US, Saudi united on Syria, Iran

THE United States and Saudi Arabia have warned Syrian President Bashar Assad they will boost support to rebels fighting to oust him unless he steps down.

The two are also putting Iran's leadership on notice that time is running out for a diplomatic resolution to concerns about its nuclear program.

After a series of meetings in the Riyadh on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters Assad must understand recent scud missile attacks on regime foes in the city of Aleppo would not be tolerated by the international community and that he had lost all claim to be Syria's legitimate leader.

Saud, whose country along with other Gulf states is widely believed to be supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels, said Saudi Arabia could not ignore the brutality Assad is inflicting on his people, even after two years of escalating violence that has claimed 70,000 lives.

He said history had never seen a government use strategic missiles against its own people.

"This cannot go on," he said.

"He has lost all authority."

In his discussions with Kerry, Saud said he had "stressed the importance of enabling the Syrian people to exercise its legitimate right to defend itself against the regime's killing machine."

Saud also decried the fact Assad continued to get weapons from "third parties," a veiled reference to Russia and Iran, which have backed the regime through the conflict.

"Saudi Arabia will do everything within its capacity, and we do believe that what is happening in Syria is a slaughter, a slaughter of innocents" he said.

"We can't bring ourselves to remain quiet. Morally we have a duty."

The Obama administration has resisted appeals from the Syrian opposition to provide it with weapons and ammunitions over fears they could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists who have gained support among Assad opponents.

But Kerry sidestepped a question about whether the arms reportedly being supplied to the rebels by Saudi Arabia and others were a concern.

Instead, he criticised Iran, Hezbollah and Russia by name for giving weaponry to the Assad regime.

Kerry did announce last week the US would for the first time provide rebel fighters in the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal assistance - rations and medical assistance.

European nations like Britain and France are expected to soon send the rebels defensive military equipment and Kerry has said the totality of the aid could be enough to change the situation on the ground.

"The United States will continue to work with our friends to empower the Syrian opposition to hopefully be able to bring about a peaceful resolution, but if not, to increase pressure on Assad," Kerry said.

He added that Assad "is destroying his country - and his people in the process - to hold onto power that is not his anymore."

Kerry is in Saudi Arabia on the seventh leg of a marathon nine-nation dash through Europe and the Middle East on his first overseas trip as secretary of state.

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Malik Obama campaigns for change in Kenya

MALIK Obama, who is running for office in western Kenya, on Monday said his half-brother, US President Barack Obama, had promised to visit if elections were free and fair.

The 54-year-old accountant said the theme for his campaign in the race for governor of Siaya county was "change". That echoes the slogan of "hope and change" with which his brother was swept into the US presidency in 2008.

For Malik Obama, change means "the eradication of poverty, the development of infrastructure and job creation."

He told dpa by telephone: "I bring honesty, sincerity, and putting the welfare of my people first.

"Also, there are connections I can use."

Malik Obama runs a community centre in the hamlet of Kogelo, surrounded by cornfields and forests. The area saw a minor tourist boom and was fitted with power lines and a paved road after his famous relative became president in 2008.

He said he and Barack Obama, 51, last spoke after the US elections, when the latter promised to visit Kenya if the elections were fair and transparent.

Many Kenyans were disappointed that Barack Obama did not visit during his first term. In 2009, Obama's first trip to sub-Saharan Africa was to Ghana.

Malik Obama told dpa he draws inspiration from his younger sibling's accomplishments.

He is running as an independent against a major party candidate, but he said he offers something different and his background as an accountant makes him suited for government work.

"We need somebody who understands economics because we have the resources here but we just don't have the managers," he said.

"It behooves me also to make a contribution as the first born and to do that here in Kenya, in Africa."

Malik and Barack Obama have the same father - once a goat-herder in Kenya, who became an academic.

Barack Obama last visited Kenya in 2006, when he was a US senator.

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Hostage families urge France to negotiate

THE families of four hostages being held by al-Qaeda's north African branch have urged the French government to seek negotiations with the militant group in the hope of securing their relatives' release.

The call was issued on Monday against a background of fears for the lives of the hostages following the reported killing of two al-Qaeda-linked leaders by French-backed Chadian troops in Mali over the weekend.

"France must give AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) clear signals of a willingness to negotiate, in liaison with (the hostages' employers) Areva and Vinci," said a statement issued on behalf of the families of four hostages seized at a uranium mine in Niger in 2010.

According to Chadian officials, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of an assault on an Algerian gas plant that left 37 foreign hostages dead in January, and AQIM leader Abdelhamid Abou Zeid were killed last week in an assault on rebel bases in the Ifoghas mountains of northern Mali.

France has been extremely guarded about the reports, amid concerns the hostages may have been used as human shields or could be subject to reprisal executions.

The hostages' families have repeatedly expressed concern about the possible consequences of France's military intervention in its former colony but Monday's statement was the first time they have publicly challenged the government's approach.

"Today we consider that military operations and the use of force will not result in the hostages being saved," said Rene Robert, the grandfather of Pierre Legrand, one of four hostages seized by AQIM in Niger in September 2010.

"We want a strong signal to be sent to AQIM to demonstrate a willingness to negotiate," he told AFP.

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Dad dies sheltering girl in Japan blizzard

Eight people have been killed on Hokkaido island after heavy snow fell in northern Japan. Source: AAP

A FATHER has frozen to death while sheltering his nine-year-old daughter during severe blizzards which swept northern Japan at the weekend.

Mikio Okada died as he tried to protect his only child Natsune against winds of up to 109 kilometres per hour, as temperatures plunged to minus 6 C.

Okada was one of at least nine people killed in a spate of snow-related incidents as blizzards swept across Hokkaido island, police said on Monday.

The latest confirmed victim was Kuniko Jingi, 76, who was found lying on the street late on Saturday.

As with many others, she appeared to have perished after leaving her stranded car, a local police officer said.

Okada's body was uncovered by rescuers looking for the pair after relatives raised the alarm.

Natsune was wearing her father's jacket and was wrapped in his arms, newspapers and broadcasters said.

The pair had last been heard from at 4pm on Saturday, after fisherman Okada picked his daughter up from a school where she was being looked after while he was at work.

Okada called his relatives to say his truck had become stranded in the driving snow, which was several metres deep in places.

He told them he and Natsune would walk the remaining kilometre, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The two were found just 300 metres from the truck at 7 am on Sunday.

Okada was hunched over his daughter, cradling her in his arms and apparently using his body and a warehouse wall to provide shelter, the Yomiuri said.

He had taken his jacket off to give to the child, a broadcaster said.

Rescuers said she was weeping weakly in his arms, the paper said.

The young girl was taken to hospital where she was found to have no serious injuries.

Her father was officially pronounced dead by doctors at the same institution near their home at Yubetsu on Hokkaido.

The Yomiuri said Natsune's mother had died two years earlier from an unspecified illness.

The paper quoted neighbours as saying Okada had been a doting father who would often delay the start of his working day to enjoy breakfast with his daughter.

His death came as families all over Japan celebrated Girls' Day, a festival in which they gather at home and decorate houses with dolls.

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UN urges end to illegal wildlife trade

Thailand has been forced onto the defensive over the rampant smuggling of ivory. Source: AAP

THE world must clamp down hard on the illegal global wildlife trade, the head of the United Nations environment agency has warned, calling it a multibillion-dollar criminal business that is threatening to wipe out some of the planet's most iconic species.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, made the call during the Sunday opening meeting of the 178-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok.

He cited the massive upsurge in poaching of Africa's endangered elephants and rhinos, whose slaughter - the worst in two decades - is being driven by rising demand in Asia for their tusks and horns.

"The backdrop against which this meeting takes place should be a very serious wakeup call for all of us," Steiner told some 2,000 delegates assembled at a convention centre in the Thai capital.

Wildlife trafficking "in a terrible way has become a trade and a business of enormous proportions - a billion-dollar trade in wildlife species that is analogous to that of the trade in drugs and arms," Steiner said.

"This is not a small matter. It is driven by a conglomerate of crime syndicates across borders."

Slowing the slaughter of African elephants and curbing the trade in "blood ivory" will be at the top of the agenda during the global biodiversity conference, which lasts two weeks.

Around 70 proposals are on the table, most of which will decide whether member nations increase or lower the level of protection on various species.

These include polar bears, rays and sharks that are heavily fished for shark fin soup.

There are proposals, too, to regulate 200 commercially valuable timber species - half from Madagascar - and ban their trade unless it can be shown they were harvested legally and sustainably.

Steiner said up to 90 per cent of the world's timber trade is illegal, a business worth at least $US30 billion ($A29.53 billion) per year.

Prior to the establishment of CITES in 1973, there was no international regulation of the cross-border trade in wildlife.

Most of the agreements regulating the 35,000 animals under CITES' purview aim not to outlaw trade, but to ensure it remains sustainable.

One of the convention's success stories since then has been the African rhino, which numbered just 2,000 four decades ago. The population swelled to 25,000, but over the last five years poaching has skyrocketed again.

Last year, 668 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone. As with the elephant crisis, the culprit is largely demand from Asia, where their horns are highly desired because they are believed to have medicinal properties.

CITES director-general John Scanlon said the slaughter of African elephants and rhinos was at its worst in decades, a level that "could threaten the survival of the species themselves."

He blamed poachers, rebel militias and mafia-like crime syndicates that smuggle animal parts across borders.

"This criminal activity poses a serious threat to the stability and economies of these countries. It also robs these countries of their natural heritage, their cultural heritage, and it undermines good governance and the rule of law," Scanlon said.

Earlier, Thailand's prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised to end her nation's trade in ivory, delighting conservationists who have long urged the kingdom to tackle the rampant smuggling of tusks through its territory.

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Attacks in Iraq kill four

THREE separate attacks in Shi'ite-dominated areas on Sunday in central Iraq have killed at least four people and injured 14, officials said.

The deadliest was in the Husseiniya area northeast of Baghdad, where three roadside bombs went off simultaneously, killing three civilians, a police officer said.

He said 11 others, including three policemen, were wounded.

Another police officer said a soldier was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in the northern Utaifiya neighbourhood of Baghdad.

Two health officials confirmed the casualty figures.

In Karbala, 90km south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden belt near the two revered Shi'ite shrines and wounded three people, Governor Amal-Din al-Hir said.

Violence has ebbed across Iraq in recent years, but insurgents frequently attack security forces and civilians in an attempt to undermine the country's Shi'ite-led government.

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Karzai condemns NATO killing of boys

Two children, have been accidentally killed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, authorities say. Source: AAP

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has condemned a NATO helicopter strike in which two brothers, both under seven years old, were shot dead after being mistaken for Taliban insurgents.

The two boys were tending livestock and collecting firewood in the southern province of Uruzgan when they were killed on Thursday in an incident that drew an abject apology from the NATO-led coalition.

Civilian deaths caused by international forces have often triggered outrage in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and Karzai said that the latest incident highlighted errors in how the insurgents are being tackled.

"The government has repeatedly stressed that the war on terrorism cannot succeed in Afghan villages and homes, but rather in its sanctuaries and safe havens outside our borders," Karzai said in a clear reference to Pakistan.

The president said he was deeply grieved over the deaths and offered his condolences to the boys' family.

Uruzgan governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada had blamed Australian soldiers for the incident but on Sunday his spokesman said it was unclear who was responsible.

"We have sent a delegation to investigate and find out what exactly had happened," said Abdullah Hemat.

"The troops called in air support after spotting people they thought were planting roadside bombs.

"They were kids herding their animals and collecting firewood. It is not clear whether they were killed by Australians or Americans."

Australian military chief General David Hurley said he deeply regretted the deaths but added it was too early to say who was responsible.

Hurley said Australian special operations soldiers were on the ground conducting a routine liaison patrol when the shooting occurred on February 28.

"Australian personnel immediately reported the incident to Afghan government officials and military leaders in Uruzgan," he said in a statement on Sunday.

"We deeply regret that the International Security Assistance Forces were responsible for the unintended death of two young Afghan boys during the operation," Hurley said.

"It is premature to make any determination about how the incident occurred or who was responsible," he added.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has been briefed on the incident, declined to comment on Sunday, saying she would leave any commentary to General Hurley.

The NATO-led coalition, to which Australia contributes close to 1,100 soldiers, has apologised over the children's deaths, saying its troops had opened fire at what they believed were insurgent forces.

"We take full responsibility for this tragedy," General Joseph Dunford, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said on Saturday.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking harsh criticism from Karzai and angry public protests.

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

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Gabriel wants to talk with animals online

Musician Peter Gabriel believes an interspecies internet could help animals communicate with humans. Source: AAP

PETER Gabriel has joined one of the internet's founding fathers in launching an "interspecies internet" for animals to communicate with us and each other.

"Perhaps the most amazing tool man has created is the internet," the famous British singer says.

"What would happen if we could somehow find new interfaces - visual, audio - to allow us to communicate with the remarkable beings we share the planet with?"

His allies in the effort include Vint Cerf, one of the internet's founders, along with a cognitive psychologist and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Gabriel showed a video of a jamming session he had with a bonobo - formerly known as a pygmy chimpanzee - playing the keyboard.

The bonobo used one finger to improvise a tune that the singer overlaid with his distinctive voice.

"She did good," Gabriel said with a smile.

He told of growing up on a farm and often looking into the eyes of animals and wondering what they were thinking.

"What was amazing to me was that they seemed a lot more adept at getting a handle on our language than we were at getting a handle on theirs," Gabriel said.

"I work with a lot of musicians from around the world... Often we don't have any common language at all. We sit behind our instruments and it's a way to connect."

His curiosity led him to Diana Reiss, a psychologist known for dolphin intelligence research.

"Animals are conscious. They have emotions. They are aware," Reiss said.

"One of my biggest dreams is that we give them the respect and attention they deserve."

MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld joined the effort after seeing a video of Gabriel's jam session and concluding that it's a mistake to leave the rest of the planet out of the internet.

"What is important about what these people are doing is they are beginning to learn how to communicate with species who are not us but share a sensory environment," said Cerf.

Cerf, now chief internet evangelist at Google, spoke of an inter-species internet as a test run for communicating with life encountered while exploring space.

"These interactions with other animals will teach us, ultimately, how we might interact with an alien from another world," he added.

"I can hardly wait."

Seed money for the project will be used to develop a touchscreen device that dolphins can use to connect to the internet.

"We want to engage people here to make smart interfaces to make this possible," Gabriel to a TED audience known for brilliant scientists and exceptional entrepreneurs.

"We are almost ready to turn it on."

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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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