Blast hits US compound in Afghan capital

A CAR bomb has exploded outside a compound housing a US military contractor in the Afghan capital, blowing apart an exterior wall and wounding dozens inside, company representatives and police say.

The blast on the outskirts of the city sent a plume of smoke up in the air and shook windows more than a two kilometres away in the city centre.

The security officer for Contrack, a McLean, Virginia-based company that builds facilities for military bases, said a suicide attacker on Monday drove a vehicle packed with explosives up to the exterior wall of the compound and detonated the bomb.

Afghan police said they could not confirm if it was a suicide attack or a remotely detonated bomb that had been placed in a parked vehicle.

Contrack did not respond to calls or emails asking for comment.

Deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Najibullah Danish said that at least one person was killed in the attack. It was not immediately clear if this may have been the attacker.

Contrack security officer Baryalai, who like many Afghans only goes by one name, said he could only confirm wounded. He said the injured employees included Americans, Afghans and South Africans. The American director of the company was seriously wounded, he said.

Contrack has a range of contracts in Afghanistan but Baryalai said the arm of the company that was attacked on Monday is building barracks and other facilities for the Afghan army.

A worker coming out of the building said that he saw at least 30 people wounded.

"There was massive destruction inside. ... I was sitting behind my computer when it happened. I was not hurt but I saw many of my colleagues were injured," Bashir Farhang said.

Jalalabad road, where the explosion occurred, is home to a number of foreign companies that have offices inside of blast-walled compounds.

Contrack's projects also include fuel storage, air field construction and tanker facilities for US military bases in Afghanistan, according to its website.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bomb attack kills 16 at Pakistan market

A car bomb attack at a Pakistan market has killed 16 people and wounded around 70, officials say. Source: AAP

A CAR bomb attack has killed 16 people and wounded around 70 in a Pakistan market in the northwestern town of Jamrud, close to the Afghan border, officials say.

The bomb exploded on Monday in a small market near a bus stop, killing and wounding people waiting for buses to take them across the northwest and to other parts of the country, according to officials.

Pools of blood and charred pieces of human flesh littered the roadside, along with at least 20 burnt vehicles, an AFP reporter said. Clothes, school books, children's shoes and burqas lay everywhere.

Jamrud is in Khyber district, which is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt where the Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked groups have strongholds.

A government office of the district administration was around 100 metres from where the bomb detonated but was not damaged in the attack, according to an AFP reporter.

"At least 16 people were killed and 71 others wounded in the blast caused by an explosive-laden car, which had been parked very close to the waiting area for passengers," Khyber's most senior administration official, Mutahir Zeb, told AFP.

He said ordinary civilians and not the government office, some distance from the explosion, were the target.

"We are still are ascertaining what procedure was exactly used to blow up the vehicle," he said.

Local administration official Jehangir Azam also confirmed that 16 people died.

"The blast also damaged 10 vehicles and more than 15 shops in the market," Azam told AFP.

Officials had earlier said 12 people were killed.

Two intelligence officials said the explosives had been packed into a Suzuki Alto vehicle.

Pakistan suffers frequent bomb and suicide attacks blamed on Islamist militant groups. Its troops have for years been fighting against homegrown armed groups in the tribal belt.

On Saturday, a suicide squad of five targeted the airport in Peshawar, the main northwestern city close to Jamrud, killing five civilians and blowing a hole in the perimeter wall.

The assault, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, sparked prolonged gunfire and forced authorities to close the airport, a commercial hub and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base on the edge of the tribal belt.

It was the second Islamist militant attack in four months on a military air base in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

On Sunday, a policeman and five militants were killed following gun battles between security forces and militants suspected of having been involved in the airport attack, security officials said.

The government says more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism in the country since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iraq attacks kill 25 people

A SERIES of attacks targeting both Iraqi security forces and civilians have killed at least 25 people, officials and medics say, a day before the first anniversary of the departure of US forces.

The violence on Monday comes after a string of attacks killed 19 people and wounded 77 on Sunday. Monday was the deadliest day in Iraq since November 29, when 50 people were killed.

Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint on the highway west of Tikrit, killing one policeman and wounding three, a police lieutenant colonel said.

A police patrol chased the gunmen, who abandoned their car and then detonated explosives in it, killing four more police and wounding two, the officer said. A doctor confirmed the toll.

In the village of Al-Buslaibi, north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed three soldiers, the army and police said.

And gunmen attacked an army checkpoint in the north Iraqi city of Mosul, killing one soldier.

A car bomb in Khaznah, a village near Mosul populated by the small Shabak minority, killed seven people and wounded 12, while two car bombs near a Shi'ite place of worship killed five and wounded 26 in the northern flashpoint town of Tuz Khurmatu, security and medical sources said.

Three roadside bombs exploded near Baquba, north of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding four others, police and medics said.

The town of Rutba in Anbar province was hit by a salvo of 10 mortar rounds that killed two and wounded nine, officials said, and a car bomb near Dujail north of Baghdad killed one Iraqi and wounded at least 10 Iranian pilgrims.

US military forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq on December 18 last year, ending a nearly nine-year war that cost the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis, thousands of Americans, and hundreds of billions of dollars.

While violence in Iraq has decreased significantly from its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks still occur almost every day.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan's Abe worries China with island talk

Japan's new PM declared there will be no compromise over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Source: AAP

INCOMING Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, boosted by his sweeping election victory, has declared there will be no compromise on the sovereignty of islands at the centre of a dispute with China.

China reacted with alarm to Abe's victory, after his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) crushed opponents in national polls and he immediately restated Tokyo's claims.

"The Senkaku islands are Japan's inherent territory," Abe told reporters on Monday, referring to an archipelago Beijing calls the Diaoyus.

"Japan owns and controls the islands ... under international law. There is no room for negotiation on this point."

Beijing says it's ready to work with Japan on "further development of stable relations" but is alarmed by Abe's stance.

"We are highly concerned about which direction Japan will take," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing.

At home, Abe's large electoral margin boosted hopes for Japan's troubled economy, with investors pushing up stocks on Monday as the painfully high yen eased.

Abe has vowed to put the economy back on track after years of deflation, made worse by a soaring currency that has squeezed exporters.

Topping his agenda is a promise to pressure the Bank of Japan into more aggressive easing policies aimed at kick-starting growth as the world's third-largest economy slips into recession.

All eyes will be on the bank's policy meeting this week to see whether central bankers move in line with Abe's wishes.

His win also stoked speculation that whoever is appointed to replace BoJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa next year will favour a more aggressive easing stance.

Investors are increasingly betting on some action, with the yen tumbling against the US dollar and euro on Monday while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock index surged 0.94 per cent by the close.

Voters on Sunday dumped Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda three years after his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) promised a change from more than half a century of almost unbroken LDP rule. The result cost Noda his party leadership.

The LDP and its junior coalition party New Komeito have secured a large enough majority in the lower house of the Diet (parliament) to overrule the upper chamber.

Brokerage giant Nomura said Abe's victory is likely to fuel expectations, particularly among foreign investors, of more expeditious policy-making.

Fukushima plant operator TEPCO was a big winner on Monday, with its shares rocketing 33 per cent, leading the charge by energy firms as investors cheered the likely end to an earlier attempt to abandon atomic power in Japan.

However, analysts say the LDP's victory came by default - with voters disenchanted by the DPJ after three years of flip-flops, policy missteps and diplomatic drift, but having little faith in any of the alternatives.

With turnout at a record low even Abe acknowledged the outcome was not a ringing endorsement.

"I think this result means a 'no' to the political confusion of the DPJ. People will be strictly watching if the LDP will be able to live up to expectations."

Abe is expected to be elected as premier by fellow MPs when parliament meets for a special session on December 26.

His offer to boost spending on infrastructure was popular with voters in the northeast, where the devastation of the March 2011 tsunami is still evident.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong stocks end 0.41% lower

HONG Kong shares have finished 0.41 per cent lower following losses on Wall Street and on profit-taking after the Hang Seng Index hit a 16-month high last week.

The benchmark index on Monday eased 92.37 points to close at 22,513.61 on turnover of $HK64.44 billion ($A7.91 billion). Despite the drop, analysts expected more short-term gains.

"With funds inflow and strong A-share performance, the Hang Seng Index may test 23,000 before the year-end," South China Research said.

Chinese insurer Ping An added 1.5 per cent to $HK63.90 and China Life rose 1.0 per cent to $HK24.30.

Many blue chips, however, succumbed to profit-taking. China Overseas Land fell 1.3 per cent to $HK23.40 and China Resources Land slid 1.0 per cent to $HK20.35.

AIA's shares were suspended from the morning after US insurance giant American International Group announced it would sell its 13.69 per cent in the Asian insurer in a deal that could raise up to $US6.5 billion ($A6.19 billion).

Chinese shares ended up 0.45 per cent after a key conference at the weekend laid out economic policies for next year that will make increasing domestic demand a top priority.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 9.71 points to 2,160.34 on turnover of 110.6 billion yuan ($A16.86 billion).

China "will continue to implement the proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2013" and make increasing domestic demand a top priority, state media said on Sunday after the two-day central economic work conference.

"Cues from the annual Central Economic Work Conference are certainly a positive for the market," Capital Securities analyst Jacky Zhang told Dow Jones Newswires.

But the gains were limited as the policies that emerged from the meeting came within market expectations and failed to excite investors, he said.

Metals and cement producers ended higher. Chengtun Mining surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 10.95 yuan, while Jiangxi Copper rose 3.53 per cent to 22.85 yuan.

Shaanxi Qinling Cement jumped 6.47 per cent to 6.25 yuan and Taiyuan Lionhead Cement gained 3.06 per cent to 5.06 yuan.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mandela treated for gall stones

SA anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela has undergone a successful procedure to remove gall stones. Source: AAP

SOUTH African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela has undergone a successful procedure to remove gall stones a week after being admitted to hospital for a lung infection.

"The medical team decided to attend to a lung infection before determining when to attend to the gall stones", a statement from the office of the president said on Saturday.

The 94-year-old is being treated at a private hospital in the capital Pretoria. Initial tests revealed he was suffering from a recurring lung infection.

The former president underwent a procedure via endoscopy to have the gall stones removed, the statement said.

"The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering," it added, using the clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known.

Mandela was previously hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, when he was kept for two nights before being released for home-based care and intense medical monitoring.

Mandela has a long history of lung problems, dating back decades to when he contracted tuberculosis while in prison.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner who led the country to democracy in 1994 was flown from his rural home village of Qunu to Pretoria on December 8.

It was not clear when Mandela was moved to the private hospital from the One Military facility, the country's top military healthcare centre, where government officials initially said Mandela was being treated.

The Mediclinic Heart Hospital, where he is currently being cared for, bills itself as the first and "only hospital of its kind - a private, specialised heart hospital - in South Africa."

A doctor who spoke to AFP said gall stones were not a serious ailment and can happen to anybody.

"They occur when fluid collects in your gall and crystalises. The stones can cause discomfort," said Mark Sonderup, vice chairman of the South African Medical Association.

The presidency appealed for privacy for Mandela and his family. Local and international media have been camped outside his home and the hospital.

News of Mandela's hospitalisation always causes panic among South Africans, as the elderly statesman is hardly seen in public.

Television images earlier this year showed the tall, grey-haired icon seated on a couch at his rural home, surrounded by grandchildren.

Mandela stepped down from office in 1999 after serving one term, in 2004 he announced his retirement from public life, but continued to make a few public appearances.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Union warned about WA dock's safety issues

A KARRATHA man's arm was crushed as he worked at the dock supplying Chevron's massive Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia on Saturday, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says.

The man was airlifted to a Perth hospital after his arm became trapped between the dock and a barge at the Mermaid Marine Supply base in Dampier, which is used exclusively by Chevron.

MUA WA secretary Chris Cain described Chevron and its contractor as "cowboys", saying poor safety standards had been a problem at the Mermaid Marine Supply base for months.

"It's becoming clearer and clearer that Chevron and their contractors like Mermaid are cutting corners to make up time and money on the Gorgon project," Mr Cain said.

The union said WorkSafe WA had been warned that poor training and management made an accident "inevitable".

Safety representatives had arranged for WorkSafe WA inspectors to visit the site on Friday.

"We've got serious issues when the day after WorkSafe says there's no problem, ambulances are called to an accident of the type exactly predicted by health and safety representatives," Mr Cain said.

The union said the accident raised serious questions that need to be answered, such as why WorkSafe was called to investigate the accident hours after it happened.

WorkSafe and Mermaid Marine have been contacted for comment.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Grassfire 'out of control' near Young

FIREFIGHTERS are battling an out-of-control grassfire burning near properties in southwestern NSW.

The fire, covering 4600 hectares, is burning at Geegullalong Road, around eight kilometres east of Murringo, near Young.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman Ben Shepherd said 140 firefighters, 43 fire trucks and six aircraft were trying to bring the fire under control.

He said fire crews were working to protect a number of rural properties in the area but no residents had been evacuated from their homes.

Locals were being advised to stay in their homes as the fire-front approached, he said.

"A lot of people have done some preparation around their property and we are moving crews into those properties as the fire-front arrives," he told AAP.

He said the Lachlan Valley Way was closed in the area because of the fire.

Strong winds were pushing the fire in a north and north-easterly direction, and it was unlikely the blaze would be brought under control on Sunday night, Mr Shepherd said.

The RFS have issued a watch and act alert for the area.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

US school victims mostly six years old

Police say the gunman who shot dead 20 school children at a US school forced his way in. Source: AAP

SHATTERED families and grieving residents are devastated that most of the 27 people shot dead by a US school gunman are children aged just six and seven.

President Barack Obama is due to join the vigils in the small Connecticut community of Newtown on Sunday, to lead national mourning after this latest massacre that has revived calls for a debate on gun control.

But the political ramifications of the tragedy are far from the minds of most in this picturesque town, where parents of the survivors and the dead are struggling to come to terms with the stunning loss.

Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old hospital assistant who cares for sick newborns, says the death of his loving six-year-old Emilie should "inspire us to be better, more compassionate and caring toward other people."

He included the family of the apparent shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, in his condolences, addressing them through the news media to say: "I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you."

Robert and Diane Licata described how their six-year-old son Aiden ran past the shooter in his classroom doorway to escape after seeing his teacher gunned down - and recounted their desperate search for him.

Diane Licata told CNN she had rushed to the school to see her daughter led out of the building but there was no sign of Aiden.

"So the kids start to come out and when I saw her, you know, the sense of relief is incredible, but it's really short-lived because I still have one in there. And I'm waiting for him to come. And he didn't come out," she said.

"When you're standing there waiting....it's an indescribable feeling of helplessness."

Licata eventually received a text that her son was safe at a nearby police station.

Aiden was later able to explain his escape.

She said his class heard noises that initially sounded like hammers.

"Then they realised that it was gunshots."

"Aiden's teacher had the presence of mind to move all of the children to a distance away from the door... and that's when the gunman burst in," Licata said.

The gunman had "no facial expressions" she said, adding that he "proceeded to shoot their teacher."

Many US children are taught how to react during an emergency, so Aiden and his classmates quickly made their way to the door where the gunman was standing and ran past him. Some of them survived.

"He (Aiden) really, really, really cared about his teacher. He knows that she's been hurt but he doesn't know the end result. He knows the kids that he saw getting shot."

A police spokesman said Lanza is believed to have shot his mother at the home they shared before launching his attack at the nearby school.

He had two handguns but the coroner told reporters that most of the children and staff were killed by multiple gunshots from his assault rifle, a .223 calibre Bushmaster, a civilian version of the US military's M4.

Lanza's father Peter expressed shock and grief at the horror caused by his son.

"No words can truly express how heartbroken we are," he said in a statement vowing to continue co-operating with law enforcement.

"We, too, are asking why?"

Connecticut State Police released the identity of the victims, aged six to 56. They included 16 six-year-olds and four seven-year-olds.

Twelve of the 20 slain children were girls and eight were boys.

The six adults killed were all women, including the school's principal and its psychologist.

The motives of the shooter are still the biggest mystery.

Asked whether any suicide note, emails or other clues to the killer's mind had been found, Connecticut State Police spokesman Lieutenant J Paul Vance said investigators have gathered "some very good evidence."

Lanza was a shy, awkward and nerdy boy but hadn't apparently given any warning sign that he was a mass murderer.

The weapons, news reports said, were registered in his mother's name but she was widely seen as an upstanding resident in the town.

The tragedy drew messages of support from around the world, and candlelight vigils are being held.

Of all US campus shootings, the toll was second only to the 32 murders in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech University.

The latest number far exceeded the 15 killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which triggered a fierce but inconclusive debate about gun control laws in the United States.

However, the White House has scotched any suggestion that the politically explosive subject would be quickly reopened.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man critical after Tas double murder

A man and woman have been found dead in an apparent double murder northwest of Hobart, police say. Source: AAP

A MAN remains in a critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and a man and woman in their thirties are dead in a double murder that has shaken a small Tasmanian town.

The bodies of a woman, 31, and a man, 34, were found at a property on Hamilton Plains Road at Hamilton, a small rural town 70km from Hobart, about 5am (AEDT) on Sunday.

The suspected gunman, a 59-year-old shearer, was previously in a relationship with the dead woman.

He was found at Lachlan, 45km away, lying beside a car pulled over to the side of the road, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Locals at Hamilton, which has a population of 300, say those who know the couple have been shocked by their deaths.

"It's not a nice thing to happen in the town," one local told AAP.

The woman's partner had been a local football player.

Detective-Inspector Colin Riley said the older man's gunshot wound was inflicted shortly before or just as a police car arrived.

The man was under police guard at Royal Hobart Hospital and in a critical condition after surgery.

Det Insp Riley said the woman's nine-year-old daughter called police using a mobile phone.

"It appears to me that the nine-year-old heard what occurred in the house and we are still ascertaining ... what was seen by that child," he told reporters at Hamilton.

He said the dead couple had been in a relationship and living in the Hamilton house for about four months.

There had been no reports of violence involving the dead woman and her alleged killer.

The children, including another daughter, believed to be aged about 13, who was not in the house at the time of the incident, were being cared for by their grandparents.

17.52 | 0 komentar | Read More