Asian markets weighed by US fiscal cliff

ASIAN markets fell in New Year's Eve-shortened trade as hopes that US lawmakers will reach a deal to avert the fiscal cliff faded just a day before a deadline. However on Monday there was some bright news out of China, where a survey by HSBC showed...

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Over it - banish the term fiscal cliff

SPOILER alert: This story contains words and phrases that some people want to ban from the English language. 'Spoiler alert' is among them. So are 'kick the can down the road,' 'trending' and 'bucket list'. A dirty dozen have landed on the 38th...

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Sydney's firework go off with a roar

Sydney's lord mayor says the city is spending $6.6 million on its New Year's Eve event. Source: AAP SYDNEY'S skyline has exploded in gold, pink, green and blue as part of the traditional New Year's Eve family-oriented curtain raiser. The...

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UK singer remanded on child sex charges

ROCKER Ian Watkins has reappeared before a Welsh court to face allegations of plotting to rape a baby girl. The 35-year-old vocalist, whose band Lostprophets has sold more than 3.5 million records worldwide, was arrested with two women earlier...

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Syrian troops hit Homs, kill 23 children

SYRIAN regime forces have pressed a fierce offensive in Homs after overrunning a key neighbourhood of the central city, according to a watchdog, which also listed 23 children killed in violence across the country. The latest bloodletting on Sunday...

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East Timor hailed a UN success

TROOPS sent by Australia and New Zealand have all gone home and only a handful of United Nations police will be left when the UN flag comes down in East Timor's capital of Dili after six years. "As of Monday, the liquidation team will be there....

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Russia investigates Moscow plane crash

RUSSIAN medics have begun identifying the bodies of four crew killed when a passenger jet careened off the runway of a Moscow international airport and smashed into a highway. Rescue workers recovered the flight recorders from the four-year-old...

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French paper to publish comic on Mohammed

A FRENCH weekly known for publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to the ire of conservative Muslims says it plans to release a comic book biography of Islam's founder that will be researched and educational. Satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo...

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Man drowns at NSW Central Coast beach

A MAN has drowned at a beach on the NSW Central Coast after getting caught in a rip. Police say the 27-year-old man was one of six people swimming at Budgewoi beach when four members of the group got into trouble because of strong currents at...

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Rape case attackers charged with murder

INDIAN police charged six men with murder, hours after a woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi nearly two weeks ago died in a Singapore hospital. New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six face the death penalty if...

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French panel overturns 75pc tax on rich

A FRENCH constitutional panel has thrown out a plan to tax the ultra-wealthy at a 75 per cent rate, saying it is excessive. The constitutional council ruled that the highly contentious tax, which President Francois Hollande promised to impose...

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Pakistan to lift ban on YouTube

PAKISTAN provisionally unblocked access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube after taking measures to filter blasphemous material and pornography, officials said. Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in September ordered the blocking...

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Sydney men arrested after police car crash

TWO men have been arrested after a car collided with a police vehicle in southwest Sydney. The crash occurred on Graham Avenue at Casula about 6pm (AEDT) on Friday. The car was similar to one involved in an alleged robbery at Casula on Thursday...

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British girl missing in Pakistan returns

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl is on her way home to Britain more than three years after she was abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan, police say. Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson disappeared in November 2009 after going to stay with her father, Razwan Ali...

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Seoul retrieves N. Korean rocket debris

SOUTH Korea has recovered what it believes to be debris from the engine of the long-range rocket launched by North Korea this month, the defence ministry says. "If it is confirmed to be engine debris, it will be very useful for analysing North...

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Russia urges Assad to talk to opposition

Peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called for real change and a transitional government in Syria. Source: AAP RUSSIA is urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to meet the opposition and keep all options open for a transitional government....

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UN peace envoy urges real change in Syria

Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is seeking help from Russia to get the warring parties to negotiate. Source: AAP INTERNATIONAL envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called for "real change" in war-torn Syria including a transitional government with full...

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Cambodia jails pair over union boss' death

CAMBODIAN rights campaigners have condemned the sentencing of two men to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of a prominent union leader, saying they appear to be scapegoats. Chea Vichea, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government,...

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European stocks rise after festive break

EUROPE'S main stock markets have risen following the festive break and a rally in Tokyo, as traders focused on whether the United States would avert the 2013 "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts. In late morning deals on Thursday, London's...

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France won't aid Central African Republic

The UN ordered non-essential staff to leave the Central African Republic because of fears of unrest. Source: AAP BANGUI, Central African Republic, Dec 27 AFP - More regional troops are being sent to secure the capital of the Central African...

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Newtown residents consoled at Christmas

THIS Christmas was unlike any other in Newtown. When a gunman wiped out nearly an entire elementary school class and killed students and adults in two other first-grade classrooms just 11 days before Christmas, it made it impossible for the holiday...

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Russian ban on US adoption nears approval

RUSSIA'S upper house of parliament is set to vote on a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, the final legislative hurdle requiring clearance before the controversial law is sent to President Vladimir Putin for signing. The highly...

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Egypt's Morsi signs new charter into law

EGYPTIAN President Mohamed Morsi has signed into law a new constitution voted in despite weeks of opposition protests, but he was left facing an economic crisis and international disquiet over his rule. The Islamist-dominated senate convened on...

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BBC severance pay under scrutiny

THE British public spending watchdog is to investigate BBC severance packages after it emerged that almost 200 senior managers received pay-offs of more than STG100,000 ($A158,000) each in the past three years. The National Audit Office (NAO)...

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Taxi driver dies in Victoria crash

The national holiday road toll has risen to eight, after a man died from a collision in Victoria. Source: AAP VICTORIA'S holiday road toll has climbed to five following the death of a taxi driver in a crash in Geelong. Investigators believe...

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Weak yen gives Tokyo a Christmas boost

TOKYO stocks have closed 1.41 per cent higher as a weak yen helped boost the market which surged last week following a return to power for the country's conservatives. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 140.06 points to 10,080.12, while the...

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Toll rises to 10 as Vic taxi driver dies

THE national Christmas holiday road toll has risen to 10 with the death of a taxi driver in Victoria. Police believe a Holden Commodore was travelling east on Ballarat Road in the Geelong suburb of Hamlyn Heights when it crashed into a stationary...

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Queen joins royals at Christmas service

THE Queen has joined other members of the royal family for a Christmas Day church service at Sandringham after recovering from a cold. She missed Sunday's service at her Norfolk home as she was "getting over the tail end of a cold", Buckingham...

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US yachtsman rescued after 8 days adrift

VIETNAMESE fishermen have rescued an American man who had been drifting at sea for eight days on a disabled yacht. Coastguard official Vo Hoang Liet said on Monday that Kenneth Putney of Melbourne, Florida, was in good health after being rescued...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser

AN Afghan policewoman has shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul. The woman, identified as Afghan police Sergeant Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser...

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Syria peace envoy Brahimi meets Assad

THE international envoy tasked with pushing to end Syria's civil war says the situation is "worrying" after discussing the crisis with President Bashar Assad. In brief comments to reporters after meeting the Syrian leader at the presidential...

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Christmas flood, bluster fears for NSW

HEAVY rainfall and damaging winds are expected to lash NSW towns from Wollongong to Wanaaring overnight. The Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds were in store for much of the state. A severe thunderstorm...

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Aussies warned about Phuket scamsters

AUSTRALIAN tourists in Phuket should be wary of extortion gangs, some of which are in cahoots with local police. Australian Ambassador James Wise and his British counterpart, Mark Kent, have joined a Thai Ministry of Tourism campaign to tackle...

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Muslims reject anti-Christmas message

MUSLIM leaders have been quick to reject an anti-Christmas message posted on the Lakemba Mosque Facebook page, saying it gives people the wrong impression. The Lakemba Mosque Facebook page became the target of angry responses on Sunday, after...

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Black Christmas for Syrian Christians

FESTIVE spirit is a distant memory for Syria's Christian minority as it faces a second Christmas in the grip of fear of daily violence and the spectre of rising Islamism. "We're in no mood to celebrate Christmas this year. Everyone around is me...

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India police shoot journalist

INDIAN police have shot dead a television journalist during a protest over the sexual assault of a film actress. The 36-year-old journalist was "killed in police firing" in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, police spokesman A Singh told AFP...

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Gunmen kill Syria state TV cameraman

A CAMERAMAN for Syrian state television has been gunned down outside his home in Damascus, the broadcaster says, blaming the attack on "terrorists". "Our colleague Haidar al-Sumudi, cameraman for Syrian Arab Television, was shot dead by an armed...

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The original Wiggles woo Carols crowd

THOUSANDS of arms and legs waved and flailed at Sydney's Carols in the Domain, as the original members of The Wiggles celebrated their last carols bonanza. More than 50,000 people packed into the Domain on Saturday, as the popular annual event...

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Fire bans, warnings as WA set to scorch

A MID-40C scorcher will see a total fire ban for around 2600 residents on the northern WA coast, while 6000 people in the state's Pilbara region are bracing for severe fire danger. The Shire of Exmouth, in the coastal region of Gascoyne about...

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Syria's chemical weapons safe, Russia says

RUSSIA'S foreign minister says the Syrian government has consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught. Sergey Lavrov says Russia, which has military advisers training Syria's military, has kept close watch...

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Iraq finance minister guards arrested

NINE of the Iraqi finance minister's guards are being held on terrorism charges, a judicial spokesman says, after the minister demanded the premier's resignation following their arrest. The arrests and Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi's response...

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Britain's 3rd quarter growth revised down

BRITAIN'S economy grew by a worse-than-expected 0.9 per cent in the third quarter, downwardly-revised data shows, sparking fresh speculation over a possible "triple dip" recession, analysts say. "UK gross domestic product (GDP) ... increased by...

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