Anti-nuclear rally held in Tokyo

THOUSANDS of anti-nuclear demonstrators have rallied in Tokyo ahead of the second anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, urging Japan's new government to abandon nuclear power.

Saturday's gathering of some 15,000 people, according to organisers, at a park in central Tokyo drew disaster victims and celebrities, including Nobel laureate writer Kenzaburo Oe, before the anniversary on Monday of the disaster that killed 19,000 and sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Protesters marched through the capital later in the day and issued a statement calling on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office late December following his party's election win, to dismantle all nuclear plants.

Abe, whose conservative Liberal Democratic Party has close ties with the nation's powerful business circle, has repeatedly said he would allow reactor restarts if their safety could be ensured.

"The new administration should not misunderstand that the (election) victory can mean approval of policies to maintain nuclear power," the statement said.

"We will request policies to swiftly begin procedures in decommissioning nuclear reactors and disapprove any plans to newly build nuclear plants," it said.

Japan turned off its stable 50 reactors in the wake of the disaster on March 11, 2011, but restarted two of them citing possible summertime power shortages.

Radiation from the plant, some 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of Tokyo, has been spread over a large area in the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

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Malta votes in general election

Malta's Labour party, led by Joseph Muscat, is ahead by 12 points in a general election. Source: AAP

MALTA has gone to the polls in a general election expected to bring the opposition Labour party to power in the eurozone's smallest member state for the first time in more than 15 years.

The party's 39-year-old leader Joseph Muscat, who has promised to unite the Mediterranean island and boost its economy, is ahead by 12 points in the polls against his rival, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi of the Nationalist Party.

Polls close at 2100 GMT on Saturday (0800 AEDT Sunday) and vote counting will begin on Sunday.

The tiny island state is a rare example of a eurozone state with low unemployment, respectable economic growth and solid public finances.

The unemployment rate is 6.0 per cent and, according to the latest estimates, the country clocked 1.5 per cent economic growth last year.

Muscat has run a slick US-style campaign calling for change, accusing his rival of failing to ensure stability by ruling with a one-seat majority.

Originally an opponent to Malta joining the European Union, Muscat has since changed his views and is a former member of the European Parliament.

Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and adopted the euro in 2008.

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Pakistan PM arrives in India

Pakistan's PM Raja Pervez Ashraf (R) arrived in India for a pilgrimage to a revered Muslim shrine. Source: AAP

PAKISTAN'S premier Raja Pervez Ashraf has arrived in India for a pilgrimage to a revered Muslim shrine, with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid welcoming him with "open arms".

Khurshid's warm words for Ashraf - making his first visit to India as prime minister - come despite strained relations between the nuclear-armed rivals over recent border clashes.

"It's in our culture to welcome our guests with open arms," Khurshid said on Saturday ahead of a lunch he will host for Ashraf at the Rambagh Palace, a luxury heritage hotel in the tourist city of Jaipur in northern India.

An Indian foreign ministry official told AFP however there would be no "substantive talks" at the meeting.

"India is happy to host a lunch for the Pakistani prime minister. We are just extending our hospitality," a senior Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Ashraf is the most senior Pakistani to visit India since last April when President Asif Ali Zardari made a similar pilgrimage and had lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Ashraf and his family planned a day-long private trip to the 13-century shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer, 130 kilometres from Jaipur.

Tensions spiked between New Delhi and Islamabad in January and February as a total of six soldiers were killed in exchanges along the de facto border in Kashmir, a region claimed by both countries. Four of the soldiers killed were from Pakistan while two were from India.

One of the Indians was beheaded allegedly by Pakistanis.

India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence in 1947, accuses Islamabad of fomenting cross-border militancy - a charge that the Islamic republic rejects.

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Nine dead in South Korea fishing boat fire

Nine people have died after their 20-tonne fishing vessel caught fire off South Korea. Source: AAP

NINE people have died after jumping off a fishing boat that caught fire off South Korea's west coast, with efforts under way to rescue one missing crew member.

The 20-tonne vessel caught fire off the port city of Gunsan, forcing 11 crew to plunge into freezing sea waters to avoid flames and smoke, Yonhap news agency said on Saturday, citing local police.

Ten crew were plucked from the water by rescuers but nine of them were pronounced dead later.

"It seems that many of the people jumping into the sea died because of hypothermia caused by excessively low water temperature," a police officer was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Police were investigating the exact cause of the fire, with efforts under way to hunt for one missing crew member, Yonhap said.

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North Korea scraps peace pacts

The US says it is "fully capable" of defending itself against any North Korean missile strike. Source: AAP

AN enraged North Korea responded to new UN sanctions with fresh threats of nuclear war, vowing to scrap peace pacts with South Korea as it upped the ante yet again after its recent atomic test.

Pyongyang is renowned for its bellicose rhetoric, but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns of a border clash with both North and South planning major military exercises next week.

It has even threatened a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against the United States and South Korea - a notion dismissed as bluster by analysts, but not without dangerous, underlying intent.

North Korea "abrogates all agreements on non-aggression reached between the North and the South", the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said on Friday.

The CPRK said the pacts would be voided as of Monday, the same day that Pyongyang has vowed to rip up the 1953 armistice agreement that ended Korean War hostilities.

It also announced the immediate severing of a North-South hotline installed in 1971.

State television, meanwhile, showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un laying preparations for "all-out war" as he visited a frontline military unit involved in the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010.

The November shelling came eight months after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel with the loss of 46 lives that was also blamed on Pyongyang.

While North Korea is not deemed capable of any nuclear strike on the US mainland, there are growing fears that it will mount some provocation in the form of a missile test or a similar artillery assault.

"To me, this feels like the most dangerous situation since the Korean War," said Paik Hak-Soon, a North Korean analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

"The North is cornered more than ever in the international community and will keep pushing ahead with even more confrontational moves militarily," said Paik.

South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, who was sworn in less than two weeks ago, said the situation had become "very grave" but vowed to "deal strongly" with any provocation from the North.

The CPRK statement came hours after the UN Security Council beefed up existing sanctions on the communist state in response to its February 12 nuclear test.

The resolution adopted by the 15-member Council tightened restrictions on North Korea's financial dealings, notably its suspect "bulk cash" transfers.

The new sanctions will "bite hard", said the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. "They increase North Korea's isolation and raise the cost to North Korea's leaders of defying the international community."

China wants "full implementation" of the resolution, said its UN envoy Li Baodong, while stressing that efforts must be made to bring North Korea back to negotiations.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged "relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint, and avoid actions that might further escalate tensions," describing the situation as "highly complex and sensitive".

Prior to the Security Council meeting, the North Korean foreign ministry had threatened a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against the United States and all other "aggressors".

The United States responded by saying it was "fully capable" of defending itself and its allies - including South Korea - against any missile strike.

Friday's CPRK statement condemned the UN resolution as proof that Washington and its "puppets" in Seoul were "hell bent" on confrontation.

"North-South relations have gone so far beyond the danger line that they are no longer reparable and an extremely dangerous situation is prevailing... where a nuclear war may break out right now," it said.

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Qld premier accused of contempt over CMC

Campbell Newman called on the CMC chairman to consider resigning, saying he's failed the state. Source: AAP

THE head of Queensland's top crime fighting body, the Crime and Misconduct Commission, has resigned as he continues his battle with cystic fibrosis, amid allegations he's failed the state.

CMC chairman Ross Martin resigned late on Friday afternoon, and revealed he's preparing to undergo a lung transplant after a long battle with cystic fibrosis.

He's been in hospital for the past 10 days.

"I no longer have the resources of health necessary to continue to perform the job," he told reporters.

Mr Martin boss has been under fire all week after errors that saw the watchdog release some sensitive files, and shred others, from the historic Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption.

Premier Campbell Newman said earlier on Friday that he had failed the state.

Mr Newman said Mr Martin should be held to account in the same way ministers are, and made to resign.

"My concern is we have a senior important public servant who doesn't seem to understand his responsibility or his accountability to the people of Queensland," he said.

Mr Martin admitted ministerial responsibility was an informing principle in regard to his position, but warned that a CMC chair shouldn't be too ready to resign, lest the watchdog's independence be undermined.

"The CMC chair's position has a powerful statutory entrenchment to defend its security against political whim," he said.

That job will now fall to Assistant Commissioner Warren Strange, who has assumed the position of acting chair.

The opposition said the circumstances behind the resignation showed how badly the government had handled the issue, by failing to find out the facts before seeking to force Mr Martin to quit.

Comment has been sought from Mr Newman.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said he was saddened to learn of Mr Martin's medical condition.

"We wish him all the very best in the weeks and months ahead," he said in a statement.

"The commission is facing a number of challenges. The government will work with the acting chairman to ensure Queenslanders can have confidence in the commission."

Mr Martin thanked his family and the officers and staff of the CMC.

"My family have suffered my pursuit of a career for too long. They are entitled to as much of my time as I can give them," he said.

"I thank my staff for their dedicated, largely unsung, devotion to the virtues of fighting crime and of integrity.

"I will not be coming back.

"I wish my successor and CMC generally the very best in its vital work."

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Bin Laden's son-in-law to face US court

OSAMA bin Laden's son-in-law was due to appear in a New York court on Friday to face charges that he conspired to kill Americans in his role as al-Qaeda's top propagandist, as a landmark prosecution on US soil takes aim at one of the terror network's senior leaders.

Officials said Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was captured in Jordan over the last week.

The Kuwait-born al-Qaeda spokesman, part of bin Laden's inner circle, lauded the attacks of September 11, 2001 and warned there would be more.

The case marks a legal victory for the Obama administration, which has long sought to charge senior al-Qaeda suspects in US federal courts instead of holding them at the military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Charging foreign terror suspects in American federal courts was a top pledge by President Barack Obama shortly after he took office in 2009 - aimed, in part, to close Guantanamo Bay.

Republicans, however, have fought the White House to keep Guantanamo open, and bringing Abu Ghaith to New York immediately sparked an outcry.

Abu Ghaith will appear on Friday in US federal court in New York, according to a Justice Department statement and indictment outlining the accusations against him.

US Attorney General Eric Holder defended holding Abu Ghaith in New York.

Holder reluctantly agreed in 2011 to try self-professed al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Guantanamo Bay military court instead of a civilian court after a fierce Republican backlash.

"No amount of distance or time will weaken our resolve to bring America's enemies to justice," Holder said in a statement.

The Justice Department said Abu Ghaith was the spokesman for al-Qaeda, working alongside bin Laden and current leader Ayman al-Zawahri, since at least May 2001.

Abu Ghaith is a former mosque preacher and teacher and urged followers that month to swear allegiance to bin Laden, prosecutors said.

The day after the September 11 attacks, prosecutors say he appeared with bin Laden and al-Zawahri and called on the "nation of Islam" to battle against Jews, Christians and Americans.

A "great army is gathering against you," Abu Ghaith said on September 12, 2001, according to prosecutors.

Shortly afterward, Abu Ghaith warned in a speech that "the storms shall not stop - especially the airplanes storm" and advised Muslims, children and al-Qaeda allies to stay out of planes and high-rise buildings.

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Asian markets rise as GFC recedes

ASIAN markets climbed following another record-breaking close for Wall Street's Dow Jones index, while Tokyo hit its highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The Japanese currency fell on Friday to a three-and-a-half-year low against the dollar and also sank against the euro as investors look to the Bank of Japan's next policy meeting, on expectations of a further loosening of monetary policy.

Tokyo closed up 2.64 per cent, or 315.54 points, at 12,283.62, its highest level since the collapse of Wall Street banking giant Lehman Brothers heralded the start of the global financial crisis.

Sydney gained 0.28 per cent, or 14.2 points, to 5,123.4, Seoul was flat, edging up 1.61 points to 2,006.01, while Hong Kong added 1.41 per cent, or 320.51 points, to 23,091.95.

Shanghai fell 0.24 per cent, or 5.68 points, to 2,318.61 despite data showing China's exports had surged a much better-than-expected 21.8 per cent on year in February, even with the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, while imports tumbled 15 per cent.

In New York the Dow ended at an all-time high for the third straight session, with analysts saying the market's stellar performance had attracted more buyers.

The Dow ended 0.23 per cent higher after breaking on Tuesday its previous record set in October 2007. The S&P 500 was up 0.18 per cent and the Nasdaq climbed 0.30 per cent.

Adding to buying pressure was another batch of upbeat data.

New claims for US unemployment benefits fell to 340,000, suggesting modest strength in the jobs market in the week before the "sequester" of $85 billion in deep federal budget cuts kicked in on March 1.

The report, which came a day after figures showed a rise in jobs growth in the private sector, boosted confidence that Friday's much-watched US payroll and unemployment data would be strong.

Japanese shares enjoyed another bump as the yen resumed its downward trend, with investors betting that the man expected to take over at the BoJ will introduce more aggressive easing at his first policy meeting next month.

The greenback was changing hands at 95.38 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade - its strongest since August 2009 - from 94.83 yen in New York late Thursday, while the euro was buying 124.82 yen, compared with 124.28 yen.

The single currency dipped to $1.3085 against $1.3107.

There was also some good news on the economy front for Tokyo, with data showing the country had emerged from recession.

Gross domestic product expanded 0.2 per cent on an annualised basis in the three months to December, following contraction in the two previous quarters.

Oil prices were mixed. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April was up two cents to $91.58 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for April dipped two cents to $111.13.

Gold was at $1,579.00 at 0830 GMT compared with $1,581.45 late Thursday.

In other markets:

- Taipei rose 0.69 per cent, or 54.63 points, to 8,015.14.

TSMC rose 0.49 per cent to Tw$103.5 while HTC fell 2.44 per cent to Tw$259.5.

- Manila climbed 1.62 per cent, or 108.64 points, to 6,833.77.

SM Investments gained 4.66 per cent to 1,100 pesos while Ayala Land rose 0.48 per cent to 31.15 pesos.

- Wellington rose 0.47 per cent, or 20.55 points, to a record high 4,354.03.

Xero surged 5.9 per cent to NZ$9.10 while Warehouse soared 8.3 per cent to NZ$3.79.

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European stocks rise at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets rose at the start of trading, as traders looked ahead to monetary policy decisions due from both the ECB and Bank of England.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index on Thursday morning gained 0.29 per cent to 6,446.38 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.19 per cent to 7,934.19 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.20 per cent to 3,781.45.

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Infighting, insults plague NT government

THE Northern Territory's ruling Country Liberal Party (CLP) is dealing with infighting and insults in the wake of a failed leadership bid.

On Thursday NT Chief Minister Terry Mills admitted that Transport Minister Adam Giles challenged him for the leadership at a marathon meeting of CLP parliamentarians on Wednesday.

"There was a change in direction for a time where there was a discussion over a tilt at the chief minister's position," Mr Mills said.

"The room resolved, and I can report to you, that that was not acceptable and then we turned back to the matter at hand," he told reporters.

Indigenous Advancement Minister Alison Anderson said the CLP was "bleeding" during the meeting that saw hours of infighting.

On ABC radio Ms Anderson described some at the meeting as boys with big egos.

"We have got infighting with boys who think they want to be chief," she said.

She later told AAP Mr Giles could have been the NT's first Aboriginal treasurer and deputy chief minister but he threw that back in the face of his colleagues.

"He said, 'I don't accept it because I want to be the chief minister,' and he just threw a spanner in the works," she said.

"We sat there for hours while this infighting was happening and the party bleeding everywhere."

Mr Mills expressed his frustration that details of the meeting were leaked to reporters, including information that four MPs from bush seats had threatened to sit in the parliament as independents if Mr Giles took the leadership.

He said he was disappointed and concerned that those comments were made public because they could create divisions between bush and urban communities and between black and white Territorians.

Ms Anderson confirmed that a group of four MPs threatened, as a means to act as a circuit-breaker, to move onto the crossbenches but said it was never intended to tear the CLP apart.

On Wednesday Mr Mills announced he had sacked health minister Dave Tollner from cabinet.

Former CLP minister Daryl Manzie later said Mr Tollner had been in an argument with Mr Mills at a cabinet meeting earlier in the week and had thrown papers at him.

According to reports the fiery meeting saw Mr Tollner shout expletives at Mr Mills before walking out.

Wednesday's challenge was the second time Mr Mills' leadership had come under pressure in just a few weeks, after Attorney-General John Elferink ended his own bid for leadership last month when he realised he didn't have the numbers.

The NT's only independent MP, Gerry Wood, said the events were like an episode from the 80s television comedy Yes Minister.

"I just feel nearly ashamed that our government can't put its act together and get on with the job of governing," Mr Wood said.

Meanwhile the NT government announced its revamped ministry in the wake of this week's events.

Mr Mills' responsibilities have been cut from 11 ministries to six, while Mr Elferink has been made treasurer.

The 28-year-old Lia Finocchiaro was added to cabinet as the new Minister for Sport and Recreation, Racing, Young Territorians, Senior Territorians, and Statehood.

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