Chopper crash kills 17 soldiers

A TURKISH military helicopter carrying soldiers on a mission against Kurdish rebels crashed because of bad weather, killing all 17 troops onboard, officials said.

Thirteen soldiers and four military crewmembers were killed in the crash in a mountainous part of Pervari district in Siirt province, in southeastern Turkey, where the rebel Kurdistan Worker's Party is fighting for self-rule.

President Abdullah Gul said the soldiers were on their way "to help their friends" in an operation against the rebels who have escalated attacks in recent months, adding the incident would not deter Turkey from its determination to fight the rebels.

The provincial governor, Ahmet Aydin, blamed the crash on heavy fog and ruled out an attack by the rebel group.

"The weather during the transportation (of troops) was bad. There was extreme rain. The helicopter crashed into rocks because of the fog," Mr Aydin said in televised statements.

"The incident was the result of a crash and any kind of an attack is out of the question."

The Kurdish rebels have been fighting since the 1980s and they seek more rights for Kurds, including autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast of the country. Turkey and its Western allies categorise the rebels, known by the acronym PKK, as a terrorist group.

Several days ago, Turkish media reported that Turkish soldiers were airlifted into northern Iraq for a brief operation against suspected rebels, who have bases there.

There were no reports of casualties on that mission. Turkey periodically carries out artillery and air strikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq, but reports of cross-border incursions by troops are rare.

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Turkish helicopter crashes killing 17

A TURKISH military helicopter carrying soldiers on a mission against Kurdish rebels has crashed because of bad weather, killing all 17 troops aboard, officials say.

Thirteen soldiers and four military crewmembers were killed in the crash on Saturday in a mountainous part of Pervari district in Siirt province, in southeastern Turkey, where the rebel Kurdistan Worker's Party is fighting for self-rule.

President Abdullah Gul said the soldiers were on their way "to help their friends" in an operation against the rebels who have escalated attacks in recent months, adding the incident would not deter Turkey from its determination to fight the rebels.

The provincial governor, Ahmet Aydin, blamed the crash on heavy fog and ruled out an attack by the rebel group.

"The weather during the transportation (of troops) was bad. There was extreme rain. The helicopter crashed into rocks because of the fog," Aydin said in televised statements. "The incident was the result of a crash and any kind of an attack is out of the question."

The Kurdish rebels have been fighting since the 1980s and they seek more rights for Kurds, including autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast of the country. Turkey and its Western allies categorise the rebels, known by the acronym PKK, as a terrorist group.

Several days ago, Turkish media reported that Turkish soldiers were airlifted into northern Iraq for a brief operation against suspected rebels, who have bases there. There were no reports of casualties on that mission. Turkey periodically carries out artillery and air strikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq, but reports of cross-border incursions by troops are rare.

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China export growth accelerates

CHINA'S export growth sped up in October in fresh evidence of a broader rebound for the world's second-largest economy, as a top official all but declared the country's slowdown over.

Exports rose 11.6 per cent in October from a year earlier, the national customs bureau said on Saturday, accelerating for a second straight month just as the Communist Party discusses how best to achieve sustainable economic growth.

"The trend of slowdown has been effectively curbed," Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told reporters.

"From October economic data the trend for a rebound in the Chinese economy is all the more obvious."

China's economic growth has slowed for seven straight quarters and hit a more than three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the three months through September, but recent data has fuelled optimism that the worst is over.

Industrial production for October accelerated to growth of 9.6 per cent on-year, the government said on Friday. Retail sales, the main measure of consumer spending, also picked up to a 14.5 per cent gain.

Fixed-asset investment, a key gauge of infrastructure spending, showed improvement, while inflation dipped to a nearly three-year low of 1.7 per cent.

The customs bureau also said on Saturday that October imports increased 2.4 per cent, matching September's gain.

China's trade surplus, a source of friction with the United States and other countries, widened to $US32 billion ($A30.88 billion), up from $US27.7 billion in September.

The size was a surprise, surpassing the median forecast of $US27 billion in a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires.

"Today's trade data, together with improving domestic demand indicators released yesterday, continue to support our view that China's growth momentum has picked up," ANZ bank economists Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao wrote in a commentary.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Lu Ting and Hu Weijun said the export data back up their view of economic growth strengthening to 7.8 per cent in the fourth quarter and 8.3 per cent in the first half of 2013.

"We believe China's economic growth has truly bottomed out," they said in a report.

China's Communist Party has been meeting since Thursday to anoint new leaders for the next 10 years at its 18th congress.

President Hu Jintao is expected to be replaced as party leader by Vice President Xi Jinping before the meeting adjourns on Wednesday.

Hu, in a speech on Thursday to the meeting, called for creating a new growth model with a robust private sector, while also insisting on the primacy of the party-led state sector.

He also warned that corruption threatens the existence of both party and state in the speech to the event, held every five years to boost the ruling party's leadership credentials.

Modernising China's economy and pulling hundreds of millions out of poverty in the more than three decades since the country embarked on reform policies is a key claim to legitimacy for the world's largest political party.

China's economy racked up average annual growth rates of more than 10 per cent in the decade through 2010, but officials now say they want an expansion that can be maintained.

"We are calling for a shift in the growth model ... to focus on sustainable growth," the NDRC's Zhang said.

Independent economist Andy Xie, based in Shanghai, said the economy still faced headwinds given continued weakness in overseas economies and in China's own domestic demand as shown by tepid import growth.

He also expressed a lack of confidence in the ability of party leaders to manage the economy.

"At least in the last five years, it's become very clear it's about how to divide the spoils among the powerful people," he said of the congress.

"I don't see it's changing. Without political reforms the economy is not coming back."

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Boy tells of US soldier's Afghan massacre

A BOY who was awoken by a neighbour during a massacre in Afghanistan in March testified at a hearing for the U.S. soldier accused in the attack about hiding in a storage room and being struck by a bullet.

Sadiquallah, a slight boy whose head rose just above the back of the seat he was sitting in, testified by live video feed from Kandahar during a hearing at a military base outside Seattle for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

Bales, 39, is accused of killing 16 civilians, including nine children, in a March 11 attack on two villages near his base. He could face the death penalty if he is convicted.

Speaking through an interpreter, the boy said a neighbour woke him up when she screamed that an American had "killed our men."

He said he and another boy ran to hide in a storage room and ducked behind a curtain.

Sadiquallah said the shooter had a gun and a light, but he did not identify the person as Bales. Doctors have said a bullet grazed the boy's head, and that the other child was hit in the thigh and also survived.

"I was hiding behind the curtains. A bullet hit me," the boy said, who is 13 or 14 and whose ears stuck out from beneath his white cap.

Earlier, a relative of some of the victims killed in the massacre said he found their bodies piled together and burned. Khamal Adin sat at the witness table with his arms folded, his head tilted to the left.

As Mr Adin recounted what he had seen, Bales rose from his chair at the defence table in the coutroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and moved to a seat closest to the video screen that played Adin's testimony.

He gave no discernible reaction to the story he heard.

After Mr Adin concluded his testimony, the Afghan offered his thanks, adding: "My request is to get justice."

On the morning after the killings, Mr Adin said, he arrived at a compound belonging to his cousin, Mohammed Wazir. Mr Wazir had been away on a trip, and he found Mr Wazir's mother lying dead in a doorway, a gunshot to her head.

Further inside, Mr Adin said, he found the bodies of six of his cousin's seven children, the man's wife, and other relatives. The fire that burned the bodies was out, but Mr Adin said he could smell smoke.

The video feed was shown as part of a preliminary hearing to help determine whether Bales should face a court-martial. He is charged with 16 counts of premeditated murder in the attack.

On the video, Mr Adin, who had a beard and was wearing a turban, was asked if he could testify that he personally saw the bodies. He answered: "Yes, I have seen each individual and took them out by myself."

Asked to describe the injuries, he said: "Everybody was shot on the head. ... I didn't pay attention to the rest of the wounds."

With the bodies quickly buried and no forensic evidence available from them, prosecutors need such testimony to prove the killings occurred.

Sadiquallah's older brother, Faizullah, testified about rushing to his father's home to find his father with a gunshot wound to the throat. Faizullah's sister was also wounded, as were two neighbour siblings.

Faizullah said he loaded them into a car, using a blanket to lift some of them. They were treated at a nearby base, then flown to a bigger military hospital in Kandahar. All five survived.

Earlier, two Afghan National Army guards recounted what they had seen in the pre-dawn darkness outside the base the night of the killings.

One guard recounted that a man had arrived at the base and did not stop even after he asked him three times to do so. Later in the night, the second guard said, he saw a soldier leave the base - laughing as he went.

The guards did not say the soldier was the same person nor did they identify the man as Bales.

Prosecutors say Bales broke his shooting rampage into two episodes, attacking one village, returning to the base and then departing again to raid another.

Dressed in green fatigues, the first guard, named Nematullah, testified that he had told the man who arrived around 1:30 a.m. to stop. The guard said the man came toward him, said "how are you" in an Afghan language and went inside the base.

Under cross-examination from Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, who traveled to Afghanistan to question the witnesses, the guard said he saw the man but could not identify him.

Mr Browne pressed further, asking if the guard could describe the soldier at all. The guard said he was white and well built, but those were the only details he could provide.

Mr Nematullah also said the soldier was coming from the north, which is the direction of a village that prosecutors say Bales attacked first in the nighttime rampage.

Later, a second guard, Tosh Ali, said he replaced Mr Nematullah and saw an American leaving the base around 2:30 a.m. The man greeted Mr Ali as well with "how are you" in an Afghan language, and was laughing as he walked away.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the attack.

Prosecutors say that Bales wore a T-shirt, cape and night-vision goggles - no body armour - when he slipped away from his remote post, Camp Belambay.

In between his attacks, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep.

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China congress weighs asset disclosure

ASSET disclosure for Chinese officials is likely to be slowly phased in over time, a senior Communist Party leader says, as the government grapples with the fraught task of rooting out the corruption that has fed widespread public anger.

The comments on Friday from Wang Yang, a member of the decision-making Politburo with a reputation as a reformer, came a day after the party opened a week-long congress to install a new leadership with a call to fight corruption.

Speaking to reporters, Wang said the province he ran, Guangdong, was exploring methods for officials to declare their wealth and that in the future public disclosure of assets would be required of all officials.

"Officials will slowly all disclose their assets," Wang said after a meeting with congress delegates from Guangdong.

He did not give a time frame.

Wang's comments highlight the hand wringing at many levels of the party over its inability to tamp down on the corruption by officials and their family members that has deepened public disgust and fed many of the tens of thousands of protests that hit China yearly.

At the congress's opening on Thursday, President Hu Jintao warned that unrestrained graft threatened to topple the party's continued rule.

He called on the party's 82 million members to be ethical and to stop their family members from trading on their connections to amass fortunes.

The congress itself had no public agenda on Friday.

Delegations met separately to discuss the lengthy report Hu delivered.

But in fact, most of the delegates have little say over the main agenda.

The selection of younger leaders to replace Hu and his colleagues is done behind the scenes by the departing leadership, retired party elders and other power brokers.

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Malaria vaccine not effective for infants

AN experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 per cent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.

That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half - though that is still far below the protection provided from most vaccines.

According to details released on Friday, the three-shot regimen reduced malaria cases by about 30 per cent in infants aged six to 12 weeks, the target age for immunisation.

Dr Jennifer Cohn, a medical co-ordinator at Doctors Without Borders, described the vaccine's protection levels as "unacceptably low". She was not linked to the study.

Scientists have been working for decades to develop a malaria vaccine, a complicated endeavour since the disease is caused by five different species of parasites.

There has never been an effective vaccine against a parasite.

Worldwide, there are several dozen malaria vaccine candidates being researched.

In 2006, a group of experts led by the World Health Organisation said a malaria vaccine should cut the risk of severe disease and death by at least half and should last longer than one year.

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and kills more than 650,000 people every year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa.

Without a vaccine, officials have focused on distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, spraying homes with pesticides and ensuring access to good medicines.

In the new study, scientists found babies who got three doses of the vaccine had about 30 per cent fewer cases of malaria than those who didn't get immunised.

The research included more than 6,500 infants in Africa.

Experts also found the vaccine reduced the amount of severe malaria by about 26 per cent, up to 14 months after the babies were immunised.

Scientists said they needed to analyse the data further to understand why the vaccine may be working differently in different regions.

For example, babies born in areas with high levels of malaria might inherit some antibodies from their mothers which could interfere with any vaccination.

"Maybe we should be thinking of a first-generation vaccine that is targeted only for certain children," said Dr Salim Abdulla of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, one of the study investigators.

Results were presented at a conference in South Africa on Friday and released online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study is scheduled to continue until 2014 and is being paid for by GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

Glaxo first developed the vaccine in 1987 and has invested $US300 million ($A289.5 million) in it so far.

WHO said it couldn't comment on the incomplete results and would wait until the trial was finished before drawing any conclusions.

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South Africa jails Thai rhino horn trader

A THAI national who pleaded guilty to organising bogus trophy hunts to sell rhino horns on the international black market has been sentenced to 40 years in a South African jail, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

Chumlong Lemtongthai received the unusually harsh sentence of four decades in jail from a Johannesburg magistrate court on Friday, amid a record number of unnatural rhino deaths this year.

Lemtongthai had admitted to paying prostitutes to pose as hunters, in order to harvest horns which were then sold on Asia's lucrative traditional medicine market.

The group is thought to have netted around 26 rhino horns.

In a statement, Minister of Justice Jeff Radebe said the magistrate's decision was "an appropriate sentence that fits the crime."

In handing down the jail term, the Kempton Park magistrate said he did not want his grandchildren to grow up without being able to see rhinos, according to EyeWitness News.

South Africa is home to around 80 per cent of the world's rhinos. The population forms a linchpin of the country's famed "Big Five" biodiversity and of its lucrative safari industry.

There are more than 18,000 white rhinos in the country and around 1,600 critically endangered black rhinos.

But a dizzying spike in rhino killings has put the future of the animals in doubt.

South African officials say 528 rhinos have been killed already this year, shattering previous annual records.

Most of the rhinos are killed in the world-famous Kruger National Park and their horns turn up in Vietnam, China and other east Asian nations.

The animals' distinctive horns are used to produce a fingernail-like substance that is falsely believed to have powerful healing properties.

While Lemtongthai was not accused of poaching, his case exposed deep flaws in South Africa's system of granting legal hunting permits.

Government prosecutors had called for Lemtongthai to receive a 260 year sentence for abusing the system, which has since been reformed.

Hunters are now allowed to kill only one white rhino a year, and officials must consider whether an applicant's home country has enough legislation to counter illicit trophy trade.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Phindi Louw welcomed Friday's ruling.

"It will send a strong message that as South Africans, we will do everything in our power to preserve our heritage," she said.

"We believe it's an appropriate sentence that will be able to send a message that as a country we will never tolerate people who come in our country, unlawfully so, with the purpose of destroying our wildlife."

Conservationists also welcomed the decision.

"We think it's fantastic news. It's the harshest sentence handed out for a wildlife crime in South Africa to date," said Jo Shaw, WWF South Africa's rhino co-ordinator.

However, Shaw criticised the decision to drop charges against Lemtongthai's South African co-accused.

"We are disappointed that South Africa doesn't seem to be sending a similarly strong message about the involvement of its own citizens and we do very much hope to see those charges reinstated."

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Welby named new archbishop of Canterbury

BISHOP of Durham Justin Welby, a former oil executive with experience in conflict resolution, was named as the next archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans.

The government said Bishop Welby, 56, a fast-rising priest with only a year's experience as a bishop, has been chosen to succeed the retiring Rowan Williams. He is the 105th holder of the post.

He said he felt privileged, and astonished, to be chosen to lead the church at "a time of spiritual hunger."

"It's something I never expected," Bishop Welby said.

Bishop Welby, who takes over a church divided over issues including gay marriage and female bishops, is known for his business expertise and work on conflict resolution in Africa.

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Schoolies advised to look after mates

That's the simple message from organisers of this year's schoolies event on the Gold Coast.

Nearly 30,000 school leavers are expected to descend on Surfers Paradise from next week in the annual end-of-year celebrations.

The death of Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars reveller Jordan Bailo after a high-rise fall in October sparked immediate concerns about teenagers partying in Gold Coast apartments during schoolies week.

But Gold Coast Schoolies Advisory Group chairman Mark Raeburn says rather than highlight one area of potential risk, his message is for youngsters to keep an eye on each other during next weekend's festivities.

"A couple of years ago it was planking that was the big thing," Mr Raeburn told AAP.

"We had a concern that that was going to become a problem but fortunately it wasn't.

"We try not to feature one thing in particular. What we try and do is focus on just being safe across the board and the big thing is just to watch your mates.

"Keep an eye on the people around you."

Mr Raeburn said the annual pilgrimage to the Gold Coast was much safer now than a few years ago, thanks to the increased cooperation and planning by organising committees and the police.

The alcohol-free schoolies hub on the Surfers Paradise beachfront was designed to bring students out of their apartments and away from non-schoolies in a safe and controlled environment, he said.

"There is no point pretending that these kids aren't going to drink," Mr Raeburn said.

"There's no point pretending kids aren't going to play up because they're away from mum and dad and, in some cases, it's their first experience of living away from home.

"That's the reason we have the hub on the beach - we want kids to come out of the units, because it's in the units that the issues really occur.

"We want them to wear themselves out by dancing madly on the beach."

Mr Raeburn said a particular focus in this year's schoolies will be the use of social media to communicate with those attending and keep them informed of event details.

There will also be a "chill-out" night on Tuesday to provide partygoers with a break in their revelry.

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Air raids, clashes hit Damascus: watchdog

SYRIAN rebels and troops have clashed in several districts of Damascus while air raids hit the city's outskirts, a watchdog says, amid intensifying fighting in the capital.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Syria is now so bad that the Red Cross is struggling to cope, the head of the international aid agency said on Thursday.

The violence in Damascus came a day after 133 people were killed on Wednesday across Syria, including 59 civilians, rebels and soldiers in Damascus province alone, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Fresh fighting erupted overnight in Damascus in the southern neighbourhood of Qadam and Mazzeh in the west, where three civilians were killed on Wednesday in a shelling attack on Mazzeh 86, a district mainly populated by members of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Sectarian tensions have mounted over the course of the 20-month uprising, with civilians in the majority Sunni country bearing the brunt of the death toll.

On Thursday, warplanes pounded the town of Saqba just outside the capital, while helicopters could be seen circling over the East Ghuta area, some 50 kilometres northeast of Damascus, the Britain-based watchdog said.

At dawn, plumes of smoke rose over the southern Damascus districts of Nahr Aisha and Midan after mortar rounds fell on the area, reported the Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of activists, lawyers and medics on the ground.

In the commercial hub Aleppo, troops bombarded the eastern districts of the city, while one rebel was killed as clashes broke out around the air force intelligence branch in Zahraa district in the northwest.

Residents told AFP that warplanes and tanks shelled Zahraa and Liramun at the northwest entrance of the city overnight.

An AFP correspondent reported the sound of machinegun fire and explosions as rebels and troops battled in the Old City.

The Observatory says more than 37,000 people have died since the March 2011 outbreak of the Syrian revolt, which began as a peaceful protest movement inspired by the Arab Spring but evolved into an armed rebellion following repression.

In Geneva, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told reporters: "The humanitarian situation is getting worse despite the scope of the operation increasing. We can't cope with the worsening of the situation."

The ICRC, which works in collaboration with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver aid in the conflict-racked country, nonetheless has "a lot of blank spots" with regard to the needs of the people on the ground, he said.

"There is an unknown number of people in Syria who do not get the aid they need."

Meanwhile, an Armenian plane carrying humanitarian aid for Syria was forced to land in Turkey on Thursday for an inspection of its cargo, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The cargo plane landed at Erzurum airport in eastern Turkey where teams of police and troops with sniffer dogs began a search, it said.

It was the second time in a month that the Turkish authorities have ordered an Armenian plane heading for Syria to land for security checks.

On October 15, another Armenian plane carrying humanitarian aid to Syria's battered second city of Aleppo was forced to land at Erzurum airport but the plane was allowed to resume journey after officials said no suspect cargo turned up during searches.

Last month, Turkish jets forced a Syrian plane flying from Russia to land at Ankara airport because of what it called suspect cargo.

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Hong Kong shares end 2.41% lower

HONG Kong shares have tumbled 2.41 per cent on fears US legislators will fail to reach a deal before year-end to avoid a "fiscal cliff" that could tip the economy back into recession.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Thursday fell 532.94 points to 21,566.91 on turnover of $HK72.66 billion ($A9.04 billion). The fall is the index's steepest since July 23 but comes after it enjoyed a 16 per cent rally since the start of September.

Eyes are also on Beijing where the Communist Party began a week-long congress to anoint the country's next leaders.

President Barack Obama's election victory over Republican Mitt Romney has been followed with trepidation as the focus turns to the "fiscal cliff", a combination of deep spending cuts and tax rises.

These will automatically take effect on January 1 unless Democrats and Republicans can agree on alternative ways to cut the deficit.

Henderson Land and New World Development, sourcing firm Li & Fung, oil majors PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, coalminer China Shenhua and Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment all fell more than 3.0 per cent on profit-taking.

Chinese shares closed down 1.63 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 34.22 points to 2,071.51 on turnover of 49.3 billion yuan ($A7.62 billion).

Traders are watching the 18th party congress to see if the country's rulers unveil any fresh measures to boost the domestic economy, which has suffered a slowdown in the past year.

"Given the absence of market-moving news from the domestic side, concerns about the US fiscal cliff dominate the (domestic) A-share market," Capital Securities' analyst Li Bin told Dow Jones Newswires.

Resources stocks led the declines on concerns about the global economy.

Coal producer Heilongjiang Heihua slumped 8.40 per cent to 6.87 yuan, Anyuan Coal Industry dropped 5.92 per cent to 12.40 yuan and Shanxi Coking Coal fell 4.27 per cent to 8.29 yuan.

Nonferrous metals producer Chengtun Mining lost 5.19 per cent to 10.23 yuan while Rising Nonferrous Metals fell 3.89 per cent to 41.56 yuan.

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Assad says he won't leave Syria

SYRIA'S embattled President Bashar al-Assad says he will not leave his country.

In an interview with Russian television, Assad said he will "live and die" in Syria.

His comments come two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the nation's civil war.

Assad spoke in English with Russia Today TV. Excerpts of the interview were posted on the TV station's website on Thursday.

Assad says he is not a puppet of the West.

He says: "I am Syrian, made in Syria, and I will live and die in Syria."

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US states back marijuana, gay marriage

US states have voted to legalise marijuana, allow gay marriage and keep public funding for abortions, in a string of liberal poll decisions accompanying Barack Obama's re-election.

The moves were decided among more than 170 ballot initiatives and referendums held across the country on Tuesday, as America voted the Democratic president back in for four more years.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, whose state is one of two to legalise marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal purposes, accepted his western state's vote - albeit with tongue in cheek.

"The voters have spoken and we have to respect their will ... That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug," he said, referring to nationwide legislation which conflicts with a number of states' own laws.

"So don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly," he said, referring to two popular brands of cheesy snacks. Marijuana is known to stimulate the appetite.

Obama came out in favour of same-sex marriage months before the election pitting him against Republican rival Mitt Romney, who insists that marriage should be reserved for a relationship between a man and a woman.

During his first four-year term Obama had also fulfilled a pledge to repeal the controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) law banning openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the US military.

Three states voted Tuesday to legalise same-sex marriage, including Maine - which voted in a referendum against it in 2009, but reversed that decision with 53 per cent in favour to 47 per cent against.

Washington state and Maryland also appeared set to approve the move, which had already been passed by state lawmakers. Both states voted 52-48 per cent in favour, according to CNN projections based on partial results.

Same-sex marriage is not federally recognised, but it was already legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia. It is constitutionally banned in 31 states.

Meanwhile three states - Colorado, Washington and Oregon - voted on proposals to legalise marijuana, including for recreational use, going further than a number of states which already allow it for medicinal purposes.

Colorado backed the move by 54 per cent in favour to 46 per cent against, and Washington by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, according to CNN citing partial results. Oregon rejected it by 56 per cent to 44 per cent, it said.

In other closely watched initiatives, California rejected a move to ban the death penalty, and one to enforce labelling of genetically-modified (GM) foodstuffs - which would have been a US first if passed.

In a more local vote, Los Angeles County voted to oblige porn actors to wear condoms while on set - the San Fernando Valley north of LA is the centre of the US pornographic film industry.

Florida voters meanwhile rejected a proposal to ban the use of public funds for abortion or for insurance coverage for the service, according to partial results.

Fifty-five per cent of voters rejected Florida's so-called Amendment 6, with 45 per cent in favour, according to NBC and CNN.

Abortion has long been a hugely divisive issue in America, with many Republicans fiercely opposed. During the campaign two Republican politicians made controversial comments which fuelled the debate.

In Missouri Republican candidate Todd Akin triggered a firestorm by suggesting that a women's body could shut down conception in cases of "legitimate rape."

More recently, in a hotly contested Senate race in Indiana, Republican Richard Mourdock was criticised for suggesting that if a woman becomes pregnant from rape, it is "something that God intended to happen."

Both Akin and Mourdock were beaten in their respective poll races on Tuesday.

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Man caught speeding at 219km/h near Taree

A MAN has been charged after being caught speeding at 219km/h - more than double the speed limit - on the NSW Central Coast.

Police say the 35-year-old Victoria man was clocked travelling at 219km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Pacific Highway near Taree just after midday on Wednesday.

Officers chased the vehicle for 24km, eventually stopping it near Moorland.

The driver's licence was suspended on the spot and he was issued with a court attendance notice for driving at a speed dangerous to the public and exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h.

He is due to appear in Taree local on November 20.

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Divers find sunken Russian gold ship

DIVERS have found a Russian ship carrying 700 tons of gold ore that sank off the Pacific coast last month.

The freighter Amurskaya had been missing since Oct. 28 when it sent a distress call from the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific.

A statement from the Transportation Ministry said its 11 crew members remain unaccounted for.

The ship was found by divers in about 75 metres (230 feet) of water on Wednesday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Police have lodged criminal charges against the ship's owner, who also is director of the Nikolaevsk-on-Amur port, where the ship is registered, for allegedly instructing the ship to sail despite bad weather and improper cargo procedures.

No details on how much gold the ore could contain have been released.

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Tough Mudder profitable and physical

THOUSANDS of Australians are among the growing number of global competitors paying for the privilege to take part in the physically gruelling Tough Mudder event, reaping millions of dollars for organisers.

In 2012 the 20km races which send entrants scrambling over military-style obstacles - climbing ropes, crossing greased monkey bars and crawling under barbed wire - sold out in both Sydney and Melbourne, with plans to expand to Brisbane and Perth in 2013.

Participants register online, paying an entry fee of up to $US180, which along with brand sponsorship, is expected to earn the Tough Mudder company at least $US70 million ($A67.35 million) in 2012, Britain's Financial Times newspaper reported.

"We haven't had any serious injuries," British co-founder Will Dean, 31, told the FT of the company's two years of operation.

"We know we will. It's just a statistical certainty, unfortunately."

In a bid to mitigate the company's responsibility in the case of injury or death, competitors - some 80 per cent of them men - sign a waiver when registering.

A graduate of Harvard Business School, Mr Dean and Tough Mudder partner Guy Livingstone started the company in 2010 with $US20,000.

The pair has already reached an undisclosed court settlement after being sued by the founder of UK Tough Guy, who claims his idea was unfairly copied in the start-up of Tough Mudder.

Despite the legal hurdle Mr Dean, himself a keen runner, is confident of his company's expansion, championing the event's attractiveness to competitors.

"We compete against things that guys do together at the weekend, and we also compete against the things that stop guys from doing things together, like having to put up shelves or visit their girlfriend's parents," he told the FT.

"This is about getting muddy and bloody and having a beer afterwards."

Tough Mudder will hold 56 events around the world in 2013 and is looking to expand further, including to New Zealand.

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Polls open on US election day

US polling stations have opened, with Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney locked in a tight presidential contest after a burst of last-minute campaigning.

Polls opened at 6am (2200 AEDT) on Tuesday, in battleground states New Hampshire and Virginia - either of which could decide the election - as well as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine and Vermont.

After a nearly two-year-long campaign season - the most expensive and one of the most negative on record - Americans will decide whether to re-elect Obama despite the sluggish economy or opt for the change promised by Romney.

Obama is seen as the slight favourite, with a razor-thin advantage in the latest national polls and - more importantly - a narrow lead in most of the swing states expected to decide the election.

In US elections the president is not chosen by the popular vote, but indirectly through the electoral college, in which states vote based on population, with a candidate needing 270 out of 538 electoral votes to win.

Tuesday's first votes were cast just after midnight in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, which boasts the first ballots in US elections.

For the first time the vote was tied - with Obama and Romney each receiving five votes.

Early voting has been under way in some states for several weeks.

Tanner Tillotson, 24, who cast the first ballot at 12.00am on Tuesday (1600 AEDT) in the upscale Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, said he voted for President Obama.

"I hope it will inspire people to get out and make their voice heard," he said.

"I think (the result) is very indicative, that this is the first time in Dixville Notch's history that there is a tie. We're still a very divided nation and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the country is."

The tiny New Hampshire town, about 30km from the Canadian border, boasts the first vote in US elections, but is seen as more of a curiosity than a national bellwether.

In Hart's Location, Obama won with 23 votes, Romney received nine and Libertarian Gary Johnson received one vote. Thirty-three votes were cast in 5 minutes, 42 seconds.

The towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948 and it's a matter of pride to get everyone to the polls.

Hart's Location Selectman Mark Dindorf says you could call it a friendly competition to see who gets their votes tallied first, although he says Hart's Location is a town and Dixville Notch is a precinct.

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Man, 72, dies in car crash at Quipolly

A MAN has died after his car veered of a road and rolled in central NSW.

The 72-year-old Werris Creek man died at the scene of the crash near Werris Creek Road at Quipolly about 1.20pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, police say.

No one else was travelling in the car.

Investigators are preparing a report for the coroner and police are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

No further information is available.

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Search on for missing boy in Mildura

A SEARCH is ongoing for a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who has gone missing from his home in Mildura, in northwest Victoria.

The child was last seen playing with his dog at his Beacon Avenue house, near Twentieth Street, at about 8.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Police believe the boy and his dog have wandered off the property.

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Car bomb near Iraqi military base kills 27

A SUICIDE bomber driving a car packed with explosives detonated the vehicle near an Iraqi military base as soldiers changed shifts north of Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and wounding more than 40, according to authorities.

The blast struck around midday on Tuesday as troops were leaving the base in Taji, 20 kilometres, north of the capital, police said. Nineteen soldiers were among the dead, and several vehicles were damaged, they said.

The casualty toll was high because the attacker blew up the car while large numbers of soldiers were walking to and from a parking area for waiting minibuses that take them to and from work, officials said.

Insurgents frequently target members of the country's security forces in an effort to undermine confidence in the Shi'ite-led government. Although violence has ebbed in Iraq since the height of the insurgency, attacks still occur frequently.

Officials said many of the wounded were soldiers. They warned the death toll could rise further because several of the injuries were serious.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

The attack was the deadliest in Iraq in more than a week. On October 27, insurgents unleashed a string of bombings and other attacks around the country that left at least 40 people dead.

It was the second bombing in Taji in less than 24 hours. On Monday, police said a car bomb struck an army patrol not far from the site of Tuesday's blast, wounding eight people. Another bombing on Monday near an outdoor market in a Shi'ite neighbourhood on Baghdad's outskirts killed four.

In Iraq's north, the president of the country's self-rule Kurdish region urged Kurds in neighbouring Syria to stay united and not let political differences devolve into violence.

The comments by Massoud Barzani, posted Monday evening on the regional government's website, point to growing concern in Iraq that infighting among Syrian Kurds could complicate that country's civil war and risk destabilising Iraq's Kurdish region. Syria's Kurds have been solidifying control over territory where they live amid the tumult of the conflict.

Barzani over the summer brokered an agreement between rival Kurdish Democratic Union Party and the Kurdish National Council, the main Kurdish umbrella group, in Syria to jointly control Kurd-populated areas together.

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Queen's wardrobe secrets revealed

AIDES to Queen Elizabeth II take care to avoid her dresses being blown up by an errant gust of wind by sewing weights into them, one of her aides revealed on Monday.

"The queen undertakes a wide range of engagements, many of which take place in the open air, where a sudden breeze could cause embarrassment," writes Angela Kelly, the queen's personal assistant, adviser and curator, in a new book.

"If we think this is a possibility, we will very occasionally use weights, discreetly sewn into the seams of day dresses."

The glossy hardback opens the door on the work involved in creating the 86-year-old monarch's famously immaculate style, which saw her voted one of the world's most glamorous women by British Vogue magazine in 2007.

It reveals the two years of preparations for the Diamond Jubilee in June, including how the queen's white outfit worn to the river pageant was inspired by Elizabeth I and designed to stand out against the deep reds of the royal barge.

Kelly also describes how palace dressmakers were asked to make two identical versions of the crystal and lace peach cocktail dress the queen wore to the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games in July, without knowing why.

One was worn by the monarch and the other by the stunt double who jumped out of a plane alongside James Bond, in one of the highlights of the night.

"Dressing the Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe", which features lavish photographs and design sketches, also reveals how the queen uses her clothes to make a diplomatic point.

This included wearing Irish green on her historic visit to the republic in May 2011, and having one of her outfits on a tour to Canada in 2010 embellished with beads by women from the Mi'kmaq indigenous community.

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Britain's Cameron visits Gulf to sell jets

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron held talks with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on Monday as he kicked of a three-day Gulf visit aimed at enhancing ties and selling jets, reports said.

According to the official WAM news agency, Cameron and Sheikh Mohammed discussed "ways to strengthen ties of friendship and cooperation between the two friendly countries" as well as the regional political and security situation.

The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, also attended the Dubai meeting.

Cameron's office had earlier said the talks with Sheikh Mohammed would also address collaboration over next-generation aerospace equipment.

Cameron arrived early Monday and breakfasted with British troops based in the Gulf state soon after his arrival, the British embassy in the United Arab Emirates said on its Twitter account.

He later took a ride on the Dubai Metro and tweeted: "British engineering helped build it with contracts worth over 600 million."

Cameron told the BBC that his visit was not only focused on trade and investment.

"We're also partners in defence and security. We worked together in Libya, we worked together in Afghanistan and we'll be discussing all the key regional and global issues," he told the broadcaster.

Cameron later travelled to the capital Abu Dhabi for a meeting with university students.

According to a statement by Cameron's office, the prime minister was to accompany senior Emirati officials on an inspection of RAF Typhoons stationed at a UAE airbase as part of a training exercise.

The visit to the UAE, to be followed by a stopover in Saudi Arabia, "signals the PM's commitment to cementing long-term partnerships with two of Britain's most important strategic allies in the Gulf," the statement said.

Cameron is expected to use the trip to push Britain's defence industry and "specifically promote the Typhoon fast jet to Gulf leaders", it added.

The UAE had shown an interest in ordering up to 60 Typhoon Eurofighters to replace their ageing French Mirages, according to the statement.

The British leader is to head to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday before travelling onwards in the Middle East. His itinerary for the rest of the trip remains undisclosed for security reasons.

Cameron visited the UAE in 2010 and Saudi Arabia in January 2012.

Britain is trying to boost its arms sales to oil-rich Gulf states, which are key allies in a region facing instability from the violence in Syria and the crisis over Iran's nuclear program.

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Pakistani sheep cull 'disgusting': Ludwig

AGRICULTURE Minister Joe Ludwig says he was appalled by the recent brutal slaughter of 21,000 Australian sheep by Pakistani authorities but says he is satisfied that all due diligence has been done for an upcoming export of live cows.

The minister was commenting on a report by the ABC's Four Corners on Monday, which probed the circumstances surrounding the inhumane culls in September and October.

Officials from the Sindh provincial government claimed the slaughter - which saw some sheep buried alive - was necessary due to health concerns, but these claims were vehemently rejected by Australia's live export industry and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Exporter Elders is now preparing to send a shipment of nearly 3000 breeder cows, 2000 of which were destined for Pakistan, where they would be under the supervision of the same government department that carried out the cull.

Senator Ludwig says he is satisfied that the department has done all of the due diligence for the export of the cows.

"Breeder cattle are are quite expensive animals to begin with," he told ABC Television on Monday.

"They are also likely to end up within local herds and well looked after - they have a long productive life."

He said he was disgusted by the scenes of the sheep being slaughtered in Pakistan.

"It was certainly appalling," the minister said.

"No one would have expected that - it was unprecedented.

But he stood by his department's handling of the case, saying the animals were not rejected on the basis of any health problems.

"The High Commissioner in Pakistan, myself, the department, everyone including the exporter and the importer did everything they could to ensure the animal welfare of those sheep," Senator Ludwig said.

"Ultimately, it didn't succeed (and) we had an appalling circumstance."

The department says it is investigating the case for any possible breaches of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System.

"We do not know the reasoning behind the Pakistan authority's decision to cull the sheep in Pakistan or their choice of the method used," DAFF said in a statement.

"We continue to hold that both the decision and the method used were unnecessary."

RSPCA Australia chief executive Heather Neil said the ABC report showed the live export trade wasn't worth the risk.

"No matter how much industry or government involvement there is, the live export of animals for slaughter presents an unacceptable level of risk for the animals and is inherently cruel," Ms Neil said.

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Dutch coalition sworn in

DUTCH Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte's coalition government was sworn in on Monday already under fire over pro-austerity measures seen as punishing his party's core middle-class voters.

Rutte's VVD and Diederik Samsom's centre-left PvdA came out on top in September 12 elections and have been in coalition talks ever since, with Queen Beatrix swearing in Rutte's new government on Monday morning.

But the ceremony, broadcast live for the first time, was overshadowed by widespread unhappiness with an austerity package agreed by the two pro-European parties aimed at saving 16 billion euros ($A19.99 billion) by 2017.

The most controversial part of the deal means that health insurance premiums will now be calculated according to income, a measure that has caused dismay among the VVD's traditional wealthy and the middle class voters.

The election was seen as a test of Dutch anti-European sentiment and voters ended up rejecting far-left and far-right extremism, with the Liberals obtaining 41 seats while Labour took 38 out of a possible 150.

But Rutte's VVD party's support is in freefall, with an opinion poll published Sunday saying they would win 11 seats less if an election were to be held now.

"False start," "Sombre start for new government," headlined the popular De Telegraaf and the Algemeen Dagblad dailies.

The Netherlands came under fire from its European partners when its deficit tipped to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product last year, above a three percent ceiling imposed by the European Union.

Talks on budget cuts led to the collapse of Rutte's government in April when his far-right parliamentary ally walked out of negotiations.

"The normally festive beginning of a new government is overshadowed by widespread anger over health insurance, which will not quiet down," wrote De Telegraaf.

The problem "threatens the government's stability before it's been orn in," said the left-leaning De Volkskrant.

PvdA party leader Samsom is staying in the lower house rather than taking up a ministerial post.

Members of his party members are however taking key portfolios, including deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

The VVD's Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert becomes the Netherlands first woman defence minister.

The cabinet is to hold its first meeting on Monday afternoon.

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Ad blitz - big money, smaller audience

ONE million ads. More than $US1 billion. Ten battleground states.

They are the eye-popping figures that tell the story of the 2012 US presidential campaign TV ad blitz. Never before has so much money been spent on so many commercials aimed at so few voters.

Television ads were the primary communications tool for both President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, despite the gradual but persistent shift of viewers from TV to the internet.

Both teams maintained a robust social media presence and used online ads for micro-targeting voters based on their reading and shopping habits.

But nothing came close to their investment in the kind of 30- and 60-second TV spots that have defined presidential campaigns for nearly half a century.

"The decline of television advertising hasn't happened, and it's not going away anytime soon," said Erika Franklin Fowler, director of the Wesleyan University Media Project which tracks campaign advertising.

"TV is where you look for the persuadable voter and the internet is what you use to mobilise your base."

The two presidential campaigns, the political parties and their allied independent groups aired 1,015,615 ads between June 1 and October 29, the Wesleyan project found - almost 40 per cent more than the number that ran in the same period in 2008, when Obama defeated John McCain.

The proliferation of campaign commercials was fuelled by an unprecedented level of spending.

The candidates, parties and groups spent more than $US1.08 billion ($A1.04 billion) in total on commercials since April according to data compiled by media trackers.

But the ads were directed at an ever-shrinking universe of voters.

Nine states - Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin - saw the vast majority of the campaign spots, with a 10th state, Pennsylvania, emerging late as an advertising battleground as well.

Almost no one outside of them has seen an ad except for a few national cable and broadcast buys.

"Fewer people are witnessing the onslaught than ever before. The ones that are are getting carpet bombed," Fowler said.

A newly empowered spate of independent groups helped contribute to the glut, investing millions in their own TV advertising to influence the 2012 contest.

US television stations, by law, must grant presidential candidates lower ad rates than regular commercial advertisers receive.

That discount is not available to the political parties nor the outside groups, forcing them to pay much higher rates in battleground states where ad space is at a premium.

That's in part why Obama aired more spots than did Romney and his allies.

Obama and Democratic-leaning groups spent approximately $460 million on the airwaves, the vast majority coming from the president's campaign.

Romney and the Republican groups spent $624 million, more than half of which came from outside groups.

The president's campaign aired about 503,000 ads since June 1, the Wesleyan study found, compared to about 191,000 for Romney.

The Republican hopeful was aided by some 270,000 ads from outside groups supporting his candidacy.

While there is no question the outside groups helped bring Romney to parity with Obama on the airwaves, the president's campaign, by taking advantage of the lower ad rate, spent less money to air more ads.

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BBC could face public inquiry: govt

BRITAIN'S culture secretary says the government could order a full public inquiry into the BBC's handling of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

Maria Miller has been quoted as telling The Sunday Telegraph newspaper a formal investigation into the broadcaster "remains an option".

Savile, one of the BBC's best known entertainers, has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of vulnerable young people.

Police said the TV host, who died last year aged 84, and accomplices may have abused at least 300 people, mainly women.

The BBC is conducting its own internal inquiries into how Savile's behaviour was allowed to go unchecked for decades.

It is also probing the decision by the channel's flagship current affairs show to shelve an investigation into Savile.

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Panda undergoes flight training

Fu Hu, born in a Vienna zoo, plays in the snow in his enclosure. Even when conceived abroad, pandas are the property of the Republic of China. Source: AFP

LURED into a crate, then shaken about, Fu Hu - the young star of Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo - undergoes the panda version of flight training before setting off to join his peers in China.

A key attraction ever since his sensational birth there in 2010, Fu Hu - "lucky tiger" in Mandarin - is now two years old, and must return to China under the zoo's contract with Beijing.

But in the wild, this is also the age when a cub bids farewell to its parents.

"He has already learnt everything he needs to know from his mother. Now he can learn much more from bears of the same age," Renate Haider, Fu Hu's main caretaker, told AFP.

Schoenbrunn scored a huge success in 2007 when it became the first European zoo to see a panda born from natural conception.

Caretaker Renate Haider assists Fu Hu with 'flight training' at the Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, ahead of his journey to China.

Given the bears' endangered status and short mating time, zoos usually resort to artificial insemination.

The first natural-born panda, Fu Long, was an immediate crowd pleaser but, under the same contractual obligation, had to leave the baroque surroundings of the Vienna zoo at the age of two.

Within 12 months came the next sensation when Fu Hu saw the light of day on August 23, 2010, right on his brother's birthday.

"They're so adorable, totally fluffy. You'd really just like to cuddle up to him," said teenager Lara Mechler from Muenster, Germany, gazing happily at Fu Hu and his mother on a recent visit.

"[Fu Hu] has already learnt everything he needs to know from his mother. Now he can learn much more from bears of the same age," says caretaker Renate Haider.

The zoo is proud of its conservation success, which it puts down to good infrastructure and training that helps keep the pandas physically and mentally fit.

Schoenbrunn also conducts research in collaboration with its Chinese partners, such as into pandas' ability to recognise each other from the black patches around their eyes or the sounds that cubs make.

The panda - which appears on the logo of the WWF - "is the symbol for wildlife conservation after all," said zoo director Dagmar Schratter.

"Especially with such endangered animals, our ambition and our duty is to try and encourage our animals to mate."

Taking care of two adult pandas and a cub is no mean feat.

Each bear eats between 20 and 30 kilograms per day of bamboo, requiring a delivery of about one tonne every other week - flown in from southern France as the requisite amounts are not available in Austria.

Schoenbrunn also insists that its pandas should remain wild and keeps interactions with its caretakers to a minimum.

"Pandas are certainly the most jovial, calmest bears as they are not hunters, but they are still bears," said Ms Haider.

"We can go in and see the little one as he's just 50 kilograms and not as dangerous, but the adults are 100 kilograms ... even if they just wanted to play, something could go wrong."

As Fu Hu prepares to leave for China on November 6, visitors are already mourning his departure.

"It's sad, of course, because he is part of Schoenbrunn Zoo. His presence made more and more people come here and visit," said retiree Monika Braun, who holds an annual zoo pass and comes to see the animals regularly.

A team from Vienna will accompany Fu Hu to the Bifengxia panda reserve in China's Sichuan province to help ease him into his new surroundings.

In the meantime, a travel crate has been installed in his enclosure and Haider regularly draws him inside with treats while colleagues rock the crate to simulate potential in-flight turbulence.

"We've been practicing the whole procedure so he knows it all and the loading will be as stress-free as possible," said Ms Haider.

The 10-year loan of Fu Hu's parents Yang Yang and Long Hui, meanwhile, expires in March but the zoo is already in talks to extend the contract for another decade and remains optimistic.

Now the question is whether Schoenbrunn will see a third cub next summer.

"In the spring it is mating time again and the adults get along very well so I think nothing should get in the way," said Ms Haider. "Let's see what happens!"

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Keep Autodom ticking over - AMWU

THE car workers' union says the newly appointed administrator to collapsed car parts group Autodom should try to keep the business going.

Last Thursday, Autodom, which has seven factories in Victoria and South Australia, shut its doors standing down 400 workers.

It said it had been forced to close after the breakdown of negotiations with key stakeholders to ensure the company's operations were sustainable.

Macks Advisory was appointed as administrator on Sunday and will be taking over the running of the stricken group.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) says it is essential Autodom keeps operating because it supplies parts to Ford, Holden and Toyota on a just-in-time basis, in an industry that employs 200,000 people.

AMWU assistant Victorian state secretary Leigh Diehm says the union is working to make sure everything that can be done to keep work in Autodom, is.

"The decision to go into administration means we have to look at a range of options to keep things going," Mr Diehm said.

He'll be talking to Work Place Relations Minister Bill Shorten about the support role the federal government can play as well as the Baillieu government in Victoria.

"We now all have a responsibility to explore the possibilities made available by the state of the company's management, including what financial arrangements there are to get back to work and make sure workers aren't simply blamed," he said.

Administrator Peter Macks said he is working through the financial positions of Autodom and will be talking with key players in the car industry, secured creditors, union representatives and government to assess available options.

"As voluntary administrators, we have taken control of the assets of the companies and begun the task of assessing the positions of each company," he said.

The risk now is that Holden and Ford will run out of parts by the middle of this week, with Toyota saying it could last until Christmas.

Earlier this year, Holden received a $275 million federal and state government assistance package to develop two new cars in Australia to ensure the future of its local manufacturing operations to at least 2022.

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