Bahrain opens probe into labour camp fire

OFFICIALS have opened an investigation into the cause of fire that killed 13 people in a labour camp in Bahrain.

The official Bahrain News Agency says the public prosecutor's office is leading the probe into Friday's blaze in the capital Manama.

The report on Saturday said fire collapsed the roof of the three-story building used to house workers.

Special compounds for migrant labourers are common across the Gulf. For years, rights groups have pressed for better living conditions for the mostly South Asian workers.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Turkey PM demands France clarify killings

Police are hunting down the assassins of three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris. Source: AAP

TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling on France to "immediately" clarify the killing of three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris.

He also wants to know why French President Francois Hollande is meeting with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"France must immediately clarify this incident," Erdogan said in televised remarks on Saturday.

"Also, the French head of state must explain immediately to the French, Turkish and world public why ... he is in communication with these terrorists," he added.

Hollande said earlier that the murder of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez was "terrible", adding that he knew one of the Kurdish women and that she "regularly met us".

The three were found dead on Thursday at the Kurdistan Information Centre in the French capital's 10th district, after last being seen alive at the centre at midday on Wednesday.

Cansiz was a founding member of the PKK, which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey and is branded a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.

The separatist PKK warned that it would hold France responsible if the killers were not quickly found, as Ankara said the slayings bore the hallmarks of an internal feud, noting that the victims appeared to have given the killer or killers access to the centre.

The killings came days after Turkish media reported Turkey and the PKK leadership had agreed a roadmap to end the three-decade old Kurdish insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

French army raid in Somalia leaves 19 dead

TWO French soldiers and 17 militants have been killed in a failed bid to free a French hostage held by Islamists in southern Somalia since 2009, French's defence minister says.

The overnight operation was launched by France's elite DGSE secret service, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on Saturday.

He added that the raid was sparked by the "intransigence of the terrorists who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions".

But the al-Shabab militants denied Le Drian's assertion that they had killed the hostage, a secret agent whose alias is Denis Allex, adding that they would decide his fate in two days and issuing a stern warning to Paris.

Two French soldiers "lost their lives (and) 17 terrorists were killed" in the battle, Le Drian said, offering the "most sincere condolences" to the dead soldiers' families and praising the men for their "courage and remarkable work".

He said the families of the dead soldiers had been informed.

An al-Shabab statement said "in the end, it will be the French citizens who will inevitably taste the bitter consequences of their government's devil-may-care attitude towards hostages".

Sheikh Mohamed Abdallah, a local al-Shabab military commander, said: "Mujahedeen fighters defeated the so-called commandos of the French government who tried to rescue a hostage, and they (the commandos) left the bodies of several of their own at the site of the attack."

Abdallah is the commander of Bulomarer, where the raid allegedly took place.

The al-Shabab statement said the French carried away "several" of their dead.

"The helicopters attacked a house ... upon the assumption that Denis Allex was being held at that location, but owing to a fatal intelligence blunder, the rescue mission turned disastrously wrong.

"Several French soldiers were killed in the battle and many more were injured before they fled from the scene of battle, leaving behind some military paraphernalia and even one of their comrades on the ground.

"The injured French soldier is now in the custody of the mujahedeen and Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle."

A Bulomarer resident, Idris Youssouf, said: "We don't know exactly what happened because the attack took place at night, but this morning we saw several corpses including that of a white man.

"Three civilians were also killed in the gunfight," he said.

The French secret agent was kidnapped in Somalia in July 2009 along with a colleague who was freed the following month.

Four military helicopters were used in the raid on al-Shabab-controlled Bulomarer, some 110 kilometres south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.

Al-Shabab has lost its main strongholds in the south and centre of the country following an offensive launched in mid-2011 by an African Union force, but they still control some rural areas.

Allex appeared in a video in June 2010 appealing to Paris to drop its support for the Somali government.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Measles alert in Brisbane and Mount Isa

RESIDENTS of Brisbane and Mount Isa could have been exposed to measles when a traveller returned from abroad with the disease, Queensland health officials say.

The traveller returned home from Asia on January 2 while still infectious with measles after picking up the disease overseas.

The infected person flew into Brisbane where they spent the day before flying to Mount Isa.

The Queensland Department of Health is urging anyone who was at the Brisbane International Airport abound 1am (AEST) on January 2 or in the the Brisbane CBD the same day to seek immediate medical advice if they feel unwell.

People at the city's domestic airport about 6am on January 3 or anyone who flew to Mount Isa that morning should also be on alert for symptoms.

Measles can be spread by droplets expelled during coughing or sneezing.

Early symptoms include fever, lethargy, a moist cough and sore and red eyes, followed a few days later by a red rash.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong stocks close 0.39% lower

HONG Kong shares fell 0.39 per cent on profit-taking on Friday after the previous session's gains, with dealers unmoved by data showing Chinese inflation coming in below target in 2012.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index eased 90.24 points to 23,264.07 on turnover of HK$82.24 billion ($A10.03 billion). The index lost 0.3 per cent for the week.

The market enjoyed a rally on Thursday after China released data showing a huge trade surplus last year, which added to recent results indicating the world's number two economy is picking up after a recent slowdown.

On Friday the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said inflation slowed to 2.6 per cent in 2012, down from 5.4 per cent in 2011 and much lower than the 4.0 per cent government target.

But it also said December's rate came in at 2.5 per cent, well up from 2.0 per cent in November.

The month-on-month uptick and underlying data showing food prices spiking has led to concerns that the government will hold off any easing measures to further boost the economy.

China players were among the worst performers, with aluminium producer Chalco down 3.0 per cent at HK$3.95, while oil producer Cnooc lost 1.9 per cent to HK$16.22 and insurer China Life dropped 1.3 per cent to HK$26.00.

Chinese shares closed down 1.78 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 40.66 points to 2,243.00 on turnover of 101.6 billion yuan ($16.3 billion). The index fell 1.49 per cent for the week.

"The above-view inflation figure for December sparks concerns that Beijing may refrain from rolling out more economic stimulus in fear of triggering stronger inflation," Central China Securities analyst Zhang Gang told Dow Jones Newswires.

Soochow Securities slumped 6.08 per cent to 7.42 yuan and Sinolink Securities lost 5.04 per cent to 16.59 yuan, while Poly Real Estate lost 4.52 per cent to 13.53 yuan and developer Gemdale dropped 4.09 per cent to 6.81 yuan.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fears for Pakistan as blasts kill 125

A series of bombings have killed 115 people across Pakistan, including 81 who died in Quetta. Source: AAP

EXTREMIST bomb attacks killed 125 people in one of Pakistan's deadliest days for years, raising concerns about rising violence in the nuclear-armed country ahead of general elections.

Two suicide bombers killed 92 people and wounded 121 after they targeted a crowded snooker club in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday, in an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslims from the Hazara ethnic minority.

Extremist Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for what was the worst single attack ever on Shi'ites, who account for about 20 per cent of Pakistan's 180 million population.

It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since twin suicide bombers killed 98 people outside a police training centre in the northwestern town of Shabqadar on May 13, 2011 - shortly after US troops killed Osama bin Laden.

Earlier on Thursday, a bomb detonated under a security force vehicle in a crowded part of Quetta, killing 11 people and wounding dozens.

A bomb at a religious gathering in the northwestern Swat valley killed 22 people and wounded more than 80, the deadliest incident in the district since the army in 2009 fought off a two-year Taliban insurgency.

At the snooker club, the first bomber struck inside the building then, 10 minutes later, an attacker in a car blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, said police officer Mir Zubair Mehmood.

"The death toll is now 92. Some bodies were found from the blast site today," said police official Hamid Shakeel.

He said all but five of the victims had been identified and handed over to their families for burial later on Friday.

Nine police, three local journalists, several rescue workers and a spokesman for the Frontier Corps paramilitary were among those killed, officials said.

"We have collected two bags of body parts, including limbs, fingers, upper torsos, lower torsos, legs, feet," said Mohammed Raza, who works for a Hazara ambulance service.

Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary in the provincial government of Baluchistan, said more than 120 people were wounded.

The government has announced three days of mourning in Baluchistan, and compensation of two million rupees ($A19,500) to families of killed police officials and one million rupees to those of civilians.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility in telephone calls to local journalists. The group has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and was involved in the kidnap and beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl in January 2002.

The attacks, coupled with violence in the northwest, revived warnings from analysts that an Islamist militancy could threaten national elections, expected sometime in May after parliament disbands in mid-March.

Polls would mark the first time an elected civilian government in Pakistan, for decades ruled by the military, completes a term in office and is replaced by another democratically elected government.

"The government is completely losing control over the situation. Events are taking place one after the other," security and political analyst, retired lieutenant general Talat Masood said.

"The disturbing law and order situation will have a very adverse effect on elections. The government seems to have no plans for security and nothing is being done for the safety of people who are being killed like flies."

But a senior official in the Quetta administration, Mohammad Hashim, denied sectarian violence had any bearing on elections.

"Incidents of sectarian violence have been taking place in the country for more than a decade. It may have an affect on law and order. I don't think it will have an impact on elections. It's not political, it's sectarian," he said.

Human Rights Watch said 2012 was the deadliest year on record for Shi'ites in Pakistan and the government's failure to protect them "amounts to complicity in the barbaric slaughter of Pakistani citizens".

Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint for attacks against Shi'ites and Hazaras, and suffers from a separatist insurgency and Islamist militancy linked to a domestic Taliban insurgency concentrated in the northwest.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nastassja Kinski shocked by sister's abuse

Nastassja Kinski (pic) praised her half-sister for alleging she was abused by their father Klaus. Source: AAP

ACTRESS Nastassja Kinski says she's proud of her half-sister Pola for coming forward with allegations that she had been repeatedly raped by their father, the late German film icon Klaus Kinski.

Pola Kinski, 60, said in a magazine interview ahead of the release of a memoir on Saturday that the mercurial actor, who died in 1991, had sexually abused her throughout her childhood.

Nastassja Kinski, who achieved the Hollywood fame with films such as Cat People and Tess that eluded her father, wrote in the German daily Bild that she had wept when she read Pola's account.

"My sister is a hero because she has freed her heart, her soul and thus her future from the burden of this secret," the 51-year-old wrote.

"I stand by my sister, I stand behind her. I am deeply horrified. But I am proud of the strength she has shown in writing this book."

Nastassja Kinski said she hoped the book would raise awareness of child abuse and encourage other victims to tell their stories.

"A book like Pola's helps all children, youths and mothers who are afraid of fathers, who swallow their fear and hide everything away in their souls," she said.

"Just because someone calls himself a father, as in this case, does not mean that he is a father. The horror has taken place nevertheless. Even fathers do horrible things."

She added: "There is always help - all children should know that."

Nastassja Kinski, who lives in California, is the daughter of Kinski's second wife Brigitte. Pola's mother was his first wife, singer Gislinde Kuehbeck.

Pola said Klaus Kinski, who was already notorious as a brilliant but tyrannical force in European cinema, began abusing her at the age of five and raped her for the first time when she was nine.

The assaults continued until she was 19, she alleged in an interview this week with Stern magazine.

The volatile but prolific star of Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God and a frequent collaborator of German director Werner Herzog "ignored all protests" by his young daughter, she charged.

"He just took what he wanted," she said, adding that as a youngster, she lived in constant fear of his angry outbursts.

She said she aimed to go public with her allegations to put a stop to the idolising of her famous father.

"I was sick of hearing, 'Your father! Great! Genius! I always liked him'," she said.

"Since his death, this adulation has only got worse."

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

China landslide kills dozens

AT least 36 people were killed including seven from a single family when a landslide smashed into a remote village in southwestern China, state-run media said.

About a dozen more were also buried when the landslip engulfed 16 homes in the village of Gaopo on Friday, said Yunnan Web, run by the Yunnan provincial government, adding that emergency teams rescued two injured people from the debris.

Photos posted on the website showed rescuers in orange uniforms digging in large areas of clumpy mud against a backdrop of snow-covered, terraced hills.

A video posted on a Chinese social networking site appeared to show a group of villagers digging through thick mud and debris to uncover a body, which was carried away on a stretcher.

Snow was visible in images of the rescue, in an area which has experienced unusually low temperatures in recent weeks, with China suffering what authorities have called its coldest winter in 28 years.

Top-ranking members of the ruling Communist Party had been made aware of the landslide, Yunnan Web said.

The province, which borders Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, is a relatively impoverished area of China, where rural houses are often cheaply constructed.

Gaopo is in Zhenxiong county, in the northeast of Yunnan, a temperate province known for its tobacco industry and as being the home of Pu'er tea.

But its mountainous areas are prone to landslides and it is also vulnerable to earthquakes. Two in September - one of magnitude 5.7 - left 81 people dead and hundreds injured.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made an overnight trip to the quake zone at the time to comfort survivors, many of whom had taken refuge in tents erected on a public square.

A county neighbouring Zhenxiong was hit by a landslide in October that killed 18 children, after one which, according to the United States Geological Survey, killed 216 people in 1991.

An earthquake in neighbouring Sichuan province in 2008 claimed around 70,000 lives - the worst natural disaster to hit China in three decades, with shoddy buildings blamed for the high toll.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW police hunt 'armed and dangerous' man

POLICE are hunting a fugitive they believe is armed and dangerous in the state's west.

A search is underway for Peter James Rowley, 35, who is on the run after he evaded police about 3pm on Thursday by fleeing into bush off the Castlereagh Highway, near Coonamble.

Rowley is wanted in relation to numerous serious domestic violence offences and has access to at least two firearms, police said in a statement on Thursday night.

They warned the public not to approach Rowley, who's described as caucasian, 170cm tall, and solidly built.

He also has a mullet style haircut, many tattoos, and sports a long red goatee beard, police said.

He was last seen wearing a dark coloured shirt, with his right arm bandaged.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two Swiss trains collide, 17 injured

TWO passenger trains collided at a train station in northern Switzerland during morning rush hour on Thursday, injuring at least 17 people.

"At least 17 people have been injured. Nine have been hospitalised," Anja Schudela, a local police spokeswoman in the canton of Schaffhouse, told the Blick daily's online edition.

Police said that none of the injuries were serious, according to local daily Schaffhauser Nachrichten.

Initial reports said up to 30 people were injured in the collision.

The crash occurred around 1730 (AEDT) when one crowded train rammed into the side of another at the Neuhausen-am-Rheinfall train station near the German border, the SBB rail company said.

Some 220 rescue workers had been mobilised, and after about two hours all the passengers had been evacuated, police told reporters.

The locomotive of one of the trains, a double-decker that had been heading for Winterthur in the canton of Zurich, had derailed when it was hit by a regional train.

A rescue train that was sent in to help put it back on the track also carried rescue personnel to help with any injuries, SBB spokesman Jean Philippe Schmidt told AFP.

The cause of the crash remained unclear, he said.

"The train hit the emergency breaks and everyone was thrown out of their seats," one of the passengers told the 20minutes.ch website.

"One person was bleeding heavily from the head," he added.

Another passenger told the online paper that he had seen "an old lady lying unconscious on the ground who was bleeding a lot".

A number of ambulances and fire engines were on site.

The train station was closed for the remainder of the day, and rail traffic between Schaffhouse and Dachsen in Zurich, as well as between Schaffhouse and Jestetten in Germany has been halted, according to SBB.

19.19 | 0 komentar | Read More