European shares gain on report of progress

EUROPEAN stock markets have chalked up strong gains and the euro has hit $1.30 on fresh hopes that Spain will ask for some sort of aid and improved sentiment regarding Greece, traders say.

A senior Spanish official said late on Monday that Madrid was mulling a request for a line of credit from the EU's new bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the Wall Street Journal reported.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies jumped the next day by 1.12 per cent to close at 5870.54 points.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 1.58 per cent to 7376.27 points, as data showed that investor sentiment in Germany rose for the second month in a row during October.

In Paris, the CAC 40 leapt by 2.36 per cent to 3500.94 points, while Madrid's IBEX 35 index shot up by 3.41 per cent to 7940.20.

"The latest headlines from Madrid imply that a formal request for aid is inevitable," said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist at City Index.

"Whether it takes the form of 'applying' for a credit line under the 500 billion euros ($A636.82 billion) European Stability Mechanism (but not necessarily tapping it), or a full-fledged activation of the ESM, Spain is intending to stabilise market sentiment - without triggering the Outright Market Transactions," he added.

OMT's are the European Central Bank's latest heavy weapon against assaults on sovereign debt rates, and Spain is keen to show it can pull through the debt crisis without a full-fledged bailout.

However Raj Badiani at IHS Global Insight warned that "Spain needs to be approach the next few months with caution, and remember that it could take just several disappointing debt auctions alongside the intensifying economic downturn and missed fiscal targets to undermine demand for Spanish sovereign paper and trigger another painful spike in bond yields."

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds on the secondary market dipped to 5.803 per cent on Tuesday from 5.815 per cent on Monday.

Meanwhile, Greece raised 1.625 billion euros in an auction of three-month treasury bills at a reduced rate of 4.24 per cent, the public debt management agency said.

Shut out of the long-term debt markets since 2010, Greece relies on loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to keep the economy afloat, and regularly issues short-term debt.

The debt-laden eurozone country is in talks with auditors representing its EU, IMF and European Central Bank creditors, trying to finalise an austerity package amounting to approximately 13.5 billion euros.

In foreign exchange trading, the euro climbed to $1.3039 from $1.2950 late in New York on Monday. Gold prices advanced to $1746.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1736 an ounce on Monday.

"On-going optimism that Spain will request EU (bailout) assistance at some point should keep the euro supported against the dollar," said Lloyds Bank analyst Adrian Schmidt.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.87 per cent in midday trading, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.88 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq added 0.98 per cent.

Shares in Citigroup gained 0.93 per cent to $37.00 after dropping in early trading on the shock resignations of chief executive Vikram Pandit and chief operating officer John Havens.

Back in Europe, borrowing costs for eurozone member Spain were lower when it raised 4.86 billion euros in a sale of 12- and 18-month debt, a key test of confidence amid warnings the country may need bailing out.

The sale came as Standard & Poor's cut the credit ratings of seven Spanish banks including the two largest, Santander and BBVA, after having downgraded Spain's sovereign debt.

But dealers took the news in their stride owing to bailout speculation, and Santander's stock price soared by 4.32 per cent to 6.06 euros.

Asian stock markets closed higher on Tuesday in response to a strong showing on Wall Street after another round of upbeat data raised hopes for the US economy.

Investors remained hesitant before the release this week of Chinese third-quarter growth figures however, as evidence accumulates of a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy.

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AMWU boss to tour Hunter factory

THE Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) will visit a factory in the NSW Hunter Valley on Wednesday as part of a national tour aimed at boosting jobs in the embattled sector.

AMWU National Secretary Paul Bastian said with 125,000 jobs lost in manufacturing since 2009, the Hunter Valley visit was part of a push to bolster employment in the sector.

He said this was especially important given some 85,000 manufacturing jobs were still at risk across Australia.

The union would visit the Varley Engineering factory to discuss the issues facing manufacturing in the Hunter, he said.

Varley is one of the Hunter region's oldest manufacturing companies and supplies a range of engineering products, including defence, aerospace and transport equipment.

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Jeweller offers rifles with rings

HAVE you spent your life hunting for the perfect wife? Maybe you have met the one but are feeling gun shy?

An Iowa jeweler is offering free rifles for husbands-to-be who spend at least $US1999 ($1953) on an engagement ring at his store near Iowa City.

Jeweller Harold van Beek told KCRG near Cedar Rapids that he wanted to "do something for the boy who doesn't like to hunt for diamonds but likes to hunt for deer".

The deal at Jewelry By Harold in North Liberty starts on Thursday and will run through the end of October.

The rifle offer is subject to Iowa laws on gun ownership. Those barred include felons and addicts.

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Apple sets date for 'iPad mini launch'

APPLE is sending out invitations to reporters for an event next Tuesday, where it's expected to announce the release of a smaller iPad.

The invitation to the venue in San Jose, California, doesn't hint at what's will be revealed, but media and analyst have said for months that Apple has an "iPad mini" in the works.

The tablet is thought to be about half the size of the regular iPad and to start at $US249 ($243) or $US299.

Apple founder Steve Jobs derided the idea of a smaller tablet two years ago, but Amazon.com Inc. has had some success with its Kindle Fire, which is half the size of the iPad and starts at $US159. Analysts believe Apple wants to tackle that competition with its own similarly sized tablet.

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Half of all wetlands destroyed since 1900

AN alarming 50 per cent of the world's wetlands have been destroyed in the last 100 years, threatening human welfare at a time of increasing water scarcity, a new report says.

Wetlands serve as a source of drinking water and provide protection against floods and storms, yet they have been decimated to make space for housing, factories and farms or damaged by unsustainable water use and pollution.

"In just over 100 years we have managed to destroy 50 per cent of the world's wetlands," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program.

"It is a startling figure," he said at a UN conference in Hyderabad.

The report, compiled by an ongoing research project entitled TEEB, or The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, said coastal wetland losses in some regions, including Asia, have been happening at a rate of 1.6 per cent per year.

"Taking mangroves as an example, 20 per cent (3.6 million hectares) of total coverage has been lost since 1980, with recent rates of loss of up to one per cent per year," the report said.

"We need wetlands because our existence, our food and our water is at stake," said Ritesh Kumar of the environmental group Wetlands International.

Wetlands are known to cover about 13 million square kilometres of the Earth's surface, and are a natural sink for Earth-warming carbon dioxide, act as fish nurseries and are important tourist attractions.

In the United States alone, wetlands are estimated to provide $US23 billion ($A22.53 billion) worth of storm protection every year, the report said.

The report was released at a conference of the UN Convention on Biodiversity, where environment ministers will hold three days of talks from Wednesday to try to raise funds to stop the decline of Earth's natural resources.

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Govt to let Cubans travel freely

THE Cuban government announced that it will no longer require islanders to apply for an exit visa, eliminating a much-loathed bureaucratic procedure that has been a major impediment for many seeking to travel overseas for more than a half-century.

A notice published in Communist Party newspaper Granma said the change takes effect Jan. 14, and beginning on that date islanders will only have to show their passport and a visa from the country they are traveling to.

It is the most significant advance this year in President Raul Castro's five-year plan of reform that has already seen the legalisation of home and car sales and a big increase in the number of Cubans owning private businesses.

"As part of the work under way to update the current migratory policy and adjust it to the conditions of the present and the foreseeable future, the Cuban government, in exercise of its sovereignty, has decided to eliminate the procedure of the exit visa for travel to the exterior," read the notice.

Migration is a highly politicised issue in Cuba and beyond its borders.

Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, the United States allows nearly all Cubans who reach its territory to remain.

Granma published an accompanying editorial blaming the travel restrictions on U.S. attempts to topple the island's government, plant spies and recruit its best-educated citizens.

"It is because of this that any analysis of Cuba's problematic migration inevitably passes through the policy of hostility that the U.S. government has developed against the country for more than 50 years," the editorial said.

It assured Cubans that the government recognises their right to travel abroad and said the new measure is part of "an irreversible process of normalisation of relations between emigrants and their homeland."

On the streets of Havana, the news was met with a mixture of delight and astonishment, after all the previous times over the years when officials spoke of their desire to lift the exit visa, but talk failed to turn into concrete change.

"No! Wow, how great!" said Mercedes Delgado, a 73-year-old retiree when told of the news that was announced overnight.

"Citizens' rights are being restored."

"Look, I ask myself how far are we going to go with these changes. They have me a little confused because now all that was done during 50 years, it turns out we're changing it," said Maria Romero, a cleaning worker who was headed to her job Tuesday morning.

"Everything they told us then, it wasn't true. I tell you, I don't understand anything."

Cubans now will also not have to present the long-required letter of invitation from a foreign institution or person in the country they plan to visit.

The measure also extends to 24 months the amount of time Cubans can remain abroad, and they can request an extension when that runs out. Currently, Cubans lose residency and other rights including social security and free health care and education after 11 months.

Still, the notice said Cuba plans to put limits on travel within unspecified sectors.

Doctors, scientists, members of the military and others considered valuable parts of society currently face restrictions on travel to combat brain drain.

"The update to the migratory policy takes into account the right of the revolutionary State to defend itself from the interventionist and subversive plans of the U.S. government and its allies," the note said.

"Therefore, measures will remain to preserve the human capital created by the Revolution in the face of the theft of talent applied by the powerful."

Cuba has on some occasions denied exit visas to government when they sought to travel abroad, and dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez said she has been turned down 20 times over the last five years.

"I have the suitcase ready to travel. ... Let's see if I get a flight for Jan. 14, 2013, to try out the new law.

But she expressed concern that officials might now control travel merely by denying passports.

Granma's editorial said the measure will help address the needs of the Cuban diaspora.

More than 1 million people of Cuban origin live in the United States, and thousands more are in Europe.

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Gunmen kill polio vaccinator in Pakistan

UNKNOWN gunmen have killed a polio vaccinator in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, highlighting resistance to the country's immunisation campaign, officials say.

The shooting happened in the Killi Jeo area of provincial capital Quetta a day after a three-day campaign kicked off across the country, senior government official Tariq Mengal told AFP.

Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is plagued by sectarian violence between the minority Shi'ite and majority Sunni community, as well as by Taliban attacks and a separatist insurgency.

The Taliban have banned immunisations in some areas, condemning the campaign as a cover for espionage since a Pakistani doctor was jailed after helping the CIA track down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination program.

In Tuesday's incident, a team of male and female vaccinators was engaged in a door-to-door campaign to administer polio drops to children below five years of age when unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a male volunteer, Mengal said.

"We are investigating if the dead man had any dispute with the attackers or the shooting was carried out by opponents of the campaign," he said.

The campaign has been suspended in several areas of Quetta as the shooting sparked fear among the vaccinators, he said.

"We will assess the security situation before resuming the campaign on Wednesday," he added.

Killi Jeo is home to thousands of Afghan refugees and local tribesmen.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the highly infectious crippling disease remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.

There have been 30 confirmed cases of polio in Pakistan this year according to the government, 22 of them in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

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