World News joined 6

[OMEN]

Dec. 31: Police officers beat opposition supporters during riots in the Kibera slum in Nairobi.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan police battled thousands of opposition supporters enraged over President Mwai Kibaki's allegedly fraudulent re-election, firing tear gas and live ammunition as the death toll from the violence rose to 103, officers and witnesses said.

Several officers said they had orders to shoot to kill, while opposition supporters said they would risk death to protest what they called a stolen election. Demonstrators were beaten back with tear gas and water cannons, and police fired live rounds over their heads in Nairobi's burning slums.

"We have been rigged out, we are not going to accept defeat," said 24-year-old James Onyango, who lives in Nairobi's Kibera slum. "We are ready to die and we're ready for serious killings."

Raila Odinga, the fiery opposition leader who came in second according to the official results, compared Kibaki to a military dictator who "seized power through the barrel of the gun," and called on 1 million people to gather Thursday in Nairobi's Uhuru Park — where protesters gathered to demand multiparty democracy in the early 1990s.

"We are calling for mass action," said Odinga, who had been leading early results and public opinion polls. "We will inform police of the march. We will march wearing black arm bands because we are mourning."

An Associated Press reporter saw a man who had been shot in the head being carried in a blanket. Men around him said he had been shot by police. Police were not immediately available for comment.

Teams of riot police fired shots into the air and tear gas into homes and businesses; in one home, a woman and her four young children ran out, retching.

"We were just hiding from the shots," said Dorothy Nyangasi, frantically pouring water over the eyes of her 6-month-old old son Daniel.

Opposition supporters blocked a road into Nairobi's city center with burning refuse. Police with batons and riot shields hit and detained opposition supporters in Kibera.

There, 14-year-old Selina Angeyo said police had shot her brother and another man in the stomach. Shortly after she spoke to reporters she was arrested and taken away crying in a marked police vehicle.

The violence has killed at least 103 people since Saturday across the country, police and witnesses said, although the tally was likely far higher. Three police officers told The Associated Press independently that they had been ordered to shoot to kill to stop the rioters.

A government spokesman denied such an order was given.

Odinga postponed a rally planned for Uhuru Park Monday after police warned the opposition not to hold it.

The United States said it was concerned over "serious problems" during the counting of votes.

"Those alleging vote tampering may pursue legal remedies and should be able, consistent with respect for freedom of speech, to make their case publicly. We call on the judiciary to play its role expeditiously," the U.S. embassy in Kenya said.

Kibaki, 76, was sworn in almost immediately after the results were announced. Within minutes, the slums exploded into fresh violence.

Suspicions over rigging were fueled by the fact that the opposition took most of the parliamentary seats in Thursday's vote, but Kibaki still won the election.

Kenya is one of the most developed countries in Africa, with a booming tourism industry and one of the continent's highest growth rates. Many observers saw the campaign as the greatest test of this young, multiparty democracy and expressed great disappointment as the process descended into chaos.

Some Kibera residents said that they had not been able to find food since shops closed for elections on Thursday and trouble began over the delayed vote-counting. A woman shouted "hungry! hungry!" at passing journalists.

Kibaki's supporters say he has turned Kenya's economy into an east African powerhouse, with an average annual growth rate of 5 percent. He won by a landslide in 2002, ending 24 years in power by the notoriously corrupt Daniel arap Moi. But Kibaki's anti-graft campaign has largely been seen as a failure, and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty.

The election violence had a disturbing tribal undertone in the slums, where youths shouted ethnic slurs. Kibaki, from the Kikuyu tribe, has been accused of maintaining the tribal patronage system of the Moi years. Odinga is a Luo, another major tribe.

FoxNews

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SPOKANE, Wash. — A 20-year-old man from New York state was jailed in Spokane during the weekend after being accused of stalking a 15-year-old girl he says he met while playing the video game Halo.

Police arrested the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., man after he apparently drove to Spokane, went past the girl's house, and threatened her in a text message.

The girl's parents were outside when the man passed and honked. They got his license plate number and called police.

Police say they traced the man to a Spokane motel. After questioning, police charged Joshua R. Stetar, of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with one felony count of stalking. He was booked into jail at 1:47 a.m. Saturday. Eight hours later, he posted $10,000 bond and was released.

Fox News

[OMEN]

Virgin Atlantic is a key transatlantic carrier operating from main airports
Sir Richard Branson has told Virgin Atlantic staff who are threatening to strike over a wage deal offered by the airline to consider working elsewhere.

In a letter to 4,800 cabin crew, the Virgin boss warned he would not be meeting pay demands.

Workers' union Unite called the letter from Sir Richard "provocative".

It comes after union members voted to strike in January in protest over pay levels they say are lower than at other airlines, including British Airways.

The 48-hour strikes are scheduled for 9 and 10 January, and 16 and 17 January.

For some of you, more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere
Sir Richard Branson

The strikes are not the only industrial action scheduled by aviation workers for January.

Union members at airport operator BAA are set to cause mass disruption at some of the UK's largest airports on three other dates next month.

'Dangerous precedent'?

In his letter, Sir Richard said Virgin Atlantic had "drawn a line in the sand" over pay this year.

"To go further would result in unacceptable risks and would set a dangerous precedent to the company as a whole," he added.

"It would be irresponsible of our management and they, rightly, are not going to take that risk."

Sir Richard admitted that rival airlines often offered better basic wages but said that they did not offer the perks that came with working for a "smaller, more friendly" company.

"For some of you, more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere," Sir Richard said.

Virgin Atlantic has previously said that there would be no "eleventh hour change to our pay offer".

The airline said its offer was worth 8.3% on basic pay over two years, with a 4.8% increase offered in the first year.

'Unhelpful'

A Unite spokesperson said the letter was "unhelpful in resolving the dispute" and would "only make people more upset".

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said that since the letter was sent, a number of union members had contacted management offering to cross the picket line and work on the strike days.

BBC

[OMEN]

Chancellor Merkel said the state had to intervene in some cases
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the nation to pay more attention to the needs of children at risk of neglect or abuse.

In her New Year message, Mrs Merkel said "we need a culture of closer inspection, not of looking away".

German police recently uncovered a huge, internet-based network distributing images of child sex abuse. Germans were also shocked in December by two separate cases involving the killing of eight young children.

"We all think with horror of the news of child abuse, neglect and deaths... In cases where parents clearly cannot cope with the raising of their children, the state must intervene," Mrs Merkel said.

German media quoted parts of her speech on Monday, ahead of a broadcast on national television.

Mrs Merkel called for more preventive checks and wider scope for family courts to make decisions on child custody.

Drive for more jobs

On the economy, she warned that Germany's figure of 3.5 million unemployed was still too high.

But she said Germany had taken a "good step forward" in creating more jobs. "A million fewer unemployed, a million gainfully employed - who could have thought such a development possible two years ago?" she said.

She said global economic risks meant Germany "must on no account relax". She reiterated her goal of maintaining existing jobs and creating new ones.

The BBC's Berlin correspondent Steve Rosenberg says Chancellor Merkel outshone other EU leaders internationally in 2007.

Germany's presidency of the EU and G8 in the first half of the year put her in the international spotlight, he says.

But she cannot afford to be complacent, as cracks are showing in the coalition government between her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Social Democrat (SPD) partners, our correspondent says.

BBC

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President Sarkozy wants Syria to use its influence in Lebanon
France is to suspend diplomatic contacts with Syria, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

Links will be restored only when France has proof that Syria is not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon, Mr Sarkozy said.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, as rival pro- and anti- Syrian factions argue over who should fill the post.

"I ask Syria to... work to create agreement," said Mr Sarkozy.

France "will not make any more contacts with Syria... as long as there is no proof of Syria's willingness to let Lebanon choose a consensus president," he told reporters, during a visit to Egypt.

Standoff

BBC correspondent Heba Saleh in Cairo says attempts to install a new Lebanese president have stalled because of the standoff between the pro-Western government and the opposition backed by Syria and Iran.

France has attempted to mediate between the two sides and agreement has been reached on a compromise candidate - army commander Gen Michel Suleiman.

But the rival factions cannot agree on how to share power once Gen Suleiman assumes his position.

France now hopes that putting pressure on Syria will move the process forward.

Syrian troops occupied Lebanon for 30 years until they withdrew in 2005, and Syria retains considerable influence on political life in its neighbour.

BBC

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[OMEN]

A MAN is being questioned by police over the death of a 10-year-old girl whose body was found in a Queensland holiday home early today.

The 39-year-old man had been sought by police over the death. He was found this afternoon with a seven-year-old boy at Mt Glorious west of Brisbane.

The child is safe and well and the man has been taken to a nearby police station.

A bag containing a hammer and bloodied clothes was discovered near the holiday home at Bongareee on Bribie Island where the girl's body was found.

The items were taken for examination by police, who have not said whether they were linked to the death.

Investigators would not comment on whether the man was related to the girl.

It's believed the girl died more than 24 hours ago but it was not known how she died or where in the house her body was found.

Neighbours said a family had moved in to the house as recently as Saturday.

Central to the investigation is likely to be the hammer and clothes found just metres from the house.

According to neighbours, the bag was found hanging on a display area that until recently had boasted a Nativity scene of the Bribie Island branch of the Uniting Church opposite the house.

Late this afternoon, SES volunteers began arriving on the scene and were expected to comb bush and parkland behind the church.

NewsAU

[OMEN]

BRUTAL unrest across Kenya over President Mwai Kibaki's re-election has left 251 dead - some of them hacked to death.

Forty-eight bodies, most of them with fresh bullet wounds, were brought to the morgue in the western Kenya city of Kisumu, a mortuary attendant said today.

"They brought in 48 bodies, including three children, 44 had fresh bullet wounds, four were hacked with machetes," the mortuary attendant said.

Police raids and tribal clashes over the past two days had already claimed 53 lives in Kisumu, the country's third city and a stronghold of defeated presidential challenger Raila Odinga.

"In total since yesterday, we have 101 bodies lying in the mortuary," the attendant said, amid fears more victims would be discovered.

In Kisumu's Kondele slum, "there are three uncollected bodies lying on the ground," said John Otieno, a local resident.

"Police went on a killing spree overnight. They have been shooting indiscriminately at people," he said.

At least 18 other people were killed overnight in the nearby town of Eldoret and its surroundings, police said.

"Seven people were killed in Timboroa settlement overnight. The public forcefully snatched an AK-47 rifle from a man, killing him and six of his colleagues," a police official said.

He was not able to elaborate on the exact circumstances of the incident, which took place a few kilometres outside Eldoret.

An AFP correspondent in the town also saw 11 bodies strewn in the streets of the Langas estate, with bullet or machete wounds.

The latest reports bring to at least 251 the total number of people who have been killed in the east African nation since the disputed December 27 polls, which saw incumbent President Mwai Kibaki retain his job amid rigging charges.

Mr Odinga renewed his accusations that the presidential election was rigged and the US withdrew its endorsement of the result.

Mr Kibaki vowed to clamp down on the unrest.

"We have put enough police officers in the specific areas where the incidences of violence have occurred to ensure everyone is secure," he said in a New Year message in which he appealed for "national healing" and reconciliation.

Mr Odinga again rejected Mr Kibaki's victory and urged his supporters to turn out for an alternative "inauguration" rally in Nairobi on Thursday.

Police banned his plan for a rival swearing in today and threatened Mr Odinga with arrest if it went ahead.

Hacked to death

Ethnic rivalries have flared in the political tensions.

Six members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe were hacked to death today in the port of Mombasa, residents said.

"Whatever has happened to us, because Raila was not sworn in as president, we will avenge and start moving from house to house to kill the Kikuyus," one Mombasa resident said, before running amok with a gang of looters.

The Kikuyus, the country's largest tribe, responded to the deaths in Mombasa, killing three Luo, the second largest group, to which Mr Odinga belongs.

Foreign governments warned their nationals to avoid non-essential travel to the east African nation, while tour operators called off excursions for tourists already there.

The Government has enforced a ban on live television broadcasts related to the election in what it says is an effort to contain the violence.

"We know there are skirmishes in many parts of the country. We are fully cracking down and fully responding to every situation," said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.

Kisumu police chief Grace Kaindi declined to comment on the death toll, but acknowledged that officers had opened fire on "looters" during the night.

Concern

The UN's top human rights official, Louise Barbour, called on the Kenyan authorities to root out security force excesses.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon "urges the security forces to show utmost restraint" and "appeals to the population for calm, patience and respect for law," his press office said in a statement.

Amnesty International called for an independent investigation into the killings of civilians.

"Those responsible for human rights abuses should be brought to justice without undue delay," the group said.

Agence France-Presse

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PAKISTAN parliamentary elections that were due on January 8 will now be held in February, a senior election commission official says.

"Elections will not be delayed beyond February. We expect it to be towards the later part of next month,'' the official said.

The commission will make a public announcement later in the day.

"We want the delay to be minimal. But the election commission needs a realistic amount of time to get things back on track,'' he said, referring to the turmoil that has gripped the country after Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

The election commission held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the situation in the wake of the bloody violence unleashed by Ms Bhutto's slaying that has left at least 58 people dead.

The parliament vote is seen as a final step in a transition to civilian-led democracy under President Pervez Musharraf, who grabbed power in the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation in a 1999 military coup.

He stepped down from the army only at the end of November - under intense international pressure - after securing a second term as president.

The US, which views Mr Musharraf as a frontline ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists, said earlier it would still prefer a vote on January 8 if it could be held "in a safe and secure way".

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said a delay may be acceptable as long as there was broad approval, but warned Washington would have "concerns'' if there was an indefinite postponement.

Ms Bhutto, a two-time former premier who had recently returned from exile to lead her Pakistan People's Party into the elections, was assassinated in a gun and suicide bomb attack as she left a rally last Thursday.

It sparked street clashes, arson and violence across the country as angry protesters denounced the Government, although life in the major cities has largely returned to normal.

Opposition parties, including Ms Bhutto's, have sharply criticised Mr Musharraf over her death and gone back and forth on whether they would accept a delay to the election.

Ms Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, who was named as co-chairman of the party along with his son, said yesterday the vote should go ahead as planned, telling CNN "democracy was the best vengeance'' against terrorism.

"There can be elections in Afghanistan when there is an al-Qaeda movement. Why can't there be elections in Pakistan and on time?'' he said.

Opposition parties allege the commission is biased in favour of Mr Musharraf, whose popularity has plummeted in the past year.

Previous elections have been marred by bloodshed and allegations of widespread vote-rigging.

Public anger at the death of Ms Bhutto, a pro-Western politician whose family dynasty has a huge popular following, has mounted since the interior ministry denied that her attacker - clearly seen in videos firing a gun at close range - had actually hit her.

It said she died banging her head on her car's sunroof.

Ms Bhutto's party, which has named her 19-year-old son Bilawal to take over as its titular chairman, has demanded a UN probe - something a senior government official said was out of the question.

Agence France-Presse

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DUTCH police have arrested three men suspected of planning an imminent attack.

Prosecutors said that police made the arrests in Rotterdam after the Dutch intelligence service said it was possible the suspects - aged 31, 32 and 39 - were about to carry out an unspecified act of violence.

Prosecutors were not immediately available to give more details.

The Dutch government has classed the risk of a terrorist attack as "substantial", the second highest in a four-stage warning system, since the London bombings on July 7, 2005.

In 2004 the Netherlands was shaken by the murder of filmmaker and Islam critic Theo van Gogh by a Dutch-Moroccan.

Several other Muslim militants have since been sentenced for planning attacks on politicians and government buildings.

Reuters