Six In The Morning

Yasser Arafat's remains exhumed as forensic experts search for additional clues to his death

AP

 

 

TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2012

The remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were exhumed from his grave today so international forensic experts could search for additional clues to his death, Palestinian officials said.

The remains were taken from the massive mausoleum in the West Bank city of Ramallah where Arafat was buried and moved to a nearby mosque so Palestinian doctors could take samples from his bones, the officials said.

Under Islam, only Muslims can handle a Muslim's remains.

EUROZONE CRISIS

Eurogroup pulls nightshift to seal Greek deal

Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have tried twice to establish a long-term plan for Greece. Now it is ready - but it may be too ambitious.

This agreement took three attempts and many night shifts. But unlike last week's failed meeting, the rings around everyone's eyes weren't quite as dark - and the relief was even greater. Eurogroup leader Jean-Claude Juncker said at a press conference afterwards, the new deal was about more than money - it was the "promise of a better future for the Greek people and the entire eurozone."

EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn added that the bloc had passed a credibility test, "that we simply could not fail."

Failed CO2 TargetsGoing Through the Motions in Doha

The United Nations Climate Change Conference beginning in Doha this week is turning into a farce. While negotiators are sticking to the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, even climatologists admit that the project has failed.

Protecting the climate is incredibly important to Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, as evidenced by all the resolutions it has adopted in the past to save the planet. Germany has climate funds and reduction targets, building and transportation programs, and even an entire strategy to wean itself off nuclear power and shift to green energy, which has been dubbed the Energiewende, or "energy revolution." But at some point there is such a thing as overkill.

Can a member of parliament be expected to be chauffeured around Berlin in a small car? Or should he even stoop to the level of taking a cab? Now that, the Bundestag recently decided, would be asking too much. But because the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the elegant limousines normally used to chauffeur German lawmakers exceeds standards set three years ago, the Bundestag came up with a convenient solution. They simply raised the previously established limit of 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer to 140.

Pakistani journalist escapes car-bombing attempt

November 27, 2012 - 1:43PM

Salman Masood

Islamabad: A prominent Pakistani journalist and talk show host escaped what appeared to be an assassination attempt here in the capital on Monday after a bomb was found under his car, officials said.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing attempt that apparently targeted Hamid Mir, who hosts one of the country's most-watched political talk shows.

Most suspicions pointed to the Pakistani Taliban, which had recently singled-out Mr Mir for criticism over his coverage of Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist wounded by militants in October.

ICC suspects Boko Haram of crimes against humanity

Sapa-AFP

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has a "reasonable basis" to believe Boko Haram Islamists have committed crimes against humanity in Nigeria, her office said Monday.

Nigerian authorities should prosecute acts of murder and persecution attributed to the radical group that have claimed more than 1 200 lives since mid-2009 or the ICC could step in, the prosecutor said in a report seen by AFP.

"There is a reasonable basis to believe that since July 2009, Boko Haram has committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity," namely murder and persecution, the report said.

The report also cited a "reasonable basis" to believe that Boko Haram has "launched a widespread and systematic attack that has resulted in the killings of more than 1 200 Christians and Muslims."

27 November 2012 Last updated at 01:10 GMT

Uzbekistan's Gulnara Karimova linked to telecoms scandal

Investigators in Switzerland and Sweden are probing alleged links between a leading European telecommunications company and a high-level multi-million dollar fraud and corruption scandal in Uzbekistan.

The allegations stretch all the way to businesswoman, pop diva and one-time UN ambassador Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

She has so far not commented on the claims and the BBC's efforts for her to do so have remained unanswered.

Swedish-based TeliaSonera, which is partly state-owned, has been at the centre of a huge political storm since Swedish TV broadcast a report accusing it of making a $300m payment to an intermediary company for the rights to operate a 3G mobile phone service in the Central Asian republic.