Russian helicopter carrying 10 crashes

A RUSSIAN helicopter carrying 10 people has crashed in southern Siberia.

Those on board included senior rescue service officials.

The crash happened in the Irkutsk region, an emergencies ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

"The Mi-8 helicopter was discovered seven kilometres from the Preobrazhenka settlement with signs of destruction," Irina Rossius told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The agency added that it was carrying several tonnes of explosives being used to break up ice on rivers.

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Italy's ex-PM Andreotti dies at 94

GIULIO Andreotti, who served seven times as Italy's prime minister, has died at 94.

He was a behind-the-scenes power broker of Italian post-war political life, accused of shadowy links with the mafia and the Vatican.

A government minister for over three decades, Andreotti who died on Monday was involved through all the upheavals that rocked Italy from World War II until his retirement from mainstream political life in 1992, after which he stayed on as senator-for-life.

Born in Rome on January 14, 1919, he was elected to parliament in 1946 and became a junior minister - at the start of a lengthy career.

He was known for his love of political intrigue and close ties with the Vatican, beginning his career with the pro-Catholic Christian Democratic party before going on to be prime minister seven times and a minister 21 times.

With his stooped figure and bespectacled, hangdog expression, Andreotti was a controversial figure who was inevitably associated with a period of extremist political militancy that rocked Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.

At various points in his career he was nicknamed "The Untouchable", "The Black Pope" and "The Divo" in an award-winning 2008 film on his life.

Andreotti was once convicted to 24 years in prison for ordering the murder of an investigative journalist in 1979 after a high-profile trial, but an appeals court cleared him in 2003 and he served no time in prison.

"I'm being blamed for everything, except for the Punic Wars because I was too young then," the caustic senator, who became famous for his put-downs, once said in an ironic reference to the battles between ancient Rome and Carthage.

He was also blamed for his intransigence when his political rival Aldo Moro, a former prime minister, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades in 1978.

As prime minister, Andreotti refused to negotiate and Moro was found dead in the boot of a car parked on a Rome backstreet after two months in captivity.

Andreotti habitually attended mass every morning even when in office and helped shape the Christian Democratic party founded by Alcide de Gasperi.

The United States never really trusted him despite his staunch anti-Communist credentials and, observers say, rightly so as Libya was tipped off by Italy about an imminent US bombardment in April 1986.

He was the butt of many jokes and was popularly dubbed "The Hunchback".

A famous comedy sketch once represented Andreotti ringing a doorbell to hell and the devil opening the door and saying: "Daddy's home!"

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Protests outside Germany's neo-Nazi trial

Several organisations protested outside a German courthouse where a neo-Nazi trial is being held. Source: AAP

DOZENS of anti-racist demonstrators have rallied outside a German courthouse where the biggest neo-Nazi murder trial in the country's history is about to start.

Several organisations fighting the far right gathered for the protest on Monday, where activists hoisted banners with slogans such as "Against Nazi terror, state and everyday racism" and urged German authorities to take a harder line against extremists and their crimes.

Two women jostled with security forces and smashed a bottle outside the barricades, police said, amid a massive turnout of international media for the trial in the southern city of Munich.

Beate Zschaepe, 38, the last surviving member of a far-right trio calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU), is charged with complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Four alleged accomplices will join her in the dock for the trial secured with a major police presence.

Zschaepe is also accused of involvement in 15 armed robberies, arson and attempted murder in two bomb attacks.

The investigation was bungled by German authorities, who for years suspected Turkish mafia groups were behind the killings. They later admitted that files relevant to the case were shredded.

In custody since turning herself in on November 8, 2011, Zschaepe arrived at the court from her cell in solitary confinement at Stadelheim prison, one of Germany's largest.

She was led into the courtroom wearing a black blazer, a pressed white shirt and large hoop earrings. She stood with her back to television cameras waiting for the proceedings to begin.

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Bomb kills 3 at Pakistan political rally

A BOMB has torn through a Pakistan election rally killing three people and wounding 45 others in the first campaign attack on a political party in the northwestern tribal belt.

The attack on Monday brings to 72 the number of people killed in violence targeting politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally, ahead of Pakistan's historic elections on Saturday.

The explosion targeted the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a religious party in the outgoing government coalition, in Kurram, one of the seven districts making up Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.

"Three people have died and 45 are injured. Eleven of them are in a critical condition," Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.

Khan said the bomb was planted inside the building where two national assembly candidates representing the JUI faction led by cleric Fazul-ur-Rehman were speaking to supporters.

One of the candidates, Munir Orakzai, escaped unhurt while the other, Ain u Din Shakir, was slightly injured, Khan said.

It was the first deadly attack on a political party in Pakistan's tribal belt since campaigning began for the polls, which will mark the first democratic transition of power after a civilian government completes a full-term in office.

Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso strongly condemned the attack and said that another national assembly candidate, had been injured.

Repeated calls from the interim administration for candidates to be granted more security have failed to stop a wave of attacks, most of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest blast. The tribal belt is a stronghold of Islamist militants and Kurram has been bogged by sectarian violence between Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority and Shi'ite minority.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies, in the southwestern province Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in the southern city of Hyderabad, where candidates have been killed.

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Nobel Prize winner de Duve dies at 95

A BELGIAN university says that biochemist Christian de Duve, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1974, has died in an act of euthanasia. He was 95.

His university, UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve, confirmed it was a case of euthanasia but did not disclose the method.

De Duve shared the Nobel Prize with two other scientists for their work and discoveries on the structural and functional organisation of the cell.

One month before his death last Saturday, he had taken the decision to end his life through euthanasia and had granted a big interview to the daily Le Soir to be published after his death.

He said he had been getting weaker and decided to plan, as he put it, "my own disappearance."

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Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 600

The Bangladesh building that collapsed was not designed to be used for factory. Source: AAP

THE death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster surpassed 600 after dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a nine-storey building housing garment factories, the army said.

Lieutenant Imran Khan of the army control room, which was set up to coordinate the rescue operation following the disaster last month, told AFP that recovery efforts had gathered pace and the "death toll now stands at 610".

"The toll is expected to rise further," he said.

The building, which housed five garment factories, collapsed near the capital Dhaka on April 24, trapping more than 3,000 people. Some 2,437 people have been rescued, Khan said.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site on the twelfth day, as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Mohammad Jashim, 25, whose garment worker sister Jakiya Begum was still missing, was among those holding a vigil at the site on Sunday.

Every time a body is recovered, he rushes to see whether the remains are those of his sister.

Officials said the bodies pulled out have missing limbs in some cases or have decomposed, delaying identification.

"We've identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or identity cards given by the factories," deputy administrator of Dhaka district, Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, told AFP.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations by four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

The building's architect, Masood Reza, told AFP he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not factories.

Police have arrested twelve people including the plaza's owner and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment exporter after China. The industry accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports and more than 40 per cent of its industrial workforce.

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Israel launches air strikes near Damascus

Israel has launched air strikes in Syria at a shipment of Iranian-made guided missiles. Source: AAP

ISRAELI strikes hit a military target outside Damascus, the Jewish state's second reported raid on Syria in three days, with residents saying the attack felt like an earthquake and turned the sky red.

A senior Israeli source said the aerial assault took out Iranian weapons destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is allied to the Syrian regime.

And a diplomatic source in Beirut told AFP three sites were targeted, including a military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of Syria's capital.

The official SANA news agency said Israel had targeted the military research centre at Jamraya in the Eastern Ghouta region, without giving details on casualties or damage.

"This new Israeli aggression is a clear attempt to alleviate the pressure on the armed terrorist groups after our army beat them back in several regions and after the army's victories on the road to recovering security and stability in Syria," said SANA.

The Israeli source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the target of the attack "was Iranian missiles which were destined for Hezbollah".

He also confirmed the Jewish state was behind an attack overnight Thursday, which sources told AFP targeted a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport.

On Sunday morning, an Israeli army spokeswoman said two batteries of the Iron Dome missile defence system had been moved to the north of the country.

"This attack proves the direct involvement of the Israeli occupation in the conspiracy against Syria and its links with terrorist groups in the aggression supported by Western countries and some Gulf countries," SANA said of Sunday's pre-dawn strike.

Residents of the upscale Damascus neighbourhood of Dumar, six kilometres away, said the raids caused the ground to shudder and turned the black night sky red.

"It was like an earthquake, the sky was yellow and red," said 72-year-old Najwa.

Video footage of the strikes uploaded to YouTube showed a series of missiles lighting up clouds.

A fire caused by the raids could be seen burning and then an enormous explosion erupts, producing an orange fireball that momentarily fills the entire screen.

The powerful explosion sent up towering clouds of smoke illuminated by embers of debris.

If confirmed, the attack would be Israel's second this week against targets inside Syria and the second time it has targeted the Jamraya facility, after a January 30 raid that Israeli officials implicitly acknowledged.

Israel has frequently warned that it would act to stop the transfer of advanced weapons systems or chemical weapons to Lebanon's Hezbollah with which it fought a devastating war in 2006.

Hezbollah and Iran, the regional arch-foes of Israel, have steadfastly backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against it erupted in March 2011.

US President Barack Obama, speaking after the first reported attack this week, said Israel was justified in protecting itself.

"The Israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organisations like Hezbollah," he said, without commenting directly on the strike.

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UK deputy speaker denies sex allegations

Nigel Evans has denied a gay rape charge, saying the allegations are "completely false". Source: AAP

A DEPUTY speaker of Britain's lower house of parliament said that allegations of raping one man and sexually assaulting another were "completely false", adding that he had previously regarded both men as friends.

Nigel Evans, 55, a lawmaker in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, issued the denial a day after he was questioned over the alleged attacks on two men aged in their twenties.

"Yesterday, I was interviewed by the police concerning two complaints, one of which dates back four years, made by two people who are well known to each other and until yesterday, I regarded as friends," Evans said in a statement to the media outside his home.

"The complaints are completely false and I cannot understand why they have been made, especially as I have continued to socialise with one as recently as last week.

"I appreciate the way the police have handled this in such a sensitive manner and I would like to thank my colleagues, friends and members of the public who have expressed their support and, like me, a sense of incredulity at these events."

Evans revealed he was gay in 2010, eight years after he was elected, saying he was "tired of living a lie".

He represents Ribble Valley in Lancashire, northwest England, and is one of the House of Commons' three deputy speakers, who are responsible for maintaining discipline in parliament in the absence of the speaker, John Bercow.

Police said the alleged attacks took place in the village of Pendleton, where Evans lives, between July 2009 and March 2013.

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Killings up Sudan tensions in Abyei region

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for calm following the killing of a top chief in Sudan. Source: AAP

TENSION and anger gripped the Abyei region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan after the killing of a tribal chief and a peacekeeper, residents said, as the UN boosted security.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for calm after the Ngok Dinka chief Kual Deng Majok and the Ethiopian peacekeeper died in an "attack" by a Misseriya tribesman in the region on Saturday.

"It looks like Dinka are very angry," one local resident told AFP.

He reported gunfire in Abyei's town centre, where Misseriya run small shops.

A curfew was in effect, with the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei setting up extra checkpoints trying to restrict movement and prevent gatherings, said the resident on condition of anonymity.

The resident, who is familiar with the incident, said five Misseriya also died in Saturday's skirmish.

"There is high tension and all sides are alert, ready for anything," Mohammed Al-Ansari, a Misseriya chief in Abyei, told AFP.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, said on Twitter that UNISFA was "expanding patrols with aim of maintaining calm".

UN chief Ban urged both tribes as well as the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to "avoid any escalation of this unfortunate event," a statement from his spokesperson said late Saturday.

The United Nations said the "attack by a Misseriya assailant on a UNISFA convoy" also seriously wounded two of its peacekeepers.

The status of Abyei has not been resolved despite steps which Sudan and South Sudan have taken since March to normalise their relations in other areas, after months of intermittent clashes along their undemarcated frontier.

Abyei's status was the most sensitive issue left unsettled when South Sudan separated from Sudan in 2011.

The territory was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

Majok was heading north from Abyei town with UNISFA peacekeepers, who are the only authority in the area, when a group of Misseriya stopped them, another Misseriya leader said.

Despite negotiations, "a clash happened when a UNISFA soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," said the Misseriya chief who asked to remain anonymous.

During the resulting clash, "the Dinka leader's car was hit by an explosion and he and his driver were killed".

Majok was travelling with UNISFA commander Yohannes Tesfamariam, who was unhurt, said the Abyei resident familiar with the situation.

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Road pricing would cut traffic: report

MAKING Aussie motorists pay to use roads would ease traffic congestion in the nation's major cities and help boost economic productivity, a report has found.

The Grattan Institute report found a system of road pricing would also be a good way to raise funds for better public transport, such as better bus services.

The report, Productive Cities: opportunity in a changing economy, said the system could take the form of road user charges, congestion charges, or time-of-day tolling.

It found that charging motorists to use roads would result in "a more efficient use of road space" and ultimately help to lift labour productivity.

"In order to address traffic congestion, it is not enough to rely solely on building new roads without also paying attention to managing the demand for road space," the report states.

Road pricing would "also go some way towards raising the revenue needed to increase the capacity of public transport".

However the report conceded that governments would have to spend "political capital" to implement such a system.

It also urged governments to build more homes in established suburbs, saying rising house prices meant many blue-collar workers risked being locked out of areas that offered the best access to jobs.

"This will be good for the economy and good for the fair go," the report found.

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