rwanda supreme court postponed the hearing of plea seeking the release of
former congolese tutsi rebel chief laurent nkunda statement from nkunda
family said thursday
nkunda lawyers in december complained to the supreme court that their client
continued detention first in gisenyi town in north western rwanda on the
border with dr congo and then in kigali was illegal
presiding judge aloysie cyanzaire said rwanda chief of defence staff james
kabarebe subpoened to attend wednesday hearing on the illegal detention of
laurent nkunda would be available on february at the earliest
consequently the court president delayed the hearing until march
more than days from today during which laurent nkunda will unfortunately
remain in detention the statement said
nkunda was arrested in gisenyi on january when he was head of rebel
national congress for the defence of the people cndp group according to
people close to him
in october nkunda men routed the congolese army in north kivu province
and threatened to take the strategic town of goma
but after shift in alliances the congolese and rwandan armies on january
launched an unprecedented joint operation targeting rwandan hutu rebels in
eastern dr congo which also resulted in nkunda arrest
would be pope assassin plans holiday after jail
ankara jan afp
the turkish gunman who tried to kill former pope john paul ii in will go on
holiday when he is freed next week from nearly three decades in jail his lawyer
said thursday
mehmet ali agca also wanted to travel to the vatican to visit the grave of
john paul ii who died in and to meet pope benedict xvi but this had
not been finalised with the vatican lawyer haci ali ozhan said
he will stay in hotel in ankara for two days and then rest in holiday
resort for two weeks after he is released on monday the lawyer said in
statement
agca may make statement on leaving prison but his comments to the media were
likely to be limited with film makers and publishers negotiating to tell his
story not wanting him to reveal too much the lawyer added
ozhan said his client had received more than book film and documentary
offers from across the world and negotiations were in the final stage
can tell you that there will be decision in one or two months after his
release the lawyer said
agca has been jailed in turkey since when italy pardoned him for the
assassination attempt on john paul ii and extradited him
he was on the run from turkish justice and facing murder charges when he
resurfaced at st peter square in rome on may and shot and seriously
wounded the pontiff
the motive for his attack remain mystery allegations that the soviet union
and then communist bulgaria were involved have never been proven
agca has claimed the attack was part of divine plan and given contradictory
statements and frequently changing his story raising questions about his mental
state
former member of the notorious far right grey wolves agca was convicted in
turkey for the murder of prominent journalist two armed robberies and
escaping from prison all dating back to the
urgent afghan blast kills civilians one police officer police
kandahar afghanistan jan afp
an explosion in crowded market in southern afghanistan killed civilians and
one police officer and injured several other people provincial police chief
told afp thursday
alert
fifteen civilians one police officer killed in afghan blast police
regional leaders meet on zimbabwe madagascar
maputo jan afp
key southern african leaders gathered in the mozambican capital maputo on
thursday for special summit on the political crises in zimbabwe and
madagascar
the security organ of the nation southern african development community
sadc known as the troika was scheduled to meet from pm gmt
thursday mozambican foreign ministry official told afp
the objective is to discuss security in the region said francisco siueia
leaders from botswana the democratic republic of congo malawi mozambique
south africa and zambia are expected to attend
spokesman for south african president jacob zuma said the meeting would focus
on zimbabwe and madagascar
the chairman of the troika will brief the summit on the progress thus far in
terms of the situation in zimbabwe as well as madagascar said vincent
magwenya
sadc has been working to resolve the ongoing disputes that have threatened to
derail zimbabwe fragile unity government and an aborted power sharing deal in
madagascar
the summit was announced just hours before it was scheduled to start but
many regional leaders were already planning to be in maputo to attend the
swearing in of mozambican president armando guebuza for second term
guebuza currently heads the troika which also includes swaziland and zambia
they will leave the ceremony go to lunch then meet for the summit said
foreign ministry official siueia he added that it was possible the meeting
would go late into the night
senior zimbabwe government official told afp that president robert mugabe
would attend the meeting however spokesman for mugabe partner in the unity
government prime minister morgan tsvangirai said he did not know about the
summit and that the prime minister would not attend
the summit follows meeting of sadc foreign ministers last week in maputo to
discuss the zimbabwe and madagascar crises
the regional bloc has been due to review progress in zimbabwe unity government
after special summit in november broke deadlock that threatened to sink the
deal
tsvangirai had withdrawn from his pact with mugabe over disputes about key
appointments and alleged harassment of his supporters but was persuaded to
rejoin after troika leaders intervened
south african mediators have since held talks in harare among the rival zimbabwe
parties to settle the differences threatening to derail the deal
rival leaders from madagascar which has been suspended from sadc were not
expected to attend the meeting
disagreements between the island nation four main political groups have
scuttled repeated efforts to end the impasse with de facto leader andry
rajoelina trampling on previous deals with rivals to form unity government
the army backed rajoelina who seized power in coup in march last month
fired consensus prime minister and named new one to replace him
discord over sharing government posts and drawing up an election timetable by
the four political parties led by rajoelina ousted president marc ravalomana
and two former leaders have also hobbled efforts to end the crisis
international mediators meeting at african union headquarters in addis ababa
last week called for elections in madagascar to end the prolonged political
crisis none of the island political foes were represented at that meeting
football mowbray move backfired says killen
glasgow jan afp
middlesbrough bound chris killen has taken parting shot at celtic coach tony
mowbray saying that vow to make new signings during the current transfer
window had upset many of his players
the new zealand sriker killen believes that the statement by mowbray may have
been aimed at motivating his underperforming squad
but instead it backfired and in his own case he came to the conclusion that he
had no future with the glasgow club
think what he said did upset lot of the players if we re being honest
about it and yes the feeling at the training ground lately has been bit
confused killen told the daily record
but that fine we re all professional football players and we realise that
this is what happens when new man takes over he comes in with his own ideas
and his own plans for the club he wants to bring his own men and that his
prerogative
maybe he was trying to ruffle few feathers by what he said maybe he was
looking to get positive response out of the guys who were there sometimes
manager needs to say certain things in order to get reaction and maybe that
what he was trying to do
killen was one of four players to leave parkhead on wednesday with barry robson
and willo flood joining him at middlesbrough and defender gary caldwell going to
wigan
he insisted he was reluctant to throw in the towel but added with the world
cup this summer knew had to do something to get myself some game time and
that why so delighted this opportunity has come up
of course there is concern that might end up moving down here swapping once
bench for another be lying if said that thought hadn crossed my mind
but still think ll have better chance of playing football here than
would have had at celtic
afp world news agenda
paris jan afp
what coming up around the world
aid flights land in haiti after quake tragedy
premiers meet over ireland political crisis
funeral of murdered iranian nuclear scientist
port au prince aid flights arrive in haiti as rescuers continue their search
for survivors of an earthquake which devastated the capital port au prince
haiti quake
london irish prime minister brian cowen holds talks with britain gordon brown
from gmt on political crisis in northern ireland after sex and cash
scandal nireland britain ireland politics picture
tehran funeral of iranian nuclear scientist massoud ali mohammadi killed in
bomb attack in tehran that the government has accused the united states and
israel of orchestrating picture iran unrest nuclear
abuja resumption of hearing in three legal cases challenging the prolonged
absence of ailing president umaru yar adua hospitalised in saudi arabia
nigeria politics health president court
bolzano italy argentinian football legend diego maradona earring goes up for
auction after being seized by italian tax authorities entertainment italy
argentina fbl maradona people picture
frankfurt the european central bank governing council mulls interest rates
amid growing eurozone crisis sparked by debt fears in greece portugal and
spain rate decision at gmt followed by presser at gmt picture ecb
eurozone bank rate forex money
haridwar india hundreds of thousands of hindu devotees take ritual bath in
india holy ganges river on the first day of the world largest religious
gathering india religion festival
kiev ukrainian prime minister yulia tymoshenko running second in the polls
ahead of this weekend presidential election holds news conference at
gmt ukraine vote picture
maputo southern african leaders hold summit from gmt to discuss crises in
madagascar and zimbabwe mozambique summit zimbabwe madagascar
stockholm new eu president herman van rompuy visits press conference with
swedish prime minister fredrik reinfeldt at gmt picture eu sweden
united nations un security council members debate somalia un somalia
washington us president barack obama gives details of new tax on banks which
could help curb risky wall street practices and recoup taxpayers dollars spent
in the bailout of the financial sector us economy obama
airbus partners hold crunch talks in london
london jan afp
delegates from the seven partner countries in the airbus military aircraft
programme were set to meet in london on thursday to address the soaring costs of
the troubled transport project
france said this week that it will do everything to save the airbus
project but germany appears reluctant to invest more cash and britain said
that it remains committed but not at any cost
turkey has already refused to plough more money into the programme
belgium luxembourg and spain are the three other countries involved in the
project and set to take part in the meeting at the british ministry of defence
european aircraft maker airbus and parent group eads were not invited
airbus has said it could pull the plug on the project unless it gets extra money
pledges by the end of the month warning that the failure of could hurt
the viability of the company as whole
airbus has employees with some working on the
the seven nations have ordered total of aircraft for some billion euros
billion dollars
the governments are meeting today and the will be discussed although my
understanding is that the meeting was originally proposed by britain to discuss
other issues said howard wheeldon senior strategist at bgc partners
whilst you may get leak later this afternoon would not actually look for
any formal statement
germany and france are the project biggest customers with and orders
respectively which means germany position will be crucial
key to moving forward from here is germany not britain added
wheeldon
guess that germany will be put under degree of pressure today but nothing
will emerge until they get back home and report back to german chancellor angela
merkel
overall still expect deal on price and quantity to emerge over the
next ten days or so
yemen will clear its territory of qaeda defence ministry
sanaa jan afp
yemen has vowed to clear its territory of al qaeda and has warned its citizens
not to cooperate with the extremists the defence ministry website said on
thursday quoting security source
yemen is determined to clear its territory of al qaeda members and intensive
operations against osama bin laden network will continue the sep net
website quoted the source as saying
citizens have been warned not to hide any al qaeda members and have been urged
to cooperate with the security forces against the extremists it added
massive aid needed quickly in haiti relief group
paris jan afp
massive humanitarian relief must start arriving in haiti no later than thursday
to save lives during the critical period immediately following the earthquake
the head of medecins du monde said
we are entering critical period there must be massive humanitarian aid
arriving this evening said olivier bernard president of the medical relief
organisation
to save lives surgery must be available ideally within the first hours he
told afp tuesday earthquake flattened much of the capital port au prince and
is feared to have killed about people
medecins du monde was to fly charter plane with tonnes of medical relief to
haiti on friday it had teams leaving from canada and martinique on thursday to
join staff in haiti
bernard said the aid effort was complicated by the fact that government offices
and the un headquarters had been destroyed
he said that on positive note non governmental organisations have been
active in haiti for the past years and have good knowledge of the terrain
we all know each other we all have designated zones of intervention he said
our team of seven french expatriates are safe and sound as is percent of
our haitian staff he said
our doctors are trying to locate our stock of medicines to begin distributing
them in the course of the day said bernard
the first thing that our teams did was take care of their families now they
are over the shock and will get to work
eurozone industrial output back in black eu
brussels jan afp
factory output across continental europe core euro currency zone rose by
sharp percent in november compensating for an october blip after run of
growth going back to may
the increase was twice that predicted by analysts polled by dow jones newswires
nevertheless official statistics released by the european union on thursday
showed that industrial production in the countries that use the euro was down
by percent compared to november
the respective figures for the full nation bloc which also includes the last
major economy still in recession britain and eastern industrial powerhouse
poland gave percent monthly rise and percent annual fall
the detailed data showed percent growth across the eurozone compared to
october for the production of durable consumer goods like fridges and
televisions but decline of percent for energy
on monthly basis production rose in of the member states for which
information was available but fell on an annual basis in of the with the
notable exception of poland which saw percent rise
country specific data for the biggest players showed france recording
percent increase over october after percent decline the previous month
and germany posting percent growth compared to percent decline
services dominated britain industrial production rose by percent after
flat october
europe jobless recovery was laid bare last week with data showing that one in
every workers across the continent core euro currency area is now
unemployed
during the same november period some more people lost their jobs
despite confirmation that europe emerged from recession in the third quarter of
with percent eurozone growth
china also surpassed euro powerhouse germany as the world leading exporter for
the first time
urgent yemen will clear its territory of qaeda defence ministry
sanaa jan afp
yemen has vowed to clear its territory of al qaeda and has warned its citizens
not to cooperate with the extremists the defence ministry newspaper said on
thursday quoting security source
bill clinton calls for aid helicopters for haiti
united nations jan afp
former us president bill clinton warned thursday of an unprecedented
humanitarian disaster in haiti and implored americans and others to open their
wallets to aid the quake stricken nation
early estimates indicate that nearly three million people almost third of
haiti population may need aid making this one of the great humanitarian
emergencies in the history of the americas clinton said the washington post
those who are still alive under the rubble must be found clinton the un
special envoy for haiti wrote in commentary
the bodies of those who have died must be taken away power must be restored
and roadways cleared he said of the horrific conditions in the capital port
au prince which took the full force of tuesday quake
but what haiti needs most is money for water food shelter and basic medical
supplies to bring immediate relief to those who are homeless hungry and hurt
clinton on wednesday launched fund for the destitute nation
we ve got to save as many lives as possible he said in speech to the un
general assembly amid fears haiti death toll could top
so the most important thing individuals who care can do is to send cash even
if it dollar or two
people could donate through the website of his clinton foundation at
www clintonfoundation org haitiearthquake or send dollars to un relief
efforts through cell phone texting program
at the united nations clinton warned that haitians would have to endure
another three or four really hard days of just clearing through the rubble to
find the living and those who have died
one of the things that we re worried about is that some people will die from
exposure from dehydration from their injuries who could be saved he said
which is why getting these search and rescue teams in there is so important and
why think it very important to realize that we are going through about
week here maybe even days to two weeks where the critical needs are
very simple food water shelter first aid supplies
he said un teams were working to get cell phone communications restored and
with many roads left impassable helicopters would play vital role in the aid
operation
if you can provide any of this emergency help if you can give us
helicopters if you can give us basic medical supplies we need that but
remember this is going to be long term process the former president said
transport planes could help fly in heavy digging and lifting equipment
especially from the dominican republic clinton said adding there was already
some in haiti but he was not sure it was in the capital
wall street lead lifts asia shares
hong kong jan afp
renewed optimism over an improving global economic picture helped most asian
shares rise thursday following stronger lead from wall street but fears
lingered over china monetary policy
sentiment was boosted by strong australian jobs data and wall street more
positive outlook on the earnings season shrugging off earlier disappointment
after broad sell off in the previous session was sparked by beijing move to
hike the amount banks must hold in reserves china gained percent
the shanghai composite index closed up points at
shares were also lifted by plans to encourage consolidation between telecom
broadcast and internet firms
however hong kong reversed earlier gains to end percent lower as some
policy sensitive banks and property developers fell with worries over further
tightening at the forefront of investors minds
hong kong ended the day points off at
china banks and developers may still witness some selling pressure ahead as
china policy risks still prevail linus yip at first shanghai told dow jones
newswires
sydney closed percent higher with sentiment buoyed by stronger than
expected jobs data and record breaking quarterly iron ore sales from mining
giant rio tinto
the benchmark amp asx index gained points to on bigger than
expected fall in australia unemployment rate to percent in december down
from november revised figure of percent
tokyo closed up percent as troubled carrier japan airlines jal pulled out
of tailspin after several days of heavy losses
the nikkei index climbed points to
jal shares rose one yen to close at eight yen following plunge of almost
percent over the previous two days sparked by signs that the debt ridden carrier
is close to filing for bankruptcy protection and delisting its stock
seoul closed percent higher with the kospi up points at
asia followed wall street lead after the dow jones industrial average rose
percent to close at
the us market shook off disappointing earnings report from aluminium giant
alcoa earlier this week while the federal reserve beige book report which
said the economy is seeing broader improvement in activity also boosted
sentiment
the euro was higher in asia as investors anticipated upbeat factory data from
the eurozone ahead of monetary policy meeting by the european central bank
the euro firmed to dollars in tokyo trade from in new york late
wednesday it also gained to yen from the dollar edged up to
yen from
oil rebounded in asia after an overnight plunge on key us department of energy
report that indicated weaker demand in the united states
in london trade new york main futures contract light sweet crude for delivery
in february rose cents to dollars per barrel
the contract had shed dollars in new york wednesday
london brent north sea crude for february gained cents to dollars
barrel
hong kong gold closed higher at us dollars from wednesday
finish of dollars
in other markets
singapore closed percent or points higher at
asian media giant singapore press holdings was up cents or percent at
dollars day after reporting its financial first quarter net profit
nearly doubled from year ago
taipei closed up points or percent at
the bourse recovered much of the ground lost in the previous session indicating
the upward trend of the market remains unchanged said chen yu yu of capital
securities
indonesia gained percent or points to
late profit taking by foreign funds in resources related shares offset some
gains of the main index trader said
bank danamon advanced percent to rupiah while car distributor astra
international gained percent to rupiah
kuala lumpur rose points or percent to close at
lower liners again dominated trade while latex glove makers continued to
attract strong buying interest dealer said
top glove gained percent to ringgit malaysia airports rose
percent to and malaysia airlines was down percent to
bangkok added percent or points to close at
energy giant ptt plc rose baht to baht and coal producer banpu
jumped baht to baht
manila closed percent or points higher at
first philippine holdings rose percent to pesos while philippine
long distance telephone gained percent to pesos
wellington ended flat with rises in sydney supporting an otherwise
lacklustre market
the nzx index rose points to
china property prices rise fastest in months
beijing jan afp
property prices in chinese cities continued to soar in december rising at the
fastest pace in months official figures released thursday showed
property prices in medium and large cities increased by percent in the
last month of from year earlier and percent from november according
to data from the national development and reform commission
the year on year growth was the sharpest rise since july according to
figures provided by the nation top economic planning agency
the southern boom city of shenzhen showed the greatest on year growth last month
with an percent jump the commission said
property prices have been soaring since june following slump dating from
december when the government tried to rein in runaway prices and as the
global economic crisis kicked in
beijing last year responded to the economic downturn with tax breaks easy bank
loans and lower down payment requirements to prop up the property sector which
accounts for more than percent of urban fixed investments
concerns have risen in recent months that speculators were creating property
bubble and that significant portion of the government billion dollar
stimulus package had been channelled into asset markets
the package was first announced in late to help china weather the global
economic downturn
the government on sunday ordered vigilance against real estate speculation in
move widely seen as the start of policy tightening cycle it also reaffirmed
that down payments on second homes must be at least percent
alert
yemen calls on citizens not to cooperate with qaeda
france to beef up aid to haiti
paris jan afp
president nicolas sarkozy called an emergency meeting thursday to intensify
french rescue efforts in haiti after massive earthquake devastated the
caribbean nation
france has flown rescuers sniffer dogs and tonnes of aid and rescue material
to help survivors in haiti where prime minister jean max bellerive has said the
death toll from tuesday quake may be as high as
this meeting is aimed at assessing the situation following the terrible
earthquake that hit tuesday and to intensify the already remarkable mobilisation
of the french authorities to save lives help the local population and french
expatriates on the ground the presidency said in statement
the meeting would also touch on reconstruction efforts after haiti most
immediate needs are met it said
sarkozy would meet with prime minister francois fillon and four other top
ministers and was due to issue statement at gmt
the magnitude quake was the strongest to hit haiti in more than century
cooperation minister alain joyandet who is responsible for french foreign aid
plans to visit haiti on saturday
alert
yemen will clear its territory of qaeda defence ministry
asean says china trade deal on track despite problems
danang vietnam jan afp
new regional trade pact with china is on track despite reservations from
countries such as indonesia the asean secretary general said thursday
the agreement between china and southeast asia took full effect on january
liberalising billions of dollars in trade and investments in market of
billion consumers
association of southeast asian nations asean chief surin pitsuwan said
indonesia trade ministry had sent asean letter expressing some
difficulties
but he said there had been no appeal for any change or any renegotiation of
the landmark pact to establish the world largest free trade area by
population
we want to know how much difficulty our member states are in but so far
think it manageable and the most important thing is to keep the momentum on
course he told afp on the sidelines of an asean foreign ministers meeting
indonesia has sent mixed messages over its position on the pact amid mounting
opposition from local industry groups who say hundreds of thousands of jobs
could be lost in flood of cheap chinese imports
indonesian trade ministry official gusmardi bustami said letter requesting
negotiations to delay full liberalisation on tariff lines for another two
years had been sent to the asean secretariat in jakarta on december
but trade minister mari pangestu has refused to confirm that formal request
for further protection had been sent saying only that she had informally
discussed the sensitive tariff items with asean
surin said the trade ministry letter gave some details of the situation that
they are facing with the private sector but made no direct appeal for action
he said he did not expect the matter to be discussed during thursday asean
meeting trade ministers may be exchanging views but not in order to
renegotiate or open up the issues again surin said
under the pact china and the six founding asean countries brunei indonesia
malaysia philippines singapore and thailand are to eliminate barriers to
investment and tariffs on percent of products
members that joined asean later including vietnam and cambodia have until
to follow
lanka govt helped india ruling party in election report
colombo jan afp
sri lanka stopped using heavy weapons against tamil tiger rebels to help the re
election bid of neighbouring india ruling party top official in colombo
said thursday
lalith weeratunga senior aide to president mahinda rajapakse said new delhi
requested the complete halt in the offensive against the tamil tigers because
it affected the tamil vote in the southern indian state of tamil nadu
weeratunga said rajapakse did not want to stop the offensive against tamil
separatists but was ready for compromise to help congress retain power
ok what do you want me to do to ensure victory of the congress party the
president had asked weeratunga said in video interview with colombo daily
mirror website
