US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

Residents look over the school bus where a shooting occurred near Destiny Church,  just north of Midland City, Alabama. Picture: Danny Tindell Source: AP

POLICE, SWAT teams and negotiators are clustered at a rural Alabama property where a man is believed to be holed up in an underground shelter after fatally shooting the driver of a school bus and fleeing with a 6-year-old child passenger, authorities said.

The standoff went through the night after the man, whose name has not been released by police, boarded the stopped school bus in the town of Midland City on Tuesday afternoon. Dale County Sheriff Wally Olsen told WBMA-TV the man shot the driver when he refused to let the child off the bus and the driver later died.

The sheriff's office named the victim as Charles Albert Poland, Jr, 66, who had been a bus driver since 2009 for the Dale County Board of Education.

The shooter took the child off the bus, authorities said.

Investigators have not released the suspect's name. Neighbours said the rural property near Dothan, Alabama, at the heart of the standoff belonged to Jimmy Lee Dykes, a man in his 60s.

Court records showed Mr Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court today to face a charge of menacing some neighbours as they drove by his house last month. The neighbours said he yelled and fired shots over damage he claimed their pickup truck did to a make-shift speed bump in the dirt road.

Law enforcement personnel near the home where the school bus shooting suspect is barricaded. Picture: Jay Hare

About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered at the mouth of a dirt road off a highway. The dead-end road leads to homes including the suspect's property, which was over a low rise behind a church on the highway and couldn't be seen from where reporters were being kept back.

County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt said the overnight standoff continued into the day with tactical units, negotiators and other officers at the scene near a church. He said the suspect was believed to be in an underground shelter on his property.

"That's what has been described to me as an underground bunker. Someplace to get out of the way of a tornado," Mr Hilboldt said.

Claudia Davis, who lives on the road where the standoff was taking place, said she and her neighbours can't leave because the one road was blocked by police.

Ms Davis, 54, said she has had run-ins with the man suspected as the shooter.

Law enforcement personnel work a checkpoint in Midland City, below the home where a school bus shooting suspect barricaded himself in a bunker with a young child. Picture: Jay Hare

"Before this happened I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Ms Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundry mat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck and he just started and stared and stared at me."

Midland City police would not comment, and a dispatcher at the Dale City Sheriff's office said the agency was not releasing any immediate details.

"Authorities also confirmed the presence of a child at the scene but are giving no further information at this time," Rachel David, a spokeswoman for the police department in the nearby city of Dothan, said in a news release late Tuesday.

Michael Creel, who lives on the road where the shooting happened, said he went outside after his sister heard gunshots.

"Me and her started running down the road," Creel told the Dothan Eagle. "That's when I realised the bus had its siren going off. Kids were filing out, running down the hill toward the church."

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House prices jump in December quarter

HOUSE prices across every Australian capital city have risen for the first time in nearly three years, with Sydney's housing market still the most expensive in the country.

The Australian Property Monitors (APM) December Quarterly House Price Report shows the national median house price rose 1.9 per cent over the last quarter in 2012 and 2.1 per cent across the year.

The last time all capital cities recorded house price increases was in March 2010.

The cost of units also jumped 1.6 per cent over the quarter and 2.4 per cent annually.

Perth was 2012's standout performer, with its median house price jumping 6.1 per cent over the year to $560,780.

But it was Sydney that broke new ground in the back-end of last year, with median house and unit prices reaching a record $656,415 and $475,314 respectively.

It followed a 3.4 per cent annual house price increase and 5.6 per cent rise for units.

Melbourne housing market showed more restraint, with house prices up just 0.5 per cent over the year despite a 2.4 per cent jump in the last quarter.

Adelaide has again edged out Brisbane as the most affordable mainland capital in Australia, posting a median house price of $432,309 compared to the Queensland capital's $433,302 average in the year to December.

The city of churches also boasts the country's cheapest apartments, after Hobart experienced a 20.2 per cent surge in its unit prices over the 12 months.

However, Hobart remains the overall most affordable capital for homebuyers with a median house price of $322,420.

APM senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson said while local factors still predominate housing markets, record low interest rates have boosted confidence.

A rising sharemarket and improved international outlook was promising for the local market, he added.

"Looking ahead, activity will depend on the direction of local economies as it is no coincidence that the better performing housing markets in 2012 reflected better performing economies," Dr Wilson said.

"The general economic landscape and prospects remain optimistic, which is unequivocal good news for Australia's recovering housing markets."

APM is a national supplier of property price information to banks, real estate agents, property developers, government agencies, media organisations and consumers.

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Boeing Q4 sales strong but earnings not

US aerospace giant Boeing reported a sharp fourth quarter fall in earnings as expected on Wednesday, as tax costs surged from a year earlier but operating earnings gained on strong sales growth.

Meanwhile, the company's chief executive said the company was focused on solving the battery problem that grounded its newest aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner, worldwide.

"Our first order of business for 2013 is to resolve the battery issue on the 787 and return the airplanes safely to service with our customers," said Boeing chairman and CEO Jim McNerney.

Net earnings for the quarter came in at $US978 million ($A939.35 million), compared to $1.39 billion a year earlier, when earnings were buoyed by a favourable one-off tax settlement.

But sales jumped 16.7 per cent to $19.79 billion, and net earnings before tax gained 6.3 per cent to $1.54 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Earnings per share came in at $1.28 compared to $1.84 a year earlier; "core" earnings per share, after the tax gain of a year earlier is stripped out, were $1.46, well above analysts' forecasts.

For the full year Boeing net earnings came in at $3.9 billion, down from $4.0 billion in 2011. While total revenues grew nearly $13 billion to $81.7 billion, operating and production costs rose faster, keeping net gains flat.

But core earnings per share were $5.88, better than the $5.01 analysts had predicted.

The company said that after delivering more than 600 aircraft last year, it had a record backlog of orders worth $390 billion going into 2013, both for civilian aircraft and in the defence and security sector.

"We remain focused on our ongoing priorities of profitable ramp up in commercial aeroplane production, successful execution of our development programs, and continued growth in core, adjacent and international defence and space markets," said McNerney.

The company still faces the challenge of the 787 grounding after two planes were hit by still-mysterious battery problems, one a fire. That has forced the company to halt deliveries of the aircraft, though production continues at a five-unit a month pace.

Boeing nevertheless forecast revenues in 2013 to grow slightly to $82-85 billion, leaving basic earnings per share in the range of $5.01-5.20. But it said that core earnings per share should improve to $6.10-6.30.

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Egypt opposition urge talks amid violence

EGYPTIAN opposition leaders are calling for urgent talks on the political crisis gripping the country, as a fresh eruption of violence killed two more people in Cairo.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading figure in the National Salvation Front, called for the talks just two days after the opposition had rejected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's call for dialogue.

"We want an immediate meeting between the president, the ministers of defence and interior, the ruling party, the Salafist movement and the National Salvation Front to take urgent measures to end the violence and begin a serious dialogue," ElBaradei said in a tweet.

Former Arab League chief Amr Mussa, another NSF leader, said "the serious current situation" required the acceptance of dialogue "in order to stop the confrontations and the violence."

It was not immediately clear whether this represented a step back by the NSF, which had been demanding the formation of a national salvation government and the amendment of the Islamist-drafted constitution, before agreeing to any talks.

But Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for ElBaradei's Al-Dustur party, said ElBaradei's Twitter statement was a "denial of all the claims by the presidency that we reject dialogue.

"We are looking for a way out of this (crisis) because we're extremely worried."

The latest round of unrest began with protests marking the second anniversary of the Egyptian uprising on Friday, and took a violent turn a day later after a court sentenced 21 residents of Port Said to death over football related violence last year.

Anger on the streets has been directed primarily at Morsi, who is accused of betraying the revolution that brought him to power and of consolidating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood.

The protests have also underscored long-standing tensions between protesters and the police, a force long accused of abuse.

In Cairo, two people were killed near Tahrir Square on Wednesday. Their identities were not immediately known, but medics said they had both been hit by buckshot.

Their deaths bring to four the number of people killed in Cairo and to 54 nationwide since violence erupted late on Thursday, prompting Egypt's defence minister to warn that the crisis could lead to the collapse of the state.

"The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations," General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said on Tuesday.

Most of the deaths have been in Port Said, where clashes erupted on Saturday after a court issued death sentences against 21 supporters of local football club Al-Masry for their role in deadly riots last year.

Meanwhile, the NSF indicated that some of its leaders would meet during the day with representatives of the main Salafist party, Al-Nour, in response to an invitation from the ultra-conservative Islamist group to discuss the "deterioration of the situation."

As the call for talks was made, Morsi was in Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on a visit that had been shortened from two days to just a few hours because of the unrest at home.

The visit, Morsi's first to Germany since he was elected in June, will centre on bilateral cooperation as well as the situation in Egypt, state news agency MENA said.

MENA said he is to meet with business people as well as Merkel.

Hours before Morsi's arrival, Germany's foreign minister warned that German financial aid to Egypt is contingent upon democratic progress.

Morsi took over last year from an interim military administration in charge since the February 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for three decades.

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US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

A GUNMAN has boarded a school bus in the southern US state of Alabama, shot and killed the driver and kidnapped a young boy, police say.

The area around where the hostage-taking occurred on Tuesday has been evacuated, said Sergeant Rachel David, a spokeswoman for the local police in the town of Dothan.

The incident is yet another scare in a country on edge over gun violence and children, since the December massacre of 20 small kids and six teachers at an elementary school in Connecticut.

The man boarded the bus on Tuesday afternoon, shot the bus driver and took one of the children to an underground shelter.

Local media said police were communicating with him through a PVC pipe but David did not confirm this. She did not give the age of the boy but news reports said he was six.

"Efforts to bring this ongoing incident to a close have continued through the night," a statement from the Dale County Sheriff's office said.

David said the bus driver died and that he has been identified as 66 year old Albert Poland. No arrests have been made.

Classes in schools in surrounding Dale and Ozark counties were cancelled on Wednesday because of the hostage crisis.

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Israel hits Syria convoy near Lebanon

ISRAELI have forces carried out an air strike on a weapons convoy from Syria near the Lebanese border, security sources have told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The attack came after Israel expressed concerns that Damascus's stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group, an ally of the Syrian regime, or other militant groups.

Israeli officials have said such a transfer would be a declaration of war and likely spark an Israeli attack.

Sources differed on whether the strike took place on Syrian or Lebanese territory.

"The Israeli air force blew up a convoy that had just crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon," one source said, adding that the convoy was believed to be carrying weapons, without specifying the type.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

A second security source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, also confirmed to AFP that Israeli warplanes had hit a convoy allegedly carrying weapons to Lebanon but said the incident occurred just inside Syria.

"It was an armed convoy travelling towards Lebanon but it was hit on the Syrian side of the border at around 2330 GMT (1030 AEST)," the source said.

Both sources reported a high level of "unusual" Israeli activity over Lebanese air space, which began on Tuesday evening and continued overnight.

The Lebanese army confirmed that Israeli warplanes entered Lebanese airspace up to 16 times between 9:30am (0730 GMT) Tuesday and 2:00am Wednesday.

"Every day there are Israeli overflights, but on Tuesday they were much more intense than usual," a Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The incident occurred just days after Israel moved two batteries of its vaunted Iron Dome missile defence system to the north and at a time of rising fears that the conflict in Syria could see weapons leaking into Lebanon.

A former head of intelligence at Israel's Mossad spy service, Amnon Sofrin, said on Wednesday that the Jewish state "should make any effort to prevent any weapons systems of that kind (chemical) going out to terror organisations."

Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem before reports of the attack emerged, Sofrin said Israel was unlikely to carry out air strikes on chemical weapons stocks because of the environmental risks.

"When you go and attack a... chemical weapons depot, you're going to do unwarranted damage, because every part will leak out and can cause damage to many residents," he said.

"But if you know of a convoy leading these kind of (chemical) weapon systems from Syria to Lebanon, you can send a unit to the proper place and try to halt it" on the ground, he added.

On Monday, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "urgently dispatched" his national security adviser Yaakov Amidror to Russia to ask Moscow to use its influence in Syria to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons.

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Dow, S&P fall slightly after poor US GDP

US stocks were mostly lower in opening trade after government estimates showed the economy shrunk in the fourth quarter last year largely due to a cut back in government spending.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10.95 points (0.08 per cent) to 13,943.47.

The S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, lost 0.78 points (0.05 per cent) to 1,507.06.

But the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained slightly, adding 3.48 points (0.11 per cent) at 3,157.14, helped by a 7.5 per cent gain from Amazon.

The Commerce Department said the economy shrunk at a 0.1 per cent pace in the fourth quarter of last year, mainly due to defence spending cutbacks, but for the full year the economy expanded a modest 2.2 per cent.

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German beer drinking hits new low

GERMANS are emptying fewer beer steins these days.

Consumption of the national beverage fell by 1.8 per cent last year to the lowest level since West and East Germany reunified in 1990.

The German government statistics agency reported on Wednesday that Germans drank 96.5 million hectolitres of beer last year. That's 2.55 billion gallons.

The German brewers' association DBB says an unusually cool summer made fewer people quench their thirst with a cold one.

German beer consumption has been slowly falling for three decades.

Reasons include health concerns and growing preference for other beverages such as wine, especially among younger people.

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