Aust troops 'kill two Afghan children'

AUSTRALIAN soldiers in southern Afghanistan shot dead two children tending cattle, local officials said on Saturday as the international coalition launched an inquiry into the incident.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO-led troops have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, fuelling public anger and often triggering criticism from President Hamid Karzai.

The two children, aged seven and eight, were killed on Thursday morning as Australian soldiers fought back after a Taliban attack in southern Uruzgan province, said provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada.

"The children were killed by Australian troops, it was a mistaken incident, not a deliberate one," Akhundzada told AFP, adding that insurgents had first shot at a helicopter carrying Australian soldiers.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said he was unable to confirm details.

"We are aware of the reports and we take all such reports very seriously," he said.

"An incident assessment team in Uruzgan is now there looking into it."

In a recent case of civilian deaths, on 13 February, 10 Afghan civilians, including five children, were killed by a NATO airstrike in Kunar province.

Following the attack, Karzai barred Afghan forces from seeking air support from foreign troops in a bid to curb civilian casualties.

Security responsibility for Uruzgan, a restive province where the Taliban insurgents have been holding sway, is being handed over to Afghan forces.

The bulk of Australia's 1,550 troops are based in the province, and are focused on training and mentoring Afghan soldiers ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops by the end of next year.

Comment is being sought from Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

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Man charged with murdering factory worker

A MAN has been charged with murdering a factory worker in Sydney's west after handing himself into police.

The body of Lane Hargreaves, 63, was found in the yard of the factory where he worked on Links Road, Dunheved, on February 21.

A 37-year-old man who was the subject of an arrest warrant presented himself to the Windsor Police Station just after 12.30pm Saturday (AEDT).

The man was questioned and charged with murder.

He was refused bail and will appear before a court in Parramatta on Sunday.

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Thousands brave rain for Sydney Mardi Gras

FIREWORKS, glittering transvestites and a sprinkling of popstars lit up Sydney's Mardi Gras but the loudest cheers were saved for the festival's founding cast.

Ten thousand performers took part in the gay community's night of nights, with celebrations focusing on the parade's 35-year history.

The lead float at this year's "Generations of Love" parade was dedicated to the "78ers" including media personality Julie McCrossin and the "godfather of Mardi Gras" Ron Austin.

Thirty five years ago, the pair were part of a small group who took to the streets of Sydney to highlight discrimination against gay people.

On Saturday night, despite the rain and gusty winds, thousands of onlookers cheered as the performers danced, marched and cartwheeled down Oxford Street to commemorate the years of struggle for gay acceptance.

Gay members of Australia's defence force (ADF) marched in their uniforms for the first time and squadron leader Vince Chong from the Royal Australian Air Force was thrilled to be part of the event.

"It's absolutely exhilarating. This is about us being proud of the uniform, and it allows us to show how proud we are of the ADF," he said.

He said the decision to allow members to march, reflected the ADF's policy to encourage more workplace inclusion.

"It shows the priority that's been placed on diversion and inclusion in the Australian Defence Force. This is just the start of many things to come under the pathway to change. We will see more and more about generating a culture of inclusion."

Politicians were also a part of the festivities with Sydney Mayor Clover Moore, turning out with a team of supporters along with Independent MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich.

The ALP and the Greens were also represented while the Liberal Party also had their spot in the parade, with their float led by the opposition leader Tony Abbott's gay sister, Christine Foster.

Ms Forster said she hoped she could "one day" convince her brother to march in the parade despite the fact that he led the Coalition in a bloc "no" vote in two separate bills seeking to amend the marriage act to include same sex marriage in 2012.

"I would like to get him up Oxford Street and into Taylor Square at the head of the Mardi Gras, that would be fantastic," she said.

Ms Foster paid tribute to the 78ers, saying the festival had now changed to become a celebration of community and diversity rather than a protest.

A number of performers dressing like maverick Queensland MP Bob Katter also took part in the parade, while singer Paulini performed atop the City of Sydney's official float.

Oxford Street had a heavy police presence but there had been no early reports of serious incidents.

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Flooding prompts Lockyer Valley alert

AN emergency alert has been issued for the Lockyer Valley region, west of Brisbane, with residents told to evacuate if needed.

The Lockyer Valley regional council issued the alert on Saturday night.

The council has advised that flooding is expected for Forest Hill, Laidley, Glenore Grove and areas downstream.

Residents are being told to monitor the situation and evacuate themselves if necessary.

Earlier, the local council had been doorknocking homes at Dalby, in southern Queensland, where the Myall Creek is expected to peak at three metres on Saturday night.

Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown says water starts to enter homes when the water reaches 2.8 metres.

It's another blow to residents who experienced significant flooding on the Australia Day weekend and a severe flood two years ago.

The council is also monitoring the nearby towns of Chinchilla and Moonie which are on flood alert.

Heavy rain has also fallen in the regions around Mackay, Bundaberg and Rockhampton on the state's central coast and the Gold Coast in the southeast.

Forecasters expect about 100mm of rain to fall on Bundaberg in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile the government is keeping a close eye on its dams in the southeast.

The Bureau of Meteorology has advised the rain will continue in the short term and there will be heavy falls later this month.

Water Supply Minister Mark McArdle says releasing water from the dams will reduce the risk of flooding.

"The ground is currently saturated so the rain will all run off into the Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams," he told AAP.

"We want to make certain those dams are at a precautionary level of 88 per cent as best as we possibly can."

An emergency flood warning has been issued for Banana Shire Council.

"There is an imminent threat through a Grevillea Creek flood," a statement from the Department of Community Safety said at 10.30pm on Saturday.

"There is an immediate threat to life or property. Leave the area now or go to higher ground."

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Prof welcomes overturned murder conviction

A 30-YEAR-OLD murder conviction has been overturned by Western Australia's Court of Appeal on the back of Nobel Prize-winning ulcer research by Perth-based scientist Barry Marshall.

Chris von Deutschburg was a teenager in 1983 when convicted of murdering Stavros Kakulas in a scuffle during a burglary at the 86-year-old man's home in Perth's seaside suburb of Scarborough.

Mr von Deutschburg, then 19, received a life sentence on the basis Mr Kakulas died of a bleeding duodenal ulcer seven days after the crime.

The ulcer was said to have been brought on by the stress of the home invasion.

Professor Marshall and his colleague Robin Warren won Nobel Prizes in 2005 for proving bacteria, rather than stress, caused stomach ulcers.

Prof Marshall told AAP he had been involved in the case from the beginning, when he had already conceived his award-winning theory, but was yet to prove it.

"There were just a couple of people on our side and everyone else just believed this traditional theory," he said.

In proving his theory, Prof Marshall acted as a human guinea pig, downing a bacterial brew that made him very ill, but gave new hope of treatment for millions of sufferers.

Once the research gained worldwide attention, Mr von Deutschburg, who spent seven years in prison before being paroled in 1990, looked to Prof Marshall's work as a way to clear him of his murder conviction.

The scientist got behind him, writing to the State Solicitor's Office saying Mr von Deutschburg could not be guilty, prompting former state attorney-general Christian Porter to refer the case to WA's Court of Appeal.

On Friday, Justices Carmel McLure, Robert Mazza and Michael Buss announced their unanimous decision, saying the basis of the conviction had been overtaken by the groundbreaking discovery by Prof Marshall and Mr Warren.

The judges said Mr Kakulas's duodenal ulcer was likely to have existed before the home invasion in June 1983.

Evidence provided by Prof Marshall, and also by PathWest Laboratory Medicine chief forensic pathologist Clive Cooke, raised enough doubt in the judges' minds to make them conclude Mr von Deutschburg should not have been convicted of murder.

"If the jury had heard Professor Marshall's and Dr Cooke's evidence, in addition to the evidence adduced at trial, it must be necessarily have entertained a doubt about the appellant's guilt," the judgment read.

"A miscarriage of justice occurred at the trial."

In his petition on behalf of Mr von Deutschburg, Prof Marshall said there was no likelihood that Mr Kakulas's injuries either worsened or contributed to the duodenal ulcer.

On Friday, Prof Marshall said the case was one for the law books.

"This is really a landmark case ... a milestone if you like," he said.

It was important for Mr von Deutschburg to clear his name, he said.

"To have a conviction at a young age ... that affects your career and your job prospects for the rest of your life.

"These things are very important and maybe you can't just be a bit irresponsible in your youth in case something does happen like that.

"It affects you for a long time."

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US sailors jailed for Okinawa rape

TWO US sailors who raped a Japanese woman in Okinawa last October were jailed on Friday for a crime that reignited long-smouldering anger against the American military in Japan.

The Naha District Court in Okinawa said Seaman Christopher Browning, 24, should go to prison for 10 years for the brutal rape of the young woman, from whom he also stole 7,000 yen ($A73).

Petty officer 3rd class Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, was jailed for nine years, also for raping the woman before dawn in a car park.

Browning and Dozierwalker, who were not stationed in Okinawa, had been drinking on the evening of the attack, and "were contemptible and violent", Judge Hideyuki Suzuki said.

"The ruling may seem severe, but the damage to the feelings of the victim and residents is more severe," he said in a statement after the case, according to Kyodo News.

During an earlier court appearance the two men had admitted the rape, which caused outrage on the sub-tropical islands and beyond, and led to a nationwide night-time curfew on all US military personnel in Japan.

Despite the curfew, misconduct involving servicemen, much of it drunken, has continued to fuel anti-US sentiment in communities with bases.

Wary of yet another public relations disaster, the US moved quickly to try to lower the temperature immediately after the rape, with ambassador John Roos holding a special news conference at which he appeared visibly angry and upset.

"The United States will cooperate in every way possible with the Japanese authorities to address this terrible situation."

"I understand the anger that many people feel with respect to this reported incident," he said. "I have a 25-year-old daughter myself, so this is very personal to me."

The attack came amid already high tensions in Okinawa, which saw demonstrations last year against the US deployment to the island of the tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft.

The aircraft's perceived poor safety record has been picked over in Japanese media and by local opponents, but commentators say it is a proxy issue and resentment over what many see as an unfair burden is at the root of objections.

Okinawa is the reluctant host to more than half of the 47,000 American service personnel in Japan, and the crimes, noise and risk of accidents associated with their bases regularly provoke ire in the local community.

In 1995 the gang rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by US servicemen sparked mass protests resulting in a US-Japan agreement to reduce the huge US military presence on the Okinawan chain.

Okinawans say other parts of Japan should take more of the burden and want bases closed or reduced in size.

But with islands stretching out from mainland Japan to Taiwan that obscure rising China's access to the Pacific, Okinawa is too strategically important for either Washington or Tokyo to be able to countenance a large-scale drawdown.

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Cardinals prepare to elect new pope

Faithful watch a giant screen showing Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter's Square on the day of his last public appearance as pontiff. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) Source: AP

CATHOLIC cardinals from around the world have begun preparing for a conclave to elect a new pope, a day after Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to resign in 700 years telling the world he would be a "pilgrim" on life's last journey.

Letters were due to be sent inviting the cardinals to take part in meetings next week that will set the date for a conclave under Michelangelo's frescos in the Sistine Chapel.

The meetings - known as "general congregations" - will also be a way of vetting possible candidates to be leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics at a difficult time for the Church.

The conclave is to start in the first half of March.

After an emotional final day as pope on Thursday, world newspapers paid tribute to the 85-year-old German pope's historic decision, which could set a precedent for ageing popes in the future.

"Farewells made with courage, humility and grace," ran a headline on an editorial in the German conservative daily Die Welt, while top-selling tabloid Bild said: "Our pope has retired."

"This is how great popes go," said Italian daily Il Messaggero, hailing the "greatness of his humility, the simple step of a pilgrim".

La Repubblica daily said the 85-year-old Benedict's troubled eight-year reign had ended abruptly "not with an apocalypse, but with the sigh or relief of a man who became man again."

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, at centre with red skull cap, officially takes over the vacant See as camerlengo, chamberlain, before sealing Pope Benedict XVI's apartment, after Benedict left the Vatican. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho) Source: AP

Benedict's final hours as pope were filled with ritual and emotion, from the pealing bells of St Peter's Basilica to the Swiss Guards who shut the giant doors of his new temporary residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome to mark the moment that Benedict was no longer pope.

The Vatican flag flying over the palace was lowered as the Swiss Guards - the papacy's military corps since the 15th century - formally completed their mission to protect the pope.

"Long live the pope!" a crowd outside chanted as a clock chimed the hour that Benedict said he would step down in an announcement earlier this month that stunned the world.

"I will no longer be pope but a simple pilgrim," the pope told supporters earlier after arriving at Castel Gandolfo from the Vatican in a helicopter that flew as the bells of St Peter's rang out.

A placard in Rome pays tribute to the papcy of Benedict XVI. AFP HOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS Source: AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended a mass in Berlin to mark the pope's last day in office and at a special mass in New York's Saint Patrick's Cathedral hundreds of worshippers paid homage.

Many ordinary Catholics hope the next pope will breathe new life into a Church hit hard by rising secularism in the West and discrimination against Christians in some developing countries.

The former pope Benedict will now be known as "Roman pontiff emeritus" - a completely new title created especially for this new situation.

He will still be addressed as "Your Holiness".

In a last tweet sent from his @pontifex Twitter account as he left the Vatican, the pope said: "Thank you for your love and support."

"May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

Benedict is only the second pope to resign in the Church's 2,000-year history, and in his final hours as pontiff he took the highly unusual step of pledging allegiance to his successor.

"Among you there is also the future pope to whom I promise my unconditional obedience and reverence," the pope said to 144 cardinals in the ornate Clementine Hall in the Vatican.

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Obama's half brother for governor

A POLITICIAN named Obama who is running for governor in Kenya can boast of one biggest claims to fame on the campaign trail: blood relations with the president of the United States.

Malik Obama - a half brother of Barack Obama - is running for governor in the country's nationwide elections on Monday.

Malik said in a phone interview Friday that he can't run away from his name and association with his brother.

He said he has the feeling people want to see who the brother of President Barak Obama is.

Evoking Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, one of Malik's campaign slogans is change.

Monday is Kenya's first nationwide election since the 2007 vote devolved into massive tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 600,000 from their homes.

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Spain's Bankia posts $A24.57bn loss

Bailed-out Spanish banking giant Bankia suffered a loss of $A24.57 billion in 2012. Source: AAP

BAILED-OUT Spanish banking giant Bankia suffered a loss of 19 billion euros ($A24.57 billion) in 2012, it said in an earnings statement.

Bankia, which has become a symbol of Spain's banking collapse, said the losses were in line with its expectations after the Spanish government nationalised it in May.

In December it received 18 billion euros in eurozone aid to restructure it.

Bankia's chairman Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri said that despite the net losses of 19.193 billion euros the bank's financial situation was in line with its aims.

"We have a very solvent balance sheet. We are a tremendously solvent and solid entity," he told a news conference.

The European Commission approved the payment of 18 billion euros to rescue Bankia, obliging it to restructure by closing branches and cutting jobs.

The bank has announced it will close a third of its branches. Unions say the restructuring will lead to 4,500 job cuts.

A long recession brought on by the collapse of a building boom in 2008 left Bankia saddled with unpaid loans.

In Thursday's earnings report BFA-Bankia, the financial group that includes the troubled lender, said it made provisions of 26.8 billion euros in 2012.

It offloaded 22.3 billion euros' worth of bad property-linked assets to a "bad bank" set up to purge the bad loans of Spain's banks. Of this figure, 19.5 billion were from Bankia.

After the government stepped in to rescue Bankia by nationalising it, Spain then had to seek a broader bailout for its whole banking sector from the eurozone.

The recession has driven Spain's unemployment rate to 26 per cent.

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Spain's recession deepens

SPAIN'S economy sank deeper into recession in the fourth quarter of last year as high unemployment and biting austerity measures prompted households to slash spending, official data showed Thursday.

The eurozone's fourth largest economy shrank by 1.4 percent on an annual basis in 2012, a slightly better performance than the decline of 1.5 percent forecast by the government.

The economy shrank 0.8 percent in the final quarter of 2012 from the previous three months, after dropping 0.3 percent in the third quarter, the national statistics institute said.

The figures were slightly bleaker than preliminary data released last month by the statistics institute which saw the economy contracting by 0.7 percent in the final quarter on a quarterly basis and by 1.37 percent for the entire year.

Spain is grappling with a double-dip recession and 26 percent unemployment, having never recovered from a real estate crash in 2008.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government forecasts the economy will return to growth in the second half of 2013.

It forecasts an economic contraction of 0.5 percent in 2013 followed by an expansion of 1.2 percent in 2014, a significantly more optimistic forecast than that of most analysts and international organisations.

Activity is being cramped by his government's programme of spending cuts and tax rises, aimed at saving 150 billion euros ($194 billion) between 2012 and 2014, which have prompted mass street protests.

The Spanish economy appeared to continue its contraction in the first quarter of 2013 due to sluggish domestic demand, the Bank of Spain said Wednesday in its latest monthly economic bulletin.

The government has vowed to lower the public deficit from the equivalent of 9.4 percent of annual gross domestic product last year to 2.8 percent in 2014.

Analysts say those targets will be hard to reach in a period of declining economic activity.

Rajoy on Wednesday announced that Spain missed the budget deficit target agreed with the European Commission as the shortfall reached 6.7 percent of GDP in 2012, compared with a target of 6.3 percent.

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Pope vows 'obedience' to successor

Pope Benedict will spend his last day as pontiff, following an emotional public farewell. Source: AAP

POPE Benedict XVI on Thursday vowed "unconditional obedience" to his successor on his historic final day as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, when he will become the first pontiff to resign since the Middle Ages.

"Among you there is also the future pope to whom I promise my unconditional obedience and reverence," the pope said as he bade farewell to cardinals in the Vatican's ornate Clementine Hall.

"Let the Lord reveal the one he has chosen," said the 85-year-old pope, wearing an ermine-lined red stole over his white cassock.

"We have experienced, with faith, beautiful moments of radiant light together, as well as times with a few clouds in the sky," Benedict said, reprising a theme from his adieu to some 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Wednesday.

The cardinals with their black cassocks and red sashes then took turns bidding farewell to the pontiff, kissing his gold papal signet ring according to time-honoured tradition.

Many doffed their berettas in a sign of deference.

Just hours remained before Benedict will make history as only the second pope to resign of his own free will in the Church's 2,000-year history.

The German pope stunned the globe when he announced on February 11 his surprise decision to step down, saying he no longer had the "strength of mind and body" to carry on in a fast-changing world.

"I took this step in full awareness of its gravity and novelty but with profound serenity," the pope said Wednesday.

The theologian pope - a shy academic who struggled with Vatican infighting and a raft of toxic sex abuse scandals - said his eight-year pontificate had seen "sunny days" and "stormy waters", but he added: "I never felt alone".

The Vatican has said that the moment the pope's powers officially expire at 1900 GMT (0600 Friday AEDT) the ex-pontiff will formally be known by the new title of "Roman Pontiff Emeritus" although he will still be addressed as "Your Holiness Benedict XVI".

The only other pope who resigned by choice was Celestine V, a humble hermit who stepped down in 1294 after just a few months in office out of disgust with Vatican corruption and intrigue.

Once Benedict takes up permanent residence in a former convent on a hill within the Vatican walls, the Church will find itself in the unprecedented situation of having a pope and his predecessor living within a stone's throw of each other.

Vatican analysts have suggested his sudden exit could set a precedent for ageing popes in the future, and many ordinary Catholics say a more youthful, pastoral figure could breathe new life into a Church struggling on many levels.

From Catholic reformers calling for women clergy and for an end to priestly celibacy, to growing secularism in the West and ongoing scandals uncovering sexual abuse by paedophile priests going back decades, the next pope will have a tough agenda.

French cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of the electors, spoke of the upcoming conclave in an interview with Italian daily Il Messaggero saying: "Our eyes will be turned on the conditions of the world, to the great challenges the Church faces."

According to Church rules, any Catholic adult male can be elected pope - but the last non-cardinal to land the top job was Urban VI in the late 14th century.

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Deadly clashes in Bangladesh

A BANGLADESH war crimes court sentenced a top Islamist opposition figure to death on Thursday, a verdict that unleashed a new wave of deadly clashes between police and protesters.

Four people were shot dead in the violence that erupted after a court in Dhaka found Delwar Hossain Sayedee, vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, guilty of eight crimes related to the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan.

Prosecutor Syed Haider Ali said Sayedee was sentenced to death by hanging after he was found guilty of eight charges including murder, arson, rape and forceful conversion of Hindus to Islam.

He is the third person to be convicted by the much-criticised domestic tribunal whose previous verdicts have also been met with outrage from Islamists who say the process is more about score settling than delivering justice.

The latest clashes brought the overall death toll to 20 since the first verdict was delivered on January 21.

Two protesters were killed in the northern town of Sirajganj and another two in Mithapukur when police opened fire during clashes with hundreds of Islamists, police officials and doctors told AFP.

"They became violent and attacked us. Police fired back," police officer Sadrul Islam of Sirajganj told AFP, adding the violence was triggered by the death penalty. "Dozens were also injured."

Emergency doctor Shariful Islam told AFP two bullet-hit people died and one was injured after clashes between police and protesters at Mithapukur.

At least five people were injured after police fired live rounds at scores of Jamaat protesters in Dhaka where round 10,000 extra police had been drafted in.

Security forces had been braced for trouble ahead of the verdict against Sayedee, who reacted to the judgment by saying it had been influenced by "atheists" and pro-government protesters who have been demanding his execution.

His lawyer Tajul Islam described the verdict as "a gross miscarriage of justice", adding that Sayedee did not live in the town where the alleged crimes took place.

"It's a case of mistaken identity. We're stunned," he told AFP.

However protesters at a central Dhaka intersection erupted in cheers as news of Sayedee's sentence filtered through. "We've been waiting for this day for the last four decades," a protester told Somoy TV.

There was no immediate reaction from Jamaat to the verdict, but the party has enforced a nationwide strike demanding a halt to the trials. The cases against eight more Jamaat leaders are still being heard.

Earlier this month the tribunal, a local court with no international oversight, sentenced Jamaat's assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla to life imprisonment.

While angering Jamaat supporters, that verdict also enraged secular protesters, tens of thousands of whom have since poured onto the Shahbag intersection in central Dhaka to demand the execution of Jamaat leaders.

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Ex-Qld premier recovering from brain op

FORMER Queensland Premier Wayne Goss is recovering well from his third brain operation, a spokesman for his family says.

Mr Goss underwent neurosurgery in 1997 and again in 2002 to remove a low-grade malignant brain tumour.

On Wednesday, the day after his 62nd birthday, he went under the knife again.

Family spokesman Russ Morgan said surgeons told them the operation had gone well and Mr Goss was now recovering at Brisbane's Mater Hospital.

The former Labor premier and his wife Roisin thanked the public for "all the messages and good wishes we have received".

Mr Goss first underwent brain surgery in September 1997 after complaining of a severe headache when he returned from a bicycle ride.

He was operated on within days and made a full recovery, leaving politics and takingup a job as managing partner at accounting firm Deloitte.

Mr Goss was first elected to state parliament in 1983 and served as premier from 1989 to 1996.

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Cyclone Rusty already battering WA coast

Red alerts have been issued in WA as tropical cyclone Rusty intensifies to a category four. Source: AAP

EMERGENCY services expect significant flooding as Tropical Cyclone Rusty makes its way inland from Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

The eye of the massive storm hit land just before 3pm (WST) on Wednesday, more than 30 hours after the northwest coastline was placed on red alert and residents told to take shelter and stay inside.

Pardoo station, about 120km east of Port Hedland, was the first to feel the force of Rusty.

Port Hedland, which was initially expected to bear the brunt of the storm, appeared to have come off relatively unscathed, after the cyclone took a last minute turn before making landfall.

On Wednesday evening, communities between Pardoo and Whim Creek, including Port Hedland and South Hedland, remained on red alert and were advised to remain in shelter.

People in adjacent inland areas, including Marble Bar, were warned to go to shelter immediately as the cyclone headed their way, threatening 125km/h wind gusts early on Thursday.

Rusty will gradually weaken as it moves inland, but wind gusts of more than 165km/h are expected near the eye of the cyclone on Wednesday night, when the threat of a dangerous storm tide remains for the coast between De Grey and Wallal.

Flooding is expected in the De Grey catchment, and possibly in the Fortescue catchment and in Pilbara coastal streams, on Thursday.

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Pope bids farewell to huge crowds

POPE Benedict XVI basked in an emotional send off at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.

He also thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire.

Tens of thousands of people toting banners saying "Grazie!" - "Thank you" - jammed the piazza in Rome to bid Benedict farewell and join the appointment he has kept each week for eight years to teach the world about the Catholic faith.

Benedict clearly enjoyed the crowds, taking a long victory lap around the square in an open-sided car and stopping to kiss and bless half a dozen children handed to him by his secretary.

In keeping with the historic moment, Benedict changed course and didn't produce his typical professorial Wednesday catechism lesson.

Rather, he made his final public appearance in St. Peter's a personal one, explaining once again why he was becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign and urging the faithful to pray for his successor.

"To love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself," Benedict said to thundering applause.

He recalled that when he was elected pope on April 19, 2005, he questioned if God truly wanted it. "'It's a great burden that you've placed on my shoulders,"' he recalled telling God.

During eight years, he said "I have had moments of joy and light, but also moments that haven't been easy ... moments of turbulent seas and rough winds."

But he said he never felt alone and thanked his cardinals and colleagues for their guidance and for "understanding and respecting this important decision."

Under a bright sun and blue skies, the square was overflowing with pilgrims and curiosity-seekers.

Those who couldn't get in picked spots along the main boulevard leading to the square to watch the event on giant TV screens. Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.

"It's difficult - the emotion is so big," said Jan Marie, a 53-year-old Roman in his first years as a seminarian.

"We came to support the pope's decision."

With chants of "Benedetto!" erupting every so often, the mood was far more buoyant than during the pope's final Sunday blessing.

It recalled the jubilant turnouts that often accompanied him at World Youth Days and events involving his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Benedict has said he decided to retire after realising that, at 85, he simply didn't have the "strength of mind or body" to carry on. He will meet Thursday morning with cardinals for a final time, then fly by helicopter to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.

There, at 8 pm, the doors of the palazzo will close and the Swiss Guards in attendance will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church over - for now.

Many of the cardinals who will choose Benedict's successor were in St. Peter's Square for his final audience. Those included retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, the object of a grass-roots campaign in the US to persuade him to recuse himself for having covered up for sexually abusive priests. Mahony has said he will be among the 115 cardinals voting on who the next pope should be.

Vatican officials say cardinals will begin meeting Monday to decide when to set the date for the conclave to elect the next pope.

But the rank-and-file faithful in the crowd Wednesday weren't so concerned with the future; they wanted to savour the final moments with the pope they have known for eight years.

"I came to thank him for the testimony that he has given the church," said Maria Cristina Chiarini, a 52-year-old homemaker who travelled by train early Wednesday from Lugo in central Italy with some 60 members of her parish.

"There's nostalgia, human nostalgia, but also comfort, because as a Christian we have hope. The Lord won't leave us without a guide."

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Taliban kill 16 at Afghan checkpoint

Six people have been wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a Afghan military bus in Kabul. Source: AAP

THE Taliban killed at least 16 people at an Afghan police checkpoint and bombed an army bus in Kabul, highlighting a growing trend of strikes on Afghan rather than NATO targets.

Details of the pre-dawn attack on an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in the eastern province of Ghazni were murky. Officials said they were investigating how the militants breached security at the post.

ALP national commander General Alishah Ahmadzai said 10 policemen and "five or six local villagers" who took part in an uprising against the Taliban in the Andar district of Ghazni had been killed.

"Initial information shows they were first poisoned and then shot, but we have to wait for the final report of our investigative team," he said.

Two other provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 16 died in the attack and all were policemen.

The same officials said the Taliban poisoned the men before shooting them and seizing their weapons.

Provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada gave a death toll of 17 including seven civilians and said a team had been sent to investigate the incident.

A spokesman for the Taliban, who are leading an 11-year fight against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, claimed responsibility for the Ghazni killings and the suicide attack in Kabul.

The bomber struck the army bus on foot on a main road at around 7:10am (1340 AEDT), said Kabul police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.

He said six members of the defence ministry and four civilians were wounded, with most of the civilian injuries caused by shattered glass.

A witness told the TOLO television channel that the bomber was carrying an umbrella to shield himself from snow.

"I was standing across the street when I saw a man holding an umbrella approach the army bus. He then slid under the bus. I thought he was the driver, but moments later the explosion happened," he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that 17 personnel were killed and 17 seriously injured. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the tolls from attacks they claim.

Western officials say insurgents are shifting their strategy away from focusing on the US-led NATO combat mission, which is due to withdraw next year, to targeting Afghan forces preparing to take over.

Among 10 attacks recorded by AFP in Afghanistan so far this year, only one of them targeted NATO troops, on January 25 in the troubled eastern province of Kapisa. Five civilians were killed in that attack.

All others have targeted tribal elders, police or Afghan intelligence agents.

"Since the start of the year, the objective has mainly been Afghans, even if NATO remains a target," a Western security official told AFP.

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Offers exchanged at Iran nuclear talks

WORLD powers will present Iran with an updated and "good" offer at talks this week on its nuclear program, an EU official says, although hopes for a breakthrough are slim.

Talks aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear drive start in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, with the so-called 5+1 world powers represented by the European Union sitting down with an Iranian team led by its top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

"We have prepared a good and updated offer for the talks, which we believe is balanced and a fair basis for constructive talks," said the spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"The offer addresses international concerns ... on the nature of the Iranian nuclear program, but is also responsive to Iranian ideas," said the spokesman, Michael Mann.

"We hope that Iran will seize this opportunity and come to the talks with flexibility and commitment to make concrete progress towards a confidence-building step."

A source close to the negotiations said the offer would still insist that Iran halts enriching uranium to 20 per cent, shuts down its controversial Fordo uranium enrichment plant and sends abroad all uranium already enriched to 20 per cent.

"This still forms the basis of the demands of the 5+1 group," said the source who asked not to be identified.

Another Western source said the powers could discuss lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for specific concessions, although the source provided no further details.

Earlier reports said the powers could consider easing sanctions on Iran's gold and precious metals trade.

Jalili said at the weekend Tehran would not go beyond its obligations or accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty.

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HK court hears maid residency case

HONG Kong's top court has begun a hearing to decide whether the hundreds of thousands of domestic workers who make a living in the Asian financial hub are eligible to seek residency.

The case, brought by Filipina maid Evangeline Banao Vallejos, could also reopen the controversial issue of whether children born in Hong Kong to mainland Chinese parents have the right to stay.

Vallejos won a High Court ruling in 2011 granting her the right to request permanent residency status, denied to foreign maids until then.

The government appealed against that ruling last March, successfully arguing the authorities had discretionary power to decide who was eligible for residency and that restrictions on maids were not unconstitutional or discriminatory.

Hong Kong's 300,000 foreign maids receive a minimum wage of HK$3920 ($A493.24) a month and benefits such as one guaranteed day off a week, but rights groups say they face discrimination and a lack of legal protection from abusive employers.

Campaigners argue they should not be treated any differently from other foreigners who flock to the former British colony to seek professional work and who are eligible to apply for permanent residency after seven years.

"If you have a purpose that is regular and your presence is lawful and your presence is here for seven years continuously ... and there has been no discontinuity, you would expect to succeed," Vallejos' lawyer Michael Fordham said in court.

The hearing in the Court of Final Appeal is expected to last up to three days but a decision may not be handed down for some time.

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Kindy-aged boy killed in crash

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy died after the car he was in veered off the road and crashed southeast of Brisbane, police say.

The car left Mount Cotton Road and plunged down an embankment about 4.15pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

The boy died at the scene but the 45-year-old man driving escaped serious injury. He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Police could not confirm if he was the boy's father.

They were the only people in the car.

Queensland Police said their Forensic Crash Unit was investigating.

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Greens fear for environment under Abbott

A FEDERAL government led by Tony Abbott would allow premiers like Campbell Newman free reign to trample on environmental protection laws, the Greens are warning.

Senator Larissa Waters on Tuesday said Mr Newman was planning to reopen native forest logging in southeast Queensland by tearing up an agreement that had protected the trees for nearly 15 years.

A landmark agreement signed between loggers and environment groups in 1999 outlined plans for the industry to transition from one reliant on native forests to one sourcing timbers from plantations.

Under the Southeast Queensland Forest Agreement, there was to be a 25-year transition phase so by 2025 there would be no logging in protected native forests.

But a leaked letter obtained by the Greens shows Queensland's forestry minister John McVeigh has decided to approve logging in areas of state forests previously excluded from harvesting.

The letter, dated January 16 and sent from Queensland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry also shows the minister approved logging in areas covered by the 1999 agreement.

Senator Waters said the Newman government was determined to "decimate" every effort by previous Labor governments in Queensland to protect the environment.

She said a federal coalition government under Mr Abbott would allow their colleagues in the states to run roughshod over environmental protection laws at the behest of industry.

"That's a real kind of a taste of what an Abbott government would be like," she told AAP on Tuesday.

"Clearly if we had an Abbott prime ministership there'd be no check on Campbell Newman's vandalism."

In a statement, Mr McVeigh said the areas being reopened were not world-heritage-listed forests and had been sustainably harvested for a century before Labor "locked up" the industry.

"It's extremely disappointing, but no surprise that the Greens are trying to make political mileage of our long-term, forest management strategy," he said.

The decision to shut out well-managed local timber operators had seen an influx of imports from Asian rainforests, many of which weren't felled sustainably, he added.

Senator Waters called on federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to intervene, claiming any native logging in Queensland would need his approval now the forestry agreement appeared to be in tatters.

Queensland's government already raised the ire of the Greens this week when it flagged plans to allow mining and irrigation on rivers that feed channels in outback Queensland and the Lake Eyre Basin.

Senator Waters said Mr Burke had known the Queensland government might repeal the wild river laws for a year, but had so far failed to act.

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Body in water at Melbourne's Docklands

POLICE have recovered the body of a young man from the water in Melbourne's Docklands district.

Police said a report was received at about 5pm (AEDT) on Monday that a man had jumped into the water near Harbour Esplanade but had failed to surface.

Officers including Water Police and divers from the search and rescue squad conducted a search for the man whose body was found near Central Pier at around 6.40pm.

The man is yet to be identified but is believed to be aged in his late teens or early 20s.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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4bn mobile subscribers tipped by 2018

THE $US1.0 trillion ($A974.99 billion) global mobile industry has predicted a boom in subscribers to four billion people by 2018 as the world's largest mobile fair opened in Barcelona.

Already 3.2 billion people pay for mobile services, nearly half of the world's population, said a study by A. T Kearney and GSMA, which represents 750 mobile operators and organises the vast, four-day annual Mobile World Congress.

The report forecast that a further 700 million subscribers would be added by 2017 and the four billion-subscriber mark would be hit in 2018.

Revenues for mobile operators alone amounted $US1.0 trillion, or 1.4 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, in 2012, the report said.

Most of the growth was in the Asia Pacific region, where operators were forecast to raise revenue by 4.0 per cent a year up to 2017, adding $80 billion, or 23 per cent, to their revenue of $350 billion, the report said.

But Africa showed the fastest growth, and mobile operators there were predicted to boost revenue by 25 per cent over the 2012 to 2017 period to 70 billion dollars.

Worldwide, the growth in mobile operators' revenues was expected to slow, however, from a 4.0-per cent annual expansion from 2008 to 2012 to an annual pace of 2.3 per cent in the period up to 2017.

"One of the reasons for the slowdown is the decline of revenues in Europe," the report said, blaming "heavy regulation" of mobile prices, and impact of the eurozone economic crisis for an estimated fall in revenue from $248 billion to $216 billion from 2008 to 2012.

"The mobile operator market in Europe is expected to decrease further by 2.0 per cent a year to 2017 due to competition and regulation. This trend, together with the growth in traffic, show the increasing value to consumers, who are using mobile services more while spending less," it said.

New lightning fast fourth-generation mobile networks, which promise download speeds as quick as the best fixed broadband connections, could boost revenues, it said, pointing to higher prices being commanded for 4G in North America, Scandinavia, South Korea and Japan.

"In Europe it is still too early to judge consumer reaction to the new services but it is certainly true that operators are positioning 4G as a premium service," the report said.

The use of mobile phones was exploding, the GSMA report said.

"At the end of 2012, there were 6.8 billion mobile connections worldwide, a figure expected to grow to 9.7 billion by the end of 2017," the report said.

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DeGeneres plans to film outside in Oz

US TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres says she plans to tape a lot of segments outside during her upcoming trip to Australia.

DeGeneres is bringing her top-rating show here next month, and will shoot scenes in Sydney and Melbourne, to air in the US in April.

"I can't wait to run around the city and I'm going to find fun things to do and tape pieces outside," she told Tracy Grimshaw in an interview on A Current Affair.

"We're going to show off that beautiful country. I've been looking forward to going to Australia my whole life and I can't believe I haven't been there."

DeGeneres is married to Australian actress Portia de Rossi.

"I'm from New Orleans and she's always talked about how similar New Orleans and Melbourne are.

"She's told me about one pub she used to go to all the time so she wants me to go to this pub she loves."

DeGeneres joked she would reveal the name of the pub after she had left.

She also spoke about the setback to her career after she revealed her lesbian sexual orientation back in late 1997.

"I think there are a lot of people who still don't get it, and are still very scared of it and fearful and that's a shame," she said.

But whether some people get it or not, she has clawed her way back at the top of her profession, although it took a long time.

She says she deliberately stays away from mean-spirited humour, especially after experiencing the reality of almost losing her career.

"I don't ever want anyone to get hurt by what I'm saying," she said.

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Hackers air Sri Lanka 'war crimes' video

HACKERS have attacked Sri Lanka's media ministry by placing a documentary about alleged war crimes during the island's ethnic conflict on its website, says an official.

The hackers identifying themselves as "H4x0r HuSsY" uploaded a link to an Australian Broadcasting Corp report on atrocities during the final stages of Sri Lanka's battle against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

"Stop Killing Innocent Tamil Ppl! Or Get prepared 4 Attacks From Us!" read a message left on the website, media.gov.lk.

An official in the Mass Media and Information Ministry said the website had been "reclaimed" on Monday morning.

"The hackers exploited a loophole over the weekend, but we have plugged it now," the official said on condition of anonymity,

The media ministry is known to carry out unofficial censorship of news sites deemed to be anti-government by pressuring local Internet service providers to block their content.

The Sri Lanka government is braced for more criticism of its human rights record during its war against Tamil separatists at the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The United States has given notice of a new resolution against the island which is set to be voted on during the latest session of the council.

Rights groups say up to 40,000 civilians were killed by security forces in the final months of a no-holds-barred offensive that ended in May 2009.

Sri Lanka denies causing any civilian deaths and has refused to allow an independent international probe.

Comment is being sought from Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr.

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Syria missile strikes in Aleppo kill 58

THREE surface-to-surface missiles fired by Syrian regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo have left 58 people dead, among them 36 children, a watchdog said on Sunday, updating an earlier toll.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revised its toll upwards after more bodies of women and children were removed from the rubble in Aleppo's Tariq al-Bab district, which was struck by the powerful missiles on Friday.

Activists say the missiles were fired from army base 155 near Damascus, though their reports could not be independently verified.

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'Sex stimulant' found in Pistorius home

A SUBSTANCE found in star athlete Oscar Pistorius' home during a search by police investigating the killing of his girlfriend is a herbal sexual stimulant, a South African newspaper reported.

The prosecution said during Pistorius' bail hearing last week that police had found two boxes of "testosterone" and needles in his Pretoria home, but the defence countered that it was a legal herbal remedy known as testocompasutium coenzyme.

The City Press newspaper said on Sunday the remedy was a combination of vitamins, herbal cures partly derived from animal organs.

Sports physician Jon Patricios told the paper the product is used to boost sexual energy, but that athletes are not advised to use it since it may increase their testosterone levels.

"This is not an anabolic steroid and it is unlikely it will lead to irrational anger," he said.

The National Prosecuting Authority has said it was awaiting the results of forensic tests to determine what the product is.

"Blade Runner" Pistorius, 26, an Olympic and Paralymic hero, was freed on bail on Friday ahead of a trial on a murder charge over the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The International Paralympic Committee said the double amputee was tested twice during the London Paralympics in 2012 and tested negative.

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Darfur tribal fighting hampers aid: UN

THE UN expressed deep concern over the latest deadly tribal violence in Sudan's Darfur region, which has hampered assistance for tens of thousands of people forced to flee earlier fighting.

Residents in El Sireaf town said an Arab militia firing heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades burned houses and killed more than 50 people on Saturday.

"They came on Land Cruisers, used Dushkas and they burned 30 houses (and killed) 53 people," said one resident of the town, to which most of the 100,000 people displaced or severely affected by the earlier tribal fighting had fled.

Damian Rance of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Sunday said: "We are deeply concerned by the violence".

"It's affected our ability to run a humanitarian operation."

About 100,000 people had already been displaced or severely affected by battles since early January between the Rezeigat tribe and rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group in the Jebel Amir gold mining area of North Darfur state.

People were displaced across a wide area but most ended up in El Sireaf town, where Saturday's fighting occurred.

Aid convoys are still moving in the surrounding area but "we don't have access to El Sireaf town" because of the fighting, Rance said.

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Pistorius brother charged over fatal crash

THE older brother of South African star athlete Oscar Pistorius, himself accused of murdering his girlfriend, has been charged with culpable homicide over a car accident in 2010, local media report.

Carl Pistorius, 28, allegedly killed a female motorcyclist while driving outside Johannesburg, the eNews Africa television channel reported, citing his lawyer Kenny Oldwage.

His trial had been due to start last Thursday, a day before his famous brother, an Olympic and Paralympic hero, was granted bail on a charge of premeditated murder over the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

But Carl Pistorius' trial was pushed back a month, although the specific date is not known.

He had no alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident, according to tests then, the television channel reported.

The family's public relations managers said they would issue a statement later on Sunday.

Oscar Pistorius, the 26-year-old double amputee athlete known as "Blade Runner", was released on one million rand ($A110,656) bail on Friday.

He is due back in court on June 4.

He says the shooting of his 29-year-old girlfriend, a law graduate and cover girl who he had been dating since late last year, was an accident and that he mistook her for a burglar.

Carl Pistorius was a constant presence in court last week to support his brother during the four-day bail hearing in Pretoria, along with his sister Aimee and father Henke.

When Oscar broke down crying in the dock, Carl would lean forward and put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Relatives of the slain model have lashed out at the Pistorius family, with her uncle Michael criticising them for failing to contact the Steenkamp family after the shooting.

"They have not offered their condolences, nor made a simple phone call to us," he told the City Press newspaper on Sunday, although the Pistorius family did send a bouquet of flowers and a card.

Meanwhile, City Press said a substance found in Pistorius' luxury Pretoria home during a police search was a herbal sexual stimulant that can be sold without prescription.

The prosecution had said during Pistorius' bail hearing that police had found two boxes of "testosterone" and needles in his Pretoria home, but the defence countered that it was a legal herbal remedy known as testocompasutium coenzyme.

City Press said the remedy was a combination of vitamins, herbal cures partly derived from animal organs.

Sports physician Jon Patricios told the paper the product is used to boost sexual energy, but that athletes are not advised to use it since it may increase their testosterone levels.

"This is not an anabolic steroid and it is unlikely it will lead to irrational anger," he said.

The National Prosecuting Authority has said it was awaiting the results of forensic tests to determine what the product is.

The International Paralympic Committee said the athlete - who became a hero as the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics last year - was tested twice during the London Paralympics in 2012 and tested negative.

South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper also said a new investigation team had visited Pistorius' house on Friday and would investigate his apparent links with a network that used recreational drugs.

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