Mandela responding to treatment: Zuma

The South African president says former leader Nelson Mandela is responding to treatment at home. Source: AAP

THE South African president says former leader Nelson Mandela is responding to treatment at his home, where a team of doctors is caring for him.

Authorities have previously described Mandela's condition as critical.

The 95-year-old former president and leader of the anti-apartheid movement was discharged from a hospital on September 1, nearly three months after he was admitted for a recurring lung infection.

The South African Press Association quotes President Jacob Zuma as saying in a speech released on Wednesday that Mandela continues to respond to treatment.

The speech was prepared for delivery at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mandela's grandson Mbuso Mandela told The New Age newspaper his grandfather was "sitting up and looking around" and had spent the Tuesday public holiday surrounded by family.

"I saw him again yesterday (Wednesday) at lunch. He is doing well," he said, adding that "we are keeping him company".

He stressed that Mandela was "much better" and not completely bed-ridden.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison during white minority rule.

He led South Africa through a delicate transition to all-race elections that propelled him to the presidency in 1994.

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Milne loses six senior staff

AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Christine Milne is playing down the resignations of six of her senior staff members and has dismissed claims her leadership is on shaky ground.

Senator Milne was returned to the party's leadership unopposed on Monday, despite a slip in the Greens vote at the September 7 poll.

She confirmed on Wednesday night that six staff members had tendered their resignations including chief of staff Ben Oquist, director of communications Georgie Klug and policy adviser Oliver Woldring, her climate change adviser, her economics adviser and campaign coordinator.

"It's certainly true that people have opted to take redundancies but that's for a range of reasons," she told ABC TV.

"It's quite common in politics after an election for people to consider whether they want to stay on or not."

Some staff had indicated last year they would stay with her until the election, and some had given personal reasons for leaving, Senator Milne said.

She denied the resignations were a vote of no confidence in her leadership.

"There's no panic or nothing to be concerned about," she said.

"This is pretty normal for political offices."

Mr Oquist issued a statement saying he was leaving with good will but cited "fundamental differences of opinion about strategy".

Asked about his reason, Senator Milne said: "interesting that Ben would say that."

She said there had been differences of opinion on how the office would run, she favoured a flat administrative structure while he wanted a more hierarchical structure.

"I wish Ben very well with his endeavours in the future," she said.

Senator Milne said Prime Minister Tony Abbott was likely to offer her office fewer staff than they have had previously.

She said some of the staff had been working in the political arena for six or seven years and wanted a fresh start.

"I wish people who have left my office all the best in the careers they go on with," Senator Milne said.

Greens MP Adam Bandt was re-elected the party's deputy leader on Monday, unopposed.

He extended his margin in the lower house seat of Melbourne.

A spokesman for Senator Milne said after the election there is an automatic spill of the leader's position.

As a result the leader's electorate and personal staff positions are automatically terminated by the Department of Finance and staff are subsequently eligible for a generous redundancy package.

"Following an exhausting election is a natural time for political staff to leave and a natural period for renewal for a political office," the spokesman told AAP.

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Fewer businesses looking to hire

JUST one in five businesses are planning to hire new staff, the lowest level for hiring intentions since the global financial crisis.

However, information technology is booming area as more firms digitise their businesses.

Recruitment firm Hudson's survey of more than 2500 employers in July and August found 20.9 per cent are planning to take on new staff during the December quarter.

Low staff turnover levels mean businesses have less opportunity to recruit, Hudson executive general manager for regional Australia Dean Davidson said.

"That can become a challenge for some organisations," he told AAP.

The proportion of employers planning to hire was the lowest level since the September quarter of 2009.

But 36 per cent of IT employers were planning to hire, compared with just 13.6 per cent for the utilities industry.

"A lot of organisations are transitioning down the digital path so that's creating project work," Mr Davidson said.

"I definitely do not see that changing in the foreseeable future."

South Australian employers had the strongest hiring intentions, with 24.2 per cent planning to recruit.

Hiring intentions in the ACT were down to 22.2 per cent, as the territory government tightens recruitment.

But Victoria had the weakest jobs market, with just 16.2 per cent of bosses planning to take on new staff.

In Queensland, 18.2 per cent of employers were planning to hire, the same proportion as those looking to downsize, following the end of the mining boom and public sector job cuts.

Hudson chief executive Mark Steyn said businesses had been cautious in the lead up to the federal election, but recruitment activity was likely to improve in the coming year amid low interest rates and a falling Australian dollar.

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Motorists spending thousands each year

AUSTRALIANS are forking out more than $3800 a year to keep their cars on the road.

Fuel is a major expense, but it also costs more $100 a year to park the car, and almost the same to clean it.

Queenslanders pay the most to keep their wheels on the road, while drivers in NSW are slugged the most at the toll booth.

Vehicle maintenance costs are highest in the Northern Territory, where vast distances separate the major centres.

Nationally, motorists spend an average of $3854 on running costs, before loan repayments and depreciation are taken into account, Commonwealth Bank credit and debit card transaction data shows.

Queenslanders pay on average $254 more than that, due to higher fuel and registration expenses.

Parking is most expensive in Western Australia, where $125 is spent each year, above the national average of $108.

Car washes are priciest in NSW, where the average annual spend totals $112.

Petrol makes up 40 per cent of Australia's annual average car bill, with a total of $7.2 billion being spent at the bowser.

A weakening Australian dollar could push that bill even higher, Commonwealth Bank economist Diana Mousina said.

"Fuel costs will always be a significant expense for car owners so I'd encourage consumers to think about putting more of their weekly budget aside to cover the increasing cost of fuel, especially those in regional Australia," she said.

Insurance costs average $407 each year.

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Climate Commission experts to push on

EXPERTS once at the helm of the now defunct Climate Commission have vowed to continue their work and will launch an independent body after being dumped by the federal government.

The Australian Climate Council will be officially unveiled in Sydney on Tuesday, with the same six specialists volunteering their time to interpret breaking climate science from around the globe.

Professor Will Steffen said one of the first orders of business for the not-for-profit Council will be assessing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) fifth assessment report, due for release on Friday.

"We will do the very best we can to pull out the main points to this report and make it understandable to the Australian public," Prof Steffen told AAP, adding that he and colleagues hoped to produce a summary document within days of the release.

The Climate Commission, set up in 2011 by the former Labor government to increase public awareness of climate change science, was disbanded by the new coalition government on Thursday.

"Since the axe fell I've gotten lots of emails from colleagues and the general public ... people airing their displeasure (at the Commission being scrapped) and we were just really encouraged by the groundswell of support to keep going," Prof Steffen said.

The Australian National University researcher said the Commission had filled "an important niche" as an a-political organisation, keeping Australians informed about "complex climate science".

Former Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery, who headed up the Commission, said it was important the work continued.

"It is crucial for tackling big societal challenges and for democracy that Australians have access to accurate scientific information," Professor Flannery said.

The two men will be joined by colleagues Roger Beale, Gerry Hueston, Professor Lesley Hughes and Professor Veena Sahajwalla.

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Red Cross pleads for Syria donations

Red Cross Australia has made a plea to Australians to help Syrians displaced by the civil war. Source: AAP

THE CEO of Red Cross Australia has made a personal plea to Australians to "act on their compassion" and help Syrian civilians displaced by the country's humanitarian crisis.

Robert Tickner says the not-for-profit organisation's Syria Crisis 2012 Appeal has raised just over $200,000 in a year.

"It's a pretty small response so far," Mr Tickner told AAP.

"It's tiny compared to many comparable humanitarian crisis events in the past."

He described the ongoing civil conflict in Syria as a "forgotten tragedy" that rarely makes it home to the breakfast tables of the public.

"Even though we see so much on our TV screens, I think the challenge is to bring home the reality to Australians of just how much people are suffering," he said.

"Imagine if you lived in a street where most houses had been bombed, where your neighbours fled."

More than two million civilians have fled the war-torn country, with over half of them children, according the United Nations refugee agency.

Almost nine million Syrians need humanitarian assistance with more than four million desperately in need of food, Mr Tickner said.

"Australians are very compassionate people, but the challenge is to get people to act on that compassion," Mr Tickner said.

"Australia can really help a lot here."

The Australian Red Cross is raising money to support the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, which provides millions of Syrian civilians with medical supplies, food, water and shelter.

To make a donation visit www.redcross.org.au

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Swiss voters opt to keep military service

Switzerland is voting on a proposal to abolish mandatory service in its army. Source: AAP

SWISS voters have opted against abolishing the country's mandatory military service in a referendum.

The initiative by the Group for a Switzerland without an Army was rejected by more than two thirds of the voters on Sunday.

The pacifist group had advocated the introduction of a voluntary service, rather than adopting the example of other European countries that have switched to professional armies.

The government had spoken out against abolishing the current system, arguing that there would be a lack of volunteers and that this would endanger Switzerland's ability to defend itself.

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Big 4 banks' satisfaction rating improves

AUSTRALIAN businesses are more satisfied with the big four banks than at any point in the last four years.

But satisfaction levels for National Australia Bank and ANZ continue to lag behind Commonwealth and Westpac.

The big four had an average rating of 7.3 out of 10 in August, according to the DBM Consultants Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM).

It was the highest average satisfaction rating in the four year history of the BFSM.

"The figures for most of the major banks, not just the Commonwealth Bank, have risen since our research started four years ago," DBM Consultants Director Maria Claridad said.

The Commonwealth had the highest rating in August, with an average score of 7.6 out of 10, followed by Westpac on 7.4 out of 10.

Meanwhile, ANZ and NAB continued to lag behind on 7.0.

The BFSM surveys more than 20,000 businesses annually.

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'Foreign' gunmen shoot Kenya mall shoppers

Gunmen have opened fire inside an upmarket mall in Kenya's capital of Nairobi. Source: AAP

GUNMEN who attacked a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi were speaking in a foreign language and were seen executing a number of shoppers, an eyewitness says.

"They were not speaking Swahili. They spoke something that seemed like Arabic or Somali, but I'm not sure as I don't speak those languages," the witness, who only wanted to give his first name, Jay, said after fleeing the mall.

"I saw people being executed after being asked to say something," he said, adding he had seen 11 dead bodies inside the mall.

Masked gunmen stormed the upmarket mall on Saturday and sprayed gunfire on shoppers and staff, killing at least six, before holing themselves up in the complex with hostages.

Police were going shop-to-shop to evacuate terrified people from the Westgate, which is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates and generally packed on weekends.

The attackers sprayed gunfire inside the four-storey mall, causing a huge panic before police units moved in to secure the compound's exits and the situation evolved into a standoff.

"They have seven hostages, confirmed," a police officer said at the scene as security forces were trying to secure a multi-screen cinema complex.

A reporter saw at least 20 people rescued from a toy shop on one of the upper floors of the mall.

Dozens of wounded, some of them bleeding children, were stretchered away from the mall.

A shop manager who managed to escape said at one point "it seemed that the shooters had taken control of all the mall".

Shocked people could be seen running away from the Westgate centre clutching children while others crawled along walls to avoid stray bullets.

"The gunmen tried to fire at my head but missed. At least 50 people were shot. There are definitely many casualties," mall employee Sudjar Singh said.

"I saw a young boy carried out on a shopping cart, it looked like he was about 5 or 6. It looked like he was gone, he was not moving or making any noise."

Vehicles riddled with bullet holes were left abandoned in front of the mall as police instructed residents of the Westlands neighbourhood to stay away.

"Our officers are on the ground carrying out an evacuation of those inside as they search for the attackers who are said to be inside," Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said.

"We have managed to evacuate some people to safety. We urge Kenyans to avoid the area as we pursue the thugs," Kenya's interior ministry said on Twitter.

The Westgate mall, which opened in 2007, has restaurants, cafes, banks, a large supermarket and a cinema that attract thousands of people every day and have made it a Nairobi landmark.

It is popular with the large expatriate community living in the residential neighbourhoods around it, including with foreign staff from the United Nations, which has its third largest global centre nearby.

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New Sea World addition too cute to 'bear'

HE'S so cute he melts women's hearts and even grown men can't bear it.

Meet Henry - an adorable 19-week-old polar bear who is about to make a big splash at Sea World on the Gold Coast.

Staff at the theme park have fallen in love with Henry and he's sure to capture the hearts of hundreds when making his public debut on Saturday.

"Even the males who don't have an emotional bone in their body go 'oooh aaah'," Sea World's Director of Marine Sciences Trevor Long told AAP.

"Some staff members have been brought to tears when they see Henry.

"He is very cute and it is so special that people on the Gold Coast can look at a polar bear because there aren't many zoos in the world which have one."

Mr Long says Henry will captivate crowds as he explores his new exhibit 'Polar Pre-School' which he inhabits with his mother Liya.

However, those wanting to catch a glimpse of the cub should be prepared to fit in with his schedule.

"He plays for about 40 minutes, gets tired, goes for a sleep and then comes out again," Mr Long said.

Mr Long says Henry is about the size of a grown samoyed dog with the energy of a four-year-old child charged up on red cordial.

"He's about 12kg to 15kg," he said.

"He's very adventurous. Being a male he's very inquisitive and wants to learn new things."

Henry's cuteness also won't last forever as he is expected weigh between 550kg and 600kg once fully grown.

Sea World built its polar bear exhibit in 2000 with the aim of breeding the vulnerable species.

The first and last polar bear successfully bred in Australia was born in Adelaide in 1985.

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