Libs dump their ACT senator

FORMER ACT opposition leader Zed Seselja has ousted sitting Liberal senator Gary Humphries in a preselection vote in Canberra, saying democracy is messy but it has been a fair vote.

Mr Seselja's push for the ACT Senate spot has divided the Liberal Party in Canberra, with Humphries supporters complaining they were effectively locked out of Saturday's vote.

Many vented their frustration at the result outside the Eastlake Football Club in Kingston, labelling the preselection process "corrupt" and "rigged".

Mr Seselja won the ballot by 114 to 84 - but about 400 Liberal members were ineligible to cast a vote because of party rules that they must have recently attended a branch meeting.

The new senate candidate dismissed talk of the preselection being rigged or unfair, saying, "It is a clear result from the party and I'm humbled by it."

"I think what we've had today is an exercise in democracy," Mr Seselja told reporters outside the football club.

"These processes are difficult, there is no doubt about it. Democracy is sometimes difficult - it can be messy."

Senator Humphries congratulated Mr Seselja on the win and said he would abide by the vote despite talk of a challenge from his supporters.

"I would obviously dearly have loved to have been there to fight that fight and have been the person who took on Labor and the Greens in September," he said.

"I'm sad after a very long career in politics to have to bow out, but one's time is up sooner or later and obviously today the view of members is my time is up."

Senator Humphries was first elected to the Senate in 2003.

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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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Locksmiths refuse to aid Spanish evictions

LOCKSMITHS and firemen in Spain are rebelling against a wave of evictions in the economic crisis by refusing to help bailiffs open ruined homeowners' doors to throw them out.

"Families' lives were being ruined and we were acting as executioners," David Ormaechea, president of the Locksmiths Union, told AFP. "It was causing us tension and unease."

A wave of evictions of mortgage-holders ruined by the recession has prompted several suicides and sparked a protest movement that last week brought a motion to parliament for a law to end the procedure.

With the locksmiths refusing to take part, some authorities have been asking the fire service to step in and break open the doors of those resisting eviction.

On Tuesday in the northwestern city of A Coruna, firefighters were called to help evict an 85-year-old woman who had defaulted on her rent.

A crowd of protesters gathered outside the apartment to block the eviction. When the firefighters arrived they refused to open the door and some of them joined in the protest.

Firefighters in other regions such as Catalonia and Madrid have since followed their example.

"We come to the aid of people in emergencies. It is contradictory to help the banks that are putting people's lives in danger" by evicting them, Antonio del Rio, a labour union representative for the Catalonia fire service, told AFP.

"The only thing we do is help citizens," said another Madrid fireman, Pedro Campos.

"We only enter a home when there is danger inside. Getting a woman of 85 out of her home is not a situation of danger."

PAH, the campaign movement that brought the proposed law to parliament, says hundreds of thousands of people face eviction following the collapse of Spain's housing boom in 2008.

The resulting recession has driven the unemployment rate over 26 per cent, leaving many unable to pay mortgages on houses that have lost much of their value.

Regularly demonstrating on evictees' doorsteps, PAH says it has blocked half a million evictions since 2009, in some cases enabling families to stay in their homes and pay rent.

Its bill, backed by a petition with 1.4 million signatures, proposes to end evictions and let insolvent homeowners write off their debts by surrendering their home.

Under the current law, a bank can pursue a borrower for the remaining balance of a loan if the value of the seized property does not cover it.

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Robert Mugabe celebrates 89th birthday

ZIMBABWE'S President Robert Mugabe turned 89 on Thursday determined to extend his grip on power despite concerns over his health and advanced age.

Africa's oldest leader and world's second oldest after Shimon Peres of Israel, Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.

Despite speculation over his physical fitness Mugabe accepted nomination from his ZANU-PF party to stand for another five-year term in elections due in July.

But doubts have been cast on whether he still has the physical and mental stamina to go through an election campaign and complete another full term.

"Mugabe's age and health will not allow him to remain active," said Blessing Vava, a Harare-based independent political commentator.

"Look at Pope Benedict XVI who recently announced his retirement at 85, saying his body and health does not allow him to carry duties that he used to do."

Observers think Mugabe wants to cling onto power for as long as is possible, then pick a successor of choice who will ensure he is shielded from prosecution for any rights abuses he may face.

"He is looking for a safe exit from politics by remaining in power until death or handing over to a successor who will guarantee that he will not be prosecuted for rights violations," said Charles Mangongera, another independent analyst

He added "Mugabe realises that this is a do or die situation" and "for him I think it is an issue of personal interest rather than national interest."

But the longtime leader, who is blamed for having driven the country to pariah status, is likely to have a tough time working through an election campaign.

"Mugabe is an old man, he is not going to be moving around (the country) like he used to," said Vava. Mangongera said Mugabe faces an election hurdle in contesting with a much younger candidate, arch-rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who is nearly 30 years his junior

"I don't see Mugabe withstanding a gruelling election campaign," Mangongera said.

"Look he is 89. I have seen ...television footage of him struggling to scale steps. That is indication that he is frail. Age will not allow Mugabe to mount a credible election campaign."

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CLP's Griggs readies for preselection vote

FEDERAL MP Natasha Griggs says she won't be taking anything for granted in Saturday's preselection battle for her Northern Territory seat.

The Country Liberal Party (CLP) member for the seat of Solomon will face a preselection battle against Darwin doctor Peter Bourke at the party's Central Council meeting this weekend.

"It is a democratic party and I welcome the fact that I have been challenged because it keeps people on their toes and I will not take anything for granted," Ms Griggs said on Friday.

Party insiders have privately told AAP Ms Griggs is likely to be re-elected although the contest could be close.

Unlike the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the CLP executive cannot overrule a decision of grassroots members.

"We don't have a captain's pick," Ms Griggs said, referring to a recent ALP decision to install Olympian Nova Peris as that party's number one Senate candidate.

Saturday's meeting in Tennant Creek could also see calls for a vote of no-confidence in NT Chief Minister Terry Mills.

Mr Mills has upset some in his party with the CLP's cost cutting and revenue raising programs since seizing power in a landslide win last August.

Sources told AAP a no-confidence vote was likely to be called on Sunday, but even if it succeeds Mr Mills' job will not be in jeopardy.

There have been leadership tensions leading up to the meeting, with NT Attorney-General John Elferink resigning after reports he had been counting votes to see if he had the support to topple Mr Mills.

On Friday Mr Elferink said he did not expect a vote of no-confidence in Mr Mills at the meeting.

Nigel Scullion will be unopposed for the number one spot on the NT's Senate ticket.

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Power prices finally on WA election agenda

THE issue of electricity prices has finally emerged in the West Australian election campaign after weeks of both major parties obsessing over major infrastructure projects.

Premier Colin Barnett told the only debate of the 2013 campaign that power prices would only rise "at or around the rate of inflation" of about three per cent per annum, if he wins a second term.

The latest budget forecasts a 25 per cent rise over three years, but the premier guaranteed that would not be the case.

On Thursday, opposition energy spokesman Bill Johnston said there would be a budget black hole if electricity prices only increased with inflation.

But Energy Minister Peter Collier hit back, asking why Labor had not yet revealed its plans for power costs.

Mr Collier said the incumbent Liberals had been honest and transparent about electricity prices.

Mr Barnett said this week that electricity prices had gone up significantly under his government but the utilities were in substantial debt and the previous Labor government had kept power prices down "artificially" - in other words, by not reflecting the true cost of production and distribution.

"We took the hard decision, it did affect people's cost of living quite dramatically, but there was no choice," he said during Tuesday's debate.

He added that WA still had some of the lowest power prices in the country.

On Wednesday, Mr Barnett denied speculation by Mr Collier's former chief of staff Darren Brown that he planned to privatise power pole manager Western Power if he won a second term.

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Charges laid over Hobart CBD fire

A MAN has been charged with arson following a $10 million fire that destroyed a popular toy shop in the centre of Hobart.

The 20-year-old is facing one count of arson and several of burglary and stealing after the Bridges Brothers toy and sports store was razed on January 19.

Several other businesses housed in the 1928 building were also destroyed.

Police allege the other offences occurred in the Hobart CBD on the same morning as the fire.

The man is due to appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.

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Future of Sydney casino market unknown

CASINOS operator Echo Entertainment Group is unsure about how the Sydney casino market may develop as billionaire James Packer seeks a presence there.

Echo operates The Star casino in Sydney under the only casino licence in the city. The licence runs to 2093, with exclusivity to November 2019.

But billionaire James Packer's Crown, which operates casinos in Melbourne and Perth, wants to build a $1 billion six-star hotel and casino at the nearby Barangaroo site.

Echo has been subject to takeover speculation, given that Crown has a 10 per cent stake in Echo and sought permission from gaming regulators to lift its stake to as much as 25 per cent.

Echo chief executive John Redmond says is unable to speculate on whether Crown would end up competing with Echo in Sydney, become a joint-venture partner with Echo, or even end up owning Echo.

"Obviously, there is no way to predict the future," Mr Redmond told reporters on Thursday as Echo reported a 5.3 per cent fall in first half net profit to $66.5 million.

"So, to try to have any clarity on those issues is impossible.

"But, clearly, it stands to reason, as we have mentioned a couple of times in the past, there should be one licence in the Sydney market.

"And our licence has another 80 years to go, so whatever the plans are, they involve us (Echo), and beyond that we have no clarity."

Crown reports its half year financial results on Friday.

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ALP-Greens still tight in Tasmania

TASMANIAN Labor premier Lara Giddings says the power-sharing deal in her state has worked because the Greens have been saddled with responsibility.

Ms Giddings says the inclusion of two Greens in cabinet has required them to be more than a "party of protest", as Prime Minister Julia Gillard described them on Wednesday.

The PM was reacting to Australian Greens leader Christine Milne symbolically severing ties with the federal government.

Ms Giddings said the 25-member Tasmanian lower house, which includes 10 Labor members and five Greens who have shared power since 2010, could not be compared to the arrangement negotiated by Ms Gillard.

"They hold the responsibility and power of government," Ms Giddings told the National Press Club in Canberra.

"They have to conduct themselves appropriately and responsibly as cabinet ministers."

Ms Giddings conceded the ALP faced a tough battle in September's federal election.

Two of Labor's Tasmanian seats are considered vulnerable but the premier said a Liberal government would rip a carbon windfall and GST revenue out of the beleaguered state budget.

"If we can articulate those threats that are very real about (Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott then I would be confident Tasmania will remain a Labor state," Ms Giddings said.

In Tasmania, Greens leader Nick McKim holds key portfolios including education and corrections, while Cassy O'Connor is human services minister.

Tasmania's Liberal opposition said the Labor-Green government had been an economic disaster that had cost the state more than 8000 jobs.

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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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Brisbane switched onto NBN

The northern Brisbane suburb of Aspley has been switched onto the national broadband network. Source: AAP

A PART of Brisbane has been switched onto the national broadband network (NBN).

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan attended Wednesday's switch-on ceremony, saying the NBN was a project Australia could not afford to be without.

"It connects the nation and then it connects the nation to the global economy," he told reporters in Brisbane.

He said the NBN would help Australia maximise international opportunities, including the economic rise of Asia.

During the launch junior football players took part in a virtual coaching session led by former Australian representative rugby league player Michael Hancock.

Hancock's image was beamed from Suncorp Stadium across town onto a large screen in the northern Brisbane suburb of Aspley, via the NBN.

The instant communication between Hancock and the junior players wouldn't have been possible without the superfast broadband connection, NBN Co spokesman Ryan Williams said.

The fibre optic connection is now available to 500 homes in the suburb.

Work has started to connect a number of other Brisbane suburbs.

Brisbane is the fourth capital city to get the NBN.

Melbourne came online in October last year while Hobart and Canberra went live in early February.

The Queensland centres of Townsville and Toowoomba have already been hooked up too.

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Union boss dismisses Milne action

AUSTRALIAN Workers' Union (AWU) boss Paul Howes has dismissed Greens leader Christine Milne's decision to ditch her party's 2010 agreement with Labor as a "boo-hoo" moment.

Senator Milne told the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday the Gillard government's decision to allow mining in Tasmania's Tarkine and a push by unions to make coal-seam gas development easier meant Labor had effectively torn up its post-election deal with the Greens.

Mr Howes, whose union has campaigned for new gas developments, along with jobs in the Tarkine, said Labor would not "sacrifice jobs at the altar of green ideology".

"She is upset that she lost the campaign in north-west Tasmania. Well, boo-hoo. At the end of the day the federal Labor government has delivered for jobs," Mr Howes told reporters.

He said the region has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and the mining area would take up only one per cent of forest area.

Mr Howes said Senator Milne's declaration did not change things in Canberra.

"The Greens haven't been supporting a whole range of Labor's initiatives in the parliament," he said.

Mr Howes said Labor had stood up for the environment, particularly through putting a price on carbon.

"What is she saying? Is she saying that Tony Abbott and the coalition are going to be better for the environment than Julia Gillard and the Labor party?

"(It's) the Labor party who has introduced a price on carbon, extended the world's largest national parks in oceans.

"This is a ridiculous furphy and obviously a political ploy by a leader ... who has presided over a collapse in her party's support since she took over."

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Admirers, protesters greet Cuban dissident

DISSIDENT Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez has been greeted in Brazil by admirers and protesters at the start of a "bittersweet" foreign tour, after she finally won permission to leave Cuba.

Sanchez arrived in Recife, where she was welcomed by friends, supporters and journalists, and also by about 20 pro-Cuban protesters who waved signs accusing her of being "Yoani agent of the CIA".

Sanchez responded, "Long live democracy. I want this democracy in my country, too."

Later, pro-Cuba protesters disrupted a planned screening for Sanchez of a documentary on human rights in which she appears, causing them to cancel the showing, the filmmaker said.

Instead, the dissident agreed to a discussion with the protesters, who billed themselves as members of the Young Communist League, a Brazilian official who attended the event said.

The 37-year-old philologist, who found an international audience on the internet with her prize-winning blog "Generation Y", is known for her biting commentary, which has drawn the displeasure of Cuba's ruling communist party.

The government in Havana repeatedly denied permission for her to leave the country in response to invitations to speak in Brazil and elsewhere.

But it finally relented after easing travel restrictions for Cubans in mid-January, and eliminating the requirement of an exit visa.

Brazil is Sanchez's first stop on a three-month trip that will take here around the Americas and to Europe.

"I am very happy," she told Globo News on her arrival. "It was five years of struggle, of trying every path. I have that bittersweet feeling. I am happy for me, but I also have friends who didn't get a passport."

"The emigration reform brought some flexibility, simplified many things, but I have friends who were denied passports," she said.

She said she didn't think the Cuban government would prevent her return at the end of the tour.

"I want to stay in Cuba, to help the Cubans. I don't want to be a migrant Yoani Sanchez in another country," she said.

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Nestle finds horsemeat in pasta dishes

Nestle is removing pasta meals from shelves in Italy and Spain due to horsemeat contamination. Source: AAP

SWISS food giant Nestle has become the latest retailer hit by Europe's horsemeat scandal, announcing it is removing pasta meals from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain due to contamination.

"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products," the world's biggest food company said in its statement on Monday.

"The mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," it added.

Therefore the company is "voluntarily removing" two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini from sale in Italy and Spain immediately.

The tainted products breached the one per cent threshold the British Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence, Nestle said.

A Nestle frozen meat product for catering businesses, produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale.

Nestle apologised to consumers while assuring that "actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceability".

Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.

The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain.

Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of "beef" products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but is considered taboo in Britain.

Horsemeat in "beef" ready-to-eat meals had already been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Most of the mislabelled products were made by Comigel.

With Italy and Spain now also tainted by the horsemeat scandal it appears that most of the continent has been affected.

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AWU head attacks Newman government

AUSTRALIAN Workers' Union (AWU) national president Bill Ludwig has accused the Queensland government of nepotism and criticised its treatment of workers.

Mr Ludwig told the union's national conference on Monday that since Premier Campbell Newman's election, unemployment in Queensland had risen, confidence had been shattered and young people were worried about their futures.

Mr Ludwig recounted a meeting with the premier days after the Liberal National Party's 2012 election win.

As Mr Newman was explaining his plan to break up "super departments", Mr Ludwig said the premier looked him in the eye and said: "We want to go back to the future, go back to where we used to be."

"Everything is finally back to normal again - they can get back on with the job of giving plum jobs and contracts to each other," Mr Ludwig told delegates at the Gold Coast conference.

"And growing rich at the expense of ordinary working people."

Last Friday, Mr Newman lost his third minister, Ros Bates, who quit after being criticised for not declaring contact with lobbyists, taking extended leave and giving a close friend a board position.

Her son, Ben Gommers, became the focus of a nepotism scandal after he landed a plum job in the transport department. The appointment is being investigated by the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Mr Ludwig also claimed Transport Department Director General Michael Caltabiano, who will leave his job on March 15, and Queensland Transport Minister Scott Emerson had done a deal over the state seat of Indooroopilly, where Mr Ludwig lives.

Years ago, both had wanted to run for the seat, but neither did.

"But this time they had an agreement - Emerson would run for the seat and Caltabiano would be the head of the department," Mr Ludwig said.

"And that's what exactly happened.

"That deal has become unstuck and Mr Caltabiano has got the sack."

Mr Emerson said Mr Ludwig's claims of a deal on the seat of Indooroopilly were fantasy.

"Mr Caltabiano lives on the other side of Brisbane, was a former member for Chatsworth, and has never to my knowledge expressed any interest in running for Indooroopilly," he told AAP in a statement.

"Bill is a constituent of mine and a Labor relic from the past, still creating mischief and unfortunately still misleading his members."

A spokesman for the minister later told AAP Mr Emerson ran for preselection in Indooroopilly before the 2006 election.

He said Mr Caltabiano had supported Mr Emerson's opponent, Peter Turner, in that pre-selection contest.

Mr Turner won the pre-selection battle by a handful of votes but could not take the seat from incumbent Ronan Lee.

Mr Emerson won pre-selection for the LNP before the 2009 election and has held the seat since then.

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Correa calls for resolution of Assange

ECUADORAN President Rafael Correa has called on Europe to quickly settle the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has been holed up in the country's embassy in Britain for eight months.

"It's a diplomatic situation for which a solution must be found ... as quickly as possible," Correa told reporters shortly after declaring victory in presidential elections, saying the Australian's fate lies "in Europe's hands".

Assange, a former computer hacker, founded the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website that enraged Washington by releasing cables and war logs relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the biggest security breach in US history.

Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in June after losing his battle in the British courts against extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Ecuador granted Assange asylum in August but Britain has refused to allow him safe passage.

By helping him, Ecuador "did what it had to do in the framework of its sovereignty", Correa said, urging European courts to take up the matter.

"There can't be a problem due to asylum, it's neocolonialism," he said, reiterating Quito's demands -- safe passage or questioning of Assange by a Swedish judicial official in London.

Charismatic in his supporters' eyes and authoritarian to his foes, Correa claimed victory on Sunday shortly after polling stations closed in an election he had been widely expected to win.

The first official results polls gave him 56.7 per cent of the vote -- and a roughly 30-point lead over his nearest rival, banker Guillermo Lasso -- with just over a third of ballots counted.

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ISI claims wave of Baghdad bombings

Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq has claimed credit for a wave of weekend bombings in Baghdad. Source: AAP

AL-QAEDA'S front group in Iraq has claimed credit for a wave of bombings targeting Shiite areas of Baghdad that has killed at least 21 people.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) claimed responsibility for the wave of bombings on Sunday "and declared it came in revenge for alleged criminal acts by the Shiite-led government in Sunnis areas of the capital", said the SITE monitoring service, which tracks extremist internet forums.

Three car bombs struck the sprawling Sadr City slum in the north of the city, car bombs exploded in Ameen, Al-Husseiniyah and Kamaliyah in the east, and a roadside bomb blew up in Karrada in central Baghdad, security and medics there said.

Another roadside device went off in Saidiyah in the capital's south.

Al-Qaeda's front group is widely seen as weaker than during the peak of Iraq's sectarian bloodshed from 2006 to 2008, but is still capable of carrying out mass-casualty attacks on a regular basis.

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Qld housing market improves

THE number of first home buyers in Queensland continues to drop since the removal of the First Home Buyers Grant.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) says the although the real estate market in Queensland exceeded expectations for the second quarter in a row, some first home buyers feel shut out of the market.

The government scrapped the $7,000 grant in October and replaced it with a $15,000 boost for those buying off-the-plan or newly-constructed properties, in a bid to stimulate the construction industry.

Chief Executive Anton Kardash said first home buyers typically buy established homes in established suburbs, instead of newly constructed homes in outer areas or apartments with expensive body corporate fees.

"Unfortunately, the numbers of first home buyers active in the market continues to trend downwards," he said.

"We're not surprised to see the fall off."

The REIQ says the Queensland real estate market improved for the second quarter in a row.

House sales increased by eight per cent, compared to the same period in 2011.

"There is no doubt that the Queensland market is improving due to the low interest rate environment, increasing confidence levels, an element of pent-up demand, as well as a more settled economic outlook here and overseas," Mr Kardash said in a statement.

Tourism centres enjoyed substantial jumps.

The numbers of house sales were up 27 per cent on the Sunshine Coast, 25 per cent in Cairns, and 19 per cent on the Gold Coast compared to the December quarter in 2011.

Across Queensland's major regions, median house prices were mostly stable.

However, Toowoomba's prices increased by 6.2 per cent to $308,000 and Mount Isa recorded an eight per cent rise to $370,000.

The Brisbane median house price increased 0.4 per cent to $510,000.

Mining centres saw drops in house prices, as their markets start to return to normal.

House sale activity dropped 37 per cent in Gladstone and 17 per cent in Mackay.

Their median house price dropped 2.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively.

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Actor joins union's manufacturing campaign

ACTOR Jack Thompson has been recruited for a campaign to promote the Australian Workers Union and the manufacturing sector.

The video ad, to be launched at the AWU's national conference on the Gold Coast on Monday, features Thompson reciting part of Henry Lawson's classic poem, Freedom's on the Wallaby.

In the video, titled A Union That Makes Things, Thompson rails against the "rich getting obscenely rich" just by "moving numbers on spreadsheets".

"When some of the richest people in the world are complaining about how hard they're doing - what is going on?" he says.

Thompson gives a brief economic lecture, saying the mining boom put upward pressure on the Australian dollar and created in Australia a "safe haven, a place for others to store their money".

But the high dollar, he explains, made it harder for industry to sell on the global market.

"On the shop floor, things were very different," the actor says.

"In the past five years, 130,000 manufacturing jobs gone, because someone forgot to turn the lights on and wake Australia up.

"We used to be a country that could be proud of what it made.

"But now we're making less and watching our factories close."

Thompson urges union members to "forge a new future".

"We are often at our best when our backs are to the wall - that's now," he says.

AWU national secretary Paul Howes says in the video his union wants a future that "is more than just being a sand-pit for another country".

"A future that builds things, which makes things," he says.

Thompson featured in Gough Whitlam's 1972 It's Time election ad.

Mr Howes told AAP Thompson was the first person the union thought of when looking for an authentic Australian voice.

"We knew that Jack is a strong believer in fairness and social justice, and that he also has an interest on the poetry of Henry Lawson - who wrote for the AWU's newspaper The Worker," he said.

"Jack also was a member of the AWU as a young man."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will address the conference on Monday night.

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Royal Commission offers chance to 'purify'

CATHOLIC Bishops in NSW have signed a letter urging parishioners and clergy not to bury their heads in the sand ahead of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

In a publication signed by 15 bishops, including the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, parishoners and clergy are urged to reflect upon the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

"We must not put our heads in the sand about any of this, or try to minimise or explain it away," the letter published on Sunday states.

"The fact is that our Dioceses have all known cases of child abuse."

The royal commission should be viewed as an opportunity for victims to obtain a just hearing, the letter states.

"These terrible sins and crimes, and their mishandling by church authorities have done great damage to the victims and their families," it states.

"As leaders ... we must listen to people's hurt and respond with humility and compassion."

However, it adds that as the commission begins to hold hearings and take submissions across Australia, the stories of abuse should not see people loose sight of the church's achievements.

"The current crisis is an opportunity for purification of the Church - a Lenten return for each one of us personally and all of us collectively," the letter states.

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