Greek ferries sail as govt breaks strike

FERRIES have set sail for Greek islands for the first time in a week after the government invoked emergency powers to force striking seamen back to work.

Thousands of demonstrators converged on the country's largest port on Wednesday to protest against the order and the two main unions declared a strike in greater Athens in solidarity with the seamen.

The strike in the Attica region will affect all public services and include a four-hour work stoppage by public transport workers.

The seamen's six-day strike against austerity measures had left dozens of islands without any means of resupply. The Cyclades islands' chamber of commerce this week said the strike had led to shortages in goods, prevented treatment of serious health cases and even stopped the transportation of dead bodies for burial.

Trucks carrying food and other products loaded onto ferries set sail from the port of Piraeus for the Cyclades and the Dodecanese islands early Wednesday morning, unhampered by the union-backed protesters who began to gather at the port at dawn.

Riot police cordoned off the Merchant Marine Ministry to prevent a demonstration by thousands of protesters from reaching the building.

The strikers returned to work after the government implemented a rarely used civil mobilisation order for the second time in two weeks. The three-party coalition last used the order - under which those who defy it risk arrest and jail time of up to five years - to end an eight-day metro workers' strike in January.

"The government must know that the systematic undermining of union and labour laws violate the country's constitution and international and European agreements that protect workers' rights," the civil servants union ADEDY said in a statement. It described the measure as an "anti-democratic practice of criminalising labour and strike action."

Seamen have been demanding more than six months' worth of arrears in pay, and the signing of collective work contracts with ferry companies. Merchant Marine Minister Costas Mousouroulis said Tuesday that the government had done what it could to address their concerns.

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Burma opposition MP joins cabinet

THE president of Myanmar (Burma) has appointed an opposition MP to his cabinet, giving a foothold to a political rival in his reformist government for the first time.

Tin Shwe, an upper house member of parliament from the National Democratic Force (NDF), has been drafted in as deputy minister of hotels and tourism by President Thein Sein, state-mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.

The decision prompted the NDF, a splinter group from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, to insist that it would not go easy on the government now that its man is in the cabinet.

"There was no negotiation with the party and we didn't know about it in advance," NDF chairman Khin Maung Swe told AFP, adding the party nonetheless supported the appointment.

"We will continue to oppose whatever does not benefit the people... There is no plan not to oppose the government just because one of us has become a minister."

Tin Shwe, a 67-year-old doctor, will now step down as an MP to carry out his duties in cabinet, leaving the NDF with five serving lawmakers spread across both parliament houses in Naypyidaw.

The number is fewer than half the seats they won in disputed 2010 national elections that sparked the bitter split with Suu Kyi, whose party boycotted the polls, saying the rules were unfair.

Thein Sein has overseen sweeping reforms of the once-authoritarian junta-ruled nation, including Suu Kyi's election to parliament in by-elections held in April 2012 that gave her party more than 40 seats in parliament.

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Bring back banned drinkers register

THE scrapped Northern Territory banned drinkers register dramatically cut alcohol-fuelled violence when it was introduced, federal Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon says.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard took aim at the NT government for dumping the successful program when it won power during her Close the Gap report to parliament on Wednesday.

She's written to the NT government urging them to overturn the decision, but they have signalled that's not going to happen.

Mr Snowdon, who has lived in Alice Springs for 30 years, told parliament he's seen first hand the scourge of alcohol abuse.

He said in the first year after the Labor government introduced the register in July 2012 alcohol-related assaults across the NT were down 15 per cent.

Mr Snowdon said there were also 10,000 fewer anti-social behaviour incidents reported across the NT in that time.

After the register was scrapped last year there were "hordes of people lining up at bottlos and grog shops", he said.

"We have seen an immediate spike in drunkenness around Alice Springs," Mr Snowdon told the lower house.

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Tunisian opposition leader shot dead

THE leader of a Tunisian opposition party who had been particularly critical of the country's Islamist government has been shot dead.

Chokri Belaid, leader of the leftist Movement of Democratic Patriots, was shot by unknown attackers in the neck and head as he was leaving his Tunis home for work, his wife told Chems FM radio.

Belaid, a lawyer, had been outspoken in his criticism of Tunisia's ruling coalition, which is led by the Islamist party Ennahda.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali denounced the murder as an "act of terrorism" against Tunisia.

"This is a criminal act, an act of terrorism not only against Belaid but against the whole of Tunisia," Jebali from the ruling Islamist Ennahda party told FM Radio Mosaique.

He promised to pursue all efforts to "immediately" arrest the murderer.

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String of bushfires on Great Eastern Hwy

BUSHFIRES have broken out along the Great Eastern Highway in Western Australia, including one across the highway from the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre at Northam, north-east of Perth.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said firefighters were working on several scrub fires along the highway and also on the corner of Northam's main street, Mitchell Avenue, and Mt Ommanney Rd.

Details were being gathered ahead of the release of alerts, she said.

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Syria newspaper reacts to oppn talks offer

SYRIAN opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib's offer of talks with the regime is significant but "two years late", the pro-regime daily Al-Watan says.

"Despite their importance, the statements of Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib are two years late. During that time, our finest young men have died, suffered wounds or been exiled, while we have lost our electricity and fuel infrastructure, alongside several military positions," Al-Watan said in a long editorial on Tuesday.

"Two years have gone by, in which we have lost a lot because of the opposition's stubbornness and their refusal to negotiate," said the daily.

"So the ball is not in the Syrian state's hands, as Khatib said" on Monday, in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television, Al-Watan added.

The editorial was the first indication of official thinking as regards to Khatib's surprise proposal of negotiations as a way out of the conflict that has ravaged Syria for almost two years.

Khatib, who heads the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said he was ready to talk with regime officials if "160,000 detainees" are released and if exiled Syrians are able to renew their passports abroad.

In the past the opposition has demanded Assad step down before talks can begin but analysts say Khatib's change in stance stems from a belief that the population will be bled dry while the West fails to act.

Formed in Doha, Qatar in November last year, the coalition is recognised by scores of states and international organisations as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

"Khatib's declarations are insufficient. They do not make him an acceptable negotiator at a popular level," said Al-Watan, suggesting the opposition chief was insincere in his offer.

Khatib's statements "are a political manoeuvre, through which he is trying to correct his mistake of supporting the (jihadist) Al-Nusra Front," said Al-Watan.

The editorial said Khatib "should explain the reasons behind his (alleged) support for Al-Nusra Front and for terrorism in general".

Since a revolt erupted against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, the regime has described dissidents and rebels alike as "terrorists".

More recently, the regime has described all rebels as members of Al-Nusra Front, which is listed by the United States as a "terrorist" organisation.

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S Korea predicts multiple nuke tests

SOUTH Korean President Lee Myung-Bak believes North Korea could detonate multiple devices when it goes ahead with a nuclear test expected in the coming weeks or days.

In an interview published on Tuesday in the Chosun Ilbo daily, the outgoing president also acknowledged the huge challenge the international community faces in seeking to wean Pyongyang off its nuclear weapons program.

The North has signalled that it will carry out a "higher level" nuclear test very soon, in a defiant response to tightened UN sanctions after its successful long-range rocket launch in December.

Lee said "higher-level" suggested Pyongyang might attempt to detonate several devices.

"North Korea is likely to carry out multiple nuclear tests at two places or more simultaneously" to maximise scientific gains from an event that will be globally condemned, Lee said.

Experts around the world are gearing up to analyse any test for what it might reveal about the current status of the North's weaponisation program.

Of particular interest will be any sign that its scientists have succeeded in developing a warhead that can be fitted onto a missile.

"If the North produces miniaturised weapons that can be used as warheads on missiles, it would really pose a threat," Lee said. "That's why the whole world is watching it so intensively."

Lee has only a few weeks left in office at the end of a five-year term marked by an almost total freeze of contacts between North and South Korea.

In his interview, he suggested that diplomatic efforts would make little headway in bringing about a significant policy shift in Pyongyang.

"I think it is difficult to persuade the North regime to give up the nuclear path," he said.

Some predict the test will come before the Lunar New Year on February 10, while others suggest it will be timed to coincide with the February 16 birthday of late leader Kim Jong-Il, father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.

South Korea and its ally the United States are holding a joint naval exercise off the Korean peninsula as tensions rise - a drill condemned as a "warmongering" exercise by North Korea.

Its official news agency Tuesday threatened a move going "beyond the imagination" of Seoul and Washington in response to the exercise, which it terms a rehearsal for invasion.

"The US is now getting hell-bent on the joint anti-submarine drill targeting the 'north's nuclear facilities'," the agency said in an editorial.

"Now that the hostile acts toward the (North) have gone beyond the limit of universally accepted... norms of the international community, the (North's) option in reaction to it will also go beyond the imagination of the hostile forces," it said.

"There is no other option for the (North) but to fight it out."

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Riots erupt as Bangladeshi Islamist jailed

DEADLY riots have broken out in Bangladeshi cities after a court sentenced a senior Islamist opposition leader to life in prison for mass murder during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Abdul Quader Molla, 64, the fourth-highest leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was the first politician to be found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal, a much-criticised domestic court based in Dhaka.

Molla cried "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greater) and said the charges were false after presiding judge Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdict in a crowded and tightly guarded court on Tuesday.

"He deserved the death sentence because of the gravity of the crimes. But the court gave him life imprisonment," said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, adding Molla was found guilty of five out of six charges including mass murder.

A man was shot dead in clashes with police in the port city of Chittagong as the ruling sparked immediate protests by Jamaat, the country's largest Islamic party, which enforced a nationwide strike in anticipation of the conviction.

"We fired in self-defence after hundreds of protesters attacked us with firearms and handmade bombs," deputy police commissioner Habibur Rahman told AFP, adding an unidentified man died of bullet wounds and 10 officers were injured.

Police also clashed with protesters in the capital Dhaka, firing rubber bullets to disperse a group of protesters who were smashing vehicles.

And in the northwestern city of Rajshahi police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at about 500 Jamaat supporters who hurled a dozen homemade firebombs.

The verdict is the second by the tribunal. On January 21 a top TV preacher who is an ex-Jamaat official was sentenced to death in absentia for murder and genocide.

Ten other opposition figures - including the entire leadership of Jamaat and two from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - stand accused of war crimes.

Both Jamaat and BNP have labelled the cases "show trials" aimed at barring the leaders from upcoming polls. International rights groups have questioned the proceedings.

Prosecutors said during the war Molla was a senior figure in the then-student wing of Jamaat, while studying physics at Dhaka University, and was a member of a pro-Pakistan militia accused of killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Security was tight in the capital with more than 10,000 police on patrol as war veterans and ruling party supporters held rival marches.

Schools were closed and many shops and businesses shuttered. Motorways linking Dhaka with other cities were largely empty.

Police said a young banker was burnt to death and four people injured in Dhaka on Monday night after a bus was torched by suspected Jamaat activists protesting the war crime trials.

The tribunal, which has no international oversight, was created by the country's secular government in 2010. The opposition has alleged that it is politically motivated and is selective in its targets.

The current government says up to three million people were killed in the war, but independent estimates put the figure far lower.

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US law permits pre-emptive cyber strikes

A SECRET legal review has concluded the US president has the power to order pre-emptive cyber strikes if the US discovers credible evidence of a major digital attack against it is in the offing.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the policy will govern how the intelligence agencies can carry out searches of overseas computer networks for signs of potential attacks. If the president approves, it can attack adversaries with a destructive code - even if there is no declared war.

The review came as the US approved a five-fold expansion of its cybersecurity force over the coming years in a bid to increase its ability to defend critical computer networks.

The Washington Post reported that the department's Cyber Command, which currently has a staff of about 900, will expand to about 4,900 troops and civilians.

Last November, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta conceded that US cybersecurity needed more financial support and human capital.

The seriousness of the threat has been underscored by a string of sabotage attacks, including one in which a virus was used to wipe data from more than 30,000 computers at a Saudi Arabian state oil company.

According to The Times, John Brennan, who has been nominated to run the Central Intelligence Agency, played a central role in developing the administration's policies regarding cyberwarfare.

President Barack Obama is known to have approved the use of cyberweapons only once, when he ordered an escalating series of cyberattacks against Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, The Times said.

One senior American official said that the reviewers had quickly determined that the cyberweapons were so powerful that - like nuclear weapons - they should be unleashed only on the direct orders of the commander in chief, The Times noted.

International law allows any nation to defend itself from threats, and the United States has applied that concept to conduct pre-emptive attacks, the paper noted.

Under the new guidelines, the Pentagon would not be involved in defending against ordinary cyberattacks on American companies or individuals, The Times said. That responsibility falls to the Department of Homeland Security.

But the military would become involved in cases of a major cyberattack within the United States, the paper noted.

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Iran says Israel will regret Syria attack

A TOP Iranian official visiting Damascus says Israel will regret its "latest aggression" on Syria.

Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran's National Security Council, says the Islamic world will not allow any attack against Syria.

Israeli warplanes struck a site near the Syrian capital, Damascus, last week, targeting what US officials said were ground-to-air missiles apparently heading for Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.

Syria has vowed retaliation but has so far refrained from any response. Iran is Syria's closest regional ally.

Jalili, who is on a three-day visit to Syria, did not explain in his comments on Tuesday how Israel would regret the strike.

He only said Israel "will be defeated" as it apparently was during the 2006 month-long war with Hezbollah and recently by Gaza's Hamas rulers.

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