Labor's Nicole Manison wins Wanguri

NICOLE Manison has won an overwhelming victory for Labor in the Northern Territory by-election for the seat of Wanguri.

Final figures for Saturday, released by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission, show Manison leads with 69.7 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

The figures show the CLP's Rhianna Harker at 30.3 per cent.

Voter turnout in the electorate in Darwin's northern suburbs was 76.3 per cent.

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

The electoral commission says a check of all counts will take place on Sunday, when a decision on the timing of the declaration of the poll will be confirmed.

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Show with Pistorius' girlfriend to go on

A TV show featuring the murdered girlfriend (pic) of Oscar Pistorius will still be broadcast. Source: AAP

BLONDE cover girl Reeva Steenkamp will appear in a pre-recorded celebrity reality TV show in South Africa, two days after she was shot dead by Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius.

The 29-year-old will make a posthumous prime-time debut in Tropika Island of Treasure.

Pistorius, 26, will be spending a third night in jail during the screening on Saturday.

The reality show, shot on location in Jamaica, features Steenkamp, a law graduate, and several other local personalities competing for one million rand ($A110,000) prize money.

Producers decided not to shelve the show, instead casting its broadcast as a tribute to Steenkamp.

Forensics teams are working at Pistorius's home to try and establish what took place before and after Steenkamp was shot in the head and hand.

"She was happy, healthy, beautiful and vibrant and that's the way she should be remembered," said executive producer Samantha Moon.

In an earlier statement Moon said the decision to broadcast the program was taken after "much deliberation".

"This week's episode will be dedicated to Reeva's memory.

"Yesterday her mother agreed that we should go ahead and we are free to go ahead and we are working on how to pay tribute to her," said Kaizer Kganyagon, a spokesman for the national broadcaster.

The audience is expected to be much larger than normal.

"The number that we expect will be obviously more than the normal because now everybody wants to see this person that was killed."

A special tribute will be broadcast ahead of Saturday's show at 6.30pm (0330 AEDT).

Trailers for the series show a beaming and vivacious Steenkamp clad in a bikini and other skimpy clothing.

The show's website carries a picture of a burning candle with a message: "We are deeply saddened and extend our condolences to Reeva's family and friends."

The series is now in its fifth season.

Born in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg six years ago to pursue her modelling career. She had dated Pistorius for less than year.

After an emotional court appearance on Friday, in which Pistorius broke down repeatedly, a source at Brooklyn police station in Pretoria said the track star had "slept very well".

He was expected to receive visits on Saturday from family and from members of his defence team, who are preparing for a bail hearing that will begin on Tuesday.

The state is expected to strongly oppose any effort to allow him to return to his home.

Prosecutors will argue the murder was premeditated, meaning he could face a life sentence.

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Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew in hospital

FORMER Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is recovering in hospital after suffering from an irregular heartbeat, the government said on Saturday.

Lee, 89, will remain at Singapore General Hospital for a few days, said a statement issued by the office of his son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The elder Lee was confined on Friday "after experiencing a suspected transient ischaemic attack (TIA) associated with a prolonged episode of atrial fibrillation", or an irregular heartbeat, the statement said.

TIA occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain stops briefly, according to the statement, which added that a person who suffers from this "will have stroke-like symptoms which clear in less than 24 hours".

"He has recovered but will remain warded for a few days for the doctors to adjust his medications and for observation," the statement said.

Lee Kuan Yew, who retired from the cabinet in 2011 but remains a member of parliament, is widely credited with transforming Singapore from an economic backwater to one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

He served as prime minister from 1959, when Singapore gained self-rule from colonial ruler Britain, until he stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn handed power to Lee's son in 2004.

The People's Action Party co-founded by the elder Lee has been returned to power in every election since 1959 and holds 80 of the 87 seats in parliament.

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Scientists turn eyes toward Europa

US astronomers looking for life in the solar system believe that Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, is much more promising than desert-covered Mars, which is currently the focus of the US government's attention.

Europa, which has an ocean, is the most "likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to possess ... life", says Robert Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

"And it is the place we should be exploring now that we have a concept mission we think is the right one to get there for an affordable cost," he says.

"Europa is the most promising in terms of habitability because of its relatively thin ice shelf and an ocean. We know there are oxidants on the surface of Europa."

At the request of NASA, a proposed mission to explore Europa was revised to significantly reduce the cost, the scientist told the media on Friday on the sidelines of an annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

As a result of this review, the JPL and the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland developed a new exploration project named Clipper with a total coast of $US2 billion ($A1.95 billion) minus the launch.

Following the successful example of Cassini, a probe that explored Titan, a moon of Saturn, a spacecraft would orbit Jupiter and conduct numerous close flybys of Europa.

If the plan is approved, Clipper could be launched by 2021 and take three to six years to reach Europa. By comparison, it takes six months to reach Mars.

But NASA announced at the end of 2012 that there would be no funds for the Clipper mission, he said.

Noting that Mars consumed most attention, Pappalardo said the agency should not ignore planets that have a high scientific priority.

In his view, life could have existed on Mars several billion years ago, but Europa could have life today.

Europa was closely observed for the first time by the twin Voyager probes in 1979 and then, in more detail, by Galileo in the 1990s.

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Pope considered resignation in August

POPE Benedict XVI said last August his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pontiff, according to a German journalist who interviewed him for a 2010 book in which Benedict said popes should in some circumstances consider resigning.

In an article in Saturday's issue of the German weekly Focus, Peter Seewald recalls that he asked Benedict last August what more could be expected of him and his papacy.

Seewald says Benedict replied: "From me? From me, not much more. I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough."

Asked whether he was considering resignation, Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to."

Benedict announced on Monday that he would resign on February 28, making him the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.

The announcement stunned the world, but the pope had laid the groundwork for a possible resignation when Seewald interviewed him for his 2010 book, Light of the World.

"If a pope clearly realises that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," the book quoted Benedict as saying.

Resignation was, however, not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics.

In Saturday's article, Seewald recalls asking the Pope how badly the scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the Pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.

It "is not as though I were somehow falling into a kind of desperation or world-weariness - it is simply incomprehensible to me," Benedict said, according to Seewald.

Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of his office, "because I think this can always happen".

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Deadly hepatitis E outbreak hits S Sudan

THE United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July.

UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighbouring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread viral disease of the liver.

Edwards said on Friday that 6017 cases had been diagnosed.

The virus is spread through contaminated food and water.

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150 killed in clashes for Syria airport

ACTIVISTS say some 150 rebels and government troops have been killed in fierce fighting for control of the international airport in the northern city of Aleppo and a major military air base nearby.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that death toll is from fighting on Wednesday and Thursday and is almost evenly divided between opposition fighters and regime soldiers.

The Observatory and the Local Co-ordination Committees activist group say rebels and President Bashar Assad's forces are shelling each other in renewed clashes on Friday in and around the airports.

Rebels launched a major attack on Aleppo's civilian airport and the nearby air base of Nairab on Wednesday. They have captured most of the "Brigade 80" force that is in charge of protecting the area.

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Sea Shepherd activists 'confront whalers'

ANTI-WHALING group Sea Shepherd says Japanese whalers have harpooned a large minke in Australian Antarctic waters.

The group says the Yushin Maru No 2 harpooned the whale shortly before 6pm (AEDT) inside Australia's Antarctic Territory, some 92 kilometres from Australia's Davis research station.

The Sea Shepherd's SSS Bob Barker has positioned itself between the whale and the mothership Nisshin Maru.

"The Yushin Maru No 2 has made nine unsuccessful attempts to transfer the dead whale, coming as close as 10 metres to the Bob Barker," the Sea Shepherd said in a statement.

"The Bob Barker has not moved."

Activists in small boats are protecting the anti-whaling ship against possible attempts to damage the vessel's propeller with long lines.

The group fears that once the minke is transferred to the whale factory ship, the Yushin Maru No 2 will move on to kill more whales.

Japan and some other countries do not accept Australia's claim over Australian Antarctic waters.

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt told AAP late on Friday that the government had "turned a deliberate blind eye", despite receiving multiple warnings about the possibility of a confrontation between the Japanese fleet and activists.

"Allegations that a whale has been slaughtered in Australian waters are deeply disturbing," he said.

"We are against whaling anywhere but if the Australian government is unable to protect our waters, that is a double blow."

The coalition has pledged to send a Customs vessel to monitor next year's hunt if it wins the September election.

Environment Minister Tony Burke has been approached for comment.

The confrontation comes the same day the US Supreme Court upheld an injunction ordering Sea Shepherd to keep away from Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean.

Sea Shepherd appealed to the court to lift the injunction, issued in December, which bans the group and its former head Paul Watson from attacking or endangering the whaling ships.

The injunction was sought by the Institute of Cetacean Research which undertakes the Japanese government's whaling program through a loophole in International Whaling Commission rules that allows whales to be killed for research.

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Sobbing Pistorius could face life sentence

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

A SOBBING Oscar Pistorius has been formally charged with the Valentine's Day murder of his model girlfriend.

The 26-year-old Paralympian gold medallist wept on Friday as Pretoria magistrate Desmond Nair announced a single charge of killing blonde covergirl Reeva Steenkamp.

The double amputee sat hunched as the court was told prosecutors would argue the murder was premeditated, a charge that could carry a life sentence.

Steenkamp, 29, who was due to appear in a celebrity reality show from this weekend, was shot four times at Pistorius's upmarket Pretoria home in the early hours of Thursday.

She was shot with his 9mm pistol, suffering wounds to the head and hand and died at the scene.

The Beeld newspaper, which first broke the dramatic news of his arrest, said on Friday the shots that killed Steenkamp were fired through a bathroom door, but there has been no police confirmation of this.

Pistorius had been expected to make an application for bail on Friday, but the hearing was postponed until Tuesday to allow the defence more time to prepare. He will remain in police custody until then.

Known as Blade Runner because of his carbon fibre prostheses, Pistorius has inspired millions by becoming the first double-amputee to compete alongside able-bodied athletes at the Olympics.

Journalists from around the world crammed in the courtroom to cover the case.

Police, who were called to Pistorius's home about 4am on Thursday, denied initial reports that Pistorius had shot Steenkamp, his girlfriend since late last year, after mistaking her for a burglar.

Steenkamp, once an FHM cover girl, was described as "the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth," by Sarit Tomlins of her management agency.

Born in Cape Town, she grew up in Port Elizabeth where she graduated with a degree in law.

Police said there had been previous allegations of domestic disputes at Pistorius's home.

"There were always rumours attracted to Oscar Pistorius, but most of them I just put down to him being a celebrity," said Kyle Wood, 25, a fellow resident of the gated community.

In 2009, Pistorius spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.

He has often spoken publicly about his fondness for guns. Last year a UK newspaper reported that he has a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat placed around his home for fear of burglars.

In November, Pistorius tweeted about arriving home and hearing the washing machine on "and thinking it's an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry! waa".

Pistorius is known as an adrenaline junkie, with a love of speed reflected in a passion for motorbikes. Four years ago he crashed his boat in a river south of Johannesburg, breaking two ribs, an eye socket and his jaw.

Empty alcohol bottles were found in the boat, but he was not tested for alcohol.

Any problems off the track were eclipsed by his athletics success.

The Johannesburg-born athlete won gold in the 4x100m relay and the 400m individual at the Paralympic Games in London. He was triple gold medallist in the Beijing games in 2008.

He was named by Time Magazine last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old after being born without lower leg bones.

Sponsors are now racing to distance themselves from the sprinter.

A South African pay television channel has canned a campaign featuring the runner.

There was no immediate comment from global sports giant Nike on its sponsorship of Pistorius, whom it featured in an advert showing the runner setting off from the starting blocks with the line "I am the bullet in the chamber".

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Pope makes one of his last appointments

POPE Benedict XVI has signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving a German lawyer to head the Vatican's embattled bank.

Ernst Von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility.

The appointment on Friday ends a nine-month search after the Institute of Religious Works ousted its previous president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for incompetence.

The ouster came just as the Vatican was submitting its finances to a review by a Council of Europe committee in a bid to join the list of financially transparent countries.

The Vatican said Von Freyberg had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent".

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$10.7bn merger creates biggest airline

AMERICAN Airlines and US Airways say they have agreed to merge in an $US11 billion ($A10.7 billion) deal to create the world's biggest airline.

The combined carrier will be called American Airlines but run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker.

The boards of the two airlines unanimously approved the deal late on Wednesday and the companies announced the agreement on Thursday.

The merger would reduce the number of major US airlines to four: the new American, United, Delta and Southwest.

The deal is a coup for smaller US Airways Group Inc, which pushed for a merger almost as soon as American parent AMR Corp filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011.

While Parker runs the company, AMR CEO Tom Horton will serve as chairman until its first shareholder meeting, likely in mid-2014.

AMR interests including creditors will own 72 per cent of the new company and US Airways shareholders 28 per cent.

The companies said merging would create savings of more than $US1 billion a year. The merger will be part of AMR's plan for exiting bankruptcy protection.

The deal would need approval by AMR's bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, who have permitted three other big airline mergers to go ahead since 2008.

The rapid consolidation has allowed the surviving airlines to offer bigger route networks that appeal to high-paying business travellers. And it has allowed them to limit the supply of seats, which helps prop up fares and airline profits.

The new American would have more than 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights and about 95,000 employees, not counting regional affiliates. It will be slightly bigger than United Airlines by passenger traffic, not counting regional affiliate airlines.

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Bizarre siege ends as WA man flees

A SIEGE at a house in Perth's northern suburbs has ended bizarrely, with the resident reportedly fleeing police.

Firefighters were called to the home on Mayflower Crescent, Craigie, mid-afternoon on Thursday because of a fire in the backyard.

The man became aggressive towards the firefighters and the Tactical Response Unit was brought in.

Several streets were cordoned off as officers attempted to negotiate with the man.

But when they stormed the house later, they found it empty.

The man had apparently jumped over the back fence and fled, according to reports.

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NZ dollar surges against pound

THE New Zealand dollar rose against the British pound, touching a post-float high, after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said economic growth is likely to remain weak even as inflation stays above the central bank's target.

The kiwi dollar rose to 54.07 British pence from 53.66 pence at 5pm in Wellington on Wednesday, having earlier risen to 54.14 pence. The local currency traded at 84.01 US cents from 84.10 cents.

King said in the BoE's Inflation Report that a prolonged period of above-target inflation "must therefore be considered alongside the weakness of the real economy". The pound fell against the euro and the greenback after the report was released.

"Overnight, all eyes were on the UK," said Mike Jones, strategist at Bank of New Zealand. "A toxic mix of lower BoE growth forecasts, but higher inflation took a toll."

The kiwi may extend its gains, as "relative growth and monetary policy expectations are both skewed in favour of ongoing NZD/GBP strength", he said. "We forecast 0.5550 by year end."

Traders will be watching for the release of the BNZ PMI report for January today for signs of the strength of the domestic manufacturing sector, which has struggled in the face of a strong New Zealand dollar. The PMI was at 50.1 in December, barely in positive territory at 50.1.

The kiwi fell to 81.24 Australian cents from 81.31 cents on Wednesday. It traded at 63.49 euro cents from 52.56 cents. The trade-weighted index rose to 76.24 from 76.17.

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Man sets himself alight at Rome airport

AN immigrant from Ivory Coast has set himself on fire at Rome airport after receiving a deportation order, sparking panic among passengers in the busy terminal.

A police officer quickly put out the flames with a fire extinguisher but the man was badly burnt and has been hospitalised in a serious condition.

The officer has also been hospitalised.

The part of the airport where the man set himself on fire was closed to the public for an hour on Thursday.

He had been ordered to present himself to border police at the airport for expulsion from Italy.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467

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NT law would keep sex offenders in jail

NORTHERN Territorians convicted of the most "horrendous" sex offences could be jailed indefinitely under proposed laws.

The Serious Sex Offenders Act 2013, introduced in the NT parliament on Thursday, would enable the Supreme Court to order that serious sex offenders stay in jail or remain under continuous supervision if released.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice John Elferink said the legislation would be used against serious sex offenders who posed a real danger to the community.

"It will be applied where there is an unacceptable risk that an offender will commit another serious sex crime if released," Mr Elferink said in a statement.

"These are people who have been found guilty of committing horrendous offences."

The Attorney-General would have the onus of satisfying the court that the person is a serious danger to the community, Mr Elferink said.

The proposed sex offender laws came as a Queensland criminal waits to learn whether he will be released from jail.

Twice-convicted rapist Robert John Fardon, 64, was scheduled to be freed on Thursday afternoon.

But the state government won a last-ditch legal attempt to keep him temporarily behind bars until February 27, when a full appeal will be heard.

Also on Thursday, the NT parliament passed laws that guaranteed jail time for convicted violent offenders.

Changes to the territory's Sentencing Act remove the option for a magistrate to fully suspend a jail sentence when the offender has committed a violent assault.

"Serious violent offenders now face mandatory minimum sentences of three months for the first offence, or twelve months for repeat offenders," Mr Elferink said.

"Exceptional circumstances will be considered on a case by case basis and the magistrate can use the exemption clause included in the legislation."

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France's Total reports strong profits

FRENCH oil giant Total has reported an eight per cent rise in net profit to 12.4 billion euros ($A16.30 billion) in 2012, excluding the change in value of oil in stock.

This is the measure, known as the current-cost accounting basis, which is most closely watched in the oil sector.

Net profit on an overall basis, the historic-cost method, fell by 13 per cent to 10.7 billion euros.

A company statement said on Wednesday that a fall in production had been counter-balanced by high oil prices and a temporary rally of margins for refiners in Europe.

The results were in line with forecasts by analysts who had expected a net profit on a current-cost accounting basis of 12.4 billion euros.

Oil prices were high in 2012 owing largely to tension over supplies from Iran which is the target of economic sanctions against its nuclear program.

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Roof collapses at Chernobyl nuclear plant

A SECTION of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine has collapsed under the weight of snow but there were no injuries or any increase in radiation from the reactor that exploded in 1986, the country's emergency agency says.

"The preliminary reason for the collapse was too much snow on the roof," the agency said on Wednesday, adding that radiation was "within the norm" and nobody was harmed.

The roof was constructed after the 1986 disaster but was not part of the sarcophagus structure covering the reactor, it said.

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Bushfire threatens town of Greenbushes

A BUSHFIRE that has destroyed two homes in Western Australia's South West is threatening the town of Greenbushes.

A string of bushfires sparked by lightning strikes on Tuesday have sweep have through the region.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said at about 6.50pm (WST) that a bushfire that started west of the Blackwood River was threatening homes at Greenbushes, the western part of Bridgetown, Hester Brook, Wandillup, Maranup and Southampton.

The fire has crossed the river and is moving in an eastern direction.

A homestead in Southampton, 12km south of Balingup and built in 1862, has burnt down.

A home some 900 metres away has also been destroyed.

More than 150 residents of the region have gathered at the Bridgetown Recreational Centre.

The DFES said the bushfire was out of control and unpredictable.

More than 130 firefighters are focusing on constructing containment lines on the north eastern flank of the bushfire and are being assisted by six water bombers and two helicopters.

About 1700 hectares have been burnt so far.

An emergency warning has been put in place, meaning residents have to act now to survive.

Greenbushes Primary School will be closed on Thursday as a precaution. A bushfire watch and act warning has also been issued for people in the Kin Kin area, where a blaze is burning towards Muir Highway.

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EU says US deal is a 'game-changer'

AN EU-US free trade agreement to be negotiated shortly is a global "game-changer" which will boost growth and provide much-needed jobs, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso says.

An accord setting up the largest free trade bloc in the world will be "ground-breaking ... a game-changer," which will add 0.5 per cent to the EU economy every year once it is in place, Barroso said on Wednesday.

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Two firefighters killed at Vic fire: union

TWO firefighters have died after a tree fell on their vehicle as they battled a large bushfire burning in Victoria's alpine region, a union says.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) firefighters were working on the 27,000-hectare Harrietville fire burning near Mount Hotham.

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) said two DSE firefighters were killed in the line of duty in a fire in the Ovens region on Wednesday afternoon.

"Our members have confirmed that two firefighters unfortunately lost their lives," AWU Victorian secretary Cesar Melhem told AAP.

The DSE said there had been a serious accident at the Harrietville-Alpine North fire, but authorities have not confirmed any deaths.

Emergency services are en route to the incident involving an emergency services vehicle near Pheasant Creek Track at Selwyn.

"At this stage police believe the vehicle was on the fireground and has been hit by a falling tree, so due to the fire in the area and the terrain emergency services are having difficulty attending the scene," a police spokeswoman said.

Mr Melhem said DSE firefighters were "unsung heroes" and there was little recognition of their work because they were not usually seen, working behind the fire lines.

"These DSE firefighters work in the most horrific conditions imaginable, away from the big centres, out in the bush, and with very little recognition for their heroic contribution to this state," he said in a statement.

"They have died heroes, which will be small comfort to those that grieve them."

Mr Melhem said the priority would be to recover the bodies from behind the fire lines and support the rest of the firefighters, before investigations were undertaken.

DSE and CFA firefighters have been making the most of mild weather conditions working around the clock to control hotspots and build containment lines around the fire, but have faced a challenge in getting into isolated locations where it is still burning.

Crews have had to trek for more than two hours to get to hard-to-reach locations to construct control lines to help stop the spread of the fire if it flared up again, Ovens incident controller Tony Long said earlier on Wednesday.

"Where crews can't walk into the affected areas, we use rappel crews who rappel down ropes from a hovering helicopter carrying their gear to put out hot spots," he said.

The Harrietville fire has burned 27,000 hectares since it was started by lightning on January 21 and Mr Long said it would continue to burn until the alpine region received significant rain.

The deaths come a month after Peter Cramer, a DSE firefighter and CFA volunteer from Tyers in Gippsland, died while working on bushfires in Tasmania.

Mr Cramer, 61, died on January 13 at Taranna, east of Hobart, while working on foot to identify potential containment lines on the southern boundary of the Forcett fire about two to three kilometres from the active fire edge.

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Iran calls for end to all nuclear arms

SANCTIONS-HIT Iran has called for the destruction of all atomic weapons in the world after North Korea announced that it had staged its most powerful nuclear test yet.

"We need to come to the point where no country has any nuclear weapons and at the same time all weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms need to be destroyed," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday when asked for a response to Pyongyang's claim to have detonated a "miniaturised" device.

"At the same all countries should have the right to make use of nuclear activities for peaceful purposes," Mehmanparast said at his weekly press briefing.

Iran has been slapped with numerous international sanctions due to its controversial nuclear program, which the West insists masks a drive for atomic weapons despite repeated denials by Tehran.

"For such a world to exist those who are the front runners in producing the nuclear ... who are proud of their nuclear stockpiles ... who upgrade them and allocate budgets to maintain them, need to be the first people to disarm so that no country would pursue these weapons," Mehmanparast said.

The test by the pariah nation has been met with the world condemnation.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he is "gravely concerned about the negative impact of this deeply destabilising act" as the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency session at 9am in New York (0100 AEDT on Wednesday) .

Tehran was among the few nations who congratulated North Korea on successfully launching a scientific satellite in orbit last December, but denied having a role in preparing the launch.

Iranian officials denied a South Korean newspaper report and a Western diplomatic source claim that a number of Iranian missile experts were in North Korea offering technical assistance for the launch.

Leaked US diplomatic cables in 2010 showed that US officials believe Iran has acquired ballistic missile parts from North Korea.

Pyongyang and Tehran are both under UN security council sanctions for their ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

A 2011 UN sanctions report said Tehran and Pyongyang were suspected of sharing ballistic missile technology.

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Man missing after Sydney speedboat crash

POLICE and emergency services continue to search for a man in the Georges River after a speedboat crash southwest Sydney.

Emergency services were called to a boat ramp off River Road at Revesby just before 4pm (AEDT) on Tuesday after two men were thrown into the water when their boat capsized.

A 27-year-old Hurstville man was rescued and taken to St George Hospital for minor injuries and later released.

His friend, a 28-year-old Picnic Point man, has not been found.

Their boat was found, although it is completely submerged.

An extensive search has been launched and involves police officers along with PolAir, Police Rescue and Police Divers.

Volunteers from the State Emergency Service, Roads and Maritime Services and Fire and Rescue NSW personnel have helped with the search.

It was likely the search would be postponed later on Tuesday night, police said.

A police guard will remain at the location overnight and the search will continue at first light on Wednesday.

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Uganda deports British gay play producer

UGANDA has deported a British theatre producer who last year staged a play about homosexuality, which is illegal in Uganda, the British High Commission said.

David Cecil was arrested in September on charges of disobeying orders to cancel the staging of a play whose main character was a gay man. He was briefly jailed before being granted bail.

In January a court dropped the charges for lack of proof.

"We have confirmation of deportation," High Commission spokesman Chris Ward told AFP on Tuesday.

"We are quite concerned that he has not had the opportunity for due process under the Ugandan system."

Cecil's partner Florence Kebirungi, who has two children with him, said he was likely "already back in the UK."

She said he was taken on Monday night from the police station where he was being held to the capital's main airport, where he was put on a flight for Britain.

"He called me from the airport, he didn't sound OK," she said, adding that immigration officials told her that Cecil was being deported because he was an "undesirable" person.

"It is a big surprise as we did not have a chance to make a legal challenge," she told AFP.

The groundbreaking play The River and The Mountain was performed at several venues around Kampala in August despite an injunction by Uganda's government-run media council. It had issued a temporary ban on the play pending review of the script.

The play examines the plight of a man coming out as a homosexual and the motivations of Uganda's vociferous anti-gay lobby.

Written by British playwright Beau Hopkins, it was directed and performed by Ugandans.

Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda but proposed legislation currently before parliament would see the death penalty introduced for certain homosexual acts.

Although legislators have said the bill could be changed, in its current form, anyone caught engaging in homosexual acts for the second time, or engaging in gay sex where one partner is a minor or has HIV, would be sentenced to death.

Public discussion promoting homosexuality -- including by rights groups -- would be punished by up to seven years in jail.

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Queen tops Britain's female power list

SHE has no formal political role, but Queen Elizabeth II has been named Britain's most powerful woman by a BBC radio program.

The monarch topped the list of 100 female figures announced on Tuesday on Woman's Hour.

Home Secretary Theresa May - Britain's interior minister - ranks second, followed by Ana Botin, chief executive of Santander UK bank.

The top five also includes Supreme Court judge Brenda Hale and Elisabeth Murdoch, chair of television company Shine Group and daughter of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

The list was assembled by a panel that included journalist Eve Pollard, politician Priti Patel and crime novelist Val McDermid.

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Dutch pull frozen food on horsemeat fears

DUTCH supermarkets have became the latest European shops to remove frozen meals from their shelves amid fears they may contain horsemeat disguised as beef.

"Plus supermarkets have withdrawn frozen lasagne of the Primafrost brand from shelves as a precaution," spokeswoman Debbie Huisman told AFP.

She said the withdrawn products were not dangerous but could contain horsemeat without it being marked on the packaging.

Boni supermarkets have withdrawn the same product, said Roel Vincken, spokesman for the Dutch Food and Goods Authority (NVWA).

"This is a decision that the supermarkets are taking themselves, we have to wait for the results of the enquiry to take official decisions," he told AFP.

The NVWA on Monday opened a probe to see whether any beef products stocked on shelves contain horsemeat as the frozen food scandal spreads across Europe.

The authorities are also investigating whether any Dutch company has been involved in fraudulent horsemeat trading.

The first results of the probe are expected early next week.

Supermarket chains in Britain, France and Sweden have pulled millions of frozen ready meals, including lasagne and moussaka dishes, from store shelves after it emerged last week that meals labelled as containing processed beef were actually found to contain up to 100 per cent horsemeat.

Horsemeat is readily available on Dutch shelves and the country produced about 1000 tonnes of horsemeat in 2011, according to the Dutch central statistics office.

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Pope's resignation 'surprises' Aust clergy

AUSTRALIAN Catholics will be surprised to find Pope Benedict XVI is resigning, but will be supportive of his decision, a senior member of the Catholic Church says.

The 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI announced his decision to step down during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning (local time) - saying age prevented him from carrying out his duties.

He will officially resign on February 28, making him the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.

Father Brian Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Bishops Conference, said he saw the news break on TV on Monday night and had no prior knowledge of the decision.

"This has come as a surprise," Father Lucas told AAP.

"It is a very courageous decision of the Pope for the good of the Church.

"He has recognised that his health and age are impeding his ability to fulfill his role and for the good of the Church has indicated that the time has come for the election of a new Pope.

"I was in Rome with the president and vice president of the Bishops Conference three weeks ago and it was evident that the Pope was frail.

"While he is certainly mentally very alert, the physical demands of the role and the travel and all that is required in the modern world has led him to reflect and pray and take this very courageous and serious decision."

Father Lucas said Australian Catholics would be surprised.

"They will react with surprise but they will be fully supportive of his decision and they will be with him in prayer," he said.

"They will be with the cardinals who gather in Rome to elect a new Pope."

But Tim Fischer, Australia's first ambassador to the Holy See, said the resignation was not unexpected.

"In 2010, in the middle of my posting, the Pope said 'yes' he could resign and in certain circumstances it would be his duty to reign," Mr Fischer told AAP.

"Pope Benedict XVI tried to steer the huge ship of state of the Holy See to a better place and his seven-year papacy will be greatly respected in history."

Mr Fischer, a former politician and deputy prime minister under the Howard government, was ambassador to the Vatican for three years, returning to Australia in January 2012.

The Pope has received best wishes from other politicians.

Labor's former prime minister Kevin Rudd tweeted his best wishes, saying "He has a deep affection for our country".

"Extraordinary news of the Pope's resignation because of ill health

"All Australians wish him well."

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce also took to twitter to thank the Pope.

"Wish him the best, thank him for his work and ponder who the replacement will be," Senator Joyce wrote.

The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church".

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Germany expresses 'respect' for Pope

A SPOKESMAN for Chancellor Angela Merkel says the German-born Pope deserved "respect" and "gratitude" for his nearly eight years as pontiff after he announced he was to step down.

"The federal government has the greatest possible respect for the Holy Father, for his accomplishments, for his life-long work for the Catholic Church," said Steffen Seibert, adding the pontiff also deserved "gratitude".

"As a Christian and as a Catholic, one reacts with emotion and dismay," added Seibert in a regular government news conference.

He said Benedict XVI had left his "very personal mark" on the Church, "both as a thinker and a shepherd" to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

"Whatever the reasons may be for this declaration, they should be honoured and respected and he deserves gratitude for leading this world church for eight years in such a way," concluded Seibert.

Merkel, herself the daughter of a pastor, would speak on the issue later on Monday, her office announced.

Benedict, who earlier Monday announced his intention to resign this month, was born Joseph Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, in the predominantly Catholic southern German region of Bavaria.

He was ordained priest at the same time as his older brother Georg in 1951, and began teaching theology at Freising College in 1958.

Ratzinger went on from there to teach at several other German universities, notably in Bonn, Muenster and Regensburg.

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Sixteen killed in Russian coalmine blast

AT least 16 miners were killed when a methane explosion tore through a coalmine in the remote Russian Far North within the Arctic Circle, in the latest disaster to hit the country's mining industry.

Two miners were still missing after the explosion at the Vorkutinskaya mine controlled by Russian steel-making giant Severstal in the Komi region town of Vorkuta, the emergencies ministry said in a statement on Monday.

A total of 259 miners were working underground at the time, with 23 in the shaft where the explosion took place.

Five of the group in the shaft were rescued - two received treatment at the scene and three were hospitalised - with the rest either missing or dead.

"Rescue workers found 16 corpses and the fate of two more people is unknown," the emergencies ministry said in a statement on its website, adding that the explosion was caused by methane.

Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov will personally go to the mine to oversee the rescue operation, said ministry spokeswoman Elena Smirnykh.

The families of the dead miners will receive two million rubles ($A64,000) each, she said.

Some of the rescued workers were injured, said Smirnykh, adding that a plane was dispatched from Moscow to the mine to help hospitalise the miners.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal inquiry into a possible breach of safety rules at a mine.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tasked his deputy Arkady Dvorkovich with the responsibility to provide assistance to families of the dead miners.

"An accident took place in Komi," a grim-faced Medvedev said in televised remarks. "Put together the complete information and report on what is happening."

The mine in the northern city of Vorkuta is operated by Vorkutaugol, part of Severstal's coalmining division whose mills it provides with hard coking coal concentrate.

It has been working since 1973 with an output of 1.8 million tonnes of coal a year and its reserves of coal are estimated at 40 million tonnes.

Vorkutaugol spokesman Yevgeny Sukharev said the company paid "unprecedented attention" to safety standards. "Everyone is in shock," he told AFP.

According to the company's website, in 2011 the Vorkutinskaya mine won a corporate award for "worthy working conditions - the basis for respect in the workforce".

Known for its extremely inhospitable climate, Vorkuta was home to one of the most infamous Stalin-era prison camps, the Vorkuta Gulag.

Deadly blasts which are usually caused by a build-up in methane gas remain a frequent occurrence in the coalmining industry in Russia despite recent drives to improve safety.

In 2010, more than 60 people were killed in twin methane blasts at Russia's biggest underground coalmine, the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region of Siberia.

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Pope's resignation 'historic' says Gillard

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI marks a historic moment which many Australian Catholics will greet with great emotion.

The Pope will resign on February 28, saying his age prevented him from carrying out his duties, an unprecedented move in the modern history of the Catholic Church.

He is the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years and the decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new Pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old Pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

"Australia's Catholics and their many friends received remarkable news overnight that Pope Benedict XVI will resign in coming weeks," Ms Gillard said in a statement.

"The Pope's announcement marks a genuinely historic moment which many Australian Catholics will greet with great emotion.

"On his election, Joseph Ratzinger said he wished to be 'a simple humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord' and in his resignation that humility has been amply demonstrated."

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Twitter is flooded with Pope jokes

AS the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI reached the world, those on Twitter have come up with some amusing theories on why he decided to step down.

"The Pope said he's resigned because he didn't have the strength to go on. It's Monday. We all feel like that," Steve N Allen wrote.

David Litchfield figured he knew where the Pope was last night and what he was singing.

"That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight losing my religion" ... Pope at karaoke last night," he tweeted.

Hoskas tweeted: "I think it's nothing more than someone realising that white is not their colour #pope."

Others believed that his recent use of Twitter may have distracted the Pope from his job.

"Pope joins Twitter and loses all interest in his real job. I hear you mate, I hear you," Khaya Dlanga said.

"A pope on Twitter never was going to end well, was it," Archie Valparaiso said.

The Pope joined Twitter on December 12 and has more than 1.5 million followers.

He has tweeted 34 times with his last tweet on Sunday saying: "We must trust in the mighty power of Gods mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."

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Opera House turns red for Chinese New Year

THE Sydney Opera House has turned red to mark the start of Chinese New Year and recognise the contribution of Chinese Australians to the state.

The iconic building turned from white to red when NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell and consul general of the People's Republic of China Duan Jielong sounded a gong on Sydney Harbour for the start of the year of the snake.

Mr O'Farrell, who was dressed in a traditional Chinese black satin shirt, said NSW had the largest population of Chinese Australians.

"This is a great opportunity to celebrate China's contribution to our economy," the NSW premier told reporters on Sunday.

"More importantly the significant contribution that Chinese Australians citizens have made to the development of this state and this city for more than 200 years."

It's been estimated that 80,000 Chinese tourists are spending Chinese New Year in Australia and especially in Sydney.

"The Sydney Opera is a world renowned architectural masterpiece and symbol of Australia in the eyes of many Chinese people," Mr Duan said.

"Therefore I'm sure this beautiful message of friendship will be well received and cherished by Chinese people around the world."

Despite the rain, tourists and Sydney residents went to Sydney Harbour to take pictures of the red Opera House.

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Second suicide bombing rocks northern Mali

The northern Malian city of Gao has been shaken by a large explosion, Malian military sources say. Source: AAP

NORTHERN Mali's largest city was rocked by its second suicide bombing in two days, a soldier said on Sunday, as Islamist rebels continued defying a security lock-down on territory reclaimed by French-led forces.

The twin suicide blasts, the first such attacks in Mali, underlined the threat of a drawn-out insurgency as France, whose warplanes were still bombing northern territory Sunday morning, tries to map an exit strategy nearly one month into its intervention in its former colony.

The bomber blew himself up late Saturday at the same army checkpoint in Gao where the first such attack occurred the day before.

His severed head was still lying on the ground Sunday morning.

Witnesses said Malian troops and Islamist fighters had also exchanged gunfire after the blast. French military helicopters could be heard in the air after the bombing.

No one else was wounded in the attack, said a soldier at the checkpoint, where troops had already placed two walls of sandbags, cut down trees to increase visibility and set up heavy machine guns to protect themselves after Friday's attack.

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), one of the Islamist groups that seized control of northern Mali for 10 months in the wake of a military coup, claimed the first attack and had threatened earlier Saturday that there would be more.

"We are dedicating ourselves to carrying out more attacks against France and its allies. We ask the local population to stay far away from military zones and avoid explosions," spokesman Abou Walid Sahraoui said.

The army closed the road where the blast occurred, which leads from Gao to Bourem and Kidal, two other key towns in the region.

French warplanes bombed a government building early Sunday morning in the town of Gourma-Rharous, between Gao and Timbuktu to the northwest, a local official said.

The building "held vehicles and military equipment belonging to the Islamists," the official said on condition of anonymity. "Three Islamist vehicles were destroyed."

The latest attack came as a report said several bodies, including those of three Arab shopkeepers recently arrested by Malian troops, had been discovered in a grave in Timbuktu.

The discovery was made Friday, Mauritanian online news agency ANI reported.

Timbuktu has been the scene of reprisal attacks by black Malians against Arab and Tuareg residents accused of supporting the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels.

Rights groups have already accused the Malian army of summary executions of Tuareg and Arabs and called on the government to protect them from reprisal attacks.

In the capital Bamako, a firefight Friday between rival army units killed two adolescents and wounded another 13 people, showing the deep divisions in the Malian military.

Paratroopers loyal to ex-president Amadou Toumani Toure, ousted in a March 2012 coup, were protesting an order absorbing them into other units to be sent to the frontline when the gunfight erupted.

The fighting overshadowed the arrival of 70 EU military trainers, the first of what is to be a 500-strong mission tasked with whipping the Malian army into shape.

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Man tried to kill with arrow: NSW police

A MAN has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly attacked two men - firing a bow and arrow at one - on the NSW Mid North Coast.

A 42-year-old man was caring for his 93-year-old grandfather at a property at Aldavilla, Kempsey on Sunday morning.

Police will allege a 46-year-old man attacked the grandfather and was restrained by the grandson who forced him out of the house.

As one man attempted to close a bedroom window an arrow was fired through it, narrowly missing him, police allege.

The accused man was taken to Kempsey police station and charged with attempted murder.

Bail was refused and he is due to appear at Kempsey Local Court on Monday.

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Woman sells cigarettes at Sydney market

A WOMAN has been charged with selling cigarettes, with an estimated total value of $65,000, at a market stall in western Sydney.

Detectives visited the Blacktown Markets on Cricketers Arms Road on Sunday morning and will allege they were offered cigarettes by the woman operating the stall.

They raided the stall and the woman's car, allegedly finding 2799 packets of cigarettes of various brands.

Police also seized 18 bags of tobacco with an estimated value of $800.

Inquiries are being made about the ownership of the products.

A 33-year-old Bonnyrigg woman has been charged with selling tobacco product by retail from booth/tent.

She has been granted conditional bail to appear at Blacktown Local Court on February 28.

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French retailers withdraw horse products

SIX major French retailers have withdrawn foods provided by producers Findus and Comigel over fears they may contain horsemeat, the FCD retail association said on Sunday.

Retailers Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Cora, Monoprix and Picard have pulled the prepared products, including pasta dishes with meat sauce, shepherd's pie and moussaka, from their shelves, the association said in a statement.

It said the withdrawal was the result of a "labelling non-compliance in regards to the nature of the meat" in the products.

"The retailers are following the investigations carried out by suppliers with the greatest attention and waiting for the results of public inquiries," the statement said, noting that French authorities had indicated there was no health risk from the products.

Prepared foods have been pulled from the shelves in Britain, France and Sweden after it emerged that frozen food companies had been using horsemeat in products labelled as containing beef.

Findus has lodged a legal complaint in France after evidence showed the presence of horsemeat in its supply chain "was not accidental", while a French meat-processing firm said it would sue its Romanian supplier.

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