Queen not likely to abdicate any time soon

ONE European queen has announced her retirement. Any chance Europe's most famous queen - Elizabeth II of Britain - might join her?

Not likely, experts say.

The spectacle of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands stepping down in April at age 75 so her 45-year-old son can become king is sparking some speculation in Britain about whether Elizabeth might follow suit so her eldest son, Prince Charles, can start his reign.

Elizabeth is 86. Charles, 64, has been heir to the throne since he was three.

The British press tweaked these concerns Tuesday, with the Daily Mirror featuring a photo of Beatrix with the headline: "Queen Gives Up Her Throne to Son." Then, in smaller type, "Easy, Charles...It's Queen Beatrix of Netherlands."

Others said, "Sorry Charles...it's in Holland, not here!"

But commentators quickly noted that Elizabeth - who seems to be in excellent health - has said in the past that she regards being queen as a "job for life."

At her Diamond Jubilee last summer marking 60 years on the throne, former Prime Minister John Major said the idea that the queen would abdicate was "absolutely absurd." He said she would serve her entire life unless a health crisis made it impossible.

Author Robert Lacey, who has written several books about the British monarchy, said Beatrix's decision would likely firm up Elizabeth's resolve.

"It would reinforce her feeling that the Dutch don't know what monarchy is about, and that she should go on forever," he said. "The crown is a job for life in the British system."

He said the queen's mother, who lived to be 101, had made a "snarky" comment when Beatrix's own mother stepped down as monarch decades ago.

Lacey said the idea of abdicating is particularly unpleasant for Elizabeth because her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 so he could marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American woman.

The resulting scandal, remembered as a low point for the monarchy, brought her father, King George VI, to the throne.

No one in British history has been heir apparent as long as the now greying Charles, who is set to become a grandfather when his daughter-in-law, the former Kate Middleton, gives birth this (northern) summer.

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Pfizer profits jump on asset sale gain

THE world's biggest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has reported a big jump in fourth-quarter earnings as cost-cutting efforts plus a gain from an asset sale helped offset the loss of exclusivity of a blockbuster cholesterol drug.

Pfizer reported fourth-quarter net income of $US6.3 billion ($A6.08 billion), up from $1.4 billion in the year-earlier period. The results included a $4.8 billion gain from the sale of the Nutrition business to Nestle.

However, Pfizer continued to feel the effects of the loss of exclusivity of its popular Lipitor anti-cholesterol drug. Fourth-quarter revenue fell seven per cent compared with last year's level to $15.1 billion.

Pfizer's adjusted net income, which excludes one-time items such as the Nestle deal, fell seven per cent from the year-earlier period to $3.5 billion.

The pharma giant pointed to a number of promising new drugs that are at various stages of the developmental pipeline. These include the 2013 launches of Xiljanz, which treats rheumatoid arthritis, and Eliquis for the prevention of strokes.

"Overall, I am pleased with our 2012 financial performance, our recent product approvals and our expense reductions," said chief financial officer Frank D'Amelio.

In early 2011, Pfizer undertook a reorganisation of its research activities and eliminated some activities that were seen as ancillary. The company spent less than a year earlier on promotional programs and some corporate functions.

Pfizer also is studying a potential public offering of up to a 19.8 per cent stake in its Zoetis unit, an animal health division.

Pfizer offered 2013 guidance of $56-$58.2 billion in revenue, compared with the 2012 level of $59 billion, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.20-$2.30, compared with $1.94 in 2012.

Pfizer shares were up 0.8 per cent in pre-market trading.

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Mozambique military on flood duty

MOZAMBIQUE'S military has been called in to help tackle severe flooding that has killed 48 people and is likely to spread to the country's central and northern regions, officials say.

The armed forces have begun helping with clean-up operations in the devastated southern town of Chokwe, which has borne the brunt of the flooding caused by heavy rains.

"We can confirm the army is helping support the affected people," said Benjamin Chabualo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told AFP.

Soldiers have also been involved in rescue efforts and the navy has ferried people by boat to reach areas isolated by flooding.

According to UN figures around 250,000 people have been affected by the floods and 146,000 people are being housed in temporary shelters.

Water levels have begun to recede in the south of the country, but the situation remains critical, and the centre and north are expected to be hit by fresh rain.

In Chokwe many homes have been completely inundated, and the flood surge has left in its wake piles of rubbish, mud and the detritus of lives destroyed.

"In Chokwe families have begun cleaning their homes and (the national civil protection unit) will help the municipality to clean the city," civil protection spokeswoman Rita Almeida said.

Even as the floods ebb in some places, residents faced a tough slog to get clean food, water, shelter and avoid a legion of risks.

"The rains over southern Mozambique have ceased for the time being, and the floodwaters are slowly receding. However, many have lost everything in the floods," according to a UN situation report.

At least 48 people have died, some electrocuted by severed power lines trailing in the water, some crushed by collapsed buildings and some attacked by crocodiles

At temporary shelters aid agencies are feeding approximately 70,000 people.

While tens of thousands of people have made their way to government camps, many more have not.

"We know there are a great many people affected who did not turn up at these centres," said Rita Almeida, Mozambique's national disaster management institute.

Some may have gone to the houses of family and friends, others, in more remote regions, remained stranded.

Helicopters are airlifting food and medical supplies to isolated areas.

"We are lifting supplies to places where neither boats or vehicles can enter," the Director-General of Mozambique's Disaster Management Institute (INGC) said on national radio.

"We are doing all in our power to get food to people where they need it."

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Ford earns $1.6b in 4Q, warns of Euro loss

FORD has earned better-than-expected profits in 2012 as record results in North America trumped losses in Europe. It will have to do even better at home this year as the losses in Europe mount.

Ford earned $US5.7 billion ($A5.50 billion) for the year, or $1.42 per share. That was down from $300 million, or $1.51 per share, in 2011, as a $1.75 billion loss in Europe took its toll.

But Ford reported a record pretax profit of $8.3 billion in North America, where sales rose and Ford made more money on every vehicle it sold. The company is planning to give out record profit-sharing bonuses of $8,300 to 45,800 workers based on its North American results.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said Ford expects even higher results for North America this year, as demand for Ford's pickups and its newest products - the Escape small SUV and Fusion sedan - will likely grow. But Shanks said Ford now expects to lose $2 billion in Europe, up from the $1.5 billion loss it predicted a few months ago.

"Europe will hit bottom this year," Shanks said. He said the company is on track with a plan to close plants and introduce new vehicles in the region. Ford's sales fell by 15.5 per cent in Europe last year.

Worldwide, Ford's sales rose 7.5 per cent to 1.5 million in 2012. The company saw some of its biggest gains in Asia, where it's introducing a slew of new products and building seven new plants. Sales in Ford's Asia Pacific and Africa region were up 41 per cent over 2011.

For the fourth quarter, Ford said its pretax results were the best in a decade.

The company earned $1.6 billion in the final three months of 2012 as sales rose in every region outside Europe. Ford's net income fell from $13.6 billion in the same quarter last year, but that figure included a big accounting-related gain. Without that gain, Ford's earnings were up from $1 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

Ford earned 31 cents per share, up from an adjusted 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2011. That beat analysts' forecast of 25 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 5 per cent to $36.5 billion, beating analysts' forecast of $33.5 billion.

In North America, Ford's pretax profit more than doubled in the fourth quarter to $1.87 billion.

Sales of cars and trucks in the US totalled $14.5 billion in 2012 - the industry's best performance in five years. Forecasts are for an even better 2013, with the Polk auto research firm forecasting 15.3 million vehicle sales as the economy continues to improve.

Ford lost some US market share in 2012 as its Japanese rivals roared back from earthquake-related losses the prior year. But Ford expects its share to grow in 2013.

Shares fell 23 cents to $13.55 in premarket trading.

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Smog again envelops huge swathes of China

RESIDENTS across huge swathes of northern China are battling through choking pollution at extreme levels, as Beijing was plunged into toxic twilight for the fourth time this winter.

Visibility was reduced to around 200 metres in parts of the capital, where mask-wearing pedestrians groped through a murky haze, despite warnings from authorities to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.

In a Beijing city office visited by AFP, up to 20 workers worried that the pollutants could penetrate indoors took extra precautions, wearing gas-mask style protective headgear at their desks.

State broadcaster China Central Television gave the smog's second day huge airplay, showing vehicles using full headlights in mid-morning to light their way through the noxious cloud.

More than 100 flights were delayed or cancelled at Zhengzhou Airport in Henan, the television said, adding that the haze would last until Thursday. At Beijing airport, 61 departing flights were delayed in the morning.

In the eastern province of Shandong, almost 2,000 passengers were stranded at Qingdao's main airport after it shut with 20 flights cancelled as visibility dropped to 100 metres, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The smog of recent days has hit a total area of 1.3 million square kilometres, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said - about twice the size of France.

It described the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and Jinan as "gravely polluted".

The National Meteorological Centre (NMC) announced late on Tuesday that it was introducing a three-tier colour-coded weather warning system to alert the public to the severity of smog, according to Xinhua.

Yellow will indicate moderately smoggy weather, with orange for severe conditions and red for extremely severe levels of smog, the report said.

Beijing's winter of smog has sparked an Internet outcry and anger from state media.

The China Daily reiterated its calls for firm action on Tuesday, directing them at the capital's newly-installed mayor Wang Anshun, who formally took over on Monday.

"What do Beijing residents expect of their new mayor?" asked the newspaper in an editorial. "Of all the things that need improving, cleaner air will be at the top of many people's wish list."

Wang was quoted by Xinhua as saying: "The current environmental problems are worrisome."

The Beijing News went as far as to suggest banning or regulating next month's traditional and hugely popular New Year fireworks in the capital. Pollution readings spiked last year after the city's skyline lit up with explosions.

The toxic air follows an extreme bout of pollution earlier this month, when state media said readings for PM 2.5, particles small enough deeply to penetrate the lungs, peaked at 993 micrograms per cubic metre, almost 40 times the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit.

China's pollution problems are blamed on the country's rapid urbanisation and dramatic economic development.

AFP

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US stocks flat ahead of confidence data

US stocks are treading in place ahead of a key consumer confidence report, despite a series of better-than-expected company earnings.

In the first five minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 10.75 points (0.08 per cent) at 13,892.68.

The S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, edged up 0.22 point (0.01 per cent) to 1,500.40.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 7.94 (0.25 per cent) to 3,146.36.

"Investors are cautious ahead of several economic reports and as the Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting," Wells Fargo Advisors said in a market note.

The Conference Board is scheduled to release its consumer confidence data for November at 1500 GMT (0200 AEST).

Stocks closed mostly lower Monday after a string of rallies that left the indices at multi-year highs. The Dow dropped 0.10 per cent and the S&P 500 fell 0.18 per cent, while the Nasdaq gained 0.15 per cent, lifted by Apple.

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Top Bolshoi ballerina 'flees Russia'

ONE of the Bolshoi ballet's best known ballerinas has fled Russia for Canada after receiving threats, it has emerged, as the chief of the troubled company prepares to leave for Germany to receive treatment for wounds sustained in an acid attack.

Svetlana Lunkina told the Izvestia daily she had taken leave from the theatre until the end of the season over troubles stemming from a business dispute over a film in which her husband was involved.

Izvestia said she had already been outside Russia for some six months and that there is no clear link between her problems and the acid attack this month on the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director Sergei Filin.

Nevertheless, the flight from Russia of such a high-profile figure underlines the tense atmosphere at the Bolshoi after the attack on Filin which the management has blamed on internal conflicts.

"I think we need to react to these threats. These people have no right to interfere in our private lives or my professional work," Lunkina told Izvestia without making clear the nature of the threats.

Lunkina, who has danced with the Bolshoi since 1997, is one of the company's most experienced stars and was due this year to appear in a new work by the British choreographer Wayne McGregor.

"I was supposed to be doing a lot of interesting work, including several premieres," she said.

Having wowed the public in the Bolshoi's landmark 2011 staging of McGregor's Chroma, Lunkina was expected to take a leading role in his eagerly anticipated new version of the Rite of Spring at the Bolshoi this year.

Her prolonged disappearance from the Bolshoi stage had already puzzled fans who initially suspected she had suffered an injury before rumours spread that she was no longer in Russia.

Lunkina said the threats were linked to a film project that her husband, the producer Vladislav Moskalyev, had been working on featuring the great Russian imperial ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya.

Moskalyev was dropped from the project after he fell out with his business partner, who is now suing him for $US3.7 million ($A3.57 million).

The Bolshoi's spokeswoman Katerina Novikova confirmed to Izvestia that Lunkina had requested leave for the season and that the company had approved it.

But she said it was unclear how the company could help Lunkina given that the dispute was linked to her husband's work.

"Anna Pavlova also left Russia because of the activities of her husband," Novikova claimed, referring to the great Russian ballerina who quit her homeland in the early years of the 20th century.

Filin, 42, is currently in hospital in Moscow and has undergone several operations to save his eyesight and repair the disfigurement he suffered after a masked attacker threw acid into his face and eyes on January 17.

Russia's chief eye doctor Vladimir Neroyev told the RIA Novosti news agency that Filin, an acclaimed former dancer, would be sent to a clinic in the German city of Aachen in about a week.

Lunkina told Izvestia that she believed Filin's attacker "may not be someone who works at the Bolshoi theatre but someone linked to the theatre and ballet."

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Buy 'funny fruit' to help feed the world

MAKE a shopping list and buy "funny fruit" to cut food waste and help the world "shape a sustainable future," two UN agencies have urged.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and partners on Tuesday unveiled a campaign dubbed Think-Eat-Save Reduce Your Foodprint to change global practices that result in the loss of 1.3 billion tonnes of food each year.

The program is aimed primarily at consumers, food retailers and the hotel and restaurant industry, and is based on three recommended actions: think, eat, and save.

"In a world of seven billion people, set to grow to nine billion by 2050, wasting food makes no sense - economically, environmentally and ethically," a statement quoted UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner as saying.

"We're doing something that is completely irrational," he lamented to reporters in Geneva, before adding that he hoped the campaign would "literally mobilise tens of millions of people to become part of the solution."

FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva pointed out that in industrialised nations, around 300 million tonnes of food are wasted each year, "because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption."

That is more food than is produced in sub-Saharan Africa, and is enough to feed the estimated 830 million people who now go hungry worldwide, he added.

The program estimates the overall cost of wasted food at about $US1.0 trillion ($A955.61 billion) per year, with most losses occurring in production stages - such as harvesting and distribution - and blamed on problems from storing food in difficult climatic conditions to unreliable harvests.

It is retailers and consumers, whoever, who are usually guilty of wasting food.

Consumers can participate in a global effort by respecting a few simple recommendations, the UN agencies said.

Planning meals, making shopping lists and avoiding impulse buying helps, as does staying alert "to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need."

Another good idea is to "buy funny fruit" or vegetables that would otherwise be thrown out because their size, shape or colour do not meet market standards.

Tristram Stuart of the Feeding the 5000 campaign told reporters in Geneva: "Wonky fruit and vegetables are very often left on farms across Europe and North America simply because they don't meet the cosmetic standards of retailers, and they are left on fields to rot."

People, he insisted, must "adopt the value that food is simply too good to waste."

Paying attention to expiry dates and "zeroing down your fridge" with recipes that use up food set to go bad helps, the UN agencies said, as does freezing food, asking restaurants for smaller portions, eating leftovers, composting food or donating it to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters.

Retailers can offer discounts for food that is nearing its sell-by date, standardise labels and donate more food.

Restaurants were urged to "limit menu choices and introduce flexible portioning," to audit how much food they waste, and to set up "staff engagement programs."

Finally, an internet site, thinkeatsave.org is to serve as a global platform for sharing information on other initiatives that people come up with.

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Mozilla unveils preview smartphones

THE Mozilla Foundation has unveiled two preview smartphones as it invited developers to try its new open-source mobile operating system challenging Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

The announcement on Tuesday marked a major step forward for the new Firefox OS mobile operating system which is being built using open web standards, like its Firefox web browser.

The two preview phones being offered come from the small Spanish-based manufacturer GeeksPhone, the first in what the nonprofit group hopes will be a series of low-cost smartphones which can be sold around the world.

"This week we are announcing our new Firefox OS developer preview phones because we believe that developers will help bring the power of the web to mobile," said a blog posting from Stormy Peters, head of websites and developer engagement at Mozilla.

The developer phones are being made by GeeksPhone in partnership with the Spanish carrier Telefonica.

"If you're a developer interested in web technologies and mobile, now is the time to try out Firefox OS," Peters said.

The operating system, she said, is an effort to "keep the web open" and "help make sure the power of the web is available to everyone - even on mobile devices."

By using the open platform, she said, "you're not locked in to a vendor-controlled ecosystem. You can distribute your app through the Firefox Marketplace, your own website, or any other store based on Mozilla's open app store technology."

The non-profit group's so-called Boot to Gecko project will go after Google's Android or Apple's iOS, to create an alternative which could generate smartphones that are less expensive than an iPhone while offering similar experiences to those running on other platforms.

GeeksPhone said on its website that the two new phones were named Keon, with a 3.5 inch display, and Peak, with a larger 4.3 inch screen. Both will use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.

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French stench reaches England

FRANCE insists a major gas leak - whose stench hit millions, reached the shores of England and caused a major soccer match to be cancelled - is entirely harmless.

Headaches and nausea were among the complaints in calls made to emergency lines in Paris by more than 10,000 people worried by the stench of rotten eggs that had invaded their streets and homes.

But France's Ecology Minister Delphine Batho, who cut short an official trip to Berlin to rush to the site of the leak at a chemical plant in the picturesque city of Rouen in Normandy, said there was no health risk.

The leak began early Monday at a Lubrizol plant.

Winds carried the foul-smelling invisible gas down the densely-populated Seine river valley to Paris, and later northwards over the Channel and into England, where it even reached south London.

"South Kent residents are being asked to keep doors and windows closed due to a gas cloud that is believed to have come across from France," the fire and rescue service in the southeastern English region said.

The offending odour came from a gas called mercaptan, which, among other uses, is added to municipal gas because its sulfureous smell alerts people to gas leaks.

The Lubrizol plant, which makes additives for industrial lubricants and paint, shut down production as they battled to plug the leak which company executives hoped would be done later Tuesday.

Regional authorities ordered the postponement of a French Cup tie match in Rouen between the city's football team and Marseille on Tuesday evening.

"We didn't want to be in a situation where we have 10,000 spectators two kilometres away from the plant without any capacity for confining or evacuating them if that were necessary," said senior local official Florence Gouache.

Snow had already threatened the game - a sellout - although a pitch inspection on Monday had led to the match being given the go-ahead prior to the gas leak.

Despite the official insistence that there was no danger, French social media were awash with people in the affected regions complaining of headaches and nausea from the gas that smelled like rotten eggs.

"They're all saying not to panic, but they said the same thing about the cloud from Chernobyl," said mother-of-four Patricia Cousteau, referring to radioactive fallout that spread across Europe in 1986 after an explosion at a Ukrainian nuclear plant.

Authorities said in an earlier statement that a chemical substance at the Lubrizol plant became unstable and caused odours that are similar to those of town gas.

"The gas has an unpleasant smell but is not toxic," it said.

The concentration of the gas was also "very low", the statement said, adding that "a large number of people have been inconvenienced".

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