'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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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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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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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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German parliament allows circumcision

GERMANY'S parliament has passed a law to allow religious circumcision, clarifying the legal situation after a court said the rite amounted to grievous bodily harm in a ruling that caused international uproar.

Members of the Bundestag or lower house of parliament passed the cross-party motion by 434 votes to 100 with 46 abstentions.

The legislation states that male infants may be circumcised for religious reasons within six months of their birth by a "specially trained" practitioner, although this person does not have to be a doctor.

Nevertheless, the rite must be carried out "in a professional medical manner", the law states and stipulates exemptions for infants who could be at risk from the practice such as haemophiliacs.

The legislation sought to clear up confusion after a judgment published in June by the regional court in the western city of Cologne.

While considering a case brought against a doctor who had circumcised a Muslim boy, the court ruled the rite was tantamount to grievous bodily harm.

The decision united Jewish and Muslim groups in opposition and caused outrage from religious and political leaders in Israel and Muslim countries.

"I am pleased and relieved about the decision of the German parliament," said Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The law "finally restores legal certainty and hopefully ends the often unfortunate debate that took place in 2012," he added.

German politicians had acted "quickly and responsibly" and they deserve "praise and respect" for this, Graumann said.

Diplomats had admitted that the ruling proved "disastrous" for Germany's international image, particularly in light of its Nazi past.

Merkel was reported to have warned that Germany risked becoming a "laughing stock" if it banned circumcision.

Germany is home to about four million Muslims and more than 200,000 Jews.

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Mali gets new PM

MALI'S interim president has named a replacement prime minister after soldiers behind a coup earlier this year forced out his predecessor and placed him under house arrest, provoking international condemnation.

The political turmoil has deepened concerns about Mali's stability at a time when the international community is considering backing a military intervention, including Malian soldiers, to oust the country's north from the hands of radical Islamists.

The president of neighbouring Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, who has served as a mediator, said on Wednesday that the latest developments threaten to only worsen the Malian crisis.

Longtime civil servant Diango Cissoko was chosen late on Tuesday as the new prime minister in Mali's transitional government, first set up after the military coup in March.

The military ouster of Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra has prompted fierce criticism from the United Nations, the United States and the African Union, among others.

The president of the African Union commission strongly condemned the recent events in Mali and called for the "complete subordination of the army and security forces to civilian rule."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also warned that the forced resignation makes Western countries wary of getting involved in a military incursion in the north.

"One thing is clear: Our offers of help come with the condition that the process of restoring constitutional order in Mali be conducted credibly," he said.

The latest developments also have raised concerns among ordinary Malians.

"We don't really understand the reaction of Captain Sanogo (coup leader). Instead of creating an atmosphere of understanding between politicians in Bamako to resolve our problem in the north, Sanogo still continues to create trouble in Bamako," said Maouloud Daou, who lives in Hombori, a city under the control of radical Islamists.

The 62-year-old Cissoko held a number of positions under the administration of longtime President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown by mutinous soldiers in March. Coup leader Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo never relinquished control despite pledges to do so, and on Monday forces loyal to him arrested Diarra at his home.

Junta spokesman Bakary Mariko acknowledged that soldiers allied with the coup leader had detained the prime minister and now have him under house arrest. Mariko said Diarra was "not getting along" with either the interim president or Sanogo.

The military's meddling in state affairs has concerned the international community. Many worry that supporting the operation will simply further arm and embolden the very officers responsible for Mali's current state.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called Diarra's arrest a setback for Mali. "We need Sanogo and his brothers-in-arms to stay out of politics," she told reporters.

The UN Security Council threatened to impose sanctions against those blocking a return to constitutional order in Mali and called on the armed forces to stop interfering in state affairs.

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