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 terrorist group outside his home in Kfar Sousa in Damascus," the television reported on Saturday, without specifying when the attack took place.

Even before his death, at least 17 paid journalists and 44 citizen journalists had been killed in violence in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule erupted in March last year, according to mid-December figures from media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

State media correspondents have been hit as well as independent journalists. On December 4, a reporter for government newspaper Tishrin was shot dead in Damascus. Last month, a state television reporter was gunned down.

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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 ushered in the Christmas cheer with The Ten Tenor's rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful at 8.30pm (AEDT).

But the cheers really kicked off when Australia's most loved children's music group said their final goodbye to the event.

"Three of the members are hanging up their skivvies so tonight is their very last television performance before handing over to new band members," the Carols co-host Natalie Barr said.

"So this is it Australia, the end of an era," Matt White said.

The crowd jumped to their feet, shooting out arms and legs in unison with the original Red, Yellow, Red, Purple and Blue wiggles as they sang and danced to Fruit salad, Hot Potato and Jingle Bells.

"The Wiggles have been performing at Carols in the Domain for 20 years ... and we have always had such a wonderful time," Red Wiggle Murray Cook said, adding that next year will see the three new Wiggles perform.

Earlier in the evening candles began waving as Troy Cassar-Daley sung Have Yourself a Merry Christmas - later coming back with guitar in tow to sing Jingle Bells Rock.

Georgie Parker and Jay Laga'aia teamed up for the Christmas favourite Here Comes Santa Claus and Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer, eliciting a big cheer from the crowd.

Meanwhile The X-Factor favourites The Collective channelled the 1980s, with a rendition of the Wham! classic Last Christmas, prompting some more screams from the audience.

"Slightly popular. The Twittersphere just exploded, The Collective is in town," White quipped.

The X-Factor winner Samantha Jade, backed by a chorus, also wooed the crowd with Away in a Manger.

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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 1000km north of Perth, has been placed on a total fire ban on Sunday by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).

All open air fires are banned, and hot work such as metal welding and grinding is not allowed without an exemption. The DFES has warned that those who flout the ban face fines of up $25,000 and/or up to 12 months in jail.

Residents in the inner-Pilbara's Shire of Ashburton face hot, dry, windy conditions that could see a potential bush or grass fire take hold, DFES said, announcing a severe fire warning.

The area faces overnight temperature lows in the mid to high 20Cs before daytime maximums expected in the low to mid 40Cs, with the searing weather tipped to continue until Boxing Day, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Motorists are being urged to avoid driving near the abandoned town site of Wittenoom, where a fire southwest of the area - despite posing no danger - has seen roads closed in the area due to thick smoke.

Several non-threatening fires are also burning on either side of the North West Coastal Highway in the Shire of Ashburton, causing a potential smoke hazard for motorists, DFES said in a statement.

The department has urged residents in affected areas to have bushfire plans and survival kits on standby, and to tune in to local radio and other media for updates.

"Do not wait for a warning before you act. If you see flames call triple zero," the DFES said.

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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 over its chemical arsenal. He says the Syrian government has moved them from many arsenals to just "one or two centres" to properly safeguard them.

US intelligence says the regime may be readying chemical weapons and could be desperate enough to use them. Both Israel and the US have also expressed concerns they could fall into militant hands if the regime crumbles.

Lavrov also told reporters on a flight from an EU summit late on Friday that countries in the region had asked Russia to convey an offer of safe passage to President Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile Rebels have threatened to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria, saying regime forces are using them to attack nearby areas.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday that the rebels issued an ultimatum to the towns of Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh in the province of Hama.

A video released by rebels showed Rashid Abul-Fidaa, the Hama commander of the Ansar Brigade, calling on residents to "evict Assad's gangs" or be attacked. He was referring to Assad's forces in the area.

Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Syria's population, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country of 22 million people.

They are fearful that Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Islamic groups.

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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 threaten to reignite a long-running feud between the secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, of which he is a member, and Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Higher Judicial Council spokesman Abdelsattar Bayraqdar said nine of Essawi's guards were detained under Iraq's anti-terrorism law, and that all necessary arrest warrants had been obtained.

And he told Iraqiya state television that the commander of the guards had confessed to carrying out "terrorist acts," which he said meant "bombings and assassinations".

The interior ministry said on its website that its forces carried out the arrests around Essawi's house, put the number of detained guards at 10, and published what it said were copies of the arrest warrants.

Essawi meanwhile said on Thursday that a "militia force" - an apparent reference to a security forces unit - raided the ministry and his home "in an illegal act, without a judicial order," detaining 150 guards.

"I call on the prime minister to resign, because he did not behave like a man of state," Essawi told a news conference alongside parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, also Iraqiya members.

Iraqiya and other members of Maliki's unstable national unity government have accused him in the past year of concentrating power in his hands and moving towards dictatorship.

Opposition to Maliki escalated into calls for him to be removed, but his opponents lacked the parliamentary votes to do so. Essawi also called on Thursday for the no-confidence proceedings to be reopened.

The arrest of Essawi's guards come almost exactly a year after Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's guards were arrested and accused of terrorism.

An arrest warrant was also issued for Hashemi, like Essawi, an Iraqiya member, who fled to Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and eventually to Turkey, saying the charges against him were politically motivated.

Hashemi has since been given multiple death sentences in absentia on charges including murder, while death sentences have been handed to his guards as well.

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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 0.9 per cent between the second and third quarter of 2012, revised from the previously estimated increase of 1.0 per cent," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement on Friday.

The slight downgrade was due to downward revisions to output from production and service industries, and to household consumption. Market expectations had been for no change.

Despite the news, Britain - a member of the European Union but not the eurozone - still powered out of its longest double-dip recession since the 1950s between July and September.

However, third-quarter growth was boosted by one-off factors, including the London 2012 Olympic Games and rebounding activity after an extra public holiday for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

Many experts believe that the British economy could experience a renewed downturn in the current fourth quarter.

"The UK Q3 national accounts confirm that GDP rose strongly in Q3, but we already know that activity in the fourth quarter has been much weaker and think that the UK may already be in a triple-dip," said Capital Economics analyst Vicky Redwood.

"The quarterly rise in Q3 GDP was revised down, but only marginally. Perhaps the most notable revision to the breakdown is that real consumer spending is now estimated to have risen by 0.4 per cent rather than 0.6 per cent. So without the Olympics boost, spending may well have fallen."

Britain sank into the first phase of a double dip recession in 2008 as a result of the devastating global financial crisis that sparked a number of vast banking bailouts.

The economy rebounded in late 2009 but struggled to stage a convincing recovery and fell back into a second downturn in late 2011, which lasted for three quarters, as the eurozone crisis loomed large.

Activity has been hit hard also by deficit-slashing austerity measures from the nation's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

The BoE has sought to aid the recovery by slashing its key interest rate to a record low of 0.50 per cent, where it has stood since March 2009, when it also launched its radical quantitative easing (QE) stimulus.

"All in all, the UK appears to be ending 2012 not in particularly great shape," added ING economist James Knightley on Friday.

"As such we suspect the Bank of England has more work to do with further policy stimulus likely in early 2013."

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Hunger sharpens misery in Syria's Aleppo

RESIDENTS of Aleppo have suffered through months of brutal urban warfare and now face a humanitarian crisis with a lack of food and fuel as the Syrian winter sets in.

From throngs outside bakeries hoping for increasingly expensive bread to boys tying ropes around trees to pull them down and chop them up for firewood, the city that was once Syria's commercial hub is barely surviving amid appeals for more international support.

"Oil and food is very expensive," said one fruit vendor, who did not give his name. "The problem is not for fruit - the problem is bread and fuel."

Next to him, another vendor pointed to a park across the street and said that months ago, it was filled with trees that have since been chopped down to be used for fuel.

Battles between forces loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad and rebels in the northern city have raged since July, and now many rebel-held areas of Aleppo have been cut off from old supply lines for flour and fuel.

Frequent shelling, gunfire and other attacks also dissuade many residents from moving around, especially in areas close to the front line.

As a result, Aleppo - like much of Syria - is struggling with a bread shortage, but also suffers from shortfalls of fuel for electricity and heating, and key medical supplies.

The few who can afford them use private generators, but the vast majority in rebel-held areas of Aleppo have no electricity, and bakeries cannot satisfy the demand for bread, with prices shooting up.

Traditional pieces of round flat bread, typically sold in packs of eight, now cost more than three times as much at bakeries that receive subsidised flour as before a rebel offensive in Aleppo in the summer.

At bakeries that procure flour privately, prices are higher still, far beyond the reach of most in the city.

Prices for petrol, heating fuel and firewood have also skyrocketed.

According to one Czech aid group, residents in Aleppo sometimes begin queuing overnight at subsidised bakeries, where hundreds often line up in the hope of securing some bread.

"They have no access to bread, they have no access to health care," said Michal Przedlacki, Syria mission head of the NGO, People in Need.

"Winter will be brutal, not only because of the fighting, but also because of the conditions."

He added: "There is almost no international aid present on the ground, especially deeper inside Syria."

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Tribal violence kills 39 in Kenya

AT least 39 people have been killed in an attack on a village in a remote part of southeastern Kenya's coastal region, where deadly tribal violence erupted this year.

The raid on Kipao village in the Tana river delta in the early hours "unleashed terror" on the inhabitants, police said on Friday.

The total number of people killed was 39, including 30 villagers and nine assailants, a police officer in the region who asked not to be named told AFP. Police had earlier put the toll at 28.

Pictures posted on the Twitter feed of the Red Cross, which said earlier that 30 people had been killed, showed the charred walls of mud huts still standing, their thatched roofs reduced to nothing.

The violence could be linked to Kenya's general election to be held in March. A change in district boundaries has led to a shift in the balance of power between the different ethnic groups in the area.

The Red Cross said its rescue teams were tending to the wounded, some 30 of whom were in a critical condition. It gave no total figure for the number of people injured.

In August and September more than 100 people were killed in violence between rival communities living along the Tana river, whose muddy red waters are flanked by dense vegetation.

Police were unable to stop the violence between the Orma (who are herders) and the Pokomo (who are mainly farmers), and some 10 officers were killed. About 1000 men from the special police forces had to be deployed to restore order.

It was not immediately clear whether Kipao village is peopled by Orma or by Pokomo.

Tensions have long existed between the two communities, with conflicts flaring over access to land and water points. Observers who saw the violence in August and September said the raids were very well organised and some of them involved militia from other areas.

Tensions between the two communities resurfaced in the past few days during a disarmament operation.

In the elections to be held on March 4, Kenyans will choose a successor to President Mwai Kibaki, who is not running again, as well as new MPs, governors and local officials.

The most recent elections, in December 2007, were followed by the worst outbreak of violence Kenya has seen since independence, shattering the country's image as a beacon of regional stability. The unrest killed at least 1100 people and displaced more than 600,000.

Traditionally violence linked to elections has tended to take place before the actual polls.

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UN Rwanda court jails ex-minister

THE UN tribunal for Rwanda has handed a 35-year jail term to a former minister found guilty of genocide, in the court's final trial ruling.

Augustin Ngirabatware, planning minister at the time of the 1994 genocide, was found guilty of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity.

"For these crimes the court sentences you to 35 years in prison," the judge, William Hussein Sekule, told Ngirabatware on Thursday.

The tribunal still has appeals pending, but will wrap up its activities by the end of 2014.

Ngirabatware is the son-in-law of Felicien Kabuga, accused by the tribunal of having bankrolled the genocide, and the most notorious of the nine people indicted by the tribunal still at large.

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Jobs, growth are govt's priorities: Wong

FINANCE Minister Penny Wong says the government's focus is on jobs and economic growth after Treasurer Wayne Swan revealed a budget surplus is unlikely for 2012/13.

Mr Swan on Thursday said he'd rather ditch the surplus than tighten fiscal policy further and risk local jobs and growth.

"Obviously dramatically lower tax revenue now makes it unlikely that there will be a surplus in 2012/13," he told reporters in Canberra.

Senator Wong said she supported the decision.

"Today we have been very clear about that and we have made this decision to be clear about the state of revenue," she told ABC Television on Thursday.

"We have to put jobs and growth first."

In October, Treasury had forecast a $1.1 billion surplus for 2012/13, a turnaround from a $43.7 billion deficit the previous year.

Senator Wong said the government had downgraded revenue forecasts for this financial year by $20 billion since the 2010 budget projections.

The Finance Department's latest monthly statement released on Thursday showed cash receipts for 2012/13 so far totalled $111.6 billion at the end of October, down almost $4 billion on expectations.

The main factor was company tax revenue, hit by profit declines.

"With the release today of this new data, we have said to the Australian people ... we are seeing further revenue downgrades and it is not responsible to continue to make cuts to offset this revenue downgrade," she said.

The budget bottom line was being hit by a high Australian dollar and its impact on the terms of trade - the prices Australia receives for its exports compared to its imports, Senator Wong said.

"They are certainly having an effect on profitability and therefore our revenue," she said.

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Shooter left little for investigators

A week of intensive investigation has turned up little to shed light on what motivated Adam Lanza to kill.

Details emerge on Adam Lanza's past as Fox News investigate his school and tech club activities.

A 2005 picture of Adam Lanza, who carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in the US. Source: Herald Sun

AFTER a week of intensive investigation following the slaughter of 20 first-graders and six women at a primary school in Newtown, normally promising lines of inquiry have turned up little if anything to shed light on what motivated Adam Lanza, the reclusive, 20-year old gunman, to kill.

A preliminary examination of his mobile phone showed that he had made or received few, if any calls, investigators and others familiar with the matter said.

No information has yet emerged from investigators on any possible text messages he may have sent or received.

Obama begins war on military weapons

Lanza appears to have spent much of his time during the weeks before the shooting in the basement of the home he shared with his mother, Nancy, playing violent video games on his computer, investigators believe based on interviews.

His X-Box, an electronic game playing device that might have led investigators to Lanza's game playing partners across the internet, apparently was not used.

And the thin, withdrawn, young man - a computer tech club member while in high school - destroyed his home computer in a fashion that experts believe may have left it worthless to forensic examiners, as if he had set out to erase clues to his thinking, or who he may have communicated with, before he set out to commit mass homicide.

Before shooting his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, investigators and others familiar with the matter said Lanza also repeatedly shot his mother Nancy, killing the only person with whom he is believed to have been socially engaged.

"He killed the only person who really knew him well and knew what made him tick, so figuring out the why here is going to be difficult," a law enforcement official said.

State police detectives returned to the home on Yogananda Street home he shared with his mother on Wednesday night. They have been combing the house since moments after the gunfire stopped inside the school.

Lanza had two bedrooms in the house, including one in the basement in which he kept his computer, his computer video games and other possessions. Lanza had thousands of dollars worth of video games as well as an X-Box, although it appears he rarely if ever used it, preferring to play violent video games on his computer with other anonymous gamers, investigators were told.

The basement also is where Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast and target shooter, kept her collection of weapons in a locked box.

She had at least five weapons - two handguns a semi-automatic rifle, a .22 calibre rifle and a shotgun. Lanza had all the weapons except the .22 with him when he drove to the school.

With the hard drive destroyed, investigators will not be able to trace what games he was playing, who he was playing with and, more importantly, whether he gave anybody forewarning of the horrific violence he unleashed.

Anything he may have written on his computer that could have provided a glimpse into Lanza's thinking also would be irretrievable.

Two state police crime squads have been processing the evidence at the school, with the third one at the house.

Five days after the shootings, investigators still are collecting bullets from inside and outside the school. Lanza fired so many rounds that many bullets pierced cars in the school parking lot.

Sources said that Nancy Lanza owned at least five guns and that all of them were purchased legally since her divorce in 2009.

Adam Lanza was carrying three weapons when he entered the school, two pistols and the Bushmaster rifle that he used to spray the hallway and two classrooms with bullets. A source said that he left a shotgun in the boot of his mother's car, which he drove to the scene.

Police also are still trying to determine how long Lanza had been planning Friday's massacre. There is no indication that he made any purchases in the days before.

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Asian markets mixed, yen up

ASIAN markets mostly rose on Thursday following big gains in the previous session but investors are growing nervous that US leaders have still not agreed a deal to avert the fiscal cliff.

The yen slipped a tad against the euro and dollar after Japan's central bank unveiled more huge monetary easing but it held on to earlier gains as traders had mostly expected the new measures.

Tokyo fell 1.19 per cent on profit-taking after surging to an eight-month high on Wednesday. The index lost 121.07 points to 10,039.33 - a day after breaking the 10,000 barrier for the first time since early April.

Seoul closed 0.32 per cent higher, adding 6.41 points to 1999.50, with the election of conservative Park Geun-hye seeming to have little effect, although dealers were broadly happy as she favours stability over big change.

Sydney was up 0.35 per cent, or 16.3 points, at 4,634.1 and Hong Kong staged a late rally to end 0.16 per cent higher, adding 36.41 points to 22,659.78 while Shanghai gained 0.28 per cent, or 6.11 points, to 2,168.35.

With less than two weeks to go before the fiscal cliff of huge tax hikes and deep spending cuts is due to take effect, US politicians have still not reached a compromise budget deal to cut the nation's deficit with less painful measures.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he and the Republicans had narrowed differences to "a few hundred billion dollars". But a deal remains elusive.

Republicans are loath to raise taxes, while Democrats do not want to cut spending on programs such as Medicare.

House Speaker John Boehner, the Republican negotiating with the president, has said he is willing to extend tax breaks for everyone earning less than $1 million per year. Obama has said, however, he is willing to go no higher than $400,000.

Boehner announced on Wednesday that he will move to pass his measure, which he describes as his "Plan B", through the House Thursday but Obama warned he would veto the legislation.

"At some point there's got to be... a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that, you know, take the deal," Obama told reporters, as the two sides struggled to reach agreement.

While both sides have rejected the other's offers for a deal they said that talks are ongoing.

However, US traders were not impressed. On Wall Street the Dow finished 0.74 per cent lower, the S&P 500 dropped 0.76 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 0.33 per cent.

The Bank of Japan said Thursday it would expand an asset-buying program by 10 trillion yen ($US119 billion) to 101 trillion yen, days after the country's conservatives won an election promising to boost spending and pressure the bank for aggressive action.

It made no mention of a two-per cent inflation target demanded by incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe but said it would look at reviewing its policy.

The last scheduled policy meeting of the year had been widely seen as a test of whether it would stand pat, shrugging off the outside pressure.

However, it said the new measures were tied to fears about the slowing global economy, which was hurting growth at home.

The yen, which has tumbled against the dollar and euro in recent weeks on the expected victory for the opposition, picked up slightly in early trade on Thursday and managed to hold on to the gains after the BoJ move.

In early European trade the greenback bought 83.93 yen, compared with 84.39 yen in New York late Wednesday, while the euro was at 111.02 yen, from 111.59 yen.

The single currency also fetched $1.3228, against $1.3226.

Oil prices were lower, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February dropping 37 cents to $89.61 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for February dipping 43 cents to $109.93.

Gold was at $1,668.30 at 1030 GMT (2130 AEDT) compared with $1,674.39 late on Wednesday.

In other markets:

- Singapore closed up 0.54 per cent, or 16.95 points, at 3,175.52.

Singapore Telecom rose 0.60 per cent to Sg$3.37 and DBS Group gained 0.54 per cent to Sg$14.99.

- Taipei fell 1.07 per cent, or 82.01 points, to 7,596.46.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 1.34 per cent lower at Tw$96.0 while leading smartphone maker HTC rose 0.36 per cent to Tw$275.5.

- Manila added 0.79 per cent, or 45.35 points, to 5,797.74.

- Wellington ended 1.30 per cent higher, adding 52.45 points to 4,075.45.

Chorus surged 4.4 per cent to NZ$2.84, Fletcher Building rose 2.2 per cent to NZ$8.45 and Telecom gained 0.74 per cent to NZ$2.32 but Xero shed 1.3 per cent to NZ$7.60.

- Bangkok shed 0.07 per cent or 1.00 points to close at 1,377.40.

Coal producer Banpu fell 1.42 per cent or 6.00 baht to 418.00 baht while PTT Plc was unchanged at 333.00 baht.

- Jakarta ended down 21.04 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 4,254.82.

Carmaker Astra International fell 2.60 per cent to 7,500 rupiah, cigarette maker Gudang Garam lost 2.73 per cent to 57,000 rupiah, while palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari decreased 1.62 per cent to 18,250 rupiah.

- Kuala Lumpur shares gained 4.96 points, or 0.30 per cent, to close at 1,670.60.

British American Tobacco added 1.7 per cent to 60.50 ringgit, DiGi.com rose 1.5 per cent to 5.36 and Axiata climbed 1.2 per cent to 6.68.

India's Sensex index slid 0.11 per cent or 22.08 points at 19,453.92 points, snapping two straight days of gains, on profit-taking in index heavyweights.

India's auto and tractor giant Mahindra and Mahindra fell 1.68 per cent to 951.7 rupees while IT outsourcer Wipro fell 1.32 per cent to 380.5.

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Man in Saudi Arabia executed for murder

A SUDANESE man convicted of murder has been beheaded by the sword in the western city of Mecca, the Saudi interior ministry says.

Othman Mohammed was found guilty of killing another Sudanese man, Salah Ahmed, by repeatedly beating him on his head following a dispute between the two, the ministry said in a statement published by state news agency SPA.

Mohammed's beheading raises to 76 the number of people executed so far this year in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, where 79 were put to death in 2011, according to Amnesty International.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

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Malaysia provides refuge for 'Rohingyas'

MALAYSIA has provided refuge to 40 shipwreck survivors believed to be refugees from Myanmar's conflict-wracked Rakhine state, a Malaysian maritime official says.

The refugees arrived late on Tuesday in the southern state of Johor after they were picked up by a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency vessel from a Vietnamese cargo ship off Singapore, the official said.

The 40 refugees were rescued by the cargo ship from a boat believed to be carrying 250 people that sank December 5 in the Bay of Bengal.

Many of those on board were still missing.

The official, who requested anonymity, said the refugees were believed to be from Myanmar's Rohingya minority.

All the refugees appeared to be in good health and were undergoing medical examinations, he said.

They were given temporary refuge while they are processed, he said.

Malaysia hosts about 24,000 refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state, which has seen clashes between Muslim Rohingya and majority Buddhists.

At least 89 people were killed in the violence in October, and more than 5300 houses and religious buildings were burned or destroyed, according to UN figures.

More than 110,000 people have been forced from their homes since the violence first flared in June.

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French judges keep Strauss-Kahn charges

French judges have decided not to drop aggravated pimping charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Source: AAP

FRENCH judges have decided not to drop aggravated pimping charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

His lawyer says the former International Monetary Fund chief will appeal.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have argued the investigating judges in the case are biased.

The case revolves around a suspected luxury prostitution ring in northern France.

A court in the French city of Douai decided on Wednesday to retain the preliminary charges.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have said he attended "libertine" gatherings but didn't know some women present were paid.

The case is one part of an intercontinental legal saga that exposed Strauss-Kahn's active sex life and buried his French presidential ambitions.

Strauss-Kahn reached a settlement in the US last week with a hotel maid who accused of him of trying to rape her in May 2011.

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High turnout in S Korea presidential vote

HUGE crowds have voted in a tight presidential race pitting the son of North Korean refugees against the conservative daughter of an assassinated dictator, who both favour greater engagement with Pyongyang.

Despite freezing temperatures that hovered around -10 degrees Celsius, turnout was higher than in past elections.

South Koreans stood in long lines, wrapped in mufflers and parkas.

Seoul's election watchdog said turnout was about 59 per cent on Wednesday afternoon, which is 11 percentage points higher than five years ago, when current conservative President Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory.

It is also five percentage points higher than a decade ago, when Moon's protege and former boss, liberal Roh Moo-hyun, won.

Exit polls give a tiny edge to conservative Park Geun-Hye, daughter of late dictator Park Chung-Hee, in her bid to be the country's first woman leader.

As polling booths closed at 6pm (2000 AEDT), a joint exit poll by three TV stations gave Park 50.1 per cent of the vote, with 48.9 per cent for her liberal rival Moon Jae-In.

The lead of 1.2 per cent was inside the margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 per cent.

The eventual occupant of the presidential Blue House will have to deal with a belligerent North Korea, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.

At the headquarters of Park's ruling New Frontier Party, party members jumped up and cheered as the exit polls were flashed on TV monitors, but there was no concession or claim of victory by either side.

"We're pleased," said Kwon Young-Se, one of Park's top campaign staff.

"Exit polls are still preliminary results, so we will watch with a humble mind until all the votes are counted."

Optimistic Park supporters gathered outside her residence south of Seoul, cheering and waving the South Korean flag.

"The polls showed we were slightly behind, but we still see a ray of hope because it's within the margin of error," said Jin Sung-Mee, spokeswoman for Moon's main opposition Democratic United Party.

Park, 60, was looking to make history not just as the first female president of a still male-dominated country, but also the first to be related to a former leader.

Her father Park Chung-Hee remains one of the country's most polarising figures - admired for dragging the country out of poverty and reviled for his ruthless suppression of dissent during 18 years of military rule.

He was shot dead by his spy chief in 1979.

Park's mother had been killed five years earlier by a pro-North Korea gunman aiming for her father.

Moon, the son of North Korean refugees and a former chief of staff to the late president Roh Moo-Hyun, is a former human rights lawyer who was once jailed for protesting against the Park regime.

While both candidates signalled a desire for greater engagement with Pyongyang, Park's approach was far more cautious than Moon's promise to resume aid without preconditions and seek an early summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

The never-married Park had promised a strong, parental style of leadership that would steer the country through the challenges of global economic troubles.

"Like a mother who dedicates her life to her family, I will become the president who takes care of the lives of each one of you," she said in her last televised news conference on Tuesday.

A female president would be a big change for a country that the World Economic Forum recently ranked 108th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality.

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Blasts, clashes rock camp in Damascus

PALESTINIAN refugees have fled as blasts and fierce clashes rocked their camp in Damascus, a day after President Bashar al-Assad's deputy gave a gloomy assessment of Syria's brutal conflict.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, meanwhile, told Damascus she would increase contacts with the opposition inside Syria to provide the needy with assistance.

The Yarmouk refugee camp housing tens of thousands of Palestinians in southern Damascus saw intense battles during the night between rebels and pro-regime Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), activists said.

Explosions and clashes were heard two days after warplanes bombed the camp for the first time since the start of the 21-month-old conflict.

Sunday's air raid killed eight civilians and drew stiff criticism from the international community and Palestinian leaders.

An activist calling himself Abu al-Sukan said as many as 35 per cent of the people have fled for fear of more fighting and air strikes, while in the camp itself, conditions had gravely deteriorated.

"There is a huge humanitarian crisis in the camp. There are no hospitals, no firefighters and the roads are not safe," he said on Tuesday.

The mosques of the camp broadcast an army ultimatum giving the 150,000 residents until midday (1000 GMT) Tuesday to leave their homes, a camp resident told AFP over the phone.

Sukan said fighters of the rebel Free Syrian Army were braced for more clashes.

As the conflict raged, leaving at least 191 people dead on Monday, according to the Observatory, differences emerged at the top levels of power in Damascus with Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa airing views at odds with Assad.

Sharaa said there would be no outright winner in the conflict, which is estimated to have already killed more than 43,000 people.

"No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion," Sharaa told Lebanon's Al-Akhbar newspaper.

"(Assad) does not hide his desire to press on militarily until the final victory (and he believes that) after this, political dialogue will actually still be possible."

A Sunni Muslim, Sharaa has for decades served the Assad regime, but has rarely been seen in public since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising erupted in March 2011.

Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, said Monday she had asked Damascus to allow 10 more aid groups to work inside Syria and that she would increase contacts with the opposition to help those in need.

The Assad government accepted the request, according to Amos.

Reports said Moscow was sending a flotilla of warships to the Mediterranean, which according to military sources could be to evacuate thousands of Russians still in Syria in case the situation in the country worsens.

Russia, a strong ally of Assad, also said two of its nationals along with an Italian steel worker had been abducted in Syria.

Separately, US television journalist Richard Engel was freed after being kidnapped in Syria and held for five days, his employer NBC News said on Tuesday.

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Five polio workers shot dead in Pakistan

GUNMEN on motorbikes have shot dead five female Pakistani polio vaccination workers, police say, highlighting resistance to the country's immunisation campaign.

Four were killed in three different incidents in the sprawling port city and the fifth in the northwestern city of Peshawar, on the second day of a nationwide three-day drive against the disease, which is endemic in Pakistan.

Sagheer Ahmed, the health minister for Sindh province, of which Karachi is capital, said on Tuesday he had ordered a halt to the anti-polio drive in the city in the wake of the shootings.

Senior Karachi police officer Shahid Hayat said another polio worker was shot dead in the city on Monday, but the circumstances of his death only became clear on Tuesday.

In Peshawar, which lies close to the restive tribal areas, a haven for militants and hotspot for polio, two attackers on a motorbike fired on two sisters working on vaccination, killing one, senior police official Javed Khan told AFP.

The incident took place in Mathra suburb of Peshawar which borders Mohmand tribal district, Khan said.

Hayat blamed "militants who issued a fatwa against polio vaccination in the past" for the Karachi killings.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the highly infectious crippling disease remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.

But efforts to tackle polio have been hampered over the years by suspicion over vaccination drives.

The Taliban have banned immunisations in the northwest, condemning the campaign as a cover for espionage since a Pakistani doctor was jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination program.

Tuesday's killings in Karachi took place in parts of the city dominated by Pashtuns, Hayat said. Pashtuns are the dominant ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and have a sizeable migrant population in Karachi.

WHO, a partner in government efforts to eradicate the disease, suspended vaccination activities in part of Pakistan's largest city in July after a spate of bloody shootings.

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Greece raises 1.3bn euros in debt sale

GREECE has raised 1.3 billion euros ($A1.64 billion) in a three-month treasury bill auction with demand to spare, returning to short-term debt sales after completing an EU-funded debt buy-back last week.

"During the auction of 1.0 billion euros of 13-week treasury bills conducted today, the total bids reached 1.73 billion and the amount finally accepted was 1.3 billion," the state debt management agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sale offered a yield of 4.11 per cent to lenders.

In the last three-month auction in November, the agency had raised 1.3 billion euros at an interest rate of 4.20 per cent.

Greece last week attracted offers of 31.9 billion euros in a bond buy-back designed to alleviate its enormous sovereign debt by some 20 billion euros.

The scheme was a condition for the unblocking of pending EU-IMF loans, which had been held back since June owing to reform delays and a protracted electoral campaign in Greece that raised doubts about the future of its fiscal overhaul.

Because of the delay in receiving the EU-IMF funds, Greece had been forced to make emergency one-month debt auctions in November and earlier this month.

Following the approval of European leaders last week, Greece is to receive 34.3 billion euros in scheduled bailout aid in December, and another 14.8 billion euros in the first quarter of next year.

The first seven billion was disbursed on Monday and another 27.3 billion is expected by Wednesday, a Greek official said on Tuesday.

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NBC newsman freed in Syria after five days

US television journalist Richard Engel has been freed after being kidnapped in Syria and held for five days, his employer, NBC News, says.

"After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed," the network said in a statement early Tuesday.

"We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country," it said.

Engel, 39, is one of the most high-profile American journalists to report from Syria, where rebels have been fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's regime in a civil war that has claimed some 43,000 lives according to activists.

NBC said Engel and other unnamed employees went missing shortly after crossing into Syria from Turkey on Thursday, and that it had not been able to contact them until it learned they had been freed on Monday.

The network said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no ransom paid.

Engels and his crew were hustled into the back of a truck and transported to an unknown location believed to be near the town of Ma'arrat Misrin, NBC said. They were blindfolded and bound but otherwise unharmed, it said.

When the captors tried to move them to another location late Monday, they ran into a checkpoint manned by Syrian rebels from the Ahrar al-Sham Brigade. A firefight broke out and two of the captors were killed, NBC said.

The other captors escaped, and Engel's crew was not harmed in the incident.

The reporters were able to cross back into Turkey Tuesday morning and were in good health, NBC said.

Syria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to report from.

The 21-month-long rebellion began as a series of Arab Spring-style protests against the Assad family's four-decade reign but has since escalated into a brutal civil war, with fierce battles and intensive shelling in major cities.

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Connecticut gunman 'a brilliant student'

WHEN he was a student at Newtown High, Adam Lanza would sometimes have what a school employee described as "an episode".

No one knew what brought it on. The shy teenager "would just shut down," said Richard Novia, a former adviser to the school tech club.

He said at other times Lanza enjoyed joining other technology-minded students for fantasy role-playing video games and for sleepovers at school.

Lanza, a thin, gangly boy, would sometimes shuffle through the halls, clutching his briefcase to his chest and avoiding eye contact.

At times, he would simply shut down. He'd sit staring at the ground, refusing to talk to anyone.

"It would be total emotional withdrawal," Novia said.

"He wouldn't hurt anyone or yell. He wouldn't speak or talk, he would walk away. Not in a defiant way, but in a scared way. Like, 'Leave me alone.' "

Acquaintances of the family have provided a clearer picture of Lanza, 20, as investigators attempt to retrace his path last week from the spacious home where he shot his mother multiple times to a nearby elementary school. There, he fatally shot 26 students and staff members and then killed himself.

When Lanza would have one of his "episodes," Novia said, he would telephone Nancy Lanza. She was "a great parent," he said, and would often come within minutes, sitting with her son and making him feel better.

"She could pull him back in line," Novia said.

Lanza appears to have left high school early, and at age 16 began taking classes at Western Connecticut State University in nearby Danbury, where he earned a B-plus average.

He dropped out of German as he was about to fail the class but earned an A-minus in American history and a B in macroeconomics. He took his last class at the university in summer 2009, the year before he would have been a senior in high school.

Starting college at 16 would have been jarring, Novia said, especially as Lanza's older brother left for college and later for a job in Manhattan, and their parents separated, leaving Lanza at home with his mother. His parents divorced in 2009.

"If I was to read the situation, he found himself so far disconnected from the world with no possibility of interaction. I'm sure he did not make friends well in a college setting," Novia said.

Lanza, was fond of joining "LAN parties" - short for Local Area Network - in which students would gather at someone's house and hook up their computers into a small network. They played strategy games such as World of Warcraft and Mario Party.

"We were not in favour of first-person shooter games," said one of those who played with Lanza, Joshua Milas.

Lanza's older brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, was also a member of the tech club.

"Ryan was outgoing, energetic, well respected, recognised for his talents," Novia said. Ryan took care of his brother but Novia said he heard they had become estranged in recent years.

"There's obviously dysfunction between the siblings," Novia said.

"I could very easily see Ryan saying, 'Enough is enough. I've been your caregiver when I was supposed to be a teenager. I've got a life to live.' "

Nancy Lanza struggled to take care of her son and live a life of her own, friends said.

John Bergquist, who got to know Nancy Lanza at a neighbourhood bar, described her as a New Hampshire farm girl turned sophisticate.

She was a Red Sox fan with season tickets who travelled to ride hot air balloons, attend jazz concerts in New Orleans, and visit friends in London, New York and San Francisco, sometimes taking her older son Ryan with her, he said.

She drove a silver BMW. She also hunted with falcons.

Lanza had a soft side when it came to her younger son, he said.

"She always spoke very lovingly about him. She was devoted to him, catering to him and his limitations," he said.

"He wasn't troubled or violent in any way - he was a normal kid with a disability ... He had trouble being with people."

Nancy Lanza appeared to have decided to move so that Adam could attend college in another state. She was looking at schools in Washington state and North Carolina.

"She was willing to uproot her life," Bergquist said.

"Nancy pretty much made it clear that she needed to be with him (Adam) because he couldn't handle being on his own."

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China cracks down on doomsday rumours

CHINA has detained dozens of people, some of whom it terms doomsday cult members, as part of a nationwide crackdown on rumours about a supposed forthcoming apocalypse, state media say.

Authorities in five different areas have detained 52 people for spreading predictions of a December 21 "doomsday" linked to the ancient Mayan calendar, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.

The apocalypse predictions have received widespread coverage in China, thanks in part to the success of the Hollywood disaster film 2012, which was partly-inspired by the supposed Mayan prophecy.

Those detained include 34 people in the eastern province of Fujian, and two in the central city of Wuhan who handed out leaflets about the apocalypse at transport facilities, the report said.

"People have fabricated and spread rumours about the 'end of the world', caused trouble by tricking people out of money, and disturbed social order," the report cited police in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing as saying.

A Christian group known as "Almighty God", which state-run media has labelled an "evil cult" - the same description it applies to the banned Falun Gong sect - has also been targeted in the pre-doomsday crackdown, with reports of dozens of arrests last week.

Thirty-seven Almighty God members were detained in the northwestern province of Qinghai, the state-run Global Times daily said, adding that the group predicts three days of darkness will begin on December 21.

The group has called on its members to overthrow China's ruling Communist Party, which it refers to as "the big red dragon", and tells believers that a new era, presided over by a "female Jesus", has arrived.

"A big eye was found in the sun on December 9 in Beijing, and female Jesus manifested herself with her name. Great Tsunamis and earthquakes are about to happen around the world," the Global Times reported a text message sent by Almighty God members as saying.

The ruling communist party does not tolerate challenges to its authority and has brutally cracked down on religious groups including the Buddhist-inspired Falun Gong, which was banned in the late 1990s.

China has a long history of religiously-inspired anti-government movements, most notably the 19th century Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led by a Christian convert who gathered hundreds of thousands of followers in an attempt to overthrow the emperor.

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Strong 6.1 quake off eastern Indonesia

AN earthquake of 6.1 magnitude has been detected off the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi. There have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 119 kilometres northeast of Luwuk, in Central Sulawesi province, at a depth of 18.5 kilometres. No tsunami warning was issued.

The largest archipelagic Indonesia is prone to earthquake because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

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Family of slain principal rue her courage

THE husband of the principal killed as she tried to stop a gunman from mowing down children at her US elementary school has told CNN he was angry at first that his wife put herself in danger.

Dawn Hochsprung was in a meeting on Friday morning when gunshots rang out in the hallway of Sandy Hook Elementary School, in picturesque Newtown, Connecticut.

The shooter ultimately slaughtered 20 young children and six teachers and staff, including Hochsprung as she lunged at him trying to stop the slaughter, before turning a gun on himself.

Hochsprung's husband, George, told CNN on Monday two of the teachers who were in the meeting with his wife told him what they remembered.

"There were gunshots. Somebody shot the window. Somebody came in, into the - not into the office, but into the building, the foyer of the building. And Dawn told us to go hide," George said the teachers told him.

Hochsprung "and at least one other teacher went out and actually tried to subdue the killer. I don't know where that comes from. Dawn was 5'2," he continued, sitting surrounded by his three daughters from a previous marriage and one of Dawn's two daughters from her previous marriage.

"Dawn put herself in jeopardy. And I have been angry about that. Angry. Until just now, when I met two women that she told to go under shelter while she actually confronted the gunman," George recounted.

"She could have avoided that. And she didn't. I knew she wouldn't. So, I'm not angry anymore. I'm not angry. I'm not angry at anyone. I'm not angry," he repeated as if hoping she would hear him, adding in a small voice, "I'm just very sad."

George said he never expected to outlive his wife, who was much younger than he was.

The surviving family members held hands and sobbed as they remembered their lives with Hochsprung.

Hochsprung's daughter, Erica, spoke about her mother's support.

"Every game, she was there. Every cheerleading stuff, she was there. Every dance competition. She was doing homework on the bleachers. But she was there. And she was my rock. My rock," she said.

Asked what she would say to her mother now, Erica forced out: "Come back. Just come back."

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Croc bites boy at NT billabong

A TEENAGE boy has been airlifted to hospital after he was attacked by a crocodile in a remote part of the Northern Territory.

The 16-year-old boy was bitten on the leg by the one-metre-long croc while hunting at a billabong in the remote community of Ramingining in Arnhem Land on Sunday.

Careflight said the boy was treated at a local clinic before being flown to Royal Darwin Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

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Grassfire near Young now under control

FIREFIGHTERS have controlled a grassfire burning near properties in southwestern NSW.

The fire, covering 4600 hectares, is burning at Geegullalong Road, about eight kilometres east of Murringo, near Young.

In a statement, police said the fire was under control and advised it was safe for locals to return to their homes.

They told motorists intending to travel between Boorowa and Cowra that the Lachlan Valley Way would remain closed overnight due to smoke and fallen trees.

Earlier on Sunday night, a NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman said 140 firefighters, 43 fire trucks and six aircraft were battling the blaze.

The RFS is establishing containment lines around the fire overnight.

A watch and act alert has been issued by the RFS for the affected area.

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US shooting shocks world leaders

WORLD leaders have expressed shock and horror after a gunman massacred 20 small children and six staff in the US state of Connecticut, one of the worst school shootings in history.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has sent Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy his "deepest condolences at the shocking murders," a statement said.

"The targeting of children is heinous and unthinkable," he added.

Pope Benedict XVI also sent a letter of condolence to the community, which was read aloud at a vigil in Newtown on Friday evening.

The pope "has asked me to convey his heartfelt grief and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to the victims and their families, and to all affected by the shocking event," Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he "was shocked and deeply saddened" by the incident."

"My thoughts are with the injured and those who have lost loved ones. It is heartbreaking to think of those who have had their children robbed from them at such a young age, when they had so much life ahead of them."

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to President Barack Obama in which she said she was "deeply shocked and saddened" to hear of the shootings.

"The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth are with the families and friends of those killed and with all those who have been affected."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the massacre had brought "indescribable grief to many families just before Christmas".

There were almost no non-fatal injuries, indicating that once targeted there was little chance of escape, and that the gunman, believed to be 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was unusually accurate or methodical in his fire.

"The news is just awful. The thoughts and prayers of Canadians are with the students and families in CT affected by this senseless violence," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote on Twitter.

Even longtime foe Iran offered its condolences to the victims and families.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast drew parallels between the school shooting and the "children and teenagers who fall victim to armed actions... inside Gaza, the US, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran or Syria," calling on Americans to mobilise against "warmongering and the massacre of innocent people anywhere."

Closer to home, Mexico's newly inaugurated president, Enrique Pena Nieto, expressed his support to the US after the deadly shooting.

"My solidarity with the American people and President @BarackObama after the tragedy this morning in Connecticut," he wrote on Twitter.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou voiced "shock and grief" in a letter sent to Obama, saying that Taiwan will "staunchly support President Obama in taking meaningful action to prevent the recurrence of such tragedy".

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China to focus on domestic demand in 2013

EXPANDING domestic consumption will drive China's economic development next year, according to a statement issued at a key annual leadership meeting.

With export growth falling in November to 2.9 per cent year-on-year, down from 11.6 per cent in October, China's new leaders are pinning their hopes for the world's second-largest economy on fostering demand at home.

Sunday's statement was issued at the two-day Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing.

But unlike after previous meetings, state media did not immediately report China's much-anticipated target for gross domestic product.

China is expected to retain its 2012 growth target of 7.5 per cent for 2013.

Succeeding Hu Jintao last month, Communist Party leader Xi Jinping chose Shenzhen, the cradle of China's economic reforms and opening-up policy, as the venue for his first official trip, in which he stressed the need for comprehensive and systemic economic reform.

The weekend meeting granted Xi his first official opportunity to make his mark on the mapping-out of key economic plans for 2013, including not just the target for economic growth, but also a range of measures involving the deficit, tax policy and urbanisation.

The Chinese economy relies on exports, government expenditure and investment, with leaders vowing to protect foreign investors' rights, including intellectual property rights, according to the Xinhua news agency.

China also wants to encourage both private and public investment next year, including through increased investments in infrastructure projects.

China will also promote urbanisation, while retaining control of the property market, and will continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy.

Convened by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council, the annual end-of-year conference usually takes three days to lay out the national agenda for the economy.

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