Two a penny

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AFP - Prosecutors called Tuesday for a life sentence for the leader of a Paris gang known as The Barbarians accused of the kidnap, torture and murder of a young Jewish man.

The call came as the two-month trial wound down of gang leader Youssouf Fofana who admittted in court to carrying out the crime that shocked France for its sheer brutality.

He called for sentences ranging from five to 13 years for several others of Fofana’s 26 alleged accomplices.

Prosecutor Philippe Bilger called for 20-year sentences for two of Fofana’s alleged closest accomplices in the crime committed in February 2006, and for 12 years for a young woman allegedly used to lure the victim to his doom.

Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and subjected to torture for 24 days before he was found naked and handcuffed to a tree near a railway track on February 13, 2006.

The court’s verdict is due on July 11.

anti-Semitism - justice - Paris
. He died on the way to hospital

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An elderly man has been dragged to his death after his foot became trapped as he attempted to get off a train in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket.

The man, who was believed to be in his 70s, slipped as he was getting off the train at the Newmarket station.

His foot became stuck and he was dragged for several metres by the train until it stopped just under the Newmarket Broadway overbridge, police said.15pm.

Emergency services and Ontrack workers arrived at the scene shortly after 1.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Cameron Brewer said he had never had any complaints about the safety of the temporary platform on Kingdon Street at Newmarket station.

Police and rail workers were removing the body this afternoon.

“It has been operating for over 18 months, since the old station was decommissioned. . In fact people have been calling for the platform to be made permanent because it has been working well,” he said.

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Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has heralded a foreshore and seabed review as a landmark day in which ”the conflicts and divisions of the last five years can at long last be rectified”.

The 150-page report issued today recommends the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act, which enshrined Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed, be repealed.

Mrs Turia said the report recognised that the Act was ”indeed built on shaky foundations” and must be repealed..

”[It] talks about a nation divided and it concludes the Foreshore and Seabed Act severely discriminated against Maori, took away our right to go to court, drew on legal tests developed in other jurisdictions foreign to our own country and was . simply wrong..”

It also concluded the 2004 Act, passed by the former Labour government, had caused ”much anguish and concern to Maori”. The Act has to be the single biggest land nationalisation statute enacted in New Zealand history,” Mrs Turia said.

”Those words are the voice of reason the Maori Party has been waiting five long years to hear.

”This is a unifying document.

The reports findings had caused ”a very emotional day” for she and her Maori Party colleagues.

It made up for being called ”haters and wreckers” by the likes of former prime minister Helen Clark.”

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said the report contained some strong language, which was ”only right”.

”When we came in [to Parliament] people said we had no chance of getting to this position here so we’re excited.

”When we came in [to Parliament] people said we had no chance of getting to this position here so we’re excited. While the government is yet to announce its position on the review, repeal of the Act seems almost certain. A review of the Act was written into its deal to go into government with National.

It recommended Government recognise that Maori with traditional interests in the coastal area have some form of customary title to it and the public have an interest in access and navigation.

WHAT’S IN THE REPORT

The report said the law failed to recognise Maori property rights as recognised by the courts and advanced the general interests of the public at the expense of Maori.

It proposed the Government start with a new interim law that would repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The panel sets out a number of possible options to achieve its recommendations including:

* Negotiated settlements within iwi and hapu;

* Allow the courts to settle title issues; and

* A mixed model of negotiated settlements at a regional and national level.

”Both must be respected and provided within the limits necessary to accommodate the other,” the report said.

This should recognise some Maori have customary rights to some coastal areas and the public have rights of use and enjoyment.

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French seamen on a New Zealand-bound warship have rescued one of Auckland’s top medical specialists and his family from their dismasted yacht 375 kilometres north of North Cape. .

On a medical website Dr Bradfield lists his interests as “Sailing, Sailing, Sailing, Sailing, making children.

The yacht ran into the storm that caused foul weather across the North Island last weekend and knocked three yachts out of the Auckland to Noumea yacht race.”

The family left Auckland in May and stayed in Tonga before setting sail for home last week.

The New Caledonia based 55-metre patrol boat La Glorieuse, which was on the way to Auckland, was guided to the scene by the Hercules.

Dr Bradfield activated his distress beacon yesterday afternoon and an RNZAF Hercules flew to the scene, reporting the yacht had dismasted.

Sailors onboard the 55-metre patrol boat La Glorieuse found their 12.

The yacht had become dismasted, its rigging tangling around the rudder and keel while travelling from Tonga to New Zealand.6m sloop Carenza at 10pm yesterday, about five hours after the yacht’s captain had activated an emergency beacon.

No-one had been injured, Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand search and rescue officer Christine Wilson said.

Surviving yachts in the Noumea yacht race were alerted to be aware of La Glorieuse cross the fleet’s path.

La Glorieuse rescued the family and was ordered to sink Carenza because it was a hazard to shipping.

The warship stayed alongside the yacht overnight, evacuating the New Zealand-resident family about 7am today.

La Glorieuse is due in Auckland on a scheduled visit tomorrow morning.

La Glorieuse is due in Auckland on a scheduled visit tomorrow morning.

“It’s a long way.

“We’ve had a reasonable day with a few showers -somehow this time the trip feels a lot slower and we are keen to be home,” Dr Bradfield said.

“This dead downwind sailing under head sail - although easy - has an unpleasant motion, and the kids have spent most of the day sleeping with the lethargy that comes with a bit of sea illness.

“We are looking forward to a more northerly wind shift tomorrow and an increase in boat speed.

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Josh added on the blog that time was going slowly: “only 3 things to do on board, sleep, stare aimlessly at the empty horizon or cough up your guts overboard

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REUTERS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get rid of Israel’s ultranationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli media reports said on Tuesday.

Sarkozy’s office had no immediate comment on the remarks Israeli newspapers and Channel 2 television attributed to him from his talks last Wednesday in Paris with Netanyahu. . You must get rid of this person, the Haaretz newspaper and Ynet website quoted Sarkozy as telling Netanyahu.

A spokesperson for Lieberman, leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said that if Sarkozy made the comments, they would amount to intolerable meddling in Israeli affairs.

The reports said Sarkozy compared Lieberman, accused of racism by Israeli Arab lawmakers, with French far-rightist Jean Marie Le Pen, but retracted the remark after Netanyahu countered that the foreign minister left a different impression in private conversations.

The reports about Sarkozy’s purported remarks put a spotlight on a rift between Israel and the West over Netanyahu’s rejection of calls for a total halt to Jewish settlement building.

Lieberman has angered Israel’s Arab minority by questioning their loyalty to the Jewish state and suggesting some of their towns be ceded to Palestinian jurisdiction in exchange for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Avigdor Lieberman - France - Israel - Nicolas Sarkozy
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Lieberman, himself a settler, has said settlements are no obstacle to peace

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Michael Jackson’s body will be driven to his Neverland Valley Ranch in central California as early as Thursday with public viewing being set for later this week.

A motorcade of as many as 30 cars is expected to accompany Jackson’s body to his ranch, which is located near the town of Los Olivos, north of Santa Barbara, according to reports by TV network CNN and celebrity website TMZ.com, citing police officials. .

Entertainment news website E! News cited a Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department spokesman as saying meetings were now taking place with the California Highway Patrol to discuss security for the trip from the Jackson family home in Los Angeles to Neverland Valley.

Jackson’s birthplace of Gary, Indiana, also is planning a memorial service for the deceased singer on July 10, according to a spokeswoman for the Gary mayor’s office.

Pop superstar Jackson, whose hits include “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” died suddenly of cardiac arrest last Thursday.

Lalosa Burns, spokeswoman for Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, said the memorial service would take place at US Steel Works sports stadium, and that more details would follow.

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. She did not have any information about the service being planned in California

.A 14-year-old girl is so far the only survivor of a plane crash off the Comoros Islands close to Madagascar yesterday, in which more than 150 people are feared dead.
Initial reports from the crash site indicated that a child had miraculously survived the catastrophe.
“The girl, aged 14, has arrived at the El Maarouf hospital.
Rescuers then revealed that a teenager had indeed been found alive, floating among the wreckage of the Airbus A310 plane.
A man identified as one of the girl’s rescuers told France’s Europe 1 radio the teenager was seen swimming in choppy waters in the middle of bodies and plane debris around 4:00am (0100 GMT). We were told that her condition is not worrisome,” Red Cross spokeswoman Ramulati Ben Ali said. She could not grab it.
“We tried to throw a life buoy.
“She was shaking, shaking. I had to jump in the water to get her,” the rescuer said. We gave her hot, sugary water. We put four covers on her.”
No other survivors have been found, although rescue teams have begun recovering bodies. .
It was earlier reported that a five-year-old boy had been found alive but this was not confirmed by officials.
“She is conscious, she is speaking, but we are trying to warm her” after being pulled from cold sea waters, said Ada Mansour, the examining doctor at the hospital where the girl is being treated.
The Yemenia airline flight originated in Paris and crashed into the sea in bad weather as it approached the Comoros Islands.
- French furious -
The French Government is furious that dozens of its citizens appear to have been transferred to the plane, which had a poor safety record.
The crash came about four weeks after an Air France Airbus 330 crashed into the Atlantic with the loss of all 228 people on board. Passengers had been transferred onto the plane when it stopped over in Yemen.
European plane maker Airbus says the jet was made in 1990 and had been operated by Yemenia since 1999.
The French Government says the plane from Yemen’s national airline Yemenia failed safety inspections and had been banned from European airports two years ago.
He said inspectors had noted numerous faults on the Yemenia jet and the airline was being closely monitored by EU authorities.
French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau has questioned why 66 French citizens were put on a plane that did not ensure their security.
“The plane had not since then reappeared in our country.
“The plane had not since then reappeared in our country.”
Yemenia was not on an EU airline blacklist “but was being subjected to closer inspection by us and was due to soon be heard by the security committee of the European Union”, Mr Bussereau said.
The French army has arrived from Reunion with Zodiac boats and other equipment, and a French helicopter will take part Wednesday (local time) in the search operations at sea, said Comoran government spokesman Kamaleddin Afraitane.
This latest crash has renewed calls by the European Union for a global blacklist of airlines that have poor safety records.
Aviation analyst with Jane’s, Chris Yates, thinks this will restore some public confidence in the airline industry.
“[It will] ensure that those carriers that are operating worldwide are as safe as they can possibly be,” he said.
“It’s just unfortunate set of circumstances. Yes, it will dent certainly some degree of confidence in Airbus as a brand, but I’m sure that Airbus will bounce back.”
The Yemeni Government claims the plane was checked thoroughly under Airbus supervision two months ago.
Airbus said in a statement the jet had accumulated approximately 51,900 hours in the air from some 17,300 flights.
Yemen’s transport minister said the aircraft had undergone a thorough inspection in May under Airbus supervision.
“It was a comprehensive inspection carried out in Yemen… with experts from Airbus,” aid Yemen’s transport minister Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer.
“It was in line with international standards.”
- ABC/AFP

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A girl has miraculously been rescued from the debris of a Yemeni Airbus A310 jet which crashed into rough seas off the Comoros Islands.

There were 142 passengers and a crew of 11 Yemenis on boardthe Airbus A310, whichwas flying the final leg of a trip from Paris and Marseille to Comoros via Yemen. This time French authorities said the Yemeni carrier had been under surveillance and that problems had been reported with the jet.

It was the second time in less than a month that an Airbus has crashed into the ocean.

But a14-year-old girl, originally reported tohave been five years old, has been rescued alive, a surgeon at the main Moroni hospital said.

Bodies and wreckage from the Yemenia airline flight were spotted in the Indian Ocean close to the capital, Moroni, aviation officials said.

Comoros immigrations officer, Rachida Abdullah, said that a child was rescued from the sea andthree bodies had also been retrieved, along with debris from the plane, but that no other survivors have been recovered so far.

Thegirlwas being taken to land where an ambulance waited to takeher to hospital. Those on board included families with children and there were at least three babies on the flight, he added.Most of the passengers were from Comoros, returning from Paris. There were also nationals from Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories the Philippines and Yemen on the plane. .”The weather was very bad .

REASONS FOR CRASH Abdul Qader, the Yemeni officialsaid it was too early to speculate on the reasons for the crash, adding that the flight data recorder hadn’t been found… Abdul Qader said wind speed was61 kilometres per hour as the plane was landing. the wind was very strong,” he said, adding the windy conditions hampered rescue efforts.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said French aviation and naval support was heading to help in search operations at the Comoros government’s request.General Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about eight nautical milesnorth from the Comoran coast and 18 nautical milesfrom the Moroni airport.Kouchner expressed “sincere condolences” and said the French Embassy in Moroni was “fully mobilized” to help families.French President Nicolas Sarkozy “expressed his deep emotion” about the accident and asked the French military to help in the rescue operation, particularly from the French islands of Mayotte and Reunion.Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman, says that a patrol boat, the Rieuse and frigate Nivose, a reconnaissance ship, were being sent to crash site as well as Transall, a military transport plane. The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 2,900 kilometres south of Yemen, between Africa’s southeastern coast and Madagascar.

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The death toll in Italy’s train disaster has been revised to 13, with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi warning that the number of casualties could rise.

The deaths occurred when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed homes in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350km north of Rome.

More than 30 people were seriously injured, with many of them in critical condition withsevere burns.

About 1000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight on Monday (local time).

Officials had earlier put the death toll at 16 but lowered it to 13 overnight, citing confusion at the scene and overlapping reports from area hospitals which led to some of the victims being counted twice. Three children were among the dead. “We looked out from the terrace and we saw windows exploding, everything was exploding.

“We were going to bed when my daughter smelled gas and we heard the blasts,” said Roberta Marcelli. All we could smell was gas and things burning and all we could see was flames,” one survivor told Italian television.”

“It was an apocalypse.

Many residents booed Berlusconi as he visited the scene.

PEOPLE STILL MISSING

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said four people were still missing in the rubble of a building destroyed by the blast, adding that the toll could rise.

The accident happened when an axle on one car of the 14-car train buckled and caused the derailment, officials said.

Unions representing railway workers called a one-hour halt in train traffic on Wednesday to mourn the dead and draw attention to what they say are insufficient safety standards in the sector. The area around the tracks was blackened and rescuers struggled to pull survivors from collapsed homes. .

“So far we do not see any connection between the cause of the accident and our wagons,” it said in a statement.

GATX Rail Austria, a unit of the US-based GATX Corp, which owns the rail cars – each one consisting of a gas tank attached to a wagon – said it did not know the cause of the explosion and was still collecting information.

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Paris airport emergency number for families of passengers: +33.(0)1.48.59.64.1.59

Yemenia Airways’s call centre in Sanaa: +967.250.1.800/ emergency number: +967.833

A Yemenia Airbus 310-300 with 153 people on board crashed into the sea late Monday night while approaching the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros.250.

Earlier reports had suggested the survivor was a five-year-old child. A 14-year-old girl is the sole survivor so far, according to the local Red Cross and rescuers.

Three bodies have been recovered, while the location of up to a hundred others has been identified by search and rescue personnel, according to authorities.

Three bodies have been recovered, while the location of up to a hundred others has been identified by search and rescue personnel, according to authorities.

Contact with the flight was lost at 1:51 am local time (GMT+2), when the plane appears to have pulled off from its final approach to land for a second try. French authorities have also dispatched two airplanes and a ship from the Reunion islands to aid the search.

Flight plan of Yemeni Airbus A310-300 that crashed off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on June 30 at around 1am Paris time
The Yemenia flight took off from Paris&rsquo Charles de Gaulle airport, subsequently making stopovers in Marseilles and Djibouti, with a change of aircraft in Sanaa. According to a senior Yemeni aviation official, Mohammad Abdel Kader, the weather conditions were bad, with winds gusting up to 61 knots.

Questions on safety record

The airport authorities cite bad weather at the time of the accident, and Yemenia deputy director assured them that the plane had taken off without any technical problem. The 143 passengers on board included nationals from France, Canada, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines and Yemen. It was also an aircraft that did not belong to Yemenia, but it was owned by another company, the lessor International Lease Finance Corp.

But the crashed aircraft had been cited for technical faults earlier, according to France transport minister Dominique Bussereau, and banned from French airspace. The unit has since not reappeared in our country, Bussereau told TV channel I-Tele.

&raquo Yemeni airline&#039s safety standards questioned

The Airbus A310 in question was checked in 2007 by the DGCA [France Directorate General of Civil Aviation], and they noticed a certain number of faults.

Also at the airport were activists from a group called SOS voyage aux Comores (SOS Comoros Travel) who said that they had already protested against conditions on the flights earlier.

Also at the airport were activists from a group called SOS voyage aux Comores (SOS Comoros Travel) who said that they had already protested against conditions on the flights earlier.

Flights between Sanaa and Moroni are carried out by cowboy operators, spokesman Farid Soilihi told AFP. .

Airbus and France Office of Investigations and Analysis (BEA) will be sending teams to the region to investigate the accident.

The European Commissioner for Transport, Antonio Tajani, has said that it would contact Yemenia to inquire on its safety record, and would also propose a global blacklist along the lines of EU current blacklist of banned airlines.

airplane crash - Comoros - Comoros crash - Yemen