Beijing air pollution hazardous

AIR pollution levels in China's notoriously dirty capital have hit dangerous levels, with cloudy skies blocking out visibility and warnings issued for people to remain indoors.

Local authorities have warned the severe pollution is likely to continue until Monday.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center has reported air-quality readings between 176 and 442 from its monitors throughout the greater Beijing area since Friday.

The monitors measure the level of air-borne PM 2.5 particulates, which are tiny particular matters considered the most harmful to health.

The air is considered good when the reading is at 50 or below but hazardous with a reading between 301 and 500, when people are warned to avoid outdoor physical activities.

Monitors in urban Beijing all reported readings above 300 on Friday, and the centre real-time readings showed Beijing remained heavily polluted on Saturday with readings as high as 478 at 3pm (local time).

At the same time, monitors at the city's US Embassy recorded an off-the-chart air-quality reading of 699.

Readings are often different in different parts of the city and because the instruments used to measure the pollution levels are different.

According to rules issued by the city government in December, all outdoor sports activities are to stop and factories have to reduce their production capacity if Beijing's official air-quality reading goes over 500.

Beijing authorities are blaming a lack of wind and foggy conditions.

Several other cities, including Tianjin on the coast east of Beijing and southern China's Wuhan city have also reported severe pollution over the last several days.

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NSW man dies during surf rescue

A MAN who tried to rescue four young people from the surf got into trouble himself and died.

Emergency crews rushed to Patonga, on the NSW Central Coast, about 2.30pm on Saturday.

The four young people, including children, were visiting from Asia and staying with the man, police say.

They were swimming in Patonga Creek when they were taken out by the tide.

The man, aged in his 60s, tried to rescue them before he also got into trouble.

Onlookers came to their aid using a boat and pulled all five from the water before racing them to the shore.

Members of the public performed CPR on the man until police and paramedics arrived but the man died at the scene.

A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said one of the four young people, an 18-year-old woman, swallowed water before she was transported to Gosford Hospital in a stable condition.

The three others who were with the victims were also transported to hospital but only to receive language translation services.

A full investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

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Clashes 'near Damascus' after rebel gain

Syrian Rebels have taken control of a strategic airbase in north-western Syria, a watchdog says. Source: AAP

SYRIAN activists say the outskirts of the capital Damascus have been rocked by clashes a day after rebels seized a key regime airbase in the north.

The opposition British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two children and a man were killed when Mleha just southeast of the capital was bombarded, and that two rebels battling forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were also killed there.

The organisation says it relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground in Syria when compiling its reports and death tolls.

It said violence across the country on Friday claimed the lives of 86 people, among them 30 civilians.

Regime artillery also opened up on Beit Sahem south of Damascus, as well as Jdaidet Artuz and Daraya to the southeast, the group said on Saturday.

It reported that regime air raids on Rastan in the central province of Homs caused casualties, without giving an immediate toll of the dead and wounded.

One insurgent was also killed in clashes there, it added.

In the east of the country, a man was killed when artillery pounded Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.

Among Friday's casualties were nine rebels, eight soldiers and two regime militiamen killed when insurgents overran the key Taftanaz air base in one of their most important military gains to date.

Capturing Taftanaz, from which regime forces launched deadly helicopter gunship sorties, eases the pressure on rebels who already control vast swathes of Syria's north and east.

"This is the largest airbase to be seized since the revolt began" nearly 22 months ago, the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman said on Friday.

The Observatory said government forces managed to evacuate most of the 60 helicopters deployed there, leaving behind 20 that are no longer serviceable.

The United Nations says more than 60,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict since March 2011.

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Bahrain opens probe into labor camp fire

OFFICIALS have opened an investigation into the cause of fire that killed 13 people in a labour camp in Bahrain.

The official Bahrain News Agency says the public prosecutor's office is leading the probe into Friday's blaze in the capital Manama.

The report on Saturday said fire collapsed the roof of the three-story building used to house workers.

Special compounds for migrant labourers are common across the Gulf. For years, rights groups have pressed for better living conditions for the mostly South Asian workers.

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Malian troops, French, reclaim ground

French soldiers have come to the aid of the Mali government against al-Qaeda-linked militants. Source: AAP

MALIAN troops, backed by French aircraft, have reclaimed the central town of Kona from Islamist rebels within hours of a French intervention in support of government forces.

French airstrikes cleared the way for Malian forces to retake the town which the rebels had captured on Thursday on a march south from their northern strongholds, France Info radio reported on Saturday.

French President Francois Hollande announced on Friday that France had agreed to a request from Mali for military assistance to help drive back the rebels, who have been in control of the desert north for nearly a year.

Hollande said the "terrorists" threatened "Mali's very existence" as well as regional peace and security.

Elisabeth Guigou, president of parliament's foreign affairs commission, told French radio on Saturday that French troops had been deployed to protect French nationals.

France has around 6000 citizens in Mali, some of whom had begun arriving back in Paris on Saturday after the Foreign Ministry called on them to leave the country.

At least seven French hostages are also being held by the armed groups based in northern Mali.

Meanwhile, Malian President Dioncounda Traore declared a state of emergency on Friday night and called on Malians to reunite for the reconquest of territories occupied by the rebels.

France is the first European country to intervene in the nearly-one-year-old Malian conflict.

US officials have said Washington DC is considering joining in with intelligence and logistical support.

Hollande said that the intervention was in line with UN resolutions authorising the deployment of an African force in support of the Malian army and an EU military training mission.

The regional West African bloc ECOWAS, which is preparing the African force, praised the French intervention.

The intervention marks a turning point nearly a year after ethnic Tuareg and Islamist rebels took advantage of a coup in the capital Bamako to seize control of the ancient town of Timbuktu and two other towns.

Since then, the Tuareg rebels have become sidelined by ultraconservative Islamist factions, who have imposed strict Islamic law in the region, including stonings and amputations.

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Nastassja Kinski shocked by sister's abuse

ACTRESS Nastassja Kinski says she's proud of her half-sister Pola for coming forward with allegations that she had been repeatedly raped by their father, the late German film icon Klaus Kinski.

Pola Kinski, 60, said in a magazine interview ahead of the release of a memoir on Saturday that the mercurial actor, who died in 1991, had sexually abused her throughout her childhood.

Nastassja Kinski, who achieved the Hollywood fame with films such as Cat People and Tess that eluded her father, wrote in the German daily Bild that she had wept when she read Pola's account.

"My sister is a hero because she has freed her heart, her soul and thus her future from the burden of this secret," the 51-year-old wrote.

"I stand by my sister, I stand behind her. I am deeply horrified. But I am proud of the strength she has shown in writing this book."

Nastassja Kinski said she hoped the book would raise awareness of child abuse and encourage other victims to tell their stories.

"A book like Pola's helps all children, youths and mothers who are afraid of fathers, who swallow their fear and hide everything away in their souls," she said.

"Just because someone calls himself a father, as in this case, does not mean that he is a father. The horror has taken place nevertheless. Even fathers do horrible things."

She added: "There is always help - all children should know that."

Nastassja Kinski, who lives in California, is the daughter of Kinski's second wife Brigitte. Pola's mother was his first wife, singer Gislinde Kuehbeck.

Pola said Klaus Kinski, who was already notorious as a brilliant but tyrannical force in European cinema, began abusing her at the age of five and raped her for the first time when she was nine.

The assaults continued until she was 19, she alleged in an interview this week with Stern magazine.

The volatile but prolific star of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God and a frequent collaborator of German director Werner Herzog "ignored all protests" by his young daughter, she charged.

"He just took what he wanted," she said, adding that as a youngster, she lived in constant fear of his angry outbursts.

She said she aimed to go public with her allegations to put a stop to the idolising of her famous father.

"I was sick of hearing, 'Your father! Great! Genius! I always liked him'," she said.

"Since his death, this adulation has only got worse."

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One Child policy creates risk-aversion

China's "One Child" policy has created a generation that is less trusting and are more risk-averse. Source: AAP

CHINA'S controversial "One Child" policy produces grown-ups who lack entrepreneurial drive and the willingness to take risks, an Australian study has concluded.

"Our data show that people born under the one child policy were less likely to be in more risky occupations like self-employment," said Lisa Cameron, one of the lead researchers on the study published in the journal Science.

"There may be implications for China in terms of a decline in entrepreneurial ability," the Australian scientist added.

The study, released on Friday, compared adults born just before and after the one child policy was put in place in 1979. It aimed to measure social skills such as trust and risk-taking.

Researchers conducted a series of economic games with more than 400 subjects.

They found that those who were only children as a result of China's one child policy grew up to be adults who were "significantly less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic, and less conscientious," a press release announcing the findings said.

Cameron said researchers observed the negative effects of being an only child in China even if there was significant social contact with other children while growing up.

"We found that greater exposure to other children in childhood - for example, frequent interactions with cousins and/or attending childcare - was not a substitute for having siblings," she said.

And they said the results could not be explained by other factors, such as participants' age and whether they might have become more capitalistic over time.

The research was gathered by Cameron, along with her colleague Lata Gangadharan - both from Monash University - along with Xin Meng of the Australian National University (ANU) and Nisvan Erkal from the University of Melbourne.

The study was published as the Chinese government considers relaxing its one child policy, which was introduced as a part of an effort to curb population growth.

An official report in 2011 estimated that some 400 million births have been prevented as a result of the measure.

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Hong Kong stocks close 0.39% lower

HONG Kong shares fell 0.39 per cent on profit-taking on Friday after the previous session's gains, with dealers unmoved by data showing Chinese inflation coming in below target in 2012.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index eased 90.24 points to 23,264.07 on turnover of HK$82.24 billion ($A10.03 billion). The index lost 0.3 per cent for the week.

The market enjoyed a rally on Thursday after China released data showing a huge trade surplus last year, which added to recent results indicating the world's number two economy is picking up after a recent slowdown.

On Friday the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said inflation slowed to 2.6 per cent in 2012, down from 5.4 per cent in 2011 and much lower than the 4.0 per cent government target.

But it also said December's rate came in at 2.5 per cent, well up from 2.0 per cent in November.

The month-on-month uptick and underlying data showing food prices spiking has led to concerns that the government will hold off any easing measures to further boost the economy.

China players were among the worst performers, with aluminium producer Chalco down 3.0 per cent at HK$3.95, while oil producer Cnooc lost 1.9 per cent to HK$16.22 and insurer China Life dropped 1.3 per cent to HK$26.00.

Chinese shares closed down 1.78 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 40.66 points to 2,243.00 on turnover of 101.6 billion yuan ($16.3 billion). The index fell 1.49 per cent for the week.

"The above-view inflation figure for December sparks concerns that Beijing may refrain from rolling out more economic stimulus in fear of triggering stronger inflation," Central China Securities analyst Zhang Gang told Dow Jones Newswires.

Soochow Securities slumped 6.08 per cent to 7.42 yuan and Sinolink Securities lost 5.04 per cent to 16.59 yuan, while Poly Real Estate lost 4.52 per cent to 13.53 yuan and developer Gemdale dropped 4.09 per cent to 6.81 yuan.

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China landslide kills 22, dozens buried

A LANDSLIDE in southwestern China has killed at least 22 people, including seven from one family, with some two dozen others trapped, local authorities say.

The landslide on Friday buried 16 homes in the village of Gaopo in the southern province of Yunnan, the provincial government said on its website.

A total of 22 deaths had been confirmed so far, including the seven from a single family, it said, while 20 to 30 people were still buried. Emergency teams had rescued two villagers from the debris, it added.

Photos posted on the website showed rescuers in orange uniforms digging in wide swathes of clumpy mud against a backdrop of snow-covered, terraced hills.

A video posted on a Chinese social networking site appeared to show a group of villagers digging through thick mud and debris to uncover a body, which was carried away on a stretcher.

Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar and Laos among others, is a relatively impoverished area of China, where rural houses are often cheaply constructed.

Gaopo is in Zhenxiong county, about 550 kilometres northeast of the provincial capital of Kunming.

The mountainous area is prone to landslides. One in a neighbouring county in October killed 18 children, while two earthquakes in Yunnan in September - one of magnitude 5.7 - left 81 people dead and hundreds injured.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made an overnight trip to the quake zone at the time to comfort survivors, many of whom had taken refuge in tents erected on a public square.

The province has experienced unusually low temperatures in recent weeks, as China suffers in what authorities have called its coldest winter in 28 years.

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Fears for Pakistan as blasts kill 125

A series of bombings have killed 115 people across Pakistan, including 81 who died in Quetta. Source: AAP

EXTREMIST bomb attacks killed 125 people in one of Pakistan's deadliest days for years, raising concerns about rising violence in the nuclear-armed country ahead of general elections.

Two suicide bombers killed 92 people and wounded 121 after they targeted a crowded snooker club in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday, in an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslims from the Hazara ethnic minority.

Extremist Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst single attack ever on Shi'ites, who account for about 20 per cent of Pakistan's 180 million population.

It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since twin suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on May 13, 2011 - shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden.

Earlier on Thursday, a bomb detonated under a security force vehicle in a crowded part of Quetta, killing 11 people and wounding dozens.

A bomb at a religious gathering in the northwestern Swat valley killed 22 people and wounded more than 80, the deadliest incident in the district since the army in 2009 fought off a two-year Taliban insurgency.

At the snooker club, the first bomber struck inside the building then, 10 minutes later, an attacker in a car blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, said police officer Mir Zubair Mehmood.

"The death toll is now 92. Some bodies were found from the blast site today," said police official Hamid Shakeel.

He said all but five of the victims had been identified and handed over to their families for burial later on Friday.

Nine police, three local journalists, several rescue workers and a spokesman for the Frontier Corps paramilitary were among those killed, officials said.

"We have collected two bags of body parts, including limbs, fingers, upper torsos, lower torsos, legs, feet," said Mohammed Raza, who works for a Hazara ambulance service.

Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary in the provincial government of Baluchistan, said more than 120 people were wounded.

The government has announced three days of mourning in Baluchistan, and compensation of two million rupees ($A19,500) to families of killed police officials and one million rupees to those of civilians.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility in telephone calls to local journalists. The group has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and was involved in the kidnap and beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl in January 2002.

The attacks, coupled with violence in the northwest, revived warnings from analysts that an Islamist militancy could threaten national elections, expected sometime in May after parliament disbands in mid-March.

Polls would mark the first time an elected civilian government in Pakistan, for decades ruled by the military, completes a term in office and is replaced by another democratically elected government.

"The government is completely losing control over the situation. Events are taking place one after the other," security and political analyst, retired lieutenant general Talat Masood said.

"The disturbing law and order situation will have a very adverse effect on elections. The government seems to have no plans for security and nothing is being done for the safety of people who are being killed like flies."

But a senior official in the Quetta administration, Mohammad Hashim, denied sectarian violence had any bearing on elections.

"Incidents of sectarian violence have been taking place in the country for more than a decade. It may have an affect on law and order. I don't think it will have an impact on elections. It's not political, it's sectarian," he said.

Human Rights Watch said 2012 was the deadliest year on record for Shi'ites in Pakistan and the government's failure to protect them "amounts to complicity in the barbaric slaughter of Pakistani citizens".

Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint for attacks against Shi'ites and Hazaras, and suffers from a separatist insurgency and Islamist militancy linked to a domestic Taliban insurgency concentrated in the northwest.

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New 'Karachi' probe opened against Sarkozy

France's ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy is to be investigated over accusations of a breach of secrecy. Source: AAP

FRENCH judges have authorised a fresh probe against ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy as part of the so-called "Karachi affair," a judicial source told AFP.

Three judges decided on Thursday to proceed with a probe to see whether Sarkozy violated a confidentiality law when the Elysee presidential palace published a press release on the affair in September 2011.

The press release said that Sarkozy's name did not figure in any of the files on the so-called Karachi affair, which stems from a 2002 bombing in the Pakistani city that killed 11 French engineers.

The engineers' families sued Sarkozy over the press release, charging that it violated laws that prohibit publication of information about ongoing investigations.

Although prosecution argued that Sarkozy cannot be investigated because he had presidential immunity at the time, the judges disagreed.

"The act of permitting the release of information concerning ongoing investigations does not enter into the functions of the president," the three investigating judges said in their ruling.

The Karachi bombing has spawned several other investigations implicating Sarkozy, a right-winger who was defeated in his re-election bid last year by Socialist Francois Hollande.

In one, two close aides to Sarkozy have been charged by judges investigating alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal concluded when Sarkozy was budget minister.

He allegedly authorised the creation of a shell company used to channel kickbacks to then prime minister Edouard Balladur's unsuccessful 1995 presidential bid.

In more serious but harder to prove allegations, magistrates are also probing whether the Karachi bombing was revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to Pakistani officials.

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Three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris

THREE Kurdish women, said to include a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), were shot dead in Paris in what France's interior minister dubbed an "assassination".

The women were found in the early hours with gunshot wounds to the head inside a Kurdish information centre in the 10th district of the French capital, police and the centre's director said.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls visited the scene of the crime and described the killings as "assassinations".

The murders came after Turkish media reported Wednesday that the Turkish government and jailed Kurd rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan had agreed on a roadmap to end a three-decade-old insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

One of the dead in the Paris centre was Sakine Cansiz, said the Federation of Kurdish Associations in France, which described her as a founding member of the PKK, which is fighting for greater Kurdish autonomy.

A second was said to be 32-year-old Fidan Dogan, an employee of the information centre, who was also the Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress political group.

The third was Leyla Soylemez, described by the federation as a "young activist".

The three were last seen alive at midday on Wednesday at the centre, according to the centre's director, Leon Edart.

Friends and colleagues who tried and failed to contact them eventually went to the centre and found traces of blood on the door, which they then forced open to find the bodies of the three inside, the Kurdish federation said.

Hundreds of Kurds gathered Thursday in front of the centre to protest at the deaths, with some of them chanting "We are all PKK!" and "Turkey assassin, Hollande complicit", referring to French President Francois Hollande.

About 45,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting between Turkish security forces and the rebels, who took up arms in 1984 under Ocalan's command, to obtain self-rule in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

Previous peace talks floundered after the PKK leadership demanded the release of Ocalan.

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Fire and rain hammer NZ's South Island

AT least four houses have been destroyed on the southern outskirts of Christchurch as a grass fire, fanned by strong winds, tore through hedgerows, nurseries, farm buildings and a chicken farm.

Despite heavy rain around most of the South Island this week, dry conditions and a strong northwester hampered firefighters' efforts to contain a big fire around the Shands Road area in Prebbleton on Thursday afternoon.

Ten people were reportedly rescued from the area as one house was destroyed by fire and three were in flames.

Cordons were preventing residents returning to their houses, while helicopters and firefighters tried to quell the fire.

They had it under control by 8pm (1800 AEDT) but were expected to continue dampening down through the night. Hedges were still smouldering.

Selwyn District Mayor Kelvin Coe said it was the biggest fire he had seen in the district.

"Some evacuations were rather hastily done, but everyone has been accounted for," he told AAP.

As well as the four houses, a number of structures, such as storage sheds and nurseries had suffered.

Mr Coe was unsure if the affected chicken farm had housed any birds.

Several families would spend the night elsewhere until the damage to their houses could be assessed on Friday, he said.

Police on Thursday night were warning people to stay away from the low-lying bank areas of all Canterbury rivers, after they received reports that a large surge of water was visible from the air moving down the Waimakariri River.

Inspector Trevor Cross of police southern communications later said the surge may have actually been a combination of more flow and discoloured water.

However, Canterbury rivers were still very high and people should stay away from river banks and mouths, he said.

It followed "mini tornadoes" in Kaikoura in the morning, one ripping the roof off a house.

Further north, Air New Zealand cancelled nine regional flights in and out of Wellington as gales blasted the capital.

However, the MetService says the wet and blustery weather is set to turn more benign on Friday.

It had predicted gusts of up to 150km/h in some parts of Canterbury on Thursday and gusts of 140km/h in Wellington, Wairarapa and the Marlborough Sounds.

One wind gust of 230km/h was recorded at the Mt Hutt summit, while there have been gusts of about 120km/h in the Wellington suburb of Kelburn.

More than 15,000 lightning strikes had been detected in one 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday.

The New Zealand Transport Agency says all South Island roads closed by slips and washouts on Thursday are expected to be reopened on Friday, as contractors work to clear slips, repair washouts and clear debris.

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NSW police hunt 'armed and dangerous' man

POLICE are hunting a fugitive they believe is armed and dangerous in the state's west.

A search is underway for Peter James Rowley, 35, who is on the run after he evaded police about 3pm on Thursday by fleeing into bush off the Castlereagh Highway, near Coonamble.

Rowley is wanted in relation to numerous serious domestic violence offences and has access to at least two firearms, police said in a statement on Thursday night.

They warned the public not to approach Rowley, who's described as caucasian, 170cm tall, and solidly built.

He also has a mullet style haircut, many tattoos, and sports a long red goatee beard, police said.

He was last seen wearing a dark coloured shirt, with his right arm bandaged.

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Two Swiss trains collide, 17 injured

TWO passenger trains collided at a train station in northern Switzerland during morning rush hour on Thursday, injuring at least 17 people.

"At least 17 people have been injured. Nine have been hospitalised," Anja Schudela, a local police spokeswoman in the canton of Schaffhouse, told the Blick daily's online edition.

Police said that none of the injuries were serious, according to local daily Schaffhauser Nachrichten.

Initial reports said up to 30 people were injured in the collision.

The crash occurred around 1730 (AEDT) when one crowded train rammed into the side of another at the Neuhausen-am-Rheinfall train station near the German border, the SBB rail company said.

Some 220 rescue workers had been mobilised, and after about two hours all the passengers had been evacuated, police told reporters.

The locomotive of one of the trains, a double-decker that had been heading for Winterthur in the canton of Zurich, had derailed when it was hit by a regional train.

A rescue train that was sent in to help put it back on the track also carried rescue personnel to help with any injuries, SBB spokesman Jean Philippe Schmidt told AFP.

The cause of the crash remained unclear, he said.

"The train hit the emergency breaks and everyone was thrown out of their seats," one of the passengers told the 20minutes.ch website.

"One person was bleeding heavily from the head," he added.

Another passenger told the online paper that he had seen "an old lady lying unconscious on the ground who was bleeding a lot".

A number of ambulances and fire engines were on site.

The train station was closed for the remainder of the day, and rail traffic between Schaffhouse and Dachsen in Zurich, as well as between Schaffhouse and Jestetten in Germany has been halted, according to SBB.

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NSW bikie associate charged with assault

A Nomads bike associate has been charged with assault after an alleged attack at a Sydney nightclub. Source: AAP

AN associate of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle club has been charged with assault over an incident at a Potts Point nightclub.

About 3am on December 25 last year a nightclub patron was allegedly knocked unconscious at a Roslyn Street venue, requiring hospital treatment.

Kings Cross police and officers from Strike Force Raptor executed a search warrant at a Merrylands home on Wednesday, arresting a 25-year-old man in association with the alleged assault.

He was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.

The man was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on January 29.

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Wallan grassfire deliberately lit: Vic CFA

The CFA says a grassfire at Wallan, about 60km north of Melbourne, was probably deliberately lit. Source: AAP

A GRASSFIRE in the Victorian town of Wallan was probably deliberately lit, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says.

The five-hectare blaze broke out at Taylors Lane at Wallan, about 60km north of Melbourne and home to more than 12,000 people, on Wednesday afternoon and took firefighters two and a half hours to control.

CFA operations officer David Harris said it was believed the fire was suspicious.

"It was probably deliberately lit and police are investigating that," he told AAP.

Nearby, there were two other small grassfires at High Camp and Glenaroua, about 40km to the north of Wallan.

Karen Buckley who works at the local pub, Hogans Hotel, said people had gathered there to wait.

"I can see the smoke from the window here," she told AAP.

"We have a couple of local residents actually here with their little dogs, just waiting it out.

"Everyone is just sitting back and just watching."

Ms Buckley said her property is in an estate off Taylors Lane, where her 19-year-old daughter was looking after the family's show dogs and cats.

"She is just worried more about our animals," Ms Buckley said.

Twenty fire trucks and two helicopters were sent to tackle the blaze, which is still burning but under control.

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Fires cause $1m in NSW stock losses

BUSHFIRES caused $1 million in stock losses in NSW before the heatwave threat spread north and brought a temporary easing of furnace conditions.

Authorities breathed a sigh of relief as the gravest day of fire threat in the state's history passed on Tuesday with no one killed or injured, and just one house lost - near Cooma in the Kybeyan Valley in southern NSW.

But 135 fires remained alight on Wednesday, 30 of them uncontained, after burning through a total area of 345,000 hectares.

On Wednesday evening, 30 fires continued to burn uncontained, with NSW Rural Fire Service crews focusing on a fire with a 44km perimeter at Dean's Gap near Nowra, a 16,000 hectare scrub fire near Yass and a 9000-hectare blaze in the Kybeyan Valley, near Cooma.

More than 151 firefighters and 27 trucks are working to contain the Dean's Gap fire burning to the south of Sussex Inlet Road, near Shoalhaven, which is a potential threat to the village of Sussex Inlet and the township of Wandandian.

Meanwhile, police are investigating a fire near Lithgow which has destroyed about 40,000 hectares, which may have been deliberately lit.

So far, five people - including three teenagers - have been charged in relation to starting fires across the state.

One, a 76-year-old man, is alleged to have started a bushfire after using his angle grinder near Mudgee.

Cooler weather in southern NSW helped an estimated 2000 firefighters stay on top of a volatile situation on Wednesday, but authorities are gearing up for a busy weekend, with sweltering conditions forecast to return on Friday.

The cool reprieve was expected to be short-lived, with temperatures forecast to climb back over 40 degrees on Friday.

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said authorities were braced for more dangerous conditions over the weekend.

"We're looking at deteriorating weather on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So the temperatures will be elevated again," he told reporters in Sydney.

"We're going to go into another hot spell and we're looking at potentially three days of that."

The bushfire threat made its way towards northern NSW on Wednesday, but Mr Rogers said authorities were pleased that conditions had not deteriorated as feared.

"We've had the high temperatures in the north of state, but we simply have not had the fire activity that we got in the southern part of the state yesterday."

Premier Barry O'Farrell said the fact that Tuesday had passed without loss of life or homes was a "remarkable tribute" to the planning of the RFS and other emergency services.

He said an estimated 10,000 sheep had been lost in the Yass shire alone, equivalent to $1 million of losses to farmers.

NSW had learned from the devastating 2009 Victorian fires, Mr O'Farrell said on a tour of the Yass shire.

"Whether it's the neighbourhood safety places, the early warnings, the bushfire survival plans and the clarity around whether to come and whether to go, we have learned those lessons," he said.

As three teenage boys charged with deliberately lighting a fire in Sydney's west were released on bail, Mr O'Farrell backed a suggestion from Yass Shire mayor Rowena Abbey that firebugs should be made to face the terrible consequences of fires.

Ms Abbey said arsonists should be made to help put down animals injured in fires they lit.

Mr O'Farrell said he was angry and expressing "community frustration" that the three teenagers were released immediately.

"I still think that keeping them in overnight, for two nights, might have helped sink the message in," he said.

NSW residents in 37 communities fire-affected communities will be able to access emergency natural disaster assistance.

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Cat shot with arrow in WA

A YOUNG boy has found the body of a cat which had been shot with an arrow in the garden of his home at Bunbury in Western Australia.

The cat was taken to a local veterinary surgery for treatment but was found to be dead on arrival.

According to the RSPCA, the cat was shot with either a longbow or compound bow on either Saturday or Sunday.

"People may want to lock their animals inside at night time as an extra precaution," RSPCA Chief Executive David van Ooran said.

"RSPCA is also concerned that this happened in a built-up area where there are other animals and children around as this person is clearly a danger to the public.

"This sort of behaviour is of real concern to the RSPCA and police because case studies in the past have shown that animal cruelty is a warning sign that the offender has the potential to commit future similar crimes on human beings."

Anyone with any information can contact the RSPCA's cruelty complaint line on 1300 278 3589.

AAP alb

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Turkey agrees on PKK peace plan: reports

THE Turkish government and jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan have agreed on a roadmap to end a three-decade-old insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, media reports say.

The deal was reached during a new round of talks between Ankara and Ocalan and aims to have the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) lay down arms in March, private news network NTV and Radikal newspaper reported.

An initial cessation of hostilities was to evolve into a fully-fledged ceasefire agreement over the following months, they said, without revealing their sources for the reported breakthrough.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government recently revealed that the intelligence services had for weeks been talking to Ocalan, who has been held on the island prison of Imrali south of Istanbul since his capture in 1999.

The government is expected to reciprocate the ceasefire by granting wider rights to Turkey's Kurdish minority, whose population is estimated at up to 15 million in the 75-million nation, according to unofficial figures.

The rebels also want the release of hundreds of Kurdish activists held in prisons over links to the PKK as well as the recognition of Kurdish identity in Turkey's new constitution, according to media sources.

But Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) warned the talks were not at the stage of fully-fledged ceasefire negotiations, arguing Ocalan would have to be freed first and given a chance to consult the grassroots.

"The conditions between the parties are just not equal," BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas told fellow MPs on Tuesday.

"And by that, no, I do not mean Erdogan going into Imrali."

Officials have not confirmed the details of the roadmap published in the media.

Hopes of a breakthrough on the Kurdish issue were heightened when two Kurdish MPs were allowed to visit Ocalan last week for the first time.

Around 45,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting between Turkish security forces and the rebels, who took up arms in 1984 under Ocalan's command, to obtain self-rule in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

Previous talks floundered after the PKK leadership demanded the release of Ocalan.

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Depardieu fails to appear in Paris court

GERARD Depardieu, embroiled in a high-profile tax row that saw the French actor take Russian nationality and angrily vow to quit France, has failed to turn up in a Paris court to face drunk-driving charges.

The 64-year-old Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card and Asterix & Obelix star, who has admitted driving his scooter while intoxicated, would have escaped with a small fine and penalty points on his driving licence if he had appeared.

He had been due to appear for sentencing on Tuesday but now faces a criminal court hearing which may lead to a fine of 4500 euros ($A5664) and a possible prison sentence of up to two years.

He was detained in Paris in November after falling off his scooter, which he had been riding while more than three times over the legal alcohol limit.

Depardieu on Monday attended one of football's top award ceremonies, the Ballon d'Or, in Switzerland, after spending the weekend in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin met him and he was given him a Russian passport.

Taking Russian nationality was the latest volley in a highly publicised row between Depardieu and the French government over its attempt to raise the tax rate on earnings of more than one million euros ($A1.26 million) to 75 per cent.

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US gay marriage bans before court in March

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 26 and 26 on the sensitive topic of gay marriage. Source: AAP

THE US Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 26 and 27 on the sensitive topic of gay marriage, one of the thorniest social disputes in modern America.

Same-sex marriage is currently barred by a federal law, yet legal in nine states and the capital, Washington.

The court's announcement last month that it would take up the issue received cheers from opponents and advocates of the practice alike, who said a ruling by the justices could help settle the topic.

In announcing its schedule, the court said it would take up the question of California's ban on same-sex unions first, on March 26, and then the next day hear challenges to a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples.

The court is expected to hand down its ruling in June.

The country's highest court set aside an hour for each case, but observers believe that the hearings could well last much longer, because President Barack Obama's administration as well as a group of elected Republicans have each been called to give their opinions.

On March 26, the Supreme Court will consider whether the 14th amendment to the US Constitution, which requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all people, would bar California from defining marriage in its own constitution as "between one man and one woman."

If the court decides against the California ban, its decision could affect the 31 other states that forbid gay marriage in their constitutions or legislation.

Then on March 27, the court will turn to the federal Defence of Marriage Act, or "DOMA," which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman and denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

These benefits include inheritance rights, tax breaks, filing of joint income tax returns, and health insurance coverage.

President Barack Obama's government does not support this view of marriage and would like the law to be overturned, but conservative campaigners are urging the Supreme Court to rule that the act is constitutional.

The court will focus on the case of Edith Windsor, a gay woman legally married in Canada who has been told to pay tax on inheriting the estate of her deceased partner.

The Supreme Court will rule whether DOMA violates the guarantee of equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the US constitution.

It will also decide if the Obama administration's position that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives the Supreme Court of jurisdiction, and whether a complaint by some US MPs has legal standing.

There are 50,000 to 80,000 same-sex couples who have been married legally in the US.

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Eurozone unemployment hits record 11.8%

THE unemployment rate across the troubled eurozone rose to a record 11.8 per cent in November, European Union data showed on Tuesday.

Up from 11.7 per cent in October, the number of people out of work in the 17-state currency area, home to some 330 million people, is now nudging 19 million -- an increase of more than two million on the dole compared to the level one year earlier.

While the jobless numbers exceeded 26 million for the first time across the full EU, which includes Britain and Poland, the gap is growing between the eurozone and its outer EU neighbours, with the EU as a whole recording an unchanged 10.7 per cent unemployment rate.

There were more jobless over the past year, according to Eurostat data, in the eurozone -- where the number of unemployed was 2.015 million claimants compared to 2.012 million for the 27-state EU.

Facing a bust property boom and riddled with bad debt in its banks, Spain recorded the highest unemployment rate of all the European countries -- at 26.6 per cent, worse even than Greece.

Among under-25s, both countries saw unemployment rates hovering around 57 per cent.

According to Eurostat figures seasonally-adjusted for comparative purposes, the November unemployment rate in key rival economies was 7.8 per cent for the United States and 4.1 per cent for Japan.

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12 Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey: report

TURKISH troops have killed 12 Kurdish rebels in fighting in southeast Turkey, state television says.

Tuesday's fighting came despite talks between government officials and the rebels' imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, aimed at ending the 28-year-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

TRT television said a group of rebels attempted to attack a military post near the border with Iraq, sparking clashes that left at least 12 of the rebel fighters dead. There was no mention of casualties among the troops.

The government said talks with Ocalan, who is jailed on an island off Istanbul, were aimed at convincing rebels to disarm.

Officials said the military would press ahead with anti-rebel operations even as the talks continue.

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Hong Kong stocks close 0.94% lower

HONG Kong shares ended 0.94 per cent lower Tuesday, pulled down by profit-taking and falls in Chinese insurers, in line with losses on bourses across the region and on Wall Street.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 218.56 points to 23,111.19 on turnover of HK$82.78 billion ($A10.22 billion).

The index lost ground for a third straight session after hitting a 19-month high last week after US politicians clinched a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax hikes.

Traders were growing nervous as it sank in that the US budget crisis was far from over, with more battles looming in Congress next month, analysts said.

Politicians will need to decide on the spending cuts, an issue that was merely delayed by the original fiscal cliff deal, as well as on raising the United States' borrowing limit.

"Investors have gradually come to the realisation that the problem is merely being delayed for two months, not solved," said Alvin Cheung, associate director at Prudential Brokerage.

Chinese insurers led falls in blue-chip stocks after US private equity firm Carlyle exited its investment in China Pacific Insurance by selling its remaining stake in the firm for almost $US800 million.

China Pacific dropped 2.6 per cent to HK$30.20, China Life tumbled 3.3 per cent to HK$26.30, and Ping An dropped 4.0 per cent to HK$68.15, making it the worst-performing blue chip.

Chinese shares closed down 0.41 per cent on profit-taking. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 9.29 points to 2,276.07 on turnover of 106.4 billion yuan.

The index has rebounded nearly 17 per cent since hitting a near four-year low of 1,949.46 points on December 4.

Dealers now have their eyes on trade, inflation and gross domestic product data over the next week.

"An adjustment in the stock market is warranted, given December's huge gains," said Zhou Xu, an analyst at Nanjing Securities.

Ping An Insurance lost 3.73 per cent to 45.46 yuan, while Everbright Securities fell 2.94 per cent to 13.56 yuan and the Bank of Beijing dropped 2.75 per cent to 9.19 yuan.

Henan Dayou Energy fell 2.45 per cent to 20.71 yuan, while Yangquan Coal Industry shed 1.60 per cent to 14.12 yuan.

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Paradise burns in Dunalley blaze

DUNALLEY'S afternoon sky turned black.

Moments later, Tony Disipio's personal "Camelot" was a paradise lost.

The landscape gardener lost his home and most of his possessions when a bushfire tore through the Tasman Peninsula on Friday, leaving most of the buildings in Dunalley in ruins.

Disipio barely escaped with his life.

"When the plume came across, the sky just went black ... it was like an eclipse," he told AAP at a refuge centre in Hobart on Monday.

"My two neighbours and I had agreed to stay together to defend our places, but I look up and I saw them leaving in their utes.

"There were so many spot fires, I just couldn't stay."

When it was safe to return that evening, Disipio said everything was gone.

"It was like a war zone. Power poles on the ground, houses still on fire."

He was still waiting to hear about the fate of one of his neighbours on Monday afternoon.

Disipio said he wasn't sure if he would be able to rebuild in the town he had called home for the past 25 years.

"That's a really tough question," he said.

"It was such a beautiful place. It was my paradise, man, just like Camelot."

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Hong Kong stocks end flat on profit-taking

HONG Kong shares ended flat on Monday, with positive US jobs data offset by profit-taking after the index hit a 19-month high last week.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index dipped 1.34 points to close at 23,329.75 on turnover of HK$81.28 billion.

However analysts say the uptrend remains intact, with the positive outlook based on expectations the Chinese economy is on its way out of its slumber.

Traders cashed in after shares jumped last week in the wake of the US deal to avert the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts that economists had warned would tip the country into recession.

Providing some buying support was news out of Washington on Friday showing the world's biggest economy added 155,000 jobs in December.

Internet giant Tencent fell 1.4 per cent to HK$255.60 but is still up 2.7 per cent for this year.

Among China banks ICBC dipped 0.7 per cent to HK$5.75 and China Construction Bank slipped 0.2 per cent to HK$6.49.

But Hong Kong property stocks rallied. Sun Hung Kai rose 2.1 per cent to HK$121.30 and Henderson Land jumped 2.8 per cent to HK$57.30 while Cheung Kong closed up 2.2 per cent at HK$123.50.

Chinese shares closed up 0.37 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 8.37 points to 2,285.36 on turnover of 96.9 billion yuan ($US15.5 billion).

"The overall market will likely continue to rise as earlier economic indicators have pointed to a recovery in the domestic economy," Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP.

Dealers are looking ahead to the release Friday of key data from Beijing, including inflation figures, with hopes rising that it will add to recent signs of improvement.

The figures come after two surveys last week showed manufacturing activity picked up in December.

Banking stocks rose on hopes of better corporate earnings after Pudong Development Bank at the weekend reported a more than 25 per cent increase in net profit for last year. Its shares rose 2.99 per cent to 10.32 yuan on Monday.

China Minsheng Banking Corp jumped 4.26 per cent to 8.32 yuan and Industrial Bank gained 3.40 per cent to 17.36 yuan.

But property developers fell on profit-taking. Poly Real Estate lost 1.76 per cent to 13.94 yuan while Beijing Capital Development shed 1.44 per cent to 13.00 yuan.

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Barnett declines two more election debates

The WA premier (pic) has refused to hold two extra debates before the state election. Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has knocked back a challenge from Opposition leader Mark McGowan for three televised debates in the lead up to the state election in March.

Mr McGowan wanted one debate managed by the media, one in a regional town and one in Perth where the public could ask questions about core issues including traffic congestion, employment and the cost of living.

"I think West Australians are dying for more information," he said.

Mr McGowan said it was important to allow the public to see the debates "unvarnished, unedited and unscripted".

However, Mr Barnett said he would not agree to having three debates.

"As has been the convention in previous state elections, there will only be one leaders' debate - a television debate," he said.

Meanwhile, Nationals WA state president Colin Holt has ruled out preferencing Labor ahead of the Liberal Party in all lower house seats.

The Nationals negotiated with both parties after the previous election and eventually helped the Liberals form government.

Mr Holt said on Monday that the Nationals would continue its alliance with the Liberal Party in the hopes of forming a stable alliance government.

He said the Labor Party wanted to remove the Royalties for Regions program and would preference the Liberal Party ahead of The Nationals to do it.

"Labor has ruled out forming government with the Nationals and the feeling is mutual," Mr Holt said.

Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls said the party was determined to win enough seats to ensure it could retain the balance of power on behalf of regional West Australians.

Mr McGowan said the announcement was not surprising and it was a facade that the Nationals were independent.

"Mr Grylls (and) the National Party, can't pretend to be independent anymore," he said.

"They are now part of the Liberal Party machine.

"All of their promises need to be added together."

The ABC has reported it is hoping to show one leaders' debate on February 19.

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Police arrest man after police shooting

A 24-YEAR-OLD Footscray man has been arrested after a police shooting early on Monday morning in which two officers shot at a stolen car that was speeding towards them.

The drama occurred at 12.40am (AEDT) in Maribyrnong, in the inner west, and a short time later two women arrived at the Western Hospital, one with a gunshot wound to her leg.

The man driving the car remained at large.

At 8.10pm on Monday Special Operations Group members arrested a man at a Melton address in Melbourne's west.

He is helping police with inquiries.

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Indian rape case - judge closes trial

The father of the gang-rape victim has revealed his daughter's identity to a British newspaper. Source: AAP

AN Indian magistrate has ruled to exclude the media from pre-trial hearings or the trial of the five men accused of raping and killing a young student in the Indian capital, a police official says.

Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal on Monday upheld the prosecutor's request that the media be barred from attending the proceedings, according to police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.

Hundreds of journalists, lawyers and onlookers had jammed the courtroom where the five were to appear.

The Monday hearing was expected to result in the case being sent to a special "fast-track" court.

Indian courts are notoriously slow, with some cases dragging on for decades. The trial is expected to begin in the coming days. Indian rape trials are normally closed to the media.

Authorities have charged the men with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty. The crime caused nationwide outrage, leading to massive protests.

A sixth suspect, who is 17 years old, was expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said last week that a DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim matched bloodstains found on the clothes of all the accused.

On Sunday, two of the defendants offered to become "approvers", or informers against the others, according to reporters present at the hearing. The two were presumably seeking lighter sentences.

The companion of the student recounted in a television interview last week how the pair was attacked for 2 1/2 hours on a New Delhi bus before being thrown on the side of the road, where passersby ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them.

The student died weeks after the December 16 attack at a hospital in Singapore.

The attack has led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers.

The nation's top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women.

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Depardieu gets Russian passport

French actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with President Vladimir Putin. Source: AAP

FRENCH actor Gerard Depardieu has received a Russian passport and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin's spokesman says.

Putin earlier granted citizenship to Depardieu after the French movie star said he was quitting his homeland to avoid paying a new millionaires' tax.

Depardieu "was handed his passport," the Russian leader's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP on Sunday.

But Putin did not personally hand over the document to the actor when the two met briefly on Saturday at Putin's residence in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Peskov said.

"There was a short meeting," he said, declining to give further details.

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Kuwait jails opposition tweeter

A KUWAITI court has sentenced an opposition youth to two years in jail for writing tweets deemed offensive to the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state, a rights activist says.

Rashed al-Enezi, who was in the courtroom to hear the sentence, was immediately arrested by police and taken to jail, the head of the independent Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad al-Humaidi, told AFP on Sunday.

Enezi is the first to be sentenced among dozens of tweeters, activists and former opposition lawmakers who face similar charges since the government began a clampdown on the opposition in the lead-up to elections held on December 1 last year.

The opposition has been staging regular demonstrations in protest at an amendment of the electoral law and the holding of the the parliamentary vote on the basis of the amended legislation.

It has announced plans to stage a demonstration later on Sunday to demand that parliament be dissolved and the amendment to the electoral law scrapped.

Humaidi said that more than 200 opposition activists, including former lawmakers, face trial on a variety of charges, mainly criticising the emir who is protected against criticism in the constitution.

Among those are around 25 young tweeters who were arrested, interrogated and then freed on bail on charges of insulting the emir.

"The charges were not based on solid accusations but on wrong interpretation of the tweets by authorities. Most of the charges are fabricated," said Humaidi.

The same court is slated to issue verdicts on Monday on another youth tweeter and a member of the scrapped parliament on similar charges.

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Marysville feels for Dunalley

THE residents of Marysville are feeling for people in Dunalley, the picturesque fishing village almost wiped off the map in the Tasman Peninsula bushfires.

Marysville Chamber of Commerce president David Stirling told AAP that he and other town residents know what the Dunalley community is going through.

"Our thoughts are with the people of Dunalley and we know exactly what they are going through," Mr Stirling said.

"We didn't want what happened to us, to happen to anybody else."

Mr Stirling had five businesses destroyed in the February 2009 Black Saturday inferno but has rebuilt and is running the Tower Motel at Marysville along with other accommodation and retail businesses.

"The best thing the Dunalley community can do is focus on itself, look after itself and the other bits and pieces will sort themselves out," he said.

"Stick together as a community."

He said Marysville, which lost 34 people on Black Saturday, had shown that a community devastated by fire can rebuild itself.

"Marysville has rebounded. We've opened up the town and are doing business again," he said.

But Mr Stirling said media reports had painted the town as a danger spot during the current heatwave whereas he believed it was safer now than it's ever been.

"We want people to come up here during the holidays," he said.

"The people of Marysville certainly wouldn't be here if they felt it wasn't safe.

"We rely on tourism and people can repay us by coming back."

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Violence in Syria rages ahead of speech

FIGHTING between Syrian rebels and government forces raged across the country hours before President Bashar Assad is expected to address the nation in his first public appearance in two months, activists say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday rebels fighting to topple the Assad regime have clashed with troops in the southern province of Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising in March 2011.

Violence also raged in opposition strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus, which rebels are using as bases to assail the government's heavy defences in the capital. The regime has responded with a withering assault including barrages by artillery and warplanes.

Assad last spoke publicly in November, vowing to Russia Today TV that he won't step down despite continued opposition to his rule and international sanctions aimed at isolating his regime.

In the November 8 interview, the embattled president dismissed suggestions that he will leave his country as civil war is approaching his seat of power in Damascus, saying he would "live and die in Syria".

It was not clear what new initiative, if any, Assad could announce during his speech.

In each of his previous speeches and interviews, the president has dug in his heels saying his regime is fighting a war against terrorists.

Diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian crisis have failed so far to bring an end to the bloodshed, although the international community continues to push for a peaceful settlement.

The president of the UN Security Council said Thursday there are important developments in efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the 21-month conflict in Syria and there could be another US-Russia meeting with international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week.

Brahimi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov both said after their meeting last week that the Syrian crisis can only be settled through talks, while admitting that neither the government nor the opposition has shown a desire to compromise.

Neither official hinted at a possible solution that would persuade the two sides to agree to a ceasefire and sit down for talks about a political transition.

But Lavrov said Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down - a key opposition demand - and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise.

Russia is a close ally of the Syrian government, and has shielded it from punitive measures at the UN.

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Suicide attacks at Afghan tribal meeting

TWO suicide bombers struck a meeting of community leaders in a southern Afghan town near the border with Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding 15, police said.

One gunman on foot opened fire on guards at the entrance of the council building in Spin Boldak, forced his way inside and detonated himself, while a second attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the outside walls.

"Four people were killed and 15 wounded in the attack," Gorzang Afridi, spokesman for the police chief of Kandahar province, told AFP.

The building partially collapsed, with some of the injured still being rescued from the rubble and a search operation underway to check for any buried bodies, officials said.

Most of the dead and injured were local residents who had gone to the weekly meeting to lodge complaints with tribal elders or to petition them for assistance.

"The figure could rise as more bodies are being searched for," Afridi said.

Witnesses said two explosions were heard followed by small arms fire in Spin Boldak, a volatile town 100 kilometres south of Kandahar city.

"Every Sunday the local shura (council) meets at the administrative building, that is where the attack happened," said Mohammad Ali, the border police chief.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants often say that they planned suicide bombings after the blasts.

The Taliban have waged a bloody insurgency against foreign and Afghan forces since being ousted from power in a 2001 invasion led by the United States.

Many militant leaders are based in safe havens across the porous border with Pakistan.

The last major suicide attack in Afghanistan occurred on December 26 at a US military base near the eastern city of Khost, killing at least three Afghans and wounding seven others.

It came two days after an Afghan policewoman shot dead a US NATO adviser inside Kabul police headquarters, the latest "insider" attack by a member of Afghanistan's security forces on their foreign allies.

NATO is handing over security duties to Afghan forces as it prepares to withdraw the bulk of its 100,000 troops by 2014, but there are fears the country will descend into civil war when foreign soldiers leave.

President Hamid Karzai travels to Washington this week for talks with President Barack Obama on a bilateral security pact, with the issue of some US troops remaining in Afghanistan after 2014 high on the agenda.

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