Moscow rally held as adoption row flares

RUSSIA says it is concerned by a US ruling that the death of an adopted Russian boy in Texas was an accident, fuelling a diplomatic row as thousands marched in Moscow demanding an end to all foreign adoptions.

Russia's foreign ministry said it had learned of the US coroner's findings, which clear the boy's parents of wrongdoing, "with concern" and called on US officials to provide Moscow with the necessary documents, including the death certificate of three-year-old Max Shatto (born Maxim Kuzmin), to help shed light on the case.

"Only an examination of these documents will enable meaningful conclusions to be reached about the circumstances surrounding the Russian child's death and determine our possible future steps," the ministry's rights representative Konstantin Dolgov said in a statement on Saturday.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman added that efforts were under way to try to bring home Max's two-year-old brother, whose Russian name is Kirill and who is also being raised by the Shatto couple.

"Certain steps are being taken to bring back (Kirill)," Dmitry Peskov told Dozhd, a private television channel. "There are very complicated legal circumstances related to the possibility of such a return."

According to the autopsy results, the boy died from a lacerated artery in his bowel due to blunt force trauma in his abdomen. The coroner's report also noted that the child had a mental disorder that caused him to hurt himself.

Officials in the US cleared the boy's adoptive parents Laura and Allen Shatto of homicide but the couple could still face negligence charges for leaving the boy alone in their backyard, where he was found unconscious in January.

The Kremlin children's rights envoy Pavel Astakhov reacted to the US findings with scepticism.

"The triumph of justice?" he wrote on Twitter, adding that the boy had become a "victim of big politics."

Meanwhile, thousands of people, including activists from pro-Kremlin children's advocacy groups, braved a temperature of minus eight degrees Celsius to march through Moscow urging authorities to ban all foreign adoptions and demanding the return of Max's brother.

Late last year, Russia introduced a ban on all American adoptions in retaliation for a US bill targeting Russian officials with sanctions over the prison death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

According to official estimates, US families have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children over the past two decades, 21 of whom have died.

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Kerry in Egypt to press for consensus

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Cairo to push for a way out of Egypt's political impasse and its crippling economic crisis.

As Kerry landed in Cairo from Turkey, protesters torched a police station in the canal city of Port Said, reflecting the size of the task facing the secretary of state in Egypt, which has been rocked by months of unrest.

The interior ministry said in a statement about 500 protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at the police station on Saturday, setting it on fire, and then blocked fire engines from approaching the blaze.

In the capital, Kerry, is due to hold talks with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, as well as political parties, business leaders and civil society groups during his two-day visit which is part of a world tour.

"He is working to touch base with the government, with the military, with people involved in the new Egypt: the political leaders, NGO leaders, the business people," a US State Department official said.

Egypt has been deeply divided since Morsi - the country's first post-revolution president - issued a now-repealed decree in November expanding his powers and paving the way for the adoption of an Islamist-drafted constitution.

The political turmoil has fuelled weeks of unrest and clashes that have left dozens dead.

Two leading dissidents, Mohamed ElBaradei and Hamdeen Sabahi of the opposition coalition National Salvation Front (NSF), said they would not be meeting with Kerry, after Washington's call for them to reconsider a boycott of next month's parliamentary elections.

During the visit, Kerry will stress the "importance of building consensus," a US State Department official said.

A political consensus would pave the way for a crucial loan from the International Monetary Fund, which in turn will unlock several pledges of aid for Egypt's battered economy.

Egyptian officials have said they will continue talks with the IMF on a much needed $US4.8 billion ($A4.7 billion) loan, which has been delayed amid political unrest and might possibly be signed after a parliament is in place in July.

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Assad 'will take part' in 2014 Syria poll

BASHAR al-Assad will take part in Syria's next presidential election in 2014, Iran's foreign minister says.

"In the next election, President Assad, like others, will take part, and the Syrian people will elect whomever they want," Ali Akbar Salehi said at a news conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem.

Salehi also said that "the official position of Iran is that... Assad will remain the legitimate president until the next... election" in 2014.

Muallem arrived on Saturday in Tehran - a close ally of Damascus - for talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year conflict in Syria that the United Nations says has killed at least 70,000 people and is tearing the country apart.

His visit comes after a week of intense international diplomacy aimed at ending the bloodshed.

Salehi threw Iran's weight behind Damascus's call this week for dialogue with the armed opposition, calling the initiative a "positive step," but reiterated that Assad's regime has "no choice" but to keep fighting rebels.

"We believe that the crisis has no military solution and only a Syrian political one," said the Iranian minister.

"Iran firstly wants a stop to the bloodshed but the Syrian government has no choice but to fight against the terrorists and we cannot ask the Syrian government not to do so and leave them alone," he added.

Muallem, meanwhile, condemned the announcement by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that Washington would provide $US60 million ($A59 million) in "non-lethal" assistance to support the Syrian political opposition.

"When the US (says it has) allocated $US60 million to the opposition and this opposition is killing people, I don't understand this initiative... are there any weapons that do not kill people? Who are you kidding?" Muallem asked.

He repeated calls for pressure to be exerted on Turkey and Qatar, among the main supporters of the rebels alongside Western countries.

While in Tehran, Muallem is also due to meet the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, Mehr news agency reported.

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Kenya prepares to go to the polls

KENYA'S top two presidential candidates have held their final rallies before large and raucous crowds.

However, it was an interview with a British newspaper that upended the campaign's final days, with the prime minister quoted as saying violence could be worse than 2007-08 if he loses because of rigging.

Monday's vote is the first nationwide election since Kenya's December 2007 vote devolved into tribe-on-tribe violence that killed more than 1000 people. Kenyan leaders and community groups have been working to ensure that massive violence isn't repeated, but fears linger that bloodshed will reappear.

The Financial Times in a story on Saturday quoted Prime Minister Raila Odinga - one of the two top presidential candidates - as saying he knows his opponents are planning to rig the vote and "I have warned them the consequences may be worse than last time round. The people will not stomach another rigging."

The paper also quotes him as saying that if he loses it will because of "blackmail and intimidation."

Odinga, in a statement on Saturday, denied talking about violence in the interview and said he felt "absolutely slandered."

The Financial Times did not release an audio recording of the interview.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta - Odinga's top challenger - called Odinga's words "dangerous and inflammatory" and he called on Odinga to retract them.

"We have in public, and our words and deeds throughout this election - all of us presidential candidates - committed to campaign in this election in peace, and just as importantly, to accept the result in peace," Kenyatta said.

"So then why is it that at the most delicate time in the election campaign Raila sought to use such dangerous, inflammatory words? In the interests of the people of Kenya he must publicly reject what he has said to this newspaper."

Kenyatta and his running mate - William Ruto - both face charges at the International Criminal Court over allegations they instigated the 2007-08 violence. If Kenyatta wins, he may be forced to spend much of presidency before The Hague-based court.

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Syria army captures key Aleppo road

THE Syrian army says it has seized control of a key road linking the central province of Hama to Aleppo international airport, scene of weeks of fierce battles with rebel fighters.

The capture of the road will allow the army to deploy fresh reinforcements and send supplies to the area near the airport, where fighting has raged since mid-February.

"In collaboration with honourable citizens, troops carried out a special operation and restored security and stability to villages on the airport road," the military said in a statement published on Saturday by state news agency SANA.

"This achievement shows the commitment of our forces to continue to fulfil their sacred national duty, repelling killings and aggression targeting our people and our country," said the statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report and said the army will now be able to deploy fresh troops and supplies in the area and the nearby Nayrab military airport.

Rebels launched last month an all-out assault on several airports in Aleppo province, including the international airport and Nayrab, which are located southeast of Syria's second-largest city.

They have since captured Al-Jarrah military airport as well as several other air defence complexes and nearby checkpoints.

But Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that if the army succeeds in keeping control over the road "it will change the course of battles" around Aleppo and Nayrab airports "and even Aleppo", Syria's second city.

While rebels have taken over large swathes of territory and a number of key military garrisons in Aleppo province, fighting in the city has been at stalemate for months.

Abdel Rahman said that clashes around the airport road continued despite the army's capture.

Aleppo international airport has been closed since the start of the year.

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Bangladesh clashes over death sentence

DEMONSTRATORS protesting the death penalty given to an Islamic political party leader have clashed with Bangladeshi security forces for a third straight day, killing two people and injuring about a dozen.

Delwar Hossain Sayedee, one of the top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party, was sentenced to death on Thursday by a war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of separation from Pakistan.

The sentence triggered rioting across the country, killing at least 46 people, including the two in the latest fighting, authorities said on Saturday.

Sayedee, 73, is the third defendant to be convicted by the tribunal, which was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.

Another seven top leaders of Jamaat, including its chief, Matiur Rahman Nizami, are on trial on war crimes charges.

Jamaat campaigned against Bangladesh's nine-month independence war and formed some auxiliary forces to help the Pakistani troops, but denies committing atrocities.

Bangladesh says the war left three million people dead, 200,000 women raped and forced millions to flee to neighbouring India.

On Saturday, security forces used tear gas to stop Jamaat supporters from smashing vehicles and blocking roads in Chittagong district, police said. The area is 216km southeast of Dhaka, the capital.

Two men were killed and about a dozen injured in the fighting, said a local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Dhaka's private television stations Ekattor TV and Somoy TV reported that Jamaat supporters erected road blocks and attacked homes of government supporters in parts of the country.

Jamaat is an ally of Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and was a partner in Zia's government from 2001 to 2006.

Zia says the war crimes trials are politically motivated to target the opposition, an allegation denied by the government.

Jamaat and Zia's party have called for a three-day nationwide general strike starting Sunday.

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Aust troops 'kill two Afghan children'

AUSTRALIAN soldiers in southern Afghanistan have shot dead two children tending cattle, officials say, in an incident likely to escalate tensions over the conduct of international troops.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO-led forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, often triggering widespread public anger and harsh criticism from President Hamid Karzai.

The two children, aged seven and eight, were killed on Thursday morning as Australian soldiers fought back after a Taliban attack in Oruzgan province, provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada told AFP on Saturday.

"The children were killed by Australian troops, it was a mistaken incident, not a deliberate one," Akhundzada said, adding that insurgents had first shot at a helicopter carrying Australian soldiers.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) expressed its "deep regret" over the children's deaths and said it remained committed to minimising civilian casualties.

"I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed," General Joseph Dunford, commander of ISAF, said in a statement.

"I am committed to ensuring we do the right thing for the families of those we harmed, as well as for the community in which they lived. We take full responsibility for this tragedy."

ISAF said the troops had opened fire at what they believed were insurgent forces. It added that a joint Afghan-ISAF team visited the district of Shahidi Hassas in Oruzgan on Saturday to investigate and meet with local leaders.

Last month, 10 Afghan civilians, including five children, were killed by a NATO airstrike in Kunar province.

Following the attack, Karzai barred Afghan forces from seeking air support from foreign troops in a bid to curb civilian casualties.

Karzai has regularly lashed out at senior ISAF leaders, demanding that civilian deaths must be avoided and saying the killings have worsened relations between his government and the international coalition.

Previous civilian deaths caused by ISAF forces, especially those involving children, have brought protesters onto the streets of Kabul chanting slogans against the presence of international troops in Afghanistan.

Security responsibility for Oruzgan, a restive province where Taliban insurgents have been holding sway, is being handed over to Afghan forces.

The bulk of Australia's 1550 troops are based in the province, and are focused on training and mentoring Afghan soldiers ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops by the end of next year.

Comment was being sought from Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

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