Ferry runs aground in Baltic Sea

A FINNISH ferry operator says one of its Sweden-bound vessels is stuck on rocks in the Baltic Sea but none of the nearly 2000 passengers are injured or in any danger.

Viking Line says the M/S Amorella hit the rocks after a power failure on the ship on Saturday as it was on its way from the Finnish port of Turku to Stockholm with 1945 passengers.

In a statement, the operator said a minor leak has been found in a ballast tank but stressed the ship was not taking in water.

The Aland Islands, a group of semi-autonomous Finnish islands, are midway between the two port cities and the ferry was making a scheduled stop there.

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Car located for missing Qld man

A SEARCH will resume at first light for a man missing on a southwestern Queensland property after his vehicle was found bogged.

The man in his 50s was reported missing on Saturday after he failed to return from checking bores on the property south of Quilpie.

Two fixed wing aircraft, police and members of the public helped with the search on Saturday, which located his vehicle bogged on a neighbouring property.

There was no sign of the worker and the search will resume on Sunday.

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Santa marathon attracts six thousand

AROUND 6000 people dressed as Santa Claus and his elves have run a "mini-marathon" through the streets of Madrid to promote festive cheer as the country tries to emerge from a two-year recession.

While grown-ups dressed in red costumes with wispy white beards, children donned green elf outfits to run the 5.5 kilometre course on Saturday through the city centre.

The race was organised by one of Spain's leading department stores and it contributed one euro ($A1.55) for each entrant to a charity that buys Christmas presents for deprived children around the world.

Javier Menendez, one of the runners, said he was surprised at the number of people who have donned the robes for the run.

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Severe fire danger for Perth prompts ban

THE heatwave gripping much of Western Australia has prompted bushfire warnings for much of the state and a total fire ban in Perth.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has issued severe fire danger advices for Sunday for the Central West, Upper Great Southern, and parts of the Central Wheatbelt, Pilbara and Perth and sourrounding areas.

With the mercury tipped to top 41C in Perth for the third day of the Ashes Test, a total fire ban has been issued for inland parts of the city and surrounding areas.

They include Armadale, Gosnells, Swan, Chittering, Gingin, Kalamunda, Mundaring, Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Toodyay.

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Iran cancels Pakistan gas pipeline loan

IRAN has cancelled a planned $US500 million ($A562.49 million) loan to Pakistan to build part of a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Islamic Republic.

Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said Iran has no obligation to finance the Pakistani side of the project and also doesn't have the money.

Iran has already invested more than $US2 billion to construct the Iranian side of the pipeline but there are serious doubts about how Pakistan could finance the $US2 billion needed to construct the pipeline on its territory. Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had pledged the loan.

Pakistan has welcomed an Iranian offer to approach third parties, including European companies, to finance the project.

"Pakistani officials were told in recent talks that, given the sanctions, Iran is not able to finance construction of the pipeline (in Pakistan) and has no obligation to do so," he said. His comments were posted on the oil ministry's website, shana.ir, Saturday.

Majedi complained that Pakistan has done little to construct its own section of the project. Under a valid contract, Pakistan is required to finish construction of the pipeline on its territory by the end of 2014.

"If a contractor is chosen today and pipeline construction begins today, it will take four years to complete it. Should Pakistan fail to take gas by the end of next year, Iran will demand compensation under the terms of the contract," he said.

The Iran-Pakistan pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its mushrooming energy needs. Pakistanis experience frequent blackouts.

The US has opposed the project but leaders of both Iran and Pakistan have vowed to implement what they refer to as the "peace pipeline."

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Chinese economy faces 'downward pressure'

CHINESE leaders have warned that the world's second-largest economy faces "downward pressure" and called for boldness in carrying out promised reforms aimed at reviving slowing growth.

In a report issued after an annual planning meeting on Friday, the Communist Party cited an array of problems, possibly trying to stir urgency about carrying out sweeping reforms promised last month in a long-range development blueprint.

There was no immediate word on whether the meeting set a growth target for next year. Investors and analysts were watching to see whether the party would cut its target from this year's 7.5 per cent.

The statement cited a glut of unneeded production capacity in some industries, environmental degradation and concerns about the quality of food and drugs.

"We must clearly recognise there is downward pressure on the economy," the statement said. "The thoughts should be bold and the steps should be firm in carrying out reforms and the people should have real benefits."

Chinese leaders are under pressure to overhaul a growth model based on exports and investment that has run out of steam after delivering three decades of rapid growth.

The plan last month promised China's more dynamic entrepreneurs a bigger role but said state industry would remain the core of the economy, a move some analysts warn could drag on growth.

Economic growth declined over the past two years, hitting a two-decade low of 7.5 per cent in the three months ending in June before rebounding to 7.8 per cent in the latest quarter. Analysts have warned growth might slow again in the current quarter or early 2014.

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Berlin prosecutors investigate Nazi guard

A FORMER Nazi concentration camp guard living in Berlin is being investigated on suspicion of murder after authorities received a tip from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, prosecutors said.

The 87-year-old, identified only as Horst P., is alleged to have been involved in killings while serving as a guard at the Dachau camp near Munich, Berlin prosecutors' spokesman Martin Steltner said.

He refused to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Wiesenthal Centre's top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said information on the suspect came in after the organisation launched a poster campaign in Germany in July soliciting tips on the whereabouts of former guards and Nazis. He passed it on to Berlin prosecutors after confirming the suspect really had been a Dachau guard.

"We were informed that the case is being taken seriously, and we can only hope it will be expedited in an appropriate manner," Zuroff said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

Germany's Bild newspaper first reported the case, publishing an interview with the suspect Friday in which he is quoted as denying involvement in any killings.

But, he acknowledged, "when one of the criminals caused a disturbance I reported him, then he was picked up and taken to a special camp. Sometimes I never saw them again but I also never asked any questions."

German authorities are currently investigating about 30 former Auschwitz guards under new legal thinking that anyone who served in a death camp, whose sole purpose was to kill, can be prosecuted as accessories to murder.

That argument has not been successfully expanded to include guards at concentration camps like Dachau, where tens of thousands died but whose purpose was not solely killing.

In this case, that means that prosecutors will have to find sufficient evidence of a specific crime before they can file charges.

Zuroff would not give specific details on the information the Wiesenthal Centre received, but did say it was an "allegation of the commission of a serious crime."

In Bild's story, the newspaper printed a photo collage they said was on the wall of the man's apartment southeast of the German capital. It was labelled "Mein Kampf" - the same title as Adolf Hitler's notorious book - and included photos showing him in uniform.

He was also quoted as saying he joined the SS because he "was told that it was fun."

Steltner said it was not clear how Bild learned of the case, and Zuroff said the Wiesenthal Centre had been hoping not to publicise it until the investigation was farther along.

"The information did not come from us," Zuroff said. "I wanted to give the prosecutors a chance to do the right thing."

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Buddhist relics stolen in Cambodia

CAMBODIAN officials say a golden urn containing what are considered to be remnants of Buddha's body has been stolen from its shrine near the capital.

Government spokesman Ek Tha said on Friday the relics have enormous religious and cultural significance for Cambodians.

"This relic has been respected by Buddhist followers for thousands of years," he said. "This theft cannot be accepted. The perpetrator and any associates who connived to commit such a crime must be prosecuted according to the law of Cambodia."

National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith said the theft was discovered on Tuesday when a guard was woken by a barking dog and found the lock to the shrine's door had been damaged and the urn removed.

He said police questioned 13 of the shrine's guards and detained six as suspects, but that authorities had no information about the relics' location.

"We need more time to do the investigation," he said.

Ek Tha said the relics had been moved by late King Norodom Sihanouk in 2002 from Phnom Penh, the capital, to the mountain shrine in the former royal city of Udong in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands.

Several countries in Asia possess relics believed to come from the body of Buddha.

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Wife-killer Webster loses appeal

A BRITISH man who murdered his wife in a staged car accident in Scotland and tried to kill his second in a copycat crash in New Zealand has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Malcolm Webster, 54, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years for killing Claire Morris, 32, in the planned smash in Aberdeenshire in 1994 and attempting to kill Felicity Drumm in Auckland in 1999 to claim insurance money.

The former nurse, from Guildford, Surrey, was handed the life sentence after being convicted of the crimes in May 2011 following a five-month trial.

Judges at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh on Friday rejected a claim that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Webster's legal team argued that scientific experts who gave evidence at the trial had not been able to rule out the possibility that the fatal car fire started accidentally.

As a result there was insufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that Ms Morris had been murdered, they said.

But Lord Eassie, delivering the opinion of the three appeal judges, said: "While, as scientists, the expert witnesses in question could understandably not exclude in scientific terms the ultimate possibility of an accidental ignition, there was nothing in their testimony offering any real, positive support for a contention that, given the interval before it erupted, this fire was accidental."

The judge added that the prosecution case that the fire was started deliberately did not rely solely on expert evidence.

Lawyers for Webster attacked the decision of trial judge Lord Bannatyne to allow the Crown to call a late witness, farm worker Ian Hardie, who contacted prosecutors only after the trial had begun.

Mr Hardie gave evidence that he had seen Webster at the site of the fatal crash 11 days before it occurred. Prosecutors argued that this was him familiarising himself with the spot before staging the crash.

Webster's legal team also argued that the significant differences between the murder of Ms Morris and the attempted murder of Ms Drumm meant the two crimes did not corroborate each other.

This argument was dismissed by the appeal judges as "not well-founded".

A hearing on Webster's appeal against sentence will be held at a later date.

Sentencing him in July 2011, Lord Bannatyne condemned his "cold-blooded, brutal and callous" crimes, driven by an insatiable appetite for money and which formed part of a fraudulent plot to pocket almost STG1 million ($A1.84 million) in insurance payouts.

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Cate Blanchett nominated for Golden Globe

CATE Blanchett had better find a gown to wear to the Oscars, although Hugh Jackman, Geoffrey Rush and Chris Hemsworth likely won't have to worry about tuxedos.

For the second time in 24 hours, Blanchett confirmed her place as frontrunner for the best actress Oscar for her performance in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

The Australian actress was nominated for a best dramatic actress Golden Globe on Thursday along with Judi Dench (Philomena), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks) and Kate Winslet (Labor Day).

On Wednesday Blanchett was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG).

The Globes and SAG Awards are the two major bellwethers for the Oscars, with nominations vital to maintaining momentum for the Academy Awards.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 16 and the winners on March 2.

Just as Blanchett's SAG and Globes nominations kept her on the right Oscar trajectory, Australian best actor hopefuls Jackman (Prisoners) and Hemsworth (Rush) and supporting actor Rush (The Book Thief) were all snubbed for Globes nods.

The same happened at the SAG nomination ceremony.

Oscar history says the double snubs give them little chance of scoring an Oscar nomination.

Another Australian hopeful, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street), was an outside chance for a supporting actress nomination but she also failed to get Globe and SAG nods.

Globe voters liked Hemsworth's Rush and Robie's The Wolf of Wall Street films.

Rush received a Globe drama film nomination and Hemsworth's co-star Daniel Bruhl received a supporting actor nomination.

The Wolf of Wall Street was given a nomination in the musical-comedy picture Globe, despite the film being neither a comedy or musical, while the film's star Leonardo DiCaprio also picked up a comedy-musical actor nod.

In the TV categories, the star of Jane Campion's TV mini-series Top of the Lake, Elisabeth Moss, added a Globe nomination to her SAG nomination.

The 71st annual Golden Globe Awards will be held in Beverly Hills on January 12.

The 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held in Los Angeles on January 18.

In other major Globe categories the best actor-drama nominees were: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave); Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom); Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips); Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club); Robert Redford (All Is Lost).

Best Actor in a musical or comedy film: Christian Bale (American Hustle); Bruce Dern (Nebraska); Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street); Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis); Joaquin Phoenix (Her)

Best Actress in a musical or comedy: Amy Adams (American Hustle); Julie Delpy (Before Midnight); Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said); and Meryl Streep (August: Osage County).

Best film drama: 12 Years A Slave; Captain Phillips; Gravity; Philomena; and Rush.

Best musical or comedy film: American Hustle; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Nebraska; and The Wolf Of Wall Street.

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US retail sales rise 0.7 per cent

US consumers ramped up spending in November on cars, appliances and furniture and made more purchases online, signalling growing confidence in the economy during the holiday shopping season.

The Commerce Department says retail sales rose 0.7 per cent, the biggest gain in five months. October's figure was also revised higher to 0.6 per cent.

Two straight months of healthy sales suggests steady hiring is encouraging Americans to spend more this holiday season, particularly on big-ticket items.

Car sales jumped 1.8 per cent and furniture purchases rose 1.2 per cent.

Excluding the volatile categories of cars, petrol and building materials, sales rose a solid 0.5 per cent in November.

Americans also are shifting more spending to online and catalog retailers.

Online and catalog sales rose 2.2 per cent last month, the most in nearly 18 months.

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US unemployment aid applications surge

THE number of people seeking US unemployment benefits rose 68,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 368,000, the largest increase in more than a year.

The surge in first-time applications could be a troubling sign if it lasts. But it likely reflects the difficulty adjusting for delays after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the less volatile four-week average rose 6,000 to 328,750. That is close to pre-recession levels and generally a positive sign for job gains.

Applications had tumbled in recent weeks to nearly six-year lows, partly because of a late Thanksgiving holiday that may have distorted the government's seasonal adjustments. Economists believe this week's jump in claims was a dose of payback for those declines.

"What the seasonals give in one month they have to take back the next, hence today's number," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Applications for unemployment aid are a proxy for layoffs. A steady decline over the past year suggests that fewer Americans have lost their jobs.

Economists will track the next few weeks closely to see if that trend is reversing, or if the surge is a temporary blip caused by seasonal adjustments.

The recent drop in layoffs has coincided with a pickup in hiring. The economy has added an average of 204,000 jobs a month from August through November, up from an average of 146,000 in May through July.

Employers added 203,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped to a five-year low of 7 per cent, the government said on Friday.

Four straight months of robust hiring have raised hopes that 2014 will be the year the economy returns to normal.

As more Americans draw a pay cheque, incomes and consumer spending generally increase. About 70 per cent of economic activity comes from consumer spending.

However, the unemployment rate remains above the historic averages of 5 per cent to 6 per cent that are associated strong job markets.

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US unemployment aid applications surge

THE number of people seeking US unemployment benefits rose 68,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 368,000, the largest increase in more than a year.

The surge in first-time applications could be a troubling sign if it lasts. But it likely reflects the difficulty adjusting for delays after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the less volatile four-week average rose 6,000 to 328,750. That is close to pre-recession levels and generally a positive sign for job gains.

Applications had tumbled in recent weeks to nearly six-year lows, partly because of a late Thanksgiving holiday that may have distorted the government's seasonal adjustments. Economists believe this week's jump in claims was a dose of payback for those declines.

"What the seasonals give in one month they have to take back the next, hence today's number," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Applications for unemployment aid are a proxy for layoffs. A steady decline over the past year suggests that fewer Americans have lost their jobs.

Economists will track the next few weeks closely to see if that trend is reversing, or if the surge is a temporary blip caused by seasonal adjustments.

The recent drop in layoffs has coincided with a pickup in hiring. The economy has added an average of 204,000 jobs a month from August through November, up from an average of 146,000 in May through July.

Employers added 203,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped to a five-year low of 7 per cent, the government said on Friday.

Four straight months of robust hiring have raised hopes that 2014 will be the year the economy returns to normal.

As more Americans draw a pay cheque, incomes and consumer spending generally increase. About 70 per cent of economic activity comes from consumer spending.

However, the unemployment rate remains above the historic averages of 5 per cent to 6 per cent that are associated strong job markets.

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Scottish crash helicopters grounded

BRITISH helicopter operator Bond has grounded its fleet of 22 EC135 aircraft, the same model that crashed into a Scottish pub last month killing nine people, after a defect was found on one of its flights.

"During normal operations yesterday, one of our EC135 fleet has experienced an indication defect that requires further technical investigation," the operator on Thursday.

"Therefore as a precautionary measure we have temporarily suspended service operations whilst we undertake detailed diagnosis. We commenced investigations overnight, are continuing this morning and are in close liaison with Eurocopter regarding this investigation."

Bond, whose helicopters are used by police and ambulance services throughout Britain, had also operated the police helicopter that plunged through the roof of the Clutha bar in the Scottish city of Glasgow late on November 29.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said in an initial report that there was no sign of engine failure in the helicopter.

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Jobless rate expected to hit 5.8%

AUSTRALIA'S jobless rate is expected to edge higher as weaker sectors of the economy remain under pressure.

The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 5.8 per cent, from 5.7 per cent, when official labour force figures for November are released on Thursday, according to an AAP survey of 13 economists.

The number of people with jobs is forecast to have increased by 10,000 in November, compared to a rise of 1,100 the month before.

But with an expected increase in the number of people looking for work, that will result in a higher unemployment rate.

JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters said recent economic indicators do not point to a turn around in the weaker parts of the economy.

"Employment growth has been dismal in the second half of 2013, with the economy shedding a net 16,000 jobs over the past six months," he said.

"Weak employment growth has not had the expected impact on the jobless rate, however, largely due to the continued decline in labour force participation, which is tracking at multi-year lows."

ANZ head of Australian economics Justin Fabo said the labour market will remain weak as the economy moves away from being driven by mining investment.

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Tighter budget rules needed: think tank

THE Parliamentary Budget Office should be replaced by an independent fiscal commission to prevent a future budget crisis, a conservative think tanks says.

As Treasurer Joe Hockey prepares to hand down the mid-year budget review, the Centre for Independent Studies has called for a new body to assume responsibility for formulating the budget's fiscal and economic parameters.

It would provide the frame for the government's tax and spending decisions, and impose financial penalties on politicians should the new fiscal rules be breached.

"Strengthening our fiscal institutions and implementing legislated fiscal rules would leave us in a better position to address the budget deficit and the long-term challenges Australia faces, such as an ageing population," CIS research fellow Stephen Kirchner said on Thursday.

He said under the current Charter of Budget Honesty, commitments by politicians are far too easily abandoned or relaxed, which has allowed the budget to slip into a "state of disrepair".

"An independent fiscal commission would enforce legislated fiscal rules, including limits of budget balance, net debt, revenue and spending as a share of GDP, and a rule limiting real growth in spending," Dr Kirchner said in a statement.

In the event one of these fiscal rules being broken, the pay of all MPs would be reduced by one per cent for every percentage point breached and over the duration of that breach.

"The commission would answer to the public, not to the parliament, which is one of the flaws of the Parliamentary Budget Office," he said.

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Australian cattle tortured in Gaza

FOOTAGE of Australian cattle being tortured before being slaughtered in Gaza is among the most shocking ever captured, independent MP Andrew Wilkie says.

The footage, filmed by civilians during the Festival of Sacrifice in October, shows tagged Australian bulls and cows being kicked, stabbed and shot while being dragged - with legs bound - through streets and makeshift slaughterhouses as crowds cheer.

The most disturbing footage shows a bound animal stabbed in the eye, while another is knee-capped with bullets from an assault rifle.

Animals Australia said the abuse was sickening and in breach of Australia's live export regulations.

"There are no words to adequately describe the carnage in these videos and the scale of abuse endured by Australian cattle," Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White said.

"It is shocking and completely harrowing to watch.

"Any politician or industry supporter who has propagated the industry's clever PR line that we can improve animal welfare by being in the market should be locked in a room and forced to watch an hour of footage from Gaza."

The animal welfare agency said the footage had been provided to all MPs and Senators.

It has lodged a legal complaint about the abuse - the third in two months following breaches of regulations in Jordan and Mauritius.

Mr Wilkie said the barbaric treatment of Australian livestock in overseas markets must stop.

"Gaza is just the latest in a long line of revelations which show clearly that Australia's so-called supply chain assurance is failing," Mr Wilkie said.

"If the government doesn't have the backbone to stop the trade altogether, then it should at least commit to ban or refuse permits to all companies that have demonstrated a continuing disregard for animal welfare."

Livestock Shipping Services (LSS), the largest cattle exporter into Israel, self-reported potential breaches of Australia's live export regulations in Gaza last month.

LSS is already under investigation for breaches in Jordan in June and October.

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Abbott to face pressure over Holden move

THE federal government is under increasing pressure to reveal how it will help Holden workers and rebuild confidence in the long-term future of manufacturing.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday night called Holden's decision to stop making cars by 2017 a "sad, bad day" for Australian manufacturing and pledged a strategic response to help workers and rebuild confidence, particularly in Adelaide.

He told parliament Australia had come through hard times before and said it was not the time to indulge in the blame game or peddle false hope to thousands set to lose jobs.

But Labor didn't hold back.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said he was "appalled" that a major company that had been building cars in Australia since after the Second World War had effectively been "goaded" to give up.

Mr Shorten called on Mr Abbott to urgently deal with the mess that will see the loss of 2900 jobs in Victoria and South Australia by 2017.

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss rejected the claims of goading, saying he'd been told by the car maker the government's actions had little influence on its decision.

GM cited a "perfect storm" of "the sustained strength of the Australian dollar, high cost of production, small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world".

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High Court to rule on same-sex marriages

A RAFT of newly wed same-sex couples are waiting to find out if their marriages will last more than a week.

The High Court will on Thursday hand down its ruling on the ACT's gay marriage laws.

Some 15 couples tied the knot in Canberra on Saturday when Australia's first same-sex marriage law came into play that day, and there have been more weddings since then.

But while the ACT is confident of its laws, there is still a chance the High Court could rule that the territory's Marriage Equality Act, passed in October, is at odds with Commonwealth law and therefore invalid.

The ACT government said last weekend that 47 couples had registered an intent to marry under the new law.

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Awards celebrate human rights advocates

A NUN providing hope for domestic violence victims, an African civil war survivor-turned UN ambassador and an advocate for Aboriginal childrens' education are among the Australians in the running for national human rights awards.

A record number of nominations have been received for the 2013 Human Rights Awards, to be held in Sydney on Tuesday night.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has selected 40 finalists for 10 awards, including the human rights medal, media awards and the young human rights medal.

Among the finalists for the major gong is Pastor Graham Long from The Wayside Chapel.

The programs Mr Long has implemented through the Sydney-based chapel help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, at risk youth and Australians dealing with mental illness.

Gurruwun (Yalmay) Yunupingu is nominated for her fight to see Yolgnu children have a bilingual education.

Musician and director Richard Frankland is also a finalist for his work with the Aboriginal community and Sister Clare Condon has also been nominated for her role with the Sisters of the Good Samaritan.

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Professor Gillian Triggs said the awards celebrated individuals and groups that advanced human rights.

"These finalists have dedicated their lives to advancing and protecting human rights of children and young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and individuals who experience mental illness, homelessness or domestic violence," she said in a statement.

The finalists for the Young People's Human Rights Medal include Yarrie Bangura, who fled Sierra Leone's civil war and became an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and David Sherwood, founder of not-for-profit group Teach Grow Learn Inc.

There are also awards in the media, community, business and law categories.

Champion swimmer and last year's human rights medal recipient Ian Thorpe will present the 2013 medal at a ceremony at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday night.

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Aussie boat race pest can stay in UK

AUSTRALIAN boat race protester Trenton Oldfield will be allowed to stay in the United Kingdom after an immigration tribunal judge said the activist had made a positive contribution to British society.

Mr Oldfield has successfully appealed a decision of Home Secretary Theresa May to deport him on the basis his presence in Britain was "not conducive to the public good".

Immigration tribunal Judge Kevin Moore will make his official determination within 10 days but told Monday's tribunal hearing that he would be finding in favour of the 37-year-old.

"It would be my intention to allow your appeal," the judge told Mr Oldfield in London.

"There is no doubt in my view to your character and the value you are to UK society generally."

Earlier the tribunal heard that if Mr Oldfield had been deported his British wife, Deepa Naik, and their five-month-old baby daughter wouldn't have moved to Australia with him because it was a "racist country".

The UK government earlier this year rejected Mr Oldfield's request for a spousal visa. The activist, originally from Sydney, has lived in the UK for more than 10 years.

In April 2012 he swam into the path of the Cambridge and Oxford rowing crews as they raced down the Thames in a protest against elitism and inequality. He was subsequently jailed for seven weeks.

Immediately after the hearing Mr Oldfield said he was very relieved by Monday's decision.

But asked if it was good to hear the judge say he'd made a positive contribution in Britain, the Australian replied: "I don't know."

"It's such a strange thing," he told reporters.

"Who knows what's good and what's bad. We have a public profile so people know about us.

"(However) there are a lot of people that make a contribution to the public good that don't have the level of public profile we have."

Mr Oldfield said deportation was "an old idea from another time - 1000 years ago".

"We need to rethink that," he said.

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Coalition support trails Labor: Newspoll

TONY Abbott's honeymoon is over as the coalition slumped to its lowest rating in three years.

Labor now leads on preferences for the first time since Julia Gillard was elected prime minister, according to a Newspoll survey taken last weekend.

After three months of an Abbott-led government, more voters are dissatisfied with the prime minister than satisfied, shows the Newspoll, which is published in The Australian on Tuesday.

Labor's two-party-preferred support has jumped five percentage points to put the ALP in front 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

The coalition's primary vote fell three percentage points to 40 per cent, while Labor's rose three points to 38 per cent.

The Australian says Labor's primary vote is back to the level it was in July, just after Kevin Rudd replaced Julia Gillard as prime minister.

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First Arnhem Land girls to graduate

TWO indigenous students from an isolated area in the Northern Territory are about to become the first girls from their community to ever graduate high school.

Christella Namundja and Kirsty Garnarradj from Gunbalanya in Arnhem Land, 300 km east of Darwin, are part of 60 Aboriginal girls who completed year 12 this year with the Role Models and Leaders Australia (RMLA) Academy.

RMLA is a mentoring program aimed at increasing the school retention rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female students.

RMLA founder and chief executive officer Ricky Grace said the program was intense and often involved leaders getting students out of bed in the morning.

"It's common for our leaders to go to the girls' homes and get them out of bed and wait for them to get ready so they can take them to school, or convince family members of the importance of an education," he said.

"That's how intense and focused this program is."

RMLA, which focuses on one-on-one mentoring, has 12 academies across NSW, Western Australia and the Northern territory.

Over the past three years the number of girls enrolled has increased from 34 year 12 students in 2010 to 60 in 2013.

More than 850 girls are enrolled in RMLA academies.

"This is such an incredible achievement as these girls have overcome challenges that you and I couldn't even imagine," Mr Grace, who competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics for basketball, said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and RMLA graduates will address the media on Tuesday in Sydney.

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McDonald's key sales metric rises

MCDONALD'S says a key sales figure rose 0.5 per cent in November, even as the world's biggest hamburger chain faces tough competition and basically flat traffic in the US.

Its global sales performance was the same as in October. The stock slipped in pre-market trading.

Sales at stores open at least a year is a key gauge because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

The company says the metric fell 0.8 per cent in the US. While breakfast items, chicken options and its new expanded value menu did well, that was pressured by intense competition and flat traffic.

In Europe, it increased 1.9 per cent on strong performances in the UK, France and Russia. This was offset by weakness in Germany.

It declined 2.3 per cent in the region including Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, mostly because of softness in Japan.

The lacklustre results come as people are increasingly choosing foods they feel are fresh, healthy or higher quality, with chains such as Chipotle enjoying relatively stronger growth.

To keep pace, McDonald's has introduced options such as chicken wraps and breakfast sandwiches with egg whites. But the company remains a target for health critics, and changing public perceptions about its food won't be easy.

McDonald's is also trying to win over diners with cheaper fare.

But its focus on its Dollar Menu has been a sore point with franchisees, who are seeing their profit margins hurt as costs for ingredients climb.

As such, McDonald's recently revamped the menu as the "Dollar Menu & More" with a range of items costing up to $5.

McDonald's has more than 34,000 locations worldwide.

Shares of the Illinois company fell 30 cents to $96.50 before the market open.

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Comedy Bamboozled wins Tropfest

AFTER winning a prize in the DSLR category at the last Tropfest, Australian filmmaker Matt Hardie can now add Tropfest 22 winner to his name.

Hardie has taken home the top prize with his comedic short film Bamboozled.

The event on Sunday night was actually the second Tropfest this year - the date change meant there was one in February and one in December - and Hardie was selected as a finalist at both.

"I thought this one wasn't going to do as well to be quite honest," Hardie told AAP about Bamboozled after his win at Sydney's Centennial Park.

"We did it so quickly. We thought it was good but I really didn't think it was going to go all the way."

How wrong he was.

Not only did he win 1st prize, which includes $10,000 in cash, a new Toyota car, a trip to LA, a Nikon DSLR and lenses, but he also received Best Male Actor, an award he shares with his co-star Aaron Tsindos.

Hardie's film was announced as the winner out of 16 finalists by Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic, who made the decision along with a panel of judges including Red Dog director Kriv Stenders, filmmaker Nash Edgerton, Milk producer Bruna Papandrea, actress Susie Porter and Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam Elliot.

Tropfest founder and director John Polson also took to the stage during the announcements to reveal the TSI (Tropfest Signature Item) for next year's festival - Mirror.

Polson says he was delighted at the turnout, with thousands embracing the new date in December and the new location at Centennial Park after years at the Domain.

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Alcohol sends 30,000 Vics to hospital

NEARLY 30,000 Victorians were hospitalised in a 12-month period due to the effects of excessive alcohol consumption, new data shows.

Men make up the majority of those hospitalised, but there has been a big jump in the number of women ending up in hospital due to alcohol.

The data, compiled by the organisation Turning Point, shows that during 2010/11 there were 29,694 alcohol-related inpatient hospitalisations.

On average, each of those people are staying in hospital for nearly four days, meaning 113,117 hospital bed days were taken up as a result of excess alcohol consumption.

Turning Point director professor Dan Lubman said the figures were a timely warning of the dangers of alcohol as Victorians prepare for the Christmas holiday period.

"While most people are able to consume alcohol in moderation, the decision-making part of your brain becomes less effective the more you drink," Prof Lubman said.

"There is a clear link between intoxication and increased rates of road accidents, injuries and assaults."

Prof Lubman said there was a big jump in the number of women being hospitalised.

In 2001/02 there were 6727 women hospitalised for alcohol-related incidents, but by 2010/11 that number had jumped to 11,484.

Men aged between 50 and 60 years were the most likely group to be hospitalised, the research showed.

For women, those aged between 40 and 44 years and 50 and 54 years are the most likely to end up in hospital for alcohol related reasons.

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Catholic response to abuse under spotlight

THE internal process used by the Catholic Church to compensate victims of child sexual abuse is under the microscope at a national inquiry this week.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse starts public hearings into the Church's Towards Healing process in Sydney on Monday.

It will be the fourth case study by the commission and the first of a number of public hearings which will examine the application of Towards Healing.

Towards Healing was established by the Catholic Church in 1996 and was seen as a watershed moment in the Church's approach to dealing with child sexual abuse within the institution.

It has been reviewed and reformed twice since then.

Abuse victims can approach the Church with allegations and then go through a mediation and compensation process if deemed appropriate.

Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines said this hearing would focus on the experiences of four people who took part in the process.

"These people are Queensland residents whose claim of child sexual abuse was dealt with through the Towards Healing process," Ms Dines said in a statement.

"The accused at the time of the abuse were priests and brothers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Diocese of Lismore and the Marist Brothers.

"As the commission continues, we will hold more public hearings into peoples' experience with Towards Healing and its application in different parts of Australia."

The commission called for submissions to an issues paper on the Church process and have published 20 on its website.

Some are highly critical of Towards Healing, saying it re-traumatises victims.

The submissions may be viewed at:

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/view-submissions-to-issues-paper-2-towards-healing/

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Woman over limit with 6-year-old in car

A WOMAN who was driving her six-year-old son to a birthday party has lost her licence for six months after she recorded a positive breath test in Melbourne.

The 43-year-old woman, from Patterson Lakes, returned the positive test when she was pulled over on the Nepean Highway at Cheltenham, about 10.15am on Sunday (AEDT), police say.

She then recorded a reading of 0.099 at a local police station and was issued with a penalty notice for $433, which also carries a loss of licence for six months.

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Motorcyclist dies on NSW mid-north coast

A 67-YEAR-OLD motorcyclist has been killed in an accident on the NSW mid-north coast.

It's believed the man attempted to take a sweeping bend on the Dondingalong Road at Dondingalong, about 20 kilometres southwest of Kempsey, when he lost control and was thrown from his bike late on Sunday afternoon.

Emergency services were called, but he died at the scene, police say.

A report is being prepared for the Coroner.

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