A MAN'S body has been found after a shed fire on NSW's Central Coast.
The 63-year-old's body was discovered inside the shed after Fire & Rescue NSW officers extinguished the blaze behind a home on Panorama Avenue at Charmhaven after 5pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
A crime scene has been established and is being examined by forensic officers.
QUEEN Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Phillips has given birth to a girl, Buckingham Palace says.
Zara gave birth at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital to her first child, which weighed 7lbs 12oz.
The father, Mike Tindall, a former England rugby star, was present at the birth of his daughter, who is 16th in line to the throne.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, Captain Mark Phillips and Mike's parents, Mr Phillip and Mrs Linda Tindall, have been informed and are delighted with the news.
"The baby's name will be confirmed in due course."
Police say twelve fires have been deliberately lit across Victoria with conditions worsening. Source: AAP
ARSONISTS have deliberately sparked 12 fires in Victoria as soaring temperatures and strong winds create the most dangerous fire conditions since Black Saturday.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said police believe 12 of the 68 fires burning across the state were deliberately lit.
Most of those fires were sparked on the urban fringes of Melbourne, including three grass fires in Epping, in the city's north.
Detectives are now investigating those fires.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said it was a disgraceful act for anyone to deliberately start a blaze on a day of high fire danger.
"There are no words that can be used to describe the lowlife that would light fires in these situations," he told reporters.
"They are putting lives at risk."
UK retail sales have jumped more than expected during the crucial Christmas period despite poor weather before the holiday.
The Office of National Statistics says retail sales leapt by 2.6 per cent during December compared with the previous month.
Economists had predicted a rise of 0.2 per cent.
Friday's report was surprising because major chains such as Tesco had reported dismal figures for the period, and suggests the retail sector is supporting the economic recovery.
The statistics office says there was a record 8.7 per cent month-on-month increase in the quantity of goods bought at department stores.
But small stores led the charge.
Marc Ostwald, a strategist with Monument Securities, says that surge may have come from the poor weather, which may have prompted consumers to shop locally.
THE federal government is working to confirm reports that another Australian has been killed in Syria.
"We are aware of unconfirmed reports of an Australian death in Syria," A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
"As a matter of course, whenever contacted by next of kin in relation to a reported death of an Australian overseas, the department follows up."
DFAT says it would welcome any further information the media is able to provide.
The reports come just days after a Sydney woman Amira Ali and her husband Yusuf Ali were killed in the war-torn country.
At least seven Australians have died in fighting in the country since the civil war began in 2011.
DFAT is reminding Australians that it does not have an embassy in Syria so its capacity to deliver consular help is "extremely limited".
It continues to advise Australians in Syria to leave.
JPMORGAN Chase, the biggest US bank by assets, says it returned to a profit in the fourth quarter.
The bank said it had net income of $US5.3 billion ($A5.8 billion) in the last three months of 2013, compared with a profit of $US5.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.
On a per-share basis, JPMorgan said it had earned $US1.30 a share in the quarter, compared with $US1.39 a share a year earlier.
Revenue fell one per cent to $US24.1 billion, just above analysts' expectations of $US23.9 billion.
The bank reported a loss in the third quarter, due to the bank's mounting legal costs. It was the bank's first quarterly loss in 10 years.
A POLITICIAN in the US is proposing the use of firing squads to execute condemned inmates if constitutional problems or other issues ever prevent his state from using lethal injection.
Wyoming state Senator Bruce Burns, a Republican, said on Monday that state law currently calls for using a gas chamber if lethal injection is unavailable.
"The state of Wyoming doesn't have a gas chamber currently, an operating gas chamber, so the procedure and expense to build one would be impractical to me," said Burns, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"I consider frankly the gas chamber to be cruel and unusual, so I went with firing squad because they also have it in Utah," Burns said. He's introduced the bill for consideration in the legislative session that starts February 10.
"One of the reasons I chose firing squad as opposed to any other form of execution is because frankly it's one of the cheapest for the state," Burns said.
Burns said his bill addresses this issue because a number of states are running short of the chemicals used for lethal injection, largely because companies have stopped selling the drugs to prisons.
Wyoming, a sparsely populated western state, has only one inmate on death row and last executed an inmate in 1992.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the national Death Penalty Information Center, said on Monday he believes Wyoming could face constitutional challenges if it tried to use the firing squad as its only method of execution.
Dieter said Utah has offered inmates the choice of being executed by firing squad but said the state is phasing out the punishment.
AFTER tallying a record number of plane orders and deliveries last year, Airbus is admittedly facing a high bar in 2014.
The European aerospace conglomerate said on Monday it delivered 626 planes last year, a company record but still 22 fewer than US rival Boeing Co.
The companies enjoyed a banner year as airlines gobbled up their offerings to renew or build their fleets, cut fuel costs and plan for continued growth in air travel.
Airbus' orders last year rose to 1169, nearly twice its expectations, leading some executives to caution against any precise predictions about how many they'll tally this year. The order backlog - jets it plans to deliver in coming years - sits at a record 5559.
"The market was extremely bullish ... more bullish than John or me would have thought, and probably Boeing," said Airbus' top executive Fabrice Bregier, meeting with journalists along with commercial director John Leahy.
Some of the biggest demand came from once-struggling US airlines as well as from emerging markets, particularly Asia.
"The real story for some of you is, where does it go from here?" said Leahy.
"The fact is, we cannot as an industry continue at this level. But what we are doing is we're continuing to increase production."
"The point is, we are in a growth industry," he added.
Losing out to Boeing in the delivery tally "doesn't matter to us at all," Leahy said.
"I think we're happy with what we've got. It's a duopoly, with a 50-50 split here. I don't really care if they have two more aeroplanes or we have two more."
Four people are unaccounted for and 46 homes have been destroyed by a bushfire in the Perth hills. Source: AAP
FOUR people feared victims of a bushfire that razed 49 homes in the Perth hills region have been found safe, while firefighters are still battling to control the blaze.
The one death attributed to the fire was that of a 62-year-old man in Hovea who collapsed on the roof of his house on Sunday while preparing for the disaster.
The fire, which tore through 650 hectares in the Shire of Mundaring on Sunday and also destroyed two sheds, was contained on Monday but firefighters were still battling to control it.
A watch and act alert remains for the eastern part of Parkerville, Stoneville and Mount Helena.
One resident tried to get back to their house on Monday afternoon and suffered burns to the hands and feet.
Noelene Michels, from Helena Valley, said she knew her house was close to the fire zone and that her son was still there, but she could not reach him due to roadblocks.
"We think it is ok, but we can't get through to check," she said.
Sally and Gary Elwood, from nearby Narla Way, already knew their home of 30 years was gone.
"I am a bit shocked, but until I physically see, it won't hit me fully, but I have seen it on Facebook so I know it is ours," Ms Elwood said.
"I know it is gone, but my glass is half full - the kids are fine, everyone is fine. We will just rebuild, at 48 - bloody hell."
Mundaring Shire president Helen Dullard said many residents were relieved to escape the flames.
"Visually, it was a very ugly fire. It was scary," she said.
People who lost their homes will be escorted to the ruins on Tuesday.
The fate of livestock and pets is unknown but residents are bracing for the worst, while some firefighters have been treated for heat exhaustion and bee stings.
Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis believes a power pole on private property caused the fire.
He said the blaze could have been much worse and wiped out hundreds more homes.
"We pray this is the last fire we see like this, but there are no guarantees," he said.
"We deal with the lottery dealt out by Mother Nature."
Mr Francis admitted he was frustrated that the fire preparation message was not getting through.
The WA government will donate $1 million to the Lord Mayor's Distress Relief Fund to help victims.
It will also provide $3000 to those whose homes had been destroyed and $1000 for damaged houses.
Western Power says about 700 properties are without power - and will remain so for days - and more than 150 poles will need to be replaced.
"Poles and equipment are being delivered in preparation for the rebuild, which is not expected to be able to start before Wednesday," a spokeswoman said.
Insurers have declared the fire a catastrophic event.
Attorney-General George Brandis said the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment would also be provided to eligible residents.
People can claim a payment of $1000 for each adult and $400 for each child.
INSTANT messaging services on mobile phones are likely to carry more than twice the number of messages sent by text in 2014, according to global predictions by Deloitte.
As 50 billion instant messages are set to be dispatched, 21 billion text messages are expected to be sent - a rapid lift from 2012, when 11 instant messages were sent for every 10 texts, the firm said.
While instant messaging services - such as WhatsApp and Snapchat - may win the battle for volume this year, text messaging will be victorious in revenue terms, according to the technology report, which will be launched tomorrow.
Text messaging is expected to continue to generate significantly greater revenues until 2018, by which point global text message revenues are expected to have started falling.
Deloitte expects instant messaging services on mobile phones to continue to supersede text messages and all other forms of communication, including email and phone calls.
Despite the burgeoning volumes of messages carried over instant messaging services, text messages are expected to generate more than STG60 billion ($A110.64 billion) in 2014, equivalent to about 50 times the total revenues from all instant messaging services.
Deloitte predicts that the fastest-growing part of the smartphone market in developed countries will be among the over-55s.
About 47 per cent of this group will own smartphones by 2014, an increase from 40 per cent in May-June 2013.
The first text was sent on December 3, 1992, when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old British engineer, used his computer to send the message "Merry Christmas" to an Orbitel 901 mobile phone.
A mortar attack has killed at least 19 people in the central Syrian city of Homs. Source: AAP
A MORTAR attack has killed at least 19 people in the central Syrian city of Homs.
The official SANA news agency said late on Sunday mortar rounds slammed into the pro-government Ghouta and Karm al-Shami neighbourhoods of Homs.
It blamed "terrorists" for the attack, employing the term the government uses to describe those trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian rebels often lob mortar rounds into pro-government neighbourhoods of cities and towns, while the president's forces indiscriminately strike rebel-held areas with artillery, air strikes and surface-to-surface missiles.
Syria's civil war has killed more than 120,000 since the crisis began in March 2011.
ANTI-GOVERNMENT demonstrators are preparing to occupy major intersections of Thailand's congested capital in what they say is an effort to shut down Bangkok.
The plan has raised fears of violence that could trigger a military coup.
The protesters are trying to force caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign and have her government replaced by a non-elected interim administration to implement reforms they say are needed to stop corruption and money politics.
They want to scuttle an early general election called by Yingluck for February 2.
Since November, the demonstrators have engaged in street battles with police, cut off water and electricity to police headquarters and occupied for a time the compounds of other government agencies.
At least eight people, including a policeman, have died in violence associated with the political unrest.
The protest leaders said last week that the demonstrators would occupy seven key intersections on Monday in Bangkok, a teeming city known for its debilitating traffic jams.
They are also threatening to occupy government office compounds.
Groups of demonstrators started arriving late on Sunday at some of the venues, where they said they would erect stages.
Earlier on Sunday, some demonstrators blocked a road in Bangkok's northern outskirts, where many government offices are located, said Deputy Police Spokesman Colonel Anucha Romyanan.
There were no immediate confrontations with the authorities, who have vowed to show restraint in order to avoid violence.
Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Friday that a combined force of around 12,000 police officers and 8000 soldiers was being deployed to maintain order in the capital.
Protest leaders have said they will maintain their "shutdown" of Bangkok for weeks, or until they obtain their goal.
Their recent demonstrations have drawn up to 150,000-200,000 people at their height.
Concern about a coup is high because of the army's history of intervening in politics.
Army commander General Prayuth Chan-ocha has refused to rule out the possibility of a military takeover.
Another deputy prime minister, Pongthep Thepkanjana, said on Friday that be believed the army had learned a lesson from the 2006 coup - which ended up polarising Thailand rather than pacifying it - and that the international community and many Thais would be opposed to a military takeover.
POPE Francis has named 19 new cardinals, 16 of whom will hold voting rights in the conclave that elects the next pontiff.
Francis made the announcement as he spoke from his studio window to a crowd in St Peter's Square.
Sixteen of the appointees are younger than 80, meaning they are eligible to elect the next pope, which is a cardinal's most important task.
The ceremony to formally install them as cardinals will be held on February 22 at the Vatican.
Some appointments were expected, including that of his new secretary of state, the Italian archbishop Pietro Parolin, and the German head of the Vatican's watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, Gerhard Ludwig Mueller.
But some names were surprising.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pontiff's selection of churchmen from Haiti and Burkino Faso, which are among the world's poorest countries, reflects Francis' attention to the destitute as a core part of the church's mission.
Also chosen to become a "prince of the church," as the cardinals are known, was Mario Aurelio Poli, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, a post Francis left when he was elected in March.
