Ex-Qld premier recovering from brain op

FORMER Queensland Premier Wayne Goss is recovering well from his third brain operation, a spokesman for his family says.

Mr Goss underwent neurosurgery in 1997 and again in 2002 to remove a low-grade malignant brain tumour.

On Wednesday, the day after his 62nd birthday, he went under the knife again.

Family spokesman Russ Morgan said surgeons told them the operation had gone well and Mr Goss was now recovering at Brisbane's Mater Hospital.

The former Labor premier and his wife Roisin thanked the public for "all the messages and good wishes we have received".

Mr Goss first underwent brain surgery in September 1997 after complaining of a severe headache when he returned from a bicycle ride.

He was operated on within days and made a full recovery, leaving politics and takingup a job as managing partner at accounting firm Deloitte.

Mr Goss was first elected to state parliament in 1983 and served as premier from 1989 to 1996.

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Cyclone Rusty already battering WA coast

Red alerts have been issued in WA as tropical cyclone Rusty intensifies to a category four. Source: AAP

EMERGENCY services expect significant flooding as Tropical Cyclone Rusty makes its way inland from Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

The eye of the massive storm hit land just before 3pm (WST) on Wednesday, more than 30 hours after the northwest coastline was placed on red alert and residents told to take shelter and stay inside.

Pardoo station, about 120km east of Port Hedland, was the first to feel the force of Rusty.

Port Hedland, which was initially expected to bear the brunt of the storm, appeared to have come off relatively unscathed, after the cyclone took a last minute turn before making landfall.

On Wednesday evening, communities between Pardoo and Whim Creek, including Port Hedland and South Hedland, remained on red alert and were advised to remain in shelter.

People in adjacent inland areas, including Marble Bar, were warned to go to shelter immediately as the cyclone headed their way, threatening 125km/h wind gusts early on Thursday.

Rusty will gradually weaken as it moves inland, but wind gusts of more than 165km/h are expected near the eye of the cyclone on Wednesday night, when the threat of a dangerous storm tide remains for the coast between De Grey and Wallal.

Flooding is expected in the De Grey catchment, and possibly in the Fortescue catchment and in Pilbara coastal streams, on Thursday.

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Pope bids farewell to huge crowds

POPE Benedict XVI basked in an emotional send off at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.

He also thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire.

Tens of thousands of people toting banners saying "Grazie!" - "Thank you" - jammed the piazza in Rome to bid Benedict farewell and join the appointment he has kept each week for eight years to teach the world about the Catholic faith.

Benedict clearly enjoyed the crowds, taking a long victory lap around the square in an open-sided car and stopping to kiss and bless half a dozen children handed to him by his secretary.

In keeping with the historic moment, Benedict changed course and didn't produce his typical professorial Wednesday catechism lesson.

Rather, he made his final public appearance in St. Peter's a personal one, explaining once again why he was becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign and urging the faithful to pray for his successor.

"To love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself," Benedict said to thundering applause.

He recalled that when he was elected pope on April 19, 2005, he questioned if God truly wanted it. "'It's a great burden that you've placed on my shoulders,"' he recalled telling God.

During eight years, he said "I have had moments of joy and light, but also moments that haven't been easy ... moments of turbulent seas and rough winds."

But he said he never felt alone and thanked his cardinals and colleagues for their guidance and for "understanding and respecting this important decision."

Under a bright sun and blue skies, the square was overflowing with pilgrims and curiosity-seekers.

Those who couldn't get in picked spots along the main boulevard leading to the square to watch the event on giant TV screens. Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.

"It's difficult - the emotion is so big," said Jan Marie, a 53-year-old Roman in his first years as a seminarian.

"We came to support the pope's decision."

With chants of "Benedetto!" erupting every so often, the mood was far more buoyant than during the pope's final Sunday blessing.

It recalled the jubilant turnouts that often accompanied him at World Youth Days and events involving his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Benedict has said he decided to retire after realising that, at 85, he simply didn't have the "strength of mind or body" to carry on. He will meet Thursday morning with cardinals for a final time, then fly by helicopter to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.

There, at 8 pm, the doors of the palazzo will close and the Swiss Guards in attendance will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church over - for now.

Many of the cardinals who will choose Benedict's successor were in St. Peter's Square for his final audience. Those included retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, the object of a grass-roots campaign in the US to persuade him to recuse himself for having covered up for sexually abusive priests. Mahony has said he will be among the 115 cardinals voting on who the next pope should be.

Vatican officials say cardinals will begin meeting Monday to decide when to set the date for the conclave to elect the next pope.

But the rank-and-file faithful in the crowd Wednesday weren't so concerned with the future; they wanted to savour the final moments with the pope they have known for eight years.

"I came to thank him for the testimony that he has given the church," said Maria Cristina Chiarini, a 52-year-old homemaker who travelled by train early Wednesday from Lugo in central Italy with some 60 members of her parish.

"There's nostalgia, human nostalgia, but also comfort, because as a Christian we have hope. The Lord won't leave us without a guide."

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Taliban kill 16 at Afghan checkpoint

Six people have been wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a Afghan military bus in Kabul. Source: AAP

THE Taliban killed at least 16 people at an Afghan police checkpoint and bombed an army bus in Kabul, highlighting a growing trend of strikes on Afghan rather than NATO targets.

Details of the pre-dawn attack on an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in the eastern province of Ghazni were murky. Officials said they were investigating how the militants breached security at the post.

ALP national commander General Alishah Ahmadzai said 10 policemen and "five or six local villagers" who took part in an uprising against the Taliban in the Andar district of Ghazni had been killed.

"Initial information shows they were first poisoned and then shot, but we have to wait for the final report of our investigative team," he said.

Two other provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 16 died in the attack and all were policemen.

The same officials said the Taliban poisoned the men before shooting them and seizing their weapons.

Provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada gave a death toll of 17 including seven civilians and said a team had been sent to investigate the incident.

A spokesman for the Taliban, who are leading an 11-year fight against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, claimed responsibility for the Ghazni killings and the suicide attack in Kabul.

The bomber struck the army bus on foot on a main road at around 7:10am (1340 AEDT), said Kabul police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.

He said six members of the defence ministry and four civilians were wounded, with most of the civilian injuries caused by shattered glass.

A witness told the TOLO television channel that the bomber was carrying an umbrella to shield himself from snow.

"I was standing across the street when I saw a man holding an umbrella approach the army bus. He then slid under the bus. I thought he was the driver, but moments later the explosion happened," he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that 17 personnel were killed and 17 seriously injured. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the tolls from attacks they claim.

Western officials say insurgents are shifting their strategy away from focusing on the US-led NATO combat mission, which is due to withdraw next year, to targeting Afghan forces preparing to take over.

Among 10 attacks recorded by AFP in Afghanistan so far this year, only one of them targeted NATO troops, on January 25 in the troubled eastern province of Kapisa. Five civilians were killed in that attack.

All others have targeted tribal elders, police or Afghan intelligence agents.

"Since the start of the year, the objective has mainly been Afghans, even if NATO remains a target," a Western security official told AFP.

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Offers exchanged at Iran nuclear talks

WORLD powers will present Iran with an updated and "good" offer at talks this week on its nuclear program, an EU official says, although hopes for a breakthrough are slim.

Talks aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear drive start in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, with the so-called 5+1 world powers represented by the European Union sitting down with an Iranian team led by its top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

"We have prepared a good and updated offer for the talks, which we believe is balanced and a fair basis for constructive talks," said the spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"The offer addresses international concerns ... on the nature of the Iranian nuclear program, but is also responsive to Iranian ideas," said the spokesman, Michael Mann.

"We hope that Iran will seize this opportunity and come to the talks with flexibility and commitment to make concrete progress towards a confidence-building step."

A source close to the negotiations said the offer would still insist that Iran halts enriching uranium to 20 per cent, shuts down its controversial Fordo uranium enrichment plant and sends abroad all uranium already enriched to 20 per cent.

"This still forms the basis of the demands of the 5+1 group," said the source who asked not to be identified.

Another Western source said the powers could discuss lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for specific concessions, although the source provided no further details.

Earlier reports said the powers could consider easing sanctions on Iran's gold and precious metals trade.

Jalili said at the weekend Tehran would not go beyond its obligations or accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty.

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HK court hears maid residency case

HONG Kong's top court has begun a hearing to decide whether the hundreds of thousands of domestic workers who make a living in the Asian financial hub are eligible to seek residency.

The case, brought by Filipina maid Evangeline Banao Vallejos, could also reopen the controversial issue of whether children born in Hong Kong to mainland Chinese parents have the right to stay.

Vallejos won a High Court ruling in 2011 granting her the right to request permanent residency status, denied to foreign maids until then.

The government appealed against that ruling last March, successfully arguing the authorities had discretionary power to decide who was eligible for residency and that restrictions on maids were not unconstitutional or discriminatory.

Hong Kong's 300,000 foreign maids receive a minimum wage of HK$3920 ($A493.24) a month and benefits such as one guaranteed day off a week, but rights groups say they face discrimination and a lack of legal protection from abusive employers.

Campaigners argue they should not be treated any differently from other foreigners who flock to the former British colony to seek professional work and who are eligible to apply for permanent residency after seven years.

"If you have a purpose that is regular and your presence is lawful and your presence is here for seven years continuously ... and there has been no discontinuity, you would expect to succeed," Vallejos' lawyer Michael Fordham said in court.

The hearing in the Court of Final Appeal is expected to last up to three days but a decision may not be handed down for some time.

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Kindy-aged boy killed in crash

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy died after the car he was in veered off the road and crashed southeast of Brisbane, police say.

The car left Mount Cotton Road and plunged down an embankment about 4.15pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

The boy died at the scene but the 45-year-old man driving escaped serious injury. He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Police could not confirm if he was the boy's father.

They were the only people in the car.

Queensland Police said their Forensic Crash Unit was investigating.

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Greens fear for environment under Abbott

A FEDERAL government led by Tony Abbott would allow premiers like Campbell Newman free reign to trample on environmental protection laws, the Greens are warning.

Senator Larissa Waters on Tuesday said Mr Newman was planning to reopen native forest logging in southeast Queensland by tearing up an agreement that had protected the trees for nearly 15 years.

A landmark agreement signed between loggers and environment groups in 1999 outlined plans for the industry to transition from one reliant on native forests to one sourcing timbers from plantations.

Under the Southeast Queensland Forest Agreement, there was to be a 25-year transition phase so by 2025 there would be no logging in protected native forests.

But a leaked letter obtained by the Greens shows Queensland's forestry minister John McVeigh has decided to approve logging in areas of state forests previously excluded from harvesting.

The letter, dated January 16 and sent from Queensland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry also shows the minister approved logging in areas covered by the 1999 agreement.

Senator Waters said the Newman government was determined to "decimate" every effort by previous Labor governments in Queensland to protect the environment.

She said a federal coalition government under Mr Abbott would allow their colleagues in the states to run roughshod over environmental protection laws at the behest of industry.

"That's a real kind of a taste of what an Abbott government would be like," she told AAP on Tuesday.

"Clearly if we had an Abbott prime ministership there'd be no check on Campbell Newman's vandalism."

In a statement, Mr McVeigh said the areas being reopened were not world-heritage-listed forests and had been sustainably harvested for a century before Labor "locked up" the industry.

"It's extremely disappointing, but no surprise that the Greens are trying to make political mileage of our long-term, forest management strategy," he said.

The decision to shut out well-managed local timber operators had seen an influx of imports from Asian rainforests, many of which weren't felled sustainably, he added.

Senator Waters called on federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to intervene, claiming any native logging in Queensland would need his approval now the forestry agreement appeared to be in tatters.

Queensland's government already raised the ire of the Greens this week when it flagged plans to allow mining and irrigation on rivers that feed channels in outback Queensland and the Lake Eyre Basin.

Senator Waters said Mr Burke had known the Queensland government might repeal the wild river laws for a year, but had so far failed to act.

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Body in water at Melbourne's Docklands

POLICE have recovered the body of a young man from the water in Melbourne's Docklands district.

Police said a report was received at about 5pm (AEDT) on Monday that a man had jumped into the water near Harbour Esplanade but had failed to surface.

Officers including Water Police and divers from the search and rescue squad conducted a search for the man whose body was found near Central Pier at around 6.40pm.

The man is yet to be identified but is believed to be aged in his late teens or early 20s.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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4bn mobile subscribers tipped by 2018

THE $US1.0 trillion ($A974.99 billion) global mobile industry has predicted a boom in subscribers to four billion people by 2018 as the world's largest mobile fair opened in Barcelona.

Already 3.2 billion people pay for mobile services, nearly half of the world's population, said a study by A. T Kearney and GSMA, which represents 750 mobile operators and organises the vast, four-day annual Mobile World Congress.

The report forecast that a further 700 million subscribers would be added by 2017 and the four billion-subscriber mark would be hit in 2018.

Revenues for mobile operators alone amounted $US1.0 trillion, or 1.4 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, in 2012, the report said.

Most of the growth was in the Asia Pacific region, where operators were forecast to raise revenue by 4.0 per cent a year up to 2017, adding $80 billion, or 23 per cent, to their revenue of $350 billion, the report said.

But Africa showed the fastest growth, and mobile operators there were predicted to boost revenue by 25 per cent over the 2012 to 2017 period to 70 billion dollars.

Worldwide, the growth in mobile operators' revenues was expected to slow, however, from a 4.0-per cent annual expansion from 2008 to 2012 to an annual pace of 2.3 per cent in the period up to 2017.

"One of the reasons for the slowdown is the decline of revenues in Europe," the report said, blaming "heavy regulation" of mobile prices, and impact of the eurozone economic crisis for an estimated fall in revenue from $248 billion to $216 billion from 2008 to 2012.

"The mobile operator market in Europe is expected to decrease further by 2.0 per cent a year to 2017 due to competition and regulation. This trend, together with the growth in traffic, show the increasing value to consumers, who are using mobile services more while spending less," it said.

New lightning fast fourth-generation mobile networks, which promise download speeds as quick as the best fixed broadband connections, could boost revenues, it said, pointing to higher prices being commanded for 4G in North America, Scandinavia, South Korea and Japan.

"In Europe it is still too early to judge consumer reaction to the new services but it is certainly true that operators are positioning 4G as a premium service," the report said.

The use of mobile phones was exploding, the GSMA report said.

"At the end of 2012, there were 6.8 billion mobile connections worldwide, a figure expected to grow to 9.7 billion by the end of 2017," the report said.

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