the spanish government does not pay ransoms this position is clear and firm
among the prisoners who aqim wants to see released in exchange for freeing the
hostages is tayeb ould also known as said serhib who allegedly headed
jihadist cell in northeastern spain el mundo reported friday
ould left spain in and was arrested in mauritania two years later
aqim on december claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the three
spanish aid workers they were in the last vehicle of convoy carrying supplies
for west african associations when they were attacked
the group said in statement dated january that it would execute french
hostage unless four of its militants are freed from jail in mali in days two
us groups which monitor islamist websites said on monday
an italian couple kidnapped on december is also being held in mali by the
organisation
french adoption parents in the dark after haiti quake
paris jan afp
hundreds of french parents who were about to adopt child from haiti were asked
friday to contact french authorities to see if the children survived the quake
that hit the caribbean country
we know that some nurseries were spared and that the children have taken refuge
in church said yves nicolin president of the french adoption agency afa
unfortunately we have also received information that some creches were
destroyed and that the children are dead said nicolin
between and french families were in the process of adopting child
from haiti when the powerful earthquake hit on tuesday levelling buildings
schools and homes across the impoverished country
the french parents who have been in an agonising wait for news from haiti were
told to call crisis centre hotline set up by the government and provide
information on the children they were about to welcome into their homes
french officials will draw up list of the missing children and try to
determine their whereabouts
we don have any firm figures on the number of haitian children that were to
be adopted said nicolin but he speculated based on data from previous years
that at least children were to be taken in by french families
despite the devastating quake there are no plans to speed up adoptions he
added
in there were more french adoptions from haiti than from any other
country
football stoke pull out of deal to sign england keeper james
stoke england jan afp
stoke city pulled out of deal to sign england goalkeeper david james from
premier league strugglers portsmouth on friday
city boss tony pulis had hoped to sign james on loan until the end of the
season with view to the former liverpool star making permanent switch to the
britannia stadium when his pompey contract expires in june
but the move appears to have stalled over stoke desire for portsmouth to
continue paying portion of james wages and the club chief executive tony
scholes confirmed to sky sports news that the deal is off
james has made just one first team appearance for portsmouth in the past two
months due to injury and his departure from fratton park would have helped to
ease pompey financial troubles while putting him back in contention to be
england goalkeeper at the world cup
pulis was also keen to land james after reports that denmark international
thomas sorensen stoke first choice keeper wants to join german club bayern
munich
no skiing at scottish resort too much snow
london jan afp
skiers found the slopes at scottish resort closed on friday not because the
snow was sparse but rather there was too much of it the resort managers
said
cairngorm mountain in northeast scotland more often deals with lack of snow
but this year it is grappling with different problem centimetres
inches of snow since christmas in the worst bout of winter weather since the
resort staff toiled all day thursday to clear snow but they arrived back friday
to find their hard work was in vain after strong winds blew snow across access
roads creating foot metre high drifts
we have come in this morning and it feels like groundhog day all our work
yesterday has been filled in again said colin matthew the head of ski patrol
the mountain and all facilities access roads and car parks will be closed
today to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm he said
the resort snow ploughs cannot even get through the drifting and it has had to
hire special heavy diggers said resort spokesman colin kirkwood adding it
could be monday before the resort reopens
but despite the temporary closure kirkwood said this year harsh conditions
had provided welcome boost for business at cairngorm which faced controversy
in recent years after funicular railway ran well over budget
we re about percent up on the point we were at at the same point last
year he said
cairngorm britain sixth highest mountain is one of the main resorts in
britain small ski industry north of the scottish border with lifts and
kilometres miles of ski runs
most of britain has seen substantial snowfalls over the last month in the
country severest winter for decades although warmer temperatures in the last
few days have melted much of the snow and ice further south
china first gay pageant blocked by police organisers
beijing jan afp
beijing police blocked organisers from staging china first homosexual pageant
on friday organisers said an event that had been hailed as heralding new
openness towards the gay community
this event has been cancelled wei xiaogang who was to have acted as one of
the judges in the mr gay china contest told afp
in my opinion believe it had something to do with the issue of
homosexuality he said
contestants in the competition which was to have included an underwear
segment were to vie for the right to represent china at the worldwide mr gay
pageant in norway next month
icc delays guinea war crimes probe visit
the hague jan afp
the international criminal court said friday visit by its deputy prosecutor to
military ruled guinea to probe allegations of war crimes at an opposition rally
has been delayed until next month
the visit by fatou bensouda initially planned for next week was postponed for
logistical reasons the prosecutor office told afp the visit will take
place at the invitation of guinean authorities
the office of the prosecutor announced in october that it had launched
preliminary examination of the september violence to determine whether the
alleged crimes fell within the court jurisdiction
the united nations said at least people were killed or went missing after
the assault by forces loyal to coup leader moussa dadis camara on an opposition
protest at stadium in the capital conakry
camara is currently recovering in burkina faso after being shot in the head in
an assassination attempt last month
guinea is state party to the founding statute of the icc the world only
permanent tribunal for the adjudication of genocide war crimes and crimes
against humanity
russia gives green light to european court reform
moscow jan afp
russian lawmakers voted friday to ratify key protocol on reforming the
european court of human rights clearing the way for the long delayed reform
after years of resistance from moscow
the lower house of russia parliament the duma ratified the protocol with an
overwhelming majority of votes in favour and opposed reversing its
previous rejection of the protocol in
russia was the last member of the nation council of europe not to have
ratified protocol of the european convention on human rights aimed at
streamlining the court work and reducing its backlog of cases
officials in moscow have frequently complained about the strasbourg based court
which has often ruled against russia in cases concerning atrocities in chechnya
and conditions in russian prisons
the ratification of the protocol is important for the european court said
vladimir pligin head of the duma constitutional law committee and member of
the ruling united russia party
we deeply respect the work of the european court and think that many of its
decisions will find an appropriate reflection in the work of russian courts
pligin added
the duma decision which had been all but assured after the ruling united
russia party gave its blessing earlier this week was immediately welcomed by
the council of europe
by joining the other member states russia is sending strong signal of its
commitment to europe council of europe secretary general thorbjorn jagland
said in statement
some duma deputies had complained that the strasbourg court was anti russian
when they initially rejected the protocol in
russian officials said they had dropped their opposition after the council of
europe agreed to provision stating that russian judge would participate in
any decisions concerning russia
russia is the biggest source of pending cases at the court some cases
out of the cases awaiting review by the court originated from russia
according to the russian foreign ministry
besides complaints from chechens about abuses committed by the russian army
moscow has also been irked by cases concerning the yukos oil company and its
jailed billionaire founder mikhail khodorkovsky
this week the court delayed hearing billion dollar billion euro case
brought against the russian government by yukos which contends it was unfairly
prosecuted and driven into bankruptcy
the kremlin reversed its stance on the court reform because it needs closer
economic cooperation with europe as it seeks to modernise the crisis battered
russian economy said independent political analyst dmitry oreshkin
in the near future russia will need to cooperate more with europe oreshkin
said
one of the eu principal complaints against russia was protocol and
president dmitry medvedev wanted to demonstrate his engagement with europe on
democracy and human rights
russia also had nothing to lose by ratifying the protocol because the reform
will simply help the court become more efficient said sergei davidis lawyer
for the memorial human rights organisation
it was no longer possible to delay this simplification of european justice
without seeming like saboteur davidis said
the refusal to ratify did not make sense because this had no effect on the
number of cases against russia that is independent of the reform
protocol must still be passed by the upper house of russia parliament the
federation council in order to be ratified but that vote is largely seen as
formality
norway sees oil gas output falling in
oslo jan afp
norway oil and gas output is set to fall about percent in its
petroleum directorate said friday calling on companies to better exploit
existing oil fields
in norwegian gas and oil output will be million cubic metres of oil
equivalent standard measure down from million in level
which was already percent lower than in
the petroleum directorate said in its annual report that output is expected to
fall to million cubic metres of oil equivalent in
production will not appear magically the norwegian petroleum directorate is
putting pressure on the oil companies to increase production from existing oil
fields said bente nyland the head of the norwegian petroleum directorate
due to technical and financial reasons companies exploiting norway oil fields
will only extract about percent of the available resources under current
plans the agency pointed out
yet percentage point increase in the recovery rate could represent between
and billion kroner billion euros billon dollars in
additional revenue it noted
last year new discoveries of oil and gas were made off norway coast in the
north sea and seven others in the norwegian sea but they were of limited size
the downturn in the data is accounted for by falling oil production while gas
output is rising
oil output alone is expected to fall to million barrels day in from
to million in and million in
in natural gas represented percent of norway total oil and gas sales
and is set to rise to percent in the petroleum directorate said
urgent china first gay pageant blocked by police organisers
beijing jan afp
beijing police blocked organisers from staging china first homosexual pageant
on friday organisers said an event that had been hailed as heralding new
openness towards the gay community
british prince wins wings before flying down under
london jan afp
britain prince william completed key stage in his pilot training friday
cementing his military career just days before embarking on his first official
overseas royal tour to new zealand
queen elizabeth ii grandson known as flight lieutenant wales was presented
with his flying badge by his father prince charles after graduating from an
advanced helicopter training course with the royal air force raf
the year old spent year training at raf shawbury in central england and
will later this month move to raf valley in wales where he will be taught to
fly sea king helicopters with the goal of becoming search and rescue pilot
britain royals have long engaged in military service in recognition of the
monarch role as head of the armed forces and despite maintaining his duties
as prince officials say william is committed to his career as pilot
the second in line to the throne will arrive in new zealand on sunday for his
first official overseas visit and his first official tour representing the
queen which will include opening the new supreme court in wellington
the decision to send william rather than his father has caused press speculation
that he is supplanting him in the line of succession with some suggesting he is
becoming shadow king
but palace officials deny this
his priority is being serving officer in the raf but where appropriate he
will carry out engagements and this is one such engagement spokeswoman for
clarence house prince william official residence told afp
prince harry william year old brother is also in the military and is
training to become an army air corps helicopter pilot
the queen has always encouraged the young princes to take on more formal
duties while respecting their service to their country and their military
careers which are seen as priority the spokeswoman said
she added the prince of wales prince charles is obviously pleased to see
prince william step up and represent the queen in realm he is prince
william of new zealand
on tuesday william will travel to australia for more informal three day trip
involving visits to an aboriginal community centre and an australian army base
as well as trip to rural areas devastated by bushfires last year
alert
beijing police block china first gay pageant organisers
german customs seize million euro diamond
frankfurt jan afp
carat uncut diamond worth an estimated million euros has been seized
at frankfurt airport from an angolan man arriving from namibia police said on
friday
the year old who has not been named told customs officials after being
detained with forged visa on thursday that he intended to use the precious
stone to buy cars in portugal and that it was worth just euros us
dollars
but an examination concluded the diamond around three centimetres one inch
high and three centimetres wide and for which the man could produce no
documentation was worth around million euros million dollars
the man will not get the diamond back as he is accused of whole range of
offences including breaching international rules stopping the trade in blood
diamonds from conflict areas customs spokesman hans juergen schmidt said
he also faces charges of smuggling and of withholding around euros in
import taxes and was due to go before an investigating judge later on friday
schmidt told afp
the diamond will most likely be confiscated and go to the german state
schmidt said he will not be free man whatever happens the judge will either
remand him in custody or he will be deported to angola
opel names nick reilly as new ceo
frankfurt jan afp
german automaker opel said friday that general motors nick reilly has been
named new chief executive responsible for opel and its sister brand vauxhall as
part of broad restructuring
opel supervisory board named reilly already head of general motors europe to
the post making him responsible for all opel vauxhall activities worldwide
statement said
reilly from britain has already begun drawing up tough restructuring plan
for opel that includes job cuts and could cost european governments up to
billion euros billion dollars in state aid
he replaces hans demant who gave up the ceo post to become gm vice president
in charge of global intellectual property rights the statement added
in december us parent gm began to replace directors at opel after deciding not
to sell the european division it previously named gm financial director walter
borst as head of opel supervisory board
opel also named mark james another briton as its new chief financial officer
like reilly who has worked at gm for years james has experience with gm
brands in asia having worked at the korean operation daewoo
rita forst from opel technical development centre in ruesselsheim west
germany was named head of engineering
the new board will address our tasks quickly and with plenty of energy reilly
said in the statement
we in particular will be on the offensive and will want to increase our market
share in europe he added
opel nonetheless said friday that around of its workers in germany
roughly half its domestic workforce will work fewer hours in january and
february owing to slumping sales
one of reilly first tasks will be to convince opel works council on which
sit union officials to accept the permanent job cuts which it rejected in late
december
football bremen deny juventus offer for oezil
berlin jan afp
bundesliga side werder bremen on friday rejected reports of an eight million
euros million us dollars offer for germany play maker mesut oezil from
juventus
we have received no such offer bremen media director tino polster said
after italian daily sports newspaper corriere dello sport reported juventus had
made bremen multi million euro offer for oezil
the year old has played for germany seven times and is set to travel to next
summer world cup in south africa
oezil is tipped to become play maker for the national side in the future
he has contract until june but if he decides not to extend his current
deal bremen would need to sell him next summer or risk losing him on free
transfer
juventus already bought brazilian playmaker diego from bremen last summer for
million euros
corrected jp morgan reports billion dollar net profit in th quarter
washington jan afp
banking giant jp morgan chase on friday posted net profit of billion
dollars in the fourth quarter of topping market expectations
the new york based investment bank doubled its profits to billion dollars
for the year and quadrupled the numbers put up in the fourth quarter of
ukraine hopefuls in final push for embittered voters
kiev jan afp
ukraine presidential election candidates friday made final effort to appeal
to voters deeply disillusioned with the orange revolution on the last day of
campaigning
opinion polls show pro russian opposition politician viktor yanukovich the
defeated candidate in when the orange revolution street protests forced
re run of rigged polls well ahead in first place
yanukovich dour ex mechanic once jailed for theft hopes to win sunday
election outright but it is almost certain that he will fail to win majority
and that the poll will go to second round on february
he is expected to be joined in run off by prime minister yulia tymoshenko
famed for her traditional golden hair braid whom analysts believe still has
time to make up the difference over the next three weeks
president viktor yushchenko the figurehead of the orange revolution who
championed eu and nato membership for ukraine is expected to be punished for
the revolution failures and be eliminated in the first round
think that the intrigue is not yet over volodymyr fesenko director of the
penta centre for political studies in kiev told afp
think tymoshenko has chances to win if she succeeds in mobilizing post orange
voters wanting european integration and wins voters from the defeated
candidates
yanukovich is to hold rally billed as celebration gala concert in central
kiev at gmt with ukrainian glamour pop singers taisia povaliy and svetlana
loboda before ban on campaigning enters into force on saturday
tymoshenko meanwhile will want to ensure her second place standing is not
endangered by late surge from third place candidate businessman sergiy
tigipko who appears to have made gains over the last weeks
the election race between total of candidates is overshadowed by huge
public disappointment with the orange revolution which despite ousting the old
elite failed to bring about major reform or end corruption
yushchenko fell out spectacularly with his former orange ally tymoshenko and has
spent most of campaign seeking to destroy her character to the delight of
yanukovich strategists
the president criticised for concentrating on grandiose historical issues
rather than reform spent the last campaign day presenting book entitled to
the nation which compiled the main speeches of his term
during the book presentation he took parting shot at tymoshenko accusing her
of destroying the country and declared am not politician would prefer
to be called statesman
yanukovich meanwhile denied in late night television appearance that he had
ever been given orders by the kremlin but he also said any provocative moves in
relations with moscow must be avoided
this is not joke or toy these are two enormous countries who are hugely
dependent on each other in many aspects he said
yanukovich draws his strongest support in the industrial and largely russian
speaking east of ukraine whereas tymoshenko heartland is the more
agricultural west where the ukrainian language predominates
as final card tymoshenko could raise yanukovich convictions and jail
sentences in and for theft and assault which were both erased by the
courts in december
one of the stranger contenders is vasyl gumeniuk local politician from
western ukraine who registered his candidacy after changing his surname to
protyvsikh or against all in ukrainian
in another case of election cynicism website entitled prodaygolos com ua
sellyourvote com emerged ahead of the polls allowing ukrainians the chance to
auction off their vote
after it caused something of scandal however visitors are now being told the
mysterious site is closed
ukraine hopefuls in final push for embittered voters
kiev jan afp
ukraine presidential election candidates friday made final effort to appeal
to voters deeply disillusioned with the orange revolution on the last day of
campaigning
opinion polls show pro russian opposition politician viktor yanukovich the
defeated candidate in when the orange revolution street protests forced
re run of rigged polls well ahead in first place
yanukovich dour ex mechanic once jailed for theft hopes to win sunday
election outright but it is almost certain that he will fail to win majority
and that the poll will go to second round on february
he is expected to be joined in run off by prime minister yulia tymoshenko
famed for her traditional golden hair braid whom analysts believe still has
time to make up the difference over the next three weeks
president viktor yushchenko the figurehead of the orange revolution who
championed eu and nato membership for ukraine is expected to be punished for
the revolution failures and be eliminated in the first round
think that the intrigue is not yet over volodymyr fesenko director of the
penta centre for political studies in kiev told afp
think tymoshenko has chances to win if she succeeds in mobilizing post orange
voters wanting european integration and wins voters from the defeated
candidates
yanukovich is to hold rally billed as celebration gala concert in central
kiev at gmt with ukrainian glamour pop singers taisia povaliy and svetlana
loboda before ban on campaigning enters into force on saturday
tymoshenko meanwhile will want to ensure her second place standing is not
endangered by late surge from third place candidate businessman sergiy
tigipko who appears to have made gains over the last weeks
the election race between total of candidates is overshadowed by huge
public disappointment with the orange revolution which despite ousting the old
elite failed to bring about major reform or end corruption
yushchenko fell out spectacularly with his former orange ally tymoshenko and has
spent most of campaign seeking to destroy her character to the delight of
yanukovich strategists
the president criticised for concentrating on grandiose historical issues
rather than reform spent the last campaign day presenting book entitled to
the nation which compiled the main speeches of his term
during the book presentation he took parting shot at tymoshenko accusing her
of destroying the country and declared am not politician would prefer
to be called statesman
yanukovich meanwhile denied in late night television appearance that he had
ever been given orders by the kremlin but he also said any provocative moves in
relations with moscow must be avoided
this is not joke or toy these are two enormous countries who are hugely
dependent on each other in many aspects he said
yanukovich draws his strongest support in the industrial and largely russian
speaking east of ukraine whereas tymoshenko heartland is the more
agricultural west where the ukrainian language predominates
as final card tymoshenko could raise yanukovich convictions and jail
sentences in and for theft and assault which were both erased by the
courts in december
one of the stranger contenders is vasyl gumeniuk local politician from
western ukraine who registered his candidacy after changing his surname to
protyvsikh or against all in ukrainian
in another case of election cynicism website entitled prodaygolos com ua
sellyourvote com emerged ahead of the polls allowing ukrainians the chance to
auction off their vote
after it caused something of scandal however visitors are now being told the
mysterious site is closed
urgent jp morgan reports billion dollar net profit in th quarter
washington jan afp
banking giant jp morgan chase on friday posted net profit of billion
dollars in the fourth quarter of topping market expectations
eurozone trade surplus falls to billion euros
brussels jan afp
the nation eurozone trade surplus with the rest of the world fell to
billion euros billion dollars in november official figures showed friday
the narrowing the october surplus was revised billion euros came as
exports edged down percent month on month
analyst howard archer of ihs global insight said the latest data reinforces
concerns that the eurozone is having trouble developing recovery after exiting
recession in the third quarter of
he has already said the european central bank may even have to wait until into
before raising interest rates and reiterated that hopefully eurozone
exporters will gain some help from the retreat in the euro after it hit
month high of dollars in late november
that said he underlined it is the strength of global growth over the coming
months that will be most important to them
the november surplus compared with billion euro deficit in the
corresponding month one year earlier
the trade deficit for the european union as whole swelled to billion euros
from billion euros in october in november the deficit was
billion euros
un rights chief hails mongolia death penalty moratorium
geneva jan afp
un human rights chief navi pillay on friday hailed move by mongolia
president to introduce moratorium on the death penalty saying that it sets
leadership example in asia
president tsakhiagiin elbegdorj on thursday told lawmakers that all death
sentences carried out by gunshot would be commuted to year prison
terms as he could not bring himself to sign any execution orders
congratulate president elbegdorj on this historic step which further
strengthens human rights protection in mongolia pillay the un high
commissioner for human rights said in statement
mongolia move sets leadership example in asia she said urging it to
abolish the death penalty
unfortunately the asian region includes some of the world most prolific
executioners but also some countries like mongolia that have taken principled
stand on this fundamental issue she added
according to human rights watchdog amnesty international elbegdorj commuted the
death sentences of at least three convicts in
jp morgan reports billion dollar net profit in th quarter
washington jan afp
banking giant jp morgan chase on friday posted net profit of dollars in
the fourth quarter of topping market expectations
the new york based investment bank doubled its profits to billion dollars
for the year and quadrupled the numbers put up in the fourth quarter of
cuba allows us to use its airspace for haiti quake effort
washington jan afp
the united states said friday it had been granted rare permission to use cuban
airspace for its aid and evacuation flights in the wake of haiti devastating
earthquake
we have coordinated with the cuban government for authorization to fly medical
evacuation flights from the us naval station guantanamo bay to miami florida
through cuban airspace cutting minutes off one way flight time the white
house said in statement
seven bodies found in nw pakistan tribal leader killed
peshawar pakistan jan afp
the bullet riddled bodies of seven suspected militants were found friday in
northwest pakistan while an anti taliban militia leader was also killed in the
region officials said
five dead bodies were found in darra adam khel town near regional capital
peshawar two other corpses turned up in swat valley where hundreds of bodies
have been unearthed since an army offensive took on the militants last year
the bodies of five militants were dumped in two different areas of darra adam
khel said major fazal ur rehman spokesman for the paramilitary frontier
