internet lines texting services and at times also mobile phone connections have
been cut or scrambled since ahmadinejad contested re election
afp middle east news agenda
nicosia jan afp
duty editor albion land
news desk
middle east news agenda for friday
egyptian clashes after copts murdered
cairo clashes erupt as thousands of coptic christians in southern egyptian
village gather to bury six of their number gunned down on coptic christmas eve
by men believed to be muslims egypt religion unrest
damascus pakistani president asif ali zardari arrives on two day official
visit during which he will meet his counterpart bashar al assad pakistan
syria diplomacy
sanaa following developments as yemen warns that us military intervention to
back its fight against al qaeda militants could backfire and strengthen the
jihadist network attacks yemen
monitoring developments as the government says that briton and five germans
held captive by unknown kidnappers for the past six months are alive yemen
germany britain kidnap
washington jordanian foreign minister nasser judeh visits washington for talks
with us secretary of state hillary clinton just days after us media citing
western intelligence agents said the man who blew himself up at cia base in
afghanistan was jordanian jordan us diplomacy
bangladesh to sign new anti terror deal with india govt
dhaka jan afp
bangladesh is set to sign prisoner exchange deal with india that will legalise
the transfer of key separatist leaders its larger neighbour accuses of
terrorism dhaka foreign minister said thursday
new agreement to combat international terrorism will also be signed during
bangladeshi prime minister sheikh hasina upcoming four day visit to new delhi
starting sunday which will focus on security issues dipu moni said
the announcement of the prisoner exchange deal follows reports that bangladeshi
authorities have secretly handed over top ranking separatist leaders from united
liberation front of asom ulfa to india despite there being no legal basis for
such transfer
ulfa is one of the most powerful rebel armies in india northeast among odd
militant groups active in the tea and oil rich region and has been fighting for
an independent homeland for ethnic assamese since
the deal between delhi and dhaka will formalise the extradition process between
the two countries moni said
both nations currently have terrorism suspects wanted by the other in their
jails but lack legal framework for prisoner exchange
india alleges that tribal and ethnic separatist groups waging insurgencies in
its volatile northeast operate from bases in bangladesh the state of assam is
on india border with bangladesh
moni added that the prisoner transfer deal would not cover anup chetia ulfa
leader who has been held in bangladesh since awaiting extradition she
declined to elaborate
new delhi has also claimed that bangladesh based islamist groups are behind
string of blasts across india in recent years although not the mumbai attacks
in november for which it holds pakistani militants responsible
the deal will improve the two nations capacity to combat the threat posed by
international terrorist organisations seeking to use the region to plot major
attacks moni said
in high level talks in february last year just weeks after hasina awami
league came to power dhaka pledged its soil would not be used by terrorist
groups seeking to attack india
the awami league which led the country to independence from pakistan after
bloody war of liberation in has historically close ties to india which
sent troops to fight with bangladesh against pakistan during the war
urgent cricket south africa draw with england in third test
cape town jan afp
south africa drew with england in the third test here at newlands on thursday
england were at stumps and cannot lose the series as they head for the
fourth and final test in johannesburg which begins on january as they lead
the series
yale skull and bones to auction in new york
new york jan afp
grisly trophies from yale university mysterious skull and bones society whose
members include former president george bush are to go on auction in new
york this month
the human skull and two large bones are estimated to sell for between and
dollars on january at christie
the auction house said the human remains were used as ballot box by the secret
society the skull includes specially cut lid in the top apparently for
ballots and one of the bones is inscribed thor
the auction lot also comes with black book listing names of skull and bones
members back in
the ballot box and documents offer rare glimpse into an organization in which
membership has evolved into closely guarded secret christie said
members dubbed bonesmen have included bush and his father who also served
as president senator john kerry the late conservative writer william
buckley jr and number of major businessmen such as averell harriman and
heinz ii
the society joined by leading students at the university and which is said to
maintain bizarre initiation rites was founded at yale in women were
admitted for the first time in the
eu galileo satnav system to begin operations in
brussels jan afp
the eu much delayed galileo sat nav network will begin operation in the
european commission said thursday as it awarded key contracts to germany ohb
system and france arianespace
the european system is aimed to challenge the dominance of the us built global
positioning system gps set up by the pentagon in the which is widely
used in huge variety of navigation devices like those in cars and boats
ohb system beat out larger rival eads astrium for the contract to build the
first satellites for the satellite navigation system eu transport
commissioner antonio tajani said with arianespace providing the launch
services
the first satellites will be launched from french guiana by russian soyuz
rockets
franco italian group thales alenia space was handed the contract to provide
system support services
this will allow the initial deployment and service provision of europe
satellite navigation system as of early tajani said
with this and the upcoming awards for the remaining procurement packages we
are concluding critical phase of the galileo programme
we can now focus on the actual roll out and demonstrate to european citizens
that europe own satellite navigation system is firmly underway he added
the eu has struggled to secure financing for the project originally put at
billion euros billion dollars and has had to tap unused funds from the
bloc massive agricultural budget
tajani said there was bound to be an increase in the budget especially as
regards the costs of the launchers but could not provide figure
last year the european court of auditors criticised the galileo project as ill
prepared and badly managed
the commission said some services would be available by early including
the open service which will be freely available to the public in europe just
as the us gps system is
also available early will be the search and rescue service
galileo is intended to offer superior accuracy of one metre yard compared
to up to metres for gps making it very useful for car drivers farmers and
even the blind
the european version will have global coverage and an encrypted pay service for
commercial clients with extra information such as weather detail
the ohb contract for satellites is worth million euros
the commission offered hope to eads astrium by stressing that subsequent
satellites will be procured each time from ohb or eads astrium depending on
which company provides the most advantageous offer
eads astrium had already secured the contract for preliminary four satellites
which will be among the first launched
since the launch of the bidding process eads has also taken over surrey
satellite technology partner with ohb in its successful bid
the contract with arianespace covers the launch of five soyuz launchers with the
first lift off scheduled for october the contract is worth million
euros
the contract awarded to thales alenia space worth million euros for the
system support services covers the industrial services needed to support the
european space agency for the integration of galileo
remaining procurement contracts for the ground mission infrastructure the
ground control infrastructure and operations should be awarded by mid
labour mp quits israeli parliament
jerusalem jan afp
labour mp quit israel parliament on thursday further weakening the once
dominant centre left party that is increasingly torn by internal divisions
ophir pines paz was highly critical of the coalition government of hawkish
prime minister benjamin netanyahu in which the labour party is partner
netanyahu government is giving up on future generations to maintain the
current status quo he said in reference to peace talks with the palestinians
which have been stalled for more than year
pines paz said in statement he felt he could no longer reconcile his values
with his position in parliament
he will be replaced in parliament by the next person on labour list of
candidates
labour under defence minister ehud barak saw its support plummet in february
elections when it got only mps in the member parliament
labour governed israel since the creation of the state in until
german mps lose sauna get toilet instead
berlin jan afp
stressed out german mps fancying steamy session with their fellow legislators
will soon be out of luck as the parliament sauna is being closed and turned
into toilet spokesman said thursday
despite offering enough space for naked lawmakers at time since opening in
the sauna has only been in service times and has been patronized by
just people bundestag spokeswoman anna rubinowicz told afp
the spokeswoman was unable to say if chancellor angela merkel who was famously
in an east berlin sauna when the berlin wall fell in was one of those who
indulged at eight euros dollars go
alert
cricket south africa draw with england in third test
eu backs commissioner under fire from dr congo
brussels jan afp
the european commission on thursday leapt to the defence of the eu top aid
official after he was made persona non grata in the democratic republic of congo
for raising doubts about its use of aid money
at the european parliament last month development commissioner karel de gucht
had questioned whether aid provided to kinshasa by eu nations was being put to
good use as humanitarian crisis raged in parts of the country
it was not expressing personal opinions he was speaking on behalf of the
european commission as political body and with the full support of its
president spokesman said in brussels
the potentially damaging row has flared as de gucht faces next tuesday three
hour hearing at the european parliament where deputies will grill him to see
whether he is suitable to take over the post of eu trade commissioner
an eu official said the dr congo government recently made it known to the
commission that de gucht who as former belgian foreign minister also had
testy relations with kinshasa would not be welcome to visit
on thursday dr congo government spokesman lambert mende said we note that
here is character who is incapable of having normal dignified relations with
our country
any visit to dr congo would not be desirable he said
whether it is at the level of the belgian government or now at the european
level wherever he has gone we have had problems with those institutions he
said
without wanting to damage our good relations with the eu we want nothing to do
with this character he went on warning that the row could have the same
effect as on kinshasa relations with former colonial master belgium
we went for almost nine months without talking mende said
in strasbourg on december de gucht noted that tens of millions of euros are
being sent there but asked what is in the end the effectiveness of all this
if you don have proper counterpart in the political arena
the eu is major aid donor to dr congo sending some million euros
million dollars since including around million euros annually in
humanitarian assistance in and last year
de gucht announced in late november that he had planned to travel to goma and
would have used his visit to sign documents activating number of major aid
projects
italy condemns horrific violence against egyptian copts
rome jan afp
italy on thursday condemned violence against coptic christians in egypt with
foreign minister franco frattini saying he would personally take up the matter
with his egyptian counterpart on visit to cairo next week
the violence perpetrated against the christian copt community in egypt is
horrific and outrageous frattini said after six copts and muslim policeman
were killed apparently by muslims in the south of the country on wednesday
will personally speak to my counterpart aboul gheit about the protection of
the copt community in this country on the occasion of my visit to cairo at
the end of next week said frattini whose previously scheduled trip to egypt
will be part of weeklong african tour
the international community cannot remain indifferent and must never lower its
guard in the face of religious intolerance which is serious violation of
basic human rights frattini said
at least nine more copts were wounded two of them seriously when drive by
attackers raked crowd of shoppers in south egypt town with gunfire on the
eve of their christmas celebrations security official said
football portsmouth players to be paid at last club
london jan afp
portsmouth players were due to be paid their december wages on thursday after
squad salaries at the english premier league crisis club had been delayed for
the third time this season
as far as am aware everything is going through to their accounts today
portsmouth chief executive peter storrie told sky sports on thursday
payment should be there am pleased to say obviously it is not the best
scenario in the world to have this situation happening but obviously finance is
major problem in the world market at the moment
he added am told funds were received this morning so therefore it
question of the process and however long that takes to go through but told
it should all happen today
the south coast side financial problems have contributed to situation that
has left them four points adrift at the foot of the premier league and on course
for relegation just couple of seasons after they won the fa cup
before the season started portsmouth were hampered by the protracted takeover
of the club by the uae based sulaiman al fahim from former owner alexandre
gaydamak
but fans who were led to believe that al fahim would invest heavily in the club
were stunned when in matter of weeks he relinquished control to saudi
businessman ali al faraj
however he has struggled to raise the funds to cope with portsmouth mounting
debts with gaydamak alone saying he is still owed nearly million pounds by
the club
portsmouth who in november appointed israeli avram grant as their manager in
succession to the sacked paul hart have also been threatened with legal action
by hm revenue and customs over unpaid tax bills
meanwhile with the january transfer window now open pompey cannot currently
sign any new players as they remain the subject of premier league transfer
embargo regarding unpaid fees on previous deals
but storrie insisted thursday players would not leave fratton park on the cheap
just to raise some ready cash
ve had one or two calls and think one or two people think there is some
sort of fire sale going on that is not the case he said
if we have to sell players we ll sell them for their market price and not what
people think is knockdown price
the professional footballers association pfa told portsmouth warned the
integrity of premier league fixtures was at stake unless the club financial
position improved
when two teams take the field it versus and you would expect all
players to have been paid pfa senior executive nick cusack said thursday
if one set of has not then that can call into question the commitment of
that team and therefore the integrity of the game itself
that in turn puts into question the very integrity of the league and this is
something we plan to raise with the premier league and with portsmouth
officials when go down to the club to speak to the players
portsmouth cannot carry on like this am sure the people we are talking to
are honourable and want to sort it out but there is lack of information about
how the club is being run how the players are being paid and whether they will
be paid in the future
briton germans kidnapped in yemen still alive official
sanaa jan afp
five germans including three children and british national who have been
held by kidnappers in yemen for the past six months are still alive top
official said on thursday
we have confirmed information that they are still alive they are five germans
and british national the deputy prime minister for defence and security
affairs rashad al aleemi told press conference
the three possible places they could be in are the provinces of maarib al
jouf and saada he said
available information confirm that there is coordination between the northern
shiite rebels huthis and the al qaeda in this matter he said
it is believed that the three children who were shown in recent video are
alive in maarib while the elders are being used by the huthis to provide
medical treatment aleemi said
the three children were seen in new video two weeks ago but the footage
featured no sign of their parents all were kidnapped in june
at the time germany said it had no evidence that al qaeda was behind the
kidnapping
german officials who requested anonymity had confirmed report in the daily
bild saying the images apparently recorded recently indicated at least that
the three children aged one three and five were still alive
the german government now has copy of the video bild said in december
the children seemed exhausted high ranking german official was quoted by
the newspaper as saying
the crisis squad in the ministry is doing all it can to bring the kidnapping
to happy end as quickly as possible foreign ministry statement in berlin
said on thursday
in london foreign office spokesman said the british government was working
with the yemeni and german authorities to resolve the issue but would not
respond to every update
we don respond to every update or speculation we will continue to work
with the yemeni authorities to resolve the case as quickly as possible he
said
the family of five and the briton were abducted in northern yemen along with two
german bible students and south korean who were shot dead soon afterwards
thursday announcement comes as government forces chase al qaeda cells after
the network franchise in the impoverished country claimed responsibility for
the botched christmas day attack on us airliner
the sanaa government had repeatedly accused the huthi rebels of the kidnappings
charge they denied saying that the government was behind the abduction to use
it as an excuse to attack the rebels
since august the army has been engaged in an all out offensive against the
zaidi shiite rebels in the saada northern province and its surroundings in
bid to end their five year rebellion
abductions of foreigners are frequent in yemen as tribesmen often use them to
twist the government arm in local disputes more than foreigners have been
abducted over the past years
all have been freed unharmed except for three britons and an australian seized
by islamist militants in december who were killed when security forces
stormed the kidnappers hideout
in april dutch couple were held for two weeks by tribesmen to pressure the
government to pay compensation for an incident involving tribal chief and
security forces
yemen ancestral homeland of al qaeda chief osama bin laden has also seen
spate of attacks on foreign and government targets in march four south korean
tourists were killed by bomb attack in the historic city of shibam
ryanair says passenger numbers soared percent in
dublin jan afp
irish airline ryanair revealed on thursday that passenger numbers jumped
percent last year to million as more cash strapped customers chose the low
cost carrier
ryanair also said in statement that the number of passengers rose percent
to million in december compared with the same month of the previous
year
as our december traffic shows ryanair is growing strongly and remains on
course to carry over million passengers in the current fiscal year said
chief executive michael leary the group financial year runs until march
ryanair will meanwhile return cash to shareholders after it ended discussions
with boeing last month to buy aircraft from the us plane maker because of
disagreement over pricing leary added
with the unsuccessful termination of our talks with boeing for aircraft
order in december planned capital expenditure will now decline from billion
euros in the current year to as little as million euros in fiscal year
ending march he said
we expect our current cash reserves of billion euros to grow substantially
by march and we plan to distribute surplus cash to shareholders from that
date
france eyes google tax on internet ads
paris jan afp
proposed french google tax on online advertising revenues to fund subsidies
for musicians and newspapers struggling in the digital era drew criticism from
the internet sector on thursday
the proposal was one of several in government commissioned report following
complaints by media companies that internet giants such as google are profiting
from their content for free
the report recommended ways to boost the availability of cultural material
online while also protecting artists and the media intellectual property
it suggested taxing online advertising as well as internet providers and using
the revenue to aid creative sectors such as the music industry which are
struggling to adapt to the age of downloads
the levy could raise up to million euros million dollars this year
according to the plan
the report lead author record producer patrick zelnik said the tax would
take small percentage of google online ad revenues which he estimated at
million euros year in total according to liberation newspaper
he dubbed the plan google tax but said it could also target other big
internet players such as microsoft aol yahoo and facebook
google france said it hoped the government plans would lead to innovation
rather than new taxes according to statement from its public affairs director
olivier esper
there is an opportunity here to promote innovative solutions rather than
extending the attitude of opposition between the internet world and the cultural
world for example through the approach of taxation esper said
google france said it was now waiting for response from president nicolas
sarkozy
the digital media think thank renaissance numerique whose members include
business leaders said the tax proposal penalised advertisers unfairly
neither online advertisers nor internet service providers are robbing artists
said its co president christine balague in statement quite the contrary
they are taking part in bringing consumers and artists together
quadrature du net which describes itself as citizens rights group for the
digital age said the plan would make all taxpayers pay for out of date
businesses and make scapegoat of internet providers
zelnik report also proposed public subsidies for voucher card system to buy
music files online so as to encourage legal means of accessing content via the
web
the sacd society of authors and composers said it was satisfied with the
proposals which would encourage and stimulate the legal availability of works
to the public
french media companies have complained their online material is being used for
free via services such as california based google the world leader in internet
searches
the report followed government reform that came into force this month to
punish users for illegal downloads
but it also taps into the issue of cultural autonomy amid fears in france of the
growing might of google and other internet giants
taxing online ads seemed inevitable if we want to preserve cultural pluralism
and prevent the never ending development of two or three world players
zelnik was quoted as saying by liberation
yemen warns us military intervention could strengthen qaeda
sanaa jan afp
us military intervention in yemen to help fight al qaeda militants could
backfire and strengthen the jihadists believed behind the botched attack on us
airliner top yemeni official said on thursday
any intervention or direct military action by the united states could
strengthen the al qaeda network and not weaken it deputy prime minister for
defence and security affairs rashed al aleemi told press conference
our position is clear we will fight and chase the al qaeda group depending on
yemeni forces and security agencies alone he said
however aleemi also said yemen needs us help to train yemeni counter terrorism
units
since al qaeda is global organisation that threatens international stability
all countries in the world headed by the united states must cooperate to
confront them he said
all we need from the united states is training and providing weapons and
equipment to counter terrorism units and they are capable of liquidating al
qaeda and all terror elements
aleemi said security cooperation with washington is based on the exchange of
information the same applies to saudi arabia he added
long standing concerns that yemen has become haven for islamic extremism 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
aleemi said the alleged assailant umar farouk abdulmutallab had met radical
us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi while in yemen
the nigerian hid in shabwa area in wadi rafadh east of sanaa where he met
awlaqi and mohammad omair who was killed in the air raid on wadi rafadh he
said
yemeni warplanes on december struck wadi rafadh in shabwa province about
kilometres miles east of sanaa officials said suspected al qaeda
militants were killed
washington has accused awlaqi of terrorist links and said that nidal hasan the
army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead people at fort hood base in
november had also been in contact with him
abdulmutallab disappeared in yemen between september and december and the
authorities are investigating how he managed to leave the country after
overstaying his visa
aleemi added that based on investigations the explosives found on the year
old alleged bomber came from nigeria not yemen as previously reported
he said abdulmutallab was recruited by al qaeda before going to yemen possibly
in london where he studied mechanical engineering from
when he went to britain it seems that he was recruited by islamist militant
groups aleemi said he arrived in yemen after he had been recruited by al
qaeda
in london spokesman said they had nothing to add to tuesday statement by
home secretary alan johnson
in that statement johnson acknowledged concern about the possibility that
abdulmutallab radicalisation may have begun or been fuelled during his time
studying at university college london but said the nigerian family believe
he turned to violent extremism after leaving the uk
on wednesday abdulmutallab was indicted on six counts arising out of the
thwarted plot to blow up northwest airliner packed with passengers and
crew as it approached detroit michigan
after the failed attack general david petraeus the us regional military
commander went to sanaa for talks with yemeni president ali abdullah saleh
petraeus according to the saba news agency reaffirmed washington support for
yemeni efforts to fight terrorism and delivered message from president barack
obama related in particular to bilateral cooperation in the fight against
terrorism and piracy
group of top us lawmakers on wednesday urged obama to boost aid to yemen
military saying they had lost trust in sanaa ability to be strong partner
against terrorism
we no longer have confidence that the yemeni government has the capacity to
assist the united states in providing for our nation security the senior
republicans on five key committees urged obama in letter
yemeni security forces insist they are winning the war against the jihadists
pointing to two separate air raids in december which killed more than
suspected al qaeda members
on wednesday yemeni officials announced the capture of key al qaeda leader
and two other militants believed behind threats against western interests in
sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days
the interior ministry also said its security forces were repeatedly raiding
hideouts of terrorist elements in several provinces and had turned their
fight against terrorism into daily confrontation
mou ak srm
sport britain big chill hits sports schedule
london jan afp
britain harshest winter for decades continued to disrupt sports schedules on
thursday as yet more fixtures were postponed because of freezing conditions
with snow and ice making it treacherous for many people throughout britain to
get to work officials in several sports announced the unusually early
abandonment of weekend matches and races
football scottish cup has been hard hit six of the weekend ties
including morton match against celtic have fallen victim to the weather and
more are expected to follow
in england none of this weekend premier league football matches have yet been
postponed
undersoil heating at top flight grounds means pitches are now able to withstand
conditions that would have once made them unplayable and birmingham said
thursday they were extremely confident their match against champions
manchester united on saturday would go ahead
