Bid to halt mass meat recall fails

A DUTCH court has rejected a meat wholesaler's bid to quash an order recalling 50,000 tonnes of beef potentially contaminated with horsemeat.

"The court rejects the request for a preliminary injunction," on Dutch food authority NVWA's recall of meat handled by Willy Selten, judge Reinier van Zutphen said at the commercial court in The Hague on Thursday.

Businessman Selten, allegedly a key player in Europe's horsemeat scandal, had sought to overturn the NVWA's order to recall all meat sold by the company over the past two years.

The watchdog recalled 50,000 tonnes of beef suspected to have been contaminated with horse, asking hundreds of companies across Europe supplied by Selten to check their products.

Selten's company was on Tuesday declared bankrupt and placed under curatorship.

His lawyer, Frank Peters, said Selten was disappointed after he informed him of the court's decision by phone.

"He (Selten) is very disappointed that with the tumult, the distress caused by the recall, there is no intervention by this court," Peters said.

NVWA spokesman Brenno Bruggink said it was now up to other countries that bought meat from Selten to decide whether they wanted to order national recalls.

"We informed 15 other EU countries that they had had meat from Selten, so most of the work has already been done," Bruggink said.

About half the suspect meat was sold in The Netherlands and half in the EU, he said.

"We think that most of it has already been eaten," Bruggink said.

"We have to go and do what we can. Whatever we can find, we'll find."

Lawyer Peters had argued on Tuesday that the recall was "disproportionate" and "bizarre and bordering on the mass hysteria gripping the whole of Europe".

He said there had never been a complaint in the 22 years in which Selten's company distributed meat from the small Dutch town of Oss, stressing: "All his meat comes from within the European Union."

The NVWA said it had sent a letter to 130 Dutch companies who were supplied with possible horse-contaminated beef from the Selten company, asking them to "take it off the market as a precautionary measure" and "verify all products".

The NVWA authority said although the meat's origin could not be guaranteed, "there are no signs of a danger to the public health".

Dutch officials in February raided the Selten meat processing plant in the south of The Netherlands on suspicion that it was mixing horsemeat with beef and selling it as pure beef.

It handled imports from various European countries and delivered to retailers, meat wholesalers, butchers, the meat processing industry and supermarkets throughout Europe.

The plant was probed as part of a criminal investigation by the prosecutor's office and the NVWA.

It is suspected of fraud and money laundering, the prosecutor's office said at the time.

Since the horsemeat scandal erupted in Ireland in January, governments have scrambled to figure out how and where the mislabelling of meat happened in the sprawling chain of production spanning abattoirs and meat suppliers across Europe.

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Afghan security deteriorating: Red Cross

THE International Committee of the Red Cross warns that security is deteriorating across Afghanistan as militants flood the battlefield and conduct attacks in what could be the most defining spring fighting season of the nearly 12-year-old war.

This year is crucial for Afghanistan as the US-led coalition is expected to hand over the lead for security in Afghanistan to the country's security forces sometime in the late spring.

Foreign military forces are then expected to begin a massive withdrawal of forces that will culminate at the end of next year.

Gherardo Pontrandolfi, head of the ICRC delegation in Kabul, also urged the warring parties to prevent the deaths of civilians, who have become increasingly caught in the crossfire.

"Spring is a good season of the year usually. But unfortunately it has a negative connotation with the resumption of the fighting," he said.

"Spring and summer will be very difficult for civilians especially in the months ahead. The civilian population is bearing the brunt of this conflict."

So far, April has been the deadliest month of this year.

According to an Associated Press tally, 186 people - including civilians, security forces and foreign troops - have been killed in violence around the nation.

More than 150 insurgents have also died, according to the tally.

The latest deaths came in southern Helmand province when insurgents shot and killed four labourers building a checkpoint for the Afghan army, said provincial spokesman Umar Zawaq.

The Taliban have pledged to target anyone working for the government or the US-led coalition.

Pontrandolfi said the Afghan Red Crescent had temporarily stopped humanitarian operations in northern Jawzjan province after unknown gunmen ambushed a medical van on Wednesday and killed two staff members of the local organisation.

Two other Red Crescent staff members were wounded in the attack.

"This is a tragedy, not only for the families of the deceased, but for all those needing medical attention, because now units like these might find it even more difficult to work in certain parts of the country," he said.

He added that the security situation has been made worse by a multitude of insurgent and criminal groups now operating around the country, a sign that the mainstream insurgent groups, such as the Taliban, might be fracturing. The Taliban usually allow the ICRC and affiliated groups, such the Red Crescent, to operate in areas they control.

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Arrests following Greek mass shooting

TWO men have been arrested in Greece after foremen for strawberry growers allegedly shot and wounded 27 migrant labourers who were demanding to be paid, police said.

The migrants, mainly from Bangladesh, were hospitalised in the western port of Patras and other areas with gunshot wounds after allegedly being fired upon late on Wednesday by three foremen for the growers in the village of Manolada, one of the main areas of strawberry production in Greece.

One man was arrested as a "moral instigator" of the alleged shootings and another for helping two of the presumed perpetrators to evade arrest, local police said on Thursday.

The migrants had been working in local farms without being paid for the past six months, the police said.

Around 200 of them went to demand their money when they were fired upon.

The government condemned the attack and anti-racist groups were planning a demonstration in the area later in the day.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said the attack was "inhuman" and "outside Greek morality" and pledged an immediate response by the authorities.

But the Communist-affiliated PAME union noted that the incident was only the latest in a long history of abuse of migrant workers in Greece.

PAME said the workers had been fired upon with shotguns and pistols.

It claimed 33 were hurt, while the police said 27 were wounded, one of them critically.

"Growers and landowners have operated with cover from the government and justice for years, creating a hell-hole with slavery labour conditions," the union said.

"Modern slaves in Manolada work in stifling conditions, pay rent to their exploiters and are lodged in sheds without water and electricity," it said.

In 2008, Manolada had been the focal point of a rare strike by hundreds of migrant workers against near-slavery conditions on the fields.

The treatment of migrants in Greece has long been criticised by domestic and international rights groups, to little avail.

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Rocket attack kills 12 in central Syria

A GOVERNMENT rocket attack has killed at least 12 people in a village in central Syria, while rebels battled regime forces over two key military bases in the northeast where government troops broke an opposition siege last week, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets struck the village of Eastern Buwaydah outside of Homs on Wednesday, and that two children and two women were among those killed.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said rebels and government forces also engaged in heavy fighting nearby.

Eastern Buwaydah is located between Homs, Syria's third-largest city, and the Lebanese border.

The region is of strategic value to President Bashar Assad's regime because it links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawites - the Shi'ite sect to which Assad belongs - and also home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, rebels were attacking government troops on Wednesday as anti-Assad fighters tried to bottle up the military bases of Hamadiya and Wadi Deif near the city of Maaret al-Numan.

Regime forces killed more than 20 fighters in an ambush on Saturday, allowing them to break the rebel hold on the countryside around the bases and ferry supplies to forces in the camps.

For weeks, the military had had to drop supplies in by helicopter to the besieged troops.

"The rebels are trying to re-impose a siege on the camps," Observatory director Abdul-Rahman said.

"They want to close the highway ... to stop them from supporting Wadi Deif and Hamadiya."

The fight for the two bases fits into the broader struggle for control of northern Syria, much of which has fallen to the rebels in the past year.

Across the north, most of the countryside is in the hands of anti-Assad fighters, while the regime is holding out in isolated military bases and most urban centres.

Maaret al-Numan lies along the main north-south highway linking Damascus to the northern city of Aleppo, where rebels and government forces have been fighting for control since an opposition offensive on the city last summer.

If the regime were to regain control of the highway, it would open up a badly needed supply route to its forces in Aleppo - potentially paving the way for further government advances.

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Britain bids farewell to Margaret Thatcher

Britain will pay its final respects to Baroness Thatcher at Wednesday's funeral. Source: AAP

THOUSANDS of well-wishers have applauded Margaret Thatcher's coffin as it passed through the streets of London before a funeral filled with pomp and splendour for Britain's polarising former prime minister.

Queen Elizabeth led the British establishment and representatives of 170 countries in bidding farewell on Wednesday at St Paul's Cathedral to the Iron Lady, who had a profound impact on her country and helped end the Cold War.

But in a sign of the bitterness her legacy still provokes at home, several hundred protesters turned their backs as her funeral cortege went by, booing and chanting "Maggie, Maggie Maggie! Dead, dead, dead!"

Tens of thousands of members of the public turned out to watch Thatcher's coffin travel from parliament to St Paul's, many breaking into spontaneous applause and throwing flowers.

About 700 soldiers, sailors and airmen in full ceremonial uniform lined the route as the coffin was carried first by hearse and then by horse-drawn gun carriage, as a military band played funeral marches.

Some 4000 police officers were deployed along the procession, amid heightened security following the bombings at the Boston Marathon and fears of disruption by left-wing groups.

At the cathedral, the Queen led the mourners in a rare tribute from the monarch, who had not attended a prime ministerial funeral since Winston Churchill died in 1965.

Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of Thatcher's Conservative Party, led a cast of three former premiers - John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - and politicians from across the political divide.

Global figures including Thatcher's fellow Cold War warrior Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, and showbusiness stars Joan Collins and Shirley Bassey joined the former prime minister's family in paying their respects.

In his address, Bishop of London Richard Chartres said Thatcher was a polarising figure but insisted there was no place for politics at her funeral.

"After the storm of a life led in the heat of political controversy, there is a great calm," he told the 2300 assembled guests, all clad in black.

"The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure - even an -ism. Today the remains of the real Margaret Hilda Thatcher are here at her funeral service."

Thatcher's coffin had arrived at St Paul's following an hour-long procession from parliament, during which London's famous Big Ben bell was silenced.

It was draped in the Union Jack flag and dressed with flowers and a card reading "Beloved Mother - Always in Our Hearts", a message from her twin children, 59-year-old Mark and Carol Thatcher.

The pavements along the route were packed by well-wishers, many of whom had risen at dawn to travel to London.

"I wanted to pay my respects to the best prime minister since Churchill," said Gloria Martin, a property developer in her 60s with an array of "I Love Maggie" badges pinned to her chest.

"She was strong, she was resolute, and she put her country first above any idea of popularity."

The crowd included veterans of the Falklands war, viewed by many of her admirers as Thatcher's finest hour and which played a central theme of the ceremony.

Servicemen from units that fought in the 1982 conflict with Argentina carried Thatcher's coffin into St Paul's while two brothers who served in the war walked behind.

Argentina was pointedly not represented among the mourners at the service, who included the prime ministers of Canada, Israel, Italy, Poland and Kuwait.

But the pomp and splendour - paid for with millions of pounds of public money - have sparked criticism from those who argue that Thatcher was too polarising a figure to merit such a state-sponsored send-off.

Some in the crowd turned their backs as the funeral cortege went by to protest at the damage wrought by her radical free-market economic reforms, which created mass unemployment in Britain's industrial heartlands.

"We're spending STG10 million ($A14.96 million) on it and that's disgraceful and unacceptable at a time of austerity," said 22-year-old student Casper Winslow, who held a placard reading "Rest of us in poverty".

The government has yet to disclose the costs of the funeral but insists it will be less than the reported STG10 million.

Cameron insisted it was right to give Thatcher a proper farewell.

"It is a fitting tribute to a great prime minister respected around the world," he told BBC radio.

"And I think other countries in the world would think Britain got it completely wrong if we didn't mark this in a proper way."

The funeral included Christian hymns reflecting Thatcher's strict Methodist upbringing, and Bible readings by Cameron and Thatcher's granddaughter Amanda, followed by a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Her body was to be cremated in a private family ceremony.

Britain's first female prime minister, who was in office from 1979 to 1990, had suffered from dementia and was rarely seen in public for the final years of her life.

She died from a stroke aged 87 nine days ago.

Her death prompted tributes poured in from across the world for the role she played in bringing down the Iron Curtain, but sparked renewed debate at home over her legacy.

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Vic protesters rally at community cabinet

MELBOURNE April 17 AAP - More than 100 protesters rallying against live animal exports have sought to leave their stamp on an otherwise subdued federal community cabinet meeting in the marginal Melbourne Labor seat of Deakin.

The noisy protest, organised by Animals Australia and controlled by a heavy police presence, greeted Prime Minister Julia Gillard on her arrival at the Norwood Secondary College venue in Ringwood.

Inside the venue, however, Ms Gillard faced a mainly welcoming crowd of 300 who showered her with compliments as well as peppering her with questions on the National Disability Insurance scheme, gay marriage, 457 visa workers, Gonski reforms and Labor's image problem.

A rare, pointed question - as to why Labor was unable to sell its message through the media - had Ms Gillard casting a few thinly disguised barbs and insisting the government regularly engaged with the public at a grassroots level.

"It's our responsibility to be out there explaining our vision for the country's future," Ms Gillard said.

"In terms of media whether it's television or radio or newspapers, obviously the people who run those organisations bring some of their own perspectives to bear on what they think is news and how it should be reported."

Asked whether the states would usurp money earmarked for schools in the budget, Ms Gillard said she was determined to push through Gonski reforms.

"The debate now isn't with us because we're so determined to get this done. It's to make sure we have states and territories signing on (to the reforms)," she said.

"I can be very clear we are going to make sure money passes through state government and gets into schools."

Cabinet ministers to address the audience during the one hour Q and A included Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus and Disabilities Minister Jenny Macklin.

Asked how the NDIS would provide better choices for young people who require care, Ms Gillard and Ms Macklin said the scheme would give greater support and more choices for those with disabilities.

"There are too many young people with profound disabilities and the only option they've got at the moment is residential care and that is not meeting their needs," Ms Gillard said.

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Benefit concert for ailing Doc Neeson

The music industry has raised $200,000 at a concert for The Angels frontman Doc Neeson. Source: AAP

THE Australian rock community has a history of helping the less fortunate - from families made homeless by bushfires to victims of the Boxing Day tsunami - so when the afflicted is one of their own they rally in style.

Diagnosed with a brain tumour in January, The Angels frontman Bernard "Doc" Neeson is now $200,000 better equipped to fund his ongoing cancer treatment thanks to a benefit concert held at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Monday night.

Neeson defied doctors' orders to sing a couple of songs at the Rock For Doc bash, a moment made more poignant by the death from cancer of Angels bass player Chris Bailey earlier this month.

The packed-out gig, at Neeson's request a celebration of music rather than just about him, turned out to be a who's who of Australian rock and roll including members of Cold Chisel, Dragon, Mi-Sex, Noiseworks and Rose Tattoo.

Politician Peter Garrett gave a rare vocal performance with his Midnight Oil band mates, but even their contribution was upstaged by David Hasselhoff, who started singing The Angels' anthem Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? before dragging Neeson on stage to finish the song.

"I think the fact that you play with people when you are starting out and you see them doing it rough, you do end up with a bond," Garrett said.

James Morley, The Angels' bass player since their 1990 album Beyond Salvation, said Neeson was humbled by the coming together of friends.

"Doc was blown away by the response and was telling everybody that Australia is one of the only places in the world where people will band together and do this kind of thing," Morley said.

"Everybody wanted to do it," Angry Anderson said backstage. "It is about Doc's friends celebrating his life."

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Tasmanian forest deal on edge again

Green groups could pull out of Tasmania's historic forests peace deal after an upper house vote. Source: AAP

TASMANIA'S forests peace deal is on a knife's edge again after the state's upper house voted to delay the creation of reserves.

Environment groups who came to an historic agreement with the timber industry in November have said they would walk away if the Legislative Council moved to slow down the protection of forests.

Under the deal for the state's ailing forestry sector, more than 500,000 hectares of forest was to be protected in exchange for federal funding of around $200 million to restructure the industry.

Legislation to enact the agreement has been mired in the upper house since December.

Labor Premier Lara Giddings has said any amendments must be agreed to by the signatories to the agreement.

Negotiations, which have dragged on for more than two years, have stalled on numerous occasions as the state government seeks an end to 30 years of bitter conflict between environmentalists and the industry.

Greens federal leader Christine Milne accused MLCs of wrecking the peace deal.

"The Legislative Council has pushed back the dates for securing reserves in a clear move by them and the Liberal Party to wait for a new Abbott federal government which will destroy any hope of protecting Tasmanian forests," Senator Milne said in a statement.

Labor's sole upper house member, Craig Farrell, denied the move went against the agreement.

"The government believes this amendment is materially consistent with the intent of the TFA (Tasmanian Forests Agreement)," the ABC quoted him as saying.

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Quake kills at least 40 near Iran border

A MAJOR earthquake described as the strongest to hit Iran in more than half a century has flattened buildings near Iran's border with Pakistan, and was felt as far away as New Delhi, Dubai and Bahrain.

Reports say it killed at least 40 people in the sparsely populated region in Iran while in Pakistan, at least five people were killed, also in a remote community.

It also caused the skyscrapers in Dubai and Bahrain to sway.

Iran's Red Crescent said it was facing a "complicated emergency situation" in the area with villages scattered over desolate hills and valleys.

Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency and others described the quake, measured at least magnitude 7.7, as the strongest quake in more than 50 years.

It also was the second deadly quake to hit Iran in less than a week after a magnitude 6.1 temblor struck near Bushehr, on Iran's Persian Gulf coast, killing at least 37 people and raising calls for greater international safety inspectors at Iran's lone nuclear reactor nearby.

Iran's state TV said the quake was centred near Saravan, about 48 kilometres from the Pakistani border.

A previous report citing the country's seismological centre placed the strength at magnitude 7.5, but it was apparently revised upward. The US Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude at 7.8 and at a depth of 15.2 kilometres.

The quake was felt over a vast area from New Delhi to Gulf cities that have some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including the record 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Officials ordered temporary evacuations from some high-rises as a precaution.

A resident in the quake zone, Manouchehr Karimi, told The Associated Press by phone that "the quake period was long" and occurred "when many people were at home to take a midday nap".

Pakistani news channels showed buildings shaking in the southern city of Karachi, where people in panic came out from offices and homes.

There was no immediate word on any damage and people were seen standing outside their homes and offices even minutes after the quack rattled various parts of the country, although reports say five people have been killed.

"We have received five dead bodies," Ashraf Baloch, a hospital official, told AFP by telephone from Mashkail in Washuk district, around three kilometres inside Pakistan from the Iranian border.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam.

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Abbott quizzed on gay marriage stance

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has repeatedly been questioned about his stance against gay marriage. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has repeatedly been questioned about his stance against gay marriage at a community forum in Sydney.

About 500 people attended the question and answer session with the opposition leader on Monday night in the beachside suburb of Manly, part of Mr Abbott's local electorate of Warringah.

In what was a wide ranging question and answer session, Mr Abbott fielded questions on topics including immigration, tax, education, climate change and superannuation.

He was also repeatedly urged to allow coalition MPs a conscience vote on gay marriage.

"I'd like to know when you're going to allow a conscience vote on marriage equality," Mr Abbott was asked by a member of the crowd.

"My position on this is fairly well known. I'm fairly traditional. I support the standard definition of marriage as between a man and a woman," replied Mr Abbott, who opposes changing the Marriage Act.

"That is our party's position," he later added.

He said coalition policy on the issue would not change in the lead up to September's federal election.

He said coalition policy on marriage equality after the election was "a matter for the post election party room".

Mr Abbott also used the forum to criticise the Gillard government's proposed multibillion dollar reforms to the education sector.

"We need better schools, we need better universities, but I just don't know if we can trust the current government to deliver it," he said.

He also defended the current skilled migration scheme and the use of 457 visas.

"Where you genuinely can't find someone, you should be able to bring someone in," he said.

"They are invariably more expensive than a local worker."

At one point, Mr Abbott rebuked a member of the audience for labelling the prime minister a "horrible woman".

"It's important that everyone in this audience and everyone in our polity generally be given a polite hearing," he said.

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