US stocks gain in opening trade

US stocks have headed solidly higher in opening trade following gains in Europe's markets, which came on the back of a surge in German investor sentiment to a seven-month high.

Ten minutes into trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 62.16 points (0.47 per cent) to 13,232.04.

The broad-market S&P 500 added 7.57 (0.53 per cent) at 1426.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 24.62 points (0.82 per cent) to 3011.58.

Insurer AIG was up 2.7 per cent to $34.25 after the US Treasury announced the successful sale of its final 234 million shares at an average of $32.50 a share.

The Nasdaq was boosted as volatile Apple gained 2.0 per cent to $540.39.

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Arrests as police storm tent embassy

More than 30 police officers have arrived at Musgrave Park where Indigenous activists have vowed to defend the sacred flame that they have re-lit after the site was cleared late Tuesday afternoon. Picture: Brittany Vonow Source: The Courier-Mail

West End's Aboriginal tent embassy has been closed after Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk withdrew official consent for protesters to continue inhabiting the site. Source: The Courier-Mail

West End's Aboriginal tent embassy has been closed after Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk withdrew official consent for protesters to continue inhabiting the site. Source: The Courier-Mail

A GROUP of indigenous activists have re-lit a sacred flame at the Aboriginal tent embassy in Brisbane and will guard the site through the night.

BREAKING: Police have moved in on the Aboriginal tent embassy site in Musgrave Park, arresting several people.

12.45am: One woman who wished to be only known as Karen said she had been at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy site all afternoon, and said she was unimpressed with the police presence.

"We will still rebuild, we'll wait until everyone can get together again," she said.

Most of the police have now left.

12.35am: The main group of protesters has dispersed, moving to the outskirts of the park where they have continued to protest.

A heavy police presence of up to 80 officers are being abused by protesters at the edges of Musgrave Park.

Brisbane City Council workers have completely removed the wood from the site as police continue to guard the area.

12.30am: About 15 people standing on the edge of the park are continuing to protest.

Police are letting one man take some embers from the main fire.

 

12.25am: One of the protest leaders, Wayne Wharton, was arrested by police.

With one fire out and police guarding the other, Brisbane City Council workers are taking away the firewood.

12.20am: After gathering on the edges of Musgrave Park, more than 30 police officers stormed the Aboriginal tent embassy site, pulling protesters away from fires that had been re-lit.

Police then formed a cordon around the fires before firefighters moved in to douse the sacred flames.

MORE TO COME

Earlier reports:

Activists called an early-morning press conference for Wednesday after Brisbane City Council announced it would remove the tent embassy at the request of indigenous elders.

But embassy spokesman Wayne Wharton told AAP late on Tuesday that about 40 "warriors" later decided to re-light a fire at the site, which includes coals from embassy fires in Moree and the original tent embassy in Canberra, and would stay put to guard it.

He said police officers and fire brigade units had begun gathering at the Musgrave Park site.

"The only thing we're missing now is the military," he said.

"This time, we'll defend it."

A police spokesman could not confirm a ramped-up police presence at the site on Tuesday night, telling AAP all inquiries were being referred to the city's council.

A Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman told AAP some firefighters were at the site but was unable to say why.

Mr Wharton said it was untrue that the city had the indigenous community's backing.

Pressed on whether he believed violence could erupt overnight, Mr Wharton said he would use "whatever means possible" to defend the tent embassy.

"There are a number of warriors here that will defend it," he said.

EARLIER:

WEST End's Aboriginal tent embassy was closed down late Tuesday afternoon after Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk withdrew official consent for protesters to continue inhabiting the Musgrave Park site.

The development came in response to requests from local indigenous leaders, who had raised concerns about the embassy's ongoing presence in the park.

Mr Quirk said members of Brisbane's indigenous community had serious concerns about the site, including fears it lacked adult supervision and was becoming violent and choked with rubbish.

"This action is being taken strictly at the request of local elders," Mr Quirk said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We have a very good working relationship with Brisbane's indigenous community and if they tell me that the tent embassy has lost its way and needs to close, then I respect that decision."

A delegation of elders joined Cr Quirk in Musgrave Park late this afternoon, as Uncle Des Sandy, of the Yuggera people, formally requested the protesters move on.

They agreed after Cr Quirk gave an undertaking a sacred fire burning in the campsite would not be interfered with.

Council officers moved in on the site to assist with the disassembling of tents.

The operation has so far proceeded without incident.

Protesters have inhabited the park since earlier this year.

The site was thrown in to the spotlight in May when police moved in to evict protesters in the lead up to the annual Paniyiri Greek festival (see the pictures here).

Cr Quirk eventually gave permission for the embassy to remain in another section of the park in the wake of angry protests.

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Egypt seeks to delay loan request: IMF

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Egypt has asked to delay its request for a $US4.8 billion ($A4.60 billion) loan agreed in November as violent protests mount in Cairo ahead of a referendum on the constitution.

"In light of the unfolding developments on the ground, the Egyptian authorities have asked to postpone their request for a Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF," a Fund spokeswoman said in a statement.

"The Fund remains in close contact with the authorities, and stands ready to continue supporting Egypt during the ongoing transition and to consult with the authorities on the resumption of discussions regarding the Stand-By Arrangement," the spokeswoman said.

The IMF announcement followed violent protests in Egypt over a deeply disputed constitutional referendum proposed by the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi.

The IMF and Egyptian authorities provisionally agreed on the loan on November 20. The IMF executive board had been expected to review the deal in this month.

The planned IMF loan is aimed at helping the government bridge financing shortfalls through fiscal 2013-2014 as the country rebuilds an economy left battered by the 2011 overthrow of the Hosni Mubarak regime.

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Fallen police officer to be honoured

THOUSANDS of Sydneysiders are expected to join dignitaries and the state's top brass as they farewell fallen Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson.

The 45-year-old father of three will be mourned at a ceremony with full police honours at St Patrick's Cathedral in Parramatta on Wednesday.

Mourners will hear eulogies from his Bryson's wife Donna Anderson, his brother Warwick, a retired police officer, and another brother Damian.

The detective was stabbed after responding to a neighbour dispute at Oakville, in Sydney's northwest, on Thursday.

Tributes have flooded in from colleagues who worked alongside the "police officer's police officer", and the state's top police have remembered a skilled detective and a great mate.

"He was larger than life," Commissioner Andrew Scipione told the Fairfax Radio Network on Tuesday.

"He was well-respected. There were people that looked up to him. He always brought a laugh to any conversation. On top of that he was compassionate and caring."

He worked as a duty officer at Hawkesbury local area command and recently turned down a promotion in order to remain on the front line.

VIPs including Premier Barry O'Farrell, Governor Marie Bashir, Parramatta Lord Mayor John Chedid and Mr Scipione will attend the service.

Bishop Anthony Fisher will preside over the church proceedings that are expected to last two hours.

Mr Scipione invited the public to attend and said overflow arrangements will be in place for those to listen to the proceedings from outside the cathedral.

After the proceedings, a roadside guard and marching escort will proceed along Victoria Road between Marist Place and O'Connell Street.

Motorists are advised Victoria Road will be closed between Church and O'Connell Streets from 3pm until 6pm.

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Yemeni offensive on al-Qaeda kills 24

A MAJOR offensive launched by the Yemeni army against al-Qaeda following the assassination of a top officer has killed at least 24 people, including 17 soldiers, a military official says.

"Troops backed by air forces launched a wide operation in the region of Wadi Abida," targeting al-Qaeda hideouts, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

General Nasser Naji bin Farid, who commanded military forces in central Yemen, was killed on Saturday in an ambush near the city of Marib, blamed by military and tribal sources on al-Qaeda.

Four other officers and six soldiers were also killed in the ambush, Yemeni authorities said, giving the latest death toll from the ambush.

Following the assassination of Farid, considered close to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the army launched an offensive, in which 17 soldiers and seven tribesmen suspected of supporting al-Qaeda were killed, the military official said. Operations continued on Tuesday, he said.

The jihadist network has increased its attacks on army and security officers, especially in the south and the east of the country, where militants are active.

Gunmen suspected of being al-Qaeda militants shot dead on Tuesday the deputy chief of intelligence in the southeastern city of Mukalla.

In Daleh, also in the south, unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a soldier and wounded another as they opened fire at a checkpoint, a security official told AFP.

Earlier this month, General Mahmud al-Sobaihi, a top army commander in the south, escaped an assassination bid when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Huta, the capital of Lahj province.

Sobaihi's troops played a major role in an anti-Qaeda offensive that ended the control in June of jihadist militants in a string of towns and cities which they had held across the south for a year.

Although weakened, the network's militants continue to launch hit-and-run attacks on members of the security forces across Yemen.

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Ghana opposition to challenge vote results

GHANA'S main opposition party says it plans to challenge presidential election results in court after it alleged a "pattern of fraud" in incumbent John Dramani Mahama's victory.

"We are going to court," New Patriotic Party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey told reporters after a meeting of party officials, including its candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, who declined to comment.

The decision comes with the country under pressure to maintain its reputation as a stable democracy in turbulent West Africa. Local election observers, citing their own findings, have said they support the results showing Mahama won.

According to the electoral commission, Mahama won the election held over Friday and Saturday with 50.70 per cent of the votes cast, compared with Akufo-Addo's 47.74 per cent.

The NPP alleged a "pattern of fraud" even before the official results were announced.

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Egypt protesters breach president's palace

SEVERAL hundred Egyptian protesters have breached a concrete and metal barricade outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, forcing back the soldiers manning it, AFP correspondents report.

There was no violent confrontation despite the tensions surrounding the determination of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to press ahead with a Saturday referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.

The protesters pulled apart a high metal gate bar by bar and toppled concrete blocks with chains.

Hundreds of soldiers who had erected the barrier at the weekend, to block access roads following deadly clashes in the area last week, fell back closer to the palace. Six tanks were stationed close to the walled compound.

A counter-demonstration by Morsi supporters was taking place a few kilometres away, raising fears of further clashes.

On Wednesday last week, pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators fought each other with metal bars, petrol bombs and handguns, leaving seven people dead and more than 600 injured.

Morsi on Monday ordered the army to use temporary police powers to protect the palace and other "vital state institutions".

The military, which is trying to remain neutral in Egypt's three-week-old political crisis, has vowed to carry out its duty to maintain stability within democratic rules.

The opposition, made up of secular, leftwing and liberal groups, sees the draft text as weakening human rights, the rights of women and religious minorities.

Egyptian human rights groups issued a statement saying the draft constitution "opens the door to the establishment of a theocratic system similar to the Iranian Velayat-e Faqih model, or rule by a clerical supreme leader.

The UN human rights chief and international watchdogs have criticised the draft charter and the way it was drawn up.

Morsi's supporters, however, argue that it is now up to Egypt's voters to decide in the referendum.

Michael Wahid Hanna, a political analyst at US thinktank The Century Foundation told AFP that, as things stood, there was a good chance of the referendum passing.

On Monday, after a meeting with Morsi, Egypt's defence minister and commander of the armed forces, General Abel-Fattah al-Sisi, called on army officers to exercise the "highest levels of self-restraint".

He said the armed forces were determined to "carry out their role in protecting the nation and its stability regardless of pressures and challenges".

But Emad Gad, an Egyptian political analyst, said: "In the event there are violent clashes or especially if blood is spilt in the street, the army will certainly intervene."

He said there was even a potential the army might have to seize political control again, to maintain order and security.

The prolonged crisis has intensified uncertainty over Egypt's economy triggered by the revolution early last year that overthrew autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said a proposed $US4.8 billion ($A4.60 billion) loan is on hold at the request of Egyptian authorities in view of the volatile situation.

The IMF and Egyptian authorities provisionally agreed the loan last month and the IMF's executive board had been expected to review the deal this month.

The loan is aimed at helping the government to bridge financing shortfalls through fiscal 2013-2014 as the country rebuilds a battered post-revolution economy.

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