on the stalled world trade organisation negotiations for global trade
liberalisation in the doha round de gucht said he was personally confident
deal could finally be reached in or
he said he would seek as rule to manage his new brief without compromising
human rights climate or labour issues while seeking the eu core economic
growth objective in sustainable way
to that end he wanted to protect eu companies roles in an emerging global
green economy so as to avoid the bloc losing out on key technologies as
production migrated oversees as had happened with micro chips
french liberal deputy marielle de sarnez praised de gucht stated desire to
place trade policy within wider framework of bloc goals but green counterpart
yannick jadot expressed doubts
we were told we were getting liberal with convictions jadot said we have
the liberal who plainly stated that he is there to negotiate free trade accords
but we didn see the convictions
according to jadot de gucht is taking forward traditional commission economic
policy as if there had been no financial crisis no economic crisis and no
social crisis nor failed international climate talks
wandering hippo scares villagers in montenegro
podgorica jan afp
nine year old hippo escaped from flooded private zoo in southern montenegro
on tuesday wandering around neighbouring farms and scaring villagers who have
seen the animal near their homes
the hippo named nikica escaped his pen as heavy rains in montenegro caused the
flooding of the zoo but the owners of the complex hosting the zoo said there
was no reason for panic
he sometimes escapes his habitat when the waterlevels rise and this is not
unusual nikola pejovic one of the owners of the complex told afp
pejovic said that nikica weighing about two tonnes usually walks along
already known path about one kilometer miles long towards neighbouring
houses in the village of plavnica on lake skadar
nikica is their regular guest and locals are completely used to him pejovic
said
his movements have been followed by the zoo private security pejovic said
adding that the animal is extremely tame and peaceful
however he would not be able to return to his flooded pen as long as the
waters in the lake are so high he said
the hippo has been living in zoo for nine years and became mascot of the
tourist complex in plavnica
hippos are natives to africa and considered the third largest land animals they
may be dangerous due to their body mass as mature animal can weigh more than
three tonnes
nigerians protest as leader breaks silence
abuja jan afp
nigerian lawmakers voted tuesday to send delegation to saudi arabia to discuss
issues of national importance with ailing president umaru yar adua as protests
mounted for him to stand down
the year old president earlier broke seven week silence to insist he is
getting better and plans to return to work but opposition protesters marched
regardless through abuja to demand he resign
the lower house of parliament voted to send delegation to meet yar adua at his
hospital bedside and report back its impressions according to motion adopted
by the house of representatives it did not set date for the delegation
departure
the senate which had tabled similar motion decided instead to invite the
secretary to the government yayale ahmed to explain the president state of
health
the lawmakers move came as the clamour to remove yar adua reached fever pitch
in africa second biggest oil exporter
around opposition supporters rallied in the capital demanding he hand over
power to vice president goodluck jonathan to speed up electoral and
constitutional reforms that have stalled since november when yar adua was
flown to jeddah for treatment for mystery heart ailment
it has since emerged he is being treated for acute pericarditis an inflammation
of the membrane around the heart but little detail has been released by the
government
wearing white shirts emblazoned with the words enough is enough the
protestors brandished placards demanding yar adua speak to us and what
happening to yar adua
the issues are not simply about yar adua being in the country or outside the
country the issues are numerous nobel laureate wole soyinka told the rally
we challenge him on the continuing corrupt company that we see plotting around
and controlling affairs from aso rock presidential villa said soyinka who
slammed the insolence with which the legislators have treated this nation
yar adua condition has been the source of widespread speculation in nigeria
and on monday some online publications reported he had died the previous day
at the moment am undergoing treatment and getting better from the
treatment the bbc quoted him as saying from his hospital bed in jeddah saudi
arabia
hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress which will allow me to
get back home
as soon as my doctors discharge me will return to nigeria to resume my
duties
but critics say his being alive but absent makes little difference to what
they say is dangerous power vacuum in africa most populous country split
between muslim dominated north and christian south and grappling with periodic
outbreaks of religious violence
yar adua who is muslim did not delegate executive powers to his christian
deputy jonathan when he flew to saudi arabia the law demands he does so in
writing
the main opposition action congress said while happy to hear that the head of
state is alive it was disappointed that he chose foreign media outlet to
speak to his country which has been on edge for weeks
while we are happy that he is alive that he spoke we are disappointed that he
chose the bbc to break his silence it quite shameful and very big
disrespect to nigerians ac spokesman lai mohamed told afp
the fact that he is alive does not say anything about his state of health
yar adua voice sounded weak in the interview
his absence has concided with nigeria being placed on us terror watchlist
after the failed attempt by year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab
to blow up us airliner on chrismas day
rallying spanish double as sainz and coma take dakar stages
santiago jan afp
spain two time world rally champion carlos sainz extended his overall lead in
the car section of the dakar rally on tuesday when he won the th stage
kilometres special from la serena
earlier his compatriot marc coma had won his second successive motorcycling
stage
sainz extended his overnight lead to over minutes as his second placed
volkswagen team mate qatari nasser al attiyah could finish only fourth in the
stage min sec in arrears
coma who is out of contention for the overall title having been penalised six
hours over the weekend beat frenchman david fretigne by min sec
another frenchman cyril despres who was sixth on the stage over six minutes in
arrears remains the clear overall leader
the battle for the remaining podium places looks set to be intense in the
remaining four stages ahead of the finish in buenos aires
chilean francisco lopez winner of two stages gained over two minutes on
overall second placed pal ullevalseter of norway who has slender lead of
under two minutes over him
portuguese rider helder rodrigues who was third in the stage is less than
minute behind lopez in the overall standings
angola knew cabinda matches risky world cup chief
johannesburg jan afp
angola knew the dangers of staging games in the restive cabinda enclave and must
take responsibility for the deadly gun attack at africa premier football
event the world cup boss said tuesday
how long is it known that there is separatist group in angola for many many
years what are the possibilities of terror attack it was known danny
jordaan told afp
it is responsibility of the host nation to deal with those issues said
jordaan who led technical team to angola in to assess its readiness for
the tournament on behalf of the confederation of african football caf
all the concerns about the tournament were included in report that was handed
over to caf he said
jordaan again brushed off worries that the attack killing the squad assistant
coach and media spokesman could affect the world cup which kicks off in south
africa in june
what happened in angola has nothing to with south africa please judge us
fairly jordaan the world cup chief organiser told news conference
earlier
we must be judged on reality not on perception we hosted major
international events since and we didn have any incidents he said
separatist guerrillas opened fire on togo convoy friday as they crossed into
cabinda from neighbouring congo brazzaville leaving players cowering under
their seats during minute gunbattle with security escorts
togo withdrew from the tournament on sunday just as the opening ceremonies
kicked off in luanda and coach hubert velud told afp that he believed
authorities hadn provided adequate security to the team
security was very light and the way it was organised we felt that
transparency and communication were not of the best quality he said
at first they tried to minimise the thing resented that it added to the
psychological trauma he said
two people have been arrested but angolan authorities have revealed few details
about the men
security forces have since clamped down on cabinda tiny but economically
crucial province that produces more than half of the oil in africa top
exporter
soldiers have cordoned off the footballers village in cabinda along with tight
security at the seat chiazi stadium which hosted its first match in the
tournament without incident on monday
two different separatist groups have claimed responsibility for last week
attack highlighting the difficulties angola faces in reining in deeply
fractured guerrilla movement
the attack was initially claimed by rodrigues mingas head of the forces for the
liberation of the state of cabinda military position flec pm who lives in
exile in france
but larger group known as the front for the liberation of the enclave of
cabinda armed forces of cabinda flec fac on tuesday said they had opened fire
on togo convoy
while mingas on sunday threatened more attacks during africa premier football
tournament flec fac said their intended target was togo military escort and
vowed not to stage any more attacks during the competition
we are not terrorists the attack did not target our togolese brothers said
jean claude zita top adviser to flec fac who lives in exile in switzerland
every time the armed forces of cabinda sees an angolan convoy they open fire
he said
we have nothing against our african brothers and we like football he said by
telephone dismissing mingas faction as opportunists
alex vines an analyst with the british think tank chatham house said the rival
claims were part of the exile politics of separatist leaders who live mainly
in europe and who all claim to represent various flec splinter groups
some say there indiscipline within small flec units and they re not
controlled at all from the outside from their leadership he said
the history of flec is one of fragmentation and splintering that makes it
very difficult challenge
swiss lawmakers say no to guantanamo duo
geneva jan afp
swiss parliamentary commission on tuesday opposed asylum for two chinese
uighur brothers the united states is trying to release from guantanamo bay
the recommendation to the swiss government came amid diplomatic tussle that
has left neutral switzerland caught between the united states and china
beijing warned bern last week that relations could be affected if it takes in
the uighurs an ethnic group predominantly found in china restive xinjiang
province
the security affairs commission of the national council voted by to on
tuesday to recommend that switzerland should not take in any more guantanamo
detainees
swiss right wing parliamentarian yvan perrin said majority of the commission
members visibly preferred to face us wrath rather than china
the obama administration is trying to close the controversial centre by january
partly by seeking third countries that would take in some of the detainees
the two which china wants to be repatriated as terrorists were among
uighurs living in afghanistan when the us led coalition bombing campaign began
in october
they fled to the mountains but were turned over to pakistani authorities who
then handed them to the united states
five have since been resettled in albania in while four were taken in by
the bermudas last june and another six by palau island in october
lawyer elizabeth gilson said the two who have amnesty international backing
were detained by mistake and had been living in exile in afghanistan to seek
better life
the united states has not levelled any charges against them
jordanian ambassador named mediterranean union chief
brussels jan afp
representatives from eu and mediterranean basin nations on tuesday backed
jordan ahmad massaadeh to be new head of the mediterranean union project
which had stalled amid infighting
when his name was proposed everyone applauded diplomat involved in
meeting in brussels on the nomination told afp the move has to be officially
endorsed by foreign ministers in two to three weeks
there unlikely to be any problem another official said
massaadeh the new secretary general of the union for the mediterranean upm
will be based in barcelona and have israeli palestinian turkish and arab
league deputies
he is lawyer and career diplomat who has been jordan ambassador to the
european union belgium norway and luxembourg as well as the kingdom
representative to nato since august
the mediterranean union project involves around nations and was launched with
great fanfare in paris in july by french president nicolas sarkozy
the union brings together eu members with states from north africa the balkans
the arab world and israel in bid to foster cooperation in one of the world
most volatile regions
it was aimed at breathing new life into the eu so called barcelona process
which was constantly blocked due to disputes between its middle east members
but like that process it too became bogged down notably over israel attack
on the gaza strip just over two years ago in response to hamas missile strikes
the union priorities are to fight pollution in the mediterranean sea increase
solar energy use build land and sea highways and cooperate on higher education
and research
its goals are meant to be achieved by joint infrastructure projects aimed at
improving regional integration
portugal forecasts modest return to growth in
lisbon jan afp
portugal will enjoy modest return to growth this year following an economic
contraction in the central bank said on tuesday
the country economy will grow by percent in and percent in
the bank of portugal said in its winter bulletin
portugal economy contracted by percent last year it said
the bank had forecast contraction of percent in in its last report
published in july
but the institution now foresees return to growth which it attributed to
rise in consumer spending and exports
inflation will reach percent this year after deflation of percent in
it added
the socialist government said last week it would negotiate the budget with
the opposition
the vote on the budget delayed due to the legislative elections in september
last year is considered by all commentators as decisive test for the future
of prime minister jose socrates government
socrates was re elected to second term but his socialists lost parliamentary
seats and were forced to form minority administration
in december rating agency standard and poor lowered portugal long term
credit assessment to negative from stable voicing pessimism on the
country capacity to strengthen its public finances and reduce debt
the agency said portugal public deficit could be higher than the percent
of output foreseen this year with its debt to gross domestic product ratio
possibly hitting percent or more by after percent in
fed posts profit of billion dollars
washington jan afp
the us federal reserve said tuesday it earned record profit in of
billion dollars led by gains on its unorthodox investments and bailouts during
the height of the financial crisis
the profit will provide us treasury with billion dollars from the
operations of the central bank
the results from fed which took wide variety of steps to counter the credit
crisis show hefty profits from its market to purchase bonds and invest in
troubled companies and from earnings on loans to banks and securities firms
the results represent sharp rise from when the fed earned billion
dollars and returned billion dollars to the treasury
the profit included some billion dollars in earnings on securities acquired
through open market operations including us treasury bonds mortgage backed
securities and government agency debt
some billion dollars in net earnings came from investment in limited
liability companies hit by the financial crisis another billion dollars
came from loans to commercial banks and others
the fed also earned billion dollars from currency swap arrangements which
have been established with central banks
the fed invested tens of billions of dollars in insurance giant aig to avert
collapse in september earlier it took over pool of assets from
investment giant bear stearns to facilitate buyout by jpmorgan chase
douglas mcintyre analyst at wall street said the details of the fed
emergency loan activities have not been released in detail
it is now obvious that the central bank made small fortune on those loans and
other activities to prop up the flagging financial system mcintyre said
it also made money on one of its standard functions to clear money through the
bank system which garners the fed fees
mcintyre said the fed profit undermines the need for new tax or fee on
financial insitutions being considered by the administration of president barack
obama
the fed profit will be sent to the treasury which will help lower the
deficit the profit proves that the fed could potentially be near permanent
contributor to government income he said
traditionally the central bank has been policy body and has not been run as
source of funds change in that role could make bank tax much less
necessary
woman who saved anne frank diary dead at
the hague jan afp
miep gies the woman who hid dutch youngster anne frank from the nazis and
guarded her diary that became one of the world most read books has died after
brief illness at the age of
the anne frank museum said that gies the last surviving helper of anne and
those who shared her hiding place in an amsterdam canalside house died in the
western town of hoorn on monday
it was gies who guarded anne memoirs and presented it to the girl father
otto when he returned from the auschwitz concentration camp at the end of world
war ii the only one of his family to survive
in her diary anne frank chronicled the details of her teenage life hiding from
the nazis in amsterdam from to when the nazi secret police discovered
her and her family hiding place
anne and her sister later died at the bergen belsen concentration camp
the diary first published in became one of the most renowned accounts of
jews hiding from nazi persecution and has been translated into languages
until she suffered stroke decade ago gies travelled around the world
giving lectures about the consequences of intolerance and anti semitism
according to the anne frank museum
anne frank expressed great wish to live on after her death miep gies saw it
as her duty to help in making this happen it said in statement
born hermine miep santruschitz in vienna in gies moved to the
netherlands at age
in she began working for otto frank at his opekta trading company
at great risk to her own safety she and four other helpers brought food and
supplies to the frank family and others hiding in secret annex of opekta
office building for more than two years
when she turned last february gies sought to play down her own role
not hero she said it wasn something planned in advance simply
did what could to help
she suffered stroke at the age of which seriously affected her speech and
writing and forced her to stop her activities
on her th birthday gies bought house with garden in hoorn where she
lived out the last years of her life she celebrated her th birthday on
february last year
bad fall in mid december left her with severe neck injury the anne frank
foundation said she died of complications in hospital in hoorn on monday
night
right until the end miep remained deeply involved with the remembrance of anne
frank and spreading the message of her story the museum statement said
everyday she received letters from all over the world with questions about her
relationship with anne frank and her role as helper
gies received numerous honours for her role including from the netherlands
germany and israel yad vashem holocaust memorial centre
of course it nice to be appreciated but only did my duty to my fellow man
helped people in need anyone can do that can they gies once said
hundreds of people made contributions to an online condolence register tuesday
rest in peace your story reminds us of the nature of humanity wrote year
old andrew davis from london
she was humanity at its finest whilst surrounded by its worst added briton
garry owens
the anne frank museum said funeral arrangements were not yet known but it would
be private affair
boxing german world champion gets third jail term
berlin jan afp
germany wbo light heavyweight champion jurgen brahmer received month
prison sentence on tuesday for assault effectively ending his career
the year old who has already served two previous jail terms was found
guilty of punching man several times in may and breaking woman nose
in september the same year
brahmer who only just retained his title at the end of december beating russian
dmitry sukhotsky on points received four year prison sentence in and
two and half year term in both for assault
brahmer had claimed the wbo title last august which had been relinquished by
hungarian zsolt erdei who had held it for five years but was also wbc light
heavyweight world champion
football egypt nigeria teams
johannesburg jan afp
teams for africa cup of nations group match between defending champions egypt
and nigeria on wednesday
egypt
essam al hadary mahmoud fathalla hany said ahmed fathi wael gomaa sayed
moawad ahmed hassan capt hassan ghaly hosny abd rabou mohamed zidan emad
meteeb
coach hassan shehata
nigeria
victor enyeama taye taiwo yusuf mohammed joseph yobo capt obinna nwaneri
john obi mikel dickson etuhu ayila yussuf kalu uche yakubu aiyegbeni
chinedu obasi
coach shuaibu amodu
referee seechurn rajindraparsad mri
britain ireland rally round crisis gripped ireland
belfast jan afp
britain and ireland scrambled tuesday to defuse political crisis in northern
ireland triggered by sex and cash scandal saying it may even be an
opportunity to unblock stalled talks
britain northern ireland minister shaun woodward was to discuss the crisis
with irish counterpart micheal martin day after the province leader peter
robinson stood down over scandal linked to his wife affair with teenager
robinson decision to stand aside for six weeks has prompted concerns the once
troubled province already strained power sharing administration could collapse
altogether
but woodward due to meet his irish counterpart in dublin tuesday evening
said he was optimistic that the crisis could help make progress on stalled talks
on transferring policing and justice powers from london to belfast
there has been an extraordinary turn of events in the last week in northern
ireland that being said out of all this there is very real opportunity to
make very substantial progress he told the bbc
my sense is that there are many politicians particularly over the last
hours who have actually faced over the precipice seen the consequences of not
fully engaging and are now really engaging with the issues
his irish counterpart echoed the views saying robinson decision to stand down
temporarily gave framework to facilitate an early agreement on the transfer
of policing and justice powers from london to belfast
robinson is facing questions over whether he can come back after his wife iris
admitted securing pounds euros dollars from two wealthy
developers to help her year old lover kirk mccambley set up cafe
robinson insists he was not aware of her financial dealings and attacked as
unfounded and mischievous monday an allegation by the bbc that he did if this
were the case he should have reported it to officials
iris robinson is currently receiving acute psychiatric treatment in belfast
she previously admitted attempting suicide and suffering severe depression
arlene foster the year old enterprise minister filling in for robinson
insisted he had only stepped aside temporarily and stressed that he remained in
charge of dup efforts to make progress on the crucial police and justice issue
peter hasn left the scene he is still the leader of the party very clearly
and he is still the first minister she said
even before the scandal northern ireland was tense over the failure of
robinson democratic unionist party dup and power sharing partners sinn fein
to reach agreement on when policing powers should be handed from london to
belfast the final highly sensitive stage of devolution
but commentators fear the revelations over the robinsons could deal fatal blow
to the administration and could even lead to fresh elections which according
to polls could produce majority for sinn fein
peter robinson is in the throes of battle for his political life the
independent newspaper in london said in an editorial tuesday any fresh
revelations could be fatal
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
there are also fears of return to more frequent violence in northern ireland
where three decades of civil unrest killed at least people the fighting
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
depp in serbia for kusturica film festival
belgrade jan afp
us actor johnny depp arrived tuesday in serbia where he will be the star turn at
film festival launched by serbian director emir kusturica to stem hollywood
effect on film students
depp accompanied by kusturica was received by serbian president boris tadic in
belgrade and then left for the festival village drvengrad in central serbia
the mondo rs website reported
on wednesday life sized bust of depp will be unveiled to mark the opening of
the third kustendorf international film and music festival in drvengrad built
in as setting for kusturica film life is miracle
depp will also receive kustendorf award for future movies organisers said
french comic book author and director iranian born marjane satrapi will preside
three member international jury which will award golden silver and bronze egg
to the best of films from countries
the festival runs until january
the bosnian born director has won two golden palm awards at the cannes film
festival for underground and when father was away on business
his latest movie promise me this has flopped at the box office despite
golden palm nomination
kusturica recently announced he will make film about mexico th century
bandit turned revolutionary pancho villa to be played by depp
british police anti terror searches condemned
strasbourg jan afp
the european court of human rights on tuesday condemned british anti terror
legislation allowing people to be searched by police without reasonable
suspicion of wrongdoing
case brought by britons kevin gillan and pennie quinton challenged
the searches under section of britain terrorism act
in unanimous ruling seven judges said the searches could cause humiliation
and embarrassment and breached the complainants right to respect for their
private life under article of the european convention on human rights the
statement said
gillan and quinton brought the case after being stopped and searched by police
in september on their way to demonstration close to an arms fair held in
east london
gillan was riding bicycle and carrying rucksack when stopped quinton
journalist was ordered to stop filming in spite of the fact that she showed her
press cards the statement said
the police powers that required an individual to submit to detailed search of
their person clothing and personal belongings amounted to clear interference
with the right to respect for private life it said
the public nature of the search with the discomfort of having personal
information exposed to public view might even in certain cases compound the
seriousness of the interference because of an element of humiliation and
embarrassment it added
the judges dismissed the argument that the searches were the same as those of
travellers at airports
an air traveller knows that he and his bags are liable to be searched before
boarding the aeroplane and has freedom of choice since he can leave personal
items behind and walk away without being subjected to search
the search powers under section are qualitatively different the individual
can be stopped anywhere and at any time without notice and without any choice
as to whether or not to submit to search the statement added
between and the number of searches recorded by the ministry of justice
went from around to over it said
