Iran downplays Ahmadinejad shoe attack

IRAN'S foreign ministry has downplayed an incident in Cairo in which a protester tried to throw a shoe at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying it did not indicate Egypt's official stance towards Tehran.

"What is important to us is the behaviour of Egyptian officials and the nation, who respect the Islamic republic as a major power," the ISNA news agency quoted ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.

On Tuesday evening, Iranian President Ahmadinejad was booed by a man who also tried to throw his shoe at him as he left Cairo's Al-Hussein mosque following prayers.

The man, identified as a "Syrian opposition" member by ISNA, also pushed a bodyguard but he was quickly dealt with and Ahmadinejad was able to enter his car.

At the scene, four youths waved placards scrawled with slogans against Iran over its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its 22-month conflict with rebels.

"O Ahmadinejad, do not think the Syrian blood is in vain. We will take revenge on the Shi'ites," read one of the posters.

Ahmadinejad, unfazed by the incident, termed it a "minor issue".

Talking to Egyptian media late on Tuesday, the president said: "There might be some opposition in both countries who disturb the atmosphere... by prejudice and some actions," the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to visit Cairo in more than 30 years, was given a red-carpet welcome by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi when he arrived on Tuesday.

But he faced criticism by Egypt's top Sunni cleric who asked him not to interfere in the affairs of Gulf states.

Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, also urged Ahmadinejad to uphold the rights of his Shi'ite-ruled country's Sunni minority, denouncing what he described as the "spread of Shi'ism in Sunni lands".

Mehmanparast on Wednesday considered Ahmadinejad's three-day visit as an "effective" step forward in bilateral ties and said it created "stability in the region".

Ahmadinejad's visit comes amid thawing relations between Egypt and Iran, which severed ties with Cairo in 1980 in protest at a peace treaty signed the previous year between Israel and Egypt.

Iran has been reaching out to Egypt since Islamists came to power in the wake of the 2011 revolution that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak, a staunch critic of Tehran.

Morsi, who hails from the powerful Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, has attended a Non-Aligned Summit in Iran, becoming the first Egyptian president to travel to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

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Five dead as Solomons quake sparks tsunami

A MAJOR 8.0 magnitude earthquake has jolted the Solomon Islands, with small tsunami waves buffeting Pacific coasts, leaving at least five people dead and dozens of homes damaged or destroyed.

A quake-generated wave of just under one metre reached parts of the Solomons, and Vanuatu and New Caledonia also reported rising sea levels, before a region-wide tsunami alert was lifted.

Sirens were heard in Fiji, locals said. "Chaos in the streets of Suva as everyone tries to avoid the tsunami!!" tweeted Ratu Nemani Tebana from the Fiji capital.

The waves reached as far away as Japan, which was hit by a huge tsunami in March 2011 that killed more than 19,000 people.

Japan's Meteorological Agency reported a 40-centimetre tsunami hitting Hachijo Island about 290 kilometres south of Tokyo, while 20-centimetre waves reached the main islands of Kyushu and Shikoku and smaller waves were recorded on Honshu.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre cancelled its regional alert for Pacific-island nations at 1450 AEDT, about two and a half hours after the powerful quake struck near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons.

Australian and US monitors said a tsunami wave measuring 91 centimetres washed into the town of Lata, on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the wave appeared to have travelled 500 metres inland, inundating Lata's airstrip as well as surrounding villages, flattening many traditional houses.

"We can report five dead and three injured. One of the dead was a male child, three were elderly women and one an elderly man," Chris Rogers, a nurse at Lata Hospital, told AFP.

Solomons Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo's office said four villages on the Santa Cruz Islands had been hit by the tsunami.

"Latest reports suggest that between 60 to 70 homes have been damaged by waves crashing into at least four villages on Santa Cruz Islands," Lilo's spokesman George Herming told AFP.

"At this stage, authorities are still trying to establish the exact number and extent of damage. Communication to (the) Santa Cruz Islands is difficult due to the remoteness of the islands."

Solomon Islands Red Cross secretary general Joanne Zoleveke said she had been told at least three villages were hit, with houses washed away.

"In the Solomon Islands when we talk about villages there can be anything from 10 to 30 houses," she said.

With Lata's airstrip out of commission, officials were hoping to fly over the area early on Thursday to assess the damage better.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck the Santa Cruz Islands, which have been rocked by a series of strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 28.7 kilometres.

Dozens of aftershocks continued through the day, including one at 6.6-magnitude.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the Hawaii-based Pacific warning centre said after the 8.0 quake, before lifting its tsunami alert for several island nations.

Lata Hospital director of nursing Augustine Bilve said some patients were evacuated to higher ground to prepare for any injured from the villages along the coast.

Settlements did not appear to be seriously damaged in the quake, he said, but added: "We were told that after the shaking, waves came to the villages."

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless. The quake lifted an entire island and pushed out its shoreline by dozens of metres.

The Solomons are part of the Ring of Fire, a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

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Jobless rate tipped to rise

THE Australian jobs market is expected to have started the year on a weak note, with not enough jobs created to offset population growth.

An AAP survey of 15 economists, shows the unemployment rate to rise 5.5 per cent in January, from 5.4 per cent the previous month.

Total employment is expected to grow by 5,000 in the month.

AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said the economy needed to add about 15,000-20,000 jobs a month in order for the unemployment rate to remain steady, but that kind of growth was unlikely at present.

"The labour market is going through a softer patch. We've seen month after month a fall in job vacancies, and business hiring plans remain weak," he said.

"I think we are still going through that phase in the economy where the weakness we saw late last year is leading to higher unemployment and that may have a little bit further to go before it has run its course."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the data at 11.30am (AEDT), Thursday.

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Glenn Miller trombonist Paul Tanner dies

PAUL Tanner, a trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra who later played a space-age instrument on the Beach Boys hit Good Vibrations, has died at 95.

His stepson, Douglas Darnell, says Tanner died of pneumonia on Tuesday at an assisted living centre in California.

Tanner performed with Miller from 1938 to 1942. During his long career, he also worked as a movie studio and ABC musician and performed with stars that included Tex Beneke, Henry Mancini and Arturo Toscanini.

He also helped develop the electro-theramin, a keyboard-style electronic instrument. Tanner provided its eerie sound on several Beach Boys recordings, including Good Vibrations.

Tanner also was a music professor and helped write several books.

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Vic firefighters brace for hot weather

FIREFIGHTERS are ramping up their resources in key hotspots across Victoria in preparation for the continued spell of hot weather and strong winds this week.

A total fire ban has been declared for Thursday in the six districts.

Northern Country, North East, North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, and East Gippsland.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said higher temperatures and strong winds are increasing the fire danger right across the state.

"The weather conditions, combined with heavy fuel loads and dry fuels, pose a serious fire risk," Mr Lapsley said.

Hundreds of DSE and CFA firefighters, together with aircraft continue to work on the Harrietville and Aberfeldy fires, which have burnt out more than 80,000 hectares.

Two aircranes - Elvis and Gypsy Lady - are ready to be dispatched from Essendon and Ballarat if needed.

A third aircrane, Malcolm, on loan from NSW, is in action on the Harrietville fire.

At Harrietville, back-burns have been completed to the south of the town to offer greater protection, with another to Mount Hotham's northwest to limit the potential spread of the fire.

The Department of Health has warned Harrietville residents to boil their drinking water as firefighting operations have pushed sediment into the river, contaminating the town's supply.

"In these hot, windy and dry conditions, if a fire starts and takes hold, it's very difficult to control," Mr Lapsley said.

He said everyone who lives in high fire risk areas should be alert to weather conditions, talk to neighbours, listen to ABC local radio, commercial and designated community stations, check cfa.vic.gov.au and the FireReady app.

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Four dead in attacks on Iraq security

ATTACKS targeting security forces across Iraq have left three policemen and an army officer dead, officials say, amid a spike in unrest as the country grapples with a political crisis.

Two policemen were shot dead and three others were wounded by gunmen at a checkpoint in the town of Mussayib, south of Baghdad, while one police officer was killed and another hurt by gunfire in the main northern city of Mosul.

North of Baghdad in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, an army lieutenant colonel was killed and another officer was wounded by a roadside bomb while on patrol, officials said.

And in the capital, four people, including one policeman, were wounded by a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol.

No organisation has claimed responsibility for the deadly string of attacks, but Sunni militants including al-Qaeda's front group often target security forces and government targets in a bid to destabilise the country and push it back to the sectarian war that blighted Iraq from 2005 to 2008.

The violence took the death toll since Sunday to 72, indicating a spike in attacks amid a political crisis pitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his government partners as weeks of rallies have called for his ouster.

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Woman business chief gets plum cabinet job

PRESIDENT Barack Obama will seek to add another woman to his cabinet by picking business executive Sally Jewell to head the vast Interior Department, a White House official says.

Obama has been criticised for naming middle-aged white men to the top jobs in his second term team, but has pledged to promote diversity in his other picks, and has now settled on several prominent females.

If confirmed by the Senate, Jewell - who heads Recreational Equipment Inc, an outdoors retail chain - will succeed Ken Salazar at Interior, which manages US national resources, wildlife, tribal issues and national parks.

"With years of experience managing a nearly $US2 billion ($A1.93 billion) a year company, she will bring to the position integrity, keen management skills, as well as dedication to the Department's mission of managing our nation's lands," a White House official said.

"She believes deeply in the American tradition of preserving our nation's wild places, while also understanding firsthand the inextricable link between conservation and the economy.

"She also believes we must be good stewards of our nation's natural resources, underscoring the administration's ongoing priority of expanding safe and responsible energy production," the official said, noting that Jewell began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corporation.

Obama had been under pressure to add more diversity to his new cabinet after picking Chuck Hagel, John Kerry and Jack Lew, to serve as the secretaries of Defence, State and Treasury.

In January, Obama nominated high powered New York prosecutor and organised crime buster Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission to implement his Wall Street reforms.

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US Post to end Saturday letter service

THE US Postal Service (USPS) has announced that it will halt letter delivery services on Saturday in an attempt to reduce costs that left it $US15.9 billion ($A15.36 billion) in the red in 2012.

USPS chief Tom Donahoe, the US postmaster general, said the national mail agency was taking the step after waiting in vain for Congress to put through reforms that would help it shore up its finances on a long-term basis.

"The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the US mail," said Donahoe.

The USPS said the move is expected to result in $2 billion in cost savings.

The five-day service will begin on August 5. But the USPS will continue to deliver packages on Saturdays, and post offices will remain open on Saturday.

The USPS has been hit hard both by the turn to email and other electronic communications, reducing the volumes of mail it carries, and by competition from more agile private firms like Fedex in the high-margin parcel business.

Its losses more than tripled in the year to September 30 from $5.1 billion in fiscal 2011, with more than $11 billion sucked off to pre-fund health benefits for USPS retirees far into the future.

While package service revenue grew by 8.7 per cent last year, overall mail volume fell 5.1 per cent and operating revenues fell nearly one per cent, to $65.2 billion.

Since 2006 the service has reduced the size of its workforce by 193,000, or 28 per cent.

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