manfred moelgg ita
bode miller usa
libya violating rights of eritrean migrants hrw
new york jan afp
libya is giving eritrea access to detained eritrean migrants and asylum seekers
for their likely repatriation violating their right to refuge human rights
watch said on saturday
in the past two weeks eritrean embassy officials have visited detention centres
and coerced migrants into filling out forms thought to be for their deportation
the new york based watchdog said in report
eritreans seeking asylum because of fear of persecution at home have right
to confidentiality while their claims are pending the report quoted hrw
refugee policy director bill frelick as saying
in inviting eritrean officials to meet and possibly intimidate them in
detention libya is committing serious breach of their asylum rights
hrw also accused libyan guards of beating migrants who refused to fill out the
forms in some cases
the un refugee agency had asked host governments to refrain from forcibly
returning eritreans to their homeland due to fears they will be detained and
tortured
libya needs to adopt an asylum law to protect refugees frelick said
it should sign and ratify the refugee convention and formally recognize
the un refugee agency he added
growing numbers of eritreans are fleeing the east african country to evade
policy of indefinite military service imposed by the government and pervasive
arbitrary detention and torture hrw said
in november libyan official told afp that his country had policy of massive
repatriation of illegal migrants without specifying about any nationalities
alpine skiing austrian zettel wins world cup giant slalom
maribor slovenia jan afp
austrian kathrin zettel won the women world cup giant slalom here on saturday
zettel clocked combined total of min sec to finish sec ahead of
germany maria riesch with swede anja paerson at sec
american world cup overall leader lindsey vonn crashed out after her weight
transference on one sharp turn threw her off balance
football loew set to sign contract extension
berlin jan afp
germany coach joachim loew said on saturday he expects to have extended his
contract with the german football federation dfb by the end of the month
the final discussions will take place this month loew told german broadcaster
sky
have already talked over the issue with the dfb president and we have agreed
to two year extension but there are still some points to sort out
dfb president theo zwanziger said last december he had agreed to extend loew
contract until when the european championships will be held in poland and
the ukraine
loew succeeded jurgen klinsmann as coach after the world cup in which he
had been the assistant coach and had originally signed contract to stay in
charge until june world cup finals in south africa
since taking charge loew has led germany to the euro final where they
lost to spain in vienna and his side were unbeaten in their qualifying
campaign for the world cup
after matches in charge loew has wins six defeats and eight draws
germany have been drawn in group at the world cup finals where they will face
australia ghana and serbia
afp middle east news summary
nicosia jan afp
top middle east stories on saturday
attacks yemen
sanaa yemen confirmed the deaths of six senior al qaeda figures in an air
strike day earlier while continuing its crackdown on the group by arresting
three suspected militants
yemen germany britain kidnap
dubai yemeni shiite rebels denied taking part in any mediation to secure the
release of german family of five and briton held captive since june by
unknown kidnappers
yemen unrest shiite saudi
dubai yemeni shiite rebels engaged in on off border clashes with saudi forces
said they had downed saudi apache helicopter amid saudi air raids they said
had killed at least villagers
iran france protest trial
tehran french academic clotilde reiss lawyer expressed confidence she would
be acquitted after she appeared in court in tehran on charges of acting against
iranian national security during anti government protests in june
iran un nuclear diplomacy
new york six major powers were to meet to mull response to iran nuclear
defiance with china sending lower level diplomat in signal of its
reluctance to back tougher sanctions pushed by the west
iraq unrest un qaeda
baghdad the iraqi army said that it had detained suspected al qaeda leader
implicated in the bombing of the un baghdad headquarters which killed
people
iraq vote allawi
baghdad iraq former pro western prime minister iyad allawi unveiled broad
secular alliance of candidates to contest the country general election on
march
egypt christian unrest trial
cairo three muslims accused of gunning down six egyptian christians on the
coptic christmas eve will stand trial before an emergency security court the
state prosecutor said
egypt opposition islam
cairo egypt main opposition group the muslim brotherhood named conservative
mohammed badie as its new leader in move analysts said signals switch to
less active role in politics
pakistan afghanistan iran summit
islamabad pakistan afghanistan and iran said they had agreed to work together
more closely to combat extremism illegal weapons trading and drug trafficking
iran fully supports lebanon unity vice president
beirut jan afp
iranian vice president mohammad reza tajeddini said his government fully
supports the unity and independence of lebanon during visit to beirut on
saturday the lebanese president office said
the iranian official conveyed president mahmoud ahmadinejad appreciation
for president michel sleiman efforts to strengthen the atmosphere of
consensus in lebanon and emphasised president ahmadinejad full support for the
unity sovereignty and independence of lebanon and its territory statement
from sleiman office said
tajeddini who is vice president for parliamentary affairs and was in beirut for
an arab and international forum on resistance movements also met with speaker
nabih berri and prime minister saad hariri
would like to reiterate the unchanging principles of iranian foreign policy
which are reflected through our embrace of and support for all resistance
against the enemies of arab and islamic nations primarily the zionist entity
statement released by hariri office quoted tajeddini as saying
hariri son of murdered ex premier rafiq hariri announced the formation of
new government on november more than four months after his us and saudi
backed alliance defeated hezbollah led bloc backed by syria and iran in
general election
sleiman appointed five ministers in the seat cabinet which grants him the
role of arbiter in the new government
police point to far left group for latest athens blast
athens jan afp
athens police said saturday they suspected the far left organisation known as
the conspiracy of fire nuclei for bomb attack which damaged government
ministry but caused no injuries
the time bomb went off outside the greek secretariat for information shortly
before midnight friday after private television stations received anonymous
warnings by telephone
police were given about minutes to clear the area before the explosion the
second in week targeting state property which caused damage including smashed
windows to the ministry as well as neighbouring shops and parked cars
the conspiracy of fire nuclei claimed responsibilty for the previous blast on
january when an explosive device went off in rubbish bin outside the greek
parliament again without injuring anyone
the extremist group has carried out string of arson strikes against the homes
and offices of politicians in recent months
the group also claimed bombing that caused extensive damage to the ground
floor of greece largest insurance company on december
we aim to cause material damage and we point out to the police that it should
evacuate areas in timely fashion claim for the insurance building attack
said at the time
greece has been rocked by attacks against economic interests and political
targets since youth was killed by police officer in december
the policeman who allegedly shot dead student alexis grigoropoulos triggering
riots across the country is due to go on trial on wednesday
red cross raises haiti funding appeal
geneva jan afp
the red cross said saturday that it has raised its funding appeal for haiti by
ten fold to million swiss francs million dollars million euros to
help survivors of this week devastating earthquake
the funds are expected to help the population over three years with an
immediate focus on cutting the risk of water related diseases said the
international federation of red cross and red crescent societies
longer term assistance includes the reconstruction of homes and community
infrastructure added the ifrc in statement
this revision reflects the need of haitian communities for long term and
sustained support said yasemin aysan ifrc under secretary general of
disaster response and early recovery
for many of these people this earthquake has robbed them entirely of their
limited means for many of them they need help to totally rebuild their lives
even offices of haiti national red cross have been near destroyed in the
earthquake said the ifrc pointing out that two base camps set up to
coordinate aid efforts would also act as temporary offices for the haitian red
cross
meanwhile convoy carrying aid supplies and personnel is travelling from the
dominican republic to haiti on saturday
this convoy includes amongst other things field hospital large amount of
medical supplies and water and sanitation materials said the ifrc
europe german speaking countries to confer on bank secrecy
vienna jan afp
europe german speaking countries will confer over the issue of banking secrecy
and the automatic exchange of information demanded by the european union
austria finance minister said saturday
josef proell who met his german counterpart wolfgang schaeuble in berlin on
friday said germany austria liechtenstein luxembourg and switzerland would
meet in the next few weeks according to the austrian news agency apa
european union finance ministers are scheduled to meet on tuesday in brussels to
review the divisive issue of banking secrecy meeting that is unlikely to
reach agreement an austrian source said
germany like nearly all eu member countries supports automatic international
exchange of information measure that would end banking secrecy in austria and
luxembourg which are both opposed to the change under current conditions
for vienna and luxembourg automatic international exchange of information only
makes sense if all non eu member countries still practicing bank secrecy
notably switzerland and liechtenstein also accept the change
if not these two countries would encourage tax evasion they say
austria also pointed to great britain and the channel islands for their trusts
industry that guarantees anonymous financial transactions as do some states in
the united states notably delaware
proell said that when he met the german finance minister on friday schaeuble
showed understanding for the austrian position over banking secrecy
pakistan afghanistan and iran unite to fight extremism
islamabad jan afp
pakistan afghanistan and iran said saturday they had agreed to work together
more closely to combat extremism illegal weapons trading and drug trafficking
the foreign ministers of the three nations met on saturday in islamabad and
signed joint declaration on tackling the region security situation as well
as terrorism and the reconstruction of afghanistan
the foreign ministers as we have agreed today will look at how to promote the
regional approach to sum up the challenges that we are facing shah mahmood
qureshi the pakistani foreign minister said after the meeting
we feel that regional collective comprehensive approach is required to deal
with these challenges qureshi said
the iranian foreign minister said the summit had aimed to bring positive change
to the the region
we are optimistic not very far in the future we will bring some constructive
and positive change to the situation manouchehr mottaki told reporters
extremism terrorism and instability have no geographical borders that why
we should try united every body every body all together he said
we have to come together afghan foreign minister rangin dadfar spanta said
adding that afghanistan was determined and ready to play this role
foreign soldier killed in afghan bomb attack nato
kabul jan afp
foreign soldier fighting the taliban in southern afghanistan was killed
saturday by remote controlled bomb the insurgents weapon of choice nato
said in statement
an afghan policeman and militants were also killed in separate clashes across
the country the forces said
the brief statement from nato international security assistance force isaf
did not give the soldier nationality or the exact location of the incident
an isaf service member was killed today in an ied strike in southern
afghanistan it said referring to improvised explosive devices which are the
scourge of troops fighting the insurgents
purported taliban spokesman calling himself yousuf ahmadi claimed
responsibility for the blast talking to afp by telephone from an undisclosed
location saying that it had killed foreign soldiers
the taliban regularly exaggerate the number of foreign troops killed in their
operations though they rarely take responsibility for attacks that kill and maim
civilians
military intelligence officials have said ieds crude bombs usually detonated
by remote control account for up to percent of foreign troop deaths in
war that is now in its ninth year
the death brings to the number of foreign troops of which there are
in afghanistan fighting alongside afghan forces to have died so far
this year
britain ministry of defence reported on saturday that an explosion killed two
british soldiers in southern afghanistan on friday
two british soldiers from rd battalion the rifles were killed by an explosion
near sangin in helmand province yesterday friday military spokesman
lieutenant colonel david wakefield said in statement
they were on foot patrol protecting the local population from insurgents when
the attack happened
their deaths bring to four the number of british soldiers killed in afghanistan
this year
total of british service personnel died in afghanistan last year the
bloodiest for the british military since the falklands war total of
have been killed since operations began in
the total number of foreign soldiers killed in the country in was
compared with the year before
an afghan policeman was also killed saturday when militants attacked security
post in the muqur district of western badghis province abdul jabar the
provincial deputy police chief said
this morning taliban attacked security post killing policeman he said
six militants were killed on friday in another incident in bala murghab district
of the same province when insurgents attacked afghan and nato forces on patrol
he said
eleven insurgents were killed in an operation overnight conducted by isaf troops
in nad ali in restive helmand province the alliance said
the initial battle assessment shows that insurgents were killed an isaf
statement said
the taliban insurgency is intensifying as they try to topple the fragile kabul
government and more foreign troops are deployed for the fight with another
arriving over the course of this year
alpine skiing swiss tyro janka storms wengen downhill
wengen switzerland jan afp
swiss tyro carlo janka surged back to the top of the world cup overall standings
on saturday when he powered to comprehensive win in the men downhill race
here
janka negotiated the gruelling metre long course in min sec for his
fourth victory of the season and his sixth career success
the year old who was second in the super combined event on friday behind
american bode miller finished massive sec ahead of canadian manuel
osborne paradis with marco buechel of liechstenstein in third at sec
italian werner heel was in fourth swiss veteran didier cuche in joint fifth
with slovenian andrej jerman and another of the strong swiss team in seventh in
the shape of didier defago
miller who had led the field at the intermediary times crashed out after
failing to get enough bite around one of the gruelling course lower gates
janka who notched up memorable triple victory at beaver creek in early
december will now set his sights on the kitzbuehel downhill next saturday
the world cup continues here on sunday with two leg slalom race
us does not know if mehsud is dead diplomat
kabul jan afp
the united states administration does not know if the leader of the pakistani
taliban was killed in us bombing raid this week senior diplomat said
saturday
richard holbrooke washington special representative to afghanistan and
pakistan said he could not confirm if hakimullah mehsud was among those killed
in thursday raid in pakistan lawless northwest tribal belt
ve heard every conceivable version of what has happened and don know
said holbrooke
the pakistani taliban released an audio recording allegedly made friday of
mehsud denying he had been killed in the raid as the military investigated the
reports
missiles fired from an unmanned us aircraft killed at least islamist
insurgents at training camp and security officials said mehsud may have been
among the dead
if he is still alive he is one of the worst people on earth one of the most
vicious holbrooke told reporters in kabul
don know what his status is we ve heard all the rumours and we re just
going to sit back and let it develop but do want to stress how strongly we
feel about this man and this group he said
reporters familiar with mehsud said the voice on the recording seemed to be his
but there was no mention of dates or the bombing alleged to have killed him
making it impossible to confirm if it was recorded before or after thursday
strike
mehsud assumed leadership of the group blamed for the deaths of thousands of
people in attacks across pakistan after his predecessor baitullah mehsud was
killed in us drone strike in august last year
the group denied baitullah mehsud death for weeks apparently amid fierce
infighting over his successor
the us strike hit in remote and mountainous area between the districts of
north and south waziristan and the military spokesman said access to the
taliban controlled area was one hurdle in obtaining information
more than people have been killed in around us drone strikes since august
with surge in under president barack obama eight drone strikes
have hit the northwest this month alone
the bombings fuel anti american sentiment in muslim pakistan and the taliban
repeatedly vow to avenge the raids
football hot shot klose hitting world cup form
berlin jan afp
germany number one striker miroslav klose looks set to again terrorise
defences at this summer world cup after the bayern munich star admitted he is
recapturing his best form
with goals in appearances for germany the year old has deserved
reputation as lethal finisher having been both the top scorer at the
world cup and also in qualification for this year global tournament
but klose has struggled with injury this season which limited him to just eight
bundesliga starts and he began friday win over hoffenheim on the bench as
third choice striker for bayern
having scored twice for munich in the friendly win over basel last tuesday
klose then broke his bundesliga drought with late goal against hoffenheim to
prove his form to both bayern coach louis van gaal and national handler joachim
loew
my goal was to start well said the poland born forward
the warm up friendly went well and now scored again at last
hoping to recapture my best form
klose is battling germany team mate mario gomez and croatia forward ivica olic
for one of the two strikers roles and gomez admitted last week always feel
miro breathing down my neck in training
bayern face title rivals bremen mid table mainz who beat them earlier this
season and defending champions wolfsburg in the next few weeks but van gaal
now has an abundance of strikers who are in form
it very competitive among the forwards but we all get on very well
together said klose
our rivalry in training is hard but fair and it nice for the coach to have
such great choice
the start to the second half of the season is challenging but we want to
extend our good run
while klose has had to prove himself at bayern he is without question germany
number one striker in the eyes of national trainer loew
do not have any concerns about miro loew told television channel ard
have known him for long time he will play for bayern throughout the rest
of the season and will have match fitness under his belt
tennis baghdatis beats gasquet in sydney final
sydney jan afp
former australian open finalist marcos baghdatis capitalised on shaky
tiebreaker from frenchman richard gasquet to claim the sydney international atp
title here on saturday
the nd ranked cypriot won rain interrupted final in one hour
minutes to capture his fourth career title just days out from the australian
open in melbourne
after recovering from the brink against lleyton hewitt and mardy fish just to
reach the final baghdatis completed an ideal australian open build up
ve just won tournament my confidence is up feeling pretty fit ve
played two three set matches playing good moving good feeling fit baghdatis
said so everything is positive going into the open
obviously my confidence is good but need to win some tournaments and some
matches in the australian open to build up again
but if stay focused and find the way to win the first two three matches
then could be very dangerous and confident
baghdatis who lost the australian open final to roger federer broke
gasquet opening service game and went on to take the first set in minutes
before rain suspended play during the first game of the second set
after minute delay gasquet broke baghdatis serve for the only time in the
fourth game when the cypriot double faulted on break point and led
but he had shaky service game in the ninth when he went down three break
points and baghdatis broke back and levelled and took the set to tiebreaker
gasquet got the first mini break in the tiebreaker to lead but baghdatis
reeled off the next seven points to take the set and the championship
gasquet served two double faults and made two forehand errors to virtually hand
the set and the match to baghdatis
it was the first meeting at senior level between the two players although they
played each other as juniors
baghdatis is fighting his way back up the rankings after climbing from at
the end of to no last season highlighted by his third career atp world
tour title in stockholm last october
gasquet currently ranked was bidding to become the first frenchman since
guy forget in to win the sydney title
although he thrilled the crowd with his signature one handed backhand he
succumbed to ill opportune errors at crucial times during the second set to lose
the initiative
the first set he played better than me from the baseline gasquet said
in the second set was leading and served bad game and had big
trouble in the tiebreak lost lot of free points so that made the
difference
former world top ten player gasquet returned positive test for cocaine last
march following kiss in miami nightclub and served two and half month
ban
the court of arbitration for sport last month cleared gasquet who reached
career high ranking of seven in of doping and dismissed appeals by sports
authorities for tougher penalty
gasquet has won six of his last eight matches
march held in cabinda in support of togo against terrorism
cabinda jan afp
strong crowd answered national government call to march here on
saturday against terrorism and in support of the togo national side following
the deadly attack on their team bus
we are here to say no to terrorism and to show our solidarity with the young
togolese governor of angola cabinda province jean baptiste mawete told afp
the marchers the majority wearing the angolan national colours of red and
black made their way from the local government headquarters through the town
the attack by cabinda rebels on the togo team convoy as it arrived in this
restless northern oil rich enclave ahead of the africa cup of nations eight days
ago killed two people
togo pulled out of the competition at their own government request
saturday demonstration was made up of angola ruling party mpla officials
provincial elders local authority officials young footballers who seemed
unclear as to why they were summoned to march and africa cup of nations
volunteers
in this year of africa we want peace tranquility and progress to help our
country move forward mawete declared
no one is threatened here and this march allows us to say to the world that
angola is among the countries of the world and lives in peace
behind him the assembled crowd marched in high spirits with banners that
delivered an unequivocal message
sport unifies nations one read on another was written the people of cabinda
support the people of togo
following the attack with automatic weapons on the togo team convoy the
authorities in cabinda are intent on putting forward positive image from this
restless northern enclave
behind the large group of local government officials came veteran traditional
elders decked out in khaki
it important to stand up against this ignoble act which for the past week has
given certain image of cabinda explained andre kuenga of the cabinda forum
for dialogue
he added it important to show another image to show that the people here
are peaceful and don adhere to the politics of terrorism
further back in the march came women members of the mpla wearing yellow
headdresses and red shirts
one marcher antonio juan who like many in the crowd was carrying flag with
the image of angola president jose eduardo dos santos on it said the
citizens of cabinda have chosen to demonstrate against terrorism that
important because we need peace
some of the marchers appeared to have turned up by chance like the youngsters
from the local football club wearing their team colours of green and white
they told us to come and march with the governor but we don really know why
said caspard madiala who was one of around in the crowd serving as africa
cup of nations volounteers
bringing up the rear was young handicapped man who with his crutches was
having difficulty keeping up with the pace
the march made its way through the town to congregate in gymnasium beside the
garden of peace where the national anthem was played and the governor addressed
the crowd
cricket rain brings halt to south africans progess
johannesburg jan afp
ab de villiers and mark boucher shared an attacking century partnership on the
third day of the fourth and final test against england at the wanderers stadium
on saturday before rain again interrupted south africa push for series
levelling win
south africa were for six first innings lead of when thunderstorm
hit the ground minutes after lunch
de villiers and boucher not out put on for the sixth wicket
scoring at four runs an over after three wickets fell early in the day
de villiers rode his luck twice successfully seeking television reviews after
being given out by umpire tony hill when he was facing off spinner graeme swann
and then seemingly benefitting from mistake by umpire steve davis when he
appeared to edge catch to wicketkeeper matt prior off ryan sidebottom
by then england had used up both their permitted reviews and they could not
seek further opinion from television umpire daryl harper
while de villiers was not entirely convincing boucher was in excellent form
stroking his runs off balls with seven fours
only two runs had been added when overnight batsmen hashim amla and jacques
kallis were dismissed in successive overs to be followed by jp duminy
amla edged the tenth ball of the day from stuart broad for prior to take
diving catch kallis followed in the next over when ball from ryan sidebottom
lifted more sharply than expected and an attempted pull looped to gully where
james anderson dived to hold good catch
duminy troubles against swann continued when he was beaten by the flight and
sharp spin to edge the off spinner first ball of the day to slip
it was the third time in the series he had been out to swann in similar
circumstances twice caught at slip and once by the wicketkeeper
at that stage south africa were only runs ahead and with new ball due
within seven overs england appeared to have clawed their way back into the
match
but de villiers and boucher restored south africa dominance before de villiers
mistimed pull against broad and was caught at midwicket
with lightning flashing nearby and huge dark clouds hurrying in the umpires
took the players off the field for the third successive day shortly before
storm stopped play
haiti quake worst disaster ever confronted by un spokeswoman
geneva jan afp
the earthquake in haiti is the worst disaster ever confronted by the united
nations spokeswoman said saturday pointing out that the catastrophe has left
affected regions with little infrastructure
this is historic disaster we have never been confronted with such disaster
in the un memory it is like no other elisabeth byrs spokeswoman of the un
office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs told afp
she noted that at least local government structures remained after the
tsunami hit indonesia aceh province but in haiti the town of leogane for
