Syria oppn blasts 'international silence'

Syria's opposition coalition says it will form a government to run "liberated areas" of the country. Source: AAP

SYRIA'S opposition National Coalition says it is pulling out of several international meetings to protest at the "international silence" despite the slaughter of civilians in the conflict.

The announcement late on Friday came after the coalition had said it would form a government to run "liberated areas" of Syria, and as international condemnation mounted against Thursday's devastating attacks in Damascus that left about 100 people dead.

In further violence on Friday, monitors said more than 12 people had been killed when buildings collapsed after a missile strike on the city of Aleppo.

The National Coalition said it was pulling out of meetings in Italy, Russia and the United States, to protest against the "shameful" lack of international condemnation of "crimes committed against the Syrian people".

The group had been due to attend a Friends of Syria meeting in Rome next Thursday where US Secretary of State John Kerry is also expected.

National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib had also been invited to Moscow.

"The international silence on the crimes committed every day against our people amounts to participating in two years of killings," said the statement.

"We hold the Russian leaders in particular ethically and politically responsible because they continue to support the (Damascus) regime with weapons," the National Coalition added.

Earlier on Friday, coalition spokesman Walid al-Bunni had announced plans for a government for "liberated areas" following a meeting in Cairo.

They would decide on its composition and choose its leader at a meeting on March 2, he added.

Coalition members said the meeting would be held in Istanbul, while Bunni said it was hoped the government would be based in rebel-held territory inside northern Syria.

The opposition umbrella group had been discussing a proposal by chairman Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib to hold direct talks with President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The group has refused to meet Assad himself, or the security or military command. Khatib himself has made it clear the offer was only to those without "blood on their hands".

Earlier, international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Thursday's attacks in Damascus had left about 100 people dead - substantially more than a previous toll of 60 people - and wounded another 250.

Describing the attack as a "war crime", the UN-Arab League envoy added in a statement: "Nothing could justify such horrible actions that amount to war crimes under international law."

Another 22 people were killed in an apparently coordinated triple bombing targeting security headquarters in the northern Damascus district of Barzeh the same day, including 19 members of the forces, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On the violence in the northern city of Aleppo, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said at least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded after three missiles hit the Tariq al-Bab district.

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UN sounds alarm over Myanmar boat people

The UN has raised the alarm over the rising number of boat people perishing in the Indian Ocean. Source: AAP

THE UN's refugee agency has raised the alarm over the rising number of boat people perishing in the Indian Ocean, including Rohingya Muslims fleeing communal strife in Myanmar (Burma).

"It is clear that for people fleeing violence and conflict in their homelands, this has become one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on Friday.

In 2012, some 13,000 people took to smugglers' boats in the Bay of Bengal, of whom 500 died at sea when the vessels broke down or capsized, Mahecic said.

"Already in 2013, several thousand people are believed to have boarded smugglers boats in the Bay of Bengal," he added.

Among the most recent incidents, around 90 people are believed to have died of dehydration and starvation during a two-month journey.

Around 30 survivors were rescued last weekend by Sri Lanka's navy off that country's coast.

"The repeated tragedies at sea demonstrate the need for a co-ordinated regional response to distress and rescue at sea," Mahecic said.

Described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority groups in the world, Myanmar's Muslim 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.

Buddhist-Muslim unrest has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012.

"We are advocating with the Myanmar government to urgently address the root causes of the outflow," Mahecic said.

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Stabbed man's partner 'hid kitchen knives'

THE partner of a man stabbed to death by his mentally ill son has told an inquest she hid kitchen knives in a beach house garden out of fears the son would become violent during a lunch.

Juliet Darling told the coronial inquest in Sydney on Friday that she and her partner, well-known art curator Nick Waterlow, were frightened of his son Anthony and his violent moods.

Anthony Waterlow, 45, killed his 68-year-old father and his sister Chloe Heuston, 36, at their Randwick home in Sydney 2009.

In 2011, he was found not guilty of their murders in the NSW Supreme Court by reason of mental illness.

The inquest has heard health professionals never detained Anthony under the Mental Health Act despite years of "bizarre and often threatening" behaviour.

On Friday Ms Darling said she was frightened of Anthony from the first time she met him and he seemed to resent and blame his father for everything.

She said her partner loved his son and did everything to help him, though he still feared him.

"I could feel Nick's fear," she said.

Ms Darling said her partner of 10 years couldn't understand the resentment of his son who had a "hair-trigger rage" and at times "just went berserk".

She said the senior Waterlow decided to sell his beach house and his son was invited to lunch there before the sale went through.

Ms Darling said she took all the knives out of the kitchen drawer, wrapped them in a towel and hid them in the garden.

"I said to Nick, 'just in case'."

She told the inquest there was a heated argument at the lunch and Anthony put a hole through a wall.

Ms Darling said the relationship between father and son just got worse and her partner's health deteriorated and he became thin.

She said he no longer had the "light-footed step he used to have" and a month before he died he confided in her that he didn't think he had much longer to live.

Ms Darling said doctors needed to look beyond their consulting rooms and listen to family and friends when it came to patient behaviour.

"It's hard to understand why the death threats were not taken seriously in this case," she said.

Ms Darling said she thought many families were living in fear because of mentally ill relatives who were violent.

A letter from Ben Heuston, the husband of Chloe, was read out at the inquest.

Mr Heuston wrote that the health system seemed too concerned with trying not to deprive mentally ill people of their liberty rather than protecting potential victims of violence.

"His behaviour was terrifying to those affected," Mr Heuston said of Anthony Waterlow.

He said it had been hard to have him taken into care.

"It's as if he had to be caught really hurting someone," Mr Heuston said.

"Surely those under threat should be given more consideration."

Mr Heuston said intelligent mentally ill people like Anthony could be "lucid and charming" after violent episodes and were capable of manipulating the system.

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Qld to review cattle disease response

TWO experts will review the Queensland government's response to a cattle disease that has rocked the state's beef industry.

The outbreak of Bovine Johne's disease (BJD), a bacterial infection that causes cattle to waste away and die, has seen quarantine restrictions placed on about 150 properties.

Queensland has BJD-protected status, which means its beef has greater market access than beef from other states.

The government last week set up a $5 million fund to help breeders struggling to deal with the disease.

But the Australian Brahman Breeders Association claims that amount won't be enough to cover the quarantine costs the outbreak is imposing on producers.

The industry is worth more than $4.5 billion a year and supports more than 45,000 jobs.

Agriculture Minister John McVeigh on Friday appointed former AgForce president Brent Finlay and University of Queensland veterinary expert Professor Jonathan Hill to review the government's response.

"I am relying on them to provide an independent assessment of the response and then provide input into our future BJD response program," Mr McVeigh said in a statement.

"Through the review I am hoping they can also identify possible actions Biosecurity Queensland may consider for any future disease eradication programs."

The pair will start their review in March and provide a final report by the end of April.

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Assange not on agenda for Carr and Bildt

WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange will not be on the agenda when Foreign Minister Bob Carr holds talks with his Swedish counterpart next week.

Senator Carr will meet with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Canberra next Wednesday.

A spokesman for Senator Carr says the pair will discuss the United Nations Security Council, approaches to the Middle East and Asia Pacific and regional security.

"There are no plans to discuss Mr Assange," the spokesman told AAP on Thursday.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London for the past eight months.

He sought and was granted asylum from Ecuador as part of his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where authorities want to question him over sex crime allegations. But Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country.

Assange says he fears the United States will seek to extradite him from Sweden to face charges relating to his website's release of thousands of classified US documents.

Assange says he's planning to run for election to Australia's Senate as part of a Wikileaks Party.

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UK music chain HMV shuts 37 more shops

UK music retailer HMV will shut another 37 branches over the next six weeks, administrators says. Source: AAP

COLLAPSED British music retailer HMV will shut another 37 branches over the next six weeks, in a move that will shed 464 jobs, administrators Deloitte says.

"The joint administrators of HMV today confirm that a further 37 of the group's stores have been identified for closure. The affected stores employ 464 staff," Deloitte said in a statement on Wednesday.

The outlets will be shut down in parallel with the 66 branches that were also earmarked for closure earlier this month. The latest announcement leaves the troubled group with 116 stores.

Wednesday's news came nearly two weeks after Deloitte sacked 60 staff at HMV's head office network - including former chief executive Trevor Moore.

In January, HMV had slumped into administration - the process whereby a troubled company calls upon independent expert financial help in an attempt to remain operational.

HMV was the nation's last remaining high-street music and video specialist retailer. The iconic group succumbed to heavy debts and fierce pressure from online rivals and supermarket giants, whose scale enabled them to offer CDs and DVDs at cheaper prices.

Deloitte revealed last week that sale talks were "progressing" as it also announced it had secured stock from most of HMV's suppliers that will see it continue to sell new music and blockbusters, including James Bond film Skyfall.

Late last month, US-based restructuring firm Hilco agreed to buy the debt of HMV, in a move which raised hope of a rescue deal.

Before its collapse, HMV employed more than 4120 staff and had 220 branches dotted across Britain.

In a separate gloomy development on Wednesday, British carpet maker Axminster announced its intention to file for administration, placing 400 jobs at risk.

Axminster Carpets, which is based in Devon, southwest England, said the decision would provide the company and its creditors with time to explore various rescue options.

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Royal commission head made judge of appeal

Justice Peter McClellan QC has been appointed a Judge of Appeal in NSW. Source: AAP

THE man set to head the upcoming Royal Commission into child sex abuse has been appointed a judge of appeal in NSW.

Justice Peter McClellan QC has more than a decade of experience on the bench of the Supreme Court and has been Chief Judge at Common Law since 2005.

NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith said Justice McClellan's new role capped an eventful start to the year after he was last month appointed chair of the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.

"In practical terms, Justice McClellan will not sit as a Judge of Appeal until he has completed his duties at the royal commission," Mr Smith said in a statement.

Mr Smith also announced two other appointments on Wednesday.

Justice Clifton Hoeben will be the new chief judge at Common Law, while federal court Justice Arthur Emmett will become a supreme court judge and a judge of appeal.

Justice Hoeben's appointment will begin on February 22.

Justice Emmett will begin serving on the bench of the Supreme Court on March 7.

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