Fireworks light up foreshore at Gold Coast

CARTOON superheroes shone on a high-rise wall as fireworks lit up the beachfront for the New Year's Eve curtain-raiser at Surfers Paradise.

Thousands of revellers took in the 9pm (AEST) show, a precursor to the main event at midnight, which is billed as one of the biggest fireworks displays in Queensland for New Year's celebrations.

Organisers went with a superheroes theme for this year's family party, hoping to encourage children to attend as their favourite superhero and several little Spidermen and Supermen could be seen among the crowd.

Projected images of superheroes such as the Phantom and Batman were displayed on a high-rise building adjacent to the beach as the fireworks display began.

"It's going to be a big year, bring on 2013," Coomera resident Steve Hoffmann, who brought his wife and son to the display, told AAP.

The event was one of several held up and down the Gold Coast while other centres in Queensland also lit up with their family-friendly displays.

The main event at Brisbane's South Bank had to be delayed by 10 minutes due to a helicopter needing the airspace above the Brisbane river to deliver a patient to nearby hospital but after that it was all systems go.

Crowd numbers were reported to be down for the midnight spectacular, with about 65,000 revellers turning up to the riverbank at South Bank to watch laser light shows and fireworks that launch underwater.

"We've been working on a few surprises," Skylighter Fireworks director Max Brunner told Brisbanetimes.com.

"All I can say is that this year will be the biggest display a Brisbane New Year's Eve has ever had."

Public transport was free of charge to revellers in Queensland's southeast until 5.30am (AEST) on New Year's Day.

Cairns also suffered a drop in numbers due to wet weather during the day.

The heavy rain appears to have headed south leaving clear skies at midnight for revellers in Cairns and Townsville, though other centres such as Mackay and Bowen faced a damp start to 2013.

Up to 50,000 people were thought to have attended the Surfers Paradise festivities.

Police praised crowds for their good behaviour and attitude, with no major incidents taking place and just two arrests made at South Bank before midnight.

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Putin urges unity after year of protests

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has used a traditional New Year address to call for unity following a year of protests against his return to the Kremlin for a third term.

The country's "development and fate depend on our enthusiasm and labour, on our unity and responsibility," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying in the televised message aired first in Russia's Far East.

"Only together can we, the people of Russia, advance steadily, cope with any trials, solve the most complicated tasks, build a strong, successful state, a modern, prosperous and free society," said Putin.

Russia was rocked by its largest post-Soviet protests in response to Putin's decision to seek the presidency again following a 2000-2008 spell in power in which the state cracked down on civil liberties and media rights.

The former KGB spy served as prime minister for four years under his hand-picked presidential successor Dmitry Medvedev before announcing in September 2011 that the two had agreed to a job swap.

Putin then won March elections and was sworn in as president in May.

His inauguration was preceded by violent protests outside the Kremlin and was followed by the adoption of laws further restricting Russians' right to join demonstrations not authorised by the state.

The strength of such rallies has tapered off in recent months as the opposition scrambles for a strategy that could work with Putin firmly cemented in power at least through 2018.

But smaller-scale rallies still periodically continue in Moscow and Saint Petersburg - Russia's tsarist capital and the home town of both Putin and many of his closest ministers and advisers.

The radical wing of Russia's opposition movement vowed to hold a traditional New Year's Eve rally in central Moscow despite failing to win permission for the event from the city.

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Asset sales tipped at Tribune Co

US media conglomerate Tribune Co has exited bankruptcy after four years of court supervision, with the future of its assets including The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times uncertain.

The Chicago-based company said it emerged from bankruptcy protection on Monday "with a portfolio of profitable assets, strong liquidity, and a new board of directors".

The reorganisation plan allowed a group of hedge funds and banks based in Los Angeles and New York to take over the media company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2008 after a leveraged buyout left it saddled in debt.

An article in the company's flagship Chicago Tribune said virtually all the media assets are expected to eventually be sold.

Some reports have said Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is interested in purchasing the Chicago newspaper and possibly the Los Angeles Times. The Tribune article said billionaire Warren Buffett may also be seeking to add to his newspaper properties.

According to the same article, a 2012 analysis by financial adviser Lazard valued the Tribune's broadcasting assets at $US2.85 billion ($A2.76 billion) while other strategic assets, including the jobs website CareerBuilder and cable channel Food Network, are worth $US2.26 billion.

The company owns 23 television stations and a number of leading daily newspapers include The Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel along with the dailies in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Eddy Hartenstein, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and current chief executive of the company, will remain in the role until the board convenes in the next few weeks.

The Los Angeles Times and others have reported that Peter Liguori, a former executive at News Corp and Discovery Communications, will become the new chief executive.

The board also includes Ross Levinsohn, the former interim CEO at Yahoo!, and Peter Murphy, a former Walt Disney Co executive.

Reports in the Chicago Tribune said the new owners are focused on cable channel WGN, and will be looking to boost its value before an eventual sale.

On emergence, the company will receive a new $US1.1 billion loan and a new $US300 million credit facility for operations.

It will issue to former creditors approximately 100 million shares of new stock.

Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate titan, led an $US8 billion leveraged buyout of the Tribune Co in 2007 and the company declared bankruptcy the next year, with $US13 billion in debt.

It sold the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise and its iconic stadium, Wrigley Field, in 2009.

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22 killed in wave of Iraq attacks

A WAVE of bombings and shootings across Iraq has killed 22 people as the country grapples with anti-government rallies and simmering political crises ahead of major Shi'ite commemoration rituals.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks in more than a dozen towns and cities that wounded 83 people, but Sunni militants such as al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq regularly target officials and security forces in a bid to destabilise the government, and also often attack Shi'ite pilgrims.

The violence comes after anti-government protesters blocked a key highway to Syria and Jordan, amid political tensions between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a secular Sunni-backed party in his fragile national unity government.

Much of Monday's violence targeted Shi'ite pilgrims, ahead of Arbaeen commemoration ceremonies due this week.

In the deadliest attack, seven people - three women, two children and two men - were killed when three houses were blown up in the town of Mussayib, south of Baghdad, police and a medic said. Four others were wounded.

The victims were apparently targeted because they were Shi'ites, the officials said.

Shi'ite pilgrims embarking on the traditional walk to the holy shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen commemorations were hit by three mortar strikes south of Baghdad that killed one worshipper and wounded nine others.

A series of attacks in restive Diyala province, north of Baghdad, wounded 19 people, including 10 Shi'ite pilgrims who were walking to Karbala.

Attacks in Baghdad and north of the city, meanwhile, killed 12 people.

In the capital's central commercial district of Karrada, a car bomb detonated by a suicide attacker left at least four dead and 20 others wounded, security and medical officials said.

A series of bombings in the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk and nearby towns killed five policemen and wounded 11 other people, local officials said.

And in the main northern city of Mosul, two policemen guarding an election centre were gunned down, while one policeman was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb in Tuz Khurmatu.

South of Baghdad, a car bombing outside government offices killed two people as the provincial governor was arriving.

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Venezuela axes New Year's with Chavez sick

VENEZUELA has called off public New Year's Eve festivities and social media sizzled with worry after the government revealed cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez had taken a turn for the worse.

The streets of Caracas were quiet as front-page headlines relayed that Chavez had developed "new complications" from a respiratory infection after undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery on December 11 in Havana.

His vice-president and political heir, Nicolas Maduro, broke the news from Havana on Sunday night, saying the condition of the Venezuelan leader was delicate and that he faced an uphill battle.

Chavez, the face of the Latin American left for more than a decade and a firebrand critic of what he calls US imperialism, has been in power since 1999 in Venezuela, an OPEC member that sits on top of the world's largest proven oil reserves.

For many Venezuelans, a holiday season without their ubiquitous comandante just wasn't the same.

"I do not know what will happen to Chavez, but we have never had a Christmas like this. Only God knows what will happen with him and with us," said 70-year-old retiree Miguel Enrique as he prepared to attend Mass.

Authorities cancelled a New Year's eve concert in a downtown plaza and Information Minister Ernesto Villegas urged "families in Caracas and Venezuela in general to ring in the New Year at home, praying and expressing hope for the health" of Chavez.

On Twitter, hashtags translating into expressions such as "Chavez will live and conquer" and "I love Chavez" were all the rage.

But Chavez is also deeply polarising, even though he has ruled for nearly 14 years, and his detractors spoke out too.

Chavez, 58, won another six-year term in October's presidential election, and is scheduled to be sworn in on January 10.

But his ill health has raised concerns that he won't be well enough to attend his inauguration.

Chavez's government has said that the inauguration can be postponed if the president is not fit enough to be sworn in.

Not so, said Veppex, a Miami-based association of 25,000 Venezuelans living outside their country as refugees or political exiles.

It insisted the constitution must be respected verbatim and that new elections must be held within 30 days if Chavez cannot be sworn in on the scheduled day. It said all signs were that he will not be.

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Nine shot dead during party

NINE people have been shot and killed in a rural village in northwest Colombia, apparently during a party, a police official has said.

None of the four women and five men who were slain have been identified, no suspects have been arrested and authorities have no idea what the motive of the killings might be, said Yesid Vasquez, police chief for Antioquia department.

He said the victims were apparently celebrating in a rented villa in Envigado, near Medellin, when they were shot.

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Police searching for missing Sydney man

AN appeal has been issued for information on a 48-year-old man who has gone missing from his Sydney home.

Barry Kodesh was last seen between 9am and 10.45am (AEDT) on Sunday at his home in Everton Street, Pymble.

Police and family members are concerned for his welfare as the disappearance is out of character.

"There has been no access to any bank accounts and Mr Kodesh is not believed to have taken any other cash, medication or property with him," a police statement says.

Also missing is his blue 1995 Toyota Camry with a NSW registration of UBR 354.

Mr Kodesh is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 180-185cm tall with a medium build, light brown hair, brown eyes, a beard and moustache.

Anyone with information about Mr Kodesh or his car is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Greeks want probe of tax scandal minister

GREEK MPs have called for a probe into former finance minister George Papaconstantinou's alleged role in scrubbing names from a list of accused tax dodgers, days after he was ejected from his party over the scandal.

Seventy-one MPs from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's governing coalition proposed the parliamentary inquiry, which if voted through by the 300-seat legislature will investigate whether Papaconstantinou is guilty of "falsification" of an official document and "breach of duty".

The probe could lead to charges against Papaconstantinou, who helped draw up the debt-ridden nation's first austerity drive. The 51-year-old denies all wrongdoing in the tax affair, which he called a "conspiracy" on Sunday.

The ex-minister was booted from his socialist Pasok party on Friday after it was revealed that the names of four of his family members - two cousins and their husbands - had been deleted from the list of alleged tax dodgers.

Greek prosecutors are investigating some 2000 holders of HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland for suspected tax evasion, according to media reports.

Media have dubbed the case the "Lagarde list" affair, after International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde, who personally gave Papaconstantinou the list in 2010 when she was France's finance minister.

The list was originally leaked by an HSBC employee before being passed to Greece by Lagarde.

Authorities have claimed the list was illegally obtained and hence cannot be used in the battle against tax evasion, a chronic problem in the heavily indebted and recession-hit country.

But mounting anger against a new round of austerity cuts, imposed by Greece's international creditors, has put pressure on the government to act on the list.

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