A MAN has drowned at a beach on the NSW Central Coast after getting caught in a rip.
Police say the 27-year-old man was one of six people swimming at Budgewoi beach when four members of the group got into trouble because of strong currents at about 5.25pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
Most of the group were helped out of the water by friends but the 27-year-old could not be reached.
He was later taken from the water by beachgoers but could not be revived.
INDIAN police charged six men with murder, hours after a woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi nearly two weeks ago died in a Singapore hospital.
New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six face the death penalty if convicted, in a case that has triggered protests across India for greater protection for women from sexual violence, and raised questions about lax attitudes by police toward sexual crimes.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was aware of the emotions the attack has stirred, adding it was up to all Indians to ensure that the young woman's death will not have been in vain.
The victim "passed away peacefully" yesterday at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore with her family and officials of the Indian Embassy by her side, Dr. Kevin Loh, the chief executive of the hospital, said in a statement.
After 10 days at a hospital in New Delhi, the Indian capital, the woman was brought Thursday to Mount Elizabeth, which specialises in multi-organ transplants.
Dr Loh said the woman had been in extremely critical condition since Thursday, and by yesterday her condition had taken a turn for the worse, with her vital signs deteriorating.
"Despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists in Mount Elizabeth hospital to keep her stable, her condition continued to deteriorate over these two days," Dr Loh said.
"She had suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain. She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds, but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome."
The woman and a male friend, who have not been identified, were on a bus in New Delhi after watching a film on the evening of Dec. 16 when they were attacked by six men who raped her. The men beat the couple and inserted an iron rod into the woman's body, resulting in severe organ damage. Both were then stripped and thrown off the bus, according to police.
Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack, which left the victim with severe internal injuries, a lung infection and brain damage. She also suffered from a heart attack while in the hospital in New Delhi.
Indian High Commissioner, or ambassador, T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters that the scale of the injuries the woman suffered was "very grave" and in the end "proved too much."
He said arrangements were being made to return her body to India later today.
The frightening nature of the crime shocked Indians, who have come out in the thousands for almost daily demonstrations.
As news of the victim's death reached New Delhi yesterday, hundreds of policemen sealed off the high-security India Gate area, where the seat of India's government is located, in anticipation of more protests. The area is home to the president's palace, the prime minister's office and key defence, external affairs and home ministries.
The area had seen battles between protesters and police for days after the attack.
Ten metro stations in the vicinity also were closed, Mr Bhagat said.
Police were allowing people to assemble at the Jantar Mantar and Ramlila grounds, the main areas allotted for protests in New Delhi, he said.
Mourners began gathering at Jantar Mantar to express their grief and demand stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. Women face daily harassment across India, ranging from catcalls on the streets, groping and touching in public transport to rape.
They put a wreath studded with white flowers on the road, lit a candle and sat around it in a silent tribute to the young woman. Members of a theatre group nearby played small tambourine and sang songs urging the society to wake up and end discrimination against women.
Dipali, a working woman who uses one name, said the rape victim deserved justice.
"I hope it never happens again to any girl," she said.
Dozens of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi marched silently to the bus stop from where the rape victim and her friend had boarded the bus on Dec. 16. They carried placards reading "She is not with us but her story must awaken us."
Nehra Kaul Mehra, a young Indian studying urban and gender policing at Columbia University in the US, said "We come from a feudal and patriarchal set-up where we value men more than women."
"We kill daughters before they are born. Those who live are fed less, educated less and segregated from boys," she said with a black band of protest around her mouth.
Sonia Gandhi, the governing Congress party chief, assured the protesters in a statement that the rape victim's death "deepens our determination to battle the pervasive, the shameful social attitudes and mindset that allow men to rape and molest women and girls with such an impunity."
The protesters heckled Sheila Dikshit, the top elected leader of New Delhi state, when she came to express her sympathy with them and forced her to leave the protest venue. They blamed her for the deteriorating law and order situation in the Indian capital.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the woman's death was a sobering reminder of the widespread sexual violence in India.
"The outrage now should lead to law reform that criminalizes all forms of sexual assault, strengthens mechanisms for implementation and accountability, so that the victims are not blamed and humiliated," Ms Ganguly said.
Prime Minister Singh said he understood the angry reaction to the attack and that he hoped all Indians would work together to make appropriate changes.
"These are perfectly understandable reactions from a young India and an India that genuinely desires change," Mr Singh said in a statement.
"It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channel these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action."
He said the government was examining the penalties for crimes such as rape "to enhance the safety and security of women."
"I hope that the entire political class and civil society will set aside narrow sectional interests and agendas to help us all reach the end that we all desire - making India a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in," Mr Singh said.
Mamta Sharma, head of the state-run National Commission for Women, said the "time has come for strict laws" to stop violence against women. "The society has to change its mindset to end crimes against women," she said.
The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from reporting it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule.
Police often refuse to accept complaints from those who are courageous enough to report the rapes, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts drag on for years.
Indian attitudes toward rape are so entrenched that even politicians and opinion makers have often suggested that women should not go out at night or wear clothes that might be seen provocative.
On Friday, Abhijit Mukherjee, a national lawmaker and the son of India's president, apologised for calling the protesters "highly dented and painted" women who go from discos to demonstrations.
"I tender my unconditional apology to all the people whose sentiments got hurt," he told NDTV news.
Several Indian celebrities reacted with sadness over the woman's death. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, "Her body has passed away, but her soul shall forever stir our hearts."
Separately, authorities in Punjab state took action Thursday when an 18-year-old woman killed herself by drinking poison a month after she told police she was gang-raped.
State authorities suspended one police officer and fired two others on accusations they delayed investigating and taking action in the case. The three accused in the rape were arrested only on Thursday night, a month after the crime was reported.
"This is a very sensitive crime, I have taken it very seriously," said Paramjit Singh Gill, a top police officer in the city of Patiala.
The Press Trust of India reported that the woman was raped Nov. 13 and reported the attack to police Nov. 27. But police harassed the girl, asked her embarrassing questions and took no action against the accused, PTI reported, citing police sources.
Authorities in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh also suspended a police officer on accusations he refused to register a rape complaint from a woman who said she had been attacked by a driver.
A FRENCH constitutional panel has thrown out a plan to tax the ultra-wealthy at a 75 per cent rate, saying it is excessive.
The constitutional council ruled that the highly contentious tax, which President Francois Hollande promised to impose while campaigning, was unfair. It was intended to hit those with incomes over 1 million euros ($1.29 million).
The French government approved the tax in its most recent budget, but even before many said it would do little to stem the country's mounting fiscal problems and would drive away the wealthiest citizens.
Mr Hollande's popularity, meanwhile, has been tanking as the country's unemployment continued its rise for the 19th straight month.
In recent weeks, Gerard Depardieu - France's most famous actor - moved to Belgium to avoid his home country's high taxes.
PAKISTAN provisionally unblocked access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube after taking measures to filter blasphemous material and pornography, officials said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in September ordered the blocking of YouTube after the US-based website refused to heed the government's call to remove a controversial anti-Islam video.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has notified all internet companies to "immediately unblock/restore complete YouTube website provisionally till further orders".
Weeks of protests in Pakistan over the crudely made Innocence of Muslims film saw more than 20 people killed and caused serious damage in major cities.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Twitter that the decision to allow access was due to huge public demand, and that the telecom regulator would install a firewall to maintain a block on unseemly content.
"There was a great demand to unblock YouTube from all sections of society... expect the notification today," Mr Malik said.
"PTA is finalising negotiations for acquiring a powerful firewall software to totally block pornographic and blasphemous material," he added.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) confirmed they have also received the notification and welcomed the announcement.
ISPAK Convener Wahajus Siraj said that when the ban first came into force, internet video traffic in Pakistan plummeted by up to 30 per cent.
"It is a good development because many people, especially students and institutions, were using YouTube for education, and were facing difficulties as alternate websites were not as good," he said.
According to PTA there are 2.1 million Internet subscribers in Pakistan.
TWO men have been arrested after a car collided with a police vehicle in southwest Sydney.
The crash occurred on Graham Avenue at Casula about 6pm (AEDT) on Friday.
The car was similar to one involved in an alleged robbery at Casula on Thursday night, police said in a statement.
The men were arrested at the scene and taken to Liverpool police station.
No one was injured in the crash.
A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl is on her way home to Britain more than three years after she was abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan, police say.
Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson disappeared in November 2009 after going to stay with her father, Razwan Ali Anjum.
The former insurance salesman told the girl's mother, Gemma Wilkinson, that he was taking Atiya to Southport in northwest England but instead took her to the Pakistani city of Lahore.
He told his former partner that she was "never going to see Atiya again".
Anjum is currently serving a prison sentence in Britain for refusing to reveal his daughter's whereabouts despite a court order.
Just last month, her 32-year-old mother launched a fresh appeal for information about her daughter.
But sources told Britain's Press Association agency that Atiya had been found in Pakistan after new information had come to light.
Police said Atiya was due to arrive at Manchester Airport later on Friday.
Anjum, who is in his late 20s, was given a fourth consecutive jail term by a High Court judge in April after he refused to reveal where his daughter was.
He indicated that Atiya was in Pakistan or Iran but said he did not know her exact whereabouts, a claim which the judge in the case said was "absurd".
Another judge has previously said the case was "as bad a case of child abduction as I have encountered".
It is thought Atiya was found after police issued a computer-generated image of what Atiya would look like now - a day before her sixth birthday in November.
Speaking then, her mother said: "It's been an absolute nightmare. As to her whereabouts we know nothing. We've had no contact.
"I'm worrying every day, every single day. Everything is affected by it. When I close my eyes I see her."
SOUTH Korea has recovered what it believes to be debris from the engine of the long-range rocket launched by North Korea this month, the defence ministry says.
"If it is confirmed to be engine debris, it will be very useful for analysing North Korea's missile technology," a ministry spokesman said on Friday.
He said navy ships had retrieved six chunks of debris from the rocket that was launched - to international condemnation - on December 12.
Pyongyang said the launch was a purely scientific mission aimed at placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite in space.
Most of the world saw it as a disguised ballistic missile test that violated UN resolutions imposed after the North's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
Two days after the launch, the South recovered an oxidiser container, which had stored red fuming nitric acid to fuel the first-stage propellant.
After studying the oxidiser tank, military experts said the rocket launch amounted to the test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a half-tonne payload up to 10,000 kilometres.
The success of the launch was seen as a major strategic step forward for the isolated North, although missile experts differed on the level of ballistic capability demonstrated by the rocket.
Peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called for real change and a transitional government in Syria. Source: AAP
RUSSIA is urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to meet the opposition and keep all options open for a transitional government.
The call came on Friday as Moscow tried to save the tattered peace process by hosting a top Assad envoy and planning a meeting on Saturday with Syria peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow won't be backing international calls for Assad to step down and wants the Syrian people to decide their country's fate.
But he emphasised that Moscow wanted Assad to put all options on the table after 21 months of violence and more than 45,000 deaths.
"We actively encouraged ... the Syrian leadership to maximally put into action its declared readiness for dialogue with the opposition," Lavrov told reporters, when asked about his meeting with Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad.
He said Russia hoped to see Assad's government "underscore that they are open to discussing the widest range of items in line with the agreements reached in Geneva on June 30."
That accord - rejected by the Syrian opposition - sought to quickly establish an interim coalition government but made no direct call on Assad to step down.
Russia has been chastised by Western and Arab nations for continuing to supply Damascus with weapons and refusing to accept that no solution was possible with the regime still in power.
Yet the West lacks direct access to Assad and needs Russia to tell the regime that its days are numbered.
Moscow is now moving to distance itself from the rulers of its last big ally in the Middle East.
President Vladimir Putin has twice this month said Moscow has no intention of propping up Assad.
Officials have confirmed preparations for an evacuation of Russian nationals if the regime falls.
The armed opposition is making gains and Moscow admits that Assad's forces may not hold out for much longer.
Efforts to revive the peace process will continue in Moscow on Saturday following Brahimi's visit to Damascus for talks with both Assad and the opposition.
Brahimi has been discussing the details of a transition government with full powers to effect "real change".
Yet Lavrov stressed on Friday that all peace efforts were futile unless Western powers impressed on the opposition the need to engage in talks that left open the possibility of Assad hanging on in an interim basis.
Moscow is seeking talks with the opposition national coalition. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the RIA Novosti news agency the talks with National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib could take place in Moscow or at a foreign location such as Geneva or Cairo.
Meanwhile Syrian warplanes launched air raids in Damascus province on Friday after overnight bombardments and clashes across the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said.
"The air force for the first time attacked the Assal al-Ward area in the Kalamun region, killing one civilian, wounding dozens and destroying several homes," the group said in a statement.
The Observatory also reported fighting and bombardment in several districts of the capital overnight.
It said several rockets hit the Qaboon district in the northeast of the city and that clashes between rebels and the army erupted in the southern neighbourhood of Qadam, which was also bombarded.
Fighting also took place in southern Damascus in Daraya, which Assad's forces have been trying to retake for weeks, the watchdog said.
There were also clashes in Yalda in the south and Douma in the northeast, as well as an attack on a military position northeast of Damascus between the provincial town of Irbin and the suburb of Harasta.
Elsewhere, a sniper shot dead a man in a Palestinian refugee camp in Daraa in the south, and fighting was also reported in areas near the border with Jordan, the watchdog said.
In the north, clashes took place in several neighbourhoods of the country's second city Aleppo, including around a military compound besieged by rebels, and several districts of Deir Ezzor city in the east were bombarded.
Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is seeking help from Russia to get the warring parties to negotiate. Source: AAP
INTERNATIONAL envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called for "real change" in war-torn Syria including a transitional government with full powers until elections can be held.
The envoy unveiled his initiative in Damascus on Thursday as Russia, the Syrian government's most powerful ally, denied the existence of a joint peace plan with the United States, amid a flurry of end-of-year diplomatic activity on the crisis.
"Change should not be cosmetic; the Syrian people need and require real change, and everyone understands that," the UN-Arab League envoy said on the fifth day of his latest peace mission to Syria.
"We need to form a government with all powers... which assumes power during a period of transition. That transition period will end with elections," Brahimi told reporters.
He did not specify a date for the proposed elections. Syria elected a parliament in May and President Bashar al-Assad's current term expires in 2014.
"The transition period should not lead to the collapse of the state and its institutions," Brahimi said, adding that the initiative was incomplete.
"We prefer... a project whose facilitation the parties have agreed upon, and, if they do not, the last solution is going to the (UN) Security Council which will make a binding resolution."
Brahimi, who has held talks with Assad as well as with opposition groups tolerated by the regime, replaced former UN chief Kofi Annan after his dramatic resignation in August over what he said was the failure of major powers to back his peace plan.
A diplomat at the UN Security Council said Brahimi, the veteran Algerian troubleshooter, had received no support from either side since arriving in Syria on Sunday.
"Assad appears to have stonewalled Brahimi again, the UN Security Council is not even close to showing the envoy the kind of support he needs and the rebels will not now compromise," said the diplomat.
Brahimi will hold talks on Saturday with Moscow, Russia's foreign ministry said.
Russia on Thursday hosted a Syrian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad.
"This is of course a part of the efforts we are undertaking to encourage dialogue not just with the government but all opposition forces," Russian spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
Moscow has refused to end its co-operation with the Assad regime during the conflict, despite the fury of the West.
The diplomatic drive comes as Western media report about a new Russia-US initiative that would see Assad stay in power until 2014 but prevent him from renewing his mandate.
Lukashevich vehemently denies any such plan.
"There was not and is not such a plan and it is not being discussed," he said.
Russia insists it will not prop up Assad's regime but it will not seek to persuade the Syrian president to step down, saying it is up to the Syrian people to decide the country's future.
The diplomatic drive comes after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented at least 45,000 deaths in the civil war, which erupted in March 2011 following a brutal crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests.
The Observatory said the real number of those killed could be as high as 100,000, with both sides concealing many casualties.
The grim statistics add gravity to a UN warning that the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees "estimates that if fighting in Syria continues, the refugee figure could reach 1.1 million by June 2013," a report said.
That is double the current number of those registered by the United Nations.
CAMBODIAN rights campaigners have condemned the sentencing of two men to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of a prominent union leader, saying they appear to be scapegoats.
Chea Vichea, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government, was shot dead at a newsstand in the capital Phnom Penh - a killing decried by activists as an attempt to silence his labour union.
Days later, Born Samnang, now 32, and Sok Sam Oeun, 43, were arrested and jailed for 20 years each in a verdict which rights watchdogs said was based on insufficient evidence.
In 2008 the Supreme Court provisionally released the pair and ordered a retrial. But the Appeal Court on Thursday ruled that there was enough proof of their guilt and confirmed the 20-year sentences.
Am Sam Ath, of local rights group Licadho, said the pair appeared to be innocent victims. "Civil groups still consider the two men as the artificial killers," he told reporters.
The pair shouted "Unjust!" and called for help from the king and Hun Sen as they were led from the court in handcuffs and taken to prison.
"Let me go. I am not the killer," said Born Samnang.
Sok Sam Oeun's wife, Neang Heng, told reporters her husband had been "full of hope" that he would be acquitted.
The pair's lawyers immediately appealed the ruling, which rights activists said once again failed to deliver justice.
"I am very shocked and disappointed at the lack of independence of the court and at the inability of the court to provide justice in the case," the president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, Ou Virak, told AFP.
Police alleged at the time that the two men were promised $US5000 ($A4841) to carry out the killing. The pair have denied any involvement and said they were framed by police.
Former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov, who led the investigation but was himself later jailed on various charges he claimed were politically motivated, has also said the two did not kill Chea Vichea.
The activist founded the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia along with opposition leader Sam Rainsy, and organised many protests fighting for the rights of garment workers.
Rights groups say Cambodia's legal system is controlled by powerful and wealthy interests, leaving the country without the rule of law.
In a separate case on Thursday, outspoken female land rights activist Yorm Bopha was jailed for three years for allegedly taking part in beating two men. Campaigners say the charges were fabricated to silence her activism.
Forced evictions across Cambodia have displaced thousands of families, sparking protests and violent clashes between residents and armed security forces.
EUROPE'S main stock markets have risen following the festive break and a rally in Tokyo, as traders focused on whether the United States would avert the 2013 "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.
In late morning deals on Thursday, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies was up 0.18 per cent at 5,964.74 points compared with the close on Monday, its previous trading session.
The Paris CAC 40 grew 0.64 per cent to 3,675.99, also compared with Monday's close, while in Frankfurt the DAX 30 climbed 0.24 per cent to 7,654.21 points compared with its previous trading session last Friday.
In foreign exchange deals, the euro grew to $US1.3275 from $US1.3223 late in New York on Wednesday. Gold prices edged higher to $US1,657.75 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $US1,655.25 on Monday.
"With most major stock markets returning from their Christmas break for a full day of trading, the spotlight will be once again on Washington where politicians will give it one more go to hammer out a deal which would avoid the US going over the fiscal cliff," said ETX Capital trader Markus Huber.
"Overall, even as chances of a last minute deal are diminishing quickly, not everybody is willing to bet just yet that the US will be going over the cliff."
European stocks rose despite overnight falls on Wall Street as investors fretted over the looming deadline for a series of tax hikes and spending cuts worth some $US600 billion ($A580.92 billion) due to take effect in January.
US lawmakers were to return to the negotiating table after the Christmas holidays in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal, with experts warning that going over the cliff could drive the world's biggest economy back into recession.
"The fiscal cliff continues to figure as the central worry within market considerations," said Joshua Mahony, research analyst at Alpari trading group.
Europe's main stock markets have meanwhile enjoyed strong gains over the year, largely thanks to a late 2012 rally on signs that the eurozone debt crisis was being tackled effectively.
Frankfurt has surged almost 30 per cent this year, while Paris has gained 16 per cent and London seven per cent in value.
In a reminder however that deep problems remain, shares in Spain's bailed-out lender Bankia plunged on Thursday after banking authorities said it had a negative of value of 4.148 billion euros ($A5.33 billion).
Shares in Bankia, which is at the heart of a crisis in the bad-loan ridden Spanish banking system, slumped 13.27 per cent to 59.5 cents in morning trade.
Madrid's main IBEX 35 shares index was down 0.11 per cent at 8,290.70 points. Spain's stock market has meanwhile fallen by about 3.0 per cent compared with the start of the year.
The UN ordered non-essential staff to leave the Central African Republic because of fears of unrest. Source: AAP
BANGUI, Central African Republic, Dec 27 AFP - More regional troops are being sent to secure the capital of the Central African Republic ahead of a rebel advance, with France saying it has no plan to intervene in its former colony's conflict.
"Bangui is fully secured by the troops" of the FOMAC central African military force, its commander, General Jean-Felix Akaga, said on national radio on Thursday.
"Others will arrive to help reinforce this mission of securing Bangui," he added.
The comments came as the UN said it was pulling out non-essential staff from the country where a rebel coalition called Seleka has seized four major regional capitals in less than a month.
The US is also urging its nationals to leave.
French President Francois Hollande said its troops in the country would not be interfering in the conflict, a day after hundreds of protesters at the French embassy in Bangui demanded Paris do more to stem the rebels' momentum.
"If we are present, it is not to protect a regime, it is to protect our nationals and our interests, and in no way to intervene in the internal affairs of a country, in this case Central Africa," he said.
"Those days are gone," he added.
France has about 250 soldiers based at Bangui airport providing technical support to a peacekeeping mission run by the central African bloc ECCAS, according to the defence ministry in Paris.
Since the end of colonisation in the 1960s, French troops in western Africa have often aided former colonies whose regimes were on the verge of being toppled.
The government in Bangui on Wednesday urged France to help facilitate a dialogue with the rebels, while alluding to the French military presence.
"The Central African Republic has not lost sight of France's important contribution in the restructuring of our defence and security forces, because it has often sent military advisers to work with the Central African military and they have always played a role," said a statement from the minister of territorial administration Josue Binoua.
The rebels began their push in early December, charging that President Francois Bozize and his government haven't abided by the terms of peace deals signed between 2007-2011.
As the ill-equipped and underpaid Central African army proved little challenge to the insurgents, Bozize asked for assistance from neighbouring Chad, which helped him during rebellions in the north in 2010.
With the government now largely restricted to Bangui, the Chadian troops are the only real obstacle to the rebels who are now about 300 kilometres away.
The United Nations on Wednesday ordered more than 200 non-essential staff and families of other workers to leave the Central African Republic because of the rebel offensive.
The UN has a major political mission in the Central African Republic seeking to help the government overcome more than a decade of strife.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned armed attacks on several towns by the rebels.
Washington expressed "deep concern" and warned all Americans to leave the country "until the security situation improved".
Nassour Ouaidou, the head of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), told AFP the body was trying to broker a truce.
The Central African Republic is a mineral-rich, landlocked country with less than five million residents. It ranks 179 out of 187 countries on the UN's latest development index and has seen frequent coups and mutinies.
Bozize seized power in a coup in 2003.
THIS Christmas was unlike any other in Newtown.
When a gunman wiped out nearly an entire elementary school class and killed students and adults in two other first-grade classrooms just 11 days before Christmas, it made it impossible for the holiday to be the same this year.
Some residents, like Joanne Brunetti, have found ways to console and help their grieving neighbours. Well-wishers from across the US are stopping by to do the same.
Brunetti watched over 26 candles that had been lit at midnight, just before Christmas Day, in honour of those slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She and her husband Bill signed up for a three-hour shift and erected a tent to ensure that the candle flames never went out throughout the day.
"You have to do something and you don't know what to do, you know? You really feel very helpless in this situation," she said on Tuesday.
"People have been wonderful to everybody in Newtown whether you were part of what happened or not. My thought is if we were all this nice to each other all the time maybe things like this wouldn't happen."
At a town hall memorial, Faith Leonard waved to people driving by and handed out Christmas cookies, children's gifts and hugs to anyone who needed it.
"I guess my thought was if I could be here helping out maybe one person would be able to spend more time with their family or grieve in the way they needed to," said Leonard, who drove to Newtown from Gilbert, Arizona, to volunteer on Christmas morning.
"I know they've been inundated with support and that's great but it's always nice to have a present to open on Christmas Day."
Julian Revie played Silent Night on a piano on the footpath at the downtown memorial. Revie, from Ottawa in Canada, was in the area visiting at the time of the shootings. He cancelled his plans to go to Australia, found a piano online and chose to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day playing for the people of Newtown.
"It was such a mood of respectful silence," said Revie, who planned to leave the piano behind. "But yesterday being Christmas Eve and today being Christmas Day, I thought now it's time for some Christmas carols for the children."
Many town residents attended Christmas Eve services on Monday evening and spent the morning at home with their families. Others attended church services in search of a new beginning.
At St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, attended by eight of the child victims of the massacre, the pastor told parishioners: "Today is the day we begin everything all over again."
Recalling the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, the Reverend Robert Weiss said: "The moment the first responder broke through the doors we knew good always overcomes evil."
"We know Christmas in a way we never ever thought we would know it," he said. "We need a little Christmas and we've been given it."
Police have yet to offer a possible motive for gunman Adam Lanza's rampage. The 20-year-old Newtown man, who lived at home, killed his mother in her bed before heading to the school and killing 20 children - all aged either six or seven - and six adults. He then killed himself.
RUSSIA'S upper house of parliament is set to vote on a bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, the final legislative hurdle requiring clearance before the controversial law is sent to President Vladimir Putin for signing.
The highly contentious measure - retaliation for a US law sanctioning Russian officials implicated in the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 - has inflamed tensions between the two former Cold War rivals.
The draft legislation has already passed the three required readings in the State Duma lower house despite the protests over the measure from human rights advocates and even senior officials.
The Federation Council upper chamber - comprised exclusively of Putin allies and ruling party members - is expected to overwhelmingly approve the measure on Wednesday after it was backed in a committee meeting the day before.
Putin has not made clear explicitly if he will sign the law but comments by his spokesman on Tuesday appeared to indicate that he backed the measure.
"This will not lead to any infringement of international rights," Dmitry Peskov said.
"Russia is fully implementing the rights it has under international law."
The bill also includes a provision banning Russian political organisations that receive US funding.
In Washington, the White House said on Tuesday that "we deeply regret recent efforts to restrict civil society activity in Russia" and vowed to continue raising concerns over the proposed adoption ban.
"Children should have every opportunity to grow up in loving families," US President Barack Obama's national security staff said in a statement.
"Their fate should not be linked to unrelated political considerations."
The legislation came up this month after Obama signed into law the so-called Magnitsky Act, a measure paying tribute to the Russian lawyer who died in custody after exposing a $US235 million ($A227 million) police embezzlement scheme.
The US law blacklists Russian officials allegedly involved in his death.
Magnitsky's employer Hermitage Capital - once Russia's largest Western investment fund - and family both believe he was tortured to death.
But Russian prosecutors this week moved to drop charges against the only person on trial in the case.
They are also due to hold hearings on Thursday into a separate set of fraud charges that originally put Magnitsky under arrest.
The Russian MPs' response has agitated some cabinet members including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has said banning adoption as an institution "is wrong" in a rare rebuke to the official position.
Putin's advisory human rights council also condemned the pending legislation as potentially unconstitutional.
Leading rights advocate Lyudmila Alexeyeva said she planned to appeal to the constitutional court should Putin sign the bill into law.
EGYPTIAN President Mohamed Morsi has signed into law a new constitution voted in despite weeks of opposition protests, but he was left facing an economic crisis and international disquiet over his rule.
The Islamist-dominated senate convened on Wednesday to swear in 90 new members appointed by Morsi. It was expected to draft a law for legislative elections for the dissolved lower house that have to be held by the end of February.
The National Salvation Front opposition coalition said it would vie for seats in the parliament, which has powers under the new charter that could hamper Morsi's ability to govern.
"We will work together to enter the election," Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud said.
He also said the coalition would legally contest the referendum, which it claims was riddled by fraud. Its supporters had demonstrated since late November against the document, with some clashes with pro-Morsi supporters turning bloody.
The national electoral commission said late on Tuesday that 64 per cent of voters in the two-round referendum backed the new constitution. Turnout was 33 per cent, it said.
Morsi immediately afterwards signed into law the charter, which had been written up by his Islamist allies.
Christians and liberals boycotted the process in protest against changes they saw as weakening human rights, especially those of women, and possibly paving the way for the introduction of a form of fundamentalist Islamic law.
The US, which gives $US1.3 billion ($A1.26 billion) a year to Egypt's influential military, called on Morsi to work to "bridge divisions" with the largely secular opposition.
"We have consistently supported the principle that democracy requires much more than simple majority rule," acting US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement.
"We hope all sides will re-commit themselves to condemn and prevent violence."
The political crisis has taken a heavy toll on Egypt's economy.
The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported there was "fear in the Egyptian street" after rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded Egypt's long-term credit rating one notch to B-.
The chief economist at CI Capital, Mona Mansour, said a crucial $US4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan that had been scheduled for this or next month might be postponed until the new parliament is established in March.
THE British public spending watchdog is to investigate BBC severance packages after it emerged that almost 200 senior managers received pay-offs of more than STG100,000 ($A158,000) each in the past three years.
The National Audit Office (NAO) is to examine the situation after MPs said pay-offs for senior BBC figures had been "excessively generous".
The investigation was sparked after George Entwistle, the former director general, stood down over the Jimmy Savile scandal with a STG450,000 pay-off - double the amount to which he was entitled.
The probe also comes after parliament's Public Accounts Committee criticised the BBC's use of licence fee payers' money as "cavalier" and "out of line with public expectations".
The committee's chairman, Margaret Hodge, hit out after hearing that 10 other leading figures at the BBC had received severance packages in the past two years which together amounted to STG4 million.
The largest was the former deputy director general, Mark Byford, who was given STG949,000.
Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph newspaper under Freedom of Information laws showed that between 2010 and 2011 the cost of redundancy payments at the corporation more than doubled to STG58 million.
A total of 14 executives received pay-offs of more than STG300,000 each, worth a total of STG6 million, while 194 executives got STG100,000 each.
The average payout for an executive made redundant at the BBC is STG51,000.
The national holiday road toll has risen to eight, after a man died from a collision in Victoria. Source: AAP
VICTORIA'S holiday road toll has climbed to five following the death of a taxi driver in a crash in Geelong.
Investigators believe a Holden Commodore was travelling east on Ballarat Road, in the Geelong suburb of Hamlyn Heights, when it crashed into a stationary taxi at about 6.15pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.
The male driver of the taxi died at the scene while the driver of the Commodore was not hurt.
* The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2012, until 2359 January 3, 2013, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.
TOKYO stocks have closed 1.41 per cent higher as a weak yen helped boost the market which surged last week following a return to power for the country's conservatives.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 140.06 points to 10,080.12, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares added 0.64 per cent, or 5.29 points, to finish at 838.01 on Christmas Day.
A strong yen is negative for Japanese markets as it erodes exporters' revenue and makes their products less competitive overseas.
The yen had dipped against the dollar and the euro on Monday after Japan's incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide national election this month, renewed calls on the Bank of Japan to take further steps to ease monetary policy.
Abe at the weekend threatened to change a law guaranteeing the bank's independence if it did not agree to set a two-per cent inflation target.
He is pressing the bank to set the goal in a bid to drag the country out of the deflation that has haunted its economy for years.
Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.
In forex trading, the dollar stood at Y84.75, slightly lower than Y84.82 in New York on Monday, where the greenback had climbed to the Y85 level last seen in April 2011.
The euro fetched Y111.75 and $US1.3181 from Y111.87 and $US1.3183 in US trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a shortened Christmas Eve session on Monday down 0.39 per cent at 13,139.08 amid pessimism about prospects of a deal to avert the US "fiscal cliff" due to take effect in January.
"The fact that the discussions apparently remain bogged down is a negative, but the overarching factor for stocks - a cheaper yen - trumps everything else," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.
Divided US politicians have until the end of the year to reach a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, a combination of steep tax hikes and spending cuts which threatens to drag the world's largest economy into recession.
In Tokyo, Mitsubishi Motors gained 1.23 per cent to Y82, despite transport officials inspecting the company's offices across Japan on Tuesday after it widened a vehicle recall to about 1.7 million vehicles.
Sharp dived 7.45 per cent to Y273, a fall sparked by profit-taking after the stock's recent rally.
Chinese shares put on 2.53 per cent, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumping 54.56 points to 2,213.61 to close near a six-month high.
Industrial Bank gained 5.89 per cent to 16.36 yuan, while property developer Gemdale jumped 5.61 per cent to 6.40 yuan.
Taiwan's weighted index rose 1.34 per cent, or 101.05 points, to 7,636.57.
Leading smartphone maker HTC rose 1.99 per cent to Tw$282.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 1.37 per cent higher at Tw$96.5.
Most Asian markets were closed.
THE national Christmas holiday road toll has risen to 10 with the death of a taxi driver in Victoria.
Police believe a Holden Commodore was travelling east on Ballarat Road in the Geelong suburb of Hamlyn Heights when it crashed into a stationary taxi about 6.15pm (AEDT) on Christmas Day.
The taxi driver died at the scene while the driver of the Commodore was not hurt.
Earlier in the day, a man believed to be in his 60s died in hospital from injuries he suffered in a crash on the Princes Highway at Dandenong on Monday night.
The deaths bring the Victoria toll to five since the holiday road period started on December 23.
In South Australia a motorist died when his car left the road and caught fire at Millicent, southeast of Adelaide. The death was the second in the state
NSW, Tasmania and Western Australia have each recorded one death.
* The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2012, until 2359 January 3, 2013, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.
THE Queen has joined other members of the royal family for a Christmas Day church service at Sandringham after recovering from a cold.
She missed Sunday's service at her Norfolk home as she was "getting over the tail end of a cold", Buckingham Palace said.
But on Tuesday she appeared cheerful as she arrived for the 11am service at St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate.
Wearing a turquoise coat dress and matching hat, the Queen was wished a merry Christmas by about 1000 well-wishers.
Following tradition, the Queen made the short journey from Sandringham House in a Bentley.
She was accompanied by princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 91, who missed last year's service with a heart problem, walked the few hundred yards from the house to the church accompanied by the Duke of York and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex.
The Queen traditionally spends the festive period with her family gathered around her at her Norfolk estate.
But this year there will be some empty spaces around the table on Christmas Day.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are spending Christmas at the Middleton family home while Prince Harry is serving as an Apache pilot in Afghanistan.
VIETNAMESE fishermen have rescued an American man who had been drifting at sea for eight days on a disabled yacht.
Coastguard official Vo Hoang Liet said on Monday that Kenneth Putney of Melbourne, Florida, was in good health after being rescued on Thursday.
Liet says Putney, 54, told Vietnamese authorities he and three others were towing a yacht from the Philippines to Thailand when the rope broke on December 15.
He said Putney jumped onto the yacht because he feared it would be lost.
Putney drifted on the yacht for eight days before being rescued by the fishermen 25 kilometres off the coast.
Putney will be handed over to US embassy. Liet did not say what happened to the other vessel.
AN Afghan policewoman has shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul.
The woman, identified as Afghan police Sergeant Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small shop, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press.
The woman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack.
Earlier, she had asked bystanders where the governor's office was located, the governor said. As with many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name.
The slain adviser was a contractor whose identity wasn't immediately released.
The attack occurred outside the police headquarters in a walled, highly secure compound which also houses the governor's office, courts and a prison. Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said an investigation was under way.
The killing came just hours after an Afghan policeman shot five of his colleagues at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan late Monday. The attacker then stole his colleague's weapons and fled to join the Taliban, said an official in Jawzjan province.
More than 60 international allies, including troops and civilian advisers, have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year.
More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues.
Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.
The provincial official in Jawzjan said the attacker on Sunday was an Afghan policeman manning a checkpoint in Dirzab District who turned his weapon on five colleagues before fleeing to the militant Islamist group.
THE international envoy tasked with pushing to end Syria's civil war says the situation is "worrying" after discussing the crisis with President Bashar Assad.
In brief comments to reporters after meeting the Syrian leader at the presidential palace in Damascus, Lakhdar Brahimi said he and Assad exchanged views on the conflict and discussed possible steps forward, which he did not disclose.
"The situation in Syria is still worrying and we hope that all the parties will go toward the solution that the Syrian people are hoping for and look forward to," Brahimi said.
Syria's state news agency quoted Assad as saying his government supports "any effort in the interest of the Syrian people which preserves the homeland's sovereignty and independence".
Brahimi has apparently made little progress toward brokering an end to the conflict since starting his job in September, mostly because both sides adamantly refuse to talk to each other.
The government describes the rebels as foreign-backed terrorists set on destroying the country. The opposition says that forces under Assad's command have killed too many people for him to be part of any solution.
Brahimi's two-day visit was to end later Monday. It is his third to Damascus as an envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League.
The security situation in Damascus and elsewhere in the country has declined since Brahimi's previous visits. Instead of flying in to the Damascus International Airport as he did on earlier visits, Brahimi drove to Damascus over land from Beirut because of the fighting near the Syrian capital's airport.
Reports by anti-regime activists of the airstrike Sunday on a bakery in the central town of Halfaya that killed scores of people also cast pall over Brahimi's visit.
Amateur videos posted online showed the bodies of many dead and wounded scattered in a street.
On Monday, Syria's state news service blamed the attack on "an armed terrorist group" - its shorthand for the rebels - accusing them of filming the aftermath to "frame the Syrian army."
In the videos, however, armed rebels are clearly among those tending to the dead and wounded.
Anti-regime activists say the civil war has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.
HEAVY rainfall and damaging winds are expected to lash NSW towns from Wollongong to Wanaaring overnight.
The Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds were in store for much of the state.
A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for the Sydney metropolitan area, the Illawarra, central tablelands and parts of the Hunter, southern tablelands, central west slopes and plains, south west slopes, lower western and upper western forecast districts.
A warning for the south coast, Snowy Mountains and ACT has been cancelled.
After a hot and sticky Monday, Sydneysiders can expect to wake up to cooler weather on Christmas Day as a southerly change moves in.
The Bureau predicts a maximum temperature of 23 for the city and 24 in the west.
Sydney's western suburbs were pushing 40C on Christmas Eve, with Campbelltown and Horsley Park recording top temperatures of more than 38C.
Forecaster Chris Webb said it would be windy along the coastal fringe on Tuesday, easing during the day.
AUSTRALIAN tourists in Phuket should be wary of extortion gangs, some of which are in cahoots with local police.
Australian Ambassador James Wise and his British counterpart, Mark Kent, have joined a Thai Ministry of Tourism campaign to tackle tourist scams on Phuket.
Up to 25,000 Australians visit Phuket each month, with Christmas and New Year the peak of the tourism season.
The main scams involve taxi and jet-ski operators in Phuket and the seaside resort town of Pattaya.
Mr Wise told AAP travellers needed to be on their guard when they hired jet-skis or motorcycles.
"Consider the implications if it is stolen or damaged. Foreigners are commonly detained by police until compensation, often thousands of dollars, is negotiated between the parties."
Mr Kent said travellers should be cautious in "crowded markets, tourist sites, bus or train stations and festivals".
"It is best to avoid isolated neighbourhoods, shortcuts, narrow alleys and poorly lit streets, especially late at night," he said.
Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul in Phuket, said scams and criminality had increased to such an extent that expatriates wanted to leave the island.
Mr Cunningham said young travellers were specially targeted by gangs and on occasion by local police.
In one incident, a young Australian man was involved in a minor traffic accident when riding a rental bike. He was told by police an injured man's condition was serious and was forced to pay thousands of dollars in compensation.
An investigation found the Thai man had minor injuries.
Mr Wise said travellers should have comprehensive insurance before setting off from Australia.
"If you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel. Medical costs in Thailand can run into many thousands of dollars," he said.
But even insurance may not be enough.
In June, a 27-year-old New Zealand man, Sean Kenzie, was badly injured in a motorbike accident. Despite paying for insurance before travelling, the coverage excluded medical expenses arising from motorbike accidents.
An appeal was called on to help him pay a $A20,000 medical bill for injuries including a split liver, punctured lungs, broken ribs, as well as surgery to reattach shoulder muscles and jaw bones.
Mr Cunningham was blunt: "Don't hire a motorbike - period."
Diplomats warned travellers never to hand over their passport as a guarantee to a hiring company.
"If a dispute arises, it can be extremely difficult or impossible to recover you passport until compensation is settled," Mr Wise said.
Lutzi Matzig, managing director of Indochina tour operator Asian Trails, says a concern in Phuket is overcharging by taxis.
"The local taxi mafia who grossly overcharge the tourists - charging them 500 baht ($A16) for a trip which should cost 20 baht or 50 baht ($A0.65 to $A1.60). The local taxi mafia is pretty bad in Phuket," Mr Matzig said.
Australians have also been warned to be cautious about attending full moon parties where criminals and corrupt police prey on young travellers.
"Australians have been arrested, assaulted, raped, injured or died as a result of incidents at full moon parties, often because they have drunk too much, taken drugs or had their drinks spiked," Mr Wise said.
In 2011 ,the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reported 69 deaths in Thailand.
Reports say an average of 50 Australians die each year in Phuket due to natural causes, traffic accidents and accidental drug overdoses.
MUSLIM leaders have been quick to reject an anti-Christmas message posted on the Lakemba Mosque Facebook page, saying it gives people the wrong impression.
The Lakemba Mosque Facebook page became the target of angry responses on Sunday, after it posted a "fatwa" on the social networking site saying it was a "sin" to offer Merry Christmas wishes.
The post followed a lecture during the mosque's Friday prayers in Sydney's west in which the head imam, Sheikh Yahya Safi, said followers should not take part in anything to do with Christmas, Fairfax reported.
The mosque's Facebook Page was hit with more than 100 posts, including numerous sarcastic "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".
One Facebook user, Doug Barclay, wrote: "How do I issue a fatwa against the Easter Bunny?", while another, Brett Rann, said: "Don't pretend Islam is tolerant of other religions".
By Sunday night the feed had been deleted from the page.
Islamic Friendship Association spokesman Keysar Trad said the Lakemba Mosque post was damaging.
"When I saw it I was quite shocked ... It just gives people the wrong impression," he told AAP on Sunday.
"I'm happy that they are not sticking by those comments and that they are distancing themselves from them," he said.
Samier Dandan, the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association told ABC television the Facebook post was a mistake by a youth officer.
"We have given him a warning," he said.
The association says it arranged for a Christmas message to be written in the sky above the country's biggest mosque in response.
Looking back on the year, Mr Trad said there had been some highs and lows.
Among the lows was the violent September protest at Hyde Park in Sydney against an anti-Islamic film which resulted in 11 arrests, he said.
However, a high point came earlier this month, with Alan Jones apologising on-air for saying in April 2005 that Lebanese men were "vermin" and "mongrels".
Mr Trad said he was optimistic about 2013 and hoped Muslims and non-Muslims could create a "relationship based on mutual respect and cooperation".
"I think that is the only way forward for us as a nation."
FESTIVE spirit is a distant memory for Syria's Christian minority as it faces a second Christmas in the grip of fear of daily violence and the spectre of rising Islamism.
"We're in no mood to celebrate Christmas this year. Everyone around is me is so sad, and the situation is terrible," said George, a 38-year-old accountant from Damascus, who, like many in Syria after 21 months of bloodshed, asked not to give his full name.
"How am I going to celebrate now that many of my relatives have fled, and we have lost our loved ones? This Christmas doesn't look anything like a celebration."
Syria's 1.8 million Christians make up some five per cent of the population.
Many have tried to remain neutral in the country's spiralling conflict. Others have taken President Bashar al-Assad's side, for fear of the Islamists in rebel ranks.
"Foreign fighters are coming to Syria to impose their religious and political views in our country," said Maryam, who lives in central Damascus.
"These armed terrorists might force me to wear the veil, stop working and stay home," she said.
It was similar fears of daily violence and hardline Islamism that prompted a huge exodus of Christians from neighbouring Iraq in the years after the US-led invasion of 2003 and Syrian church leaders have appealed to their flocks not to take the road of emigration.
"We Christians are here in the country and we will stay here," Syria's Greek Orthodox leader, Patriarch Yuhanna X Yazigi, said on Saturday.
But many are voting with their feet.
Engineer Nadine, 40, has applied for a visa for the United States, where her mother and several other family members live.
"I see no solution to the conflict," she said.
In Qasaa, a majority Christian neighbourhood of Damascus, the streets are bare of the Christmas decorations that adorned them in years gone by.
The shops are also largely empty. With the daily bloodshed has come mounting economic hardship.
Consumer prices have jumped by up to two-thirds this year, driven by deteriorating security, increased transport costs and a sharp fall in the value of the Syrian pound, a pro-regime daily reported late last month.
"I haven't even been able to buy gifts and toys for the children," said Bassem, another Christian from Damascus.
"This is the second Christmas we are spending in crisis. Last year, we held a small celebration. This year, I don't even have enough money to feed my family."
INDIAN police have shot dead a television journalist during a protest over the sexual assault of a film actress.
The 36-year-old journalist was "killed in police firing" in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, police spokesman A Singh told AFP on Sunday.
The protest was separate from the wave of demonstrations sparked by the gang rape of a student in New Delhi last weekend.
Manipur has been rocked by its own of protests after the actress known as Momoko was dragged from stage in full public view last week by an armed militant belonging to a banned rebel outfit.
He then tried to rape her but she managed to fight him off and flee.
Momoko, also a popular model, has waived her right to anonymity and appealed on television for her attacker's arrest.
On Saturday, crowds had thrown stones at police in Imphal, damaging six of their vehicles, prompting authorities to impose a curfew in parts of the state.
The curfew was relaxed on Sunday, after which a huge crowd of protesters assembled and confronted police, who opened fire hitting the journalist, Singh said.
