lone gunman killed top burundian opposition official by shooting him eight
times before fleeing sparking accusations that the ruling party was behind the
attack officials said monday
sylvere niyonzima provincial representative of the peace and democracy union
upd was killed sunday in his bar in mpanda county in the north of the capital
bujumbura local administrator cleophas nizigiyimana told afp
witnesses said masked man in police trench coat entered the bar and shot
him eight times at close range then fled without taking anything from him
nizigiyimana said
upd spokesman blamed the ruling cndd party for the killing which it denied
he was thorn in the side of the ruling party owing to his ability to mobilise
crowds especially in this pre election period chauvineau mugwengezo said
adding that he was killed not far from police station
opposition parties in burundi have repeatedly accused president pierre
nkurunziza regime of abuses and rights violations which it has rejected
the small central african state still emerging from effects of civil war is
to hold its second post conflict elections this year
european court to hear yukos bln dollar case against russia
strasbourg jan afp
european human rights judges will hold hearing this week in the billion
dollar billion euro complaint against russia brought by former oil giant
yukos the court said monday
the strasbourg based european court of human rights echr which in february
had rejected moscow request to dismiss the case will hold hearing on
thursday and is expected to render its decision in few months
back in august the court announced that russian judge on the panel valery
mussin had resigned after having been named director at russian gas giant
gazprom in order to avoid conflict of interest in the yukos matter
initially hearing in the case set for november was delayed to give the new
judge andrei bushev named by russian president dimitry medvedev time to
review the case
yukos contends that russian tax authorities engineered the company bankruptcy
by handing out disproportionately high fines for financial irregularities
it said in its court filing there had been lack of proper legal basis for
doing so as well as selective and arbitrary prosecution of its business
russian judges found the company guilty of tax fraud on several occasions
between and with yukos handing over some billion euros in unpaid
taxes and six billion euros in penalty charges
former state operator yukos was privatised in the mid it declared
bankruptcy in before being wound up in
its founding chief executive mikhail khodorkovsky was convicted and sentenced
to eight years in prison in for major fraud and tax evasion
he and his former business partner platon lebedev are now on trial again on
fresh charges of embezzling millions of tons of oil and money laundering that
could see them jailed for another two decades
supporters of khodorkovsky once russia richest man have condemned the trial
as politically motivated and aimed at keeping the year old critic of prime
minister vladimir putin out of the political scene indefinitely
last month russian court ruled that lebedev arrest in should be
cancelled the first time in the long running saga surrounding khodorkovsky that
russian judges found violations in the case
the russian court had reviewed the arrest decision after the echr in october
ruled that lebedev rights had been violated during his pre trial
detention
according to khodorkovsky lawyers similar complaint has been placed before
the european court on behalf of the ex boss of yukos himself but it has yet to
be examined
khodorkovsky and lebedev are now on trial again on fresh charges of embezzling
millions of tons of oil and money laundering that could see them jailed for
another two decades
optimism at detroit auto show as industry banks on recovery
detroit michigan jan afp
new sense of optimism filled the detroit auto show monday as the industry
looked forward to recovery from one of its worst years on record
automakers are still reeling from collapse in sales to levels not seen since
bankrupting general motors and chrysler and dethroning the detroit three
as the biggest sellers in the us market
china also surpassed the united states for the first time as the world biggest
vehicle market the china association of automobile manufacturers announced in
beijing monday
but the overall mood is significantly more upbeat than year earlier when the
very existence of gm and chrysler was in doubt as congress sparred over
providing billions in emergency loans
today is new beginning for the automotive industry transportation secretary
ray lahood told reporters
when people have an opportunity to see the kind of products that are now being
manufactured and will be on display they will realize the auto industry is
manufacturing products people want to drive
ford gm and toyota kicked off the show by highlighting their focus on fuel
efficient vehicles
ford which managed to both stay afloat and increase its piece of the shrunken
us market in introduced much anticipated update to its compact ford
focus sedan
companies have to pay attention to the three es economy efficient and the
environment chairman bill ford said as he touted the automaker new global
vehicle platforms which will radically reduce costs
ford also got boost early monday when its ford fusion hybrid sedan and
ford transit connect truck won the best car and truck of the year respectively
by vote of panel automotive journalists
toyota unveiled test model of compact dedicated hybrid vehicle which it
hopes will help it expand upon the success of the prius and achieve the goal of
selling million hybrids year
gm opened its presentations by introducing boxy low lying new compact sport
utility vehicle the gmc granite concept which would be aimed at young
urban drivers if it ends up being tapped for mass market production
the automaker also plans to introduce several new smaller cars set to be sold
under its chevrolet brand
notably absent from the press conference schedule was chrysler which had little
of significance to introduce after the turmoil of painful divorce from
daimler brief takeover by private equity group cerberus and quick spin
through bankruptcy last year which left the number three us automaker under the
management of italy fiat
but while the restructuring of gm and chrysler under bankruptcy protection was
extremely painful it has left detroit in much stronger position gm vice
chairman bob lutz said sunday
genuinely optimistic about the future lutz told the society for
automotive analysts annual conference
detroit the american auto industry and the detroit auto show are going to
experience in the next three to five years prestige renaissance lutz said
it is kind of the phoenix rises from the ashes because this is the first time
when we can deploy the full power of gm without the burden of all those horrible
legacy cost and the crushing debt load that all gone now now we re under
new ownership and much much healthier company
gm new owner the us government which holds percent stake will have
substantial presence at the show
in addition to lahood congressional delegation led by house speaker nancy
pelosi will also be touring the show monday
they will see strong emphasis on small cars and fuel efficiency with
square foot display of different electric vehicles which they can test on an
indoor track
there will also be plenty of luxury vehicles on display despite the poor economy
and host of trucks and sport utility vehicles to tempt consumers who aren as
environmentally conscious
there is no doubt that will be challenging year and the competition will
be fierce
most analysts are forecasting moderate rebound in us auto sales to between
and million vehicles this year after dropping percent to million
vehicles in
but that will still be drastically below the to million vehicle range
posted in each of the previous years and sales could be sharply hit should
the economy take another bad turn
formula one ace hamilton splits from pop star girlfriend
london sept afp
former formula one world champion lewis hamilton has split up with nicole
scherzinger of us girl band pussycat dolls after two years together the couple
announced monday
the year old briton and scherzinger said they want to concentrate on
their careers
nicole scherzinger and lewis hamilton can confirm that they have decided to go
their separate ways the two of them have decided to focus fully on their
careers and will remain close friends they said in joint statement
since starting to date in late the pair were often seen together as she
accompanied him to grand prix events around the world climaxing in his
world championship win he was the youngest ever winner of the title
there had been talk of possible split in recent months amid reports that
hamilton was not keen to settle down
hamilton is hoping to reclaim the title this year after losing it to fellow
briton jenson button and could face stiff competition including from michael
schumacher who has come out of retirement
snooker masters result
london jan afp
result from the masters snooker tournament at the wembley arena here on monday
preliminary round best of frames
mark williams wal bt rory mcleod eng
playing later monday
st rd best of frames
shaun murphy eng stephen hendry sco
stephen maguire sco mark king eng
playing tuesday
st rd
ronnie sullivan eng neil robertson aus
allister carter eng mark williams wal
playing wednesday
st rd
john higgins sco mark allen nir
ryan day wal joe perry eng
played sunday
st rd
mark selby eng bt ding junhui chn
peter ebdon eng bt marco fu hkg
preliminary round
mark king eng bt jimmy white eng
sarkozy leads mourners at paris funeral for seguin
paris jan afp
president nicolas sarkozy joined hundreds of mourners on monday to bid farewell
to philippe seguin former minister and one of france most influential
politicians who died last week
sarkozy paid homage to seguin for serving the nation with such nobility and
devotion during eulogy delivered at st louis cathedral in les invalides
central paris
never imagined that you would die at age and that would have to deliver
the eulogy at your funeral sarkozy said his voice tinged with emotion you
were my friend you will be missed
seguin heavyweight of the french right best remembered for his opposition to
the maastricht treaty that led to the euro died of heart failure at his
paris home on thursday
the burly former parliament speaker served as president of france cour des
comptes the public audit office he was also president jacques chirac
minister for social affairs and employment during the
seguin lay in coffin draped in the french tricolor flag for the ceremony that
had much of the decorum and pageantry usually reserved for former presidents
aside from sarkozy and first lady carla bruni sarkozy chirac former president
valery giscard estaing and much of the current serving cabinet attended the
service
politicians from across the spectrum paid their respects to seguin and two large
tents were set up outside the crowded cathedral to allow the public to follow
the ceremony relayed on big screens
football burkina faso ivory coast at half time
cabinda angola jan afp
title favourites ivory coast and burkina faso were drawing at half time in
the opening africa cup of nations group match on monday
rallying coma wins stage
la serena chile jan afp
spanish motorcyclist marc coma won the ninth stage of the dakar rally on monday
the kilometres special from copiapo
coma who fell out of contention for the overall title when he was penalised
six hours at the weekend for an illegal tyre change edged out france cyril
despres who remains overall leader
gurkha veterans lose british court battle on pensions
london jan afp
former gurkha soldiers from nepal lost test case against britain ministry of
defence over pension rights at the high court in london on monday
the ruling came after the british government last year granted gurkha veterans
the right to settle in britain following high profile campaign led by actress
joanna lumley
the legal action was launched by the british gurkha welfare society which says
around gurkha veterans who served before and their dependents
receive only third of what their british counterparts get in pensions
it said afterwards that it would appeal against the ruling
the test case which focused on two claimants surbarna adhikari and tikendra
dewan they served and years in the army respectively
it is very regrettable that the gurkhas were yet again forced to take the
british government to court and disappointing that we did not win the case
though we have understood that this was not likely to be the end of the road
said general secretary chhatra rai
this is above all moral issue as the majority of gurkha veterans in this
group are now becoming increasingly old and fragile and do not have the level of
english necessary to find job he said
most of these gurkhas are therefore not able to work in their old age to
supplement their pension
justice ian burnett spoke of the high regard british people had for gurkhas
but he rejected their challenge on the grounds the ministry of defence had not
acted unlawfully
the ministry had argued that because gurkha pensions are payable over longer
time than regular armed forces pensions gurkhas end up receiving the same
amount as british veterans
about gurkhas fought for britain in world war and world war ii and
more than have died in british uniform
around now serve in the british army including in afghanistan gurkhas
have won victoria crosses the top military award for valour
in may last year the british government turned to allow all gurkha veterans
with minimum of four years service to settle in britain
lumley the daughter of british major who fought with the gurkha rifles in
world war ii figured prominently in that campaign she subsequently visited
nepal and was hailed as heroine
dozens of british lawmakers have signed house of commons motion backing better
pensions for gurkhas
the gurkhas have always been an integral part of the british armed forces
fighting the same wars and carrying out the same duties as british soldiers
said veteran conservative mp ann widdecombe
it is an injustice to give these veterans pension based on their country of
origin instead of the country in whose army they loyally served
ireland leader stands aside over wife sex scandal
belfast jan afp
northern ireland embattled leader peter robinson stepped down temporarily on
monday vowing to clear his name over mischievous financial allegations linked
to his wife affair with teenager
robinson will stand down for six weeks lawmakers were told as the pressure
finally got to the first minister after calls mounted for him to go over the sex
and politics row
as father and husband need to devote time to deal with family matters
said drawn looking robinson in televised statement his voice breaking
continue to contend have acted ethically and it is particularly painful at
this time of great personal trauma that have to defend myself from an
unfounded and mischievous allegation he added
his defence came shortly after northern ireland assembly speaker william hay
told lawmakers that enterprise minister arlene foster has been asked to be
acting first minister during his absence with immediate effect
foster making statement which had been expected to be made by robinson
himself until it was announced he was standing aside for six weeks voiced
confidence that he would return
peter robinson is going to clear his name and have no doubt about that
matter me standing here is very much for temporary period of time she
said
robinson wife iris also top politician last week admitted having an affair
with year old kirk mccambley and securing pounds euros
dollars from two wealthy developers to help him set up cafe
peter robinson has denied any knowledge of the deal which he would have had to
report to parliamentary authorities but there were calls for him to quit over
the weekend
his announcement came after the dup power sharing partners sinn fein tabled an
emergency motion calling for robinson to explain himself before the assembly
robinson year old wife who is expected to quit her seats in the northern
ireland assembly and the british parliament lower house of commons imminently
is receiving what he described as acute psychiatric treatment in belfast
she previously admitted attempting suicide and suffering severe depression
the scandal is playing out against an already tense backdrop in northern
ireland
power sharing between ex foes the dup and sinn fein was under strain due to
failure to agree on the transfer of policing powers from london to belfast the
last stage of the devolution process
the brutal fact is that we were heading for dangerous political crisis in
northern ireland even before the robinson revelations irish political expert
paul bew wrote in the times newspaper monday
robinson has vowed to clear his name but former first minister and nobel peace
laureate david trimble was among those to say at the weekend that his position
was becoming untenable
robinson conservative dup which is protestant and wants northern ireland to
remain part of britain has since shared devolved powers from london in an
administration with socialists sinn fein which is catholic and wants the
province to join the republic of ireland
their failure to agree when control of the sensitive issue of policing should be
handed to belfast has fuelled concerns that power sharing could break down
there are also fears of return to sustained violence in northern ireland
where three decades of civil unrest known as the troubles killed at least
people but was largely ended by the good friday agreement
last year two british soldiers and policeman were shot dead in attacks
claimed by dissident republicans
in the latest incident friday catholic police officer was seriously injured
after bomb exploded under his car as he drove to work
european stocks close
london jan afp
europe main stock markets closed little changed on monday with london ftse
index of leading shares edging up marginal percent to
points
in paris the cac slipped just percent to points and in
frankfurt the dax put on percent to points
ireland leader vows to fight mischievous allegation
london jan afp
northern ireland first minister peter robinson vowed monday to fight an
unfounded and mischievous allegation against him after temporarily stepping
aside following his wife affair with teenager
continue to contend that have acted ethically and properly and it is
particularly painful that at time of great personal trauma and turmoil have
to defend myself from an unfounded and mischievous allegation robinson said in
televised statement his voice breaking
robinson wife iris last week admitted having an affair with year old and
securing pounds euros dollars from two wealthy
developers to help him set up cafe
peter robinson has denied any knowledge of the deal which he would have had to
report to parliamentary authorities
officials said monday he had stood aside for six weeks in bid to clear his
name his democratic unionist party colleague arlene foster has taken over
temporarily
robinson said it was difficult time but he had received thousands of
messages of support since news of his wife affair and subsequent psychiatric
treatment emerged
he added he would continue to work on the sensitive issue of the transfer of
policing powers from london to belfast which had already threatened to topple
the power sharing administration he led during his absence from the frontline
india unveils transsexual talent show
mumbai jan afp
india first talent show for transsexuals was launched on monday promising
heady mix of bollywood stars glitzy dancing and nervous hopefuls desperate to
capture the limelight
one lucky transsexual person or eunuch will be crowned indian super queen
after battling through two weeks of nationwide auditions and last round of
short listed finalists
organisers of the competition hope the prize of one million rupees
dollars will help promote awareness of india marginalised transsexual and
eunuch community
we were always the invisibles we hope the pageant takes us step forward
said laxmi narayan tripathi transsexual and activist
transsexuals and eunuchs men who have been castrated live on the fringes
of indian society often resorting to prostitution begging or menial jobs that
leave them mired in poverty
they also attend births as uninvited guests and extract money by threatening to
strip or resort to violence
we want them to portray what is inside them said bollywood actress celina
jaitley former beauty queen and campaigner for sexual minority rights
speech poise and confidence to work for the community will be important
criteria she said
jaitley fellow actress zeenat aman and superstar salman khan are set to be the
jury at the televised finals next month
last year india eunuchs and transsexuals won longstanding demand to be
listed as others distinct from males and females on electoral rolls and
voter identity cards
croatia president elect vows new era
zagreb jan afp
croatia newly elected president ivo josipovic pledged monday to make the
country shining star of europe by instilling democratic values as the eu
hailed the classical music composer victory
want european croatia croatia that will be one of the shining stars in
the european sky the soft spoken year old told his supporters early monday
as his victory became clear
this would be not only through eu membership but by values that we stand for
democracy freedom human rights rule of law minority rights and religious
freedom
later on monday foreign minister miguel angel moratinos of spain which holds
the rotating eu presidency hailed the election of the pro european josipovic
and vowed to help zagreb conclude its eu accession negotiations
josipovic won sunday run off election by wide margin taking percent
of the vote final results showed
the left wing law professor ran on an anti corruption ticket one of the
conditions for entry into the european bloc which croatia is aiming to achieve
by january
monday papers and analysts hailed josipovic victory as new era for the
former yugoslav republic in which it would leave behind the balkan wars
the historic mission of ivo josipovic as the head of state has been already
determined to lead croatia after some years since independence into new
integration the eu the novi list independent daily said
the country born in war should eventually transform into peacetime
civilised european country it said referring to the war
zagreb has in recent months launched several investigations into alleged graft
at state run firms seen as rife with corruption with more than dozen
officials already detained
josipovic is croatia third president since independence and succeeds stipe
mesic who steps down after serving maximum two five year terms
mesic helped transform croatia into parliamentary democracy after being
an isolated autocracy the legacy of franjo tudjman who led the country with an
iron fist from until his death in
mesic hailed his successor triumph saying that democratic european
croatia and values of europe to which we are aspiring have won
neighbouring serbia also welcomed josipovic election
the future for all peoples and states in the region is in the european union
in which we all should be good neighbours and friends serbian president boris
tadic said
the bloody war that followed croatia declaration of independence
from the former yugoslavia pitted zagreb against croatian serb rebels backed by
belgrade
tadic called on his future croatian counterpart who will be sworn in on
february to respect serbia territorial integrity allow the return of
ethnic serbs who fled the country during the war and respect the rights of
the serb minority
just few days ago mesic angered belgrade by making an official visit to
kosovo on the occasion he called on serbia to stop its unrealistic dreams of
return of kosovo which declared independence from serbia in february
voter turnout on sunday was percent officials said with the electorate
apparently weary of recent political scandals and pre occupied by croatia
deepening recession
josipovic has also promised economic improvements with croatia economy
predicted to have contracted up to percent in
observers say however that the president powers are limited with the day to
day running of croatia largely in the hands of conservative government led by
prime minister jadranka kosor
slovenia expects croatian president to keep up good relations pm
ljubljana jan afp
slovenia expects newly elected croatian president ivo josipovic to maintain the
improved relations between the two former yugoslav republics slovenian prime
minister borut pahor said here on monday
we believe that the new president ivo josipovic will work in line with the
existing spirit of good relations between our states pahor told slovenian news
agency sta
opposition social democrat ivo josipovic won croatia presidential election on
sunday by wide margin after pledging crack down on corruption and vowed to
transform the nation into star of europe
since declaring independence in ljubljana and zagreb have been unable to
resolve border dispute with slovenia even blocking croatia eu accession
negotiations over the issue
but pahor and his croatian counterpart jadranka kosor struck compromise deal
last november that unblocked zagreb accesssion talks with an arbitration
tribunal set up to hammer out solution to the dispute over small piece of
land and sea
during the electoral campaign josipovic said he had opposed the signing of the
arbitration deal with slovenia but added that if he was elected president he
would respect it since it was ratified by the majority in the croatian
parliament
slovenian president danilo turk currently visiting kuwait said in statement
he expects josipovic will help in solving the remaining issues between the two
states
congo mine collapses kills eight family members
kinshasa jan afp
an abandoned mine in southeastern democratic republic of congo collapsed killing
eight members of one family including five children local government official
said monday
the collapse burying the clandestine miners occurred in former tin mine of the
belgian zaire company zaire etain out of use for years located in manono in
the southeastern province of katanga
we recovered the body of woman and five children from the pit manono top
local government official simplice akanis told afp
two more bodies including that of year old girl were also pulled out of
the mine where at least people had entered
the two survivors were reported to be seriously injured
according to local authorities between and miners are active in
manono mostly working illegally
study by the united nations children fund in reported some
children working in mines in mineral rich katanga
last month another abandoned mine collapsed in the province killing six people
while in august diamond mine collapsed in the central kasai province killing
illegal miners
dr congo has percent of the world cobalt reserves percent of its copper
and rich gold diamond and uranium resources
india australia hold telephone talks over attacks
new delhi jan afp
the foreign ministers of india and australia spoke over the telephone monday to
try to cool tensions over attacks on indians in australia the foreign ministry
in new delhi said
it said australia stephen smith telephoned his indian counterpart krishna
and conveyed his condolences on the tragic deaths of indian citizens in
australia in recent attacks
the ministry in statement said krishna conveyed his deep concern over the
attacks which included an attempt by group of men to set fire to year
old indian man in the australian city of melbourne on saturday
krishna emphasised to the australian foreign minister that non redressal of
this vital issue will cast shadow on otherwise excellent bilateral relations
it said
krishna also told smith to ensure the australian police investigated the
incidents with sense of urgency
the australian foreign minister on his part assured that his government
attached the highest priority to ensure the continued well being of indian
students the statement added
the spate of attacks which included the fatal stabbing of student this month
in melbourne has prompted strong reaction in the indian press with one
newspaper likening australian police to the racist ku klux klan
on sunday australian high commissioner ambassador peter varghese in new delhi
conceded the violence had soured bilateral ties and criticised the local media
for blaming the incidents on alleged apathy of the australian authorities
india has urged its media to act responsibly but several government ministers
have spoken out against the australian authorities
banker father of underwear bomber asked to testify in us
