Astronomers spot monster star

ASTRONOMERS have reported their best observation yet of a massive star embryo growing within a dark cloud - the largest stellar "womb" ever spotted in our Milky Way galaxy.

The star, which could grow to 100 times the mass of our Sun and up to a million times brighter, was spotted by the most powerful radio telescope on Earth - the ALMA international astronomy facility located in Chile, according to a paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Astronomers hope its discovery, at a distance of some 11,000 light years from Earth, will shed light on how these exceptionally massive stars are formed, shrouded as they are in dust and mystery.

"Not only are these stars rare, but their births are extremely rapid and childhood short, so finding such a massive bject so early in its evolution in our Galaxy is a spectacular result," study co-author Gary Fuller of the University of Manchester said in a statement issued by the European Southern Observatory (ESO)

The most massive and brightest stars in the galaxy form within cool and dark cloud cores, hungrily feeding on material being dragged inwards by the embryo star's gravitational pull.

This specific star is located in the Spitzer Dark Cloud, whose core has a mass about 500 times that of the Sun.

"This object is expected to form a star that is up to 100 times more massive than the Sun. Only about one in ten thousand of all stars in the Milky Way reach that kind of mass," said study lead author Nicolas Peretto of Cardiff University.

"The remarkable observations from ALMA allowed us to get the first really in-depth look at what was going on within this cloud. We wanted to see how monster stars form and grow, and we certainly achieved our aim. One of the sources we have found is an absolute giant - the largest protostellar core ever spotted in the Milky Way!"

According to the ESO, there are two theories on the formation of massive stars, which have at least ten times the mass of our Sun.

The first theory suggests that parental dark clouds fragment, creating several small cores that collapse and form stars. The other sees the entire cloud collapse inwards, with material racing into its centre to feed the star or stars growing there.

The new results support the second theory, said the statement.

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China auto sales up 11.2%

AUTO sales in China, the world's largest car market, increased by 11.2 per cent year-on-year in June, an industry group says.

A total of 1.75 million vehicles were sold nationwide last month, marginally lower than 1.76 million in May, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

In the first half of the year, car sales rose 12.3 per cent year-on-year to 10.78 million, it said.

China's auto sales rose only 4.3 per cent annually to 19.31 million in 2012, hit by limits on vehicle licence plate numbers imposed by some cities to ease traffic congestion and tackle pollution.

China's economic rise has been accompanied by a surge in demand for vehicles, including luxury ones, as the country's increasing wealth gives consumers more money to spend.

China became the world's largest auto market in 2009. Of the more than 19 million vehicles sold last year, 15.5 million were passenger cars.

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UK to privatise majority of Royal Mail

Royal Mail will be sold by the British government through flotation on the London Stock Exchange. Source: AAP

BRITAIN'S government has announced plans to privatise more than half of Royal Mail following a major restructuring in recent years triggered by a surge in email use.

Business Secretary Vince Cable told parliament that the coalition government planned to "dispose of a majority stake", which would include 10 per cent of the company being handed to employees in the form of free shares.

Cable, a member of the Liberal Democrats which share power with Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives, said the government would seek to hold an initial public offering (IPO) for Royal Mail shares by the end of the current financial year that ends next March.

"This is logical, it is a commercial decision designed to put Royal Mail's future onto a long term sustainable basis," Cable told parliament.

"It is consistent with developments elsewhere in Europe where privatised operators in Austria, Germany and Belgium produce profit margins far higher than the Royal Mail but have continued to provide high quality and expanding services."

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) on Wednesday said it would ballot members over strike action unless a legally binding deal on employee terms and conditions could be agreed with any potential new owner.

"I really do not understand what the government are trying to achieve by this," said CWU deputy leader Dave Ward.

"If you think about the profits the Royal Mail are now making, there's no need for it to be privatised. What privatisation will do is destroy the UK's universal postal service.

"There's no way private companies can maintain six-day-a-week deliveries to every single address in the UK," he added.

Royal Mail has recently enjoyed a surge in annual profits thanks to the increasing popularity of online shopping which generates parcel traffic, and owing also to deep cost-cutting and big increases in stamp prices.

Media reports say the part sale of Royal Mail could worth up to STG3.0 billion ($A4.89 billion).

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Concerns for NSW man missing for a week

POLICE hold grave concerns for a man missing from his NSW mid north coast home for a week.

Michael French's last contact with his family was on July 3 and he was reported missing three days later.

The 39-year-old was driving a 1990 white and grey Ford Laser sedan with NSW registration plates BIS 15C and red P-plates.

Extensive searches have failed to find Mr French, who is from Wingham, and police say they hold grave concerns for his welfare.

He's described as Caucasian with an olive complexion and short black hair.

He was wearing black shorts and a navy blue singlet or shirt.

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IMF downgrades world growth outlook

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its 2014 growth forecast for China, Australia's number one trading partner.

Updating its April World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, the IMF downgraded its world growth forecast for this year and next, driven to a large extent by "appreciably weaker" domestic demand and slower growth in several key emerging market economies.

The euro area is also expected to suffer a more protracted recession than earlier predicted.

The IMF urged policymakers everywhere to increase efforts to ensure robust growth.

"Weaker growth prospects and new risks raise new challenges to global growth and employment, and global rebalancing," the IMF warned.

It cut its world growth forecast for 2013 to 3.1 per cent and to 3.8 per cent for 2014, both 0.2 percentage points lower than it predicted in April.

For China, it now sees 2013 growth at 7.8 per cent, down 0.3 percentage points from previous, and 2014 growth at 7.7 per cent, an even larger 0.6 percentage point downgrade.

Forecasts for advanced economies that includes the G7 countries - US, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK and Canada - were also trimmed.

While the Washington-based institution did not provide a separate new forecast for Australia, "other advanced economies" were cut by 0.1 percentage point for both 2013 and 2014 to 2.3 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively.

"Downside risks to global growth prospects still dominate," the IMF warned.

"While old risks remain, new risks have emerged, including the possibility of a longer growth slowdown in emerging market economies, especially given risks of lower potential growth, slowing credit, and possibly tighter financial conditions."

The latter could result from an anticipated unwinding of monetary policy stimulus in the US.

Federal Treasurer Chris Bowen said the Australian economy was still expected to grow faster than advanced economies as a whole, both this year and next.

In the May budget, the government forecast growth of 2.75 per cent in the 2013/14 financial and three per cent in 2014/15.

Mr Bowen said while the IMF has revised down world growth forecasts, China and India are still forecast to grow at a solid rate in 2013.

India, another key Australian trading partner, was downgraded 0.2 percentage points to 5.6 per cent for 2013 and by 0.1 percentage point to 6.3 per cent for 2014.

"Australia is not immune from global economic and financial uncertainty," Mr Bowen said in a statement.

"This underlines the need for responsible settings and policies to help manage the transition underway in our economy, and to support productivity, jobs and growth in the face of ongoing global economic weakness."

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US stocks up on jobs data, Europe outlook

US stocks have continued their upward trajectory following a strong US jobs report and improving sentiment over Europe's prospects.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.65 (0.47 per cent) to 15,206.49.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 7.62 (0.47 per cent) to 1,639.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 13.94 (0.40 per cent) to 3,493.32.

Monday's gains came on the heels of Friday's surge in US equity markets after the Labor Department reported that the US added 195,000 jobs in June, well above the 166,000 forecast.

Wall Street was also cheered by Monday's gains in European markets such as France's CAC 40 (up. 1.9 per cent), Germany's DAX (up 2.3 per cent) and Britain's FTSE 100 (up 0.5 per cent).

Greece's bailout lenders the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund announced on Monday that an audit showed that Greece's reform efforts were "broadly in line" with expectations.

European investors were also relieved that some high-level resignations in Portugal appear to have passed without bringing down the governing coalition.

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Qatada denies Jordan terror charges

Islamist cleric Abu Qatada has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in Jordan. Source: AAP

ISLAMIST cleric Abu Qatada has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges pressed by Jordanian military prosecutors just hours after his deportation from Britain, his lawyer says.

Britain's expulsion of the Palestinian-born preacher after a decade-long legal battle drew expressions of delight from Prime Minister David Cameron.

Abu Qatada, who had been in and out of British prisons since 2002 even though he was never convicted of any offence, had once been described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.

"Abu Qatada pleaded not guilty," defence lawyer Taysir Diab told AFP after the closed-door hearing before a military tribunal on Sunday.

"I will appeal tomorrow (Monday) to the (state security) court to release him on bail," he added.

The cleric was taken to the courthouse near Marka military airfield in east Amman just hours after he was flown in from Britain.

"State security court prosecutors charged Abu Qatada with conspiracy to carry our terrorist acts," a judicial official told AFP.

"He was remanded in judicial custody for 15 days in the Muwaqqar prison," in eastern Jordan, he added.

Reporters were not allowed into the courtroom to hear the charges being read out despite a pledge by Information Minister Mohammad Momani of "transparency" in Jordan's handling of Abu Qatada's retrial.

Abu Qatada was condemned to death in absentia in 1999 for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, including on the American school in Amman, but the sentence was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour.

In 2000, he was sentenced in his absence to 15 years for plotting to carry out terror attacks on tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations.

Jordanian law gives him the right to a retrial with him present in the dock.

Cameron hailed the final removal of Abu Qatada from British soil after a legal battle that cost the taxpayer 1.7 million pounds ($A2.82 million).

"I was absolutely delighted. This is something this government said it would get done, and we have got it done," Cameron told reporters.

"It's an issue that, like the rest of the country, has made my blood boil."

Britain was finally able to expel the 53-year-old father-of-five to Jordan after the two governments last month ratified a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used in his retrial.

The Jordanian information minister reiterated the undertaking on Sunday.

"His retrial will be conducted in line with international standards, protecting his rights and ensuring justice, fairness, credibility and transparency," Momani told the state-run Petra news agency.

A security official told AFP that after his arrival "a team of doctors including the state coroner examined the suspect and made sure there were no signs of torture."

London had been trying to deport Abu Qatada since 2005 but British and European courts had blocked his expulsion on the grounds that evidence might be used against him that had been obtained by torture.

But after years of legal battles his lawyers unexpectedly said in May that he would return once the fair trial treaty was ratified by the Jordanian parliament.

He was taken from prison in an armoured police van to a military airfield on the outskirts of London, from which he was flown out.

Abu Qatada's wife and five children are expected to remain in Britain, where he first sought asylum in 1993.

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Pupils' Weight Concerns Highlighted

CHILDREN as young as 10 are unhappy with their weight and believe they need to shed some pounds, research suggests.

It indicates that young people become increasingly concerned about their weight as they grow up, with nearly two-thirds of 14 and 15-year-old girls saying they would like to be slimmer.

The study also suggests young people are increasingly likely to skip breakfast or lunch as they get older.

The findings come from a report by the UK Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU) which questioned more than 93,600 young people, of which more than 68,000 were 10- to 15-year-olds, in 2012, on a variety of topics.

It found that nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of girls aged 14 and 15 say they would like to lose weight, along with more than half (54 per cent) of those aged 12 and 13.

And more than a third (37 per cent) of 10 and 11-year-old girls - those in the final year of primary school - say they would like to lose weight, the survey found.

It suggests that boys are less concerned about how much they weigh, with just under three in 10 (29 per cent) of those aged 14 and 15 saying they want to drop a few pounds and 14 per cent saying they would like to put some weight on.

Around one in six (17 per cent) 14 and 15-year-old girls, and more than one in 10 (11 per cent) boys of the same age did not eat breakfast, the survey found - around double the numbers of Year 6 pupils who skipped this meal.

Laura Sharp, a nutritionist for the Children's Food Trust, said: "These are very worrying findings - all pupils, whatever their age, need to start the day with breakfast if they're going to be able to focus in class, and research shows a clear link between eating breakfast and children's attainment at school.

"What's particularly worrying is that girls and boys are skipping meals at a time when their bodies are changing fast and they're particularly in need of good nourishment.

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Syrian city almost flattened: monitors

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Homs looks like it has been hit by a "world war". Source: AAP

INTENSE fighting in the central Syrian city of Homs has left up to 70 per cent of a besieged rebel-held district damaged, destroyed or uninhabitable, a monitoring group says.

The estimate from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday came nine days into an all-out army assault on the rebel-held Khaldiyeh and Old City neighbourhoods, which have been under siege for more than a year.

On Sunday, regime forces subjected insurgent areas of the city to fierce shelling, said the Observatory.

"60 to 70 per cent of buildings in Khaldiyeh are either totally destroyed, partially destroyed, or unsuitable for habitation," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Homs is Syria's third-largest city, and tens of thousands of its residents have fled the fighting.

"Of all Syria's cities, Homs has suffered the highest levels of destruction ... Images of Homs make it look like a world war has hit the city. Much of it has been flattened," he added.

Amateur video posted online by activists on Sunday showed flames and thick black smoke rising from several empty burnt-out buildings already riddled with holes.

Some structures shown in the video are barely standing.

"Even if the regime takes the neighbourhoods back, there's barely a house left standing to return to," said Abdel Rahman.

"It would even be dangerous to return. People from Homs are constantly under regime surveillance wherever they are in Syria, because their city has served as a rebel bastion since early in the revolt."

On Sunday, government troops used mortars, rocket fire and heavy artillery to target rebel areas in the city, the Britain-based Observatory said.

On the edges of Khaldiyeh, fresh clashes broke out between rebels and troops and pro-regime militiamen, it added.

According to the United Nations, some 2500 to 4000 people are trapped in the besieged areas.

In Damascus, regime warplanes targeted Jubar in the east of the capital, while tanks hit Qaboon in the northeast, said the Observatory.

Several mortar rounds hit Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus, it added, as rebels and troops clashed nearby.

In northern Damascus, the army tried to storm Barzeh, where rebels are still holed up, the watchdog said.

Syria's 27-month war has killed more than 100,000 people, the Observatory estimates.

On Saturday alone, at least 69 people were killed nationwide, it said.

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Canada 'Ghost train' toll still unknown

At least 80 people are missing after an oil train derailment in Quebec, Canadian police say. Source: AAP

SOME residents warily eyed the driverless "ghost train" as it rushed through the countryside before derailing and crashing into a small Quebec town.

The downtown area of Lac-Megantic was engulfed in flames and now scores of people, perhaps as many as 80, are missing, while around 2000 have been forced from their homes.

Rescuers cautiously entered the charred debris on Sunday, more than 24 hours after the spectacular crash that saw flames shoot into the sky and burn into the night.

Witnesses reported up to six explosions after the train derailed at about 1.20am on Saturday in Lac-Megantic.

Officially, as of late Saturday, only one person was killed and one wounded.

The train, 72 tanker cars loaded with crude oil pulled and pushed by five locomotives, left Montreal, 250km to the west, and was heading to the port of St John on Canada's Atlantic coast.

Instead, its final destination was this picturesque resort town of 6000 residents in a corner of the Appalachian mountains near the border with the US state of Maine.

The town's fire chief, Denis Lauzon, said his department wanted information on what was being moved by rail through his town.

"But we had yet to present a formal request," he said.

Shocked by the force of the accident, residents pressed against police barricades seeking even the smallest detail that could help them cope with the disaster.

Rumours of the runaway "ghost train" quickly spread.

"It had no driver, it was a unmanned train," a young man tells his friends gathered in front of a small grocery store.

Antoinette Paree, 78, remembers seeing "a glimmer, a sort of fire" on the train as it made its way through the night.

Paree arrived home and was looking out from her window, which overlooks the track, when she said she heard "a loud bang - it lit up the whole house," she said.

Paree ran out to save her life, forgetting her dentures and her pyjamas.

The cause of the crash was still unknown but a spokesman for the Montreal Maine & Atlantic company, Christophe Journet, told AFP the train had been stopped in the neighbouring town of Nantes, around 13km west of Lac-Megantic, for a crew changeover.

For an unknown reason, Journet said, the train "started to advance, to move down the slope leading to Lac-Megantic," even though the brakes were engaged.

As a result, "there was no conductor on board" when the train crashed, he said.

Residents gathered on the far shore of Lake Megantic around a large illuminated cross that dominates the view. There, overnight Saturday into Sunday, they watched much of their town go up in flames.

Linda Rodriguez followed the movement of the flames with her binoculars.

"That's the pharmacy, our home is 50 metres away on the other side of the road," she said.

Another resident, Mariette Savoie, feared the death toll from the "wall of fire" that engulfed her town will be high.

"Above all the Main Street shops were homes," she said.

"All those people who were there were unable to get out."

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