the violence which erupted in rosarno is extremely worrying since it reveals
serious and deep rooted problems of racism against those migrant workers the
un special rapporteur on the rights of migrants jorge bustamante and the
special rapporteur on racism githu muigai said in joint statement
it is more than ever urgent for the italian authorities to strengthen their
anti racism activities provide human rights education as well as swiftly
denounce hate speech and prosecute the racist and violent actions perpetrated by
some individuals they added
two days of unrest prompted more than africans to flee the calabrian town
after clashes left people injured of them migrants police officers
and locals
violence be it perpetrated by italians or by migrant workers must be
addressed in the most vigorous manner through the rule of law and human rights
should always be protected regardless of immigration status the un experts
said
rosarno police officer referring to the possible involvement of the region
ndrangheta organised crime network said that several investigations were under
way
at least people marched monday in rosarno to reject the label racist and
protest at being abandoned by the state as well as the conditions in which the
migrants are forced to live an organiser told the ansa news agency
the un human rights experts said italy must find ways of improving the
conditions for the migrants and to implement an immigration policy in full
conformity with international human rights standards
the italian authorities must show their continuous and firm commitment to
creating safe and peaceful environment for all they added welcoming initial
steps taken to investigate the incidents
turkey hits back at israel in fresh row over tv show
ankara jan afp
turkey summoned the israeli ambassador tuesday to protest israel treatment of
its envoy in row over turkish television show and vehemently rejected
charges that anti jewish sentiment was on the rise in the country
it was the latest episode in tensions that have plagued ties between the two
regional allies since israel war on hamas militants in the gaza strip last
year prompted an unprecedented barrage of criticism from the islamist rooted
government in ankara
we demanded an explanation and conveyed our annoyance diplomat told afp on
condition of anonymity after ambassador gabby levy met with the turkish foreign
ministry undersecretary
on monday israel deputy foreign minister danny ayalon made the turkish
ambassador sit on low couch while he sat on high chair as he delivered
reprimand over turkish television series
ayalon also made ambassador oguz celikkol wait in the corridor and had the
turkish flag and refreshments removed from table
the important thing is that people see that he sitting low down and we re
high and that there is one flag he told reporters
israel foreign ministry said the series valley of the wolves showed israel
and jews as baby snatchers and war criminals and threatened jewish lives in
turkey and bilateral relations
it also rebuffed prime minister recep tayyip erdogan criticism of weekend
air raid on gaza saying that turkey is in no position to preach morality to
israel
in an equally harsh response the turkish foreign ministry rejected the charges
as excessive statements made on domestic political concerns which we
vehemently condemn
suggestions that anti semitism is being fanned in turkey are completely
baseless the statement said stressing that erdogan criticism is directed
exclusively at israel unacceptable practices and policies in gaza
the ministry recalled that jews fleeing the spanish inquisition in the th
century took refuge in the ottoman empire and said that the long history of co
habitation between turks and jews is history of respect and tolerance
turkey policy on the middle east conflict aims to highlight dialogue
engagement and peaceful means instead of the use of disproportionate force and
isolation practices it said
despite the tensions israeli defence minister ehud barak is scheduled to visit
turkey on sunday for talks with senior officials
israel haaretz newspaper said tuesday barak was keen to mend ties with turkey
but that ultra nationalist foreign minister avigdor lieberman sought to torpedo
those attempts
turkey has been israel main regional ally since when the two signed
military cooperation accord
but ankara has said relations would continue to suffer unless israel ended the
humanitarian tragedy in gaza and revives peace talks with the palestinians
in memorable outburst erdogan stormed out of debate at the world economic
forum last year accusing israel of barbarian acts and telling its president
shimon peres sitting next to him that you know well how to kill people
rallying desert prince seeks to be rally king
santiago jan afp
nasser al attiyah may be prince in qatar but here he wants to be king of the
dakar rally and prove his father wrong in trying to point him in the direction
of an alternative career
the year old son of the qatari energy minister has been fascinated by cars
since an early age getting behind the wheel of suzuki three cylinder car aged
just
at home there were no police did what wanted to do adored fast things
there was no problem purred al attiyah whose permanent smile has earnt him
widespread popularity on the tough rally circuit
however his father wished for his career to take different tack and pursue
his studies in search of becoming lawyer or doctor which was not the desire
of his rebellious son
never thought about becoming doctor or lawyer he admitted bashfully
wanted to become sportsman and do something for my country
his father did relent when he reached and wanted to compete in the qatar
rally
my father said to me okay you can do it only if it is once or twice and
after that you will see
however on his debut he showed his potential by finishing second and then he
went on to win in the next five years before turning his hand towards his other
sporting love shooting
al attiyah competed at the olympics in atlanta where he was qatar sole
athlete and then appeared in the next three editions finishing an agonising
fourth in the skeet discipline in the games in athens
shooting and rally driving complement each other commented al attiyah
shooting demands lot of attention and concentration which serves me well in
rallying
however the qatari automobile federation presuaded him to end his hiatus in
and he duly showed he was not rusty by taking the middle east title from
and becoming an iconic figure in his country
there is book about me in the qatari schools he said
sometimes the pupils call me up and ask me what races have won for their
homework he said flashing another of his trademark smiles
however al attiyah has since displayed that he is not just master of his home
turf as he has shown on the dakar regularly with th placed finish in his
first appearance in and best placing of sixth in
he looked to be on course for remarkable victory last year but was to be
disqualified on the sixth stage for missing number of control points
however now he stands on the verge of putting that well behind him whether he
wins or stays in second place behind his volkswagen team mate and idol spain
two time world rally champion carlos sainz
however al attiyah has not come all his way both physically and metaphorically
since sititng behind the wheel of the suzuki aged to let hero worship get in
the way of achieving his dream or at least half of it as he also wants to take
gold in the shooting at the olympics
am here to win he said
drone missile strikes kill militants in afghanistan nato
kabul jan afp
missiles fired from drone aircraft have killed militants in southern
afghanistan the nato led force said tuesday in rare attack in afghanistan
using the controversial unmanned planes
drone was launched after troops observed large numbers of insurgents preparing
strike in the southern province of helmand naw zad district on monday
nato international security assistance force said in statement
an unmanned aerial vehicle launched one hellfire missile killing
insurgents the force said
three other insurgents who took up previously used firing positions were also
killed in separate drone strike monday in the nad ali district of helmand the
heartland of the taliban led insurgency the statement added
coalition forces rarely use drones in their operations against the taliban and
other insurgents battling the government in afghanistan
bombings by unmanned aircraft are however common in neighbouring pakistan and
are key plank of us strategy to target militants who hide out in the lawless
northwest border region then cross into afghanistan to stage attacks
six us strikes have hit the district of north waziristan already this year
the drone programme is deeply controversial in pakistan and fuels anti american
sentiment in the muslim nation but us officials say they are necessary to
protect the foreign troops in neighbouring afghanistan
there are more than international forces based in afghanistan fighting
an increasingly deadly insurgency which is aimed at toppling the us backed
government of president hamid karzai
british minister niece faces jail for sex murder
versailles france jan afp
prosecutors called for british government minister niece to be jailed for
years for drunkenly stabbing to death frenchman she picked up in pub as the
verdict loomed on tuesday
jessica davies has admitted she plunged the knife into the naked body of
year old olivier mugnier in november but said she had no idea why she did
it
she sat stony faced as prosecutor myriam quemener demanded year jail term
for davies followed by seven years probation and monitoring
am convinced there was homicidal intent quemener told the court in her
closing argument
she attacked davies for her apparent lack of emotion during the trial and
accused her of selective memory she said davies had benefitted from golden
youth of privilege but had chosen to drift through life drinking and taking
drugs
looking pale and drawn dressed in jeans and black top davies earlier told
the court in versailles she had blacked out and had no recollection of the
killing except the sensation of the knife going in
do not even dare ask forgiveness from olivier family she said tuesday
the second and last day of her trial what did terrifies me can
guarantee that will never again touch drop of alcohol
davies who has french mother and british father is the niece of britain
multi millionaire junior defence minister quentin davies
she said she was close to her uncle and had spent christmas holidays in his
home and admired him for his success his convictions and his humanism
she told the court monday that she remembered telling the police who arrived at
the murder scene that was monster
don remember killing olivier but take responsibility for killing him
she said in court
she said she no longer remembered making statement the day of the murder in
her flat in saint germain en laye chic paris suburb in which she said
just wanted to cut him little but the knife went in by itself
the blood stained kitchen knife with six inch blade that killed mugnier was
passed round for inspection by the three judges and the five women and four men
of the jury
the court on monday heard her parents speak of their dysfunctional family and
her troubled adolescence she started drinking heavily as teenager and later
developed cocaine habit and had attempted suicide months before the killing
davies said she had begun the weekend that mugnier died by sleeping with an ex
boyfriend on the friday night
she spent most of the saturday drinking in series of bars with friends before
going alone to sullivan irish pub near her home where she met and began
flirting with mugnier
they had several drinks and when the bar closed decided to go to davies place
opened bottle of wine he rolled joint we started undressing making
love she told the court
he couldn have proper erection but that was understandable given how
much we drunk we stopped making love he took off the condom said davies
then she said the next thing she knew she saw him lying bleeding from the neck
on the bed and she was trying to stem the blood with one hand and with the
other was calling emergency services
they arrived around am on the sunday morning but within an hour mugnier had
succumbed to the two knife wounds one of which proved fatal after it went right
through his body and touched his spine
davies uncle hit the headlines in when he defected from britain
opposition conservatives to the ruling labour party just before gordon brown
was named prime minister
he has since been appointed brown junior defence minister
new eu justice appointee cool on airport scanners
brussels jan afp
the nominee to be the european union top justice official expressed doubt
tuesday that body scanners can solve airport security problems exposed by the
failed christmas attempt to bomb an airliner
there is nothing which is percent secure and scanners are not panacea
either viviane reding told members of the european parliament during
confirmation hearing to see whether she is fit to be justice commissioner
we have to look at less intrusive and more privacy friendly ways to detect
explosives said reding from luxembourg and who is currently the eu
commissioner in charge of telecoms
we have to look at the efficiency of all our data collection and data sharing
systems she said during the three hour question and answer session in
brussels
several european countries including britain and the netherlands are to
install the scanners after nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was charged with
trying to down us bound passenger jet from amsterdam on christmas day
but other eu nations are cool on the idea and the commission has said it wants
to see health and efficiency studies on the machines before looking at rules to
introduce them across the bloc despite us pressure to do so
currently eu members are at liberty to use the devices which can see through
clothing
reding said that several questions about scanners need to be addressed
do those scanners work efficiently do they pose health risks do they have
specific problems for privacy for data protection are the measures we
utilise in order to protect society proportionate to the goals we want to
achieve
our need for security cannot justify invasion of privacy our citizens are not
just objects but they are human beings she went on we should never be
driven by fear but by values on which the union is founded
she said passengers must only use them on voluntary basis and that the images
recorded must immediately be destroyed while the health consequences of the
devices should be strictly controlled
the issue is to be discussed at informal eu justice talks in toledo spain on
january
british minister niece faces jail for sex murder
versailles france jan afp
prosecutors called for british government minister niece to be jailed for
years for drunkenly stabbing to death frenchman she picked up in pub as the
verdict loomed on tuesday
jessica davies has admitted she plunged the knife into the naked body of
year old olivier mugnier in november but said she had no idea why she did
it
she sat stony faced as prosecutor myriam quemener demanded year jail term
for davies followed by seven years probation and monitoring
am convinced there was homicidal intent quemener told the court in her
closing argument
she attacked davies for her apparent lack of emotion during the trial and
accused her of selective memory she said davies had benefitted from golden
youth of privilege but had chosen to drift through life drinking and taking
drugs
looking pale and drawn dressed in jeans and black top davies earlier told
the court in versailles she had blacked out and had no recollection of the
killing except the sensation of the knife going in
do not even dare ask forgiveness from olivier family she said tuesday
the second and last day of her trial what did terrifies me can
guarantee that will never again touch drop of alcohol
davies who has french mother and british father is the niece of britain
multi millionaire junior defence minister quentin davies
she said she was close to her uncle and had spent christmas holidays in his
home and admired him for his success his convictions and his humanism
she told the court monday that she remembered telling the police who arrived at
the murder scene that was monster
don remember killing olivier but take responsibility for killing him
she said in court
she said she no longer remembered making statement the day of the murder in
her flat in saint germain en laye chic paris suburb in which she said
just wanted to cut him little but the knife went in by itself
the blood stained kitchen knife with six inch blade that killed mugnier was
passed round for inspection by the three judges and the five women and four men
of the jury
the court on monday heard her parents speak of their dysfunctional family and
her troubled adolescence she started drinking heavily as teenager and later
developed cocaine habit and had attempted suicide months before the killing
davies said she had begun the weekend that mugnier died by sleeping with an ex
boyfriend on the friday night
she spent most of the saturday drinking in series of bars with friends before
going alone to sullivan irish pub near her home where she met and began
flirting with mugnier
they had several drinks and when the bar closed decided to go to davies place
opened bottle of wine he rolled joint we started undressing making
love she told the court
he couldn have proper erection but that was understandable given how
much we drunk we stopped making love he took off the condom said davies
then she said the next thing she knew she saw him lying bleeding from the neck
on the bed and she was trying to stem the blood with one hand and with the
other was calling emergency services
they arrived around am on the sunday morning but within an hour mugnier had
succumbed to the two knife wounds one of which proved fatal after it went right
through his body and touched his spine
davies uncle hit the headlines in when he defected from britain
opposition conservatives to the ruling labour party just before gordon brown
was named prime minister
he has since been appointed brown junior defence minister
airbus warns failure threatens company
seville spain jan afp
european aircraft maker airbus pressed governments on tuesday for more money to
save the troubled military transport project warning that the company
viability depended on it
airbus chief executive tom enders warned that the company might be forced to
scrap the long delayed programme if its european backers fail to put up more
cash to cover cost overruns by the end of the month
now it high time for decision enders told reporters in seville spain
adding that the viability of airbus as whole was at stake
airbus has employees with some working on the an aircraft
that can carry troops armoured vehicles and helicopters
we should not accept the situation and continue this stupidity that could
seriously jeopardise airbus and its commercial competitiveness enders said
developing the high tech transport planes has proved much more costly and
time consuming than anticipated when the project was agreed in by nato
members germany spain france britain turkey belgium and luxembourg
total of aircraft have been ordered for about billion euros billion
dollars but the project partners are being asked to plough in more to cover
unexpected costs and some have voiced unease about the rising price
airbus and its parent group the european aeronautic defence and space company
eads have been in discussions over cost overruns for several months with the
seven partner countries
the negotiations are to be wrapped up at the end of this month
deliveries are at least three years behind schedule and the project could end up
costing up to billion euros more than expected
eads has put aside billion euros in provisions and is spending million
euros per month on the programme enders said
ring the alarm bell he said
turkey said last week it did not want to provide more money
france has insisted that the programme must go ahead while germany looks
reluctant to plough more money into the project germany and france are the
project biggest customers with and orders respectively
britain defence ministry said on tuesday that it remains committed to the
project but not at any cost
we regard the ongoing negotiations as the best means by which to determine
more deliverable programme ministry spokesman told afp
according to report in the financial times deutschland last week enders told
group of airbus directors he no longer believed in pursuing the programme
and had begun to prepare for it to be terminated
enders told bbc world business report on monday that the type of contracts the
company agreed in were big mistake
we should not again take decision which would lead us to further problems in
the years to come he said
eads chief executive louis gallois said the programme cannot go on without
knowing whether it will get the necessary funds
our duty is to protect the interest the capacity and sustainability of
airbus he told reporters in seville
gallois also expressed disappointment that no meeting was scheduled with the
company while the client governments are scheduled to meet in london on
thursday
regret there is no meeting scheduled with us he said
despite its project problems airbus said it had outperformed us rival
boeing in with plane deliveries and orders although net orders
totalled owing to cancellations caused by the global credit crunch
airbus is forecasting between and orders and between and
deliveries in company officials said
but turnover dropped last year and airbus only delivered of its super jumbo
compared to in officials said
airbus turnover reached billion euros in down from billion
euros in according to preliminary figures
eads shares were down percent at euros in afternoon trade in paris
urgent fed posts profit of billion dollars
washington jan afp
the us federal reserve said tuesday it earned record profit in of
billion dollars enabling transfer to the us treasury of billion dollars
china shuts down blocks porn websites state media
beijing jan afp
china shut down or blocked more than pornographic websites last year as
part of campaign to crack down on sexual content online state media reported
tuesday
more than million items of lewd content have been deleted from the
internet in said mao xiaomao vice director of the banned publications
bureau of the general administration of press and publication gapp according
to xinhua
chinese courts tried porn related criminal cases involving total of
people in the first ten months of last year the news agency said citing
supreme people court spokesman
beijing has vowed tougher online policing in as key element of state
security
xinhua report on december said china arrested more than people in
crackdown on internet pornography in
it maintains strict censorship of the internet to curb what the government deems
to be unhealthy content including porn and violence an effort that has become
known as the great firewall of china
college student who said his studies suffered after he discovered internet
porn was awarded yuan dollars as part of government scheme to
reward internet users for reporting porn websites xinhua reported earlier this
month
alert
federal reserve announces profit of billion dollars
yachting alinghi deploys hydroplanes in america cup battle
madrid jan afp
with unpredictable mid winter weather likely to be key factor in next month
planned america cup in spain swiss defender alinghi has employed novel
and eye catching way of monitoring the conditions
the team this week began using small hydroplanes to monitor wind speeds
something it hopes will give it technological advantage over bitter us rivals
oracle in their scheduled showdown to decide the rd edition of yachting most
prestigious event
the idea is that we can measure the wind speed at any height we like said
alinghi chief weather man jon bilger
with boat we re stuck at six metres feet but the planes can go to the
height of the mast which is the equivalent of storey building
the two australian built aircraft which resemble jet skis with small wings
attached could be crucial if the next america cup goes ahead on schedule in
the spanish port of valencia from february
doubts have been raised about staging the event in the mediterranean in mid
winter when rough winds and heavy seas could provide extreme conditions for the
crews of the two massive and fast yachts
oracle trimaran with its metre fixed wing sail and alinghi giant
catamaran both arrived in valencia this month to begin training
bilger explained that the last america cup won by alinghi in valencia in
july was staged in race area of nine square miles square
kilometres
we have now an area of square miles to cover so we need some different
equipment to do that effectively he was quoted as saying by alinghi
he said helicopters which have been used in the past are problematic as they
are subject to down draft
because these boats are going so fast and because they are so large the
sailors won be going up the mast unless absolutely necessary not to spot
wind said bilger
because they are going so fast and they tack relatively slow compared to how
fast they go deciding which side of the course is going to be done before the
start of the race on the information we give them so it will be quite critical
for them to go the right way
if the two teams go different ways they are going to be long way apart in
short space of time
continued legal wrangling between the two teams continues to threaten the event
oracle last month launched legal challenge that charged alinghi boat fails
to meet the competition nationality rules
the two sides were meeting in singapore on tuesday to discuss the issue along
with the head of the international jury australia david tillett and
representative of the international sailing federation
alinghi and oracle have been arguing over the rules of the america cup in
court since
the new york supreme court ruled in april that the cup should be settled by
one on one multihull duel between the two sides next february instead of the
traditional fully fledged regatta with several teams
nazi guard lawyer calls for trial suspension
munich jan afp
the lawyer of alleged nazi death camp guard john demjanjuk on tuesday called for
his landmark trial in germany to be suspended
ulrich busch defence lawyer for the year old ukrainian born demjanjuk told
the court that he had not had access to documents seen by the prosecution
according to court spokeswoman
busch has made several previous attempts to have the trial halted arguing on
the first day of the case that german law was not competent to try his client
demjanjuk said by his family to be gravely ill arrived in court as before in
wheelchair and later appeared on stretcher he claims that he was victim
of the nazi regime rather than collaborator
the court also heard evidence from historian dieter pohl on the horrors of the
sobibor death camp and the role of the so called trawniki non german nazi
workers demjanjuk says he fell into this group
demjanjuk is accused of being an accessory to the murder of jews during
his alleged time as guard in sobibor in nazi occupied poland
he denies the charges but has declined to address the court
the trial likely to be the last major case dealing with the war crimes during
the nazi regime is due to last until at least may
tuesday hearing was the first session since the court broke for christmas on
december
austrian christians to protest egyptian shooting
vienna jan afp
coptic christians in vienna called tuesday demonstration for later this month
in solidarity with six members of their faith who were killed in shooting in
egypt on january
the coptic community of vienna called the demonstration for january to
protest hatred religious oppression discrimination and persecution of
dissidents in egypt the archdiocese of vienna said in statement
egypt coptic christians form the biggest christian minority in an islamic
country but were increasingly treated as second class citizens and subject to
ever more open and violent persecution the statement said
attackers in car raked crowd of shoppers in the south egyptian town of nagaa
hammadi as copts were preparing for christmas which they celebrate on january
along with orthodox communities across the world
three men have been arrested and charged with premeditated murder over the
shooting
afp middle east news summary
nicosia jan afp
top middle east stories on tuesday
iran unrest nuclear
tehran iranian nuclear scientist massoud ali mohammadi was murdered in rare
bomb attack in tehran that the foreign ministry blamed on mercenaries in the
pay of archfoes the united states and israel
iran politics bahai trial
tehran iran put on trial seven members of the banned bahai religion on charges
of spying for foreigners and cooperating with israel the isna news agency
reported
yemen germany britain kidnap
sanaa yemen has opened talks for the release of five german hostages and
briton who have been located in saada scene of clashes with shiite rebels
foreign minister abu bakr al qurbi said
attacks yemen qaeda politics
sanaa yemen foreign minister renewed an offer to talk to al qaeda loyalists
in osama bin laden ancestral homeland as well as shiite rebels in the north
provided they lay down their arms
iraq unrest security
baghdad iraqi security forces sealed off baghdad after tip off that
