SpaceX capsule arrives at space station

A PRIVATELY owned Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, delivering a tonne of supplies with high-flying finesse after a shaky start to the mission.

The Dragon's arrival was one day late but especially sweet - and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the station astronauts who snared the capsule.

SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch on Friday from Cape Canaveral. A clogged pressure line or stuck valve prevented thrusters from working, and it took flight controllers several hours to gain control and salvage the mission.

In the end, the Dragon approached the orbiting lab with its load about as smoothly as could be expected, with all of its thrusters, or little manoeuvring rockets, operating perfectly. The capture occurred as the two spacecraft zoomed 400km above Ukraine.

"As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts," space station commander Kevin Ford said, "and you guys really finished this one on the mark."

Among the items on board: 640 seeds of a flowering weed used for research, mouse stem cells, food and clothes for the six men on board the space station, garbage bags, computer equipment, air purifiers, spacewalking tools and batteries. The company also tucked away apples and other fresh treats from an employee's family orchard.

The Dragon will remain at the space station for most of March before returning to Earth with science samples, empty food containers and old equipment.

SpaceX - Space Exploration Technologies Corp - has a $US1.6 billion ($A1.58 billion) contract with NASA to keep the station well stocked.

Musk, who helped create PayPal, acknowledged the problem was "frightening", but believed it was a one-time glitch.

The 41-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs the electric car maker Tesla, oversaw the entire operation from Hawthorne, California, home to SpaceX and the company's Mission Control.

The Dragon's splashdown in the Pacific remains on schedule for March 25.

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Hundreds die in Syria police academy fight

HUNDREDS of Syrian troops and rebels have been killed in a week-long battle for a police academy in the northern province of Aleppo, with insurgents seizing control of most of the complex, a monitoring group says.

"Rebels have seized most of a police academy in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province ... after eight days of fighting that left 200 troops and rebels dead," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based group said at least 120 army troops were among those killed in the battle for one of the regime's last remaining bastions in the west of Aleppo province. On Sunday alone, rebels killed more than 34 troops at the facility.

A police source in Aleppo confirmed that much of the academy had fallen into rebel hands, reporting that 40 security forces were believed dead. As many as 300 rebels were among those killed, he said.

Elsewhere, two mortars hit an area near Umayyad square in the heart of Damascus, close to a duty-free zone and customs offices, Syrian state media said, reporting only material damage.

The affected area is home to the state television building, the Assad Library and the army general command headquarters.

The Observatory reported that three mortar rounds smashed into the area, which was hit last year by a car bombing claimed by the jihadist Al-Nusra Front. On February 21, two mortar rounds hit the same area.

Also on Sunday, rebels in the southern province of Daraa seized an artillery battalion in Jamla village near the armistice line with Israel, according to the Observatory.

Eight rebel fighters were killed in the battle, the group said, adding the insurgents summarily executed the commander of the captured battalion.

In an unprecedented escalation of violence in the coastal province of Latakia, a regime stronghold, at least 15 rebel fighters were killed in a battle against troops, the Observatory said.

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Large anti-corruption protests in Bulgaria

TENS of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied across the country, in the latest sign that the government's resignation last month has failed to calm public anger about poverty and corruption.

In the capital Sofia metal fences and a heavy police presence prevented protesters from reaching an official flag-raising ceremony for national liberation day commemorating the end of Ottoman occupation in 1878.

But about 7000 demonstrators, according to AFP estimates, blocked traffic on several key boulevards for hours on Sunday, waving white-green-and-red Bulgarian flags and shouting "Mafia!"

Local media said more than 20,000 gathered in the Black Sea city of Varna, where the initial protests against high electricity bills started last month, calling for the resignation of mayor Kiril Yordanov.

Smaller protests were held in about a dozen other cities, gathering between several hundred and several thousand people, reports said.

In Sofia, protesters carried slogans that read "Anarchy against organised crime and the monopolies!", "The mobsters in jail!" and "People against the mafia".

Lawyer Ivan Hristov, who raised a "Power to the people" slogan as the rally passed by the parliament buildings, told AFP that protesters wanted more say in how the country was run.

"We will rally outside parliament on Wednesday to demand changes to the elections code to give civil groups the same rights as those enjoyed by political parties," he said.

Bulgaria has been rocked for three weeks by sometimes violent demonstrations over high electricity prices, deepening poverty, cronyism and corruption in the European Union's poorest member state.

The rallies forced the surprise resignation on February 20 of tough-guy Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government five months before his term was due to expire, clearing the way for early elections on May 12.

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Gillard ramps up western Sydney stay

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard continues her five-day swing through western Sydney after a rousing reception by the Labor party faithful in Parramatta.

Ms Gillard is expected to make a number of announcements that may benefit the region in her five-day western stopover and will open the week with live breakfast TV appearances from Rooty Hill RSL club on Monday.

She received standing ovations from around 1000 people at the University of Western Sydney on Sunday as she outlined her Labor vision and promised that the people of the west would not be left behind in the delivery of government programs.

Earlier in the day she announced a national anti-gang task force to boost cooperation between federal and state police in targeting gang-related gun violence and drug trafficking.

Her stay is widely seen as a bid to shore up Labor support in the area when opinion polls signal a hammering for the party in Sydney's western suburbs at the next election.

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Britain blasts 'delusional' Assad

BRITISH Foreign Secretary William Hague says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is "delusional" for failing to see the bloodshed in his country is at his own hands.

Hague says he will announce this week more assistance to the Syrian opposition in the form of non-lethal equipment and refuses to rule out the possibility of arming them in the future.

Britain has been pushing to lift a ban on the sale of arms to Syria's rebels, but at a meeting last month European Union foreign ministers ruled that only "non-lethal" aid and "technical assistance" could be given to the opposition.

In an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times, Assad accused London of wanting to arm terrorists in Syria.

"How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists and don't try to ease the dialogue between the Syrians?" Assad said in a rare interview with Western media.

"This is a man presiding over this slaughter," Hague told BBC television of Assad.

"We, Britain, are the people sending food and shelter and blankets to help people driven from their homes and families in his name.

"We are the people sending medical supplies to try to look after people injured and abused by the soldiers working for this man.

"Assad thinks and is told by his inner circle that all of this is an international conspiracy, not the actual rebellion and revolt of his own people.

"This will go down as one of the most delusional interviews that any national leader has given in modern times."

In the interview, Assad dismissed the suggestion that Britain could play a constructive role in resolving the conflict, saying: "We don't expect an arsonist to be a firefighter."

Hague said he would be announcing in parliament this week details of more equipment assistance given directly to the Syrian opposition and warned that Britain could not simply "sit it out" in the conflict.

"The longer this goes on, the greater the danger that extremism takes hold, the greater the danger of destabilising neighbouring countries ... and the greater the extreme humanitarian distress involved so we cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch.

"The situation in Syria now is too dangerous to the peace and security of that entire region and thereby of the world to ignore it."

Asked about arming the opposition, Hague said: "I don't think we can rule that out for the future."

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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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