Only one person survives after UN plane crashes in Kinshasa while landing in poor weather Only one person among 33 passengers and crew survived after a UN plane crashed while attempting to land in poor weather in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday. The accident, in Kinshasa, is one of the worst to involve a UN aircraft. Most of the passengers were UN staff and peacekeepers, although five NGO workers were also on board. Alain Le Roy, the head of UN peacekeeping operations, said there had been no immediate information about the sole survivor, who is in hospital in the Congolese capital. The plane, which was travelling from the eastern city of Goma, had missed the runway in N’djili airport in Kinshasa, possibly because of heavy winds, Le Roy said. The Bombardier CRJ-100 jet broke up on impact and caught fire. Television footage showed the aircraft was almost destroyed. A formal investigation into the crash is under way. While the nationalities of the victims have not been confirmed, the South African government said three of its citizens had died in the accident. The International Rescue Committee , an American aid agency, said its senior reproductive health adviser in Congo, Dr Boubacar Toure, a Guinean, was also among the dead. The plane was operated and staffed by Airzena Georgian Airways . The company, which has been flying for the UN in Congo for three years, said its four crew members, all Georgians, had died, and expressed shock at the accident. The UN security council has sent its “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims. With 19,000 troops, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo is the world’s largest, and is reliant on air transport as the road network is inadequate. Congo has one of the world’s worst aviation safety records, mainly because of the fleet of old and often poorly maintained aircraft that serve the civilian population. Democratic Republic of the Congo Plane crashes Air transport United Nations guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
PC Simon Harwood, the police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson to the ground at the G20 protests two years ago, gives his second day of evidence at the newspaper seller’s inquest 10.13am: Harwood is being questioned by Alison Hewitt, counsel for the inquest. After the protester escaped (see below), Harwood said he was “seeking refuge” near Royal Exchange Buildings. He said there was “hostility” from protesters, so he put his back to the building and faced the crowd to create what he said was a “fighting arc”. This, he said, is a training term used to describe the tactic for keeping the public at arms length. Harwood said after the protester he tried to arrest had escaped, he still had his coat, which he was “swaying” to keep protesters away. 10.06am: Jury is back in the room. PC Simon Harwood has taken his seat on the witness stand. We’re off. 10.03am: Welcome to the Ian Tomlinson inquest live blog. I’m writing this from a seat in the courtroom, where everyone is expecting the next few hours to be the most dramatic of the 5-6 week hearing. Yesterday, PC Simon Harwood, the police officer who was captured in footage released by the Guardian striking Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground, began giving testimony. His opening remarks – in which he said he was here to “help” the family – caused some offence. But so far, the evidence has been limited to background information relating to incidents in the runup to his encounter with the 47-year-old newspaper seller near the Bank of England on April 1 2009. That will change today when we expect him to provide his justification for the alleged attack on Tomlinson. Proceedings were adjourned as Harwood gave evidence about his attempted arrest of a protester spraying graffiti on a van. This occurred around 20ft from Royal Exchange Buildings – the passage where he came across Tomlinson – and just a matter of minutes before. So we’re getting closer. The protester struggled free after his head struck a police van door, and Harwood was left isolated in what he described as a hostile crowd. He said: At the time, because he was becoming more aggressive, more hostile, I was starting to believe that this was getting out of control. I was aware there was a very hostile crowd and I was actually in fear for my life then from what was coming towards me. My colleague Sam Jones is here too today. You can follow our updates on Twitter – @paul__lewis and @swajones. Please do ask questions and point out where these updates require clarification too. Ian Tomlinson Protest G20 Police London Paul Lewis Sam Jones guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Moody’s cuts debt to just three places above junk • Yields on five-year bonds hit 10% • Portugal must refinance €4.3bn of debt this month Portugal moved closer to the brink of a financial rescue package on Tuesday after Moody’s downgraded its debt, pushing its bond yields near to those of Ireland. Moody’s cut its rating on Portugal’s sovereign debt by one notch from A3 to Baa1, just three places above junk. It warned that Portugal is rapidly approaching the point where it will be unable to finance itself. “Moody’s believes that the government’s current cost of funding is nearing a level that is unsustainable, even in the short-term,” it explained. The agency had been expected to downgrade Portugal, following rival rating agencies Fitch and S&P, but the move focused attention on the country’s ability to keep resisting a bailout. The financial markets appear to have priced in a Portuguese bailout as a virtual certainty. Following the downgrade the yield, or interest rate, on Portuguese five-year bonds rose to around 10%, an unsustainably high level. Irish five-year bonds were trading around 10.25% on Tuesday. Last week Portugal admitted that it had missed its target for deficit reduction in 2010 . The country is also gripped by political uncertainty following the resignation of prime minister José Sócrates, whose austerity programme was rejected by the Lisbon parliament. A general election is scheduled to take place on 5 June. Moody’s predicted that the next Portuguese government will seek a rescue package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund as a matter of urgency. Even before the nation goes to the polls, Portugal must refinance €4.3bn (£3.8bn) of debt this month, with another €4.9bn coming up for renewal in May. It had managed to sell bonds this year, but only by agreeing to pay much higher yields than usual. At Baa1, Moody’s still has a higher rating on Portugal than S&P, which slashed its rating to the brink of junk status in March. Moody’s, though, kept Portugal on negative review, meaning further downgrades are possible. European debt crisis Europe Portugal Ireland Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Cameron visits Islamabad in effort to improve relations with Pakistan and foster better co-operation in fight against terrorism David Cameron has taken a diplomatic gamble by pressing the “reset button” on his fraught relations with the Pakistan government telling the country’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, at a series of meetings in Islamabad that he wants to work with Pakistan’s security forces to fight the threat of terrorism. A year ago Cameron put British relations with Pakistan in the deep freeze by claiming its leadership was facing both ways on terrorism, remarks that caused huge anger across the Pakistan government, military and intelligence services. During his one-day make-up visit, accompanied by his most senior defence and security officials, Cameron offered Zardari £650m in aid to spread education, extended unprecedented intelligence co-operation and set up a joint “centre of excellence” in Pakistan to exchange knowledge on how to counter improvised explosive devices, the weapon of choice of terrorists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also sought to reassure his hosts that he does not see India as Britain’s preferred partner in the region, saying instead he wants to see trade between Pakistan and the UK rise from £1.9bn to £2.5bn by 2015. The aid for education worth £650m over four years will go to train 9,000 teachers, purchase 6m new text books and build 8,000 schools. The scheme has been organised by Michael Barber, the former head of Tony Blair’s public services delivery unit. There are 17 million children in Pakistan not in school, including 7 million primary school age children. The money will make Pakistan the biggest single recipient of UK aid. In what represents a remarkable turnaround, British officials state they are convinced that the growing internal Muslim terrorist threat inside the country has led the leadership of the Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI, to take a tougher role in combatting both the Pakistan Taliban, and al-Qaida. Both Sir Peter Ricketts, the national security adviser, Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, and Sir John Sawers, head of overseas intelligence, are accompanying Cameron, and were in Islamabad only a month ago to prepare the ground for what is being billed as an enhanced security dialogue. At the lunchtime talks, Zardari brought his intelligence and defence chiefs. Around half all terrorist cells operating in Britain originate from Pakistan, the British intelligence services believe. Britain and the US have for years been frustrated at the way in which the ISI have maintained such close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan. British officials indicated that they will be asking the Pakistan military as diplomatically as possibly when they plan to enter North Waziristan, the tribal heartland and sanctuary from which many terrorist groups operate. Both British intelligence and the CIA believe North Waziristan to be the region where most of the suicide bombings inside Pakistan and cross-border attacks on US-led foreign and Afghan forces are organised. The Pakistan army has taken big losses as a result of cleaning out other Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and seems to be holding back from tackling North Waziristan, partly due to striking a peace deal with extremists. Pakistani troops moved into South Waziristan in 2009. Pakistan says with 120,000 troops in the field, it lacks the military capacity at present to lead an assault on a mountainous area that might lead to a mass of refugees. In the absence of troops on the ground, Britain supports the deadly use of US unmanned drones to bomb terrorist targets in the area, a practice that is regularly denounced by Pakistan politicians as counterproductive, in breach of their sovereignty and leading to the death of innocent people. Between 2007 and 2011, about 164 drone strikes had been carried out, killing more than 964 militants. In Pakistan overall 3,000 civilians are thought to have lost their lives in terrorist attacks such as suicide bombings in the past year. Cameron’s officials say nevertheless they are working to build a different, broader long-term partnership with the Pakistan government in what is described as a “less transactional relationship” between the two countries. “We are not just coming with a set of immediate demands, but also listening about the risks they face and their own security problems. It is about building trust,” said one. Britain also thinks it is crucial to foster a better internal relationship between the military and politicians in a country that only returned to a shaky form of democracy three years ago. The danger for the British is if its new-found faith in the ISI proves to be unfounded, or that Pakistan is playing a waiting game until 2015, the deadline by which UK troops will leave Afghanistan. Cameron’s aides are buoyed by signs that Pakistan wants to do more to foster a political settlement in Afghanistan, and build better relations with India. Cameron opened his visit by seeing Pakistan’s national mosque, the Faisal masjid, the largest mosque in South Asia, and constructed with the help of Saudi money. He was accompanied by Lady Warsi, the Muslim cabinet member. Pakistan Foreign policy David Cameron Global terrorism UK security and terrorism Terrorism policy Afghanistan Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Police fear 900 tickets for upcoming Wembley clash stolen from Royal Mail van will be sold on black market Thieves have stolen 900 FA Cup semi-final tickets from Manchester City. The Royal Mail van that was carrying the tickets was targeted in Manchester on Friday. It is feared the tickets for the upcoming derby against Manchester United on 16
Continue reading …
Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara team up with UN and French helicopters to loosen Laurent Gbagbo’s grip on power Fighters loyal to Alassane Ouattara have surrounded the presidential palace in Ivory Coast with the help of UN and French helicopters, as incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo’s grip on power appeared increasingly tenuous. Ouattara’s forces have described the assault on the main city of Abidjan as the final offensive to oust Gbagbo, whose refusal to acknowledge his rival as the legitimate winner of last year’s presidential election, prompted a violent conflict. Sustained machinegun and heavy weapons fire rang out from the direction of the palace before dawn, in the heaviest fighting since Ouattara’s forces entered the city five days ago. Troops surrounding Gbagbo’s home are now waiting for him to step down, an advisor to Ouattara told Associated Press. The assault came after UN helicopters carried out a string of attacks on Gbagbo’s forces on Monday, destroying their weapons at four places where they had been shelling civilians, a UN spokesman said. The helicopters fired four missiles at a Gbagbo military camp in Abidjan, witnesses told Reuters. “We saw two UN MI-24 helicopters fire missiles on the Akouedo military camp. There was a massive explosion and we can still see the smoke,” one said. The assault on Akouedo – which is host to three battallions of the Ivorian army – was captured in a video posted on YouTube . Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission in Ivory Coast, said in an email: “We launched an operation to neutralise heavy weapons that Gbagbo’s special forces have been using against the civilian population for the last three months. We destroyed them in four locations.” President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said that French troops had been authorised to participate in the UN attack after a request for help from the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. The UN security council is meeting to discuss the situation. Toussaint Alain, a Paris-based spokesman for Gbagbo, called the strikes “illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable” and said they will have resulted in many casualties among families living at the military barracks. “France has gone to war against Ivory Coast,” he added. Separately, the French foreign ministry said two French nationals and several other people had been abducted in Abidjan. France’s Europe 1 radio reported five people had been abducted in all from a hotel in the city’s business district. Jean Fouquiere, a spokesman for the French Embassy in Ivory Coast, said: “I confirm that five people have been kidnapped at Novotel Hotel, including two French nationals and a man from Benin.” Ivory Coast was a French colony until independence in 1960. France still has about 12,000 citizens, and 1,650 troops in the country. The UN evacuated 170 civilian staff from Abidjan at the weekend. “We are fast approaching a tipping point,” Choi Young-jin, the UN’s top diplomat in Ivory Coast, told the BBC. “We can no longer condone their [Mr Gbagbo's forces'] reckless and mindless attacks on civilians and the UN blue helmets [troops] with heavy weapons.” Choi, whose own office has been hit by sniper fire, added: “We are now in a way under siege, so we cannot go out freely, [they're] targeting us with snipers, it’s a deliberate shoot at the UN. For the last few days we’ve had 11 [peacekeepers] wounded by their gunshots … They are targeting the HQ, they cut off the water … and we are now in the bunker.” In all, 20 peacekeepers have been injured since the crisis triggered by last November’s disputed election. Choi said the UN’s 9,000 troops did not have a mandate to dislodge Gbagbo, but could respond to heavy weapons attacks against the UN or civilians. Pro-Oauttara troops entered Abidjan yesterday in a convoy of several dozen vehicles – the first elements of a large force massed on the northern outskirts for what they called a “final assault”. Heavy machine-gun fire and a few explosions could be heard minutes after they entered the city limits. The commanding officer told Reuters he had 4,000 men with him, plus 5,000 already in the city. Asked how long he would need to take Abidjan, Issiaka “Wattao” Ouattara said: “We know when it starts, but it could take 48 hours to properly clean [the city].” . Despite mass defections, Gbagbo has surprised many observers by fighting back, issuing a call to arms to his supporters, who went to his residence on Sunday to form a human shield. In Britain, foreign secretary Gbagbo’s spokesman, Abdon George Bayeto, told the BBC that there is an international plot against the incumbent. “When it comes to a fight, we are going to put up a fight,” he said. “The president is not going to step down.” Away from the fighting, UN investigators found a mass grave containing nearly 200 bodies, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Monday. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday at least 800 people were killed in intercommunal violence in Duekoue last week . Ivory Coast France United Nations Selay Kouassi Ed Pilkington David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
International concern grows over fate of missing Chinese artist amid wider crackdown on dissidents and activists Britain, the US and the EU have joined the growing international outcry over the detention of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and the wider crackdown on dissidents and activists. Officials detained the 53-year-old at Beijing airport on Sunday morning. No one has been able to contact him since. “I call on the Chinese government to urgently clarify Ai’s situation and wellbeing, and hope he will be released immediately,” William Hague said. The foreign secretary added: “The development of independent civil society and application of human rights under the rule of law are essential prerequisites for China’s long-term prosperity and stability.” US state department spokesman Mark Toner called for the immediate release of the artist, adding: “We obviously continue to be deeply concerned by the trend of forced disappearances, extralegal detentions, arrests and convictions of human rights activists for exercising their internationally recognised human right for freedom of expression.” The EU delegation to China said it was concerned by the increasing use of arbitrary detention against human rights defenders, lawyers and activists in China. Citing Ai’s case, it added: “We call on the Chinese authorities to refrain from using arbitrary detention under any circumstances.” France and Germany earlier appealed for the artist’s release. “Ai Weiwei being taken away is not surprising to us; we just didn’t think it would happen now. I don’t think he had expected that either … Let’s hope for the best,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a human rights lawyer. Pu said he had agreed to represent the artist if anything happened to him, but added that he had not been able to discuss the issue with Ai’s family yet. “The police had not given any kind of notice to the family – we can’t start the procedures. Even if they detain some kind of street thug, they have to give a notice within certain time, but for Ai Weiwei there is no information,” he added. Ai has repeatedly clashed with authorities over his outspoken criticism. Friends are particularly alarmed by the length of his detention and the scope and co-ordination of the police operation. Officers have removed dozens of items, including documents and computers, from the artist’s studio. His wife, Lu Qing, told Reuters: “This time it’s extremely serious. They searched his studio and took disks and hard drives and all kinds of stuff, but the police haven’t told us where he is or what they’re after. There’s no information about him.” Liu Xiaoyuan, a human rights lawyer, told Reuters: “I hope he doesn’t have to face trial or be jailed,” he said. “But sometimes the things you don’t wish to happen could happen.” Ai, who created the Sunflower Seeds installation at Tate Modern in London, was due to visit the capital next month for two major exhibitions. A spokesman for the gallery said: “We are dismayed by developments that again threaten Weiwei’s right to speak freely as an artist and hope that he will be released immediately.” The Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said four artists from Beijing were detained on 24 March after a performance art event in the Chinese capital where some pieces touched on the crackdown and the “jasmine revolution”. An anonymous appeal for protests akin to the Middle East uprisings, which was posted on an overseas website, appears to have sparked the campaign against critics. Artists Huang Xiang, Zhui Hun and Cheng Li were criminally detained for “causing a disturbance” by officers from Songzhuang police station and Guo Gai was also taken away, probably because he had taken pictures during the exhibition, CHRD said. No one could be reached for comment at the Taihu detention centre, where the four are reportedly held. An employee at Songzhuang police station said: “I don’t know about the situation,” then added: “Actually, it is not convenient to talk about it.” CHRD, which has been keeping a tally of the number of detentions, says in total about a dozen people have disappeared and 26 criminally detained in the latest sweep, with five released on bail. Another three have been formally arrested and one has been sent to re-education through labour. Asked about concerns for the whereabouts and safety of those reported missing, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, told a regular press briefing last week: “China’s judicial authorities work independently. China, as a country under the rule of law, protects its citizens’ basic rights and freedoms – including freedom of expression – but citizens while exercising their rights have an obligation to abide by the law and should not bring harm to the public interest.” Ai Weiwei China Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Prime minister seeks to ‘deepen the unbreakable partnership’ and plans to announce extra aid for Pakistan David Cameron is to try to mend relations with the Pakistani government with a lightning visit to Islamabad where he will claim the two countries have “an unbreakable partnership”. He headed to Islamabad for a day of talks after visiting UK fighter pilots enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone from a Nato base in Sicily. He will hold talks with president Asif Ali Zardari and the prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, during his first visit to the country – a trip designed to restore relations after he upset the Pakistani government last July by accusing elements in the country of “facing both ways on terrorism”. Cameron’s criticism of Pakistan for promoting the export of terror created such a diplomatic outcry because it was made on a trip to India and because he refused to withdraw his remarks. He attempted to patch up relations during Zardari’s visit to Britain in August, held against the background of Pakistan’s floods. The two countries have agreed to hold a strategic dialogue comprising annual discussions between leaders and bi-annual foreign ministers talks. Zardari has repeatedly warned the west that the battle for hearts and minds over the Taliban’s use of Pakistan as the base for its attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan is being lost. He says Cameron has not done enough to recognise how much Pakistan is doing to combat terrorism. Acknowledging the misunderstandings of the past, Cameron will argue in a speech to students that he wants “a new chapter in the relationship between our two countries. We want to deepen and enhance the unbreakable partnership between Pakistan and Britain. The unbreakable partnership must not just be between our two governments. It must be between our peoples, too”. He will acknowledge “there are challenges that our friendship must overcome”, including the subjects of relations with India, national security and questions of governance. Cameron will call for a fresh start: “It is time for a new step in relations between Britain and Pakistan, and between Britons and Pakistanis.” He wants a “Pakistan that is safe for its citizens, free from the threat of terror on your doorsteps, in your neighbourhoods”. He will promise a “Britain that respects your choices; a relationship of mutual trust”. He will draw parallels between the Arab democratic spring and the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan, the popular uprising against General Pervez Musharraf when he unconstitutionally sacked the chief justice , Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The f Foreign Office’s annual human rights report was still highly critical of Pakistan’s record, pointing to state efforts to muzzle independent media. It warned the judicial system was “under-trained, often politicised, corrupt and under-resourced”, adding: “The courts currently face a backlog of more than 1m cases. Successful convictions are rare. “Police investigations are often seriously flawed, based on allegation rather than evidence, and trials cannot be described as either fair or free in many cases, being marked by delay and intimidation.” The Pakistani foreign office dismissed the report as a worthless and skewed document that omitted the “positives” of Pakistani society. Cameron is expected to announce further aid for education and health. Britain has already announced the doubling of its development aid over the next four years, which will make Pakistan the highest recipient of British aid by 2015, receiving £446m annually. Cameron, who will also be meeting opposition leaders in Pakistan, is being accompanied by Sir Peter Ricketts, the national security adviser, Sir John Sawers, head of the secret intelligence service, Lady Warsi, the leading Muslim politician in the cabinet, and Sir David Richards, chief of the defence staff. The composition of the team underlines the degree to which the trip has a strong security element in light of the fact that as many as 50 terrorist plots in the UK are thought to have originated in Pakistan. At least four cabinet ministers have visited Pakistan in the last year – a sign of how important the government believes improved relations can be in preventing the threat of terrorist groups operating inside the country or in Afghanistan. Cameron will be relieved he is arriving at a time of improved Indian-Pakistani relations. Pakistan last week agreed to allow a visit by Indian investigators as part of their inquiry into the 2008 Mumbai militant attacks in a significant confidence building measure between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Pakistan Global terrorism David Cameron Terrorism policy Foreign policy Aid Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A news article written by a reporter at AFP
Continue reading …