2 dead as helicopter hits crane in London

TWO people have been killed when a helicopter hit a crane at a building site in central London during morning rush hour and plunged to the ground in a ball of flames.

Police said at least 13 people were injured after the aircraft smashed into a crane on the top of an unfinished luxury apartment block at Vauxhall, near the headquarters of the MI6 foreign spy agency on the south bank of the River Thames.

The top of the 51-storey building, The Tower at One St George Wharf, was shrouded in mist at the time. Police have ruled out a terror attack.

Witnesses said part of the crane fell on a street below sending construction workers fleeing for their lives, while the helicopter, spewing a thick plume of black smoke, cast burning wreckage over the ground.

Firefighters said they rescued a man from a burning car. An AFP reporter later saw a charred vehicle lying alongside a pile of twisted metal from the helicopter, just metres from a major train line.

Commander Neil Basu of the Metropolitan Police said it was "something of a miracle" that more people had not died given that the crash occurred in a busy residential and business district at rush hour, around 8am (1900 AEST).

He confirmed that the pilot, believed to be the only one in the helicopter, had been killed along with a person on the ground.

Emergency services said six injured people were taken to hospital, five with minor injuries and one with a broken leg, while seven others were treated at the scene, which is near the site of the new US embassy.

"There was a flash and the helicopter plunged to the ground. It exploded and you can imagine the smoke coming out of it," said eyewitness Paul Ferguson, who was working in an office near the tower.

"It may be that on this misty morning the lights on nearby St George's Tower weren't on and it moved and clipped the edge of the crane and lost control," he told BBC News.

The commercial helicopter set off from Redhill in Surrey, just south of London, bound for Elstree to the north of the city. But bad weather caused the pilot to request a diversion to London Heliport, five kilometres from the crash site, officials said.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is now looking into what happened, including suggestions that the crane did not have its aircraft warning light on.

London Fire Brigade said more than 50 firefighters were working to secure the rest of the damaged crane after putting out the blaze in around 25 minutes, but said there was no risk of it falling.

Several construction workers said they had heard that crane operator had been running late and was only halfway up to his cabin when the aircraft hit.

Witnesses said part of the crane crashed into the street below the tower, which is due for completion later this year.

Paul Robinson, 42, had been waiting to get onto the building site in his rubbish truck when he felt something hit his vehicle.

He thought the truck driver behind had driven into him. "Then I looked up, saw debris falling and ran like hell," he told AFP.

Looking back, "I saw the crane, the boom, hit the ground. It made a big bang."

The street was empty at the time, he said, but "if it was 30 seconds later, there'd have been cars there".

Local resident Nic Walker, 35, said he had been in bed when he heard a helicopter flying overhead, followed by "an almighty crash".

"I knew immediately what had happened -- it's extremely foggy this morning," he told AFP. "I put on some clothes and rushed outside to see if anyone needed help. There was burning fuel everywhere."

The crash caused gridlock on the city streets and temporarily shut down several train, bus and Underground stations in the area.

Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the emergency services for their "rapid and professional response".

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Sugar intake linked to weight: NZ study

CUTTING back on sugar can help people make a small but significant fall in weight, an Otago University-led study says.

The study, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), found that reducing free sugars in the diet produced an average weight reduction of 0.8kg, while increasing sugar intake produced a corresponding increase of 0.75kg.

The findings were the result of researchers studying numerous international studies of the impact on body weight of free sugars - sugars added to foods by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, plus those naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.

"It seems easier to overeat if your diet includes lots of sugary foods and drinks. When you overeat you gain weight," said Dr Lisa Te Morenga of Otago's Department of Human Nutrition, one of the study's lead authors.

After searching nearly 8000 trials and 10,000 studies published up to December 2011, the researchers found 68 studies that directly looked at the effects of free sugars on body weight and analysed those.

Dr Te Morenga said few of the studies had data lasting longer than 10 weeks, meaning the extent to which reducing sugars might reduce risk of obesity can't be extrapolated from the findings.

However, she said that "when considering the rapid weight gain that occurs after an increased intake of sugars, it seems reasonable to conclude that advice relating to sugars intake is a relevant component of a strategy to reduce the high risk of overweight and obesity in most countries".

There was less clear evidence with children, mainly due to poor compliance with dietary advice.

An editorial by two Boston professors in the British Medical Journal, which published the study, called for greater education, improvement in food and drinks provided at schools and worksites, and increasing tax on sugar-laden drinks.

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Art on the go, courtesy of Paris airport

FANCY a slice of art in between flights? Culture vultures now have a chance to satisfy their on-the-go urges with a new museum in the heart of France's largest airport, showcasing collections from top art institutions.

Meant as a "window" onto the capital's main museums, the exhibition space unveiled on Tuesday at Charles de Gaulle international airport will allow passengers "to get to know Paris' rich cultural offering better," said Pascal Bourgue, marketing and services director at Aeroports de Paris.

Open between the first flight of the day and the last, and offering free entry to all passengers transiting through terminal 2E, the Museum Space as it has been dubbed is set to display original works, on loan from Parisian museums, he said.

Nestled between the waiting lounges and boutiques, the space designed by architects Willmotte Pere et Fils blends wood, glass and steel in its decor. The 250-square-metre area targets long-haul international passengers, many of them bound for Asia.

For its inaugural six-month exhibition, organisers reached out to the Rodin Museum which loaned some 50 works by the 19th-century sculptor, including The Thinker and The Kiss.

The Rodin Museum's director Catherine Chevillot hailed the initiative as "unusual and original", and a way to "reach an audience which isn't necessarily familiar with museums."

After Rodin, the gallery is expected to host two six-month exhibitions a year, although it has not yet disclosed which museums are taking part.

Francis Briest, president of the fund set up to finance the space, says the art institutions involved will get a chance to showcase their collections to a wider audience.

A similar museum exists within Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, but it is dedicated solely to the country's national museum, the Rijksmuseum. American gallerist Larry Gagosian in October also opened an exhibition space at Le Bourget airport nearby, but that targets a more limited audience of private jet passengers.

With a record number of 61.6 million passengers having passed through the doors of Charles de Gaulle airport last year, the museum expects to host between 1500 and 2000 visitors a day.

"On an average, passengers spend between one and a half to two hours in the airport. During that time, they're relaxed and open to this type of experience," Bourgue said.

"The goal is to make this area a real cultural space, with a vibrant and dynamic offering," Briest said.

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Egypt building collapse kills 17 people

AT least 17 people have been killed and eight injured when a 12-storey building collapsed in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, a security official has told AFP.

More people were trapped under the rubble and were calling out to rescue teams for help, the official added.

Emergency services rescued 10 people after the building housing 24 families in the Maamura district of Alexandria collapsed in the early hours, a security official said earlier.

Another two people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya, a security official told AFP.

"A mother and her child were killed and eight others injured when the building collapsed," the official said, adding that an estimated 10 people were still under the rubble.

Egypt has seen a number of construction disasters over the years, many of them blamed on planning violations or bad maintenance.

The latest incidents will pile pressure on President Mohamed Morsi's government which has been criticised for failing to address Egypt's chronic problems.

On Tuesday, 19 people died and over 100 injured when a train carrying military conscripts derailed southwest of Cairo.

According to media reports, it is the fifth deadly train accident since Morsi was sworn in as Egypt's first Islamist president in June.

The railway network's poor safety record stems largely from lack of maintenance and decades of poor management. In Egypt's deadliest railway tragedy, the bodies of more than 360 passengers were recovered from a train after a fire in 2002.

Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with the country's transport problems, with roads as poorly maintained as railway lines.

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US stocks open lower; Boeing plunges

US stocks have fallen in early trading despite reports from leading Wall Street banks that bested expectations, as Boeing's 787 problems dinged sentiment.

After 15 minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 58.28 points (0.43 per cent) at 13,476.61.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 4.08 (0.28 per cent) to 1468.26.

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.52 (0.08 per cent) to 3108.26.

The selling came as both JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter profits that bested expectations.

But US aerospace giant and Dow member Boeing fell 4.1 per cent following the latest problem with its 787 Dreamliner plane.

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Prime Minister to visit fire-ravaged areas

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is due to visit fire-ravaged parts of northwest NSW as firefighters brace for a return of hot and windy conditions.

Ms Gillard will visit Coonabarabran on Thursday, where the state's most destructive fire in more than a decade has raged this week.

The fire at Coonabarabran has burnt 42,000 hectares and on Wednesday evening was burning along a 100km front after destroying 40 homes, 110 sheds, machinery, fences and untold numbers of livestock.

No lives have been lost in any of the state's scores of fires this month, but there are now concerns that blazes which have already threatened communities in the state's south may prove dangerous again when hot and windy conditions return on Friday.

As residents returned to view the destruction around Coonabarabran on Wednesday, RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers warned the number of homes destroyed could rise as assessors entered burnt areas.

Mr Rogers said there were also revived concerns about fires that threatened homes in NSW's south last week, including the Deans Gap fire in the Shoalhaven and the Yarrabin fire in the Cooma-Monaro regions.

"It's looking like a severe fire danger day on Friday all the way from Sydney right down the eastern side of the ranges and then along the Victorian border past Wagga to the Riverina area," he said.

On Wednesday evening, 81 fires were burning across the state, 11 of them out of control, including fires in the Gwydir, Namoi and Tamworth areas in the state's north.

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India, Pakistan to 'de-escalate' tensions

INDIA'S army has reached an "understanding" with Pakistan to "de-escalate" military tensions in Kashmir after a recent deadly flare-up in the disputed border region, a spokesman says.

"An understanding has been arrived at between the two director-generals of military operations to de-escalate the situation along the Line of Control (LoC)," army spokesman Jagdeep Dahiya said in reference to a de facto border in Kashmir.

Dahiya said that the two sides' senior military commanders had spoken for 10 minutes over the telephone where they reached their agreement.

"The two DGMOs spoke to each other at 10:00 am (1530 AEST) for 10 minutes and the Pakistan DGMO said strict instructions have been passed not to violate the ceasefire," he said.

Dahiya said Indian troops stationed along the border would also not breach the ceasefire forged between the two nuclear-armed rivals in 2003.

"We have always upheld the ceasefire and have only retaliated," the spokesman said.

He did not give further details of the conversation between India's DGMO Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia and his Pakistani counterpart, Major General Ashfaq Nadeem.

An Indian military source in Kashmir told AFP there had been no cross-border firing since the two generals spoke.

Earlier, the village of Dara Sher Khan in Pakistan's Tatta Pani sector, where a soldier was killed on Tuesday night, appeared deserted on Wednesday as residents cowered in their homes.

Muhammad Afsar, a former army man, said he and his family hid under bedding in their newly-built house, which was damaged by mortar shrapnel fired by Indian gunners.

"Indian soldiers keep watching our activities and we live in a state of constant fear," he told AFP.

The two generals spoke hours after Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar hit out at strident comments by Indian politicians over the clashes, and warned against "upping the ante" between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

"We see warmongering," Khar said at the Asia Society in New York late Tuesday.

"It is deeply disturbing to hear statements which are upping the ante, where one politician is competing with the other to give a more hostile statement."

India says two of its soldiers have been killed, one of them beheaded, since hostilities erupted along the LoC. It has demanded the return of the soldier's head which is still missing.

Khar again denied Indian accusations that Pakistani forces had beheaded one of the two soldiers and said an inquiry had found "no evidence" of the deaths.

The two countries have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. But Khar said they had to get over their "narrative of hostility".

"The doors to dialogue are open," Khar said. "We need to meet at any level, I think we need to call each other, we need to become mature countries which know how to handle their truth."

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Jobless rate tipped to rise

THE December jobs figures, out on Thursday, are expected to show a rise in the unemployment rate.

AAP's survey of 14 economists reveals a median forecast for the unemployment rate to increase 0.2 percentage points to 5.4 per cent in December.

The total number of employed people is expected to remain flat in the month, according to the forecast, with population growth pushing the unemployment rate higher.

JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said more than 20,000 additional people needed to find jobs every month in order to maintain the current unemployment rate.

"And we don't think, considering the structural and fiscal headwinds facing it, that the economy can produce that many jobs over the month," Mr Kennedy said.

He said the unemployment rate was likely to continue to move higher throughout 2013, as the mining investment boom peaked and underperforming sectors like housing struggled to make up for the shortfall.

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