Iran says it's not seeking nuclear weapons

IRAN'S Supreme Leader says Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, but that no power could stop Tehran's access to an atomic bomb if it intended to build it.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, told a group of Iranians at his residence in Tehran that Iran backs the elimination of nuclear weapons.

His comments were posted on Saturday on his website, khamenei.ir.

Iran has been highlighting a religious decree issued by Khamenei that bans nuclear weapons in an effort to back up its claim that Iran's nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes and medical research.

The US and its allies fear that Iran might ultimately be able to develop a nuclear weapon.

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Six-year-old girl raped, dumped in India

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl has been kidnapped, raped and dumped on the side of the road in New Delhi in the latest sexual attack to shock India.

The girl, from Delhi's satellite city of Gurgaon, was spotted by a passer-by in the border region of Kapashera. The crime became public knowledge after local newspapers and news-channels reported it on Friday.

"Medical examinations have confirmed rape. The girl is recuperating in a hospital," Om Prakash, a local police officer said.

"We have launched a manhunt to arrest those responsible for the brutal act but have few leads as the girl is unable to give a proper statement since she is traumatised," he added.

The Times of India reported the victim was last seen with a man in his early twenties and it was possible that she had been raped by more than one person.

Many rapes have been reported since December's fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi. The assault sparked angry protests and demands for better protection for women and stricter laws against rape.

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Suicide attack kills senior Iraqi officer

A SUICIDE attack on Saturday killed a senior Iraqi intelligence officer outside his home near the main northern city of Mosul, officials said.

Brigadier General Aouni Ali, the head of Iraq's main intelligence academy, and two of his guards were killed in the bomb blast at Tal Afar, near Mosul, police and a doctor said.

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Belgium against release of Dutroux

BELGIAN prosecutors and prison officials have recommended that pedophile killer Marc Dutroux stay behind bars as judges get set to rule on his contentious bid for early release.

In the first of two rulings, judges will decide on Monday whether Dutroux should wear an electronic ankle bracelet in the case of an early release from prison.

The 56-year-old is Belgium's most notorious criminal. In the 1990s, he kidnapped six girls, raping and confining them in a dungeon-like cellar. Four of them died.

Dutroux was sentenced to life in prison in 2004, but under Belgian law he can request a conditional release after completing one third of his sentence - a point that would be met on April 30 after almost 16 years behind bars.

The Belgian judicial system is going through the motions triggered by his request, although an early release is deemed unlikely.

The prosecution and prison directors gave four reasons why Dutroux should not be set free, media group Sudpresse reported on Saturday.

Firstly, they said it would be difficult for him to find work as nobody would employ him - a problem that Dutroux himself had admitted to friends. He was considering working as an independent plumber or car mechanic.

Secondly, Dutroux had nowhere to live after his closest friend had retracted an offer to accommodate him upon release.

In addition to this, recent statements by Dutroux had shown he could still cause distress to his victims, and there was a risk of re-offence, Sudpresse wrote, quoting him as saying that he had "treated the little girls with humanity."

Monday's hearing will be public, but it remained unclear whether Dutroux would be present. His last court hearing, on February 4, was held behind closed doors and under heavy police guard.

There was widespread outrage last year when Dutroux's ex-wife and accomplice, Michelle Martin, was freed after serving 16 years of a 30-year sentence.

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EU states want business tax equality

THE finance ministers of Britain, France and Germany have launched a drive to force big business to pay its fair share of tax and halt the schemes of top firms to keep payments to a minimum.

Britain's George Osborne, France's Pierre Moscovici and Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble said it was time for internationally co-ordinated action to clamp down on the practice of shifting profits from the company's home country to pay less tax under another jurisdiction.

The drive - which is backed by a study by the Organisation for Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD) on the consequences of the so-called profit shifting - comes as cash-strapped governments try to use every means to inject new funds into their budgets.

"We are talking about something that is fundamentally legal. We need to modify the law," said OECD secretary general Angel Gurria. "Avoiding double taxation has become a way of having double non-taxation.

"No single country can go by itself," he said at a news conference on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Moscow, insisting that the drive was not aimed at "bashing" individual corporate giants.

Schaeuble said it was "unfair that multinational companies should be able to use globalisation as a tool" not to pay their fair share of taxes while Moscovici described the issue as a "matter of fairness for our citizens".

Osborne said current global tax rules had been developed almost 100 years ago - along principles set out by the League of Nations in the 1920s - and few changes had been made since.

"This means that the tax system does not reflect how international companies do business.

"We want businesses to pay the taxes that we set in our countries. And this cannot be achieved by one country alone. No one country can create an international tax system by itself."

The ministers emphasised that their proposal was supported by the Russian presidency of the G20.

Online retailer Amazon, internet giant Google as well as coffee shop chain Starbucks have been under the spotlight for their tax strategies in Britain and other EU countries in recent months.

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Extraordinary attack by KAP candidate

BOB Katter's Australian Party (KAP) has decided not to expel a Senate candidate who tweeted that he didn't want homosexuals teaching his children.

However, soon after the decision late on Friday, Bernard Gaynor launched an extraordinary attack on those who decided not to throw him out, and fellow Senate candidate Steve Bailey.

Earlier in the day, the party confirmed it would not disendorse Mr Bailey, who has publicly said that he supports gay marriage despite one of KAP's core principles being that marriage is between a man and a woman.

The party's National Director Aidan McLindon said candidates were allowed to voice personal opinions, just not on behalf of the party.

"We have our core values and principles like every political party," he told reporters at party headquarters in Brisbane.

"People can champion their opinions, but they can't do it on behalf of the good party.

"Australians know what the party stands for and we're not going to be distracted by these side issues."

Mr McLindon had originally asked Mr Bailey to withdraw his candidacy but party leader Bob Katter overrode the decision.

On Friday evening Mr Gaynor welcomed the party's decision not to terminate his own membership, saying it confirmed his statements did not undermine KAP's core values.

"The backlash against me from radical progressives was driven from their desire to indoctrinate children, regardless of parents' wishes," he said in a statement.

"Teachers have no right to give the impression that a homosexual lifestyle is moral.

"Indeed, it would be a perverted country if homosexual teachers had more rights than parents to form a child's understanding of morality."

He said parents across Australia should be very uncomfortable about "this disgusting notion", adding that the decision not to terminate his membership was clear proof the management committee was embarrassed about its knee-jerk reaction in the face of criticism from "the flouncing blouse set on the left".

He thanked the party leadership for "belatedly growing a backbone" and deciding not to cave in, before attacking the decision to continue to back Mr Bailey as stupid.

"It is perpetually stupid to keep walking down the aisle with him towards an election," he concluded.

Another KAP candidate, Tess Corbett, withdrew her candidacy last month after telling a newspaper she didn't believe gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals.

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Airbus decides against lithium batteries

Airbus has announced it wont use lithium batteries in the A350 long-range liner under development. Source: AAP

AIRBUS will not use lithium batteries in the A350 long-range liner under development, a company source says.

"The first planes will be delivered with cadmium, not lithium batteries," the source told AFP on Friday, adding that the airliner's first test flights would take place with the lithium batteries.

The announcement comes as Boeing's 50 Dreamliners in service around the world have been grounded since January, after battery smoke forced an emergency landing of one plane and a battery fire was reported on a parked plane.

US air safety investigators have since zeroed in on how a battery fire occurred on the parked plane - a Japanese Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan airport - saying evidence pointed to a single cell on the eight-cell lithium-ion battery, which short circuited, leading to a rise in temperature.

Investigators do not yet know what specifically caused the short circuit.

The Airbus A350 is due to enter service in the second half of 2014, with the company hoping the liner will make it competitive in the long-haul market, where its planes have found it hard to challenge Boeing's 747s and 777s.

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European stocks stable in early deals

EUROPE'S main stock markets are steady in early morning deals.

London's FTSE 100 index of top companies was down 0.09 per cent at 6,321.38 points on Friday morning.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 index fell 0.12 per cent to 7,622.01 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 firmed 0.21 per cent to 3,677.38.

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Oscar Pistorius appears in court

Olympic amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius (C) has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend. Source: AAP

A TEARFUL Oscar Pistorius has been remanded in custody after being formally charged with the murder of his girlfriend.

He was wearing a dark suit, tie and blue shirt when he appeared in the Pretoria magistrates court on Friday.

He broke down in the dock as magistrate Desmond Nair formally charged him with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

Prosecutors say they will pursue a premeditated murder charge against Pistorius, 26.

Pistorius stood with his face in his hands as he broke down in tears.

The magistrate delayed Pistorius' bail hearing until Tuesday and Wednesday and ruled that he must be held at a Pretoria police station until then.

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Passengers leave stricken US cruise ship

The crippled cruise ship making its way to the US has suffered a setback after a tow line snapped. Source: AAP

THE last passengers have left a stricken cruise ship in the United States, some kissing the ground, and many angry.

"All guests have now disembarked the Carnival Triumph," the operator Carnival Cruise Line tweeted on Thursday night.

Cheering passengers hung over rails or waited in lines to exit while others, unkempt and some wearing bathrobes, rushed down the single enclosed gangway of the 14-storey ship as they began disembarking at the US port of Mobile, Alabama.

Customs staff had earlier boarded the ship to speed up the process and the cruise line arranged around 100 buses to ferry passengers to Texas or New Orleans for an overnight stay.

No injuries were reported, but one guest with a medical condition was taken off the ship with the help of the Coast Guard.

After a fire on Sunday off the coast of Mexico caused the ship to lose power and left all on board in squalid conditions, the ship was towed towards port at the speed of a recreational jogger.

A tow line attached to one of four tugboats pulling the vessel broke, further hampering the operation.

The 3143 guests and around 1000 crew had been forced to relieve themselves in plastic bags and flee to the open deck to escape overflowing toilets and overheated rooms, CNN reported.

While they praised the crew for working long shifts to ensure guests were as comfortable as possible, many passengers voiced anger over the ordeal, the New York Daily News reported.

"Let us off! Let us off!" some chanted during a disembarking process that lasted several hours.

Passengers also poured scorn on Carnival chief executive Gerry Cahill, who had boarded the vessel to apologise.

"It was absolutely filthy," passenger Robin Burgess said.

"I'm feeling awesome just to see land," added Brittany Ferguson, 24.

Some rolled out banners with messages such as "Sweet Home Alabama" which others had sung on the slow approach into dock.

"Help, we need beer!", another sign said, as others had earlier created human SOS signs also spelling "H-E-L-P."

Passengers related stories of sewage pouring down walls, pungent smells and camping out on deck to avoid the odour.

The planned four-day cruise embarked from Galveston, Texas, on February 7.

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