Red Cross chief demands access in Syria

The head of the Red Cross has asked for international help in gaining broader access to Syria. Source: AAP

THE head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has called on all sides of the Syrian conflict to help his organisation access more of the war-ravaged country with desperately needed aid.

Peter Maurer told AFP in an interview that his organisation had distributed food and other urgent aid items to more than 1.5 million people last year, and had helped 17 million Syrians access safe water.

Yet, "this is insufficient compared to the negative impact of this conflict on the civilian population. We would like to do much more," he said, lamenting that there were a number of places in Syria out of reach to most aid workers.

According to United Nations figures, more than 60,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011, while some 730,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries.

"Nowhere else in the world is there an armed conflict that is as unpredictable within such large boundaries and affecting as many people," said Maurer, who visited Damascus in September last year, just months after he took over the helm of the ICRC.

"Our ambition is to continue to expand the surface we cover in Syria, and I really hope we can do more tomorrow and the day after," Maurer said, calling on all parties in the conflict to help the ICRC and other aid workers "reach the people we have to reach."

The most important thing for his organisation, he said, was "that all parties of the conflict respect the role of the ICRC (and) respect the special protection of medical facilities, of ambulances and doctors and nurses".

Since his three-day visit to Syria and meetings with Assad in September, Maurer said the Syrian president had kept some of his promises of increased access and the ICRC had noticed some improvements.

Yet other promises had not been kept, he said, without specifying which ones.

He stressed that he did "not want to go to Syria before we have some assurances that progress will be made" or before the regime gave him the green light to travel beyond Damascus.

"In light of the current situation, I cannot go to Syria if I am not able to travel to other regions of Syria," he said.

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Woman's body washes up on beach

Police have established a crime scene after the body of a woman washed up on a south Sydney beach. Source: AAP

A WOMAN'S body has washed up on a Sydney beach.

Police were called to Green Hills beach at Cronulla, in the city's south, about 5.15pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

The body is that of a woman believed to be in her 40s. Police have establish a crime scene.

The incident is being considered an unexplained death.

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Man charged over Sydney break-in

A man has been charged over an alleged break-in that has left an elderly man critically injured. Source: AAP

A MAN has been charged over an alleged break-in at a home in Moorebank, in Sydney's southwest, that left an elderly man in critical condition in hospital.

A 78-year-old man and his wife returned to their Moorebank home at midday on Monday to find a man in the house.

The woman left the room and returned to find her husband on the floor.

He was taken to Liverpool Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.

About 11.25am (AEDT) on Friday, police arrested a 53-year-old man at an office in Fairfield.

He has been charged with special aggravated break and enter, and committing a serious indictable offence.

The man was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

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Skaf rapist granted weekend leave

ANOTHER of the Skaf rapists has been granted weekend leave in a move to integrate him back into the Sydney community.

The young man has reached his non-parole period and has been granted day release, which is expected to start in coming weeks.

Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said the 29-year-old's weekend leave was recommended by the independent Serious Offenders Review Council and also the State Parole Authority.

"External leave is the normal progression for all inmates as they are prepared to re-integrate into the community and it is considered appropriate for this inmate because his non-parole period has expired, he is compliant and has participated in all programs," Mr Severin told AAP in a statement on Saturday.

"He will be electronically monitored with random spot visits by field officers and must submit to a strict schedule and the supervision of an approved sponsor."

It is understood the young man had his name suppressed at his trial, and Judge Michael Finane ordered it never to be lifted due to the man's intellectual and mental disabilities.

His co-accused Mohamed Sanoussi, 28, was denied parole in October last year but the State Parole Authority indicated it would grant parole in 2013.

His parole will be reconsidered later this year.

They were two of nine young males convicted of the August 2000 gang rapes of young girls at various locations in Sydney.

A total of 14 males took part in the attacks.

Brothers Bilal Skaf and Mohammed Skaf were among the convicted rapists and led the attacks.

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Woman assaulted in Melbourne's inner east

A WOMAN has been sexually assaulted in Melbourne's inner suburbs, police say.

The 24-year-old woman was walking along Grandview Grove in Prahran about 5.50pm (AEDT) on Thursday when a man grabbed her from behind and sexually assaulted her, police said.

The woman managed to break free before the man ran off.

He is described as being of Southern European appearance, between 40 and 45 years of age, of medium build and with straight, collar-length hair.

At the time of the attack, he was wearing green trousers and a dark long sleeve top.

Police are urging any witnesses to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Call for Iraqi Sunnis to take up arms

AN al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq has called on Sunnis to take up arms against the Shi'ite-led government, as sectarian tensions and large Sunni protests increase.

In an audio statement posted on Friday on the website of the Islamic State of Iraq, spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani says Sunnis can bow to the Shi'ites or to take up arms to restore "dignity and freedom."

Al-Adnani says recent Sunni protests against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki mark the end of Sunni humiliation in Iraq.

Thousands of Sunnis rallied on Friday in the city of Fallujah in the western province of Anbar.

Protesters complain of official discrimination, saying anti-terrorism laws and other policies largely target minority Sunnis.

The protests were sparked by the December arrests of bodyguards of a senior Sunni politician.

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Wall Street Journal hit by Chinese hackers

The Wall Street Journal has reported that its computers had been hit by Chinese hackers. Source: AAP

THE Wall Street Journal said its computers had been hit by Chinese hackers, becoming the latest US media organisation to report a bid to spy on its journalists covering China.

The announcement came a day after The New York Times said hackers, possibly connected to China's military, had infiltrated its computers in response to its expose of the vast wealth amassed by a top leader's family.

The Journal reported that the attacks were "for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage" and suggested that Chinese spying on US media has become a "widespread phenomenon."

"Evidence shows that infiltration efforts target the monitoring of the Journal's coverage of China, and are not an attempt to gain commercial advantage or to misappropriate customer information," said a statement from Journal parent Dow Jones, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US government had noted an increase in hacking attacks on both state institutions and private companies, and would raise the issue in international forums.

"We have to begin making it clear to not only the Chinese... that the United States is going to be having to take actions to protect not only our governments but our private sector from this kind of illegal intrusion," she said.

"We're going to try to get legislation passed which we were unsuccessful in doing in the last Congress," she told journalists at a briefing to mark the end of her term as America's top diplomat.

The Journal gave no timeline for the attacks but said a network overhaul to bolster security had been completed on Thursday.

"We fully intend to continue the aggressive and independent journalism for which we are known," Dow Jones spokeswoman Paula Keve said.

On Wednesday, the Times reported that hackers had infiltrated computer systems and stolen staff passwords over the past four months.

The effort was particularly focused on the emails of Shanghai bureau chief David Barboza, the newspaper said.

Barboza wrote a story that said close relatives of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had made billions of dollars in business dealings.

"Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times's network," the newspaper said, citing a wealth of digital evidence gathered by its security experts.

China did not immediately comment on the Journal's allegations, but on Thursday Beijing dismissed the Times's accusations as "groundless."

"To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing.

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Floods close Rocky airport, major highway

THE airport at Rockhampton will be closed, along with the major highway into the city, as the swollen Fitzroy River peaks at a higher than anticipated 8.7 metres.

The weather bureau had earlier expected the flooded river in central Queensland to peak at 8.5 metres in the early hours of Saturday morning.

But by late Friday afternoon, the Fitzroy was already at that level and the Bureau of Meteorology was reassessing its forecasts.

Rockhampton Regional Council issued an alert on Friday night, warning of floodwaters in the crocodile-infested river reaching a new peak of 8.7 metres by Saturday night.

The level is still below the 9.2 metres the river reached in 2011 but it means Rockhampton Airport will be closed after the final passenger flights leave on Friday night.

However, the airport remains open for emergency flights, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

A council spokeswoman said an assessment of levels recorded upstream led to the new flood assessment.

"The decision was not made lightly and was made having regard for the safety of our community and will be reassessed in the morning," she said in a statement.

The Yeppen roundabout on the Bruce Highway, south of Rockhampton, is closed to light vehicles and motorcycles but will remain open longer for four-wheel drives.

The Yeppen crossing had earlier remained open despite 10cm of water covering the roadway.

On Friday morning, Rockhampton deputy mayor Tony Williams predicted 1100 backyards would be flooded if the river reached 8.5 metres, but for that to happen the river would have to rise higher than currently forecast.

He told reporters that floodwaters would recede within 24 to 36 hours, compared with 2011 when it took three weeks.

A week after ex-tropical cyclone Oswald hit the Queensland coast, roads in Rockhampton's low-lying suburbs such as Depot Hill and Berserker are closed as floodwaters lap below some houses on stilts.

Meanwhile, beef farmers upstream of Rockhampton, which is known as the beef capital of Australia, are counting the costs as floodwaters there recede.

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Israel slams UN report on settlements

ISRAEL has slammed as "biased" a report by the UN Human Rights Council calling on the Jewish state to halt all settlement activity, saying it would only hamper peace efforts.

"The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by its systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another unfortunate reminder of that," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Thursday.

The report, which was written by three independent experts, calls on Israel to immediately stop building on occupied Palestinian land and to start pulling out its Jewish settlers, who number more than 500,000.

"Israel must ... cease all settlement activities without preconditions (and) must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers," they wrote, saying the settlements were causing Palestinian human rights to be "violated consistently and on a daily basis".

But the Israeli foreign ministry said the report would hurt peace efforts.

"Counterproductive measures, such as the report before us, will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict," Palmor said in a statement.

"The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without pre-conditions."

Israel cut all ties with the 47-member state council in March 2012 after the body announced it would probe how Israeli settlements may be infringing on the rights of the Palestinians.

The experts, who will present their findings to the council on March 18, were not able to visit Israel or the Palestinian territories, after failing to secure Israeli permission, and instead met in Jordan with more than 50 people affected by the settlements or working in NGOs in a relevant field, it said.

The report was published two days after Israel became the first country ever to boycott a UN Human Rights Council review, in a move linked to the settlement report.

The Jewish state is not a member of the council but like all 193 UN countries it is required to undergo Universal Periodic Reviews of its human rights situation.

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Australia condemns Japan whaling boat

A JAPANESE whaling boat has annoyed the federal government by entering Australian waters in the Southern Ocean.

Environment Minister Tony Burke says the government has confirmed that a whaling support boat from Japan, the Shonan Maru No.2, has entered Australia's exclusive economic zone near Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.

"Australia has made it clear to Japan on a number of occasions that vessels associated with its Japanese whaling program are not welcome in Australia's exclusive economic zone or territorial sea," Mr Burke said in a statement on Thursday.

The minister said the boat was a non-whaling support ship, which was part of the fleet accompanying whaling vessels.

"Our embassy in Tokyo has conveyed these sentiments directly to the Japanese government," Mr Burke said.

Bob Brown, mission leader of anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd, commended Australia for raising the issue with the Japanese government.

"This vessel has armed personnel aboard," Dr Brown said in a statement.

"It is an affront to Australia that it is entering our territorial waters surrounding the World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island, which is part of Tasmania."

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Ryanair ordered to pay for volcano chaos

THE European Court of Justice has ordered Irish airline Ryanair to compensate passengers whose travel plans were thrown into chaos by the 2010 eruption of an Icelandic volcano.

The court was ruling on a case brought by an Irish citizen that has implications for travellers on all carriers in European Union airspace should unpredictable events wreak havoc with schedules in the future.

Its decision on Thursday could also have an impact on prices in the budget market.

The judges said that when flights are cancelled in "extraordinary" circumstances such as the eruption, which sent a giant ash cloud floating across Western Europe and beyond, even low-cost airlines had an "obligation" to lodge and feed passengers until they could finish their journey.

Denise McDonagh brought the case to a Dublin court after her flight from Faro, Portugal to Dublin was cancelled.

She had a five-day wait before flights between Ireland and the rest of the continent were re-established and a seven-day delay before she got home.

The Icelandic volcano erupted in April 2010, spewing a massive cloud of ash that caused the planet's biggest airspace shutdown since World War II, with more than 100,000 flights cancelled and eight million passengers stranded.

In an experience familiar to many passengers, the company refused to cover any of McDonagh's expenses during the delay.

However, the judges ordered Ryanair to pay her almost 1330 euros ($A1746) to cover costs incurred during the week in limbo.

Irish judges had asked the EU's top court to rule on whether the volcanic eruption constituted "extraordinary" circumstances.

The court said there was no category of "particularly extraordinary" that would allow carriers to avoid their obligations.

The judges also said there should be no time limit on claims for such compensation, exposing Ryanair especially to a substantial bill.

Other big airlines are understood to have mostly dealt with their own backlogs of compensation claims from travellers.

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South Korean tycoon gets four years jail

THE head of South Korea's third largest conglomerate, the SK Group, has been sentenced to four years in jail after being convicted of embezzling almost $US50 million ($A48.27 million).

The sentence passed on Thursday was seen as relatively tough in a country where convicted business tycoons are often given suspended prison terms in recognition of their apparent contribution to the national economy.

The court ruled that Chey Tae-Won, 53, had embezzled 49.7 billion won ($A44.02 million) from two affiliates and funnelled the money into a firm for investments in stock futures and options in 2008.

The SK Group boss had remained free since he was indicted a year ago.

Chey would appeal the verdict, said the energy-to-telecom conglomerate, which includes top mobile carrier SK Telecom.

It was not Chey's first conviction.

In 2003 he was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a $US1.3 billion accounting fraud.

He was released after just seven months and in 2008 was granted a full presidential pardon.

It is not unusual for senior executives with convictions for crimes including tax evasion and embezzlement to remain in charge of South Korea's family-dominated conglomerates.

The Seoul Central District Court said in a statement that Chey had betrayed the public trust in his group.

"He should be reproached for using subsidiaries as a tool for his crime," it said.

Chey's younger brother and group vice chairman Chey Jae-Won was acquitted on charges that he was a knowing accomplice to the embezzlement.

South Korea has a long history of pardoning powerful tycoons.

Hyundai Motor head Chung Mong-Koo, who had been convicted of embezzlement and other charges, was pardoned in 2008, and Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-Hee - convicted of tax evasion - was pardoned in 2009.

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US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

A GUNMAN has boarded a school bus in the US state of Alabama, shot dead the driver and kidnapped a six-year-old, whom he is now holding in an underground bunker, local media are reporting.

WSFA television said the man boarded the bus at around 3.40pm on Tuesday, shot the bus driver and took one of the children to an underground shelter, where police are currently communicating with him through a PVC pipe.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment, but Sergeant Rachel David of the Dothan Police Department confirmed to WSFA that an adult male had been shot during the incident and that the suspect was "not in custody".

"We are at the very beginning of this investigation," she said.

WSFA, a CNN affiliate, said area roads had been closed and three local school systems had cancelled classes on Wednesday over the hostage situation.

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H&M net profit rises 6.6% to $2.59bn

SWEDISH clothing retailer H&M says its net profit rose by 6.6 per cent to 16.9 billion kronor ($A2.59 billion) in 2012 and it increased its market share despite a difficult operating environment.

Gross sales by the world's No.2 clothing retailer rose by 9.4 per cent to 141 billion kronor in the financial year that ended November 30, but net sales measured at constant exchange rates gained only one per cent, the company said.

"H&M continues to stand strong in a challenging clothing market which in many countries has been even more challenging in 2012 compared to 2011," chief executive Karl-Johan Persson said in a statement.

The company said its earnings were hit by the costs of its long-term investments as well as negative currency exchange effects.

It proposed holding the dividend steady at 9.5 kronor per share.

H&M said its expansion was faster than expected in 2012, with 304 new stores, primarily in China and the United States.

The company which makes and sells inexpensive clothes currently has 2,800 stores in 48 markets and more than 104,000 employees.

It plans to open 325 stores in this financial year, including in Chile and in Indonesia via a franchise.

H&M said its new fashion brand & Other Stories, targeted at women, will open its first stores in the coming months in seven European countries.

Persson said despite not yet generating revenue the company believed its long-term investments "to be both necessary and wise as they aim to secure future expansion and profits and thereby further strengthen H&M's position."

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Asian markets rise on Dow lead

ASIAN markets have climbed, with Japan's Nikkei leading the way, fuelled by continuing weakness in the yen and a powerful performance on Wall Street, where the Dow closed near its record high.

Traders are keeping a close eye on the United States, where the Federal Reserve is due to end a two-day policy meeting, with analysts expecting it to carry on with its loose monetary policy.

Tokyo on Wednesday jumped 2.28 per cent, or 247.23 points, to 11,113.95, its highest finish since April 2010, and Sydney rose up 0.16 per cent, or 7.7 points, to 4,896.7. Seoul closed up 0.43 per cent, or 8.47 points, at 1,964.43.

Hong Kong stocks ended 0.71 per cent higher, adding 166.89 points to 23,822.06 and Shanghai gained 1.00 per cent, or 23.50 points, to 2,382.48.

The euro and dollar extended their gains against the yen in response to the Bank of Japan's pledge of unlimited easing last week and its target of two per cent inflation.

Investors took on board a comment from Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso, who, defending the country's easing policies against criticism from abroad, said the yen's "excessive strength is in correction".

A senior dealer at a major bank in Tokyo said: "The comment is nothing new so it can't push up the pair like a rocket anymore, but it still has some power left."

In afternoon Tokyo trade, the US dollar gained to Y91.12, from Y90.72 in New York on Tuesday, while the euro fetched Y123.05, from Y122.42.

The single currency also bought $US1.3505 against $US1.3493.

On Wall Street, the Dow rose 0.52 per cent to finish just 1.5 per cent below its all-time closing high seen in October 2007, despite a lack of buying incentives and a weaker-than-expected consumer confidence reading.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.51 per cent and the Nasdaq was flat.

US dealers are awaiting the outcome of the Fed's policy meeting later in the day, looking for new clues to the state of the world's biggest economy. That will be followed on Friday by data on job creation.

Oil prices were mixed. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, rose 11 US cents to $US97.68 a barrel in the afternoon, while Brent North Sea crude for March delivery gained 10 US cents to $US114.46.

Gold was at $US1,667.16 at 1910 AEDT, compared with $US1,661.10 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

- Taipei rose 0.40 per cent, or 30.98 points, to 7,832.98.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.50 per cent higher at $Tw101.5 while leading smartphone maker HTC added 1.93 per cent to $Tw290.0.

- Manila added 0.59 per cent, or 36.50 points, to 6,271.23.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co added 1.4 per cent to close at 2,844 pesos and Metro Pacific Investments rose 4.0 per cent to 5.22 pesos.

- Wellington rose 1.13 per cent, or 47.26 points, to close at a five-year high 4,247.55.

Telecom added 1.91 per cent to $NZ2.359 and Fletcher Building gained 1.40 per cent to end at $NZ9.39.

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British couple find backyard treasure

A BACKYARD stone trough used by a British couple to grow flowers for more 30 years has been identified as an ancient Roman sarcophagus with a six-figure value.

Left behind by previous property owners, the two-metre coffin is covered with elaborate carvings of mythical creatures.

It wasn't until the couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, saw a photo of a similar object in a newspaper that they realised it might be something significant, British newspaper The Times reported.

Specialists have since identified the planter box as the sarcophagus of a wealthy Roman woman, carved from a single piece of Carrara marble and dating back to the first or second century AD.

Initial estimates value the casket at more than STG100,000 ($A151,607)

The owners plan to remove the shrubs and soil before sending the item to auction on February 14.

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Beijing hit by thick smog

Pollution levels in Beijing have risen above index limits as a dense haze shrouds parts of China. Source: AAP

THICK smog is covering eastern China for the second time in about two weeks, forcing airlines to cancel flights and prompting Beijing to temporarily shut factories and curtail fleets of government cars.

Pedestrians donned face masks to protect themselves from the caustic air as the capital was shrouded in a white haze where only the outlines of buildings and street lamps could be seen.

The flight cancellations stranded passengers during the first week of the country's peak six-week period for travel around the Chinese New Year on February 10.

The US Embassy reported an hourly peak level of PM2.5 - tiny particulate matter that can penetrate deep into the lungs - at 526 micrograms per cubic metre.

That's "beyond index" and more than 20 times higher than World Health Organisation safety levels over a 24-hour period.

Liu Peng, an employee at a financial institution in Beijing, says he'll keep his newborn baby indoors.

"It's really bad for your health, obviously," Liu said.

"I bike to work every day and always wear a mask. The pollution in recent years is probably due to the increase in private cars and government cars."

Visibility was less than 100 metres in some areas of eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 100 flights were cancelled in the eastern city of Zhengzhou, 33 in Beijing, 20 in Qingdao and 13 in Jinan.

Every year, China's transport system bursts at the seams as tens of millions of people travel for the Lunar New Year holiday, in the world's largest seasonal migration of people.

Ren Haiqiang, a bank worker in his early 30s, said he had booked tickets to fly out of Beijing on Thursday to visit family in the coastal city of Dalian but was now worried about flight cancellations.

"Travelling over the holiday is already a huge hassle, along with all the gift-giving and family visits.

"We thought flying would be the best way to avoid the crush but if the weather continues like this we'll be in real trouble," Ren said as he waited in line at a bakery in downtown Beijing.

Beijing's city government ordered 103 heavily polluting factories to suspend production and told government departments and state-owned enterprises to reduce their use of cars by a third, Xinhua said. The measures last until Thursday.

Beijing's official readings for PM2.5 were lower than the embassy's - 433 micrograms per cubic metre at one point in the afternoon - but even that level is considered "severe" and prompted the city government to advise residents to stay indoors as much as possible.

Because there was no wind, the smog probably would not dissipate quickly, the government said.

Patients seeking treatment for respiratory ailments rose by about 30 per cent over the past month at the Jiangong Hospital in downtown Beijing, Emergency Department chief Cui Qifeng said.

"People tend to catch colds or suffer from lung infections during the days with heavily polluted air," he said.

Air pollution has long been a problem in Beijing, but the country has been more open about releasing statistics on PM2.5 - considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other pollutants - only since early last year.

The city hit its highest readings on January 12, when US Embassy readings of PM2.5 reached as high as 886 micrograms per cubic metre.

Celebrity real estate developer Pan Shiyi, who has previously pushed for cities to publish more detailed air quality data and who is a delegate to Beijing's legislature, is calling for a Clean Air Act. By late Tuesday afternoon his online poll had received more than 29,000 votes, with 99 per cent in favour.

On Monday, Wang Anshun was elected Beijing's mayor after telling lawmakers the municipal government should make more efforts to fight air pollution, according to Xinhua.

Last week, he announced plans to remove 180,000 older vehicles from the city's roads and promote government cars and heating systems that use clean energy.

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Pyjamas deemed inappropriate for school

BRITISH teenagers have been banned from wearing onesie pyjamas to school after they donned the giant jumpsuits when temperatures plummeted.

Chailey School in East Sussex last week told students they could wear warmer clothes to cope with the freezing weather gripping the United Kingdom.

But teachers were dismayed when students started turning up to class in the all-in-one pyjamas, local newspaper The Argus reported.

In a letter to parents the school clarified: "It is not appropriate or acceptable - as has occurred in a few cases - for students to wear onesies."

The school said warm clothes such as jumpers, jackets, hats and gloves were much more acceptable.

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Jordan's last king-appointed PM resigns

JORDAN'S last prime minister appointed by the king has resigned, making way for a successor who will be elected by the country's new parliament.

The palace says King Abdullah II on Tuesday asked outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to stay on as caretaker until the 150-member legislature elected last Wednesday picks the next premier.

The king is expected to gradually surrender more powers to the parliament, giving it a freer hand in legislation and in monitoring the cabinet.

The process is part of reforms Abdullah initiated two years ago under pressure from street protests demanding less royal authority and more power to MPs.

Jordan's fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood - the country's largest opposition group - boycotted the polls to protest against an election law it says favours the king's supporters.

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Huge numbers of Syrians flee fighting

MORE than 700,000 Syrian refugees have registered or are awaiting registration in neighbouring countries as the conflict in their war-torn country spirals out of control, the UN's refugee agency says.

"We've had a huge push in the last few weeks. The needs are enormous," UNHCR spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes told AFP on Tuesday.

She said a colleague on the ground had complained that "we cannot get to everyone fast enough".

The number of Syrians registered as refugees or awaiting processing in the surrounding countries had reached 703,314 by late Monday, she said.

Of that number, more than 581,000 were registered and aid workers were doing their best to scale up the registration process "to clear the backlog."

Wilkes said at this time last year the UN agency was registering only a few hundred Syrian refugees each month in Lebanon.

"Now, the aim is to register 45,000 a month," she said, adding that the current average stands at about 32,000.

In Jordan, which has seen a massive influx in recent weeks, "the plan is for the month of February alone to try to register 50,000 people," Wilkes said.

About four million Syrians rely on international assistance to cope with the fallout from the 22-month old conflict in which the UN estimates more than 60,000 people have died.

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US police probe Chris Brown assault claim

GRAMMY-WINNING singer Chris Brown is under investigation for an alleged assault in a West Hollywood parking lot, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said early Monday.

Deputies responding to a report of six men fighting Sunday night found the scene clear, but were told by witnesses that there had been a brief fight over a parking space.

"The altercation allegedly led to Chris Brown punching the victim," the department said in a statement released early on Monday morning.

The "victim" wasn't identified but the celebrity website TMZ - which first reported the fight outside the Westlake Recording Studio - said it also involved Frank Ocean, one of the top nominees at Grammy Awards next month.

In a Twitter posting later, Ocean said he "got jumped by (Brown) and a couple guys" and suffered a finger cut.

No arrests were made. Brown was gone by the time deputies arrived but the department said the investigation is continuing and Brown would be contacted.

Email messages to Ocean's publicist and Brown's lawyer were not immediately returned. A man answering the phone at the recording studio declined to comment.

It wasn't Brown's first problem in the run-up to the Grammys. His attack on singer Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 awards event overshadowed the show.

Last June, he was injured in a brawl with members of hip-hop star Drake's entourage at a New York nightclub.

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Southern Qld towns prepare for floods

RESIDENTS of the regional Queensland town of Warwick are anxiously watching the rising Condamine River, with 30 homes already flooded and more expected to go under.

The swollen Condamine has cut Warwick in two and about 180 people have gathered in two evacuation centres, Southern Downs Mayor Peter Blundell says.

The river is expected to peak at eight metres at about 8pm (AEST) on Monday, about the same level as December 2010.

If the peak is reached, 92 houses and 17 businesses will be affected by water.

The only road into town that hasn't flooded is the New England Highway to the south.

Mr Blundell says an influx of people trying to get home from the Tamworth Music Festival are stuck in the town and sheltering in their caravans on the side of the road.

"We do have a lot of water in catchments that's been there for a long time, longer than we've seen previously, so it will be slightly new ground to work out how long this one takes to subside," he told AAP.

Upstream at Dalby, houses have so far escaped floodwaters but Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown says if the Myall Creek reaches the expected peak of three metres that will change.

He said the level is well short of the 3.74m level reached in 2010-2011 but residents are still on edge.

"You tell that someone that got flooded that it's less water (than before); they don't care. When you're wet you're wet," Mr Brown told AAP.

Eight businesses in Chinchilla, northwest of Dalby, have been inundated and three families in the town have fled their homes.

Mr Brown said five families had evacuated homes around the rural township of Moonie, southwest of Dalby.

The township of Tara, population 1200, has been isolated.

Meanwhile, the town of Condamine, west of Chinchilla, is facing a significant flood event with a peak of 12 metres expected on Thursday or Friday.

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Bracing for Brisbane commuter chaos

BRISBANE is facing commuter chaos on Tuesday with central rail lines damaged in severe storms not expected to be repaired until Wednesday.

As the city prepares for flooding which could affect thousands of homes and businesses on Tuesday, the state government has warned that no train services will operate to the central Brisbane stations of Central, Fortitude Valley or Bowen Hills before Wednesday.

Up to 40,000 passengers use the stations during peak times and passengers are being advised to avoid travelling during peak times, use alternative transport, or allow for delays.

"Passengers planning to use trains to the CBD tomorrow should carefully consider their options," Transport Minister Scott Emerson said in a statement on Monday.

"There are unlikely to be sufficient buses available in Brisbane to handle the load if all regular train commuters make the journey to the city at the same time tomorrow."

Scaffolding from a building site in Fortitude Valley has damaged the line between Fortitude Valley and Bowen Hills stations.

Services to the city will terminate at either Roma Street or Albion.

Mr Emerson said crews were working around the clock to repair the damage but they won't finish before Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday just two of the four tracks on the central line will be open.

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Man dies in Cairo protests: report

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has imposed curfews in three provinces hit by deadly rioting. Source: AAP

RIOT police have fired tear gas and birdshot at rock-throwing protesters in Cairo, reportedly killing one person a day after Egypt's president declared a state of emergency in three provinces.

The eruption of violence, which began around Friday's second anniversary of the uprising that toppled ruler Hosni Mubarak, has plunged Egypt into political turmoil and exposed the deep fault lines running through the country.

More than 50 people have been killed in the unrest, which is fuelled by anger over the policies of the country's new Islamist leader and the slow pace of change.

Police said the unidentified man who died on Monday was killed by birdshot that hit his head.

The incident occurred in a clash with police on a bridge and in an underpass leading to Tahrir Square.

President Mohammed Morsi, who has struggled to solve the country's social and economic problems since taking power in June, declared in a televised speech late Sunday a 30-day state of emergency in the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez and their surrounding provinces in an attempt to quell the unrest.

The military was deployed in Suez on Friday and in Port Said the next day. The two cities have been hit hardest by the violence.

Protesters in all three cities poured into the streets after Morsi's speech to reject both him and his state of emergency, which includes a curfew from 9pm to 6am.

In Port Said, where 44 people were killed in rioting over the weekend, at least 2000 protesters chanted against the Egyptian president and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group he is linked with.

The unrest in Port Said was sparked by a court conviction and death sentence for 21 defendants involved in a soccer riot in the city's main stadium on February 1, 2012 that led to 74 deaths.

Most of those sentenced to death were local soccer fans from Port Said, deepening a sense of persecution that Port Said's residents have felt since the stadium disaster, the worst soccer violence ever in Egypt.

At least another 11, most of them in Suez, died in clashes on Friday elsewhere in the country during rallies marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Mubarak nearly two years ago.

In his televised address, Morsi also warned that he would not hesitate to take more action to stem the violence.

Angry and at times screaming and wagging his finger, the Egyptian leader also invited the nation's political forces for talks to resolve the nation's crisis, saying "a dialogue between the sons of the nation is indispensable and is the only way to shepherd Egypt to security and stability".

Among those invited to Monday's talks is pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei and other leaders of the National Salvation Front, an umbrella group of opposition parties.

The invitation was met with little enthusiasm from the opposition leaders.

Salvation Front leaders are meeting later on Monday, when they are expected to decide whether to participate in the dialogue.

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Top UN team in Yemen to push peace

A UN Security Council delegation has begun a brief visit to Yemen in a clear boost to President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi aimed at helping to iron out problems hampering national reconciliation talks.

Thousands, meanwhile, took to the streets on the occasion of the visit on Sunday, demanding an end to the immunity given to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who was eased out of office in February 2012 after three decades of rule following a UN-backed and Gulf-brokered deal.

The Security Council delegation, which includes the head and members of the top body, held talks with Hadi, state television said, adding that the team later went on to meet members of the government.

It termed the visit as "international support for Yemen to push political reconciliation as per the Gulf initiative" which ended Saleh's rule and nearly a year of bloodshed.

The trip comes as Sanaa struggles to organise a national dialogue conference that would result in a new constitution and presidential and parliamentary elections in February 2014, thereby ending the current two-year transition period.

The conference, originally set for mid-November, has been repeatedly delayed as some factions of the Southern Movement, which has campaigned for autonomy or secession for the formerly independent south, have refused to join the talks.

After North and South Yemen unified in 1994, a short-lived secession bid was crushed by Sanaa troops and since then the citizens of the south have complained of discrimination.

The United Nations special envoy Jamal Benomar said the team's visit "reflects the UN Security Council's interest in pushing reconciliation and removing obstacles that are hindering the implementation of the points of the Gulf initiative."

He told state television that the "process is difficult," and urged all Yemeni parties to "realise that there is a historic opportunity and join the national dialogue without preconditions to solve all Yemeni issues, including the question of the south."

On Sunday, demonstrators poured into the streets of Sanaa amid tight security calling for moves to bring Saleh to justice and to "return the funds stolen by the former president and his family," an AFP correspondent reported.

The Youth of the Revolution, a group that was the main engine of the year-long protests, also called for an international probe into violations and crimes committed by Saleh's regime.

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Afghan bombs kill 23 policemen in 24 hours

INSURGENTS killed a total of 23 policemen across Afghanistan within 24 hours, officials said, reflecting the increasing police role in the war before the withdrawal of NATO troops.

Thirteen died in roadside bomb blasts on Sunday, while 10 were killed in a suicide attack.

A powerful bomb killed eight police officers along with three suspected bombers they had detained on the outskirts of the troubled southern city of Kandahar, provincial spokesman Jawed Faisal told AFP.

"Our police had an operation in Pero Qalacha area last night. They detained several suspected insurgents," Faisal said.

"On the way back to the city (centre), their vehicle struck an IED (improvised explosive device). Eight police were killed and three suspects that they had detained during the operation were killed," Faisal said.

Six other officers and one suspect on board a second vehicle were wounded in the blast, he said.

Police spokesman Ghorzang Afridi described the bomb as "very, very powerful", saying it was an artillery shell attached to a detonator and possibly set off remotely.

The officials blamed the bombing on the "armed opposition", a reference to the Taliban who have waged an insurgency against the Western-backed government since being ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001.

Three other policemen were killed in another roadside bombing in neighbouring Helmand on Sunday and two died in a similar attack in Farah in western Afghanistan overnight, police spokesmen said.

The incidents followed a suicide bombing in the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday that killed 10 policemen including two senior officers.

Afghan security forces are increasingly targeted by the Taliban as they take greater responsibility for security before the pullout of US-led NATO combat troops next year.

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Mali crisis to dominate African summit

EFFORTS to end conflict across Africa, especially in Mali, dominated the African Union summit opening on Sunday, with the 54-member bloc's chief saying greater efforts are needed to build peace.

"Much still needs to be done to resolve ongoing, renewed, and new conflict situations in a number of countries," AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in her opening speech.

"We cannot overemphasise the need for peace and security -- without peace and security no country or region can expect to achieve prosperity for all its citizens," she told the bi-annual summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The 20th ordinary summit, which continues on Monday, opened with a minute's silence in memory of the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who died last year.

The meeting is expected to focus on the war against Islamist militants in northern Mali, including the scaling-up of African troops to support the weak Malian army.

Mali's army, boosted by the recent French military intervention, is battling Islamist insurgents, who seized swathes of Mali's desert north following a coup last year.

Dlamini-Zuma told leaders that the AU "must remain firm on its stance of no unconstitutional change" of leadership and that it must boost its "capacity to defend democratically-elected governments."

Following a security meeting on Friday, the AU resolved to bolster the strength of the African-led force in Mali, or AFISMA, and gave member states one week to commit troops to the mission.

"The force size will have to be significantly augmented," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters after the security meeting.

Lamamra said AFISMA's strength should be increased "to better respond to the needs on the ground," but declined to give numbers.

The AU will also seek urgent "temporary" logistical support from the United Nations to enable the AFISMA force to "speedily deploy and effectively implement its mandate," according to an AU statement.

The logistical support should include transportation, medicine and field hospitals.

Also high on the summit agenda is the slow progress between the rival leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to implement stalled oil, security and border deals.

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At least 70 dead in nightclub fire in Brazil

AT least 90 people died today in a fire that erupted at a nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, local media reported.

"We have just taken the fire under control," Colonel Silvia Fuchs of the local fire department was quoted by the G1 website as saying. "Now we are removing the bodies."

Local media reported that as many as 2000 people were in the nightclub when the fire started, and that police were still counting the dead.

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