US orders evacuation of Mali embassy

THE US State Department has ordered all family members of embassy employees to leave Mali, amid the country's escalating conflict with Islamist militants who control the vast arid north.

The order late on Friday follows a tumultuous week in which gunmen across the border in Algeria staged a deadly raid on a remote gas plant, taking an unknown number of foreign hostages.

"On January 18, the Department of State ordered the departure of all dependent family members who are not employed at the US Embassy in Bamako, Mali, for a period of up to 30 days," the notice stated.

It cited "ongoing fighting in northern and central Mali, fluid political conditions, the loss of government control of Mali's northern provinces, and continuing threats of attacks and kidnappings of westerners."

And although conditions in the capital remain calm, "the recent escalation of hostilities around Mopti in northern Mali has heightened tensions throughout the country," the warning said, also noting that Interim President Dioncounda Traore had declared a state of emergency on January 12.

French troops joined a regional effort to oust the militants on January 11, after the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels swooped down from their northern stronghold and threatened the Malian capital Bamako.

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Vatican welcomes Obama gun control stance

THE Vatican has praised US President Barack Obama's proposals for curbing gun violence, saying they are a "step in a right direction".

Vatican's chief spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi, in an editorial on Saturday, said 47 religious leaders had appealed to members of the US Congress "to limit firearms that are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths".

"I am with them," Lombardi declared, lining up the Vatican's moral support in favour of firearm limits.

"The initiatives announced by the American administration for limiting and controlling the spread and use of weapons are certainly a step in the right direction."

Obama is trying to rally support for reinstating a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales.

He faces stiff opposition in the US Congress and from powerful gun lobbies.

Considering that Americans possess "about 300 million firearms," Lombardi said, "people cannot fool themselves that it is enough to limit the number and use (of guns) to impede in the future horrendous massacres like that of Newtown that shook the conscience of America and world, as well as that of children and adults".

He was referring to the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school where 20 children and six adults were killed by a sole attacker last month.

"But it would be worse to be satisfied with words" of condemnation alone, Lombardi said.

And while massacres are "carried out by unbalanced or hate-driven persons, there is no doubt that they are carried out with firearms".

Lombardi renewed Vatican appeals for disarmament and encouragement for measures to fight "the production, commerce and contraband of all types of arms," an industry fuelled by "enormous economic and power interests."

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Taxi driver punched unconscious: police

A TAXI driver has been punched unconscious and his windscreen smashed on the Gold Coast, police say.

Around 7.30pm (AEST) on Saturday, a taxi driver was returning property to an address in Nyrang Court, Palm Beach, when he was punched in the face, rendering him unconscious.

The offender also smashed the front windscreen of the taxi and kicked the rear driver's side panel before leaving the scene on foot.

The driver was treated in hospital.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or noticed suspicious behaviour in the area at the time is urged to contact police.

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France says no more of its nationals held

FRANCE says no more of its nationals are being held hostage in Algeria by Islamist gunmen holed up at a desert gas plant.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on France 3 television that a Frenchman had been killed in the attack and other captured French nationals had been freed.

Le Drian said he could not confirm that a French national, who he said used the surname Le Guen, was among the attackers at the Algerian gas plant but that he expected to find out soon.

He said Le Guen had been in neighbouring Mali for the past several weeks.

The French national killed in the assault has been named as Yann Desjeux, a former special forces soldier who was also the co-owner of a restaurant in the southwestern beach town of Anglet.

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Man caught almost 'eight times over limit'

A MAN has allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading almost eight times above the legal limit, Queensland police say.

Around 6.40pm (AEST) on Saturday police were called to Deagon, in Brisbane's north, after reports an intoxicated man may try to drive his vehicle.

A short time later police allegedly found a man in a utility with the keys in the ignition. He allegedly returned a reading of 0.397 per cent.

The 38-year-old NSW man was charged with being in charge of a motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor.

He is due to appear in the Sandgate Magistrates Court on February 25.

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Rhino named S Africa newsmaker of 2012

THE rhino has been named South Africa's newsmaker for 2012, based on the extensive media coverage around the slaughter of the creature for its horn.

It is the first time that such recognition has gone to an animal, as poaching figures reach all-time highs.

"Stories of rhino poaching dominated the headlines throughout the year, the story was covered extensively locally and internationally," said Antoinette Slabbert, chairperson of South Africa's National Press Club.

Poachers are increasingly targeting South Africa's rhinos, and last year killed a record 668 of them in parks across the country.

"We made this decision after a long and serious thought," Slabbert said, adding "there wasn't any other bigger story than this."

The plight of the pachyderm eclipsed the shooting of 34 mineworkers by police during a strike at Lonmin platinum mine in August, and a host of prominent political news.

"People need to understand that we selected a newsmaker not a news event, the Marikana shooting was a news event, with many faces," Slabbert said.

South Africa is home to about three-quarters of Africa's 20,000 or so white rhinos and 4800 critically endangered black rhinos.

"While the rhino has dominated headlines for all the wrong reasons, the media has played a fundamental role in informing not only South Africans, but the world, about the massive tragedy that is unfolding in our country," Slabbert said.

Rhinos are victims of a surging demand for their horns, which some people in Asia think have medicinal properties. The claim is widely discredited.

South Africa and Vietnam last year signed a deal to tackle the trade and several Asian nationals have been arrested for involvement in poaching.

The number of rhinos poached in the country rose sharply over the last five years, from 13 in 2007 to 448 in 2011.

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Syria's Kurds urge opposition to stop Isla

SYRIAN Kurds have urged the opposition to halt a siege against them by Islamist rebels, as the UN condemned the killing of dozens of children across the country over the past week.

The Kurdish National Council, a pro-opposition umbrella group of Syrian Kurdish parties, condemned what it said was an ongoing assault "against unarmed civilians" by jihadist insurgents on the northern town of Ras al-Ain.

It said the rebels, who came across the border from Turkey, were shelling the town indiscriminately, and called on the main opposition National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army to "pressure these militants to stop this criminal war which is detrimental to the Syrian revolution."

On Saturday, one rebel was killed in shelling and fierce clashes that pitted the jihadist Al-Nusra Front against Kurdish fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A resident of Ras al-Ain told AFP both sides appeared to be preparing for a fierce battle, with Kurdish fighters building fortifications and digging trenches, and rebels bringing in reinforcements from across the border.

Turkey, which supports the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is home to a sizeable Kurdish minority whose demands for greater independence it has moved to suppress, notably in air strikes on Kurdish militants groups.

Activists say Turkey may be using jihadists in Syria to fight its own battle against the Kurds.

Elsewhere, Syrian warplanes raided the eastern outskirts of Damascus as army reinforcements arrived in Daraya, a key battleground near the capital, the Observatory said.

The violence came a day after 149 people were killed, according to the Observatory, including 103 civilians and 18 children.

The United Nations Children's Fund condemned the killing of children in Syria.

"A series of reports from Syria this week underlines the terrible price children are paying" in a conflict that has ravaged the country for 22 months and killed more than 60,000 people, UNICEF said.

"Media reports (Friday) from the scene of mass killings in the village of Hasawiya outside Homs said whole families were among the dead," it added.

"UNICEF condemns these latest incidents in the strongest terms, and once again calls on all parties to ensure civilians - and children especially - are spared the effects of the conflict."

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics for its information, says 3,538 children have been killed since the start of the revolt in March 2011.

Meanwhile, Syria's foreign ministry criticised a petition by UN rights chief Navi Pillay and 58 countries calling for a war crimes case against Damascus to be opened at the International Criminal Court.

"The Syrian government regrets the persistence of these countries in following the wrong approach and refusing to recognise the duty of the Syrian state to protect its people from terrorism imposed from abroad," it said.

Those countries, are "hindering the Syrian national dialogue for a peaceful settlement of the crisis as proposed by Assad on January 6." Those talks would only include opposition forces tolerated by the regime, disqualifying the vast majority of the country's rebels.

Rebels offered a stark reply on Saturday by assassinating Khaled al-Hilal, a local official responsible for arranging any such talks in the southern province of Daraa.

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Boy, 13, drives father's Merc to Germany

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has run away from his adoptive parents in Italy, driving his father's Mercedes 1000 kilometres towards his native Poland before being stopped in Germany.

The boy - a go-kart enthusiast - managed to pass motorway toll booths and cross two international borders in his two-day drive across northern Italy, Austria and half of Germany.

"He looks like a 16-year-old, but still! He managed to fuel up and pass two borders. It's just incredible," Eleonora Spadati, head of local Carabinieri police in Montebelluna in northeast Italy where the boy ran from, told AFP on Saturday.

Spadati said the boy missed Poland and wanted to see his biological sister.

Just before leaving on Thursday with just 200 euros ($A252.14) in his pocket and a passport, he had also argued with his parents after they confiscated his mobile phone as a punishment for topping up its credit without their consent.

The boy's parents quickly realised he might have tried to go to Poland and contacted local Italian police, asking for an alert along his possible route.

German traffic police picked him up just 200 kilometres from the Polish border on Friday.

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French forces stop Mali Islamist advance

MALIAN troops were poised on Saturday to reclaim a key town from Islamists threatening to advance on the capital after France sent in its air force, opening a dramatic new phase in the months-old conflict.

Witnesses and the Malian army said dozens of Islamist fighters were killed in the battle for Konna, one of the worst clashes since the start of the crisis almost a year ago and the most significant setback inflicted on the Islamists.

US officials said Washington might support France's sudden military involvement to help Bamako wrest northern Mali back from al Qaeda-linked groups, while Nigeria also said it had dispatched personnel on the ground.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Operation Serval had already claimed its first French casualty when a pilot carrying raids to support Malian ground troops fighting for Konna was killed on Friday.

France also said it had deployed troops in Bamako, which has remained under government control since Islamist groups seized half of the country in March to protect its 6000-strong expatriate community.

A senior Malian officer in the region told AFP that the army was now fully in control of the town, after spending the best part of Saturday flushing out the last pockets of resistance.

"We control the town, all of it," said Lieutenant Ousmane Fane, a member of the Mopti regional command.

"We have claimed dozens of casualties, even around 100 among Islamist ranks in Konna."

Witnesses reached by AFP spoke of dozens of bodies strewn across the area, with one resident counting 46 dead Islamists.

The town, which had fallen into insurgents' hands on Thursday, is some 700km from Bamako but was seen as one of the last ramparts against an Islamist advance.

Mali's armed forces had been in disarray since a March coup and seemed powerless against a rebellion of seasoned mainly Tuareg fighters, but France's shock intervention tipped the power balance.

"The helicopters struck the insurgents' vehicles, which dispersed. The army is mopping up the city," a Malian military source said.

"During this intense combat, one of our pilots ... was fatally wounded," Le Drian told a press conference in Paris.

Groups with ties to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) overpowered a secular Tuareg rebellion in March 2012 and seized control of a territory the size of France.

They have since destroyed centuries-old mausoleums which they see as a heresy in the fabled city of Timbuktu and imposed an extreme form of Islamic law -- or sharia -- in the main towns, flogging, amputating and sometimes executing transgressors.

The collapse of a nation seen as a democratic success story in the region sparked Western fears that northern Mali could become a major launchpad for global terrorist attacks.

The United States, former colonial power France -- which has eight hostages in the Sahel -- and the rest of the European Union had looked set to let the regional bloc ECOWAS take the lead on any military intervention, which appeared at least several months away.

The UN Security Council had okayed the regional mission but Mali's interim administration had warned it could not afford to wait months for a game-changer.

"Our choice is peace ... but they have forced war on us. We will carry out a crushing and massive retaliation against our enemies," Mali's interim leader, Dioncounda Traore, said in an address to the nation on Friday.

On Saturday he thanked France for its intervention.

French army chief Edouard Guillaud, speaking at the same briefing as the defence minister, said the operation had a tactical command in Mali.

French President Francois Hollande, who has struggled on the domestic front and seen his popularity hit record lows, said French forces would remain involved as long as necessary.

Nigeria's presidency on Saturday confirmed it had sent an air force technical team and the commander of the planned ECOWAS force to Mali.

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Single parents to protest over payments

WELFARE advocates are planning to protest around Australia next month over the government's cuts to single parent benefits.

From January 1, single parents have not been eligible for the Parenting payment once their youngest child has turned eight years old and have been transferred to the lower Newstart allowance.

More than 60,000 single parents now receive between $60 to $100 a week less under entitlement changes.

The single parents action group (SPAG) are organising rallies in all major cities on February 5 to push for the government to reverse its decision, with the main protest at Parliament House in Canberra.

Protest organiser Samantha Seymour said the payment changes would have a detrimental impact on single parent families.

"Our purpose is to show the government that we will not tolerate their decision to further deprive and isolate Australians whose only crime is being single parents," Ms Seymour said in a statement on Sunday.

Families spokeswoman for the Australian Greens, Rachel Siewert, said she was concerned about the long-term impact of the lower Newstart payments on parents and their children.

"We shouldn't be condemning people to poverty," Senator Siewert said in a statement.

She said the government should reverse these payment cuts and also boost the Newstart allowance by $50 a week.

The government introduced the changes, worth around $728 million in savings over four years, in its bid for a budget surplus in 2012/13.

Last December, Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government was unlikely to have a surplus this financial year due to lower than forecast tax revenue.

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