Tibetan campaigner arrives in Dharmsala

A 42-YEAR-OLD Tibetan has arrived at the headquarters of the government-in-exile in India after cycling through Europe and Asia in a campaign protesting China's heavy-handed rule in the Himalayan region.

Scores of people lined the streets of northern Indian town of Dharmsala on Saturday waving Tibetan flags and ceremonial silk scarves as they greeted Rinpo Yak.

He reached India cycling through Nepal.

Beginning in March, he moved through 14 European countries before flying to Japan for the Asian leg. His journey has covered over 8000 kilometres.

He lives in the US and he has spread his message across 40 states since 2000.

He's due to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama soon.

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French tax protests rumble on

THOUSANDS of trucks blocked highways and roads across France in ongoing protests over an environmental tax that continue to smoulder, despite the government putting the levy on ice.

The Interior Ministry said around 2200 trucks were taking part in the protest over the proposed tax on trucks of over 3.5 tonnes - slightly more than the last protest by transporters two weeks ago. A transport union put the figure at 4500 trucks.

Tens of thousands of small business owners and workers have demonstrated over the tax in the past month, calling it the last straw after a string of punishing tax increases, particularly on business.

Further protests were planned later on Saturday in Brittany, where the revolt was started in October by a group of farmers and food producers known as the Bonnets Rouges (Red Caps).

To defuse tensions the government has suspended the implementation of the tax, which had been due to come into effect in 2014.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said on Friday it would not take effect until at least 2015.

The OTRE transport union and Brittany's Bonnet Rouges are demanding that the tax be scrapped altogether.

The protests are seen as the expression of deep frustration with the Socialist government's economic policy.

Faced with a bloated budget deficit, the government's response has mainly been to raise taxes, avoiding the deep spending cuts seen elsewhere in Europe.

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Militants attack polio team in Pakistan

MILITANTS have attacked police protecting an anti-polio team in Pakistan's troubled northwest, killing one policeman and injuring another.

The policeman was part of polio eradication campaign in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Naseeb Gul from the district police office confirmed the casualties. He says the polio workers are safe.

No one has taken responsibility for the attack so far. However, it's believed that Islamists carry out such attacks as they consider immunisation a conspiracy by the West to reduce fertility in Muslims.

Last Saturday, militants linked with the Lashkar-e-Islam militant group kidnapped four teachers from the Khyber tribal district near Peshawar for administering polio vaccines to school children.

Pakistan is one of only a few countries, such as Afghanistan and Nigeria, where the crippling polio virus can still be found.

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Chess world championship starts

DEFENDING champion Viswanathan Anand has held Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen to a quick draw with the black pieces in the first game of their chess world championship match.

Playing in Chennai on Saturday close to where Anand was born, the 43-year-old Indian grandmaster forced Carlsen to repeat a position by chasing his opponent's queen back and forth with a knight, leading to an automatic draw after just 16 moves.

That gives Anand a slight early advantage, as he now gets the white pieces in six of the remaining 11 games.

The 22-year-old Carlsen is the biggest star in chess and the game's top-ranked player, but this is his first world championship match. Anand has held the world title since 2007 and has defended it against three previous opponents.

Hospital cuts to hit kids

EXCLUSIVE: EMERGENCY helicopter cases will have to bypass the new Monash Children's Hospital after the State Government cut plans for a helipad.

Typhoon death toll rises to 1200

WITH the death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan rising to 1200 in the Philippines, neighbouring Vietnam is bracing itself for the storm's next landfall.

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Young Aussies are most stressed out: study

AUSTRALIAN employees are suffering high levels of stress, a survey reveals.

That's not surprising. Australians overall report declining wellbeing and increasing stress, according to a state-of-the-nation survey commissioned by the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

They also have more depression and anxiety symptoms than those revealed in the 2011 and 2012 surveys.

Younger people are the most stressed and people older than 66 are coping the best, according to the online survey of 1548 people, 999 of whom are employed.

Workplace issues include a lack of feedback, unclear expectations and not feeling valued.

Employees report significantly lower levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of interest in their job compared with previous years.

Hospital cuts to hit kids

EXCLUSIVE: EMERGENCY helicopter cases will have to bypass the new Monash Children's Hospital after the State Government cut plans for a helipad.

Typhoon death toll rises to 1200

WITH the death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan rising to 1200 in the Philippines, neighbouring Vietnam is bracing itself for the storm's next landfall.

While most employees feel physical injuries are taken seriously, only 50 per cent feel supported with mental health issues, according to the survey, released to coincide with national psychology week.

Women feel more supported by their managers than men.

This could be because men do not seek support and try to cope on their own, APS executive director Professor Lyn Littlefield says.

"Feedback should be regular and should be both formal and informal. Not just once a year at a performance review," she said.

Prof Littlefield says temporary stress can be a useful motivator, but when stress reaches a certain level it becomes problematic and people become dysfunctional.

If it continues too long it can lead to depression and anxiety.

Stress-management techniques and making changes to things that are within a person's control can help, Prof Littlefield says.

The worst thing to do is to attempt to manage it with alcohol or drugs.

"People do try to self medicate, but that does not ever solve the problem," she said.

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Germans commemorate Kristallnacht

GERMANS across the country have commemorated the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht - the night of broken glass - during which the Nazis staged a wave of attacks on Jews in Germany and Austria.

On November 9, 1938, hundreds of synagogues were burned, numerous homes and Jewish-owned stores were ransacked, some 1000 people were killed and more than 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps.

The attacks marked the beginning of the state-organised, violent persecution of Jews which ended in the murder of six million European Jews by the end of the Third Reich in 1945.

Germans in many cities and towns held candle-light vigils, listened to Jewish survivors share memories and met at Jewish cemeteries to remember the victims of Kristallnacht during Saturday's commemorations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the night of broken glass "was an event that humiliated Jews in an unbelievable way ... a real low point in German history had been reached."

Hospital cuts to hit kids

EXCLUSIVE: EMERGENCY helicopter cases will have to bypass the new Monash Children's Hospital after the State Government cut plans for a helipad.

Typhoon death toll rises to 1200

WITH the death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan rising to 1200 in the Philippines, neighbouring Vietnam is bracing itself for the storm's next landfall.

She added, "Unfortunately, later on German history developed in an even more dramatic way which eventually ended in the Shoah" - or Holocaust. The chancellor also called on Germans to never forget the past.

Across Berlin, guided groups of residents walked through their neighbourhoods, noting sites where Jewish stores, schools and other locations once stood before being destroyed by the Nazis and their supporters.

Several Berliners came together to polish some of the city's 5000 Stolpersteine, or stumbling blocks, which identify by name individual victims of Nazis in front of their former homes.

The cobblestone-sized brass plaques are inserted on sidewalks and called stumbling blocks because one unexpectedly trips over them -figuratively speaking - while strolling through the city.

"We have organised 16 groups who are out today cleaning the stumbling blocks and we are hoping to turn this into an annual event in the future," said the coordinator of the tours, Silvija Kavcic.

Despite the many positive activities, some speakers sounded a note of caution, reminding their listeners that anti-Semitism is still a problem in Europe.

A poll of European Jews released on Friday found that more than three-quarters of those questioned believe anti-Semitism is surging in their home countries and close to one-third have considered emigrating because they don't feel safe.

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Jetski rider dies after Gold Coast crash

Hospital cuts to hit kids

EXCLUSIVE: EMERGENCY helicopter cases will have to bypass the new Monash Children's Hospital after the State Government cut plans for a helipad.

Victory fan stabbed in brawl

A MELBOURNE Victory fan is believed to have been stabbed in a wild brawl after tonight's match against Sydney FC in Sydney tonight.

How Fev lost his fortune

HE was once footy's most bankable star but bankruptcy documents reveal how Brendan Fevola has blown a fortune.

Therapy puts dad in touch again

BEING able to cradle his baby daughter, Adele, in his arms was a precious gift that Damian Zammit thought he would never get to experience.

Facing her outback nightmare

CRIME FEATURE: JOANNE Lees failed to meet public expectations as a distraught heroine, but the key witness in one of Australia's biggest murder trials delivered a performance of a lifetime.

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Pakistani Taliban selects new leader

THE Pakistani Taliban has selected Khan Said Sajna as the insurgent group's new leader after Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike, members of the organisation say.

Sajna is from a group within the Pakistani Taliban that was in favour of peace talks with the government.

He was a close associate of Baitullah Mehsud, the founder and former leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who was also killed by a drone in 2009.

A Taliban council picked the Mehsud tribesman as the new chief at a meeting at an undisclosed location in the tribal region on Saturday.

Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on Friday, one day before the government and the TTP were about to open peace talks after a decade of conflict.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said the government would not cease its efforts to seek a peace deal with the militants despite the US attack.

"We had removed all hurdles in opening dialogue with the Taliban, and we will still try to build on that," Rashid said.

It was not immediately known whether the Taliban was also interested in initiating a process of reconciliation.

A militant commander in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan said it was too early to say if the militia would still respond to government overtures.

Analysts said the future of the TTP and the proposed peace talks depend upon how well the new leader keeps the militia united.

"If the organisation splits into many groups, it will not be easy for the government to deal with each one of them," said Irfan Shehzad, lead researcher at an Islamabad-based think tank, the Institute of Policy Studies.

Pakistan's government declared a red alert overnight after Hakimullah Mehsud's killing out of fear of retaliatory attacks.

It ordered increased security around airports and other key installations.

The army was deployed on Saturday in all major cities near tribal areas after intelligence agencies warned that the TTP might launch improvised attacks to avenge the killing of their leader.

Hakimullah Mehsud was buried on Saturday, an official said.

He and four other militants were killed when an unmanned aircraft fired four missiles at a compound in the Dande Darpa Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border.

A security official said the dead rebel leader and his associates were buried in different areas of the tribal region but declined to give the exact locations.

Hakimullah Mehsud headed the banned TTP, a group of more than a dozen rebel outfits, since 2009. He succeeded Baitullah Mehsud.

Sajna hails from the Laddah area of the South Waziristan tribal district.

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Bahrain opposition leader faces prosecutor

BAHRAIN'S main opposition group says its leader has been called to the state prosecutor's office over an exhibition that showed alleged abuses against anti-government protesters.

It's unclear whether Ali Salman, the head of the Shi'ite bloc al-Wefaq, could face arrest on Sunday.

Such a move could boost tensions sharply and open wider clashes between Shi'ite-led protesters and Bahrain's Sunni rulers.

Riot police last week raided the museum-style hall opened by al-Wefaq that included depictions of alleged torture and heavy-handed tactics against protesters during 32 months of unrest.

Authorities said the displays incited "hatred".

Al-Wefaq said on Saturday that Salman was ordered to the prosecutor's office, but gave no other details.

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In midst of Syria war, Jesus statue arises

IN the midst of a conflict rife with sectarianism, a giant bronze statue of Jesus has gone up on a Syrian mountain, apparently under cover of a truce among three warring factions.

Jesus stands, arms outstretched, on the Cherubim mountain, overlooking a route pilgrims took from Constantinople to Jerusalem in ancient times.

The statue is 12.3 metres tall and stands on a base that brings its height to 32m, organisers of the project estimate.

That the statue made it to Syria and went up without incident on October 14 is remarkable.

The project took eight years and was set back by the conflict that followed the March 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Christians and other minorities are all targets in the conflict, and the statue's safety is by no means guaranteed.

It stands among villages where some fighters have little sympathy for Christians.

So why put up a giant statue of Christ in the midst of such setbacks and so much danger?

Because "Jesus would have done it," organiser Samir al-Ghadban quoted a Christian church leader as telling him.

The backers' success in overcoming the obstacles shows the complexity of war, where sometimes despite the atrocities the warring parties can reach short-term truces.

Al-Ghadban said that the main armed groups in the area - Syrian government forces, rebels and the local militias of Sednaya, the Christian town near the statue site - halted fire while organisers set up the statue, without providing further details.

Rebels and government forces occasionally agree to ceasefires to allow the movement of goods.

They typically do not admit to having truces because that would tacitly acknowledge their enemies.

It took three days to raise the statue.

Photos provided by organisers show it being hauled in two pieces by farm tractors, then lifted into place by a crane.

Smaller statues of Adam and Eve stand nearby.

The project, called I Have Come to Save the World, is run by the London-based St Paul and St George Foundation, which al-Ghadban directs.

It was previously named the Gavrilov Foundation, after a Russian businessman, Yuri Gavrilov.

Documents filed with Britain's Charity Commission describe it as supporting "deserving projects in the field of science and animal welfare" in England and Russia, but the commission's accounts show it spent less than STG250 ($A426) in the last four years.

Al-Ghadban said most of the financing came from private donors, but did not supply further details.

Russians have been a driving force behind the project - not surprising given that the Kremlin is embattled Assad's chief ally, and the Orthodox churches in Russia and Syria have close ties.

Al-Ghadban, who spoke from Moscow, is Syrian-Russian and lives in both countries.

Al-Ghadban said he began the project in 2005, hoping the statue would be an inspiration for Syria's Christians.

He said he was inspired by Rio de Janeiro's towering Christ the Redeemer statue.

He commissioned an Armenian sculptor, but progress was slow.

By 2012, the statue was ready, but Syria was aflame, causing the project's biggest delay, al-Ghadban said.

Majority Sunni Muslims dominate the revolt, and jihadists make up some of the strongest fighting groups.

Other Muslim groups along with the 10-per cent Christian minority have stood largely with Assad's government, or remained neutral, sometimes arming themselves to keep hardline rebels out of their communities.

Churches have been vandalised and priests abducted.

Last month the extremists overran Maaloula, a Christian-majority town so old that some of its people still speak a language from Jesus' time.

On Tuesday a militant Muslim cleric, Sheik Omar al-Gharba, posted a YouTube video of himself smashing a blue-and-white statue of the Virgin Mary.

Al-Ghadban and the project's most important backer, Gavrilov, weighed cancelling it.

They consulted Syria's Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yaziji.

It was he who told them "Jesus would have done it".

They began shipping the statue from Armenia to Lebanon.

In August, while it was en route, Gavrilov, 49, suffered a fatal heart attack, al-Ghadban said.

Eventually the statue reached Syria.

"It was a miracle," al-Ghadban said.

"Nobody who participated in this expected this to succeed."

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