the climate of this earth he said
ve never used that figure in any of my talks because think it not for
the ipcc to make predictions of outcomes or dates we always give ranges and
that scientifically the way to do it we always give scenarios of what
might happen
pachauri whose panel was harshly criticised by india environment minister
said the ipcc will respond to the criticism by the end of the week
before the end of the week we will certainly come to position and make it
known we are looking into the source of that information the veracity of it
and what it is that the ipcc should say on the subject
in new delhi environment minister jairam ramesh was quoted on tuesday by the
hindustan times as saying the ipcc claim that glaciers will vanish by was
not based on an iota of scientific evidence
the ipcc has to do lot of answering on how it reached the figure which
created such scare
ramesh said he felt vindicated after repeatedly challenging the ipcc work on
glaciers he believes there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking
global warming to the melting of glaciers
at the weekend britain sunday times newspaper reported that the reference to
came from the green campaign group wwf which in turn took it from an
interview given by an indian glaciologist to new scientist magazine in
there is no evidence that the claim was published in peer reviewed journal
cornerstone of scientific credibility it said
responding to question pachauri said he feels he is being attacked personally
over the potential flaw
but he put positive spin on the situation saying you know you can attack
the science so attack the chair of the ipcc
the ipcc is already under attack over hacked email exchanges which skeptics say
reflected attempts to skew the evidence for global warming
the new row has boosted climate skeptics who have questioned scientific
evidence behind global warming in the past and are on roll after scandal
last month dubbed climategate
bulgaria names world bank official as new eu candidate
sofia jan afp
kristalina georgieva world bank vice president was named as bulgaria new
candidate for top job at the eu commission tuesday after the original nominee
was forced to pull out
georgieva is sofia candidate for the position of european aid commissioner now
that foreign minister ruminia jeleva has withdrawn her bid following controversy
over her suitability for the role
georgieva joined the world bank in and has held number of technical
and managerial positions there since with particular focus on environmental and
sustainable development issues
world bank president robert zoellick personally picked georgieva as his vice
president and corporate secretary in march
since boyko borisov right wing administration took office last july georgieva
has been close advisor to the bulgarian prime minister on financial issues
she is fluent in english french russian and serbian holds doctorate in
economics and masters degree in political economics and sociology from the
university of national and world economy in sofia
she also undertook postgraduate research and studies in natural resource
economics and environmental policy at the london school of economics and the
massachusetts institute of technology
georgieva nomination was seen by observers as an attempt to clean bulgaria
image after allegations of financial irregularities and incompetency forced
jeleva to withdraw
bulgarian foreign minister pulls out of race for eu job
sofia jan afp
bulgarian foreign minister rumiana jeleva on tuesday pulled out of the race for
top eu job after her candidacy sparked controversy but the prime minister
refused her offer to resign from cabinet
jeleva offered to resign from all posts that currently hold in letter to
prime minister boyko borisov copy of which was obtained by afp
she asked the premier to undertake what is necessary to withdraw my
candidature for the post of eu aid commissioner
jeleva who is also one of vice presidents of the european people party
asked borisov to nominate to european commission president jose manuel
barroso another candidate for commissioner from bulgaria
borisov who until now had backed jeleva for the eu job agreed to let her drop
out of the race so as to avoid an institutional crisis within the eu and
facilitate the unimpeded formation of strong unified and working european
commission
he refused however to let jeleva go as foreign minister
do not accept her resignation as foreign minister because don have any
reasons to do that borisov said
jeleva faced fierce grilling at the european parliament development
committee last week over irregularities in her financial declarations and doubts
about her competence for the job of eu humanitarian aid commissioner
the controversy surrounding her nomination had threatened to jeopardise the
future of the whole barroso team
in brussels eu commission chief barroso announced that bulgaria had proposed
world bank vice president kristalina georgieva as replacement candidate
but speaking to journalists in sofia borisov refused to immediately confirm the
nomination saying that it would be officially presented to the european
parliament in the coming days
east african monetary union still on target official
kampala jan afp
common currency for the east african community by remains realistic
target but several technical hurdles need to be overcome an eac official said
tuesday
the nations involved are very much committed that why there is short
deadline you can call it very short said alloys mutabingwa deputy secretary
general of the five member regional grouping
seeing technical issues coming through that require more time and more
discussion but not seeing any of the challenges as becoming
insurmountable he said at meeting in the ugandan capital kampala
mutabingwa said it was crucial for eac members kenya tanzania uganda
rwanda and burundi to establish monetary institution that could serve as
precursor to an eventual regional central bank
this transitional institution would be charged with resolving the outstanding
technical challenges like converging macroeconomic policy and streamlining
inflation levels and exchange rates
mutabingwa added the countries must begin sharing sensitive and protected
economic data for the project to succeed
finance and central bank officials from the five nations are meeting in kampala
this week to review study on the establishment of monetary union
while opening the conference on monday ugandan finance minister syda bumba said
monetary union would help dissolve the arbitrary political borders drawn in
the region during the colonial era
it will among other things put an end to the artificial separation of the
people of east africa many of whom are of common descent and even of the same
families she said
the eac member states signed treaty last november that established regional
common market
pakistani soldier shot dead in kashmir military
islamabad jan afp
pakistani soldier was shot dead on tuesday when indian troops fired across the
de facto border that splits disputed kashmir between the two nuclear armed
rivals pakistan military said
the incident took place near rawalakot town along the line of control loc
separating the indian and pakistani controlled zones of the himalayan region
indian troops resorted to unprovoked firing across the loc on the pakistani
side today tuesday the pakistani military said in statement
one pakistani soldier embraced shahadat martyrdom while another one was
injured due to indian firing
pakistan has lodged complaint with india and asked for meeting between
senior military officials from the two nations the statement said
last week indian officials said border guard has been shot dead by pakistani
soldiers days after accusing their pakistani counterparts of firing at least
four rockets across the border into indian punjab province
india and pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly muslim
kashmir which is held in part by each country but claimed in full by both
the two countries agreed to ceasefire along the loc in november and
launched slow moving peace process in but there have been sporadic
clashes in kashmir with both sides accusing each other of violating the deal
the peace talks are also currently suspended after relations between the
historic rivals were battered by the november attack on the indian
financial capital mumbai which new delhi blamed on pakistan based militants
india accuses pakistan of arming and funding islamist militants who are engaged
in two decade long insurgency against indian rule over parts of kashmir that
has left tens of thousands of people dead pakistan denies the charges
rugbyu attoub banned for weeks for gouging
london jan afp
stade francais prop david attoub has been hit with mammoth week ban from
rugby union for gouging after what the disciplinary chief who imposed the
penalty labelled the worst act of contact with the eyes that have had to deal
with
the ban which has been backdated to start on december means attoub cannot
play rugby again anywhere until april ruling him out of the remainder
of the current european season and most of next term campaign
attoub was cited for gouging ulster lock stephen ferris during stormy european
cup clash on december
eye gouging is regarded as one of the worst acts of foul play in the man game
and the international rugby board irb the sport global governing body have
instructed disciplinary authorities to come down hard on those found guilty of
the offence
judge jeff blackett the disciplinary supremo at england rugby football union
rfu who heard attoub case said it was the irb directive and the player
previous history of gouging which included three suspensions and suspension
for contact with the eye eye area in european match in the season
that saw him impose penalty which has the potential to end the forward
career
blackett who found attoub guilty of the offence on friday but only passed
sentence when the disciplinary hearing reconvened on monday determined his
action was in the top end in the level of seriousness for an offence of contact
with the eye eye area
in statement issued tuesday blackett said this is the worst act of contact
with the eyes that have had to deal with it is case of deliberate eye
gouging
the initial hearing on december was adjourned until january to allow for
more evidence to be gathered after doubts were cast on the veracity of
photograph which showed the incident
the ban follows week ban given to attoub team mate and scrum half julien
dupuy who also gouged ferris in the same match
dupuy who began the year as starter in the french international lineup
appealed but his ban which means he will play no part in the six nations and
the remainder of the season was only cut by week
max guazzini the club president of paris based stade francais said attoub
would appeal against his ban
france denies being sidelined by us in haiti
paris jan afp
france was forced on the defensive tuesday over washington muscular role in
haiti and dismissed suggestions it was being sidelined from the massive relief
effort by us president barack obama
president nicolas sarkozy has led calls for an international conference on
rebuilding haiti but obama on monday asked leaders in brazil and canada to join
him in shepherding the humanitarian drive
france minister for europe pierre lellouche rejected talk of rift between
paris and washington and sarkozy office issued statement stressing the
essential american role in the quake struck country
no one is excluding anyone lellouche said america needs europe and europe
needs the united states
an international conference is to be held in montreal on january to help
haiti rebuild after the magnitude earthquake leveled buildings schools and
homes week ago
haitian officials fear the death toll could top with more than three
million left homeless in haiti the poorest country in the western hemisphere
an elysee statement recalled that the french and us leaders had agreed when they
spoke by phone last week that they would unite their efforts to help survivors
and chart course for haiti reconstruction
french authorities are fully satisfied with the level of cooperation between
the two countries said the statement
they welcome the exceptional mobilisation of the united states for haiti and
the essential role they are playing on the ground it added
there have been grumblings from french politicians after the united states
cemented its leadership role in haiti with some troops deployed on the
caribbean island nation
us forces control the airport in port au prince and decide which relief planes
are allowed to land
french development minister alain joyandet on monday called on the united
nations to clarify the us role in haiti and noted that the priority was helping
haiti not occupying haiti
joyandet who returned from visit to haiti on saturday personally intervened
with us troops in port au prince to allow french aid plane to land at the
weekend
asked about obama move to enlist brazil and canada but not france in the
international effort lellouche jokingly commented that the us leader had
tendency to forget france
he quickly added joking of course think the worst thing would be to try
to pit one against the other
we need to work together lellouche told canal television
the minister however acknowledged that europe was not playing high profile
role in haiti
too am frustrated european who would want more to be done and more
quickly said lellouche europe actions to help haiti should be more visible
and stronger he added
france has sent hundreds of rescuers two navy ships and tonnes of aid to haiti
while pressing the european union to deploy security force to quell the chaos
from desperate survivors fighting for food and water
sarkozy has said he plans to travel to haiti in the coming weeks for talks with
haitian president rene preval on how we can very quickly after this
catastrophe rebuild this battered country
us military starts food drops in haiti
washington jan afp
the us military has started airdrops of food and water to quake ravaged haiti
delivering some meals and liters of water to site just outside
port au prince the pentagon said in statement
us air force plane on monday flew from pope air force base in north
carolina to drop zone some five miles eight kilometers northeast of port au
prince airport to deliver the aid
the us military had been reticent to undertake aid airdrops out of concern of
starting troubles on the ground but said they were able to make the airdrop to
controlled drop zone of where no people on the ground were endangered
haitian and us aid officials distributed the aid to quake survivors the defense
department statement said
the international aid community is looking to make greater use of airdrops in
haiti to create alternate distribution points that will enable aid to reach the
people more quickly the statement said
football serbia indicts partizan fans for french football fan murder
belgrade jan afp
belgrade prosecutor on tuesday officially indicted fans of serbian first
division side partizan belgrade for aggravated murder in the case of the
murder of french football fan in serbia in september last year
the prosecution has issued an indictment against co accused in the case of
the murder of french citizen brice taton tomo zoric spokesman for the
prosecution told afp
taton toulouse supporter died in hospital on september after being
attacked in bar by fans of their europa league opponents partizan belgrade
zoric told the beta news agency that the partizan supporters stand accused of
the extremely violent murder of taton while fully aware of their actions and
the criminal nature thereof
twelve of the accused are currently in custody while two men remain on the run
the prosecutor has proposed to try the pair in absentia beta said
if found guilty of aggravated murder the fourteen accused face prison sentence
of between and years under serbian law
fifteenth person stands accused of aiding the men he has been released but
will be called to appear in court when the trial starts beta said media here
report the trial could start late february early march
taton was attacked by gang on september before the match which toulouse won
he was beaten with baseball bats and succumbed to his injuries in
belgrade hospital days after the attack
tennis djokovic winning start at open
melbourne jan afp
former champion novak djokovic powered to complete straight sets first up
victory over spaniard daniel gimeno traver on tuesday and said he had the game
to challenge the best at the australian open
the serbian third seed fought back from an early break in the opening set to
claim win over the th ranked spaniard in just over two hours
djokovic who won the australian title cruised through the remaining sets
with break in the second and two others in the final set to clinch victory
was struggling in the first set that no secret djokovic said
in the end picked it up and was really happy overall with how handled
things
djokovic path in his quarter of the draw was cleared somewhat by the upset
loss of swedish eighth seed robin soderling and th spanish seed tommy robredo
earlier tuesday
to get little bit more time on the court today was actually positive he
said
so physically ready moving well and more or less game wise overall
think playing good enough tennis to challenge the best players in the
world
the serb is looking for strong opening grand slam of the season after he was
forced to withdraw in last year open when defending champion in his quarter
final with andy roddick because of heat distress
last year had lot of mental barriers because for the first time had the
role of defending champion of grand slam djokovic said
so it was really difficult to cope with the pressure and expectations that
had
it was different feel feel that never experienced before
djokovic scored stunning win over roger federer in the semi finals of the
australian open on the way to winning his first grand slam but he has not
played in the last seven major finals dominated by federer and rafael nadal
but under american coach todd martin he is working on creating more rounded
game to push his way into grand slam contention
iran threatens to hit western warships in gulf if attacked
tehran jan afp
iran defence minister ahmad vahidi said tuesday that western warships
stationed in the gulf are best targets for the islamic republic if its nuclear
sites are attacked fars news agency reported
iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to deliver crushing response
and hit us targets including its bases in the gulf and neighbouring iraq and
afghanistan if iran nuclear sites are attacked
why are there so many warships there the westerners know that these warships
are the best target for operation by iran if they do anything against us
vahidi told conference entitled persian gulf in tehran
he also criticised the building of us bases in the region and washington
unofficial presence in yemen
the united states and its regional ally israel which accuse iran of seeking
atomic weapons under the guise of civilian nuclear programme have never ruled
out military option to thwart tehran nuclear drive
iran denies the charges and has continued to expand its nuclear programme
despite un sanctions
troops take on looters in haiti strife
port au prince jan afp
troops struggled tuesday to control looters in port au prince week after the
earthquake which devastated haiti as rescuers still pulled babies and women
from the rubble and kept alive hope of finding more survivors
with the stench of urine and decomposing bodies still hanging over the capital
us soldiers moved onto the streets and un chief ban ki moon asked for
extra international troops and police to help protect relief supplies
thousands of homeless haitians were prey to bands of looters swarming through
the ruins of the capital with the police and military officials tasked with
protecting the homeless nowhere to be found
troops in combat gear fired off rounds and hauled some people to the ground to
try to stop the worst of the pillaging
approximately us troops were on the ground overseeing the aid effort and
trying to provide security
more than marines arrived on the uss bataan boosting overall us troop
numbers to either in haiti or offshore and us commanders have promised
more than personnel would be in the disaster zone in coming weeks
the un security council was expected to approve on tuesday ban request for
more troops and police for the battered un mission in haiti
the un peacekeeping mission had its headquarters destroyed in the magnitude
earthquake that hit january and is now feared to have killed up to
people
while the scope of the disaster is still not clear extraordinary stories of
children and adults surviving several days under collapsed buildings keep
emerging
an month old child was found alive six days after the quake and rescuers are
clinging to hopes that more can be found
the child now at port au prince general hospital was covered with dust but
otherwise appeared healthy no one knew her name and rescuers believe her family
died when their home collapsed
medics at an israeli field hospital outside the capital also treated jean louis
brahms an eight month old boy trapped for five days under his family house
the baby father and older brother escaped in time with just minor injuries
but jean louis remained trapped until neighbour heard him crying and contacted
un peacekeepers
figures provided by the united nations indicated that about of the more than
people hauled out in the past week had been found on sunday or monday
hope persists there is still hope said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman of the un
office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
the problem is dehydration but for the moment there is still chance she
added
relief efforts are now focusing on the estimated quarter of million injured
and million homeless many of them orphans who lost their parents in the
disaster
officials have expressed fears the final death toll may top if it is
ever known at all government minister said that bodies had already
been buried
us president barack obama proposed joint us brazilian canadian leadership for
relief efforts as the scale of the disaster overwhelmed the international
humanitarian operation
obama suggested to brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva that the three
countries should lead and coordinate efforts by the international community of
haiti donors and other parties brazilian government official said
eu nations promised more than million dollars in aid and reconstruction
funds but dominican president leonel fernandez estimated billion dollars
over five years would be needed to help haiti recover
aid was trickling through to the needy and un agencies said field hospitals and
food distribution had multiplied in and around the capital
around food rations and tents were distributed monday by the
world food programme and humanitarian groups from neighboring dominican
republic haitian official said
emergency workers expanded their operations to battered communities outside of
port au prince including gressier petit goave and leogane which were all
leveled by the quake
slovakia to accept three guantanamo prisoners minister
bratislava jan afp
slovakia will accept three prisoners from the us war on terror jail at
guantanamo bay in cuba foreign minister miroslav lajcak said tuesday
we will accept three individually chosen prisoners who have never had charges
pressed against them or been sentenced lajcak told journalists
slovakia has been asked for help by the us government and we agreed as
gesture of alliance and solidarity lajcak said
the prisoners are to come to slovakia voluntarily and will be treated in line
with slovak law he added the security of slovak citizens won be
endangered he said
on tuesday the slovak news website www sme sk quoted an unidentified slovak
government source as saying the prisoners would arrive in slovakia this year
us president barack obama wants to close the controversial jail and the united
states has asked third countries to take in detainees who cannot be sent back to
their homeland
british couple loses cyprus holiday home court case
london jan afp
london court ruled tuesday that british couple who built holiday home in
northern cyprus must demolish it backing previous judgements in nicosia and
europe
david and linda orams must now hand the land back to the original owner of the
property in lapithos meletios apostolides and pay him damages
apostolides family fled to southern cyprus when turkey occupied the north in
and he launched court action in cyprus which was followed by string of
subsequent legal hearings amid disagreements over the case
but tuesday judgement by the court of appeal in london backs the cypriot court
and the european court of justice ecj and could set precedent for thousands
of other people who have built holiday homes in northern cyprus
this creates new legal framework in those cases where foreigners are
trespassing on such properties constantis candounas apostolides lawyer said
afterwards but each case must be decided on its own particular facts
the orams had argued at the latest court hearing that the president of the ecj
vassilios skouris could have been biased when his court ruled that british
courts should enforce the nicosia court decision
their lawyers alleged that skouris had links to the president of cyprus who had
awarded him an honour
but appeal court judge malcolm pill rejected this saying there was no real
possibility that the resident of the ecj would be influenced by the honour he
received or by his other contacts
the judgement of the court is in no way tarnished by those contacts considered
either individually or cumulatively
russia hopes for warmer ties with new ukraine leader lavrov
moscow jan afp
russia hopes to improve strained ties with ukraine after its presidential run
off russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said tuesday
the comments came after ukrainian voters rejected pro western president viktor
yushchenko bitter foe of moscow giving him humiliating fifth place finish
in sunday first round of voting
regarding the prospects of russian ukrainian relations we have always been
against approaches that are political artificial and having nothing in common
with the interests of the ukrainian people lavrov said
we hope the new president whose name we will most likely find out on february
will fully understand the need to build relations in this manner and not hold
them hostage to his or her ambitions he told reporters
two candidates viewed as friendly to moscow pro russia politician viktor
yanukovich and prime minister yulia tymoshenko will dispute the february run
off after taking the largest share of votes on sunday
yushchenko angered russia by seeking to join the nato military alliance
supporting russia arch foe georgia and campaigning for stalin era famine
that killed millions of ukrainians in the to be classified as genocide
last year russian president dmitry medvedev said moscow would no longer have
any dealings with yushchenko who came to power after the pro western orange
revolution of
buildings burn in fresh religious clashes in nigeria
kano nigeria jan afp
fire raged and gunshots rang out in the nigerian city of jos on tuesday as fresh
christian muslim clashes erupted after weekend violence that killed at least
people officials and residents said
state authorities placed the city under hour curfew as residents said they
heard gunshots and had seen smoke billowing from parts of the city the capital
of plateau state in central nigeria
an employee at jos central mosque where he said bodies were being taken told
afp people were killed in the overnight fighting and wounded but the
number could not be confirmed with state authorities
the mosque is full with the injured and the dead this morning we received
bodies with about injured mohammed shittu at the jos central mosque told
afp
authorities said curfew had been put in place
the government has placed hour curfew on jos and bukuru small town on
the fringes of jos following the resumption of violence in parts of the city
the state information commissioner gregory yenlong told afp
all residents are hereby directed to stay indoors as security agents work
towards restoring peace said yenlong
all flights to the city were suspended tuesday airport and airline sources
said
david maiyaki christian resident of dutse uku area of jos where the latest
fighting erupted overnight said the curfew did not yet seem to have taken
effect
we woke up to new fighting this morning as am talking to you we are indoors
but there is burning and gunshots all around us david maiyaki told afp by
phone
government has placed hour curfew but it does not seem to have any effect
fighting is continuing unabated he said
ibrahim mudi resident of sabon fegi suburb in the central part of the city
said from here can hear gunshots and see burning buildings from
neighbourhood in the northern part of the city
it seems that jos north is completely on fire added mudi who spoke by phone
from his veranda
fighting first erupted on sunday when christian youths protested the building of
mosque in christian majority area of nigeria th largest city houses and
vehicles were set ablaze in part of the city which has population of
sunday clashes also injured hundreds and displaced around people the
red cross in the city said
hundreds of troops and police were deployed and the authorities said monday that
calm had returned to the city after hour dusk to dawn curfew was imposed
the curfew was extended following the latest clashes
yenlong vowed the state government will do all it takes to ensure the return of
normalcy to the city
jos situated between the muslim dominated north and the christian south has in
recent years been hotbed of religious clashes in nigeria whose million
people are divided almost equally between followers of the two faiths
in november hundreds of people were killed in two days of fighting in the
