loss of life and infrastructure
new delay in appeal of libyan businessman
tripoli jan afp
the appeal hearing of swiss businessman maxi goeldi convicted of overstaying
his libyan visa was adjourned on thursday for two weeks with the court
demanding he attend his lawyer said
the trial has been postponed until january the court demands the presence
of max goeldi salah zahaf told afp
goeldi and another swiss businessman rashid hamdani have been holed up for the
past year and half at the swiss embassy in tripoli they were due in court in
december but proceedings were delayed at the request of the defence
on november both were sentenced in absentia to month jail terms for
overstaying their libyan visas hamdani separate appeal was adjourned last
sunday until january
having been caught up in diplomatic row between switzerland and libya over the
swiss authorities treatment of leader moamer kadhafi son hannibal the pair
are also accused of illegal business activities
at the start of january those trials were postponed until saturday for goeldi
and until sunday for hamdani
goeldi senior manager at the swedish swiss engineering giant abb and
hamdani who works for small construction firm were detained after hannibal
kadhafi and his wife were briefly arrested in geneva in when two hotel
servants complained he had mistreated them
the servants later dropped the allegations but goeldi and hamdani have not been
allowed to leave libya since july
renault slovenia unit says no clio halt this year
ljubljana jan afp
revoz the slovenian unit of french car maker renault insisted thursday there
were no plans to halt production of the clio ii model in the short term
earlier this week renault chief operating officer patrick pelata said the
company was planning to shut down production of its clio model in spain and
slovenia while the car would continue to be made in france
revoz spokeswoman said there would be no halt in slovenia this year
we will certainly not stop the production of the clio ii model this year said
spokeswoman nevenka basek zildzovic
in the longer term there were only hypotheses about possible change in
production which could only come into force after she said
total clio ii cars rolled off the assembly lines in the revoz factory
in novo mesto in
drop in output was expected this year owing to the expiry of state subsidies
in number of eu countries which boosted sales figures last year the
spokeswoman said
last year we reached record production thanks to the state subsidies this
year we re expecting drop since most of the subsidies have run out she said
renault has come under heavy pressure from the french government to keep jobs at
home following press reports about planned shift of clio production from
france to turkey
after meeting french industry minister christian estrosi on wednesday coo
pelata said we plan to stop production of the clio in spain and slovenia but
did not give timetable
revoz currently produces the small city cars twingo and clio ii model that
has been already been replaced by newer versions the clio iii and clio iv
produced in france spain and turkey
although the clio ii is an older model production is continuing as it
continues to sell zildzovic said
last year the nmodel accounted for percent of revoz overall output
the revoz factory slovenia largest exporter produced more than cars
in an increase of percent over the previous year
hurt in serbia bus accident report
belgrade jan afp
seventeen people were injured thursday in bus crash on the highway linking
serbia with hungary the beta news agency reported
at least one person suffered from severe injuries after the bus turned over as
it crossed bridge over the danube river some kilometers miles north
of the capital belgrade the report said
the injured were hospitalised in the town of novi sad it was not immediately
clear what caused the accident
cricket south africa england scoreboard
johannesburg jan afp
scores at tea on the first day of the fourth test between south africa and
england at the wanderers stadium on thursday
england first innings
strauss amla steyn
cook lbw morkel
trott lbw morkel
pietersen parnell morkel
collingwood duminy mclaren
bell steyn
prior boucher steyn
broad morkel kallis
swann boucher steyn
sidebottom boucher steyn
anderson not out
extras lb
total overs
fall of wickets strauss trott pietersen cook
collingwood cook prior broad
sidebottom
bowling steyn morkel mclaren
parnell kallis
south africa graeme smith captain ashwell prince hashim amla jacques
kallis ab de villiers jp duminy mark boucher wkt ryan mclaren dale steyn
morne morkel wayne parnell
match position england are all out in the first innings
toss england
umpires steve davis aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire daryl harper aus
match referee roshan mahanama sri
us attacks in yemen would strengthen qaeda cleric
sanaa jan afp
proposed us military strikes on suspected al qaeda targets in yemen will
backfire strengthening the image of the group instead of harming it religious
leaders and analysts say
the chairman of the us senate armed services committee carl levin on
wednesday urged washington to consider targeting al qaeda with armed drones air
strikes or even covert operations but opposed any invasion of the country
the reaction to that in sanaa on thursday was clear don do it the view is
that any us intervention will produce the opposite of the desired effect
predominantly sunni muslim yemen is far from united country with shiite
rebels battling the government in the north and secessionists agitating in the
south and all within hodgepodge of tribal loyalties that add third
dimension to the complexity of society
yemen is also country with long tradition of anti americanism which
contributed to thousands of volunteers heading for iraq after the us led
invasion to feed the insurgency against the us presence there
add to that deep seated tribal commitment to avenging the deaths of one
relatives and you would have enough according to sheikh saleh salabani imam of
the small village of damar to drive the populace into the arms of al qaeda
salabani was in sanaa along with scores of other religious dignitaries from
around the country they gathered at the capital al mashed mosque to attend
meeting of ulemas scholars on the perceived dangers of any foreign military
intervention
ironically in country where the central government writ does not extend far
beyond the limits of the capital and other major cities salabani points to the
sanaa regime for action
we might not love al qaeda he says but it is for our government to get rid
of them and not anyone else
to the cries of alahu akbar god is greatest the strong council of
clerics to which salabani belongs issued stark warning if any party insists
on aggression or invades the country then according to islam jihad holy war
becomes obligatory
they strongly rejected any foreign intervention in yemeni affairs whether
political or military they also rejected any security or military agreement or
cooperation between yemen and any foreign party if it violates islamic sharia
law
dominique thomas specialist in islamic networks at the prestigious school of
higher studies in social sciences in paris speaks as bluntly as the cleric
american missiles hitting yemeni houses is just what al qaeda is waiting for
they are waiting for the american wolf to enter the yemeni sheepfold if they
get mixed up in this it will be easy for osama bin laden to say it new
afghanistan look the regime has been unmasked
it takes very little to attract unemployed youth to jihadism or to persuade
certain traditionally rebellious tribes to rise up against the government if
the americans step in it will be like dropping present right in bin laden
lap
be it as it may the yemeni government has made it very clear that it does not
want any outside intervention and can handle problems of domestic insurgency
itself
yemen is not afghanistan nor pakistan where terrorists constantly launch
attacks while the authorities try to respond here we anticipate the threat
yemen is not hideout for the terrorists and will never be yemen head of
national security ali anisi said on wednesday
ironically senior al qaeda figure mohammed omair said back on december that
he welcomed war with the united states rather than with the yemeni army
we would win faster that way he said
five days later he was killed in an air strike that some people speculate was
carried out by us warplanes rather than yemeni ones
bbc rapped over promoting coldplay
london jan afp
bbc editorial watchdog body criticised the british broadcaster thursday for
breaching its own guidelines by appearing to promote the bands and coldplay
in its coverage of them
the bbc editorial complaints unit slammed an on screen slogan bbc used
during its coverage of last album as inappropriate while radio
presents coldplay website broke guidelines about links to external sites
the findings came after radiocentre the trade body for commercial radio firms
in britain complained about the bbc coverage of coldplay tour and
launch of its no line on the horizon
the coverage last february included performance by the band on the rooftop
of the bbc broadcasting house head office in central london which briefly
brought traffic to standstill
three criticisms of the bbc were upheld they were that
radio presents coldplay website included links to the websites of ticket
agents this was not in keeping with the bbc guidelines on links to external
websites
the use of the mathematical symbol for identity in the graphic bbc gave
an inappropriate impression of endorsement
pre recorded interview with frontman bono was mostly alright but
reference to radio being part of launching this new album was not
complaints about radio show and bbc news report about the rooftop concert
were not upheld said the watchdog
malawi court jails man for impersonating priest
blantyre jan afp
malawian man was sentenced to three years in prison on thursday for
impersonating priest after asking worshippers to donate money allegedly for
church choir police said thursday
emmanuel robert came to dowa district pretending to be new priest their
regular parish priest identified only as father zikomankhani believed him and
he was allowed to say mass for the impoverished congregation police said
after the mass the man collected the church offerings of the day police
spokesman kondwani kandiado said
but he said worshippers in dowa district were suspicious when robert asked the
congregation to dig deeper into their pockets to contribute more money towards
church choir trip
when zikomankhani was told he called the police and roberts confessed to the
swindle
authorities have not recovered the money he swiped from the collection plate
believed about us dollars large sum in nation where half the population
lives on less than one dollar day
police prosecutor patrick chitope told the court robert deserved stiff
penalty for denting the image of the catholic church
nominee for eu transport chief cautious on body scanners
brussels jan afp
the european union appointee for transport commissioner urged caution thursday
on the rapid introduction of body scanners in airports saying that tests must
first be carried out on the devices
at hearing at the european parliament in brussels to establish whether he is
fit for the post estonian siim kallas criticised countries like britain and the
netherlands for moving unilaterally to introduce the machines
body scanners are much more advanced compared with metal detectors so they can
increase safety and security he said at the same time we must finish our
study within couple of months
the outgoing european commission dropped plans to introduce the scanners europe
wide in following complaints from the assembly that they violate privacy
rights and could impact on human health
several european countries including britain and the netherlands decided to
install the scanners after nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab was charged with
trying to down us bound passenger jet from amsterdam on christmas day
but other eu nations are cool on the idea and brussels wants to see health and
efficiency studies on the machines which can see through clothing before
looking to introduce them across the bloc despite us pressure to do so
it very bad that some countries already used body scanners without any
commonly agreed standards kallas said adding that all the possible
consequences health hazards legal issues privacy issues must be examined
currently eu members are free to use the devices as they see fit
on tuesday the nominee for eu justice commissioner viviane reding expressed
doubts about the machines
there is nothing which is percent secure and scanners are not panacea
either she said
we have to look at less intrusive and more privacy friendly ways to detect
explosives said reding from luxembourg and who is currently the eu
commissioner in charge of telecoms
our need for security cannot justify invasion of privacy our citizens are not
just objects but they are human beings she said we should never be driven
by fear but by values on which the union is founded
she said passengers must only use them on voluntary basis and that the images
recorded must immediately be destroyed
the issue is to be discussed at informal eu justice talks in toledo spain on
january
britain gives million dollars to quake hit haiti minister
london jan afp
britain will donate more than six million pounds million dollars
million euros to quake hit haiti international development secretary douglas
alexander said thursday
the donation will help kick start humanitarian relief in the country where
tens of thousands of people are feared killed in massive earthquake which
caused many buildings to collapse in the capital port au prince he said
british team of rescue specialists and emergency assessment officials was
due in port au prince during the day to help in the mammoth rescue effort
it is already clear that we are facing major humanitarian crisis haiti needs
help and it needs it now said alexander
the most pressing need is for international search and rescue teams
including firefighters from all over britain to get on with their work of
saving lives
but at the same time there is an overwhelming requirement for food water
sanitation shelter and medicine among the people who have been made homeless
that is why the department for international development is providing money to
help kick start humanitarian relief in haiti
bulgaria backs controversial commissioner despite row
sofia jan afp
bulgarian prime minister boyko borisov on thursday stuck by his controversial
choice for eu humanitarian aid commissioner rumiana jeleva downplaying
accusations of financial impropriety and her husband alleged mafia links
speaking to state television borisov said he would wait for ruling by the
european parliament juridical service on possible conflict of interest in
jeleva case before making any decision the parliament ruling was expected
monday
asked whether he was wrong in nominating jeleva borisov said did not make
mistake
he nevertheless confirmed he had number of other options for commissioner if
jeleva is rejected
bulgaria current foreign minister and one of ten vice presidents of the
european people party sparked row at the european parliament this week by
being accused of alleged conflict of interests during her term as mep between
and
lawmakers grilled jeleva for failing to mention in her declaration of financial
interests the fact that she was manager and owner of the private consultation
company global consult from up until april
they also enquired about reports in the bulgarian press which claimed to expose
her husband alleged links to powerful yet rather controversial business
group in the black sea city of burgas
jeleva played down the accusations
but analysts said she failed to defend her case and also said she was poorly
prepared in her answers to questions related to her future portfolio of
humanitarian aid commissisoner
the controversy surrounding jeleva candidature turned into left right battle
at the european parliament with the centre right european people party coming
out in support of her while the socialists pressed for her withdrawal
the angry conservatives even threatened to block the socialist candidate for
another commission portfolio in tit for tat response to the attack against
jeleva
the row prompted the bulgarian press to lash out at borisov for the first time
since his right wing government took office in july
the press slammed jeleva performance as disaster while left wing sega
daily even mocked her as failing to offer solutions to the humanitarian
problems but rather demonstrating that she would have to get to learn about
them
political analysts vladimir shopov and evgeniy daynov urged borisov to withdraw
her as soon as possible and propose another candidate in order not to
aggravate the problem and endanger the endorsement of barroso whole team
the press mooted defence minister nikolay mladenov as possible substitute
candidate but mladenov himself former european lawmaker told state
television that bulgaria has one candidate mrs jeleva
ukraine pm targets swift eu membership
kiev jan afp
prime minister yulia tymoshenko pledged thursday to bring ukraine into the eu
within five years if she wins this weekend presidential polls as she sought to
highlight differences with her main rival
in keynote address in kiev ahead of sunday vote tymoshenko attempted to
show ukraine faces stark choice between herself and her main opponent viktor
yanukovich who is leading the polls and seen as pro russian figure
ukraine must become member of the european union and for me that is
priority will do everything so that during my presidency ukraine becomes
member of the eu tymoshenko said
she said an association agreement should be signed with the european union this
year as well as an accord on the creation of free trade zone ukraine
presidential mandate is for five years
the elections are taking place amid severe economic crisis and public
disillusionment with the results of the orange revolution which ousted the
old elite and was strongly supported by tymoshenko
opinion polls show yanukovich with lead of around percent ahead the
elections
however with candidates standing february run off is almost certain and
analysts believe the prime minister still has chance of making up ground by
then
tymoshenko has traditionally been seen as pro eu figure although the warmth of
her relationship with russian prime minister vladimir putin has led analysts to
conclude she has drawn closer to moscow
her former ally in the orange revolution president viktor yushchenko had also
vowed to bring ukraine into the eu but his plan fell apart amid chronic
political instability and economic problems
yushchenko is expected to be punished at the ballot box for the failure of the
orange revolution to bring about major economic and political reform falling at
the first hurdle with weak single digit showing
tymoshenko also launched new attack on ukraine super rich oligarchs who own
much of the country industry and many of whom have close links to yanukovich
vowing to put them in their place
there are two paths strengthen the oligarchs personified by yanukovich or
the other path the creation of an independent state she said
seeking to lay out vision of ukraine future tymoshenko said the country
should create the most modern education system in europe and ensure its energy
independence
the prime minister wearing cream dress and her voice hoarse from weeks of
campaigning took questions after her speech on video link from supporters
ranging from miners to folk singers
day earlier tymoshenko had accused yanukovich of seeking to organise election
fraud from his powerbase in the east of the country but he hit back thursday
with bitter personal attack on his rival
this is her way of life this is how she lives we have got used to it he
said on campaign visit to the northeastern city of kharkiv quoted by the
website of his regions party
adding uncertainty to the situation new poll from russian research
organisation showed yanukovich well ahead but with lesser known candidate
pushing tymoshenko into third place
yanukovich will poll percent of the vote while former economy minister and
banking executive sergiy tigipko would win percent compared with for
tymoshenko the poll for the russian public opinion research centre showed
while tigipko may be benefiting from being relatively fresh face polls by
other ukraine based organisations published over the new year showed him posting
far weaker vote
brazilian peacekeepers killed in haiti quake military
brasilia jan afp
at least brazilian peacekeepers were killed in the haiti earthquake brazil
military said thursday raising previous toll of
brazil is in charge of the military component of the strong un
stabilization mission in haiti minustah and the biggest contributor with
soldiers
many of the brazilian troops killed were in their base headquarters which
collapsed tuesday when the magnitude temblor struck the haitian capital
port au prince
twelve soldiers who survived but were badly injured will be repatriated to
brazil for medical treatment the military said in statement
germany japan pledge joint efforts on climate disarmament
tokyo jan afp
japan and germany agreed thursday to work together on climate change nuclear
disarmament and rebuilding afghanistan during tokyo visit by foreign minister
guido westerwelle
germany top diplomat who is also deputy chancellor met japan prime
minister yukio hatoyama and foreign minister katsuya okada at the start of an
asia tour that will also take him to china
disarmament is the central issue of our times westerwelle told reporters
germany wants it japan wants it too the question now is what we can achieve
together on the international stage
he said tokyo and berlin must take united stance to prevent the possibility of
nuclear armed iran
in talks with westerwelle hatoyama stressed the importance of cooperation
between japan and germany as non nuclear armed nations in that share the same
value said japanese foreign ministry statement
on climate change hatoyama said the copenhagen accord reached last year was not
satisfactory while westerwelle also spoke of the need for binding
international agreement the statement said
japan centre left premier who took power four months ago said japan and the
european union need in future to reach an economic partnership agreement
although he said difficulties remained
on afghanistan westerwelle said both countries had focused on civilian
reconstruction and humanitarian assistance and should keep working together
according to the japanese foreign ministry
westerwelle took his posts after his free democrats formed coalition
government with the conservative party of chancellor angela merkel in october
the tokyo ministerial meetings were the first since the new governments took
power in tokyo and berlin
ethiopia opens its largest hydroelectric dam
addis ababa jan afp
the biggest hydroelectric dam in ethiopia financed by italy has been opened by
prime minister meles zenawi and italian foreign minister franco frattini the
ena news agency reported thursday
the gilegel gibe ii dam lies on the river omo kilometres miles south
of addis ababa and can produce megawatts of electricity it cost
billion birr million euros million dollars
it possible to speed up development without polluting the environment meles
was quoted by the official news agency as saying meles recalled that his
government wishes to double the energy capacity of the country in the next five
years
frattini expressed pleasure in italy commitment to project whose importance
has no equivalent in improving the lives of ethiopians
the italian government provided million euros for the dam in the form of
loan and the building work was carried out by an italian firm salini
construction
ethiopia has considerable hydroelectric potential but is confronted with
electricity shortages because of an increase in demand by both industry and
households following major rural electrification programme
spate of power cuts last year damaged economic activity particularly in addis
ababa
the government in the poor horn of africa country which has some million
inhabitants has decided to give priority to the production of renewable energy
sources
us leads massive global aid effort for haiti
washington jan afp
the united states has assumed the leading role in aiding the quake devastated
caribbean nation of haiti with european and other nations also rushing in
assistance
us president barack obama said he has ordered swift coordinated and
aggressive effort to save lives with troops on stand by search and
rescue teams arriving in haiti from florida virginia and california and an
array of specialists ships planes and helicopters also on their way
secretary of state hillary clinton and defense secretary robert gates have cut
short or cancelled trips to help manage the aid response the uss carl vinson
aircraft carrier is also en route
the people of haiti will have the full support of the united states in the
urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the
humanitarian relief food water and medicine that haitians will need obama
said
the red cross launched million dollar appeal for donations the world
food programme offered tonnes of food and the world bank said it would
provide an extra million dollars in aid
plane loads of rescue teams and relief supplies have already been dispatched
from nations including britain canada france germany the netherlands russia
and spain
the french aid group doctors without borders has set up tent clinics in the city
to treat the thousands of wounded aid organisations medecins du monde and
handicap international are also flying in planeloads of specialist aid to boost
their teams on the ground
british flight carrying some officials and rescue specialists arrived in
the dominican republic en route to neighboring haiti they were accompanied by
sniffer dogs and some tonnes of equipment
the netherlands sent team of search and rescue personnel as well as sniffer
dogs russia sent search and rescue teams and vowed more aid including field
hospital and medical supplies
the european commission released three million euros and nations offered their
own funds on top of that belgium denmark germany italy and spain have also
individually promised cash specialist teams and equipment
cuba which felt the quake sent doctors to join staff already in haiti
brazil said it was providing million dollars in immediate aid while peru
venezuela mexico colombia guatamala and chile also promised help
canada readied two warships helicopters and planes with supplies as well as
large relief and rescue force
israel announced it was sending on thursday two planes loaded with field
hospital and emergency personnel including search and rescue unit and
police officers morocco has promised to fly in one million dollars worth of
medical supplies
from the asia pacific region australia pledged nine million dollars while
taiwan whose ambassador to haiti was hurt and new zealand also offered aid
japan has pledged five million dollars in emergency aid while south korea said
it will send emergency aid worth about one million dollars and team of relief
workers
survival on the line after haiti quake medical experts
paris jan afp
urgent care for survivors sheltering the sick and homeless and warding off the
spectre of infectious disease head an almost endless list of medical needs in
quake devastated haiti experts said on thursday
doctors face race against time to save people suffering from fractures and
internal injuries caused by falling masonry and treat open wounds that can
swiftly develop into life threatening infection they said
many other quakes have shown us very clearly that of people who suffer injuries
and die as result most deaths occur within the first hours said tammam
aloudat an emergencies specialist at the international federation of red cross
and red crescent ifrc societies in geneva
we are entering critical period there must be massive humanitarian aid
arriving this evening said olivier bernard president of french medical relief
charity medecins du monde doctors of the world
partners in health an american medical ngo working on the ground in haiti
issued an emergency appeal to its pool of volunteers
we need surgeons especially trauma orthopedic surgeons er emergency room
doctors and nurses and full surgical teams including anesthesiologists scrub
and post op nurses and nurse anesthetists it said on its website
even before the disaster the health infrastructure in haiti the western
hemisphere poorest country was meagre
its million people are prey to twin epidemic of aids and tuberculosis and
sky high maternal mortality rate only one person in two has access to clean
drinking water and only percent have decent sanitation
