Monday 23 September 2013

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Kenya troops have mall 'under control' after three day bloodbath

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NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenyan troops are in control of Nairobis Westgate shopping mall, the Kenyan interior ministry announced overnight Monday, with all the hostages trapped by Islamist gunmen believed to have been freed.A government spokesman told AFP the three-day-long siege, in which the attackers massacred at least 62 shoppers and staff, was close to being declared over. He said special forces combing the building were no longer encountering any resistance.Our special forces are inside the building checking the rooms. We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated, but we dont want to take any chances, Manoah Esipisu said.The special forces call this sanitising. At the moment they have not met any resistance, but of course we are not ruling out the possibility that there are a couple of them hiding in a remote room or corner, he added.After a day of fierce gunfire, huge explosions and black smoke that billowed over the Kenyan capital, the vast centre was quiet 60 hours after the gunmen stormed the complex, an AFP reporter at the scene said.Were in control of Westgate, the interior ministry said in a message on Twitter.No details on the numbers of hostages released have been given, but 63 people were earlier recorded missing by the Red Cross, a figure thought to include hostages as well as those possibly killed.Almost 200 were wounded in the attack, and at least 11 Kenyan troops were wounded in intense gun battles on Monday, the army said.Special forces on Monday also killed at least three gunmen and wounded several in bitter fighting in the part Israeli-owned complex, which was popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates. A Kenyan security source and a Western intelligence official said Israeli forces were also involved in operations, along with British and US agents.Somalias Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents have claimed the attack, which began midday on Saturday, when the gunmen marched into the complex, firing grenades and automatic weapons and sending panicked shoppers fleeing.Kenyan army chief Julius Karangi said the gunmen were of different nationalities. Many foreign fighters, including Somalis with dual nationalities, are members of the Shebab force.They are from different countries. We have sufficient intelligence this is global terrorism, Karangi said.Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku denied that any of the insurgents were women: All the terrorists are men, he said, noting: Some of them had dressed like women.Police said they had also arrested more than 10 people for questioning.Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose nephew was killed along with his fiancee, called the attack despicable and beastly.

US, Iran foreign ministers to hold first nuclear talks

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The foreign ministers of arch-rivals, the United States and Iran, will hold their first talks on Irans contested nuclear drive at a landmark meeting on Thursday, officials said.Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister in Irans new government, and US Secretary of State John Kerry, will join counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia at the meeting at United Nations headquarters, according to US officials.High level contacts between Iranian and US officials have been rare since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. But in a new sign of a possible thaw, the White House said it was not ruling out a meeting between President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on the sidelines of this weeks UN General Assembly.The encounter between Zarif and Kerry, confirmed by US officials -- and arranged for Thursday, according to diplomats -- comes as Iran signals it wants the international community to ease crippling sanctions over its uranium enrichment.Rowhani said in a US television interview last week that Iran would never build a nuclear bomb. But the United States and its allies still believe Tehran wants that capability and are waiting for signs that Rowhani is serious about seeking better relations, diplomats said.Thursdays talks will give our ministers a sense of their level of seriousness and whether they are coming with concrete new proposals and whether this charm offensive actually has substance to it, a senior State Department official said.The P51, as the group is known, made a revised proposal to Tehran earlier this year, before Rowhanis election, believed to offer some relief on international sanctions in return for a scaling back of the countrys uranium enrichment program.Theres a sense that we never actually got a firm response or a detailed response to that, the US official said.So this ... first session at the level of ministers where the Iranians will join a meeting already in progress will give a sense of the road ahead with the new government.But this is just the start, and that would obviously, we would hope, include a real response to the proposal thats been on the table for some time, the official added.Another State Department official stressed, however, that no-one should have the expectation that were going to resolve this decades-long issue during the P51 meeting later this week, adding that the ball was firmly in Irans court.Zarif met some Western officials in New York on Monday, ahead of the arrival of Rowhani to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.Catherine Ashton, the European Unions foreign policy chief and the leader of efforts by the major powers to engage with Tehran, said she had good and constructive talks with Zarif.She voiced hope for progress, but played down hopes of a breakthrough.I was struck by the energy and determination on the part of the minister, Ashton told reporters. But she added: As you would appreciate, there is a huge amount of work to do.Thursdays meeting will be a milestone between the United States and Iran, which broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 after the overthrow of the late Shah and the taking of US diplomats as hostages.In 2007, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice met her Iranian counterpart informally at an international summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.Her predecessor, Colin Powell, met Irans foreign minister at the same venue in 2004. But no Iranian minister has taken part in ministerial meetings of the major powers trying to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear drive.Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters that while Obama was not scheduled to meet with Rowhani, it could not be ruled out.We are open to engagement with the Iranian government on a variety of levels provided that they will follow through on their commitment to address the international communitys concern on their nuclear program, he said.In an opinion piece in the British daily The Guardian, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami warned against letting diplomacy fail, singling out Israel for a campaign to discredit Rowhani who he said enjoyed the explicit support of Irans supreme leader.Failure now to create an atmosphere of trust and meaningful dialogue will only boost extremist forces on all sides, Khatami wrote.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized overtures to Rowhani, calling him a wolf in sheeps clothing and urging no let-up in pressure.But Greg Thielmann, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, saw potential signs of progress in jumpstarting diplomacy on Iran.Youve got all these signals from the Iranians that they are willing and trying to be more constructive, Thielmann said.Rowhani will address the General Assembly on Tuesday after meeting French President Francois Hollande.

Bombs at Sunni funeral in Iraq kill 14

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BAGHDAD (AP) - A double bomb attack on Sunni mourners in Baghdad killed 14 people on Monday, the third day in a row in which funerals have been attacked amid a wave of bloodshed across Iraq, officials said.Police say back-to back blasts tore through a tent set up for the funeral of one of four people killed two days before when gunmen shot up a store selling liquor in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah. A security official said another 35 were wounded.The Azamiyah shooting was believed to be carried out by hard-line Sunni militants, who are most likely to attack liquor stores in Sunni areas.The Mondays attack came only one day after a deadly suicide bombing on another Sunni funeral in Baghdad that left 16 dead. On Saturday, a double suicide attack on a Shiite funeral killed 72 mourners.Attacks on Shiite civilian targets including funerals are a hallmark of al-Qaidas Iraq branch. But it was not clear if the two attacks on Sunnis were also the work of al-Qaida, which has been known to target Sunni rivals, or part of a growing number of apparent reprisal attacks by Shiites.More than 4,000 people have been killed between April and August, a level of carnage not seen since the country was on the brink of civil war in 2004-08.The reemergence of tit-for-tat retaliatory killings has raised fears that Iraq may be returning to that cycle of violence.Earlier in the day, police said gunmen broke into the home of a Shiite family in a Sunni-dominated area south of Baghdad and killed three members of a family.Two police officers say the militants attacked the house in the town of Youssifiyah early on Monday morning, killing the parents and their 16-year old son.Two other children, aged 12 and 14 years, were wounded.Youssifiyah is 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad.Medical officials confirmed the figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

10 killed in massacre near Mexican border city

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CIUDAD JUAREZ (AP) - A gunman burst into a home east of the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez where people were celebrating a baseball victory and killed 10 people, authorities said Monday.The killings occurred Sunday night in Loma Blanca, a town in the Juarez Valley. The dead included a 7-year-old girl, her mother, three teenage boys and five adult men, said Arturo Sandoval, spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutors office.The bodies were found scattered over a radius of about 12 yards (meters) around the home, suggesting some had tried to flee when they were gunned down. A trophy from the baseball game was also found at the home.The manager of the local baseball team, the Cardinals, was present at the party and said a total of about 30 people attended, but the others were able to escape by running away. He said he saw only one gunman, who he described as a young man.The manager, who asked not to be identified by name for fear of reprisals, said the killings could have been motivated by resentment over the teams victory; he said there is betting on games in the local league.Over 30 shell casing found at the scene indicated that an assault rifle was used in the attack.It is premature to talk about a hypothesis or a line of investigation, said Jorge Gonzalez Nicolas, an assistant Chihuahua state prosecutor. He said witness statements cast doubt on a possible drug gang link.That fact it was a lone shooter, and that according to witnesses it was a young person, and that the characteristics dont match other cases in which criminal groups were involved, Gonzalez Nicolas said.Chihuahua Gov. Cesar Duarte said there is evidence that we will make public soon in the case, which he said will not stop us in the battle against impunity.It was one of the biggest massacres in the area since the 2010 killing of 15 people in an attack on a birthday party in Villas de Salvarcar, a working-class neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.Sandoval said there was no information yet on the possible motive in the Loma Blanca killings; The Villas de Salvarcar massacre was believed to have involved a case of mistaken identity, in which one drug gang attacked a party it mistakenly thought was attended by members of a rival gang.The Juarez Valley, a largely agricultural region that stretches along the Rio Grande, has been the scene of frequent turf battles between gangs allied with the Sinaloa drug cartel, and gunmen of the local Juarez cartel.However, violence in Ciudad Juarez and surrounding areas has dropped significantly in recent years.Ciudad Juarez recorded 341 homicides so far in 2013, down from 952 killings by gangs in the first half of 2012, and 1,642 in the first half of 2011.

Landslides kill 20 in northwest Philippines

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MANILA (AP) - Torrential monsoon rains hit the northwestern Philippines on Monday, triggering landslides and killing 20 people in areas already weakened by a powerful typhoon, and raising the death toll to 47 from storms across Asia.Philippine officials said soldiers and villagers were also searching for at least seven people missing in mountainside villages hit by the landslides Monday in the province of Zambales.In China, where Typhoon Usagi struck after passing by the Philippines, officials said the storm killed 25 people in the southern province of Guangdong, 13 of them in the city of Shanwei where it struck the coast late Sunday.The other deaths came when two people drowned when a passenger boat capsized in northeastern Aurora province in the Philippines.Subic Mayor Jeffrey Khonghun said 15 bodies were dug out in two landslide-hit villages in his town. Five people also died in landslides in two other towns in Zambales, according to army officials and police.Rescuers used their hands, pots and shovels to dig through the muck that buried a cluster of houses while relatives of two other missing residents waited in the rain in the village of Wawandue.This is the first after a long time that we were hit by this kind of deluge, Khonghun told Manilas DZBB radio network. He had to stop the interview after another body was pulled out from a muddy heap near him.Typhoon Usagi enhanced the torrential monsoon rains that drenched the main northern Philippine region of Luzon over the weekend. The powerful typhoon blew away late Saturday and a new tropical storm off southern Japan was continuing to intensify the downpours in Luzon, government forecaster Samuel Duran said.Many low-lying areas of the Philippine capital, Manila, and outlying regions were swamped Monday, prompting authorities to cancel classes and office work.In Hong Kong, flight schedules were returning to normal Monday after major disruptions from Usagi, which was the seasons strongest storm at its peak. It forced about 250 flight cancellations in Hong Kong before weakening to a tropical depression over the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.Train and airline services around Guangdong also were back to normal after the storm, Chinas state broadcaster CCTV said.Chinas national weather center said the storm would continue to weaken as it moves northwest.

Kerber advances to 3rd round at Pan Pacific Open

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TOKYO (AP) - Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced to the third round of the Pan Pacific Open by beating Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-0, 6-1 Monday.The fifth-seeded Kerber took advantage of five double-faults to defeat Torro-Flor at Ariake Colosseum.In other second-round matches, seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic beat Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-5, 6-4, and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic defeated eighth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5, 6-4.Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Annika Beck of Germany.The No. 11-seeded Ivanovic lost the first game of each set but bounced back with six straight games to beat Beck.Ayumi Morita was one of three Japanese players to advance to the second round. Morita had six aces in a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Laura Robson.Also, Misaki Doi rallied from 5-3 down in the third set to beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-7 (3), 6-0, 7-5 and Kimiko Date-Krumm defeated Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova, who retired due to an abdominal injury in the second set with Date-Krumm leading 6-2, 4-1.

Golf: LPGA picks Iowa to host Solheim Cup in 2017

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DES MOINES (AFP) - The 15th Solheim Cup between US and European womens golf teams will be staged in 2017 at Des Moines Golf and Country Club, LPGA commissioner Michael Whan announced Monday.The course also hosted the 1999 US Senior Open, luring a record 252,800 spectators to the US Midwest venue, located about 540km west of Chicago.The support that the Des Moines community has shown for golf events has been tremendous, Whan said. I have no doubt that the 2017 Solheim Cup is already on track to be the best event weve ever staged.The European squad routed the Americans 18-10 in August at Denver for their first win on US soil and the first back-to-back triumphs by Europe in the biennial showdown after their 2011 victory in Ireland.The US women lead the all-time rivalry 8-5 with the 2015 edition of the Solheim Cup set for Germany.

Cycling: Alonso deal to buy Euskaltel Euskadi collapses

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MADRID (AFP) - The deal for Spanish two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso to rescue the financially stricken Euskaltel Euskadi cycling team has collapsed, both parties confirmed on Monday.The Basque team had previously announced that a deal had been agreed in principle for Alonso to fill a funding gap in their sponsorship after it lost 3.5 million euros ($4.7 million,) of local government funding due to spending cuts.News emerged that a sponsor had been found in the form of Alonso but the two-time Formula One world champion said a deal couldnt be reached.We tried right to the end but it was impossible to maintain a cycling team in 2014, he said in a statement, before reiterating his determination to fund a team.My passion for this sport and the desire to work together and put in our grain of sand remains intact, this is just the beginning of the future, he added.From tomorrow we will start building from nothing a team that we can be proud of.It couldnt be, but it will be. This adventure has just begun. Now we look to 2015.The teams main sponsor, telecommunications company Euskaltel, had filled the funding gap themselves this season, taking their contribution to seven million of the teams nine million euro budgetHowever, it said that level of investment was unsustainable and it was announced in August that the team would be shut down at the end of the season should another sponsor not be found.And with the breakdown in negotiations it appears as if the last hope to save the 19-year old team have disappeared.The negotiations between Euskaltel and the representatives of Fernando Alonso for the acquisition of the cycling team Euskaltel Euskadi on behalf of the Asturian driver, which began with an agreement in principle on August 31, have ended without an agreement, the team said in a statement.For Euskaltel it is sad news that after the hope generated by the agreement in principle, a definitive agreement has not been formalised to guarantee a professional future for the members of the team and to reward the fans that have been loyal until the last moment.We would like to explain the details of the negotiations, because we have done our part, with total honesty, but it is not possible because we need to respect the confidentiality of the negotiations.Having not achieved an agreement, Euskaltel is unfortunately obligated to restart an organised and responsible closure of the project.Despite the uncertainty over the teams future, Euskaltel achieved their first ever victory in the team classification of a grand tour in the recently completed Tour of Spain.However, cyclists contracted to the team for the 2014 season, including Olympic gold medallist Samuel Sanchez, had already been given permission to speak to other teams about finding a place in the peloton for next season.

Oil prices skid on easing Middle East worries

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NEW YORK CITY (AFP) - Oil prices fell sharply Monday amid easing concerns about Middle East tensions and their potential impact on oil supplies.New Yorks main contract, West Texas Intermediate for November, closed at $103.59 a barrel, a decline of $1.16 from Fridays close.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November shed $1.06 to settle at $108.16 a barrel in London trade.Supply-side concerns appear be diminishing. A military action against Syria looks increasingly unlikely, while the new Iranian president has signaled his willingness to negotiate over Tehrans nuclear program, said Fawad Razaqzada of GFT.On top of this, production from South Sudan has reached its highest since early 2012 while production in Libya has also resumed in parts of the country, weighing on prices, he said.Addison Armstrong of Tradition Energy agreed Middle East concerns were abating. The risk premium related to Syria that had built in the oil markets continues to ease, he said.The European Union announced Monday that Irans foreign minister would meet major powers this week on Tehrans nuclear program in what could be a historic top-level contact with the United States.Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, announced the meeting after what she called a good and constructive meeting at the UN headquarters with the foreign minister of Irans new government, Mohammad Javad Zarif.Western nations accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear bomb capability. Irans new president, Hassan Rowhani, said last week that his country would never build a bomb.Commerzbank analysts said Iran was aiming to have the Western sanctions eased, which have caused Irans oil exports to fall by more than half, to below 1 million barrels per day.Although the country is unlikely to return quickly to its pre-sanctions production level, the incipient diplomatic detente could prompt further financial investors to exit the market, Commerzbank said in a research note.

Draghi comments push euro lower

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NEW YORK CITY (AFP) - The euro slipped against the dollar Monday after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi voiced concern about rising interest rates and said the ECB could provide fresh liquidity to banks.At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.3493, compared with $1.3525 late Friday.The yen gained modestly, the dollar falling to 98.83 yen from 99.34 yen and the euro dropping to 133.37 yen from 134.36.Draghi told a hearing of the European Parliaments committee for economic and monetary affairs that the ECB was ready to use any instrument including another LTRO if needed (the ECBs long-term refinancing operation) to prevent a tightening of short-term money markets.Eurozone banks have started repaying large chunks of LTRO loans made in 2011 and 2013 as financial markets have stabilized.But paying that money back has tightened conditions in the money markets, Draghi said.While repayment of central bank credit is certainly a sign of normalization, the resulting reduction in excess liquidity can reinforce upward pressures on term money market rates, he said.But the dollars gain was limited, in part because Federal Reserve officials, in separate comments Monday, reinforced the message that the Fed needed to see more concrete improvement in the economy before cutting back its stimulus.Last week the Fed stunned markets by keeping the stimulus unchanged, against widespread expectation that it was ready to cut back the $85 billion a month flow.The British pound gained slightly, to $1.6041 from $1.6010, while the dollar rose to 0.9108 Swiss franc from 0.9100 franc.

Whatmore confident of Pakistan's resurgence

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LAHORE (AFP) - Pakistan cricket coach Dav Whatmore admitted Monday he was embarrassed by his sides Test defeat to minnows Zimbabwe but insisted they could bounce back against South Africa.Pakistan lost the second Test against Zimbabwe by 24 runs earlier this month to leave the two-match series tied at 1-1, a result which saw them drop from fourth to sixth in the Test rankings.The defeat revived calls to replace captain Misbah-ul Haq and Whatmore before the clash against number one Test team South Africa in the United Arab Emirates next month.The Proteas will be full of confidence going into the series after their pace attack helped them thrash Pakistan 3-0 in South Africa at the start of the year.Since Whatmore took over in March last year, Pakistan have won only one Test and lost five.The 59-year-old told AFP Zimbabwe had been tougher than they expected, but he was confident his men would bounce back in the two-Test series starting in Abu Dhabi on October 14.Zimbabwe gave us better preparation and they were bit stronger than a lot of us thought about them, he said.All three adjectives -- upsetting, disappointed and embarrassing -- can be used to describe the way I feel after the defeat against Zimbabwe.Whatmore refused to blame any individuals but said the side had let itself down with both bat and ball.He said the different opposition and different conditions in the UAE -- typically low, slow pitches similar to those found on the subcontinent -- would demand a different line-up.However Whatmore backed Misbah as captain.Misbah has some wonderful leadership qualities and has been successful since he took over, said Whatmore.Misbah, derided by some team supporters as boring and conservative, was appointed captain in 2010 and won nine Tests out of 15 before Whatmore took over.My observations are that by nature he is a methodical person who thinks deeply before making decisions. This is reflected in his batting as well, said Whatmore.He takes a little time at the beginning but at the end his contribution is effective. His consistency in contributions during 2013 has been second to none. Its easy for people to be critical.Whatmore, who coached Sri Lanka to a famous World Cup victory in 1996, was tight-lipped about his own future.His contract with Pakistan is due to expire in March and he said any renewal would depend on mutual willingness on both sides.

US lays out rules for some smartphone health apps

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Food and Drug Administration officials say they will begin regulating a new wave of applications and gadgets that work with smartphones to take medical readings and help users monitor their health.With the rise of the iPhone, Android and other mobile devices has come a flood of applications designed to help people stay healthy. Industry analysts estimate there are already more than 17,000 medical applications available, ranging from calorie counters to high-tech heart monitors.The FDA said Monday that the vast majority of these health care apps dont pose much of a risk to consumers if they malfunction, and will not be federally regulated. Instead, the agency will focus on a handful of apps that turn smartphones into devices, like a heart monitor, or medical attachments that plug into smartphones, like arm cuffs that measure blood pressure.Mobile apps have the potential to transform health care by allowing doctors to diagnose patients with potentially life-threatening conditions outside of traditional health care settings, help consumers manage their own health and wellness, and also gain access to useful information whenever and wherever they need it, said Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDAs medical device center.Most health-related apps are free and perform simple functions, like helping users keep track of their meals or calories burned exercising.But a growing number of companies are developing more complex apps and attachments that perform tests and functions once reserved for the doctors office.These tools allow users to take photos of their eardrums, monitor irregular heartbeats and even measure lung function. Many of these tools can cost $100 or more. Sales data is not widely reported so its not yet clear whether patients and their doctors are embracing them.FDA officials said Monday they have already approved 75 of these mobile medical applications, including 25 in the last year. Agency officials estimate that 500 million smartphone users worldwide will use some type of health app by 2015.Last year the FDA approved the sale of a $199 heart monitor from AliveCor. The attachment snaps on like a smartphone case with finger electrodes that measure the users heartbeat. Hold the device for 30 seconds and it delivers an approximate EKG reading, an essential medical test that checks for problems with the hearts electrical activity. Patients can email the reading to their doctor for analysis.Other applications in development would allow patients with asthma to measure their lung function by blowing on their phone, rather than using special machines usually found in doctors offices.

Germany gets its 1st black members of Parliament

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BERLIN (AP) - A chemist and an actor both with family roots in Senegal have become Germanys first black federal lawmakers, according to official election results released Monday.They were among 34 lawmakers with immigrant backgrounds to win seats in Sundays election, up from 21 in the previous term, said the Migration Media Service, a group that provides facts and figures on immigration in Germany.Although nearly one in five of Germanys 80 million people are immigrants, or the children or grandchildren of immigrants, relatively few have made it into the federal legislature. Until now there were no black lawmakers inParliament, despite more than 500,000 people of recent African origin believed to be living in Germany.My election into the German Parliament is of historical importance, said Karamba Diaby, a Senegalese-born chemist who moved to the city of Halle in 1986 after receiving a scholarship to study in communist East Germany.The 51-year-old, who gained German citizenship in 2001, said his priority would be to promote equal opportunities in education. Every child born in Germany should have the chance to be successful in school regardless of their social background or the income of their parents, he said.The other black lawmaker elected Sunday was Charles M. Huber, a 56-year-old actor born in Munich to a Senegalese father and a German mother. Huber is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union, which won the election with 41.5 percent of the vote.Merkels party also now has its first Muslim lawmaker in the Bundestag. Cemile Giousouf was elected in the western town of Hagen. The 35-year-old was born in Germany to Turkish immigrant parents.Several lawmakers of Turkish origin have previously been elected to the lower house, but most were with the Social Democratic Party, which Diaby represents, the environmentalist Green Party or the Left Party.Measured against the 630 seats in Parliament, some 5.4 percent of deputies now come from immigrant families, the Migration Media Service noted. In the population as a whole their share is more than three times as high, with about 19 percent.

Arsenal thriving on and off the pitch

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LONDON (AP) - Reversing the trend of slow starts in recent seasons, the Gunners are top of the Premier League after winning four of their five games.And another set of healthy annual financial results were published on Monday, with fans having been appeased this month by owner Stan Kroenke dipping into the cash reserves and spending 50 million euros ($66 million) on signing Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid.Arsenal says on May 31 before the club-record Ozil signing it had cash reserves of 153 million pounds ($246 million). Turnover in the 2012-13 financial year rose to 243 million pounds ($390 million), although pre-tax profits dropped to 6.7 million pounds ($11 million).

Israeli forces, Palestinians clash

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HEBRON (AFP) - Israels forces fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians in clashes in the southern West Bank city of Hebron Monday, as troops hunted for the suspected killer of an Israeli soldier.The security forces also fired stun grenades, an AFP correspondent said, and Palestinian youths threw several petrol bombs as tension flared in the aftermath of both Sundays killing and the death of another Israeli soldier in a separate incident just days earlier.The killings have cast a pall over peace talks relaunched last month after a three-year hiatus, with Israeli ministers calling on the government to reconsider its decision to negotiate with the Palestinians.The United States condemned both attacks, which it said undermine efforts to establish the positive atmosphere the parties need to progress in peace negotiation.Israels army said Sunday that 20-year-old Sergeant Gabriel Koby died in hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds in Hebron.Israeli police said earlier the soldier had been shot, probably by terrorists, although the gunman had fled the scene.A military spokeswoman told AFP on Monday that most of the roadblocks used to seal off the city the previous night were removed by morning and the army was searching in a more specific manner.The army had apprehended two Palestinians for holding hunting rifles, but that they were not connected to Sundays incident.The shooting took place close to the volatile Cave of the Patriarchs -- sacred to both Jews and Muslims -- during the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which began on Thursday and has seen thousands of Jewish visitors to the biblical city.Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the resettlement of the disputed Machpela house, a Hebron structure near the Cave of the Patriarchs from which he had removed 15 Jewish settlers last year.Whoever tries to uproot us from the city of our patriarchs will achieve the opposite, he said in a statement.We will continue to fight terror and strike at its perpetrators with one hand, while strengthening the settlements with the other.Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki on Monday accused Israel of unfairly holding the Palestinian leadership responsible for what happens in the West Bank, in an interview with Voice of Palestine.The settlers, who claimed to have bought the Hebron building from its Palestinian owners, inhabited the structure briefly before being removed in April 2012, with the defence ministry saying they did not have the necessary permits to finalise the purchase.Noam Arnon, spokesman for the Jewish settlement in Hebron, told AFP a military court had recently ruled the purchase legal and said all that was needed to finalise the deal was the approval of Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon.But an official involved in the process told AFP the purchase was still facing legal bureaucracy issues, and would not say when these might be resolved.On Saturday, Israel discovered the body of Tomer Hazan, a 20-year-old soldier who had been lured to a village in the northern West Bank on Friday and killed by a Palestinian man with whom he had worked in a seaside town near Tel Aviv.Army spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai ruled out a link between the two killings and rebuffed suggestions they indicated a deterioration in Israels security situation.We see these as isolated incidents, Mordechai said in a statement, not as a new trend.Calls for Israel to reconsider peace talksSenior cabinet minister Naftali Bennett said the two attacks should push Israel to reconsider its involvement in peace talks with the Palestinians.Under the auspices of negotiation celebrations, Sukkot has turned into a festival of bloodshed and harm to Israeli soldiers, he said in a letter sent to Netanyahu.There is no doubt that there have been unfortunate developments since the start of the negotiations, which require the government to reconsider its path, he wrote.And Transportation Minister Israel Katz of Netanyahus Likud party slammed the Palestinian Authority for not condemning the two killings and called for a halt to the planned release of a second batch of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel set 26 free ahead of talks last month.Another group (of Palestinian prisoners) is about to be released, he said in a statement. Now is the time to stop.
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