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Russian police on Saturday arrested hundreds of protesters who took to the streets in temperatures as low as -50C to demand the release of Alexei Navalny, the country's top opposition figure.

Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin's most prominent and durable foe, was arrested on January 17 when he returned to Moscow from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a severe nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.

READ MORE: Russian minister says Navalny poisoning reports 'funny to read'

Authorities say his stay in Germany violated terms of a suspended sentence in a criminal conviction in a case that Navalny says was illegitimate. He is to appear in court in early February to determine if he will serve the 3 1/2-year sentence in prison.

More than 350 people were detained in protests in the Far East and Siberia, according to the arrests-monitoring group OVD-Info, and large demonstrations were expected in the afternoon in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities in the European section of the country.

Several thousand people turned out for a protest in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, and demonstrations took place in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, the island city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and the country's third-largest city of Novosibirsk, among other locations.

Thirteen people were reported arrested at the protest in Yakutsk, a city in eastern Siberia where the temperature was -50C.

In Moscow, thousands of people were converging on the downtown Pushkin Square as the protest's planned start neared. A police public-address system repeatedly blared messages telling people not to gather closely because of pandemic health concerns and warning that the protest was unlawful.

Helmeted riot officers sporadically grabbed participants and pushed them into police buses.

Moscow police on Thursday arrested three top Navalny associates, two of whom were later jailed for periods of nine and 10 days.

Navalny fell into a coma while aboard a domestic flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20. He was transferred from a hospital in Siberia to a Berlin hospital two days later.

Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.

Russian authorities insisted that the doctors who treated Navalny in Siberia before he was airlifted to Germany found no traces of poison and have challenged German officials to provide proof of his poisoning. Russia refused to open a full-fledged criminal inquiry, citing a lack of evidence that Navalny was poisoned.

Last month, Navalny released the recording of a phone call he said he made to a man he described as an alleged member of a group of officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, who purportedly poisoned him in August and then tried to cover it up. The FSB dismissed the recording as fake.

Navalny has been a thorn in the Kremlin's side for a decade, unusually durable in an opposition movement often demoralised by repressions.

He has been jailed repeatedly in connection with protests and twice was convicted of financial misdeeds in cases that he said were politically motivated.

He suffered significant eye damage when an assailant threw disinfectant into his face and was taken from jail to a hospital in 2019 with an illness that authorities said was an allergic reaction but that many suspected was poisoning.

A Federal MP who posted about "petrol sniffing" has denied his remarks were racist, as the annual debate around Australia Day continues to simmer.

Andrew Laming, who represents the seat of Bowman in Queensland for the LNP, stoked the fire when he posted a link to an article about Cricket Australia's decision to drop all Australia Day references for Big Bash games played on January 26.

Players will instead wear uniforms inspired by Indigenous art and culture.

READ MORE: Morrison responds to controversial Australia Day comments

"Deny it's Australia Day. That'll help petrol sniffing and school attendance in remote Australia," Mr Laming wrote on his Facebook page.

Aboriginal community spokesperson Jungagi Brady called the comments "vexing" and "reprehensible".

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles also spoke out.

"These racist comments are grubby and disgusting, and below the standards that we should expect of elected officials in our country," he said.

Mr Laming told 9News that he did not believe his comments were racist.

"What this is about is addressing the true gaps that we're trying to close and recognising that maybe debating a public holiday isn't getting us any closer," he said.

The post, and Mr Laming's ministerial account, had both disappeared from Facebook multiple times today.

READ MORE: Margaret Court not fazed by Australia Day honours backlash

Mr Laming said he had switched it off because he "had to go fishing" but was now back and happy to answer any questions.

Queensland Labor has called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to censure his LNP colleague, but Mr Morrison is yet to address the issue.

The Indigenous community is standing firm and not letting Mr Laming's comments distract them from the cause.

"That's not going to stop me from marching," Mr Brady said.

"If anything, it's an incentive, it empowers."

A new benchmark in energy-efficient housing is coming to Queensland with a state government project underway.

Two suburban communities will be entirely solar and battery-powered, creating a model for more environmentally sustainable developments right across the state.

"This is all about delivering affordable housing, delivering jobs, and leading the way in what renewable communities can look like," Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

READ MORE: Asteroid belt 'mega-satellite' could house humans in space

In the Brisbane suburbs of Carseldine and Oxley, the specially-designed communities will be 100 per cent solar and battery-powered, using either a Tesla wall or an AlphaESS battery.

This would mean no electricity bills for residents.

"Everyone who buys one of these properties or lives in one of these properties will benefit from between $1600 and $2000 a year in savings, each year on their energy bills," Mr Miles said.

Owners will even be able to sell excess energy to the grid.

READ MORE: China switches on nuclear-powered 'artificial sun'

Providers believe this could be the future of new homes in Australia.

Market interest in the homes has been strong, with the first stage of both projects almost sold out.

Agents say they've been especially popular with Generation Y investors.

Construction is expected to start on stage one at Carseldine in the next few months.

A 58-year-old man will undergo surgery after being attacked by a shark at Lake Macquarie.

NSW Ambulance were called to the scene at Yoorala Road just before 6.30pm.

The victim had suffered severe lacerations to his left arm and was flown to John Hunter Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

READ MORE: Husband, father killed by shark off SA coast

The man had been swimming with a 56-year-old woman, who helped pull him to shore.

He benefited from first aid administered by bystanders, which NSW Ambulance Inspector Grahame Rathbone called "potentially lifesaving".

"Bystanders did a great job applying a makeshift tourniquet before paramedic crews arrived," he said.

The man was "conscious and alert" during treatment, Inspector Rathbone said.