Bahrain protesters demand departure of PM

THOUSANDS of Shi'ite protesters in Bahrain have demanded a transition government and the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has been premier since 1974, witnesses say.

They said the demonstrators marched in the village of Diya near the capital Manama, chanting "Resign, Khalifa!" and waving Bahraini flags.

The Shi'ite opposition in the tiny Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom is led by al-Wefaq, which wants a government of technocrats to rule in a transition leading to a constitutional monarchy.

Since February last year, Bahrain has been shaken by opposition protests that the authorities accuse of being exploited by Shi'ite Iran across the Gulf.

At least 80 people have died since the start of the unrest in February 2011, according to the International Federation of Human Rights.

The opposition insists that the premier stand down and that the government be headed by the leader of the elected majority in parliament

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Bomber kills 9 at Pakistan political rally

A SUICIDE bomber in Pakistan has killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally, officials say.

The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Pakistani Taliban.

Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician's brother and federal railways minister.

More than 20 others were wounded by the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.

Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack occurred, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.

"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.

The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.

Mohammed Afridi, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call with The Associated Press.

He said the militant group has formed a special wing to attack members of the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Quami Movement, another political party that has opposed the Taliban.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister and a member of the Awami National Party, said both he and Bilour had repeatedly received threats from militants.

He condemned the attack and said the government needed to intensify its battle against the Pakistani Taliban.

"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," said Hussain.

"They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazaars, public meetings and our security checkpoints."

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Kenya deputy PM eyes presidential bid

KENYAN Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity over deadly 2007-08 election violence, says he will run for president in the March vote.

"I have been mandated by (the Jubilee coalition) to be the flag bearer in the March 4 election, and I will never let you down," he said.

The son of Jomo Kenyatta, who is considered the founding father of Kenyan independence, Uhuru Kenyatta has been charged by the ICC over his alleged role in the unrest unleashed after the December 2007 elections that killed at least 1100 people.

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Taliban seek new Afghanistan constitution

AFGHANISTAN'S Taliban has called for a new constitution as a pre-condition for it joining the country's fledgling peace process, according to a declaration issued by representatives at a landmark meeting in France.

Representatives from the country's warring factions met on Thursday for two days of talks that diplomats hope will bolster relations in the war-torn country.

It is the first time since a US-led bombing campaign drove the Taliban from power in 2001 that senior representatives have sat down with officials from the government and other opposition groups to discuss the country's future, in a meeting brokered by a French think tank.

"Afghanistan's present constitution has no value for us because it was made under the shadows of B52 bombers of the invaders," said the declaration, which was handed to participants during the meeting and later released to the media.

"Islamic Emirate, for the welfare of their courageous nation, need a constitution that is based on the principles of the holy religion of Islam, national interest, historical achievements, and social justice," it read.

The meeting in France was organised by the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), and was held behind closed doors at an undisclosed location near Paris.

The talks come against a background of accelerating efforts to draw the Taliban and other opponents of President Hamid Karzai into negotiations on how Afghanistan will be run after foreign troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

Karzai's government has drawn up a roadmap for peace which involves persuading the Taliban and other insurgent groups to agree to a ceasefire as a prelude to becoming peaceful players in the country's nascent democracy.

As a first step in that direction, Karzai's administration has been attempting to secure the release of top Taliban prisoners held by neighbouring Pakistan.

Despite the landmark meeting, the Taliban's declaration continued to display a lack of trust in the government.

"The invaders and their friends don't have a clear roadmap for peace," it stated.

"Sometimes they say we want to talk to the Islamic Emirate, but sometimes they say we will talk with Pakistan. This kind of vague stance will never get to peace," it said.

To date the Taliban has refused to negotiate with the government, which it regards as a puppet of the United States.

Discussions with US officials were suspended in March.

In France the Taliban was represented by their senior figures Shahabuddin Dilawar and Naeem Wardak, a move seen as a sign that the Islamist group is contemplating going beyond exploratory discussions.

The Taliban, who ruled in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, were ousted from power by a US-led invasion and have since waged an 11-year insurgency to topple the US-supported government of Karzai.

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Punish those who shot UN chopper: Russia

RUSSIA has urged South Sudan to punish those responsible for shooting down a UN peacekeeping helicopter and killing all four Russian crew members aboard, in an attack condemned by the international community.

"We call on the government of South Sudan to carry out the necessary investigation, punish the guilty and take every measure to guarantee that this never happens again," the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website after Friday's incident.

A South Sudan military spokesman said troops fired anti-aircraft guns at the Russian Mi-8 believing it was a rebel helicopter carrying weapons to anti-government forces in the world's newest country.

The United Nations said the aircraft was hit while on a "reconnaissance flight" over the Likuangole district of the eastern Jonglei state.

"The tragic event in this African country raises with new urgency the question of the security of UN peacekeeping missions," the Russian ministry said, attributing the helicopter downing to "blunders".

"The governments of countries that accept missions and carry the main responsibility for the security of UN peacekeepers must approach this problem with all seriousness and recognise all the possible consequences of blunders," it said.

It cited South Sudan officials as saying the helicopter was downed "despite the fact that the UN mission informed the local command about the planned flight as usual".

"The mission was guaranteed complete safety," the ministry said.

Russian television named the men who died as commander Sergei Ilyin, second pilot Alfir Abrarov, flight engineer Sergei Yegorov and cabin attendant and radio operator Nikolai Shpanov.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon, as well as the UN Security Council, had vehemently condemned the attack.

He said on Friday it was a "clearly marked" UN aircraft and demanded that those responsible be brought to account.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also said in a statement on Saturday that she "deplores" the attack and "calls on the government of South Sudan to give full cooperation in the investigation of this very serious incident".

Jongeli state has been stricken by ethnic strife since South Sudan became independent from Khartoum in July last year, becoming a base for rebellion against the new government.

The Mi-8 helicopter is a hardy workhorse model that was developed in the 1960s and is still being made in a modified version today.

It can carry up to 28 passengers or be used to transport cargo.

The downed aircraft belonged to the Nizhnevartovsk-Avia air company based in the Western Siberian town of Nizhnevartovsk.

The company was working on a contract with the United Nations, acting director Sergei Bakunin said in televised comments.

"They are fine pilots. The commander had more flight experience than the others: around 7000 hours. He went through Afghanistan, so he had great experience," he said.

The company had been working in South Sudan since March this year when Russian troops that had been servicing flights since 2006 left the region, Russian television reported.

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Obama to nominate Kerry as secretary of state

US President Barack Obama will nominate Senator John Kerry, a veteran foreign policy hand and former presidential candidate, as his next secretary of state on Friday, a US official told AFP.

An official announcement on the appointment of the Vietnam war veteran who will succeed Hillary Clinton as the top US diplomat was expected later on Friday, the official said.

Kerry, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to win easy confirmation from his colleagues in the chamber, and is a well known figure on the world stage.

The Massachusetts senator has rehabilitated his career since narrowly losing the 2004 presidential race to president George W. Bush, after a campaign that included savage attacks on his career as a swift boat commander in Vietnam.

Kerry's appointment was seen as almost a certainty after UN ambassador Susan Rice pulled out of the running for the job, over Republican attacks on her role in the aftermath of the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi.

The Massachusetts senator played an important role in Obama's political career, notably by picking him to give the keynote speech in the 2004 Democratic convention, at which the then unknown Illinois lawmaker burst onto the political scene.

Kerry also played Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in mock debates staged by the president's team ahead of Obama's successful re-election effort in November.

Clinton has said she wished to step down after Obama begins his second term in office next month and her replacement is confirmed.

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Syria 'firing Scud-style missiles'

THE Syrian regime has fired Scud-style missiles against rebels, NATO said on Friday, as Palestinians forced to flee their Damascus camp returned after a reported deal to keep out of the Syrian conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, raised the alarm over the risks of chaos in Syria, 21 months into an anti-regime revolt that monitors says has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The army's use of Scud-type missiles against rebel forces, according to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was an act of desperation.

"I can confirm that we have detected the launch of Scud-type missiles; we strongly regret that act," Rasmussen said. "I consider it an act of a desperate regime approaching collapse."

The latest launches were detected on Thursday, a source close to NATO said.

In Damascus, Palestinian refugees streamed back into their Yarmuk camp after a reported deal to keep it out of Syria's conflict, following fierce clashes earlier this week.

An AFP correspondent heard sporadic shooting early on Friday and a main road was blocked with rocks to keep out cars, although a van full of passengers still entered through a side street.

"We returned because we have had enough of being humiliated," one of them said. "We lost our land (Palestine) but we don't want to lose our homes and live in tents like our parents."

The fighting forced about 100,000 of Yarmuk's 150,000 to flee the camp, many taking refuge in the parks and squares of Damascus, said UNRWA, the relief agency for Palestinian refugees.

Residents were called to attend weekly Muslim prayers on Friday at the camp's Abdel Qader al-Husseini mosque, which has been cleaned up after a regime air strike last Sunday that killed eight people.

The exception was the bombed out headquarters of the pro-regime Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has been battling against anti-Assad rebels.

Talks began on Wednesday aimed at removing both rebel and pro-government fighters from Yarmuk in southern Damascus.

Newspapers in neighbouring Lebanon said an agreement had been reached under the auspices of Mokhtar Lamani, the representative of UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

The UN's World Food Programme, meanwhile, said it was to start providing food to 125,000 "vulnerable Palestinians and displaced Syrians" caught up in and around Yarmuk.

In flashpoints across Syria, violence raged on Friday, a day after at least 134 people were killed, among them 56 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

According to a preliminary count, at least 50 people were killed on Friday, said the Britain-based monitoring group.

Despite the violence, protesters took to the streets in several anti-regime areas, renewing calls for the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the watchdog said.

At an EU-Russia summit in Brussels, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow does not want "chaos" in Syria and that it looked forward to seeing a democratic regime in the war-torn nation.

"We will try to pursue the public order in Syria and look forward to a democratic regime in Syria because this country is close to our borders," he said at a news conference, according to an English translation of his words.

"We wouldn't like chaos in that country," he added. "Everyone is interested in stopping the violence and the bloodshed."

Putin for the second time in two days denied propping up Assad's regime and appeared to acknowledge the possibility of change, saying: "We do not advocate the government of Syria."

He insisted however that a solution must be found between all parties at the negotiating table to take into account the views "of all the citizens."

In Moscow the previous day, Putin said Russia was not concerned about Assad's fate but "we understand that the family has been in power for 40 years and there is a need for change."

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Gunmen kidnap three tourists in Yemen

GUNMEN kidnapped three tourists in Yemen's capital and drove off with them to an unknown location, a security official told AFP, adding that their nationalities were not yet known.

"Four masked gunmen in a vehicle attacked a shop in central Sanaa and abducted three foreign tourists -- a woman and two men," said the official, adding that the tourists were taken away at gunpoint.

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'God only knows' on fiscal cliff

US House Speaker John Boehner says he's still open to talks with US President Barack Obama on avoiding the double economic hit of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts but he needs Mr Obama to compromise more.

Mr Boehner spoke to reporters overnight, hours after his rank-and-file Republicans handed him a bitter defeat.

Mr Boehner was forced to pull his bill to raise taxes on millionaires because he didn't have the votes for passage.

He said he didn't know how the so-called "fiscal cliff" would be avoided. Said Mr Boehner: "How we get there, God only knows."

Mr Boehner expressed no concern about his standing as speaker.

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Madoff's brother gets 10 years in jail

THE brother of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 10 years in prison for crimes committed in the shadow of his notorious sibling by a judge who said she disbelieved his claims that he did not know about the epic fraud.

Peter Madoff, 67, had agreed when he pleaded guilty in June to serve the maximum sentence allowable to the charges of conspiracy and falsifying the books and records of an investment adviser.

He follows to prison his 74-year-old brother, who is serving a 150-year sentence after admitting he created a fraud so large decades ago that thousands of people lost a combined $20 billion.

US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain urged Peter Madoff to tell the truth even now about what he knows about the fraud that cost thousands of investors their original $US20 billion investment.

The judge said Peter Madoff, wearing a well-tailored charcoal suit, was "frankly not believable" when he claimed at his plea that he only learned of the fraud when his brother revealed it to him just before he surrendered to authorities.

Peter Madoff spoke only briefly, saying: "I am deeply ashamed of my conduct and have tried to atone by pleading guilty and have agreed to forfeit all of my present and future assets."

He added: "I am profoundly sorry that my failures let many people down, including my loved ones."

Two investors, among 40 who wrote victim impact statements, spoke during the proceeding, each describing the financial ruins of their extended family.

Investor Michael T. De Vita, 62, also called for truth, saying he believed "it to be physically impossible for a single person to carry out such a gargantuan task all by himself."

Mr De Vita said investors "have waited four years for others to accept responsibility for this massive crime. We are still waiting for that today."

"All of this was preventable if only one person was willing to do the right thing and stop this in its tracks years ago. Peter Madoff could have been that person," he said.

Amy Luria Nissenbaum, 49, choking up at times, also complained that Peter Madoff had chosen even after his plea to "turn a blind eye" to his brother's fraud, saying her home was in foreclosure and some days she struggles to "clothe and feed my children."

Ms Nissenbaum said Peter Madoff was part of his brother's fraud for more than 30 years and he should serve the same amount of time in prison.

When Judge Swain announced that Peter Madoff will not have to report to prison until Feb. 6, Ms Nissenbaum laughed out loud bitterly. The delay in reporting to prison will let Peter Madoff attend his granddaughter's Bat Mitzvah on Jan. 19.

The judge noted that 10 years was the maximum sentence allowed by the charges to which Madoff had pled and repeatedly urged Madoff to relieve the pain of investors by revealing more about the Madoff business.

"I challenge you to be honest about all that you have done and all that you have seen. In other words, all that you know," she said.

The magnitude of the damage done by the Madoffs cannot be underestimated, she said.

"Trust in financial institutions, thousands of individual lives and numerous charitable organisations have been blown apart," she said.

Assistant US Attorney Lisa Baroni said it would have been easy for Peter Madoff to blow the whistle on the fraud.

Instead, she said, he even conspired with his brother on how to distribute the remaining $US300 million in the company's accounts to family, friends and favoured clients before the FBI put an end to the fraud by arresting his brother.

The sentencing comes four years and a week after Bernard Madoff first revealed the fraud, which occurred as the former NASDAQ chairman built a reputation for delivering unparalleled investment results, even in bad times. The revelation came only days after the business sent out statements that made investors think their investments had grown to a total of more than $US65 billion.

Peter Madoff said at his plea that he had no idea his brother was running a massive Ponzi scheme, paying off longtime investors at times with money from newer investors.

"My family was torn apart as a result of my brother's atrocious conduct," he said. "I was reviled by strangers as well as friends who assumed that I knew about the Ponzi scheme."

But he conceded that he followed his brother's instructions and helped him decide which favoured friends, clients and family members would receive the $US300 million that remained in the company's accounts. The checks were never sent.

Peter Madoff, who joined his brother's firm after graduating from Fordham Law School in 1970, has been free on $5 million bail after he agreed to surrender all of his assets.

Prior to sentencing, his lawyer, John Wing, said in a memorandum that Peter Madoff will "almost certainly live out his remaining days as a jobless pariah, in or out of prison."

He called him a victim of his loyalty to his brother, saying he had been mistreated by the sibling who was eight years older and was viewed as "the prince" by his mother.

As part of a forfeiture agreement, Peter Madoff's wife, Marion, and daughter Shana must forfeit nearly all of their assets. The government said those assets and assets that will be forfeited by other family members include several homes, a Ferrari and more than $US10 million in cash and securities. It said his wife will be left with $US771,733. Besides the Madoff brothers, no other family members have been arrested.

Though Madoff had been the firm's chief compliance officer for nearly four decades, the government marked his start in the conspiracy as 1996, when he created false and misleading compliance documents and false reports for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The crime worsened after August 2006, when the business was registered with the SEC as an investment adviser, requiring annual filings to guide the SEC's examination programs. Prosecutors say Madoff made "numerous false statements" to create the false appearance that the business represented a small number of highly sophisticated clients.

Since the fraud was revealed, a court-appointed trustee has reached agreements to recover approximately $US9.3 billion and is hoping to recover another $US3 billion over the next 18 months. About $US3 billion has been approved for redistribution to victims through an ongoing claims process.

Besides his brother, Peter Madoff is among six who have pleaded guilty in the case, including the former finance chief, a payroll manager, an accountant, a comptroller and a securities trader.

Five others face trial next year, including Bernard Madoff's longtime secretary. All have pleaded not guilty.

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Patriarch 'dismayed' at holy site attacks

THE head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land expressed "dismay" at a wave of attacks on local Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious sites over the past year.

In his Christmas message, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Fuad Twal, noted "an increase in a certain religious radicalism," with church data showing 21 acts of vandalism, arson and desecration of mosques, churches, synagogues and cemeteries since December 21, 2011.

"I reiterate my dismay at the desecration of churches, convents, synagogues and cemeteries that offends everyone," Patriarch Twal said.

"We must take out the evil at its root by educating our youth in all schools."

The most recent attack was discovered on December 12, after vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on Jerusalem's Monastery of the Cross and at an Armenian cemetery overnight, in an apparent hate crime by Jewish extremists.

There have also been acts of arson and graffiti, including the painting of Nazi swastikas at synagogues, allegedly perpetrated by Muslims.

Repeated incidents of arson and anti-Islamic graffiti against mosques have been linked to the "price tag" campaign of Israeli extremists opposed to state moves to dismantle unauthorised settler outposts.

Of late they have become increasingly unrelated to any specific government measures.

The patriarch also made mention of the conflict in Syria, which activists say has killed more than 43,000 people in 21 months.

"The joy of Christmas is overshadowed by the staggering violence in Syria," he said. "We are full of compassion for the victims."

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Central bank boss quits over fake degree

ECUADOR'S central bank president has resigned over revelations he used a bogus university degree to get into a graduate school and study business.

Pedro Delgado acknowledged he never completed his economics studies at Ecuador's Catholic University and fabricated a diploma later to gain admission to a business school called INCAE, in Costa Rica.

"I made a mistake, a very serious mistake, 22 years ago," Mr Delgado said on television Wednesday night.

"I made the wrong decision and, in order to achieve my academic goal, I made a mistake that is now costing me dearly."

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, who is Mr Delgado's cousin, said Mr Delgado's dishonesty had dealt a serious blow to his government.

It was INCAE that first started investigating Mr Delgado and passed on its findings to the Quito government, which confirmed the central banker had no undergraduate degree and made as if he did.

Mr Delgado had run the central bank since November 2011.

He was also in charge of monitoring companies seized by the state over unpaid debt, and has been accused by opposition groups of a number of improprieties including attempts to coordinate financial activities with Iran.

"Nothing was found because all these accusations were fabricated to damage the image of the one who leads the revolution," Mr Delgado said of these other charges and alluding to Mr Correa.

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55 dead or missing in boat capsize

FIFTY-FIVE Somalis and Ethiopians have drowned or are missing after their boat capsized off Somalia in the worst such disaster in the area in almost two years, the United Nations says.

The UN refugee agency said on Thursday the incident represents "the biggest loss of life" in the Gulf of Aden since February 2011, when 57 Somali refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa drowned while attempting to reach Yemen.

"Twenty-three bodies have been recovered. The 32 remaining passengers are presumed to have drowned," UNHCR said.

At least five people survived Tuesday's accident.

The boat was overcrowded and capsized just 15 minutes after leaving the port of Bosasso in Somalia's northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland on Tuesday.

Some 100,000 people have crossed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden this year, despite warnings about the risks such trips involve, the agency said.

In addition to using unseaworthy and overcrowded boats, those fleeing the Horn of Africa often fall prey to unscrupulous smugglers, in whose hands they can face exploitation, extortion and even death, the agency warned.

It said 95 people have drowned or gone missing in the waters between Somalia and Yemen this year.

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Oil prices fall in absence of fiscal deal

GLOBAL oil prices have dipped as Democrats and Republicans remain locked in a stalemate over a deal to resolve the US fiscal cliff, analysts say.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February slid 25 cents to $US89.73 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for February reversed 28 cents to $US110.08 a barrel in London afternoon deals on Thursday.

"Crude oil prices slid lower on Thursday, in a healthy correction, after a recent rally that dominated the oil market in the last few days," said analyst Myrto Sokou at brokerage Sucden Financial Research.

"The general momentum is slightly bearish today, with European equity markets reporting renewed losses as 'fiscal cliff' sentiment worsened somewhat with Obama threatening to veto Boehner's 'Plan B', heightening chances that it would not pass through the Democrat-controlled Senate."

With less than two weeks to go before the fiscal cliff of huge tax hikes and deep spending cuts is due to take effect, US lawmakers have still not reached a compromise budget deal to cut the nation's deficit with less painful measures.

Traders remain fearful that the fiscal cliff - due to be implemented on January 1 - could plunge the world's biggest economy back into recession and ravage global oil demand.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he and the Republicans had narrowed differences to "a few hundred billion dollars". But a deal remains elusive.

Republicans are loath to raise taxes, while Democrats do not want to cut spending on programs such as Medicare.

House Speaker John Boehner, the Republican negotiating with the president, has said he is willing to extend tax breaks for everyone earning less than $US1 million ($A957,400) per year. Obama has said, however, he is willing to go no higher than $US400,000.

Boehner announced on Wednesday that he will move to pass his measure, which he describes as his "Plan B", through the House on Thursday but Obama warned he would veto the legislation.

Meanwhile traders shrugged off official data on Thursday showing that the US economy grew 3.1 per cent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated.

Gross domestic product growth in the July-September period was revised upward from prior estimates of 2.7 per cent and 2.0 per cent.

The higher figure reflects upward revisions to consumer spending, exports and government outlays, and downward revision to imports.

"The US GDP data were fairly robust but failed to provide some upside momentum to the oil market as the main focus has been switched to the US fiscal cliff talks," added Sokou.

"Crude oil prices continue to post renewed losses, as risk appetite is limited."

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Brazil cuts GDP growth forecast

BRAZIL'S Central Bank has cut its GDP growth forecast for 2012 from 1.6 per cent to one per cent, confirming a marked slowdown in Latin America's biggest economy.

In September, the bank had already revised its forecast downward from 2.5 per cent to 1.6 per cent.

On Thursday, the bank also revised its inflation estimate for 2012 to 5.7 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent. The new projection is well above the official target of 4.5 per cent.

Market analysts have been predicting 1.5 per cent GDP growth for Brazil this year, a projection similar to one by the International Monetary Fund in October.

The IMF also expects Brazil to fare worse than its partners in the BRICS bloc of emerging powers, predicting 7.8 per cent growth for China, 4.9 per cent for India, 3.7 per cent for Russia and 2.6 per cent for South Africa.

Brazil's economy grew just 0.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the previous three months, signalling a weaker than anticipated recovery, the Brazilian statistics office said late last month.

The economy lost steam last year due to the global slowdown, with GDP growth at 2.7 per cent, down from a sizzling 7.5 per cent in 2010.

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Minogue and Donovan on stage for duet

KYLIE Minogue and Jason Donovan will end more than two decades of anticipation in London this week when they team up on stage for the first live performance of their number one hit, Especially For You.

The former Ramsay Street sweethearts will be the centrepiece of Friday night's Hit Factory Live concert in the English capital as they present their much-loved duet.

Concert organisers this week revealed Minogue's involvement, having previously advertised only a "very special guest".

"The Hit Factory audience are in for a very special treat as Kylie Minogue is confirmed to bring the show to an unforgettable end by performing with Jason (Donovan) on Especially For You," a statement said.

"They last performed it together in 1989."

The concert celebrates the work of songwriting and production team Stock Aitken Waterman, which penned several hits including Especially For You.

Released in November 1988 - after Minogue had left the cast of Neighbours where she played the part of Charlene alongside Donovan's character Scott - the single achieved prolonged chart success in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, along with other European countries.

A spokeswoman for Hit Factory confirmed the pair has never performed the song live, although Minogue has included the tune in some of her tours and sang the duet with Kermit the Frog for a TV special in 2001.

Minogue and Donovan's reunion was initially scheduled for July but the outdoor Hit Factory concert had to be postponed due to rain.

Before the delay, Minogue had spoken of the hype she expected as she took to the stage with her former Neighbours husband.

"I don't think we'll even need to sing it. I'm sure the audience all went through the Neighbours wedding. It's going to bring the house down," she told Glamour magazine.

Especially For You will end a concert which will see performances by Bananarama, Rick Astley, Steps, Dead or Alive, Sinitta and others.

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Outrage grows in India over bus gang-rape

THE hours-long gang-rape and near-fatal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi has triggered outrage and anger across the country as Indians demand action from authorities who have long ignored persistent violence and harassment against women.

In the streets and in parliament, calls rose for stringent and swift punishment against those attacking women, including a proposal to make rapists eligible for the death penalty. As the calls for action grew louder, two more gang-rapes were reported, including one in which the 10-year-old victim was killed.

"I feel it is sick what is happening across the country.It is totally sick, and it needs to stop," said Smitha, a 32-year-old protester who goes by only one name.

Thousands of demonstrators clogged the streets in front of New Delhi's police headquarters, protested near parliament and rallied outside a major university. Angry university students set up roadblocks across the city, causing massive traffic jams.

Hundreds rallied outside the home of the city's top elected official before police dispersed them with water cannons, a move that earned further condemnation from opposition leaders, who accused the government of being insensitive.

"We want to jolt people awake from the cozy comfort of their cars. We want people to feel the pain of what women go through every day," said Aditi Roy, a Delhi University student.

As protests raged in cities across India, at least two girls were gang-raped, with one of them killed.

Police on Wednesday fished out the body of a 10-year old girl from a canal in Bihar state's Saharsa district. Police superintendent Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said the girl had been gang-raped and killed and her body dumped in the canal. Police were investigating and a breakthrough was expected soon, Satyarthi said.

Elsewhere, a 14 -year old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men, said Jyoti Kumar, the district education officer.

The men have been identified, but police were yet to make any arrests, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old victim of the first rape lay in critical condition in the hospital with severe internal injuries, doctors said.

Police said six men raped the woman and savagely beat her and her companion with iron rods on a bus driving around the city - passing through several police checkpoints - before stripping them and dumping them on the side of the road Sunday night.

Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar said four men have been arrested and a search was underway for the other two.

Rapes in India remain drastically underreported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police. Police themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.

In a sign of the protesters' fury, Khushi Pattanaik, a student, said death was too easy a punishment for the rapists, they should instead be castrated and forced to suffer as their victim did.

"It should be made public so that you see it, you feel it and you also live with i. The kind of shame and guilt," she said.

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US stocks mainly lower

US stocks have drifted mostly lower in early trade as investors eye Washington's budget impasse amid a looming deadline.

In the first 30 minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 9.82 points (0.07 per cent) at 13,341.14.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 2.73 (0.19 per cent) to 1444.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dipped 3.81 points (0.113 per cent) at 3050.93.

The markets were watching President Barack Obama and top Republican John Boehner in their effort to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January, but differences remain.

Experts say failure to reach a deal could drag the world's biggest economy back into recession.

On Tuesday, the Dow gained 0.87 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.15 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.46 per cent.

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Dictator's daughter new SKorea president

SOUTH Korea has elected its first female president, handing a slim but historic victory to conservative ruling party candidate Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country's former military ruler.

As leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy, Park, 60, will face numerous challenges, handling a belligerent North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.

With 85 per cent of the national vote counted, Park had an insurmountable lead of 51.6 per cent to 48 per cent over her liberal rival, Moon Jae-In of the main opposition party.

The election was largely fought on domestic economic issues, with both candidates offering similar policies as they went in search of centrist voters beyond their conservative and liberal bases.

Park had pushed a message of "economic democratisation" - a campaign buzzword about reducing the social disparities thrown up by rapid economic development - and promised to create new jobs and increase welfare spending.

"I will be a president who fulfils in every way the promises I made to the people," Park told cheering, flag-waving supporters at an open-air victory celebration in central Seoul.

However she had been far more cautious than Moon about the need to rein in the power of the giant family-run conglomerates, or "chaebol", that dominate the national economy.

On North Korea, Park has promised a dual policy of greater engagement and "robust deterrence", and held out the prospect of a summit with the North's young leader Kim Jong-Un, who came to power a year ago.

She also signalled a willingness to resume the humanitarian aid to Pyongyang suspended by current President Lee Myung-Bak.

But she will be restricted by hawkish forces in her New Frontier Party as well as an international community intent on punishing North Korea for its long-range rocket launch last week.

To some extent Wednesday's election was seen as a referendum on the legacy of Park's father, Park Chung-Hee.

More than three decades after he was assassinated, Park remains one of modern Korea's most polarising figures - admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of military rule.

He was shot dead by his spy chief in 1979. Park's mother had been killed five years earlier by a pro-North Korea gunman aiming for her father.

In an effort at reconciliation, Park publicly acknowledged the excesses of her father's regime during her campaign and apologised to the families of its victims.

"I believe that it is an unchanging value of democracy that ends cannot justify the means in politics," she said.

Despite freezing temperatures that hovered around -10 Celsius, the election was marked by a high turnout of nearly 76 per cent, compared to 63 per cent in the 2007 presidential poll.

It was a bitter defeat for Moon, 59, the son of North Korean refugees and a former human rights lawyer who was once jailed for protesting against Park Chung-Hee's rule.

"I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics," Moon told reporters outside his Seoul residence.

"I humbly accept the outcome of the election," he added

Park, 60, never married and has no children - a fact that makes her popular with voters tired of corruption scandals surrounding their first families.

A female president will be a huge change for a country that the World Economic Forum recently ranked 108th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality - one place below the United Arab Emirates and just above Kuwait.

"I can't even describe how happy I am right now. I feel like crying," said Cha In-Hong, a 57-year-old office worker.

"Park Geun-Hye has married our nation. Now she will go on her honeymoon to the Blue House to begin governing," Cha said.

Park's presidential inauguration will be held on February 25.

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Pakistan: 8 polio workers killed in 2 days

GUNMEN have shot dead a woman working on UN-backed polio vaccination efforts and her driver in northwestern Pakistan, officials say, raising to eight the number of people killed in the last 48 hours who were part of the immunisation drive.

The attack on the woman was one of five that took place on polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday. One male polio worker was critically wounded, while the others managed to escape unharmed.

The recent killings prompted the UN's public health arm to suspend work on the vaccination drive in two of Pakistan's four provinces on Wednesday, a major setback for a campaign that international health officials consider vital to contain the crippling disease but which Taliban insurgents say is a cover for espionage.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani Taliban because of their virulent opposition to the polio campaign, but the group's spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, denied responsibility in a telephone call to The Associated Press.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is endemic. Prevention efforts have managed to reduce the number of cases in Pakistan by around 70 per cent this year compared to 2011. But the recent violence threatens to reverse that progress.

Militants accuse health workers of acting as spies for the US and claim the vaccine makes children sterile. Taliban commanders in the troubled northwest tribal region have also said vaccinations can't go forward until the US stops drone strikes in the country.

Insurgent opposition to the campaign grew last year after it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor ran a fake vaccination program to help the CIA track down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in the town of Abbottabad in the country's northwest.

The number of attacks this week on polio workers is unprecedented. They came as the government started a three-day vaccination drive on Monday targeting high risk areas of the country, part of an effort to immunise millions of children under the age of five.

The deadliest of Wednesday's attacks occurred in the northwestern town of Charsadda, where the female polio worker and her driver were gunned down, said senior government official Syed Zafar Ali Shah. Gunmen attacked two other polio teams in Charsadda and one in the town of Nowshera, but no one was hurt in those attacks, he said.

Earlier in the day, gunmen shot a polio worker in the head in the city of Peshawar, wounding him critically, said Janbaz Afridi, a senior health official in surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

On Tuesday, gunmen killed five female polio workers - three of them teenagers - in a series of attacks in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, and a village outside Peshawar. Two men who were working alongside the women were critically wounded in those attacks. A male polio worker was also shot to death in Karachi on Monday.

Maryam Yunus, a spokeswoman for the UN World Health Organization in Pakistan, said the group's polio staff have been pulled back from the field in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and asked to work from home until the vaccination campaign ends Wednesday.

Officials in Karachi temporarily suspended the vaccination campaign in the city after the shootings on Tuesday, but the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government ploughed ahead, not wanting to be cowed by the violence.

Several dozen polio workers and human rights activists protested against the killings in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday and demanded security for the field staff.

The Pakistani government and the UN have also condemned the attacks, saying they deprive Pakistan's most vulnerable populations - specifically children - of basic life-saving health interventions.

Polio usually infects children living in unsanitary conditions, attacks the nerves and can kill or paralyse. A total of 56 polio cases have been reported in Pakistan during 2012, down from 190 the previous year, according to the UN. Most of the new cases in Pakistan are in the northwest, where the presence of militants makes it difficult to reach children.

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Gunmen kill 5 polio workers in Pakistan

GUNMEN have shot dead five women working on UN-backed polio vaccination efforts in two different Pakistani cities, officials say, a major setback for a campaign that international health officials consider vital to contain the crippling disease but which Taliban insurgents say is a cover for espionage.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is endemic. Militants however accuse health workers of acting as spies for the US and claim the vaccine makes children sterile. Taliban commanders in the troubled northwest tribal region have also said vaccinations can't go forward until the US stops drone strikes in the country.

Insurgent opposition to the campaign grew last year after it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor ran a fake vaccination program to help the CIA track down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in the town of Abbottabad in the country's northwest.

The Taliban have targeted previous anti-polio campaigns, but this has been a particularly deadly week. The government is in the middle of a three-day vaccination drive targeting high risk areas of the country as part of an effort to immunise millions of children under the age of five.

The women who were killed on Tuesday - three of whom were teenagers - were all shot in the head at close range. Four of them were gunned down in the southern port city of Karachi, and the fifth in a village outside the northwest city of Peshawar. Two men who were working alongside the women were also critically wounded in Karachi.

The attacks in Karachi were well-coordinated and occurred within 15 minutes in three different areas of the city that are far apart, said police spokesman Imran Shoukat. In each case, the gunmen used nine millimetre pistols. Two of the women were teenagers, aged 18 and 19, and the other two were in their 40s, he said.

Two of the women were killed while they were in a house giving children polio drops, said Shoukat. The other two were travelling between houses when they were attacked, he said.

On Monday another person working on the anti-polio campaign, a male volunteer, was gunned down in Karachi. Taliban militants also killed three soldiers in an ambush of an army convoy escorting a vaccination team in the northwest.

Officials in Karachi responded to the attacks by suspending the vaccination campaign in the city, said Sagheer Ahmed, the health minister for surrounding Sindh province. The campaign started on Monday and was supposed to run until Wednesday, he said.

Immunisation was suspended in Karachi in July as well after a local volunteer was shot to death and two UN staff were wounded.

Janbaz Afridi, a senior health official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the fifth woman was killed, said the shootings would not stop the local government from continuing its vaccination program in the province and the neighbouring tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country.

"These incidents are depressing and may cause difficulties in the anti-polio drive, but people should not lose heart," said Afridi. "The government is very serious, and we are determined to eliminate polio despite all odds and difficult conditions."

Also on Tuesday, two men on a motorcycle hurled hand grenades at the main gate of an army recruiting centre in the northwestern town of Risalpur, wounding 10 people, including civilians and security personnel, said senior police official Ghulam Mohammed.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of assaults in recent days that illustrate the continued challenge Pakistan faces from militants despite multiple military operations against the Pakistani Taliban and their supporters.

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Funerals continue; some return to school

MOST children in Newtown have returned to school for the first time as the toll of funerals for the 26 dead continues on a grey, wet day.

The national debate on gun control sharpened as a prominent investor said it would sell shares in the company that makes the rifle thought to be used in Friday's shooting.

At least one funeral was planned for one of the 20 young students - six-year-old Jessica Rekos - as well as several wakes, including one for teacher Victoria Soto, who has been praised as a hero for sacrificing herself to save several students in one of the worst mass shootings in US history.

Security remained high, and the small, affluent Connecticut community was still on edge.

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management announced it would sell its stake in major arms manufacturer Freedom Group, saying in a statement, "It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level."

And the mystery of why a smart but severely withdrawn 20-year-old, Adam Lanza, shot his mother to death in bed before rampaging through Sandy Hook Elementary, killing 20 children ages six and seven, was as deep as ever.

The first two children, including the youngest victim, were buried on Monday, the first of a long, almost unbearable procession of funerals as the rest of the country prepared for the Christmas holidays.

Classes resumed on Tuesday for Newtown schools except those at Sandy Hook, where the school will remain closed indefinitely.

"It's the right thing to do. You have to send your kids back. But at the same time I'm worried," said Dan Capodicci, whose 10-year-old daughter attends another local school. "We need to get back to normal."

Investigators say Lanza had no ties to the school he attacked, and they have found no letters or diaries that could explain why he targeted it. He forced into the school shortly after its front door locked as part of a new security measure. He wore all black and is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, a civilian version of the military's M-16. Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in the US under the 1994 assault weapons ban, but the law expired in 2004.

Debora Seifert, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said both Lanza and his mother fired at shooting ranges and visited ranges together.

At the White House on Monday, spokesman Jay Carney said curbing gun violence is a complex problem that will require a "comprehensive solution." He did not mention specific proposals to follow up on President Barack Obama's call for "meaningful action."

New York City's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, perhaps the most outspoken advocate for gun control in US politics, again pressed Obama and Congress to toughen gun laws and tighten enforcement.

"If this doesn't do it," he asked, "what is going to?"

At least one senator, Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, said on Monday that the attack has led him to rethink his opposition to the ban on assault weapons. And West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who is an avid hunter and lifelong member of the powerful National Rifle Association, said it's time to move beyond the political rhetoric and begin an honest discussion about reasonable restrictions on guns.

In Newtown on Monday, minds were on mourning.

Two funeral homes filled for Jack Pinto and the youngest victim, Noah Pozner, who turned six just two weeks ago.

A rabbi presided at Noah's service, and in keeping with Jewish tradition, the boy was laid to rest in a simple brown wooden casket with a Star of David on it.

"I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room," Noah's mother, Veronique Pozner, said at the service, according to remarks the family provided to The Associated Press. Both services were closed to the news media.

Noah's twin, Arielle, who was assigned to a different classroom, survived the killing frenzy.

At six-year-old Jack Pinto's Christian service, hymns rang out from inside the funeral home, where the boy lay in an open casket.

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Fresh protests in Egypt over constitution

EGYPT'S opposition has launched fresh protests in a last-minute bid to scuttle a draft constitution pushed by President Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist backers ahead of a second round of voting.

Hundreds of people had already begun gathering in Cairo by late afternoon ahead of the evening rallies, AFP correspondents reported.

The biggest were set for outside the presidential palace and in the capital's iconic protest hub Tahrir Square as the opposition sought to mobilise voters against the draft charter in Saturday's second leg.

They add to weeks of street unrest that have challenged Morsi's authority.

Early this month, clashes between pro and anti-Morsi supporters killed eight people and wounded hundreds, and prompted the army to deploy troops and tanks around the palace.

The head of the military, Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, warned against the nation becoming so politically polarised.

"The divisions are affecting the economy and threaten social peace, requiring of us solidarity, renouncing differences and putting public interests first," Sissi was quoted as saying.

The opposition National Salvation Front coalition was urging Egyptians to protest against the draft constitution and denounce what it said was "rigging" in the first round of voting last weekend by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

"We do not agree with this constitution. We don't recognise the referendum as valid," said one opposition protester near the palace, Ayyoub Laouindi.

"The constitution is void, the referendum is void. Egyptians' voices have been falsified and the ballot boxes been stuffed," said another, Suzanne Esmat, a tourist guide.

The justice ministry responded to the opposition's fraud allegations by saying it was appointing judges to investigate.

Unofficial tallies showed 57 per cent of ballots counted from first-round voting in Cairo and nine other regions backed the draft charter, suggesting the text would be adopted in the second round when the other half of the country votes.

Many of Egypt's 21,000 judges also kept up their pressure on Morsi, charging that he was trying to undermine their independence.

On Monday, the State Council Judges Club grouping nearly 1000 top judges announced it would boycott supervision of the second round of voting. It joined an estimated 12,000 judges who already boycotted the first round.

And a protest by hundreds of prosecutors the same day forced the resignation of the prosecutor general, Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah, appointed less than a month ago by Morsi.

"This is undoubtedly a new crisis for Mohammed Morsi, showing that his decisions are not accepted by large sectors of the state system," a political science professor at Cairo University, Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, told AFP.

"They might have let the president get away with it, if he had made a good choice, but the person he chose (Abdallah) acted in a way giving the impression he was breaking laws and at the beck and call of the president's party," the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Sayyed said.

Morsi's camp argues the new charter is needed to bring stability to Egypt after months of turmoil following the early 2011 revolution that toppled veteran leader Hosni Mubarak.

But the opposition is scathing of the document, which was written largely by Islamists, believing it weakens human rights protections, particularly for women, and sets the stage for a creeping advance towards Islamic sharia law.

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UK judge rules cancer boy operation

A JUDGE has ruled that a seven-year-old British boy with cancer could undergo more surgery despite his mother's opposition, which had led her to run away with her son earlier this month.

High Court judge David Bodey ruled that Neon Roberts, who has already had surgery on a brain tumour, should have another operation after hearing from doctors that he would very likely die soon without treatment.

The boy's mother Sally Roberts, 37, had refused to give her consent, telling the court: "I feel I need more expert opinion on it before proceeding."

But a doctor treating Neon said a scan showed more surgery needed to be carried out "urgently", saying there was a residual tumour left behind from the first operation. He said a second doctor agreed with his analysis.

The judge had been due to decide whether Neon should undergo radiotherapy treatment following surgery, which his mother had also opposed, but that issue was put on hold pending a ruling on the operation.

Sally Roberts has been locked in a legal dispute with her estranged husband Ben over the boy's condition and treatment, and earlier this month she went on the run with Neon in what she later said was a panicked move to protect him.

The New Zealander says she fears radiotherapy would cause her son long-term harm.

The pair were found safe after a judge ordered a search and Roberts apologised for her actions.

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Thousands of students wake up to HSC marks

UP to 73,000 students are set to go online, send a text or make a phone call, in order to find out their HSC results on Wednesday.

Students in NSW will receive their HSC results from 6am (AEDT) on Wednesday, followed by their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) on Thursday.

The NSW Board of Studies said most are expected to check their results online, while others will receive them via text or by phoning in.

It comes after more than 100 NSW high achievers celebrated taking out first place in their courses at a ceremony in Sydney on Tuesday.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said two-thirds of the award recipients were young women, with females also dominating the first course results for mathematics.

Meanwhile, parents who are having trouble coping with their kids' disappointing HSC marks can talk about it on a new telephone hotline.

The NSW government-funded line is a 24/7 telephone counselling service for parents confronted with a disappointing HSC score, or who need guidance on helping their kids deal with poor results.

"Parents and students often feel that if they haven't reached a certain benchmark, then they've failed," the service's manager, Tarja Malone said earlier this week.

"It's important that students, and parents, realise it's not the end of the world."

Parent Line can be reached 24 hours, seven days a week on 1300 1300 52.

The HSC Results Inquiry Centre (13 11 12) opens on 19 December.

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Italian engineer kidnapped in Syria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Wave of Iraq attacks kills at least 47

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

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

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

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Doomed French elephants win reprieve

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elephants have a lifespan of 60-70 years.

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US eyes Google antitrust settlement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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US names Lebanese ex-minister as terrorist

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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More Aussies could avoid stroke: experts

MANY stroke sufferers miss out on a lifesaving de-clotting drug and four in 10 get treated in general wards rather than specialist stroke units, an advocacy group says.

Stroke is Australia's second-largest killer and many of the 350,000 survivors live with a disability and struggle with basic daily tasks such as eating and cooking.

The National Stroke Foundation is lobbying the federal government and opposition to commit to a $198 million action plan to boost services and increase awareness of how to prevent stroke and recognise the signs of stroke.

Chief executive Erin Lalor says many patients who attend hospital with stroke don't get access to de-clotting thrombolysis drugs that must be administered within four hours.

"If the hospital is too slow or people delay presentation to hospital they can't have it," she told AAP.

"It's a lifesaving drug."

She said four in 10 people were treated for stroke in general wards, rather than specialist units, and this increased their chances of death or disability.

A number of major hospitals, particularly in Queensland, don't have specialist stroke units, Dr Lalor said.

As part of the plan, the foundation wants the government to spend $121 million extra over three years to fund more stroke units and boost the quality of existing care.

They want a national rollout of a pharmacy health-check program, currently funded by the NSW and Queensland governments, which involves a free blood pressure and diabetes check. Pharmacists then advise people whether they need to go to their GP for more testing.

When Lina Brohier had a stroke in 2008 at age 31, a transient ischemic attack followed, making her dizzy, heavy and voiceless.

The attack passed and she didn't go to the doctor.

"If there was more information and advertising about stroke maybe people like me would be prevented from having a stroke," she told AAP.

"You think ... it's not going to happen to me; it's something that happens to old people."

The stroke left her with no muscle movement on the right side of her body.

After extensive rehabilitation and occupational therapy, Ms Brohier made a full recovery.

Dr Lalor said people over the age of 45 should be able to get an integrated check for their risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease when they visit their GPs.

She said there also needs to be more support for people living with stroke, as well as their carers.

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Italy's recovery tipped to start in 2013

ITALY'S economic recovery is likely to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2013, the central bank governor says, urging any new government to continue reforms and cut red tape for businesses.

"Our analyses suggest that there is a higher than 50 per cent probability that the turnaround will come in the third or fourth quarter of 2013," Bank of Italy chief Ignazio Visco said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper.

Visco also said there had been a "significant" lowering of tensions on the debt market for Italy in recent months due to the return of foreign investors and Italian banks that enabled the treasury to sell long-term bonds.

Asked about a possible recourse to European Central Bank assistance on the bond market, Visco said this was not on the cards since "the current conditions are less tense".

He cautioned, however, that "political and economic uncertainty is a burden" and said that "the fruits of austerity must not be wasted".

"The only way is to continue and reduce the negative effects that the reforms could have on certain sectors and at certain times," he said.

"The efforts made must not be for nothing. We have to decisively seek greater efficiency and reduce the limits on entrepreneurs," he added.

Italy is expected to go to the polls in February.

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Gay rights campaigners protest at Vatican

GAY rights campaigners have held a small protest near St Peter's Square during the Pope's weekly prayers after he said legalising gay marriage threatened the institution of marriage.

About 15 activists held up colourful paper hearts with slogans written on them including "Gay Marriage", "Love Has No Barriers", "Talk About Love", "Homophobia = Death" and "Marry Peace".

One of the hearts read "Love Thy Neighbour".

The protesters were prevented from accessing St Peter's Square, which was packed with tens of thousands of faithful for the traditional Angelus prayer on the third Sunday of Advent.

The protest came as thousands prepared to take to the streets in France in support of a government proposal to legalise gay marriage that is fiercely opposed by sections of the opposition right, Roman Catholic bishops and other religious leaders.

In a message intended for World Peace Day on January 1, the Pope on Friday reiterated the Catholic Church's position against gay marriage.

He called for promotion of "the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union.

"Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilise marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society," he said.

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Disputed islands are Japan's: new PM

SHINZO Abe, who has led his Liberal Democratic Party to an election win, says there is no doubt about Japan's ownership of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.

"China is challenging the fact that (the islands) are Japan's inherent territory," said Abe, who is expected to become prime minister.

"Our objective is to stop the challenge. We don't intend to worsen relations between Japan and China."

Japan and China have been at loggerheads for decades over the sovereignty of a small chain of islands in the East China Sea.

The dispute flared badly in September after Tokyo nationalised islands that it calls the Senkakus, but China knows as the Diaoyus.

Chinese boats have plied waters near the chain most days since and on Thursday Beijing sent a plane to overfly them. Japan scrambled fighter jets to head it off.

"Japan and China need to share the recognition that having good relations is in the national interests of both countries. China lacks this recognition a little bit. I want them to think anew about mutually beneficial strategic relations," Abe said on Sunday.

China urged Japan's new leaders not to "pick fights" with neighbours.

The official news agency Xinhua noted Abe's "landslide" victory but said the incoming leadership must find a way to manage disputes with neighbours.

"Instead of pandering to domestic hawkish views and picking fights with its neighbours, the new Japanese leadership should take a more rational stand on foreign policy," it said.

The commentary came just days after Beijing's latest effort to bolster its claim to the islands, by submitting to the United Nations information on the outer limits of its continental shelf.

Meanwhile, Abe said his first port of call as prime minister would be the United States.

Tokyo relies on Washington for its security under a post-World War II treaty that allows the US to station tens of thousands of troops in Japan.

But that alliance has been seen to drift under the three-year rule of the Democratic Party of Japan.

He also spoke of the need for Japan to boost its other ties in the region.

"We also need to deepen ties with Asia. I want to build up ties with Asian nations including India and Australia. After enhancing our diplomacy, I want to improve relations with China."

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Abe: A once and future PM for Japan

SHINZO Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party stormed to victory in Sunday's election, returns to the prime ministership as a hawk with strident views on Japan's place in the world.

He was the country's youngest ever prime minister when he stepped into the role in 2006, aged 52, and the first one to be born after World War II, but left office abruptly citing illness after an election loss.

Now 58, the conservative ideologue will return to the prime minister's official residence with promises of a more assertive diplomacy in the face of an increasingly confident China and an always unpredictable North Korea.

Casting himself as an uncompromising leader, Abe has also voiced his willingness to amend laws to force monetary easing moves from the Bank of Japan, which would see it print more money, buy more bonds and have to meet an inflation target to achieve economic growth.

The prime minister-in-waiting will be the second man in modern Japan to serve as prime minister twice, after Shigeru Yoshida, who led the nation in 1946-47 and 1948-54.

The LDP have achieved a commanding parliamentary majority, but analysts say mostly by default with voters looking to punish the disappointing rule of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Despite the landslide, Abe may struggle with the electorate at large, where voters remember his disappointing first tenure, which ended in ignominy and bowel problems in 2007.

He was to become the first in a series of short-lived premiers in Japan, each of whom lasted around a year. His return to the job will make him the seventh change in six years.

Abe came to power as a preferred successor named by then-popular prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, for whom he had served as an eager and earnest deputy.

At the time, he symbolised the continuity of Koizumi's reform agenda as well as youth that could breathe life into an increasingly tired-looking country weighed down by a fragile economic recovery.

His tough talking on North Korea, which admitted in 2002 that it had abducted Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s, also appealed to voters.

But the third-generation politician, groomed from birth for the job by his elite, conservative family, complained of illness following an election defeat in 2007 and after a series of scandals involving his ministers.

Since his return to the helm of the LDP he has aggressively championed an uncompromising Japan on the world stage.

One of his most passionate causes has been revising the country's pacifist constitution, which was imposed on a defeated Japan by the United States in 1947, seven years before he was born.

He has promised to instil patriotism among school children and to visit the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo, seen as a symbol of Japan's war-time aggression in Korea and China.

He has long attempted to roll back the legacy of World War II defeat, including revising Japan's contrition on so-called "comfort women".

The issue has flared anew in South Korea, with calls for Japan to compensate women pressed into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers.

During his earlier premiership, Abe remained studiously ambiguous about his beliefs and proved more pragmatic than many had expected, working to improve ties with China and South Korea.

His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was a World War II cabinet member and was briefly jailed as a war criminal. Kishi later became a post-war prime minister, fighting leftists to build a new alliance with Washington.

His father was Shintaro Abe, a foreign minister who never achieved his ambition of becoming prime minister. Shinzo Abe took his father's parliamentary seat in 1993 following his death and fulfilled his goal, albeit temporarily.

Abe's hawkish image may be softened by his wife, Akie Abe, the daughter of a prominent businessman. She is known for her love of South Korean culture.

The couple have no children.

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