by members of the consultative council mohammed akef told press conference
in cairo
the brotherhood egypt largest opposition group is officially banned but
controls fifth of seats in parliament after it ran independent candidates in
the last general election in
it also has affiliates in other muslim states some with official status
egypt brotherhood leader is in theory the movement chief on the
international front but groups in other countries are autonomous in practice
the choice of badie the group eighth supreme guide since it was founded in
signals return to less high profile public role than in the last poll
when the brotherhood supporters fielded candidates analysts say
born in in the nile delta town of mahalla el kubra badie was jailed for
nine years in the after being accused of membership of brotherhood
military cell that allegedly planned the overthrow of the government
he was later responsible for ideological education within the group
badie election came after bitter dispute between conservatives in the group
who place the emphasis on strengthening the organisation and ideological
outreach and reformists who advocate more active public role for the group
akef resigned last year before the end of his term in office in protest after
conservative members of the brotherhood politburo opposed promotion for essam
erian who is associated with the group reformist wing
the conservative wing has been seen to consolidate its control in subsequent
politburo elections in which the group deputy chief mohammed habib and
reformist leader abdel moneim abul futuh lost their seats
analysts say the new leadership team and campaign of arrests by police were
likely to encourage shift away from public life
the group is expected to field fewer candidates in egypt poll later this year
especially after the government amended the elections law making it more
difficult for opposition groups to take part
three dead in train collision in fog bound northern india
agra india jan afp
three people died and were injured when two express trains collided in thick
fog in india northern state of uttar pradesh saturday senior railway
official said
the accident happened near tundla kilometres miles from the taj mahal
town of agra when the driver of one of the trains apparently did not react to
signal slamming his train into another on the same track
according to preliminary information there are three deaths devesh mishra
divisional railway manager at agra told afp
television footage showed two carriages of the shram shakti express travelling
from new delhi to the industrial hub of kanpur badly mangled after the
collision
another uttar pradesh administration official ravi kumar said two of the
injured are in serious condition
saturday accident comes fortnight after people were killed in similar
train accidents in uttar pradesh
dense fog in northern india over the past two weeks has caused chaos on the
transport network with delays or cancellations of trains and flights common
place
railway control room official said nine trains originating in new delhi were
cancelled saturday while about two dozen trains were running late
spokesman for the new delhi airport said low visibility had caused the
disruption of schedules of flights both domestic and international on
saturday morning
former iraq pm allawi unveils alliance to fight election
baghdad jan afp
iraq former pro western prime minister iyad allawi on saturday unveiled
broad secular alliance of candidates to contest the country general election
on march
allawi shiite politician who in exile mounted an opposition movement against
saddam hussein was provisionally appointed by washington as iraq first
premier after the dictator ouster in the us led invasion of
he held the post for just under year
his public profile and influence has since slipped he currently has no
ministers in the war torn nation government but he is sworn foe of
current shiite prime minister nuri al maliki whom he aims to unseat
we are national political entity committed to serving all iraqis and we call
on them to join us rafa al essawi the country sunni deputy prime minister
told hundreds of people at glitzy baghdad ceremony
allawi did not speak at the gathering where candidates for his al iraqiya
alliance were unveiled but he was flanked by sunni vice president tareq al
hashemi who fired an opening verbal salvo at maliki
he maliki has failed to create state of citizens to replace state of
religious communities hashemi told candidates and onlookers at the launch
ceremony held at al rasheed hotel
the prominent sunni lawmaker saleh al mutlak who has been banned from competing
in the march poll for alleged links to saddam former regime is also member
of allawi alliance and was at the ceremony
allawi served as prime minister from june until being replaced by
transitional premier ibrahim jaafari in may who in turn was succeeded by
maliki in iraq first parliamentary elections in december the same year
basketball nba results and standings
washington jan afp
results and standings after friday national basketball association games
friday january th results
charlotte san antonio
philadelphia sacramento
atlanta phoenix
chicago washington ot
detroit new orleans ot
memphis minnesota
indiana new jersey
toronto new york
dallas oklahoma city
miami houston
milwaukee golden state
la lakers la clippers
portland orlando
eastern conference
atlantic div pct gb
boston
toronto
new york
philadelphia
new jersey
central div pct gb
cleveland
chicago
milwaukee
indiana
detroit
southeast div pct gb
atlanta
orlando
miami
charlotte
washington
western conference
northwest div pct gb
denver
portland
utah
oklahoma city
minnesota
pacific div pct gb
la lakers
phoenix
la clippers
sacramento
golden state
southwest div pct gb
dallas
san antonio
houston
memphis
new orleans
saturday january th schedule
new orleans at indiana pm
phoenix at charlotte pm
sacramento at washington pm
new york at detroit pm
san antonio at memphis pm
miami at oklahoma city pm
milwaukee at utah pm
cleveland at la clippers pm
all times are eastern
afp
britain rules out copying us bank tax plan minister
london jan afp
britain ruled out copying the united states by proposing special tax on banks
to recover state funds used to bailout lenders during the financial crisis the
british finance minister insisted on saturday
alistair darling told the scotsman newspaper that the government would not be
matching proposal announced by us president barack obama on thursday for new
fee on major banking firms
no we are not the americans are doing something different darling told the
daily adding that britain would recover state aid by eventually selling stakes
recently built up in rescued british banks
obama on thursday said he wanted to recover every single dime taxpayers
shelled out to rescue wall street from the economic crisis
his tax plan if approved by congress would raise billion dollars from
big financial institutions including foreign banks operating in the united
states under an effort to recoup money from massive bailout of the banking
sector
obama said the move is aimed at preventing wall street firms from going back to
business as usual and resuming high risk lending practices and huge bets on
mortgages and other instruments he blames for igniting the financial crisis
britain has meanwhile taken control of major lenders royal bank of scotland and
lloyds banking group following its own multi billion pound bailouts of the two
groups
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after friday games
friday january th results
washington toronto
nashville calgary
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
pittsburgh
ny rangers
philadelphia
ny islanders
northeast division
buffalo
boston
montreal
ottawa
toronto
southeast division
washington
atlanta
tampa bay
florida
carolina
western conference
central division
chicago
nashville
detroit
st louis
columbus
northwest division
colorado
calgary
vancouver
minnesota
edmonton
pacific division
san jose
phoenix
los angeles
anaheim
dallas
note overtime losses ot are worth one point in the standings and are not
included in the loss column
saturday january th schedule
new jersey at colorado pm
detroit at dallas pm
boston at los angeles pm
edmonton at san jose pm
chicago at columbus pm
minnesota at phoenix pm
tampa bay at florida pm
ottawa at montreal pm
buffalo at ny islanders pm
ny rangers at st louis pm
pittsburgh at vancouver pm
atlanta at carolina pm
all times are eastern
afp
up to pct of haitian town of leogane damaged by quake un
geneva jan afp
up to percent of the buildings in leogane town to the west of the haitian
capital port au prince have been damaged by this week devastating earthquake
the united nations said saturday
un assessment team found that leogane with population of is the
worst affected area with percent of buildings damaged said elisabeth
byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the coordination of humanitarian
affairs
according to the local police between to people have been killed
and most bodies are still in the collapsed buildings she told afp
the assessment team which also surveyed carrefour with inhabitants
and gressier with inhabitants found that percent of both towns
to the west of the haitian capital had been destroyed
search and rescue teams are in these areas said byrs who stressed that there
was an urgent need for medical care
some international search and rescue teams comprising of rescue workers
and dogs have already pulled out total of survivors from the debris
said byrs
the survivors included who were rescued on friday three days after the
magnitude earthquake struck she added
the favourable climate and building structures have enhanced survivor chances
she noted
so search and rescue is still the priority the rescue phase will go on
longer she added
rescue efforts are however being hindered by three major constraints
transport communications and fuel
transport resources are very limited and hampered by the fact that the fuel
stocks are running low said byrs
another constraint is the lack of ambulances she said
ski jumping world cup ski jump results
sapporo japan jan afp
world cup ski jump results here on saturday
first sapporo ski jump
thomas morgenstern aut points
andreas wank ger
daiki ito jpn
stefan thurnbichler aut
simon ammann sui
noriaki kasai jpn
shohei tochimoto jpn
martin koch aut
david zauner aut
georg spath ger
world cup overall standings after of events
simon ammann sui points
gregor schlierenzauer aut
andreas kofler aut
thomas morgenstern aut
wolfgang loitzl aut
ski jumping austrian morgenstern wins first sapporo ski jump
sapporo japan jan afp
austrian thomas morgenstern took advantage of weakened field to claim victory
in world cup ski jumping event here on saturday
morgenstern double olympic champion in the torino games scored
points from two jumps of et metres for his second world cup win this
season and his third in sapporo which hosts second event on sunday
the austrian finished ahead of germany andreas wrank and for
pts and japan daiki ito and for pts
switzerland simon ammann finished disappointing fifth and for
pts but took the lead in the world cup overall standings points ahead
of arch rival gregor schlierenzauer after of the season events
schlierenzauer opted to stay in europe as did andreas kofler winner of the
four hills tournament and many of the best finnish and norwegian jumpers
pro russia politician set to sweep ukraine polls
kiev jan afp
pro russia politician viktor yanukovich was on course saturday to sweep the
first round of ukraine presidential polls five years after vote rigging by
his supporters sparked the orange revolution
polls showed yanukovich with clear lead going into the sunday elections
albeit without the majority required to avoid second round run off against his
main challenger the glamorous prime minister yulia tymoshenko
the orange revolution protests of late swept ukraine old order from power
and created hopes of new era of prosperity and european integration for the
country of million people bridging the eu and russia
but amid grave public disillusionment after five years of botched reform and
political stalemate the revolution hero pro western president viktor
yushchenko is set to be bundled out in the first round
with tymoshenko making much of her warm ties with russia strongman prime
minister vladimir putin the outcome of the february run off is already being
seen as good news for the kremlin which cut off all business with yushchenko
after frenetic campaign that saw the main protagonists exchange stinging
insults saturday was an official day of calm with all campaigning banned and
posters supposed to be removed from the streets
yanukovich was due to pray at kiev millennium old caves monastery one of the
the most revered sites of orthodox christianity yushchenko an avowed history
buff was to attend pan ukrainian meeting of cossacks
all the main candidates spent the final hours of campaigning friday with
appearances on ukrainian political talk shows while yanukovich also held
glitzy rally in central kiev attended by top ukrainian pop stars
tymoshenko her voice hoarse from weeks of campaigning issued stern warning
against the perils of voting for yanukovich saying the country risked becoming
internationally isolated ruled by oligarch clans and criminals
yanukovich spat back what have the orange leaders promised and not done over
the last five years they deceived the people
yanukovich should win around percent of the vote in the first round and
tymoshenko percent according to the latest polls by the kiev international
institute of sociology
but analysts believe the image conscious prime minister famed for her
traditional hair braid can still make up ground in the run off
third place is expected to go to businessman sergiy tigipko who appears to have
made late surge and is given an outside chance of springing first round
upset
yushchenko won the presidency in re run election in december ordered by
the courts after tens of thousands took to the streets to accuse yanukovich of
vote rigging in the original polls that he won
yushchenko and tymoshenko were comrades in arms in the orange revolution but
later became sworn enemies their relationship poisoned by perennial power
struggle and mutual accusations of criminal wrongdoing
since yanukovich has sought to reinvent himself with the help of western
pr strategists and to show he is not servant of the kremlin but defender of
ukrainian interests
in television appearance friday he pledged to renegotiate gas supply deals
with russia that were agreed by tymoshenko and putin describing the price
ukraine pays for russian gas as unjust
he has also sought more support in the country ukrainian speaking west
traditionally the heartland of tymoshenko and yushchenko supporters while
holding on to his powerbase in the russian speaking east
the gloves off campaign has also seen the past of the candidates once again
dredged up
yanukovich was jailed twice in the soviet era for theft and assault though the
convictions were erased in the late tymoshenko herself was briefly
detained in on smuggling charges that were later quashed
lawyer for french academic upbeat after final iran hearing
tehran jan afp
french academic clotilde reiss lawyer expressed confidence she would be
acquitted after she appeared in court in tehran on saturday on charges of acting
against iranian national security during anti government protests in june
lawyer mohammad ali mahdavi sabet told afp that the two hour hearing was the
final one in the long running case which has tested iran relations with france
and that he now expected the court to announce its verdict within seven days
reiss who has been staying at the french embassy in tehran since being released
on bail in august was in court for the hearing the third in her trial mahdavi
sabet said
she and made our last defence submissions he said
in my closing statement for the defence rejected all the accusations against
her and said that she has not committed any crime
asked for her acquittal and am very confident and optimistic about her
acquittal he said
this was her last court session after that ms reiss left for the embassy
they will tell me the verdict when it is ready under iranian law the court
has week to issue its verdict mahdavi sabet added
the year old academic was arrested on july shortly before she was due to
fly home after six month study and teaching visit to the iranian city of
isfahan
she was accused of taking photos and emailing material on the protests that
erupted after the disputed re election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad in june
and handing them to diplomat at the french embassy
france has strongly protested her innocence on all charges
reiss was one of scores of people paraded before cameras at televised trial
before being remanded in custody in tehran notorious evin jail
iran opposition which charges the election was massively rigged to keep
hardliner ahmadinejad in power has dismissed the court proceedings as show
trials
france has accused iran of trying to blackmail it into releasing an iranian
agent jailed in france for the murder of an exiled former prime minister
ahmadinejad suggested in december that iran might pardon reiss if ali valiki
rad who is serving life sentence is freed but his french counterpart
nicolas sarkozy has rejected the idea and iran has never acknowledged making any
formal proposal for swap
iran arrested thousands of people during and after the opposition protests and
has put several hundred of them on trial on charges of either inciting or taking
part in the demonstrations
iranian leaders have repeatedly accused western powers especially the united
states and britain of seeking to overthrow the islamic regime by fomenting mass
protests in the aftermath of the election
football martins rejoins nigeria after flying visit to england
benguela angola jan afp
wolfsburg striker obafemi martins has rejoined the nigerian team in time for
saturday africa cup of nations group match against benin here team
officials said
martins is back with the team he returned here friday night the super
eagles media officer peterside idah said
top nigeria football federation official taiwo ogunjobi added martins is now
here with us it is big boost for all of us
martins was released by nigeria to fly to england wednesday to appear before
court over compensation claim brought against him by his former agent
officials earlier said he left angola to see specialist over troublesome
shin injury
however it is very doubtful whether martins would be available for
selection against benin later saturday
nigeria are bottom of group after they lost their opening match against
defending champions egypt on tuesday
sam lp
badminton korea open semi final results
seoul jan afp
semi finals results from the korea open badminton championships saturday
denotes seeds
men singles
lee chong wei masx bt chen jin chn
peter hoeg gade denx bt chen long chnx
women singles
sung ji hyun kor bt bae seung hee kor
wang shixian chn bt kim moon hi kor
men doubles
jung jae sung lee yong dae korx bt zhang nan chai biao chn
cai yun fu haifeng chnx bt yoshiteru hirobe hiroyuki endo jpn
women doubles
cheng shu zhao yunlei chnx bt lee kyung won ha jung eun kor
mizuki fujii reika kakiwa jpnx bt yoo hyun young jung kyung eun kor
mixed doubles
tao jiaming zhang yawen chn bt flandy limpele cheng wen hsing ina tpe
he hanbin yu yang chnx bt noriyasu hirata miyuki maeda jpn
nigerian president doing fine ambassador
riyadh jan afp
nigerian president umaru yar adua is doing fine as he recuperates after
treatment at saudi hospital and is awaiting his doctor approval to return
home the country ambassador said on saturday
president yar adua is doing fine now he is eating and resting ambassador
abdullah aminchi told afp by telephone
the nigerian leader is staying in vip quarters attached to the king faisal
specialist hospital in jeddah where he took treatment
aminchi said it was not yet possible to say when he could return to nigeria it
depends on his doctors he said
yar adua was admitted for treatment for heart related ailment in the saudi red
sea city hospital on november
his absence and long silence until brief interview with the bbc last week has
left africa most populous country in an administrative vacuum
the federal high court in abuja ruled on wednesday that vice president goodluck
jonathan could carry out the president functions in his absence but could not
become acting president
but opposition lawyers have petitioned courts to force yar adua to install his
deputy as acting president until he is well enough to return
chad bombs rebels near sudan border ufr
khartoum jan afp
chadian air force jets bombarded rebel positions in region bordering sudan and
the central african republic rebel source said on saturday
the warplanes carried out the air strikes on friday near the village of tissi
said the senior official with the union of forces for resistance ufr rebel
group who requested anonymity
the rebels responded by shooting at and hitting one of the aircraft the
official said adding that we expect an intensification of the chadian army
operations
most of the ufr rebels are based in sudan darfur region with force also in
chad
chad and sudan agreed on friday for the first time to set up joint force on
their troubled border which will be deployed on february
chad has accused sudan of supporting rebels seeking to oust the government
while khartoum has charged ndjamena with backing ethnic minority rebels in the
conflict torn western sudanese region of darfur
improved ties between the two countries could help bring peace to darfur where
about people have died since ethnic rebels revolted in
egypt muslim brotherhood names new leader
cairo jan afp
egypt main opposition movement the muslim brotherhood appointed mohammed
badie conservative figure as its new leader his predecessor told news
conference on saturday
badie veterinary professor at university in southern egypt was chosen by
consensus by members of the consultative council mohammed akef said adding
the brotherhood would work for renaissance across the muslim world
up to pct of haitian town of leogane damaged by quake un
geneva jan afp
up to percent of the buildings in leogane town to the west of the haitian
capital port au prince have been damaged by this week devastating earthquake
the united nations said saturday
leogane with population of is the worst affected area with
percent of buildings damaged said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un
office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs
according to the local police between to people have been killed
and most bodies are still in the collapsed buildings she told afp
au lauds guinea pact to end crisis
addis ababa jan afp
the african union on saturday hailed an accord reached by guinea political
rivals to form an interim government and hold an election to resolve the
country year long crisis
au commission chief jean ping lauded the positive development in the situation
in guinea and the advances made to end the crisis statement said
the pact signed friday in ouagadougou provides for national transition council
and unity government before polls are held in six months
