Sarkozy slams 'unfair' corruption charge

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy has denounced charges against him in connection with a probe into illegal party funding as "unfair and unfounded".

In his first personal reaction to the charge laid on Thursday, Sarkozy used his Facebook page to insist he had not taken advantage of France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, when she was weakened by ill health.

"I want to insist that, at no moment in my public life, did I betray the duties of my office," Sarkozy wrote.

"I will put all my energy into proving my integrity and honesty. The truth will triumph in the end. I have no doubt about that."

Sarkozy's lawyers are attempting to overturn a decision by three examining magistrates to charge him in a case threatening to destroy his hopes of a political comeback.

The former president was charged on Thursday after being summoned for face-to-face encounters with former members of Bettencourt's staff, including her butler.

The confrontation was the latest chapter in an investigation into allegations Sarkozy accepted envelopes stuffed with cash from ailing L'Oreal heiress Bettencourt to fund his 2007 election campaign.

Investigators suspect up to four million euros ($A5 million) of Bettencourt's cash made its way into the coffers of Sarkozy's UMP party. Bettencourt is now 90 and has been incapacitated since 2006, according to doctors.

Sarkozy could face up to three years in jail, a fine of 375,000 euros, and a five-year ban from public office if convicted.

He recently dropped several hints that he is considering a return to the frontline of French politics, suggesting recently he could be forced to out of a sense of duty to his country.

Against that backdrop, his lawyers have branded the decision to charge him as politically motivated.

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Jolie visits Rwanda war rape victims

ANGELINA Jolie has joined British Foreign Secretary William Hague to visit Rwanda in a bid to encourage world powers to do more on tackling rape and sexual assault in war zones.

Britain's Foreign Office released a picture of the US film star and Hague getting off a British-flagged jet in the central African country.

They are also to visit the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo this week in a trip aimed at forcing the Group of Eight world powers to address the issue more seriously.

Hague said he would be making it his priority when he hosts the annual meeting of G8 foreign ministers next month in London.

"This visit is about hearing first hand from people who have endured rape and sexual violence during the conflict in the eastern DRC," Jolie said.

"We want to learn the lessons that their experience holds for how the world can protect thousands of women, men and children at risk of rape in many other conflict zones.

"And we want to persuade governments around the world to give this issue the attention it deserves.

"Unless the world acts, we will always be reacting to atrocities, treating survivors rather than preventing rape in the first place."

Jolie and Hague are calling on the G8 to agree that rape and sexual violence constitute breaches of the Geneva Conventions governing warfare.

They also want a new international protocol on the documentation and investigation of the issue.

Hague said: "More often than not the international community looks away, the perpetrators of these brutal crimes walk free and the cycle of injustice and conflict is repeated. We have to shatter this culture of impunity.

"It is time for real, meaningful action by the governments of the world to say that the use of rape as a weapon of war is unacceptable, to bring perpetrators to justice and to lift the stigma from survivors."

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Kenya court orders presidential recount

KENYA'S Supreme Court has ordered a recount of votes cast at 22 polling centres, after presidential elections in which a second-round run off was only avoided by the narrowest of margins.

"Retallying is to be done in 22 polling stations," said Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala.

The counting of the March 4 ballots - a fraction of the total votes cast in some 32,000 centres nationwide - is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

Official election results showed president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta won 50.07 per cent of the vote, only just breaking the first-round threshold by some 8000 ballots.

He was, however, around 800,000 votes ahead of his closest rival, outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Odinga's party and civil society groups have filed separate legal challenges in Kenya's highest court alleging widespread irregularities in the polls.

The panel of six judges have until Saturday to decide whether Kenyatta should be confirmed as Kenya's new president or whether new elections should take place - a high-stakes test for a country still traumatised by deadly violence after the last polls five years ago.

The court also ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to provide the voter registration list it used in the tally of the presidential vote after an electronic system failed.

The elections in 2007 were marred by similar complaints of fraud and descended into tribal bloodshed that killed more than 1100 people and caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Odinga claims the poll was marred by irregularities, including changes to the voter register, inflated numbers of registered voters and technical incompetence by the electoral commission.

He has urged supporters to stay calm while he challenges the outcome, and has promised to abide by the court's decision - which is expected this week.

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Killer Spanish bull called Mouse dies

SPAIN'S most feared bull, who killed three people and injured dozens of others at bullfighting fiestas, has died, with its owner wanting to have the half-tonne beast embalmed and put on display at a museum.

"It all happened within 24 hours. We found him a bit sickly and we gave him antibiotics but he died yesterday afternoon," Gregorio de Jesus, the owner of the bull named Raton, or Mouse in English, said by telephone from his breeding farm near the village of Sueca in the eastern region of Valencia.

The black bull, which had a distinctive triangular white marking between its horns, was given its name because he was so small when he was born 13 and a half years ago.

But he grew into a fearsome half-tonne beast whose record in the ring made him a legend and a big draw for spectators.

Raton killed three men at bullfighting fiestas in 2005, 2006 and 2011, according to de Jesus, who charged around 10,000 euros ($A12,500) for appearances in bull runs by Raton.

The most recent death took place at a bull run held as part of traditional annual fiesta in the town of Xativa in Valencia.

Video images show Raton lifting the victim, a man in his 30s, with his horns and tossing him to the floor before goring him with his horns.

"He had suffered from arthritis due to old age during the past few months but the animal was doing alright," de Jesus said of Raton, before adding the bull had last performed in the ring 10 days ago in Valencia.

De Jesus said he plans to have Raton embalmed and put on display at a museum he intends to set up on his breeding farm or in a nearby village.

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Dutch must compensate Srebrenica soldier

THE Dutch state must compensate a former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after his deployment to the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in 1995, a top judicial body has ruled.

The Centrale Raad van Beroep (CRvB), the Netherlands' highest administrative court, held the Dutch defence minister responsible, saying not enough was done to look after the soldier on and after his return to the Netherlands.

The soldier was identified in Dutch media as former corporal Dave Maat, and in court documents as the "Dutchbatter".

The name comes from the peacekeeping battalion of Dutch soldiers charged with protecting civilians at Srebrenica during Bosnia's brutal 1992-95 war.

As Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces on July 11, "a mortar landed close to the Dutchbatter ... which led to psychological complaints", the CRvB said.

The soldier's lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops hailed a "landmark ruling for Dutch soldiers, but also for the rights of soldiers from other UN (peacekeeping) countries because the judicial boundaries of governments' health obligations for their soldiers are broadened."

Some 450 Dutch peacekeepers, charged with protecting Bosnian Muslim civilians in the "safe" enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995 were overrun by the Bosnian Serb army under command of General Ratko Mladic.

There followed the slaughter of almost 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were rounded up, murdered and dumped in mass graves in the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II.

The incident continues to reverberate in the Netherlands and led to the Dutch government's resignation in 2002, when a report was published laying much of the blame on Dutch politicians.

Mladic is currently on trial before the Yugoslav war crimes court in The Hague.

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Nazi submarine found off Norway

THE wreck of a German World War II submarine that was sunk with 48 people on board has been found off Norway's coast during work on an oil pipe, a maritime museum official says.

The U-486 was torpedoed and broken in two by a British submarine in April 1945, shortly after leaving the western Norwegian town of Bergen, according to Arild Maroey Hansen of the Bergen maritime museum.

There were no survivors.

Lying at a depth of some 250 metres, the wreck was found when Norwegian oil company Statoil was scouting the area as a possible location to lay down an oil pipe.

"The submarine had a special coating on the hull. It was a synthetic rubber coating designed to significantly reduce its radar signal," Maroey Hansen told Norwegian public radio NRK.

The U-486 lies some two kilometres from the German U-864 submarine, which was also sunk in 1945 with dozens of tonnes of mercury on board, a dangerous cargo which has caused politicians headaches for years.

They have been examining how to best limit the environmental risks posed by the mercury, hesitating between whether to lift the wreck - it is also broken in two parts - or to cover it in a hard sarcophagus.

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EU suspends most Zimbabwe sanctions

THE European Union has suspended most of its sanctions against Zimbabwe following a "peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a new constitution earlier this month.

However, 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe remained among 10 Zimbabweans still targeted by an EU travel ban and assets freeze, a European diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An EU statement welcoming the March 16 referendum said the 27-nation bloc had agreed to "immediately suspend" restrictive measures against 81 people - on a 91-name list - as well as eight of 10 firms or utilities also blacklisted.

"The EU congratulates the people of Zimbabwe on a peaceful, successful and credible vote to approve a new constitution," a statement said, adding that this "represents a significant step" towards general elections.

Elections to end a shaky unity government formed four years ago between Mugabe and his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, are expected later this year, with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa calling for polls before the end of June.

Details on those who remain on the list would be released in the next few days, said the source, who added that the controversial mining firm, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, also remained on the EU blacklist.

NGOs and diplomats claim the state-owned ZMDC, a major diamond and gold mining company which operates five diamond mines in the controversial Marange fields, was channelling money to Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The targeted sanctions were first imposed in 2002, with the EU citing political violence, human rights abuses and the failure to hold free and fair elections in the southern African nation.

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Historic Brisbane home engulfed in flame

Hanworth House. 109 Lytton Road, East Brisbane. Source: Supplied

FIVE fire crews are battling to save a heritage-listed homestead on fire in Brisbane's inner east.

Emergency services were called to the blaze at "Hanworth" on Lytton Road, East Brisbane shortly before 12.30am.

A Department of Community Services spokeswoman said 50 per cent of the house was alight when fire crews arrived.

It is not known if the house was vacant at the time but the spokeswoman said all persons were accounted for.

A police spokesman said Lytton Road would be completely closed to traffic while the blaze was brought under control. Lytton Rd outbound is blocked after Heidelberg St, while Lytton Rd inbound is blocked at Walter Ave.

Fire fighters in breathing apparatus were still working to contain the fire at 1.30am.

The 19 bedroom property, built in 1864, sold in September 2012 for over $2 million.

A police spokesperson has warned drivers to expect significant peak hour traffic delays on Tuesday morning on the inbound lanes of Lytton Rd.

Emergency services have urged drivers to avoid the area.

Hanworth House. 109 Lytton Road, East Brisbane.

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Hillary Clinton backs gay marriage

FORMER US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who may be eyeing a run in the 2016 presidential election, came off the sidelines on Monday and announced her support for gay marriage.

While Clinton pushed gay, lesbian and transgender (LGBT) rights during her four-year tenure as America's top diplomat, considering them human rights, she hadn't until now advocated for gay marriage.

"LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones. And they are full and equal citizens, and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage," she says in a nearly six-minute video.

"That's why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law, embedded in a broader effort to advance equality and opportunity for LGBT Americans and all Americans."

The video was released by the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights organisation working for gays rights.

It came just days after Clinton's husband, former US president Bill Clinton, urged the Supreme Court to overturn a bill he signed in 1996 defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, calling it "discriminatory".

During her failed 2008 White House bid, Hillary Clinton stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, favouring civil unions instead.

In the video, she acknowledged that "like so many others, my personal views have been shaped over time", saying they had been changed by conversations and personal experiences as well as "by the guiding principles of my faith".

"Marriage, after all, is a fundamental building block of our society, a great joy and yes, a great responsibility," Clinton says.

"To deny the opportunity to any of our daughters and sons solely on the basis of who they are and who they love is to deny them the chance to live up to their own God-given potential."

Clinton stepped down on February 1, and polls show that if she throws her hat into the ring to be the Democratic Party nominee in the 2016 election, she would have a strong edge over any other candidate.

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Israeli govt ready for peace: Netanyahu

ISRAEL'S incoming government extends its hand to the Palestinians and is ready for a historic compromise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said while presenting his new centre-right coalition to parliament.

He says Israel will maintain its existing peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and is ready for "a real peace" with the Palestinians that will end the conflict "once and for all".

Addressing the Knesset which convened ahead of casting its vote of confidence in the new government on Monday, Netanyahu warned, however, that to reach a peace treaty, both sides would have to compromise.

Israel is facing its biggest challenges since the state was founded nearly 65 years ago, said the premier, who is about to begin his third term.

"Our existence here cannot be taken for granted," he said, and promised that his government's first priority would "be the defence of the country and its citizens".

The premier finalised his coalition on Friday, a day before the deadline.

The new government comprises four parties - Netanyahu's nationalist Likud-Beiteinu alliance, the pro-settler Jewish Home, the centrist Yesh Atid, which advocates socio-economic reforms, and another centrist party of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

It can count on a majority of 68 mandates in the 120-seat Knesset.

Members of the small, ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction left the chamber during Netanyahu's speech, to protest at their exclusion from the coalition.

The session kicked off with the election of the parliamentary speaker, with the post going to Likud-Beiteinu lawmaker and former minister Yuli Edelstein.

The cabinet ministers were set to be sworn in later on Monday.

The new government assumes power two days before US President Barack Obama arrives in the region for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The new cabinet will initially have 22 members, including Netanyahu. The post of foreign minister is being held by the prime minister pending the outcome of a trial involving the former head of diplomacy, Avigdor Lieberman.

The Likud-Beiteinu alliance won the January election, handing Netanyahu his second successive term in office, but with a smaller number of seats.

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