Syria buries victims of contested bombing

2012-01-07

Crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad gathered on Saturday to bury 26 people who the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber at a busy Damascus crossroads.

The opposition Syrian National Council has accused the government of staging Friday’s explosion to try to bolster its contention that it is fighting foreign-backed “terrorists”, not a popular pro-democracy movement.

A cortege of ambulances, lights flashing, bore the flag-draped coffins of victims to a Damascus mosque after driving through streets lined with mourners, state television showed.

Crowds chanted “The people want Bashar al-Assad!” and “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one!”.

Christians flee attacks in north-east Nigeria

2012-01-07

 

Hundreds of Christians have begun to flee northern Nigeria after dozens were killed in a series of attacks by Islamist militants who issued an ultimatum to Christians to leave the mainly Muslim region or be killed, witnesses said on Saturday.

A Nigerian newspaper on Tuesday published a warning from Boko Haram, a movement styled on the Taliban, that Christians had three days to get out of northern Nigeria.

Since the expiry of that ultimatum, attacks in towns in four states in northeastern Nigeria have left at least 37 people dead and hundreds of Christians are fleeing to the south, according to residents and a Red Cross official.

Gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs have targeted church congregations and a group of mourners in a church hall.

Hot air balloon crash kills 11 in New Zealand

2012-01-07

A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand on Saturday, killing all 11 people on board in the country’s worst air accident in more than three decades.

Police said the balloon appeared to have clipped powerlines and caught fire before crashing into farmland near Carterton, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Wellington on New Zealand’s North Island.

“Sadly the pilot and 10 passengers on board have not survived,” Wellington District Commander Superintendent Mike Rusbatch said.

The accident occurred just before 7.30 am (1830 GMT) in calm, clear weather in a region well known for hot air ballooning.

Murray to face Dolgopolov in Brisbane final

2012-01-07

A merciless Andy Murray subjected Australia’s Bernard Tomic to a 6-3 6-2 thrashing on Saturday to deflate local fans and set up an intriguing final with Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Brisbane International.

World number four Murray had ended Dolgopolov’s barnstorming run to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open last year and appears in fine fettle for the re-match after disposing of Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tomic with clinical efficiency.

After trading baseline blows for the opening games at the Pat Rafter Arena, Murray pounced at 4-3 in the first set to break his 19-year-old opponent, then raced to a 2-0 lead in the second.

Blackwater settles Iraq killings lawsuit

2012-01-07

The U.S. private security company formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit with the families of four contractors killed in a gruesome 2004 ambush that was a defining moment of the Iraq war for the American public.

The families reached a confidential settlement with Academi, as Blackwater is now known, agreeing to the dismissal of their case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit based in Richmond, Virginia.

An administrator for the estates of Stephen Helvenston, Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona sued Blackwater in 2005 after the security contractors were killed by Iraqi insurgents while escorting a supply convoy in Fallujah.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.