Somalia Islamists lift aid ban to help drought victims

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab has lifted a ban on foreign aid agencies, as the region is hit by its worst drought in 60 years.



Al-Shabab imposed the ban in 2009, accusing them of being anti-Muslim.

It now says all charities, whether "Muslims or non-Muslims", can give emergency aid as long as they have "no hidden agenda".

The UN told the BBC it welcomed al-Shabab's announcement, but it would need security guarantees for its staff.

"I welcome all efforts to ensure the people of Somalia can access the assistance which they have a right to," the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

About a quarter of Somalis have been displaced by the drought, with many fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Embarrassed

An al-Shabab spokesman, Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, said the group had formed a committee to deal with the drought and aid agencies would have to liaise with it.

"Whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims, [if] their intention is only to assist those suffering, they can contact the committee which will give them access to the drought-hit areas," Mr Rage said at a press conference in the capital, Mogadishu.

"Anyone with no hidden agenda will be assisted... and those who intend to harm our people will be prevented to do so," he said.

Analysts say the move may have been prompted by the embarrassment al-Shabab feels about the exodus of Somalis leaving areas they control in search of food.

An estimated 12 million people in the Horn of Africa have been hit by this year's drought.

Its effects have been compounded by the violence in Somalia, which has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years - its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.
'Tax worries'

In north-east Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, some 1,400 refugees from Somalia are arriving every day. Aid agencies fear numbers could rise to half a million.

UN officials say more than 50% of Somali children arriving in neighbouring Ethiopia are malnourished - with some of them dying on their way to or within a day of arrival at refugee camps.

Mr Bowden said al-Shabab's decision to lift the ban could stem the flow of refugees, and reduce deaths.

"When people decide to move they suffer even higher rates of mortality," he said.

"If we can stop that situation and give people the food security they need to stay in Somalia we are going save more lives."

He said that he hoped al-Shabab would not demand payment in the form of a tax from aid agencies to operate in territory under its control.

"In the past, they honoured commitments and provided security for the agencies working there," Mr Bowden said.

"I hope they recognise that humanitarian agencies are going in only to meet the needs of the population."

Al-Shabab rules over large swathes of south and central Somalia.

It is fighting for Islamic rule in Somalia, and warned aid agencies in 2009 not to work with the weak central government, which only controls parts of the capital.

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7:40 AM | 0 comments

Chavez, back in Venezuela, says he will win 'battle for life'

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to his homeland on Monday after spending three weeks in Cuba.

(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned unexpectedly Monday to his nation's capital, where he vowed to win the "battle for life" after undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba.


He spoke from the balcony of the presidential palace just one day before the country is set to celebrate its bicentennial.

Dressed in military fatigues and wearing a red beret, Chavez appeared in good spirits though he kept his speech uncharacteristically short -- for him -- at just over 30 minutes.

"How do I begin this conversation? The return has begun!" he said, to throngs of cheering supporters.

The president said he was under the strict supervision of doctors, eating well and exercising.

"We will win this battle for life," he said. "I put myself first in the hands of God, and second in the hands of medical science."

Perhaps tellingly, Chavez also spoke about "stages" of treatment, suggesting the fight for his health could be a long one.

"No one should think that my presence here ... means that we've won the battle," he said.

Chavez spoke as cheering supporters filled the streets around the Miraflores presidential palace, waving flags and pictures of their beloved "comandante."

"Thank you, Fidel! For taking care of him," they chanted.

Chavez, 56, returned to Venezuela unexpectedly early Monday. He had been in Cuba for weeks undergoing treatment after doctors performed emergency surgery. Chavez announced last week that they had removed a cancerous tumor.

He said then he was continuing treatment but did not specify what that treatment entailed, where the tumor was located or when he would return to Venezuela.

Prior to that announcement, the Venezuelan leader had kept a notably low profile in the three weeks since officials announced that doctors operated on him, sparking rampant rumors about his health and the country's political future.

"The speech, in some ways, was vintage Chavez," said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, soon after the president spoke. "That magic that has enabled him to govern for 12 years hasn't disappeared."

Chavez appeared stronger than he did last week and, at least based on their reaction, has not lost the ability to inspire his supporters.

Still, the extent to which Chavez will be able to carry out his duties remains in some doubt, said Shifter, particularly given that he is up for re-election next year.

Earlier Monday, the Venezuelan leader said he did not think he would be able to accompany the vice president during official events for the nation's bicentennial Tuesday.

"But I am here, and I will be here with you from my command post in the heart of Caracas, in the heart of Venezuela," he said.

Cecilia Sosa Gomez, the former chief justice of Venezuela's Supreme Court, has said Chavez must reveal more information about his health and possibly delegate power to the vice president during his treatment.

"He has not told us what are the real effects of his situation. ... He hasn't shown how long his recuperation time is," she said before Chavez's speech, adding that his decision not to attend bicentennial festivities is significant.

"There are limitations," she said. "Even he is recognizing that."

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7:31 PM | 0 comments

Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face suit by Tristane Banon

French writer Tristane Banon is to file a lawsuit for attempted rape against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, her lawyer says.

The lawyer, David Koubbi, said the suit referred to an incident in 2002 when Ms Banon went to interview Mr Strauss-Kahn in a flat in Paris.


Mr Strauss-Kahn was recently freed from house arrest in New York in a separate alleged sex assault case.

He denies assaulting a hotel maid in the US city on 14 May.

It was shortly after Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York that Ms Banon came forward to say that he had tried to assault her in 2002.

She did not go to the police, but did raise the allegation in a TV chat show in 2007, when Mr Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped out.

Mr Koubbi said the suit would be filed on Tuesday. He had previously said it would not be filed until Mr Strauss-Kahn's New York trial finished.

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Colombia: Farc rebel chief Alfonso Cano 'escapes raid'

The leader of Colombia's Farc rebels narrowly escaped a raid on his camp, President Juan Manuel Santos has said.

Alfonso Cano escaped the camp "in the space of 12 hours" before Thursday's operation on the border of the Huila and Cauca districts, Mr Santos added.


Soldiers found Mr Cano had left behind his clothes, half his belongings and two dogs that normally accompany him. TV footage showed a rudimentary camp.

The Farc has been hit hard in recent years by Colombian government forces.

The group's top military commander Jorge Briceno, known as Mono Jojoy, was killed in an army bombing raid in September. And the army says it killed Mr Cano's head of security, Alirio Rojas Bocanegra, in March.
'Very close'

At a military airport in Bogota on Sunday, the president told reporters that the army had received a tip about the location of Mr Cano's camp from someone within the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

The mountainous jungle area was bombed and then soldiers were sent in to capture the Farc's leader, but he had fled, Mr Santos added.

"We've verified that the night before Alfonso Cano slept at that camp."

Cigarette butts thought to be the brand favoured by Mr Cano were found on the ground around the camp, Mr Santos said.

Television pictures showed black tarpaulins slung between trees.

Mr Santos said it was the third time they had almost captured Mr Cano.

The Farc's leaders had lost what they considered their safe havens, and he had ordered government forces to "intensify" their pursuit, he added.

"We were very close to Cano," the president said. "He didn't die, but he was very close. Sooner or later he will fall, like all the other Farc leaders."

"We will keep pursuing him because we got him out of his traditional operation areas."

Mr Cano, a 62-year-old academic from Bogota, became the Farc's leader in 2008 after his predecessor, Manuel Marulanda died of a heart attack. His real name is Guillermo Leon Saenz.

The largest of Colombia's rebel groups, the Farc was founded in 1964 and has mounted a long-running insurgency aimed at toppling the Colombian government and establishing a Marxist-style state.

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11:49 PM | 0 comments

Nigeria 'militant' attacks leave 10 dead in Maiduguri

At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on Islamist militants in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, officials have said.



Military commander Gen Jack Nwaogbo said five people were killed when a bomb exploded on Sunday inside a bar frequented by soldiers and policemen.

Gunmen also shot dead four people late on Saturday and one person on Sunday.

Gen Nwaogbo blamed the killings on Boko Haram, which wants to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

The group has also been accused of carrying out an attack on another bar in the same city last Sunday, which left 25 people dead.
'Horrified cries'

Sunday's bomb blast ripped through a bar at a "mamy market" attached to a police barracks in Wulari area of Maiduguri, said Gen Nwaogbo, the head of a joint police and military taskforce.

He said the attack was carried out around 1730 (1630 GMT).
Officials said at least five people were killed. Gen Nwaogbo told the AFP news agency that eight had died, while another officer put the toll at 10.

A resident said he had heard a loud bang, and then saw dark clouds of smoke rising from the beer garden.

"There was confusion and horrified cries as people scampered to safety. I saw three military vans leaving the neighbourhood with the dead and the wounded from the blast," Umar Kaulaha told AFP.

"From my estimation, around a dozen people may have died."

Earlier, one person was shot dead in another part of the city by gunmen riding on a motorbike. A senior police officer told AFP the victim was a politician from the state's ruling All Nigeria Peoples Party, while another said it was the newly-appointed head of a local government council.

Overnight, gunmen shot dead four other people.

"The attackers went straight to the homes of their victims and shot them dead between 2300 (2200 GMT) and 0000 (2300 GMT)," the officer added. "It is obvious the attackers were members of Boko Haram."

Boko Haram has carried out a number of bombings in north-eastern Nigeria, as well as an attack on police headquarters in the capital Abuja earlier this month.

The group's trademark has been the use of gunmen on motorbikes.

Two years ago, Nigerian security forces brutally suppressed an uprising by Boko Haram, destroying their compound and then killing their leader in custody, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Lagos.

Instead of disappearing, the group has regrouped and now appear to have the funding and expertise to launch attacks on an almost daily basis, our correspondent adds.

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11:45 PM | 0 comments

Japan finds rare earths in Pacific seabed

Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals, used in many hi-tech appliances, in the seabed.

The geologists estimate that there are about a 100bn tons of the rare elements in the mud of the Pacific Ocean floor.


At present, China produces 97% of the world's rare earth metals.

Analysts say the Pacific discovery could challenge China's dominance, if recovering the minerals from the seabed proves commercially viable.

The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, found the minerals in sea mud at 78 locations.

"The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption," said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo.

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface.
Environmental fears

One-third of the sites yielded rich contents of rare earths and the metal yttrium, Mr Kato said.

The deposits are in international waters east and west of Hawaii, and east of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Mr Kato estimated that rare earths contained in the deposits amounted to 80 to 100 billion tonnes.

The US Geological Survey has estimated that global reserves are just 110 million tonnes, found mainly in China, Russia and other former Soviet countries, and the United States.

China's apparent monopoly of rare earth production enabled it to restrain supply last year during a territorial dispute with Japan.

Japan has since sought new sources of the rare earth minerals.

The Malaysian government is considering whether to allow the construction of an Australian-financed project to mine rare earths, in the face of local opposition focused on the fear of radioactive waste.

The number of firms seeking licences to dig through the Pacific Ocean floor is growing rapidly.

The listed mining company Nautilus has the first licence to mine the floor of the Bismarck and Solomon oceans around Papua New Guinea.

It will be recovering what is called seafloor massive sulphide, for its copper and gold content.

The prospect of deep sea mining for precious metals - and the damage that could do to marine ecosystems - is worrying environmentalists.

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11:43 PM | 0 comments

Thai PM resigns as party head; Yingluck set to be 1st female premier

Bangkok (CNN) -- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced his resignation as head of Thailand's Democratic Party on Monday as his opponent Yingluck Shinawatra is set to become the country's first female prime minister.



Yingluck's Pheu Thai party dominated the country's general election, which took place Sunday. The official results have not been released, but with more than 90 percent of votes counted Monday, the Pheu Thai party had won 265 seats in the country's 500-member parliament.

"When compared with the result of (the) election in 2007 with this year's election, we have less MPs," Abhisit said via the Thai news agency MCOT. "I think that I need to take this responsibility, so today I decided to resign from the leader position of the (Democratic) party, and I will let the party choose a new leader in 90 days."

Yingluck was poised to become the new prime minister, five years after her older brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in a military coup.

"The first thing I want to do is help people on their economic situation," Yingluck said Sunday.

Thai stock jumped more than 3%, or 33 points, at opening on Monday following the Pheu Thai party's election win.

The election had more than a 70% turnout rate, the country's election commission said.

"We congratulate the people of the Kingdom of Thailand, our long-time friend and ally, for their robust participation in the July 3rd parliamentary elections," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

Thaksin, Yingluck's brother, is one of Thailand's most polarizing political figures.

Two years after the coup in 2006, he left the country after being convicted on conflict of interest charges -- accusations that he still denies.

Yingluck's critics worry she will simply do her brother's bidding -- something she has denied.

Before she even gave her victory speech, her brother shared his comments from exile in Dubai.

"Well, I would tell them that I really want to go back, but I will wait for the right moment and the right situation," Thaksin told reporters.

The Pheu Thai party remains fiercely behind Thaksin and wants him to return.

But the so-called "Yellow Shirts," a group that formed to oust Thaksin from power, has said it will do whatever it can to stop that from happening.

Yingluck said she won't give her brother favorable treatment.

"I can't do anything special for my brother," she said, adding she will follow the "rule of law."

With about 47 million eligible voters in Thailand, Sunday's balloting was held to decide Thailand's first general election since 2007, an election that many hope will bring an end to years of unrest between two political factions that climaxed last year with protests that turned deadly.

"There is a lot more hard work to do in the future for the well-being of our sisters and brothers, the people of Thailand," Yingluck said Sunday. "There are many things to accomplish to make reconciliation possible, paving the way for a solid foundation for a flourishing nation."

Tensions between the Democratic Party and the Pheu Thai party, which reflect deep divisions within Thai society, erupted last year, with protests against Abhisit's government leading to a military crackdown. More than 90 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

After the riots, the Thai government pledged to work toward a process of national reconciliation to heal class and political divisions, though the divide between the two groups remains wide.

But average Thai voters were more concerned with economic issues, wanting their leaders to shrink the gap between what they earn and the skyrocketing cost of living.

"Free education is good, care for elderly is also good. In fact every parties' policies are all good, the question is if they would ever implement them." Banorn Achriyawatkul said as she worked outside a polling station.

After being laid off from her job as a secretary, the mother of four is now a food vendor in the streets, trying to make ends meet.

Despite the animosity between them, the two major parties have made very similar promises to the people: a better economy, free education, and a major increase in the minimum wage -- exactly what many voters wanted to hear.

But analysts say the extravagant programs will cost more than Thailand can afford.

Supong Limtanakool of Bangkok University's Center for Strategic Studies said both parties made big promises they just can't keep.

"It will be something that we have to spend somewhere between an additional 1.5 trillion baht to 7.5 trillion baht (49 billion dollars to 244 billion dollars) with all the extravagant programs, which is five times the national budget. ... I mean, we'll be broke in one year," he said.

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CNN's Benjamin Gottlieb contributed to this report.
From Sara Sidner and Kocha Olarn, CNN

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11:15 PM | 0 comments

Thai election makes history but can winners keep promises?

Bangkok (CNN) -- A roaring cheer went up the moment Yingluck Shinawatra walked out the front door of her Pheu Thai party's election headquarters.

In Thailand's fourth election in seven years, voters made a historic decision on July 3: for the very first time the country will be headed by a female prime minister.


Yingluck's party took a slim majority of the parliamentary seats needed to make her head of the government.

Yingluck Shinawatra set to be Thailand's first female premier

"The first thing I want to do is help people on their economic situation," Yingluck said, refusing to declare victory until the official count was over.


Yingluck's headquarters was teeming with journalists on the inside, with most of her supporters celebrating on the outside.

Yingluck is the younger sister of one of Thailand's most polarizing political figures -- former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- who was ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Two years later he fled the country after being convicted on conflict of interest charges -- charges he still denies.

Thailand politics timeline 2001-2011

Flags with his image waved in the sticky night air at the car port entrance outside the Pheu Thai headquarters. A child wearing a shirt with his sister Yingluck's picture on it walked right past trying to get closer to the celebrations.

Yingluck's critics worry she will simply do her brother's bidding, something she has denied.

But before she even gave her victory speech, her brother had shared his thoughts from exile in Dubai.

"Well, I would tell them that I really want to go back, but I will wait for the right moment and the right situation," Thaksin told the assembled cameras.

The Pheu Thai party is still fiercely behind Thaksin and want him back, though Yingluk for her part has been slightly more circumspect on the issue.

"I can't do anything special for my brother... we will follow the rule of law," she told CNN a few days earlier.

But the average voter in Thailand isn't so caught up with all of this. The main thing they want is for their leaders to shrink the gap between what they earn and the sky-rocketing cost of living.

"Free education is good, care for elderly is also good. In fact every party's policies are all good, the question is if they would ever implement them," Banorn Achriyawatkul, a food vendor, said as she worked outside a polling station selling snacks that smelled heavenly.

She has four children and has suffered being laid off as a secretary. She is now working as a food vendor in the streets and trying to make ends meet.

Despite the animosity between the two major parties, they have made very similar promises to the people: an overall better economy, free education, and a major increase in the minimum wage -- exactly what many voters want to hear.

But analysts say the extravagant programs will cost more than Thailand can afford.

Supong Limtanakool, of Bangkok University's Center for Strategic Studies, said both parties made big promises they just can't keep.

"It will be something that we have to spend somewhere between an additional 1.5 trillion baht to 7.5 trillion baht [US$49 billion to US$2.46 trillion] with all the extravagant programs, which is five-times the national budget.

"I mean we'll be broke in one year."
Her main and biggest rival, incumbent Abhisit Vejjajiva, had conceded defeat minutes before she spoke.

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11:13 PM | 0 comments

South Korean Marine kills 3, wounds 2 troops in shooting spree

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- A corporal in the South Korean Marines went on a shooting spree and shot other troops, killing three and injuring two, the defense ministry said. The incident took place on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, about 11:50 a.m. Monday.

The ministry said the corporal is in custody.

The dead included a staff sergeant, a corporal and a lance corporal, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed military official.
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From Paula Hancocks and Jiyeon Lee, CNN

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11:09 PM | 0 comments