Wiggles, Aussie talents 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 Bell Rock.

Georgie Parker and Jay Laga'aia teamed up for the Christmas favourite Here Comes Santa Claus and Rudolph 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.

The cast of the new musical Legally Blonde then turned the stage pink with the modern favourite All I Want For Christmas is You.

Nineteen-year-old tenor - and 2009 Australia's Got Talent winner - Mark Vincent had the revellers in awe with a booming rendition of Jerusalem.

R&B singer-songwriter Jessica Mauboy delivered a tender rendition of Silent Night, before Vincent returned, joining opera singer Ali McGregor to lead the Salvation Army choir with Ode to Joy as fireworks boomed into the Domain sky.

A full-cast finale, joined by a suitably burly, jolly Santa Claus, saw a medley featuring Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and We Wish You a Merry Christmas close the night in party mode as pyrotechnics blasted above one last time.

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China shows off its new high-speed rail

A display shows the speed aboard a high-speed train in Hebei province south of Beijing. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

CHINA has shown off the final link of the world's longest high-speed rail route set to begin whisking passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou next week in a third of the time currently required.

The much anticipated opening of high-speed passenger service from Beijing to Guangzhou, a distance of 2298 kilometres is scheduled to begin Wednesday, officials said.

Travelling at an average speed of 300 kilometres per hour, the new line will slash the time it takes to travel by rail from the capital to the southern commercial hub from the current 22 hours to just eight.

Authorities took journalists for a ride yesterday on the section of the route linking Beijing's West Station with the city of Zhengzhou 693 kilometres to the south, the route's last link.

Hitting speeds of over 300km/h, the gleaming, tubular train sped past frozen lakes and rivers as well as snow-covered farmland on the journey of approximately two-and-a-half hours each way.

Though moving much faster than the country's conventional rolling stock, the ride on the aerodynamic bullet train was smooth and made little noise other than a low-level hum during most of the trip.

The reclining seats are laid out in rows of three and two separated by an aisle, are upholstered in cloth and can be turned around so rows faced each other.

Toilets on the train are of stainless steel squat variety, with slightly more bathroom space than would usually be found on an airliner, while uniformed women were on hand to serve drinks and snacks during the trip.

"This is the world's longest bullet train track," Zhou Li, a Ministry of Railways official, said, describing the Beijing-Guangzhou route. "It's also one of the most technically advanced tracks in China and the world."

The line will have 35 stops. Besides Zhengzhou, they will include other major cities such as Wuhan and Changsha. Sections linking Zhengzhou and Wuhan and Wuhan and Guangzhou are already in service.

China's high-speed rail network was only established in 2007, but has quickly become the world's largest, with a total of 8358 kilometres of track at the end of 2010.

That is expected to almost double to 16,000 kilometres by 2020.

But the network has been plagued by graft and safety scandals following the rapid expansion. A deadly bullet train collision in July 2011 killed 40 people and sparked a public outcry.

The accident - China's worst rail disaster since 2008 - triggered a flood of criticism of the government and accusations that authorities had compromised safety in its rush to expand.

Authorities say that they have taken steps ahead of the new line's opening to improve maintenance and inspection of infrastructure, including track, rolling stock and emergency response measures.

"The emergency rescue system and all kinds of emergency pre-plans are established to improve emergency response ability," according to a ministry booklet handed out to journalists.

The train will be in service for China's Lunar New Year holiday period, which falls in mid-February, when hundreds of millions of people will travel across the country in the world's largest annual migration.

State media earlier reported that December 26 had been chosen for the start of the passenger service on the Beijing-Guangzhou line to commemorate the birth of Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
 

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Ex-butler pardoned, expelled from Vatican

POPE Benedict XVI has pardoned his former butler Paolo Gabriele, who was sentenced to 18 months in jail for leaking secret papal memos, but banished him from the Vatican.

"This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his acceptance of Mr Gabriele's request for pardon," the Vatican said in a statement.

Gabriele's pardon was a "paternal gesture" for a man "with whom the pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years".

However, the ex-butler "cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City," it added.

After a 15-minute meeting with Benedict, Gabriele returned home to his wife and three children, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

Gabriele had spent a total of three and a half months in detention.

A former trusted aide who passed hours of every day in the pontiff's company, Gabriele will now have to move out of his home within the tiny city state's walls.

"The Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life," the Vatican said.

Gabriele was found guilty in October of leaking sensitive memos to the press as part of a whistle-blowing campaign against what he said was "evil and corruption" in the Vatican.

Documents secretly copied and leaked in a case that has been dubbed "Vatileaks" included allegations by a former governor of the city state of massive fraud within its walls.

During the trial, Vatican police said they had found more than 1000 secret documents, some photocopies but others originals, in Gabriele's home, stolen from the papal palace.

These included letters from cardinals and politicians and papers the pontiff himself had marked "To Be Destroyed".

Gabriele had said he wanted to "help" the pope who, he claimed, had been kept in ignorance of scandals inside the Vatican.

The documents were handed to an Italian journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, who published them in a book.

While the disgraced butler was initially given a three-year jail term, the presiding judge reduced the sentence on the grounds of his past service to the Catholic Church and his apology to the pope for betraying him.

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Damascus car bomb kills 5

A CAR bomb blast in northeastern Damascus killed five men and wounded dozens of people on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"A car bomb blast in the district of Qaboon killed five men, wounded dozens of other people and caused widespread material damage," said the Britain-based watchdog.

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Bollywood star Khan charged with assault

INDIAN police have charged Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan for allegedly assaulting and breaking the nose of a South African businessman at a luxury hotel earlier this year, a report said Friday.

The actor ran into trouble after Iqbal Sharma registered a case with the police in February, complaining that he was pushed and punched in the face by Khan at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel's Wasabi Japanese restaurant in Mumbai.

"Colaba police station filed the charge sheet against Saif in a metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravindra Shishwe told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Khan and two friends were charged under section 325 of the Indian Penal Code for assault, PTI reported.

Khan, 42, was at the time of the alleged assault dining with friends and actress Kareena Kapoor, whom he married in October.

After the incident, Mr Sharma said he had only asked the staff to get Khan's table to quieten down, which sparked a heated argument and the alleged assault.

Khan however claimed one of his friends was assaulted which led to the fight.

He surrendered to police after the brawl and was released on bail.

Khan is one of Bollywood's biggest actors and the Nawab (Muslim prince) of the former princely state of Pataudi.

His father was famous cricketing legend Mansur Ali Khan, better known as "Tiger Pataudi".

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Turf war fears as biker gangs hit Europe

A WAVE of biker gangs from the US, Canada and Australia arriving in Europe has raised fears of deadly turf battle like the Nordic biker wars of the 1990s, European police agency Europol warned.

Gangs such as the Comancheros and Rebels from Australia, Rock Machine from Canada and the Mongols and Vagos from the US were moving into Europe, said a Europol statement.

The total number of what it called Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCG) in Europe now ran at more than 700 , it said.

The gangs were seeking out particularly a dangerous hard core of recruits in their bid to seize territory to traffic drugs, weapons and people.

Now they were approaching far-right militants, prison gang members, hooligans and military personnel to exploit their expert knowledge, said Europol.

"Merely establishing a chapter on the 'turf' of another OMCG is interpreted as an act of provocation and is likely to result in violent confrontations and retaliation," the agency said.

The gangs "have a propensity to use extreme forms of violence", including with Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenades.

Modern biker gangs were becoming less associated with the biker lifestyle, with some members having neither a motorbike nor a driving licence, Europol noted.

Biker gangs were also involved in territorial disputes with local organised crime groups and street gangs, it added.

Europol said it had informed national police forces of the risk of clashes "and the possible impact on the general organised crime situation".

Europol said the so-called 'Nordic Biker Wars' of the 1990s were "a compelling example of the capacity for extreme violence resulting from an increased concentration of OMCGs in Europe."

The deadly conflict exploded when the Bandidos gang penetrated Nordic countries and challenged the Hell's Angels for a region that had been under their control for more than a decade.

Bikers used weapons including assault rifles, anti-tank weapons and car bombs against each other, leaving at least 11 bikers dead and dozens wounded.

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Delhi bus rapists face life sentences

INDIA'S government, facing swelling protests over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed to press for life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.

Home Secretary R.K. Singh also offered state assistance to the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack who was fighting for her life in hospital after suffering enormous injuries to her intestines.

"We will ask for the maximum punishment of life imprisonment and ask the court for the speedy trial of the accused," Mr Singh said amid demands from thousands of angry protesters for the death sentence for the detained suspects.

Six drunken men were joyriding on a bus when they picked up the physiotherapy student and her 28-year-old male companion and took turns raping her. Afterwards, they threw the pair off the speeding vehicle.

Police say the woman was attacked with an iron rod after being raped.

Five people, including the bus driver, have been arrested while a hunt is underway for the remaining suspect, city police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said.

Mr Kumar said police have charged the detained suspects with attempted murder.

"Police teams are close on the heels of the sixth and we will get him soon," Mr Kumar said at a joint news conference with the home secretary.

Mr Kumar promised a slew of measures to "make Delhi safe," promising squads of officers would patrol the city, crack down on vehicles with darkened glasses and zero in on drunken motorists.

"All hooliganism will be swiftly punished," the home secretary added.

Hundreds of people, mostly women, kept a vigil outside the hospital where the woman was being kept on life support after several rounds of surgery.

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Two dead in supermarket looting

TWO people died and two more were seriously injured as mobs looted supermarkets in Rosario, Argentina's third largest city, an official said.

Matias Drivet, a city hall official, gave the toll after similar violence shook other cities in Argentina on Thursday.

In Bariloche in the south, officials said looters were apparently venting anger over a blackout that had left much of Neuquen province without power on Wednesday.

People wielding sticks raided a supermarket there called Changomas, owned by the US retail giant Walmart, and stole TV sets, bicycles and electrical appliances, witnesses said.

Another supermarket was also looted.

The central government sent in army troops to restore calm.

Bariloche is a tourist city 1650 kilometres south of Buenos Aires.

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Sudan's war-torn S Kordofan to be divided

SUDAN'S war-torn South Kordofan state is to be divided, giving separate status to the western part dominated by nomadic Arab Misseriya tribesmen, the government said.

Vice President Ali Osman Taha "announces the establishment of West Kordofan state," the official SUNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.

The move recreates the state of West Kordofan which was eliminated in 2005 following a peace agreement between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement that ended a 23-year civil war.

At that time Khartoum agreed to unite West and South Kordofan in line with calls from the SPLM, which was supported by ethnic fighters based in the Nuba Mountains that straddle South and West Kordofan.

The boundary between the two states fell just west of Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan where Nuba rebels formerly allied to the southern insurgents have been fighting since June last year, shortly before the South separated after an overwhelming "yes" vote in a referendum.

The rebellion by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North - which Khartoum alleges is backed by South Sudan - is concentrated in the eastern half of the state.

West Kordofan is home to most of cash-strapped Sudan's oilfields as well as to the territory of Abyei, whose final status was the most sensitive issue left unresolved when South Sudan became independent.

Sudan and South Sudan failed to settle the Abyei issue by a December 5 African Union deadline.

The AU has proposed that a referendum be held next October on whether the territory joins Sudan or South Sudan.

Under that plan, members of the Dinka, a dominant South Sudanese tribe who live in the Abyei area, would have the right to vote along with Sudanese with "permanent abode".

The Misseriya, who regularly graze their animals and move through Abyei, strongly object to the plan.

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Iran 'hangs six drug smugglers, rapist'

IRAN has hanged seven men, six of them for drug trafficking and another for rape, in prison in the central province of Isfahan, Kayhan newspaper reported.

The seven, aged 25 to 45, were executed on Wednesday, the province's public prosecutor, Mohammad Reza Habibi, said in the report.

"One of the smugglers was charged with armed trafficking of more than 300 kilograms of opium," Mr Habibi said.

"The others were in possession of crack and heroin (weighing) between one and 65 kilograms."

The Islamic state, where murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are punishable by death, has one of the highest annual number of executions in the world, alongside China, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Amnesty International has condemned the executions, but Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order and that is is enforced only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

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The Queen goes 3D for Christmas

SHE made her acting debut at the London Olympics. Now the Queen is hitting the screen again - in 3D.

Buckingham Palace says the monarch was "ready to embrace something new" for her annual Christmas broadcast in honour of her Diamond Jubilee year - 60 years on the throne.

The 86-year-old monarch has made a prerecorded Christmas broadcast on radio since 1952 and on television since 1957.

She writes the speeches herself, and the broadcasts mark the rare occasions in which the Queen voices her own opinion without government consultation.

The palace said the Queen has watched the broadcast and found it "absolutely lovely."

It airs at 3pm on Christmas Day.

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US weekly unemployment claims rise

THE number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week by 17,000, reversing four weeks of declines.

The Labor Department reports that a seasonally adjusted 361,000 people sought unemployment aid during the week ended December 15, from a revised 344,000 the week before.

But the less volatile four-week moving average fell 13,750 to 367,750, the lowest since late October, suggesting the job market continues to grow modestly. Applications had surged after superstorm Sandy, then fallen back.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. The drop of the four-week average suggests companies are cutting fewer jobs, even if they aren't hiring enough to lower the unemployment rate significantly.

The economy has generated an average of 151,000 jobs a month in 2012, not enough to pull the high unemployment down sharply.

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Iran coal mine collapse and blast kills 8

IRAN'S official news agency says a collapse and explosion in a coal mine has killed eight workers in the country's east.

IRNA on Wednesday quoted Ahmad Talebian Moqadam, who is governor of Tabas city near where the accident occurred, as saying that a tunnel in the mine collapsed, leading to an accumulation of gas and an explosion. He said five bodies were recovered on Tuesday, the day of the accident, and three more the next day.

Some 40 work at the mine. The report did not say whether the other miners were unaccounted for.

Tabas is located 560 kilometres southeast of the capital Tehran. Mine explosions are rare in Iran.

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Review slams BBC over Savile report

THE BBC has been cleared of covering up allegations of child sex abuse against its late presenter Jimmy Savile, but an official probe has found widespread chaos at the corporation.

The BBC's deputy director of news, Stephen Mitchell, resigned in the fall-out, the broadcaster revealed, a month after the crisis felled BBC Director-General George Entwistle after just 54 days in the job.

Savile, who died last year at the age of 84, was one of the BBC's top television and radio presenters and the allegations of child abuse against him have plunged the corporation into crisis.

Following a television program by rival ITV two months ago in which several women went public with the claims, police have identified 199 crimes in which Savile is a suspect, including 31 alleged rapes.

The BBC's flagship Newsnight program began investigating the allegations shortly after Savile's death, but after a few weeks dropped the report.

An official investigation by former Sky News executive Nick Pollard, published on Wednesday, found no substance to accusations that Newsnight dropped the story because it clashed with BBC Christmas tributes to Savile.

But the probe paints a picture of a corporation dogged by "chaos and confusion", in-fighting and a lack of leadership.

"The decision to drop the original investigation was flawed and the way it was taken was wrong but I believe it was done in good faith. It was not done to protect the Savile tribute programs or for any improper reason," Pollard said.

He added: "In my view, the most worrying aspect of the Jimmy Savile story for the BBC was not the decision to drop the story itself. It was the complete inability to deal with the events that followed."

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Time names Obama person of the year

TIME magazine has named the recently re-elected US President Barack Obama as its person of the year for 2012 - the second time it has accorded him this honour.

The venerable American news magazine said the United States is in the midst of huge cultural and demographic changes and Obama is "both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America."

The magazine noted that Obama was the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win more than 50 per cent of the vote in two straight elections and the first since 1940 to be re-elected despite a jobless rate above 7.5 per cent.

Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney soundly in November's election to win a second four year term.

"In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union," said Time, which named Obama person of the year in 2008 when he became America's first black president.

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Mother of Jihad bomb T-shirt boy in court

THE mother and uncle of a three-year old named Jihad, who was born on September 11, are due in a French court for sending him to school in a top with "I am a bomb" written on it.

The sweatshirt also had the words "Jihad, born on September 11" emblazoned on the back when he turned up at his nursery school in the southern town of Sorgues on September 25.

The pair are charged with condoning a crime over the alleged reference to the 9/11 attacks on New York's twin towers in 2001. The uncle bought the top and the mother dressed her son in it when she sent him to school that day.

Jihad's teacher alerted the authorities and a few days later the town mayor, Thierry Lagneau of the conservative UMP party, asked prosecutors to investigate.

"I condemn the attitude of the parents who shamefully took advantage of the person and the age of this child to convey a political message," Lagneau said.

The mother and uncle of the boy, who official records show was born on September 11, 2009 and was given Jihad as his first name, were not known Islamists, prosecutors said.

The mother was astonished at the reaction to her son's top and at the proportions the affair had taken on, they added.

She and her brother were due in court in Avignon, southern France, on Tuesday afternoon.

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Zuma wins ANC leadership vote by landslide

SOUTH African president Jacob Zuma has scored a thumping victory in an ANC leadership contest, opening the way for him to lead Africa's largest economy until 2019.

Zuma won the backing of 75.1 per cent of the ANC's 3977 voting delegates at a party conference in Bloemfontein, making him the odds-on favourite to retain the presidency after 2014 general elections.

Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa won the deputy presidency of the party with 76.4 per cent of the vote in a three-way race, setting him up to become Zuma's potential eventual successor and country president.

The vote took place despite the conference being threatened by right wing extremists.

Police said four men plotted to kill country president Zuma, Motlanthe, government ministers and senior party officials. The men were charged with treason and terrorism.

Inside the conference there were also plots and intrigue.

Zuma had faced an embarrassing, if lacklustre, leadership challenge from his Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who won 991 of the votes.

Party secretary general Gwede Mantashe and chairwoman Baleka Mbete were re-elected to their positions, with newcomers deputy-secretary general Jesse Duarte and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize, who is also the premier of Zuma's home province KwaZulu-Natal.

The scale of Zuma's victory, dubbed a "Zumanami," will take some of the heat of the embattled president.

But after three crisis-marked years in power, Zuma faces a tough slog ahead.

He will have to work hard to win back South African voters, who increasingly see the ANC as out of touch, incompetent and corrupt.

Zuma's poll numbers have steadily eroded amid a series of scandals.

Criticism of his administration reached a crescendo earlier this year when police killed 34 striking miners in one day and it emerged that around $US27 million ($A25.71 million) of taxpayers' money had been used to refurbish his private home.

Zuma will also face an uphill struggle to correct the course of the ailing South African economy.

Unemployment remains stuck around 25 per cent and the economy is growing at its slowest rate in three years.

Meanwhile crucial sectors like mining have been hobbled by strikes over low wages and are struggling to modernise and reduce reliance on masses of cheap labour.

Credit ratings agencies have warned that further rating downgrades will come if the conference does not see the ANC change course.

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Man in hospital after shooting

A 21-YEAR-OLD man has been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds after an incident in Melbourne's northeast on Tuesday.

Emergency services were called to a home in Mooroolbark at 6.20pm (AEDT) to treat a man with gunshot wounds to his lower torso.

Police are investigating.

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Dollar unlikely to return to lows: Stevens

THE Australian dollar is unlikely to return to the lower levels experienced before 2007, Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens says.

In an interview published on Wednesday, Mr Stevens said that while he expected non-mining business investment to pick up, the bank could not guarantee that monetary policy would provide an easy transition from mining to non-mining investment.

"We've got to recognise that monetary policy has limits to fine tuning," he told The Australian Financial Review in his first newspaper interview since taking office in 2006.

"We're not going to be able to absolutely guarantee seamlessly every handover from one source of demand to another."

He also predicted that the Australian dollar was unlikely to return to the low numbers of around 75 US cents that were the norm before 2007 - adding there were limits to how the bank could harness interest rates to counteract the strong dollar's contractionary effects.

"... the classic problem in a situation like this can be that you seek to compensate for a very high exchange rate with cheaper, lower interest rates.

"It can - in some circumstances - give you the asset credit build-up that then gets you into trouble later," he said.

But he said you could not rule out that the exchange rate might drop if the boom ends.

"But if this relative price shift turns out to have a good deal of persistence, even if not at current levels, then I think one could expect the exchange rate is around a higher long-run average as a result of that.

"I don't know what that average is, but it would be unlikely that it would be in the low numbers that we have become accustomed to until the last five or six years," he said.

And while he expected house prices to retrace some of the losses experienced since mid-2010, he said it would be concerning if prices returned to double-digit annual growth rates.

Mr Stevens also said that while a three per cent official cash rate for Australia might be low by historical standards, globally it is "pretty attractive".

"I think we have to recognise that and accept that that has some impact on where we set things."

Ultra-low interest rates in the US, Japan and Europe compared to Australia are helping to keep the Australian dollar high and economic growth moderate.

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Man dies in shooting in Sydney's west

A MAN has died in a shooting in Sydney's southwest overnight.

Police said they were called to Owen Street in Punchbowl at around 11.15pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, following reports that a man had been shot.

Police and NSW Ambulance paramedics attended the scene and found a man, aged in his 20s, with gunshot wounds.

He died at the scene.

A crime scene has been established by police.

Owen Street Punchbowl is closed to traffic while investigators examine the scene, police said.

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Apple sells 2m iPhones in China in 3 days

APPLE says it sold more than two million iPhone 5s in China in their first three days of availability, setting a record for that market.

The iPhone 5, which launched in China on Friday, will be available in more than 100 countries by the end of December.

The phone first went on sale on September 21 in nine countries, including the US and Australia, with more than five million sold in the first three days.

That also set a record, but it only beat last year's iPhone 4S launch by a small margin, falling short of some analysts' expectations.

Apple shares hit an all-time high of $US705.07 that day, but in the months since the stock has plunged about 28 per cent.

On Sunday, Citi analyst Glen Yeung cut his rating for the company to "Neutral" from "Buy", questioning the strength of iPhone 5 demand and saying it's unlikely Apple shares will rally any time soon.

Apple Inc shares fell $US6.85 to $US502.94 in premarket trading on Monday.

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Hospital closes beds as budget cuts bite

UP to 700 patients could be locked out of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, which will close beds next year due to federal government budget cuts.

Victorian hospital chiefs have been holding emergency meetings to work out what services could be cut in a co-ordinated fashion across the state, The Age says.

It says that while hospitals always scale back services over the Christmas-New Year holidays, they were now considering closing beds and operating theatres until mid-year.

Royal Melbourne executive director Diane Gill told the newspaper that she initially planned to close an operating theatre and 45 beds from the end of this week under regular holiday closures.

The beds were due to reopen on January 14 but will now stay closed until February 4.

The hospital is also considering closing a 25-bed ward from February 4 until the end of June.

The paper says the closures would effectively cut 700 operations.

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More seeking help for amphetamine abuse

A NSW drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre has experienced a spike in the number of people seeking treatment for amphetamine-type stimulants.

Odyssey House reported a 20 per cent increase in admissions to its residential rehabilitation clinic for drugs such as ice and speed in 2011/2012, accounting for 30 per cent of clients.

Alcohol was the main drug of concern for 29 per cent of people followed by heroin and other opiates at 24 per cent.

There are no proven medications to effectively treat amphetamine-type substance dependence.

Odyssey House took part in a trial of a therapy-based treatment for people dependent on this group of drugs, with the results due to be published next year.

There were 643 admissions to Odyssey House's residential program and 327 to its withdrawal centre throughout the year.

Chief executive James Pitts said more than half of the centre's clients have mental illnesses.

Fifty-six per cent of people had been diagnosed with a mental illness compared to 42 per cent the previous year.

He said mental illness could be a pre-existing condition, exacerbated by alcohol or drug use or a symptom of withdrawal.

"People often turn to alcohol and other drugs in an attempt to feel better, have a good time or self-medicate their personal issues, yet many end up in the grip of dependence and suffering serious mental health problems, sometimes long-term," he said in a statement.

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German economy to shrink markedly in Q4

THE German economy, Europe's biggest, is set to contract "noticeably" in the fourth quarter of this year and will probably tread water early next year, the Bundesbank has forecast.

"Current indicators point to a noticeable drop in economic production at the end of the year," largely due to weakness in the country's key industrial sector, the German central bank wrote on Monday in its latest monthly report, reiterating its updated growth forecasts published 10 days ago.

The outlook for German companies had "deteriorated" amid a slowdown in global growth and falling demand from the rest of the eurozone, it said.

After expanding by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.3 per cent in the second quarter and a mere 0.2 per cent in the third quarter.

But the economy would likely contract in the final quarter, the Bundesbank predicted. And that would mean the economy would grow by just 0.7 per cent over the whole year, instead of the 1.6 per cent forecast in June.

Looking ahead to next year, the economy was unlikely to grow in the first quarter of next year, even if "a further drop could be avoided" provided weather conditions remain "normal", the Bundesbank said.

Overall, the central bank is pencilling in growth of a mere 0.4 per cent for 2013, it said.

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S Africa leader vows 'meaningful change'

EMBATTLED South African President Jacob Zuma has made the case for his re-election, telling ANC members they will see meaningful economic change, as he seeks to face down a leadership challenge from his deputy.

Zuma wooed delegates at the African National Congress's five-yearly conference, which opened on Sunday, with a robust defence of his much-criticised term in office, a promise of change and his trademark ebullient charm.

After securing democracy, the country, he said, was ready to "move into the second phase in which we will focus on achieving meaningful socio-economic freedom".

The ANC meeting in the central city of Bloemfontein will go a long way towards deciding who will lead South Africa until the end of the decade.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is hoping to wrest control of the party from Zuma, who has been president of the African economic powerhouse since 2009.

Should he succeed, the ANC's commanding electoral standing means he is almost certain to become the country's next president.

Zuma, marred by a series of personal financial scandals, has been pilloried for his handling of the economy, with millions of black South Africans wallowing in poverty 18 years after the ANC took power.

Acknowledging that the road to prosperity will be "long and hard", Zuma insisted however that "the ANC remains the only hope for the poor and marginalised".

Zuma acknowledged there had been problems, not least in the economy.

South Africa has faced a slew of credit ratings downgrades as unemployment remained stubbornly high around 25 per cent and growth slowed to the slowest rate in three years, while the vital mining sector has been hit by waves of violent unrest including the killing of 34 miners by police in August.

In the fight of his political life, Zuma turned on his famed charisma to win over the 4500 delegates who are attending the five-day conference.

Zuma opened his speech by leading thousands of ANC members clad in party colours and regalia in an a cappella tribute to ailing former president Nelson Mandela.

The 94-year-old elder statesman and Nobel Peace laureate has been in hospital for more than a week, undergoing surgery to remove gall stones and getting treatment for a lung infection.

Despite his troubles, Zuma is expected to prevail when delegates vote later in the week.

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Syria planes in deadly refugee camp raid

WARPLANES have bombarded a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus for the first time in Syria's uprising, as the army escalates its bid to suppress the rebellion in the capital.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday's air strike killed at least eight civilians at Yarmuk camp, which has been hit by intermittent violence during the past few months.

The raid took place as President Bashar al-Assad's forces used fighter jets against rebel positions in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo, where rebels stepped up a bid to seize a military academy.

Analysts say the Assad regime is still standing firm despite predictions by Western officials, and even a top Russian diplomat, of its imminent fall, and the fact rebel fighters now hold vast swathes of territory.

"Warplanes staged an air strike on an area near Al-Bassel hospital ... in Yarmuk camp," said the Observatory.

Residents told AFP that a missile hit the Abdel Qader Husseini Mosque in the heart of the camp.

The mosque was acting as a makeshift shelter for some 600 people forced to flee their homes in nearby districts engulfed in violence.

Amateur video posted online by activists in the camp showed broken glass strewn on the ground by the mosque, and several bloodied bodies laid out at the entrance.

The air strike on Yarmuk was Sunday's sixth on flashpoint districts in southern Damascus, said the Observatory.

Fighter jets also bombarded the nearby districts of Al-Hajar al-Aswad and Assali, scene of intense fighting between troops and rebels.

"The army feels it has to step up its campaign to suppress the insurgency in southern Damascus, and that it cannot fight off rebels without resorting to air power," said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"As for the Palestinians, they are divided over the conflict, and are fighting on both sides," he added.

The escalating violence came a day after Iran's armed forces chief of staff warned Turkey over its plans to deploy US-made Patriot missiles near Syria, saying the move was part of a Western plot to "create a world war".

"The Western countries seeking to deploy the missile batteries on the Turkey-Syria border are devising plans for a world war. This is very dangerous for everyone," General Hassan Firouzabadi said.

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Business confidence at record highs: CBA

OPTIMISM among mid-sized Australian businesses has hit record highs in the lead-up to Christmas, a quarterly survey has found.

Commonwealth Bank's future business index rose to 9.3 in December, from 4.3 in September.

The survey focuses on companies with a revenue of $10 million to $100 million, assessing their outlook on business conditions and challenges, projected revenue, investment plans and how prepared they are to cope with volatile conditions in the next six months.

The index first hit 9.3 in March this year, and was its highest ever score.

Almost half (45 per cent) of the companies surveyed said they were well-prepared for future business conditions, while 31 per cent said they thought conditions would improve in the next six months.

However, they expressed concern about rising energy costs in Australia, and a potential economic slowdown in Asia.

Looking at individual sectors, transport and logistics, business services and information, and media and technology were the most confident.

The least confident included manufacturing, wholesale trade and mining - with the latter reporting a significant drop.

Commonwealth Banks executive general manager of corporate financial services Symon Brewis-Weston said that despite the confident reading, most firms were approaching 2013 with caution.

"We're finding that its something of a wait-and-see period for the mid-market," he said.

"The feeling is that while companies expect a moderate decline in costs and they're feeling more prepared for the future, there is little appetite for investment and major changes.

"Companies are placing less emphasis on growth at the moment and ensuring they have the financial support required for any unforeseen challenges in the future."

The index showed moderate optimism among the states and territories, with Victoria and Tasmania recording steady confidence, both rising to 14 from 6.2.

Meanwhile, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory were the only regions in decline, both falling to six from 10.4.

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More Aussies could avoid stroke: experts

MANY stroke sufferers miss out on a lifesaving de-clotting drug and four in 10 get treated in general wards rather than specialist stroke units, an advocacy group says.

Stroke is Australia's second-largest killer and many of the 350,000 survivors live with a disability and struggle with basic daily tasks such as eating and cooking.

The National Stroke Foundation is lobbying the federal government and opposition to commit to a $198 million action plan to boost services and increase awareness of how to prevent stroke and recognise the signs of stroke.

Chief executive Erin Lalor says many patients who attend hospital with stroke don't get access to de-clotting thrombolysis drugs that must be administered within four hours.

"If the hospital is too slow or people delay presentation to hospital they can't have it," she told AAP.

"It's a lifesaving drug."

She said four in 10 people were treated for stroke in general wards, rather than specialist units, and this increased their chances of death or disability.

A number of major hospitals, particularly in Queensland, don't have specialist stroke units, Dr Lalor said.

As part of the plan, the foundation wants the government to spend $121 million extra over three years to fund more stroke units and boost the quality of existing care.

They want a national rollout of a pharmacy health-check program, currently funded by the NSW and Queensland governments, which involves a free blood pressure and diabetes check. Pharmacists then advise people whether they need to go to their GP for more testing.

When Lina Brohier had a stroke in 2008 at age 31, a transient ischemic attack followed, making her dizzy, heavy and voiceless.

The attack passed and she didn't go to the doctor.

"If there was more information and advertising about stroke maybe people like me would be prevented from having a stroke," she told AAP.

"You think ... it's not going to happen to me; it's something that happens to old people."

The stroke left her with no muscle movement on the right side of her body.

After extensive rehabilitation and occupational therapy, Ms Brohier made a full recovery.

Dr Lalor said people over the age of 45 should be able to get an integrated check for their risk of stroke, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease when they visit their GPs.

She said there also needs to be more support for people living with stroke, as well as their carers.

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