Huawei to open R&D centre in Finland

CHINESE telecom firm Huawei has announced plans to invest 70 million euros ($A86.7 million) to open up a research and development centre for smartphone and tablet software in Finland, home to rival Nokia.

"The Finnish R&D centre will be a key driver in Huawei's research and development of new technologies for mobile devices," the company said in a statement on Monday.

It said the centre, which is to start with 30 employees and grow to 100 within five years, will focus on software development for smartphones, tablets and rich-media devices using Andriod and Windows Phone operating systems.

"The open and innovative environment in Finland is an ideal place for Huawei to strengthen our global R&D capabilities for devices, creating opportunities for both Huawei and the Finnish telecommunications industry," said Kenneth Fredriksen, vice-president, Huawei Central, Eastern and Nordic Europe.

Finland is the headquarters of Nokia, until recently the world's top mobile phone maker.

The company is shedding thousands of jobs as it restructures towards using Windows Phone 8 for its smartphones. Nokia previously had programmers developing its own smartphone operating system.

"I think this is another example on how other companies like Huawei can take advantage of the fact that Nokia is firing 10,000 people," said Magnus Rehle from the strategy firm, Greenwich Consulting.

"There are a lot of highly skilled people who can help Huawei to make cheap Android-based smartphones for the growing markets outside Europe and the United States," he said.

Huawei has ambitions to expand globally, although concerns about its possible ties to the Chinese state have raised concerns in several Western countries.

Huawei said in September it would invest $US2 billion ($A1.92 billion) in Britain and roughly double its workforce in the country within five years.

The company has 7000 employees in Europe and 70,000 involved in R&D worldwide.

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Aussie firms among least optimistic

AUSTRALIAN small businesses are currently among the least optimistic in the Asia-Pacific region, a survey shows.

Research by accounting firm CPA Australia found 60 per cent of Australian companies expect to grow their business in 2013, just pipping Hong Kong at the bottom of the table on 59 per cent.

The survey of over 1700 respondents in six Asia-Pacific economies found Indonesia was leading the way, with 94 per cent of firms expecting their businesses to grow.

It also found that just 14 per cent of the Australian businesses increased their staff numbers in 2012, compared with 61 per cent in Indonesia.

When it came to accessing money, 47 per cent of the Australian firms were forced to use a personal credit card to pay for business activities, compared with a mere 12 per cent in Indonesia.

CPA Australia CEO Alex Malley said the survey results painted a worrying picture, as small businesses act as a barometer for the broader economy.

"These results reflect the direct impact of decisions around significant national issues such as returning the budget surplus, productivity, tax reform and regulation," Mr Malley said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the results should act as a further "wake-up call" to key decision makers of the need to focus on how Australia could be best positioned to thrive in a hyper-competitive regional and global environment.

"A large part of achieving this will be predicated on the existence of a dynamic, innovative small-business sector with a focus on the high-end knowledge economy," he said.

"Achieving this will require a combined effort by business and government."

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Small business hopeful for 2013: MYOB

SMALL business confidence may have reached a turning point after some difficult times in the past couple of years.

An examination by software provider MYOB of its business monitor series from October 2010 to July 2012 points to a stabilisation in the first half of 2012 and an inkling that businesses feel more optimism going into 2013.

The proportion of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) expecting the economy to improve over the next 12 months had steadied at 19 per cent in March and June this year, after being in sharp decline from 47 per cent since October 2010.

"Our research indicates the small and medium business sector has reached a turning point, with economic confidence and revenue expectations steady over the second half of the previous financial year," MYOB chief Tim Reed said in a statement on Tuesday.

"With almost three in every four expecting either stable or rising revenue this financial year we could see a concurrent rise in economic confidence into 2013."

Mr Reed also said federal government changes to tax-free thresholds from July should help boost business performance.

"The tax-free threshold increase for individuals to $18,200 may see more part time workers join and stay in the workforce, allowing operators to draw from a larger group of skilled candidates when employing new staff," he said.

"Another positive contributor is the small business instant tax write-off increase to $6,500, which I encourage taking advantage of to invest in equipment that improves productivity and cash flow."

Mr Reed said 45 per cent of SMEs also viewed the tax loss carry-back scheme as positive.

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Surge in household energy disconnections

THERE has been a massive rise in the number of Victorians who have had their electricity or gas disconnected because they have failed to pay their energy bills.

The Essential Services Commission (ESC) reported that in 2011-12 almost 24,000 electricity customers were cut off, a jump of 33 per cent on the previous year, while more than 20,000 gas customers were disconnected - up 50 per cent.

The report found that almost half of the disconnected customers were reconnected within seven days indicating that they were residents who had trouble paying their bills.

"As the high rate of reconnections at the same address implies, most of the disconnections are of customers who struggle to pay their bills - not 'skippers' or movers from a residence," said ESC chief executive David Heeps.

"If retailers could better identify and support customers in hardship, then the adoption of a payment plan may head off disconnection as a last resort."

The Victorian Council of Social Services said energy retailers were treating customers in hardship too harshly.

The welfare body said that disconnecting people too often proves the energy industry needed to brought into line and it was time the state government stepped in.

"More people are being disconnected from their essential energy supply than at any time since the industry was privatised and the state government needs to step in to pull the industry into line," said VCOSS chief executive Penny Wilson.

She said energy retailers are entitled to be paid but they have a legal obligation to help customers in financial difficulty by offering flexible payment options or special hardship assistance.

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Tibetan, 16, who set herself on fire dies

A 16-YEAR-OLD Tibetan girl has died after setting herself on fire, Chinese state media say, in an area that has become a flashpoint for protests against Beijing's rule.

The school pupil self-immolated on Monday in the village of Dageri in China's northwestern province of Qinghai, an area with a high population of ethnic Tibetans, just before 7pm (2200 AEDT) on Sunday, Xinhua said.

Her body was cremated four hours later and returned to her family, the news agency said, adding that local government officials were investigating.

More than 90 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze since 2009 to protest China's rule of the Tibetan plateau, rights groups have said, with the frequency of incidents increasing sharply in November. Most have died.

According to a partial list drawn up by the London-based campaign group Free Tibet the teenager is among the youngest girls to have set themselves on fire.

Xinhua reported on Sunday that a monk and his nephew had been detained for inciting eight Tibetans to set themselves alight.

Many Tibetans in China accuse the government of religious repression and eroding their culture, as the country's majority Han ethnic group increasingly moves into historically minority areas.

Beijing rejects this, saying Tibetans enjoy religious freedom. The government points to huge on-going investment it says has brought modernisation and a better standard of living to Tibet.

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North Stradbroke Island fire contained

A GRASS and scrub fire that caused the evacuation of some residents on North Stradbroke Island has been downgraded.

A Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said while the fire is not yet under control it has been contained.

He says residents have moved back into their homes after they were evacuated on Sunday because the fire threatened their homes.

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What not to eat at Christmas

BRUSSELS sprouts may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they definitely should not be on some plates at Christmas.

The controversial vegetable is a traditional festive staple in countries including the UK.

But it can be a dangerous accompaniment to blood-thinning drugs like Warfarin, as one Scottish patient found out.

The Scottish man was prescribed the drug for heart failure and warned to stay away from green leafy vegetables, especially brussel sprouts.

The vitamin K in the vegetable can interfere with the drug and cause adverse effects including bleeding, which can be fatal.

Despite the advice, the man consumed 15 to 20 brussel sprouts on three to four occasions in one week during the festive period and was admitted to hospital three days after Christmas, where his condition improved.

His treating physicians from the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Glasgow warned doctors and patients about the dangers of consuming excessive quantities of brussel sprouts at the Christmas table.

"Doctors should consider counselling patients who must remain anticoagulated at all times ... against excessive consumption of this traditional Christmas fare," they wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday.

Meanwhile, those considering starting Christmas with a grapefruit breakfast or tossing a grapefruit salad might want to check their medication first.

Chemicals in grapefruit called furanocoumarins can interfere with up to 85 known medications, including cholesterol-lowering drugs, and can cause serious side effects in the case of 45 of them.

The fruit interacts with medications to increase the concentration of the drug in the bloodstream, putting patients at risk of overdose.

But Christmas can be a time of overindulgence for everyone, which carries its own risks.

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine president Dr Anthony Cross said emergency departments regularly see the effects of overindulgence at Christmas.

Often, it was a result of too much cheap food and wine, he said.

He suggested people buy a little less, but spend more on quality goods.

"Eat the good stuff and drink the expensive stuff," Dr Cross said.

Heart Foundation clinical issues director Dr Robert Grenfell said heart failure patients needed to watch their fluid intake, particularly alcohol, as it could affect their treatment.

Details about medications that react with grapefruit can be found on the website of the National Prescribing Service: www.nps.org.au

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Poorer people miss out on weight surgery

OBESE Australians most in need of stomach-reduction surgery are missing out, new research shows.

A survey of almost 50,000 obese Australians found those living in socially disadvantaged areas on low incomes were less likely to have bariatric surgery than their higher earning, better-educated counterparts.

This was despite evidence that people from lower socioeconomic groups were more likely to be obese.

The research, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, found obese people earning more than $70,000 a year were five times more likely to have bariatric surgery than those earning less than $20,000 per year.

Those living in the least disadvantaged areas were four times more likely to have surgery than those living in the most disadvantaged areas, the study by researchers from the Australian National University (ANU), University of NSW and the Sax Institute found.

Clinical guidelines recommend bariatric surgery only be carried out for those with a body mass index (BMI) over 40kg after other non-surgical options have failed.

ANU researcher Dr Rosemary Korda said it was the first study examining bariatric surgery in Australia according to socioeconomic status.

"We know that obesity is concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups but our research shows that those who need bariatric surgery the most are the least likely to receive it," Dr Korda said.

There was limited availability of bariatric surgery, which includes gastric banding and bypass procedures, in public hospitals, she said.

Meanwhile, Medicare subsidised the surgery for private patients, effectively restricting lapband surgery to patients who can afford private health insurance and large out-of-pocket costs.

Of the 49,364 participants in the study, 312 had bariatric surgery but only one of those was treated publicly.

Co-author Professor Emily Banks of the Sax Institute said the decision to have surgery should be between a patient and their doctor, based on medical need.

"If surgery was distributed among a wider range of patients, inequalities in obesity and health-related problems could decline," she said.

In 2009, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing recommended bariatric surgery be made more available in public hospitals because people who needed it most were missing out.

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New laws cause rise in child abuse reports

STRICTER child protection laws have led to a surge in Aboriginal child abuse notifications in the Northern Territory, research shows.

Notification rates for the maltreatment of Aboriginal children increased on average by about 21 per cent a year between 1999 and 2010, according to NT government child protection figures published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday.

The number of substantiated cases grew by 18 per cent a year.

The biggest increases in substantiated cases were for emotional abuse, which grew by 30 per cent a year, and neglect, which rose 22 per cent a year.

The increases began around 2002, when national attention focused on the maltreatment of Aboriginal children following two state-based inquiries in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, the authors said.

Mandatory reporting obligations were strengthened in NT in 2007, the same year the 'Little children are sacred' report into the sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the territory was released.

"The timing of these changes was consistent with the surge in notifications by many of the reporter groups, including health professionals, school personnel and police," the report's authors said.

"The spotlight placed on child maltreatment in the Northern Territory through two inquiries and the resulting legislative and service responses, including strengthened mandatory reporting obligations, created a surge in notifications."

There were more than 35,000 child protection notifications during the period and 66 per cent of those related to Aboriginal children.

The research was led by Dr Steven Guthridge from the Northern Territory department of health.

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Bushfire near Seymour out of control

A 100-HECTARE bushfire is burning out of control near Seymour north of Melbourne, while fire at the nearby Puckapunyal Military Range is under control.

The fire at Whiteheads Creek, west of Seymour, broke out about 6.10pm (AEDT) on Saturday and is estimated to cover an area of about 100 hectares, a Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokeswoman said.

Twenty-five fire trucks are on scene.

"The fire is still not yet under control and we are working very hard to get it under control," the spokeswoman told AAP.

Local residents have been advised to be vigilant and monitor the CFA website and local radio for updates.

There is another blaze at the Puckapunyal Military Range, which was sparked by live firing in recent days but it is under control. The range is about 6km northwest of Puckapunyal township.

There was also a separate grass fire about 40km northwest of Puckapunyal at Heathcote but that has now been extinguished.

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