Khodorkovsky starts life as a free man

Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky has arrived in Germany after being freed from a Russian prison. Source: AAP

RUSSIA'S most famous prisoner, Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has begun life as a free man in Germany after his surprise pardon by President Vladimir Putin.

Khodorkovsky has been reunited with his son in Berlin, a spokeswoman for the former tycoon said on Saturday.

"The eldest son of Mikhail Borisovich, Pavel, has already seen his dad," a spokeswoman for Khodorkovsky, Olga Pispanen, said on Russian radio Echo of Moscow.

"They are now together in Berlin."

Khodorkovsky's parents, Marina and Boris, were also preparing to fly out to Germany to "finally see and hug him," the spokeswoman added.

Released on Friday after 10 years behind bars, Khodorkovsky is "feeling well" and will give a news conference on Sunday, she said, with the date and place to be confirmed later.

Khodorkovsky's 79-year-old mother, who has cancer, said she was taking sedatives to help her cope with the strong emotions sparked by his release.

"We survived grief but it is also apparently hard to survive joy," Marina Khodorkovskaya said in an interview broadcast on Russian state television on Saturday.

Putin stunned Russia on Thursday by revealing that Khodorkovsky had turned to him for pardon on humanitarian grounds, citing his mother's health.

In a head-spinning succession of events, less than 24 hours later Khodorkovsky was granted pardon, walked out of prison and flew to Germany in a secret operation worked out behind the scenes with Berlin.

Prison officials said Khodorkovsky had requested to fly to Germany, where his mother has undergone treatment before.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Khodorkovsky was not forced into exile and was free to return to Russia.

Former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who helped negotiate his release, arranged the flight for him on a private jet and picked him up at the airport in Berlin.

From the airport, Khodorkovsky was reportedly taken to Berlin's luxury Adlon Hotel near the Brandenburg Gate from which Genscher was seen leaving on Friday evening.

About 20 cameramen and photographers as well as two TV vans were waiting for a possible glimpse of the former tycoon outside the landmark hotel in sub-zero temperatures on Saturday morning, according to reports.

Khodorkovsky is expected to give a press conference in Berlin on Sunday, when he will outline his future plans.

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Attacks across Iraq leave 15 people dead

A STRING of attacks across Iraq has killed 15 people, including a senior military commander, a colonel and five soldiers who all died during a raid on an al-Qaeda hideout, officials said.

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US military aircraft hit in South Sudan

TWO US military aircraft responding to the outbreak of violence in South Sudan have been hit by incoming fire, wounding three US service members.

Two officials said the aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation's worst violence over the last week.

One of the wounded service members was reported to be in a critical condition.

Officials said after the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda.

From there, the service members flew on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment.

Both officials demanded anonymity to share information not yet made public. Both officials work in East Africa and are in a position to know the information.

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Saudi Arabia reports death from new virus

SAUDI Arabia says one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 56 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the centre of the outbreak.

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Tibetan campaigner arrives in Dharmsala

A 42-YEAR-OLD Tibetan has arrived at the headquarters of the government-in-exile in India after cycling through Europe and Asia in a campaign protesting China's heavy-handed rule in the Himalayan region.

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Haiyan rebuilding to take five years

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has soared past 5600 and continues to rise. Source: AAP

REBUILDING areas devastated by a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines will take up to five years and cost more than two billion dollars, officials said.

The comments came as the death toll from Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the country, continued to rise.

On Saturday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 5,632 people had been confirmed dead while 1,759 were still missing following the category five storm earlier this month.

"The total rehabilitation will take three to five years, depending on the pace of our support system and the projects we implement," Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the NDRRMC, said.

He told reporters that President Benigno Aquino did not want to merely repair the damage but wants the new structures to be better than those that were standing before the storm.

"Our president wants the rehabilitation to be 'build-back better communities," so they can withstand future storms," del Rosario said.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said: "We are looking at over a hundred billion pesos ($A2.42 billion) of reconstruction, from livelihood, commerce, social services," as well as infrastructure and power facilities.

That figure does not include the huge amounts already spent on immediate relief for the millions of people who were injured or left without food, water or shelter.

About 15 to 20 billion pesos will go to providing shelter with some 60,000 to 80,000 families to be re-settled in two to three years, said Singson.

This will include the people whose homes were destroyed by the storm as well as those who will have to move out of a recently-declared 40-metre "no-build zone" from the coastline, Singson added.

The zone is intended to prevent a repetition of the large number of deaths that occurred after Haiyan brought massive storm surges that flattened seaside communities.

A spokeswoman for the local UN office, Orla Fagan, told a news conference on Friday that donors had forked out $US164 million ($A180.41 million) so far.

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No Aussies caught in helicopter pub crash

IT appears that no Australians were in a Glasgow pub when a police helicopter crashed into the roof on Friday night killing at least one person.

There were more than 100 revellers in the Clutha pub when the incident occurred and the death toll is expected to rise.

Thirty-two people had been taken by ambulance to three Glasgow hospitals. Rescuers are still searching through the ruins of the pub.

"We are not aware of any Australians involved," a spokeswoman for the Australian High Commission in London said on Saturday morning.

"We remain in contact with the Scottish authorities."

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called it a "black day" for Scotland as he sent his condolences to the bereaved on Saturday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said UK authorities had not advised it of any Australians affected "at this stage".

"The rescue operation is still underway," a spokeswoman told AAP in a statement.

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New test may help with Bladder cancer

A SIMPLE urine test may be able to distinguish between aggressive and low-grade bladder cancers, allowing doctors to tailor personalised treatments, say scientists.

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Plane crash in Alaska, four dead

A PLANE crash near the remote western Alaska village of Saint Marys has killed four of the 10 people aboard, including a baby boy, an Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman said.

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French tax protests rumble on

THOUSANDS of trucks blocked highways and roads across France in ongoing protests over an environmental tax that continue to smoulder, despite the government putting the levy on ice.

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Militants attack polio team in Pakistan

• From: AAP
• December 01, 2013 12:55AM

MILITANTS have attacked police protecting an anti-polio team in Pakistan's troubled northwest, killing one policeman and injuring another.

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Two-time shark victim feels he was spared

An abalone diver who survived two separate shark attacks nine years apart feels God saved his life. Source: AAP

THE abalone diver who incredibly survived a second shark attack has revealed he did not see the great white that tried to bite his head off - but instead recognised the sound of teeth on bone.

Greg Pickering, 55, was diving for abalone off a remote part of Western Australia's southern coast last month when he was attacked by a suspected great white shark.

It was the second time Mr Pickering had lived through a shark attack, after being bitten by a 1.5 metre bronze whaler while in waters near Cervantes, north of Perth, in 2004 as he was trying to help a friend.

Speaking about his ordeal for the first time, Mr Pickering told the Seven Network's Sunday Night program about the circumstances of the attack, which left him needing 10 hours of surgery on facial and other wounds.

"I heard the sound, the thrashing sound, of teeth on bone - and I remembered the sound from the last time I was bitten," Mr Pickering said.

"I thought 'that is probably a shark', but I didn't see it - I heard the attack."

The show claims Mr Pickering is now the only man in the world to be attacked by sharks in separate incidents and live to tell the tale.

And the interview will also detail how Mr Pickering used his 40-year diving experience to hold his breath and rise to the surface slowly after the attack, despite the water turning red around him from the blood pouring from his horrific injuries.

A roll of duct tape and a towel was then used to hold Mr Pickering's shredded face together, as his eight-hour journey to hospital began.

Mr Pickering told reporter Mark Ferguson how he felt he had been spared his life.

"It (the shark) suddenly stopped and let me go - so I have definitely been given another chance," Mr Pickering said.

"I do believe I have been given a second chance. God has given me a second chance there is no doubt about that."

Soon after the attack, Mr Pickering's family expressed their thanks to paramedics, surgeons, doctors and nurses who helped save his life, while Fisheries Department director-general Stuart Smith slapped a kill order on the shark.

But the order was then called off because the shark was not sighted again and was no longer considered a threat to school-holiday campers in the area.

Mr Pickering returned to the area where he was attacked, Poison Creek at Cape Arid National Park, about 180km east of Esperance, to tell his story.

*The interview with Mr Pickering will air on the Seven Network's Sunday Night at 6.30pm AEDT on Sunday November 17

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Aust asylum patrol boats for Sri Lanka

Blues, Vics take crucial wins

VICTORIA and NSW take crucial Sheffield Shield wins while South Australia and Western Australia produce a record draw.

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Seven held over UK body-in-well

SEVEN people have been arrested by UK police on suspicion of murder after a body was found in a well.

Gardeners made the grim discovery at a private house on Friday afternoon.

The body is still in the well at the property in Audley Drive, Warlingham, Surrey, and the recovery operation is expected to take some time.

Scotland Yard has confirmed that seven men have been arrested.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said on Saturday: "It is a murder investigation. As far as I am concerned, when a body is found in a well it either fell in there or was placed in there, and the evidence is apparent that the body was placed in there."

Two gardeners found the body shortly before 2pm on Friday as they were doing clearing work at the large house, which stands on grounds in an affluent area.

Mr Lyons said: "The body presents a number of logistical challenges. The well is two feet (60cm) in diameter, it is seven feet deep to the water line, and the water is approximately four feet deep.

"We need a police marine diving team, with breathing apparatus, and we need to recover the body intact to preserve forensic evidence. The process of recovery is likely to take some time."

He declined to speculate on how long this might be, but it was not going to be quick.

"It is not possible to ascertain with accuracy the gender of the body but, judging by the size, it is most likely to be an adult, not a child. The person is white."

He told reporters at the scene: "It's not been there for an extended period of time, it will be a matter of weeks at the most."

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Severe storms can't dampen Schoolies

Blues, Vics take crucial wins

VICTORIA and NSW take crucial Sheffield Shield wins while South Australia and Western Australia produce a record draw.

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Hellish search continues in Philippines

JOHN Lajara peers under a slab of crumbled concrete, lifts a sodden white teddy bear then drops it back into the filth. But he's searching for something far more precious - the body of his brother, Winston.

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Don't expect a China baby boom: experts

Blues, Vics take crucial wins

VICTORIA and NSW take crucial Sheffield Shield wins while South Australia and Western Australia produce a record draw.

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ALP and Coaltion neck and neck: poll

THE coalition and the ALP led by new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd are neck and neck in the lead up to the federal election, a poll shows.

On a two-party preferred result, the Labor Party would receive 49 per cent of votes compared to the coalition's 51 per cent, according to the first national Galaxy poll since Rudd's return as prime minister.

The poll, published in Sunday's News Ltd newspapers, also shows most voters think Mr Rudd will be a better prime minister than Mr Abbott, scoring 51 per cent compared to Mr Abbott's 34 per cent.

Mr Rudd lifted Labor's primary vote by six points, to 38 per cent.

Voters backed the ALP's decision to replace Julia Gillard with Mr Rudd, with 57 per cent saying it was the right move.

The poll also revealed Bill Shorten won the support of the public for knifing two prime ministers, with most believing he made the right choices.

A total of 52 per cent of voters backed his decision to dump Ms Gillard, while 30 per cent believed Mr Shorten did the wrong thing.

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Rudd to promote more women to cabinet

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd intends to promote a record number of women into his cabinet, which will be sworn in on Monday.

Mr Rudd, who regained the leadership after toppling Australia's first woman prime minister Julia Gillard last week, will add three new women to the cabinet.

Overall, News Ltd reports, 11 women will be in the overall ministry up from nine now.

Victorians Jacinta Collins and Catherine King and Tasmanian Julie Collins will become cabinet ministers.

"These women will be first-class contributors to our cabinet decision making," he told News Ltd.

"They join Penny Wong, the first woman to be leader of the government in the Senate, Jenny Macklin and Tanya Plibersek, who have all demonstrated their strong credentials in the past."

Senator Collins is expected to become the minister for mental health, Ms King will take on the regional Australia portfolio while Ms Collins will hold the portfolio of housing, homeless and status of women.

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Obama meets family of ailing hero Mandela

US President Barack Obama has met the family of his "inspiration" Nelson Mandela, but was unable to visit the anti-apartheid legend who remains critically ill in hospital.

Despite tentative signs of an improvement in the condition of the father of multi-racial South Africa, Obama decided not to visit Mandela during his visit for fear of disturbing his "peace and comfort".

Instead, Obama met privately with some relatives of the revered leader including two daughters and several grandchildren and spoke by telephone with Mandela's wife Graca Machel.

"I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones, and also expressed my heartfelt support for the entire family as they work through this difficult time," Obama said, using Mandela's clan name.

Machel said she had "drawn strength from the support" offered by the Obama family.

"I am humbled by their comfort and messages of strength and inspiration which I have already conveyed to Madiba."

Speaking earlier in Pretoria, where 94-year-old Mandela lay fighting for his life in a nearby hospital, Obama praised the "moral courage" of South Africa's first black president.

"The struggle here against apartheid, for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, his country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation, has been a personal inspiration to me. It has been an inspiration to the world," Obama said after talks with President Jacob Zuma.

"The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit - the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country."

Obama said before arriving he did not need "a photo-op" with Mandela, whom he meet briefly in 2005, and the White House on Saturday ruled out a meeting between the two men.

"Out of deference to Nelson Mandela's peace and comfort and the family's wishes, they will not be visiting the hospital," the official said.

Obama's three-nation tour is aimed at changing perceptions that he has neglected Africa since his election in 2008, while also countering China's growing economic influence in the resource-rich continent.

But it has been overshadowed by the illness of his fellow Nobel peace laureate, who has been in intensive care for more than three weeks.

Zuma said Mandela remained in "critical but stable" condition, expressing hope that he would improve.

Welcoming the US president to South Africa on the second leg of his tour, he said Mandela and Obama were "bound by history" as the first black leaders of their respective nations.

"You both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa," Zuma said.

But the US leader was not greeted so warmly by all South Africans. Riot police fired stun grenades at anti-Obama protesters in the township of Soweto, once a flashpoint in the anti-apartheid struggle.

A visit by Obama on Sunday to Mandela's former jail cell on Robben Island, off Cape Town in particular is expected to be laden with symbolism.

Obama will then visit former Archbishop Desmond Tutu's youth foundation HIV centre before delivering the central speech of his African tour at the University of Cape Town.

Mandela has been hospitalised four times since December.

The man once branded a terrorist by the United States and Britain won South Africa's first fully democratic elections in 1994, forging a path of racial reconciliation during his single term as president, before taking up a new role as a roving elder statesman and leading AIDS campaigner.

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Qld man killed in gunpowder blast

Lion tamers take series to the wire

Iain Payten A BOLD captain's call and a nerveless conversion by a second-game "debutant" saw the Wallabies snatch a thrilling victory over the Lions in Melbourne.

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David Stratton reviews own fake Twitter account

ACCLAIMED Aussie film critic David Stratton was none too pleased at the news someone had set up a fake Twitter account in his name. He simply had to review it.

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Singapore goes pink to support gay rights

MORE than 20,000 people wearing pink clothing have gathered in Singapore for an annual rally in support of gay rights in the city-state, where an archaic law criminalises sex between men.

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Paris celebrates Gay Pride and marriage

TENS of thousands of people have thronged the streets of Paris to mark the city's Gay Pride, exactly one month to the day since France celebrated its first gay marriage.

To the sounds of techno music, the rainbow-decorated parade wound its way through the city centre on Saturday to end at the Place de la Bastille.

For participants, this year's Gay Pride - the first since President Francois Hollande signed a landmark gay marriage and adoption bill into law last month - was something special.

"This year it's different. I definitely had to be here, I had to overcome the fear," said Martine, a 63-year-old Parisian, referring to the numerous, and sometimes violent, anti-gay marriage protests that took place in the months leading up the bill's signing into law - and that are still continuing.

At a press conference ahead of the parade, Nicolas Gougain, spokesman for the Inter-LGBT association, called the reform "a very important step that should lead to others" such as improved rights for transsexuals and medically assisted procreation to enable gay couples to have children.

"This is the opportunity for us to show everyone who wanted us to disappear these last few months that we do exist," he said.

France's first gay marriage, between two men, took place in the southern city of Montpellier on May 29. Dozens more have since been celebrated around the country.

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Legislative changes for WA renters, miners

RENTAL home tenants, landlords and property managers in Western Australia have new rights and obligations after an overhaul of the Residential Tenancies Act, which is about to come into effect.

The state government said the changes, which come into force on Monday and apply to both privately and real estate agent-managed properties, were aimed at making current "best practice" in the industry the law.

They include mandating property condition reports at the beginning and end of a tenancy, the use of a prescribed standard tenancy agreement that all parties can understand, and depositing all tenant bonds with the state government's Bond Administrator.

"This will lead to greater transparency for tenants as to the handling of their bond monies," the WA government said.

Other major changes relate to the provision of locks, pet bonds and capping of option fees.

Another legislative change that takes effect on July 1 is the Mining Rehabilitation Fund Act 2012, which establishes a pooled fund, levied according to the environmental disturbance on a tenement on a prescribed date each year.

Currently, tenement holders must provide bonds as security to ensure that they fulfil their environmental obligations, but this does not cover the true cost of rehabilitating abandoned mines.

The state government took the view that increasing bonds to fully cover these costs would place a significant financial burden on the mining industry, tying up cash that could be used for developing a project.

Tenements with a rehabilitation liability estimate below $50,000 will report disturbance data but will not be required to make a payment to the fund, which will initially be on a voluntary opt-in basis but will be compulsory from July 1 next year.

"This provides companies with an early opportunity to have their bonds retired where approved by the Department of Mines and Petroleum against specific criteria, and allows other companies more time to establish administrative systems," the state government said.

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$100m Vic budget boost for Frankston line

TRAIN services are set to be more reliable on one of Melbourne's busiest rail services under a $100 million boost that will be part of this week's state budget, the government says.

Premier Denis Napthine will on Sunday announce a cash injection for the south-eastern Frankston line, which carries about 60,000 people every weekday.

The money will pay for track, signalling and power upgrades, which will in turn improve service reliability, he says.

"This $100 million will mean the Frankston line will also be able to accommodate the X'Trapolis trains, giving passengers the fastest, most reliable and most comfortable commute to and from the city," Dr Napthine said.

Poor service on the Frankston line was a key issue in the 2010 election, with a swathe of seats along the line, including Bentleigh, Mordialloc and Carrum, switching from Labor to the coalition.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder said one in three trains on the Frankston line ran late under Labor as at June 2010.

Over the past year, punctuality had jumped to 91 per cent, he said.

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Pakistan officials visit hurt prisoner

PAKISTANI embassy officials have visited a hospital in north India where a Pakistani prisoner is in critical condition in the intensive care unit after being attacked by an Indian inmate.

Convicted murderer Sanaullah Ranjay suffered multiple head injuries in a prison in Jammu in an apparent tit-for-tat attack after an Indian prisoner, Sarabjit Singh, was fatally assaulted in Pakistan.

On Friday, Ranjay was airlifted to a government hospital in the city of Chandigarh, 250km north of New Delhi.

A spokeswoman for the government hospital said Ranjay was in the intensive care unit and on a ventilator as his condition "continues to remain critical".

The Pakistani High Commission (embassy) officials "came to the hospital and we have given them Ranjay's medical update", added Manju Wadwalkar, the spokeswoman of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Hospital.

Ranjay, who hails from the city of Sialkot in Pakistan, was attacked by a prisoner who was identified as a former Indian army soldier nearly 24 hours after Singh's death in Lahore.

Singh died on Thursday in Pakistan and was cremated with state honours on Friday in his native village in northwestern India where hundreds of protesters shouted "Down with Pakistan!" as they gathered to pay their tributes.

Singh had been on death row after being convicted by a Pakistani court 16 years earlier for espionage and for his alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan that killed 14 people in 1990.

His family insisted he was a farmer who became a victim of mistaken identity after inadvertently straying across the border while drunk. India's government also denied he was a spy.

The prison violence could aggravate tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, whose relations were hit by a border flare-up earlier this year that undermined efforts to build trust.

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Orthodox Christians mark 'Holy Fire' rite

THRONGS of Orthodox Christians have filled Jerusalem's ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre and surrounding streets for the "Holy Fire" ceremony on the eve of Orthodox Easter.

Believers hold that a divine fire from heaven ignites candles held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch, in an annual rite dating back to the 4th century AD symbolising the resurrection of Christ.

Israeli police deployed in large numbers to secure an estimated 10,000 faithful packed into the church, with a similar number in the streets around the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

The event, the highlight of the Eastern Christian calendar, was attended by pilgrims from around the world - predominantly Eastern Europe - as well as Arab Israelis, all carrying unlit candles.

Greek Patriarch Theophilos III made his traditional grand entry on Saturday at the head of a procession of monks, chanters and dignitaries with red and gold banners bearing icons.

After circling the shrine in the heart of the church three times, he entered along with the Armenian Patriarch what Orthodox, Roman Catholics and many other Christians believe is Jesus's burial site, emerging minutes later with a lit candle.

The holy flame was swiftly passed from candle to candle between ecstatic believers, most of whom had waited for several hours for the ceremony which filled the air with light and smoke.

While the Church of the Sepulchre is one of Christianity's holiest sites, it is shared uneasily by six denominations - the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Copts, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.

Roman Catholics in Jerusalem and Bethlehem celebrated Easter on March 31, according to the Gregorian calendar.

But this year other Catholics in the Holy Land, including those from Nazareth, decided for the first time to mark Easter this Sunday under the Orthodox calendar, in an act of ecumenical unity.

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At least 62 bodies found: Syria watchdog

THE bodies of at least 62 murdered residents have been found in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

"The bodies of dozens of citizens killed on Friday during an assault by the army and Alawite members of the National Defence Forces in the Sunni neighbourhood of Banias were discovered on Saturday," the Observatory said.

"We have identified 62 citizens by their names, photos, or videos, including 14 children, and the number could rise because there are dozens of citizens who are still missing."

The mass killing is the second "massacre" to be reported in the Banias area this week.

On Thursday, the Observatory said at least 50 people had been killed in the Sunni village of Bayda, south of the coastal city of Banias.

"Witnesses from the village say no less than 50 civilians were killed, including women and children," the group said.

"Some were summarily executed, shot to death, stabbed or set on fire."

After the deaths, which were reported on Friday, regime forces began shelling several Sunni neighbourhoods of Banias, prompting residents to flee the area early on Saturday.

"Hundreds of families are fleeing Sunni neighbourhoods in Banias in fear of a new massacre," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"They started fleeing at dawn this morning (Saturday) from Sunni neighbourhoods in the south of the city towards Tartus and Jableh," he added.

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Two dead in Belgian train accident

TWO people died and 14 were injured when a train carrying chemicals derailed in Belgium, causing a major fire near the city of Ghent.

Jan Briers, governor of eastern Flanders, gave the death toll to the Belga news agency after the accident and blaze prompted authorities to evacuate nearly 300 people from their homes.

The accident happened around 2am (1000 AEST) on Saturday between the towns of Schellebelle and Wetteren, said Infrabel, the group responsible for the Belgian railway network.

Six of the train's 13 cars derailed and two were on their side.

The blaze led to a series of explosions in the railway cars, then a spectacular strip of fire spread over hundreds of metres prompting authorities to evacuate residents living near the site of the accident.

Firemen decided to let the cars burn out as water could have released toxic chemicals.

The blaze was under control by late morning but residents were told to keep their doors and windows closed.

The causes of the accident remains unclear. The cars derailed as the train changed tracks and observers say it might have been travelling too fast.

The train came from the Netherlands and was bound for Gent-Zeehaven, the city's seaport.

Train services between Schellebelle and Wetteren were disrupted and problems were expected for two days, with buses laid on to transport passengers.

Two similar accidents involving goods trains carrying tanks of toxic products occurred in Belgium in May 2012.

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Iceland to resume disputed fin whale hunt

ICELAND plans to resume its disputed commercial fin whale hunt in June with a quota of at least 154 whales, the head of the only company that catches the giant mammals says.

Two vessels are being prepared for the hunt and they will head out to sea in early June, Hvalur chief executive Kristjan Loftsson told Icelandic public broadcaster RUV on Saturday.

"The quota is 154 whales plus some 20 per cent from last season possibly," he said.

Loftsson's company caught 148 fin whales in 2010, but none in 2011 and 2012 due to the disintegration of its only market in quake- and tsunami-hit Japan.

Most of this year's whale meat would be exported to Japan, he said.

"Things are improving there ... everything is recovering," he said.

Fin whales are the second largest whale species after the blue whale. Iceland also hunts minke whales, a smaller species.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a global moratorium on whaling in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.

Iceland, which resumed commercial whaling in 2006, and Norway are the only two countries still openly practising commercial whaling in defiance of the moratorium.

Japan also hunts whales but insists this is only for scientific purposes even if most of the meat ends up on the market for consumption.

In 2011, the United States threatened Iceland with economic sanctions over its commercial whaling, accusing the country of undermining international efforts to preserve the ocean giants.

But President Barack Obama stopped short of sanctions, instead urging Reykjavik to halt the practice.

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Egypt mob lynches teenager over killing

AN EGYPTIAN mob has lynched the teenage son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, saying he killed a man over Facebook comments critical of the movement.

The violence that took place on Thursday in the Nile Delta was the latest in a spate of vigilante killings in the region amid growing lawlessness since the 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Yussef Rabie Abdessalam, 16, pulled out a gun and opened fire indiscriminately, killing a passerby and wounding another after a heated argument with a man who had openly criticised the influential Brotherhood on the internet, the sources said.

His action sparked fury in Qattawiya, a village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, where Yussef's father, Rabie Abdessalam is an official at the local branch of the Justice and Freedom Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohamed Morsi.

An angry mob surrounded the Abdessalam house seeking revenge, but the family refused to give Yussef up and hurled stones from inside the residence at the protesters.

A man outside the house was fatally wounded.

Police tried in vain to contain the violence and attempted to evacuate the Abdessalam family but the mob set fire to the house and in the confusion grabbed Yussef and lynched him.

The mob beat him up "and dragged him across 500 metres to his death," the Freedom and Justice Party said on its Facebook page.

"This is not a political incident," the Islamist party said, calling on all sides to show restraint.

But a security source and local media said the violence was triggered after comments hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood were posted on Facebook.

Crime rates have increased across Egypt since the uprising and a police officer reported in March that at least 17 lynchings had taken place in Sharqiya since 2011.

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Syria spillover risk, say analysts

SYRIA'S neighbours face a growing risk of the conflict spilling across their region with Bashar al-Assad turning to ever more desperate acts to halt rebels, analysts say.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki voiced such concerns on Saturday when he said a new wave of sectarian strife in his country stemmed from violence elsewhere, although he did not name Syria.

However, others believe while Iraq, Israel and Turkey will all be affected, Lebanon and Jordan will be most vulnerable if the conflict spreads.

"There is a significant risk of an increased spillover," says Anthony Skinner of British risk consultancy Maplecroft.

"It is a very vulnerable region and there is a risk of escalation. The whole region may increasingly become involved in the conflict."

Jordan hosts more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, while Lebanon is home to 400,000 but the two countries face other tough challenges.

Amman has found itself dragged closer to the conflict with the deployment of more US troops on its territory amid a warning by Assad the kingdom could be engulfed by the war, and accusations of allowing fighters into Syria.

"Jordan had been pushed because of the escalation next door and because of its concerns regarding militant Islam and Salafists. Jordan is concerned about the potential chaos that may follow for years or decades in the likely event that Assad will eventually be toppled," Skinner said.

Lebanon has witnessed frequent shelling from Syria of both Sunni Muslim and Shi'ite areas of its north and east.

It has adopted a policy of neutrality despite being torn between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies that support Assad, and the Sunni-led March 14 movement that backs the revolt.

Opposition activists in Syria have accused Hezbollah of sending elite fighters to battle alongside Assad's troops in Qusayr, an area near the border.

"Lebanon could be plunging into a state of war - this is a very real risk," Skinner said.

For Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, "the main impact on Jordan and Lebanon is the refugees, which puts them under severe pressure.

"Even those who support the Syrian opposition, are becoming fed up with the refugee influx. If the situation develops, more Syrians, maybe millions, will flee to Jordan and Lebanon," exacerbating the chances of conflict in the host countries, he told AFP.

Syria's conflict is increasingly becoming a proxy war, with the rebels backed by US allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, and Assad by Hezbollah, Iran and Russia.

Assad's forces are too stretched to retaliate against those who back the rebels, but occasional cross-border shelling is conceivable, said Skinner.

"Though, these attacks would not be deemed large enough to provoke a strong counter-punch, it's conceivable that Assad would use proxies that are not so clearly linked to his line of command," Skinner said.

Turkey and Israel are worried about the fallout.

"The threat of the Syrian conflict has pushed Turkey to engage in what appears to be a serious peace process with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)," he said.

Israel fears Syria's chemical weapons arsenal could fall into the wrong hands.

"The United States and Israel have limited options to deal with the chemical weapons. They do not want things to develop, which might give the Syrian regime the chance to use the weapons," Sayigh said.

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Navajo the chosen one for new 'Star Wars'

THE classic Star Wars film that launched a science fiction empire is being dubbed in the Navajo language.

A handful of Navajo speakers have translated the script for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and people are now being sought to fill some two dozen roles.

Casting calls are scheduled on Monday in Burbank, California and next Friday and Saturday at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona.

Potential actors don't have to sound exactly like Princess Leia or Luke Skywalker but should deliver the lines with character.

Museum director Manuelito Wheeler says he sees the translation as entertaining and a way to preserve the Navajo language.

Wheeler says it's rewarding considering the US once tried to eradicate the language.

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Man arrested over poisoned letters

A MISSISSIPPI man has been arrested on suspicion of sending poisoned letters to US President Barack Obama and others.

Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested about 12:50am (3:50pm AEST) Saturday at his Tupelo home in connection with the letters, FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden said.

The letters, which allegedly contained ricin, were sent last week to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and earlier to an 80-year-old Mississippi judge, Sadie Holland.

Ms Madden said Mr Dutschke was arrested without incident. She said additional questions should be directed to the US attorney's office. The office in Oxford did not immediately respond to messages Saturday.

Mr Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, did not immediately respond to phone or text messages Saturday.

Charges in the case were initially filed against an Elvis impersonator but then dropped. Attention then turned to Mr Dutschke, who has ties to the former suspect and the judge and senator.

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Colombian teen hired gun confesses murders

A 19-YEAR-OLD hired gun has told Colombian police he committed more than 30 murders, blaming poverty and his father's violence.

"Seeing the powerlessness when I heard my parents saying they didn't have money for the rent and didn't know how they were going to get it" led him to become a gang enforcer, Andres Leonardo Achipiz told Caracol Television on Friday.

Referring to the physical abuse, he said his father would resort to "physical blows, humiliation, because of having to work so hard to support six children," adding that repressed anger led him to consider doing harm to others.

Achipiz said most of his victims were in their early teens, his first an individual who stole his mobile phone at knifepoint. After several other killings criminals began hiring him.

He said he eventually became a full-time enforcer, estimating that he murdered a total of 32 or 33 people.

Achipiz, who committed his last homicide in November 2012, was arrested last week and could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison if convicted, a spokesman for the Bogota police force said on Friday.

Police have evidence he carried out eight murders, and Achipiz admitted to those crimes at a court hearing, the spokesman said.

The jailed suspect, who asked forgiveness from the families of his victims, says he hopes his three-year-old son is raised far from the life he chose.

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Italy government unveiled

ITALY'S incoming prime minister Enrico Letta has finally unveiled his new government line-up.

The breakthrough ends a two-month deadlock that saw former premier Silvio Berlusconi reassert his status as a key player and tested the patience of Rome's European partners.

Angelino Alfano, from Berlusconi's party, has been handed the deputy prime minister post and interior portfolio, while former EU commissioner Emma Bonino has been made foreign minister, Letta said on Saturday.

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Duke 'well' despite bruised eye

BUCKINGHAM Palace has played down fears about the Duke of Edinburgh's health after he was pictured with a badly bruised eye.

The Duke, 91, was photographed in Canada with the mark below his right eye during his first major foreign trip since his time in hospital with a bladder infection last August.

It is understood he did not fall and simply woke up with the bruising a few days ago.

A palace spokeswoman said on Saturday: "He is well and is currently undertaking an engagement in Canada."

It is not the first time Philip has suffered a black eye.

In 2004, he was pictured with the injury when he arrived with the Queen to open a new power plant near Port Talbot in south Wales.

On that occasion, he had slipped in the bath and caught his eye with his thumb.

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US authorities make arrest in ricin probe

US authorities have arrested a man as part of a probe into poison-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and others.

Everett Dutschke was taken into custody "without incident" at his home in Tupelo, Mississippi, early Saturday morning, Tupelo Police Department spokesman Scott Floyd said.

Dutschke had been turned over to the US Marshals Service, he added.

Three letters laced with ricin were discovered last week as the US was reeling from a deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon.

They were addressed to Obama, Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and a justice of the peace in the same US state, Sadie Holland.

Authorities initially arrested another man but the charges against him were later dismissed and he was released.

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156 dead, thousands injured in China quake

Hundreds of people are dead or injured after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province. Source: AAP

A POWERFUL earthquake struck the steep hills of China's southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, leaving at least 156 people dead and more than 5,500 injured, nearly five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region.

Saturday's quake, while not as destructive as the one in 2008, toppled buildings, triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county.

The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with authorities saying nearly all the buildings there had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking by the quake.

"It was such a big quake that everyone was scared," said a woman who answered the phone at a kindergarten hours later and declined to give her name. "We all fled for our lives."

Rescuers turned the square outside the Lushan County Hospital into a triage centre, where medical personnel bandaged bleeding victims, according to footage on China Central Television.

Rescuers dynamited boulders that had fallen across roads to reach Longmen and other damaged areas lying farther up the mountain valleys, state media reported.

CCTV reported that at least 156 people had died. The government of Ya'an city, which administers Lushan, said in a statement that more than 2,600 people were injured, but other reports suggested the real figure was probably more than double that.

The quake - measured by the China Earthquake Administration at magnitude-7.0 and by the US Geological Survey at 6.6 - struck the steep hills of Lushan county shortly after 8am (1000 AEST), when many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.

People in their underwear and wrapped in blankets ran into the streets of Ya'an and even the provincial capital of Chengdu, 115km east of Lushan, according to photos, video and accounts posted online.

The quake's shallow depth, less than 13km, likely magnified the impact.

Chengdu's airport shut down for about an hour before reopening, though many flights were cancelled or delayed, and its railway station halted dozens of scheduled train rides Saturday, state media said.

Lushan reported the most deaths, 76, but there was concern that casualties in neighbouring Baoxing county might have been under-reported because of inaccessibility after roads were blocked and power and phone services cut off.

As the region went into the first night after the quake, rain started to fall, slowing rescue work. Forecasts called for more rain in the next several days, and the China Meteorological Administration warned of possible landslides and other geological disasters.

Tens of thousands of people moved into tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back as aftershocks continued to jolt the region.

Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau and sits atop the Longmenshan fault.

It was along that fault line that a devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.

"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an city, who was jolted awake by Saturday's quake, said via a private message on his account on Sina Corporation's Twitter-like Weibo service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."

The official Xinhua News Agency said the well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is near Lushan, was not affected by the quake. Dozens of pandas were moved to Bifengxia from another preserve, Wolong, after its habitat was wrecked by the 2008 quake.

As in most natural disasters, the government mobilised thousands of soldiers and others - 7,000 people by Saturday afternoon - sending excavators and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency supplies.

Two soldiers died after the vehicle that they and more than a dozen others were in slipped off the road and rolled down a cliff, state media reported.

Premier Li Keqiang flew to Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, and he and President Xi Jinping ordered officials and rescuers to make saving people the top priority, Xinhua said.

The Chinese Red Cross said it had deployed relief teams with supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue equipment to the disaster areas.

With roads blocked for several hours after the quake, the military surveyed the disaster area by air.

Aerial photos released by the military and shown on state television showed individual houses in ruins in Lushan and outlying villages flattened into rubble.

The roofs of some taller buildings appeared to have slipped off, exposing the floors beneath them.

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Morsi to reshuffle Egypt cabinet: aide

EGYPT'S Islamist President Mohamed Morsi is set to announce a cabinet reshuffle, a presidential aide says, but it is unlikely to meet opposition demands for a complete overhaul of the government.

Morsi wrote on his Twitter account that he would make "a ministerial change" and replace provincial governors, adding the posts would go to "those who are most qualified".

A presidential palace official said Morsi's quote was taken from an interview that will be aired on Saturday night on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel.

A senior presidential aide said Morsi may announce the changes by the end of the week.

"There will be six to eight ministers, and wide-ranging changes among (provincial) governors," he said.

"The ministries that will be affected include some important ones," he added.

"I can't mention which ones because, as you know, this is a sensitive matter."

Morsi has repeatedly declared his confidence in Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, whose sacking is demanded by a coalition of opposition groups as a condition for dropping a boycott of parliamentary elections.

Egyptian newspapers have reported that Morsi may replace Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki and other less prominent ministers.

The opposition remains steadfast in its demand for a national unity government, in a protracted deadlock with Morsi that has delayed a much needed $US4.8 billion ($A4.68 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund.

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Thousands rally at scandal-hit UK hospital

THOUSANDS of people have flooded a British town centre in a demonstration aimed at keeping major services at a scandal-hit hospital.

Campaigners of all ages packed into the Market Square in Stafford for the rally and public march, many holding placards and banners emblazoned with slogans showing their opposition to the withdrawal of services including maternity care from Stafford Hospital.

A public inquiry into the hospital, which was placed into administration five days ago, found it had provided "appalling" standards of care and caused unnecessary suffering to hundreds of patients over a five-year period up to 2009.

Health regulator Monitor has given two special administrators 45 working days to produce a plan for the sustainable "reorganisation" of future services.

The issue is of extreme importance to people living in and around the town and has now become apolitical, according to Sue Hawkins, chair of the Support Stafford Hospital group which arranged the demonstration.

Speaking in the busy Market Square, where supporters gathered ahead of the kilometre-long march to the hospital, Hawkins said it was important to move on from mistakes of the past.

"I think we've got to talk about 2013," she said.

"What happened, happened. The numbers will be debatable but what we've got to do is move forward and look to the future for our community.

"We've got a safe hospital today and we're looking to the future."

She said she hoped the march would send a clear message that the majority of people in Stafford want to retain acute services in the town and that they did not accept the proposal of a downgrade to a local hospital.

"We need to have an Intensive Care Unit here, we need to have an Accident and Emergency 24 hours a day and we believe that's possible.

"We know there have to be changes, we know there may have to be some alliance with another hospital to achieve that."

The march set off from the town centre at around 2pm in blazing sunshine and many taking part chanted slogans, waved their banners and sang songs as they walked.

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Special team to query US bombing suspect

ARMED guards are protecting the hospital where the wounded surviving Boston marathon bombing suspect is in serious condition and unable to be questioned to determine the motives behind the blasts.

US officials said a special interrogation team for high-value suspects was waiting to question 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose older brother and alleged accomplice was killed on Friday morning in a wild shootout in suburban Boston.

Authorities planned to invoke a rare public safety exception to enable the team to interrogate Tsarnaev without first advising him of his right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination and be provided a lawyer, a warning typically given to criminal suspects .

The FBI's website says the exception "permits law enforcement to engage in a limited and focused unwarned interrogation" of a suspect and introduce any statements gathered as evidence in a criminal prosecution.

The FBI says "police officers confronting situations that create a danger to themselves or others may ask questions designed to neutralise the threat without first providing a warning of rights".

The capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lifted days of anxiety for Boston, but little was known about the motivation of the ethnic Chechen brothers.

President Barack Obama vowed investigators would solve that mystery.

"The families of those killed so senselessly deserve answers," said Obama, who branded the suspects "terrorists".

Obama said the capture closed "an important chapter in this tragedy," but he said there are many unanswered questions about the Boston bombings, including whether the two men had help from others.

"When a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the stakes so high, it's important that we do this right," he said.

"That's why we take care not to rush to judgment - not about the motivations of these individuals, certainly not about entire groups of people."

Late on Friday, less than an hour after authorities said the search for the 19-year-old college student had proved fruitless and lifted a daylong order that had kept Boston-area residents in their homes, a man emerged from his Watertown home and noticed blood on the pleasure boat parked in his backyard.

He lifted the tarp and found the wounded Tsarnaev, known the world over as Suspect No. 2.

Soon after that, the 24-hour drama that had shut down a metropolitan area of millions while legions of police went house to house looking for the remaining suspected Boston marathon bomber was over.

Boston police announced via Twitter that Tsarnaev was in custody. They later wrote: "CAPTURED. The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture touched off raucous celebrations in and around Boston, with chants of "USA, USA" as residents flooded the streets in relief and jubilation after four tense days since twin explosions ripped through the marathon's crowd at the finish line on Monday, killing three people and wounding more than 180.

Dzhokhar and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were identified by authorities and relatives as ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the US for about a decade and were believed to be living in Cambridge, just outside Boston.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died early in the day of gunshot wounds and a possible blast injury.

He was run over by his younger brother in a car as he lay wounded, according to investigators.

During a long night of violence on Thursday and into Friday, the brothers carjacked a man in a Mercedes-Benz in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston, then released him unharmed at a petrol station, authorities said.

They also shot to death a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, while he was responding to a report of a disturbance, investigators said.

The search for the Mercedes led to a chase that ended in Watertown, where authorities said the suspects threw explosive devices from the car and exchanged gunfire with police.

A transit police officer, 33-year-old Richard Donohue, was shot and critically wounded, authorities said.

As his brother lay dying, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev abandoned his car and fled on foot, authorities said.

Watertown residents who had been told on Friday morning to stay inside behind locked doors poured out of their homes and lined the streets to cheer police vehicles as they rolled away from the scene.

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Vic Point Nepean master plan released

SOME things in life don't change, even over the course of more than 150 years.

From the mid 1850s, unwell first-class passengers arriving at Point Nepean in Victoria were given the best rooms with a view at the quarantine station so they could take in the glorious vistas of Port Phillip Bay.

Now the former station's first-class quarters in the national park are slated to be transformed into a boutique hotel or some other high-end accommodation.

It is just one of 57 largely unused buildings to be either reinvigorated or demolished under the Point Nepean master plan.

The Victorian government released the plan on Sunday, with expressions of interest from the private sector to open in coming months.

Last month, the government made public the rules for developments in national parks.

Stuart Hughes from Parks Victoria said adaptive reuse of existing buildings was the way forward.

"Our objective is to bring the place to life," he said.

Near the first-class quarters at the quarantine station stands the medical superintendent's house that was built in 1899. It was last used to house Kosovo refugees in 1999 and could soon be used as a day spa facility.

The quarantine station was established in 1852 and from 1952 the buildings also housed the Army Officer Cadet School.

The army officer cadet mess hall is expected to be transformed into a restaurant and function centre that can seat up to 300 people. It has already been used for several weddings.

It won't all be high-end offerings, with backpacker accommodation and a camping ground to be considered, along with an art gallery and a marine education facility.

There are also plans to establish a coffee shop near the visitor centre with the opportunity for visitors to learn about the multi-layered history of Point Nepean, including stories from the indigenous Boonwurrung people.

Peter Watkinson, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, said at this stage there were no height or capacity restrictions for new buildings or renovations.

"You don't want to stifle innovation," he said.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the government was determined to strike the right balance between preserving the historical, natural and cultural values of the national park and supporting tourism and other opportunities.

"Appropriate and sensitive private investment is critical in ensuring the long-term survival of the site's historic and culturally significant buildings," he said.

Victorian National Parks Association executive director Matt Ruchel said he supported adaptive reuse of existing structures but the government should rule out new multi-storey buildings.

Visitors to the national park grew from 50,000 a year in 2009 to 180,000 in 2012.

Mr Hughes said the park could easily accommodate a more than doubling of annual visitor numbers.

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Bomb blast on bus kills nine in Pakistan

A BOMB blast on a bus in Peshawar has killed at least nine people, in the latest attack to hit Pakistan's troubled northwest ahead of historic polls next month.

The explosion occurred just hours after militants blew up the election offices of an independent candidate in the North Wazirstan tribal district fuelling concerns that violence will mar general elections on May 11.

"At least nine passengers have been killed and seven injured. Bomb disposal officials told me that it was a timed device," Fazal Wahid, a senior police official told AFP.

Another officer, Imran Shahid said police were investigating the possibility a suicide bomber was involved in the attack which occurred as the was bus passing through the city's Matani suburb.

There was no immediate claim for responsibility, but Peshawar is regularly targeted by the Pakistani Taliban who have waged an insurgency against the state since 2007.

An intelligence official in the city said the attack may be a reaction to a fresh military push in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal district, where the army has been fighting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militants.

Military officials said heavy fighting between Pakistani troops and militants has killed 23 soldiers and 110 militants in Khyber this week.

Khyber straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal.

Officials say securing Khyber is key to protecting security in Peshawar, ahead of elections which will mark the country's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has served a full term in office.

Abdul Haq, a senior bomb disposal expert told AFP that four to five kilograms of highly explosive material was used.

The bomb destroyed three shops and a motorcycle, police and witnesses said.

"I was going to buy some milk when a huge blast took place. It was so powerful that it threw me back in my shop," Asad Khan, an 18-year-old shopkeeper in the market told AFP from his hospital bed.

Khan sustained injuries in his right shoulder and legs.

Anwar Ali, a passenger in the bus said the blast overturned the vehicle.

"I was sitting in the front seat when a powerful wave struck me and my head hit the front wind screen. I don't know what happened after that," Ali told AFP.

In an earlier incident, militants blew up the election office of Kamran Khan, a former legislator from North Waziristan who supported the outgoing government led by the Pakistan People's Party. No one was hurt.

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Newtown mum pleads for gun control

THE mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Newtown school shooting in the US has made a deeply personal plea from the White House for action to combat gun violence, choking back tears almost from the start of her speech.

Francine Wheeler, whose son, Ben, was killed in the December 14 attack inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, stepped in for President Barack Obama to deliver the president's weekly radio and internet address. She is the first person to deliver the address other than Obama or Vice President Joe Biden since the two took office in 2009.

"Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in our grief," Wheeler said in the address. "Please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy."

Her husband, David Wheeler, sat silently next to her as she made the recording in the White House Library. Both wore the small green pins that have become a symbol of the schoolhouse shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults.

Obama asked Wheeler to deliver this week's address, which was taped Friday and released on Saturday. The White House said Wheeler and her husband wrote the remarks themselves.

"Sometimes, I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy who would never come home - the same firehouse that was home to Ben's Tiger Scout Den 6," Francine Wheeler said. "But other times, I feel Ben's presence filling me with courage for what I have to do, for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon."

Some of the Sandy Hook families, with Obama's blessing, have launched a stepped-up effort to push a gun control bill through Congress.

As the fate of the legislation appeared uncertain last week, Obama travelled to Hartford, Connecticut - about an hour's drive from Newtown - to make his case for the legislation. On the return trip to Washington, he brought back 12 of the victims' family members, who have been meeting with senators.

The Senate is considering a Democratic bill backed by Obama that would expand background checks, strengthen laws against illegal gun trafficking and slightly increase school security aid. The bill passed its first hurdle on Thursday.

Shortly after the vote, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the voices of the Newtown families may have been the decisive factor.

The bill before the Senate stops well short of Obama's call to ban assault rifles and the high capacity magazines that leave shooters able to fire large bursts of ammunition without having to reload.

It would subject almost all gun buyers to background checks, stiffen federal laws barring illicit firearms sales and provide slightly more money for school safety measures. Background checks are aimed at preventing criminals and mentally ill people from getting weapons, and gun control advocates consider broadening the system to be the most effective step available to lawmakers.

Opponents including the National Rifle Association, a gun rights lobbying group, say the measures would infringe on the constitutional right to bear arms and inconvenience law-abiding citizens while being easy for criminals to evade.

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Body found as Tibet mine disaster kills 83

Eighty-three workers have been buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet. Source: AAP

RESCUE teams have found the first body almost 36 hours after a giant landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers.

Xinhua news agency said rescuers "found the first body at 5.35 pm (8.35pm AEDT)", after two million cubic metres of earth buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, at 6 am on Friday.

The report came after officials said at a press conference Saturday that no survivors or bodies had been found.

About 2,000 rescuers battled difficult terrain in the hunt for survivors after a vast three-kilometre-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic metres, crashed down a slope, covering the miners' camp.

The rescuers braved bad weather as an emergency response team attempted to prevent a secondary disaster.

One rescue worker had earlier described the chance of survivors being found as "slim", Xinhua reported.

China's new president Xi Jinping and new premier Li Keqiang had ordered "top efforts" to rescue the victims, Xinhua said.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

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Tanzanian building collapse toll hits 19

THE death toll from a building collapse in Tanzania's economic capital Dar es Salaam has risen to 19, officials say.

"Two more bodies were found this afternoon," regional commissioner Saidi Mecky Sadicky told AFP, updating an earlier toll of 17 in the disaster that happened on Friday.

Several dozen people are still missing around the site, which was littered with huge chunks of concrete.

"The operation is still going on but we have very little hope to find anyone alive," Sadicky said.

Eighteen people have been rescued alive from the remains of the 16-storey building, he said. However it is almost 24 hours since the last survivors were pulled out.

Hundreds of rescuers worked through the night in search of those still trapped in the rubble from the shell of the tower, which was being built near a mosque in the Kisutu area of Dar es Salaam.

Rescue work was slowed on Saturday afternoon after it started to rain.

Sadicky said between 60 and 70 people were reported to have been at or near the construction site on Friday morning, meaning that between 25 and 35 people could still be trapped.

Hundreds of people, including residents and army rescuers, clawed through piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors, alongside earthmovers and excavators.

"I thought there was an earthquake and then I heard screaming. The whole building fell on itself," witness Musa Mohamed told AFP on Friday shortly after the collapse

Sadicky said the rescue team was boosted on Friday night after the Chinese embassy told Chinese construction firms to provide additional earthmoving equipment.

Dozens of Chinese construction workers were at the site on Saturday instructing operators of excavators and forklifts that were sifting through the rubble.

Local residents turned out to supply rescuers with food, water and medication.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete visited the scene of the disaster in the coastal city and posted messages of condolence on his Twitter account.

"We pray for those who have been afflicted by this tragedy," he said. "We pray for togetherness in this time of need."

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Attacks leave more than 50 dead in Nigeria

ATTACKS on villages surrounding a central Nigerian city at the heart of unrest between Christians and Muslims have killed more than 50 people this week.

Officials say an assault on Wednesday on a village in the Riyom local government area killed 28 people and an attack in the Bokkos local government area killed 18 civilians. On Friday, a military spokesman said at least nine people were killed in the Barkin Ladi local government area.

The fighting often pits Christian villagers against nomadic Muslim cattle herders.

The attacks around Jos, a city in Nigeria's fertile central belt, come as a string of unsolved killings continue to plague a region that has seen thousands killed in massacres in recent years.

Authorities have pleaded for calm over the Easter weekend.

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Napolitano bids to end impasse in Italy

ITALIAN President Giorgio Napolitano has asked two unidentified "groups" to come up with a program for government in a bid to end a deadlock between parties more than a month after elections that left no clear winner.

Napolitano stressed that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti's government would remain in charge until a new cabinet is formed and ruled out his own early resignation -- a scenario that had been mooted to help resolve the crisis.

The 87-year-old did not identify the "two restricted groups of different personalities" but officials said this would be clarified later on Saturday.

Analysts said the groups could be made up of party representatives as well as non-political "institutional" figures.

Napolitano said his latest round of talks with political forces on Friday had shown up "distinctly different positions" and called for "a greater sense of responsibility".

He also said Monti, a former European commissioner drafted in to drag Italy out of the eurozone debt crisis in 2011, represented "an element of certainty".

Pier Luigi Bersani's centre-left coalition, which secured the most votes in the elections but failed to win a majority, ruled out an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right grouping which came a very close second.

Bersani was asked by Napolitano last Friday to try to form a government but admitted on Thursday that his efforts had come to nothing, after he failed to woo rival parties to support his cabinet.

Napolitano's announcement de facto withdrew the mandate from Bersani.

Berlusconi, a scandal-tainted billionaire tycoon who has been prime minister three times in a 20-year political career, has said a cross-party deal is the only viable solution.

The anti-establishment Five Star Movement party, which came in third, has ruled out support for a political cabinet but has left open the possibility of backing a technocratic government of non-political figures.

Developments in Italy are being closely watched by European capitals under similar pressures over budget cuts, as well as investors concerned that Italy could plunge back into the turmoil of the eurozone debt crisis.

Investors have been relatively calm so far and reactions on stock and bond markets have been muted -- mainly because of confidence in Monti.

Analysts say Italy has to find a government solution before markets re-open on Tuesday, however.

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Court upholds election of Kenya's Kenyatta

KENYA'S Supreme Court has upheld the victory of Uhuru Kenyatta in the March 4 presidential election.

The court unanimously ruled that the election had been conducted in a "free, fair, transparent and credible" manner and that Kenyatta and his running mate had been "validly elected", Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said.

"It is the decision of the court that the third and fourth respondents (Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto) were validly elected."

The six judges dismissed petitions filed by Raila Odinga, outgoing prime minister and Kenyatta's main rival in the presidential race, and by civil society groups, over what they said was a series of irregularities that skewed the election results.

The petitioners had called for fresh elections to be ordered.

Kenyatta faces trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague over his alleged role in planning the violence that followed the 2007 elections and left more than 1100 people dead.

There was tight security at the Supreme Court as the judgment was read out on Saturday.

The presidential, legislative and municipal elections held on March 4 were the first since the 2007 poll.

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Mandela 'breathing without difficulty'

NELSON Mandela is comfortable and breathing without difficulty on his third day in hospital after the anti-apartheid hero was treated for pneumonia, South Africa's presidency says.

Messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old, one of the towering figures of modern history, have poured in since his admission late Wednesday for what was confirmed as "a recurrence of pneumonia".

Mandela had a build-up of fluid that had developed from a lung infection, known as a pleural effusion or "water on the lungs", drained from his chest.

"This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty," said President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Saturday.

"He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable."

On Friday, Mandela was said to be in good spirits and making steady progress.

"He sat up and had his breakfast in bed," Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj, who was jailed with Mandela during apartheid, told AFP.

There were no details on Saturday on how long he would remain at an undisclosed hospital.

Mandela's recent health troubles have triggered an outpouring of prayers but have also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of the revered Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The former president is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of South Africa's peaceful transition from white minority-ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994, the first black president remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for check-ups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when he was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and has long had problems with his lungs. He has also had treatment for prostate cancer and has suffered stomach ailments.

Keertan Dheda, professor of respiratory diseases at the University of Cape Town medical department, said a pleural effusion was the accumulation of water between the lining covering the lung and that of the chest wall.

Having the fluid tapped was a minor procedure, he said.

"One can drain the fluid with a needle and a catheter and in some cases that's all that's needed," he said.

Other cases required the fluid to be chemically broken down if it had formed pockets or a small operation if infected.

"The older you are, the longer pneumonia takes to get better," said Dheda, adding that mortality was also higher.

"It takes a bit longer, everything is a bit slower and a bit more complicated the older you get."

While Mandela's legacy continues to loom large over South African politics, he has long since exited the political stage and for the large young population he is a figure from another era, serving as president for just one term.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010.

Labour unrest, high-profile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the "Rainbow Nation", but his decades-long struggle against apartheid still resonates.

"The whole country is not happy about the old man's health. He is not so well, but we wish him a speedy recovery," Soweto handicraft seller Nhlanhla Ngobese told AFP on Saturday.

"We want him back, even though he's an old man, he's an icon to us, a hero to us, we still want his diplomacy."

Away from the public eye, Mandela has grown increasingly frail.

His December hospital stay was his longest since he walked free from jail in 1990.

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Two dead, hundreds rescued off Italy

TWO migrants have died at sea while trying to reach Italian shores from North Africa, while hundreds more were rescued and taken to the island of Lampedusa.

The victims were on a rubber dinghy with 88 other would-be migrants. They were spotted on Saturday struggling with rough seas by an Italian military patrol ship and were later picked up by the Italian coastguard. They died, presumably from hypothermia, before arriving in Lampedusa.

The coast guard said it had rescued 106 more people from another boat, bringing to around 500 the number of migrants taken to Lampedusa this week. Another 82 Somali migrants were rescued on Friday by Maltese authorities.

Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini said her island was struggling to cope with the latest arrivals. About a hundred migrants have been transferred to another detention centre in mainland Sicily, Italian authorities said.

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Anglican leader to skip pope inauguration

THE new leader of the world's Anglicans, Justin Welby, will miss the inauguration of Pope Francis next week as he will be on a "pilgrimage of prayer", his residence has announced.

Welby, who became Archbishop of Canterbury last month, will be represented at Tuesday's inauguration mass at the Vatican by Britain's Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

"Dr Sentamu will travel to Rome on the Archbishop of Canterbury's behalf on Monday in time for the celebrations the following day," Lambeth Palace said on Saturday.

Welby, leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans, will meanwhile be continuing a "journey in prayer" which he started last Thursday.

The tour encompasses five cities and six cathedrals in his province of Canterbury, which covers southern England.

On Saturday the journey took Welby to London, where he stopped to pray at various locations including St Paul's Cathedral.

A statement on his website said anyone was welcome to join the journey.

"Gather in the morning, pray for the whole day, or drop in whenever you have time," it said.

Welby's own official enthronement ceremony takes place next Thursday at Canterbury Cathedral.

Cardinal Kurt Koch will represent the new pope at Welby's enthronement.

Welby, a former oil executive, takes over as Archbishop of Canterbury from Rowan Williams, who led the Anglicans for the last decade.

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Tense Zimbabwe votes on new constitution

ZIMBABWEANS have voted on a new constitution that would pave the way for crucial elections in a country plagued by political violence.

Voters are expected to roundly back the text, which would introduce presidential term limits, beef up parliament's powers and set elections to decide whether 89-year-old Robert Mugabe stays in power.

Mugabe has ruled uninterrupted since the country's independence in 1980, despite a series of disputed and violent polls and a severe economic crash propelled by hyper-inflation.

The new draft constitution is part of a internationally-backed plan to get the country back on track. It is supported by both the veteran president and his political nemesis Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

But that has not prevented incidents of violence as activists keep one eye on the general election slated for July.

Shortly before polls in the constitutional referendum opened on Saturday, gunmen - later identified as plainclothes police detectives - seized a member of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change from his home southeast of Harare.

Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told AFP Samson Magumura had been arrested on charges of attempted murder in connection with a recent firebomb attack that injured a Mugabe ally.

But MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti said police could not confirm where Magumura was being held.

As he cast his vote on Saturday, Mugabe, whom many blame for past unrest, urged Zimbabweans to ensure the referendum proceeded peacefully.

"You can't go about beating people on the streets, that's not allowed, we want peace in the country, peace, peace."

Mugabe also used the opportunity to castigate the West, vowing they would not be allowed to monitor the upcoming general election.

"The Europeans and the Americans have imposed sanctions on us and we keep them out in the same way they keep us out," he said.

Casting his ballot, Tsvangirai expressed hope that a positive outcome would help catapult the country out of a crisis that has been marked by bloodshed and economic meltdown.

"I hope it sets in a political culture where we move from a culture of impunity to a culture of constitutionalism," he said.

Official results of the referendum are expected to be released within five days of the vote.

The new constitution would for the first time put a definite, if distant, end date on Mugabe's 33-year rule.

Presidents would be allowed to serve two terms of five years each, meaning that, elections permitting, Mugabe could rule until 2023, by which time he would be 99-years-old.

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Swiss tourist gang-raped in India: police

A SWISS female tourist was gang-raped in central India in front of her husband, police say, renewing the focus on the issue of sexual violence against women in the South Asian nation.

The woman was on a cycling trip with her husband in impoverished Madhya Pradesh state when seven to eight men attacked the couple late on Friday while they were camping, sexually assaulting the woman and robbing the pair, police said.

The attackers "tied up the man and raped the woman in his presence", local police official SM Afzal told AFP, adding that they stole 10,000 rupees ($A179) and a mobile phone from the woman.

The attack comes just months after thousands took to the streets to protest against India's treatment of women following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi in December.

"We are deeply shocked by this tragic incident suffered by a Swiss citizen and her partner in India," the Swiss foreign ministry in Bern said in a statement.

The Swiss ministry said its diplomats in India were in contact with local authorities and that it hoped the attackers would be "swiftly identified and would appear before a court to answer for their actions".

The couple were on their way to the tourist destination of Agra, home to the iconic Taj Mahal monument, in northern India when they stopped to camp for the night.

Indian media reports said the men were wielding sticks when they attacked the couple around 50 kilometres from Orchha, a popular foreign tourist destination in Madhya Pradesh.

The Swiss woman, aged about 40, was released on Saturday from hospital, authorities said.

Swiss Ambassador Linus von Castelmur has spoken to the victim and assured her "of all possible help", the Press Trust of India reported.

Some 20 people have been detained and were being questioned over the incident, senior local police officer DK Arya told the news agency.

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Police injured in "cowardly" brick attack

A PARTY of over 250 people turned violent in Brisbane's south overnight, leaving two officers with head injuries.

It is believed out of control party-goers attacked the officers with bricks, before fleeing the scene.

Regional Duty Officer for Metropolitan South Inspector Steve Flori confirmed two officers suffered injuries in the "cowardly attack."

"Around 11:15pm police were called to a large party in Acacia Ridge, where there was in excess of 250 people," he said.

"Some of the party goers became volatile and two officers from Inala station were attacked."

Inspector Flori said the party goers ranged in age from 16-years-old to 25-years-old.

The details of the party had been leaked to social media and the majority were unknown to the person holding the party, he said.

"The host of the party was sober and disgusted," he said.

Over 15 units from the south side were dispatched to the incident, which took some time to defuse.

The offenders were last night still on the loose while the two officers remained in the Princess Alexandra Hospital, the full extent of their injuries unknown.

Public posts could be found online last night promoting the "open house" party, with several different people advertising a $5 entry fee to the party with a DJ.

Inspector Flori asked the community to help to catch the perpetrators.

"We are asking that the close knit community of Acacia Ridge help us find the people responsible for this cowardly attack," he said.

"They could come forward and contact either the Acacia Ridge Police or Crime Stoppers anonymously."

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Police also attended a Facebook party in Mansfield last night.

Officers were tipped of by online posts and sent crews to patrol the streets.

Alcohol was confiscated from a large number of underage drinkers a police spokesman said.
 

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Syria troop build up on Lebanon border

LEBANON must prevent fighters from crossing into Syria, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman says, after Damascus threatened to respond to cross-border infiltrations.

Shortly after his office announced the comments, made in a meeting with the Lebanese community in the Ivory Coast, witnesses on Saturday reported a Syrian troop build up along parts of the border with Lebanon.

Lebanon's stability depends "on all of us ... not sending militants to Syria and not receiving them," Sleiman said, adding "we must commit ourselves to neutrality."

Sleiman said he had tasked Lebanon's army with "the arrest of any militants intending to fight (in Syria), whether for the opposition or not."

A statement released by Prime Minister Najib Mikati's office said the premier had met the army chief to discuss "the measures being taken by the Lebanese military ... on the border with Syria to prevent the infiltration of militants and arms smuggling operation."

Syria warned on Thursday that its forces would fire into Lebanon if "terrorist gangs" continued to infiltrate the country.

"These past 36 hours, armed terrorist gangs have infiltrated Syrian territory in large numbers from Lebanon," the Syrian foreign ministry said, in a message quoted by official news agency SANA.

"Syrian forces are showing restraint by not striking these gangs inside Lebanese territory to prevent them crossing into Syria, but this will not go on indefinitely."

A Lebanese government source, speaking to AFP on Saturday, said Beirut took the warning "very seriously" and that "intensive consultations are underway to find the best way to control the border".

Beirut has officially pledged neutrality in the violence engulfing its neighbour, but has found itself increasingly embroiled in the civil war.

Lebanon's opposition backs the revolt, while the Shi'ite Hezbollah stands by the Syrian regime.

Violence has already spilled over into Lebanon on several occasions, causing fatalities.

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