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.

WSFA television said the man boarded the bus at around 3.40pm local time Tuesday, shot the bus driver and took one of the children to an underground shelter, where police are currently communicating with him through a PVC pipe.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment, but Sergeant Rachel David of the Dothan Police Department confirmed to WSFA that an adult male had been shot during the incident and that the suspect was "not in custody".

"We are at the very beginning of this investigation," she said.

The Dale County Sheriff's Office named the victim as 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland, Jr. It said he had been a bus driver since 2009 for the Dale County Board of Education.

WSFA, a CNN affiliate, said area roads had been closed and three local school systems had cancelled classes on Wednesday over the hostage situation.

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

County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt told The Associated Press the overnight standoff continued today 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.

"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."

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."

- with AP and AFP

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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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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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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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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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Victoria braces for a scorcher

VICTORIAN firefighters and rural communities are bracing for a horror day with the temperature set to reach a maximum 36 degrees as emergency services continue to battle to contain two massive bushfires.

A blaze in Gippsland covering 60,000 hectares has already destroyed homes while a fire at Harrietville near Mount Feathertop in the state's northeast is threatening towns and ski resorts.

Forecast high temperatures and volatile winds, along with a plentiful dry fuel load, means there is also a risk of grassfires breaking out in central Victoria around Castlemaine, Maryborough and Avoca, and in the west between Horsham and Warrnambool.

Authorities have declared a total fire ban in the southwest district of the state.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said about 300km of containment lines had been established around the entire Gippsland blaze.

A northeasterly wind is predicted to change to a northwesterly late on Thursday, which could threaten the Maffra district, Coongulla and Newry.

A southwesterly wind change is expected late on Thursday night or early Friday morning.

At the ski resort of Falls Creek residents are on a Watch and Act alert and have been told that a change of wind direction overnight could send a fire towards the village.

Mr Lapsley said people in these areas should be aware for the potential of the fires to spread and the importance of keeping up to date with local warnings and advice.

Falls Creek local Debbie Howie told AAP that off-mountain employees who live at Mt Beauty have been told not to come to work on Thursday.

The village's annual Australia Day dragon boat races on Rocky Valley Lake have been cancelled.

She said there are a couple of hundred people at the resort as well as a team of well-trained locals who make up the local CFA unit who will be called on to defend lives and property if the bushfire makes up the mountain.

Neighbouring Mt Hotham is also in the firing line in the event of a wind change.

Wind speed and wind direction will be the key with the potential for embers to be carried ahead of the main fire front.

"The fire has the potential to travel in three different ways if it does break containment lines," Mr Lapsley said.

"It could be embers dropping from the sky that sees new fires start."

Victoria Police have been refining night evacuation plans with text alerts set to be to be sent out to communities before people would usually go to bed.

Mr Lapsley said wildfires at night carry a lot of difficulties.

"The option of leaving and not being there if you've got the potential of fire moving around in your environment at night, I would suggest one of the best options is not to be there," he said.

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Iraq's Aziz depressed, wants Pope's help

TAREQ Aziz, the late Saddam Hussein's ailing former deputy premier now on death row, is suffering from depression and plans to ask the Pope to call for his speedy execution, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Badie Aref said Aziz, a Christian, believed he was being treated well in prison, but was suffering from ill health and simply wanted an end to his "misery."

"He is in total depression," Aref told AFP by telephone after meeting with Aziz earlier on Wednesday.

The lawyer said Aziz had told him: "I will now write an appeal to the Pope. Even though I have never met him in person, I will call for him to end my misery, because I would prefer to be executed rather than stay in this condition."

Aziz, a close confidante of now-executed dictator Saddam, was sentenced to death in October 2010 after having been found guilty of "deliberate murder and crimes against humanity."

The Vatican, the European Union and several Western governments have called on Baghdad for clemency.

Aziz has been in prison since surrendering in April 2003, days after the fall of Baghdad in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

His family has repeatedly called for his release on health grounds, particularly after he suffered a heart attack in late 2007.

He also suffers from high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes and ulcers.

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Steady rise in govt data requests: Google

GOOGLE has reported a "steady increase" in government requests to hand over data from internet users in the second half of 2012.

The web giant's semiannual "transparency report" showed the most requests came from the United States, with 8,438 requests for information about 14,868 users.

India was second with 2,431 requests for data about 4,106 users, followed by France, where Google received 1,693 requests for information about 2,063 users. Germany, Britain and Brazil rounded out the top six, Google said on Wednesday.

"The steady increase in government requests for our users' data continued in the second half of 2012, as usage of our services continued to grow," said Richard Salgado, Google's head of law enforcement and information security.

"User data requests of all kinds have increased by more than 70 per cent since 2009," he said in a blog posting.

"In total, we received 21,389 requests for information about 33,634 users from July through December 2012."

Google said it supplied at least some of the requested data in 68 per cent of cases, down from 76 per cent in late 2010.

In releasing details of requests in the United States, Google said 68 per cent of the requests it received from government entities were through subpoenas, which "are the easiest to get because they typically don't involve judges," according to Salgado.

Another 22 per cent were through search warrants, mostly issued by judges when there is "probable cause" related to a crime.

Google provided at least some data in 90 per cent of the requests in the United States in late 2012, compared with 94 per cent two years earlier.

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