Body found as Tibet mine disaster kills 83

Eighty-three workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet. Source: AAP

RESCUE teams have found the first body almost 36 hours after a giant landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers.

Xinhua news agency said rescuers "found the first body at 5.35 pm (8.35pm AEDT)", after two million cubic metres of earth buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, at 6 am on Friday.

The report came after officials said at a press conference Saturday that no survivors or bodies had been found.

About 2,000 rescuers battled difficult terrain in the hunt for survivors after a vast three-kilometre-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic metres, crashed down a slope, covering the miners' camp.

The rescuers braved bad weather as an emergency response team attempted to prevent a secondary disaster.

One rescue worker had earlier described the chance of survivors being found as "slim", Xinhua reported.

China's new president Xi Jinping and new premier Li Keqiang had ordered "top efforts" to rescue the victims, Xinhua said.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

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US hands over troubled area to Afghans

US special operations forces have handed over their base in eastern Afghanistan. Source: AAP

US special operations forces handed over their base in a strategic region of eastern Afghanistan to local Afghan commandos on Saturday, a senior US commander said.

The withdrawal from Nirkh district meets a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that US forces leave the area after allegations that the Americans' Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there.

"We're coming out of Nirkh," said Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, the top US special operations commander in Afghanistan.

Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Wardak province outside Kabul in which Nirkh is located, confirmed that US special operations forces withdrew and were replaced by a joint Afghan security forces team.

The transfer of authority ends a controversial chapter in which Karzai accused US troops and an interpreter working with them of torture, kidnapping and summary execution of militant suspects in Nirkh - charges US officials including top commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford firmly denied.

The incident shows the larger struggle of Karzai's government to assert its authority over security matters, even as its green security forces try to assume control of much of the country from coalition forces on a rushed timeline, ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most of coalition forces by December 2014.

Karzai had originally demanded the US special operations forces pull out from the entire province, a gateway and staging area for Taliban and other militants for attacks on the capital Kabul.

But he scaled down his demands to just the single district after negotiations with Dunford and other US officials.

"President Karzai was specific, it's only for Nirkh, that was a provocative point," Thomas said.

"American special operations forces are integral in the defence of Wardak from now until the foreseeable future."

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Two A380s to fly over Sydney Harbour

TWO Airbus A380s will fly in formation over Sydney Harbour on Sunday to mark the start of a partnership between airline carriers Qantas and Emirates.

A Qantas A380 and Emirates A380 will start flying north of Longreef, turn around into Sydney Harbour and pass over the Sydney Opera House before flying in tandem over the bridge at 1500 feet around 10.30am (AEDT) on Sunday, Qantas said in a statement.

The airline said it's believed to be the first time two commercial airline A380s have flown in formation.

"Qantas and Emirates have worked extremely close together to make this possible," Qantas chief pilot Philip Green said.

"Pilots from both airlines have conducted dozens of special simulator training sessions since January this year".

The flyover marks the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's approval of a Qantas and Emirates partnership earlier this week, which allowed both airlines to combine operations for an initial period of five years.

Under the alliance, Qantas will use Dubai, rather than Singapore, as the carrier's stopover point for its flights to London.

The flyover manoeuvre on Sunday has been approved by safety regulators in both Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

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Teen to face court over fatal Easter crash

A girl will face court after a fatal crash north of Adelaide which killed a 17-year-old boy. Source: AAP

A 17-YEAR-OLD South Australian girl will face court over causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash that killed another teenager.

Police say a 17-year-old boy died after a car carrying five passengers crashed just before midnight on Friday near Balaklava, north of Adelaide.

The girl, from Balaklava, will appear in Youth Court over causing death by dangerous driving and driving unlicensed.

The other passengers in the car, all teenage girls aged between 14 and 17 years, received non-life threatening injuries.

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North Korea puts rockets on standby

North Korea's leader has ordered preparations for strategic rocket strikes on the US mainland. Source: AAP

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

The order came after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula, said Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's bellicose threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

Kim directed his rocket units on standby at an overnight emergency meeting with top army commanders, hours after nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in ongoing US joint military drills with South Korea.

In the event of any "reckless" US provocation, North Korean forces should "mercilessly strike the US mainland... military bases in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea", he was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

While North Korea has no proven ability to conduct such strikes, Kim said: "The time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists."

The youthful leader argued that the stealth bomber flights went beyond a simple demonstration of force and amounted to a US "ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost".

A South Korean military official quoted by Yonhap news agency said a "sharp increase" in personnel and vehicle movement had been detected at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites.

The defence ministry declined to confirm the report, saying only that all strategic sites in the North were under intense South Korean and US surveillance.

The B-2 flights, which followed training runs by B-52 bombers, were part of annual drills between the United States and South Korea, which North Korea each year denounces as rehearsals for war.

Pyongyang has been particularly vocal this time, angered by UN sanctions imposed after its long-range rocket launch in December and the third nuclear test it carried out last month.

Kim's order formalised steps already taken by the Korean People's Army (KPA), which put its strategic rocket units at combat-ready status on Tuesday. The following day it cut the last remaining military hotline with South Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians held a huge rally and march in Pyongyang on Friday, in support of a possible military strike against the United States.

State television said the rally took place to support the decision to put the country's strategic rocket units on a war footing.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and biggest trading partner, appealed for calm and said "joint efforts" were needed from all parties to prevent the situation deteriorating further.

The bulk of the threats emanating from Pyongyang have been dismissed as bluster. North Korea has no confirmed missile capability to reach the US mainland - or indeed Guam or Hawaii in the Pacific.

But Washington has opted to match the threats with its own muscle-flexing.

"We will be prepared - we have to be prepared - to deal with any eventuality," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that," Hagel said.

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Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistan

A suicide bomber has targeted a senior Pakistani police commander in Peshawar, killing six people. Source: AAP

A SUICIDE bomber on Friday targeted a senior Pakistani police commander, killing 12 people, including two women, near the US consulate in Peshawar, officials said.

It was the latest in a string of attacks as the country prepares to hold historic elections on May 11. The vote will mark the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan, which has been governed by four military rulers.

A security official said Abdul Majeed Marwat, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, survived the attack and was taken to a military hospital with "only scratches".

Around 28 other people were wounded in the blast, medics said.

"It was a suicide attack, the target was the FC commander," police official Arshad Khan told AFP.

Witnesses said the bomber was on foot and struck when the convoy of the police chief stopped at a military checkpost in the busy cantonment area of Peshawar.

The checkpost is about 300 metres from the heavily guarded American consulate, which has itself been the target of attacks in the past, an AFP reporter said.

"We have received six dead bodies, including two women," Sayed Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital, told AFP.

He later confirmed that two of the injured died in hospital.

"They were in serious condition in the neurosurgery ward," he said.

Another four bodies and 17 other wounded were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, a senior security official told AFP.

Among the dead were two soldiers and one member of the FC, while the wounded were a mixture of civilians and military personnel, officials said.

The blast damaged two motorcycles and four cars, including Marwat's vehicle. Splashes of blood lay on the ground and an AFP reporter saw a pair of legs, presumed to be that of the bomber.

Umar Din, 21, a rickshaw driver, said the force of the explosion flipped his rickshaw onto the ground.

"I came out and saw my passenger bleeding," he told AFP. "I picked up the passenger on my shoulder and ran to a safer place, it was horrible, people were bleeding and crying," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistani police, soldiers and paramilitary units are frequently targeted by domestic Taliban, who have been fighting an insurgency since July 2007.

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Bosnian Serb gets 45yrs for war crimes

VESELIN Vlahovic, a former Bosnian Serb paramilitary dubbed the "Monster of Grbavica", was jailed Friday for 45 years for inflicting a reign of terror on Sarajevo civilians during the 1992-95 war.

"During systematic repression against the non-Serb population he participated in expulsion of his victims, he committed murders, he tortured, raped and imprisoned his victims," judge Zoran Bozic said at the sentencing in a packed Sarajevo courtroom.

The sentence against Vlahovic, a Montenegrin, is the most severe delivered for war crimes by a Bosnian court.

Dressed in light blue shirt, Vlahovic, 43, showed no reaction when the verdict was read out, drawing applause from members of victims' associations in the heavily guarded courtroom.

Vlahovic, sentenced on all 60 counts in his indictment, committed the crimes between May and July 1992, in three Sarajevo neighbourhoods controlled by Serb forces during the war -- Grbavica, Kovacici and Vraca.

"He killed 31 people, took 14 people who have still been considered missing, raped 13 women," prosecutor Behaija Krnjic said in a closing statement, having said earlier in the trial that Vlahovic's "name was the synonym for evil".

Vlahovic, who had pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in April 2011, was charged with the "executions, enslavement, rape, physical and psychological torture" of Muslim and Croat civilians, as well as looting, according to the indictment.

Calling for Vlahovic to be jailed for 45 years, Krnjic said: "Such a sentence would be the most just, but even that one will still be insufficient to heal the suffering of the victims."

A total of 112 prosecution witnesses were heard at the trial, including a number of women who testified behind closed doors to having been raped by Vlahovic, according to Krnjic.

"Vlahovic was not even bothered with the fact that one of his victims was highly pregnant at the time of the rape," the prosecutor said.

During the trial Vlahovic insulted a witness, a local journalist who reported on his crimes during the war. He also sent an intimidating letter to the family of a victim, the prosecution said.

The case concerned some of the "cruelest war crimes committed during the war, including torture, rapes and executions committed before the eyes of family members of the victims," it said.

Vlahovic was arrested in March 2010 as a suspect in a number of burglaries in the Spanish town of Altea where he was living under a fake Bulgarian identity. He was extradited to Bosnia in August that year.

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Swiss sommelier is top world wine waiter

THE world's best wine waiter was crowned in Japan on Friday, at the culmination of a three-day competition attracting entrants from around the globe.

Paolo Basso, from Switzerland, was hoisted into the air as judges in Tokyo awarded him first place in a ceremony in front of several thousand spectators that was carried live on Japanese national television.

"Thank you very much to everybody, it is a very important moment for me," he said after receiving the gold medal and hugs from rival sommeliers.

"I would like to thank first of all my family, because they allowed me the time for the hard training that I am still doing for several years," he said in English.

Basso, who works at Conca Balla in Vacallo, on the Swiss-Italian border, beat off competition from fellow finalists Belgian Aristide Spies and Canadian Vronique Rivest.

The 47-year-old takes the title previously held by Gerard Basset, who won the 2010 competition in Chile competing for Britain.

Entrants from 54 countries had been tested over three days of events designed to measure their skills marrying wines to foods and serving demanding customers.

All of them had to work in a foreign language.

Contestants from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden were among those participating in the event, which has been held 14 times since it started in 1969.

"A good sommelier not only has to have good knowledge of wine, but he also needs to be able to put customers at ease and know what to do to let them enjoy the food," explained Serge Dubs, chairman of the jury and a former champion, ahead of the competition.

"A sommelier has to be a very good communicator, he has to know what his clients want and how to make them remember their experience at the restaurant," former champion Basset told AFP on Tuesday.

"The sommelier should also be a good cellar manager and act as an ambassador for producers, constituting a kind of link between the growers and consumers," he said.

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Fire threat on Kangaroo Island lessens

THE threat from a bushfire burning on South Australia's Kangaroo Island has subsided.

The fire was burning towards the town of Penneshaw on Thursday afternoon and came close to a winery, but caused no damage to property.

While the 200 hectare fire is not yet contained, the threat from it has now subsided, says the CFS.

Crews will remain on scene throughout the night.

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SAfrica court clears Pistorius for travel

Oscar Pistorius' older brother pleaded not guilty to the culpable homicide of a female motorcyclist. Source: AAP

A SOUTH African court has cleared Oscar Pistorius for international travel after the Paralympian sprint star, charged with murdering his girlfriend, challenged his stringent bail terms.

Pistorius, 26, had appealed against a raft of conditions including the confiscation of his passport that he said were unfair and unwarranted.

"I find that the magistrate's decision not to grant the appellant his passport to travel abroad was wrong," Judge Bert Bam told the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.

The double amputee - who faces trial later this year over the Valentine's Day killing of his model girlfriend Reena Steenkamp - was not in court for the appeal, which was opposed by the state.

The judge also ruled that Pistorius could return to his upmarket Pretoria home where Steenkamp was shot dead in the early hours of February 14.

He claims he mistook her for an intruder - although the state maintains that the shooting was premeditated murder.

"Why would this athlete go to a country without extradition and go and hide?" lawyer Barry Roux had told the court, saying the bail terms were tantamount to "house arrest" and that Pistorius needed to take part in races abroad to earn a living.

Earlier this month his lawyers argued that the bail conditions treat Pistorius as a flight risk.

The "Blade Runner", who last year became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, has cancelled upcoming competitions and has not restarted training, according to his agent Peet Van Zyl.

But Roux said Pistorius wanted to be able to go abroad under controlled circumstances to earn money.

"It is not as if the appellant is travelling for holiday in Mauritius; it's only to gain an income, there's no other reason," Roux said.

After being freed on bail of one million rand ($A104,000) last month, the sprint star was ordered to surrender his passport and told to inform a corrections officer if he wanted to travel outside Pretoria.

The defence lawyers had also objected to the random mandatory alcohol and drug tests that are part of the bail conditions.

"Of course he was emotional, but does that mean because he is emotional you put him on probational supervision? There's no causal link," Roux said.

His next court appearance is scheduled for June 4, but the prosecution said they were not sure trial would start on that date.

Thursday's hearing came a day after Pistorius's older brother Carl pleaded not guilty to culpable homicide and reckless driving over a 2008 road accident in which a woman motorcyclist was killed.

The Johannesburg court dismissed a bid by public broadcaster SABC to be allowed to provide live coverage of the proceedings involving Carl Pistorius, 28, saying the two brothers' cases were unrelated and should not be allowed to influence each other.

"This trial pertains to Mr Carl Pistorius, not Mr Oscar Pistorius. This is what we are dealing with here," magistrate Buks du Plessis said.

"These proceedings must not be used or have an influence on any later proceeding against this accused's brother."

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Cypriots calm as banks re-open

PATIENT Cypriots formed orderly queues and waited in the sun for their banks to reopen after nearly two cash-starved weeks, but many expressed anger at the island's European partners.

Despite fears of a bank run that led the island to impose harsh capital controls, some Cypriots were even depositing money instead of withdrawing it following the closure of the banks on March 16.

Even when some branches opened some 20 minutes after the scheduled time of 1000 GMT (2100 AEDT) the situation stayed calm, in the presence of packs of foreign journalists who in some cases outnumbered the Cypriots themselves.

Kyriakos Vourghouri, owner of a minimarket, waved a deposit slip showing an amount of 678 euros ($A835.70) as he emerged from the bank.

"I didn't withdraw any money. I deposited money," he told AFP.

"The problem is not in Cyprus, it is in Europe, which has become gangrenous."

Dozens of people queued outside the banks in Nicosia for about an hour before the opening time, which was finally announced late Wednesday after repeated delays while Cypriot authorities tried to avert financial meltdown.

Banks posted armed guards outside many branches while tellers, who unlike in other European countries are not housed behind glass security, urged customers not to vent their frustrations on them.

Guards dished out Greek-language copies of a decree issued by Finance Minister Michalis Sarris, which imposes limits on how much of their capital they can touch, including a daily 300 euro withdrawal limit.

The calm after the storm defied the sombre predictions of one Cypriot queuing outside a branch of Laiki, or Popular bank, which will be wound up as part of the bailout deal Cyprus negotiated with its creditors.

"It will be a very bad day - there will be swearing and a lot of anger," Philippos Philippou, an unemployed electrician wearing a purple sweatshirt, said outside Laiki in Nicosia's Makarios Street.

About 12 people were queuing up outside the branch while witnesses saw queues of at least 25 people at other banks in the city.

A bearded man, wearing a blue sweatshirt, who would not give his name, said: "I will take all my money slowly, slowly."

He said he believed the panic would last a week or two. "After that things will return to normal, but with less money."

Depositors face severe restrictions to prevent a run on the banks that could wreak havoc on the island's already fragile economy.

Some Cypriots said there was no point in queuing when the amounts involved were so small.

"I'm not going to the bank today. I have to be in the shop these hours. There's going to be queues so I'm not going to spend so many hours there to get 300 euros," said Roula Spyrou, 50, a jewellery shop owner.

Under a deal agreed in Brussels on Monday, Cyprus must raise 5.8 billion euros to qualify for a 10 billion euro bailout from the "troika" of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Depositors with more than 100,000 euros in the top two banks - Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and Laiki - face losing a large chunk of their money. Laiki will be wrapped up and largely absorbed by the larger BoC.

Many customers were angry with the EU - and particularly its economic powerhouse Germany.

"It's not the European Union, it's a German union to destroy us, everyone wants to destroy Cyprus," said Giorgiano, a kiosk owner.

"It's the first time I feel like this since 1974," he added, referring to the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkish troops.

An elderly man with white hair added: "I have a Mercedes but from now on I will never again buy anything from Germany."

Another man standing in the queue said that in the end Germany will be the loser.

"Look on the streets and you will see that 70 per cent of the cars are Mercedes and BMWs. People will stop buying them and dealerships will close one by one," he said.

Banking employees union ETYK said staff were ready to go back to work but urged the public not to blame them for the tight controls imposed on their capital.

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Pope puts personal touch on Easter service

Pope Francis will ass his personal touch on Easter celebrations by washing the feet of prisoners. Source: AAP

POPE Francis will stamp his personal touch on Easter celebrations starting by washing the feet of young prisoners, as he stresses the importance of reaching out to those in need.

The Holy Thursday mass begins four days of symbolic ceremonies which commemorate Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

Francis' decision to celebrate Christ's Last Supper in the Casal del Marmo prison in northwest Rome, rather than in St John Lateran's Basilica as per tradition, may be a hint of a shake-up in keenly observed Easter rituals.

He called for changes in everyday faith in a message posted on Twitter on Wednesday, which read: "Being with Jesus demands that we go out from ourselves, and from living a tired and habitual faith."

When the former Jorge Bergoglio was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he held masses in prisons, hospitals, slums or old people's homes, and has called repeatedly for the Roman Catholic Church to be closer to ordinary people.

The washing of feet is a tradition based on the belief that Christ washed the feet of his apostles before the final meal together before his crucifixion - and the choice of prisoners corresponds with the pope's Holy Week message.

In the first general audience of his papacy on Wednesday, the pontiff called on the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to reach out to "lost sheep" during the coming days - the highlight of the Christian calendar for many pilgrims.

"Holy Week challenges us to step outside ourselves so as to attend to the needs of others: those who long for a sympathetic ear, those in need of comfort or help," Francis told thousands of faithful gathered on St Peter's Square.

"We should not simply remain in our own secure world - that of the 99 sheep who never strayed from the fold - but we should go out, with Christ, in search of the one lost sheep, however far it may have wandered."

Francis will begin the day with a solemn chrism mass in St Peter's Basilica before travelling to the prison where he will hold the afternoon Lord's Supper mass with 35 male and 11 female offenders, aged 14 to 21.

Most of the inmates at the institute are foreign-born and Muslim or atheist.

The 12 prisoners who will have their feet washed will be chosen from different nationalities and religions.

It is not clear whether any of them will be female.

While Bergoglio has washed women's feet in past ceremonies, traditionalists would be riled by such a gesture as they hold that the disciples were all male.

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Man dies trying to steal Paris rail cable

A MAN whose charred body was found hanging from a railway cable above tracks in Paris was after trying to steal the electric cable, police say.

The discovery of the corpse, found dangling in the 18th district of Paris on Wednesday, had initially baffled detectives but rail company SNCF later said the man had managed to sever a part of the railway cable, making it likely he was attempting to steal it.

Thefts of electrical and telephone cables have become increasingly common in recent years as rising copper prices have increased their resale value.

In a separate incident, another man suffered serious burns when he mounted an electric train in the western dormitory suburb of Mantes-La-Jolie. He was hospitalised in a critical condition.

Witnesses say he climbed on top of a train going to Paris, where he got an electric shock and thrown down to the tracks. It was not immediately clear what prompted him to attempt the daredevil act.

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Japanese mum jailed for starving children

A 25-YEAR-OLD mother whose two young children starved to death surrounded by rubbish after she locked them in her apartment has been sentenced to 30 years in jail in Japan.

Single mother Sanae Nakamura regularly left her daughter, three, and one-year-old son, in the apartment in western Osaka while she spent the night at her boyfriend's house, reports said.

She had begin leaving them alone in March 2010, the Asahi Shimbun said, adding that sometime in early June that year she stopped coming home.

But when she did eventually return later that month the children were dead, the paper said.

Nakamura was convicted of murder by Japan's lower courts and sentenced to 30 years at earlier hearings, which found she had known that leaving the children without sufficient food would kill them.

The country's supreme court upheld the sentence, the Asahi and Kyodo News reported on Wednesday.

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Sommeliers compete in Japan for best title

WINE connoisseurs of the world have gathered in Tokyo for a competition to find the planet's best sommelier.

Entrants from 54 countries began three days of events designed to test their skills as they marry wines to foods and serve demanding consumers, with all of them having to work in a foreign language.

"A good sommelier not only has to have good knowledge of wine, but he also needs to be able to put customers at ease and know what to do to let them enjoy the food," explained Serge Dubs, chairman of the jury and a former champion.

Contestants from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Sweden are among those competing for an award won last in 2010 by Britain's Gerard Basset, when the contest was held in Chile.

"A sommelier has to be a very good communicator, he has to know what his clients want and how to make them remember their experience at the restaurant," Basset told AFP on Tuesday.

"The sommelier should also be a good cellar manager and act as an ambassador for producers, constituting a kind of link between the growers and consumers," he said.

Candidates will be selected in two preliminary rounds on Wednesday and Thursday, before a final among the top three on Friday in front of some 5000 spectators.

Contestants will undergo a series of written and oral examinations that test their ability to recognise and describe wines, their skills in matching food and drink and the quality of their service in a foreign language.

The contest, which began in 1969, is being held for the 14th time.

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French soldier arrested in shooter probe

A SERVING French soldier has been arrested for questioning in connection with a hunt for accomplices of Mohamed Merah, the Islamist gunman who killed seven people in southwestern France last year.

The soldier was picked up at his barracks in the southern town of Castres on Wednesday morning, police sources said. His arrest follows the detention for questioning on Tuesday of two other men.

Three of Merah's victims were French paratroopers, whom he said he had targeted because of France's involvement in the NATO intervention in Afghanistan.

He subsequently killed a rabbi and three Jewish schoolchildren before being shot dead by police in a siege of his flat in Toulouse.

Detectives looking into the case are convinced that Merah, who had travelled to Pakistan in 2011, could not have acted alone and fear accomplices still at large could represent a security threat.

To date, the only person charged with helping him is his brother Abdelkader Merah, who has been in custody since last year but denies involvement in the killings.

Five other people have been detained and interrogated by police as part of the probe but they were all released without charge.

Since Merah's death, it has emerged that he had been known to France's security services for several years and it has become clear the threat he posed was disastrously underestimated by agents who had contact with him.

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Rebel chief demands Syrian UN seat

SYRIA'S opposition chief has demanded in a fiery address after taking over his country's seat at an Arab League summit that he be allowed to represent Syria at the United Nations.

Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, head of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group, also insisted that Syria's future should not be determined by foreign powers.

"We demand ... the seat of Syria at the United Nations and at other international organisations," Khatib said on Tuesday, addressing Arab leaders at the Doha summit.

Syrian people alone should determine who rules the country, said Khatib, who on Sunday resigned his post although his resignation has yet to be accepted by the Coalition.

"They ask who will rule Syria. The people of Syria will decide, not any other state in this world," Khatib said, possibly alluding to accusations by Damascus that the rebels are implementing Qatari and Saudi agendas.

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Italy court orders retrial in Knox case

Italy's highest court of appeals delayed a ruling on whether Amanda Knox will face another trail. Source: AAP

ITALY'S highest court of appeal has overturned the acquittal of US student Amanda Knox and ordered a retrial over the murder of her British housemate in what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sex attack.

Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito - originally sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for killing and sexually assaulting Meredith Kercher in 2007 - were acquitted on appeal in 2011 after four years in prison.

Both now face a retrial in a Florence court after judges upheld a 2012 prosecution appeal against their acquittals.

The Seattle student is "disappointed but has not lost heart. She knows she is innocent," Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova told journalists outside the court house in Rome.

"She is upset ... (but) ready to continue, and willing to fight," he said.

The 25-year-old - who did not sleep a wink waiting for the court's decision, according to Dalla Vedova - has not yet decided "whether she'll want to be present for the trial or not."

Knox returned home to the US immediately after her release and, should she not return to Italy, will likely be tried in absentia as the United States does not normally extradite its citizens to face legal action.

"It's not been easy from the start," said Sollecito's lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno.

"We have had to climb a mountain, but we draw great strength both from being innocent and from the fact the court's ruling today is not a guilty verdict," she said.

"The retrial means the court has decided some details need to be reviewed. The battle continues."

Sollecito, who turned 29 on Tuesday, told another of his lawyers Luca Maori: "I am disappointed. But I am innocent and can go on with my head held high."

Prosecutors addressing the court on Monday had said they were convinced the former lovers were guilty of murdering Kercher.

Calling for the judges to "make sure the final curtain does not drop on this shocking and dire crime," they said the acquittal, which was based mainly on the admissibility of DNA evidence in the case, contained "omissions and many mistakes".

Prosecutor general Luigi Riello had described it as "a rare mix of violation of the law and illogicality and should be overturned," and accused the appeal judge of having "lost his way".

Kercher, 21, was found half-naked with her throat slashed in a pool of blood in her bedroom in the house that she shared with Knox in November 2007.

A third person, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, who like the other two accused has always denied the murder, is the only person still in prison for the crime.

Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca punched the air in victory as the court's decision was read out, according to journalists present.

"This decision serves to review the definitive and final truth of Meredith's murder. Guede was not alone, the judges will tell us who was there with him," he said.

Kercher's older sister Stephanie Kercher said her family welcomed the court ruling.

She told Sky News there were "still questions that are unanswered and we are all looking to find out the truth".

She added: "We welcome the decision that a retrial has been ordered and are pleased it is a step forward to finding an answer to some of those questions."

They - and investigators - insist that 47 knife wounds on Meredith and the apparent use of two different knives in the attack meant that more than one killer had been involved.

Prosecutors had alleged that Kercher was killed in a drug-fuelled sex attack involving Knox, Sollecito and Guede. They had said that it was the American student who delivered the final blows while the other two held the victim down.

The key to the appeal was an independent analysis of two pieces of evidence that had helped convict Knox and Sollecito - a kitchen knife and Kercher's bra clasp.

The appeals judge quashed the convictions of Knox and Sollecito in 2011 largely over the admissibility of DNA evidence.

The review cast serious doubt on the original analysis, with experts and video evidence pointing to sloppy practice among the police at the crime scene and possible contamination of the evidence.

Knox has been repeatedly painted by her accusers as a seductive "she-devil" who had an unhealthy obsession with sex, while her defence has insisted she is simply a naive girl-next-door, a yoga lover whose nickname "Foxy Knoxy" referred to her childhood football skills.

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SA grassfire still burning out of control

THE Country Fire Service is still trying to contain a grass fire in the Murraylands, southeast of Adelaide, and is now burning in an area north of Monarto.

The fire, which began at Rockleigh, just after midday and has since burnt about 1480 hectares.

At the height of the fire the CFS had three fixed-winged water-bombers in the air, in addition to 40 fire trucks and two bulk water carriers, supporting 250 firefighters on the ground.

The cause of the fire had not yet been determined but it's continuing to burn in grassland, near Pallamana in the Murraylands near Kubenk, Loxton, Rockleigh, Laws and Palmer roads.

The CFS said that although it's not controlled or contained, there's not a strong rate of spread in any particular direction.

At one stage, the fire came within 5km of the 1500 hectare open-range animal sanctuary Monarto Zoo before it turned in another direction.

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Thousands sign to keep rainbow crossing

Thousands of people have signed a petition to keep a rainbow pedestrian crossing on Oxford Street. Source: AAP

MORE than 12,000 people want the NSW government to keep a rainbow pedestrian crossing that was painted on Sydney's Oxford Street for this year's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

In a statement, independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich called on Roads Minister Duncan Gay not to remove the colourful crossing, labelling it an "iconic tourist attraction".

A petition in favour of keeping the rainbow crossing has so far gathered 12,053 signatures.

"Enforcing the removal an iconic tourist attraction that honours the (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) LGBTI community would be a short-sighted and mean-spirited move," Mr Greenwich said on Tuesday.

"We need to do everything we can to show Sydney celebrates our gay and lesbian community."

Mr Greenwich also hit out at claims the crossing was not safe, saying that was "not backed up by any facts or evidence".

The issue was important in light of the "policing incidents" at the 2013 gay pride parade, he said.

Police launched an internal inquiry into the actions of police at Mardi Gras after a video emerged showing a handcuffed 18-year-old man, Jamie Jackson, being thrown to the ground by an officer at the festival.

Another video shows Mr Jackson lashing out at an officer before he was restrained.

Police have since promised to improve their procedures for next year's Mardi Gras.

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Avoidable indigenous deaths fall: report

AVOIDABLE deaths among Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have dropped since 2001, but mortality rates for chronic diseases are still much higher for indigenous Australians.

Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Monday showed death rates for avoidable causes and circulatory diseases had declined between 2001 and 2010.

But the figures also showed almost half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers smoke during pregnancy and unemployment rates continue to remain higher for indigenous people than for non-indigenous people.

In Western Australia, there was no improvement in incidence rates of treated end-stage renal disease in recent years - currently 12 times the rate for non-indigenous Australians.

But there was a 35 per cent fall in the overall mortality of indigenous people and a 17 per cent decline in avoidable mortality from 1997 to 2010.

Also in WA, infant mortality rates fell 62 per cent between 1991 and 2010.

In NSW, the number of indigenous people starting end stage renal disease therapy, currently three times the rate for non-indigenous Australians, had jumped 286 per cent since 1991.

Avoidable mortality fell in the state by 20 per cent, while there was an increase in the proportion of pregnant women attending antenatal care.

In Victoria, low birthweight was more than twice as common among babies of indigenous mothers as among babies of non-indigenous mothers.

Queensland saw a 41 decline in the rates of infant mortality and a 32 per cent decrease in avoidable mortality.

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Thailand to talk peace with separatists

AFTER nine years of violence in Thailand's southernmost provinces and 5300 lives lost, the government will on Thursday initiate peace talks with the enemy.

But exactly who that enemy is and whether it will be genuinely represented on the other side of the table remains to be seen.

The breakthrough agreement for public peace negotiations was reached in Malaysia on February 28, after six years of sporadic secret talks.

Previous administrations have rejected high-profile talks to avoid lending legitimacy to the insurgents, whose apparent goal is the independence of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces.

Brokered by the Malaysian government, the latest agreement to talks was finalised by Paradon Pattanatabut, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, and Hassan Taib, liaison officer of the rebel Barisan Revolsi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C).

But many insurgents in southern Thailand do not recognise Taib, who has reportedly been living in Malaysia for the past 20 years.

"The Thai government is holding talks with people we don't even know," said one militant of the Runda Kumpalan Kecil, a splinter group from the BRN-C.

Attacks on authorities and civilians in the south have increased since the February 28 deal.

Thailand's problem with the insurgency has been confounded by the murkiness surrounding various Muslim separatist groups behind the violence.

The first thing observers are watching is who will come to the table. No representative from the Thai military, which has more than 90,000 troops in the three southern provinces, has yet been appointed to join the talks.

The government side has been trying hard to attract Sapae-ing Basor, a Muslim leader and a key player in the BRN-C, and leaders of other groups, according to Don Pathan, foreign affairs director of the Pattani Forum, an advocacy group for Muslims rights in the South.

"But they want a guarantee of immunity before the agree to come," Pathan said. An arrest warrant was issued for Sapae-ing in 2005.

The second thing to look for is whether the government will discuss some sort of self-administrative zone, a minimum requirement from the separatists.

And the third question is whether there will be an ebb in the rebel's bombing attacks.

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Kerry lands in Kabul on unannounced visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry has landed in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit, with relations badly frayed by Kabul's recent hostility to US-led military efforts in the country.

Kerry is likely to face a testing meeting with President Hamid Karzai who has launched a series of verbal assaults on US troops and their coalition partners.

"He will make clear that the US will have an enduring commitment in Afghanistan that will last beyond transition and that there will always be bumps on the road," a US official travelling with Kerry told reporters on Monday.

More than 11 years after the Taliban were ousted from power, international forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan and handing responsibility for fighting the Islamic insurgents to poorly-trained local police and army.

As the transition gathers pace, the United States and Afghanistan are also negotiating a strategic pact that will determine the US presence in the country after the end of international combat operations next year.

One major cause of friction between Washington and Kabul was solved hours ahead of Kerry's arrival when a ceremony was held to mark the final transfer of the controversial Bagram jail from US to Afghan control.

The drawn-out war is increasingly unpopular in the US, and Karzai triggered fury earlier this month when he accused the US of working in concert with Taliban militants to justify keeping soldiers on foreign soil.

"Issues of security and sovereignty are always going to be difficult," the US official travelling with Kerry said.

"But the most important thing is that we are honest to each other when there are differences between us, and you have seen some differences playing out recently."

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Cambodia shuts Australian-run orphanage

CAMBODIAN authorities have shut an orphanage run by an Australian woman amid allegations of children being beaten and human trafficking taking place.

Officials and a rights group said on Monday that police raided the unlicensed orphanage, called Love in Action, in the capital, Phnom Penh, and rescued 21 children.

Gratianne Quade, a spokeswoman for SISHA, an anti-trafficking organisation in Cambodia, said an Australian woman who ran the orphanage was not arrested in the raid on Friday and her current whereabouts was not known.

Um Sophanara, an official at the Social Affairs Ministry, which oversees orphanages, confirmed the closure, but declined to give details.

A SISHA statement said the raid came after several groups of children had fled the orphanage recently and reported a variety of neglect and abuse problems to authorities.

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Leighton shareholder denies interference

LEIGHTON Holdings' major shareholder has denied it had anything to do with the shake-up of the construction giant's board.

Leighton chairman Stephen Johns and non-executive directors Wayne Osborn and Ian Macfarlane, a former Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor, have tendered their resignations following what the company said was a breakdown in relations with German construction company Hochtief, which owns a 40 per cent stake in Leighton.

But in a letter to the Leighton board before a board meeting later on Sunday, Hochtief has denied it influenced the resignations.

"We are disappointed by the resignation as we do not consider that Hochtief has done anything to undermine the independence of the Leighton Board or threatened any such action," the company said.

Hochtief, which is majority owned by Spanish Group ACS, has two representatives on what was the company's 10-person board.

Mr Johns said in his letter of resignation that one of the Hochtief representatives on the board and the German construction giant's chief executive, Marcelino Fernandez Verdes, had interfered in the appointment of a new director.

But Hochtief said Mr Fernandez Verdes was merely exercising his right to participate in the selection and appointment process.

"Mr Fernandez Verdes suggested that the board would benefit from the addition of a new director with a different set of skills to that offered by the proposed candidate," he said.

Hochtief also said the reasons behind its lack of support for Mr John's re-election were explained to other directors.

"Neither of these matters relate to any attempt by Hochtief to undermine the independence of the board," the company said.

Hochtief has reaffirmed its commitment to the independence agreement with Leighton and said it was "greatly concerned " with a proposal from the independent directors to replace the governance protocols.

"This was contained in their letter to the Mr Fernandez Verdes and, if implemented, would have effect of excluding Hochtief from any material role in the nomination of any future independent director," the statement said.

A board meeting is scheduled for 6pm AEDT when an interim chairman is expected to be appointed.

After a board meeting on Sunday night, a company spokesman said the new Chairman was Bob Humphris. He has been a director of the construction giant since September 2004.

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Central Africa rebels 'seize' presidency

Rebel forces in the Central African Republic say they have entered the capital city of Bangui. Source: AAP

REBELS in the Central African Republic fighting to topple President Francois Bozize say they have seized the presidential palace in the capital Bangui.

Fighters in the Seleka rebel coalition advanced into the riverside capital on Saturday after the collapse of a two-month-old peace deal in the notoriously unstable and deeply poor former French colony - ignoring a call for talks to avoid a "bloodbath".

"We have taken the presidential palace. Bozize was not there," one of the rebel commanders on the ground, Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, told AFP on Sunday.

He said the rebels were planning to move on to the national radio station where rebel leader Michel Djotodia planned to make an address.

"Today will be decisive," Narkoyo said. "We call on our brothers in FACA (the Central African army) to lay down their arms."

Bozize, who himself led a coup in the landlocked country in 2003, has not been seen since his return from South Africa on Friday and there was no statements from the government Sunday about the latest developments.

Heavy gunbattles erupted at about 0700 GMT (1800 AEDT) but later the shooting became more sporadic, an AFP correspondent said.

"We head gunfire everywhere in the city centre. It was chaos," said one witness. "Everyone started running in all directions."

Narkoyo had told AFP on Saturday the rebels were ready to meet with regional African leaders on the crisis, but refused to negotiate with Bozize.

And he warned that if Seleka - a loose alliance of three rebel movements - captured Bangui, it would set up a new government.

Bangui resident Francis Komgdo, who lives near a checkpoint that effectively marks the entrance to the capital, told AFP the rebels had passed through Saturday in vehicles and motorbikes, occasionally firing in the air.

Gunfire and explosions in Bangui on Saturday saw the streets emptied as local people fled to their homes.

The city was also plunged into darkness last night after rebels sabotaged a hydroelectric power plant in Boali, north of the capital, an official with the Enerca electricity company and residents said.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye on Saturday called on the rebels to accept talks to "avoid a bloodbath".

Tiangaye, an opposition figure, was only appointed as part of the peace deal brokered between the government and the rebels in January, an agreement that broke down last week.

Paris-based rebel spokesman Eric Massi has said the rebel leadership was urging its forces on the ground to refrain from "looting or score-settling with the local population".

Former colonial power France has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation, said Romain Nadal, a spokesman for the president's office.

France had not issued an evacuation order, but the estimated 1,250 French nationals in the country were advised to stay at home, said Nadal.

There were no immediate plans to send reinforcements to back up the 250 French troops in the country to protect them, he added.

The UN Security Council on Friday voiced strong concern about the rebel advances "and their humanitarian consequences" amid reports of widespread summary executions, rapes, torture and the use of children in conflict.

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Syrian rebels seize border area

Syrian rebel fighters say they have seized an air base in the southern province of Daraa. Source: AAP

SYRIAN rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime have seized a 25-kilometre strip of land from the Jordanian border to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday fighters loyal a series of rebel brigades had taken control of the Al-Rai military checkpoint in the southern province of Daraa.

"The fighters seized the site after regime forces retreated," it said.

"The 25km area located between the towns of Muzrib (near the Jordanian border) and Abdin (in the Golan) is now out of regime control."

The Britain-based Observatory said in the past few days the rebels had seized several army checkpoints in the area and captured weapons and vehicles.

On Saturday they captured a key air base Daraa after two weeks of fierce battles with loyalist troops, it added.

The report came as Israel's new Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon vowed on Sunday an "immediate" answer to all Syrian gunfire onto the Golan Heights.

Yaalon issued the warning shortly after Israeli troops on the strategic plateau shot at a Syrian army post after coming under fire for the second time in 12 hours, according to the Israeli army.

"We see the Syrian regime as responsible for every breach of sovereignty. We shall not allow the Syrian army or any other body to violate Israeli sovereignty firing into our territory," Yaalon said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was from the Syrian army or from rebel forces in the area.

The rebel advances came days after insurgents seized a border crossing on the frontier with Jordan, said the Observatory.

A security source in Damascus said last week Jordan was allowing jihadist fighters and arms bought by Saudi Arabia from Croatia to be smuggled into Syria.

The source said around 2500 trained and heavily equipped rebels have entered Daraa in recent weeks, following reports American instructors were training rebels in neighbouring Jordan.

Jordanian Information Minister and government spokesman Samih Maaytah said earlier this month his country "rejects interfering in Syrian affairs".

"The Jordanian army is exerting a lot of efforts to control the border and prevent infiltrations," he said.

Louay Moqdad, a spokesman and co-ordinator for opposition forces, acknowledged that several Arab and Western nations had started training rebels forces, but declined to provide further details.

Earlier this month, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported rebels were being trained in Jordan by American specialists, a claim US officials have refused to comment on.

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New pope opens Holy Week at Vatican

Pope Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday Mass to start Holy Week ceremonies, leading up to Easter. Source: AAP

POPE Francis has celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in Saint Peter's Square attended by thousands of people waving olive branches and palm fronds.

The new pontiff arrived in an uncovered vehicle to start solemn Holy Week ceremonies, which lead up to Easter, Christianity's most important day.

Francis wore bright red robes over a white cassock and presided over the Mass from an altar sheltered by a canopy on the steps of Saint Peter's Basilica.

Cardinals, many of them among the electors who on March 13 chose the Roman Catholic church's first Latin American pope, sat in rows for the ceremony held under hazy skies on a breezy day.

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