figures from britain and politicians such as northern ireland deputy first
minister martin mcguinness and irish president mary mcaleese
brady who took over as primate following daly retirement in said
shameful revelations of abuse of children by catholic clergy last year had
brought the church in ireland to defining moment in its history
as we contemplate the manifold challenges which lie ahead for the pilgrim
church in the ireland which he daly loved so dearly and served so generously
we would do well to draw strength from his tireless spirit and his boundless
confidence he said
he said the abuse scandal had damaged trust so profoundly in the integrity of
the leaders of the church and this could only be restored through the humble
service of god people and the safeguarding of children
it will require complete commitment to the path initiated by cardinal daly of
working with the civil authorities and whole parish communities to ensure best
practice cooperation and accountability in safeguarding children in all church
activities he said
brady also paid tribute to daly commitment to peace in british controlled
northern ireland which endured three decades of civil conflict between
catholics and protestants that ended in the good friday peace deal in
he said daly had worked and prayed tirelessly for mutual understanding peace
and reconciliation and urged those in the province power sharing government
to continue to work for those aims
am certain that reconciled stable and sustainable future would be the best
monument you could build to his memory brady said
daly was credited with writing famous speech by pope john paul ii in in
which the then head of the roman catholic church appealed to the irish
republican army to end its violent campaign to end british rule
daly who lay in state in st peter cathedral in belfast from saturday until
monday was to be buried in the grounds of st patrick
record number of journalists killed in watchdog
geneva jan afp
record journalists were killed in countries in an increase of
percent from year ago watchdog said tuesday
on average journalists were killed per month by armed groups criminal
groups governments and in terrorist acts said press emblem campaign secretary
general blaise lempen
others were kidnapped or exiled and in many cases silenced while impunity
continues
the year was also marked by the worst massacre of journalists in history when
journalists were killed in november during an attack on an electoral convoy
in southern philippines maguindanao province
the philippines has therefore the highest media casualty numbers and together
with mexico somalia pakistan russia and iraq accounted for two thirds of the
casualty count in
in mexico journalists were killed amid the battle against drugs and
trafficking while in somalia nine were killed in the cross fire and terrorist
attacks
meanwhile in russia seven journalists were slain mostly related to the
conflict in the caucuses
some improvements have been observed in iraq compared to with six
journalists killed in
the pec is grouping of associations and unions from about countries
fearing arrests israel delays officers trip to britain
jerusalem jan afp
israel has delayed visit by senior military officers to britain over fears the
group could be arrested there on war crimes charges deputy foreign minister
danny ayalon said on tuesday
these officers were invited by great britain but they will stay in israel as
long as we do not have percent guarantee that they will not become objects
of criminal lawsuits in that country ayalon told public radio
in meeting with british attorney general baroness patricia janet scotland
later on tuesday ayalon protested the warrants and warned that this would
impede normal bilateral ties his office said
in december tzipi livni the leader of israel main opposition party kadima
and foreign minister during the gaza war year ago cancelled visit to
britain after an arrest warrant was issued against her by british court
sparking diplomatic row
british prime minister gordon brown has insisted that livni is welcome and has
voiced his determination to change the law that allows british courts to issue
warrants for alleged war crimes suspects around the world
the hamas rulers of gaza considered terror organisation by israel and the
west have said they were providing information to european lawyers
investigating alleged war crimes by israel during the gaza war
ayalon said he would discuss the matter on tuesday with britain attorney
general who is currently in israel on private visit
this legislation is often misused ayalon said it initially targetted nazi
criminals but terrorist organisations like hamas are today using it to take
democracies hostage
we have to put an end to this absurdity which is harming the excellent
bilateral relations between israel and britain he said
un fact finding mission to gaza last year said both israel and palestinian
militant groups were guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity
during the day war that ended on january with mutual ceasefires
the war which israel launched in response to rocket fire from the hamas run
territory killed some palestinians and israelis
us embassy in yemen reopens as clinton warns of instability
sanaa jan afp
the us embassy in yemen reopened tuesday after two day closure prompted by al
qaeda threats as us secretary of state hillary clinton warned unrest in the arab
country is threat to global stability
and as president barack obama top military spy chief in afghanistan blasted us
intelligence gathering as starved of information jihadists boasted that
suicide bomber who killed eight people at cia base there was an al qaeda
triple agent who duped western intelligence services for months
the us embassy said on its website that yemeni security forces had addressed
specific area of concern in the north of the capital on monday paving the way
for tuesday reopening
it was apparently referring to security operation conducted by yemeni police
monday in the area of arhab kilometres miles north of sanaa where two
suspected members of al qaeda were killed and three others wounded
warnings of possible al qaeda attack had led washington to close its embassy
in the yemeni capital on sunday the british and french authorities followed
suit while japan suspended consular services at its embassy full services at
the three latter missions have yet to be resumed
long standing concerns that yemen country on the southern tip of the arabian
peninsula has become haven for islamic terror groups were thrown into sharp
focus when nigerian man allegedly trained in yemen was charged with trying to
blow up us bound jet
the botched christmas day attack was claimed by al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula aqap which also urged attacks on western interests in yemen
obama was to hold talks tuesday with his intelligence and national security
chiefs on the failed bombing with an administration official telling afp that
obama would unveil an initial series of reforms following the meeting
the would be bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab reportedly confessed to
being trained by an al qaeda bombmaker in yemen for the suicide mission on the
northwest flight from amsterdam to detroit
it was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man underwear failed to
detonate and passengers jumped on him
clinton on monday warned of the potential threat to world stability posed by the
situation in yemen where the government is fighting al qaeda militants and at
the same time trying to squash shiite rebellion in the north and face down
separatists in the south
the instability in yemen is threat to regional stability and even global
stability she told reporters
and certainly we know that this is difficult set of challenges but they
have to be addressed
the bombing attempt triggered an overhaul of us terrorist watchlists and added
dozens more suspects to no fly lists
further boosting security measures all travellers coming from or via terror
linked countries will have to undergo compulsory enhanced screening
nigeria one of the countries named said on tuesday it will appeal to
washington to remove it from the list
justice minister michael aondoaaka said he had strong belief that after
arguing nigeria case the us will rescind that decision because nigeria is
not terrorist country and single incident that involves nigerian cannot
criminalise all nigerians
eu officials said in brussels meanwhile that european aviation security experts
will meet on thursday to discuss the fallout from the christmas day attack
the bid to blow up the jet and reports that the suicide attack on the cia base
in afghanistan on december was the work of an al qaeda agent shows the group
is using more sophisticated means to carry out attacks say observers
western sources cited by us media said jordanian intelligence services had
brought the bomber to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda
number two ayman al zawahiri believing he was their double agent
but instead he blew himself up at forward operating base chapman near the
pakistani border killing seven cia agents and his jordanian handler
both jihadist websites and western intelligence agents cited by nbc news
identified the bomber as humam khalil abu mulal al balawi who was arrested in
and then recruited by jordan but in reality continued to work for al qaeda
in an extraordinarily blunt report obama military spy chief in afghanistan
said us intelligence gathering there was starved of information which could
help wage successful war against insurgents
major general michael flynn recommended radical changes to an intelligence
apparatus which still finds itself unable to answer fundamental questions
about the environment in which we operate and the people we are trying to
protect and persuade
nigeria will appeal to us to reverse flight screening
abuja jan afp
nigeria will appeal to the united states to remove it from terrorism flight
watchlist drawn up in the wake of failed plot to blow up us airliner
justice minister michael aondoaaka said tuesday
aondoaaka told reporters he believed the us will rescind that decision because
nigeria is not terrorist country and single incident that involves
nigerian cannot criminalise all nigerians
washington on sunday introduced new security measures for passengers flying to
the us from countries after year old nigerian was accused of trying to
blow up northwest airlines jet over detroit on christmas day
nigeria information minister dora akunyili on monday described the move as
discriminatory and unfair
it is unfair to include nigeria on the us list for tighter screening because
nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies she said
she said the suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab was not influenced in nigeria
he was not recruited or trained in nigeria he was not supported whatsoever in
nigeria
three more found dead after avalanches in swiss alps
geneva jan afp
rescue services have found the bodies of three people who were missing after
series of avalanches hit the swiss alps bringing the death toll from the
disaster to seven officials said tuesday
can confirm that the three people buried under the snow have been found
dead bringing the death toll to seven marie christine repond spokeswoman
from swiss rescue services rega told afp
police from the bern region said the bodies were those of two men and woman
while they did not specify their nationalities police had earlier said that
german and two swiss were reported missing after the avalanches
the first avalanche hit on sunday around noon in central switzerland bernese
alps killing skier emergency services were searching for survivors when
another one struck half an hour later
eight helicopters carrying doctors rescuers and avalanche dogs were despatched
to the disaster site and pulled out eight people alive
some of the survivors were in critical condition and three died later in
hospital including doctor who had arrived to treat people following the first
avalanche among these first victims was german
rescuers also found the body of hiker buried in the snow police said in
statement
tennis favourite soderling knocked out of chennai open
chennai india jan afp
top seed robin soderling of sweden crashed out of the dollar atp chennai
open with an embarrassing first round loss against american robby ginepri on
tuesday
the world number eight failed to raise his game in his first appearance on
indian soil and lost to the th ranked ginepri in an hour and
minutes
soderling who ended rafael nadal reign at the french open last year on way to
his maiden grand slam final came to india after beating world number one roger
federer in abu dhabi last week
but ginepri attacked soderling consistently from the baseline before clinching
victory on his second match point as the swede netted deep return of serve
it great to start the year with an important win said ginepri who has
struggled to match his career best rank of in when he reached the semi
finals of the us open
robin has had fantastic run in the past year and one is never sure what to
expect in the first round against player of his calibre
but just wanted to serve and return well and it all came together in the end
am quite excited about this win
soderling conceded his game fell apart but brushed aside suggestions the heat
of chennai had sapped his energy
everything went wrong but the heat was not factor the swede said tried
my best but it was an off day was just not hitting the ball well
it is hopefully just one off thing
soderling said he was looking to play in another tournament before the
australian open which starts in melbourne on january
need to play few matches before the open maybe will play at kooyong an
exhibition event in australia
eighth seed rajeev ram of the united states also made an early exit after
defeat against dutchman thiemo de bakker
indian qualifier prakash amritraj fell in straight sets to american michael
russell while marcel granollers of spain came from behind to defeat james ward
of britain
spain to press eu cuba ties despite rejection of eurodeputy
madrid jan afp
spain said tuesday that havana decision to deny entry to spanish member of
the european parliament would not affect madrid push for new agreement on
eu cuba ties during its eu presidency
the cuban ambassador to spain alejandro gonzalez galiano was summoned to the
foreign ministry on tuesday to explain havana unjustified refusal to allow
eurodeputy luis yaneza to enter the communist island at the weekend
secretary of state for latin america juan pablo de laiglesia warned him that the
incident will not help the development of bilateral relations the foreign
ministry said in statement
it said galiano only response was that yanez was denied entry due to the
application of cuban domestic laws
spanish foreign minister miguel angel moratinos said the incident was not good
news think the cubans were wrong
yanez is not someone who is appreciated by the cuban regime towards which he
has had taken some critical positions but to go from that to expelling him
he told news conference
but the minister emphasised that the incident would not threaten spain
determination to convince its european partners to soften the eu position
toward cuba
chapter of dialogue has opened with cuba that it goes through highs and lows
is normal in period of transition moratinos said
isolation confrontation the embargo and the blockade on the cuban regime
has produced no result in years
madrid on friday launched its six month stint at the helm of the european union
seeking new bilateral agreement on eu cuba ties despite objections from its
two immediate predecessors sweden and the czech republic and cuban human
rights groups
it wants to see an end to the eu common position on cuba adopted in
which calls for progress on human rights and democracy before normalising
relations
what is important is that we can help this reform process in cuba move
forward said moratinos
if an agreement is possible very good if there is no european consensus
spain will continue to work in bilateral framework with havana
yanez is head of the european parliament committee on relations with the
south american trade bloc mercosur
source at spain ruling socialist party said he had travelled to cuba in
small plane on sunday accompanied by his wife spanish legislator carmen
hermosin who was given permission to enter the country both returned to spain
on monday
formula one paris court overturns briatore ban
paris jan afp
paris court on tuesday ruled in favour of former renault boss flavio briatore
and overturned lifetime suspension from motor sports imposed by formula one
governing body fia
the court cited irregularities in fia decision in september to ban briatore
for allegedly ordering nelson piquet junior to crash at the singapore grand
prix
the scandal centred on driver piquet junior claims that he had been ordered to
deliberately crash at singapore to enable teammate fernando alonso to win
briatore had fiercely denied any involvement in the scheme
greece ramps up drive to cut overspending ministry source
athens jan afp
greece decided on tuesday to speed up action to cut overspending down to eu
limits shortening the timetable by one year to finance ministry source
said
this means that greece has now set itself three years in which to reduce its
public deficit to the maximum ceiling permitted under the stability and growth
pact of percent of gross domestic product
the deficit the difference between spending on central welfare and local
government budgets and revenues is estimated to be percent of gdp now
the intended reduction is huge but shortly before christmas greece was hit by
financial crisis which also caused debate in financial circles about the
cohesion of the eurozone
credit rating agencies downgraded their ratings of greek debt the price of
government debt bonds used to finance the debt fell and the interest demanded by
lenders rose sharply
in addition the european central bank which manages monetary policy in the
eurozone of which greece is member and the european commission put intense
pressure on greece to produce revised budget to correct public finances and
restore national credibility on financial markets
senegal president visits gambia to warm up ties
banjul jan afp
senegal president abdoulaye wade arrived tuesday in banjul for hour
working visit to gambia to warm up relations between the neighbouring countries
officials said
gambia president yahya jammeh met wade at the airport then the two took roads
lined with flags of both nations towards the hotel in the city centre where the
senegalese delegation will be staying
many residents turned out to see wade who will be with jammeh to discuss
security and the economy and the situation in casamance where an armed
separatist movement has been active since according to an official gambian
source
gambia former british colony is small enclave in french speaking senegal
apart from its atlantic coast it divides the north from casamance which is the
southern province of senegal rebels of the casamance movement of democratic
forces mfdc have often used gambia as rear base
in as much as the two leaders hold their discussion the tendency is that not
much will come out of it gambian political analyst ebrihim samba told afp
the relations between the two countries have gone to stage that trust between
the two heads of states cannot be easily guaranteed
relations between the neighbouring countries were recently chilled by letter
attributed to gambian opposition figure kukoi samba sanyang who asked wade
early in november to help him overthrow the gambian government according to
gambian state media
sanyang is already accused of trying in august to oust gambia first
president dawda jawara he lives in senegal according to the gambian media
and gambian authorities accuse senegal of harbouring numerous other gambian
dissidents
during his visit wade will meet representatives of the senegalese community in
gambia which is estimated at about people
serbia wants to mediate in greece macedonia name row
belgrade dec afp
serbian president boris tadic on tuesday proposed to take on mediator role in
the almost year row between greece and macedonia over the name of the former
yugoslav republic
we are ready to take on the role of mediator in the conflict we want to be
part of the solution tadic said as quoted by the beta news agency
the serbian leader was speaking on the sidelines of meeting of ambassadors to
serbia which was also attended by greek prime minister george papandreou
greece has been opposed to international recognition of its northern neighbour
under the name of macedonia since the break up of yugoslavia in
athens considers the name macedonia part of its greek heritage because
northern greek province has the same name it already blocked skopje
membership of nato last year
united nations led negotiations on the name row have proved fruitless
macedonia has been an official eu candidate nation since december but has
not yet begun any of the detailed negotiations required prior to membership
in december the eu announced it had pushed back decision to allow macedonia to
enter membership talks to the first semester of such decision requires
unanimity from the eu members including greece
macedonia was allowed to join the un in under the provisional name of the
former yugoslav republic of macedonia fyrom
czech factory blast kills woman fire brigade
prague jan afp
steam accumulators exploded in czech factory early monday killing woman and
seriously wounding at least three other people the fire brigade said
the blast left one dead three to four seriously injured and lightly wounded
people spokeswoman martina zahourkova told afp
the dead woman was found behind truck that was damaged after two accumulators
containing hot steam exploded in the plant in the northern town of rudnik about
kilometres miles northeast of prague
the truck driver suffered serious injury the roof of the factory collapsed
causing the other injuries
the explosion was in an avon automotive plant which produces rubber parts for
carmakers and is owned by us based avon automotive holdings according to the
czech plant secretary
nigeria will appeal to us to reverse flight screening
abuja jan afp
nigeria will appeal to the united states to remove it from terrorism flight
watchlist drawn up in the wake of failed plot to blow up us airliner
justice minister michael aondoaaka said tuesday
aondoaaka said he had strong belief that after arguing nigeria case the
us will rescind that decision because nigeria is not terrorist country and
single incident that involves nigerian cannot criminalise all nigerians
washington on sunday introduced new security measures for passengers flying to
the us from countries after year old nigerian was accused of trying to
blow up northwest airlines jet over detroit on christmas day
football burnley resigned to losing coyle
london jan afp
burnley on tuesday accepted defeat in their battle to prevent their manager owen
coyle from leaving for premier league rivals bolton
in statement burnley said they were now negotiating the level of compensation
to be paid by bolton having reluctantly accepted that coyle was determined to
leave
burnley football club will now enter discussions with bolton wanderers football
club due to the fact that compensation between the two parties has yet to be
agreed statement said
coyle who played for bolton between and was club chairman phil
gartside first choice to succeed gary megson who was sacked last week after
just over two years in charge which finished with the club in the relegation
zone
bolton had interviewed coyle when megson was first appointed and it was
recommendation from gartside that led to him to being appointed burnley boss in
november following spells in charge of scottish clubs falkirk and st
johnstone
coyle quickly made his mark in england with burnley generating number of
upsets in cup competitions before winning promotion to the top flight for the
first time in years
although bolton are currently in the premier league bottom three coyle will
enjoy considerably greater resources there than he has done at burnley who are
only two points clear of the drop zone
football hamburg ze roberto blames family problems on late return
hamburg germany jan afp
hamburg former brazilian international ze roberto on tuesday blamed family
problems on his late return to germany following holiday in brazil
ze roberto was absent as hamburg jetted off to winter training camp in turkey
but offered an explanation on the club website
am sorry was unable to participate in the camp in turkey and did not give
club officials an earlier explanation for my late return said ze roberto
had serious family problems to deal with and had to sort them out on the
spot he added
hope to return to hamburg as soon as possible he went on stressing his
commitment to the club
the club have fined the year old summer arrival from bayern munich for
missing the start of the post winter break training he turned in strong
showings in the opening months of the season but injured his ankle in november
and is still recuperating
iraq cabinet approves four major oil field deals
baghdad jan afp
iraq cabinet approved on tuesday four deals with foreign energy firms to
dramatically ramp up the country oil output government spokesman ali al
dabbagh said
the agreements include one with anglo dutch giant shell and malaysia petronas
for the enormous majnoon field in southern iraq and come less than month
after baghdad auctioned seven contracts to foreign oil companies
the cabinet approved the contracts for the fields of majnoon garraf qaiyarah
and najmah dabbagh said in statement
that paves the way for contracts to be signed though it was not immediately
clear when this would take place
the four deals are among that iraq reached with foreign energy firms last
year though only one contract has so far been signed
shell and petronas will receive dollars per barrel of oil extracted from
majnoon which has known reserves of billion barrels they expect to
produce million barrels per day
at garraf petronas and japan japex will get dollars per barrel and
estimates output at bpd the field has proven reserves of million
barrels
angolan company sonangol will operate najmah and qaiyarah on its own receiving
six dollars and dollars per barrel respectively
it projects output at najmah which has reserves of million barrels at
bpd production at qaiyarah which has reserves of million barrels
is expected to be bpd
the iraqi government auctioned the four fields in december massively increasing
projected crude production to million bpd within seven years from current
output of around million
but security and dilapidated infrastructure remain key obstacles to baghdad
achieving that target
iraq has the world third largest oil reserves behind only saudi arabia and
iran with an estimated billion barrels
inflatable toad gives small guys the slip
paris jan afp
the female cane toad can pump herself up to mega size to throw off smaller males
striving to mate with her australian biologists reported on wednesday
the unusual tactic suggests that female anurans as frogs and toads are called
may have far more power to select their sex partner than thought according to
their study appearing in the british journal biology letters
female cane toads bufo marinus are typically choosier than males when it comes
to reproduction
they discriminate among potential mates by approaching the toad with the best
call
but as they head to rendezvous with the hunk with the mightiest ribbit they
also have to run the gauntlet of excited rival males
an unwanted suitor will seek to climb on the female back grasping her tightly
in the armpit or groin waiting until she starts laying her eggs in order to
fertilise them
this is where the pneumatic trick comes in say the scientists led by benjamin
phillips of the university of sydney
by inflating sacs in her body the female is able to loosen the grip and the
luckless male slides off her body defeated
as result the female is able to choose the size of her mate factor that is
important to the species says the team fertilisation among cane toads is most
successful when males and females are similar in size
phillips and his two colleagues worked on the small to xxxl hunch after noting
that the cane toad puffs itself up in the presence of predator to make itself
look scarier
female toads likewise inflate at copulation time but until now this was
presumed to be reflex to being pushed kicked and occasionally flipped over as
panting males wrestled for amorous contact
phillips team went to exceptional lengths to test their hypothesis
they inflated dead anuran with pump to measure the sacs air pressure
there was even touch of toad necrophilia male toads were given jolt of sex
hormones to encourage them to mate with dead females so that the scientists
could measure the strength of the copulatory grip
in the final phase nine living females were given tracheal surgery to prevent
them from inflating their body and turned out to be unable to shake off even
the smallest male
after the experiments the nine were killed humanely
the paper suggests that females in other species may similarly use defence
mechanism to help them choose mate
many of the traits that enable female to repel predator also allow her to
repel unwanted suitors and hence facilitate mate choice it notes
cane toads are notorious pest in australia the species indigenous to central
and latin america was introduced in to help control beetles that
threatened sugar cane crops
the creature has now spread across most of tropical australia killing native
carnivores including crocodiles snakes and lizards that cannot tolerate its
toxins and devastating native frogs and toads through habitat loss
corrected cia afghan base bomber was qaeda triple agent militants
