US stocks jump one per cent

US stocks have surged higher, following global equity markets that greeted fresh comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

He says monetary policy will remain accommodative until the economy improves.

Five minutes into trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 152.88 (1.00 per cent) to 15,444.54.

The broad-based S&P 500 rocketed 17.65 (1.07 per cent) higher to 1,670,27, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 40.11 (1.14 per cent) to 3,560.87.

Bernanke, responding to questions following a speech in Boston, said "highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future" was needed given the weak labour market and low inflation.

Bernanke's comments made clear that while the Fed may taper its bond-buying program this year, such a move did not imply a rise in interest rates.

Leading Asian equity markets rose as did European exchanges, with Germany's DAX index up 1.1 per cent and France's CAC 40 index up 0.8 per cent.

The jump in stocks came despite a rise in initial US jobless claims to 360,000 in the week ending July 6, above the 345,000 expected by analysts.

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Microsoft unveils far-reaching realignment

MICROSOFT has announced a sweeping reorganisation of the company.

The US technology giant wants to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability.

It says the "far-reaching realignment" will help integrate efforts around its software and devices.

"We are rallying behind a single strategy as one company - not a collection of divisional strategies," chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a memo to employees.

"Although we will deliver multiple devices and services to execute and monetise the strategy, the single core strategy will drive us to set shared goals for everything we do. We will see our product line holistically, not as a set of islands."

Ballmer says the "One Microsoft" strategy will seek to bring together diverse segments such as Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox, Surface, Office 365 and others.

"Today's announcement will enable us to execute even better on our strategy to deliver a family of devices and services that best empower people for the activities they value most and the enterprise extensions and services that are most valuable to business," he said.

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Greece broadly on the right track: IMF

THE International Monetary Fund says it expects that Greece, supported by the international bailout, will not face a financial gap before August next year.

"There is no financial gap through July 2014," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said.

The IMF and its partners in the Greece bailout, the European Union and the European Central Bank, announced on Monday that Greece's progress under the rescue program was "broadly on track," he noted.

The review mission of the so-called "troika" of international lenders found that the embattled Greek economy was likely to return to growth in 2014, but key uncertainties remained to the outlook.

The Greek authorities have fallen behind in implementing some of the program's measures aimed at getting the economy on a sustainable path, such as on tax code and public administration reforms, Rice noted.

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to provide a fresh disbursement of aid to Greece under the bailout deal struck in 2012.

The IMF has committed to four years of rescue financing for Greece under the troika's bailout program.

With only two years remaining on the EU support, concerns have emerged about Greece's capacity to exit recession and seek financing from the private markets.

Rice emphasised that the IMF assumes that Greece and the EU will live up to their commitments.

Under IMF policy, the Fund cannot grant new loans to a country under its loan program if the country's financing is uncertain in the coming year.

"We want to take it one step at a time," Rice said.

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Karadzic genocide charge reinstated

THE UN's Yugoslav war crimes court has reinstated a genocide charge against former Bosnian Serb top leader Radovan Karadzic.

The court overturned an earlier decision by trial judges on appeal.

"The Appeals Chamber... reverses the Trial Chamber's acquittal of Mr Karadzic for genocide in the municipalities... and reinstates the charges," Judge Theodor Meron told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Karadzic now faces 11 charges for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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60 dead or missing in Canada train tragedy

LAC-MEGANTIC, July 10 AFP - The number of dead or missing after the runaway oil tanker train disaster in a small Canadian town has risen to 60, police have announced, as the railway chairman heads to the scene.

The confirmed death toll remained at 15, Quebec provincial police inspector Michel Forget told a press conference. The coroner said remains were still being identified.

Ten more people were, however, added to a growing list of missing or presumed dead in Lac-Megantic, scene of the worst train accident in recent Canadian history.

Part of Lac-Megantic was flattened in an inferno caused by the crash Saturday, as a wall of fire tore through homes and businesses in the town, located east of Montreal near the US border.

The blaze forced about 2,000 residents to flee their homes in the town, which is home to 6,000 people. Most of them started returning on Tuesday.

The freight train operated by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway had been stopped for a crew change in the nearby town of Nantes when it began to roll downhill without a conductor towards Lac-Megantic.

It derailed at a curve in the tracks and several cars exploded.

MMA chairman Edward Burkhardt has blamed firefighters in Nantes for the disaster, saying they unwittingly unlocked the train's brakes when they shut down the locomotive's engines to douse a small fire.

Burkhardt is likely to face angry residents and questions from police probing for criminal negligence when he arrives in Lac-Megantic to survey the devastation.

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Bomb kills Pakistan president aide, others

A BOMB attack has killed a senior aide to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and at least two other people in the country's business capital Karachi.

The bomb exploded in a middle-class neighbourhood in central Karachi, close to an office for Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which rules southern Sindh province.

Zardari was at his official residence around 10 kilometres away when the attack happened, officials said.

"It was a bomb blast and at least three people were killed and 10 others were wounded," police official Tahir Naveed told AFP.

Another police official, Usman Bajwa, said Bilal Sheikh, Zardari's top personal security officer in Karachi, was among those killed.

"I can confirm that Bilal Sheikh has expired," Bajwa told AFP.

Bajwa told reporters that pieces of human flesh at the scene indicate it "might" have been a suicide attack but said "it's just an assumption so far".

Naveed said the bomb was so powerful it shattered the bullet-proof vehicle in which Sheikh had been travelling.

Sheikh, his driver and a passer-by were killed, he added.

Both Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PPP's biggest rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-N party, strongly condemned the attack, state media said.

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Tenor Domingo expects to feel better soon

SPANISH opera star Placido Domingo says he expects to feel "much better soon" after treatment for a blockage in his lung which forced him to cancel a string of concerts in Madrid.

"I will be feeling much better soon. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart," he told his fans in a message on the social network Facebook.

The 72-year-old, popularly known for his "Three Tenors" performances with Jose Carreras and the late Luciano Pavarotti, was admitted to hospital in the Spanish capital on Monday.

"He is being successfully treated for a pulmonary embolism," a blockage of an artery of the lungs, and is expected to make a full recovery, his US-based agent Nancy Seltzer said in a statement.

She said the embolism was caused by deep vein thrombosis -- a condition in which a clot forms in a deep vein, often in a leg.

"He will be forced to rest for three to four weeks. His exact return to his performing engagements remains subject to how fast he can heal and regain his characteristic strength."

The Grammy-winning singer had to cancel five performances in Daniel Catan's opera "Il Postino", due to begin at the Teatro Real in Madrid on July 17.

He also bowed out of a concert he was due to conduct on Madrid's Plaza Mayor square on July 21, the agent said.

"The saddest part of it all is being in my own city and unable to perform for Madrid's public," Domingo said in his statement on Wednesday.

Born in Madrid, Domingo moved to Mexico as a child with his parents, who ran a company that performed zarzuela, the traditional Spanish operetta form.

His repertoire encompasses 140 stage roles -- a number unmatched by any other celebrated tenor in history.

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Students to launch election campaign

UNIVERSITY students are set to launch their own federal election campaign, warning that young people are feeling disengaged from the political debate.

The National Union of Students (NUS) will use its annual education conference in Adelaide on Thursday to urge all students to make their voice heard in the run-up to the federal poll.

"Political debate has become increasingly insular over the past three years, leaving young people feeling cynical and disengaged in the process," NUS national president Jade Tyrrell says.

"It is clear decisions will be made this election about Australia's future and the kind of country that we're going to be.

"These decisions will form the Australia that today's young people will inherit."

Ms Tyrrell says the union will continue to fight funding cuts and increased tuition fees and will lobby for better income support.

But she says students also have valid answers to other issues including the treatment of asylum seekers, marriage equality and environmental policies.

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Tribal king says Mandela 'conscious'

NELSON Mandela is conscious and recognises visitors, the king of his Thembu tribe has told AFP after visiting the global icon in hospital.

"He is well," King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo said, giving an upbeat, but cautious account of the 94-year-old's condition.

"He could not talk, but he recognised me and made a few gestures of acknowledgement, like moving his eyes," said Dalindyebo, who is also a nephew of the former South African president.

He said his uncle was "assisted in many ways," and was attached to lots of tubes.

"He is under a lot of support. I'm sure it's the kind of support that he needs."

Dalindyebo had travelled from his village in the Eastern Cape to see Mandela, who has been receiving treatment for a lung condition for more than a month.

He arrived to Mandela's Pretoria hospital with a delegation of traditional chiefs to "pay their respects to the great leader".

On Tuesday, an official government update described Mandela's condition as "critical but stable," as members of his family gave positive accounts of his health.

Doctors are said to have ruled out turning off his life support machines unless there is serious organ failure.

Dalindyebo is among Mandela's family members who have become embroiled in a spat over the final resting place of the Nobel peace laureate.

He has accused Mandela's grandson Mandla -- who was forced by a court to return the remains of three of Mandela's children -- of disgracing the family name.

Dalindyebo had threatened to strip Mandla of his chieftaincy of Mvezo village, Mandela's birthplace.

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US stocks rise on earnings optimism

US stocks have opened higher on optimism about corporate earnings, even as the International Monetary Fund slashed its global economic growth forecast.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.40 (0.46 per cent) to 15,294.09.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 8.91 (0.54 per cent) to 1,649.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index put on 11.16 (0.32 per cent) to 3,495.99.

Markets were cheered by an earnings report from aluminum producer Alcoa that said profits came in 1 cent per share above expectations at 7 cents per share. Alcoa also reaffirmed its projection that global aluminum demand would grow by 7 per cent in 2013.

The gains came despite the latest economic forecast from the IMF, which trimmed world economic growth expectations for 2013 to 3.1 per cent from the April forecast of 3.3 per cent.

China and other emerging economic powers now face new risks, the IMF warned, "including the possibility of a longer growth slowdown."

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Carr talks tough on boat arrivals

BOAT arrivals with a genuine fear of persecution shouldn't be burning their passports and reciting identical stories, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.

Senator Carr said asylum seeker numbers had spiked and 20 per cent of Australia's immigrants now arrive courtesy of people smugglers.

He said officials were saying recent boat arrivals, particularly those from Iran, were seeking economic advantage and were unable to make a claim for persecution.

Senator Carr said those who burned their passports and repeated a well-rehearsed story ought to be put on the defensive.

"If you have got an argument about persecution, there is no case for burning your passport," he told ABC television.

"And there is no case for being rehearsed in a story of persecution so that everyone on a vessel tells the same story word for word, leaving the impression that the people smuggler in charge of the process has put them through this."

Senator Carr has pushed for toughening of the assessment process, pointing to the recent wave of Iranian arrivals as economic refugees who were not fleeing political persecution.

He said the assessment system allowed 97 per cent of those reaching Australian waters to stay, through a process that seemed weighted in favour of the claimant.

Senator Carr said people smugglers were bribing officials in other countries and charging $10,000 per head for wretched people on unseaworthy vessels.

"All our officials are telling us that the recent spike has come from Iran and in their impression.....it is overwhelmingly to gain economic advantage," he said.

"That is what you have a regular migration program for. This is a corruption by people smugglers."

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UK Labour leader to reform trade unions

BRITISH opposition leader Ed Miliband has proposed to overhaul his Labour party's historic relationship with the trade unions, risking millions of pounds in political donations.

The unions helped found Labour in 1900 but Miliband vowed to end the process by which union members are automatically affiliated to the centre-left party unless they opt out.

The changes follow a row over efforts by Britain's biggest union, Unite, to get its favoured candidate chosen to contest an upcoming parliamentary by-election in Falkirk in Scotland.

"In the 21st century it just doesn't make sense for anyone to be affiliated to a political party unless they have chosen to do so," Miliband said in a speech to party activists in London.

Labour currently nets a reported STG8 million ($A13 million) a year from almost three million union workers - the majority of the party's funds.

Miliband is particularly sensitive to criticism about union influence after their support helped him beat his older brother, ex-foreign minister David Miliband, to the Labour leadership in 2010.

He admitted the proposed change had "massive financial implications" for a party which has struggled to attract private donations since losing the last election that same year.

But Miliband said he wanted to create "a modern relationship with individual working people" and said he hoped it would encourage a more involved, grassroots activism.

Miliband acknowledged the reform could face opposition from the unions but said he hoped to push it through by the next election in 2015.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who has been embroiled in a war of words with the Labour leadership in recent weeks, initially appeared to criticise the plans but later took a more conciliatory tone.

"As far as Unite is concerned, we are more than happy to engage in the discussion with him," he told the BBC.

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French diet guru Dukan sanctioned for drug

FRANCE'S medical order has sanctioned nutritionist Pierre Dukan, whose high-protein diet has seen him sell millions of books and win over a slew of famous followers, for having prescribed a slimming drug linked to hundreds of deaths.

Dukan, whose diet was reportedly used by the Middleton family ahead of Kate's 2011 wedding to Britain's Prince William, was sanctioned for having prescribed the anti-diabetes drug Mediator to a female patient in 1971, his lawyer Edouard de Lamaze said.

The Paris region branch of the French Order of Doctors suspended Dukan's medical license for eight days for the "breach of ethical duties" and ordered him to pay 6,000 euros ($A8,383) to the patient, who subsequently developed heart problems.

Dukan was also sanctioned for having made "grossly misleading assertions" that he had only prescribed the drug once, when medical records showed he had actually done so five times.

Lamaze said the eight-day license suspension was purely symbolic because 72-year Dukan was no longer a practising doctor.

The lawyer said he was appealing the decision and accused the medical order of carrying out a vendetta against his client.

Dukan is facing further disciplinary action after medical orders accused him last year of breaking professional rules by proposing that high school students be awarded extra marks if they manage to maintain an acceptable body weight.

Mediator, which reduces hunger pangs, was widely used as a slimming aid in France until it was pulled from the market in 2009 after evidence emerged of hundreds of deaths caused by damage to heart valves.

A study last year said the drug had probably caused at least 1,300 deaths before being withdrawn.

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UK man jailed over US Facebook kill threat

AN British online "troll" who sparked a security alert in the United States by threatening on Facebook to kill 200 schoolchildren has been jailed for two years and four months.

Reece Elliott, 24, used a false name to post offensive messages in February, including the massacre threat, on memorial pages for two teenagers who had been killed in road accidents in the state of Tennessee.

On a page dedicated to Caitlin Talley, 17, who died in October, he wrote: "My father has three guns. I'm planning on killing him first and putting him in a dumpster.

"Then I'm taking the motor and I'm going in fast. I'm gonna kill hopefully at least 200 before I kill myself. So you want to tell the deputy, I'm on my way."

The father-of-one added: "I'm killing 200 people minimum at school. I will be on CNN."

Elliott, from South Shields in northeast England, also posted obscene messages about the two teenagers who had died, which were likely seen by hundreds of people, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

When challenged by other Facebook users, he sent private messages including one to a 15-year-old girl which read: "You have been chosen tomorrow at school to receive one of my bullets."

The threat came less than two months after the killings of 20 children and six staff at the Newtown elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, by a lone gunman who afterwards committed suicide.

Almost 3,000 children missed school the day after Elliott's postings as schools in Tennessee's Warren county went into lockdown because of his threat.

Elliott -- who already has 17 convictions for 28 offences, including an attempted robbery with an axe -- had pleaded guilty to making a threat to kill and to eight counts of sending grossly offensive messages.

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Venezuela says no contact yet with Snowden

VENEZUELA'S foreign minister says his country has not yet been in contact with US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, despite its offer of asylum.

Elias Jaua says he expects to consult on Monday with Russian officials.

Snowden is believed to be in the transit area of a Moscow airport.

Jaua's comments came on Saturday during a Caribbean summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

They were distributed by his office.

President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday that he would grant asylum to Snowden, and he repeated the offer on Twitter on Saturday, saying Venezuela is ready to protect Snowden "from the global persecution of the empire".

Bolivia and Nicaragua have also offered asylum but it is not clear if any of them have provided him the documents he would need to travel.

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Four hurt on first day of Spanish bull run

FOUR people, including a 24-year-old Australian, have been injured on the first day of the running of the bulls in the Spanish city of Pamplona.

Several thousand thrill-seekers dashed alongside six fighting bulls through the streets on Sunday.

Despite a large crowd of participants because the run coincided with a weekend, only four people were treated for injuries and no one was gored, officials said.

The regional government of Navarra, which is responsible for organising the annual San Fermin festival, said in a statement that none of the four are seriously injured.

A 24-year-old Australian, identified only by the initials JC, was being treated for bruising, as was a 44-year-old British citizen.

A US citizen identified only as CS was also receiving treatment for a minor injury.

A 36-year-old native of Pamplona with a minor injury was the only remaining in the hospital by mid-afternoon, the government said.

There was a moment of tension as the last bull of the pack became disoriented and turned around to look back at runners, but it eventually entered the bullring without charging at anyone.

Every morning of the nine-day festival, at 8am, six bulls specifically bred for fighting race through the narrow, medieval streets of Pamplona accompanied by an equal number of large steers - each wearing a clanking cowbell - tasked with keeping the pack tight and galloping at an even pace.

Due to the disorientation of the last bull, Sunday's run took four minutes and six seconds, a relatively long time.

Every time the bull turned his head, runners scattered, tripped and fell as they tried to get away despite being hemmed in by the narrow streets.

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Peak bodies want education cap dropped

MORE than 20 professional bodies are demanding the federal government scrap its planned cap on tax deductions for self-education expenses, fearing it will hurt the economy.

The government announced in April that from July 2014 it will set a $2000 cap on how much people can claim on work-related expenses for education.

A communique released on Monday from 22 professional bodies, including health, law, accountancy, engineering and education groups, calls for an end to this budget measure.

Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson says it will have a "debilitating effect" on the capacity for equipping Australia's workforce with the skills needed to remain competitive and build a diversified economy.

"As global economic threats continue to mount, the government should be creating incentives for workers to lift their skills and upgrade their qualifications to meet the rapidly changing needs of our labour market," she said in a separate statement.

The group says the Australian Workforce Productivity Agency has warned that industry demand for people with higher education qualifications is set to soar by between three and four per cent every year to 2025.

"The cap puts at risk the ability to fill this demand for a skilled labour force. Skill shortages do nothing to increase productivity. This measure impacts on efforts to expand the economy," their communique says.

At the same time, many professional bodies require ongoing education to ensure their members' qualifications and knowledge are up to date.

The planned cap will escalate the cost of eduction to individuals to meet these professional obligations.

"If unable to be met by the individual, it will create an unaffordable impost on small business," it says.

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Russian train derails, 80 injured: reports

AT least 80 people have been injured after a Russian passenger train travelling from Siberia derailed near the Black Sea, the emergency situations ministry says.

Six people were admitted to hospital with substantial injuries while the rest were only slightly hurt, the ministry said, according to Russian news agencies.

The locomotive and first five cars of the train, which connects Novosibirsk in Siberia to Adler on the shores of the Black Sea, went off the rails and slid sideways.

The driver braked sharply after noticing that part of the tracks in Russia's Krasnodar region was deformed by the heat, according to a security source quoted by the Itar-Tass agency.

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Russian train derails, 80 injured: reports

AT least 80 people have been injured after a Russian passenger train travelling from Siberia derailed near the Black Sea, the emergency situations ministry says.

Six people were admitted to hospital with substantial injuries while the rest were only slightly hurt, the ministry said, according to Russian news agencies.

The locomotive and first five cars of the train, which connects Novosibirsk in Siberia to Adler on the shores of the Black Sea, went off the rails and slid sideways.

The driver braked sharply after noticing that part of the tracks in Russia's Krasnodar region was deformed by the heat, according to a security source quoted by the Itar-Tass agency.

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