israelis mostly soldiers
hezbollah is part of new coalition government formed in november by us and
saudi backed lebanese prime minister saad hariri the group is also the only
faction still armed after lebanon civil war
although hezbollah is part of the lebanese government the latter has no
influence on it peled said adding the jewish state will hold hezbollah and
its ally syria responsible for any attack on israel
israeli officials have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that any attack by
hezbollah would be met with strong response
last week defence minister ehud barak warned lebanon and hezbollah against any
attempt to undermine the calm prevailing at the border between the two
countries
seven arrested in billion dollar uae fraud case
dubai jan afp
abu dhabi police arrested seven men for attempting to steal billion dollars
from the united arab emirates central bank using forged documents the official
wam news agency reported saturday
the three europeans and four asians were involved in presenting false documents
to the uae central bank purportedly from european commercial bank showing the
bank owed billion euros billion dollars to the family of their
leader wam said
the documents presented by the suspects were fake and meant for attempted fraud
targeting the central bank the agency quoted abu dhabi police colonel hammad
ahmed al hammadi as saying
the seven including the leader of asian origin face up to years in prison
this was not the first time such scam has been attempted in the uae
five people were arrested in july for using forged documents to demand the
central bank pay them almost billion dollars which they said the bank owed
their leader
two us soldiers killed in afghanistan nato
kabul jan afp
two us soldiers were killed by an improvised bomb in southern afghanistan on
saturday the nato led international security assistance force announced
isaf did not give details of where the incident occurred but the southern
provinces of helmand and kandahar are taliban strongholds and the most dangerous
regions in the country
in total foreign troops have been killed in afghanistan so far this year
the international forces suffered their highest losses last year since their
arrival in late with dead compared with in according to an
afp tally based on that kept by the independent website icasualties org
us military deaths in afghanistan doubled in to compared to the
previous year
the majority of foreign troop deaths are caused by improvised roadside bombs
jacques tati back in paris for kenzo fashion
paris jan afp
swarm of vintage citroen ds cars and bunch of lookalikes of oscar
winning film maker jacques tati took over an iconic paris square on saturday as
kenzo showed his latest menswear at paris fashion week
traffic near the late th century place des victoires one of the city rare
circular squares came to halt as the once futuristic cars labelled by some as
the most beautiful of all time slowly circled smaller circle of male models
dressed to mirror tati mr hulot
tati who won an oscar for mon oncle my uncle in himself played the
dreamy hulot character who starred in several of his films pacing about with an
umbrella in raincoat and hat
he had an inimitable silhouette said kenzo designer antonio marras liked
his eccentricity and anarchism
marras known for putting on fashion spectaculars sent out many of his models
in stunning short jackets and short trousers one of the trends that have
emerged at the paris men shows that end sunday evening
jackets at many shows have come cut just above the crotch while pants are sliced
anywhere from mid calf to above the ankle giving socks and shoes fashion
prominence
kenzo who went for exquisite heavy tweeds and wools as well as hi tech denims
harked back to the too with houndstooths and prince of wales checks
zigzags and lots of hats umbrellas and glasses
biden calls for fair credible transparent iraq election
baghdad jan afp
us vice president joe biden said on saturday iraq march election must be
fair credible and transparent but insisted that washington would not interfere
in simmering row over barred candidates
biden landed in baghdad late on friday for hours of discussions aimed at
brokering compromise over controversial blacklist that has seen both sunni
arabs and shiites excluded just six weeks from the poll
the candidates banned from taking part are accused of membership or other
links to executed dictator saddam hussein outlawed baath party feared
fedayeen men of sacrifice militia or mukhabarat intelligence agency
the dispute has stoked tension between the shiite majority now leading the
government and the sunni arab former elite and has also exposed the failings of
much vaunted but apparently stumbling national reconciliation process
foreign minister hoshyar zebari told afp that biden early talks had focused on
general diplomatic relations between the two countries and security matters but
the elections had also been discussed
he made the point that they want to see transparent fair election that has
credibility both for the iraqi people and foreign people but how you do it is
your business said zebari who attended some of the meetings
zebari however stressed biden fully accepted that the dispute was for iraqi
leaders to resolve
everyone is aware that the time until the elections is closing and this issue
has to be resolved through legal means zebari said referring to an appeals
process through which barred candidates can have the decision reversed
prime minister nuri al maliki office quoted biden as saying he did not come
to iraq to seek any arrangement
president barack obama and strongly support the implementation of article
of iraq constitution that prohibits the baath party the vice president
said according to the statement
government spokesman ali al dabbagh added he biden clearly said that this is
an iraqi issue and he is not willing to interfere with the legal and
constitutional process
biden met maliki parliament speaker iyad al samarrai and the un secretary
general special representative for iraq ad melkert
he was also scheduled to meet president jalal talabani as well as senior
government ministers and cross section of other political leaders
senior white house aide earlier said biden was not wading into the row but
would listen and then give his advice if asked
we want to be as helpful as the iraqis want us to be in helping them resolve
these problems tony blinken biden national security adviser told
reporters
saleh al mutlak leading sunni mp and persistent critic of maliki shiite
dominated government is among those who have been barred maliki has denied
that sunnis have been targeted ahead of the election
the election row sparked flurry of contacts by biden in recent days aimed at
brokering compromise notably through president talabani who is kurd
biden proposed that the disqualifications be deferred until after the election
and that those candidates who have been barred condemn and disavow the baath
party and undertake to act through democratic means talabani said earlier this
week
elections chief faraj al haidari told afp more candidates could yet be barred
from the ballot with the defence and interior ministries publishing lists
naming individuals who have criminal records or false diplomas
biden has repeatedly voiced concern about lingering feuds between iraq shiite
sunni and kurdish communities causing obstacles to political progress
on friday the iraqi government said the disqualified candidates would have to
denounce saddam regime and its crimes in order to reintegrate into society
without specifically offering reinstatement on ballot papers
alpine skiing olympic eyes on vonn after cortina double
cortina ampezzo italy jan afp
all eyes at next month winter olympic games will be firmly set on lindsey vonn
after the american won her fifth successive world cup downhill race here on
saturday
it was the year old second win in two days after she had claimed victory in
the super on saturday and her eighth this season
vonn consolidated her lead atop the world cup overall standings ahead of
germany maria riesch
the american reigning world champion in the downhill and super clocked min
sec making up for sluggish top part of the course with an impressive
finish on the metre long course under brilliant sunshine
she finished sec ahead of maria riesch with sweden anja paerson and nadja
kamer of switzerland both in third at sec
was little nervous at the start because knew maria and anja had raced
really well said vonn
however am really pleased with my weekend and hope that continues on
sunday giant slalom
maria and are great friends and great competitors and we have shared several
podiums this season like in previous years
vonn played down any significance to change in skisuit for the olympic skiing
events at the canadian resort of whistler
have heard lot of talk about me having different skisuit for whistler
she said
we look at everything that can give us the tiniest advantage but honestly it
will change nothing in the manner that ski
if can gain several hundredths of second thanks to that the new skisuit
all for the better
the victory saw vonn go level with her childhood heroine and former us ski racer
picabo street who won five downhill races on the trot in the season
picabo street was my idol when was youngster did not know of her
records said vonn
to win five races is not as easy as that
you have to stay in top form there is lot of work that goes on behind the
scenes it is very hard both mentally and physically
austrian annemarie moser proell holds the record with eight consecutive
downhill victories in and over two seasons
germany to step up training of afghan security forces merkel
berlin jan afp
germany is to speed up the training of afghan security forces making this its
primary task in the country chancellor angela merkel said saturday ahead of an
international conference on afghanistan
we are going to focus our military mission principally on training security
forces merkel said in her weekly internet blog
germany is chiefly engaged in northern afghanistan and that is where we will
fulfil our training commitment in speedier and more concentrated manner than
hitherto she added
merkel said she would be meeting afghan president hamid karzai in berlin on
monday and tuesday to discuss how best to coordinate afghan and international
efforts
the chancellor was to address parliament on wednesday on the government policy
on afghanistan
berlin participation in the strong international forces fighting the
taliban insurgency where its contingent is the third largest behind the united
states and britain is deeply unpopular among germans
merkel made no mention saturday of sending more german troops to afghanistan
having previously said that she would take no decision on this score before the
london conference on thursday
however foreign minister guido westerwelle who would represent berlin at the
conference did not rule out boosting germany strong force in remarks to
be published sunday
ve never said that we would send no extra troops for example to train afghan
forces he told the bild am sonntag weekly but not giving blank
cheque
westerwelle also called for using the current contingent in the best way
afghan foreign minister rangin dadfar spanta told the daily tagesspiegel that
the training of troops and police must be strengthened
haven come to europe to ask for more soldiers he added we aim to take
full responsibility in every province in so that our allies serving in
afghanistan can go home
the aim was to have an army of well trained troops and police
he said
us envoy in afghanistan and pakistan richard holbrooke was quoted as saying by
the weekly der spiegel saturday that the strategy for afghanistan is settled
and the london conference would be to implement it
nordic skiing world cup results
rybinsk russia jan afp
results of the world cup pursuit race here on saturday km classical km
freestyle
justyna kowalczyk pol mins secs
evi sachenbacher stehle ger at sec
olga schuchkina rus
julia tchekaleva rus
irina khazova rus
evgenia medvedeva rus
stefanie hler ger
olga rotcheva rus
nicole fessel ger
claudia nystad ger
overall world cup standings after of the races
justyna kowalczyk pol points
petra majdic slo
aino kaisa saarinen fin
arianna follis ita
kristin steira nor
marit bjoergen nor
riitta liisa roponen fin
marianna longa ita
natalia korosteleva rus
olga saviolova rus
golf abu dhabi golf championship rd rd scores
abu dhabi jan afp
collated third round scores on saturday in the million euro abu dhabi golf
championship counting towards the european pga tour race to dubai
abu dhabi golf club par
martin kaymer ger
ian poulter eng rory mcilroy nir
peter hanson swe
alvaro quiros esp chris wood eng shane lowry ire
rick kulacz aus
edoardo molinari ita thongchai jaidee tha jamie
donaldson wal louis oosthuizen rsa rhys davies wal
sergio garcia esp anders hansen den richard green
aus otto hennie rsa soren hansen den ross
mcgowan eng
francesco molinari ita paul lawrie sco thomas
aiken rsa camilo villegas col anthony kim usa
three die in romanian cold snap
bucharest jan afp
wave of cold weather in romania has left three people dead since friday
authorities said saturday
in snow covered bucharest year old homeless man was found dead in the
street on saturday according to medical authorities in the capital
two other people died in the departments of arges south and bacau east the
health ministry said friday advising romanians to stay indoors to protect
themselves from the cold
in bucharest the ambulance services and the police are conducting joint patrols
to identify homeless people and lead them to shelters according to the samu
social ngo in romania about homeless people live in the capital
cold weather and blizzards have also caused problems for motorists mainly in the
south eastern region
several roads were closed including part of the highway linking bucharest to
the black sea port of constanta
car bomb attack kills four in nw pakistan officials
peshawar pakistan jan afp
suicide car bomb attack near police station in troubled northwest pakistan
killed at least four people on saturday police said
the attack took place in gomal kilometres miles south of the city of
tank neighbouring the taliban stronghold of south waziristan where pakistani
troops are battling islamist militants
the bomber struck outside the police station killing one policeman and
three passers by including two children district police chief ejaz abid told
afp
he said people including five policemen three passers by and three
prisoners in the police lock up were injured
this was car bomb attack which is reaction to the ongoing operation in
south waziristan region abid added
pakistan military has been focusing its most ambitious military offensive yet
against homegrown taliban militants in the tribal region deploying about
troops on october
despite the offensive attacks blamed on the tehreek taliban pakistan ttp
show no sign of abating with bombings increasingly hitting civilians
another senior police official ghazanfar hussain also confirmed the incident and
casualties
was busy in routine desk work inside the police station when large blast
rocked the entire building hussain said
he added that one of the outer walls of the police station collapsed from the
impact of the blast while big cracks appeared in other rooms of the building
attacks blamed mostly on the taliban have killed more than people across
pakistan since july concentrated in the northwest and major cities
islamists have carried out the bloody campaign to avenge military offensives and
the government unpopular alliance with the united states in the war against
the taliban in neighbouring afghanistan
foreign minister shah mehmood qureshi condemned saturday bombing and
emphasised that terrorism will never be allowed to succeed in its nefarious
designs foreign ministry statement said
such acts only strengthen our resolve to fight terrorism with more vitality and
the government and the people of pakistan are determined to root out this
menace it added quoting the minister
pakistan has seen security drastically deteriorate since joining washington
war on terror in and baulks at complaints from us lawmakers that it is
not doing enough to tackle militant groups
pakistan is also under us pressure to do more to eliminate taliban and al qaeda
linked militants along its western border with afghanistan
us defence secretary robert gates who was in pakistan on two day visit said
on friday washington had let down pakistan in the past and vowed to restore
trust with the vital ally in the fight against al qaeda
athletics tettenborn asks to have name removed from record
berlin jan afp
former east german sprinter gesine tettenborn has asked the german athletics
federation to remove her name from germany relay record after admitting
doping according to report
had become increasingly aware my name would remain forever associated with
this record unless did something tettenborn told weekly magazine der
spiegel
would in way feel responsible should young athletes use drugs in an
effort to try and beat this record
tettenborn competed under her maiden name of walther in the east german squad
which set the then world record of min sec which took three seconds off
the previous mark on june
the soviet union squad then broke the world record at the olympic games
lowering the record to min sec
the earlier record set by the east german squad has always been presented as
national record here but tettenborn wants not part of it anymore
it is clear that for some am now one of those who has dirtied the past but
had to do this for myself explained the year old tettenborn
she also admitted taking doping products to prepare for the olympic games
in moscow when aged just
my coach would have exploded in rage if had said did not want to take these
pills any more she said
another former gdr sprinter ines geipel has also made similar step asking
the german athletics federation to have her name removed from the world
club record
japan political kingmaker denies fund allegations
tokyo jan afp
japanese political heavyweight ichiro ozawa on saturday denied allegations that
he received an illegal donation in scandal that has rocked the centre left
government and refused to step down
want to fulfil my given duties ozawa said at hastily arranged news
conference after hours of questioning by prosecutors have nothing to hide
so told all the facts that remember
prosecutors are investigating whether ozawa secretary general of prime
minister yukio hatoyama democratic party of japan dpj took millions of
dollars in bribes from construction firms and invested the money in tokyo
property
prosecutors who are also investigating alleged financial irregularities within
his political funding group have raided his offices and arrested three of his
former or current aides
after weeks of refusals ozawa often dubbed the government shadow shogun
submitted to voluntary questioning on saturday afternoon by prosecutors at
tokyo hotel
have never received illegal money and am sure neither have my office
staffers he said in statement released shortly after the questioning
have not been involved with any of the bank transactions or the purchase of
the property as they were all done by secretaries he said don know the
specific details of the matter
ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted last
summer on the conservative liberal democratic party which had ruled japan with
only one interruption for more than five decades
the scandal has dealt serious blow to hatoyama who has seen his public
support slide rapidly ahead of national election in july seen as test of the
dpj ability to hold on to power over the long term
it also pits the dpj against the prosecutors seen by some party members as
fearless guardians of justice and by others as the legal spearhead of the old
establishment
ozawa has suggested the timing of the raids and arrests just before the
annual convention of his party last weekend and the start of the parliamentary
session earlier in the week was not accidental
would like to see prosecutors make fair and just investigation he said
hatoyama who is theoretically authorised to interrupt any probe by prosecutors
has since denied trying to strong arm investigators into going easy on ozawa
but the premier late saturday repeated his support for ozawa telling reporters
want to trust him as he said his hands are clean
ozawa veteran of japanese backroom politics has angrily professed his
innocence and publicly questioned the motives of the prosecutors
us research institute last week ranked ozawa third on list of the most
influential leaders shaping global politics in following chinese premier
wen jiabao and us president barack obama
nigeria mulls plan to use ship to supply crude to refineries
lagos jan afp
nigeria said saturday it was considering plans to use light vessels to supply
crude oil to its dormant refineries after years of attacks on pipelines by armed
militants in southern niger delta
we are considering the use of smaller vessels as alternative to supply crude to
the refineries reginald stanley the head of the state run agency managing the
nation crude oil and petrol pipelines said in radio programme
stanley managing director of the pipelines and products marketing company
ppmc said the nation two key refineries in warri south and kaduna north
had remained idle since the trunk supplying them crude was attacked by
militants in may last year
the two refineries accounted for about half of the nation total refining
capacity of barrels per day
he said that ppmc engineers have in the past two years repaired more than
leaks mostly caused by militants on two southern oil trunklines
the refineries are ready to run but they have no crude supplies and that is why
they remain idle said stanley
if the pipelines were not tampered with then the refineries will be working
it is matter of pipeline vandalisation spokesman of the state run nigerian
national petroleum corporation nnpc levi ajuonuma also said on the same
radio phone in programme
the vandals are our common enemies he said and urged the local communities
across the country to protect the pipelines which he described as national
assets
nigeria the world eight oil exporter has been importing most of its refined
petroleum products for more than decade to meet local demand due to the under
performance of its four refineries
attacks by niger delta militants especially since have added largely to
the woes of the country forcing it to import about percent of its needed
refined petrol
the country has also in the past two months been facing constant fuel scarcity
mainly due to non payment of arrears of subsidies to importers
serbian orthodox church enthrones moderate new patriarch
belgrade jan afp
serbia powerful orthodox church saturday enthroned bishop favouring closer
ties with the vatican as its new head in ceremony in belgrade cathedral
but the new patriarch year old irinej told the congregation including top
politicians and representatives of other denominations that the church first
duty was to support the serbian state in its efforts to recover the breakaway
province of kosovo
saturday ceremony was the first part of two stage ritual with the second
part planned to take place in the historic church at pec in western kosovo at
date which has not been fixed
albanian majority kosovo viewed by serbs as the heartland of their culture
declared unilateral independence nearly two years ago and its status has been
recognised by some countries
it is great day for me but also believe for our people and our church
irinej said
he was elected saturday by the bishops in the holy synod when his name was
plucked out of hat containing short list of three
irinej is considered moderate and has signalled his openness to improving
relations with the roman catholic church that have been strained for years
in recent interview he said pope benedict xvi would be welcome to visit
something that would have been unthinkable in serbia only few years ago
the new patriarch is also known to support church reform including ending the
use of the outdated julian calendar which means serbian orthodox christmas is
celebrated two weeks after other christians mark the birth of jesus christ
irinej succeeds patriarch pavle who died in november after long illness
under pavle rule the influence of the church steadily grew after the fall of
communism in the
according to observers irinej would have tough job filling the shoes of
pavle who was regarded as the highest moral authority among the million
serbs the vast majority of whom declare themselves to be orthodox
but serbian media saturday hailed his election calling him tolerant and
moderate stressing that he had been close to pavle
serbian prime minister mirko cvetkovic his deputy ivica dacic speaker of
parliament slavica djukic dejanovic and mayor of belgrade dragan djilas attended
saturday ceremony
president boris tadic sent message of support from new york where he is
attending united nations security council debate on kosovo
our first duty as church is to safeguard our kosovo holy and martyred
land to help our state to defend it from those who wish to seize it irinej
said
kosovo is our holy land our jerusalem he added we must go to pec to
complete this ceremony but can we visit our relics
without them serbia is not serbia without kosovo it is deprived of its heart
and soul
former croat minister in graft probe lawyer
zagreb jan afp
croatian authorities have launched probe into former vice prime minister and
economy minister his lawyer said on saturday
damir polancec has received this morning saturday at his home an
investigative order describing the criminal act for which he has been charged
lawyer anto nobilo said quoted by the state run hina news agency
more details would be available once the order was reviewed he added
the national bureau for the fight against corruption and organised crime uskok
said on thursday that within its probe into the podravka food company it had
opened an investigation into year old croatian national suspected of
illegal mediation
local media identified the man as polancec who resigned in october after uskok
began its investigation into podravka leading to the arrest of four top
officials from the company
according to podravka figures in its revenue amounted to million
euros million dollars while net profits were some six million euros
million dollars
the company which operates in eastern and central europe was privatised in
and the state owns percent stake
the fight against corruption is one of the key criteria croatia has to meet if
it wants to join the european union zagreb hopes to become the bloc th
member by
since october anti corruption operations have led to the arrest of more than
dozen of top officials from state owned companies seen here as hotbeds of
corruption
alpine skiing men world cup downhill results
kitzbuehel austria jan afp
men world cup downhill results here on saturday
didier cuche swi
andrej sporn slo
werner heel ita
mario scheiber aut
aksel lund svindal nor
hans grugger aut
ivica kostelic cro
didier defago swi
bode miller usa
natko zrncic dim cro
carlo janka swi
romed baumann aut
patrik jaerbyn swe
erik guay can
marco buechel lie
andrej jerman slo
silvan zurbriggen swi
erik fisher usa
marco sullivan usa
manuel osborne paradis can
