US public offered prizes for python hunt

Cash prizes are up for grabs in a program aimed at catching giant Burmese pythons in Florida. Source: AAP

PEOPLE in Florida will have their mettle tested as the wildlife service seeks help in eradicating the giant Burmese python.

The public has been asked to join in a month-long hunt for the invasive species, which, lacking natural predators, snacks on native birds, deer, bobcats and other large animals, some of them protected.

Cash prizes up to $US1,500 ($A1,400) will be up for grabs in the January program of "harvesting" the giant snakes, organised by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Increasing public awareness about Burmese pythons and how this invasive species is a threat to the Everglades ecosystem, including native wildlife, is the goal of the 2013 Python Challenge," a statement said.

The environmental challenge is open not only to "python permit holders" but also ordinary members of the public.

A Burmese python was found for the first time in Florida's Everglades swamp in 1979, where it may have been abandoned by a pet owner. It has taken 21 years to become an established species there.

There are now hundreds of thousands of the snakes slithering across southern Florida. In August, University of Florida scientists examined a record 5.36-metre specimen that had 87 eggs.

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Britain to allow gay marriages in churches

Britain is set to allow gay marriages in churches and other religious buildings. Source: AAP

BRITAIN will announce plans next week to allow gay marriages in churches and other religious buildings, officials say, although Prime Minister David Cameron insists no faith group would be forced to hold them.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller will unveil ministers' responses to a consultation earlier this year, which will propose that religious organisations should be able to "opt-in" to hold same-sex weddings, according to a government source.

Amid strong opposition from the Church of England and Roman Catholics, however, as well as many members of Cameron's Conservative Party, Miller will stress that no religious groups will be forced to conduct gay weddings.

"I'm a massive supporter of marriage and I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution," Cameron told reporters during a visit to a car factory on Friday.

"But let me be absolutely 100 per cent clear, if there is any church or any synagogue or any mosque that doesn't want to have a gay marriage it will not, absolutely must not, be forced to hold it.

"That is absolutely clear in the legislation.

"Also let me make clear, this is a free vote for members of parliament but personally I will be supporting it."

Gay couples have had the right to hold a civil partnership since 2004 but campaigners have pushed for full equality with heterosexual couples.

The Church of England repeated its opposition in a statement on Friday.

"We believe that redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships will entail a dilution in the meaning of marriage," it said.

In its submission to the public consultation in June, the Church said legalising gay marriage could force it out of its traditional role of conducting weddings on behalf of the state.

However, the Quakers welcomed Friday's news, saying they had been campaigning since 2009 for all marriages in Quaker meeting houses to be legally valid.

"We are waiting for the law to catch up," said recording clerk Paul Parker, adding, "For Quakers, this is an issue of religious freedom and we don't seek to impose this on others."

"The government is committed to bringing equal civil marriage forward and the consultation results will be announced next week," a government spokesman said.

"We are very clear that religious organisations must be protected and that no religious organisation will be forced to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies.

"The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of religion and we will additionally bring in very strong legal locks to ensure the protection is watertight."

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Starbucks caught out on UK tax

Starbucks promised to pay more corporate tax in the UK following pressure from the country's MPs. Source: AAP

STARBUCKS has bowed to mounting pressure over its tax affairs in Britain and revealed that it would pay about STG10 million ($A15.49 million) in each of the next two years.

Having been slammed by the country's MPs of "immorally" avoiding tax, Starbucks' UK managing director Kris Engskov said the firm had agreed to pay more than required by law.

"With the backdrop of these difficult times, in the area of tax, our customers clearly expect us to do more," he told the London Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

The Seattle-based coffee company has 700 British outlets, but has paid just STG8.6 million in corporation tax in 14 years. Starbucks Corp says this is due to a process involving paying royalties to its European headquarters in The Netherlands.

The company hasn't done anything illegal. Companies operating in Europe can base themselves in any of the 27 European Union nations, allowing them to take advantage of a particular country's low tax rates.

Earlier this week, parliament's Public Accounts Committee criticised multinationals such as Starbucks, Amazon and Google for "using the letter of tax laws both nationally and internationally to immorally minimise their tax obligations".

Starbucks, which also has been the target of demonstrations by the protest group UK Uncut, announced this week that it was reviewing its tax approach.

Engskov said the company was proposing "to pay a significant amount of corporation tax during 2013 and 2014 regardless of whether our company is profitable during these years".

He estimated that would amount to "somewhere in the range of 10 million pounds in each of the next two years".

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chaired the parliamentary committee, said Starbucks' change of heart was proof that "people power works".

Earlier this week, UK Treasury chief George Osborne earmarked an extra STG77 million to clamp down on "offshore evasion and avoidance by wealthy individuals and by multinationals".

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Melbourne police hunt fast food burglars

POLICE are hunting for eight men believed to be responsible for burglaries which have netted more than $100,000 from fast food stores across Melbourne.

Two men - a 30-year-old from Thomastown and a 20-year-old from Heidelberg - have been charged over 43 burglaries which occurred mainly at Nando's restaurants around the city and suburbs between March and September.

The Thomastown man is facing a total of 56 charges.

Detective Senior Constable Andrew White said police were looking for another eight men over the heists, which often took just a few minutes to occur and netted up to $15,000 at a time.

"They certainly appear to know what they are doing and have a well-planned and sophisticated method," he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

Investigators have released CCTV footage of one of the incidents in a bid to identify a man that police believe may assist their investigation.

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Qld governor asked to rule on KAP dispute

KATTER'S Australian Party (KAP) has called on the Queensland governor to intervene in a dispute sparked by laws stripping the party from attaining official status in state parliament.

KAP became eligible to be recognised as an official party - and receive the associated funding benefits - after Condamine MP Ray Hopper defected from the Liberal National Party (LNP) last week.

However, new laws were rushed through parliament that deemed parties had to have at least three members elected under their banner in a popular vote.

The changes meant the party became ineligible because only Mount Isa MP Rob Katter and Dalrymple MP Shane Knuth won their seats under the KAP banner at the Queensland election.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has called KAP's attempt for recognition an "opportunistic" bid to claim about a third of the opposition's funding.

But Mr Hopper, who now serves as the party's state leader, says he and the other two KAP MPs wrote to Governor Penelope Wensley because they were concerned the government was using its massive majority to remove opposing parties' rights.

"Queenslanders, whatever their political persuasion, are very concerned that this government would attack the democracy of this state in such a way," Mr Hopper said.

"This is the stuff of tin pot dictators from African nations who will do anything to crush political opposition."

Mr Hopper called for parliament to be recalled if Ms Wensley deems the bill to be "questionable".

It is not supposed to sit again until February next year.

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Witness didn't see Elkass point gun

A WOMAN who witnessed the fatal police shooting of a man on a western Sydney street has told an inquest she did not see him point a gun outside his car window.

Rodney Elkass, 37, was killed last year following a brief confrontation with plainclothed police a block from Castle Hill police station.

He was shot in the head while stopped in his ute about 1pm on September 29 - less than half-an-hour after waving a Glock 17 pistol at his former workmate and his brother when they tried to start a fight.

Penny Biddell was driving up Castle St towards the shopping centre when she saw three men in suits running up the hill, but she stopped when she realised they were going to cross the road in front of her and towards the ute.

Giving evidence at Parramatta Coroner's Court on Thursday, Ms Biddell said one of the men reached for a gun as he approached the car, but she was then distracted by a beeping driver behind her.

She told the court she could not see clearly inside the ute or determine whether it was a male or female at the wheel.

Asked by counsel assisting the coroner, Peter Hamill, SC, whether she saw the driver of the ute point a gun outside the driver's window, she replied: "No."

"I'm sure I would've seen that if it had come out," Ms Biddell said.

Eye witnesses gave contradictory accounts of the same scene on Wednesday.

One of them, schoolteacher Claire Bayley, who was walking up Castle St with her five-month-old baby in a pram, said Mr Elkass appeared "out of control" as he reached for a gun from inside the ute and pointed it out the driver's window.

But another witness, Sonal Kumar, said she never saw a gun in Mr Elkass's hands as she sat in her car about five metres away.

She told the inquest he looked "surprised" when the three officers approached the ute.

According to Ms Kumar's statement to police, Mr Elkass had his "hands up near his face, his palms facing outwards in front of him" at the time.

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon continues.

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HSBC to sell stake in China insurer

BRITAIN'S HSBC says it will sell its stake in China's second largest life insurer Ping An for $US9.4 billion ($A9.01 billion), as it looks to shift its focus back towards its traditional banking business.

The lender said in a statement it will sell its entire 15.57 per cent holding in Ping An Insurance Group to Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group at HK$59 ($US7.66) a share, a two per cent premium to its Tuesday closing price.

Ping An recently hit the headlines after the New York Times said last month that relatives of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had gained from its Hong Kong listing in 2004 by buying stock at a discount before the sale.

Ping An has denied those claims and threatened legal action against the US newspaper.

HSBC Group Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in the statement the Ping An sale would benefit shareholders, but added that China remained "a key market for the group".

He said the firm would "strengthen our focus on growing our own operations and building on our long-term strategic banking partnership with the Bank of Communications", China's fifth largest lender, in which HSBC has a 19 per cent stake.

The bank has been selling non-core assets as part of a broad restructuring plan designed to boost profitability.

"They can unload their non-core assets and resources to refocus on their main business, which is banking," Tanrich Securities Vice President Jackson Wong told AFP.

London-listed HSBC is also setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars as provision for fines related to possible criminal charges over money-laundering allegations in the United States.

Shares in Ping An climbed after the announcement. It was up 2.25 per cent at HK$58.95 in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, while it rose 2.7 per cent to 38.38 yuan in Shanghai.

Last month the New York Times reported the chairman of Ping An wrote in 1999 to Wen, who was vice-premier at the time, and met his wife as the government considered a decision on whether to split up the company.

After the lobbying, it said, the government granted Ping An a waiver from a requirement that large financial companies be broken up.

Following the decision an investment vehicle - later controlled by relatives of Wen - bought shares in Ping An at a significant discount, long before most other investors could buy into it, the report said.

Ping An said of the report that "recent media coverage related to the company" contained "serious inaccuracies, facts being distorted and taken out of context, as well as flawed logic".

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Mining banned at WA tourist attraction

The WA government has established a 72 sq km mining exemption area surrounding the Horizontal Falls. Source: AAP

MINING has been banned around a prime tourist attraction in Western Australia's west Kimberley region, the Horizontal Falls, but it's unclear which miners will be affected.

The Horizontal Falls is a rare phenomenon, described by famed naturalist Sir David Attenborough as one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

Massive tidal movements within Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago, 110km north northeast of Derby, cause the sea to rush through narrow gaps between cliffs, creating a waterfall effect as water banks up against one side of the passage.

On Wednesday, WA Resources Minister Norman Moore said the state government had established a 72 sq km mining exemption area surrounding the Horizontal Falls.

The status prevented current and future mining activity in the area, and provided greater protection for the tourist attraction than national park status, Mr Moore said.

He said pending mineral exploration applications in the area were voluntarily withdrawn "as a show of support for the state's move to protect the falls".

It is not clear which mining leases have been relinquished.

Comment is being sought from the Department of Mines and Petroleum and Perth-based Pegasus Metals, which operates the McLarty Range copper project about 10km from the falls.

Pegasus Metals' latest release to the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday made no mention of pulling out of the project, instead describing it as "the big prize".

In addition to copper, it contains gold, silver and zinc.

Pegasus Metals says it has defined a 60km "strike" or deposit length over its 5000 sq km of tenements of the McLarty Range.

The rugged site can be reached only by sea or air.

The Horizontal Falls have been nominated for inclusion on the Register of State Geoheritage Sites, Mr Moore said.

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NSW govt to hold crane safety meeting

WorkCover NSW will hold a safety discussion on cranes following an incident in Sydney last week. Source: AAP

THE NSW government is urging crane operators to check the safety of their machinery and is calling on key stakeholders to attend a crane safety discussion.

Following the collapse of a crane arm at Broadway last week, WorkCover NSW will on Tuesday hold a meeting where it will "put the safety spotlight firmly on the crane industry".

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) construction site and surrounding buildings during the emergency last Tuesday, which closed Broadway and caused traffic chaos.

"Tower cranes are potentially hazardous plant machinery," WorkCover manager John Watson said in a statement.

He said contractors had a legal duty to inspect and ensure cranes and plant machinery are safe.

"Standard inspections before cranes are erected include a check for leakage in lines, tanks, valves, pumps and other part of air systems or hydraulic systems," he said.

"The same checks are conducted a second time during commissioning inspections once the crane is operational."

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Weak global growth sparks another rate cut

The RBA has dropped the cash rate to 3.00 per cent, its lowest level in more than three years. Source: AAP

THE Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut the cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to three per cent, its lowest level since the global financial crisis.

The previous interest rate move was a quarter of a percentage point reduction in October, and the central bank has cut the cash rate by 1.5 percentage points since November 2011.

In a statement accompanying the decision, RBA governor Glenn Stevens said global growth is expected to be below average because of the European debt crisis and the looming US fiscal cliff.

He added growth in Asia has been dampened by the slower rate of Chinese economic growth.

"Key commodity prices for Australia remain significantly lower than earlier in the year, though trends have been more mixed over the past few months," Mr Stevens said.

"The terms of trade have declined by about 15 per cent since the peak, to a level that is still historically high."

Three per cent is the lowest the RBA's cash rate has been since early October 2009, during the global financial crisis.

Mr Stevens said most indicators suggest that the Australian economy is growing around trend, led by mining investment.

"Looking ahead, recent data confirm that the peak in resource investment is approaching. As it does, there will be more scope for some other areas of demand to strengthen," he said.

The market was widely expecting an interest rate cut at the December board meeting, especially after the surprise decision to keep the rate on hold at last month's meeting.

CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said the central bank's comments on inflation and the high exchange rate suggested that any future cuts would be unlikely.

"Their talk of inflation rising above three per cent leaves them less room to cut," he said.

"This is the second time they've suggested that inflation is higher than the market expects it to be.

"They also point out that the terms of trade is still at high levels, and that's a key driver of the currency - I think the RBA's wondering whether cutting rates will help bring the currency down."

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the rate cut was a result of the RBA trying to "pull off a great rebalancing act".

"The RBA has cut rates to try to support a bit of rebalancing in growth," he said.

Interest rate sensitive sectors, like housing and retail, would benefit from the attempt to grow non-mining sectors, he said.

"We're looking to see the Australian economy shift from being mining focused to being driven, as we look into next year, by the other parts of the economy that have been weaker recently."

Mr Bloxham predicted that Tuesday's cut was one of the last, if not the last, in the current rate cycle.

"I think we might be close," he said.

"But we'll be watching avidly the labour force data that comes out in a couple of days' time because the labour market is a key thing that we need see stabilised before we'd be completely convinced that they might be at the end."

Commonwealth Bank senior economist Michael Workman said the RBA's statement suggested concerns about the persistently high value of the Australian dollar may have contributed to the decision to cut.

"That could be one of the reasons the RBA has decided to cut rates here - the exchange rate still hasn't shown any signs of weakening," he said.

"It is just stuck in this range of 103-105 US cents, it is just remarkable."

Mr Workman said the high value of the Australian dollar was one of the biggest negative influences on the economy.

He said the RBA was likely to cut the cash rate again in February.

"If the inflation numbers continue to show underlying numbers sitting around 2.5 per cent, with no sign of an upward trend, then they'll probably go again, especially if the currency is still around the same level."

The Australian dollar rose a quarter of one US cent after the interest rate announcement.

Easy Forex currency dealer Anthony Botros said that was because the quarter of a percentage point reduction was fully expected by the market and further interest rate cuts from the RBA looked unlikely.

"In the accompanying statement there's no signs from the central bank there would be any more rate easings in the first quarter of 2013," Mr Botros said.

"They said recent easings of late are starting to work their way through the economy and they foresee that inflation pressure will be contained in the next one to two years."

The Australian dollar was trading at 104.24 US cents at 1429 AEDT, just before the decision was announced, and rose to an intraday high of 104.58 US cents after the announcement.

If the RBA's interest rate cut was passed on in full, repayments on a $300,000 mortgage would drop, on average, by almost $47 a month.

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Bushfire alert for most of Queensland

TWO-THIRDS of Queensland is expected to be on bushfire watch as temperatures in parts of the state soar above 40C for the fourth consecutive day.

Authorities say the fire threat will intensify from the NSW border to the edge of the Northern Territory.

Temperatures in Brisbane are forecast to hit 39C on Tuesday, making it the hottest December day in 11 years, and only marginally below a record of 41C reached in 1981.

The heat has been even more intense in the state's west, with temperatures in Mt Isa and Longreach forecast to reach 43C on Monday - the fourth successive day above 40C.

Controlled fires are presently burning at Beachmere, north of Brisbane and near Mount Isa, where a Brisbane-based fire crew was sent on Monday.

Queensland Fire and Rescue director of rural operations Peter Varley says severe fire conditions are expected in two-thirds of Queensland on Tuesday.

"Any fires that start will be extremely difficult to control," he told AAP.

"The farther west, the worse the conditions get."

Fire and Rescue Commissioner Lee Johnson says fire permits have already been suspended across Queensland.

"Residents who have obtained a permit to burn should defer any burning to a more suitable time as conditions are far too risky," he said in a statement.

The weather bureau's senior duty forecaster Michelle Berry said west to north-westerly winds of up to 50km/h in southeast Queensland would increase the threat of bushfire.

"We're looking at gusty winds, very dry conditions and very hot temperatures," Ms Berry told.

"This is the kind of temperature that is well and truly above average.

"We're looking at an increasing fire danger."

An enhanced fire danger for Brisbane is expected to continue on Wednesday, even as temperatures drop back to 32C.

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Hottest December in decade for Brisbane

THE hottest December temperatures in a decade and gusty winds could spark more bushfires around Brisbane, the weather bureau says.

Top temperatures in the Queensland capital are forecast to hit 39 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, which is 10 degrees above the December average.

That is only marginally below the record of 41.2 degrees for December reached in 1981 and would mark the hottest December day since 2001 when temperatures soared to 40 degrees on Christmas Eve.

The forecast comes as fire crews battle a blaze at Beachmere, north of Brisbane, which has been burning since Saturday.

Senior duty forecaster Michelle Berry says the weather bureau is considering whether to issue an official bushfire warning for Queensland's southeast corner on Tuesday, as west to northwesterly winds threaten to reach 50km/h.

"We're looking at gusty winds, very dry conditions and very hot temperatures," Ms Berry told AAP on Monday.

"This is the kind of temperature that is well and truly above average.

"We're looking at an increasing fire danger."

An enhanced fire danger for Brisbane is expected to continue into Wednesday, even as temperatures drop back to 32 degrees.

"We're expecting windy conditions and dry air," Ms Berry said.

Temperatures at Ipswich and in the Lockyer Valley are expected to reach 41 degrees on Tuesday, compared with 40 degrees at Emerald in central Queensland, 38 degrees in Rockhampton and 39 degrees at Weipa in the state's far north.

Relief is expected over coming days in the western Queensland towns of Mt Isa, Birdsville and Longreach, where temperatures have soared above 40 degrees for three consecutive days.

But Brisbane will have to wait until Thursday for temperatures to drop back to 28 degrees, which is below average for December.

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Two women smash through restaurant window

TWO women who smashed through the window of a Fremantle restaurant during a fight over a purse have been discharged from hospital with only minor injuries.

West Australian police said they were attending an unrelated matter at 4am (WST) on Sunday when they saw a disturbance on Queen Street.

A 20-year-old woman who had earlier claimed her purse had been stolen became involved in a verbal argument with several people.

The situation escalated and she and a 19-year-old woman both ended up going through the front glass window of a restaurant, giving them minor cuts.

The younger woman initially refused treatment by ambulance officers, but police took her into custody and took her to Fremantle Hospital, where the other woman was also treated.

A Fremantle Hospital spokeswoman said both women were discharged early on Sunday.

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Euro finance bosses tackle banks, bailouts

EUROPEAN finance ministers will regroup in Brussels for two-day talks focused as much on EU-wide problems installing cross-border banking supervision as on eurozone bailouts.

After a string of emergency Eurogroup gatherings that finally resulted in a deal last week to get Greece's bailout aid back flowing after months in limbo, Monday sees a return to routine among the 17 states that share the currency, from 1600 GMT on Monday (0300 AEDT Tuesday).

The meeting then opens up on Tuesday to include the other 10 European Union states, with the focus on divisions between the two types when it comes to strengthening banks' capital requirements and introducing a single supervision regime.

After Germany's parliament gave its overwhelming approval on Friday for billions of euros in aid, a top eurozone official said Greece will announce on Monday the terms for investors to take up a controversial debt "buyback" underpinning bailout resumption by December 13.

The official said the eurozone would watch "with great interest", after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said its continued bailout participation would be contingent on results.

Tens of billions of euros in Greek state debt still held by the private sector, mainly Greek banks and insurers, are in play; the idea being that Greece is loaned money to repurchase commercial debt at lower prices.

The buyback is a cornerstone of the agreement to release some 43.7 billion euros ($A54.80 billion) in rescue funding by March, but according to the Institute of International Finance, the powerful bank lobby that has already written off 107 billion euros owed, "uncertainty remains".

Eurobank analysts have said the target reduction overall is 17 billion euros.

The relationships between state debt, bank losses and moves to re-shape a European financial sector fit for a post-boom age of recession and suppressed recovery are the subject of talks on Tuesday.

This is about policing the banking sector more effectively, but only gradually from September next year.

New safeguards are part of wider moves towards fuller economic and political integration judged necessary to break the vicious circle driven by the debt crisis that brought the European economy to a standstill.

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