Japan empress turns 78

JAPANESE Empress Michiko has celebrated her 78th birthday, expressing relief over Emperor Akihito's recovery from heart surgery and hoping to live with him "in peace" despite her own health concerns.

Akihito underwent coronary bypass surgery in February, three months after he was hospitalised to treat bronchial pneumonia, further raising concerns about the monarch, whose cancerous prostate gland was removed in 2003.

"At times I worried whether His Majesty would ever get better but gradually signs of improvement began to appear," Michiko said in a statement released in response to a questionnaire from the Imperial Palace's press corps on Saturday.

The emperor, who turns 79 in December, recovered well enough to attend a ceremony in March marking the first anniversary of Japan's earthquake-tsunami disaster, and visit Britain to attend the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in May.

"Both the Queen and the Emperor looked so happy when they met at Windsor Castle that, looking on by their side, I felt deeply happy as well," said Michiko.

The Imperial Household Agency said the empress takes morning walks with the emperor to ease the pain of backache she sometimes suffers upon waking.

"Although at times I feel aches and pains and I am beginning to experience some discomfort I am somehow learning to manage them and am hoping that I may spend the coming days together with His Majesty rather quietly and in peace," she said.

Michiko, the daughter of a flour milling magnate, became the first commoner to marry into the world's oldest continual monarchy, when, in 1959, she and the eldest son of the late Emperor Hirohito tied the knot. They have two sons and a daughter.

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Brahimi pushes truce plan with Syria

PEACE envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is to press Damascus for a truce to break Syria's cycle of bloodshed, as Lebanon's opposition blames President Bashar al-Assad for a deadly Beirut bombing.

But even as Brahimi prepared to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Damascus on Saturday, fighting raged on northern battlefields, where regime jets have been hammering the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan daily since rebels captured it on October 9.

The UN-Arab League envoy is hoping to secure a ceasefire during the four-day Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday starting on October 26, which he believes could pave the way for more permanent peace initiatives.

"We will have discussions here with the government, the political parties and civil society about the situation in Syria," Brahimi said on arriving in Damascus on Friday.

"We will talk about the need to reduce the current violence and about whether it is possible to stop for the occasion of Eid al-Adha."

He is also expected to hold talks with Assad at a later date.

Brahimi is backed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and League head Nabil al-Arabi who believe that if a truce is agreed during Eid, it could be extended to bring some respite in the 19-month conflict that has already killed more than 34,000 people.

Washington too has backed the call.

"We urge the Syrian government to stop all military operations and call on opposition forces to follow suit," the State Department said in a statement.

Damascus has said it is ready to discuss the truce plan with Brahimi, while the opposition says the regime must take the first step and halt its daily bombardments.

Fears the civil war in Syria is spilling over into neighbouring countries were compounded when a massive car bomb exploded in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Friday, killing eight people, including a senior intelligence official linked to the anti-Damascus camp in Lebanon, General Wissam al-Hassan.

Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition accused Assad of being behind the attack which has heightened tensions in the region.

Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah is a strong ally of Assad, a member of the Alawite offshoot of Shi'ite Islam whose forces are battling a Sunni-led uprising that erupted in March 2011.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi condemned what he called a "terrorist, cowardly" attack. Such incidents were "unjustifiable wherever they occur," he said.

On the ground, rebels and regime forces remained locked in battle for the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan on the Damascus-Aleppo highway linking Syria's two biggest cities.

Syrian forces battered the town on Friday a day after strikes on a residential area killed dozens of people, nearly half of them children, rescuers told an AFP reporter at the scene.

The military wants to regain control of the highway to resupply units under fire in Aleppo for the past three months and assist 250 troops besieged in their Wadi Deif base.

The Syrian Observatory said at least 133 people were killed in nationwide violence on Friday: 55 civilians, 45 soldiers and 33 rebels.

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Bangladesh probing New York bombing plot

POLICE say they are investigating whether a Bangladeshi man charged with trying to blow up the US Federal Reserve building in New York had connections with radical groups in Bangladesh.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police official Monirul Islam said on Saturday detectives would visit North South University in Dhaka where Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis studied before going to the United States. They will interview teachers, classmates and school officials.

Detectives have already visited Nafis' village, where they found no evidence of ties with radical groups.

Nafis was arrested on Wednesday in an FBI sting operation. A criminal complaint says he made several attempts to blow up a fake 450kg car bomb near the Federal Reserve.

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir has pledged Bangladesh will assist the United States in investigating Nafis.

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Israel navy stops Gaza-bound activist ship

ISRAEL'S navy has boarded a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and parliamentarians seeking to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza, in a peaceful operation.

"A short while ago, Israeli navy soldiers boarded Estelle, a vessel which was en route to the Gaza Strip, attempting to break the maritime security blockade," said a military statement on Saturday.

The statement indicated that the Finnish-flagged vessel was being led to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.

"There was no violence," a military spokeswoman told AFP, saying troops had taken control of the Finnish-flagged MV Estelle. "The passengers did not resist."

The announcement was made shortly after organisers told AFP the ship had "come under attack" after being approached by Israeli vessels about 35 nautical miles off the Gaza coast.

The military said the boarding was carried out only after "numerous calls to the passengers" which went unanswered.

"As a result of their unwillingness to co-operate and after ignoring calls to change course, the decision was made to board the vessel and lead it to the port of Ashdod," the statement said.

On arrival at Ashdod, the ship's passengers would be handed in to police custody and then on to immigration authorities.

Activists on previous Gaza-bound flotillas which were stopped by the navy have all been taken to Israel and immediately deported.

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Pakistani shooting victim standing

DOCTORS treating 14-year-old Pakistani shooting victim Malala Yousufzai say she is able to stand with help and to write, though she still shows signs of infection.

Dr Dave Rosser, medical director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said on Friday the girl is "well enough that she's agreed that she's happy, in fact keen, for us to share more clinical detail".

Rosser said the infection is probably related to the track of a bullet which grazed her head when she was attacked by Taliban gunmen.

Because of the infection, Rosser said, "she is not out of the woods yet".

Malala was shot on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of the Swat valley last week as a punishment for campaigning for the right of girls to an education, in an attack which outraged the world.

She came to prominence with a blog for the BBC highlighting atrocities under the Taliban, the hardline Islamists who terrorised the Swat valley from 2007 until an army offensive in 2009.

AP

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European stocks dip amid EU summit

EUROPEAN equities have fallen, hit by a lack of rapid progress towards full banking union at a key EU summit, and traders mindful of the 25th anniversary of the 1987 global stock market crash.

In late Friday morning deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies slid 0.07 per cent to 5912.79 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.32 per cent to 7413.68 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.26 per cent to 3525.98.

Madrid's IBEX 35 sank 1.11 per cent to 8009.70 points on persistent speculation surrounding a potential bailout of Spain.

In foreign exchange deals the euro eased to $1.3053 from $1.3067 late in New York on Thursday. Gold prices slipped to $1733.85 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1743 an ounce.

Asian stock markets closed mixed on Friday as profit-taking set in after a week-long rally fuelled by upbeat Chinese economic data and rising hopes for the future of the eurozone, dealers said.

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, with Google shares plunging after the internet search engine revealed a surprise drop in earnings in a prematurely-released quarterly results statement.

Also on Thursday, European Union leaders began two-days of policy talks in Brussels. By the early hours of Friday they had an agreement, of sorts, on bringing banks under bloc-wide supervision next year.

"EU leaders finally agreed to a banking union between member states, adopting a legal framework by the end of 2012 giving the European Central Bank overall control of the supervision of EU banks," said Alistair Cotton, an analyst at Currencies Direct trading group.

However, they failed to pin down an exact date - dashing hopes of a quick move towards a full banking union.

"There have not been many new revelations coming out of Brussels... the banking union might be progressing somewhat slower as expected," noted ETX Capital trader Markus Huber.

The spotlight also remained on Spain after a government official said Madrid no longer expects a recapitalisation of its ailing banks without adding to its public debt burden.

Investors remained cautious on the 25th anniversary of Black Monday, when billions of dollars was wiped off global equities in the infamous 1987 stock market meltdown.

"Twenty five years on from Black Monday and the markets are at least five times higher than they were," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at online brokerage Interactive Investor.

"However, questions of whether a fall of the same magnitude could happen again are still being debated.

"The 23 per cent fall in the Dow on 19 October 1987 and the aftermath that week was largely caused by mass panic and everyone hitting the sell button at the same time."

Neil MacKinnon, an economist at VTB Capital financial group, said Black Monday "emphasised the intrinsic instability of financial capitalism which did not become fully obvious until the financial crisis in 2007."

"In the interim, cheap money, excess leverage and a sharp increase in securitisation created the toxic conditions for the (global financial) crisis which the debt-burdened major economies are still struggling to overcome," he told AFP.

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GE earnings rise 49 pct in 3Q; revenue up

GE'S net income rose 49 per cent in the third quarter to $US3.49 billion ($A3.38 billion) as its recovery from the 2008 financial crisis continues.

Revenue at the US-based multinational conglomerate rose $1 billion, or 3 per cent, to $36.35 billion.

GE earned 33 cents per share in the quarter, up from 22 cents per share during the same period last year.

When adjusted to remove the effect of restructuring costs and a gain from the sale of NBC, the company posted earnings of 36 cents per share, which is what financial analysts expected, on average, according to FactSet.

Analysts expected slightly higher revenue of $36.95 billion.

General Electric Co., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, is focusing on its industrial businesses and paring down its financial and other non-industrial divisions.

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Attack kills 4 Pakistani Shiite pilgrims

IRAQI officials say four Pakistani Shiite pilgrims heading to a shrine in central Iraq have died in an attack on their bus.

Salahuddin provincial police say Friday's attack involved a roadside bomb that struck the pilgrim's bus near the town of Balad.

After the bomb exploded, gunmen opened fire on the bus from the roadside. Balad is 55km north of Baghdad.

Police say 14 people on the bus, including the Iraqi driver and the guide, were wounded in the attack.

Medics at a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties.

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China growth boosts Asian shares

ASIAN markets have climbed as dealers welcome news China's economy grew in line with forecasts, while confidence was also lifted by more upbeat US data and hopes for the eurozone.

Soothing comments on the economy from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday also provided support, while dealers looked ahead to a European Union summit set to begin later on Thursday.

Shanghai rose 1.24 per cent, or 26.07 points, to 2,131.69 while Hong Kong added 0.48 per cent, or 102.07 points, to 21,518.71.

Tokyo closed 2.00 per cent higher, adding 176.31 points to 8,982.86 on Thursday as a weakening yen boosted exporters, while Sydney gained 0.69 per cent, adding 31.2 points to 4,559.4 and Seoul advanced 0.20 per cent, or 3.97 points, to 1,959.12.

China said its economy grew 7.4 per cent in the third quarter to the end of September, easing for a seventh straight quarter and underscoring its weakest performance since the global financial crisis.

However, the figure matched expectations, while other economic data pointed to a possible bottoming out of the economy, which has been severely hit this year by troubles in its key export markets of Europe and the United States.

Growth in the quarter was the slowest since 6.6 per cent recorded in the first three months of 2009 during the global financial crisis.

The economy grew 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2012.

But industrial output rose a better-than-expected 9.2 per cent year on year in September, while retail sales, the main gauge of consumer spending, rose 14.2 per cent in September.

The figures follow data at the weekend showing exports, which have seen a steep drop in recent months, surged almost 10 per cent in September.

"The latest data supports our hypothesis that the economy may have bottomed and will turn for the better in the fourth quarter," Zheng Pin, an analyst with Minsheng Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"This gives the market newfound confidence," he added.

On Wednesday Wen said he was confident China's economy was stabilising and that measures put in place would ensure it would continue to do so, adding that he expected Beijing's target of 7.5 per cent growth for the year would be achieved.

"We have confidence that with hard work we can realise the year's economic and social development goals," he added, although he also warned that the weak global economy would pose a challenge.

Regional markets were already higher on Thursday morning as traders extended the previous day's gains after Moody's held off a downgrade of Spain's credit rating, while hopes were growing that Madrid would ask for a bailout.

Concerns over Greece have also eased on rumours it will be given more time to implement crucial reforms that will help get the economy back on track.

News that US housing starts leaped 15.0 per cent in September from August, to an annual rate of 872,000, the strongest pace since July 2008, indicated that the world's number one economy is gradually getting back on track.

On Wall Street, the news helped shares reverse earlier losses.

The Dow ended flat, the S&P 500 gained 0.41 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.10 per cent.

The safe-haven yen was down as dealers became more confident in buying up riskier assets.

In late afternoon Tokyo trade, the US dollar rose to 79.10 yen from 78.97 yen in New York late on Wednesday, while the euro hit 103.62 yen, up from 103.60 yen.

The single currency was also trading at $US1.3095, compared with $US1.3120.

Oil prices were higher, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November gaining a cent to $US92.13 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for December delivery added 35 US cents to $US113.57.

Gold was at $US1,746.50 at 0800 GMT (1900 AEDT) compared with $US1,749.60 late on Wednesday.

In other markets:

- Taipei was flat, edging 1.01 points higher to 7,465.41.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. added 0.80 per cent to Tw$88.1 while Hong Hai Precision was 0.11 per cent higher at Tw$87.5.

- Manila closed flat, dipping 2.44 points to 5,435.94.

- Wellington closed 0.93 per cent higher, adding 36.77 points to 4,001.95.

Telecom rose 0.8 per cent to NZ$2.46 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances gained 2.4 per cent to NZ$1.27, while Fletcher Building surged 3.27 per cent to NZ$7.59.

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Verizon 3Q profit rises

VERIZON'S third-quarter net income has climbed 15 per cent, driven by the strength of its wireless business as the new iPhone debuted during the period.

For the three months ended September 30, the parent of the United States' biggest wireless carrier reported earnings available to Verizon common shareholders of $US1.59 billion ($A1.54 billion), or 56 US cents per share.

That's up from $US1.38 billion, or 49 cents per share, a year ago.

Removing 8 US cents per share in charges related to patent lawsuit settlements, earnings were 64 US cents per share.

That matched analysts' expectations.

Revenue increased 4 per cent to $US29.01 billion from $US27.91 billion.

That also matched analysts' expectations.

Verizon's stock added 25 US cents to $US44.97 in premarket trading on Thursday.

During Verizon's July-September quarter, the iPhone 5 went on sale - the biggest phone sales event of the year.

Apple charges about $US600 for each iPhone in the US.

Supplies of iPhone 5s were short, and it only launched a week before the end of the quarter.

New York-based Verizon Communications Inc said that its wireless business reported record high margins and improved revenue.

Smartphone use continued to spread, making up 53 per cent of the unit's retail postpaid customer phone base.

The wireless division added 1.5 million net contract customers in the quarter, beating the net 900,000 subscribers that analysts expected would be added.

The price for the average monthly contract account climbed 6.5 per cent to $US145.42.

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Iran president calls for Syria ceasefire

IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged a ceasefire in Syria and called for internal dialogue to resolve the crisis, but rejects a Turkish proposal to replace President Bashar al-Assad, Kuwait's press reports.

"The continuity of the fighting and the killing of innocent and unarmed Syrian citizens ... is unacceptable. A ceasefire must be achieved and then a dialogue started," said Ahmadinejad, cited by the daily al-Anbaa newspaper.

"The solution must be Syrian made by the Syrian people," he said during a visit this week to Kuwait, where he attended the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit.

Ahmadinejad rejected a Turkish proposal made earlier this month that Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara replace the embattled Assad during a transition phase in Syria.

"This means we are imposing a foreign solution on the Syrians. The solution must be Syrian and not imposed from outside and the Syrian people should decide through elections," the Iranian leader said.

Ahmadinejad said he had discussed the Syrian crisis with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting on Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional summit in Azerbaijan.

"Our main goal is to achieve security and stability in Syria," Ahmadinejad said.

"But the difference is on the means to achieve that goal."

"Some believe that progress can be achieved through wars but we believe that the means to achieve the goal is through national dialogue."

Ahmadinejad said Iran will respect the choice of the Syrian people, adding that the ground must be prepared for reaching an understanding, "and this is what we told Erdogan and sought his help".

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday his country and Iran back calls by the international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for a ceasefire in Syria to mark an upcoming Muslim holiday.

Davutoglu made the remarks after the Ahmadinejad-Erdogan meeting.

Syria says it is ready to study the idea put forward by Brahimi, who is due to visit Syria on Saturday.

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Aust takes command of Oruzgan ISAF forces

THE Australian Defence Force has taken over leadership of Combined Team Oruzgan in handling the transfer of security to Afghan troops, Defence Minister Stephen Smith says.

Mr Smith says the outgoing commander of the team, US Colonel Gerald Hadley, has handed command over to the Australian commander, Colonel Simon Stuart, at the Multi-National base in Tarin Kowt in southwestern Afghanistan.

The minister says Australia considers the leadership of the team part of the transition through which security responsibility will be transferred from the International Security Assistance Force to the Afghan National Security Forces.

"Leadership of the (team) will help ensure that transition in Oruzgan over the coming 12 to 15 month period is effected in a seamless way," Mr Smith said in a statement on Thursday.

Combined Team Oruzgan was formed in August 2010 as the Netherlands, the lead nation in the province, withdrew its forces.

Australia resisted taking on the lead role and that fell to the US under the combined team model. Australia held the deputy position.

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Legal action over British Marmite in NZ

A CANTERBURY man trying to import a British version of Marmite is facing legal action from Sanitarium, the Kiwi maker of the dark yeasty spread of the same name.

New Zealand Customs seized the shipment of the British spread, labelled Ma'amite, imported by Rob Savage in August.

The shipment was impounded as part of a standard screening process offered to organisations by Customs to identify products that infringe trademarks.

Sanitarium has held the trademark for Marmite in New Zealand for more than 80 years, the company said in a statement.

The company said it had been in discussions with Mr Savage about his impounded products and tried on several occasions to negotiate a settlement.

While a verbal compromise was reached, this was not formalised and Sanitarium said it was then necessary to begin legal action.

"We are, and always have been, willing to continue our dialogue with Mr Savage should he wish to settle this matter amicably," Sanitarium said.

The company said it doesn't oppose the product in question, but it was taking action to protect its trademark.

Sanitarium noted the British product is freely available in New Zealand under the name "Our Mate".

The British spread looks and tastes different to New Zealand-made Marmite.

Kiwi Marmite has been off the supermarket shelves since March, after the Christchurch earthquake forced Sanitarium to close its sole New Zealand production plant in November 2011.

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Qld's child watchdog may cut research

QUEENSLAND'S child protection watchdog says it will consider cutting back research and analysis work to cope with a five per cent budget cut.

Elizabeth Fraser, Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, told a budget estimates hearing that her budget would be reduced by $2.4 million each year over the period of the forward estimates.

She said the commission would be able to absorb the reduction through introducing cost efficiencies and there had been no permanent job losses.

She said it would also be able to continue to fulfil its legislative functions.

But Ms Fraser said she may start having to make cuts to services.

"Our priority in our statute is always for vulnerable groups within the child and youth populations, and we will always prioritise our activities towards making sure those services are made available," she told the hearing.

"In that re-prioritisation, the areas which will be looked at is our capacity to look at broader research and analysis work which may need to be considered."

Child Safety Minister Tracy Davis said the department took on an unfunded child safety black hole of $72 million in 2011-12, rising to $78 million in 2012-13.

To make some savings, the Neighbourhood Centre program and the Youth at Risk and Youth Support programs had 10 per cent budget cuts. One-off grants for emergency relief would also no longer be provided.

"While we've had to make tough decisions, delivering frontline support and services most in need remains front and centre of the department's activities," Ms Davis told the hearing.

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Europe hopes lift Asian markets

ASIAN markets were boosted on Wednesday on increased confidence in the eurozone after Moody's held off cutting Spain's credit rating, while Madrid looked to move closer to asking for a bailout.

A successful bond auction for Greece added to the sense of optimism, while the euro maintained its gains seen in late trade Tuesday as investors sought out riskier assets.

Tokyo jumped 1.21 per cent, or 105.24 points, to 8,806.55, Sydney added 0.82 per cent, or 36.7 points, to 4,528.2 and Seoul was 0.70 per cent higher, adding 13.61 points to 1,955.15.

Hong Kong rose 0.99 per cent, or 209.57 points, to 21,416.64 and Shanghai was up 0.32 per cent, or 6.81 points, at 2,105.62.

Moody's gave debt-addled Spain some much-needed room on Tuesday when it held the country's rating at Baa3, one notch above "junk", citing the European Central Bank's willingness to buy government bonds to stabilise its borrowing rate.

It also pointed to Madrid's commitment to implementing fiscal and structural reforms necessary to improve its finances as well as efforts to restructure the banking sector and strengthen the banks. However, the agency kept it on a "negative outlook".

Also, a senior Spanish official has said that Madrid was considering a request for a line of credit from Europe's European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rescue fund, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The comments soothed investors fears over Spain as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has so far refused to ask for help, despite the parlous state of the economy, saying he wanted to study the terms of a rescue.

"The latest headlines from Madrid imply that a formal request for aid is inevitable," said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist at City Index.

Greece managed to complete a successful short-term bond auction at lower rates as hopes rise that it will be given a little more breathing space to carry out much needed reforms to get its economy back on track.

And in Germany, Europe's key economic driver, the closely-watched ZEW institute's calculator of investor confidence rose for the second month in a row in October, in line with a slight easing in regional debt concerns.

The news out of Europe sent the euro surging against the yen and US dollar.

And in early European trade the single currency bought $US1.3103 and 103.17 yen, compared with $US1.3096 and 103.31 yen in New York late Tuesday. The dollar was at 78.73 yen compared with 78.89 yen.

Wall Street provided a healthy lead thanks to impressive earnings reports from Mattel, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson.

The Dow climbed 0.95 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 1.03 per cent and the Nasdaq added 1.21 per cent.

But the main focus this week is on China, where third quarter growth figures are due to be released on Thursday, with investors hoping for improved figures and the beginning of a pick-up after a slowdown for most of the year.

Oil prices were mixed. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, rose 21 cents to $US92.30 in the afternoon while Brent North Sea crude for December delivery shed six cents to $US113.94.

Gold was at $1749.60 at 1030 GMT (2130 AEDT) compared with $1740.00 late Tuesday.

In other markets:

-- Singapore closed flat, edging down 1.14 points to 3,045.67.

Singapore Airlines gained 1.82 per cent to Sg$10.61 and City Developments advanced 1.73 per cent to Sg$11.78.

-- Taipei closed flat, dipping 6.62 points to 7,464.40.

Hon Hai Precision fell 0.23 per cent to Tw$87.4 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.11 per cent lower at Tw$87.4.

-- Manila closed 0.71 per cent, or 38.44 points, higher at 5,438.38.

SM Investments gained 2.22 per cent to 807 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone slipped 1.03 per cent to 2,680 pesos.

-- Wellington rose 0.62 per cent, or 24.48 points, to 3965.18.

Telecom gained 1.5 per cent to NZ$2.44 and Sky City climbed 2.1 per cent to NZ$3.90.

-- Bangkok added 1.07 per cent, or 13.79 points, to 1,301.28.

Mobile telephone giant Advanced Info Service gained 4.62 per cent to 204.00 baht, while Bangkok Bank lost 0.53 per cent to 189.00 baht.

-- Kuala Lumpur gained 0.43 per cent, or 7.15 points, to 1,660.67.

Malayan Banking ended up 2.2 per cent at 9.28 ringgit while CIMB Group Holdings rose 1.3 per cent to 7.65 ringgit. Telekom Malaysia lost 2.1 per cent to close at 6.10 ringgit.

-- Jakarta added 0.20 per cent, or 8.45 points, to 4,337.53.

-- Mumbai rose 0.18 per cent, or 33.07 points, to 18,610.77.

India's private Tata Power rose 2.12 per cent to 103.7 rupees while private housing finance firm HDFC rose 1.22 per cent to 752.35 rupees.

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Three dead, three wounded in Ohio shooting

THREE people, including a three-year-old child, are dead after a shooting at an apartment complex in northwest Ohio.

The police chief in Lake Township near Toledo, Mark Hummer, said a man shot five people in two apartments on Tuesday night before coming outside and firing on officers. Two officers returned fire and killed him.

Besides the child, a 26-year-old woman - believed to be the estranged girlfriend of the gunman - was killed.

Three other people shot in the apartments were hospitalised.

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German investor sentiment up for 2nd month

INVESTOR sentiment in Germany rose for the second month in a row in October, data showed on Tuesday, as recent uncertainty on the financial markets has abated somewhat.

The widely watched investor confidence indicator calculated each month by the ZEW economic institute climbed to minus 11.5 points this month from 18.2 points in September.

The reading was better than expected. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a more modest rise to minus 15 points in October.

"This is the second consecutive rise in the indicator," ZEW said in a statement.

"It shows that, from the point of view of financial market experts, the economic risks for Germany have lessened somewhat. The easing of uncertainty on the markets in recent weeks has contributed to this," the statement said.

While there were still more analysts predicting a cooling down of the German economy than an improvement, "the proportion ... has shrunk," ZEW added.

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Opposition denied grilling in Ashby case

THE opposition has been denied the opportunity to grill some of the government lawyers involved in James Ashby's case against the commonwealth.

Shadow attorney-general George Brandis wanted to question in a senate estimates committee on Tuesday some of the 17 Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) lawyers directly involved in the case.

But Ian Govey, AGS chief executive, refused, citing a principle established by former coalition government attorney-general Daryl Williams.

"What is in issue is the way in which the Australian government solicitor has conducted this litigation and the competency with which it has conducted the litigation," Senator Brandis said.

The case in question was Mr Ashby's Federal Court proceedings launched in April against both the commonwealth and former Speaker Peter Slipper.

He alleged he had been sexually harassed by Mr Slipper while working in the Speaker's office.

Text messages sent by Mr Slipper formed the key part of his case, which lawyers from the AGS office supplied in early June with a CD spreadsheet of all 15,400 text messages from Mr Ashby's iPhone.

Despite lodging an application in mid June to have the case struck out as an abuse of process, the commonwealth later opted to settle with Mr Ashby, paying him $50,000 compensation.

Mr Brandis asked why the commonwealth made the application without properly considering all 15,400 text messages they had retrieved from Mr Ashby's phone.

"This application to terminate Mr Ashby's proceedings, strangle them at birth as it were ... the most radical application that can be made in civil proceedings was done on an incomplete view of the evidence and apparently an incomplete understanding of the evidence as well," he told the Senate estimates committee.

Attorney-General's department legal services group head David Fredericks said there were so many texts he did not have full knowledge of all of them by the time the application was made.

"But certainly in view of council and in view of AGS, there was sufficient knowledge of text messages to support the abuse of process application that was brought," he said.

Mr Govey defended the decision to settle with Mr Ashby, saying the threshold requirement was the existence of at least a meaningful prospect of liability being established.

"Legal advice had been given that this requirement had been met," he said, adding that this did not mean the claim had to be strong or likely to succeed.

Mr Govey said the AGS had to take into account the costs of continuing the action in determining the settlement sum.

Among those costs was the $4800 per day paid to the commonwealth's legal counsel, eminent lawyer Julian Burnside.

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Six aid workers kidnapped in Niger: report

THE governor of the province of Maradi in central Niger says that six aid workers from a local group have been abducted from the guesthouse where they were sleeping.

Governor Sidi Mohamed says that late on Sunday night unidentified men in two Toyota pickup trucks seized the six workers of the aid group Bien-Etre Familiale, meaning "family health," who were sleeping in a guesthouse owned by CARE International.

Mohamed says the six were all African, including one from Chad and five from Niger.

The Toyotas then sped off, heading north.

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Abbott fails to raise boats plan with SBY

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has discussed asylum-seeker policy with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but has again passed up the opportunity to raise his plan of "turning back the boats".

Mr Abbott has consistently called for the Australian government to better communicate with Jakarta when it makes foreign policy decisions that impact on its nearest neighbour.

But in a meeting with Dr Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Monday, Mr Abbott chose not to raise his plan of turning asylum-seeker boats around, a key plank in his border protection policy.

Instead, he is understood to have spoken with Dr Yudhoyono of the need to combat people smuggling through the regional framework known as the Bali Process.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who attended the meeting between Mr Abbott and Dr Yudhoyono, said there "was no specific identification of the need to ... turn around boats".

The Indonesian government is known to be staunchly opposed to the plan.

"The two sides identified the need to strengthen the Bali Process, reflecting the fact that the challenge is one that must be shouldered by countries of origin, countries of transit, as well as countries of destination," Mr Natalegawa said.

Earlier in the day, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen taunted Mr Abbott about not having discussed the policy with Dr Yudhoyono in another meeting in Darwin in July.

"Now, if Mr Abbott has the guts to raise turning back the boats with Mr Yudhoyono, that will be a significant development considering he didn't have the guts to raise it last time they met," Mr Bowen said.

"Unless Mr Abbott can change that position, then he is just all talk about turning back the boats."

The decision by Mr Abbott to again pass up the opportunity to raise the plan with Dr Yudhoyono came after he earlier in the day continued his criticism of the Gillard government, which he says has neglected Indonesia in terms of foreign policy.

"As far as humanly possible, a coalition government would try to deal with its Indonesian counterpart as a candid friend and never make decisions that impact on Indonesia without discussing them first," Mr Abbott told a business lunch.

Following the talks with the president, Mr Abbott spoke of importance of the relationship with Indonesia.

"It is a testament to the strength and importance of Australia's relationship with our nearest neighbour that such a meeting was able to take place," he said.

During the meeting with Mr Abbott, Dr Yudhoyono spoke of the need for Australia and Indonesia to continue to co-operate in the fight against terrorism.

"We are very serious in combating terrorism and that's why we need to continue our partnership and co-operating in making this region safer, in ensuring that we not surrender to acts of terrorism," Dr Yudhoyono said.

Mr Abbott, who has been in Jakarta since Friday after attending a memorial for the 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings, praised Dr Yudhoyono for his efforts in combating terrorism.

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US duo win Nobel economics prize

US scholars Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley have won the Nobel economics prize for research on how to match different agents as well as possible, the Nobel jury says.

The two were honoured for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design," it said.

The theory of stable allocations helps explain the market processes at work when doctors are assigned to hospitals, students to schools and human organs for transplant to recipients.

The pair worked independently of each other but "the success of their research is due to the combination of Shapley's theoretical results with Roth's insights into their practical value," the committee said.

Roth, 60, is a professor at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts, while Shapley, 89, is a professor emeritus at the University of California.

The two laureates will receive the prize, consisting of a Nobel diploma, a gold medal and 8.0 million Swedish kronor ($A1.17 million), at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Swedish industrialist and prize creator Alfred Nobel's death.

Last year, the prize went to US researchers Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims for research on the causal relationship between economic policy and different macroeconomic variables, such as GDP, inflation, employment and investments.

Monday's economics prize wraps up the 2012 Nobel season.

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G4S may run Manus Island refugee centre

THE failure of a firm to deliver security at the London Olympic Games should not exclude the company in providing services at Australia's asylum seeker processing centre on Manus Island, a parliamentary hearing has been told.

G4S failed to provide all of the 10,400 contracted guards for the 2012 Games, which forced the British government to step in with military personnel.

The acting secretary to the Immigration Department, Martin Bowles, told a parliamentary hearing that the services to be provided at the processing centre in Papua New Guinea were a "different set of circumstances".

"I accept it might be the same company, but we are talking about catering, cleaning, security and associated type services," Mr Bowles said in Canberra on Monday.

"We are not talking about them managing a facility in the same way they may have had a contract with us to manage a detention network a number of years ago."

Ken Douglas, from the department's infrastructure division, had earlier told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday that a "letter of intent" had been signed with the firm to run the processing centre in PNG.

The department had changed significantly how it managed the detention network in the past 12 to 18 months, Mr Bowles said.

Mr Bowles said he had never noted the system had been "perfect".

"I said quite often that we are always looking to improve. We will continue to do that," he said.

Australian authorities have so far transferred 292 asylum seekers to Nauru's processing centre, while the first transfer to Manus Island is expected in the coming weeks.

Since the government announced its new border protection policies on August 13, 4615 people who had arrived by boat have not had their claims assessed for asylum.

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Israel to head to polls on January 22

ISRAEL'S cabinet has announced January 22 as the date for parliamentary elections, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading in the polls.

Netanyahu said he was forced to call early elections last week after he was unable to pass a budget for the coming year. Elections were originally scheduled for October 2013.

The cabinet's decision on Sunday awaits final approval from the parliament on Monday, where an endorsement is expected.

Most polls have shown Netanyahu is likely to retain his post if the current party alignment remains in place. He has presided over a stable coalition for nearly four years in a country where governments rarely serve out their full terms.

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Two injured during junior rodeo in Qld

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy has abdominal and head injuries after falling from a steer during a junior rodeo in Queensland.

He suffered the injuries in the fall at Kumbia, 20km southwest of Kingaroy.

A 16-year-old boy was also injured during the Kumbia Junior Rodeo, organised by the National Rodeo Association.

A rescue helicopter airlifted the younger boy, from Cherbourg, to the Mater Children's Hospital, where he is in a stable condition. His parents were at his bedside on Sunday night.

The teenager suffered injuries to his lower left leg and was taken to Kingaroy Hospital by road.

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Scare sparks Alaska airport evacuation

A TERMINAL at Alaska's main airport has been evacuated over a bomb scare, officials say.

The manager of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport says the main terminal was cleared after a male passenger early on Sunday referred to a bomb in a bag.

John Parrott says travellers were evacuated to another terminal, as authorities search the luggage. So far, no explosive has turned up.

He says the man who made the comment and two male companions are being interviewed by authorities.

Anchorage was the point of departure for the three, but Parrott didn't have details on their destination.

Parrott says agents with the FBI and Transportation Security Administration are taking part in the investigation.

Meanwhile, planes have been landing, but Parrott says no passengers have been allowed to board any aircraft.

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Kafka scripts to be moved to Israel

A TEL Aviv court has ruled that a collection of manuscripts written by Franz Kafka and Max Brod must be transferred to the Israeli National Library in Jerusalem.

The ruling brings an end to a heated, protracted court case.

Tel Aviv sisters Eva Hoffe and Ruth Wiesler insisted on keeping the vast collection of rare documents, which they inherited from their mother, Esther Hoffe, Brod's secretary.

In a document sent to news media on Sunday, the court ruled that the documents were not given as gifts to the sisters.

The National Library argued that Brod, Kafka's close friend, left the manuscripts to the National Library in his will.

Kafka bequeathed his writings to Brod shortly before his own death from tuberculosis in 1924, instructing his friend to burn everything unread.

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