India building collapse kills 13

THIRTEEN bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of a building under construction that collapsed "like a house of cards" in a coastal village in the Indian tourist state of Goa.

The residential building caved in on Saturday mid-afternoon, when some 50 labourers were working on the site, police said.

"We have got 13 bodies from the wreckage. We expect the death toll to rise," Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told AFP.

A witness said the building collapsed like "a pack of cards".

Rescue workers using cranes and bulldozers, shovels and bare hands, struggled to shift concrete slabs and other debris to free the trapped labourers.

Hundreds of onlookers stood watching the rescue efforts as police sought to shoo them away from the site, saying they were hampering access for machinery.

"The current priority is to rescue people trapped under the rubble and the government has also taken help of the army to clear the debris," Parikkar told the Press Trust of India separately.

Parrikar had been near the village to attend a state-sponsored folklore festival that was later cancelled by the government.

The building collapse, the latest in a string of deadly construction cave-ins in India recently, occurred in the seaside village of Canacona, south of the capital city of Panaji.

Initial reports said that the structure was five-storey apartment residence.

"We will immediately arrest the builder, the contractor and municipal officials involved in sanctioning this construction site," the chief minister said.

He said police had already filed complaints against those people involved in the construction of the building.

Last September, a rundown five-storey residential block in India's financial hub Mumbai collapsed, killing 60 people.

The building had been listed by municipal authorities as needing "urgent repairs", according to local media reports.

Last April, another building collapse in Mumbai killed 74 people.

The incidents have highlighted shoddy construction and violations of the building code, amid burgeoning demand for housing in many parts of India and endemic corruption.

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China reports drop in mining deaths

SAFETY at China's coal mines improved in 2013, with the numbers of accidents and deaths decreasing from the previous year, the government says.

China has the world's deadliest coal mines, and authorities have made it a priority to improve safety by enforcing rules.

The central government said on Saturday that there were 589 mining accidents last year, leaving 1049 people dead or missing.

It did not give prior-year figures, but said the numbers declined by more than 24 per cent.

Industry reports from a year ago say more than 1300 people died in mining accidents in China in 2012 and 1973 died in 2011, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.

Both figures do not include missing people.

Last month, a gas explosion at a coal mine in western China's Xinjiang region killed 22 people in one of the deadliest accidents of the year.

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Digital music downloads fall

DIGITAL music sales fell 5.7 per cent in 2013, with experts attributing the drop to an increase in online streaming services.

Individual song downloads dropped from 1.34 billion in 2012 to 1.26 billion in 2013, the largest drop since the launch of the iTunes store in 2003, music industry magazine Billboard reported on Friday.

Albums fared substantially better during 2013, with sales seeing a minor drop of 0.1 per cent to 117.6 million units.

Industry experts have attributed the decrease to the rise of ad-supported and paid music subscription services - available for an average of $US10 ($A11) per month.

Experts said that the growth in streaming revenue was offsetting the decline in music downloads.

Billboard, which referenced figures provided by music sales tracker Nielsen Soundscan, also reported that CD sales dropped by 14.5 per cent to 165.4 million units in 2013.

Vinyl continued its year-on-year ascension, rising from 4.6 million unit sales in 2012 to 6 million in 2013.

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Officers critical after Melbourne blast

THREE police officers are in critical conditions and two firefighters are injured following an explosion in Melbourne's south.

Emergency services were called to a Hambleton Street flat in Middle Park at 9.15pm on Saturday following reports of a male threatening suicide.

As firefighters and police entered the second-floor flat there was a large explosion.

Three police officers were seriously injured and were taken to The Alfred hospital.

Two female officers are in a critical condition, while a male officer is critical but stable.

Two firefighters were also injured, along with the male occupant.

Police have asked for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

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Antarctic passengers resume journey home

AN Australian icebreaker carrying the 52 passengers retrieved from an icebound ship in the Antarctic has resumed its journey home.

The Aurora Australis will continue its interrupted resupply mission to Australia's Antarctic base Casey Station before returning to Tasmania in mid-January with the rescued scientists, journalists and tourists.

It had been slowly cracking through thick ice toward open water after a helicopter on Thursday plucked the passengers from their stranded Russian research ship and carried them to an ice floe near the Australian ship.

But on Friday afternoon, the crew of the Chinese icebreaker that provided the helicopter said they were worried about their own ship's ability to move through the ice.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre, which oversaw the rescue, told the Aurora to stay in the area in case help was needed.

on Saturday, AMSA said the Aurora was allowed to continue and that the Chinese ship, Snow Dragon, was safe and not in need of assistance.

Andrew Peacock, an Australian doctor and photographer rescued from the Russian ship, said his fellow passengers had been frustrated by the news of further delays on Friday.

"My feeling, and those of others I believe, today is one of relief at finally having a concrete plan for how and when we can return to loved ones, family and friends," Peacock said in an email from the Aurora.

The Chinese ship remained stuck several kilometres from the Russian icebreaker Akademik Shokalskiy, from which the passengers were rescued. The Russian ship has been immobile since Christmas Eve.

A reporter for China's official Xinhua News Agency who is aboard the Snow Dragon, Zhang Jiansong, said an iceberg appeared overnight and blocked the ship's return route.

He said the ship would again try to find a way out, possibly as early as Monday.

Zhang said late on Saturday that the 101 crew members on board the vessel were safe and had plenty of supplies.

An Antarctic tourism operator is holding out hope that the Russian icebreaker will be free in time to take 48 sightseers on a cruise of Antarctica's Ross Sea.

Heritage Expeditions has leased the Akademik Shokalskiy to depart New Zealand for the cruise on January 17.

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Two killed in Egypt clashes

AT least six people have been killed in clashes across Egypt as police dispersed thousands of protesters demanding deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi be reinstated.

The protests on Friday came after an Islamist alliance that backs Morsi called for demonstrations ahead of a new hearing on Wednesday in a trial against the ousted president.

Three people were killed in Cairo, and three others in the cities of Ismailiya, Fayoum and Alexandria, as the Islamist protesters fought with police and civilian opponents, said the health ministry.

At least 42 people were wounded in the violence, it said.

The interior ministry said 122 protesters were arrested.

Police fought street battles in several districts of Cairo, while protesters torched a police vehicle using petrol bombs, a security official said.

In the upscale neighbourhood of Maadi, police fired tear gas near a military hospital as protesters threw fireworks at them, an AFP reporter said.

He said protesters clashed with the police on a road along the Nile river and also inside the suburb.

The street was littered with rocks and burning wood as police vehicles sped up and down the road to disperse the protesters.

Protesters chanted "Down with military rule" and slogans against army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who led Morsi's ouster in July.

Cairo's main squares were sealed off by security forces using barbed wire and military vehicles.

Since the Islamist president's ouster, his supporters have staged near-daily protests calling for his reinstatement, particularly after Friday prayers.

But their numbers have dwindled amid a violent government crackdown.

More than 1000 people, mostly Islamists, died in street clashes following his overthrow, and thousands have been imprisoned.

Friday's protests come as a pro-Morsi Islamist coalition spearheading the protest movement called for demonstrations ahead of the resumption of his trial on Wednesday.

Morsi is being tried on charges of inciting the killings of protesters during his presidency.

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Five dead in Cambodia as police open fire

FIVE people have been killed in Phnom Penh as police opened fire on hundreds of garment workers demonstrating for a higher minimum wage, a local rights group says.

About 200 military police armed with assault rifles clashed with the protesters, who used sticks and petrol bombs against officers in an industrial district of the capital.

More than 20 others were injured in the violence, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association reported, adding that the police action was "an indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force".

The fighting came a day after about 15 workers and activists were arrested and several people injured in a crackdown on strikes that have been going on for a week.

Unions and workers have been pushing for a doubling of the minimum wage, currently set at $US80 ($A90) per month.

The government this week offered a $US20 raise starting in February.

Garments are Cambodia's biggest export market and about 500,000 people are employed in the sector, which was worth about $US5 billion last year.

The government defended the use of force against the demonstrators on Friday, with Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, accusing the country's main opposition party of encouraging garment workers to riot.

Though not officially linked, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has come out in support of the strikers, and one of the main planks of their electoral platform last year was an increased minimum wage.

"They [the CNRP] manipulate the situation," Siphan said.

"It's nothing to do with a salary increase. They're looking for bloodshed."

Siphan said police had the right to defend themselves in the face of stone-throwing protesters, and denied use of assault rifles by police was a disproportionate use of force.

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UK's Robber Biggs defiant to the last

GREAT Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, who spent much of his life cocking a snook at authority, has been given an appropriate send off.

When he was last seen in public, at the funeral of robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds, Biggs stuck two fingers up at journalists.

On Friday, as the hearse carrying his coffin passed through the streets of north London, a white floral wreath in the shape of a two-fingered salute was visible alongside a Union flag and the flag of Brazil, the country where he spent many years as a fugitive from British justice.

The coffin was surrounded by floral tributes and messages, and adorned with a red ribbon that read "Ronnie".

Biggs, who won worldwide notoriety after escaping prison and living the high life in Rio de Janeiro, died last month at the age of 84.

He spent more than three decades on the run, and had been cared for at London care home, after suffering several strokes in recent years.

His carers were among those that joined the funeral procession.

Biggs was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds due to ill health, despite being re-arrested in 2001 upon his return to the UK after evading the authorities since his first escape from Wandsworth Prison in 1965.

At the time of his escape, Biggs had served just 15 months of the 30-year sentence he was handed for his part in the robbery of a Royal Mail freight train between London and Glasgow on August 8, 1963.

After having plastic surgery, he lived as a fugitive for 36 years first in Australia then Brazil.

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Germany WWII bomb blast kills one

THE driver of an excavator has been killed and eight other people injured after a World War II-era bomb blew up during earthworks in Germany.

The blast wave from the sleeper bomb on Friday blew out the windows of surrounding buildings and could be felt for several kilometres, police and residents said.

The accident, in which two of the wounded suffered serious injuries, shook an industrial area in the town of Euskirchen near the former capital Bonn in western Germany.

"During earth works an excavator hit a World War II bomb which exploded," a local police spokesman told AFP.

"There was a huge blast wave. In the vicinity of the accident site and surrounding streets, home windows shattered and garage doors were pushed in."

The ground below many Germany cities still contains unexploded ordnance dropped by Allied and Soviet forces in the Second World War, but most is safely defused when found.

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More than 1000 migrants rescued off Italy

MORE than 1000 would-be migrants have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea over the course of 24 hours, the Italian navy says.

A total of 823 migrants, who were travelling on four overcrowded and barely seaworthy boats, were picked up near the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa by naval vessels on Thursday.

Their passengers are said to have come from Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan and Iraq, among other countries.

They were transferred to the Sicilian port of Augusta, near Syracuse.

Late on Wednesday, one boat with 233 people on board was rescued in strong winds and rough waters also near Lampedusa. Most of the passengers came from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Pakistan, Zambia and Mali.

The European Union recently launched a new EU border surveillance network to try to protect the lives of migrants attempting the dangerous crossing to southern Europe.

It came after more than 360 people died in early October in a shipwreck off Lampedusa.

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Adelaide needs more retirement villages

MORE retirement accommodation is needed in Adelaide's inner suburbs to allow seniors to downsize but stay in their communities, the retirement industry's peak body says.

Property advisory group MacroPlan Dimasi analysed census data to determine where Adelaide's population of seniors was increasing fastest.

The Retirement Living Council says the report revealed a consistent trend of over 65s moving further away from the inner city to urban fringe locations where they had never lived before.

It says the move outwards is most likely caused by a shortage of age-appropriate housing and retirement villages in particular.

Executive director Mary Wood says city planning needs to take into account the interests of elderly Australians to ensure seniors can choose to downsize locally.

"Including retirement villages in capital-city planning provides housing choice and social diversity and allows seniors to stay living in their existing communities and be close to families, friends and support services," she said.

"As a result they are likely to live happier and longer lives, reducing hospital and aged care costs borne by the taxpayer."

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Greenpeace activist arrives home

AUSTRALIAN activist Colin Russell has arrived home saying he has no regrets about his time spent in a Russian jail and that Greenpeace will campaign the "same as ever".

The 59-year-old flew into Hobart on Thursday night after being detained by Russian authorities for three months over a seaborne protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.

With his wife and daughter at his side he told reporters at Hobart Airport that being detained was unexpected and "wasn't in my travel brochure".

Mr Russell, a radio operator, was one of 30 activists arrested and detained in September for protesting against a Russian oil rig operated by Moscow-based energy company Gazprom in the Pechora Sea.

Known as the Arctic 30, the group, made up of 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists, had been accused of piracy then hooliganism.

The charges were dropped last week after the Russian parliament passed an amnesty law and freed the defendants.

Russian authorities granted Mr Russell an exit visa last week, allowing him to return home.

He said the Greenpeace protest was a peaceful one and the Russian reaction was "probably overdone".

But the arrests and detention would not deter the environmental group, he said.

"I think we'll still campaign the same as ever ... that's what we do.

"I have no regrets about the time in jail .. it's done the job," Mr Russell said.

"It's freedom of speech and I think maybe Russians learnt a bit of a lesson too that people should have the right to freedom of speech."

Mr Russell said the Russian troops who boarded the Greenpeace vessel "weren't messing around".

"It was pretty hair raising, pretty scary when you see people with full balaclavas on and automatic weapons, I'm not used to that of course."

He said he was not harshly treated in the jail he was in but it was run down and not clean and one man there had tuberculosis and AIDs.

Mr Russell said he would have to have blood tests for the disease for the next two years.

He said the Australian government "could have gone into bat a little bit more for me".

"Australia was going to let me go through Russia's due legal process, but it just doesn't exist," he said.

But he did pay tribute to Australian consular officials who kept him informed and supplied him with food and books.

Mr Russell said he wanted to thank everybody in Australia who backed him during his ordeal.

His daughter Madeleine said it was a "huge relief" to have her father back and she was grateful to everyone who had supported them, while his wife Christine said she was proud of what her husband had done.

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Macau casinos score $US45bn in revenue

THE tiny Chinese city of Macau has again smashed its annual record for casino earnings as revenues last year hit a staggering $US45 billion ($A50.7 billion), further underlining its position as the world's biggest gambling market.

Macau's nearly three dozen casinos raked in 33.5 billion patacas ($A4.7 billion) in December, according to data released on Thursday by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the gambling regulator.

That brought revenue for 2013 to 360.8 billion patacas ($A50.7 billion), up 18.6 per cent from 2012.

Analyst Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Research estimated that Macau's take would be more than seven times the amount earned on the Las Vegas Strip.

The former Portuguese colony's once-lethargic casino market has thrived since the government ended a gambling monopoly a decade ago and let in foreign players such as Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts Ltd.

The ensuing competition has transformed the tiny enclave into a gambling powerhouse, with glitzy new casino resorts centered on the Cotai Strip, marketed as Asia's version of the Las Vegas Strip.

All six casino operators in Macau, an hour by high-speed ferry from Hong Kong, are pouring billions of dollars into new megaprojects in the district in a fresh round of expansion.

Macau's casino revenues are the envy of other markets around Asia, which have been looking at ways to duplicate the southern Chinese city's success.

Increasing numbers of wealthy high-rolling visitors from mainland China have helped power Macau's rise as a casino hub.

Revenue has already overtaken the entire market in the US, where a year ago some 12,000 US casinos raked in $US37.3 billion, according to figures from the American Gaming Association.

In the same period, Macau, which has 35 casinos and a population of about 560,000, earned $US38 billion, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

Though comparable US figures for 2013 are not yet available, Macau's lead is certain to widen as growth in major markets like the Las Vegas Strip has largely hit a plateau.

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Kerry in Middle East for peace talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in the Middle East to try and promote a framework peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kerry landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon, US Embassy spokesman Geoffrey Anisman said, and would shuttle between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He will stay at least until Friday and possibly Saturday, Anisman said.

The five-month negotiations with a nine-month deadline are reaching a boiling point, not least because of Palestinian anger about ongoing Israeli settlement construction and a dispute regarding the Jordan Valley, along the eastern West Bank.

US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the framework being drafted by Kerry would address all the core issues of the conflict.

That includes Jerusalem, borders, refugees, settlements and security arrangements.

"The framework agreement would serve as guidelines - and I don't know if I would use the word agreement; I would use the term "proposed framework" because it's only a proposed framework at this point," she told reporters in Washington.

Hoping to minimise international criticism during Kerry's visit, Netanyahu has postponed the publication of tenders for the construction of another 1400 settler homes, apparently to next week.

Netanyahu freed another 26 Palestinian prisoners early on Tuesday, as part of a commitment to release a total of 104 militants jailed since before the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords by April.

He also announced more construction projects in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem during previous prisoner releases in August and October, a move designed to appease hardliners in his government.

An associate told Israel Army Radio that Netanyahu was torn between his wish to avoid being blamed for any failure of the peace negotiations, and a sense that he was emerging as a "sucker" because he agreed to free 104 detainees but was "getting nothing in return".

While Netanyahu is under pressure from Kerry to accept a document of principles - expected to include a reference to the lines of before the 1967 war as the basis for the borders of the future Palestinian state - he is also under pressure from hardliners in his government.

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford files to run again

TORONTO Mayor Rob Ford has put his name on the ballot to run for another term.

Ford was the first candidate to show up at City Hall when registration opened on Thursday for the city's municipal election October 2.

The conservative mayor of Canada's largest city has said he would run again, even after admitting last year that he had smoked crack "in a drunken stupor".

Ford has faced intense pressure to resign over his drug use and revelations of other erratic behaviour that have embarrassed many Canadians.

The Toronto City Council has stripped Ford of most of his powers, but he continues to receive support from some in the city's more conservative suburbs.

Ford admitted his drug use after Toronto police announced in October they had obtained a copy of a video of him appearing to smoke from a crack pipe.

News reports of the video first emerged in May, but Ford at first denied its existence.

Court documents released last month detail police wiretaps of alleged gang members who spoke about delivering drugs to the mayor and having pictures of him using drugs.

The wiretaps are evidence in the case against Ford's friend Alexander Lisi, who faces trial on drug and extortion charges. The mayor has not been charged.

In the weeks since the revelations, Ford has said he has quit drinking and adopted a healthier lifestyle.

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Pope stresses courage, hope in new year

POPE Francis, laying out his hopes for the just-begun year, has urged people to work for a world where everyone accepts each other's differences and where enemies recognise that they are brothers.

"We are all children of one heavenly father, we belong to the same human family and we share a common destiny," Francis said on Wednesday, speaking from his studio window overlooking St Peter's Square, jammed with tens of thousands of faithful, tourists and Romans.

"This brings a responsibility for each to work so that the world becomes a community of brothers who respect each other, accept each other in one's diversity, and takes care of one another," the Pope said.

Setting aside his prepared text for a moment, he expressed impatience with violence in the world. "What is happening in the heart of man? What is happening in the heart of humanity?" Francis asked. "It's time to stop."

He told the crowd this reflection was inspired by letter he received from a man - "maybe one of you" - who lamented that there are "so many tragedies and wars in the world".

"I, too, believe that it will be good for us to stop ourselves in this path of violence and search for peace," Francis said.

In his remarks to the often-applauding crowd, he also expressed hope that "the gospel of brotherhood speak to every conscience and knock down the walls that impede enemies from recognising that they are brothers".

The Catholic church dedicates January 1 to the promotion of word peace.

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Problems linger for Greece in 2014

GREECE has assumed the presidency of the European Union, starting 2014 with a promise by the government to pull the country out of a six-year recession, keep a balanced budget, and effectively end a financial crisis that rattled the euro.

"In 2014, Greece will return to the markets and start to become a normal country again," Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in a televised New Year's address on Wednesday.

"After six unending, painful years, 2014 will herald the prospect of growth ... What's important is that we've avoided the worst."

But have they?

With most of the 240 billion euros ($A374 billion) in bailout loans already paid out, Greece still has an unsustainably high national debt, faces the threat of renewed political instability, and has more than one-in-four jobless and steadily sliding into poverty.

Greeks greeted the New Year after many spent hours lining up in tax offices to pay austerity levies on time.

And heavy smog has returned to the country's capital after decades this winter as households left with no heating throw scrap wood and garbage onto the fireplace to try to keep warm.

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Putin visits bomb-hit Volgograd

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has made a pre-dawn visit to the city reeling from two suicide bombings this week, bringing gestures of sympathy for the victims and questions for the officials he has ordered to beef up security.

The bombings at the main railway station of Volgograd and on a city trolleybus killed 34 people and wounded scores, 65 of whom are hospitalised.

No claim of responsibility has been made for either attack, but they come a few months after the leader of an Islamic insurgency in Russia's south called for attacks in the run-up to February's Winter Olympics in the resort city of Sochi.

"Whatever motivated the criminals' actions, there's no justification for committing crimes against civilians, especially against women and children," Putin said on Wednesday, opening a meeting in Volgograd with the heads of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry.

He said he would ask the two officials in the closed-door session for details on what measures their agencies are taking to raise security in the country.

Afterward, Putin placed a bouquet on the pile of flowers, balloons and other commemorative items that has risen at the site of the trolleybus bombing, and then visited a hospital where some of the wounded are being treated.

Television footage shows Putin meeting with an unidentified female victim who told him from her bed that "Volgograd people have a strong spirit and just can't be broken".

Volgograd, a city of about one million, has been under heavy security since the Sunday and Monday attacks. Police reinforcements and paramilitary troops were sent into the city.

As part of the tightened security, police and sniffer dogs have checked some 2700 residential buildings, along with bus stations, parking lots and other structures, the city's police department said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

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Palestinian envoy dies after Prague blast

THE Palestinian ambassador to Prague, Jamal al-Jamal, has died after a blast in his residence.

"With regret we confirm this information provided by the emergency service," Prague police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova said on Wednesday.

Jamal took office last October. He had only recently moved to the new residence on the northern outskirts of Prague.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the blast occurred on Wednesday morning as al-Jamal "was opening an old safe which had been brought from the previous embassy (building) to the new one".

"Minutes after opening the safe the explosion took place, causing serious injury to Ambassador Jamal, who was taken to hospital and operated on," the ministry said in a statement.

Quoting sources close to the police investigation, the Novinky.cz news site said the blast was probably caused by "careless manipulation with a dangerous explosive".

"Emergency services treated a 56-year-old man who suffered very serious injuries and was taken to Prague's military hospital in an artificial coma," spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova had said.

"A 52-year-old woman was taken to another hospital because of smoke inhalation and a stress reaction," she added.

Embassy spokesman Nabil al-Fahel told the public Czech Radio that the ambassador's entire family had been in the residence when the blast occurred.

Police said they were still investigating the causes.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it would "send a high-level delegation to Prague (on Thursday) to speak with Czech officials and co-operate in the investigation into the cause of the explosion".

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Trapped Aussies celebrate New Year's Eve

PASSENGERS and crew aboard a research ship trapped in Antarctic ice for a week have been keeping their spirits up by filming themselves celebrating the new year and posting them on the internet.

In one, the lively bunch squeeze together in a small tent to perform a humorous song about their plight, while in a second they sing Auld Lang Syne as they stamp down the snow near the ship in preparation for the arrival of a rescue helicopter.

Three icebreakers have now failed to reach the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve with 74 scientists, tourists and crew on board.

It was hoped the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis would be able to get through the thick ice and allow them to continue on their way but fierce winds and snow forced it to retreat to open water on Monday after it came within 10 nautical miles of the stranded ship.

A helicopter on board a Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, will now be used to collect the passengers. The Snow Dragon, which is waiting with the Aurora at the edge of the ice pack, was also unable to crack through the ice, as was France's L'Astrolabe.

In the video filmed in the tent, a male member of the group introduces them as the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), adding that they are "just about to enter 2014".

When conditions allow it they will be flown back to the Snow Dragon in groups of 12, and then transferred by barge to the Aurora.

All 52 passengers will be evacuated, but the crew on the Akademik Shokalskiy will stay behind with the ship and wait for the ice to break up naturally, expedition spokesman Alvin Stone said.

The vessel, which left New Zealand on November 28, got stuck after a blizzard pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship is not in danger of sinking and there are weeks' worth of supplies on board.

The AAE team had been recreating Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica but this endeavour will now have to be cut short.

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Joh's cabinet anxious about Labor rise

THE Bjelke-Petersen era was at its peak in 1983, but the rise of Labor governments in Canberra and WA put Sir Joh's cabinet on the defensive.

The staunchly conservative government was worried that the rise of Labor would put Queensland and the High Court on a collision course, cabinet documents from 30 years ago show.

Attorney-General Sam Doumany declared that the "fundamental realignment" meant all Queensland ministers and officials had to get smarter about protecting the state's interests.

Mr Doumany said the election of the Hawke government had paved the way for the Commonwealth to start making new sexual and racial discrimination laws.

His warning came in the wake of a 1982 High Court decision which found the Bjelke-Petersen government was acting discriminatorily by blocking the purchase of land by Aboriginal people in northern Queensland.

He said the High Court would "no longer provide any great protection" because the majority of justices were "opposed to the long-term interests of the states".

But Labor wasn't the only party to cause Sir Joh headaches in 1983.

The Liberal Party elected Terry White as its leader on August 9, triggering a political and constitutional crisis which resulted in the dissolution of the Liberal-National coalition.

The termination of the long-standing agreement between the parties was far from ideal for Bjelke-Petersen's Nationals, two months out from the state election.

In the wake of the dissolution and successive ALP victories across the country, many commentators were predicting a Labor win at the October poll.

However, Sir Joh managed to form a minority government by convincing key Liberal Party members to defect to the Nationals.

While the Queensland government remained the same in 1983, the state itself was changing.

Brisbane continued its evolution into an international city, landing the 1988 World Expo a year after hosting the Commonwealth Games.

The government didn't waste any time preparing for the massive bicentennial celebration by rezoning industrial land in South Brisbane to build a cultural precinct that's now known as South Bank.

Meanwhile, the Gold Coast was preparing to get a tourist attraction of its own - the state's first casino.

Construction of Jupiter's Casino began in July after Conrad Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels, was approved as a partner in the building consortium.

Plans were also well under way for a Townsville casino, with a draft agreement for the development approved in February.

In the mood to attract more tourists to the state, the government allowed the export of 18 koalas to Japan as a publicity stunt and funded a television program promoting the Sunshine State.

But 1983 wasn't all fun and games for Queenslanders.

Extremely hot and dry conditions wreaked havoc in the state, particularly in the northwest, with more than 50 shires hit by drought.

Unemployment was on the rise, with cabinet considering community-based employment projects as the jobless rate hit 11.5 per cent.

But the struggle of ordinary Queenslanders didn't stop MPs voting to give themselves a pay rise.

The disposal of radioactive sand left over from sand mining was also at the fore as the government grappled with where to dump the substance, which had a half-life of 10,000 million years.

Sand mining may have been controversial, but it was full steam ahead for the coal industry.

Major coal railways were electrified and new coal mining areas were opened at Emerald and Moranbah in central Queensland.

Trial coal exports to Spain, Malaysia and Hong Kong were also approved.

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Sinking boats dampen Sydney festivities

MORE than 100 New Year's Eve revellers have been helped from two sinking boats in Sydney Harbour.

Police say 100 party-goers were rescued from a yacht near Garden Island about 8pm (AEDT) when the vessel began taking on water.

The police boat Nemesis took 60 people to safety on shore, while another 40 found refuge on a nearby private boat.

A police spokesman said the yacht was outside the exclusion zone and did not threatening the end of year fireworks display in the harbour.

More than an hour later, six people also had to be rescued from a sinking boat on the harbour.

The boat started sinking around 9.40pm, shortly after the fireworks show.

Four police boats were on scene helping passengers off the vessel.

An AAP reporter witnessed the boat sink, with just the front of the vessel sticking out of the water near Mrs Macquarie's chair.

Water police helped the six passengers onto another boat.

No one was injured in either of the rescues, a spokesman said.

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Australia celebrates 2014 with a bang

A DAZZLING fireworks display capped Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations on Sydney Harbour as hundreds of thousands of onlookers saw in 2014.

The harbour exploded in a kaleidoscope of colour at midnight as fireworks launched from seven barges mesmerised the revellers that packed foreshore vantage points.

The show marked the third pyrotechnic spectacular on Sydney Harbour this New Year's Eve, with city skies also lighting up at for eight minutes 9pm (AEST) and a one-off 60 second show at 10pm.

In the 12-minute midnight show of red, gold, blue, and green fireworks morphed into swirls, wheels and comets as they launched off the the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Sydney announced 2014 with a synchronised explosion across the harbour, including 1000 fireworks shot from the Opera House sails, as well as glittering waterfalls of fire that cascaded over the harbour.

For a moment the seven tonnes of coloured fireworks seemed to turn the city's cloudy night into bright day.

Malin Schumacher, 19, said the midnight display was worth the 10-hour wait.

"You think I'm joking, but I did start to cry. I was overwhelmed," the Swedish tourist told AAP.

"You have fireworks in Sweden, but there's nothing compared to this - the view, the energy, the people."

Boliver Warner, 21, said the fireworks got better every year.

"The older I get, the more I enjoy it," the Darlinghurst resident said.

"There's always something to look forward to."

This year's top secret bridge effect, a highlight of the midnight display, was a 12 storey high, 72 metre wide neon eye that seemed to peer around the harbour.

Had the eye opened just a couple of hours earlier, it may have spotted the more than 100 seafairing revellers who had to be helped to safety when their boats began sinking in the harbour.

In Victoria, more than 500,000 revellers packed the city centre to see 7.5 tonnes of fireworks launched into the sky from 22 locations, including city rooftops, by a team of 44 pyrotechnists.

Police in both states were out in force on the night at celebration hot spots.

An ever present threat of rain took nothing away from the largest fireworks show in the city's history.

The skies above the river city were lit up by 30,000 pyrotechnic effects fired from three barges and three city rooftops at 8.30pm and midnight.

Thousands of people braved cold weather in Canberra's Civic Square to hail the New Year with music and fireworks launched form City Hill and the roof of the Canberra Theatre Centre.

In Tasmania, tens of thousands converged on the waterfront and Salamanca, where the state's biggest food festival, Taste, combined with the finish of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Partygoers who weren't napping after a night of gorging on fine food witnessed fireworks exploding over the docks at midnight.

South Australia sang in the new year with live music in Adelaide's Elder Park, where local bands provided the entertainment, along with a fireworks display.

The new year will prove dangerous for some, with residents in parts of regional South Australia urged by authorities to leave their homes and seek safety as "catastrophic" fire danger conditions are predicted for January 1.

Western Australia largely left its patch of sky alone on the night, with Perth saving up its big pyrotechnics display for Australia Day.

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Vic fireworks attract about 500,000

MORE than 500,000 partygoers have enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show in central Melbourne to celebrate the New Year.

On a mild and pleasant evening, Melbourne's skyline was lit up from 22 locations across the city.

The 7.5-tonne fireworks display transformed the night sky into a rainbow of colours, from green, gold, blue, pink and red.

Flashing balls of light and fireworks that looked like falling stars delighted the crowds, and none more than the finale of a rapid-fire display of light.

Earlier in the night, thousands of families flocked to Yarra Park for fireworks at the family friendly time of 9.30pm (AEDT).

The mood at the event was relaxed, with lots of kids, babies, mums and dads stretched on blankets with picnics waiting for the fireworks to begin.

New mum Nicola Sutcliffe said she was enjoying the music, but not the long queues for food.

"This is the first time we have been out with a child for New Year's Eve and it's good that there is something like this event," she said.

Melanie Barclay was also enjoying the night with her family that included three sons, aged three to six.

"It's lovely weather and lots of people enjoying themselves," she said.

Police promised to be out in force with 300 officers dispersed around the celebration hotspots across Melbourne.

Those found drunk in a public place face a $577 fine and $722 for drunk and disorderly behaviour.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp said just after midnight that apart from a few incidents, most people were in good spirits and behaving well in the city.

Two people were arrested and two police officers suffered minor injuries in separate scuffles in the CBD and North Fitzroy.

"They suffered minor injuries, that's very disappointing from my perspective, but keep that in perspective, we've got hundreds of thousands of people in the city," he said.

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Sydney NYE to be 'absolutely spectacular'

SYDNEYSIDERS are in for "absolutely spectacular" fireworks this New Year's Eve as the harbour city gears up to ring in 2014.

Tuesday night's fireworks will include 11,000 aerial shells and 25,000 shooting comets that will explode from seven barges spread across 6km of Sydney Harbour.

For the first time in a decade, 1000 fireworks will also be shot from the top of the Opera House, as well as from the Harbour Bridge and jet skis stationed in the harbour.

Fireworks displays will explode across the harbour at 9pm, 10.30pm and midnight.

Sydney New Year's Eve producer Aneurin Coffey said there was "something for everybody" in the pyrotechnic extravaganza.

"Plan your night ahead so work out where you want to go and work out a backup location in case that area is full," Mr Coffey said.

"It'll be absolutely spectacular, there's some really new stuff this year."

For those heading to the foreshore, organisers say the Sydney Opera House and Dawes Point usually see the first trickle of spectators from about 5am (AEDT), with Bradfield Park, Blues Point Reserve and Observatory Hill Park also popular early.

With 1.5 million people expected to flock to Sydney for the celebrations, organisers are also urging people to seek vantage points outside the CBD.

Emergency services will be out in high numbers, with 2500 police on the beat in Sydney and 3000 across NSW.

This year's top-secret bridge effect,a highlight of the midnight display, is said to be as big as a 12-storey building and 72 metres wide.

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Crocs CEO leaving ahead of investment

THE company that makes Crocs shoes is getting a $US200 million ($A226.3 million) bailout from a private equity fund, and its CEO is retiring.

Crocs shares peaked in 2007 as buyers snapped up the clogs known for being comfortable but ugly. But it hasn't been able to add new products with the same popularity.

Its shares rose 10 per cent in premarket trading on Monday.

Crocs says it will use the money from Blackstone for a $US350 million share buyback.

As part of the deal, Blackstone gets two seats on the Crocs board. And CEO John McCarvel is retiring and giving up his board seat around the end of April.

Crocs says fourth-quarter revenue will be at the low end of what it had expected, and its quarterly loss will match its worst prediction.

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Shots fired at German ambassador's home

GERMAN Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned an attack on the residence of the German ambassador in Athens, saying the act would not affect German-Greek relations.

"This is an act that we are taking very seriously. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can justify such an attack on a representative of our country," Steinmeier said in Berlin.

The foreign minister said the assailants would not succeed in "damaging the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks".

Greek police said shots were fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the residence of Wolfgang Doldt in the Athens district of Chalandri at 3am on Monday.

No one was injured in the attack.

At least 20 shots were fired, according to a report by the radio station Skai. Four bullets reportedly lodged in the garden gate.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had telephoned Chancellor Angela Merkel about the attack.

He said Merkel wished Greeks a good EU presidency over the next six months, saying that Greece could count on German support.

A spokesman for Steinmeier stated that the reaction by Greek authorities to the shooting was "quick and circumspect".

The Greek government also assured Germany that security measures would be strengthened at the site and that everything would be done to apprehend and prosecute the culprits.

According to press reports, anti-terrorism police have arrested three people.

The German ambassador's residence was the target of a terrorist attack in 1999 when an anti-tank weapon was fired at it.

Many in Greece blame Germany's stance on austerity measures for their economic troubles.

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