Egypt court suspends order to remove Mubarak name

 








An Egyptian court Saturday suspended its order to remove the names of former President Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne from public institutions.

Officials seeking to win presidential favor routinely named streets, schools, military installations and remote rural clinics after Mubarak in the years before the popular uprising which toppled him in February.

Lawyers filed a suit seeking cancellation of the court's original ban in April.

Judge Mohamed el-Sayed said the court had temporarily suspended its verdict pending a review of the case Wednesday.

Mubarak has been ordered to stand trial on August 3 on charges of killing of protesters, which could carry the death penalty. He is also accused of abuse of influence, wasting public funds and unlawfully making private financial gains.

He was admitted to hospital in April after reportedly suffering heart problems during his initial questioning.

Suzanne Mubarak was released from detention in May after agreeing to give up her assets but is still being investigated into whether she amassed wealth illegally.

She too was admitted to hospital after suffering symptoms of a heart attack shortly after she was ordered detained.

Their two sons, Gamal, who was once viewed as a possible future president, and Alaa, are also in jail and will also stand trial alongside their father.

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FIFA Ethics committee question Blazer after complaint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 FIFA's Ethics Committee has questioned CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, the whistle-blower in the cash-for-votes scandal, after complaints about his behaviour from Caribbean federations.

The official complaint to FIFA was made in a letter to the committee signed by 11 Caribbean federations.

The complaint is related to Blazer's behaviour at a CONCACAF meeting before the FIFA Congress last month in Zurich, Switzerland and does not refer in any way to the bribery issues currently under investigation by the world soccer body.

The letter said that Blazer made "statements of contempt and slander that served to impugn the integrity, discriminate against and infringe upon the personal rights" of CONCACAF members.

In an email to Reuters, Blazer confirmed he had heard from the Ethics Committee regarding the issue.

"I have received an inquiry from the secretary of the Ethics Committee to respond to a complaint filed by the Jamaica Football Federation," Blazer said.

"I will respond to the committee fully and I am confident of a positive resolution," he added.

The meeting came after Blazer had filed a dossier to the Ethics Committee containing allegations of bribery relating to a meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad, between Caribbean federations and Asian soccer chief Mohammed Bin Hammam.

A Caribbean soccer source told ,the meeting was heated and involved a row over who should take over as acting president after Warner was suspended, during which Blazer told some Caribbean officials they faced investigation.

Bin Hammam and then CONCACAF president Jack Warner were subsequently suspended by the Ethics Committee pending a full investigation.

That probe gets under way in earnest on Wednesday with Caribbean representatives being interviewed by FIFA investigators in the Bahamas.

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Jordan king's motorcade 'attacked' in southern city

 

 

 

Jordanian youths yesterday attacked King Abdullah II's motorcade with stones as he visited the southern city of Tafileh, a security official said, but the government immediately denied the incident.

"Part of the king's motorcade was attacked with stones and empty bottles by a group of men in their 20s and 30s after the king's car entered Tafileh," the official said.

"Nobody was hurt and the motorcade changed its route."
He added, without elaborating, that police "tackled the infiltrators and made arrests."


A palace source confirmed that members of the Royal Guard who accompanied the king were not hurt.
But government spokesman Taher Adwan denied the incident had taken place, telling AFP that "the motorcade of his majesty the king was not attacked."


The state-run Petra news agency quoted Adwan as saying that the "visit to Tafileh was successful."
"All that happened was a quarrel between police and people who wanted to greet the king," who ordered several multi-million-dollar development projects in the city, Adwan said.


People in Tafileh, 179 kilometres (111 miles) south of Amman, have been protesting for several weeks to demand reforms and effective measures to fight corruption.


They intercepted the motorcade of Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit in May and tried to prevent him from visiting the city.


In his first televised address since pro-reform protests started in January in Jordan, the king on Sunday vowed to enhance political and socio-economic reform and promised a new electoral law that would lead to parliamentary government.

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Filipino declared world's shortest man

A Filipino blacksmith's son who stopped growing when he was a toddler was declared the world's shortest man yesterday as he celebrated his 18th birthday.

Measuring just 59.93 centimetres, or 23.5 inches, Junrey Balawing is the oldest of four siblings -- the rest all of normal stature -- born in the rural town of Sindangan on southern Mindanao island.

"Officially he is the world's shortest man," said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of the Guinness Book of World Records who measured Balawing in front of cheering relatives and villagers.

The previous record holder was Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal, who was measured in 2010 at just over 26 inches.

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South Sudan accuses north of air attack, clashes flare

 South Sudan's army accused the north on Friday of bombing a southern border village and said southern forces were getting ready to defend against a possible ground attack.
The south is preparing to secede on July 9 and fears of fresh fighting between the two long-standing rivals grew after the north seized the contested Abyei region on May 21.
The United Nations said fighting between northern forces and southern-aligned armed groups in the north-run oil state of Southern Kordofan had spread to the tip of the southern Unity state and that tens of thousands may have fled the clashes.
Philip Aguer, spokesman for the south's Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army, said the northern military was trying to occupy areas near the border -- whose exact position is yet to be decided -- in an attempt to control the country's oil fields.
"There has been an air bombardment by northern forces in Unity state, in the morning yesterday and again in the afternoon. Three people were killed in the morning," Aguer said. The three dead were civilians, he said.
"We are expecting not only air attacks but also ground forces. We know their forces are moving from Abyei towards Unity state. ... We are getting ready to defend ourselves. Our forces near the border are on maximum alert and are expecting an attack any time," he added.
A spokesman for the northern army was not immediately available to comment. In previous statements, it blamed southern or southern-aligned forces for provoking fighting in Abyei, Southern Kordofan and elsewhere.
The White House said on Friday night it was "deeply concerned" by the developments in southern Sudan.
"The United States condemns reported acts of violence in Southern Kordofan that target individuals based on their ethnicity and political affiliation," the Obama administration statement said. "We call on the UN to fully investigate these incidents, and we demand that the perpetrators immediately halt these actions and be held accountable for their crimes."
South Sudan voted to secede in a January referendum promised by a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of brutal civil war between the north and south.
That vote went more smoothly and peacefully than many analysts and humanitarian groups predicted, but a lack of agreement between the two sides on questions such as how to share debt and oil revenues has complicated the split.
The secession could see the north lose some 75 percent of Sudan's current 500,000 barrels a day of oil output, the lifeblood of both the northern and southern economies.fighting,area,un,

VOLATILE BORDER

Northern forces have been fighting armed groups in the volatile Southern Kordofan border state since a police station was attacked on Saturday.
Between 30,000 and 40,000 people may have fled fighting in the state capital, Kadugli, alone, the United Nations said on Friday. The town's normal population is estimated at 60,000.
"The fighting has spread to the disputed border area of the northernmost tip of Unity state in southern Sudan," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
Armed checkpoints were set up on the main roads inside and around Kadugli and there had been reports of "large-scale" looting as late as Thursday, she added.
Kouider Zerrouk, spokesman for UNMIS, the local U.N. Mission in Sudan, said separately that MiG and Antonov aircraft bombardments were reported in the state's Umm Dorain, Umm Serdiba, Heiban and Saraf el-Gamos on Thursday, and artillery fire could be heard near Kadugli on Friday.
"The security situation in Kadugli and its environs remains volatile," he said. "Military build-up is continuing in various locations."
Analysts have seen Southern Kordofan as a flashpoint because it is home to thousands of northerners who sided with the south against Khartoum during the last civil war. Northern officials have called last week's clashes an "armed rebellion."
The region also holds the most productive oil fields that will be left in the north after the split.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki met with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Thursday to discuss Southern Kordofan and Abyei and was scheduled to travel to Juba to meet officials there on Friday, state news agency SUNA said.
Abyei, long a centerpiece of the north-south divide, has been one of the most contentious issues before southern secession. It is used all year by the south-linked Dinka Ngok people and part of the year by northern Misseriya nomads.
Khartoum took control of the area with tanks and troops nearly three weeks ago, following an attack on a convoy of northern soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers that was blamed on southern forces. The move drew an international outcry.
Abyei was "calm but unpredictable" with sporadic shooting in the region's main town, OCHA said on Friday. Some 101,800 people may have fled the fighting there, it added, up from a previous estimate of 96,000.

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Over 10,000 flee clashes in Sudan border state: UN

 More than 10,000 people displaced by fighting in Sudan's Southern Kordofan were staying near a U.N. compound on Thursday, the country mission spokesman said, after nearly a week of clashes in the tense border state.

Fighting between government forces and armed groups erupted in the state capital of Kadugli and elsewhere after a police station was attacked on Saturday, adding to tensions as the country's south prepares to secede in about a month.

Southern Kordofan, an oil-producing state which lies in northern territory, has long been seen as a flashpoint because it is home to thousands of fighters who fought alongside the south against Khartoum during the last civil war.

In statements carried by the state news agency SUNA, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said north Sudan's armed forces were in control of Southern Kordofan on Thursday and were combing it for "remnants of the rebellion."

Southern Kordofan is important to the north because it has the most productive oil fields that will remain under Khartoum's control after the split. The south could take as much as 75 percent of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil output.

It also borders the disputed Abyei territory and Darfur, a western region that is the scene of a separate insurgency.

Analysts have predicted fighting could break out in Southern Kordofan ahead of the split, especially after an official of the ruling northern party was named the winner in a gubernatorial election last month.

The south said the vote was rigged, which Khartoum denied.

Southern Sudan voted to secede in a January referendum, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between the north and south. The split is scheduled for July 9.

CLASHES CONTINUE

The number of people staying near the local U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) compound after fleeing the state capital of Kadugli and nearby villages had risen to an estimated 10,000 by Thursday, UNMIS spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

Clashes took place in Kadugli and other areas into Thursday, he added.

Bashir's ruling National Congress Party had earlier accused southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan of fighting with the support of "foreign powers" and some domestic opposition.

"The armed forces will carry out their national duty and deal with all rebel forces," the statement cited presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as saying.

Officials with the south's dominant party, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, have said the clashes started when the north tried to disarm armed groups in the area.

The northern army has blamed the southern-aligned groups for starting the fighting.

The militias are still referred to as members of the Southern Peoples' Liberation Army -- the southern military -- although Juba says they are no longer part of their army and cannot ask them to withdraw south because they are northern.

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U.N. rights boss calls on Syria to halt "assault"

 The top U.N. human rights official called on Syria on Thursday to halt its "assault on its own people" and said more than 1,100 people may have been killed and up to 10,000 detained since March.

Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Damascus to allow a fact-finding mission into the country to investigate all allegations, including Syrian state television reports that 120 members of the security forces were killed by armed gangs.
"It is utterly deplorable for any government to attempt to bludgeon its population into submission, using tanks, artillery and snipers," she said in a statement.
"I urge the government to halt this assault on its own people's most fundamental human rights."
More than 1,000 people have been killed in three months of popular unrest in Syria, human rights groups say. On Wednesday, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal handed the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protesters, despite the risk of a Russia veto.
"We are receiving an increasing number of alarming reports pointing to the Syrian government's continuing efforts to ruthlessly crush civilian protests," said Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge.
Local human rights groups estimated that more than 50 protesters were killed during a protest in the city of Hama last Friday. Pillay said it would seem that it was one of the bloodiest days since the uprising began.
She voiced concern at reports of civilians fleeing the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour after what she called threatening statements by government officials.
Syrian troops with tanks have deployed near Jisr al-Shughour, prompting many of its 50,000 people to flee. The government has accused armed bands of killing scores of its security men in the town and has vowed to send in the army.
More than a thousand Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey in the last 24 hours and have taken refuge in a tent camp, the U.N. refugee UNHCR said on Thursday.
On April 29, the U.N. Human Rights Council set up a fact-finding mission to investigate violations in Syria.
Pillay again urged Syria to allow the U.N. human rights investigators into the country to establish the facts. Members of her team are collecting evidence in the region but have yet to receive a greenlight from Damascus.
"So far we have not received any official reply from Syria -- either positive or negative," she said.

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Yemeni President Saleh’s health ‘stable’

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is “stable” after being treated in Riyadh for bomb wounds.
The veteran leader’s health status has been sketchy since he was flown on Saturday to Riyadh for treatment from wounds sustained in a bomb attack the day before on his presidential compound. He has not been seen in public since.
“The condition of the Yemeni president is stable,” a Saudi official said on condition of anonymity, adding the beleaguered president was waiting for doctors to “appoint a date for cosmetic surgery.”
Saleh, 69, would undergo a cosmetic operation to treat “light burns on the scalp,” he said, adding that “reports on the deterioration of his health condition are baseless.”
On Tuesday, US officials said Saleh was burned over 40 percent of his body and suffered bleeding in the brain from the attack, indicating his wounds were worse than initially reported. The revelation cast doubts on a quick return to Yemen and pointed to a deepening power vacuum.
Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has insisted that Saleh is in good condition and that he will return to Yemen within days.
The Saudi newspaper Al-Watan yesterday quoted a Yemeni diplomat in Riyadh as saying that Saleh’s condition was no longer critical despite his having been “in great danger” earlier.

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Maradona Attacks 'Corrupt' FIFA Chiefs

                                                                                                  

- Football legend Diego Maradona has accused world governing body FIFA of being corrupt and run by greedy officials who have made millions from the sport.The 1986 World Cup winner delivered the broadside at his first press conference as coach of Dubai-based club Al Wasl on Saturday, as he reflected on the recent FIFA presidential elections in which incumbent Sepp Blatter ran unopposed.Blatter's main opponent, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar, was suspended ahead of the vote along with fellow FIFA executive Jack Warner following accusations of bribery."There is a lot of corruption involving FIFA officials and they are all millionaires because of football," the former Argentina player and coach said."I wonder if Blatter has ever kicked a football in his life, and yet we have been under the control of such people who have refused to give up power in FIFA."Why don't they all just relinquish their positions, take the money they have made and leave the running of the sport in the more capable hands of former football players?"Maradona, a controversial figure who was sent home from the 1994 World Cup for using drugs, said he had never liked the FIFA establishment."I don't support corrupt people and I will never be on their side. I have always been asked by them to support the FIFA family. But what family are they talking about? This sport belongs to us and they have never ever asked us to be part of the development process," the 50-year-old said."They have too much power and this has made them so arrogant and proud. This is not what a genuine football lover needs from such officials. After all football, is the biggest sport in the world."We will continue doing what we are doing so that these corrupt people go away. They are too old and since they have made so much money at the cost of football, they should simply take it all and go away. Please leave football alone."Maradona, who turned up more than an hour late for the media briefing, added that FIFA had stifled his attempts to form a players' union."What did FIFA do? They worked against us to ensure the union never saw the light of day," he said.Meanwhile, FIFA is investigating Argentina's 4-1 defeat by Nigeria on Wednesday as part of a wider investigation into match-fixing, according to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph on Saturday.The paper said there was evidence of irregular patterns as referee Ibrahim Chaibou of Niger allowed three extra minutes of injury-time in addition to the five already awarded before Argentina scored from a penalty."FIFA can confirm that this match between Nigeria and Argentina was one that we had an active interest in, and forms part of a wider ongoing investigation," it said in a statement to the Telegraph.The Nigerian Football Federation released a statement denying the accusation on Saturday."We are concerned at attempts by unscrupulous elements to play down the feat that our national team performed by beating Argentina," general secretary Musa Amadu said."This match was shown on many television stations, including ESPN, and in front of a crowd of 50,000, and we are certain that Nigeria's Super Eagles deservedly won that match, playing to the rules, and clearly outplaying our opponents."

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