Livestock saved in Vic abattoir fire

FIREFIGHTERS have rescued hundreds of cattle and sheep from a fire at a Melbourne abattoir.

CFA Incident Controller Peter Lucas said more than 20 trucks and 100 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze at a Cranbourne abattoir in Melbourne's south-east.

Three workers alerted firefighters to the blaze caused by a possible electrical fault at about 3.30pm (AEDT).

"When the fire did erupt they saw fire take off and roll across ceiling," he told AAP.

"It was movie stuff."

Hundreds of sheep and cattle were herded into a local paddock, with a few dying from shock.

"We saved the bulk of them from a pretty terrible end," Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said the fire threatened to engulf the whole abattoir and took over two hours to control.

While more than half of the building was damaged, firefighters were able to save the abattoir's storing fridges, Mr Lucas said.

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Boy critical after being hit by 4WD

A YOUNG boy is fighting for his life after being knocked off his pushbike by a 4WD while crossing a road in western Sydney.

The boy suffered life-threatening head injuries after he was hit by a silver Subaru Escape at traffic lights on Richmond Road, Marayong at about 7.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday, police said.

The boy is aged between eight and 12 and was with his brother at the time of the accident, police believe.

He has been taken to the Children's Hospital at Westmead in a critical condition.

The Subaru driver, a woman in her 30s, stopped immediately and is assisting police.

Witnesses are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Vic man charged after ute crash kills two

A 19-YEAR-OLD Victorian man has been charged with culpable driving after a ute rolled killing two people.

Robert Saunders was the driver of a ute carrying six people when it left the road and rolled onto its roof ejecting several passengers, police said.

Saunders faced an out-of-session hearing at the Traralgon police station charged with two counts of culpable driving causing death.

A 22-year-old and 18-year-old man died at the scene of the crash at Glengarry in the state's east on Saturday.

One man was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

Saunders has been remanded in custody and will face the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on Monday.

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Assault weapons ban deserves vote: Obama

US President Barack Obama says each of his proposed steps to reduce gun violence should get a vote in Congress - even an assault weapons ban that both parties agree stands little chance at passing.

Senate Democrats dropped the ban from the bill they plan to debate next month out of concern it could sink the whole package. Still, Obama says he's pushing for it.

In his weekly radio and internet address released Saturday, Obama says the US has changed in the three months since the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn. He says Americans support the ban, plus limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines, school security funding and a crackdown on gun trafficking.

"Today there is still genuine disagreement among well-meaning people about what steps we should take to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in this country. But you, the American people, have spoken," Obama said.

The White House said on Saturday that Obama will make additional trips outside Washington to rally support for the measures, including the assault weapons ban. The White House also said that before Obama left for Israel earlier this week, his push for gun control was among the issues he raised with legislators from both parties as he embarked on a concerted effort to reach out to Congress.

In the Republican address, Senator Mike Lee of Utah says the Senate Democrats' budget raises taxes by $US1.5 trillion ($A1.44 trillion) without doing anything to save entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.

He says Republicans want a balanced budget that lives up to the nation's moral obligation to act in the best interest of future generations.

"Republicans recognise that keeping dollars, decisions, priorities and power in the hands of the people is what has made America the greatest civilisation the world has ever known," Lee says. "Now is the time to return to that model."

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One month delay in Berlusconi trial

A COURT in Milan has delayed by a month the next hearing in former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's appeal trial against a conviction for tax fraud after a request by his lawyers.

Judges accepted Berlusconi's justification that he could not attend on Saturday, the day of the hearing, because he was meeting the leadership of his People of Freedom party.

The next hearing in the trial - linked to his business empire Mediaset- will be on April 20.

A verdict is not expected before the end of April at the earliest.

Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in prison and handed a five-year ban from holding public office, but the punishment has been suspended during the appeal process.

If the court upholds the conviction, he can still file a second appeal with Italy's highest court.

Berlusconi is also a defendant in another trial in Milan for having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office when he was prime minister.

He has denied all charges.

AFP a

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Consumers warned about funeral contracts

CONSUMERS are being warned to beware of "push advertising" for pre-paid funeral arrangements on daytime television.

In a statement, NSW Fair Trading commissioner Rod Stowe said daytime TV was experiencing a "renaissance" in marketing around the issue of death and dying that "could play on people's insecurities about such matters".

"People need to shop around and go for products without the pernicious aspects of escalating costs with age," Mr Stowe said on Friday.

The Fair Trading boss said consumers needed to be aware that with some products there was the potential to lose payments if a contract or a scheduled transfer was cancelled.

Mr Stowe stressed to consumers considering buying funeral products that refunds were "not generally provided if a payment is missed or the policy is cancelled".

Consumers should read the product disclosure statement (PDS) that outlines what happens if the policy is cancelled, he said.

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Tourists kidnapped in Egypt

ARMED Bedouin tribesmen in Egypt's Sinai abducted two tourists, an Israeli man and a Belgian woman, as they were travelling between two beach resorts.

Police officials said the gunmen intercepted the tourists' car and forced them into their truck.

The tourists had been travelling between the southern resort of Taba, on the border with Israel, and Dahab.

Such hostage takings, which usually last for no longer than 48 hours, began in the restive Sinai peninsula after an uprising in early 2011 forced out president Hosni Mubarak and battered his security services.

The kidnappers are Bedouin who want to trade the hostages for jailed tribesmen.

Israel has repeatedly warned its tourists of threats of attacks in the Sinai, where Islamist militants have waged a low level insurgency against the military and police and occasionally attacked neighbouring Israel.

But Friday's kidnapping did not appear politically motivated.

Bedouin sources in the area said the kidnappers wanted to exchange the hostages for jailed relatives.

Bedouin kidnapped two Britons on March 7, only to release them within hours following negotiations with security officials.

The British husband and wife had been kidnapped from a bank in a town as they headed towards the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

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WA prison escapee found

A PRISONER who escaped a Western Australian jail has been caught by police.

Nigel Ryder, 33, was wearing his prison greens when he escaped Wooroloo Prison at 3.15pm (AEDT) on Friday.

The escapee was found in Woodbridge in Perth's northeast on Friday night and is now in custody.

It is believed he abandoned a car in the area and was on foot.

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Musharraf set to return from exile

PAKISTAN'S former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was granted protective bail in a series of legal cases, paving the way for his return from exile without the risk of immediate arrest.

Musharraf, who seized power in 1999 and left the country after stepping down in 2008, has vowed to return Sunday to contest the May 11 general election, but is wanted in Pakistan for conspiracy to murder and illegally arresting judges.

To preclude the prospect of his arrest on arrival, his daughter, Ayla Raza, petitioned a court in Karachi on his behalf for protective bail in three cases, including the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"He has been given pre-arrival, protective bail in all three cases," Musharraf's lawyer Ahmad Raza Kasuri told AFP.

Judge Sajjad Ali Shah posted bail at 300,000 rupees ($2,950) over the 2007 sacking of judges, the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a Baluch rebel leader in the southwest, and the murder of Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack.

The decision prevents Musharraf being arrested for 10 days in connection with the judges' arrests and for 14 days in connection with the other two cases.

Technically, Pakistan's Supreme Court could intervene to reverse the order.

"He has full protection now and he cannot be arrested in these cases upon his arrival in Pakistan," Salman Safdar, another Musharraf lawyer, told AFP.

At the Sindh High Court, a handful of activists from Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party flashed victory signs and chanted "Long Live Musharraf" and "Musharraf will come back, he will bring prosperity".

The outgoing government led by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) always insisted that Musharraf would be arrested should be return to the country and last year he delayed a planned homecoming after being threatened with detention.

A parliamentary committee could later Friday agree on a candidate to head up an interim government which will rule during the election campaign.

Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto, who is co-chairman of the PPP with his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, has accused Musharraf of murdering his mother.

She was killed after an election rally in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the army, on December 27, 2007.

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Bodies in streets of riot-hit Myanmar town

Global pressure is mounting for an end to the Buddhist-Muslim unrest in Myanmar. Source: AAP

MYANMAR declared a state of emergency for a riot-hit town where 20 people have been killed in Buddhist-Muslim violence that has sparked fears of spreading unrest.

Swathes of Meiktila, located 130km north of the capital Naypyidaw, have been reduced to ashes as the authorities struggle to establish control after three days of clashes and arson.

"At least 20 people have been killed. We estimate that it could be higher but it is also difficult for us to gather all the figures," said a police officer who did not want to be named told AFP.

The president's office said the state of emergency would enable the military to help restore order.

The situation was extremely tense on Friday with groups of men - including Buddhist monks - armed with knives and sticks prowling the streets.

Many of the town's Muslim residents have fled their homes.

A journalist saw the incinerated remains of two victims on a roadside, just one of several reports of bodies in the town, as flames raged from torched mosques and houses while other buildings smouldered unattended.

"The situation is getting worse," a local resident said. "People are destroying buildings. Many people have been killed. We are scared and trying to stay safe at home."

A group of reporters were stopped at knife-point by a gang of young men and monks and forced to hand over their camera memory cards, according to one of the journalists.

It is the worst communal violence since a wave of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year that left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.

A local lawmaker said that about 25 people had been killed in Meiktila, where more than one-third of the population of about 80,000 people is Muslim, but it was not possible to verify his figures.

"The situation is not good... although the government has said everything is under control," parliamentarian Win Htein, of the opposition National League for Democracy party, told AFP.

He said hundreds of Muslims had taken shelter at a football ground and police compound while Buddhists had sought sanctuary in monasteries.

The violence comes as Myanmar struggles with worsening tensions between Muslims and Buddhists that have marred international optimism over dramatic political reforms since the end of military rule two years ago.

A local police officer said an order had been given on Thursday to shoot rioters below the waist if needed to quell the violence, which apparently began with a row in a Muslim-owned gold shop that turned into a mass street brawl.

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