Wiggles, Aussie talents woo Carols crowd

THOUSANDS of arms and legs waved and flailed at Sydney's Carols in the Domain, as the original members of The Wiggles celebrated their last carols bonanza.

More than 50,000 people packed into the Domain on Saturday, as the popular annual event ushered in the Christmas cheer with The Ten Tenor's rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful at 8.30pm (AEDT).

But the cheers really kicked off when Australia's most loved children's music group said their final goodbye to the event.

"Three of the members are hanging up their skivvies so tonight is their very last television performance before handing over to new band members," the Carols co-host Natalie Barr said.

"So this is it Australia, the end of an era," Matt White said.

The crowd jumped to their feet, shooting out arms and legs in unison with the original Red, Yellow, Red, Purple and Blue wiggles as they sang and danced to Fruit salad, Hot Potato and Jingle Bells.

"The Wiggles have been performing at Carols in the Domain for 20 years ... and we have always had such a wonderful time," Red Wiggle Murray Cook said, adding that next year will see the three new Wiggles perform.

Earlier in the evening candles began waving as Troy Cassar-Daley sung Have Yourself a Merry Christmas - later coming back with guitar in tow to sing Jingle Bell Rock.

Georgie Parker and Jay Laga'aia teamed up for the Christmas favourite Here Comes Santa Claus and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, eliciting a big cheer from the crowd.

Meanwhile The X-Factor favourites The Collective channelled the 1980s, with a rendition of the Wham! classic Last Christmas' prompting some more screams from the audience.

"Slightly popular. The Twittersphere just exploded, The Collective is in town," White quipped.

The X-Factor winner Samantha Jade, backed by a chorus, also wooed the crowd with Away in a Manger.

The cast of the new musical Legally Blonde then turned the stage pink with the modern favourite All I Want For Christmas is You.

Nineteen-year-old tenor - and 2009 Australia's Got Talent winner - Mark Vincent had the revellers in awe with a booming rendition of Jerusalem.

R&B singer-songwriter Jessica Mauboy delivered a tender rendition of Silent Night, before Vincent returned, joining opera singer Ali McGregor to lead the Salvation Army choir with Ode to Joy as fireworks boomed into the Domain sky.

A full-cast finale, joined by a suitably burly, jolly Santa Claus, saw a medley featuring Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and We Wish You a Merry Christmas close the night in party mode as pyrotechnics blasted above one last time.

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Islamists, opponents clash in northern Egypt

CLASHES have broken out in northern Egypt between Islamist supporters and opponents of the country's highly contentious draft constitution.

The two sides hurled rocks and stones at each other in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, prompting police to fire tear gas to separate them.

The clashes add to the already tense political crisis in Egypt on the eve of the second leg of voting on the draft charter.

The Islamists had called for a massive rally outside the main mosque in the heart of Alexandria. It was not clear who started the fight.

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Court overturns Google convictions

AN ITALIAN appeals court has overturned the convictions of three Google executives who had been charged for a video on a Google site that showed a disabled teen being bullied.

Google called the ruling "a total victory."

A lower court in 2010 held the executives criminally responsible for the posting of the video.

The verdict raised concerns that Internet platforms could be forced to police their content and put European privacy concerns in contrast with the freewheeling nature of the Internet.

Google said it removed the video in question within two hours of being notified by authorities.

The appellate ruling throws out the convictions against Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, its senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond and retired chief financial officer George Reyes.

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Crash victim hails Vic brain injury hub

A MAN who nearly died in a road accident in 2008 has spoken of the importance of a new $36 million facility dedicated to acquired brain injuries being built in Victoria.

Simon Warlond is one of more than 1200 Victorians living with a brain injury caused by road trauma.

He has praised the new 42-bed facility, jointly funded by the federal and state governments, which will provide rehabilitative care to people with severe brain injuries.

"It is a very frightening thing to go through and it is so important to have a unit dedicated to ABI," Mr Warlond said.

The qualified welder was a passenger in a car that left the road and hit a tree.

He woke in a hospital bed surrounded by padded walls only to learn three weeks had passed.

After months of painstaking rehabilitation he attempted to return to his normal life but found he was plagued by fatigue and other health problems.

Assistant treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips said people like Mr Warlond represented Victoria's hidden road toll.

"Apart from the physical and emotional distress, a severe brain injury can cost more than $2 million in care over a lifetime," Mr Rich-Phillips told reporters at a Melbourne hospital on Thursday.

The rehabilitation centre at Caulfield Hospital will provide long-term care and support to those with brain injuries.

It will include a four-bed transitional living service.

Construction will start in January and is expected to be completed in mid-2014.

Mr Warlond, who undertook art therapy as part of his rehabilitation, recently completed an arts diploma and has been accepted to complete a degree at RMIT.

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Cyprus adopts 'crucial' austerity budget

CYPRIOT MPs have approved a tight austerity budget for 2013 touted as the "most crucial" in the island's history as Nicosia tries to secure a bailout deal to rescue troubled banks and pay salaries.

The state budget incorporates harsh spending cuts and tax hikes that were agreed in talks with a troika of international lenders.

The budget was passed late on Wednesday with 51 votes in favour and only two against.

Total public expenditure for 2013 is projected at 9.5 billion euros ($A12.1 billion), whereas GDP will decline to 17.49 billion euros, marking a two per cent drop from 17.85 billion euros in 2012.

The budget also includes a 7.25 per cent fiscal adjustment target dictated by international lenders.

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly had urged MPs to pass the 2013 budget to help Cyprus rebuild its broken economy as it faces an unprecedented recession. He called it the "most crucial" budget in the island's history.

Cyprus has been unable to borrow from international markets since July last year due to its Greek-exposed banks and junk rating from credit agencies.

The economy is predicted to shrink by 2.4 per cent in 2012, falling deeper into recession at 3.5 per cent in 2013 and slow down to -1.3 per cent in 2014.

By cutting expenditure and improving revenue, Cyprus hopes to streamline the fiscal deficit to 4.4 per cent from an expected 5.5 per cent of GDP this year.

The bailout memorandum covers a four-year period with the aim of Cyprus achieving a four per cent budget surplus in 2016.

The troika of lenders - the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - is expected to make its recommendation to the eurogroup on January 21.

Inflation on the island is expected to fall to two per cent next year from 2.5 per cent in 2012 due to a lock on consumer spending.

To make savings, the government will gradually increase the retirement age in the public service to 65, chop generous allowances for senior officials and reduce the number of employees on the state payroll.

And while the economy slips deeper into recession, unemployment is forecast to reach 12 per cent in 2012, jump to 13.8 per cent next year and 14.2 per cent in 2014.

Due to the euro crisis, the public debt will increase to a minimum 92 per cent of GDP in 2013 from 85.8 per cent this year.

Total budget expenditure, including loan payments, is set at 9.45 billion euros, 7.5 per cent higher than the 8.80 billion euros for 2012 - compared to a total income of 7.62 billion euros.

The state payroll, including pensions, is expected to reach 2.60 billion euros, a 5.3 per cent drop from 2.74 billion euros in 2012 due to a wage freeze and reduction in the workforce.

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Bomb kills seven in Afghanistan

A ROADSIDE bomb targeting a police pickup truck killed two policemen and five civilians in southwestern Afghanistan, provincial authorities said.

The vehicle was blown up in the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, said acting provincial police chief Mohammad Rahim Chakhansori.

Provincial governor Sarwar Sobat confirmed the death toll, saying a policewoman was wounded in the attack.

Afghan forces are often the victims of attacks by Taliban insurgents as they increasingly take control of security before the withdrawal of NATO troops from the country by 2014.

Roadside bombs are the weapon of choice for the hardline Islamists.

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Sudan's war-torn S Kordofan to be divided

SUDAN'S war-torn South Kordofan state is to be divided, giving separate status to the western part dominated by nomadic Arab Misseriya tribesmen, the government said.

Vice President Ali Osman Taha "announces the establishment of West Kordofan state," the official SUNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.

The move recreates the state of West Kordofan which was eliminated in 2005 following a peace agreement between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement that ended a 23-year civil war.

At that time Khartoum agreed to unite West and South Kordofan in line with calls from the SPLM, which was supported by ethnic fighters based in the Nuba Mountains that straddle South and West Kordofan.

The boundary between the two states fell just west of Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan where Nuba rebels formerly allied to the southern insurgents have been fighting since June last year, shortly before the South separated after an overwhelming "yes" vote in a referendum.

The rebellion by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North - which Khartoum alleges is backed by South Sudan - is concentrated in the eastern half of the state.

West Kordofan is home to most of cash-strapped Sudan's oilfields as well as to the territory of Abyei, whose final status was the most sensitive issue left unresolved when South Sudan became independent.

Sudan and South Sudan failed to settle the Abyei issue by a December 5 African Union deadline.

The AU has proposed that a referendum be held next October on whether the territory joins Sudan or South Sudan.

Under that plan, members of the Dinka, a dominant South Sudanese tribe who live in the Abyei area, would have the right to vote along with Sudanese with "permanent abode".

The Misseriya, who regularly graze their animals and move through Abyei, strongly object to the plan.

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Iran 'hangs six drug smugglers, rapist'

IRAN has hanged seven men, six of them for drug trafficking and another for rape, in prison in the central province of Isfahan, Kayhan newspaper reported.

The seven, aged 25 to 45, were executed on Wednesday, the province's public prosecutor, Mohammad Reza Habibi, said in the report.

"One of the smugglers was charged with armed trafficking of more than 300 kilograms of opium," Mr Habibi said.

"The others were in possession of crack and heroin (weighing) between one and 65 kilograms."

The Islamic state, where murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are punishable by death, has one of the highest annual number of executions in the world, alongside China, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Amnesty International has condemned the executions, but Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order and that is is enforced only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

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Three astronauts blast off for ISS

A SOYUZ spacecraft carrying Russian, American and Canadian astronauts has blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacecraft took off on schedule at 1212 GMT (2312 AEST) carrying Russian Roman Romanenko, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, an AFP correspondent said.

"The Soyuz TMA-O7M has separated from the third stage booster rocket and has been brought into the correct orbit," the Russian space agency said in a statement.

The Soyuz spacecraft is due to dock with the ISS on December 21 at 1412 GMT.

Romanenko, the commander of the Soyuz flight, is going to the ISS for the second time, as is Marshburn, while Hadfield is making his third trip.

Hadfield will take over as commander of the space station, the first Canadian to do so, according to the NASA website.

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Spending increased in November: survey

BUSINESSES may get that sales boost they've been begging Santa for after all, with a new survey showing a rise in consumer spending ahead of Christmas.

According to the Commonwealth Bank's Business Sales Indicator (BSI), economy-wide spending rose 2.2 per cent in November, following a one per cent fall in October.

CBA executive general manager, local business banking, Adam Bennett said the increase in spending was good news for businesses hoping for a pre-Christmas boost after a tough year for many traders.

"Although we have experienced spending volatility over the past six months, the latest results provide businesses with some much-needed good news in the lead up to Christmas," he said.

"Coming off the back of a tough year for many sectors, it is important that businesses across the country are prepared to make the most of consumer spending over the coming weeks."

The increase in spending came despite a sharp fall in both consumer and business sentiment in November, according to influential surveys conducted by Westpac and the National Australia Bank.

It also comes after a year of modest growth in retail sales, with retail spending up just over three per cent in the year to October, according to official figures.

The BSI tracks credit and debit card transactions at CBA's point-of-sale terminals, which the bank says cover about 30 per cent of the market.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the November results were encouraging but consumers remained conservative in their spending habits.

"While we have seen a lift in spending we know consumers are still, on a whole, adopting conservative habits," he said.

"Hopefully this uptick in spending, coupled with positive economic news such as the recent interest rate cut and favourable jobs data, will help drive consistent spending patterns into the New Year."

The BSI showed the strongest monthly increase in spending was on the arts and entertainment sector, while service providers suffered the biggest decline, with a fall of 4.9 per cent.

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