Out-of-control truck kills 11 in Kenya

AT least 11 people have been killed after a truck lost control and rammed into passengers boarding a ferry in Kenya's port city of Mombasa, the Kenya Red Cross says.

"So far we can confirm 11 deaths from the ferry tragedy. Scores are still trapped at the scene and more than 20 people have been evacuated," Mombasa regional Red Cross chief Mwanaisha Hamisi said on Saturday.

Hamisi confirmed witness accounts of the event, saying "the lorry rammed into the passengers as they were boarding the ferry".

"Its brakes failed then it lost control and hurtled down the ferry's boarding ramp, running over the passengers and trapping people underneath it," she added.

Hamisi said that the death toll could rise as "many people are trapped in the wreckage".

A witness, Hassan Juma, who was on his way to work said he "saw the lorry lose control and ram into a crowd of passengers boarding the ferry".

The area traffic police boss confirmed the incident but was unsure of the number of dead and injured.

"We have dispatched a team to the scene ...We can't tell the exact number of people because there are a lot of people usually crossing the channel," regional traffic police chief Joshua Omukata said.

Mombasa, some 400km southeast of the capital Nairobi is Kenya's main port city and a key tourist hub famed for its sandy beaches.

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Weather goes from bad to worse in Qld

EX-CYCLONE Oswald refused to budge from central Queensland and whipped up three mini-tornadoes that injured at least 17 people, damaged scores of homes and forced the evacuation of towns around Bundaberg on Australia Day.

To the north, floods in Gladstone led to the city being declared a disaster zone and was the biggest concern for authorities on Saturday evening.

Torrential rain topped a metre in 48 hours and has swollen the Boyne River to two metres higher than the previous record.

About five metres of water is pouring over the spillway of the Awoonga Dam into the Boyne, just south of Gladstone.

Tannum Sands and Boyne Island, at the mouth of the Boyne River, narrowly escaped inundation on Saturday.

But they may not be so lucky when an extraordinarily high tide hits on Sunday morning.

"We're now getting ready for the next time when we think we'll have the biggest problem and that's at the high tide on Sunday morning," Gladstone Mayor Gail Sellers told AAP.

About 2000 people have been asked to evacuate.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said a saddle dam off the Awoonga Dam is close to overflowing, which would put 500 homes in peril.

He said the government is considering mandatory evacuations.

"That's my main concern," he said.

Mini-tornadoes that tore through the costal townships of Bargara and Burnett Heads struck after 1pm AEST, damaging homes, shops, a bowling club and government buildings.

Both townships were declared disaster areas.

A man and woman in a parked car on the Esplanade at Bargara were critically injured when a huge pine tree toppled onto the car's roof.

At least 15 other people were treated for minor injuries after being hit by flying glass and other debris.

Queensland emergency services minister Jack Dempsey, who lives in Bundaberg, said 150 homes were damaged at Burnett Heads - and two completely destroyed - by one of three tornadoes to strike the Bundaberg district.

"There are a number of small towns and suburbs that were hit by the mini-tornadoes," Mr Dempsey said.

"We are still trying to assess the extent of the damage."

The third and final mini-tornado badly damaged a home when it hit the coastal town of Coonarr, about 20km south of Bundaberg, at about 4.30pm (AEST).

Mr Newman, who addressed a press conference shortly after the first of the mini-cyclones had struck Bargara, said the Callide and Kroombit Dams, west of Gladstone, were experiencing unprecedented outflows.

Residents at Jambin and Goovigen have been ordered to take refuge on higher ground.

Flood warnings have been issued for the Calliope, Boyne, Baffle and Kolan Rivers.

In Rockhampton, floodwaters have inundated barbecues and car parks along the Fitzroy River.

The river continues to rise as it absorbs about half a metre of rain dumped on the city this week.

Mr Dempsey said the SES has received more than 650 requests for assistance since Friday morning, including more than 130 for Rockhampton, and more than 35 jobs each for Gladstone and Yeppoon.

There were also six swift-water rescues.

"Thankfully they were all very successful outcomes," he told ABC Radio.

A 60-year-old fisherman was found on Balaclava Island on Saturday afternoon, surviving more than 40 hours lost at sea.

His 38-foot fishing vessel began taking on water off Port Alma on Thursday.

Authorities are still searching for the second fisherman on board.

The rain depression is expected to finally mobilise southward overnight to begin tormenting the southeast.

In the next few days about 300mm of rain is expected in Wivenhoe Dam catchment, upstream of Brisbane, and coastal areas could get as much as 500mm.

Mr Newman said controlled releases from the dam are continuing and there is no doubt it will be able to cope with the influx of rainwater in the coming days.

"We can absorb that flood," he said.

The biggest risk will come from suburban creeks in the Gold and Sunshine Coast and greater Brisbane area.

"With all that heavy rain, flash flooding is definitely expected," Ken Kato from the Bureau of Meteorology told AAP.

The Moreton Bay Regional council is warning residents to prepare for tidal surges expected to cause flooding in low lying areas on Saturday and Sunday.

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Death sentences for Egypt soccer violence

AN Egyptian court has handed down death sentences for 21 people accused of taking part in soccer violence in 2012 that killed 74.

In the courtroom, families of the deceased wailed and raised their hands in the air shouting "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is great".

The judge said in his statement read live on state TV that he would announce the verdict for the remaining 52 defendants on March 9.

Among those on trial are nine security officials.

The soccer melee on February 1, 2012 between Port Said's Al-Masry fans and Cairo's Al-Ahly fans was the world's deadliest soccer violence in 15 years.

As is customary in Egypt, the death sentences will be sent to a top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for approval.

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Crowds surge to Swan River for fireworks

ABOUT 300,000 people are expected to attend Perth's Skyworks display on the Swan River to celebrate Australia Day, up 50,000 from last year thanks to milder weather.

The city has enjoyed a 36C degree maximum, compared to 2012's sweltering 41C.

So far, the gathering throng has largely abided alcohol restrictions aimed at curbing antisocial behaviour, but police expect to impose some $200 fines before the event draws to a close.

At another popular destination, the port city of Fremantle, some 500 people have gathered for one of Western Australia's biggest citizenship ceremonies.

They were among the state's more than 2500 new citizens, hailing from 92 countries, to take the pledge on Saturday.

More than 80 citizenship ceremonies were held around the state, ranging from single-person ceremonies in country towns like Ravensthorpe, to the welcoming of 700 new citizens at Wanneroo - the second largest such event in the country.

One of the new Australians, Italy-born mother-of-one Cecilia Crespi, said she liked Australia's strong community feeling, egalitarian ideals and life-improving opportunities.

Briton Cathy Clayton, who moved to Perth with her policeman husband and teenage daughter, said she loved living in a house with a swimming pool that was close to the beach.

"My heart is truly embedded in the Australian way of life," she said.

Deputy leader of the opposition, Julie Bishop, told a citizenship ceremony in Perth's western suburbs that Australians were fortunate to live in an exciting and dynamic place.

"We enjoy a level of freedom based on our values and our beliefs that others around the world can only dream about," Ms Bishop said.

"We have a modern, dynamic economy that allows us the opportunity to have a standard of living that is amongst the highest in the world."

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US, China put pressure on N Korea

The White House has criticised the nuclear test of North Korea as "needlessly provocative". Source: AAP

NORTH Korea has threatened the South over sanctions, even as China and the US seek to pressure Pyongyang into backing down on a planned nuclear test.

In the latest in a series of warnings from Pyongyang sparked by a tightening of UN sanctions, the North's top body for inter-Korean affairs threatened the South with unspecified "physical counter-measures".

"Sanctions amount to a declaration of war against us," the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Fatherland said in a statement on Friday.

"If the South Korean puppet regime of traitors directly participates in the so-called UN 'sanctions', strong physical counter-measures would be taken," it added.

The warning, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, came a day after North Korea's top military body threatened to conduct a third nuclear test and boost its ability to strike the United States.

The upsurge in tensions has its roots in Pyongyang's defiant decision to push ahead with a long-range rocket launch on December 12 - insisting it was a peaceful mission to place a satellite in orbit.

The rest of the world saw it as a banned ballistic missile test and on Tuesday the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution expanding the number of North Korean entities on an international blacklist.

The United States, supported by Japan and South Korea, spearheaded the UN resolution.

Pyongyang reacted furiously, vowing to boost its nuclear arsenal and to conduct a third nuclear test and even longer-range rocket launches in an "all-out action" against its "sworn US enemy".

In Washington on Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney criticised the North Korean threat as "needlessly provocative" and stressed any test would be a "significant violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.

"Further provocations would only increase Pyongyang's isolation, and its continued focus on its nuclear and missile program is doing nothing to help the North Korean people," Carney told reporters.

Outgoing US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States was "fully prepared" for a test from Pyongyang.

"But I hope... they determine that in the end, it is better to become a part of the international family," Panetta said.

In addition to the UN measures, the United States added names to its own blacklist that freezes any US-based assets of designated individuals and groups and makes it a crime for anyone in the United States to assist them.

The UN resolution was notable for receiving the backing of North Korea's sole major ally, China, which had shielded Pyongyang from stronger sanctions demanded by Washington.

In an unusually frank warning on Friday, China's state-run media indicated that Beijing would decrease aid to Pyongyang if it goes ahead with a nuclear test.

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Physician is Senior Australian of the year

Emeritus Professor Ian Maddocks (R) has been named the 2013 Senior Australian of the Year. Source: AAP

SENIOR Australian of the Year Professor Ian Maddocks believes his national award can help raise the importance of the role of palliative care for the dying in the medical profession.

The internationally recognised palliative care specialist, 82, was honoured on Friday for his work as a specialist and academic and his passionate advocacy for peace at the Australian of the Year awards ceremony in Canberra.

Prof Maddocks said more work needed to be done in the area of palliative care.

"There are still people in the other professions of medicine who don't hand over to us, who don't bring us in earlier enough," he told reporters.

"We can work alongside them, so that people are ready for that change when the other doctors say, 'well sorry, there is no more treatment for you'.

"Yes there is, there is lots more we can do."

Receiving his award, the emeritus professor at Flinders University in South Australia said he was still keen to promote palliative care as a general part of medicine practice.

"We shall all die. Some of us will deny the approach of death. Some will experience difficult treatments and then be told there's nothing to be done," he said.

"Palliative care affirms that there is always something that can be done."

Mental health and ageing minister Mark Butler said Prof Maddocks had made a significant contribution to the development of palliative care practices throughout Australia.

An emeritus professor at Flinders University, the octogenarian from the Adelaide beachside suburb of Seacliff still provides care for the terminally ill and continues to supervise postgraduate students.

Prof Maddocks has been a key leader in the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and the Nobel Peace Prize winning group, the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War.

The married father of three, and grandfather to five, was appointed Professor of Palliative Care at Flinders University in 1988.

Prof Maddocks was the first president of the Australian Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, and the first president of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Palliative Medicine.

He was also a specialist physician in the Australian Administration of Papua New Guinea for 14 years, and in 1971 became Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Papua New Guinea.

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Refugee is Young Australian of the Year

Akram Azimi was named the Young Australian of the Year for his work with indigenous communities. Source: AAP

HE fled Afghanistan with his mother and brother at the height of a bloody civil war, arriving in Australia a child refugee.

Now, 25-year-old Akram Azimi is 2013 Young Australian of the Year with a deep connection to his adopted country.

He was picked as an inspiration for his work mentoring people with disability and in indigenous communities, the latter beginning with a trip to a community in the Kimberley in Western Australia that he hoped would provide some adventure.

"What I did not know was that when I met those kids I was going to fall in love with them. I was going to fall in love with that community, I was going to fall in love with that landscape," he told reporters in Canberra.

He says since then every time he heard a fact about indigenous Australians he could imagine the face of a small child he had met.

"That has compelled me ever since to do all that I can to share with non-indigenous Australians the beautiful and rich culture that we are surrounded by."

For three years, Mr Azimi mentored young indigenous Australians in the remote community of Looma in the Kimberley, and primary school students in a small farming community in the WA wheat belt.

In 2011, he co-founded a student-run initiative to raise awareness about indigenous issues in universities, and has also worked with the True Blue Dreaming, a youth mentoring network.

Mr Azimi is also mentoring a Special Olympics athlete to raise public awareness about disability issues.

He was born in Kabul in 1987 and fled with his family in 1999 after the Taliban viciously consolidated its power in the country through a vicious civil conflict involving warring tribal factions.

At first he was "an ostracised refugee kid with no prospects", but Mr Azimi later excelled.

He went on to study a triple major in law, science and arts at the University of Western Australia.

His family has thrived since arriving in Australia as refugees and they have been treated with warmth and generosity.

"This (award) says something wonderful about our nation, that someone who looks like me can be held up as a role model to all other Australians."

After his name was announced, he had a special thanks for Prime Minister Julia Gillard for her leadership on polio eradication.

"You have saved so many kids from a lifetime of suffering," Mr Azimi said.

He says he is alive because Australian taxpayer dollars helped vaccinate children in war-torn Afghanistan and he will do everything he can to ensure all children can live free from polio.

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French Mali action enters third week

A breakaway faction from the Mali rebel front has called for a peaceful solution to the Mali crisis. Source: AAP

A FRENCH-LED offensive against radical Islamists occupying northern Mali has entered its third week.

French and Malian soldiers carried out joint patrols into the early hours of Friday morning some 200 kilometres south of Gao, an Islamist stronghold in Mali's north which has been battered by air strikes, a military source said.

"It's a first" in this region, the source said.

The patrols came a day after bombing raids destroyed two Islamist bases in Ansongo, about 80km from Gao, and the nearby village of Seyna Sonrai.

Extremists seized Gao, along with two other key northern Mali towns, Kidal and Timbuktu, 10 months ago, sparking fears the vast semi-arid zone could become an Afghanistan-like haven for terrorists.

France came to the aid of its former colony on January 11 as the Al Qaeda-linked Islamists broke south of their months-old frontline into government-held territory, seen as a threat to the capital Bamako.

Gao lies some 150 kilometres from the Niger border in eastern Mali, where more than 2000 Chadian soldiers and 500 from Niger are being deployed to open a second front against the Islamists.

French NGO Action Against Hunger warned the opening of a new front in Mali's east could worsen an already dire food shortage in the isolated area.

The organisation "fears strongly that an armed ground intervention from Niger will cut the last access route to supply basic goods (food and medicine)" to people in the region.

France's surprise decision to intervene has received broad international support but there has been increasing alarm about reports of rights abuses by Malian soldiers against ethnic Tuaregs and Arabs.

The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues said at least 31 people had been executed in the central town of Sevare, and some bodies dumped in wells.

Human Rights Watch said witnesses had reported "credible information" of soldiers sexually abusing women in a village near Sevare.

Mali's crisis began last January when the Tuareg desert nomads revived a decades-old rebellion for independence of the north, which they call Azawad.

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Four remanded over 'bikie bashing'

FOUR men will remain behind bars over a bikie-linked bashing in western Sydney, in which the victim was allegedly restrained with cable ties and beaten unconscious.

Michael Gregg was allegedly set upon by 10 men at Prospect on Wednesday night at PSR Prospect Smash Repairs.

Macquarie Radio reports the business has links to the Rebels outlaw motorcycle group.

All 10 accused men were arrested at the scene and charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm in company, affray and assault.

Four of the accused appeared in Blacktown Local Court on Thursday, when prosecutors alleged Mr Gregg was restrained with cable ties and beaten until he was unconscious.

David Coe, 25, was refused bail due to his violent criminal history, including firearms offences.

Andrew Hawthorne, 33, from Seven Hills, 22-year-old Ryan Vella from Toongabbie, and Lee Buenen, 29, from Blacktown, were granted bail with strict conditions, including that they report to police daily and that they not associate with other Rebels bikies.

A heavy police presence was assembled outside the court, where supporters of the men clashed with reporters, swearing and shoving a photographer.

Outside court, defence lawyer Peter Doyle agreed that Coe's criminal history meant there had been a high chance that he would be remanded.

"I'm a bit disappointed for him going back into custody ... but it's not unexpected," Mr Doyle told reporters.

The other six accused appeared in Mount Druitt Local Court on Thursday, and three of them remanded in custody.

The injured man is in a stable condition at Westmead Hospital where he is being treated for serious facial injuries.

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PNG to revoke Indonesia fugitive passport

THE Papua New Guinea government says it has started the process of revoking citizenship for wanted Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra.

Djoko fled Indonesia in 2009, one day before the nation's Supreme Court convicted him in absentia for misusing government bailout funds meant for the now defunct Bank of Bali.

Controversially Djoko was awarded PNG citizenship last June and issued a passport under the name Joe Chan, despite being wanted by Interpol and the Indonesian government.

"Mr Tjandra is currently wanted by Indonesian authorities and has an outstanding arrest warrant issued in Indonesia," the PNG government's chief secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, said in a letter to Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato.

"The issuing of a passport under a different name allows Mr Tjandra to travel freely and evade the Indonesian authorities."

Mr Zurenuoc said in a statement he had advised Mr Pato to revoke Djoko's passport.

After securing the name change on his passport, Djoko as Joe Chan obtained visas to Taiwan and Japan.

The issuance of the passport is now the subject of an investigation by the PMG Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Mr Zurenuoc said clear grounds exist for the passport issued to Djoko to be cancelled, notwithstanding the outcome of the investigation by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Deputy opposition leader Sam Basil told the Post-Courier newspaper "two Papuan ministers" allegedly involved with Djoko must be disciplined.

The newspaper report said Mr Basil was referring to Public Services Minister Sir Puka Temu and former foreign affairs minister Ano Pala, who reportedly pushed for Djoko's citizenship to be approved.

"The two ministers must be dealt with," Mr Basil said.

"We are waiting and Papua New Guinea is waiting."

Mr Pala late last year told parliament Djoko was being defamed and should be afforded the rights and privileges PNG citizenship.

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