Storms pose problems for Stradbroke firies

FIREFIGHTERS battling a blaze on North Stradbroke Island hope that a cool change will help their efforts, but thunderstorms may force them to retreat.

The change is expected to arrive late on Monday and bring rain and possibly thunderstorms.

Firefighters are working to strengthen containment lines in case the blaze flares up.

Fire planning officer Phil Wilson says thunderstorms may make it difficult for fire crews to do their job.

"It will depend on the severity of the storm but we may have to withdraw crews from the fire line as the storm conditions can cause ... difficult situations," he told AAP.

However, fire crews are praying for rain.

"Rain will always help, even if it's just a light sprinkling of rain, very light showers will slow down the fire," he said.

Mr Wilson says firefighters are strengthening containment lines before the expected change to prevent the fire from jumping to the north side of East Coast Road, a main thoroughfare.

"It would then be able to move towards Amity Point and into Flinders Beach," he said.

The fire has been burning for eight days, and prompted the evacuation of about 900 campers on New Year's Day.

Difficult conditions over the weekend spread the fire, which came close to homes in Myora on Saturday night.

A community meeting was held on Monday morning to give residents up-to-date information on the blaze.

Back-burning has created a large smoke hazard affecting North Stradbroke and adjacent Moreton Bay islands as well as the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Brisbane.

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Turkish currency hits low amid scandal

THE Turkish national currency has fallen to a new low, a sign the government corruption scandal is taking its toll on the economy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to reshuffle his government after three ministers' sons were among dozens of people detained in a vast police corruption and bribery investigation.

The head of a state-owned bank was also arrested.

Erdogan's government has rejected the corruption allegations, pointing fingers instead at an alleged conspiracy to hurt his government ahead of local elections in March.

But the political instability is unnerving investors.

The Turkish lira reached a record 2.19 against the dollar and 2.97 against the euro on Monday.

It has slid more than seven per cent against the dollar since the scandal began on December 17.

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UK Treasury chief to order more cuts

BRITAIN'S Treasury chief says the country still has a long way to go to eliminate the deficit and that substantial savings must be gleaned from welfare cuts.

George Osborne says 2014 is to be the "year of hard truths" and that there are still big underlying problems in the economy.

Osborne told autoworkers in Birmingham on Monday billions of pounds in welfare cuts will be needed to reduce the deficit, which has been swollen by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Pensioners are likely not to be affected, as the coalition government has suggested they will remain protected.

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Millions hit by deadly chill in US

AN icy vortex of Arctic air pushed deadly wind chills and heavy snow into much of the US Midwest with meteorologists saying at least 32 states were in its path over the coming days as it moves south and east.

Even the northern tier of winter-hardy states and cities like Minnesota, Chicago and Milwaukee called off school for Monday as the country braced for wind chill temperatures down to minus 51 degrees Celsius and colder.

It was the first time in 17 years that Minnesota schools have been closed due to snow and dangerously low temperatures, reports said.

Governor Mark Dayton ordered the closings.

"Temperatures are deadly," warned Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard in broadcast remarks. Snow fell in his state of Indiana on Sunday at the rate of 5 centimetres an hour, media reports said.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, tens of thousands of fans braved minus-26-degree wind chill temperatures to watch a key football playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Despite the Green Bay team having an apparent weather advantage, the 49ers won 23-20.

With the mercury expected to drop down to minus 44C through the night, food stands at Lambeau Field in Green Bay were offering free coffee and hot chocolate to keep fans warm. There were worries that beer would freeze in the open air stadium, CNN reported.

"Life-threatening wind chill," the National Weather Service warned.

"The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central US ... behind an Arctic cold front," the government forecaster said.

Before the "polar vortex" - as it's being called by meteorologists - hits the east and south, rain was expected to fall in those regions and be turned into thick ice when temperatures plunge into the minus-20C range on Tuesday.

The normally mild-temperature city of Nashville, Tennessee, has delayed by a day the post-holiday school start until Wednesday.

"Dangerously low temperatures forecast for Tuesday morning a concern for student safety," the school system said.

Flash freezes after the rain and blizzard conditions were expected from Tennessee to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the private forecaster AccuWeather said.

At least 13 people have died due to blizzard-like conditions and record cold over past days, most of them from traffic accidents in Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana.

Broadcasters warned that frost bite could set in within just five minutes in the harsh conditions.

The weather caused cancellation of 3,467 flights and delays in another 11,191, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com.

Overall, around 149 million people - about half the US population - were expected to be in the grip of the Arctic chill by Monday and Tuesday, meteorologists said.

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UK faces more flooding in wave of storms

BRITAIN'S coastal residents are bracing for more flooding with lashing winds, rain and high tides expected.

At least three people have died in a wave of stormy weather that has battered Britain since last week, including a man killed when his mobility scooter fell into a river in Oxford, southern England.

Weather forecasting body the Met Office warned on Monday of wind gusts of up to 113 km/h accompanied by exceptionally large waves, along the coasts of Wales, southwest England and Northern Ireland.

The Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning - meaning a threat to life and property - for the county of Dorset in southwestern England, as well as more than 300 less serious flood warnings and alerts.

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Girl, 5, mauled by family pet in NSW

A DARWIN kindergartener has been mauled by a pet dog while holidaying in Sydney.

The five-year-old girl's left cheek was severely wounded when she was bitten by a large mixed-breed dog on Sunday morning.

Police were told the girl had been visiting relatives in Rydalmere, in Sydney's west, for the past two weeks and was playing in the backyard with family when she was attacked.

She was treated by paramedics before being taken to the Children's Hospital at Westmead.

The dog owners voluntarily surrendered the animal to Parramatta City Council rangers and investigations into whether it is a banned breed continue.

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Bali deaths: family waits for answers

INDONESIAN officials say they are yet to perform an autopsy on a Queensland mother and her teenage daughter who fell fatally ill while holidaying in Bali.

But the family has been told toxic fish may have been the killer.

Noelene Bischoff, a senior nurse from the Sunshine Coast, and her 14-year-old daughter Yvana died in the early hours of Saturday, less than a day after they checked in to their beachfront resort on Bali's east coast.

Grieving relatives in Australia say the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has told them toxic food caused the deaths.

"We've been told it is fish they've eaten," Ms Bischoff's brother-in-law Kevin Bowe told the ABC.

Noelene's mother Jean told Network Ten: "It's a blessing to us that they've been taken together because one couldn't have coped without the other."

A school project prepared by Yvana last year depicts an animal-lover with big dreams.

"I have one horse and love to ride. My favourite food is mango or anything chocolate," she wrote.

"My hopes ... I want to be an equine vet."

Local sources told AAP on Sunday night they were yet to confirm a cause of death as they were still waiting for permission to proceed with the autopsy.

Under Indonesian law, an autopsy can proceed without permission from Tuesday.

However, the sources said a search of the hotel room where the mother and daughter were staying had not revealed any sign of violence.

They also said investigators had interviewed witnesses from the hotel, a clinic and a restaurant in Ubud where the pair ate dinner.

Padang Bai Beach Resort staff were alerted early on Saturday morning when Yvana asked for help, telling security guards she and her mother had fallen gravely ill.

The pair were taken by private ambulance to a nearby medical centre but about 1.45am local time the mother died, according to local sources.

The girl was rushed to BIMC Hospital, an international clinic in the Balinese capital of Denpasar, but could not be saved.

Medicine found in the Bischoffs' hotel room is being tested.

One senior local police source told AAP on Saturday the treating doctor at the first clinic suspected a food allergy.

"What kind of food, we don't know," he said then.

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Cameron aims to win Scots' hearts

THE campaign against Scottish independence must move beyond economics to arguments of the "head and heart", Prime Minister David Cameron says.

The UK offers security in a "diverse, dangerous world", according to Mr Cameron, who said he will "work very hard to play my part" in the referendum.

However, Number 10 has confirmed that the Prime Minister will not take part in a public debate with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, following a new SNP poll indicating a substantial proportion of the British people would like to see them go head-to-head on television.

Speaking in the Sunday Times Scotland newspaper, Mr Cameron said: "We've just got to keep pushing both the arguments of the head and those of the heart.

"I think the arguments of the head we've been winning very strongly. We now need to win some of the arguments of the heart.

"The UK is not something to want to belong to simply for economic reasons, but actually for emotional and historic reasons."

Mr Cameron has come under renewed pressure for a televised debate with Mr Salmond following his New Year message urging England, Wales and Northern Ireland to send a message to Scotland that "we want you to stay".

But in a new letter to Number 10, Mr Salmond told the prime minister that his New Year plea to Scotland undermined this argument.

Mr Salmond said: "I note that you used the centrepiece of your New Year address to attack Scottish independence.

"It seems that you want to dictate the terms of the debate about Scotland's future without taking the democratic responsibility to defend your views in open debate. That is simply unacceptable."

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: "The prime minister is prime minister of the whole United Kingdom and of course has a role in the referendum campaign, however, he believes that the debate should be led by Scots in Scotland."

A Panelbase poll, commissioned by the SNP, found more than three-fifths of people in Scotland and more than half in the rest of the UK want a TV debate between Mr Salmond and Mr Cameron, compared with about a quarter on both sides of the border who do not.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "While David Cameron is happy to pull the strings of the No campaign from 10 Downing Street, he is scared to debate with Alex Salmond face-to-face.

"As the principal signatories of the Edinburgh Agreement, the natural progression in these circumstances is a televised, head-to-head debate between Mr Cameron and Alex Salmond - a democratic position supported by a substantial majority of people north and south of the border."

A spokesman for pro-independence campaign Yes Scotland said: "A televised debate with the First Minister and Prime Minister will help Scots choose between the two futures on offer and ensure that the UK Government fully explains why it is willing to implement unwanted policies north of the border."

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Vic paddle boarders rescued

EIGHT paddle boarders swept out to sea in wild weather have been rescued from a bay southwest of Melbourne.

They were swept into Corio Bay from North Shore, Geelong, when a severe weather front hit the area just after 3.15pm (AEDT) on Sunday.

The paddle boarders, aged between 40 and 60, were found by helicopter in the water near Point Wilson, with one clinging to a channel marker.

The group was rescued by Coast Guard.

Two of the paddle boarders were treated at the scene for mild hypothermia.

Gusts of up to 50 knots and waves over two metres were recorded, police said.

Water Police Leading Senior Constable Felicity Bell said police were relieved the paddle boarders were found safe.

"This rescue should act as a warning to all about how quickly conditions can change out on the water," Leading Sen Const Bell said.

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Syrian rebels battle al-Qaeda fighters

SYRIAN rebels have seized a compound held by al-Qaeda-linked militants as their one-time allies used car bombs against them, in some of the most serious infighting between fighters challenging the rule of President Bashar Assad.

The rebel-on-rebel fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is the strongest pushback yet from Syrian rebels who have seen their uprising to topple Assad hijacked by al-Qaeda forces seeking to impose Islamic rule in opposition-held portions of the country.

The clashes began on Friday after residents accused the al-Qaeda-linked fighters of killing a doctor in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Fighting quickly spread to rebel-held areas of the northeast province of Idlib and the central province of Hama.

The clashes widened on Sunday, with at least one outside of Aleppo pitting the ISIL against the Nusra Front, which is also an al-Qaeda-aligned group, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Another clash struck the town of Tabqa in the eastern province of Raqqa, where ISIL forces are most dominant, Abdurrahman said.

The Observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.

Rebels seized the ISIL compound in the town of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo, activists said.

The Observatory said ISIL fighters also used car bombs for the first time to defend its territory. Other activists reported ISIL was pushed out of the town of Atmeh.

There always has been resentment against ISIL in Syria, whose fighters, a mix of foreigners and locals, fanned into the country last year, taking advantage of the upheaval to assert power in areas seized by rebels.

It is seen as particularly brutal in Syria's civil war for its abductions and killings of anti-Assad activists, journalists and civilians seen as critical to their rule.

But other residents welcome the group for chasing out thugs who terrorised residents in opposition-held areas, and for distributing food and aid to the poor.

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