China car sales on track for record: GM

US car giant General Motors (GM) says its full-year sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, will surpass last year's 2.55 million and set a new record.

In the first 11 months, sales of GM and its ventures in China surged 10.4 per cent from a year earlier to 2.59 million vehicles, more than the total for the whole of last year, GM said in a statement on Thursday.

For November alone, GM sold 260,018 vehicles in China, up 9.7 per cent from 2011.

China's overall auto sales growth slowed last year after the government scrapped purchasing incentives and limited car numbers to ease traffic congestion and cut pollution.

In 2011 sales rose just 2.5 per cent to 18.51 million units, compared with an increase of more than 32 per cent in 2010 but growth has recovered slightly this year.

Nonetheless foreign manufacturers have bucked the slowdown with stronger brand recognition and perceptions of better quality among domestic consumers, although Japanese brands have been hurt by a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.

GM said last week one of its Chinese joint ventures will invest 6.6 billion yuan ($A1.06 billion) in a new plant to meet growing demand for commercial vehicles.

The venture between GM and Chinese partners SAIC Motor and Wuling Motors aims to open the 400,000-vehicle-a-year plant in the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing in 2015.

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HK leader warns of housing 'talent drain'

HONG Kong's leader says the Chinese city needs to boost its housing supply and create more living space or the "best and the brightest" talents of the next generation will go elsewhere.

Property prices in Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated cities, has skyrocketed in recent years after an influx of mainland Chinese buyers, pushing home ownership beyond the reach of many of its seven million people.

Leung Chun-ying said the issue needed to be addressed urgently or the space-starved city, which already competes with Singapore to be Asia's economic powerhouse, will lose its competitiveness.

"If we cannot, within the phase of the next two or three decades, generally increase the space in Hong Kong, the best and the brightest of the next generation will leave us," the 58-year-old former property consultant told the city's Foreign Correspondents' Club.

"We would have lost our competitiveness in attracting and retaining overseas talents, (and) also our competitiveness in retaining our local talents.

"We need to have adequate land supply not just to meet new demand... but also to give people more elbow room in their living space and also in their work space."

Leung has vowed to boost land supply and make housing more affordable since he took office in July after he was elected by a 1200-strong committee packed with pro-Beijing elites.

And the government in October slapped new taxes on foreign buyers and raised stamp duty on resale within three years, in a bid to cool the overheated housing market.

The leader said his government will continue to deepen ties with Beijing, despite opinion polls earlier this year showing anti-Beijing sentiments had surged to a new high since the former British colony was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997.

Leung said he has rolled out a slew of measures to tackle the disenchantment among Hong Kongers toward mainlanders, including a decision to stop mainland Chinese women from giving birth in the semi-autonomous city.

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PR guru arrested on 'child sex' claim

British publicist Max Clifford poses for photographers as he arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry. He has been arrested on child sex abuse allegations. Source: AFP

MAX Clifford, one of the UK's most high profile public relations executives, has been arrested on suspicion of child sex abuse.

Clifford's lawyer, Charlotte Harris, confirmed the arrest and said Clifford would assist the police "as best he can with their inquiries."

Clifford, 69, represents some of Britain's best known entertainment figures.

Police would only say that a man in his 60s was arrested on Thursday morning in Surrey, south of London, on suspicion of sexual offenses and he is being questioned at a central London police station.

Clifford did not answer calls to his mobile phones.

Police said the arrest was part of an investigation called Operation Yewtree, a wide-ranging inquiry into alleged sexual offenses committed by Jimmy Savile and others. Savile was a BBC entertainer who has in recent months been accused of serial sexual abuse of underage girls. He died last year without having been charged with any offenses.

Police have said there may be several hundred abuse victims.

The Savile allegations have caused a major embarrassment for his employer, the BBC, which has been accused of failing to report on investigations into Savile's alleged crimes.

Four others have been arrested in the investigation of the alleged abuse. None has been charged.

British media have identified the suspects as including comedian Freddie Starr and former glam rock star Gary Glitter.

Clifford told the Associated Press in October that he was receiving calls from many celebrities and entertainers worried they would be caught up in the widening Savile investigation.

"They're phoning me and saying, 'Max, I'm worried that I'm going to be implicated.' A lot of them can't remember what they did last week, never mind 30 or 40 years ago," he said.

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Homeless man charged in NY subway death

US authorities have charged a homeless man in the death of a New York resident pushed in front of an oncoming subway train and killed as onlookers watched.

Naeem Davis, 30, was arraigned on Wednesday night on a second-degree murder charge and ordered held without bail in the death of 58-year-old Ki-suck Han on Monday. He is due back in court on December 11.

As the handcuffed defendant walked past reporters, he blamed the victim for what happened.

"He attacked me first. He grabbed me," Davis said.

Asked by a television news reporter if he meant to kill Han, Davis replied "No."

Prosecutor James Lin told the judge that Davis saw the train strike Han before leaving the Times Square station.

"The defendant never once offered any aid to the victim as the train approached the platform and in fact, this defendant watched the train hit the victim," Lin said.

But Davis' Legal Aid lawyer, Stephen Pokart, said outside court that his client reportedly "was involved in an incident with a man who was drunk and angry."

A witness, Leigh Weingus, told The New York Times that Han appeared to be aggressive towards Davis.

Han's wife had said she had argued with her husband that morning and that he had been drinking.

Han's death got widespread attention not only for its horrific nature, but because he was photographed a split-second before the train trapped him and seemingly no one attempted to come to his aid.

A freelance photographer for the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, was waiting for a train on Monday afternoon when he said he saw a man approach Han at the Times Square station, get into an altercation with him and push him into the train's path.

The Post photo in Tuesday's edition showed Han with his head turned towards the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time.

The photographer, R. Umar Abbasi, told NBC's Today show on Wednesday that he was trying to alert the motorman to what was going on by flashing his camera.

He said he was shocked that people nearer to the victim didn't try to help in the 22 seconds before the train struck.

"The people who were standing close to him ... they could have moved and grabbed him and pulled him up. No one made an effort," he added.

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US stocks open flat

US stocks are mixed in early trade as markets continue in their generally sideways drift in a patient wait for a political deal in the fiscal cliff deficit talks.

After 30 minutes of trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 18.97 points (0.15 per cent) to 13,015.52.

The S&P 500 slipped 1.94 (0.14 per cent) to 1,407.34, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.57 (0.02 per cent) at 2,974.27.

US weekly jobless claims did not surprise at 370,000, settling back to the year's general range after spiking higher for three weeks because of superstorm Sandy.

Fiscal cliff talks continued, with both sides moving slightly closer via hints at compromise but no real news to confirm that the sharp tax hikes and spending cuts programmed for January 1 will be averted.

Apple, which took its sharpest fall in four years on Wednesday, opened more than two per cent lower before rebounding; it was down 0.3 per cent at $US537.23.

Investors continued to dump shares of miner Freeport-McMoRan after it announced a $US9 billion ($A8.65 billion) deal to buy two US oil and gas firms at hefty premiums.

Investors criticised the deals, saying they appeared to heavily benefit the board members and top shareholders in Freeport that also had interests in the other two companies, McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration.

Freeport shares were down 4.0 per cent, after losing 16 per cent Wednesday.

Plains lost 2.3 per cent and McMoRan 0.2 per cent.

Bond prices gained. The 10-year US Treasury yield dipped to 1.57 per cent from 1.59 per cent late Wednesday, while the 30-year fell to 2.76 per cent from 2.78 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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Bus driver finds, hands in $500,000

VIENNA'S transport authority says a city bus driver checking a bag left behind by a passenger had the surprise of his life - 390,000 euros ($488,000) in neatly stacked 500-euro bills.

Transit authority spokeswoman Anna-Maria Reich says the driver handed the stash to police who tracked down the owner, an unidentified elderly woman.

But the driver has nothing to show for his honesty beyond praise from superiors. Weeks later, the owner has not contacted him to offer a reward.

The incident happened last month and Ms Reich confirmed details first reported by several Austrian tabloids.

It was unclear why the woman was carrying so much cash.

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Tough Aussie's visa battle to stay in UK

AN Australian man recognised for his bravery after suffering knife wounds while protecting elderly women on a London bus has been refused the right to remain in the UK, a newspaper reports.

Tim Smits, 33, from Melbourne, was stabbed and punched when he stood up to thugs on a bus in September 2011, Britain's Evening Standard newspaper reported.

His actions earned him a local council citizenship award and an honour from the Carnegie Hero Trust Fund.

However, the UK Border Agency has rejected the graphic artist's application for a compassionate extension to his visa.

Mr Smits spent months recovering from the violent attack for which two men were jailed.

"What needs to happen before it's compelling and compassionate?" Mr Smits told the Standard on Thursday of his visa extension application.

"The refusal letter was a massive hammer blow - a kick in the balls I just didn't need.... I had dealt with so much already.

"All the appreciation I have had from the community has really kept up my spirits, but the coldness of the Border Agency and lack of compassion has made me sick.

"It's made me question if I want to live in a country that wants to kick me out, even though I love it here. It doesn't give you much faith in humanity."

Mr Smits, who has appealed the rejection of his visa application, stood up to two 19-year-old men who began abusing fellow bus passengers on a suburban London route. He was knifed by one of the teens and punched by another.

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