channel appeared monday in prosecutor office where decision to postpone
the case indefinitely was reached
there is going to be some sort of mediation between our attorneys through
sanef the state and the police said said outside court
the story broadcast on january showed two men one with stocking over his
head saying they would rob tourists and shoot their way past police
authorities accused the men of the crime of intimidation and invoked an
apartheid era media law to try to force the journalists to identify their
sources
sanef reiterates its strong opposition to the use of this apartheid era
legislation which was then designed to force journalists into revealing their
confidential sources sanef said in statement
urgent fierce storm apparent cause of lebanon plane crash minister
beirut jan afp
fierce storm appears have caused the crash of an ethiopian airline jet that
plunged in ball of fire into the mediterranean sea with people on board
lebanese defence minister elias murr said monday
football wanderers sign weiss from city
bolton england jan afp
bolton wanderers announced monday that midfielder vladimir weiss would join them
on loan from premier league rivals manchester city until the end of the season
slovakia international weiss becomes owen coyle first signing for the club
since the manager controversial move from burnley who bolton play in
lancashire top flight derby on tuesday
weiss recently signed new contract with city but has only made four first
team appearances this season scoring against arsenal in city league cup
quarter final victory
but with opportunities restricted at eastlands weiss has made the short journey
from manchester to bolton in bid to get more game time and so boost his
chances of being member of slovakia squad at this year world cup finals in
south africa
vladimir is an exciting young player who adds further options to our squad and
can help to get the fans out of their seats coyle told www bwfc co uk
the fact that he has chance of going to this year world cup shows just how
much ability he possesses
eu warns against fast track adoptions from quake hit haiti
brussels jan afp
the eu commission on monday urged european nations to resist the temptation to
organise fast track adoptions from quake hit haiti saying the priority must be
the safety of the children
we are confronted by difficult situation eu commission spokesman michele
cercone told reporters
on one hand the speeded up procedures of adoption are seen by several european
union nations as good way of trying to help children of haiti he admitted
however it really difficult to understand what is the situation of the child
there even those who have lost their parents and adoption now probably would
not be the best idea he added
several countries are fast tracking adoption procedures already under way
including belgium france germany the netherlands spain and the united
states
the eu executive arm stance appears to clash with that of spain which holds
the bloc rotating presidency
spanish foreign minister miguel angel moratinos was on monday to seek common
position on such adoptions according to spain deputy prime minister maria
teresa fernandez de la vega
she said on friday that the aims included speeding up procedures for adoption
cases already under way at the various missions and reinforcing aid and
international protection for isolated minors travelling alone or orphans in
conjunction with the un children agency and the red cross
since the quake in haiti in which at least people were killed there
has been mounting pressure from foreign couples seeking babies for adoption
procedures to be fast tracked to allow them to rescue orphans from humanitarian
disaster
but child protection groups fear that the haitian state effective collapse
could lead to an increase in human trafficking or in children suffering from
losing all contact with haitian culture and their surviving relatives
the eu commission spokesman comments came after un officials stressed saturday
that would be adoptive parents should not take haitian children out of the
country unless their papers have been signed by both the haitian prime minister
and the united nations
india jet airways swings into profit
mumbai jan afp
india largest private carrier jet airways said monday cost cutting helped it
swing into profit in the three months to december its first gain in three
quarters
the carrier reported net profit for the fiscal third quarter of billion
rupees million dollars compared with net loss of billion rupees in
the same period year earlier
revenue fell four percent to near billion rupees the company said in
statement
jet shares climbed rupees or percent to rupees on the back of
the earnings announcement
the company continues to implement cost control and revenue enhancement
measures which have resulted in improved performance for the quarter the
company said
last week jet rival kingfisher airlines owned by liquor baron vijay mallya
said the outlook for the industry was improving even though the airline posted
wider loss
the forecast came after kingfisher notched up record seat load factor the
proportion of available seats filled of percent in the third quarter
kingfisher third quarter net loss increased to billion rupees million
dollars from net loss of billion rupees in the same period the year
before
boxing klitschko to defend titles against chambers
berlin jan afp
world heavyweight champion wladimir klitschko will defend his ibf wbo and ibo
titles against mandatory challenger eddie chambers in dusseldorf on march it
was announced on monday
klitschko will fight chambers at the home of current bundesliga leaders
leverkusen which will have an expected capacity of for the fight
the ukrainian last bout saw him stop ruslan chagaev in the ninth round at
schalke veltins arena in gelsenkirchen last june and klitschko said he was
looking forward to facing chambers in another football stadium
the fight will take place in gigantic stadium and am already looking
forward to the backdrop it will give me an additional kick said klitschko
this will be klitschko fifth defence of both his wbo and ibf title and the
champion says he will not take chambers lightly
chambers is clearly the best current american heavyweight and there is good
reason why he is number one in the rankings said klitschko whose record
includes victories knock outs and three defeats
the year old chambers won the chance to face klitschko when he won the
eliminator against alexander dimitrenko last summer and says he expects to
surprise the champion
worked hard to get this shot at the title said chambers who has
victories with knock outs plus one defeat on his record
plan on surprising klitschko just like surprised dimitrenko and want his
three belts
will not let this chance get away
sudan ousted pm to challenge beshir in april election
khartoum jan afp
sudan former prime minister sadiq al mahdi who president omar al beshir
ousted in military coup years ago will run against him in the april
elections his party said on monday
mahdi heads the influential umma opposition party and is spiritual leader
of ansar sufi brotherhood that venerates the famous mahdi who defeated
british colonial forces under general gordon in
he has been nominated presidential candidate an umma party official told afp
descended from sudan legendary islamist ruler sadiq al mahdi has held the
premiership twice before in when he was just and again after his
party won sudan last multi party elections in
umma is the main opposition party in the north alongside the democratic
unionist party dup while beshir heads the ruling national congress party
ncp
rumours have circulated in khartoum for weeks of mahdi plan to run as
presidential candidate but his party political bureau only took the decision
to nominate him on sunday evening
the nomination is significant because it might impact the process of reunion of
the umma party fouad hikmat of the international crisis group icg told afp
if that happens that will draw attention and draw momentum as far as alliances
are concerned in the north he said
several members who over the last few years abandoned the umma and the dup to
join beshir party could then rejoin the two opposition parties hikmat
believes
think in the coming days the umma party will become stronger and stronger
he said
the presidential legislative and regional elections due to take place in april
are key element of peace deal between beshir government in the mostly
muslim north and the splm in the largely christian south that brought an end to
year civil war
the former southern rebel movement has chosen as its presidential candidate
yasser arman secular muslim from north sudan who made common cause with the
splm during the devastating civil war
analysts say that while he has strong support in the south he may be less
popular in the north
but arman said on thursday he expected to build on the splm southern support
base by campaigning on behalf of all the marginalised groups of sudan far
flung regions
according to analysts the opposition would like to split the presidential vote
to prevent beshir from achieving the simple majority he needs to win which
would lead to second round and enable the opposition to field just one
candidate against him
alert
yemeni shiite rebels announce withdrawing from saudi territory leader
alert
bad weather apparent cause of ethiopian airline crash lebanon defence minister
hungary cuts rate by quarter point to percent
budapest jan afp
the hungarian central bank mnb cut its main interest rate by quarter of
percentage point as expected to percent on monday following quarter
point reduction at the end of december
the monetary council of the magyar nemzeti bank reduced the central bank base
rate by basis points to percent in effect from january the central
bank said in statement
that brings borrowing costs in hungary to their lowest level since september
after they peaked at percent in october
nevertheless hungarian interest rates are still among the highest in the entire
country european union
analysts expect the monetary easing to continue and interest rates to fall to
percent towards the end of this year
alert
baghdad blasts were car bombs that targeted hotels interior ministry
europe expresses dismay at wait for wto boeing ruling
brussels jan afp
europe on monday expressed dismay at widening time lag before the world
trade organisation rules on european commission complaint against us state aid
to aircraft maker boeing
christiane hohmann spokeswoman for trade issues said the european commission
was concerned that an interim wto report initially expected by late
would not be issued until june
similar opinion on us complaint over state aid from european governments to
rival manufacturer airbus first launched in october was transmitted
confidentially to the parties in september
the commission is naturally concerned that there is now widening gap
hohmann said
we on the one hand fully respect the independence of the settlement process of
the wto but in our view there shouldn be too big gap between the two
rulings she added
brussels sees very obvious commonalities joining the two cases
the wto said earlier this month that june would mark the next stage in the tit
for tat disputes between the united states and the european union over subsidies
or state aid to their respective aircraft giants boeing and airbus
although washington has declined to make september report public european and
us sources have said that the initial ruling had found that some aid from
european governments to airbus violated international trade rules
wto panel expects to compete its work on the us complaint in april
date for the full ruling on the eu counterclaim on boeing was not set
with appeals possible the legal battles over boeing and airbus subsidies are
expected to rage for several years
china rights groups hit by cyberattacks activists
beijing jan afp
the websites of at least five organisations dealing with chinese human rights
and dissident issues have suffered hacking attacks in recent days one of the
groups said on monday
the alleged attacks come amid sino us row over internet freedom sparked by us
search engine google threat this month to leave china partly over what it
said were cyberattacks aimed at the email accounts of chinese rights activists
chinese human rights defenders network of domestic and overseas china rights
activists released statement saying attacks on its website began saturday
afternoon and continued for about hours
it said others reporting cyberattacks included the human rights related news and
information sites canyu rights and livelihood watch and new century news as
well as the independent chinese pen writer group
the attack paralysed chrd website by consuming its server resources
its emailed statement said making it impossible for users to visit the
website
chrd which disseminates news about china dissident community and rights
abuses in the country quoted its internet service provider saying the hacking
attempt was the most intense the isp had ever experienced
the statement said the attack source could not be determined but that china
government was suspected due to the force of the attack
afp was not immediately able to reach the group by phone
google has threatened to abandon its chinese search engine and perhaps end all
operations in the country over the cyberattacks on its systems which it said
were suspected of having originated in china and seemed well coordinated
it has also said it is no longer willing to bow to chinese government censors
china on monday denied any state involvement in cyberattacks on google
such accusations were groundless attempt to denigrate china an unnamed
spokesman for the ministry of industry and information technology told state
news agency xinhua
us officials have said previously that china has built up sophisticated cyber
warfare program and that spate of attacks on us systems and elsewhere in
recent years can be traced back to chinese sources
spanish ex agent on trial for treason
madrid jan afp
the trial opened in madrid monday of former spanish intelligence agent accused
of selling information to the russian secret service
public prosecutors are seeking year jail sentence on charge of treason
for roberto flores garcia arrested in july in spain canary islands
the head of spain cni intelligence service alberto saiz has alleged garcia
passed information to the russians on the identities of dozens of spanish
intelligence agents for lot of money from december until he left the
service in february
he also provided information regarding the intelligence agency procedures and
structures which forced change in the cni organisation saiz charged
following garcia arrest
but he stressed the information provided had not damaged the national security
of spain the european union or nato nor was it related to counter terrorism
activity
the investigation started in july after cni authorities began to suspect
that the spanish agency had been infiltrated by spy
prosecutors said the garcia recorded the information on dvds cds and cassettes
which were found when authorities searched his two homes in the canary island of
tenerife following his arrest
his lawyer said garcia denies the charges
urgent at least killed wounded in baghdad attacks officials
baghdad jan afp
at least people were killed and wounded in three car bombings that shook
the iraqi capital on monday police and defence officials told afp
iraq completes deal with oil giants exxon mobil shell
baghdad jan afp
iraq oil ministry on monday completed deal with us major exxon mobil and
anglo dutch giant shell to develop production at west qurna the war torn
country second biggest field
the oil ministry signed the contract for west qurna with exxon mobil and
shell ministry spokesman assem jihad said in statement
this contract will increase production from barrels per day to
barrels per day
west qurna in southern iraq has reserves of around billion barrels
according to oil ministry figures exxon mobil and shell will receive
dollars per additional barrel extracted from west qurna
the deal was initially agreed on november following bid late june at iraq
first international oil auction since the industry was nationalised in
second auction in december saw iraq award contracts to foreign majors
including russia lukoil which will work with junior partner statoilhydro of
norway to develop the neighbouring west qurna field the companies are
expected to complete that deal on saturday jihad added
west qurna with known reserves of billion barrels lies west of the
equally enormous majnoon field which was auctioned in december to shell and
malaysia petronas
at billion barrels iraq has the world third largest proven oil reserves
behind only saudi arabia and iran oil sales provide percent of government
revenues
despite accusations that the united states led the invasion of iraq to grab
its oil wealth exxon mobil was the only us major to have been awarded
contract in the two auctions last year
turkish army chief says coups thing of the past
ankara jan afp
turkey chief of general staff said monday the army was committed to democracy
stressing that military coups were now thing of the past
general ilker basbug remarks followed fresh allegations last week that army
members planned political chaos to discredit the ruling islamist rooted justice
and development party akp and pave the way for military coup
the turkish army patience also has limits we are extremely disturbed by
these allegations an angry basbug told reporters
the turkish army position is clear those coups are now thing of the
past he said we believe that the most important aspect of democracy is that
power should change hands through elections and democratic means
the daily taraf which routinely targets the military reported last week that
army members planned to bomb two istanbul mosques and escalate tensions with
greece in bid to force greek jets to down turkish plane over the aegean
the plots were allegedly part of plan drawn up by the now retired first
army commander shortly after the akp the moderate offshoot of now banned
islamist movement came to power to show the party as inept and lay the
ground for martial law
the general staff denied the report saying it is impossible for anyone with
reason and conscience to accept the allegations
basbug said the army would soon make detailed statement on the issue
taraf said it had audio tapes and documents confirming the plan was discussed at
seminar in march attended by some military officials
last month basbug decried psychological campaign to smear the army and
voiced concern at possible confrontation between institutions over flurry
of allegations of military plots against the akp carried by pro government
media
the turkish army which sees itself as the guardian of turkey secular system
has unseated four governments since and has long wielded influence in
politics
but government critics charge the coup allegations are orchestrated attempts by
akp supporters to tarnish the army
they argue that discrediting the army and curbing its powers under the guise of
democratisation will give the akp free hand in realising its secret agenda
of transforming turkey into an islamic state
afp features
paris jan afp
attention editors please note that video mention can now be added to two
stories moved overnight on our features advisory auschwitz poland holocaust
jews survivors profile ex warsaw and auschwitz poland holocaust jews
russia feature ex moscow
new york woman falls rips picasso painting
new york jan afp
significant pablo picasso painting was damaged after woman attending art
class lost her balance fell into the actor and tore it the metropolitan
museum of art said
the unusually large canvas measuring by inches by
centimeters sustained vertical tear of about six inches centimeters in
the lower right hand corner in the accident on friday
the museum located on the eastern edge of new york central park did not
elaborate on why the woman fell
but the met said the damage did not impact the focal point of the composition
and that it should be repaired in the coming weeks ahead of major picasso
retrospective featuring some works at the museum opening on april
repair work should be unobtrusive it added
painted in the winter of the work hails from picasso critical rose
period when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his blue period to
warmer more romantic hues
the period also hints at picasso later embrace of abstraction with his
signature cubist style
donated to the met by automobile heiress thelma chrysler foy in the
actor features an acrobat striking dramatic pose against an abstract
backdrop it was painted on used canvas that already contained painting
alert
at least killed wounded in baghdad attacks police
moscow mayor calls gay pride march satanic
moscow jan afp
the mayor of moscow known for his overtly homophobic statements said monday
that he would never allow gay pride parade in the city calling it satanic
and saying marchers should be punished
gay parade cannot be called anything but satanic act yury luzhkov told
an education conference quoted by interfax news agency we haven permitted
such parade and we won permit it in the future
luzhkov called for gay marchers to be punished it high time that we stop
propagating nonsense discussions about human rights and bring to bear on them
the full force and justice of the law he said
gay rights campaigner nikolai alexeyev reaffirmed that plans for this year gay
pride parade will go ahead despite the ban
we don plan to make any changes we still plan to hold gay parade on may
alexeyev told afp
luzhkov first called the gay pride parade satanic in prompting gay
rights campaigners to sue him for libel unsuccessfully
organisers have never been granted permission to hold gay pride parades by the
city authorities leading to violent clashes with police and anti gay
protestors
last year parade took place on the day of the eurovision song contest final
held in moscow
in public relations disaster for the city alexeyev and other campaigners were
brutally dragged into police vans by riot police in front of crowd of
international journalists
they were later fined
armenia economy contracts percent data
yerevan jan afp
armenia economy contracted by percent in as the former soviet
republic was hit by the global economic downturn the state statistics committee
said monday
last year gross domestic product stood at trillion armenian drams
billion dollars billion euros the committee said in statement
sharp drops were seen in the construction sector where turnover fell
percent and in foreign trade which fell percent
industrial output fell percent to billion drams billion dollars
billion euros and agricultural output fell percent to billion drams
billion dollars billion euros the committee said
isolated armenia has been among the countries hardest hit by the global economic
downturn especially as remittances from russia fell sharply amid severe
downturn there
the government is forecasting modest return to economic growth this year with
gdp expected to expand by percent in the government had forecast
growth of percent for last year
fuelled by booming construction especially in the capital yerevan and foreign
trade armenia economy grew at an average of percent between and
three massive blasts shake baghdad afp
baghdad jan afp
three massive blasts in quick succession shook baghdad on monday with the first
near the palestine hotel followed minutes later by two loud explosions near the
international green zone afp correspondents said
the first explosion occurred around at pm gmt sending plumes of
smoke rising hundreds of metres yards over the abu nawaz district near the
palestine and sheraton hotels
the second blast came just minutes later in the centre of the capital near the
green zone with the third close by soon after
there were no immediate reports of casualties but high profile co ordinated
bombings have become increasingly common in baghdad with three such attacks in
august october and december last year killing nearly people
monday explosions come less than six weeks from march general election
which both us forces and iraqi politicians had warned could be focus for
violence
the latest violence also occurred less than two weeks after security forces
sealed off baghdad after being tipped off that bomb laden cars had been parked
in the city
insurgents weakened in the past year have in the past six months changed
tactics and mounted successful high profile attacks on hard targets such as
government buildings rather than so called soft targets in civilian areas
there are widespread fears in the wake of the bloody attacks to hit baghdad in
the second half of that political violence will rise in the weeks leading
up to the vote
the election the second since saddam was toppled in us led invasion in
is seen as crucial step towards consolidating iraq democracy and securing
complete us military exit by the end of as planned
ethiopian plane crashes off lebanon no sign of survivors
beirut jan afp
an ethiopian airliner carrying people exploded in ball of flames and
plunged into the sea off lebanon just after takeoff in stormy weather early
monday officials and witnesses said
massive international search and rescue operation involving helicopters and
ships was scrambled as president michel sleiman said there was no immediate
suspicion foul play was involved and grim faced officials played down hopes of
any survivors
lebanese security official said that by early afternoon at least bodies had
been pulled from the sea including that of child one rescue official told
afp that some of the bodies recovered were dismembered while another said bodies
were floating in the water
the health ministry said it had set up crisis unit in bid to identify the
victims trough dna tests or items of jewellery found on their persons
debris from the boeing which was headed to the ethiopian capital addis
ababa as well as luggage and personal belongings could be seen washing up on
the shoreline south of the capital
defence ministry official said the plane exploded into four pieces before
crashing shortly after takeoff at am gmt in heavy thunderstorm
he said it was unclear what caused the crash
witnesses reported seeing flames as the plane plunged into the sea
one employee of gas station near the site of the crash said he heard an
explosion and saw huge ball of fire as the plane crashed
another witness said it was like the whole sea lit up
transport minister ghazi aridi said ethiopian airlines flight lost contact
with the airport control tower shortly after takeoff and crashed into the
mediterranean sea nautical miles off the coastal town of naameh south of
the airport
the control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on takeoff and suddenly
lost contact for no known reason aridi told reporters
the lebanese army navy as well as the united nations interim force in lebanon
unifil and aircraft from france britain cyprus and the united states were
assisting in the rescue officials said
families of the passengers some of them weeping uncontrollably huddled at the
vip lounge of beirut international airport to await news of their loved ones
prime minister saad hariri parliament speaker nabih berri as well as number
of ministers and deputies were at the airport to comfort the families
one woman sobbed and screamed why why as others fainted and had to be
carried away by red cross volunteers
know they won find him wailed one woman referring to her husband who was
on board the flight
we are working with all the power we have to try and find missing people from
this tragedy hariri told reporters we are working to find the black box that
will tell us what really happened on the plane
an afp correspondent saw eight empty airplane seats that had washed up on the
shore just south of the airport soldiers could also be seen on beach
dragging large metal chunks of the plane
sleiman said authorities had ruled out terrorism or sabotage as the cause of the
crash
up until now we have ruled out foul play sleiman told reporters
this is painful tragic event we are sparing no efforts in trying to find
survivors he added
the ethiopian news agency in addis ababa said ethiopian airlines has sent team
to beirut to investigate the crash
lebanon has been lashed by heavy rains and storms in the past two days that have
caused flooding and damage in some parts of the country
officials listed passengers and seven crew members on board the flight
the passengers comprise lebanese ethiopians one french woman one
british national one iraqi one syrian one turkish one unknown and seven crew
members three of the lebanese held due nationality one from britain one
from canada and one from russia
lebanese deputy yassin jaber said of those on board hailed from the
southern town of nabatiyeh
the french passenger was identified as marla sanchez pietton the wife of
