young canadian man was sentenced on monday to years in prison for his role
in foiled bomb plot by islamic extremists aimed at provoking canadian
withdrawal from afghanistan
saad gaya had pleaded guilty to the terrorism charges in september
he is one of alleged plotters arrested during police sting operation in
and charged with participating in terrorist group and attempting to
cause an explosion
specifically the group aimed to acquire explosive substances and cause an
explosion or explosions for religiously inspired political purposes said court
documents
they allegedly sought to purchase three tonnes of the bomb making ingredient
ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers to target the toronto stock
exchange canada spy agency headquarters and military base
gaya motivation was to pressure canada into withdrawing troops from
afghanistan the religious aspect being to protect muslim country from
attack said prosecutors
his lawyer paul slansky told reporters terrorism is terrible and heinous
crime but not everyone that commits heinous and evil crime is themselves evil
do believe that he was misguided youth who made some seriously erroneous
mistakes in deciding to trust these people who were themselves misguided he
added
gaya was sentenced under canada anti terrorism act
afptv agenda
paris jan afp
we plan to file the following videos on tuesday please consult the daily
advisory for additions and amendments
haiti week after the earth shook
port au prince
week after haiti was struck by devastating earthquake killing thousands we
provide the latest news coverage as the relief operation unfolds
the debate over being french
aubervilliers france
president nicolas sarkozy government is staging major public consultation on
france national identity move some have attacked as pandering to the far
right afptv goes to meet men and women from the multiracial paris suburbs to
see how they feel about the debate and what it means to them to be french
voiced report
anti doping lab gears up for winter games
montreal canada
olympic chief jacques rogge has warned that doping cheats will be rooted out
at next month winter games in vancouver promising that doping problems
would not spoil the sporting occasion afptv visited the team of technicians who
will be processing thousands of samples during the games on the lookout for
banned substances voiced report
visit to drug lord mansion
mexico city
mexican law enforcement has been leading relentless campaign against drug
lords rounding up suspects in their homes they have come across an eye popping
display of wealth villas full of the latest luxuries including swimming pools
and private zoos voiced report
the middle east conflict plays out in tiny village
ghajar israel lebanon
ghajar is divided village in the united nations marked the southern
part of the village as an israeli territory and the northern part as lebanese
but since the war israel has taken over the northern area as well the un
calls the occupation illegal and local residents are protesting the israeli
presence
as part of our african nations cup coverage we plan to file the following
face off between benin and egypt
cotonou
as benin and egypt prepare to battle it out on the field wednesday look at
the big hopes the people of benin have for their football team
stitching with style at lesage
paris
when they need opulent embroidery haute couture designers go to lesage visit
to the embroidery giant workshops ahead of haute couture week voiced report
religious fervor in ukraine chilly waters
kiev
on the january orthodox christianity celebrates epiphany as every year
hundreds of pilgrims across ukraine will be bathing in rivers and glacial lakes
symbol christ baptism in the river jordan only colder voiced report
football porto sign micael as replacement for lucho
lisbon jan afp
portuguese giants porto signed midfielder ruben micael on four year contract
from first division rivals nacional madeira on monday
porto hope the year old who cost three million euros will prove to be
long term replacement for argentine playmaker lucho gonzalez who left last
summer for french side marseille
porto are currently third in the title race six points adrift of braga and
benfica they face english outfit arsenal in the champions league round of
with the first leg to take place on february
canada eu head into round two of trade talks
ottawa jan afp
canadian and european union representatives are to meet this week in brussels
for second round of free trade negotiations canada top trade official said
monday
our government is pursuing an ambitious trade agenda and negotiating an
economic agreement with the eu is priority trade minister stockwell day said
in statement
the european union is already canada second largest trade and investment
partner
canadian exports to the eu reached nearly billion canadian dollars
billion euros billion us in the first three quarters of while
imports of goods and services from the eu were close to billion dollars
billion euro billion us
broadening canada eu trade ties could boost two way trade by as much as
billion canadian dollars billion euro billion us according to joint
economic study
first round of talks was held in october day said significant progress
had been made in areas such as goods and services government procurement
regulatory cooperation and dispute settlement
free trade pact could further benefit canada aerospace chemicals aluminum
wood products fish and seafood automotive vehicles and parts agricultural
products transportation engineering and computer services sectors among
others
there is no doubt that such an agreement represents tremendous opportunities
for canadian companies looking at expanding their activities in the european
market day said
after this round of talks in brussels the next one is scheduled for the week of
april in ottawa additional rounds are planned for later in
albania prepares to issue eurobonds finance ministry
tirana jan afp
albania said monday it was preparing to issue eurobonds worth more than
million euros million dollars aimed at repaying foreign debts and covering
budget deficit
albanian government has announced the start of selection process to choose the
lead manager to handle the selling of three or five year international bonds
the finance ministry said in statement
this is the first albanian operation of this kind at international markets the
ministry spokesman elvi fundo told afp
two thirds of the loan some million euros will be used for refinancing
debts the balkans country has towards several foreign banks the spokesman said
the remaining million euros should be used to cover budget deficit fundo
said
un climate report scientist warned glacier forecast was wrong
paris jan afp
top scientist said monday he had warned in that prediction of
catastrophic loss of himalayan glaciers published months later by the un
nobel winning climate panel was badly wrong
the intergovernmental panel on climate change ipcc report said in it was
very likely that the glaciers which supply water to more than billion
people across asia would vanish by if global warming trends continued
this number is not just little bit wrong but far out of any order of
magnitude said georg kaser an expert in tropical glaciology at the university
of innsbruck in austria
it is so wrong that it is not even worth discussing he told afp in an
interview
the triple volume fourth assessment report is the scientific touchstone for
political action on climate change
destruction of himalayan glaciers by was questioned in report by
britain sunday times which said the reference derived from news article
published in and had failed to be scrutinised by the ipcc
kaser suggested the initial error originated from misreading of russian
study or from findings on handful of glaciers that were mistakenly extended to
apply to the whole region
in either case he suggested the fact that it found its way into the report
underpinning global climate negotiations signalled the need for reform of the
way the ipcc collects and reviews data
the review community has entirely failed in this instance he said
kaser was lead author in working group of the ipcc report which dealt with
the physical science of climate change
its conclusions that climate change is unequivocal and poses major threat
remain beyond reproach he said
the prediction for the himalayan glaciers was contained in the separately
published working group ii report which assessed likely impacts of climate
change
more specifically the chapter focussed on an assessment of asia authored by
scientists from the region
this is source of lot of misunderstandings misconceptions or failures
kaser said noting that some regions lacked broad spectrum of expertise
it is kind of amateurism from the regional chapter lead authors they may
have been good hydrologists or botanists but they were without any knowledge in
glaciology
kaser said some of the scientists from other regional groups took heed of
suggestions and made corrections ahead of final publication in april
but the asia group did not pointed it out he said of the implausible
prediction on the glaciers
for reason do not know they did not react
but blame did not rest with the regional scientists alone kaser added
went back through the comments afterward and not single glaciologist had
any interest in looking into working group ii he said
the head of the un climate panel rajendra pachauri told afp his organisation
would look into the matter
he has already vowed to probe the so called climategate affair involving hacked
email exchanges among ipcc scientists that skeptics say points to bias
the ipcc fifth assessment scheduled for release in will probably be
adjusted to avoid such problems said kaser
all the responsible people are aware of this weakness in the fourth assessment
all are aware of the mistakes made he said
if it had not been the focus of so much public opinion we would have said we
will do better next time it is clear now that working group ii has to be
restructured he said
there will still be regional chapters but the review process will be modified
he added
cracks emerge in eurozone over greek promises
brussels jan afp
cracks began to appear monday between eurozone finance ministers over greek
promises to deal with ballooning debts that markets fear are doing long term
damage to the common currency
while politically peers are obliged to trust their counterparts in athens
markets are moving in the opposite direction with the cost of borrowing money
skyrocketing for greece and the value of the euro slipping against the dollar
can understand why the markets aren convinced yet said dutch finance
minister wouter bos as he arrived in brussels for talks among the euro area
countries centred on the reliability of greek statistical reporting
we should enable the greeks to show the markets that they know what they re
doing that they re consistent in what they re trying to achieve
that it not just going to be beautiful words but actually they are going to
take action
we all understand how tough it going to be
bos said that greece ireland spain and portugal also carrying heavy deficits
and debts should each be encouraged to show that they are aware of their own
responsibilities to get their finances in order
they may get some help from international organisations to bring their
statistics into order again and to make them reliable for future use he said
but the core of what needs to be done needs to be done by themselves
analysts have speculated that greece might need european union or
international monetary fund bailout and some have even suggested that the
country could end up being excluded from the eurozone
german counterpart wolfgang schauble was also firm in his pronouncements days
after his chancellor angela merkel expressed dire concern over the fate of the
euro over the coming years
we have new government in greece and it has to fulfill difficult tasks
schauble told reporters it must meet its obligations
ministers from the european union nations are set to slam greece on tuesday
over unreliable economic reporting
the markets are cautious and the climate is not positive greek finance
minister george papaconstantinou was quoted as saying on sunday adding that
many countries have similar problems with their public finances but none has
suffered this huge lack of credibility
the european commission is to respond by late january on greece latest crisis
plan
football meaningless win for mali as they go out with malawi
cabinda angola jan afp
mali scored twice within three minutes of the kick off en route to an ultimately
meaningless victory over malawi in an africa cup of nations group match on
monday
hosts angola topped the mini league after goalless luanda draw with algeria
who finished level on four points with mali but reached the quarter finals
becuase of superior head to head record
frederic kanoute and seydou keita were the early scorers for the eagles and
mamadou bagayoko wrapped up the three points after russell mwafulirwa had
reduced arrears during the second half
kanoute was distraught at getting knocked out despite these three points in
what is his last appearance in the competition
can find the words to describe how upset am said sevilla africa
footballer of the year who was the first non africa born player to win the
award
it really hurts me that after we were knocked out in we really wanted to
do well here
for my last appearance in this competition wanted to go as far as possible
mali lacked mamamadou diarra of real madrid and fellow midfielder bakary soumare
through suspension and made four changes from the team beaten by algeria
last wednesday
the opening goal came gift wrapped from long serving malawi goalkeeper swadick
sanudi one of numerous flames who earn their living performing in the south
african second division
he was far too casual in clearing james sangala back pass and an alert kanoute
volleyed the ball with his right foot into the far corner of the net
egyptian ayman mansour holds the record for the fastest nations cup goal
scoring seconds into group match against gabon at the tournament
hosted by tunisia
malawi were still reeling from the shock of conceding the quickest goal in this
nations cup when they found themselves two goals behind seconds after the
mauritian referee had signalled play to begin
if sanudi must shoulder most of the blame for the first goal he was faultless
for the second as barcelona midfielder seydou keita snatched his third goal of
the tournament
mali were awarded free kick outside and slightly right of the penalty area and
up stepped the midfielder to hammer the ball through gap in the defensive wall
and into the roof of the net
midfielder james kamwendo the sole south africa based malawian playing for
first division club turned his back to keita and jumped as the kick was taken
possibly obstructing the view of his goalkeeper
free kicks were proving problem for sanudi and his chin blocked lassana fane
effort minutes into first half that ended with mali still two goals ahead
russell mwafulirwa the giant striker who missed the loss to angola through
injury pulled one back on minutes by slamming loose ball into the net
after wild goalmouth scramble saw malawi come close three times
the same player should have equalised with minutes left as he lurked unmarked
at the far post when corner floated across but his downward header bounced
off the surface and flew over the crossbar
bagayoko put the result beyond doubt with late header before goalkeeper and
stand in captain mamamadou sidibe made point blank save to rob malawi of
second goal
us citizen dies in haiti incident us military
port au prince jan afp
an american citizen died and three others were treated for minor injuries monday
amid massive international relief operation military spokesman said
navy captain john kirby spokesman for the joint chiefs told afp an american
died but said the circumstances were unknown three others were treated for
minor injuries
another us military official who asked not to be identified said the three
were among group of six to american civilians being processed for
evacuation due to heat stroke or dehydration
earlier us officials confirmed cnn report that up to americans had been
hurt in mass casualty event but military officials later said there was no
mass casualty event
there were six to american civilians being processed for evacuation due to
heat stroke and dehydration the official told afp three were treated for
minor medical injury
the aircraft carrier uss vinson had gone on alert in preparation to receive
casualties but the ship executive officer commander putnam browne later
told afp the vinson had been ordered to stand down
for now nobody is expected to come aboard the ship he told afp
austrian university recalls diploma for holocaust gassing denier
vienna jan afp
leading austrian university announced monday it had withdrawn honorary
diploma awarded to an engineer who had questioned the gassing of jews in nazi
death camps
the vienna university of technology said in statement it had cancelled the
diploma it had given in december to walter luftl who graduated as an engineer
years ago
it said luftl had massively harmed his profession and the university with his
theory published in the early that it was not technically possible to
exterminate jews with gas including because of the type of gas that was used
luftl golden diploma was strongly criticised notably by group representing
people sent to the nazi austrian death camp at mauthausen
it prompted university rector peter skalicky to task commission with
ascertaining if the engineer merited the award which is the university offers
to notable graduates years after they finish their studies
skalicky said in the statement it had been negligent to choose to honour luftl
former president of the austrian chamber of engineers
the mauthausen committee that represents deportees welcomed the university
decision as correct and important and sign that the institution was ready
to recognise its mistakes
syria says iraq not helping its refugees enough
damascus jan afp
syrian deputy foreign minister fayssal mekdad accused iraq on monday of failing
to provide financial aid to iraqi refugees living in syria since the us led
invasion of their country
ever since the iraqi refugees began arriving in syria in the iraqi
government despite having the means only gave million dollars to help its
citizens in syria mekdad said
this is small sum in comparison with the number of iraqi refugees who number
more than million in syria and with the enormous capacity of the iraqi
government he told conference organised by the un refugee agency
mekdad called for the creation of better conditions to allow the refugees to
return home saying this would be the best solution for the displaced
the refugees were displaced temporarily and this was the result of the american
occupation of iraq he added
mekdad also urged the international community to step up efforts to help the
refugees
millions of iraqis have fled their country since the us led invasion most of
them seeking refuge in neighbouring syria and jordan
the united nations says around million sought refuge in syria and around
half million in jordan
football angola algeria into nations cup quarters
luanda jan afp
angola and algeria became the latest teams to qualify for the africa cup of
nations quarter finals after draw here on monday
the split result suited both teams perfectly with angola going through as group
winners on five points and algeria as runners up on four points
mali who beat malawi in the simultaneous game up in cabinda were also on
four points but missed out on the head to head performance with algeria
angola now progress to face the runners up of group either ivory coast
ghana or burkina faso in their luanda fortress on sunday with algeria taking
on the group winners in cabinda the same day
angola coach manuel jose reflected we were nervous in the first half and had
great chance but couldn score
then we heard at half time that mali were leading in cabinda so in the second
half we tried to minimise the risk of defeat it wasn good for the fans but we
had to avoid risks our main objective was to qualify
he said the absence of key players flavio and dede and the suspended stelvio had
had major bearing on the game
the return of players like flavio will be fundamental to us our task now is to
get them back for the quarter final
asked which of the group teams he would most like to face the portuguese
added the coach of burkina faso is former player of mine the team doctor is
great friend of mine but friendship aside don prefer one team or
another
algeria coach rabah saadane said his world cup qualifiers had done well in
difficult conditions
the temperature was very high with lot of humidity so the conditions weren
favourable to us
we were at risk in the first half but after the break we improved our defence
and we achieved the essential to qualify
traffic snarl up outside meant the game started with the november stadium
only half full the crowd including the algerian supporters all ten of them
and angola number one fan president jose eduardo dos santos
jose made two changes from the xi that saw off malawi with jamuana starting
for suspended stelvio and zekalanga coming in for injured star striker flavio
scorer of three of angola six goals up to monday
algeria had only one alteration from the side that beat mali with blackpool
attacker hamer bouazza taking the place of strasbourg midfielder yassine
bezzazz
algeria were at the hosts heels from kick off desperate to avoid the ignominy
of first round exit with south africa looming
after an open first quarter angola were looking dangerous on the attack with
mabina for one testing desert foxes keeper faouzi chaouchi in the th minute
on the half hour chaouchi could only punch away manucho centre cum shot as the
evenly balanced first half continued at breathless pace
angola had their best chance two minutes from the break when zekalanga slid the
ball over to djalma waiting in the box only for his close range shot to lack the
necessary ooomph to cause chaouchi much concern
minutes after the restart zuela was stretchered off after suffering an injury in
his successful bid to stop karim matmour connecting with potentially damaging
cross from the left
defender dias caires entered the fray in his place
jose sent on the hugely popular job for zekelanga and saadane introduced lazio
striker mourad meghni for bouazza
the by now capacity crowd was desperate for goal from their men in red
and black but the punch had gone out of the game with the draw suiting them and
the champions from north africa just fine
juncker doyen of european leaders back at eurogroup helm
brussels jan afp
luxembourg prime minister jean claude juncker wanted the big ceremonial job of
europe first full time president the chance to go toe to toe with barack
obama in global summits
he had to content himself with being granted on monday fresh month mandate
as eurogroup head where he will help guide the countries that share the euro
out of debilitating debt crisis
that job may prove the more challenging task not least because plugging
greek debt abyss will be just one of his challenges
the year old described himself as mediator of compromise when pitching
for the plum brussels post landed by belgium herman van rompuy late last year
he will need those qualities while trying to eke out agreement on economic
policy lines with twin track europe now wrestling with how to kickstart
twin track inner eurozone after recession laid bare huge imbalances among member
states economies
but juncker additionally his country treasury minister also faces growing
pressure from european union peers to relax luxembourg banking secrecy laws as
the bloc tries to recover every last penny of lost tax revenue following vast
crisis overspends
luxembourg does of course have proud european record it was one of the
founding states of the european economic community eec in and also hosts
the european courts and auditors
the inveterate smoker first entered government as fresh faced year old
lawyer in member of the conservative christian social people party
since then he has stuck with the party and the party has remained in power
he entered government as employment minister in and took up the finance
portfolio five years later post he only relinquished last year
in january juncker was propelled to the premiership where he has remained
ever since
he shares his party strongly pro eu stance considering the interests of his
country to be inextricably linked to peaceful europe forged by conflict such
as the battle of the bulge fought in the french belgian luxembourg
border region
his father was forcibly recruited by the wermacht in world war ii and juncker
born in is firm believer that nothing european should be foreign to
us
he has said if our generation does not succeed in making european integration
irreversible who can say that in or years another hitler or another
stalin couldn come to power
over the years mr good offices has earned reputation for untying some
gordian european knots
in he proposed the british opt out from the euro which allowed the eu
maastricht treaty to be agreed
the diplomatic mask has dropped occasionally though never the pro european
stance
in he accused then british pm tony blair of trying to reduce the bloc to
little more than free trade zone
have better friendships with others than the british prime minister he
remarked drily
no fan of diplobabble juncker is master of the ironic bon mot
amid an impasse in negotiations on the eu doomed constitutional project he
declared the more europe expands the more people become narrow minded
once firm friend of paris and berlin under previous leaderships and regularly
used as friendly mediator between them juncker has had his run ins with the
two capitals
main bone of contention was the decision last year by the organization for
economic cooperation and development oecd to put luxembourg on grey list
of countries considered not to be fully implementing international tax
standards
the list was made public at meeting of countries in london after germany
and france lobbied strongly for crackdown on tax havens
luxembourg was later removed from the list after signing agreements to exchange
information
france and others also criticised him for being too slow and passive as
eurogroup head as the financial crisis that first hit home in unfolded
urgent us citizen dies in haiti incident us military
port au prince jan afp
an american citizen died and three others were treated for minor injuries monday
in an incident that occurrred amid massive international relief operation
military spokesman said
surrounded by thieves father digs for precious us visa
port au prince jan afp
in the ruins of his destroyed home the street around him filled with looters
desperate father dug through rubble monday for the us visa he said was the only
chance for his family rescue
hoping for miracle evoiel cormeille shoveled the heavy debris in despair
telling afp he was digging for the suitcase holding his wife passport and
precious visa
nearby gangs of roaming looters scrambled to steal anything they can find
sneakers tissues music stereos are all up for grabs
shots rang out close by in this poor neighborhood in downtown port au prince
destroyed by the massive magnitude earthquake last week while no police or
foreign soldiers were anywhere to be seen
if it is lost it over cormeille cried looked over by his teenage daughter
odette and son philippe
cormeille was convinced the visa held the key to his family escape from the
flattened rotting city to waiting relatives in florida
in the downtown commercial center of the haitian capital residents set fire to
growing garbage piles to burn the putrid corpses still lying on street corners
in the sweltering tropical sun as looters pillaged all around
young man and woman stopped to also dig in the rubble of cormeille leveled
home unearthing box of shampoo cosmetics and hair products
that for us that ours wailed cormeille but the couple ran away
the desperate father increasingly weary as the day rolled on resumed his
despairing dig for the documents he prayed could save them
alert
one american dead three injured in haiti incident us military
in new row un climate body to probe himalayan glacier forecast
paris jan afp
the un panel of climate scientists said on monday it would probe claims its
doomsday prediction for the disappearance of himalayan glaciers was wrong as an
expert said he had warned of the mistake
the nobel winning intergovernmental panel on climate change ipcc is already
under attack over hacked email exchanges which skeptics say reflected attempts
to skew the evidence for global warming
