Internet storm welcomes royal baby

FROM spoof Twitter accounts to feverish speculation about names, the internet has gone into a frenzy over the unborn child of Prince William and his wife Catherine as the first royal baby of the online age.

News of the former Kate Middleton's pregnancy - announced by the royal family on Twitter - met with an explosion of posts on social networks, from joyous congratulations to those pleading for the media coverage to end already.

It is perhaps of little comfort to Catherine, in hospital for a second day on Tuesday with severe morning sickness, that within minutes of the announcement her baby already had a slew of spoof accounts "live-tweeting from the royal womb".

"CURRENT STATUS: DARK IN HERE, WILL UPDATE," tweeted @RoyalFoetus, which has 6000 followers.

The rival @RoyalFetus, which has 9000 followers, added: "I may not have bones yet, but I'm already more important than everyone reading this. #royalbaby #sorry".

The hashtag #royalbaby instantly rocketed to the top of Twitter's "trending topics" list on the announcement.

Interest was so great that the official website of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the couple are officially known, crashed due to high demand.

Meanwhile, online topics of royal baby-related conversation have ranged from likely names and godparents to the probability that the new third-in-line to the British throne will inherit the famous ginger locks of its uncle, Prince Harry.

Bookmakers predict that the couple will name the baby after a close relative, with William's late mother Diana among the early front-runners if it is a girl and John, George and Charles among the favourite boys' names.

But mischievous web-users have made their own helpful suggestions about what William and Catherine should call the baby.

One gleefully suggested Austerity to reflect the public mood in Britain as it struggles to climb out of recession, while others plumped for a down-to-earth name bringing the monarchy closer to the people, such as Kevin.

Online chatter has also turned to reports that Catherine could be expecting twins - potentially spelling constitutional double-trouble for the royal family.

"So if Kate has twins and a C-section," wrote one tweeter, echoing the thoughts of many, "does the doctor get to choose who will be the next in line for the throne?"

"What if there are twins and they're born by C section at the same time?" wrote another. "A pair of heirs?"

Others have been revelling in the array of computerised images, hastily put together by newspapers and websites, showing what the child may look like.

Some of the more sinister versions transpose William's thinning hairline onto pictures of the hypothetical toddler.

One thing is clear - with Catherine believed to be less than 12 weeks pregnant and much more of this to come - those already tiring of #royalbaby-talk may wish to flee the internet for a few months.

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Israel to advance east Jerusalem building

ISRAEL is moving forward with plans for two major settlement projects in east Jerusalem, a spokeswoman says, even as a senior Palestinian official warned that his government could pursue war crimes charges if Israel doesn't halt such construction.

International anger over Israeli settlement construction has snowballed in recent days, following last week's UN recognition of a state of Palestine - in lands Israel occupied in 1967 - as a non-member observer in the General Assembly.

Israel retaliated for UN recognition of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem by announcing plans to build 3000 homes for Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as preparations for construction of an especially sensitive project near Jerusalem, known as E-1.

The Israeli reprisal has prompted the country's strongest Western allies to take an unusually strong line with the Jewish state.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned on Tuesday that the latest Israeli building plans would make the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, "almost inconceivable."

Australia and Brazil summoned the local Israeli ambassadors on Tuesday in protest, Israel's Foreign Ministry said, a day after five European countries, including Britain, took the same step.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev defended the recent Israeli decisions, saying that "from our perspective, Israel is responding in a very measured way to a series of Palestinian provocations."

UN recognition could enable the Palestinians to gain access to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and seek war crimes charges against Israel for its construction of settlements on occupied lands.

Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he's not going to turn to the ICC "unless we were attacked" and that he informed many countries, including the United States, of this position. Abbas spoke before Israel announced its latest settlement plans.

A senior Abbas aide, Nabil Shaath, said late on Monday that "by continuing these war crimes of settlement activities on our lands and stealing our money, Israel is pushing and forcing us to go to the ICC."

Israel also said it is withholding some $US100 million ($A96.37 million) in tax rebates and other fees it collects on behalf of the Palestinians. The monthly transfer of the funds is vital for keeping afloat Abbas' Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government in the West Bank.

Israeli settlement construction lies at the heart of a four-year breakdown in peace talks, and was a major factor behind the Palestinians' UN statehood bid. Since 1967, half a million Israelis have settled in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, but continues to restrict access to the territory. It says the fate of settlements should be decided in negotiations and notes that previous rounds of talks continued while construction went on.

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US stocks open mixed amid budget impasse

US stocks have opened mixed, getting a lift from European market gains while US politicians continued to wrangle over a budget plan that would avoid the year-end "fiscal cliff."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.40 points (0.10 per cent) to 12,978.00 in the first few minutes of trade.

The broad-market S&P 500 edged down 0.72 point (0.05 per cent) to 1408.74, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 5.13 (0.17 per cent) to 2997.07.

The action came after the stock indexes started December in loss mode on Monday, with Washington's budget impasse weighing on sentiment.

"With the economic calendar empty, the unresolved fiscal cliff is likely to continue to command the lion's share of the Street's attention," said Charles Schwab & Co analysts.

On Monday, Republicans responded to President Barack Obama's deficit-reduction proposal with their own plan that raises half the income proposed by Obama and opposes a tax rate increase for the rich.

The White House swiftly rejected the counter-offer, leaving a stalemate less than a month ahead of the sharp automatic tax increases and spending reductions that take effect in January.

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Police arrest 2 linked to Toulouse gunman

FRENCH police have arrested two people in connection with the attacks by extremist gunman Mohamed Merah, whose shooting spree in and around the southern city of Toulouse left seven people dead.

A man described by police as a 38-year-old member of the traveller community who converted to Islam was detained on suspicion of having provided aid to Merah in carrying out the March attacks that shocked France.

He was arrested without incident at his home in the town of Albi, about 70 kilometres from Toulouse, where he was to be taken for questioning, police sources said.

His ex-girlfriend, also 38, was arrested separately at her home in Toulouse, in the same neighbourhood where Merah lived.

She was questioned shortly after her arrest. Police said she may have been aware of her ex-boyfriend's alleged involvement with Merah and failed to inform authorities.

The nature of his alleged involvement was unclear, but investigators have been searching for a suspected "third man" believed to have been with Merah and his brother Abdelkader during the theft of a scooter used in the attacks.

The detained man was known to police, a source said.

Merah shot a rabbi, three Jewish schoolchildren and three French paratroopers in March before being shot dead in a police siege in Toulouse.

Abdelkader was arrested after the attacks and remains in custody.

Sources close to the investigation warned against concluding that the suspect arrested on Tuesday was the "third man". He can be held for questioning for up to 96 hours without charge.

Merah's elder brother Abdelghani previously told French media that someone from the traveller community may have been involved in stealing the scooter.

Investigators are also probing whether any possible accomplices may have provided funds or weapons used by Merah.

A petty criminal who was lured into Islamic extremist circles in Toulouse, Merah visited Afghanistan and Pakistan before his attacks.

Since his shooting spree, it has become clear that Merah had been on the radar of France's security services for years and that authorities under-estimated the extent of his radicalisation following his trips abroad.

French intelligence services have been heavily criticised for failing to realise the threat posed by Merah.

His attacks prompted a rethink of French security policies, with legislation being considered that will allow authorities to prosecute citizens who attend militant Islamist training camps abroad and to boost monitoring of extremist sites on the internet.

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Exports, spending cuts to hurt GDP growth

WEAKER exports and government spending cuts are likely to have slowed the pace of economic growth in the September quarter.

The median market forecast is for the Australian economy to have grown by 0.6 per cent in the September quarter, according to an AAP survey of 13 economists last week.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is expected to report on Wednesday that over the year to September, the economy is to have grown by 3.1 per cent.

This will be a considerable slowdown compared to the 3.7 per cent growth recorded in the 12 months to June.

TD Securities Asia-Pacific macro strategist Alvin Pontoh said weaker exports and spending cuts from state and federal governments were expected to weigh on economic growth.

"It's lower than the first half of the year but it is not a bad rate of growth," he said.

"In the first half of the year, you had strong consumption but that is partly because of a number of temporary factors, including retailers' discounting and carbon tax compensation, but those effects are going to fade."

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One dead in violent clashes in Bangladesh

PROTESTERS from Bangladesh's largest Islamic party have clashed with security forces in cities across the country in violence that has left one dead, police say.

Jamaat-e-Islami called a strike on Tuesday to protest against the arrest and trial of its leaders, who face charges of war crimes during the country's 1971 liberation struggle.

An 18-year-old youth was shot dead on Monday night during clashes in the northern town of Chirirbandar, 300 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, and unrest spread to other cities on Tuesday.

Jamaat supporters torched and damaged about 20 vehicles including a car belonging to the US Embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday and 69 people were detained on charges of violence, police said.

"Jamaat activists hurled bricks at a US embassy car which was coming from the airport after dropping a foreigner. They also tried to torch the car," police sub-inspector Abu Saleh told AFP.

In a statement posted in the party's website, Jamaat's acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman said "sorry" for the incident saying they were ready to pay compensation for the damaged car and to the injured driver.

Violence was also reported in the eastern town of Brahmanbaria and in the cities of Sylhet, Rajshahi and Narayanganj.

The dead 18-year-old was admitted to hospital on Monday with a gun shot wound to the head after a demonstration at which police admitted firing live ammunition to control the crowd, hospital and police sources said.

"We fired seven rounds of live bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas shells," local police chief Tariqul Islam told AFP, saying that the cause of the activist's death was unclear.

Shihidul Islam, a nurse at Rangpur Medical College Hospital, said the activist died as he was brought to the clinic. "He has a bullet shot in his head," he told AFP.

The government blames Jamaat for much of the killing in the bloody nine-month war against Pakistan, in which it says about three million people died.

But the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), created in 2010 to try war crimes suspects, has been widely criticised as being a political tool for the ruling Awami League government to target its opponents.

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West warns Damascus on chemical weapons

WESTERN powers have warned Damascus there will be an immediate reaction to any use of chemical weapons as NATO prepares to approve a Turkish request for missiles to protect its border with Syria.

"The possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable to the whole international community and I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community," NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles were "a matter of great concern," Rasmussen said, adding: "This is also the reason why it is a matter of urgency to ensure effective defence and protection of our ally Turkey."

Turkey's request for US-made surface-to-air Patriot missiles on its border is worrying Russia, but both NATO and Ankara insist they would be purely defensive.

US President Barack Obama on Monday issued a new warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to use chemical weapons against his own people, as the conflict approaches the 21-month mark with more than 41,000 people killed.

"I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching, the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," Obama said.

"If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable."

France, with traditional interests in the region, made a similar point.

"The leaders in Damascus must know the international community is watching them and will react" if chemical weapons are used, French foreign ministry spokesman Vincent Floreani said.

The Syrian government, fighting to prevent the capital Damascus from falling to rebel forces, on Monday reiterated it would never resort to chemical weapons.

Saudi Arabia meanwhile urged the international community to take a unified position on Syria after the rebel groups formed a coalition last month.

"We see in forming the new Syrian coalition an important positive step towards uniting the opposition under one banner," Prince Saud al-Faisal said.

"We hope to see a similar step towards uniting the positions and views of the international community in dealing with the Syrian issue," the foreign minister added.

Saudi Arabia has openly called for arming the Syrian rebels.

On the ground on Tuesday, the Syrian army blasted a string of rebel zones on the eastern and southwestern outskirts of Damascus.

Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said "the army is trying at all costs to keep the rebels out of Damascus.

"The rebels are pushing hard to enter into the city but they have not been able to make the advance they are hoping for," he added.

Pro-regime daily Al-Watan reported that the army is "making progress in all directions in Damascus province, chiefly in villages along the road linking the capital to the international airport."

Syrian state television meanwhile reported that a rebel attack on a school near Damascus on Tuesday killed nine students and their teacher.

In the face of deteriorating security, the United Nations on Monday suspended operations in Syria and said it would pull out non-essential staff, while the European Union reduced its activities in Damascus to a minimum.

Against this backdrop, Syria and Turkey's request for help to boost its defence was dominating the two-day NATO meeting in Brussels, which was to dedicate some time also to strained ties with Moscow.

Military sources in Turkey have said NATO is considering the deployment of up to six Patriot batteries and some 300-400 foreign troops to operate them.

The Patriot, designed mainly to bring down missiles but effective also against aircraft, would likely be supplied by Germany, The Netherlands or the United States.

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