UK coroner to examine spy file in secret

THE British judge investigating the death of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko says he will examine government evidence in secret to decide if it should be made public.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has argued that the disclosure of certain files at the forthcoming inquest would be damaging to national security.

But lawyers for Litvinenko's family, who claim he worked for British spy agency MI6, want the evidence to be made public as they believe it would point to Russia's involvement in his death by radioactive poisoning in London in 2006.

The lawyers argued at a hearing on Tuesday that Britain was trying to cover up evidence in order to protect crucial trade deals with Russia.

Giving his ruling on Wednesday, Coroner Robert Owen said he had decided to consider the government's application in a private hearing.

The High Court judge insisted he would carry out a "full, fearless and independent investigation" into the circumstances of Litvinenko's death, conducted with "the greatest possible degree of openness and transparency".

Speaking afterwards, Litvinenko's widow Marina said she was disappointed that the government files were still being kept secret but said: "I have to trust the coroner, I must trust him, I have no option."

The inquest, a fact-finding inquiry designed to establish the circumstances surrounding Litvinenko's death, was due to start in May but Owen has warned that the complex issues involved could see it delayed further.

British police have identified former Russian spy Andrei Lugovoi as the main suspect in Litvinenko's death, but Moscow has refused to extradite him, in an affair that had strained ties between Britain and Russia.

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Fitch Ratings warns US on budget fighting

RATINGS agency Fitch has warned Washington that continued political fighting over the government budget and deficit-cutting measures could lead to the US losing its AAA grade.

With the government two days away from enacting the harsh "sequester" budget cuts because political parties cannot agree a more moderate compromise, Fitch said that the policy deadlock could lower confidence in the world's largest economy.

It pointed out that after the $US85 billion ($A83.51 billion) sequester cuts that begin to take effect Friday comes a battle over a six-month budget, which has to be concluded by March 31 or the government could be shut down.

And shortly after that, on May 19, the country will hit its statutory borrowing limit.

"Implementation of the automatic spending cuts - the sequester - and a government shutdown would not prompt a negative rating action," Fitch said in a statement.

"But such an outcome would further erode confidence that timely agreement will be reached on additional deficit-reduction measures necessary to secure the AAA rating."

Fitch, like other rating agencies focused mainly on how the US will reduce its massive deficit and debt burdens over the medium term, said that the sequester itself was not bad.

It called the 2011 poison-pill deal between Democrats and Republicans, originally aimed at scaring them into a more moderate deficit-cutting plan, the government's "only substantive agreement on medium-term deficit reduction" so far.

But it acknowledged projections that implementing the sequester's $85 billion in targeted cuts over the next seven months, and $110 billion in reductions for the 2014 fiscal year, would slow economic growth.

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US stocks flat after mixed goods report

US stocks have opened essentially unchanged after a mixed report on durable goods orders.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.87 points (0.03 per cent) to 13,904.00.

The broad-based S&P 500 edged lower by 0.45 point (0.03 per cent) to 1,496.49, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.42 (0.01 per cent) to 3,130.07.

The trading came after durable goods orders for January sank by 5.2 per cent because of a big drop in aircraft orders.

However, excluding transportation orders, which can be volatile month-over-month, new durable goods orders were up 1.9 per cent, almost double the increase in December.

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Rusty rolls inland, prompting flood fears

MAJOR flooding is expected as Tropical Cyclone Rusty moves inland from Western Australia's Pilbara coast and puts new towns on red alert.

The eye of the massive storm hit land just before 3pm (WST) on Wednesday, more than 30 hours after the northwest coastline was placed on red alert and residents told to take shelter and stay indoors.

Late on Wednesday night, people in or near communities between Pardoo and Nullagine, including Marble Bar, were on red alert and advised to go to shelter immediately.

Rusty will gradually weaken as it moves inland, but wind gusts of more than 165kmh are expected near the eye of the cyclone overnight on Wednesday, when the threat of a dangerous storm tide remains for the coast between De Grey and Wallal.

Wind gusts of more than 125kmh were expected to reach Marble Bar on Thursday as the cyclone heads that way.

Flooding is expected in the De Grey catchment, and possibly in the Fortescue catchment and in Pilbara coastal streams, on Thursday.

Late on Wednesday, Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre duty forecaster Peter Clegg said the cyclone was moving at a speed of 9kmh in a south to south-easterly direction, but within about 12 hours its speed is expected to double.

He said the cyclone is still a category three, but it is expected to weaken over the next two days.

Port Hedland, which was initially expected to bear the brunt of the storm, appeared to have come off relatively unscathed, after the cyclone took a last minute turn before making landfall.

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Ikea confirms horsemeat in meatballs

IKEA says it is withdrawing more food products from its stores in Europe as tests confirmed the presence of horsemeat in its meatballs.

The Swedish furniture giant pulled its hot dogs in France, Spain, Britain, Ireland and Portugal, and two traditional dishes sold in Sweden: a veal patty known as "wallenbergare" and a cabbage beef casserole.

Earlier this week the company pulled its Ikea-brand one-kilogram bags of frozen meatballs off its shelves and withdrew meatballs from its restaurants in 25 countries, primarily in Europe but also in parts of Asia and in the Dominican Republic after Czech authorities said they found traces of horse DNA in the product.

Ikea said its own tests had so far only shown the presence of horsemeat in its meatballs, but the other products were being removed because they were made by the same supplier as the meatballs, Swedish company Dafgaard.

"Out of several hundred test results we have received ... a handful have shown indications of horsemeat," Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said, referring to the meatball tests.

The announcement came just after Dafgaard confirmed it had found horsemeat in several batches of its meatballs.

"The affected batches are all frozen meatballs that have already been blocked from sale," Dafgaard said in a statement.

Swedish news agency TT reported the level of horsemeat found was between one and 10 per cent, which is higher than the level usually considered to be the result of contamination in a slaughterhouse.

Ikea said no decision had been taken about whether it would terminate its contract with Dafgaard.

"For several years we have been working closely with Dafgaard, we view this just as seriously (as they do). Together we are looking at how to proceed," Magnusson said.

The furniture retailer was the latest group to become caught up in a Europe-wide scandal over horsemeat in food products that erupted in January when horse DNA was detected in beefburgers in Britain and Ireland.

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Britain set to cull thousands of badgers

BRITAIN is set to cull up to 5,000 badgers in a bid to combat tuberculosis in cattle which has outraged animal welfare groups, after two pilot schemes were given the green light.

The culls will see 70 per cent of the black and white animals killed in two areas of southwest England - Gloucestershire and west Somerset - after the Natural England government agency approved the pilots.

Ministers say culls are needed as bovine TB, which spreads from badgers to livestock, costs farmers and the taxpayer millions of pounds every year.

"Bovine TB is spreading at an alarming rate and causing real devastation to our beef and dairy industry," Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told a conference of Britain's National Farmers' Union on Wednesday.

"These pilot culls are just one part of our approach to control and eradicate this dreadful disease."

But opponents claim culling badgers is an inhumane and ineffective way of battling TB.

Britain's biggest animal welfare charity, the RSPCA, described the plans as "senseless".

"All the evidence shows that the answer to the problems of bovine TB in cattle does not lie in a cull that will be ineffective, wasteful and potentially damaging to the welfare of both farm and wild animals," said the charity's chief executive Gavin Grant.

"We care about cattle and badgers alike and have great sympathy for the farmers dealing with the effects of this disease, but killing badgers is not the answer."

The pilot schemes were due to begin late last year but were delayed in October after condemnation by wildlife experts and a high-profile campaign led by Queen guitarist Brian May.

Almost 35,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2012 because of TB infection, according to government figures.

Paterson said the disease had cost the British taxpayer STG500 million ($A744.32 million) in the past 10 years, and costs could reach 1 billion over the next decade if the disease is left unchecked.

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Three dead, 7 hurt in Swiss shooting

A 42-YEAR-OLD employee killed two workmates and wounded seven when he opened fire in a Swiss factory, rocking the small community where the plant is located.

Police said that the gunman, who also died, had worked for more than 10 years at the Kronospan wood panel plant in Menznau, near Lucerne in central Switzerland.

He had no record of making trouble, police and factory officials said, but workmates quoted by Swiss media said he may have been suffering from mental problems since last year.

The man, who was not identified by name, reportedly launched his assault with a handgun at around 9:00 am (1900 AEST) in the plant's canteen.

Police said that he appeared to have aimed deliberately at his victims, rather than spraying shots at random.

Of the seven wounded, six were in a serious condition.

Three helicopters from the Swiss emergency service REGA evacuated four of the wounded to neighbouring hospitals, a spokesman told AFP.

Police would not say how the shooter died and added they were waiting for the results of an autopsy.

"We still don't know what his motives were," Lucerne's police chief Daniel Bussmann told reporters.

Some Swiss media claimed the gunman had fallen out with his employers, with local newspaper Willisauerer Bote noting that Kronospan had last week announced it was cutting production.

Owned by Austrian group Kronospan, the factory is the top employer in Menznau, giving jobs to about 400 people in the community of almost 2,600.

Kronospan underlined that the production cutback was the result of a wood shortage due to bad weather, and that there had been no threat to jobs.

Capozzo said the gunman was known as a very calm individual. "We can't understand what happened," he said.

The national daily Blick said the gunman was a family man who worked as a machine operator at the plant.

The regional newspaper Luzerner Zeitung quoted an unnamed colleague as saying that the man's behaviour over recent months suggested he was having mental problems.

"He changed last year. He talked to himself, or to people who weren't there. And he'd change the subject completely in mid-conversation, so you could barely talk to him any more," the colleague said.

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