Staff seize bosses at French Goodyear site

WORKERS at a restive Goodyear plant in northern France have detained two managers in a conference room at the tyre factory.

The factory's union says the director and human resources chief were blocked from leaving after an especially difficult meeting on Monday with staff.

A Goodyear representative, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the tense situation, says the two managers were being held against their will.

"Boss-napping" became rampant in France in 2009 at the height of the economic meltdown, although the practice has since tapered off.

But the Amiens plant has an especially contentious past. Goodyear has been trying to restructure or close the factory for more than five years.

Sometimes violent workers' protests, government concerns and France's prolonged layoff procedures have stalled the process.

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UK Treasury chief to order more cuts

BRITAIN'S Treasury chief says the country still has a long way to go to eliminate the deficit and that substantial savings must be gleaned from welfare cuts.

George Osborne says 2014 is to be the "year of hard truths" and that there are still big underlying problems in the economy.

Osborne told autoworkers in Birmingham on Monday billions of pounds in welfare cuts will be needed to reduce the deficit, which has been swollen by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Pensioners are likely not to be affected, as the coalition government has suggested they will remain protected.

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Turkish currency hits low amid scandal

THE Turkish national currency has fallen to a new low, a sign the government corruption scandal is taking its toll on the economy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to reshuffle his government after three ministers' sons were among dozens of people detained in a vast police corruption and bribery investigation.

The head of a state-owned bank was also arrested.

Erdogan's government has rejected the corruption allegations, pointing fingers instead at an alleged conspiracy to hurt his government ahead of local elections in March.

But the political instability is unnerving investors.

The Turkish lira reached a record 2.19 against the dollar and 2.97 against the euro on Monday.

It has slid more than seven per cent against the dollar since the scandal began on December 17.

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Millions hit by deadly chill in US

AN icy vortex of Arctic air pushed deadly wind chills and heavy snow into much of the US Midwest with meteorologists saying at least 32 states were in its path over the coming days as it moves south and east.

Even the northern tier of winter-hardy states and cities like Minnesota, Chicago and Milwaukee called off school for Monday as the country braced for wind chill temperatures down to minus 51 degrees Celsius and colder.

It was the first time in 17 years that Minnesota schools have been closed due to snow and dangerously low temperatures, reports said.

Governor Mark Dayton ordered the closings.

"Temperatures are deadly," warned Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard in broadcast remarks. Snow fell in his state of Indiana on Sunday at the rate of 5 centimetres an hour, media reports said.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, tens of thousands of fans braved minus-26-degree wind chill temperatures to watch a key football playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Despite the Green Bay team having an apparent weather advantage, the 49ers won 23-20.

With the mercury expected to drop down to minus 44C through the night, food stands at Lambeau Field in Green Bay were offering free coffee and hot chocolate to keep fans warm. There were worries that beer would freeze in the open air stadium, CNN reported.

"Life-threatening wind chill," the National Weather Service warned.

"The coldest temperatures in almost two decades will spread into the northern and central US ... behind an Arctic cold front," the government forecaster said.

Before the "polar vortex" - as it's being called by meteorologists - hits the east and south, rain was expected to fall in those regions and be turned into thick ice when temperatures plunge into the minus-20C range on Tuesday.

The normally mild-temperature city of Nashville, Tennessee, has delayed by a day the post-holiday school start until Wednesday.

"Dangerously low temperatures forecast for Tuesday morning a concern for student safety," the school system said.

Flash freezes after the rain and blizzard conditions were expected from Tennessee to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the private forecaster AccuWeather said.

At least 13 people have died due to blizzard-like conditions and record cold over past days, most of them from traffic accidents in Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana.

Broadcasters warned that frost bite could set in within just five minutes in the harsh conditions.

The weather caused cancellation of 3,467 flights and delays in another 11,191, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com.

Overall, around 149 million people - about half the US population - were expected to be in the grip of the Arctic chill by Monday and Tuesday, meteorologists said.

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UK faces more flooding in wave of storms

BRITAIN'S coastal residents are bracing for more flooding with lashing winds, rain and high tides expected.

At least three people have died in a wave of stormy weather that has battered Britain since last week, including a man killed when his mobility scooter fell into a river in Oxford, southern England.

Weather forecasting body the Met Office warned on Monday of wind gusts of up to 113 km/h accompanied by exceptionally large waves, along the coasts of Wales, southwest England and Northern Ireland.

The Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning - meaning a threat to life and property - for the county of Dorset in southwestern England, as well as more than 300 less serious flood warnings and alerts.

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Kabul to free prisoners, ignoring US calls

THE Afghan government says it will release 88 prisoners seen as posing a security threat by the US, ignoring warnings from Washington ahead of a planned pullout of international forces from the country later this year.

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Business expectations at a one-year high

THE majority of Australian businesses are more upbeat about growth in 2014 than they were last year, with business expectations rising to a one-year high.

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Crocs CEO leaving ahead of investment

THE company that makes Crocs shoes is getting a $US200 million ($A226.3 million) bailout from a private equity fund, and its CEO is retiring.

Crocs shares peaked in 2007 as buyers snapped up the clogs known for being comfortable but ugly. But it hasn't been able to add new products with the same popularity.

Its shares rose 10 per cent in premarket trading on Monday.

Crocs says it will use the money from Blackstone for a $US350 million share buyback.

As part of the deal, Blackstone gets two seats on the Crocs board. And CEO John McCarvel is retiring and giving up his board seat around the end of April.

Crocs says fourth-quarter revenue will be at the low end of what it had expected, and its quarterly loss will match its worst prediction.

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Sydney NYE to be 'absolutely spectacular'

SYDNEYSIDERS are in for "absolutely spectacular" fireworks this New Year's Eve as the harbour city gears up to ring in 2014.

Tuesday night's fireworks will include 11,000 aerial shells and 25,000 shooting comets that will explode from seven barges spread across 6km of Sydney Harbour.

For the first time in a decade, 1000 fireworks will also be shot from the top of the Opera House, as well as from the Harbour Bridge and jet skis stationed in the harbour.

Fireworks displays will explode across the harbour at 9pm, 10.30pm and midnight.

Sydney New Year's Eve producer Aneurin Coffey said there was "something for everybody" in the pyrotechnic extravaganza.

"Plan your night ahead so work out where you want to go and work out a backup location in case that area is full," Mr Coffey said.

"It'll be absolutely spectacular, there's some really new stuff this year."

For those heading to the foreshore, organisers say the Sydney Opera House and Dawes Point usually see the first trickle of spectators from about 5am (AEDT), with Bradfield Park, Blues Point Reserve and Observatory Hill Park also popular early.

With 1.5 million people expected to flock to Sydney for the celebrations, organisers are also urging people to seek vantage points outside the CBD.

Emergency services will be out in high numbers, with 2500 police on the beat in Sydney and 3000 across NSW.

This year's top-secret bridge effect,a highlight of the midnight display, is said to be as big as a 12-storey building and 72 metres wide.

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Shots fired at German ambassador's home

GERMAN Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned an attack on the residence of the German ambassador in Athens, saying the act would not affect German-Greek relations.

"This is an act that we are taking very seriously. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can justify such an attack on a representative of our country," Steinmeier said in Berlin.

The foreign minister said the assailants would not succeed in "damaging the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks".

Greek police said shots were fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the residence of Wolfgang Doldt in the Athens district of Chalandri at 3am on Monday.

No one was injured in the attack.

At least 20 shots were fired, according to a report by the radio station Skai. Four bullets reportedly lodged in the garden gate.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had telephoned Chancellor Angela Merkel about the attack.

He said Merkel wished Greeks a good EU presidency over the next six months, saying that Greece could count on German support.

A spokesman for Steinmeier stated that the reaction by Greek authorities to the shooting was "quick and circumspect".

The Greek government also assured Germany that security measures would be strengthened at the site and that everything would be done to apprehend and prosecute the culprits.

According to press reports, anti-terrorism police have arrested three people.

The German ambassador's residence was the target of a terrorist attack in 1999 when an anti-tank weapon was fired at it.

Many in Greece blame Germany's stance on austerity measures for their economic troubles.

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