World News joined 5

[JohnCenaFan28]

An Arabic TV channel has aired a video claiming to show one of five Britons captured in Iraq eight months ago.



The footage showed a man making an appeal to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help secure the hostages' freedom.

"My name is Peter Moore, I have been held here for nearly eight months now," the man in the video footage said.

The man asked Mr Brown to free nine Iraqis in exchange for the Britons' release. The Foreign Office has condemned the release of the video.

The video shows the man speaking in English with an Arabic translation played over the top.

The man appealed for the freedom of the Iraqis prisoners - being held by the coalition authorities - in exchange for the Britons who were seized in May 2007.

"All I want is to leave this place. I tell Gordon Brown the matter is simple: release their prisoners so we can go.

"It's as simple as that. It's a simple exchange of people. That is all they want - their people and we can go home," the man said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) criticised the footage and said: "We condemn the release of videos such as this, which are greatly distressing to the families of those involved. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

"We urge those holding the group to release them immediately. We are in close contact with the Iraqi authorities and doing everything we can to try and secure a swift release."

The FCO said it wanted anyone who could influence the situation to do what they could to ensure the "safety and release of the hostages".

"We again call directly on those holding these men to release them."

See video here

BBC News

[OMEN]

TRANS-TASMAN: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark in his Parliament House Office today.
New Zealand and Australia have pledged to work together on climate change and in the Pacific after the first official meeting between prime ministers Helen Clark and Kevin Rudd.

After a 2-1/2 hour meeting in Canberra, Mr Rudd said both countries had resolved to "form a new partnership together" and lauded relations as being "as good as it gets".

Mr Rudd pointed to increased cooperation on the international stage in climate change and on aid to the Pacific.

Climate change is one of the key issues on which New Zealand and Australia were divided during former prime minister John Howard's administration.

One of Mr Rudd's first tasks as prime minister was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

He said with Australia and New Zealand both having fully ratified Kyoto, they had "an unprecedented opportunity to work closely, seamlessly, globally" on climate change.

Miss Clark and Mr Rudd met previously but informally in December immediately after the Australian election.

The Dominion Post

[OMEN]

Australia has up to $A23 billion ($NZ26.60 billion) worth of risky defence projects under way and will re-think several costly purchases, including US fighter planes, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has said.

"This is a list of projects that are under real risk, real risk in terms of capability and real risk for the Australian taxpayer," Fitzgibbon told reporters, brandishing a confidential list of troubled military buys.

Fitzgibbon's centre-left Labour government, which won power in November, may dump several projects including the $A6.5 billion purchase by the former conservative government of 24 Super Hornet fighter planes from Boeing .

"The Super Hornet project is of great concern to us," Fitzgibbon said.

The Super Hornets were intended to filll a six-year gap between the retirement of Vietnam-era strike bombers and the 2016 arrival of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), but Labour believes they may not be needed despite JSF delays.

Also under review are a $A1.5 billion fleet of naval Seasprite helicopters, manufactured by Kaman Corp, and the problem-plagued $A1.4 billion upgrade of guided missile frigates by the local division of French defence electronics group Thales .

Fitzgibbon has ordered a review of Australia's military needs, as well as a fresh comparison of fighter aircraft plans amid delays in the $A16 billion purchase of 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

"Obviously these projects are commercially very sensitive," Fitzgibbon said, refusing to reveal the contents of the risk assessment file. Fitzgibbon at the weekend asked the United States to sell Australia Lockheed's advanced F-22 Raptor fighter.

Australia, a close US ally, has embarked on a $A61 billion military upgrade, with contracts signed or being negotiated for fighter aircraft, tanks, missile destroyers, aircraft carriers, cruise missiles and both attack and transport helicopters.

Fitzgibbon said reports two aircraft carriers and three advanced air warfare missile destroyers, worth $A11 billion and already ordered from Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia SA and US firm Raytheon, may be dumped were wrong.

"We made a firm commitment to those projects pre-election and we are absolutely committed to them," he said.

The fleet will transform Australia's navy into one of the most capable in the Asia region, with the two amphibious carriers able to land more than 2000 troops, attack helicopters or fighter aircraft and up to 23 Abrams tanks in one go.

Reuters

[OMEN]

A restaurant owner who fatally stabbed an "aggressive" patron who complained about slow service has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Khanh Vo, 35, grabbed a paring knife from the kitchen of his restaurant in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford and stabbed Anh Dung Nguyen, 54, during a fight on April 16, 2006.

Vo, of Ivanhoe, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Nguyen at the Vietnamese restaurant Bon Mua, which Vo ran with his wife.

The Victorian Supreme Court was told today that Mr Nguyen, who had been drinking earlier in the night at Crown Casino, arrived at the restaurant with a group of nine men about 11pm.

Mr Nguyen complained to Vo's wife at about 11.30pm about the slow service, the court was told.

Justice Kevin Bell told the court that witnesses had said Mr Nguyen had been "abrupt and rude" to Vo's wife.

When she told her husband about this exchange, he became upset and a fight erupted between Mr Nguyen's group and Vo's friends, who were also in the restaurant.

During the scuffle, Vo went to the kitchen where he picked up a paring knife before returning to the dining area.

"In the commotion you went to the kitchen and got a short-bladed paring knife," Justice Bell told the court.

"You swung at him (Mr Nguyen) stabbing him three times in the left side of the torso."

Mr Nguyen was transported to The Alfred Hospital where he died the next day from his injuries.

Justice Bell said he took into consideration that Vo had no prior convictions, had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was remorseful for his actions.

But he said the "impact on the deceased family has been acute".

"You have killed a person without provocation in a most violent manner in the presence of other people in a public place," Justice Bell said.

He took into account that Vo had already spent 682 days in custody, and sentenced him to seven years in jail with a non-parole period of four years

.

AAP

[JohnCenaFan28]

Four hostages held by Colombian left-wing Farc rebels have been released, Red Cross officials say.



The hostages were handed over to a delegation sent from Venezuela to secure their release, in a deal brokered by President Hugo Chavez.

A Red Cross spokeswoman said they were fit to travel, despite reports that some were in poor health.

The four ex-members of Colombia's congress are among some 40 high-profile hostages held for years by the Farc.

Last month, two women were freed as part of a deal, raising hopes of more hostage releases.

In a statement quoted by local media after the latest release, the Farc thanked Mr Chavez for his efforts.

Firm stance

The hostages are Luis Eladio Perez, Gloria Polanco, Orlando Beltran and Jorge Gechem.

Red Cross Colombia director Barbara Hintermann said they were handed over to Venezuelan and Colombian politicians and Red Cross personnel, who had arrived in the jungle on two helicopters to collect them.

"They are in our hands and they are in a fit state to travel," she said.

Venezuelan government spokesman Jesse Chacon said Mr Chavez had already spoken by phone to the released hostages.

Mr Chacon said he hoped the release "will help us continue advancing on the path to achieving liberations of the remainder and of course towhat we all yearn for: peace in Colombia".

The Venezuelan helicopters, bearing the Red Cross insignia, flew to the undisclosed location from the Venezuelan border town of Santo Domingo.

The hostages are now heading back to Venezuela, where they will be met by their families and Cuban medical personnel.

Ties between Colombia and Venezuela have been strained in recent months.

But last month, Mr Chavez helped broker a deal to free two hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez, who were picked up by Venezuelan helicopters from Colombian territory and flown on to Caracas to be reunited with their waiting families.

The release will raise hopes that more hostages might be freed, among them French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US defence contractors.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said it was a "powerful encouragement" in the task of freeing the remaining captives.

Pressure for concessions

The rebels have long wanted to exchange their high-profile hostages for hundreds of jailed guerrillas.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has maintained a firm stance against the Farc, which is regarded as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Medellin, Colombia, says that with the release, the pressure on Mr Uribe to make concessions to the Farc will increase.

But Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday that the Farc was using its calls for dialogue to gain political space and discredit the government.

Farc rebels are also thought to be holding several hundred other hostages, many of whom were taken for ransom to help fund rebel operations.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Russia has said that it may support a new set of UN sanctions against Iran if it does not stop work that may lead to the creation of nuclear weapons.



Western powers suspect Iran of developing weapons, and want it be subjected to sanctions in addition to those imposed in 2006 and 2007.

Correspondents say Russia has until recently been reluctant to impose further sanctions.

Iran denies it has a secret nuclear weapons programme.

Plutonium concerns

Asked by journalists if Russia would support sanctions, Mr Churkin said: "Yes. If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month.

"Russia is constantly insisting that the [UN] Security Council adopt certain sanctions against Iran," he added.

Heavy water reactors produce plutonium, which can be an alternative route to a nuclear device, the other being highly-enriched uranium.

Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran was being more transparent, but had not given "credible assurances" that it was not building a bomb.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had granted access to sites but remained evasive on key issues.

Renewed sanctions?

The UN Security Council imposed two rounds of sanctions in December 2006 and March 2007.

The first prevented the "supply, sale or transfer" of all goods linked to Iran's nuclear work, while the second prevented dealings with the Iranian state bank Sepah and 28 named people and organisations, many connected to the elite Revolutionary Guard. Imports of arms from Iran are banned while loans are supposed to be limited to humanitarian and development purposes.

The third sanctions resolution - formally submitted by France and Britain - calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials. It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companies targeted by the sanctions.

Russia's growing ties to Iran's energy industry have made it reluctant to impose more sanctions. Russia is helping to build a nuclear plant in Bushehr, Iran. It has also just finished delivering nuclear fuel to this plant under a $1bn (£501m) contract. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is also working to develop Iranian gas fields.

Tehran refuses to stop enriching uranium. It says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

An Israeli has been killed in a barrage of rockets fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip.



The Hamas militant group says it fired at least 20 rockets, including eight at the town of Sderot, a frequent target.

The rocket fire came hours after an Israeli air strike killed five members of Hamas's military wing as they drove near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The Israeli fatality occurred when one of the unguided Hamas rockets hit a college on the outskirts of Sderot.

He is the fifth Israeli killed in attacks by Palestinian militants in the last three months. Since then more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, most of them militants.

Israeli media said the rocket exploded in a car park at Sapir College and a student, 30, was hit in the heart by shrapnel.

“I saw the man with his chest gaping open and he was being tended by medics. When another alarm went off there was mass hysteria in the college – people were shouting, screaming, crying," said psychology student Orel David.

A second man received wounds to his legs and was taken away by stretcher.

Hamas officials said the five dead in Khan Younis included a senior engineer who built rockets and commander who led a rocket squad.

It was followed by a second strike on the same site that left three people wounded, medical sources said.

In other violence on Wednesday, a militant from the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement was killed overnight in an air strike in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Two other Palestinians were killed and two wounded in an afternoon air strike in Gaza City, witnesses said.

Gaza's rocket threat

In the West Bank, Israeli undercover forces killed a militant and wounded a bystander in a daylight raid in Nablus, Palestinian sources said.

The violence comes a day after two senior UN envoys told the Security Council that no progress had been made towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement since the launch of US-sponsored peace talks.

Israel carries out frequent military action in the coastal strip in an effort to curb near-daily rocket and mortar fire against southern Israel.

It is three months to the day since the US-sponsored Annapolis conference which was meant to restart the peace process between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's terrible news, thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[OMEN]

Bangkok - Deposed Premier Thaksin Shinawatra may have returned to Thailand on Thursday to a rapturous welcome by supporters, but he still faces a raft of legal challenges launched by the generals who ousted him 17 months ago.

Here are some of Thaksin's most significant legal troubles:

# Thaksin faces charges before the Supreme Court that he used his political office to win his wife a sweetheart deal in the purchase of prime Bangkok real estate in 2003.

He has been granted bail of eight million baht (about R1.8m) and banned from leaving Thailand without permission. The first hearing in the trial is set for March 12.

# The Department of Special Investigations, Thailand's equivalent of the American FBI, has brought separate charges accusing him of making fraudulent filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission when he listed a property firm in 2003.

He was granted bail of one million baht and ordered to appear again on April 3.

# Army-installed investigators are still looking into allegations of wrongdoing in his family's sale of his telecom firm Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

His family made more than $2bn tax-free off the sale in January 2006, which sparked street protests that eventually led to the coup.

# Nearly a dozen other corruption cases are being examined by army-installed investigators, who could file additional charges against Thaksin, his family, and his political allies.

# Two billion dollars of his assets are frozen pending the outcome of the corruption investigations, money that Thaksin will doubtlessly want to regain.

# A military-appointed tribunal has banned Thaksin and 110 of his allies from politics for five years. The new government has said it would consider granting them an amnesty in two years, but that may not be fast enough for Thaksin's liking.

AFP

[OMEN]

Edinburgh - Authorities sealed off a building in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday night after finding three packages inside that might contain radioactive material, an official said.

Firefighters and police placed a cordon around the three-story Regent Language Training School at about 19:00, said Jim Fraser, a group manager with the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service.

The small packages were found in a cupboard as it was being cleaned and warnings printed on them indicated they contained radioactive materials, he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

However, officials did not know what the packages contained and whether it was radioactive, he said.

No people were inside the cordoned-off building, and authorities did not evacuate other buildings in the area, Fraser said.

A radiation expert was called to the scene with the equipment needed to test the packages and find out what they contain, Fraser said.

[OMEN]

Cape Town - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in South Africa on Thursday on his first visit to an English-speaking African nation since taking office in May, with talks expected to focus on energy.

Sarkozy was scheduled to kick off his two-day visit in Cape Town, the seat of the nation's parliament, with talks at 11:00 with South African President Thabo Mbeki. He will later address the assembly.

He was due to hold a joint press conference with Mbeki at 12:10.

South Africa's energy crisis is expected to feature high on the agenda, with Mbeki seeking co-operation from his counterpart along with increased French investment in the transport, energy, automotive and aeronautical sectors.

Meeting with Mandela

The chairperson of French nuclear giant Areva, Anne Lauvergeon, is accompanying Sarkozy as the company bids for a contract to build up to 12 power plants in Africa's economic powerhouse, crippled by an electricity shortage.

The plants would be built in partnership with construction conglomerate Bouygues and French electricity giant EDF, alongside South African engineering firm Aveng.

"Sarkozy aims to light up our lives", screams a bold headline in The Star newspaper on Thursday.

South Africa's state power utility Eskom has rationed electricity use across South Africa. As a result of the shortage, diamond, gold and platinum mines were shut for a week last month and thousands of workers are at risk of losing their jobs.

Controlled power blackouts have disrupted everything from manufacturing to traffic lights in what the government has labelled a national emergency.

Mbeki and Sarkozy are expected to sign a raft of energy, science and technology deals, as well as partnerships in tourism and transport security ahead of South Africa's hosting of the 2010 football World Cup.

On the agenda for talks are security issues on the continent, including the ongoing conflict in Chad which Sarkozy visited prior to South Africa.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss reform of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods international financial institutions.

France is South Africa's eighth largest trading partner and an important investor. Bilateral trade reached R25bn last year.

The trade balance remains in France's favour, with South Africa exporting mainly minerals, metals and other commodities while imports from France included machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Officials in the two delegations were to meet in a joint business forum in Cape Town.

Sarkozy is accompanied by his new wife, singer and model Carla Bruni.

After the business forum at Cape Town, the pair will leave for Johannesburg for a private meeting with former president and anti-apartheid icon 89-year-old Nelson Mandela.

[OMEN]

A video of white South African university students feeding black campus cleaners soup they had urinated in has caused outrage in a country scarred by decades of apartheid.
University classes were cancelled and staff and students protested on Wednesday, demanding action against the four men.

The video shows one student urinating into a container of soup placed on a toilet seat at the University of the Free State, situated in a conservative Afrikaner farming region.

"This is the final ingredient," he said before heating the soup in a microwave oven and giving it to the elderly cleaners - four women and one man.

They were also taken to a bar where they drank alcohol and danced to Afrikaans music in what was portrayed as an initiation ceremony.

The leaked video - filmed last year - sparked black and white students to demonstrate at the campus, marching to the Reitz men's residence where it was made. One placard read: "Stop This White Arrogancy".

Police used stun grenades to disperse the crowd. Five students were arrested and there were sporadic incidents of intimidation and damage to property, the university said.

"The boers (Afrikaners) lived happily in Reitz until the day that the previously disadvantaged discovered the word integration in a dictionary," said one of the students in the video.

"Reitz was then forced to integrate and we started our own selection process."

The Young Communist League of South Africa said the video reflected that some Afrikaner students at the university still "regard our people as inferior human beings equivalent to pigs."

The video, released by South Africa's eTV, has made big news in the country, where white minority rule ended with multi-racial elections in 1994.

In a front-page story headlined "The aparthate video", The Star newspaper ran a sequence of photos of the footage, which shows the elderly cleaners on their knees gagging into buckets after drinking the contaminated soup.

"They should go to jail, because obviously they don't know what it is to pay for something that you have done," Pamela Sigidi, a student at another university, told Reuters.

"Because all the time that black people have had to suffer, they don't know anything about suffering."

The university said it had instructed its attorneys to file criminal charges against the students.

"This follows other action taken late yesterday to prohibit two of the four students from the Reitz men's residence, from the campus," spokesman Anton Fisher said in a statement.

"The management has also suspended lectures today in a proactive step to allow the emotions of staff and students to calm down. Lectures will resume tomorrow." he added.

Two of the students in the video had completed their studies and are no longer on campus.

Reuters

[OMEN]

FLY HOME: Helicopters from Venezuela, marked with the International Red Cross logo, take off at an airport in San Jose Del Guaviare. The FARC guerrillas agreed to hand over four Colombian lawmaker hostages to a representative of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the second such operation brokered by the left-wing leader.
Marxist rebels have freed four Colombian lawmakers held hostage for years in the jungle, in a victory for President Hugo Chavez of neighboring Venezuela who brokered the deal.

Venezuelan helicopters painted with Red Cross logos swooped into the dense jungle to pick up the three men and a woman, all snatched by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, more than six years ago.

The lawmakers said a prayer at the handover to give thanks for their freedom and were fit enough to fly to Venezuela despite reports of illness, Colombia's ambassador in Caracas said.

"We want the relatives to know they are in our hands and safe and sound," said Venezuelan government spokesman Jesse Chacon, adding Chavez spoke to the freed Colombians by telephone.

The release, welcomed from France to the United States, is a diplomatic victory for Chavez, an important regional player who spends time and money in efforts to unite Latin America through socialism but frequently bickers with US-backed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

A column of about 60 rebels handed over Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Perez, Orlando Beltran and Jorge Gechem, who is believed to be suffering severe heart problems, the Venezuelan government said.

"I don't know what I am going to say to him, because it is going to be such a happy moment," Gechem's wife Lucy told local radio. "I always waited for him and I always fought for him."

Chacon said the handover raised hopes for a broader deal to free dozens more hostages, who include French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans whose plight has drawn worldwide attention to the rebels' captives.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has made Betancourt's freedom a policy priority, welcomed Wednesday's release and called for the rapid liberation of all hostages. The United States urged the rebels to free all captives.

The FARC last month released two politicians in a deal also brokered by the leftist Chavez in the first such breakthrough in talks on peace moves for years.

He had spent months in talks with the leaders of Latin America's oldest rebel force, but after close initial cooperation, Chavez and Uribe have argued over his mediation.

Gechem was snatched six years ago when rebels hijacked a commercial aircraft he was traveling on and forced it to land on a secret landing strip before spiriting him away.

Polanco was kidnapped with her two sons, who were later released. Her husband, a prominent politician, was later killed by the FARC in unclear circumstances.

The guerrilla fighters hold hundreds of hostages for ransom and political leverage in their four-decade war with the state. They say they are fighting for social justice and want to swap their captives for fighters held in government jails.

The recent releases have been unilateral and are described by the fighters as a gesture of goodwill to Chavez, whom they see as a sympathetic leader.

International pressure has built recently for a hostage deal with European nations also seeking to free captives.

Grim images of Betancourt in a secret camp last year sparked outrage over the hostages poor health, their faces showing the stress of living for years hidden in the jungle.

The FARC released a statement shortly after the operation reiterating their demand Uribe briefly demilitarize a New York City-sized swath of land for the handover of other captives.

Uribe, whose father was killed in a botched FARC kidnapping, is popular at home for a US backed military offensive that has forced the rebels from large swathes of Colombia. He has offered a smaller area for a prisoner swap.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Feb. 27: A shooting near Carver Middle School.
LOS ANGELES — A gunman fired into a crowd of children and adults at a South Los Angeles bus stop Wednesday, wounding eight, authorities said. Four were in critical condition.

The shooting occurred around 3:15 p.m. at Central and Vernon avenues. Two of the victims ran away and were found wounded outside a nearby middle school, police Officer Sara Faden said.

The gunman ran away after firing the shots, she said.

The critically wounded were a 10-year-old girl, an 11-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl and a 49-year-old woman, said Fire Department spokeswoman d'Lisa Davies.

A 12-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy and two men, ages 48 and 68, had minor injuries.

Streets in the area were shut down, with numerous police officers present. Authorities issued various revisions of the incident from the chaotic scene.

Ezequiel Cornejo, 23, a tire mechanic, said he heard about 10 gunshots, probably from a handgun, just after neighborhood schools let out.

"After that I saw a little girl running, she was running back to the school, she was holding her arm," he said.

It was the second major outburst of street violence in the city in a week's span.

Gang-related shootings carried out in broad daylight in the city's northeast area on Feb. 21 led to a gunbattle in which police killed one gunman, wounded another and swarmed a neighborhood with heavily armed officers who captured a third suspect.

Police said the gunbattle involved members of a notorious gang entrenched in that area for decades.

Fox

[OMEN]

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have signed a power-sharing agreement intended to end a post-election crisis that left 1000 people dead.

Crowds of onlookers clapped as the two rivals inked a deal at a televised ceremony to set up a coalition government following negotiations mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.

The two leaders had come under intense pressure to compromise over Kibaki's disputed re-election in a December 27 vote, which forced 300,000 people to flee their homes and severely damaged Kenya's reputation as a stable economic regional hub.

The agreement involves the creation of a prime minister's post for Odinga and posts in the new cabinet will reflect the rival parties' strength in parliament.

Portfolios would be balanced along the same lines, Annan said.

"Compromise was necessary for the survival of this country," Annan said after the signing.

"I commend all those whose efforts have made this possible ... they kept the future of Kenya always in their sights and reached a common position for the good of the nation."

African Union chairman Jakaya Kikwete, who threw his weight behind talks this week, also praised the parties.

"I salute the people of Kenya on this historic occasion," said Kikwete, who is also president of neighbouring Tanzania.

Thursday's talks brought Odinga and Kibaki to the same table for the first time in a month, after discussions between their parties hit a deadlock earlier in the week.

The opposition had threatened to hold mass street protests on Thursday, but called them off after meeting Annan, a former UN Secretary-General, on Wednesday.

The crisis exploded after Kibaki was sworn in on December 30 and Odinga claimed the election was rigged, a charge the president denied.

Reuters

[OMEN]

HARRY SERVES: Prince Harry has been stationed with British forces in Afghanistan for over two months.
Prince Harry has been serving with the British army in Afghanistan for 2-½ months, the UK Defence Ministry has said.

Following leaks in the international media about his deployment, officials are now reviewing whether he should remain there. Harry, third in line to the throne, was sent to Afghanistan with his regiment in December.

The 23-year-old was due to be sent to Iraq but those plans were scrapped in May. His deployment was cancelled after it was decided it would be too dangerous for the second son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

Militant groups threatened to kidnap or kill him after it was made known that his regiment could be deployed to Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence determined he could be deployed to Afghanistan if his presence there was not reported. For the past 10 weeks, British and international media have maintained an embargo on reporting his activities.

Harry has been responsible for calling in air strikes against Taliban positions in the dangerous southern Afghanistan province of Helmand, has conducted foot patrols through local villages and has fired on suspected enemy combatants, pool photographs and footage have shown.

The head of the army, General Richard Dannatt, issued a statement expressing his disappointment that the embargo had been broken by foreign media Web sites, including some in the United States and Germany.

"In deciding to deploy him to Afghanistan, it was my judgment that with an understanding with the media not to broadcast his whereabouts, the risk in doing (so) was manageable," Dannatt said.

"Now that the story is in the public domain, the chief of staff and I will take advice from the operational commanders about whether his deployment can continue.

"I now appeal to the media to restrain from attempting to report Prince Harry's every move and return to our understanding."

Reuters

[Black Widow]

Jersey police searching a former care home for human remains have made "a couple of finds of some significance" in a previously hidden cellar chamber.

Investigators are searching the building that is now the Haut de la Garenne Youth Hostel after complaints of horrific abuse were made by people who had lived there as children.

Officers gained access to one of two cellar rooms on Wednesday after a child's skull was discovered at the site.

Detectives in the investigation said there may be a third chamber hidden underground, but it will take time to clear a way into all the rooms and uncover what is there.

Jersey Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper refused to say what the most recent finds were.

However, he admitted they involved items which witnesses had said were in an area of the home where child abuse took place.

The investigation involves more than 160 alleged victims going back to the 1960s.

People who have spoken of abuse claim the cellars were used to violate children and keep them in solitary confinement.

They have revealed stories of beatings and sex attacks, claiming they were raped, drugged and flogged.

Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt said a second police dog has been brought in to the search - one that is trained to sniff out tiny traces of blood.

He also said Mr Harper had indicated there would be arrests made, but he did not want to make any at the moment for fear of sparking a backlash in the community.

He added that one of the items found by police is thought to have been a bath that was bolted to the floor which some of the alleged victims had described as being used for water torture.

"I think overall the message is that this is going to be a very long, painstaking and complex investigation," Brunt concluded.

There are now 40 suspects in the inquiry.

Mr Harper said the operation was worldwide and detectives have taken statements from witnesses in Australia and Thailand.

sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

Interesting, thanks.