Victim of Pemex explosion death toll to 38

MEXICO'S federal Health Department says another person injured by last week's explosion at the headquarters of the country's state-owned oil company has died, raising the death toll to 38.

A statement issued on Friday says 19 people remain hospitalised, two of them in critical condition.

The January 31 blast at one of the buildings at the Petroleos Mexicanos complex in Mexico City also injured 120 people.

Executives at Pemex have said a water-heating system may have leaked methane gas into a tunnel beneath the headquarters for more than seven months.

They say the blast could have been set off by a maintenance crew's improvised lighting system.

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Gillard has a bite of bet-losing NZ apple

UPHOLDING her end of a two-year-old bet on the Rugby World Cup has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard made a bet with New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key on the outcome of the 2010 Rugby World Cup - a deal that would see the leader of whichever country lost eat an apple from the winning country.

Luckily for Mr Key, the All Blacks reigned supreme.

The bet was symbolic of the end of Australia's 90-year ban on New Zealand apples, following a World Trade Organisation ruling that it must allow imports.

Ms Gillard finally honoured the bet during dinner with Mr Key, his wife Bronagh, and Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson in Queenstown, New Zealand, on Friday night.

"I'd have to say, of course, Australian apples are better," Ms Gillard said.

She added that Mr Key had tried to serve her New Zealand apples on multiple occasions.

The two leaders laughed over the bet when they posed with the Cricket World Cup trophy in Queenstown on Saturday.

The two countries will share hosting rights to the event in 2015.

Despite the New Zealand Black Caps' poor performance of late, Mr Key said he was hopeful they could take out the cup in two years' time, but admitted Australia was in a stronger position.

While Ms Gillard was backing the Aussie side, she said she would not be making any more bets on sport with Mr Key.

"I think I've learnt my lesson," she told media, with a laugh.

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UK keeps rate low despite recession threat

The Bank of England has voted to keep its key interest rate on hold at a record-low 0.5 per cent. Source: AAP

THE Bank of England has voted to freeze its key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 per cent and maintain the level of its quantitative easing (QE) cash stimulus, despite the threat of a triple-dip recession in Britain.

The central bank said in an unexpectedly long statement that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had voted to maintain its emergency QE stimulus at STG375 billion ($A572 billion).

The BoE said overall economic activity in Britain had been "broadly flat" over the past year, despite worries that the economy could be heading for the third recession in five years.

The stimulus has been used to try and help boost economic output, which unexpectedly shrank by 0.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2012. However, the economy flatlined over the entire year with zero growth.

Across in Frankfurt, the European Central Bank also opted to maintain its main interest rate at a record-low level of 0.75 per cent, amid ongoing debt strains in the crisis-hit eurozone.

The central bank said 12-month inflation would rise further in the near-term and could remain above its two per cent target for the next two years. However, it was then forecast to return to "around" the target as price pressures fade.

Policymakers also mulled withdrawing QE stimulus, to pull inflation lower, but decided it would risk endangering any recovery. QE can risk stoking inflation as it is tantamount to printing money.

Thursday's decisions were in line with expectations and came as incoming BoE governor Mark Carney called for the bank to ready plans for a smooth eventual withdrawal of QE stimulus to avoid major disruption on markets.

Canadian central bank chief Carney - who succeeds BoE boss Mervyn King in July - set out his views on QE before a group of cross-party MPs on parliament's Treasury Select Committee.

"The bank will need to design, implement and ultimately (manage an) exit from unconventional monetary policy measure in a manner that reinforces public confidence," Carney said in written testimony to the committee.

"The exit needs to be achieved without disrupting the gilts (bonds) market," he said ahead of the latest decision.

Quantitative easing involves a central bank creating cash to buy assets such as government and corporate bonds, with the aim of boosting lending by retail banks and stimulating economic activity.

The BoE's main lending rate has stood at the record-low 0.5 per cent since March 2009, when it also embarked on its radical stimulus policy.

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Foreign troops at Mali's rebel-held mount

FRENCH and Chadian troops have pushed to the far northeast of Mali, up to the mountain range where Islamists fighters are thought to be holed up with seven French hostages.

The joint force arrived late on Thursday at the town of Aguelhok, 160km north of the town of Kidal, near Mali's border with Algeria, Malian sources said.

Nearly a month after France sent in the first fighter jets and attack helicopters, it has largely driven the rebels into remote mountains in the far northeast. But the threat from the rebels is still very real.

"French and Chadian soldiers have left Kidal and are currently patrolling in Aguelhok," Malian Captain Aliou Toure told AFP.

"The French and Chadian soldiers left in strength by road," said an official with the administration in Kidal. "They arrived at Aguelhok and are then heading for Tessalit." Tessalit lies even closer to the Algerian border.

Both towns had been targeted with repeated French air strikes over the last few days aimed at knocking out Islamist bases there, French military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said.

The two towns lie in the Adrar des Ifoghas massif, in the far northeast, a craggy mountain landscape honeycombed with caves, where the insurgents are believed to have fled with seven French hostages.

One of the Islamists groups, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), said in a message to AFP Thursday that it had "created a new combat zone" by organising attacks on military convoys and placing landmines.

A landmine blast on Wednesday between the northern towns of Douentza and Gao killed four civilians.

An officer with Mali's paramilitary police initially said the four dead were Malian soldiers, but later said they were civilians returning from market.

That explosion came after a similar blast in the same area on January 31 claimed the lives of two Malian soldiers.

"MUJAO is behind the explosion of two Malian army cars," the group's spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said in a text message to AFP.

He called on Malians to stay away from main roads, which he said had been heavily mined.

French-led forces continue to come under attack in reclaimed territory, including rocket fire directed at them Tuesday in Gao, the largest city in the north.

The shift to guerrilla tactics by the al Qaeda-linked groups, which for 10 months occupied Mali's vast desert north, came as France sought to hand over its four-week-old intervention to UN peacekeepers.

France had moved in as the rebels pushed south, sparking fears that they might try to advance on the capital, Bamako.

Large numbers of troops from France, Mali and Niger have been patrolling Gao, and French helicopters have been monitoring the road between Gao and Douentza, 400km to the southwest.

Paris is keen to hand over the military burden of an operation the defence ministry said has already cost France 70 million euros ($A91.90 million) , with the figure rising by 2.7 million euros every day.

France now has 4,000 troops in Mali, as many as it had in Afghanistan at the peak of its deployment in 2010.

After announcing plans to start withdrawing its soldiers in March, France on Wednesday called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to take over.

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City circle trains closed on the weekend

INNER Sydney train stations including Central, Town Hall and Circular Quay will be shut down over the weekend for trackwork.

RailCorp says major cleaning work will take place at Redfern, Central, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James and Museum stations on February 9 and 10.

RailCorp will also complete infrastructure upgrades including the installation of new track, signals and overhead wiring.

Buses will replace trains on the City Circle and Airport lines, while other lines have been modified.

Commuters are urged to allow for extra travel time and to check CityRail's website for information.

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Govt ordered to release Hobbit documents

The Ombudsman has ordered NZ ministers to release documents about the Hobbit movie deal. Source: AAP

THE Ombudsman has ordered the NZ government to release documents about the deal it struck to ensure the Hobbit movies were made in New Zealand.

Radio New Zealand applied for the documents in November 2010 under the Official Information Act but ministers refused on the grounds they were commercially sensitive.

The broadcaster appealed the decision and on Thursday Ombudsman David McGee ruled 18 documents, including emails between Hobbit director Sir Peter Jackson and government officials, must be released.

The government secured the three movies by changing employment laws and beefing up the tax rebate sweetener for the productions.

Unions fought the law changes and the Labour Party accused the government of chequebook legislation.

In his 29-page ruling Mr McGee says the information in the documents doesn't pose serious commercial risks.

Ministers must hand over the documents on or before March 1 unless the cabinet overrules Mr McGee by invoking a veto which was introduced in 1987 but has never been used.

The first of the Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, premiered in Wellington in November and has been a huge success internationally.

NZ Prime Minister John Key says production generated 3000 extra jobs and New Zealand gained priceless tourism publicity.

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8.0 quake hits Solomons, generates tsunami

A MAJOR 8.0 magnitude earthquake is feared to have flattened villages in the Solomon Islands and triggered a tsunami with destructive potential for Pacific nations' coasts, monitors say.

Tsunami watches were in effect as far afield as Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, and New Zealand was also on guard. But monitors said there was no threat to Australia.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1212 AEDT on Wednesday near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons, which have been hit by a series of strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 5.8 kilometres.

A powerful aftershock of 6.4 magnitude was also recorded.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the Hawaii-based Pacific centre said.

"It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts."

Locals in the Solomons capital Honiara, 580 kilometres from the epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but some villages were destroyed, according to a hospital director.

"The information we are getting is that some villages west and south of Lata along the coast have been destroyed, although we cannot confirm this yet," the director at Lata Hospital on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende, told AFP.

A staff member at the Solomons National Disaster Management Office said officials were concerned about the eastern province of Temotu.

"That's the province, which if it is going to have an effect, then they will be the first people to be impacted," the official, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

"They felt the quake."

He said first reports from the area were that there was a tsunami wave, but he had no further information.

He added that the national disaster operation centre had been activated and they were trying to contact those in Temotu province.

In 2007, a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

The tsunami warning was in effect for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae, Fiji, Kiribati, and Wallis and Futuna.

Australia's earthquake monitoring agency and the Pacific centre said a wave measuring three feet (90 centimetres) had been recorded at Lata, on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende.

"We know that a tsunami has been created," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen said.

He said depending on the location of the quake, bigger waves could hit elsewhere.

"It's a big earthquake anyway in terms of just the shaking," he said.

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