Europe horsemeat scandal widens

THE world's biggest food company, Swiss-based Nestle, and the world's top beef producer, JBS of Brazil, are the latest in a long list of firms to be caught up in Europe's spiralling horsemeat scandal.

Their involvement in the fast-moving drama marked another milestone in a scandal that has seen supermarket chains across Europe pull from their shelves millions of "beef" products that are thought to contain horsemeat.

Nestle announced it was removing two ready-to-eat meals - beef ravioli and beef tortellini - from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain after tests found traces of horse DNA in the products.

A Nestle frozen lasagne product made for the catering business was also being withdrawn from sale in France and Portugal because horse traces were found in them.

The firm insisted there was no food safety issue but said the tainted products breached the one per cent threshold the British Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence.

The horse DNA was found in products made with meat supplied by German firm HJ Schypke, Nestle said in a statement late Monday.

JBS of Brazil, which used HJ Schypke as a subcontractor, meanwhile said in a statement that it would stop buying European meat "until confidence is restored in the European beef supply chain."

It sought to distance itself from the scandal, saying Schypke was "not in any way part of the JBS Group" and adding that "no case of co-mingling of species has been identified in products produced in or at JBS factories."

Schypke on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing.

"We buy all raw materials already chopped up, fresh or frozen, from certified suppliers... We would like to point out expressly that HJ Schypke has at no time purchased horsemeat," it said.

The firm said it "greatly regretted" the current case and vowed to carry out genetic tests on raw meat in future.

German authorities meanwhile announced on Tuesday that 24 samples out of 360 official tests carried out on meat had revealed traces of horsemeat.

"It's too early to assign blame unilaterally... the authorities are working in the federal states to work out who should take responsibility," consumer affairs ministry spokesman Holger Eichele told reporters.

But he said the authorities would eventually be able to tell who were the "main culprits" and the "co-culprits" once the tests of ready meals and inspections of slaughterhouses and food production centres were complete.

On Monday, German discount chain Lidl pulled ready-made meals from the shelves of its Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Belgian stores as it also confirmed the presence of horsemeat.

The French firm that sparked the Europe-wide food alert, by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was on Monday allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.

But Spanghero, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million "beef" products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat, officials said.

Upholding that ban means it cannot act as middleman between abattoirs and food-processing companies, the situation which allegedly allowed it to change labels on horsemeat from Romania and sell it on as beef.

The firm's sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months.

Concerns about horsemeat first emerged in mid-January when Irish authorities found traces of horse in beefburgers made by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.

The scandal then intensified when French firm Comigel alerted Findus earlier this month to the presence of horsemeat in the meals it had made for the food giant and which were on sale in Britain.

Since then, supermarket chains have removed millions of "beef" products as tests are carried out to detect horsemeat, which is eaten in many European countries but considered taboo in Britain.

Horsemeat in "beef" dishes has now been confirmed in products found in Britain, Ireland, France, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.

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Blasts near presidential palace in Syria

TWO mortar shells fired by "terrorists" have exploded near Tishreen presidential palace in the Syrian capital, causing some damage but no casualties, state media says.

The mortars "landed near the southern wall of Tishreen palace, only causing material damage", state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed official as saying on Tuesday. The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to SANA, the shells slammed into an area around the Al-Mouwassat and Children's hospital in west Damascus, "leaving no casualties".

The hospitals are several hundred metres (yards) from Tishreen which is reserved for visiting dignitaries but is not an actual residence of President Bashar al-Assad.

This is the first time that the Syrian authorities have reported shells falling near a presidential palace.

The military council of the rebel Free Syrian Army meanwhile announced on Facebook that "the Free Army has fired mortars at the Tishreen presidential palace, resulting in a definite hit".

Tishreen is one of three such palaces in the capital. The others are the Peoples' palace atop Mount Qassioun in the north and Rawda palace in the centre, which holds the executive offices.

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Missing Sydney boy found

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

Tyreese Tutudua was last seen just before 9.30pm (AEDT) on Tuesday after leaving his house on Moore Street at Campsie.

A taxi driver later spotted the nine-year-old and contacted police.

The boy has since been returned to his family.

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NKorea envoy warns South of 'destruction'

SOUTH Korea faces "final destruction" if Seoul and its allies continue to push for tougher UN resolutions against North Korea's nuclear program, Pyongyang has warned.

"We have never recognised the propagandist resolutions on sanctions by the UN Security Council," North Korean envoy Jon Yong Ryong told a session of the UN Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday.

"As the saying goes, 'a newborn puppy knows no fear of a tiger.' South Korea's erratic behaviour could only herald its final destruction," he insisted.

North and South Korea traditionally trade barbs at the UN forum - which meets regularly in Geneva and focusses on a raft of global arms-control issues.

But in the wake of North Korea's latest nuclear test last week and a global outpouring of condemnation, the rhetoric was unusually high-pitched on Tuesday.

Last week's test was North Korea's most powerful to date, with Pyongyang claiming a breakthrough with a "miniaturised" device.

North Korea's secretive regime repeatedly has rejected international calls to halt its nuclear program, belittling international sanctions.

Jon also slammed the United States, blaming the superpower for the current stand-off with his country - known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

"The DPRK nuclear test is just a measure for self-defence, to cope with intensified US nuclear blackmail against it," he said.

"It is the disposition and firm will of the army and people of the DPRK to counter a high-handed policy with the toughest policy and react to pressure and sanctions with an all-out counter action," he added.

"The DPRK does not make any empty talk. It will take the toughest measure against foreign aggressors and violation of sovereignty in the future," he insisted.

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Pistorius denies he intended shooting

SOUTH African Olympic hero Oscar Pistorius has tearfully denied the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, telling a court he repeatedly shot at her through a locked bathroom door believing she was an intruder.

"I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva," Pistorius said on Tuesday in an affidavit at a court hearing in the capital Pretoria, his first public comments on the Valentine's Day killing.

The 26-year-old double amputee track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his own words filled the court: "We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy."

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said in the affidavit read out by his lawyer as Pistorius sat in the dock, struggling to hold his composure.

As the court hearing was under way, Steenkamp was being laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.

The Blade Runner who became an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, faces a charge of premeditated murder, which will likely result in remand without bail and, if convicted, a life sentence behind bars.

Pistorius said the couple, who had been dating since late last year, had spent the evening at his upscale Pretoria home watching television and with the 29-year-old Steenkamp doing yoga.

He awoke in the dead of night "filled with horror and fear" that someone was in the bathroom and said he felt "very vulnerable" because he did not have his prosthetic legs on.

"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police.

"Reeva was not responding. When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed.

"That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

After breaking down the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius said "Reeva was slumped over but alive". She died a short time later in his arms.

Prosecutors argued that far from being an accident, Steenkamp's death was a premeditated act of murder.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres and fired four shots into the bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her.

"She could go nowhere," Nel said.

There was no decision on bail on Tuesday, with court proceedings delayed until Wednesday.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail.

But Pistorius's legal team rejected the claims as he sought to argue he was not a flight risk.

"I have no intention to relocate to any other country as I love my country," he said.

Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($A624,665)) a year and owned the $US570,000 ($A556,342) house in the gated estate where the killing took place and two other homes.

Lawyers submitted affidavits from friends of both Pistorius and Steenkamp, which spoke of the couple's close relationship.

"She said she could see a future with him. She said if Oscar asked her to marry him she'd probably say yes," said friend Samantha Greyvenstein.

Pistorius, who off the track has a rocky private life of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

In 2009 Pistorius - who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars - spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party.

Meanwhile in Port Elizabeth, tearful friends and family said goodbye to Steenkamp, whose cloth-draped coffin with white flowers laid on top was carried into a chapel in the southeastern coastal city where she grew up.

"There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam, who gave the eulogy, told reporters after the ceremony.

"We're going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister and we will try and continue with the things that she tried to make better. We'll miss her."

A funeral program simply entitled Reeva bore the dates of her birth and death, and a black-and-white portrait of Steenkamp with the words God's Gift, A Child written on the back.

On Saturday a celebrity television show aired haunting footage of Steenkamp speaking about the need to leave a positive mark on life, words laden with poignancy after her death.

Pistorius, a Paralympian gold-medallist, became the first double amputee to run against able-bodied athletes at last year's Olympics in London on the carbon-fibre running blades that inspired his nickname.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.

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At least three dead in US shooting spree

POLICE in a California city say at least three people are dead and others are wounded after a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree.

Tustin police Supervisor Dave Kanoti says there are several crime scenes as authorities work to determine if the shootings were connected.

He says the shootings are believed to have started on Tuesday with a fatal carjacking. As the carjacker moved into the city, police started getting reports of shots fired.

Kanoti says two victims are confirmed dead. He says the shooter then killed himself nearby.

Kanoti says it's possible there are more victims.

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2012 another deadly year for elephants

THE number of African elephants killed by poachers in 2012 will most likely be higher than the 25,000 illegally killed the previous year, the head of UN wildlife trade regulator CITES says.

"Right across the range of the African elephant, in 2011 25,000 elephants were illegally killed, and based upon our analysis done so far, 2012 looks like the situation deteriorated rather than improved," CITES Secretary General John Scanlon said on Tuesday.

The 25,000 killed in 2011 includes 17,000 dead elephants actually recorded by CITES in some 40 per cent of the animals' range, with the remainder an extrapolation.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save the Elephants, said that while in terms of sheer numbers killed the 1970s and 1980s was worse, the situation today was a "very big crisis" and in "other ways it is much worse."

Today "there are fewer elephants and demand for ivory seems to be even higher", Douglas-Hamilton told reporters, on the sidelines of a meeting at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi.

David Higgins, chief of Interpol's environmental crime division, said that poaching involved organised crime gangs, in addition to noting links to insurgent groups in Africa and possible links to terrorist organisations.

"Unless we break these criminal networks, it will continue," Higgins said.

Africa has seen a sharp rise in the illegal trade in wildlife products like ivory and rhino horn.

Poaching has spiked recently in Africa, with whole herds of elephants massacred for their ivory.

One kilogram of ivory is currently estimated to be worth around $US2000 ($A1952) on the Asian black market.

Rhino horn can sell for as much as $80,000 a kilo, and poachers have killed some 2000 rhinos in the past two years, a huge number considering only about 25,000 rhinos remain.

The illegal ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used to make ornaments and in traditional medicine.

Trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after elephant populations in Africa dwindled from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

Africa is now home to an estimated 472,000 elephants, whose survival is threatened by poaching as well as a rising human population that is causing habitat loss.

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Military plane crashes in Yemen, kills 10

A YEMENI military plane has crashed into a residential neighbourhood in the country's capital, Sanaa, killing 10 people and injuring 17, the defence ministry and security officials say.

The plane crashed on Tuesday during a training exercise, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Mawry. He said it hit two houses in the al-Qadissiya district, and that the pilot was also killed in the crash.

The defence ministry confirmed the crash in a statement, saying the plane was on a training mission when it crashed, totally destroying one house and damaging others. It said an investigation was under way.

An eyewitness, Ahmed Fathi, said he saw five burnt bodies taken away by an ambulance. Fathi, who lives in the neighbourhood, also said two houses were completely destroyed in the crash and that people were still believed to be under the rubble.

The neighbourhood is close to the main city square that was the epicenter of Yemen's uprising and protests over the past two years.

Medical officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media, said the civilians killed in the crash included three women, two children and four men. They said they believed were more victims were under the rubble.

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