Contents:
It also established a new statutory body to oversee security as a sop to ex-premier Iyad Allawi, who had held out for months to regain the top job after his Iraqiya bloc narrowly won the most seats in the March 7 poll. The support of Iraqiya, which garnered most of its seats in Sunni areas, is widely seen as vital to preventing a resurgence of interconfessional violence.

Illustrating the tenuousness of the accord, around 60 Iraqiya MPs walked out of a session of parliament on November 11, the day after the deal was signed, protesting that it was not being honored. Abbas shuns freeze that excludes East Jerusalem CAIRO: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said yesterday that he will not return to the negotiating table with Israel without a settlement freeze that includes annexed Arab east Jerusalem. The Palestinian leader also hit out at US efforts to persuade Israel to agree to a more limited freeze applying only to the rest of the occupied West Bank in return for a raft of political and security benefits, saying he wanted to have nothing to do with such deal-making.
Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed on September 2 but collapsed three weeks later with the expiry of a month Israeli freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.
Although that freeze did not apply directly to east Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quietly held off approving projects there for most of its duration to avoid the political fallout. But faced with opposition from hardliners in his cabinet to any new settlement freeze, Netanyahu has said repeatedly that no restrictions will apply to construction in east Jerusalem. In talks last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put together a package of incentives to get Netanyahu to accept a one-off day freeze, including an additional 20 F fighter jets, worth three billion dol-.
But Abbas spoke out against the US diplomatic efforts. The League has given Washington until the end of this month to rescue the peace talks. The two factions have been at loggerheads since Hamas seized Gaza in June , ousting forces loyal to the Palestinian president and effectively restricting his authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Jordanians riot over police shooting AMMAN: Calm was restored to the northwestern Jordanian town of Salt yesterday after four days of rioting sparked by the shooting of an alleged traffic violator, police said. Suleiman Khreisat remains in critical condition after he sustained a gunshot wound to the head after he drove through a police road block on Wednesday, said police spokesman Lt Col Mohammed Al-Khatib.
He said a police major shot the man while chasing after the vehicle. Dozens of residents hurled stones at police, smashed police kiosks, street lights, a building that belongs to traffic police, as well as shop windows and cars, including police vehicles. They also burned trees in at least two main city squares, ATM machines and tires to block roads. He said police used tear gas to restore order.
Al-Khatib said 34 rioters were also arrested and will face trial. The two, who were not identified, were each given suspended terms of three months imprisonment and were demoted from the rank of staff sergeant to sergeant.
During the trial, the boy, identified as Majd R, said he feared for his life as one of the soldiers ordered him at gunpoint to open a suspect bag. Israel launched its day offensive against the Gaza Strip in December in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory. The fighting killed some 1, Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Whatever the cause, the welfare cutoff has been felt among Iraqis. Where are the revenues of our right in our oil? Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi promised that parliament would push the Iraqi government for answers on where the money went.
He said the Finance Ministry recently alerted parliament of the cash drain. He would not say the cause of the shortfall. Factions have already started haggling over positions in backroom talks, even though President Jalal Talabani has not yet formally asked Prime Minister Nouri AlMaliki to begin selecting ministry leaders a step that government spokesman Ali AlDabbagh said would like come in several days.
Burkina leader urges big turnout for poll Incumbent leader seen as key power-broker in region Sarkozy ratings up but latest scandal looms PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy received a boost from a poll yesterday showing his popularity rebounding from record lows, but he faced a growing scandal over allegations of back payments on s naval deals with Pakistan. The year-old conservative leader hoped a cabinet reshuffle last week would help turn the page on a difficult year marred by allegations of illegal funding of his conservative UMP party and a series of national protests over his pension reform.
A survey by pollsters Ifo published in the Journal du Dimanche offered Sarkozy some respite.
Two cases have appeared in the US state of Floridaboth from people who traveled from Haiti. Abdullah, king since , had reduced his duties since June this year over health problems which were never officially disclosed. Skidded or wheeled. The cable describes a dinner with Maksat Idenov, the First Vice-President of a state-owned Kazakh oil and gas company, KazMunayGas, during which details emerge on a culture of corruption involving Kazakh government officials and companies involved in the energy industry. Why, instead of the story of the Saudi king who gave the materials to Russia? But the fuss continued as images of his character made the rounds online, with commenters arguing over whether or not his elaborate get-up was offensive: Depp with long black hair covering his torso, white-and-black striped facepaint and a crow on his head.
It showed his approval rating inching up by 3 percentage points to 32 percent in early November, after hitting rock-bottom in October at the height of union-led protests against legislation to raise the pension age. The poll was conducted either side of a Nov. The men are charged with attempting to seize the German container ship MS Taipan in April, some kilometers miles east of the Somali coast. The trial should last several months.
The pirates were captured by Dutch naval forces who boarded the ship after a brief exchange of gunfire. They were later handed over to Germany. Both the number of attacks and the amounts demanded for ransom have. Some 23 vessels and crew are currently held by Somali pirates, according to the Bureau. Charles, 62, is currently next in line to the throne, now occupied by his mother Queen Elizabeth, The British public has no say in who should be their next king or queen, a largely symbolic role in a country run as a parliamentary democracy. The ICM survey also found that fewer than one in five people wanted the crown to pass to Charles and Camilla.
The YouGov poll showed that 44 percent of people thought Charles should make way for his son to become the next king, against 37 percent who thought he should not. William and Middleton, both aged 28, announced their engagement this week, the photogenic couple drawing extensive media coverage. Charles is seen by some as too old to inject vitality in the monarchy should he eventually succeed his mother. Pirates say they received a record nine million dollars for the release of a South Korean supertanker in November.
At least one London company now advertises five-million-dollar coverage for a premium of 15, dollars per voyage, according to Berg. According to Berg, pirates manage their money well, investing it abroad and buying better weapons and faster speed boats for their attacks. Many ships are captured because they gamble with security measures, according to Shortland. Decks are sprayed with a slippery water-chemical solution to slow down any pirate who makes it onto a ship.
Compaore, 59, has carved himself a niche as an important and sometimes controversial power-broker in the unstable West African region, with analysts in particular citing his role in pushing for a return to civilian rule in Guinea. A Reuters witness who toured the capital Ouagadougou noted only a trickle of early voters and said a number of opposition parties had failed to place representatives at polling stations to monitor the vote. Compaore seized power in a coup.
Despite allowing multi-party politics he has faced little or no real opposition in a gold-mining and cotton-producing country where income per head is half the average for sub-Saharan Africa. Compaore last won election in with an overwhelming A weak turnout among the 3.
A landlocked country of 15 million people, Burkina Faso has avoided the instability that has plagued its neighbors and has in recent years benefited from high gold and cotton prices. Foregone conclusion? He is more at home as a mediator in the many conflicts and crises that have faced the wider region in the past two decades. He was also initially accused by neighboring Ivory Coast of backing rebels that seized the north in its conflict, but eventually became official mediator in efforts to overcome the ensuing political deadlock. Working in concert with US and French backing, Compaore helped broker a Jan 15 accord in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou this year that paved the way for elections aimed at restoring civilian rule in Guinea.
Camille Vital told reporters late Saturday that 16 officers surrendered, ending an impasse that began Wednesday when a faction of officers declared they were taking over from Andry Rajoelina. Officials had said talks were planned, but shots could be heard inside the base. Also Saturday, police fired tear gas to break up a crowd of several hundred antiRajoelina demonstrators in central Antananarivo.
No injuries were reported. The protesting mayors say they also oppose an electoral plan imposed by Rajoelina. Ranjeva has called for an independent transitional authority to eventually oversee new elections in Madagascar.
The proposed new charter largely resembles the existing constitution, but states that Rajoelina, the current leader of the so-called High Transitional Authority, would remain in power until a new president is elected. There is no certainty new elections will be held. The proposed constitution also sets the minimum age to be president at 35 instead of the current Rajoelina is Since Madagascar gained independence from France in , soldiers have repeatedly meddled in politics.
Madagascar is famed for its lemurs and other unique wildlife and was the inspiration for two animated films of the same name. The trial is only the third to get under way at the court that began work in and is the first to focus on so-called command responsibility - charging a military leader for crimes committed by his troops - and on the use of widespread rape as a weapon of war.