peter square on may and fired on the pope driving by in an open
vehicle
john paul ii was seriously wounded in the abdomen and agca spent the next
years in italian prisons
the motive behind the attack remains mystery
true to style agca who claims to be second messiah and is widely believed
to be mentally unstable released through his lawyers statement to
proclaim the apocalypse
all the world will be destroyed in this century every human being will die in
this century he wrote
the gospel is full of mistakes will write the perfect gospel he added
signing the paper as the christ eternal mehmet ali agca
memorable picture of the gunman shaking hands with john paul ii was attached
to the statement
the late polish pontiff had visited agca in his italian jail in and forgave
him for the assassination attempt
later he wrote in his book memory and identity he was convinced that the plot
was planned and commissioned and that agca was mere puppet
agca has claimed the attack was part of divine plan frequently changing his
story and forcing investigators to open dozens of inquiries
charges that the soviet union and then communist bulgaria were behind the
assassination attempt were never proved
one of agca lawyers said outside the gata military hospital monday that he was
being examined at the psychiatric clinic
do not think he will be doing military service melahat uzunoglu said
in agca was already declared unfit for military service obligatory for
turkish men due to advanced anti social personality disorder when he
underwent check up during short lived release
but his lawyers said he was still considered draft dodger because the medical
report had not been approved by the military authorities
agca was released in january but re arrested after eight days when court
ruled that reductions to his jail term under amnesty laws and penal code
amendments had been miscalculated
extradited to turkey in after italy pardoned him agca was convicted of the
murder of prominent journalist abdi ipekci two armed robberies and escaping
from prison crimes all dating back to the
in rambling letters from prison he has fed suggestions he is mentally
disturbed asking also to team up with best selling writer dan brown for novel
called the vatican code and volunteering to go to afghanistan to kill al
qaeda leader osama bin laden
others however believe he is sly operator playing the fool
more than foreign publishers and movie makers have offered to buy agca
story in the hope he may finally shed light on his attempt on the pope lawyers
said
agca also wants to go to the vatican to visit the tomb of john paul ii who died
in and meet his successor pope benedict xvi they said
afghan capital kabul under siege
kabul jan afp
taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked buildings across the heart of kabul
on monday killing at least five people and triggering fierce gun battles with
security forces
the afghan capital has been increasingly the scene of insurgent violence having
been relatively spared until the attacks which have marred the south and
the east of the country
some of the worst attacks by insurgents in the afghan capital
december at least eight killed and injured in suicide attack
near hotel lodging foreign nationals in central kabul
october at least eight people including at least five foreign
employees of the united nations and two police officers are killed in an attack
claimed by the taliban
february three almost simultaneous attacks by taliban suicide
bombers against official buildings in kabul kill at least and injure
july over deaths in car bomb attack on the indian embassy
building in kabul five indians are among the dead two of them senior
diplomats
the taliban deny involvement while the afghan government accuses the
intelligence service of pakistan india bitter regional rival of involvement
year later on october suicide car bomb explodes near the indian
embassy killing and injuring people
april afghan president hamid karzai escapes unharmed after militants
attack high profile military parade with rockets and gunfire killing three
people including an mp and wounding around
january taliban suicide attacker leaves eight dead at the serena
kabul most luxurious hotel
september taliban suicide bomb wrecks military bus killing
people
june suicide bombing on police bus kills people
september suicide attack targeting the afghan interior ministry and
claimed by the taliban kills and wounds around
september two soldiers and civilians killed in suicide attack
near the us embassy claimed by the taliban
urgent uae energy minister says oil prices very reasonable
abu dhabi jan afp
united arab emirates energy minister mohammad bin dhaen al hamli said on monday
that world oil prices are very reasonable
france to give mln euros emergency aid to haiti fm
paris jan afp
france will release million euros in emergency funds for quake struck haiti
in response to united nations appeal foreign minister bernard kouchner said
monday
france has decided to respond to the urgent appeal for haiti launched by the
united nations on january by giving contribution of million euros
million dollars kouchner said in statement
the united nations on friday appealed for total of million dollars from
the world community to help victims of the earthquake that devastated haiti and
may have killed more than people
un humanitarian chief john holmes launched the flash appeal saying the funds
would be used to help three million haitians badly affected by the january
quake
france and its partners must do everything in their power to rebuild this
island nation and help restore its strength and energy kouchner wrote in
commentary published in the washington post at the weekend
with international aid trickling in as desperate survivors fight over food and
water kouchner warned that the sad truth is that when everything has been
destroyed anything becomes possible
the latest aid announcement was on top of the two million euros france released
on friday
about dozen french relief organisations such as medecins sans frontieres
doctors without borders that have launched public appeals for donations have
raised million euros according to tally by afp
french president nicolas sarkozy last week called for an international
conference on rebuilding haiti and said he would work with the united states
canada and brazil to organise the donors meeting
the magnitude quake was the strongest to hit haiti in more than century
prh cml boc
tennis australian open results day one th update
melbourne jan afp
results from day one of the australian open at melbourne park here monday
denotes seeding
men singles
st round
ivan ljubicic cro bt jason kubler aus
fernando gonzalez chi bt olivier rochus bel
florian mayer ger bt philipp petzschner ger
andy roddick usa bt thiemo de bakker ned
andy murray gbr bt kevin anderson rsa
wayne odesnik usa bt blaz kavcic slo
ivo karlovic cro bt radek stepanek cze
juan martin del potro arg bt michael russell usa
bernard tomic aus bt guillaume rufin fra
andrey golubev kaz bt mardy fish usa
rafael nadal esp bt peter luczak aus
women singles
st round
dinara safina rus bt magdalena rybarikova svk
maria kirilenko rus bt maria sharapova rus
zheng jie chn bt peng shuai chn
anastasia pavlyuchenkova rus bt anastasija sevastova lat
kateryna bondarenko ukr bt ioana raluca rou
yvonne meusberger aut bt timea bacsinszky sui
elena baltacha gbr bt pauline parmentier fra
kim clijsters bel bt valerie tetreault can
yanina wickmayer bel bt alexandra dulgheru rom
svetlana kuznetsova rus bt anastasia rodionova aus
flavia pennetta ita bt anna chakvedatze rus
maria jose martinez sanchez esp bt evgeniya rodina rus
justine henin bel bt kirsten flipkens bel
elena dementieva rus bt vera dushevina rus
iran prosecutor calls for death penalty against protesters
tehran jan afp
an iranian prosecutor called monday for the death penalty against five
protesters arrested during demonstrations staged as shiites participated in
solemn ashura rituals last month state media reported
the five were accused of having ties with iran exiled and armed opposition
the people muhajideen and charged with moharebeh or being enemies of god
which is punishable by death under iran sharia based law
ask the court for maximum punishment against these people based on the
investigations the defendants confessions and their criminal acts on
ashura the prosecution said in the indictment carried by the media
it said the unidentified group had been trained in mujahideen camp in iraq
and european countries to carry out terror and rioting
two women draped in print chadors worn by prisoners were shown by state
television among the group of defendants sitting in the front row of the court
room during monday proceedings
eight people were killed and hundreds were arrested on december as opposition
protesters took to the streets on ashura and clashed heavily with security
forces
iran hardliners were infuriated but what they saw as the desecration of ashura
by protesters and called for their severe punishment
iranian authorities arrested hundreds of protesters on ashura and vowed to bring
offenders to justice speedily
since protests broke out in june following the disputed re election of president
mahmoud ahmadinejad thousands of people have been detained for inciting or
participating in the demonstrations
dozens including prominent reformists and journalists backing the opposition
have been convicted and handed stiff jail terms while five have been sentenced
to death
tennis henin says she can still beat the best
melbourne jan afp
justine henin insisted she was still capable of beating the top players after
she downed fellow belgian kirsten flipkens in the first round of the
australian open on monday
playing only her second tournament since making comeback from an month
retirement the seven time grand slam champion was always in control against her
younger rival wrapping up the match in minutes
she now faces an enormous challenge in the second round when she meets fifth
seeded russian elena dementieva who demolished countrywoman vera dushevina
but the year old henin said she was looking forward to the challenge and said
her thrilling three set loss to kim clijsters in the final of the brisbane
international last week had given her confidence
well it was good to play kim in brisbane because that gave me little bit of
an idea where was henin said
in the second round ll have to play very good tennis she dementieva
number five in the world so it going to be great challenge for me to play
that kind of match very early in the tournament
of course it tough draw but in grand slam every match is difficult
she added
love to play the top players know ll have to be at very high level
henin who won the australian open in retired in may saying she no
longer had the motivation
but soon after clijsters won the us open on her own comeback last september
henin announced that she too would return
she played her first tournament in brisbane losing to clijsters but showing she
had lost few of her skills or her renowned tenacity
henin said she felt refreshed after her break and said she wanted to become
better player than when she retired
want to get better because think it makes sense to do it because want to
do it better she said
and not about the others and my opponents but just me the fact that want to
improve my game and get better than in the past because love challenges
the good thing is that don feel old yet so that already good point
even if when came here realised it was six years ago that won the
australian open
physically and mentally don feel like part of the old generation so
that good
an older and wiser henin said she worried about the pressure that younger
players face on the tour
it life that asks lot especially the way we do it with lot of
discipline winning lot of matches she said
physically and mentally it really hard that why think when see very
young players coming on the tour concerned for them because it tough
think it very good to go step by step because it difficult life
henin added that she felt she needed to step away from the sport when she did
at was feeling at the end of my first career quite whew tired and
needed some air she said
and that takes everything from you this kind of life and you re not able at
that age to take the distance you need to understand that yeah there is
something else than tennis
ban to brief security council after tour of haitian capital
united nations jan afp
un secretary general ban ki moon monday will brief the un security council about
the situation in haiti after touring the devastated capital and bringing home
the remains of top un officials killed in the powerful earthquake
ban made the one day morale boosting visit to port au prince on sunday to show
solidarity with haitian quake victims and shell shocked local un staff
tuesday magnitude quake may have killed more than people
including at least un staffers
am here to say we are with you you are not alone this is tsunami like
disaster ban told press conference after flying over the ruined city in
helicopter
the un chief met with president rene preval and had an emotional reunion with
michele montas haitian who until late last year was his spokeswoman
late sunday ban flew back to new york bearing the remains of his special envoy
to haiti hedi annabi and his brazilian deputy luiz carlos da costa both killed
in the quake
in day of high emotion the secretary general visited the flattened main
headquarters of minustah the un mission to haiti to praise the work of
some rescue workers battling to save as many lives as possible and to
offer comfort to the staff
some un staffers are still missing in the rubble of four un facilities
around port au prince
in what ban called small miracle danish un civil affairs official was
pulled out from the ruins of the minustah main building by us rescue workers
from virginia just after the un chief had toured the site
jens kristensen emerged from debris of the un six story building where the
walls have become sarcophagus for so many without scratch on him
ban said he had good meeting with preval focusing on the need to save as many
lives as possible bring in emergency relief aid in the form of food water
shelter and medical supplies and to improve and better coordinate aid delivery
for small country like haiti this is tsunami like disaster ban told
reporters
he also toured makeshift tent city of people which has sprung up on the
open air champs de mars square next to the collapsed presidential palace
we need food we need shelter we need work angry and frustrated haitians
shouted
ban urged them to be patient saying help was coming and warned against
rioting
reporters traveling with ban saw none of the thousands of bodies littering the
city streets in previous days
the haitian government said sunday that it had already buried some bodies
in mass graves and was declaring state of emergency until the end of the
month
the un chief has sent edmond mulet top un peacekeeping official and annabi
predecessor to port au prince to take charge of minustah in an interim
capacity
sunday he and mulet took part in ceremony to remember the un dead and in
sad symbolic move ban was handed the flag which had been flying over the
minustah headquarters to take back to new york with him
the un boss was meanwhile confronted by nieves alvarez spanish woman in haiti
working for the united nations children fund who pleaded with him to help save
her husband belgian un official buried under the rubble
please help us speed up the rescue work we don have much time she
implored ban every hour counts
she said she was speaking on behalf of dozens of other families with loved ones
still trapped under pile of concrete slabs
alvarez complained some rescue teams were searching for their nationals only
each rescue team works only for its own nationals we are the united nations
we have to work together she said
ban and reporters traveling with him also went on minute helicopter ride
over the city for an aerial view of the widespread destruction to government
offices buildings and homes as well as of the numerous tent cities housing
those left homeless by the quake
before departing ban flanked by his top aides joined several minustah troops
in paying their respects to the caskets bearing the remains of annabi and da
costa
the caskets were then loaded onto ban plane for the long flight to new york
similar memorial service was held on arrival at newark airport late sunday
ban last toured haiti with former us president bill clinton in march to
urge the international community to aid the island nation after it was battered
by hurricanes the previous year
at the security council meeting monday ban was expected to push for modest
reinforcement of minustah troop and police contingent to cope with any
contingency
minustah which has helped stabilize haiti since mid fields some
troops and police
greek anarchists threaten protests for officer trial
athens jan afp
greek anarchists on monday threatened protests for this week tense trial of
police officer accused of shooting teenager year ago an incident that
sparked the country worst riots in decades
with one far left extremist group already having threatened to kill the officer
and protests after the deadly shooting having set off major wave of violence
authorities planned massive show of force for wednesday trial
around police will be guarding the small town of amfissa some
kilometres miles northwest of athens and where the trial will be held in
bid to prevent fresh violence from planned street protests
several left wing and anarchist groups have said they will demonstrate in the
main square of amfissa at the start of the trial
let show authority that we remember its crimes and are not fooled by its
tricks anarchists said monday in tract posted on an anti establishment blog
they also called for separate protests in athens to divide police forces
the trial was relocated from athens because of security concerns and greece
supreme court has rejected bids by the teenager family to move it back to the
capital
veteran police officer epaminondas korkoneas is accused of fatally shooting
year old alexis grigoropoulos during december night patrol in the
bohemian athens district of exarchia
korkoneas says he fired in the air to disperse group of youths including
grigoropoulos who threw stones at his squad car
an autopsy report indicated that the boy was hit by bullet that ricocheted
onto him but lawyers for the boy family point to the testimony of witnesses
who say the policeman took aim and fired
korkoneas partner vassilis saraliotis is also on trial accused of
complicity to voluntary homicide
grigoropoulos death sparked wave of violence unseen in greece for decades
with young protestors battling police across the country and hundreds of stores
vandalised causing millions of euros in damages
korkoneas life has been threatened by greek far left extremist group
revolutionary struggle which carried out hits on police after the incident
we are certain that his stay in prison will be brief we expect him out
soon the group which fired rocket at the american embassy in and is
on the european union list of terrorist organisations said in one of its
proclamations last year
the new socialist government that came to power three months ago has pledged to
crack down on recurring cases of police brutality which have rarely been
punished in the past
judicial authorities do not exclude an early break in the amfissa trial as
korkoneas main lawyer alexis kougias is currently involved in another high
profile trial the fatal beating of young australian tourist in
allegedly by nightclub bouncers on the greek island of lesbos
grigoropoulos family are also likely to call for recess after having
unsuccessfully lobbied the justice ministry for months to bring the trial back
to athens to facilitate witnesses
the supreme court last week again denied request by grigoropoulos mother gina
tsalikian to relocate the proceedings to the high security prison of korydallos
near the capital
the trial was moved to amfissa last year after another town near athens refused
to host it
us navy ship brings water to haiti
aboard the uss carl vinson jan afp
the crew of us aircraft carrier which is stationed off the coast of haiti is
working to supply victims of last week earthquake with the most coveted
resource fresh drinking water
it is produced on board of the ship and rear admiral ted branch commander of
the us aircraft carrier carl vinson strike group says the crew is determined to
share this precious resource with suffering haitians
while technological details of the water production process remain classified
it is based on the energy produced by the carrier nuclear reactors according
to captain bill mckinley the carl vinson reactor officer who is responsible
among other things for water desalinization
heat produced by the reactor is used to heat up sea water pumped in from
outside the steam which contains no salt is then being gathered as consumed
for people needs
there are four water distilling units that can each produce gallons
liters of water day explains captain mckinley it is actually
pure potable water that comes out of that that is what we use for drinkable
water and for the ship needs
he pointed out that the water obtained after the heating process was pure and
the remaining salt was collected after the process
the fresh water produced by the carrier is used not only by the crew but also to
operate the ship according to mckinley
but even with that the carl vinson has an excess of to gallons
up to liters of water day right now
don think it limit of our capacity it going to be limited by the
number of containers available and on the ability to transport it said the
captain pointing out that water distribution center had been set up on the
flight deck in order to facilitate delivery to haitians desperately lacking
water
meanwhile rear admiral branch said the us military had made progress in
distributing humanitarian aid to haitians in the wake of last week earthquake
think we ve gotten better every day since we started he told reporters
we are getting more and more cargo through guantanamo every day he said
referring to the us naval base in cuba time is still of the essence we re
getting better but there is still lot of misery in haiti
according to the admiral the us navy is now focusing on setting up controlled
distribution points in order to minimize competition for food
other help is on the way great amount of capabilities are coming branch
said
us ship with about marines on board was scheduled to arrive in haiti
monday and the hospital ship comfort was expected the next day
as for desalinated water produced by the ship the issue is moving fresh water
to the shore the admiral said
it is not an issue of us being able to make the water it the issue of having
containers to put it in he said
he assured that the containers were on their way to guantanamo bay as many as
five gallon liter jugs have been ordered so far according to
branch
commerzbank says it is selling monaco unit to lebanese bank
frankfurt jan afp
the second biggest german bank commerzbank said monday it would sell its
dresdner bank monaco unit to the lebanese bank audi sal without revealing the
amount of the deal
the parties have agreed to maintain confidentiality about the details of the
transaction commerzbank statement said
the sale is subject to regulatory approval it added
dresdner bank monaco which operates in the mediterranean principality southern
france and northern italy managed million euros million dollars in
assets at the end of
bank audi sal the biggest lebanese bank has total of billion dollars
billion euros in assets and is active in arab countries france and
switzerland
the acquisition of dresdner bank monaco is in line with bank audi
strategy to develop its private banking activities in europe the statement
said
commerzbank meanwhile is focusing its operations on germany after benefitting
from rescue package that saw the state take holding of percent
euro slips on greece debt woes
london jan afp
the euro dropped against the dollar on monday as investors anticipated weak
business sentiment survey from germany amid worries of looming budget crisis
in greece dealers said
in london morning deals the euro slid to dollars from dollars
late in new york on friday
against the japanese unit the dollar climbed to yen from yen late
on friday
germany zew economic sentiment index out on tuesday is likely to have taken
beating for the fourth straight month in january on concerns that greece debt
woes may derail recovery in the eurozone dealers said
the indicator which surveys financial experts on their outlook for germany
europe main growth engine is expected to have fallen to this month from
in december according to analyst forecasts
admittedly investors were already keen to sell the single european currency
as concerns about the fallout from the greek debt crisis escalated nab capital
strategist john kyriakopoulos told clients
german chancellor angela merkel last week said greece fiscal crisis put the
euro in very difficult phase while european central bank governor jean
claude trichet warned of bumpy recovery in the fragile eurozone
investors were also waiting ahead of slew of us earnings reports later this
week after jpmorgan chase opened the earnings season for banks on strong note
last friday us markets are closed monday for public holiday
citigroup will release its fourth quarter earnings on tuesday followed by bank
of america morgan stanley and wells fargo on wednesday and goldman sachs on
thursday
dealers said market players will also be looking to china fourth quarter gdp
figure on thursday which is likely to show double digit growth as well as data
showing inflation ticking up
calyon analyst sebastien barbe said he expects that chinese borrowing costs via
market interest rates will increase in the first quarter of the year due to the
strong economic numbers and rising inflation
in london on monday the euro was changing hands at dollars against
dollars late on friday yen pounds and
swiss francs
the dollar stood at yen and swiss francs
the pound was at dollars
on the london bullion market the price of gold increased to dollars an
ounce from dollars on friday
alert
uae energy minister says oil prices very reasonable
india to sign new mig deal with russia official
new delhi jan afp
india and russia are set to agree billion dollar deal for mig
fighter jets which will cement moscow role as new delhi principal arms
supplier an official said monday
senior indian defence ministry official said the deal was likely to be
finalised this week during visit to new delhi by russian military team he
declined to say when it would be signed
the contract has already been negotiated and just some finishing touches are
now awaited the official who did not want to be named said
he put its worth at billion dollars and said the planes would be handed over
to the indian navy
the deal has already been cleared by the cabinet of prime minister manmohan
singh who paid state visit to russia last month
the official said the deal would be in addition to mig planes new delhi
will acquire for deployment on an aircraft carrier it also hopes to obtain from
russia which supplies percent of indian weaponry
the russian embassy in new delhi did not respond to queries on the deal
relations between india and russia currently negotiating arms contracts worth
over billion dollars hit low following wrangling over the cost of
refurbishing the retired aircraft carrier
russia in promised to gift the admiral gorshkov to india provided delhi
paid russian shipyard million dollars to revamp the vessel
since then the price has skyrocketed for fixing up the year old ship
last year russia startled india with demand for billion dollars
now we are closer to an understanding on gorshkov the ministry official said
without elaborating
during singh trip to russia in december the countries signed two agreements on
arms one on their two way weapons trade in the years and another on
servicing russian made arms sold to india
india plans to spend tens of billions on dollars to modernise its military
tennis fifth seed dementieva sets up henin showdown
