the ruling followed hearing held on may
iran accuses us israel of murdering nuclear scientist
tehran jan afp
leading iranian nuclear scientist was murdered in tehran on tuesday in rare
bomb attack that the government quickly blamed on mercenaries in the pay of
archfoes the united states and israel
the killing in broad daylight 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
massoud ali 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 eviln 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 united states and israel saying
their respective intelligence services were likely behind 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
his car
tehran university basij or voluntary islamist student militia said
mohammadi named had been included on an international blacklist linked to
iran atomic drive
dr massoud ali mohammadi whose name was on the list of sanctioned individuals
was one of the outstanding professors of tehran university physics
faculty the statement said as cited by the official irna news agency without
elaborating
the students were referring to sanctions imposed by the united nations united
states and european countries on individuals and institutions linked to iran
nuclear programme
the basij militia organisation also condemned the assassination calling
mohammadi basiji professor
martyr ali mohmmadi was one of the successful professors of the imam hossein
and tehran university who was martyred by agents of the global arrogance
after years of endeavour in the path of science and technology state
television website quoted the organisation statement as saying
imam hossein university is under the elite revolutionary guards
bomb attacks are rare in iran although several security officials and members of
the elite revolutionary guards have been killed in bombings by rebels in the
restive eastern province of sistan baluchestan
witness told afp tuesday explosion was strong blast breaking windows in
neighbouring houses and cars
iran state run arabic language television al alam identified mohammadi as
hezbollahi teacher term used for staunch supporters of the iranian
regime
this assassination may have been carried out by the hypocrites iran exiled
people mujahedeen opposition or planned by the zionist regime al alam said
the opposition group denied any involvement in the attack
the ncri has no connection with this murder spokesman for the national
council of resistance of iran which includes the people mujahideen told afp
in paris
iranian authorities have consistently accused archfoes the united states and
israel of seeking to foment unrest in iran and the two countries have never
ruled out military strike to thwart iran controversial nuclear drive
none of the reports said whether ali mohammadi was connected to iran nuclear
enrichment programme and colleague described him as non political
he was prominent full professor but he was not political figure he had no
political activity ali maghari who heads the faculty of sciences at tehran
university told mehr news agency
however ali mohammadi name appeared on list of academics backing iranian
opposition leader mir hossein mousavi for the disputed june presidential
election which gave president mahmoud ahmadinejad second term
the opposition claims the vote was massively rigged in ahmadinejad favour for
the past six months it has been staging anti government protests at every
opportunity many of which have been broken up by police who have arrested
hundreds of demonstrators
iran has been under international pressure to halt its sensitive uranium
enrichment programme which is at the centre of fears about iran ambitions as
the process which makes nuclear fuel can also be used to make atom bombs
despite three rounds of un security council sanctions iran has continued to
expand its nuclear programme which it insists is for peaceful purposes only
the us russia china britain france and germany will meet late this week to
discuss further round of sanctions against iran us secretary of state hillary
clinton said last week
centr african president hampering peace process icg
libreville jan afp
president francois bozize of the central african republic is hampering progress
towards peace and free elections due this year the international crisis group
said tuesday in report
the icg warned that bozize and his supporters were undermining efforts to end
insurgency and bring peace to the deeply poor landlocked country by failing to
follow through on agreements reached in national dialogue
the president has balked at making changes that could weaken his control of the
military and state resources said edward dalby crisis group analyst
because of this intransigence year that could have seen significant progress
on the reform agenda has been marked by more intense political confrontation and
continued violence
the icg said that the organisation of elections on the basis of national
consensus should be the priority of the first months of the government in
bangui has announced no date for the polls but set up an independent electoral
commission by presidential decree in august
the non governmental organisation based in brussels recommended that the
elections be held in april unless technical preparations and the security
situation do not allow in its report entitled central african republic
keeping the dialogue alive
the dialogue in question is the national one opened by the regime which was
welcomed by the icg for its achievements and for bringing most of the nation
rebel groups to the negotiating table but the report was critical of what had
happened since
concrete set of agreements that included rebel disarmament and security
sector reform was welcome step towards greater stability however the
political process has since then stalled bozize has not allowed his adversaries
to participate meaningfully in the government and resisted other governance
reforms meanwhile the delay in disarming rebel groups that have already signed
peace agreements has allowed more armed groups to emerge
the icg urged bozize to negotiate with the remaining rebel group as the only
feasible course of action in the interest of security across the country but
the report also called on the united nations peacebuilding commission and on
international donors to help
donors should make clear to the government that if it does not display clear
commitment to credible elections they will hold back the civil servant salaries
that constitute one of bozize strongest sources of popularity in the
capital the icg said
bangui has seen many strikes by civil servants because of salary arrears that in
some cases amounted to several years of backpay the government is dependent on
international assistance to meet some of its budgetary obligations
the icg report noted that the talks in the capital would help determine what
happened in the country outlying districts
until the government respects the method of consensus in which the dialogue was
held and makes genuine changes in governance insecurity will hamper any efforts
to establish state authority in the provinces said daniela kroslak deputy
director of the crisis group africa program
it must be made clear that the president best interest is to allow his
opponents greater involvement in state affairs and thereby reduce their
temptation to take power by force
weak start to earnings season weighs on wall street
new york jan afp
wall street shares slumped tuesday after disappointing quarterly results from
alcoa to kick off the corporate earnings season injected some caution in the
market
the dow jones industrial average slipped points percent to
at gmt as blue chips pulled back from month closing high
hit monday
the tech heavy nasdaq composite shed points percent to and
the broad standard amp poor index retreated points percent
to
many global markets were trading lower in response to alcoa results seen as
harbinger of the earnings season and the health of the corporate sector
the aluminum giant the first of the blue chip companies to release financial
results reported quarterly loss of million dollars excluding one time
items the company posted profit of one cent per share well below market
expectations
patrick hare at briefing com said alcoa failed to generate confidence either
with its top line revenues or bottom line profits
it was an inglorious start to the fourth quarter earnings reporting season as
dow component alcoa fell short of analysts consensus earnings estimate he
said
alcoa top line weakness speaks to the reality that the economic recovery
isn as strong as the stock market might lead one to think it is
others pointed out that the market was skittish in the wake of comments from the
administration of president barack obama on possible new fee or tax on
financial institutions to help recoup taxpayer bailout funds
this announcement may further dampen the near term prospects for the stocks of
the huge global money center banks that received and have paid back bailout
funds from the treasury said fred dickson at da davidson amp co
most of the stocks of the largest banks peaked in august and failed to
participate in the stock market rally seen over the last three months
banks led the decliners citigroup slumped percent to dollars wells
fargo dropped percent to dollars and jpmorgan chase shed percent
to
bank of america declined percent to dollars after the us stock market
regulator the securities and exchange commission moved to expand its charges
against the financial giant for hiding information from investors about its
acquisition of merrill lynch
cit declined percent to dollars after the business lender which
recently emerged from bankruptcy protection said it is seeking new chief
executive
bonds rose amid the renewed caution the yield on the year us treasury bond
eased to percent from percent monday while that on the year bond
declined to percent against percent bond yields and prices move in
opposite directions
budapest public transport on strike
budapest jan afp
strike shut down much of public transport in budapest tuesday triggering
major traffic jams around the city and looks set to continue wednesday with no
agreement reached unions said
management at budapest public transport company bkv have not come up with
new offer the unions aren going to take step backwards said trade union
spokesman gabor nemes
talks were scheduled to resume at am gmt wednesday with the
walkout to continue in the morning hours
fourteen of trade unions joined the walkout including the bus drivers
union after wage talks failed between the city and bkv
only out of bkv buses were operating several tram lines were not
working or subject to delays but the capital city three underground lines
were running without disruption bkv said
bkv workers launched the strike after negotiations on new agreement regulating
salaries had failed spokesman nemes told hungarian newswire mti
the cash strapped budapest public transport company announced in december it
would cut back on extra payments to workers
the largest rail union announced it would also go on strike in solidarity with
bkv workers but did not say when
rallying coma wins second successive dakar motorcycling stage
santiago jan afp
spaniard marc coma won his second successive motorcycling stage on the dakar
rally when he took the th leg on tuesday kilometres special from la
serena
coma who is out of contention for the overall title having been penalised six
hours over the weekend beat frenchman david fretigne by min sec
another frenchman cyril despres who was sixth on the stage over six minutes in
arrears remains the clear overall leader
the battle for the remaining podium places looks set to be intense in the
remaining four stages ahead of the finish in buenos aires
chilean francisco lopez winner of two stages gained over two minutes on
overall second placed pal ullevalseter of norway who has slender lead of
under two minutes over him
portuguese rider helder rodrigues who was third in the stage is less than
minute behind lopez in the overall standings
scottish leader raps british lockerbie deal bid
london jan afp
scottish leader alex salmond attacked the british government on tuesday for
having tried to include the lockerbie bomber in prisoner transfer deal with
libya
salmond whose administration drew fierce us criticism for releasing
abdelbaset ali mohmet al megrahi on humanitarian grounds last year said the
attempted deal by then premier tony blair government was mistake
it was mistake because it raised an expectation by the libyan government that
mr megrahi would be included in such prisoner transfer salmond said
referring to negotiations on deal which was eventually sealed in
it was mistake because it cut across the due process of scots law because
one of the provisions of prisoner transfer is that legal proceedings would have
to come to an end
it was mistake because it cut across what we believe to be prior
agreements with the united states government and the relatives he added in
grilling with british lawmakers in london
documents released last september revealed that london initially opposed
including megrahi in the prison transfer agreement pta due to opposition from
scotland but changed his mind citing wider negotiations with tripoli
at the time talks on the ratification of huge oil deal between bp and libya
had become bogged down the million dollars deal was ratified in january
and the pta was signed later that year
megrahi was jailed in over the attack which left people dead but was
controversially released from his scottish prison in august because he was
suffering from terminal cancer and only had months to live
the us administration and families of us victims of the bombing condemned the
decision by scotland devolved executive in particular after megrahi was given
what was seen as hero welcome in libya
the scottish executive justified the libyan release on the grounds that he has
cancer and was forecast to have only three months to live when he was freed
abbas calls for settlement freeze for fixed period
ramallah west bank jan afp
palestinian president mahmud abbas on tuesday said for the first time that he
might restart peace negotiations with israel if it froze settlement expansion
for fixed period
we will not accept the relaunching of negotiations without complete halt to
settlements including in jerusalem for fixed period abbas told reporters
in the west bank town of ramallah
it was the first time abbas appeared to accept some kind of temporary settlement
freeze after months in which he insisted on total halt to settlement growth
pending final agreement on borders
the united states has for months been pressing israel and the palestinians to
relaunch peace negotiations suspended during the gaza war in december and
january
after months of us pressure israel hawkish prime minister benjamin netanyahu
ordered month moratorium on new construction in the occupied west bank but
excluded public buildings and projects already under way
the moratorium also excluded annexed arab east jerusalem which israel considers
part of its eternal indivisible capital but which the palestinians have
demanded as the capital of their promised state
the palestinians rejected the moratorium when netanyahu announced it in november
as being insufficient for the relaunch of talks
the presence of half million israelis in more than settlements scattered
across the occupied west bank including east jerusalem has been one of the
thorniest issues in previous rounds of peace talks
msf slams italy over plight of african migrant workers
rome jan afp
the humanitarian group medecins sans frontieres on tuesday slammed italy over
the plight of african migrants in the south of the country where racial violence
broke out last week
rosarno is not an isolated case said loris de filippi of msf italian
branch referring to the calabrian town where authorities helped some
migrants to flee to safety after two days of unrest
everyone the authorities and employers is aware of the miserable
conditions of these immigrants throughout southern italy illegal immigrants
work for us in situation that resembles slavery de filippi told news
conference there is widespread hypocrisy
hardly anything has changed for the thousands of seasonal immigrants since we
began work on the issue in de filippi said
each year our humanitarian workers return to the same places and witness the
same horrible conditions he said
it is high time that the italian authorities set about improving conditions for
the seasonal workers de filippi added
alessandra tramontana an msf medical official said conditions were often
worse than in refugee camps in africa
seasonal workers are victims of perverse economic and political system that
exploits them and at the same time tolerates them but then criminalises them
msf said in report
according to the italian statistical institute istat on tuesday more than
quarter of the workers in calabria are undocumented
the figure for the whole southern region is around percent it said
eu commissioner to be backs turkish membership
brussels jan afp
would be eu enlargement commissioner stefan fuele on tuesday backed turkey bid
to join the bloc rejecting the kind of lesser privileged partnership
relationship mooted by some member states
privileged partnership is not on the table for turkey which is currently in
slow moving negotiations to join the european union fuele said
austria france and some german politicians have called for such relationship
rather than full membership for the large and mainly muslim nation which some
see as outside the european template
fuele former czech communist was answering questions from members of the
european parliament during hearing on his suitability for the post as part of
jose manuel barroso next european commission
fuele recognised that ankara accession talks are proceeding at glacial pace
due in part to its perennial differences with the divided island of eu member
cyprus
he said it was therefore necessary to inject little credibility into the
process on both sides for turkey to proceed more quickly with reforms and for
the europeans to take the process more seriously
yes it difficult he admitted but cautioned that there was no better lever
to helping turkey modernise and reform its society
confident that at the end of the process it will be new modern and
reformed turkey whose accession to the eu will be to the benefit of both the
european union and turkey he stressed while adding that he understood the
differing views on this issue
asked if he could envisage turkey as an eu member he answered simply yes
can
it about the credibility of the european union but also first of all about
turkey fulfilling all the criteria for becoming member
he promised to report back to the european parliament by the end of the year on
turkey persistent refusal to open its borders fully to greek cypriots
eight of the policy chapters which candidates must negotiate remain totally
blocked due to ankara failure to open its ports and airports to cyprus
cyprus has been divided since when turkey occupied the north in response to
an athens engineered coup in nicosia aimed at uniting the island with greece
turkey began eu accession talks in but has no promise of eventual
membership
fuele candidature as eu enlargement commissioner appeared to be generally well
supported in the chamber which will on january approve or reject barroso
member commission as whole
gsk says it will cut germany swine flu vaccines order
london jan afp
british drug maker glaxosmithkline said tuesday it had agreed to cut the amount
of swine flu vaccines that had been ordered by germany
today gsk confirmed that it has reached an agreement with the german ministry
of health to amend its existing contract to receive approximately percent of
the ordered vaccine equivalent to million doses the group said in
statement to the london stock exchange
the pharmaceuticals giant added that it was in ongoing discussions with other
nations regarding its pandemic vaccine
following declaration of the pandemic by the world health organization in june
gsk has been working closely with governments to respond to their changing
needs as understanding of the pandemic has increased it said
the company is currently in ongoing discussions with number of governments
regarding their specific pandemic planning needs including governments who are
changing their planned immunisation programmes
gsk added that many countries were amending their vaccine orders because one
dose appeared to be sufficient to give strong immune response
at the start of the pandemic and based on previous experience immunisation
programmes were expected to consist of two doses of vaccine the firm said
however data from subsequent clinical trials demonstrating strong immune
response from one dose of the vaccine have resulted in some public health
authorities adapting their recommendations for immunisation
it added the clinical trial programme for vaccines is ongoing and data
continues to be made available
earlier this month germany said it wanted to sell to other countries millions
of spare swine flu vaccines because of fewer people than expected coming forward
to be injected
argentina pledges to repay debt despite bank row
buenos aires jan afp
argentina pledged tuesday to meet billion dollars in debt payments due this
year despite being blocked from tapping into the reserves of the country
central bank
the debt will be paid in independent of the state of the judgement in
government suit seeking the removal of central bank chairman martin redrado
cabinet chief anibal fernandez told local radio
redrado who has held the post since sought the protection of the courts
after president cristina kirchner ordered him to be fired for refusing request
for billion dollars in reserves to meet the nation debt payments
argentina congress dominated by opposition parties has questioned the
emergency decrees issued by kirchner last week firing redrado and creating the
so called bicentennial fund
by not understanding the measures being taken we would be losing no less than
million dollars for every million dollars that we would place in the
market fernandez said in defending the creation of the debt fund
judge maria jose sarmiento who blocked the decrees and has reinstated redrado
while she considers the matter has pledged to reach decision quickly on the
dispute
retrial in deadly german ice rink disaster
berlin jan afp
germany federal appeals court ordered on tuesday the retrial of surveyor who
had given clean bill of health to hall housing an ice rink that collapsed in
killing people
the engineer who helped build the hall in the alpine resort town of bad
reichenhall received an month suspended sentence for manslaughter in november
but the court acquitted the surveyor and an architect sparking anger from
victims families
the roof caved in the day after blizzard dumped snow on bad reichenhall on new
year day it fell like house of cards according to one witness onto
the rink which was packed with skating children enjoying school holiday
twelve youngsters most of them teenagers and three women were killed while
another people were injured six of them seriously when they were hit by
falling debris
the architect acquittal was not challenged
china did not notify us before anti missile test pentagon
washington jan afp
china did not notify the united states in advance of missile defense test and
washington has asked beijing to clarify its intentions with the intercept
weaponry the pentagon said on tuesday
we did not receive prior notification of the launch said pentagon spokeswoman
major maureen schumann
we detected two geographically separated missile launch events with exo
atmospheric collision also being observed by space based sensors she said
after china announced successful test of its missile intercept system
the us is requesting information from china regarding the purpose for
conducting this interception as well as china intentions and plans to pursue
future types of intercepts she said
analysts described the test as show of china advanced air defence
capabilities amid tensions over us arms sales to taiwan
us officials have repeatedly urged china to be more open about its military
spending and programs to avoid possible misunderstandings
china raised international concerns in when it destroyed one of its own
orbiting satellites with missile
this week test came soon after us official in taipei said the pentagon had
approved the sale of patriot missile equipment to taiwan as part of package
passed by congress more than year ago
beijing which considers taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take
the island back by force if necessary has repeatedly voiced its opposition
to the sales and urged washington to cancel the deal
china had warned at the weekend that it reserved the right to take unspecified
action if washington followed through with the sale which it called severe
obstacle to china us military ties
spain posts drop in domestic violence victims in
madrid jan afp
spain saw sharp reduction in the number of women killed by their partner or
ex partner in the government said tuesday in sign that measures taken
to fight domestic violence are working
the figure fell by more than percent to from in equality minister
bibiana aido said
although there are four ongoing investigations that could lift the number to
it would still be the lowest domestic violence toll since when women
were killed she told news conference
the women who were killed in are reasons to continue to work
intensely to fight domestic violence however fewer deaths over are
reasons for hope she said
prime minister jose luis rodriguez zapatero socialist government has launched
number of initiatives since coming to power in to address the problem of
domestic violence in spain
law that came into force in the first of its kind in europe established
special courts and treatment centres for female victims of domestic violence
three years later the government passed measure ensuring that all men served
with restraining order by their former partners would be fitted with
electronic tags
two special phone numbers were also set up one for men to channel their
aggression and another for women who have been assaulted by their partners
study found that as many as million spanish women had been victims of
domestic violence at least once in their lives
in november aido said spain plans to create european observatory on domestic
violence during its presidency of the european union during the first half of
kazakh osce leadership will be judged on rights austria
vienna jan afp
kazakhstan leadership of the organization for security and cooperation in
europe will be judged by the former soviet republic progress in human rights
the austrian government said tuesday
kazakhstan took over the leadership of the osce on january the first former
soviet republic to chair the nation transatlantic security body after making
promises of democratic reforms
the success of the kazakh chairmanship will be judged not least on how
determined kazakhstan pursues its osce commitments in the area of human rights
democratisation and the state of law austrian foreign minister michael
spindelegger said after meeting his kazakh counterpart kanat saudabayev
in december the director of the osce office for democratic institutions and
human rights janez lenarcic said we have concerns about the situation of
human rights media and other areas throughout the region including
kazakhstan
while conceding that no state is without problems lenarcic said clearly
there is challenge for the incoming chairmanship whether they will be able to
lead by example
saudabayev is to outline astana priorities in speech on thursday to the
osce permanent council in vienna and plans to host summit of the
organisation during the year
kazakhstan which takes over the reins from greece has been criticised in
recent months for sentencing yevgeny zhovtis prominent rights activist to
four years in prison over his role in fatal car accident and for raids on
well known independent newspaper
in november human rights watch called on osce members to put more pressure on
the country to do more to protect the freedom of the press and improve human
rights
kazakhstan ranked out of countries on media watchdog reporters without
borders annual worldwide press freedom index last year
last month also saw the murder of kyrgyz opposition journalist in the kazakh
financial capital of almaty gennady pavlyuk was apparently thrown from the
sixth floor window of an apartment with his hands and feet bound with duct tape
on wednesday kazakhstan angrily denied that it planned to sell purified uranium
ore to iran calling media reports to this effect groundless insinuations
the reports prompted warning from the united states that such transfer was
prohibited under un sanctions on iran
japan gunman kills himself after shooting two people police
tokyo jan afp
middle aged man killed himself after shooting two people dead with shotgun
on tuesday in bar in suburban city outside osaka western japan police
said
another man was injured in the shooting at around pm gmt in hibikino
city an osaka prefectural police spokesman said
