Hypnotist dies in Sydney balcony fall

The body of a man, believed to be a touring hypnotist, has been found outside a Sydney unit block. Source: AAP

THE body of a well known touring hypnotist has been found outside a central Sydney unit block.

It's believed Las Vegas showman Dr Scott Lewis fell from an eleventh-floor balcony to the fourth floor of the Pyrmont complex where he was staying with other performers.

His body was found by police on Saturday morning.

Dr Lewis was discovered missing when he failed to meet a bus which was to take him and six other members of the Illusionists 2.0 show to the Sydney Opera House where they were to perform.

"I came out of my room, I could hear someone screaming for help," witness John Breen told the Nine Network.

A crime scene has been established, which has been examined by forensic specialists.

Police aren't treating the death as suspicious.

However, a report is being prepared for the coroner.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Opera House released a statement on Saturday evening, saying it had been informed of Dr Lewis' death.

"We wish to express our deepest sympathies to Dr Lewis' family and friends, as well as to the cast and crew of The Illusionists 2.0," it read.

"Dr Lewis was a wonderful performer and he will be greatly missed.

The show's co-producer Tim Lawson said his colleagues were deeply saddened by the sudden loss.

"The entire company has decided to continue the show in his honour, and send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends," he said.

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Police release image of Boxing Day robber

Police are looking for this man in relation to a robbery in Brisbane's CBD on Boxing Day last year. r. Picture: Queensland Police Source: Supplied

Police are looking for this man in relation to a robbery in Brisbane's CBD on Boxing Day last year. r. Picture: Queensland Police Source: Supplied

POLICE have released the image of a man wanted in relation to a robbery in Brisbane City last year.

The man walked into a Queen St supermarket about 12.25pm on December 26 and approached the counter.
After making demands for money from the attendant, he fled the store with a sum of cash.

He was last seen on Queen Street heading towards Fortitude Valley.

The attendant wasn't physically injured during the robbery.

The man is described as being Asian in appearance, around 35-years-of-age, with black hair and a proportionate build.

He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, grey shorts and grey running shoes.

Police are appealing to anyone that may be able to assist with their investigations to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Turkmen leader fires central bank chief

THE autocratic leader of Turkmenistan has fired the country's chief banker and several other officials.

State television reported on Saturday that President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov dismissed Central Bank head Tuvakmammet Japarov and chiefs of two other state-run banks for unspecified "flaws in their work".

The firings came after Berdymukhamedov issued a reprimand to Japarov and several other bankers for receiving regular bonuses and ordered them to pay them back.

Berdymukhamedov also fired Kakageldy Abdullayev, the head of Turkmengaz state natural gas company over a low output and the failure to properly oversee the use of gas resources.

Turkmenistan boasts rich natural gas reserves estimated to be the fourth largest in the world.

Berdymukhamedov has run the Central Asian country with an iron fist since 2006.

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Novartis faces legal trouble in Japan

SWISS pharmaceutical group Novartis is facing criminal proceedings in Japan and a public lawsuit in the US for allegedly using unsound marketing tactics for two of its medications.

Japan's Health Ministry on Thursday filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against the drug giant's Japanese arm over alleged exaggerated advertising for a popular blood pressure drug.

Novartis in Tokyo used two Japanese universities' clinical studies of the drug, Diovan, that contained false data.

The ministry said it suspects Novartis continued to use ads citing the studies even after they became aware that clinical data in them had been manipulated.

Novartis apologised online "for causing trouble and concern" with the advertising.

The company said it "took the situation extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate fully with authorities".

Novartis has conceded employee involvement in the flawed research, but has claimed it was not aware of the false data in the studies. It also said clinical trials in other countries showed similar results.

In New York, prosecutors charged on Wednesday that Novartis had defrauded public health care services by offering the BioScrip pharmacy company kickbacks, which in return aggressively marketed Exjade, a Novartis blood transfusion medication.

BioScrip had contacted patients and recommended they continue taking the drug, "while understating Exjade's serious, potentially life-threatening side effects", the US attorney's office for the southern district of New York said.

Novartis said it stands behind its programs to get patients to stick to drugs like Exjade, which are difficult to administer but important for chronic patients.

The European Union announced last month that it would fine Novartis and Johnson and Johnson a total of 16 million euros ($A25 million) for delaying the launch of a generic painkiller in the Netherlands.

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ECB leaves rates unchanged

THE European Central Bank has left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.25 per cent despite concerns over a weak economy and low inflation.

The bank's rate council made the decision at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday.

Lower rates can help growth, but the ECB has little room left to cut.

Analysts think it may try other steps such as offering cheap loans to banks on the condition they loan that money to companies.

The eurozone economy grew only 0.1 per cent in the third quarter.

Inflation, at only 0.8 per cent, remains below the ECB's goal of just under 2 per cent and makes it harder for troubled countries such as Greece to reduce their debt levels.

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UK's first koala gets Aussie name

DESPITE being thought to be the first koala born in the UK, Edinburgh Zoo's recent arrival has been a decidedly Down Under name.

The joey was born at the zoo last May but keepers waited until he had fully emerged from mother Alinga's pouch before they started to handle him.

After being found to be male, the joey was named Yooranah - the Aboriginal word meaning "loving".

Senior keeper Donald Gow said it was exciting to see the joey grow.

"This is the first time that a koala joey has been born in the UK so it is amazing to see him develop from being pink and hairless into a fully-formed, if tiny, koala," he said.

"At the moment he seems to be all ears! He is also starting to develop his own personality - he can be quite feisty like his mother Alinga and father Goonaroo."

Yooranah is an indigenous Australian word meaning "loving".

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Diageo forms new joint venture with Combs

DRINKS company Diageo has formed a new joint venture with rap star Sean "Diddy" Combs and has bought the tequila brand DeLeon.

The 50/50 partnership between Diageo and Combs Wine & Spirits allows the brand to take advantage of Diageo's distribution network, together with Combs' star power in marketing luxury brands.

DeLeon has variants of tequila, which have suggested retail prices ranging from $US120 ($A135) to over $US1000.

In a statement on Wednesday, Combs says DeLeon appeals to "those who love exceptional tequila in a distinctive bottle".

Diageo also has a separate "strategic alliance" with Combs Enterprises to develop and grow the vodka brand, Ciroc.

The alliance began in 2007, and has grown from 50,000 cases a year to nearly two million cases.

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Ralph Lauren's niece fined over air rage

THE niece of fashion designer Ralph Lauren has been fined 2000 euros ($A3000) for pushing an air hostess and swearing at airline staff.

Jennifer Lauren pleaded guilty to breaching the peace and being drunk on board a transatlantic Delta Air Lines flight which had to be diverted to Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland on Monday afternoon.

The 41-year-old appeared before Ennis District Court in Co Clare, where her solicitor claimed Lauren was upset and embarrassed by her actions, which she said were out of character and caused by a reaction to alcohol mixed with medication.

More than 200 passengers and crew were on board the flight from Barcelona to New York when the air rage incident took place.

The diversion cost Delta $US43,000 ($A48,500).

Lauren bit her lip and looked to the ground in the dock while Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court she had been loud-mouthed, abusive and threatening on the aircraft.

He said the flight, bound for New York's JFK airport, had been in the air for two hours when an air hostess noticed the defendant crying in her seat, which would not recline properly.

He said Lauren told stewardess Constance Topping to "get the f*** out of my face" as she tried to help, and when told to calm down she became more abusive.

The court heard Topping went to brief her supervisor Jennifer Simpson at the top of the plane and Lauren followed her through first class and in the galley "at speed" where she ranted, roared and shouted incoherently.

"She told the air hostess she was going to go ballistic and pushed the air hostess hard and she hit her back against the wall of the aircraft," Mr Kennedy said.

He revealed her frightening experience continued with Lauren calling her a "f***ing ugly, blonde bitch" and called Simpson a "fat ugly, unhappy, blonde bitch".

A pilot on a rest break in the cabin also intervened and was called "an asshole" by the defendant, Kennedy added.

Lauren, dressed in a black jumper, burgundy velvet skirt and boots, looked back to her friends for reassurance as the details were outlined to the packed courtroom.

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Memorial service for Qld mum and daughter

A MEMORIAL service for a Queensland mum and her teenage daughter who died under mysterious circumstances while holidaying in Bali will be held on the Sunshine Coast.

Caloundra nurse Noelene Bischoff and Yvana Bischoff, 14, died on Saturday, a day after they checked into the beachfront resort of Padang Bai in Karangasem, on the east coast of the Indonesian island.

Their family had been told at first that consumption of toxic fish might have caused their deaths.

A memorial service for the pair will be held for family and friends at the Caloundra CityLife Baptist Church at 10.30am (AEST) on Thursday.

The church is on the same grounds as the Caloundra Christian College where Yvana went to school.

Caloundra Christian College deputy principal Andrew Priaulx said Yvana was well-loved, having been a student at the school since her kindergarten days 10 years ago.

"Yvana was a delightful and bright young girl who was always happy," he told AAP.

"She put other people first and had many friends. She was well known across the school."

The college posted a Facebook message saying Yvana excelled in leadership and academic pursuits, including winning awards in maths, science and English competitions.

"Yvana will be remembered as a compassionate student who always placed the interests of others before her own," it says.

"She had a bright future and contributed significantly to the College Middle School program."

The school will host another memorial service after the school holidays.

Their bodies will be flown to Brisbane in coming days for autopsies.

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Eurozone crisis 'fuelling EU migration'

THE migration of European Union citizens in search for work in other member states is a "major signal" that more efforts are needed to fight the economic crisis, the EU's top labour official has warned, amid a fierce debate on so-called benefit tourism.

Since January 1, citizens from Romania and Bulgaria have been free to look for work anywhere in the EU, prompting fears of a flood of migrants seeking welfare benefits rather than employment.

EU Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor said on Tuesday this discussion would likely "calm down" in a few weeks' time, when "people see that there is no influx of Bulgarian and Romanian workers."

He warned, however, that the EU was experiencing "increasing numbers migrating away not from Romania and Bulgaria but (from) the more peripheral regions of the eurozone, because of the continuing eurozone crisis".

"I believe this is also a major signal which we have to pay attention to," he said, adding that the response to the economic crisis should "speed up rather than slow down".

The pressure on eurozone economies to reform has receded since the bloc exited from recession last year.

Andor has previously warned that the austerity-driven approach to the eurozone crisis was harmful to workers and entrepreneurs, while increasing inequalities, undermining EU growth prospects and alienating citizens.

"The eurozone must be reformed to avoid the risk that the EU itself could be destroyed by political conflict among the winners and losers," Andor wrote in December on the Vox website associated with the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

The freedom to live and work anywhere in the EU is considered a key achievement of the bloc. Only Croatia now faces labour restrictions, which EU countries can impose for up to seven years on a new member state.

But migration issues have recently dominated the headlines in leading European economies including Britain, where Prime Minister David Cameron has proposed capping net immigration at below 100,000 people annually by 2015.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, who has previously distanced himself from the coalition government's immigration policy, said on Tuesday that such a target was "not helpful" and would not achieve the desired effect.

There are also questions over whether such a cap would be in line with EU law.

Meanwhile, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage dismissed the argument that immigration often brings economic benefits.

"I would rather we had communities that felt more united and I would rather have a situation where young unemployed British people had a realistic chance of getting a job," Farage told BBC radio on Tuesday.

A survey by NatCen Social Research commissioned by the BBC revealed that 77 per cent of the British public want a reduction in immigration.

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Dinosaur bones found near Red Sea

DINOSAURS have been identified in Saudi Arabia for the first time, highlighting how widespread the creatures once were.

Scientists unearthed tail bones from a giant plant-eating "titanosaur" together with teeth from a six-metre-long predator, thought to be a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.

The 72 million-year-old fossils were discovered in the northwest of the Kingdom along the Red Sea coast.

When the dinosaurs were alive, the Arabian landmass was largely under water and formed the northern coastal edge of the African continent.

Dr Benjamin Kear, from Uppsala University in Sweden, led the team of scientists studying the remains.

"Dinosaur fossils are exceptionally rare in the Arabian Peninsula, with only a handful of highly fragmented bones documented this far," he said.

"This discovery is important not only because of where the remains were found, but also because of the fact that we can actually identify them.

"Indeed, these are the first taxonomically recognisable dinosaurs reported from the Arabian Peninsula."

The titanosaur identified by the researchers was a lumbering giant with a long neck and tail that stood on four legs.

In contrast, the meat-eating abelisaurid whose teeth were recovered was a fast-moving, bipedal theropod.

Similar dinosaurs have been found in North Africa, Madagascar and South America.

The finds are described in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

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Ireland impresses with post-bailout bonds

IRELAND has made a triumphant return to global debt markets as it saw strong demand for its first sale of benchmark 10-year bonds since the country exited its international bailout last month.

Analysts say Tuesday's offering has attracted bids of nearly 15 billion euros ($A23 billion), five times the conservative target set.

Investor enthusiasm for Ireland's new debt securities influenced the wider market. Yields on the country's existing 10-year bonds fell to 3.25 per cent, an eight-year low.

Further details are expected later on Tuesday but the demand augurs well for the rest of the year. Ireland had hoped to sell around 10 billion euros in 2014.

Last month, Ireland exited its three-year emergency loan program supplied by European partners and the International Monetary Fund. Greece, Portugal and Cyprus remain bailout recipients.

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Two plead guilty to UK banknote tweets

TWO people have pleaded guilty to sending "menacing" tweets to a feminist campaigner following her successful campaign to ensure a woman features on British banknotes.

John Nimmo, 25, and Isabella Sorley, 23, admitted a charge of sending the messages in July last year to 29-year-old student Caroline Criado-Perez.

Nimmo, from Tyne and Wear, and Sorley, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, sent the tweets after the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney revealed that Pride and Prejudice author Jane Austen would replace Charles Darwin as the face of the STG10 note.

The announcement was hailed as a "brilliant day for women" by Criado-Perez.

She led a high profile campaign to ensure a female face on British banknotes in the wake of the Bank's announcement in April that social reformer Elizabeth Fry was to be dropped from the STG5 note in favour of Winston Churchill.

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Millions hit by deadly chill in US

AN icy vortex of Arctic air pushed deadly wind chills and heavy snow into much of the US Midwest with meteorologists saying at least 32 states were in its path over the coming days as it moves south and east.

Even the northern tier of winter-hardy states and cities like Minnesota, Chicago and Milwaukee called off school for Monday as the country braced for wind chill temperatures down to minus 51 degrees Celsius and colder.

It was the first time in 17 years that Minnesota schools have been closed due to snow and dangerously low temperatures, reports said.

Governor Mark Dayton ordered the closings.

"Temperatures are deadly," warned Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard in broadcast remarks. Snow fell in his state of Indiana on Sunday at the rate of 5 centimetres an hour, media reports said.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, tens of thousands of fans braved minus-26-degree wind chill temperatures to watch a key football playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Despite the Green Bay team having an apparent weather advantage, the 49ers won 23-20.

With the mercury expected to drop down to minus 44C through the night, food stands at Lambeau Field in Green Bay were offering free coffee and hot chocolate to keep fans warm. There were worries that beer would freeze in the open air stadium, CNN reported.

"Life-threatening wind chill," the National Weather Service warned.

"The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central US ... behind an Arctic cold front," the government forecaster said.

Before the "polar vortex" - as it's being called by meteorologists - hits the east and south, rain was expected to fall in those regions and be turned into thick ice when temperatures plunge into the minus-20C range on Tuesday.

The normally mild-temperature city of Nashville, Tennessee, has delayed by a day the post-holiday school start until Wednesday.

"Dangerously low temperatures forecast for Tuesday morning a concern for student safety," the school system said.

Flash freezes after the rain and blizzard conditions were expected from Tennessee to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the private forecaster AccuWeather said.

At least 13 people have died due to blizzard-like conditions and record cold over past days, most of them from traffic accidents in Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana.

Broadcasters warned that frost bite could set in within just five minutes in the harsh conditions.

The weather caused cancellation of 3,467 flights and delays in another 11,191, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com.

Overall, around 149 million people - about half the US population - were expected to be in the grip of the Arctic chill by Monday and Tuesday, meteorologists said.

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UK faces more flooding in wave of storms

BRITAIN'S coastal residents are bracing for more flooding with lashing winds, rain and high tides expected.

At least three people have died in a wave of stormy weather that has battered Britain since last week, including a man killed when his mobility scooter fell into a river in Oxford, southern England.

Weather forecasting body the Met Office warned on Monday of wind gusts of up to 113 km/h accompanied by exceptionally large waves, along the coasts of Wales, southwest England and Northern Ireland.

The Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning - meaning a threat to life and property - for the county of Dorset in southwestern England, as well as more than 300 less serious flood warnings and alerts.

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Staff seize bosses at French Goodyear site

WORKERS at a restive Goodyear plant in northern France have detained two managers in a conference room at the tyre factory.

The factory's union says the director and human resources chief were blocked from leaving after an especially difficult meeting on Monday with staff.

A Goodyear representative, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the tense situation, says the two managers were being held against their will.

"Boss-napping" became rampant in France in 2009 at the height of the economic meltdown, although the practice has since tapered off.

But the Amiens plant has an especially contentious past. Goodyear has been trying to restructure or close the factory for more than five years.

Sometimes violent workers' protests, government concerns and France's prolonged layoff procedures have stalled the process.

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Kabul to free prisoners, ignoring US calls

THE Afghan government says it will release 88 prisoners seen as posing a security threat by the US, ignoring warnings from Washington ahead of a planned pullout of international forces from the country later this year.

"We found no evidence to show these people having hands in terrorist activities," said Abdul Shakoor Dadras, who heads a government-appointed panel reviewing the prisoners' cases.

"They have passed long terms in detention without being assessed. So, we decided to free them," he added.

The government made the announcement last week when it released some 650 prisoners.

The decision angered US officials, who said the 88 prisoners are Taliban fighters involved in attacks that killed at least 60 American soldiers and more than 50 civilians.

President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security pact with the US allowing some foreign troops to remain in Afghanistan after the planned withdrawal of the NATO-led military alliance has strained relations with the US.

US senator Graham Lindsey has warned the release would have a negative impact on relation with Kabul.

The Taliban has called the prisoners innocent civilians.

"They are not the mujahideen detained by the US, because mujahideen are held in a military jail in Kabul," Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgents told DPA.

The 88 prisoners are held at Bagram prison, which is located near to the biggest US military airbase of the same name some 60km north of the capital Kabul.

The US handed over the prison to the Afghan government in March.

More than 3000 people, mostly Taliban fighters, are being held at Bagram.

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Business expectations at a one-year high

THE majority of Australian businesses are more upbeat about growth in 2014 than they were last year, with business expectations rising to a one-year high.

First quarter expectations for sales, profits, selling prices, investment and employment reached their highest levels in 12 months, the latest Dun & Bradstreet Business Expectations Survey shows.

The survey showed that 68 per cent of businesses were more optimistic about growth this year compared to last year, with 18 per cent of them planning to access new finance in the next three months to grow their operations.

Employment expectations rose to a three-year high with 15 per cent of businesses saying they intended to hire more staff.

"The new year is starting with business expectations at very optimistic levels," Dun & Bradstreet economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said.

"The employment outlook has also improved markedly, suggesting that the unemployment rate may soon start to fall as job creation picks up."

But the expected lift in business conditions means rising prices for consumers, with 24 per cent of businesses planning to raise the prices of their products and services during the first quarter, the survey showed.

This means interest rates could begin to rise this year, Mr Koukoulas said.

"If there is one cloud on the horizon, it is the expected lift in selling prices," he said.

"A stronger economy is no doubt allowing firms to move their prices higher, but we are also seeing the impact on inflation from the recent weakness of the Australian dollar.

"This is likely to cause the Reserve Bank some concern and is a fundamental factor why we are likely to see a series of interest rate rises during 2014."

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Syrian rebels battle al-Qaeda fighters

SYRIAN rebels have seized a compound held by al-Qaeda-linked militants as their one-time allies used car bombs against them, in some of the most serious infighting between fighters challenging the rule of President Bashar Assad.

The rebel-on-rebel fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is the strongest pushback yet from Syrian rebels who have seen their uprising to topple Assad hijacked by al-Qaeda forces seeking to impose Islamic rule in opposition-held portions of the country.

The clashes began on Friday after residents accused the al-Qaeda-linked fighters of killing a doctor in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Fighting quickly spread to rebel-held areas of the northeast province of Idlib and the central province of Hama.

The clashes widened on Sunday, with at least one outside of Aleppo pitting the ISIL against the Nusra Front, which is also an al-Qaeda-aligned group, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Another clash struck the town of Tabqa in the eastern province of Raqqa, where ISIL forces are most dominant, Abdurrahman said.

The Observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.

Rebels seized the ISIL compound in the town of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo, activists said.

The Observatory said ISIL fighters also used car bombs for the first time to defend its territory. Other activists reported ISIL was pushed out of the town of Atmeh.

There always has been resentment against ISIL in Syria, whose fighters, a mix of foreigners and locals, fanned into the country last year, taking advantage of the upheaval to assert power in areas seized by rebels.

It is seen as particularly brutal in Syria's civil war for its abductions and killings of anti-Assad activists, journalists and civilians seen as critical to their rule.

But other residents welcome the group for chasing out thugs who terrorised residents in opposition-held areas, and for distributing food and aid to the poor.

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Bombings kill 20 in Baghdad

A NEW wave of bombings has hit Iraq's capital, Baghdad, killing at least 20 people.

The deadliest attack took place in Baghdad's Shi'ite northern Shaab neighbourhood, when two parked car bombs exploded simultaneously near a restaurant and a tea house. Officials say those blasts killed 10 people and wounded 26.

Authorities say a parked car bomb ripped through in capital's Shi'ite eastern district of Sadr City, killing five and wounding 10. Another bombing killed three civilians and wounded six in a commercial area in the central Bab al-Muadham neighbourhood, officials said. Two other bombings killed two civilians and wounded 13, police said.

Medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release information.

The attacks come as Iraqi security forces are besieging two key cities country's western Anbar province after they were taken over by militants from al-Qaeda's local branch, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant.

Clashes have been taking place since Monday in Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, and nearby Fallujah between al-Qaeda militants and pro-government Sunni tribesmen. The Baghdad bombings could be seen as an attempt by militants to distract security forces.

Earlier on Sunday, a senior Iraqi military commander said that it will take a few days to fully dislodge al-Qaeda-linked fighters from two key western cities.

Lieutenant General Rasheed Fleih, who leads the Anbar Military Command, told the state television Sunday that "two to three days" are needed to push the militants out of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.

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Rescuers search for Goa collapse survivors

THE death toll in a building collapse in India's southern state of Goa has risen to 15, as rescuers raced against the clock to save up to 20 people feared trapped beneath the debris.

A five-storey building under construction caved in on Saturday at the seaside town of Canacona, trapping workers on the site.

Police, who had earlier confirmed 11 deaths, say more bodies have since been recovered.

"The death toll stands at 15, with 14 bodies recovered from the debris and one person dying at the hospital," police inspector Prashel Desai said by telephone from the scene on Sunday.

Twenty five injured workers were being treated at hospitals.

"We cannot confirm how many people are still trapped, but according to witnesses there should be 20 more people inside," he added.

Media reports say the number of those trapped could be higher.

The rescue operations continued into Sunday night, with the chances of finding survivors fading by the minute and piles of concrete still needing to be removed.

Marshy land around the site was also making rescue operations more difficult.

Rescue workers were using cranes and bulldozers, shovels and bare hands to free the trapped workers. About 150 army soldiers had joined police, firemen and disaster management personnel in the effort.

"They are using gas cutters and other machines, but reaching those trapped inside is not easy," Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said.

"It looks like the foundation was not laid properly so the entire building has toppled," he said.

A criminal case has been filed against the builder, contractor and municipal engineer of the residential complex, who have yet to be arrested.

Building collapses are common in India. More than 60 people died in an apartment building that crumbled in the city of Mumbai in September.

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Cyclist critical after Helensburgh crash

A CYCLIST is in intensive care after being struck by a vehicle south of Sydney.

The 58-year-old man was riding south on the Old Princes Highway at Helensburgh about 6.15am (AEDT) on Sunday when he was hit by a vehicle, police say.

He was found injured next to the road by a group of cyclists a short time later.

The man was treated at the scene for suspected fractures before being taken to St George hospital.

Police have appealed for anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward.

They are particularly interested in speaking to the driver of an older model white Ford Laser with Victorian registration and green P plates.

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