Woman scales Mt Everest twice within days

A NEPALESE woman mountaineer has been recognised by Guinness World Records for climbing Mount Everest twice in the same climbing season.

Nepal's Tourism Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati handed over the certificate issued by Guinness World Records to 29-year-old Chhurim who scaled the 8850-metre summit on May 12, 2012, and again a week later on May 19.

Chhurim, who like most Nepalese Sherpas use only one name, said she plans to climb other high peaks in the future.

Everest has been climbed by nearly 4000 climbers but women climbers make only a small portion of that number, according to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

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Ecstasy haul on Sydney's eastern beaches

A MAN found asleep in his car with the engine running has led police to an alleged haul of nearly 1000 ecstasy tablets on Sydney's eastern beaches.

At about 10am (AEDT) on Monday police were called to Kingsford after concerns were raised for a man seen asleep in the driver's seat of a hire car.

Police said that when the 32-year-old woke up he tried to drive away but was restrained by officers who then searched the car and found 984 ecstasy tablets.

The man was arrested and later returned a alcohol breath analysis reading of 0.060, police said.

He has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drugs, supply prohibited drugs, possessing prohibited drugs and low range PCA (Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol).

He was refused bail and will appear at Waverley Local Court on Tuesday.

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Man drowns in Qld floodwaters

A MAN has drowned after being swept from his car near Kilcoy northeast of Brisbane as more torrential rain pounds southern Queensland.

Police say the man became trapped as he drove along Mary Smokes Creek Road, inland from the Glasshouse Mountains about 4pm (AEST) on Friday.

He was washed from his car.

Heavy rain has been predicted over a 600km stretch of Queensland coast, from Gladstone to the NSW border.

The weather bureau says widespread falls of 100mm are likely with even higher totals forecast in some areas through Tuesday.

In Bundaberg, which is still recovering from devastating floods in the wake of cyclone Oswald, falls of up to 200mm are possible on Tuesday with the rain likely to last until Wednesday.

Flash flooding alerts have been issued for a number of areas including Gladstone, Gympie, Kingaroy, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.

Flooding is also possible on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts as well as Brisbane and Ipswich.

The town of Gympie is expecting a minor flood peak of six metres on Monday night.

Big swells have closed beaches, carving out three metre sand cliffs on Surfers Paradise Beach. Stairs and walkways have also been ripped out of the dunes.

A newborn baby was flown to Gold Coast Hospital after his mother gave birth as flood waters rose rapidly in northern NSW.

The 37-year-old woman gave birth to the boy about 4.40am (AEST) on Monday before emergency crews could reach her property at Palmvale, near the NSW-Queensland border.

SES and swiftwater rescue crews eventually reached her by boat but a rescue chopper from Queensland was called amid fears floodwaters would keep rising.

"They are both doing well and travelled in a stable condition," CareFlight paramedic Clint Peters said in a statement.

The baby boy was named Sabre.

In Brisbane's south, swift water rescue teams saved 16 children on Monday morning after their bus was trapped by flash flooding.

Three crews ferried the children to safety in inflatable boats.

On Monday afternoon Brisbane's Flood Operation Centre began releasing water from Wivenhoe and Somerset dams, the city's main water supplies.

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Qantas director quits amid Italian probe

Qantas director Corinne Namblard has resigned after becoming caught up in a corruption probe. Source: AAP

QANTAS director Corrine Namblard has resigned from the airline's board after becoming caught up in an Italian corruption investigation.

Ms Namblard denies any wrongdoing in relation to the investigation into the privatisation of Siena airport, but was stepping down in the best interests of Qantas and herself while it continued.

"Ms Namblard was especially concerned to ensure that the continuing media focus on the current Italian proceedings did not distract Qantas from implementing its strategic imperatives nor detract from the achievements that Qantas has had in meeting the challenges to its business," Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford said in a statement on Monday.

"The Qantas board appreciates those sentiments.

"It is also apt to note that Ms Namblard strenuously denies any wrongdoing in relation to the matters which are the subject of the Italian proceedings, and the Qantas Board has no reason whatsoever to doubt that position."

Ms Namblard, a French financier who joined the Qantas board in 2011, has been questioned in Italy as part of an investigation into alleged bid rigging and the Tuscan Monte dei Paschi di Seina bank.

She reportedly was asked to by Italian investigators to provide evidence about her involvement in the privatisation of Siena airport in 2007.

She was chief executive of Galaxy Fund, the winning bidder, at the time.

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Bangladesh Islamists want bloggers killed

BANGLADESH police fired live rounds in clashes with Islamists demanding the execution of bloggers they accuse of blasphemy, killing at least three protesters and injuring dozens.

Eighteen of the injured suffered bullet wounds in the unrest at Singair in the central district of Manikganj, as the Muslim-majority nation was hit by an Islamist-enforced strike.

Khalilur Rahman, residential medical officer of Singair Hospital, told AFP three young men died of bullet wounds there.

"We've sent 18 other bullet-hit injured people for better treatment to Dhaka. The condition of three people is very critical," he added.

Mizanur Rahman, deputy police chief of Manikganj, said clashes broke out after up to 3,000 protesters, including students from religious schools known as madrassas and supporters of the main opposition party, barricaded a highway.

"They attacked us with machetes, sticks, bricks and firearms from three sides when we tried to clear the barricade. We fired back in self-defence," he told AFP, adding that at least 40 people were injured.

"The imam of the local mosque used a loudspeaker to rally the protesters. They were shouting slogans for the execution of the bloggers, accusing them of being non-believers and atheists," Rahman said.

The violence broke out as 12 small Islamic parties, backed by the largest Islamic group Jamaat-e-Islami and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, called a nationwide strike in protest at Friday's police action against Islamists.

Four people were killed, three in police shooting, and about 200 were injured during Friday's protests by tens of thousands of Islamists, demanding the hanging of bloggers whom they say blasphemed Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

Tensions have risen over allegedly anti-Islamic blog posts by Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death last week near his home in Dhaka.

In recent weeks Haider and fellow bloggers had launched massive protests demanding a ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the execution of its leaders for alleged war crimes in the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan.

Since Haider's death, Bangladeshi social media has been flooded with his alleged blog posts and with those by other bloggers mocking Islam, triggering protests by a number of Islamic groups and clerics.

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Howard takes a swipe at independent MPs

FORMER prime minister John Howard hopes federal independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor will lose their seats at the next election.

The two MPs, who represent traditionally conservative electorates in regional NSW, sided with Labor after the 2010 election and effectively handed them power.

"I hope both Oakeshott and Windsor lose their seats, because the political predisposition of those two electorates was not to support the current government, but rather to support the opposition," Mr Howard told the Nine Network on Sunday.

"They didn't take any notice of that, and I'd like to see both of those seats come back to the National Party."

The former prime minister said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had "enormous ability".

If anybody other than Mr Abbott had been leading the Liberal Party in the past three years, Kevin Rudd would have remained leader of the Labor Party and would have won the last election with a comfortable majority, Mr Howard said.

"That, in my opinion, is why Abbott's position is so strong."

He also dismissed suggestions that Mr Abbott could be replaced by former leader Malcolm Turnbull.

"I don't believe for a moment that the Liberal Party will be led at the next election by anybody other than Tony Abbott," he said.

But Mr Howard said there was a "real possibility" that the Labor Party would replace Julia Gillard with Mr Rudd as its leader.

"In the end, leadership is determined by the laws of arithmetic," he said.

"Even the most popular leaders can be removed if people think they're going to do better under another one."

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China enjoys traditional Lantern Festival

CHINA celebrated the traditional Lantern Festival on Sunday with fireworks and food, as millions of migrant workers flowed back to cities and smog blanketed a large part of the country.

The Lantern Festival formally marks the end of celebrations for the Chinese Lunar New Year period, 15 days after it began, and is celebrated by viewing lanterns and setting off fireworks, among other activities.

The Ministry of Railways estimated around 6.4 million people would make train journeys on Sunday.

Many of China's migrant workers from rural areas delay their return to their workplaces beyond the official public holiday, which lasts only a week.

Air pollution in the Chinese capital of Beijing spiked higher on Sunday as more traffic and firework blasts caused smog, China Central Television reported, as local officials urged people to limit the amount of fireworks they set off.

The government issued a smog alert on Sunday for central and eastern parts of China, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Heavy air pollution in recent weeks has been blamed on coal-burning and vehicle exhaust emissions.

In China's commercial hub of Shanghai, worshippers thronged the Jing'an Buddhist Temple, burning incense and tossing coins into a giant urn to make wishes for the coming year.

Shoppers snapped up dumplings made from glutinous rice with sweet or savoury fillings, called "tang yuan", traditionally eaten on the holiday.

"The pork ones sold out early. We can't make enough," said a clerk at a branch of the famous Shanghai dumpling chain Wang Jia Sha, who offered crab meat or sweet sesame paste alternatives.

Outside Beijing in Yuxian, a rural part of Hebei province, residents marked the festival by holding a parade with a dragon dance and releasing red paper lanterns like small hot-air balloons into the sky.

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Centre-left are favourites as Italy votes

ITALIANS fed up with austerity went to the polls on Sunday in elections likely to be won by the centre-left, as Europe held its breath for signs of fresh instability in the eurozone's third largest economy.

The elections are Italy's first since billionaire tycoon Silvio Berlusconi was ousted in 2011 during a wave of financial market panic and replaced by former top European commissioner Mario Monti.

The most likely winner is the Democratic Party and its leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who says he will stick to reforms but also do more for growth as Italy endures its longest recession in 20 years.

"I am voting for the Democratic Party. I don't want us to end up like Greece," said Alessandro, a 63-year-old manager, as he cast his ballot in Milan.

But the scandal-tainted Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister who is also a defendant in two trials for tax fraud and having sex with an underage prostitute, could come a close second.

In third place, according to the polls, could be a new protest party led by comedian turned activist Beppe Grillo who has channelled growing social discontent and anger at traditional politicians.

"Italy votes in uncertainty," read a headline in La Stampa daily, while the Il Fatto Quotidiano said: "The undecided voters will decide it".

Polls will close at 2100 GMT on Sunday (0800 Monday AEDT) and open again for a second day of voting at 0600 GMT (1700 AEDT) on Monday, closing at 1400 GMT (0100 Tuesday AEDT).

Exit polls are expected immediately after the close and preliminary official results will begin trickling through later on Monday and perhaps into Tuesday.

Officials have called on Italians to vote, amid fears that general disenchantment with politics could mean a much lower turnout than usual.

Forty-seven million Italians are eligible to vote.

Opinion polls indicate the result may not give Bersani alone a strong enough majority to rule and he may have to seek an alliance with Monti, which could bring the economics professor back into government.

A coalition between Monti and Bersani would not be simple because of the differences between the free-marketeer Monti and a small far-left party that is already in coalition with Bersani.

Berlusconi will also continue to be a powerful force. He has risen sharply in the polls with a promise to reimburse an unpopular property tax.

He has also won votes by blaming a "hegemonic" Germany for Italy's woes.

Candidates were supposed to stay silent on Saturday on the eve of the vote but Berlusconi apparently broke the rules by speaking to journalists.

In an interview with Greek television that was reported by Italian media, Berlusconi said, "I contradicted the lords of austerity who are now trying to get rid of me."

He said Monti was "subservient and always on his knees in front of Mrs Merkel (German Chancellor Angela Merkel) and now she does not want to lose him".

"I would give her a run for her money," he said.

Berlusconi was forced out in November 2011 after a parliamentary revolt, a myriad of sex scandals and a wave of panic on financial markets.

The sober Monti, a former economics professor, has brought the markets to heel and restored Italy's image as a key player in the eurozone debate.

Italy is the euro area's third largest economy after Germany and France and a major exporter.

While its debt is sky-high at around 120 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) - second only to Greece's - its public deficit is under control.

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CCTV shows India blasts suspect: reports

INDIAN police are examining closed-circuit footage following twin explosions in the southern city of Hyderabad, amid reports that images of suspects had been recorded.

The bombs planted on bicycles exploded in the crowded market and residential area of Dilsukhnagar Thursday night killing, 16 people and injuring at least 117.

Investigators found images of a suspect reaching the scene on a bicycle with a bag hung to its carrier minutes before the blast, the IANS news agency quoted police sources as saying.

Broadcaster CNN-IBN reported that investigators were trying to verify the identities of five men moving in the area on bicycles.

Hyderabad and other major cities including New Delhi remained on high alert after intelligence suggested that militants could be planning more attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Indian media quoted intelligence sources as focusing on the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group believed to have links with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.

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More N Korean sabre rattling over drills

NORTH Korea has warned the top US commander in South Korea to cancel upcoming drills aimed at deterring Pyongyang's military provocations.

Pyongyang's official media say the warning was sent to General James Thurman on Saturday.

The US and South Korea earlier notified the North of their plans to begin the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises next month.

North Korea calls the joint drills a prominent example of US hostility against it.

Pyongyang says the hostility compelled North Korea to conduct its February 12 nuclear test.

US officials are negotiating in the UN Security Council for tougher sanctions against North Korea for the test, the country's third since 2006.

Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea in a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

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