Myanmar unrest death toll reaches 43

The toll from violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) has risen to 43. Source: AAP

THE death toll from recent communal violence in central Myanmar (Burma) has risen to 43 with more than 1300 homes and other buildings destroyed, state media has reported.

Sixty-eight people have been arrested in connection with the Buddhist-Muslim unrest, which has left 11,376 people homeless, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Saturday.

In total, 163 incidences of violence have been reported in 15 townships, it added.

Previously the official death toll stood at 40.

The situation appears to have calmed since President Thein Sein on Thursday vowed a tough response against those behind the violence, which he attributed to "political opportunists and religious extremists".

Security forces fired warning shots on Wednesday to disperse rioters. But Muslim leaders have criticised the security forces for failing to stop the attacks.

The clashes were apparently triggered by an argument in a gold shop that turned into a riot, but witnesses say the wave of violence since then appears to have been well organised.

It is the worst sectarian strife since violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.

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Rudd tells China to be cautious of N Korea

Kevin Rudd faces the media in Brisbane. Picture: Darren England Source: News Limited

FORMER prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd has told officers of Beijing's main defence academy that the world is looking to China to use its influence to quell the aggression of North Korea.

In a speech this week to China's National Defence University, reported by The Australian newspaper on Saturday, Mr Rudd said North Korea's nuclear program poses a serious threat to China's relations with its neighbours.

The speech was made two days before North Korea announced on Saturday that it had formally entered into a "state of war" with South Korea.

In the latest in a string of pronouncements from Pyongyang and tough warnings from Seoul and Washington, a government statement from North Korea said: "As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol."

The White House said it took the new warning seriously but added that Pyongyang's threats were following a familiar pattern.

The Australian said Mr Rudd's Beijing address had coincided with the United States' confirmation on Thursday that it had sent two B-2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to drop munitions on a target range on a South Korean island.

Mr Rudd told his audience of officers that the diplomatic efforts of all nations but China had failed to persuade North Korea against its shows of aggression.

But while China had gone to considerable lengths to try to change North Korea's behaviour, Pyongyang had rewarded it by launching its third underground test during China's Spring Festival holiday.

And while China was announcing its new leadership to the world, North Korea had declared its renunciation of the 1953 armistice.

Pyongyang's antics threatened China's foreign policy objectives because Asian nations were beginning to co-operate on regional anti-ballistic missile defences, which could work against China as well as North Korea, Mr Rudd said.

North Korea's threats to bomb the US and its allies and to reduce the South Korean capital of Seoul to a smouldering ruin had come as some in Japan and South Korea were pushing for their countries to develop nuclear weapons of their own.

"Our Chinese friends would also appreciate that other countries of the region have profound concerns about both the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program of North Korea and its inflammatory declaratory language concerning its preparedness unilaterally to use armed force against the South and other 'unnamed aggressors' in Asia," Mr Rudd said.

He added: "The most immediate and significant threat to a new form of strategic co-operation between Beijing and Washington, and between Beijing and the rest of the region, lies in the North Korean nuclear program.

"North Korea's nuclear posture is of itself causing the US and its allies in the region to enhance their co-operation on ballistic missile defence in order to counter the North Korean threat.

"Such ballistic missile defence co-operation also of course has wider implications for China's national and security interests beyond the Korean Peninsula.

"China's own global foreign policy standing is suffering and will continue to suffer as a result of North Korean adventurism."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will next week lead a delegation to China that includes ministers Bob Carr, Craig Emerson and Bill Shorten for talks on trade, security and clean energy.

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Vic faithful flock to city for Good Friday

ABOUT 2000 worshippers have re-enacted the stations of the cross in Melbourne as part of an annual event that is growing each year.

The procession, called The Way of the Cross, was started by Melbourne City Churches in Action 12 years ago to bring people together on Good Friday.

Commemorating Jesus's final hours from the last supper to crucifixion and resurrection, it initially attracted just a couple of hundred people, organiser Jamie Pearce said on Friday.

"There was a feeling that there was nothing much happening in the city on Good Friday that was in any way shared," Mr Pearce said.

He said police had estimated the number of people attending this year at between 1800 and 2000.

The procession visited nine city churches, finishing at St Paul's Cathedral, with followers pausing for a reading and prayers with each stop.

Mr Pearce said the gathering on Sunday morning for the final station - the resurrection - will be significantly smaller than Friday's procession.

"It's usually only about 40 of us," he said. "They put on champagne in celebration of the resurrection.

"It's quite a bash."

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Qld toddler injured after boat capsizes

A TODDLER has been left with head injuries after a boat capsized on the Gold Coast.

A Department of Community Safety spokeswoman says paramedics were called out to the incident at Surfers Paradise about 12.30pm (AEST) on Friday.

When they arrived, they treated the injured 18-month-old tot and a 60-year-old man with a cut to his leg.

Both were taken to Gold Coast hospital.

A third patient was assessed but did not require treatment.

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US boy survived on sugar after mum died

A NAKED, malnourished boy found in an apartment with the body of his mother, who had been dead for days, had resorted to eating from a bag of sugar and weighed only 11 kilograms, police say.

The four-year-old's first request after being examined, police in New Jersey say, was a juice and a grilled cheese sandwich.

His mother, identified on Wednesday as 38-year-old Kiana Workman, was discovered dead on Tuesday on the floor of her bedroom after building maintenance workers reported a foul odour.

Because the chain lock was on the boy couldn't get out.

Officer Joseph Sauer said the boy was naked but coherent and not crying when police kicked in the door.

"The only way to describe the little boy was it was like a scene from World War II, from a concentration camp, he was that skinny. I mean, you could see all his bones," Sauer told The Associated Press.

The boy was not strong enough to open the refrigerator and he couldn't tell police how long he had been eating from a bag of sugar.

The boy could not say how long his mother had been dead.

Police said he put lotion on his mother, leaving behind handprints, in an attempt to help her.

Police initially estimated she had been dead for five days before the discovery, but Zieser said on Wednesday it may have been two to three.

Nobody had talked to her for about a week.

Autopsy results were pending but police did not suspect foul play.

Officer Sylvia Dimenna, who travelled in the ambulance with the boy and stayed with him at the hospital, said he was very bright and articulate but tired.

"He said he missed his mommy," she said.

The boy, now in state custody, remained in a hospital where he was being treated for malnourishment and dehydration.

At his age, he should weigh 18 kilograms or more, police said, so it's possible he was improperly cared for before his mother's death.

Police said they were getting calls from around the world from people offering to adopt the child or donate money or toys.

It would be up to the state's child welfare agency to determine where he was placed.

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NZ cricketer critically injured in attack

NZ cricketer Jesse Ryder is in intensive care after an attack left him with a fractured skull. Source: AAP

THE New Zealand cricket community is in shock as Test batsman Jesse Ryder remains in intensive care in hospital after being attacked twice while out in Christchurch with his teammates.

The 28-year-old is in a critical condition in an induced coma in Christchurch Hospital after he suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured skull, in a serious assault in the city early on Thursday.

Police say Ryder had been out for a drink with his Wellington teammates at Aikmans Bar in Merivale following their loss to Canterbury in a domestic one-day match.

There was an initial altercation on the footpath outside the bar involving Ryder and at least two other men, Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Archer told a press conference.

Ryder and two others went across the road to McDonald's to meet up with their teammates, where a second altercation involving one of the men from the initial incident took place at the entrance to the carpark.

It was during the second altercation that Ryder was seriously assaulted and emergency services were called, Det Sen Sgt Archer said.

It's thought at least 10 people witnessed the attacks and police are reviewing CCTV footage from the area.

Det Sen Sgt Archer said police hadn't yet identified the people involved, but they were following "positive lines of inquiry".

There was no indication at this stage that alcohol was a contributing factor to the assault, he said.

Police are working to determine what happened leading up to it.

New Zealand Cricket Players' Association Heath Mills said the cricket community was in shock over what had happened to Ryder.

"It's a sad day for us," he said.

"A number of players around the country are in shock. Our focus now is on Jesse and his wellbeing."

Ryder was due to leave for the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday after his services were acquired by the Delhi Daredevils at a player auction in February.

The big-hitting batsman, who has been unavailable to play for New Zealand for 12 months, was picked up for $US260,000 ($A250,100).

The seven-week long tournament runs from April 3 to May 26.

It is not the first time Ryder has been involved in an incident in Christchurch. In February 2008 he cut his hand trying to break into a toilet in a bar in the city.

After a number of other incidents, he admitted he had a drinking problem and last March announced he was taking an indefinite break from international cricket.

He played for the Pune Warriors in last year's IPL and was accompanied by psychologist Karen Nimmo and Klee.

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Gillard defends the 2011 live export ban

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has defended the federal government's 2011 ban on live exports, ahead of a possible confrontation with protesters in Perth.

Ms Gillard said the government had to place a temporary ban on live exports after video surfaced of Australian animals being mistreated in Indonesia.

"We faced a situation where if we did nothing and images of this kind of cruelty just came back to Australia time after time after time, then community anxiety would have got to the stage where people would have said ban this industry and ban it for all time," she told ABC radio on Wednesday.

"What I chose to do instead was to put in place a ban so we could move to increase animal welfare standards.

"We've done that, and what that means is, we've put the industry on a strong and stable footing for the future."

The new system involves tracking animal welfare standards so people could export livestock knowing they were not at risk of "a sudden outpouring of community sentiment" that would close their business down, Ms Gillard said.

The prime minister will attend a community cabinet in Thornlie later on Wednesday where she is expected to be confronted by live animal export protesters.

Stop Live Exports coordinator Katrina Love said she expected about 100 people to attend the public forum for a peaceful rally, urging the prime minister to announce a plan before the federal election to phase out live exports.

"We will vote for a party that commits to a phase-out and an end to this cruelty," she said.

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US state outlaws most abortions

THE state of North Dakota has approved the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States, a move that challenges federal protection of a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.

Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple signed a bill on Tuesday that bans any abortion after a fetal heart beat can be detected, typically around six weeks after conception when many women don't realise they are pregnant.

There are no exceptions for rape, incest, the health of the mother or if she would lose the pregnancy anyway as a result of a fetal abnormality.

Dalrymple also signed two bills which ban abortion because of genetic defects or for the purpose of gender selection.

North Dakota's Republican-dominated state legislature passed a law on Friday that asks voters to amend the state constitution to define life as beginning at conception.

If ratified in a November 2014 election, the amendment would grant full legal protection to embryos and fetuses and could outlaw some forms of birth control, stem cell research and possibly IVF.

The laws will undoubtedly prompt legal challenges - but their supporters welcome any chance this gives them to overturn the US Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade decision legalising abortion.

Dalrymple ordered the legislature to allocate funds to fight any legal challenges and hoped to prevail with the fetal heartbeat bill.

"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe vs Wade," he said.

"Because the US Supreme Court has allowed state restrictions on the performing of abortions and because the Supreme Court has never considered this precise restriction ... the constitutionality of this measure is an open question."

Pro-choice advocates insist the legislation will be overturned in court.

"This sweeping package of bills will not stand up to constitutional scrutiny," said Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood in North Dakota.

"But as a result of North Dakota's leaders' disregard for women's health, the state will endure months and years of drawn-out litigation costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The Supreme Court refused to review the Roe decision in October, turning away a petition on an amendment to Oklahoma's constitution that would have granted "personhood" to embryos.

Other cases are expected to come before the court in the coming months as some 20 states have laws on the books to ban or heavily restrict abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe vs Wade.

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Budgets at western Sydney hospitals cut

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has been accused of marking his two years in power by slashing almost $5 million from the budgets of western Sydney's busiest hospitals.

Opposition Leader John Robertson pointed to newly released budget documents for the Western Sydney Local Health District showing $2.94 million will be cut from Westmead Hospital.

Another $1.35 million will be trimmed from Blacktown and Mt Druitt hospitals while Auburn Hospital will be down $360,000.

This comes on top of $3 million slashed from the staffing budget at the Westmead and Sydney Children's Hospitals this year, Mr Robertson said.

"We should be investing more to help Western Sydney hospitals keep up with growing demand, not less," he said.

Opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald said it was impossible to slash nearly $5 million from the hospitals without compromising patient care.

"These cuts are forcing medical staff hours to be cut back and wards such as the cardiac unit at Mt Druitt to be closed."

But Mr O'Farrell said Labor should stop getting its information from the unions.

"John Robertson has got to stop listening to the unions and start listening to communities," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

He said an additional $55 million had gone into the Western Sydney Health Region this year.

Back office and regional office jobs were being cut to divert money to the frontline, the premier said.

"We will not apologise for cutting back office and head office jobs to free up dollars to go into our hospitals and our clinics to ensure that there can be more admissions, there can be more emergency treatments, there can be more emergency surgery," he said.

In question time, Health Minister Jillian Skinner said Blacktown-Mt Druitt hospital was receiving a $324 million upgrade.

"I am very proud that at the two-year mark we have a record budget for health, $17.3 billion in recurrent funding," she told parliament.

"An extra $1.1 billion invested in our hospitals to upgrade facilities that were long promised an upgrade by that lot over there, not delivered right across the state.

"And the irony of it! Which is the biggest hospital upgrade? Blacktown! Blacktown! I can't believe it."

She refuted "spurious" arguments about health budget cuts, saying 3000 nurses and 900 additional medical staff had been employed.

Ms Skinner also pointed to an overall budget increase of $20 million for Westmead Hospital, including a $5 million upgrade for its emergency department.

She said waiting times there had been slashed.

"According to the most recent Bureau of Health report, Westmead Hospital median waiting time ... has gone from 45 minutes under Labor to 31 minutes under us," the minister said.

"So put that in your pipe and smoke it."

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Schapelle Corby's sister bashed in Bali

THE sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has been assaulted in Bali.

Mercedes Corby is in Kasih Ibu (Mother Love) Hospital , staff have confirmed to AAP.

"We have admission under the name Mercedes Corby in room 407," a hospital employee said.

"She's suspectedly suffered bone fracture."

The hospital said Ms Corby may have to undergo surgery.

"That's all we can say for now."

It is understood Ms Corby suffered her injuries during an assault in Bali.

The sisters' mother Rosleigh Rose confirmed the incident to news.com.au, but said her daughter wanted privacy.

An Australian man told the website that he witnessed the incident in Bali, saying "she had blood all over her face and her eyes were closed."

Mercedes Corby is married to a Balinese man and lives on the Indonesian island.

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Labor climate position weakens: Greens

AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Christine Milne believes the federal Labor government is shifting closer to the coalition's position on tackling climate change.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday announced the merger of the climate change department into an industry and innovation mega-department, and the appointment of former resources executive Gary Gray to cabinet as mines and energy minister.

"The worry with today is that the Gillard government has moved closer to Tony Abbott by abolishing a stand-alone climate department, merging it with another department and putting a fossil fuel advocate into the energy department," Senator Milne told reporters in Hobart.

She said the energy minister needed to "act in the same policy framework" as Climate Change Minister Greg Combet.

Senator Milne said the reshuffle was the result of a "complete internal implosion" of the Labor Party last week.

It was crucial the government got its act together as there were big decisions to be made before the election on education funding and boosting benefits for the unemployed, she said.

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EU approves Cyprus rescue deal

A preliminary agreement has been reached paving the way for Cyprus to receive a $A12.49b bailout. Source: AAP

A DEADLINE-DAY deal to resurrect a 10 billion euro ($A12.49 billion) bailout for Cyprus in exchange for a massive wipe-out across the island's two biggest banking chains won approval early on Monday from eurozone finance ministers, EU sources said.

Final backing was received at around 1200 AEDT, 12 hours into marathon talks for President Nicos Anastasiades with EU, ECB, IMF and eurozone leaders, with the Cypriot leader saying he was "content."

Earlier, Anastasiades had indicated a breakthrough after hours of gruelling talks on Sunday evening, as a deadline for the withdrawal of European Central Bank financing loomed.

"Efforts have culminated," he posted on Twitter.

Soon after, EU sources announced that eurozone finance ministers had given the deal their approval.

The agreement involves breaking up the island's second largest lender Laiki (Popular Bank).

And the Bank of Cyprus, the island's No.1, will take a major "haircut" - a forced wipeout of investment value, on all deposits of more than 100,000 euros ($A124,898).

The Bank of Cyprus, with one third of all holdings, survives, but at a massive price for investors - and the bank holds most of the island's offshore Russian deposits.

But the new agreement backs off from last week's collapsed deal to hit all savers in all banks on the island.

Smaller account-holders will be covered by the EU's deposit guarantee legislation, which runs to the 100,000-euro threshold: it is those above that level who face big losses overnight.

As the crisis unfolded last week, Russian leaders refused to cough up fresh aid or extend a 2014 repayment date on an existing 2.5 billion euros ($A3.12 billion) loan to Cyprus.

Both banks stayed closed and by the end of the week had cut cash machine withdrawal limits to as low as 100 euros ($A125) per day.

The negotiations were aimed at pulling together some seven billion euros, mainly from the Cypriot banking sector, to unlock a 10 billion-euro loans package first agreed nine days ago.

A major sticking-point throughout the talks was the ECB's demand for the Bank of Cyprus to pay a nine billion-euro Laiki bill due to Frankfurt, which appeared to have been accepted.

"We will do our utmost for Cyprus," the president had said via Twitter going into Sunday evening's talks.

Anastasiades met first with ECB head Mario Draghi, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso, Euro group chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn.

Sources at the presidential palace in Nicosia told state media that at one point the Cypriot leader's frustration boiled over during the talks.

"Do you want to force me to resign?" the Cyprus News Agency quoted Anastasiades as telling the bailout bosses.

The crunch talks in the snow-covered Belgian capital were called after the ECB threatened to halt life support funding for Cyprus on Monday if there was no deal.

The banks in Cyprus are due to reopen on Tuesday after a 10-day shutdown.

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Qld man tries to run over cops after crash

A MAN crashed a stolen car into a tree during a police chase before allegedly trying to run over two officers in suburban Brisbane.

The officers were patrolling in Beenleigh when they tried to pull over a stolen car just after 1am (AEST) on Sunday, police say.

The car sped off, but was found crashed into a tree.

As the two officers walked towards the car, the driver allegedly turned the vehicle around and drove at them, forcing them to jump out of the way.

Another police car chased the vehicle to Logan Central, where the driver ran off into bushland.

Officers arrested a man shortly after and allegedly found drugs and a gun in the car.

He has been charged with 13 offences including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failing to stop, serious assault of police and possessing weapons and dangerous drugs.

He will appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Monday.

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14 killed in drug-plagued Mexican states

AUTHORITIES say the bodies of seven men were found in plastic chairs placed along the side of a street in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Michoacan, while another seven people, including three federal agents, were killed in neighbouring Guerrero.

Michoacan's Attorney General's Office said in a statement on Saturday that the seven bodies had bullet wounds and had been placed individually in the sitting position in chairs near a traffic circle in the city of Uruapan. The office did not provide a motive for killings.

In Guerrero state, authorities said armed men opened fire in a bar in Ciudad Altamirano late on Friday. Four civilians and three off-duty federal agents were killed.

Both states on Mexico's western coast have seen a surge of violence in recent years attributed to drug cartels.

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