World News: World condemns shooting of governor ahead of funeral

The governor of Pakistan's dominant province shot dead by a bodyguard will be buried today amid tight security.

Authorities say the bodyguard was outraged that Punjab governor Salman Taseer opposed blasphemy laws carrying the death sentence for insulting the Muslim faith.

Leaders and supporters of the ruling Pakistan People's Party gathered at Mr Taseer's official residence in Lahore ahead of his funeral.

Authorities have installed walk-through metal detectors at the house as an added security measure for the funeral, while police patrol the streets to maintain peace.

Mr Taseer was shot in the back yesterday as he left a restaurant.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton called Mr Taseer's death "a great loss".

In a statement, she said: "I had the opportunity to meet Governor Taseer in Pakistan and I admired his work to promote tolerance and the education of future generations."

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon called Mr Taseer's death "a loss for Pakistan".

Interior minister Rehman Malik said the guard, named as Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri, had confessed to the killing.

Doctor accused of cover-up

Michael Jackson's doctor tried to hide the fact that he had given the singer a powerful anaesthetic shortly before he died, a prosecutor said.

Dr Conrad Murray was accused of phoning paramedics only after Jackson had died. Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Hope in Ivory Coast crisis

Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to negotiate a "peaceful end" to his country's crisis without preconditions, say regional leaders.

The chairman of the Ecowas regional group said Mr Gbagbo had also agreed to immediately lift the blockade around the temporary headquarters of his presidential rival Alassane Ouattara.The UN regards Mr Ouattara as the winner of November elections, but Mr Gbagbo, the incumbent, refused to cede power.

Giant tuna sells for 255,000

A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen (255,000) in the first auction of the year at the world's largest wholesale fish market in Japan.

The price for the 342kg tuna, caught off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, beat the previous record set in 2001 when a 202kg fish sold for 20.2 million yen.

Shah's son kills himself

The youngest son of the late shah of Iran has been found dead in an apparent suicide at his US home.

"It is with immense grief that we would like to inform our compatriots of the passing away of Prince Alireza Pahlavi," the shah's oldest son, Reza Pahlavi, wrote on his website.

Emergency plan to save flooded city

Australia: A flooded coastal city braced itself for water levels to peak today as authorities held an emergency meeting to draw up recovery plans for the 200,000 people hit by the deluge.

The Fitzroy River was expected to reach the second-highest level on record today in Rockhampton.

Austria: Exhumations are to take place at a psychiatric hospital in Hall in Tyrol province thought to contain the remains of Nazi victims.