Man 'threatens' club staff with fake gun

A man has been charged with threatening staff with a replica handgun at a licensed club in NSW. Source: AAP

A MAN has been charged with threatening staff with a replica handgun at a licensed club on the NSW Central Coast.

Police said they were called to the club in Halekulani, near Budgewoi, about 1.30am (AEDT) on Saturday after a 25-year-old man allegedly threatened staff with a handgun.

The man had argued with police earlier in the evening and had been evicted from the premises, police said.

The man was later arrested at a nearby unit, and police discovered the handgun was a replica.

The alleged offender was charged with a number of offences, including possessing an unauthorised pistol.

He was granted bail and is due to appear at Wyong Local Court on March 27.

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Two killed in blasts at Somali restaurant

Two explosions at a restaurant in the Somali city of Mogadishu have killed two people. Source: AAP

AT least two people have been killed and several wounded in twin attacks at a restaurant on the popular beachfront of Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The blast, the latest in a string of attacks in the war-ravaged city, reportedly included a car bomb followed shortly after by an attacker wearing a suicide vest packed with explosives.

"There was a big explosion from a car, then as people rushed towards the area after the blast, a suicide bomber with a vest exploded himself," said Mohammed Abdullahi, a businessman who was inside the restaurant when the attack took place.

He saw the dead bodies of two security guards, and said at least nine other people were wounded.

"Many people who were wounded ran away after the explosion, so more might have been injured," he added.

The explosion took place on Friday close to Mogadishu's famous Lido beach, which is usually crowded on weekends with families enjoying the beach, playing football or swimming in the Indian Ocean waves.

"There was a heavy explosion, and then a short time later there was another," said policeman Ali Mohammed, who was near the scene of the attack.

One person was killed in a similar car bomb blast in the area last month.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents have launched a series of guerrilla-style attacks in Mogadishu in recent months.

The insurgents have vowed to topple President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office in September after being chosen by the country's new parliament.

But the once powerful Shebab are on the back foot inside Somalia, having fled a string of key towns ahead of a 17,000-strong African Union force which is also fighting alongside Somali soldiers.

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Gillard set for mixed Rooty Hill reception

EVERY second person entering the Rooty Hill RSL club has been asking if Julia's there yet.

The prime minister's five-day stay in western Sydney, staying in The Novotel next to the club, is the talk of the town but she looks like getting a mixed reception.

Ms Gillard will move in on Sunday for five days of meeting and greeting and announcing new policies to benefit the region.

The visit is widely seen as a bid to shore up dipping support for Labor in western Sydney, with a number of ALP seats tipped to fall.

At the RSL club on Friday, a club member walking in asked, "Is Julia here yet?"

Gail Smith, who greets guests at the door told AAP that every second person wanted to know if the prime minister had arrived, indicating there was a lot of interest in her visit.

But down the road at The Imperial hotel, bar attendant Tania Moorecroft said she didn't think most people would really care about the visit and Ms Gillard might even cop some verbal abuse.

She said Ms Gillard had not paid a visit to Rooty Hill since she became prime minister.

"Now with an election coming up she decides to pay us a visit."

Ms Moorecroft said the area was full of working class people, housing commission tenants and pensioners struggling to make ends meet while Ms Gillard stays at the best room at The Novotel.

She said people at the bar referred to the prime minister as "Gillard", rather than Julia or Ms Gillard and some said she would not be welcome.

Computer technician Christopher Talmage said there might not be that much interest in the prime minister's visit but he hoped federal Labor would not lose seats in the west or be tainted by state Labor's corruption scandal.

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Big turnout tipped for 35th Mardi Gras

SATURDAY night's Mardi Gras is tipped to be one of the biggest in the event's history as the colourful parade celebrates 35 years in Sydney.

Mardi Gras organisers said around 10,000 performers on 110 floats would take part in a parade of "tapestry, fun and frivolity".

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras CEO, Michael Rolik, said 2013 promised to be one of the event's biggest years, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to line the traditional route down Oxford Street.

Mr Rolik said a key feature this year would be the participation of people who took part in Sydney's first Mardi Gras march in 1978.

"This year's parade celebrates 35 years history, from very humble beginnings," he told reporters on Friday.

Creative director Ignatius Jones said the lead float would be "dedicated to the 78ers, the first generation".

He said the float would be surrounded by young protesters carrying parade "season posters" from 1978 up to 2013.

The two key "1978ers" participating in the parade would be media personality Julie McCrossin and the "godfather of Mardi Gras" Ron Austin, organisers said.

Mr Jones said every major political party had entered a float this year and that for the first time the armed forces would be "proudly marching in uniform".

There was also a big youth presence in the parade this year, he said.

"There are quite a number of floats concentrating on youth, actually built by youth, dedicated to such things like sexual identity, bullying, depression and even youth suicide," he said.

A number of "Bob Katters" would also take part in the parade, organisers revealed, with performers dressing up like the maverick Queensland MP.

Police said around 1000 extra police would be on duty for the event.

Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Murdoch said officers would be out in large numbers to ensure "that everyone enjoys Mardi Gras and goes home in the same condition they left home".

The high visibility police exercise, named Operation Cromwell, would target antisocial behaviour and alcohol related crime, he said.

He said the whole of the Mardi Gras parade route was an alcohol free zone, and that people who tried "to use alcohol in those areas will have it confiscated".

Illicit drugs were another concern for police, he said, noting that sniffer dogs would be "part of the arsenal" for policing the event.

He also advised people heading to the CBD for the parade to take public transport as many streets along the parade route would be closed.

Rehearsing for her role atop the City of Sydney's official float, singer Paulini said Mardi Gras would be "a bright night" even if it rained.

"It's all about unity and we're going to have a lot of fun," she said.

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Patients 'suffering from budget cuts'

A BLOWOUT in hospital waiting times shows patients are beginning to suffer from the NSW government's $3 billion in health spending cuts, the NSW opposition says.

Labor MPs used question time on Thursday to hammer the government over the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The new data revealed the number of patients forced to wait longer than four hours for treatment last year increased by 15,890 from 2011.

The median waiting time for elective surgery in NSW hospitals blew out to 50 days - the longest of any state.

Mr Robertson said the figures were a direct reflection of the billions of dollars in savings the state government was making in health.

"Will you reverse your $3 billion cut to the health system ... when 15,000 people don't get seen in the benchmark time?" he asked the premier.

Mr O'Farrell replied there had been "a record budget this year" of $18.3 billion.

"And we are determined that as many of these dollars won't end up in bureaucracy but on the front line ...

"I would have thought that was a sensible way to go."

Health Minister Jillian Skinner denied there had been any cuts to the health system.

"It is the case that over four years $2.2 billion in efficiency savings will be made in health to be reinvested in frontline services," Ms Skinner said in a statement.

"This money will be staying within the NSW health system and is not a 'cut'."

But opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald said it was impossible to make the changes to hospital budgets without impacting on emergency department waiting times and surgery waiting lists.

"Patients are suffering as a result," he said.

Only 61.1 per cent of patients presenting to emergency departments were treated within four hours last year, down from 61.8 per cent in 2009/10 and well short of the 69 per cent target.

"In real figures, this equates to 15,890 additional patients forced to wait longer than four hours in a hospital emergency department for treatment," Mr MacDonald said.

NSW hospitals also performed worse than any other state in Australia when it came to elective surgery waiting times, with patients forced to wait a median 50 days compared with 36 days in Victoria, 27 in Queensland and 30 in Western Australia.

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Ombudsman slams cop probe into taser death

THE NSW ombudsman has criticised a police investigation into the death of a Brazilian student who was tasered 14 times, saying it failed to deal with the issue of police misconduct.

Roberto Laudisio Curti, 21, died in the early hours of March 18 after officers used capsicum spray, handcuffs and a baton and knelt on him after a chase through Sydney's CBD.

NSW Coroner Mary Jerram handed down a scathing finding into the incident in November, calling the officers who tasered him 14 times "thuggish" and rejecting some of their evidence.

She also recommended disciplinary charges for five of the officers involved.

NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour on Thursday tabled a special report in parliament about the police investigation in the lead-up to the coronial inquest.

"(It) failed to adequately identify and deal with the question of whether there was any police misconduct," Mr Barbour said in a statement.

The investigators failed to comply with established police procedures for conducting critical incident investigations or effectively examine the lawfulness of the officers involved, the report said.

It made a number of recommendations aimed at strengthening police guidelines so that all relevant evidence is gathered during future critical incident investigations.

Mr Barbour said it should be clear that "any identified misconduct or systemic issues can and should be addressed at the earliest opportunity".

He also recommended that a mandatory notification scheme be introduced, requiring police to immediately notify his office of all incidents involving the death or serious injury of people during policing activities.

Currently they can only do so if a complaint is made.

"The scheme would also require my office to determine whether it is in the public interest to oversight the police investigation," Mr Barbour added.

The coronial inquest found that Mr Curti, from Sao Paolo, had an adverse reaction to a small dose of LSD before stealing biscuits from a convenience store, where police mistakenly believed he was armed.

Ms Jerram found officers then used excessive force in abuse of their powers.

Following the damning findings, the NSW Police Integrity Commission announced it would investigate whether the police were involved in criminal conduct.

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Taliban suicide bomber targets Kabul army

A TALIBAN suicide bomber has attacked a bus carrying Afghan army personnel in Kabul, wounding six people and highlighting a growing trend of strikes on Afghan rather than NATO military targets.

The bomber struck on a busy main street in the heavily secured Afghan capital, where the Taliban have already this year claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks on the intelligence and traffic police headquarters.

Western officials say the trend reflects a shift in strategy, away from focusing on the US-led NATO combat mission, which is due to withdraw next year, to instead target Afghan forces preparing to take over.

"At around 7.10am (1340 AEDT), a suicide attacker on foot detonated himself next to a military bus in third district of Kabul city, injuring six. They are members of the defence ministry and one civilian," said police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.

Dawlat Waziri, deputy spokesman at the defence ministry, said the bomber was on foot and tried to board the vehicle.

"But when he was prevented, he detonated himself outside the bus, injuring five officers and one civilian," he told AFP.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that 17 personnel were killed and 17 or more seriously injured. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the death tolls from attacks they claim.

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the bomber detonated "a little bit away from the back of the bus," which could explain the low casualty numbers released by the Afghan authorities.

Among the nine attacks recorded by AFP in Afghanistan so far this year, only one of them, on January 25, targeted NATO troops, in the troubled eastern province of Kapisa. Five civilians were killed in that attack.

All the other attacks have targeted tribal elders, police or Afghan intelligence agents.

"Since the start of the year, the objective has mainly been Afghans, even if NATO remains a target," a Western security official said.

The Pentagon admitted on Tuesday that NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had wrongly reported a seven per cent decline in Taliban attacks last year, saying that the number was roughly the same as in 2011.

"This is a regrettable error in our database systems that was discovered during a routine quality check. We are making the appropriate adjustments," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

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Builders make unseen changes to homes

HOMEBUILDERS are opting for cheaper houses, given weaker economic conditions and problems with affordability, building supplies giant James Hardie says.

Chief executive Louis Gries says homebuilders generally are building cheaper houses to ensure they can still make a profit.

Builders were "value-engineering" and "de-featuring" houses to lower costs.

Houses are also smaller and being built with lower-cost materials.

Granite bench tops that once may have been standard are now optional.

"They pull any costs out of the home that homeowners are not aware of," Mr Gries said on Wednesday, after announcing a return to profitability in James Hardie's third quarter.

"Meaning it's not easy to see if you've got five-eighth-inch gypsum (plasterboard) or half-inch gypsum, or if you have 24-inch spacing on studs versus 16 (inches), or you have two-by-sixes or two-by-fours (the width and depth in inches of wooden planks used in construction)."

Mr Gries expects an eventual reversal in this trend, but it might take two or three years.

Given uncertain conditions in the housing market, James Hardie has trimmed its earnings forecast for the year.

The group, which makes most of its sales in the US, said the US housing market was picking up, but the Australian market remained subdued.

In the three months to December 31, sales volumes rose 17 per cent in the group's US and Europe fibre cement business.

The company said this provided further evidence that the housing recovery in the US was gaining momentum.

Although volumes in the US were higher, average sales prices were lower.

Costs were also higher as the company expanded production capacity in anticipation of a continued US market recovery.

But improvement was likely to occur over a protracted period.

The growth rate in the US could be constrained by ongoing tight credit conditions and higher levels of unemployment.

Mr Gries said no one knew what the Australian market was going to do, so James Hardie assumed it would stay tough.

James Hardie booked a net operating profit of $US31.5 million ($A30.95 million) in the third quarter to December 31, compared to a loss of $US4.8 million ($A4.72 million) a year earlier.

The result included the company's asbestos-related costs, regulatory costs and tax adjustments.

Excluding those costs, operating profit rose to $US28.8 million ($A28.29 million) from $US27.7 million ($A27.21 million).

The group downgraded its full year earnings forecast, excluding the asbestos and other costs, to between $US136 million ($A133.61 million) and $US141 million ($A138.53 million).

Last November, the group had forecast full year earnings of between $US140 million and $US150 million.

James Hardie shares were 18 cents higher at $9.53 at 1550 AEDT.

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Builders make unseen changes to homes

HOMEBUILDERS are opting for cheaper houses, given weaker economic conditions and problems with affordability, building supplies giant James Hardie says.

Chief executive Louis Gries says homebuilders generally are building cheaper houses to ensure they can still make a profit.

Builders were "value-engineering" and "de-featuring" houses to lower costs.

Houses are also smaller and being built with lower-cost materials.

Granite bench tops that once may have been standard are now optional.

"They pull any costs out of the home that homeowners are not aware of," Mr Gries said on Wednesday, after announcing a return to profitability in James Hardie's third quarter.

"Meaning it's not easy to see if you've got five-eighth-inch gypsum (plasterboard) or half-inch gypsum, or if you have 24-inch spacing on studs versus 16 (inches), or you have two-by-sixes or two-by-fours (the width and depth in inches of wooden planks used in construction)."

Mr Gries expects an eventual reversal in this trend, but it might take two or three years.

Given uncertain conditions in the housing market, James Hardie has trimmed its earnings forecast for the year.

The group, which makes most of its sales in the US, said the US housing market was picking up, but the Australian market remained subdued.

In the three months to December 31, sales volumes rose 17 per cent in the group's US and Europe fibre cement business.

The company said this provided further evidence that the housing recovery in the US was gaining momentum.

Although volumes in the US were higher, average sales prices were lower.

Costs were also higher as the company expanded production capacity in anticipation of a continued US market recovery.

But improvement was likely to occur over a protracted period.

The growth rate in the US could be constrained by ongoing tight credit conditions and higher levels of unemployment.

Mr Gries said no one knew what the Australian market was going to do, so James Hardie assumed it would stay tough.

James Hardie booked a net operating profit of $US31.5 million ($A30.95 million) in the third quarter to December 31, compared to a loss of $US4.8 million ($A4.72 million) a year earlier.

The result included the company's asbestos-related costs, regulatory costs and tax adjustments.

Excluding those costs, operating profit rose to $US28.8 million ($A28.29 million) from $US27.7 million ($A27.21 million).

The group downgraded its full year earnings forecast, excluding the asbestos and other costs, to between $US136 million ($A133.61 million) and $US141 million ($A138.53 million).

Last November, the group had forecast full year earnings of between $US140 million and $US150 million.

James Hardie shares were 18 cents higher at $9.53 at 1550 AEDT.

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Taliban suicide bomber targets Kabul army

A TALIBAN suicide bomber has attacked a bus carrying Afghan army personnel in Kabul, wounding six people and highlighting a growing trend of strikes on Afghan rather than NATO military targets.

The bomber struck on a busy main street in the heavily secured Afghan capital, where the Taliban have already this year claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks on the intelligence and traffic police headquarters.

Western officials say the trend reflects a shift in strategy, away from focusing on the US-led NATO combat mission, which is due to withdraw next year, to instead target Afghan forces preparing to take over.

"At around 7.10am (1340 AEDT), a suicide attacker on foot detonated himself next to a military bus in third district of Kabul city, injuring six. They are members of the defence ministry and one civilian," said police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.

Dawlat Waziri, deputy spokesman at the defence ministry, said the bomber was on foot and tried to board the vehicle.

"But when he was prevented, he detonated himself outside the bus, injuring five officers and one civilian," he told AFP.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that 17 personnel were killed and 17 or more seriously injured. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the death tolls from attacks they claim.

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the bomber detonated "a little bit away from the back of the bus," which could explain the low casualty numbers released by the Afghan authorities.

Among the nine attacks recorded by AFP in Afghanistan so far this year, only one of them, on January 25, targeted NATO troops, in the troubled eastern province of Kapisa. Five civilians were killed in that attack.

All the other attacks have targeted tribal elders, police or Afghan intelligence agents.

"Since the start of the year, the objective has mainly been Afghans, even if NATO remains a target," a Western security official said.

The Pentagon admitted on Tuesday that NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had wrongly reported a seven per cent decline in Taliban attacks last year, saying that the number was roughly the same as in 2011.

"This is a regrettable error in our database systems that was discovered during a routine quality check. We are making the appropriate adjustments," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

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Whitehaven post heavy loss

AFTER years of modest profits Whitehaven Coal is headed for a $100 million full year loss in an anaemic coal market.

While the NSW coal miner had already downgraded its forecast, it had only vaguely stated that operating profit in the first half would be below $10 million.

The result was worse, with the company posting a $47 million first half net loss on Tuesday.

It caps off a horror year and comes five days after chief executive Tony Haggarty quit, to be replaced by Paul Flynn.

Whitehaven has been the victim of an email hoax claiming it had lost funding sending the share price down, faced permit delays for its new flagship Maules Creek project and was distracted by shareholder Nathan Tinkler's failed takeover attempt and board spill.

During a conference with financial analysts, Merrill Lynch's Peter O'Connor told Mr Haggarty he thought its profit was woeful.

Mr Haggarty said there was no magic wand to wave to turn around what had been a soft market for nearly a year, but the company would graft away at costs until it inevitably did.

"I don't think anybody is making any money at these prices," Mr Haggarty said, pointing to the losses from giant BHP Billiton's own coal division this year.

"It is hard to see a turning point, but it doesn't take much by the way of increased demand from India or China or both to soak up what's there at the moment."

Whitehaven has forecast a similar result in the second half.

The company's shares fell nine six cents, or three per cent, to close at $2.91.

Morningstar equities analyst Gareth James said the result was worse than expected.

"But Whitehaven is very much a long-term story, most of the value attributable to the company is not based on near term earnings but long-term potential," Mr James told AAP.

Japan's largest electricity J-Power paid $370 million for a 10 per cent stake and coal offtake contract in highly regarded Maules Creek with Itochu holding 15 per cent.

That implied a huge valuation for Whitehaven, in contrast to its battered market value, Mr James said.

Whitehaven blamed lower coal prices and delays to its operations for the loss.

Other negative factors included a train derailment at Boggabri that cost it 250,000 tonnes, costs associated with closing the Sunnyside mine and problems with high moisture content reducing the coal quality at its Narrabri mine.

Mr Haggarty said he expects Whitehaven to effectively double production to above seven million tonnes in 2013, aiming to hit 24 million by 2017.

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Aust bonds close stronger

AUSTRALIAN bond futures prices are higher amid growing concerns about Italy's political state following its weekend elections.

At 1630 AEDT on Tuesday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.645 (implying a yield of 3.355 per cent), up from Monday's close of 96.525 (3.475 per cent).

The March three-year bond futures contract was at 97.260 (2.740 per cent), up from 97.140 (2.860 per cent) previously.

Nomura Australia's head of fixed income Jon Linton said the local futures market opened firmer in response to preliminary results from the Italian election.

"It was a pretty big day today in the market - and it was all sparked by the Italian election," Mr Linton said.

"Before the election, yields were higher across the board.

"We've really moved 17 basis points since then, which is a pretty big move.

"I think this is moving us closer towards fair value."

Based on votes counted so far, the election is expected to result in political deadlock, with Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani controlling the lower house and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's party dominating the upper house.

Mr Bersani has indicated he will continue unpopular austerity measures aimed at improving Italy's finances while Mr Berlusconi campaigned on a populist, anti-austerity platform.

He said the results had investors re-evaluating global risks and left scope for Australian bond futures prices to keep moving higher.

"It's a bit of a wake-up call, a reminder that all the risks globally haven't gone away," Mr Linton said.

"The European risks, alright they've diminished significantly, but there's still uncertainty and political risks around Europe.

"And I think there's risk to the US economy from the political situation there and the spending cuts and the budget deficit issues.

"It's a little wake up call to the market, they've gotten a little complacent about credit risk."

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Four dead, 20 injured in Thai bomb blast

FOUR people have been killed and more than 20 injured when a homemade bomb was detonated during a fight at a Buddhist festival in northeast Thailand.

Monday's explosion killed two policemen and two revellers at a concert to celebrate Makha Bhucha Day at a pagoda in Maha Sarakham province, local district police chief Kritchai Sreumsri told AFP.

He said police officers responding to a fight near the celebrations were chasing a man who was apparently carrying a homemade device when it exploded.

More than 20 people, including the man being chased, were injured in the blast at the town of Nadoon.

Makha Bhucha Day honours the teachings of Lord Buddha on the full moon day.

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Re-elected Raul Castro picks 'young' heir

Cuban President Raul Castro confirmed he will stand down at the end of his second term in 2018. Source: AAP

PRESIDENT Raul Castro has been re-elected to what he vowed would be his last term in office, and unveiled a 52-year-old political heir assigned with securing the future of the communism in Cuba after 2018.

"This will be my last term," Castro, 81, told MPs after the National Assembly re-elected him on Sunday and named a new regime number two, Council of State Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Castro said he was "elected to defend, maintain and continue perfecting socialism - not to destroy it," adding that his economic reforms will create "a less egalitarian society, but a fairer one."

Choosing Diaz-Canel, a former military man who has represented the president on foreign trips in recent months, "marks a final step in configuring the country's future leadership, through the slow and orderly transfer of the main leadership positions to new generations," Castro said.

The changes are in line with a decision adopted by the Communist Party last year to limit the terms of top office holder to 10 years. Raul Castro will reach this limit on February 24, 2018.

Raul Castro became Cuba's interim president when Fidel took ill in 2006. He formally became president in 2008.

Through the Cold War and now for more than two decades after it, the United States has tried to isolate Cuba to press for democratic change.

In 1962, it imposed a full trade embargo on Havana - the only one-party Communist regime in the Americas - to pressure the communist island to open up democratically and economically.

Cuba finally appears poised to have lined up new leadership, provided it can continue to prop up its dysfunctional economy while keeping the regime afloat.

Cuba is dependent on aid from oil-rich Venezuela and so far has failed to discover reserves of its own, although some experts say there are untapped stores of crude off its Gulf of Mexico coast.

The future of the Cuban regime also depends on the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuba's main economic supporter and political ally, who is recovering from cancer surgery. But there is no guarantee a successor would feed Cuba's economy as much as Chavez.

Diaz-Canel, who turns 53 in April, is an electrical engineer by training, a former education minister and the president's de facto political heir seeking to project the Americas' only one-party Communist regime into the future.

If Diaz-Canel comes to lead Cuba, he would be the first leader of the regime whose entire life has been under the Castro regime that started in January 1959.

Barring any changes, Diaz-Canel would succeed Raul Castro, who will be 82 in June, if the president serves out his term through 2018.

A careful speaker, the lanky Diaz-Canel also has been a leader of the Communist Youth Union, and went on an international "mission" to Nicaragua during the first leftist Sandinista government.

He rose up the ranks, leading the party in Villa Clara in central Cuba, before being chosen to lead it in Holguin province in the east. Diaz-Canel was then bumped up to the Politburo in 2003.

There was more new blood among the five vice presidents on the Council of State, in the person of Mercedes Lopez Acea, 48, the former leader of the Communist Party's Havana provincial assembly.

And Raul Castro's own daughter, Mariela Castro, was elected as an assembly politician for the first time.

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N.Korea, Mali set to stir UN rights summit

WIDESPREAD abuses in North Korea and Mali are set to be the subject of heated debate at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, which kicks off on Monday.

Around 100 ministers and other dignitaries are set to take part in the most important of the council's three annual sessions, which will last from February 25 through March 22.

Among the many resolutions set to be adopted during the final two days of the session is one that would pave the way for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses in secretive North Korea.

It would mark the first "initiative to do a comprehensive investigation on systematic violations of human rights and crimes against humanity" in North Korea, Juliette De Rivero, head of Human Rights Watch's Geneva office, said.

The resolution, to be tabled by Japan and the European Union, comes after UN human rights chief Navi Pillay last month decried the "deplorable" situation in North Korea.

Pillay stressed that "an in-depth inquiry into one of the worst, but least understood and reported human rights situations in the world is not only fully justified, but long overdue".

She described meetings in December with two survivors of North Korea's network of political prison camps - believed to hold at least 200,000 people - who listed rampant violations inside the camps that "may amount to crimes against humanity."

Last year, for the first time, both the UN's General Assembly in New York and its Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted strong resolutions by consensus condemning North Korea for its systematic rights violations.

It remains to be seen whether the commission of inquiry resolution will pass by consensus - which is by far preferred in the council.

Russia, China and Cuba, which have often in the past demanded votes on such resolutions, are not among the rotating list of 47 member states this year, leaving Venezuela as the only likely obstacle to full consensus, observers say.

Another expected resolution during the coming session will be on conflict-torn Mali, amid reports of widespread human rights abuses, including by Malian troops which with France's help have been struggling to expel Islamists from the vast northern territory the militants seized last April.

France has asked the UN Security Council to quickly deploy observers to oversee the human rights situation in the country, and NGOs in Geneva expect the rights council to adopt a resolution on this issue.

A review of the situation in Sri Lanka will also be a priority during the coming session, according the NGOs, which are demanding a resolution paving the way for an international probe into rights violations during the final months of the country's long civil war.

The situation in Syria - where a spiralling civil war has left an estimated 70,000 people dead, spurred more than 850,000 people to flee the country and left more than four million others in dire need of aid - will also be on the agenda.

A UN commission of inquiry on Syria will officially present its latest report, which was published earlier this month and which flagged war crimes by both government forces and rebels.

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Central Queensland braces for drenching

A SEVERE weather warning is in place for parts of Queensland, where authorities say heavy rainfall may cause flash flooding.

The weather bureau is predicting heavy rainfall from Gladstone to the New South Wales border on Sunday night and Monday.

More than 200mm of rain is expected in some areas and strong winds are likely from Bowen to Bundaberg.

"You can expect flash flooding after heavy rainfall, but of course it depends on how heavy and widespread it has been," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Ben Annels told AAP.

Flood warnings are in place for Balonne, Thompson, Barcoo and western rivers as well as Cooper Creek.

An earlier severe thunderstorm warning for Brisbane has since been lifted, although further thunderstorms are possible, Mr Annels says.

Water at Wivenhoe and Somerset dams in southeast Queensland is being released in preparation for more heavy rain, Seqwater says.

On Sunday night water will also be released at North Pine and Leslie Harrison dams.

All of these dams are 88 to 100 per cent full.

Water is spilling over twelve ungated dams in the region.

A number of lakes have been closed, with details available on the Seqwater website.

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