she died on november two days after her last missed appointment at an
israeli hospital
the day of the funeral we got call from the palestinian liaison office saying
the israelis agreed that we should make fourth appointment amal hijjy one
of her relatives told reporters
said there no need to make another appointment because the girl died
yesterday she said
bulgaria names new foreign minister
sofia jan afp
bulgarian prime minister boyko borisov said wednesday he would propose defence
minister nikolay mladenov as his new foreign minister to replace rumiana jeleva
who resigned earlier this week
have accepted ms jeleva resignation both as sofia candidate for top
job at the eu commission and as foreign minister borisov told news briefing
next week ll propose to parliament that nikolay mladenov take the position
given his international experience the premier said
mladenov was member of the european parliament between and
where he served on number of committees including foreign affairs
he was also chair of the delegation for relations with iraq and served on the
delegations for israel and afghanistan
ruminia jeleva stepped down as foreign minister on tuesday following fierce
controversy over her candidacy for the job of eu humanitarian aid commissioner
israel expels us journalist palestinian media
jerusalem jan afp
israel on wednesday expelled us journalist working for palestinian news
agency maan the agency reported
maan said its english language editor jared malsin who had been held at tel
aviv ben gurion airport for the past week called to say he was being placed
on flight to new york
he sounded shaken and confused said george hale journalist with maan
malsin had appealed the expulsion order but apparently dropped the challenge on
tuesday without the knowledge of his lawyer maan said in statement
maan is deeply concerned that there was no lawyer present when malsin
apparently filed this independent motion the private news agency said
without jumping to conclusions maan wants to be sure these events did not take
place under duress it said adding that malsin lawyer and relatives had been
unable to reach him in the hours before the deportation
malsin was detained on january upon returning from vacation in prague and
told he would be deported on security grounds hale said
the interior ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment on
the case
yemen air strikes pound qaeda leader home military
sanaa jan afp
yemeni jets pounded the home of suspected al qaeda leader wednesday
military source said as the army stepped up pressure on the group believed
behind botched bid to down us airliner
tribal source confirmed the air strikes in erq al shabwan village in maarib
province and said number of people had been killed local forces were
responding with anti aircraft fire
the wave of air strikes which began in the morning blasted the house of ayed
al shabwani one of six al qaeda leaders the government said were killed in an
air strike last week the tribal source said
military official who would not be named said there had been three strikes
on the house and one on an orange grove near the village where the authorities
think shabwani had built safe haven for dozens of al qaeda members
the official added that there had been large deployment of government troops
at the city of maarib about five kilometres three miles from erq al shabwan
village
no one commented on whether the government now believed shabwani was still
alive
the strike comes just days after yemen said it killed six suspected leaders
including shabwani of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in saada province
north of the capital
aqap denied that anyone was killed in the attack on three vehicles in
remote desert area saying instead that some of its members had been wounded
the government claimed that qassem al rimi the military leader of aqap was
among those who died in the missile attack
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
yemen is under us pressure to clamp down on al qaeda which claimed
responsibility for the december bid to blow up flight from amsterdam as it
landed in detroit
yemen government says it is winning the battle against the jihadists pointing
to two air strikes in december which it said killed in all more than
suspected al qaeda members
on saturday the authorities announced the arrests of three suspected militants
in the northern area of alb near the border with saudi arabia they said the
trio were wearing military fatigues and had guns and explosives
on january security forces killed abdullah mehdar said to be the group
kingpin in shabwa
provincial governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of fighters including
saudis and egyptians who had fled afghanistan were holed up in shabwa
among them he said were current aqap chief nasir al wahishi his saudi number
two saeed ali al shehri and radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
it was not immediately clear if the orange grove outside erq al shabwan was
their hideout
on wednesday yemeni journalist close to awlaqi abdullah shaea said the
cleric had told him he would not surrender and denied claims the government was
negotiating with him in hopes he would give himself up
the prospects of the married father of five being take alive are scant given
shaea description of sentiment in shabwa after deadly december air raid
there by government forces that killed al qaeda suspects and number of
civilians
after that raid on an area controlled by the awlaqi tribe people were
furious throughout the region they all went over to the side of al qaeda and
prevent anyone from approaching shaea said
there was fighting the government well knows that if it sends forces into the
area they will be beaten it will not even try that is why anwar is safe where
he is
washington on tuesday designated aqap as terrorist group and at the same time
asked un committee that looks at sanctions against al qaeda and the taliban to
take similar actions against aqap and its leaders
cricket india in command after gambhir feat
chittagong bangladesh jan afp
india grabbed two early wickets to put themselves in commanding position in
the first test against bangladesh on wednesday after gautam gambhir achieved
rare feat for the tourists
bangladesh face stiff task to save the test as they struggled to in their
second innings at stumps on the penultimate day in chittagong while chasing an
unlikely run victory target
only four teams have chased more than in the fourth innings to win test
opener tamim iqbal was unbeaten on at close with mohammad ashraful on
indian paceman zaheer khan had imrul kayes caught behind in his second over
before ishant sharma dismissed shahriar nafees with stand in captain
virender sehwag taking low catch at gully
nafees failed to make the most of the chance he got on five when he was dropped
by venkatsai laxman at second slip off zaheer
left handed opener gambhir earlier became the fourth batsman to smash
century in five successive tests as india declared their second innings at
shortly after tea
australian don bradman holds the world record of making hundreds in six
consecutive tests south african jacques kallis and pakistan mohammad yousuf
are the others to have made centuries in five consecutive tests
india added to their overnight total of with gambhir laxman not
out and nightwatchman amit mishra the main contributors
left arm spinner shakib al hasan finished with the best by bangladeshi
bowler against india in test
gambhir completed his hundred in style hoisting shakib over long on for six
he also hit fours in his ball knock
his last four centuries came against new zealand at napier and wellington and
sri lanka at ahmedabad and kanpur in
gambhir fell cutting debutant seamer shafiul islam to nafees at third man few
overs after reaching his ninth test hundred in matches
india lost sachin tendulkar and yuvraj singh in the afternoon session but
laxman kept his end intact for more than two hours to boost his team total
tendulkar who scored century in the first innings was trapped leg before by
seamer rubel hossain after making
yuvraj who looked uncomfortable against short pitched bowling on few
occasions fell to loose shot when he uppishly drove paceman shahadat hossain
to ashraful at short cover
the morning session belonged to gambhir and mishra who put on for the second
wicket mishra hit six fours in his maiden half century
gambhir rarely looked in trouble against bangladesh pace spin combination
playing handsome strokes while adding to his overnight score of
bangladesh had chance to dismiss gambhir on but kayes dropped sharp
chance at forward short leg off shakib
yemen air strike pound qaeda leader home military
sanaa jan afp
yemeni jets pounded the home of suspected al qaeda leader wednesday
military source said as the army stepped up pressure on the group believed
behind botched bid to down us airliner
tribal source confirmed the air strikes in erq al shabwan village in maarib
province and said number of people had been killed local forces were
responding with anti aircraft fire
the wave of air strikes which began in the morning blasted the house of ayed
al shabwani one of six al qaeda leaders the government said were killed in an
air strike last week the tribal source said
military official who would not be named said there had been three strikes
on the house and one on an orange grove near the village where the authorities
think shabwani had built safe haven for dozens of al qaeda members
the official added that there had been large deployment of government troops
at the city of maarib about five kilometres three miles from erq al shabwan
village
no one commented on whether the government now believed shabwani was still
alive
the strike comes just days after yemen said it killed six suspected leaders
including shabwani of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in saada province
north of the capital
aqap denied that anyone was killed in the attack on three vehicles in
remote desert area saying instead that some of its members had been wounded
the government claimed that qassem al rimi the military leader of aqap was
among those who died in the missile attack
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
yemen is under us pressure to clamp down on al qaeda which claimed
responsibility for the december bid to blow up flight from amsterdam as it
landed in detroit
yemen government says it is winning the battle against the jihadists pointing
to two air strikes in december which it said killed in all more than
suspected al qaeda members
on saturday the authorities announced the arrests of three suspected militants
in the northern area of alb near the border with saudi arabia they said the
trio were wearing military fatigues and had guns and explosives
on january security forces killed abdullah mehdar said to be the group
kingpin in shabwa
provincial governor ali hassan al ahmadi said dozens of fighters including
saudis and egyptians who had fled afghanistan were holed up in shabwa
among them he said were current aqap chief nasir al wahishi his saudi number
two saeed ali al shehri and radical us yemeni cleric anwar al awlaqi
it was not immediately clear if the orange grove outside erq al shabwan was
their hideout
on wednesday yemeni journalist close to awlaqi abdullah shaea said the
cleric had told him he would not surrender and denied claims the government was
negotiating with him in hopes he would give himself up
the prospects of the married father of five being take alive are scant given
shaea description of sentiment in shabwa after deadly december air raid
there by government forces that killed al qaeda suspects and number of
civilians
after that raid on an area controlled by the awlaqi tribe people were
furious throughout the region they all went over to the side of al qaeda and
prevent anyone from approaching shaea said
there was fighting the government well knows that if it sends forces into the
area they will be beaten it will not even try that is why anwar is safe where
he is
washington on tuesday designated aqap as terrorist group and at the same time
asked un committee that looks at sanctions against al qaeda and the taliban to
take similar actions against aqap and its leaders
corrected vietnam dissidents jailed up to years for subversion
ho chi minh city jan afp
vietnamese court on wednesday sentenced group of dissidents to up to
years in prison for trying to overthrow the communist regime in case which has
sparked global concern
air france klm eyes polish carrier lot report
warsaw jan afp
franco dutch giant air france klm is interested in investing in poland
troubled flag carrying airline lot news report published wednesday said
in addition to air france klm two other investors are also eying state run lot
the polish daily dziennik gazeta prawna said without revealing its sources
polish treasury spokesman maciej wewior told afp that three would be investors
had come forward but declined to give details
but an air france klm spokeswoman denied that the company was interested in lot
we have expressed no interest in lot the spokeswoman told afp without
elaborating
the polish state holds percent of lot while the rest belongs to the
airline staff
the government has been aiming to privatise the carrier which in lost
million zlotys million euros million dollars and last year launched
restructuring programme involving the axing of out of its staff
wewior said the government currently favours bringing new investors on board via
capital increase
we do not foresee sale of our stake he said
the money offered by an investor would not be the only criteria for choosing
bid he added saying commitment to the company will also count
lot was founded in placing it among the world oldest airlines
it is member of the star alliance which is steered by germany lufthansa
there was been regular speculation that lufthansa could take over lot
lot was partially privatised in with the sale of percent stake to
switzerland swissair which went bust in
poland spent the ensuing years trying to undo the deal and in may
finally bought back the stake from sairlines swissair liquidator
fiery merkel aims to turn tide
berlin jan afp
german chancellor angela merkel sought to regain the initiative wednesday after
wobbly start to her second term with spirited defence of her policies and
fiery attacks on her opponents
in wide ranging budget speech in parliament merkel insisted that
controversial plan to run up the largest debt mountain in the country history
was indispensable to pull the economy europe largest out of its slump
the last decade ended with an international economic and financial crisis and
for germany slump of minus five percent record in the history of our
country merkel said
she added the new decade begins with debate over budget with record
debt of almost billion euros billion dollars
whoever does not see that the two are directly connected should not bother
to continue to participate in this debate said the conservative merkel to
jeers from the opposition social democrats spd and the greens
since triumphantly winning second term in september elections the past few
months have been less glorious for merkel and her new look coalition with the
pro business free democrats fdp
internal squabbling by coalition members over tax policy and the country
unpopular mission in afghanistan have seen merkel popularity plunge in the
polls and her aloof leadership style slammed even by her allies
the coalition has promised tax cuts worth around billion euros billion
dollars but several senior members of merkel own party have begun to get cold
feet on the tax giveaway given the dire state of the public coffers
but merkel sought to slap down any resistance saying we are convinced that
tax relief is necessary and will even foster growth
taking aim at the spd with whom she governed for four years in her first term
she said unlike the social democrats who haven done anything for the past
ten years we are sticking to our election programme
voters appeared to approve of merkel passionate speech with straw telephone
poll taken by rolling news channel ntv showing percent of people saying she
could lead germany out of the crisis compared to percent before she started
speaking
and her animated performance won merkel the support of germany influential
mass circulation daily bild which said in an editorial chancellor merkel had
to justify herself and the work of her coalition and she did it
brilliantly
she was up for the fight and prepared to lash out the chancellor was in her
best form the paper added
but in reply frank walter steinmeier the head of the spd parliament group
and challenger to merkel in september election said the government had not
just had false start but complete political failure
air france klm eyes polish carrier lot report
warsaw jan afp
franco dutch giant air france klm is interested in investing in poland
troubled flag carrying airline lot news report published wednesday said
in addition to air france klm two other investors are also eying state run lot
the polish daily dziennik gazeta prawna said without revealing its sources
polish treasury spokesman maciej wewior told afp that three would be investors
had come forward but declined to give details
but an air france klm spokeswoman denied that the company was interested in lot
we have expressed no interest in lot the spokeswoman told afp without
elaborating
the polish state holds percent of lot while the rest belongs to the
airline staff
the government has been aiming to privatise the carrier which in lost
million zlotys million euros million dollars and last year launched
restructuring programme involving the axing of out of its staff
wewior said the government currently favours bringing new investors on board via
capital increase
we do not foresee sale of our stake he said
the money offered by an investor would not be the only criteria for choosing
bid he added saying commitment to the company will also count
lot was founded in placing it among the world oldest airlines
it is member of the star alliance which is steered by germany lufthansa
there was been regular speculation that lufthansa could take over lot
lot was partially privatised in with the sale of percent stake to
switzerland swissair which went bust in
poland spent the ensuing years trying to undo the deal and in may
finally bought back the stake from sairlines swissair liquidator
palestinians outside refugee camps must disarm lebanon
beirut jan afp
the lebanese government has reiterated its call for palestinian groups outside
refugee camps to disarm saying the issue was not up for negotiation
lebanese sovereignty is not open to negotiation information minister tareq
mitri said after cabinet meeting late on tuesday
we should implement the decision to disarm palestinians outside of refugee
camps and deal with the problem of arms and security within the camps he said
referring to accord on disarmament between rival lebanese leaders
on monday the leader of syrian backed palestinian group said it would not
disarm outside of the refugee camps but was willing to discuss where in lebanon
it holds its arms
palestinian arms inside or outside the camps are part of our resistance against
the zionist enemy said fatah al intifada chief said mussa who is also known
as abu mussa
the presence of these arms does not affect lebanese security abu mussa said
offering to talk to the lebanese government about the positioning of our arms
the statement came less than month after prime minister saad hariri landmark
visit to syria after which hariri said he had discussed palestinian arms held
outside of camps with president bashar al assad
fatah al intifada was founded with syrian backing during the lebanese
civil war and has bases in lebanon eastern bekaa valley near the syrian
border
the syria based popular front for the liberation of palestine general command
pflp gc led by ahmad jibril also holds positions in lebanon
un security council resolution adopted in calls on lebanon to assert
sovereignty on the whole of its territory and disarm all militias including
armed palestinian factions
by longstanding convention however the lebanese army does not enter lebanon
palestinian refugee camps leaving security inside in the hands of
palestinians
along with armed lebanese factions palestinian guerrilla groups played major
part in lebanon civil war
palestinian factions and lebanon shiite militant group hezbollah were the only
parties not to surrender their weapons after the war saying they were needed as
defence against israel
but unlike most palestinian factions in lebanon which are located inside the
camps and remain loyal to gaza or the west bank fatah al intifada and the pflp
gc continue to be backed by syria
the un agency for palestinian refugees lists nearly refugees in lebanon
while lebanese and palestinian officials say the number may be as low as
tennis del potro stays alive after five set fright
melbourne jan afp
us open champion juan martin del potro survived desperate five set dogfight to
stay alive as rafael nadal stepped up his title defence at the australian open
on wednesday
the argentine fourth seed dodged bullet when he scrambled past american james
blake in four hour minutes epic in match
that ebbed and flowed
earlier in the day world number two nadal declared himself back to full fitness
as he steamed into the third round after rout of slovak
republic lukas lacko
elsewhere on day three scotland andy murray notched another impressive
performance with his second straight sets victory in as many matches this time
over frenchman marc gicquel
seventh seed andy roddick clashed with the chair umpire after he coasted into
the next round with win over brazilian thomaz bellucci
former finalist fernando gonzalez and french th seed gael monfils were
comfortable winners
del potro who dethroned roger federer in last september us open final to
claim his first grand slam title needed all his fighting qualities to overcome
the gallant th ranked blake
only five points separated the pair in del potro favour over the course of the
gripping contest to
del potro will now face german florian mayer in the next round and is projected
to face roddick in the quarters
nadal battled knee problems for much of and there were question marks over
his ability to win here especially after being beaten by nikolay davydenko in
doha in his first tournament of the year
but there were no signs the spaniard was hampered as he moved freely on the way
to dominant win over lacko
am very good don have any problem nadal said
sure everybody can talk but am still working as much as can to be in the
top
there is lot of very good players but always do all in my power and nobody
can ask me for more than when do all what can do
murray who is charged with ending britain year grand slam drought in men
tennis disposed of th ranked gicquel in ruthless fashion
it followed the fifth seed easy win over south african qualifier kevin
anderson on monday in which he dropped just four games
including his hopman cup preparation for the australian open the year old
has only dropped two sets in six singles matches in
roddick admitted he was wrong in his clash with the chair umpire over his ruling
on match point
the straight shooting american finished his win over bellucci by arguing with
umpire fergus murphy over hawk eye video review decision which went against
him on the first of his two match points
the video review ruled that bellucci volley had fractionally clipped the line
saving the first match point but roddick contended that he wasn allowed to
play the shot by an out call from line judge
there was just disagreement about rule on continuation of call
roddick said
to be fair didn come in here press conference until watched the video
of it was more wrong than thought was out on court
that being said it was very close to take away match point at that juncture
in match it big call
corrected
hanoi jan afp
vietnam dissidents jailed up to years for trying to overthrow regime
football guardiola renews barca contract for one year report
madrid jan afp
barcelona coach pep guardiola has renewed his contract with the european
champions which expires at the end of the season for one year the online
edition of daily newspaper el pais reported wednesday
he and the club have reached an agreement to extend his contract which was to
expire in june which includes series of clauses which will allow the incoming
president to negotiate terms it said
barcelona have not confirmed the report but the club has called press
conference for pm gmt which will be attended by guardiola barcelona
president joan laporta and sporting director txiki begiristain
guardiola has remained silent on what he wants to do and spanish media have
speculated that the year old may be waiting to see who will succeed laporta
as president after elections later this year before making decision
laporta said on monday the club were resigned to rivals trying to lure away
guardiola who led barca to an unprecedented six trophies in
guardiola took over from dutchman frank rijkaard in june after being
promoted from his job as coach of barcelona side
under his guidance during the season the catalan side won the champions
league spanish league the kings cup the spanish supercup and the european
supercup
last month barcelona also won the club world cup final with win over
argentine side estudiantes
ukraine president concedes defeat will stay in politics
kiev jan afp
president viktor yushchenko on wednesday said he accepted the results of
ukraine presidential elections where he was eliminated in the first round
but vowed to stay in politics
yushchenko the figurehead of the orange revolution won just percent
of the vote in the elections on sunday amid widespread disappointment with his
presidency
as head of state accept the will of the people in the january elections
the main thing is the elections were free democratic and legal he told
reporters in his first public comment after the vote
but national and state circumstances do not give me the moral right to leave
political life he added
yushchenko has vowed to turn ukraine into prosperous nation anchored in the
european union and nato but his ambitions were undermined by political
infighting and dire economic crisis
iran in billion euro gas deal with germany company chief
tehran jan afp
iran has signed one billion euro billion dollar deal with german firm
to build gas turbo compressors an industry official said in newspapers on
wednesday
the contract provides for the unnamed german firm to transfer the know how to
build install and run the equipment needed to exploit and transport gas said
iran gas engineering and development company head ali reza gharibi
the german company has already delivered such turbo compressors to iran
gharibi said according to iran daily industry experts said he was apparently
referring to siemens
but the national iranian gas company nigc denied the signing of deal
following report about one billion euro contract between iran and germany
the public relation of nigc denied this it said on its website
the nigc spoke of contract with an iranian company to build turbo
compressors in iran using foreign partner know how without naming the
firms
the reported deal for material not under an international embargo
comes as the islamic republic faces the threat of new financial technological
and international trade sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme
world powers are weighing sanctions which would boost existing bans on the
transfer of material and technology that allows iran to develop or export its
oil and gas resources
iran has the world second largest proven global gas reserves after russia but
so far has played only minor role on the gas export market
the development of its gas sector is hampered by lack of productive investment
and growth in domestic consumption with little left over for exports from the
daily output of about million cubic metres billion cubic feet
the equipment and the know how in the contract with the german firm will help
iran build plants to produce liquefied natural gas lng and export it by ship
newspapers said
the government daily iran daily said the contract was signed at the start of the
week and would be relief for many german businesses that have long complained
about restrictions on trade with iran under sanctions
germany and china are iran top trading partner after the united arab emirates
official figures show
palestinians outside refugee camps must disarm lebanon
beirut jan afp
the lebanese government has reiterated its call for palestinian groups outside
refugee camps to disarm saying the issue was not up for negotiation
lebanese sovereignty is not open to negotiation information minister tareq
mitri said after cabinet meeting late on tuesday
we should implement the decision to disarm palestinians outside of refugee
camps and deal with the problem of arms and security within the camps he said
referring to accord on disarmament between rival lebanese leaders
on monday the leader of syrian backed palestinian said it would not disarm
outside of the refugee camps but was willing to discuss where in lebanon it
holds its arms
palestinian arms inside or outside the camps are part of our resistance against
