South Africa court convicts Nigeria rebel

A SOUTH African court has found Nigerian rebel leader Henry Okah guilty of masterminding two car bombings in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2010 that killed 12 people.

Judge Neels Claassen said on Monday that Okah's decision not to testify left evidence against him uncontested and the prosecution had successfully proved he was involved in terrorist activities.

Okah was arrested in South Africa after the attacks which targeted crowds celebrating Nigeria's 50th year of independence from Britain.

The Nigerian Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has distanced itself from Okah since the bombings, though his lawyers have denied he was involved.

Okah ended up in South Africa after accepting an amnesty deal offered by the Nigerian government to MEND.

The rebel group said it was defending the impoverished people of the Niger Delta who see little profit from the vast oil wealth of the region.

It is alleged Okah continued to be involved in terrorist activity in Nigeria from his new base.

South Africa said it did not receive a formal extradition request from Nigeria and put Okah on trial domestically in accordance with local laws.

Sentencing is expected at the end of the month, according to the SAPA news agency.

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Europe bank optimistic over eurozone debt

THE European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has expressed optimism that the worst of the eurozone debt crisis is over, but trimmed its 2013 growth forecast for the ex-Soviet bloc.

The EBRD cut the growth forecast for the countries where it operates to 3.1 per cent this year, the London-based institution announced on Monday in its latest economic outlook.

That compared with the previous estimate in October of 3.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

"Downside risks to the outlook have continued to recede as the likelihood of further deterioration of the eurozone crisis diminishes," the EBRD said in the report.

"Growth in the transition region continued to slow down in the third quarter of 2012, but the deceleration is showing signs of bottoming out."

The economies in the EBRD's investment zone shrank by 2.6 per cent last year, hit by fallout from the long-running eurozone sovereign debt crisis, after impressive expansion of 4.6 per cent in 2011.

"For the first time in a long while we are now seeing the possibility of a reduction in the risks facing emerging Europe, especially the risks from the eurozone," said EBRD chief economist Erik Berglof.

"It is too early to sound the all-clear but there are signs of stabilisation," Berglof added.

The EBRD was formed in 1991 to help former Soviet bloc countries switch to a market economy, and invests alongside private-sector firms.

It agreed earlier last year to expand its reach into emerging Arab democracies.

In May, it approved the pumping of one billion euros ($A1.15 billion) into nations in the Middle East and North Africa region, at the lender's annual meeting.

At the same time, the group appointed its first British president, veteran civil servant Suma Chakrabarti.

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Asian markets mixed ahead of Japan meeting

ASIAN markets have closed mixed, with Tokyo's Nikkei hit by a stronger yen and profit-taking, while dealers await the outcome of a policy meeting at the Bank of Japan.

Wall Street provided a strong lead, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting more than five-year highs on Friday after Republicans proposed a three-month increase to the US debt ceiling in order to agree a budget and long-term spending cuts.

Tokyo's Nikkei, which hit a 33-month high on Friday, fell 1.52 per cent, shedding 165.56 points to 10,747.74. Sydney closed up 0.13 per cent, or 6.3 points, at 4,777.5.

Seoul ended flat, dipping 0.99 points to 1,986.86. Hong Kong was also barely changed, edging down 10.87 points to 23,590.91.

Chinese shares closed up 0.48 per cent, extending Friday's gains after Beijing released data showing the economy grew faster than expected last year. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 11.15 points to 2,328.22 on turnover of 113.0 billion yuan ($A17.41 billion).

Policymakers at Japan's central bank on Monday began a two-day meeting that markets widely expect will see them adopt a two per cent inflation target and unveil more monetary easing.

The yen has tumbled in recent months - sending the stock market surging - since Shinzo Abe promised before December's election that he would urge the bank to be more aggressive in its battle to save the economy.

Abe swept to power in the poll and has since moved to bring BoJ policies into line with his new government's position.

"All eyes are on the Bank of Japan, which should come through to meet expectations for more easing and some kind of inflation target rhetoric," said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities, Hiroichi Nishi.

However, with dealers having already priced in such moves by the bank, the yen clawed back some of its recent losses on Monday.

The dollar, which on Friday in New York hit Y90.24 - its highest since June 2010 - bought Y89.50 in early European trade on Monday.

The euro eased to Y119.20 from Y119.96 in New York. It was at $US1.3320, compared with $US1.3317.

US shares closed with a rally on Friday after the Republican offer to increase the nation's borrowing limit while a budget is agreed, providing hope that rival politicians will be able to reach a long-term fiscal agreement.

The government is due to reach its limit around the end of February, while politicians also have to agree on spending cuts that were put off as part of a fiscal cliff deal agreed at the start of the year.

On Wall Street the Dow rose 0.39 per cent and the S&P 500 added 0.34 per cent, with both indexes hitting highs not seen since December 2007. The Nasdaq finished flat.

Oil prices eased. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, shed 48 cents to $95.08 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for March delivery dropped 33 cents to $111.56.

Gold was at $US1,688.89 at 1100 GMT (2200 AEDT) compared with $1,689.88 late on Friday.

In other markets:

- Singapore closed up 0.31 per cent, or 10.10 points, at 3,221.32.

DBS Bank gained 0.14 per cent to Sg$14.40 and Fraser and Neave, the subject of a takeover tussle between Thai and Indonesian tycoons, gained 1.67 per cent to Sg$9.74, well above the highest offer of Sg$9.55 a share.

- Taipei eased 0.1 per cent, or 7.95 points, to 7,724.92.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.99 per cent lower and leading integrated circuits design house MediaTek gained 2.43 per cent to Tw$316.5.

- Manila added 0.53 per cent, or 32.49 points, to 6,171.70.

- Wellington rose 0.5 per cent, or 21.00 points, to 4,185.18.

Contact Energy was up 0.58 per cent at NZ$5.19, Telecom added 1.07 per cent to NZ$2.37 and Fletcher Building gained 1.64 per cent to NZ$9.30.

- Jakarta fell 0.57 per cent, or 25.51 points, to 4,439.97.

Palm oil firm Sinar Mas Agro Resources & Technology rose 3.08 per cent to 6,700 rupiah and cigarette producer HM Sampoerna jumped 6.6 per cent to 63,000 rupiah, while retailer Ramayana Lestari Sentosa dropped 2.52 per cent to 1,160 rupiah.

- Kuala Lumpur tumbled 2.43 per cent, or 40.81 points, to 1,635.63.

- Bangkok climbed 0.42 per cent, or 6.04 points, to 1,440.48.

Telecoms giant True Corp. soared 8.93 per cent to 6.10 baht while industrial group Loxley surged 7.55 per cent to 5.70 baht.

- Mumbai rose 0.31 per cent or 62.78 points to 20,101.82 points.

Reliance Industries jumped 2.35 per cent to 920.05 rupees, while ITC gained 1.25 per cent to end at 290.65 rupees.

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Snow causes delays at European airports

SCORES of fights have been cancelled as snow and ice blanket much of Europe.

London's Heathrow airport says it has cancelled about 130 flights on Monday, 10 per cent of the daily total, compared to 20 per cent on Sunday.

Hundreds of schools are closed across Britain.

British domestic trains and Eurostar services from France and Belgium to London have been disrupted.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Germany's busiest airport in Frankfurt due to heavy snow.

So far, a total 203 flights have been cancelled for the whole day, following 445 cancellations on Sunday, a spokeswoman for airport operator Fraport said.

All flights were cancelled for several hours late on Sunday afternoon, with many inbound services diverted to other airports.

De-icing operations restarted later on Sunday and traffic slowly resumed on a case-by-case basis.

In Munich, which received 13cm of snow overnight, another 200 flights were cancelled, and long delays were expected.

In northern Germany, slick roads outside Berlin caused a stretch of a major highway to be closed down for the Monday morning commute, and the high-speed train that runs through Brussels from Paris to Germany was experiencing long delays.

Forty per cent of flights were canceled at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris.

Unusually heavy snowfall of almost 50 centimetres in Moscow caused traffic jams on Monday but did not affect flights at city airports, which are well equipped for snowstorms.

The snowfall over the last four days in Moscow exceeded the average for the whole month of January, Moscow Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov said.

"Over the last four days, 50cm of snow has fallen in Moscow. Since the start of the month, 65cm has fallen, while the average for the first month of the year is 42cm," Biryukov said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

He added that street cleaners and snow ploughs had removed 2.5 million cubic metres of snow over the last four days.

On Monday morning rush-hour traffic crawled at an average speed of 30km/h and slowed to 10km/h on some highways, a spokesman for the city transport department told Interfax.

The city's three commercial airports were not affected by the weather.

The Russian weather centre warned of a "very cold" week in European Russia.

In Moscow, temperatures were predicted to fall to minus 19C on Monday night and to minus 21C on Tuesday night.

The most extreme temperatures are predicted in Magadan in Far East Russia, where they could fall to minus 49C, and in central Siberia where they could fall to minus 52C.

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Dotcom re-enacts raid for launch party

A HELICOPTER fly-by, men dressed as armed New Zealand police officers, and dancers and singers have all heralded the launch of Kim Dotcom's new "legal" website, Mega.

The new cloud storage website went live at 6.48am on Sunday, about the same time as the dramatic police raid on his Coatesville mansion got underway a year ago. He and three others were arrested on that occasion.

To celebrate the new website's launch, Dotcom hosted about 200 invited guests and media at a party and press conference at the mansion, north of Auckland.

Dotcom, speaking from a stage constructed on the forecourt of his home, told the crowd more than one million people had visited Mega within 14 hours of the site's launch and about 500,000 people had registered as users.

"The launch of Mega is not about mocking any government of Hollywood, it is about our right to innovate and start a new business," he said.

"What we are offering is a smarter, faster and more secure way of cloud storage and we are fully assured by our legal team that we are in compliance with the law."

The press conference, which was also streamed online, included a reenactment of the police raid, with men repelling down the sides of the house and a helicopter, with FBI emblazoned on the side, flying over the crowd.

Dotcom paid tribute to the support he's received from Kiwis in the year since his arrest on copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering charges related to the file-sharing site Megaupload.

"During the past year we had great support from New Zealanders; you have reached out to us and your voices have empowered us," he said.

Dotcom and his co-accused are still awaiting a court hearing to determine whether they will be extradited to the United States.

The extradition hearing, which has been delayed several times, is expected to take four weeks and is set down for August.

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Vic residents return to bushfire-hit homes

Victorian residents have returned to their bushfire-ravaged homes as fire crews backburn. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS have returned to their bushfire-damaged homes in Victoria's east, as authorities battle to bring a massive blaze under control before more predicted hot weather.

Firefighters took advantage of Sunday's cooler weather to strategically backburn amid fears towns could again be threatened on Thursday.

The massive 56,000-hectare blaze has already killed one man who was found in a burnt-out car and destroyed at least 21 homes since it began in the Baw Baw National Park last Thursday.

There are fears the fire may have been deliberately lit.

Residents in Seaton, Glenmaggie and Glenmaggie Point have returned home.

Glenmaggie resident Peter Monds, a CFA member, was manning phones at a control centre when his home was destroyed.

Inside his uninsured home were many photos and memories.

"There's no good crying about it," he told the Nine Network.

"It's gone, it's gone."

Authorities say 21 houses, 35 sheds and 11 vehicles have been lost in the fire and the fire could go for two weeks.

The fire was threatening the small hamlet of Licola, but it has been held about 15km from the town.

Firefighters began a 180 hectare backburn about 10am (AEDT) on Sunday.

Incident Controller Michael Masters said the CFA and DSE were doing a joint backburn due to the likelihood of a very high fire weather day predicted for Thursday.

"The risk of high temperatures and a north westerly wind poses a very significant risk to the Aberfeldy-Donnely bushfire breaking containment lines if we don't backburn today," he said in a statement.

Mr Masters said the 180 hectare backburn would reduce fuel loads in an unburnt area 5km south of Glenmaggie and 6km northwest of Heyfield.

Fire crews are also working on the eastern perimeter in the Coongulla state forest north east of Glenmaggie to strengthen containment lines.

Police are appealing for people to come forward if they witnessed anything suspicious in the hours before the blaze started at Aberfeldy in Gippsland about 11.30am on Thursday.

They particularly want to speak to anyone who was camping in the Donnelly Creek Road area on Thursday morning or local residents.

Smoke from the bushfires reached Melbourne on Sunday and could be smelt in the CBD air.

Authorities have urged the public to ensure there is actually a bushfire in their area before reporting it to Triple-0.

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Missing sought after deadly end to Algeria

GOVERNMENTS are scrambling to track down missing nationals after the bloody end to a gas plant siege in the Sahara that saw Islamists kill at least 23 foreigners and Algerians, with Algiers fearing the toll may rise.

"I fear that it may be revised upward," Communications Minister Mohamed Said told public Channel 3 radio of the number of dead a day after special forces stormed the remote facility to end a crisis that saw seven foreigners killed by their captors in the final moments.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement on Sunday he had spoken to his Algerian counterpart Abdelmalek Sellal, "and it is now clear that this appalling terrorist incident in Algeria is now over.

"Tragically, we now know that three British nationals have been killed, and a further three are believed to be dead. And also a further British resident is also believed to be dead."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday a Colombian man who lived in London with his family had been killed. He was named as BP employee Carlos Estrada.

Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp said 10 of its Japanese and seven of its foreign workers remained unaccounted for.

JGC confirmed the safety of 61 of its 78 workers at the In Amenas facility stormed at dawn on Wednesday by militants from "Signatories in Blood," a group demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.

"But the safety of the remaining 10 Japanese and seven foreign workers is yet to be confirmed," a JGC spokesman said in Tokyo.

Kuala Lumpur said JGC had told it one of two Malaysians still unaccounted for is dead whilst the fate of the other was unknown.

Norway's Statoil, which operates the gas plant alongside Britain's BP and Sonatrach of Algeria, said the situation remains "unresolved" for five Statoil employees.

"We will, and we must, keep hoping for more positive news from Algeria. However, we must be prepared to deal with bad news in the next few days," Statoil CEO Helge Lund said.

Thirty-two kidnappers were also killed in the 72-hour stand-off, and the army freed "685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners", Algeria's interior ministry said on Saturday.

Among the dead were an unknown number of foreigners.

Relatives of Kenneth Whiteside, 59, from Glenrothes in Scotland, were "devastated" after hearing an Algerian co-worker claimed to have seen him being shot but dying bravely with a smile, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported.

The mother of survivor Stephen McFaul, 36, from Belfast, told the Sunday Mirror her son will "have nightmares for the rest of his life after the things he saw".

Forced to wear explosives, he fled when the hostage-takers' convoy he was in came under fire on Thursday.

In Saturday's final assault, "the Algerian army took out 11 terrorists, and the terrorist group killed seven foreign hostages", state television said without giving a breakdown.

A security official told AFP it was believed the foreigners were executed "in retaliation".

The militants, whose leader is Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former Al-Qaeda commander, first killed a Briton and an Algerian on a bus on Wednesday before taking hundreds of workers hostage when they overran the gas plant.

Most of the hostages were freed on Thursday when Algerian forces launched a first rescue operation which was widely condemned as hasty.

But US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande said responsibility for the deaths lay with the "terrorists".

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French yachtsman rescued in Southern ocean

THE Antarctic cruise ship The Orion has rescued solo round-the-world yachtsman Alain Delord who has been stranded on a life raft in remote waters southwest of Tasmania since Friday.

A spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed that Delord, 63, has been picked up by the ship.

Delord, who set off at the beginning of October, abandoned his yacht Tchouk Tchouk Nougaton after it lost its mast and its hull was damaged in rough weather.

The location, about 500 nautical miles southwest of Hobart, was too distant for a helicopter rescue with MSA using three aircraft to maintain contact with the sailor until a vessel can reach him.

The Orion, with 100 passengers and 80 crew on board, was returning from Antarctica and heading for the world heritage-listed Macquarie Island when it responded to the call for help.

Delord had received an air drop of food, water, communications equipment and a survival suit while he waited for his rescue.

The captain of the Orion Mike Taylor reported that Delord was recovered safely and without injury.

He is currently receiving medical attention and early indications are he is healthy.

Weather conditions were better than expected and there was plenty of light in the area that enabled the rescue to go ahead.

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African leaders gather for Mali summit

WEST African leaders will attend a special Mali summit in Ivory Coast to discuss how to increase their role as the French-led military intervention to oust Islamic extremists from power enters its second week.

Neighbouring countries are expected to contribute about 3000 troops to the operation in Mali, aimed at preventing militants from advancing further south toward the capital, Bamako.

While initial contributions from Togo and Nigeria have arrived, concerns about the mission have delayed other countries from sending their promised troops so far.

Charles Koffi Diby, Ivory Coast's foreign affairs minister, said Mali's neighbours must "face up to the weight of our responsibilities in conducting and co-ordinating military operations in Mali."

At Saturday's meeting, the big issue will be sorting out a central command for the African force, a French official said.

Nigerian General Shehu Usman Abdulkadir is expected to be named the force commander.

As the military intervention entered its second week, Malian forces had reclaimed the key town of Konna whose capture prompted the French action, according to French and Malian military officials.

However, phone lines to the town were still down making it difficult to independently corroborate the claim.

France said it was keeping up the pressure around another key town, Diabaly, which was taken by the Islamists on Monday.

French forces have moved around Diabaly to cut off supplies to the Islamist extremists, said a French official.

Mali once enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15.8 million people practising a moderate form of Islam.

That changed last March, following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.

The UN refugee agency said on Friday the fighting in Mali could force as many as 700,000 people to flee their homes in the coming months.

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Ang Lee may direct Cleopatra

OSCAR-WINNING director Ang Lee appears likely to accept an offer to direct historical epic Cleopatra starring Angelina Jolie, after the Hollywood actress wrote to him asking him to come on board.

Lee, whose 3D adventure Life of Pi has earned 11 Oscar nominations, said he would read the script before making a decision but the project was "very attractive".

"Sony has asked me to shoot the movie and Angelina Jolie wrote to me to express her wishes to collaborate. We admire each other... the project looks very attractive," the Taiwanese-American told reporters in Taipei.

"It's a big-budget movie so I am carefully evaluating it ... this is a rare opportunity and I will probably take it."

Lee returned to his birthplace over the weekend to celebrate after Life of Pi earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director.

The movie, based on the novel by Yann Martel about an Indian boy cast adrift with a Bengal tiger, has become Lee's highest-grossing film ever with more than $US450 million ($A429 million) in global box office sales, according to 20th Century Fox.

About 70 per cent of the movie was shot in Taiwan, including at a now-abandoned airport in the centre of the country where Lee's team built a specially-designed wave-generating tank.

Asked if he plans to cast his son Mason Lee, who starred in The Hangover Part II, in his future projects, Lee joked that he would rather not "torture" his kin.

"He likes acting and I give him my blessings... I am tough on actors but it's difficult to be tough on your own son and it'd be an unnecessary torture for us. I'd rather torture other people's kids."

The filmmaker, who is based in New York, was hailed as the "glory of Taiwan" after becoming the first Asian to win a best director Oscar for his gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain in 2006.

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