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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