Bomb blast on bus kills nine in Pakistan

A BOMB has exploded on a bus in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least nine people and wounding seven others.

"At least nine passengers have been killed and seven injured. Bomb disposal officials told me that it was a timed device," Fazal Wahid, a senior police official, told AFP on Saturday.

Shafi Ullah Khan, another police official, confirmed the attack which occurred as the was bus passing through the city's Matani suburb.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which came hours after militants blew up the election office of an independent candidate in the same region, adding to security fears ahead of historic national polls next month.

A recent wave of terror attacks has fuelled concerns that violence will mar general elections on May 11, which will mark the country's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has served a full term in office.

Pakistan says more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism in the country since the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

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Pell appointed to Pope advisory group

Archbishop of Sydney George Pell has been appointed by Pope Francis to a permanent advisory group. Source: AAP

VATICAN CITY/SYDNEY April 13 AP/AAP - Archbishop of Sydney George Pell has been appointed by Pope Francis to a permanent advisory group to help him run the Catholic Church and study a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Pell is one of eight cardinals and one monsignor - the others are from Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Asia - who have been appointed to the group.

The panel is a clear indication that Francis wants to reflect the universal nature of the church in its governance and core decision-making, particularly given the church is growing and counts most of the world's Catholics in the southern hemisphere.

In the run-up to the conclave that elected Francis pope one month ago, a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy was a constant drumbeat, as were calls to make the Vatican itself more responsive to the needs of bishops around the world.

Including representatives from each continent in a permanent advisory panel to the pope would seem to go a long way toward answering those calls.

In its bombshell announcement on Saturday, the Vatican said that Francis got the idea to form the advisory body from the pre-conclave meetings.

"He has formed a group of cardinals to advise him in the governing of the universal church and to study a revision of the apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia," the statement said.

Pope John Paul II issued Pastor Bonus in 1988, and it functions effectively as the blueprint for the administration of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, meting out the work and jurisdictions of the congregations, pontifical councils and other offices that make up the governance of the Catholic Church, known as the Roman Curia.

Pastor Bonus itself was a revision of the 1967 document that marked the last major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy undertaken by Pope Paul VI.

A reform of the Vatican bureaucracy has been demanded for decades, given both John Paul and Benedict XVI essentially neglected in-house administration of the Holy See in favour of other priorities.

But the calls for change grew deafening last year after the leaks of papal documents exposed petty turf battles within the Vatican bureaucracy, allegations of corruption in the running of the Vatican city state and even a purported plot by senior Vatican officials to out a prominent Catholic as gay.

Francis' advisory group will meet in its inaugural session October 1-3, the Vatican said in a statement.

Cardinal Pell, aged 71, is the eighth Archbishop of Sydney, serving since 2001.

The non-Vatican officials, apart from Cardinal Pell, include cardinals Francisco Javier Errzuriz Ossa, the retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo; Sean Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston; and Oscar Andrs Rodrguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, bishop of Albano, will be secretary.

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Suu Kyi arrives in Japan after 27 years

Myanmar's democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Japan after 27 years. Source: AAP

MYANMAR'S (Burma's) democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Japan, her first visit to the country where she spent time as a university researcher nearly three decades ago.

A group of well-wishers including Burmese gathered at Tokyo's Narita airport to greet Suu Kyi, now her country's opposition leader, but were denied the chance to meet her as she left through a backdoor.

"I respect her like my mother," one of Burmese women said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.

"I want to tell her that I support her strongly."

During her six-day trip, the Nobel laureate is expected to have meetings with some of the approximately 10,000 Burmese who live in Japan, as well as with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

It is Suu Kyi's first visit to Japan since spending time as a researcher at Kyoto University in 1985-86.

But a leader of about 200 of Myanmar's Muslim minority Rohingya in Japan has expressed disappointment after being told his community was not wanted at events welcoming Suu Kyi.

The Rohingya have been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

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Motorcyclist killed in Vic crash

A MOTORCYCLIST has become the third person to die on Victorian roads in a single day after a three-vehicle collision in outer Melbourne.

Police say two motorcycles and another vehicle were involved in the crash, which occurred in Lilydale at about 6pm (AEST) on Friday.

One of the motorcyclists, a 32-year-old Airport West man, died at the scene.

A second motorcyclist, a 43-year-old Avondale Heights man, was taken by air ambulance to hospital with life threatening injuries.

The driver of the vehicle, a 53-year-old Lilydale man is assisting police with their enquiries.

Earlier on Friday, two women died in a three-car smash in Melbourne's outer northwest.

An elderly woman had been driving at Bulla when her car collided with two oncoming vehicles about 10.30am (AEST) on Friday, police said.

Both she and a woman driving one of the other cars died at the scene, while those travelling in a third car escaped injury.

Police are investigating whether one of the cars was travelling on the wrong side of the road.

In a third serious collision on Friday, an 85-year-old man suffered life threatening injuries after being struck by a car in Malvern East.

Victoria's road toll stands at 73, compared to 83 at the same time a year ago.

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Militants kill 13 Afghan troops

SCORES of heavily armed Taliban militants killed 13 Afghan soldiers in fierce clashes after storming an army post in the east of the country near the Pakistan border.

More than 100 militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and guns launched the attack in Nari district of Kunar province, attacking the post from three directions before dawn.

"The attackers were heavily armed," a senior police officer in Nari district, who declined to be named, told AFP.

"We have recovered the bodies of 13 of our soldiers, the outpost has been nearly destroyed."

The attack was finally pushed back after several hours when Afghan military and police reinforcements arrived. One soldier was severely injured, police said.

Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi confirmed the attack but said that exact casualty figures were not available.

"We are still in the process of gathering information," he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the assault in an email to AFP and said that the militants had seized all weapons and ammunition from the army post.

The border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a key battleground in the fight against the militants, many of whom use safe havens inside Pakistan to launch attacks against Afghan soldiers and the US-led military coalition.

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Sydney man charged over child porn

A MAN allegedly caught filming up the skirt of a young girl at Sydney train station has been charged after police found child pornography on his mobile phone.

The 35-year-old man was arrested at Sutherland train station about 10am (AEST) Friday when officers found "a number of child abuse and up-skirting images" on his mobile, police said.

His Sutherland home was raided shortly after with police seizing CDs, DVDs, recording devices, computers, an iPad, two mobile phones and a small amount of steroids.

He was charged with producing, disseminating or possessing child abuse material, filming a person's private parts without consent and possessing a prescribed restricted substance.

Conditional bail was granted and he's due before Sutherland Local Court on May 2.

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Australia's unemployment rate hits 5.6%

Australia's unemployment rate has jumped to its highest level in more than three years. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S unemployment rate has jumped to its highest level in more than three years and is expected to rise further, boosting the chances of further interest rate cuts.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.6 per cent in March, from 5.4 per cent in February.

The total number of people with jobs fell by more than 36,000 as the unemployment rate hit its highest level since September 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found.

The figures partially reversed a surprise surge in February, which saw total employment rise by 71,500, one of the largest monthly rises in the history of the survey.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Australia chief economist Saul Eslake said while the February figure probably reflected changes to the population sample used by the ABS, the March data was a better reflection of the state of the jobs market.

He expects the unemployment rate to move higher in the next few months before peaking around six per cent.

In fact, he says, the unemployment rate would already have been that high if it hadn't been for a fall in workplace participation during the past two years.

The economy is still creating jobs but not quickly enough to keep up with population growth.

And if the unemployment rate continues to rise, Mr Eslake believes further rate cuts will be back on the agenda as early as June.

"If this trend continues, and I expect it will, it will materially add to the case for further rate cuts," he said.

Business groups warned the latest unemployment figures were a sign of worse things to come in the jobs market.

"Amongst many sectors we are seeing hiring restraint or shedding including in construction, retail and manufacturing and there is no signal this is improving," Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry chief economist Greg Evans said.

"We are concerned the mainstream economy may not be growing sufficiently to keep a lid on an unemployment rate which is trending higher."

But CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the volatility of the employment figures made it difficult to assess the current strength of the jobs market.

"If anyone had been wondering what was the true state of the labour market, they would certainly still be confused after the latest jobs result," he said.

"Such volatile swings in employment across two months certainly make it difficult to pick a trend. Clearly the answer lies somewhere in the middle."

Tasmania recorded the biggest rise in unemployment, lifting 0.7 per cent to 7.3 per cent, followed by NSW and Victoria which recorded increases of 0.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively.

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'Bear' joins Vic police force with a growl

A new high-tech armoured rescue vehicle has been added to Victoria's crime-fighting artillery. Source: AAP

A NEW high-tech armoured rescue vehicle has been added to Victoria's crime-fighting artillery, helping police tackle terrorism and get a grip on dangerous scenarios.

The $400,000 "BearCat" vehicle, imported from the United States, will be used for sieges, armed stand-offs and in dealing with dangerous criminals.

"It is bullet resistant, blast resistant and it means Victorian police have up-to-date modern vehicles to use in a dangerous and hostile situation," Police Minister Kim Wells said on Thursday as he grabbed the keys for the armoured beast.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Mark Dreyfus said the vehicle could also be used for counter-terrorism and rescue operations.

Police are thrilled with the new tool in their arsenal.

Deputy Police Commissioner Tim Cartwright said the BearCat is carefully designed to protect police against armed offenders.

"(When) our guys are in this, they are protected from armed offenders and they get a greater opportunity to rescue people who are in need," he said.

The first BearCat vehicles were supplied to the ACT, the Northern Territory and South Australia mid-2011, as part of a national counter-terrorism committee project and will be provided to every state and territory.

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Serbian gunman dies after killing 13

A SERBIAN gunman who shot dead 13 people earlier this week before shooting himself in the head has died from his injuries, a hospital source says.

"Ljubisa Bogdanovic passed away at 2pm (2200 AEST)," the source at Belgrade's emergency centre told AFP on Thursday.

The 60-year-old Bogdanovic on Tuesday went on a shooting rampage in the tiny village of Velika Ivanca, 50 kilometres south of Belgrade, killing six men, six women and a two-year old boy.

The motive for the murders remains unclear, although his wife Javorka, who was herself shot and injured, and another relative reportedly told police the gunman had a history of domestic violence.

The victims are expected to be buried on Friday as Serbia remains in shock after its worst such bloodbath in 20 years.

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Hollande to eradicate global tax havens

MIRED in a scandal over an ex-minister's secret Swiss bank account, French President Francois Hollande has vowed to "eradicate" tax havens, increase checks on officials' finances and crack down on tax cheats.

Laying out a series of measures just over a week after his former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was charged with tax fraud, Hollande promised "a relentless battle against the excesses of money, greed and secret finance."

The new "moralisation" drive will include measures to limit the use of tax havens by forcing banks to expose their foreign activities, Hollande told a post-cabinet press conference on Wednesday.

"Tax havens must be eradicated in Europe and the world," Hollande said.

"French banks will be required to every year make public the list of all their subsidiaries everywhere in the world, country by country," and will be required to "declare the nature of their activities," he said.

Hollande said he wanted the requirement extended to banks across the European Union and eventually to major corporations.

Hollande also announced initiatives to restore confidence in public officials and boost the fight against tax evasion, with a new law to be presented by April 24.

A new "completely independent" government authority will be created to monitor the assets and potential conflicts of interests of ministers, parliamentarians and other senior elected officials, he said.

The government has already ordered ministers to declare their assets publicly by Monday and other officials will face the same requirement once the law is adopted.

A special prosecutors' office will also be created to lead the fight against corruption and tax evasion, and punishments for fiscal crimes will be increased, Hollande said.

His Socialist government is scrambling to contain the scandal surrounding Cahuzac, who last week was charged with tax fraud after admitting to having an undeclared foreign bank account containing about 600,000 euros ($A754,053).

Critics have called for a cabinet reshuffle over the scandal and said the new measures did not go far enough to restore confidence in the government.

"We're still as much in the dark," said the head of the main opposition right-wing UMP party, Jean-Francois Cope.

"None of the measures proposed would have prevented the Cahuzac scandal."

"The attempts at distraction continue. The president has still not taken the full measure of the scandal, of what's happening with Cahuzac," said Christian Jacob, the head of the UMP faction in the lower house National Assembly.

Hollande said he felt "wounded" and "bruised" by the scandal, insisting that Cahuzac's behaviour "goes against all of my personal views".

Cahuzac - who resigned on March 19 after prosecutors opened a probe into the account - had repeatedly denied its existence to the president, on the floor of parliament and in media interviews.

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Cruise giant fined for Italy disaster

ITALY'S Costa Crociere, the biggest cruise operator in Europe, has accepted limited responsibility for the Costa Concordia disaster in which 32 people died.

A court ruled the company will have to pay a fine of one million euros ($A1.26 million) and will no longer be investigated for alleged responsibility in the disaster. Costa will instead aim to take part in the expected trial as an injured party.

"It is a balanced solution," the company's lawyer, Marco De Luca, told reporters in Grosseto in Tuscany where the court hearing was held and where preliminary hearings will begin on Monday to decide whether the accused should face trial.

Prosecutors have levied charges against six people including captain Francesco Schettino and the head of Costa Crociere's crisis unit Roberto Ferrarini for the January 2012 incident.

The charges have to be confirmed before any trial can go ahead.

The giant luxury liner crashed into the Italian island of Giglio with 4229 people on board just as many passengers were dining on the first night of their Mediterranean cruise, prompting a panicked and chaotic night-time evacuation.

Dozens of passengers are suing the company for damages, although most of those who were not injured or did not lose loved ones have accepted 11,000 euros in compensation from Costa, which belongs to US giant Carnival.

Wednesday's ruling bears only on the criminal investigation and not on civil proceedings.

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Iran boosts aid effort after deadly quake

At least 30 people have been killed and 800 injured in a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Iran. Source: AAP

IRAN has stepped up relief efforts for survivors of a powerful earthquake that killed 37 people and damaged dozens of villages but left its sole nuclear power station unscathed.

More than 90 villages in the southern province of Bushehr were hit hard by Tuesday's quake, with two destroyed, the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, told state television.

More than 850 people were injured and about 800 houses were destroyed.

Mozafar said the priority was to get aid to stricken villages after the search for survivors ended on Wednesday morning.

Ali Alipour, who owns a cultural centre in the village of Khormoj, about 35 kilometres from the quake's epicentre, said he had run for cover when it hit and "the sound of death filled the fields".

"Water and food are being distributed among survivors. Portable toilets are also being set up," Alipour told AFP.

Authorities said the relief operation got underway a few hours after the 6.1-magnitude quake struck at 4.22 pm (2152 Tuesday AEST) on Tuesday.

About 2100 tents have been set up in the quake zone, emergency officials said.

The epicentre was just 90 kilometres southeast of the port city of Bushehr, home to Iran's only nuclear power plant.

Iran said it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that there had been no damage to the plant.

The UN watchdog said its incident and emergency centre was "not currently seeking additional information from Iran" following analysis of the "earthquake's magnitude and other seismic parameters, as well as its location."

Iran's atomic energy chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said the plant was not operational when the quake struck as it was "under maintenance," Iranian media reported.

The Russian-built plant was designed to withstand an earthquake of a magnitude greater than 8, Abbasi Davani added.

The plant's chief engineer, Mahmoud Jafari, said "no operational or security protocols were breached."

First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar travelled to the quake zone to check on relief operations, state television reported.

A resident, who asked not to be identified, said power and water supplies were "gradually being restored".

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Aust-China free trade talks set for May

TALKS on a free trade agreement between China and Australia will continue in May, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

The two countries agreed to start negotiations on the FTA in April 2005 and to date 18 rounds of talks have been held.

Ms Gillard told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that she had told Premier Li Keqiang in their first formal meeting since he came to power in March that it was a "gap" in the relationship that Australia wanted to rectify.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson said Australia was seeking "high ambition" from the agreement, including agricultural tariffs and quotas, manufactured goods, services, temporary entry of people and foreign investment.

"We could have a low ambition FTA, like a trophy to sit on the national mantelpiece...but we want it to do work," he said.

Dr Emerson said that during the meeting with Premier Li in the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday, the Chinese leader had looked around the room asking: "Who is the FTA guy?"

"I said I'm the FTA guy," Dr Emerson said.

"The premier was very keen and spent some considerable time talking about the challenge but also the great benefits an FTA would bring."

Australia has six FTAs with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The countries covered by these FTAs account for 28 per cent of Australia's total trade.

Australia is engaged in nine FTA negotiations covering a further 45 per cent of Australia's trade.

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Frenchman appeals O'Keefe conviction

A 37-YEAR-OLD Frenchman has insisted on his innocence as he appeals his conviction for murdering an Australian student who was severely beaten, strangled and dumped in a car park outside Paris.

Brazilian-born Adriano Araujo Da Silva was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison in January 2012 for the murder 11 years earlier of 28-year-old Jeannette O'Keefe.

O'Keefe's body was found rolled up in a sleeping bag in a parking lot in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux on January 2, 2001 -- three days after a series of events left her alone and without a bed for the night on New Year's Eve.

"I am innocent, I must be acquitted," Araujo Da Silva told the court as his appeal began in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

A ruling is expected on Thursday.

Araujo Da Silva had confessed to the crime twice before retracting his testimony, admitting to taking the woman to his home and having an argument with her, but insisting she left unharmed.

He said he had met O'Keefe on the Champs Elysees in Paris on New Year's Eve and taken her to his home in Les Mureaux, where her body was found three days later.

French investigators found male DNA under the victim's fingernails, but it was eight years before they found a match, when Araujo Da Silva's genetic profile was entered into a database after he was arrested for petty theft.

He confessed to the killing when detained by police, saying he had beaten O'Keefe and strangled her to death when she refused to have sex with him a second time and threatened to call police.

An autopsy found she had been struck by at least 13 blows before being strangled to death.

Araujo Da Silva told the court on Tuesday that he had only confessed under pressure from police, who had said he would receive a lighter sentence if he admitted to the crime.

"I was tricked and manipulated during questioning," he said.

O'Keefe's four brothers and sisters, who are civil plaintiffs, were in court for the start of the appeal.

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Spain sees economy improving in early 2013

SPAIN'S economy is faring a little better after an end-2012 slump and growth could even return by the end of 2013, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos says, as doubts grow over the prospects for debt-laden southern European economies.

The Spanish economy had "clearly" improved from the final three months of 2012, when output plunged by 0.8 per cent, De Guindos told an economic forum.

The Spanish economic chief did not, however, predict an economic expansion in the first quarter of 2013.

"The first quarter of this year will be clearly less bad than the previous quarter," De Guindos said.

Later, on the margins of the forum, he said the government expected gross domestic product to show a decline of 0.5 or 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, a further slight improvement in the second quarter and nearly zero growth in the third quarter.

In the final three months of 2013, the government believed there was a "possibility" of positive economic growth for Spain on a quarterly basis, De Guindos said.

The minister stressed, however, that his first-quarter estimate was based on incomplete data with all the figures for March yet to come in.

Spain is immersed in a double-dip recession after failing to recover convincingly from the collapse of a decade-long property boom in 2008, an economic disaster that has sent the unemployment rate soaring to a record 26 per cent.

The Spanish economy, the eurozone's fourth-largest, contracted by 1.4 per cent last year, the second worst yearly slump since 1970.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government is predicting a return to economic growth in 2014 if the country sticks to a program of cost-cutting measures and of reforms aimed at improving economic efficiency.

The government has admitted that it will have to revise its existing forecast for an economic dip of only 0.5 per cent this year.

The Bank of Spain is predicting a 1.5-per cent plunge in output this year and only a "modest rebound" in 2014.

Portugal is preparing a new battery of spending cuts after the country's constitutional court rejected a number of austerity measures aimed at respecting the terms of its international bailout.

Spain recorded an annual public deficit equal to 7.0 per cent of gross domestic product last year, missing a 6.3-per cent target it had agreed with the European Union.

Now, the Spanish government wants Brussels to agree to relax its 2013 deficit target to about 6.0 of GDP from the previously agreed 4.5 per cent, a government source said this month.

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Holden wrong to axe SA jobs: Weatherill

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is in "serious talks" with Holden on a breach of agreement. Source: AAP

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill will have "serious talks" with Holden about a breach of agreement and says it's wrong the car maker didn't warn of trouble ahead of launching its Cruze model last month.

Holden boss Mike Devereux announced on Monday it will cut 400 jobs at its factory in Adelaide and 100 at its plant in Melbourne.

Mr Weatherill says the government and the car maker celebrated the launch of the company's Cruze model in March.

"There was no mention of such a dramatic decision that was about to be announced," he told ABC television on Monday.

"That is wrong."

The premier said Holden's decision to axe jobs was in breach of a 2012 agreement to provide Holden with $50 million from his state to develop two new cars and guarantee the future of local operations until 2022.

He said the state had not paid the $50 million to Holden and they would have to discuss the future.

South Australia deserved better, Mr Weatherill said.

"There are a range of important undertakings in that agreement that I want to ensure that are delivered to South Australians," he said.

"We need to have some serious discussions with the company."

The government had been working with Holden to use Australian component suppliers in a global supply chain.

They also wanted Holden at the Elizabeth plant to be part of the global supply chain, not just a part of the domestic supply chain.

Mr Weatherill said Holden gave him little notice about the decision and Mr Devereux had only told him on Monday morning.

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Buy local car policy is needed: Vic oppn

GOVERNMENTS across Australia should buy their car fleets locally to support an industry that benefits the broader national economy, the Victorian opposition says.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews was responding to news Holden would shed 100 jobs in Melbourne and a further 400 in South Australia.

A year ago Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a $275 million rescue deal for the car maker, including $215 million from the federal government, $50 million from the South Australian Labor government and $10 million from the Victorian coalition.

Mr Andrews defended government support for the embattled industry and argued governments should all agree to buy cars locally.

"The thing that should be considered nationally is not a withdrawal from the automotive sector but in fact a national procurement and purchasing, (a) national buy-local campaign, so that every car that can be purchased in any government fleet across Australia is in fact an Australian-made vehicle," he said.

"That would be a step forward, that's the sort of thing that we should be putting on the COAG table and if we have to have an argument, then so be it."

Describing Holden's job cuts as distressing for workers and their families, Victorian Minister for Manufacturing David Hodgett says the federal government's carbon tax has only made things harder for Australia's automotive industry.

"A range of factors are affecting the industry including the high Australian dollar, higher energy costs under Labor's carbon tax and tough global competition," he said in a statement.

Mr Andrews said the car industry produced economic and skill benefits for every state, not just those that built cars.

Mr Hodgett said the state government is committed to working with the automotive industry to secure and strengthen its future, and that Holden had reaffirmed its commitment to an $800 million joint state and commonwealth investment to keep making cars in Australia at least until 2022.

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Vic man arrested over mum's bashing death

A MAN has been arrested over the bashing death of a 29-year-old woman in her Victorian home.

Police announced late on Monday they had arrested a 30-year-old man over the woman's death, hours after telling reporters her traumatised four-year-old son had seen the man suspected of killing her.

The boy told police he saw an unknown man inside his Ballarat home, west of Melbourne, on the night his mother died.

Relatives found her body in her bedroom on Saturday morning.

Police say she was assaulted with a blunt object and suffered injuries to her head and body.

Detective Inspector John Potter, head of Victoria's homicide squad, said the boy spotted a man inside the house before her death, but couldn't identify him.

"It's pretty difficult to take it much further than that," Det Insp Potter told reporters earlier on Monday.

"We're talking darkish clothing, and that's probably the best we've got."

The boy and his mother had gone out on Friday night but returned home by 8.30pm (AEDT).

The stranger then entered the house at some point between 8.30pm Friday and 10.30am Saturday.

Det Insp Potter said police believe the man was involved in the mum's slaying but can't pinpoint the exact time he was inside the home.

The boy would have been aware of what happened to his mum, he said.

"You can imagine under these circumstances the child is extremely traumatised," he said.

Police say there were no signs of forced entry and it's possible the woman knew the man.

Det Insp Potter said security footage from nearby businesses was being viewed for clues.

He said police had spoken to the woman's former partner and followed those lines of inquiry "thoroughly".

"This is quite a brutal crime to a woman in her own home so we're very keen to work out who's responsible," he said.

A 30-year-old Sebastopol man was in police custody and being interviewed, police said just before 10pm (AEST) on Monday.

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Thousands at Egypt Copt funeral prayers

THOUSANDS of people have packed Cairo's main cathedral for the funeral prayers of four Coptic Christians killed in sectarian clashes.

"Down, down with Brotherhood rule," the congregation chanted in reference to the ruling Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohamed Morsi.

"Leave!" they chanted as they held up wooden crosses, television footage showed.

One Muslim was also killed in the clashes which flared on Friday night in Al-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate, after a Muslim in his 50s objected to children drawing a swastika on a religious institute.

The man insulted Christians and the cross, and an argument broke out with a young Christian man who was passing by, which escalated into a gun battle between the Muslims and the Christians in which assault rifles were used.

A priest in Al-Khusus, Suryal Yunan, said on Saturday attackers torched "parts" of an Anglican church.

Muslims also set a Christian home ablaze and ransacked a pharmacy owned by a Copt, a police official said.

A number of angry Muslim residents tried to surround the town's Mar Girgis church, but the security presence in the area prevented them from doing so.

Both sides then lit tyres in the narrow streets where residents live in crowded slum housing.

Christians form between six and 10 per cent of Egypt's population of nearly 83 million people.

The country's Coptic Christians and Muslims have clashed on several occasions since the revolution that toppled the former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Around 50 Christians and several Muslims have been killed in the clashes.

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Foxtel picks up its first Logie

PAY TV has infiltrated the industry's awards night with Foxtel picking up its first Logie.

Foxtel won the Most Outstanding Sports Coverage award in Melbourne on Sunday night for its Olympics broadcast.

Eddie McGuire accepted the peer-voted award with host Matt Shirvington.

Shirvington thanked the Australian athletes who took part in the Olympics for making the coverage possible and the games memorable.

"Foxtel is an innovative and forward thinking company," he said.

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Sebbens hopes Logie opens more doors

ACTRESS Shari Sebbens hopes winning a Logie opens more doors for her - and not just the ones at a hi-fi store where she works part-time.

Sebbens won the peer-voted Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent at the annual television awards night at Melbourne's Crown Casino.

The panel of judges singled out Sebbens for her role as Julie in the ABC indigenous-based series Redfern Now.

"This is the first time I have ever received anything with my name on it," Sebbens said.

"I'll give it to my mum."

Sebbens, who also appeared in the critically-acclaimed movie The Sapphires, says she has a few projects on the horizon which includes a movie.

However she is still battling unemployment as an actress.

"Other than that I'll go back to my part-time job at JB Hi Fi," Sebbens said.

Puberty Blues star Brenna Harding may have missed out on the Graham Kennedy award but she was voted the Most Popular New Female Talent.

It was the only award the highly-acclaimed series won from five nominations.

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