Cocaine: Russia arrests Colombian priest

RUSSIAN agents have detained a Colombian priest on arrival at a Moscow airport and found he had swallowed over a dozen condoms stuffed with cocaine, the federal anti-narcotics service says.

Anti-narcotics officers detained the man at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport because his "sickly appearance and nervous behaviour" raised suspicions, the service said.

They took him to a Moscow hospital where they found 13 packages of cocaine in his stomach. They also found five more in his luggage, with a total of 780 grams of cocaine.

Russian television showed footage of the operation with the young bespectacled priest in black clothes and a dog collar with a cross.

It said that the priest, who had flown via Paris, had swallowed condoms full of cocaine.

Television showed ID cards naming him as Fabio Ricardo Rodriguez, a priest within the Holy Catholic Church-Western Rite.

"The organisers of the drug business, as you can see, stoop to the dirtiest methods, even involving representatives of the most virtuous professions," the drug service said.

The priest is now in a pre-trial detention centre in the Moscow satellite of Khimki and was visited by the Colombian consul, Russian television reported.

It showed him holding a rosary in his cell.

"Since I am a priest, this situation is very complex. It goes against my morals and my convictions, but I was forced by a mafia gang to commit this action, I had no choice," he said in televised comments dubbed into Russian.

Asked what he would do in jail, he replied: "Pray for forgiveness of my sins and reflect on my life."

He could serve 10 to 15 years for smuggling drugs, Russian television said.

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Hundreds loot shops in Timbuktu

HUNDREDS of Malians have looted shops in Timbuktu, saying they belong to "Arabs" and "terrorists" linked to the radical Islamists who occupied the desert town for 10 months.

Members of an angry crowd told AFP on Tuesday the shops belonged to Arabs, Mauritanians and Algerians who they say supported the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists who retreated ahead the town's recapture by French-led troops on Monday.

An AFP journalist saw the looters take arms and military communications equipment from some of the shops.

However, most of the residents of the impoverished town on the edge of the Sahara desert, hit by food and water shortages, seized whatever they could get their hands on: televisions, satellite dishes, food and furniture.

Some fought each other for items while others smashed shop doors, emptying them within minutes.

In the suburb of Abaradjou, a man living in a former bank converted by the Islamists into a "committee of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice", was dragged out by a hysterical crowd who then pillaged the building, taking even office chairs.

The bearded middle-aged man was arrested by Malian troops who were in the town after French soldiers who lead the offensive withdrew into the suburbs.

"He is an Islamist", one solder said, as troops turned their weapons toward the crowd to prevent them from lynching the man.

The mob yelled: "He is not from here, he is a terrorist!"

Malian soldiers put an end to the looting by mid morning.

"We will not let people pillage. But it is true that weapons were found in some shops," one officer said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged the Malian authorities to protect light-skinned citizens from reprisal attacks from the population, as ethnic tensions rise between Tuaregs and Arabs, and black Malians.

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Donors pledge hundreds of millions to Mali

AFRICAN leaders and international officials have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for military operations against Islamist militants in Mali and humanitarian aid.

Malian President Dioncounda Traore thanked the "entire international community" as nations offered cash or support at the top-level meeting at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia's capital on Tuesday.

While more than $US600 million ($A579 million) has been pledged so far - including over $US120 million from Japan and $US96 million from the United States - how much would be spent on backing the key African-led military force was not immediately clear.

"The whole world has gathered here, it's very good for Mali," Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said.

The donor conference comes a day after French-led forces seized Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu from Islamists as part of an offensive against the radicals who have controlled the country's vast desert north for 10 months.

African leaders and officials, as well as representatives from the United Nations, European Union and China attended the meeting.

"We all know the gravity of the crisis," AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told the conference, aimed at providing funding for the African-led force for Mali (AFISMA) supporting Malian troops.

"It is a situation that requires a swift and effective international response for it threatens Mali, the region, the continent and even beyond."

The AU has promised to contribute $US50 million but diplomats have suggested about $US700 million will be needed for AFISMA and the Malian army, in addition to heavy humanitarian costs.

Alassane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast, said there was an "urgent need to speed up the deployment".

A woeful lack of cash and logistical resources has hampered AFISMA in its support of Malian troops.

So far, just 2000 African troops have been sent to Mali or neighbouring Niger, with the bulk of the fighting borne by about 2500 French troops, who launched a military offensive on January 11.

"We are gathered here today to provide AFISMA ways to carry out its work of restoring the sovereignty and integrity of Mali, prerequisites for lasting political stability," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Mali's president also called on the wider Muslim world to support efforts and show that "Islam at its heart does not serve as a cover for terrorism and organised crime."

UN leader Ban Ki-moon earlier said there was a "moral imperative for the entire international community" to provide support to the people of Mali "at this critical hour".

AU chairman and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn thanked France for its military intervention in Mali, as well as praising west African troops in AFISMA.

"Forging strong co-ordination... will enable us to speedily restore the territorial integrity of the country, and progressively address the challenges of terrorism and extremism in the region," he said.

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Dozens found shot execution-style in Syria

THE bodies of at least 68 young men and boys, all executed with a single gunshot to the head or neck, have been found in a river in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a watchdog and rebels say.

A Free Syrian Army captain at the scene on Tuesday said at least 68 bodies had been found and that many more were still being dragged from the water in a rebel-held area.

The bodies were found in the Quweiq River, which separates the Bustan al-Qasr district from Ansari in the southwest of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"We have recovered 68 bodies, some of them just teens," said Captain Abu Sada, adding that all of them had been "executed by the regime".

"There must be more than 100. There are still many in the water, and we are trying to recover them."

A volunteer said as he helped load one of the bodies on a truck: "We don't know who they are because there was no ID."

Meanwhile rebels have captured a vital bridge across the Euphrates river in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor that could cut off regime supplies to the adjoining province of Hasakeh.

The observatory said the seizing of the Siyasiyeh bridge and another smaller bridge in Deir Ezzor triggered retaliatory air strikes from the regime forces.

"Siyasiyeh bridge is the most important in the area as it connects Deir Ezzor to Hasakeh. Its capture means that army supplies to Hasakeh will be nearly completely severed," observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by telephone.

"These gains in Deir Ezzor are very important because this strategic city is the gateway to a region rich in oil and gas resources," said Abdel Rahman.

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad still controls the military airport of Deir Ezzor, the provincial capital of the province of the same name, as well as a number of smaller posts and a scout camp turned army base.

"If the rebels continue to progress and gain control of what is left of military-held posts, the Pioneers camp and Deir Ezzor military airport, it will be the first major city to fall into the hands of the rebels," Abdel Rahman said.

Regime troops have been forced from a vast territory stretching from the provincial capital to the Iraqi border, including the border town of Albu Kamal and its small military airbase.

The observatory, which compiles its data from a network of activists and medics in civilian and military hospitals said 152 people - 74 civilians, 47 rebels and 31 soldiers - were killed nationwide on Monday.

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Timbuktu mayor says Islamists burned texts

French-led troops are closing in on Timbuktu without meeting any resistance from Islamist militants. Source: AAP

ISLAMIST extremists have torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu as French and Malian forces close in on the desert city.

Mayor Ousmane Halle said he heard about the burnings early on Monday.

"It's truly alarming that this has happened," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali's capital, Bamako.

"They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people."

He said he did not have details or know whether the rebels were still in the town.

Ground forces backed by French paratroopers and helicopters took control of Timbuktu's airport and the roads leading to the town in an overnight operation, a French military official said on Monday.

It marked the latest success in the two-week-old French mission to oust radical Islamists from the northern half of Mali, which they seized more than nine months ago.

French Colonel Thierry Burkhard, the chief military spokesman in Paris, said the town's airport was taken without firing a shot.

"There was an operation on Timbuktu last night that allowed us to control access to the town," he said. "It's up to Malian forces to retake the town."

The Timbuktu operation comes a day after the French announced they had seized the airport and a key bridge in a city east of Timbuktu, Gao, one of the other northern provincial capitals that had been under the grip of radical Islamists.

The French and Malian forces have met little resistance from the Islamists, who seized northern Mali in the wake of a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako, in southern Mali.

Timbuktu, which is on an ancient caravan route, has entranced travellers for centuries. It is about 1,000 kilometres northeast of Bamako, the capital. During their rule, the militants have systematically destroyed UNESCO World Heritage sites in Timbuktu.

A spokesman for the al-Qaeda-linked militants has said the ancient tombs of Sufi saints were destroyed because they contravened Islam, encouraging Muslims to venerate saints instead of God.

Among the tombs they destroyed is that of Sidi Mahmoudou, a saint who died in 955, according to the UNESCO website.

Timbuktu, long a hub of Islamic learning, is also home to some 20,000 manuscripts, some dating back to the 12th century. Owners have succeeded in removing some of the manuscripts from Timbuktu to save them, while others have been carefully hidden away from the Islamists.

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Thailand to turn away Myanmar boat people

THAILAND will turn away any more Rohingya boat people from neighbouring Myanmar (Burma) who try to land on its shores, a top official says.

"The Thai navy from now on will be stricter with them and will no longer allow them to land," National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanathabutr told AFP on Monday.

"If we find them, we will provide them with food, water and necessities so they can go to their destinations," he added.

An explosion of tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has triggered a huge exodus of Muslim Rohingya, mostly heading for Malaysia.

More than 1000 have been detained by Thailand after landing on its shores.

Paradorn said the existing detainees would be allowed to stay in Thailand for six months at immigration centres or local police stations while the government works with the UN refugee agency to find third countries willing to accept them.

The tougher stance comes a week after Thai authorities said they were investigating allegations that army officials were involved in the trafficking of Rohingya boat people.

Described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority groups in the world, Rohingya have for years trickled abroad to neighbouring Bangladesh and, increasingly, to Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.

The UN estimates that about 13,000 boat people fled Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2012.

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NSW cop has surgery after pot knockout

A MAN has allegedly hurled a heavy cooking pot at a constable, knocking her out, at a unit on the NSW Central Coast.

Officers went to Nambucca Drive in Woy Woy to arrest an 18-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy over an alleged assault shortly before 12.45pm (AEDT) on Monday.

The pair was spotted walking along the road but fled to a nearby unit.

Two officers followed them but were blocked from entering the unit by a 29-year-old man who slammed the door.

A senior constable was then confronted by the older man who closed a kitchen window so hard it smashed in her face, police said.

Glass fell onto the woman causing cuts to her hands.

The man then allegedly threw a heavy cooking pot through the window which struck the officer on her jaw, leaving her unconscious.

Paramedics treated the officer before taking her to Gosford Hospital for treatment to her injured jaw and microsurgery to a severed tendon in her hand.

About 1.20pm the man, two teenagers and a woman were removed from the premises.

The woman was released shortly after.

The 13-year-old boy has been charged with common assault and offensive language and granted conditional bail to appear at Woy Woy Children's Court on March 8.

The 18-year-old man was charged with common assault and granted conditional bail to appear in the same court on March 5.

The 29-year-old man has been charged with wound with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and refused bail to appear at Gosford Local Court on Tuesday.

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Nightclub fire kills at least 90

A FIRE in a nightclub in southern Brazil killed at least 90 people early Sunday, police and firefighters said.

Sandro Meinerz, spokesman for the police in the city of Santa Maria, told local media that the fire broke out at the Kiss club while a band was performing. He said at least 200 people were injured.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, officials said. The total number of victims is still unknown and there may be hundreds injured, Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha.

He told the radio a truck carrying 70 bodies had arrived at the Municipal Sports Centre, which was being used as an improvised morgue. Police believe there are about 20 bodies still inside the club.

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Qld cities brace for floods - again

A sixth tornado has hit Queensland's Bundaberg region and forecasters say more could develop. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS of Brisbane and Ipswich are again preparing for floods, two years after the 2011 deluge that inundated thousands of homes and caused millions of dollars in damage.

But the floods won't be as bad this time, authorities say.

About 4850 homes and businesses in Brisbane and 50 in Ipswich to the west are expected to be affected when the Brisbane and Bremer rivers peak about midnight on Monday.

A second flood peak is expected at noon on Wednesday, the Queensland premier said in a press conference on Sunday afternoon.

Torrential rain from the low pressure system that was tropical cyclone Oswald has caused minor flooding in the Lockyer Creek and the Bremer River which feed into the Brisbane River.

Scientific modelling shows Brisbane can expect a 2.6m flood peak, nearly half of the 4.46m peak in 2011.

The Ipswich peak is expected to be five metres less than the 19.4m peak two years ago.

"There will be flooding but the flooding is much much lower than what we saw in 2011," Premier Campbell Newman told reporters.

The west Brisbane suburb of Moggill will be hit first, and other affected suburbs include: Bundamba, Wacol, Riverhills, Wolston Creek, Pinjara Hills, Kenmore, Hemmant, Wynnum, Tingalpa, Cannon Hills, Murarrie, Newmarket, Herston, Windsor, Bowen Hills, Albion and Newstead.

The Brisbane CBD is not expected to be affected.

In January 2011, 22,000 homes and 7600 businesses were flooded in Brisbane and 3000 homes and businesses in Ipswich.

The damage bill for Brisbane's infrastructure was $400 million.

The premier urged people to check flood maps on the Brisbane City Council website and prepare if they were in an area that may flood.

Standing alongside Mr Newman, Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the message to residents was to stay calm.

"The time to act is now. The time to prepare is now," he said.

An emergency alert has gone out to residents in the Lockyer Valley as floodwaters rise in the area, which was the main disaster zone in the 2011 floods.

Central Queensland has already born the brunt of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, with torrential rain and destructive winds bringing floods, tornados and destructive winds to the east coast and inland.

An elderly man was killed, more than a dozen people were injured and 250 homes were damaged when a serious of tornados ripped through the coastal towns of Burnett Heads, Bargara, Burrum Heads and Coonarr near Bundaberg on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The man's body was recovered from the water at Burnett Heads on Sunday morning after he fell overboard from a yacht that had been ripped from its moorings.

Meanwhile hundreds of people have been pouring into evacuation centres at Maryborough, Bundaberg and Gympie with flood peaks in central Queensland expected to exceed 2010-2011 levels on Sunday night and Monday.

The Burnett River at Bundaberg is expected to peak at 8.5m from 8.30pm (AEST), with 400 homes and businesses tipped to flood.

The Mary River is forecast to peak over 9m at Maryborough early on Monday, and 21m at Gympie at 7am (AEST) on Monday.

There were fears for three families stuck on the roofs of their homes at Widgee near Gympie on Sunday evening and a 27-year-old man who went missing after he tried to cross a swollen creek in the Gympie area.

There were also grave concerns for a young woman last seen driving into floodwaters at Pacific Haven near Maryborough on Sunday and a fisherman who has been missing off Port Alma near Rockhampton since Thursday night.

Meanwhile the Gladstone region has experienced severe flooding which has prompted the evacuation of 900 homes.

The areas of Boyne Island and Tannum Sands, south of Gladstone, and Baffle Creek, between Gladstone and Bundaberg, were the worst affected.

Around Queensland, 125,000 homes were without power on Sunday night.

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150 dead in Brazil nightclub fire

LOCAL media report 150 people have died in a fire that erupted at a nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria.

The death toll from the early Sunday morning disaster stood initially at 70 but quickly increased as firefighters searched the charred remains of the establishment named Kiss.

Santa Maria fire chief Guido de Melo said the final toll was still unclear, suggesting that it could rise.

"There was panic after the fire started and many revellers got trampled," he is quoted as saying by Estadao newspaper. "The main cause of death was asphyxiation."

According to media reports, the fire erupted after 2am (1300 AEDT) when the nightclub hosted a university party featuring a rock band.

The band used pyrotechnics as part of its show, O Globo newspaper reported on its site.

"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."

Family member have gathered gathering outside of the burned-down building in the hope of getting news of their loved ones.

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