African leaders gather for Mali summit

WEST African leaders will attend a special Mali summit in Ivory Coast to discuss how to increase their role as the French-led military intervention to oust Islamic extremists from power enters its second week.

Neighbouring countries are expected to contribute about 3000 troops to the operation in Mali, aimed at preventing militants from advancing further south toward the capital, Bamako.

While initial contributions from Togo and Nigeria have arrived, concerns about the mission have delayed other countries from sending their promised troops so far.

Charles Koffi Diby, Ivory Coast's foreign affairs minister, said Mali's neighbours must "face up to the weight of our responsibilities in conducting and co-ordinating military operations in Mali."

At Saturday's meeting, the big issue will be sorting out a central command for the African force, a French official said.

Nigerian General Shehu Usman Abdulkadir is expected to be named the force commander.

As the military intervention entered its second week, Malian forces had reclaimed the key town of Konna whose capture prompted the French action, according to French and Malian military officials.

However, phone lines to the town were still down making it difficult to independently corroborate the claim.

France said it was keeping up the pressure around another key town, Diabaly, which was taken by the Islamists on Monday.

French forces have moved around Diabaly to cut off supplies to the Islamist extremists, said a French official.

Mali once enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15.8 million people practising a moderate form of Islam.

That changed last March, following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.

The UN refugee agency said on Friday the fighting in Mali could force as many as 700,000 people to flee their homes in the coming months.

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Ang Lee may direct Cleopatra

OSCAR-WINNING director Ang Lee appears likely to accept an offer to direct historical epic Cleopatra starring Angelina Jolie, after the Hollywood actress wrote to him asking him to come on board.

Lee, whose 3D adventure Life of Pi has earned 11 Oscar nominations, said he would read the script before making a decision but the project was "very attractive".

"Sony has asked me to shoot the movie and Angelina Jolie wrote to me to express her wishes to collaborate. We admire each other... the project looks very attractive," the Taiwanese-American told reporters in Taipei.

"It's a big-budget movie so I am carefully evaluating it ... this is a rare opportunity and I will probably take it."

Lee returned to his birthplace over the weekend to celebrate after Life of Pi earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director.

The movie, based on the novel by Yann Martel about an Indian boy cast adrift with a Bengal tiger, has become Lee's highest-grossing film ever with more than $US450 million ($A429 million) in global box office sales, according to 20th Century Fox.

About 70 per cent of the movie was shot in Taiwan, including at a now-abandoned airport in the centre of the country where Lee's team built a specially-designed wave-generating tank.

Asked if he plans to cast his son Mason Lee, who starred in The Hangover Part II, in his future projects, Lee joked that he would rather not "torture" his kin.

"He likes acting and I give him my blessings... I am tough on actors but it's difficult to be tough on your own son and it'd be an unnecessary torture for us. I'd rather torture other people's kids."

The filmmaker, who is based in New York, was hailed as the "glory of Taiwan" after becoming the first Asian to win a best director Oscar for his gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain in 2006.

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Mercury treaty adopted in Geneva

DELEGATIONS from some 140 countries have agreed to adopt a ground-breaking treaty limiting the use of health-hazardous mercury, the Swiss foreign ministry says.

The world's first legally binding treaty on mercury, reached after a week of thorny talks, will aim to reduce global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal also known as quicksilver, which poses risks to human health and the environment.

Switzerland, which along with Norway initiated the process a decade ago, hailed the consensus on the issue.

"The new treaty aims to reduce the production and the use of mercury, especially in the production of products and in industrial processes," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Countries will be asked to sign the treaty next October in Minamata, Japan, in honour of the town's inhabitants who for decades have suffered the consequences of serious mercury contamination, the statement said.

"The adoption of the mercury treaty shows the vitality of international environmental politics and the will of states to together find solutions to world problems," head of the Swiss delegation to the talks, Franz Perrez, said in the statement.

Mercury is found in products ranging from electrical switches to thermometers to light-bulbs, to amalgam dental fillings and even facial creams, and large amounts of the heavy metal are released from small-scale gold mining, coal-burning power plants, metal smelters and cement production.

Serious mercury poisoning affects the body's immune system and can lead to problems including psychological disorders, loss of teeth and problems with the digestive, cardiovascular and respiratory tracts.

It also affects development of the brain and nervous system and poses the greatest risk to foetuses and infants.

Ahead of the Geneva conference, the UN's environmental programme provided the first global assessment of releases of mercury into rivers and lakes.

"In the past 100 years, man-made emissions have caused the amount of mercury in the top 100 metres of the world's oceans to double. Concentrations in deeper waters have increased by up to 25 per cent," the agency said, adding that much human exposure to mercury is through the consumption of contaminated fish.

UNEP also highlighted rising levels of mercury in the Arctic, where 200 tonnes of the substance are deposited every year.

The UN agency's study also found that developing countries were especially vulnerable to direct mercury contamination owing mainly to the widespread use of the element in small-scale gold mining and to the burning of coal for electricity generation.

Such exposure "poses a direct threat to the health of some 10-15 million people who are directly involved in small scale gold mining, mainly in Africa, Asia and South America," UNEP said.

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Two die in two crashes in Victoria

TWO people have been killed in two separate collisions in just 30 minutes on Victorian roads.

The first crash happened at 5.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday when two vehicles travelling in opposite directions crashed head-on on a slight bend in a 100km/h zone at Thornton.

The front seat passenger in one of the cars, a 26-year-old from Mooroolbark, died at the scene while the driver, a 27-year-old woman, was taken to the Maroondah Hospital with serious injuries.

The driver of the other car, a 40-year-old Eildon woman, was also taken to the Maroondah Hospital.

Within half-an-hour, a woman died at the scene of a crash at Nilma.

Police believe she had been attempting to turn right at an intersection when her small sedan was hit by a ute.

The ute flipped onto its roof but the occupants, a man and woman aged in their 20s, were uninjured.

Both collisions are being investigated.

The deaths bring the state's road toll to eight, compared with 16 at the same time last year.

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Motorcyclist dies in Melbourne pole crash

A MOTORCYCLIST has died after losing control and hitting a pole in Melbourne's north.

Police believe the 35-year-old Craigieburn man was attempting to overtake a vehicle when he lost control before 7pm (AEDT) on Friday.

He then struck a pole near the intersection of Bridgewater Road and Gillingham Crescent, Craigieburn and died at the scene.

The death brings Victoria's road toll to six, compared with 15 at the same time last year.

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Sydney temperatures plummet after scorcher

IT was a tale of two cities for Sydney on Friday.

The city went from sweltering in record-breaking highs of over 45C to below-average temperatures in the space of about 10 minutes on Friday night.

And while the cool change wiped out the sizzle, it also brought severe thunderstorms and damaging winds that had residents battening down the hatches.

Wind gusts of up to 100km/h swept through the city as temperatures dropped by about 10 degrees in 10 minutes from about 8pm (AEDT), Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecaster Jake Phillips said.

"It went from the mid-30s to mid-20s in the space of five to 10 minutes in most areas," Mr Phillips told AAP.

The plummeting temperatures brought some relief to Sydneysiders after a sweltering day which saw the mercury hit a record-breaking 45.8C at Sydney's Observatory Hill at 2.55pm (AEDT).

The previous record of 45.3C was set on January 14, 1939.

The sizzling heat caused chaos across the city, with scores of heat-related illnesses, transport meltdowns and even melting roads and ice rinks.

By 5pm (AEDT) on Friday, the Ambulance Service of NSW had responded to 93 cases of heat exposure.

On top of that, 133 people fainted and 37 people were treated for vomiting, with most of those cases attributed to the heat.

Sparks from Sydney's monorail briefly set fire to trees and grass near the entertainment centre, while at the Big Day Out music festival in Homebush a St Johns Ambulance spokesman said the organisation treated 200 people, mostly for dehydration.

In western Sydney at the Australia Youth Olympics, basketball, canoe and athletics events had to be cancelled or postponed because of the soaring temperatures.

Meanwhile, most trains across the CityRail network were delayed by at least an hour on Friday evening, with overhead wiring and signal problems failing to cope with the extreme heat.

It was so hot in Sydney's northwest that a 20km section of Bells Line of Road started to melt, with authorities cutting the speed limit to 60km/h because of safety fears.

And the manager of Canterbury ice rink, in Sydney's southwest, said it was so hot the ice inside the rink had been melting all day.

By 10pm (AEDT) however, Sydney was at a comfortable 23 degrees and the severe thunderstorm warning was removed.

The worst gusts were recorded at Terrey Hills in northern Sydney about 5pm (AEDT) on Friday, with gusts of 104km/h recorded.

The State Emergency Service (SES) received about 100 calls for help, mostly to do with falling trees and roof damage, a spokeswoman said.

The cool weather is expected to continue on Saturday, with forecast highs of 25 in the city and 28 in the west.

"That is actually below average for this time of year," Mr Phillips said.

"It will be a vastly different day from what we saw (on Friday), but after today I don't suppose too many people will be complaining."

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Tamworth music festival fires up

THOUSANDS of country music lovers, kitted with paper fans, have braved the stifling heat to see Adam Brand and Melinda Schneider open this year's Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Festival organisers are expecting more than 50,000 visitors to pack out more than 80 venues thought Tamworth between January 18 and 27, with thousands taking up camping spots on the banks of the Peel River.

The festival visitors will double the city's normal population.

The opening event, an open air concert in Bicentential Park, included performances from Aussie country music stars Adam Brand and Melinda Schneider while international acts Craig Campbell and Elizabeth Cook also entertained the crowd.

Schneider, whose five-month-old baby was supporting mum backstage, told AAP Tamworth was the highlight of a country musician's calendar.

"There's nothing like Tamworth anywhere in the world," she said at the opening concert.

"It's where it started and where it continues to produce amazing new talent and stays loyal to all of us who've been in it for a long time.

"The fans of country music are just so lovely, it's great to see them every year."

The 41-year-old former Dancing With The Stars contestant and first time mum said having her son with her at the festival was "so special."

"He's inspired some songs," she said. "Just every day the joy that comes into your life having a baby is amazing."

US-born country artist Elizabeth Cook, who is in Australia for the first time and performs alongside former Midnight Oil member Bones Hillman, said Tamworth had already impressed her in just 24 hours.

"It's a really fun fun vibe," she said.

More than 800 artists will make the annual pilgrimage to Tamworth to put on 4000 performances at more than 2000 events across the 10 days.

Some of those artists are country music stars Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar-Daley, The McClymonts and John Williamson.

Tamworth Country Music festival's most keen have been camping out for weeks to secure prime camping positions.

With temperatures hitting 40C on day one, Tamworth's local pool played host to hundreds of festivalgoers looking to cool off.

Makeshift Akubra stores were erected and starting to sell the iconic hats synonymous with country music.

More than 600 buskers will line-up along Peel Street, a strip often credited for launching the careers of Kasey Chambers and Keith Urban.

This year, festivalgoers can rub shoulders with their favourite country music artists in the newly created Fanzine, an air conditioned marquee where artists will be able to meet and greet fans.

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Snow grounds flights in Britain

SNOW has swept across Britain, forcing airports to cancel dozens of flights and more than 2000 schools to close.

London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, cancelled around 60 flights while the airports in the Welsh capital Cardiff, Southampton in southeast England and Bristol in the southwest were closed completely.

"We've got 24 vehicles clearing the runways," a Heathrow spokeswoman told AFP on Friday.

A Cardiff spokesman said the airport was due to re-open shortly, while Southampton said it would be shut until at least 1500 GMT (0200 AEDT Saturday).

British Airways cancelled more than 60 of its flights but said the figure was likely to rise during the day.

Over 2000 schools were closed across Britain, while the bad weather also caused gridlock on the roads.

Britain's weather agency, the Met Office, issued a rare "red warning" for parts of south Wales, where some areas were expecting up to 11 inches of snow.

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Sydney traffic eases after peak hour chaos

TRAFFIC congestion has eased in Sydney CBD after commuters were hit with lengthy delays following an accident on the Harbour Bridge.

Three cars collided around 3pm (AEDT) on Thursday near the north pylon of the bridge, causing one of the cars to crash into the pylon.

A 40-year-old woman, two men aged 30 and 50 and a five-month-old baby were trapped in their cars for some time before they were taken to hospital in a stable condition.

The crash sparked traffic chaos in the CBD, with just one northbound lane and two southbound lanes open while emergency services worked to free the victims.

Even after the lanes reopened, the gridlock continued well into peak hour, with huge traffic queues on the southbound lanes stretching back as far as Artarmon at 6.30pm (AEDT).

Traffic in much of the CBD also came to a standstill, with buses leaving Circular Quay running 20 minutes behind schedule.

The NSW Transport Management Centre urged commuters to take trains or ferries wherever possible, with bus tickets valid on those modes of transport until 7pm.

By 7.30pm traffic was once again flowing on the bridge although some buses crossing were still slightly delayed.

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McMahon 'victim of a homicide': WA coroner

THE West Australian coroner has found that a 20-year-old woman missing for more than 12 years was a victim of a homicide, but has refused to rule on whether a suspect in the case was involved in the crime.

Sarah Anne McMahon disappeared on November 8, 2000 after telling a colleague she was meeting a friend at 5.30pm and then failing to pick up her sister at 8.30pm that evening.

Donald Victor Morey, 57, has long been considered a suspect in her disappearance and was the last person to speak to Ms McMahon before she disappeared.

After the initial police investigation drew a blank, a further investigation was launched after Morey was convicted of the attempted murder of a Perth prostitute in 2004 and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

He had also been a person of interest in the death of another prostitute the previous year.

However, police were again unable to substantiate enough evidence against Morey, who has consistently denied any involvement in Ms McMahon's disappearance.

A cold case review of both investigations was launched last year and Morey said he was still in contact with Ms McMahon, who he claimed was living in Canada with her two children.

Coroner Alastair Hope said on Thursday that because Ms McMahon had not contacted her loved ones in more than 12 years, he was confident she was dead.

"The circumstances in which Ms McMahon disappeared are sinister and I have confidently been able to exclude the possibility that she died by way of natural causes, accident or suicide," he said.

"In my view, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the proposition that she died by way of unlawful homicide."

Mr Hope said there was no evidence that Ms McMahon left the country and there were no records held in Medicare, Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or her bank that would suggest that she was alive in Australia after that time.

A key piece of evidence examined at the inquest was a statement from Natasha Tracy-Ann Kendrick, dated November 11, 2011.

In her statement, Ms Kendrick said she walked into Morey's room and saw a bloodied naked girl on the bed with an "old fashioned rope" around her neck.

Ms Kendrick claimed that she later saw Morey carrying "something wrapped in a quilt over his left shoulder" and said she knew it was McMahon's body.

However, Mr Hope noted that police were unable to find evidence to corroborate her account.

He said there was also evidence capable of supporting a conclusion that Morey lied to police about his movements on November 8, 2000 and falsified documents to support those lies.

"It is always possible that some further evidence may come to light which could result in criminal charges being laid at some later date," he said.

"In that context, I do not propose to make any finding in relation to Mr Morey's involvement."

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Syrian assault 'kills women, children'

A SYRIAN army assault killed more than 100 civilians, including women and children, on farmland on the outskirts of the central city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It said the attack took place on Tuesday.

"The Syrian regime carried out a new massacre on Tuesday claiming 106 victims, including women and children," in an assault lasting 24 hours around Homs, said the watchdog.

The killings took place in farmlands in an area between a military academy, an army checkpoint and an industrial district north of Homs, the Britain-based Observatory said.

The Observatory said the area had become a refuge for around 1000 people who fled fighting in the city of Homs, where regime forces and rebels have been battling for dominance for months.

It quoted witnesses as saying that among those killed were families who died in fires that raged through their homes and others - including three children from a group of 14 family members - killed in cold blood.

At least 32 other members of one clan were shot dead, the Observatory said, adding however that it was not immediately able to establish their identities.

Meanwhile the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper reported that troops had gained ground against "gunmen" around Homs, referring to rebels fighting the regime. The claim was denied by militants on the ground.

Homs, dubbed "the capital of the revolution" by the rebels, is the largest and most strategic city in Syria, lying on key trade routes near the borders with Lebanon and Iraq, and with its southwestern areas not far from Damascus.

The Observatory urged the UN to send a fact-finding team to probe the latest killings.

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15 foreigners, 30 Algerians escape: report

FIFTEEN foreigners and 30 Algerians being held hostage by Islamist extremists at a gas field in Algeria have managed to escape from their kidnappers, local media reported, citing officials.

"Fifteen foreigners, including a French couple, have escaped from their captors," the private Ennahar television station reported, with TV station's owner, Anis Rahmani, telling AFP that the information came from an "official source."

The French embassy could not confirm the information.

Earlier, the APS news agency said 30 Algerian workers had managed to escape from the In Amenas gas field in southeastern Algeria, where the Islamist gunmen, who say they are holding 41 foreigners hostage, are locked in a tense standoff with the Algerian army.

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Toll from Syria uni blasts reaches 87

THE death toll from two massive blasts that ravaged the campus of a Syrian university has reached 87, activists say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the number of those killed in Tuesday's blasts at Aleppo University could rise even further because medics have collected unidentified body parts and some of the more than 150 injured are in critical condition.

It remains unclear what caused the blasts, which hit the campus as students took exams, setting cars alight and blowing the walls off dormitory rooms.

The opposition and the government have blamed each other for the explosions, which marked a major escalation in the struggle for control of Aleppo - Syria's largest city and once the country's main commercial hub.

Activists said forces loyal to President Bashar Assad launched two airstrikes on the area at the time of the blasts, while Syrian state media said a "terrorist group" - the government's shorthand for rebels - hit it with two rockets.

Either way, the explosions shattered the relative calm of the sprawling, tree-lined campus, signalling that Syria's civil war has reached areas that were mostly spared the violence that has killed more than 60,000 people and reduced entire neighbourhoods all across the nation to rubble.

The competing narratives about what caused the blasts highlighted the difficulty of confirming reports from inside Syria.

The Syrian government bars most media from working in the country, making independent confirmation of events difficult. Both anti-regime activists and the government sift the information they give to journalists to boost their cause. And civilians stuck in the middle avoid talking to the media, fearing reprisals from both sides for speaking their minds.

Aleppo has been the focus of a violent struggle for control since rebel forces, mostly from rural areas north of the city, pushed in and began clashing with government troops last summer.

The university is in the city's northwest, a sector still controlled by the government. Both activists and the Assad regime said those killed in Tuesday's blasts were mostly students taking their mid-year exams and civilians who sought refuge in the university dorms after fleeing violence elsewhere.

Activists said a government warplane carried out two airstrikes on the university. To support their claim, they circulated a video they said showed a small trail of smoke left by a jet. They could not explain why the government would strike an area controlled by its forces.

"We have no idea why the plane hit there, but it was very clear that it was a plane that struck," said an Aleppo activist reached via Skype.

Syria's state news agency said a "terrorist group" - government shorthand for rebels - fired two rockets at the university from an area further north. It did not give numbers for the dead and wounded.

The scale of destruction appeared inconsistent with the rockets the rebels are known to possess.

On Tuesday, Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told a Security Council meeting on combating terrorism that "a cowardly terrorist act targeted the students of Aleppo University" as they sat for their mid-terms.

He said 82 students were killed and 152 were wounded.

Syria's crisis began with political protests in March 2011 but quickly descended into a full-blown civil war, with scores of rebel groups across the country fighting Assad's forces.

The UN said this month that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the violence.

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Zimbabwe police seize four tonnes of pot

POLICE in Zimbabwe have seized about four tonnes of marijuana aboard a truck driven from the neighbouring country of Malawi, their biggest haul on record.

Police officials said the truck was intercepted when it was being suspiciously "escorted" by a minibus and a taxi to a parking lot in western Harare that appeared ready to ferry away some of the marijuana leaf packed in 90kg hessian bags.

The driver of the Malawi registered truck, destined also for South Africa, was arrested but his suspected accomplices ran off, evading capture on Tuesday.

The marijuana or hemp plant grows wild in southern Africa. The "Malawi Gold" suited to that country's climate and grown in illegal plantations there, is sought after by users across the region.

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Chopper crashes in central London, 2 dead

A HELICOPTER crashed into a crane and fell on a crowded street in central London, killing two people and sending black plumes of smoke into the air as it smashed to the ground.

Nine other people were injured in Wednesday's fiery crash, officials said.

The helicopter crashed just south of the River Thames near the Underground and mainline train station at Vauxhall, and near the British spy agency MI6.

Police said one person had critical injuries. Several people were taken to a nearby hospital with "minor injuries," London Ambulance Service said.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said it was not a military helicopter, and a security official said the incident was not terror-related.

The horrific scene unfolded at the height of the morning commute when thousands of pedestrians are trying to get to work.

Video on Sky News showed wreckage burning in a street, and black smoke in the area. The video from the crash scene showed a line of flaming fuel and debris. Witnesses said the helicopter hit a crane atop a 50-storey residential building, the St George Wharf Tower.

Allen Crosbie, site manager for the landscape firm Maylim company, who was working at the scene, said the explosion convinced him and others that London was being attacked.

"I was 100 per cent sure it was a terrorist attack," he said.

"There was debris everywhere, a tonne of black smoke. Parts of the crane, parts of the helicopter. I heard bang, bang, bang - I presume it was the helicopter hitting the crane and then the ground. People were just panicking. Everyone thought it was a terrorist attack."

He and everyone just ran for their lives, he said.

William Belsey, 25, a landscape worker at the St George Wharf Tower, said he heard the helicopter hit the crane.

"First we heard a big crash, looked up, that's when we saw the helicopter coming toward us. We heard an explosion as it hit the ground," he said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said he believed the helicopter was being diverted to a nearby heliport when it crashed.

"The top of the crane was actually obscured by fog so I didn't see the impact," Michael Gavin told the BBC.

"But I heard a bang and saw the body of the helicopter falling to the ground along with pieces of the crane and then a large plume of smoke afterwards."

The area, roughly 10 blocks from the major Waterloo train and Underground station, is extremely congested during the morning rush hour. Many commuters arrive at the main line stations from London's southern suburbs and transfer to buses or trains there.

Aviation expert Chris Yates said that weather may have played a role. Investigators also would look at whether the crane had navigation lights.

"The question then becomes whether the pilot was fit," Yates said.

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Vic police probe Andrews accident

VICTORIAN police will carry out an internal investigation into why the wife of state Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews escaped being breath-tested after a road accident this month.

A police spokesman said it was policy to breath test motorists in the three hours after a collision.

He confirmed that Mr Andrews' wife Catherine was not given a preliminary breath test and described it as "an oversight".

"Local management has notified Professional Standards Command and an investigation into the circumstances will take place," the spokesman told AAP.

Ryan Meuleman, 15, required surgery at the Royal Children's Hospital after a collision with Mrs Andrews at Blairgowrie southeast of Melbourne in early January.

Mr Andrews and their three children were in the car at the time.

The teenager's father, Peter Meuleman, told News Ltd on Tuesday the family was upset Mr Andrews had not contacted them since to check on Ryan's welfare.

But Mr Andrews said his wife had checked on Ryan's status through both the hospital and police in the days since the accident.

"I was very conscious from the outset to make sure I did nothing whatsoever that could be seen to or could in any way influence or interfere with the Victoria Police investigation into what happened," he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"That is why I and my wife have not sought to speak to Ryan or his family, that is after consultation with Victoria Police.

"They made it very, very clear to my wife (the investigation) should be left to them."

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Princess Mary to support twin registry

MOTHER of twins and Aussie royal Princess Mary of Denmark will do a double act as the international patron of the Australian and Danish twin registries.

Princess Mary's patronage of the Australian Twin Registry, based at the University of Melbourne, and the Danish Twin Registry was announced in a ceremony in Denmark at 11pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

Australian Twin Registry director John Hopper said as a mother of twins Princess Mary was a fantastic ambassador for twin research.

"We are extremely thrilled about the announcement and hope the crown princess's patronage will raise awareness of the importance of twin research on a range of health issues from cancer, to diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, to osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease," the Melbourne University professor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Crown Princess Mary was born Mary Donaldson in Hobart and married Crown Prince Frederik in 2004 in Copenhagen.

She is the mother of Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and two-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

The Australian Twin Registry supports medical studies involving twins, enabling researchers to study the impact of genetic and environmental factors on health.

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Fitch warns it might downgrade US rating

FITCH ratings agency has issued a strong warning to the United States to deal with its recurrent debt-ceiling dramas in a way which strengthens the economy in the long term, saying that its top "AAA" credit rating was at stake.

Fitch on Tuesday said it might revise downward its notation for the United States from the "AAA" level if Congress did not reach agreement on raising the ceiling for the national debt.

Fitch said that failure to raise the limit in time would lead to a formal revision by Fitch of its ratings of US debt instruments, but the agency also said the risk of a US default was extremely low.

However, Fitch also warned that fundamental strengths in the US economy were being undermined by the weight of debt and associated strains.

Fitch warned, that even if a crisis over the ceiling were averted in the immediate future, if the solution did not address the debt in a way which supported growth, then it was set to downgrade the US rating later in the year anyway.

Fitch Ratings said it expects that "Congress will raise the debt ceiling and that the risk of a US sovereign default remains extremely low.

"Nonetheless, and in line with our previous guidance, failure to raise the debt ceiling in a timely manner will prompt a formal review of the US sovereign ratings."

The legal ceiling for the US federal debt reached the limit of $US16.394 trillion ($A15.58 trillion) at the end of December. US politicians must agree on how to raise this limit within the next few weeks. Otherwise the United States will be unable to borrow to pay its bills.

The US found itself in a similar situation in August 2011. Deadlock within Congress caused one of the other top three rating agencies, Standard & Poor's, to downgrade its top-notch rating for US debt.

The Fitch statement said: "In Fitch's opinion, the debt ceiling is an ineffective and potentially dangerous mechanism for enforcing fiscal discipline.

"It does not prevent tax and spending decisions that will incur debt issuance in excess of the ceiling while the sanction of not raising the ceiling risks a sovereign default and renders such a threat incredible."

Fitch also said: "The extraordinary measures now being enacted since 31 December 2012, together with around $US43 billion Treasury deposits, are expected to allow the federal government to continue to fund itself until end-February."

"This estimate is provisional and sensitive to volatile monthly budget flows. It is highly uncertain what would happen if Congress did not raise the debt ceiling before the Treasury's borrowing authority and available cash balances were exhausted."

Fitch, together with the third agency which still rates US debt at "AAA", Moody's, has already warned that this notation has a "negative" outlook, meaning that it is likely to be downgraded in the medium term.

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Pakistan govt not informed of arrest order

THE Pakistan government says it has not yet been notified in writing of any arrest order against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf issued by the Supreme Court in connection with corruption allegations.

A cabinet minister said it would wait for official notification before deciding how to respond, but took issue with the "timing" as thousands of protesters led by a populist cleric are demanding the immediate dissolution of parliament.

"So far we have not received anything from the Supreme Court in writing. The government, the law ministry and the prime minister have not received any order from the Supreme Court," Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told private TV channel Geo on Tuesday.

"The timing of the decision should be noted. As far as I have been told, the prime minister's name is not mentioned in the Supreme Court order and hype has been created."

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French court approves teacher sex charge

JEREMY Forrest, the British schoolteacher who eloped to France with a 15-year-old pupil, can be charged in Britain with having sex with a minor, a French court has ruled.

Lawyers for Forrest lodged an appeal which blocks the immediate application of the ruling on a British request to change the terms of his extradition from France.

Daniel Lalanne, the French lawyer representing Forrest, refused to comment as he left court.

Forrest and his teenage lover eloped to France in September. After a week on the run, they were arrested in Bordeaux.

The girl, who cannot be identified in Britain for legal reasons, was flown home while Forrest was detained by the French authorities.

He was extradited in October under a European arrest warrant issued on suspicion of child abduction and has since been detained in custody awaiting trial.

British authorities want to add having sex with a minor to the abduction charge. But because the statutory rape charge was not included in the extradition request, they can do so only with the agreement of the French court that approved his handover.

The additional charge increases the maximum sentence Forrest could face from seven to 14 years.

State prosecutors recommended accepting the British request at a hearing in December.

Forrest's lawyers argued for it to be rejected on the grounds that their client's detention in custody was disproportionate to the nature of his alleged crime or crimes.

Under French law, a 15-year-old is deemed capable of consenting to sex while in Britain she is still considered a minor. Both countries outlaw sexual relations between teachers and students in their care.

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Germany mulls medical, logistic Mali aid

GERMANY is considering ways to help France in its mission in Mali such as providing logistical, medical or humanitarian aid.

"For the federal government and for Foreign Minister (Guido) Westerwelle it is clear that Germany will not leave France alone in this difficult situation," spokesman Andreas Peschke said at a regular government news conference on Monday.

Westerwelle and Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere will now "quickly" consider "how Germany can offer concrete support, other than military action", he said.

Discussions will take place with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Paris to see how Germany can best come to France's assistance, he added.

However, the sending of combat troops "is not up for debate", the spokesman stressed, repeating Berlin's firm position on that issue.

France's mission in Mali is "correct in the view of the federal government", he added.

"It is a difficult but also important mission that we support politically."

Peschke also expressed condolences on behalf of Germany for French military personnel already killed during the mission.

Westerwelle is also in favour of a special meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the crisis in Mali, his spokesman told reporters.

France's intervention has been backed by the European Union and the United States, while Britain is providing logistical support in the form of transport planes.

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Japan boosts defence of disputed islands

JAPAN will deploy two more patrol ships to boost its defence of islands at the centre of a territorial row with China and has conducted its first drill simulating the recapture of an isle seized by enemy forces.

The vessels will be stationed at the regional coast guard headquarters which covers the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, known as the Diaoyus in China, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Monday.

The 335-tonne Kurose and 3100-tonne Chikuzen, equipped with a helicopter, will be deployed in August and October respectively, NHK reported.

On Sunday, Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force carried out the nation's first military exercise designed to recapture "a remote island invaded by an enemy force", officials said.

Around 300 troops took part in the 40-minute drill with 20 warplanes and more than 30 military vehicles at the Narashino Garrison in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo.

Some 80 personnel from the SDF's First Airborne Brigade rappelled from helicopters with parachutes in front of about 11,000 spectators to demonstrate manoeuvres to counter an enemy invasion of a remote island.

Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off the disputed islands numerous times since Japan nationalised them in September, sometimes within the 12 nautical-mile territorial zone.

Tokyo's defence ministry has said F-15s were sent airborne to head off Chinese state-owned - but not military - planes four times in December, including an occasion when Japanese airspace was breached.

They were also mobilised in January.

Japan plans to spend an extra Y180.5 billion ($A1.93 billion) on missiles, fighter jets and helicopters, an official said last week, as it tries to strengthen defence capabilities with concerns growing over a rising China.

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Another Syria strike kills children

AN air strike on a rebel town near Damascus has killed 13 women and children, fuelling growing international calls for a war crimes probe into the 22-month Syrian conflict.

Reports of the civilian deaths came as Human Rights Watch accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime of expanding its deployment of banned cluster bombs.

Monday's air strike on several houses in the town of Moadamiyat al-Sham southwest of Damascus killed at least eight children and five women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

"The children, all members of the same clan, were aged between six months and nine years old," said the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

The Observatory says more than 3500 children have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted 22 months ago. The United Nations says overall more than 60,000 people have died.

On the diplomatic front, at least 55 countries prepared on Monday to demand the UN security council refer the Syria conflict to the International Criminal Court.

The demand was to be made in a letter organised by Switzerland, which has spent seven months collecting signatories.

Diplomatic sources said 55 countries had signed and others could still join even though the initiative has little immediate chance of success.

The Security Council is locked in a crippling impasse over the Syria conflict, with permanent members Russia and China having vetoed three resolutions threatening sanctions against Assad.

And with neither being members of The Hague-based ICC court, they would almost certainly reject any new resolution proposing war crimes charges.

On Sunday, Russia said Assad's removal from power was not a part of past international agreements on the crisis and hence impossible to implement.

"This is a precondition that is not contained in the Geneva communique (agreed by world powers in June) and which is impossible to implement because it does not depend on anyone," news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

The wrangling comes amid warnings the conflict, which according to the UN has sent more than 600,000 Syrians fleeing into neighbouring countries, is growing more dangerous for civilians due to the regime expanding its use of cluster bombs.

New York based Human Rights Watch said Damascus was increasingly resorting to firing rockets containing the sub-munitions, after previously using only aircraft to spread the weapons.

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NATO backs France in Mali, but says no aid

NATO says it supports French efforts to turn back the terrorist threat in Mali but that the alliance had received no request for assistance and had not discussed the conflict.

"We welcome the efforts of the international community in support of the implementation of the United Nations ... resolution 2085 (on Mali)," a NATO spokesman said on Monday.

"France has taken swift action to roll back the offensive of the terrorist groups in Mali.

"We are hopeful that such efforts will help to restore the rule of law in Mali and ... roll back the threat" of groups which threaten the "security and stability of the country, the region and beyond".

At the same time, NATO stressed this was a national operation, carried out by France, and there had been no request for assistance nor had there been a "discussion within NATO of this crisis".

"So far, the operation in Mali is a national operation in support of Mali. It was decided by the French government ... NATO is not involved in that."

On Monday, Islamist forces based in northern Mali vowed to avenge France's fierce military offensive against them after a series of French attacks inflicted heavy casualties.

On Sunday, French Rafale fighter planes struck bases used by al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Gao, the main city in northern Mali, and Kidal.

French warplanes also attacked rebel stockpiles of munitions and fuel further north at Afhabo, 50 kilometres from Kidal, a regional security source said.

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Dangerous fire damages top NSW observatory

A series of lightning storms in NSW has resulted in new bushfires, a NSW RFS spokesman says. Source: AAP

FIREFIGHTERS are battling two emergency level bushfires in northern NSW, one of which has destroyed at least two properties and damaged a world-leading observatory, as 30 uncontrolled blazes burn across the state.

The emergency at Wambelong Camping Area has seen Mt Woorut residents and staff from the Siding Spring Observatory in Warrumbungle National Park evacuated to nearby Coonabarabran.

Firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze were being hampered by strong south-westerly winds in the area, an RFS spokesman told AAP on Sunday night.

"The wind conditions that are being experienced there are creating erratic fire behaviour for crews on the ground," the spokesman said.

Fire crews will assess the two properties destroyed on Timor Rd and the observatory damage on Monday morning, he said.

There are hopes that telescopes in the Siding Spring Observatory - the nation's top optical and infrared observatory - will survive the inferno thanks to a range of precautions including the use of special paint.

Dr Amanda Bauer, who works at the observatory, said she was "hopeful" the telescopes would survive the bushfire.

"Tomorrow we will see how well those protections held," she wrote on her blog on Sunday evening.

However, Nobel Prize-winning Professor Brian Schmidt, who also works at the observatory, said initial reports indicated the fire had caused a lot of damage.

"Fires are worse than I had feared ... bad day tomorrow," he wrote on Twitter.

The other emergency fire burning out of control on Sunday evening was centred on Bundabarina, about 10 kilometres west of Collarenabri on the Walgett Road.

Collarenabri residents have been advised to seek shelter and follow their bushfire survival plans, the RFS said.

Firefighters have issued watch and act warnings for two other fires. These are at Nangar Road in Eugowra, in the state's central west, and Rocky Glen Road in Bendemeer, in the New England area.

Meanwhile, a cool change has brought relief to RFS officers fighting fires in other areas.

More than 190 firefighters were working to contain a blaze 12km west of Sussex Inlet, near Shoalhaven on the south coast.

The fire has burnt more than 8400 hectares but there is no immediate threat to properties.

At Yarrabin, near Cooma, in the Snowy Mountains, more than 100 firefighters continue to establish containment lines and extinguish spot fires, with no threat to properties.

The fire has burnt through more than 12,000 hectares of bushland and is moving away from Cooma to the east.

Residents returning to properties have been warned to be aware of falling trees and branches, particularly in the Mt Forest Road area.

In the southern tablelands, more than 70 firefighters are working on containment lines around a fire near Yass. The blaze has been contained.

In the state's north about 20 fires are burning uncontained after lightning storms on Saturday night ignited 45 new fires.

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Faulty boiler blamed for collapse at plaza

A FAULTY boiler has been blamed for the collapse of two people at a Canberra shopping centre.

A small area on Bradley Street, Woden, outside the McDonalds entrance to Woden Plaza, was cordoned off after the scare around 1pm (AEST) on Sunday.

The man and woman who collapsed were treated at the scene, before being taken to Canberra Hospital.

ACT Ambulance Service later transported a further four people to hospital for observation.

An initial investigation indicates a faulty boiler may have released carbon monoxide into the air conditioning system, ACT Fire and Rescue says.

A HAZMAT crew monitored the building's ventilation levels before declaring the area safe.

ACT WorkCover will investigate.

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Greece 'past danger' but risks remain: PM

GREECE has overcome the danger of an ignominious euro exit but it must stay the course of tough reforms to avoid a "relapse", Prime Minister Antonis Samaras says.

"I believe the great danger has passed," Samaras said in an interview with the To Vima weekly on Sunday. "Drachmaphobia seems to have receded completely."

But Samaras, whose three-party government faces another reform hurdle in parliament next week, warned the nation: "There can be no letup in our effort because there is the risk of a relapse."

The government last week pushed through a tax bill introducing new annual income thresholds for salaried taxpayers and scrapping tax breaks for the self-employed, a category blamed for a large part of the tax evasion that has plagued state finances for decades.

On Monday, it will seek approval for another round of reforms tied to Greece's next slice of EU loans.

The opposition has condemned the measures as a new attack on the embattled middle class which is bearing the brunt of a fourth straight year of austerity.

Samaras' administration has been hit with several defections in the past few weeks in opposition to the continued austerity wave.

The coalition government has lost 16 deputies since coming to power in June but still retains a nominal majority of 163 in the 300-seat parliament.

The latest umbrella bill introduces closer state budget monitoring and gives greater flexibility to banks to raise fresh capital. It also regulates civil service pay cuts and layoffs and finalises a state debt buyback.

European Union leaders last month agreed to hand out 49.1 billion euros ($A61.90 billion) in aid in return for more austerity measures.

Athens has already received 34.3 billion euros of this package and is poised to get another 9.2 billion euros at the end of this month if key fiscal reforms are carried out, followed by two more slices of 2.8 billion euros in February and March.

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Opel losses to last until at least 2014

THE head of General Motors in Europe says losses at its struggling German arm Opel will continue for at least two more years and possibly longer depending on market trends.

"We will be in the red in 2013 and 2014," Steve Girsky told Focus magazine in an interview on Sunday.

"In 2014, hopefully a bit less. Balanced books will only be achieved in 2015 or 2016, depending on the market situation," he added.

GM's European operations have run up billions of dollars in losses over the past 10 years. It had planned to sell Opel at one stage but pulled back when it could not find a suitable buyer.

Battered by a declining European car market, Opel announced in December it would halt car production at its Bochum plant in 2016 but pledged to keep the site running as a parts distribution centre.

Opel employs 37,400 people in Europe, including 20,300 at four sites in Germany, in Ruesselsheim, Bochum, Eisenach and Kaiserslautern.

Opel boss Thomas Sedran told Focus: "We do not plan further site closures."

Last week, he insisted Opel was not for sale amid rumours of a tie-up between the German firm and struggling French group PSA Peugeot Citroen.

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