UN pushes for war crimes probe in Syria

A senior UN official has called for a war crimes investigation in Syria. Source: AAP

FIERCE clashes raged on Friday in a majority Kurdish city of Syria and near Damascus, as UN rights chief Navi Pillay piled pressure on the Security Council to probe war crimes in the 22-month conflict.

The violence claimed dozens of new lives on Friday, including an Al-Jazeera reporter, the second journalist killed by snipers in 24 hours, the pan-Arab news channel said.

Mohammed Hourani "was shot dead by a regime sniper", Al-Jazeera said, a day after French journalist Yves Debay was gunned down in the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Hourani was covering clashes in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, said the network.

Farther north near Damascus, regime warplanes bombarded rebel strongholds including Daraya, while the army dispatched reinforcements to the town to reclaim it from the insurgents, activists said.

A building housing a field hospital was hit and residents struggled to pull people from the rubble, activist Abu Kinan told AFP via the Internet. He was unable to give a casualty toll.

But the Britain-based Observatory said at least 119 people were killed in violence across Syria on Friday, including 93 civilians.

Fighting also raged in the majority Kurdish northern city of Ras al-Ain, on the Turkish border, with jihadists battling Kurdish militiamen for control of the district, activists and residents said.

They said fighters from the radical Al-Nusra Front - listed by the United States as a "terrorist" organisation - and Ghuraba al-Sham groups launched an assault on Thursday, crossing into the city from Turkey with three tanks.

"The Kurdish fighters seized one of the tanks," on Friday, an activist identifying himself as Havidar told AFP via the Internet.

Syria's Kurds are divided over the conflict with some supporting Assad's regime, others backing the uprising and others striving to stay neutral.

Activists say they fear Turkey, which backs the revolt against Assad, may be using jihadists in Syria to fight its own battle against its own Kurdish minority.

The relentless violence was at the centre of a meeting Friday at the divided Security Council, where human rights commissioner Pillay gave a briefing on the deteriorating events tearing apart Syria.

Pillay called for an International Criminal Court war crimes investigation in Syria, adding her voice to 58 countries who petitioned the body for a such a probe to be launched.

"I have urged the Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court for investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity on the part of all parties engaged in this conflict," Pillay said.

She said victims in Syria "see the situation as the United Nations not carrying out its responsibility to protect victims."

Russia and China have used their power as permanent Security Council members to block three resolutions which would have threatened sanctions against Assad and in some cases a war crimes case.

Also on Friday, protesters flooded streets of flashpoint areas across Syria, renewing their calls for the fall of Assad's regime and paying tribute to 87 victims of a deadly bombing in Aleppo university this week.

Syria's spiralling conflict has killed more than 60,000 people in less than two years, says the United Nations. The Observatory has documented 48,000 dead, most of them civilians.

According to an AFP count and the Paris-based rights group Reporters Without Borders, at least 20 professional journalists have been killed in Syria where more than 40 citizen journalists have also died.

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Pedestrian killed in Tiaro crash

A MALE pedestrian has been killed on the side of the road at Tiaro, south of Maryborough, after he was struck by a car, according to paramedics.

The Queensland Ambulance Service says the man was on the edge of the Bruce Highway which runs through the township when he was hit by a passing vehicle.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Intel 4Q profit down 27 per cent

INTEL Corp, the world's largest chipmaker, says its fourth-quarter net income has fallen 27 per cent from the previous year, as PC sales continued to weaken.

Net income was $US2.47 billion ($A2.35 billion), or 48 US cents per share, for the October to December period. That was down from $US3.36 billion, or 64 US cents per share, a year ago.

Intel still beat earnings expectations for the quarter by 3 US cents per share relative to the average of analysts polled by FactSet. That was due to slightly higher-than-expected prices for its chips and lower-than-expected costs for starting up new production lines.

Revenue fell 3 per cent to $US13.5 billion, matching analyst expectations.

Intel is challenged by a shift in consumer spending from PCs - most of which use Intel chips - to smartphones and tablets, which don't.

Research firm Gartner said this week that global PC shipments fell 4.9 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year ago. Households are letting tablets replace their secondary PCs, it said.

On a call with analysts, Intel chief financial officer Stacy Smith admitted on Thursday that tablets are affecting sales of PC chips, which fell 3 per cent in the quarter.

Intel is trying hard to get its chips into smartphones and tablets. On the call, CEO Paul Otellini touted the company's latest "Atom" processors, which are used in 10 tablet models, he said, and can yield the same or better battery life as the competition.

Intel had warned that the fourth quarter would be lacklustre, and that the usual holiday bounce in PC shipments would be cut in half, even though Microsoft launched its new operating system, Windows 8, in the quarter.

The Santa Clara, California, company expects about $US12.7 billion in first-quarter revenue, below the analyst forecast of $US12.9 billion but in line with usual seasonal variations.

For the full year, Intel is forecasting a revenue percentage increase in the low single digits, in line with Wall Street's 2 per cent expectation.

Intel shares fell $US1, or 4.4 per cent, to $US21.68 in afterhours trading, after the release of the results. That more than wiped out the day's gain of 57 US cents in regular trading.

For the full year, Intel earned $US11 billion on $US53.3 billion in revenue. Both figures were down slightly from the year before, when it earned $US12.9 billion on $US54 billion in revenue.

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Granville train crash victims remembered

THE 83 victims of Australia's worst train disaster have been remembered in a moving ceremony in Sydney's west.

The packed 6.09am Mount Victoria to Sydney train, locomotive No.4620, derailed and crashed as it approached Granville station at about 8.10am on January 18, 1977.

The train smashed into a bridge which collapsed onto two carriages. In addition to the death toll, 210 people were injured.

About 250 survivors, relatives, emergency service workers and dignitaries gathered near the crash site on Friday to mark the 36th anniversary.

"The thing that surprised me is that crowds are still very large, even after all these years," John Hennessey, president of the Granville Memorial Trust told AAP.

"It's still very raw and you could hear that in their voices and the stories they tell you."

The ceremony centred around a large granite memorial stone at Granville Station which has the names of all the victims inscribed upon it.

There were also 26 roses laid on the memorial stone to commemorate the six teachers and 20 children who died at the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut in December.

Mr Hennessey said the gesture was made to show solidarity with the victims and survivors of the American shooting.

Parramatta Lord Mayor John Chedid described the crash as a "very, very sad day" in Australia's history.

"It was the worst tragedy that we've ever had - so many lost lives, and it was so sad," he said.

Earlier, Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) national secretary Bob Nanva said the lessons of Granville must never be forgotten.

"The Granville Rail Disaster will live in our memories forever," he said in a statement.

"We must ensure we never see another disaster on the same scale."

He urged the NSW government to put more funding into rail maintenance.

A report into the Granville crash concluded that a derailment was "inevitable" because the condition of the track was poor.

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Rate cut more likely after weak jobs data

THE case for yet an another interest-rate cut is getting stronger after a weaker than expected jobs report.

The jobless rate rose to 5.4 per cent in December after the number of people in employment fell by 5500, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday.

The unemployment rate was in line with what economists were expecting but the figure for November was revised up by 0.1 per cent to 5.3 per cent.

While full-time employment fell by 13,800, it was partly offset by an increase of 8300 part-time jobs.

All states recorded monthly rises in the rate of unemployment with the biggest in Tasmania, where the rate climbed 0.6 per cent to 7.3 per cent.

ANZ economists said the data supported their view that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) needed to lower interest rates further this year to limit the rise in the unemployment rate.

"With inflationary pressures expected to remain relatively benign ... the RBA will have scope to ease policy further to support economic activity outside of the mining sector this year," the economists said in a statement.

The central bank meets for its first board meeting of the year on February 5 after it cut the cash rate by 0.25 basis points in December, to 3.0 per cent.

Acting Employment Minister Kate Ellis said while the unemployment rate was expected to rise even further, joblessness in Australia would remain low by international standards.

She blamed the rise in the national unemployment rate on public sector job losses in Queensland.

"Regrettably, more than 22,000 Queenslanders found themselves out of a job this Christmas (while) across the rest of the country, jobs grew," Ms Ellis told reporters in Adelaide.

"Were it not for the Queensland job losses, the unemployment rate today would have actually fallen to 5.2 per cent rather than slightly rising."

She said 65 jobs have been lost each day since the election of the LNP government.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott tried to link Labor's backflip on its promise to return the budget to surplus to the employment figures.

It was no wonder jobs growth was weak "when you've got a government which simply cannot deliver when it comes to budget management", Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

He pointed out that Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan had on 200 separate occasions promised a budget surplus - something the government now concedes is unlikely.

"(A surplus) is not going to happen and they have failed their own test of economic management," he said.

"That's why we're getting the kind of economic weakness which we're currently seeing."

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the data showed that business had no confidence.

He also tried to link the weak employment report to Labor's budget surplus backdown.

"There is not the confidence there and there won't be whilst the government continues to act deceptively when it comes to the surplus," Mr Hockey said.

He highlighted the fact that Western Australia, a Liberal state, had the lowest rate of unemployment while Tasmania, held by Labor, posted an unemployment rate of more than seven per cent.

"Quite frankly, the only thing that's going to get confidence back is a change of government," he said.

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Australia urges safety for Syrian medics

Australia will present a plan to the UN calling for the safety of medical workers in Syria. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA will present a plan to the United Nations on Friday calling for medical workers and hospitals in Syria to be protected from the ongoing civil war.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr says a medical pact is required because Syria's hospitals are being used as military bases, preventing casualties from seeking treatment.

"When people are injured as a result of bombing or shooting ... they can't get fixed up in a hospital, they can't get treated by a doctor or nurse (and) the pharmacies have run out of medicines," Mr Carr told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

Senator Carr said the Australian plan would call on all sides in the Syrian conflict to make a commitment not to target medical personnel, block access to doctors and hospitals, or attack medical facilities.

"Children and women, as well as men, civilians and military people are dying because there isn't medical care," he said.

"In the absence of a ceasefire or a peaceful transition the parties must agree on a bare minimum medical proposition."

A neutral third party could monitor the plan's implementation, he said.

More than 60,000 Syrians have died since fighting began in March 2011 according to UN figures, and over two million others are in need of humanitarian care.

Senator Carr said Australia would present its plan at a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Friday.

"Our challenge is to get countries who have been at loggerheads to realise the pure humanitarian concerns justify this operation.

"We're working very hard to garner support for (the medical pact), and we're doing it now as a member of the Security Council sitting at that table."

Earlier on Thursday, British Foreign Minister William Hague said it was possible the UK would consider playing a more active role in the conflict if a peaceful solution was not found soon.

However, Senator Carr ruled out Australia following such a path.

"If other countries change their position, that's big step from them and we'll leave it to them," he said.

"For the forseeable future Australia will continue to provide humanitarian assistance but will not consider military assistance."

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Unis offer 71,000 new places for 2013

UNIVERSITIES in NSW and the ACT will offer places to more than 71,000 new students for 2013.

More than 55,000 main round offers will be released on Wednesday night, on top of more than 16,000 early round offers already made.

This was an increase of 1.4 per cent on the number of offers made in 2012, the federal government said.

As well, more offers have been made to indigenous students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds compared to last year.

"The number of university offers is not only good news for students, it's good news for the economy," Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said.

"It is not just unfair to lock people out of university; our nation simply can't afford to."

The largest increase was in offers made for engineering and related courses, where student intake was expected to grow by 6.3 per cent.

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Trade Me, Fonterra rise as index eases

THE steam came out of the NZX 50 Index on Wednesday, although investors continued to favour Fonterra tradable units and Trade Me, owing to pending index changes.

The NZX 50 Index eased 1.72 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4169.23, on volume of 32.65 million shares, valued at $101.8 million.

Within the index, 20 shares rose, and 19 fell, leaving 11 unchanged.

"The highlights this week are the index changes," said James Snell at First NZ Capital.

"People have been pre-empting those moves. Both stocks have got gradually better over the week.

Fonterra Shareholders Fund tradeable units will enter the NZX 50 on Monday, replacing lowest ranked Cavalier Corp, while Trade Me's rating will increase from 1.83 per cent at present.

In the last week, FSF units have risen from $7.31 to $7.49, and were up 0.8 per cent today at a new record of $7.49. The units sold at $5.50 in last November's initial public offering and listed at $6.67.

Trade Me shares have risen 5.4 per cent in the last week and closed on Wednesday at $4.16, up 1.5 per cent.

Biggest gainer on the day was Oceana Gold, up 5.2 per cent to $3.48, while dual-listed APN News & Media, publisher of the New Zealand Herald and rarely traded on the NZX, had the second strongest gain, up 2.86 per cent to 36 cents.

Falling most were telecommunications component-maker Rakon, down 2.7 per cent to 36 cents also, and outdoor equipment and clothing company Kathmandu down 1.85 per cent, to $2.12.

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Rayney must deal with appeal first: judge

A WEST Australian Supreme Court judge has ruled that no significant progress can be made in Lloyd Rayney's defamation case against police until after the court deals with an appeal against his murder acquittal.

Mr Rayney, a prominent Perth barrister, was acquitted on November 1 last year of murdering his wife Corryn, following a highly publicised three-month trial before former Northern Territory chief justice Brian Martin.

Ms Rayney, a former Supreme Court registrar and mother of two, disappeared after her weekly dance class on August 7, 2007 and was later found buried head-first in a grave at Kings Park.

Defamation proceedings lodged by Mr Rayney against WA Police had remained dormant since April 2010 pending the outcome of his trial.

The matter arose when head of the major crime squad in September 2007, Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Lee, told journalists that Mr Rayney was the "prime" and "only" suspect in his estranged wife's murder.

On November 28 last year, Mr Rayney's lawyers told the WA Supreme Court that Mr Rayney wanted to proceed with the defamation case following his murder acquittal.

Mr Rayney argued the detective's comments were improper, unjustifiable and lacking in bona fides.

The state denied liability and has relied on various defences and matters relating to the amount of damages.

The court heard on Tuesday that Mr Rayney wanted the state to file an amended defence and for consequential orders to be made for discovery and inspection.

Justice James Edelman noted that while the state needed to amend its defence as a result of the trial decision, the state wanted to wait for the end of the criminal proceedings, including an appeal against the acquittal.

"Ordering the state to re-amend its defence now is unlikely to make any difference to the substantial progression of the action," he said.

"I do not accept that there will be any real benefit from requiring a re-amended defence now in order to permit the court to consider whether there should be a deferred hearing of issues concerning quantum, (i.e. the amount of damages).

"My conclusion is that no order should currently be made requiring the state to file a re-amended defence."

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Wild weather slams second outback town

DAMAGE: A business in Blackall had part of the roof ripped up by winds of up to 120km/h. Source: Supplied

WILD weather has slammed a second Queensland town less than 24 hours after Blackall in the central west was hit by a mini tornado.

Fifteen houses were damaged at about 2pm today when a storm slammed into the town of Jundah, south of Longreach.

The Department of Emergencu Services reported that the severe weather event damaged roofs, windows and doors.

"There are also reports of fallen trees in the area. Initial reports also indicate the local school has sustained extensive damage", a statement said.

It said the State Emergency Service was helping with cleanup efforts.

Earlier today, couriermail.com.au reported on a mini tornado which hit the central west community of Blackall. 

Blackall retailer Ian Kinsey said a tornado hit the town about 9pm, ripping part of his clothing store's roof clean off.

"The tornado wasn't a massive one…but it would have been a couple of more minutes before it ripped the roof off completely."

WEATHER: Southeast's cool change expected to stay until weekend

The roller door of the store was also blown in and trees around the town were knocked down.

Mr Kinsey said even a metal sign in the town was "twisted" by the storm.

The damage comes after his business was swamped by more than six feet of water in February 2012.

"We'd only just got over the floods and replaced the flooring…it's the exact same building that's been hit," Mr Kinsey said.

Luckily, Mr Kinsey's other businesses in town were spared from nature's wrath.

FORECASTS: Check the weather where you are

Bureau of Meteorology Forecast Matthew Bass confirmed there were damaging winds in the area Monday night, with 120km/h winds the highest recorded.

He said severe storms hit towns from the north-west of the state right across to the Darling Downs from yesterday afternoon.

Outside Mount Isa, a wind recording of 109km/h was clocked by the bureau.

The Bureau expects to issue weather warnings for the central parts of Queensland on Tuesday afternoon, with more gusty thunderstorms and heavy rainfall likely in Blackall and neighbouring towns.

"We've got cooler air moving and what's significant is a weak low starting to form over the centre of the state and a lot of moist tropical air starting to feed in and that's going to start triggering more thunderstorms through central parts of the state," Mr Bass said.

In the southeast the cool weather brought in by a southerly change is still lingering, with a top of just 28C expected in Brisbane today.

Similar conditions are expected tomorrow, Thursday and Friday before the state heats up again for Saturday, with 35C the predicted top.

The moisture in the air has also cooled fire weather warnings across the state.

Mr Bass said fires that have been ravaging vegetation in Gulf Country for weeks are expected to be extinguished by monsoonal rains in the coming days.

"They need the rain so that'll be good news for them," Mr Bass said.

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Govt pressed to reveal mining tax revenues

The government is being pressured to reveal how much the mining tax has earned to date. Source: AAP

THE federal opposition says the government should come clean with the public on how much the mining tax has raised to date, then immediately move to scrap it.

The comments come as one Labor MP says a budget surplus for 2012/13 is still "certainly possible", despite senior government figures describing it as unlikely.

Mining giants BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata are not expected to make any second-quarter payments under the minerals resource rent tax, which the government forecast would raise $2 billion in 2012/13.

The tax did not generate any revenue in its first quarter of operation and the second quarter of MRRT instalments are due next week.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says the treasurer should clarify how much the MRRT has raised since July 2012.

"To facilitate passage of the MRRT legislation through the Senate, the prime minister promised monthly updates of the revenue it had collected," Mr Hockey said on Monday.

"More than six months later there is still no official update on how much or how little the MRRT has raised."

The tax was complex, inefficient, costly to administer and should be axed, Mr Hockey said.

The most recent government financial statement said resource rent taxes had reaped $1.1 billion in the financial year to October 2012, but did not specify MRRT revenue.

A spokesman for acting treasurer Penny Wong told AAP on Monday: "People should be cautious about putting all their faith in numbers that are based on a day's, week's or month's spot prices for our resources."

"It's no secret that our budget revenues have already taken a big hit from the impact of continued global instability, commodity price volatility and a high dollar.

"This is hypocrisy from Mr Hockey, who repeatedly says the Liberal Party has nearly 50 policies prepared but is keeping them secret from Australians."

Opposition junior treasury spokesman Mathias Cormann said the coalition would call on the Australian Greens and independents to support the release of MRRT revenue figures when parliament resumes on February 5.

Greens leader Christine Milne said she supported greater transparency and wanted the tax to be broadened and loopholes removed.

"We do need to block the loopholes in the existing tax and expand it if we can," Greens leader Christine Milne said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Labor MP Andrew Leigh said achieving a budget surplus was still "certainly possible".

"The treasurer last year didn't rule out a surplus, just said that one was looking unlikely given what's happened to revenues," Dr Leigh told Sky News on Monday.

He said if the government enjoyed the same tax-to-GDP ratio as the Howard government it would easily achieve a surplus.

Senator Wong said the surplus remained "unlikely" but the government's stance was the "right call".

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Climate change talk 'convenient': Newman

THE Queensland premier says it's "very convenient" to blame climate change for conditions that have always occurred in Australia.

Campbell Newman made the comment after federal Nationals Leader Warren Truss said it was "utterly simplistic" to draw a link between climate change and Australia's recent heatwave and bushfire crisis.

But last week, the federal government's Climate Commission said the heatwave and bushfires had been exacerbated by global warming.

On Monday, Mr Newman was asked if he believed there was a link between the bushfires, the heatwave and climate change.

"It's very convenient to blame things that have happened in this country for millennia on climate change," he replied.

He quoted poet Dorothea Mackellar's poem My Country.

"Remember 'I love a sunburnt country' ... it talks about 'flooding rains, fires' and all those sorts of things. Nothing new.

"Any such comments are still open to question.

"I believe we can leave to the experts to make the debate about whether that's the case."

Mr Newman on Monday said the Queensland government would give $200,000 to the Red Cross Tasmanian Bushfire Appeal fund.

Mr Newman spent some of his childhood in Tasmania.

The Australian Conservation Foundation hit out at Mr Newman's comments, saying the judgments should be "left to the experts".

"The Climate Commission says climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and making it more likely they will stay for longer," spokesman Tony Mohr said in a statement. "The same body of climate experts expects extreme fire danger days to rise more than 15 per cent in most of eastern Australia."

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Banks need to pass on savings, says ARA

Interest rate cuts are lagging in Australia, according to the Australian Retailers Association. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S peak retail industry body says the retail sector is waiting for the big banks to cut interest rates, passing on additional cuts to reflect lower borrowing costs.

Director of the Australian Retailers Association, Russell Zimmerman, said the savings should be passed on before the Reserve Bank meets in February to make its first decision on interest rates for 2013.

Mr Zimmerman said compared to equivalent performing economies in Canada, New Zealand and Norway, which have cut interest rates to one per cent, 2.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively, Australia was lagging with an official rate of three per cent.

"Since the start of the GFC (global financial crisis) Australia's banks have not passed on full interest rate cuts because of internationally high borrowing costs, with clear evidence these costs are lowering, consumer and business borrowing interest rates must be lowered," Mr Zimmerman said in a statement on Sunday.

He said poor retail sales figures for November 2012 indicated a stalling economy, and it was critical both the RBA and banks play their role in stimulating the economy.

"While Christmas sales initially appear to have been a little better than the previous year we know some categories were down and sales growth was still well below historic levels," Mr Zimmerman said.

"Australia is facing significant economic headwinds and the need for serious economic reform from whoever wins this year's federal election, in the meantime the big banks and RBA need to play their role in supporting the economy."

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New fire tax in train for NSW

A new fire tax on NSW homeowners will be fairer for funding the state's fire and emergency services. Source: AAP

A NEW fire tax on NSW homeowners will be fairer than the current system which exempts people without home insurance from helping fund fire and emergency services, the state government says.

The proposed blanket tax could see all homeowners and landowners billed to fund the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), NSW Fire & Rescue and the State Emergency Services (SES).

But volunteer firefighters are gearing up to fight the proposed tax which they say would see funding for emergency services fall as community donations dried up.

The government has not decided on a funding formula yet but under one proposed model, a household with a land value of $250,000 would be charged $267 annually.

The government's funding overhaul would replace the current system under which households that have taken out insurance pay a levy added onto their insurance premium.

Emergency Services Minister Mike Gallacher said on Sunday it was unfair that people who did not have home insurance were not contributing to the funding of the RFS, the states's fire brigade and the SES.

"We haven't committed to an amount, it's the process and the principle in terms of a levy that people within government believe is worthwhile," he told ABC Radio.

Mr Gallacher said the government had yet to finalise its decision on the proposed levy but extensive consultations had been held and many submissions received, which would be gone through early this year.

He said there would be a chance for public discussion on the proposal.

All other states had moved towards or had introduced such levies, the minister said.

NSW Fire Service Association President Brian McKinley says a tax-based funding system will lead to a reduced firefighting budget because people will stop donating when they think they are already paying through a tax.

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