NZ helps Samoa after deadly cyclone

NZ is helping Samoa with the cleanup after Cyclone Evan ripped through the Pacific nation. Source: AAP

NEW Zealand is helping Samoa with the cleanup after Cyclone Evan ripped through the Pacific nation, killing at least three.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says at the request of the local government $50,000 has been offered for the response and New Zealand will also provide a P3 Orion aeroplane to survey the area.

"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the people of Samoa as they begin to come to terms with the loss of life and damage caused," Mr McCully said.

Further assistance will be considered.

A state of disaster in the country of nearly 200,000 people was declared after Evan swept in from the Pacific and hit the capital Apia on the main island Upolu on Thursday.

At least two children are among three people who were reportedly drowned when the Vaisigano River, which runs through the centre of Apia, burst its banks.

Seven people who were on two boats are missing.

Apia has been the worst hit with houses damaged, flooding, and trees and power poles toppled.

There are nation-wide power outages and it is expected to take two months to restore power to some areas.

A water treatment plant has also been destroyed.

On Saturday morning up to 3000 people were being housed in emergency shelters due to flooding.

The 130 New Zealanders registered in Samoa are safe and well.

New Zealand High Commissioner to Samoa, Nick Hurley, told NZ Newswire Cyclone Evan was the worst, in terms of its impact, to hit Samoan since the 1990s.

He said trees and power poles that were swept into Vaisigano River had an "amazing destruction force".

The category four cyclone is expected to hit Fiji on Sunday and Fiji's Ministry of Social Development is warning residents to prepare for a major weather event. The cyclone, which is intensifying, is expected to hit northern parts of Tonga on Saturday.

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'Inaction' not option in Syria: Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron says doing nothing is not an option in Syria. Source: AAP

DOING nothing is not an option in Syria, British Prime Minister David Cameron says as his European Union counterparts pledge to look at "all options" available to support the opposition and civilians.

"Inaction and indifference are not options," Cameron, whose government has formally recognised a recently formed Syrian opposition coalition, said in Friday.

The situation in Syria, with more than 40,000 now dead, was "truly dreadful and getting worse", he said, adding that there was "no single, simple answer".

In a statement issued at the close of an EU summit, leaders said they were "appalled by the increasingly deteriorating situation in Syria" and urged their foreign ministers to "work on all options to support and help the opposition and to enable greater support for the protection of civilians".

They said President Bashar al-Assad had to go, with Cameron wanting the "speediest transition possible" to avoid more bloodshed.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande had said Assad was losing and must be made to leave as quickly as possible.

"On the ground, the war is now turning against Assad and we should set ourselves this objective - make Assad leave as quickly as possible," he said.

The EU so far has stopped short of full recognition of the opposition, although earlier this week EU foreign ministers met the leader of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at talks in Brussels.

Some EU member states are cautious about extending full recognition to the coalition because of doubts over how representative it is and its democratic credentials.

In their statement on Friday, EU leaders said they supported a future Syria that "is democratic and inclusive with full support for human rights and the rights of minorities.

"The European Council will continue to address the situation in Syria as a matter of priority," they said.

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Kiwi gains against yen before election

THE New Zealand dollar is headed for a 3.1 per cent gain against the yen this week as Japanese voters prepare to go to the polls in an election that's expected to install a new government that backs unlimited monetary easing.

The kiwi traded at 70.75 yen at 5pm in Wellington from 70.52 yen on Thursday. The currency was little changed at 84.34 US cents from 84.23 cents at 8.30am, down from 84.40 cents.

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, led by former prime minister Shinzo Abe, is expected to topple the existing regime in this weekend's general election.

Mr Abe is seen as an advocate for more central bank asset purchases in a bid to revive an economy that's sharply deteriorated since last year's earthquake and tsunami.

The kiwi's rally against the yen "looks extremely over-done and does look like it needs to pull back to around 68," said Imre Speizer, market strategist at Westpac Banking Corp in Auckland.

Mr Speizer is upbeat about the kiwi's prospects heading into the new year, though he sees it drifting lower against the greenback next week as partisan negotiations on how to avert $US600 billion of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts continue.

Risk-sensitive assets were bolstered by the HSBC and Markit Economics report on Friday indicating Chinese manufacturing expanded at a faster pace this month.

The kiwi was almost unchanged at 75.34 on the trade-weighted index from 75.33 on Thursday.

It edged up to 80.07 Australian cents from 80 cents on Thursday, and traded at 64.45 euro cents from 64.52 cents.

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NZ shares end week on mixed note

THE New Zealand share market ended the week on a mixed note.

The NZX 50 index rose 4.44 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3979.17. Within the index, 18 stocks rose, 26 fell and six were unchanged. Turnover was $156 million.

The benchmark index is heading for a 22 per cent gain this year, though it has retreated from the five-year high charted at the start of the month, outpacing gains in Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index and America's Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Goodman Fielder, the Australasian food manufacturer, declined 4.9 per cent to 77 cents and NZ Refining, which operates the nation's only oil refinery, fell 4.7 per cent to $2.42.

The two companies will be replaced in the benchmark index on December 24 by retirement village operators Summerset and Metlifecare.

"There's a little bit of weakness as those changes happen in a quiet market," said James Lee, head of institutional equities at First NZ Capital.

Summerset slipped 0.5 per cent to $2.23, having climbed 66 per cent this year. Metlifecare rose 1.3 per cent to $3.10, for a 34 per cent gain this year.

Chorus, the network company spun off from Telecom last year, fell 1.5 per cent to $2.70, extending its slide following last week's draft determination from the Commerce Commission to cut prices it can charge for access to its lines.

Telecom rose 0.9 per cent to $2.17.

Fletcher Building, the biggest listed company, fell 0.4 per cent to $8.26.

Ryman Healthcare rose 3.5 per cent to $4.39 and has jumped 54 per cent this year. The company was cited as a "hot stock" in 2013 by Craigs Investment Partners, according to a National Business Review survey.

Rural services company PGG Wrightson, picked in the same survey by brokerages Hamilton Hindin Greene and Forsyth Barr, rose 2.7 per cent to 38 cents.

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Retailers form new lobby group

AUSTRALIAN retailers may be doing it hard, but they are fighting back with a new industry group designed to lobby governments on a range of issues affecting the struggling sector.

The Australian Traders Group (ATG) will be launched in Melbourne on Friday with the purpose of lobbying governments on issues such as the reduction of the low value imports threshold for GST, the importation of counterfeit products, penalty rates and rent agreements.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said the ATG was being formed after the success of the Fair Imports Alliance which ran the campaign on lowering the low value imports threshold.

Mr Zimmerman said the campaign led to the federal government asking the Productivity Commission to further investigate the matter and the ATG hopes that it will have the same influence on other matters.

"We want to raise these issues before both state and federal governments and seek to get good outcomes that will lower the costs for retailers," he said.

While an improvement in consumer confidence was essential to the revival of the sector, retailers were doing what they could to ensure the long term survival of the industry, he said.

"Retail currently employs about 10 per cent of the working population," he said.

"We are a very important part of the economy and we want to ensure the sustainability of the sector moving forward.

"What we're doing is trying to look at ways that we can reduce costs, plus to get an all-round better deal for retailers into the future."

The group, which will include members of the Australian Retail Association, the Australian Music Association, the Australian Sporting Goods Association, the Australian Booksellers Association and the Franchise Council of Australia, plans to meet every three months.

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PM apologises to Pike mine families

NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key has personally apologised to the families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River mine disaster.

But they took little solace from Mr Key's words at a meeting in Greymouth on Thursday, as they continue to campaign for the bodies of their loved ones to be retrieved from the mine where they have lain since the November 2010 gas explosions.

"People were upset at the way government had handled things," said Bernie Monk, who acts as spokesman for most of the families.

The families had an opportunity to air their views and they did, he said.

"They asked a lot of questions. In fact the families gave the prime minister a fair going over.

"He apologised to each one in person."

International experts the families engaged concluded it was feasible to re-enter the mine, but this clashed with advice the government had received.

Mr Monk hoped the experts could thrash it out, and believed it would be accepted if both groups agreed there was no safe plan to enter the mine.

"Then we would walk away from it," he said.

"But we cannot move on until there has been at least an attempt to get into the mine."

Lawyer for the families, Colin Smith, said there was obvious frustration at this lack of progress.

A big positive of the meeting, however, was the government's commitment to implement all the recommendations of the royal commission into the disaster.

Mr Key told reporters that if the families or Solid Energy could come up with a safe and credible plan to go into the drift, the government would help fund it.

But he didn't think that it would ever be possible to go deep into the mine where many of the miners were believed to be working when the explosions occurred.

"I told them in plain English that all the advice I've had in my office has always been that it will not be possible to get in the mine's workings itself," he said.

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Protesters remain at Brisbane tent embassy

THIS week has seen the end of Brisbane's Aboriginal tent embassy, with indigenous elders turning on each other over its unceremonious closure.

Council shut down the embassy in inner-city Musgrave Park on Tuesday, extinguishing a sacred fire under the watch of Aboriginal elders.

Hours later protesters tried to re-establish the embassy and fire but 50 police, council workers and firefighters moved in to douse the flame.

Three people were arrested.

Mayor Graham Quirk acted at the behest of 20 elders who say the embassy has lost its way amid alcohol abuse and violence.

The embassy was established in March and the fire was originally lit using an ember from the tent embassy in Canberra, in celebration of its 40 year anniversary.

A handful of supporters rekindled the fire again on Wednesday and guarded it, vowing not to move.

Mr Quirk said authorities would move in again but wouldn't say when.

"The elders, from whom I am taking advice, have given authority for any further embassies to be closed down," he said.

Des Sandy, who worked with council to close the embassy, said it had been hijacked by outsiders and some people may feel unsafe walking through the park.

"It has lost its way," he told AAP.

"I think it's an eyesore.

The activists who support the embassy claim council has listened to only hand-picked elders to push its own agenda.

One of the three arrested in the clashes, Wayne Wharton of the Kooma people, wants an investigation into the motives behind its closure.

"He (Mr Quirk) has caused irreparable damage to the Aboriginal community and their relationship with the broader community," Mr Wharton told AAP.

Judulu, who had a mattress at the embassy, said he would remain at the site until he died.

"The mob that's been going to the council, they don't sit down around the fire," he told AAP.

"They're actually nobody."

Natalie Lewis, of the Gubbi Gubbi people, regularly visits the embassy and admits there had been longstanding social issues involving young people at the park.

But she said elders had been working with them since the embassy began and change was happening.

She said the young people had nowhere else to go and drugs and alcohol were banned at the embassy, which she said was a special meeting place that offered hope to the Aboriginal community.

Ms Lewis, an adoptee, said she had found out who her parents and grandparents were while sitting around the fire.

"You learn cultural history here, you learn stories. That's how Aboriginal culture works," she told AAP.

"Everyone is connected, you will never be lost, ever.

"It brings hope and fire in the belly, that Aboriginal people can have strength together. We can live in our law."

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Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar dies

LEGENDARY Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, a major influence on Western musicians ranging from The Beatles to Yehudi Menuhin, has died at the age of 92.

Shankar, the father of the American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, died in a hospital in San Diego where he was preparing to undergo surgery, according to Indian television news channels, on Wednesday.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his sadness over the death and hailed Shankar as "a national treasure and global ambassador of India's cultural heritage".

"Mourn (the) passing of a musical genius and gentle soul," Nirupama Menon Rao, the Indian ambassador to the United States, said on her Twitter feed.

Shankar, who was living in California when he died, was born into a high-caste Bengali Brahmin family in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in northern India on April 7, 1920.

He taught close friend the late Beatle George Harrison to play the sitar and collaborated with him on several projects, including the groundbreaking concert for Bangladesh in 1971. The Beatles called him The Godfather of World Music.

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Powell says toxins did not fall on homes

WATERWAYS and residential areas have not been contaminated by toxic fumes from an industrial blaze north of Brisbane, the state government says.

About 50 firefighters took more than two hours to contain the blaze in the Narangba industrial estate, which broke out about 12.30am (AEST) on Tuesday outside a tannery and spread to a large factory.

Furious local residents were left gasping for breath after fumes reached their homes.

Fran Jell from the Narangba Community Action Group said some residents considered leaving their homes during what she said was the 10th fire at the Narangba industrial estate in eight years.

"It smelt awful," she told AAP.

"It caught the back of your throat and had a chemical taste."

But Queensland's Environment Minister Andrew Powell told reporters toxic smoke residue had not contaminated waterways or fallen on homes.

"Contrary to what could have occurred, it has settled on the industrial estate (and) not on residential estates," Mr Powell said.

He said firefighters contained the blaze and the spread of toxins quickly.

"(Environmental) officers have been out on the ground and have determined no contaminated material has made its way into the waterways around that industrial estate," he said.

Fire and Rescue Service Superintendent Lance Duncan said the blaze was believed to have started in two prime movers and quickly spread to the factory, which contained industrial and engine oils for export.

At the height of the fire, a toxic plume spread over the local community before a wind change about 4am (AEST), he said.

Supt Duncan said some of the water from the firefighting effort was believed to have mixed with the oil from the factory and washed down drains before crews switched to foam.

The water has been dammed and contained, and there is no more seepage.

Ms Jell wants the state government to move the estate, or at the very least develop an evacuation plan for the fast-growing area.

Mr Powell brushed off the ideas and said his department was working hard to hold the industrial estate to the highest standards.

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Parole breaker on revenge mission: police

AFTER breaking his parole twice this year, armed robber Jason Robert Herbert is on the run and believed to be hunting two policemen he blames for the death of his brother.

Police fear Herbert, 40, is heading from NSW to Western Australia to seek revenge on the two officers.

In 2009, his brother Troy Matthew Herbert took a large dose of methamphetamine and was killed on his motorbike as he tried to outrun the officers in Perth.

The two are being offered protection, while Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin has ordered an urgent inquiry into Herbert's disappearance.

He had previously been released in April but was returned to jail in July when he broke his parole conditions by failing to report to his parole officer, a corrective services spokeswoman told AAP.

Released for a second time on November 28, Herbert had served 11 years of a 15-year-sentence for grievous bodily harm and armed robbery.

He escaped from his Newcastle lodgings over the weekend and was last seen at 2am (AEDT) on Saturday near the Pacific Highway at Hexham.

He was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his leg and is understood to have simply cut it off.

His mother Ruth appeared on the Seven Network on Tuesday, tearfully appealing for him to contact her and give himself up.

"Do the right thing, don't do anything stupid, I beg you," she said.

The West Australian newspaper reported her saying her son would be coming home to pay his respects to Troy, with whom he was very close.

"I have read Jason is armed and dangerous. He would be dangerous to police. He would not be dangerous to me or his friends," she said.

Mrs Herbert said she feared for her son's safety.

"If Jason is cornered it might be shoot first, ask questions later," she said.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said it was alarming someone could cut off their security bracelet, and noted there had been a number of failures of such devices.

"The O'Farrell government is failing to do the job properly and protect the community," he told ABC Radio.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said his anger was directed at the parole board for freeing Herbert.

"What I'm unhappy about today ... is why the hell this bloke was given parole," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney.

"What I want to look at first is why he was allowed to have access to this technology by a parole board whose parole he'd broken earlier this year.

"He's described today as a dangerous prisoner by the very same people who gave him parole, that's what I'm angry about."

Police say Herbert is of Caucasian appearance and between 185cm to 190cm tall, with a medium build, hazel eyes and short brown hair.

He is considered dangerous and should not be approached.

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Vic govt overhauls disaster management

VICTORIA has unveiled a major overhaul of its emergency management after determining the response to recent floods and the 2009 bushfires was no longer adequate.

Premier Ted Baillieu released a white paper outlining the proposed changes on Monday, saying it's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform emergency management.

"The reforms outlined in this paper recognise that preparing for, responding to, and recovering from emergency is a shared responsibility of all Victorians," he told reporters.

"Everybody has to be engaged and everybody has to be willing to collaborate as part of an emergency management system."

Mr Baillieu said the state has learned from the Black Saturday bushfires and recent floods that current disaster management arrangements are "no longer adequate".

"There are shortcomings and the intention of this white paper is to address those shortcomings," he said.

The plan includes a new commissioner who will oversee Victorian emergencies, from floods and bushfires to disease outbreaks, and a new oversight body put in charge during major incidents.

Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan said the plan focuses on community, collaboration and capability.

Under the proposed changes, the state government will create Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) and appoint an emergency management commissioner.

"There will be one person who is ultimately responsible," Mr Ryan said.

"It will rid us once and for all of any uncertainty of who is actually in control."

The emergency management plan would only apply during major disasters, not smaller bushfires, floods or other incidents, he said.

Mr Ryan stressed that there would be no amalgamations of any existing emergency services, even though some pushed for such changes during consultations.

Four new government committees will replace 44 existing committees to streamline efforts.

"It will give certainty as to who actually runs the show," Mr Ryan said.

He said the whole idea was to create a structure that avoided the confusion that occurred on Black Saturday.

The February 2009 Victorian disaster saw 173 people lose their lives.

United Firefighters Union spokesman Mick Tisbury described the changes as superficial because the government had rejected a recommendation for the creation of a single state firefighting service.

"I don't know why the government has decided not to go down that track - obviously there's a lot of politics involved," he told reporters.

"Let's stop playing politics with people's lives."

Opposition emergency services spokeswoman Jacinta Allan said Labor would back the changes but said they meant little with budget cuts to the CFA and the MFB.

"No amount of changing names and changing operational systems is going to change the fact that Ted Baillieu and Peter Ryan have inflicted $66 million of budget cuts on our fire services," she said.

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Elderly couple injured in SA home invasion

An elderly man is in hospital after home invaders attacked him and his wife in Adelaide. Source: AAP

AN elderly couple are in a serious condition in hospital after being assaulted in a traumatic home invasion carried out by two armed men in Adelaide.

The 76-year-old man and his 71-year-old wife were woken around 12.20am (CDT) on Monday by their dog barking and growling at two male intruders on the upstairs landing of their Burnside home.

Police believe one man had a 25cm knife, while the other possibly had a sawn-off shotgun, Inspector Tim Scammell told reporters on Monday.

The male occupant had tried to close the bedroom door on the intruders and was struck on the head, while the woman sustained a head injury when she tried to fend them off.

"This is a particularly violent and senseless act," Inspector Scammell said.

The husband and wife, who were traumatised by the "brazen" act, both suffered serious head injuries, he added.

Police said the home invasion appeared to be random.

The offenders, who wore hoodies, stole jewellery and the man's wallet.

Police say it was extremely windy in the area at the time and this may have muffled the sound of the break-in and the car leaving the area.

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Kidnapped US doctor rescued in Afghanistan

US soldiers killed seven Taliban insurgents in a pre-dawn raid to rescue a kidnapped American doctor in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, the NATO force in the war-torn country says.

The mission was launched when intelligence showed that Dr Dilip Joseph was in "imminent danger of injury or death", NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

Joseph was abducted on December 5 by Taliban insurgents in the Surobi district of Kabul province.

"Today's mission exemplifies our unwavering commitment to defeating the Taliban," said General John Allen, the commander of US and ISAF forces in Afghanistan.

"I'm proud of the American and Afghan forces that planned, rehearsed and successfully conducted this operation. Thanks to them, Dr Joseph will soon be rejoining his family and loved ones."

Joseph was now "undergoing evaluations", the statement said, without giving further details.

A security source said the doctor had been involved in building clinics in Afghanistan, but details of his capture were not immediately available.

An ISAF spokesman said the rescue had been launched when multiple intelligence sources indicated that he was in immediate danger.

"We felt we had to act now," he said.

Seven of the doctor's captors were killed in the operation, which involved combined US and Afghan forces, he said.

He gave no further details of where the doctor had been held or on the rescue operation itself, saying they could be announced later in the day.

Surobi outside Kabul had been under the control of French troops until April this year, when responsibility for security was handed to Afghan forces as part of France's accelerated withdrawal from the country.

France ended its combat mission in Afghanistan last month, two years before allied nations contributing to the 100,000-strong US-led NATO force are due to depart.

Westerners are a prize target for the Taliban Islamists, who have waged an 11-year insurgency since being toppled from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

In June, NATO special forces rescued two foreign women working for a Swiss-based charity who had been kidnapped and held in a cave in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Badakhshan province, killing five of their captors.

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NSW severe storm warnings cancelled

SEVERE storm warnings for the Mid-North Coast, Hunter, Central Tablelands and Northern Tablelands regions of NSW have been cancelled by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Despite the downgrades, a bureau spokesman warned storms were still expected for the areas late on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the State Emergency Service received 50 calls when gale force winds swept though southern Sydney on Sunday morning.

Gusts of up to 85 km/h were recorded at Lucas Heights and the airport, the winds bringing down trees and causing minor property damage.

Before noon (AEDT), the final round of the Australian Open golf championship was suspended at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney's south, as winds of up to 75 km/h brought down a television tower at the site.

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