The freeze, to be announced in Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech on Wednesday, would exclude defence, veteran affairs, homeland security and spending on international affairs, the officials said.

“We are in the midst of fighting a war and have security needs. We’re going to fund those security needs as necessary,” one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The freeze in “non-security discretionary spending “will be implemented in 2011 and continue throughout 2012 and 2013.

“The savings from the three-year freeze will amount to $250bn over the next decade,” the official said.

Nigerian police said on Tuesday that at least 326 people have died in the violence in Plateau.

However, estimates from medical and aid workers and religious and community leaders put the toll at more than 550.

Both Christians and Muslims seem to agree that a dispute over a house in a mainly Christian district of Jos sparked the unrest. The house was destroyed in the religious violence of 2008 and its Muslim owner started to rebuild it on January 17.

What the area’s majority Christian Biroms and the minority Muslim Hausas strongly disagree on is over who is to blame for the killings.

The research, carried out through a mixture of one-on-one interviews and multi-choice questions involving 72 local chiefs, was the first time PWC’s annual survey stretched to include New Zealand.

PWC New Zealand chief executive Bruce Hassall said the global review had been running for 13 years but the financial crisis had sparked the decision to include New Zealand.

“We were keen to run a New Zealand equivalent survey to find out how New Zealand executives compared with global trends, how New Zealand businesses had managed through the recession and their outlook now.”

Hassall said the survey had found strong similarities between New Zealand chief executives and their overseas counterparts as well as some key differences. He said the global consensus was that executives believed they had navigated the recession well and optimism was now picking up with an expectation of growth this year.

In a provocative move to increase its share of the nation’s $90 billion grocery market, Coles yesterday said its products would cost the same across 151 Queensland locations.

The move – the latest salvo in the increasingly fierce supermarket wars – brings Coles into line with independent grocer Aldi, which introduced a similar policy in 2008.

In response to the announcement, Woolworths said it had been trying to offer postcode-free prices for years.

Under the changes, which come into effect on February 1, shoppers in isolated or wealthy areas will no longer pay a premium because of where they live.

Consumer groups have hailed the news as a victory for shoppers and a much-needed injection of competition into the Australian market, one of the most concentrated in the developed world.

But consumer and competition law expert Associate Professor Frank Zumbo said Coles had more work to do to increase its pricing transparency.

“With these types of announcements, the devil is always in the detail and the onus is on Coles to tell consumers which products will be affected and by how much retail prices will change on the affected items,” he said.

Prof Zumbo said Coles consistently rated lower than other supermarket players in customer satisfaction surveys and was “clearly playing catch up”.

But Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn labelled the policy a “meaningful move” in the supermarket wars.

“Unlike things like fuel discount schemes and free DVDs, this is much more significant than the usual gimmicks the big supermarkets use to gain market share,” Mr Zinn said.

“There’s been concern for years that people in less competitive suburbs are paying increased prices, so this is a big win for them.”

Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said the policy would exclude fruit and vegetables and products approaching use-by dates, but would see 97 per cent of products price matched across the state. A further 8000 products would be price matched nationwide, with the lowest prices adopted across the board.

In its 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report, Woolworths said it offered more than 1000 products at the same price, regardless of location.

“For branded products we aim to ensure prices are the same at stores within each state,” the report said.

A confidential Immigration Department report reveals nearly 40 per cent of detected fraud involving student visas last year was aimed at universities.

Previously, the problem was thought to be confined mainly to the private vocational educational sector with private colleges and language schools being the preferred target of people-smuggling operations.

But the report to Immigration by consultants Ernst & Young, obtained under Freedom of Information laws by The Australian, shows universities and vocational colleges are increasingly being exploited to place bogus students.

The Ernst & Young report showed that in the 10 months to April last year, higher education accounted for 39 per cent of student visas refused where fraud was involved. But it was higher in the 12 months to June, where higher education accounted for more than half, 53 per cent, of such cases.

The idea is that tourists order one of these vests online and it is delivered to their hotel room once they get to South Africa. They then wear them to the stadiums or even walking on the streets – just in case something happens to them.

According to South African police figures, there were 18,148 murders in the year ending March 2009 and knives or sharp objects were used in about 52 percent of the deaths. No wonder foreigners are so edgy about crime in South Africa.

Criminal controversy

Back home here, the issue of crime again reared its ugly head. Here’s a brief synopsis of the furore that’s causing waves in SA.

A private TV station, ETV, aired a news piece looking at crime in South Africa ahead of the Football World Cup. The TV reporter interviewed two “hardened criminals” (concealing their identities) who confessed to all of South Africa their plans to rob tourists planning to visit the country during the World Cup.

Del Potro struggled most of the way through the 4-hour, 38-minute five set match against No14 ranked Marin Cilic, losing 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

The 21-year-old Croat lost to del Potro in the fourth round here last year and in the US Open quarter-finals.

The four other leading men continue apace.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray held off two of the tallest men and biggest servers in tennis earlier on Rod Laver Arena to set up a quarter-final meeting.

Nadal, who beat Federer in the 2009 final, had a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, the tallest man on the tour.

No5 Murray overcame 6-foot-9 American John Isner 7-6 (4),6-3, 6-2 to reach the final eight in Australia for the first time. The 22-year-old Scot hasn’t dropped a set in four matches.

No2-ranked Russian Dinara Safina was forced to retire hurt while she was down 4-5, serving at 30-40 in the first set against Maria Kirilenko, who’d ousted 2008 champion and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova in the first round.

No3-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova, who went into the match on a stunning, 6-0, 6-1 third-round victory over US Open champion Kim Clijsters.

While the seeded players dropped, former No1 Justine Henin continued her
run in her first Grand Slam tournament for two years with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3 win over fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, setting her on course for a quarter-final against Petrova.

Favourite out

Del Potro had an upset win over top-ranked Roger Federer in the US Open final last September, ending the Swiss star’s streak of five straight titles in New York.

The 21-year-old Argentine was the first man since Novak Djokovic won the 2008 Australian Open to interrupt the Federer-Rafael Nadal domination of men’s Grand Slam titles, and started the season’s first major with the No4 seeding and among the favourites.

Del Potro had been bothered by right wrist pain that forced him out of a warm-up tournament and was undoubtedly weary from a five-set, second round win over James Blake – the longest of the tournament in terms of total games at 62.

He said the wrist and the foot were only part of the problem. What hurt? “The whole body.”

The increased expectations on him weren’t a bother, he said.

“No, I really enjoyed that pressure. The crowd is unbelievable with me.

“They support me every match, every point,” said del Potro, who plans to go home and recover.

The Black Stars reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive tournament through an early breakaway goal from Rennes striker Asamoah Gyan.

Angola’s Manucho missed three clear chances for his side as the Palancas Negras failed in their bid to reach the last four for what would have been the first time in their history.

The visitors took the lead in the 16th minute on Sunday when Gyan raced onto a long ball from Kwadwo Asamoah, outstripping Angola captain Kali to slide the ball right-footed across Fernandes Carlos into the net.

It came just after defender Lee Addy had twice almost scored an own goal, sticking a foot out to two high balls and nearly lobbing his furious goalkeeper Richard Kingson.

Ghana captain Kingson was called into action again as he scampered across his goal on the half hour to keep out a header from the unmarked Manucho after a cross from the right by returning striker Flavio.

Manucho then missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise one minute before the end of the half.

Flavio contested a high ball with two defenders and Kingson, who failed to clear it before the Angolan stabbed it to the feet of Manucho.

But the Real Valladolid striker rushed his shot, slipping as he ballooned over from 12 yards out to the anger of the 50,000-strong crowd.

Ghana played an effective containing game in the second half, and when Angola did win the ball they wasted their opportunities with some poor passing in the buildup.

With 20 minutes left the hosts piled on the pressure, with Manucho winning a free kick just outside the area which Gilberto hit off the wall and over.

Then Manucho again failed to hit the target when he rose unchallenged to meet a cross from Job.

Camara, who is convalescing in neighbouring Burkina Faso, was speaking in public for the first time since he was injured in an assassination attempt in December.

“I signed in full confidence … for a rapid exit from the crisis,” Camara said on Sunday, referring to an agreement signed on January 15 in which he undertook to remain in Burkina Faso rather than return to Guinea and reclaim power.

The agreement calls on General Sekouba Konate, Camara’s deputy, to act as
interim leader and help organise elections that will hand power to a civilian government in six months time.

Democratic elections

Neither members of the military government, nor members of the transitional
government, will be allowed to stand in the presidential elections demanded by the international community.

“The question of my non-candidature, and that of the other members of the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) … is definitively settled,” Camara said.

The 46-year-old Camara was shot in the head by his aide-de-camp in early
December and rushed to Morocco for emergency surgery. He was moved to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, last week.

Camara said his “life is no longer in danger, but … I need to rest,” and gave no details on how long he would stay in Burkina Faso.

Camara’s CNDD sparked a political crisis when it took power in a military coup in December 2008.

The crisis deepened when security forces killed more than 150 people at a pro-democracy march in September, a massacre for which the UN said Camara was responsible.

Sources from among the pirates on Monday confirmed that the Maran Centaurus, one of the largest ships ever hijacked, had been freed.

The pirates agreed to release the vessel after an aircraft dropped at least five million dollars in ransom on the deck.

The ransom, one of the largest ever paid, appeared to have sparked a feud among the priates, delaying the release of the ship.

But Andrew Mwangura, from the East African seafarers assistance programme, said that the vessel had finally been freed on Monday.

“She’s free. She’s preparing to sail out,” he said.

Ransom payment

Hassan, one of the pirates, told the Reuters news agency: “We have agreed to solve our disagreements and release the ship. It is free and sailing away now.”

He said that its crew of 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and a Romanian were all safe.

The ransom, delivered on Sunday, was believed to be between $5.5m and $7m.

A $3m ransom was paid for the release of another oil tanker, the Sirius Star, in January 2009. Similar ransoms have been paid subsequently for the release of merchant vessels.

The Maran Centaurus, carrying two million barrels of oil, was captured in November on its way from Kuwait to the US.

World powers, including the European Union, Nato and the United States are running naval patrols off the Somali coast in an effort to protect commercial shipping.

In response, the pirates have extended their reach, attacking ships up to 1,800km from Somalia, deep in the Indian Ocean.