NSW fires to 'go gangbusters' on Friday

FIREFIGHTERS say bushfires burning across the state could "go gangbusters" on Friday as more scorching weather bears down on NSW.

A statewide total fire ban is in place for Friday as authorities brace for temperatures to reach the low- to mid-40s in some parts of the state.

NSW Rural Fire Service said the hot forecast meant there would be no reprieve from the around 100 fires burning across NSW late Thursday night, of which 16 remained uncontained.

An RFS spokeswoman told AAP strong winds forecast for Friday would exacerbate the fire threat.

"The fires, given they're already burning, they may well and truly go gangbusters."

Three fires had caused major concern on Thursday night, the RFS advised.

Around 150 firefighters worked to contain the Deans Gap fire about 12km east of Sussex Inlet, in the Shoalhaven.

In the state's southwest, the Cobbler Road fire in the Jugiong area, near Yass, was burning close to properties, with about 90 firefighters at the scene.

The Yarrabin fire burning in the Kybeyan Valley 20km east of Cooma had burnt 9,400 hectares by Thursday night, the spokeswoman said.

"Firefighters are concerned that the hot weather Friday and Saturday is going to have a negative impact on that fire."

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US stocks higher after strong Chinese data

US stocks have opened higher after stronger-than-expected Chinese trade data that boosted growth hopes for the world's second-biggest economy.

After 25 minutes of trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39.47 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 13,429.98.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 6.11 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 1,467.13.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 15.30 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 3,121.11.

China said its trade surplus surged 48.1 per cent in 2012 from the previous year, helped by a 7.9 per cent rise in exports. The strong trade data lifted Asian and European stock markets.

On Wall Street, news that Nokia boosted its fourth-quarter earnings guidance and that Ford doubled its quarterly dividend lent support to US stocks, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

On the downside, Tiffany & Co released an earnings warning, while Morgan Stanley downgraded Microsoft, O'Hare said.

US jobless claims rose by 4,000 last week to come in at 371,000, the government reported, above the 364,000 estimated by analysts.

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UK detective guilty in hacking scandal

A SENIOR British counter-terrorism detective has been found guilty of trying to sell information to Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn was charged with misconduct for allegedly phoning the newspaper and offering to pass on information about whether London's police force would reopen its stalled phone hacking investigation.

Prosecutors said the newspaper did not print a story based on her call and no money changed hands.

However, they said, she had committed a "gross breach" of the public trust by offering to sell the information.

She was accused of trying to ruin the inquiry by leaking information to the press.

Prosecutor Mark Bryant-Heron told the jury Casburn "sought to undermine a highly sensitive and high-profile investigation at the point of its launch" and accused her of malicious behaviour.

Casburn, 53, who managed the Metropolitan Police terrorist financing investigation unit, had denied the charges.

She admitted contacting the newspaper but denied she offered confidential information or sought payment.

Jurors at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday found her guilty of one count of misconduct.

She is the first person convicted in the hacking scandal since the police investigation was reopened in 2011.

She will be sentenced later this month.

The long-running phone hacking scandal has led to dozens of arrests. It involved allegations of illegal snooping on celebrities, crime victims, politicians and others.

Murdoch closed the News of the World tabloid after many of its misdeeds were exposed.

Tim Wood, the News of the World news editor who took Casburn's call, told the court she had expressed concern that counter-terrorism resources were being diverted to the phone hacking investigation.

He said she also complained of interference from former deputy prime minister John Prescott, a hacking victim and vocal Murdoch critic.

"The one thing that stands out in my mind is the fact that she kept going on about Lord Prescott," Wood said. "Her saying that he was pressing for them to put charges on the News of the World; and she was saying that she felt it was wrong that he was interfering in the scandal, so to speak, and she resented that."

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Assange protest organiser faces taunts

A BRITISH university student has become a victim of social media abuse for organising a protest against Julian Assange, partly for his evasion of sexual assault allegations.

Simone Webb is gathering support for a January 23 rally at Oxford University to coincide with an address by the WikiLeaks founder to the exclusive institution's Union.

"I have been sent abusive tweets by Assange supporters, including his mother. I've been described as pig-headed, a bitter jealous mediocrity, a misandrist, a retard, an extremist, and a hairy-legged truck driver," Ms Webb told AAP.

She blocked Assange's Brisbane-based mother, Christine Assange, on Twitter after receiving a barrage of messages.

Using an account in her own name, Ms Assange posted: "On Jan 23 a gang of rabbid irrational frenzied 'feminists' will protest Julians video speech to Oxford Uni Students."

Assange has been invited by the Oxford Union to speak at the annual Sam Adams Award, which recognises an individual who has displayed "courage, persistence and devotion to the truth" in the name of the former CIA analyst.

The 41-year-old is expected to make a video address as he faces arrest if he leaves London's Ecuadorian embassy, in which he took refuge in August last year.

The Australian was granted asylum by the Latin American nation after claiming sex assault allegations in Sweden were the start of a campaign to get him to the US, where his secret-leaking website is under investigation.

Assange denies the assault claims of two women and maintains that sex was consensual.

"I am holding the protest for a number of reasons. Primarily to highlight the inappropriateness and irony of having someone speak at an awards ceremony supposed to celebrate integrity, justice, courage and truth-seeking who is himself evading the justice process by hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy," Ms Webb said.

"Secondly, this is about challenging society's treatment of rape allegations, and the way they are minimised and ignored."

An unnamed spokesman for the Oxford Union justified Assange's address in comments made to the Huffington Post website.

"Mr Assange is a thinker and activist who has made significant contributions to the debate on government transparency," he said.

"It is hoped that institutional corruption, whistleblowing and freedom of speech can all be discussed without in any way sanctioning or condoning his alleged private actions."

Ms Webb has called for protesters to gather outside the Oxford Union and the Ecuadorian embassy on January 23.

She has created a Facebook event to garner support.

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Honoured Aussie stamp collection for sale

AN award-winning Australian stamp collection has attracted global interest following news it will go on sale in London.

Originally compiled by Briton Guybon John Hutson, who died in 1963, the stamps are for sale following the 2012 death of the private collector's son and heir.

While the collection contains stamps from Papua, New Zealand and Tasmania dating back to the mid-1800s, the highlights are examples from NSW, said Nick Startup from auction house Spink.

"It is a fantastic and very important collection which is one of the best collections of NSW ever formed, and one which the market has been eagerly awaiting to surface for many years," he said.

The Hutson collection was awarded a rare gold medal at the 1960 London International Stamp Exhibition.

Among the items for sale at the February 19 auction is a redirected envelope sent from Orange via Bathurst to London and returned to Devonport in 1854.

The collection is expected to fetch up to STG600,000 ($A920,000).

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Lawyer says cops beat Delhi rape suspects

A DEFENCE lawyer in the New Delhi gang-rape and murder case has accused police of beating confessions out of the suspects as they appeared in court for a second time.

Speaking ahead of the closed hearing before a city magistrate, Supreme Court lawyer ML Sharma said the five adult suspects aged from 19 to 35 had been forced to confess following their arrest soon after the December 16 crime.

He also suggested his defence would cast doubt on the character of the 23-year-old victim, a physiotherapy student who had been to watch a film with her boyfriend when they were lured onto a bus and savagely assaulted.

"All the accused have been badly beaten by the police and they have used the third degree to extract the statement that suits the evidence they have collected," ML Sharma told AFP outside Saket District Court in southern Delhi.

"My clients have been forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit."

A spokesman for Delhi police refused to comment on the allegations. Officers have said they have strong forensic evidence against the accused and testimony from the boyfriend.

Sharma is defending two of the adult defendants, who are expected to plead not guilty.

Two other Supreme Court advocates were confirmed as counsel for the other three during the hearing on Thursday.

The pleas of the other three men have not been decided yet, their lawyers told reporters.

A sixth accused, who is 17, will be tried in a juvenile court.

A police bus believed to be transporting the five suspects, mostly New Delhi slum residents who are being held in top-security Tihar jail, was seen arriving at the court before their scheduled appearance.

Lawyers said afterwards the next hearing had been set for January 14.

After their first appearance on Monday was marred by chaotic scenes, presiding magistrate Namrita Aggarwal ordered the court cleared and imposed restrictions limiting media reporting of the case.

A court officer had said the case would be transferred to a fast-track trial court during Thursday's hearing, but lawyers said outside the courtroom that this had not happened.

If the men are convicted, they could face the death penalty, which is reserved for "the rarest of rare" cases in India.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sharma was quoted as saying the companion was "wholly responsible" for the incident because the unmarried couple should not have been on the streets at night.

"Until today I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady," he told the financial newswire.

Sharma told AFP he was not trying to smear the victim.

"I did speak to Bloomberg, but did not say anything about the victim. I only told them that women are respected in India, they are mothers, sisters, friends, but tell me which country respects a prostitute."

Asked if that meant that he regarded the victim as a prostitute, Sharma replied: "No, not at all, but I have to protect my clients and prove that they did not commit this heinous crime."

The government, which has been on the defensive over the levels of crimes against women, on Thursday promised a series of safety measures including night-time patrols by police in Delhi.

"Every police station will have at least two women police officers and 10 constables. A women's help desk will also be set up at each station," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said at a press conference.

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Rate cuts off ECB table as crisis eases

THE European Central Bank has held its key interest rates steady and looks set to keep them there for some time amid signs the eurozone debt crisis is stabilising, analysts say.

As widely expected, the ECB's decision-making governing council voted at its first policy meeting of 2013 to hold the bank's main refinancing rate at its current historic low of 0.75 per cent.

At the end of last year, there had been speculation the ECB might pare back rates further should the seemingly never-ending eurozone debt crisis tip the economy of the 17-member euro area deeper into recession.

Last month central bank chief Mario Draghi revealed the decision to hold rates steady had been anything but clear-cut and there had even been "wide discussion" of a possible rate cut.

But there was no such talk this time round and the decision to maintain the status quo was "unanimous" in view of signs that the economic environment has calmed, he told reporters on Thursday.

"If you look at the overall landscape taking, let's say, a medium-term perspective ... you will see a significant improvement in financial market conditions and a broad stabilisation of some conjunctural indicators," Draghi said.

Among a long list of positives, he pointed to lower bond yields, higher stock prices, record-low volatility, strong capital inflows into the eurozone, a halt of deposit flight in peripheral countries and a reduction of the ECB's balance sheet.

In fact, borrowing costs for both Italy and Spain tumbled in their first sovereign bond sales of the year on Thursday.

"All in all, we have signs that fragmentation is being gradually repaired," Draghi said.

But he was quick to caution: "The jury is still out. It's too early to claim success. All this has not found its way into the real economy yet. So the real economy continues to be weak as we had discussed in our projections last month."

Nevertheless, while last year the overriding fear had been one of "contagion" and that the crisis would deepen and spread, there was also "positive contagion when things go well", Draghi said.

ECB watchers agreed that the likelihood of additional rate cuts is fading.

"A rate cut seems very unlikely in the foreseeable future," said Marie Diron at Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast.

A rate cut would not help a great deal and could even hinder the banks' profitability, Diron said.

"Other measures are needed to spur growth in the eurozone, including further progress on banking union and a rebalancing between fiscal austerity and economic reforms," she said.

For IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer, the ECB "appeared to close the door to an interest rate cut in the near term at least".

"Nevertheless, we still think it is more likely than not that the ECB will end up cutting interest rates from 0.75 per cent to 0.50 per cent," Archer argued, pointing out that the ECB acknowledges the economic weakness will continue in 2013 and that the risks were to the downside.

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