Paraguay presidential hopeful Oviedo dies

PARAGUAYAN presidential candidate Lino Cesar Oviedo has been killed in a helicopter crash, authorities say.

Oviedo was returning with his bodyguard from a political rally on Saturday night in northern Paraguay when his pilot encountered bad weather.

All three were killed in the crash, said Johnny Villalba, a spokesman for Paraguay's airport authority.

"The causes of the accident and other details are being investigated by experts from the Center for Investigations and Prevention of Air Accidents," he said, an agency that is part of Paraguay's airport authority.

Oviedo, 69, was running in April's elections as leader of Paraguay's third-largest opposition party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens.

A retired general and former army chief, Oviedo had tried for years to lead his nation, and not always through democratic means.

A populist with support among Paraguay's poor indigenous majority, Oviedo was convicted of plotting to overthrow President Juan Carlos Wasmosy in a short-lived rebellion in April 1996, and served half of a 10-year sentence before being released.

The Supreme Court later exonerated Oviedo after military officers denied there had been a coup attempt, freeing him to run for president in 2008.

He came in third, splitting the vote that gave former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo the presidency and ended 60 years of one-party rule by the Colorado party.

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Etch A Sketch creator dies

ANDRE Cassagnes, the French inventor of the Etch A Sketch, a toy beloved of children around the world, has died at the age of 86.

His death in France in mid-January was announced by the Ohio Art Company, which has been making the Etch a Sketch since 1960, according to media reports.

The Etch A Sketch, a grey screen with bold red frame, allows children to draw a picture using a stylus and then erase it with the turn of two buttons.

It has sold more than 100 million copies around the world.

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Fiat boss eyes Chrysler merger in 2014

FIAT boss Sergio Marchionne says he expects the merger of the Italian car giant and its US partner Chrysler will take place in 2014.

"We will succeed in doing it," he said in an interview with the editor of the Repubblica newspaper. "We and VEBA (the United Auto Workers pension fund - a Chrysler shareholder) have different opinions on the value of Chrysler but we will resolve the problem in 2014."

Macchione, who heads both companies, had said on January 30 that the ties between the two automakers were "irreversible" and would merge "as soon as I can afford it" but did not put a date on the merger.

Asked on Sunday if Fiat would keep its Turin headquarters, Macchione said: "We are a big group presence throughout the world; it will depend on access to financial markets and the choices of the Agnelli family" who founded Fiat.

He had "not thought" about the future name of the new entity, he said.

The deal will ultimately give Fiat a 65 per cent stake in Chrysler and full ownership by 2015.

Boosted by increased sales at Chrysler, the Italian giant on Wednesday reported a profitable 2012, announcing a fourth quarter net profit that rose to 388 million euros ($A508 million) from 265 million euros the year before.

The company said it was aiming for profits of between 1.2 and 1.5 billion euros this year.

Fiat took a 20 per cent stake in Chrysler in 2009 as the third largest US automaker emerged from a government-financed restructuring under bankruptcy protection.

It has since steadily expanded its stake by purchasing shares owned by the US government and the VEBA fund.

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Gillard's new ministers to be sworn in

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is wasting no time getting her new ministers straight into the job with the official swearing-in by the governor-general to be held in Canberra on Monday.

With last week's surprise resignations of Senator Chris Evans and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, the prime minister took the opportunity to reshuffle the cabinet and bring in new blood.

Mike Kelly gets his first ministry being appointed minister for defence materiel.

Chris Bowen will replace Senator Evans as minister for tertiary education, skills, science and research with responsibility for small business.

Mark Dreyfus will replace Ms Roxon as attorney-general and minister for emergency management, relinquishing the role of cabinet secretary to Jason Clare, who retains home affairs and justice.

Brendan O'Connor will become minister for immigration and citizenship and Mark Butler takes on housing and homelessness.

Ms Gillard said the departure of Senator Evans and Ms Roxon opened the way for fresh talent, new ideas and new energy.

"It means a rejuvenated team who will keep building a smarter, fairer modern Australia," she said in a statement.

New parliamentary secretaries Yvette D'Ath (climate change and energy efficiency), Kelvin Thompson (trade) and Melissa Parke (mental health, homelessness and social housing) will also be sworn in.

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Poor light halts search for missing plane

A SEARCH will resume on Monday morning for an ultralight aircraft and its pilot missing north of Brisbane.

Police said the aircraft, piloted by a woman in her 50s, left Caboolture around 9.15am Sunday on a trip to the Glass House Mountains.

Police received a report about 12.30pm that the plane had failed to return.

An extensive air and land search was launched but had to be called off on Sunday evening due to poor light.

The search will resume at first light on Monday.

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Libyan TV crew 'assaulted' in parliament

SECURITY guards at Libya's parliament have beaten up a crew of Alassema, an independent television network, the channel says.

"A team from (Alassema TV) went to cover a meeting of the national assembly on Friday, entering as they were permitted to," the channel's press office director Fethi Ben Aissa said.

"After interviewing an MP, the team was assaulted by plain clothes guards of the General National Congress," he said, adding that "the public prosecutor has decided to open an inquiry into the incident".

A video posted on the internet, purportedly of the same incident, showed a cameraman being pushed and hit by men in civilian clothing, provoking an online uproar.

A joint statement by dozens of journalists said "this act of aggression essentially constitutes an attack against freedom of the media and is a return to the era of the stifling of the press".

It called for "the creation of a journalist union ... to ensure the defence of people's rights to obtain correct and timely information from different media outlets".

Under the regime of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted by a popular uprising in 2011, independent media outlets and any criticism of government were banned.

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UK police use stun gun on man at palace

A MAN waving large knives outside Buckingham Palace in the presence of tourists has been shocked with a Taser stun gun and arrested, police say.

The Queen and Prince Philip were at one of their weekend retreats, in Sandringham, eastern England, at the time of the incident just before noon (2300 AEDT) on Sunday.

"A man was seen outside the (palace's) centre gate in possession of two knives," said a spokesman for the capital's Metropolitan Police force.

"He was not making threats to members of the public but he was challenged by police. He acted aggressively and a Taser was discharged.

"He is thought to be in his 50s. He was arrested on suspicion of affray and has been taken to a central London police station," the spokesman added.

A video on YouTube showed the man placing a large blade to his neck before waving it about. Moments later he fell to the ground after being shocked with the Taser gun and was quickly surrounded by police officers.

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