PM pledges to rebuild fire-hit Australia

Walls of flame
Forensic investigators from around the country, including experts who helped to identify those killed in the Bali bombings in October 2002, have flown in to help the operation.

Forensic teams have the difficult task of identifying remains found in burnt-out houses and cars, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Melbourne.
In the nearby town of Kinglake, vast areas have been reduced to ash, our correspondent says - a once-vibrant community scorched by fast-moving walls of flame.
A record heatwave and changing wind directions on Saturday helped fan the flames.
Many people are searching for loved ones among the survivors taking refuge in Victoria's relief centres.
Relatives concerned about family members maple story mesos in the affected areas can contact the Australian Red Cross 24-hour helpline on (0061) 393283716 or, from the UK, the British Red Cross international tracing and message service on 0845 053 2004.

Mr Rudd told MPs that areas devastated by bushfires would be rebuilt "brick by brick" and "school by school".
A police task force has been launched to investigate the cause of bushfires that have swept across southern Australia killing at least 173 people.
Police are treating some blazes as arson. Mr Rudd described them as "murder on a grand scale".
"We are left speechless at the thought and the possibility that some of these fires may have been deliberately lit," he told the Canberra parliament.
"Let us attend to this unfinished business of the nation and come to grips with world of warcraft this evil thing."

Some 500 people have been injured and nearly 10,000 homes destroyed across 365,000 hectares of torched land, said Mr Rudd.
Rescuers are searching scorched areas amid fears the death toll would rise.
Residents in parts of Victoria state are still on alert as more than a dozen fires continue to burn uncontrolled.
Despite cooler conditions than at the weekend, officials in Victoria have warned residents to watch out for embers blowing in from the blazes.
Mr Rudd promised damaged communities would be rebuilt, and there would no limit on federal spending.

"We have deliberately made the decision to place no cap on the Commonwealth's contribution to the recovery and reconstruction effort," he said.
Although it would take time and effort, he added, "we will rebuild each of these communities... until one day we can look back and say these towns have been reborn".
He appealed for charitable donations and said about A$15m (£6.8m) had been collected so far. Mr Rudd earlier announced an aid package of A$10m.
The Australian Red buy wow gold Cross has appealed for blood, money and clothes, as some people escaping from the fires fled their homes with only the clothes they were wearing.

Crime scenes?
The 100-strong Task Force Phoenix will work with the Victoria state coroners' office, as well as fire and health authorities, to investigate all fire-related deaths.
Detectives have already sealed off a number of sites, including the devastated small town of Maryville, as possible crime scenes.

In Australia, deliberately lighting a fire which world of warcraft gold results in death carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, while intentionally or recklessly causing a bushfire carries a 15-year maximum sentence.
Asked about suspicions that arsonists were responsible for at least some of the fires, Mr Rudd said on Monday: "There are no words to describe it other than mass murder."
Victoria's Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said rescuers were searching charred areas road by road and house by house.
"This the really worst part of the process for all of us. It is about a house-to-house and vehicle-to-vehicle, in some cases, to find those who've died," she said.
"As we go into areas now that we haven't been able to get into before, we believe we'll find many more."

Russia set to restart gas supply

Major shortages

The agreement may be greeted with scepticism in some of the hardest-hit countries, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev, after the same deal fell through last week.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had emphasised that Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine would flow only when monitors were in place and a transit deal had been signed by all parties.
While a number of EU teams are already in position, others are not, and Russian monitors have still to deploy to stations in western Ukraine, our correspondent says.
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying it would pump only enough for customers further down the pipeline.

But then Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas intended for third countries and it restricted supplies even further.
Ukraine denied the claim, but the flow of Russian gas ceased completely on 7 January, leaving many European countries with major shortages.
The EU gets a quarter of its gas supplies from Russia - 80% of which buy runescape gold passes through Ukraine - and more than 15 countries across central Europe have been hit by the shutdown of Russian supplies.
Serbia and Bosnia-Hercegovina are among the worst hit as many homes rely on heating stations that only run on gas.

The state-run energy company, Gazprom, said supplies would resume on Tuesday morning, if there were no obstacles.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Europe have been left without gas since Russia turned off the taps over a contractual dispute with Ukraine.
The BBC European Affairs correspondent says world of warcraft the underlying causes of the crisis are still unresolved.
Disagreement remains over much Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas, and what Russia should pay Ukraine in return for transporting gas to Europe.
See map of affected area
Russia shut off the gas last Wednesday after it accused Kiev of stealing gas meant for other European customers.
Hundreds of thousands of people in 15 European countries are now hoping for relief, after almost a week of suffering bitterly cold winter temperatures without any heating.

'Down to work'
Under the deal agreed on Monday, EU and Russian observers will monitor supplies from pumping stations on Ukraine's eastern and western borders cheap runescape gold, in order to calm Russian fears that Ukraine is siphoning off gas for its own use. Ukraine has denied this allegation.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin he proposed restarting gas deliveries at 0800 (0700 GMT) on Tuesday.

Mr Putin replied: "Good, let's get down to work".

Despite a deal signed by Russia, Ukraine and the Czech presidency of the EU, it may be some time before supplies return to normal.
Analysts say that in theory, supplies could return to normal within 24 hours world of warcraft gold but a more likely time frame is 36 to 48 hours.

Earlier, Ukraine had dropped provisos it wanted to add to the agreement.
Welcoming the deal cheap wow gold, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria said Ukraine had "never been the obstacle for the delivery of the Russian gas to the European Union".
"The six days' war between Gazprom and the EU customers is going to come to an end," he said.