400 asylum seekers reach Italian island

TWO boats carrying more than 400 African migrants have arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, the latest in a wave of thousands of undocumented migrants arriving from North African shores.

The boats were intercepted on Saturday by Italian coast guards in open sea south of the rocky outcrop, which is closer to Africa than to the Italian mainland.

The first boat carried 218 sub-Saharan migrants including seven women.

The second boat, which was some 20 metres long, had around 220 people including 20 women, Italian news agency ANSA reported, citing the coast guard.

Most of the recent Lampedusa arrivals have been on boats coming from Libya.

Migrants are usually taken to a small facility on Lampedusa and then to centres for asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants in other parts of Italy.

The charity Save the Children on Thursday said the situation was "chaotic", with 722 migrants still on the island including 102 women and 15 unaccompanied minors, and urged the government to transfer them to better accommodation.

Tens of thousands of migrants landed on Italian shores last year in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Thousands more have arrived this year despite Italy's calls for Tunisia and Libya to step up their maritime border controls.

Hundreds have died over the past two years in the perilous Mediterranean crossings, when their heavily overcrowded dinghies and fishing boats capsized or sank in stormy weather or were cast adrift due to engine failure.

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Syrian troops attack rebels: report

SYRIAN opposition activists say government troops have launched a major attack on rebel-held areas south of the capital Damascus.

"The Syrian troops are trying, under a barrage of heavy shelling, to storm Daraya from various directions," Haytham al-Abdullah, a Damascus-based activist, said.

Daraya is a poor Sunni Muslim suburb and a stronghold of the hardline group al-Nousra Front, which has been blacklisted by the United States as "a terrorist organisation".

The head of the opposition British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were eager to tighten their grip on the area.

"Daraya is the closest point to the Mezzeh military airport, which is currently the only facility used by the regime's officials and troops to move in and out of the capital," he said.

Rebels have recently been fighting with troops in and around Damascus, raising the possibility that Assad could lose his hold on the capital.

Rebels are believed to be controlling several areas near Damascus airport.

News from Syria is difficult to verify, as authorities have barred most foreign media from the country since an uprising started in March last year.

Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Russia, China, Syria and Iran to Lebanon reiterated at a meeting in Beirut that a political solution was the only way to end the 21-month conflict.

"The ongoing fighting in Syria, which targets the regime and is supported by some states, has so far only resulted in further death and destruction, and should stop immediately," the envoys said, according to a statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

The meeting came two days after Russia's deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said rebels might eventually defeat Assad's regime.

Those remarks were later played down by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

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China to open longest high-speed railway

THE world's longest high-speed rail route, running from the Chinese capital Beijing to Guangzhou in the south, will open for business on December 26, Chinese state media says.

Travelling at an average speed of 300 kilometres per hour, the line will slash journey times linking Beijing in the north with the country's southern economic hub from 22 hours to eight hours, the China Daily newspaper said.

The December opening means the 2298 kilometre route, with 35 stops including major cities Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha, will be operational for China's Lunar New Year holiday period, in which hundreds of millions of people travel across the country in the world's largest annual migration.

The specific date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, state media said.

China's high-speed rail network is booming. Only established in 2007, it has quickly become the largest in the world, with 8358 kilometres of track at the end of 2010 and expected to almost double to 16,000 kilometres by 2020.

The network, however, has been plagued by graft and safety scandals following its rapid expansion, with a deadly bullet train collision in July 2011 killing 40 people and sparking a public outcry.

The accident - China's worst rail disaster since 2008 - triggered a flood of criticism of the government and accusations that the authorities had compromised safety in its rush to expand.

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Mandela continues hospital stay

NELSON Mandela remains in hospital, a week after he was admitted for treatment for a lung infection, a government official says.

"Mr Mandela is still in hospital, still comfortable and receiving treatment," said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj.

Mr Maharaj could not comment on rumours that the 94-year-old could be soon be discharged from Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital, a private facility in the capital Pretoria.

It was not clear when Mandela was moved to the private hospital from the One Military hospital, the country's top military healthcare facility where government officials initially said Mandela was being treated.

The Heart Hospital bills itself as the first and "only hospital of its kind - a private, specialised heart hospital - in South Africa".

The Nobel Peace Prize winner who led the country to democracy in 1994 was flown from his rural home village of Qunu to Pretoria on December 8.

He has a long history of lung problems dating back decades when he contracted tuberculosis while in prison.

He was previously hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, when he was kept for two nights.

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'Samsung chip plant caused cancer'

A SOUTH Korean government agency says that working at a Samsung Electronics factory caused the breast cancer of a worker who died earlier this year, only the second time it has recognised a link between cancer and Samsung's chip plants.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, which is part of the labour ministry, ruled earlier this month that there was a "considerable causal relationship" between the woman's cancer and her five years of work at a semiconductor plant near Seoul.

The ruling didn't become public until Friday when the agency announced compensation for the woman's family.

Samsung spokesman James Chung said it will not appeal the government's decision. The company is the world's largest maker of computer memory chips.

There have been very few cases in South Korea in which a link between working conditions and cancer has been convincingly demonstrated.

Nearly 30 South Koreans have filed claims with the agency that working at Samsung caused rare forms of disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and brain tumours. Another dozen people whose claims were rejected by the agency have filed court appeals.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service collects insurance fees from companies and makes rulings on whether diseases are caused by workplace hazards. Workers file industrial disease-related claims with the agency, not with their employer. Either party can appeal to the courts.

The woman, whose last name is Kim, died in March, age 36, three years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Kim worked for Samsung from 1995 to 2000. Her first name was not released at her family's request.

The agency didn't say how much compensation was paid, but spokesman Kang Byung-soo said it usually amounts to nearly four years of a worker's salary.

"There was an exposure to organic solvents and radiation. The earlier the exposure is, the more likely the cancer is caused," the workers compensation agency said in a statement about Kim's case.

The agency said it also reviewed records from overseas which showed that working night shifts is linked to a higher chance of breast cancer.

Kim, who worked eight to 12 hours a day, was often assigned night time shifts that started at 10pm and ended at 6am, according to Lee Jong-ran, an official at SHARPs (Supporters for the Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry).

Kim worked at a plant without a radiation detector and was exposed to benzene and other carcinogens, according to the activist group.

Lee said the latest decision will have a positive impact on Samsung employees who are hoping to prove a link between their diseases and working conditions at Samsung Electronics.

"Because the government recognised the link, people who have pending lawsuits will feel encouraged," she said.

There have been three recent cases in which authorities recognised that working conditions at Samsung had contributed to diseases.

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Egypt opposition hold last-ditch rallies

EGYPT'S mainly secular opposition has gathered for last-ditch protests against a new constitution it slams as divisive, but on the eve of a referendum it held back from urging a boycott.

The opposition National Salvation Front expressed "deep concern" over the vote called by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, which is intended to complete the transition from veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak's rule.

But while again protesting against the spreading of polling over two successive Saturdays, it refrained from urging supporters to stay away from a plebiscite that analysts say the Islamists are likely to carry.

The bloc has organised weeks of protests against what it regards as the hijacking of the Arab Spring uprising by an Islamist-dominated panel to push through a constitution that leans too far towards Islamic sharia law.

Clashes last week between opposition protesters and Morsi supporters left eight people dead and hundreds injured.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a former UN nuclear energy agency chief who heads the opposition Front, said on his Twitter feed: "Insistence on referendum in an explosive, polarised, chaotic & lawless environment is leading country to the brink."

Morsi has ordered Egypt's military to help police maintain security until the results of the referendum are known. A total of 130,000 police and 120,000 soldiers will be deployed to provide security, interior ministry and military officials told AFP.

Morsi spread polling in the referendum over two days because of a lack of judges willing to provide the statutory supervision for the vote.

Polls will open on Saturday in the biggest cities of Cairo and Alexandria and eight other provinces. A week later, on December 22, the other half of the country will vote.

Morsi says the new constitution is needed to establish stability after the early 2011 ouster of Mubarak ending three decades of autocratic rule.

His Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-orthodox Salafist groups backing the draft charter have been campaigning for days for Egypt's 51 million voters to approve it.

The opposition - which initially wanted the referendum postponed and has said it could yet call a last-minute boycott if the poll is insufficiently monitored by judges and independent observers - has only started urging a "no" vote since Thursday.

"It's you who will pay the price if you vote 'yes'. 'No' to the constitution," said an online campaign advertisement by an opposition group called April 6.

At least two anti-constitution rallies were to be held in Cairo on Friday, after the main weekly Muslim prayers.

The pro-referendum camp had its supporters stationed along main roads holding "Yes to the constitution" placards. It has also released videos online with a campaign song that goes: "This constitution is not too bad, it was written by a committee of heroes."

International watchdogs, including the UN human rights chief, as well as the United States and the European Union, have expressed reservations about the draft constitution because of loopholes that could be used to weaken human rights, the rights of women and the independence of judges.

Analysts said the proven ability of the Muslim Brotherhood to get its voters out could well see the draft constitution passed, although that was not certain.

Polls open on Saturday at 8.00am (1700 AEDT) and are scheduled to close at 7.00pm (0400 AEDT Sunday).

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22 children hurt in China school attack

A KNIFE-WIELDING man has injured 22 children and an adult outside a primary school in central China as students were arriving for morning classes, police say.

It's the latest in a series of periodic rampage attacks at schools and kindergartens.

Friday's attack in the Henan province village of Chengping happened shortly before 8am (1100 AEDT), said a police officer from Guangshan county, where the village is located.

The attacker, 36-year-old villager Min Yingjun, is now in police custody, said the officer, who declined to give her name, as is customary among Chinese civil servants.

A Guangshan county hospital administrator said the man first attacked an elderly woman, then students, before being subdued by security guards who have been posted across China following a spate of school attacks in recent years.

He said there were no deaths among the nine students admitted, although two badly injured children had been transferred to better-equipped hospitals outside the county.

A doctor at Guangshan's hospital of traditional Chinese medicine said that seven students had been admitted, but that none were seriously injured.

Neither the hospital administrator nor the doctor would give his name.

It was not clear how old the injured children were, but Chinese primary school pupils are generally six to 11 years old.

A notice posted on the Guangshan county government's website confirmed the number of injured and said an emergency response team had been set up to investigate the attacks.

No motive was given for the stabbings, which echo a string of similar assaults against schoolchildren in 2010 that killed nearly 20 and wounded more than 50. The most recent such attack took place in August, when a knife-wielding man broke into a middle school in the southern city of Nanchang and stabbed two students before fleeing.

Most of the attackers have been mentally disturbed men involved in personal disputes or unable to adjust to the rapid pace of social change, underscoring grave weaknesses in the antiquated Chinese medical system's ability to diagnose and treat psychiatric illness.

In one of the worst incidents, a man described as an unemployed, middle-aged doctor killed eight children with a knife in March 2010 to vent his anger over a thwarted romantic relationship.

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IAEA confident of nuclear deal with Iran

THE UN nuclear agency has expressed confidence that it will clinch a deal with Iran next month under which Tehran will at last answer "credible" evidence that it has conducted atomic weapons research.

Herman Nackaerts, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief inspector, said after what he called "good meetings" in Tehran that the deal would include access to the Parchin base where the agency suspects explosives tests applicable for nuclear weapons took place.

Such a breakthrough, if it really happens, could indicate that Iran, feeling the pinch from massive sanctions pressure, may give ground in parallel diplomatic efforts with six world powers stalled since June. But that is a big "if", experts say.

"We have agreed to meet again on 16 January next year, where we expect to finalise the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that," Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport, saying Parchin was "part of" the arrangement under negotiation.

On Thursday, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, was quoted by state media as saying in typically upbeat fashion that the meeting was "constructive, positive, and good progress has been made".

The IAEA wants Iran to address substantively a mass of what the agency calls "overall, credible" evidence set out in a major 2011 report that until 2003, and possibly since, Iran did weapons research.

Iran denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons, and says its program is exclusively peaceful.

So far, including in a string of previous fruitless meetings between the IAEA and Iran this year both in Tehran and Vienna, Iran has rejected the alleged evidence outright.

This is because the bulk is from foreign intelligence agencies, including from arch foe Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state which has refused to rule out bombing Iran to stop it also getting the bomb.

The IAEA has zeroed in on Parchin near Tehran because its information on activities there is "independent", such as from commercially available satellite imagery or an unnamed "foreign expert".

Tehran also says the IAEA has already visited the site near Tehran twice in 2005. The agency counters that since then, it has received additional information that makes it want to go back.

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China defies US pressure over North Korea

World leaders condemned North Korea's rocket launch, with the US demanding there be consequences. Source: AAP

CHINA has resisted US-led pressure to bring its ally North Korea to heel for launching a long-range rocket, arguing that any response from the United Nations should be "prudent" and measured.

The United States demanded further action from China - Pyongyang's foremost patron - and US allies pressed for stronger sanctions, after the UN Security Council condemned North Korea for carrying out Wednesday's banned launch.

But foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters that China believes any UN response "should be prudent, appropriate and conducive to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and avoid the escalation of the situation".

North Korea says it placed a satellite in orbit for peaceful research, but critics say the launch amounted to a banned ballistic missile test that marked a major advance for the communist state's nuclear weapons program.

Hong reaffirmed that China "regrets" the rocket launch, avoiding much stronger language of condemnation used by the US, South Korea and Japan among others.

In South Korea, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young said that North Korea "must pay the price" for its actions as he called for a new round of sanctions.

China is considered to have the most influence over North Korea and US officials are scrutinising its policy for any hints of change as Communist Party chief Xi Jinping gradually takes the reins of power.

But Chinese state media downplayed the need for stepped-up sanctions and said that in any case, China has limited influence over Pyongyang.

"The real problem is China's strength is not sufficient to influence its neighbour's situation," the Global Times daily said in an editorial titled "NK move shows China's lack of leverage".

A bellicose Western reaction risked driving North Korea into a corner with potentially devastating results, state editorials said.

"That is why China should not take a co-operative stance with the US, Japan and South Korea in imposing sanctions on North Korea," the Global Times said.

South Korea's defence ministry said that the satellite launched by the rocket was in operational orbit, but the main concern in the West is that North Korea may be perfecting technology to fire missiles as far as the US Pacific coast.

Analysts say the symbolism of the launch was also a prime motivating factor for North Korea as the youthful Kim Jong-Un shores up his leadership a year on from the death of his father Kim Jong-Il on December 17 last year.

China did join other members of the Security Council in condemning the launch as a "clear violation" of UN resolutions.

But diplomats at the council meeting told AFP that China's UN ambassador resisted having tougher language in the statement, and did not allow inclusion of the phrase that North Korea had used "ballistic missile technology".

Masao Okonogi, honorary professor at Keio University, told AFP that China was employing its usual tactic of gentle persuasion with the aim of getting North Korea to open up.

"I think it wants to shift the North toward the opening up of its economy without driving it to the wall. By doing so, it is considering prompting North Korea to transform its structure gradually."

Outrage over Wednesday's launch was mixed with concern that North Korea may follow past practice in following up a missile or rocket launch with a nuclear test.

The North's first nuclear test in 2006 came three months after it tested a long-range missile. On that occasion, Pyongyang announced the test six days before it exploded the device.

The second test, in May 2009, came a month after a rocket launch that North Korea claimed had put a satellite in space. Pyongyang had threatened the second test unless the UN Security Council apologised for its condemnation of the launch.

That precedent has reportedly been cited in the past by China as a reason for resisting tougher sanctions on North Korea, arguing that Pyongyang tends to kick back hardest when it feels cornered.

But the North said it would ignore international warnings.

"We will continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites," a Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman said.

A previous launch of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket in April ended in embarrassing failure, with the carrier exploding shortly after take-off, and the Kim regime was believed keen to mark this month's anniversary with an emphatic success.

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Hong Kong stocks end 0.26% lower

HONG Kong shares have fallen 0.26 per cent on profit-taking and corporate fundraising injecting new shares into the market, breaking a three-day rally that saw the market hit a 16-month high.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) on Thursday eased 57.77 points to close at 22,445.58 on turnover of HK$62.49 billion ($A7.67 billion).

Blue-chip power producer CLP tapped the market for $US984 million ($A936.47 million) through a share placement, dropping 3.6 per cent to $HK64.80, while Uni-President China slumped 5.3 per cent to $HK9.01 and Kaisa tumbled 7.7 per cent to $HK2.39 as investors sold shares.

"Although there are fundraising activities, it is hard to determine when the market may peak amid the current liquidity-driven rally," Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia told Dow Jones Newswires.

The HSI touched a fresh 16-month high of 22,563.14 in the morning session, after the announcement of fresh US economic stimulus overnight.

After a two-day meeting the policy committee of the US central bank said it would replace its "Operation Twist" bond swapping program with $US45 billion a month in straight bond buys, on top of the $US40 billion a month purchasing announced in September.

Jackson Wong, an investment manager at Tanrich Securities, said that he expects the current bullish cycle to extend into the middle of next year.

Chinese shares ended down 1.02 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 21.25 points to 2,061.48 on turnover of 52.3 billion yuan ($A7.99 billion).

"The market is likely to be weighed by potential tight liquidity conditions in the coming weeks," China Minzu Securities analyst Chen Wei told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Corporates that have positions in the stock market may tend to cash in because they need cash to pay off loans at the year-end," he added.

Among metals firms Gansu Ronghua Industry lost 4.36 per cent to 7.67 yuan and Xiamen Tungsten dropped 3.67 per cent to 33.04 yuan.

Coal miner Xinjiang Baihuacun lost 3.46 per cent to 9.22 yuan while Shanxi Coking Coal shed 2.90 per cent to 7.69 yuan.

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Four face charges in SA street fight death

A FOURTH person has been arrested in relation to the death of a man in an Adelaide street fight.

Police have charged three men, aged 18, 19 and 26 with murder, after a 49-year-old man was killed in suburban Elizabeth Park on Wednesday night.

A 52-year-old man was also hurt in the brawl and taken to hospital with an injured arm.

On Thursday night, police advised that a fourth man, aged 20, had been arrested and would also be charged with murder.

The three men charged have been refused bail and will appear in Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Friday.

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Russia says Syrian regime may lose

A blast in the Syrian capital Damascus has targeted the Interior Ministry building. Source: AAP

A CAR bomb has killed 16 people outside the Syrian capital hours after a bombing wounded the interior minister as Damascus ally Moscow acknowledged the regime may lose the fight against rebels.

Thursday's bombing struck outside an army housing complex and near a primary school, and children made up seven of the dead and many of the 23 wounded, state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It followed a triple bomb attack on the interior ministry on Wednesday that killed at least five people and put Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar in hospital with a shoulder injury sustained when his office ceiling collapsed, a security source told AFP.

The increased attacks on government targets came after Arab and Western governments recognised the armed opposition as sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people and as Washington said an increasingly desperate military was resorting to longer-range missiles and incendiary bombs against the rebels.

The state SANA news agency blamed "terrorists" for the bombing in a residential area of Qatana, an army-controlled town southwest of Damascus.

"This morning, terrorists targeted the residential area of Ras al-Nabaa with a vehicle loaded with explosives, blowing it up in front of the Mikhael Samaan school," the news agency said.

The security source said that a betrayal within the interior ministry's own protection service had made possible Wednesday's attack, using a booby-trapped car and two other devices.

"It is impossible to get near the ministry gate except in an official vehicle," the source said, adding that the minister was not seriously wounded.

"He was taken to hospital but his condition gives no cause for concern and he should be discharged rapidly."

It is the second time Shaar has been wounded in an attack.

He narrowly escaped being killed in a spectacular July 18 bombing that claimed the lives of four other top security officials, including the defence minister and President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law.

The attacks so near the capital, coming on top of the rebels' seizure of key bases in recent weeks that has given them control of large swathes of the northwest and the east, prompted an admission from a top Russian diplomat that defeat of Moscow's long-time ally could not be ruled out.

"As for preparing for victory by the opposition, this, of course, cannot be excluded," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

"You need to look the facts in the eyes - the government regime is losing more and more control over a large part of the country's territory."

The RIA Novosti news agency also quoted Bogdanov as saying that the recognition of the opposition Syrian National Coalition by the United States and other states had only emboldened the opposition.

"They (the rebels) are saying that victory is not far away, 'let's take Aleppo, let's take Damascus'," he said.

The rebels' capture of the Sheikh Suleiman base on Monday gave them full control of a belt of territory running from the outskirts of second city Aleppo to the Turkish border.

Late last month they made a major push up the Euphrates valley, giving them control of territory in the east from the Iraqi border to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor.

An airbase just east of the city came under rebel mortar fire early on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory said.

The military launched air strikes against rebel positions along the Damascus airport road, which was briefly closed by rebel fire late last month, and in the town of Daraya southwest of the capital, the Britain-based watchdog added.

The army has also been resorting to Scud missile strikes against rebel targets in zones now beyond the range of artillery, a US official confirmed on Wednesday.

The unguided Scud, famously fired into Israel by Iraq's Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf war, can deliver a payload of 3,500 kilos or more over a range of 200km or more, defence analysts say.

An AFP correspondent reported repeated missile firings into the rebel-held northwest since the fall of the Sheikh Suleiman base on Monday, but was unable to say if they were Scuds.

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N. Korea defends its space program

NORTH Korea has vowed to continue its space program despite international outrage after it launched a long-range rocket, saying it is not a matter of debate for the United Nations Security Council.

"No matter what others say, we will continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

He urged the international community to "use reason and remain cool so as to prevent the situation from developing (in an) undesirable direction".

The North's rocket launch intensified the threat posed by the nuclear-armed state and provoked global condemnation.

It triggered plans for an emergency session of the UN Security Council, which has imposed round after round of sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, to little avail.

The council said it would meet on Wednesday, with one Western diplomat predicting a "strong response".

The North's spokesman insisted Wednesday's launch was "part of peaceful work in line with the country's scientific and technological development plan for the economic construction and improvement of people's living standard".

"Hostile forces ... are showing signs of (a) sinister bid to take issue with the launch for peaceful purposes, while terming it 'violation of resolution' of the UN Security Council," he said.

"The right to use outer space for peaceful purposes is universally recognised by international law and it reflects the unanimous will of the international community. So this issue is not one over which the UNSC can say this or that," he said.

The spokesman added that Washington had over-reacted to the previous rocket launch in April "out of hostile feelings which compelled (North Korea) to reexamine the nuclear issue as a whole".

"The concept of hostility will not be of any help, and confrontation will not help settle anything, either," he said.

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Nurse autopsy findings held back

THE results of a post-mortem examination on London nurse Jacintha Saldanha will be kept under wraps until a coroner opens an inquest into the death which came three days after an Australian radio prank.

An examination of the 46-year-old mother of two was completed on Tuesday but the findings will not be made public until released by the coroner, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

A brief coroner's court hearing into Ms Saldanha's death is due to be mentioned in the English capital on Thursday and adjourned to a later date to allow for the gathering of further information.

Findings "would be announced tomorrow at the inquest", the police source said.

Various British media outlets, including Sky News, have reported Ms Saldanha was "found hanged".

The network said contrary to initial reports Ms Saldanha was unconscious when first reached by emergency services, the nurse was dead when found at staff quarters close to the King Edward VII hospital.

It is understood Ms Saldanha had left a note for her family - husband Benedict Barboza and children Junal, 17 and 14-year-old Lisha.

While the death is not being treated as suspicious by police, a coroner is expected to carefully examine the events leading up to the discovery of Ms Saldanha's body on Friday.

The senior nurse was earlier in the week duped by Australian radio jocks Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who impersonated the Queen and Prince Charles as they sought information about a hospital patient, the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.

The Sydney-based 2Day FM presenters are expected to be interviewed by NSW Police as part of the coronial investigation.

Both Greig and Christian, along with network management, have extended their condolences to Ms Saldanha's family.

On Wednesday, British tabloid the Daily Star said the hoax could lead 2Day FM workers to jail.

"The lizards of Oz face 5yrs prison," blasted the newspaper's headline.

Failing to name the source of its claims, the newspaper refers only to "lawyers in Australia" when reporting that 2Day FM management could be prosecuted for failing to get the hospital's permission to air the recorded conversation.

A public spat has emerged with the hospital denying claims by network management repeated attempts were made to contact the London facility before the prank call was broadcast.

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Pope blesses internet flock over Twitter

POPE Benedict XVI has blessed his new internet flock with his first Twitter message to more than a million followers already signed up to receive the holy tweets.

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," read the tweet, which the 85-year-old pope sent from a tablet at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday.

Since the pope last week announced he would start tweeting under his official Latin title @pontifex, more than 650,000 people have registered to follow his main account in English.

Tens of thousands more are following his Arabic, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish accounts.

The Vatican has invited the pope's new Twitter fans to ask questions the pontiff will try to answer in 140 characters or less.

The first tweet marks a milestone in Vatican communication efforts as it tries to disseminate the Catholic message worldwide, especially to younger people.

Several leading Vatican prelates are already regular tweeters including Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

"The pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena," the Vatican said earlier.

Benedict wants to "ensure that the good news of Jesus Christ and the teaching of his Church is permeating the forum of exchange and dialogue," it said.

Father Antonio Spadaro, director of the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica and one of the Church's Twitter pioneers, said the pope's first tweet was comparable to the first papal radio broadcast by Pius XI on February 12, 1931.

"Social media are real places of emotion where people share their lives, their best and worst desires, their questions and their answers," he said earlier.

Several fake Twitter accounts have already been set up in the pope's name and used to mock the pontiff.

Thousands in the Twitter universe have also posed questions, including a slew of offensive messages about the clerical sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church over the past decade.

Benedict's 140-character messages will not be written by the pope himself but by Vatican officials who will submit them to him for approval.

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Asia marks 12/12/12 with mass weddings

THOUSANDS of couples in Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore have flocked to tie the knot on 12/12/12, seeking good fortune for marriages begun on the century's last repeating date.

Authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively said 696 and 540 couples were scheduled to attend marriage registries on Wednesday, continuing a trend which has seen couples flocking to marry on 11/11/11 and 10/10/10 in both cities.

The figure is a near-fourfold increase compared to the daily average in the self-governing Chinese city of Hong Kong and about an eightfold spike for non-Muslim weddings in Singapore, which is three-quarters ethnic Chinese.

Couples also queued to marry in many mainland Chinese cities on the basis that 12/12/12 sounded like "Will love/will love/will love" in Chinese, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

The atmosphere was abuzz with hundreds of people crowding one of Hong Kong's five marriage registries, taking photos of brides and grooms in full wedding regalia as they congratulated the newlyweds.

"Today's date is very special and we can get married before doomsday as well," joked 34-year-old groom Raymond Ip.

Some doomsayers believe December 21 could be the date the world ends.

"There won't be a 13/13/13," Ip said, adding that he had booked the day half-a-year in advance to secure a spot.

Groom Terance Fung, 29, agreed. "Today is the last day of the century with the same date numbers, so it is quite special," he said.

In Singapore, hundreds of couples and family members trooped in batches to the marriage registry despite pouring rain.

12/12/12 was, however, a less popular day to tie the knot than previous sequential dates.

Hong Kong saw 1002 weddings on November 11, 2011, which signified "Eternal love", and 859 weddings on October 10, 2010 which represented "Perfection".

Singapore had 553 and 724 marriages respectively on the same dates. The all-time high for a single day there was on February 14, 1995 when 1082 couples were married because the western and Chinese Valentine's Day coincided.

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Abbott defends abortion drug criticism

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has defended his position on the controversial abortion drug RU486. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has defended his position on the controversial abortion drug RU486 while he was a health minister in the Howard government.

Mr Abbott was responding to comments from blogger Mia Freedman that his attempts to keep a ban on the drug as minister remained an issue for some female voters.

"Because he's never addressed that on the record ... it sort of lingered and festered like this bit of a suspicious issue among women," Ms Freedman told ABC radio on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard invited Ms Freedman and other popular female bloggers to Kirribilli House in Sydney on Monday night.

Mr Abbott was full of praise for the popular blogger when quizzed by reporters in Sydney about her comments on Tuesday.

"I have a lot of time for Mia - I am an avid reader of her column," he said.

"But with respect, I did not do what you have put to me."

As health minister, he did not receive any applications regarding RU486, Mr Abbott said.

"Had any such application come before me, I would have dealt with it on the basis of the science and the expert advice."

Mr Abbott lost the ministerial power to approve RU486 in 2006 to the Therapeutic Goods Administration in a parliamentary conscience vote.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek backed Ms Freedman's call for Mr Abbott to clarify his views on abortion and RU486.

"When he was health minister he was very opposed to it... he sought to protect ministerial veto," she told ABC TV.

"He said abortion was the 'easy way out' "

"If he has changed his mind on any of those things he should be clear about that."

Ms Plibersek said no woman wants to have an abortion and that it's a traumatic decision to make.

She said Australian women and men generally believe it is a woman's right to chose.

"If Tony Abbott wants to be prime minister he should be able to say one way or the other if he believes that or not," Ms Plibersek said.

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Nelson Mandela has lung infection

SOUTH Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection and is responding to treatments, the nation's presidency says.

The ailing Mandela, 94, has been in 1 Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, since Saturday, receiving medical tests.

The announcement on Tuesday ended speculation about what was troubling the anti-apartheid icon.

Government officials had declined repeatedly to say what caused the nation's military, responsible for Mandela's care, to hospitalise him over the last few days.

That caused growing concern in a nation of 50 million people that largely reveres Mandela for being its first democratically elected president who sought to bring the country together after centuries of racial division.

The tests Mandela underwent at the hospital detected the lung infection, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj in a statement.

"Madiba is receiving appropriate treatment and he is responding to the treatment," Maharaj said, referring to Mandela by his clan name as many do in South Africa in a sign of affection.

In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

The chaos that followed saw the military take charge of his care and the government control the information about his health.

In recent days many in the press and public have complained about the lack of concrete details on his condition.

Mandela has had a series of health problems in his life.

He contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

In 2001, he underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint.

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Carr to visit Sri Lanka this week

Foreign Minister Bob Carr will travel to Sri Lanka this week for talks on people smuggling. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr will travel to Sri Lanka on Friday to discuss trade ties, tourism and efforts to disrupt people smuggling.

The three-day trip will be Senator Carr's first visit to the south Asian nation as a minister and will include discussions on Australia's aid assistance to Sri Lanka, a spokesman for the minister told AAP on Tuesday.

People smuggling will also be on the agenda.

Sri Lankan authorities have in the past 12 months disrupted 69 people smuggling operations involving 2900 people who were intending to come to Australia, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, HMAS Larrakia intercepted a boat carrying 57 suspected asylum seekers and two crew on Monday night, north of Ashmore Islands

The opposition's immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said asylum seeker boats were continuing to arrive in record numbers "even with the onset of the monsoon season where conditions are perilous and the risk of taking boat journeys to Australia intensifies".

Later on Tuesday, Senator Carr's office announced he would visit Timor Leste on Thursday ahead of the Sri Lankan trip.

Economic, aid and security issues are on the agenda when he meets East Timor leaders.

The visit coincides with the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) ceasing security operations and commencing withdrawal from East Timor last month.

"The withdrawal marks a new era in Australia-Timor-Leste relations with the transfer of security responsibilities to local forces," Senator Carr said in a statement.

"Discussions would also involve future plans for development assistance, with an emphasis on Australia's continued support for education and health."

He will visit the Resistance Museum and present a gift from Australia - material about East Timor held by the National Film and Sound Archive.

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More than half-million Syrian refugees: UN

THE number of Syrian refugees registered in neighbouring countries and North Africa has passed half a million, the UN's refugee body says. Many more have not come forward to seek help.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday it had either registered or was in the process of registering 509,550 Syrians in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and North Africa.

"And these numbers are currently climbing by more than 3000 a day," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

She described how close to 1000 Syrian refugees had crossed into Jordan alone in the past two nights, arriving "with soaked clothing and mud-covered shoes due to heavy rainfall".

More elderly and small children were also arriving in Jordan, including 22 newborn infants who entered the country on the night of December 9 alone.

As of Monday, there were 154,387 Syrian refugees either registered or waiting to be in Lebanon, 142,664 in Jordan, 136,319 in Turkey, 64,449 in Iraq and 11,740 in North Africa, according to the UNHCR.

"In addition ... most of these neighbouring countries and North Africa also have large numbers of Syrians who have yet to come forward and seek help," Fleming said.

Jordan, she pointed out, estimates there are some 100,000 Syrians in the country not registered, while Turkey says more than 70,000 Syrians are living outside its 14 camps.

"The numbers of those struggling to live on the local economy and who eventually come forward to register are expected to increase as ... resources are depleted and host communities and families can no longer support them," she said.

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Jakarta, Canberra to ratify rescue pact

AUSTRALIA and Indonesia will sign an agreement on Tuesday that will boost cooperation in search and rescue operations involving asylum seekers.

The agreement, mooted earlier in the year in the wake of a series of incidents in which hundreds of asylum seekers lost their lives, is expected to give Australian aircraft rapid clearance to enter Indonesian airspace.

It also boosts maritime cooperation aimed at speeding up the response times of rescue agencies when dealing with incidents involving the safety of life at sea.

There has been criticism in the past about slow response times when dealing with asylum seeker boats sinking in Indonesian waters as they make their way to Christmas Island.

In August, more than 100 people perished when their boat foundered in the Sunda Strait.

The Indonesian search and rescue agency, BASARNAS, did not begin an aerial search until more than six hours after a distress call was received by the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority.

It was almost 24 hours before the first survivors were pulled from the water.

The agreement, to be signed in Jakarta on Tuesday by Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and his Indonesian counterpart, E.E Mangindaan, will likely allow Australian aircraft to operate in Indonesian airspace.

Aircraft would also be able to land and refuel at airfields when engaged in search and rescue activities.

Indonesia will be provided with satellite communications technology to improve its search and rescue capabilities, while BASARNAS is to be given access to ship tracking capabilities to enable it to enlist the help of merchant ships in the event of emergencies involving asylum seeker boats.

Australia will provide $4.42 million to fund the measures, as part of the $38.4 million Indonesia Transport Safety Assistance Package established in 2007.

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IPART recommends more NSW taxi licences

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommends an increase in Sydney taxi licences. Source: AAP

PEOPLE won't have to wait as long to get a cab or pay as much for the ride under moves by NSW's pricing regulator to increase the number of taxis on the road.

In its annual draft report, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) identified the need to offer 280 more licenses for operation between 12pm and 5am.

In order to improve entry to the industry, it's also recommended 205 additional unrestricted taxi licences.

The recommended increase from July next year would allow the industry to meet growth in passenger demand while reducing costs for operators and drivers, IPART chairman Peter Boxall said on Monday.

"(It) strikes a careful balance between positive outcomes for consumers, drivers and taxi operators, and minimising the impacts on existing licence holders," he said in a statement.

He said the draft recommendations would cut waiting times on Friday and Saturday nights by an average of 7 per cent while increasing the number of taxi trips taken in Sydney by about 6 per cent.

"Increasing the number of taxis, particularly during underserviced Friday and Saturday night-shifts, will reduce waiting times leading to more taxi trips, higher taxi occupancy and improved hourly earnings for drivers," Mr Boxall said.

There's also good news for customers catching taxis over the festive period, with Transport for NSW confirming on Monday that secure taxi ranks would be operating on more nights of the week throughout December.

Extra security guards will be on hand to make sure Christmas shoppers and those attending parties get home safe.

"With more people out at night celebrating Christmas and the end of 2012, we want to make sure both revellers and taxi drivers are kept safe and everyone gets home safely," said a Transport for NSW spokesman.

"That's just as important in Cowra as in Coogee, so we have secure ranks operating extra nights throughout the state, not just in Sydney."

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Nigeria seeks to free minister's mother

The mother of Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (pic) has been kidnapped officials say. Source: AAP

NIGERIAN police on Monday sought to free the elderly mother of the country's finance minister, an ex-World Bank managing director seeking to clean up graft, after her abduction in the country's south.

Sunday's shocking kidnapping put renewed focus on insecurity in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, though the motive for the crime remained unclear and police declined to say if a ransom had been demanded.

"We might not have been able to establish motive, but it is a clear case of kidnap," police spokesman Frank Mba told AFP. "The police have already launched a massive manhunt for the perpetrators of those crimes."

He declined to provide details, but a statement from the spokesman for Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the abduction occurred Sunday at her mother's home in Delta state in the country's south, where ransom kidnappings occur regularly.

Local media reported that a gang of gunmen went to the house - locally called a "palace" due to her husband's position as a traditional ruler in the area - in broad daylight in the afternoon.

When the 82-year-old Kamene Okonjo, a professor, went outside to offer drinks to labourers carrying out work around the front gate, the gunmen emerged from hiding and seized her.

Some of the reports said one of the suspects went inside to steal her handbag and that a policeman usually on duty was absent, while the victim's husband had travelled.

"At this point, it is difficult to say whether those behind this action are the same people who have made threats against the coordinating minister in the recent past or other elements with hostile motives," the finance ministry statement said Sunday.

"No possibility can be ruled out at this point."

It added that "this is obviously a very difficult time for the entire Okonjo family. But the family is hopeful of a positive outcome as it fervently prays for the quick and safe return of the matriarch."

Kidnappings for ransom have occurred frequently in Nigeria's southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, but rarely with such prominent victims.

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Italy's political drama rattles markets

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti announced he will resign once next year's budget is approved. Source: AAP

ITALIAN stocks have plunged over three per cent and debt markets are rattled after a weekend of political drama which kicked off a two-month election campaign in this key eurozone member state.

Investors reacted skittishly on Monday to Prime Minister Mario Monti's decision to resign in the coming days and the improbable comeback bid by Silvio Berlusconi on an anti-austerity platform.

After months on the financial high-wire for Italy in 2011, Monti's arrival late last year and the austerity measures and economic reforms he has implemented calmed the markets.

But investors are now anxious that his impending departure could fling the country back into the eurozone debt crisis mire once more.

"Everyone's fears are concentrated on the performance of a country which, just a year ago when Berlusconi was at the helm, risked bringing down the euro and the global economy with it," the Repubblica newspaper said in an editorial.

Developments have put the Monti government's reform agenda on hold and brought forward the election, with a vote now expected in February - well before the government's mandate runs out in late April.

The Italian stock market opened down and plunged to minus 3.34 per cent in early trading, with the country's biggest banks leading the drop.

Italian banking giant UniCredit said there would be "weakness" on the bond markets in the short term but its analysts were unperturbed about the outlook.

The bank said the two most likely election outcomes were either a coalition led by the centre-left Democratic Party or a new Monti government.

"Both scenarios seem consistent with a continuation of the reform process," analyst Luca Cazzulani said in a note.

Giovanni Zanni, head of European economics at Credit Swisse, also played down concern in some quarters that Italy could be forced to make an immediate request for bailout funds, judging it to be "extremely unlikely."

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani has promised to keep the course set by Monti if elected, although he says he will moderate the most controversial austerity measures of recent months and put more emphasis on growth and jobs.

Greater unease could come from Berlusconi's return to the fray and his announcement that he will wage a campaign against key aspects of Monti's agenda.

"There is not one single economic indicator which is positive. The experiment with a technocrat government is over - with, alas, totally negative results," Berlusconi said late on Sunday.

A three-time prime minister, the 76-year-old Berlusconi is running for office for the sixth time in two decades in politics.

In the latest in a series of trials, he was convicted of tax fraud in October but his sentence to a year in prison and a five-year ban from public office have been suspended pending an appeal.

Berlusconi is also a defendant in a trial for having sex with an underage 17-year-old prostitute.

"Ruby the Heart-stealer" was due in court on Monday as a witness for the defence but failed to show, prompting prosecutor Ilda Boccassini to accuse Berlusconi of creating "a strategy to delay the trial so as to make it through the election campaign" before a verdict.

The Catholic Church, which withdrew support from Berlusconi as the accusations of his "bunga-bunga" sex parties emerged last year, slammed those who would seek to undo Monti's work over the past year.

"We can't let the sacrifices of a year go to pot. The most astonishing thing is the irresponsibility of those who think of arranging things for themselves while the house is still on fire," Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops' Conference, told Corriere.

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South African president visits Mandela

Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital for tests, officials say. Source: AAP

SOUTH Africans is praying for the health of former President Nelson Mandela and anxiously awaited further word about the anti-apartheid leader after he was admitted to a military hospital.

President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday morning at the hospital in Pretoria and found the frail 94-year-old to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital Saturday.

The continued uncertainty about Mandela's health saw worshippers gather on Sunday morning at the Regina Mundi Catholic church in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to pray for the leader. The church was a centre of anti-apartheid protests and funerals.

"Yes, it really worries us because he is a great person," church goer Shainet Mnkomo said as she left an early morning service. "He did so many things to the country, he's one of those persons who we remember most."

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. He later retired from public life to live in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

Many in the country of 50 million people view Mandela, who led the African National Congress to power, as a father figure and an icon of integrity and magnanimity amid the nation's increasingly messy politics. Inside the church, a stained glass window depicts Mandela, in a grey suit and blue tie, raising his hands to wave at a crowd. His image stands just next to another portraying a man carrying the corpse 13-year-old, Hector Pieterson, who was gunned down by police in the black township of Soweto in June, 1976, as students protested peacefully against the white government.

A statement from Zuma's office on Saturday announced that Mandela had been hospitalised for tests and was receiving medical care "which is consistent for his age."

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, however, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison. He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

While South Africa's government has offered no details about who would provide medical attention for Mandela, the nation's military has taken over medical care for the aging leader since the 2011 respiratory infection. At 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Saturday night, the facility that previously cared for Mandela in February, everything appeared calm, without any additional security present. On Sunday morning, soldiers set up a checkpoint to search vehicles heading into the hospital's grounds.

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Pilot killed in NSW helicopter crash

A 48-YEAR-OLD pilot has died in a helicopter crash in central-west NSW.

The man was thought to be spraying weeds in a remote area 25km south of Mudgee when the aircraft crashed at about 11am (AEDT) on Sunday.

The wreckage of the Robin44 helicopter was found in steep and rugged bushland at Grattai. The pilot, a local man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A crime scene was established and a police guard remained at the site on Sunday night.

NSW Police Force air crash investigators and officials from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are to continue their inquiries on Monday.

Police will prepare a coroner's report.

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Fighter jets fly low over Cairo

EGYPTIAN F-16 fighter jets made low passes over the centre of Cairo on Sunday in a rare manoeuvre by the air force over the capital amid high political tension.

The military was not immediately available for comment.

At the end of October, jets made similar passes as part of a surprise military exercise.

On Saturday, the army released a statement on political unrest that has killed seven people in the capital, urging supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to open talks to stop Egypt descending "into a dark tunnel with disastrous results".

"That is something we will not allow," it said.

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UK cops contact NSW police over hoax

BRITISH police say they have contacted NSW authorities about a possible investigation into an Australian radio station's hoax call to a UK hospital.

The callers impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles and received confidential details about the former Kate Middleton's medical information. The call was recorded and broadcast.

The prank took an ugly twist Friday with the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, three days after she took the hoax call.

Police have not yet determined Saldanha's cause of death, but people from London to Sydney have been making the assumption that she died because of stress from the call.

The disk jockeys involved have been suspended indefinitely.

NSW police confirmed they had been contacted by London police and said they would cooperate.

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