thousands of supporters of fugitive former thai premier thaksin shinawatra
rallied monday outside the house of royal adviser to protest against alleged
judicial double standards
the demonstrators allege that the home of privy councillor and ex prime minister
surayud chulanont in the khao yai tieng forest kilometres miles
northeast of bangkok is built illegally in national park
the protest is the first by thaksin so called red shirts in and is
apparently aimed at building support for big new anti government rallies
promised by the movement later this month in the capital
police said around protesters had rallied opposite the entrance to the
house and were expected to stay until the evening when there would be
telephone speech from thaksin
surayud house is encroaching on the forest core red shirt leader jatuporn
prompan told reporters adding that forestry department officials had failed in
their duty by allowing surayud to build there
another red shirt leader suporn attawong said that people who trespassed in
the forest normally faced legal action but surayud had escaped censure because
he was part of thailand powerful establishment
around police officers were providing security
surayud headed the military administration that ran the country from after the
coup that toppled thaksin until elections in december that were won by
thaksin allies
support for thaksin is strongest in thailand impoverished rural northeast
where the forest is located while the billionaire tycoon remains loathed by the
bangkok based cliques in the palace military and bureaucracy
twice elected thaksin is living abroad to avoid two year jail term for
corruption imposed in sentence that thaksin says was politically
motivated
the red shirts are pressing for the resignation of current prime minister
abhisit vejjajiva who took power in december following the collapse of the
previous pro thaksin government
they have held series of protests which turned violent last april when red
shirts derailed major asian summit hosted by thailand and then rioted in
bangkok leaving two people dead and injured
football cup history beckons as benin confront mozambique
luanda jan afp
africa cup of nations history will be created on tuesday whatever the result of
group clash between benin and mozambique in angolan coastal city benguela
victory for the beninese squirrels or mozambican snakes will be their first in
the biennial continental football showcase while draw gives the west africans
first tournament point
not that share of the points will satisfy either minnow with win needed to
have any chance of mocking form book which suggests defending champions egypt
and nigeria will cruise into the quarter finals
mozambique back at the cup after year absence need to overcome
disappointing warm up results with home loss to malawi followed by further
reverses in south africa against zambia and gabon
the snakes have proved match for the best on their artificial maputo pitch
holding ivory coast and nigeria before defeating tunisia to deprive the north
africans of world cup place
but away form is far less impressive with string of losses suggesting the
three time qualifiers will struggle in what appears the least intriguing of four
first round mini leagues
dutch coach mart nooij who has received widespread praise from his squad for
lifting mozambique out of the football doldrums is not convinced travel
sickness will upset his team
in angola there will be teams playing away which makes the refereeing and
conditions similar for all the teams and would be delighted with quarter
finals place he told reporters
my philosophy is that keeping the ball is the best defence as your rival cannot
score the players love this style because it matches their skills and they can
demonstrate to the fans how good they are
veteran striker and captain manuel tico tico bucuane remains an inspirational
figure for mozambique while much is expected of young midfield destroyer simao
mate from greek giants panathinaikos
just qualifying was memorable achievement for the tiny west african state of
benin who eliminated world cup qualifiers angola in the second round and
finished above mali in third
however like mozambique they have been unable to recapture cotonou form on
foreign fields resulting in two nations cup campaigns that delivered six
consecutive defeats and goal tally
benin are guided by pragmatic frenchman michel dussuyer whose key players are
both france based paris saint germain midfielder stephane sessegnon and metz
striker razak omotoyossi
when you talk of benin football his name sessegnon immediately comes to mind
there are other good players in the squad like razak but stephane has taken his
image to another level which is good for the team the coach said
dussuyer will be appearing at his third nations cup having steered guinea to the
quarter finals and worked as spy for ivory coast coach henri michel in
egypt two years later
no plan to send troops to yemen obama says
washington jan afp
president barack obama says he has no intention of sending us troops to fight
militants in yemen and somalia despite growing concern over the presence of
militant cells there
obama made fresh push for international cooperation to confront militants in
yemen where the top us military officer admiral michael mullen said sending
troops was not possibility
never rule out any possibility in world that is this complex in
countries like yemen in countries like somalia think working with
international partners is most effective at this point obama said in people
interview to be published friday the magazine released transcript sunday
have no intention of sending us boots on the ground in these regions
he insisted the lawless tribal belt straddling the afghanistan pakistan border
remains the epicenter of al qaeda but acknowledged yemen based affiliate of
osama bin laden network has become more serious problem
the impoverished country long standing scourge of extremism was thrown into
the spotlight after the al qaeda branch claimed responsibility for narrowly
averted christmas day bombing aboard us bound airliner
recent strikes on al qaeda positions in yemen including cruise missile attacks
were reportedly led by the united states which has vowed to boost its economic
and military aid to sanaa london and washington have already announced plans to
fund counter extremism police in the country
mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff acknowledged in cnn
interview that the united states was providing some support to yemen efforts
to strike al qaeda militants but insisted sanaa led the operations
yemen has been hostile to any suggestion of us military intervention but
analysts fear bin laden ancestral homeland cannot tackle the militants on its
own and us officials have said they are seeking to boost military and
intelligence cooperation with yemen
general david petraeus the head of us central command which oversees region
encompassing the middle east the gulf the horn of africa and central asia
welcomed yemen desire to tackle extremists on its own
we would always want host nation to deal with problem itself we want to
help we re providing assistance he told cnn after returning from trip to
yemen during which he held talks with president ali abdullah saleh
petraeus said washington planned to more than double its economic aid to yemen
this year to million dollars or more up from million last year but us
officials have insisted the total aid amount has not yet been determined
though the figure pales in comparison to the billions of dollars washington has
poured into afghanistan the general stressed other allies were providing aid
including saudi arabia which has reportedly allocated two billion dollars and
the united arab emirates which pledged million dollars to sanaa
washington has urged yemen to crack down on al qaeda but sanaa already faces
litany of challenges including shiite rebellion in the north movement for
autonomy in the south an economic crisis aggrivated by dwindling oil reserves
and water shortage
and president saleh said in remarks broadcast sunday that he is open to
dialogue with militants
if al qaeda lay down their arms renounce violence and terrorism and return to
wisdom we are prepared to deal with them saleh told abu dhabi tv
obama said the message his administration sends to muslim communities around the
world was extraordinarily important
we can return to sort of garrison state notion that we re just going to
hunker down and this is only an issue of firepower and boots on the ground he
added
thinly stretched us military has deployed large troop contingents in iraq and
afghanistan
the number of us troops in afghanistan where obama has vowed to focus his war
against al qaeda militants who have also sought refuge in neighboring pakistan
is set to triple under his watch from levels reaching some
later this year
somalia is also the focus of us counterterrorism efforts where an embattled
transitional government faces relentless attacks from extremist shebab militants
and their hezb al islam allies
the central government asserts little control over the country located along key
shipping routes to oil fields in the middle east with pirates now swarming the
gulf of aden and the indian ocean
foreign soldier killed in afghanistan nato
kabul jan afp
foreign soldier has been killed in afghanistan nato said monday bringing the
total number to die in the country so far this year to nine
in brief statement nato international security assistance force isaf said
the soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device or ied on sunday
an isaf service member was killed yesterday in an ied strike in southern
afghanistan the isaf statement said
it gave no other details including the nationality of the deceased
the independent website icasualties org says that nine international soldiers
have died in afghanistan in including six americans
the united states and nato partners have troops in afghanistan fighting
alongside afghan troops to quell virulent taliban insurgency expected to
become more violent with the arrival of another soldiers
the british ministry of defence mod said on sunday the first british
journalist to die covering the war had been killed the day before in an ied
strike in southern helmand province where the fighting is concentrated
rupert hamer of the sunday mirror newspaper was blown up by an ied as he
accompanied marines patrolling near nawa the mod in london said
philip coburn photographer for the british tabloid working alongside
hamer was injured in the explosion and was in serious but stable condition
officials said us marine also died in the blast
ieds are cheap and easy to produce mainly using fertiliser and mobile phone
switches
they have become the taliban weapon of choice according to senior us
military intelligence officer who said recently that ieds claim up to
percent of foreign troop lives
more than died last year compared to in the icasualties figures
show
martinique guiana reject autonomy from france
paris jan afp
martinique and french guiana voted massively against more autonomy for their
french overseas departments fearful change of status would lead to less
generous financial support from paris
nearly percent of voters on the caribbean island of martinique said no to
more autonomy while the result was almost percent in guiana the tropical
south american territory wedged between brazil and suriname
participation was percent in martinique and slightly over percent in
guiana according to definitive results released by france ministry for
overseas departments
the votes were held year after french overseas departments in the caribbean as
well as the indian ocean island of la reunion were convulsed by strikes and
rioting over low wages and high prices
president nicolas sarkozy proposed holding the referendums when he travelled to
martinique in june as part of drive to heal ties following the general strike
which degenerated into weeks of rioting at the start of
martinique which has around residents and guiana vast territory
with some residents were asked to approve or reject change in status
for their departments
the wording of the question was technical but in essence it asked voters if they
wanted to change the status to make it more like that governing more autonomous
french territories such as new caledonia in the pacific
sixty years after being granted the status of department which makes them
legally as french as normandy or provence the tropical territories face
recurrent social problems including high unemployment and low wages despite
massive financial support from the state
the mayor of guiana capital cayenne rodolphe alexandre said the question of
financing drove the campaign and the result of the referendum
while recognising the current statute which sets out their status has its
drawbacks alexandre said in the end its not problem of powers or the statute
but of financing and strategy that is what changed people minds
the result is victory for democracy for the silent majority he told afp
france opposition socialists suggested that sarkozy warning that more
autonomy would come with less state support influenced the result
what could have weighed on the result is the president saying in february
that with the transfer of powers to overseas departments funding should be from
local resources socialist party chief for overseas departments axel urgin said
on rfo radio
but sarkozy said the result reflected strong ties to france
the choice is evidence of the attachment of guianians and martinicans to
status which is close to those of communities in metropolitan france and
reaffirms the close ties which unite them to the republic he was quoted as
saying in statement by his office
no campaigners had warned the french state might be seeking to disengage from
its overseas departments and reduce their people social benefits which are
largely the same as in france
martinique major rum and banana producer and tourist destination for
mainland french seeking winter sunshine has an unemployment rate topping
percent more than twice that of metropolitan france
guiana perhaps best known as the launch site for europe ariane space rockets
faces similarly high joblessness
voters on the caribbean island of guadeloupe which had also been rocked by
strikes did not take part in the consultations as their local leaders decided
that the tense social climate was not conducive to holding referendum
guiana and martinique will now hold second referendum on january in which
voters will be asked to give their opinion only on whether they want
administrative simplifications to be carried out
taiwan plans to buy us frigates despite china thaw report
taipei jan afp
taiwan plans to buy eight second hand perry class frigates from the united
states despite improved ties with arch rival china local newspaper reported
monday
the island hopes to arm them with version of the advanced aegis combat system
which uses computers and radars to take out multiple targets as well as
sophisticated missile launch technology the taipei based china times said
taiwan defence ministry was not immediately available for comment when
contacted by afp monday
the united states designed the perry class frigates in the but the
majority remain in service equipped with various forms of modern technology
the deal would add to taiwan existing inventory as it already has eight
perry class frigates built on the island
the china times report came less than week after the us defense department
said it had approved the sale of patriot missile equipment to taiwan as part of
package passed by congress more than year ago
when unveiled in the package triggered strong protests from beijing which
considers taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take the island back by
force if necessary
the united states is the leading arms supplier to self ruled taiwan even though
it switched diplomatic recognition from taipei to beijing in
ties between taipei and beijing have improved markedly since china friendly ma
ying jeou came to power in promising to boost trade ties and allowing in
more chinese tourists
north china braces for more icy weather
beijing jan afp
northern china braced for another blast of frigid air monday as coal prices
across the nation rose amid shortages and ongoing transport bottlenecks the
government and state media reported
the cold front is expected to send temperatures plummeting to minus degrees
celsius degrees fahrenheit in northern heilongjiang province and then
grip the area for most of the week the central weather bureau said
the temperature in beijing which hit the lowest point since last week
is to drop to minus celsius by tuesday before edging up to around zero
degrees on friday the station said
frigid weather has gripped most of northern china since the start of the year
with heavy snows snarling air road and rail traffic last week and the diving
mercury causing spike in power use
the government was rushing tents and other relief supplies to its northwestern
xinjiang region after heavy snow killed one person and forced the evacuation of
nearly others state media said at the weekend
snowstorms which raged until friday also flattened houses and damaged
nearly others the report by xinhua news agency said
the situation has caused several provinces and regions to ration electricity or
take other power saving moves to reduce strain on electric grids as residents
turn up the heat to stay warm
the spike in energy demand has also resulted in percent increase in coal
prices in north china as compared with month ago the beijing news reported
production in china major coal region of shanxi has fallen due to the
widespread closure of mines under new safety reform plan further pushing
prices upwards the yangcheng evening news said
but due to the shortages and rising prices end users were seeking cheaper coal
from small mines the paper said indicating that black market for the fossil
fuel was already developing and mines were opening illegally
meanwhile coal transport prices fluctuated wildly rising percent at the
shanghai shipping trade centre last week when shipments were hampered by snow
before falling by more than percent this week the beijing times said
according to xinhua news agency the cold snap has resulted in the most severe
sea ice in north and eastern china in three decades with ice breakers
scampering to keep sea lanes free and navigable
large portion of the coal from north china is shipped to the south by sea
nba bynum carries lakers over bucks as kobe goes cold
los angeles jan afp
andrew bynum picked up the slack with career high rebounds as los angeles
overcame poor shooting night from star kobe bryant and rolled to win
over milwaukee on sunday
bynum also pumped in points for the lakers who needed this win to avoid
losing three straight games for the first time in almost two years
we hit the boards pretty hard bynum said next time am going to try and
get rebounds
shannon brown finished with season best points jordan farmar added and
derek fisher scored for the defending national basketball association
champions brown scored of his points in the second half
bryant who is playing with broken right index finger went four of from
the field and finished with just points
he has been fiddling around with bandage for the broken finger coach phil
jackson said of bryant he went from using hard protective plate to nothing
at all and it is different for how he shoots the ball
but it wasn all about shooting it was about balls not being there and not
coming in
hakim warrick had points and jodie meeks finished with for the bucks
brandon jennings luke ridnour and charlie bell had each for the bucks who
had won three straight but dropped to on the road
urgent martinique votes no to more autonomy official results
paris jan afp
nearly percent of voters on the caribbean island of martinique said no to
more autonomy for their overseas french department in refendum held sunday
according to official figures
qaeda warns french hostage in mali risks execution
hong kong jan afp
the north african branch of al qaeda said it will execute french hostage
unless four of its militants are freed from jail in mali in days two us
monitoring groups said on monday
al qaeda in the islamic maghreb aqim claimed last month it was holding
frenchman pierre camatte who was seized in mali in late november as well as
three spaniards kidnapped in neighbouring mauritania four days later
us groups site intelligence group and intelcenter which monitor islamist
websites said al qaeda issued its ultimatum in statement dated january
the mujahedeen have decided to inform the french and malian governments of
their only demand to release the french hostage pierre camatte the release of
our four prisoners apprehended by the state of mali many months ago
intelcenter said in statement
let france and mali be forewarned that we give days to fulfill our just
demand or the two governments shall be fully responsible for the life of the
french hostage it said
camatte was snatched from hotel in menaka in the sahel region of northern
mali more than kilometres miles from the capital bamako during
the night of november
malian and western security forces say the frenchman regular visitor to mali
where he cultivates plant known for its anti malaria properties is being held
by hardline faction within al qaeda north african branch
aqim claimed responsibility for killing british hostage earlier this year
according to mali security source
alert
martinique votes no to more autonomy by pct official results
corrected caste system traps nepal hereditary prostitutes
bankhet nepal jan afp
durpati nepali hides her face in shame as she recalls how she was forced to
return to work as prostitute after her husband was killed during nepal
year civil war
the year old mother of five says she resorted to prostitution an
occupation she first took up aged just in desperation after the food stall
she set up failed because customers were abusive and refused to pay
nepali was victimised because she is badi caste of so called untouchables
living mainly in western nepal whose women have traditionally earned their
living as sex workers
once high class courtesans and musicians the badi are now among the poorest and
most downtrodden groups in nepal where discrimination on caste grounds remains
rife despite being outlawed more than four decades ago
many are disadvantaged from birth because they carry the surname nepali often
used on the birth certificates of children where paternity is unclear making
them vulnerable to persecution
when my husband died had no option but to go back into prostitution to feed
my family said nepali whose husband died eight years ago victim of the
civil conflict that ended in
even when wasn working as prostitute people treated me like one but it
has brought many problems she told afp in her tiny mud hut in the village of
bankhet in mid western nepal
last month more than villagers came and threatened to burn down our home if
we did not leave the village
activists say that lack of education and continuing caste based prejudices in
majority hindu nepal often make it difficult for badi women to earn their living
any other way trapping them in cycle of poverty and social rejection
nepali mother was sex worker and now her two youngest daughters one aged
one have followed her into prostitution
had high hopes for my daughters wanted them to marry into good families
but they say they want to look after me like looked after them when their
father died she said
not happy that they have become prostitutes but if they had not there
would be no food on the table
mahesh nepali director of the advocacy group social awareness for education
safe nepal and himself badi said the community faced discrimination even
from other untouchable castes and were viewed as the lowest of the low
even among the untouchables badis are seen as the most untouchable he said
as result they have no sense of self worth on top of that they are very
weak economically so it is almost impossible for them to change their destiny
without outside help
in hundreds of badi women travelled to the capital kathmandu where they
held series of rowdy protests to demand government help some stripping off
outside the parliament building
some help is now available in the form of government funding for the
rehabilitation and rehousing of vulnerable badi women although the
implementation of such programmes has been hampered by political instability
the badi estimated to number around across the himalayan country
have also benefited from recent change in the law that for the first time
permitted fatherless children to obtain citizenship
but sapana pradhan malla renowned women rights lawyer who last year became
member of nepal parliament said the government needed to do much more to
help the badi people
because of the social stigma they have not been political priority she told
afp
urge the government to ensure justice for these people after all they are
our sisters and mothers how can we treat them differently
handful of women have managed to change their destiny among them kalpana
nepali who grew up in hostel for the children of badi sex workers
my father died when was two and half forcing my mother to go into the sex
trade said kalpana who now runs small cooperative bank for her community
one day my mother and some other women sold all their jewellery to fund
hostel for the children because they did not want them to grow up in that
environment
as result most of us managed to finish high school but if it had not been
for the hostel sure we would also be doing sex work
but there are many more who have received no such help such as durpati
year old daughter binita who left school aged just and went into the sex
trade
miss school sometimes wonder why left she told afp
dreamt of becoming doctor or doing some other honest job but what can you
do we have no money so cannot fulfil those dreams
nba james explodes for points against portland
portland oregon jan afp
lebron james flirted with triple double by scoring points rebounds and
eight assists as cleveland defeated portland giving the cavs their six
straight win over the blazers
james had points in the first half for cleveland who have won nine their last
games and are on their current five game road swing
mo williams added points anderson varajao and giant centre shaquille
neal had with rebounds
cleveland came out quickly in the fourth quarter going on run
brandon roy scored points to lead portland who have lost three of their last
four games
lamarcus aldridge finished with points and rebounds while andre miller
had points and eight assists
martell webster had points for the blazers
in tough times french take english immersion classes at home
taule france jan afp
rural french village might not be the first place student would think of
visiting to improve their english language skills but year old mathilde
berthelot is doing just that
she has driven an hour from her home town of saint brieuc in brittany western
france to neighbouring taule picturesque village of grey granite homes
dotted around flag flying town hall and typical central square with cafe
and tobacconist sporting the distinctive red cigar shaped sign
berthelot is here to spend three days speaking the language of shakespeare at
the home of retired english couple john and nicky bolton
we don do very much spoken english at school so this visit really allows me
to practice my conversation she said
can come here for just three days and wouldn have been able to do that if
went to family in england she added if you only have long weekend
it not bad option
mathilde is the bolton third paying language student and the couple who
retired to france three years ago say they are more than happy to welcome
french people eager to improve their spoken english
it been very good on both sides because we ve been able to help french
people and they ve been able to help us as well said john bolton
in these credit crunched times taking on students provides new source of
revenue for english families living on tight pensions while for the french the
local language sessions are far cheaper than full blown trip to britain
meeting people from other parts of france also has been really good for us
said nicky bolton
and think it can be easier for the students too because for start they
don have the long journey to the uk she added
mind you think john and probably eat more english food when the students
are here than we do normally
the english language immersion courses in western france are the brainchild of
christine predery who has set up not for profit organisation called bringing
people together to help french anglophiles get in touch with english families
there are around english speaking households in the region and said to
myself that it would be shame not to put them in touch with french people who
wanted to learn english she told afp
since setting up the organisation in april predery says she has helped to
organise around exchange visits many of which led to lasting friendships
between the families involved
ve got quite few examples of families who have met up after the formal
exchange is over they ve gone out to eat at restaurant together or invited
each other to stay for weekend there can be real and lasting contacts set up
after one of these visits she said
predery says her organisation is not trying to compete with the traditional
english exchange visit where french students visit english families in britain
it is offering complementary service she says
the families often say that the students have already been on an exchange visit
to england and that the main problem is that they go in group so yes they
have english lessons in the morning and yes they stay with an english family at
night but the rest of the time they tend to stick together and speak french to
each other so there is no total english immersion she said
the language courses can also provide welcome source of additional income for
the english families taking part
visitors staying for full week pay euros dollars and the extra
funds are particularly welcome for pensioners like the boltons who receive the
majority of their revenue from britain and who have seen their incomes hit hard
by the pound recent exchange rate slide against the euro
it has made difference because think we have lost around third of our
pensions so it has been great help to us said nicky bolton
freud monet basquiat plus blood gore on view in paris in
paris jan afp
