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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Tasmania fire downgraded

THE major fire at Bicheno in Tasmania's east has been downgraded and the Tasman Highway has been reopened.

The Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) has issued an "advice" alert level for the fire, which was earlier classified at an emergency warning level.

The TFS says the fire danger rating in the area is low to moderate, and there is no immediate threat to communities.

The Tasman Highway has been re-opened and motorists are being urged to be cautious due to possible smoke and emergency services vehicles in the area.

The fire is still not under control and authorities say people may experience embers, smoke and ash falling on Coles Bay Road, south of Apsley River, and the Tasman Highway, south of Bicheno.

Back burning off the Cole Bay Road will continue through the night and residents are advised that they should not be alarmed if there is more smoke in this area.

Earlier, the fire at Forcett, east of Hobart, was downgraded to a watch and act level as cooler weather spread across the island state.

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Suu Kyi 'should' help with Kachin

A peace negotiator has appealed to Aung San Suu Kyi to help end the bloody conflict in Kachin. Source: AAP

MEDIATORS trying to broker a peace deal between the military and ethnic minority rebels in northern Myanmar have appealed to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to help end the bloody conflict.

The military's use of air strikes against the rebels has stoked international concerns about a civil war that has overshadowed widely praised political reforms seen since the end of junta rule in 2011.

"Aung San Suu Kyi also has responsibility to implement ethnic peace," Yup Zaw Hkaung, a local businessman and peace negotiator in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, told AFP by telephone on Saturday.

"When she came to Kachin State to campaign for votes, she talked about peace. She cannot abandon Kachin," he said, adding that neither the opposition leader nor President Thein Sein had replied to letters asking for help.

Civil war has plagued parts of the country formerly known as Burma since it won independence from Britain in 1948.

Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner turned lawmaker, used her maiden speech to parliament in July last year to call for greater protection of ethnic minority rights.

But the veteran activist has disappointed rights campaigners by not speaking out more vocally in support of another minority group, the Rohingya, in the violence-torn western state of Rakhine.

In northern Kachin, tens of thousands of people have been displaced since June 2011 when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke down.

The number of casualties is unknown. The Kachin accuse the government of pushing dialogue only on the basis of a ceasefire and troop withdrawals, neglecting to address longstanding demands for greater political rights.

Myanmar has reached tentative ceasefires with most of the other major ethnic rebel groups, but several rounds of talks with the Kachin have shown little tangible progress.

"The fighting has been escalating," Yup Zaw Hkaung said.

"We are urging dialogue as soon as possible. People are in big trouble."

He said his Peace Creation Group, a mediation team formed with three other local businessmen, wanted to meet Thein Sein face-to-face to discuss the conflict with the former general, whose office said in December 2011 he had ordered an end to military offensives against the rebels.

"As air strikes with jets have been used in the attacks, hatred between the two sides could be growing," Yup Zaw Hkaung said. "We assume that the military is fighting based on the decision of the union government."

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