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A group of Nigeria's powerful governors have said they will back President Goodluck Jonathan for next year's elections - seen as a major boost to his campaign. Half of the 36 governors backed Mr Jonathan's bid to be selected as the ruling party's candidate.
Whoever wins the PDP nomination will be the favourite for the April 2011 poll.

Mr Jonathan, a southerner, is opposed by some in the PDP, who say the party should choose a northerner.
The PDP (People's Democratic Party) has a tradition of alternating power between north and south every two elections, meaning a northerner would normally stand in 2011.
Several northern powerbrokers have backed the campaign of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, to be the PDP candidate.
'Principle of incumbency'

At an emergency meeting in the capital, Abuja, 18 governors and two deputies said they would support Mr Jonathan in PDP primaries on 13 January 2011.
"Democratic systems all over the world recognise the principle of incumbency and continuity," said Ibrahim Shema, governor of the northern state of Katsina, reports the Reuters news agency

The chairman of the governors' forum, Bukola Saraki, also later dissociated himself from their position, saying he would support a candidate from the north.
The PDP has 26 of Nigeria's 36 state governors and, in the party's structures, they wield considerable power.

In previous primaries, they have instructed delegates from their states how to vote.
So the BBC's Bashir Saad Abdullahi in Abuja says their announcement is a significant boost for Mr Jonathan.

But he says that if state delegates vote independently, rather than how governors tell them, Mr Abubakar could still secure the party's nomination.
Mr Jonathan became president in February after the death of Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner.
He is the first president from Nigeria's southern, oil-producing Delta region.

Nigeria's recent elections have been tarnished by fraud and violence.
Mr Jonathan has promised to introduce electoral reforms, but correspondents say it will be difficult to implement radical changes before April.
The main opposition candidates are former anti-corruption campaigner Nuhu Ribadu and Gen Muhammadu Buhari.

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He said: "During my time in solitary confinement in the basement of a Victorian prison, my colleagues were publishing material" He highlighted allegations published on Friday about India torturing people in Kashmir.
'Continuing vendetta'

Ata hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday, Mr Justice Ouseley ordered Mr Assange be bailed on payment of £240,000 in cash and sureties.

The judge imposed strict bail conditions including wearing an electronic tag, reporting to police every day and observing a curfew.

Mr Assange's solicitor Mark Stephens said after the court appearance that the bail appeal was part of a "continuing vendetta by the Swedes".
Speaking to the BBC after his release, Mr Assange said there was a rumour from his lawyers in the US that there had been an indictment made against him there.
A spokeswoman from the US Department of Justice would only confirm there was "an ongoing investigation into the Wikileaks matter".
Mr Assange has received the backing of a number of high-profile supporters, including human rights campaigners Jemima Khan and Bianca Jagger and film director Ken Loach.
Sex allegations
Wikileaks has published hundreds of sensitive American diplomatic cables, details of which have appeared in the Guardian in the UK and several other newspapers around the world.
He has been criticised in the US, where former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said he should be hunted down like the al-Qaeda leadership.

Mr Assange argues the allegations against him are politically motivated and designed to take attention away from the material appearing on Wikileaks.
He is accused of having unprotected sex with a woman, identified only as Miss A, when she insisted he use a condom.

Mr Assange is also accused of having unprotected sex with another woman, Miss W, while she was asleep.
A full extradition hearing should normally take place within 21 days of the arrest. Mr Assange was arrested on 7 December, so this should be by 28 December.

However, in such a high-profile case, it is possible that a full extradition hearing will not take place for several months.

At that hearing Mr Assange will be able to challenge the warrant and raise any defences to the extradition request.

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Runners-up this year included the Tea Party, Julian Assange, Hamid Karzai and the 33 Chilean Miners.
Our question to you today: Is Mark Zuckerberg a good choice for TIME's Person of the Year?


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"Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy."

It appears that the US server mirror is not actually serving content. The mirror simply redirects to servers hosted by Russian-based provider Heihachi Ltd, according to NetCraft records.
After Amazon booted WikiLeaks, US Senator Joe Lieberman – who chairs the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs – praised the decision. “The company’s decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material. I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them," Lieberman said in a statement.

"WikiLeaks’ illegal, outrageous, and reckless acts have compromised our national security and put lives at risk around the world. No responsible company — whether American or foreign — should assist WikiLeaks in its efforts to disseminate these stolen materials. I will be asking Amazon about the extent of its relationship with WikiLeaks and what it and other web service providers will do in the future to ensure that their services are not used to distribute stolen, classified information."

After EveryDNS removed Wikileaks.org from its service, Assange and crew moved to other country-level domains, including Swtzerland (wikileaks.ch), Austria (wikileaks.at), and the Cocos Island (wikileaks.cc). ®

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Manning is accused of releasing documents to WikiLeaks, a website known for leaking official secrets. Manning is currently awaiting trial on charges of illegally downloading classified material and providing video of a 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq to WikiLeaks.

The vote was 8-0, with one abstention, said Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, spokeswoman for Berkeley's city manager's office.
Mayor Tom Bates said the council didn't have enough information to determine whether Manning is "a hero or traitor."

"We don't even know if he (leaked the files)," Bates said. "We're interested in not trying to make that determination. We are willing to watch it and to consider it in the future, and if we feel it's appropriate to us to make some statement, we'll bring it back to our council."

Bates said those present at the city council meeting had a "great discussion" about topics such as internet privacy, international security and national security.
"We had an hour of discussion where we heard from the public and we heard every conceivable issue related to Pfc. Bradley Manning," Bates said. "We heard everything from he was a hero to a traitor and everything in between."
Bates said the motion was brought to the council by the Peace and Justice Commission, a group of volunteers that includes council members' appointees.

"A lot of people were upset that it wasn't a very well thought out," Bates said. "There was some feeling among us at the city council of not wanting to add credence to that."

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The traditional way to handle this sort of thing is to write a story, a summary, but there are so many issues in play that I thought this was one where it's best to have you hear directly from specialists in the field. We have three distinguished participants, and there's a great deal of subtlety in their answers. Selecting a couple of quotes, or a tally of their "votes" on an issue, wouldn't depict that complexity.

The discussion roamed from WikiLeaks itself to the First Amendment implications of such a case, to the weaknesses of a prosecution and a defense, to the changes needed in the Espionage Act and other laws.
It's not the most important legal point, but it's notable that the three panelists all offered similar answers to the question, what is a weakness for the defense. The answer: the defendant. His statements and demeanor will hurt him with a judge and jury.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bloc of senators easily propelled President Obama’s tax cut compromise over a key procedural hurdle yesterday, clearing the way for a final Senate vote as early as today, and setting the stage for a potential showdown later this week among divided Democrats in the House.

A looming Jan. 1 deadline — when Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire, raising taxes for most Americans — brought Democrats and Republicans together in the Senate to advance Obama’s compromise over the objection of liberals. The lopsided vote of 83 to 15 easily cleared a 60-vote threshold to prevent a filibuster and generated momentum for the Obama-GOP alliance on the contentious issue.

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WikiLeaks' supporters managed to temporarily bring down Visa and MasterCard websites earlier this month by overloading them with requests from individual computers.

PayPal, which also put a block on WikiLeaks' account, crashed days later.

University of Sydney Professor Michael Fry said a hacker network which orchestrated the attacks commanded thousands of members to bombard the sites after the companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks, which released thousands of classified government documents in recent weeks.

Those who responded to the call were potentially in breach of computer crime laws, he said.

"If readily identified, the owners of the machines participating in this ... could see themselves charged with abuse of computer facilities," said Professor Fry, a cyber-security expert with the university's School of Information Technologies.

But whether or not legal action will be taken against offending participants is a thorny issue.

"This cyber war is gathering pace and prosecutions could generate another round of attacks," he said.

"Either way we are seeing the beginning of a new era in political cyber-warfare with the widespread use of botnets."

Professor Fry said it was "fascinating and novel" that thousands of willing participants allowed their machines to be infected so they could take part in politically motivated attacks.

"This suggests a huge level of emotive support for WikiLeaks and its activities, but also a level of naivety," he said in a statement.

"It seems members of the group downloaded publicly available ... code, but took no steps to evade discovery and identification, unlike criminal botnets, which use sophisticated evasion techniques."

"This makes members vulnerable to detection, potential prosecution and counter-cyberattack(s) ... (which) have indeed happened today, initiated by US political groups."

An internet group operating under the label Operation Payback claimed responsibility for the MasterCard and Visa problems in messages on Twitter and elsewhere.

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THE Nigerian Premier League was thrown into dark moment on Sunday with the death of Ocean Boys of Yenagoa left back defender, Emma Ogoli.
Ogoli, e News sports learn he slumped on the pitch of the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa after playing only for 39 minutes during the team's week six tie against visiting Niger Tornadoes of Minna which ended 2-1 in favour of the homers.
The stopper who joined Ocean Boys from sister club,Bayelsa United suddenly collapsed on the pitch and was rushed to a waiting ambulance at the stadium but died on the way to the hospital.

In his reaction, Head Media and Awards Committee of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL),Akin Akinbobola described the incident as pathetic, adding that the player's death was not only a loss to his immediate family and club, but to the the entire Nigerian football fraternity.


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 AS the controversy surrounding the statement made by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, about the budget of the National Assembly rages on, the CBN governor has declared that politicians in the country, particularly those who participated in the second and the botched third republics, should be held responsible for killing most of the dead banks in the country.

The CBN governor, who delivered a public lecture entitled “Global Financial Meltdown and the Reforms in the Nigerian Banking sector” at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, said that, “most of the people who killed Nigerian banks are still very much around us, they borrowed money and refused to repay them and when the banks died, they turned around and reinvested the money into their businesses with some of them becoming governors, senators, members of the National Assembly.”

Mallam Sanusi, who said that he did not believe in the categorisation of the banks as ‘failed banks’, explained that, “the banks did not fail but were killed and we must do everything possible to find the killers of the banks just like would be done to find the killers of anybody killed by some people.”
On the banking reform he introduced in the last 17 months, he stated that the reforms had brought stability to the banking sector and the Nigerian economy, adding that due to the measures put in place, no single bank in Nigeria had collapsed ever since the full implementation of the reforms.

He added that no depositor had lost money as a result of the banking sector crisis because, according to him, “the banking system has stabilised and the most affected banks have continued normal operation while modalities for injecting fresh capital into them, either by shareholders or through acquisition and merger arrangements, are being finalised.”

The CBN governor further said that the reforms had also succeeded in returning macro economic and financial system stability, adding that overall output in 2010 was expected to be higher than in 2009, saying, “projections by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the real GDP in 2010 will grow by 7.85 per cent compared to 6.66 per cent in 2009. The growth rate appears robust but there is need to ensure that it translates into job creation and poverty reduction.”

According to him, between 2009 and 2010, the volatility of the economy has moderated significantly explaining that, “headline inflation declined steadily from 15.1 per cent in end-2008 top 10.4 per cent in September, 2009, rising thereafter to 15.6 per cent in February 2010.
“Since then, it has maintained a downward trend to 13.4 per cent in October, 2010.”

However, on the challenges of the reforms, he said that the major challenge was how to sustain and translate the stability into employment opportunities, because, according to him, “the link between major growth drivers, particularly agriculture and manufacturing, has continued to be weak,” there was, therefore, the need to urgently address all binding constraints to growth, he noted.

He also said that, “inadequate or absence of basic economic and social infrastructure remains a major binding constraint on Nigeria’s economic growth and development. There is, therefore, an urgent need to fast-track the proposed reforms in some key sectors of the economy, notably power and oil and gas sectors, to attract the much-needed investment and reduce large import bills on refined petroleum. There is also need to deepen the deregulation process in the electricity process and transport sector to attract private investment.”




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PRINCE WILLIAM'S romantic engagement to Kate Middleton is not the only reason Mount Kenya holds a special place in his heart, according to excerpts from a book about the royal couple to be published in New Idea tomorrow.
William and Kate, The Love Story, by British royalty reporter Robert Jobson, details the couple's shaky past and the significance of Mount Kenya as a romantic getaway for the prince and his ex-girlfriend, Jecca Craig.
''Jecca and William were said to be so close that in 2000 they performed a mock engagement ceremony on her parents' 22,500-hectare wildlife reserve at the foot of Mount Kenya,'' Jobson writes.
William then returned there after a public stoush with Kate in 2004 that left him feeling claustrophobic and stale, although the prince did not pursue his romance with Jecca.
Trying to act the part of a newly single party prince at this time, Jobson says, William responded to the couple's first official break-up with an over-the-top display of crass behaviour and unfeeling emotion.
Kate's reaction to the heartless behaviour was, writes Jobson, matter-of-fact and without tears. ''A well-placed source told me: 'She was cool and quite relaxed when she told everybody. She almost seemed relieved it was over and it was out'.''
After reuniting, then splitting again in 2007, the New Idea book excerpt tells, Wills and Kate appeared to be over for good … until a weekend at the home of close friends of the royal family reunited them.
''The body language said it all,'' a guest confided to Jobson. ''You got the impression that if we had not been there, they'd have been all over each other.
''The power of their love, like a magnet, had pulled them back together.''

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NEWS of the death of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s wife, Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole, on the night of last Tuesday,  in Abuja brought about, albeit momentarily, a sad and solemn atmosphere which enveloped the state. The departure of this woman who stood by her husband as he fought and won different battles on different fronts, as a labour activist and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), for the well-being of the Nigerian worker and for the recovery of his electoral mandate, came to many Edo State indigenes and residents as a shock.
Unfortunately, however, Mrs. Oshiomhole lost the battle against one of humanity’s most malignant diseases, breast cancer. Even with the unofficial knowledge of some persons that Mrs. Oshiomhole was suffering from breast cancer, they still received the fact of her death in a somewhat surprised manner.
The 54-year-old mother of five died barely four days to the traditional wedding of the family’s second daughter, Jane, for which preparations were said to have reached an advanced stage. The event had been fixed for Sunday, December 12. The other children are Cyril, Winnie, Steve and Adams Jnr. 
On hearing of his wife’s death, Governor Oshiomhole was reported to have stepped out of his office and wept as he deeply pondered over what had happened. He reportedly left for Abuja by road at about 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday but later returned to Benin City same day in the afternoon to meet a state thrown into a solemn mood.
A statement from the Edo State Government signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Pally Iriase, which officially announced her death on Wednesday, confirmed that Mrs. Oshiomhole died “after a protracted battle with breast cancer,” adding that she would be deeply missed by her husband, children, the people and government of Edo state.
An anonymous profiler once wrote that “Mrs. Oshiomhole might not have possessed the crowd-pulling charisma of her husband, but on her own, the affable woman was a force to reckon with.”
Born on 18 June 1956 to the Akaragbon family of Idumu-Agho, Okaigben, Ewohimi, in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, Clara never had the privilege of acquiring early education. This seeming impediment did not affect her determination to acquire a professional academic relevance with which she armed herself.
She then took up appointment as a staff member of the National Institute of Public Information, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Information, Kaduna. She was a secretariat staff of the institute until her husband won a popular victory through a judgment of the Court of Appeal to become governor of Edo State.
“Quiet, admirably low-keyed but forceful, Mrs. Oshiomhole was until her demise, the strong tower behind her husband’s uncanny doggedness and fights with establishments for the welfare of Nigerian workers. Her contributions to the success of her husband’s numerous struggles also played a great impact in his emergence as the governor of Edo State and, indeed, his quest to emancipate the state from the grip of imposed under-development,” the profiler added.
On becoming the First Lady of Edo State, she set up the Health Foundation for Maternal and Child Care (HEFMAC), an NGO for bringing qualitative health care to the indigent people of the state, and which she successfully used to take free health programme to the three senatorial districts of the state.
“As part of her determination to end the travails of women and children, particularly the girl-child, Mrs. Oshiomhole has not only given out millions of naira in payment of hospital bills, she has equally given out scholarships to indigent but brilliant young girls to cover tuition and books from secondary to tertiary institutions of learning. The girls were selected from the three senatorial districts of the state.”
Clara’s battle against cancer apparently limited her public appearances as First Lady and the scope of her plans for the people of Edo State. But that low-keyed disposition no doubt endeared her to the hearts of many, including those who never had the opportunity of meeting her. It might also be part of the reasons the news of her death was received with shock and solemnity, even across political divides. Indeed, the outpouring of emotions knew no bounds.
The number of sympathisers were enormous. The list included those who personally called at the Government House in Benin City to see the bereaved, and those who sent in their condolences. Among them were President Goodluck Jonathan; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former governors Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, Dr. Chris Ngige of Anambra State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun state, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State; Senate President David Mark; Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state, Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, and acting governor of Delta State, Sam Obi.
Others included the national chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande; the Edo State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih; Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan; the Benin monarch, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa; the Esogban of Benin, Chief David Edebiri; first democratically elected governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; and National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Lai Mohammed.
The tributes were unanimous in describing Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole as a quiet, unassuming, supportive and courageous woman.


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The ill health of Nigeria's president sparked fears of a military coup and caused screaming matches over who was in charge of the country, according to secret US diplomatic cables.
Umaru Yar'Adua, who was terminally ill, left the country in November 2009 for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
A US memo marked secret and dated 26 February, just after Yar'Adua's return, reveals frantic negotiations in the corridors of power of Africa's most populous nation.
It says the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, admitted "'everyone's confused' about who is in charge of Nigeria".
"He said the last cabinet meeting was disastrous and included yelling and screaming, and it is totally dysfunctional. He said he is 'not a politician' and had very limited experience as an administrator, but concluded, 'I will not tolerate a brawl.'"
Jonathan named political enemies whom he accused of destabilising the government. "This terrible situation in the country today has been created by four people: Turai Yar'Adua [the ailing president's wife], his chief security officer (CSO) [Yusuf Muhammad Tilde], his aide-de-camp (ADC) [Colonel Mustapha Onoedieva] and Professor Tanimu Yakubu [his chief economic adviser]."
Referring to Jonathan as "the AgP", the memo states: "The AgP said he does not know their motives, but expected it was likely for nefarious purposes ... The AgP noted that 'people are angry'."
Nigeria has a history of army interventions and under the subheading "Fears about military" the cable notes: "The AgP said the military chiefs are making sure no politicians are reaching out to the rank-and-file, and encouraging the military to stay in the barracks so that the uncertain political situation does not generate coup-like behaviour emanating from the mid-ranks because of the confusion."
The memo reveals America's silent role in the Nigerian crisis. Robin Sanders, the US ambassador, "encouraged Jonathan to change the perception that he is a regional figure, and be seen, rather, as a national figure who has the best interest of the nation at heart".
"Ambassador expressed that given that the US and Nigeria are very best friends, we feel the need to share our concerns, as any good friend would do, and that we are counting on him to steer Nigeria through this troubled and uncertain period."
Jonathan said he was picked as Yar'Adua's running mate in 2007 because he represented the Niger Delta. "I was not chosen to be vice-president because I had good political experience. I did not. There were a lot more qualified people around to be vice-president, but that does not mean I am not my own man."
The document concludes: "It is always hard to judge how some will behave (or surprise you) when leadership is unexpectedly thrown in their lap. The verdict is out on Jonathan and his previously underwhelming personality and performance needs to keep us in the cautious lane, but so far, so good. Things are quiet."
Yar'Adua died in May this year and Jonathan was swiftly sworn in as president. He has since announced his intention to contest elections next January.


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Police in Sweden say two explosions in central Stockholm that killed one person and injured two others was a terrorist attack.

Police spokesman Anders Thornberg told a news conference Sunday the explosions are being investigated under Swedish law as an act of terror, but that authorities have not raised the security level.

Police say the first blast Saturday occurred in a car near a busy shopping street, slightly injuring two people.  Shortly afterward, a second explosion was heard on the same street.  Police later found one person dead at the scene.  Authorities believe that person was a suicide bomber.

Swedish news agency TT said Saturday that 10 minutes before the blasts, it had received an e-mail in Arabic and Swedish, warning of unspecified "action."

The news agency said the warning, also sent to the Security Police, referred to Sweden's involvement in Afghanistan and to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks.





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A LAST-MINUTE agreement at United Nations talks has increased pressure on the Gillard government to lift its ambition in tackling climate change, with the Greens saying Labor has ''no choice'' not to set a more ambitious target than a 5 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
A final overnight session ended with UN negotiators for the first time backing an agreement that formally included targets from the US, China and India.
The deal included arrangements for protecting rainforests and a planned $US100 billion ($101 billion) green climate fund to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the effects of climate change.
The Cancun agreement included steps to ensure transparency in emissions measurement and reporting - a key sticking point for China and the US at last year's disastrous conference in Copenhagen.
But while representatives from more than 190 countries agreed to seek ''deep cuts'' in emissions, the deal does not include targets big enough to meet the goal of limiting the global temperature rise since industrialisation to 2 degrees.
Researchers for the Climate Action Tracker estimated the emissions pledges would set the world on course for 3.2 degrees warming - enough, scientists say, to cause droughts, crop failure, species extinction and increased damage from floods and storms.
Despite this, climate activists welcomed the deal as a step forward that could lay the groundwork for a binding treaty in South Africa next year, or Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
The Climate Institute deputy chief executive, Erwin Jackson, said it was a more significant result than the 2007 Bali climate conference, when wealthy nations recognised they should cut emissions by 25-40 per cent by 2020.
''It has broken the back of starting to capture all the major emitters in a legally binding framework,'' he said.
The Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, said the conference was a ''historic step forward'' but that a lot of work remained if there was to be a single treaty covering all big emitters.
The Greens deputy leader, Christine Milne, said the agreement would raise the stakes in the Australia climate debate as the multi-party climate committee sought a deal to introduce carbon price legislation next year.
She said Labor had no choice but to increase its ''inexcusably weak'' pledge to cut emissions by between 5 and 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.
''The world's poorest countries made very significant concessions in these negotiations in order to keep the UN process alive,'' Senator Milne said. ''Next time around rich countries like Australia will be expected to make similarly substantial contributions.''
The Coalition climate action spokesman, Greg Hunt, said the results at Cancun were modest, and would not sway it from opposing a carbon price.
The agreement bought more time for nations to negotiate a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, although that process remains fraught.


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The Minister of Health and President of ECOWAS Assembly of Health Ministers, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that from January 2010 to date, meningitis had hit seven countries of West Africa, causing 1,720 deaths.

“In truth, epidemic-prone diseases have always prevailed in our environment. Cholera alone has caused in 2010, approximately 1900 deaths in 8 countries; meningitis hit 7 countries since January 2010, causing 1,720 deaths; measles a disease placed in test phase, is growing every year, reflecting not only the weakness of our health systems, but also their inability to sustain gains achieved with the mass action through international support,” he said.

Prof Chukwu, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja during the Second Extraordinary Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS, said that the region has the highest rates of epidemic-prone diseases despite the enormous efforts devoted for increased disease surveillance, preparedness and response.

The minister said that despite the outbreaks of diseases recorded in all countries of our community, mortality rates have decreased significantly.

“This fact in itself means that with better organisation and capacity building interventions, we can surely achieve positive results in the control of epidemics,” he said.

He said that WAHO has tried to make the fight easy by developing a 2011-2014 regional support plan for epidemic prone disease control in the ECOWAS region.

Also speaking, Dr. Placido Cardoso, Director General of WAHO said “our mandate requires that we support the efforts of ECOWAS member-states to reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality due to epidemic-prone diseases and their negative impact on socio-economic development in the region

“It is also our responsibility to lead a dynamic regional coordination of preparedness and response to epidemics, in collaboration with states, technical and financial partners.” he said.

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Arsene Wenger is in no doubt the Barclays Premier League is the toughest it has ever been as he looks to keep Arsenal top of the table against title rivals Manchester United on Monday night.
The Gunners have been beaten four times already, but still returned to the summit last weekend after victory over Fulham when United's game at Blackpool was postponed and Chelsea dropped more points.
"I don't agree with the people who say that the overall quality of the league is lower this season. In fact, you can say exactly the reverse," the Arsenal manager said.
"Last Monday night, two quality teams - Aston Villa and Liverpool - met and both sides were in the bottom half, so that opinion is not really proven by concrete facts.
"The whole Premier League is more difficult for everybody and what you call mid-table teams and bottom-table teams have improved - every single game today is a cup game for everybody."
Wenger, though, admits surprise Arsenal are still in such a strong position given the number of points they have dropped, losing three games at home.
"We are top of the table at the moment, and at the start of the season if you had said we would lose four of our first 16 games, I would not have thought we would be top, that is for sure," the Gunners boss reflected.
"It means the other teams have lost games as well, apart from Manchester United, but they have had many draws.
"We have not had many draws, and have won five games away. The positive thing is that if we manage to add home consistency to our away form, we will be very dangerous."

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Mark Madoff was found dead two years after his father's arrest, write Philip Sherwell and Richard Blackden.
NEW YORK: Mark Madoff's world collapsed two years ago - along with that of thousands of investors who had trusted their savings to his father, Bernard, a titan of Wall Street.
Mr Madoff and his younger brother, Andrew, had been raised as part of a gilded New York family, amid the wealth and status befitting their father's apparent genius as a money manager.
The two sons joined the brokerage from college and rose to senior positions in the family business, whose clients ranged from the Hollywood director Steven Spielberg through billion-dollar trust funds to retirees investing their life savings.
But it was all based on a lie, perhaps the biggest financial lie. On December 11, 2008, to the disbelief of the business world and the horror of his clients, Bernard Madoff was arrested before breakfast in his pyjamas at his $US17 million penthouse for conducting the world's biggest scam.
Until then, Mark Madoff had seemed to have it all - an attractive wife, two young children, an apartment in the fashionable SoHo district of Manhattan and a multimillion-dollar lifestyle.
But on Saturday, on the second anniversary of his father's arrest, just three days after he was named in a civil lawsuit and amid intensifying speculation that he would face criminal charges, he was found dead in that apartment.
It was the latest tragic twist to a scandal that has ruined countless lives and prompted a number of suicides. Friends said he had been in an ''increasingly fragile state of mind''.
The discovery of his body was made shortly before 7.30am by his father-in-law. He had gone to the apartment after Mr Madoff's wife, Stephanie, who was in Florida, became fearful for his well-being because of an exchange of emails and calls in which he said ''someone should check'' on their two year-old son.
The toddler was found sleeping in an adjoining bedroom. The couple also had a four year-old child, who is with Mrs Madoff in Florida.
No suicide note was immediately found and there was no sign of foul play.
''Mark Madoff took his own life today,'' his lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, said.
''This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. He is an innocent victim of his father's monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.''
Another friend said Mr Madoff had not spoken with his parents for two years and had tried unsuccessfully to get a Wall Street trading job.
Mark, 46, and Andrew, 44, both insisted they knew nothing of their father's crimes before
he told them on December 10, 2008, that he was operating a $US50 billion scam that was crumbling under the pressures of the financial crisis.
The sons immediately reported their father to the authorities and have consistently expressed outrage and sorrow at his actions.
The sons' roles have been scrutinised by investigators, and US media reported this month that they were the subject of a criminal tax-fraud inquiry. In a separate legal development, they were sued in London last week by Irving Picard, the trustee recovering assets for people swindled by their father.
Bernard Madoff, 72, is serving 150 years in a federal prison in North Carolina for running the so-called Ponzi scheme with which he used the money of new investors to pay annual returns of existing clients. The final tally for the losses is estimated at between $US18 billion and $US65 billion.
A person close to Mark Madoff told The New York Times he had been increasingly distraught as the anniversary of his father's arrest approached and was upset by recent news coverage speculating that criminal charges against him and his brother were still likely.
Three days before his death, Mark, as well as Andrew, and Peter Madoff, Bernard's brother, were hit by new legal action filed in London. Mr Picard, who is trying to recover billions of dollars, alleges that Madoff Securities International Ltd, the British arm of Madoff's empire, was part of the elaborate deception. All three men were directors of the company.
On Friday Mr Picard filed suit against Medici Bank, an Austrian bank, and its owner, Sonja Kohn, alleging she was a ''criminal soulmate'' of Madoff and seeking almost $US20 billion.
Ms Kohn has described herself as one of the fraud's biggest victims.
Mark Madoff had agreed not to sell or transfer certain assets pending the outcome of earlier legal action by Mr Picard.
His mother, Ruth, was allowed to keep $US2.5 million as part of a settlement last year in which she forfeited claims to $US80 million of assets. She is reportedly living in Florida and working delivering meals to housebound people.
In the ultimate indignity, family possessions - ranging from Mrs Madoff's jewellery to her husband's monogrammed slippers - were auctioned last month to raise money for victims.

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If the court accepts Moreno Ocampo's application, it means the individuals will be expected to voluntarily appear before the court and may not be detained at The Hague, where the tribunal sits.
"The responsibility of six individuals who in accordance with the evidence bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes committed will be evaluated in court. These people will go to The Hague," Moreno Ocampo told a conference reviewing the progress Kenya has made in implementing key reforms seen as necessary to avoid a repeat of the violence almost three years ago.
"The judges will make final decisions if they have to go to jail at the end of a fair judicial process," he said. Moreno Ocampo plans to present two cases of three individuals each.
"There are no doubts that massive crimes were committed in Kenya, the issue is who is responsible," he said. "This is my challenge. To prove who are the most responsible for the crimes committed."
The Kenya case will not be the first time the prosecutor has asked the court to issue summons instead of arrest warrants. In June, two Sudanese rebel leaders suspected in a deadly 2007 attack against African Union peacekeepers in Darfur voluntarily surrendered to the ICC to face war crimes charges.
Moreno Ocampo did say that as part of its investigations, the ICC invited individuals who had been named in separate reports on the December 2007-February 2008 violence to offer their version of what happened. More than 1,000 people died in the violence that began after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of a disputed December 2007 poll.
A former Cabinet minister who was named by a government-funded human rights organization in its report went to the Hague last month to record a statement. His visit has been followed by controversy over allegations that a witness protection program may have been compromised


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It's a sign of how much times, and Eminem himself, have changed that his leading nominations were not controversial, but expected and respected.
The person with the second-leading tally, Bruno Mars with seven, was not without his own drama this year, after being arrested in Las Vegas in a cocaine possession case, which is pending. It was the only negative in a brilliant year for Mars, who co-wrote "(Expletive) You" and was also featured on B.o.B's "Nothin' on You," also nominated for record of the year.
"It's just been a great year, incredible, incredible year, and I can't believe this is happening to me," said Mars, who was also nominated for best male pop vocal for his own hit, "Just the Way You Are."
"We've worked so hard trying to make a living doing music and the fact that we're here right now is incredible, incredible," he added, speaking from Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, where the nominations were announced as part of an hourlong live special on CBS.
Other top nominees included Lady Antebellum, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, who were all nominated with six each. Gaga also was nominated for album of the year — the second straight nomination in the category for her.
For Eminem, "Recovery" was a critical and commercial triumph. It became the best-selling album of the year so far, with more than 3 million copies sold, and spawned top hits like "Love the Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna, which was nominated for song and record of the year.
It also marked a stark contrast between the Eminem nominated 10 years ago and the one today. Back then, he was a stunning yet divisive figure whose violent imagery and slurs against gays and women outraged as many people as he entertained. Eminem would become one of the best-selling artists in the world and arguably rap's greatest artist, but his stature was diminished as his battle with prescription drug addiction led to lags between albums and sub-par material.
With "Recovery," an album that detailed his battles and how he overcame them, his status as the best rapper — and pop's top artist — was restored.
Country trio Lady Antebellum couldn't be more opposite than Eminem, but their album "Need You Now" was the second-best selling album of the year, doing almost as well as "Recovery," with almost 3 million albums sold and fueled by the lovelorn title track — a huge crossover hit for the band. Grammy voters rewarded that success, nominating them for album of the year and record and song of the year for the hit.
Only last year, they were celebrating their first Grammy win.
"It's been a wild and crazy year; it definitely feels like Christmas came early for us," said Lady A's Dave Haywood in a telephone interview after the awards were announced. He wasn't watching with his bandmates, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott, but they watched the special and texted each other.
"It's just kind of complete shock that we'd be recognized, especially to be recognized in some of these all-genre categories," said Haywood. "It's pretty bizarre for a couple of rednecks from Tennessee and Georgia."
Other nominees for record of the year included Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' anthem for New York, "Empire State of Mind."
Rounding out the nominations for song of the year were Ray LaMontagne's "Beg Steal or Borrow" and Miranda Lambert's hit "The House That Built Me," written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.
Katy Perry's "California Gurls" was one of the year's top hits but was shut out of the record and song of the year categories. Yet Perry, who performed the hit on the nominations broadcast, was far from disappointed: Her album "Teenage Dream" was nominated for album of the year, along with Gaga's "The Fame Monster," ''Recovery," ''Need You Now" and Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs."
"It's amazing. It's like no other award show because I feel like you're being recognized by your peers," she said. "And there's so many fantastic performers and artists that could be in this category, so when they nominate you, it feels like a win."
Justin Bieber appeared on the show from London and the 16-year-old was rewarded for staying up: He was nominated for best new artist in a category that also included Drake, Florence & the Machine, Mumford & Sons and jazz artist Esperanza Spaulding.
"It feels amazing. I can't believe I'm in this position. Thank you to the fans," he said. "I don't know what to say."
The evening's biggest snub may have belonged to Ke$ha. Even though the party-girl singer had a top-selling debut and several hit songs, she was not nominated for any awards.




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