the capital honiara left monday night to assess damage in the region about
kilometres miles west of the capital of the south pacific nation
there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries following the quakes and
tsunami on monday
another magnitude aftershock had rattled the region tuesday morning and
aftershock late monday sent villagers fleeing for higher ground said the
director of the solomon islands disaster management office loti yates
the quake frightened lot of people into running away from their coastal
villages yates said
he added that landslides had occurred on rendova and tetepare islands following
the quake and an earlier tremor
we are still waiting for the latest reports since the survey of the area
yesterday yates said
the office said damage was caused by the earthquakes and tsunami of up to
eight feet almost metres according to officials in the region
officials reported monday that at least homes had been damaged or destroyed
but yates said these were all in the morovo lagoon area and further damage on
rendova and tetepare was still to be assessed
rendova is home to around people according to unicef which is rebuilding
schools on the island following an april tsunami that killed people
in the region destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands
unicef pacific representative isiye ndombi said rapid response teams had been
sent to rendova and tetepare largely uninhabited island except for an eco
tourism venture
it will take several days however until we know the full extent and
consequences of this tsunami because these islands are very remote and difficult
to access ndombi said
turkey rounds up kurds for links to rebels
ankara jan afp
turkish police tuesday detained people in simultaneous operations across
four provinces targeting an urban group accused of collaborating with armed
kurdish rebels anatolia news agency reported
anti terror police rounded up the suspects in dawn raids on locations in the
southern provinces of mersin gaziantep and hatay and the eastern province of
adiyaman the report said
they were all brought to gaziantep city for questioning it said
about people among them kurdish mayors were detained in similar raids last
month
the operations target an underground kurdish group which is known as the urban
arm of the separatist kurdistan workers party pkk and is accused of organising
pro pkk protests and street violence in the southeast
the pkk listed as terrorist group by turkey and much of the international
community took up arms against ankara in sparking conflict that has
claimed about lives
in august the government announced plans to expand kurdish freedoms in bid to
erode popular support for the pkk and end the insurgency
but the initiative took serious blow last month when seven soldiers were
killed in pkk ambush and the constitutional court outlawed turkey main
kurdish party for links to the rebels sparking deadly kurdish protests and
street violence
us overhauls terror watchlists
washington jan afp
president barack obama unveils new security reforms tuesday after christmas
day bomb plot prompted us review of intelligence gaps and an overhaul of
terrorism watchlists
obama who has denounced systemic intelligence failures in the bombing
attempt was scheduled to meet tuesday with us intelligence chiefs on findings
of two reviews into nigerian man bid to bring down us bound jet
an administration official told afp the president would unveil an initial
series of reforms following the meeting
the talks will focus on reviews of the botched attack on northwest flight as
it approached detroit as well as improved intelligence sharing
there already been rescrubbing of all the different lists white house
spokesman bill burton told reporters referring to watchlists of those with
suspected terrorist ties and the narrower list of those barred from boarding us
bound flights
probably thousands upon thousands upon thousands of names were scrubbed and
probably dozens were moved to different lists
obama has directly linked the al qaeda network responsible for the september
attacks on the united states to the bid to blow up the northwest jet
carrying people
nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate explosives
as the plane was approaching detroit from amsterdam but the explosives failed
to detonate properly and he was overpowered by passengers
the administration has ordered tightened security measures for incoming
passengers
travelers flying to the united states from or via countries including iran
nigeria and yemen will undergo mandatory enhanced screening the new measures
drew protests from some of the countries singled out
it is unfair to discriminate against over million people because of the
behavior of one person said nigeria information minister dora akunyili
cuba official communist party daily granma blasted the measures as anti
terrorist paranoia
cuba is among four countries along with iran sudan and syria currently deemed
by the state department to be state sponsors of terrorism all are subject to
the rules as are the other countries of concern
prominent us muslim rights group criticized the move as ethnic profiling
while singling out travelers based on religion and national origin may make
some people feel safer it only serves to alienate and stigmatize muslims and
does nothing to improve airline security said nihad awad executive director
of the council on american islamic relations
obama received review into the incident from the cia monday and met with his
top counterterrorism advisor john brennan
brennan has defended the nation security agencies saying there had been
no smoking gun that could have helped unmask the plot earlier despite warnings
from abdulmutallab father wealthy nigerian banker
fbi agents in ghana have also probed abdulmutallab stay there amid
allegations he bought his ticket for detroit in that country
obama says abdulmutallab spent time in yemen during the summer where he was
allegedly in contact with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula which has claimed
responsibility for the thwarted attack
secretary of state hillary clinton meanwhile called instability in yemen
global threat the us embassy in yemen reopened on tuesday after having shut on
sunday due to al qaeda threats
on the eve of obama security meeting at the white house the us intelligence
community received harsh jolt from one of its own
in scathing report obama military intelligence chief in afghanistan major
general michael flynn blasted intelligence gathering there as an ignorant
flawed operation with us officers ignorant of local economics and landowners
hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced and
disengaged from the people in the best position to find answers
cia afghan base bomber was qaeda triple agent militants
amman jan afp
suicide bomber who killed eight people at cia base in afghanistan was an al
qaeda triple agent who duped western intelligence services for months before
turning on his handlers jihadist websites boasted on tuesday
the jordanian intelligence services believing the bomber to be their double
agent brought him to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda
number two ayman al zawahiri the websites and western intelligence agents
cited by us media said
but instead he blew himself up at forward operating base chapman in khost
province near the pakistani border killing seven cia agents and his jordanian
handler top intelligence officer and member of the royal family
the deaths of the seven agents marked the us central intelligence agency worst
single loss of life since the bombing of the us marine barracks in beirut in
and president barack obama was to hear scathing report on us
intelligence gathering in afghanistan later on tuesday
jordanian media gave no details of how captain ali bin zeid died even though
king abdullah ii queen rania and virtually the whole royal family turned up at
his funeral
the slain officer family said that bin zeid had been in afghanistan for
days and had been due to return home on december the day he was killed but
even on monday officials continued to deny any jordanian involvement in the
international coalition there
both jihadist websites and western intelligence agents cited by us network nbc
news identified the bomber as humam khalil abu mulal al balawi alias abu dujana
al khorasani
balawi was arrested in late and then recruited as double agent by the
jordanian intelligence services but in reality continued to work for al qaeda
they said
he ran blog http abudujanakharasani maktoobblog com on which he posted
calls for jihad holy war and martyrdom that the jordanian authorities
presumably regarded as cover for the role of double agent
the blog was still available on monday but was inaccessible on tuesday
he spent months travelling between afghanistan and pakistan and fed the
americans the information that the mujahedeen jihadists wanted them to
receive the ana muslim am muslim in arabic website boasted
every time that the reports which he gave proved accurate their confidence in
abu dujana rose
balawi was taken to the cia base in khost because he claimed to have urgent
information about zawahiri the website said
he was not searched as he went in because cia agent boasted he is our man
so there is no need the website claimed
the bomber then pretended to detail plans for mooted operation on piece of
paper and asked the intelligence agents to gather round to look before blowing
himself up the website said
jordanian islamist sources said that balawi was doctor by profession and
married father of two
he was born in the impoverished amman satellite city of zarqa hometown of al
qaeda in iraq leader abu musab al zarqawi who became infamous for series of
videotaped beheadings of western hostages before his death in us air strike in
june
the penetration of the base in khost reportedly major base for covert
operations along the afghanistan pakistan border was setback for already
under fire us intelligence agencies
obama was to hear blistering assessment of their capabilities later on tuesday
from his top military spy chief in afghanistan major general michael flynn
in the report which was published by washington think tank ahead of the
meeting flynn urged 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
us intelligence officers he said are starved for information from the field
so starved in fact that many say their jobs feel more like fortune telling
than serious detective work
the problems flynn stressed in the document are less environmental than
attitudinal cultural and human
hamas pledges loyalty to arabs saudi minister
sharm el sheikh egypt jan afp
exiled hamas leader khaled meshaal has assured saudi arabia his movement is
loyal to arab states the kingdom foreign minister prince saud al faisal
said on tuesday
asked khaled meshaal whether the movement stood with arabs or with others
prince saud said referring to iran strong regional backer of hamas the
islamist group that rules gaza
meshaal insisted that hamas was an arab movement and that the palestinian
question was an arab issue the saudi minister said at the red sea resort of
sharm el sheikh after talks with egyptian president hosni mubarak
the exchange between prince saud and meshaal occurred on sunday during visit
by the hamas leader to saudi arabia
sunni saudi arabia and shiite non arab iran have been traditional rivals in the
middle east
tensions have recently mounted between the two as saudi arabia accuses iran of
supporting huthi rebels in northern yemen which the kingdom has fought along
its border with yemen
prince saud visit to egypt is part of string of regional meetings aimed at
reviving peace negotiations between israel and the palestinians which have been
stalled for year
palestinian president mahmud abbas and jordan king abdullah ii were in egypt
on monday for talks with mubarak week after visit by israeli prime minister
benjamin netanyahu
on sunday in riyadh meshaal said egyptian led talks aimed at reconciling the
palestinian islamist movement and its rival fatah were close to bearing fruit
us president barack obama has repeatedly called on israel and the palestinians
to resume peace talks but the palestinians have demanded israel first freeze
all settlement activity and commit to framework for the talks
the palestinians have insisted the borders of their promised state encompass all
of their land israel occupied in including mostly arab east jerusalem
which israel later annexed in move not recognised by the international
community as their capital
hamas takeover of gaza in which shrank abbas powerbase to the west bank
and deepened palestinian divisions has also hampered peace talks with israel
cricket south africa build lead lose prince
cape town jan afp
opening batsman ashwell prince failed for the second time in the match as south
africa set out to build on slender first innings lead on the third day of the
third test against england at newlands on tuesday
south africa were for one at lunch an overall lead of
prince out for nought in the first innings made before he was leg before
wicket to off spinner graeme swann seventh ball of the innings
england were all out for in their first innings earlier losing their last
three wickets for runs in six overs it gave south africa lead of runs
fast bowler morne morkel took wickets off successive balls in the first over of
the day to complete his second five wicket haul in tests he finished with five
for
morkel had the right handed swann and the left handed james anderson caught at
first slip by south african captain graeme smith off fast lifting deliveries
matt prior hit boldly to take his overnight score from to before he was
bowled off bottom edge when he shaped to pull dale steyn who had figures of
four for
prince survived one review successfully winning the reversal of leg side
caught behind decision made by umpire daryl harper off the bowling of anderson
when he had five replay showed the ball had glanced off his pad with the bat
not near the ball
but there seemed little point to his second call for review when he prodded
forward to swann and was given out by umpire tony hill he looked palpably out
and this was confirmed by replay
two strong aftershocks rattle solomon islands
honiara jan afp
two powerful and magnitude aftershocks rattled the solomon islands
tuesday but there was no threat of tsunami to pacific coastlines
seismologists and the pacific tsunami warning centre said
the quakes struck just seconds apart at around gmt and came as officials
visited isolated villages day after magnitude quake and tsunami left
around people homeless
the latest aftershocks struck very close to monday quake off the south pacific
nation and were recorded at depths of and kilometres and miles
according to seismologists at the us geological survey
football mcdonald wants to stay at celtic agent
glasgow jan afp
scott mcdonald agent has dismissed reports the australian striker is keen on
move away from celtic
middlesbrough boss gordon strachan and wigan manager roberto martinez both
watched mcdonald score in sunday draw with rangers at parkhead fuelling
speculation they are mulling transfer window bids for the forward
but mcdonald representative lou sticca insisted that any move would not be
initiated by his client
speak to scott every day and as far as am concerned he wants to be at
celtic sticca told glasgow evening times
have also spoken regularly to celtic chief executive peter lawwell and he
has told me that celtic are happy with scott if anything does happen it will
be celtic telling scott to leave not scott asking to go
sticca denied claims that mcdonald had fallen out with hoops boss tony mowbray
what we are seeing here is the usual reaction in the media if club top
scorer is not playing said sticca scott is doing the business for celtic as
his goals show
mcdonald is one of number of players at parkhead who could possibly be
reunited with former celtic manager strachan at middlesbrough
barry robson gary caldwell willo flood and mark wilson are also being touted
as potential targets and strachan has admitted he is desperate to get some new
players in after winning just two of his first matches in charge
we really need to do something strachan said we ve got plenty of irons in
the fire but it about actually getting them
january is difficult time to sign players because clubs are reluctant to
sell but ve never been on the phone so much in my life in football
management
cricket yuvraj boosts india with
dhaka jan afp
yuvraj singh scored solid half century to help india post competitive
in triangular one day series match against sri lanka on tuesday
india were struggling at following three wicket burst from paceman
chanaka welegedara but yuvraj came to their rescue with an ball in the
day night game
yuvraj put on for the fourth wicket with skipper mahendra singh dhoni
after left arm seamer welegedara rocked india top order in his lively opening
spell
welegedara finished with his maiden five wicket haul in six one day
internationals
he removed gautam gambhir eight virat kohli nine and virender sehwag
in his first spell before accounting for suresh raina and zaheer khan two
in the second
sehwag smashed nine fours in his impressive ball cameo before being caught at
mid off by debutant lahiru thirimanne off leading edge
yuvraj was more aggressive than his captain and reached his half century in
style lofting part time spinner thilina kandamby over long on for six
he fell in bid to step up the run rate caught in the deep off paceman
thissara perera after hitting two sixes and six fours
ravindra jadeja and raina then helped india set challenging target with
run stand for the sixth wicket
raina was on seven when given out caught behind off paceman suranga lakmal by
australian umpire simon taufel who changed his decision after consulting the tv
umpire
the tv replays showed the ball had hit the ground before wicket keeper kumar
sangakkara held it
sri lanka made three changes from the side that defeated bangladesh by seven
wickets in the opening match on monday
tillakaratne dilshan and chamara silva were ruled out due to injuries and were
replaced by thirimanne and perera paceman thilan thushara came in place of
nuwan kulasekara
each team will play four league matches before the top two qualify for the final
on january
alpine skiing kostelic sees zagreb slalom as step to winter olympics
zagreb jan afp
croatia ivica kostelic will compete in the world cup night slalom on home soil
here on wednesday in what he said was an important step towards next month
winter olympics
my right knee is still swollen and is painful from time to time but must ski
to prepare for the games said the world slalom champion who three weeks
ago underwent sixth operation on his right knee
we first thought about pulling out of all january competitions to wait for
full recovery but would have arrived in vancouver short of form
and then there the risk of being eliminated from the first group in the giant
slalom and maybe even the slalom said the year old
polish roads lobby accuses chinese of dumping
warsaw jan afp
poland motorway constructors have levelled claims of unfair competition
against chinese group which cracked their country highways market letter
obtained by afp on tuesday said
we note that the bid by the chinese consortium is based on price far below
the value of the tender which constitutes unfair competition the
constructors lobby group the oigd said in letter to european commission
chief jose manuel barroso
the letter sent to barroso because the commission polices competition rules
across the nation european union alleged that beijing was helping chinese
firms skew foreign markets
the oigd urged the commission to take anti dumping measures against the china
overseas engineering group company covec
in september covec beat several european competitors in the race to build
kilometres miles of the highway linking the polish and german capitals
warsaw and berlin
the construction is part of poland ongoing issuing of tenders as it drives to
upgrade its infrastructure in time to co host the european football
championships
covec was chosen by poland state roads and highways company and experts
from europe construction and public works lobby said the deal was
unprecedented in the eu
in its letter the oigd noted that covec bid was billion zloty
million euros billion dollars
that was percent less than the estimated cost of the tender it was also
percent less than the second lowest bid it said and claimed the chinese
government would simply cover covec losses
the oigd insisted that it was unacceptable to allow firms from outside the eu
that take advantage of subsidies from their nations to compete with firms in the
single market
ex communist poland relatively large central european country of million
people that joined the eu in has transport network which needs massive
upgrading to bring it up to the standards of its western neighbours
the poor state of the infrastructure is legacy of underinvestment during five
decades of communism and of failure to get enough road projects underway since
the fall of the old regime in
by it hopes to have opened total of kilometres miles of
multi line highway so far about half has been built
warsaw highway development plan for is worth billion euros
billion dollars of which close to third is covered by eu funding for
the bloc less well off member states
urgent two strong aftershocks rattle solomon islands
honiara jan afp
two powerful and magnitude aftershocks rattled the solomon islands
tuesday but there was no threat of tsunami to pacific coastlines
seismologists and the pacific tsunami warning centre said
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 put down 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
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
the deaths of the seven agents was the cia worst single loss of life since the
bombing of the us marine barracks in beirut in
britain plays down child porn fears over new scanners
london jan afp
the british government sought tuesday to allay fears that body scanners being
introduced at airports would break laws against creating indecent images of
children
transport officials said the scanners would be introduced at london heathrow
within weeks and then rolled out to other british airports as part of efforts
to tighten security after the failed us airliner bomb plot on christmas day
privacy campaigners told the guardian that the images created by the machines
were so graphic they amounted to virtual strip searching and have called for
safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved
terri dowty of civil rights group action on rights for children said the
scanners could breach child protection laws which made it illegal to create an
indecent image or pseudo image of child
they do not have the legal power to use full body scanners in this way she
told the newspaper
rights group liberty urged body scanning to be used only when necessary and with
the strongest degree of privacy protection
any response to terrorism must be proportionate and respectful of the human
rights values of dignity privacy and equal treatment the group said in
statement
department for transport spokesman said code of practice was being drawn up
for airport staff who will use the scanners
we understand the concerns expressed about privacy in relation to the
deployment of body scanners he said
it is vital staff are properly trained and we are developing code of practice
to ensure these concerns are properly taken into account
existing safeguards also mean those operating scanners are separated from the
device so unable to see the person to whom the image relates and these
anonymous images are deleted immediately he added
another spokesman said operator baa would introduce the scanners initially at
heathrow within weeks and we are consulting urgently with the airport industry
on how they might best be introduced at other uk airports
baa which also runs stansted airport in london and southampton glasgow
edinburgh and aberdeen airports has said it will introduce scanners as soon
as practical
some countries led by the united states have announced additional security
measures at airports since nigerian man was charged with trying to blow up
us bound jet on december
umar farouk abdulmutallab reportedly confessed to being trained by an al
qaeda bombmaker in yemen for the suicide mission on the northwest airlines
flight from amsterdam to detroit
it was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man underwear failed to
detonate and passengers jumped on him
alert
two strong aftershocks rattle solomon islands usgs
tennis hopman cup results
perth australia jan afp
results from hopman cup tennis tournament at perth burswood dome on tuesday
group
spain bt romania
women singles maria jose martinez sanchez esp bt sorana cirstea rom
men singles tommy robredo esp bt victor hanescu rom ret
mixed doubles maria jose martinez sanchez tommy robredo esp bt sorana
cirstea victor hanescu rom walkover
australia bt united states
women singles samantha stosur aus bt melanie oudin usa
men singles lleyton hewitt aus bt john isner usa
mixed doubles melanie oudin john isner usa bt samantha stosur lleyton hewitt
aus match tiebreak
us overhauls terror watchlists
washington jan afp
president barack obama unveils new security reforms tuesday after christmas
day bomb plot prompted us review of intelligence gaps and an overhaul of
terrorism watchlists
obama who has denounced systemic intelligence failures in the bombing
