Director apologises to Downton Abbey star

BRITISH theatre director Peter Hall has apologised for disrupting a star of Downton Abbey during the opening night of a West End stage show.

Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith Crawley in the hit costume drama, was performing the final speech of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya when Hall began speaking loudly from the auditorium.

Audience members heard the 81-year-old director repeatedly saying "it's not working" while Carmichael spoke.

On Monday, Hall insisted he had not been heckling, merely "briefly disoriented" after waking from a brief doze.

Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said he was "mortified" that he had disrupted Friday's performance.

He said his remarks "were not in any way related to Uncle Vanya which I think is a very fine production with a marvellous company of actors".

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Republicans plan gun range election party

ALABAMA Republicans plan to hold their election night party at a gun range, where participants can shoot a few rounds as returns come in.

The state Republican Party is inviting supporters to the Hoover Tactical Firearms for a "victory party".

Loaded guns will be allowed only on the firing range, and a party spokeswoman says drinking won't be allowed while people are shooting.

Republicans are expecting presidential candidate Mitt Romney to easily carry Alabama.

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Romney says voting is the 'one job left'

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Mitt Romney is urging Americans to vote as he kicks off his last and longest day of campaigning before Tuesday's election.

Mr Romney opened Monday by rallying more than 1000 people at an airport rally in Sanford, Florida. He told them "we have one job left" and that's getting people out to vote. The crowd chanted, "one more day".

The Republican nominee started his day in Florida with the first of five planned events. Next up are two stops in Virginia, and one each in Ohio and New Hampshire.

Florida, Ohio and Virginia are all critical to his hopes of amassing the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

New Hampshire is where Mr Romney announced his bid for president about 17 months ago.

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Brits held over stab death of soldier

THREE British tourists in Cyprus have been remanded in police custody in connection with the killing of a teenage British soldier during a disco row in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa.

David Lee Collins, 19, from Manchester, was stabbed to death during a night club confrontation with a group of British tourists in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The soldier was stationed at Dhekelia garrison with the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The regiment is part of British army reserve forces for Afghanistan.

The tourists, 19-year-old Mohamed Abdulkadir Osman, and two 17-year-old suspects, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are being held in custody for eight days to allow investigators to complete their enquiry.

They face possible charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of an offensive weapon and use of cannabis.

The London trio appeared in court looking apprehensive while Mr Osman was sporting a bruised right eye.

Murder carries a maximum life sentence in the eastern Mediterranean island.

Police said the incident occurred when four off-duty British soldiers had a confrontation with the suspects at a club in Ayia Napa.

The fracas is believed to have ignited over taunting related to Manchester-London regional rivalry, officer Stelios Christodoulou told the court.

During the heated row one of the three allegedly drew a knife injuring the 19-year-old soldier in the chest.

Mr Christodoulou said that Mr Osman had admitted to stabbing the victim but said it was in self-defence as he and his friends were allegedly attacked by the soldiers.

Although the two 17-year-olds put themselves at the scene of the crime they claim to have taken no part in the violence, he added.

Mr Collins was pronounced dead on arrival at Famagusta General Hospital in nearby Paralimni.

An official autopsy carried out on the soldier concluded he died from a "ruptured heart caused by a sharp instrument".

A switch-blade recovered at the scene of the crime was to undergo forensic tests. Eleven similar knives bought in Ayia Napa as "souvenirs" were found at the trio's hotel room, police said.

British Bases spokeswoman Connie Pierce the incident happened in an area out of bounds to soldiers because of previous incidents.

British soldiers have been banned from pubs and clubs at the centre of the resort since 1994 when Louise Jensen, a 23-year-old Danish tour guide, was abducted, raped and beaten to death by three British servicemen.

The soldiers were sentenced to life for the killing, reduced to 25 years on appeal on the grounds that they were too drunk to have planned the attack. They were released in 2006.

Ayia Napa is the island's most popular resort among younger holidaymakers, especially British tourists attracted by the buzzing night life.

Around 9000 British troops and their dependants are stationed on Cyprus as Britain retained two large strategic sovereign base areas after the island gained independence from colonial rule in 1960.

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NSW fire stations to close to save costs

THE NSW fire service will push ahead with its plan to temporarily close some fire stations as a means of reining in excessive overtime costs.

Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Greg Mullins says the plan will kick in immediately after the firefighters union rejected other proposals to reduce costs caused by high levels of sick leave and absenteeism.

"With just one third of the financial year gone, nearly 70 per cent of the $10 million 2012/13 overtime budget has already been spent," Mr Mullins said in a statement.

"So I have decided to take steps to reduce the blow out in overtime by extending our long standing practice of moving fire fighting resources between fire stations in a responsible way."

The policy will see up to eight Sydney fire stations temporarily shut down for a day so that firefighters can fill shortages elsewhere.

Mr Mullins said these arrangements would only be in place when minimum safe crewing levels were not being met because of firefighters taking sick or other unplanned leave.

"The few fire stations moved to cover staffing shortfalls elsewhere in metropolitan areas, will be covered by crews from other nearby stations.

The plan had originally been scheduled to take effect in August before it was suspended to allow discussion of alternative cost-saving measures.

"The implementation of these arrangements follows the Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) rejection of alternative measures for reining in overtime costs," Mr Mullins said.

FBEU state secretary Jim Casey has previously warned that closing fire stations would compromise public safety.

"Houses will burn and lives will be lost," he said.

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US stocks mostly lower on election eve

US stocks have opened mostly lower on the eve of the presidential vote, with President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney locked neck-and-neck in the race for the White House.

"The US equity markets are moving to the downside ... with tomorrow's US presidential election draining conviction on the Street, along with festering Greek bailout uncertainty," Charles Schwab & Co analysts said.

Five minutes into trade on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 20.47 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 13,072.69.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 3.38 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,410.82.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 3.42 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 2,985.55.

On Friday, an encouraging US October jobs report provided only a fleeting boost to stocks, with markets ending down about one per cent.

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Obama favoured in Kenyan village

AT Barack Obama's ancestral village in Kenya, witch doctor John Dimo has tossed some shells, bones and other items to determine who will win the US election.

After throwing the objects like so many dice outside his hut in Kogelo village, Dimo, who says he is 105 years old, points to a white shell and declares: "Obama is very far ahead and is definitely going to win."

It's not a surprising result in Kogelo, Obama's late father's hometown in western Kenya, where expectations of an Obama election victory over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney were high on Monday.

While pollsters in the US are using interviews, statistical analysis and the technology to predict the outcome of the election in America - one that is expected to be close - Dimo uses techniques he learned from his father, and is confident of his predictions.

Obama is the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya and has five Kenyan half-brothers and a half-sister.

Half-brother Malik Obama said on Sunday the family sees no reason why Obama shouldn't be elected for a second term.

He was speaking during a sports tournament he organises every year in honour of their late father, Barack Obama Sr.

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Mining slowdown to spark Cup day rate cut

THE Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to change the cash rate on Melbourne Cup day for a seventh consecutive year.

Twelve of the 15 economists surveyed by AAP said the RBA board will decide to cut its interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to three per cent on Tuesday.

The struggling global economy and the sluggish performance of the non-mining sectors of the domestic economy have driven previous rate cuts.

However AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the recent fall in commodity prices and the slowdown in the once-booming mining sector had also become a factor.

"Mining will still stay high, but some time next year mining investment will peak as a share of GDP (gross domestic product)," Dr Oliver said.

"That will potentially leave a bit of a hole in the economy that will need to be filled by non-mining parts of the economy, hence the need for lower interest rates."

The most recent rate cut was at the October meeting, by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25 per cent, which was the the fifth interest rate cut in the past 12 months.

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