US man has been found years being abducted

A boy who was abducted 19 years ago has been found living in Minnesota under a different name. Source: AAP

A MAN who was abducted his paternal grandparents 19 years ago when he was five years old has been found living in Minnesota under a different name.

Richard Wayne Landers Jr was five years old when he and his grandparents, who were upset over custody arrangements, disappeared from the town of Wolcottville.

Indiana State Police say the now 24-year-old Landers was found in Long Prairie, Minnesota, thanks in part to his Social Security identification number.

His grandparents were living under aliases in a nearby town and confirmed his identity, investigators said. Police declined to say whether the couple would face charges, citing the ongoing investigation.

Landers' mother, Lisa Harter, screamed and was "jumping up and down for joy" when she learned a few days ago that her son had been found, her husband Richard Harter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Thursday. He said his wife is "the happiest woman on earth".

Harter said he and his wife were working with an attorney and hoped to reunite with his stepson soon. Police said Landers is married and expecting his first child.

Harter declined further comment and referred questions about the case to his attorney, who didn't immediately return phone messages on Thursday. Investigators declined to release the names under which Landers and his grandparents had been living.

Police said the boy's paternal grandparents, Richard and Ruth Landers, abducted him in July 1994 because they were "upset over pending court proceedings" regarding his placement.

Police said it appears the boy's father was never in the picture. Lisa and Richard Harter had married a year earlier.

Authorities believe the grandparents took the boy from their home in Wolcottville and fled. They were charged at the time with misdemeanour interference with custody, which was bumped up to a felony in 1999. But the charge was dismissed in 2008 after the case went cold.

Investigators reopened the case in September when Richard Harter turned over the boy's Social Security card to an Indiana State Police detective.

That turned up a man with the same Social Security number and date of birth living in Long Prairie, Minnesota. A driver's licence photo for the man appeared to resemble Landers, police said.

The grandparents were found living under aliases in nearby Browerville, Minnesota, and verified the Minnesota man was Landers.

"By all accounts, it didn't appear he suffered from any abuse, either physical or mental," Galaviz said.

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Iran nuclear talks date set: official

World powers will meet Iranian representatives to discuss the disputed nuclear program in Istanbul. Source: AAP

WORLD powers will meet Iranian top representatives to discuss the Islamic state's disputed nuclear program in Istanbul at the end of January, a Russian official says.

Iran and the so-called "P5+1" nations - the five permanent UN Security Council members along with Germany - have not all met since a June session in Moscow, but an unnamed Russian source told the state RIA Novosti agency that the next meeting has been provisionally scheduled for the end of the month in Istanbul - host of the first such talks last April.

The source did not name a specific date or say when one might be announced.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov - Russia's pointman at the talks and most senior Iran expert - expressed frustration that an exact date had not been fixed.

"We have had situations in the past when we had trouble agreeing a time and place, and we have one now today," Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

He said Moscow wanted to see the momentum of talks continue "without significant delays".

Ryabkov gave no indication whether it was Iran or Catherine Ashton - the EU foreign affairs chief and main Western representative at the negotiations - who had the most serious reservations about new talks.

Three prior "P5+1" meetings have been held with Iran at the most senior level envisioned for the Istanbul session.

None has produced a compromise that sees the powers accept Iran's right to enrich uranium in exchange for its provision of access to closed nuclear facilities and its promise not to make higher-grade material.

Israel and much of the West suspects Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear energy program. Tehran denies the charge.

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Pole embedded in teenager's head

A metal pole has been embedded in a teenager's head during a row at a Sydney birthday party. Source: AAP

A SYDNEY teenager is fighting for his life after a metal pole was embedded in his head during a birthday party brawl.

Police and paramedics were called to a Forestville home in Sydney's north at 11.40pm (AEDT) on Friday after gatecrashers tried to force their way into an 18th birthday party.

In the ensuing fight, an 18-year-old man was struck in the head with a 2.5 metre metal pole.

The pole became embedded in the right side of his head and he was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital, paramedics said.

He underwent surgery and remains in a critical condition.

Police have set up a crime scene at the home and were continuing to question witnesses on Saturday afternoon.

No arrests have been made.

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Sharp shares soar on profit report

SHARP shares jumped nearly 13 per cent in Tokyo trading on Friday after a Japanese media report said the embattled electronics giant logged an operating profit in the last quarter of 2012.

Investors pounced on the mass-circulation Mainichi newspaper story, pushing Sharp's stock up 12.62 per cent to 330 yen by the close, even after the struggling firm itself had previously raised doubts about its survival.

Like rivals Sony and Panasonic, Sharp has suffered a series of credit rating downgrades and warned it expects to lose about $US5.6 billion ($A5.31 billion) in the fiscal year to March.

The company saw a quarterly operating profit of about 20 billion yen ($A213.26 million), its first since the July-September quarter of 2011, the report said without citing sources.

The Mainichi did not say if Sharp would also report a net profit in the three months to December and the company denied the report, saying only that it would release quarterly earnings next month.

Sharp President Takashi Okuda told Japanese media earlier this week that sales have seen a year-on-year increase since September, without elaborating.

The Mainichi said the improved figures were largely due to a pick-up in demand for household appliances and liquid crystal display televisions, a sector where Sharp and other Japanese electronics firms have suffered in the face of stiff overseas competition and a surging yen.

But the Japanese unit has weakened in recent months, helping to make exporters more competitive, while cash-strapped Sharp "cleared a major hurdle" by securing bank loans to stay afloat, it said.

The maker of Aquos-brand electronics is chopping thousands of jobs and cutting wages as part of a substantial restructure.

It also said it would put up real estate as collateral for desperately needed bank loans, including the century-old firm's Osaka headquarters, as it pursued tie-ups with domestic and foreign firms.

In December, Sharp said it had struck a 9.9 billion yen capital injection deal with chipmaker Qualcomm that would see the pair develop energy-efficient LCD panels for smartphones using the Japanese firm's technology.

The US company would initially get about 2.64 per cent of Sharp's stock.

Last year, Sharp said it had reached an $US800 million capital injection deal with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, which makes Apple gadgets in China, but the deal stalled as Sharp's share price nosedived.

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Mineral sands miner's shares rise

SHARES in Base Resources have soared 34 per cent after the Australian company convinced the Kenyan government not to enforce new nationalist laws on it requiring local ownership.

The mineral sands miner's share price has been decimated in recent months in response to the Kenyan government's 35 per cent local equity participation regulation.

Now attorney general Githu Muigai has told Base Resources that its Kwale Mineral Sands Project will not be subject to the law after Base resisted it on the basis that its mining licence was issued before the law existed.

On Friday, the company's shares closed 8.5 cents higher at 33.5 cents.

The company's share price nearly halved from 43 cents when its market capitalisation was $240 million after the government announced the new law in October.

It appears Base Resources has made an enemy in Kenya's environment and resources minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere after he revoked three of its mining licences in other areas in the country.

Base Resources managing director Tim Carstens said he was confident the company would get the licences back, saying he believed Mr Mwakwere had been angered by the miner's actions over the direct equity laws, but lawyers had advised there was no legal basis for the requirements.

Resources nationalism - whether direct equity or higher, mining taxes - is being increasingly pursued by governments globally, including in Africa, as tension rises with mining companies opposed to restrictions on their earnings.

Mr Carstens said while he supported the government's desire to use mining to drag its economy out of poverty, he thought the environment minister was getting ahead of the debate.

Kenya did not currently have a mining industry or a history of one and there wasn't the money or appetite there to sell 35 per cent of the project to local investors, he said.

"There simply isn't $150 million in Kenya to put into it, it would be completely impossible to implement and would benefit the privileged few which I am not prepared to participate in," he told AAP.

Mr Carstens said he wanted more Kenyan investors on the company's registry and would be conducting a roadshow there next month, but it would take more time to deepen its capital pools and understanding of mining.

He described resources nationalism as a problem and due to a perception that the industry was making super profits, which he said was not occurring most years.

"The debate is valuable: how do you balance the dual needs of enticing foreign investment in a nascent industry where you don't have expertise to develop it yourself and balance it against making sure the Kenyan people get maximum benefit from exploitation of their minerals," he said.

The $300 million project is due to make its first bulk shipments in November.

The company says the project is still robust, despite heavy falls in prices for mineral sands, which are used variously in ceramic tiles and to make titanium dioxide for pigments for paints, plastics and paper.

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Fluorescent mosquitoes on the loose in WA

SCIENTISTS in Perth have revealed an incredible research project to track the movements of metropolitan mosquitoes - by letting them loose covered in fluorescent pink and orange paint.

Western Australia's Department of Health are embarking on the amazing project to study the flight activity of mosquitoes in central Perth, and hopefully provide valuable information on mosquito-borne disease risk.

To do it, they intend to let loose hundreds of fluorescent insects into Perth's atmosphere, and then recapture them in specially baited traps to find out where they flew to and how long it took.

The mosquitoes will first be captured at their breeding ground on Heirisson Island, in the Swan River, where they will be dusted with the highly identifiable fluoro-coloured powders, before being released back into Perth's atmosphere.

Another 50 recapture traps, which will use carbon dioxide to entice the insects from up to 100m away, will be set up in a grid pattern around Perth.

When these traps recapture the coloured mosquitoes, this will allow researchers to work out how far the mosquitoes have travelled, how long they took to cover the distance and the direction they took to get there.

Ryan Janes, a scientific officer with the mosquito-borne disease control unit at the health department, said the more that can be discovered about the behaviour patterns of metropolitan mosquitoes, the more can be done to learn how to repel them.

"We'll also compare this information with environmental data such as rainfall patterns and wind direction to see if there is any correlation between these conditions and mosquito flight activity," Mr Janes explained.

"The more we learn about the dispersal patterns of these metropolitan mosquitoes, the more accurately we can target them with timely measures to minimise their impact on residents."

Some homeowners and local councils might even be asked for permission to allow traps to be set in their gardens to assist in the project.

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Tas radio station at centre of healing

A COMMUNITY radio station born out of the Port Arthur massacre hopes to be at the heart of another healing process after the devastating Tasman Peninsula bushfires.

Tasman FM was created to help that community recover from the deaths of 35 people at the historic convict site in 1996.

Now its manager Alder Thompson, 72, hopes to be able to do the same again after fires that destroyed more than 100 properties in the area.

"I personally would like to interview some of these people and just let the public know what's been happening," Mrs Thompson told AAP.

"If you hear their story you think, oh, I'm not quite so bad off.

"There's always someone else out there worse off than you."

Mrs Thompson, who married the station's president four years ago, regularly presents Irish and country music programs.

The station is based at Nubeena, where a refuge at the town's civic centre hosted 2000 people at the height of the crisis.

Unable to broadcast due to the bushfire emergency, its staff have volunteered at the centre, starting their days as early as 5am.

Mrs Thompson said one of the station's broadcasters, a 17-year-old, had saved his family's house.

"They've got a disabled daughter," she said.

"They had to get her out and he said, 'You go Mum, I'm staying'. And he saved the house.

"I think he deserves an award."

The station has a simple slogan: "At the heart of the community, at the centre of the dial."

It's in the middle of things again and the community knows it may not be the last time.

"It's been a learning curve but we've managed," Mrs Thompson said.

"When we had the fires in '67 (they said) this wouldn't happen again.

"Then we had the Port Arthur massacre, (they said) this won't happen again.

"But you never know, do you?"

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Nine killed in spate of Iraq attacks

A SPATE of bombings and shootings in Baghdad and a restive province north of the capital have killed nine people, officials say.

In Baghdad, a car bomb at 0500 GMT (1600 AEDT Thursday) killed at least three people and wounded 11 others near a police station in the predominantly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Hurriyah.

A series of separate shootings and bombings in Diyala province killed six people and wounded six others. The victims included an army officer gunned down inside his house and two guards of Diyala University's president killed in bomb blasts as they were escorting him in a convoy.

The latest violence comes with Iraq mired in a series of interlocking crises that have raised tensions as anti-government protesters have blocked off a key trade route in more than two weeks of ongoing rallies.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks but Sunni militants often target Shi'ite areas and official targets in a bid to destabilise the government and reignite the brutal sectarian conflict that engulfed Iraq from 2005 to 2008.

Violence is down in Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad and Diyala, which has the highest per capita rate of civilian deaths nationwide according to monitor group Iraq Body Count.

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Cyclone Narelle nears WA coast

RESOURCES operations in the north of Western Australia are bracing for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which continues to track towards the coastline carrying wind gusts of up to 250km/h at its centre.

The category-three cyclone is forecast to bring 100km/h gales to coastal areas between Whim Creek and Onslow, including the Karratha area, later on Friday.

These could extend west to Exmouth and Ningaloo on Saturday morning, with winds likely to increase during Saturday around the west Pilbara coast.

At 1500 WST on Thursday, Narelle was 740km north of Exmouth and 610km north-northwest of Karratha, moving south-southwest at 19km/h.

The Bureau of Meteorology said winds were likely to pick up during Saturday about the west Pilbara coast, with destructive gusts over 130km/h overnight.

WA's multibillion-dollar resources industry is preparing for the cyclone, with iron ore ports at Cape Lambert and Dampier due to close and Apache closing down the Stag and Van Gogh oil fields.

"Production is continuing from the Varanus Island and Devil Creek gas hubs. Apache will continue to closely monitor all facilities during the passage of the cyclone, and further updates may be provided," a spokesman said.

Chevron is also readying to evacuate workers from Barrow Island.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Lex McCulloch warned companies on land and sea to be prepared.

"The worst thing people can do is underestimate the power of a cyclone. Seven people died as a result of Cyclone Bobby in February 1995, and three more lives were lost during Cyclone George in March 2007," he said.

Airlines, including Cobham and Qantas, are scheduling flights to evacuate workers from drilling platforms and mining sites.

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Palmer Qld refinery at tipping point: WWF

CONSERVATIONISTS are concerned tailing ponds at a north Queensland nickel refinery owned by mining magnate Clive Palmer will burst during the upcoming wet season.

WWF Australia spokesman Nick Heath says three ponds containing toxic industrial waste at Queensland Nickel's Yabulu refinery near Townsville were already at capacity and could collapse when seasonal storms hit, creating a major environmental disaster.

"Heavy rains from the wet season could hit this area any day now, we have a ticking time bomb on our hands," Mr Heath said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The government needs to urgently reveal how it plans to fix this."

The state government says its Environment and Heritage Protection department is talking with Queensland Nickel to address water management issues.

Ingrid Fomiatti Minnesma, the department's acting executive director, says the refinery has submitted a corrective action plan.

She said the plan includes proposals to divert stormwater away from the tailings dams and to construct additional contaminated water storage capacity on the site.

"The department is reviewing the TEP (Transitional Environmental Program) as a matter of priority," Ms Minnesma said in a statement.

Queensland Nickel requires a permit from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) to release tailings into the ocean.

Mr Heath said dumping millions of litres of contaminated water into the Great Barrier Reef was not the answer.

"The tailings dam water contains metals, nutrients and nitrogen," he said.

"Not only could a release damage parts of the reef but the chemicals could enter the food chain, potentially affecting the fish we eat."

GBRMPA says it's concerned about any proposal to discharge hazardous waste from the refinery's dams into the marine park or nearby coastal wetlands.

"The refinery has known since at least May 2012 that the tailing storage facility was reaching capacity but has failed to act effectively to deal with the situation," GBRMPA written statement says.

Queensland Nickel applied for a permit to discharge into the marine park on May 30 last year.

GBRMPA said it requested more information but the refinery failed to meet the deadline and the application was considered "withdrawn".

Queensland Nickel has been contacted but is yet to respond.

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Hopes rise for fatality-free Tas fires

Authorities warn the bushfire threat in southern Tasmania remains high, despite cooler conditions. Source: AAP

CONFIDENCE is rising that the worst bushfires in Tasmania in nearly half a century could be fatality free.

Police had held grave fears for up to 100 people but now say they have no concerns for any specific missing person.

Acting Commissioner Scott Tilyard said police were still to account for everyone but hopes were rising after searches of 850 sites.

"We have no missing persons reports in circumstances where we hold grave fears for the safety of any individual, which is a very positive position to be in," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"As time goes by that confidence gains but we're still yet to complete our searching process.

"Until such time as we have then we really can't confirm that no one has passed away.

"The indications up until now are good and we hope that continues."

Tasmania is widely considered to have suffered its worst fires since 1967, when 62 lives and 2000 properties were lost.

The blazes which began last Thursday have destroyed 130 properties and burnt 110,000 hectares.

"We certainly were expecting that we might find deceased people given the ferocity of the fire, particularly as it moved through the peninsula last Friday," Mr Tilyard said.

"So the outcome has been better than what we anticipated."

There have also been few injuries, with only minor burns, scratches, bruises and smoke inhalation reported, much of it among firefighters.

Cool conditions in Tasmania had allowed authorities to downgrade most of the state's 30 bushfires by Wednesday evening.

Watch and act warnings are in place for the Tasman Peninsula, Montumana in the northwest and Curries River in the state's north with winds still causing problems.

Warmer temperatures and northwesterly winds on Thursday and Friday could increase the danger, Tasmania Fire Service's Deputy Chief Officer Gavin Freeman said.

"Just because it's cooler conditions doesn't mean it's safe," he said.

Meanwhile, frustrated townsfolk from bushfire-ravaged Dunalley in southeast Tasmania could return to their properties as soon as Friday.

Tasmania Police plan to start allowing people to return to the state's worst-hit town in stages.

"If all goes to plan on Friday that will give us a clearer idea of how quickly we can expedite the return of people to other areas," Mr Tilyard said.

Up to 90 homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged in and around the Tasman Peninsula fishing village.

Health and safety concerns have meant residents who fled the area have not been allowed back and the Arthur Highway to the peninsula has stayed closed.

Mr Tilyard said some residents had become frustrated.

"The vast majority of people ... are quite understanding when it's explained to them why they can't be allowed through," he said.

"There will always be one or two people whose worry and frustration does tip over into a little bit of anger."

A police-escorted bus convoy was taking evacuees back to the Tasman Peninsula to collect abandoned cars on Wednesday evening.

Thousands of visitors to the peninsula fled a massive blaze by boat on the weekend, leaving hundreds of private and hire vehicles behind.

And the state government was warning Tasmanians to be wary of people seeking to profiteer from the fires.

Minister for Consumer Protection Nick McKim says people should be careful of businesses overcharging or of fraudulently collecting donations.

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Aussie tourist missing in Waikato River

AN Australian tourist is missing after getting into trouble while swimming downstream from a dam near Taupo.

The man, in his 20s, went for a swim in the area known as the Full James Rapids, downstream from the Aratiatia Dam on the Waikato River, police said on Wednesday evening.

He started calling for help. A female companion ran to the riverbank but he disappeared from view.

Police were called about 6.15pm.

A jetboat, jetski and inflatable are searching the river.

Police spokeswoman Kim Perks told NZ Newswire the search would continue on Wednesday night for as long as realistically possible.

She would not say where in Australia the man was from while his next of kin were being contacted.

The gates of the Aratiatia Dam, about 14km downstream from Lake Taupo, are opened several times a day to create a temporary but spectacular rapids.

The last opening each day is at 4pm, which meant the rapids would have died down by the time the man went swimming.

It was not known if the man was a strong swimmer, Ms Perks said.

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Bushfire evacuee faces worry, exhaustion

IT'S exhausting work being pregnant and a diabetic as a bushfire bears down on your home town.

Tarcutta mother-of-four Lisa Harnett, who is 18 weeks pregnant, frantically piled her kids in the car to spend Tuesday afternoon at the southwest NSW town's RSL Club, which is serving as its evacuation centre.

Her husband is on call with the State Emergency Service (SES).

With the Hume Highway closed in both directions, it was too late for Mrs Harnett to leave town and head to Gundagai or Wagga Wagga hospitals for medical attention.

"I probably should have been on a drip today," she told AAP.

"I've got all my insulin with me, it's just that I feel crappy because I'm hot and I can't lay down to rest."

She usually checks her blood sugar levels four times a day but has doubled the checks as a precaution.

About 20 people sought shelter at the club but most had returned home on Tuesday afternoon.

Mrs Harnett's daughter Gabriella, 11, was worried about their horses, a six month old Border Collie pup at home, three cats, two other dogs, and the chickens.

"There's the feeling of panic that the animals will be burned alive and the house will be lost," Mrs Harnett said.

"Life can just change in a second."

The family was also looking after the neighbour's horses while they're on holiday in Queensland but all the animals are safe so far.

RSL club director Ngharie McCallum told AAP there were unconfirmed reports the Tarcutta blaze may have been deliberately lit.

But a police spokeswoman at Tarcutta could not confirm if police were hunting for an arsonist.

"It's certainly going to be investigated ... as a matter of course," she told AAP.

Mrs McCallum said the mood at the club was very tense as the fire approached the town.

She was most concerned for the welfare of a woman in her 80s who had evacuated her cattle property and forgotten her medication.

"One chap said he wouldn't let her go home tonight in case the conditions change because she's isolated," Mrs McCallum said.

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US gay marriage bans before court in March

THE US Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 26 and 27 on the sensitive topic of gay marriage, one of the thorniest social disputes in modern America.

Same-sex marriage is currently barred by a federal law, yet legal in nine states and the capital, Washington.

The court's announcement last month that it would take up the issue received cheers from opponents and advocates of the practice alike, who said a ruling by the justices could help settle the topic.

In announcing its schedule, the court said it would take up the question of California's ban on same-sex unions first, on March 26, and then the next day hear challenges to a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples.

The court is expected to hand down its ruling in June.

The country's highest court set aside an hour for each case, but observers believe that the hearings could well last much longer, because President Barack Obama's administration as well as a group of elected Republicans have each been called to give their opinions.

On March 26, the Supreme Court will consider whether the 14th amendment to the US Constitution, which requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all people, would bar California from defining marriage in its own constitution as "between one man and one woman."

If the court decides against the California ban, its decision could affect the 31 other states that forbid gay marriage in their constitutions or legislation.

Then on March 27, the court will turn to the federal Defence of Marriage Act, or "DOMA," which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman and denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

These benefits include inheritance rights, tax breaks, filing of joint income tax returns, and health insurance coverage.

President Barack Obama's government does not support this view of marriage and would like the law to be overturned, but conservative campaigners are urging the Supreme Court to rule that the act is constitutional.

The court will focus on the case of Edith Windsor, a gay woman legally married in Canada who has been told to pay tax on inheriting the estate of her deceased partner.

The Supreme Court will rule whether DOMA violates the guarantee of equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the US constitution.

It will also decide if the Obama administration's position that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives the Supreme Court of jurisdiction, and whether a complaint by some US MPs has legal standing.

There are 50,000 to 80,000 same-sex couples who have been married legally in the US.

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Fire-weary Boomer Bay man to fight on

THE loss of his home and a decade of work can't make Simon Tully abandon Boomer Bay.

Together with his son Tully, Mr Brooks tried in vain to save his house as a bushfire roared across the Tasman Peninsula, in southern Tasmania, on Friday.

The two fought the blaze for more than nine hours, but were overcome, and their seaside home and one of his workshops were left in ruins.

"We did what we could," he said.

"It was just too much for us to handle. We ran out of water."

Mr Brooks, who makes pewter sculptures, said he lost priceless moulds and more than a decade's work in the inferno.

He said he wasn't planning on leaving, despite the ongoing bushfire threat.

"I've got one workshop left ... we're digging in," he said.

"We've just got to work out what we've got left and what we can work with."

Mr Brooks said he planned to be back selling his statues at Hobart's famous Salamanca Markets this Saturday.

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Post-smartphone era coming, says expert

THE era of the smartphone is rapidly becoming a post-smartphone era, a key tech industry analyst has said ahead of the opening of the world's biggest technology show in the US.

Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, told a gathering on Sunday that the smartphone has become so successful it is become a hub for people's digital lives, and less of a communications device.

"I think we are entering a post-smartphone era," he told journalists ahead of Tuesday's opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

He said 65 per cent of time spend on smartphones now is "non communication activities" such as apps for health, entertainment or other activities.

"We have moved away not only from telephony but from communications being the primary part of these devices," he said.

"So it is not just a communications devices, it is a hardware hub around which people build services... the smartphone is becoming the viewfinder for your digital life."

DuBravac said this is among the key trends being watched as tens of thousands gather to show off the latest wares in global trillion-dollar technology sector.

Another trend is the high-density screens which are being developed for smartphones, tablets, computers and bigger devices such as televisions.

"This has implications for the web generally," he said.

Because people have higher-quality screens, "We are going to demand high resolution images, and that will have an impact on a variety of internet services.

"We see it happening at the smartphone level. But this is a shift that is happening across all screens."

Still, DuBravac said the so-called ultra-HD televisions touted by some makers has been slow to catch on because of high costs.

Only around 1.5 million of these TVs are expected to be sold annually by 2016, he said.

"We are not expecting this to be a technology that ramps very quickly," he noted.

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Tas has new fire-front as search continues

THE painstaking search for people still missing in the Tasmanian bushfires is continuing as the state turns its attention to a new fire front.

Teams of police, Tasmanian and interstate fire services, SES and army reserves are picking their way through the ruins of houses in the area south of the worst-hit town, Dunalley.

About 250 properties have been searched in and around Dunalley, including 90 badly damaged or destroyed buildings, but no bodies have been located.

Police are reluctant to put an exact figure on the number still missing but Acting Commissioner Scott Tilyard suggested there had been little change from the 100 who were unaccounted for on Sunday.

"About 500 inquiries still need to be confirmed that people have definitely been accounted for," Mr Tilyard told reporters on Monday.

"There's a significantly lower number of people that we do have more serious concerns about.

"Yesterday it was around about 100 people."

Teams in overalls and masks were working in Dunalley, while 65 searchers were heading to the more densely-forested areas of Murdunna and Sommers Bay.

"It will be a period of time to come yet before we're in a position to say that no one has died as a result of these fires," Mr Tilyard said.

The ongoing search continues as authorities issued an emergency warning for a fire burning near Mawbanna, west of Burnie in the state's northwest.

Nearby residents were being told it was too late to leave as warm weather continued to hamper firefighting efforts.

Four secondary level warnings were also in place across the state, including the Forcett blaze that razed Dunalley and a fire near Bicheno on the east coast which has destroyed up to 15 buildings.

Police say the largest fire is likely to have started when a tree-stump was not completely extinguished before bans were imposed.

"It now appears that there might have been a root system underground that was still burning that's worked its way to the surface and ignited the fire," Mr Tilyard said.

The Tasman Peninsula remained cut off on Monday but police had begun escorted convoys to deliver badly needed supplies and were assessing whether to let the hundreds still stranded to leave.

The Nubeena community was still looking after 500 people and Port Arthur around 250.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard got through, touring Dunalley after her motorcade was taken into the area under police escort.

"There's really no way of fully appreciating it apart from seeing it yourself," Ms Gillard said.

"(But) the fact that we can stand here shouldn't fool people into thinking that there's no continuing firefighting going on."

Ms Gillard defended her itinerary with many residents from Dunalley still unable to return because of safety concerns.

"I understand the frustration of people who want to get back to see what's happened to their home," Ms Gillard said.

"The thing that would be worse ... would be to try to go and see it and get hurt doing so."

The Insurance Council of Australia said at least $26 million in damage had been done to homes, businesses, vehicles and holiday shacks, but expected the figure to rise sharply.

Energy supplier Aurora said about 3000 homes on the peninsula were without power, and some could expect to remain so for several weeks.

Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings, who cut short a holiday in the UK, warned the fire danger was not over.

"It's very important people remain vigilant," she said.

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Assad plan 'detached from reality': US

The US says Bashar al-Assad's (pic) speech is another attempt to cling to power. Source: AAP

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad's road map to end the civil war ravaging his country is "detached from reality" and he should step down, the US State Department says.

Assad's speech "is yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people's goal of a political transition.

His initiative is detached from reality," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Sunday.

Nuland also said Assad's proposal undermined the work of special UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and "would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people".

"For nearly two years, the Assad regime has brutalised its own people," she said.

"Assad has lost all legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and a democratic transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people."

Earlier on Sunday, Assad delivered a speech in which he outlined a three-phase plan to put an end to the 21-month-old conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

The Syrian president branded the opposition "slaves" of the West and told foreign powers to stop backing the rebels.

"Right after that, our military operations will cease," Assad said, adding, without elaborating, that a mechanism would be set up to monitor any such truce.

Damascus would then step up contacts to convene a national dialogue conference with opponents "inside and outside" Syria who do not take orders from abroad.

Eventually, a national charter would be drawn up and voted upon in a referendum.

Nuland however said Washington would continue to support Brahimi's efforts to implement a framework for peace endorsed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League and the UN General Assembly.

She accused Assad's regime of "deliberately stoking sectarian tensions and continuing to kill its own people by attacking Sunni towns and villages" in parts of Latakia province.

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Police clash with protesters in Bangladesh

A general strike in Bangladesh has shut down schools and shops in the capital Dhaka. Source: AAP

POLICE in Bangladesh have fired rubbers bullets and tear gas shells to disperse protesters trying to enforce a general strike called to denounce a fuel price hike.

An alliance of 18 opposition parties, led by ex-Premier Khaleda Zia, is trying to enforce a dawn-to-dusk strike on Sunday after the government announced a nine per cent hike in fuel prices, the fifth increase since 2009.

Sunday is a working day in this Muslim-majority country.

The government said the hike was needed to cut the subsidies - estimated at more than $US300 million ($A288 million) a year - it pays on fuel.

Critics said the latest hike will further increase inflation now running at nine per cent.

"The hike will have a chain effect on transport fares, the cost of agricultural and industrial production," said Mokaddes Akash, an economist. "This will thus compound public suffering."

Dhaka's Somoy TV and Independent Television reported that protesters exploded about a dozen homemade bombs - explosives filled in tin pots - in central Dhaka. At least six vehicles were set on fire.

Police say they used rubber bullets and tear gas to prevent protesters from attacking vehicles that defied the strike.

Nearly 25 people were injured in the clashes, said a police officer speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The strike shut down schools and shops in capital Dhaka, a city of 15 million people. Most transport went off the streets, but authorities said trains and river ferries operated without any disruptions.

General strikes are a common opposition tactic in Bangladesh to highlight demands.

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McChrystal takes blame for article

SPEAKING out for the first time since he resigned, retired General Stanley McChrystal takes the blame for a Rolling Stone article and the unflattering comments attributed to his staff about the Obama administration that ended his Afghanistan command and army career.

"Regardless of how I judged the story for fairness or accuracy, responsibility was mine," McChrystal writes in his new memoir, in a carefully worded denouncement of the story.

The Rolling Stone article anonymously quoted McChrystal's aides as criticising Obama's team, including Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden had disagreed with McChrystal's strategy that called for more troops in Afghanistan. Biden preferred to send a smaller counterterrorism and training force - a policy the White House is now considering as it transitions troops from the Afghan war.

McChrystal adds the choice to resign as US commander in Afghanistan was his own.

"I called no one for advice," he writes in My Share of the Task, describing his hasty plane ride back to Washington only hours after the article appeared in 2010, to offer his resignation to President Barack Obama.

McChrystal was immediately replaced by his then-boss, General David Petraeus.

McChrystal devotes a scant page-and-a-half to the incident that ended his 34-year military career and soured trust between the military and media. The book, published by Portfolio/Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, comes out on Monday.

The closest McChrystal comes to revealing his regret over allowing a reporter weeks of unfettered access with few ground rules comes much earlier in the book.

"By nature I tended to trust people and was typically open and transparent. ... But such transparency would go astray when others saw us out of context or when I gave trust to those few who were unworthy of it."

McChrystal does try to explain the tensions that helped lead to Obama's decision to accept his resignation. At the centre was the wrangle over McChrystal's recommendation for 40,000 more US troops in Afghanistan - and conflicting guidance.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates told McChrystal to request the number he thought he needed. White House staff signalled that the newly-elected president wanted to keep the levels down.

McChrystal describes how he presented his war goal to the White House as "defeat the Taliban" and "secure the population," and was advised to lower his sights to "degrade" the Taliban.

Obama approved the addition of 30,000 troops, while simultaneously announcing a withdrawal date of 2014. McChrystal did not challenge those decisions, though he says he worried the timetable would embolden the Taliban.

As for the Rolling Stone fallout, a Pentagon inquiry into the magazine's profile cleared McChrystal of wrongdoing and called into question the accuracy of the June 2010 story. The review, released in April 2011, concluded that not all of the events at issue happened as reported in the article.

Rolling Stone issued a statement saying it stood behind freelance writer Michael Hastings' story, which it called "accurate in every detail."

There is no bitterness or score-settling with the White House staff that had pushed for his departure over the article. McChrystal and the White House moved beyond the matter, and first lady Michelle Obama invited McChrystal to serve on the board of Joining Forces, a White House initiative for troops and their families.

The book details the general's rise through the ranks, from his time as a West Point cadet to serving in the 82nd Airborne Corps and earning his Special Forces Green Beret, and then commanding a battalion of the 75th Ranger regiment.

McChrystal describes only briefly an incident that nearly ended his career years earlier: allegations of a cover-up involving the friendly fire incident that killed football-star-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman. McChrystal approved a Silver Star for valour, with a citation that stated Tillman had been cut down by "devastating enemy fire."

But as reports came in from the troops at the scene, McChrystal realised Tillman may have died by fratricide. He sent an oblique warning to his superiors that President George W. Bush should delete mention of enemy fire from his remarks, when presenting the award to Tillman's family at his memorial service.

Of the memoir, McChrystal said he "accepted many suggested changes and redactions, some reluctantly, particularly where public knowledge of facts and events has outpaced existing security guidelines", in order to "keep faith with the comrades I had served alongside."

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Toyota to suspend new plants: report

JAPAN'S Toyota Motor has decided to halt the construction of new factories for the next three years in a shift from its previous policy of building new plants almost annually, reports say.

The company, which hopes to regain top spot in the global auto market, would concentrate its capital investment on existing factories, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.

The new policy would basically shelve through to the end of the 2015 fiscal year all plans for building new factories other than those already announced, the paper said.

The company would officially announce the decision in a new management plan to be released in coming months, Jiji Press said, adding that Toyota wanted to increase efficiency and cut costs.

Japan's largest automaker now has about 50 overseas plants and just under 30 domestic ones.

Toyota said in late December that it sold an estimated 9.7 million vehicles in 2012, which could put it ahead of General Motors and Volkswagen as the world's biggest automaker.

The company expects to sell about 9.91 million vehicles this year.

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