of two minority ethnic groups who supported karzai in the election and were
expected to be rewarded with high office were not nominated
but they could receive lower profile but still influential rewards for aiding
karzai re election possibly with positions at provincial level for their own
nominees the diplomats said
the international community deploys troops to fight taliban led
insurgency in afghanistan
up to more troops are due to arrive in the country over the course of
backed by thousands of civilians as the war strategy turns from
battleground tactics to development and aid
british opposition kicks off election campaign
london jan afp
british opposition leader david cameron on saturday kicked off his campaign to
become prime minister this year saying the country could not settle for five
more years under gordon brown
in speech focused on broad ideas rather than policy detail conservative party
chief cameron said the governing centre left labour party seemed set on fighting
class war at the next general election due by june
cameron said the conservative election campaign was up and running as of
saturday and the first chapter of the party manifesto would published next
week
the next general election is no more than days away and as far as
concerned it cannot come moment too soon the year old said in speech
in oxfordshire central england
let us make this the year for change the year when the positive defeats the
negative because one thing is absolutely clear we cannot go on like this
we need change to help this country back on its feet again and this change
needs to be based on two clear principles supporting aspiration and rewarding
responsibility
he attacked labour irresponsible economic policies which he said threatened
britain recovery from recession
we can go on with an old fashioned left wing class war on aspiration from
government that has actually seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
he said
we cannot go in these difficult times with weak prime minister and divided
government we cannot go on for another five years with gordon brown
cameron also unveiled plans for cross party war cabinet to oversee the
military campaign in afghanistan with opposition leaders invited into top level
meetings on regular basis to consider the war strategy
when nation is at war it needs to come together and to pull together
cameron said
the centre right conservatives last won general election in under prime
minister john major labour took power under tony blair in with brown
taking over in
if we win this year election britain will be under new economic management
cameron said
we will send out the loudest signal that this country is back open for business
and ready for investment
he said conservative government would redistribute power from the political
elite to the man and woman in the street with the most radical
decentralisation of power this country has seen for generations
ugandan rebel leader killed in central africa republic
kampala jan afp
ugandan troops killed leader of the lord resistance army effectively the
number two of the brutal militia in the central african republic military and
intelligence officials said saturday
the troops killed bok abudema north of the town of djema in the southeast of the
central african republic on friday defence and army spokesman lieutenant
colonel felix kulayigye told afp in kampala by telephone
this was new year gift to uganda kulayigye said he was notorious
commander but his life has come to an end
the lra first appeared in northern uganda in and have the reputation of
being among the most brutal rebel forces in the world using children as
soldiers and sex slaves
successive ugandan army operations have forced the group to move east into
democratic republic of congo sudan and the central african republic
intelligence officials told afp that abudema was effectively the second most
senior commander of the outfit led by war crimes accused joseph kony following
the wounding about year ago of deputy commander okot odhiambo
after odhiambo sustained serious injuries abudema took over as the overall
commander and deputy to kony one intelligence officer told afp
the rebel fighters we have captured know him as the person most senior after
kony until we got him the officer said adding to us at the moment he
odhiambo is immaterial because he is no longer threat
abudema was the only casualty of the raid that killed him but troops recovered
two women who had been with him kulayige said
there was no independent confirmation of his death
in november the same military spokesman said ugandan special forces killed
another senior lra commander okello kutti in the central african republic
near its eastern border with sudan
and in september he said the army had captured top bodyguard to kony in the
same country
the ugandan army has said it was pursuing the rebels in the central african
republic which has no border with uganda with that government permission
last month un human rights chief navi pillay demanded the capture of lra leaders
for crimes against humanity in new reports detailing an orgy of killings
torture and rape of hundreds of civilians by the group
the reports adding to the evidence of atrocities and lra abductions of hundreds
of women and children for use as sex slaves or porters said the rebel leaders
must be brought before the international criminal court
pillay office said about civilians were killed in dozens of lra attacks
in south sudan and the northern dr congo between september and june
it documented harrowing accounts of often carefully synchronised attacks on
villages where civilians were slaughtered with variety of bladed weapons or
guns mutilated tortured and raped
these attacks and systematic and widespread human rights violations carried out
by the lra may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity its report
on dr congo said
the international community including governments in the region should
cooperate with the international criminal court to search for arrest and
surrender the lra leaders accused of crimes against humanity it said
kony and two other leaders are wanted by the icc on counts of war crimes and
crimes against humanity
the rebels and ugandan government concluded peace negotiations in april but
kony has repeatedly failed to sign deal already inked by the government
spanish road deaths lowest since government
madrid jan afp
road deaths in spain fell to their lowest level for more than four decades last
year in sign that new road safety policies are working the government said
sunday
road accidents claimed the lives of people in spain in percent
less than the previous year and percent lower than in interior
minister alfredo perez rubalcaba said
it the sixth consecutive year of falling road deaths in spain he told
news conference you would have to go back to to find figure of less
than
the fall was particularly marked among drivers aged under which shows that
young people are more sensitive to issues of road safety he said
spain introduced driver licence penalty points system in july and at
the end of it stiffened penalties for traffic violations in bid to crack
down on speeding drink driving and other infringements and slash the number of
deaths on its roads
british opposition kicks off election campaign
london jan afp
british opposition leader david cameron on saturday kicked off his campaign to
become prime minister this year saying the country could not settle for five
more years under gordon brown
in speech focused on broad ideas rather than policy detail conservative party
chief cameron said the governing centre left labour party seemed set on fighting
class war at the next general election due by june
cameron said the conservative election campaign was up and running as of
saturday and the first chapter of the party manifesto would published next
week
the next general election is no more than days away and as far as
concerned it cannot come moment too soon the year old said in speech
in oxfordshire central england
let us make this the year for change the year when the positive defeats the
negative because one thing is absolutely clear we cannot go on like this
we need change to help this country back on its feet again and this change
needs to be based on two clear principles supporting aspiration and rewarding
responsibility
he attacked labour irresponsible economic policies which he said threatened
britain recovery from recession
we can go on with an old fashioned left wing class war on aspiration from
government that has actually seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
he said
we cannot go in these difficult times with weak prime minister and divided
government we cannot go on for another five years with gordon brown
cameron also unveiled plans for cross party war cabinet to oversee the
military campaign in afghanistan with opposition leaders invited into top level
meetings on regular basis to consider the war strategy
when nation is at war it needs to come together and to pull together
cameron said
the centre right conservatives last won general election in under prime
minister john major labour took power under tony blair in with brown
taking over in
iran issues ultimatum to west over nuclear swap
tehran jan afp
iran already at risk of fresh un sanctions over its atomic drive gave the west
an ultimatum on saturday to accept uranium swap deal or else it will produce
its own nuclear fuel for tehran reactor
the international community has just one month left to decide whether or not
it will accept iran conditions foreign minister manouchehr mottaki was quoted
as saying on state television
this is an ultimatum
iran which rejected december deadline to accept un brokered deal said
on tuesday it was ready to swap abroad its low enriched uranium for nuclear
fuel while insisting the exchange happen in stages
tehran had already rejected proposal by the un nuclear watchdog the
international atomic energy agency to ship most of its low enriched uranium to
russia and france for processing into fuel for the research reactor
it proposed in december to exchange kilograms pounds of uranium on its
gulf island of kish but this was bluntly dismissed by the united states with
the iaea already having ruled out an exchange on iranian soil
president mahmoud ahmadinejad told afp in december that iran was ready to strike
uranium enrichment deal if the west respects the islamic republic and stops
making threats
and mottaki said in the same month that the country was open to exchanging
uranium in turkey
world powers have been pushing iran to accept the un brokered deal and are also
mulling plans to impose fresh un sanctions against it for dismissing the year
end deadline
iran is already under three sets of un sanctions for refusing to abandon its
sensitive programme of uranium enrichment the process which produces nuclear
fuel or in highly extended form the fissile core of an atomic bomb
the united states israel and other world powers suspect tehran is making an
atomic bomb under the guise of civilian nuclear programme
iran denies the charge and says its purpose is entirely peaceful
on wednesday us state department spokesman darby holladay said the west would
still focus on dual track policy regarding the islamic republic
even as we leave the door open to engagement world powers agree that iran
will pay the consequences if it does not meet its international nuclear
obligations darby told afp
the un security council five permanent members the united states russia
china france and britain plus germany are in the process of considering
next steps consistent with our dual track policy he said
un diplomatic source in new york has said preliminary work on drafting
sanctions resolution was likely to begin in mid january
iran defiant ultimatum comes as the country faces its worst domestic crisis
whereby protesters against ahmadinejad june re election have been harshly
confronted by the authorities
the washington post said on wednesday the united states was weighing targeted
sanctions against members of tehran government as it hardens its line towards
iran after bloody crackdowns on protests
but italian foreign minister franco frattini told corriere della sera newspaper
on saturday that europe must not isolate iran over human rights stressing
tehran role in negotiating world conflicts
we must not burn every bridge with iran because iran is key figure for the
afghan crisis for the crisis in the middle east and over the very sensitive
nuclear question frattini said
we must act so that iran has positive influence on all these issues so
that it is strength it is respected and not concern frattini said iran
has the right to be civil nuclear power not military one
afghan parliament rejects most of karzai cabinet nominees
kabul jan afp
afghanistan parliament on saturday rejected the majority of president hamid
karzai nominees for cabinet posts state television showed
of total of nominees only seven were approved in secret ballot by more
than parliamentarians in process that appears to have undermined the
president authority
of the nominees introduced to parliament seven have succeeded in getting
your vote of confidence parliamentary speaker mohammad yunus qanoni said after
the counting ended
the seven nominees who won approval included those who had been approved by
karzai supporters in the international community as competent and clean
technocrats
those rejected included warlord ismail khan whom karzai nominated for the
post of water and energy minister widely seen as reward for supporting karzai
during the fraud tainted august presidential election
also rejected surprisingly was the only woman nominated to cabinet post
incumbent women affairs minister husn banu ghazanfar who lost out by just two
votes according to the televised count
approved were defence agriculture interior finance education culture and
mines and industries
karzai had been hoping to finalise his cabinet before an international
conference scheduled to take place in london on january to discuss the future
of afghanistan
kabul university law professor nasrullah stanikzai said the high rejection rate
showed that karzai had not thoroughly thought out his list compiled under
intense pressure from his international supporters before presenting it to
parliament last month
karzai did not think clearly enough about the list he was presenting he was
under lot of pressure said stanikzai
ministries without approved ministers would be run by deputy ministers until
nominees were approved he said adding that the high rate of rejections would
have negative effect on those ministries leading up to the london conference
on the other hand the high rate of rejections shows that parliament has risen
above internecine considerations that have plagued afghan politics in the past
such as tribal issues and ethnic divisions he said
berlusconi health satisfactory doctor
rome jan afp
italian prime minister silvio berlusconi recovering from an attack that broke
his nose and two teeth underwent medical check up saturday and was in
satisfactory condition doctor said
berlusconi was attacked in milan on december by man said to have
long history of psychiatric troubles who hit him in the face with miniature
model of milan cathedral
he came for check up of the break of his nasal bone doctor alberto
zangrillo told the ansa news agency
he said berlusconi had respected medical advice not to engage in any public
activity including cabinet meetings for the days after the attack
berlusconi spokesman paolo bonaiuti said the controversial premier would be
back in the public eye probably at the end of next week adding that the
billionaire media magnate likes being with people
corrected attacker nearly got me danish cartoonist says
copenhagen jan afp
somali attacker accused of trying to kill danish cartoonist over his
depictions of islam prophet mohammed very nearly succeeded the victim of the
attack was quoted as saying saturday
kurt westergaard said the axe wielding attacker managed to enter his home and
was just on the other side of the door of secure panic room the attacker was
screaming revenge and blood in poor danish he said
hid in the secure room when he entered into the house knew had no chance
of stopping him so called the police westergaard told the website of the
jyllands posten newspaper
it was horrible the most important thing was that had the reaction to secure
myself but it was close very close
denmark internal security service pet said the attacker was somali national
close to the somali shebab movement and al qaeda
westergaard had received several death threats since danish newspaper four
years ago published his drawing featuring mohammed wearing turban in the shape
of bomb
saudi fm says israel behaves like spoiled child
riyadh jan afp
saudi foreign minister prince saud al faisal said on saturday that israel acts
like spoiled child and stalls middle east peace talks thanks to easy
international treatment
we can reach solution with the preferential treatment that israel gets
prince saud told news conference in reply to question on restarting the
peace talks with the palestinians
in the international community israel has become like spoiled child he said
after holding talks with turkish counterpart ahmet davutoglu which included
ample discussion of the palestinian israel problem
the two foreign ministers called for israel to halt all settlement expansion
activities to enable peace talks to move ahead
there should be freeze on the settlements in all the occupied territories and
especially east jerusalem davutoglu said
the palestinians and their supporters maintain that israel continued building
and expansion in settlements has blocked efforts from early last year to restart
negotiations for an independent palestinian state
the two ministers whose countries have played important roles in trying to
relaunch the peace process called on the international community to take
stern and serious stance against israel settlement policy
this policy casts doubt on israel seriousness in the peace process prince
saud said
he also said an international double standard had allowed israel to get away
with war crimes without providing further details
other countries who violate international law are punished said the saudi
foreign minister
israel along with palestinian militants have been accused of committing war
crimes and possible crimes against humanity during israel day assault on
the gaza strip last year
the attack which began on december left palestinians
including more than minors and israelis dead
the saudi turkish discussions on the palestinian problem came four days after
palestinian president mahmud abbas and saudi king abdullah held talks on the
same issue and ahead of an expected trip to the region by us middle east peace
envoy george mitchell
mitchell could bring with him draft letters of guarantee to israel and the
palestinian authority that washington hopes would get talks moving again an
arab diplomat in cairo told afp on monday
the united states is hoping that the two letters will serve as basis for the
relaunch of israeli palestinian negotiations but we don know if they will
satisfy the palestinians who want complete freeze of settlement activity
before talks resume the diplomat said
washington is under pressure from the palestinians supporters including key
regional us allies saudi arabia and egypt to take firmer line against israel
and its settlements policy
tennis nadal wins gulf exhibition tournament
abu dhabi jan afp
rafael nadal got his year off to winning start when he defeated robin
soderling in the final of the capitala world tennis championship
exhibition tournament here on saturday
soderling had beaten nadal in their two previous atp tour meetings ending the
spaniard reign in the french open and then dumping him in the world tour
finals and he was the more aggressive of the two in the opening set
but it was nadal who had the first two break points of the final at only for
the big swede to pull through thanks to some big first serves
nadal then also saved two set points from down in the following game
before forcing the tie break which he comfortably won on the back of some
typically stunning defensive work
soderling needed to save another break point to avoid going down in the
second before levelling at
but two games later he handed nadal two more break points with weak volley at
the net and the former world no banked the second of these when the swede hit
wide
the door was wide open for nadal but soderling belied the tournament
exhibition status by digging deep to break back in the following game before
levelling at
the swede then saved three match points two games later with an angled volley to
get to but nadal was by now well on top and he finished off the tiring
swede at
nadal next heads to nearby doha where he will open the atp regular season as
second seed to roger federer while soderling travels to chennai in india where
he will be the top seed
afghan parliament rejects most of karzai cabinet nominees
kabul jan afp
afghanistan parliament on saturday rejected the majority of president hamid
karzai nominees for cabinet posts state television showed
of total of nominees only seven were approved in secret ballot by more
than parliamentarians in process that appears to have undermined the
president authority
of the nominees introduced to parliament seven have succeeded in getting
your vote of confidence parliamentary speaker mohammad yunus qanoni said after
the counting finished
the seven ministerial nominees who won approval included those who had been
approved by karzai supporters in the international community as competent and
clean technocrats
those rejected included warlord ismail khan whom karzai nominated for the
post of water and energy minister widely seen as reward for supporting karzai
during the fraud tainted august presidential election
shk lod bsk
german businesses abuse scheme to save jobs
berlin jan afp
german courts are investigating businesses over suspected fraud in the
short time working programme put in place by the government to protect jobs the
weekly spiegel would report monday
the kurzarbeit scheme allows firms hit by recession to cut costs by keeping
staff at home or shortening their hours but without having to fire them
the state pays up to percent of worker salary for period of up to two
years and over one million workers are covered by the scheme
the federal labour agency had found suspected cases following provisional
assessment and after further checks cases were passed to prosecutors
according to spiegel
eighty percent of the cases related to businesses with less than employees
the short time working programme has allowed germany to limit the waves of
redundancy during the economic downturn
in november german unemployment dipped to percent of the workforce
somali charged with attempt to kill danish cartoonist
copenhagen jan afp
somali man was charged saturday with the attempted murder of danish
cartoonist whose caricatures of the muslim prophet mohammed sparked riots and
protests around the world
the axe wielding year old broke into kurt westergaard home late friday
screaming for revenge and blood the cartoonist hid in panic room with
five year old granddaughter and called the police
the suspect is alleged to have thrown the axe at one of the policemen who
arrived on the scene just missing him then attacked with knife before being
shot and wounded in the arm and thigh
he was brought bandaged into court at aarhus northwest denmark saturday on
stretcher wearing hospital gown and covered with blankets the ritzau agency
reported
he was charged with double attempted murder court spokesman said adding
the suspect was remanded in custody for four weeks the first two of them in
solitary confinement
the accused who has not been named had one arm bandaged leg in splint and
towel over his face to avoid identification media reports said while
describing him as bearded with shaved head
denmark pet intelligence agency said he was linked to somalia radical shebab
islamic movement and leaders of al qaeda in east africa he lives on the danish
island of seeland where the capital copenhagen is located
westergaard is one of cartoonists whose drawings on islam were first
published in danish newspaper jyllands posten in september his cartoon
depicted mohammed wearing turban in the shape of bomb
the cartoons were considered offensive by many muslims and their publication
sparked violent protests worldwide in january and february as well as
string of death threats
westergaard was clearly shaken by the attack at his home at viby near
aarhus
he described on the jyllands posten website how the attacker smashed the front
door with the axe screaming revenge and blood in poor danish
hid in the secure room when he entered the house knew had no chance of
stopping him so called the police westergaard said
it was horrible the most important thing was that had the reaction to secure
myself but it was close very close
bent preben nielsen chief police inspector for east jutland told afp that
police who went to the scene fired at the aggressor as he threatened them with
the axe and knife hitting him in the hip and the right hand
the person arrested has close links with the somali terrorist organisation
al shebab as well as with the heads of al qaeda in east africa denmark
intelligence service said
he is also suspected of being implicated in terrorist activities when he was in
east africa the individual arrested has also been member of terrorist
network implanted in denmark that has been under surveillance by pet for long
time
somalia radical islamic shebab group hailed the attack
we appreciate the incident in which muslim somali boy attacked the devil who
abused our prophet mohammed and we call upon all muslims around the world to
target the people like him shebab spokesman sheikh ali muhamud rage told afp
in mogadishu
it is general obligation for all muslims to defend their religion and the
prophet he really did what was to be done by any other muslim he said while
not directly confirming the suspect links to shebab
the protests over the cartoons saw demonstrators burn danish flags and torch
danish diplomatic offices in damascus beirut and tehran while dozens of people
died in rioting in nigeria libya and pakistan
two tunisians were arrested in denmark in on suspicion of planning to
murder westergaard but released without trial after they appealed government
order for their expulsion on national security grounds
internet hackers last april attacked website run by denmark free press
society selling prints of westergaard controversial cartoon the group
director lars hedegaard said
despite the hacking hedegaard said close to of the signed prints
had been sold over half of them to foreign buyers for dollars apiece
denmark muslims make up percent of the population and are the
country second largest religious community
urgent afghan parliament rejects most of karzai cabinet nominees
kabul jan afp
afghanistan parliament on saturday rejected most of president hamid karzai
nominees for cabinet posts state television showed
tennis nadal wins abu dhabi exhibition tournament
abu dhabi jan afp
result of the final of the capitala world tennis championship exhibition
tournament here on saturday
final
rafael nadal esp bt robin soderling swe
alert
afghan parliament rejects most of karzai cabinet nominees state tv
football storrie hopes portsmouth players will be paid next week
portsmouth england jan afp
portsmouth chief executive peter storrie is confident the premier league club
players will be paid their december wages on monday or tuesday
for the third time this season financially troubled portsmouth the premier
league bottom club have been unable to pay their players
but storrie insists pompey saudi owner ali al faraj and his directors are
close to agreeing loan that will allow the salaries to be paid this week
my understanding is it is additional loans they are currently in the process of
dealing with storrie told bbc radio solent
it is obviously not the best situation in the world that you can pay the
players wages
they the owners were looking to bring major bank loan in and that what
has slowed the process up they are trying to do that now
my understanding from them is that there is short term loan coming in to pay
the wages and the players wages should be paid on monday or tuesday believe
that is our understanding
spain to boost european counter terrorism report
madrid jan afp
spain intends to use its six month presidency of the european union to reinforce
coordination against the threat of terrorism the el pais newspaper said
saturday citing government officials
spain which took the rotating presidency on january has proposed creating
european counter terrorism coordination committee and several countries have
already said they would participate the daily said
the countries were belgium britain denmark france germany portugal and the
netherlands the paper said citing unidentified interior ministry officials
the new body would allow improved counter terrorism intelligence sharing in
europe it said
madrid would host meeting of european counter terrorism authorities on january
and it added
failed attempt to blow up us airliner on christmas day has fuelled fears of
