department designated two of the Al-Nusra Front's senior leaders, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al-Juburi and Anas Hasan Khattab, for sanctions.

It also imposed sanctions on two armed militias supporting the Assad regime - Jaysh al-Sha'bi and Shabiha - as well as two Shabiha commanders.

"These militias have been instrumental in the Assad regime's campaign of terror and violence against the citizens of Syria," the Treasury Department said.

The United States "will target the pro-Assad militias just as we will the terrorists who falsely cloak themselves in the flag of the legitimate opposition," said David Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

At the same time Washington said that it had reason to ease the urgent concerns it had expressed in recent weeks about the dangers of Damascus resorting to use of its chemical weapons stockpiles against the rebels.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Syria had not taken any new steps in recent days that signal a readiness to use its arsenal.

"At this point the intelligence has really kind of levelled off. We haven't seen anything new indicating any aggressive steps to move forward in that way," Panetta told reporters aboard his plane before landing in Kuwait.

"But we continue to monitor it very closely and we continue to make clear to them that they should not under any means make use of these chemical weapons against their own population."

Inside Syria, Islamist rebels loyal to Muslim Brotherhood-backed Liwa al-Tawhid assaulted a military school in battlefield Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The school is very important for its size and location," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding that it schooled some 3000 cadets.

In footage posted on the internet with the group's logo, five gunmen were seen firing automatic weapons from behind a hill toward a building in a wooded area, as explosions are heard in the background. The video's authenticity could not be verified.

With the death toll now topping 42,000, according to the Observatory's figures, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and the wider Arab world had now passed half a million.

"And these numbers are currently climbing by more than 3000 a day," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

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Egypt protesters breach president's palace

SEVERAL hundred Egyptian protesters have breached a concrete and metal barricade outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, forcing back the soldiers manning it, AFP correspondents report.

There was no violent confrontation despite the tensions surrounding the determination of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to press ahead with a Saturday referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.

The protesters pulled apart a high metal gate bar by bar and toppled concrete blocks with chains.

Hundreds of soldiers who had erected the barrier at the weekend, to block access roads following deadly clashes in the area last week, fell back closer to the palace. Six tanks were stationed close to the walled compound.

A counter-demonstration by Morsi supporters was taking place a few kilometres away, raising fears of further clashes.

On Wednesday last week, pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators fought each other with metal bars, petrol bombs and handguns, leaving seven people dead and more than 600 injured.

Morsi on Monday ordered the army to use temporary police powers to protect the palace and other "vital state institutions".

The military, which is trying to remain neutral in Egypt's three-week-old political crisis, has vowed to carry out its duty to maintain stability within democratic rules.

The opposition, made up of secular, leftwing and liberal groups, sees the draft text as weakening human rights, the rights of women and religious minorities.

Egyptian human rights groups issued a statement saying the draft constitution "opens the door to the establishment of a theocratic system similar to the Iranian Velayat-e Faqih model, or rule by a clerical supreme leader.

The UN human rights chief and international watchdogs have criticised the draft charter and the way it was drawn up.

Morsi's supporters, however, argue that it is now up to Egypt's voters to decide in the referendum.

Michael Wahid Hanna, a political analyst at US thinktank The Century Foundation told AFP that, as things stood, there was a good chance of the referendum passing.

On Monday, after a meeting with Morsi, Egypt's defence minister and commander of the armed forces, General Abel-Fattah al-Sisi, called on army officers to exercise the "highest levels of self-restraint".

He said the armed forces were determined to "carry out their role in protecting the nation and its stability regardless of pressures and challenges".

But Emad Gad, an Egyptian political analyst, said: "In the event there are violent clashes or especially if blood is spilt in the street, the army will certainly intervene."

He said there was even a potential the army might have to seize political control again, to maintain order and security.

The prolonged crisis has intensified uncertainty over Egypt's economy triggered by the revolution early last year that overthrew autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said a proposed $US4.8 billion ($A4.60 billion) loan is on hold at the request of Egyptian authorities in view of the volatile situation.

The IMF and Egyptian authorities provisionally agreed the loan last month and the IMF's executive board had been expected to review the deal this month.

The loan is aimed at helping the government to bridge financing shortfalls through fiscal 2013-2014 as the country rebuilds a battered post-revolution economy.

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Fallen police officer to be honoured

THOUSANDS of Sydneysiders are expected to join dignitaries and the state's top brass as they farewell fallen Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.

The 45-year-old father of three will be mourned at a ceremony with full police honours at St Patrick's Cathedral in Parramatta on Wednesday.

Mourners will hear eulogies from his Bryson's wife Donna Anderson, his brother Warwick, a retired police officer, and another brother Damian.

The detective was stabbed after responding to a neighbour dispute at Oakville, in Sydney's northwest, on Thursday.

Tributes have flooded in from colleagues who worked alongside the "police officer's police officer", and the state's top police have remembered a skilled detective and a great mate.

"He was larger than life," Commissioner Andrew Scipione told the Fairfax Radio Network on Tuesday.

"He was well-respected. There were people that looked up to him. He always brought a laugh to any conversation. On top of that he was compassionate and caring."

He worked as a duty officer at Hawkesbury local area command and recently turned down a promotion in order to remain on the front line.

VIPs including Premier Barry O'Farrell, Governor Marie Bashir, Parramatta Lord Mayor John Chedid and Mr Scipione will attend the service.

Bishop Anthony Fisher will preside over the church proceedings that are expected to last two hours.

Mr Scipione invited the public to attend and said overflow arrangements will be in place for those to listen to the proceedings from outside the cathedral.

After the proceedings, a roadside guard and marching escort will proceed along Victoria Road between Marist Place and O'Connell Street.

Motorists are advised Victoria Road will be closed between Church and O'Connell Streets from 3pm until 6pm.

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Yemeni offensive on al-Qaeda kills 24

A MAJOR offensive launched by the Yemeni army against al-Qaeda following the assassination of a top officer has killed at least 24 people, including 17 soldiers, a military official says.

"Troops backed by air forces launched a wide operation in the region of Wadi Abida," targeting al-Qaeda hideouts, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

General Nasser Naji bin Farid, who commanded military forces in central Yemen, was killed on Saturday in an ambush near the city of Marib, blamed by military and tribal sources on al-Qaeda.

Four other officers and six soldiers were also killed in the ambush, Yemeni authorities said, giving the latest death toll from the ambush.

Following the assassination of Farid, considered close to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the army launched an offensive, in which 17 soldiers and seven tribesmen suspected of supporting al-Qaeda were killed, the military official said. Operations continued on Tuesday, he said.

The jihadist network has increased its attacks on army and security officers, especially in the south and the east of the country, where militants are active.

Gunmen suspected of being al-Qaeda militants shot dead on Tuesday the deputy chief of intelligence in the southeastern city of Mukalla.

In Daleh, also in the south, unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a soldier and wounded another as they opened fire at a checkpoint, a security official told AFP.

Earlier this month, General Mahmud al-Sobaihi, a top army commander in the south, escaped an assassination bid when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Huta, the capital of Lahj province.

Sobaihi's troops played a major role in an anti-Qaeda offensive that ended the control in June of jihadist militants in a string of towns and cities which they had held across the south for a year.

Although weakened, the network's militants continue to launch hit-and-run attacks on members of the security forces across Yemen.

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Fallen police officer to be honoured

THOUSANDS of Sydneysiders are expected to join dignitaries and the state's top brass as they farewell fallen Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.

The 45-year-old father of three will be mourned at a ceremony with full police honours at St Patrick's Cathedral in Parramatta on Wednesday.

Mourners will hear eulogies from his Bryson's wife Donna Anderson, his brother Warwick, a retired police officer, and another brother Damian.

The detective was stabbed after responding to a neighbour dispute at Oakville, in Sydney's northwest, on Thursday.

Tributes have flooded in from colleagues who worked alongside the "police officer's police officer", and the state's top police have remembered a skilled detective and a great mate.

"He was larger than life," Commissioner Andrew Scipione told the Fairfax Radio Network on Tuesday.

"He was well-respected. There were people that looked up to him. He always brought a laugh to any conversation. On top of that he was compassionate and caring."

He worked as a duty officer at Hawkesbury local area command and recently turned down a promotion in order to remain on the front line.

VIPs including Premier Barry O'Farrell, Governor Marie Bashir, Parramatta Lord Mayor John Chedid and Mr Scipione will attend the service.

Bishop Anthony Fisher will preside over the church proceedings that are expected to last two hours.

Mr Scipione invited the public to attend and said overflow arrangements will be in place for those to listen to the proceedings from outside the cathedral.

After the proceedings, a roadside guard and marching escort will proceed along Victoria Road between Marist Place and O'Connell Street.

Motorists are advised Victoria Road will be closed between Church and O'Connell Streets from 3pm until 6pm.

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Ghana opposition to challenge vote results

GHANA'S main opposition party says it plans to challenge presidential election results in court after it alleged a "pattern of fraud" in incumbent John Dramani Mahama's victory.

"We are going to court," New Patriotic Party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey told reporters after a meeting of party officials, including its candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, who declined to comment.

The decision comes with the country under pressure to maintain its reputation as a stable democracy in turbulent West Africa. Local election observers, citing their own findings, have said they support the results showing Mahama won.

According to the electoral commission, Mahama won the election held over Friday and Saturday with 50.70 per cent of the votes cast, compared with Akufo-Addo's 47.74 per cent.

The NPP alleged a "pattern of fraud" even before the official results were announced.

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Yemeni offensive on al-Qaeda kills 24

A MAJOR offensive launched by the Yemeni army against al-Qaeda following the assassination of a top officer has killed at least 24 people, including 17 soldiers, a military official says.

"Troops backed by air forces launched a wide operation in the region of Wadi Abida," targeting al-Qaeda hideouts, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

General Nasser Naji bin Farid, who commanded military forces in central Yemen, was killed on Saturday in an ambush near the city of Marib, blamed by military and tribal sources on al-Qaeda.

Four other officers and six soldiers were also killed in the ambush, Yemeni authorities said, giving the latest death toll from the ambush.

Following the assassination of Farid, considered close to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the army launched an offensive, in which 17 soldiers and seven tribesmen suspected of supporting al-Qaeda were killed, the military official said. Operations continued on Tuesday, he said.

The jihadist network has increased its attacks on army and security officers, especially in the south and the east of the country, where militants are active.

Gunmen suspected of being al-Qaeda militants shot dead on Tuesday the deputy chief of intelligence in the southeastern city of Mukalla.

In Daleh, also in the south, unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a soldier and wounded another as they opened fire at a checkpoint, a security official told AFP.

Earlier this month, General Mahmud al-Sobaihi, a top army commander in the south, escaped an assassination bid when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Huta, the capital of Lahj province.

Sobaihi's troops played a major role in an anti-Qaeda offensive that ended the control in June of jihadist militants in a string of towns and cities which they had held across the south for a year.

Although weakened, the network's militants continue to launch hit-and-run attacks on members of the security forces across Yemen.

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Ghana opposition to challenge vote results

GHANA'S main opposition party says it plans to challenge presidential election results in court after it alleged a "pattern of fraud" in incumbent John Dramani Mahama's victory.

"We are going to court," New Patriotic Party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey told reporters after a meeting of party officials, including its candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, who declined to comment.

The decision comes with the country under pressure to maintain its reputation as a stable democracy in turbulent West Africa. Local election observers, citing their own findings, have said they support the results showing Mahama won.

According to the electoral commission, Mahama won the election held over Friday and Saturday with 50.70 per cent of the votes cast, compared with Akufo-Addo's 47.74 per cent.

The NPP alleged a "pattern of fraud" even before the official results were announced.

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Egypt protesters breach president's palace

SEVERAL hundred Egyptian protesters have breached a concrete and metal barricade outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, forcing back the soldiers manning it, AFP correspondents report.

There was no violent confrontation despite the tensions surrounding the determination of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to press ahead with a Saturday referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.

The protesters pulled apart a high metal gate bar by bar and toppled concrete blocks with chains.

Hundreds of soldiers who had erected the barrier at the weekend, to block access roads following deadly clashes in the area last week, fell back closer to the palace. Six tanks were stationed close to the walled compound.

A counter-demonstration by Morsi supporters was taking place a few kilometres away, raising fears of further clashes.

On Wednesday last week, pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators fought each other with metal bars, petrol bombs and handguns, leaving seven people dead and more than 600 injured.

Morsi on Monday ordered the army to use temporary police powers to protect the palace and other "vital state institutions".

The military, which is trying to remain neutral in Egypt's three-week-old political crisis, has vowed to carry out its duty to maintain stability within democratic rules.

The opposition, made up of secular, leftwing and liberal groups, sees the draft text as weakening human rights, the rights of women and religious minorities.

Egyptian human rights groups issued a statement saying the draft constitution "opens the door to the establishment of a theocratic system similar to the Iranian Velayat-e Faqih model, or rule by a clerical supreme leader.

The UN human rights chief and international watchdogs have criticised the draft charter and the way it was drawn up.

Morsi's supporters, however, argue that it is now up to Egypt's voters to decide in the referendum.

Michael Wahid Hanna, a political analyst at US thinktank The Century Foundation told AFP that, as things stood, there was a good chance of the referendum passing.

On Monday, after a meeting with Morsi, Egypt's defence minister and commander of the armed forces, General Abel-Fattah al-Sisi, called on army officers to exercise the "highest levels of self-restraint".

He said the armed forces were determined to "carry out their role in protecting the nation and its stability regardless of pressures and challenges".

But Emad Gad, an Egyptian political analyst, said: "In the event there are violent clashes or especially if blood is spilt in the street, the army will certainly intervene."

He said there was even a potential the army might have to seize political control again, to maintain order and security.

The prolonged crisis has intensified uncertainty over Egypt's economy triggered by the revolution early last year that overthrew autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said a proposed $US4.8 billion ($A4.60 billion) loan is on hold at the request of Egyptian authorities in view of the volatile situation.

The IMF and Egyptian authorities provisionally agreed the loan last month and the IMF's executive board had been expected to review the deal this month.

The loan is aimed at helping the government to bridge financing shortfalls through fiscal 2013-2014 as the country rebuilds a battered post-revolution economy.

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US blacklists key Syria rebel group

WASHINGTON has put a key Syrian rebel group on its terror blacklist, citing al-Qaeda links, a day after the jihadist faction showed its power in the battlefield by capturing a key army base.

The US move came amid growing Western concern that al-Qaeda loyalists have been hijacking the 21-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule and could turn any weaponry supplied to the rebels against Western targets.

Washington balanced its move with the announcement of fresh sanctions against pro-Assad militias.

But the blacklist of the Al-Nusra Front marked a major shift in US policy towards the rebels which had previously been tolerant of the large Islamist element within their ranks.

The US State Department said that despite its efforts to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition, Al-Nusra was a front for the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) organisation that mounted a deadly insurgency against US troops in Syria's eastern neighbour which peaked in 2006-7.

"It is, in fact, an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes," it said.

The Al-Nusra Front's fighters, many of them jihadist volunteers from around the Islamic world, were instrumental in the fall of the army's massive Sheikh Suleiman base in northern Syria on Monday after a months-long siege.

Its role in the seizure of the garrison, the government's last between second city Aleppo and the Turkish border, undercut the military influence of the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) which the West has been counting on to rein in the jihadists.

An AFP journalist who witnessed the clashes around Sheikh Suleiman said many fighters were from other Arab countries and Central Asia.

The US Treasury Department designated two of the Al-Nusra Front's senior leaders, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al-Juburi and Anas Hasan Khattab, for sanctions.

It also imposed sanctions on two armed militias supporting the Assad regime - Jaysh al-Sha'bi and Shabiha - as well as two Shabiha commanders.

"These militias have been instrumental in the Assad regime's campaign of terror and violence against the citizens of Syria," the Treasury Department said.

The United States "will target the pro-Assad militias just as we will the terrorists who falsely cloak themselves in the flag of the legitimate opposition," said David Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

At the same time Washington said that it had reason to ease the urgent concerns it had expressed in recent weeks about the dangers of Damascus resorting to use of its chemical weapons stockpiles against the rebels.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Syria had not taken any new steps in recent days that signal a readiness to use its arsenal.

"At this point the intelligence has really kind of levelled off. We haven't seen anything new indicating any aggressive steps to move forward in that way," Panetta told reporters aboard his plane before landing in Kuwait.

"But we continue to monitor it very closely and we continue to make clear to them that they should not under any means make use of these chemical weapons against their own population."

Inside Syria, Islamist rebels loyal to Muslim Brotherhood-backed Liwa al-Tawhid assaulted a military school in battlefield Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The school is very important for its size and location," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding that it schooled some 3000 cadets.

In footage posted on the internet with the group's logo, five gunmen were seen firing automatic weapons from behind a hill toward a building in a wooded area, as explosions are heard in the background. The video's authenticity could not be verified.

With the death toll now topping 42,000, according to the Observatory's figures, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and the wider Arab world had now passed half a million.

"And these numbers are currently climbing by more than 3000 a day," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

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Surge in household energy disconnections

THERE has been a massive rise in the number of Victorians who have had their electricity or gas disconnected because they have failed to pay their energy bills.

The Essential Services Commission (ESC) reported that in 2011-12 almost 24,000 electricity customers were cut off, a jump of 33 per cent on the previous year, while more than 20,000 gas customers were disconnected - up 50 per cent.

The report found that almost half of the disconnected customers were reconnected within seven days indicating that they were residents who had trouble paying their bills.

"As the high rate of reconnections at the same address implies, most of the disconnections are of customers who struggle to pay their bills - not 'skippers' or movers from a residence," said ESC chief executive David Heeps.

"If retailers could better identify and support customers in hardship, then the adoption of a payment plan may head off disconnection as a last resort."

The Victorian Council of Social Services said energy retailers were treating customers in hardship too harshly.

The welfare body said that disconnecting people too often proves the energy industry needed to brought into line and it was time the state government stepped in.

"More people are being disconnected from their essential energy supply than at any time since the industry was privatised and the state government needs to step in to pull the industry into line," said VCOSS chief executive Penny Wilson.

She said energy retailers are entitled to be paid but they have a legal obligation to help customers in financial difficulty by offering flexible payment options or special hardship assistance.

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Tibetan, 16, who set herself on fire dies

A 16-YEAR-OLD Tibetan girl has died after setting herself on fire, Chinese state media say, in an area that has become a flashpoint for protests against Beijing's rule.

The school pupil self-immolated on Monday in the village of Dageri in China's northwestern province of Qinghai, an area with a high population of ethnic Tibetans, just before 7pm (2200 AEDT) on Sunday, Xinhua said.

Her body was cremated four hours later and returned to her family, the news agency said, adding that local government officials were investigating.

More than 90 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze since 2009 to protest China's rule of the Tibetan plateau, rights groups have said, with the frequency of incidents increasing sharply in November. Most have died.

According to a partial list drawn up by the London-based campaign group Free Tibet the teenager is among the youngest girls to have set themselves on fire.

Xinhua reported on Sunday that a monk and his nephew had been detained for inciting eight Tibetans to set themselves alight.

Many Tibetans in China accuse the government of religious repression and eroding their culture, as the country's majority Han ethnic group increasingly moves into historically minority areas.

Beijing rejects this, saying Tibetans enjoy religious freedom. The government points to huge on-going investment it says has brought modernisation and a better standard of living to Tibet.

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2Day FM 'didn't check with UK hospital'

THE London hospital that treated Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine says the Australian radio station behind a prank call did not check with them before the hoax was broadcast.

The Sydney station, 2Day FM, said it had tried to contact King Edward VII's Hospital five times to discuss the prank call conducted with two nurses, one of whom, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead on Friday in a suspected suicide.

But a hospital spokesman said: "Following the hoax call, the station did not talk to anyone in hospital senior management or anyone at the company that handles our media inquiries."

The 2Day FM hosts who made the call last week, in which they obtained private details of Kate's acute morning sickness by pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II and William's father Prince Charles, spoke on Monday of their grief at the nurse's death.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who have been in hiding and undergoing counselling since their hoax sparked global outrage, said they were devastated.

Saldanha, a mother-of-two originally from southern India, was found dead in nurses' accommodation near the hospital on Friday.

She had picked up the prank call and put it through to another nurse, who revealed details of Kate's condition.

Results of the post-mortem could be published later on Monday, although the timing has yet to be confirmed, a police spokeswoman said.

Kate, who is thought to be around nine weeks pregnant, spent three days being treated at the hospital.

2Day FM's owner, Southern Cross Austereo, reacted to growing alarm over the story by pulling the two hosts off air until further notice, axing their show, suspending all advertising on 2Day FM until further notice and forbidding any prank calls across its network.

The company, which faced a diving share price and threats of a cyber attack on Monday, expressed its "deep and sincere condolences" to the nurse's family.

"We are very sorry for what has happened," said CEO Rhys Holleran.

"We are also providing support to our people who are deeply saddened by this tragic and unforeseen event."

Greig said she was prepared to attend any inquest in London and see the nurse's family face to face.

"If that's something that they want to do, to get some closure, then I'll do that," she said.

"It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before. This wasn't meant to happen."

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened. I remember my first question was, 'Was she a mother?' I can't imagine what they (the family) would be going through."

Saldanha had two children. Her husband, Ben Barboza, expressed his sadness on his Facebook page with a short note "Obituary Jacintha."

"I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances," he wrote.

He said she will be laid to rest in Shirva, India.

Meanwhile, there were indications that the Duchess of Cambridge was still struggling with acute morning sickness, with her husband, Prince William, cancelling a Sunday night engagement.

Palace officials said her illness means she will probably not attend the UK premiere of The Hobbit film on Wednesday, where she and William are scheduled to be the guests of honour.

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Labor's stock slides in latest Newspoll

AFTER a year in which Labor made some inroads against a more popular opposition, the government is back where it started from - a measly 32 per cent of the primary vote against the coalition's 46 per cent, the latest Newspoll shows.

The Australian newspaper on Tuesday says Labor's primary support climbed as high as 36 per cent during the spring session of federal parliament on the belief the worst was over with the introduction of the carbon tax.

The paper says the AWU slush fund controversy, although fended off by Prime Minister Julia Gillard as smear and sleaze, has taken a toll, whittling its vote to 32 per cent - where it was in February.

On a two-party preferred basis, the Tony Abbott-led coalition has opened a clear election-winning lead of 54 per cent to Labor's 46 per cent.

At the August 2010 election, Labor lost its parliamentary majority with a two-party preferred result of 50.1 per cent to the coalition's 49.9 per cent.

The paper says if an election were held now, based on the Newspoll results, the Gillard government would lose at least 14 seats.

However, Ms Gillard maintains a commanding lead on who would make the better prime minister, leading Mr Abbott by 43 per cent (down three points) to 34 per cent (up one point).

Voter satisfaction for Ms Gillard's performance eased one point to 36 per cent, with dissatisfaction steady at 52 per cent, while satisfaction with Mr Abbott slipped two points to 28 per cent and dissatisfaction falling two points to 59 per cent.

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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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10 dead after army opens fire in S Sudan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Syria-linked clashes kill six in Lebanon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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US drone kills senior al-Qaeda leader

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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New voting law jeopardises coalition seats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Syria rebels seize chunk of Aleppo base

SYRIAN rebels have seized control of a sector of Sheikh Suleiman base west of Aleppo, bringing them closer to holding a large swathe of territory extending to the Turkish border in the north.

The rebels on Sunday took control of Regiment 111 and three other company posts located inside the base after fierce fighting overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Two rebels and one soldier were killed, while five soldiers were captured. The prisoners said that 140 of their men had fled to the scientific research centre on the base," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Sheikh Suleiman sprawls over nearly 200 hectares of rocky hills about 25km from Aleppo city, an area now almost completely under rebel control.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, 10 were reported killed in regime shelling of the town of Maraayan, while five civilians, including a child, were killed as Ahsam village in Idlib province was shelled, the Observatory said.

The Observatory, which relies on a countrywide network of activists and medics, gave an initial toll of 41 people killed nationwide on Sunday, including 19 civilians.

Meanwhile nine state judges and prosecutors have defected to the opposition.

The Observatory says the latest defectors from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad come from the northern city of Adlib.

In video statement, posted online on Sunday, the nine judges identify themselves by name as one of them reads a joint statement and urges others to break ranks with Assad.

Many government officials and army officers have abandoned the regime to join the opposition since the uprising started in March 2011.

Ex-Prime Minister Riad Hijab is the most senior Syrian official to defect so far.

Syria's opposition is dominated by members of the country's Sunni minority. Assad's regime is predominantly Alawite, an offshoot group of Shi'ite Islam.

In all, more than 42,000 people have been killed since the uprising against al-Assad's rule erupted in March last year, according to the Observatory's figures.

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