Hong Kong stocks fall on bird flu fears

HONG Kong stocks have tumbled 2.73 per cent, with airlines the hardest hit, following an outbreak of bird flu in mainland China which has killed six people.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Friday fell 610.59 points to end at 21,726.90 - a four-month low - on turnover of $HK77.22 billion ($A9.59 billion).

Shanghai was closed for a public holiday.

Travel and leisure-related firms were hit by the news of the outbreak of the H7N9 strain of bird flu.

Authorities in Shanghai on Friday ordered the closure of all live poultry markets in the city and culled more than 20,000 birds to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

In all, there have been 14 confirmed human infection cases, including the dead.

The news hurt the aviation sector, with China Southern Airlines losing 8.5 per cent to end at $HK3.87, while China Eastern Airlines fell 8.3 per cent to $HK3.10 and flag carrier Air China tumbled 9.8 per cent to $HK6.05.

"With more human infections by the bird flu, some leisure travellers may try to avoid travelling ... particularly to China," Davin Wu, an analyst at Credit Suisse, told Dow Jones Newswires.

And Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities, said: "The cases of H7N9 bird flu are rising and the death rate is high. Suddenly we've got a number of uncertainties at hand."

However, Core Pacific-Yamaichi head of research Castor Pang said he thought the concerns were overblown.

"Investors are pricing in a scenario under which there will be an outbreak which will severely hurt the airlines' earnings," he said.

"We simply don't know if that's what will happen."

Adding to selling pressure is unease about US non-farm payroll figures due out later on Friday, with expectations low after a disappointing report on jobless claims on Thursday, which unexpectedly rose for the week ending March 30.

The results come a month after huge federal spending cuts came into force at the beginning of last month.

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PNG PM urges changes for Manus detainees

Detainees on Manus Island should interact with the community, says PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA needs to consider allowing asylum seekers housed at the detention facility on Manus Island to interact with the local community, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says.

Mr O'Neill made the comments on Tuesday in response to a question about mounting criticism in Australia over the running of the centre.

"We don't run the facility, we provide the opportunity for (Australia) to run the processing centre, and we've always stressed it has to be done in a humane as possible way and manner - we expect that to be carried out," Mr O'Neill told reporters in Port Moresby.

"If children are on board, we have already offered to the Australian government and everybody that the refugees must be allowed to interact with our communities.

"I think there needs to be some consideration given to that by the Australian government."

On Thursday, Paris Aristotle, part of former Defence chief Angus Houston's refugee policy review panel, said safeguards needed to mitigate the risk of mental health harm have not been put in place at the detention centre.

He said he was particularly concerned about the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers, especially children, on Manus Island.

"Something needs to be done to address that immediately," he told ABC TV's Lateline on Thursday.

"Six months in, I don't think it's appropriate that children are still held in detention anywhere.

"If they were free to move around, if there were adequate services available for them and so forth, then that may have been an acceptable option."

He said he has had discussions with the federal government and immigration department and doesn't believe they are ignoring the panel's recommendations.

Mr O'Neill says the people of Manus would welcome more interaction with the asylum seekers.

"Manus is one of the most peaceful places in this country and people are very friendly, very welcoming.

"The community has willingly said they are free to move around and engage with them."

Following Mr Aristotle's comments, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for the facility to be closed down.

Australian authorities on Thursday transferred the first group of asylum seekers to be moved to the Papua New Guinea processing facility in two months.

Police last month charged 18 asylum seekers with fighting and assault following a series of incidents at the temporary facility on Lombrum Naval base.

Some of the detainees then went on a week-long hunger strike to protest the charges.

A legal challenge to the centre has been repeatedly adjourned as lawyers haggle over procedural issues.

It is next expected to come before Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia on Wednesday for a directions hearing.

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N Korea missile movements fuel tensions

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned any miscalculation by North Korea could lead to a grave outcome. Source: AAP

NORTH Korea has moved a second mid-range missile to its east coast and loaded both on mobile launchers, a report says, fuelling fears of an imminent firing that will further ramp up tensions.

Yonhap news agency, citing a top South Korean government official, said on Friday two intermediate Musudan missiles had been transported by train earlier in the week and "loaded on vehicles equipped with launch pads".

The Defence Ministry, which on Thursday confirmed the movement of one missile with "considerable range", declined to comment on the new report.

But a navy official told Yonhap that two South Korean Aegis destroyers with advance radar systems had been deployed - one off the east coast and one off the west coast to track any missile launch.

"If the North fires off a missile, we will trace its trajectory," the official said.

North Korea, incensed at fresh UN sanctions and South Korea-US military drills, has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday the barrage of rhetoric fitted a "regrettable but familiar" pattern of North Korean behaviour.

"We're taking all the necessary precautions," Carney said, citing "prudent measures" to respond to the possible missile threat.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke on the phone with South Korean president Park Geun-hye, expressing Australia's strong concerns over North Korea, which she says "poses a serious risk to regional security.

"This is a regime that cannot feed and properly care for its people, that engages in some of the worst human rights abuses that we've seen around the world," she said.

"It is not in the interests of North Korea's people for this kind of belligerence to be demonstrated by the leadership of North Korea."

The Musudan has never been tested, but is believed to have a range of about 3000 kilometres which could theoretically be pushed to 4000 with a light payload.

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam.

The senior government official told Yonhap that the mobile launchers had since been hidden in special underground facilities.

"The North is apparently intent on firing the missiles without prior warning," the official said.

The Pentagon has said it will send missile-interceptor batteries to protect its bases on Guam, a US territory about 3380 kilometres southeast of North Korea and home to 6000 American military personnel.

Most experts think the North is not yet capable of mounting a nuclear device on a ballistic missile which could strike US bases or territory.

On Thursday the North Korean army said it had received final approval for military action, possibly involving nuclear weapons, against the threat posed by US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers participating in joint military drills with South Korea.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the army's general staff said.

The blistering rhetoric has stoked international concern, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon describing the daily threats from Pyongyang as "really alarming and troubling".

There has been speculation that Pyongyang might schedule a firing to coincide with the birthday of the country's late founder Kim Il-Sung in mid-April.

"A flight test would make sense," said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert at the International Crisis Group.

"But I'd be surprised if they used an untested missile. At this stage in the game, they don't want to be firing off something that might disintegrate after 30 seconds," Pinkston told AFP.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since December, when the North test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it conducted its third nuclear test and drew fresh UN sanctions.

The North also warned this week it would reopen its mothballed Yongbyon reactor - its source of weapons-grade plutonium that was closed in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord.

On Thursday, North Korea blocked access to its Kaesong joint industrial zone with South Korea for the second day running, and threatened to pull out its 53,000 workers in a furious reaction to the South's airing of a "military" contingency plan to protect its own workers there.

The Unification Ministry said there were still 608 South Korean citizens in Kaesong, which was shut Friday for a scheduled North Korean holiday.

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Mark Knopfler cancels Russian tour dates

BRITISH rock musician Mark Knopfler has announced he is cancelling his Russian tour dates because of the Moscow's crackdown on NGOs including searches of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

"Given the crackdown by Russian authorities on groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, I have regretfully decided to cancel my upcoming concerts in Moscow and St Petersburg in June," Knopfler said in a statement published on his website late on Thursday.

Russian authorities in recent weeks have carried out unprecedented searches of over 100 NGOs involved in rights activism, which Russia insists are routine checks, but which appear to be linked to a controversial law forcing foreign-funded NGOS involved in politics to carry a "foreign agent" tag.

The measure was fast-tracked through parliament upon Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin in May last year in the face of unprecedented protests against his 13-year rule.

The US State Department compared the searches to a "witch hunt."

Knopfler, the guitarist and singer who has gone onto a solo career after performing in Dire Straits, was due to perform in Moscow on June 7 and in St Petersburg on June 8.

He said he regretted that he had to cancel the tour because of the political situation.

"I have always loved playing in Russia and have great affection for the country and the people. I hope the current climate will change soon."

Knopfler's decision was backed by opposition supporters including Anton Nosik, the creator of several popular Russian-language news websites and now media director at SUP Media, owner of LiveJournal.

He wrote on his blog that "I don't just understand Knopfler's decision. I respect it."

Other musicians have used concerts in Russia to support the political opposition, including US star Madonna, who last year supported the cause of punk group Pussy Riot and handed out pink wristbands to support gay rights in St Petersburg, where a local law bans propaganda of homosexuality to minors.

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Ballet star Polunin walks out of show

ONE of the ballet's world's brightest but most volatile stars has vanished, again.

Sergei Polunin had been due to star in a dance piece based on Billy Hayes' Turkish prison memoir Midnight Express opening next week in London.

But director Peter Schaufuss said the 23-year-old dancer did not show up for rehearsals on Wednesday.

Polunin's whereabouts could not immediately be determined on Friday.

Schaufuss told the BBC he was "hugely disappointed" the young star had left.

"Artists have good and bad days - that goes with the territory - but rehearsals were going well," he said.

The dance company said Polunin's mentor, Igor Zelensky, had also left the production.

Ukraine-born Polunin became the youngest-ever male principal dancer at Britain's Royal Ballet when he was 19, but walked out of the company last year, saying he was giving up dance.

He later said he had quit because he could no longer handle the stress of a dance career.

Polunin, who moved to Britain aged 13, had spoken in a 2011 interview about the pressure he felt to succeed.

"I would have liked to behave badly, to play football. I loved sport," he told The Guardian. "But all my family were working for me to succeed. ... There was no chance of me failing."

Polunin later returned to performing under Zelensky at Moscow's Stanislavsky Ballet and has made guest appearances with the Royal Ballet.

When his role in Midnight Express was announced late last year, Polunin said it was "exactly the kind of work I want to be making, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it."

The Peter Schaufuss ballet company said understudy Johan Christensen would take over the main role in Midnight Express, which opens on Tuesday.

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Red tape strangling Aust universities

AUSTRALIAN universities are spending millions of dollars and thousands of work days each year dealing with red tape, the sector's peak body says.

A new report shows a typical Australian university spent 2000 days in 2011 preparing 18 reports for one government department, out of 46 sets of data it required.

The cost of compiling the 18 reports came to $26 million across the university sector, the PhillipsKPA report says.

The report, released on Thursday, comes five years after then-education minister Julia Gillard promised the Labor government "will be taking the foot of government off the throat of our universities".

Data reporting costs universities as much as $30 for every $1000 of funding, and between $3000 to $8000 per grant.

"What this report shows, and bearing in mind that it only addresses a part of one portfolio, is that the university sector is groaning under the weight of an ever increasing regulatory and reporting load," Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said.

"The dead weight of unnecessary, redundant and duplicative regulation and reporting not only leads to waste in the allocation of university and government resources, it also diverts substantial funds away from the core business of universities - teaching, scholarship and research," Ms Robinson said.

Opposition tertiary education spokesman Brett Mason said the regulatory burden was compounded by duplication.

The report, commissioned by the federal tertiary education department, recommended the creation of a central list and timetable of the different reporting requirements.

This would help universities and help cut red tape.

Ultimately, it said there should be a single national body for collection of higher education data.

Universities Australia wants the Productivity Commission to undertake a full review of university regulation and reporting that covers all government agencies.

Universities now have to report data regularly to bodies including the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, state governments, the Australian Research Council, the immigration department, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and a range of other agencies who want to know different things.

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Dozens of senior Qld cops to retire early

MORE than 80 senior Queensland police officers will leave the service in coming weeks.

But Commissioner Ian Stewart says it won't affect operations, and all 86 have applied for, and been granted, voluntary redundancies.

"While their departure from the service will result in a loss of many years of experience and corporate knowledge, the subsequent renewal will provide significant opportunities for the QPS and the community we serve," the commissioner said in a statement.

"I acknowledge that we are losing not only colleagues but friends, mentors and confidants."

Mr Stewart says the loss of the officers will not affect the force's ability to cope with the massive security operation needed for the G20 Summit in 2014.

World leaders from the Group of 20 nations will gather in Brisbane in November next year.

Members of the G20 account for 85 per cent of global GDP, 80 per cent of global trade, and most of Australia's major trading and investment partners.

The security operation for their visit will be one of the largest Brisbane has seen.

Mr Stewart says with 11,000 sworn officers the force still has a huge capacity and depth of experience.

"I'm absolutely confident that we will have the capacity and the experience to manage any policing incident including our response to G20," he told the Seven Network.

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Plans to keep Aussies safe in Korea

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia has plans to keep Australians safe in South Korea. Source: AAP

DEFENCE has made contingency plans to ensure the safety of Australians in South Korea, amid concerns about North Korea's threats of a nuclear strike.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr will make a personal appeal for China to persuade North Korea to "ratchet down" its behaviour after the rogue nation threatened a nuclear strike against the United States.

The announcement came after the US moved to protect military bases on Guam, an island about 3380km southeast of North Korea and home to 6000 American military personnel, submarines and bombers.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia has publicly and consistently told North Korea it should desist from its provocative statements about South Korea and its provocative action.

He says Australia has a small number of Defence personnel on the Korean Peninsula at the moment.

"We have a small number of personnel as part of the United Nations contingent," Mr Smith told Sky News on Thursday.

"But there are very many Australians who regularly are in the Republic of Korea - in Seoul in South Korea - for tourist or for business purposes, and we have contingency plans to deal with their safety and security, and obviously that's done in conjunction with Korean, United States and UN authorities."

Mr Smith said Australia had seen this type of provocation from North Korea in the past and it had led either to exchanges of robust language or the occasional artillery exchange.

"But in terms of what our future involvement might be, we take that step by step."

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Estonia capital gives residents free ride

LOOKING for a free ride? Go live in Tallinn.

Estonia's capital has become the world's first to introduce free public transport for all of its residents.

All that's required is a transit pass showing you're a registered Tallinner - and the city's buses, streetcars and trams are yours for free.

"I live on a tight budget since I don't have too much work right now," said Mare Tulp, who recently registered as a Tallinn resident.

"I need to save money wherever I can, so I'm very happy with the free public transit scheme. This is a good thing for the common person."

Three months after launching the initiative, city officials are hailing the experiment as a success, though sceptics say it's an expensive, populist trick ahead of local elections.

The free-ride scheme is the brainchild of Mayor Edgar Savisaar, who wants to reduce congestion and pollution while cutting costs for the city's poor.

Savisaar claims families will be able to save a month's salary now that they can get around Tallinn for free.

Deputy Mayor Taavi Aas says the experiment, which will cost the city about 12 million euros ($A14.8 million) annually in lost ticket sales, has surpassed expectations.

Passenger numbers are up 10 per cent, while the number of cars on city streets has fallen by as much as 15 per cent, according to Tallinn's transport authority.

A recent opinion poll commissioned by the city shows that 90 per cent of Tallinn residents are satisfied with the project.

"People now move around the city more frequently during weekends," Aas said. "This means they also spend more money, which boosts the economy."

City officials say it's too early to tell how much the city's economy has been stimulated in this way.

But the program is expected to boost the city's tax revenue because the registration requirement is winning the city more taxable residents.

According to city calculations, about 40,000 people living and working in Tallinn are registered in other cities and towns. But more than 5000 new Tallinn residents have been registered since January 1, compared with 3600 residency registrations for all of last year.

With 1000 new residents equalling an estimated 1 million euros in city tax revenue, the current registration rate would offset the program's costs this year, Aas said.

The initiative covers buses, streetcars and trolleybuses in Tallinn - a city of 425,000. The only catch is that one must be registered as a city resident and get a transit pass for 2 euros.

Once on board, you must place the pass on an electronic reader. If you don't, a ticket controller can fine you up to 40 euros ($A50).

Installing the system was a breeze in tech-savvy Estonia, birthplace of Skype and pioneer of online voting.

Many European capitals, including London, have similar electronic fare systems, but the difference is Tallinners never have to top up the card with money.

Critics say the experiment is doomed and will bankrupt Tallinn.

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Lego denies pulling toy after racism claim

LEGO is denying that the withdrawal of its Star Wars: Jabba's Palace box set is due to accusations of Islamaphobia and racism.

The decision to discontinue the product at the end of 2013 "was taken last year and communicated in January," but Austria's Turkish Cultural Community "interpreted this a little differently," spokeswoman Katharina Sasse told AFP on Thursday.

She added however that the large amount of "feedback" about the product, not only from the Austrian organisation but also from others, had been "passed on to our development department".

"We listen very closely and take feedback very seriously. It must be said though that when it comes to the Star Wars line, we develop our products in line with the films," she said.

A statement from the Turkish organisation gave the impression the Danish firm had decided to stop making the set because the group's representatives had made clear in a recent meeting that it was a "clear case of cultural racism".

The organisation said the building in the set closely resembled the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, while a figure with an axe and machine gun in the minaret-like structure could be mistaken for a muezzin, who calls the Muslim faithful to prayer.

"This toy depicts Jabba the Hut as a villain who smokes an oriental water pipe who has captured a princess to be a belly dancer. This has no place in a child's bedroom," the organisation's head Birol Kilic said.

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IMF to provide 1 bn euros to Cyprus rescue

THE International Monetary Fund has agreed to provide approximately 1 billion euros ($A1.24 billion) to the 10-billion-euro rescue plan for cash-strapped Cyprus, managing director Christine Lagarde says.

This would be through a "three-year Special Drawing Rights loan," Lagarde said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that she expects the deal to go to the IMF executive board for approval in early May.

The IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank agreed with Cyprus on Tuesday the terms of a program that will see the country drastically downsize its bloated banking sector and put state finances in order.

"The Cypriot authorities have put forward an ambitious, multi-year reform program to address the economic challenges they face," Lagarde said, describing it as "resolute".

"The overarching goals are to stabilise the financial system, achieve fiscal sustainability and support the recovery of economic activity to preserve the welfare of the population."

AF

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Economist warns of radical climate change

The former chief economist for the World Bank says global warming is proceeding at an alarming rate. Source: AAP

THE author of an influential 2006 study on climate change has warned that the world could be headed towards warming even more catastrophic than expected but he voiced hope for political action.

Nicholas Stern, the British former chief economist for the World Bank, said on Tuesday that both emissions of greenhouse gas and the effects of climate change were taking place faster than he forecast seven years ago.

Without changes to emission trends, the planet has roughly a 50 per cent chance that temperatures will soar to 5C above pre-industrial averages in a century, he said.

"We haven't been above five degrees Centigrade on this planet for about 30 million years. So you can see that this is radical change way outside human experience," Stern said in an address at the International Monetary Fund.

"When we were at three degrees Centigrade three million years ago, the sea levels were about 20 some metres above now. On sea level rise of just two metres, probably a couple of hundred million people would have to move," he said.

Stern said that other effects would come more quickly including the expansion of deserts and the melting of Himalayan snows that supply rivers on which up to two billion people depend.

Even if nations fulfil pledges made in 2010 at a UN-led conference in Cancun, Mexico, the world would be on track to warming of 4C, he said.

Stern's 2006 study, considered a landmark in raising public attention on climate change, predicted that warming would shave at least five per cent off gross domestic product each year.

Despite the slow progress in international negotiations, Stern saw signs for hope as a number of countries move to put a price on greenhouse gases.

"My own view is that 2013 is the best possible year to try to work and redouble our efforts to create the political will that hitherto has been much too weak," Stern said.

Stern said French President Francois Hollande was keen for nations to meet their goal of sealing an accord in 2015 in Paris.

Stern also voiced hope that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, long a prominent voice on climate change, would become more active after this year's elections.

US President Barack Obama has vowed action on climate change after an earlier bid was thwarted by legislators of the rival Republican Party, many of whom reject the science behind climate change.

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Taliban attack on Afghan court kills six

TALIBAN attackers have stormed an Afghan court and surrounding buildings, killing at least six people and wounding 70 others in the western town of Farah.

At least four militants who launched the bomb and shooting attack also died in the assault, which comes as NATO winds down its combat mission in the war-torn country by the end of next year.

Two attackers died when they detonated a car bomb at the gate of the provincial court building, two were shot by security forces and another man was still alive, with a firefight still ongoing hours after the assault began.

"Our latest report shows that at least six (other) people have been killed and 70 people have been wounded," said Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, governor of Farah province.

Agha Noor Kentos, police chief of Farah, said five police were among the wounded as ambulances returned to the scene on Wednesday to take other injured people to hospital.

"At around 8am, five attackers riding in two military-style vehicles drove to the provincial court building, one (vehicle) detonated at the gate and three attackers entered the building," Kentos said.

"One is still resisting and five security forces have been wounded," he said, adding the target could have been the court or government buildings nearby.

Wakil Ahmad, a doctor at Farah hospital, said medics were treating about 50 wounded people, including 35 civilians, 11 police, two army soldiers, two judges and one court prisoner.

Taliban militants fighting the US-backed central government immediately claimed they were behind the attack.

"Our fighters attacked several government buildings in Farah according to their planned tactic. They conducted the attack with small arms and grenades," the group said on its website.

Abdul Rahman Zhawandon, spokesman for the governor of Farah, said the area had been sealed off as firing continued.

"The attackers entered a provincial appeal court building, security forces have surrounded them, the exchange of fire continues," he said.

"Some attackers entered a Kabul Bank office attached to the court building."

The governor's compound is about 200 metres away from the scene of attack.

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Mandela much better after week in hospital

NELSON Mandela is "much better" and responding "satisfactorily" to treatment after a week in hospital for pneumonia.

The ailing 94-year-old, who served as South Africa's first black president, was making a steady improvement and doctors were happy with his progress, President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"His doctors say he continues to respond satisfactorily to treatment and is much better now than he was when he was admitted to hospital on the 27th of March 2013," it said.

"He has been visited by family and continues to make steady progress."

No details on a possible release were given.

The global peace and anti-apartheid icon was admitted to hospital shortly before midnight a week ago, his third stay since December.

Doctors last week drained excess fluid on the lining of Mandela's lungs caused by recurring infection.

The procedure helped him breathe without difficulty.

Last month Mandela spent a night in hospital for a scheduled checkup and in December was admitted for 18 days for a lung infection and gallstones surgery.

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Eddie Murphy refused Mel B visa form:court

Eddie Murphy (pic) has refused to sign a consent form for his child with Mel B to come to Australia. Source: AAP

AMERICAN actor Eddie Murphy refused to sign a visa consent form allowing his child with Spice Girl Melanie Brown to come to Australia, a Sydney court has heard.

The Seven Network is battling in the Supreme Court to retain what it claims is an exclusive Australian television agreement with the singer known as Mel B until January 31, 2014.

The network took Brown to court after it was announced earlier this year that she would be appearing on the Nine Network's Australia's Got Talent.

Lawyers for Brown told the court last week Seven had no plans to use Brown this year and simply wanted to stop her appearing on the rival network.

But Seven's director of production, Brad Lyons, said on Wednesday that Seven "really wanted" Brown to appear on its successful X-Factor series for a third year running and so had secured her for the 2013 series.

"She was a very good judge. That's why we exercised the option to have her return. She is outspoken and a big international star," Mr Lyons said.

Brown's husband and manager Stephen Belafonte said in a phone call earlier this year Brown would not be able to come to Australia because they were having consent problems with the fathers of her children, Mr Lyons said.

Brown has three children - one from her first marriage to dancer Jimmy Gulzar, one with ex-boyfriend Murphy and one with Mr Belafonte.

"(Mr Belafonte said) we're fighting custody battles in LA and London. It's looking increasingly likely Mel will have to live and work in LA," Mr Lyons said.

Seven production lawyer Jane Oswald said she was told the problem was with Murphy.

"Eddie Murphy ... wouldn't sign the documents, and (they said) they would have to take him to court to get the documents signed," Ms Oswald said.

Mr Lyons said he was upset that Mel B needed to live and work in LA, but told Mr Belafonte: "We're not going to tear her away from her kids."

He said he started "working towards a solution" to use Brown in the show, including possibly making her a fifth judge who would fly in and out.

Under cross-examination from Brown's lawyer, Thomas Blackburn SC, Mr Lyons agreed he did not specifically tell Mr Belafonte that Seven and Brown "have an existing and continuing agreement".

But Mr Lyons said he was convinced the agreement was in place.

The hearing resumes on Thursday.

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Jury out again in UK fire deaths trial

A UK jury will consider its verdicts in the manslaughter trial of Mick and Mairead Philpott. Source: AAP

A BRITISH jury has resumed its deliberations in the trial of a couple accused of killing their six children in a house fire.

The seven men and five women retired on Wednesday afternoon to start considering their verdicts in the manslaughter trial of Mick and Mairead Philpott, and a third defendant, 46-year-old Paul Mosley.

Nottingham Crown Court did not sit on Thursday, so jurors entered their second day of deliberations today after the Easter break.

Philpott, 56, his 32-year-old wife and Mosley all deny the manslaughter of the six children in the petrol-fuelled blaze at the family's three-bedroom council house in Allenton, Derby, on May 11 last year.

Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five, all died in the fire. Duwayne, 13, died two days later in Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Prosecutors allege Philpott plotted the fire in a bid to frame his former mistress, Lisa Willis, who left the home they shared three months earlier, taking her children with her.

During the eight-week trial the jury heard Willis and her five children, four of them fathered by Philpott, had lived with the couple and their six children at Victory Road for 10 years before leaving in February 2012.

Philpott was due in court in a pre-scheduled hearing to discuss residency of the five children with Willis on the day of the fatal blaze at his home. The hearing was postponed following the fire.

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Nepal traffic police herd holy cows

POLICE in Nepal's capital Kathmandu have launched a campaign to round up cows roaming the streets, blaming the sacred animals for car accidents and traffic jams.

"The stray cows and oxen have been a big nuisance in Kathmandu streets. They not only cause accidents, but also make the streets untidy," said Pawan Giri, spokesman for the Kathmandu Metropolitan Traffic Police.

"We see traffic jams because the drivers who try to avoid the cows often crash into other vehicles."

He said the captured animals would be detained until their owners paid a fine of approximately $US60 ($A57.85) for their release.

Cows are a regular sight in the smog-choked capital and are often found eating from piles of garbage on the roadside.

Regarded as an incarnation of the Hindu Goddess of prosperity Laxmi, the beasts are treated as sacred in Nepal, where the majority of the population is Hindu.

During the annual Tihar festival in the autumn, Hindus spend a day worshipping them by offering food and gifts.

The traffic police say they have rounded up 18 animals since launching the operation on Monday and they plan to continue this drive for several weeks.

While the abolishment of a Hindu monarchy in 2008 launched a secular era, Nepalese authorities still routinely arrest people for killing cows, mainly in rural areas.

Cow slaughter remains illegal in Nepal and can carry a prison sentence of up to 12 years.

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Fierce battles rage in Damascus

Syria monitors say March was the deadliest month yet in the conflict, with more than 6000 deaths. Source: AAP

FIGHTING between Syria's rebels and loyalist troops raged in two Damascus neighbourhoods on Tuesday while shelling of a village near the capital left four members of a family dead, a watchdog said.

"Fierce battles broke out in the Barzeh district of northern Damascus. Shelling in the area wounded five people and caused material damage," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reporting.

"Clashes also raged in the outskirts of Jobar (in eastern Damascus), next to Abbasiyeen square," the monitoring group added, referring to one of the capital's main squares.

Violence has escalated in Damascus in recent weeks as the army battles to push back insurgents seeking to penetrate the capital from enclaves in the outskirts.

Shelling on Al-Hajar Al-Aswad in southern Damascus killed at least three men and wounded more than 20 civilians, the Observatory said.

In Mqailyabeh in Damascus province, large swathes of which are under insurgent control, army shelling killed a three-year-old boy, his five-year-old sister, their mother and grandmother, the group added.

Tuesday's violence comes a day after at least 150 people were killed, among them 69 civilians, 44 rebels and 37 loyalist troops, the Observatory said.

The month of March was the deadliest in Syria's two-year conflict, with more than 6,000 people killed, the watchdog said.

The UN says more than 70,000 people have been killed since March 2011, when a protest movement broke out against President Bashar al-Assad.

The peaceful movement spiralled into an insurgency after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Meanwhile, the UN's World Food Program says unknown assailants in Syria have carried out at least 20 attacks on its food trucks, warehouses and cars since emergency operations were launched in December 2011.

WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs says no one was hurt or killed in the attacks, but she could not provide more details on locations or attackers.

Byrs told reporters on Tuesday "it's becoming more and more difficult with this growing violence to reach the people who are in need of assistance".

The UN's food agency says 2.5 million people in Syria and almost a million refugees in neighbouring countries need its help, costing $US19 million ($A18.32 million) a week.

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Food poisoning hits 479 Egyptian students

NEARLY 500 students from Cairo's Al-Azhar university have been admitted to hospital with food poisoning, a senior Egyptian health ministry official says.

The official, Khaled el-Khateib, said on Tuesday all 479 food poisoning cases came from the university's dormitories in the capital's Nasr City district.

The poisonings occurred after a meal served at the dormitories on Monday.

Al-Azhar students plan a protest outside the university's offices later on Tuesday.

On Monday, hundreds of students angered by the incident demonstrated outside the residence halls, blocking roads and chanting slogans against the university's management.

The university belongs to Al-Azhar mosque, the world's foremost seat of Sunni Muslim learning.

Beside religious studies, the university awards degrees in sciences and humanities.

Egypt's top prosecutor on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the case.

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Greek recapitalisation delay predicted

GREECE'S central banker is forecasting that an eagerly-awaited recapitalisation of the country's crisis-hit leading banks could be delayed by a few weeks to May.

"The recapitalisation will be over in a few weeks," Bank of Greece governor George Provopoulos told state television NET in a late Monday interview.

"According to the program, it will have to be completed in April. I would say this date is slightly unrealistic, there could be a delay of a few weeks ... it could go to the end of May," Provopoulos said.

The recapitalisation of Greek banks, who took a major blow last year in helping the country reduce its sovereign debt, is a condition for the continued release of EU-IMF rescue loans for Greece's crisis-hit economy.

A sum of 50 billion euros ($A62.13 billion) out of the total EU-IMF bailout fund of 240 billion euros has been earmarked for this purpose.

At least 10 per cent of new capital must come from private investors to keep the banks from being effectively nationalised.

A key stumbling block to the process has been an ongoing merger between Greece's leading lender, National Bank, and third-ranked Eurobank.

Provopoulos on Monday acknowledged the concern of Greece's so-called troika of creditors - the EU, IMF and European Central Bank - that the new entity will both dominate the market and will be tough to recapitalise.

"(The creditors) do not like the creation of such a major player with a market share of around 40 per cent," Provopoulos said.

"The troika says, and I can also say, that there will be a greater difficulty in a combined National Bank-Eurobank entity, with capital needs in the order of 1.5 billion euros or slightly higher, a very large sum under the current circumstances.

"So there is a concern that if private investors cannot be found, it will come under state control," he added.

Senior troika representatives are returning to Athens this week to resume an audit of reforms that was suspended last month.

Their report will determine whether Athens will receive a loan disbursement of 2.8 billion euros pending since March.

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South Korea leader vows retaliation

North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament is set to meet at a time of soaring military tensions. Source: AAP

SOUTH Korea's new president has promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced the two countries are now in a state of war.

President Park Geun-Hye's warning came as North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament was set to hold its annual session and a day after ruling party leaders vowed to enshrine Pyongyang's right to nuclear weapons in law.

In a meeting with senior military officials and Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, Park said she took the near-daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month "very seriously."

"I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if (the North) stages any provocation against our people," she said.

Park, a conservative who had advocated cautious engagement with the North during her campaign, has been compelled to take a more hardline posture after assuming office in February.

The Korean peninsula has been caught in a cycle of escalating tensions since North Korea's long-range rocket launch in December which its critics condemned as a ballistic missile test.

United Nations sanctions were followed by a nuclear test in February, after which came more sanctions and more apocalyptic threats from Pyongyang as South Korea and the United States conducted joint military drills.

Those threats have run the gamut from limited artillery bombardments to pre-emptive nuclear strikes, and have been met with warnings from Seoul and Washington of severe repercussions.

The US military said Monday it had deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to South Korea as part of the ongoing "Foal Eagle" military exercise.

The jets were reportedly flown out of the US air base in Okinawa, Japan.

North Korea has already threatened to strike the US mainland and US bases in the Pacific in response to the participation of nuclear-capable US B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers in this year's exercise.

The annual gathering of the North's Supreme People's Assembly usually scores low on important policy announcements - its role largely limited to unanimously pushing through pre-decided budgets and personnel changes.

But with North Korea having declared itself in a "state of war" with the South, Monday's session will be closely watched for any sign of the current crisis impacting on the fortunes of members of the ruling elite.

"The North has played most of its political cards, so I don't see any fresh, tangible threats to come out after the meeting," said Cho Han-Bum, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

"It will probably issue some kind of symbolic statement, like urging all North Koreans to stand ready for a possible war," Cho said.

The parliament session was preceded by a gathering on Sunday of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, chaired by North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un.

The meeting declared that the North's possession of nuclear weapons "should be fixed by law", and that its nuclear arsenal should be beefed up "qualitatively and quantitatively".

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea and warned that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.

Both South Korea and the United States chose to downplay the announcement as just another in a long line of rhetorical provocations.

One threat that grabbed more attention related to the possible closure of a joint-Korean industrial complex which lies inside North Korea.

The Kaesong estate - established in 2004 as a symbol of cross-border cooperation - is a crucial source of hard-currency revenue for North Korea which has never allowed past crises on the peninsula to impact its operations.

On Saturday, the North's state body in charge of the complex said it would shut Kaesong down completely if South Korea continues to affront Pyongyang's "dignity".

The border crossing to Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres on the North side, was functioning normally on Monday.

The operating stability of the complex is seen as a true bellwether of inter-Korean relations, and its closure would mark a significant escalation of tensions beyond all the military rhetoric.

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Berezovsky's girlfriend doubts suicide

THE 23-year-old girlfriend of the late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky said she did not believe he had killed himself and that they had been planning to go to Israel on holiday together days after he was found dead.

In an interview with liberal weekly New Times, Katerina Sabirova said she did not believe Berezovsky, 67, whom she first met four years ago, would have killed himself, and that in their last conversation a day before his death, his voice "had sounded better than usual."

Berezovsky, 67, was found on March 23 in the bathroom of a mansion outside London and a postmortem found that he had been hanged and no evidence of a struggle.

"He was definitely planning to come to Israel on Monday (March 25). I know that for sure," she told the magazine and gave them a printout of her air ticket to Tel Aviv.

"He had big plans" of going to the Dead Sea, she said, adding that he had been down but that she had not believed he was suicidal.

Berezovsky "used to say: 'Imagine if I'm not around, all the problems will go away,' but this wasn't a guide to action, I could not and cannot imagine that he could do this. It's very hard to believe this," Sabirova said.

Berezovsky was due to meet her at Tel Aviv airport's VIP lounge, after flying out with his bodyguard Avi, she said. He had proposed the trip on March 18, as Sabirova's British visa had run out.

The magazine printed a photograph of Sabirova, a pretty brunette, with Berezovsky, his arm around her shoulder. Friends of Berezovsky confirmed that they were in a long-term relationship, it said.

When she came to a Moscow restaurant for the interview "heads turned," the magazine wrote.

Sabirova also confirmed that Berezovsky had discussed with her his letter to Putin asking for forgiveness, whose existence was revealed after Berezovsky's death by Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

"He said that he did not see another way (to return to Russia) than to bow down," she said, adding that she saw a draft and inferred that Berezovsky sent it in November.

Friends of Berezovsky concurred that he had been extremely depressed after losing a multi-million-pound court battle against fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, last year.

AFP tdw

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Easter road toll 7 more than last year's

EIGHTEEN people have been killed on the nation's roads during the Easter break, seven more than this time last year.

Two pedestrians are among the victims, with the latest a male who died at the scene of a crash at Waterloo Corner, north of Adelaide, on Monday evening.

In Perth, a male pedestrian, 21, died after being hit by a prime mover on the Mitchell Freeway about 7.20pm (WST) on Sunday.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner and have asked witnesses to the accident, or anyone who saw a pedestrian on the freeway beforehand, to call Crime Stoppers.

The first death on WA roads in the Easter period was on Thursday, when a 66-year-old man died after his car and caravan rolled over near Albany in the state's south.

There were also two off-road crashes in WA which were not included in the official toll figures.

On Saturday afternoon, a 37-year-old man died and a 33-year-old man was injured when their motorcycles collided on a blind bend on private property about 50km north of Kalgoorlie.

The 37-year-old man, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from his bike and suffered serious head injuries.

On Friday afternoon, a 29-year-old motorcyclist from Geraldton died after crashing in sand dunes near Northampton in WA's Mid West region.

In South Australia, a 27-year-old man died when his ute rolled in Mount Gambier on Saturday night.

Three people died in two separate crashes in South Australia on Good Friday.

"South Australia has already recorded its worst Easter road toll in recent years and thousands of families are still to make the journey home today," South Australia Police said in a statement.

The official Easter road toll is now five in South Australia, two in NSW, four in Queensland, three in Victoria, two in Tasmania and two in WA.

There have been no road deaths in the ACT or the Northern Territory.

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Suicide truck bomb kills 8 in Iraq

A SUICIDE truck bomber killed eight people at a police headquarters as data showed March was Iraq's deadliest month since August, raising fears of a surge in violence leading up to elections.

The latest attack, in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, comes as Iraq marks 10 years since the US-led invasion of the country that intended to oust Saddam and install a stable, democratic ally in the Middle East but instead unleashed brutal violence and endless political disputes.

The attacker detonated the tanker truck at a police headquarters in Tikrit, 160 kilometres north of Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 14, police and medics said.

Most of the casualties in the attack, which struck in morning rush hour, were police, the sources added.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaeda often use suicide bombers and vehicles packed with explosives to target security forces and officials in a bid to destabilise the country.

The bombing comes ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April 20, due to be held in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces, the country's first polls since a parliamentary vote in March 2010.

But questions have been raised over the credibility of the polls as they have been postponed in two provinces roiled by months of protests, and 11 candidates have been killed, according to an AFP tally.

Officials cited security threats to candidates and election officials in justifying the delay in Anbar and Nineveh province, but diplomats have voiced concern over the move.

"The fact is that while security has been put forward as a rationale for that postponement, no country knows more about voting under difficult circumstances than Iraq," US Secretary of State John Kerry said on a surprise visit to Baghdad last month.

The vote is seen as a key barometer of support for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as he grapples with criticism from within his unity cabinet and protests in the minority Sunni Arab community.

Though violence remains high by international standards, Iraq's military and police are consistently described by Iraqi and American officials as capable of maintaining internal security, but are not yet fully able to protect the country's borders, airspace and maritime territory.

Figures compiled by AFP and based on reports from security and medical officials, meanwhile, showed that March was the deadliest month in Iraq since August with 271 people killed and 906 wounded in attacks.

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Protest 'polar bear' floats past Kremlin

A GREENPEACE activist in a polar bear suit has floated along the Moscow River past the Kremlin before being briefly detained in a stunt by the environmental group to protest against energy exploration in Russia's Arctic waters.

The activist in a furry white suit stood on a white air cushion designed to look like an ice floe with signs reading "Help!" and "Arctic not for Sale" before a river patrol came out in a motorboat and bundled the activist inside.

The activist was later released from a police station with no charge, Greenpeace said on Twitter, adding that "the crimes are being committed in the Arctic."

Greenpeace said Monday's protest aimed to draw attention to a planned joint venture between Norway's Statoil and Russia's Rosneft to explore Russia's Barents Sea for untapped oil reserves.

Greenpeace said in a statement on its website it was starting to collect signatures for a petition calling on Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to halt the project, warning of the risk of oil spills.

It accused Statoil of being ready to take on environmentally risky projects in Russia that it would not consider doing in its home country.

Greenpeace activists in polar bear costumes last year picketed the headquarters of state-owned energy giant Gazprom. They were charged with breaking rules on protests and fined.

Russia's Arctic is seen as one of the world's last remaining natural wildernesses, but the Russian authorities are increasing looking to exploit its energy reserves as deposits elsewhere run out.

"If there was a disaster in the Barents Sea, the damage to the northern environment and also fish resources and population of littoral towns would be catastrophic," Greenpeace warned.

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Mandela spends fourth day in hospital

Nelson Mandela is comfortable and breathing without difficulty after being treated for pneumonia. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela remains in hospital for a fourth day after South African officials say he's making steady progress following treatment for a recurrence of pneumonia.

The frail 94-year-old, one of the towering figures of modern history, was admitted late on Wednesday for his third hospitalisation in four months.

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

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

On Sunday morning, Zuma's spokesman said it was too early for another update on the anti-apartheid icon's health.

"I have no update to issue this morning. It's too early. I don't even know how he spent the night," Mac Maharaj told AFP.

"I have said he is responding (to treatment), making steady progress."

It was unclear how long South Africa's first black president would remain hospitalised.

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 at home, 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, Mandela remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

It is the second time this month 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 for another lung infection and gallstone surgery, his longest since he walked free from jail in 1990.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 during his 27 year jail term 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 medicine at the University of Cape Town, said a pleural effusion was the accumulation of water between the lining covering the lung and 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."

French pulmonologist Jean-Christophe Renaud said Mandela had a good constitution and could recover well.

"But at 94, everything is serious, especially taking into account his previous medical history."

While Mandela's legacy continues to loom large, 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 July 2010.

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Beatles album sells for $279,000

A RARE, signed copy of The Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has been sold for a record $US290,500 ($A279,000) at auction.

The Hollywood Reporter entertainment magazine reported on its website that the album, signed by all four members of the famous band, was purchased through Dallas-based Heritage Auctions by an unnamed buyer from the Midwest.

Earlier estimates suggested the album would sell for about $US30,000, the publication said.

The Beatles are believed to have signed the cover around June 1967 when the album was released.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the previous record for a signed Beatles album cover was $US150,000, which was paid for a copy of Meet the Beatles.

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Family escapes Adelaide house fire

A FAMILY with five children has escaped unscathed from a fire which engulfed a home in Adelaide's north.

The single storey duplex house at Smithfield Plains was fully alight when fire crews arrived on Sunday afternoon.

A neighbour alerted the family inside the house and they evacuated safely.

The fire was controlled in 15 minutes with crews managing to stop its spread to the rest of the duplex.

Fire investigators will determine the cause.

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Australian soldiers injured in Afghanistan

TWO Australian special forces soldiers have been wounded by a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

The Defence Department said the soldiers had been hurt when an improvised explosive device detonated during a patrol in Helmand province on Sunday.

A coalition soldier and two Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) personnel were also wounded in the explosion.

One of the Australians and the coalition soldier were airlifted to a nearby medical facility.

The three remaining casualties returned to the base at Tarin Kowt for treatment.

"The patrol uncovered three additional IEDs within a compound of interest," Defence said in a statement.

"The commander on the ground cordoned off the compound to ensure no civilians entered the area.

"The Australian soldiers' families have been notified."

Australia's main base in Afghanistan is due to close at the end of this year and 1000 soldiers will head home as the NATO-backed mission in the country moves to a new era of Afghan self-sufficiency.

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Fears for Aussie amid Savile sex scandal

A SHOWBIZ friend of the high-profile Australian entertainer arrested last week in England on suspicion of sex offences fears his mate's life may have been ruined even if he's never charged.

The 83-year-old Australian celebrity was questioned on Thursday by a British police task force set up following the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

He was released hours later on police bail.

"It appears there's a witch-hunt going on looking at the number of high-profile celebrities arrested," the unnamed friend of the 83-year-old told UK tabloid, The Sunday Mirror.

"Even if those arrested are never charged, their lives will still have been ruined and that's unfair.

"It's easy making historic allegations against showbiz names."

The friend said he was "dumbfounded" by the latest events.

The Australian will not be named by the Metropolitan Police unless he is charged at a later date.

He is the 11th person to have been arrested as a result of Operation Yewtree.

It was established after a TV documentary alleged former BBC disc jockey Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84, sexually abused countless children over decades.

While the Australian was in the media spotlight at the same time, police have stressed his arrest was not connected to the specific allegations made against Savile.

The 83-year-old has reportedly moved out of his Berkshire home and into a London flat in recent weeks to avoid press scrutiny.

He was first interviewed under caution in late November 2012, five days after a search warrant was executed at his home.

The entertainer's British agent has not returned AAP's calls in recent days.

No one answered the door at his Berkshire home on Friday.

A police investigation concluded earlier this year that Savile was a predatory sex offender who abused youngsters as young as eight over more than 50 years, using his fame to rape and assault victims on BBC premises, in schools and hospitals.

The scandal has led to the arrests of singer Gary Glitter, comedians Freddie Starr and Jim Davidson and radio presenter Stuart Hall.

Prosecutors last week said there wasn't enough evidence to charge former BBC producer Wilfred De'ath who had also been arrested.

De'ath subsequently hit out at the MET which he said had been "arresting people on rather spurious allegations" having failed "to get" Savile when he was alive.

"Operation Yewtree has gone too far ... it really is getting silly," De'ath told the BBC.

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