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Supporters of Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro have invaded the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court in Brasilia, in a grim echo of the US Capitol invasion almost exactly two years ago by fans of former President Donald Trump.

The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green clad protesters wreaking havoc in the capital capped months of tension following the most fraught election for a generation.

Bolsonaro, who lost the October 30 vote to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, peddled the false claim that Brazil's electronic voting system was prone to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers.

The invasion poses an immediate problem for Lula, who was only inaugurated on January 1 and has pledged to unite a nation torn by Bolsonaro's nationalist populism.

Television images showed protesters breaking into the Supreme Court and Congress, smashing furniture. Local media estimated about 3000 people were involved.

Lula was far from the capital, on an official trip to Sao Paulo state. Bolsonaro, who has barely spoken in public since losing the election, left Brazil for Florida 48 hours before the end of his mandate and was absent from Lula's inauguration.

The violent scenes in Brasilia could amplify the legal risks to Bolsonaro, who has so far not commented on the invasions.

The Supreme Court was ransacked by the occupiers, according to social media images that showed protesters shattering the windows of the modernist building.

A policeman on horseback was surrounded by shouting demonstrators armed with sticks who knocked him off his mount.

Lula's Workers Party asked the office of the nation's top public prosecutor to order public security forces to act in containing the demonstrators.

Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha told Reuters that all security forces had been deployed to confront the rioters.

Many of the protesters who have camped out in Brasilia dispute the result of the election.

On Saturday, with rumours of a confrontation brewing, Justice Minister Flavio Dino authorised the deployment of the National Public Security Force. On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter, "this absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail."

Latin American leaders were quick to condemn the scenes.

"All my solidarity with Lula and the people of Brazil," Colombian President Gustavo Petro tweeted. "Fascism decides to conduct a coup."

Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Lula's government has his full support "in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy."

In Washington in 2021, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and stormed the Capitol in a failed effort to prevent congressional certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

Trump, who has announced a third bid for the presidency, in 2024, had pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, not to certify the vote, and he continues to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud.

© RAW 2023

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The federal opposition has claimed the repatriation of the so-called ISIS brides has turned a western Sydney issue into a nationwide problem after one was granted bail in a NSW regional court.

At the same time the former NSW counter-terrorism minister has said he was receiving different advice on the safety of repatriating the women and their children prior to the Albanese government taking office.

Mariam Raad, 31, was granted bail by a NSW regional court on Friday after being charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under Islamic State control.

She was arrested on Thursday in Young, in the state's southwest, where she had been living since being returned in October.

Australian Federal Police and NSW Police investigators from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team executed warrants at her home and a home in Parklea, in Sydney's northwest, where a relative lives.

Raad was one of four women and 13 children repatriated from the Syrian camp to Sydney in October last year.

All the women were married to IS fighters who are now dead or in jail.

Raad was charged with entering, or remaining in, "declared areas" - in this case Syria, which was under the control of the terrorist group IS - in breach of federal law.

She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

Raad faced a Griffith magistrate via an audio-visual link on Friday after being held in custody in Wagga.

She was granted bail and was forced to surrender her passport.

Among 12 bail conditions, she was banned from contacting anyone in prison or associated with a terrorist group, barred from viewing or distributing material on things including terrorism and related propaganda, and cannot attempt to acquire a firearm.

She's due to appear at Young Local Court on March 15.

David Elliott, the former NSW police minister, said he had received "completely opposite" advice on Raad, with authorities telling him she was a security threat.

Mr Elliott was the state's police minister from mid-2019 to late-2021.

"Somehow magically, when Anthony Albanese became prime minister, these ISIS brides stopped being a security threat," Mr Elliott said on Friday.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there was no threat to the community but authorities would continue to monitor the returned women.

"There's obviously a process to go through now, which involves the AFP and others," Dr Chalmers told the ABC on Friday.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said what was once a "western Sydney issue" was now a "whole-of-Australia problem".

"We don't know where these people have been resettled. We don't know which communities have been put at risk. We don't know where they are moving in and out of," Ms Ley said.

It will be alleged in court that Raad travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband - Muhammad Zahab - who left Australia in 2013 and joined IS.

It will be further alleged Raad was aware of her husband's activities with IS and willingly travelled to the conflict region.

The husband, a former Sydney maths teacher who rose through the ranks of the terror outfit, is believed to have died in Syria in 2018.

The woman was until last year living in the Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Syria, which has been under Kurdish control since the defeat of IS.

The investigation into Raad began when she was in Syria and continued after she returned.

The federal police commander tasked with monitoring terror risks said the joint counter-terrorism team would continue to investigate Australians returning from declared conflict areas.

"Individuals will be brought before the courts when evidence supports allegations that returned individuals have committed offences in conflict areas," Acting Assistant Commissioner Sandra Booth said on Thursday.

The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team comprises members of the AFP, NSW Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission.

Margaret Roles, the mayor of Hilltops Council, which oversees Young, said it wasn't known that Raad was in the community and declined to comment further as the matter was before the courts.

"We've been a diverse but inclusive community for a long time," Cr Roles told AAP on Friday.

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A NSW woman who was repatriated to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp is due to face court after being charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under the control of Islamic State.

Mariam Raad, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Young, in the state's southwest, where she had been living since being returned in October.

Australian Federal Police and NSW Police investigators from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team executed warrants at her home and a home in Parklea, in Sydney's northwest, where a relative lives.

She was charged with entering, or remaining in, "declared areas" - in this case Syria, which was under the control of the terrorist group IS - in breach of federal law.

She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

It's understood Raad is in custody in Wagga Wagga. She is due to appear before Griffith Local Court via an audio-visual link on Friday.

Margaret Roles, the mayor of Hilltops Council, which oversees Young, said it wasn't known that Raad was in the community and declined to comment further as the matter is before the courts.

"We've been a diverse but inclusive community for a long time," Cr Roles told AAP on Friday.

It will be alleged in court that Raad travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband - Muhammad Zahab - who left Australia in 2013 and joined IS.

It will be further alleged Raad was aware of her husband's activities with IS and willingly travelled to the conflict region.

The husband, a former Sydney maths teacher who rose through the ranks of the terror outfit, is believed to have died in Syria in 2018.

The woman was until last year living in the Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Syria, which has been under Kurdish control since the defeat of IS.

The investigation into the woman began when she was in Syria and continued after she returned.

The federal police commander tasked with monitoring terror risks said the joint counter-terrorism team would continue to investigate Australians returning from declared conflict areas.

"Individuals will be brought before the courts when evidence supports allegations that returned individuals have committed offences in conflict areas," Acting Assistant Commissioner Sandra Booth said on Thursday.

Raad was one of four women and 13 children repatriated from the Syrian camp to Sydney in October last year.

All of the women were married to IS fighters who are now dead or in jail.

The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team comprises members of the AFP, NSW Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission.

© AAP 2023

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Ukraine has dismissed as a trick a unilateral order by Russia for a 36-hour ceasefire, as US and German leaders say they are sending armoured fighting vehicles in a boost for the Kyiv government.

The US weapons package, to be announced on Friday, is expected to include about 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles as part of security assistance totalling about $US2.8 billion ($A4.1 billion), US officials say.

"Right now the war in Ukraine is at a critical point," US President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday. "We have to do everything we can to help the Ukrainians resist Russian aggression."

Germany would provide Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles, according to a joint statement on Thursday from Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Both countries agreed to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to use them, it said. Germany would also supply a Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine, which has scored some battlefield successes since Russian forces invaded last February but has asked allies for heavier weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected out of hand a Russian order for a truce over Russian Orthodox Christmas starting at noon on Friday and ending at midnight on Saturday. He said it was a trick to halt the progress of Ukraine's forces in the eastern Donbas region and bring in more of Moscow's forces.

"They now want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunitions and mobilised troops closer to our positions," Zelenskiy said in his Thursday night video address.

"What will that give them? Only yet another increase in their total losses."

Biden suggested Putin's ceasefire offer was a sign of desperation. "I think he's trying to find some oxygen," he told reporters at the White House.

Russia's ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, responded on Facebook saying: "Washington is set on fighting with us 'to the last Ukrainian'."

On the decision to send armoured vehicles, he urged Washington to consider the "possible consequences of such a dangerous course".

Russia's Orthodox Church observes Christmas on January 7. Ukraine's main Orthodox Church has been recognised as independent by the church hierarchy since 2019 and rejects any notion of allegiance to the Moscow patriarch. Many Ukrainian believers have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on December 25 as in the West.

Zelenskiy, pointedly speaking in Russian and not Ukrainian, said that ending the war meant "ending your country's aggression ... And the war will end either when your soldiers leave or we throw them out."

Dmitry Polyansky, head of Russia's permanent mission to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter that Ukraine's reaction was "one more reminder with whom we are fighting in Ukraine - ruthless nationalist criminals who ... have no respect for sacred things".

In a phone call with Zelenskiy on Thursday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his government was ready to take on mediation and moderation duties to secure a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Putin told Erdogan separately on Thursday that Russia was open to dialogue over Ukraine but that Kyiv would have to accept the loss of territories claimed by Russia, the Kremlin said.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, at an event in Lisbon, said he believed the warring sides were "far from a moment in which a serious peace negotiation is possible".

The war, described by Putin as a "special military operation" to protect his country's security, has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians and left Ukrainian cities, towns and villages in ruins.

© AP 2023