Australian soldier killed in road accident

POLICE are investigating the death of an off-duty Australian soldier who was killed by a truck and trailer near Christchurch.

The soldier, who had been working with the New Zealand Army, was walking along State Highway 1 near Rolleston when he was hit about 12.30am on Saturday.

He died at the scene, police say.

The driver of the truck has been interviewed and police investigations are continuing.

The New Zealand Defence Force says the man's next of kin have been informed.

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No buried Spitfires in Myanmar

THE sponsor of a British-led team hunting for dozens of rare World War II Spitfires said to have been buried in Myanmar has abandoned the search, saying stories of the stashed planes are merely "legend".

Rumours that dozens of the iconic single-seat aircraft were buried in 1945 by Britain, the former colonial power in what was then Burma, had excited military history enthusiasts, but surveys at Yangon airport in the Mingaladon district have failed to bear fruit.

The project backer, online game company Wargaming, said the team "now believes, based on clear documentary evidence, as well as the evidence from the fieldwork, that no Spitfires were delivered in crates and buried at RAF Mingaladon during 1945 and 1946".

Lead archaeologist Andy Brockman said the investigation into the stories of buried Spitfires was undertaken in the spirit of US television forensic police series "CSI" (Crime Scene Investigation).

"We followed the clues in the documents, period maps, pictures and air photographs; we talked to surviving witnesses, and visited the 'crime scene' in order to turn our study in the archives into facts on the ground," he said.

"As a result we believe that the legend of the buried Spitfires of Burma is just that: a captivating legend about a beautiful and iconic aircraft."

In a statement released late on Friday, Wargaming said the search for Spitfires in Myanmar was rooted in persistent rumours that began among servicemen in "the bars and canteens of South East Asia" as early as 1946.

It added that no surviving witnesses had actually seen planes being buried and that its research in British archives had failed to produce any evidence of the arrival of the aircraft in Myanmar in the latter months of the war.

But a local businessman involved in the project, Htoo Htoo Zaw, on Saturday vowed to continue the planned digs in the northern city of Myitkyina and Yangon airport, signalling a split within the team.

"We haven't started any digging yet. So how can we say for sure whether there are Spitfires or not?" he told AFP.

It was unclear to what extent the excavations would continue and project leader David Cundall -- a farmer and aircraft enthusiast who has spent around 17 years chasing the Spitfires -- was not immediately reachable for comment.

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Little change for urgent Vic patients: AMA

HOSPITAL waiting times for urgent patients have hardly changed in Victoria, as the health funding dispute between the federal and state governments drags on.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) annual report on public hospitals released on Friday shows little improvement in capacity and waiting times over the past year.

The report says Victorian emergency department performance improved only marginally in 2011-12.

Seventy-two per cent of urgent patients were seen within the recommended time, up from 70 per cent in 2010-11, while elective surgery waiting times remained the same.

National health reforms haven't stopped funding cuts and the "blame game" being played between state and federal governments, the AMA says.

Premier Ted Baillieu has invited Prime Minister Julia Gillard to meet with him to discuss the funding stoush that has forced some hospital bed closures and elective surgery cancellations around the state.

"The facts are undeniable and the prime minister has sought to avoid the issue. She's barely been in Victoria, she's barely been asked any questions about this, and they trot out every excuse in the book."

The federal and state governments are accusing each other of multimillion-dollar cuts to health funding.

The Victorian government says the federal government used wrong population statistics to cut $475 million from the state's health budget over four years.

But federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says commonwealth funding to Victoria is increasing by $900 million over the next four years and Victoria has taken more than $600 million out of its health system

Ms Plibersek said the AMA report was based on early data.

She told reporters on Friday the commonwealth investment had made a big difference to the health system, but it also required states to keep up their efforts.

"We can't have the federal government doing more and then some states doing less," she said.

The federal and Victorian health ministers have met twice but remain stubbornly deadlocked.

A spokesman for the prime minister said the Victorian government chose to grandstand this week by sending Health Minister David Davis to Canberra without any new ideas on how to provide better health services.

"Ted Baillieu has followed this up with another stunt today: he should stop playing politics with Victorian patients, reverse his $616 million of cuts and start delivering better services," he said.

The AMA report found that hospitals in all states and territories fell short of the national performance target of 80 per cent of urgent patients being seen in the recommended timeframe.

It called for federal and state governments to work together, focus on problems with public hospitals and stop blaming each other.

AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said delays in emergency room consultations for urgent patients could lead to deaths.

"If there's insufficient beds in the system and we can't get people out of emergency, it does cause harm," Mr Hambleton said.

"We do see unnecessary deaths that we do want to protect against."

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Asteroid to whiz past Oz

STARGAZERS are preparing to watch an asteroid hurtle past Earth as a scientist says the discovery of one of the largest ever ancient asteroid strikes in Australia could help better understand future impacts.

NASA says there's no chance the travelling asteroid 2012 DA14 will collide with the planet as it skims past on Saturday.

However, the closest it will get, about 27,700km, will be a record near approach for an object of its size, about 45 metres in diameter.

It will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites, potentially disrupting communication.

Andrew Glikson, a visiting fellow in the ANU Planetary Science Institute and the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, says an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14 would make a crater up to one kilometre wide if it hit Earth.

Dr Glikson says research into past asteroid impacts is essential in the face of potential future asteroid encounters so we know what the fall out is.

His most recent discovery, reported last month in Tectonphysics, is a massive asteroid impact site in the East Warburton Basin in northeast South Australia.

That site contains evidence thought to be caused by an asteroid 10 to 20 kilometres in diameter that hit Earth more than 298 million years ago.

"The size of the shock metamorphic terrain, larger than 200 kilometres in diameter, makes it the third-largest discovered to date on Earth," Dr Glikson said on Friday.

Shock metamorphic terrain is formed when an asteroid hits, shocking and melting minerals instantly. It leaves signs that are different from any other geological event on Earth.

Dr Glikson believes the East Warburton site dates back to the late Devonian period - 360 million years ago - a time of major mass extinction.

He also thinks there is a link between this site and three or four other large strike zones about the same time around Australia.

"Asteroids come in clusters of two or more," he said.

That happens when there are internal collisions in an asteroid belt that send a few hurtling out to ultimately fall on other planets.

Dr Glikson hopes to confirm another another big site with a study in the next few months at West Warburton, which has very similar geophysical anomalies.

"We can always hope. It is a 50-50 chance that it could be a twin."

People who want to see DA14 pass by will need either a good pair of binoculars or a telescope.

Stargazers in Western Australia will have the best view from about 0230 local time on Saturday.

But people in the Northern Territory and South Australia should also be able to see it pass. Others might get a glimpse but if not it can be watched live on NASA's website.

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Roses are red, but romance is dead

RED chocolate Valentine's Day roses travelled mysteriously around parliament, but failed to spark an outbreak of cross-party romance.

Not that Thursday's question time - the last for a month - was particularly raucous.

Opposition Chief Whip Warren Entsch brought the roses in for coalition MPs first thing in the morning.

By afternoon they'd spread to some unlikely places, including Julia Gillard's side of the despatch box.

At one point there were four in front of Kevin Rudd.

Some ingenious commentator will surely find leadership significance in this. Let's hope, for Kevin's sake, it doesn't mean only four members of caucus love him.

Actually, Liberal MPs probably had more to do with his growing collection, all in the spirit of love rather than troublemaking, of course.

During the session the opposition remained focused on tax and Wayne Swan was its main target.

Mums and dads made an appearance when Liberal backbencher Jane Prentice suggested to Swan that if they ran their household budgets like he ran the country's they'd soon be broke.

Swan, ever the master of deflecting attacks, replied that mums and dads with a mortgage were paying $5000 less than they would have in John Howard's time.

He continued, with mysterious logic, that Prentice would have mums and dads selling their homes and living in a tent.

At other times the treasurer was plain dismissive.

Christopher Pyne reminded him of his regular boast that Australia's job creation record is unequalled in the world before asking him to explain why several other countries, including Mexico and Chile, were doing better.

"Simply too silly for words," Swan sniffed. It was comparing apples, pears and oranges.

Gillard stretched the meaning of relevance to breaking point.

When Warren Truss asked her to rule out changing the tax treatment of self-managed super funds, she went on at some length about not joining the opposition in attacking the retirement savings of poorer Australians.

Anna Burke finally told her to return to the question, leading Gillard to protest that people were entitled to have the policies contrasted.

The overriding message of this first two parliamentary weeks of the September 14 election year is that the campaign will be another in Bill Clinton's "It's the economy, stupid" tradition.

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US to introduce medal for cyber warriors

THE US military is to introduce a medal for drone pilots and cyber warriors, says outgoing defence head Leon Panetta.

US military personnel working in cyber warfare and piloting drones were not previously eligible for combat medals because they are not engaged in direct combat with the enemy.

Drone pilots and cyber warfare personnel will be eligible for the Distinguished Warfare Medal.

"I've seen firsthand how modern tools, like remotely piloted platforms and cyber systems, have changed the way wars are fought," Panetta said on Wednesday.

Chuck Hagel is due to replace Panetta, 74.

Panetta was director of the CIA until 2011 when he took over at the Pentagon.

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Senior clergy to testify over child abuse

THREE senior Catholic Church officials - including the Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson - will testify at an inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse in a NSW diocese.

The inquiry, headed by Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, SC, will look at whether the church protected predatory priests in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, and in what circumstances Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox was ordered to stop investigating abuse allegations.

Separate public hearings will be held on both issues, starting in Newcastle in May.

On the formal opening of the inquiry in Sydney on Wednesday, an application was heard for leave to appear from Archbishop Wilson's legal counsel.

However, the hearing was told the archbishop, who held senior positions in the diocese in the 80s and early 90s, had already been summoned.

Other prominent churchmen who will give evidence at the public hearings are Father Brian Lucas, the secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference, and the retired bishop of the diocese Bishop Michael Malone.

The NSW inquiry was prompted by allegations against the diocese made by Insp Fox in an ABC Lateline program.

His allegations were also a catalyst for the establishment of the Royal Commission into child sex abuse, which will soon start its hearings.

Insp Fox was at Wednesday's opening with his legal representative.

Commissioner Cunneen said the NSW inquiry would concentrate on past matters surrounding two priests - serial sex offender Father Denis McAlinden and convicted paedophile Father James Fletcher, both now dead.

However, she said arrangements had been made for the referral of evidence outside the scope of the NSW inquiry to be passed to the Royal Commission.

In her opening statement, Commissioner Cunneen said Father McAlinden, who died in 2005, was regarded by many as having a history of sexual offending that spanned a number of decades.

It was in 2010 that the diocese acknowledged he was "quite a predator" who should have been dealt with earlier.

She emphasised that the sexual abuse of children was particularly abhorrent when committed by those in authority.

"It can be very difficult for children to break their silence about sexual abuse, and when they do, the collective responsibility to take actions weighs heavily on all."

She urged victims to contact the inquiry so their voices could be heard.

A large number of summonses have already been issued - with more to follow - for the production of documents from relevant people and organisations.

Private hearings will begin before the public ones.

Commissioner Cunneen pointed out the inquiry provided an important opportunity for people who had relevant positions within the Catholic Church to come forward and provide information about what had occurred in the past.

The NSW special commission is due to report on, or before, September 30.

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Businessman paid $10,000 deposit for 'hit'

AN elderly businessman plotting the murder of a woman he hated paid an undercover policeman a $10,000 deposit to carry out the killing, thinking he was a hitman, a court has been told.

Brian Vincent Attwell, 73, has been charged with the rare offence of attempting to procure the commission of murder, after the alleged plan was uncovered by West Australian police in September.

In Perth's Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Attwell had a bail application refused by magistrate Jan Whitbread, who said she considered there was still a potential risk to the safety of the intended victim.

The court heard Attwell, a prominent businessman from Albany on WA's south coast, had a vitriolic and angry grudge against the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

It will be alleged Attwell raised the possibility of a contract killing with a man he was interviewing for a job at his earth-moving business, who subsequently contacted police.

Detectives tasked an undercover officer to pose as a potential hitman, with Attwell meeting him twice to discuss the plot.

Prosecutors will allege Attwell told the undercover officer, who recorded the meetings, he wanted to "put somebody to sleep", he wanted her strangled to avoid leaving any blood evidence, and he would use earth-moving equipment from his business to dig a 30 foot (9.1 metre) hole to put her body in.

He also suggested she could be burned in her car.

At the first meeting, it will be alleged Attwell gave $7,000 to the officer as part payment for the hit.

It will also be alleged the undercover officer was handed details of the woman's car registration, her home address and her favourite coffee shops. Attwell also gave him another $3,000 for the hit.

Attwell was arrested in October, and has been in custody ever since.

Barrister Belinda Lonsdale argued that Attwell, who suffers from diabetes, heart disease and suspected frontal lobe dementia, should be given bail because his advanced age and medical condition meant he posed no risk of escape or committing further offences.

But prosecutor Sandra De Maio said the level of anger towards the victim was such that no bail condition imposed on Attwell could guarantee her safety.

"Her safety remains a significant concern," Ms De Maio said.

"He did everything he could to have this girl killed. He made contact with someone he thought could do it. And he paid them a $10,000 cash deposit."

Magistrate Whitbread agreed, saying Attwell's medical condition was being well treated in Albany regional prison.

Wheelchair-bound Attwell, who intends to plead not guilty to the charge, will next appear in court on March 27.

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China warned N Korea against blast: envoy

NORTH Korea ignored a "strong warning" from China against staging its suspected nuclear weapon test, a UN diplomat says.

The 15-nation UN Security Council warned the North in a resolution passed last month that it would take "significant" action in the event of a new test or missile launch, and the body has called an emergency session for 1400 GMT on Tuesday (0100 AEDT Wednesday).

The United States and South Korea, the council president for February, had both called for firm measures against North Korea if it stages a nuclear test.

China, the isolated North's closest ally, made special efforts to try to head off the bomb test, said the UN diplomat who has taken part in recent consultations.

"The Chinese gave the North Koreans a strong warning against carrying out a test as it became apparent that it was imminent," said the diplomat.

China has "special means of communications" with the entourage of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, the envoy added.

"What the North Koreans have done now is a big challenge to the Chinese. There have been consultations in recent days, and in all likelihood China, Russia and the United States will quickly agree that tough action now has to be taken," the diplomat said.

The envoy added that sanctions may not be agreed upon on Tuesday but the "intention" would be made clear.

After North Korea's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010, it took weeks for the Security Council to agree on statements and sanctions.

China has traditionally shielded its neighbour against international action, warning Western powers against any measures that could cause instability so close to its frontier.

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Church ponders choices for next pope

WHO will be the next pope? Cardinals who elect Benedict XVI's successor later this month must choose a leader capable of guiding the church through a difficult period, marred by scandals, internal tensions and growing secularism.

Benedict's rule has been criticised as overly "eurocentric" in some quarters and Vatican watchers say the college of cardinals set to meet in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican for the secret vote may seize the moment to elect a Latin-American, African or Asian pope.

Others say 85-year-old Benedict may call on the cardinals to elect someone younger, who is less likely to suffer failing health early in his mandate.

"His decision to step down will have a big influence on the choice of the future pope. The old must make way for the young. The church needs it," said Marco Politi, Vatican expert and author of a celebrated biography on Benedict.

Among those tipped as candidates are Canadian Marc Ouellet and the Archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola, though some analysts have said they are likely to be considered as not charismatic enough to revive faith amid rising secularism.

Previous hot tickets Peter Erdo, from Hungary, and the pope's Austrian friend Christoph Schoenborn, have recently dropped in favour, while American Timothy Dolan is increasingly tipped for his mediation skills - key in helping the Vatican overhaul its image in modern society following a damaging wave of clerical child abuse scandals.

Writing on US website National Review Online, American priest and political and cultural commentator, Father Robert Sirico said Cardinals Ouellet and Scola were the favourites, but also added "even Cardinal George Pell from Australia" was a chance.

The bookies don't think so though, with Ladbrokes listing Cardinal Pell at 66/1, behind 28 other candidates.

Ladbrokes installed Ouellet as their favourite at 3/1, with Ghanaian Peter Turkson at 4/1, while Scola and Nigeria's Francis Arinze are at 5/1.

William Hill, Britain's largest bookmaker, offered odds of 3/1 for Arinze, with Ouellet and Turkson at 7/2.

While bookmakers had given even odds on the choice of Joseph Ratzinger in April 2005, no-one had foreseen Karol Wojtyla's surprise election in 1978.

Frontrunners in Latin America - which boasts the largest number of practicing Catholics in the world - are Claudio Hummes and Joao Braz de Aviz.

Progressives favour Honduran Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, head of Caritas Internationalis, but he is considered by the Church's more traditional members to lean too far left, and is unlikely to win the two-thirds majority needed.

Among the outsiders to watch, experts note dynamic Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle - the Church's second youngest cardinal, appointed just last year at 55 years old - is very popular in Asia and is rising fast within the Vatican.

There are 118 cardinals who are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote. The red-robed cardinals, who usually meet between 15 and 20 days after the death of a pope, take an oath of secrecy when they enter - and are automatically excommunicated if they break that oath.

Sixty-two of the cardinals are European, 28 of whom are Italian, while 19 come from South America, 14 from North America, 11 from Africa, 11 from Asia and Pell is the lone vote from Oceania.

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17 dead as bus falls into Bangladesh river

Seventeen pilgrims were killed when the bus they were on plunged into a dry river bed in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

A BUS carrying pilgrims to Bangladesh's beach resort town of Cox's Bazaar has plunged into a dried-up river, killing at least 17 people and injuring another 26, police say.

The bus crashed on to the Matamuhuri's parched river bed on Monday after the driver lost control of the vehicle which then smashed through railings on a bridge.

"So far we have 17 people dead. Sixteen died on the spot and another on the way to the hospital," Cox's Bazaar police chief Azad Miah told AFP, adding that 18 of the 26 people injured had been admitted to hospital.

He said the pilgrims were mostly from Bangladesh's central district of Gazipur and were heading to Cox's Bazaar after attending a festival at Fatikchhari, home to one of the most visited Sufi shrines in Bangladesh.

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Low rates but first home buyers cautious

DEMAND for home loans from first time buyers has sunk to the lowest level in eight and a half years, despite the benefits of lower mortgage rates.

However, lower rates are having a positive effect in other parts of the building industry, by encouraging demand for loans for the construction and purchase of new dwellings.

The proportion of first buyers among those taking up home loans in December was just 14.9 per cent, the smallest since June 2004, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows.

"The decline in first home buyers that continued in December is a concern, given the various incentives across several states to entice them into the market," Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones said in a statement on Monday.

"With consumers still reluctant to commit to large investments, the Reserve Bank should give urgent consideration to a rate cut at its March board meeting."

Overall, mortgage demand fell for a third straight month, declining 1.5 per cent in December to 45,335 loans.

However, loans for construction rose 1.2 per cent and those for the purchase of new homes rose 1.9 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has identified home building as one of the sectors the economy will need to lean on to maintain overall growth, once the mining investment boom peaks toward the end of this year.

But Macquarie Research senior economist Brian Redican said the ABS figures didn't support that expectation.

"More than a year after the RBA commenced its current rate cutting cycle ... there are still few signs that those rate cuts have gained traction," he said in a client note.

The central bank cut the cash rate by 25 basis points in December to three per cent, its lowest level since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. It has made 175 basis points worth of reduction since November 2011.

"The RBA will have to continue cutting rates if it still believes that stronger housing construction can help fill the growth hole left once mining investment stops rising," Mr Redican said.

At this stage, financial markets point to a less than a 50/50 chance of a rate reduction to 2.75 per cent at the central bank's March board meeting.

In its quarterly monetary policy statement on Friday, the RBA said given the subdued outlook for inflation, there was scope to ease interest rates further if necessary, to support demand.

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Millions of Indians bathe in Ganges river

Millions of Hindus are expected to participate in a bathing ritual at India's river Ganges. Source: AAP

TENS of millions of Hindus have gathered to bathe in India's sacred river Ganges on the most auspicious day of the world's largest religious festival.

Ash-smeared naked saints led the ritual bathing before dawn - which is said to cleanse pilgrims of their sins - with millions following them into the swirling river waters at the festival site in Allahabad in northern India.

The population of the city increased from its normal 1.2 million to about 40 million on Sunday morning, with about 20 million packed inside the vast bathing area on the banks of the river, spokesman Ashok Sharma said.

Amid the crush, the thousands of volunteers on duty and police were urging pilgrims to take one short dip and then leave the freezing waters to make space for the flow of humanity behind them.

"Aerial surveys by choppers, flying cameras and our estimates put the figure at around 20 million people taking a holy dip in the rivers," Sharma told AFP.

"Public address systems are asking people to leave the ghats (steps) after bathing to avoid a crush."

The "Maha Kumbh Mela", which began last month and ends in March, takes place every 12 years in Allahabad. Smaller, similar events are held every three years in other locations around India.

The bathing takes place at an area called Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Yamuna and a third mystical waterway called the Saraswati.

Devotees believe entering the mighty rivers cleanse them of sin and free them from the cycle of rebirth.

Assorted dreadlocked holy men, seers and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country have assembled for the spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying range of Indian spiritualism.

Despite the hardships of waking early, plunging into the freezing and heavily polluted water and the crush of the crowds, pilgrims described being spiritually uplifted and amazed by the scale of the event.

Swapna Bhatia, an interior designer from New Delhi, called it "simply an out of the world experience".

"I feel so light now," Bhatia said.

More than 7000 policemen were deployed to oversee the Sunday bathing ritual, along with 30,000 volunteers, police said.

"The security is in full swing and our first concern as of now is the smooth exit of people after bathing as the number of devotees at Kumbh on this day has surpassed our expectations," police officer Ganganath Tripathi, who is overseeing security, told AFP.

The festival has its origins in Hindu mythology, which describes how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival - Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

The "Mother Ganges" is worshipped as a god and is seen as the giver and taker of life.

"One dip in the river has the power to change life forever," said 65-year-old Malti Devi from London, who was taking part in the festivities for the first time.

Most devotees dunk their heads under the water, some drink it and others bottle it and take it home as gifts.

Management of the festival requires a monumental effort - and a budget of 16 trillion rupees ($A290 million).

Thousands of buses and special trains were ferrying people to Allahabad where the heavily polluted Yamuna river flows into the Ganges.

Despite its important role in Hinduism, the Ganges is tainted by industry and the settlements along its banks, which quickly turn the clear waters from the Himalayas into a murky, frothy brown downstream.

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More horse meat cases possible: UK govt

MORE cases of contaminated meat could be revealed within days, the British government has warned, raising fears that an international criminal conspiracy is behind the horse meat scandal.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson says the next set of results on all retailers' and manufacturers' processed beef products, due on Friday, may reveal more traces of horse meat.

"There may well be more bad results coming through, that's the point of doing this random analysis," Mr Paterson said.

Findus, one of the food companies at the centre of the horse meat scandal says it's considering taking legal action against its suppliers.

The frozen foods company, which has taken its beef lasagne off supermarket shelves after some were found to contain 100 per cent horse meat, says it's looking into legal action because an internal investigation "strongly suggests" the contamination "was not accidental".

The company said in a statement: "Findus is taking legal advice about the grounds for pursuing a case against its suppliers, regarding what they believe is their suppliers' failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity."

Mr Paterson spoke after attending an emergency meeting with the chiefs of leading supermarkets, trade bodies and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to discuss the scandal which has seen supermarket chains including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland withdraw some products.

He said retailers have agreed to improve their food testing because they hold the "ultimate responsibility" for making sure their products do not contain horse meat.

The retailers had also agreed that consumers should be compensated if they have bought withdrawn products with no questions asked, he said.

Mr Paterson added: "It's a question of either gross incompetence, but...I'm more concerned there's actually an international criminal conspiracy here, and we've really got to get to the bottom of it.

"If there's a criminal act we will work with the authorities wherever they are to ensure the appropriate measures are taken.

"This is a conspiracy against the public. Selling a product as beef, and including a lot of horse in it is fraud."

Questioned about whether he would be prepared to eat meat bought from a supermarket, he said: "I would be very happy to eat any products on sale in British supermarkets this morning but I would not recommend anyone to eat a product which has been withdrawn."

Prime Minister David Cameron described the matter as "shocking" and "completely unacceptable", while Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was "appalling".

He added: "I think people in the country will be quite shocked that horse meat has been in the food that they have been innocently buying.

"The government has got to get a grip on this situation."

The Trading Standards Institute has said the discovery of such high levels of horse meat suggests "deliberate fraudulent activity".

Food safety experts have said there is no risk to public health.

Findus said it carried out a full product recall on Monday, two days before DNA tests found that some of its lasagnes contained up to 100 per cent horse meat.

The firm, which has its headquarters in London, tested 18 of its beef lasagne products, made by French food supplier Comigel, and found that 11 contained in the range of 60 to 100 per cent horse meat.

Tesco and Aldi have also withdrawn a range of ready meals produced by Comigel over fears that they contained contaminated meat.

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