US stocks rise on Fed stimulus hopes

US stocks have opened higher as investors expected the Federal Reserve would announce new support for the sluggish economy following a two-day monetary policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 37.44 points (0.28 per cent) to 13,285.88 in the first 10 minutes of trade, building on a five-day winning streak.

The S&P 500-stock index advanced 4.08 (0.29 per cent) to 1431.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 9.87 (0.33 per cent) at 3032.17.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is due to announce its monetary policy update at 12:30 pm (0430 AEST).

"Wall Street is speculating the Fed will replace the expiring Operation Twist program with a fresh round of Treasury purchases," said Karee Venema of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

On Tuesday, gains in technology shares underpinned Wall Street gains.

The Dow added 0.60 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 0.65 per cent and the Nasdaq 1.18 per cent.

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Singapore official resigns after affair

THE speaker of Singapore's parliament has resigned after admitting to an extramarital affair, adding to a list of scandals that have undermined the city-state's reputation for clean and efficient governance.

Michael Palmer, the speaker and a member of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party, said his conduct was "improper" and a "serious error of judgment," according to reports by the strait-laced island's state media.

The woman Palmer had an affair with was employed by a government statutory board and worked in Palmer's constituency. Palmer said he resigned to avoid further embarrassment to the parliament and the ruling party, which has been in power since 1959.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement that all members of parliament need to uphold the highest standards of personal conduct.

The scandal could result in an election to fill the vacant seat in parliament for Punggol East constituency that Palmer represented, but Lee indicated that he won't be calling a by-election any time soon.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Lee noted that the constitution does not require him to call a by-election within a fixed timeframe. "I will carefully consider whether to call a by-election in Punggol East and, if so, when. I assure Singaporeans that I will make my decision based on what is best for the constituents of Punggol East and the country," he wrote.

A by-election would have been another opportunity for voters to express discontent with the ruling party which has suffered a drop in popularity because of an influx of foreign workers and widening inequality. Palmer won Punggol East with 54.5 per cent of the vote in general elections last year.

The government has been embarrassed by a succession of scandals and mishaps that might hardly raise eyebrows in many neighbouring Southeast Asian countries but have caused outrage in Singapore where the ruling party has cultivated a pristine image.

Last month, immigrant Chinese bus drivers staged Singapore's first strike in 26 years in protest at poor working conditions and low pay. Earlier in the year, the chiefs of Singapore's civil defence force and anti-narcotics unit were sacked and charged with corruption for awarding business contracts in exchange for sexual favours from female company executives.

The government's competence was also questioned after subway breakdowns and flash floods that inundated an upmarket shopping district.

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UK officer jailed over nuclear secrets

A ROYAL Navy petty officer has been sentenced to eight years in prisons for passing nuclear submarine secrets to British intelligence agents impersonating Russian spies.

Petty Officer Edward Devenney, who was sentenced on Wednesday, was arrested after the undercover operation organised by Britain's domestic security agency, MI5. He was charged with communicating information that could be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Devenney, 30, from Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to gathering details of programs used to encrypt secret information. He also admitted misconduct in a public office in relation to a meeting with two people he thought were from the Russian secret service.

He acknowledged discussing the movement of British nuclear submarines with the pair, who were in fact members of the British secret service.

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NKoreans hail rocket launch; UN condemns

NORTH Koreans have danced in the streets to celebrate the country's first satellite in space, as world leaders in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo condemn the successful rocket launch.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the launch, which is widely seen as a test that takes the country one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific.

The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for "galaxy", blasted off from a launch pad northwest of Pyongyang shortly before 10am (1200 AEST).

A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch.

Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea, and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of kilometres further south.

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Hey Dad! star Hughes to land in Sydney

ACTOR Robert Hughes will arrive in Sydney within hours to answer child sex abuse allegations dating back to the 1980s, when he was a Hey Dad! television star.

Hughes, 64, boarded Qantas flight QF2 at London's Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Singapore on Tuesday night.

His flight was due to land in Sydney at 6.50am (AEDT) on Thursday.

Lawyer Greg Walsh, acting for Hughes, said it would be an anxious plane ride.

"When I spoke to him before he got on board, I think he was pretty stressed, pretty worried, as any human being would be in that situation," he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

Hughes consented to an order sought by Australia's attorney-general that he return to Sydney for questioning in relation to claims made by five people.

A warrant, signed by Britain's home secretary, outlines 11 accusations dating between 1984 and 1990, which coincides with the actor's starring role in the hit family sitcom Hey Dad!.

Hughes has not been charged and has been on bail since his arrest in London in August.

Mr Walsh said Hughes emphatically denied all the allegations and would vigorously defend them.

"I would hope that the judicial system would be able to deal with the matter in due course without, hopefully, the intense media scrutiny that the case has attracted," he said.

According to Mr Walsh, Hughes was being escorted by three police officers and will be taken to the Sydney Police Centre upon his return to Australia.

AAP st/alm/

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Pope hits 1m mark as he tweets

POPE Benedict XVI has hit the one million Twitter follower mark as he sent his first tweet from his new account, blessing his online fans and urging them to listen to Christ.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict tapped the screen of a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience after the equivalent of a papal drum roll by an announcer who intoned: "And now the Pope will tweet!"

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," the inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict's (at)Pontifex accounts surpassed the one million mark, with all eight languages of the Pope's account combined.

While the (at)Pontifex English account remains the most popular, nearing 800,000 followers, the Pope is tweeting simultaneously in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Polish and Arabic. Each language has its own handle, though they're all the Pope's account: (at)Pontifex-es, for Spanish for example, (at)Pontifex-it for Italian, (at)Pontifex-fr for French, and so on.

The first papal tweet has been the subject of intense curiosity - as well as merciless jokes, criticism and commentary. "The Pope has an iPad?" comedian Jon Stewart asked earlier this year. The Onion satirical newspaper ran a piece "Pope tweets picture of self with God." And in perhaps a more long-term and problematic issue for the Vatican, the (at)Pontifex handle was flooded with negative messages from users remarking on the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Vatican officials have said they expected such negativity, but that is a risk they take by putting the Catholic Church's message out.

"These are already all over the internet, in newspapers, in so many forms of expression," the Reverend Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica told Vatican Radio this week. "They form part of ordinary communication."

Benedict actually sent his first tweet over a year ago, using a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. Someone in his name tweeted daily during Lent, part of the Vatican's efforts to increase the Church presence in social media.

As incongruous as it may seem for the 85-year-old Benedict to be on Twitter, Vatican officials have stressed that he is merely walking in the footsteps of his predecessors in using the latest in communications technology to spread the faith.

Pope Pius XI, for example, caused a similar stir when he launched Vatican Radio some 80 years ago to bring the Pope's message on radio waves around the globe. The Vatican also has its own newspaper, television service and maintains dedicated YouTube channels and an internet news portal.

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Over 2 million Afghans at risk this winter

MORE than 2 million Afghans are at risk from cold, disease and malnutrition this winter as an international appeal for funds to help one of the world's poorest countries has fallen drastically short of its goal, the United Nations and several humanitarian agencies are warning.

Only 48 per cent of $US448 million ($A427.58 million) that has been requested to help 8.8 million Afghans had been pledged by the end of November, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Preparations are under way to help Afghans deal with harsh winter conditions, especially 400,000 people who live in some of the most remote mountainous areas of northern and central Afghanistan.

Snow has already covered mountain tops and the first snowfall of the year was forecast for later this week in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Last year, Afghanistan experienced its coldest winter and heaviest snowfall in more than 15 years.

"People live in remote areas with no access to health facilities," said Mohammad Daim Kakar, director of the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority. "Many people die of pneumonia and measles."

According to the UN and other humanitarian agencies working here, 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces have high-risk areas where emergency food, fuel and medical supplies are needed.

Heavy snows and avalanches killed dozens of people in parts of the country last winter, including more than 30 - many of them children - who froze to death in Kabul.

The Afghan capital is home to 55 makeshift camps that house more than 30,000 people - many of them displaced from elsewhere in Afghanistan because of violence.

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'Serious differences' in fiscal stand-off:

THE White House and politicians have yet to reach a deal on averting a looming fiscal crisis, with the top Republican in Congress warning on Wednesday that "serious differences" remain on how to further reduce the debt.

"We don't have an agreement today," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters a day after speaking with President Barack Obama to discuss their recent exchange of offers on how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff."

Boehner acknowledged that Obama lowered his opening gambit of $US1.6 trillion ($A1.53 trillion) in new tax revenue over the coming decade to $1.4 trillion, but said the White House was not putting forward enough spending cuts on offer to make the deal palatable.

"I remain the most optimistic person in this town, but we've got some serious differences," Boehner said.

Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor said politicians should prepare to stay in Washington right up until Christmas Eve, then return after Christmas to the brink of the new year in a bid to approve legislation to prevent taxes from rising on all Americans and automatic federal spending cuts from kicking in.

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Pope hits 1m mark as he tweets

POPE Benedict XVI has hit the one million Twitter follower mark as he sent his first tweet from his new account, blessing his online fans and urging them to listen to Christ.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict tapped the screen of a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience after the equivalent of a papal drum roll by an announcer who intoned: "And now the Pope will tweet!"

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," the inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict's (at)Pontifex accounts surpassed the one million mark, with all eight languages of the Pope's account combined.

While the (at)Pontifex English account remains the most popular, nearing 800,000 followers, the Pope is tweeting simultaneously in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Polish and Arabic. Each language has its own handle, though they're all the Pope's account: (at)Pontifex-es, for Spanish for example, (at)Pontifex-it for Italian, (at)Pontifex-fr for French, and so on.

The first papal tweet has been the subject of intense curiosity - as well as merciless jokes, criticism and commentary. "The Pope has an iPad?" comedian Jon Stewart asked earlier this year. The Onion satirical newspaper ran a piece "Pope tweets picture of self with God." And in perhaps a more long-term and problematic issue for the Vatican, the (at)Pontifex handle was flooded with negative messages from users remarking on the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Vatican officials have said they expected such negativity, but that is a risk they take by putting the Catholic Church's message out.

"These are already all over the internet, in newspapers, in so many forms of expression," the Reverend Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica told Vatican Radio this week. "They form part of ordinary communication."

Benedict actually sent his first tweet over a year ago, using a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. Someone in his name tweeted daily during Lent, part of the Vatican's efforts to increase the Church presence in social media.

As incongruous as it may seem for the 85-year-old Benedict to be on Twitter, Vatican officials have stressed that he is merely walking in the footsteps of his predecessors in using the latest in communications technology to spread the faith.

Pope Pius XI, for example, caused a similar stir when he launched Vatican Radio some 80 years ago to bring the Pope's message on radio waves around the globe. The Vatican also has its own newspaper, television service and maintains dedicated YouTube channels and an internet news portal.

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Over 2 million Afghans at risk this winter

MORE than 2 million Afghans are at risk from cold, disease and malnutrition this winter as an international appeal for funds to help one of the world's poorest countries has fallen drastically short of its goal, the United Nations and several humanitarian agencies are warning.

Only 48 per cent of $US448 million ($A427.58 million) that has been requested to help 8.8 million Afghans had been pledged by the end of November, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Preparations are under way to help Afghans deal with harsh winter conditions, especially 400,000 people who live in some of the most remote mountainous areas of northern and central Afghanistan.

Snow has already covered mountain tops and the first snowfall of the year was forecast for later this week in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Last year, Afghanistan experienced its coldest winter and heaviest snowfall in more than 15 years.

"People live in remote areas with no access to health facilities," said Mohammad Daim Kakar, director of the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority. "Many people die of pneumonia and measles."

According to the UN and other humanitarian agencies working here, 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces have high-risk areas where emergency food, fuel and medical supplies are needed.

Heavy snows and avalanches killed dozens of people in parts of the country last winter, including more than 30 - many of them children - who froze to death in Kabul.

The Afghan capital is home to 55 makeshift camps that house more than 30,000 people - many of them displaced from elsewhere in Afghanistan because of violence.

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US stocks rise on Fed stimulus hopes

US stocks have opened higher as investors expected the Federal Reserve would announce new support for the sluggish economy following a two-day monetary policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 37.44 points (0.28 per cent) to 13,285.88 in the first 10 minutes of trade, building on a five-day winning streak.

The S&P 500-stock index advanced 4.08 (0.29 per cent) to 1431.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 9.87 (0.33 per cent) at 3032.17.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is due to announce its monetary policy update at 12:30 pm (0430 AEST).

"Wall Street is speculating the Fed will replace the expiring Operation Twist program with a fresh round of Treasury purchases," said Karee Venema of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

On Tuesday, gains in technology shares underpinned Wall Street gains.

The Dow added 0.60 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 0.65 per cent and the Nasdaq 1.18 per cent.

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Singapore official resigns after affair

THE speaker of Singapore's parliament has resigned after admitting to an extramarital affair, adding to a list of scandals that have undermined the city-state's reputation for clean and efficient governance.

Michael Palmer, the speaker and a member of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party, said his conduct was "improper" and a "serious error of judgment," according to reports by the strait-laced island's state media.

The woman Palmer had an affair with was employed by a government statutory board and worked in Palmer's constituency. Palmer said he resigned to avoid further embarrassment to the parliament and the ruling party, which has been in power since 1959.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement that all members of parliament need to uphold the highest standards of personal conduct.

The scandal could result in an election to fill the vacant seat in parliament for Punggol East constituency that Palmer represented, but Lee indicated that he won't be calling a by-election any time soon.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Lee noted that the constitution does not require him to call a by-election within a fixed timeframe. "I will carefully consider whether to call a by-election in Punggol East and, if so, when. I assure Singaporeans that I will make my decision based on what is best for the constituents of Punggol East and the country," he wrote.

A by-election would have been another opportunity for voters to express discontent with the ruling party which has suffered a drop in popularity because of an influx of foreign workers and widening inequality. Palmer won Punggol East with 54.5 per cent of the vote in general elections last year.

The government has been embarrassed by a succession of scandals and mishaps that might hardly raise eyebrows in many neighbouring Southeast Asian countries but have caused outrage in Singapore where the ruling party has cultivated a pristine image.

Last month, immigrant Chinese bus drivers staged Singapore's first strike in 26 years in protest at poor working conditions and low pay. Earlier in the year, the chiefs of Singapore's civil defence force and anti-narcotics unit were sacked and charged with corruption for awarding business contracts in exchange for sexual favours from female company executives.

The government's competence was also questioned after subway breakdowns and flash floods that inundated an upmarket shopping district.

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UK officer jailed over nuclear secrets

A ROYAL Navy petty officer has been sentenced to eight years in prisons for passing nuclear submarine secrets to British intelligence agents impersonating Russian spies.

Petty Officer Edward Devenney, who was sentenced on Wednesday, was arrested after the undercover operation organised by Britain's domestic security agency, MI5. He was charged with communicating information that could be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Devenney, 30, from Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to gathering details of programs used to encrypt secret information. He also admitted misconduct in a public office in relation to a meeting with two people he thought were from the Russian secret service.

He acknowledged discussing the movement of British nuclear submarines with the pair, who were in fact members of the British secret service.

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NKoreans hail rocket launch; UN condemns

NORTH Koreans have danced in the streets to celebrate the country's first satellite in space, as world leaders in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo condemn the successful rocket launch.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the launch, which is widely seen as a test that takes the country one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific.

The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for "galaxy", blasted off from a launch pad northwest of Pyongyang shortly before 10am (1200 AEST).

A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch.

Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea, and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of kilometres further south.

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Hey Dad! star Hughes to land in Sydney

ACTOR Robert Hughes will arrive in Sydney within hours to answer child sex abuse allegations dating back to the 1980s, when he was a Hey Dad! television star.

Hughes, 64, boarded Qantas flight QF2 at London's Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Singapore on Tuesday night.

His flight was due to land in Sydney at 6.50am (AEDT) on Thursday.

Lawyer Greg Walsh, acting for Hughes, said it would be an anxious plane ride.

"When I spoke to him before he got on board, I think he was pretty stressed, pretty worried, as any human being would be in that situation," he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

Hughes consented to an order sought by Australia's attorney-general that he return to Sydney for questioning in relation to claims made by five people.

A warrant, signed by Britain's home secretary, outlines 11 accusations dating between 1984 and 1990, which coincides with the actor's starring role in the hit family sitcom Hey Dad!.

Hughes has not been charged and has been on bail since his arrest in London in August.

Mr Walsh said Hughes emphatically denied all the allegations and would vigorously defend them.

"I would hope that the judicial system would be able to deal with the matter in due course without, hopefully, the intense media scrutiny that the case has attracted," he said.

According to Mr Walsh, Hughes was being escorted by three police officers and will be taken to the Sydney Police Centre upon his return to Australia.

AAP st/alm/

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'Serious differences' in fiscal stand-off:

THE White House and politicians have yet to reach a deal on averting a looming fiscal crisis, with the top Republican in Congress warning on Wednesday that "serious differences" remain on how to further reduce the debt.

"We don't have an agreement today," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters a day after speaking with President Barack Obama to discuss their recent exchange of offers on how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff."

Boehner acknowledged that Obama lowered his opening gambit of $US1.6 trillion ($A1.53 trillion) in new tax revenue over the coming decade to $1.4 trillion, but said the White House was not putting forward enough spending cuts on offer to make the deal palatable.

"I remain the most optimistic person in this town, but we've got some serious differences," Boehner said.

Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor said politicians should prepare to stay in Washington right up until Christmas Eve, then return after Christmas to the brink of the new year in a bid to approve legislation to prevent taxes from rising on all Americans and automatic federal spending cuts from kicking in.

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