the authenticity of the brief audio statement could not immediately be verified
but al jazeera said the voice was that of bin laden
bin laden who has million dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding
for the past eight years last made public statement four months ago when he
was quoted on september by site intelligence group monitoring service as
urging european countries to pull their forces out of afghanistan
in similar audio message released in march bin laden accused some arab
leaders of being complicit with israel and the west against muslims and urged
holy war to liberate the palestinian territories
al qaeda franchise in yemen al qaeda in the arabian peninsula had claimed
responsibility for the plane attack while washington accused the group of
training abdulmutallab who had spent some time in yemen
the us administration is putting pressure on yemen to clamp down on al qaeda
militants in the impoverished country and an international meeting to discuss
combating militancy in yemen will be held on january in london
the yemeni government has intensified its campaign against al qaeda whom it
insists it can battle on its own without any foreign military intervention
us grand jury has indicted year old abdulmutallab on six counts arising
from the attempt to blow up the jet packed packed with passengers and
crew on flight from amsterdam to detroit
michigan district court documents accused him of carrying concealed bomb of
high explosives inside his clothing on northwest airlines flight
us intelligence chiefs last wednesday admitted that they missed slew of
warning signs that should have prevented the attempted attack
national intelligence director dennis blair and michael leiter head of the
national counter terrorism center made the joint admission during grilling
from the senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs
conceding that the system collectively failed the two officials said the
abdulmutallab should not have stepped on that plane
intelligence officials military analysts and other experts have long believed
bin laden is holed up along the remote mountainous border between pakistan and
afghanistan
wd ak bpz
alert
three us soldiers die in afghanistan violence on sunday nato
cricket bangladesh india second test scoreboard
dhaka jan afp
scoreboard after bangladesh first innings against india on the opening day of
the second test here on sunday
bangladesh st innings
tamim iqbal zaheer
imrul kayes dhoni sharma
junaid siddique dhoni zaheer
mohammad ashraful st dhoni ojha
raqibul hasan dravid sharma
shakib al hasan dhoni zaheer
mushfiqur rahim lbw sharma
mohammad mahmudullah not out
shahadat hossain st dhoni ojha
shafiul islam dravid sharma
rubel hossain harbhajan
extras lb
total for all out overs
fall of wickets kayes iqbal siddique raqibul
ashraful rahim shakib shahadat shafiul
rubel
bowling zaheer sharma ojha harbhajan
yuvraj
toss bangladesh
umpires billy bowden nzl and marais erasmus rsa
tv umpire sharfuddoula shahid ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
police arrest cambodians us man in paedophile ring
phnom penh jan afp
police in cambodia have arrested two locals and us man after smashing seven
year paedophile ring offering underage virgin girls to tourists for
dollars night they said sunday
taxi driver mey sovann and his female accomplice sek vy were arrested
friday for providing underage girls for sexual services said bith kimhong head
of cambodia anti human trafficking unit
six month investigation aided by the french police international technical
co operation delegation sctip found that since mey sovann had
advertised underage virgin girls on the internet for dollars night
he would pick up customers from phnom penh airport and show them pictures
before taking them to meet the girls at guesthouse owned by sek vy according
to an officer from sctip cambodia office who asked not to be named
mey sovann was arrested by undercover police at the airport in possession of the
underage girls photographs while sek vy was arrested at her guesthouse in
kandal province about kilometres south of phnom penh
american carl craig thomas was also arrested on saturday in the capital for
sexually abusing three underage girls provided by the cambodian pair and for
child pornography pictures he took at the guesthouse bith kimhong said
we have arrested the man and the woman who provided underage girls during the
investigation we found they were providing three underage girls to the us man
too bith kimhong told afp
now we are investigating the case further to see if they have wider network
he added
cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as haven for paedophiles
putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to
face trial in their home countries since
cricket bangladesh all out for in second india test
dhaka jan afp
bangladesh were bowled out for in their first innings after tea on the
opening day of the second and final test against india on sunday
football egypt skipper hassan says he is fit for cameroon clash
benguela angola jan afp
egypt skipper ahmed hassan has said he will feature in an africa cup of nations
quarter final against cameroon here on monday despite suffering groin strain
in training
preferred to sit out training today to have some rest and be ready for
the last training before the game hassan told reporters late on saturday
the al ahly midfielder received groin strain during training on friday at
the municipal stadium on the outskirts of benguela and sat out the rest of the
workout
will be fit to play against cameroon insisted hassan who will become
egypt most capped player with caps when he steps out against cameroon on
monday
on the back of an impressive first round showing egypt are favourites to
qualify for the semi finals at the expense of the indomitable lions but the
year old hassan said they expect very tough game
our task is not easy even with the fact that cameroon recorded only four
points in the first round he said
we should respect cameroon who have great history and great players
the pharaohs of egypt are on course for record seventh nations cup title
in angola with hassan already key to three of these triumphs
sam lp
korea lashes out at seoul preemptive strike plan
seoul jan afp
north korea on sunday lashed out at south korea plan to launch preemptive
strike to thwart any nuclear attack from pyongyang as an open declaration of
war state media said
the north general staff of the korean people army warned the south korean
defence chief recent remarks on preemptive strike had created grave
situation which could lead to war at any moment
the north armed forces will take prompt and decisive military actions against
any attempt of the south korean puppet authorities and blow up the major
targets including the commanding centre it said according to the korean
central news agency
the agency later carried separate statement by the committee for the peaceful
reunification of korea in protest at seoul alleged contingency plan for
possible unrest in pyongyang as well
this itself is declaration of war against north korea said the state
committee which handles cross border relations with the south
the north warning came days after the south defence minister kim tae young
reiterated that seoul would launch preemptive strike to frustrate any nuclear
attacks by the communist regime
we would have to strike right away if we detected clear intention to attack
south korea with nuclear weapons kim told seoul forum on wednesday
it would be too late and the damage would be too big if in the case of north
korean nuclear attack we had to cope with the attack
the north military statement said sunday that its armed forces regard kim
remarks as state policy and an open declaration of war of seoul
kim made similar remarks in sparking the north angry protest and
temporary expulsion of south korean officials from seoul funded industrial
park just north of the heavily fortified border
international efforts to bring pyongyang back to six party nuclear disarmament
talks have so far made little headway
north korea abandoned the talks last april month before defiantly conducting
second atomic bomb test following its first in which soon led to united
nations sanctions on the communist state
north korea has said it will never return to talks with the united states
china south korea russia and japan unless the sanctions are lifted it also
demands early discussions on peace pact to end the war
but the united states and south korea have insisted that the north should first
come back to the talks and show it is serious about scrapping its atomic
programmes
us assistant secretary of state kurt campbell will visit japan and south korea
early next month to discuss regional security issues including ways to revive
the six party talks last held in december
seoul foreign minister yu myung hwan said friday he hopes the talks can resume
before or after the lunar new year holidays from february but
reaffirmed that sanctions will remain in force until progress is made
yang moo jin professor of seoul university of north korean studies told
afp sunday pyongyang is employing two track approach to seoul
the north is employing two track approach pressuring the south with
vitriolic rhetoric on the political front while trying to cash in on cooperation
on the economic front yang said
the north has proposed holding one day military talks on easing restrictions on
travel in and out of the seoul funded estate just north of the border and two
day economic talks on reviving tours by south koreans to the mount kumgang
resort in the north from tuesday
seoul has yet to respond to the offers both sides are due to resume separate
non military talks on the estate on february
pope gunman wants to write new bible in croatia report
zagreb jan afp
the turkish man who attempted to kill pope john paul ii in has said he
wants political asylum in staunchly catholic croatia where he plans to write
new bible local daily reported on sunday
if croatia gives me political asylum would be glad to come and live in
croatia mehmet ali agca said in message delivered through his lawyers to the
influential vecernji list daily
croatia is catholic country and am catholic
am preparing to write new bible and correct mistakes and would like to do
that in catholic croatia since italy and spain refused to grant me asylum the
daily quoted the year old as saying
almost percent of croatia population of million are roman catholics
croatian officials were not immediately available to comment on the report
agca was released from turkish prison earlier this month after serving nearly
three decades behind bars in rambling letters from prison he had fed
suggestions he is mentally disturbed
agca recently said in written statement through his lawyers that he would
prove he is the messiah through vatican documents
he was year old militant of the notorious far right grey wolves movement
on the run from turkish justice when he surfaced in saint peter square on may
and fired on the pope seriously wounding him
the motive for the attack which landed agca in an italian prison remains
mystery
extradited to turkey in after italy pardoned him agca was convicted of the
murder of prominent journalist abdi ipekci two armed robberies and escaping
from prison crimes all dating back to the
his lawyers have said that agca has received several offers from abroad and at
home for books films and documentaries
tennis del potro knocked out of australian open
melbourne jan afp
us open champion juan martin del potro was dumped out of the australian open
after losing titanic five setter to croatian th seed marin cilic in the
fourth round on sunday
the argentine fourth seed battled for four hours minutes before going down
on hisense arena
cilic will play in his first australian quarter final on tuesday against either
american seventh seed andy roddick or former finalist fernando gonzalez of
chile
it was sweet revenge for cilic who lost to del potro at the same stage in last
year australian open and in the quarter finals at the us open
the victory stretched cilic winning streak to this season after
successfully defending his title at chennai on the way to australia
del potro was bidding to match his best result at the australian open when he
reached the quarter finals last year before going down in straight set to roger
federer
cilic broke del potro service four times in the marathon match in the th
game of the second set the th and th games in the third set and in the
fourth game of the final set
the croat hit winners and made unforced errors as the match ebbed and flow
and edged out del potro with aces to
it ended draining tournament for the argentine who broke through for his
maiden grand slam title after beating federer at last year us open
he spent almost hours on court and played total of sets in his four
matches at the year opening grand slam
ex judicial official to be tried in china mafia case report
beijing jan afp
the top official ensnared in mafia crackdown in southwest china will go on
trial in february state press reported sunday the latest in series of
sensational mob trials that have gripped the nation
wen qiang former top judicial official in chongqing municipality will be
tried on february as the city of over million seeks to wrap up scores of
cases linking the government to organised crime the china news service said
wen who also served for years as top chongqing police official stands
accused of protecting an intricate web of businessmen officials and mobsters in
case involving sordid tales of sex gambling and graft in the city
besides being charged with accepting bribes and owning huge amounts of money and
assets he could not explain wen has also been charged with rape people
daily reported last week
other defendants to be tried with wen include his wife and at least three top
former chongqing policemen the report said
since the mafia crackdown in chongqing began last june charges have been
brought against people in cases including government officials the
report said over have been detained in the crackdown
according to earlier reports wen shielded businesses in numerous sectors such
as real estate transportation gambling and prostitution as well as an illegal
loan racket worth billion yuan billion dollars
once defiant wen who amassed assets valued at over million yuan by
allegedly taking kickbacks from crime bosses had confessed to his crimes and
expressed remorse since his arrest the yangzi evening news reported last year
he has also confessed to affairs with his female underlings as well as trysts
with chinese entertainment starlets some of whom he allegedly raped the paper
added
the confession of his infidelities sparked his angry wife to lead police to
hidden cache of million yuan buried in remote rural fish pond numerous
press reports said
wen sister in law xie caiping was sentenced to years in prison last year
for running up to gambling dens in chongqing hotels and paying off police to
turn blind eye to her criminal activities that included illegal drug use
afghanistan postpones parliamentary elections official
kabul jan afp
afghanistan postponed parliamentary polls for four months sunday days ahead of
crunch international talks on the war torn nation in london saying it was not
safe to go ahead amid spiralling taliban insurgency
the announcement five months after the presidential election descended into
ballot stuffing farce will deepen global concern that graft and logistical
problems are undermining democracy in one of the world poorest and most
corrupt nations
the ballot originally planned for may will be delayed until september
senior election commissioner fazil ahmad manawi told reporters in kabul
the independent election commission made the decision because of lack of
budget security and uncertainty and logistical challenges the official said
afghanistan has relied on foreign funding for elections since when us
led invasion overthrew the taliban regime and moves towards democracy began
the commission had previously said it was short of around million dollars to
hold the ballot for the wolosi jirga afghanistan lower house of parliament
but the united nations has said it would need to see evidence of significant
reform including replacing senior iec officials before agreeing to release
money to stage the election
president hamid karzai was sworn into office for second five year term in
november following controversial election steeped in fraud mostly in his
favour and marred by low voter turnout and taliban violence
most cases of fraud during the august presidential elections were reported in
areas rife with taliban and other islamist militants battling the government
and where afghan security forces had little or no control
militants launched dozens of attacks killing and maiming dozens in an attempt
to disrupt ballot they called an american process
karzai administration had earlier called for the ballot to be held on time
pledging to fund the process if the international community failed to provide
the budget
his office was not immediately available for comment
manawi said low ranking workers had been dismissed from the commission or moved
to different jobs but added that if you mean the leadership and commissioners
this the responsibility of the president
the president has to decide he added
afghanistan held its first direct parliamentary election in september
under the constitution the next poll was due to be held no later than days
before the end of the legislative cycle which ends on june
manawi did not comment on what will happen to the current parliament after this
date saying the us backed karzai government was responsible for the decision
fighting corruption is one of the key topics due to be discussed at key
international conference on afghanistan in london on january along with the
security situation good governance and reconciliation with taliban fighters
karzai has promised to eradicate corruption which infects every aspect of
afghan public life as condition laid down by his western backers whose
soldiers are fighting the taliban to keep him in power
but the afghan government has yet to put together comprehensive anti
corruption plan diplomats and government official said last week
the london conference was called by british prime minister gordon brown after
karzai had already announced plans to hold an anti corruption conference in
kabul early this year
more than international troops are fighting the taliban under us and
nato command and losing troops almost daily as the war escalates on entering
its ninth year
another troops are being deployed this year along with hundreds of
civilian specialists to back military progress with development and aid to shore
up civilian support for the kabul administration
hrw says abuse undermining free sudan election
khartoum jan afp
human rights watch on sunday accused the sudanese authorities of carrying
alleged abuses ahead of general election due in april and called on them to
ensure free and credible polls
violations of civil and political rights by sudanese security forces throughout
the country are seriously undermining prospects for free fair and credible
elections in april hrw said in report
the khartoum government is still using its security forces to harass and abuse
those who speak out against the ruling national congress party said georgette
gagnon africa director for the new york based rights watchdog
that is no environment for holding free fair and transparent elections she
was quoted as saying in the report
hrw also criticised the authorities in southern sudan where it said soldiers
and police arbitrarily arrested detained and mistreated members of political
parties opposed to the southern ruling sudan people liberation movement
splm former rebel group
the mostly muslim north and largely christian south signed comprehensive peace
agreement on january to end year civil war that was fuelled by
religious political and economic differences and cost two million lives
the cpa provides for presidential and parliamentary election in april the
first polls in sudan in years as well as referendum on independence for
the oil rich south in
the splm and the ruling national congress party of sudanese president omar al
beshir were party to the cpa agreement
with less than three months to elections and with campaigning season starting
in february robust international observer presence is needed now gagnon
said
careful monitoring is even more pressing considering that bashir is wanted for
war crimes she added
the international criminal court issued in march warrant for beshir
arrest on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed
in the western region of darfur
the carter centre set up by former us president jimmy carter is the only group
of international monitors allowed so far to monitor the vote in sudan
hrw said international donors and stakeholders should urgently deploy observers
in time to effectively monitor pre elections conditions and also called on the
un mission in sudan to increase its presence and patrolling in volatile areas
bin laden claims christmas bombing warns of further attacks
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed the botched christmas day bombing of us
airliner and threatened further strikes on us targets in an audio statement
broadcast sunday on al jazeera television
the message that was conveyed through the attacked plane of the hero umar
farouk abdulmutallab is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the
heroes of the september attack on the united states he said
that message is that america should not dream of security until we enjoy it
as reality in palestine he added
abdulmutallab attempted to blow up northwest airline flight on christmas day
but he was thwarted by fellow passengers who pounced on him
the authenticity of the audio statement could not immediately be verified but
al jazeera said the voice was that of bin laden
bin laden who has million dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding
for the past eight years last made public statement four months ago when he
was quoted on september by site intelligence group monitoring service as
urging european countries to pull their forces out of afghanistan
five quizzed over anti christian attack in sumatra police
jakarta jan afp
indonesian police said sunday they were questioning five witnesses over an arson
attack on christian place of prayer on sumatra island
about muslims had allegedly torched the wooden house and another house
belonging to priest in north sumatra barumun district last friday
provincial police chief badrodin haiti told afp
they were not churches but places of prayer since they were not registered as
churches the muslims living around there protested by burning them down
provincial police chief badrodin haiti told afp
nobody was hurt as the houses were empty at the time of the attack he added
worshippers held prayers there for quite while and the local government was
to have relocated them to new church by january but had failed to do so
haiti said
the local government will ensure the affected parties are compensated he
added
five witnesses are being questioned in connection with the incident haiti said
adding that the penalty for damaging property was up to six years jail
we re still investigating he added
muslims make up around percent of indonesia population of million
although the constitution gives all religions equal footing laws make it
difficult for religions other than islam to establish places of worship
tennis australian open results day seven rd update
melbourne jan afp
results from day seven of the australian open at melbourne park here sunday
denotes seeding
men singles
th round
andy murray gbr bt john isner usa
rafael nadal esp bt ivo karlovic cro
marin cilic cro bt juan martin del potro arg
women singles
th round
zheng jie chn bt alona bondarenko ukr
nadia petrova rus bt svetlana kuznetsova rus
tennis del potro knocked out of open by cilic
melbourne jan afp
us open champion and fourth seed juan martin del potro crashed out of the
australian open when he was beaten in the fourth round by th croatian seed
marin cilic on sunday
china taiwan trade talks to start this week
taipei jan afp
the first round of talks on major trade pact between taiwan and china will be
held in beijing this week taiwanese officials and state press said sunday
the taiwanese delegation will be led by kao koong lian deputy chairman of the
quasi official straits exchange foundation the foundation said in statement
during the one day discussions to be held on tuesday the negotiators will sort
out procedural issues for the more talks to come maa shaw chang the
foundation deputy secretary general told afp
the chinese side will be led by zheng lizhong vice president of the association
for relations across the taiwan strait according to the foundation
the two bodies have been authorised by their governments to handle negotiations
between taiwan and china in the absence of official contacts
the discussions are aimed at boosting commercial ties between the two rivals by
normalising trade arrangements xinhua news agency said
the taiwanese delegates will include huang chih peng head of the bureau of
foreign trade earlier reports said taiwan delegation would be led by huang
the island top negotiator during the previous four rounds of informal talks
taiwan china friendly government is eager to conclude the trade pact which it
says could lift growth and boost employment
but the opposition democratic progressive party which favours independence from
china fears it would increase taiwan reliance on china and imperil the
island de facto separate status
relations have improved since taiwan current administration assumed power in
may pursuing programme of stepping up economic ties
urgent no us security until palestinians secure bin laden
dubai jan afp
al qaeda leader osama bin laden warned america that it will be subject to
security threats until such time as palestinians enjoy peace in an audio
message aired sunday on al jazeera television
urgent bin laden links attacks on us with support for israel
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden said attacks on the us will continue as long as
it supports israel in an audio recording aired by al jazeera satellite channel
on sunday
injured as iran plane catches fire state media
tehran jan afp
at least people were injured when an iranian passenger plane caught fire upon
landing on sunday in the northeastern city of mashhad state television and
other news networks said
iranian officials told local news networks that the rear end of the russian
built tupolev plane owned by taban airline and piloted by russian caught
fire as the aircraft landed in fog at mashhad airport
forty six people have been injured but most of them are not serious state
television quoted javad erfanian head of disaster management of khorasan razavi
province of which mashhad is the capital
he said that emergency services evacuated the passengers after which the rear
end of the aircraft broke up
the english language state owned press tv said the plane travelling from abadan
in southwest iran to mashhad had passengers on board erfanian said the
plane also had crew members on board
an unnamed informed source told fars news agency that the accident occurred as
the russian pilot landed the plane in the fog and its tail hit the ground and
broke up
the plane caught fire after passengers were evacuated the report said pictures
released by iranian news networks showed the rear end of the plane burning
press tv broadcast footage of smoke billowing from the rear end
mohsen esmaili manager of mashhad airport told mehr news agency that the pilot
landed the plane in fog despite repeated warnings from the control tower
saying he had sick patient on board
reza jafarzadeh spokesman for iranian civil aviation said the plane had left
abadan on saturday but bad weather in mashhad led to the aircraft landing in
the central city of isfahan for the night before it took off again for mashhad
early sunday
the captain had critical patient on board and so had to do an emergency
landing in mashhad which is why the aircraft met with an accident he was
quoted as saying on the website of state television
iran which has been under years of international sanctions has suffered
number of aviation disasters over the past decade several of them involving
small companies using russian crew or crews from former soviet republics of
central asia
iran civil and military fleet is made up of ancient aircraft in very poor
condition due to their age and lack of maintenance
in its worst air accident plane carrying members of iran elite
revolutionary guards crashed in february killing people on board
in july last year soviet designed tupolev caught fire mid air and plunged
flaming into farmland northeast of tehran killing all people on board
in december total of people were killed when lockheed transport
plane crashed into high rise housing block outside tehran
in november military plane crashed on takeoff at tehran mehrabad
airport killing all people on board including members of the
revolutionary guards
alert
bin laden strikes on us will continue as long as washington supports israel
