Hollande backs Lebanon over Syria crisis

FRENCH President Francois Hollande on a brief visit to Beirut has pledged to "protect" Lebanon against threats of destabilisation caused by the deadly conflict in neighbouring Syria.

"France will spare no effort to guarantee Lebanon's independence, unity and security," Hollande said at a joint news conference with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on Sunday.

France is determined "to oppose with all its strength any bid to destabilise", Lebanon, he said.

Sleiman said he reaffirmed to Hollande "Lebanon's commitment to avoid the negative repercussions of the (Syrian) crisis".

After his stop in Beirut, the French leader flew to Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah on Syria and Iran, before attending an Asia-Europe summit in Laos to talk trade at a time of economic crisis.

The visit comes two weeks after Lebanon's opposition called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose cabinet is dominated by powerful Syrian ally Hezbollah, to resign.

The opposition accuses the government of complicity with the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has also been accused of the 2005 assassination of ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Calls for Mikati to quit were spurred by a massive car bombing in central Beirut last month that killed top security official Wissam al-Hassan, in an attack the opposition blamed on Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Hollande said France was ready to help Lebanon probe the murder of Hassan, and said "there can be no impunity" for the assassination of Hariri and the security official.

The Beirut stop was a last-minute decision by Hollande to express France's solidarity with Lebanon.

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PM to spruik white paper at Laos talks

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard will use the opportunity of a gathering of world leaders in Laos to spruik the Asian Century white paper and Australia's plans to increase its engagement in the region.

Ms Gillard, who arrived in Vientiane on Sunday afternoon, will also use an address at a plenary session at the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to call for greater co-operation in dealing with deteriorating conditions in the global economy.

The summit of Asian and European leaders comes amid a gloomy outlook for the global economy, which has worsened further with unemployment across the eurozone having risen to a record 11.6 per cent.

European leaders attending the talks are expected to provide an update on efforts to address financial market tensions, restore confidence and stimulate growth and jobs.

The issues of reform of international financial institutions and protectionism are also on the agenda.

While the overarching theme of Ms Gillard's remarks, to be delivered on Monday, will focus on the struggling global economy, the meeting also provides the prime minister with an opportunity to discuss her new foreign policy road map with Asian leaders.

It is her first international trip since the Asian Century white paper was released last week.

Ms Gillard began her visit to Vientiane with a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Laos, Thongsing Thammavong, on Sunday afternoon.

She was expected to also hold bilateral talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French President Francois Hollande over the coming days, as well as Burmese President Thein Sein.

Ms Gillard is scheduled to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez on Monday.

The summit's second plenary session on Tuesday will focus on terrorism, piracy at sea and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Energy security, water resources management and food security will be also be discussed.

Ms Gillard will travel to Indonesia on Wednesday ahead of the Bali Democracy Forum on Thursday and Friday, which she will co-chair with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The two leaders will also hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the forum.

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Rio elects its Carnival's queen and king

RIO de Janeiro has new royalty.

Evelyn Bastos, a 19-year-old student and member of the famed Mangueira Samba school, has been crowned queen of the 2013 Rio Carnival while Milton Junior was re-elected as iconic King Momo.

An emotional Bastos, who joined Mangueira - Rio's oldest Samba school - at the age of four, beat her more muscular rivals and thanked her many supporters upon receiving the sought-after title.

"I am not alone in wearing this crown as many people helped me," she said as she choked back tears.

"I am 100 per cent natural," she added in an apparent dig at her rivals, many of whom appear to have silicon-injected breasts and buttocks.

"I entered the contest as representative of Mangueira Samba school and now I am representing all the Cariocas (Rio residents) who will take part in the carnival. It is very rewarding," Bastos said at the ceremony held in Rio's northern Samba City.

Bastos, whose mother served as Mangueira percussion queen three years in a row and was her major inspiration, said she underwent five months of gruelling training for the job. She walked away with a prize of $US10,000 ($A9650).

Junior, who weighs in at 160 kilograms and stands 184 centimetres tall, was again picked to serve as King Momo, the Rio Carnival's symbol of overweight excess.

King Momo is traditionally given the key to the city and leads the crowds in wild partying and frantic samba dancing.

Rio's world famous carnival takes place February 9-12.

Junior will play carnival king for the fifth year in a row and his selection was greeted with some boos.

He also earned a prize of $US10,000, in addition to a ceremonial crown, sash and mace.

"King Momo transmits to the entire world, throughout the city, the joy and Samba, surrounded with beautiful women, the queen and the princesses," the 33-year-old said.

"Our marvellous city is rich with its values and culture and Samba is our foundation," he added.

Leticia Guimaraes and Clara Paixao were picked as carnival princesses and received $US7500 each.

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Four killed when Kyrgyz toilet floor caves

FOUR people have been killed when the floor of a public toilet in southern Kyrgyzstan caved in, the ministry for emergency situations says.

Authorities had earlier reported that 15 people were injured in the accident on Saturday at a public toilet located in a market.

But four bodies were found in the rubble early Sunday.

The ministry said Deputy Prime Minister Taiyrbek Sarpashev and the Minister for Emergency Situations Kubatbek Boronov have "ordered checks to be carried out on all public toilets" after visiting the accident site.

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South Sudan expels UN rights official

SOUTH Sudan says it has expelled a UN official who was carrying out an investigation on the human rights situation in the fledgling state, accusing her of producing "unjustified" reports.

"It's the first person on human rights to be (declared) persona non grata," government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said on Sunday.

The UN official has been "reporting on human rights issues that she could not verify and has been publishing without justifications. This is unethical," said the spokesman.

The UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan confirmed the expulsion.

"The order is in breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the Charter of the United Nations", said Hilde Johnson, special representative of the UN to the country, which gained independence in July 2011.

She said she has sought explanations from Juba.

"Human rights monitoring, investigation and reporting, and building capacity, is a core element of the mandate of UNMISS, which must be protected," Johnson said.

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Tens of thousands lose housing in US storm

TENS of thousands of New Yorkers need housing after superstorm Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 people in the city alone would need housing after Monday's storm, which left more than 100 dead in 15 US states and Canada and inflicted tens of billions of dollars of damage.

"It is starting to get cold, people are in homes that are uninhabitable," Cuomo told a news conference on Sunday.

"We are going to have tens of thousands of people who need housing solutions right away."

About 730,000 people in New York state still do not have electricity, nearly one week after Sandy hit, including more than 130,000 in New York City, the governor said.

With drivers waiting several hours in queues at service stations to get fuel, Cuomo and Bloomberg appealed for patience and insisted that deliveries are improving.

There are also at least one million people in the state of New Jersey without electricity. Much of the state is under fuel rationing.

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France church in new gay marriage swipe

THE Catholic Church in France has taken a fresh swing at the Socialist government's plan to authorise gay marriage and adoption, which is to be presented as a draft law this week.

Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, who has led opposition to the project, told mass-goers in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes on Sunday that children needed both a father and a mother to build their identity.

"When we defend the right of children to build their personality with reference to the man and the woman who gave them life, we are not defending a particular position," he said.

"We are recognising what is expressed by the practices and the wisdom of all the peoples since the beginning of time and which modern specialists confirm," said Vingt-Trois at the mass during an annual meeting of France's Catholic bishops.

The gay marriage plan is to be presented as a draft bill to President Francois Hollande's cabinet on Wednesday.

Hollande has promised the legislation will be on the statute books by mid-2013 and there is sufficient cross-party support to ensure the government will be able to push it through on schedule.

Polls suggest up to two-thirds of French voters back the right of homosexuals to marry, but they are split on allowing them to adopt.

Some conservative and far-right politicians have called for mass street protests to try to force the government to back down.

Hundreds of French mayors or deputy mayors have signed a petition opposing the government's plans, and Jewish leaders have joined Catholic bishops and the right-wing opposition to denounce the project.

Many of these mayors - the officials who carry out most marriages - have warned they will not preside over same-sex ceremonies.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has insisted there will be no backtracking on the pledge made by Hollande when he was campaigning for the presidency this year.

The text to be presented to Hollande's cabinet will redefine marriage to stipulate that it is "contracted between two persons of different sex or of the same sex", Ayrault told AFP last month.

The draft legislation will include provision for married gay couples to adopt children but the right will not be immediately extended to unmarried homosexuals, the prime minister added.

That question and the issue of gay couples' access to medically assisted conception will be addressed in secondary legislation at a later date.

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