insurgents planned multiple car bombings in the city highlighting concerns
about violence in the run up to general elections
gulf economy banks provisions
kuwait city gulf banks are estimated to have made provisions worth billion
dollars for against impairment of assets and credit loss massive
percent rise from the previous year report said
saudi yemen unrest islam qaeda
riyadh senior saudi cleric said that joining al qaeda is forbidden by islam
newspaper reported as concerns grow about the strength of jihadist group in
neighbouring yemen
mideast palestinian politics hamas media children
gaza city the hamas run al aqsa tv channel plans to release series of
cartoons portraying palestinian security forces in the west bank as boot licking
lackeys of israel network official said
jordan islamists trial
amman jordan muslim brotherhood leader hammam said pleaded not guilty to
corruption related charges at court in amman judicial official said
vienna wiesenthal institute resolves jewish archive dispute
vienna jan afp
the vienna wiesenthal institute said tuesday it has resolved dispute with an
austrian capital jewish group over access to its archive considered the world
largest preserved record of jewish community
the vwi conducts important research on anti semitism racism and the holocaust
and its future was in doubt last summer when the institute entire board of
directors resigned in protest at the jewish community refusal to grant access
to its archives
founding board chairman anton pelinka even accused the head of the vienna
israelite community ikg ariel muzicant of censorship
but deal has been worked out so the vwi can see all of the ikg holocaust
relevant documents the institute new chief georg graf told news briefing
in vienna it was signed on december
with the oldest documents dating back to the th century the ikg archive is
the only jewish community archive known to have been maintained in its entirety
from the founding of the community to the time after world war ii
it is in fact one of the most important archives in german speaking europe
including meeting minutes decrees protocols reports letters emigration and
finance documents lists of deportees indexes books photographs plans and
posters
the indexes and files from the period between and were the basis for
nazi management of jewish emigration and deportation
they currently form record of the fate of exiled and murdered jews and can be
used to aid survivors claims for restitution and compensation
vwi was created by nazi hunter simon wiesenthal shortly before his death in
and the ikg was one of its founding organisations
with the dispute settled the vwi would now try to lure back some of the key
historical advisors who had resigned graf said
one of the first projects would be the digitalisation of the documents provided
by the ikg which should begin next month and this year would see number of
key lectures and scientific events
the institute is still not fully operational but aims to be so in graf
added
corrected yemen negotiates as western hostages located in war zone fm
sanaa jan afp
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 kurbi said on tuesday
their whereabouts have been determined they are in saada northern yemen
where the army backed by the air force has been locked in clashes with zaidi
shiite rebels kurbi told press conference
negotiations are ongoing to secure their release said kurbi declining to
give details
kurbi statement came day after german foreign minister guido westerwelle
visited sanaa where he held talks on the hostages with yemen president ali
abdullah saleh
westerwelle told reporters that the president had told him he had information
little than two hours ago that the authorities knew where the german hostages
were being held
the family of five germans including three children and the briton were
abducted in northern yemen last june along with two german bible students and
south korean all women who were shot dead soon afterwards
westerwelle said the german embassy was doing everything it could to bring the
intolerable situation of the hostages to good end
senior yemeni official said last week sanaa had information that the six
hostages were still alive and that there appeared to be an al qaeda link to
their abduction
the three possible places they could be in are the provinces of maarib al
jouf and saada said the deputy premier for defence and security affairs
rashad al aleemi
there is coordination between the huthis and the al qaeda in this matter
sanaa has repeatedly pointed the finger of blame at huthi rebels for the
kidnappings charge they deny saying the government was behind the abduction
to use as an excuse to attack the rebels
the yemeni army has been waging an all out offensive against the rebels based in
the saada province and its surroundings since august in bid to end their
five year rebellion
the three children were seen in new video last month but the footage featured
no sign of their parents at the time germany said it had no evidence that al
qaeda was behind the kidnappings
german officials who requested anonymity said the apparently recent recording
indicated at least that the three children aged one three and five were still
alive
in london foreign office spokesman said only that the british government was
working with the yemeni and german authorities to resolve the issue
abductions of foreigners are common in yemen as tribesmen often use them to
twist the government arm in local disputes more than foreigners have been
abducted over the past years
apart from the three women killed in june all other hostages have been freed
unharmed except for three britons and an australian seized by islamists in
december who were killed in botched yemeni rescue bid
yemen ancestral homeland of al qaeda chief osama bin laden has also seen
spate of attacks on foreign and government targets in march four south korean
tourists were killed by bomb attack in the historic city of shibam
norway gas exports return to normal after cold snap
oslo jan afp
norway natural gas exports were almost back to normal on tuesday after several
days disruption due to the cold weather in europe norwegian pipeline operator
gassco said
the situation has pretty much returned to normal gassco spokesman kjell varlo
larsen told afp
gas treatment plant in kaarstoe in southwestern norway and processing
facility for the offshore gas field ormen lange resumed operations after
weekend closure attributed to build up of ice in their pipes
the kaarstoe plant has resumed production and is producing almost at full
capacity larsen said
anglo dutch oil and gas company shell said meanwhile that production at ormen
lange norway second biggest gas field which normally supplies britain was
slowly ramped up after resuming operations on monday
according to gassco norway is the world second biggest gas exporter behind
russia
in the scandinavian country exported some billion cubic metres of gas
by pipeline primarily to britain germany france and belgium
us trade deficit widens on surging imports
washington jan afp
the us trade deficit widened in november to month high on the back of
surging imports the government said tuesday as the trade growth signaled global
economic recovery was on track
the goods and services deficit for the penultimate month in jumped to
billion dollars up from revised billion dollars in october as imports
grew faster than exports the department said in report
the deficit surpassing the billion dollars forecast by most economists
reached its highest level since january
the big news is continued and sustained growth in trade volume signaling
recovery both in the us and among major us trading partners said christopher
cornell an economist at moody economy com
in november us imports rose percent to billion dollars compared with
exports which inched up percent to billion dollars
total us trade with the rest of the world showed an increase by percent
for the third consecutive month
the politically sensitive goods deficit with china dropped billion dollars
in november from billion dollars in october
war crimes appeal trial opens for bosnian in norway
oslo jan afp
bosnian born man sentenced in norway to five years in prison for war crimes
against serbs in pleaded innocent on tuesday as his appeal trial opened
media reported
mirsad repak year old former member of the croatian hos military has
lived in norway with his family since and became citizen in
an oslo district court found him guilty in december of counts of
arbitrary detention and one count of violence against civilian serbs in the
dretelj detention camp in southern bosnia notorious for the guards brutality
the alleged offences occurred during the bosnian war
he was however acquitted of the most serious charges concerning several counts
of torture and one count of rape due to lack of evidence
repak was also ordered to pay total of kroner euros
dollars in damages to the eight plaintiffs
the case was the first war crimes trial to be heard in norway since those held
against suspected nazi collaborators after world war ii
your honour am innocent repak told the appeals court judge tuesday
norwegian news agency ntb reported
in the first trial repak argued that he had only followed orders from his
superior officers the court heard testimony from one of the plaintiffs who said
repak had used violence against her during questioning
she said she had been hit with baton slashed in the face and on her breasts
with knife burned with cigarettes and pins had been stuck under her
fingernails
she received no medical attention during her detention at the camp she
testified
both the prosecution and the defense had appealed the district court verdict
the appeals trial is expected to last about two months
one killed in sri lanka poll attack police
colombo jan afp
gunmen in sri lanka on tuesday opened fire on bus carrying supporters of the
main opposition presidential candidate killing one political activist police
said
several other people were wounded when unidentified attackers sprayed bullets
into the vehicle of campaigners backing sarath fonseka who was not in the area
at the time police said
one person was killed instantly another opposition supporter was hospitalised
and several others had minor injuries local police officer who declined to
be named told afp by telephone
sri lankan elections have been marred in the past by violence but tuesday
shooting near the town of hungama in the south of the island was the first
fatality in the run up to the vote
the us embassy in colombo said it was deeply concerned over the killing and
escalating violence in the run up to the january presidential election and
urged the authorities to ensure free and fair poll
in statement it said it hoped the election is conducted freely fairly and
without violence
we urge the appropriate authorities to conduct full investigation of this and
other acts of violence and to protect those exercising their democratic right to
support the candidate of their choice the statement said
fonseka former general quit the army and entered politics in november over
differences with president mahinda rajapakse who accused him of trying to seize
power after crushing separatist tamil tiger rebels
rajapakse standing for re election called the poll two years ahead of schedule
in bid to ride wave of public acclaim after the rebels defeat and the
killing of their notorious founder velupillai prabhakaran
victory over the rebels in may brought decades of ethnic bloodshed on the island
to an end but fears remain over continued friction between the majority
sinhalese population and the battle scarred tamils in the north and east
the tamil tigers often used violence to stop voting and also carried out suicide
bomb attacks and assassinations in the run up to previous elections
fonseka suffered serious injuries in when he was targeted by female
suicide bomber inside the army headquarters
shipping map helps combat invasive species at sea
paris jan afp
invasive species that hitch ride on cargo ships pose rising threat to marine
biodiversity with the potential to inflict costs in the billions of dollars
but new map of shipping networks should provide watchdogs with useful tool
against these stowaways scientists in germany said on wednesday
microbes larvae snails and other species are notorious for riding in ballast
tanks or on ships hulls to new home
but until now there have been scant means of identifying ships or even shipping
patterns to help pinpoint the source of the risk
sleuths trying to track these intruders have generally used so called gravity
model of ship movements it assumes that journeys are likelier between nearby
ports than between ports that are far apart
the truth though is rather more complex say marine biologists led by bernd
blasius of the carl von ossietzky university in oldenburg
they used data from automatic transmitters installed aboard large ships from
to give port authorities the time of arrival and departure to build
network of how the world large cargo vessels plied their trade in
what emerged were small clusters of ports sometimes based in regional
transport web and journey lengths and port stays that differed crucially
according to the type of ship bulk dry carrier container or oil tanker
container ships they found sail along largely predictable repetitive routes
among small dense linked cluster of ports gathered in regional
communities around the world
for instance container ship may shuttle frequently around europe visiting
rotterdam hamburg and antwerp and around buenos aires montevideo and santos
in south america
these vessels travel fast at between and knots and spend less than two
days in port on average
in contrast bulk dry carriers are more unpredictable changing their routes at
short notice according to the fluctuating supply and demand of the goods they
carry in the course of year they do few repeat trips on the same route
oil tankers too also follow short term market trends but their destinations
are limited moving between ports with crude terminals and refineries
both tankers and carries are slow movers travelling at between and knots
and have longer turnaround spending around five or six days in port
importantly both bulk dry carriers and oil tankers often sail empty after
offloading their goods and take on large quantities of ballast water for trim
which is then discharged when they are laden once more
but frequency of trips as seen in container ships especially is also factor
the more aliens that are offloaded in new habitat the better their chance of
beating the odds of ecological roulette says the study
with percent of world trade carried by sea the global network of merchant
ships provides one of the most important modes of transportation of intrusive
species says the study
the paper published on wednesday by britain journal of the royal society
interface quotes estimate that bioinvasion inflicts financial loss
billion dollars year
among the most notorious examples is north american jellyfish mnemiopsis
leidyi that has so devastated native plankton stocks in the black sea that it
has helped destroy several commercial fisheries
the european zebra mussel introduced into the great lakes in the mid has
infested percent of internal waterways in the united states in southern
australia the asian kelp undaria pinnatifida is invading new areas rapidly
displacing the native seabed communities
parents of missing british girl face accuser in court
lisbon jan afp
the parents of missing british girl madeleine mccann faced former portuguese
police officer in libel court tuesday over his claims that she is dead and
that they were involved in her disappearance
goncalo amaral who led the initial stages of the investigation into madeleine
disappearance in portugal in may made the allegations in his july
book maddie the truth of the lie
arriving at the court in lisbon kate and gerry mccann who are claiming
million euros million dollars for defamation said they were confident
while amaral said he hoped justice would be done
portuguese court issued an interim injunction in september banning sales of
the book and prohibiting amaral from repeating his claims in the media
the former senior police officer initially headed the inquiry but was removed in
october after he criticised british police in newspaper interview
the case which is being brought by the mccanns against amaral was expected to
last until thursday
madeleine who would now be six years old went missing from holiday apartment
in the algarve resort of praia da luz on may as her parents and their
friends dined at nearby restaurant
the mccanns were named as official suspects in their daughter disappearance in
september although this was lifted in july
despite massive international publicity and investigations by both portuguese
and british police madeleine has never been found
portuguese police are no longer investigating the case but other investigators
acting on the couple behalf are still looking for the missing girl and
appealing to the public for information
the mccanns have also asked the lisbon court to confirm september interim
injunction
taiwan cuts military spending amid improved china ties
taipei jan afp
taiwan has scaled back its military budget for officials said tuesday
amid generally warming ties with its former bitter rival china
taiwan parliament controlled by the beijing friendly kuomintang party
rubber stamped budget of billion taiwan dollars billion us for the
defence ministry
it is percent fall from the billion dollar budget in the
cabinet level directorate general of budget accounting and statistics said
ties between taipei and beijing have eased markedly since president ma ying jeou
of the kuomintang was elected in march on platform to boost trade with
the mainland and to allow in more chinese tourists
even so taiwan remains wary of china objectives often citing more than
missiles lined up on its coastline facing the island
the us defense department announced last week that it had approved the sale of
patriot missile equipment to taiwan as part of package passed by congress more
than year ago
the arms deal sparked strong protests from beijing who warned that the move
would violate its security and severely undermine trust between the united
states and chinese militaries
the united states is the leading arms supplier to self ruled taiwan even though
it switched diplomatic recognition from taipei to beijing in
china has over the years repeatedly threatened to invade taiwan should the
island declare formal independence
beijing still regards taiwan as part of its territory awaiting to be reunified
by force if necessary although the island has governed itself since at the
end of civil war
roadside bomb kills five policemen in central iraq
baquba iraq jan afp
five policemen were killed on tuesday when roadside bomb engulfed their
vehicle in the disputed diyala province of central iraq security official
said
the officers part of commercial trading standards brigade were on mission
when the blast occurred in jalawla town north of the provincial capital
baquba northeast of baghdad
diyala which is ethnically and religiously mixed still sees sporadic attacks
despite security improvements recorded elsewhere in iraq
hamas tv takes aim at palestinian rivals with cartoons
gaza city jan afp
the hamas run al aqsa tv channel plans to release series of cartoons
portraying palestinian security forces in the west bank as boot licking lackeys
of israel network official said tuesday
the cartoons will be modelled on six minute pilot in which character wearing
the uniform of western backed security forces loyal to palestinian president
mahmud abbas is portrayed as mindless toady of bloodthirsty israelis
we are preparing films and cartoons to broadcast on al aqsa at the start of
next month focusing on the disgraceful practices of the palestinian
authority the official said on condition of anonymity
hamas and abbas secular fatah movement have been bitterly divided since the
islamist group bloody seizure of gaza in june which confined abbas
authority to the israeli occupied west bank
since then the two groups have accused each other of arbitrary arrests torture
and persecution as unity talks have repeatedly collapsed
hamas has lashed out at abbas security forces for cracking down on armed
groups in the west bank accusing them of serving israel interests
in the pilot cartoon entitled special mission and first aired earlier this
month the main character named bahlul arabic for buffoon shines an israeli
soldier boots and kisses his feet when ordered to do so
the character tells the israeli soldier his job is to protect the settlements
in the west bank and says he would arrest his relatives shoot his brother or
divorce his wife if the israelis ordered him to
in later scene bahlul watches as jewish character massacres group of west
bank children and drinks their blood you killed our children before my eyes
will respond with even more peace he says
the network official said the popularity of the pilot encouraged the channel to
produce more cartoons
the first programme was widely circulated and had high number of viewers he
said we received hundreds of letters from inside and outside gaza asking for
the programme to be shown again
al aqsa has regularly aired graphic television programmes glorifying attacks on
israel including children show in which mickey mouse like character was
martyred by being beaten to death by israelis
egypt blasts violence against immigrants in italy
cairo jan afp
egypt strongly condemned on tuesday attacks on african farm workers in southern
italy and voiced concerns about the muslim minority there just days before
italy foreign minister is due in cairo
the foreign ministry deplores the violence that occurred in the italian town of
rosarno and the massive campaign of aggression against immigrants ministry
spokesman hossam zaki said in statement
the latest violence is only one facet of the numerous violations that
immigrants and ethnic minorities in italy are exposed to including arab and
muslim minorities he added criticising what he termed the propagation of
racist behaviour and language of hatred
egypt foreign minister ahmed abul gheit will raise the subject when his
italian counterpart franco frattini visits cairo on saturday zaki said
violence erupted in the calabrian town of rosarno on thursday when hundreds of
immigrants most of them africans employed illegally demonstrated against their
conditions after some of them had been shot at with air rifles according to
italian media
more than thousand immigrants fled rosarno in the wake of the violence
italy northern league party allied with the centre right people of freedom
led by prime minister silvio berlusconi has backed several initiatives hostile
to muslims
egypt wants the un to adopt resolution on the controversial issue of religious
defamation condemning incitement to religious discrimination hostility or
violence in an effort to prevent attacks against islam in the west
such resolution has been sharply criticised by some western countries for
potentially restricting freedom of expression and other civil liberties
the egyptian government has itself come under harsh criticism for shooting
african immigrants on its border with israel and also for discriminating against
its own christian minority
allegation of us role in iran bombing absurd state dept
washington jan afp
the united states rejected as absurd an allegation by tehran tuesday that
washington had hand in bomb attack that killed an iranian nuclear scientist
state department spokesman said
charges of us involvement are absurd state department spokesman mark toner
said after iran foreign ministry accused us and israeli mercenaries of
being behind the bomb plot
massoud ali mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran
university died when bomb strapped to parked motorcycle was triggered by
remote control outside his home in northern tehran state media said
tehran foreign ministry spokesman ramin mehmanparast was quoted in iranian
media as seeing signs of evilness by the triangle of the zionist regime
america and their mercenaries in iran in this terrorist incident
he vowed that iran would not be deterred from its nuclear efforts however
such terrorist acts and the physical elimination of the country nuclear
scientists will certainly not stop the scientific and technological process but
will speed it up he said
iran chief prosecutor also implicated us and israeli intelligence services in
the bombing that killed nuclear scientist massoud ali mohammadi
given the fact that massoud ali mohammadi was nuclear scientist the cia and
mossad services and agents most likely have had hand in it abbas jafari
dolatabadi told state media tuesday
cs sg jm
britain ireland rally round crisis gripped ireland
belfast jan afp
britain and ireland scrambled tuesday to defuse political crisis in northern
ireland triggered by sex and cash scandal saying it may even be an
opportunity to unblock stalled talks
britain northern ireland minister shaun woodward was to discuss the crisis
with irish counterpart micheal martin day after the province leader peter
robinson stood down over scandal linked to his wife affair with teenager
robinson decision to stand aside for six weeks has prompted concerns the once
troubled province already strained power sharing administration could collapse
altogether
but woodward said he was optimistic that the crisis could help make progress on
stalled talks on transferring policing and justice powers from london to
belfast
there has been an extraordinary turn of events in the last week in northern
ireland that being said out of all this there is very real opportunity to
make very substantial progress he told the bbc
my sense is that there are many politicians particularly over the last
hours who have actually faced over the precipice seen the consequences of not
fully engaging and are now really engaging with the issues
his irish counterpart echoed the views saying robinson decision to stand down
temporarily gave framework to facilitate an early agreement on the transfer
of policing and justice powers from london to belfast
mechanism has been developed which does allow for negotiations to take place
on realistic basis which can produce positive and successful result martin
told rte state radio
robinson is now facing questions over whether he can come back after his wife
iris also senior politician admitted securing pounds euros
dollars from two wealthy developers to help her former lover set up
cafe
robinson insists he was not aware of her financial dealings and attacked as
unfounded and mischievous monday an allegation by the bbc that he did if this
were the case he should have reported it to officials
iris robinson is currently receiving acute psychiatric treatment in belfast
according to her husband and is expected to quit her seats in the northern
ireland assembly and britain house of commons imminently
she previously admitted attempting suicide and suffering severe depression
arlene foster the year old enterprise minister filling in for robinson
insisted he had only stepped aside temporarily
peter hasn left the scene he is still the leader of the party very clearly
and he is still the first minister she said
even before the scandal northern ireland was tense over the failure of
robinson democratic unionist party dup and power sharing partners sinn fein
to reach agreement on when policing powers should be handed from london to
belfast the final highly sensitive stage of devolution
but commentators fear the revelations over the robinsons could deal fatal blow
to the administration
peter robinson is in the throes of battle for his political life the
independent newspaper in london said in an editorial tuesday any fresh
revelations could be fatal
robinson conservative dup which is protestant and wants northern ireland to
remain part of britain has since shared devolved powers from london in an
administration with socialists sinn fein which is catholic and wants the
province to join the republic of ireland
there are fears of return to more frequent violence in the province where
three decades of civil unrest killed at least people the fighting was
largely ended by the good friday agreement brokered by the british and
irish governments
last year two british soldiers and policeman were shot dead in attacks
claimed by dissident republicans
in the latest incident friday catholic police officer was seriously injured
after bomb exploded under his car as he drove to work
iran accuses us israel of murdering nuclear scientist
tehran jan afp
iranian nuclear scientist massoud ali mohammadi was killed tuesday in rare
bomb attack in tehran which the foreign ministry blamed on mercenaries in the
pay of archfoes the united states and israel
the killing comes amid an increasingly bitter standoff between iran and world
powers over tehran controversial nuclear drive which the west suspects is
masking an atomic weapons programme
mohammadi particle physics professor at prestigious tehran university died
when bomb strapped to motorcycle was triggered by remote control outside his
home in northern tehran state media said
one can see in preliminary investigations signs of evilness by the triangle of
the zionist regime america and their mercenaries in iran in this terrorist
incident foreign ministry spokesman ramin mehmanparast said
the united states dismissed the allegations out of hand
charges of us involvement are absurd state department spokesman mark toner
said in washington
tehran chief prosecutor also implicated the us and israel saying their
respective intelligence services had hand in the attack
given the fact that massoud ali mohammadi was nuclear scientist the cia and
mossad services and agents most likely have had hand in it abbas jafari
dolatabadi told the state broadcaster news service
dolatabadi had earlier told the isna news agency that mohammadi died when
booby trapped motorbike parked outside his house exploded as he was getting into
