pope benedict xvi was headed sunday for rome main synagogue for much
anticipated visit after angering many jews by moving his wartime predecessor
pius xii further on the road to sainthood
strong press corps will record benedict third visit to jewish house of
worship which comes barely four weeks after he revived controversy over pius
xii whom many jews accuse of inaction over the holocaust
the visit announced in october appeared at risk of being cancelled amid howls
of protest over the papal decree bestowing the title venerable on the nazi era
pope
the tension is in stark contrast to the warm welcome reserved for benedict
predecessor john paul ii who became the first modern pope to visit synagogue
the same imposing temple on rome river tiber in
high profile stayaway sunday is the president of italy assembly of rabbis
giuseppe laras who said benedict had weakened ties between catholics and
jews
israel ambassador to the holy see will attend but remarked that catholic
anti judaism still exists
adding fuel to the fire the head of the roman catholic church on friday urged
vatican doctrinal experts to speed rapprochement with catholic fraternity that
includes holocaust denying bishop richard williamson
renzo gattegna who heads the union of communities of italian jews said it
cannot be denied that some decisions taken by the current pope in led to
moments of tension and concern on the jewish side
gattegna listed the pius xii and williamson affairs as well as benedict
decision to rehabilitate the latin version of the catholic church good friday
mass which contains prayer for the conversion of the jews
cooler heads on both sides see the occasion as an important step along the way
to reconciliation between the two faiths process that began in the with
vatican ii
the year old german born pope said sunday during his weekly angelus prayer
despite the problems and difficulties there is climate of great respect and
dialogue between the two faiths
benedict stressed the belief in single god first of all but also the
protection of life and the family the wish for social justice and peace
the pope host rome chief rabbi riccardo di segni said last week that the
visit was sign that benedict wanted to continue the dialogue
the director of vatican newspaper osservatore romano asserted saturday that few
catholics had done as much as benedict xvi to bring christians and jews
together hailing the pope steps forward since vatican ii declaration
absolved jews of blame for jesus death
participants are to include the latin patriarch of jerusalem fouad twal the
apostolic nuncio to israel antonio franco and oded wiener secretary general
of the chief rabbinate of israel
rome jewish community the oldest in europe has some members
while pius xii was pope the nazis rounded up more than roman jews for
deportation on october only handful returned from the death camps
benedict is to place wreath before plaque commemorating this tragedy before
going into the synagogue
he will also stop before another inscription marking attack by
palestinian extremists that killed two year old child and wounded other
people
in speech benedict is expected to stress the common roots of the two faiths
as he did during his trip to israel in may
later he is to meet briefly with rabbi di segni before planting an olive tree to
mark his visit
just few weeks after young woman assaulted the pope in st peter basilica
on christmas eve yanking the pope to the floor but not harming him security
was tight ahead of sunday synagogue visit
the route benedict will take across the tiber from the vatican was to be
determined at the last minute
haiti most serious humanitarian crisis in decades ban
new york jan afp
un secretary general ban ki moon on sunday called the devastating quake in haiti
the most serious humanitarian crisis to face the world body in decades as he
left for port au prince
am going to haiti with very heavy heart to express solidarity and full
support of the un to the people of haiti ban told journalists accompanying him
on the day long trip to the disaster zone
the three priorities were to save as many people as possible to bring
emergency humanitarian aid in the form of water food and medication and to
coordinate the massive aid effort he said
tuesday magnitude quake in haiti has killed as many as people and
was also the worst ever disaster for the un with staffers confirmed dead and
nearly others still unaccounted for
we have to prepare for the worst ban said referring to un employees still
missing after the disaster that flattened much of the capital port au prince and
nearby towns in western haiti
senior fatah man asks to return to gaza for mother funeral
ramallah west bank jan afp
senior fatah leader mohammed dahlan who is despised by the islamist hamas
movement ruling gaza has asked to return to the territory for his mother
funeral an aide said sunday
dahlan asked that arab bodies and palestinian factions intervene with hamas to
allow him to go to the gaza strip to attend the funeral of his mother who
passed away this morning in khan yunis at the age of nearly the aide told
afp on condition of anonymity
hamas has accused dahlan of trying to overthrow the islamist led gaza
government elected in and of once trying to coordinate the assassination
of hamas prime minister ismail haniya
hamas indicated it would not oppose dahlan return
the government in gaza will look favorably on any demand it receives for dahlan
to make humanitarian visit to the gaza strip said interior ministry
spokesman ihab al ghussein
dahlan former minister of internal security and ex chief of gaza once
powerful security force has long been one of hamas harshest critics
leading figure of the rival fatah movement he led merciless crackdown on
hamas in the rounding up thousands of the islamists who refused to
recognise the legitimacy of the newly created palestinian authority
in june after week of bloody street battles hamas seized power in gaza
after driving out forces loyal to palestinian president and fatah leader mahmud
abbas
urgent haiti most serious humanitarian crisis in decades ban
new york jan afp
un secretary general ban ki moon on sunday called the devastating quake in haiti
the most serious humanitarian crisis to face the world body in decades as he
left for port au prince
ecclestone group still wants saab negotiator
stockholm jan afp
group led by formula one boss bernie ecclestone and luxembourg investment firm
genii capital is still in the running to acquire saab from gm the group
swedish frontman told afp sunday
amid media reports that dutch sports car maker spyker was the last bidder for
general motors loss making swedish unit businessman lars carlstroem said no
such information has been given to us we are going on with our process and
looking into things that we could eventually formalise better for gm
we are looking forward to dialogue with gm next week we don see any
obstacles or problems we haven had those kinds of indications at all
carlstroem added
he told afp on wednesday that his group made new offer showing the financial
strength of genii ecclestone but refused to disclose details of the offer
we are looking into possibility to discuss with gm an offer containing
larger amount of cash than what competing bidders have offered he said
sunday
carlstroem explained that the genii ecclestone offer would be larger than
others not in terms of the total amount of cash and preferred shares but in
terms of cash
saab which employs people in sweden is one of four major brands being
sold by gm as part of massive restructuring that began in and accelerated
last year when the largest us automaker went bankrupt
analysts have warned that some jobs could be lost with saab closure
spyker officials announced last week that gm is considering its last ditch bid
to save saab even though the american auto giant had said it had given up hope
of selling the swedish car firm
nordic skiing sweden falk claims sprint win
otepaa estonia jan afp
sweden anna falk claimed her second world cup victory on sunday here at the
women classic sprint in blanket finish
the year old who won the free style sprint in duesseldorf last december came
home first after holding off strong challenge from slovenia petra majdic and
finland aino kaisa saarinen
falk winning time was min sec while majdic who is tipped for medal at
next month winter olympics in vancouver finished just seconds behind in
second while saarinen was seconds back
poland justyna kowalczyk the overall world leader was eliminated in the
semi finals and leads from second placed majdic in the rankings
alpine skiing croatian kostelic wins wengen slalom
wengen switzerland jan afp
croatia ivica kostelic on sunday won the men world cup slalom race here
ahead of sweden andre myhrer and austrian reinfried herbst
the croat the world slalom champion clocked min sec for the two
runs sec ahead of myhrer with herbst at sec
nepal may deport arrested tibetans immigration department
kathmandu jan afp
ten tibetans arrested for illegally entering nepal may be deported an official
said sunday suggesting hardening of policy towards those fleeing across the
border from neighbouring china
hundreds of tibetans make the dangerous journey into the himalayan nation every
year on their way to india to meet exiled spiritual leader the dalai lama
nepal already home to around exiled tibetans has traditionally allowed
new arrivals to transit through the country but has recently come under
pressure from beijing to clamp down on demonstrations against china
the head of the government immigration department told afp he wanted to ensure
the tibetans would not be involved in anti china activities
we have started questioning the tibetans who snuck into nepal deporting them
could be an option we have not decided yet said madhav prasad regmi
we will first investigate the reasons for their illegal entry into nepal we
want to make sure that they will not be involved in anti china activities
chinese troops invaded tibet in and officially annexed the region year
later
tibetans began arriving in nepal in large numbers in when the dalai lama
fled after failed uprising
those who arrived before were given permission to stay and many have
integrated successfully
but in recent months the exiles say their lives have become increasingly
difficult as nepal reportedly under heavy pressure from beijing has sought
to restrict their activities
sandwiched between india and china nepal has upheld beijing one china
policy that views tibet as an integral part of china
last month nepali prime minister madhav kumar nepal assured his chinese
counterpart during an official visit to beijing that his government would not
allow the country to be used for anti china activities
the eight tibetan men and two women were arrested near the border on saturday
night and have been handed over to the immigration department for questioning
police told afp
pope lauds aid workers looking after haiti immense needs
vatican city jan afp
pope benedict xvi said sunday he was following and encouraging the efforts of
numerous charity organisations which are looking after the immense needs of
haiti following the devastating earthquake
our thoughts turn towards the dear population of haiti and we pray with
sadness the pope said during the angelus prayer from his vatican apartment
adding that he was constantly informed about the situation by his officials
so learned of the painful disappearance of the port au prince archbishop
along with so many priests and other religious workers he said adding that he
prayed for the injured the homeless and all those who tragically lost their
lives
the world health organisation has estimated that between to people
were killed in tuesday quake which also injured more than the haitian
government said
much of the haitian capital was destroyed by the quake including its roman
catholic cathedral
alert
haiti most serious humanitarian crisis in decades ban ki moon
in india gates to promote us ties with global power
washington jan afp
defense secretary robert gates heads to india this week to promote blossoming
strategic partnership with country that has strongly endorsed the us led
mission in afghanistan
defense officials said gates two day visit is part of an effort to cultivate
broad relationship with india country washington recognizes as an
increasingly powerful player on the international stage
we obviously view india as regional power and emerging global power
senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters
the key objectives for the trip are to emphasize the importance of this
bilateral relationship and the role defense relations play in advancing the
strategic partnership he said ahead of gates scheduled arrival on tuesday
the pentagon chief had planned initially to head to australia over the weekend
before flying to india but he cancelled that leg of his trip because of the
humanitarian crisis in quake hit haiti
the us military has launched major operation involving thousands of troops to
boost relief efforts in haiti after tuesday massive earthquake
in his visit to india gates was due to meet prime minister manmohan singh
foreign minister krishna and defense minister ak antony press secretary
geoff morrell said
washington has been grateful for india humanitarian aid and steadfast backing
for the war against taliban insurgents in afghanistan
in november president barack obama rolled out the red carpet for the indian
prime minister in the first full fledged official visit of his presidency
toasting india as an indispensable partner
after decades of mutual unease during the cold war ties with the united states
have steadily improved and defense ties have expanded since the attacks of
september including annual joint military exercises
top donor for afghanistan india has committed billion dollars since
and is building new parliament roads and wells for the country
india which endorsed obama decision last month to send reinforcements
wants to see the nato led war effort in afghanistan succeed as many of the
islamic militants who found haven in afghanistan also virulently oppose the
secular but hindu majority regional power
in his visit to washington in november singh signed joint statement promising
to enhance cooperation to counter extremists in afghanistan
india has not committed troops to afghanistan however as pakistan has
reportedly urged the united states to limit its arch foe presence there
pakistani army chief ashfaq kayani in november called india role in
afghanistan counterproductive in the war on terror
gates also will be discussing defense related trade in his visit after deal
in july between the two countries opened the way for the sale of sophisticated
us weaponry to india
morrell said gates was not travelling salesman and his trip was not about
trying to sell us defense hardware
but he said clearly trade will be high on the agenda
us aerospace giants lockheed martin and boeing have their eyes fixed on
lucrative fighter jet contract with india
india private sector defense firms are now allowed to have up to percent in
foreign investment singh said during his us visit last year
afghan cabinet vote delayed to late february officials
kabul jan afp
afghanistan parliament rose sunday for its winter recess forcing further
delay in finalising president hamid karzai cabinet until late next month
officials said
the parliament has approved of karzai nominees for cabinet portfolios
in two sessions of secret balloting
third list of nominees will be presented to parliamentarians after they return
from their winter vacation on february karzai spokesman waheed omar told
reporters
we ll introduce new members after they come back from their recess omar said
karzai expressed regret on saturday after parliament rejected out of
cabinet nominees in second attempt to finalise his government since he was
sworn in on november
earlier this month parliament voted down of the names originally
submitted though it approved nominees for those positions considered the most
important including ministers for the interior defence education agriculture
and finance
the confirmed ministers are due to be sworn in by karzai on monday omar said
parliamentarian shukria barakzai said members had voted to cut their winter
recess to days from the original because they must debate the national
budget as well as consider the new cabinet nominees when they return
karzai regarded as an astute politician appears to be using parliament to weed
out undesirables he felt obliged to reward for supporting him in the election
it weeding out process for karzai all the black sheep and the people with
no political stature are being thrown out and he can blame parliament said
western diplomat who asked not to be named
karzai lists had raised eyebrows for including names linked to warlords and
known human rights abusers who had offered their support during august fraud
tainted election but who have largely been rejected by parliament
after the first round of votes karzai ordered parliament to cancel its winter
recess to consider his second list
while the lack of complete cabinet delays the formation of fully functioning
government analysts and diplomats are satisfied that the administration can
function adequately with those who have been confirmed
sak lod sz njc
greece ready for more action on economic crisis minister
athens jan afp
the greek government will take any new measures needed to tackle the debt ridden
economy after submitting crisis plan to the european union the finance
minister said in an interview published sunday
if there is something lacking we will take additional measures george
papaconstantinou told the to vima newspaper
greece on friday submitted growth and stability programme to the european
commission detailing measures to bring the country out of its major financial
crisis
greece has public spending deficit that rose to percent of output last
year far above the percent ceiling for countries using the euro currency
it is also saddled with debt constituting percent of gross domestic
product which last month prompted the leading rating agencies to downgrade
greece credit standing
the socialist government which came to power in october on thursday unveiled
three year crisis blueprint to cut back public deficit of over billion
euros billion dollars and rein in government debt estimated to exceed
billion euros this year
the plan aims to save more than billion euros in with improved tax
collection cost cuts and reduced arms spending to bring the public deficit to
percent of output by
greece has suffered credibility problem over unreliable economic figures and
european finance ministers on tuesday are expected to tell athens to clean up
its accounting and improve the administration of key institutions according to
draft statement seen by afp
the markets are cautious and the climate is not positive papaconstantinou
told the newspaper adding that many countries have similar problems with their
public finances but none has suffered this huge lack of credibility like
greece
as new government our priority of re establishing reliability in our
statistics and outlining our growth and stability programme has helped create
new climate of hope but there is still work to do he said
spanish prime minister jose luis rodriguez zapatero whose country holds the
rotating eu presidency said that he had faith in greek prime minister george
papandreou government
we have to trust the new government they have put forward credible fiscal
consolidation plan me have faith in papandreou zapatero told the el pais
daily
he said that at the last european summit there was general feeling of support
for greece and that there was demanding but reasonable feeling of
solidarity among eurozone countries
spain economy has also been the target of criticism from rating agencies but
zapatero said that his country was continuing to borrow at reasonable interest
rates and had strong will to correct its deficit
the european commission is to respond by late january on greece crisis plan
which the greek finance ministry said it drafted with assistance from eu and
european central bank officials who visited athens earlier this month
genii ecclestone group still in the running for saab negotiator
stockholm jan afp
group comprised of formula one boss bernie ecclestone and luxembourg
investment firm genii capital is still in the running to acquire saab from gm
the group swedish frontman told afp sunday
no such information has been given to us we are going on with our process and
looking into things that we could eventually formalise better for gm swedish
businessman lars carlstroem said reacting to media reports that dutch sportscar
maker spyker was the only bidder remaining in the race to acquire gm loss
making swedish unit saab
we are looking forward to dialogue with gm next week we don see any
obstacles or problems we haven had those kinds of indications at all
carlstroem added
he had told afp on wednesday that his group made new offer showing the
financial strength of genii ecclestone but refused to disclose the details of
that offer
we are looking into possibility to discuss with gm an offer containing
larger amount of cash than what competing bidders have offered he said
sunday explaining the genii ecclestone offer would be larger than others not
in terms of the total amount of cash and preferred shares but in terms of
cash
saab which employs people in sweden is one of four storied brands being
shed by gm as part of massive restructuring effort that began in and
accelerated last year when the largest us automaker went bankrupt
analysts have warned that some jobs could be lost with saab closure
yemen security chief warns tribes against harbouring qaeda
sanaa jan afp
yemen chief of central security warned the country tribes on sunday that if
they harbour suspected members of al qaeda they could face dire consequences
general yahya saleh nephew of president ali abdullah saleh said we broadly
tell citizens in the concerned regions that they should not accept the presence
of al qaeda elements amongst them
if the tribes accept the presence of al qaeda despite the warnings that we put
out on television newspapers and radio then they are doing it with the full
knowledge of the facts they have been warned he told afp
saleh did not say what consequences might result but on december and
yemeni planes carried out raids against suspected sites of al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula aqap not only were suspected militants killed but also
dozens of tribal civilians living in the vicinity
if some tribes aid or protect al qaeda it is usually because some members of
the tribe are part of the network or because terrorist has married woman
from the tribe or because they have been paid by al qaeda he added
yemen is not afghanistan nor pakistan where the jihad holy war ideology is
strong here the tribes are always on the side of the one who pays according
to their interests they could sell al qaeda men from one day to next
saleh whose job includes overseeing yemen anti terrorism unit is not in
favour of forming tribal anti qaeda militia along the lines of the american
backed sunni awakening front in iraq which was created to fight al qaeda
saleh described such measure as very dangerous
if you do so the tribes would hand us presumed al qaeda militants in hundreds
just for money it would be very easy but hardly efficient
the government has been tightening the screw on al qaeda militants mainly after
aqap claimed responsibility for the failed bomb attack on us airliner on
christmas day
britain is organising conference on yemen to be held on january and which
many in the country fear might set the stage for foreign intervention sanaa is
attempting to prove that it is cable of tackling the militants without foreign
forces
cricket ordinary bangladesh dent india batting pride
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
shakib al hasan and shahadat hossain shared eight wickets to spark india
collapse in the first test against bangladesh here on sunday
left arm spinner shakib took and paceman shahadat as world number one
india struggled to reach when the opening day play was called off nearly
minutes before scheduled close due to bad light
double world record holder sachin tendulkar not out and stand in captain
virender sehwag were the only batsmen to give good account of themselves
in dismal batting performance
the others failed to cope with disciplined pace spin combination just day
after sehwag had described bangladesh as an ordinary side
don think at any point anyone discussed about this said captain shakib
referring to sehwag comments
our main target was to bowl correct line and length although we missed
couple of catches we bowled really well against very good batting line up as
said they can always make mistakes if we bowl in the right areas
bangladesh had chance to dismiss tendulkar on but imrul kayes dropped
catch at first slip off debutant paceman shaiful islam
tendulkar also became the first batsman to complete test runs during
his ball knock achieving the feat when he pulled off spinner mohammad
mahmudullah for four in the second session
he has so far made runs in tests he is also the world leading
scorer in one day internationals and holds the records for maximum
number of centuries in both tests and one dayers
in the current test tendulkar has so far hit one six and six fours
the wicket had lot of moisture and bangladesh exploited the conditions quite
well said tendulkar
we just needed to hang around and get partnerships which did not happen but
the game is not over yet there is still long way to go
india were comfortably placed at for no loss before losing their way in the
second session which saw the visitors lose six wickets for runs
india batting woes began with the dismissal of sehwag who uppishly drove
shakib to tamim iqbal at short cover after hitting nine fours in brisk ball
knock for his th test half century
sehwag unbeaten on at lunch completed his half century immediately after
the interval when he hammered shahadat for three fours in an over
left handed gautam gambhir fell to loose shot at the same total of
chasing an away going delivery from shahadat to be caught behind
the bangladeshi paceman struck again when he removed rahul dravid four who
was bowled while attempting to work the ball on the on side
shakib got his second wicket when he had venkatsai laxman seven stumped by
mushfiqur rahim who broke the stumps when the batsman lost balance after
inside edging delivery on to his pads
yuvraj singh also didn last long hitting shakib full toss straight to rubel
hossain at mid on after contributing just
dinesh karthik fell for duck caught by diving raqibul hasan at gully off
shahadat
india lost two more wickets in the last session with shahadat removing amit
mishra and shakib accounting for zaheer khan
shakib put india in to bat in overcast conditions after the match started
minutes late due to fog but his fast bowlers failed to strike in the opening
hour
india earlier suffered double blow when regular captain mahendra singh dhoni
back spasms and off spinner harbhajan singh stiff neck were ruled out of the
match they were replaced by karthik and leg spinner mishra
earthquake hits off argentina coast
washington jan afp
strong magnitude earthquake hit an area in the atlantic ocean off the
coast of argentina sunday but there was no immediate word of casualties or
damage the us goverment reported
the epicenter of the tremor which struck at am gmt was located in
the drake passage kilometers miles south southeast of ushuaia
argentina according to the us geological survey
the reading was based on the open ended moment magnitude scale now used by us
seismologists which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total
energy released
iran ex prosecutor rejects blame for post poll prison abuse
tehran jan afp
hardline former tehran prosecutor saeed mortazavi dismissed charges he was to
blame for sending post election protestors to notorious jail where some youths
died in report on sunday
mortazavi told fars news agency he could not have ordered the detention of
protestors in kahrizak prison as he was on leave during the main period it
happened but defended his judges decision to do so
last week parliamentary fact finding committee probing unrest after disputed
june presidential polls held mortazavi responsible for keeping the protesters
arrested on july in the prison under difficult conditions
the mps report said the detainees were beaten and humiliated by their jailors
and highlighted the death of three young protesters from injuries inflicted
while being held
mortazavi who hunted down scores of dissidents and journalists during his six
years in office complained that publicising the charges would only serve to
create friction in the minds of the public and pollute the media atmosphere
those people on july caused rioting with daggers and knives and openly
disturbed order therefore they were mostly real thugs and sending them to
kahrizak was appropriate mortazavi said
the prison south of tehran was ordered shut by iran supreme leader ayatollah
ali khamenei in late july after reports about the abuse of detainees
mortazavi was sacked from his post as tehran prosecutor in late august and
given largely bureaucratic position as one of the deputies of the new tehran
prosecutor general
the unrest was triggered by president mahmoud ahmadinejad re election in the
june vote which the opposition charged was massively rigged
hundreds of protestors have been arrested in protests and sporadic
demonstrations ever since
the authorities said people were killed in the protests but the opposition
claimed were killed and that some protesters were raped in custody
bobsleigh world cup results
st moritz switzerland jan afp
bobsleigh world cup results here on sunday
germany
germany at
russia
