King's son-in-law makes court appearance

PROTESTERS have jeered the Spanish king's son-in-law before his questioning by a judge about allegations he and a partner funnelled away millions of euros through fraudulent deals.

The investigation has deeply embarrassed the monarchy in a country hard hit by a financial crisis and sky-high unemployment.

The scandal ranks among the worst public relations mishaps the royal household has experienced in the 37-year reign of King Juan Carlos.

Inaki Urdangarin, who has not been charged with a crime, made his way into a courthouse in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday amid tense street scenes where a contingent of around 170 police kept noisy protesters away from the building.

Urdangarin, married to the 75-year-old king's second daughter, Princess Cristina, has denied any wrongdoing.

Urdangarin, facing his second appearance in court, did not stop to say anything but wished about 100 journalists covering the event a curt "good morning" as he walked in accompanied by his lawyer Mario Pascual Vives.

The Duke of Palma, the title held by Urdangarin, had been called to answer questions about whether he used his high-profile status to secure lucrative deals for a nonprofit foundation he ran and then fraudulently diverted money for personal gain.

But the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has moved to try and shield the king from potential collateral damage inflicted by the Urdangarin case, emphasising Juan Carlos' value to the nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria defended the king's role three times during a news conference following Friday's Cabinet meeting, highlighting how the monarch had worked "for stability and democracy" in Spain.

Judge Jose Castro will question Urdangarin about three alleged offences against the Treasury, including corporate tax fraud related to his foundation and matters linked to his personal income tax returns.

As stated in the writ of summons, the judge also intends asking about alleged bank accounts in tax havens such as Andorra, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Carlos Garcia Revenga, Cristina's personal secretary, was also scheduled to answer questions on Saturday.

A week ago, Urdangarin's former partner, Diego Torres, faced detailed questioning by Castro and it is reported many potentially damaging documents were handed over to the judge.

Urdangarin was summoned by Castro to the same court last February when the duke was quizzed over large contracts he secured from regional governments for his foundation.

He is suspected of then subcontracting the work to private companies he also oversaw, sometimes charging the public purse unrealistically inflated prices and syphoning some of the income to offshore tax havens.

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Violence could mar Kenya vote: Annan

THE former head of the United Nations, who helped save Kenya from spiralling deeper into election violence five years ago, is warning intimidation, ethnic rivalry and violence could undermine Kenya's March presidential vote.

Kofi Annan said on Saturday Kenya is on a positive trajectory five years after post-election violence killed more than 1000 people and forced some 600,000 from their homes.

Annan helped broker a political deal between the top two contenders for president.

That deal saw Mwai Kibaki remain president and challenger Raila Odinga become prime minister.

Annan said he fears ethnic rivalry could see violence return when the nation votes March 4.

It's likely the nation will see a run-off vote for president sometime in April that could have even more potential for violence.

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Nasheed leaves Indian Embassy

THE former president of the Maldives has left the country's Indian Embassy, where he had taken refuge for 10 days claiming his life was under threat.

Mohamed Nasheed left the embassy on Saturday.

He arrived there on February 13 after a court ordered his arrest for not attending a hearing on charges he illegally ordered the detention of a senior judge, a move that led to his ouster from power last year.

Nasheed has said the case against him is politically motivated to disqualify him from contesting the presidential election scheduled for September.

Nasheed did not explain why he left the embassy on Saturday but said he believed he would be free to participate in politics.

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Deadly Bangladesh violence over war crimes

BANGLADESH police have fired live rounds in fresh clashes with supporters of the country's largest Islamic party whose leaders are standing trial for war crimes, killing two people.

The clashes came a day after the Muslim-majority nation was hit by deadly violence between police and Islamists demanding the execution of bloggers they accuse of blasphemy, which left four people dead and about 200 injured.

In Saturday's clashes, police said they fired live rounds after up to 5000 Islamists attacked them with stones and firearms just outside northern Pabna town, killing two people and injuring about 30.

"We fired in self defence," Pabna's deputy police chief Mollick Ruhul Amin told AFP.

"One of our officers was also hit by a bullet and at least 10 to 12 policemen were injured," he added.

Jamaat-e-Islami party called a half-day strike in Pabna district to protest what they say were attacks by ruling party supporters on its members and offices on Friday.

Abu Taleb, district Jamaat secretary, said police shot dead unarmed protesters, while denying that its own activists had attacked them.

The party has mounted a string of nationwide strikes since last month, protesting trials of 10 of its leaders, including its head and deputy head, for war crimes allegedly committed in the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

At least 16 people have been killed during protests over the war crimes trials, including several who were shot dead by police.

The clashes have intensified since a Jamaat leader was sentenced to life imprisonment for mass murder during the war in which the country's secular government says three million people were killed.

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Fighting erupts in northern Mali

FRESH fighting has erupted in northern Mali between ethnic Tuaregs and an unidentified armed group, the latest violence in the wake of a French-led campaign that drove radical Islamists from major cities.

Tuaregs of the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) were fighting on Saturday what one source said "seemed to be Arab fighters" near the northern town of Tessalit, where suicide car bombers killed three people a day earlier.

The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebel group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), has claimed responsibility for the bombings in In-Khalil near Tessalit, saying they were specifically targeting the MNLA, which has been co-operating with French forces to flush out Islamists from northern Mali.

"Through the car bombings against MNLA elements in the In-Khalil zone, the MUJAO is committed to pursuing jihad against infidels," group spokesman Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui said in a statement sent to AFP in Bamako.

On Thursday, MUJAO also claimed an attack in the northern city of Kidal where a vehicle exploded near a camp occupied by French and Chadian troops.

The mountainous region between Tessalit and Kidal is strategically important, seen as a stronghold for many Tuaregs and used by Islamists as a hideout from French forces.

France sent in troops on January 11 to help the Malian army oust Islamist militants who last year captured the desert north of the country.

Since then, thousands of soldiers from African countries have also deployed, and France plans to start withdrawing its troops next month.

In Saturday's statement, the MUJAO spokesman warned that future suicide attacks are planned in Mali's capital as well as in the capitals of Burkina Faso and Niger, whose troops are part of the African force in Mali.

"Bamako, Ouagadougou and Niamey remain favourable zones for our suicide bombers who are ready to make the planned attacks," he said, without elaborating.

He also demanded that the groups holding French hostages in the Sahel region and in Niger kill their victims in revenge against France, which he accused of "staging a crusade against Islam and Muslims".

Seven members of a French family, including four young children, were seized by kidnappers in Cameroon on Tuesday and are believed to have been taken over the border into Nigeria.

French-led forces met little resistance during the initial offensive that drove the Islamists from the main northern centres of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

Now, however, they are facing a guerrilla campaign that includes sudden raids, suicide attacks and land mines.

On Friday, Chad, which also has troops Mali, suffered its heaviest losses so far after clashes with Islamists in the mountainous northern Ifoghas region.

The Chadian army said the fighting claimed the lives of 13 Chadian soldiers and 65 Islamists.

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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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NATO may station troops in Afghanistan

NATO may station up to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan to train and assist Kabul's forces after the alliance's combat mission there against the Taliban ends in 2014, US officials say.

US Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Friday NATO was considering deployment of between 8000 and 12,000 troops, including any US contribution, but no final decision has yet been made.

Reports of a US presence alone of 8000 to 12,000 troops "are not correct", he added.

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Nigeria gun, machete attack kills 10

ATTACKERS in Nigeria including some dressed as soldiers have killed 10 members of the same family with half of the victims under the age of six.

"The attack was in the night around 8pm (local time) on Thursday where a family of 10 were completely murdered," central Plateau state governor's spokesman Pam Ayuba said on Friday, adding that some of the attackers wore military uniforms.

"Five little children including a two-month-old child were slaughtered," he said, explaining that he visited the attacked family's compound in the Kogom village near the state capital Jos and was given a detailed account of the victims.

Spokesman for the military's State Task Force (STF) in Plateau, Lieutenant Kingsley Egbo, confirmed Ayuba's toll but assured that no soldiers were involved in the massacre.

"Somehow, some hoodlums and criminals gained access to our old uniforms ... but I can assure that none of our people were involved in the attack," he said.

The area has seen waves violence involving members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group and the state's Christian Beroms, who see themselves as the indigenes of the Plateau.

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US military personnel deployed to Niger

PRESIDENT Barack Obama says about 100 US military personnel have been deployed to the west African nation of Niger.

In a letter to Congress on Friday, Obama said the forces will focus on "intelligence sharing" with French troops fighting Islamist militants in neighbouring Mali.

He said the American forces have been deployed with weapons "for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security".

The US and Niger signed an agreement last month spelling out legal protections and obligations of Americans who might operate from the African nation.

But US officials declined at the time to discuss specific plans for a military presence there.

The Pentagon is also considering plans to base unarmed spy drones in Niger to boost its ability to see what is happening in the region.

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Volkswagen says net profit up 40%

VOLKSWAGEN, Europe's biggest carmaker, says its net profit zoomed ahead by more the 40 per cent last year on higher vehicle sales.

VW said in a statement on Friday its net profit soared by 40.9 per cent to a record 21.7 billion euros ($A28.06 billion) in 2012 as revenues rose by 20.9 per cent to 192.7 billion euros and deliveries to customers were up 12.2 per cent at 9.276 million vehicles.

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Tyler, Perry lead Songwriters Hall of Fame

THE US Songwriters Hall of Fame is saluting 1970s and '80s rock 'n' roll with its 2013 induction class.

Joe Perry and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner will join the hall of fame this year, along with the writers of iconic rock hits Love Is a Battlefield and Heartache Tonight.

The ceremony will be on June 13 in New York.

Inductees Holly Knight, JD Souther and Tony Hatch have distinguished careers that helped define the sound of rock 'n' roll.

Knight wrote anthemic hits like Love Is a Battlefield and Invincible for Pat Benatar.

Souther scored several hits with The Eagles, and Hatch made his mark during the British invasion, teaming with Petula Clark on hits like Downtown.

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Mali troops fire heavy weapons at town

MALIAN soldiers have reportedly fired rocket-propelled grenades at the town hall in northern Gao, where armed Islamist forces had been holed up the previous day during heavy fighting.

It was not immediately possible to determine whether Islamists were still active inside the building.

A Malian soldier earlier said "many" bodies of dead fighters wore explosives belts, both in the town hall and the nearby court house.

He added that mines had been laid in the area.

According to the French army, between 15 and 20 Islamists were killed and two French soldiers "very slightly wounded" in fighting in central Gao on Thursday.

"Four Malian soldiers are said to have been wounded," a French military source said.

Overnight on Thursday and on Friday morning, shooting broke out in several parts of Gao, which lies in northern desert territory 1200 kilometres from the capital Bamako.

In the city centre, notably at the main market, Islamist snipers were positioned on rooftops, an AFP journalist saw.

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which occupied Gao for nine months before it was recaptured by French and Malian troops in a French-led offensive on January 26, said it had sent fighters into Gao to "free it from the evil-doers".

The Islamist movement said the battle had "only just begun" to seize back control of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, the three main northern towns which fell to jihadist insurgents last year.

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Boy sucked into drainpipe at golf course

A SEARCH will resume on Saturday for a teenage boy sucked into a golf course drainpipe on the state's mid north coast.

Police said a group of teen boys were in waist-deep flood water collecting golf balls at a course on Kendall Road, Kew, about 5.30pm.

Two boys, aged 16 and 17, were sucked into a 100 metre long drainpipe by the force of the water, police said.

The younger boy emerged at the other end of the pipe, but the other boy did not.

A search for the boys took place by SES officers but they could not locate the missing teenager.

The search will resume at first light.

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Gillard plays tough with state hospitals

NEW LOW: PA Hospital will cancel surgeries. Picture: Liam Kidston Source: The Courier-Mail

ELECTIVE surgery has been slashed at one of Queensland's biggest hospitals and others could follow suit as a stoush over health funding deepens.

Last night the Gillard Government threatened to withhold another $234 million in health funding from the Queensland Government this financial year.

Accusing the state of playing games over hospital budgets, Prime Minister Julia Gillard flagged the Commonwealth would consider bypassing the Newman Government and paying the money directly to hospitals.

Queensland has already accused the Federal Government of shortchanging the state

The State Government claims a shortfall of $103 million this financial year because of "flawed" adjustments to population estimates.

Making the threat in a letter to Premier Campbell Newman last night, Ms Gillard made no mention of the $103 million shortfall.

Hours earlier, she had caved in to Victoria's demands and promised an extra $107 million would be paid directly to her home state's hospitals.

The Prime Minister threatened to force the states to pay upfront for health services and then claim the money back from the Commonwealth, which would put more pressure on their budgets.

State Health Minister Lawrence Springborg described the Federal Government's threat as "a scandalous discrimination against Queensland Health workers".

"It sets a new low in Australian politics," he said.

The stoush comes as Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital revealed 10 per cent of "total surgery" had been cancelled until at least the end of the financial year because of the federal budget cuts.

Metro South Health chief executive Richard Ashby said the Princess Alexandra Hospital had reduced surgery by 20 out of 200 operating theatre sessions per week to help meet an $18.8 million reduction in Federal Government funding.

Dr Ashby yesterday said Metro South Health had no choice but to reduce non-urgent elective surgery in the short term, after the "unexpected and unprecedented" Federal Government budget reduction.

He said the cuts would be made by postponing category 3 elective surgery, such as hip and knee replacements and some spinal surgery.

"Our first priority is to communicate with patients affected by these changes to advise of expected delays," Dr Ashby said.

"Patients may wish to speak with their general practitioners about other referral and treatment options."

Many other Queensland public hospitals are also battling severe budgetary shortfalls and have announced drastic job cuts.

Princess Alexandra Hospital urology department director Ross Cartmill said he expected the cuts to category 3 surgery to drag on for at least another year.

"If you're a category 3 patient in Metro South, you're not going to be treated in the forseeable future," Dr Cartmill said.

"The PA has already been told its budget for next year is only increasing by 1.2 per cent so that means in real terms, we're going backwards."

Federal and state governments have spent months blaming each other for the latest health job cuts sweeping Queensland.

The Gillard Government slashed Queensland health funding last December by $103 million when it revised population estimates.

But in her letter to Mr Newman, Ms Gillard insisted Labor was giving Queensland hospitals $234 million more this year than what they would have received under the Howard government.

"The Federal Government expects State and Territory Governments to abide by the agreement they have entered into," she wrote.

"The alternatives to the agreement being upheld and abided by are ... the termination of the agreement.

"The extra funding that would have been delivered by the Federal Government to States and Territories will be delivered direct to hospitals and other service providers."

Mr Springborg is due to speak today via a telephone hookup to a Senate inquiry into the impact of the cuts.

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Bosses of failed tunnel can still collect pay

Airport Link. Picture: Brisconnections Source: The Courier-Mail

THE six executives in charge of Brisbane Airport Link will continue to pocket a total of nearly $44,000 a week while receivers look for a way to dig BrisConnections out of its $3 billion debt.

CEO Ray Wilson earned more than $1 million last year, including a $331,000 "short term incentive" while his executive team shared in bonuses totalling $535,000 on top of their $1.6 million in combined wages.

Chief financial officer Nicholas Lattimore was the second-top earner, pocketing $709,935, while general manager (construction) Charles MacDonald made $654,226.

Incentives were paid for meeting "individual and group goals" including completion of the project before July 31.

Yesterday a spokesman for receiver manager PPB Advisory said for employees and the executive team, Airport Link would operate as normal and everyone would continue to be paid.

"There is no issue there," the spokesman said.

"PPB Advisory is just having a look at everything. No decisions have been made yet."

Company directors also hold thousands of securities in BrisConnections now considered worthless.

Meanwhile, traffic on Brisbane's Airport Link would be permanently gridlocked if vehicle numbers ever got near the level predicted by its owners, says an expert.

Arup - a global engineering, design and planning giant believed to have been paid about $3 million for their Airport Link traffic forecasts - was refusing to answer questions yesterday about how they could get the figures for Airport Link so wrong.

Too much optimism in outlandish traffic projections blamed for BrisConnections' rapid demise.

Arup forecast 168,845 vehicles a day would be using the toll route within four months of its opening last July but the actual number was only 53,313.

"It just doesn't add up that this passed any sensibility check," said Mike Veitch, boss of Brisbane specialist transport and traffic planning consultancy Veitch Lister, whose own modelling a week before Airport Link opened forecast 54,244 vehicles per day.

"All you can conclude is that the procedures (in this case) were flawed - or they could not have come up with that number," he said.

Arup's long-term forecasts were even more optimistic, predicting 195,378 vehicles daily by the end of this year, rising to well over 200,000 in future.

That would make the six-lane road busier than the M25 around London or the two-level 14-lane George Washington Bridge in New York.

"We're looking at traffic congestion profiles like Hong Kong," said Mr Veitch. "The entries and exits to the tunnel would be banked up 24 hours a day, not just at the peak times."

BrisConnections' largest investors are Macquarie Group and Deutsche Group (with 78 per cent between them) and a handful of individuals.

Another traffic forecaster, Aecom Australia, is being sued in the Federal Court by the receivers of the failed RiverCity Motorway company over its projections for vehicle numbers in the $3 billion Clem7 tunnel.

About 100 people are employed to operate Airport Link, including control room staff and technicians, maintenance crews and administrative staff.

BrisConnections chief Dr Ray Wilson at the entrance to the Airport Link tunnel at Stafford before it opened. Picture: Bruce Long

What impact, if any, the financial collapse will have on workers remains unclear.

In the December quarter, more than $3 million was paid in wages, and more than $87 million in interest, finance costs and other working capital.

In the same period, BrisConnections collected $7.2 million in toll revenue. The spokesman said the toll schedule for the tunnel would remain in place for now but the receivers could not rule out changes in future as BrisConnections' financial status is examined.

The tolls of $2 and $2.50 are due to increase to $2.90 and $3.75 on April 18, then rise again to $3.65 and $4.90 in October.

Tuesday's collapse of the company had no noticeable effect on Airport Link patronage, which averaged 47,102 vehicles a day in December.

An Australian Traffic Network spokesman said surface roads were no more congested than usual on Brisbane's northside.

"I think people have got the message that the company's gone under, but the road is still open," he said.

Voluntary administrators McGrathNicol are expected to hold a creditors' meeting next week.

INTO ABYSS: AirportLink tunnel, the latest toll road failure. Picture: Tim Marsden

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Arts crowd cheer Bates' replacement

File picture: Ian Walker, former Assistant Minister of Planning, is Queensland's new Arts Minister. Picture: Liam Kidston Source: The Courier-Mail

FRESHLY minted arts minister Ian Walker has made his maiden speech to an arts crowd.

At a function celebrating the second week of the World Theatre Festival just hours after being sworn in as arts minister Mr Walker spoke of his extraordinary day.

"This morning my wife Heather and I woke as normal people, by lunch time I was the arts minister and by this evening Heather was a celebrated actor," he told the assembled crowd of arts lovers and industry figures.

MIA: Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates goes to ground, not seen since resignation

The minister and his wife spent his first night on the job at the World Theatre Festival seeing The Gob Squad's Kitchen based on the Andy Warhol film.

His wife was called onto the stage to participate in the show.

He also paid tribute to the organizers of the World Theatre Festival and celebrated the Queensland participants in the festival.

The arts crowd, who had been generally hostile towards his predecessor greeted his arrival with a cheer and offered a warm reception.

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Belgian prince injured in skiing accident

BELGIUM'S Prince Laurent, injured during a skiing holiday in Austria, remains under observation in a local hospital to monitor internal bruising.

The royal palace said on Wednesday that doctors want to make sure that there is no risk of bleeding from his injury, which is close to the liver. The palace said the accident happened on Tuesday afternoon in near Innsbruck in western Austria.

The 49-year-old prince is the third child of King Albert.

A year ago, Dutch Prince Friso, was left in a coma after being engulfed by an avalanche while skiing in Austria.

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Portugal revises down growth forecast

PORTUGAL'S government expects the country's recession to be a deeper 2.0 per cent this year than it earlier thought, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar says.

"My preliminary assessment is pointing to a downward revision to the forecast for economic activity on the order of one percentage point," said Gaspar on Wednesday.

The government has previously forecast the Portuguese economy would contract by 1.0 per cent in 2013.

Gaspar said a revision of economic forecasts would be a central issue during the next review of the country's finances by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank that begins next week.

He said the economic outlook had implications on the government's ability to reduce the deficit, and that it was reasonable to hope that the European Commission would grant Portugal additional time.

The EU and IMF, which granted a 78-billion-euro ($A100.95 billion) bailout in May 2011, has already relaxed the 2013 public deficit target to 4.5 per cent from 3.0 per cent in the original rescue plan.

According to preliminary estimate by the INE national statistics institute Portugal's economy contracted by 3.2 per cent last year.

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US housing starts slow in January

CONSTRUCTION of new US homes slowed in January while building permits edged up, according to government data released on Wednesday that pointed to continued recovery in the housing sector.

Housing starts fell 8.5 per cent from December to an annual rate of 890,000, the Commerce Department said.

The slowdown in starts in January, although expected, was worse than the average analyst estimate of 914,000 but starts still were well above the 780,000 average rate in 2012.

The December surge in starts - upwardly revised to 973,000 - was largely due to milder-than-normal winter weather, analysts said.

The January decline in housing starts was led by multi-unit construction, while starts rose 0.8 per cent in the more significant single-family home sector.

On a 12-month basis, January housing starts were up 23.6 per cent.

"The sharp drop in starts in January reversed only some of the larger rise in December, consistent with a continued uptrend," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.

Building permits, a sign of future construction activity, came in stronger than expected.

Building permits rose 1.8 per cent from December to an annual rate of 925,000.

The report pointed to continuing recovery in the housing sector after a price bubble collapsed in 2006.

Sales of new homes in the United States in 2012 were up nearly 20 per cent from the prior year.

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Dreamliner battery improperly wired: Japan

JAPANESE officials probing the emergency landing of a Boeing Dreamliner say the plane's battery pack was improperly wired, but added this was unlikely to have caused it to overheat.

A series of problems with Boeing's next-generation aircraft sparked multiple probes around the world and the grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet last month after the domestic All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight was forced to land.

Japanese investigators have focused on the ANA Dreamliner's main lithium-ion battery, which was severely damaged by what they believe to have been a build up of heat that resulted in uncontrollably high temperatures.

Japan's Transport Safety Board said on Wednesday it had discovered that the circuit wiring of the burned battery and another one were connected, even though this is not typical in airplanes.

However, investigators added that the battery system has a system to block a reverse current and it had remained intact so the "unusual" wiring was an unlikely culprit for the overheating.

Investigators said they would now expand the scope of their search to include the aircraft's circuit wiring.

"We have been investigating what happened, but as we haven't got to a point where we can say why it happened yet, we can't say we've made progress," Norihiro Goto, chairman of the Japan Transport Safety Board, told a press briefing.

The unusual circuit wiring may have affected the digital flight data recorder's measuring of voltage in the burned battery, investigators added.

ANA and Japan Airlines (JAL), major customers of the aircraft with more than 100 combined orders, have been hit hard by the grounding, slashing hundreds of flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

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Missing Sydney boy found

POLICE have found a boy who was reported missing in Sydney's south west.

Nine-year-old Tyreese Rheesy Tutudua went missing from his home at Campsie on Tuesday night.

Following an appeal by police the boy was seen by a taxi driver, who then contacted police.

The boy has since been returned to his family, police said.

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$19 million price tag for NSW hunting plan

THE NSW government's plan to allow hunting of feral animals in the state's national parks is set to cost taxpayers at least an extra $19 million.

Environment Minister Robyn Parker on Wednesday is set to announce the program's funding over five years, Fairfax reports.

The money will go towards 14 additional National Parks and Wildlife Service coordinators, new safety and regulatory signs, training of staff and education programs for shooters.

It would also fund compliance and education positions and extra resources for "monitoring and review to ensure the program has a positive impact on feral animal populations in our protected areas".

Premier Barry O'Farrell confirmed on Tuesday that ongoing discussions on risk assessment meant the program has been delayed to start in April.

The plan is part of a deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party, which saw the government pass legislation to allow recreational hunters to cull feral animals in the state's 79 national parks.

The controversial move has raised concerns that visitors to parks risk being accidentally shot by hunters.

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US stocks edge higher

US stocks inched higher early on Tuesday as the market awaited a report on homebuilder sentiment.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5.45 points (0.04 per cent) to 13,987.21.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.95 points (0.13 per cent) to 1,521.74, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite increased 5.43 (0.17 per cent) to 3,197.46.

The action came as the market awaited the NAHB Housing Market Index for February.

Early trading was buoyed by a positive report on investor sentiment from Germany and by speculation of additional mergers. According to media reports, Office Depot and OfficeMax are exploring an all-stock merger.

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UN urges hormone-disrupting chemical probe

SCIENTISTS suspect chemicals which disrupt the hormone system are linked to early breast development, poor semen quality, low birthweight in babies and other problems, but more research is needed, UN agencies report.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) and World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday evidence was mounting that so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) become a health risk when they enter the environment, but key knowledge gaps remain.

"Close to 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone conversion," the agencies said in a report.

"However, only a small fraction of these chemicals have been investigated in tests capable of identifying overt endocrine effects in intact organisms."

The report was commissioned against a backdrop of concern that EDCs - found in some pesticides, electronics, personal care products, cosmetics and food additives - are entering water supplies and the food chain through agricultural runoff, waste dumps and other sources.

In recent decades, scientists have observed a rise in endocrine-related disorders in humans and wildlife, including studied populations of deer, sea lions and sea otters.

In some countries, up to 40 per cent of young men have low semen quality, which reduces their ability to father children, said the report, State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals.

"Global rates of endocrine-related cancers - breast, endometrial, ovarian, prostate, testicular and thyroid - have been increasing over the past 40 to 50 years," it said.

"There is a trend towards earlier onset of breast development in young girls in all countries where this has been studied. This is a risk factor for breast cancer."

Incidence of genital malformation in young boys, such as non-descending testes, has increased over time or levelled off "at unfavourably high rates," it added.

The emergence of these disorders over such a short time means that genetic factors can be ruled out, it said.

Laboratory studies back suspicions that EDCs are to blame, it said.

But there are big gaps in knowledge, especially grass-roots studies that compare incidence of these disorders and exposure to the chemicals, it said.

There could be other environmental causes, and age and nutrition could play a role, it added.

In the quest for a fuller picture, the report called for more research and better international coordination on testing standards and urged governments, in the meantime, to be vigilant.

"Worldwide, there has been a failure to adequately address the underlying environmental causes of trends in endocrine diseases and disorders," it said. "(...) (The) disease risk due to EDCs may be significantly underestimated."

The document was issued on the second day of a meeting of UNEP's governing ministers, which ends in Nairobi on Friday.

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Brussels heist nets $50 mn in diamonds

HEAVILY armed robbers disguised as police made off with $US50 million ($A48.8 million) worth of diamonds in a spectacular heist on the tarmac at Brussels airport, prosecutors and diamond dealers say.

The Monday night robbery at Zaventem airport just before 8 pm (0600 AEDT) was "one of the biggest" ever, said a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the global dealers' syndicate.

The raid saw a gang of eight hooded thieves pull up on the runway in two black vehicles with blue police-like markings, Brussels prosecutors' spokeswoman Anja Bijnens told a press conference.

They forced their way through security barriers and sped towards a Swiss passenger aircraft about to take off on the runway, forcing open the cargo hold to reach gems that had already been loaded, she said.

Bijnens said the thieves were wearing police uniforms and carrying machine guns, adding: "They wanted to pass themselves off as cops."

They seized at least 120 packages, which was only a partial haul from the shipment, she said.

The pilot, co-pilot and staff from a Brink's armoured car that transported the gems were held up but "no shots were fired and no one was injured," Bijnens said of a robbery that was over "within minutes."

She said the thieves made off at high speed through the same gap in the security cordon they had opened in front of unsuspecting ground staff and travellers, adding that the passengers on board the plane "saw nothing" and that the aircraft, bound for Zurich, did not leave Brussels.

The Swiss air company said the plane was on a regular flight operated by its partner Helvetic Airways.

According to the AWDC, the global diamond business is worth more than $60 billion each year.

Some $200 million worth of stones move in and out of Antwerp every day, the spokeswoman added.

The gems taken "included rough stones as well as cut diamonds from Antwerp that were being transported to Zurich," the AWDC spokeswoman said.

"It is worrying that something like this can take place at the airport, that an armed gang can get to the tarmac," said the AWDC spokeswoman.

In February 2005, some 75 million euros ($A97.99 million) worth of diamonds and jewels being shipped to Antwerp were stolen in a KLM vehicle at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

But the record for a theft of diamonds was in Belgium, in February 2003, when 100 million euros worth of stones were nabbed from the vault of the Antwerp DiamondCentre.

Asked to comment, Brussels airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse said: "There are very clear and very strict international security standards and we stick strictly to them."

Neither the prosecutor's office nor the AWDC official would give any details as to whom the shipment belonged. The prosecutor's office said the packages contained mainly diamonds.

The AWDC said the haul was worth $50 million dollars.

One of the vehicles was found afterwards completely burnt out near the airport, the spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said.

A specialist Belgian prosecutors unit dealing with organised crime is "pursuing all lines of enquiry," Bijnens said, and is collaborating also with Swiss authorities.

"This was not a random robbery," she stressed. "It was well-prepared - these were professionals."

Belgian Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom was on hand at the airport as the investigation gathered pace.

There are more than 4500 diamond dealers in Antwerp, the hub for a worldwide industry going back at least 500 years, the AWDC said.

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Baldwin, photographer file harass claims

NEW York City police are investigating harassment complaints made by actor Alec Baldwin and a New York Post newspaper photographer after an altercation.

According to police, photographer GN Miller says the former 30 Rock star yelled racial epithets and other insults when he was trying to take pictures of the actor outside his Manhattan apartment.

Baldwin maintains he yelled at the photographer, but never said anything racist. He called the allegations "outrageous."

Baldwin called police and filed a harassment complaint on Monday. The photographer later filed a cross-complaint.

The police department's Hate Crimes Task force was looking into the allegations.

The Post had no comment beyond its published report.

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Singer Kathleen McCormack dead

AUSTRALIAN singer Kathleen McCormack has died in England aged 83.

Boasting a recording career spanning some four decades across genres including country music, Scottish and Irish ballads, and 1920s waltz, McCormack also appeared on television and entertained troops during the Vietnam war.

A resident of London since the 1970s, Taree-born McCormack remained a loyal Australian, and returned regularly to her home country, most recently to complete a NSW club circuit and visit family, managing agent Darren Gray said.

"She was highly involved in the Australian community in London and the UK Australian film society and other cultural events," Gray told AAP.

"I'm sure a lot of people in Australia will remember her from her club circuit days through NSW and Queensland when she worked alongside acts including Barry Crocker and the Bee Gees."

McCormack, who died on Monday, released 29 LPs and sold more than a million albums between the 1950s and 1970s.

She was forced to stop performing as she battled a rare neurodegenerative condition.

"She sang Scottish and Irish ballads back in the day when people thought only the locals could sing such music, so the album covers used to say she was born in Scotland or Ireland. That's how it worked back then," Gray said.

As an actor, McCormack appeared in the popular Australian soap opera Number 96.

Accompanying the ABC Orchestra and singing alongside Little Pattie, McCormack travelled to Vietnam to entertain troops during the war.

"Kathy was a remarkable lady, kind hearted and full of generosity," Gray said.

"She was a hugely talented singer who was much loved by her fans on both sides of the globe."

McCormack is survived by two sons, a daughter and grandchildren who live in Australia.

A funeral will be held in London on March 7.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to agencies supporting the sufferers of Picks disease.

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Missing teenager found safe

SAFE: A Facebook image of Connaire Daniels. Source: Facebook

POLICE have located 13-year-old Connaire Daniels who went missing yesterday morning on his way from Salisbury to South Bank.

It was announced about 10.30pm the boy had been found safe and sound.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the matter and are thanking the public for their help in finding the boy.

There were serious fears for the teenager who is diabetic and had little money or a mobile phone at the time of his disappearance.

His family took to social media to rally support with thousands of people joining Facebook groups requesting information on sightings of Connaire.

It is unknown if this had a hand in finding him.

 Earlier The Courier Mail reported that police were searching for the teenager after he was been reported missing by his parents in Salisbury this morning.

Connaire was last seen leaving his home on Blackwood Road at 11.30am on Sunday, February 17.

Police believe he was planning on catching a train to South Bank to meet with friends but are unsure if he arrived.

His sister, Jessie Percival, has posted in a Facebook Group to say the family is very concerned as Connaire is diabetic and is reliant on regular insulin injections.

Connaire's Facebook page was deactivated after he went missing.

It is believed he does not have a mobile phone and has limited money with him.

Police are looking at CCTV footage in South Bank in an effort to locate him.

Connaire is described as being Caucasian in appearance, 193cm tall with a slim build, auburn hair and brown eyes.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, cream shorts and red shoes.

Jessie Percival has pleaded with her brother to call home and let them know he's okay.

"We just want to know he's okay, he can call anyone even if he doesn't want to come home we just need to know he's safe", Ms Percival said.

Connaire was last seen leaving his home on Blackwood Road about 11.30am on Sunday, February 17.

He planned to catch the train to meet friends in South Bank at midday, but his family grew concerned when he failed to return home in the evening.

As Connaire does not own a mobile phone, family members posted a message to his Facebook wall to try and contact him.

"My brother Jake posted on his wall asking to call home telling him how worried we were for him, but only a few minutes later his account was deactivated and we haven't heard from him since."

Connaire's last post on Saturday evening spoke excitedly of the new boat he had just purchased with his father the week before.

Ms Percival said her brothers disappearance is entirely out of character.

"He's never done anything like this before. If things are ever bad he always gives me a call."

"He's never not come home before", she said.

Connaire's parents did not know which friends he had planned to meet and are pleading with anyone who may have any information to contact Crime Stoppers and bring their boy home.

"Mum is trying to hold it together as best she can but she's struggling we are all just so worried we just want to know he's okay."

Connaire suffers from diabetes but Ms Percival said he would be okay for a couple of days if he had access to food before his insulin levels would become critical. 

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France still sticking to deficit target

FRENCH Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici says he is sticking to the aim of cutting public deficit to three per cent of output this year but the country's credibility won't be hit if it fails to do so.

Moscovici's comments came after revised figures by the national statistics agency showed the economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and growth was zero for the whole year.

The latest data puts the government in a dilemma over a commitment to the European Union to cut its public deficit to within the ceiling of three per cent of output this year as the eurozone, struggling as a whole with recession, fights its way out of the debt crisis.

"Our true commitment was to reduce our structural deficit by a huge margin," Moscovici told reporters from the Anglo American Press Association.

"The day I am speaking here I stick to the three per cent," he said.

"I am waiting for the growth forecast ... on Friday and then we will enter into a dialogue and we have got the tools for that," Moscovici said.

"We must not add austerity to the risk of recession."

The zero growth in France in 2012 is a sharp slowdown from growth of 1.7 per cent in 2011.

It scuttled France's chances of meeting its target of reducing the public deficit to 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012, which was based on the economy growing by 0.3 per cent.

It also threw into question the 2013 target of reaching the three per cent level that is the allowed ceiling for European countries.

Moscovici has said the government would now have to rethink its forecast for growth this year of 0.8 per cent.

But he said: "The credibility question relies on the structural deficit before anything else," Moscovici said.

"We will see what happens ... But I don't believe our credibility will be damaged if something exceptional intervenes."

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NSW govt bans CSG mining near homes

THE NSW government has announced a ban on all coal seam gas activity within two kilometres of residential areas and industry clusters across the state.

The decision was endorsed by state cabinet on Monday night, Fairfax reports.

The state government has also announced that chief scientist and engineer Mary O'Kane will review all coal seam gas activity in NSW and report on any risks by July.

It comes after energy company AGL suspended plans to expand its southwestern coal seam gas project due to increasing community anger.

The ban will apply to any coal seam gas proposal that has yet to be approved under the Environment Protection and Assessment Act or the Petroleum (Onshore) Act and the decision in effect ends AGL's plans.

Premier Barry O'Farrell said suburbs, country towns and other urban areas would become "no-go zones for CSG activities".

He said Ms O'Kane would also consider how to manage the impact of coal seam gas activity on residential properties in non-urban areas.

A new Office of Coal Seam Gas Regulation would also be established, the government said.

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Fire impacting on Vic town of Mirranatwa

FIREFIGHTERS are battling to save homes as a large slow-moving bushfire impacts the community of Mirranatwa in the Victoria Valley in western Victoria.

The bushfire is more than 6000 hectares in size and is out of control.

Firefighters from the Country Fire Authority, the Department of Environment and Sustainability and Parks Victoria are concentrating their efforts on asset protection.

The townships of Wollert and Woodstock could find themselves in the path of the large grassfire that caused havoc on Melbourne's northern fringes on Monday.

Authorities expected a wind change between midnight and 4am (AEDT) Tuesday to send the fire north.

"The wind change may change the direction of the fire to a northeasterly direction towards Wollert and Woodstock," said the CFA.

This grassfire is about 1900 hectares in size and is currently under control.

Residents impacted by the grassfire that closed the Hume Freeway at Epping were allowed to return to their homes.

One home in the Epping North area was destroyed but none in housing estates, incident controller John Deering said.

Another home was damaged and several outbuildings or sheds lost.

An advice warning remained in place on Tuesday for the Epping and Campbellfield area.

Crews were remaining on scene all night.

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Spanish airline strikers clash with police

STRIKERS at Spanish airline Iberia have clashed with baton-wielding police at Madrid-Barajas airport as they launched five days of industrial action against job cuts.

Thousands of strikers crowded outside Terminal Four on Monday and tried to force their way into the building chanting "Yes we can!" as they struggled to get past anti-riot police in helmets.

Police at first managed to push the protesters back, striking out with batons at some workers and detaining at least one man who was led away in handcuffs.

After several charges, however, police relented and the Iberia strikers poured through the doors into the terminal defending their strike, which led to hundreds of flight cancellations.

Iberia's cabin crew, ground staff and maintenance workers were striking from Monday to Friday in the first of a series of three five-day strikes to protest plans to axe 3800 jobs.

The flag carrier said it scrapped 415 flights across Spain and Europe for the week including 81 on Monday alone. The airline said it expected to operate 135 flights on Monday.

Workers also plan to strike from March 4-8 and again from March 18-22 to protest against the job cuts announced by International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns Iberia and British Airways.

Executives say the airline accumulated 850 million euros ($A1.1 billion) in losses between 2008 and September 2012.

The airline aims to cut its capacity by 15 per cent this year, eliminating some loss-making routes to Latin America and trimming its fleet by 25 aircraft, including five long-haul jets.

Iberia said there were no significant incidents during the first day of the strike action, with 85 per cent of passengers already put on other flights and the other 15 per cent reimbursed.

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S African workers shot near Amplats mine

AT least five South African mine workers have been shot by guards outside an Anglo American Platinum mine amid apparent rival union clashes, police say.

"People are reported to be injured ... some have been sent to the hospital, but we have not yet verified the levels of the injuries and who may have been the cause of the injuries," police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Eye Witness News.

Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole told AFP the company was "currently gathering the details".

The incident took place near Rustenburg, which was at the heart of industrial unrest that rocked South Africa last year and left more than 50 people dead.

Initial reports suggested the latest shooting was a result of a turf war between the main National Union of Mineworker (NUM) and a smaller upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka confirmed the clashes but did not have details.

"I am not aware about the fatalities, I am aware that there have been injured," he told AFP.

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UK's Cameron in India trade offensive

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in India with what he calls Britain's biggest ever overseas business delegation for a three-day visit clouded by a corruption scandal.

His trip, starting in Mumbai, comes amid a raging controversy over India's procurement in 2010 of 12 helicopters from Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland in a $US748 million ($A730 million) deal.

After an investigation in Italy suggested kickbacks were paid via middlemen to secure the deal, India has taken steps to cancel the contract and started its own police inquiry.

The British prime minister is likely to face further questions about the probe - the helicopters are being manufactured in southwest England - with the Indian government keen to be seen to be acting tough on its latest problem.

The affair has taken the gloss off Cameron's second trip to India to press for deeper economic ties between the two countries and greater access for British companies in one of the world's most dynamic economies.

"India's rise is going to be one of the great phenomena of this century," he said at a factory of part-British consumer products group Hindustan Unilever.

"Britain wants to be your partner of choice."

The British leader has targeted a doubling of annual bilateral trade from STG11.5 billion ($A17.5 billion) in 2010 to STG23 billion by the time he faces re-election in 2015.

Among his 100-plus delegation are executives eyeing moves by the Indian government to open up the retail, airline, banking and insurance sectors to foreign investors, and heads of six universities.

After his business meetings in the financial capital on Monday, Cameron will fly to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.

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Public servant numbers drop in Australia

THE number of bureaucrats in Australia has dropped for the first time in more than a decade, a new analysis of jobs data shows.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) quarterly jobs reports, released on Monday, show there were 2500 fewer public servants in June 2012 than the previous year.

In previous years, commonwealth, state and local governments had hired an average of 40,000 new workers annually.

The report also notes this may be only the start, since many cuts, such as those in Queensland, were made in the 2012/13 financial year.

It found that in the year to November 2012, the public administration and safety sector, which included public servants and emergency services workers, shed 50,800 jobs.

That was the largest drop in the sector since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began recording quarterly labour force data in 1984.

"The federal government, as well Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and WA, and local governments, have reduced the size of their public sector," ACTU president Ged Kearney said.

She said governments had foreshadowed more cuts to come by reducing forecasts of wage bills.

"Cutting public sector workers is a short-sighted policy which will lead to reduced services for all Australians," Ms Kearney said.

"Many of the workers who lose their jobs will spend long periods of time in unemployment."

The union analysis also found recent jobs growth had all been in part-time work, with the amount of full-time employment falling for three months in a row.

Construction had a weak year, losing 37,800 workers to November 2012.

The mining sector made the strongest gains with 11.9 per cent growth, putting on an extra 28,600 workers.

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Lieberman corruption trial begins

THE trial of Israel's former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of fraud and breach of trust has opened at a Jerusalem court in a case that will decide the former bouncer's political future.

Wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt, Lieberman was silent as he entered the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Sunday and did not speak to waiting reporters.

Lieberman is accused of having promoted an Israeli ambassador who provided him with confidential information about a police investigation into his affairs.

The hearing before a panel of three judges was expected to be brief and focus on procedural issues, with Lieberman expected to plead not guilty.

In mid-December, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein said he was charging Lieberman with two offences over the promotion of the former envoy to Belarus, Zeev Ben Aryeh, in an incident dating back to 2008 when Lieberman was an MP.

Lieberman immediately resigned his cabinet post but retains his status as an MP, expressing confidence that he will be cleared of all charges and will return to his job as foreign minister.

According to the indictment, Lieberman was allegedly tipped off by Ben Aryeh that police had contacted their counterparts in Belarus for help with an inquiry into his affairs.

He is then suspected of seeking to reward Ben Aryeh with a posting to Latvia.

An outspoken hardliner who has been investigated by police several times since 1996, Lieberman denies the charges, saying he is eager to vindicate himself in court.

Public radio said the next hearing was expected on April 25, followed by three more in quick succession.

Despite his resignation from the foreign ministry, Lieberman remains head of the hardline secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, which ran on a joint list with the right-wing Likud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, narrowly winning last month's election.

The list won 31 seats in the 120-member parliament, and Netanyahu is currently trying to piece together a coalition government.

Lieberman's political future, however, will depend on the outcome of the trial.

Since Lieberman's resignation, Netanyahu has himself served as interim foreign minister but he is reportedly seeking to reinstate his ally once the legal proceedings are over.

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Plus-sized models celebrate in London

IT'S a skinny girl's world, particularly in fashion where the thin, androgynous look always wins out. But an alternative to London Fashion Week has celebrated the larger lady and all her curves.

"Thank you all for being who you are," declared one of the organisers at the first Official British Plus-Size Fashion Weekend in Shoreditch, an area in London's east beloved of hipsters and music fans.

Elegantly-dressed women browsed racks of clothes designed for European size 40 (Australian size 14) and upwards, snacking intermittently from plates of crisps and cupcakes spread around the venue - food here was not taboo.

Wearing skirts, shorts or bikinis, the women were greeted with enthusiastic applause in the final catwalk on Sunday.

While many of the models could only be described as voluptuous, some of the clothes on offer were not what many people think of as plus-sized.

Hayley, a 24-year-old model who wears European size 42 (Australian size 16), berated the industry for the way it categorised women.

"I think even some agencies these days call girls that are UK size 10 (Australian size 16) plus size. That's just crazy.

"I think that plus size is the wrong word. I think a curvy model would be a better word to describe me and plus size is not necessarily the nicest expression."

Thirteen designers attended the fashion weekend, but the number was dwarfed by the almost 80 labels showing across town at the official London Fashion Week, where skinny girls still reign supreme.

"At the end, I hope there won't be two segregated shows. But for now, we want to give curvy women an option," said one of the organisers Rianne Ward.

She plans to run the plus-sized event again next year, hoping to emulate the success of New York's Full-Figured Fashion Week, which is in its fifth year.

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Pope blesses thousands at St Peter's

POPE Benedict XVI has blessed the faithful from his window overlooking St Peter's Square for the first time since announcing his resignation, cheered by an emotional crowd of tens of thousands of well-wishers from around the world.

Smiling broadly, Benedict raised his arms outstretched to the massive crowd in his second-last Angelus blessing before leaving the papacy. A huge banner in the square read: "We love you."

The Sunday noon appointment is one of the most cherished traditions of the Catholic Church, and this moment is one of Benedict's last opportunities to connect with the Catholic masses.

The Pope's voice was strong and clear as he looked into hazy sunshine over the square packed with at least 50,000 pilgrims, whom he addressed in Italian, English, French, German, Polish and Spanish.

Benedict made no direct reference to his stunning decision to step down on February 28. But in his comments to Spanish-speaking pilgrims he asked the faithful to "continue praying for me and for the next pope". And he thanked the faithful for their "affection and spiritual closeness".

The crowd broke out into cheers and wild applause.

The Pope gave particular thanks to the "beloved inhabitants of the city of Rome", a possible hint at the title he will take after retirement. The Vatican has suggested he may be called "emeritus bishop of Rome".

The Vatican hasn't announced the date of the start of the conclave, but said on Saturday it might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date it can be launched under current rules. Benedict would have to sign off on any earlier date, an act that would be one of the last of his nearly eight-year papacy.

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Blasts kill 21 in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad

A SERIES of bombings mainly targeting Shi'ite areas of Baghdad has killed at least 21 people in the latest violence to hit Iraq as it struggles with protests and a political crisis.

Three car bombs struck the sprawling Sadr City slum in the north of the city, car bombs exploded in Ameen, Al-Husseiniyah and Kamaliyah in the east, and a roadside bomb blew up in Karrada in central Baghdad, security and medics said.

Another roadside device went off in Saidiyah in the capital's south.

At least 21 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in Sunday's attacks, the officials said.

Residents of Sadr City were enraged by the bombings, and hospitals in the area were quickly crowded with people searching for relatives.

"What did we do? We're always the victims of conflicts between politicians," one woman shouted.

Ali Kadhim, who owns a shop near the site of one blast, agreed, saying: "They always threaten each other, and it's us who die. The people are always the victims."

And Hussein Mohammed, who was wounded and whose car was destroyed by one explosion, questioned how the bomb could have got past security forces into the area.

"I spent about two hours to enter Sadr City, so how could this car bomb enter?" he asked, his clothes smeared with blood and dirt. "Where is the security?"

Also on Sunday, gunmen killed a police captain in front of his home in Mosul in north Iraq, officials said.

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Bangladesh moves to ban main Islamic party

BANGLADESH'S parliament has amended a law to allow the prosecution of the country's largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami for war crimes in a move that could pave the way to it being banned.

News of the move was greeted by loud cheers from tens of thousands of protesters in central Dhaka who have been demanding a ban on Jamaat, whose leaders are on trial for war crimes allegedly committed in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Law minister Shafique Ahmed told AFP that under the new law, "any organisation including Jamaat can be prosecuted" by a special court for war crimes and if found guilty "it can be banned" from politics.

Previously only individuals could be prosecuted for war crimes.

"It's one step towards banning Jamaat," deputy law minister Qamrul Islam told AFP.

The move comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday indicated she would back a ban on Jamaat, whose members are suspected in the murder of an anti-Islamist blogger, as it had "no right to be in politics in Bangladesh".

Demonstrations championed by online activists have seen thousands take to the streets for the past two weeks demanding the execution of Jamaat leaders accused of genocide, murder and rape during the 1971 war.

Rival protests by Islamists demanding a halt to the trials of Jamaat leaders have turned violent, leaving 13 people dead.

Clashes between police and Islamists have intensified since last week after a senior Jamaat leader was sentenced to life imprisonment for mass murder.

Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party have said the trials are based on bogus charges and are part of a wider political vendetta.

The government rejects this and says the trials are needed to heal wounds from the nine-month war in which three million people were killed.

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NATO to comply with Afghan air strike ban

THE commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan says he will comply with President Hamid Karzai's order banning Afghan security forces from seeking NATO air support.

Karzai said on Saturday he would issue a decree ordering an end to local security forces calling in NATO air strikes amid new tensions over civilian casualties caused by such attacks.

Air strikes have been an important weapon in the fight against Taliban insurgents, but they have also proved hugely controversial as they have led to numerous civilian deaths.

US General Joseph Dunford, who took charge of the US-led NATO force in the war-battered country last Sunday, said he was prepared to comply with Karzai's order, made after a NATO air raid killed 10 civilians including women and children in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday night.

"We are prepared to provide support in line with the president's intent," Dunford told reporters in Kabul on Sunday.

Karzai summoned Dunford over the air raid in Kunar province.

"I get the broad guidance from the president and we will work out the details in the coming days," Dunford said.

"We have restraints and constraints on each operation. I believe we will continue to support the ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and meet the president's intent," Dunford said in response to questions about Karzai's order.

"There are other ways to support the Afghans besides aviation," he said.

Afghanistan's own poorly equipped air force has no fixed-wing attack aircraft and is not capable of providing firepower to support ground troops.

A Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new ban would make the fight against the militants much harder.

"If air strikes are eventually banned, it's a good victory for the Taliban - without air power you have to chase after them," he told AFP.

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