Nigeria conflict: Boko Haram sect battles kill scores
Nearly 70 people have died in days of fighting between Nigerian forces and suspected Islamist gunmen in the country's north-east, officials say.
More than 50 Boko Haram militants were killed in a lengthy gun-battle in the town of Damaturu, said army chief of staff Lt Gen Azubuike Ihejirika.
Separately, at least 11 people died in a clash in the city of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", often targets security forces and state institutions.
Residents scared
The fighting had erupted in Damaturu - the state capital of Yobe - on Thursday afternoon, Police Commissioner Tanko said earlier.
Lt Gen Ihejirika said his forces had killed more than 50 suspected militants.
He told local radio: "They came with sophisticated and heavy weaponry... and bombs but our trained soldiers subdued them".
Seven policemen and two soldiers died in the clashes, Yobe's Police Commissioner Lawan Tanko told the BBC.
One eye-witness told the BBC that bomb blasts and shooting could be heard around Damaturu for several hours.
"People are scared and they are just moving out of the town now," said the witness, who gave his name as Suliman.
In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, at least 11 people were killed in another shootout, officials and medics say.
The city - on the threshold of the Sahara desert - is described by Nigerian authorities as Boko Haram's heartland.
The sect first came to prominence in 2009 when hundreds of its followers were killed when they attacked police stations in Maiduguri.
Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was arrested but died in police custody.
Boko Haram resumed its attacks - mostly in Maiduguri - a year later and has since staged deadly raids across the mostly Muslim north, as well as central areas such as Jos and Abuja.
Under Yusuf's leadership, the group demanded that Nigeria become an Islamic state but it is now believed to be made up of several factions, with various demands.
Protesters take to Moscow streets, calling for fair elections
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in Moscow, braving bitterly cold weather to demand fair elections after what they claim were rigged results earlier this month that returned Vladimir Putin's party to power.
The protest, organized primarily through social media and word of mouth, comes on the heels of an announcement by President Dmitry Medvedev of sweeping political reforms, an effort to address discontent following the December 4 parliamentary elections.
The latest mass protest follows one earlier this month, when tens of thousands of people across Russia turned out to protest the election results that kept Putin's ruling United Russia party in power, albeit with a smaller majority. Police estimated crowds in Moscow at 25,000, while organizers said at least twice as many participated.
The protests were considered -- among analysts and political observers -- the largest in Russia in the past two decades.
Turnout at Saturday's protests was even greater, organizers said.
Besides blasting election results, demonstrators spoke about the presidential vote scheduled next year, repeating a popular refrain: "Russia without Putin."
Dozens of protesters were detained across Russia on Saturday, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. Ten activists were held in St. Petersburg, 22 in Nizhny Novgorod, and about 20 in Barnaul, it said.
Police put the number of protesters in central Moscow at 29,000, but organizers and RIA Novosti correspondents estimated the real number was several times higher, the news agency reported.
Speaking this week before the newly elected parliament members in the Kremlin's St. George Hall, Medvedev proposed that Russia return to direct elections of regional governors; simplify the registration of political parties and presidential candidates; and establish a new editorially independent national public TV channel.
Medvedev also called for lifting many of the political restrictions imposed in the past several years by his predecessor, Putin, Russia's current prime minister and a candidate in the March 2012 presidential elections.
He also announced a number of new anti-corruption measures and called for the redistribution of power and financial resources from the federal government to local governments across the country.
At the same time, he rejected widespread public criticism of the parliamentary elections, which critics say were marred by fraud and other irregularities, and blamed anti-Kremlin opposition figures for their "attempts to manipulate the people and foment social discord."
"We will not allow instigators and extremists to involve society in their reckless schemes, nor will we tolerate interference in our internal affairs from the outside," Medvedev said.
"Russia needs democracy, not chaos. We need to have a faith for the future and justice. It is a good sign that society is changing, and citizens are expressing their position more actively, setting legitimate demands to the authorities. It is a sign that our democracy is growing more mature."
Protest organizers said Medvedev, who announced the reforms during his fourth and final state-of-the-nation speech Thursday, failed to address what authorities are planning to do about the recent alleged voting fraud, as well as whether fair and free elections are guaranteed in the future.
Bolt, Suarez leading Latina poll
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Uruguayan footballer Luis Suarez have so far topped the poll for Sportsman Of The Year in Latin America and the Caribbean conducted by the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.
World record holder Bolt and ace striker Suarez shared the lead with 27 votes apiece earlier this week.
It’s the fourth end-of-year award for which Bolt is being considered following a season in which he regained the 200 metres World title, helped Jamaica to another record in the men’s 4x100 relay, and ran unbeaten, although his copybook was marred by his false start in the 100 at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Suarez scored four goals for Uruguay as they won a record 15th Copa América earlier this year in Argentina. He was chosen Player Of The Tournament. Nicknamed “El Pistolero” (“The Gunslinger”), Suarez has also been in good form for English Premiership giants Liverpool.
In third place with 12 votes is Argentinian player Lionel Messi, star striker of the Spanish club Barcelona, European champions and winners of the World Club Championship.
Other sportsmen being considered are Brazilian Cesar Cielo, swimming World champion in short course pools and winner of four gold medals at the Pan Am Games Guadalajara 2011, with five votes.
Strangely, Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown did not get into the frame although she won a gold medal at the World Championships in the 200 and ran consistently well. (CMC)
NBA reduces player suspensions
The NBA has reduced suspensions for the Lakers' Andrew Bynum and the Pistons' Charlie Villanueva by one game because of the shortened season.
The league on Friday trimmed one game off the five-game ban Bynum was given for knocking the Mavericks' J.J. Barea to the court in the second round of last season's playoffs. The center will now miss the first four games and be eligible to return Dec. 31 against Denver.
Villanueva was originally suspended five games for instigating an altercation with Cleveland's Ryan Hollins and attempting to escalate it by entering the Cavaliers' locker room. He served a game of it last season and will have to miss the first three of this season, and is also eligible to play to New Year's Eve against Indiana.
AP
Allen Stanford ruled fit for trial over 'Ponzi scheme'
A US federal judge has ruled Texan financier Allen Stanford is mentally fit to stand trial for allegedly operating a $7bn (£4.5bn) Ponzi scheme.
Mr Stanford, 61, is accused of one of the biggest white-collar fraud cases since Bernard Madoff.
The former cricket mogul's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that he suffers from an impaired memory following a prison attack in September 2009.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
"I see no brain injury that stands in the way of his standing trial," said Dr Robert Cochrane, a psychological evaluator at the prison.
US District Judge David Hittner agreed after a three-day hearing in Houston, Texas, that Mr Stanford was able to help his lawyers prepare for the trial.
Mr Stanford has spent more than eight months at a North Carolina prison hospital undergoing psychological tests and being weaned off anti-anxiety medication.
Charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009, Mr Stanford denies running a Ponzi scheme involving the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank in Antigua.
Burrell back in the fold
Well-known personalities Horace Burrell, Ronald Jones and Yves Jean-Bart were among nine administrators appointed to restore the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) to normality over the next five months.
Burrell, the suspended president of the Jamaica Football Federation, who will regain his status on January 16 next year; Jones, the president of Barbados Football Association and minister of education; and Jean-Bart of Haiti are the three most recognisable figures on the nine-member Normalisation Committee appointed during an Extraordinary Congress of the CFU over the last two days at FIFA headquarters.
They have been joined by Luis Hernandez of Cuba, Victor Daniel from Grenada, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, Larry Mussenden from Bermuda, Everton Gonsalves of Antigua & Barbuda, and Rignaal Francisca of Curaçao to execute a number of tasks to return the CFU to equilibrium following the fallout from the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked the regional governing body earlier this year.
Several high-ranking officials in the regional game, principally CFU President Jack Warner, either stepped away from the game, suffered suspension imposed by FIFA, the sport's world governing body, fines, or reprimands.
Jean-Bart, the chairman of the congress, said in a media release on Thursday: "I am proud to have been part of such a historical achievement and expect the decisions taken at the Zurich meetings will result in a brighter and better CFU."
The Normalisation Committee has a 10-point plan on which to work, leading to elections for a new CFU Executive Committee no later than May 15 next year.
The committee will perform the functions of the CFU Executive Committee until elections are held.
It is also expected to appoint an interim CFU general secretary and review new CFU statutes to be proposed by the CFU Legal Committee.
Preparing the 2011 Annual Report and setting a date for a CFU Extraordinary Congress to approve the new CFU statutes must also take place no later than 90 days from Tuesday this week.
The Normalisation Committee is also expected to appoint a Legal Committee, a Finance Committee and a Football Committee, while also making recommendations to the membership as to the legal domicile of the CFU.
Appointing two delegates to attend all CONCACAF meetings or working groups will also be a task of the CFU Normalisation Committee, as well as consulting with the confederation on the appointment of a member of the committee as the Caribbean zone representative to the FIFA Executive Committee as an observer.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter said: "I am very pleased that the representatives of the CFU have reached an agreement in order to move forward and to look into the future, for the good of the game in the region."
Leaders of 30 national associations attended the meeting that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fifa riding roughshod over CFU officials—Jack
Former vice-president of world football governing body FIFA, Jack Warner, says the organisation is engaged in a hostile takeover of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and it must be stopped. Warner said FIFA had “no locus standi or even hierarchical relationship” with the CFU. In a statement yesterday, Warner said he was breaking his silence on FIFA matters after an unconstitutional CFU congress was held in Zurich on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Warner said he would be making further statements next Wednesday and at other unspecified dates. He said his action might cause him to be summoned before the Ethics Committee, “but I am no longer prepared to sit back and watch from the sidelines, while a few men destroy an entire region for their own selfish and self-serving motives.”
Warner, who is the Minister of Works and Infrastructure in the People’s Partnership Government, resigned from FIFA after being called to appear before the FIFA Ethics Committee to answer allegations of wrongdoing, during a CFU meeting in Port-of-Spain. He said this week’s congress in Zurich was unconstitutional. “At this unconstitutional CFU congress, certain decisions were taken by the FIFA president—decisions which the presidents of 26 of the 30 national associations present accepted without even consulting their members who they purported to represent.”
Warner said the leaders from Anguilla, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and T&T did not support FIFA “and its unethical actions.” He said some of the unethical decisions accepted at the meeting were:
• the appointment of a Normalisation Committee to execute various tasks on behalf of the CFU;
• the appointment of an interim CFU general secretary;
• review of the new CFU statutes to be proposed by the CFU Legal Committee;
• preparation of the 2011 Annual Report;
• setting the date for a CFU extraordinary congress to approve the new CFU statutes—such date to be no later than 90 days after December 20, 2011; and
• appointing a Legal Committee, a Finance Committee and a Football Committee.
Warner said: “Never in the history of the FIFA has an organisation that is not a member of FIFA been subject to the ‘law’ of FIFA.”
He said the congress failed to discuss issues such as:
• the status of the FIFA Development Office in the Caribbean and the termination by the FIFA, without reason, of the contracts of all officers of this office; and
• the termination, by the FIFA, of the contracts of the T&T FIFA Referee Development Officers Ramesh Ramdhan and Merere Gonzales without explanation (and) without reason.
“In one fell swoop, the Caribbean football leadership has now undone its struggle of some 33 years and has disrespected the entire region,” Warner said. “The arrogance with which the FIFA continues to ride roughshod over duly elected officials of both the CFU and the Concacaf is not just unethical but plain outright immoral. “It demonstrates the crass disrespect to the independence and sanctity of the constitutions of both organisations because the FIFA imposes on these two organisations its will which is neither recognised by FIFA’s constitution nor the constitutions of the CFU and the Concacaf.” Warner in his seven-page statement insisted: “This type of behaviour must never be allowed to continue without a voice of dissent being raised against such malfeasance.”
St Kitts welcomes inaugural non-stop commercial flight from Canada
The Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport will today welcome its first non-stop commercial flight from Canada.
Government said the Air Canada flight from Toronto will make St. Kitts and its sister island, Nevis, a more viable winter destination choice for travelers from “this key North American market.”
Minister of Tourism Senator Richard “Ricky” Skerritt said in a previous interview that Canada is “always a viable source market for visitors and investors as well as home to a large contingent of our Diaspora.”
“I am grateful that Air Canada Vacations is adding us to their lists of partner destinations this coming winter and our government is working closely with our local hoteliers and other St Kitts and Nevis tourism stakeholders to make full use of this opportunity to strengthen our travel and tourism relationship with Canada.”
The tourism minister and St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas are among officials who will welcome the flight from the Pearson International Airport.
Air Canada is using an Airbus 319 aircraft with 108 Economy Class seats and 12 Business Class seats for the flight that arrives here at 3:10 pm.
Caribbean 360 News
Stanford lawyers file motion to delay January trial
LIAT intends to expand its cargo service next year, Director of Cargo and Quikpak,Wilbur Edwards has said.
The disclosure came as the airline announced that its freighter service has transported a million pounds of cargo within a year of its February 2011 launch.
Edwards said the milestone was achieved with this month’s opening up of the San Juan and the United States Virgin Islands market.
The airline was previously unable to move cargo into those territories because of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
“Next year we will focus on greater service delivery and using our website …to better advantage in terms of tracking, proof of deliveries and other customer service information,” Edwards said in a media release.
“We said we would do it and we did, in spite of many challenges and set-backs.
He noted that the freighter service has stimulated significant movements on LIAT’s regular line flights, which when combined produced more 1.5 million pounds.
The airline official pointed out that amount does not include more than 30,000 pounds of bulk baggage also carried by the freighter aircraft over the period.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Challenger said the management was proud of the achievements of its cargo team.
He said they “demonstrated that even in the midst of a global and regional economic recession they have been able to grow the business from scratch to achieve this significant milestone.”
Caribbean 360 News
Michael Blackburn resigns as head of LIAT pilots union
Captain Michael Blackburn has resigned as Chairman of the Leeward Islands Pilots Association (LIALPA) as he prepares to file a lawsuit against regional carrier LIAT challenging his summary dismissal earlier this month.
Captain Blackburn said his resignation Thursday would prevent possible conflict of interest since he may have to call on association members to aid his defense.
The senior pilot said he will file the challenge by the first week in January, the latest.
He is also aiming to clear his name following allegations he compromised flight safety during a trip to St Lucia.
The former union boss denied being pressured into making the decision and expressed full confidence in the current LIALPA leadership.
“We have a very effective executive council remaining in office and a new chairman would be elected within 60 days. There is no amount of persuasion by members who support me fully that could make me to stay on,” he said.
“LIAT has made some allegations regarding my professional conduct recently and I have to exonerate myself and I would take whatever steps I have to, to do it. That would place me in a compromising position because the position of chairman of the association is very powerful so that I would be in a position to exercise undue leverage or the appearance thereof, which is equally important to me and therefore I have no choice but to step down.”
The former chairman stated he does not believe his resignation will negatively affect the position of LIAPA, which along with other unions are involved in an industrial dispute with the management of the Antigua-based airline.
“It might even strengthen the resolve of guys who will realise they can operate without me,” he said of his resignation.
“If the company is under the belief that because I’m not there they can do whatever they would like or they can take advantage of the situation, then the Caribbean people would pay a serious price.”
The trade unionist denied reports of serious disunity within the association, saying “there is no big division.”
He also urged LIALPA to proceed with changes to the constitution to ensure there is collective leadership rather than centralized power for the chairman.
Captain Blackburn was employed with LIAT for 34 years, and served 32 of them on the LIALPA executive.
His sacking led to days of industrial action by pilots, which left thousands of regional travelers stranded.
Caribbean 360 News