BRITAIN'S unemployment rate edged higher to 7.8 per cent in the three months to the end of December from 7.7 per cent in the three months to the end of November, official data shows.
The number of unemployed people rose to 2.50 million from 2.49 million over the same period, the Office for National Statistics added in a statement on Wednesday.
FOR the past nine years, right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders has needed 24-hour police protection wherever he has travelled because the anti-Islam campaigner says he is never safe to walk the streets alone.
After flying into Perth on Wednesday, where he'd been forced to cancel a press conference and speaking engagement after a hotel scrubbed his booking, Mr Wilders said he had to have heavy security around him at all times.
He was dogged by people who wanted to kill him, which was hard on his family because they were not free, he said.
"I lost my own freedom. I haven't been able to walk alone on any street in the world for almost nine years," Mr Wilders told Fairfax Radio.
"But still, I know why I am doing it. I know that it needs to be done."
In 2002, during the Dutch election campaign, anti-Islam politician Pym Fortuyn was assassinated by a man who said he wanted to stop him scapegoating Muslims.
Mr Wilders, who says he is agnostic but ascribes to Judeo-Christian values, claims he does not have anything against Muslim people.
But he's against extreme Islam, he says, which has a "totalitarian ideology" like communism and fascism.
"I feel that we should stop it from coming to our free societies because Islam and freedom are incompatible," he said.
The controversial politician, who wants a ban on Islamic immigration, received a standing ovation on Tuesday in Melbourne, where up to 300 people dodged a large group of rowdy protesters to hear the first speech in his Australian tour.
Mr Wilders said it was "very sad" he could not find a venue willing to host him in WA after Premier Colin Barnett said he would not be allowed in any state government building.
"It's sad that I was not welcome in his state," Mr Wilders told Fairfax Radio.
He said in a democratic society like Australia, he should be able to express his opinions freely.
"Let's be happy we live in a democracy," he said.
"If people don't like my message then they should advocate their own message."
His next speaking engagement in Sydney on Friday is still planned to go ahead, event organisers Q Society of Australia told AAP.
THE Industrial Relations Commission has recommended West Australian nurses lift work bans at public hospitals but the Australian Nurses Federation (ANF) is standing firm in its bid for higher wages and less menial tasks.
The ANF says the commission did not order nurses to open beds but did recommend the lifting of all work bans, which have closed one in five beds in many wards.
But that wouldn't happen unless it was agreed to by a majority of union members at a mass meeting, ANF state secretary Mark Olson said.
"I have also said to the commission that I will not be going to a meeting of our members empty-handed," Mr Olson said.
He called on the government to make an acceptable offer to nurses before the ANF and commission resume talks at 9am (WST) on Thursday.
WA Premier Colin Barnett said no agreement could be signed during the caretaker period, although negotiations at an administrative level could continue.
Mr Barnett said he had the highest regard for nurses but was appealing to them to stop the work bans.
"I don't think there is any justification for closing beds in our hospitals and it is affecting patient care," he told Fairfax Radio.
WA Labor leader Mark McGowan said the party would treat nurses better than the current state government if it won the March 9 election.
"In the course of an election campaign, I cannot be making pay offers to one group or another," he told ABC Radio.
"But I don't think nurses are being treated well. It's very unusual for nurses to take industrial action - the last time it happened was 12 years ago, again under a conservative government.
"They don't do it lightly. They only do it when they feel they are being poorly treated or provoked."
ASIAN markets have mostly climbed, with dealers taking a positive cue from Wall Street and Europe, following a surge in investor confidence in eurozone powerhouse Germany.
Japanese shares posted healthy gains on Wednesday as the yen softened and data showed exports rose for the first time in eight months in January, although the country still posted its worst ever monthly trade deficit.
Tokyo added 0.84 per cent, or 95.94 points, to 11,468.28, while Sydney was up 0.33 per cent, or 16.8 points, to 5,098.7 points - its highest close since September 2008.
Seoul jumped 1.95 per cent, or 38.81 points to 2,024.64 and Hong Kong was up 0.71 per cent, or 163.50 points, at 23,307.41, while Shanghai added 0.60 per cent, or 14.27 points, to 2,397.18.
On Wall Street investors returned from a three-day weekend to send the Dow and S&P 500 to more than five-year highs thanks to fresh merger and acquisition news.
The Dow rose 0.39 per cent to its best level since October 12, 2007 and the S&P 500 was up 0.73 per cent, hitting its highest point since October 31, 2007. The Nasdaq gained 0.68 per cent.
Reports office supply retailers Office Depot and OfficeMax were planning a tie-up followed last week's news of a merger between American Airlines and US Airways, and the Berkshire Hathaway-3G Capital takeover of Heinz.
Hopes for an end to Europe's long struggles were given a fillip by the widely watched ZEW economic institute investor confidence index in Germany, which soared to 48.2 points in February from 31.5 points in January, its highest level since April 2010.
The reading beat market expectations for a much more modest increase to just 35 points this month.
On currency markets the dollar was at 93.40 yen, against 93.54 yen in New York on Tuesday.
The single European currency bought 125.29 yen and $1.3419 compared with 125.24 yen and $1.3390 in US trade.
Official data on Wednesday showed Japan logged its worst ever trade deficit in January, with a shortfall of 1.63 trillion yen, more than the 1.3 trillion forecast. That came despite exports seeing first gain since June.
In Sydney mining giant BHP Billiton said its first half net profit fell 58 per cent, but also announced that its chief executive Marius Kloppers will retire in May, to be replaced by the man who has headed the firm's non-ferrous division since 2008.
The firm's shares were 0.56 per cent lower in early trade.
On oil markets New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March gained 39 cents to $97.05 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April dropped 28 cents to $117.28.
Gold was at $1,595.20 at 1100 GMT, compared with $1,612.50 late on Tuesday.
In other markets:
- Taiwan rose 68.22 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 8,029.1.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co added 1.87 per cent to Tw$109.0, while Hon Hai Precision was 0.83 per cent higher at Tw$84.8.
- Manila rose 0.42 per cent higher, or 27.85 points, to a record 6,648.57.
SM Investments Corp. gained 0.70 per cent to 1,007 pesos while Megaworld Corp. rose 0.26 per cent to 3.90 pesos.
- Wellington fell 0.71 per cent, or 29.97 points, to 4,214.24.
- Singapore closed up 0.40 per cent, or 13.12 points, at 3,308.89.
Capitaland increased 1.52 per cent to Sg$4.01 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.50 per cent to Sg$10.03.
- Kuala Lumpur shed 1.74 points, or 0.11 per cent, to close at 1,613.33.
DiGi.com lost 1.9 per cent to 4.61 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia slipped 1.3 per cent to close at 5.15. YTL Corp added 1.3 per cent to 1.60 ringgit.
- Jakarta closed up 32.39 points, or 0.70 per cent, at 4,634.45.
- Astra Agro Lestari rose 2.16 per cent to 18,900 rupiah, while retailer Ramayana Lestari Sentosa jumped 5.31 per cent to 1,190 rupiah. Cigarette maker Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna slid 1.35 per cent to 73,000 rupiah.
- Bangkok added 0.95 per cent, or 14.57 points, to 1,546.64.
Power giant Electricity Generating Public Co. lost 0.66 per cent to 151.50 baht, while Thai Airways International added 4.08 per cent to 25.50 baht.
- Mumbai edged up 0.04 per cent, or 7.03 points, to 19,642.75.
Reliance Industries rose 3.13 per cent to 875.35 rupees.
Olympian Oscar Pistorius (R) has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Source: AAP
A SOUTH Africa prosecutor has charged Olympian Oscar Pistorius with the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The 26-year-old appeared in the dock at the Pretoria court in a black suit, blue shirt and grey tie and stared straight ahead anxiously.
Oscar Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius and siblings, Aimee and Carl, were in court at the start of his bail hearing on Tuesday, seated behind the defence in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court.
The prosecutor argued Pistorius committed premeditated murder.
The double-amputee Olympian and Paralympian "Blade Runner" is seeking bail
at the hearing.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel said that Pistorius killed an "innocent and unarmed woman" in a premeditated murder.
"There is no possible explanation to support his report that it was a burglar," Nel told the court.
The prosecutor said that Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door of his home in a guarded and gated complex in the South African capital.
Nel told the court the door had been broken open.
Nel said Pistorius put on his prosthesis, walked seven metres and fired three shots through a locked bathroom door at Steenkamp.
Nel said the victim arrived at the house between 5pm and 6pm the night before she was killed at 3am.
The prosecutor also said the athlete, who broke down in tears during the hearing, had not provided investigators with his own version of what happened.
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said Steenkamp was not murdered, and there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
"There's no agreement there, not even concession that this is
murder."
He also suggested that Pistorius broke the bathroom door down to help Ms Steenkamp after the shooting.
After the shooting Pistorius informed his sister that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder, the court heard.
Nel said the killing was premeditated because the defendant planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.
He added: "It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?"
Nel said: "He prepared. He armed himself. The motive was, he wanted to kill.
"We have the facts. There were two people in the home. (One) was shot dead."
Four bullets were fired through the bathroom door - three hit Steenkamp, Nel said.
"There is no possible explanation to support his report that it was a burglar," he said.
Pistorius was emotional as the state read out the first parts of its case against him, at times holding his head in his hands.
Judge Desmond Nair ruled that Pistorius will face a charge of premeditated murder over the death of Steenkamp.
The magistrate ruled that Pistorius faces the harshest bail requirements available in South African law. He did not elaborate before a break was called in the session.
Pistorius spoke only to confirm he had no previous convictions.
"Yes, your worship," he said in a shaking voice.
Nair asked Pistorius to speak up and he repeated the phrase louder.
The judge ruled that, for the purpose of the bail hearing, the case was a schedule six offence - meaning premeditated murder - rather than the less serious schedule five.
Pistorius' family huddled in prayer at the court after the judge's ruling, and the his father Henke was comforted by family members outside the court.
THE German government will send up to 330 soldiers to help train the Malian army and support the French deployment in its battle against Islamists.
Up to 180 German soldiers have been earmarked for the European Union Training Mission (EUTM), formally approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
Forty of the German contingent will train Malian forces. Another 40 will act as medical support staff, according to a government statement.
The other 100 will be available to provide logistical support, dealing with water and energy supplies.
The deployment will make Germany the second-biggest contributor to the EUTM mission behind France, according to European sources.
Germany will make another 150 soldiers available to back up the French army in Mali via air transport for French and African troops and help in the refuelling of planes.
Combat troops will not be sent to Mali.
The EUTM has a 15-month mandate to assist the ramshackle Malian army in its effort to fight Islamist rebels who last year seized control of the country's vast arid north.
The 27 EU nations first approved the idea of a training mission in December but its deployment was accelerated after the surprise intervention of France in its former colony on January 11 to halt the insurgents' march on the capital.
About 16 countries from the EU as well as Norway have agreed to take part in the EUTM, which will have a budget of 12.3 million euros ($A16.07 million).
President Bashar al-Assad says he's confident his troops will win the conflict ravaging Syria. Source: AAP
HUNDREDS of troops backed by military vehicles poured into the northern province of Aleppo following rebel advances and as a battle raged for control of Syria's second-largest airport, a watchdog said.
The reinforcements arrived at the town of Tal-Aran in the southeast of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Tuesday's deployment follows unexpected advances by the rebels in their thrust to seize control of air bases in northern Syria and to capture Aleppo's international airport.
"A large number of troops are currently approaching Aleppo from the east, redeployed from central Syria, to keep the rebels from taking the country's second-biggest airport," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
"The army will not let Aleppo international airport go without a big fight."
In the past week, rebels have captured air bases at Al-Jarrah, Hassel and Base 80, as well as an important checkpoint near the international airport.
On Monday, they made a brief incursion into the airport's fuel warehouse before the army pushed them out, a military source said.
The source also said the rebels had seized a building strategically located 200 metres from the airport.
Fighting between rebels and troops also erupted Tuesday in southern Damascus, where the army deployed reinforcements in a bid to drive insurgents out of belts surrounding the capital, the Observatory said.
"Rebels and regular troops clashed at the entrance to Yarmuk (Palestinian) refugee camp in Damascus," said the watchdog.
Pro-regime daily Al-Watan at the same time reported "clashes near Sayyida Zeinab (southeast of Damascus) and the surroundings of Yarmuk camp".
The camp housing thousands of Palestinian refugees has seen fierce fighting inside and outside its premises since late last year.
Throughout much of the winter, the army has been engaged in a bid to keep approaching rebels out of Damascus, making daily attacks on their enclaves all around the capital.
But in Damascus province, as in much of the rest of the country, rebels and the army have reached a military stalemate, said Abdel Rahman.
"Across Syria today, there are hundreds of flashpoints. Both the army and the rebels are over-stretched," he said.
"While the rebels have made significant advances in some areas such as Aleppo province, the army is not going to let any strategic area slide. So what we are looking at is a long-term war of attrition."
The United Nations says that nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict.
On Monday at least 154 people were killed in violence across Syria, among them 63 soldiers and 54 rebel fighters, said the Observatory.
Russia has sent two planes to Syria to pick up Russians wanting to leave the conflict-torn country as the navy dispatched four warships to the Mediterranean possibly for a larger evacuation.
Two emergencies ministry planes carrying humanitarian aid for Syria were heading for the port city of Latakia and would take any Russians wanting to leave on their flight back, the ministry said on Tuesday.
The aid consists of electrical equipment, bedding, tents as well as food such as fish, milk and sugar.
Meanwhile the defence ministry said Russia is sending four more warships to the Mediterranean Sea to join an escort ship and smaller vessels that are already on duty in the region.
Observers are watching for any hints of Russia planning a full-scale evacuation of its citizens which would be seen as a tacit admission from Moscow that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is doomed in its fight against rebels.
The defence ministry told Russian news agencies the ships would be on "military service" but gave no further details.
But a military source quoted by RIA Novosti said their main task could be taking part in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria.
EIGHT armed and masked men made a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said.
The gang used two vehicles in their daring raid on Monday, grabbed the cache of stones and sped off into the darkness, said Anja Bijnens, spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office.
Police found a burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night and said they were still looking for clues.
The heist was estimated at some $US50 million ($A48.80 million) in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre.
"What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," De Wolf told VRT network.
An airport spokesman said the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence and drove up to the Swiss passenger plane, which was ready to leave. The robbers got out of the car, flashed their weapons and took the loot from the hold, said airport spokesman Jan Van Der Crujsse. Without firing a shot they drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within minutes, he said.
Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft.
"We abide by the most stringent rules," he said.
The Swiss flight, bound for Zurich and operated by Helvetic Airways, was cancelled. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.
The insurance for air transport - handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies - is usually relatively cheap because it's considered to be the safest way of transporting small high value items, logistics experts say.
Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane cannot be attacked by robbers once it's on its way, and it is considered to be very safe before the departure and after the plane's arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport - which are normally highly secured.
A decade ago the Belgian city of Antwerp, the world capital of diamond-cutting, was the scene of what was probably one of the biggest diamond heists in history, when robbers took precious stones, jewels, gold and securities from the high-security vaults at Antwerp's Diamond Center, yielding loot that police in 2003 estimated to be worth about $US100 million ($A97.60 million).
Antwerp's Diamond Center stands in the heart of the high-surveillance diamond district where police and dozens of cameras work around the clock, and security has been beefed up further since the spectacular 2003 robbery.
POLITICAL consultant Bruce Hawker believes Kevin Rudd won't challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard despite a slump in Labor's electoral standing.
The latest Nielsen poll released by Fairfax Media on Monday showed Labor dropping four percentage points in the two-party preferred vote to 45 per cent, with the coalition on 55 per cent.
It showed support for Mr Rudd as preferred Labor leader was 61 per cent compared to 35 per cent for Ms Gillard.
Ms Gillard repeatedly declined to comment on the poll.
Mr Hawker, who backed Mr Rudd in the leadership vote won by Ms Gillard 71-31 a year ago, said the polls were "really grim".
He said Mr Rudd had made it pretty clear he would not challenge Ms Gillard.
"I am quite convinced that is going to be the case," Mr Hawker told ABC TV on Monday.
Mr Hawker said it would be tough for the ALP to win the federal election announced by Ms Gillard for September 14.
"It is going to be hard with Julia, or whoever would lead the party, if she somehow fell under a bus or whatever, and wasn't available to lead the party," he said.
Despite Mr Rudd being the most popular figure in the ALP, Labor MPs had to work on the assumption Mr Rudd would not return as leader, Mr Hawker said.
"That ship has sailed," he said.
JOSHUA Hickson was so angry that Gregory Elms had distributed nude photos and sex videos of his sister that he wanted to make him pay for it.
In early 2011 Hickson and friend Brendan Gobus visited Mr Elms, 44, at his home in Kewarra Beach, north of Cairns, to give him "a wake-up call".
But Hickson lost control and began stomping or kicking Elms.
Gobus then bound Elms' hands together with duct tape and left him propped up against a bedroom wall.
Mr Elms' severely decomposed body was found in the same position a week later.
In the Queensland Supreme Court in Cairns on Monday, 30-year-old Hickson, who pleaded guilty on day three of his jury trial last week, was sentenced to eight years' jail for manslaughter.
Gobus, 38, was handed a seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence on the same charge.
Owing to a number of factors, including his early guilty plea before trial, Gobus will be eligible for parole in six months.
Both men have been in custody since they were arrested in January 2011.
In sentencing, Justice James Henry said the men made a "grave error" confronting Mr Elms after he distributed nude photos and sex videos of Hickson's sister, who was Mr Elms' ex-girlfriend.
Taking matters into their own hands was similar to having their "own kangaroo court", the judge said.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Elms' parents said they feared the pain of losing their eldest son would never leave them.
"He was happy, and so were we, with the progress he was making in his life," the statement read.
A cause of death is not known but both the defence lawyers and prosecutors agreed Mr Elms most likely died from heart failure.
"It should be said that Hickson and Gobus's conduct was a substantial cause of death," Justice Henry said.
Other possible causes of death included a head injury and positional asphyxia.
Hickson's lawyer, David Feeney, told the court his client had been stunned to hear Mr Elms had died, as he had never meant to kill him.
Gobus' lawyer, Kevin McCreanor, said his client had only wanted to give Elms "a wake-up call ... a slap on the back of the head".
