Egypt's ElBaradei urges election boycott

OPPOSITION leader Mohamed ElBaradei has called for a boycott of Egypt's upcoming legislative elections, with the president set to reschedule the first round which clashes with a Christian holiday.

"Called for parliamentary election boycott in 2010 to expose sham democracy. Today I repeat my call, will not be part of an act of deception," the Nobel Peace laureate and former head of the UN atomic watchdog wrote on Twitter.

Former foreign minister Amr Mussa, another leader in the National Salvation Front (NSF), said many members of the opposition bloc were inclined to boycott the four-round election, but a final position had not yet been taken.

"There is a large group that wants a boycott, but it has not yet been discussed, and no decision has been taken," he told AFP.

The election is scheduled to begin on April 27, with a new parliament to convene on July 6.

But the presidency said it was "seriously" considering changing the starting date because it falls on the Christian holidays of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, after objections from the Coptic Church.

"Today President (Mohamed) Morsi said he is seriously considering rescheduling elections to avoid any overlap with Coptic Christian holidays," the presidency said on its English-language Twitter feed.

Father Rafiq Greish, the Catholic Church's spokesman in Egypt, told AFP he spoke with the presidency, which "accepted" rescheduling the first round.

Greish said he discussed with an adviser to the Islamist president the possibility of changing the first round of the election to April 23.

ElBaradei, who did not elaborate about his boycott call on Twitter, raised the suspicion that the vote might be rigged, as was the case in a 2010 election under ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak.

Leaders of the NSF, an alliance that brings together liberal and secular leaning groups, have previously proposed a postponement of the vote.

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One killed in clashes in southern Yemen

ONE person has reportedly been killed and three injured in an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected secessionist insurgents in southern Yemen.

The independent website Yemen News, citing medical sources, said on Saturday the dead man was a passer-by caught in the crossfire between the two sides in the southern port city of Aden.

However, officials in the separatist Southern Movement said he was one of its supporters and accused police of killing him.

Meanwhile, insurgents suspected of affiliation to the Southern Movement torched stores owned by northerners in the southern city of Hadramawt, reported Yemen News.

"They attacked my store, claiming I belong to the occupation forces," the site quoted a shop owner as saying.

The unrest came two days after three people were killed and dozens injured in a crackdown by police at an anti-government protest in Aden.

The Southern Movement calls for independence or autonomy for the former Marxist republic of South Yemen, which merged with more populous North Yemen in 1990.

Aden was the capital of the former South Yemen and is a stronghold of secessionists.

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Four arrested in Egypt for 'Harlem Shake'

EGYPTIAN police have arrested four students who filmed themselves publicly dancing in their underwear - possibly emulating an Australian-inspired Youtube number called the Harlem Shake.

The four pharmaceutical students shocked residents of a middle class Cairo neighbourhood when they removed most of their clothes and videotaped themselves performing the pelvis-thrusting dance, a police official said on Saturday.

The hostile audience tried to assault the students, who are accused of committing "a scandalous act," the official added.

Egypt has strict public indecency laws.

Some Egyptians have posted videos of themselves on Youtube doing the Harlem Shake in front of the pyramids.

One of them, dressed in white underwear and a bow tie, dances while riding a camel.

The dance craze was sparked by a group of Australian teenagers who uploaded the 31-second clip The Harlem Shake v1 (TSCS original) onto YouTube earlier this month.

It has since been viewed almost 16 million times.

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Arab militia kills 50 in Sudan's Darfur

AN Arab militia firing heavy machine guns has killed more than 50 people in Sudan's Darfur region, residents say, continuing unrest that has caused the largest displacement of people in years.

"They came on Land Cruisers, used Dushkas and they burned 30 houses (and killed) 53 people," said one resident of El Sireaf town, to which most of the 100,000 people displaced or severely affected by the earlier tribal fighting had fled.

Another resident, who said he was wounded, also gave a figure of 53 dead.

The two said the attackers belonged to a militia of the Rezeigat tribe, which has been fighting rival Arabs from the Beni Hussein group since early January in the Jebel Amir gold mining area of North Darfur state.

"We are in the cemetery burying these people," the first resident said, adding that the dead included two women and two children.

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Palestinians hurt in West Bank clashes

THREE Palestinians have been wounded in clashes with Jewish settlers from a wildcat settlement near a village in the northern West Bank.

Settlers from Esh Kodesh clashed with Palestinians from Qusra village, south of Nablus, on Saturday, throwing rocks at them and destroying olive trees that belonged to them, according to witnesses and Palestinian security sources.

One Palestinian was hit by a live round fired by the settlers, and the two others by rubber bullets shot by Israeli security forces who arrived on the scene.

A military spokesman said the clashes had broken out "between around 150 Palestinians and 25 Israelis from the West Bank who were throwing stones," adding that the security forces were on the scene.

Confrontations have multiplied this year between Esh Kodesh settlers and Palestinians living nearby.

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Italy finds first case of horsemeat

ITALY says it's found its first case of horsemeat contamination in a batch of frozen lasagne produced in the region around the city of Bologna where the famous Italian dish originated.

The country's health ministry said on Saturday horse DNA was found in tests on six tonnes of mincemeat and 2400 packages labelled "lasagne bolognese" - literally "from Bologna" - seized from the company.

"There was a positive test for horsemeat, which was not declared on the label," the ministry said.

The package in which the horsemeat was found had been on a supermarket shelf in Brescia in northern Italy.

The ministry identified the company as Primia and said it had used meat from another company in Brescia and originally supplied by two other companies, also based there.

More checks are under way at the original suppliers.

The tests were carried out as part of sweeping checks by police on 121 brands across the country.

Officials earlier said they had found no horsemeat in batches seized from Swiss food giant Nestle.

The head of the company where the horsemeat was found told the Italian news agency ANSA he had bought it believing it was beef.

"We gave all the documents to the police," the executive, who was not named, was quoted as saying.

"On Tuesday there will be more checks. If they confirm that it is horsemeat, we will complain to our suppliers," he said.

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Pistorius spends time with family

SOUTH Africa's Olympic "Blade Runner" and murder suspect Oscar Pistorius has spent his first day out on bail with his family pending trial for the killing of his lover.

Pistorius was freed on a record one million rand ($A110,656) bail on Friday after eight days in custody and an emotionally charged four-day bail hearing.

"I would like Oscar to just compose himself and to have a normal day," his uncle Arnold Pistorius told the local Eyewitness News.

He will return to court later this year when a date will be set for trial for having shot dead his model girlfriend and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day.

When contacted by AFP, his father Henke Pistorius declined to say how his son had slept at his uncle's house in Pretoria.

But a source close to the family told AFP late on Friday "the family just want time together. They haven't thought about anything except being together."

Pistorius claims he repeatedly shot at and killed his lover by mistake thinking she was a burglar.

Steenkamp's grieving parents, however, did not appear convinced.

"It doesn't matter how rich he is and how good his legal team is. He needs to live with himself if he lets his legal team lie for him," her father Barry told the Afrikaans-language daily Beeld.

Pistorius has assembled some of the best legal brains in South Africa to defend his case.

"He'll have to live with his conscience. But if he's telling the truth, I may forgive him one day," Steenkamp's father said.

But "if it didn't happen as he described it, he should suffer. And he will suffer ... only he knows."

Pistorius's family has sent flowers and a card to the Steenkamp family but "what does that mean? Nothing," said June, Reeva's mother.

In addition to the bail cash he posted Friday afternoon, which experts say is among one of the highest ever set in South Africa, Pistorius had to surrender his passport and firearms.

The magistrate quadrupled the bail amount initially proposed by the state.

He will have to report twice weekly to Pretoria's Brooklyn police. He was also ordered not to take alcohol or drugs.

Pistorius may also hold talks with his trainer to get back on the track, despite being banned under his bail terms from competing outside South Africa.

"He is a professional athlete. He needs to keep his body in shape," the family source said.

His arrest on February 14 shocked the world and gripped South Africa, where he became a national hero after becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics last year.

The state charged him with the premeditated killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp.

If found guilty he faces a possible life sentence.

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Tear gas fired at teenager's funeral

CLASHES broke out overnight at the funeral of a teenager killed in demonstrations to mark the second anniversary of Bahrain's Shiite-led uprising.

The security forces blocked access to the funeral of Hussein al-Jaziri in the Shiite-populated village of Daih near the capital Manama, firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of people trying to push their way through.

Jaziri died on Thursday after being shot in the stomach by security forces, according to Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's main Shiite opposition bloc, during Shiite-led protests against the kingdom's Sunni rulers, in which a policeman also died.

Earlier, the authorities said four people were arrested after an overnight attack on security forces that wounded four policemen.

The attack took place during unrest that began on Friday when protesters blocked a highway linking a string of Shiite villages with the capital.

The interior ministry said in a statement that it had "arrested four terrorists possessing weapons with which they had fired on security forces in Karzakan," a Shiite village southwest of Manama.

A police officer and three policemen were taken to hospital after being wounded "by buckshot fired by a terrorist group," police chief Tarek al-Hassan said in statement.

The security forces "had to respond to the attack to defend themselves," Mr Hassan added, without giving further details of the attack or the police response.

Bahrain has seen two years of political upheaval linked to opposition demands for a real constitutional monarchy, with the unrest claiming at least 80 lives, according to international rights groups.

Thursday's violence, in which Jazira and police officer Mohamed Atef were killed, began with demonstrations to coincide with the actual anniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14, 2011.

Clashes raged sporadically in Shiite villages through the night and into the early hours of Friday.

The latest unrest comes amid a fresh round of a national dialogue between opposition groups and the government.

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'We won't devalue currency' - G20

G20 finance ministers moved to calm fears of looming "economic warfare" on the currency markets.

The jitters - similar to previous disputes with China -- have been set off by Japan's plan of monetary easing to boost inflation and activity by reducing the value of the yen under new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We will refrain from competitive devaluation. We will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes," said the communique after the G20 finance meeting meeting in Moscow under Russia's presidency.

It echoed a similar recent statement by the G7 richest nations which like the G20 statement was also approved by Japan, whose monetary policy has been vehemently criticised by the West in recent weeks.

The statement made clear that forex rates should be set by markets, and not intervening governments.

It affirmed the G20's commitment to move "more rapidly toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals."

Striving to give the impression of a united front among the world's top 20 economies, the G20 ministers vowed to "work more closely with one another so we can grow together.

British Finance Minister George Osborne had earlier warned of the dangers of slugging out "economic warfare" as countries tried to outdo eachother with successive devaluations.

"Currencies should not be used as a tool of competitive devaluation. The world should not make the mistake that it has made in the past of using currencies as the tools of economic warfare," the British chancellor of the exchequer said.

European capitals fear that devaluations of currencies like the yen would make their own exports less competitive and harm extremely fragile economic recoveries at home.

For the first time in several international meetings, the concerns over currencies have overshadowed the economic troubles of the debt-ridden euro zone which leaders hope is heading to a gentle recovery.

All the G20 states are to a greater or lesser extent faced with the same dilemma - how to boost fragile growth rates without overextending budget deficits or alienating international partners.

The final communique - as expected - stopped short of giving precise budget deficit targets which many governments would have found too tough to stomach.

But it said that "credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plans will be put in place" and implemented taking into account the economic conditions and fiscal possibilities.

Earlier, Britain, France and Germany also launched a new drive to help national budgets by making big business pay full taxes and not minimise payments through schemes such as offshore companies.

The G20 ministers agreed to take measures to combat corporate tax avoidance in coordination with the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) which is preparing an action plan on measures to be taken in a coordinated move by national governments.

"We are determined to develop measures to address base erosion and profit shifting, take the necessary collective action and look forward to the comprehensive action plan the OECD will present to us in July," the final statement said.

Profit shifting is the practice of shifting profits from the company's home country to pay less tax under another jurisdiction.

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Big swing against NT govt in by-election

THE Northern Territory government says it has heard the message, after a big swing against it in the by-election for the seat of Wanguri.

Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Nicole Manison secured her place in the NT parliament after capturing 69.7 per cent of the two-party vote, late counting showed.

The result was about a six per cent swing towards the ALP from the last election, making the seat now the safest ALP electorate in the NT.

The ALP had called on voters to send a message to the Country Liberal Party (CLP) that rules the NT, and the government said it had heard it.

"This government acknowledges the message contained in the result tonight," NT Chief Minister Terry Mills said.

"We will continue to work with, and engage the community in this period of change."

Commentators had thought it would be tough for the CLP to win Wanguri, which Labor has held since 1989, particularly after recent 30 per cent electricity price hikes and government cutbacks.

The CLP had said the price rises were needed to alleviate the debt held by the public-owned Power and Water Corporation.

But Ms Manison said the result was Territorians sending Mr Mills a message he couldn't ignore.

"People are unhappy with his broken promises and unfair price hikes," she said.

The by-election was sparked by the resignation of former chief minister Paul Henderson.

Counting will continue on Sunday with about 89 per cent of the vote counted so far.

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