Pilot killed in Qld plane crash

A 52-YEAR-OLD man has died in a light plane crash in southeast Queensland.

The P51 Mustang replica came down near the Emu Gully airstrip near Helidon, east of Toowoomba, on Saturday morning.

Police believe the vintage aircraft had only just taken off.

The plane was found in a gully on Twidales Road, Monkey Hole Creek, around 9.35am (AEST). The pilot was declared dead at the scene.

A 51-year-old local resident suffered minor burns when he tried to help the pilot, who was the only person on board.

The crash sparked a large grassfire which was brought under control by 11am.

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Hunger strike on Nauru continues

TEN asylum seekers on hunger strike on Nauru remain in the care of medics as their protest continues.

About 300 detainees are refusing food in the protest, which started on Thursday morning.

A total of 25 have now been treated at the medical centre either after collapsing or becoming weak, with 10 still there on Saturday evening, according to refugee advocate Ian Rintoul.

Mr Rintoul, of the Refugee Action Coalition, said the protesters are outraged by recent attempted suicides and self-harm incidents.

He has called for the Department of Immigration to respond to asylum seekers' requests for a meeting.

"We are growing increasingly concerned about the health and fate of the asylum seekers," Mr Rintoul said.

"It is increasingly urgent that the minister intervenes.

"There is no excuse for delaying the processing of the asylum seekers in Nauru or in Australia."

In a statement, the hunger strikers said they were not being given fair treatment and demanded to be taken to Australia. They said the centre at Nauru should be closed.

"We accept Australia as a democratic country, where people are being treated equally and as a human beings, we expect the same treatment," they said.

A Department of Immigration spokesman said medical assistance was being provided to anyone in need of it, and that food and drink was made available to all asylum seekers.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely and engage with them," he said.

"It has been made clear that these sorts of actions and protests have no impact on the outcome of their cases."

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Insurgents shoot dead 3 soldiers in Iraq

IRAQI authorities say insurgents have gunned down three soldiers at a checkpoint near the country's capital.

Police said the early Saturday shooting took place in Taji, 20 kilometers north of Baghdad, and two other soldiers were wounded.

Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties.

Violence has ebbed in Iraq but insurgent attacks are still frequent.

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Seven kidnapped sailors freed in Nigeria

KIDNAPPERS have freed six Russian sailors and an Estonian who had been abducted from a ship off Nigeria's southern delta, a French oil and gas services company says.

Paris-based Bourbon SA said in a statement that the sailors were in good health despite facing "difficult conditions while in captivity". The company said the men would leave Nigeria in several days after undergoing medical tests and psychological examinations.

The company statement said Bourbon would not take any questions regarding the sailors' release on Wednesday and did not say if a ransom had been paid to free them.

Typically, foreign companies operating in Nigeria's Niger Delta pay cash ransoms to free their employees after negotiating down kidnappers' demands. Foreign hostages can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The kidnapping happened during an attack October 15 on a Bourbon ship near the Niger Delta, where the company works closely with oil companies like Chinese-owned Addax Petroleum. Gunmen apparently attacked the Bourbon Liberty 249 and seized the sailors before escaping, the company said.

Another nine sailors onboard the vessel sailed safely away to the company's port in Onne in Nigeria's Rivers state, the company said.

The attack occurred near the Pennington River off Bayelsa state, military officials later said. That's close to the Pennington Export Terminal run by US-based Chevron Corp., which loads crude onto large oil tankers for export to the West.

Foreign oil companies have pumped oil out of the Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps the size of Portugal, for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars flowing into Nigeria's government, many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, education or work. The poor conditions sparked an uprising in 2006 by militants and opportunistic criminals who blew up oil pipelines and kidnapped foreign workers.

That violence ebbed in 2009 with a government-sponsored amnesty program that offered ex-fighters monthly payments and job training. However, few in the delta have seen the promised benefits and sporadic kidnappings and attacks continue. The last major kidnapping happened in August, when gunmen attacked a vessel operated by Sea Trucks Group, another oil and gas contractor, and abducted four workers. The workers were later released unharmed.

Bourbon operates support vessels for offshore oil rigs and provides repair, inspection and maintenance services for undersea oil fields, and has a smaller unit that ships commodities like coal, grain and timber worldwide. The company had revenues of 1 billion euros ($A1.26 billion) last year.

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China tightens security ahead of congress

DON'T roll down the taxi windows. Don't buy a remote-controlled plane without a police chief's permission. And don't release your pigeons.

Beijing is tightening security as its all-important Communist Party congress approaches, and some of the measures seem downright bizarre. Kitchen knives and pencil sharpeners reportedly have been pulled from store shelves, and there's even a rumour that authorities are on the lookout for seditious messages on pingpong balls.

The congress, which begins on November 8, will name new leaders to run the world's most populous country and second-largest economy for the next decade. Most of the security measures have been phased in in time for Thursday's opening of a meeting of the Central Committee, the roughly 370-member body that is finalising preparations for the congress.

China always tightens security for high-profile events, like much of the rest of the world. London, for instance, restricted aeroplanes from flying above it during the Olympics.

But many of Beijing's rules seem extraordinary, perhaps in an effort to smooth a once-a-decade transition that has already been bumpy.

Bo Xilai, once a candidate for the all-powerful Politburo's Standing Committee, suffered a spectacular fall from grace in which his wife was convicted of murder. One of President Hu Jintao's closest aides was also forced to step down after his son was killed alongside two partially dressed women in an accident in his Ferrari. Meanwhile, protests over pollution, land seizures and local corruption continue across the country.

Human rights groups report that activists and petitioners are being rounded up ahead of the congress. But the broader security measures may best illustrate how China is trying to leave absolutely no room for disruptions.

The government has blocked searches for the phrase "party congress" on websites including China's popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo. internet posters manage to get around that by using characters that sound like "party congress."

Taxi drivers have been told to remove window handles and require passengers to sign a "travelling agreement" promising to avoid sensitive parts of the city and not to open their windows or doors if they pass "important venues."

A man who answered the phone at Wan Quan Si taxi company in the south of the capital said the rule applies to all taxi companies in Beijing. He declined to give his name.

Beijing investment company worker Li Tianshu said she didn't believe colleagues' claims that door handles had been removed until she got into a taxi herself the other day.

"There were no handles for three of the four windows," she said. "The driver told me that their company asked them to do it to prevent passengers spreading leaflets. The driver complained that if they don't take the handles away or the passengers throw leaflets out of the taxis, they will be fired."

Citizens have taken to Weibo to post photos of doors with handles crudely ripped off. Liu Shi, a client manager in a mass communication company, wrote that the taxi driver had told him that power to electronic window buttons would also be cut.

A memo circulating on Weibo warned taxi drivers to be on guard against passengers who may want to cast balloons with slogans or throw "ping pong balls with reactionary words." It was unclear who issued the memo and its authenticity could not be confirmed.

A man who wouldn't give his name at Tong Hai taxi company in central Beijing said it had received orders "from higher authorities" to reinforce security measures and a memo, but he wouldn't elaborate.

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Aust beef shipment stuck on Indon dock

A CONSIGNMENT of Australian beef is stuck on an Indonesian dock because of anomalies with import documents in the latest problem to hit Australia's beef trade with Indonesia.

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said shipments from other countries had also been affected.

"We are aware that Australian beef has been held up by Indonesian Customs, due to anomalies with the import documentation presented by the Indonesian importer," he said in a statement.

"This is a serious matter and we are conscious that exporters may not have been paid for their product."

The ABC reported said the shipment was worth up to $10 million and could remain on the dock in Jakarta for several more days because the relevant Indonesian ministers were all out of the country.

The department spokesman said the issue of payment and port charges on the detained shipments were a commercial matter for the exporter and importer.

"The Australian government is actively seeking to have the matter resolved quickly, either by allowing the beef to enter Indonesia or by facilitating its re-export to another market," he said.

Australian Embassy representatives in Jakarta had been working with the exporters, Australian meat industry representatives and the Indonesian authorities to find a solution.

As well, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has written to Indonesian Minister for Agriculture Suswono, seeking a resolution of this matter.

However Suswono is reported to be away from Indonesia participating in the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

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US air travel resumes after Sandy

SUPERSTORM Sandy grounded more than 18,000 flights across the US northeast and the globe, and it will take days before travel gets back to normal.

More than 7000 flights were cancelled on Tuesday alone, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware,

Delays rippled across the US, affecting travellers in cities from San Francisco to Atlanta. Some passengers attempting to fly out of Europe and Asia also were stuck.

Authorities closed the three big New York airports because of the storm. New York has the nation's busiest airspace, so cancellations there can dramatically affect travel in other cities.

It was possible that John F. Kennedy airport would reopen for flights on Wednesday, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It wasn't known when the LaGuardia and Newark airports would reopen.

Flying began to resume at other airports. Delta restarted flying from Boston and Washington Dulles and Reagan on Tuesday. Airline spokesman Morgan Durrant said it would resume domestic flights from JFK on Wednesday.

Service was slowly returning to Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

Traffic from Asia to the east coast was beginning to resume, with flights from Tokyo's Narita International Airport to New York and to Washington, DC resuming as of Wednesday morning.

From Tokyo's Haneda airport, the JAL/American Airlines flight to and from New York was cancelled.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, which cancelled seven flights to Kennedy airport through Wednesday, said service would resume on Thursday.

South Korean airlines Korean Air and Asiana Airlines said they would resume normal service to east coast cities starting late Wednesday or Thursday.

The number of cancellations caused by Sandy was roughly on par with other major storms that airlines dealt with. A major winter storm in early 2011 caused 14,000 cancellations over four days.

The airlines are facing a large task in getting things back to normal.

Workers had to clear garbage and downed tree limbs from runways at JFK. Water was on the runway at LaGuardia. At one point, some airlines hoped to restart some New York flights by late Tuesday, but that idea was abandoned.

Flooded roads and closed subways kept some workers from the airport. Reservations workers at other airports and at call centres were busy dealing with stranded passengers.

Some travellers hunkered down and waited, while others looked for a new way home.

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Cyclone barrels towards south Indian coast

SCHOOLS and ports have shut down in southeast India as a cyclone heads towards the coast, with forecasters predicting it could make a direct hit on Chennai later in the day.

Cyclone Nilam was likely to do extensive damage to thatched roofs and huts and also uproot trees, causing power blackouts and communication problems across Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh states, officials said on Wednesday.

A bulletin from the India Meteorological Department warned of winds gusting up to 110 kilometres an hour and flooding of low-lying areas because of a sea surge and heavy rain.

It advised residents living in huts along the coast to move to safer areas and ordered fishermen not to go out to sea.

The cyclone was expected to make landfall on Wednesday evening at some point along a 350-kilometre stretch of coast. Chennai, the state capital of Tamil Nadu, is in the middle of the affected zone.

"We have advised all the schools and colleges to remain close for the day," Jayraman, a government administrator in Chennai who uses only one name, told AFP.

"All maritime activities have been suspended and the government is monitoring the situation closely," he added. "So far, no evacuation process has started."

Local authorities said they were preparing helicopters and boats for any emergency. Existing cyclone shelters, schools and community halls have also been identified to serve as potential relief camps.

Neighbouring Sri Lanka on Tuesday allowed thousands of people who had been evacuated to return to their homes after the storm, which had been expected to hit the island, changed course and moved towards India.

The last cyclone in India struck in the same southeast region in January, claiming 42 lives and leaving a trail of destruction across Tamil Nadu.

India and Bangladesh are hit regularly by cyclones that develop in the Bay of Bengal between April and November, causing widespread damage to homes, livestock and crops.

India's Andhra Pradesh state saw its worst cyclone in 1977 when more than 10,000 people were killed.

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Stairs collapse under kids on Halloween

The front stairs of a house at Hawthorne collapsed during Halloween trick-or-treating. Picture: Marc Robertson Source: The Courier-Mail

The front stairs of a house at Hawthorne that collapsed during Halloween trick-or-treating. Picture: Marc Robertson Source: The Courier-Mail

A NIGHT of trick-or-treating has turned to horror after a set of stairs collapsed under a group of children at a home in Brisbane's inner-east tonight.

The group of five children - aged between six and 10 years old - were climbing the second-storey front stairs on Amy Street at Hawthorne about 7.50pm for trick and treating when they collapsed.

Emergency services said the children escaped with minor injuries and one child was taken to hospital by a parent.

About 15 children are at the scene, where the renovated, two-storey Queenslander's stairs are completely gone.

Two ambulances and a fire crew attended the scene.

More to come...

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South Africa police and miners clash again

POLICE in South Africa have fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in clashes with Anglo American Platinum miners, as a deadline passed for 12,000 sacked workers to reclaim their jobs.

At least 1000 miners defied an ultimatum to return to work by 7.00am (1600 AEDT) on Tuesday, clashing with police and blocking roads amid accusations that they set fire to a power sub-station at the mine in northwestern Rustenburg.

"Police used tear gas, stun grenades as well as rubber bullets," to disperse around 1,000 strikers, said police spokesman Dennis Adriao.

Police said the workers had blocked fire engines from the sub-station, thought to have been set alight in a pre-dawn attack.

Thousands of Amplats workers who were sacked early this month for going on an illegal strike were given an option of returning to work on Tuesday morning if they wanted their jobs back.

The deal was brokered in negotiations last week by the main National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in talks with Amplats.

But the workers refused to go back to work until their pay demands are met.

"We are six weeks on strike, we can't go back to work empty handed," workers representative Siphamandla Makhanya told AFP, confirming clashes between workers and police. "There is a lot of shooting and things like that today."

Police told AFP the Amplats power substation was set ablaze around 0200 GMT and "approximately a thousand or so strong people tried to barricade the police and fire brigade from getting there."

"Since then we have been having clashes with this group of people," which is trying to block roads and hurling rocks at the police in and around the informal settlement of Nkaneng, where many workers live.

Amplats, the world's number one platinum producer, had agreed to rehire the workers after six weeks of strikes that have shuttered its mines.

The global miner gave the workers until Tuesday to return on existing wage agreements but with a 2,000 rand ($230, 178 euro) one-off allowance if they did so.

But some striking workers were adamant they would not be persuaded to return to the underground until there's some form of pay rise.

"Workers are very interested in going back to work as long as management is prepared to put something on the table," said Makhanya indicating the miners were softening their stance from the 16,000 rand per month their initially demanded.

"If our salaries can be adjusted from 2,000 (rand) upwards, they can go back to work," he said.

Amplats promised to give the numbers of workers who showed up later in the day.

A wildcat strike in August at Lonmin platinum mine has had a domino effect engulfing nearly the entire mining industry in South Africa as work stoppages spread to other platinum mines and gold sector as well.

The strikes have sometimes turned violent leaving nearly 60 people dead.

The unrest has cost 10.1 billion rand ($1.2 billion, 912 million euros) in lost production this year, pushing the country's yearly growth forecast downward to 2.5 per cent.

The industry contributes up to nearly one fifth of GDP when related activities are included.

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Asian markets close mixed

ASIAN stock markets have closed mixed but Tokyo closed lower after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced monetary easing that was only slightly bigger than market forecasts and cut its growth outlook.

With US markets closed because of Hurricane Sandy, Wall Street gave regional investors no lead but comments from Spain and Greece revived eurozone concerns.

Tokyo fell 0.98 per cent, or 87.36 points, to 8,841.98 on Tuesday while Seoul closed 0.43 per cent higher, adding 8.06 points to 1,899.58.

Sydney, which closed before the BoJ announcement, rose 0.20 per cent or 8.8 points to 4,485.7.

Hong Kong was 0.38 per cent lower, shedding 82.47 points to 21,428.58 but Shanghai gained 0.17 per cent, or 3.41 points, to 2,062.35.

Just before the Tokyo market closed the central bank said it would add another Y11 trillion ($A134.14 billion) to its Y80 trillion asset purchase scheme to provide liquidity to the economy and jumpstart growth.

It also said it expected the economy to grow just 1.5 per cent in the year to March, instead of the 2.2 per cent previously predicted.

Expectations of new easing had sent markets higher in recent weeks, while the yen had suffered a sell-off.

"The vast majority of experts seemed to think that the central bank would go for 10 trillion yen, with a few as far out as 20 trillion yen, so the weighted average probably came out somewhere right around where the BoJ settled," CLSA equity strategist Nicholas Smith told Dow Jones Newswires.

Despite a similar move last month, Japan's economy appears unable to emerge from its stupor.

Figures earlier on Tuesday showed factory output fell 4.1 per cent last month, much worse than the 3.1 per cent drop expected, with a slump in production of cars, auto parts and machinery a key cause.

In Greece the finance ministry said banks would not be able to swap greatly devalued holdings of national debt for bonds issued by the new European Stability Mechanism.

The news comes as Athens remains locked in talks with its international creditors over accessing its next tranche of rescue funds, as well as over a possible extension of a timetable to initiate crucial reforms.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reiterated that his own debt-laden, recession-hit economy does not need a bailout, even as a ninth region made an appeal for rescue funds from Madrid.

The yen clawed back some of its recent losses against the euro and dollar soon after the BoJ's comments.

And in late Tokyo trade the dollar bought Y79.47 compared with Y79.80 in New York late on Monday.

The euro bought $US1.2945, compared with $US1.2900, and Y102.88, from Y102.95.

CLSA's Smith said he thought the "dollar-yen was vastly overbought over its recent steep run-up".

Oil prices were down as Hurricane Sandy forced the shutdown of refineries, roads and airports.

New York's benchmark oil futures contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for delivery in December, was down 19 US cents to $US85.35 a barrel in afternoon trade. Brent North Sea crude for December fell 41 US cents to $US109.03.

Gold was at $US1,714.33 at 1920 AEDT, compared with $US1,712.20 late on Monday.

In other markets:

- Taipei rose 1.28 per cent, or 90.92 points, to 7,182.59.

- Manila closed 0.54 per cent higher, gaining 29.25 points to 5,426.67.

Metropolitan Bank and Trust gained 0.86 per cent to 93.65 pesos while Ayala Corp rose 0.45 per cent to 442 pesos.

- Wellington fell 0.25 per cent, or 10.01 points, to 3,941.28.

Fletcher Building was down 2.12 per cent at $NZ6.92 and Telecom was up 1.68 per cent at $NZ2.42.

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Unions win injunction against QBuild cuts

FOUR unions have won an injunction against Queensland government moves to begin dismissing more than 300 QBuild workers.

Workers with the government's maintenance company were told on Tuesday morning they would have one-on-one sessions with managers to discuss redundancy or relocation offers.

But Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) organiser Scott Stanford says the workers had not been properly briefed.

"QBuild had not followed their own due diligence procedures and many of the workers had not been able to make informed decisions about their futures," Mr Stanford told AAP.

"They weren't sure if they should stay with the business or take a voluntary redundancy because it was unclear even how many positions would go."

Mr Stanford said the union expected around 320 positions to be cut.

The AMWU, the Electrical Trades Union, the Plumbers Union and the CFMEU were granted a 28-day injunction in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission late on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Stanford said the unions hoped to begin talks with QBuild on Wednesday.

"We hope to ascertain exactly where the positions are that they believe they can maintain within the business ... because we don't know where those positions are," he said.

"People were being asked to make a decision on moving north, but without knowing what assistance would be given, whether the job would be the same or if it would have longevity.

"We firmly believe this will be the first round of cuts in QBuild and the way things are going there is likely to be a second round."

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Concerns over linking carbon schemes

LINKING the carbon price to overseas markets could see Europe setting the rate of Australia's carbon tax, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.

The coalition has also raised doubts about the integrity of the European Union's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS), citing claims of fraud and manipulation within the scheme.

A package of bills tying Australia's carbon pricing mechanism to the EU ETS passed the House of Representatives earlier this month.

As well as linking the schemes, the legislation dumps a $15 floor price that would have applied once the carbon price moved to a floating market-based mechanism in 2015.

A parliamentary inquiry was held into the bills, and the report was tabled in the Senate on Monday.

Coalition senators urged the Senate to oppose the bills, warning linking the schemes would see the EU set the level of Australia's carbon tax.

The inquiry heard that under certain circumstances, Australia's carbon price could spike if the EU adopted a more ambitious target, restricted permits or if the Australian dollar waned against the euro.

Coalition senators also raised concerns about integrity issues surrounding the EU ETS, and claims it could expose Australian industry to risk.

The committee said there was no denying some business and industry groups believed Australia would be "surrendering" control over the carbon tax to the EU, which had faced its share of criticisms.

But it concluded there was "strong countervailing evidence" to suggest the EU ETS was robust and that Australia could enforce tough financial regulation.

The committee urged the Senate to pass the bills, arguing that linking the schemes would help Australia forge ties with emerging Asian markets and reduce emissions at the least cost.

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Asian markets mostly lower

ASIAN markets are mostly lower as better-than-expected US growth data failed to offset concerns over corporate earnings.

Trading was also nervous at the start of a crucial week that will see a Bank of Japan policy meeting, the release of US jobs data and a series of talks in Europe on Greece's debt.

Tokyo ended flat on Monday, dipping 3.72 points to 8,929.34. Sydney closed 0.10 per cent, or 4.5 points, higher at 4,476.9 and Seoul was almost unchanged, nudging up 0.09 points to 1,891.52.

Hong Kong closed down 0.16 per cent, or 34.52 points, at 21,511.05 with developers dragged down by government plans to curb the red-hot property market.

Shanghai ended 0.35 per cent lower, giving up 7.27 points to 2,058.94.

The US Department of Commerce said on Friday the world's No.1 economy grew at a 2.0 per cent annual rate in July-September - compared with the second quarter's 1.3 per cent expansion and the 1.9 per cent forecast by most economists.

A 13 per cent jump in defence spending, which tends to be volatile, and better consumer spending and housing investment propelled the growth.

However, the data did highlight flat business investment and shrinking exports.

Wall Street was almost unmoved as investors took stock of another set of disappointing earnings from the likes of Apple and Merck. The Dow ended up 0.03 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.07 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 0.06 per cent.

The New York Stock Exchange announced it would close its trading floor and conduct only electronic transactions, as Hurricane Sandy closed in on the US eastern seaboard.

"In consultation with other exchanges and market participants, NYSE Euronext will close its markets on Monday ... and pending confirmation on Tuesday," the market operator said in a statement.

Joe Bracken, head of macro strategies at BT Investment Management in Sydney, suggested the impending hurricane could contribute to quiet trading in Asia.

"You've got the US essentially closed, so there will be less of that US liquidity that drives a lot of international markets," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Eyes are now on a two-day meeting of the Bank of Japan which ends on Tuesday, with most investors hoping it will unveil an extension of its monetary easing policy.

Despite expectations of fresh cash being pumped into the market, the yen rose slightly in afternoon Asian trade.

The dollar was trading at Y79.61 against Y79.62 late on Friday in New York, while the euro bought Y102.70 compared with Y103.00.

The European unit was at $US1.2900 from $US1.2942.

Also on the horizon are the release of manufacturing figures out of China and other Asian nations, while the US will on Friday unveil its non-farm payrolls data, the last before the presidential election.

And eurozone ministers will hold a series of meetings on Greece to decide whether it has done enough to fix its debt problem to receive the latest tranche of crucial aid money.

The ministers are also looking at a Greek request for the terms of its bailout to be extended by two years to 2016.

Oil was lower. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, shed 68 US cents to $US85.60 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for December delivery fell 85 US cents to $US108.70.

Gold was at $US1,711.90 at 1700 AEDT, compared with $US1,703.18 late on Friday.

In other markets:

- Taipei slipped 0.59 per cent, or 42.39 points, to 7,091.67.

Leading smartphone maker HTC was 7.0 per cent limit-down at $Tw219.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.92 per cent higher at $Tw88.1.

- Manila closed 0.14 per cent lower, losing 7.74 points to 5,397.42.

Ayala Land rose 0.64 per cent to 23.65 pesos but Puregold Price Club was unchanged at 30.05 pesos. Coal Asia Holdings, which soared 50 per cent on its debut last week, slumped 14.67 per cent to 1.28 pesos.

- Wellington fell 0.82 per cent, or 32.48 points, to 3,951.30.

Telecom was off 3.45 per cent at $NZ2.38 and Fletcher Building shed 0.7 per cent to $NZ7.07.

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Camilla takes time out before tour

AHEAD of a hectic tour of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Prince Charles's wife Camilla is taking time out at a holistic health centre in India, a British newspaper reports.

The Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Bangalore at the weekend and checked-in at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre, the Daily Mail said.

Camilla is a return guest to the retreat, set on a 30-acre organic farm. On her first visit, she attended yoga classes at dawn and received an scented-oil massage.

Travelling with a party of 10 including members of her family and official security detail, Camilla is without the future king.

"The Duchess of Cornwall is on a private holiday. She will fly on to meet up with the Prince of Wales for the start of their Diamond Jubilee tour to PNG, Australia and NZ next weekend," a palace spokesman told the Mail.

The Indian stopover will break up the lengthy trip Down Under for Camilla, who is not a fan of long-haul flights.

It is believed the duke and duchess of Cambridge will meet in Singapore ahead of their November 3 arrival at Port Moresby.

The royal tour reaches Australia on November 5 and will see the couple visit five states - Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and NSW - and the ACT in six days.

Charles and Camilla then spend six days in New Zealand as part of an official trip representing Queen Elizabeth II on the 60th year of her reign.

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Tsunami hits Hawaii after Canada quake

THE first waves of a tsunami hitting Hawaii on Saturday night (Sunday Australian time) were smaller than expected nearly three hours after evacuations were ordered for coastal areas threatened after a powerful earthquake off the coast of Canada.

A geologist tracking for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, Gerard Fryer, said the largest wave in the first 45 minutes of the tsunami was measured at 1.5 metres in Maui.

The first waves to hit Hawaii at 10.28pm on Saturday (1928 AEDT Sunday) were smaller than expected, the centre said. A wave of up to two metres had been predicted, as tens of thousands fled coastal areas.

"We expect more waves to follow, and that can go on for hours," Victor Sardina, a spokesman for the warning centre told DPA.

Along the coast of northern California and south Oregon a 67cm-high wave was recorded, he said.

The measurement was taken at Arena Cove. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Initially, officials said Hawaii wasn't in any danger of a tsunami after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the western coast of Canada.

However residents were later advised to evacuate coastal areas, with warning sirens sounding across the islands.

Residents were fleeing inland, causing traffic chaos in Honolulu, media reports said.

Broadcaster CNN said Honolulu mayor Peter Carlisle called on residents to leave their cars, find a building and make their way to the highest floors. The situation was "very, very dangerous", he said.

About 80,000 people live in the evacuation zone in Oahu, where Honolulu is located.

"It's not just one wave, it's a succession of waves," Fryer was quoted as saying by CNN.

"The following waves, I am sure, will be bigger."

The centre had said the tsunami waves could wrap around the islands so all shores were at risk.

The warning was issued after the earthquake struck off the Queen Charlotte Islands late on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).

Hawaiian officials were adamant that timely warnings were about all they would be able to do, and execution of evacuation plans depended on individuals themselves.

"We have done everything we can to get the information out," Carlisle said.

"Everybody is getting out. You can't rely on the police because they are being pulled out, too."

Fryer said quakes exceeding magnitude 7.0 should not be taken lightly.

"A 7.7 is a big, hefty earthquake. It's not something you can ignore," said the geophysicist.

He said it had struck partly under an island, but mostly under shallow water.

"I think we have to be thankful it happened where it did," Fryer said. "If that were a heavily populated area, it would have caused significant damage."

The earthquake reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.

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Qld footballers await Hawaii tsunami

MEMBERS of a Queensland indigenous rugby league team are holed up in an Hawaiian evacuation centre awaiting updates of an approaching tsunami.

Two of Arthur Beetson's sons are with the team at Kaiser High School, on the island of Oahu, where they've been advised to stay until the severity is known of the tsunami generated by an earthquake in Canada.

The team - captained by former Brisbane Bronco Ian Lacey and consisting mostly of Queensland Cup players - had earlier played a Hawaiian All Stars team at the high school, which is on the side of a hill.

Rugby league writer Steve Mascord is with the team and he described the players as relaxed about the unfolding situation.

"They had music on and they were dancing (but) now they're starting to get a little bored," Mascord told AAP.

"There was talk of going to a pub nearby ... There's certainly no real alarm."

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for all Hawaiian islands on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT), hours after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off Canada's west coast.

Mascord said the Australian consul-general to Hawaii was at the game and advised the players to remain at the school until the conditions became clearer.

"Kaiser High School is a safe zone, so this is where people will come if there is trouble, so the boys are pretty relaxed about that," Mascord said.

"There are roads closed, and the bottom floors of hotels in Waikiki have been evacuated.

"But apparently people are still shopping in Waikiki, so we're just waiting for more news and hoping we can return to our hotels."

The players are travelling with the Arthur Beetson Foundation as part of a 39-person party, which includes the rugby league legend's sons as well as tribal dancers who performed before the game.

The Queenslanders won 70-8 against the Hawaiian All Stars, who themselves were coached by former North Queensland Cowboy Cory Paterson.

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British actor's sons die in HK fire

TWO young sons of a British actor living in Hong Kong have been killed when fire tore through their home.

Emergency services rushed to the home of Simon Watkiss, who has appeared in a handful of Hong Kong-made films, when a fire broke out on Saturday.

The two brothers, aged seven and eight, were carried unconscious from the family's house and taken to hospital suffering suspected smoke inhalation.

They were pronounced dead, police told AFP.

A domestic helper injured in the fire was taken to hospital in a critical condition, while the boys' parents escaped without injury.

"As some of you know the worst thing that could ever happen has happened! My house burned down and my two beautiful sons Eliot and Frankie died in the fire," a message posted on Watkiss's Facebook page said on Sunday.

On the Facebook page Watkiss describes himself as a self-employed actor who has appeared in Hong Kong-made films and commercials.

The British expatriate and his wife Candy were said by friends to be devastated at their loss, according to the English-language South China Morning Post newspaper.

Watkiss shared the screen with Hong Kong veteran Tony Leung Ka-fai in the 2009 crime thriller I Corrupt All Cops, and appeared in the 2008 thriller Connected, which starred Hong Kong actor Louis Koo and Taiwan's Barbie Hsu.

Police investigating the blaze at the house, in Hong Kong's rural north, said the fire was not thought to be suspicious.

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