Nastassja Kinski shocked by sister's abuse

NASTASSJA Kinski has praised her half-sister for going public with allegations that she was sexually abused as a child by their father, the late German actor Klaus Kinski.

In an article penned for Friday's edition of German newspaper Bild, the actress said that she's "deeply shocked" by the allegations.

In a new book, Pola Kinski details her father's alleged emotional and sexual abuse over a 14-year period, during which he warned his daughter not to tell anyone what happened.

Nastassja Kinski says that it's a "difficult moment" for her but she's proud that her half-sister found the strength to write the book.

She wrote: "My sister is a heroine, because she has freed her heart, her soul and also her future from the weight of the secret."

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One Child policy creates risk-aversion

China's "One Child" policy has created a generation that is less trusting and are more risk-averse. Source: AAP

CHINA'S controversial "One Child" policy produces grown-ups who lack entrepreneurial drive and the willingness to take risks, an Australian study has concluded.

"Our data show that people born under the one child policy were less likely to be in more risky occupations like self-employment," said Lisa Cameron, one of the lead researchers on the study published in the journal Science.

"There may be implications for China in terms of a decline in entrepreneurial ability," the Australian scientist added.

The study, released on Friday, compared adults born just before and after the one child policy was put in place in 1979. It aimed to measure social skills such as trust and risk-taking.

Researchers conducted a series of economic games with more than 400 subjects.

They found that those who were only children as a result of China's one child policy grew up to be adults who were "significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic, and less conscientious," a press release announcing the findings said.

Cameron said researchers observed the negative effects of being an only child in China even if there was significant social contact with other children while growing up.

"We found that greater exposure to other children in childhood - for example, frequent interactions with cousins and/or attending childcare - was not a substitute for having siblings," she said.

And they said the results could not be explained by other factors, such as participants' age and whether they might have become more capitalistic over time.

The research was gathered by Cameron, along with her colleague Lata Gangadharan - both from Monash University - along with Xin Meng of the Australian National University (ANU) and Nisvan Erkal from the University of Melbourne.

The study was published as the Chinese government considers relaxing its one child policy, which was introduced as a part of an effort to curb population growth.

An official report in 2011 estimated that some 400 million births have been prevented as a result of the measure.

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Hong Kong stocks close 0.39% lower

HONG Kong shares fell 0.39 per cent on profit-taking on Friday after the previous session's gains, with dealers unmoved by data showing Chinese inflation coming in below target in 2012.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index eased 90.24 points to 23,264.07 on turnover of HK$82.24 billion ($A10.03 billion). The index lost 0.3 per cent for the week.

The market enjoyed a rally on Thursday after China released data showing a huge trade surplus last year, which added to recent results indicating the world's number two economy is picking up after a recent slowdown.

On Friday the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said inflation slowed to 2.6 per cent in 2012, down from 5.4 per cent in 2011 and much lower than the 4.0 per cent government target.

But it also said December's rate came in at 2.5 per cent, well up from 2.0 per cent in November.

The month-on-month uptick and underlying data showing food prices spiking has led to concerns that the government will hold off any easing measures to further boost the economy.

China players were among the worst performers, with aluminium producer Chalco down 3.0 per cent at HK$3.95, while oil producer Cnooc lost 1.9 per cent to HK$16.22 and insurer China Life dropped 1.3 per cent to HK$26.00.

Chinese shares closed down 1.78 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 40.66 points to 2,243.00 on turnover of 101.6 billion yuan ($16.3 billion). The index fell 1.49 per cent for the week.

"The above-view inflation figure for December sparks concerns that Beijing may refrain from rolling out more economic stimulus in fear of triggering stronger inflation," Central China Securities analyst Zhang Gang told Dow Jones Newswires.

Soochow Securities slumped 6.08 per cent to 7.42 yuan and Sinolink Securities lost 5.04 per cent to 16.59 yuan, while Poly Real Estate lost 4.52 per cent to 13.53 yuan and developer Gemdale dropped 4.09 per cent to 6.81 yuan.

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China landslide kills 22, dozens buried

A LANDSLIDE in southwestern China has killed at least 22 people, including seven from one family, with some two dozen others trapped, local authorities say.

The landslide on Friday buried 16 homes in the village of Gaopo in the southern province of Yunnan, the provincial government said on its website.

A total of 22 deaths had been confirmed so far, including the seven from a single family, it said, while 20 to 30 people were still buried. Emergency teams had rescued two villagers from the debris, it added.

Photos posted on the website showed rescuers in orange uniforms digging in wide swathes of clumpy mud against a backdrop of snow-covered, terraced hills.

A video posted on a Chinese social networking site appeared to show a group of villagers digging through thick mud and debris to uncover a body, which was carried away on a stretcher.

Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar and Laos among others, is a relatively impoverished area of China, where rural houses are often cheaply constructed.

Gaopo is in Zhenxiong county, about 550 kilometres northeast of the provincial capital of Kunming.

The mountainous area is prone to landslides. One in a neighbouring county in October killed 18 children, while two earthquakes in Yunnan in September - one of magnitude 5.7 - left 81 people dead and hundreds injured.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made an overnight trip to the quake zone at the time to comfort survivors, many of whom had taken refuge in tents erected on a public square.

The province has experienced unusually low temperatures in recent weeks, as China suffers in what authorities have called its coldest winter in 28 years.

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India accuses Pakistan of killing soldiers

The Pakistan Army denies that its soldiers killed two Indian troops after crossing Kashmir's border. Source: AAP

INDIA has lodged a protest with Pakistan against the alleged intrusion of Pakistani troopers into India-administered Kashmir, the killing of two Indian soldiers and the mutilation of one of their bodies.

The Pakistani military on Wednesday denied the allegations.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said.

A group of Pakistan Army soldiers intruded across the 740km Line of Control (LOC) that divides India and Pakistan administered Kashmir on Tuesday, the Indian Army said.

Two Indian troopers died in an exchange of gunfire, and one of their bodies was found decapitated, NDTV news channel reported citing army sources.

"We have conveyed it is unacceptable," Khurshid said.

"Our intent, our anxiety has been conveyed very clearly and we now expect an appropriate response from the other side.

"We must not and cannot allow an escalation of what was a very unwholesome event that has taken place and we hope that message has gone home."

The minister said violations of the ceasefire could derail efforts to improve bilateral relations.

"Pakistan Army's action is highly provocative," Indian Defence Minister AK Antony said.

"The way they treated the dead body of the soldiers, the Indian soldiers, is inhuman."

A Pakistani military official denied that its troops had violated the ceasefire.

"It looks like Indian propaganda to divert attention from Sunday's raid on a Pakistani post by Indian troops in which a Pakistani soldier was killed," the official said.

Pakistan accused Indian troops of attacking one of its outposts on Sunday in the Haji Pir sector and injuring two soldiers, one of whom later died.

The Foreign Ministry summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner Gopal Bagley in Islamabad on Monday to complain that Indian soldiers had attacked a Pakistani checkpoint on Sunday.

"The Indian government was strongly urged to take appropriate measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future," the ministry said.

India denied that its troops had crossed the LOC or violated the ceasefire.

Periodic skirmishes have been reported along the LOC since the two South Asian rivals signed a ceasefire in Kashmir in late 2003. The latest incidents occurred after a recent improvement in relations.

They have fought over the Kashmir region since their independence in 1947 from British rule. Both countries claim the region, and each controls parts of it.

The two sides have been engaged in a dialogue to resolve differences, including the border. They have adopted several measures to improve relations over the past year, including easing trade and visa restrictions and a recent series of cricket matches.

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Hong Kong stocks close 0.46% higher

HONG Kong shares ended 0.46 per cent higher Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak as the US earnings season got off to an upbeat start.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 107.28 points to 23,218.47 on turnover of HK$75.47 billion ($A9.32 billion).

The index bounced back from profit taking which set in after it hit a 19-month high on Thursday.

"Since the local market has already accumulated substantial gains, the recent profit-taking activity ... was well anticipated," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia.

While Wall Street ended lower, Asian markets were mostly up after US aluminium giant Alcoa kicked off the earnings season announcing a profit of $US242 million in the three months to December, compared with a year-earlier loss of $US191 million.

The company also stayed in the black for the full year, despite aluminium prices falling 12 per cent.

Among gainers in Hong Kong, China Resources Power rose 3.6 per cent to $HK19.98 after falling 3.8 per cent in the past two sessions, while port investor China Merchants Holdings rose 2.6 per cent to $HK25.75 after a two-day 3.3 per cent fall.

And Macau casino operator MGM China jumped 7.0 per cent to $HK15.68 after winning approval to build a new resort in the gaming city.

However, HSBC lost 0.1 per cent to $HK82.65 on news its $US9.4 billion deal to sell its multibillion-dollar stake in Ping An Insurance may be in danger of collapse while Ping An gained 0.88 per cent to $HK68.75.

Chinese regulators were ready to reject the bid from Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group over concerns about funding for the bid, the South China Morning Post reported.

Chinese shares ended flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.73 points to 2275.34 on turnover of 102.8 billion yuan.

Investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release later this week of trade and inflation data they hope will provide more clues to the state of the economy as it shows signs of emerging from its recent slowdown.

Ping An Insurance shed 0.86 per cent to 45.07 yuan.

Bank of Communications dropped 1.41 per cent to 4.91 yuan and Haitong Securities fell 1.0 per cent to 9.93 yuan.

Coal miners rose. Yunnan Yunwei surged by its 10 per cent daily limit to 4.68 yuan and Yangquan Coal Industry gained 3.54 per cent to 14.62 yuan.

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NSW bikie associate charged with assault

A Nomads bike associate has been charged with assault after an alleged attack at a Sydney nightclub. Source: AAP

AN associate of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle club has been charged with assault over an incident at a Potts Point nightclub.

About 3am on December 25 last year a nightclub patron was allegedly knocked unconscious at a Roslyn Street venue, requiring hospital treatment.

Kings Cross police and officers from Strike Force Raptor executed a search warrant at a Merrylands home on Wednesday, arresting a 25-year-old man in association with the alleged assault.

He was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.

The man was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on January 29.

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Wallan grassfire deliberately lit: Vic CFA

The CFA says a grassfire at Wallan, about 60km north of Melbourne, was probably deliberately lit. Source: AAP

A GRASSFIRE in the Victorian town of Wallan was probably deliberately lit, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says.

The five-hectare blaze broke out at Taylors Lane at Wallan, about 60km north of Melbourne and home to more than 12,000 people, on Wednesday afternoon and took firefighters two and a half hours to control.

CFA operations officer David Harris said it was believed the fire was suspicious.

"It was probably deliberately lit and police are investigating that," he told AAP.

Nearby, there were two other small grassfires at High Camp and Glenaroua, about 40km to the north of Wallan.

Karen Buckley who works at the local pub, Hogans Hotel, said people had gathered there to wait.

"I can see the smoke from the window here," she told AAP.

"We have a couple of local residents actually here with their little dogs, just waiting it out.

"Everyone is just sitting back and just watching."

Ms Buckley said her property is in an estate off Taylors Lane, where her 19-year-old daughter was looking after the family's show dogs and cats.

"She is just worried more about our animals," Ms Buckley said.

Twenty fire trucks and two helicopters were sent to tackle the blaze, which is still burning but under control.

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Hagel draws fire as Obama's Pentagon pick

President Obama has named Chuck Hagel (L) to head the Pentagon and John Brennan (R) to lead the CIA. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has named Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon, setting up an ugly confirmation battle as Republican opponents said he was too hard on Israel and too soft on Iran.

Obama's choice of John Brennan to replace scandal-tainted David Petraeus as CIA chief was seen as more straightforward despite the counter-terrorism czar's defence of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the US drone war.

The second term revamp of the president's national security team was expected to eventually win approval but several leading Republicans signalled they would make it tough for Hagel even though he is one of their own.

Obama paid particular tribute to retiring Pentagon chief Leon Panetta before giving ringing endorsements to the "outstanding" Hagel and Brennan and urging the Senate not to dally in confirming the important appointments.

"Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. He is an American patriot," the president said, heaping praise on a war hero whose wounds earned him two Purple Heart medals as a soldier in Vietnam.

"When Chuck was hit by shrapnel, his brother saved him. When his brother was injured by a mine, Chuck risked his life to pull him to safety. To this day, Chuck bears the scars - and the shrapnel - from the battles he fought in our name."

Hagel was also awarded the Army Commendation medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the latter from the former South Vietnamese government, for his bravery while serving in the war.

Some Republicans have never forgiven him for his outspoken criticism of ex-president George W Bush's handling of the Iraq war, and his closeness to the Democratic president has seen him branded as a traitor by others.

But Obama, who wants to be remembered as a leader who ended wars abroad to set about the tricky task of building at home following a crippling recession, described Hagel as someone perfectly fitted to that mold.

"Maybe most importantly, Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary," he said.

Administration appointments are often tense affairs in the US as confirmation hearings provide senators with opportunities to turn away unwanted candidates or score cheap political points, or both.

Hagel, 66, known for a fiercely independent streak and a tendency to speak bluntly, is expected to get particularly rough treatment due to his criticism of America's "Jewish lobby" and opposition to some Iran sanctions.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Hagel would be "the most antagonistic defence secretary towards the state of Israel in our nation's history."

Another Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would oppose the nomination, charging it would be the "worst possible message we could send to our friend Israel and the rest of our allies in the Middle East."

But in an interview with The Lincoln Journal Star, a newspaper in his home state of Nebraska, Hagel hit back at his critics.

There is "not one shred of evidence that I'm anti-Israeli, not one vote (of mine) that matters that hurt Israel," he said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Hagel will have to manage major cuts to military spending while wrapping up the US war effort in Afghanistan and preparing for worst-case scenarios in Iran or Syria.

Serving as an enlisted man who never joined the officer ranks, Hagel carries a particular empathy for the unheralded infantry "grunts" in the field.

As he grapples with budget pressures, the former sergeant will likely try to shield frontline troops from the effect of spending cuts.

In his typical straight-shooting fashion, Hagel has called the Defence Department "bloated" and said that "the Pentagon needs to be pared down."

Brennan, 57, may get an easier ride but is sure to face questions over his support for the use of certain "enhanced interrogation techniques" under the Bush administration and for his staunch defence of the US drone program.

The 25-year Central Intelligence Agency veteran, an Arabic-speaking Middle East expert, replaces Petraeus, who resigned in November after confessing to an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

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Man charged after Qld cop hit by car

Police are hunting the driver of a stolen car who ran down a police officer west of Brisbane. Source: AAP

A MAN has been charged with 16 offences after he allegedly ran down a police officer with a stolen car he was driving southwest of Brisbane.

The detective senior constable was walking towards a stolen vehicle, which had been pulled over at Redbank Plains, about 6.50pm (AEST) on Monday.

The driver suddenly drove at the officer and hit him with the vehicle before driving away.

The officer was taken to Ipswich Hospital with an injury to his hip, cuts and abrasions.

A 25-year-old Kallangur man handed himself in on Tuesday night, police say.

He has been charged with 16 offences, including four counts of dangerous operation of motor vehicle, three counts of failing to stop a motor vehicle, two counts of unlawful use of motor vehicle, and one count each of serious assault on police causing bodily harm, burglary and committing an indictable offence, stealing, and wilful damage.

The man is due to appear in Pine Rivers Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

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Depardieu fails to appear in Paris court

GERARD Depardieu, embroiled in a high-profile tax row that saw the French actor take Russian nationality and angrily vow to quit France, has failed to turn up in a Paris court to face drunk driving charges.

The 64-year-old Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card and Asterix & Obelix star, who has admitted driving his scooter while intoxicated, would have escaped with a small fine and penalty points on his driving licence if he had appeared.

He had been due to appear for sentencing on Tuesday but now faces a criminal court hearing which may lead to a fine of 4500 euros ($A5664) and a possible prison sentence of up to two years.

He was detained in Paris in November after falling off his scooter, which he had been riding while more than three times over the legal alcohol limit.

Depardieu on Monday attended one of football's top award ceremonies, the Ballon d'Or, in Switzerland, after spending the weekend in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin met him and he was given him a Russian passport.

Taking Russian nationality was the latest volley in a highly publicised row between Depardieu and the French government over its attempt to raise the tax rate on earnings of more than one million euros ($A1.26 million) to 75 per cent.

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NY bomb plot accomplice pleads not guilty

A PAKISTANI al-Qaeda suspect, extradited a week ago from Britain, has pleaded not guilty to plotting to send a suicide bomber into the New York City subway system.

Abid Naseer, 26, is also accused of participating in other plans for attacks in Norway and Britain.

He entered his not guilty plea in a Brooklyn federal court through his lawyer, Steven Brounstein, the federal prosecutor said.

The judge ordered Naseer to remain in detention until his next hearing on March 7.

The US justice department said, in July, Naseer had been charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder abroad, supporting al-Qaeda, as well as "committing and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries," among other counts.

Naseer was first arrested in 2009 in northern Britain in a counter-terrorism operation along with 11 other men suspected of preparing an attack against a shopping center in Manchester.

They were all released without charges, but he was then arrested for a second time in July 2010 at the request of Brooklyn prosecutors, who accused him of participating in the plot to attack the New York City subway in 2009.

In the federal indictment, Naseer is named co-defendant along with Bosnian-born American Adis Medunjanin, who was sentenced in November to life in prison for the plan, in which Medunjanin aimed to turn himself into a suicide bomb in the subway as revenge for American attacks in Afghanistan.

Two other men in the alleged plot, high school friends of Medunjanin, pleaded guilty and testified against him and await sentencing later this year.

The prosecution alleges Naseer had done the scouting for these attacks, but the plan unravelled when Medunjanin realised he was under surveillance.

Federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch called it one of the most serious plots since September 11, 2011, saying at Medunjanin's sentencing that "scores of innocent New Yorkers would have been killed or maimed had Medunjanin succeeded."

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Fewer gun-buyers in mass shooting states

BACKGROUND checks for gun sales and permits to carry guns surged in the US at the end of 2012.

But an Associated Press analysis found that people in Connecticut and Colorado, scenes of the deadliest US mass shootings in 2012, were less enthusiastic about buying new guns than people in most other states. The biggest surges in occurred in the South and West.

The latest FBI figures reflect huge increases across the US in the number of background checks following President Barack Obama's re-election, the school shooting in Connecticut and Obama's promise to support new laws aimed at curbing gun violence.

Nationally, there were nearly twice as many background checks for firearms between November and December than during the same time period in 2011.

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Businesses expect to cut prices

THE first few months of 2013 will be a bargain-hunter's paradise, with more businesses cutting prices than at any point in the last 24 years.

A survey of 1,200 business owners and senior managers in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing sectors, shows a larger-than-usual number expect to have to offer price discounts to overcome the post-Christmas sales slump.

Dun and Bradstreet's selling price expectation index has fallen to a record low - indicating more businesses are planning to offer discounts during the March quarter than at any point since the survey began in 1988.

The lower prices are expected to be accompanied by weaker activity, with sales falling and businesses reducing their inventory levels, the survey showed.

Dun and Bradstreet's director of corporate affairs, Danielle Woods said the survey suggested businesses were cutting prices to stimulate spending during the difficult post-Christmas months.

"We know that there is traditionally a drop off in spending following the Christmas period as consumers play catch-up with their household budgets and debts following an often expensive holiday period," she said.

"These findings suggest that businesses are planning to negotiate the spending slump by extending discounting through the New Year and by managing their stock carefully."

Ms Woods said business' selling price expectations have been below their ten-year average since 2009.

"Although the most recent data has taken selling price expectations to a new low, it is part of a long downward trend that suggests ongoing discounting has become the new normal," she said.

D&B's economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said the expected price cuts would help keep inflation low and added to the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates again in early 2013.

"It remains likely that the inflation rate will remain near the bottom of the RBA target band (of annual inflation of two to three per cent), which will be a critical issue for the RBA when it decides future interest rate settings."

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Vic bushfire spreads to farming community

A MASSIVE bushfire could potentially double in size and hit small farming communities in Victoria's southwest, as the north of the state faces severe conditions.

There is a threat to lives and property with the southwest Victorian settlement of Drik Drik under direct attack from fire and embers, authorities said on Monday night.

An afternoon wind change swung the 4000-hectare Kentbruck fire on a path to Drik Drik, an agricultural farming area of about 30 houses.

Authorities warned the out-of-control bushfire had the potential to double in size to 8000 hectares in an afternoon with westerly to south-westerly winds of up to 40km/h on Tuesday capable of pushing the fire a significant distance.

Fire services commissioner Craig Lapsley said the immediate concern on Monday night was the Drik Drik area but the key issue would be on Tuesday.

"It will be a fire that will be pushed with winds and we believe that it's got the potential to move significant distance tomorrow, potentially block the Princes Highway and have further impacts on the rural community around Drik Drik and Dartmoor," Mr Lapsley told ABC TV.

Nearly 500 firefighters and a dozen aircraft are battling the blaze, which started on Friday and has mainly burnt through pine plantation.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) said there had been no reports of property damage or loss of life by early Monday night, dismissing earlier rumours that at least one home had been impacted by the fire.

A spokeswoman said there was still a risk to lives and property.

A number of roads have been closed and most of the 250 residents of nearby Dartmoor have already left the town.

Mr Lapsley warned the next 24 hours would be critical, but he said the Victorian towns of Portland, Nelson, Heywood and Mt Gambier in South Australia were unlikely to be directly impacted by the fire.

"We are doing significant planning on the potential of how large it could get, that is not a scenario that we would see at this stage, where those major centres would be impacted by this fire," he told reporters at the State Control Centre in Melbourne.

"It would need a significant run of fire that is not predicted, however in this general area it could increase from 4000 to 8000 hectares in size in an afternoon so it has potential to move, but not to move to impact on major centres."

Mr Lapsley said the main concern on Tuesday was for northern Victoria, which faces yet another day of hot conditions, with total fire bans declared in the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country and North East fire districts.

He said there was a severe fire danger stretching along the South Australian border, the Murray River and the NSW border.

Lightning strikes have already sparked blazes in north-eastern Victoria and there are also fears that fires across the Murray River in NSW may reach Victoria if they take hold.

Northern parts of the state have experienced several days in a row above 40C.

Mr Lapsley said lightning strikes could take a day to become a fire.

The hot conditions have kept ambulance crews busy, with paramedics attending 450 heat-related incidents in the past four days including between four and seven children being left in cars each day.

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Delhi gang-rape suspects appear in court

The father of the gang-rape victim has revealed his daughter's identity to a British newspaper. Source: AAP

THE magistrate hearing the case of five men accused of gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old medical student in New Delhi has ordered that their first appearance in court take place behind closed doors.

"The court has become jam-packed," magistrate Namrita Aggarwal told the court on Monday amid noisy protests from lawyers and a media scrum.

"It has become impossible for this court to conduct proceedings in this case."

Police have charged the men with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.

The crime caused nationwide outrage, leading to massive protests.

The adult defendants have been named as Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Vijay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta. They are all from New Delhi.

The case is expected to be transferred to a fast-track court set up last week for their trial.

A sixth suspect who is 17 years old was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said last week that a DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim matched bloodstains found on the clothes of all the accused.

It normally takes months for the prosecution to assemble such a case but the legal proceedings are getting under way barely a week after the student died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital.

Police have pledged "maximum security" during the hearing at the magistrates' court amid fears for the defendants' safety. A man was arrested last week as he allegedly tried to plant a crude bomb near the home of one of the men.

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Firefighters battle for control

A woman has been charged with deliberately starting a bushfire in Melbourne's southeast. Source: AAP

A MAJOR blaze burning in Victoria's southwest remains out of control with firefighters battling to bring it under control before more hot weather arrives this week.

While temperatures remained hot in the north of the state on Sunday, cooler temperatures in the south have helped authorities contain blazes.

Firefighters are working to bring the fire at Kentbruck, in the state's southwest, under control by midnight on Sunday.

The fire, which began in a pine plantation, has burned over 2700 hectares and the smoke haze is visible throughout western Victoria.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said crews and aircraft worked on the Kentbruck fire on Sunday, aiming to have it under control before the weather worsens.

"Tuesday is the day that has the northerly strong winds and again Friday. They are the two critical days, but we could still have fires on other days that could still do damage," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"It is a week that people need to stay vigilant about fires in Victoria."

On Sunday evening, the water bombing helicopter Elvis was being used to fight a grass fire in Little River, near Geelong.

The fire was spreading in a northwest direction towards Balliang, authorities said.

Mr Lapsley urged people to dob in arsonists.

His comments came as an 18-year-old woman was charged with deliberately starting a fire in Melbourne on Saturday.

She was arrested at the scene of the fire, which was burning on an embankment near Warrigal Road at Ashwood about 9.45pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Emergency crews quickly extinguished the blaze.

The woman has been charged with intentionally causing a bushfire and recklessly endangering life and was bailed to appear in Dandenong Magistrates Court on April 29.

Mr Lapsley said the Country Fire Authority (CFA) will continue to monitor the Fireready app and CFA website on Monday to ensure people have access to information they need.

Many people had trouble accessing the site during hot weather on Friday.

The site will again be tested with temperatures set to be above 40c in the north of the state on Monday, while Melbourne is expecting 32C.

North-eastern parts of the state are already sweltering, with the towns of Wangaratta, Yarrawonga and Rutherglen reaching 42C on Sunday.

A fire burning near Ensay, in east Gippsland, was brought under control on Saturday afternoon.

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Depardieu gets Russian passport

French actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with President Vladimir Putin. Source: AAP

FRENCH actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin's spokesman says.

Putin earlier granted citizenship to Depardieu after the French movie star said he was quitting his homeland to avoid paying a new millionaires' tax.

Depardieu "was handed his passport," the Russian leader's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP on Sunday.

But Putin did not personally hand over the document to the actor when the two met briefly on Saturday at Putin's residence in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Peskov said.

"There was a short meeting," he said, declining to give further details.

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Kuwait jails opposition tweeter

A KUWAITI court has sentenced an opposition youth to two years in jail for writing tweets deemed offensive to the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state, a rights activist says.

Rashed al-Enezi, who was in the courtroom to hear the sentence, was immediately arrested by police and taken to jail, the head of the independent Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad al-Humaidi, told AFP on Sunday.

Enezi is the first to be sentenced among dozens of tweeters, activists and former opposition lawmakers who face similar charges since the government began a clampdown on the opposition in the lead-up to elections held on December 1 last year.

The opposition has been staging regular demonstrations in protest at an amendment of the electoral law and the holding of the the parliamentary vote on the basis of the amended legislation.

It has announced plans to stage a demonstration later on Sunday to demand that parliament be dissolved and the amendment to the electoral law scrapped.

Humaidi said that more than 200 opposition activists, including former lawmakers, face trial on a variety of charges, mainly criticising the emir who is protected against criticism in the constitution.

Among those are around 25 young tweeters who were arrested, interrogated and then freed on bail on charges of insulting the emir.

"The charges were not based on solid accusations but on wrong interpretation of the tweets by authorities. Most of the charges are fabricated," said Humaidi.

The same court is slated to issue verdicts on Monday on another youth tweeter and a member of the scrapped parliament on similar charges.

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Suicide attack hits Afghan tribal meeting

TWO suicide bombers have struck inside a meeting of community leaders in the southern Afghan town of Spin Boldak, causing an unknown number of casualties, local officials say.

"There has been a twin suicide bombing in the Spin Boldak council building. The blasts were inside the hall during a meeting of tribal elders," Jawed Faisal, spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, told AFP.

"There are casualties but we don't have the numbers at this time."

Witnesses said that two explosions were heard, followed by small arms fire in Spin Boldak, a town in the restive Kandahar province close to the border with Pakistan.

The council building was badly damaged and some people were feared trapped in the rubble.

"Every Sunday the local shura (council) meet at the administrative building, that is where the attack happened," said Mohammad Ali, the border police chief in Spin Boldak, 100 kilometres south of Kandahar city.

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