Iraq violence rises in November

The level of violence in Iraq has risen with 166 people killed in November. Source: AAP

THE number of people killed in attacks in Iraq rose in November compared with October, many of them dying in the last few days of the month, figures compiled by the government and AFP show.

According to figures from the health, interior and defence ministries, 166 people were killed in attacks in November - 101 civilians, 35 police and 30 soldiers, while 252 - 129 civilians, 68 police and 55 soldiers - were wounded.

An AFP tally based on information from security and medical sources meanwhile put the figure at 160 killed and 664 wounded.

Government figures for October indicated that 144 people were killed that month, while AFP's tally showed 136 people were killed.

According to the AFP figures, 82 people - more than half of those killed in the entire month - died in attacks from November 26-30.

Ali al-Haidari, an Iraqi security expert, pointed to the relaxation of tight measures put in place for major Ashura Shi'ite religious commemorations that peaked on November 25 as a possible explanation for some of the violence at the end of the month.

"What happened is that security forces were in the peak of readiness and activity during the last occasion (Ashura)," but became less so after the commemorations concluded, Haidari said.

"Security forces usually become tired after such occasions, and the enemy benefits from this directly," he added.

While the end of November saw a spate of attacks, the Ashura commemorations, during which dozens of people were killed in attacks in years past, were largely free of violence.

However, two attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims killed three people and wounded 35.

Members of Iraq's security forces and the country's Shi'ite majority are both frequently targeted in bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents.

Violence in Iraq has decreased dramatically from its peak in 2006 and 2007, when brutal sectarian violence swept the country, but attacks remain common.

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Egypt's Islamists rally for Morsi

Vast crowds have rallied in Cairo to protest a draft constitution seen as undermining freedoms. Source: AAP

ISLAMISTS have rallied in support of President Mohamed Morsi's new expanded powers and the drafting of a contested charter, in a clear show of Egypt's deepening polarisation.

The demonstration on Saturday in the heart of Cairo comes a day after tens of thousands of Morsi opponents converged on Tahrir Square to protest against the president's decree and the speedy adoption of the draft constitution.

The charter has taken centre stage in the country's worst political crisis since Morsi's election in June, setting largely Islamist forces against more secular opponents.

It is expected to go to a popular referendum within two weeks.

Members of the constituent assembly were due to hand Morsi at 4pm (1am AEDT Sunday) the final draft of the constitution adopted after a marathon overnight session on Thursday that was boycotted by liberals, seculars and Christians.

By mid-morning, hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, on whose ticket Morsi ran for office, and other hardline Salafist groups gathered at Cairo University, with riot police on standby and roadblocks in place.

"The Muslim Brotherhood supports President Morsi's decisions," read a banner carried by Islamists who chanted, "The people want the implementation of God's law".

The Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters have branded the opposition as enemies of the revolution that toppled long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Across the Nile river, hundreds of protesters camping out in Tahrir Square since Morsi issued a decree expanding his powers were expected to be joined by more demonstrators throughout the day.

The National Rescue Front a coalition of opponents, has called on Egyptians to "reject the illegitimate" decree and the "void" draft constitution, and stressed the public's right "to use any peaceful method to protest including a general strike and civil disobedience".

The crisis was sparked when Morsi issued the decree on November 22 giving himself sweeping powers and placing his decisions beyond judicial review, provoking mass protests and a judges' strike.

Amnesty International said the draft "raises concerns about Egypt's commitment to human rights treaties", specifically ignoring "the rights of women (and) restricting freedom of expression in the name of religion".

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Manila slams China's plans to board ships

THE Philippines has denounced Chinese plans to search ships sailing through what Beijing says is its territory in the South China Sea in the latest irritant between the countries.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday that the plans should be condemned by the international community because they violate maritime domains of countries in the region and impede freedom of navigation.

Chinese state media announced the plans, saying southern Hainan province, which Beijing says administers the South China Sea, had approved laws giving its police the right to search vessels that pass through the waters.

Last week the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and India protested against a map on a new Chinese passport that depicts disputed areas as belonging to China.

The Philippine statement said it wants Beijing to "immediately clarify its reported plans to interdict ships that enter what it considers its territory in the South China Sea".

It said Manila was concerned that ships entering waters claimed by China, which is "virtually the entire South China Sea ... can be boarded, inspected, detained, confiscated, immobilised and expelled, among other punitive actions".

China's action will be "illegal and will validate the continuous and repeated pronouncements by the Philippines that China's claim of indisputable sovereignty over virtually the entire South China Sea is not only an excessive claim but a threat to all countries", the statement said.

The maritime territorial disputes include the Spratly Islands over which China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have conflicting claims. The Spratlys chain is believed to sit atop rich oil and gas reserves and straddles one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

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Syrian army moves to secure Damascus

Clashes have raged near Damascus airport, as members of the Friends of Syria group meet in Tokyo. Source: AAP

THE Syrian army has shelled the outskirts of Damascus in a drive to establish a secure perimeter around the capital, including the key airport road that has come under sustained rebel attack.

The 27-kilometre highway remained perilous a day after troops said they had reopened the key link to the outside world in heavy fighting that followed repeated deadly fire on a bus carrying airport staff and at least two attacks on UN convoys, a watchdog said.

The fighting on Saturday sparked mounting expressions of concern from UN officials.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the conflict had reached "appalling heights of brutality". UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Syria was in danger of becoming a "failed state" if a political settlement was not reached soon.

The army shelled both the southwestern outskirts of the capital and the town of Douma in the northeastern suburbs, human rights monitors and opposition activists said.

Douma forms part of the so-called Eastern Ghouta region where troops have gone on the offensive to secure the airport highway.

Analysts say President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been trying to establish a secure perimeter around Damascus at all costs in a bid to be in a position to negotiate a solution to the 20-month conflict.

The repeated firing on the airport road prompted the cancellation of a string of international flights.

Airport officials said flights had resumed on Friday, but a military source acknowledged more heavy fighting lay ahead to fully secure the road.

Traffic resumed after the army cleared rebels from the western side of the highway and part of the eastern side on Friday.

"But the most difficult part is yet to come," the military official said. "The army wants to take control of the eastern side, where there are thousands of terrorists and this will take several days."

Shelling and fighting between troops and rebels also rocked Syria's second city Aleppo on Saturday, scene of urban warfare for more than four months, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Also, clashes were reported in the central city of Homs, dubbed by activists "the capital of the revolution".

In the east, troops re-entered the Al-Omar oilfield, three days after pulling out, the Observatory said.

"Despite Thursday's pullout, rebels did not enter the oilfield for fear that it was mined," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The oilfield is one of the regime's last positions east of the city of Deir Ezzor. Rebels last week seized a huge swathe of territory stretching from the city to the Iraqi border, the largest in Syria outside government control.

Early last month, the rebels seized control of the Al-Ward oilfield, the first it had captured. The army has since also lost control of the Al-Jofra oilfield and the Conoco gas reserves, according to the Observatory.

Syria's oil and gas production is now largely for domestic consumption as a result of embargoes on its exports by its biggest pre-conflict customers. But rebel activity has also taken a mounting toll on output.

Violence nationwide killed at least 122 people on Friday, including 73 civilians and 22 fighters from neighbouring Lebanon, the Observatory said, bringing to more than 41,000 the number killed since the uprising erupted in March 2011.

UN chief Ban predicted that Syrian refugee numbers would surge to more than 700,000 by next month as more civilians fled the fighting in residential areas, up from 480,000 now.

Peace envoy Brahimi warned the intensifying conflict could see "the state and its institutions withering away, lawlessness spreading, warlordism, banditry, narcotics, arms smuggling and worst of all the ugly face of communal and sectarian strife take hold of Syria".

Google and Twitter said that they had reactivated a voice-tweet program, last used in 2011 when the internet was shut down in Egypt during its revolution, to allow Syrians affected by an internet shutdown to get messages out.

Most phones and internet networks were down for a second straight day on Friday, the Observatory said.

Syrian authorities blamed maintenance work. Washington accused Damascus of deliberately cutting communications.

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Strauss-Kahn settles with US maid: reports

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has reached a settlement with a maid who accused him of sexual assault. Source: AAP

DISGRACED former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief and would-be French president Dominique Strauss-Kahn will settle out of court with a Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault, ending a sordid 18-month legal saga, reports say.

According to The New York Times, quoting unidentified sources "with knowledge of the matter", the 63-year-old French politician and the hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, have "quietly reached an agreement to settle" her lawsuit.

There was no word of any payments by Strauss-Kahn and "no settlement had yet been signed", the newspaper said.

NBC television also reported the possible deal, confirming that it had yet to be completed.

Judge Douglas McKeon, who is presiding over the civil case, told AFP "there may be a court session as early as next week", but declined to comment on the reports of a settlement.

Diallo's lawyers did not immediately respond to an interview request, while a spokeswoman for Strauss-Kahn's legal team declined to comment.

Strauss-Kahn, who had been widely touted as a likely challenger to then president Nicolas Sarkozy, suffered a stunning fall from grace following his arrest at a New York hotel last year on sex assault charges.

He then faced a string of separate sex-related investigations in France.

Diallo had sued Strauss-Kahn in a New York civil court after prosecutors threw out assault charges filed against the globe-trotting politician, saying the maid's sex assault case would not stand up before a jury.

Although Strauss-Kahn has since been mired in legal troubles and brought low by the repeated tarnishing of his once stellar reputation, that initial downfall at a posh Manhattan hotel in May 2011 came as a shocking surprise.

At the time, Strauss-Kahn was jetting between world capitals as head of the IMF and was expected to announce what would have been a formidable candidacy for the French presidency.

Diallo, a maid at the Sofitel hotel, shattered that trajectory when she alleged the powerful politician had leapt on her in his room, naked, and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested as he was about to fly back to Europe. He later conceded that there had been a sexual encounter in the hotel room with the cleaner, but insisted that it had been consensual.

The subsequent court proceedings and a brief spell in New York's tough Rikers Island detention centre publicly humiliated Strauss-Kahn.

After Diallo was caught lying over several points, the charges were dropped and Strauss-Kahn left hurriedly for France.

His lawyers have repeatedly said they would not agree to a deal to pay off Diallo, branding her a gold digger. Her lawyers have insisted they only want their day in court to confront Strauss-Kahn.

After leaving the US, Strauss-Kahn tried to get off the hook by claiming diplomatic immunity in the civil case but a judge rejected that move in May.

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Eurozone unemployment hits record high

THE recession in the economy of the 17 euro countries has pushed unemployment in the region up to a record 11.7 per cent in October.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said on Friday that 18.7 million people were out of work across the 17 EU countries that use the euro.

The increase from the previous month's 11.6 per cent was anticipated in light of the eurozone's return to recession in the third quarter.

Spain and Greece have the region's highest unemployment rates - both over 25 per cent, with youth unemployment levels heading towards 60 per cent.

Eurostat also says that inflation in the eurozone fell by more than anticipated to 2.2 per cent in November. However, it is still above the European Central Bank's target of keeping price rises at just below 2 per cent.

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Clive James given special award

IT has been quite a year for indigenous artists and writers.

And the latest winner is Kim Scott, the West Australian Aboriginal writer, who on Friday won a combined $50,000 for two NSW Premier's Literary awards for his novel, That Deadman Dance.

He received $40,000 for the Christina Stead Prize and $10,000 for Book of the Year.

Set on the WA coast at the start of the 19th century, That Deadman Dance is a story of early encounters between Noongar people and European settlers.

The judges said the book is "peopled with a broad cast of compelling, complex characters" and a "work of astounding beauty".

Thirty-three judges read hundreds of nominations for the nine literary awards and five history awards, with a collective value of about $360,000 in prize money.

Expat writer, journalist and commentator Clive James CBE AM was awarded the Special Award worth $10,000.

This award, given under exceptional circumstances, isn't open to entry and can't be awarded to a work that has been submitted to the awards.

James, 73, who has leukaemia, was a member of the Aussie "Push" who went to London in the early 1960s and included feminist Germaine Greer.

He was Britain's leading TV critic, for The Observer from 1972 to 1982, and later became well known for programs including Clive James on Television and The Clive James Show, as well as documentaries.

The first volume of his autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, is his best known book.

In June, James said he was "getting near the end" after several years of illness.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said recognising James's achievements in this way was a "fitting tribute to a great Australian writer and a great son of Sydney".

He said James had had an "extraordinarily prolific and successful career" and has "pioneered and championed the idea of an internationalised Australian culture through his poetry, novels, memoirs, works of literary criticism and scriptwriting".

Writer Gail Jones was awarded the People's Choice Award for Five Bells, a novel set in Circular Quay, Sydney, one sparkling summer's day.

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Catholic council set for abuse commission

The Catholic Church will establish a council to work with the royal commission into child sex abuse. Source: AAP

A COUNCIL of religious and lay people being set up to work with the royal commission into child sex abuse will help the Catholic Church "face the truth", Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart says.

The Catholic Bishops Conference on Friday announced it had established a group of representatives from the conference and religious orders to establish and oversee the new 10-member council.

In a statement, the conference said the royal commission's inquiry would be "painful and difficult" for the church, but that was nothing compared to the hurt of those who had suffered sexual abuse.

"Once again, we renew our heartfelt apology to those whose lives have been so grievously harmed by the evil perpetrated upon them by some priests, religious and church personnel."

Archbishop Hart, who is conference president, said the new council would help the church engage closely with the commission and the community.

Expert lay people, including those with expertise in the care of sex abuse victims, would be on the council, he told AAP.

"We need broad-based expertise so that the church together can face the truth, can provide a better response to the care of victims and also make Australia a safer place for our children."

Archbishop Hart said the church had 30 bishops in their dioceses and 129 different religious orders, so a unified council was considered best to liaise with the royal commission.

It was still important for the royal commission to be able to approach individual church officials and members, the archbishop said.

He has already come out in support of mandatory reporting of child sex abuse for priests in line with doctors, nurses and social workers.

There have been calls for the sanctity of the confessional to be reviewed in relation to child sex abuse.

But Archbishop Hart said it was unlikely child sex offenders within the church would use the confessional.

"Leaving things as they are has very positive value and it is part of the religious freedom that we enjoy under the constitution," he said.

Chris MacIsaac from Broken Rites Australia, a victim support group, said the church's proposed committee was an attempt to shield church leaders from the scrutiny of the royal commission.

"The royal commission must be able to question any bishop or church leader individually," he said in a statement.

"The proposed committee members will not know how each church leader concealed a crime from the police, or how an offender was transferred to new locations and new victims."

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Congo rebels begin frontline withdrawal

M23 rebels are pulling out of the Congolese city of Goma, as the UN considers sanctions. Source: AAP

REBEL fighters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo say they are moving out of frontline positions, in line with a deal aimed at halting the deadly unrest in the volatile resource-rich area.

The M23 rebels could be seen on Thursday pulling back equipment from the areas that they seized last week in a lightning advance that prompted international condemnation and calls for withdrawal.

"We have gathered our troops and will move towards Sake," said M23 Colonel Antoine Manzi, a senior commander of the army mutineers, referring to a town some 20km west of Goma, which the insurgents have agreed to leave by Friday.

"We will start leaving Goma tomorrow ... we cannot leave Goma before we have left the other areas," he told AFP on Thursday, adding that he expected the M23 would hand over control to United Nations peacekeepers there.

Residents have reported seeing dozens of trucks trundling through the lush green and rolling hills on the shores of Lake Kivu towards Goma.

Uganda's army chief Aronda Nyakairima said earlier this week a deal had been struck with the rebels to pull out of the lakeshore city by Thursday, although M23 military leader Sultani Makenga said the deadline was Friday.

Under the deal struck in Uganda between rebels and regional military commanders - who are due to visit Goma on Friday to monitor progress of the promised withdrawal - a company of 100 M23 gunmen will stay at Goma's airport.

Decades of civil war between multiple militia forces have ravaged the region, which holds vast mineral wealth, including copper, diamonds, gold and the key mobile phone component coltan.

Civilians are suffering as aid agencies struggle to cope with newly displaced, with some 285,000 people abandoning their homes since the rebels began their uprising in April.

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UN court clears Kosovo ex-PM of war crimes

THE UN Yugoslav war crimes court has acquitted Kosovo's ex-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and two aides in a retrial on charges of murder and torture during the 1990s war of independence from Belgrade.

"The chamber finds you not guilty on all counts in the indictment," Judge Bakone Justice Moloto told the Hague-based court on Thursday, ordering the men released in a decision that is certain to enrage Belgrade.

The court's public gallery erupted in cries of joy as the acquittals were announced.

Haradinaj, 44 and Idriz Balaj, 41, were being retried on six war-crime charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for allegedly murdering and torturing Serbs and non-Albanians during the 1998-99 war.

The third accused, Lahi Brahimaj, 42, faced four counts for his role in the fight between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and the Belgrade forces of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

The proceedings were broadcast live on a giant screen in the Kosovo capital Pristina, where the news was met by celebration. Haradinaj is considered a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority who had high hopes of an acquittal.

Prosecutors accused the three men of murdering and torturing Serbs and suspected collaborators against the separatist KLA and had demanded at least 20 years prison for all three men.

But judges found that the accused had not taken part in a "joint criminal enterprise" to cleanse the area of ethnic Serbs, and that some witness testimony was unreliable.

Moloto said that one witness may not have been in the Jablanica detention camp where alleged abuses took place and "may have told what he heard from others."

Following one incident of abuse "a KLA soldier apologised for the incident and blamed it on extremist groups within the KLA," the judge said.

"There is no credible evidence that Haradinaj was even aware of the crimes committed at Jablanica," Moloto said.

An acquittal is almost certain to be perceived by Serbia as a new slap in the face after the court earlier this month acquitted Croatian General Ante Gotovina of war crimes against Serbs.

The most senior Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders to be tried, Haradinaj as well as Balaj, his lieutenant and commander of the feared "Black Eagles" unit, were acquitted in April 2008 on 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Brahimaj was convicted of torture and sentenced to six years in jail.

Judges however ordered the court's first-ever partial retrial for all three after UN prosecutors appealed the acquittal and Brahimaj's sentence.

Appeals judges said the ICTY's trial chamber "seriously erred in failing to take adequate measures to secure the testimony of certain witnesses" during the original 10-month trial.

Haradinaj is now likely to continue his political career in Kosovo and is expected to run again for prime minister.

However, he is still considered a war criminal by Belgrade and an arrest warrant has been issued against him by Serbia's war crimes prosecutor for his alleged crimes.

In one of the most brutal episodes of the Balkans conflicts in the 1990s, more than 10,000 people died in the fighting.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade fiercely opposes its international recognition.

In Pristina, Kosovo erupted in joy on Thursday as hundreds of ethnic Albanians celebrated the acquittal of former prime minister and rebel chief Ramush Haradinaj of charges of war crimes during the 1990s conflict.

Fireworks erupted throughout the capital Pristina as the verdict was announced in The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal.

"Kosovo has expected such a decision, Kosovo needs him," said economist Maria Haradinaj, not related to the former prime minister.

Said Shpetim Felmanaj, a former rebel fighter: "We are awaiting his return with joy to lead Kosovo".

Belgrade slammed the verdict - which came after the court in The Hague two weeks ago acquitted Croatian General Ante Gotovina of war crimes against Serbs - as legalising "Mafia rule" because of the alleged witness intimidation.

"The Hague tribunal has legalised Mafia rule in Kosovo, above all, the omerta, the law of silence which still prevails and is stronger than any crime," government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic told AFP.

Senior Serbian officials had warned that should Haradinaj walk, EU-sponsored talks between Pristina and Belgrade - which still considers Kosovo to be part of Serbia - could be jeopardised.

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