sleiman appointed five ministers in the seat cabinet which grants him the
role of arbiter in the new government
cricket england protest against review decision
johannesburg jan afp
the england cricket board on saturday announced it had demanded reinstatement
of the review the england team lost when television umpire daryl harper made
gross error in rejecting an appeal against south african captain graeme smith
match referee roshan mahanama meanwhile issued statement defending harper
saying the umpire followed the correct protocol in upholding not out decision
by on field umpire tony hill when smith was on during the second day play
on friday smith went on to make
the ecb said it accepted that the decision could not be overturned but had
issued formal appeal to the international cricket council for the review to be
reinstated
the ecb has sought further clarification from icc that there is nothing in the
regulations to prevent the icc chief executive and or match referee from
reinstating the referral to correct the gross error in process it said in
statement
the ecb would like to make clear that the england team management had
registered concerns regarding the absence of hotspot for use in the decision
review system at pre series meeting attended by icc officials and the match
referee
the england team management were advised that the protocol for this series
would be that the sound on the stump microphone would be turned up on decision
review to check for disputed catches
in ecb and the england team management view the agreed protocol was not
implemented and the sound was not turned up on review
as result tv replay which indicated that bat had made contact with ball was
heard by millions of television viewers but not by the match control team
ecb chairman giles clarke said we have grave concerns about how this process
was implemented and will be addressing the issue at the highest levels within
icc during this match
in his statement mahanama denied telling england coach andy flower that harper
had failed to adjust the volume of an audio feed from the stump microphone
he said the volume on the third umpire feed was set by head engineer of the
host broadcaster the south african broadcasting corporation and an icc
technical adviser
if the audio level had been increased above its optimum level distortion on
the audio feed would have occurred and the feed might not have given clear
indication of the true sound
at no stage had indicated to the england team management that the third
umpire had forgotten to adjust the volume of the speakers had actually
briefed the england team management of the protocols that were followed during
this review
there was no immediate response from the icc and england had used up both their
reviews and could not seek challenge when ab de villiers edged ball from
ryan sidebottom shortly before lunch on saturday and was given not out by umpire
steve davis
alert
egypt state security court to try accused in coptic shootings
judo world masters results
seoul jan afp
results from the judo world masters saturday
men
kg
final
rishor sobirov uzb bt hiroaki hiraoka jpn ippon
semifinals
rishor sobirov uzb bt choi gwang hyeon kor waza ari
hiroaki hiraoka jpn bt arsen galstyan rus ippon
kg
final
sanjaasuren miaragchaa mgl bt alim gadanov rus ippon
semifinals
alim gadanov rus bt david larose fra ippon
sanjaasuren miaragchaa mgl bt musa mogushkov rus ippon
kg
final
bang gui man kor bt gilles bonhomme fra ippon
semifinals
bang gui man kor bt yasuhiro awano jpn waza ari
gilles bonhomme fra bt mansur isaev rus yuko
women
kg
final
haruna asami jpn bt kaori kondo jpn yuko
semifinals
haruna asami jpn bt tomoko fukumi jpn ippon
kaori kondo jpn bt shoko ibe jpn yuko
kg
final
misato nakamura jpn bt laura gomez esp ippon
semifinals
misato nakamura jpn bt penelope bonna fra ippon
laura gomez esp bt yuka nishida jpn ippon
kg
final
kaori matsumoto jpn bt nae udaka jpn yuko
semifinals
nae udaka jpn bt hitomi tokuhisa jpn yuko
kaori matsumoto jpn bt hedvig karakas hun ippon
kg
final
yoshie ueno jpn bt kong ja young kor ippon
semifinals
yoshie ueno jpn bt alice schlesinger isr waza ari
kong ja young kor bt miki tanaka jpn waza ari
nordic skiing poland kowalczyk wins km classic
otepaa estonia jan afp
poland justyna kowalczyk consolidated her place atop the world cup nordic
skiing table with victory in the km classic style race here on saturday
kowalczyk last week crowned champion of the seven stage tour de ski competition
that also counts towards the world cup clocked min sec around the course
in snowy conditions
she finished sec ahead of norway marit bjoergen with finland aino kaisaa
saarinen in third at sec
the victory was kowalczyk th on the world cup circuit and fourth this season
outside the tour de ski
in the overall standings kowalczyk stands pretty with points with
slovenian petra majdic in second on
the world cup continues here on sunday with classic style sprint race
yemen confirms top qaeda chiefs deaths nabs militants
sanaa jan afp
yemen confirmed on saturday the deaths of six senior al qaeda figures in an air
strike day earlier while continuing its crackdown on the group by arresting
three suspected militants
there had been conflicting reports on friday about who was killed in the air
raid and whether any of the eight people targeted had escaped
in statement on its website the interior ministry said al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula aqap military boss qassem al rimi died when missile struck
his vehicle in the eastern part of saada province
also killed were ayed al shabwani ammar al waili saleh al tais egyptian
ibrahim mohammed saleh al banna and an unidentified sixth person
late on friday after initially having said waili and tais had been killed
senior official said they had escaped
the ministry did not comment on the fate of the remaining two people targeted
rimi was among people who had made daring escape from state security
prison in sanaa in february that left the yemeni government red faced and
he was on list of wanted suspects
banna also known as abu aymen al masri was said to be an ideologist of the
group
meanwhile the defence ministry announced the arrest on saturday of three
suspected al qaeda members in the northern area of alb near the border with
saudi arabia
it identified them as ahmed al razehi yasser al zubai and ahmed al heemi it
said they were disguised in military fatigues and carried arms and explosives
saturday arrests were the latest in series of blows since late december
when yemen government launched its latest campaign against al qaeda
on tuesday security forces killed abdullah mehdar said to be the group
kingpin in shabwa province east of the capital
provincial governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of fighters including
saudis and egyptians who had fled afghanistan were hiding in shabwa
among them he said were current aqap chief nasser al wahaishi his saudi
number two saeed ali al shehri and radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
on january officials announced the capture of key leader mohammed al hanq and
two other militants believed to be behind threats against western interests in
sanaa that caused embassies to close for several days
aqap has claimed responsibility for the failed december attack on us
airliner washington confirmed the qaeda franchise in yemen was behind the
attack and that it trained the nigerian assailant umar farouk abdulmutallab
yemen is under us pressure to clamp down on al qaeda but the government in the
impoverished state insists it can tackle the militants without any foreign
military intervention
the council of yemeni clerics warned thursday of jihad or holy war in the case
of any foreign military intervention in the country
an international conference on yemen will be held in london on january
lawyer for french academic upbeat after final iran hearing
tehran jan afp
french academic clotilde reiss lawyer expressed confidence she would be
acquitted after she appeared in court in tehran on saturday on charges of acting
against iranian national security during anti government protests in june
lawyer mohammad ali mahdavi sabet told afp that the two hour hearing was the
final one in the long running case which has tested iran relations with france
and that he now expected the court to announce its verdict within seven days
reiss who has been staying at the french embassy in tehran since being released
on bail in august was in court for the hearing the third in her trial mahdavi
sabet said
she and made our last defence submissions he said
in my closing statement for the defence rejected all the accusations against
her and said that she has not committed any crime
asked for her acquittal and am very confident and optimistic about her
acquittal he said
this was her last court session after that ms reiss left for the embassy
they will tell me the verdict when it is ready under iranian law the court
has week to issue its verdict mahdavi sabet added
french diplomatic source in paris said the ambassador and first counsellor
from the tehran embassy attended the hearing
we are now waiting calmly for the verdict the source said
the year old academic was arrested on july shortly before she was due to
fly home after six month study and teaching visit to the iranian city of
isfahan
she was accused of taking photos and emailing material on the protests that
erupted after the disputed re election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad in june
and handing them to diplomat at the french embassy
france has strongly protested her innocence on all charges
reiss was one of scores of people paraded before cameras at televised trial
before being remanded in custody in tehran notorious evin jail
iran opposition which charges the election was massively rigged to keep
hardliner ahmadinejad in power has dismissed the court proceedings as show
trials
france has accused iran of trying to blackmail it into releasing an iranian
agent ali valiki rad jailed in france for the murder of an exiled former
prime minister shapour bakhtiar vakili rad is serving life sentence
tehran has never confirmed making such proposal
in addition iranian engineer majid kakavand arrested in paris in march
and accused of breaking the us trade embargo on iran is awaiting court
decision next month on us application to extradite him
the engineer has been mentioned in the case of reiss although the iranian
ambassador in paris has denied wanting to swap the pair
iran arrested thousands of people during and after the opposition protests and
has put several hundred of them on trial on charges of either inciting or taking
part in the demonstrations
iranian leaders have repeatedly accused western powers especially the united
states and britain of seeking to overthrow the islamic regime by fomenting mass
protests in the aftermath of the election
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor martin bennitt
tel
top stories
haitians desperate for aid as us troops arrive
afghan lawmakers reject karzai cabinet nominees
french academic back in tehran court
haiti quake lead wrap
port au prince
desperate haitians cower in fear and cry out for food as armed looters roam the
streets of their ruined capital while us troops struggle to break an aid logjam
words gmt by stephane jourdain graphic picture video
afghanistan politics cabinet ndlead
kabul
afghan lawmakers turn down more than half of president hamid karzai second
list of cabinet nominees in second round of voting after rejecting most of
his first choices
words gmt by lynne donnell picture
iran france protest trial ndlead
tehran
french academic clotilde reiss lawyer expresses confidence she will be
acquitted after she appears in court in tehran on charges of acting against
iranian national security during anti government protests in june
words gmt by farhad pouladi file picture
haiti
haiti quake aid crime violence ndlead scene
port au prince
the crippled port of the haitian capital receives its first supply ship since
tuesday killer earthquake boat carrying bananas and coal that was greeted
with jubilation by desparate residents of the davastated city
words gmt by stephane jourdain picture
haiti quake refugee exodus
port au prince
thousands of port au prince residents flee the city saying they are tired of
sleeping in the streets afraid of being robbed by ruthless gangs or simply fear
new powerful aftershocks that might destroy buildings that still remain
standing
words gmt by beatriz lecumberry picture
haiti quake government
port au prince
working from police station close to the airport the haitian government tries
to provide some governance to the country whose main symbols of power have been
torn down by tuesday devastating earquake
words moved by clarens renois picture
haiti quake aid us military
aboard the uss carl vinson
helicopters sit ready to go from this us aircraft carrier off haiti but there
problem after day of frantic aid runs there is simply nothing left to
deliver
words moved by daphne benoit
europe
ukraine vote lead
kiev
pro russia politician viktor yanukovich is on course to sweep the first round of
ukraine presidential polls five years after vote rigging by his supporters
sparked the orange revolution
words gmt by stuart williams picture
middle east
attacks yemen wrap
sanaa
yemen confirms the deaths of six senior al qaeda figures in an air strike day
earlier while continuing its crackdown on the group by arresting three
suspected militants
words gmt by taieb mahjoub picture
egypt opposition islam ndlead
cairo
egypt main opposition movement the muslim brotherhood appoints conservative
mohammed badie as its new leader in move analysts say signals switch to less
active role in political life
words gmt by mona salem picture
americas
iran un nuclear diplomacy
new york
six major powers meet here saturday to mull how to respond to iran nuclear
defiance but china is sending lower level diplomat in signal of its
reluctance to back tougher sanctions pushed by the west
words moved by gerard aziakou
turkish movie makers focus on alleged israeli crimes
ankara jan afp
the scriptwriter of turkish television series that sparked diplomatic row
with israel said his team is working on movie to show more alleged israeli
crimes against humanity in remarks published saturday
the movie to be released in the second half of this year will focus on
palestinian suffering in the gaza strip and depict israel as it is with
bloody hands merciless flouting all human values bahadir ozdener told the
vatan newspaper
what we do is fiction but what about what they do their crimes against
humanity they are real he claimed
ozdener is the scriptwriter of valley of the wolves long running television
series about the adventures of turkish secret agent which took turkish viewers
by storm but is widely criticised for being chauvinistic and glamourising
violence
in the episode that angered israel the protagonist storms an israeli diplomatic
mission to rescue turkish boy kidnapped by the intelligence agency mossad
with one scene showing blood splaying over the star of david as he kills an
israeli agent
israel slammed the show for depicting israel and jews as baby snatchers and war
criminals but ozdener expressed no remorse
it is israel who must show remorse if they cannot see themselves in the
mirror we know how to hold the mirror to their face he said
diplomatic storm broke monday when israeli deputy foreign minister danny
ayalon summoned turkey ambassador oguz celikkol to protest the series
giving him public dressing down
as the unexpecting celikkol smiled ayalon turned to reporters and told them in
hebrew to pay attention that the envoy was made to sit on low couch and that
the turkish flag was removed from their table
bowing to pressure from furious ankara ayalon sent letter of apology to the
ambassador on wednesday cooling the row that had threatened to plunge the two
already estranged allies into serious crisis
celikkol returned to turkey saturday for preparations ahead of visit by
israeli defence minister ehud barak planned for sunday before the row erupted
he described monday incident as one that will go down in the books of
diplomatic history the anatolia news agency reported
the once flourishing turkish israeli ties took sharp downturn last year when
israel devastating war on gaza prompted an unprecedented barrage of criticism
from the islamist rooted government in ankara
obama defends banking fee
washington jan afp
us president barack obama on saturday defended fee he had proposed imposing on
the country largest financial firms saying his administration will not allow
wall street to take the money and run
those who oppose this fee say the banks can afford to pay back the american
people without passing on the costs to their shareholders and customers the
president said in his weekly radio address
but that hard to believe when there are reports that wall street is going to
hand out more money in bonuses and compensation just this year than the cost of
this fee over the next ten years he continued
if the big financial firms can afford massive bonuses they can afford to pay
back the american people
on thursday obama proposed new fee on risky assets of big financial
institutions saying it would help recoup the cost of massive bailout of the
sector than began in
the plan which requires congressional approval would raise billion dollars
over years and could be kept for years to offset the full billion
dollar shortfall now estimated for the so called tarp program
the fee will be assessed on the largest banks excluding community banks and
other tarp recipients such as automakers general motors and chrysler
but the banking industry said the proposal was aimed at the wrong parties and
could harm the economic recovery
obama said such reasoning was unacceptable to him and to the american people
we re not going to let wall street take the money and run he said we re
going to pass this fee into law and going to continue to work with
congress on common sense financial reforms to protect people and the economy
from the kind of costly and painful crisis we ve just been through
afghan lawmakers reject most of karzai cabinet picks
kabul jan afp
afghan lawmakers saturday rejected more than half of president hamid karzai
second list of cabinet nominees following an earlier rejection of most of his
first choices the speaker said
in vote aired live on state television the lower house voted against of
the picks and approved only seven for the second ever elected government of
afghanistan mohammad younus qanooni said
the ministers who were confirmed included karzai former national security
adviser zalmai rasoul who will be foreign minister and amina afzali as
minister of women affairs
on january lawmakers voted against of karzai original choices
delivering blow to his authority already undermined after he was declared
winner of an august election marred by massive fraud mostly in his favour
karzai presented other new appointees as his second choice and is yet to put
forward name for the ministry of water and power
members of afghanistan wolesi jirga the lower house many wearing turbans and
traditional salwar kameez spent this week grilling the new nominees men
and three women after being ordered by the president to cancel their winter
break to consider the list
those approved included ministers of justice foreign affairs religious
affairs economy rural development social affairs and counter narcotics
ministers for defence agriculture interior finance education culture and
mines and industries were approved in the first round of voting
karzai has to introduce new faces for approval to complete his cabinet
cricket de villiers rides luck as lead grows
johannesburg jan afp
ab de villiers survived two television reviews and an apparent umpiring mistake
as he and mark boucher stretched south africa lead on the third day of the
fourth and final test against england at the wanderers stadium on saturday
south africa were for five at lunch lead of
de villiers not out and boucher not out put on an unbeaten for the
sixth wicket after three wickets fell early in the day
only two runs had been added when overnight batsmen hashim amla and jacques
kallis were dismissed in successive overs to be followed by jp duminy
at that stage south africa were only runs ahead and with new ball due
within seven overs england appeared to have clawed their way back into the
match
just seven runs into his partnership with boucher de villiers on was given
out caught at backward short leg off graeme swann by umpire tony hill de
villiers immediately sought review and won reprieve from television umpire
daryl harper when replays showed the ball hit his forearm
when he had de villiers was again given out by hill this time leg before
wicket when he padded up against swann
again de villiers sought harper intervention and replays showed the ball was
missing the stumps the batsman was doubly fortunate because the ball spun back
from his pad and rolled against the stumps without disturbing the bails
england miseries with the review system continued when they squandered their
last remaining review on an attempt to win an lbw decision for swann against
boucher only for de villiers on to be given not out by umpire steve davis
when replays showed clearly the ball had gone off the inside edge of his bat
from bowler ryan sidebottom to wicketkeeper matt prior
it emerged that england had asked the international cricket council to reinstate
the review they had lost on friday when graeme smith survived early on the way
to century through what they believe was mistake by harper
but no response had been received in time to seek review of the de villiers
not out decision
cricket south africa england scoreboard at lunch
johannesburg jan afp
scores at lunch on the third day of the fourth test between south africa and
england at the wanderers stadium on saturday
england first innings
south africa first innings overnight
smith strauss sidebottom
prince swann broad
amla prior broad
kallis anderson sidebottom
de villiers not out
duminy collingwood swann
boucher not out
extras lb nb
total wkts overs
fall of wickets prince smith amla kallis
duminy
to bat mclaren steyn morkel parnell
bowling anderson nb sidebottom broad
swann collingwood
match position south africa lead by runs with five wickets remaining in the
first innings
toss england
umpires steve davis aus tony hill nzl
tv umpire daryl harper aus
match referee roshan mahanama sri
alpine skiing austria dealt blow with injuries to gruber scheiber
wengen switzerland jan afp
the austrian men alpine ski team have been dealt blow just four weeks away
from the vancouver winter olympic games with injuries to racers florian scheiber
and christoph gruber
scheiber suffered torn meniscus when he fell in the downhill run of
friday world cup super combined event and will undergo scan at an innsbruck
hospital on saturday
the year old gruber with five world cup victories to his name fell during
training on saturday morning ahead of the world cup downhill and was taken to
interlaken hospital by helicopter
austrian team officials were unwilling to comment on gruber condition until
further information was forthcoming
japan kingmaker vows to stay on as scandal widens
tokyo japan jan afp
ichiro ozawa the kingmaker of japan ruling coalition said saturday he had no
plans to quit over his alleged involvement in growing political funding
scandal and vowed to clear his name
prosecutors arrested ruling party lawmaker and two others all close to
ozawa on friday and saturday over alleged financial irregularities within his
political funding group which has already been raided by investigators
but ozawa secretary general of prime minister yukio hatoyama democratic party
of japan told its annual convention that he has never used any illegal funds
at all
am going to fulfil my given job with full force ozawa said as the audience
including state ministers and the party coalition partners applauded loudly
at conference hall in central tokyo
determined to fight decisively by standing in my belief said ozawa
adding that he planned to accuse prosecutors of abuse of power over the case
hatoyama backed ozawa telling the convention secretary general ozawa said he
has never done anything to violate regulations as president of the dpj
believe in ozawa
but analysts and local media said the scandal is dealing serious blow to
hatoyama whose support continued to slide following separate money scandal
involving the premier himself
the scandal is bringing considerable damage to the hatoyama administration
said takehiko yamamoto professor of politics at tokyo waseda university
the ruling coalition will be under fire in parliament which is scheduled to
convene on monday while his approval rating is likely to fall further ahead of
key national election in july yamamoto said
the asahi shimbun said in an editorial his political moral responsibility is
extremely grave people disappointment will get greater as there is no change
in money tainted politics despite the power change
on friday prosecutors arrested tomohiro ishikawa lower house member of
the dpj and former aide to ozawa over accounting irregularities at ozawa
political funding group rikuzankai
prosecutors also arrested mitsutomo ikeda who once served as an aide to ozawa
the men face charges over land purchase by rikuzankai using an unregistered
million yen million dollars
increasing pressure further on ozawa investigators arrested another of his
aides takanori okubo on saturday in connection with the scandal local media
reported
okubo is currently on trial over separate illegal donation allegation
involving the political funding group which collects and manages contributions
from individual supporters for ozawa
ozawa veteran backroom fixer nicknamed the shadow shogun stepped down as
the head of the dpj in may after okubo was indicted over the illegal donation
charge
but ozawa was credited with engineering the devastating poll defeat inflicted
last summer on the conservative liberal democratic party which had ruled japan
with only one interruption for more than five decades
egypt muslim brotherhood names conservative as new leader
cairo jan afp
egypt main opposition movement the muslim brotherhood has appointed mohammed
badie conservative figure as its new leader his predecessor announced on
saturday
badie veterinary professor at southern university was chosen by consensus
