THE company that makes Crocs shoes is getting a $US200 million ($A226.3 million) bailout from a private equity fund, and its CEO is retiring.
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Residents in and near Port Hedland have been told to take shelter as Cyclone Christine intensifies. Source: AAP
A RED alert remains in place for communities from Pardoo to Mardie in the Pilbara as tropical cyclone Christine starts to impact the region.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said the alert was current at 6.10pm (WST) for communities including Port Hedland, South Hedland, Whim Creek, Roebourne, Point Samson, Wickham, Karratha and Dampier.
"There is a threat to lives and homes." DFES said in a statement. "You are in danger and need to act immediately."
It urged residents in affected areas to "get ready to move to the strongest, safest part of your house".
"Keep your emergency kit with you. Stay away from doors and windows, and keep them closed. Stay indoors until the all-clear is given by authorities," DFES added.
It said relocation points had been set up at the JD Hardie Centre at Port Hedland, Karratha Leisureplex at Karratha, Civic Centre at Marble Bar, high school gym at Tom Price, and Ashburton Hall at Paraburdoo.
A yellow alert is current for people in or near Marble Bar, Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Pannawonica.
A blue alert has been issued for coastal areas between Wallal and Pardoo, between Mardie and Onslow, the inland area from Marble Bar to Newman, and between the Collier Ranges and Three Rivers.
In its latest update, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said the category-three cyclone was 75kms northwest of Port Hedland and 155kms northeast of Karratha.
It's moving towards the Pilbara coast at 16km/h, the bureau advised.
BoM said the "very destructive inner core" of the system "has begun to impact the coast between Port Hedland and Whim Creek".
It said Port Hedland was currently experiencing destructive wind gusts of up to 130km/h.
The bureau expected Christine to track south southwest, with the system's centre likely to cross the coast close to Whim Creek by about midnight.
BoM warns that winds of more than 200km/h are likely near the centre as the cyclone crosses the coast.
Winds of more than 130km/h are expected in the Karratha and Dampier region later Monday night and are forecast to hit Tom Price at 8am (WST) Tuesday.
BoM says gale-force winds up to 120km/h are currently occurring between Wallal and Roebourne, and should hit Karratha Monday night.
Coastal communities between Pardoo and Wickham including Port Hedland are also being warned about the potential for a for a "very dangerous storm tide tonight".
Heavy rainfall is expected near where the cyclone is tracking, and flood warnings have been issued for the Pilbara.
An extra 1000 police officers will be on the streets on New Year's Eve in Perth. Source: AAP
LIVE music, fancy-dress parties and fireworks are on offer in Perth for New Year's Eve, but police are warning revellers to act responsibly.
An extra 1000 police will be on the streets on New Year's Eve, to clamp down on rowdy or anti-social behaviour and drink-drivers.
Assistant Commissioner Gary Dreibergs said with so many people expected in Perth's entertainment precincts, people should look out for their mates and plan their trip home before they go out.
"To put it simply, respect yourself, and respect others," he said.
"All too often we see minor matters escalate into serious incidents because someone who has consumed too much alcohol isn't able to make the right decision to step away from a minor disagreement or other trivial occurrence, such as being bumped by someone else."
Police have also warned people not to hire drivers who are advertising their taxi services online illegally.
Family entertainment in Perth includes fireworks in Mandurah and Rockingham, and a party at Perth Zoo with live music.
On New Year's Day, about 35,000 people are expected to attend the Perth Cup at Ascot Racecourse.
BUSH communities across the Northern Territory will have more say as the government begins dismantling large councils in favour of more local representation.
From January 1, the Minister for Local Government will be granted far-ranging powers in terms of local government, such as being able to abolish or constitute a council, to suspend council members, and to call, cancel, defer or suspend an election.
Minister Dave Tollner has already announced the splitting of the Victoria Daly Shire Council southwest of Darwin into two separate bodies, with a new regional council to be set up in the Wadeye and Peppimenarti area by July.
The Act will reverse some of the "disastrous" decisions the previous Labor government made in relation to local government in remote communities, Attorney-General John Elferink told AAP.
"(They) allowed bureaucracy to get in the way of service delivery ... in the process they disenfranchised the people who were governed, and that cost them dearly in the bush."
Meanwhile, the NT's child protection system will also be more accountable than it has ever been, he said.
A Children's Commissioner Act was passed to enable a transparent child protection system, with an independent commissioner who can investigate service providers that fail to support vulnerable children, and monitor the government's implementation of decisions arising from inquiries into child protection.
Previously the commissioner's legislative existence was the product of the same act that governed child protection, Mr Elferink said.
Also from January 1, farmers will be able to obtain 30-year permits to diversify income streams on land held under pastoral lease tenure.
This includes producers reliant on the live export trade who face significantly reduced income.
And from the first day of the new year the Petroleum Act will be amended to the greatest extent since 1982 to attract greater exploration interest in the NT, said Minister for Mines and Energy Willem Westra van Holthe.
It will allow the controlled release of vacant land, and allow the government to accept multiple applications for exploration permits, as the NT pursues the oil and gas exploration industry.
GERMAN Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned an attack on the residence of the German ambassador in Athens, saying the act would not affect German-Greek relations.
"This is an act that we are taking very seriously. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can justify such an attack on a representative of our country," Steinmeier said in Berlin.
The foreign minister said the assailants would not succeed in "damaging the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks".
Greek police said shots were fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the residence of Wolfgang Doldt in the Athens district of Chalandri at 3am on Monday.
No one was injured in the attack.
At least 20 shots were fired, according to a report by the radio station Skai. Four bullets reportedly lodged in the garden gate.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had telephoned Chancellor Angela Merkel about the attack.
He said Merkel wished Greeks a good EU presidency over the next six months, saying that Greece could count on German support.
A spokesman for Steinmeier stated that the reaction by Greek authorities to the shooting was "quick and circumspect".
The Greek government also assured Germany that security measures would be strengthened at the site and that everything would be done to apprehend and prosecute the culprits.
According to press reports, anti-terrorism police have arrested three people.
The German ambassador's residence was the target of a terrorist attack in 1999 when an anti-tank weapon was fired at it.
Many in Greece blame Germany's stance on austerity measures for their economic troubles.
SYDNEYSIDERS are in for "absolutely spectacular" fireworks this New Year's Eve as the harbour city gears up to ring in 2014.
Tuesday night's fireworks will include 11,000 aerial shells and 25,000 shooting comets that will explode from seven barges spread across 6km of Sydney Harbour.
For the first time in a decade, 1000 fireworks will also be shot from the top of the Opera House, as well as from the Harbour Bridge and jet skis stationed in the harbour.
Fireworks displays will explode across the harbour at 9pm, 10.30pm and midnight.
Sydney New Year's Eve producer Aneurin Coffey said there was "something for everybody" in the pyrotechnic extravaganza.
"Plan your night ahead so work out where you want to go and work out a backup location in case that area is full," Mr Coffey said.
"It'll be absolutely spectacular, there's some really new stuff this year."
For those heading to the foreshore, organisers say the Sydney Opera House and Dawes Point usually see the first trickle of spectators from about 5am (AEDT), with Bradfield Park, Blues Point Reserve and Observatory Hill Park also popular early.
With 1.5 million people expected to flock to Sydney for the celebrations, organisers are also urging people to seek vantage points outside the CBD.
Emergency services will be out in high numbers, with 2500 police on the beat in Sydney and 3000 across NSW.
This year's top-secret bridge effect,a highlight of the midnight display, is said to be as big as a 12-storey building and 72 metres wide.
A POWERFUL bombing has rocked a central business district of central Beirut setting cars ablaze and killing five people, including a senior aide to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, officials said.
The National News Agency said Mohammed Chatah and his driver were both killed in the explosion, which wounded more than 70 others.
Lebanon has seen a wave of bombings over the past months as tensions rise over Syria's civil war. Hariri heads the main, Western-backed coalition in Lebanon which is engaged in bitter feuding with the militant Hezbollah group, which is allied to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The blast was heard across the city and sent thick black smoke billowing in the downtown posh commercial district behind the government house and above the seafront of the Lebanese capital.
The army cordoned off the area to prevent people from getting close to the scene, where the twisted wreckage of several cars was still smouldering. The explosion appeared to be the result of the car bomb, but security officials said they had no immediate confirmation.
Footage broadcast on Lebanese TV showed medical workers rushing the wounded to ambulances. At least two bodies could be seen lying on the pavement.
The conflict next door has raised tensions in Lebanon's Sunni and Shi'ite communities as each side lines up in support of their brethren in the conflict next door.
That has fuelled predictions that Lebanon, still recovering from its 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, is on the brink of descending into full-blown sectarian violence.
Chatah, a prominent economist and former ambassador to the US, was one of the closest aides to former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a truck bombing in Beirut in 2005, not far from Friday's explosion.
He later became finance minister when Hariri's son, Saad, took over the premiership, and stayed on as his senior adviser after he lost the post in early 2011.
The cost of using public transport in Victoria will rise by 2.5 per cent in 2014 under new changes. Source: AAP
VICTORIANS are set to pay more to use public transport and for the first time motorcycles will pay to use the CityLink freeway from New Year's Day.
And as the new year rings in with the sting on hip pockets, motorists can say goodbye to pesky vehicle registration stickers, which will be abolished from January 1.
The labels for light vehicles in Victoria, including passenger cars, will be a thing of the past, with the state government estimating it will save Victorians $19.5 million a year by reducing the red-tape burdens.
The move follows the removal of registration labels in other states.
Upgrades in technology mean police and VicRoads can monitor registrations without the need for the windscreen stickers.
Public transport fares will rise by 2.5 per cent under changes announced recently by the state government.
Two-hour fares will expire after exactly two hours and weekend fares will jump from $3.50 to $6 for a daily zone one and two pass.
Other changes include new charges for motorcyclists, who for the first time will be tolled to use CityLink from January 1.
The road operator will toll them using technology so they will not have to carry an e-TAG.
CityLink is the only toll road in Australia that does not toll motorcycles.
Under its contract with the Victorian government, it was always expected motorcycles would be charged, but they will be tolled half the rate for cars.
The tax grab on poker machines is also set to rise from April.
Taxes on poker machines in bigger venues will be increased by 4.2 per cent, while the minimum player return ratio will be reduced from 87 per cent to 85 per cent.
THE US-led coalition in Afghanistan says three service members have been killed when a suicide car bomber attacked their convoy in an eastern district of the capital, Kabul.
The International Security Assistance Force didn't provide details on the identities or nationalities of those killed in the attack on Friday.
Earlier, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanakzai said the attack, which occurred about a kilometre from the Camp Phoenix NATO base, wounded six civilians.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was behind the attack.
STRIKING workers making shoes and clothes for Western brands have blocked roads and briefly scuffled with police in Cambodia.
The workers are demanding a two-fold increase in the minimum wage to $A180.
The protests on Friday snarled traffic in and around the capital Phnom Penh.
Human rights activist Om Sam Ath said protesters blocking a highway leading to Sihanoukville throw stones at police, who fired into the air.
He said four workers were injured, but it was unclear how serious the injuries were.
Most of the country's 500 factories have been closed since Thursday, when the manufacturers association urged its members to cease operations, citing the fear of violence.
The garment industry employs more than 500,000 people and is Cambodia's biggest export earner.
The Christmas holiday road toll has risen to 12 following the death of a teenager and a cyclist. Source: AAP
THE Christmas holiday road death toll has risen to 13, with the latest victims including a teenage driver and a cyclist killed in an apparent hit-and-run accident.
An 18-year-old woman died on Friday after the ute she was driving rolled near Narrabri in northwest NSW.
Earlier, a female cyclist was killed in an alleged hit-and-run near Adelaide.
Police allege a 37-year-old woman hit the cyclist at Lower Inman Valley and drove off.
About an hour later, a police patrol on the Southern Expressway at Lonsdale spotted two people in a car with front-end damage and a cracked windscreen.
Both occupants were arrested and the female driver was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
About noon on Friday a 25-year-old truck driver died when his vehicle left the North South Road at Apple Tree Creek in Queensland and rolled.
Police believe he was not wearing a seatbelt.
Another motorist in southeast Queensland died on Friday afternoon after a crash involving a truck on the Mount Lindesay Highway.
The national road toll period runs from midnight on December 23, 2013, until midnight on January 3, 2014, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.
A GERMAN teenager has been killed in a single-vehicle accident in a remote part of Tasmania.
The 18-year-old woman's body was found in a vehicle that rolled on a dirt road in the Leven Canyon area.
Her 20-year-old companion is being treated in hospital.
Police said the pair were tourists and were on a narrow dirt road when the driver lost control on Friday afternoon.
The death is the first in Tasmania and the 14th nationally during the festive season toll period.
The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2013 until 2359 January 3, 2014, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.
SIX Chadian peacekeepers have been killed and 15 wounded after being ambushed in the Central African Republic's chaotic capital, the spokesman for an African Union peacekeeping force says.
Eloi Yao told The Associated Press by telephone on Thursday that the peacekeepers were attacked at noon on Wednesday but the identity of the attackers was unclear.
The Chadian contingent, which is made up of Arabic-speaking Muslim soldiers, has been accused of taking sides in the country's communal conflict.
They are seen as being anti-Christian and of having sided with the Muslim rebels who grabbed power in a coup nine months ago.
The attack further underscores the messy nature of the conflict in the Central African Republic, where both French and AU forces have come under attack.
PHILIPPINE communist rebels have vowed to intensify attacks against government troops and build a 25,000-strong guerrilla force, but the military has mocked the target as unrealistic.
New People's Army guerrillas marked the 45th founding anniversary of their underground party on Thursday with a clandestine gathering at a mountain lair, where they invited journalists in southeastern Agusan del Sur province.
A communist rebel statement urged the Maoist guerrillas to "wipe out enemy units and seize their weapons" and "increase the number of our Red fighters to 25,000."
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala, however, said the rebels, whose armed guerrilla strength has dwindled to 4000, have been on a decline and would not achieve such a target due to problems such as the loss of community support and infighting.
"They're dreaming," Zagala said. "The reality is they have been on a decline due to the loss of their mass bases, surrenders and other problems."
The communist rebellion in the Philippines began in the late 1960s with a ragtag group armed with a few rifles. The movement peaked during the repressive years under dictator Ferdinand Marcos with several thousand full-time guerrillas.
Though it remains one of the world's longest-running Marxist insurgencies, the rebel movement has grown considerably weaker in recent years due to battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism. They remain a national security concern.
Talks to end the rebellion have stalled since 2011 due to disagreements between the government and guerrillas over the release of several jailed rebel leaders.
PEOPLE are being urged to roll up their sleeves to help Australians get over one of the last hurdles of 2013.
In the lead-up to the New Year's Day holiday, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service needs to ensure it has a constant supply of platelets, a blood product often used by cancer patients.
Donations cannot be made on January 1 and the service needs 3000 Aussies to make appointments for December 31 and January 2.
Blood service spokesman Shaun Inguanzo says platelets have a shelf life of five days, which means stock collected on Friday will have expired or run out by New Year's Day, unless there's a constant flow of donations.
"In particular, we really need donors in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria," Mr Inguanzo said.
One in three Australians would need donated blood in their lifetime, he said.
"WANTED" posters of serial troublemakerswho terrorise bus drivers have been circulated to State Transit Authority bus depots.
THOUSANDS of electricity customers are signing up to fortnightly and monthly billing programs every week in a bid to cope with soaring power prices.
THE number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 42,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 338,000, the biggest drop since November 2012.
But economists say the figures from late November and December are warped by seasonal volatility around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays.
The US Labor Department says the less-volatile four-week average rose 4250 to 348,000.
Claims had jumped 75,000 in the two weeks that ended December 14 before plunging last week.
Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs and are now consistent with a solid job market.
Hiring has been healthy the past four months. The economy added an average of 204,000 jobs every month from August through November, an improvement from earlier this year.
The unemployment rate fell in November to 7 per cent.
A 72-YEAR-OLD American development worker who was kidnapped in Pakistan by al-Qaeda more than two years ago has appealed to President Barack Obama in a video to negotiate his release, saying he feels "totally abandoned and forgotten".
The video of Warren Weinstein released on Thursday was the first since two videos released in September 2012.
Weinstein, the country director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates, a US-based firm that advises a range of Pakistani business and government sectors, was abducted from his house in the eastern city of Lahore in August 2011.
In the video sent on Thursday to reporters in Pakistan including The Associated Press, Weinstein called on the US government to negotiate his release.
"Nine years ago I came to Pakistan to help my government, and I did so at a time when most Americans would not come here, and now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten," Weinstein said during the 13-minute video.
"And so I again appeal to you to instruct your appropriate officials to negotiate my release."
It was impossible to tell how much Weinstein's statement, made under the duress of captivity, was scripted by his captors.
The video and an accompanying letter purported to be from Weinstein was emailed anonymously to reporters in Pakistan.
The video was labelled "As-Sahab," which is al-Qaeda's media wing, but its authenticity could not be independently verified. The letter was dated October 3, 2013 and in the video Weinstein said he had been in captivity for two years.
In the video, Weinstein wore a grey track suit jacket and what appeared to be a black knit hat on his head. His face was partially covered with a beard.
Al-Qaeda has said Weinstein would be released if the US halted airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen and also demanded the release of all al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects around the world.
The White House has called for Weinstein's immediate release but has said it won't negotiate with al-Qaeda.
The videos last year showed Weinstein appealing for help from the Jewish community and Israel's prime minister.
A 69-YEAR-OLD man who was killed when his car crashed into a tree northwest of Bundaberg has become the first fatality on Queensland roads in the Christmas holiday period.
His death near Avondale at around 12.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday takes the national road toll for the holiday period to four.
Police said a member of the public reported the crash and the driver and sole occupant, believed to be a local man, died at the scene.
The death follows that of a man in northern NSW who was killed when the car he was in also hit a tree and split in two during a police pursuit.
A second man in the Holden sedan was critically injured in the high speed crash about 4km north of Moree at about 11pm (AEDT) on Monday.
Police said officers were attempting to catch up with the car after it passed a stationary RBT site on the Carnarvon Highway.
The death was the first in NSW for the holiday period and followed the deaths of two women in a two-car collision on the Calder Highway near Ouyen in Victoria's northwest at about 1pm on Monday.
* The national road toll period runs from 0001 December 23, 2013 until 2359 January 3, 2014, local times, in line with the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Board.
SOUTH Australian drivers aged over 70 will no longer have to undergo annual medical tests to keep their licence.
The move is aimed at supporting older people to be more active and engaged in the community, said Health and Ageing Minister Jack Snelling.
South Australia has the youngest age for a mandatory medical check across the nation, despite having the oldest mainland population.
"While some jurisdictions have compulsory medical testing for drivers at 75 and 80 years of age, there are some who do not have aged-based testing at all and that is what South Australia will move to from 1 September, 2014," Mr Snelling said on Tuesday.
Research had not shown that age-based testing reduced crash rates for older drivers, but it had prompted some to cease driving.
SA's crash rate was similar to Victoria's, which had no age-based testing, he said.
A working group is to be set up to see what alternatives could be implemented to ensure road safety is unaffected by these changes.
THE Christmas clock is ticking, and the tills have been ringing.
Last-minute shoppers have helped push Australian retailers towards what's tipped to be their biggest Christmas since the global financial crisis hit.
Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) CEO Margy Osmond says the overall spend in the four-week run-up to Christmas this year is expected to hit $29.6 billion.
"We think Australian retailers will probably have the best Christmas they've had for four or five years," she told AAP on Tuesday.
She said the last-minute rush had favoured the big retailers.
"A lot of the specialty stores have done much better this Christmas but there's no doubt in the last couple of weeks it's the department stores that are the big winners because it's the place you can go and tick every box all in the one spot," Ms Osmond said.
Residents in smaller states - the Northern Territory, the ACT, Tasmania - had generally gotten their Christmas shopping out of the way early, while their counterparts in NSW and Victoria were more likely to have left it till the last minute.
Kevin Finch was looking harried in Sydney's CBD on Tuesday evening, ticking off the people he was still buying for.
"My mother, my father, some family friends, and my grandma," he told AAP.
"Stupidly, I thought today would be a bit quieter."
He said he wouldn't be venturing out for the Boxing Day sales on Thursday, but keen bargain-hunters can get in earlier than that.
In a break with tradition, department store David Jones has already launched its post-Christmas sale online, while the Myer online sale will kick off at 9am (AEDT) on Wednesday.
ANRA's Margy Osmond is expecting a 5.6 per cent boost on post-Christmas sales figures from a year ago, with an expected $1.9 billion spend on Boxing Day alone.
Retailers predict stores around the country will take in more than $15 billion over the next three weeks, with the bulk of that likely to be spent on Boxing Day.
Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman told AAP he expects "a huge number of people" to head for malls around the country when the bricks-and-mortar sales start on Thursday.
But Mr Zimmerman didn't think the lure of early sales online would take away from the familiar frenzy seen in department stores on the day.
"There's a real atmosphere around Boxing Day sales, it's full of people, it's full of excitement and noise and generally speaking there's entertainment around," he said.
"You may well find that people will be encouraged to come out, they'll think it might not be quite so busy as it's been in the past because of the online sales, but I suspect it will be just as busy."
TWO young boys taken from a home south of Brisbane by a man in a silver sedan may be at risk, say police, who are seeking urgent public assistance to find them.
The boys, aged three and four, were taken from a residence in Errol Street, Loganlea, at around 3.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday.
Police said the boys were taken by a 30-year-old man who was known to them and they "may be at risk".
The man is described as being of Papua New Guinean appearance, 180cm tall, of heavy build, tanned complexion, with collar length dark curly hair, a black bushy beard and wearing black shorts and a black T-shirt.
The children are described as having very short haircuts, one having a tanned complexion and the other being described as fair.
Both are believed to be wearing denim shorts and one boy was not wearing a shirt.
Police say the man was driving a silver 2003 Toyota Camry sedan bearing Queensland registration 564IGC.
The car was last seen at Logan Village on Camp Cable Road around 4.45pm and was travelling west.
Police urge anyone with information to ring 131 564.
LOS Angeles police say talk show host Arsenio Hall drove off a road in the San Fernando Valley but he's uninjured.
Sgt Russell Carr tells City News Service that Hall lost control of his Porsche and drove into a dirt shoulder at around 7.15pm on Monday in West Hills.
The car had to be towed.
Carr says it's unclear why Hall lost control of the car but police have ruled out driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
A MAN has been charged after police seized more than 40 cannabis plants from the scene of a house fire in Sydney's west.
Emergency services were called to a home in Fairfield East on December 19 following reports of a fire, police say.
The blaze was extinguished and no one was injured during the incident.
During a search of the home, police allegedly discovered a hydroponic set up and seized 43 cannabis plants.
A 31-year-old man was arrested on Monday and charged with enhanced indoor cultivation of cannabis for commercial purpose.
The man was granted conditional bail and will appear before Parramatta Local Court on February 20.
AMERICANS increased their spending in November by the most in five months, and their income edged up modestly.
Consumer spending rose 0.5 per cent from October, when spending had risen 0.4 per cent, the Commerce Department said on Monday. It was the best showing since June. The gain was driven by a jump in spending on long-lasting durable goods such as autos.
Consumers' income rose 0.2 per cent, an improvement from a 0.1 per cent decline in October. Wages and salaries, the most important component of income, rose a solid 0.4 per cent. That gain reflected strength in the private sector and a modest gain in government pay.
Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 per cent of economic activity. The strong November showing suggests solid economic growth this quarter.
Steady hiring and modest wage gains have boosted consumer confidence and given Americans more money to spend. At the same time, higher stock and home prices have driven up household wealth and made some people more comfortable about spending.
The big rise in spending and smaller income gain meant that the personal saving rate slipped a bit to 4.2 per cent of after-tax income in November. That was down from 4.5 per cent in October.
An inflation gauge tied to consumer spending that is closely followed by the Federal Reserve showed that inflation is still running well below the Fed's target. Prices were unchanged in November and have risen just 0.9 per cent over the past 12 months. The Fed's target for annual inflation is 2 per cent.
THE federal government's treatment of asylum seekers suggests there would be "no room at the inn" for Mary and Joseph in a modern day Australia, Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Jeffrey Driver says.
In a Christmas message, Archbishop Driver says that in 2013, the holy family could be called internally displaced persons, travelling to Bethlehem to comply with a census ordered by a "super-power" that "wanted to impose its administrative structures".
A few days later, fleeing across the border to Egypt to escape a massacre, they had become refugees.
Archbishop driver says recent decisions by the commonwealth on asylum seekers to call such people who flee their homes illegal arrivals and to limit the number of temporary protection visas, suggest that they would not be welcome if they arrived in Australia today.
Archbishop Driver said no one was arguing that Australia have an open-door policy for limitless arrivals.
But he said that policy must be humane.
"The story of Christmas and the holy family calls for something better than we are presently seeing, an extraordinarily expensive process that risks dehumanising even those lucky enough to get into it," he said.
"Room at the Inn?
"Surely there must be, at least for some of the most frail and vulnerable no matter how they come."
CHURCH leaders have used their annual Christmas messages to attack the "selfie" culture, call for the faithful to cheer up, and condemn politicians' response to the plight of asylum seekers.
The nation's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, says the church's primary challenge could be responding to those "thirsting for God", not atheism.
He warned Christians not to become "sourpusses".
"Christians cannot answer this challenge if we look like we have just come from a funeral," he said in his Christmas message on Tuesday.
The newly minted Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, said Christmas was a good time to reflect on the rise of the selfie in Australian popular culture.
"At Christmas time we should remember that there is an ultimate self-image, the image of God, which far outweighs the supercilious picture of a face filling our screen," Dr Davies said on Christmas Eve.
"We are all stamped with the image of God and it is this image that makes us precious in his sight."
His counterpart in South Australia, Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver, said that in 2013 we'd think of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees - and based on the federal government's recent record, modern-day Australia would turn them away.
"The story of Christmas and the holy family calls for something better than we are presently seeing, an extraordinarily expensive process that risks dehumanising even those lucky enough to get into it," he said.
The National Council of Churches in Australia took a similar theme with a call for social justice in 2014.
"Clearly Jesus as God with us knows the experience of those seeking asylum in another land," the council's general-secretary, Reverend Tara Curlewis, said.
"He knows the experience of the poor and the homeless. Jesus is God with us in all life's experiences.
"May we in Australia know and see God with us."
FEDERAL Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has called on Australians to remember those facing an uncertain future this Christmas.
Mr Shorten said he was also thinking of emergency services workers and defence personnel.
"We'll be thinking of those who are working through the holidays," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
"We're also thinking of those who might be out of work this Christmas, or facing an uncertain future," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, 2900 Holden workers in Victoria and South Australia found out they would lose their jobs when Holden ceases making cars in 2017.
Mr Shorten said while Christmas was a celebration and a time for being with loved ones, it could be a hard time for many families.
"If you can, please reach out to those who might not be as fortunate," he said.
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has paid tribute to Australians spending Christmas away from their families in the service of others.
In his first Christmas message in the top job, Mr Abbott urged Australians to live up to their good nature and lend a hand to those doing it tough during the holiday season.
"We are a good and generous people," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mr Abbott made special mention of members of Australia's armed forces, and emergency workers who were missing Christmas lunches and dinners with their families so they can keep the community safe.
"This Christmas I pay tribute to everyone who's away from family because of their service to our country and our communities," he said.
"We all hope you have a quiet day."
He also thanked those working for charities looking after the less fortunate on Christmas Day.
THE National Australia Bank has entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission following an inquiry into an October 2012 share price spike on the Australian stock exchange.
The undertaking relates specifically to NAB's responsibility for potential market misconduct undertaken by the trading personnel of a contractor, which led to the spike, ASIC said on Monday.
"NAB has agreed to adopt specific monitoring and control systems for its direct market access trading and ASIC will supervise the certification of those systems for the next three years," the watchdog said in a statement.
It said the NAB would also make a voluntary contribution of $2 million to fund independent financial literacy projects in Australia.
ASIC Commissioner Cathie Armour said the undertaking was a timely, effective way to ensure there was genuine change to monitoring and control systems following the October 18, 2012 spike.
"It is imperative that entities have adequate monitoring and control systems in place to ensure this type of activity does not occur."
She said ASIC's investigation of the contractor and its trading personnel continued.
The third party equity index arbitrage business contracted to trade on NAB's behalf has not been named for legal reasons.
By 18 October 2012, following their decision to take an existing arbitrage position to expiry (which involved closing out a negative shares position), the Contractors Trading Personnel arranged to buy 197 of the shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX200) from one of NABs brokers, Goldman Sachs Australia, at the prices at which those shares matched in the ASX opening auction that morning.
ASIC said the NAB acknowledged concerns its contracted traders may have breached the Corporations Act in the way they placed sell orders in larger volumes than they intended to trade in an opening auction in order to later trade shares at advantageous prices for the bank.
In a statement the NAB said it had worked closely with ASIC throughout its investigation and the bank took its regulatory compliance obligations very seriously.
"NAB does not condone or accept any activity that undermines or has the potential to undermine market integrity."
The bank said the equity index arbitrage business formed only a very small part of its overall trading activity and "NAB terminated the operations of this third party business in late 2012".
"The issues that have been identified do not raise concerns as to NAB's broader trading activity or control environment," the bank said.
TWO US military aircraft responding to the outbreak of violence in South Sudan have been hit by incoming fire, wounding three US service members.
Two officials said the aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.
One of the wounded service members was reported to be in a critical condition.
Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda.
From there, the service members flew on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.
Both officials demanded anonymity to share information not yet made public. Both officials work in East Africa and are in a position to know the information.
A STRING of attacks across Iraq has killed 15 people, including a senior military commander, a colonel and five soldiers who all died during a raid on an al-Qaeda hideout, officials said.
Police officials said army Major General Mohammed al-Karawi, the colonel and the five troops were killed on Saturday when they stormed the booby-trapped hideout in the area of Rutba, in Iraq's volatile Sunni western Anbar province.
Al-Karawi, who commanded the Iraqi army's 7th Division, was leading a search operation hunting for al-Qaeda fighters in the area. Four soldiers were wounded in the operation, the police said.
Also in western Iraq, gunmen in a speeding car opened fire at a police checkpoint in the city of Fallujah earlier on Saturday, killing four policemen.
In the north, near the city of Kirkuk, an army officer and a soldier were killed when two mortar shells struck a military camp, officials said.
And in the town of Latifiyah, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, a mortar shell hit a group of Shi'ite pilgrims heading to the holy sites in the city of Karbala.
The pilgrims were commemorating Arbaeen, the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, a revered Shi'ite figure.
Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims make their way every year to Karbala for Arbaeen. Al-Qaeda fighters and other Sunni insurgents frequently target Shi'ites, whom they consider to be infidels. Iraqi security forces also often poorly protect Shi'ite marches and pilgrimages to holy sites.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.
Violence has spiked in Iraq since a deadly crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in a northern town in April. At least 367 people have died in attacks across the country so far this month, according to an Associated Press count.
A THEME park near London has been forced to close after a blaze in one of its cafes.
There are no reports of any injuries.
A Chessington spokesman said no staff, visitors or animals were injured.
"The theme park and zoo were closed at the time of this incident and, therefore, no guests were involved," the park said in a statement.
"All staff areas were immediately evacuated and all staff and animals are safe and well.
"The fire has been brought under control and the fire service remain on site and in charge of the incident."
SAUDI Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 56 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak.
The Health Ministry said Saturday that a 73-year-old, chronically ill man had died in a Riyadh hospital.
He was among 136 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September last year.
The ministry also says three new cases have been detected, including two foreign women working in the kingdom's health care services and a Saudi man.
The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.
ASTRONAUTS have stepped out on the first of a series of urgent repair spacewalks at the International Space Station.
The two Americans on the crew floated outside on Saturday morning.
They will disconnect an ammonia pump that contains a bad valve.
The breakdown has crippled the space station's critical cooling system.
The pump replacement is a huge undertaking, attempted only once before, in 2010.
NASA has ordered up three spacewalks to complete the job, with the next to begin on Monday.
Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins will go back out again Christmas Day, if any work remains.
The six-man crew had to turn off all non-essential equipment inside the orbiting lab following the malfunction on December 11, when scientific research came to a near-halt.
VANDALS in Sweden have burned down for the 27th time a giant straw goat meant to symbolise Christmas spirit.
The 13-metre high and 3.6-tonne heavy straw goat was engulfed in flames early on Saturday after unidentified assailants attacked it in the Swedish town of Gavle, 150km north of Stockholm.
The straw goat is a centuries-old Scandinavian yule symbol that preceded Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts.
Since 1966, when the tradition of erecting the giant straw goat in the town square was introduced, Vandals have burnt it down 27 times.
Police have rushed in and grabbed a man from a car after a stand-off outside NSW Parliament. Source: AAP
A DISGRUNTLED former taxi driver who sparked a two-hour stand-off outside NSW Parliament has been charged.
Abdula Ganiji has been charged with threatening sabotage and possessing an explosive or article to damage property.
He has also been charged with threatening to destroy or damage property, police said.
It comes several hours after Ganiji sparked a lockdown of Macquarie Street in Sydney's CBD when he drove his white Chrysler sedan onto the footpath outside parliament at about 11.40am (AEDT) on Friday.
A large part of the street was quickly cordoned off and MPs and staff in parliament house were warned to keep clear of the front of the building.
For over two hours the 58-year-old from the Wollongong area passed lists of demands from inside the car to plain-clothes police negotiators.
Hundreds of city workers gathered at the police cordon and parliament went into partial lockdown, before the siege ended dramatically just before 2pm (AEDT).
There were loud bangs and flashes as up to a dozen heavily armed tactical officers swarmed the vehicle, smashing the car's windows and firing a canister of gas inside before dragging Ganiji into custody.
Police later said he had made threats of self harm, was known to police and was a regular visitor at parliament.
After he was handcuffed and dragged off for medical checks, police officers and firefighters removed a device from the car before conducting tests on the vehicle.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters the man had a container of flammable liquid, which AAP understands was petrol, which he was threatening to set alight.
Mr Murdoch praised the quick actions of police.
"When that man attempted to light a cigarette lighter, wind the windows of the car up with what we believe to be a container of flammable liquid in the vehicle, those officers put their lives on the line this afternoon and they resolved the situation in a peaceful manner," he said.
The man was receiving medical attention for minor cuts suffered in the struggle with police, Mr Murdoch said, but compared to the threats he was making those injuries were "very, very minor in the scheme of things".
"The mere fact we're in front of our state parliament, in the middle of Sydney in the middle of the day - certainly that posed a risk," Mr Murdoch said.
"(But) at no time was any member of the community at risk, no one in any building was at risk and importantly no members of parliament were at risk because of this incident.
"We were very comfortable at all times that we had the measure of the fellow."
Mr Murdoch could not confirm reports the man had sought a meeting with Premier Barry O'Farrell, who stayed inside parliament throughout.
"He was making certain demands of the police but we weren't in a position to meet those demands, nor were we ever in a position to entertain them," he said.
"Our whole tactic was to contain and negotiate with the man.
Ganiji last year staged a hunger strike for several days outside parliament about a $200 fine he received 15 years ago.
He had called on Mr O'Farrell to solve a dispute with his employer, Wollongong Radio Cabs.
Ganiji told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper last year he was fined by the company for misusing his taxi radio by clicking the buttons unnecessarily, causing problems on the communications network.
He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.
Police said investigations into the incident were continuing.
THREE decades after Sydney nurse Mary Louise Wallace went missing, a 61-year-old man has been charged with her murder and refused bail.
Ms Wallace, 33, went missing from Sydney's north shore in the early hours of September 24, 1983.
On the night she disappeared Ms Wallace had dinner and drinks with nursing colleagues at the Alpine Inn, in Crows Nest.
A 2010 inquest into her death heard she was last seen getting into a car with a man.
Ms Wallace was never seen again, and her body was never found.
Following three decades of investigations, including a 2010 coronial inquest and excavations at Lane Cove National Park, Robert Adams was arrested on Friday at his Gladesville home and refused bail at Parramatta Local Court.
Detective Chief Inspector John Lehmann said the man was known to police and had been the subject of intensive investigation.
"The evidence against him is quite comprehensive, which we'll be putting before the court," Det Chief Insp Lehmann told reporters.
He said police would put physical, forensic and DNA evidence before the court as well as witness statements he labelled "very important to our brief of evidence".
Homicide Squad Detective Superintendent Michael Willing said on Friday that police would continue searching for Ms Wallace's body.
Det Chief Insp Lehmann said Ms Wallace's friends and family were glad to hear an arrest had been made.
"They're very pleased with the result. They know it's just the start of a long court process," he said.
He called the arrest a "credit to the investigators who have put in tireless hours and an enormous amount of effort and dedication to this particular case".
TWO former personal assistants to Charles Saatchi and his ex-wife Nigella Lawson have been cleared of fraud.
The jury at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, found Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo not guilty of a single count of fraud each.
It was alleged that between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012, the women committed fraud by abusing their positions as PAs, using a company credit card for personal gain - and were accused of spending more than STG685,000 ($A1.27 million) on themselves.
Elisabetta, 41, sometimes referred to in court as Lisa, and Francesca, 35, both of Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater, west London, had been accused of living the "high life".
The court heard they used credit cards loaned to them by the TV cook and her ex-husband Saatchi to buy designer goods from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood.
Francesca was accused of spending the largest amount on herself - a sum of STG580,000.
But the sisters insisted all of their purchases had been authorised.
And in a sensational twist their defence lawyers introduced allegations of drug-taking by Lawson and marital strife involving the celebrity couple.
It was claimed by the defence that there was a culture of secrecy within the high-profile couple's marriage and that the Grillo sisters were aware of Lawson's alleged drug use, while Saatchi was not.
The defence claimed that Elisabetta's knowledge of Lawson's supposed drug use materially affected the TV cook's attitude towards her spending.
After the three-week trial, the jury of seven men and five women rejected the prosecution's claims that the purchases on the cards had been unauthorised.
A NIGERIAN court has sentenced the convicted participant of a 2011 Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church to life in prison.
At least 44 people died in the explosion.
The Federal High Court found Kabiru Sokoto guilty of terrorism and murder.
The state argued he had prior knowledge that the Boko Haram network planned to bomb St Theresa's church, just outside Abuja, Nigeria's capital, but failed to notify law enforcement officers.
Sokoto, who is also known as Kabiru Umar, pleaded not guilty and argued that the state did not provide evidence linking him to the bombing.
A car bomb exploded outside the church as worshippers came out of an early-morning service on Christmas Day in the first attacks targeting Christians by extremists staging an uprising in the northeast.
FARMERS from the island of Crete are clashing with police outside Greece's parliament as MPs prepare to vote on a new property tax that will extend the levy to include farms.
Hundreds of farmers took an overnight ferry to protest in Athens on Friday.
They hurled oranges at riot police and battered the shields police were holding with traditional shepherds' walking sticks.
The new tax is part of measures required under Greece's international bailout agreements.
A SECOND man has been charged after hundreds of MDMA tablets and a handgun were allegedly found at a Bringelly property earlier this month.
VIDEO, PICS: Unseen footage and photographs of Australian rocker Bon Scott performing with an Adelaide Hills band have emerged. WATCH HERE
ELITE private schools are snapping up properties and turning themselves into Sydney's wealthiest landholders - despite still receiving government funding.
A MONKEY in a snow suit, a scared boss and a terrible news anchor were among the nominees for this year's funniest video. But which was named the best by Jimmy Kimmel?
MARGOT Robbie has admitted that her steamy sex scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio on-screen were actually "the least romantic thing."
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been sworn in to a third term as Germany's head of government. Source: AAP
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union members must be open to treaty changes to strengthen joint economic governance in the 28-nation bloc.
Merkel was speaking on Wednesday, a day after starting her third term as leader of Europe's biggest economy and ahead of a visit to Paris, followed by a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
She told parliament that the EU needs to work toward more centralised financial and economic governance, where members can be compelled to meet certain fiscal targets, even if this requires changes to key EU treaties.
"Since the Lisbon Treaty we have a situation in Europe where everyone says, 'we can develop everything but we can't change the treaties'," Merkel said.
"I don't think that we can build a truly functioning Europe that way."
French President Francois Hollande has rejected changing EU treaties, pushing for more pro-growth policies and less austerity within the existing European charters.
Other EU members are also sceptical about renegotiating treaties, which may require referendums, amid rising euroscepticism in many countries.
Merkel, making her case for evolving charters in the EU, said "we have a situation in Europe where Germany is often accused of resisting certain developments. This is not the case.
"We are among those who say that we must, if treaties are no longer sufficient, develop those treaties."
"Those who want more Europe must be ready for new rules on some competencies," she added.
Merkel was sworn in for a third term on Tuesday, almost three months after winning September 22 elections, leading a "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats.
Addressing the Bundestag legislature, Merkel said that her new government wants for Germany, as a founding member of the EU, to continue "to take a responsible role and one that promotes integration in Europe".
GREENPEACE'S Arctic 30 have expressed relief after the Russian parliament voted to grant them amnesty, the environmental organisation says.
Three months after 28 activists and two freelance journalists were arrested at an Arctic oil platform, the Duma has voted for an amendment that extends an amnesty decree.
The activists, who have been charged with hooliganism, are now waiting on a final vote to grant them freedom.
Greenpeace said it looked to be only a matter of time until they can return to their families.
"The legal proceedings against the Arctic 30 are now almost certain to come to an end and the 26 non-Russians will be free to return home to their families as soon as they are given exit visas by the Russian authorities," the organisation said in a statement.
Tasmanian activist Colin Russell and permanent Australian residents Alex Harris from Sydney and Jon Beauchamp from Adelaide have expressed relief at the vote.
"I know Colin Russell is desperate to get back to Tassie and return to a normal life after this extraordinary ordeal which has been so taxing for him, his wife Chrissie and daughter Maddy," Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Reece Turner said on Wednesday.
Mr Turner said Ms Harris was looking forward to the simple things when she returns to Australia.
"When I was in St Petersburg recently I asked Alex Harris, who works in our office, what she was going to do first when she's back home in Australia.
"She said apart from seeing her friends and her dear cousin Gemma she was really looking forward to walking along Manly beach as a free woman."
The group of environmental activists were imprisoned in September after protesting against Russia's Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Arctic.
The captain of the Arctic Sunrise, Peter Willcox said he should never have been charged and jailed in the first place.
"We sailed north to bear witness to a profound environmental threat but our ship was stormed by masked men wielding knives and guns.
"Now its nearly over and we may soon be truly free. But there's no amnesty for the Arctic," he said in a statement.
Greenpeace said it was unclear when the non-Russians in the group, including Mr Russell, would be able to leave the country.
Earlier this month 26 of the activists from 17 nations had their passports returned to them but they do not have the correct visas to leave Russia.
Greenpeace said the campaign to free the Arctic 30 has involved 860 protests in 46 countries.
Meanwhile more than 2.6 million people wrote to Russian embassies, the organisation said.
TWO men accused of attacking a 36-year-old man in Melbourne could be facing more serious charges after he died in hospital from his injuries.
Police had initially charged the pair with intentionally causing serious injury and other offences after finding a 36-year-old man had been brutally attacked in the streets of Fitzroy on Monday evening.
But the man died in hospital on Wednesday, leading homicide detectives to consider laying different charges.
"The charges are likely to be upgraded," a police spokeswoman said.
Narada Seresen, 35, of no fixed address, and Jasper Meagher, 26, of Carlton, will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday over the incident.
PLASTIC bank notes are to be issued by the Bank of England for the first time when the new STG5 ($A9.19) note featuring Sir Winston Churchill appears in 2016.
A STG10 ($A18.39) note featuring Jane Austen to follow around a year later will also be made from polymer rather than the cotton paper currently used, the Bank said.
It follows a three-year research program that concluded plastic notes stay cleaner for longer, are more difficult to counterfeit and are at least twice as longer-lasting.
A public consultation across the UK, giving people the chance to handle the notes, found 87 per cent of 13,000 individuals who responded were in favour of polymer.
Bank governor Mark Carney said: "Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of bank note design to meet that objective.
"The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at a lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."
The new notes will retain their familiar look, the Bank said, including the portrait of the Queen and a historical character.
Meanwhile, the Bank announced new guidelines on how it chooses historical figures to feature on bank notes, which include the aim that they should "reflect the diverse nature of British society".
A FORMER personal assistant of Nigella Lawson and her art dealer ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who is accused of defrauding the couple, has denied she was a fantasist and a "shopaholic".
Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are alleged to have spent STG685,000 ($A1.26 million) on credit cards belonging to the TV cook and the multimillionaire Saatchi.
On Wednesday, the court heard that the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.
The younger sister was accused by prosecutor Jane Carpenter of lying about her expenditure on a work credit card having been authorised by Saatchi and Lawson, who divorced earlier this year.
"I haven't lied to this court," said Grillo. "I don't think I'm a fantasist as Ms Lawson suggested. I would have to disagree."
Carpenter said Grillo had admitted being a "shopaholic" in a phone call after the allegations of fraud came to light, but the defendant said of that claim: "I don't think so."
Addressing claims that she took advantage of her position and felt she was "on to a good thing", Grillo replied: "I didn't have to feel like I was part of a good thing.
"They were my family. I was very, very lucky. They loved me, I loved them back. Despite being here defending myself ... I still have feelings for them."
The seven men and five women on the jury were shown pages from Lawson's latest cookbook, Nigellissima, for which Grillo said she and her sister contributed a recipe for lasagne which was published.
"She refers to two friends from Calabria, or two sisters," added Grillo.
She claimed that during her trips to her native Italy while employed by the family, she would use the company card to buy food items and props for Lawson which were used in the book.
Asked why she offered to pay back money to the Saatchi-Lawson family when she was confronted with allegations of misusing the credit card, Grillo said she had hoped things would get back to normal.
She added: "It's difficult for people to understand how close I was to these people ... It's not like any person down the street. You want to make things better."
RUSSIAN lawmakers have unanimously approved a Kremlin-backed amnesty bill that will lead to charges being dropped against 30 Greenpeace crew members, as well as freeing two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot.
Russia's Duma lower house of parliament voted 446 in favour, to none against, for the amnesty, which commemorates 20 years since Russia ratified its current constitution.
It should also allow several anti-Vladimir Putin protesters, jailed after a May 2012 rally, to walk out of prison.
Greenpeace says that the legal proceedings against the 28 activists and two journalists are "almost certain to come to an end" and that the 26 non-Russians among them will be free to return home as soon as they get Russian exit visas.
Russia arrested 30 members of a Greenpeace ship in September, including an Australian and two permanent residents, for protesting against oil drilling in the Russian Arctic.
They were released last month, but remain under investigation on hooliganism charges.
Greenpeace lawyer Anton Beneslavsky said on Tuesday it was too early to say when the charges could be dropped, but that it "won't happen in the course of a day".
The amnesty's original draft only listed persons convicted of hooliganism as beneficiaries, but an amendment added on Wednesday extends that to defendants who have been charged.
Greenpeace says it's not yet clear when the group will be allowed home, or what will happen to its vessel the Arctic Sunrise, which remains impounded in Murmansk since the arrests.
Tasmanian activist Colin Russell and permanent Australian residents Alex Harris from Sydney and and Jon Beauchamp from Adelaide have expressed relief at the vote.
"I know Colin Russell is desperate to get back to Tassie and return to a normal life after this extraordinary ordeal which has been so taxing for him, his wife Chrissie and daughter Maddy," Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Reece Turner said on Wednesday.
Another activist, Ana Paula Maciel from Brazil, says she's relieved, but not celebrating.
"I spent two months in jail for a crime I didn't commit and faced criminal charges that were nothing less than absurd, but now at last it seems like this saga could soon be over and it may not be long before we're back with our families," she said.
"Right now, my thoughts are with our Russian colleagues. If they accept this amnesty, they will have criminal records in the country where they live, and all for something they didn't do. All because we stood up for Arctic protection."
Arctic Sunrise captain Peter Wilcox, of the United States, said he should never have been charged.
"I might soon be going home to my family, but I should never have been charged and jailed in the first place.
"We sailed north to bear witness to a profound environmental threat but our ship was stormed by masked men wielding knives and guns.
"Now it's nearly over and we may soon be truly free, but there's no amnesty for the Arctic."
Irina Khrunova, the lawyer for imprisoned Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, said that she expects her clients to be released before the end of year, the Itar Tass news agency reported.
On Tuesday, Khrunova - as well as Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov - had said that they could be freed as early as Thursday.
The women are serving two-year sentences for performing a political protest song against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church and are currently due to be released in March.
TWO men are in hospital after being stabbed in what police believe are related incidents in Sydney's southwest.
Emergency services were called to Meredith Street in Bankstown at 9pm on Tuesday following reports of a stabbing.
A man, aged in his 20s, was taken to Liverpool Hospital with multiple stab wounds and in a serious condition.
At about the same time, an 18-year-old man arrived at Bankstown Hospital with a stab wound. He has since been transferred to Liverpool Hospital.
Police are investigating the incidents, and say they may be linked.
A London court has heard TV cook Nigella Lawson was unhappy in her marriage to Charles Saatchi. Source: AAP
NIGELLA Lawson's former personal assistant "frequently" found rolled-up banknotes with white powder on them in her handbag, she has told a court.
Francesca Grillo, who along with her sister Elisabetta is on trial accused of defrauding Lawson and former husband Charles Saatchi, said she never saw Lawson taking drugs although she did find evidence of drug use on many occasions.
She said she first saw the rolled-up notes at the food writer's Shepherd's Bush home, in the kitchen after a party and also in a guest bedroom.
One of her jobs as Ms Lawson's aide was to exchange items between her handbags, and she would find rolled-up banknotes in those, she told Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Tuesday.
Asked how often she found the banknotes, Grillo said: "Frequently. Every time I went through her handbag there was some notes. It was very frequent."
Asked if she ever raised the issue of drugs, she replied: "No. I didn't think it was my place."
Lawson would tell Francesca "you're good at finding things" and ask her to look for belongings in her handbags, the jury heard.
Lawson would sometimes come downstairs with white powder on her nose and Francesca would point it out to her, but would be told by the cook it was make-up.
Asked by defence counsel Karina Arden if the substance could have been make-up, Grillo replied: "Too white to be make-up."
She also noted that the TV cook often had a runny nose, the court heard.
Francesca Grillo, 35, and her sister Elisabetta, 41, are accused of defrauding the celebrity couple by spending 685,000 euros ($A1.06 million) on credit cards belonging to them.
The court has heard the siblings bought designer clothes, shoes and luxury holidays on the cards.
Francesca also recalled how she improvised an excuse to protect her employer when a child discovered a hollow book containing what the employee thought were drugs.
The defendant told the court: "She (the child) said 'Look what I found in (the) book!'.
"It was a small plastic bag with white powder. I made up something."
Grillo said the clandestine book also contained items of jewellery belonging to Lawson's late husband John Diamond.
She said she found cannabis in a child's room in the home, and the television cook would swig from bottles containing liquid medication.
She told the court: "Tazepam, Xanax ... Ms Lawson had medication for depression.
"She would take it directly from the bottle."
Asked by Arden how frequently she would see Lawson take medication in this way, Francesca said: "Very often. She had one bottle in the kitchen and one bottle in the bedroom."
She told the court she did not originally mention the alleged drug use in her first statement to police, but did so after photographs of Saatchi and Lawson at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair emerged in the press during the year.
"The one that stuck in my mind was the one of him picking her nose. Maybe he found something relating to drugs.
"I maybe thought if he didn't know that, he probably didn't know about the authorisation - the allowance - of the signatures (by Ms Lawson, on personal expenditure)."
The UN has called for $US6.5 billion in aid for the expected 4.1 million Syrian refugees in 2014. Source: AAP
THE long-delayed "Geneva II" peace conference for Syria will open in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux because of a lack of hotel space in Geneva, the United Nations says.
"The international conference on Syria ... will be held due to logistical reasons ... in Montreux," said Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to organise the conference.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month finally set January 22 as the date for the talks, which have been repeatedly postponed since June.
But a luxury watch fair will be taking place in Geneva at the same time.
The global elite will also begin gathering for the annual World Economic Forum that begins in the Swiss ski resort of Davos on January 22, many of them passing through Geneva.
As a result, the city's hotels are fully booked, leading organisers to look for alternatives.
Montreux was decided upon, Mattar said, for a variety of reasons, including security considerations and the availability of hotel space in the scenic town at the other end of Lake Geneva known for its jazz festival.
The conference centre at the Montreux Palace will only host the first day of high-level talks on January 22, hosted by Ban and including all invited country delegations.
Negotiations between the two Syrian delegations and Brahimi will then continue at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva on January 24, but it has not been decided how long the talks will continue, Mattar said.
Meanwhile, UN agencies have launched what they say is the biggest-ever relief appeal for a single emergency, as they called for $US6.5 billion ($A7.3 billion) in funds for Syrians in 2014.
The UN's humanitarian affairs and refugee agencies said on Monday that $US2.3 billion is needed to provide for people inside the war-torn country, with the remainder for Syrian refugees in the region.
"We're facing a terrifying situation here, where, by the end of 2014, substantially more of the population of Syria could be displaced or in need of humanitarian help than not," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in Geneva.
"This goes beyond anything we have seen in many, many years, and makes the need for a political solution all the greater."
The agencies warned that they were planning for up to 4.1 million refugees by the end of 2014 - of a total pre-war population of 22.4 million.
More than 2.3 million Syrians have so far fled the country since the conflict began in 2011, with more than four million estimated to be displaced inside its borders.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP), one of the bodies participating in the multi-agency plan, separately announced it would feed 4.25 million Syrians next year, at a cost of $US2 billion.
The WFP said almost 6.3 million people in the country needed "urgent, life-saving food assistance".
It pledged to focus on preventing child malnutrition, giving food supplements to 240,000 children aged 6 to 23 months.
US murder suspect Amanda Knox has emailed an Italian court to say she is "afraid" to show up for her trial on charges of killing British student Meredith Kercher, judge Alessandro Nencini says.
Knox, who is a defendant, along with her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, is letting herself be tried in absentia.
She has signalled she would not return to Italy to serve her sentence if she is found guilty.
"I am not in the courtroom because I am afraid," Knox said in a message in Italian that was read out in court by Nencini on Tuesday.
"I am afraid that you will be influenced by the vehemency of the accusations, that you will be blinded by their smokescreens."
The judge dismissed Knox's email as "unorthodox" and said those who "want to speak at a trial should come to the trial".
He said lawyers for the defence vouched for the authenticity of the message.
Ms Kercher was 21 when she died.
She was found on November 2, 2007, half-naked and with multiple stab wounds, in the apartment she was sharing with Knox and two other female students in the central Italian university town of Perugia.
Knox and Sollecito were arrested days after the crime.
In 2009, they were jailed for 26 years and 25 years, respectively, after Perugia judges concluded in a first instance ruling that the pair, along with a third person, had killed Kercher during a group sex game.
They were acquitted in 2011 after an appeal court deemed incriminating DNA evidence to be unreliable.
Freed from prison, Knox returned to her home city of Seattle.
But the verdict was annulled in March by Italy's top appeals body, which ordered a retrial and moved proceedings from Perugia to Florence.
Judges are expected to issue a new ruling in January, but it could be appealed again.
HELICOPTER manufacturer Eurocopter has issued a worldwide safety alert after a fault was found in the model of craft that crashed into a Glasgow pub, killing 10 people.
The company said there was a problem with the fuel indication system on some of its EC135 aircraft, the same type as the police helicopter involved in the Clutha bar tragedy in Glasgow last month.
Operator Bond Air Services temporarily suspended flights of its 22 EC135 helicopters last week after a fuel gauge fault was discovered on an air ambulance in the North West of England.
The suspension affected air ambulance and police helicopters across the UK, many of which have now resumed flights.
Eurocopter has now issued a safety information notice after tests revealed other aircraft may be affected by similar issues.
A statement said: "Eurocopter has been informed by Bond Air Services of an issue involving the fuel indication system experienced during normal operations by one of its EC135 EMS aircraft.
"Following this incident, fuel system functionality tests performed by Bond Air Services and two other EC135 operators in Europe have revealed possible similar supply-tank fuel gauging errors on some aircraft.
"This incident is currently under in-depth investigation by Eurocopter. The first analysis shows that the indication of the fuel quantity in the supply tanks could be over-estimated."
The safety notice warns crews that in the "worst case" scenario, a red low fuel warning could appear without any amber fuel caution beforehand.
In a statement, Bond said: "We note that Eurocopter has today issued a safety information notice to operators of the EC135 across the world confirming that some of their aircraft have a fault in the fuel indication and alert system which means that warning system may not work properly.
"This was a fault discovered by Bond during normal service operations on Wednesday 11th, which we immediately reported to Eurocopter and the appropriate authorities.
"We understand other operators have since conducted similar tests and found similar problems with their aircraft.
"As soon as we discovered this issue, in line with our commitment to the highest standards of safety, we took the prudent decision to temporarily suspend service operations whilst we conducted checks on our fleet of EC135s.
"The results of these tests were subsequently validated by Eurocopter, and appropriate repairs made before returning the aircraft to service."
The company said it had ordered that all its EC135s should have a minimum of 90kg of fuel on board at all times.
An initial report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the Glasgow crash said there was "no evidence of major mechanical disruption of either engine" of the Police Scotland helicopter.
In addition, the helicopter still had 95 litres of the 400kg of fuel that it had taken off with from Glasgow City Heliport.
The three people on board the Bond-operated aircraft and seven people in the pub died when it crashed on November 29.
A KEEPER at Shanghai's zoo has been mauled to death by a rare South China tiger after entering its enclosure, officials and colleagues say.
In brief statements on their Twitter-like microblogs, the zoo and Municipal Landscaping Administration said investigators were looking into the cause of the attack.
The administration said the tiger was a 9-year-old male with no prior record of aggression against people.
It said the attack occurred at the zoo's breeding facility where safety procedures are in place.
State media reports identified the victim as a 56-year-old man surnamed Zhou.
They cited unidentified colleagues as saying the man entered the tiger enclosure to clean it and "did not come out again".
The highly endangered South China tiger is considered effectively extinct in the wild after decades of being hunted as a pest.
Only a few are kept in zoos.
Built on a former golf course, Shanghai's zoo is one of China's largest and most popular urban animal parks.
PERSONAL items belonging to late actress Farrah Fawcett have fetched $US200,000 ($A224,997.19) at auction.
Items including the iconic red swimsuit she wore for an Esquire magazine shoot, her passport, a script from her 1984 TV film The Burning Bed, and a People's Choice Award went under the hammer at Heritage Auctions in Dallas in Texas on Thursday.
Margaret Barrett, the director of entertainment and music auctions for Heritage, said: "The intense competition for Farrah's items in this auction speaks to how popular she continues to be with collectors."
In addition to Fawcett's belongings, the suit Gene Kelly got wet in 1952 movie Singin' in the Rain sold for just over $US106,000.
A 45-YEAR-OLD woman has been killed in Sydney's west when the car she was driving crashed at Hassall Grove.
Police say the woman was driving along Luxford Road about 12.50am (AEDT) on Sunday when her car hit the gutter, before crashing through the guard rail and hitting an embankment.
Investigations are continuing and police will prepare a report for the coroner.
A MAN who went missing for four days in southwest Queensland, sparking a massive air and land search, has been found.
Two aircraft, police and State Emergency Service volunteers helped search a property south of Quilpie after the man, in his 50s, was reported missing on Saturday morning.
But he had not been since Thursday, December 12, police said.
The man had been working on his property and went to check bores but did not return.
His bogged vehicle was found on a neighbouring property on Saturday.
Police said the man was found at 5.20pm on Sunday on a property near Eulo, in the area they'd been searching.
He was airlifted to Roma Hospital for treatment.
A POLICEMAN had to use "defensive strikes" to force a man to release his grip on his groin during a brawl at a Newcastle A-League soccer match.
Another police officer was punched in the head by another man in the melee, which saw a spectator punched in the face three times on Saturday night.
Police from the Public Order and Riot Squad and local officers were patrolling the match between the Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers at the Hunter Stadium when a fight broke out and objects were thrown at 9.40pm.
They say the crowd turned hostile towards them when they intervened.
During a scuffle, a 21-year-old man allegedly grabbed the policeman's groin and refused to let go.
The man, police say, had been hindering police when he was pushed out of the way and fell on the ground.
He was arrested and charged with assault police.
He will appear in Newcastle Local Court on January 16.
At the same match police spoke to three spectators who were allegedly causing trouble.
One man refused to follow a police direction to return his seat.
Police allege he punched another spectator in the face three times before turning on the officers who tried to arrest him.
The 41-year-old is accused of punching one officer in the side of the head.
He was charged with assault police and behave in an offensive manner.
He will also appear in Newcastle Local Court on Monday.
AUSTRALIA'S biggest business lender National Australia Bank has fallen further behind its big four rivals in business customer satisfaction.
NAB had an average satisfaction rating of 6.9 out of ten in November, well behind Commonwealth Bank (7.5), Westpac (7.4) and ANZ (7.3).
According to the monthly DBM Consultants' Business Financial Services Monitor, NAB's satisfaction rating went backwards in November, while ANZ, which had lagged alongside it for most of the past two years, continued to pull ahead.
DBM director Maria Claridad said ANZ achieved its highest ever average score in November and was well above the 6.9 it scored in April this year.
"What ANZ has been able to achieve in the past six months is great for their business and it has closed the gap on the two major banks that were well ahead of it,' she said.
She said the challenge now was for ANZ to sustain or improve on the customer satisfaction level.
The BFSM, which is based on interviews with 20,000 businesses a year, also showed the Commonwealth was the most popular bank among large and micro businesses, while Westpac lead among small and medium sized companies.
FIRE alerts ranging from severe to extreme for much of Western Australia have prompted total fire bans in many areas, including parts of the Goldfields-Midlands region.
With temperatures set to soar again on Monday, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has also issued a ban for parts of the Midwest Gascoyne region.
The DFES warned residents in the Central Wheatbelt and inland parts of the Great Southern and Central West they would be facing extreme fire danger, while those in the Gascoyne, Eucla, Pilbara, coastal parts of the Great Southern and the Upper Great Southern are facing severe fire danger.
On Sunday an emergency warning was downgraded to an advice alert for a bushfire four kilometres east of Toodyay.
The DFES said the blaze was contained and under control.
A SEARCH will resume at first light for a man missing on a southwestern Queensland property after his vehicle was found bogged.
The man in his 50s was reported missing on Saturday after he failed to return from checking bores on the property south of Quilpie.
Two fixed wing aircraft, police and members of the public helped with the search on Saturday, which located his vehicle bogged on a neighbouring property.
There was no sign of the worker and the search will resume on Sunday.
EXCLUSIVE: Thirty years on, Kingswood Country star Ross Higgins is still eager to protect the car he loves after the Aussie icon announced it was quitting production.
A YOUNG man was bashed to within an inch of his life on the same night police launched a major blitz on alcohol-fuelled crime.
EXCLUSIVE: Rugby league star Reni Maitua has revealed how an uncertain future and a broken heart drove him to attempt suicide.
THEY'VE been a staple in the wardrobe of almost every Aussie male since the '50s, but despite 60 years of practice, men still struggle to find the perfect pair of jeans.
EXCLUSIVE: Two Australian businessmen who endured a legal nightmare in Dubai could be home for Christmas.
AROUND 6000 people dressed as Santa Claus and his elves have run a "mini-marathon" through the streets of Madrid to promote festive cheer as the country tries to emerge from a two-year recession.
While grown-ups dressed in red costumes with wispy white beards, children donned green elf outfits to run the 5.5 kilometre course on Saturday through the city centre.
The race was organised by one of Spain's leading department stores and it contributed one euro ($A1.55) for each entrant to a charity that buys Christmas presents for deprived children around the world.
Javier Menendez, one of the runners, said he was surprised at the number of people who have donned the robes for the run.
THE heatwave gripping much of Western Australia has prompted bushfire warnings for much of the state and a total fire ban in Perth.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has issued severe fire danger advices for Sunday for the Central West, Upper Great Southern, and parts of the Central Wheatbelt, Pilbara and Perth and sourrounding areas.
With the mercury tipped to top 41C in Perth for the third day of the Ashes Test, a total fire ban has been issued for inland parts of the city and surrounding areas.
They include Armadale, Gosnells, Swan, Chittering, Gingin, Kalamunda, Mundaring, Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Toodyay.
A FINNISH ferry operator says one of its Sweden-bound vessels is stuck on rocks in the Baltic Sea but none of the nearly 2000 passengers are injured or in any danger.
Viking Line says the M/S Amorella hit the rocks after a power failure on the ship on Saturday as it was on its way from the Finnish port of Turku to Stockholm with 1945 passengers.
In a statement, the operator said a minor leak has been found in a ballast tank but stressed the ship was not taking in water.
The Aland Islands, a group of semi-autonomous Finnish islands, are midway between the two port cities and the ferry was making a scheduled stop there.
IRAN has cancelled a planned $US500 million ($A562.49 million) loan to Pakistan to build part of a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Islamic Republic.
Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said Iran has no obligation to finance the Pakistani side of the project and also doesn't have the money.
Iran has already invested more than $US2 billion to construct the Iranian side of the pipeline but there are serious doubts about how Pakistan could finance the $US2 billion needed to construct the pipeline on its territory. Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had pledged the loan.
Pakistan has welcomed an Iranian offer to approach third parties, including European companies, to finance the project.
"Pakistani officials were told in recent talks that, given the sanctions, Iran is not able to finance construction of the pipeline (in Pakistan) and has no obligation to do so," he said. His comments were posted on the oil ministry's website, shana.ir, Saturday.
Majedi complained that Pakistan has done little to construct its own section of the project. Under a valid contract, Pakistan is required to finish construction of the pipeline on its territory by the end of 2014.
"If a contractor is chosen today and pipeline construction begins today, it will take four years to complete it. Should Pakistan fail to take gas by the end of next year, Iran will demand compensation under the terms of the contract," he said.
The Iran-Pakistan pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its mushrooming energy needs. Pakistanis experience frequent blackouts.
The US has opposed the project but leaders of both Iran and Pakistan have vowed to implement what they refer to as the "peace pipeline."
