CNN names Jeff Zucker as new chief

CNN has named former NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker as its new top executive.

Mr Zucker is replacing Jim Walton, who announced he was leaving this past summer.

Mr Zucker takes over a network that was the first in cable news but has lagged behind Fox News Channel and, often, MSNBC in the ratings and has been searching for direction.

Since leaving as chief of NBC Universal, Mr Zucker has been working with Katie Couric to put her talk show on the air. He spent many years as the top producer on NBC's Today show during its glory years in the 1990s.

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Syria 'shuts off the internet'

TWO US-based internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off the Internet nationwide.

Activists in Syria reached Thursday by satellite telephone confirmed the unprecedented blackout, which comes amid intense fighting in the capital, Damascus.

Renesys, a U.S.-based network security firm that studies internet disruptions, says Syria effectively disappeared from the internet at 12:26pm local time.

Akamai Technologies, another U.S-based company that distributes content on the Internet, also confirmed a complete outage for Syria.

Syria has partially cut Internet connections during the 20-month uprising against President Bashar Assad but a nationwide shutdown is unprecedented.

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S&P affirms China's credit rating

STANDARD & Poor's has affirmed China's sovereign credit rating, another sign that the world's second largest economy is rebounding as Beijing prepares to usher in new leaders.

The ratings agency said China's "exceptional growth prospects" and "modest government indebtedness" were key factors supporting its creditworthiness. It also said China's outlook was "stable".

China's AA- long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings rank just below S&P's highest rating of triple-A.

S&P's credit analyst Kim Eng Tan said the upbeat assessment comes amid expectations of no major policy changes following the unveiling of new leaders at the Communist Party's pivotal congress earlier this month.

"We expect no major change in policy directions in China in the wake of the recent top leadership changes," he said.

"Efforts toward deepening structural and fiscal reforms are likely to continue.

"We expect the Chinese economy to continue its strong growth while the country maintains its large external creditor position in the next three to five years."

China's economic growth hit a more than three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter this year, but recent data has fuelled optimism that its economy is rebounding.

China is set to install new Communist Party general-secretary Xi Jinping as president in March, replacing incumbent Hu Jintao. While Li Keqiang is expected to replace current Premier Wen Jiabao.

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Halloween stampede claims fifth victim

A FIFTH young woman has died from injuries sustained in a stampede during a Halloween dance party in Madrid arena.

Spanish National Radio said 20-year-old Maria Teresa Alonso died in Madrid's Fundacion Jimenez Diaz hospital from brain injuries.

Three young women died in the stampede early Nov. 1 while a fourth woman died days later in another Madrid hospital.

Madrid authorities investigating the tragedy are probing whether the venue's maximum capacity of 10,600 people was exceeded on the night of the disco party that starred American DJ Steve Aoki.

The stampede occurred in a passageway leading to the central concert area of the Madrid Arena venue.

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Australian witness praises Leveson report

MORE than seven years after becoming embroiled in a phone hacking scandal that rocked the world's media, Australian woman Mary-Ellen Field has welcomed a British report into the affair.

The former business adviser to fashionista Elle Macpherson was one of 184 witnesses - including politicians and celebrities - to give evidence to the independent Leveson Inquiry, probing the culture, practice and ethics of the press.

Justice Brian Leveson on Thursday called for a new media regulatory system backed by law, including fines of up to STG1 million ($A1.5 million) for breaches.

"I think he's done an excellent job," Field told AAP from Sydney after hearing Justice Leveson's recommendations.

"There has been a lot of scaremongering about imposing statutory regulations ... and I would prefer there wasn't any, but (regulation) doesn't work otherwise. It has to have some mechanism to force (the press) to behave."

After some two years working together, Macpherson in 2005 called Field an alcoholic and blamed her for leaking personal stories to the press while drunk, leading to the end of the pair's relationship.

Now the head of a brand valuation company, Field was labelled an "innocent bystander" by Justice Leveson.

He wrote in the report that Field was among a sideline group "who are not even targeted or explicitly written about but become collateral damage because of the suspicions generated by subterfuge".

In her evidence to the inquiry on November 22, 2011, Field outlined the damage to her reputation and livelihood as the consequence of what she believed to be the hacking of Macpherson's voicemail.

"The inquiry has restored my reputation. As soon as I gave evidence I had past clients come forward and say 'why didn't you tell us?'. But it's tough to say, 'people are lying about me being a drunk'," Field said.

"It's seven years last Saturday since I was accused of doing this and really, the battle has only just begun. But it's in a part of my head now where I don't obsess about it. The truth is out there. We're on the right track."

Field filed a claim against News Group Newspapers - the Rupert Murdoch-owned operator of the former News of the World newspaper - in March 2011 and is legally prevented from speaking about the ongoing matter.

Macpherson's representatives were contacted for comment.

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Quick Spain recovery is 'remote': OECD

SPAIN is engulfed in a long recession with little hope of a quick recovery, the OECD club of industrialised nations says.

Spain must quickly fix its banks to avert the "substantial risk" of being cut off from external financing and plunging into an even deeper recession, the body has warned.

"The economy is undergoing a prolonged recession," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report, citing the 2008 global financial crisis and the bust of a Spanish housing boom.

"The prospect of an immediate recovery remains remote," the OECD said, noting that people and businesses were struggling to repay debts and the nation was stuck in a debt crisis.

Addressing Spain's 25 per cent unemployment rate, the highest since the return to democracy after the death of general Francisco Franco in 1975, the OECD urged drastic labour market changes.

It called for cutting compensation for unfair dismissal, considering abolishing an extension of industry-wide collective bargaining, and more training and job search help for the young.

Spain's economy has been shrinking for 15 months, with output slumping 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, official data show, and the recession is expected to last right through 2013.

The OECD is forecasting Spain's gross domestic product will shrink 1.3 per cent in 2012 and decline by another 1.4 per cent in 2013 before a weak pickup of 0.5 per cent in 2014.

Spain's "immediate policy priority" is to restore trust in banks by fixing weak balance sheets, making orderly resolution of non-viable banks, and shifting bad assets into a new bad bank, the body said.

Spain's banks are struggling with loans turned sour after the property crash.

Eurozone powers agreed in June to extend to Madrid an emergency rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros ($A125 billion) to fix their balance sheets and reform the sector.

Now, Spain also is pondering whether to apply to the eurozone's bailout fund for a sovereign rescue, which would open the way for the European Central Bank to buy Spanish bonds and curb Madrid's borrowing costs.

OECD secretary general Angel Gurria called for Spain's European partners to make a declaration they would support Madrid in any bailout request.

"The thing we need now is to ask that Spain's European partners, given its performance, make an unequivocal declaration that in case Spain asks for support, that this support will be given," he told a news conference.

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Judge accepts terms for Manning's plea

A US military judge has accepted the terms under which army private Bradley Manning could plead guilty to some charges that he passed secret documents to WikiLeaks.

But Judge Denise Lind's decision focused solely on the wording of a proposal from Private Manning and did not represent formal acceptance of his plea, which could come at future proceedings.

Judge Lind approved the wording for seven counts facing Pte Manning, accused of the worst secure data breach in American history.

The former intelligence analyst also faces 15 additional counts and military authorities would have to decide whether to press those charges.

The seven counts would carry a maximum punishment of 16 years in prison, the judge said at a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade, Maryland.

The plea proposal from Pte Manning would allow him to admit responsibility for leaking a trove of military intelligence logs and State Department cables, though not for every offence claimed by the government.

Under the proposal, Pte Manning would not face the grave charge of "aiding the enemy" which could send him to prison for life.

The decision came on the third day of a six-day pre-trial hearing, in which the defence is arguing for the case to be dismissed in its entirety due to alleged illegal punishment during Pte Manning's detention in 2010 to 2011 in Quantico, Virginia.

Pte Manning is expected to take the stand for the first time this week to testify about his harsh detention conditions at Quantico, in which he was held in a solitary cell for at least 23 hours a day and ordered to strip at night.

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