Single parents to protest over payments

WELFARE advocates are planning to protest around Australia next month over the government's cuts to single parent benefits.

From January 1, single parents have not been eligible for the Parenting payment once their youngest child has turned eight years old and have been transferred to the lower Newstart allowance.

More than 60,000 single parents now receive between $60 to $100 a week less under entitlement changes.

The single parents action group (SPAG) are organising rallies in all major cities on February 5 to push for the government to reverse its decision, with the main protest at Parliament House in Canberra.

Protest organiser Samantha Seymour said the payment changes would have a detrimental impact on single parent families.

"Our purpose is to show the government that we will not tolerate their decision to further deprive and isolate Australians whose only crime is being single parents," Ms Seymour said in a statement on Sunday.

Families spokeswoman for the Australian Greens, Rachel Siewert, said she was concerned about the long-term impact of the lower Newstart payments on parents and their children.

"We shouldn't be condemning people to poverty," Senator Siewert said in a statement.

She said the government should reverse these payment cuts and also boost the Newstart allowance by $50 a week.

The government introduced the changes, worth around $728 million in savings over four years, in its bid for a budget surplus in 2012/13.

Last December, Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government was unlikely to have a surplus this financial year due to lower than forecast tax revenue.

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Savile's victims set to seek damages

AROUND 50 victims of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile are set to seek damages from the late broadcaster's estate and from organisations including the BBC and Britain's health service, their lawyer said.

A report by British police on Friday said Savile "groomed the nation" over six decades, hiding behind his fame to assault girls, boys and adult women on BBC premises and in schools and hospitals.

Liz Dux, a lawyer representing more than 50 of Savile's victims, said that because Savile had died in 2011 aged 84, civil claims were the only way that they could get justice.

"Compensation is not at the forefront of their mind, but of course it's the only method of recompense that we can get for them now, given that he can't be prosecuted," she said.

Dux said they would consider making claims against Savile's heirs, against the BBC -- the publicly funded UK broadcaster that made Savile one of its biggest stars in the 1970s and 1980s -- and the state-run National Health Service.

"We now have to look at what was known in the organisations. Once these inquiries have taken place then we will be able to make progress with the civil claims.

"Those inquiries are hugely important to the evidence and it will be foolhardy to press ahead straight away with the civil claims now without that evidence coming forward.

"A moratorium has been agreed in respect of the majority of the potential defendants to await the outcome of the inquiry."

In the three-month investigation by police and the NSPCC children's charity, it emerged that Savile used his fame as presenter of BBC TV's Top of the Pops chart show and children's program Jim'll Fix It to rape and assault victims on BBC premises as well as in schools and hospitals where he did charity work.

The report recorded 214 criminal offences, including 34 rapes -- 28 of them of children. Three-quarters of the victims were children, mostly girls aged between 13 and 16, but the youngest was an eight-year-old boy.

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Beijing pollution at dangerous levels

DENSE fog has enveloped swathes of east and central China, with pollution levels in Beijing reaching dangerous levels for a second day and residents advised to stay indoors, state media reports.

The municipal environment warning centre issued an alert on Saturday advising the elderly, children, and those suffering respiratory or cardiovascular illness in the capital to avoid going out or doing strenuous exercise, Xinhua reported.

Those who did venture out wore facemasks for protection, with visibility low, the skyline shrouded, and the sun hidden in the smog.

Air quality in Beijing showed airborne particles with a diameter small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs at a reading of 456 micrograms per cubic metre. The quality is considered good when the figure stands at less than 100.

The heavy pollution is expected to last another three days, with weather conditions preventing pollutants from dispersing, the warning centre said, according to Xinhua.

Fog in several provinces in east and central China closed numerous highways and delayed flights, it said.

China's air quality is among the worst in the world, international organisations say, citing massive coal consumption and car-choked city streets in the world's biggest auto market.

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Judi Dench 'sorry' over Bond's Oscar snub

VETERAN British actress Judi Dench has spoken of her disappointment that the latest James Bond film Skyfall did not feature more prominently in the latest round of Oscar nominations.

The 23rd outing of 007 in a 50-year franchise opened in Britain late last year to rave reviews and broke box office records, but failed to meet expectations in Thursday's shortlist of screen candidates.

"I'm very, very sorry nothing has been recognised," said Dame Judi, who plays MI6 chief M in Skyfall.

"That's a great pity. I thought Sam (Mendes) directed it beautifully. It's a terrific film. I think that all round it was really wonderfully presented, filmed, lit and shot," she added, during an interview with London's Radio 4.

Skyfall received five nominations in Los Angeles in production categories.

British singer Adele made the shortlist for the best song, with Skyfall's theme.

Asked if she thought there was a bias against 007 films when it comes to awards, Dench replied: "I hope not."

The film, starring Daniel Craig as Bond, has eight 2013 Bafta nominations, including one for Outstanding British Film.

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France hunts Kurd killers amid feud claim

POLICE are hunting down the assassins of three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris even as Turkey said an internal feud in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was most likely behind the slayings.

Judicial sources say the three female activists, including founding PKK member Sakine Cansiz, were each shot in the head at least three times, giving further credence to the theory of an execution-style hit.

Autopsies on the bodies revealed one of the women had been shot four times in the head and the other two shot three times, the sources said on Friday.

The killings came days after Turkish media reported Turkey and the PKK leadership had agreed on a roadmap to end the three-decade-old insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives.

The PKK, which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey, is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.

Experts have suggested a number of potential motives for the killings, including an attack by Turkish extremists and internal feuding within the PKK.

The three were found dead on Thursday at the Kurdistan Information Centre in Paris's 10th district, after last being seen alive at the centre at midday on Wednesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the slayings bore the hallmarks of an internal feud, noting that the victims appeared to have given the killer or killers access to the centre.

"The place was protected not by one lock but many coded locks," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as telling reporters. "Those three people opened it (the door). I do not assume they would open it to people they didn't know."

But the Turkish leader also upheld his earlier suggestion that the slayings could be aimed at derailing peace talks between Ankara and the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

A former guerrilla of the organisation, Cansiz was considered a close ally of Ocalan.

"The killings could be the result of an internal feud or steps aimed at disrupting the steps we are taking with good intentions," Erdogan said.

Experts have said potential internal feuding could be linked to the peace process or to other PKK activities, in particular conflicts over money.

A French judicial source said police are running 21 investigations into potentially illegal fundraising by the PKK.

The group raises funds through a "revolutionary tax" on Kurdish expatriates that authorities in several countries have condemned as extortion. Several PKK leaders have also been designated as drugs traffickers by the United States.

There are around 150,000 Kurds in France, the vast majority of them of Turkish origin.

Erdogan's government recently revealed Turkish intelligence services had for weeks been talking to Ocalan, captured in 1999 and held on an island prison south of Istanbul.

Under the reported peace roadmap, the government would reward a ceasefire by granting wider rights to Turkey's Kurdish minority, whose population is estimated at up to 15 million in the country of 75 million.

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Catherine 'delighted' with first portrait

THE first official portrait of Prince William's wife, Catherine, has been unveiled in London, with the Duchess giving the work a royal thumbs up.

Catherine, 31, attended the National Portrait Gallery on Friday where artist Paul Emsley's work was revealed to a private audience which included the Duke of Cambridge.

"I think, from what I can see this morning, she's delighted with it. I'm very happy about that," Emsley said of Catherine's reaction.

The award-winning artist was commissioned by the gallery to capture Catherine and worked with the Duchess during a series of photography sessions.

The larger-than-life sized head and shoulders painting shows Catherine's flowing brunette hair and soft features against a dark background.

"In discussions it became clear that what she wanted herself, and I was very happy with that, was that the portrait should convey her natural self as opposed to her official self," Emsley told reporters, as published by The Independent online.

"The fact she is a beautiful woman is for an artist difficult. In the end I think what I tried to do really was to convey something about her warmth and her smile."

Asked of any royal feedback he received during the unveiling, Emsley said Catherine, who has a history of art degree, commented on the portrait: "It's just amazing".

The work was praised by prolific royal portrait artist Richard Stone, who said Emsley is "brave" to have embarked on a work of such large scale.

"It's very challenging to do something larger than life, and he seems to have pulled it off very well," said Stone, whose first royal commission was to paint the Queen Mother, which he went on to do six times.

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US trade deficit balloons in November

THE US trade deficit widened sharply in November, posting its highest level in seven months amid a jump in consumer-goods imports, according to Department of Commerce data.

The US trade deficit expanded to $US48.7 billion ($A46.16 billion), up from a revised $US42.1 billion in October. November US exports were $US1.7 billion more than October exports, while November imports were $US8.4 billion above the October level.

The trade deficit was well above analyst forecasts of $US41.8 billion.

The jump in imports was especially pronounced in consumer goods (up 11.1 per cent) and cars (up 6.3 per cent). US spending on oil imports fell due to lower oil prices.

The US's closely watched trade gap with China fell to $US29 billion in November from the October level of $US29.5 billion.

Lower oil prices translated into a lower deficit with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which fell in November to $US6.6 billion from $US8.6 billion in October.

AFP j

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Honda axes 800 British jobs on weak demand

HONDA has announced it intends to cut 800 jobs this year at its Swindon plant in Britain owing to weakening demand for its vehicles in Europe.

"Honda Motor Europe has today announced changes to its UK car manufacturing operation to ensure the long term stability of its future business," the group said in a statement on Friday.

"Sustained conditions of low demand in European markets make it necessary to realign Honda's business structure. As such, Honda ... will enter into formal consultation with its associates to consider these changes and the proposal that it will reduce the workforce by 800 associates by spring 2013."

Ken Keir, executive vice president at Honda Motor Europe, added that current "conditions of sustained low industry demand require us to take difficult decisions."

The Swindon plant in southwest England currently employs about 3500 staff, including 500 recruited only last year, in part to work on a new diesel engine line.

Britain's biggest union Unite called Honda's decision "a hammer blow to UK manufacturing and the local economy."

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the British government would be working "to minimise the impact of the job losses."

He added: "Times are tough in the European market but the automotive industry remains a major success story for the UK.

"Over the last two years global manufacturers including Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW have invested STG6 billion ($A9.21 billion) in the UK, safeguarding and creating new jobs."

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Cabinet push for dole rise: report

THERE'S growing support within federal cabinet for the Gillard government to increase dole payments in this year's budget.

The Weekend Australian reports that the government has begun modelling a number of measures to help people who are receiving the Newstart Allowance, such as single mums.

One option being considered would allow such income support recipients to keep more of their payment if their hours of work increased, the newspaper reports.

Another possible change would reportedly lead to an increase in the amount from the current $35-a-day payment, but not up to the $50 amount being advocated by welfare groups.

They have slammed government changes to the parenting payment scheme that will shift some 84,000 single parents to Newstart when their youngest child turns eight.

Welfare groups estimate that some families will be between $60 and $100 a week worse off because of the changes.

On Friday, Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin apologised for earlier remarks in which she indicated she could live on the $35-a-week dole.

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ArcelorMittal wants to raise $3.5 bn

TOP global steel producer ArcelorMittal says it plans an offer of stock and subordinated notes to raise $US3.5 billion ($A3.35 billion) to reduce its massive debt that has worried investors.

"ArcelorMittal intends to use the net proceeds from the combined offering to reduce existing indebtedness," the company said in a statement.

The announcement sent ArcelorMittal shares down more than five per cent in afternoon trading on the Paris stock exchange.

At 1252 GMT (0152 AEST) the company's shares had fallen 5.4 per cent to $12.70 while the overall market was stable.

The offering of common stock and mandatorily convertible subordinated notes would be made in the United States, said ArcelorMittal, and reserved the right to adjust the proportions.

"Deleveraging remains a priority for ArcelorMittal to retain strategic flexibility," said the company.

It said the offering plus other measures should enable the company to reduce its net debt to approximately $17 billion by the end of June, from approximately $22 billion at the end of 2012.

The three top ratings agency's stripped ArcelorMittal of an investor-grade rating at the end of last year citing the company's massive debt amid sluggish global steel sales.

"We have consistently said that reducing net debt is a priority for the company," chief executive Lakshmi Mittal was quoted as saying.

"This transaction, supplemented by proceeds from ongoing asset disposals, the announced reduction in dividends and continued cost saving initiatives, will significantly lower our net debt and accelerate the achievement of a medium term net debt target of $15 billion."

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Walkies morsels prove poisonous for pooch

SCAVENGING canines have been left bleary-eyed after inadvertently feasting on cannabis while on walkies in northwest England.

Patch was one of several dogs "poisoned" after tucking in to a package left on a walking track in greater Manchester, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported.

"Patch was just totally out of it," said owner Neil Rogers of his four-legged friend.

"When I got home he just collapsed and couldn't do anything. I realised he had eaten something."

Mr Rogers returned to the track and collected the package, the contents of which police later identified as cannabis.

Veterinary surgeon Lorna Cook, who treated two of the intoxicated dogs, said: "I haven't seen anything like this before.

"We had two dogs with similar signs in quick succession so we knew there was something suspicious. Both dogs collapsed and had dilated pupils."

All the stoned pooches have reportedly made a full recovery.

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Berlusconi blasts 'feminist, commo' judges

MILAN court officials have defended the impartiality of their judges after ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi blamed "feminist, communist" magistrates for a 200,000 euros ($A251,193) a day divorce settlement.

Berlusconi made the accusation in an interview on Tuesday with the La7 private television network and said he was appealing the settlement with his second ex-wife, Veronica Lario.

In a joint statement on Wednesday carried by the ANSA news agency, the president of the Milan tribunal and the head of the appeals court "strongly rejected any insinuation of impartiality" of the tribunal's judges, whom they described as "diligent professionals."

The statement noted that both sides in the divorce have the right to appeal the decision.

Italian media initially reported the settlement amounted to 100,000 euro a day. But Berlusconi said the figure, with arrears, was double that.

"These are three women judges, feminists and communists, OK?" he said. "These are the Milan judges who have persecuted me since 1994."

Lario filed for divorce in 2009, citing Berlusconi's fondness for younger women. The 76-year-old billionaire media mogul, who is currently dating someone nearly 50 years his junior, is on trial in Milan accused of paying for sex with an underage Moroccan teen and using his office to cover it up. He and the girl deny the charges.

Berlusconi also was convicted by another Milan judge of tax fraud last year and is appealing that decision.

The decision in the pay-for-sex case could come before elections next month. Berlusconi has been on a media blitz in recent weeks, seeking to boost his party's chances.

Polls currently give the lead to the centre-left Democratic Party, with Berlusconi's People of Freedom party and the civic movement of Premier Mario Monti vying for second and third place.

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Berlin museum spotlights Scorsese

A BERLIN museum is to open what it calls the first exhibition worldwide dedicated to the work of veteran US filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who has opened his vast archive for the show.

Featuring relics such as Robert De Niro's shirt drenched in fake blood from Cape Fear and his battered boxing gloves from Raging Bull, the show at the Museum for Film and Television offers an in-depth look at Scorsese's half-century of cinema.

The 70-year-old Oscar winner was unable to attend Wednesday's gala opening because he is editing The Wolf of Wall Street, his fifth picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, whose filming was delayed by Hurricane Sandy in October.

But he said in a video message shown to reporters that he was honoured to be the subject of a show at a museum whose permanent collection is devoted to the work of icons such as Marlene Dietrich, Fritz Lang and FW Murnau.

"Some of the objects you will see have literally been taken off the walls of my house and my office," said Scorsese, who also narrates the show's audio guide.

"I hope these objects and the exhibition... help give you an idea or convey my lifelong passion for film."

Scorsese made available his personal collection of scripts covered in handwritten notes, vintage posters and photographs for what the museum called the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Scorsese's monumental output.

The exhibition, which will run until May 12 then continue on to Turin and Geneva, is opening just weeks before next month's 63rd Berlin film festival.

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Tymoshenko in 'disobedience campaign'

JAILED Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has launched a "campaign of civil disobedience" and spent the night in a shower of her hospital, a prison official says.

On Tuesday, Tymoshenko who has been sentenced to seven years in jail for abuse of power while in office and is in hospital for treatment for back pain, said she no longer recognised the country's judicial authorities.

The move takes the confrontation of the fiery former prime minister with her arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych to a new level. In the past she had repeatedly refused medical treatment and announced several hunger strikes to protest her treatment in jail.

As part of what she called her "personal campaign of civil disobedience," the co-leader of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution said she would no longer appear in court or cooperate with investigators and prosecutors.

"The time for my patience and tolerance is over," she said in a statement.

After making her announcement she moved out of her hospital room into the hospital corridor where she sat perched on a walking frame, prison officials said.

"She then moved into a shower room and spent the night there," said Andrei Lapinsky, a top prison official in the Kharkiv region where Tymoshenko is serving out her sentence.

Tymoshenko, 52, has been in hospital for back pain she developed after being sentenced in 2011 to a seven-year jail term for abuse of power while prime minister.

The charges were brought shortly after she lost a bitter election contest against Yanukovych in 2010.

Tymoshenko's conviction, which she calls a vendetta by Yanukovych for her political ambitions, caused a dramatic deterioration of Ukraine's ties with the West.

She is also being tried in a separate tax evasion case and has been linked by prosecutors to the 1996 murder of a deputy.

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British flag raised in Belfast

THE British flag has been hoisted over Belfast's City Hall for the first time since the decision not to fly it permanently sparked riots in Northern Ireland.

On a sixth consecutive night of violence in the British province, protesters pelted police in the capital Belfast with petrol bombs, fireworks, bottles and stones.

Pro-British protesters have taken to the streets almost every night since December 3, when the city council announced it would no longer fly the Union Jack all year round at the City Hall.

It will now only be hoisted for a maximum of 18 days a year, including on the birthdays of British royals - the first of which fell on Wednesday as Prince William's wife Catherine turned 31.

The flag's reappearance above the elegant central Belfast building raised fears of more violence as protesters vowed to continue their campaign until it is replaced permanently.

The flag ruling sparked riots and arson attacks at the start of December which gave way to largely peaceful protests, but the violence has flared again since the start of the new year.

Tensions are running high in the province, which endured three decades of sectarian violence until peace accords in 1998 led to a power-sharing government between Protestants and Catholics.

The protesters, who are mainly Protestant, see the flag's removal as an attack on their British identity and a compromise too far with republicans, who are mostly Catholic and favour a united Ireland.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday that Northern Ireland needed to break down "barriers of segregation that have been in place for many, many years".

"We need to build a shared future in Northern Ireland," he said as he faced his weekly session of questions in parliament.

"I think that is part of the challenge to take away some of the tensions that we've seen in recent days."

John Kyle, a member of the pro-British Progressive Unionist Party on the city council, said the protests expressed the wider anger of Protestants who feel they have lost out in the peace process.

"There's a feeling of alienation - they feel disconnected from the political system," he told BBC radio.

"It has erupted in this anger and regrettably the anger has led to violence."

Some 3000 people were killed in the three decades of sectarian bombings and shootings from the late 1960s known as The Troubles.

Northern Ireland's top policeman Matt Baggott has accused the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, which murdered more than 500 people during the conflict, of orchestrating some of the recent violence.

The 1998 Good Friday peace agreement brought an end to most of the unrest in the province, but sporadic bomb threats and murders carried out by dissident republicans continue.

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Islamists strengthened in Egypt reshuffle

THE Muslim Brotherhood has strengthened its position in the Egyptian government following the latest government reshuffle, which saw members secure three more portfolios, media reports say.

The ministries of transport, domestic development and supply went to members of the Brotherhood from which President Mohamed Morsi hails, reports said.

Eight of the 35 ministers led by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil come from the Islamist group, which already holds the ministries of information and housing.

The new Finance Minister Al-Morsi al-Sayyed Hegazi, an academic specialising in Islamic finance, is also considered to be close to Brotherhood although he is not a member of the powerful organisation.

Ten new ministers joined the government in Sunday's reshuffle, which drew criticism in the media and among some parties.

"The Islamisation of the government," wrote the independent newspaper Al-Shuruk.

The newspaper also quoted the head of the leftist Tagammu party, Rifaat al-Said, slamming the reshuffle and describing it as a "stranglehold" by the Brotherhood over the government.

The liberal Al-Wafd newspaper cast doubts over the government's ability to deal with a difficult agenda within two months, or until legislative elections are due to take place in February or March.

State media, meanwhile, quoted Morsi urging the new government to intensify its efforts to solve the country's deepening economic crisis.

Sunday's reshuffle came on the eve of talks due to resume Monday in Cairo with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of $US4.8 billion ($A4.6 billion), which many see as a key prerequisite for economic recovery.

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UK far-right leader jailed over passport

THE leader of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) has been jailed for 10 months by a British court for using a friend's passport to travel to the United States.

Stephen Lennon, 30, whose group opposes what it calls the "Islamisation" of Britain, pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with improper intention.

Lennon had previously been refused entry to the United States and so used a passport in the name of his friend Andrew McMaster to travel to the country, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

He used a self check-in kiosk to board a Virgin Atlantic flight from London's Heathrow airport to New York in September 2011.

But when Lennon arrived at New York's John F Kennedy airport US customs officials took his fingerprints and realised that he was not the person on the passport, the court heard.

He was asked to attend a second interview but left the airport, entering the US illegally, before leaving the country the following day using his own passport.

British police arrested Lennon in October.

In a further twist it emerged Lennon's own legitimate passport bears the name Paul Harris.

"You knew perfectly well that you were not welcome in the United States," Judge Alistair McCreath told Lennon as he sentenced him on Monday.

"I am going to sentence you under the name of Stephen Lennon although I suspect that is not actually your true name, in the sense that it is not the name that appears on your passport."

The court heard Lennon was previously jailed for assault in 2005 and has previous convictions for drugs offences and public order offences.

The EDL was formed in 2009 after Muslim hardliners jeered a homecoming parade for British troops who had served in Afghanistan. It has held a series of sometimes violent rallies in Britain.

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Army 'bombs' left in hire car

SYDNEY'S domestic airport was partially shut down after fake bombs hidden in a returned hire car's glove box went undiscovered during an elite military exercise.

According to an investigation report obtained by Fairfax, the mistake sparked a major bomb scare resulting in the partial shutdown of the domestic airport car park on July 4 last year.

The fake bombs were found by cleaners at Hertz rental cars about a fortnight after the car was returned to the airport.

Australian Federal Police bomb disposal experts were called in to examine the fake bombs, with a check of Hertz records revealing the car was one of several vehicles hired for six-and-a-half weeks by the Defence Police Training Centre at Holsworthy Barracks.

An officer from the training centre confirmed the devices were used in exercises for students training to become "close personal protection operatives" or CPPOs, elite military bodyguards.

The Defence Command Support Training Centre and the Army Administrative Inquiry Centre are carrying out independent inquiries into the incident.

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Suspected US drone found off Philippines

PHILIPPINE navy officials say a suspected American drone has been found floating in the ocean, prompting them to deploy a ship with ordnance experts after fishermen reported the object may have been a bomb.

The three-metre orange BQM-74e drone marked "Navy" was found by a Filipino diver and fishermen off Masbate Island on Sunday and has been turned over to local navy authorities, Philippine navy officer Captain Jason Rommel Galang said, adding it was not clear why the unmanned aerial vehicle ended up off Masbate.

US Embassy spokeswoman Bettina Malone said efforts were under way to determine if the drone was one of those used in American military air target training exercises and why it was in the waters off Masbate, about 380 kilometres southeast of Manila. The type of drone found was not armed and not used for surveillance, she said.

Masbate is in a region where communist guerrillas have a presence. US counter-terrorism troops, who are barred from local combat, have used surveillance drones to help Filipino soldiers track down al-Qaeda-linked extremists in the country's south.

At least two US drones have been reported to have crashed and were recovered by villagers in the past on southern Mindanao island.

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US stocks open lower as earnings loom

US stocks have opened lower as profit taking and caution ahead of the looming earnings season took hold in the wake of the bullish week that opened the new year on the markets.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 61.93 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 13,373.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 6.69 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 1,459.78.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 14.00 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 3,087.66.

Bank of America shares added 0.2 per cent to $US12.13 after it announced an $US11.6 billion ($A11.1 billion) deal to settle long-standing mortgage claims from Fannie Mae, and the sale of servicing rights on $US306 billion worth of mortgages.

Nationstar Mortgage, one of the buyers of the servicing rights, gained 13.8 per cent.

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Mum kills son who 'failed to learn Koran'

A MOTHER convicted of beating her seven-year-old son to death for failing to learn the Koran by heart has been jailed in Britain for a minimum of 17 years.

Sara Ege, a 33-year-old mathematics graduate from India, battered her son Yaseen with a stick in July 2010 when he failed to memorise Islamic texts and burned his body to hide the evidence, Cardiff Crown Court in Wales heard during the trial.

Ege collapsed as she was sentenced on Monday and was led sobbing from the dock.

"Yaseen was subjected to prolonged cruelty," Judge Wyn Williams told her as he passed sentence.

"I am satisfied that, over three months, you beat him on a number of occasions."

The judge said that until the final three months of Yaseen's life Ege had been "a very good mother" in many respects. He also acknowledged that she had suffered prolonged periods of depression.

Yaseen was initially believed to have been killed in a fire at the family home in Pontcanna, Cardiff, but tests later revealed he was dead before the blaze began.

A jury found Ege guilty last month of murder and perverting the course of justice.

She had confessed to the murder but later retracted the confession, saying her husband and his family had forced her into it.

Her husband, Yousef Ege, 38, was cleared in December of failing to prevent the death.

The judge said Yaseen had suffered "serious abdominal injuries" on the day he was killed, when Ege had kept the seven-year-old at home to study the Koran.

"On that day Yaseen must have failed in some way because I am satisfied that it was that failure which was the trigger for the beating," he said.

"That is what you told the police in the course of your confession in July 2010 and I see no reason to doubt what you then said was true."

He added: "There can be no doubt that you set fire to his body in an attempt to evade the consequences of what you had done."

Ege had told police she could not stop herself beating her son and had repeatedly pledged to God before Yaseen's death that she would not do it again, but her good intentions only lasted a few days.

The court heard she was sent to a psychiatric unit for several months after her son's death. She claimed several times to have been motivated by voices from the devil.

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US considers broad gun sales restrictions

THE administration of President Barack Obama is considering a broad array of measures to curb the nation's gun violence, including more than just a reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, The Washington Post reports.

Citing multiple people involved in the administration's discussions, the newspaper said a working group led by Vice-President Joe Biden is seriously considering several measures: universal background checks for firearm buyers, tracking the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthening mental health checks, and stiffening penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors.

To push these measures through Congress, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association, the report said.

According to the paper, they could include rallying support from Wal-Mart and other gun retailers as well as regular contact with advisers to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken gun-control advocate.

The proposals are a response to last month's tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the site of one of the worst school shootings in US history.

On December 14, a disturbed local man, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, killed his mother in their Newtown home before embarking on a horrific shooting spree at a local elementary school.

He blasted his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot dead 20 six- and seven-year-old children and six adults with a military-style assault rifle before taking his own life with a handgun as police closed in.

However, the NRA, the most powerful gun lobby in the United States, stands firm against any additional restraints on firearms and ammunition sales - despite a national outcry in the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre.

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Assad speech 'beyond hypocritical': UK

BRITAIN has denounced President Bashar al-Assad's speech calling for a conference of national dialogue to end the Syrian conflict as "beyond hypocritical".

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad's first speech to the nation since June was full of "empty promises" and would "fool no one".

In an address to an ecstatic audience in a Damascus theatre on Sunday, Assad described the opposition as "slaves" of the West and outlined a reconciliation plan aimed at resolving a civil war, which according to the UN has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

He called for a conference of national dialogue to be followed by a referendum on a national charter and parliamentary elections.

Assad also called on foreign powers to end their support for rebels seeking to bring down his regime.

Hague took to Twitter to vent his anger about the speech, writing: "AssadSpeech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one."

Prime Minister David Cameron earlier reiterated his calls for the Syrian leader to stand down.

"My message to Assad is go," he told BBC TV. "He has the most phenomenal amount of blood on his hands."

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Egypt cabinet reshuffle ahead of IMF talks

EGYPT'S President Mohamed Morsi has reshuffled his cabinet amid a serious economic crisis and ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $US4.8 billion ($A4.6 billion) loan.

Ten new ministers have been sworn into office, including Finance Minister Al-Morsi al-Sayyed Hegazi, whose predecessor Mumtaz al-Said headed the IMF loan negotiations that stalled during a period of intense political unrest in December.

Hegazi, a specialist in Islamic finance, will report to Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, who remains in his post.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Islamist Morsi emanates, had criticised Said as being too close to the army, which held power during the transitional period after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Mohammed Ibrahim, a former police general, replaced Ahmed Gamal al-Din as interior minister, and eight other portfolios all related to the economy changed hands.

The ministers for transport, electricity, domestic development, civil aviation, the environment, communications, supply and domestic trade and parliamentary affairs were all replaced on Sunday.

Morsi announced the reshuffle on December 26, after the ratification by popular vote of a controversial new constitution draft by an Islamist-dominated panel allied to the president.

He said he wanted a cabinet more suited to the economic crisis the country faces.

Egypt's loan request to the IMF, made in August last year, was suspended for a month on December 11, with Cairo saying the postponement was "because of the political situation in the country".

The IMF and Egyptian authorities had provisionally agreed on the 22-month loan - aimed at helping the government bridge financial shortfalls through fiscal 2013-2014 - on November 20.

A top IMF official will visit Egypt on Monday for talks that are likely to focus on the loan.

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Cameron says wants to be UK PM until 2020

DAVID Cameron says he wants to serve as British prime minister until at least 2020 to oversee a range of reforms including a renegotiation of Britain's relationship with Europe.

In a raft of interviews ahead of a mid-term review of the progress of his coalition government on Monday, Cameron also defended a largely unpopular decision to remove child benefit payments from higher earners.

Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph he intended to lead his Conservative Party to victory in the 2015 general election and then serve a full five-year term.

As Cameron rarely speaks about his planned departure date, it has prompted speculation that if re-elected he would stand down halfway through his mandate.

But when asked by the newspaper if he intended to stay on as prime minister until 2020, Cameron said: "I want to fight the next election, win the next election and serve - that is what I want to do."

Pressed on what he would say in a major speech on Britain's strained relationship with the European Union that he is due to give in mid-January, Cameron said his party would offer voters a "real choice" at the 2015 election.

He said any vote on Britain's relationship with the EU would happen in the five years after the election, but he refused to be drawn on whether a poll would include the question whether Britain should remain in the bloc.

"People should be in no doubt that the Conservatives will be offering at the next election a real choice and a real way giving consent to that choice," he said in an interview on BBC TV.

He stressed it was in Britain's economic interest to remain a full member of the EU to enable the country to influence the direction of the single market.

"If we were outside the EU altogether, we'd still be trading with all these EU countries, but we'd have no say over the rules of the market into which we sell," Cameron said.

He said that because the countries using the euro were forced to make changes to their relationship to bolster the currency, Britain was "perfectly entitled" to ask for changes to the conditions of its membership.

On the domestic front, Cameron insisted there would be no U-turn to a move due to kick in on Monday to remove child welfare payments from families in which one parent earns more than STG60,000 ($A93,000).

"This will raise STG2 billion a year. If we don't raise that STG2 billion from that group of people - the better-off 15 per cent in the country - we would have to find someone else to take it from."

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Syrian opposition rejects Assad plan

THE opposition Syrian National Coalition rejects a reconciliation plan outlined by President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, spokesman Walid al-Bunni has told AFP by phone.

"We said at the founding of the National Coalition that we want a political solution, but ... there are now over 60,000 martyrs. The Syrians did not make all those sacrifices in order to bolster this tyrannical regime," he said.

Bunni said Sunday's speech was directed primarily at the "international community, which engaged in a real effort to create a political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people and ends the tyranny of the Assad family regime".

Assad will not accept "any initiative that does not restore stability to his regime and put him at the helm of control", Bunni said.

The president, he added, has "excluded the possibility of any dialogue with the rebels".

"He wants negotiating partners of his own choosing and will not accept any initiative that could meet the aspirations of the Syrian people or ultimately lead to his departure and the dismantling of his regime."

Assad's call to dialogue "excludes those who revolt" and is addressed to "those who did not rise up or who will gladly accept the return of stability despite all the sacrifices made by the Syrian people", Bunni said.

Assad in his speech denounced the opposition as "slaves" of the West and called for national dialogue to draft a new charter and pave the way for legislative polls.

He said the conflict was not one between the government and the opposition but between the "nation and its enemies".

"Just because we have not found a partner, it does not mean we are not interested in a political solution, but that we did not find a partner," he told the audience.

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Doctors say Mandela has 'recovered'

NELSON Mandela has "recovered" from recent surgery and a lung infection for which the 94-year-old spent nearly three weeks in hospital, the South African presidency says, citing his doctors.

He "has recovered from his surgical procedure and the lung infection, his doctors said today", a statement from President Jacob Zuma's office said on Sunday.

"The medical (examination) said president Mandela has made steady progress and that clinically, he continues to improve," it said.

"He had undergone an operation to remove gallstones last month and was also troubled by a recurring lung infection. He continues to receive high care at his Houghton (Johannesburg) home and his daily routine is being gradually re-established."

On Thursday, Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, told AFP the former South African president "is healed and is stronger than before".

The revered former statesman was flown to a Pretoria hospital on December 8 from his childhood home in Qunu.

Mandela was discharged from hospital more than a week ago after his longest stay in hospital since being released from prison in 1990.

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